The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Unpacking GP Lambiase's SHOCK McLaren switch

Episode Date: April 12, 2026

Ben and Sam break down Gianpiero Lambiase’s shock move to McLaren and what it means for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. They also explore what might have been had the Bahrain GP gone ahead, before discussing Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 exit in light of recent comments and ranking his Top 5 wins. Get involved in F1 Fantasy this season! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Late Braking league⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us... LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02 Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking:You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us!Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Very well welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, on this wonderful Sunday. I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday wherever you are in the world. Sam, I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday, but equally, I know it can't be as wonderful as the Saturday you had because you spent it in Wix. I did spend it in Wix, yes.

That is being a 30-year-old plus man now, where DIY becomes your every day. Yeah, I'm redoing my lounge. I bought a house last year for the first time, and I had spent the whole thing in what felt like a dust storm. Like I was in June, because essentially I bought a sander, and it causes my whole home to be covered in dust. So if everyone goes any large worms, I could ride to work next week. Hit me up.

Thank you for your update, Samuel Chalameau. Very good. Very much appreciated. Yeah, man loves Wicks. One of my underrated things about the late-breaking podcast is that when things that aren't ads really sound like ads, we ain't getting paid. I wish Witt's paid for that. We are just giving them free advertisement, which is great stuff from us. Good work, O'B.

Brave podcast is venturing into the no-payment future. We've got plenty coming up on today's show. We've got comments from Daniel Ricardo and a bit of a top five list about his top drives. in his F1 career. The Bahrain Grand Prix was obviously supposed to take place today. So our thoughts on what might have happened if it had gone ahead. But let's start with news that was broken on Thursday. Oh, you are in the bad books.

You are in the bad books. You don't break news on Thursday. That doesn't align with our podcasting schedule. But we will cover it anyway, which is Jean-Pierro Lambiasi, Red Bull's head of race engineering, has agreed to join McLaren from 2008. The team said Lambiasi, who is most well known for being Max Verstappen's race engineer, will become McLaren's chief racing officer reporting into team principal, Andrea Stella.

The statement said, the role of the chief racing officer already exists within the team's structure, with overall leadership of the race team. These duties are currently managed by Andrea Stella, in addition to his role as team principal. The statement said Lambiasi would join McLaren when his contract ends, no later than 2028, Red Bull also put out a statement confirming that Lambiasi would leave the team in 2028 when his current contract expires. Firstly, Sam, your reaction to the news? I thought it was a joke. You thought it was a joke?

Thought it was fake news. Wow. Yeah, didn't think this was actually happening. And it took me by such surprise that I think that besides Hamilton to Ferrari, Nui to Aston Martin, this might be the biggest move of personnel. that I've seen in a long time. He's so Red Bull, so Max for Stappen, through and through. You know, those two are maybe the most famous pairing at the moment in Formula One. You know, we used to have Hamilton and Bono, for example,

that was always the pair that you'd always think about. Maybe Claire and Ricky. Oh, sorry, science for Ricky. For other reasons. But these two are, you know, they're like bread and butter. They go together. They're the first thing that you think of. And so when the news broke that GP was leaving Red Bull and going to McLaren,

obviously, initially it's always just leaving Red Bull. About an hour later, it's also an answer. He'll be joining McLaren, shortest unemployment in history. It felt like it wasn't real. It felt like it didn't actually make sense to me. So, yeah, completely taken by shock up with the news. I really wasn't expecting it. Yeah, there was certainly an element of surprise about it.

I'm less surprised about the move itself and more about the the timing of it because it felt like whilst there was some speculation towards the end of 2025 about would he stay at Red Bull, would he look to go elsewhere, it felt like that had that had mostly died down. But it is very odd to see an F1 figure, whether it's a driver or just a senior figure in the sport, announced they're leaving 18 to 24 months before it actually goes ahead. It's pretty rare for that to be the case. I have no doubt McLaren will want to organise that to happen sooner. I think their statement, Zach Brown's comments indicate that,

that it will be 2028 at the latest. That is when the contract expires. Red Bull, though, pretty clear in the statement to say it will be in 2028 and not sooner. I think that, firstly, the interesting thing there is that there's no comment about it being the end of 2027. There's no, you would maybe expect it to be the conclusion of the 2027 season, but that doesn't appear to be the case. So for those thinking that when they say 28, he'll be there ready to go at the beginning

of the year, that might not be the case. We don't know when his contract does expire in that year. It could be similar to Adrian Newey when he left. I think his contract was up in April. It was, yeah. So it might be a case where they aren't getting ready for the season in January and February with him, and he comes a bit later on. But if I had to guess, McLaren and Red Bull will come to some sort of arrangement to get this done sooner.

It just doesn't benefit anyone by dragging it out. That's what I think. I've got visions of, you know, December 31st, 1155, woo, happy new year, we love you, GP. And then literally one minute past Midgai, is there outside the Red Bull fact? You are Satan. Get out, get out. You know, doors shut behind him.

They carry on party without him as he's. to go out in the cold. It doesn't benefit either party to drag out this contract for as long as possible. He's so integral to how Red Bull work right now, but he's going to a direct rival. If he was maybe going to Cadillac, for example, if he was maybe going to Audi or something like that, Williams, which is rumoured at the start at the end of last year, where they are much further down the pecking order and not someone that we expect Red Bull to be competing with long term for the next two or three seasons, you can almost sit there and be like, well, it doesn't matter if he brings over a little bit of information

because there's so many other things that they need to sort out to make themselves properly competitive with where Red will expect to be over the next season and a half. But McLaren are already in front of them. And if the development cycle continues in the way that we're seeing it already at the start of this new regulations, then McLaren might stay in front of Red Bull for the next two or three seasons.

So going to a direct competitor who are already on a level playing field if not better, you don't want to give them new stuff that they're going to be working towards over the next two years. But equally, you don't want to ice out someone like GP for the next 18 months because he might harbor information that is important from McLarence. You've just got this weight on the side of you, someone who is so important, who is now just kind of like, can you talk to Max over the radio, please? We're paying you a lot of money just to talk over the radio and help with some strategy because we can't tell you much more because we don't want you to take it to a direct rival. So I do think once they saw a suitable lineage, a suitable replacement and work out probably what Maxisdapen's going to do, I think that realistically that will be when GP actually gets the move. I think start of 27, that's when we'll see GP actually go.

It wouldn't surprise me. And they need to, if your Red Bull, think about the future, because I agree with what you say that there is a much point in dragging this out from Red Bull's perspective. I don't actually think that benefits them. so they need to start to think about who is that replacement regardless of whether Vastappan is there or not they're going to need someone in the role. And if that person is ready and trained or whatever word you want to use, like if that's the case by the start of 27, then I feel like you just pull the plug and go for it because if you can then use 27

as a bit of an adjustment period or at least the first few months of that, then suddenly whoever it is, both engineer and driver, have got a much better relationship at the end of 27 than going into 2028. Putting it off might not benefit anyone at this point. I am surprised a little bit by McLaren on this. Not about the move itself because Lambiasi is highly regarded in the F1. Paddock and rightly so. I think having him in your team is an obvious benefit.

But a lot can change in 18 months, two years that we might be looking at before Lambeasi's going there, McLaren's recovery has relied heavily on structure and ensuring that they have these pillars of, I can't remember. Three pillars, yeah. Yeah, they've relied quite heavily on that. Beforehand, it was a bit of a mess at the team, both in terms of the organization, the structure. They're fitting him in to a role that does exist, but they just, they don't know what the

rest of the team is going to look like in two years. I hope from their side they haven't just hired the individual without thinking too heavily about the role and the fit. I would assume they haven't done that, but I think that's worth thinking about at least. It makes sense that it's such a high-profile role opening, so to speak. You would need a high-profile figure, someone who is highly experienced,

look, there's only going to be a handful of candidates that actually makes sense to fit into that role anyway. With the conversation that Skeller has been doing this role alongside his team principal, role. It's a really interesting dynamic. And a technical director as well, I should add. Yeah. He's doing three roles. My guy is maybe underpaid. I'm joking. I would take 10% of that. But my point here is, you know, Stella is incredibly qualified. He's brilliant all what he does.

But there's a very odd dynamic at McLaren where he runs his TD role. He has the team principal role. He's a head of racing and on track racing. Then you've got Zach Brown, who of course is such involved CEO role who almost acts as like a vocal team principal. You've got a brilliant members like Rob Marshall, who are also very much involved in the overall building of the team and the way that the car is developed. It's a very multifaceted team. I'm really intrigued to see what happens to Stella once GP joins, because I think we might see a lot less of him. If GP is planning to run the racing side of the team, which is actually the on-track organisation and how that might manifest, I don't think he'll be a singular engineering. I don't

I think we'll see him speaking directly to one driver. I think that will remain. I think he'll be above that. So I wonder how Stella will intertwine now into the day-to-day running of the race weekend. Yeah, and if you're Andrea Estella as well, and you are doing three roles at the same time, and you're, you know, he'd have had a big part to play in the hiring of Lambiasi, of course, and that will be a large part of Lambiasi's role as communication with Stella. But if you are Andrea Stella and you're overworked and it's like, well, we've got a solution in place

to take something off your plate. Cool. When are we activating that? 2028. God, great. Two more years. Right, yeah. I mean, there is something to that as well.

I just think with fit and role and you look at other teams and there's just just precautionary tales, I think, from other teams about how this doesn't necessarily always go the way you want when it comes to hiring very effective individuals into your team and it not necessarily jelling with what you've already got going on. Just look at Astermott. Astermite. Astermite would be the number one example for sure. Nui and Cowell, like you put those together

and immediately you think they can't do anything but win a championship. They can apparently. They may not be winning it. They not be winning right now. And look at maybe Aldi as well with Wheatley and Bonotto. Two guys that can fulfill a pretty similar role, but the idea there was that they'd play to each other's strengths. instead it just didn't really work.

And I know Wheatley might be leaving for other reasons as well, but there were a lot of reports that two of them aren't necessarily working as well as they could have done. So that is something to watch out for when it comes to McLaren. The next thing I wanted to ask you, and I think you've just kind of answered this was what role he would play exactly. We know he's going into this sort of, I was going to say off-track role, but away from being an engineer and sort of sitting above that. So you don't think he will become one of the race engineers here.

No, I think McLaren have redefined what a lot of the team definitions are. You know, we've seen Zach Brown very much involved. We've seen Stella be a very different side of team principle, usually away from the cameras. He'll do some of the interviews, but very much involved in the team development. I think he will essentially sit between Stella and the everyday race situation. So he will speak to the direct race engineers. speech strategists to work out the data for the track and work out what the best method moving forward for success is, I think he will be that liaison between their headquarters and what's

going on on the race track. I think he will essentially run everything on the road. And I think it will allow Stella to be a little bit more technical in his development of the car, whilst also managing the overarching running of the team. And I actually wouldn't be surprised if we see Zach Brown step away slightly to govern the wider McLaren portfolio, of course, as CEO. So I think that might open that up a little bit. That would make sense. And my instinct is that he won't become one of the two race engineers because whilst he's doing that right now with Max Verstappen, it's almost like that's a relationship.

Red Bull can't really afford to lose. Like it works that well. It is quite rare for a race engineer to have such a senior position away from that job. but it's only really himself and Peter Bonington. Those are really the only two guys that hold those quite senior roles outside of what they do for the driver. But I get the sense that McLaren would rather him focus on his role outside. The role that they've hired him to do, I think you're right on that one. I also think as well, like, in terms of the value that he could bring to McLaren,

and particularly if you think of Tom Stalard and Will Joseph, obviously, overseeing Piaastrian Norris respectively. He is vastly experienced as Lambiasi. He's done that job. He's straightforward. He's quite an honest figure. He garners quite a lot of respect. I think he could help the two of them in terms of their comms.

And I don't want that sound patronising at all because they can do their jobs. But equally, we know that in the last year or so that McLaren haven't been perfect when it comes to strategy communications between driver and engineer. Lambiasi, I think, could help there. I fully agree. There's a reason that a meme emerged from McLaren's 2025 season in that, you know, papaya rules or pop-a rules, if you're a long-term listener at the show,

in the sense that they couldn't communicate anything clearly, efficiently. It felt like a bit of a mess. We had drivers complaining over radios. The strategy wasn't always clear in what was going on. Let him pass. Do I let him pass? when do I let them pass, it was all a bit of a mess many times. And when you're in a title fight,

when you're in that hunt for both the drivers and constructors, these are constructions you don't want. You want total efficiency, clarity in how you're going to be successful. The GP has been in that situation and many, many times, arguably in more stressful versions of a title fight, right? He was there with Max Verstappen, where he went up against Lewis Hamilton in 2021. It was a key part of that season being so successful for Max Verstappen.

So with that, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes on a large coaching role in the terms of how the race engineer department works. If we do see some structural and cultural changes in that, I was hoping, though, that McLaren won't shift too much culturally. They do have a very unique identity on the grid. They are very much like a one and all community. We do it together. That's been their mindset now for a few seasons. GP coming from Red Bull, it is a very different way. I do wonder how he will integrate into this kind of McLaren altogether a one for all rather than a

cutthroat get the job done. We're here to upset the Apple car, be the bad guys of racing, which I think Red Bull quite enjoy that kind of monitor of. No doubt. We'll take a quick break at this point. On the other side, we'll wrap up this conversation thinking about what, if anything, it says about Red Bull. And also, is there any chance for Staffen joins GP on the way to McLaren? Welcome back, everyone. We've looked at this GP Lambiasi move to McLaren. More from McLaren's perspective and also GP's perspective. But we haven't really yet touched too much on what this means, if anything, for Red Bull.

We know he's a very senior figure there. And it's not exactly the first big time move from the team in the last couple of years. Is this actually a case, Sam, of someone not being fully committed behind, not fully committed, but not being fully invested? invested in this Red Bull recovery as they're in right now? I think a season ago, he would have been invested. I think when all these changes happen, you've got to remember they've lost so many key personnel. The structural change at Red Bull is almost unfounding in Formula One.

It doesn't look like the same team from a few years ago. It literally isn't. I've got a list here, you know, of course we've lost Helmut Marco, chief mechanic from Max Verstapp and Matt Culler went, Jonathan Wheatley's really gone, front-end mechanic-ulley-collarish Shack's also gone. Now, of course, we previously lost Christian Horner, and now GP is off as well. So all these leading faces of the last couple of years from Red Bull are gone. It's a whole different team.

So when you're Red Bull and you think, well, what do we do here? How do we pull this together? What does this look like for us? I could see why he was maybe thinking this isn't the team I was with. Everyone else has moved on. There's a whole new load of people here that maybe I'm not as close to. I don't work as well with. Newey, the guy that was building the cars that my drivers were winging with,

here anymore either. What do I do now? I'm not surprised that we've seen a shift from GP, but when it comes to Red Bull, they've got to really make sure that their foundations are cemented and they've got some good names coming through. Whether they're homegrown or whether they go and poach from elsewhere, that's a very different question. But I don't know what your thoughts are and then picking up new talent to replace what they're missing. Well, I think they have to. If you look at the guys that have left Red Bull in the last few years and you've just listed most of them there, I actually think this one could be the most concerning of all for Red Bull.

And not because he's the most senior or the most important one of that bunch, but because if you look at Rob Marshall when he left, big up Rob Marshall, felt like a bit of a promotion for him. Same with Jonathan Wheatley, definitely, when he became team principal at Audi. I know he hasn't stayed there, but he moved away from Red Bull for that sort of a reason. You can understand that. Newey, whilst he hasn't ever really properly confirmed why he left, might well have been attached to the Christian Horner situation. Christian Horner didn't leave.

He was fired as a result of poor performance. All of these other exits, I think, have some sort of clear reason attached to it. I can't really do the same thing with this one, because it's not a promotion. I don't think. It feels like a sideways move. He's currently the third most senior member at Red Bull from a trackside perspective. Like he'll be pretty much the same thing when he goes to McLaren. So I don't think it's that. It's not really a change in role because even if it was to say, well, McLaren won't have me as a race engineer and I don't want to do that anymore. I feel like Red Bull would have compromised to say to keep you, if that's what it takes, we will do that. I'm pretty sure that would have taken place. I don't think it's money. Because again, if McLaren offered him a lot more money than what Red Bull had paying him at the moment, I'm pretty sure Red Bull would have turned around and said, we'll match it. We can't afford another loss because we've had so many in the last couple of years.

I don't think it's any of those things. In which case, I do think it is maybe a lack of faith in this Red Bull recovery. And the most damning thing about it is not, I don't think this is a, I don't like where we are at the moment kind of move. because he's not moving now. He's moving in two years. This is a, I don't trust where this is going move. And that is way worse in my view.

Clearly outside what Max Verstappen views Formula One, where he's vocally said, I don't like Formula One at the moment. Because if GP didn't like Formula One, he wouldn't go to another team, right? You may as well say with the team you're at if you're willing to see it through the regulation. But he's not.

He's going to a rival that currently are beating them. Yeah. And it's fairly close right now. that McLaren are definitely the better of the two, but maybe you'd expect that with the Mercedes power unit early on in this set of regulations. By the time 2028 comes around, the Red Bull could be better, no reason to believe that that's impossible. And yet, Lambiasi, Lambiasi is not saying, I don't want to to work here now. Lambiasi saying, I don't think I'm going to want to work here in two years time. I don't think that's a great message.

That is not good. Imagine me saying, like, yeah, I don't want to be on this podcast in two years time, just so you're aware. I mean, mark that down 12th of April, 2028. Sam leaves. Right, we need to work on a replacement in the next two years. No, don't worry. The podcast will just be better. We'll get GP in.

Final question. Any chance, Max for Stappen, joins him. I don't think it's 0%. That's for sure. I don't think it's, you know how when Lewis went to Ferrari, we had the conversation of if Bono would go with him? I don't think it's the same. same way, the opposite way.

I agree. Yeah. You know, I don't think it's, oh, I'm going therefore. Do we get Max as well as like a little plus one as a little bonus? I don't think it's that simple. I think Max is very much a man of his own mind. And I think he will happily make his decision whether GP is in racing or not. I don't think he needs to be glued to GP to feel successful or like he can

winning a race car. It's definitely possible for him either way. Would he go to McLaren? So I know. It's whether he believes in the project, I think. It's whether he sees that the wider sport is going to be enjoyable for him, because I actually think that is more important to him than winning Grand Prix, is he enjoying the race car itself.

And if it was anyone, would it be McLaren? It's more their current driver line-up. You know, I know that we always say that, hey, if you were going to replace, if Max Verstaffer was going to turn up at your team, would he replace pretty much everyone? I think maybe barring one or two drivers on the green, it's a yes, and those one or two drivers aren't at McLaren in my team. mind. So yeah, like five, 10% chance. What do you think? I don't think it's impossible,

but equally I don't think GP being there is the reason why, because as good as their relationship has been over the last 10 years, and it really has. This will go down as one of the best combinations of driver and engineer in a very long time in the sport. But as good as that relationship has been, if Verstappen was forming a top 25 reasons to go to McLaren in 28, I don't think GP makes the list. Really? You don't think he's top 25? That might be an exaggeration. But like if you, he will look at the competitiveness of the chassis, aero, engine. Is he enjoying the sport? Will he get on with the team principal at McLaren? You know, does he want to be an F1 for reasons

of being away from his family? Like all of these things are going to round. rank higher than is GP at the team. I just, I don't think that's going to be much of a factor. Yeah, that's fair. He'll, he'll, I'm not saying he'll get on with another engineer as well as he has with GP, but I'm just trying to visualize a situation. I really want to be in a team where GP is. Yeah, I can't quite.

GP forever. Yeah. Max TV and my mate GP. I think as long as an engineer is able to deal with his bluntness. and give him clear and concise information when he needs it, I don't think Max Verstaffin cares. No. I don't think he cares.

No, but if he was considering McLaren, would it be a nice, oh, that would be good. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's like turning up to the pub and someone's when we bought you a pint. Oh, lovely. Appreciate that.

Yeah, that's great. Really enjoy that. Well, I came to the pub to see my mates, you know, but as a pint waiting, ideal. Jam, point. No. That doesn't work. No. G pint, we'll call them.

I love that. Pint size GP. Let's move on to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is, of course, taken place today. Massively exciting race. Unpredictable grid from qualifying yesterday. I did not expect to see Valtry Bottas on the front row with Nika Holkenberg. But hey, from there, Sam, what a Grand Prix we had.

What a Grand Prix. I just cannot believe that Carlos Sykes dig 18 donuts at the third turn. It still managed to get inside the top 10. Yeah, it was pretty insane. Even after crashing with his team, mate. Honestly, hit my album and then jumping into one car together to work it. Amazing. Never see anything like it.

Yeah, Clash aheads towards the end as well. I think they're both in concussion protocol. But other than that, like really good from Williams. Brilliant. Brilliant stuff. In more serious news, this should have been when the Bahrain Grand Prix was happening. Of course, for very obvious global reasons. It isn't going ahead.

And that's been announced for a very long time. but which teams do you think will be most disappointed this isn't going ahead? I think you need to excuse Mercedes from this conversation because I actually think Mercedes have got more to lose than they have to gain the further into this season we get. I think it's starting to look a little shaky, but it is the Mercedes powered engine cars that if you look at preseason testing,

we're the ones that were doing all right in comparison to their rivals. We saw how well McLaren performed in Japan. It was definitely a better turnout. They have both cars finished, for example. that's always a solid start to a race. And then they picked up second place, of course, with Oscar Piatry, who many believe, including us, that he might have gone to win that Grand Prix

had the safety car not come out and disrupted the order of things. So, you know, there's a chance they were very competitive. But in preseason testing, I thought McLaren looked good around Bahrain, really good. And you can't read endless data into what was going on in preseason testing. We don't know fuel loads, tires, set up,

whatever it might be. But they look very, very good there. And they rang a long of laps and looked very comfortable. And equally with it being a power track, you would think that the Mercedes power unit would be able to deliver more performance out of this. And that's why I also think that Alpine, specifically Pierre Gassley, will have been quite competitive here. I genuinely think that that car might have had its best performance of the season so far at Bahrain, and we aren't going to get to see it, which is a real shame. So I think that those teams specifically have missed out on a great opportunity to really forward their campaigns. I appreciate the reason why you said that Mercedes, you can kind of put them to one side.

I am going to tackle Mercedes here because it is maybe a more obvious place to start just based on where they've been in the first three Grand Prix. And I think they would have, I think they'd have done quite well here because it's a race track and they're in a Mercedes. I've been surprised with the first three Grand Prix, despite the fact that they are different circuits, how their competitiveness has remained pretty steady. Like, we haven't seen a massive drop anywhere, really, in terms of their competitiveness. In Australia, they were very comfortable out front, likely managing a great deal towards

the end of that race to ensure that they didn't have a needless DNF. China, they were a pit stop clear of everyone else. And Suzuki, I think Antonelli probably would have won by about a pit stop if he'd started there. Bahrain is, and we saw this in preseason testing, an easier place to recover energy versus the first three races. So it would have been a bit of a new challenge for Mercedes, but also the other teams as well. But of the three races that we have gone to, Shanghai is probably the closest in terms of energy management that we've had. And again, they were massively clear there. So I do think they would have been unsurprisingly very competitive. And right now, Mercedes only

real weakness is their race starts and sometimes just being caught a little bit in traffic. I think it's not as much dirty air as it's been in previous years, but this following has been a bit trickier for them. At Bahrain, though, it's not the same as Suzuki where overtaking opportunities are a little bit more limited. At Bahrain, there's so much opportunity to get by that even if they had a poor start and they were fifth and sixth after lap one, I'm pretty sure there'd be one two after 10 laps. Wow. Yeah, I mean, they have been incredibly dominant at all three race tracks. And you're right, their only weakness has been the starts, which we think are less driver aiding, and more, you know, energy management sporting up the turbo, struggling to get off the line, whereas Ferrari have obviously been an absolute beast with their starts, which does kind of almost juxtapose the Mercedes weakness. If they were also just having standard stars, I actually think Mercedes might be even more dominant because they're not got a red car jumping in front of them immediately. But yeah, I've been shocked if they weren't at least. least one three at the worst-case scenario here.

I agree with your pick on Alpine as well, by the way, because Gasly was strong here in preseason testing. He was strong here in 2025. And the momentum is kind of, at least in terms of the midfield, it is with Alpine and Gazley at the moment in that he's one of only five drivers to have scored all three main Grand Prix so far this year. And the first time, he's scored in three consecutive races since May to June in 2024. So.

Horrific. awful, yeah. But Alpine, I have shown improvement versus where they were last year. So I think they could have done reasonably well here. The fastest driver in preseason testing was Charles Lecler, I believe, at least over one lap. Could you argue Ferrari would have been closer here? I actually think the other side of the garage will be a little bit more disappointed. I think Charleu, he found his form. We went to a track where he felt more confident at other than Melbourne and Chiangor, which he famously has said that he does not enjoy his racetracks. Lewis Hamilton was on the back foot in Suzuki,

and I actually think Bahrain is a track that he also enjoys. Lots of heavy braking, lots of being able to maneuver the car around. I think this is a track that he would have felt quite comfortable at, and I do wonder if the gap between the two drivers would have condensed a little. I'm not saying he could beat Shell outright, but I do think that we have seen similar pace to China than we would have done to Suzuki, for example. I'm not saying they've gone into one,

but a podium would definitely be on the cars, I think, for Ferrari here. Yeah, I don't think they would have challenged for the win. And if you look at the, if you look at preseason testing and say that LeCleur was fastest, maybe he could have been best overall here. I think Mercedes showed that they were. Yeah, Mercedes was saving something for Australia, no doubt. But I think they could have been clear of McLaren here, based on what I saw in preseason testing.

Like, Charles LeCler and Lewis Hamilton both very effective and the Ferrari itself, very effective through those sort of low-speed corners, which there are a lot of. At Bahrain, there is a lot of straight, heavy-breaking, slow corner back onto another straight. So, yeah, I think they, you know, particularly through turns one and turns four, if you think of like the sweeping corners at the beginning of the second sector, I think they'd have been quite strong there, and I would have had them as the second fastest team. Yeah, I think we have seen that advantage of head over McLaren for the first two races. which we didn't fully see, of course,

due to lack of running, but I think that would have been re-established. My poll 1-2-3 prediction would have been. Here we go. Antonelli on poll, Antonelli win, Russell 2nd, LeCler, 3rd. So not a very exciting top 3,

but that's very interesting because that's exactly what mine would have been. And we have to assume we would have been right. We're always right. What was your bold prediction, by the way? Bold prediction is that

Carlos sides of Alex Albuhr will race the same car together. You know what? You're going on a point. Incredible. Come on. Get in there, mate. I said Bottas on pole, actually.

No! Yeah, it was only through Antigelli taking a five-place penalty that, you know, he didn't get there. So, another point for us. Wow. Harry's going to be gutted. He hasn't picked up a bold prediction point today. Obviously, bring the abacus out. Where's the abacus?

Pretty grease, mate. You know what? It probably is. Yeah. Well, Harry's going to be devastated when we tell him on the next episode that he hasn't got a point, and we have got bold prediction points today. Good. Well on us.

Do you think that with F1 itself, rather than looking specifically at a team or a driver, and again, we're just looking at the context of the race here and not the situation going on, would they be quite happy that this race isn't going ahead? We've kind of mentioned that from an energy management perspective, it might have looked a bit better than the first few races.

So is there disappointment that it isn't going ahead? It's not a cut and dry situation, is it? It's not all, you know, your posts on one side. So I do think if Bahrain was more capable for drivers, they were able to harvest and kind of use energy more efficiently, then it would have been a better PR story to show that the racing was more manageable. We were still getting great racing. Qualifying might have looked better because you could have gone through your energy management system

in the right moments where you weren't necessarily lifting off, because while we have proper straits in Bahrain, they're not like Shanghai where they're enormously long. you've got a lift off so early down the straight. So whilst we would have still some super clipping, I don't think it would have been to the same level. So the PR story coming out of Bahrain in theory would have been a better one, I do think.

But I do think the negatives of the series so far are going to be outweighing that. So having a month off to re-evaluate, readjust it. We have already heard that a meeting has taken place and that they will be making some changes before we go racing in Miami. I think that overall is a better relief for F1Fang. across the board.

I do think the series will benefit from having these changes put in place sooner rather than later. Yeah, I couldn't quite decide the answer, my answer to my own question on this. But if you, because if you go and watch LeClau's on board from his fastest lap in Bahrain preseason testing, it looks a lot better than most other fast laps we've had so far this year. Like, it's not perfect in that he has to do a bit of lifting towards turn one. Yep. But outside of that, it's not too bad. You do have turns 12 and 13, which we commonly call the devil curb corner.

Oh, gosh. Yeah, you touch that. You're spinning. If you're on the F1 game, you are gone if you touch that curve. No grip. But as we know, that's quite high speed. He was using that a little bit to recharge. And you've got that turn one sort of lifting as well.

But outside of that, it looks pretty all right. So I think in that regard, maybe it would have been a positive for. F1, but I agree with what you say in that I wouldn't want it to mask some of the other issues that have happened across the first three races. I wouldn't want this to give off an impression, a false impression of what F1 is right now. So it might actually be for the sake of the sport and being quite cut-throat about what decisions and what changes are happening. It might be better than it didn't go ahead. Weirdly, this is how I wish I evaluated sprint races. You know? Yeah.

Just saying of just creating statistics that no one can access or view, I would rather they go, we're going to leave off a sprint race, actually. Just re-evaluate how we think the weekend might go and see if we like that. I wish that's how they approach things more regular. Let's take our next break on this episode. On the other side, we're chatting comments from Daniel Ricardo. Welcome back, everyone. Daniel Ricardo has admitted it came as a relief to lose his Formula One drive in 2024

following his slump in performance. RB's decision to drop Ricardo spared him a difficult decision. He said, once that happened, I'd been let go twice in the last two years. It had also taken a lot out of me. I'd put a lot of soul into it, and I did feel pretty exhausted by it. In reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me because I think it would have been hard to say, I'm done. Ricardo felt he was no longer at his best.

I think I knew I was probably done because I knew that it was harder for me to form at the level I could. Okay, Alonzo, these guys, they're in their 40s in F1, still competing very highly. For whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something and it's okay to admit it. It's fine. Sam, your thoughts on a very honest, Daniel Ricardo here, and admitting that he'd lost something towards the end of his career. Yeah, it is honest. It's also very convenient to say a statement like this, I think. And you know what? If I walked into Asda now,

and I walked down the, I would, and I walked down the season of an aisle, and I saw that F1 was the season of the moment, and this Daniel Ricardo statement was sat on the shelf. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. This feels like a, you know what, events have taken place outside of my control,

and I'm going to use words to bring it back under my control and make it look better than it has. In no world where he wants to leave Formula One. I think he would much rather change the course of events. I think he'd much rather be giving a bit more time. I think in his head he could have got some better. He could have improved. And I think he's aware that he made some poor career choices further back in his career.

Leaving Red Bull was a bad one. I mean, there's every chance he's still at Red Bull now if he was still there before he left, what, 2018, 2019. I think he could have easily stayed alongside Max Mustafa Staffen. He might not be a world champion, sure. But he'd be a more race winner. he had title fights and we've seen it with other drivers where certain regulations

haven't suited them right we've seen with Hamilton in the ground defect era he didn't enjoy those cars and I have to give credit to Fernando Alonso because you argue that his biggest strength is actually his adaptability in the way that he's able to still get really good raw speed out of these cars

era after era after era he's still on par with so many brilliant drivers just with this Ricardo statement He was what F1 embodied. He was this raw, outrageous guy who was happy to put it all on the line to achieve the ultimate dream. I do think, whilst I'm sure he has lost, you know, a tenth of speeding in him, that happens with that. That's happened with many great drivers. I do think that he's having to reflect slightly and make some adjustments in his statements,

almost bring them back under his own guys a little bit, because I do think that, hey, I got let go out of my own choice. I didn't get saying it. Well, you're going to make it sound like I'm grateful for what happened and keep things looking good because I don't want to kick off, what, two years later after I was dropped. So for me, I don't think there's 100% transparency here.

I do think he's being honest here. I think it's easier for him to be honest with himself right now than it was compared to when it was happening. but it is tough to be open and transparent about this sort of thing. I get the sense that it wasn't improving by his performance at RB. And whilst at the time, I'm sure he would have been absolutely gutted to leave behind

something that he'd worked so hard for and bear in mind as well, and it's not just Ricardo, but particularly when you have drivers not from Europe, they will quite often have to make very big decisions early in their life, very early in their life, to leave, whether it's Australia or somewhere else, to come to Europe and go either carting there or you're starting to get into sort of F4 at that point. So he would have been,

you know, you look at his journey in F1 and you can say, well, that started in 2011. His journey to F1 started quite a bit before that. So to be told, essentially, as he said, twice in the space of a couple of years, that dream is now over. That has been his life. So I, I can respect him coming forward in a world where it constantly feels like particularly on social media. Like you are putting forward, or a lot of people are putting forward, like the perfect version of themselves, like that don't have any weaknesses or vulnerabilities. And for Ricardo to come out and say, like, I'd lost something. Like, I wasn't quite what I was a few years before that.

Even if at the time he was disappointed and would have liked it to have been his own decision, maybe in hindsight you can look back and say it wasn't getting better it might have been for the best that I was let go. Yeah, it's definitely possible. And I think the bit you mentioned about social media is a very good bit to focus on in a world where it is difficult to be transparent,

it's difficult to show vulnerability, it's difficult to show that you're not this perfect, idolized, especially in sport, massively in sport, you know, that you aren't the greatest, you know, the goat, it is tough. And I do still think that there is a part of him that would want to say, no, I was kicked out too soon. I did have it. I have got it. But maybe you're right. Maybe the side of him that was slightly reducing inability has won out in the conversation. He has been honest. But I do commemorate him on being positive in his outlook and honest in his

outlook and trying to give a true story. And when you're in the car and you're driving, Like, you have to have that mentality of I'm the best person out here. Even if, like, I remember a number of years ago, probably when the series started Beyond the Grid, some F1 podcast out there that it's not that good, to be honest. Kevin Magnuson was interviewed on it. And he, at that point, I can't remember if it was maybe 2018 or something like that. And he's like, my objective is to be world champion.

And I remember everyone clowning on him, like, you're not going to be world champion, you know, and they're good enough. But he has to believe that. Same thing was Sergio Perez from a few years ago as well, and maybe Valtrey Bottas too, where they're asked about their objectives before a season. And at that point, they are very firmly established as the second best driver in their respective teams.

And they'd be asked about their ambition. And they'd say, be well champion, beat my teammate. Everyone's like, you're not going to do that. You're not as good as your teammate. But the second you lose the mentality of like, I'm the best driver here, you might as well pack your bags. So for Daniel Ricardo in the moment to have the mentality of like, yeah, I deserve to be here, I can still get back to my best. Like, yeah, he had to be that way. But I think as soon as you're detached from it, that's where you can be a bit more reflective of whatever the reason was.

I wasn't the same guy as I was in 2018. I'm still quite sad he hasn't gone on race something else properly. Yes, I would like to see that. I still think two-tenths off, Daniel Ricardo, is more than good enough for many seasons to be competitive. As part of this statement,

he did mention Fernando Alonzo as an example of someone who's still very competitive into their 40s. We know Daniel Ricardo, I think it's about 36 right now, so definitely younger than Alonzo by nearly 10 years. But definitely older than we are. But definitely. are definitely older than what we are.

One of the few. But also Ricardo is closer to us in age than Ricardo is to Alonzo, which we don't like. A bit more of a generic question, maybe, but what determines longevity in F1 do you think? Is it talent? Is it adaptability? Is it mentality, like the ability to keep going?

I do think that those are very much different words for the same thing. It is that intangible quality that keep, you relevant in a sport, you know, you look at, let's come out of Formula One, let's go look at football, our football, Liam Messi, for example, right? You know, he comes on the scene about 2008 where he starts to really be a name that's well known and he's still being spoken about today as someone who can do it all and that's through different players coming through, different variations of the sport, you know, different pitches, different grounds to play or different mentalities, goals to be achieved, still things the best.

You want an example in football, Christiana Ronaldo and Wei. Rooney. I think they're the same age. Rungi's the goat. Arguable. But like, I don't remember when Wayne Rooney retired, but like, he retired a number of years ago and went off to America before that. And I know Ronaldo's not playing at the peak of his powers anymore, but there's a difference. Yeah, I mean, only one of them coached Plymouth for a reason. And Ronaldo somehow did a better job, even though he was the one that didn't. Yeah, sure. So, with Alonso, he does have that mentality. You know, you see it in every interview.

He has that mentality of, I am only here to win. I don't care how I get there, I want to win. And he's always been like that. He has always been one of the most cutthroat individuals. And I think he learned that from drivers around him and before him. You know, that Schumacher era that he essentially came up with as a young driver

watching Schumacher become the first time, then second time, then multiple time world champion. Schumacher was one of the most, I will go through you to win. win this, as was Senna, you know, and Alonso had to look at those as his, his upbringing. And then you see a longsor's mentality when he arrives, which is the moment I get an opportunity to win it, I'm going to win it. And actually, to the point where he was willing to possibly

bring some rules to get there, because he wanted that greatness. And I think that's the case now. I still think that if you were to put Franda Alon and that Mercedes, he will happily do anything to beat out anyone to make sure that he is a race winner. And that's the mentality that likes of Hamilton has still. I think Nico Holkenberg even has that mentality that if you gave him a top drive, he would still tear down the walls to make sure that he won that Grand Prix.

So mentality is a combination of having the talent to back it up. And I do think the moment that you notice some cracks in that overriding talent, which maybe Daniel Ricardo did, then you lose the ability to say to yourself, I can do this. I am good enough to do this.

You know, if someone thrusting me, that number one car has said to me, win the race. I bet every driver on that quib right now would say, yep, I can do it. I can win that Grand Prix. That's the difference right now, I suppose. I think talent definitely comes into it. If you look at the oldest drivers to win a Grand Prix,

or at least some of the more recent oldest drivers to win a Grand Prix, and you come up with names like Reikinen and Prost and Mansell, and I guess Hamilton would be on that list now after winning the British GP a couple of years ago. all of these names, like they are world champions, they are some of the best that we've seen in the sport in the last 25 years. So more often than not, if a driver is getting into their late 30s, early 40s in F1, it means they are one of the most talented.

But it's definitely not the sole reason, because you've already brought up, Nika Holkenberg. I was going to go there as well, because he's two years older than Daniel Ricardo. And I don't think you would automatically say, the reason Holkenberg is in F1 and Ricardo isn't right now, is because Holkenberg is more talented than Ricardo. I would say it's pretty close.

But you can't... I don't think I would come forward and say, well, talent is the reason Holkenberg's there and Ricardo's not. And it's... You can even like bring in, say, Sebastian Vettel to the conversation as well. So Spastey Vettel, I think,

is the same age as Niko Holcomberg, but still younger than Alonzo. Vessel and Alonzo have both been at Aston Martin and Faced Lance Stroll in recent years, and they've definitely both been the better driver against Landstrol, but Alonso has dominated stroll in a way that Vettel didn't. And again, would you say automatically Alonzo is way more talented than Vettel? Look at what Vettel did at Red Bull.

Like there's a reason he won four titles. It's not linear. Like sometimes motivation, confidence, environment, like all of these things are more important than they're given credit for. Sometimes you need to be in the right place at the right time. And Ricardo, for whatever reason, whether it was confident, whether it was ambition, who knows, he sort of fell off earlier than some other drivers do.

But it just doesn't work the same for everyone. Yeah, I think Formula One is definitely more than many sports. There's a litter of history of drivers who are in the wrong place. You know, they just made the wrong move or they were in the wrong team in the wrong year. In the next year, it was a race winning car. There's so many great drivers who have got a handful, one victory, Robert Kubitsa, for example, where actually had one thing different change, they might have been one of these drivers

that we talk about as being this drive with longevity who won on multiple generations, it was a multiple world champion, and because of one action, they are. Yeah. Should we take our final break? And then on the other side, we're going to get into a top five list

of Daniel Ricardo's best races in F1. There were a few. There were a few. Welcome back, everyone. We're going to finish off this episode, linked to the last topic that we just chatted about. We're going to do a top five list of Daniel Ricardo's best races in F1. And Sam, you just said before the break, there are plenty to choose from.

I do wonder if that's going to give us a lot of the time, we'll say there's plenty to choose from, and then we'll somehow end up with exactly the same list. So fingers crossed, we haven't done that today. Yeah, fingers crossed that we get some differences at least. The first one I've got on my list is I had to get a Monaco in there, of course, you know, the famous celebration of him in the pool with the arm stretched wide. I've gone with the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. The reason it's five on my list, he did win with the broken car, right?

He had the damaged MGUK. He was really limping around the racetrack. But at any other race, the passes on. I think he did a great job at managing that car. I really think it was a sensational victory from him. I do just think that if it isn't Monaco, it isn't a win. And that's why I've kind of had to lower it down my list. But the way that he was able to carry that car around, I think from like, what,

50 laps, you have better behind him, harrowing him. I did think the defence is pretty immaculate. But again, not Monaco, Summerwing. Yeah, Monza, that's gone in a corner, isn't it? Right. Number five on my list, I've gone with the 2014 Belgian GP, which one of his first early wins. I think it's sometimes underrated based on, you look at the Grand Prix and you think he was kind of handed it. But I think there's more to it than that.

So this is the race where Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, come together and Lewis Hamilton at that point is kind of out of contention. Nico Rosberg, his first stop, has to change his front wing. Daniel Ricardo at that point is third place, and Sebastian Vettel, who is second place, goes off and Ricardo inherits second place. Ricardo then after the front wing change for Rosberg is able to pretty expertly pull away from the likes of Vettel, Reichen and Bottas, who are kind of of all in contention.

And whilst Rosberg, based on how quick that Mercedes was, which was ridiculous, was able to catch Daniel Ricardo late on to be quite close. The excellent tire management of Ricardo, which is a really underrated trait of his actually, excellent tire management just meant that his two-stop just about beat the, I think it was the three-stop, three-stop of Rosberg. But he beat Sebastian Vessel, his team met by nearly a minute in this race. And he's like 30 seconds clear of anyone not Ronald. not named Rosberg.

He was good, one, he was really good. One bad. Number four, what have you got? Number four, I make sure I've written

my list down properly here. I've gone with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. No, I haven't. I've gone with the Italian Grand Prix, 2021. The bait and switch. Sike!

It's his only Grand Prix victory, of course, with McLaren, his only Grand Prix victory outside of racing with Red Bull. He quoting it, saying that it might have been his biggest moment in his Formula One career, which is pretty mega for him to put that outside of the

rebel family. There was, of course, the incident that occurred that opened this up for him, really, was the collision between Verstappan and Hamilton, which at the time, very shocking incident. There were a lot of complaints about it online where Verstappan's car is almost on top of Lewis Hamilton's car, and the halo does a lot of work to support structure that stopped Lewis Hamilton being injured. But this does mean that the doors are open for, another driver to come through. And one of the most controversial moments of it is Landon Norris is right behind Danga Ricardo.

And there's a lot of conversation on if, you know, should Ricardo let Norris through? Norris is the youngster. He's been there. He's really been trying to hustle his way through McLaren. And actually, it's a team effort. I think Norris is actually quite happy for Ricardo to take that win. He manages the race really brilliantly. It's the first wing, I think, for McLaren in, I think, nine years at this point.

picked up, which is a long, long time. And just because he's an emotional moment for both of them. He does his showy, of course, on the point with his teammates. So overall, mega race, the door was open for him. I do think with Ricardo, he's never outright had the best car on the grid. He's picked up these victories. So a lot of his wings have become taking a advantage of a mistake or an issue from someone else.

But he is regularly the person who does take a vantage of that mistake. And I do think the 2021 Grand Prix is a real highlight of that. I'll keep this short and snappy, because I also have that in fourth place. As you say, like, Lando Norris kind of had the momentum at McLaren going into this. He had three podiums earlier in the year. Ricardo had none. And the only other things I really wanted to mention here, the Vastappan and Hamilton crash is the thing that people remember most

outside of the Ricardo win maybe from this Grand Prix. And sometimes, again, people think, well, Ricardo went on to win this race because of that crash. I think the opposite is true. Ricardo was like very comfortably clear of the likes of Norris at that point. And he was clear of Vastappen and Hamilton as well. He had to defend a lot against Vastappen in the first stint. Like Vastappen was like within his DRS for a good chunk of that first thing and he kept him at bay. The safety car actually brought everyone back together. Like without that, he might have won this quite comfortably. He was very good that weekend. So yeah, I had that on my list.

Four felt low, but... Four felt low, but there's a couple up there that I'm like, I just couldn't move. Is this the race where he did the whole? I just stepped aside. Oh, I don't remember. Because that may be why I brought it down. Number three on my list.

I've gone with the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which might seem like a bit of a strange one. It's the only one going to appear on my list that isn't a Daniel Ricardo win. And of course, he did win several races in 24. some of which haven't made my list. But this one, last race of the year, of course, whilst there's a lot of attention on the championship battle,

I think that's maybe why it's slightly forgotten, is because there's so much attention on Rosberg versus Hamilton for the title win. I actually forgot that he won that race. 50 points for a win. Ricardo started from the pit lane because of, well, he and Vettel both started from the pit lane because their front wings were deemed illegal in qualifying. So he goes from essentially 20th, let's say, Pitlain, all the way to P4 in this Grand Prix.

He had to overtake Kevin Magnuson quite early on where Sebastian Vettler's teammate couldn't. And again, excellent tire management because he goes really long on both the first and second stints, able to overcut quite a few cars as a result of that, some really clinical overtakes in this one. But to go from, and he beats Vessel by like 45 seconds again, which is insane. He goes from the pit lane to fourth place. That in itself is a massive achievement. There's no safety car in this Grand Prix. That is on pure performance.

I think it's maybe his most underrated race. Interesting. I might have to go back and watch it without the vision of Rosberg v. Hamilton. Yeah. Number three on your list. Number three on my list is another 2014 race and it is a win.

It's his first ever wing. And that was the Canadian Grand Prix. this was right at that moment where we thought oh no Mercedes are literally going to dominate every single race this season this was what race seven I think of the season six or seven something like that and at that point it was pure Mercedes dominance until both Mercedes cars come up with a serious brake issue and electronics issue which meant that essentially they lost their

160 horsepower turbo they're unable to really mitigate any defense from behind Hamilton retires from the problem, but Rosberg is desperately trying to limp home. And Rosberg does limp it home to second place because the only person that Manic is to cut through the traffic is sixth place starting Daniel Ricardo, who not only beats the likes of Butting in the McLauria and the Lonzo in the Ferrari, that awful Ferrari,

Holkerberg, who's in fifth in that force India, but his teammate who is still five seconds behind and unable to get anywhere near the overtake on Nico Rosberg. This was Daniel Ricardo at his raourist, This was Ricardo when he really burst onto the scene, to quote Michael Richard. And this was where we started to see that actually, Ricardo might be a bit of a match for Vettel at the start of these new regulations. He started to turn the tables on a four-time world champion. And at this point, he's almost a rookie.

He's only big in backmarket cars that nearly not been fast enough to even qualify, let alone be race competitive. So Ricardo, his first wing, I had to get on the list. It was a real moment for him. Don't blame you whatsoever for getting that one on there. Not on my list, but very much an honourable mention when it came to putting together my top five. Go straight ahead with number two. Number two, now I've got the Azerbaijan 2017 Grand Prix.

It was on my list for a reason. This was a bizarre race. And again, the focus of this Grand Prix is often given to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, where during a safety car moment, they come together. When I say they come together, Sebastian Vettel quite literally, drives his car into the side of Lewis Hamilton.

And it was a real shocking moment where Ferrari and Mercedes were at the peak of their powers fighting each other in that hybrid era story. Lewis Hamilton, I believe, also has a headrest issue, which he keeps rising up. Every time he goes down the straightest to come into the pit lane to get changed. The whole race was chaotic. But at one point, Daniel Ricardo dropped all the way back to P-17

and yet, through a series of incredible overtakes, great race management, he manages to pull off one of the best comeback drives he'll do of his career, and he wins the Grand Prix. And it's just one of those that I think, again, is regularly forgotten about because of the other chaos that takes place in the race. Yep, very good shout, no doubt. Number two on my list, I've gone with the 2018 Chinese GP. Now, this hasn't quite made it to number one, but if I was, if I was asked, I'm newer to F1, tell me a race I should go and watch to get peak like Daniel Ricardo, like quintessential Daniel

Ricardo, this is the one I would choose, because this is him in a nutshell, this Grand Prix. He's actually a quiet sixth place until the safety car appears. At which point, Red Bull, as they often did at this point, executed a very impressive strategy to put him on a better set of tyres. And he can then go overtaking. He overtakes Kimmy Rykenen, goes by Max Verstappen when Vestappen isn't able to overtake Lewis Hamilton. A very late move on Lewis Hamilton, one of his better ones in this Grand Prix and across his career actually, and then gets by Sebastian Vessel quite comfortably as well.

And then, of course, Valtrey Bottas is the last overtake he needs to make in this race to essentially get the race win. One of my favorite overtakes from this era because it looks like the door is shut. Valtry Bottas thinks he's done his job. Like, I've seen him off here. He's got to, and he doesn't care. He still comes through and get. the race win as a result of that move. Goes on to win this race by like nine seconds as well as soon as he got clear. It's not quite number one just based on he probably would have been sick if not for the safety car. And also, I don't know if this is much of a reason, but him versus Vastappen in this race,

pace-wise, probably not much in it. Vastappen might have been quicker. But the reason Ricardo wins this Grand Prix is that he's just so much more clinical and, let's face it, more mature at that point to be able to. able to cut through the traffic in a way that Vostappen couldn't quite manage. But this is just, it's so Ricardo this one. What is number one on your list, sir? That is number one on my list. And it is the recovery from the safety car, which his teammate was unable to do after a collision with Sebastian vessel occurs, which causes essentially an inability for him to cut through the way

that Ricardo does. But the fact that he surges from sixth place to first in only 10 laps is something we don't really get to see in the modern era of Formula One. It was the quality of every overtake that he makes. It's what's putting it into first place because this is what Ricardo was known for. It was daring. It was bold. It was he can't do that.

And then he does do that. And that was that move on Valtry Bottas, which he spoke about. I remember watching it. It sticks in my mind. You know, he's covering all but a. car's width going down the, I think it's towards turn six in China. And you see Ricardo shape it up. You think, look, try going around the outside. There's no way he's going down the inside. And then he just sends it. And I remember mouth open, gasped at what I just watched. You think, I can't believe he's

done that. And he just pulls away into the distance to end up having a nine second lead over what was a truly dominant Mercedes car at the time as well. Again, we're in that era where it's Ferrari and Mercedes, saying he's still retaining that endless dominance that was seen since 2014. And yeah, okay, a safety car had to reopen the race, but that's not on Ricardo. You know, you take advantage of what you're given here. And he did. He absolutely took advantage where his now multi-time world champion teammate was unable to make the difference.

And he was. So the quality of drivers he overtook, the way he overtook them in just what 10 lapses, as I mentioned, is a phenomenal return to the top spot. And this was a true honeybagger performance. if this is quintessential Daniel Ricardo. Number one on my list to kind of complete this Daniel Ricardo top five sandwich because you kicked off with the 2018 Monaco GP, and I'm ending it with that same race.

All of your points incredibly valid as to why this is only fifth, in that this isn't a win anywhere else on the calendar. Nowhere else on the calendar is this a win. But there are a few reasons why I've got this number one, and some of it is slightly emotion driven because of what, happened to him two years prior to this at the Monaco GP. 2016, he should have won that race, and it was only a slow stop that caused him to finish second behind Lewis Hamilton.

It came back here in 2018. Red Bull, at this point, very good at Monaco at a time where they weren't very good at most other tracks. This always felt like an opportunity for Red Bull that they didn't have elsewhere. And he is, throughout the full weekend, so good. Like, he is fastest in FP1. FP2, FP3, gets to qualifying. He's four-tenths clearing Q1.

He's over a 10th clearing Q2 on what I think was only one run rather than two runs. And then in Q3 he gets pole positioned by over two temps and a new lap record as well to boot. So he clean sweeps the free practice sessions. He clean sweeps the qualifying sessions. Gets to the Grand Prix. He's leading relatively comfortably. And then as you mentioned on lap 208, he loses the MGUK, which is responsible for about 25% of the power of the engine at that point.

He also only has access to six of the eight gears as well, and he has to hold off Vettel for 50 laps. And whilst it is tough to make an overtake happen at Monaco, still took a lot of smarts, a lot of intelligent driving to keep place. The car placement is fantastic. Yeah. So whilst there is context to this and anywhere else, he might actually retire from this race, let alone finish it and win,

I just think from first, it would have been Thursday practice at that point, from Thursday all the way through to the end of Sunday, he is absolutely dialed in in this Grand Prix. God, Thursday practice. Yeah. I think it would have been Thursday. Well, that was. Yes.

A bit of variety in that top five. We didn't quite get 2014 hungry on there, which was maybe the only. Sensational race as well. And I, you know, I was a bit sad to not putting it in mind. I've got in the Honourable Mentionings. I've got 2016 Monaco on my Honourable Mention. Yeah, yeah. I think that's worth a shout, which you brought up there.

And the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix is the other one that I've got on my list. I haven't actually brought up. Which just, again, not as flashy as the 2018 version, but great racecraft that he put in there. Yeah. So there's a lot about Ricardo's career that we can quite comfortably put together a top five list of his best Grand Prix. A couple of those, I think we've reviewed on Patreon as well. So particularly 2018. China. We definitely have relatively recently as well. So that was a good race to go back and what.

So if you're already a member of Patreon or want to become a member of Patreon, check out the historic race review category that we've got on there and go back to that one and relive it with us. But I think that's about it. I think that is about it. Another Sunday ticked off before we eventually get back to some actual Formula One racing. Because despite our very convincing storytelling, Niko Holgerberg was not on the front row where it came to the Bahrain, We'll have to wait until Miami for that to definitely. That will actually happen, of course. Yeah, Carlos, out, Alex, get ready to work together.

Carbono! I'm for Wodium's on the card. Anyway, thanks for listening, folks. Thanks for joining us again for another non-race weekend Sunday. It's a real shame, but we appreciate the support. If you're enjoying, you know, the top fives and the classic stuff and the historic stuff, last episode we talked about documentaries and books and films and things that you could go and pick up, come and join Patreon because, as Ben mentioned, we reviewed the 28th.

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