The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Rating the BEST and WORST drivers of 2023 (so far)

Episode Date: August 6, 2023

The gang are all together in the same room! As we pass mid-season, the LB boys each assign drivers to grades based on their performance so far. They also discuss Toto's claims that Mercedes dominance was better for the sport due to their intra-team championship battle, Frederik Vesti's Mercedes test debut, and Verstappen's best win in the first half of this season. They finish with a game of Late Faking.. FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League BUY our Merch EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. And a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, presented by Sam Sage. Hello. And me, Ben Hocking, we're in the same place. A rarity.

It's a really important weekend as well. the first weekend of the summer break. We really do pick these as well, don't we? Smashed it. Always. We always pick weekends to be together when we are nowhere near a race weekend. When was the last time we watched a race as a three?

Oh, wait. Never. We watched Mexico qualifying ones. It's going to be the first race we watched together is actually in Cota. Yeah. That's weird. Well, is that a good lead?

Weird. Come on. Come on. I don't even think you've done that in actually. Harry Segway is. Honestly, like a scream at the end of the night of minute. That was so good. Yeah.

Well, that's it. Cota, we're doing a live event. I know we have mentioned that we might be doing this before, but it's now official official in that you can, at least if you're part of the Patreon in the first instance, buy tickets for the event. Certainly a limited number. It's taken place at Moon Tower Cider on the Thursday before the event.

I can't quite remember the day off the top of my head. But the thing. 19th. Thursday. 19th. Thursday the 19th, that'll be at 7pm central time. Texan time. Tex and time as T.T.

Like I said, limited number of tickets. And we're going to put them on sale for Patreon first as a perk for them. So if you're a part of the Patreon or you want to become a part of Patreon to try and secure your place there, you can do so for the next couple of weeks. Two weeks exactly. And then two weeks from today as we're recording this, no, not as we're recording this, as this will go out. which will be Sunday the 20th.

That's when they'll go. Any remaining will go on sale. General sale. So yeah, really excited. Just for clarity, if you're not part of the Patreon and you think, oh, I want to get a ticket, can I still do that? Yes, if you join the Patreon

over the next two weeks and there are tickets available, you will still be available to join that pre-sale. But other than that, feel free to wait you out and slog it out with the rest of the fans. Please buy tickets. Honestly, don't bet us to be there alone. We're also very scared that no one will come. I think we'll still have a great time.

We'll just do a live show, me, you, me, all of us. And the staff that are working there. What else do they get including in their ticket, then? Good point. You do get a free drink included within your ticket. For adults, over 21, that can also be an alcoholic beverage. If you're 10 years old, we're not giving you alcohol. Yeah, as much as we are mischievous and British, we are not going to break the law.

But yeah, you get that as part of your ticket. Just show up. Moon Tower cider. Austin. Ticket, please. Yes, buy ticket, please. And if you've got any questions, please do for free to let us know.

But as mentioned, if you're part of the Patreon, you've got two weeks exclusive access to get your tickets first, and then they will go on general sale from the 20th of this month. That's all tears as well. Don't worry about it. All tears.

That's all tears. And there will be tears if no one buys into... Cry your eyes out, mate. Yeah. Lovely. Well done on the segue, Harry. That's very proud of you. I pat you back for the episode.

It's going to be great now. Yeah, I'm feeling good about this. What have we got coming up? We've got late faking that we're playing later on. We're going to be discussing what Max Verstappen's best race of the season so far has been. All of them. Good answer. We might as well have skipped that now.

Don't bother that. Topics done. Frederick Vestey has been confirmed that he will be making his testing debut for Mercedes a bit later on in the season. Toto Wolfe's claim that Mercedes dominant spell was better for F1 than Red Bulls has been. Is this the kind of scrap that we're getting into now? Oh, yeah. But we're starting with,

late grading. Oh, honestly, how many times we can force our brand name into a different segment? Everything. Every time. I have no shame whatsoever. Late grading.

Late graded. So we've got five grades, A, B, C, D and E or worse. I'm going to go with F. Go straight with F if you want. We'll just skip a letter. But we've got five categories. We're each going to give a driver

that we think belongs in each based on their performances so far. this season. It'll be interested to see if we have some disagreements. We probably will. Let's go positive to start things off, shall we? Sam, who's been an A-graded driver this season? I mean, I feel like I can immediately pick up the obvious one there, but...

I've helped you out. You have a little bit. Thanks for going over to me first. Did you explain the rule that we're not allowed to put the same one? We're not allowed to pick the same one, unless we really don't think another driver belongs in that team. It's fun, isn't it? Okay.

Bantor with the content. We're going to run out of drivers. Right. Vastappan is an F driver then, okay. Well, speaking of Vastappen, he is my A driver. We can't pick the same driver for the same grade. Okay. So whoever goes last is...

This is good, didn't it? This is so late breaking. We're explaining the rules of our own segment live on the show. I'm also enjoying the way that you two are holding your mics, the different styles you've got going on. Yeah, if you can watch this. It's being recorded. It'll go out on YouTube.

Ben's put his stand up like it would be on a table, but then still, and then holding it. Yeah. Why? Phil's country. I don't know, mate. Don't care. I'm really thought about it.

I'd like to have one of the things just on the end that I could just, you know, like a normal, like a singing mic. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, back to the gradient.

Late grading. Max for Stappan. A. Shock. He's my A grade driver. He's won everything but two Grand Prix this season.

And I would argue that the two he didn't win were for, you know, quite controversial reasons. I wouldn't blame him entirely for the reasons. We started 15 for one of them, didn't it?

Right. Yeah. So, you know, actually still surprised he didn't win that one. Well, Varroff, five seconds or so, wasn't it? Yeah. I mean, that explains it. And we're going to get on to, you know,

what he thinks his best drive is later on in the segment and I'm quite partial to agree with him. But he's had some absolute belters, whether it'd be starting from the, you know, near the back of the grid, sixth place, first place, everywhere he starts, the man just brings it out on top.

I don't think, and this is, I think, a big statement. I don't know if I've seen someone at one with the car to this level as maybe Schumacher in 02. You pass in Hamilton on that? I genuinely don't think I've ever seen Hamilton as comfortable across a whole season in a car. And that might be, this is no disrespect to Sergio. I think Hamilton's teammates have always been a step-up

from Sergio Perez. Again, we're going to talk about the Toto Wolf comment later. But Sergio is still a solid driver and Max is just literally become one with the car. So whether you're a fan... You've become one. Very good. A spy skills reference.

Who would have thought it? Yeah, so I've stolen the good one early. Max Verstappen, by far. I mean, I would go at A-star, really. Yeah, sure. Certainly, if we're getting more specific, I think it's going to be very difficult to give him anything but an A-star or an A-plus,

but certainly belongs in that top tier. I'll take one for the team here because I'm going to go last on this. Harry, nice. Who are you picking for an A-grade this season who is not named Max Verstappen? Back Madappan. He's been on.

all right, ain't he? I've got a heart of him. He's won every race this season, apart from two. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'll go for Fernando Alonzo, head of the fan club. He's had a belting year so far, apart from that sprint race on Saturday in a spa. I don't count. Ignore it, not real race.

Well, we don't count it. Well, yeah, exactly. Exactly. He has been, obviously the car he's been given is the best car he's had since 2013 at least. Since slice bread. Since sliced bread. Yeah.

And he's, and he's, he's utilized it to its full extent. I mean, every race, given where that car and the performance of the car fluctuated,

because can you say he's not, apart from sprint race, he's not delivered? Maybe Spain is probably the only one this year. Yeah, that's the one I would. Again, he's probably not missing out on two. He's not missing out on a podium there, right? No.

No. It's like two points. Yeah. And we've said that when Alonzo, when the car's not competitive, just doesn't care anymore. He only does, he only cares when it's competitive. So, yeah, Alonzo for me. I mean,

Vastappan's obviously the star of the star of the show, but Sam went first. So, yeah, Lonson. Just like me. Yeah. Well, good news on this one, because I had three drivers listed out as A drivers so far this season. Number one, it's Max Verstappen and A plus for me.

And then I've got two A drivers, one of which is Fernando Alonzo. The other one being Lewis Hamilton. He's been, this sounds weird to say for a seven-time world champion. He's been underratedly good this season, I think. I think a lot of people, because of their high expectations of Hamilton, aren't actually looking at his performances this season and going,

well, that's because, again, very much like Max Verstappen now in the lead, you go, well, Hamilton should be doing this. But he is every single race. I mean, I'm a nerd about this, and I sort of do ratings for my own pleasure that no one else is after every Grand Prix. It's just a sea of eights. But that's been his season, right?

just been eight out of ten every week. What would give him a ten out of ten? A wing? I mean, it's not going to happen. Well, yeah. I mean, he hasn't been perfect at some of them, but he said there haven't been any bad performances, which is what made a lot of his championship years, right, was consistency. And he seems to have got that, I don't know, it feels like the Lewis Hamilton of old this year. Like, what, 2020, kind of 2019 Hamilton.

Yeah. Like, again. I don't know. It feels more reminiscent of that than we had last season. last seven races in particular have been seriously impressive. All season, he's been in the top six every single race this season apart from once. And the last seven races, he's been in the top four six times. And over that same stretch, George Russell's only done it once.

Perez has only done it four times. Alonzo twice, Lecler three times, signs zero. And he argue with the way the teams are jumping around that second fastest spot, I say he's haven't comfortably sat in that spot, at least for the last four or five race. Yeah, he's just, Austria was probably the one poor race that he's had so far this year, but other than that, he's probably where he needs to be in most, in most Grand Prix. So, yeah, I agree with both your selections. Those were the other two names, I think, belong in that tier.

But Hamilton, I think's definitely deserving of a place this year. Yeah, funny enough, I had three names on my list in my mind. Just because we're talking about Formula One outside world, doesn't mean you need to drive like it. Come on. shouldn't we? No, I need the cool I need to breathe. I need air. I need to breathe.

Okay, let's move on. Okay. Harry, you get to go first on this one. Nice. Woohoo. B. B. Who's a B driver?

Al Bono. B for Albono. B for Albonne. No, for Bono. B for, oh, Pete Bono. Okay, right. Interesting. B is for Albonne.

For me, if Albonne hadn't thrown away what probably would have been some chunky points in Australia. Chunky points in Australia. Chunky points. Chunky. Oh, that sounds a bit sick. big chunks.

Then I think I would have put him, or at least really consider put him in an A grade, but just because of Australia, which was a bit annoying, I'll put him B grade, but for me, he's been very impressive this year in terms of he's maximized,

and the same way Alonzo has, I guess, he's maximised the car when it's been competitive enough to be in the points, if not 11th, which he's done a couple of times, I think. But yeah, I think he said a,

last year was a good first year back for Albon after the disaster of Red Bull. That feels so much longer ago than it actually was. Not that long was it? No. 2020. You only missed one year. It's because of COVID.

You forget the year exists. I'm fully on board the fact that Pierre Gazley was teammates with Max Verstappen in 2004. That did not happen five years ago. Yeah, that's very true. But yeah, so he's built on that sort of solid first year. back in this year, I think it's been very impressive. But yeah, because of odds,

he hasn't quite got an ace, who's a B. I do not disagree with you at all. He's also part of that category for me. I will therefore say, Chuckles Le Buckles. Chuckles Le Buckles. Chuckles Le Buckles. Yes.

I think he's had a B year so far. Points-wise, he was struggling for a little while. Is that him or the car? Exactly. Well, yeah. Him and Ferrari have been struggling for points. At least in comparison to signs as well, he was down on Carlos Sines for a chunk of the season,

but he seems to have risen above signs now. But, yeah, whilst there have been a few lackluster drives this year, I think you could probably put that more on the team rather than you can. Moron. Clare. Oh, nice. More on the team. The team of morons, more on the team.

Yeah. Yeah, they can get there. Nice. Yeah, lovely. Good banter. I mean, Australia was not a highlight. Wasn't good. No.

You remember that? Yeah, that wasn't great. I was there. Not in Australia, but I did say it. But other than that, I think... In Australia. He crashed out, didn't he? May have ending his own race.

Yeah. Who chuckles the buckles? Yeah. What do he do? And maybe I fell asleep at that one. It's turn three, I think it was. It's turn three. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. He just drove into Landstrol. Yeah. Oh, nice fun, Chuck. It wasn't even part of the stupid red flag. No, that's why he was. I was thinking I don't remember him being there. Oh, right.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, he was done before then. But other, there have been some good performances this year. Bahrain, he deserved a podium there. Obviously, reliability cost him. Austria was very good. Baku.

Of course, he had pole and then a podium. A man's Saturday ability is ridiculous. Yeah. He's got three podiums this year. And Ferrari really tried to make that number as little as it possibly can be. And he's persisted. So I will, I'll say Leclair. It's pretty much.

much a middle of the beat here for me. Sam, you got to go last on this one. Yeah, that's fine. I got the privilege you going first. You got enough? You got the name? I did. And you know what, both the drivers, you hang on there again, I've picked three for each category.

I love how the game works, you know, big a prep. And my final one is our big Lando. Big up. Bando Loris. Bando Boris. Because John from Bacarin. Because. Oh, dear.

Andres Bella. Yeah. Oh, no. Bruce McLaren, that's how it works. Stop. Whilst, whilst, whilst, whilst, whilst, the start of the season was not great, and this is why I don't think he qualifies to being a-to-age-style driver this season. Sinks being given the upgrades.

Actually, well, before then, he really was trying to extract the most out of what was a really gnaff car for the first few races of the season. What quick was it? Slowest balls, I think, is the phrase that's been used. Croquet balls. Big fat croquet balls. Anyway, but since being given the upgrades in Austria, immediately back on the pace, fighting with Ferraris, Mercedes, delivering strong points, incredible in Silverstone,

arguably could have gone to win that race, you know, really, really tight with him there. And then, of course, we've just seen the most recent performances with him, where I would say that Spar was the biggest letdown, he still managed to claw all the way back up through to P7. And for McLaren, that's still a really solid result. You know, Piazri out, corner one. I think he's done a really, really good.

job. I think there's still ways he could grow this season. I think he can still improve, hence the B and not the A grade he's receiving. But, you know, generally, don't carry on. Good. But generally, I think, you know, he's like a very, very strong, better than good year so far. So Lando for the B grade. There's a lot of agreement so far because both of those drivers did also make B grades for me too. Wait so we get to the negative. Oh, dear. I did have Lando for me. the top of the item like a B plus. I think he was probably leading that pack. But yes, I agree with the C tier.

You should go first this time. I will go first this time. Who shall I pick? Very well done with the noon pad, by the way. One-handed. I know, right? Smooth a burrida. Speaking of.

He is actually part of this tip for me, but I'm going to go with someone else. I will say Pierre Gazley. Pierre Gasly. and say Ricardo now likes to say Gertley sausage is out everyone you get your sausage use out

so it hasn't been perfect for him in that when he dreamed of a move away from Red Bull he was probably hoping for something like what McLaren have done over the last few races or indeed something like Aston Martin have done this year

instead he's part of a team that has no employees anymore other than him and Aestabana Ocon I do every role his best race I think this season was probably the first one of the year in that he qualified last and he managed to still finish ninth so he had a pretty good comeback there outside of that it's been a lot of okay

which is why he's in the C category yeah he's he's only had two top eight finishes all season which isn't great and also when you compare that to Estabana Ocon Ocon's had five so and including that podium in Monaco which is a really solid drive from him And a lot of people probably want to point out that, well, if you take away Ocon's performance in Monaco, then it's probably a bit more even, which is flawed logic in itself.

But if you even were to do takeaway Monaco, Ocon is still minorly beating Gassley this season. So I think it's been okay. There's not been a lot of terrible in there, but also not a lot of great. I think that's what C grade is all about, in it? Yep. That's why he belongs there. If you got. Speaking of the smooth operator, I have got Carlos Sines.

Sorry, Harry, if that was who you were going for. You're devowed. He's angry. I don't like him when he's angry. He's definitely prepared three names like you have. Have yet? I had two. No chance.

There's three of us here, mate. You should have three. I thought maybe he wouldn't pick him. Oh, right. Clever. Color of science, he's not embarrassed himself particularly, and I do think that weirdly, not his

driving, but his ability to think throughout the race and command the pit wall and manage. What are the nils? negatives of Ferrari, he has done that, I think, better than Charles LeCler. I think he's kept his head better at strategic calls. I think he's managed his engineer better. I think LeCle has started to get a little bit frustrated, a little bit wound up. Science gives me slight Vettel 2020 vibes in that he's not as good as LeClair, I don't think, but strategically... His head screwed on. Yeah,

and Vettel was very much like that when Ferrari were at their worst. Yeah. And I think Carlos Sainz is still doing, this is going to be a little bit harsh on Carlos, but this is why he's in the C category. He's still doing a second driver's job quite comfortably at Ferrari, you know. He's not securing the pogromes, which is letting him down. He's not matching the results of LeCler, which are letting him down. He's not there on a Saturday, which he needs to start being more regularly. But more often than not, pulls in good points, finishes right behind his teammate, and in the points difference on the table, they're not too far apart from one another.

So I think he could do more, again, this is why he's in a C. But I also don't think that people are starting to look at him going, get him out the car. You know, this season's his last chance you need to get on with it. I think he's got himself another year. I think if Ferrari had to list their problems, Carlos Seines is probably not in the top.

300. Yeah, that's a fair number. Yeah. Have you got, Eric? No, I actually do have one. Nika Holkenberg. Fair. I think I've gone higher.

I've also gone at C, yeah. I mean, I think that's a fair shout. For me, the Hask can only do one thing and that's warm its ties up really quickly which is bad for races, but quite helpful for qualifying. And Nick Ongenberg,

he's taken full advantage of that and he's run with it. He was good at qualifying, wasn't he? He was, but I don't remember him being like this good. He was, yeah, he was a little bit better than Perez. Yeah.

And they were teammates. Yeah. Anyway, so, and obviously then you see in the race just on the timing tower, he just falls down until he's like 18th again. It's quite, must be so painful. It's like when you, on the F1 game, you change the difficulty for qualifying

because the AI get too good, so you lower them. And then for the race, you put it back up again, and then you just slowly get overtaken by everyone. Have you tried using intermediates in dry conditions on the game? No. That's what Nika Holcomburgens to deal with every single race. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe they've painted their tires incorrectly.

Yeah. Maybe. They've got the hypersoft tires in qualifying, and then they have to use the intermediates in the race. That's. I miss the hypersoffs. I do. Yeah, so Nick Hogg, both of me.

I think a B or at least a B minus is probably still also a fair shout. He's had a couple of, or a few mistakes this year. I mean, Spar was pretty bad. I know the second one wasn't really his fault. Sorry, the first one wasn't his fault in qualifying. But been a better comeback than I expected from Hulk. Well, my surprises of the season, are we arguing? I agree.

Yeah. Yeah, he's been pretty solid. And the hair? I respect it. Yeah. Nico Hohenberg. I do keep saying it, folks. If I lose some weird forfeit, I do loki want to do it.

We'll just do it anyway. Nah, I've got that bold. Literally, I will be that bold. Do it for the vine. For the vine? Yeah, do it for the vine. Okay. Can we just restart Vine?

I ain't going to do it. Please. We'll do it for the vine and it might come back. Yeah, that bit. Vine will revive itself if I dye my hair blonde. Yeah. Okay, that's going to do it for this first segment, but there's more grading on the other side of this break.

D grade Do do Do I go first You get to go first On a D grade Oh I haven't decided One of my three Or which one I wanted

You're going for D's Sorry I couldn't resist Go on I'm going for Derez Peres in a D

Yeah I am so disappointed Where have you got him I don't know If he was in your head He was in my D Really?

He's in your D is Oh jeez Christ I didn't mean that I think appropriate. He was in the... It's a family podcast. Anyway, same. Yeah.

What about you? B-minus. Get at the Bing. Speaking of Bing's, you heard that Wilkinson's going under. I have. Yeah. I'm gutted.

If you do... No, we can't do that. We're going to do a shout-out for... Go on. Carry on. What are you doing a shout-in-for? Wilkinson. Other places you can get pins.

Wilkinson's is the only one. If you're not the one... Yeah, sorry, Sergio Perez, degrade. I think he has had a stinker. the first couple, three, three races of the season look really promising. And we, you know, the three of us together were hyping that man up like he didn't have his own PR team, right?

No, not having that. Did not buy it for a second. Me and Harry were hyping him up. Actually, he wasn't there. I was hyping him up like he didn't have his own PR team. You know, he was talking about fighting for the world title. I'm going to go toe to toe with Max Verstappen every single race of the season. And then it hit Miami where he got trunks by Max Verstappen when he started four thousand days behind

him and still beat him. And then he's like, oh, confidence is quite literary in the Wilkinson's being, because someone find it for me, or has it been sent to recession? Because, you know, I don't know what's going on with my career right now. It's awful. He's cut through through the field are good enough. His qualifying is being atrocious, and even when he starts

near the front, he's still a whole pit stop behind Max Verstappen come halfway through the race. It's not good enough. And again, we're getting on to it, but the Mercedes duos were often way more competitive, and I wouldn't say that Hamilton is worse than Vestappen. It is absolute peak of race day, so it's not like it's an easier bit of competition.

I just don't, I think he's doing enough to win them the constructors. I mean, Max is doing that himself. But, you know, Sergio's there. He's second placing in the drivers, just. It's all right. It's okay. But I think that's a D. I think he is scraping the bare minimum of what is acceptable

for a second driver in Red Bull at the moment. Have you got a different name, Harry? I do. Have you got? I've gone for Dorge. Dorj. Doge Russell? Dorj Dossel.

Dorsdustle. grade? Yeah. Come on, man. What's he been doing? You think he's had a worse season than Nico Holmberg? Yeah.

Well, relatively speaking. Yeah. Nah, I have a day off. For the record, I've also got George Russell as a B, but... Very kind of all these drivers, Ben. Apparently so. I'm a C-minus.

I'd give you a B. Give me a B, thanks. No, he meant he gave George... Yeah, I was rating Sam, though. All right. Folks, I'll take a B. That's the nicest thing that's the second one is. Everyone two years, what would you rate Sam?

If everyone says F, you'll block. you're blocked. Ungraded. Oh gosh, come on, man. Immediate karma. Just hit himself

in the face from his wife if you can't see it. God, I'm not used to this setup. I've really enjoyed that. I've been pinned into this chair. You hate George Russell, why? No, I don't hate George Russell,

obviously. And for his radio messages alone, he's an A star. Correct. This season. He needs to be entertaining. Thanks. He just, in the same way

that Lewis Hamilton's had quite under the radar season, George hasn't. and it's just sort of been like, was mainly as qualifying, I think. Not good. Not great. And if we're going to rinse Sergio Perez,

I think at least 40% of his qualifying this season has been outside of Q3. Then, exactly. Exactly. Then I think, I think Russell needs a shout as well. So it's been disappointing from George,

especially after the last year. He hasn't been anywhere as good in my opinion. And I love George, mainly because of his radio. Exactly. It's still weird to think that, He was the last Brazilian, sorry, he was the last Brazilian driver.

Last driver to win a race that wasn't Red Bull. That is true. Yeah. Hilarious. Okay. I had three names in this tier. Exactly three names. And neither have you said any of them.

So I've got a free choice. Can you give us your three anyway? Yeah, sure. Do I want to pick on Logan Sargent? Fair. Who I had at D-minus. Yeah. Do I want to pick on Kevin Magnuson, who I have at D plus?

Nah. I imagine he's going to make an appearance later on anyway. Oh no. He might. Yeah, figured he might. I'm going to go with Lance Stroll. I've got him a D-grade. What's his best race of the season?

Spain. Bahrain. Okay, what did he do at Spain? He beat Fernando Alonso. I'm finished. Sixth. For the record, I agree. I think that one probably was his best race.

season. I only beat you because Flanda was waving to the crowd three laps from the end. I will not attack you, Lance. Yeah. I promise. I love all my fans. Bahrain, he lost to Alonzo by a few positions. I meant more just because of lack of wrists.

Fair. Fair enough. The point is if you have to really, really, really search for one good race in a season that has had, what, 13 Grand Prix so far or something like that, it's probably not been brilliant. No. It's not an ideal. He's 102 points down on Fernando Alonzo at this point.

That's quite a lot when you haven't won a race as a team. And here's a fact. And I mean, you say Georgia, I agree that George Russell's not had as good of a season as I think he should have done. Lance Stroll is currently closer to Alex Albin than he is to George Russell. Oof.

I think that should tell you everything you need to know. It's a big oof. I don't know. It's just there has not. been a lot of good. Therefore, I struggled to give him a better grade than this. I mean, I can't, I can't disagree. He was right down here for me.

Speaking of right down there, let's go to the last one. E, F, ungraded, just basically anything worse than D. You failed. You have failed this year. Harry, you do get first pick on this. Kevin Manston, what you're doing, son? What are you doing in this sport?

Especially last year he came back with Maybe you come back to Hassi, have one good year And then, or not come back to Hass, you come back to F1, have one good year And then that's it. So Holkenberg will be terrible next year as well. I feel like with Magnuson, his race pace is not that dissimilar to Holkenberg's I agree. Just qualifying.

Yeah. Sort it out. Like not even, it's like the most exaggerated version of Perez and Russell in terms of his qualifying pace. Apart from Expar, where he was actually all right. It was right in Spires, but one out of 13 has got really good. No, no. KMack has been, I guess, another surprise or disappointment, I should say,

over the season for me. Given Schumacher beating merchant. Well, exactly. I hope so KMag. I mean, look at Teammate Wars alone, but. Given how, we can have a midterm review of that next week. No, thank you. Yeah, I'm busy.

I'm sorry, I'm so not surprised. Yeah, given how. I guess he outperformed Schumacher last year, which I'm not saying it's a massively high bar. I'd probably give it the higher bar than you two would. But I expected him to... We always said this move of getting rid of Schumacher and getting Holkenberg as like having another,

like the same driver in your team. Because Holkenberg, Grojord, Magnuson, were all of that same... They're literally copy and paste of each other. Exactly. Pretty sure Kobe Ash is coming back. Yeah. Another one.

Different countries. I would argue that Perez, actually, probably fits into that mold as well. potentially, yeah. Yeah. So many of the same man. So, yeah, it's been a shocker in my view for KMAG this year.

So far. I've only actually got one name that made it to this tier. Okay. Logan Sargent was like on the border. Teetering. I gave him a D-minus. He's a rookie.

Yeah, he just about survived. Nick DeVries didn't. I was going to say, was I allowed to say? Nick DeVries? Yeah. He was there. I mean, I can't say it anymore, but...

I don't actually have much to say on Nick DeVries because... Honestly, what are you doing here? I just, I wouldn't gain any satisfaction in rubbing it in anymore. In the, like... Oh my God. It's a massive fart. Nick DeFries getting released.

Yeah, I... Obviously, he wasn't good enough. That was very evident. There's not much more to say. No, you are very much correct. you both said the two that I had. I did have one other name though and you've both just been too kind

to that one other name. Have he said it already? No, but you've just said that you wouldn't have put him in this category because he's a rookie. Logan Sergeant, I have lost patience with Logan Sargent now. Give him half a year.

Well, no, not as in like get out of the seat immediately but he needs to get on with it now. He needs to start being a little bit more consistent. I think he's, I agree, it's not been amazing, but I think Albon's probably showing him up more than he's being bad. I think there's an element of truth to that

in that Alex Albin is literally beating everyone he can. In that the only people drive, the only people beating Albin in the driver's championships are McLaren drivers, Alpine drivers,

Aster Martin Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull drivers. Like every other driver that he should be beating, Alfa Romeo, pass. If we were going to rate all the drivers one to 20, best being number one,

bottom being 20, where do you put Albon? Where, like on that scale, Where would you put him? About 10. Right, so about a midway down, right? Yeah, probably about that. So, Harry, any thoughts?

Or midway up? Correct, class half full. That's what we like to hear. Yeah, I think there'll be around there. Right, so about the midway point. So he's not being beaten by Lewis Hamilton in the same car, right? We don't think this guy... He wouldn't do that.

Louis Hamilton would be him. No, that's true. You would succumb to the sergeant. But this is my point, right? Alwell is a good driver. We're all impressed by him. He is driving that Williams very, very well. But this isn't Max for Stappen he's up against.

You know, there are, weaknesses, there are moments that Albon has, he's not perfect, he's still growing, he's still developing. Same with that car, he's not exactly been there for that long that he understands every element of what's going on. Sargent has got talent, he has got ability, I don't think they should turf him out right now, but I do think that the gap for what they could be achieving is too vast for how good Albon actually is in comparison to where the grid and the car is sitting. I think while Albon is slightly overperforming the Williams, Logan Sargent is massively underperforming the Williams and actually we're seeing a bit of an uneven balance of what I think that Williams car

actually sits. I don't think it's by far the worst car at all anymore in the grid. I'd argue actually it's better than the Alpha Tower. It's better than the, I was I called it the Salba, the Alpha and Mayo. Salba. And over race pace, I think it's better than Ha. So realistically, I think Alba is probably beating the people he should be beating over a race distance across the halfway point of the season. Sargent is what? Now Gitt DeVries is gone and Regifuette Norek or Ricardo last? Yep. See? I'm not saying get rid of him. He does need time.

He's a rookie. He does deserve the time. But it's not good enough right now. My biggest concern about Logan Sargent is that I think his best performances were at the start of the season. Which is never... It's not a good sign as a rookie. I genuinely think his Bahrain Grand Prix

might have been his best Grand Prix. Saudi was quite good, wasn't it? Well, exactly. Secondary. Yeah, I was quite surprised with him with Saudi. He had some pay. there as well. First two races of the year. I've lost a bit of patience with him.

And I'm, you know, I'm nervous now that we're going to get through to some really tricky Grand Prix for that Williams. You think Zanvort, you think Singapore coming up. It's going to win spa. It's coming gone, mate,

so we can't win that. It's going to win Monza, sorry. Yeah, I mean, don't know wrong. He needs a belt of a performance in Monsor. Maybe you need a good one in somewhere like Cota to pull it out. We'll be there. So, yeah.

We'll have a chat with them, I'm sure. Vegas, you know, because that realistically should suit the Williams as well. I think that, probably he's got maybe three opportunities to really show himself up. He needs to start grafting. All right.

Well, there's our gradings from A down to E. We're going to take a short break. And during the break, I am going to conform to Sam's way of holding a microphone. Don't call me an influencer. Okay. Summer break can only mean one thing. What's that, mate?

Spicy comments. The big shack. Toto Wolf. has claimed that Mercedes dominant spell in F1, there'll be plenty of Papa Toto. He's claimed that the Mercedes dominant spell in F1 was better for the sport generally because they had two drivers fighting each other

compared to what we have now with Red Bull. Sam, would you agree? I mean, when you boil it down to its base properties of what sport needs. Wobble, it is people fighting over victory, right? that is what makes sport exciting. Anytime you have someone running away with it and winning it by the midwaypoint,

you kind of have to roll your eyes and go, well, I'm going to have to it. We've all said it. Let's pretend Max Fassapag hasn't exists. Let's ignore it. Who? Thank you. Baxpabappan.

You know, every race, second place is the real winner. Oh, if Hamilton and also going for the title will be an amazing year, but that isn't the case. And they make a fair point that, well, Toto's Papatote makes a very fair point that pretty much in every year

that the Seagis had dominant. So, you know, the start of their dominant period, 14, 15, and 16, one no one else could touch them, even remotely close. The same level of Domitzaa argue that for Stappen is having out Red Bull as a team. Rosberg was there, right? First two years, you may have lost to Hamilton, but he was there. And then, boom, 16 comes along, and whilst it mentally destroyed him, he conquered, right? And it was exciting. And that three years of rivalry between those two, three, three was genuinely really exciting. I very much enjoyed a lot of the races, despite them being 30 to 40 seconds up the road,

lapping 15 of the 20 cars that we hang on the grid, you know? I thought that was fun. But on the flip side, with the current regulations that we've got, despite Red Bull being so dominant, well, for Stafford being so dominant, so many brilliant teams fighting so hard over that second place, it's also very exciting. And I think you have to be a big grown-up, separate yourself from the top of the grid and go, you know what, that's not where I'm going to get my excitement from. And I'm having a lot of fun watching the battle between McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, Askin Martin,

potentially others who might make the jump over the summer break. We don't know. I do think, you know, you have to look a little harder, but there's still a lot of exciting points going on about these current seasons. But if you're talking about a base point of winging the title, yeah, you had Ferrari, Bottas was good enough for the most part, and Rebel started to catch up towards the end. So I would argue the Mercedes dominance in terms of overall enjoyment,

of a championship point of view was more exciting unless you're a Red Bull fan. Yeah, I imagine if you're a Red Bull fan you're probably okay with what's going on right now. I'm loving it. And rightly so.

You deserve to enjoy your dominance with your team. Harry, it's Toto Wolfwright. Papa Toto. Papa Toto. No, I don't think he is and I fully appreciate that the championship

would be way more exciting if Sergio Pryoros could mount a championship challenge that we've lost that element which is a you know big element of F1

the championship it's still on I think winging well I think everyone outside of Logan Sargent and Daniel Riccardo

can still mathematically win yeah good okay fine well there you get it's fine what's he winching about good question

we're all still on it no I I echo exactly what Sam said when Nika Rosberg Lewis Hamilton

were battling for a championship and yes, it was exciting. The rest of the field was so far away, man. Like, it took three years before, three years, 14, 15, 16, yeah, 17, I guess was when Ferrari came on with a sort of a challenge with Etel.

I got put down by halfway. They were just winning races, which wasn't something that was happening without both Mercedes failure, crash sailing in Canada or something like that in 14. Yeah, so I appreciate his point about the championship battle, but F1 was, F1 is in a much healthier

state now than it was in 2014, 2015, 2015, 2016. And I'd much rather, what the difference is now is, I guess, Max Verstappen rather than, I know the car is really good, obviously, and Red Bull's really good. But the domination is more of a Stapen than I think than it is actually the Red Bull. Well, to your point, Rosbergh wins three championships quite comfortably if Lewis Hampton's on there. Yeah, and vice versa. Yeah. which isn't the case with Paris.

So it was too elite. And Rospoe does deserve the title. He is fantastic and he would have been considered one of the, not one of the greatest, but one of the highest scoring championship winners if Hamilton hadn't existed, you know,

you just don't have that at Red Bull right now. He probably would have done more than, because he would have wrapped up three. But no pressure really from the 16th championship that made him retire early. He probably would still be going. Arguably, you would, why would you step away just after three without competition?

Yeah. Anyway, so my point is, I definitely appreciate the point about the championship battle, but I would have 100% much rather we have what we have now. Because I think there's... Honestly, I'm telling you, this is ridiculous. Poto, do one, come on. I'd much rather have what we have now, because I think there's... It will take less time for others to catch up.

It's not going to be this year, obviously. Or maybe, but it probably won't be this year. But 2024, we could well have a championship battle on our hand again. so I do hope so plus I 100% prefer now do you think it's more exciting to have a title fight

between two teams or between two drivers two teams yeah yeah I mean we've had that what one year in the last 12 actually we had a sort of battle

until the halfway point I'm not counting that you'll be 2012 was the last time I guess you could maybe count 17 17 got taken further than 18 did. Yeah.

I mean, it was still done with six or seven races to go. To be honest, I think 17 was, I've always thought that 17 didn't end up being a championship fight because it was team-led. I always think that 18 should have been a fight and was actually driver. I think Hamilton was so good in 18

and Vetter wasn't good enough that it ruined what could have been a bit of an all-timer. Yeah, I kind of agree with that. Hamilton did what he needed to do in 21, in 18 and stepped up very early on and got the job done. So to conclude,

Ben, what do you think about this comment from Papatoto? Oh, Papato. Oh, Papa Toto. I agree with your comments about how, generally speaking, if you were to watch the average race from 2014 or 2015, and there are exceptions,

our angel in the desert, be one of them. Oh, that is one of the best, though. There are exceptions. Can I just say, I think that's a really overrated race? I think you're really overrated race. Yes, you can.

Because I know he's going to have. hate that. That's a different topic for a different day. Yeah, that sounds like content to me. Summer content. Yeah. Yeah, I think there were certainly good races back in 2014, 2015, but if you were to watch the average, if you were to plunk the average race from then into this season now,

you'd think, ah, rubbish. Do you think it goes up like mid-2000s, dull as dishwater, mid-teenies, some good ones? now nine out of ten is at least kind of a good race. Yeah, I think we probably had, we had it pretty good 2010 and 2012 and a few other races here and there in that era and then maybe a bit of a downturn as 2014 and 2015 happened. I'd forgot, I was actually looking at the results for some random reason of 14 the other day

and forgot how unreliable a lot of the teams actually were back. That's the difference between Mercedes-Thang and the records that were Breedler breaking. now. I think the sayings could do what Red Bull are doing now if the engine was put together properly. Anyway, in terms of the actual comment here, do I agree with him somewhat? Yes. I think you have a point in terms of the Rosbergh years, 14, 15 and 16. Does need to be said that of those three years, only one of them was a true championship decider. True, Hamilton wrapped it up. Is it? What, three years from the end, on both, three races rather from the engine?

14, he should have stopped up. Yeah. But there was. was 50 points on offer for the last race. Hilarious. If that didn't exist, he would have won the title with a race to spare. And 15 was done a couple of races. In America, right? U.S. corporate, yeah. Which is where we're going to be, by the way, this season. Oh, really?

Get some tickets. They are available. I haven't heard that? Yeah, on Patreon. Please. But there were things that happened after 2016 that were Mercedes dominant years. And this is where I think Toto Wolf's argument starts to fall down a bit. So let's have a look at 2017 to 2020.

Folks, please buckle up. Here come the stats. Stat man. 2020, Lewis Hamilton beats Bottas by 124 points in a short in the season when he missed a Grand Prix because of COVID. He was really good that year. Savage. Bottas that year won two races. The one that Lewis missed.

2019 was a bit better. Bottas won four races. I honestly have added enough with this. Angering a lot of F1 fans. God. 2019. Bottas won four races. So it was a bit better.

but Hamilton still wrapped up with a few races. Yeah, over a proper length season. 2018, Valtry Bossas did not win a race. Lewis Hamilton won 11. Did I put a bet on that year that he wouldn't win a race? No, you said he'd never win a race ever again. And then he won a race. Yes, he did.

He went on quite a long time, though. 2021, yeah, yeah. I think that might be the last race he ever won, actually. Yeah, it was the Russian Grand Prix. Yeah, gosh, I shouldn't get a bet against him at Russia. Exactly. And then 2017, Valdi Bostas won three races. So if you were to take the five years,

between 2017 and 2021 when Bottas was teammates to Hamilton. Bottas won 10 races, which averages out, five of your seasons at... Two races a year. How many years Perez won this year? Perez has won two races this year.

He also won two races last year, which if you work out the average, is two races per season. What I'm trying to say is, Perez is doing the same job that Bottas did. Bottas didn't finish second place in some of the years that he... True.

Perez, obviously, has struggled to do the same. But yeah, Bottas, he finished fifth in 2018. Yeah, that was bad. Not just beaten by the Ferrari. I think he got beat by Max. And of course, Perez has the chance to win another race this season as well. So his average might not say it to. Point being,

I think Toto Wolf is making a comment here about something that is incredibly similar to what he actually had in when they were dominant. I don't think it's that much different. Basically, shut it, Toto. Dominance is never ideal. We'd all like lovely competitive scene.

Really? Yeah. Also, I'm not saying Mercedes were known for team orders because they weren't. But there were some moments. There were one or two questionable moments. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Germany, Germany, 18. Yeah, Germany 18. Russia. This season, and I appreciate Paris has not been in the position of fighting a lot of Grand Prix, but when there was a chance,

like Miami, the absolute most logical thing to do given the pace of the two cars was to tell them to switcher. Right, just in terms of a pure team outlook. Yep. The logical thing was, Max is much faster than you step aside. They let them fight.

But Mercedes also let them fight 14, 15 and 16. Because there wasn't another team involved in the championship. Apatito was scared. In 17 and 18, they were scared of Ferrari. That's why they fought. That's why they had the team organs. Yes. And I think if Mercedes or McClain or whatever started winning races

and Perez was suddenly ahead, they'd go, switch over, please. So overall, yeah, I think he has a point if he's talking about 14, 16, hasn't really got a point if you're talking about anything after that. Six or one, half dozen of the other. Yeah, exactly. All right. Frederick Vestey, staying on Mercedes here, Frederick Vestey, who is currently runner-up in the Formula 2 Championship,

is set to make his Mercedes test debut later in the season. So this is part of the two mandatory FP1 outings for rookies. The Mexican Grand Prix will be the venue where he takes over George Russell for FP1 in that race. What are your thoughts on this move, Sam, in that do you think that Toto Wolf might be shaping him up for either a William's seat or even if he needs a last minute backup for a Mercedes seat? They're two very different proposals. They are very, very different.

And, you know, we want to talk about Frederick Veschi himself, Vesky the Besty. No offence to Frederick Vestey. I think he's a good guy. Don't want us to make F1 because I can't deal with Besty, Vestey, Bestie. I can't deal with it. That reason alone every week it will be. Yeah. He's not set the world on fire in his junior career.

It's not being bad. By any respects, he deserves to be competitive, strong driver, right? And he's what, leading the junior category right now? So he was Formula 3. He did two years there. I think he was fourth both seasons. Right. And then he may have been ninth last season, possibly.

And he's currently second to Porsche in F2, although he was leading before. If you compare him to the top talents that we have seen come through, you know, I would argue he is closer. This is going to sound harsh, but he is closer to the Joe Sonoda School of qualifying through the junior programs rather than the Norris Russell-Lercl school

of junior drivers that have come up. I don't think that's hard. I mean, Sonoda, what, he finished fourth in his one season of F2? Was it fourth? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, that's no disrespect to Vesti. He would drive rings around me quite comfortably.

But the point I make. here is Mercedes have, since they've re-entered the sport, the drivers and their ethos and their culture has been, we must pick up the best. You look at how they nurtured George Russell.

They saw his talent. They put him at William's and they said, you've got to give it time, you've got to adapt, and he's coming to that Mercedes team. And regardless of whether he's having a bit of a dodgy year now, doggy for George Russell

is still better than a lot of drivers putting in shifts throughout the season, really, I would argue. So, I don't think he's ever going to drive that Mercedes car. And I don't think he should. I think if Hamilton proclaims now, I'm retiring, thank you very much.

I think they go outside of... Vando. Well, you know, it makes sense. Or a shawl, or, you know, you're going to get the big poacher style. You know, you're going to get the big net out and you try and grab someone from the grid. In that case, is there any point in them pushing the William stuff?

If there is no hope that he's actually going to get in that Mercedes seat. What I do think Veski could do, and, you know, Toto, Papa Toto could go speak to Uncle Vowls. he's very close friends. And I do believe that if Logan's sergeant continues to be on a bit of a downer, and you know, time is still on Logan's side. He does still have the time to prove himself. But there could be a little deal to be made there alongside of, you know,

Toto, you know, we'll take your driver on. But long term, he could be a very good secondary driver to Albon. You know, if he's able to pick up the pace, he's able to get comfortable with the car. And, you know, given the time, I don't see why a team of Albon and Vestey for the next five years, couldn't turn into a very solid partnership. I'm not saying Veski's going to blow the world away,

but he is relatively reliable. He's relatively sensible behind the wheel. His qualifying performances are often quite good. That's what you need. Albon can lead the team. You've got someone to back you up. If Sajun isn't doing that, I don't see why Williamson just take him

off of Mercedes-Hans completely and go for another rookie that could prove himself. What are your thoughts, Harry? Do you think that, at least from a Williams' perspective, do you think that he should be lining him up? Yeah, I am. with Sam on this one. I don't really...

This just feels like it's there. Doing it because they have to. Doing it because you have to. Got to have a rookie. Well, everyone has to do a rookie session, don't they? So I, it does feel like that a little bit. That being said, I'm not saying

they're just ruling him out of any sort of drive. If it's a drive, it's definitely a Williams drive. It's not a Mercedes drive. If Hamilton decides he's had enough at the end of this year. They may well be trying to get him into that Williams

for 2024 I don't know as you say Sam he's not he's not lit up the world necessarily in the same way that a Bottas

or a Russell had for them previously so no harm putting him in they've got to do it anyway see how he goes and then we'll go from there yeah I agree

with your comments about his junior career Sam in that there's been no problem with it. It's been absolutely fine. Yeah, I can't skip like it. He's certainly, you know, not shown the same potential as,

you know, Lecler or or Piastry or someone like that. If he's going to a hearse, right, that's fine. Because they're not fighting for our titles. Yeah. So I don't see any problem with them. Again, they've got to do it. So I've got no problem with them

using this opportunity to get him in there. I do think it is within their best interest to try and get him in that William's seat for 2024. And I don't think, think it's actually that much about Vestey himself. I don't, I agree with you. I don't think Vestey will drive Mercedes now or possibly ever. But I think given where Aston Martin are going in terms of their move to Honda, we, we as a collective don't particularly enjoy, and that's pretty the nicest way putting it. We don't particularly enjoy the

Red Bull, Alpha Tauri, not quite independent. And it's not just relevant to them, but just generally we don't like... Bossball's racing. Bosspals racing, yeah. Torre bosso. We like constructors being independent, is the point. But it is the way that it is.

And I think Mercedes, given that they will no longer have any, probably, any reliance on Aston Martin Honda. And because McLaren are very set in their young, very good lineup, I think them utilizing the second Williams seat will be a very good long-term move. Even if you don't think the vesty is going to be your guy in the future, the second he's in that seat, you have more flexibility to, well, you know, he's not doing a great job, but we've got

this rookie instead to replace him. It's almost like a foot in the door, which I guess they kind of already have with Williams based on their relationship. And out of all the seems to discount on something like Engings. It's William. Yeah. So I think it's just wise for them to almost keep the seat warm in a regard and almost claim it as their own in the absence of them not having a team in the same way that the Red Bull has where they can nurture their drivers. And certainly, you know, if Hamilton sticks around for the long term, it's probably not something they need to worry about. But certainly there is a question mark at the moment.

Who's the next guy up if you're Mercedes? and the answer is not someone who's a Mercedes young driver, it's not someone who's Mercedes-affiliated. You would have to look elsewhere, right? It feels a bit like they put too much work into Russell and kind of forgot about what geeks to come after that. Which, that's kind of been Mercedes motto ever since they started, right?

In that they started with the line-up of Schumacher and Rosberg. It became Rosberg and Hamilton, which became Hamilton and Russell. Whoa, whoa, where's big Botties? Sorry, Bottas. Oh my God. murder. So they've had five drivers in the space of... 13 years? Yes, like 14 seasons now.

Yeah. Which is not a lot. Which is not a lot at all. I think that... Might be the least on the grid. I would be shocked if it's not. And there are teams out there that get through the same number of drivers in the space of four years. So I know Mercedes general approaches to do what they did with Russell.

I think all three of us possibly were calling for Russell to get in that seat the season before he did. Yeah, we did. But they were being cautious about it, which I think is their overall approach to young drivers. I just think if they have that William's seat, they've at least got something. Because if they don't have Aster Martin, McLaren's kind of locked in,

and Alex Alba was doing a great job in the other William's seat. It's not really anywhere else that they can look to nurture a driver, even if it's not vesting. I mean, even for Williams' sake, trying to vie with Mercedes there, you've heard the comments from the likes of Helmut Marker about Albon. There's still a vesting interest in Albon

from the Red Bull family. They still feel like they've got some of their claws into Alex Albon. So the one link that the Sees have outside of their own team, Red Bull are partially there anyway. Right? They are losing a lot of grip

to a lot of their alliances around the grid at the moment. Okay, let's move on. Max Verstappen's greatest win of the season. Max Verstappen himself had a word on this. He thinks it's been the Miami Grand Prix. What do you think,

I think he's got a fair shout. It was pretty good in Miami. It's been pretty good in all of them, though. It's a very good point, yes. Yeah. And to be honest, Max Verstappen pretty much did say that in that he was like, yeah, there's been a lot of highlights.

I'm going to go with Miami, but also Belgium's been pretty good and also Hungary was pretty good. Yeah, he did sell on Miami, but yeah. Miami, I understand why with Miami. Sorry, You almost didn't pick that one up. Sam did try to me. I really cried.

Good effort. Bless you. Yeah, I get why I settled on Miami because he had to mix away through the field and it was pretty impressive from him but I'll which was so many to choose from.

Stick your neck out. Don't hit that line. Not literally. I'll go for, I'll go for Hungary. 33 seconds. Not bad. is it? Wasn't bad.

Three for Carth. Three ways or any more, is he? Yeah. Yeah. He was pretty good and hungry. And to be on his spot, I think, probably looked less impressive than hungry, but actually I think it was as impressive,

if not slightly more, given what he did with those ties. He just can... He whispers to them. The tires. Hello, don't go to sleep. Don't degrade on me, tires. A.S.M.

stab. Let AASM. We're not doing that. So, yeah, I think the last two in particular, have been particularly impressive. And that's not recency bias. They just were really good. Yeah.

The worst part is he's getting stronger. I know. Take away one of the infinity states, please. Yeah. I am inevitable. It's fair point. Yeah. Would you agree with his comment

that Miami has been his highlight of the year? I 100% agree with him. Yeah. genuinely do think at that. It's a different challenge for him. And it was a tough track. There was a lot going on. And when at that point, Perez was at the peak of his powers,

Perez had just come off. I think, what, he just won? Yeah, Baku was the race before. Right? He just won at Baku. And Baku was tough for the Stappen. I'll argue, really, as terms of actual outright performances, maybe his worst Grand Prix in terms of, you know,

which is ridiculous because he's still like a very good race. Still came, what, second? Yeah, he was third in the sprint and then second in the actual race. So, you know, Perez was at that point his most formidable compescia that he could have been. And yet, not only did he not beat him, it's not like they were one-two starting on the Grig remember. You know, he had to work his way through. He had to win that race properly. I had to take it by, you know, the steering wheel, if I'm going to be polite, and win it.

And he really crushed Perez. You saw how good it must have been. if the confidence knock it had on Perez afterwards was so strong. But he said that, you know, he learnt a lot from Baku and he applied a lot of the changes in setups and mentality. And Miami was that first instance. And bam, day one after that, he's crushed it. And ever since, he's crushed it.

To your point about Azerbaijan being his worst race of the season, which is a point I would agree with, it's mad when you look at like Canada. So Canada he won by 10 seconds. Just for 10. Probably like his second or third worst race of the season. That's just ridiculous. Yeah.

Honestly, it's like looking at like a bank vault of money and going, that's my worst bit of money. That is, I don't like that. That bit of money is not as good as the other money. Still all good though, isn't it? There's going to be some races included here where like, I don't know, Bahrain. Barang was pretty good.

Might not even be top half. Like, that's how good his season has been. Long ago. Yeah. Like, that was, that was great. Still not that great. Exactly. I would, it's not fair.

It is absolutely not fair. Life's not fair. No, this is really not fair. How he can be so quick and also be right, because I agree with him. Yeah. Like, at least it would give me some solace

if he liked a really average one, which there haven't been any, to be fair. But like, he's also right. He can't be right and quick. He could have easily picked. He picked Hungary, didn't he? And yeah, no disrespect to Harry. He picked Hungary. I think it's a very fair shout. But he could have gone, I won by the biggest margin at that point. I'll pick Hungary. It's like being good looking and intelligent. You can't have both. The three of us combined. Between us, we have neither. I know. Very mid. Yeah. So I do agree with him. And I think it's, to your point, Sam, it is situational in that Hungary was very impressive. But obviously, biggest winning margin. Spain was very good. I'd put that up there too. But. you've got Miami where as a by jam

was the race before Sergio Perez has just come off a sprint race win and a full race win and two races prior to that he'd won at Saudi Arabia too he was properly in the fight for the title at this point

at this point he had got pole position on the Saturday and Max Vestappan was starting 9th and Perez knew that if he wins if he converts pole position

he wins that race with his teammate starting 9th he will be leading the championship yeah that was the moment it could have swung very badly for Vostappan if he was any other driver. Yeah.

Vastappan was six points behind. Sorry, Vestappen was six points ahead going into Miami. Yeah. Which means Perez was in at least for 24 hours from qualifying to the race. He was in the driver's seat

in terms of the championship, you'd say. And then it was the... It just set the tone, didn't it, for the rest of the season. He pointed to the number one on his car afterwards, and after that he's just not stopped winning.

It's a real cool power, if you like, you see that. That baby's mine. It ain't going nowhere. To make the move in the way that he did, to come through from 9th on a track that isn't easy to make those overtakes happen.

Proper Mickey Mouse track in it. Statement. Proper statement. As I'm saying, it's like, it's easy. It's too easy. Yeah. Fair play to you, Max.

Yeah, fair play to you. And as I mentioned, it's not fair that you can get this right as well. It's not cool. It's not cool, man. Okay. We're going to take our final short break. we're going to be playing late faking after this.

We're actually quite like a sandwiching, I'm quite hungry. I can get some food in a minute, mate. Tacos have not kept me going all day. I think I fancy pizza when Ben said pizza. You always fancy pizza. We'll have a pizza. From ASTA? No.

No. Big moose. You know these things you just turn up say, aye. Ow! Okay, here we go. Live and in person. It's late faking.

That's live. Oh, damn it. That's the wrong jingle. It's a blue one. We don't need you for this. It's a blue one. I remember. It's spot on.

This is the late faking game where one answer is fake and the other one's all right. So help me, Christ, I'll make my decision in a second, Sam. You're going to have to wait. Because Ben made this game so hard and I'm down by five. That jingle, not written by me, has cursed. me for life. And it's not once have you ever been down by five. True. We'll find a way in one of these games to be down by five. Oh, because we'll say we'll find a way and I'll lose and I'll be down by five. Yeah. Okay. So, late faking, Harry versus Sam and the game is this. There are six questions

in front of me and there are four answers that belong as part of a category. However, one of them is a fake. They don't belong to whatever the category I say. They have to identify which is the fake. They're a fraud. Yeah, and you have to say it like that. You are a fraud. We will start this game with Mr. Harry Ead. Oh, what number would you like?

Five, please. Number five. Oh, that's an interesting choice. I've enjoyed that. Okay. Oh, no. I like a few of these, but... Okay.

I'm going to give you three. four names of corners at Hockenheim. But old or new? No. Got it. One of them doesn't exist. Sure. I know one corner name at Hockenheim.

Good thing you ain't got this one. Apulcuchin. Oh yeah. That's like Apple Kitchen, just with an accent. Apple Kedgin. Nord Curve. Okay. Mercedes.

And Sax. Where's parabolic on all this? It is a corner I know, sorry, I go. One of those is not a corner name. Those are all quite believable. Well, it's the second one. The Nord Curve.

I'm going to go for the first one, the Apple Kitchen one. Harry's on the board. That is true. That was not a corner name. What is it mean? That is German for Apple Pie. Oh, I wasn't far off.

Apple Kitchen. Afton. Nord Curve is the first corner. Yeah, the fast right-hander. And then Mercedes is the left-hander. By the Mercedes stand. That makes a lot of sense. And then Sax is the one where Vettel dropped it.

Let's not bring that up. Good start. 1-0 to Harry Ead. Sam, what number would you like? One to six, but not five. I'll have number two. Number two. Oh, I like this one.

Oh, no. They're all fake games. Yeah, maybe. Four names. Great. One of them has raced in F1. Oh my God. Which one is it?

So one has racing F1. One has. You have to identify which one has. It's already lost it, folks. Come on, Ben. Rod Stewart. Neil Diamond. Da-da-da-da.

Rum, rum. Tom Jones. Oh, Tom Jones. Sex bomb. And George Michael. One of those has raced in F1, but which one is it? Got to be Neil Diamond. It's not Neil Diamond.

Oh, no. Little did you know that our old very own sex bomb, Tom Jones. Oh, Tom Jones. It might, to be fair, be a different Tom Jones. But Tom Jones has raced an F1. It can turn me on. Now what, I'll take the loss for that. That's great.

Raced in the Canadian Grand Prix in 1967, I think it was. Fair enough. Well, Tom. What a career is that? Yeah, I know, right. Several number ones. I'm racing F1? Little known, yeah.

Okay, Harry, back to you. Chance to make it a 2-0 lead. What number would you like? Number one, please. Number one. Four drivers here. Oh, no. Three of them have had podiums at the Mexican Grand Prix.

One of them hasn't. And all from the 70s. They are not from the 70s, though. Sebastian Vettel. Carlos Sines, Kimmy Rikinen, and Nico Rosberg. One of them hasn't.

One of them has not had a podium at the Mexican Grand Prix. Oh, man. Oh, me. I will go with Carlos Sines. Smooth operator. Would you have gone for the sign?

I don't know. Say yes. Yes. Well, you'd have been right as well, Tom. Carlos Sines is the correct answer. So, Sebastian Vettel, he was on the podium.

multiple times. Reichen and was at least once, maybe twice. I didn't write it down. He definitely made it once. It was that one time when Wistappen got the podium, but then got taken off the podium, then Reichen had got the podium

and then taken off it or something as well. Yeah, that was funny, wasn't it? And Nico Rosberg won't the first race? The return race after it had been off the calendar for quite a while in 2015. I almost went for Rosberg because I couldn't think whether he wasn't on the

podium in that year in 16. That was the only podium he had, I think, is winning he won. Ever. Yeah. Ever, yeah. But I'd completely forgot only won this race. The only world champion with only one podium.

I'm poor. 2-0. Good. Need some points, Sam. What number are you having? Tell me something I don't know, Ben. Number six, please. Number six.

Ever written there? Oh, my God. I take the point. Every time. Okay. Four drivers. Oh. Three of them had a podium in 2014.

I don't remember that year. One of them didn't. Louis Hamilton. Sergio Perez. Right. Kimmy Reichenen. Right. Felipe Mesa.

Filippe, baby. Fernando Alonzo. One of them didn't have a podium in 2014. Alonso. What would you have gone for? Not Alonzo. Is it Perez? Not Perez.

you've got two left Massa and Reiklan Rykenen would have been the correct answer yet so bad at history Perez had a podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix that year Alonzo had two podiums

I can't remember where they were and then Massa had three he had two right towards the end of the season and alongside moved at that point last year at Fezer I think that was what I couldn't remember if it was 14 or 15 that he moved Reikinen had a nightmare year

I think he only had like 50 or 60 points or something. Wasn't he in a crug bucket of a car though. He was in the Ferrari. So it was a long time. Oh, I keep forgetting that those two were together. That's a weird partnership. It's a weird partnership, isn't it?

Yeah. All right, back to you, Harry. Clean sweep. You've got either number three or number four. Pick number three minutes. Number four. Four drivers. Three.

Three. Four drivers. Three of them have been teammates. to Giancarlo Fizsichela. Steel. You need to, you wish. You need to identify the driver that was never a teammate to Fizakella.

Okay. Takumasato. Adrian Sutil. Jensen Button. Pedro de la Rosa. Didn't plan B sing a song about Pedro de la Rosa? Plan B?

Yeah. Go on. What's the joke? Charmaine Dele Rosa. Right, okay. Great son. I'm going to go for Charmaine de la Rosa. You would be right to go for Deloresa.

Steele. Charmaine de Barroso. He's stolen the point. It's getting close. No real. Back. Fourth. Jensen Batten was teammates with Fizekle

at Benetton in 2001. Takumasato and Fizakela were teammates at Jordan in O2. And then Soutil was Fisichel of last teammate. at Force India in 08 and 09. Enjoyed this game. So, there remains just one.

What number will you like, Sam? Pick number three, my lord. I think I'll go four. Three! Sorry, have phone users. Okay, four drivers, three of them raced against Scott Speed. One of them never did.

Oh, I just got to get all of them wrong. Raced against him, not even his teammate. No. It's on the grid or something. the grid with Scott Speed at some point. And we're not including eye racing. Not that Scott Speed takes part in that because he's banned. You're banned.

Tiago Montero. Right. Christian Cleon. Yeah. U.G. Idae. And Lorraine Carter Cayenne. Um, I know, Montero. Not Montero.

Shocker. He's got another one wrong. Cartagian? Cartagian, yeah. So Cartyane had left the sport at the end of 05. and then Scott Speed came in in 06. Well, Tera was still there at 06. Yeah, that was his last season, I think. 05, 06.

He was in Midland. Yeah. I thought he was gone before Speed joined. And of course, Big UG was there. Yeah, I knew that one. Big UG. Okay, let me check the scores. I'm not five down, but I am three down.

Three. Three. That is the most comprehensive score you could possibly get in this game. I'd like to steal those three points. Okay. For three points. I was going to say so I've got nothing.

Got a real burn on there. Got nothing left. It's gone now, man. Go on, Ben. Go on, get one. Still there. Go on, free shot. Go on.

Dees nuts. Right, that's it. Good. Over 100,000 of you listening every month. Oh, dear. Okay. So that's it for this in-person episode. Sam, obviously we made a massive announcement to start this episode, which feels like two years ago now.

It's been a long one. Yeah. Just recap that. And also, is there anything else that the lovely listeners should know where to find us? Folks, you've just heard an in-person episode. Would you want to see you one? Oh. Because there's a live show.

All right. Hattning on the 19th of October, which is the Thursday at a lovely cider place been called Moon Tower Sider. Moon Town Sider. Yep. Moving on. Folks, you can pick up your tickets early if you're on Patreon. They are an early access little perk for all of you.

No matter what tier you're in. And yes, if you're not a member of Patreon, but you'd like to join to get access to that, you can. That will work for you, but you're going to be quick because we are hoping. Because they're going to sell out. So long fast.

Please. Maybe. Oh, God. I've never pleaded for anything more, but please buy a ticket, honestly. Other than that, though, Patreon has some great benefits. You know, you can get ag-free episodes. Every episode is ad-free.

I'm not at the tier you're on. You also get a birthday shoutout, and that is going to be on the top tier with Bureau of Breaking. And in the middle, you get lovely things like merch discounts. You do? And other such wonderful benefits. So, you know, give it a look. Have a little gander. It massively helps us out as well.

Like, genuinely, it takes us a step closer to doing this full time. The lovely equipment we're using now was all purchased because of a lot of people that pay for Patreon. So thank you. If you don't want Patreon, but you do think, oh, I chat to more like-minded F-1 people. And a lot of you in the US have said this. You've joined. You don't know a lot of people in your area. that, you know, talk about F1, the Discord is available.

The link is in the discreppy, and you can click on it and join it. It's free. If you don't know what Discord is, it's free. It's a series of channels that we run that just have lovely people chatting F1, sport, movies, creative stuff, general life. Get involved. It's really lovely. Other than that, social media, late breaking F1, we're on Twitter,

which is no longer called Twitter, but I'm going to keep calling it that. One X. We're on. We're on Instagram. And... Threads. Ben, if you're down in the case, where are we? We're on TikTok.

There we go. We're breaking it down. We tickle talks. And we tickle talks. Damn right, we do. You goddamn right, baby. Baby lady. Finally, if you think,

we should advertise us at the start of the episode and go, look, don't listen to us, watch us, come to YouTube, late breaking F1. Road to 10K. Honestly, 5K will be a great stuff. Silverstone, 23, we're going to make it. Before we passed it, mate. Are there any other events that are happening at Silverstone this year?

to a GP this weekend. I don't think we're going to make it by then. Is there anything happened later in the year? The BRDCs. The Christmas Party that we're not invited to. We'll get it by then. Honestly, folks, if you haven't, please give a little look on YouTube and subscribe

because that's another way that we can, obviously, mongotise and it allows us to do it full time. We do appreciate that support. I've waffled on more than enough. It's been a big of a long one, but it's because we're all together, we're being silly. Folks are on Patreon, we're breaking.

It's going to be recorded this weekend as well. So, you know, look forward to that. With video this time. With actual video, which didn't fail twice last time. We really tried. It was painful. In the meantime, I've been Tangian Sage. I've been Ben Hocking.

I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. Anything silly to say? Three. I knew that's good I held off as well. Three. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.