The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Reviewing our 2021 Pre-Season Predictions | Episode 168

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Now that the F1 season is done and dusted, it's time for the LB boys to review the predictions we made ahead of the first race - and see just how wrong they were! OIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAmSUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingTWEET us @LBrakingSUBSCRIBE 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 tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. And a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage, Harry Ead and me, Ben Hocking. The season might well be over, but we're not going anywhere. We're still here because we've got a couple of really important. episodes to bring you before we're done for 2021. Here we are tonight to review our preseason predictions. We're going all the way back to the beginning of the year, looking at what we said,

and promptly laughing at what we said. Tension is high, it's palpable, you could say, here in the LB studio, drivers' predictions, constructors predictions, and of course the main event, teammate wars all up for grabs. I'm feeling nervous. Are you guys? I'm going to take a leaf out of Nika Rosberg's book, and I think I'm just going to retire while I'm the reigning world champ and while I'm ahead. I don't need to worry about what this was... Actually, if everyone listening, just turn off now, actually. It's going to be really boring. Don't worry about it. Don't bother.

Pointless, waste your time. I think this may be my least favourite episode to do of the year. Have you ever won? I mean, Sam, you know Full World that I've never won. Oh, yeah, I know. Yeah, look, folks, I always live and hope. But I do have good news. I, you will not hear a beep in the background of this podcast,

or indeed the next podcast, because we're recording two and one night. Because I've gone 190 miles away just to get away from the problem. So that is a lesson for all of you. That's not the solution. Don't fix your problems. Drive to Yorkshire. It's lucky you haven't... Yeah, because if you were going 185 miles away, you might still have heard it.

So it's lucky you went to 190, because that beep, I can hear it across London, mate. All right, I'm glad we've got that out the way of. And, you know, great starts the podcast as well. Sam saying, don't bother, and Harry saying it's his least favorite episode of the year. Great advertisement just all round, you know. That's how we should we think is right, folks. This is a great episode. We love predictions, and we love reviewing them.

We'll start with teammate wars. So if you haven't listened along to a previous one of these, we basically take all 10 teams, look at the driver pairings and work out who's going to have more points at the end of the year. So naturally maximum score here is 10. This is the fifth year we've done this. We've done it in forms of videos and articles in the past.

Four times we've done this previously. Sam is there on two wins. I'm also on two wins. Harry's here as well. That is your favourite joke and I hate you for a name. He's delivered that. Every year, basically. It never gets old.

The only way to get older is if you actually win. Yeah, don't win. Oh dear. I'd like to get to a decade and you've still got a one. Yeah. We'll kick off. We're going to run through, as we predicted them. So this is actually going to run in 2020 championship order.

It means we've got a couple of easy ones to kick us off, really. because we started with Mercedes, and it might shock you to learn that we all picked Lewis Hamilton. So early scores on the doors, 1-1-1. Good. We're just happy to be on the board.

Just on Hamilton versus Bottas because I've worked this out. Hamilton Botas, the partnership is as old as teammate wars is. So we've been predicting Hamilton versus Bottas all this time. Sam, were you surprised this year at the gap between them? Do you think it was going to be closer? Do you think it was about right based on what you thought at the beginning of the year?

I literally said that Bottas wouldn't win a race thing and I also predicted that Hamilton would be the driver's world champion. So no, I thought it was going to be quite cavernous, quite expansive. And they delivered. I mean, Bottas managed to get third, but yeah, Hamilton was what, over 100 points clear of Bottas?

It wasn't ideal really, was it? So, no, no, I was expecting nothing more for Botties. Well done, Boundary, proud of you. So it was pretty much about what you expected, apart from the fact that Bottas did win a race, just to rub that in. The one. I can't believe it was the only one as well. I wasn't bothered if it was three or four,

but the fact he got the one wing is quite frustrating. Just despite you. Sorry about it. All right, we've got Mercedes out of the way. Don't need to spend too much time there. We all predicted Hamilton. And really, it's the same thing for the next one. Vestappan versus Perez, of course,

in his first year at the team and Vastappen did a bit of a job there and we all predicted that would be the case so we're all two for two it does go downhill at some point oh no here we go let's go down hill now before we move on from Vestappan and Perez again similar question to the Mercedes one Harry do you think that the gap was was about what you expected at the beginning of this year we weren't really sure what to expect from Perez yeah I think I think it was, I think maybe Perez struggled a bit more than we initially expected, and for maybe a bit longer, but he certainly came on song towards the end of the year. Still with a couple of dodgy races here and there, but he was there at least playing the number

two driver role very well. He wasn't close to Verstappen, but I don't know, Vestappen was at that heightened level because he was in that battle with Hamilton, so I don't know who you could have put in that card to match him anyway. So, yeah, I think I was about right for Perez's performances this year. I think I thought Perez was going to be ever so slightly closer. Not much, but I think qualifying-wise, we always knew that Vastappen was going to have a distinct advantage there. But certainly in the Grand Prix, I was expecting there to be at least some races where they were quite evenly matched. And really, that there weren't many.

I know Perez made a few good recoveries and had some good races as well. but he never really threatened Vestapp and all that much, which might well have worked for the driver's championship. Didn't necessarily work for the Constructors' Championship, though. So we'll have to see how he gets on in his second year, because as you rightly say, Harry, latter end of the year, there were some more encouraging results

versus the first half of the year. So we've been all agreement through the first two. This is where we start to disagree and where wrong answers start to come in, because we go to McLaren next, where Lando Norris faced off against Daniel Ricardo Daniel Ricardo moving to the team Lando Norris in his third year at the team

Harry you made the mistake of going for Daniel Ricardo here Sam you made the mistake of agreeing with Harry Yeah I've learnt me a lesson It's because I've never ever bet against Daniel Ricardo and it's paid off quite handsomely for the past how many years

no mind. Well, I mean, you did predict him to be 2018 world champion. He did let your animate there. But other than that, in teammate wars, you might well be right. See, I was smart enough to, you know, Harry doesn't know what he's talking about

and I went with Lando Norris, so I take an early lead here. That is so true. I'm so annoyed. I feel like such an obvious one to now not go with. I will say, though. I mean, I went with Norris, but I thought it was going to be pretty close,

and ultimately it wasn't that close at all. Given you went for Daniel Ricardo, Sam, did you think at least that Ricardo would come on strong in the second half of the year and overtake Norris towards the end, or did you see Ricardo coming in and dominating? No, I thought it was going to be a second half of the year kind of thing. And for a moment, it looked like that was coming true. He had two or three performances after the summer break

where he picked things up. You know, he got the wing in Monza. He did one of the likes of, and obviously Norris crashed out in qualifying, but Ricardo looked good in Spa. He was all right with the Silverstone performance as well. It looked like he was starting to get used to the car, and they were developing the car to match as much of Ricardo's driving style as Norris is driving style. I thought, here we go. We've got more than enough races left now. Danny Rick picked up the wing, the points going to start to transfer over, and it's going to end up being very, very close.

But it just never happened for him. It looks like he was about to get off the ground. And then he just kept falling outside the top ten, qualifying outside the top. top 10 finishing outside the points. I think two or three races in a row wasn't great for him. He just could not keep up with Lando. I know it's his first year in a team

and we saw the similar thing happened at Renault, right? He was not as strong in his first year at Renae as he wasn't his second, so maybe you should have seen that coming. But it's Danny Rick. I've got, I had a lot of faith that Danny Rick is one of the elite and I thought we were going to see a bit more from him. So I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't closer. The gap is definitely bigger than I was anticipating it to be.

Do you think, Harry, that the writing was on the wall, quite early on because I can remember back to the Bahrain Grand Prix when we reviewed that and I think Lando Norris in that race soundly beat Ricardo, might be like 30 seconds or so and all of us were saying, wow, that's a statement result. And as we got closer to the end of the year and that sort of result was still happening, it was a bit like, oh, okay, I'm sure he's done it again. Do you think it was kind of set in stone quite early on? Yeah, I think it quite possibly was um you know i'm now going to start putting danio ricardo in the same category as and not category in terms of skill or talent but and like a category as jensen button and sebastian

betel who are both quality drivers but they really need the car to be right for them otherwise it all goes to poo a lot of the time um so i think that's where i think next year he'll be stronger it'll have the car more suited to him um but yeah you're right i think writing was on the wall fairly early on and actually looking back now to those renter days maybe it was a bit more obvious that he would have struggled this year but yeah I don't know like Sam I had maybe a bit more faith that he he might have adapted a bit quicker having already jumped ship once and done that and knew what to do but yeah it was an odd one I think he was having a light pair of some more

encouraging performances by the end of the year and it sounds it sounds ridiculous because he did literally win a race So, yeah, a weird year for Ricardo, but I think next year's going to be more encouraging for him. Yeah, I think with the whole Renault situation, I agree he didn't quite get off the ground early, but it felt like this year was another step forward, well, really another step back against that.

This was real, real struggle for most of this year. And to be honest, even though I did predict Lando Norris to win this, my prediction was more based on the step forward that Lando Norris would take, which he did, but not necessarily about the step backwards Regardo would take. I just thought Norris was going to take it to a brand new level, but actually both kind of happened simultaneously. But as you say, very interesting to see what happens

when he's got a bit more input into what next year's car might well turn out to be. I think as a forfeit, Daniel Ricardo should have to get mine and Harry's faces tattooed on him somewhere. Yeah. Well, we'll have our people reach out to your people, Daniel. We're on it.

Our people are us, so look forward to an email from the three of us. We're a big organisation. We've got a massive juggernaut behind us. We've got people to reach out. It is us. Mum, if you're listening, can you reach out, please? That's more like it. We'll move slightly further down the grid now, from McLaren to what was Racing Point last year.

Aston Martin finished fourth in 2020. So this was a brand new partnership again. So Lance Stroll staying with the team. But Sebastian Vettel coming in to replace Sergio Perez. Sebastian Vettel was the pick for all three of us. And Sebastian Vettel was the driver that won. So moves the scores to four for me and three for the other two. Keeping it fairly close at this point.

Vettel against Strolls? Some fairly close you would say, Harry. Do you think it was as close as the score line suggests? yeah look Seb didn't have the greatest of years I think he had a better year than he did last year I mean I was not saying a huge amount

because last year was pretty terrible but I think there was some signs of improvement again from from him and you know he lost out on points I guess in Hungary because you should have had 18 points there but he got to qualified

so maybe that would have affected that score line but yeah he's had a very up and down year as Vessel so you know I think it's a fairly fair reflection he's just had a couple of big highs whereas stroll's kind of been maybe slightly more consistently averaged throughout and it's kind of almost even it even itself out that way so um yeah you know I you know expected Seb to beat him maybe a bit more sounding than than he has but um Yeah, that's an interesting, they're still going to be an interesting one to look out for next year, particularly how that car is going to perform.

Yeah, I would say by the end of the year, it was a really tough year for them overall, but by the end of the year, particularly, there were some races, they were probably the eighth quickest team. They were quicker than Williams and Hass, but there were some races where Alpha Romeo had the pace on them, and Alfa Tari did as well, an Alpine, and it wasn't a great year for them. In terms of the partnership, I remember saying this at the time, that it was. It's crazy we were even discussing Lanchstrol potentially beating a four-time world champion in Sebastian Vessel. But as it's turned out, it didn't happen, but it wasn't by much. So really, you know, this was a competitive one.

I actually, I'm of the belief that Lance Stroll had a very marginally better year than Sebastian Vessel. I think it was pretty close. They almost had the opposite problems where Sebastian Vessel seemed to score heavily on a few occasions. He had the P2 in Baku, Monaco was a good result, would have been a good result in Hungary as well, whereas Lance Stroll was more racketed with these sort of P8s, P9, sort of just rolling along the total

without getting any standout results. And if they managed to somehow merge those two ways of working, they might have actually got somewhere. But Sam, were you surprised at how close this one was? Honestly, I think Ashton Martin might be the most forgettable team on the grid this year. I can literally remember Sebastian Vessel getting the podium at Baku and Hungary, which of course was then rejected via fuel issue. The car was a dog.

I think we said the same thing about McLaren when they were, you know, the last year they had a longstone, right? At one point they fell slower than Williams were at the back of the grid. It was like they just kept disappearing right towards the back of the grid the further into the year we got. I think a similar thing happened to Ashton Martin. I think you're exactly right. I think Sebastian Vessel had, if you were to draw a diagram, showed their results.

So, Asking Meadows would look a bit like a roller coaster. We would go off a big mountain peak and come straight back down again to the very bottom of the cavern, whereas Longstrol quite literally looked like he took a stroll through a park that had no elevation changes. It was just like two points, two points, two points, one point, four points, no points. You know, he just kind of kept in that very, very average but dull area. And that's okay. When the cars look very good, it's all right to be consistent.

And I think you're right. I think Stroll had a good year for Stroll. I don't think this was a good year for better if you compare it to previous seasons that he's had that we know he's capable of. But I also think he's adapting to a new team. He's adapted to a whole new environment, and the car was not a good car to drive.

So I can't also blame him too much for not getting spectacular results week on week. So closer than I thought, but only because I think Stroll was a bit more comfortable with the team and his surroundings. And I think if you give Sevehvette another two years in that team with a car that's developing,

I think he probably does come out on top for the rest of their time together. And of course, we'll see what you think come from February when we do, or maybe March, when we do these predictions for next year when it returns for its next instalment. But for now, we'll move on to Alpine.

This was almost a similar situation to Aston Martin, where an established world champion name is coming in against the driver who's already there with something to prove. So I guess there's a bit of a similarity in that sense, although in this instance, of course, Alonzo was returning of the sport versus Vettel who was already there.

Alonso versus Arcon, it was very close over. I think there's five points in it in Alonzo's favour, which is good news for all three of us, because we all picked Fernando Alonzo. Fernando. Harry, do you think... Thank you for that. Harry, do you think that the win for Esteban Ocon in Hungary

perhaps masks how one-sided this was, or do you think it was actually genuinely pretty close overall? I mean, early part of the year, Ockham was had the edge quite comfortably over Alonzo. But then when Fernando realized who he was, remember that he is two-time world champ. That's who I am. Ah, yes, of course. Fernando, that's me. That's me.

Then I think after that, that it was fairly comfortable in Alonzo's favour. Like you say, there were some winning hungry for Ockon, but let's we forget, I think they should probably share the trophy on that one because without Alonzo's mega defense against Hamilton, then I don't know whether O'Con would have won that anyway. And yeah, and then I think Alonzo was just come to be the faster driver throughout the rest of the year. He had a couple of Duff races towards the end. I seem to remember Saudi, but it was particularly Duff for him.

He just didn't click on that circuit, which was weird. but yeah I think overall it was Alonzo who took it and that perhaps that score line doesn't really reflect how well this year has gone for him so yeah I think Alonzo

would be fairly pleased having been out of the game for a couple of years and it was maybe too big to be expected he was a bit slow on the uptake to begin with but yeah I think it slightly exaggerates what has been a fairly solid year for Alonzo yeah I think the issue was obviously like your reference

Ocon had this incredible start to the year Alpine were like yeah this guy's the next Lewis Hamilton let's give him a 27 year contract and then O'Brien didn't drive very well for the rest of the year because he's too busy rolling around his money what does you do? I kid of course I think Ockon did get a bit closer

towards the end of the year. It was just a middle stint that was very Alonzo heavy and I do think the win aside really apart from that win Alonzo did have a definitive advantage for much of this year and I think the score line does somewhat flatter Estabana

Okon. He took his chance in Hungary and fair play to him he did what was needed of him despite a large amount of pressure from Vessel but by and large Alonzo was the better driver this year

what do you think about that one son? They rarely seem to have a very good result together right? You know it was kind of Ockon picked up the wing in Hungary and then the same thing

I think happened in Saudi right Okong obviously fighting for the podium and it's Botas

in Saudi whereas Alonso was having an absolute appalling race it was really

funny to see the mirroring between Saudi Arabia and Imola very similar occurrences

where the camera decides can randomly pan down and there's a longso stuck on the curb

facing the wrong way trying to skirt away as if he's got noticed in some kind of weird

office yeah like it's like the camera's pan to he's looking like oh

I should I shouldn't be here. I remember about four things, really, from Al-Ping, and that is also shouting across the radio going, Tell Esteban to go fend like a lion! Which allows Ockon to stand on the podium, of course. Along also actually defending like a lion against Lewis Hamilton, which is brilliant.

And then, yeah, a long-so spinning, both Imola and Saudi. Yeah, like you guys have said, really, really good at the start. He kind of took his foot off the gas a little bit, and also came into it. adjusted. It's exactly almost what I thought would happen. I didn't think he'd come into Bahrain and be perfect. It got mugged off by Yuki Sankode, for God's sake, in the first race of the season. So, yeah, it panned out as I thought. I think you're right. I think the score line is flattering for O'Kong, but I don't think O'Conn was good. I think O'Con, you know, did well

for the team. Isn't you going to let them down at any point, really, in my opinion? Five points off a two-time World Champ, despite having a little break, is no mean fee. And I think O'Con, with the tutoring of a long so will hopefully come on a little bit. The guy's got talent. I think he can possibly develop to a lot more. Ready to be seen next year, which will be a very fascinating one indeed.

Halfway through, Team 8 Wars, scores on the doors. Four for Harry and Sam. Five for myself at the moment, but there is still a long way to go as we move on to the sixth place team. I certainly haven't. There's some disagreements still to go.

But this next one isn't a disagreement, which isn't a good thing for any of us. Oh no. Oh, we love. We move on to, we move on to Ferrari, where we put all of our eggs into the Charles Leclair basket. And unfortunately, I was trying to think of something egg related to say there, but we've got egg on our face. Yeah, we've got egg on our face, because we're all wrong. Carlos Sines, of course, managed to get that podium on the last race of the season. Charlele-Clair did enter Abidabie with the lead. Couldn't hold on to it though so we are all wrong

I was sat here I was sat here for the whole time we were building up to this episode going I've definitely bet on science I've done it I'll bet on sign I'm literally get the eggs I'll put them on my own face what a Muppet that was stupid decision not very

excellent is it oh bugger off ordinary stuff for Mr Reid Charles leg clur gave it by Nick Clegg it's a struggle sometimes

isn't it why you bring up Nick Clegg that's a inside joke that no one understands it's got a egg in it that'll do folks for explanation we once had a history class

we were talking about politics and I make a joke about Nick Clegg and then everyone decided to talk about scrambled Clegg fried Clegg and what not it was

Clegg's Benedict honestly if you don't even get Klegis good for you because this is a terrible British reference he's an egg not even British it's just moronic yeah

yeah that's the issue at hand of Lecler versus Sines now naturally we all thought Leclair was going to win he didn't but it was close nonetheless Harry are you surprised how quickly

Carla Sines got up to speed with that car yes very much so something about A hell of a year. You know, and maybe LeClau's been, had some unfortunate circumstances, but, you know, look at Monaco,

he was on pole and then he threw it at the wall, and then he wasn't on pole anymore, and his teammate got a podium. So, yeah, I think science has had a stellar, stellar year, and a bit shooketh. Bit shooketh by it, to be honest, because I didn't see that coming. I didn't think it was going to be a whitewash

for for Leclair but I didn't think Symes was I thought Sames would be close but I didn't he was going to beat him See I I'm pretty ashamed of being wrong here

but I am very much ashamed of how wrong I was because I didn't think this was going to be close and it was pretty much all year and Carlos signs you can tell from the off really that he was on a very similar pace to Shao Leclair

and especially as we got into the middle of the season and towards the end of the year, there were regular occurrences where Carlos was ahead. So, yeah, you've got to tip your hat to him as to how well he was able to do this year. I didn't think he was going to get up to speed that early. And perhaps actually the experience of his rather, there's a lot of turmoil in this career, a lot of moving around. Maybe that's actually come along to help him here because he's moved from Toro Rosso to Reno and Reno to McLaren and now from McLaren.

into Ferrari, maybe all this moving around has actually helped him versus some other drivers that were new into the team. Maybe he was more easy, more able to adjust as a result of that. The closeness of this fight, Sam, surprised by it? Yes and no. He's the bloody smooth operator for goodness sake. The man knows how to operate that bit of machinery like no tomorrow. It's like me and the ASDA car part pushing the trolley into the trolley bay, you know? I know exactly what I'm doing and I nail it every time. Don't get your pound going folks. Why didn't you use Sinesbury's?

Because I'm just not as witty as you, Ben. All right. We all know it. I think I've kind of back Carlos Sainz for quite a while, and I'm actually a bit annoyed at myself for not backing him properly for a whole season. Because I said, I don't know if you remember, folks, well over a year ago,

and I think Carlos Sites will win a World Championship before Charlotte Clare wins a World Championship. And I kind of think that I should have stuck to me guns and gone with what I believed in. science was brilliant all year round. Yeah, LeCler has some bigger results. They're very similar levels of podium. I think Syntz on that last race

picked up his third podium with the season, something like that. But yeah, no, I think... I was expected to Clare to win, obviously, and I expecting it to be very close. But, no, Scyt has surprised and impressed, and he's really shown how good he is as a racing driver this season.

I think a lot of people next season are really going to take him seriously, as they should. So, yeah, I'm actually quite pleased for him, despite being run. It's going to be a fascinating one when we come to predict that one. Another unanimous vote on the next one, although in a positive way,

because for Alfa Tauri, we all said that Pierre Gazli would pick up the win over Yuki Sonoda. Sausage is. The Gasman. Sossojiz. Apart from after the Bahrain Grand Prix, I think we were all pretty confident that this was the right call to make. After Bahrain, we might have been a bit like,

but after like three races, I think we were like, Yeah, we've probably got this one covered. I saw that very small swearing Japanese man go around the outside of Fernando alongside. I thought, dear God, I've made the biggest mistake of my life. He is the next prodigal son. But no, it's all good. Thank you, Gassel, for saving us. Thank you very much, P. Gazil.

So 6.55, the scores as we go into the last three teams on the group. Alpha Romeo. This has been a notoriously difficult one to judge between Antonio Giovannazzi and Kimi Reichen. They've got one win each from 2019 and 2020, so there was a difference in opinion when we were picking this one. Harry, you went right. You went Kimmy Reikinen on this one. Yes. Well done.

Sam, you seem to be shrinking in your chair. I'm sick of being wrong I know I chose Gio because Kimmy's washed his gun Well if Kimmy's washed I don't know what that makes Gio Because Rykenen did win

And you did pick Gio on this one Oh god damn it Jesus And I went to I made a cardinal sin That ended up being all right I decided to agree with Harry And I was all right for it Paid off

Nice I can't believe I'm last I'm last I'm last. I remember making this prediction and I was like, you know, I'm going against everything that I think, I think it should be Gio,

but I've just got a feeling for Kimi Reichenen, and he didn't let me down. Well-down Kimster. Now I know how Lewis Hamilton felt in Kuala Lumpur. Oh no, no, that is exactly what I'm going through. The exact level of emotion, I imagine. Oh, right. Yeah, but I mean Lewis was in the lead when that happened.

Oh, yeah, but I'm the reigning champion. Two times, you know. Two times more chap. Well, you're going to need a miracle for that to change, I'm afraid, as we go to the last two teams on the grid. Spoiler about, folks. We go to Hasse next of all, which, of course, rookie versus rookie Schumacher versus Mazepin.

Not that any of us look massively favourably on Mazepin now, but especially at the time we made these predictions, I don't think anyone was looking very favourably on Nikita Mazuripin. we all went McSumacher on this one. Which means we all, even though it was nil-nil, we all pick up a point because he did finish higher up in the championship. So, well done to us all.

Is it unusual to look at a driver in a worse light than before they've been in the sport? Sorry, Nicklitzer. You are literally an egging a car. I do hope that Hasse can deliver a better car next year just to I don't know just to see what's going to happen

I mean it does yeah go I go a car that just doesn't want to kill them every time they approach the corner could be excellent that'd be good a working vehicle

damn let's see if they're able to achieve that or not and the last one this is always this is always the bogey team this is Williams the reason it's the bogey team is because we always picked Georgia Russell

and he always loses for some reason. Go on Robert. He lost to Robert Kivitzer thanks to Germany in 2019. Sorry, 2018. He then lost to Latifi last year. So now we head into this year and he's up against Latifi again.

And there's always that fear that it's going to be like 1-0 or 2-0. Fortunately this year we had the Barnstormer that was the Belgian Grand Prix that gave George Russell a podium. so George Russell has won this one. Did anyone think that maybe Nicholas Latipi

might be able to grab a point here or there? No, we all went George Russell. Oh, good. Oh, God, grab me on there. Yeah? No, we all went George Russell on this one and we were all right, which means the final scores on the doors.

Sam, seven out of ten. I'm afraid you'd take the wooden spoon this year. it's the only one I haven't got in my trophy cabinet so I'll take it uh Harry I hate to do this to you but you haven't won again every year but you were close thanks you were close though eight out of ten for Harry but I I will become the first three-time champ with nine

out of ten this year what's the dance for that do you think that's why Fernando was so confused for the first race he didn't know what dance he was meant to do anymore because I reckon he was doing some strange dance for three times. You know, I'm just annoyed. I could have had a perfect score if the Abou Dhabi

Grand Prix didn't exist, because Charle-Lacler was leading going into it. I got so much love for Carla Sites right now. Honestly. You're not God Leclair for a while. Put it that way. Not God Leclair for quite a while. Sam's got to throw my metaphorical cap at you, Ben.

Oh. Got you. Throw it back. Austin's now. Good stuff. I wish I could have come down. I'm just being a bedroom. Guys, I have a question.

Come on, let's hear it. And I'll give you a hint. The answer is not nine free beers. Oh, every time. What is better? What is better than eight free beers? Seven free beers? No, Harry, that's not how numbers work.

Oh, he's such a plonker. Back, I'll go with ten free beers. You're close, apart from you didn't quite say it right. It is 10 free beers. Did you like that? Oh, I loved it. I wonder where you got the inspiration for that from. It was great.

No idea. But good news is you can get 10 free beers. All you have to do is go to www. Beer 52.com forward slash late. Cover the £5.95 for postage to claim you a free case. And what's more if you do it before the 17th for December. so you'll have to get in there quickly. You can get two extra free beers.

Beer 52 is a beer club like absolutely no other. They send experts around the globe to find the best beer available anywhere on planet Earth. Each month, the members receive a new case, usually from a different part of the world. Members have had beer from more than 40 countries across five continents. Grab yourself this tree in time for Christmas.

You can impress friends, family and dinner guests with a cast of hoppy IPAs, crisp craft lagers and sumptuous. stouts. And also, if dark beer's not your thing, just simply choose the light option instead of a mixed case. As well as all that delicious beer, guess what folks, you're a soup for Meg magazine, which delves into the beers, breweries and the theme. You know what, we got given a cheeky little case by VE52 and I got for Mn magazine. I gave it a little read while having my two delicious snacks, which I washed down with the beer, and the snacks were good. Harry, I didn't save

any for you last year. Yeah, what the hell? Where's the snacks? Sorry, I'll get them. I add them. Two little jalapeno type crunchy things. They were really nice. Oh, delightful. Yes.

What is not to love about this? So get involved. Anyway, after redeeming your first case, you'll join the monthly beer club at £24 per month. No minimum commitment, pause or cancel any time. And just a reminder,

that is beer52.com and then forward slash late. L-A-T-E. For anyone that struggles with that, it is L-A-T-E. Like you will be if you don't hurry up to claim miss advert late. Thanks very much. Love your support. B. 52. Cheers,

cheers, lads. We move on to driver's predictions. Chance for reprieve here. I haven't got that right either. I'll tell you what, guys. It's not looking away. I already know who I went for, and up to lap 57 of the WWGP. I was looking good.

And you could say the same for myself. And you could say the same for Mr. Samuessage. This was looking all right, as you say, at about half past two on Sunday. It wasn't looking too great 30 minutes later. We all predicted Hamilton would win the championship. We all predicted Vestappen would finish second in the championship, which unless Mercedes do well in court, and we'll revisit if that's the case,

but we're nothing on this one. No, nil. Does Michael Massey know the ramifications that he's caused by doing this ridiculous safety car business? Look at what you brought us to, Michael. The late breaking F1 podcast is in ruins over here. Unbelievable. Fortunately, it gets a bit better from here for two of us. Oh, that's not me.

Because I said botty's. Third and fourth place, we had Bottas and Perez, but we have them in slightly different orders. Now the actual order was Bottas in third and Perez in four. Hashtag believe in Botties because I didn't. I managed to get this the right way round so I'll take my two points here. And congratulations, Harry. So did you. Unfortunately, Mr Sam Sage thought that Perez would beat Valtrey Bottas.

Sam, what do you have to say to Valtrow? Bodies. Go and listen to my song again. I'm sorry, Bobatius. parties. You're in Alpha next year against Guan Yu Xia. I'll make a promise now. I will bet on you next season, I promise. Love you very much. On a slightly more serious note in this Bottas versus Perez fight, what do you think caused it to be that way round? Do you think it's the experience of Bossas versus Perez in a top car? Was it actually

the cars themselves in terms of the competitiveness, one against the other? What do you think, them? Yeah, no, I think it was just a combination of those things. The Mercedes worked on a lot of tracks. And I think the staff, I think, you know, if you take drivers out of it, I think that Bottas was able to do more than the Mercedes than what Perez was able to do in that red ball. Perez is adjusting to a brand new team, a whole new set up, a brand new car. Botas is sat back into his usual routine. He understands the team, underscans for the Kai's setups are all there for him. He's used to winning. He's used to being a championship leader in terms of the and Straters at least.

The guy goes hung up to be a front runner and okay, he didn't have a bloody brilliant season. He was well off the pace in terms of the top two. But he goes on delivering, he's going to be a wingman and he did exactly that for a lot of the season. So I should have looked at that and seeing it carry through, but I guess I had a lot of faith in Perez. You know, I've seen what Perez can do in a midfield car

and I thought if that Red Ball's going to be good, then I think he could deliver. And he did at the end of the year, I felt like Perez. But yeah, let me down in the first kind of first half of the season. and botts he's of course he shone through everyone else in the discog seems to think

that me and Bottas are the same person I do have to keep throwing people off the scent otherwise big secrets might be revealed maybe so I think from my side the difference here was qualifying

I think that's what it came down to is that Bottas very regularly I mean he had a number of pole positions throughout the year but generally speaking he was in and around those top two or three spots

whereas Perez did have you know, a few Q2 eliminations, a few instances where he's starting in the lower ends of the top 10. And there were some races this year. I'm trying to remember an example. I think Zandvoort, where Perez didn't qualify very well, had to work very hard to get back up to maybe like P7 or P8. And he had a good race to get to that point. And I remember us being quite critical of Valdre Bottas who finished P3 in that Grand Prix. But it's all about qualifying. It was about Valtry Bottas having a much better starting position. even if the race didn't go to plan. What do you think was the key reason, Harry,

in this battle between Perez and Bottas? Yeah, I was going to say qualifying. I'd be really interested, well, we won't know, but if Bottas were stood in the Mercedes next year and Perez, well, perhaps he's going to be in the Red Bull, obviously, but how that battle would go down with Perez having done a year's worth of Red Bull experience, whether it would go the other way.

because I think towards the end of the year, maybe Perez was starting to edge, edge, edge, um, edge, um, edge, um, edge, um, but, yeah, we'll never know that one. But yeah, Quali was the difference because, you know, quality, uh, quality, peres is slightly shaky start at Red Bull. Um, didn't help things there,

but, um, yeah, like I say, Botas has never been out of the top 10. Is that right in Corley? With Mercedes. Yeah. It's got 100% record for the hundred gramprees. I know how long of the romprees is done. That is redonculus.

Not even Hamilton is that. I mean, something that, no, something that blows me away, though, about, not blows me away, sorry, other way, sorry that disappoints me with Valtry is towards the back end of the season. So there's only 36 points between Bottas and Perez,

and that's less than two points on average per race over a season, right? That's like a point and a half per race across the whole season. And I think you'll notice that there was a swap. Perez got better with qualifying over the course of the season, but I think Bottas' starts got worse

towards the back end of the season. Bottas would regularly qualify third or fourth on the grid and by the end of the first lap he'd be eighth or ninth or tenth. We saw him drop all the way back, especially in the likes of Abu Dhabi, for example, he was nowhere. And I think if you maybe gave another two or three races in the season, I would be interesting to see just how close that points gap

would have become because I think Perez was properly outscoring Bottees regularly over the last few races. Yeah. It would be interesting as well with the introduction of Russell into that Mercedes versus Red Bull mix just to see can Perez capitalize on the experience edge or not? I mean to be seen.

Unfortunately, we now go to fifth place, and I say unfortunately because we each had three different drivers, and none of them were right. Good. Harry, you were most wrong, if that means anything. You said Sebastian Vettel would be fifth. I'll remember that.

Not quite. How far I figured? How far was it? I don't know what he ended up, but it wasn't in the top ten. Oh dear. Put it that way. He was 12th. He was 12th.

He was 112 points away. Whisker away. Just a hair. Just a photo finished there. I mean, you're most wrong, but that doesn't mean me and Sam are right. Sam, you're heading in the right direction. You have Fernando Alonzo, but still not too close. Jeez, I was gutsy.

You were gutsy. 83 points off in 10th. Again, my newfound hatred for Charles LeClaire continues because I was right with this prediction until he decided to be awful at Abu Dhabi, because he was fifth and I predicted him for fifth and then he decided he can't race for the last Grand Prix

so... Five and a half points off you were. Damn, it's very frustrating. Oh, I like this next one though. The next one we're gonna look at sick. We had sick place as well and we all picked the McLaren driver. Problem is, I was the only one

that picked the right of Claren driver. Oh, I'm a day off. You both picked... I'm not having a good... Have I got no points? I've got no points so far. You've got no points. whatsoever. Hang on a second. Can I just question my own idiotic self? Yes. I said like that time.

Did I say Landon? Oh no, you said Lanham always going to be him. Okay, fine. Carry on. You didn't say that. That would have been very you, but you didn't. Yeah. You didn't do that. Imagine if you said the one and then the other. That would be so you. The next two, we don't actually have a points assigned to them yet because they are somewhat opinionated. So we might have to do a bit of debating here. First of all, we've got the surprise of the season. Actually, there isn't going to be any debate on this one, because we were all horribly wrong.

We all said that Yuki Sonona would be the surprise of the season. It was surprising, into every breaking zone. Yeah, surprisingly inconsistent would be, yeah. Surprisingly, I'm available to find when to stop the car. Am I all right in saying we aren't getting any points for that one? Yeah, that's fair. Correct. So, Sam, you alluded to the fact that you haven't.

got any point so far. We now go on to the biggest letdown of the season and I don't think I can give you a point for this one because you said Carlos Sines would be the biggest letdown. What was my brain doing back then? Oh no. The other two might be a little bit more up to debate. Harry, you said Esteban Ockon would be the letdown of the year. Disagree. Disagree. He got a win. I can't agree with myself there, even if it was a bit lucky. I'm going to back myself for a point here. I said Sebastian Vettel. Disagree. He beat Stroll.

He didn't finish fifth though, did he? Also, Stroll is not an achievement if you're a four-time champion. Where did you put him in your list, though, I've expected? Why just put him as the biggest letdown? Yeah, well, no, I disagree. Are you saying Sebastian Vessel was not a letdown this year? I'm not saying he wasn't a letdown,

but I don't think he was the biggest. No, you don't. You've got 19 other drivers to beat out of that. Not us, three, two, whatever. Give him the point. It makes him happy. He's already won. Now, the last part of our driver's predictions

is who would finish last. Sam, Nikita Mazepin might be your new favorite driver because he's got you a point. Yes, Nikita the Eggman. I love him For this moment only, folks C disclaimer Temporary friend of the podcast

Doesn't know it Bad news for you Sam is We all put Mazapin, so we all get a point in It's all right, I'm not on zero At the end of his shambles All right, well Scores for this one, Sam You do take one point

For Drivers' Championship predictions Come on! Harry, you take three points but Lando Norris has helped me out a great deal here yet again and I have four. Unbelievable. I'm already excited for the next year's one you know. Sick of being second.

Yeah. I'm sick of actually, no, it's fine, I can deal with losing. You're not deserved to lose this one. All right, and then finally, let's look at some constructors predictions. Why, I've got this wrong as well! Oh, you might surprise yourself, you don't know yet. We'll have a look. said that every time and I haven't.

Hey, we all start out very well on this one because we got the Mercedes and Red Bull predictions the right way around this time out. We all said Mercedes would win the Constructors' Championship. We all said Red Bull would finish second, so we each start for two points. Third place. Now, if you've been a fan of the podcast for a long time,

you might well remember when we made these predictions, and I said that Ferrari would finished third and Sam laughed like a hyena. I do have that kind of laugh. Sam, are you still laughing now? No, not really. Leclair and Science have pulled it by this process. They pulled it out the bag for me.

Ferrari is correct. You two were looking good for a lot of these years because you both had Maclara in his third place but Ferrari came on strong. In terms of that midfield fight, because obviously last year it was more based towards, I guess, Renault, Racing Point and McLaren, rather than McLaren versus Ferrari. Are you surprised at all, Sam, that it was just a two-way fight for third and that no other team could get involved? Yeah, massively. The regulations changed so little.

I know we had some reductions in the likes of the Aero and stuff, so the cars were meant to be slower in the corners. They weren't. But, you know, they pushed back regulations by a whole year. the cars were very, very similar. So I thought the likes of racing point who became Ashton Martin will carry over a lot of that expertise. You know, they did very well in the 2020 season. I thought Rengo, who felt like they were on the up

with Daniel Riccada doing so well, who then became Alpine, were going to be progressive. That's why I gave Alonso 5th. It made sense to me that Alonso is coming back. He's got a good team under him. The Reno engine felt better. I really felt like Alonso was able to deliver alongside that team when they just, right at the end of the season,

it felt like they were getting there. you know, never really came true. Al-Fatari, I felt like if Yuki-Singoda was delivering the same level of Pierre Gasley the whole season, then they actually really could have been a contender for a third or fourth place in the season. But they had one driver driving

in the literal stratosphere of driving ability, and they had Yuki-Sung-Oda who was trying to reach the pedals the whole year. So it's hard when that's your team. So, yeah, I was disappointed and surprised because folks, when you hear where I put Ferrari later on. We're all going to have a good giggle. Oh, we'll get to that.

We'll get to that. Same question for you, Harry. Were you surprised that it being a two-way fight? Did you expect other teams to be in the mix? Yeah, I am. And like Sam said, I think, you know, racing point that became Aston Martin. You'd have, well, I obviously did,

so that said me a bit in fifth. You'd have been fairly confident that this year they had at least been involved in that fight, but they were never near. and yeah same for alpine to be honest um weird i guess that's just how the cookie crumbles in f-on sometimes but but surprising considering how little change from 2020 to 2021 in terms of raw changes um and obviously it did bring the field closer together i think overall but but yeah in terms of a consistent fight for for a third in the championship it was only ever between mcclaren and ferrari to be honest

Yeah, I think if you're Ashton Martin or your Alpine, probably particularly Ashton Martin, you've just got to hope that the reason you dropped off the pace so much this year is that you're so dedicated to 2022 and it's all going to come good. Whether it will or not, I'll have to see next year. But you've got to hope that that's the reason for those two teams. McLaren and Ferrari, I think Ferrari for me, I thought they were going to make a step forward just based on how poor the power unit was. was last year and thinking it can't be that bad again. And fortunately for their sake, it wasn't. And McLaren is a bit of a weird one where they've fallen back in terms of championship position, but you don't actually feel like they've really moved back because they're

still in the fight. They're still, you know, they contended for wins. They had one and probably could have had two if Russia had gone better for Norris. So, yeah, I think both teams can look to next year as we're. a bit of encouragement because they've definitely got themselves in the mix. And yeah, if you're Alpine and Aston Martin, maybe it all comes good next year. You've kind of got your fingers crossed on that one and nothing else. Can I just declare before we move on to the next section?

Yes. I think next year's predictions are going to be an absolute mess, a proper shambles. I don't think we're going to get half of them right. I think you're right in that they're usually a shambles. so it's probably going to be even more of the shambles. Yeah. We'll move on to fourth place in the championship. We've all got different teams here.

I put McLaren fourth, and of course you know you two didn't because you had them third. But on this occasion, Sam, you're slightly less wrong than Harry is because you had Alpine fourth. So you're only one spot out on that. Harry had Aston Martin more than one spot out.

I like being slightly less wrong I mean it's not a point but I'll take Sam's slightly less wrong sage that's fine I've just remembered as well I think apart from the last two positions of Williams and Hass Harry you literally copied the 2020

standings from first down to eighth I'm not saying if that's worked out well or not for you I just remember how funny it was when you did it. I don't know. I only realised halfway through that you're done. Go with that one again. Yeah, that'll do. It's logical. There is a point going to be handed out for fifth place and it goes to Mr.

Harri-Ead because he had Alpine in fifth place. Sam, you had Aston Martin so not quite on that one. And I expected too much of Yuki Sonoda. I put Al-Fatari in fifth and they didn't get there. Sam, slightly wrong sage strikes again But not when it comes to sixth place Because you did have Alva Tauri You had Alphotari in sixth place

So you get a point Come on! I feel so rare, I feel like Williams I've picked up a point somehow Snucking on the safety car I had Aston Martin So I was a place out on that one And Harry there's a bit of good news and bad news

The bad news is you were three places out by putting Ferrari 6th. The good news is that's not the most out. Someone's been on Ferrari, so there is that. Here we go, folks. Here we go. Let's move on to. Sam's not slightly wrong anymore. Everyone, get your fingers out.

Let's start counting. We're going down to seventh place now. So there are six teams ahead of these predictions. Seventh place. I put Alpine, so I was two out on that one. Harry you were close you had Alpha Tauri so you all won out on that

Sam you had Ferrari in seventh place I did and I'll give you a famous Sam expression let me tell you one for why wow what a throughback makes no sense I'll tell you one for why

I'll tell you one for why basically I thought they would give up entirely on the regulations and just throw everything at the 2020 regs. Apparently they could do both. I mean, they've got the money, right? So I was very wrong.

I'll take that on the chin. Bonote must have serenity hearing how wrong that I was. I hope it brings in peace. That worked with peace, by the way. Yes, peace. Like, peace and love. we joked earlier on when doing

teammate wars about George Russell's podium and how he saved us for getting that one right unfortunately this is where it comes back to bite us because we're all wrong about eighth and ninth place we all had Alfa Romeo 8th we all had Williams 9th which is the wrong way round

as if oh no George Russell the Belgian Grand Prix What a Belza. Still better than Salony Grand Prix. Wow. I don't know. It was only three minutes long as well.

That was nice. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the least stressful race and watched all year. It's boring, on it? We have extended ourselves even further towards the

Nikita Mazepin fan club, apparently, because we all got Hass right in 10th place. So, cheers, Hass. Thanks, Nikita Mazepan.

You're great. which means scores for constructors Harry and Sam you both share four points but I've got to thank McLaren again because they've given me five you tell him you've won every bloody thing I'll take that yeah he's got a straight sweep

whatever you call it it's a grand slam he looks smoke hey you know what I've got a target on my back for 2020 and I don't enjoy it that's how I tell though after we're getting it twice in a row it was all going to crumble. I understand. Yeah.

I'll get there one year. It'll happen, Harry. The regulations will change next year and you'll lose again. I'm just going to keep repeating the 2021 until I get it right. 2020 constructors. They're a worse. We're 76.

I'll go for Ferrari 5th. They left the sport 40 years ago, Harry. Oh, Harry. Right. There's everyone's predictions. Interesting to know how you got on compared to us if you were indeed keeping track of what you had at the beginning of the year.

I feel like there are some areas we really let ourselves down there. Biggest surprise, Yuki Sanoda, might be a highlight considering we all went for that. Yeah, that's a bit of a zinger. I mean, if we just looked at first and last races, we smashed it. Yeah.

Unfortunately there were 21 other races in between, which is unfortunate. But I don't mind. 20. Same thing. Yeah. Such a shame. Otherwise we were spot on. Good news is this isn't our last podcast of the year.

It's the LBs next week. They're back. Elby Award time. Stay tuned for that one. But Sam, for this episode, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of here. Folks, coming out next week is, of course, my self-help book of how to be right. Don't listen to me. I advise you not to buy the book.

In the meantime, I hope it's been fun. I hope you have gone through your predictions with us, and maybe not being as wrong as both me and Harry. Maybe you can look at us and be smug like Ben does every day of his life. Come back for the Elbe's. The Elbies is a very silly and fun episode where we kind of run through the whole season, all the ups and downs are sillyness, and we give out a multitude of ridiculous award.

One, just because a little teaser, it's called the Sassy Masi Award. So make sure you come back for that one. It is going to be spectacular. There's also a secret host. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. You picked that up way too much. I've been better. And I've been wrong again.

And remember, keep breakingly. Wooden spoon. Find more great shows, or join the team at sport-ssocial. co. com. UK. Podcast is part of the

Sports Social Podcast Network.