The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Red Bull and Ford team up! A good move?

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

A busy week for F1 news, as Red Bull and Ford announce a partnership for 2026 and Ben Sulayem steps down from his F1 FIA role. The LB boys break down the news, and discuss much more on another chaos filled Late Braking F1 Podcast... JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAm SUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebraking TWEET us @LBraking BUY our merch: https://late-braking-f1-podcast.creator-spring.com/ SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/lbf1 Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 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 tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. We're back with another pre-season episode. Don't worry, folks. We are getting very close now as we're. saw into the month of February.

We've got episodes coming twice weekly from now until the end of the year. We are here for you. We've got another great episode. I mean, Sam, you're wrapped up in a blanket. How's it going? I'm having a lovely time. I'm as snug as a bug.

I'm like a big, toasty mushroom. You know that episode of The Simpsons where Homer stays at home while the rest of the family go to church and it's going and then he makes that weird butter roll thing where he puts the waffle batter around a sick of It's it. That's how I feel right now. And it is glorious.

That's early days for a Simpsons reference, actually. Even by our standards, that's too early. Well, I was watching The Simpsons back then. No, I meant too early in the podcast. Oh, sorry. We'll put it on pause. Let's move on to Formula One. Already had our first misunderstanding of the podcast. Got a stack to line up for you. As usual, the normal amount of idiocy is on its way for the rest of this episode.

We're playing pump the brakes later on, where the three of us will give some ridiculous opinions. We'll have to see whether we agree with each other. Christian Horner, suggesting that Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen is the best partnership that Red Bull have ever had, our thoughts on that take. Whether we'll see a different Lewis Hamilton in 2023. That's coming up. And news that came out today that Mohammed Ben Suleim is handing over the reins of F1 to someone else.

So for about the fifth week in a row, Ben Suleum has managed to make the list of things that we discuss. And we'll kick off in a little bit with Red Bull and Ford, because that just about missed our last episode. Not cool, guys. Just a quick one to start because very sad news came out a little after we recorded last week's episode, which was the death of Jean-Pierre Jabouet at the age of 80.

Now, he holds a very special place in late-breaking history, as I'm sure many of you are aware, a late-breaking call of famer for the very reason that Sam couldn't pronounce the two-time F-1 race winner's name. Sorry. But, of course, we want to extend our well-wishes to the friends and family. And I did just want to say very quickly, because Jabu, two-time race winner in the late 70s and early 80s, which is a particularly interesting period for me when I look back at F1 history. Really great driver.

And if Renault had been slightly more reliable in those days, he might well have won more than just the two Grand Prix. A very successful driver. I just wanted to say one thing on this, if you ask many people out there what the best on-track battle of all time is, a lot of people would go and say it was Gil Villene Arnaud from Dijon back in the late 70s.

It always comes up. You'll see it on social media, on YouTube, compilations, and the like. And it'll do the rounds every few months or so. And it's an amazing battle and one that should really very much be enjoyed. I'd just advise you, next time you watch that, just bear in mind, it's a battle for second place because Jean-Pierre Jaubuie is 15 seconds up the road winning that Grand Prix. he was a very talented driver and yeah

like you say well wishes go out to his family and friends as the world's longest I guess going that that was a long one well yeah do you know I realised then

and you know I realised it before me and Sam could not be left on our own to do this podcast oh we could we would just say other things that are not related to history yeah yeah That was just very eloquent and well said, Ben. Two things that you and I are not.

Something would have been on fire. I'd have dropped something on the floor. You've got a fire alarm, though, so we're all right? I do. Well, we've got well over an hour to make up for it in terms of terrible content, so we might as well make a start now, making it start with Red Bull and Ford.

So the announcement at the end of last week that, heavily rumoured, I mean, Red Bull were doing their launch in America. smell a bit like something was going on and they are teaming up with Ford. So on the 2026 power unit that Red Bull are building, Ford will be handling technical expertise and being just an overall partner to them in that respect. So it's an eight-year agreement they've got that will see them through to the end of the next power unit regulations that would end in 2030.

What was your reaction to the news, Sam? And how much of a positive is this for all of the parties, involved? I was so happy that Ford are coming back into Formula One. Ford for me have been such a, whether it's in Formula One, normal driving of cars or watching other sports, you know, like the likes of Rally or, you know, WEC. They have been such a game stay in motorsport for the entire time that I've been aware that cars exist. So knowing that they're coming back into Formula One, I was ecstatic to see. I think it's a great powerful partnership is Red Bull and Ford. And of course, the team that was Ford beforehand where Jaguar was last partnered with them have become, of course, Red Bull now, right?

So there's a history that transcribed through there. And what's really lovely about Ford is they're not a nobody who comes to Formula One either. They've got a very rich history. You know, think of some of the drivers that have won in theory, constructors or drivers' titles, within a Ford built car or a Ford powered car, whether it be by Cosworth Engines or because Ford itself. You know, big names. I've got them written down here because Benel love this. I've made some notes.

You know, you've got big names such as, you know, Graham Hill and the Lotus. You've got Jackie Stewart was there, James Hunt, Mario Andretti, even the likes of Michael Schumacher and his Benetton in 94. And to top it all off, Shankalo Fisicella won in 2003. Oh, yes.

A race, not a championship. Come on. Nonetheless, Ford are huge in cars, in racing. They're, I think, the third most successful team of all time behind Ferrari Mercedes or tied-old championships. I'm saying something crazy like that. They've been around for over 150 Grand Prix in terms of grumpy wings.

They know what they're doing. They are a real historic, brilliant brand when it comes to all things cars. And knowing they're partnering up with an aerodynamic powerhouse that is Red Bull, it's fantastic. I'm so exciting to see them coming to the sport. And knowing that we're going to have Audi, Ford, you know, there's mentions, of course,

of Angretti and Cadillac coming in. Is it Kagalac or Chevrolet? My guess made that up? Cadillac. It is Cadillac. Good. thinking of indica. Honestly,

it's huge. Honda are going to be here as well as a main power you think with Red Bull. They can still be here in 2026. Mercedes, Ferrari. Formula One are starting to look good in terms of the amount of manufacturers.

You know, Reno in the form of Alpina here as well, it's all looking really exciting that we could have a number of different suppliers on our cards. And it's what is needing in Formula One and forward in one of those games that should be here. I'm very happy. What was your reaction to the news,

Harry, and again, do you think this is a positive both of the parties involved and indeed F1 at large? Firstly, kudos to, you know, both parties, PR teams, whatever, keeping this one under routes because we've heard about Audi and Porsche for about the last 10 years coming into F1. Ford, it was like a week before and, oh yeah, they might be going there, going to F1.

Even when we knew the launch of Red Bull was in New York, no one was like, oh, I wonder if that's to do with Ford. No one said that. maybe it was awesome. Maybe they just saw they were doing it in New York and thought, oh, fancy partner and up. It's actually been a thing for a week. Christian Horner and co.

Didn't know Ford were coming. They're like, oh, God, hello. Who are these blue lads? Yes, we're the blue lads. Well, that sounds like a great name for a band. Anyway. The blue lads. Blue lads.

We just sing Eiffon 45. I'm blue. I forgot what I was trying to say. Anyway, so kudos for them for keeping that one under the wraps. But what I was going to say is, I feel like this phrase is something we've said a lot on the podcast about Formula One and its relationship with America

and the ever-increasing relationship and love in America for F-1. But this is almost bigger than any other thing that's happened for F-1 in terms of its American relationship. I know it had been there before, but towards the latter end of Jaguar they were only there as Cosworth and that wasn't really a relationship worth talking about.

This is full on. They're coming back big time to the sort of back to the level they were in some of those championship wins that Sam mentioned previously. So it's good. It's good for F1.

Yes, we may have not got Porsche but we're getting Audi and we're getting forward as well. This is a good sign for F1. And a good move by Red Bull, I think. It's clear that Honda weren't going to be around forever.

They sort of weren't supposed to be here now, well, they are a bit. So I think it's a good move. And as we say, they're both blue. So, you know, color schemes. That works. Color schemes. But yeah, color schemes work.

So, yeah, it's quite a powerhouse. If Honda are a powerhouse, Ford are a powerhouse. of the motor industry. So, yeah, it's going to be exciting times for F1 lie ahead. You also see unrelated, but on the American point, that even though we've not had a race there, is it Clark County?

I've said, Las Vegas and have a GP until 2032. All right, then, guys, sure. We keep going there for the next 10 years. I did see someone likening that to agreeing to a marriage before going on the first date. but yeah, interesting. That was all my points. You may go to you, Ben.

Oh, good. Thank you. Good points all round. Yeah, this is a massive win for literally everyone involved unless maybe for the other teams. But in terms of Red Bull, in terms of Ford, in terms of F1,

it's win, win, win. So from Red Bull's perspective, I know they've done a lot of, let's call it, Mercedes poaching, which sounds like a very interesting sport, but it takes more than just bringing in some personnel from other teams in order to make this happen. It's still a massive undertaking for a company that a couple of years ago didn't exist, Red Bull Power trains. So they still do have a bit of an uphill struggle to get on a par with everyone else for 2026. Like

say, you can get the people in, but that can't be. be, that can't just be it. Having these technical partners and having a massive partnership with Ford, that should really help them out. Ford are going to be there to contribute their resource, to contribute expertise. As far as I'm aware, Ford will have workers in the UK on this project. So they are going to be very integrated with this. And I think that's going to massively help Red Bull Power trains. From Ford's perspective, it's great because it's essentially a massive marketing exercise from their side. So fantastic. They're going to do good from it. And actually, there is somewhat of a value exchange here because Ford have said that the aerodynamics

department of Red Bull, they are likely going to get something from that to use on their road cars. Obviously, we know Red Bull aerodynamically are superior to not just anyone in F1, but just anyone in the world. They're brilliant in that respect. And Ford are fully planning on learning from Red Bull for use on their roadcar. So they win in that respect too. And then for F1, I mean, yeah, they're the biggest US car manufacturer and they're worth like 100, they turn over 150 billion a year. Yeah, it's probably a positive for F1.

Just going to put it out there. Just a bit of a hint. There's someone who's just a couple billion behind that. They go by the name of General Motors. Might want to think about tapping them up as well, F1. I thought you were going to say us for me. No, no, we're a few positions behind that again. But as well as it being a massive boost

because it's such a huge manufacturer, it's not actually a huge risk for F1 either because if you think, Ford, hypothetically, a Ford within their statement did say that one of the reasons they're pursuing this as an opportunity is, I think they use the term electrification.

but essentially, you know what I mean when I say that term. So, you know, there is a risk that, say, 20, 30 rolls around and the next power units come in, and the regulations aren't geared enough towards electric for their liking, and they might want to go off, which hopefully doesn't happen, but let's say it can. Even at that point, it's not disastrous because, firstly, Red Bull are in a far stronger position than what they are now in terms of their own internal knowledge. So they wouldn't lose out as much as they would now. But also, we've seen in the past where manufacturers have had huge control over F1. If you think about to 0809, when Honda and Toyota and BMW, you know,

they all exited. The only one that really hurt F1 was Toyota because they were a factory team and they were gone. That was a manufacturer gone. That was a team gone. If Ford left, Red Bull is still there. So there's less risk from F1's perspective. I think this is win, win, win, win. There's only one issue I've potentially got about this. There is one potential issue here. I'm going to run through what a few things that Red Bull have done in their history with their F1 cars. They have done an ice run in Montreal. They've done a Himalayan hill climb. They've done a dirt track run in Austin.

They put David Kulthard about 700 feet above sea level in Australia a couple of years back. I was that a couple of years ago now. Vestappen went down a ski slope in a Red Bull car and they did a zero gravity pit stop. All of those are the things that Red Bull have done. And what we witnessed last Friday was easily the most boring thing I've ever seen in my life. So I am really concerned that from a car, cultural perspective, there isn't a match here because Red Bull have never been about that corporate life. And that, like I say, that event on Friday, watching paint dry. The question

of the week that will come later on in the show, folks, was what would be more interesting than it? Literally everything and anything. So that concerns me a little bit. But other than that, I'm having good with this. Do you remember when they, they did like 20 minutes talking to some skiers? That was good. Good. Cheers. No matter of that. Love skiing.

A great sport. Don't need MAPF on lunch. Don't need it. Unless, as Ben already mentioned, the car is going down the hill on a set of skis into the studio at full speed, then I'll go, all right, I'll watch it.

But it wasn't. But that's what Red Bulls all about, and it was just completely stripped out of them. So it concerns me a bit. From Andretti Cadillac General Motors' perspective, Do you think this helps their case some? Or I don't know, because on the flip side here,

one of the big perks of Andretti Cadillac is the American appeal. Now, you've already got the imposters in the sport, which are Haas, who in their Twitter bio have quoted that they are the American F1 team. Savage. In imposters. I'm calling them out loud and proud.

They claim to be the American F1 team and yet have literally zero American identity going through them. And so the point of Andretti Cadillac was to almost feel that. We all knew that as watchers, as enjoyers of the sport, that America is the growth area for Formula One right now. The North American continent is where we're growing. Of course, Checo is fulfilling that Mexican standpoint. Brilliantly.

Logan Sargent is starting to come into the sport. And of course, we have the goat, Iqlathie, pick up the Canadian aspect. And Lance Dordle isn't doing too badly either in supporting that point of view. But America needs the push, you know, out of all those. areas in North America, and you think, Gretti Kagalak, they're going up in the American punks, they're bringing the, you know, the bald eagle,

they're bringing the red, white and blue, they're coming with their yihaz, and they are having a great time moving forward, right? America. America, and that's what I want in an American team. It's what you do, it's what I want. I want hot dogs and burgers

on the side of a car, or as a lot of so we call it, a young dog. Stereauties. But Ford, Ford, are The OGs, right, for automotive creations, for mass production, Ford are from the outside world, for what looking into America, they are American automation. So the idea of them coming into Formula One, I think this kicks and Dretti Kagalak down and

not. Now, if you're a marketer, on the other hand, if you're all sat there as maybe a young junior marketer in Liberty Media and you're going, is there anything good here? Is there anything we should be doing? create the world's biggest rivalry between Andretti Cadillac and Red Bull Ford. And you could have like a full versus Ferrari WEC level of, you know, craziness going on there. You know the Shelby build up, of course, the Ferrari old school stuff. You've also seen the film, you know, the history.

That could happen in Formula One properly with two American giants and do it. And actual Ferrari. And actual Ferrari also there. You know, that's great. Zach Brown's there. He could say some stuff in an American accent as well. Honestly, I don't know if this helps on Greta Kagalak, but if I'm a junior margater at Liberty Walk,

I'm spinning that any way I can to get them both in there. Because from a viewer's point of view, I want that rivalry to happen year and year out. I would absolutely love it to happen. Good. Good stuff all round. We're going to take a short break before we go on to our next topic, which is looking at Mohammed Ben Suli.

I'm stepping away from F1 responsibility after this. So firstly, big thank you to Mohammed Ben Suleem for doing this on a Wednesday. Correct, that is what you do, F1 personnel and F1 teams. You announce things before we record the podcast. Obviously, Mohamed Ben Suleim, head of the FIA, has stepped back from the day-to-day operations relating to Formula One. So Ben Suleim's time as president has included some controversies, particularly as of late relating to the Andretti Cadillac bid to become the 11th team in F1, but there's been some others over the last year or so as well.

Ben Suleem wrote a letter to all of the teams and has handed over to Nicholas Tombassiz, who is an ex-Ferrari guy and ex-head of technical department at the FIA. Harry, do you think this will help the FIA and the F-1's rather strained relationship? Yes. I think Nicholas, and Stefano Domenicali,

probably old chums, aren't they? So I think we're fine on that front. What a bizarre saga. And we didn't see that one coming, did, but I thought this was going to go on all year. But I think the whole thing was the FAA and F1 trying to flex their muscles between each other. And the FIA have been shafted,

to be quite frank, because I'm sure there was more going on behind the scenes. But it seemed like yesterday, this sort of flew under the radar at least it did for me but there was a few articles floating about that's Steve Sunday Stefano Di Menna Carly saying

that he backed the drivers on the stance on banning, not banning political statements day after Ben's gone not you Ben, other Ben. Cheers everyone. Sorry, Ben. And it's just like that. Domenicali has said not a lot on any any of the random shizzle that Ben Suleum kept tweeting

of saying at award ceremonies. He does one statement on this. I know. He says one thing on this and it's game over. So I think back in the day, I think the FIA and F1, perhaps the FIA had more power than natural F1 did arguably. I'm thinking about to Mosley, Max Mosley, Bernie Eckerson, days, a debate there.

But certainly they were more on it. equal footing when it came to power. F1 as an entity, as a sport, we've just been talking about it, you know, in America, it's,

it's big. It's quite big now. I think people don't quite realize how big it's becoming. And one of those people is Ben Sillium. So, yeah, a shocker.

But I think this year going forward, given who is now going to be the person in charge for F1, the FIA, I doubt there's going to be much friction between friction between the two. And for our sake, hopefully, I don't know, hopefully there can be some change within the FAA

because I'm sure that F1 were getting fed up, when I say F1, the management at FOM at Liberty Media, getting fed up with weird, crap decisions, things like Max Verstappen being champion, but not knowing he's world champion and making sit in a chair, but he didn't know it to sit in a chair. you want F1, that's not a good look for F1, especially when it's becoming so big.

So hopefully this is a time for change for the FIA because I think I don't see F1 putting up with much more of that, especially with a record number of eyeballs looking at the sport each weekend. So fingers crossed, it gets better. Yeah, my instinct is that it will improve the relationship, at least. somewhat because with Mohammed Ben-Suliam, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his ideas, it's tough to argue that he wasn't really quite abrasive in his style and his approach. And I think it rubbed up people the wrong way within Formula One. That was pretty clear.

So again, his opinions, his ideas, agree or disagree with them. the way it went about them was never going to help overall matters. And provided that Tombas's is different in approach, which the instinct is, yes, he likely will be, much more of an XF1 guy, it should improve the tension at least from an outward perspective and just overall smoothing the relationship over from a public-facing point of view.

Whether it will help inwardly or not, I'm not 100% certain. I think it will help a little bit. But the fact of the matter is the core issues, if the FIA themselves still have them, not much should actually change. It comes down to whether you believe Ben Sulean was acting as a bit of a maverick in all this.

Was he out there for himself? Was he out there saying things that he believed in that others within the FIA might not necessarily have agreed with him on. If you think he was a maverick, then things should definitely improve. But if he wasn't, then the people who are going to pick this up are surely going to follow the same ideas. For example, with Andretti Cadillac and whether they should come into the sport, Ben Sulean was very clear that that's what he wanted.

If that's something the entire FIA wants, what's going to change? It's perhaps going to be a slightly smoother way of negotiating now. but they still want different things, the FIA and F1. So I don't think it's going to resolve everything overnight. And I mean, Mahabim Ben Suleyam was always set on moving away from the F1 side of things. That was always going to happen. Remember, he's the head of the FIA. That is the governing body of motorsport at large.

There are so many other sports that sit under his domain outside of F1. So it wasn't really natural for him to take a position so influential into one sport. So this was always going to happen. I think the timeline has probably been sped up a little bit as a result of the controversies of the last year. But this was always going to happen. That's just worth bearing in mind as well. Sam, do you think the relationship will improve from here? I mean, I can't see how it doesn't. I mean, Tom Bassett is going to have to coming and be an absolute fool if it's going to get worse. I mean, Mohammed Ben Silliam became more like Mahalo Ben's silly man

by the end of his reign in the FIA. Oh, come on. Yes! We're going in there. Hang on a minute, Sam. Hang on. Sorry, folks.

Fair with. Nice, there we go. Yeah. Thank you, crowd. I thought we're going to get to the drums. Bit delayed. All right. Yeah.

Do you get the banding? It's because they're all in the audience with like a sign saying laugh now. We've got to put them up. Yes, guys. if you could just be a little bit better on timing for that because I was thinking about that joke the entire time the boys were speaking.

Anyway, MBS, right? If you look at the timeline of his control of the sport since the controversies of Aberdabee when Hamilton and Vastaffin went wheel to wheel and the championship was, you know, decided, well, you know, without proper cause, we'll say politely. You know, he took a long...

He took a long time to resolve that matter right, that fell on his shoulders and it took a long time. People weren't happy with how long that took. And then you look at the other controversies that have come out recently. And one of them, as Harry mentioned, you know, the Japanese Grand Prix where the crowning of Max Mustafa was, it was embarrassing. The fact that no teams understood what the rules were doing, no broadcasting of what was going on.

Even the most, you know, obsessed fans didn't catch on or understand what was happening. That was just poor communication from him. You move forward again and you get to the talking about the valuation of another a company that you're meant to be working so closely with. That is such a silly thing to do. That is such a rookie mistake to make. You know, that would be like me saying that,

oh, I don't think Harry and Ben get along very well with each other, actually. And then people would go, oh, maybe there's a riff there. Well, actually, you know,

it's very true, but probably you can use a better example, actually, because that is quite factual. And then, you know, you've got other things that came out alongside it, such as the misogynistic comments that he was making earlier on in his career.

And when that then coincides with him being the mouthpiece of an entity that says, we don't want drivers to speak up or say what they really believe in. Those two things so close together do not coincide well with one another. They do not look good as a pairing. The only good thing I would say that MBS has worked towards in the last year to 18 months is the want to bringing more teams. And that is purely from a consumer of Formula One.

I agree with that point. But I don't think that is down just to him. I think that could be down to simply anyone that wants to see Formula One expand, quite frankly. So I think he needs to stop playing out politics in, you know, open daylight. And he needs to stop using social media as his way of discussing rather big issues that can affect a lot of different parts of the sport. And I'm hoping that when essentially the old school Ferrari team are going to gness with themselves in at the very top of this hierarchy, they're all going to be pounds, they're all going to pat each other on the back. and they're all hopefully going to maybe shut the doors, shut the windows,

have a little chat behind the scenes, and then come out from that room and all go in the same direction, and we're going to see a very nice, cohesive pair of units that work together, comfortably together. We grow the sport continually, and it's nice, cohesive, positive. NBS wasn't doing that. It was all very abrasive and difficult and restrictive in what was being said. And I think he screwed it up for himself.

So I'm glad this change is coming. I think you're right, Ben, that I think this change was expedited, quite dramatically. Dramastically? Is it a word? Dramatically? Or drastically? I like it. I like both. Yeah. Dramatically. I like that. I'm out of the moment. Yeah, ironically,

I said we can stop. Don't bring that back. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. I think it's a good turn. And I'm going to be honest with you. If I'm another part of the FIA or another sport under the FIA's reign, and I'm hearing the MBS is taking a step back from F1 and going to be looking at other areas, I'm going, no, no, no, no, no, please not be me.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't be us next. Please go somewhere else. That's how I'll be viewing it, because I do not think this has been a successful time being. I just want to pick up on one thing that you said, Sam, in terms of what you determined to be the positive about his reign, which has been the push towards getting that 11th team

and the support of the Andretti Cadillac bid and his surprise at it not being better taken up by Formula One. are you concerned that without someone applying the public pressure like Ben Suleim has, do you think that the momentum on that slows down at all? Yeah, 100%. I think there needs to be a vocal in the press mouthpiece that is within already the Formula One sphere to back up those kind of claims. Because it isn't just like Gretti Kagalak, right?

You know, anyone else could come along. What happens if we see, I don't know, BMW turn around and go, why will I join? And there's no one there to back them up, to voice it, to get them out. we want more teams in Formula. We want to see that grid growing, at least by a couple. If no one is backing them up internally, it's very hard to get your argument heard. Any thoughts on that one, Harry?

Do you think it becomes easier or more difficult for that 11th team to make an appearance? I don't know, because I don't know. We said this before, the whole wanting a team on the grid versus not wanting a team on the grid. Is it actually their feelings, or are they just being petty and having an argument? And I still think maybe it was the latter, and they were just, like I said, trying to flex their muscles.

So if I was on Michael Andretti, I'd let it cool off a bit, let everyone simmer down and then come back to it in a couple of months' time. But I don't think it actually overall wound up making a difference because I think F1, the people in charge of F1 aren't stupid. they know that Andretti Cadillac is an attractive proposition. Yes, there may be some kickback from the F-1s, the F-1 teams that are currently there. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't think it'll make too much difference overall. But, yeah, just chill out for a bit.

Andretti Cadillac, just sit back. Simmer down. Is that a British reference? Take it off the boil. It feels British. It's got to be a British thing, yeah. It's used a lot down where we're from. Simmer down.

Never mind. I got a question for your audience, because obviously I say never mind that silly voice. Do you know how podcasts work? I'm not expecting an immediate response. I'm not saying they're going, oh, Joe from Tennessee, can you come and give me a

answer on the mic. No, if there is a joke from Tennessee, I'm not specifically talking to you either. My point is, do people know where that comes from? We're very interesting to know if you understand what that is referencing. And I go, never mind, because it's on the show a lot. It really is. Well, I'll tell you what, we'll give everyone a couple of minutes to go and find the answer as we go to our next outbreak and then we'll be back to discuss a bit of Lewis Hamilton in our third topic. before we get going on the next segment just a shout out that we do have Patreon

so if you are willing and able to give us a couple of quid every month for a bit more exclusive content a few more perks then you can do so the link will be in the description as it always is but let's move on to one of our favourites

one Pablo Montoya Chunky boy Mr Chonkeys Yes, one Pablo Montoya. So he was recently speaking to the Dutch edition of motorsport.com, and he had this to say about Lewis Hamilton. Lewis is a driver where if there is an opportunity to shine, he will grab it with both hands.

But when he lies fifth and knows there is no more in it than that, you won't see him driving like his life depends on it. Then he will just do what it takes to secure that fifth spot. but on the other side of the garage with George, you have a young driver who goes flat out every race and wants to prove himself every time. However, I expect that if Mercedes has a winning car again, we are going to see a different Lewis Hamilton.

What are your thoughts on that one, Harry? Do you agree with what Mr. Montoya is saying? When you said, before you read out what he said, I thought he had an audio clip of Mr. Chunky for a second. Oh, sorry. I got real excited. Oh, sorry about that. No, that's right.

Don't mind about it. Um, he's from one problem Montoya, he's talking pretty sensible stuff here. I think, um, no, I'm really joking, this chunky. Um, but yeah, I think it's fair. Like that, that comes with, with, uh, age and wisdom for an experience for Lewis Hamilton. Yes, he'll always be in it for the win. But if it's a day where fifth is the, the maximum,

he's not going to risk it all for what is something, you know, a fourth place. isn't obtainable. So, yeah, I think that's wise. And he's right, right in the sense of George Russell too. Probably reminds him of himself a bit when he joined F1, I guess. Montoya just did everything 100% flat out. And that was it. I don't think that was F1 specific.

I mean, true, very true, very true. He just did everything flat out. So yeah, so maybe, you know, he's thinking back to his own early career in racing, not as F1. But you're right, if the car is decent this year, you're an idiot if you're rural outlaw, Louis Hamilton, okay? Sorry if you're going to be you an idiot. He's quite good at the F1. I know he didn't have a great year last year, but he's still quite good at the F1. So I think what Bontoy is saying here is sensible stuff.

I hope for a championship fight that Mercedes are good and they get involved with it. But yeah, I'm sure Hounson will be on fine form should the car. It wasn't that he wasn't on fine form last year. He had a few Duff races,

probably more Duff races than we've seen from him for a while, but some mitigating circumstances and it's hard to keep your morale up high all year if you're in a car that's just not capable of fighting for wins. and that's not what you're used to. But, you know, he was still driving very well last year. So, yeah, if the car's on it, Hamilton will be on it.

It's one of the more intriguing matchups when we get to our teammate wars predictions very soon. Russell or Hamilton, who's going to end up with more points, very interested to see who we all go for in that one. Sam, what did you make of Mr. Montoya's comments? As always, Mr. Chunky, you live, love, love, that man, forever together. And he speaks wise words. But I think that those words are good, but they're not just applicable to Lewis. I think when you look at the great F1 drivers, you know, you look at Fernando on also, Max Verstappen, of course, Lewis Hamilton is the given Schumacher, you know, you look at the trajectory of their careers.

And I think I'll get onto the George Drossel point in a moment. But you look at how they perform, right? When they all first came into the sport, they were all pushing for every inch of track, every tenth of a second. At every moment, it was prove myself, get the best out of it,

show what I can do at every single moment, because they all come into the sport, hungry to gain that success. And the best of the best, make it. And they then learn that, you know, patience is a virtue, being consistent is key, delivering when, you know, the fifth place, when the fifth place is all that can be delivered,

is sometimes the vital performance. And I think this is actually a very good reading of the sport from Juan Pablo. And I think he's identified George Russell's talents very, very well in the sense that George Russell is at the start of that journey that we saw from Hamilton, that we saw for the Stappen or Aloncso or Schumacher, all the names that I've mentioned. You know, you look at those young drivers that's George's now, and George is ferocious. It's silly mistakes. It's, we saw last season, but it's also the ability to pull a great performance out the bag, as we saw in Brazil. He has been consistent. His consistent qualifying performances were phenomenal. You know, it is claiming every inch, every tent that he can get. And I think if

George carries on with this success and he follows almost the trajectory that Schumacher at Hamilton, the staff and blah, blah, blah, managed to do, he will then also become the kind of driver that in time goes, this car's only capable of fifth today. I'm going to be securing fifth place today. And I think it shows a great driver if I can do both of those things across their careers. So while I think one public made a brilliant point, I think it is more a universal point for a very, very good driver to be able to do those things. But he's also right. I think if the saying is have a championship winning car, I think Lewis Hamilton smells blood. And I think he will quite happily go in for the kill if it presents itself. Yeah, I understand what Montoya's

getting at here. And I think he's pretty much there in terms of, of what he's trying to say, and I think he is right fundamentally. Lewis Hamilton's approach, there is a distinction, I think, between the approaches of Russell and Hamilton last year specifically, and maybe the way he's categorized it isn't quite correct, but it was almost as if Russell was giving absolutely everything in terms of what was available to him. Hamilton was pushing, Hamilton was pushing the limits of what could be available to him, right?

That's what he was doing all throughout that first half of the season with those experimental setups. Russell was given the best car he's ever had in Formula One by a mile. Lewis Hamilton had the worst car he's had in about nine years. So they had the same car, but their approach to what they had was always going to be very different. And I think Russell did a very good job of maximizing what was available. But it was clear from the off that Hamilton's strategy was not maximizing what he had. available, it was maximising the potential of what he could have. That's why there were a couple of really poor weekends early in that year. Think of not getting out of Q1 at Jedder and

Imala where he, I don't think he had a lap in the top 10, he had a couple of really uncharacteristic Hamilton performances early in that year. And I think, I don't think this is what Montoya's saying. I think there is a narrative that Hamilton can only perform well when he has a good car. I know Alonzo said something similar to those words at the Belgian Grand Prix when they had a crash about only being able to drive at the front. Let it be known that when Hamilton needs to make his way through the field and really dig out a performance and give it his all despite not having a race-winning car, he can and he does. The one that springs to mind is the Spanish Grand Prix last year. you remember he had the contact with Kevin Magnuson on the first lap he was put down to 19th. And I can remember,

remember Sam, you called Hamilton out on that race review episode we did about his team radio and his negativity, which was valid. But in terms of the performance, he churned out. He went from 19th to 5th and he described it as one of the best performances he's ever had. So when he needs to, he can dig in even when that race winning car isn't available.

But overall, his point about Hamilton being pragmatic is spot on. Hamilton is a pragmatic driver. I've been critical that sometimes I think he's too pragmatic. I think there have been occasions in the past couple of years where Hamilton has had, even when Hamilton has had a great car, he's still been too pragmatic. If you think back to, I know we don't like to reference it too often, but 2021 Abidabie, controversy, controversy aside, put that,

side to one moment if you possibly can. There were two opportunities in that race where Hamilton didn't cover the inside and a race in a championship deciding race where Vastappen was able to go up the inside of a corner, the first lap and the last lap. But that was with a race winning car. So I feel like his pragmatism is the same regardless of whether he's fighting for a championship win or not. But overall, I think Montoya's correct with his analysis here.

And as such, I would invite him to provide such excellent analysis on this show because I know that's what he wants. Obviously, if one Pablo Montoya wants to come on the show, he would literally be a top five dream guest of all time to get on this show. I would take it in a heartbeat. A big top five, I could have only had three. True. I consider myself to be about as unbiased as I can possibly be.

But goodness me, I am the biggest one Montoya simp in the world. yeah there ain't go no bias here i love that man beyond all recognition love that man this is a i don't have one montoya story but um obviously you might not know people but i was i am slash was a big shumaka fan michael and nick obviously but you know michael ralph and ralph less of ralph um but when montoya turned up in o one and he and he

put a few you know moves and manners on schumacker didn't like that as a year old. My parents, specifically my dad, thought it would be funny to buy me a Williams jumper. He's one of the few drivers. A few drivers in the history of F1 that hasn't helped me, so I really like it if we can have a photo of us having a cuddle, actually.

One of the few. Yeah. Who has given you a cuddle out of interest, Sam? I wouldn't know. Honestly, the list is too long. I tame a couple, David Coulthard. was one. To name Eddie.

The couple. Eddie Irvine and other. The list could go on. We've only got so long on the podcast. Let's not keep dropping games because, you know, we don't want to get muddles. So let's just crack on with the next topic. All right.

Well, only as long as you promised to tell us that story sometime. Maybe. If you're lucky. I don't think we've ever heard it before. So that would be great. Let's move on because we're going back to what happened. on Friday with the Red Bull Ford announcement. As part of that launch, Christian Horner was being interviewed.

And he said one line that promoted a bit of interest. He said that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez going into 2023 is the best lineup that Red Bull have ever had, which is interesting in its own right, even more interesting when you consider their third reserve test simulator driver Daniel Ricardo was there as well. and was there to witness the whole thing. Sam, were you surprised that he said this? Initially, I was really shocked that he's come out and said this. And not for the reasons you might think.

You sit there and think, and Ben, it's more for what you've hinting at. You look at the drivers that Rebel have hanging their roster previously. As teammates, you know, Daniel Ricardo and Max Verstapp and both teammates together and did a fantastic job at it. But you go further back and you've got the likes of, you know, Sebastian Vessel, the four-time world champion with Daniel Ricardo, who then beat him, remember that year. You often like to think that maybe that's their greatest pairing.

Now, you might be sat there in your car or walk around your house, doing your washing, or even around Asda, buying Wurdybar's going, he's doing it to boost morale. He's doing it, obviously he's doing it to boost morale. He's obviously doing it to make sure that the team is cohesive. The team want to gel together. He's tried to give Sergio Perez the absolute kick up the backside that could go, you could do this, Sergio.

We need a one-two in this championship. you can do it. You're the best guy we've had alongside Max Verstappen. I also think that Christian Horner is looking at it in a slightly different perspective to what we have probably looked at it as. And that is the combination of their current ability as individual drivers.

So I think that he's gone, Max Verstaffin right now is driving at, let's just say, 98% of what Max Verstappen can ever drive at in terms of talent. Whereas beforehand, where Max Verstappen was with Daniel Ricardo, he might have been driving at 75% percent of what he could ever drive at. So that's why it's now a better pairing,

because you're getting a better Max Verstappen, alongside a Sergio Perez, who maybe is, I don't know, 10% worse than what Daniel Ricardo was in, what 2018 or whatever was, and they were at the other team. So I don't think it's that drastically wrong to say that, but I do not think it's the best pairing

that Rebel have ever had in their team. But I think he's done it to continue motivation, to try and give Sergio Perez a boost, because you try and make sure that they, as a team, after we saw the difficulties of what happened at the end of last season are cohesive and together and pushing forward. I think that is the real reason he said this.

Very smart move. Very smart move from Christian Horner. And I wasn't surprised at all that he said this because he's a clever man and he knows exactly what he's doing. And we can try and answer the question that you partially have Sam in terms of does Christian Horner actually think this? Why does he think this? What's his rationale for thinking this?

Ultimately, it's kind of all irrelevant because he's not saying it. because he thinks it. Even if he does, deep down, think that he has got the best pairing he's ever had. That's not why he's saying it. The only reason he's saying this is to boost morale of Perez specifically. I don't think Vestappen needs it, but for Perez, exactly. Christian Horner's job is not to tell the truth. Christian Horner's job is to win, and this statement absolutely supports that objective. If you think Sergio Perez, he is in a really tough position this season

with Daniel Ricardo over his shoulder because there's a few realities which are, Daniel Ricardo was a lot closer to Max Verstappen than Sergio Perez ever has been. Daniel Ricardo got more wins than Sergio Perez has in a worse car every year. And Daniel Ricardo is a bigger name

and a bigger brand. We saw him on one of the US talk shows during the long. We saw him on Stephen Colbert. So, you know, bigger brand, more wins when he was there, closer to Vestappen, and all of that, plus he's a free agent and he's looking over his shoulder. That is a real concern. And that is absolutely Christian Horner's biggest concern this year is Sergio Perez's performance. because if you think back to last year, the competition wasn't close enough. Mercedes had a terrible start. Ferrari fell apart because they're Ferrari.

They had no solid competition for 2022. But we saw two years ago when they did Mercedes in 2021, that Paris's performance wasn't enough to get them the Constructors' Championship. So the concern in Red Bull and for Christian Horner is going to be, if Mercedes are better or if Ferrari, is better, or if they're both better, do we have the lineup in order to see them off? And I think this statement puts Perez's mind at ease a bit. With Ricardo just there hanging around being his usual jolly self, there's always that concern that, I don't know, they might pull the

plug. It is Red Bull. It's what they do. That's again, got to be lurking in his mind. He needs to be reassured that Red Bull support him and have got him in that position for a reason. And this sort of statement absolutely helps with that. So I think it's a smart move. The only question mark is, does this have an impact on Daniel Ricardo? Does he listen to that statement and say, maybe I should look elsewhere? Because we know that if he wanted a seat on the grid this year, elsewhere, he might well have been able to make it happen, say it has.

he declined even going down that avenue to go back to Red Bull, but does a statement like this cause him to rethink? That's the only concern here, but for the short and the medium term of getting that partnership and getting Perez's confidence as high as it can possibly be, makes complete sense why he said it, smart move, in my opinion. What did you make of this statement, Harry? I mean, not too much more to add from what you both have already said,

but I think if you go back and it went, and I'm not suggesting anyone does this because it should be boring, but go back and look at the history of team principals slash bosses being interviewed at a pre-season test, launch, whatever media day, they always

say this. So, you know, people saying, oh, I can't believe they said that. He said that when, you know, Ricardo's in the room. As you've already said, Ben, it's not true. But it's just part of the, part of the preseason, hyping up your team, chances, drivers.

They'll do it. And I agree with your point, Ben. I think he knows that this year, it's not going to be 2022 again. They were lucky in that respect. I mean, it might be, let's hope not. But they were, you know, fortunate in that respect. So this year could well be tighter and they need Peres to be there.

So, yeah. And to your point about Ricardo as well, you know, yeah, a bit savage that he was in the room. But I think he's probably savvy enough. to realize what that is. That's just a bit of talk. I mean, we saw And Drive to Survive when, you know, I want to make comments about Gasly,

whether they were genuine or not, but, you know, got it really into Ghazly's head, but I don't see that being the same for Ricardo. I don't know. I just think he realized that maybe that's, he knows in his own mind that he was the better driver line up with Vestappan, than Vastapen is with Perez. So, I don't know.

He'll take it with a pinch of salt. Yeah, this isn't an unusual move, I don't think, for a team principal to make. They always hype up their chances before a season. Otherwise, what's the point in them being there? Very good point. In terms of Daniel Ricardo being there, we know he wants to be in F1, obviously. Is there any concern, do you think that Christian Horner and indeed Red Bull will need to manage Ricardo in any way? way, do you think Ricardo would, not as really underhanded tactics, but Perez has something

Ricardo wants. Do they need to keep an eye on Ricardo and his role to make sure he doesn't overstep the boundaries at all? I don't know. I view Red Bull as a kind of a dog-eat-dog situation. Don't you think that I'll be a big dog-y-dog, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you just think that we've seen they're brutal with their drivers. And if you're not good enough in their eyes, they get rid of you. Now, look, maybe they do need to, you know, make sure he's not interfering too much. And they can do that by just saying, you're not coming to this

race weekend. But I don't know. I think if Perez isn't delivering on track, Ricardo won't need to do anything anyway. So I don't think they need to keep an eye on him too much. But I just get the feeling that they'll just go for the driver who they think is going to be

better for them. So I don't see them interfering too much in what happens, but we'll see. I don't see Ricardo. He's it, I don't know. I don't know. It's quite an intriguing thing that might play out this year. We're not, you know, it doesn't happen that often.

Normally the third slash reserve driver is a young driver coming up through the ranks, and they're just honoured to be there. I mean, look at George Russell. Just honored to be there, you know, so happy to be part of the team. Whereas he's got one who's a proven race. Twitter. It's a different story, isn't it? Don't know. Intriguing. You're right.

We're going to take our last break here and on the other side we'll be playing pump the brakes. You'll want to watch out for that one. Here's a quick message from our friends at NorthVPN. Isn't it frustrating when you find a new TV show that you really

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Happy birthday, Nord. Happy birthday, Gorg VPN. Happy birthday. Oh, God. All right, here we go. Pump the brakes. This is the first time you'd have heard this exclusive jingle from the one and only. Live, laugh, Latifie.

Here we go. It's a God soundboard. I hate this soundboard so much, man. Sent for a bag of chips. Which one is it? Maybe I could play it. It's the last one on there. Hold on.

Here we go, folks. I'm going to give it a go. Oh, no. Hang on. Let's go for a third time lucky, should we? Here we'll be bloody go. I don't know. I did the clapping sound effect earlier as well, and it worked for that.

Oh, God. Oh, dear. All right, Billy. It's your first driving lesson. Like I said, go easy on the gas, take it nice and slow. And if you need to, pump the brakes. You got it? I got it, Daddy.

All right, then. Here we go, Billy. Yep. Yep. Nice and slow. Uh-huh. Yep. Yep, that's good.

All right. All right. Now, pump the brakes. Daddy. Pump the brakes, Billy. Billy. Billy, pump the brakes, Billy. Billy, Billy, Pump the brakes.

Daddy. Yes, Billy. Do you reckon I could still be an F-1 driver someday? You'd still probably do better than Latifie. Pump the brakes. So here's what happens. happens on this segment, the three of us will give an opinion, a potentially controversial opinion. And we need to decide whether they are okay in thinking that opinion or whether they should

pump the brakes. So I will, for example, give an opinion. Harry and Sam will say whether it's all good or whether I should pump the brakes. If they both say pump the brakes, At that point, that's where Dave Benson Phillips, British TV, children's TV, legend. Yeah, I was going to say personality. Legend comes in with Gung. Like so. Few.

Absolutely the worst sound effect on this soundboard. I love it. And Dave Benson Phillips gets paid 50p for every gunge that he gets to do. If you're thinking this doesn't make much sense and you're new to this, because it doesn't. Correct. Do you want to kick us off, Sam? What is your Pump the Brakes for this week?

So my Pump the Brakes is very much livery themed. I thought it was appropriate for the current time that we're in. Of course, everyone knows that livery season is pretty much one of my favorite moments of the entire year. I'm a very simple man and I love looking at bright, shiny things, especially when they are cars. So my pump the brakes is going to be that I believe in two things here. It's a two part of I pump the brakes. One, 401 cars when they are launched. Here we go.

Formula one cars should not have any exposed carbon fiber. If you want black on your car, paint it black to quote the song by the Rolling Stones. Part two, every livery should have a distinct primary color. So if you're blue, I don't care what shade of blue it is, no other team can have the primary color, a shade of blue. You need to be separate people. There's enough colours on the spectrum that you can have something completely different.

So that's my two points, basically, in this one pump the break. So I'll hand it back over to you lovely gentlemen to gunge me. This just sounds war against the colour blue, which has been ongoing now for a few years. He needs the colour blue. Do you know, I'm not mad. I'm not mad about the exposed carbon

because I get why they're doing it. But I know we could see a lot of that this year with the whole weight saving thing. The primary colour thing, I think I agree with you on that. It would be nice to, so it just makes sense, doesn't it? Stop having all your cars that look the same,

so I don't know what to do because I half agree with him. Does that count or not? I've nailed it on this two-parter thing. We've never had to deal with two-parter. Yeah, I know. He's flabucksters. He's played the game well here.

We'll see what you say first, Ben. Well, it's funny, because I'm in the same spot as you, but I'm for the other opinion. So I'm... Oh, interesting. I'll tell him pump the brakes on the second part, but not the first part, which I get the overall opinion of trying to keep variety in.

I just think it would be slightly too difficult to assign one colour per team based on just historic liveries and sponsors, and would that stop title sponsors coming in if a colour was already taken? I think it might just be difficult to implement, but I agree on the carbon fibre. Why don't you do a Robert Kubits-Benzibald.

Well, I was just thinking, is Dave Benson-Philip's first appearance this year, this is the first time we've done pump the brakes in 2023. So in the spirit of making sure, that he doesn't get any money, you're absolutely fine. And you don't... Come on.

Unlucky day, back in the cupboard. Clives is in there as well. Clives Figglesworth. Classic award ceremony. Harry, what's your? My one is related to launches rather than liveries. But mine is the F1 launches

suck. And I hate them. And they should not be allowed anymore. and the only thing you should be allowed is that you turn up to the first test with a silk cloth over your car. You whip it off the cloth, that is, off the car. And that's your car. Boom, boom, boom.

Coble of photos. Jump in the car, start testing. And that's it. And we won't have to sit. 52 minutes, we sat through that Red Bull one. 52. There's a lot of minutes for not a lot. Oh, for the same.

Anyway, this is my point. It's gone too far. I used to be a fan of the flashy F1 launch, but it's gone too far, and I hate it. So that's all you're allowed now, F1 on teams, when I come to power. I'm not going to say much here because it actually leads quite nicely

onto my pump the brakes as well. Interesting. I am going to tell you to pump the brakes, not because I think you're wrong, but because I'd go another way about it and I won't say anymore because it will spoil too much. Mysterious. So I'll say pump the brakes.

Sam, what have you got? Well, I think Ben might like this because I'm going to tell Harry to pump the brakes because I would take it in a different direction. I don't disagree with what you've said, Harry, at all, but I will just do something very different. But I'm not going to give details because I want to hear what Ben's pump the brakes is going to be

because maybe he's going, alternative direction. Go on Dave. Oh, here you go, Dave. 50p. Okay, so I've already given mine away a little bit in terms of, again, it's relating to launches. So here's what I would do,

because I actually agree with your overall premise that car launches currently suck. So what would I do about it? Rather than have 10 teams randomly go online or to America and do things at 2pm on a weekday afternoon and really random times, I think Formula One should have an official launch event prior to the F1 season where all 10 teams launch their car on the same day, sell tickets for it, have it a big event, have all of the teams there, all of the drivers there, all of the team principals

there, fill it out with entertainment for the evening, make it at a time that people can watch and just get the overall hype going for the start of the year in a more contained and more organized manner than what it is currently. So I would essentially condense it all into one big shout about F1 event. Well, I mean, I'll go first. I'm, I'm going first. I'm, I used to be of this opinion. This is what I used to want. It just made sense. But as you've heard, I hate it and it sucks

and they're not allowed to do it anymore so you can bump breaks. See, this isn't the direction I thought you were going in Bing, you know? I dread to think what your direction is. Drop them from space. So whatever one survives is the one we look at. You know I wasn't going in that direction.

No, no. So I'm going to a very low-level toe to pump the brakes. If I could give you like a little gunges, if I could just throw like a cup of gunges at your head, that's what I would do. Yeah, you know. Unfortunately, we've already got one sound effect. So I'm assuming the reason for not a full gunge, Sam, is that you've got something close but not quite there.

Yeah, I don't like the idea of them all being in one room because I feel like it will drag. I feel like there'd be too much chit-chat going on. And I feel like, I like, I like think it's like, a week. I know that I like a delivery reveal week, but I do think that time limits should be applied to all launches, maximum 30 minutes for the entire thing. I do not think that you should be allowed to send out renders. It has to be photos of the actual car. Speaking of the actual car, I think you have to use your actual car. I think they should put a deadline in place that the car you're running in testing has to be the car you reveal the livery on in that presentation.

And I also think that you should have to do, it sounds silly, I know you can't mandate to this, would like them to. I want a show of some variation, but I want each team to have their own 30 minutes or a day, whatever, to do their own little show of some kind, a little history video, I don't care, like drifting it, I don't mind the spice girl's coming back, great, but I want it big bang, in your face. But for me, I think both your ideas are good. Again, it's just not the way I would go. But it's very interesting that we each have a different point of view on how a launch should take place. Sorry, Ben. I'll say we have reached a consensus, which is the current way they do it, sucks.

I mean, we put together three different ways they could do it, and they might have their own merits, but they all have one thing in common. They're not what happens at the moment. When I come to power and I run F1 one day, someday, one day, if you turn up with last year's car, the new paint job, you start the season on minus 50 points.

That's a rule, as a rule. And no one will ever do it. You just turn up with the right car. I'm sick of it. To be fair, if you came in. I'm here for it. The only time I have. If you came into power,

you'd still be trying to put together the 2011 calendar. All right. Oh, should we go for Ye Young Nam or not? That's not even a decision. That'd be the only one that's confirmed. The rest of them would all be up in the air. We'd go 20 times to Yeong, man.

Oh, dear. Good stuff. So Dave Benson Phillips does get one full pound for two, gunges. Sam breaking the system, not getting gunged, thanks to a two-parter. Love that. Best segment of the week, though, it's coming up. Take it away. LB Question of the Week. LV Question of the Week. So as usual, we put out a Question of the Week on Instagram and Twitter. We always do that late on a Monday. This week, Question of the Week was,

what would have been more entertaining the Red Bulls launch event from last week. I think this is the best response we've ever got to a question of the week in terms of number of people responding, but also the quality of response. Some of these were so good. And savage, there were some savage responses in there. Any good ones that you liked? Ed has come out with this one, which I think is sublime. We know I love a multi-parter, and this really is a multi-parter,

listening to a cold play song about building flat-packed furniture or eating unseasoned rice cakes, washed down with room-temperature water, and wait for it, all in Lichtenstein. Like, come on, I'm there for it. Get that on my telly. There's so many, I want to read all of them, because they're all amazing,

but one was from young Yosef on Instagram, a podcast for three bends. So good. I saw all you are liking that as well. Send me over the edge. Someone's also reminding me that I've been slacking on the five-star review reminders. So here it is. But they said at least it would be more enjoyable than a two-hour-long Red Bull commercial.

Correct. That doesn't get five-stars. But we deserve five-stars. So please give us a five-star rating because it really helps us. I did have a proper look through and I've put out a top three because there were so many good ones. My top three.

Third was actually the one you've already said about a podcast with three bends because that did make me laugh a lot. Number two, Haines Noah 9 with watching a big play poker. Maybe they're playing against the Ferrari strategist.

I don't know. That could be very entertaining. But my absolute favorite response also came from Instagram and it was from Reese Lambert which was... Yes, I just saw it. Being assassinated by one Pablo Montoya's

chunky ninjas. I've even read that one. That's fantastic. Why is he have chunky ninjas? It's a chunky man. Oh. Oh, good Lord. There were so many great ones.

There are quite a few shout of a... at shoutouts for SPAR 2021. So I know Captain Umberto said that. There were a couple of others, though, that said SPAR 2021. Harry attempting to be game host again. Oh, that made me last. Yeah.

Leave me alone. A lot of me changing my battery and my fire alarm. I mean, that is interesting. A thank sitting competition. Great. Brodo. Virgil on Twitter said,

listening to Harry rate every F-1 driver ever to participate in a race weekend based solely off of vibes. This is great. This is from Hangout Elizabeth on Instagram, an episode of Inside the Factory with Greg Wallace making whirly bars. Honestly, wow, I'm watching it. Bury Biscuit base. If you're from America and don't know who Greg Wallace is, just YouTube. Just YouTube, buttery biscuit base.

You'll get into the heart, actually. Wallace there. How has he not been mentioned on this show before? That's a real shock, actually, isn't it? Oh, good Lord. Like so, this was probably the best week we had for responses.

So thank you to everyone who put them in on Twitter and Instagram and look out next Monday because we'll be coming up with some other random question. Who knows what it will be at the moment.

Exciting news because next week we have two episodes, two returning classics. Teammate wars next Wednesday. The three of us will decide who is going to score the most points in each of the 10 teammate battles.

Can't wait for Harry to win this year. You can do it. Shut up. Shut up. And our Sunday episode, we headlined by Pimp My F1, Sam's favorite episode of the year because we are racing the liveries.

Two classics next week. We're properly, in season mode when we get to teammate wars, so absolutely love that. Sam, if you wouldn't mind

getting us out of him. Oh, I have to because I'm so excited to get to next week immediately. Of course, time will now skip

at the moment I end this segment. Thank you so much for listening. It's been a bit of a weird one, as always. Always chaotic here. Join us again,

as being said, for two great episodes next week and as we build up to the start of the F1 season. If you want to chat to us in between that time, no Discord is available.

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you know what, if you're lucky, maybe those things will change, you get better soon. Who knows? Teaser. Anyway, in the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I'm in a buttery biscuit base. I remember.

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