The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Which team has the best livery?

Episode Date: February 21, 2020

With 9 of the 10 F1 teams having released their 2020 liveries, the guys ponder over who has the best and who has the worst! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Make sure to look out for new episodes every Thursday and Grand Prix Sundays. Hello and a very warm welcome. This is the late breaking. Formula One podcast. We are just after the first day of testing, so it really does feel like the F1 season is just around the corner. Sam and Harry are with me. I'm Ben Hocking.

Guys, how are you feeling tonight? It's good to have some cars back on the old screen. It is. It feels like it's been a, like the ice age has come over, and we're finally seeing the first rays of warm sunlight hit us, and those rays are painted with the F1 theme tune. Yeah, we're thawing out. Thowing out after winter.

Yeah, that's a really lovely way of putting it, actually. And it is strangely accurate, too. So we are going to be talking a little bit about testing a little later on. We're going to be looking at Imola. Of course, they have submitted an application to replace, or at least go in the space of the Chinese Grand Prix, which has been postponed. But first of all, we're going to pimp my F1.

Now, for those of you might not know what that means, we're going to be looking at all of the liveries. We do now know what nine of the ten liveries look like. Renaud, sort it out. But we're going to be reviewing those liveries. We're going to be looking at which is the best, which is the worst, most improved and the most disappointing. So I think we should start with the positives.

We are a positive channel after all. We'll start with the best. Harry, of all of the liveries you've seen, which one do you think stands out the most? So the one that is the best or my favourite is, and I feel like this will divide opinion, but I'm going to go with the Williams and a lot of people have made toothpaste jokes

ourselves included, I think, on that one. But I think it's just old school, lots of blobs of colour, nothing too fancy, just looks striking, looks good, and yeah I like it a lot and already there's a sense that it's going to be a better year for Williams and I think that just adds to the niceness of that livery so yeah Williams for me for the for the best this year and I feel like that's going to cause some controversy I think it is one that split opinion across the board

but yeah we'll see what myself and Sam think about the Williams livery in just a bit and I mean with the whole rocket sponsorship we kind of figured that at some point they were going to get red on the car but I think we can safely say they did a better job of getting red on this car than the last time they tried it about 20 years ago. Yeah, they've learned their mistakes from 1998. It's good to see. They've not ruined it this time.

So congrats, William. They have got a livery that does look as if it belongs to a back marker from the late 90s. So, I mean, the back... And that's all we ever want from F1 livery. So let's be... Yeah, yeah. Sam, which one?

is your favourite? Well, I'm going to comment on the Williams quickly. I'm going to save it for another category. You've got coming up. I won't say which one, but I am getting pure BAR with the zip down the middle kind of vibes, you know, split on two different liveries in one car, which is really interesting to see. It's a bit of a different take on a livery. And everyone knows I proper love livery reveal the season. I'm a big fan of the design and the way they looks. So, favourite, this is tough, actually, because I have not been wowed across the livery reveal this year. There's a lot of very similar deliveries

to last year. I must admit, I'm a bit of a secret lover for just the all-black Renault, but I'm not going to count that because it's not a true livery. So I think for me, the Alpha Tauri takes it

just because it's just so sleek. It's just gorgeous. It's simple. I love minimalist designs. You know, one block colour. Really enjoy that. I out of the three of us, and actually a lot of the F1 community,

didn't love the Toro Rosso livery as much as everyone else loved it, liked it, didn't love it. So I really enjoyed this turnaround. Their racuits are gorgeous as well. I think in terms of race suit comparison, they're second to the McLaren race suits, which are also absolutely lovely. But for me, the Alfa Tauri takes it. I think that will also spread a peat. I think that is a love-hate livery. I think people either have gone all-eeing and gone, this is dropped their gorgeous. People are going, ah, spalling, don't like it. Weirdly, I'm going to say, actually, I'm not with either of those and I'm somewhere in the middle, but yeah sorry just to ruin your whole point.

I'm actually going to start by, and I hate saying this, I'm actually going to have to agree with something that Sam has said. I know. Almost sick of my mouth. It happens everywhere I go. Someone agrees with me because vomit. I'm sorry. You've got to love it.

The point that I'm agreeing on is that none of the cars actually wowed me this season. I feel like there is, and we'll get on to worse livery in a bit as well. There were none that made me go wow. And at the same time, there were none that made me think, oh, wow, that's horrific. My eyes hurt. So I think it was a bit of a middling season for liveries overall. I am actually going to insert another name into the freight. I'm going to say that my favorite one was the McLaren livery.

I think it was a fairly solid one compared to last year. I did like the 2019 one as well. And, I mean, I was a big fan of the Torosolivary, and I think that was one of my favorites over the last few years. Now that's gone. And Renault was probably my other favorite one, and we don't know what that's going to look like yet. So it's kind of opened the gap for McLaren to kind of be my favorite one of the lot.

I think one of the main differences visually between the cars this year is that the really skinny noses that we're seeing is not suiting some of the cars, But I think it looked all right on the McLaren. And overall, I like the matter of finish. Yeah, I really enjoy the McLaren. So I'm going to pick that one. My issue with McLaren is not necessarily the livery. It's how they've done the numbers.

It's the same with the Williams, actually. I'm finding it really difficult to see the car's numbers, especially on the nose. I saw Sciences 55 today. It's really kind of almost not there. It's almost just lined onto the livery. And I miss the extra splash of blue they had. They've reduced the blue. I liked the contrast of the two there.

So McLaren's great. The papaya is wonderful, but I think they've lost the impact of driver recognition with the new liver. Interesting point. So we have got all three of us selecting different teams as our favourite livery, which is, it's always good when we disagree with one another. It happens enough, but we still enjoy it when it happens. From the very best, we're going to go down to the very worst. Sam, who do you think has the worst livery on the grid? I can't believe you're saying this. I think. last year, I may have given them the best livery. I can't remember who I said, but they were definitely in my top three. Mercedes has managed to put a small blemish of colour onto their car, and now I absolutely hate it. When you have an iconic livery, you just need to make tiny little adjustments, and that's what they've done over the years. The Mercedes has always looked gorgeous, it's been understated, but strong, it's being iconic in the way it looks, and now they've

gone, put red on it. That, Illinois Ferrari. Put some red on it. I get they've done it for a sponsor, so I understand the reasoning why. That's all in L'Alai Ferrari. That's the genuine reason why Mercedes puts some red on their car. That's it. That's it. They've gone, that will really irritate him when we go to Monsa.

So put red on it. And then I think... The first of you won't know who to support. Exactly. I get confused. I really hope that someone, one of the engineers, is walking and seeing it and going, you've got red on you. And there's a short of...

on the dent reference, by the way, I think I did it. So, yeah, for me, it's gone from being one at the top. It just looks tacky and a bit rubbish, and I disapprove. So for me, unfortunately, the same is the ugliest car on the grid.

I feel like we, I'm trying to do some quick calculations in my head, which is never a good thing. But I think we've got more cars on the grid this year that have read them don't. I think we've got at least, so it's has, Alpha Romeo, Ferrari, Red Bull, Bit of Red, Mercedes,

and someone else that I think I've forgotten. Williams as well. So I think we've got more teams on the grid now that have red than don't, which is a bit disappointing, I guess. Too much red. And someone can tell me once in the frocks, I'm sure. I thought they had to be more separate with colours.

I thought there had to be like an agreement that you can't share the same major colour. and a lot of white and a lot of red are really present on the grid and I was hoping that that would not be allowed. So whether they've just decided to wind me up the entire F1 community is possible or they've just had a massive hash of things.

Someone let me know please in the comments. What about when McLaren and Mercedes were both silver? That was also ridiculous, but they were two of the most beautiful cars we'd seen this century. In fairness, I mean, yeah, I think the Ferrari and obviously, obviously the Mercedes isn't really predominantly red,

but I think we could get a scenario where, say, the Haas, the Alpha Romeo and the Williams, if you get them at the certain angle, they're actually going to be pretty difficult to tell a part this year, at least from a first glance, obviously once you look a bit closer into it, you'll be able to tell the difference. But anyway, so Mercedes is Sam's worst livery

after possibly putting it as his best livery last year. Harry, who was your worst livery of the year? now it's my turn to vomit now because I have to agree with Sam I don't know what it is about adding the tiniest bit of red to that Mercedes but it just doesn't work I just don't like it

and like Sam I like their new look actually with like the individual stars on the rear of the car but yeah I don't know what it is the red what they're playing at I think if they had it in red writing

on the silver it would have a little better, but the red like blob just doesn't work, lads. So I am sorry, but it's got to go to Merck. And it's like the tiniest reason ever. The thing is, like, I'm trying to put this in sort of context of Ferrari.

So, I mean, Mercedes have always been traditionally silver. It still obviously is silver, but that splash of red, just imagine if there was a splash of blue on the Ferrari, how much it would be ridiculed. It looked ridiculous, and I think this is the same scenario. It's so controlled.

It doesn't make any sense, I have to be honest. If they simply just made the halo, like a really deep red, I think I almost prefer it, but they've almost not agreed on where they've splashed these slightly rust red lines across the car. It just doesn't look good. They did the halo red in red for Monica last, didn't they? Yeah, and it looks really nice, I remember.

Yeah. Without meaning to defend Mercedes too much, I don't particularly like it either and in fact all teams I feel as if with the launches all of the lighting was really bad for nearly every single launch and they actually look better in real life

I actually think the Mercedes looks slightly better on track than it did in that launch but I think just all of the launches no one nailed the lighting for it I feel like I think you're exactly right and I think what's happened is sayies have gone no sponk so we've got a bit of red

us. Hello everyone. We're red now. And they put so much emphasis on that on the launch. It became overly obvious. It stood out way too much. When the car's going to 200 miles an hour, you can't really see it too much. But they've also changed the way the patroness logo looks. They've changed where the turquit blue flows.

It just all looks a little bit like they had a fantastic designer do it last year and how they've asked a BTEC student trying to get his GCSE to do it for them instead. Oh, wow. I mean, Sam insults another section of society with some comments. It's a Wednesday, everyone.

You know it's going to happen. I'm going to spice things up, actually. I'm not going to put Mercedes, although I have already referenced that I don't really like it very much. This one might be a bit controversial. I'm going to go with Red Bull. To be honest, I've never been a massive fan of the Red Bull livery full stop, but they've made literally no changes this year whatsoever.

And it is going back to that nose and the really narrow noses of these cars. It just doesn't work with the Red Bull. Red Bull, it really doesn't. And I think it looks a bit ugly. I was hoping, I mean, I hope every single year that Red Bull are going to just spice things up a little bit. I mean, they give us an insight usually with some sort of testing livery, which they haven't even bothered with this year. And you just see so many concept, so many livery concepts throughout the year for Red Bull

involving white and just what they could do. And they always come back with the same thing. I understand it. I understand that they're trying to build the history of the Red Bull livery in the same way that Mercedes and Ferrari have got it. Something just doesn't do it for me year on year. But usually I always think it's sort of a middle of the pack thing. I don't even necessarily really dislike this livery. It's just like I said earlier, there's none that I think are out and out rubbish.

So I've kind of got to go for one that's just a bit, eh. And for me, that's Red Bull. You know what, Ben, I agree with you entirely. And I think more vomit, everyone, I think that what they should do is keep the red ball, keep the yellow front and end and change the bluey purple color, which starts to just look like nothing at the moment. It's not black, it's not blue. It's just an awkward in between color and just make that white.

If they hang on white, red and yellow color, I think that would be so interesting to look at, and it spites it up a little bit. And I think, yeah, the red ball started just blend into the background. Yes, technically it's iconic who it's been around for a long time. That doesn't mean it's good. That doesn't mean it's fantastic. Jaguar was there for, what, two years, and that lovely green with HSBC on it?

That looks bloody lush, and that was only there for two years, and I might prefer that back on the grid. So, sorry, Red Bull. Yeah, you're in my bottom two or three for that as well. So, yeah. I had a point, actually. We really miss green on the grid. Just, we need green.

Yes, agreed. If we still had, if Jaguar did more than whatever three years, so they did the same as Red Bull, would you be bought by? Because I love that leverie so much. Yeah, I mean, we did a video, I don't know if you guys remember, maybe a year ago, maybe longer now, about what colour is the best colour on a race car. And we agreed all three of us that green was the best colour.

It was green, then yellow, then red we went for. That green was gorgeous. I mean, did it have the gold tyres? Yeah, to be fair, gold tyres should be a rule. I love them. Yeah, I know I've been trying to go tyres. don't get him. He hates them, everyone. I'm not, I'm not a fan of the gold tire. But in terms of the green point, I mean, there's a reason our logo is green. We understand color, you know,

I really appreciate how, I really appreciate how just one podcast per year we turn into these epic designers who apparently know exactly what they're talking about. And then that's usually about it for the year. We'll move on to the next one, which is most improved livery. Harry, who you got for this one? This is niche, but I feel like in the nerdy world of F1, it's a worthy reason. I'm going to go for McLaren, and there's only one very small reason why they've painted their halo orange, oh, sorry, papaya, and that is all. I'll just leave it there. It's just better. Should have done it years ago, but thank you McClaren for doing that. You're the most improved. Fair point, well made. Sam, who have you got for most improved?

Well, I am going to talk about the Williams livery, like I suggested earlier. It was going to win a category for me. It's gone from being a repulsive livery. So the changes are relatively subtle, and yet it's worked so well. It is a good-looking car. I really, really enjoy seeing it. It looks great out on track. For me, it's up there in the top three or four, and it was so far last season.

The Williams looks really, really strong. I'm really enjoying seeing it on track. and their race suits look fantastic as well. It's a really good look for Williams. And I just feel more positive about it already about the team. Something being good looking makes you go, I've got a good feeling about this. Yeah, I'm actually also going to go for Williams. I really like the turnaround that they've done this year.

I was fairly vocal with how I thought it was a load of rubbish last year. And they've created something really nice. I know it does split opinion. I think this one probably more than any other is in either you love it or you you hate it kind of thing. But I'm definitely in the love casquerie. I think they've done a really nice job. Anyone with Colgate or Aquafresh or any other toothpaste brands,

all of those jokes can get in the bin. It is a great looking car. End of peace. Get in the bin, everyone. Just anyone who's making Colgate and Aquafresh jokes. Everyone's making them. Right. I tweeted on my personal account, not the late breaking account,

that I am sick to death of toothpaste jokes. So being here for over 12 months now. I think it's really unoriginal, and really boring. So this is actually a serious message from me. Stop with the toothpaste jokes. Please. Come up with something.

I love how you are 99% of the time not serious. And the 1% of the time you do get serious regards toothpaste. I am a complex man. aren't we all? Moving on to the most disappointing livery on the way. Not necessarily the worst one, but just the one you feel a bit let down by. Harry, who have you got for this one? Sorry, Sam. It's Alfortoy. And I feel like this is going to be more controversial than a Williams choice. And this is specifically because of the category it's in, disappointed by, There was a lot of hype behind what this livery was going to be.

There was some graphite teaser things, like the hexagon stuff. Where's that gone? But I like, I do like the aftoy. Sorry, are we saying Tori or Towery? Okay, Tori does. Alvatori. I do like the Aftoy livery. It's just not what I hoped it would be.

And I just, I don't know, there's a bit of me, just thinks, damn, you were so close to something really good. That said, racco suits love. Good job Alphatori fashion. Well, they are fashion designers, aren't they? But yeah, just a little bit disappointed by it. But that does mean I don't like it. Please do not hurt me, Alvatori fans. I'm a sound who have you got. I mean, if Alfortori will send me one of those racuits, I will happily wear it literally anywhere that I go. And I will document it for you because I think they are so lush. for me, most, is what we said, most disappointing?

Letdown, biggest letdown, right? Me, I'm the biggest letdown. Yes, it's Sam. I'm livery. Part of my rules to say Rengo, because they just didn't turn up with a livery. But that's got really fair, so I won't say them. I'm going to go with Haas, because Haas had an absolute hilarious nightmare of a season last year in terms of both sponsor, tried to survive, it was fantastic.

and it all fell apart for them. They went from an iconic combination that we saw obviously on the Lotus a long time ago. They'd go play a special car which is one of the most iconic F-1 cars of all time and they are pretty much the first team

to mimic that color pattern the golden black. And it wasn't great. It was good. I liked it. It wasn't fantastic. Obviously, due to rich energy. And they turned up here

and they've literally gone to the same bloody livery as two years ago. Now, I don't mind the color scheme. I get that that is. the Gene Haas, color scheme, you know,

it's been around a long time. I've got no issue with that. But you could have just done something a bit more. It's just black, white with a red Chevron on it again. And it's just, I was excited to see them go, let's just gum out of their guns blazing.

Let's do something completely new. Let's mix it up. I know, let's put stars and stripes over everything. I don't know what's going on over there, but they just Google done something a bit exciting, a bit different. And it's just a bit boring. So for me,

yeah, Haas are probably the biggest letdown. I think the only thing that's normally putting harsh in there is because they continually have that rubbish livery. So I don't even feel let down with them anymore. It's just like I have low expectations and they met them. I do actually, I agree with the point that they could go all out and go proper stars and stripes, red, white, blue, you know, proper American. Mark. Exactly.

I do get that. I actually quite like the house this year. I think it's... I do. I think it's the best... I think it's the best black, white, red one they've ever done. I actually quite like it. It's actually in my top half, I think.

I'm not going to go for the Alpha Tauri, even though I do agree with the points you made, Harry. I think the racets do look lovely. I don't think the car looks quite as nice as most people think it does. At the same time, I'm not overly disappointed by that one. This is where I will put Mercedes. I actually think last year's Mercedes was so nice compared to previous years.

The 2014-15-16 Mercedes was absolutely fine. It was okay. But I still felt as if it was in need of some sort of a refresh. Not even just a brand new template to go off, but just something that, yeah, just something that adapts it, just to keep it a bit fresh. And they did that. And it looked really good last year. And the red on it just looks rubbish. And I do think that on circuit, it does look a bit better than it does in the launch. In the launch, I thought, good God, this is terrible. Saw it on circuit. I'm like, it's slightly better. But it's still a massive disappointment. It just doesn't fit. It doesn't work.

Mercedes have got their colour scheme. If you really want to, to change from that, go all out. Don't just put a bit of red on it because you've got a new sponsor. I feel as if they could have integrated it much better, ideas that you've already given for that. Just a splodge of red paint on the top just doesn't work. So for mostly the same reasons you gave, disappointing one for me as Mercedes. What's really funny about Mercedes with the red is that Lewis Hamilton, who was transitioned from the classic Sena yellow helmet went to red for quite a long time, maybe four or five years. His helmet's bloody purple. For the first year in his entire career, the car will match his helmet and he hasn't got the

same colour. He's gone, oh, I've done with red. Red don't look good anymore. I say he's like, oh, but before Red was cool. It's like they turned up in the background in a new red jacket, and Hamilton has turned up the first day of scoring and yet in a purple one. And they've gone, on us on Instagram and Twitter. Until next time. It's going to go ahead. It's annoying me. It's like he's turned up to school and non-uniform day in a uniform. Exactly. With a red cap.

No, next year, the Mercedes livery is literally going to look like Barney the dinosaur. It's going to be that purple. I would prefer that if that was the case. And Hamilton has not a helmet again. Exactly. This is destined to happen. I think we might have given this love last week. I think myself and Sam, Harry, I don't think you're as keen on it,

but Lewis Hamilton's new helmet is straight. up fire. Nah, in a bin. Pure flames. Pure flames. Only flames will be the bin. It's a bonfire bin and I'll be burning it. Right, folks, we're just going to put a trademark on that, the new bonfire bin. Yeah, I'm sure that's going to sell well.

Should we move on to our next topic? Of course, the Chinese Grand Prix, thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, has been postponed. They're looking for a date later in the calendar year to put that race, but at least in its traditional spot of just after Australia, it has been postponed. And, sorry, just after Bahrain, I should say. So Imola has stepped forward saying, you know what, we'll take it on. We've got a circuit. You can drive your cars around here if you like, which is very nice of them.

And it does open up the prospect of going around the circuit for the first time in 15 years. Sam, do you think this is a good move? Do you think Liberty Media should get all over this? So fair play to Imola, who was ever at the marketing team for Imola, that went, oh, shall we do it? And then they went, oh, that's not a bad idea. Clay Riggas only sat there on the back seat. Realistically, I think, sorry everyone, I think that realistically,

it's a fantastic idea to put themselves forward. Do I think that if we were to get a replacement track, that's the right track for Formula One to go to for the current generation of cars? No, and I also don't think that Imala has kept up with the safety standards needed. They're not saying it's not far off, but it hasn't really evolved a lot in coming times. It doesn't host a lot of modern races anymore either. So as much as I love the idea of a historic circuit, like Imala going, yeah, go on, give it a one off, we'll do it, we'll give it a go. And it's a fantastic idea.

Imola, for me, is not the right track to take that on. But we'd love to go back to Wilma at some point if they decide to catch themselves up. What do you think on this matter? Yeah, with Sam on the sheer audacity of the team at Imala to go, do you know what? I've got a great idea. Let's put our name in the hat for this postponed race. I love it.

And the dreamer, the F1 Romantic in me, would plead Liberty Media to make this happen, but I'll be realistic. I don't think it's going to happen. like Sam says, I think, I don't think in some terms of the safety standards they're there, but I just think in terms of what kind of spectacle we'd get, it wouldn't be good enough, because Imala's an old school narrow track, and it wasn't we were last there in 2006, and the cars have got substantially quicker and bigger, bigger since we were last there. So I just don't think we'd have a great race, and then we'd leave, perhaps, with a sour taste in her mouth,

and I don't really want that, especially for Imla. It's had enough bad. I had luck put over his name over the years. So, yeah, I would love it. I don't see it happening. But I've been shocked before, as I have we all, in F1. I think if you're forcing me to bet one way or the other oddness, I'm definitely betting on it not happening rather than it going ahead.

But like you say, rightfully so, fair play to Imola for going ahead with this and trying to make something happen. I think it's a win-win for them. Ultimately, either it goes ahead and great, they get a Grand Prix. for the first time in 15 years, or they have at least put themselves forward as a potential prospect in future years. Rather than us make videos and we do sort of circuit videos a lot of the time and we have dream calendars and things along those lines, and we'll say, Imala, great circuit, had some

great races there. Shame we're not there anymore. Rather than just having that discussion, we're now talking about it now and we can talk about it in future saying, well, they were ready to step in at the last minute to host a Grand Prix. What if they actually get a proper bid together a season in advance? So I think this is great innovative thinking from Imola. I think probably the reason, and I don't even think the spectacle would be the reason that it would be turned down. I think the nostalgia of it or would be enough at least to carry it for this one year, even if the racing wasn't brilliant.

I think the reason it won't happen is because of the fee. I don't think they have admitted themselves. They wouldn't be able to pay the fee of a normal European race because quite simply they don't have the time to sell the necessary tickets. It makes sense. Obviously, most of the time you've got a year in advance. These guys would have not much more than a month. So they would have to settle for a lesser fee

and I'm not sure Liberty Media would be up for it, which is a shame because the logistics work, they're going to the Netherlands anyway in the following race. So it would be a shame if it didn't happen, but realistically, I think that's where you go with it. Just to put something else in the works as well. This hasn't been rumoured or discussed at all, but it's something I was thinking of earlier.

If it was going to be another race that went in the space of China, what about Sepang? They're in that area anyway. But they might have the same issues as China in terms of... I don't know. I mean, there doesn't seem to be any problems with Vietnam. That seems all okay. Yeah, true. I mean, I have to go to Sepang. I'm sad that it's not on the calendar already. Yeah, well, it hasn't been rumoured, so don't expect that to happen, but just a thought. Sam, would you like to see them return to Sapang?

I am a big lover of Sapang. Also, first mate, get down Aussie land. Was that your Australian accent? No, that was my Southwest accent. Right. To talk about Backurst, of course. I could do voiceovers all over the world, if not. Anyway,

I don't think F1 would be good at Bathurst. I would just like to see F1 cars going round Bathurst. Realistically, if we're going to have to stick to what is a modern possible circuit that can accommodate F1 here and now, the racing weather would be good or not. So, thanks a fantastic shout. I'd love to maybe do...

to India one more time. And if we're going to go European, then the only track I could think of that makes any sense is the Nerva. Yeah, they can't afford it either. A lot of it's going to come down to fees and just sort of the logistics of being able to essentially set up a race in a month.

It would be disappointed. And in terms of China, obviously they're looking to put that later in the calendar in the year. But I don't think there's any potential place. that they can put it where we don't have like four or five races back to back, which obviously from an F1 fan's perspective, fantastic, from the team's perspective. I think that's a bit overkill though.

I've come up with a new idea, lads. China is now the season finale. I did see that discussed actually. And I mean, I've got no love for Abu Dhabi, so I would be on board with it. But I can't imagine the good people of Yasmarina are going to be very happy with that. I mean, they say yes in their name, so it's fine. Not how negotiation works. That'll be why I don't have a job anymore. I've seen that one of the possibilities is a truncated weekend as well. I guess that's possibly as an experiment for the future, but

if they're trying to squeeze it in, have it as a two-day weekend as opposed to a three-day weekend. Yeah, so that would be two practice sessions on Saturday and then qualifying Sunday morning and the race in the afternoon. So, yeah, it would be interesting to at least trial that out. Yeah, we'll see what happens with it. Of course, understand the reason that they've postponed it, completely agree with it that the safety of everyone involved should be the number one priority. So we'll just have to see if it happens later in the year. Now, you might be listening to this whilst the second day of testing is going on,

perhaps the third day of testing. We are literally a few hours removed from the first day of testing being all wrapped up. I thought we'd discuss that for a few minutes. Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes ended up being quickest on the day, the only driver into the 116s. The Mercedes duo also did the most number of laps for a team at 173. Harry, is there anything from today's testing that really stuck out? No.

The racing point stuck out like a sore thumb because it's quite clearly last year's Mercedes. It now stuck out for Stappan had a few spins. I think the reliability of these cars is, is so good now. I saw Karin Chandalt tweet to say they should just have like three days. Obviously, they're really different this time next year

because I want all the days they can get. But yeah, we've had no breakdowns on day one. I don't think we had even had a red flag. Oh, where or no? So, yeah, it's not been a memorable first test. Yeah, there were a couple of spins, like I said. but yeah, you know, it's testing. But, you know, Mercedes doing their classic,

we're going to do as many laps as possible tactic. It was not unexceptive. I mean, interestingly, this time out, they've actually got the fastest time to go with it. I mean, last year we were looking at Mercedes a long way down the timings. I mean, it's just another reason that you can't really take these times

as anything serious. But, yeah, it's interesting to see the contrast between this year and last year. did anything stick out for you at all? Many things stuck out, as much as the fact that testing is really boring and they should literally get like one day to do some running and that's it. Amazingly, we're into the one-sixthings around Catalonia, not even on pure top-level track conditions either.

We're not in the summertime in Europe. The track is not rubber-ding. It's pretty green. And we're doing 116s. I remember when we were doing like low-120s only a few years ago. This is incredible levels of speed that these cars have. confirm then that if Mercedes are fastest in testing, they will be the slowest car when we get to Melbourne. Can't wait for that.

And it looks like the Ferrari have got this new feature on their car, right? Which is they're putting bags on their car and those bags are filled with sand. So I'm hoping that maybe they might remove those come the first reason. We should coin a term for that. Yeah, that'd be good. What about? Bag sands. Yes.

Love it. So, I mean, they are bag sands. Sanding, is that right? Yeah, I think that's what we're going to have to go for. I think they are stalling themselves to not give away a true impression of how they'll be at the first race of the season. Bag sanding is what I shall now coin this phrase. I have one more thing that they did stick out that I forgot about, which was their old

team, Wally, they were the first people on the track. George Ross was already, has he gone faster than he did last year? Yeah, quite a bit of that. Yeah, so I don't know that doesn't say much because this time last year they're in a complete mess, but Fassan did this year, last year, and he also, he's also been pretty positive about the car. They basically said last year he was purging himself, and this year he actually likes driving it, so that's good. Oh, another thing, another thing, Nano Perez, Nano Checo, has got a massive weight advantage. No wonder he's so high up the rankings when he's half the size of a normal man.

He did faster than his quality run from last in 2019. I mean, it's a clever strategy to go, that was the championship winning car. We were a midfield team. The team that won last year, if we literally copy their car, Sentiment by centimeter, it should be fairly good. I feel like we probably haven't heard the last of the racing point Mercedes comparisons. They certainly were fairly obvious on the eye. So, yeah, we'll see what comes out of that.

Yeah, as you've already mentioned, the reliability of the teams was really incredible. Obviously, last year we had a team that didn't even show up for the first day, a few seasons before. McLaren were basically sat in the garage for nearly complete days. And out there today, every single team, either through one driver or two, did a combined total of 100 laps and the likes of Mercedes into 173. But every single team went over the 100 mark, which I don't know if that happened at all during the 2019 testing days.

So it's a real reminder that the reliability is at such an incredible level these days. And like you say, actually, not only were Williams the first ones out and they were much quicker. Russell, I think he completed more laps today than he did in the entire sort of first test last time. Obviously, they were late to that as well. But it's just it's the pace. It's also the number of laps and the fact that they're there. I'm not saying this is a turnaround for Williams, but the signs are at least more encouraging than what they were last year. Again, is that much of an achievement?

Maybe not, but it's something nonetheless. And just to pick up on the last point, really, Max Verstappen, he made a few comments after testing today. He did a large number of laps as well. He was very complimentary about his car. In an era where every single team seems to want to take the spotlight away from, from themselves and say they aren't the quickest. The comments were quite interesting from Vastappen. Harry, do you think that they can be taken at face value?

I think Max loves a bit of mind games. He's already him and Lewis have had a few digs at each other in the off season. But you say that. I also saw Ockon said that he only had the morning in the Renault, and he said that it was the most grip he'd ever had an F-1 guy. And bear in mind, he was testing last year's Merck. So, yeah, you know, you've got to take it with a pinch of salt these comments. But I think the Red Bull is going to be up there this year for sure.

Because Max did a huge amount of laps, a lot of things. So, yeah, interesting tactic. I think between Hamilton and Max this year could be very interesting, both on and off the track. It's definitely a fight we want to see. Should we wrap it up there? I think we've covered testing. Of course, we'll see more as the days unfold. and of course during the second test as well.

Sam, would you mind getting us out of here? Sorry, I'll be in a graph of cake. Oh, for God's sakes. Yeah, I'll finish it. Right. Anyway, getting us out of here. Go on, maybe we should do testing. If you've enjoyed the podcast, folks,

then please recommend it to someone. It'd be nice to get some new people involved in the community. Any interactivity really helps to grow the channel. Leave a like, do subscribe if you haven't already. It's always fantastic you're having around. Of course, we are starting the new season, so many more videos of podcasts to come later on in the year. In the meantime, I've been talking to sake. And remember, keep breaking late.

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