The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Time for the Circuit de Catalunya to go? | 2020 Spanish Grand Prix Review | Episode 67

Episode Date: August 16, 2020

Ben and Sam are back to review the Spanish Grand Prix which saw Lewis Hamilton win his 88th Grand Prix. The guys discuss the race at length, particularly focusing on Verstappen beating Bottas to 2nd, and whether Albon's 8th place finish is on him, or on the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking Formula One podcast. My name's Ben Hocking. You're joining us here for the Spanish Grand Prix review, which saw Lewis Hamilton claim win number 88 in his career and podium number 156, that being a new record.

time to bring in Sam Sage. No, Harry Ead this evening, as I don't think, I think you might die to boredom, actually, from the Spanish Grand Prix, unconfirmed at this point. But Sam, how are you? How did you find the race? Yeah, no, I'm good. And the race itself on the track, there were some fun parts with the midfield, because there always are. Thank you, Midfield for us rectifying anything that might become dull. It was a nice strategy of, of technical thinking, of planning. It was nice and it wasn't a straight-up one-stop. That made it ever so slightly more entertaining. I feel like if the top three

at all one stopped, we might all have died from boredom. And that threat of rain, of course, that's still clearly looming over Hungary is once again back to bring us an ounce of possible excitement on the edge of our seats. But it was okay.

It wasn't the worst Spanish Grand Prix we ever had, but it was no way near a good enough Grand Prix, in my opinion. Yeah, and we're hearing that rain is just 10 minutes away, so teams will need to beware of that.

Any second now. 20% chance. Come on. We all know that's code for 2%. So Lewis Hamilton, as I say, winning the race. He won it ahead of Max for Stappen in P2 and then his teammate Valtrey Bottas in third place, some 45 seconds back, but he was able to claim the point for fastest lap. To round out the top 10, it was the two racing points in fourth and fifth, stroll ahead of Perez due to a five second penalty that Perez had to endure. Carlos signs in sixth, Vettel won stopping his way to 7th, Alex Albin in 8th, Pierre Gazley in 9th and Lando Norris, making it two point scorers for McLaren in 10th.

So Sam, the circuit to Catalonia today was the 30th consecutive time that the circuit has hosted the Spanish Grand Prix. It's come under a bit of, there's been quite a lot of stick towards it over the past few years, not producing, entertaining enough racing. Do you think that now is the time that the Spanish Grand Prix, or at least the Spanish Grand Prix at that particular circuit? kit needs to be dropped. Well, if I'm going to be really frank about it, yes. If I could get my own way, you know, which I like to do, if I could call up Chase and have a chat with him, I'd be like, you know, come on. Did you watch today?

Did you see the fights that we had? Let's maybe think about shuffling on, especially if they're adamant that they want to keep coming to Catalonia for testing at the start of every single season. The teams have far too much data at their disposal. If the tyres aren't going to be changed and they know exactly how they're going to work, we had a slight difference in the fact that we are. arrived in Catalonia in the middle of August, unlike when we usually arrive where it's around May time. So the temperatures were a bit elevated, but it didn't really do anything at all for a

change of race. We had the same result that we probably have had four months earlier. Realistically, it doesn't need to go, at least we altered on a regular basis. If we're going to have a race in Catalonia, let's maybe reinstate the final long swooping right-hand and get rid of that awful chican through the final sector. On top of that, if we're going to again come to Catalonia to race,

let's not have the testing venue at Catalonia. Let's move the testing venue somewhere else. Herf, Nuremberg ring, Turkey, I don't mind where we go, but I don't think the testing venue

should be allowed to also be a race venue on the F1 calendar. It just makes it a little too easy unless something absolutely wild happens during the race. They all know realistically what they're doing. They know their fastest that times to run. They've all done race programs

around their time after time after time, year after year. It's dull, it's boring, it needs to go away. Catalonia can get in the Bing. I mean, we saw on Twitter a lot of people we're talking about, you know, we've got circuits of Crappolungia coming out. That was a great one. We had over 400 likes on a tweet that said, should it go? A lot of people agreeing, Josh Revel, who retweeting it,

thank you for the exposure, Josh, always grateful. He got over 400 likes on his retweet on that as well. It's very clear that the F1 community is not a, fan of Catalonia in its current format. Now, maybe the new spec of cars that come through in a couple of years' time might spice it up. It might be great. But you look at those junior formulas, F3, F2. Even then, it wasn't that enjoyable. And usually, if everyone provides a dull race at one track, F3 and F2 tend to be like spicing up a little bit just because of the way the cars work and how close the field is together, of course, all being under one chassis. But no, well, even in Spain,

it has less winners off of pole than what Monaco does, which, tells you a lot. I know statistically there's a big of difference. Monaco's been around a lot longer than Spain, but that's still pretty awful. The most enjoyable part of that race is watching them go five wide into turn one on the first lap because it's got such a long start finish straight. That's pretty much only enjoyable point to it. So a lot of changes if we are going to keep it. I'd rather we don't. There are so many great racetracks we currently don't use, and we might be lucky enough to see a few of those appear on this crazy calendar of 2020. But yeah, for me, if we could think about

moving it or at least having an alteration, that would be ideal. I mean, we've gone over this before. This is a test circuit. This is a test circuit that they rightly use for testing. But when it comes to actual race conditions, there's just, there's not enough there when compared to so many other brilliant circuits around the world. And we've just come from Silverstone and we've come from Austria. We're going to some other circuits soon. There are so many great ones around the world.

But it is difficult to, just like we're on a quest. to find the 20 best Formula One drivers in the world to compete at the same time. We should also be looking for the best 20 or 21 circuits in the world to compete at the same time. And the circuit to Catalonia, quite frankly, isn't even close to being in that top 20. The ironic thing is, and you alluded to this, Sam, is that that final sector, for me, that final sector could be the worst sector on the F1 calendar. It is awful. It's clunky.

It just doesn't work. There's no flow to it whatsoever. and there literally is a resolution to it that they have used before. I don't actually mind the first two sectors that much. I think they're okay. That final sector is what ruins it for me. And there's a problem solving, yeah, there's a problem to be solved and there's a way to solve it very simply. So, yeah, I'd love to see them do that.

But with the amount of data that they get from February, even though they've come to the Circuit to Catalonia at a completely different. time of year, hoping to spice it up slightly with warmer temperatures. It can't change the actual dynamics of the circuit. The circuit remains the same. Tireware can contribute to a better race, but by itself is not enough. And even though there were plenty of two stops out there, it's just, it's not enough. And yeah, it's disappointing. I've always said that races don't necessarily have to include multiple, like a ridiculous number of overtakes for it to be considered great. You know, I'm trying to think like Suzuki, for example, Suzuki is not an overtake. There aren't that many overtakes that happen at Suzuki.

Yeah, I still think it's a brilliant circuit and it flows wonderfully. You know, that first sector, you won't get any overtakes through there. I still love that sector. That, you know, if you're not going to have an overtake heavy circuit, that's okay, as long as it's got other elements to it. And the circuit to Catalonia doesn't have that. So I'd like to see it remain as a test circuit because I think it works well in that respect.

But in race conditions, I think that was far from the worst Spanish Grand Prix, which is saying a lot. I actually think that was possibly one of the better Spanish Grand Prix we've had. So if that's one of the better ones, some of the worst ones are truly dire. It's not a great circuit. Yeah, exactly, not a great circuit.

The worst thing is, If you compare, you know, this race, which you're right, I'm saying is one of the best Spanish Grand Prix we've had. Since I've consciously watched Formula One live, and I'm not going back and watching older races, if you were to compare that to say Silverstone's worst Grand Prix, I think there are some awful Silverstone Grand Prix that are still better than the race that we've had today in Catalonia,

which says a lot. And we would love to know what you guys think about the circuit to Catalonia and how it fits on the calendar, how it works for testing. Let us know at Twitter, at all breaking, or if you're watching on YouTube, get down in the comments, let us know, discuss it with us, should it be moved off of the calendar? And like I said before, a race does not necessarily have to include 100 overtakes for it to be considered a classic. I don't think that for a second. And there are many great races in history

that have had only a few overtakes or a limited number of overtakes, but there at least have to be the opportunities present. It's down to the drivers whether they take that opportunity or not, but they at least have to be there for them to take. Realistically, at the circuit to Catalonia, you're going to overtake into term one, or the only other option is for other driver's tires to be completely knackered to the point where you can overtake into, say, turn four or turn 10.

Other than that, there's nowhere else that you can go. And term one's the only one where there isn't, if there isn't a massive tire deficit, where there could be some sort of an opportunity. Yeah, completely agree. completely agree. Fortunately, the big field did provide a little bit of spice and I'm grateful because otherwise we might have had a big of an epilogue going on at the front which was just slowly touring off into nothing. Indeed. I mean, focusing on the race at the front to start with

because there were only three cars that ended up on the lead lap of the race, the two Mercedes and Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton, not quite the Granchillon, but it was only the fastest lap that he was missing out on. He led every single lap for the second year in a row at this circuit. It's a very good one for him. The Mercedes is a very good car. The combination is already there. Did you see Vastapeno Bottas beating Hamilton today? Do you think it was just a foregone conclusion in that respect? Valtry Bottas had every chance to beat Lewis Hamilton today. On Saturday, Bottas was faster than Hamilton everywhere, apart from that awkward, clunky, final sector, and that happened to make the difference when we lined up on the grid at the start

of today's race. I think Bottas is more than capable if he gets off to a good start of delivering a race swing, especially somewhere like Catalonia, where it's so hard to follow. It's so hard to execute a move, especially on the guy that's got the same machinery as you. Now, unfortunately for Bottas, not only did he get a bad style, did not launch well. Hamilton launched really well, Bottas did not. Probably on the one track where you need to launch well. Bottas gets his worst start of the season, I think. He then gets passed by the staff around the outside and doesn't shut the door at all on Lank Stroll, who takes the pure Fernando Alonso down the Yingside route and hats off to Lank Stroll,

who had a great race and he was so cleanly aggressive in that first lap. I'm really quite proud of Lant Stroll for going for it and making it work. Bottas should do more there. Bottis should be covering that off. Votas doesn't need to sit behind a racing point for three, four laps, letting his arched rival in Hamilton and the one guy that could stop him getting second place on the Pogia, Max and Staffing, scampering off. And that essentially was raised down for Bottas.

He gets past the racing point, and it is game over. So, yeah, Lewis Hamilton was dominant. Lewis Hamilton showed once again how it won he is with both that car. And this track, he seems to go incredibly well around there. But that was also paired with the fact that I think Bottas was definitely not on the top of his game today. And Red Bull, they just don't have that ability at the moment. We need to see it from them.

They don't have what it takes. to topple that Mercedes. The pole conversion record that you've already spoken of, Sam, it speaks volumes and I think Lewis Hamilton won this race in two steps. Step one was getting pole and step two was leading into term one of lap one. At that point, I don't think there was any opportunity for another driver. Lewis Hamilton was able to dictate the pace. We know that the cars at the front weren't going as quick as they possibly could,

that they were managing tires in order to make it a comfortable two-stop. And I don't think there was any doubt in the victory, really. And it's a shame because Valtrey Bossas, you alluded to the starts that he had in Britain compared to Hamilton, where he wasn't quite able to get in front of him. If the starts were reversed and Lewis Hamilton had his bad start here in Spain, he's probably looking at maybe P5, P6, going into term one. And Valfrey Bottas has the lead. And I fully believe if Alchie Bottas had that lead into turn one, he would have ended up the victor.

The same machinery is very difficult to overtake when you do have the same machinery as another car on the same strategy. I think whoever led into turn one was going to win that. So Lewis Hamilton got a good start at the right circuit, the circuit that did have the long run down into term one. And he did a great job from there, to be fair. He wasn't under a lot of threat, but at the same time, it was an unknown, August, Spain, not something they've dealt with before. You know, they nailed the strategy, and Hamilton was managing his race expertly well. And at the end of the race, when there was, you know, you could argue after Vastappan and Bottas had come in for their second stop,

and Hamilton still had to do his second, you could argue it didn't matter whether he went onto softs, medium or hard tires. He'd still probably end up with the win. but it's a testament to how much Hamilton strives for perfection that he wasn't content with going on the soft tire. He didn't want to take the risk, even though that risk was minuscule of Vastap and having an advantage over him. And he essentially told his team he wanted to go into medium tires. And they listened to him, which is, again, respect to Mercedes there, because there are

teams that would have told their driver to shut up and we know what we're doing. And it worked out well for them. They probably would have won, even if he went onto the soft tires. I'm almost certain of that. But when you're in Mercedes position and you do think you've got everything wrapped up, you still need to protect against any option at all. You have to protect against it to make sure that the risk is absolutely minimised to the lowest degree. So fair play to Lewis Hamilton for that on the fly call.

And fair play to him for this race, he was dominant start to finish. Yeah, completely agree. kind of is a testament to his ability both to put the car on the track as quick as possible, but also to manage to dictate to be assertive in how the car is reacting to the compound that it's on and the risking needs to take. I think a lot of people assume that driving around at the front in the best machinery is very, very easy. And Lewis Hamilton, I think because he makes it look that easy, but you know, you heard on the radio when he crossed that line, I was in the zone. I didn't even realize it was the last lap. And he'd go on to that pokey.

I think for the first time in a little while, I'm not saying he doesn't appreciate those race wings. I think Formula One is the absolute love of his life. But he'd gone on to that podium, and he was fist pumping, he was jumping around. It looked like he really, really enjoyed this race weekend. I think he owned it. He really took it into his own there.

And hats off to him. He drove a brilliant, brilliant race. It was pure dominance from him. Absolutely. And looking back at second and third, because it was Vastappen that beat Bottas. It was 20 seconds in it, but that is due to Bottas's late pit stop.

Otherwise, it was looking like it was going to be about five seconds or so. But ultimately, Hamilton winning very comfortably and Bottas not able to back him up in second place. And that gap between Bottas and Vestappen for second in the championship now stands at six points. What do you make of Bottas out there? Should he have really finished P2? Oh, Bottas, Bottas, Bottas, Bottas, Bottas.

Like, you're in the team where you're league in the championship in constructors. You had the lead of the driver's championship. It was all yours to control and manage and to keep putting in those performances. And he's come so close on a number of occasions where he's really tried. Again, I think it shows testament to Hamilton that he's able to take again another step. And we see it every season from Hamilton. He takes another step and others can't resume to keep up with him. But there was something today.

We had cars further back. You know, we had the likes of Ghazley and Cuviat, both Alpha Towers, in a great job in shadowing and trying to make moves down. The Renault was getting passes done. Carlos Sites was constantly battling with people. Both Lecler and Vettel were, you know, wheel to wheel a long of a time. You can get a move done here.

And look at the time difference between Hamilton and the Stauffin at the end. That's the same is clearly faster around here. It clearly has the advantage. I expected Bottas to be able to close up. Maybe not get the move done. But I expect to get a challenge to be on the cards. And it's the same as what we saw last time in Silverstone.

It's almost like Bottas got into his own head too much about where the tyres were going. My tire management was off. I was struggling on those tyres. Everyone else is on the same tires as you. Everyone else is stuck behind someone apart from Lewis Hamilton. You need to be doing more here. You need to be delivering and pushing through. And the gap just kept growing and growing and growing.

And when you've got Albon all the way down with God knows where being lapsed, and the staff is having to manage this race all on his own against two Mercedes, Bottas just made it easy for him. You've made that second place easy for him. I bet Bastapung happily take that result every single race of this season, knowing that Mercedes are as good as they are. Because Bottas hasn't delivered again here. I expected Bottas to be within one and a half seconds of Bastapen for pretty much the whole race.

And he almost never closed up to that point. I know the soft ties weren't ideal at the end of the race. We can see that. But you were six, seven seconds off. There was not even an attack. There's not even an attempt. You had nothing behind you to worry about. So why not give it a go?

You aren't going to lose third place. So we're not trying to make it difficult with Estappen. He didn't again. And now he's what, 43 points behind Hamilton in the standings, something like that? Back Championship, if there's a couple of races that go Hamilton's way, that championship is 100% gone. Yes, 43 is spot on. So the equivalent of a first and second place without Lewis Hamilton scoring any points whatsoever

would get Bottas back on even terms with Hamilton. reduced season, of course, we don't know how many races there will be exactly this year. That's, I'm not going to say an unassailable gap, but it's a gap that he's going to struggle to close. It's going to take a lot of work from Valtrey Bottas. I like to think that I've given Valtry Bottas quite a lot of slack this season. I think he has been unlucky in certain respects. However, today was inexcusable. That was a really poor performance, which is annoying because at a circuit where Nico Rosberg featured so prominently in Sky F1's coverage, it was a start reminder of days past when Lewis Hamilton did have someone who could challenge him on a regular

basis. We know that Valtru Botas has pace particularly in qualifying, and we know he can take it to Lewis Hamilton on his day, but it can't carry on that that day only comes once every four weeks or once every three races. It's not good enough. it's not good enough to compete with the consistency and the sheer relentlessness of Lewis Hamilton. I like you, Sam, F1 drivers should live for those scenario moments that Botas was put in. So, you know, he pits later than Max Verstappen. This is his second stop. He pits later the Max Verstappen on the soft tyres that Mercedes have been known to have the advantage on throughout the race weekend.

and he's got a set number of laps to reduce the gap, overtake Vastappen, back up his teammate and finish P2. And that would be fine. That would be job done. And I fully expected Valdry Bottas. Maybe that's my mistake, but I fully expected him to give it a go. I thought that when he came out, fresher tires, the tires that Mercedes had been very good on all weekend,

that he was going to close up that gap. And I don't know whether he'd have made the move. I wasn't sure at that moment in time. All I knew was he'll close up. the gap. Will he make that move? Maybe, maybe not. If he doesn't make the move, I won't be too harsh on him because we do know it's very difficult to make overtakes around the circuit. So, if he just closes up to Max Verstappen and it's within one or two seconds, and he's at least asking the questions and putting pressure on at that point, then I would say, okay, fair enough.

The problem is he didn't get anywhere near close. It was nowhere near. He got to within about five seconds before bailing out and going for fastest slap, which he, He set up early 1 minute 18 when he went on those new tires showing the pace that the Merck has. But, yeah, I was so disappointed that he couldn't make a fight out of it. Because even those drivers that couldn't make moves in the midfield, they were staying within one second of the car behind, sorry, the car ahead on a regular basis. He couldn't even close the gap. Couldn't even close the gap when all of the factors were working in his favour.

and unfortunately this is where Bottas lets himself down and this is where Bottas can't challenge Lewis Hamilton for a title and whilst Lewis Hamilton is around and whilst Bottas is performing at the level at he is he won't win a championship against him. That's a matter of fact. Yeah, I mean, again, with Rosberg being there, as you mentioned, it was a start reminder actually of the insight of a guy that has beaten Lewis Hamilton.

There aren't many of those across all of motorsport Nico Rosberg being one of the very few. And the comments that Nico was coming out with, one about Bottas was startling, how damning he was. And secondly, the mind games, the thoughts, the process, Nico was saying, he should be doing this,

he should be thinking about this. Why hasn't he acted like this? And you think, Nico's still got this mindset. Niko's still aware of how to play these games. And I'm not saying that, you know, Bossas should be out there trying to manipulate the situation mentally. But if you want to beat Lewis Hamilton,

you have to do something other than driving quickly. because Hamilton will have you there all day and night. You need to get under his skin. You need to frustrate him. You need to make things feel like they're not going his way at all. Once you knock the motivation and confidence of Hamilton, we've seen it can take him and look up a couple of races to pick himself back up again. And Lottas just doesn't have that.

I don't know if that's because from where he's from, of course, it's all about, you know, our actions speak longer than our words. We want to deliver something. I just want to be the best because I can be the best, not because I want to be manipulative or difficult or strategic. I just want to out drive him. sorry Bottas, I admire how good you are. You are a fantastic racer, but you're not the level of Lewis Hamilton. So either do something different and maybe win a title or forever be destined to be a number two driver that one day will vanish from Mercedes driver lineup and you will just become a guy that won some races.

And it depends if that's enough for him. When he packs this all in or when he gets replaced or if he goes out on his own standing, we don't know what's going to happen yet. If that's enough for him, knowing that he was part of this incredible team success, that he was able to support a driver to win multiple championships, that he, along with that other driver, won the team multiple constructors championships, knowing that the team worked in great harmony. If that's enough for him, fair enough. And he can walk off into the sunset knowing that he's done his job.

But if that isn't enough, which I don't think, which I think, you know, just judging by Bottas, I don't think that is enough for him. he's got to go out there and try something different. Because if he doesn't, he's not going to get that championship. And, yeah, Rosberg's analysis was great. And it was a tongue-in-cheek comment, but when asked what should he do, he did say that, you know, when they were in their motorhomes together,

what he should have done was every single night cooked 10 burgers outside of Lewis-Awleton's motorhome, which was, you know, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment. But at the same time, it was, it did represent a larger point, which is that he needs to get under his skin slightly. He needs to try something else. Rosberg was able to do that. There's proof.

That world championship is proof that he is beatable. But you need more than just what Bottas is offering at the moment, both on track and off it. And the fact that they've been teammates for nearly four years now, you know, this is their fourth season. it just they haven't had one disagreement which for the team is fantastic and that obviously is securing Bottas's role within the team every single year and again if that's enough for him that's okay but if you're not having an argument

with your teammate within four years where you know that both cars have the opportunity at least for winning a championship that means you're not doing enough to upset the Apple Cup oh dear oh dear well maybe we'll see something different his bar, maybe a couple of weeks away and the head will come back up because it was definitely down on that podium. It was, it was. Moving on to driver of the day. Sam, are you going for here? This is actually tough because I say this every week, but it's good

to see you can say it every week because there was a number of drivers that stepped up and really delivered and there were a number of drivers that let themselves down. It's hard to look past Lewis Hamilton. I'm going to give it to Sebastian Vettel. Guy starts outside the points, manges to convert a one-stop, is driving around on soft tires that are over 30 laps old, holds off cars that are actually quicker than him, is having to have ridiculous domestic arguments over the radio to his team who don't need to have a scooby of what's going on. Push the car, push the car, too outside, and no, can you run these tires? Can you hold on to these tires? What do you want me to do? Fine, I'll do it. I'll make it work. Just leave me to do it

because I'm going to make it work. So, full credits of the stipend for getting in front of Bottas ran a good race. Hamilton was absolutely dominant and shows why he's on only three races away from the all-time record, but I've got to give it to the down and out Sebastian Vessel for pulling together a really decent result to go.

Yeah, I was impressed with what Vessel was able to do and we'll speak more about Vettel in a little bit, and I would also say that Hamilton is an obvious contender for it as well. Yeah, I'm going to give it to Hamilton just because of how well he managed that Grand Prix.

I don't think there's much in it between those two drivers. And indeed, Carlos Sines as well, I said coming into the race weekend, that Carlos Sines was the driver out of everyone that needed a really good performance. And he delivered. He was better than Lando Norris across the weekend. So, yeah, eight very well deserved points for Carlos Sines. But I'll give it to Hamilton just about. Honourable mentioning as well, to be fair, for the racing point guys.

They just drove really strong, good races, great strategy from the team. Lansdrol did a great job in terms of being ruthless when you need to be. That's the Lankstrol I want to see. And hats off to him. We did a great job. Yeah, 22 points in total for the racing point guys. Marks their best weekend of the year so far. What about worst driver of the day?

Now, I'm going to ignore Roman Grosjean for almost taking out another driver when it comes to swerving across the centre of the track. Poor Kim Riking, who takes... the award now for what was it? Longest distance driven. Not most lapsed, but longest distance, right? Correct. It's right. So all those on Twitter, I saw you. Congratulations to Kimmy for most lapsed driven. Get your facts straight, please. I think Rubens Barakello or is it out Jekton Button? I don't actually know. It's one of those two hold that record and I shan't let you make Rubens cry anymore. Um, Roe grow was dangerous, but I'm going to, I'm going to give it to

to Walter, Valkyrie Bostas, and actually Alexander Albon, the two second drivers of the top teams, once again, have disastrous races and yet I see people

on Twitter defending these people left, right and center. Like, there's no fault of theirs at all. Bottas gets it just because I know that that car was capable

of winning this race by nearly 30 seconds and he was somehow five, six seconds off the guy in front before he were making a pit stop for the fastest lap he already had.

So Bottas gets it. The head, gone, it needs to put itself together, or the competition is over and out already, and we're back to the staff on a Hamilton as the top two, as always, but Albon definitely needs to up his game. Okay, I am going to say that I'm not going to ignore Roman Grosjean's pretty awful move on Reikin and I am going to give it to him, and not just for that move, although I do want to address that first of all, because that was abysmal. You know, Roman Grosjean, at least that Silver. And this isn't much of a defence, but there's at least one thing that goes in his favour,

is that he was defending those positions going into a breaking zone, meaning that there was something to fight for. That move on Reichenen was not only ridiculously dangerous. It was ridiculously pointless. They were only just past the start finish line. There is literally no doubt whatsoever that Reikinen is getting that move done. Reikinen could have got past him, had a cup of tea, put the tea down, watched an episode, of his favorite sitcom and still had enough time to get past him. He was so far gone.

He didn't need to make that move into the breaking zone. He just had far too much pace already. So what's the point in Romant Grosjean swerving to protect? Was he protecting? Nothing. Absolutely brain-dead move. Anyway, besides that, I still think it would be Romang Grosjean, because he had a pretty rubbish race.

He was nowhere near Kevin Magnuson. In qualifying, he was outpaced by Magnuson. Magd has another great start and was ahead of a number of cars that you wouldn't expect to have to be ahead of. And Grojean was trailing in amongst the Williams guys. And ultimately, he went very long on that first stint. Didn't really work out very well. Ended up pitting for a second time late in the Grand Prix. Had a spin that he just about saved and had that incident as well.

Yeah, just a really bad race for Roman Grosjean. So his love affair with the circuit to Catalonia continues. Yeah, those two are the most romantic of partners that we've seen for a long time. And I mean, we're introducing a third little bit here to include as well, which is the best moment of the race. And I think it's rather ironic we've decided to debut this at a race where not a lot happened. But regardless, we'll press ahead. What was your moment of the race, Sam?

Again, I was trying to think about this And it was really, really difficult The start was fun I enjoyed that bit Charler-Clerc facing the wrong way With his engine still doing his seatbelt coming off It wasn't the best moment But it was a very entertaining and interesting moment

Max Verstaffin screaming over the radio Also very good fun Honestly, I think it was at Midfield battle where we had Magnuson, O'Conn and then Science and Norris and Vessel, we were all kind of queuing up and fighting. We saw Albaugh go around the outside. That, for me, was like those kind of relaps were probably the most enjoyable part of the overall race. There were some memorable moments that I would say were good,

but there were still some exciting things that came. But yeah, for me, that little saga of battling was good fun. Yeah, I'm going to go with Leclair versus Norris, when the two were side by side out of a turn. four and five and six and I think it was pretty much into turn seven that finally Leclair well Leclair actually continued on and tried again down into the down into the hairpin and it's a really good effort for him I mean going around the outside wasn't going to work but it was at least entertaining to see someone try it so yeah that Lecler and Norris mini

battle was the best moment for me yeah that was good and fair play to Lecler for trying to make something a little bit unorthodox happen is in Alaska C? Yeah, yeah. Something of an F2 or an F3 overtaking maneuver, really. And I mean, I'm not against seeing them, not by a long shot.

Moving on to Alexander Albon. So he qualified in P6, which is higher than he's been qualifying as of late. However, he finished the race in P8, two positions down from that. We saw he was the first driver to go into the pits, and he was the only driver throughout the entire Grand Prix

to try out the high. hard tires. Sam, do you think that the Red Bull strategists have to take this on the chin, or do you think Albin should have been doing more? We'd almost dissect this, because I don't think one person is fully responsible. I will defend Albon in that case. I don't think it is entirely his fault that he went backwards in this race, but I do think he's still as equally responsible as what Red Bull are, if not maybe slightly higher accountable for it. So he starts behind Max Verstappen, and he gets a good start. He gets down the start of the start of the finished great well.

He kicks off from his starting crib well. He's almost right up Max Verstappen's gearbox. And then the kerfuffle that happens with Stora Bottas really halts his progress. And it means that Perez slips back on through and he's back to sixth place. Now, okay, fair enough. You've made your effort there. It's not gone to plan. That's fine.

That happens, right? But if Max Verstappen is able to hold off Valtrey Bottas and lap the entire field barb of top three, Albon should realistically be like I put penalty to megal and get past those racing points. He should be able to deliver a strategy and a race performance that is fast enough in a car that's clearly better of a race face that sees him get past those guys.

But Red Bull then take the strategy which they've done a few times now with Albon and that is to get him into the pit lane incredibly early. The issue is, of course, you can't overtake round Spain. It's not like Silverstone, it's not like Austria and it feels like it's not even like Hungary

at the moment where you can't line up behind some slower cars and get past from those fresher tires. He wanted those hard tires which are abysmal. And he gets past almost no one until the cars in front of him makes a move and a gap opens and he, fair enough, slips on through. Makes a move all around the outside of Magnuson, I think it is, whose ties were dead anyway.

So not as impressive as it seems. And he just gets stuck in traffic, gets past another car. Another set of traffic gets stuck behind another car. It's just like, what are you doing? What are you doing? He gets lapsed, comfortable with another top three. The hard tires will be.

put on at the wrong time so he was stuck in that concert traffic which is that's up that is up to the team that's entirely up to the team to judge where the car is going to come out there's no way alban knows where on the track he's coming out in alignment to the other guys right no driver knows where that's happening it's not like on the f1 game where you get a handy at an indicator at the bottom that says you will come out in ninth place you don't get that so he relies on his team to get that right but a great way to mitigate any of these issues is for alban to qualify next to max If he qualifies in fourth place and he gets the toe off Lewis Hamilton or Valtry Bottas and he's able to sit there, even behind Bottas, he's done enough. It was able to sit behind Bossass for the rest of the race.

It stops Bottas pitting at the end for fastest lap. It means that Max of Stappen has more comfortability of chasing down Hamilton. It means that maybe Album is able to finish on the podium as a two three for Red Bull. And they frustrate the same once again. And Albon needs to be doing more on Saturday and then he used to be delivering better raised performance over a whole race strategy on a Sunday. I don't want to berate him. I feel bad for doing it, but I don't think he's telling out the performances that are needing a Red Bull car. And I know we're all me thinking his time and he does, but I still thought we'd see some improvement by now,

especially with how well Max Stauffin is doing in that Red Bull and it isn't good enough. So yes, Red Bull should have done more with that tyre strategy, but Album needs to be doing more in the first place to stop them being in that sticky situation. first of all just to focus on Saturday's qualifying because Albin got quite a lot of credit for what he was able to do, which was still qualify three positions behind his teammate. But I think one thing that was overlooked was that Albin got pretty lucky to be in P6. Albin was one-tenth clear of Pierre Gasly in 10th place, and he was four-tenths away from fifth place. So he was pretty fortunate to lead up that group

And he was not really anywhere close getting higher than sixth place And ultimately that was seven-tenths as well behind Max Verstappen So people see it as something of a step forward I guess he made it out of Q2 which is a step forward But it wasn't a great qualifying performance It was okay but it wasn't great In the race itself I think he had a very good race start And I think he was very unlucky not to be

P4 or P5 after, well, I'd say P4 after the first few corners. Unfortunately for him, Bottas being slowed up as a result of stroll going quite deep into one, and then the album was completely trapped behind him. Otherwise, he would have made his way past Sergio Perez, and there was nothing he could do really at that point. So I think he was very unlucky in that respect. I don't know whether Alex Albin's tyres were completely dead or something, because one of two things happened. Either Alex Albin's tires were completely dead and he could not carry on,

or Red Bull have made a massive strategic blunder. I cannot understand why they pit him when they did. You know, the hard tires were a bit of an unknown, and I know Red Bull are the team that will go for the audacious strategy over anyone else. So I don't blame him too much for putting him on the hard tire, but there was no value to pitting at that point. He fed back in after a pretty good pit stop. He fed back in behind Esteban Ockon and that group of cars. I think he had about two or three seconds before he caught that group. And ultimately, everyone knows what the circuit to Catalonia is like.

You're going to be stuck behind these cars whilst the racing point guys are able to increase their gap further. So there's no real, you know, the racing point guys didn't react to Albin's pit stop. And rightly so, there was no threat. the undercut isn't that great if you're going to be immediately stuck behind traffic once you've had your pit stop. I don't really understand why they pit him. Like I said, maybe Alex Albin's tires were completely dead. There's no confirmation or even rumor of that being the case. But I just don't see any logic in it otherwise.

So that's on the team for me. And he put on a few good moves, Albin. I think he was fairly opportunistic in taking advantage of other drivers making moves and him getting past as a result of them, which is a good skill to have. I think he did an okay job from there, but the second stint for me was the one that really stood out to me as poor, because on those medium tyres that he went on to for his second thing, he couldn't keep up with Carlos Sines,

who was, as far as I'm aware, on the same tire and on pretty much the same length of tireware. I don't think there was much in it, yet Sine was quicker than Alvin. Sines was able to get past and form a gap, which should not be the case of the Red Bull. That's very worrying. Unless I've missed something in all that,

he should not be in that spot. And yeah, I think his strategy ultimately probably cost him one or two places, but it didn't cost him five or six to, and that was the gap from him to his team mate. And in terms of Verstappen as well, just to say, because Silverstone last time out, he was left to fend for himself, Max Verstappen. but he was able to make it work because that Red Bull had the pace to do so.

This time out, it was very close. There wasn't much in it. That's where he needs the rear gunner. Without Albon, he can't beat the Mercedes guys two against one when the pace is very similar, almost identical. You know, Vestappen could have made something work if Album was there to protect against a pit stop, a particular time for Hamilton-O-Bothas.

album was lapped. He was nowhere near the fight. So, yeah, I don't think the strategy was very good, but second to eighth place, it's not good enough. No, completely agree. Completely agree. And the worst part, I think, is the fact he was lapped. That's what's even more painful.

Imagine you're in the second best car. Imagine if Valtry Bottas got lapped by Hamilton. Without any issues, just on sheer pace, strategy was, okay, slightly different, but, you know, it's not disastrously bad, really. and you see your teammate go past and he's lapped you. And if Botas got that by Hamilton, we would absolutely berate him.

He would be looked at so badly by the F1 community. And that doesn't seem to be happening with Albon. And I know he's a more inexperienced driver, but I don't understand why people aren't willing to be critical of someone when the performance quite clearly isn't good enough. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like you say, if it happened to anyone else where their teammate lapped him,

they would be berated. and rightfully so. An album will get a pass for some reason. And I know strategy has a part to play in it. Don't get me wrong, but it's not all strategy. Okay, moving on to Sebastian Vettel, because Sebastian Vettel did score points today. Scored six points in seventh place.

That was his second best performance of the season so far. And the only Ferrari to score points as Sebastian, sorry, Shao LeClaue was the only retirement of the Grand Prix. However, Sebastian Vessel made the strategy work, but only after some pretty touchy comments over the team radio, perhaps aimed at Ferrari strategist for not seeing it as a potential strategy earlier on. Sam, do you think that this relationship has the potential not to last the end of this season?

The only reason that I think that Sebastian Vettel will be at Ferrari for the end of the season is because Sebastian Vettel is a professional and he's a four-time world champion and he has the respect of the Formula One world, in my opinion. If he was, if it was Charlotte Claire, for example, the other way around, if Charlotte Clare was having a season like this and moaning and shouting and kicking off

and they'd already decided that his contract was up, I wouldn't be surprised if they say, you can go out now, or we'll feel your seat for the rest of the season and then bring scienceing at the end. But because it's Seb Vettel, and he has that stature and today is the second man

only to hit 3,000 career points. I think that level of respect and experience and understanding keeps him in that team. And I think he decides 100% if he says in that team. And I think Ferrari are also trying to take advantage of the fact that he's got so much experience understanding with car development,

car handling. He can get that car through a crap race where a longer rookie drivers may be if it was not built to their standards might be struggling. I don't think he'll leave for those reasons. I think if it was any other team of the Ferrari, if it was any other driver,

maybe other than Vettel, maybe it would break along earlier, but I think he'll still be there coming in the season. Yeah, I think he'll see it out as well. And for the same reasons as well, I think he is a professional. And I think that's the only reason keeping him there, ultimately,

because it's very clear from the limited amount of conversation we get between Bettele and his team that it's not harmonious and it's heading towards this messy divorce. And Sebastian Vettel, to be fair to him, he did a very good job out there today. And I've been critical of Vettel throughout the season so far. I think there have been a few dodgy performances in there. But today was a good one.

And Hungary was a good one as well. If you look at Vettel's 16 points, you could argue that 14 of them are due to Vettel's understanding of race situation rather than pure pace. you know, Hungary, he managed to convince his team to stay out on what he believed to be the correct tyre. Oh, sorry, he made, he made sure he went onto the medium tire rather than the soft tire, like Leclair did, and that ended up in a strong points scoring finish. And similarly here, he was, he won't stop, much like Perez, he won't stop his way to points.

And if he stuck to a two-stop or, you know, I think that would have gone south. And if he wasn't able to go ahead with that excellent management, he'd have been. staring at no points again. So fair play to Vettel. And from Ferrari's perspective, because I'm critical about Vettel, I'm also critical about Ferrari because I don't think either of the sides have been particularly strong this year. But Ferrari need to, need to seriously think about what they're doing here. Because the strategy that Vettel was on should have been a one-stop from the start. There should have been no question about what that strategy was. Starting from P-11, them, the highest starter on the medium tire.

He knows that a lot of the cars inside the top 10 are going to go for a two-stop. He has the advantage if he can go for a one-stop that he can offer up something different. This strategy that he pulled off should have been a certainty, yet they had to basically ask him halfway through the race, do you think he can make this work? That shouldn't have been a question at that point in the race. And I am sure if it was a Red Bull or a Mercedes pulling off that strategy, there would have been no need for that question halfway through because it would have already been set in stone what they were trying to do. And the reality is Red Bull and Mercedes wouldn't be in that

situation because they are better at managing their team. And Vettel fair play to him. He was able to make something of it. But I'm sure many other drivers on that grid would not have been able to make that work. You know, if you'd been going around with those soft tires, not really sure whether you're on a one or a two stop, probably would have taken too much out of the tire, been stuck with absolutely dead tires in the last 10 laps and overtaken by everyone and ending up in about 13th place. Fortunately for them, Vessel is more intelligent than that and he was able to, he was able to score some strong points. But the strategists need to take a, you know, a hard look at themselves because it's not good enough. And the team, from my perspective, just looking at where the team is now,

because we know that 2021 is going to be a very similar year to 2020. Not a lot is going to change. Ferrari should just forget about this year and they should forget about next year as well they should put everything into getting the right people in the right places for 2022 because if they don't do that they're wasting their time

and they're never going to beat Mercedes or Red Bull completely agree you've got to remember as well that the money that can be spent is much smaller and Ferrari have always been a spend to win team. They always throw money at a problem I don't know what's going on at Ferrari it's like they've literally collapsed it seems like no one's got any confidence

to make a decision. Sebastian Vetto, the only reason he's barking over us across the radio is because it doesn't matter. He doesn't care. He only thinks about himself at the moment, and rightly so. He should only be thinking about himself in his career. He's been thrown under the bus by the Sophosi, and now he's going to make sure that he looks as good as he can. Ferrari don't seem to know what

ways they're left, what way's right? They don't know what the way is up, what way is down, where to put the tyres, what way the car goes on the track. They just seem to be all over the shop. And you're right. Put as much energy, as much effort, as much financial backing, as much research, as much research, as you can, is to developing this new spec car that your team lined up and ready, saw out the culture which is all over the place, and hopefully you could deliver a threatening title achieving car come the new regulations. I think that's the only chance of success in the next few

years. I mean, seriously, could you imagine James Vals and Hannah Schmidt's talking strategy to Ferrari strategists? It'd be like Einstein speaking about relativity to a fridge. Goodness, To me. To me. I'd be like, All right, Albert. Yeah, yeah. I like science.

And that's what like the Ferrari's like. Yeah, we like racing. Brum, brum, in the red car. And, you know, Hanger Schmidt's like, hmm, okay. Yeah, we're going to go over here now and go sit at the other table

where we can actually understand what's going on because it's farcical. Plan Grazie Regazzi is pretty much the only strategy that Ferrari have got. All right. final verdict Sam

Spanish Grand Prix Hamilton win is there one thing that you're taking away from this weekend Roman Grosjean deserves a race ban a race ban or something that is as severe as that

I am sick to death of Roman Grosjean putting other drivers well-being possibly lives at risk now it's maybe four or five times in the last four or five races we've seen it and from the man that chairs

the driver's association it is not good enough at all. Safety is pivotal and Grojean just throws caution to the wind and goes, no, I'm not another place you're really 18th mate, don't bother with it. Don't put someone's life at risk for 18th place and he's done it again and I'm sick of it

and someone needs to take action from him now. So for me, Roman Grojean deserves a fine, a race ban, he needs to be told of and he needs to get the message through that you cannot do that anymore. To be honest, I'm not disagreeing with you. Something needs to happen because

if it continues on like this, he's going to hurt someone. And you'd expect more from someone who has over 10 years of experience in Formula One. You know, he's made his debut 11 years ago. You'd expect so much more from him. For me, final verdict for me is that Bottas needs to step up, but I just don't think he can. I really don't think he can. And I've defended him so many times over the last few years.

And I do think he gets unlucky. at times. And I do think he's got the pace to beat Hamilton on occasion, but the consistency isn't there. And ultimately, he has to try something else. He has to play those mind games. He has to do something to upset the rhythm of Lewis Hamilton. It might not be in the best interest of the team. It might not be in Valtrey Bottas's nature. But the reality of the situation is, if he carries on like he's doing, he will never, ever beat him. Quick question, Ben. is the championship over and done with? Yeah, I think the championship is done,

but I thought that after race two. I don't think there's anyone who can be Mercedes or Hamilton, quite frankly. Well, there you go. That is a decisive point there by Benjamin, and you know what, I completely agree. And I believe, unless I'm wrong, Benjamin, that is all we've got for today.

That is all we've got. So Harry will be back for our next podcast, which will be an ordinary one. We won't be previewing a race for the first time in what seems like forever, but we'll be hitting with you with an entertaining topic nonetheless. No idea what that's going to be yet, but it'll be entertaining, I can assure you. It will indeed. If you did want to know what Harry thought about the race,

he said, it can get in the bin. I'm sure you'll look forward to his insightful thoughts next time out. Thank you for joining us. Please make sure that you share it. to it, talk about it, get in touch with us if you want to chat more about F1, we love having you around, and yeah, we're going to be back on Thursday with a

general F1 chat, hopefully some interesting talk to share with you. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking, and remember, keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.