The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Summer Recap: Every F1 Team’s 2025 in 3 Words!

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

Ben and Sam are back with more F1 goodness to keep you going through the summer break, and this time they’re summing up every F1 team’s 2025 season so far, with just three words each! They finish with the debut of a new game... >>> Don't miss out - limited tickets left for our 2025 LIVE SHOW in Austin TX! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to grab yours or for more info!

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, on this non-race Sunday. Don't mind a non-race Sunday chat. Sam, nice and relaxed, nice and chill. Got some F1 to chat for it. It's all all right.

It's all right. Summer vibes. You know, the feet are up. We're kicking back. We're having a good time. Only 14 days, folks. Only 14 days. Hold on.

Hold on. We can make it. We're having a great time. We've got some nice old summary bits to go through every today, Ben. We're going to be going through the teams and whatnot. We are indeed. Before we get to that, the reason I'm in such a good mood is because I had something arrived yesterday, which is a thing of beauty.

It's a bit of YouTube exclusive, folks. So you'll be able to see that on YouTube. I got a T-shirt from my lovely friends for my birthday. And it's all about James Vowls, my favourite humans. So thank you very much. The man for you, Ben, we thought there's only one man who you could wear upon your chest. And that is Daddy Vowls. I'm right.

And we've actually got some pens to work with today because we're going to be using the whiteboards. I might just write Daddy on top of the James Vowles bit on the T-shirt. Go for it. Yeah, why not customize it? It's yours. It is. Right, we are going to be using the whiteboards today because it's a return of three-word summaries. We'd like to do this a couple of times a year, something like that.

We did this, I think after round five of this season. So we'll see what's changed as we are now in the summer break. We're going to run through all 10 teams in championship order and give them a three-word summary for the season. It's completely up to us as to what we choose to focus on. It could be one of the particular drivers. It could be the team itself. It could be on the circuits. It could be off the track.

We'll wait and see. But we are going to start with, of course, the team at the top of the championship. That being McLaren. Three words summary for McLaren. Okay. Trying to make the handwriting legible. A regular challenge for myself.

Yeah, I mean, as a show, we're not exactly the best at like calligraphy, are we? You know what? We are not late calligraphy for a reason. I was a left-handed man. I've always struggled to be somewhat neat with my handwriting. But all right, I'm ready if you are. I am ready indeed.

So three-word summary for McLaren. Sam has gone for Civil War brewing, whereas I have gone for four-figure finish. Sam, you think there's a civil war brewing? I do. I do. I don't think culturally any top team can keep two, I was going to say, apex athletes in a half.

happy place. They have both started the season so competitively, so strongly. You look at Oscar six wings, Landau five wings, Oscar 12 podiums in total. That includes the wings, of course, Landau, 12 programs in total. And we get 14 races into the season. And they are separating by, I think it's what, nine points, something like that, which is crazy. That is crazy to be 14 races in and nine points separated. They are both powerhouses of this younger generation of Formula one and this is their first opportunity to achieve the goal of their lifetime. It's something that they have strived for, striven for, strove for. Strive did. It's something they have strived it for their entire lives growing up to this point. Now we know that Landon Norris got a bit of a

sniff last year against Max for Staping, but it felt like realistically going up against Max Max when he was a little bit less experience was always a tough call. And that's no disrespect to London. Norris is Max for stopping in the beast. But now it's, you know, well and truly in his hands, whether he can take this championship or not. And he has one opponent. And it's Oscar Piastri.

And I do feel like with the conversation about how should we celebrate, how we talk to each other, how do we go racing? McLaren is trying very hard to tread a very narrow and delicate path between these two drivers. And they clearly don't want to upset the Apple Cup while also going for the ultimate goal in sport, the championship at the pinnacle level. So I really think that as much as they're trying, we will start to see cracks. We will start to see it fracture. I don't know if we'll ever get to the point, you know, of where we saw Weber and Seb multi-21 or Hamilton Rosberg with caps being thrown. But I would be shocked if they are as Pally towards the end of this season as they

have been through the start of this season. It's an interesting one in that where we've had partners, like team partnerships that have carried on and had success, most of them have come about as a result of having that clear number one and number two driver. Schumacher Barakello, sort of into Weber and Vettel. And even though there were difficulties between the two of those, that did last for sort of five years.

Hamilton Bottas. The ones that, whether it's been pretty close, Hamilton Rosberg, Senna Prost, they haven't lasted as long. Hamilton Alonzo, if you want to, I know they didn't win a championship, but they didn't, they didn't stand the test of time. So it would be interesting to see what happens with Piastrian Norris, not only this season, but extending across the next few seasons if they can keep up this pace of competing for championships. Because if they can remain a unit and this civil war doesn't break out, in one respect, it is a little bit of making history.

that there isn't a lot of evidence of it in the past. I'd be shocked if it happens though. Ben, come on, talk us for yours. Four figure finish. So, McLaren at the moment are on 559 points, which, to be honest, they're not far off what they had last year to win the Constructors' Championship already.

It means that overall, they have scored 86.4% of all available points this year. Not too shabby at all. 10 races to go, including three sprints, if they were to keep up this pace, they would be on track for roughly 970 points. Oh, which by itself, like that would already break Red Bull's record that they had in 2023 by over 100 points. So if they don't break the record, I will be very surprised. they only need 63.6% of their available points to beat Red Bull. So given, again, they are over 20% above that for the season so far,

I think they're going to be all right. But my question is, can they hit 1,000? Because it's not out of the question. It is a tall order. Like they would, there is basically zero margin for error. They would need to score at a rate of like 93% for the rest of the this year and they could only afford to drop 34 points from now until the end of the year. It's not impossible.

34 points dropped from now until the end of the year. So that is essentially a one-two in every single Grand Prix in spring, barring two pretty much. Yeah, there's not a lot of margin for error at all, really. Oh, Benny Boy, take a sip of the tea. Take a sip of the tea. We're on the struggle bus, boy. He's got that summer cold vibe. Yeah.

Yeah, there would not be a lot of room for error at all. Like, they couldn't have another Canada as an example. Fascinating. I don't know if I'm going to live in a world where an F1 team can score over 1,000 points in a season. Yeah, but we might. We might. It's unlikely, but we might.

I had to deal with a lot of weird things like that cunea pizza, the pesto most. Checo Pesto. Besto Perez against Cougar pizza. Sounds like a kicks character. Yeah, not one I want to meet. No, no. One last stat on this, on how McLaren have done so far this year. Their average finish, I guess, 2.76 so far this year.

If you were to put together their 34 race finishes for this season and just list them from best to worst, so that's including all of the sprints and all of the races, so 17 each. their sixth worst result of the 34 is a P3. So we're ignoring the D&F in Canada. No, no, we're not ignoring it. No, but that's what I said. But I said like it's coming.

Yeah, so that would be last. And then the Piastri ninth placing Australia, that's all ready. That's come and gone as well. Wow, it's amazing how consistent the pair of them have been in securing top two finishes throughout this season. That is amazing. You look at races like Japan.

And you think even with a car that dominant, they couldn't get past Max for Stappen, it shows you that maybe Formula One is it fit for some race tracks if we can't actually make an overtake. Yeah, yeah, pretty incredible consistency. We'll see how they get on for the rest of this year. Two Ferrari, who are second in the championship somehow. What about a three-word summary for them? Mine is far less analytical thing mine was for McLaren. Oh, okay.

More to the point. I'm ready when you are. Here we go. Sort it out. Cought it out. And Ben Gil says. And mine is, we are checking. Very good.

Very good. Do you go through yours first? Sure, let's do it. We are checking. Sounds a little bit mysterious. What am I talking about? A bit ambiguous, we are checking. I've said it because it's the answer to the question,

how are we P2? We are checking because they don't know and neither do I. How are they second place? It is insane. They've had a double disqualification in China. They have no wins. They've had a second, one second place. Hamilton has an ad a podium outside of a sprint.

They've had one pole position that neither driver is in the top four in the championship. Leclair had a nightmare at Silverstone, Hamilton had a nightmare at Hungary, Hamilton has failed to make Q3 four times, and all of that added together is the same position they were last year. It doesn't make sense to me. No, it definitely feels like Ferrari's season

is more, not a case of their own ability, but rather a showing of the lack of ability of other teams right now. And I'm not saying that's because they're just incompetent. The Sages have come out and explain their issues. We know what's going on with Red Bull. And so Ferrari have been their consistent poor selves, but it just means that nothing goes so disastrously wrong

that they've fallen down the order, much like what season was it, 2020, 2019, where they had one of the worst seasons going, right? Yeah, yeah. They were, what, sixth or seventh in the constructors that year? Yeah, yeah, that was bad. Abysmal. And I reckon if actually that year hadn't happened,

this year might be looked at actually as where are the results? Like, yeah, you're second, but it's just because you've got two good drivers that are able to finish religiously. in the top six or seven every single race where the other teams do not. I'll say sort it out and pretty much for the same reason as you, Ben, but I mean structurally sort it out now because there are only so many years and so many seasons that we could go through the Ferrari cycle of we sew back,

we got back and then at the start of the next season, we then go, we sew back again because Ferrari fans, you're all. and I do part of it myself in this. Massive optimists, blind optimists. We see a tenth of a second away from a pole, or we see an upgrade on the horizon, and it's, oh, here we go, here we go. Oh, championship coming.

And then it's like, yeah, LeClaire P4, Hamilton P7, and you're like, nothing change. Maximum points. Your maximum point score from pole to podium, or pole to points, even worse, actually. That team, whilst being led by Fred Prasier, while being driven by Hamilton and Lecler, that is too good a situation, too good a setup to waste. So going into this new regulation and dealing with the final 10 races, sort it out.

You know, Hamilton shouldn't be having these issues with the Darnie. Lecler shouldn't be having to go through these explanations over his radio to his race engineer about how things are confusing, things aren't set up properly, and where's the conversation about direction when they're going for their race strategy. that shouldn't be happening. You never hear it with other teams. It shouldn't be happening. And then the upgrades don't work.

And regularly, they don't work. Decisions are falling by the wayside. You were winning races. You were the closest teams to maybe snatching a constructors away from McLaren last year. It kind of didn't happen. There's every chance you might have done so.

And yet, you've gone so far back quicks because decision after decision, whilst maybe only small, add up to a very big thing. And it's just who is calling the shots from a technical directed point of view because it is starting to falter. Is it purely Fred?

Is Fred relying on someone internally? You know, we've seen these issues for a long time. And Ferrari of Flossom K personnel, whether good or bad, but also, of course, is at Salba. Lauren Meckis is now that blooming head of Red Bull, which is a strange development in life. Yeah, it's just, you know,

there's been a lot of changes in that team. And yet they are reing, almost exactly the same spot that they were that tells me that, I don't know, the world could be chaotic, but Ferrari is constant. And constantly not good enough seems to be where they are. So going into this new regulation, Mercedes is being touted to have this powerhouse of a power unit, and everyone looks like it might be a 2014 recreation where they,

if you have their power unit, you're ahead. You're going to be in the top five of the championship. Ferrari, you need to get on it. You need to do something different and actually just have a success. successful year. What, 2007, the last time they won anything properly, we're nearly at two decades at this point. Come on. I just, I'm predominantly angry with them, not because I'm a Ferrari fan. I'm not a fan of a particular team or a particular driver, but I am a fan of this sport being competitive and Ferrari at least somewhat is contributing to it not being as competitive as

it probably should be. Like, if they were more on it, we might have a championship battle between them and McLaren, and instead, McLaren are absolutely walking away from this. So that's like my predominant emotion towards Ferrari. But then I've also got this like, maybe I should just actually give them a compliment once in a while and say, well, the car is clearly not as good as it could be.

They're making the most out of it. Sure. Yeah, it's a tough one. Sure. Mercedes are up next, currently P3 in the championship. Also, I mean, you do a very good job at reading this backwards every time I show it to you on screen. Oh, it's coming up forward for me.

Oh, is it? On my screen, it's in reverse. Good. That's just one of my talents, reading. I can read. I'm learning. Okay, I'm ready to show. Okay, here we go.

Mercedes, I've gone with title charge loading. And Sam has gone, give Russell respect. Why should we give Russell respect? I've gone one driver this time. There's been so much talk about Max Verstappen to Mercedes all throughout the season. And Russell is having a gang, I don't know if it's as good as last season, but that might be down to the car, but he is having right up there with his best season in Formula One again. And that is so tough.

when every single time that George Russell goes to have a good season, there seems to be another dominant force that he has to contend with all on his own. We've really spoken about how that car, that Mercedes upgrade that, you know, basically took hold in Canada, took the car backwards. It meant they couldn't compete. But the one time it did work and the one time everything did come together, namely Canada, where all the cards aligned, he won. He was great.

He was so good. And they're hungry. They went, oh, maybe this isn't working. Maybe we should change things. podium, you know, just nabs that off LeCler. I know LeCleur had damage. I know LeCleur was struggling and that Ferrari was not doing well, but he was brilliant.

Even throughout a really rain-affected Silverstone where he made the wrong strategy call, his driving was pretty sensational. You know, that battle that he was having with Hamilton was fantastic. Didn't go his way, but the actual driving itself was so good. He has been still stealing podiums up and down this season, when quite frankly, he doesn't have the right to. He doesn't have the right to those positions.

And I just think it's so disrespectful to someone like George Russell whose ability is immense. He is. I think, Ben, you speculated this. Is he a top three driver right now? We had the question on, I think it was page on the other day of, if he was in a third identical McLaren, would he be winging this championship? It's a real question.

It's a spicy question. It's a spicy question. But it's a genuine question that I think, you know, go and debate it at home, folks. Take it to your friends and ask. Let us know your thoughts. Because I genuinely think there's a fair argument for yes, and for no. And that tells you something.

Now, they've got George Russell in their roster and their line up. And I get, it's Max Verstaffan. There's what, one, maybe, that maybe one clear driver above George Russell that you go all out to get. And that is Max for Staffen right now. But you've got George Russell. You've got him. He's in your team. You can lock him down, given what he wants.

He's committed to you for a lifetime. And he's still leading your team by a clear margin. I know Kimi Anting Annie's against first season, but you need that experienced driver. And Russell's still got, what, 14 years? maybe of racing left. He's going to be around forever at this point. So put some respects on George Russell's name. It gets no respect and he should because he's really quite brilliant.

And Mercedes should maybe not look over there, their neighbour's fence, look at the grass on the other side and realise just how good it is on this side. We've got a pretty good lawn ourselves. Yeah, yeah, I think. George is out there mowing it. He'd be the first out there to volunteer to mow it. You know he would.

Of course he would. I've gone with title charge loading. Now, just because something's loading doesn't mean it will be complete in a future year. Like, I mean, we've experienced that. Like, you remember loading up the PlayStation 2 and thinking, here we go. And then memory card not ins or disc not inserted. Yeah, exactly. You never know.

But it's loading. 2025 hasn't been brilliant. Like they have had some highlights, obviously. Canadian GP would be top of that list. Antonelli's sprint pole in Miami, five other George Russell podiums as well. But overall, not been a great year for Mercedes so far. I was having a look at this. They've had, because one of the things about Mercedes in previous years when they were

really successful is their bulletproof consistency, almost like what McLaren have right now. And, you know, they at this point in the season, have had eight non-scores in Grand Prix. So either retirements or outside the points. And I was having a look back at previous years. In 2024, after the same point in the season, they had four. 2023, three, 2022, three, 2021, two. So eight is quite a bit higher than what they've averaged, even outside of their dominant years. You have to go all the way back to 2012 for the last time they had more than eight non-finishes or non-scores at the same point.

in the season. The suspension upgrade, obviously, completely the wrong direction with that. They were averaging 23 points per race in the first six races of the year. Since they introduced that, last eight races, 12 points per race, pretty much half. But having said all of that, 2025 is not a major concern for them because putting Antonelli in that car proved that. As soon as you made that decision, you were saying, this isn't the year we're targeting. it's next year or it's the year after.

And what they're predominantly looking to do is get George Russell, I think, in a position to win a driver's championship if the car is good enough next year. I think he is good enough now if the car is there. Like what he's been able to do against Hamilton last year, what he's done against Antonelli this year, sure they would have liked to get him in a position

to win more races or at least put him in more competitive situations, but overall, that's looking good. And now with this suspension redirection, they'll be hoping to get Antonelli's confidence back so he can be good enough to secure the team at a constructors championship, again, if the car is good enough. So that's why I've gone with title charge loading. You talk about that stat of eight, you know, non-point scores up until this point. And it kind of really nicely backs up my Russell point that seven of those eight have come from Kimmy Antingelli. And that's how to cite on Kimi Antigli.

He's a rookie. You expect lower scores. You expect risks be taken, mistakes can be made. But if you were to have two George Russell's racing for you, a Wogglewolds where you have two George Russell's, criky, flimmy, a lot of sweat going on, then actually you've only got two non-pointed finishes

for the whole of the season so far. So it just shows you, even with a car that is not the quality that maybe he should be having, he's still delivering so regularly inside of the points when it's so much harder to do so. All right, we're going to take our first break on this episode. On the other side, we turn our attention to Red Bull, Williams and Aston Martin. Welcome back, everyone. Continuing our three-word summaries.

Up next is Red Bull, currently fourth in the championship. But three words for them. What do we have, Sam? Total rebuild needed. Oof. and I've gone with gives you headaches. Oh, Red Ball gives you headaches. Yeah.

Just so we're clear legally, that doesn't mean the drink. No, just the team. So you think they need a complete and utter rebuild. Yeah, and I'm hoping Lauren Meckis is the man to do that. But I'm not convinced, right? I just, I need him to prove that he is the guy that could do this. I'm willing to give him the time and the space. But when you let go, the guy that has run that team,

since its actual inception, six months before, arguably the biggest change in regulations that we've had for over a decade, you probably think, oh, it's a little bit tricky on time. It's a little bit close to the line on. Will Lauren know what's going on? Will he be able to understand where the direction Redboard taking things, can he manage the Ford relationship that's coming in? Max Verstappen is one of the first.

of the biggest personalities, of course, the biggest driver, not physically, I just mean, like, in terms of ability. Right now in Formula One, can he manage that relationship effectively? Currently, it seems like he's going to get under control. But there are so many moving parts. There are so, you know, he is spinning so many frisbees or plates, I suppose, is the phrase. I like frisbe's. It's Red Bull. It might be frisbees. Frisbees actually are meant to spin. Plates, on the other hand, you tend to just put more on your table. And I do just think that we've lost so many key personalities. from Red Bull.

This is, it's essentially a new team at this point. They've got so many individuals that have walked out the door. I do think there's a real worry that they could be

on a huge downward slide here. And I don't just mean, you know, a slow tumble. I'm talking avalanche. I'm talking throwing everything down the cliff and they might end up

right at the bottom if they don't get this right. If they do not do some damage control and pull things back together. I think Max Verstappen is frustrated that his teammate can't regularly score points. I think he is fed up of a car that is so on the line that he has to drive it in such a way to win races. You hear him over the radio at the moment.

This setup doesn't make sense. I've got no grip. There's no turning. Nothing's working properly. And yet he's still producing podiums, top five finishes on a regular basis. Just credit to how good he is. I think he wants a car that he feels comfortable. He has a guy backing him up, at least in the top three or four places.

And actually, he might not win championships, but he has the opportunity to win. And a driver of that ability deserves that chance. So they are at risk of losing a whole hell of a lot. It is a really big turning point coming up in six months' time. They need a rebuild and it needs to go the right way. Otherwise, they can find themselves behind a lot of teams that are trying to advance. Yeah, I mean, my one gives you headaches. Red Bull gives you wings is the commonly touted phrase.

Red Bull gives you wins would have been appropriate in the past. But now Red Bull gives you headaches and itself headaches. everything that's happened at Red Bull feels horribly timed. And this goes back to you thinking that a rebuild is necessary. The timing of all of these events is just horrible because Christian Horner's job was, of course, in question at the start of the 2024 season when it came to, you know, allegations that were made against him. And of course, at that point, the appeal was dismissed. Important distinction. I know it's happened a long time ago.

it was dismissed. He was not cleared. It was dismissed. But an alternate timeline is that he might have lost his job there, there and then, which obviously has just happened later down the line instead. If it happens at that point, Jonathan Wheatley probably steps up to be team principal. Adrian Newey, maybe that causes him to stay. And suddenly you've got, you know, the same sort of structure just without Christian Horner. You would have had two full years at that point, 2024 and 2025, to get on top of the Max Verstappen situation regarding his contract,

sorting out the second seat that you just alluded to have a new team principle really obtain control over those key relationships like Ford. We know that Christian Horner was, not only was he very powerful, but he was more than just the team principle. So it's not the average. transition that you'd have from team principal to team principal because of all of the other

extra responsibilities that he had. Instead, you know, key personnel of left a regime that isn't even in place anymore, which kind of leaves them in a really awkward spot. Like, what is Red Bull right now? They are a star driver who is tentatively staying for one more year. You've got a second seat dilemma that's not going anywhere. You've got a new team principal who has six months to get up to be with the 2026 regulations. As I've mentioned before, there is a reason the likes of Audi, for example, made the switch from Andreas Seidel to Bonotto and later Jonathan Wheatley when they did. It was to give them enough time.

That happened pretty much a year ago now. It gave them 18 months, a clear runway of this. Meckies doesn't have that. So this will, of course, be the first car as well with like zero Newey development, 2026. unsure about the engine. This is a tough time for Red Bull, a real uncertain time for Red Bull. And it's just incredible that 2023, that dominant season, it was just two years ago. Yeah, the downfall is so quick.

I don't know if you've ever seen a faster downfall than this, being a Formula One team. It's crazy how quickly they went from being the most dominant record-breaking team we've ever seen to barely scraping a podium in a race. But I think even at the time it was happening, we were discussing the frailties like the internal issues that Red Bull were having even when they were dominating in a way that kind of wasn't the case when Mercedes were dominating it wasn't very noisy when Mercedes were winning championships even when

red Bull were dominating you could the cracks were there that if the performance fell off all of this might start to crumble away and that's kind of what's happened yeah you look at the games that they've lost I mean just the three of Wheatley Nui and Marshall over the last four or five years. That alone is enough to make a power house of an F1 team. You know, those three men and you've got almost an unbeatable formula. And look how well they're all starting to do already. You know, Marshall's already won titles.

We'll get on to Wheatley and Salma later. But look at the development now already. And then, of course, we're just waiting for Adrian Nui to sneeze in the year of 2026. I'm sure they'll win a race at least. So, yeah, really tough Red Bull to go where they go from here. Let's finish off the top half of the championship with Williams. Currently, P5.

I have gone with gone too soon. Gone too soon. I was going to say that's cryptic, but I know I understand what you're getting at there. Yeah, I got me, they've died. Yes, okay. I've gone with one particular driver, and I've gone with Albon answers critics. Ooh, okay. Love that. Love that.

So they're gone too soon. Oh, okay, I'll go. I wrongfully, I went too soon and asking. Yeah, I think, and I've alluded to this quite a few times, Vow's strategy when he came in was the correct strategy, I think, in the sense that he made very vocally, very publicly declared that Williams are not building for now, and this is when he joined, of course, a few years ago now. They got building for immediate race wings.

They're not aiming for podiums in the next season. their goal is 2026 and beyond. They were saying he wanted to start being a competitive force properly, podiums and regularly fighting for top fives, 2026. And then they would look to be a championship competitor by the end of these regulations that are coming up, which would end in 2030. Now, that's a great and ambitious goal to have. And it felt logical, it felt achievable, it felt realistic.

And in the place where Williams were with their facilities being a lower quality, then a lot of their key competitors around them, just due to when the cost cap came in and funding that Williams had previously had under the actual Williams family, they weren't able to invest as much as when they do with Donald and Capital, for example, the own them now.

They are still not with one hand behind their back, but they are still definitely a big of an inconvenience in comparison to say Ashton Martin with their brand new wind tunnel or McLaren, who have done something very similar as of recent. But I think they've gone too soon in the sense of this journey that they were meant to be on, they've started to see the deficit before they really hit the peak.

They came into 2025 and they were having the best start of their season that we've seen in a long time. Alex Alvin picked up multiple top five finishes. Carlos Sites, despite struggling, was regularly inside the points. How often have we had both Williams drivers finishing inside the points on more than one race of season? What, four or five times in the last 10 years? It really was that rare. So that increasing performance ability should be coming now. It should be coming next season.

And that should be backed by them having a lot more winter development time, a longer radius of development in the car with time for Albuoy and Sites to continue to grow with how the new regulations work. And actually, I think it's like when you hit the second basing Everest. That's not the real peak. You've just hit the base camp. You've got the rest of the mountain. seem to climb, yeah, you haven't got to the top.

You know, you've got to put your oxygen on and get climbing. And I do think that, unfortunately, this season, they've gone, yes, we're on the rise, on the rise. And other teams have now started to build. They're now using their development. They're now picking things up at this change of wind tunnel time allocation they've got for the rest of this season, they have less single their key competitors. There's a chance if other teams around them don't keep scoring big points.

And status quo is kind of stagnant, then they might not be passed by two million teams. And actually, they'll go into the end of 2025 and the new regulations are kicking. And again, they'll have less wind tunnel time. See, oh, my goodness, talking is hard. Wind tunnel time and teams below them in the championship. And I do think that essentially they've had a false start. They've gone too soon this season. That's a real shame and a real risk.

I'm hoping that James vows, as much as we trust him and we love him, he knows what he's doing, he knows how it's gone. And actually, they will come out to 2026 and it will be a marked improvement. because I do not want to see them go, look at all this brilliant stuff we've done, and they start 2026 and their P8 in the championship. That will be a real disappointment. It would.

It'll be an interesting one to see, like, where the improvement has come from, at least in the first part of this season. I suspect it might have come about as a result of a couple of easy wins because we know that Williams really struggled to start the season last time around and had some real structural issues.

and I think they started to solve those to the point where a bit of a jump was maybe inevitable. But, I mean, to your point about how much they've improved, they've scored 70 points in the last 14 races. They scored 66 points in the previous 79 races. It's pretty incredible. I went with Albert Answers critics because I'll admit I was a skeptic. I was going to say I was a doubter, but a skeptic, just based on. album's record up until this season. He was destroyed by Max Verstappen, which isn't a crime. Many others have. But he beat his teammates at Williams. The problem is they were Latifi,

Sargent and a debuting Franco Colopinto. Nothing to be overly convinced by. But this year, so far, he is 54-16 up on signs in terms of points. Albon had 16 points after two races. So if Albin had scored nothing since China. He would be leveled with signs right now, which is pretty incredible. He's 10-4 up in races, 8-6 up in qualifying, 8 Q3 appearances, so over half of the races so far, signs has had five. If fouls can help Carlos Sines get to where he needs to be, and we've seen it from Sines and other places, there is reason to be confident about that. That is a very good line up going into 2026 now that Albin has started to prove himself against a better competitor.

Who's got a better lineup going into 2026? McLaren? Ferrari. Maybe, I mean, I'd maybe say Red Bull as well because I appreciate it as a one-person team, but I think Verstappen and a stapler would be a better lineup than most teams on the grid. But outside of that,

Forstaping and Clippy. A, Clippy, he can race, all right? Waste to annoy me. Yes, true. So yeah, I've got Albert Answers Critics, aka me. Okay, me. Aston Martin, P6 in the championship, a little bit higher up than what they were the last time we did this. Just a tad.

And three words for that's two. Good. And three, there we go. Good, good, good, good. Aster Mime, what have you gone for? The kettle's on. The kettle's on. I've gone with stats have context.

Oh, all right. I'm going to sit back, mate. The kettle's on. It's boiling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You crack on. Okay. Sorry, I have to do this.

Aston Martin has 52 points this year. Alonzo is 26 and Strollware's 26. Yeah. They've been as good as each other, right? No, they haven't. I'm sorry. I wanted to go down a different path on this and then I couldn't resist.

There's that one guy, I walk and name you, my friend, but you hate how much of these guys love Fernando Alonso. This is going to be a whole bowl of that for you, so you may as well as skip forward. I just, he's been pretty good. I don't even think Alonzo's been great. I think Alonzo's been pretty good, and he's been better than Land Strohl.

But in terms of points, it doesn't look that way. Alonzo has had six Q3 appearances this year. Stroll has had two. Do you remember that time Stroll beat Alonzo in qualifying this year? I want to just wrap my brain. No. No, because he hasn't. Alonso's 9-5 up in terms of races.

And Alonzo has had a good deal of bad luck. I know he called himself the unluckiest driver in the world or whatever it was. Maybe that was hyperbole, but he is on to something. Like he DNFed out of points in Monaco, good points as well. He'd have scored maybe six or eight points that day. He retired from the Chinese GP, Stroll scored points as a result of three disqualifications. Alonzo was on course for points in the Miami Sprint, if you remember.

He was doing very well there. Stroll was on the right strategy. Two post-raised penalties give Stroll a P5. Alonzo was on course for points in Imala as well, where they drastically improved. Strategy went wrong, fought his way back to P-11. Alonzo, I think, has been the better of the two drivers. But look at the points.

and apparently not. Mark's troll, greatest of all time. Debate it in our comments, please. You went for, well, I mean the kettle's on. The kettle's on. Actually,

there we go. It's just turned off. We're brewing now, folks. We're brewing. And that's exactly what Ashton Martin are doing. They are brewing. And I was sat here. When Ben does a lot of these assignments

that we put together, I was trying to think of a fun way to talk about the Goliath that's about to come over the hill that I think is Aston Martin. slightly scary, how possibly good they could be. And they're starting to show their hands

just a little bit. Start this season was pretty abysmal. Lank Stroll did well in the chaotic Australian Grand Prix and start of the season got lucky as Ben has just broken it down. And then over time, Lance Strull again does running Silverstone,

but Alonso does well, where Alonso does well. He's able to chip away, pick up points, regularly starts getting into Q3. And then we have the issue of spa, and you think, good Lord, you guys suck. You're so slow. How are you 19th and 20?

I think a straight line. And then Harry eating all his glowing wisdom, the Oracle of Aston Martin, declares that they may have brought the updates for the wrong race. And actually, they were meant for hungry. And lo and behold, for either a long so is suddenly the man

behind the fight for the podium. And the car is actually good. Now that team is a bit of a super force of other race teams coming together. You know, you've got Nui, you've got Cowell, you've got a lot of experts from a lot of these top teams who are starting to work away. And much like the Williams story that I was describing earlier, they are aware that their battlefield that they're readying up for is the start of 2026. And I think Lawrence Stroll has based billions on 2026. I think he's assigned so much growth, both to the Aston Martin brand as a car brand,

but to the racing brand of Formula One as well, that it has to be a success. And in theory, he's picked up all the shiny rare cards, all the ones that everyone looks for that you think, oh, I want the shiny blue-wise white dragon from my Yu-Gi-O collection plays out. Whoa, Yu-Gi-O reference. U-Gio reference.

What year is it? 2003. You know, that's what Adrian Nui is. And he's about to be played. on the field. And you've already seen, I imagine we make jokes about how Newy might glance

over the car whilst in the canteen and stick a post-sick in someone's pocket and it adds too tense to that car. We're about to see that happen with the absolute

top-level state-of-the-art technology and because of where they were in the championship beforehand, they have a beillion zillion hours in the wind tunnel. They could put me in the wind tunnel and make me faster and still have enough time

to actually make a good F-1 car. That's how much potential they have right now. So we've seen glimmers, we've seen flashes, you're liking a horror film when you start to, you hear the twig crack

in the background, you're like, uh-oh, the evil thing is nearby. That's them. They're out there in the woods and then looking at the top four through the window of the mansion going,

just you wait. The moment the door opens, we're going to be there. I really, I'm excited by it, but I really do think that Aston Martin could be deadly next season.

I am waiting for Honda to turn around to give for a lot. I don't want to a GP2 engine. I have no control over that, but we'll see. We'll see. I think it could be pretty scary.

Okay, that is six teams down. We're going to take our next break on this episode, on the other side, the other four teams. Welcome back, everyone, to the third part of today's episode. We have four more teams to give some three-word summaries to. We're going to start with Salber. Now, I say that confusingly because we still have teams to go after Salba. But we do this in the championship order.

So how are we doing Salba this early on? Cheat code. Doesn't make sense. And that leads me quite nicely on to my three-word summary, to be honest, which is, hope feels weird. Let weekly cook. Okay. I'll start us off. Hope feels weird because, again,

Have we ever done this? We've done this a few times, maybe fourth time we've ever done this possibly. Have we ever done this while being positive about Salba? Since Kick Salba joined, have they ever been off the back of the championship standings? Other than now? Good question. I don't know. I mean, alphabetically, they're not at the bottom.

So at the start of the 2025 season, it would have been. Yeah, it's just odd to be actually positive about them, but there is reason to be. Obviously, they had a tough start in that they only had six points after, what was it, like the first seven races or so of the season. And it came from a chaotic Australian Grand Prix. That it did. But the last six races, 45 points in six races for Salba. And I was curious about this because I was tallying up how. many points they'd had in the last six races.

And wondering, when was the last time Salba in any form had a six-race stretch where they had more than 45 points? It's got me a while, isn't it? 2012. Oh, the same time that Mercedes had their similar bag start. True. But yeah, you have to go back 13 years for the last time that Salba, and that includes Alfa Romeo when they were them for a few years.

The last time they had such a good six-race stretch. I think they're happy with both drivers, right? Like, Holkenberg has come in and done exactly what you want Holkenberg to do, which is lead the midfield pretty much. He's P9 in the championship. He's taking opportunities whenever they come about. Bortoletto, tough start, but as a rookie, you're probably expecting that. He's done what you'd hope to.

He has improved as the years gone on. He's beaten Holkenberg on occasion to the point where, you know, he's beaten Holkenberg more times than Holkenberg's beating him in qualifying and in races it's not that far off either. The points gap is maybe a touch misleading. They've been reasonable at different circuits as well. Like if you look at the last six races, they've been good at Silverstone and Hungary and Spain and Canada. There's not a lot that links these tracks together. So congratulations to them for this uptick in performance. Last thing I did want to mention and maybe this quite nicely leads on to the Jonathan Wheatley,

discussion is pit stops. They have been so much better at pit stops this year. I couldn't quite believe this is right, but I was looking at, I see, DHL, they sort of sponsor the pit stops. The HL fastest pit stop award. Damn right. Their average pit stop time this year has been faster than McLaren at nine of the 14 races. Like, they have been really, like, McLaren have got to like 1.8 and 1.9 and so have

Red Bull and Ferrari. They're not quite there, but they have really consistently been like 2.5 to three seconds throughout this year. To the point where, remember the beginning of last year, where they couldn't do one in under 15 seconds. It's a turnaround in that regard as well. So a lot of optimism. Yeah, let Wheatley cook.

And I think a lot of this structural, cultural shift is coming from him. You have to remember that he only joined that team right at the start of. this year. He basically had no time to making immediate impact. And let's be honest, they only scored points in Australia due to the chaos that ensued with the weather. And Holkenberg's fine driving. So for all takes of purposes, I'm kind of going to eliminate that from how I'm looking at the season when attributing things to Jonathan Wheatley. In China, zero points. Japan, zero points. Bahrain, zero points. Saudi Arabia, zero points. Miami, zero points. Imola, zero points. Monaco, zero points. Now that feels about enough time as a team principle to settle. Feels like you've,

you've looked around, you've, you've, you've checking all the cupboards, you've dusted away some cobwebs, you've thought, okay, guys, time to start implementing things. Let's start going, getting things right. Spain, all right, benefited from the safety car, but they were right there, 10 points. Canada, yeah, there was a DNF, but still good enough for four points. Austria, great Grand Prix for them, six points. No real issue as well either. It's not like they've been. picked up too much. Max was stabbing and singing out, but two DNFs in a Grand Prix, relatively standard. Great Britain, 15 points. So go Borseleto was out of that Grand Prix. But Holgerberg, great strategy call as well from them. They were fantastic all race.

Even Belgium, which has been their worst Grand Prix in the last six, they pick up two points out of that race. And then Hungary, they pick up another eight. As you mentioned, Ben, there are no characteristics that link these tracks, other than the fact that their team principle has settled. Jonathan Wheatley, who comes from one of the most organized and clinical cultures in Formula One in Red Bull has had the time, the chance to basically get his little mixing and start playing around with what Salba could do and what Audi have trusted him to do before they become Audi. Now, if these are the first, the last six performances that they've had as Salba,

if these are the first six performances that they have as Audi, fair play. That's a solid start for a new team. If they walk away with 45 points or so from their first six Grand Prix, that would sit them around fourth or fifth in the constructors fight. That's really solid. And that's a great turnaround because that would be a good step forward from Salba. And it shows you that Aldia here to fight. Hulk's been a great buy.

The fact that Haas, let him go that easily is just comical. I know it's the German contingent. I know he's got that link to them. And I know he wants a project. Makes sense. He's got his first podium out of it. It makes sense. But they should have held on to him toothing nail, I think,

for a little while longer. And Bortoletto was a risky choice, but it's a risky choice that's paid off. And he has really, really started to flourish. And the more the car flourishes, Bortoletto continues to flourish as well. So I think Jonathan Wheatley at the helm is a massive miss for Red Bull.

I really think he had been around such an incredibly successful team for so long and understood how to run a team, maybe with that less controversy, that he was the natural successor to when Christian Horner was moving away, and they lost it. just like they've lost many others.

And Salber are there to reap the reward. So this is exciting, genuinely exciting for see how this goes, and for Audi to come in and be an actual competitive force. Not to go at Red Bull again, but if we get to next year and we've got a situation in F1 where Audi cooking with Wheatley at the helm, you've got Adrian Newey, who might turn this Aston Martin thing around,

plus Rob Marshall keep doing what he's doing at McLaren. That's a tough pill to swallow for Red Bull, I think. How funny it would be if Christian Horner comes in as a team boss at Kagalak and then beats Red Bull. I heard that rumor a few times. We all see. Racing Bulls are up next. Three words for them. I did have to avoid their absolutely pointless comment.

But, yes, I have actually gone for Focus on Hajjar was my three words. I've gone with my new favourite phrase, which is. second-hand turmoil. Is that how we operate as a podcast? Sort of, yes. One of us does something, and the other two have to deal with second-hand turmoil.

Yes, pretty much. But you think there should be a focus on Hadjar? I do, I do. And I want to start this point off by not talking about Hajar, but by actually talking about Liam Lawson, because it sounds like I'm completely disregarding him. I'm not.

No, no, we hate Liam Lawson now. Sorry, I really, it's so difficult to keep up with this because at the beginning of the year, we were like Lawson fanboys and apologists, and now we hate him. Well, in the Formula One world, you say one thing, and apparently you were going entire fan base. You can't have a fair and critical point of view about someone. Liam Lawson has developed brilliantly so far this season. He had a rough start to this year. He got chucked out of a team after two races.

It took a while for him to build his confidence back. But the last four or five Grand Prix, he's been really, really good. I just want to start with that point. The issue for me with Liam Lawson is he, he's. He's sealing. He's ability sealing. And how old he is in the sport? I know that sounds awful because he's what, seven years younger than me, I think.

Seven years old. And may as well be in my eyes. Over the hill here. Yeah, I mean, if he's over the hill, I'm buried underneath it. Yeah, so that's going to disrespect to Lawson. Because how young Hajar is, he's what, 20 years old is Isaac Hajar. The fact that he's started so well, and he's made some rookie errors. Again, he's not being flawless.

He's had some times where his pace has been off, where strategy has been stuck behind cars that he hasn't passed. But in a world where I believe that racing balls is a waste of a spot on this Formula One grid. And I've stood by that point for maybe the same thing eight years we've done this podcast. Yeah, that hasn't changed. I really get frustrated by this being a team

when you've got brands that want to come into this sport because they'll never wing anything. They need to do the one thing they should be doing well, and that is building young talent for a reverend. ball team. And while a red ball team is floundering, they have no direction, they have no understanding of what's going on, the one thing that racing balls can do to ensure that they are giving Red Bull a lifeline is providing them a driver that is genuinely going to be pretty solid, pretty decent when the time comes that a seat or a car that is worthwhile is available.

If Max Verstappen leaves at the end of 2026, if Yuccasna, I don't know, strikes up a deal with Honda or they boot him out too early and they are lost on where to go. Isaac Hagell will be the man that feels one of those seats. He will be the guy that takes one of those spots. And he needs to be ready. He needs to be good. And the car needs to operate with him. So he needs to know what to drive. Hadjar is, whether they like it or not, a key part of Red Bull's future right now. And they will be audacious, stupid to throw that away because he is, I'm not saying he's special, special. He's not Max for Stauffin quality right now. But he's really good. He's a race winner. You know, the guy can go on to win Grand Prix. The guy could go on to help a team,

take a championship in a few years to come. And if you were to throw that away because of how you have dealt with your junior programming in previous years, that would be a real miss. A real miss, especially when this team can't ever go on to actually win regular Grand Prix or even fight for a championship. So do the one thing you're meant to do.

Focus on your young driver and make him the best he can be. Yeah, I've gone with secondhand turmoil because, and it goes back to your point of being annoyed at the makeup of, the team and what the team is there for and it's ultimately not to be its own entity and win championships. We have in Formula One quite regular turnaround when it comes to drivers and you know, team principals quite recently as well. And we sometimes agree with the decisions. Sometimes we disagree with the decisions. Like you look at, I said it earlier, like Salber and

Audi deciding that they want to go down the route of Bonotto and Wheatley. Hasse made the call to get rid of Steiner and they wanted to put Kamatsu in place. Alpine have made like four changes in the last two years. And some of those I agreed with, some of those I disagreed with. But the point is, all of them have something in common. It's because the team wanted to make the call. Here we have Racing Bulls who have a new team principal and a new driver compared to the start of this year, and neither of them are because they wanted that to happen. It's because it was

forced upon them by another team, that being Red Bull, which I fundamentally don't enjoy. I think they've coped with it pretty well. Like, Hadjar has been the best qualifier outside of the top four teams so far this year. Lawson has turned it around, like the last few races in particular have been very impressive to the point where he is points-wise only just behind Isaac Hadjar now. But yeah, I think they've coped okay. It's felt to me like in this midfield battle, Williams and Hasse, they kind of started quite well and have faded a bit. Aston Martin have been a bit up and down.

Salba have been far better more recently versus the start of this year. Racing Bulls have kind of just been there. Consist like consistently okay. And they always are because they're. Yeah. That's the word for them. Should we move on to Hasse? Yeah.

for me, Haast is a confusing one and that's kind of where I let my brain go for my three work summary because I've gone with, need a map. The former postman. Okay, I thought mine was going to be confusing. You might have to kick off with that, Ben.

Yeah, I might have to. The former postman, is cryptic, isn't it? Is it because Hulk always delivered? It's because postmen famously don't deliver on Sundays, which is what Hass used to do. They used to be very good on a Saturday, but get to a Sunday and they couldn't hack it.

For whatever reason, we're kind of in the opposite situation now. I went back and looked at Hass's best qualifier over the last few seasons. 2022 was Kevin Magnuson. He had an average starting position of 12.36, and he had nine Q3 appearances. 2023 it was Holkenberg, average starting position of 12.14, 8 Q3 appearances. And 2024, it was Holkenberg again. Average starting position, even better, 11.70, 11 Q3 appearances. This year so far, their best qualifier just is Esteban Okon.

Average starting position, 14.93. So over three positions worse than Holkenberg's average last year. and only two Q3 appearances. But in terms of the races, they're on track for 60 points right now, which would be better than all of those three years I just went through. The race pace is better. It's inconsistent, but it's better than it has been in the past. Ocon is top 10 in the championship right now.

He's had some great results. Behrman has been knocking on the door of points quite a lot. He's been, bearman's finished between 11th and 14th, seven times this year. Like he has been regularly on the cusp. It's just weird how it's kind of flipped. Yeah, mine is kind of similar, to be fair, in the sense that Harser picked up 35 points so far this season. And what's the most confusing element of this, which we've spoken about so many times, Ben,

is the inconsistency of both drivers finishing in the points when they are actually scoring points. It's happened twice all season, right? But they've actually scored points in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Grand Prix. Actually, take that back at six, because in the Belgian Grand Prix, it was the sprint race, where they got zero points in the main Grand Prix, but a double points finish in the sprint. And this is why I said, do you need a map? Because I think you're lost. I don't think you've got a clue what to do with your setups.

I don't think you've got a clue that how your drivers prefer to drive. And it is bizarre to see such a juxtaposition between teammates race by race weekend by weekend. The fact that in China, they went to score 14 points across. the whole race. The Australia the week before it was zero and Japan the week ahead, it was one. That doesn't make sense. And then after Bahrain when they picked up five, they had three races in a row with a big fat zero on their cards. They do not know the strengths and weaknesses of their car. After a year of praising Kamatsu, after saying that he had understood the flaws in the car, he had kind of taken these big leap forwards, which were obvious checkoff boxes and I understand how

the tyres work was a big one in Formula One. He actually understood that, implementing it into the car. And we saw that leap forward. I think you bang your stats right there. It showed they had that leap forward that they were picking up better qualifying places. They weren't falling further back in the actual races, which we found so often the years before. They couldn't maintain the good starts they were actually able to pick up on a Saturday. Whereas here, neither is happening. Sometimes they'll qualify at the back of the grid and they'll score a point. But sometimes they'll qualify in Q3 and they won't score any points. And it's just baffling. And I do not think they understand what is right and what is wrong with their car right now. And I'm praying that that is

because their focus is purely on 2026 and it should be. They are one of the teams that if they ever want to achieve anything in Formula One, they've never had a podium in this sport. They've acted like they had in the F-1-75 reveal, but they have been a mid-table team for their entire existence. If they want to have a podium in this sport, they, as well, they're going to be the second-class American team very, very soon at this rate with Kangalak coming through. they need to nail 2026. And I'm hoping that's why this is be so topsy-turvy for them because, boy, they'd be lost.

Team 10 of 10 is Alpine. Oh, dear, Alpine. It's like three words. You know what? It might as well be. It might actually be kinder than the three words I've got. I'm just writing mine down. This is fun if you're on Spotify, by the way.

Everything's fun on Spotify. We love Spotify. Good job, Spotify. fine, right, I'm ready to go. Okay, my three words, sell the team. Please just sell. Yeah, all right. You're a kick off the run.

Yeah, I'll keep this one short and sweet. Just sell the team. Like, when we did this last time, again, it was five races into this season. So we've only had like nine races since then. They had a team principal in Oli Oaks. They had a head of Renault in Luca Domeo, and they had a driver in Jack Duhin. they now have none of those three,

but they do still have Flavia Briatore. True weird scenarios as well. Like, it's not like it's been like illogical as to why those things have changed, really. Sure. And then Flav, the other consistent, he's still there. But also not there because he's not an employee of Alpine.

Which is bizarre. It's bizarre. How he's around. I'm not going to go into it. But your engines and your gearbox is now coming from Mercedes because you couldn't be bothered. You didn't know how to make them competitive so you thought we'll just become pure customer team, which is a shame because

realistically on French manufacturing, it's a real slight, it's a real shame because Renault are the largest French manufacturer and one of the biggest global manufacturers. And you can't even rely on your own power units. You can't rely on your own gearboxes to create a competitive vehicle. Regularly, throughout the last few seasons, Alpink of mode that their engine power is lower than everyone else is. And they're lucky there's a rule set that keeps them within a percentage level of those in front because I fear they will just drop and drop and drop and drop

and they haven't because of this. They've lost one of their best drivers in Ocon and in their second seat as being floundering because of that. You know, we've had do and come through and I think he wasn't giving enough time. And now we've got Colopinto in the seat and unfortunately I don't think he's going to be giving enough time. And there was potentially both realistically.

They've had tough times, but there's potential in both. And poor Gasly, the only man that's actually there to stand the tail to tell the tale of, you know, the test of the times, there's likely that he's going to be wasted. His talent's just going to be wasted. Or he might get to move away. I don't know why his ageing is pushing for him to get a move away. Maybe he likes being the big fish in the little pond that is Alpine right now.

I don't know. But he's so much better than that team. And it's a real shame that he's languishing at the back of a grid, scoring their only points that he can. Everything is wrong. Everything is wrong. The only shipmonds doesn't make sense. they're left outside of this rengo group they're not like they're not selling more cars on

the street it's just wrong the whole thing is wrong keep it up alpine and who knows maybe next time we do this you might be the penultimate team or something um that's all 10 teams and three word summaries for all of them let us know obviously if you have a creative three word tale about each of these teams and what we can focus on rather than what we have today we're going to final break on this episode. We've got one small segment still to go. A little bit of a game for you. Oh, folks. You can't miss this one because I don't know what it means. Welcome back, everyone, to the final part of today's episode. Just a quick little game to end things. And Sam, this is one of your favourites. Is it?

Yeah, because we've never played this one before. Creatively named Histula 1, which is a combination of history and Formula 1. You know, the summer break is a bit of an opportunity to try out a few random different things. We're changing the game if it sticks, by the way. History of one cannot be a thing. You know, it's an opportunity, a bit lower stakes. We're not in the middle of a season. We're fine.

We're fine. Here's the game, because it is an F1 game, but we as a podcast do love our history as well. Oh, God, you're going to make me challenge my history knowledge as well as my F1 knowledge. Only modern history. and maybe modern events. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you an event or a significant-ish event that's happened. What you have to do is tell me who was the world champion in the year that event happened.

As in won the world championship. Won the world show. Yes. Yeah. So just be clear if this event happened in January of 2002 as an example, that's not a great example. because the same driver won the 2001 and the first of the championship, but you'd be focusing on who won 2002,

even though that hadn't technically happened yet. Got you. Got you. Got you. So yeah, there are eight events. What number would you like to start with? One, Ben. Let's kick off strong.

Okay. London held the Olympics. Okay. That was 2012. So therefore, Sebastian Vettel. We're off to a great start, folks. Yes. One for one.

Good stuff. Ben, I really hope you picked these historic events wisely. I'd like to think so. I'm going to go all in a bed. Let's go two. All right. Yeah, let's go down and order them. Yeah. The Berlin Wall falls. Oh, gosh. That is such a specific year. These are all happening in years, I can tell you.

Prost is world champion. Prost is world champion. We're two for two. That was 1980. Yes. Oh, yes. Good. I got it right. All right then. Number three.

Abba wins Eurovision with Waterloo. Oh, crikey. Fitipaldi? Yeah, Fittipaldi. Yes. We're three for three. 1974. Four.

Okay. I got the year wrong in my head, but that works. Yeah, Fitzpaldi's second world championship. Unbelievable. Number four, Twitter is launched. Ah, now this one is a bit more specific because we have a bigger topsy-turvy going on in the, oh, I'm going to get this one wrong, is Alonso. Alonzo is absolutely right, 2006, so Alonzo's second championship.

Perfect so far halfway through. Number five. Same-sex marriage is legalised nationwide in the United States of America. Oh Burthing noises from Sam As he tries to birth this idea Do I be kind on America And think further back

That is a great quote Do I be kind on America Hamilton Hamilton is correct Five out of five 2015. Oh, okay. I actually thought it was later than that.

So, well, like America. Yeah. Sure. I'll be kind on America today. Yep. Okay, this is, this, I think, is the most difficult one of the lot. Oh, God. The first Super Bowl is played.

Oh, yeah. I actually have no idea. Oh, okay. I'm going to try and... Did we just have the 50th one? A 50th anniversary? See, this is my point. I have no idea what I'm thinking here in numbers.

Louder. No, a little bit further back. 1967, which was Denny Holm. Ah, okay. I'll take five. We are between 50 and 60 Super Bowl, so it wasn't that long ago. So five out of six. Number seven, the inauguration of Barack Obama takes place.

The first one? Very good point, yes. Okay. I guess it's going to help me, but okay, because that's a specific year. Oh, ah, Kantigar. It wasn't Eric Canton. Eric Canton, I was working. Button?

Button is correct, yes. Because 2009 was when he was inaugurated right at the beginning of the year. So potentially a little bit of a tricky one there because he won the election in 2008. Of course. Yes, 2009 is right. Six out of seven, one more to go. Ultimately, I think this is probably the biggest event that we've gone through today. The highest grossing film in the United States is Shrek 2.

You are correct, sir. That is the best one. And I'm going to say that it was Lewis Hamilton. No. Is it Ryking? Earlier. Is it Schumacher? Schumacher.

Oh, gosh. I thought it was like 0-708 time that came out. Oh, four. Wow. When was one then? Shrek 1 was like 2001, I would guess, maybe. Wow, is it that? Oh, I'm going to look up where Shrek 1 came out. That was below my mind.

Yeah, 2001. Yeah. Wow. Earlier than you think. Well, you know what? If anyone was going to defeat me, they'd get me Shrek 2. Yeah. You're at 6 out of 8.

Are you happy with that? Well, mate, I thought I was going to get like 1, so I'm very pleased. Well, let us know at home. The Fitticaldi, Paul, was the one I'm happy with. That's a great shout, Fisipaldi on that one. Great show. Yeah, let us know if you were able to match Sam's score of six. Can anyone go higher than six?

Let us know. And that will do it for histula one. We're going to work on the game, but the game, that can stay. Yes, yeah. I want to see how Harry does at some of these as well. So we might bring that one back. That man is an actual history buff. Yes.

Yeah, exactly. I think that's going to do it for. today's episode, Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, thank you so much again for joining us in the off season, this summer break that we're going through. I know that obviously Formula One might not be the front of your mind, but so many of you still listening to these shows when we haven't got races, just two weeks until we are back with the Grand Prix to be reviewed. Join the Patreon. If you think, I haven't got much to listen to right now. Well, we've got a historic review coming up. Beard breaking has just been recording.

We talked about our live show. We've played a little fun little game. There's a few other Q&A moments. Controversial game, but... Very fun game. So I made it. There's bonus episodes there. Everything's ag-free. You get some videos as well, like a birthday shout-out for your birthday month if you're on the top tier. The links to the description.

You can cancel it after a month. It's a no from you. Should they just called Ben, a quiz yesterday. How did that go? It went very well. Yeah. Congratulations to Blazy, who took his, I think it's third win in these quizzes. So well done to you.

Smiley Webb, who regularly competes was there as well in second place. but yeah, I think we had a good time. There was quite a few of us, quite a few of us in the chat. We love that. If you're going to join Ben's quizzes that you regularly does, try to topple Blazies and Smarney Webb, who so often lead those battles. Get the Giscope. It's completely free.

It's just a chatting platform for all people that love F1. Thanks for next to again, and we'll see you midweek for more late-breaking chit-chat around this beautiful sport. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.