The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Reviewing our pre-season predictions! | Episode 95

Episode Date: December 16, 2020

The LB trio take a look back at their pre-season predictions for the constructors and drivers championship, as well as the intra-team battles. They were wrong, A LOT.Make sure to SUBSCRIBE! 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 look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast. The days are short. The skies are dark. There's no F1 for months. It's a tragic time in the community.

But we're still here. You can't get rid of us that easily. My name's Ben Hocking, of course joined by Sam Sage, Ben Harry Ead. Are you coping, guys? Are you all right? You know what? I'm getting flashbacks to the start of the year now when we didn't have Formula One for a long time and now we're coming up to the shortest day of the year.

I can look out my window now and it's covered in rain and I'm cold and lonely and I can't see Sebastian Vettles' face on my screen regularly anymore. I'm a sad man. I'm a very, very sad man. Sad Sam. That's me. Sad fam. Yeah. Yeah, it's a sad time.

Having so much F1 in the space, we had 17 races in 23 weeks. Like I know it's been tough on the people that worked in F1, but it's been good. It's been good. Yeah. It's been pretty much non-stop since the start of July. Today we're going to actually be reviewing our pre-season predictions.

This is always a hilarious one to do every year and realize how little. we actually know as if we don't give that away with most of what we say. We're going to laugh at ourselves. We're going to go through constructors predictions, drivers' championship predictions. But firstly, a bit of a staple of late breaking. We're going to kick off with teammate wars. So we've done this for the last few years.

We take each team and we say which driver is going to finish ahead in the championship. Sam, tragically, is our defending champion. It won't be anymore. Here we go. So let's kickstart with Mercedes. Now, did any of us go for Valtery Botch to meet with Merlton? No, go, go, go, go.

We're stupid, but we're not that stupid. All of us did select Lewis Hamilton to win out of the Mercedes. So give yourself a pat on the back, guys. One point each, ping! Yes, for those keeping, score, it is 1-1-1. However, after the next one, it's not going to be. Oh, no. So we're going to go in, we're going in championship order from 2019. So we go on to Ferrari. Now, if you've listened to this podcast, you know how much Sam was willing Charles LeClair to win the 2019 Formula One World

Championship. I was. So it seems unlikely that he's going to go against Charles LeClaire here, and he hasn't. So he hasn't. So he gets a point. You've heard how I often call Shaul LeCler, God LeCler. I understand how talented he is. So obviously I went for Shao LeCler, so I'm going to get a point here. Oh, no. Harry. Do you remember who you put for this one?

Did I go for Matea Bonoso? Yes. You might as well have done, but you went for Sebastian Metal. Look, I made these predictions before... No, I've got nothing. I got no excuse. Pronto, Harry. Spinella.

Pronto. I would try and offer some form of consolation, but it wasn't really close. No. Classic Harry, getting things wrong. I mean, just to focus on this Ferrari one. Harry's got a delay, isn't he? Harry's got a delay.

He's so delayed. Oh, no. He's so slow. Oh, this is classic. Well, I'll ask you a question, Sam. Obviously, you went for Charles LeClaude to win. Yeah. Are you surprised with the margin with which he won?

Oh, 100%, right? Sebastian Vetter's a four-time champ, and I still have the utmost respect for Vettel's skill level. I think that the combination of LeCler really came into his stride this season and he really put the marker down. He became a really fully-fledged Ferrari driver. And on the same wavelength,

So, Bessel has his most on the beach, can't be asked, don't know what's going on the season we've ever seen him having Formula One. So when you combine those two things, the gap is huge. I expected Bessel to be not toothing ale, I did think that LeCle was going to beat him. But I was expecting, you know, 10, 15 points between the max by the end of the season. Yeah, I've got to say, I was pretty disappointed with what Sebastian Vettel put together in 2020. Now, given Ferrari managed to make an absolute meal. out of the whole situation. I don't even necessarily blame Ferrari for not going with Vettel for 21,

but the way in which they did it was just so stupid. Like, of course, it's a bit unfair on the driver, of course, the later you leave it in the year. But it's more beneficial for the team because they've got something to fight for. And we saw it with the Haskyes. You know, Magnus and Groson, obviously, are not going to be racing for the team in 21. But they at least had that to fight for right up until the last few races. Similarly with Danny Kavilla, Sebastian Vessel knew he wasn't racing for Ferrari in 2021 before a race in 2020 happened. Right, come on. It was like putting Andy Pipkin from

Little Britain into the car and he's going, don't care. You know, he literally couldn't be any less bothered about that drive. He's got, and also he had a drive sorted somewhere else as well. That was the main thing. It's not like he had to impress other teams. He was done and dusted. So it was a terrible way of managing things from Ferrari. And I was surprised everyone altogether now. No. Harry, you're going to join in? Not at the same time. Oh, spectacular. Spectacular. So yeah, it is 2-2-1 with Harry facing a bit of a deficit at the moment.

Red Bull, this one's pretty much a default. Max Verstappen or Alexander Alburn. I think given what's happened to Albin this year, I think we were a little more complimentary towards Albin at the beginning of the season, perhaps compared to what we are now. But it will be of no surprise to anyone. We all went for Max Verstappen to win against his new teammate. So three out of three for myself, three out of three for Sam.

Not quite three out of three for Harry. You'll hear his reply in 2022. This isn't going to get old. So we move on to McLaren. now. So we know how evenly matched Carlos Sines and Lando Norris have been throughout the two years together. We saw that with qualifying in that they still had, they were dead level heading into the Abidabie Grand Prix over two seasons. Now, there was a difference of opinion on this one. And Sam, I'm afraid to say you actually got this right again.

Oh, that did. I thought I got it wrong. No, you did go for Carlos Sines. That's him. but out of the two because there wasn't a lot separating the two of them. Are you, look, if you're going to lose one,

this is the one to lose, right? They are the closest partnership across Formula One at the moment in terms of skill level, I think. And I think you can literally walk away proudly saying Landon Norris, because he had a brilliant year. The guy was one of the drivers of the season as well,

so it was a pure punt. I think Sykes was going to maintain a side age because of experience levels, but Landau is done himself proud. So I think the pair of you, did you both say Lando? Was it just keep them? No, no, it was just myself who said Norris. Harry did say Carlos signs. Well done. Well done, Harry. Nicely done, Harry. It means that after four rounds, defending champion Sam is four for four. And myself and Harry have got to play a catch-up three out of four for both of us.

I mean, the ironic is coming. I feel like that the loss is coming. Well, it's not coming on the next one because we go to Renon. next. Daniel Ricardo versus Esteban Ocon. This was another clean sweep. See, we do know a thing or two. We all went for Daniel Ricardo to beat Esteban Ockon, which he did very comfortably. So you maintain your perfect record through five rounds. But in terms of Esteban O'con's performance, in terms of points, it wasn't all that close. Did it go as expected for you, Sam? Yeah, I mean, Ricardo, again, is second year of the team. It tends to happen. We've seen it with the likes of science, using that experience into the team and then obviously growing into working with the group.

And Ricardo has done the same thing. It's a shame he's leaving, if anything. But O'Conn had extra time off than everyone else. Obviously, we all got the six months reduction in racing at the start of the year. But O'Conn had a year and a half. Always can be tough to come back into it. And Ricardo is one of the prime talents on the grid. You can't look past him when it comes to his overtaking ability. And as a mature driver that he's become now, he really, really does have kind of assets in all areas. So I think Ocon had a good season. It wasn't great.

It wasn't incredible. But it wasn't bad. I think he did well for a first season back. He just had to come up against Daniel Ricardo, who I think was absolutely on fire, fire this season. What are your thoughts on that, Harry? Do you think this Renault battle was more a case of Ricardo being as brilliant as he was? Or do you think Ocon's shortcomings are more to do with the gap?

A bit of both for me. I think Sam said Ricardo was. the fire fire this year. He really, you know, not stepped up. He was at the level we expect from him. He wasn't at that level last year. And I think it took Ocon a long time to get into, or get used to that at a car.

So, yeah, we saw glimpses of what he can do towards the latter end of the season. He seemed to be more on Ricardo's pace, which is encouraging for him going to next year. But yeah, I think it's a bit of underperforming from Ocon at the start and Riccardo being just doing Ricardo things. Yeah, I think overall, and I've stressed this quite a few times. Ocon was coming off of one season out of the sport, but he was coming out of 18 months out of the sport, essentially, due to the season not starting in July, which made an already difficult situation that much more difficult.

So 18 months out of a car has to go up against Daniel Ricardo, who I think is one of the top three or four drivers on the grid. and he's entering a brand new team, a brand new power unit. And Daniel Ricardo has had a year to settle at that point. Carlos Seins is a great comparison point, as you've already said some. So, yeah, I always thought Ocon was going to struggle. To be perfectly honest, I think he went exactly as expected. I didn't think O'Con would get any closer than what he did. And I think overall, it wasn't the best season in the world from Ocon.

It was okay enough for him to get another season, no doubt about that whatsoever, that how he does against Fernando Alonzo in 2021, that could be make or break for him. So moving on to the sixth team, Sam, five out of five, becomes six out of six because we all went for Pierre Gazley to beat Danny Kviat. Harry, do you think, did you think Kaviat would get closer?

I think after last year, you would probably say yes. Kaffir had a pretty solid 2019 and obviously Gazdi didn't have a great year getting demoted from the Red Bull seat. So yeah, I think that, you know, Gassie's one of the drivers of the season, so I think he's been more

of the surprise. I think Kofiatt still had an okay year. He kind of turned up for the last couple of races, which was a bit late by then for his seat. But yeah, I think we also suspected perhaps Gassley was a better driver. It was just a case of could he get his head

head straight, which he evidently did this year. What do you reckon, Sam, do you think Kaviyat should have got a bit closer to Gassley? With hindsight, this is a sure thing with this prediction. But actually, if you look back at the start of the season and how Gassley kind of ended that previous year and what was going on with the whole Red Bull transition into Al-Fatari and I think that it should have been closer. And I think that it's actually quite surprising now that we all went for Gassley so confidently. because Kviat's no slouch. Kaviat's great.

He's beating a lot of good teammates over his time. And this year wasn't ideal for him. It definitely wasn't bad. But Gassley has stepped up beyond belief, I think. I think he's one of the real surprises of the season. Well, he was good. But I think this year he's proven that he is top class and deserving of a front-facing seat. You know, one of those ones that could take it for race wings

or for challenging the podium regularly. I don't think you could safely say that that was your prediction at the start of the season. That would have been bold, I think. if you could say that Gassi, he was one of the drivers of the season, and he's won a race. That, he deserves every bit of credit, because I don't think anyone suspected that. So, Kyviat's been beaten by a driver that's turned it up to, you know, 12 out of 10 there. And I think Kivok has had a whole right year. Yeah, I think this one's pretty comparable to Esteban Ockon, to be perfectly honest.

I think they've both had reasonable years against drivers who had a great season overall. I think Danny Kaviat was quite unlucky in patches. and got to be careful with your words here, I guess, but with Pierre Gazley and his performance at Monza because it was an epic result, but there was an element of fortune in that. There was an element of fortune in him getting in that position in the first place. Now, I'm not questioning the execution of what was laid out in front of him,

no doubt about that whatsoever, but Gasley definitely benefited from the circumstances that opened up to him in the race. And there's every chance that that could have happened for Danny Cavilla. very similar situation, of course. Hockenheim 2019. Danny Kviat was at the back of the field, got lucky with the timing of the pit stop,

and managed to get P2 in that Grand Prix. I think when you are in that midfield, you do occasionally just need that a little bit of luck to find yourself in a position to score big points. Having said that, Gassley was the better driver this year. No question whatsoever. And he was one of the best drivers this season. So I thought Kaviat would get a bit closer than this.

And I think, in all honesty, he probably deserved to be a little closer than this. Yeah, and that's a fair assumption there, Benjamin. Good analysis. So, we've done six teams now. And, I mean, we're doing surprisingly well. Yeah. You've got six out of six, Sam. Me and Harry both got five out of six.

Has it go wrong here? No, it doesn't. What have we done? Do we know F1? We know F1 because we move on to racing point now and we all went for Sergio Perez. Fladiel. We all went for Sergio Perez.

Which, to be fair, looking about halfway through the season, it was a bit touch and go. Obviously the two races that Perez missed did impact in that. But I would say it's only in the second half of the season where Perez has been able to accelerate, at least in terms of points away from Landstri. Sam, at any point during the season, did you think Lance Stroll would have a chance at beating Perez? Yeah, I did.

I think Perez had a really bad start to the season. Not bad, but in terms of Perez's ability, I think it was bad. I think Stroll had the edge on Perez over the first couple of races, and then COVID hit. Obviously, Stroll was then hit with COVID later wrong in the season, which is unfortunate for both of them. But, you know, I think Stroll was probably the more consistent driver of the first three or four races. and Perez had that exit in Austria where, you know, he crashed into Albon and that front wing went flying. That was silly. Perez was just making mistakes that are unexpected from him.

But Perez decided to get himself together and had an absolutely blinding second half of the season. And I'm glad that, you know, he's not going to be in F1. Well, as we know, currently, there's still a seat available. As we know, currently, he's not going to be there. And I'm glad he has such a stellar final few races of this season and came out on top because I don't think Stroll did himself too badly. I think Stroll had a couple of bad moments, but I think Stroll showed a markable improvement this season on last season, and that's what you want from a driver that's young and improving. So they both did brilliantly, but it came out in the end, I think, as expected. What do you reckon, Harry?

Yeah, I mean, as Sam said, it wasn't a great start of the season for Sergio, not necessarily all his fault. Yeah, and I think touching goes the right word because, you know, you would have thought. thought he's missed two races. I know Stroll missed one, but the deficit was probably enough that you think, oh, well, Sergio might still win, but it might not be by much out of the two of them. But then as Sam's tell, he absolutely smashed the rest of the year.

And, yeah, he's just been stellar. And we've touched on this subject before. I hope he does get a seat somewhere, but it doesn't look likely at the moment. But, yeah, but that, again, it doesn't necessarily say, Stroll's had a bad season. I agree with Sam. I think he's had a good year, probably his best year yet. I mean, he got a pole position for crying out loud. So, yeah, I think it's been a solid year around for the racing point, boys. Yeah, I would definitely agree that Stroll had the advantage in the early running. You remember the first race in Austria, actually.

Stroll was in a pretty good spot and retired from the Grand Prix. And, you know, Perez had that good comeback in, at the Styrian Grand Prix, so still at the Red Bull Ring, sort of ruined it for himself in the last few laps of that one. But, you know, he did a pretty good job there. But I think overall, Stroll had the advantage early on. If you remember the third race of the season at Hungary, Stroll, I think, was maybe P4 in that Grand Prix or something along those lines, P4, P5.

Perez was nowhere in comparison to him. Stroll had the advantage all throughout that weekend. And at that point in the year, it got me thinking that, maybe Stroll has made a massive leap forward here, and he can compete with Sergio Perez across a full season, because that is no mean feat whatsoever. Second half of the season, though,

Perez, for me, was far superior to Landstrol, which is why I've ranked Perez much higher than Stroll in rankings. And, yeah, I think Perez showed his true class at the end of the season. The second half of the season, he might well have been the best driver on the grid, full stop. Him versus Hamilton in that respect for me in the second half of the season. So very well done from him.

Now we get to the back markers, I guess we can call them. I think these two coming up are the trickiest two actually. Now I think about it. I think the heart from McLaren, these two are where it's close. So Alpha Romeo, Giovannazzi versus Kimi Reichen. Now, they actually finished on the same number of points. It was four all. Oh, we all win?

However, Kimi Reichenen technically won by tiebreak. He finished ninth, twice, rather than Jovanazzi, who finished 9th, 10th and 10th. So actually, it is Reikinen who technically wins, which is really painful for me to say, because I'm the only one that went for Jovanazzi. I'm all saying I say I disagree with that rule count, but I love it, Ben. that up. Wah! If we are going purely off

championship standings, that's how it works. Well, this is fun. I like this. Do I get the next few wrong? I hope I don't get the next two wrong. This is good fun. Kimmy, Gio,

I don't think he should have a seat, to be honest. Chio was all right. I think he's at his time. Maybe it gets one more year before the new era comes in, but Kimmy should definitely be gone out. Sorry to all you Kimmy lovers.

He has been good in the past. He's now just a seat filler. and there's a lot of people that deserve one. Calla Myelot for crying out now. He deserves a go in F1. I don't think he'll ever be a world champion, but the man deserves to have a go. And it's now just going to be at the seat hog.

So, yeah, there you go. Honestly, the amount of stick you two gave me for picking Jovanazzi over Rikening. I wish, if we can play the audio, that'd be brilliant. But you gave me so much stick for choosing him. And he's ended up losing due to a technicality. I'm so annoyed. He lost.

He lost. He lost. Oh, well. Makes happen. Well, what do you think, Harry, on the Alpha Romeo situation? Because it's very difficult to actually judge how good or poorly they are considering how bad that car was, even in comparison to 2019. I mean, I disagree with Sam. Kimmy deserves a seat next year purely for the complete filthy switchback you pulled on sign to the Portuguese GP.

Oh, that was fine. Yeah. So good. Yeah, neither of them had a great season, did they? I mean, the car's not great, but Kimmy did show flashes, but yeah, I'm surprised at that the line-ups staying the same next year. I don't, yeah, I don't know which one you would get rid of, but, you know, as the points show their remarkably close in performance this year.

But I agree with Sam Callum. I thought should have got a seat over one of them. I don't know which one. I would keep, probably Kimmy, to have the experience next to, next to I lot. But I agree, he has been there for about 43 years. I saw today that Yuki Sonoda is obviously the first driver in the 2000, born in the 2000s to race an F1 next year. And that means he was 10 months old when Kimmy made his debut,

which is just ridiculous. That's mad. That is crazy. We've got a driver from the, is it the 7th? Was Kimmy born in the 79? We've got a drive from the 70s, we've got a driver from the minorities. That is just ridiculous. What other sport has an age gap that big

and it's still competitive? Like the top tier of sport, that is crazy. Tilly Winks. It's crazy that we have on the next year's grid, we have a driver who wasn't alive for either of Mika Hakenen's championship wins, and we also have a driver who would have been alive

when Mario Andretti was still racing in Formula One. Wow. That is a good combination. Crazy. So overall then, it means that Reichen and four, Germanazzi 4, but Reichen technically wins, in which case I am trailing on six out of eight, Harry's got seven out of eight, and Sam has got eight out of eight.

Come on. Now it's going to ruin me. pass. Grojean versus Magnuson. Now, I have picked Grojean for this the last few years and then decided at the beginning of this year that Grojeon's let me down enough and I'm not going to pick him again. So of course he went and won this year, didn't he? Grojean thanks to his ninth place at the Nuremberg ring, two points to his name. Kevin Magnuson, only one point for his 10th place finish at Hungary, even though he did finish 9th on track. he got the penalty that's Roman demoted to 10.

Now, which of us picked Romang Grosion? That's the question. Harry did. The answer is none of us did. We all went for Magnuson. Oh, damn, I thought I got a clean sweep. No. We all went for K-Mag.

Box office Magnuson couldn't beat Roman Bullard. That is... Oh, my... You know what? I'm sorry, Romy G. After what you've been through, someone to back you. And I feel a bit disappointing of myself for not giving it a go.

Well, it's just that I backed him last year and Magnuson beat him and I backed him the year before a Magnuson beat him. So I was like, well, three, it's got to be three in a row, right? Wrong.

Didn't you do that with Ricardo? I did that with Nika Holcombberg until he finally lost to Daniel Ricardo last year, which I got right. But yes. Oh, I'm quite bummed out. Sorry, Romer G.

Yeah. So, KMAG, we're all wrong on that one. So overall, it's eight out of nine for Sam, seven for Harry. And I'm out of contention now because I've only got six. So it's all about what happened on the last one. And, well,

it's not all that exciting because Williams, depends how you see this one, really. George Russell did beat Nicholas Latifie. However, the only reason and he beat him was because of his race in a Mercedes. Otherwise, it would have been Nicholas Latifi who won. It doesn't really matter because we all went for Russell, so none of us is going to gain an advantage over the other.

But I'm saying we're right with George Russell beating Nicholas the Tifi if we're going, technically speaking. Yeah, he just needs to driving a car that's four seconds of like faster to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Good strap. So just for actual clarification there, due to obviously, neither of them scored points in the William.

all season. So due to where they ended up finishing across the season in their positions, has Latifi actually beats them

I mean, if you take away that one race take away the Merk race, I'm pretty sure Latifie beats Russell. Wow. You know what? That's surprising.

Well, Latifie got an 11th and Russell got on 11th but I thought Latifie had two 11ths. Could be wrong on that. Well, you know what? That's pretty easy.

though. I mean, Georgie Russ is the Satakey king, but Latifi, good job there. I've underestimated Matifia a little bit. Yeah, I'm selling him short, actually, Latifi. You've got three 11th place finishes. He got one at the Austrian Grand Prix, the first race of the season,

had 11th at Monza and then at Imala as well, whereas Russell had 11th just once in the season, which was at Machilo. But obviously the ninth place finish plus the fastest lap in in Bahrain gives him the overall win. But I guess it's down to interpretation whether he beat Latifi or not.

As we do this on points, I'm going to say that Russell did do it. But you know what? I think a little bit of a mini round of applause for Latifi there. That is quite under the radar, good form. Yeah. So, I can't believe I'm saying this. After Sam won teammate wars in 2019, it's not a Leicester city of the Formula One world.

he's gone and done it again. Some nine out of ten. Harry's beaten me, which might be a low point for my life. He's got eight out of ten. And I've only got seven. So well done, Mr. Sage. I feel like the Fernando Alonkso of teammate wars. Thank you.

Just imagine me doing the little monkey dance he does out on the top of the car. But with Ben and Harry watching me in the crowd. Wee, I'm doing it on you guys. Ha ha! You're losers. That's actually how I am right now. And to be honest, as a, as a trio, we've still got drivers and constructors to run through in a second. That's about as good as it gets.

Emate Wars was our peak. It doesn't get much better. Let's say you're there. Let's move on to constructors first of all. We predicted first, second, third, best of the rest, which didn't really exist, but we'll say it's fourth. Most improved Team that's gone backwards And last place

So I guess the improved And gone backwards Is open to interpretation Which we can discuss in a little bit But the first few Are we're definitely aren't We all said Mercedes were going to win The Constructors Championship

So well done us Good job, lads Yeah And we all said Red Bull would finish second as well Way Now This is just brilliant So I was actually watching

this video back earlier on. And Harry, you just find new ways to be wrong. I didn't say Renault. We're going to be third. No. You were right in saying that Ferrari were going to struggle, Harry, because me and Sam both had, me and Sam both had Ferrari finishing third.

Harry was the visionary here and knew that Ferrari were going to struggle, but you put racing point third. You still can't get it right. Oh no. Why am I so bad? In fairness, watching that video back, we are so shocked at your bold prediction of Ferrari not finishing third,

so fair play to you. Yeah, you were closest on that one. Thank you. Yeah, so none of us get any points for third place. So best of the rest, technically then, is racing point. But Harry, you picked Ferrari. to be better.

And we both predicted, this is brilliant as well, me and Sam both predicted that McLaren would be racing points. Oh, but they got third. Oh, we got that right. That's good.

But they got third. So it doesn't matter. We still don't get a point. Oh, this is a shambles. Folks, I hope you're counting along with your own charts at home and seeing how ridiculously bad you've done along with us.

Yeah, please. I mean, we're two, two, two at the moment because we've all got first and second, right, but nothing else. Now, improved and backwards, we'll have to debate this. So, myself and Harry both said the most improved team would be racing point. They moved up three positions in the championship overall. And Sam, you went for Alpha Tauri to be the most improved team.

And they did improve their points, Talley. So do we all get points? Do none of us get points? What do you think? I think you guys definitely get points. I think in terms of constructive standing, they moved up. I think that's great. Do they move up the most places out of any team as well?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I think that definitely gets points. But I think Alfa Tauri also, I'm going to picture my own stand here. I do think they should get points. They were challenging regularly up the front. They regularly got cars into Q3. They were a lot of backmark a team, but they were fighting with Haas and whatnot the season before. I mean, yes, circumstances allowed it, but they got a wing.

So I do think that they are pretty damn approved, in my opinion. Again, let us know, folks, Atle breaking on Twitter or YouTube if you're there watching. What do you think it's fair? I'm going to say, I think it's a fair answer. I think it's a really weird one because Alphateri managed to drop a place. Like they were 6th in 2019 and they were 7th in 2020. But they gained, I think about 20 points, even with 4 fewer rounds. races. So it's a really weird one to analyse.

I'm going to allow it. I reckon with a longer season, they have got back up there. What are you saying, Harry? Yes, Christmas. Why not? Yeah, go ahead. You can have a point. I'm getting, thank you. Okay, so in terms of teams going backwards, I think that pretty much answers the question of whether me and Harry are getting a point on this one, because we both said that Alfa Tauri would be the team that moves backwards the most. in which case we don't get points there.

The one up for debate is Sam saying has. Now, in terms of points, they did drop 2019 to 2020. In terms of championship position, they didn't. So, again, it's a bit of a debate. I don't think I get a point for this. They were bad in 2019. They were requalers bad in 2020. I personally don't think it's a big enough drop to warrant.

What did you guys say again? I mean, we said Al-Fa Tauri, so we're not getting points for that. Yeah, I think I've definitely got a better answer, but I don't think it's a good enough answer. I think there's only one answer for this one, isn't that? Yes, it is Ferrari. I was going to say it was Mercedes. That's a shocker. Sorry, Lewis.

And then lastly, we predicted who would be last. And myself and Harry will both pick up a point here because we said Williams. Oh, I said Haas, didn't I? Yeah, did. You said Haas would finish. Poo heads. In fairness, you weren't far off. I mean, yeah, was it zero points to three?

So it's not much in it, but it means overall, for constructors, me and Harry take the tied win. So we both got four points and Sam gets three. Oh, I can't wait to watch you guys do a silly dance in front of me now. Let's really come back to buy me. I got the five years yet. I know why. I was going to be running for them.

Now, I've done this in a certain order where teammate wars makes us look the best. So more people are going to be watching the first part of the podcast than the last part of the podcast you see. Hopefully people have turned off now. Thank God, Gondon sticks around. Yeah, it's a really good thing because these are pretty bad. Oh, no. There are a lot of Xs compared to ticks on my piece of paper right now. So should we start well?

We'll start with we predicted first, second, third, 4, 5th, 6th, 7th, most improved, backwards again, and then last place. First place. Sam, you predicted Lewis Hamilton would win the championship. You get a point. I predicted Lewis Hamilton would win the championship. I get a point. Yeah.

Oh, no, it's right. He's back to Staphn. Harry, who hates, he hates Lewis Hamilton. That's like Louis Hamilton. He thought Max Verstaffin would win the championship. Oh, you're a fault. Oh, dear. Oh, Harry. How do you feel, mate? It's not my finest hour.

In fairness to you, I think we were all actually, well, I wasn't. I was smarter than you two, but you two were in agreement that it would be neck and neck between the two of them. No. Harry just decided it would be Max who pips Hamilton to the post. Harry, mate, it's fine. Last year, I said the club's going to win the title. So, you know, we've all been there. It's a fair point. Oh, that is.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm still reeling off my loss in teammate, so I've got that one. Sorry, mate. Second place. There are no points to be had whatsoever here because, Harry, you said Lewis Hamilton within a second, with Max, Wistappen being first.

But me and Sam both thought that it would be Vastappen, who would get second place. It was close. It was close. No doubt about that. But no cigar. Which you can, you can, You can tell when you get one wrong, you start to get more than one wrong,

because third place, we all put Valtri Bottas, who of course didn't finish 30 for a second. Oh, porridge, man. Do you know that's proud. I wish I could say this is going to get better. Oh. It's not. Fourth place, Sergio Perez.

I said Charles LeCleur would finish fourth because I was foolish and thought Ferrari would actually be okay. Or so did I. So did Sam. apparently Harry is Alex Albin's biggest fan because he put Alex Albin in fourth. Could you be more act as bad as Ferrari's season that prediction? He was so close as well. In fairness, Albon got closer to fourth than LeCler did, so I guess he technically win.

And this is just, this is another instance, fifth place, where Harry finds new ways to be wrong. because, Harry, you said, and I listened to the audio of this back, you said that Sergio Perez would finish fifth, and it was met by absolute gasps from me and Sam that you would put him so high, and you weren't high enough. So, Harry. We were like, fifth place, Sergio Perez.

Wow, that's a bold prediction. He actually beat, you actually finished four. So yeah, you didn't get that one, right, Harry, but good consolation is neither did me or Sam. What did we say? So you said Alex Alburn would finish fifth. That's not how bad one place off? No, and it's better than mine. I said Vettel would finish fifth.

Lone. Oh, no. We actually reversed on that, Sam. So for sixth place, Carlos Seines actually finished sixth. I said Alex Albin would finish sixth, and Sam said Sebastian Vetter. Did you get that right? No, Album was seventh. Of course he was.

I forget how bad he is. Sorry. Yeah. I was one out. And Harry, you said Charlotte Clair would be six. So if you are keeping score through six rounds here,

Harry's got none. And me and Sam are absolutely trouncing him with one. Oh, God, Harry's got none. Do you remember when we said, do we know F1 about 10 minutes ago? That was good. We don't.

We really don't. So, anyway, troubling the scoreboards when we go to seventh place because Alex Albin finished seventh place. If you've done the maths, we've already predicted him to be higher than this. So we're not going to get any points here. We're so much facing him. I said Perez would be seventh. And you both said signs would be seventh.

So you're only one out, but no, sir, again. Harry's been won out about 19 times. Yeah, in fairness, I think pretty much nearly all of your predictions are one out. Right, most improved. This one again is an interpretation one. I am going to just say I didn't put a prediction in. I said Magnuson. Wow.

So maybe not. Harry, you said, well, you said Antonio Givinazzi. No, he did not improve. And Sam, you said George Russell. Yes, he was great this year. season, I'd definitely get a point. I think he was about as good as he was. He was in 2019.

Bagger off. Everyone in the comics. Back me up here. Anything. I think he was worse. I'm surprised I've got any legs left. The matter of times you two, pull him. He's not too. Point or no point for Sam there, Harry. No point this time. It is Christmas.

Only Christmas once. Roddy robbed! I'm on two. Bagger off. All right, you can have a point. The driver that went backwards, so I went with Kimmy Reichenen, which, I mean, he went from like 50 points to about four, so.

Yeah. I'm going to say, there's a case there. Sam, you went with Jovanazzi. Oh, okay. Well, yeah, all right. And Harry went with Danny Kviyat. I think these are all par for the course. I think we were all a little bit not risky enough with these last, at the start of the year.

Yeah, maybe, maybe, no points. And then lastly, we went for who was last in the championship. Now, again, there's a bit of a technicality about this one, because technically it was Pietro Fitzapaleli who finished last. And surprising, none of us went for that. So if we're ignoring him, it was Nicholas Latifi, in which case I get a point and Harry gets a point. Why don't I get a point?

Did I say Magnuson again? No, you said Romi G. I'm so sorry, Romney G. I'm so sorry. Which means, and this was a mega high scoring round, Harry, you did end up getting one point thanks to Latifie. So you can send ten Canadian dollars his way. He'll need them.

And me and Sam both got an almighty two. So we tie for the winner. Wow. This is, this has gone well. I think we're going to have to retire. Can we just, no, it's all right. Just do teammate wars. It's fine. Yeah. Just, just, if you've listened to the rest of this, just pretend you didn't. Yeah. And we'll come back in the new year, knowing things again.

We're definitely not trying to make this a career of ours, by the way. Not at all. I think that is enough awful predictions for one evening. Hopefully you've enjoyed listening along at home. Sam, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of here. Folks, let us know what you put for each of the questions. If you can't remember them, rewind, you could do that. Technology is fantastic these days. And let us go in the comments.

Share it with us on Late Breaking. Ben, maybe stick a question up and you guys can reply how you did in our most recent video. It would be great to see if you've got more than us. We've got plenty more content to come, by the way. Don't you think that just because it's Christmas and the season is over than we're going anywhere? Oh, no, no, no, no. We'll be making much more sitting there. We've got lots of new ideas coming.

So stick around, please, because it's going to be good fun over the holiday break. And, of course, we'll then continue to the new year, add on to the winter testing in the new season. So in the meantime, I've been Samuel, Steve. I've been Ben Hawking. I've been delayed. I remember. Keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.