The Late Braking F1 Podcast - The F1 2020 LB Awards! | Episode 96

Episode Date: December 22, 2020

In our final podcast of 2020 we give out our awards for the 2020 F1 season (not all serious)!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. This is the late breaking F1 podcast. The last one before Christmas and indeed the last one of 2020. The wild and wacky year it has been. Tonight we host the most precise.

prestigious awards in all of sports. That's right. It's the ones they all want to win. Who is they in this scenario? Who knows? LB Awards. It's the LBs. They're back for 2020. My name is Ben Hocking.

I've got Harry Ead and I've got a certain Clive Picklesworth. It also goes by the name of Sam Sage. Hello. I'm very well. Thank you. Are you ready for the Elbies? I don't think I am. Do we want a

A sound like a jingle Or I should hope We have an entry Yes It is an award show Okay

That's not the right Entry at all That's not This is not Elevator music I don't have I don't have An award ceremony

One on hand Oh no Oh you can't be playing That's fair This show will be so Vagely put together That you may as well play You get stuck in the morning.

Yeah, yeah. I got one more. All right. Oh, ladies and the pickle, welcome, I'm here. The Elvis! With me, your host, Clive Pickleblown!

I like how it's always Clibbs. He's always Clives. That's it. That's his game. It's like the Pigglesworth belongs to Clive. Folks, you'll get to go, Clives. I don't really want to know anything about Clive's Pickleworth, to be honest. That could be wrong.

Anyway, we have got, how many awards have we got lined up? We've got 10 awards lined up to give out to Formula One drivers and perhaps other people in the Formula One community as well, races. We've got plenty to go through. So we will start with our first award, which is Race of the Season. Harry, who do you, sorry, what do you think might have a chance of winning this? I mean, there's a lot of contenders for this one. I, am I nominating or am I just saying the one I would pick? Yeah, what's the one you'd pick?

All right, I'm going to go, like I said, there's a lot to go for here. But I'm going to go for the first race of the season in Austria. It was, you know, it was a crazy race. we've had perhaps even crazier ones since then, but I think that the craziness combined with the just sheer joy that we had F1 back on our screens after the darkness of lockdown just combined to make it a completely magical weekend of F1, despite the fact that there was no one they're watching.

But yeah, I'm going to go for that one, but there are a lot of contenders out there. Have you got another race that you would put forward as a nomination, Clyde? Yes, I do. Thank you very much, sir. I think we're going to go all the way over to Italy. We're going to fly on on Monza. I'm not going to do that voice for the rest of the thing, by the way. It just gets a bit tiring.

Monza is it, though. Monza has everything you want. It has bizarre rule changes going on. It has people not understanding those rule changes. It has penalties being applied. It has the top level having terrible race starts, aka Bossas. It had crashes where everyone walked out completely fine. Let's be honest.

We all enjoy a proper good crash. if everyone walks out totally fine, it's all like, well, hey, all right. And Charlotte Clare did that, and it brought up some quality action with the red flag issue. And then we got a three-way podium that no one expected. Gassley fighting of science. And the emotion of Gassley winning in Monser with an Italian team was spectacular. It was wonderful to watch. I think, you obviously, after the old Anthony Bear incident as well, it was generally quite wonderful.

So for me, in terms of emotion, of action throughout a race of, you know, attention to the end, it was really something to behold. And Harry Wright has said, there are so many races you could choose for race of the season. So many brilliant moments throughout the season. But that for me was kind of the overall one. Yeah, I think it's fair enough. I mean, Monza was a lot of fun.

I would definitely put that up there. Obviously, the Sequeer race that we saw was crazy as well. I would say in both of those instances, they weren't heading towards being barnstormers and then became them later on. in the Grand Prix. Not to say that they were poor races, of course. They were definitely amongst the best we've seen in the last few years, but they're not going to get my nomination here. Turkey was another belter as well. That one from start to finish was absolutely nuts. Spain,

that was a cracker. Love that one. Abbey-Dabby, that was fun. I was sitting out then. He was being silly. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, Clive. Sorry, Clives. I am going to agree with Mr. Ede. I'm going to go with the Austrian Grand Prix. The Red Bull Ring is just brilliant. It's so good. If you were to ask people a list of the best European circuits, they'll say Silverstone, and they'll say Spar,

and they'll say Monzer, and they'll go through the list, and they'll probably end up getting down to six or seven before thinking of the Red Bull Ring. But the Red Bull Ring absolutely deserves to be in the discussion as one of the best. So much fun. So I'm going to go with Austria. So I think by two to one then, race of the season, the first Elby goes to the Austrian Grand Prix.

So, second one, surprise of the season. Guess a bit of a vague one. It could be a surprise performance by a driver. Could just be the whole season's performances by a driver. Anything here that spring to mind, Sam. Surprise of the season. This is a really, really difficult one. because there are things so many bizarre moments

and I think actually the surprise of the season for me which we all should have, especially I should have known beforehand is that old school F1 tracks can 100% bring it with these cars and the new regulations we've got and what's going on and they should definitely be on the track and it surprised me every single time

how I said at the start of a race this is going to be a sneeze fest we've got 12 overtakes. This can be a waste of time this is going to be so boring to be spain all over again. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Those old tracks, not a single one failed to deliver. They were all absolutely brilliant.

So for me, the old tracks coming back were the surprise of the season. And, I mean, obviously we're not in regular discussion with the Formula One drivers, but it seemed as if their general response to those sorts of tracks was very positive. And they would be up for returning to a lot of these circuits. Surprise of the season for you, Harry? I agree. On that note of the old tracks, we went to Imola and overtaking was tricky,

but we definitely enjoyed going to Imola more than we enjoyed watching the race in Abu Dhabi because it was just more of a spectacle watching go around the old tracks. Anyway, my surprise of the season, I mean, has to be watching Rema Grojean and Clon out of that wreckage because still shocks me

and I'm still shocked that he made it out alive. It's a surprise and, you know, a thanks to the continued work of the FIA. Yeah, nothing on the surprise or shock factor will top that fireball in Bahrain for me, I don't think. Yeah, I'll just quickly sign off on what Sam said with tracks that we were returning to being a surprise of being so good. And it was so good to see them back. It's, I've said so many times, yes, overtaking is difficult at Imola and other circuits, but you don't necessarily need hundreds upon hundreds of overtakes in a Grand Prix for it to be an amazing race. You just need, you just need opportunity.

And arguably the likes of Mijello and Imala will be better, even more so when we get to these new generation of cars, if they do perform as everyone is hoping they do. But races like Abidabie, which I think many would. consider, along with Spain, to be one of the worst this year. It's not as if there weren't overtakes going on. There were still plenty of overtakes, but they were just carbon copies of one another. They were all moves up the inside after the first straight or moves up the inside after the second straight. There's no variety whatsoever. So I've always said that loads of overtakes don't make a good race, just in the same way that a lack of overtakes doesn't make a bad race. And yeah, it was great

to see, especially with Imola and Magello, seeing the opportunity to be punished if you run wide. We saw that particularly with Vastappen getting past Bottas, Bottas making an error, getting on the gravel from going too wide. If that happens at Cota, if it happens at Abidab, he keeps the position. So really good to see. Surprise of the season for me. I think we were all expecting Ferrari to not have a great year. I predicted them to finish third. Sam predicted them to finish third. Harry was on the ball more than both of us. he thought that they were going to finish fourth and even Harry wasn't, wasn't right. He was even lower than that.

So, and you can, you can watch our review of our predictions, by the way, if you, if you listened to last week's podcast. But yeah, it was just Ferrari, the downfall was crazy. It was similar to what we saw from them in 2014, but to an even greater degree. So, yeah, Ferrari's poor performance is shocking. So we're going to call a winner on that one.

Who cares? None of them. I'm going to give it to Romney G. Yeah, I'm going to give it to Romney G. He's bloody. So, yeah. He deserves all the awards. Roman Gorozion, you win. Well done.

We're going to move on to the Stop Talking Award. I'm going to nominate Sam, I'm kidding. I knew it. I knew one of you would. And to do it within the first three. seconds as well. I mean, it's impressive. Oh, you push my buttons. I am of course kidding. The Stop Talking Award can be given to any driver who we think winges too much on team radio, to team bosses who complain too often,

really anyone we think to just shut up occasionally. So, Harry, who have you got? I'm going to give this award, or I'm going to nominate this award to Ted Kravitz, who has spent the entire season being told to stop talking. So I think he's the only person who could win it. He never finishes the sentence because it's two-sex head. Every time. Every time. And for those of you don't watch Sky's coverage, you won't know what that means.

But yeah, he just, he just, the poor man just wants to tell us something insightful. He's always so passionate and insightful about F1 and bloody, Lardia Laskrofty interrupts us. him. He hasn't interrupted us yet. No, not yet. But if he could, he would. He's working on it. He's working on it.

He's working on it. There you go, Ted. I think it's a fitting award for you. Sam, who've you got? Well, I think Martin will want to give it to Crockty himself. The amount of time that Cropty will speak

for what feels like nine days straight. And at the end of it, Brondon will just go, absolutely. And we've just move on, entirely ignoring everything that Crofty's just said. So I feel like if we got Brundle on the show,

then that's who you would give it to, or we wouldn't like to give it to. So in terms of commentary, I'm going to definitely give it to Crofty. The man needs to learn when certain things don't need to be said during a race. In terms of drivers,

we're going to give it specifically to drivers. Sorry, mate. This is all going to come down to that one moment where you moaned about how hard you are being raced. Alex Almond, mate. Stop moaning about it and get on with a job. They're racing me too hard. I don't care.

I don't care. That is the worst moment I've ever heard over the radio from an F1 driver. Sorry, terrible. Stop talking. Do your job. And do it better. Oh, the stands are not going to be happy, Sam. Oh, come at me.

So mature. I'm 25. Yeah. Literally. I'm going to give the Stop Talking Award to Helmut Marko. Because, I mean, I could give it to him for the coronavirus camp. comment alone, which, I mean, at the time was a bit eye-raising. I think given what we've all experienced this year, it just becomes more ridiculous by the day. But just generally,

Helmut, shut up sometimes. Shut up all the time. I'd rather be just think after saying anything around the Formula One Paddock, to be honest. Who are we giving this one to? I think Crofty's got to do it, to be honest. Oh, okay. Crofty are off the track, album on the track. Orfei locked Crofti and Helmut in a room together. I think the world will implode. They would just talk over each other forever. Well, all right, let's give it to Crofty and Helmut Marco.

They can share the award on this occasion. Don't let them get a speech in, though. Don't let them do that. Don't worry. We're nowhere near high profile enough to have guests on this show. show. But we'll go to the fourth award, and that is Bromance of the Year. Sam, who we got? Now, I think there's a lot of obvious answers. I think a lot of people are getting a pick Landon Norris and Carlos Science. And I understand why that was lovely. It really was.

It was great to see two teammates get along so well. Of course, because they're fighting for a championship. It's totally fine, really, isn't it? You don't expect, when you're fighting for a championship, you expect a bigger bang, a lot of difficulty, but they're great. They're brilliant together. I am going to give this, on the other hand, to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Betel, because that warms my heart. They are so nice to each other. They care so much about each other. They are the first person to walk over and congratulate, to help, to pick one other up. They are absolutely brilliant. And I would love to see them in the same team. I think for the last couple years now, that it's growing and growing and growing. And I happily just love to see them down a coffee

shop, having a little cafe, you know, just being like, all right, Seb, what did you get? Oh, latte. Lewis, what about you? Vegan latte. Ah, just adorable, isn't it? So for me, it's those too. They're brilliant. What are you going for, Harry? I'm also going for Lewis Hamilton, but I'm not going for him and Sebastian Dettle, although I agree that friendship. If you consider what they were in Baku, 2017, that friendship has blossomed magnificently. But no, I'm going for Lewis Hamilton and his tyres. Oh, Bono. This is Harry's Hamilton hatred coming out again. This was a good thing.

No, Lewis Hamilton, I know we make fun of the Bono thing. But Lewis Hamilton and his tyres, what that man can do to his tyres during a race? I know he says they're gone. But they're, but what, you know, how he looks after them, there's no one else in the grid that can do that. So Lewis Hamilton and his tires, it's an up and down relationship. you know, he moans at them. They don't do anything back.

And then they're like, but we're fine. And then he said, fast his lap and wins a race. I've got a montage in my mind of Lewis with a tire under his arm, you know, like on like a beach, watching a film together, with his Pirelli.

That's what I can imagine now. Yeah. I was going to say, do you think because of the amount of tyres that he has to pick up from getting pole position that he's just actually really sick of them? Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's what he means every time he says Bono and the tyres are gone.

He's just like, he's daydreaming about all the ties. He's got up to pole position and he thinks gone to nick them. Bono! Bono! Yeah, so that wasn't a I-Halo, Salomon-in-species. That was me, you know, complimenting and one of his excellent tire-saving skills. You two-waiting, though. I don't.

We teens, we tease. I am going to agree with Sam. It's got to be Hamilton and Vettel. Like, they're just the cutest. They are. They are the cutest. Oh, Ben, you saying cutest is weird. It is weird.

No, it's not weird because it's happening to the Vettel. If it was someone else, it would be weird. But because it's Hamilton and Vettel, it is absolutely understandable. They're just lovely, aren't they? I'd love to go back to, like, 2018 Azerbaijan, Ben, and tell him that this was going to be the case, after what happened between Vessel and Hamilton on that day. It's just really lovely, isn't it?

Yeah, I agree. That wins it for me. Sorry, but on those tyres. No, I am happy to lose to Hamilton and Seb. Everyone else loses to them anyway. Exactly. Also, just to go through a bit of a personal favourite moment of the two of them is when they were discussing reverse grids in the press conference,

and Hamilton gave something of a bit of a nonchalant answer towards whether reverse grid should come in or not, and then Vettel was very blunt and used an expletive, and Hamilton found it absolutely hilarious. It's like his older brother. Yeah, he is. He's like, oh, Ted Swart. It really was.

So, yeah, we'll give Vettel and Hamilton the award. for Bromance of the Year. Now, this next one is going to be hotly contested. This could go anyway. This is the Nicholas Latifi Rookie of the Year award. The contenders are Nicholas Latifi.

Nick Latifi. Oh, I like him. And Nicky Latifie. If you got, Harry. I'm going to get for Nika Hockenberg. It's not a rookie. I mean, can we not throw in Fittipaldi and eight kids today? I mean, if you're going to vote for either of those two,

that is the biggest Canadian kick in the face I've ever seen. That apologised for you for it, though. Canadian, yeah, Canadian kick of the face would be really gentle, wouldn't it? I'd be really polite about it. Sorry! Yeah, I mean, I'm going to have to go for... What's the second one?

Nick Latie Eiffy, him. I'll go for him. I don't even know what I said, but yeah, sure. Latifi. Sam, are you going to go for Latifi? I'm going to go for Jack Aitken. Oh, I haven't made off. For the simple reason that he, by being bad and crashing the car in such an amateurish manner,

caused such a dramatic end. And we had a brilliant moment where Sergio Perez won a race. So for me, rookie of the season for that performance. Thanks, thanks, Jack. You don't need to bother coming back. I'm going to give this to Nicholas Latifi. Now, we make a joke because he didn't have any competition really for this award, whereas if you compare it to when we did Rookie of the Year last year,

of course, you had Norris, you had Russell, you had Albin all competing with one another for it. So it's, yeah, of course Latifie is rookie of year. But I think there is an actual serious point in here that without having any rookies to go up against, It's been a difficult year for Latifi in terms of the circumstance that was laid out in front of him to be the only rookie on the grid in what has already been a crazy year. It can't have been easy for him, so fair play.

Unsurprisingly, the Nicholas Latifie rookie award goes to Nicholas Latifie. Well done, sir. Where else Nick? Well done, Nick. Yuki Sonoda versus McSumacher versus Mazepin next year, though. No, it's only two of them that are bothering with that.

Mazurban's autumn. Why do you hate Mick Schumacher? Maca, Sam. Oh, let's not go there. Yeah, not today. The late breaking overtake of the year, of course we're going to include this. There are any that spring to mind for you, Sam? There are a few.

One of them being Kimmer Wryking's absolute sick filth switchback, of course, is quite memorable. But I'm not going to go for the old geezer. I'm actually going to go for that moment where George Russell ending Valtrey Bossas his entire career around the outside of the secure outer loop. The guts, the ability, maintaining the track position on the bounce on that bumpy track, George Russell proved what he was willing to give. And in that one swift moment, I think Valtry Bottas' accreditation with the Formula One audience dropped like a stone at that point.

And George Russell made his point. look at me. I'm being here for one weekend and I'm better. I'm good to go. And that says a lot more than just overtaking on the track. So I think for me that is the overtake of the year. Harry? I am going to go for the Kimmy Reikinen sick filth switch back on Carlos signs in Portemau. But I think it is mainly because we were together watching it and I laugh every time I watch it on our on our video, a reaction video, just for Ben's dance. He does. That overtakes also a special place in my minds now. So that has to be my favourite one of the year.

In fairness, that was immense. I'm really torn between those two. I think I ever could get it. I'll go with the Russell move on Bottas just because not only was it an epic, epic move, it did feel somewhat symbolic. So I think that might be something that is looked upon fondly for years and years to come as the moment that George Russell announced himself on that

sort of on that stage. Obviously, what he's been doing at Williams, not to discredit any of that at all. He's done a great job. But given a car that is worthy of his talent, he was able to do that on his first race. So I'm going to go with that one. Which I think majority rules is going to be Russell, Russell, who wins the award for his move on bottoms. precisely won something this year. Yeah. He had to win something. I'm sure he's delighted that what he's won this year is an LP.

And not a MIRC seat for 21. Or a race swing. I think it's better than a race win, to be honest. Absolutely. Now we go to the best AWS graphic. Now there are so many wonderful ones to choose between. So this is understandably going to be a really tricky award to decide. What's your favourite AWS graphic?

it, Kerry? My favourite one is the one that started popping up in FP3 in the practice sessions towards the end which predicts the qualifying positions but then has lots of asteris saying like this is an anomaly and it's the most useless part of garbage

I've ever looked at in life. You've seen me? That's nice. Yeah, well I don't care. I don't want that. I don't need that in my life. I've watched free practice and I'm excited to see what can happen to qualify. I don't need you, Amazon, telling me whether George Russell being in 11th in practice is an anomaly. I'd like to be excited to think, well, maybe George Russell's got the pace to be 11th, your stupid computer. It's a completely valid point, but you just sound so old making it.

You stupid computer. You stupid computer. you jiggery pokery. Magic, pure magic. Sam, what have you got? Well, I agree with everything Harry said, but for some varieties I'm getting, I'm mixing up. I think the one I've loved the most, and by loved, I then absolutely screamed

at the television when it came on, is the ranking of medium-speed corners that like to pop up for a few times, which, again, irrelevant. I think at one point, Grosjean was third, but he was 19th in the race. It shows no consistency. no relevance to anything.

The cars are all different. It doesn't mean anything at all. And also, what constitutes a mid-speed corner? It doesn't tell you that either. It's a waste of time. They all are. The only one that's good, the only one that's good,

is it tells you the gap between a car that's pitted and a car that hasn't pitted, and if they're going to jump in time based on the average pit stop time. That is the only one that I think is actually useful. The target strike lap, three laps, overtake difficulty, easy. or Lewis Hamilton's tires

have only got 10% wear left. Or they don't, because he's been on the front of 30 laps. It's crap. Can we get a Bono, AWS graphic, please? Charts of Bono over the radio, 94%.

Honestly, they're all crap, they're all rubbish. For a company that is the most rich company in the world, do better, but the medium-speed corners is so useless that for me that is the best graphic

of the season. I mean, my favourite one I'm going to offer up a different one here is the tire wear graphic. Yes, I mean, terrible. Sometimes it gets it right, but when it gets it wrong, it's so satisfying. Because the best moment was for me in the Sequeur Grand Prix, when they showed George Russell's tyres as massively struggling. And within, I think, maybe 30 seconds, George Russell goes over the team reds. to say the tires are fine.

And David Croft and Martin Brundle are having to do their best not to just laugh and basically just say, ha, that got it completely wronged, didn't it? Stupid morons from Amazon. Honestly. Do you think with AWS and where they're at, do you think we should put together a rival package of sort? You know what, folks?

If you think that late breaking could do a better AWS graphics, let us know and we will bring it to the people. And you know what? If you don't want it, we're going to bring it to the people. It's going to happen now. We're going to be doing an AWS parody video. Stay tuned. And it's going to be amazing.

It will be insights. You have seen nothing yet. So, I mean, should we just give AWS the award for the best AWS graphic? Because it makes no sense, which is kind of perfect for AWS. I think there's a 93% chance I'll receive the award and they'll probably receive it

we'll did the next three laps. And that's who wins the award. We've got a few more to go through. We've got three more. Team boss of the year. And much like we did this award last year as well, and much like last year, we're not saying who is the best team boss of the year

to sort of stipulate success, but just who generally is the best. Who is your favourite team boss of the year? Harry, have you got? I'm going to go for Andrea Seidel. I like him a lot. And I like, you know, what he's done with, with McLaren. I think he's done an absolutely solid job.

I know Zach Brown's been heavily involved too, obviously. But, yeah, he's the right person to be in charge of McLaren this year. I mean, obviously, big shout-out to Toto Wolf for just being Toto Wolf. And Mercedes-olde's winning everything. But, yeah, big fan of my dress. He's up there as one of my favoured team bosses, I think. Who you're going for, Sam? There's a lot of contenders this year.

think. Toto is King Toto as always. The guy is just a legend regardless of what happens. He says it how it is in interviews. He's got a great sense of humour. The guy is an all-round genius, you know, with the success that they've had. So he's always a contender. It's not going to win it from me, but he's always a contender. Seydles had a fantastic job as well. Ombar Schaffauer, with the hardest name to say, in Formula One. But also, his reaction of heading hands one week of absolute sadness, you know, and then the elation. And also the ridiculous like rolling of eyes when Croft decides to ask him any questions during a race weekend. But I am going to give it to the goat, French toast.

Hu ha ha! Francost 100% is the team boss of the year. The guy creates the best environment meeting at a club. He's got the best name in Formula One, aka French toast. And Alphotaria thriving under him. So big up the French toast. I am going to go with Gunter Steiner because he's going to. Gunter Steiner. That's my reasoning.

I loved his interview with the medical staff that helped Grosjeon, but before they'd actually set it up as an interview, but they were just having a chit chat, and I'm not going to say the swear I would, but he was like, the way you ran into that was just amazing. You know, I was like, it was just so shocked at what happened with his medical staff, and he's brilliant. He's brilliant. I love him. Just whenever he, yeah, whenever he has an interview or you see him, it's just, You kind of just sit up like expecting something crazy to happen. So who are you going to give this one to?

I think Claire Williams gets it. Oh, actually, yeah. Yeah, we've got to give it to Claire Williams. Yeah. Claire Williams. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Yes, get well soon, Sir Frank.

Get well soon. And we'll be giving, yeah, Claire Williams the award for Team Boss. So we just have two more left to do. moments of the season. Harry. This is tricky because there have been quite a lot of moments.

I'm going to go for I'm going to go for Sergio Perez's win. Shout out to Pierre Gazley's win. Shout out to Louis Hamilton's win and 7th championship in Turkey. shout out to George Russell being pretty mega

and Bahrain as well there have been so many but I'm going to go for pure feel good factor I'm going to give it to Sergio Perez winning that race you know he might not be an F1 next year by the time this goes out

we probably will know whether he's got a seat I think but and if he does have a seat congrats to us for being wrong again but yeah I'm going to give it to Sergio Perez's win because it was just, no one was unhappy.

I mean, it was the same for Gassley, but particularly with Peres, because it's been a long time coming and the circumstances he finds himself in, yeah, well-deserved. So that is the moment of the season for me. Sam, what's your moment of the season? This season is being an absolutely historic one. It's a season of moments, you know,

with how COVID has affected things, with the fact we've had 17 races, all of a sudden when we're meant to be building up to 23, Gasly gets his first swing almost a year after Antony there passes, which is amazing. Sergei Perez gets his first victory, which is just incredible.

But that moment in the Algarve where Carlos Sykes led all of a sudden when no one else could have anything wrong is still baffling to me. You know, the red flag moments we had in Mugelo. The Turkish Grand Prix all over was absolutely crazy. For me, I'm going to get me.

it to Lewis Hamilton becoming a seven-time world champion. The guys had an absolutely on-fire season. And there's not a lot. And actually, I can't believe I'd be mentioned. Roman Grosian crying, crawling out of a fire, a flaming ball wreckage was also absolutely astonishing. But Hamilton has a moment in history, a moment in time. Not a lot brings me to have a tear in my eye when it comes to Formula One.

And I was a bit emotional when he won that seventh title. It was a real moment of we're watching moments. to be made in history. And it was great to see someone that came from a real hardship, come all the way up through Formula One and become the most successful person of all time when it comes to statistics, race wings, and obviously joint with championships on Schumacher.

It was a real moment. And it's one that I won't be forgetting anytime soon. Yeah, I think it says a lot about this season that if we were to give this award out in previous seasons, a midfield driver getting a podium might well have won it. because they were that rare, like in the last few years, they have been that rare, where we've only had maybe one or two each season where that's happened. And we've had this season where I think 12 drivers finished on the podium,

which is a remarkable amount considering where we've been the last few years. And there are so many contenders for this. Yeah, the Grosjean moment, of course, gets a mention. Hamilton, of course, as well, he gets a mention. Pierre Gasly's win is up for contention. I'm going to agree with Harry and go with Perez's win just because, and, you know, Gassley's win was incredible. Don't get me wrong.

But, and Gassley, considering what he went through last season with Red Bull, it's a great redemption story. For Perez, it's just been, it's been 10 years. Like, it's been 10 years of ups and downs. It's been, you know, the McLaren year, looking like he might not have a seat for 2014, force India take a chance on him. He does a great job there. year after year, constantly finishing third and second and putting together great performances,

has about 10 podiums overall. And then finally, just a few races before, potentially his last ever Grand Prix, he ends up going on to win a race. So, yeah, I've got to go for Perez's win. Deservingly so. That is a fantastic moment. And one that I think defines Formula One almost and kind of a, don't ever give up. It feels bloody good when you get there. Okay, and now we go to the final award, the big one.

The one everyone wants to win. It is the Ricardo Rosset Memorial Award. It's the driver of the season. Harry. I know you hate Lewis Hamilton, Harry, so I'm assuming you're going to go to someone else. Oh, yeah, definitely. The Memorial Award makes you sound like Ricardo Rosset's dead. No, it's just a living legend.

Yeah, it's a memorial of all time. exactly. I'm going to shock you all here. I am actually going to give it to Lewis Hamilton. Whoa. The world has changed. He, I can't think of when he had a bad day in 2020.

I mean, his probably least convincing performance was at the last race, and he'd just come back from having COVID, so he probably wasn't really great. And even then he was still third and not far off second. And so, yeah, the man's been, unstoppable this year. You know, Blattas tried as hard as he could in qualifying,

but Hamilton still edged him for most of the season, and then in the race he was just ridiculous. I mean, I made the point earlier. The things they can do with those ties are ridiculous, just to make them last and still go quicker than anyone else. Yeah, his armory of skills have come so far when he was just a really quick driver when he first entered F1

and now he's such a complete driver. So, yeah, a record equalling seventh floor title it's going to be quite possibly an eighth next year. But yeah, driver of the season has got to be got to be Mr Hamilton. Are you in agreement, Sam? For a man to wing,

12 of 17 races when your teammates only won one. To be, this is up there with Hamilton's best season of his career, I think. I don't... Sorry, what? Didn't Bottas win two?

I thought Bottas only got one. He had... Yeah. All right, okay. Fine, fine. You've got two. But still, to win ten more races than your teammate, I think is quite embarrassing

for the second place man in the championship. And... Bottas challenged him on the Saturday performances, but I don't know how you can really look past Lewis Hamilton. He has been breathtakingly good and it's scary that he's still this good at this point in his career. He's getting on. You know, he's what, now the second oldest member of the grid after Reikingen.

And the man is still putting out performances that I think some drivers can only ever dream of pulling out. So Lewis Hamilton becomes the joint holder of most world champions and has now got the most Reds wins, by far the most pole positions. and has every other record in the book almost sewn up. So, yeah, he is by far my best driver of the season. Lewis Hamilton was the best driver this year.

There were plenty of great drivers. Of note, Pierre Gassley had a wonderful year. Daniel Ricardo had a brilliant year. Charles Leclair, Jesus Leclair, as I should call him. He had great moments as well. He had a great season. Perez Vastappen, both right up there. But Lewis Hamilton was sensation.

this year. And I think it is a bit of a shame that when he was obviously out for a race with COVID, George Russell took over the car. And George Russell did a tremendous job when he took over the Mercedes. The one problem about it is that it has apparently reignited the, it's all about the car people that had seemingly gone away for a bit. But now Russell was gone in and done a great job for one Grand Prix. Apparently, again, it is all about the car. To be honest, those people shouldn't be paid at the attention to anyway, but Hamilton was fantastic all year. It's not, it's not the scintillating pace, which has always been evident. It's been evidence since the first Grand Prix he was in in 2007. He's always been quick. That hasn't changed over the years. What has changed, though,

is his ability to string together fantastic results. Hamilton's consistency for me is his greatest asset by far. Because not only does he go out there and deliver a great performance, he does it in about seven of every eight races, which is just extraordinary when you think about it. And we've banged on Bottas for not being able to keep up with that, but it is such a difficult task to do so. So for me, Hamilton, to win that many races, like you said already, in such a short, condensed season by modern standards, yeah, brilliant work.

So Ricardo Rossett is actually here to give the award. Oh, yeah, I can't make it. He was right there in the waiting room. Never mind. Buddy L. Did we all get him a working mic or something? I'm quite gutting about that. Well, we'll have to deal with Clive giving the award to Lewis Hamilton instead, the big one. Oh, fine. Clive!

Well, hello, sirs. Thank you very much for me back on. Yes, Lewis Hamilton is the winner of the LB Award. Ricardo Rossi can't be here, so I am a much bigger replacement. In fact, Lewis Hamilton, you are the winner of driver of the season. Lewis Hamilton! Folks, that's been the Elbees with your host, the three total plans. The 2020 Elby Awards come to an end.

We're going to finish off the year. We're going to finish off 2020 with a quick game of Pump the brakes. Harry, take it away. Spout the brakes! I apologize to all headphones. users. Pump the brakes. We'll just do one each.

If you haven't watched this segment before, we give a statement. And the other two have to decide whether they have a right to believe that. And they should keep on going with that opinion. Or whether they should turn back around, whether they should pump the brakes because they're being a moron. If both people agree that that person is being a moron, they get, well, virtually gunked. There is a gunk sound effect that will play.

essentially. Harry, take us away on this one. What are you going to go with? Mar, I'm going to go with. I think that's a season where we have, you know, unusual races, unusual winners like the one we've had, is better than a season where we have a close-fought championship, i.e. this season was a better season than 2016, for example. I'm in agreement. I think you need both for it to be a brilliant season. That's why I don't think 2020 has been brilliant, but I would say it has been very good and I would say it is preferable to a quote unquote poor championship races, but an entertaining championship. You know what? I think I actually agree. I'd rather have more exciting races race to race

with unpredictable moments rather but then again if you told me that Red Bull and the Sages would be neck and neck the entire season and it would come down to the last race

where both teams could win the constructors and both teams could furiously get a drive on the top again I think I would take that but again like Ben said you need both

so I'm not going to tell you about the breaks but I think it's very, very close. Thanks guys. So Harry avoids any gunking Sam what have you got? I think that, almost going off what I just said,

I think that Red Bull and Mercedes will be so close next season, and Bottas will slump that I think Mercedes will have to swap out Bottas for George Russell through the midpoint of the season. I just don't think that, I don't think Bottas has got the capability anymore to take it in that top spot. So you think that, just to clarify, Red Bull are going to be snapping at the heels of Mercedes and it's going to force Mercedes into a change?

Yes. Okay, let me just grab some water a second. There would be, just bear with me two seconds. There we go. That's better. That's better. Come on the brakes. Not even about the bot-ass thing either.

Just the case of, I've believed that a team such as Red Buller Ferrari are going to get close to Mercedes too many times. I've read the story time and time over again. It never happens. I've been too hopeful, aren't I? Yeah, I'm going to have to agree. The last race gives us all hope in terms of that, but I don't believe it either. Does that mean I get to meet Dave Banks and Phillips? It does.

It does. Hi, Dave. Gunge me, Dave. Gunge me. Don't be that again. I'm told. Enough. Right.

I'll round it off with my one then. I don't know. I think I might get gunged for this, but we'll see. I think a lineup of Daniel Ricardo and Nico Holcomberg, Renaud in 2020, would have got them third place in the Constructors Championship. I completely agree with you. Nico Holkenberg is one of the most underrated midfield drivers in a long time. I think he's comparable to Quick Nick in that regards. And I think that Holkenberg would not have done all the glamorous stuff.

I don't think he could bland himself on the podium like Ricardo did. all like Ockham managed to do actually but I do think the man would have produced so many consistent results in a team that he's familiar with that they would have had those extra few points they needed. Yeah, I think Holkenberg would have made a difference

in the other part of the season where Ockon wasn't quite quite on it. So considering how tight it was for that place yeah, I can have to agree with you. As much as I want to gun you, Ben. That's fair enough. It'd be very interesting as well to hear at home what you think of those suggestions.

Did Sam get gunged unfairly? Or should myself and Harry have been gunged for what we said? But for now, we'll leave, pump the brakes there. Oh, good. Well, 2020, guys. That's it. Thank God this year is over. Getting out of my life.

Well, the good news is, even though we're going to be away for one week, we will be returning. I haven't got the calendar out in front of me, but the first week of January, I think we'll be back and rare it to go for some off-season content, so you'll only have to do about us for one week.

Yeah, we've got some crazy, crazy stuff lined up to be fair. We've got a few new ideas coming through. And, of course, we'll be back for the whole new season, talking about much more rubbish. So if you've enjoyed the rubbish, subscribe to the podcast, download it, share it, get involved. it'll be great to kind of see the numbers grow. We're building a wonderful community

and you guys currently supporting are bloody lovely. So thank you for making 2020 a really, really grand year from the LB boys. Appreciate it. Yeah, we definitely really appreciate all of the support we've had this year. It's been great to see so many regular listeners of the podcast and we're always interested as well for some feedback. Give us a review, but more importantly, tell us what you like and what you don't like about the podcast.

and we're always willing to listen and willing to improve. We want to give the best product possible for all you guys out there. So thank you very much for the support all year. Until the next episode, which should be in two weeks time, Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting a Saturday. Please don't forget about us for two weeks. I really need you and your attention. Otherwise, I turn into a mouldy crisp in the corner of the room after a house party.

So please come back in two weeks time. Otherwise, I might not be Samuel Sage anymore. But for now, I am Samuel C. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Eats. And remember, keep breaking late. Cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.