The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Which team has the best driver line-up for 2022? | Episode 174

Episode Date: February 2, 2022

With the 2022 season just a few weeks away, we're asking which team has the best driver lineup heading into the new era of F1? We also discuss George Russell's first year at Mercedes, and play F1: Alphabetti...JOIN our Discord: https://discord.gg/dQJdu2SbAmSUPPORT our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingTWEET us @LBrakingSUBSCRIBE to our podcast! 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 tune in for new episodes every Wednesday and Grand Prix Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast, presented by Harry Yead, Sam Sage and me, Ben Hopping. We're back after last week's Q&A episode. Sam, are you excited to know that this week I am requiring you to. think less. It's funny, isn't it?

I had to think more about my own life rather than I do about Formula One. So yeah, Formula One is second nature. My life is a nightmare. There you go. That's a cheery intro to the podcast. Welcome to a blogger. Hello, listeners.

Oh, I feel quite sad now. I think I... I was going to say, Harry, because of you, we've moved this. And I've eaten my pizza a day early in the week. and I'm a little bit throwing off to be honest It's throwing you right off, yeah, apologies. I mean, people listening just won't make any difference,

but we're recording us on a Tuesday, so all my moaning about editing on a Wednesday night's gone right out of the window because it's now a Tuesday night ruined. So if Sam's boss is listening, firstly, thank you very much. And that will be why Sam hasn't turned up to work on Friday because he thinks it's Saturday now. And you can blame Harry Ead. I actually will do that, though.

That's the thing. And my brain will go, we recorded two days ago. It must be Friday to go. So yeah, there you go, folks. When I get fired from my actual job, it's Harry's fault. I mean, internal podcast discussion here. We could have just not said anything because it's going to go out at the same time. So we've just wasted two minutes of everyone's lives here, haven't we?

We waste an hour of their lives every. You bring a great point along to the party, Sam. I'll give you that much. We've got plenty to discuss after last week's Q. Q&A. So we're going to be looking at George Russell, his approach for the 2022 season, how he handles the pressure of the Mercedes seat. Carlos Seins, did Red Bull waste his years? Did they miss out on a potential great driver? We're going to be discussing that one. Have the last few years proven Red Bull wrong. We're going to play F1 Alphabet to round out the show.

And yes, of course, there will be a jingle attached, as always. But firstly, we're going to look at the 2022 driver lineups. Of course, we've got exactly the same 10 teams as we did last year. And we're going to look at our top threes here. So I'm going to start with you, Sam. If you wouldn't mind giving us from third down to first, who do you think has

the best line up and why? So my third best line up is tricky because I actually think there are some very strong lineups, especially at the top of the field. And this one has got maybe some debate to it, some kind of

variables. This is why it's third. Third place is McLaren. Lando Norris is looking mighty, right? He's every season coming along stronger and stronger and stronger, really looking like he's a proper front-end driving now. He's owning that McLaren team. He runs that McLaren team. A team league for years to come, I'm sure, the likes of Big Zach,

not a fan, but a whole aircon conditioning unit. You know, I'm sure he's sitting there hoping. Come on. You can't make that comparison again in the space of a month. I will make it every time he gets brought up. Yeah, you know, I'm hoping that Zach believes that Landers is going to see around for a long time. And then, of course, Daniel Ricardo, who is, what, an eight-time race winner? The guy has shown absolute brilliant since behind a race car.

Late breaking is partially down to his ability to absolutely lick the stamp and send it down the inside. And I'm hoping that because of a bit of a reset with the regulations, that Ricardo is actually going to level the playing field somewhat, come back to the standard, we know he can be, and do a really solid job for McLaren. So McLaren, third, that's for sure. Second place is Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton is, if he turns up, folks, is Lewis Hamilton.

You know, eight, sorry, seven-time world champion. And, you know, I don't need to, we don't need to question what you can do. We know what you can do. The variable, again, on the Mercedes aspect, is George Russell, right? We've never really seen him at the front. He's a one proper go at it, and it wasn't the best race. in the world because it was at spa and he was still driving that Williams and he you know he never even got to I bet you all thought I was going to talk about Bahrain then didn't he be out of loop um which of course

he also did very well and I took Botas and absolutely brilliant maneuver but you know we've seen him buckle under pressure a little bit you know that think about the two Italian Grand Prix where he was in the points think about Austria where it looked like a really solid start then suddenly he was off in the gravel we don't know how he's going to cope at a front team with the pressure of blue his hand which alongside him for a whole season I'm sure he'll come good, right? He's an incredibly successful driver so far in his career. Theoretically, it should be strong. But there are variables, so that's why it's only second. First place, and it won't be the drivers that muck this up for them, it will definitely

be the strategist and everyone else involved. Ferrari have the best driver line in terms of overall consistency, raw speed, the ability to manage a car, pull a result out, maybe a difficult position. We saw Carlos Sykes qualify outside the top 10 multiple times last season, and we'll just finishing the points relentlessly, of course, to come back and beat LeCler. LeCle, who have got a few issues, of course, with D&F's reliability. I know he can eye those out. He's beaten in Sebastian Vetter a couple of times already. The guy is Moses Lecler, and we'll reclaim the God the Claire title of very seen, I'm sure.

Ferrari look, you know, they look magnificent in terms of just their driver line-up, both physically, because they are just wonderful to look at. Two rather handsome young men. And in terms of driving ability, you know, ferocious in terms of speed. So if the mechanics could just nail the strategy and get the wheels on the car at a standard time and get it back out of the pit lane, they could be absolute, well, you know, that's the best joke of the podcast. They could actually be a real challenger if they get it right. So there's my top three, my top three driver pairings in Strength for the third to first.

All right. So McLaren in third, Mercedes in second, and then Ferrari first is Sam's top three. We'll go through Harry's top three, then my top three, then we'll discuss some of the differences. that we may or may not have. Harry, from third to first. I'm with Sam in that this is quite a tricky task. I think for me, and I know you said top three, but I know we'll do a top three,

but I think there are four teams that are vying for this. There's Maca mentioned. Mercedes also mentioned Ferrari. I think you cannot rule out Red Bull either. So, through a bit of variety. Third place for me, I'm going to go to Red Bull because, you know, even if Perez isn't at the level of Max Verstappen,

you have Max Verstappen in that team. And I think Perez is going to be better this year anyway. I think he'll carry on the form we saw towards the end of 2021. But I'll put them in third because, you know, they're both not necessarily operating at that same level. Second, agreeing with Sam on this one, going to put Mercedes. If we knew a little bit more about what George Russell's going to be like

in a top car, you know, I think he's going to be, you know things can be good but we just haven't seen enough of it so i'll put in a second but that is a very strong lineup for for 2022 it can't be denied um and yeah i'm agreeing with sam again who knows what's going to happen with that Ferrari this year i've for the love of god i really really hope they're back in the mix um and that they are competent and that they know what a strategy is I live in eternal hope but because I only live in eternal hope because they do have the best driver line-up

in my opinion. As a combination, as a pair, I think that is such a good lineup and we said it last year even when we knew they weren't, but we don't know now, but even when it was guaranteed they weren't going to be in a championship fight,

we've all said that it's a good lineup. So yeah, I think just Ferrari need to get it right. And I think they could be on to a winner. They'll mess it up somehow, but I think they've got the best line-up going to 2022. Interesting. So your first and second place exactly the same as Sam, and you've got Ferrari first and Mercedes-Second, but your third place is different that you've got Red Bull in there rather than McLaren. That is correct. Good news, everyone. We don't all agree. So that's a good

start. I don't have the same top three as I've reviewed. So, um, I'm coming. Well, you know, I do rate myself some Mick Schumacher so no I'm not going to introduce any brand new names into the fold I think you are right in the four that you've introduced to this point but it's just the ordering of them that I'm going to slightly mess up a little bit so whereas you've got Ferrari in first both of you I've got Ferrari in third for this year's line up I agree with what you say in that they are probably consistently the best line up on the grid. And I think they complement each other well, perhaps more than the two ahead that I've got here.

But yeah, they seem to do well in the respect that Charles LeClerler has these fantastic showcase performances where he seems to be on this different level. You know, I'm thinking back to Britain, specifically in 2021. There are times where LeCleur does look untouchable. And Carlos Sines has an element of consistency that is right up there with the best in Formula One.

So I do believe those two elements. They do combine quite well when you're putting together a team. The reason I don't have Ferrari higher than third is because I don't believe they have an outright star. I think there are two drivers in Formula One that are head and shoulders above everyone else. And I don't think Ferrari have either of them.

So that's why I've got them third and no higher than that. In second, I'm going to put Red Bull. And this is a tough one because it's difficult to know where Sergio Perez is going to be in his second year. But there were definitely signs towards the end of last year that he is improving in his role. We can't forget that just two years ago, Sergio Perez was working Wonders in the racing point seats. So I think Perez is a very solid driver. He does still need to improve a bit more, which is why I haven't got this team first. But Max Verstappen is over the last couple of years just absolutely incredible.

driver in 2021 in my opinion so you know that makes a very good team the reason they're not higher is because as good as you know Perez was towards the end of the season they didn't win the constructors championship despite winning the driver championship which you've got to raise question marks when you win one but not the other so I've got red bull second and then in first place I've got Mercedes I appreciate the legitimate concerns that people have about George Russell because we are talking about a guy that has only had Nicholas Latifi and Robert Kubitsa as teammates. We are talking about someone who's never been in a car that's better than about 8th on the grid.

It's tough. So it's tough to judge someone like that who has been in that position for quite a long time. But I do not have doubts about George Russell. I think they have found themselves a start. and I think he's going to prove that's the case. You know, we'll get into plenty of debate in later podcasts about teammate wars and about Constructed Championship predictions and where that goes. But I'll preface this by saying, he's going to be competitive.

I think they have got themselves a star here, and I think he will get up to speed early on. Naturally, you know, the challenge of having Esteban Gutierrez as your teammate is not going to be easy for him. And he may have to factor in if Lewis, Hamilton comes back, but I think he can rise above that and actually deliver the performances. And there is one really important reason I think Mercedes do have the best line up, and that's because I'm British, and I have massive British bias.

So apologies, everyone. I can't help myself. Oh, this is that? Uh-oh, okay. Oh, yeah, I should, I forgot to put the parental lock on the, on the soundboard so unfortunately these two morons still have access to it um never mind so i've gone for a slightly different top three compared to compared to you too um sam i want to come to you because you're the only one who didn't have red bull in the top three why not max wastax was washed in he

good good answer that yeah just to even out that british bias there just i'm really glad that Listeners, you are fully aware that we're taking the Mickey and having a laugh, and we're not too serious about these things. We've got some guys from... No, no, that Ben, Ben, Ben, really... Brexit Ben. Wait, I'm literally waving the Union jacket in my seat as I'm talking, yeah. He's wearing it as a towel.

Max for staffing is obviously an absolute talent, generational talent. And if he's given the car, I don't see why he could have gone to be one of the most. successful drivers, Formula One I've ever seen, right? The thing is, it's Sergio Perez. Now, I think that Daniel Ricardo is better than Sergio Perez on both on their good days. And I'm hoping that in my trajectory here, Daniel Ricardo takes that step back up. And I don't think Perez will continue to really improve. I think he'll stay at a very similar level to what he did last year and therefore.

Norris is closer to Verstappen, then Ricardo is further ahead of, of Perez. So the gap between Ricardo and Perez is bigger to me than the gap between Norris and Destappan. So that's for me the simple reason as to why McLaren just edging front of Red Bull. But I do think that Ferrari and Mercedes

as a pairing are comfortably the clear best two on the grid. Would you say that, because obviously we're basing this off partly what we've already seen but also predicting what we might see in the case of George Russell particularly, So you say Daniel Ricardo, if he takes that step back forward to where he was, from Lando Norris's perspective, do you see him also contributing to that?

Do you think he gets a little bit closer to the top few in F1? Landon Norris is so early on his career. Let's not forget that he's still one of the absolute youngest on the grid. He's still, what, how early? Is he what, 21? Landon Norris is ridiculously young for F1 driving. He has so much success already, very much in the same vein of Max Verstappen. So I think he's got another four or five, six years before he fully matures into like the absolute pinnacle.

We saw what Lewis Hamilton, didn't we? Lewis Hamilton only really hit his absolute best in what? 2017, 2018, that's when we saw the absolute best of Lewis Hamilton. And I wouldn't be surprised in fact, for Stapp and Landon, Norris are on very much the same wavelength as that, the same trajectory. And I think Norris is going to continue improving. He's got such a positive atmosphere around him. The environment is brilliant. he's being nurturing, supported.

I don't think he feels any stress about the team that he's in. He's allowed to express himself both on and off the track properly. I really think that Norris is going to continue to evolve into an absolute star of a talent in Formula One. So, yeah, I think much like Ricardo, I expect Ricardo to take that step forward again. I think Norris is just going to keep getting better, which might be a little bit worrying for Ricardo, because two seasons in, in this relationship, Norris could just be well off down the road in terms of how much better he's actually become. So because of that, yeah, I think they have just got the edge over Red Bull

in terms of an overall package for both their drivers combined. Just going back to Ferrari, actually, Harry, you've obviously got them first. Do you believe that of the pairings that we've mentioned here, they are perhaps the best complementary pair, even if not the best individual drivers? Yeah, I mean, yes. I guess they are. With Gutierrez and Russell,

no, with Hamilton and Russell, it's so hard to know what that's going to be like, but, you know, if it gets to a, I'm not saying Hampton would be rattled, but if it gets to a point where Russell is matching, challenging in any way, then that's not going to be the same relationship that he had with Bottas previously.

And, you know, with Perez and Vestappan, I think they are, they do complement each other, but I think the gap in between them is just a bit more than it is with signs and Leclair. I don't know, it's interesting with Sines and Leclair, because if they are in a position this year to fight for a championship, maybe that, you know, my prediction there goes out the window because they're going to get more serious about trying to beat each other and it'll be less about the team and it'll be more about fighting for a championship or fighting for wins. So, I,

At the moment, yeah, I think they are the most complementary pairing. But I think that could change really quickly if the circumstances change. If we're looking a bit further back away from the four teams that we've already discussed, I mean, one team I would look and say they could be the most improved team, at least in terms of the driver lineup, would be Alphatari. I think it's largely dependent on what we get from Yuki Sonoda. you know, Pierre Gazley's been very consistent since he was demoted back to the team.

Yuki Sonoda, very similar to Perez, I guess, although Perez didn't have the same sort of struggles as Sonoda did. Similar to him, though, Sunoda's best performances came towards the end of the year. Obviously, he had the P5, was it, a bit dabby. But that wasn't the only one. There were some other pretty good qualifying performances towards the end of the year from Sonoma.

So if he continues that on, that could be a case potentially for most improved. Sam, would you offer up any different names from those that we haven't mentioned? I think Alfa Tower is absolutely brilliant shout and I will probably go to agree with you for a little bit of variation. I think the other line-up that is very much dependent on the, let's say, the second driver of the team is Alpine. Fernando Oloxo, we know that if he's even giving a sniff of a top spot, the man will literally stop at nothing to make sure that he takes victory. it's Esfeng Okon who's got the world's longest career and we'll be racing in the year 3000

when Busted managed to finally find out that we're underwater he will still be there going around you know one day when they came home Eseng Okong was making a funing noise Anyway yeah in his Alpine totally naked You really got to know the song for that to make sense

don't you know it's got a bit weird I think Ockon can really deliver And I think we've seen glimpses, you know, when he was racing against Perez earlier on in his career, when he was the Mercedes Junior driver and expected to be the one to take a step up maybe after the debacle with Verline that came along. I think if we can see that again, and he could be consistent with that level of performance. Alpine, if they've got the car, could be a bit of a dark course, a bit of a surprise package. So that would be the other one to look out for, I think. I'm going to throw one more name in the mix here in terms of the team.

and Harry's already jokingly mentioned them, but has. What do you think that they could, obviously it's going to be car dependent as all of these lineups are going to be, but we know that in F2, Schumacher didn't have a great first year and then won the title in his second year. We know Mazurpin had an awful first year in F2 and then was much better in the second year, although not quite as good as Schumacher, obviously.

So based on their F2 records, Harry, do you think that they could actually make a step forward this year? Yeah, and I know I did joke about it, as you say, but I think there was a genuine case for them having quite a good year. I mean, A, as long as they have a car that doesn't try to kill them, every time they go around a corner. Always a good start for improvement on a previous year. But like you mentioned, I think Schumacher especially, he's shown that sort of form throughout the junior formula. So even if you go to his F3 days, his first year was pretty slow. then he started to get the hang of it almost halfway through the second year and the same the same for

two it's a weird pattern so maybe it won't be until you know silverstone or something then we start to see real improvements but um yeah i think there there is a genuine case for saying that those two could could be on much better form as a pairing this year the only thing i worry about is that they just keep taking each other off because yeah there's probably stopped that probably just stop that um yeah maybe hopefully if that car's more competitive they don't have just each other to a race and that maybe alleviates that risk somewhat. But yeah, I think there is a good case to say that they'll be, you know, they could be on for the most improved pairing in 2022.

Actually, I thought about it. I want to redact my comment that they shouldn't take each other off. It's very much a week for redacting official comments, isn't it? Oh, top of it again. We're getting top of one podcast. You're not bringing politics into Brexit, Ben. I want to redact it though because it's too entertaining

like it's too good we can't we can't tell them to stop that that actually makes sense thank you for including that that's okay I've tried anyway can I offer up something about Haas

yeah go on then why not go on then I think it's a 50-50 coin toss whether they both absolutely hate the new cars and go we just got used to that other one that was trying to kill us every single race and you do this to us Or, I think the new F1 regulations have a little bit more in common with the F2 cars that they were driving than what the previous F1 generation have.

It's got less proper downforce. The wheels are actually a lot similar in size and comparison. So I actually think that they could be at a little bit of an advantage by coming in and only being F2 a year or so ago. So I think they could be very much improved if the car doesn't literally try and murder them around every single corner. So, fingers crossed that they actually have some success. Even if it's just one of them gets one point, at some point throughout the season, that will be good. Well done.

I mean, it's a very good point, isn't it? Because out of the people in the field, Sonoda, Schumack and Mazepin probably have the most experience on 18-inch wheel tires coming from a year and F2 on them. So, yeah, that's a very good point. It hadn't even occurred to me that one. But fast for the win then. You heard it at first thing. You heard it.

here first. Constructors' Championship 2002. Has. Imagine if they absolutely Brawn GPD it. I'm here for it. If that happens, I'm pretty certain there isn't going to be a podcast

that would have said it before us. So I think we can claim that. If it doesn't happen, just forget it. When Brawl did do the Brawl GP thing, a podcast turned up a few years later with very similar branding and colours with a bit of a light for another driver's.

Or we can have competition in 10 years' time if Hars go and do a similar story. You've got to be good at something to have competition, so I think we should say. I'm good at being rubbish. With that, let's move on. We're going to stick with Mercedes. Obviously, we've already discussed the Hamilton

and Russell partnership a little bit, but just to look at what George Russell might be capable of in 2022. So he's entering a brand new situation going up against Lewis Hamilton or Esteban, Gutierrez yet to be confirmed. It's going to be a tough challenge, regardless of which one it is. So, Harry, how do you think George Russell needs to approach this year? Because you could see it from the perspective of he's probably going to be the future of

Mercedes if he plays his cards, right? Or should he actually be a bit more aggressive than that and get stuck in straight away? I remember when we did the preview podcast for Sakeir. It must have been in 2020. when Hamilton was out and Russell got the George. Russell got the George. He did. He got the Mercedes team for that weekend.

And I think it was you, Ben, that said, this is, for Bottas, it was like a lose-lose situation. Because if he beat Russell, everyone would be like, well, yeah, you should have beaten Russell. If he didn't beat Russell, everyone would be like, well, that was Robert Valtrey, what were you doing? And I think it's kind of, for George, it's kind of a similar win-win-style situation,

because if he goes in this year and somehow he beats Esteban Cotierrez, tough. Everyone's going to be like, good Lord, we have a star on our hands. And if he goes in and he doesn't beat Esteban Guterres or Lewis Hamilton, I suppose, if he doesn't beat Hamilton, then everyone's going to be like, well, you know, it's his first year in F1 and that's a seven-time world champion. So what else would we expect? So I think from that point of view, this is kind of an easy year.

I guess the only thing where pressure might come is if they are in that championship fight and he has to step up and keep delivering those points. But for Russell, I think this is quite a nice situation to be in. From a personal point of view, I think he, not they should take it easy or anything, but I think he's got a nice situation to be in here because I think the pressure is somewhat off. off his shoulders because either way, I think it's a win-win situation.

Sam, what do you reckon? I think he's got to absolutely go out there and just send it at every single corner. And I very much sit down the same way, but as what happens? Yeah, well, maybe not that much. What has he got to lose? I think it's very little. I do think there is a risk

and I'll get into that in a moment, but I don't see why he shouldn't be learning every part of that car, growing into every, single part about team taking risks, finding where his boundaries are in that car, and then learn from the seven-time world champion that's going to be sitting next to you in the garage. You've got one of the best resources of all time sat next to you. Soak it up, try everything out, see what works for you, absorb everything you can, and go out there and just, if you end up halfway from the season and you have 20 points off the top,

hello, okay, good, keep going, good job. But if it turns out that actually, that's same to say are the dominant force and Hamilton, I don't know, gets her halfway through and he's 80 points clear of Russell, but Russell's still in second. No shame. No harm done there. He's still holding his own. The only risk, I think, to this kind of strategy is if Russell were to, let's say, get three quarters of the way through the season and the saying is do appear to have the fastest car, Hamilton's league in the championship, it's all looking, you know, hunky dory. But Russell is maybe doing what we saw previously from Albonne, from Gazley in the Red Bowl and is qualifying outside the top 10 or is regularly getting stuck in traffic where Hamilton is able to cut through

it and is finishing 7th or 8th where Hamilton is winging a race. For me, that is where the risk comes from because I do feel reputations and opinions and public speculation can very quickly turn on its head in Formula One. He can't afford to have too many completely negative results. He's definitely allowed a couple. He's still adjusting to a different team at the top. There's a lot of pressure. But, you know, if he has five or six of them in the first nine, ten, eleven races, I think he's going to have to kind of pull it together. I don't think that will be the case. It's George Russell. He's been pretty phenomenal throughout his career. I think he'll be fine, but I do think that's the only risk he's got. Ben, what do you think?

Go on. Sorry, sorry, I was going to say. Can I just say I really appreciate the use of the phrase, Hungy Dory. It's a good boss. Let's get that on a t-shirt. I mean, if I had any advice for George Russell, and I know he does listen to, this podcast and he is a friend of the podcast. You know, massively appreciate it, George. And I'm going to give, this one is on the house for you, George. I'll give this one up for free. That's nice. Lewis Hamilton is quite good at the F1. So you need to be careful about this. Oh, that is a good one. What I would do if I was George Russell is I would boot up the old the old VHS or more modern ways of watching videos or DVDs are available.

Atomax. Yes! Let's stick with VHS. And I would get the 2019 season review very specifically that year and very specifically the first few races of that year. And he should watch exactly what LeCler did and look to replicate it to a T. Not sure whether it would be as simple as LeCleur made it look, but I think you should at least try and replicate it. it. Because...

Driving to everyone Austria. Go ahead. Well, maybe that... Leave that bit out. But a few other bits I think you should take on board. So we saw that Leclair

went into the Ferrari seat in 2019 very clearly as the number two driver. Vettel was the number one driver at the time. He'd pushed Lewis Hamilton relatively far in the two previous years. Leclair was under no impression whatsoever. And Russell doesn't have this same thing,

but Leclair was told he was the number two driver. And what did Leclair do? He listened to that for all of one race. Australia, he was told to stay behind Vessel, even though he probably had the pace to catch him. He obliged because it was over P4 and he probably thought, well, two points, so what. But from race two onwards, anything like that completely went out of the window because at race two, it was Bahrain. You might remember, Lecler got pole position. Vessel did get the lead from Leclair, I think possibly into the first corner, but Lecler had the quick. Lecler was quicker

and he wanted to overtake Vettel. His team told him, wait a few laps and we'll manage to get that to work for you. Lecler was like, no, mate, I'm going to do it now and he did it. He overtook before the team. I'm pretty sure that was the exact team radio.

Could be wrong. No, mate. And from that point onwards, Lecler completely debunk the number two thing. He wasn't the number two driver from that point onwards. And in two short years, he managed to completely reverse the whole narrative from him being a number two driver to him being a very clear number one driver.

And Vettel on his way out to Aston Martin. It was always funny to see towards the end of their time at Ferrari, it'd be like, oh, the team's so unfair on Sebastian Vettel. People seeming to forget that it was completely the opposite way around two years ago. And it was actually LeClaire's pace that changed everything there at Ferrari. So, Russell, I think he needs to try and do the same thing. I think he needs to get into that seat. He needs to seize the opportunity of being in a car that is probably going to be either championship possible

or at least race winning. I think that would probably be worst case scenario from Mercedes. There's no time at the present. You never know what's around the corner as a racing driver. So I think he's just got to go for it. And I think the key will be qualifying. We know that Russell's very good in qualifying. You could point to Lewis Hamilton's record number of pole positions

that say, well, he can race on a Saturday as well. You might be right. But I actually think Hamilton is more vulnerable on a Saturday than he is on a Sunday. Botas got closer to Hamilton a lot more times than Perez got closer to Vestappen. So I think there's scope for Russell. I think there's scope for Russell to be right there in qualifying. He needs to seize the initiative early on. If he is conservative, if he allows Lewis Hamilton to dictate things,

that's where it gets tricky. Because we saw what happened to Bottas. He never escaped that number two box that he created for himself. George Russell can't allow himself in that same situation. I don't think he will. So I think he needs to attack from the start. Yuki Sanoda style. I love the idea of Charles LeCleg as walking into Ferrari

because coming in hot with the Una Reverse card right onto the desk. Like, Charles, you're number two driver. Oh, Una Reverse card! Number one driver now, baby. Vettel's so annoyed. He's just to use this plus four. card the previous term. But Gossos, they're like,

What are we playing? The mechanics are like, can we help with this? Well, maybe. Please don't. Probably not. How to ruin a game of Uno. Get the Ferrari mechanics on it.

Ongo. That is enough Ferrari slander for one podcast. It's too much. Yeah, I think we've probably reached our limit there. And we'll move on to something we brand new we introduced this week. We decided that democracy is good. So in our Discord channel, we introduced the idea of putting two topics side by side

and letting you the people vote which one you'd like us to discuss. And we did that throughout today. And the topic that one of the two that we put in there was talking about Carlos Sines. And whether Red Bull wasted their opportunity for such a great driver. does the previous two seasons particularly prove that Red Bull really messed up the whole Sines deal? Sam, what's your thoughts on it? It's definitely not an easy answer. I think you could look at it very, very plainly and just go, well, yeah, Carlos Sites beat Scholarler last season.

Look at him now. He beat Lando Norris as well. Look at him now. You know, he's definitely doing very well. I rate Carlos Sites very highly. I think he was one of the best drivers of the season last year. but is it that black and white? Is it that obvious for Red Bull

and what they need to do to make sure that their race team has the best possible talent at the right time and gets itself to the top spot as it finally did again last season? It's really tough. You've got to remember

that when Max Verstaffin was promoted to that team to partner alongside I got to have a drive we weren't bothering him. You know, Carlos Sykes wasn't exactly too far behind. Sorry Harry, is that sick of you.

wasn't exactly too far behind Max was stopping in the points he wasn't being exactly shown up it wasn't an embarrassment at all you argue that the talent was already being shown the talent was already there and that Sykes was putting in the performances required was he initially going to be a world champion

if you were to look at him and that possibly not but you only need one world champion really in each team you get a really solid number two to get you those second place of those points and he's a world champion Look at Ferrari in the early 2000s, right? Ruben Barrakello, the absolute perfect number two.

He literally loved Michael Schumacher, and those two together creating a brilliant partnership that saw one person deliver the wins and one deliver second place. And I'd argue Red Bull probably give the same with Maxisdapping in their arsenal. But at that point, you go, we've got a wealth of talent around.

We've got the likes of Daniel Ricardo just sitting here. Well, he's not going anywhere. So Daniel Ricardo, at that point in life, could have been a world champion, right? People looked to him and thought, you could be the next best thing. And the staff would not be there at that point. So it's hard to sit there and go, you know what, Ricardo, Kiviat, all the other people in that generation of Red Bull. See you later, Carlos Sites is coming through.

So do I think they've messed up? No. Do I think they missed out on Carlos Sites and what he's now? Yeah, I do. I think Carlos Sites has matured you to a brilliant driver, one of the best on the greed. and he's done both himself proud at McLaren and now at Ferrari, and I think he's a real treat, he's a real, you know, virtue to the teams that he drives for. They should hang on to him.

They shouldn't throw him away. Do they know that when he's a very young man in a back marker team? No. It's one of those decisions you have to make, and they made it. And they haven't really lost out too much for the process. They've had to buy him Sergio Perez. But I think they've done okay for it. So I don't think it's a massive mistake.

I do think that they missed out, like I said, but I don't think it's the end of the world for him. Harry, do you think it was a massive mistake? One thing I wanted to ask, actually, is something I can't remember. Did, when Carlos went after Renault in late 2017, because he switched midway through the year, did he ask to leave, or did they just shove them out?

Was it more of a Carlos... He asked to leave, I think. Asked to leave, right, fine. And I understand why, because, you know, as Sam said, back at that point, it didn't really look like Ricardo was going anywhere. They had the staff button,

you know, arguably Red Bull had probably one of the most promising lineups on the grid. So maybe that was a mistake slightly from Carlos's side. And, you know, I agree Red Bull could have said, no, Sunshine, you're not going anywhere. And that's on them as well. But, you know, a year and a half later, and he was, I think he was easily in that second season. when Riccardo decided to up and leave

and instead they had to go for Gasly who obviously was not ready and we've spoken about how they've had to bring up these drivers who are not ready for the top team, Gasley Albon, arguably Kfayat and it's really hurt Rebel

and that's why they've had to go for the likes of Perez so yeah I don't think the blame lies entirely a Rebel's door on this one I think and as I said I can understand why why signs wanted to leave why he went off to Renault. But, yeah, it's, I mean, such, you can't tell the future.

So obviously, Sines felt that it was the best deal for him to leave that Red Bull program. Another year and a half, would it have made any difference than that year and a half of Renault? I don't know, but I think he would have been more in line for that Red Bull seat. So I'm not blaming it entirely on him, because I think Red Bull could have tried harder to keep him around. and, you know, he's had a couple of dodgy years at Renault, and I think his stock when he went off to McLaren in 2019, was low when he's had to rebuild it again. So, yeah, it is quite a tricky one to answer,

because as Sam said, when you look at the face of it, signs just beat Lecler, Red Bull must be kicking themselves, but I don't think necessarily that is actually the case. But yeah, I'm sure maybe to look back and think what could have been there, but I don't think maybe there's a huge amount of regrets. One final thing before being you jumping, where I'm sure some very, very good points.

Ricardo obviously only left Red Bull because Sites moved to McLaren, right? Like it was a domino effect, so theoretically... Wasn't it the other way around? Was it the other way round? I think Sines got kicked out for Ricardo, which is even more of a kicker. Oh, yeah.

That sucks. Basically, it's all Daniel Ricardo's fault. Daniel. What a pled. All right, then. Plet. It's nice. Yeah, I think with, again, I agree with what you've said,

it's easy to say these things in hindsight, but even so, I'm going to be fairly critical of Red Bull here because I think they could have managed this situation better. And yes, Carlos Sines' best work has definitely come in probably the last year. But, no, I'll take the last two years. He's been pretty good. ever since he joined McLaren, really. But the signs were there, to use a pun.

The signs were there when he was there in Touros. That's that. Yeah, appreciate it. He did a job on Danny Cabier. He did a serious job on Danny Cabier. And he was, again, he wasn't the color signs we know now back in 2017, but I think at that point they knew they got themselves a pretty good driver. There's a great dollop of irony in all this in that Gazley and

Alburn, they didn't give them the appropriate time in Toro or so before elevating them to the lead team. The one driver they did give the appropriate time in Toro or so, Carlos Seines, they didn't end up using. There's a huge dog of irony in that, considering how good he's done over the last few years. Even so, I don't think Ghazley underperforming or Albin underperforming are indications that Red Bull failed. what's an indication that Red Bull failed is the fact that they had to go outside of their program and get Sergio Perez. I believe it's the first time they went outside of their program to get someone in since Mark Weber, which was a long time ago now. So they broke what has been generally their policy. And the only reason they had to do so is because of failures on their part.

And I think if Carlos Seines is in that spot, they don't need to look around for Sergio Perez. Then they've got someone settled in by that point. For me, the main fault for Red Bull was actually related to, again, it's your fault, Daniel Ricardo. They needed to be more on the ball with what Daniel Ricardo was looking to do in terms of his happiness with the team, in terms of his willingness to sign on for more years, because Ricardo was doing a great job for Red Bull, as was Vastappen at the time. But they should have been more on the pulse in terms of, is this guy going to leave? We all remember when he did make that decision to go off to Renaud,

it was a pretty massive shock, not only to people watching the sport, but also Red Bull themselves. I remember Christian Horner being incredibly surprised at the decision in the summer break when that happened. What they needed to, if they were aware that he might leave, you pray with Carlos Sites,

stick around for one more year, because if he does end up going, you've got the spot. If he doesn't end up going, you're free, do whatever you want. We can't keep you here forever. I think at that point you've got an easy, decision one way or the other if your car loss signs. But because they weren't aware enough of what

Ricardo might end up doing, they didn't give themselves the opportunity and Ricardo leaves and suddenly they have to prepare, sorry, they have to elevate and underprepared Pierre Gasly and, you know, it's all sort of gone from that point onwards. So yeah, again, it's easy to say in retrospect, but I would just close off with this one last question, which is, would a partnership, of Max Verstappen and Carlos Signs have won the 2021 Constructors Championship. I believe the answer is yes.

Yes. Yes. In which case. And again, you would have to play hypotheticals of signs being in that seat for multiple years and would anything have gone wrong between Vastan and signs who typically don't have a great relationship. I get all of that. But just a pure

question of would that partnership have won I think they would have done. So I think there is There are lessons to be learned from Redpool's perspective on this one. Should we run through the alphabet? Go on then. Oh, it's basically a 50-50 game that I get wrong every single time. These aren't 50, well, there might be one 50-50 in there, but they're not.

They're not 50-50s for the... Yeah, we'll soon see if you get that one. I like this jingle. I like this jingle. Let's give it a play. A to K, K to Z. Well, what could the answer be? Time to play.

Formula One. Alphabet. Beautiful. That is Sam and Harry Productions coming together brilliantly once again, that is. Like a tornado of sound.

Yes. Love that. So last time out, you managed to draw when you played F1 higher and lower, which means Harry still leads on the year 1-0, thanks to his win on F1 Order, please. You might remember

Sam finished on negative points on that one. So this is Sam's opportunity. Can't I start with a free point? It feels harsh. No, you can't. But this is your opportunity to get back to one all with F1 alphabetic. If you haven't listened to this segment before, I've got 10 letters of the alphabet.

They all stand for some sort of word that these guys don't yet know. They will take it in turns to pick letters and there will be a question associated with the category that I will tell them. And the most points wins. So we are actually going from A to J today. New year, new start, we're going to go right to the beginning of the alphabet. So any letter from A to J. And as defending champion from two games ago, Harry, I will give you the opportunity to go first.

I'll go for A, please. Go for the... Oh, Ben, quick question. Are we doing the rule of if he gets it wrong, I can steal it or does that not apply in this game? No stealing in this game. You can still give it a go and see for your own pride. Fevery. Yeah, no fevery allowed in this one.

Okay, so A stands for Albon. Alex Albon, you might have heard of him, F1 Racer. How many podiums does he have, Harry? He has got two. He has got two. Very well done. Harry is on the board. Hey, you might like this next one.

Sam, who knows? What letter do you want? B, please. This isn't the 50-50. Oh, yes. B stands for Belgium. I want you to tell me which circuit hosted the Belgian Grand Prix

10 times between 1973 and 1984. I have to pick a certain circuit. Yes, which circuit? Oh, this came up in another one we did, and I got it wrong. Is it Zolder? It is Zolder. Well done.

Yeah! My incorrectness previously has helped me. Well done. Never make the same mistake twice. Well, this is a great start. One question each. You've both got a point. It can only go downhill from there.

Harry, any letter between C and J. C, please. Prove it to be very exciting, guys. C stands for crash So the 2020 Barang Romperee is obviously very well known Because it featured the Roman Grosje on crash But can you tell me who crashed on lap 1 of the restart I remember this because it was frightening at the time

Old Lanty boy ended up on his roof He did It's a bit of a weird one in that Most people don't remember that Why, it was the less dramatic one, even though he literally flicked over. So the hairpin, wasn't it? Like, turn eight, I think it was? Yeah, you might be real of that, yeah.

Yeah, it was a very odd one. Caviar dive bomb, or was it just unfortunate, I can I remember now. Oh, it was, Kavir Diebomb. Go, Danny. Ah, Danny. Cool. So, C's in the books. Sam, what letter do you want?

E. Oh, interesting. I hate me you to go for D. I know, that's why I've done it. I've rattled you. I've front of a cap at you in the cool-down room. He's absolutely done it. E stands for engine.

Most teams use one, has been the only exception. So McLaren had highly successful stints with Honda and Mercedes. They used Honda engines from 1988 to 1992. and then they used Mercedes engines from 1995 all the way to 2014. Between those two highly successful stints, they had a few iffy years between 92 and 95, where they used two different engine manufacturers.

Can you tell me either of them? Ford. Ford is one of them. Well done. Yes, I am on it today. Can you tell me what the other one was out of interest? I'll take a punt and say Rengo. Harry?

Any idea? No, I know he's already said Ford. I don't know. Perjo, was it all? I was never getting that. Pujo! Bloody Pujo!

Ford in 93 and then Peugeot in 94, then they picked up Mercedes and they did a few good things with them. So E, that's in the books. Harry, scores two all. What do you like next? Could I have D, please?

Oh, boring. Sam, you've played a blinder here because by not following the streak, you've managed to avoid the true or false question. What is today? What a day this is. This is true or false, Harry.

D stands for Denmark. That is true, by the way. That's not the question. D definitely does stand for Denmark. Denmark has hosted True or false. Denmark has hosted one Grand Prix. True or false.

I've glad I didn't get this No idea False Sam what would you have gone for out of interest Oh you can mug me off then I've probably said true just for fun Well that is very much 50-50 Because it is of course false

Um Denmark has never hosted a Grand Prix Five left Anything from F down to J Sam Which one would you like? Aye. This is your favourite driver.

Good old Jackie Hicks. In the Williams! Oh, controversial. So Jackie Hicks finished runner-up in the driver's championship twice. Can you name either of the teams that he did it with? Oh, God. Is it Williams?

Oh, please, they'll get me Williams. Am I had a clue? Can you be nice? Okay, both of these teams raced in the 1960s and 1970s. 1969 and 1970 were the years he did in. I'll give you that clue. I can't rethink that he raced for two teams,

and Williams is one of them. Brabham, as the other team that I'm aware of that he raised for. so you turn down Williams for Brabham and we're just confirming that Williams is a meme it's a meme okay so it's not William's that if it's Williams I'm leaving the I'm leaving the recording if it's Williams I will leave the recording if he's dang it with Williams Brabham is a correct answer well long um

yes 1969 was Brabom then he did it with Ferrari in 1970 nice oh I didn't know he got wrong with Ferrari got on Jackie yeah good effort Jackie mate good effort good effort top job we've got four left

and unbelievably all six have been answered correctly to this point so Harry you can have F, G, H or J I go for H please H for Harry

surely he's going to work right Shoker Shoker H stands for helmet as in MET rather than MUT just to be clear on that one Helmet

Helmet Helmut this is a finish the quote question actually. So this is from Kimmy Reichenen. This is what he said. The helmet has a special meaning for many drivers. Sorry, this is the interview question.

The question is the helmet has a special meaning for many drivers. How important is it to you? What was Kimmy Reikinen's answer to that question? Does he say, it just protects my head? It protects my head is the correct answer. Think of the most simple answer ever and you'll get a Kimmy answer. Wow. It was either going to be, it protects my head or it isn't.

That was a 50-50, I feel. The helmet has a special meaning for many drivers. How important is it to you? It protects my head. Oh, Kimmy. F, G or J. Sam, which one would you like? I'll go F, please. All right. F stands for Ferrari. No

And you'll be happy this one Jackie Ix is one of your favourite drivers This one trumps even Jackie X Because rumour has it You were held by this guy at one point I'm confirmed Eddie Irvine He won three races for Ferrari in

1999 Can you name one of them Oh no I can't I genuinely can't. Let's go for Spar. He did not win Spar, I'm afraid. Did not win Spar. Bloody Eddie, didn't whisper it in my ear, did he?

Come on, this is on Eddie, not on you, Sam. Harry, could you have named any? He won the 1999 German Grand Prix. Poor Mika Salo's never got over it. He did win the German Grand Prix. after Mika Salo had to move out the way for him. Oh, poor Minker. The other two, the Australian Grand Prix,

won the season opener, and he also won the Austrian Grand Prix in a battle against D.C. Sam's other favourite driver. Wings every race around Belgium, essentially. Yeah, Australia is right next door, mate. But Austria and Germany, are you bloody idiots? Australia definitely isn't.

That one. Ingo or that one. I know that. Ingo that one. You part of the decision to make Australia part of the Eurovision song contest. I was the only person they asked. I said, isn't that right extra Belgium? He's on to something, eh? Let's put them in. Harry, you can wrap up the win if you can get this next one right. But is it G or J you're going for?

I'll go for G, please. G. G stands for Gnae. Mark Jeney. Oh, Marky boy. Yeah. Janay raced 36 times between 19,99 and 2004, and he raced for two teams.

I need you to name both of them. Oh. You. Forest Gump. Little whippersnapper. One of them is Williams, I believe. And what were the years? Between 1999 and 2000.

I don't know. The other one was Minardy. Oh, he's plucked it out of finesse. It is actually Minardi. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of this. I'm afraid regardless of what happens on this final question, Sam. It is game over.

Harry's managed to nail five out of five today. But Jay is... Is it the Irvine's fault? Jay is for Jedder. Oh, that's relatively modern. Yes, it is. Near Belgium, I heard. Spar and Jeddah basically attach onto one another.

It's great. Belgium's huge. How many cars retired from the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? Oh, I don't know. It doesn't matter. So I'm going to say six cars retired. It's a good guess. Five.

Oh. Oh. They were... One off, just like my chances to wing anything in life. Mick Schumacher, which kind of kicked off all the carnage that ensued as a result of that. Russell, Mazepin, Perez all got caught up in the incident after the safety car, and Vettel was just a bit of a pinball machine all day, and he retired as well. Well, do you say Mazapin then?

Yeah, he retired, didn't he? Yeah. I thought you didn't say it. Oh, yeah. I remember him smashing into the back of Latifi. Yeah. So, Harry, very well done. Another win for you.

I'm sick of it. Thank you. Oh, God. Sorry, sorry. Sorry, headphone users. Harry is throwing away the wing. This is why you can't have more than more person on the soundboard. Sorry, sorry, go with the jingle.

All right, I'll go with the jingle. A to K to Z. Well, what could the answer be? Time to play. Formula One! Alphabeti! Should we come back next week? Nah.

All right, that's the end of the podcast then, folks. Sorry about that. That's been fun. I reckon we'll be back with another episode next week. But until then, Sam, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of here. Folks, can you pinpoint where Belgium is on the world map? Let me know. Everywhere.

It's a bit of Belgium. They'll always be Belgium. Anyway, folks, I hope you've enjoyed the podcast. Thank you for the support in the off season, by the way. You are absolutely smashing the listens, the downloads. Just a fun fact for you. We've had more listens in January than we got on October. And October was a very good monk for us.

So you are having a lovely time. And so are we. So that's good. If you'd like to join in further, Discord. loads of people in there now. We're doing another quiz. that Ben rang it was very good. Ming Harry won.

You know who led that team. They called me Sammy Fast Fingers because I just had to cue to the answers. They definitely don't. Come and join us over on Twitter. At our breaking, Instagram, like breaking. Please get involved. All the socials, if you just want to have a little chat some more.

We love to hear from you. Yeah, we'll back next week. Anything going on next week, Ben? I need to mention specifically. Good. All right, folks. In the meantime, I've been Sammy the same. I've been bed hockey.

I did Sammy Fastingers. Remember, keep breaking late. Where is Belgium? Find more great shows or join the team at sport-ssocial.com. Cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.