The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Will Sainz beat Leclerc in his FINAL Ferrari season?! | 2024 Teammate Wars

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

It's that time of year again... the LB boys share their 2024 picks for who will come out on top of each intra-team battle for supremacy! FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes, historic race reviews & more! JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: Link to SIGN UP & create your team Link to JOIN our league (join code: C3PHEQHPU04) BUY our Merch EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE 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 check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. And a very warm welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. We have but one thing to talk about today, but it's a very exciting thing indeed, because it is time, everyone. It's teammate wars. Sam, you've got to be pumped.

I love Teammate Wars as resident champion of teammate wars. It's good to be returning to Holy Territory, to Golden Ground for me. Ben, of course, a regular winner of teammate wars. And typically one person's deciding not to turn up is the man who usually does always turn up, but he never wins. He's so sick of the same joke I make every year about him not winning that this year he's just gone, I'm not showing up. which I respect to an extent. Yeah. Yeah.

So Harry does send his apologies, but fortunately, you won't go the whole episode without hearing Harry Ead because he has put in his submissions for teammate wars. So there was no, he can't get off that easily.

And we've got a few audio clips that will play out throughout the show so you can find out what he's picked and ultimately what won't happen this season as a result of that. If you're new to teammate wars, we take all 10 teams.

It's a yearly tradition. we've done this ever since 2017, believe it or not, in one form or another. We take all 10 teams, and we very simply say, out of the two drivers in the teams, who will score the most points throughout the 2024 season. And then at the end of the season, we work out how many points we all have. It's a very simple game, but one that we enjoy doing every time. I say we, me and Sam, Harry probably not quite so much. As you'll, I'm sure, be able to tell there will be some easier and more difficult ones for us to judge,

we go through. And as ever, we will go in championship order from 2023 the previous year. So, naturally, that means we start with what has to be the most difficult decision of all. Red Bull, of course, Max Verstappen versus Sergio Perez for the fourth straight year, these teammates are going up against each other to give you a bit of history about how this battle's gone over the last three years. 2021, Vastappen won by 205.5 points. 2022 he won by 149 and then last year his biggest margin yet he won by 290 points over Sergio Perez I mean we'll try and build up the suspense I guess Sam but who have you got here and why well you talk about building suspense saying I don't want to shock the audience too early but I have

gone for Sergio Perez to finish behind Max Verstappen in this year's teammate wars it just feels like realistically is not going on it takes over a whole season. So triumph, one of the greatest talents that I think we've seen in Formula One. I think we are at the point where Max Rastappen can be credited with the title of one of the greatest of all time. He's got three titles to his name. I do think that realistically, if people start putting him in their top 10 drivers of all time, people put a longso in there and he's got more titles than Alonso to his name.

So I can't shrug at that. I can't dismiss that now with any evidence. So it's hard when you're someone like. Sergio Perez. We saw the lights with Lewis Hamilton, when, you know, Valtrey Bottas, for example, went up against him. Some people, albeit be very good drivers, just don't have the longevity, the consistency and that outright raw talent to just go up against the absolute tour de force that is Max Verstappen. So I think you'd be a bit of a silly, silly boy, or lady, if you were to put Sergio Perez as the person moving forward here, for me, it's got to be

Max Verstappen. I guess, I know that Harry's probably put Sergio Perez because he's destined to lose, but it is Max Verstappen. Yeah, I feel like your initial fake-out attempt, Sam. Might have worked on some other teams. Probably not for Red Bull, because history tells us not only is Vastappen winning this battle, but he's winning it fairly comfortably. Again, the closest that Sergio Perez has got was 2022, when Vastappen won by 149 points,

which if you put in race-win terms is essentially six race wins. So not all that close in other words. Max Verstappen over the last few years has just taken, and this isn't going to be groundbreaking news for anyone, but he's just taken his performance to a brand new level. Put it this way, over the last three years, Max Verstappen has 44 race wins. If you were to just take his last three years, that's it.

He would be fifth all time in terms of race wins, which for three years work, not too shabby. And indeed, as we often say, Max Verstappen, not too bad at the F1. I won't drag this out any further. I have unsurprisingly also got Max Verstappen. But I guess a question here, because we know that Perez, for 2025, at least,

does not have a contract guaranteed. And I know I ask this question of you every year, Sam, and every year Perez doesn't quite live up to the target that you give him, but how many points do you think that Perez needs to be behind Vastappan in order for it to be considered a good season from him? Yeah, it's tricky because you saw just how much Vestappen dominated last season and you've already mentioned the Wings stat to the Vostappen has picked up just over the last three years alone and that's, you know, we're missing out wings in that case.

So for Perez to have a solid season to looking at respectably, I think if he's 60 points behind Vestappen come the end of the year, 60 or 70 points come the end of the year. And that's saying that the Red Bullers as dominant as it was last year. Let's say that Verstappan, I don't know, doesn't do as well, picks up 14 wins this year instead of the record-breaking amount that he picked up last year. How poor.

Yeah, what a shocking season he'll think he's had when he walks away with another world title, I'm sure. But if Perez could be, you know, 70, 75 points away from Vastappen come that end of the year, pick up a couple more wings, you know, if he could be a little bit more of a regular on that top step. I do think he'll have had a good season. I would also like to see him solidify second place

a little earlier in the championship. Should it be that Red Bull are the dominant team that are going to win the championship again? I'd like it to be done before the last couple of the races at the season because that car was capable. I think Perez is capable.

If he gets his momentum, he gets his mindset, gets the motivation going. And it is hard to go up against someone like Max Verstappen. There's no doubt in that. And it's not an insult to Perez. He is a world-beater,

is Max Verstappen. But yeah, 70, 75 points, I think is a solid season from Sergio Perez. Yeah, that's the thing. I guess Vestappen could be like 50% worse. And Sergio Perez could be 50% better. And this is still going to be a comfortable win for Vestappen. And with that in mind, I think Perez, and we've discussed this before, obviously your teammate is your most accurate comparison point.

But I think going away from that a little bit and just focusing, on his own performance is likely going to be the best route for him, at least this season, just proving he can be that reliable second driver that they need to take them into the future as well as the present. I mean, my objective for Perez would be to just get closer than you have done the last three years. So as mentioned, 2022 is the closest that he's got 149 points behind. I think that should be the target, which on the one hand, you could say that's not overly ambitious to be 150 points behind your teammate. On the other hand, that would still be about twice as good as the margin ended up in 2023. So it would be a step in the right direction. And my honest

opinion is if we get a season that is similar, where Red Bull are dominant and Perez is 150 points behind, that is enough for Perez to get another year. I know he'd still be a long way off, but I think at that point, he'd have proven enough to be there, which it's difficult to know. exactly what the margin needs to be and the exact number needs to be. But yeah, I think overall, I would be very surprised if he gets better than 100 points off, although I'm sure he would take it. Yeah, I'm sure he would grab it with both hands if the offer produced itself. I do need to give a shout out to two individuals. I need to give a shout out to DJC 425, and I need to give a shout out to ESAI-17. Now, you're probably,

probably thinking, I'm sure both wonderful people, who on earth are they? The question is, the answer to that question is they are the two brave souls in our Discord poll that have gone for Perez over for Stappen. So we've actually asked the Discord, as we did last year, the exact same questions that we're answering here, which driver in each lineup is going to score more points? We put out that poll yesterday, and yeah, unsurprisingly, 97. people have gone for For Stappan, but we do have two that have gone for Sergio Perez. So if you are right come the end of this year, just make sure you're sat with me anytime we do lottery numbers.

What are you doing? Why are you taking the risk of doing that? I mean, nothing's on the line. You don't lose anything like we do when we do bold prediction bets and stuff like that. But pride, pride is on the line and you've decided to burn yours in the middle of February and go, you know what, don't need that for another 10 months of 2020. thought? You've both thought, ah, I can click this button. No one will ever know. It won't be brought up on the podcast or anything like that. I've exposed you. I'm sorry. Immediately called out. You've got to

take ownership for your action, Sunshine. You are making silly choices. You're playing with fire. We're going to move on to Mercedes and then once myself and Sam have given our Mercedes picks, we will hear from Harry as to what he's got for both Red Bull. Mercedes. Of course, Mercedes runner up in the championship, so that's where we'll go next. This has been more of a mixed bag, so this is the third and indeed final season that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are teammates for. George Russell pulling off a minor shock in the first season with George Russell winning 275 points to 240, so that's a win of 35. But of course, Lewis Hamilton turned the tables last year, winning 234 to 175. That was a margin of 59 points.

an interesting one, Sam, because in the last two seasons, at least one of us has gone for George Russell. Harry did last year, I did the year before. Is it your turn? I'd like to say it is my turn, but it's not. I'm sorry. As much as I think that George Russell

is a really valiant character. He's got the ability to drive as brilliantly as any other driver on that grid. I do think that Hamilton's going to be pushing for another wing. And Hamwitting doesn't lose often to teammates. Never lost to Bottas. He lost to Rosberg once.

And that was that title year, which was a tumultuous year for him. And Rosberg did a great job at capitalizing on some poor form at the start of the season. Of course, he lost to Button once as a teammate. It doesn't happen a lot of times when you're Lewis Hamwitting. And I really don't think that in his last season at Mercedes, this is going to be something that happens again.

I'm going for Lewis Hamilton. I'm sticking to my guns. Most of the time, he has proved me right. So we all allow a blip. We're all allowed a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. And he had that one mistake in 2022. But I'm sticking with him. Sir Lewis Hamilton is going to beat George the Kendall Russell. I'm sure I really appreciate that nickname. You know, I've just realized on the fly, not in my notes at all here. I've just realized that you mentioned Jensen Button and how, you know, quite frequently I will bring up that Jensen Button. beat Lewis Hamilton over the course of three years, but of course Lewis Hamilton won two out of those three years, we could, in theory, get the opposite scenario with Russell and Hamilton. We could get a situation where Russell beats Hamilton this year, but Hamilton scores more points over the course of

three years, which just feels like that should happen. I mean, okay, whether the stat backs me up or ruins every point I ever make. I detest it, and I will burn the podcast down if you make it. Fair. Definitely making that. This was a tricky one because there's a lot of pressure on me. This is going to be the last year of the Russell Hamilton Partnership. And in each of the last two years, I've been right. I managed to get Russell right in the first year. I managed to get Hamilton right next year.

And now I am really, really worried I'm going to get this one wrong. And my 100% record's going to disappear. And I'm going to have to live with that for the rest of the time. of my life and I'm just not prepared for it. And I still, even now, I'm not very confident about which way I'm going on this because you do have to factor in. And I'll ask you the same question in the moment, Sam. Obviously, I appreciate you've already given your pick. But, you know, is George Russell being the future of Mercedes going to be a factor this year? We know Lewis Hamilton obviously is moving on. They have been very close the last two years. Obviously, they're one all

in terms of teammate wars. Qualifying-wise, they are incredibly close. They were 11 all last year, and I think Hamilton only beat Russell by two in 2022. So across two years, there's been nothing to separate them there. I don't think there's a lot in terms of race pace. Ultimately, I have gone the same direction as you, Sam. I've also gone with Lewis Hamilton.

Reason being, I think there were a few showcases last year. where Hamilton proved that race pace, it's still very close, but I think he might have a slender advantage. I'm thinking particularly the Mexican Grand Prix. There were a few later in the season, Mexico. I appreciate USA ended up in a disqualification, but even there, he showcased some really good pace. And probably the one that is a highlight that we've already discussed before

is Singapore, where as soon as he got a sniff of a victory, on the same strategy as Russell, he came alive. and could very easily have won that Grand Prix. Based on that, I've gone for, I've gone for Lewis Hamilton, and I'm not too concerned about the fact that he's going next year. I think there's too much respect and professionalism from both sides to let that get in the way. Would you agree or disagree with that?

No, I completely agree. The respect and relationship that he and the team have makes me think that they're not the kind of team that are going to drop him at every turn. You know, he's not going to get the second call for pit stops every single race. you won't be stuck behind for qualifying. It won't be, you know, Lewis allow George to slipstream you when required for qualifying maps for anything like that. I do think that they, if Lewis is in a championship winning position, they commit to

Lewis being a championship winning position. And quite frankly, I think Soto will feel quite vindicticated, you know, he'll be, if he'll be restored a little bit after what happened in 2021, if Lewis were to leave at the end of the year, they won that eighth title for Lewis together. I almost think it'll be a poetic story that they would quite enjoy. They relish as a duo. So I agree that I think what is very clear, when Lewis Hamilton gets a sniff of victory,

when he gets the scent of a wing, there's something in that man that just awakens. It's like, I don't know, throwing a juicy steak to a tiger or to a lion, and you see kind of the nostrils sniff and they are going to eat that, that's too good to miss. I've got to have that. And he's the same. You saw it in Singapore.

When the chance suddenly arose that Lewis Hamilton could win this Grand Prix, he was the fastest man on track. He was faster than Russell, faster than Norris, fast in the Sykes. And he was inch perfect around that track. Russell makes the mistake. Norris in front of him technically made a mistake, just not as bad. And Sykes managed to hold on because you can't overtake around Singapore. Lewis Hamilton has that killer instinct when it needs to be there.

And I still think he's got it. So if the car is competitive, as I'm saying, chances are it probably is more than it isn't. I think Hamilton's got going to take to beat Russell out for a year. The one thing that gives me hesitation about this pick is that we get a repeat of essentially what happened in 2022, which is Lewis Hamilton, obviously much more experienced,

much more used to a success at that point versus George Russell. He went in with more of a, not nothing to lose attitude, but certainly he was more willing to take risk. in the pursuit of victory, whereas I think George Russell, at that point in his career was more okay with settling for good. And that's, I guess, my main concern this year, for my Lewis Hamilton pick is that will Lewis Hamilton essentially say, I don't want a fifth place finish in the championship with three podiums. I would rather go all out risky in terms of setups and the like in order

to try and get some wins, and it might backfire and go the other way. That's probably my, my number one area of doubt about this one. Yeah, that seems fair. I think he's always been one to try something a bit different. We know he likes an aggressive car, very front-ended. He loves to whip it into those corners. So, yeah, I think if the car isn't to his liking, if the development direction, as maybe he's seen,

and that's part of the reason maybe why he's left Mercedes to go to Ferrari isn't his suiting, maybe he does take more risks and there is more chance than it backfires. Okay, we're now going to hear from, Oh, before we hear from Harry, just to say on the Discord vote on that one, they agree with the two of us. Lewis Hamilton, 67 votes to 27. So fairly comfortable, but still got a good contingency going for Russell there.

Now we find out, obviously we've got the Red Bull pick as well to come from Harry, but we also find out whether he's stuck with George Russell after he let him down last year. We're on the old soundboard. There's a good chance that either none of you hear it or I don't hear it, but we'll see. Hello, everyone. Yes, I'm back. Late Breaking Light. Blah, blah, blah. Keep the insults coming. Very sorry to be missing this glorious episode. One of the best of the year. Teammate was. It's not like I always lose this. So that's definitely not why I'm missing it. Red Bull, I'm going to start with, as I think that's the order Ben's put this in.

Pretty, pretty simple or an obvious one, right? Max Vastappen. three-time world champion. He's quite good at the F-1. So it doesn't matter what Sergio Perez could do. I'm not sure he's going to beat him. So yeah, easy one for me. Bestappen is the first victor in team it was. Then Mercedes,

last year I went for George Russell because the year before Ben went for George Russell and it worked. So I'm not going for George Russell again because he lost with me last year and lost quite considerably. So I'm going back to, the seven-time world champion. Quite frankly, why I didn't go for him last year.

Bermuses me, he's a seven-time world champion. But Lewis Hamilton, he is going to win over George Russell this year. I believe it's going to be closer. I think Russell, I mean, Russell's got to have a better year that he did last year. He can't afford to have another one like 2023. But, yeah, I still think, I still think Hamilton, you know, he's in a good, he's in a happy place, good position, signed his Ferrari contract, got about $400 million in his back pocket. He's going to being good form, I reckon. So, yeah, Lewis Hamilton for me at Mercedes. Do you think we could play Harry E bingo with these submissions of classic lines that

Harry uses? Good at the F-1's being used. You could chalk that one off. I'd put a lot of money on him saying that. And I'd have won. Shock. Millionaires. We have some of Lewis's fortunes, please.

I'm a bit disappointed he's gone for Lewis Hamilton because, obviously, that means we're all wrong. But, yeah, I don't know. I thought he might stick with Russell. Never mind. What are you going to do? Right, we'll take our first break at that point, but we've got more teammate wars after the break.

We're going to start with Ferrari as soon as we get back. Okay, we continue to go through the championship. Round three, it's Ferrari, which similar to Mercedes is another longish-term partnership that is coming to an end at the end of this season. So three years, Carlos Sines and Charles LeClaire have been teammates, and it has been very, very close. Two of those three seasons have been decided by single points.

So 2021, their first season is teammates, Carlos Sines won by the slender margin of five and a half points. Lecler in 2022 then reversed that by winning by 62. And then last year, despite Carlos Sines leading for the majority of the season, again a close one, but Charles Leclair pulling it out of the bag in Abu Dhabi to win by just six points. So of course, we end to the fourth year of this partnership. and as referenced the last year. So what's your pick on this one, Sam? I am probably the most unsure of any decision that I am on this one.

This is the one that is, you know, can I cause me to lose sleep at night? I'm tossing and turning. I'm waking up the neighbours screaming in my sleep. Sikes all the clear. Sikes all the clear. Wake up, wake up. Tell me, Keefe. Tell me, Keefe, Sikes all the Claire.

Eings on my chest screaming. Ah, I don't know. Who knows? honestly, who knows are these two? And then today, the Ferrari launch happened as we record this. I know it's not coming up on the same day, but the Ferrari launch happened. And something that I watched in me twigged when I saw this. Charles LeCleur had the biggest ring on his face after he got out from driving that car.

And to me, certain drivers know, they just know if it's going their way. and he looked a very, very happy boy, did Joel. So I'm going for Joel LeCler. I mean, yes, he's got the qualifying record. And yes, he's turned out more wins than science. But you can't underestimate Carlos Sainz. Carlos Sikes has been really strong, the three as they've been together. Benz has illustrated the points difference that they've had as teammates.

And I do think that he really has talent. And I think a lot of people do underestimate how strong Carlos Sites can be. but Charles he's a special little boy and he knows how I pull it out

and I do think with the car suits in which I've got a feeling it's going to and now Freddie Vass is fully intertwined

in the Ferrari family and those do have a special bond as well I just think it's going to tip his way so for me the nightmares

are resolved I will have sweet dreams tonight and Charlotte LeCler will win the Ferrari teammate

Walls battle you're going to rest easy until signs gets a 100 point lead and then you'll start screaming again. Gratio Gatsi, Gat, Cacalosz. I'll tell you what, one of the things I love more than anything about this podcast is that I've written down a few stats and I'm like, well, I think this because of this stat, this stat,

and then Sam comes along as like, oh, boy, he smiled bright, didn't he? So true. The funniest thing is, I'll give the pick away already. we've come to the same conclusion, but yeah. Ultimately, yeah, this is a tricky one, and it's illustrated by the Discord vote as well, because whilst Shell-Laclure has won that Discord vote, it was pretty close because LeClaire 52 points ahead of 44 for Carlos Sines.

So not much in it there, single digits, as has been the case in two of the last three years. I think with Carlos Sines, last season at least, it was a good year, but a... patchy year. He had really good stretches, but then also some pretty poor stretches. So I'm thinking in terms of the poor stretches, like the beginning of the year and the end of the year weren't brilliant. Like he really should have seen out that win over Lecler last year, but the last four races did not go to plan whatsoever. And indeed, he had a couple of poor races to begin the year as well.

You might remember back to the Australian Grand Prix, where that was a very self-inflicted, no score there. and Baku was another one where he didn't perform very well. Having said that, there were quite a few standout performances in the middle of the season. If you remember Singapore GP, obviously he won that one. That's the one that everyone will remember. But actually, his performances at Zanvort and Monza just before that were just as impressive. Zanvort is one that will no one will remember in a few years, but you might remember how poor Ferrari were that weekend.

And signs really, I think, put together an underrated performance there. And indeed, Monza. The Clare was nowhere. Absolutely right. You remember Lecler getting overtaken by Liam Norson in that Grand Prix. He was nowhere. And Monza as well, obviously he got pole position there, not Lecler. And his defence against the Red Bulls and indeed his teammate was top draw.

So that stretch of like three races, if he could replicate that across a full season, it'd be right up there with one of the absolute best in the sport. The thing is, though, he's not. And in Charle-le-Claire is consistently, I would say, just one step ahead. Qualifying-wise, 14-8, 16-6, 14-8 is how it's gone the last three years. So very consistent across the board. And also, I think we've all established that when LeCleur has the car, he is difficult to stop. Because you could argue he pretty much had the car at the end of last year.

You know, Vegas was strong and Abu Dhabi was strong. and he picked up three podiums in those last four races. Now, it wasn't Vastappan Red Bull-esque, but it was very clearly second best, and he took advantage of it, whereas his teammate couldn't. So this one might well be dependent on how good the Ferrari is. If the Ferrari is as good or better than last year,

I think LeClaire will take it. If it's a little bit worse, I think it could go either way, but I have got LeClair. Do you think same question as for the Mercedes duo, I guess? Do you think that Carlos Sines is going to be a hell? poor a hindrance that he's leaving at the end of the year. Is it going to be they might move set up away from him in that sense? Or do you think actually that added motivation to show the team what they're going to be

missing? Is that going to help him? This is really tricky to answer because Carlos Sikes is a man that I think he thrives on being in a settled environment. I think he wasn't settled at Renault. It took him a while to adjust to the culture. He went to McLaren and he felt very much like a team. leader, they supported him.

He had a great relationship with Lando's. We know he still does, of course, and he thrived there. He went to Ferrari, first year, beat Shola Claire. Okay, circumstances maybe made that look closer than it was. But he beats him, and he's beating him, you know, closely. He's done well at Ferrari, and I think he was very comfortable there in his mindset, his mentality. I think he got along with a lot of the team.

I think culturally, it was a very similar fit. What I think might be a challenge for Carlos Sites here is, he's on the out and I hope he doesn't plague him too much mentally I hope he doesn't overthink it or become anxious or desperate to perform

to make sure that there's an advert in the window for other teams because I think a lot of people will look through his track record at who he's been up against and how well he's performed even all the way back to his tour or also days and goes there's a driver in there

there's a really strong driver in there but a part of me does think that he's on the out Ferrari of Segno to him Lecler's the golden boy Lewis Hamilton, statistically the greatest driver of all time is replacing you, you are the weak link here, you are the Oguang out. So I hope he goes down the route of I've got to advertise myself the best I can.

I've got to put myself in the shop window of every single team up on the track. Someone will pick me up and I'll have a great time. Rather than, gosh, I've been replaced by someone who's better than me. My teammate is better than me. I'm being kicked out of a team that I was comfortable and now I'm not comfortable and I'm going to go to a worse place. I do hope he goes down the challenge route rather than the,

or I'm a bit insecure and uncomfortable route. I don't know where it's going to go, if I'm totally honest with you, but I don't think Ferrari will be ridiculous and start siding with LeClaire at every turn. I don't see it happening. Yeah, I'm going to wear on the side of positivity to that question and say it will be a case of,

he will see it as a challenge. If it was a few years ago, I might be a bit more uncertain, but I think he's been in foreshundering, Formula One long enough now. He's been a member of quite a few teams at this point. He's seen quite a lot in F1 terms. So I think he will approach this the right way,

but I think it is vital he does because you're right. It could very quickly go downhill if he doesn't quite frame this correctly, if it is overdriving the car. That is a risk. So, you know, fingers crossed from his side, he does get that mental approach correct. similar to the first segment that we did, we're going to run through a couple more of these picks

and then we'll hear from Harry on this set of three. We'll go to McLaren next because this is the second year of Lando Norris versus Oscar Piastri. Lando Norris successful in the first year, 205 points to 97. That's a gap of 108 points. But of course, that was Piastri's debut season. And you would think that he will improve from here.

So with that in mind, who have you got some? Yeah, I think the points tallyed between the two of them, historically, is going to look worse on Piastri than what actually happened throughout the season. I think Piastri held himself brilliantly. I was very impressed by Piastri. He received updates always later than Norris did. Of course, Norris picked up a whole race earlier in Austria and managed to, I think, pick up fourth place. It was in Austria that he managed to fight it for, maybe third. Yeah, so Piastri was lingering back in the lower teams at that point. whilst fighting with a car that was barely working. Piastro, of course, won the sprint race. Norris didn't.

I still think I'm going to go with Norris on this. I just think that Norris is still on the up. He hasn't met his ceiling yet. He hasn't met his full potential. I do think there's more to him. And he's clearly very comfortable at McLaren team. He knows very much so that the team is being built around him. Mr. Marketing and Mr. Statman, you know, Mr. Mathetician,

are working with him. That's Andrea Stella and Zach Brown for those who don't realize. They are working with Lando Norris very closely. And whilst I do think that Piazcri is a real talent and I do think he could be a future race winner, full length race, not just the spring. I do think he could be a title contender.

I think right now in their careers with where the McLaren probably is sitting, I think Lando over the course of 24 races has what it takes to to just peg him. I think the points are going to be much closer. I would be shocked if it's a 108 point difference. But at the same time,

I do think the Landau's got what it takes at this point in his career to just to just beat Piastri out over the full season. Honestly, Kirsty, honestly. Just because I said the word peg him. That is ridiculous. Literally. as soon as could see it.

Right. We're still matched. Four picks in. We're still matched because I'm going with Lando Norris here. And in fairness to Oscar Piastri,

there aren't many drivers on this grid right now that I would pick over Lando Norris. That's how good I think he was last year. Obviously, the 108 point win

was pretty comfortable. And even if you think Piastri is going to get closer than that this year, he's still got a good ways go to get that to a win. In the second half of the season, as you mentioned, Lando Norris was pretty sensational, six second place finishes.

In a season where Max Verstappen didn't exist, there'd be a fair few race wins for Lando Norris. I know I've mentioned it before on the podcast, but events like the Brazilian Grand Prix where Lando Norris was miles behind Vastappen, but also miles ahead of everyone else, in another era, that would have been a do. dominant win for him. But yeah, he's coming up against another very good driver who's obviously got a very good car.

So I think with Lando Norris, I don't know what the margin's going to be. I don't know how good that McLaren's going to be. It needs to be better out of the gates. But I struggle to see how this could, I don't think Piastri is going to win this. Having said that, you know, Piastri does deserve a lot of credit for what he did last year, particularly, you know, the sprint win that you've already mentioned, his third place at Japan. And actually with Qatar, because a lot of people rightfully focus on his sprint win, because it was very impressive. But actually, it makes the actual race go a bit under the radar.

He finished P2 in that Grand Prix itself. That was a wonderful effort. And people only focus on the sprint win, and I completely get why. But actually, it shouldn't take away from what job he did throughout the full weekend rather than just that Saturday. So he had a very good stretch sort of Japan, Qatar, that Asian leg of the sort of third quarter of the season. That was really impressive. But I can't, I can't look past Landon Norris on this one. Yeah, totally fair. I think the gap is a large one. And for all we know, you know, more full us. Piaschri might come out of the gates and McClara might have a race swinging car and we might see him reach his full potential immediately. We might see him absolutely blow the doors away, but I hate to say it, Ben.

I've gone down the path of Ben being logical and sensible and using previous stats on this one, rather than I saw Oscar Piastri's smile in the new cap or something like that to judge whether he might wing this season. It just feels like a bit of a stretch. That's fair enough. Do you think 50 points, do you think Piastri can get inside that? Yeah, I do. I generally think it's going to be closer. I think that if the car is around the same level as it was last year,

I'm sure McLaren actually would probably be a bit disappointed if it was exactly where it was for all of last year here. I wouldn't be shocked if this is one of the closest teammate battles we've got. If Landon Norris improves a little bit, but I expect Piastri to improve a lot a bit. And overall, I think that Norris will probably still just be marginally better. And that's no slight on Piastri either. I do think he's obviously so young selling his career.

I expect Norris. still be better. But I do think that, yeah, 50 or 60 points over a whole season of 24 races, that's got embarrassing. That's not a negative on Piastri at all. I think that would be very solid if he ends up 50 points behind Norris in a strong car for a whole season. Yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be tough. I think it's on Piastri. I think Lando Norris will probably be about where he was last year. I don't think that will change a great deal. So it will be on Piastri's improvement or lack of. The thing that gives me, I think it will be about the same as what it was last year.

And the only reason being, if McLaren can sort out the car in the first half of the season, in theory, that 100 point margin would have been even more. So if they can get the car right across the full year and that margin is still about 100 points, that would, even though it doesn't look like it, that would be a step in the right direction for Piastri. But yeah, I mean, podiums and potential wins, that's what they'll be looking for. That's what they'll both look for. you remember how I said with Red Bull there were two very brave people in the Discord that went for Sergio Perez. That's two more people than are going for Landstrol in our next one, which is Aston Martin.

Fernando Alonzo versus Landstrol. Last year, Fernando Alonzo just about breaking 200 points, 206, Lance Roll on 74. That's a win of 132 points. Sam, I'm going to assume based on what you just said about logic, you're going to go with a lonto, but please let me know otherwise. I mean, two-time world champ. He's got a great dance move. He films himself inside of a microwave while simultaneously not being inside the microwave. God's sake. He's the king of banter.

He's come out and said that medical records look better than he expected, so he's going to be here until he's 50. I'm hoping to retire at a year, and I want him, he's 30. So good for you, Fernando. I just, Lance Stroll, if he wasn't up against Sebastian Vessel, and then after that, Fernando Alonso, might look okay as a racing driver, but the fact that he didn't pick up a single podium in that Ashton Martin last year, and Alonso absolutely ragged the car silly.

He pulled it apart to get every performance. And you know he relishes a car that he has to do overdrive. He did it with Ferrari in 2012. He loves a car that he has to push through the limit every single race. You saw that in Bahrain right from the start when he got that move down on Lewis Hamilton. You saw the glee in that elderly man's face where he realized what he's got under him. And I think it'll be the same. And I think there's a little part of me that goes,

he thinks there's an advert than Mercedes possibly. Whether he gets it or not, I don't know. but the moment that Alonso seems to have some kind of motivation under him is a different beat. He's cut from the same cloth that Lewis Hamilton has cut from that if there's a sniff, if there's even a whiff, if you've farted under the duvet and you've caught the slightest hint of it, Fernando's got that one and he's coming for you

and he's going to put it as high as he can. So, running away from the smelly smell, Fernando Alonso is the obvious pick. Sorry, Lance. You're just never going to beat the two-time world champ. disappointed Harry's not here because I would be looking forward to and I've been smelly smell, but never mind. I mean, I'm going to say something positive here about Lanchdrol because the rest of it's probably not going to be positive, but he bemoaned his bad luck last year. And I do think

he did have bad luck last year. That there were, if something went wrong to an Aston Martin, it was his. Now, some of it was absolutely self-inflicted. For example, he didn't start the Singapore Grand Prix. Why didn't he start the Singapore Grand Prix? Because he crashed in qualifying. However, there were particularly early in the season a lot of times where Saudi Arabia has won as just an example where he was in a position to score solid points or at least some points, and it was taken away from him. So I think in that regard, maybe the points margin looks a little bit harsher than what it was. But even so, it's not 132 points, is it? That might be worth 30, not 132. he lost 193 in qualifying.

That's not great. He still, as far as I'm aware, hasn't outqualified a teammate since he joined F1. And because of how young he is, we think, oh, that's not that long. He's been in F1 for a long time now. And he's out of, I appreciate as well.

He's had Vettel and Alonzo as back-to-back teammates, but he's been up against Felipe Massa, who was very much at the end of his career. He's been up against Sergio Perez. He's been up against Sergei Sorokkin. And the one common denominator seems to be Lance Stroll not doing very well. So unsurprisingly, I've got Fernando Alonzo with this pick. I will say my prediction is it will be marginally closer than what it was last year.

But, I mean, there's not too much else to say on this one, is there? Sorry, Lance. It'd be really funny if Harry's gone for Alonzo now. Sorry, for Stroll now. We're actually going to play his three. So we've got Ferrari, McLaren, and Astor Martin to hear from Mr. Harry Ead. Oh, hi, it's me again, the second time on this podcast. You are welcome.

What a treat for you all. Ferrari, look, I feel like this is one of the trickiest ones to do, or to guess. But I'm going for Charles LeClair again this year. Those two have been relatively tight in the times as teammates. But LeCler overall has had the edge, and I think that. that's going to continue. Also, I'm a little bit, a little bit concerned that maybe signs his head will drop after the Hamilton News. He's been, he's been ousted from a seat that he doesn't necessarily deserve to be ousted from. It's just unfortunate that the man ousting him is, uh, is Lewis Hamilton.

I said oust a lot then. Sorry. Um, outst every weekend. I'm going to even still about to say that. Yeah, look, I'm going to get a few clear on this one. Um, if the Ferrari goes as well as it looks, Lord, it's a sexy beast. But if it goes as well as it looks and they don't fudge up the strategy, then maybe it could be a good year for Charlie Boy. So yeah, Charlotte Clare for me is going to win out of Ferrari. Then McLaren, I'm sticking to what I went with last year.

Lando Norris. I think Oscar Piastri, look, he had a great, great first year in Formula One. And I think he'll push on from there. But I just think Lano Norris has got that little edge at the moment. I know there are a few errors. he needs to, you know, get rid of, get rid of. But I think over the course of the season, I think, I think Norris will still take it.

But I'm really intrigued to see how that one's going to go this year because, like I say, Piastri was so impressive, particularly in the second half of the year. There are a few maybe dodgy a races for him, but, yeah, some great performances. Obviously, the sprint race in Qatar comes to mind. So yeah, I'm going for Norris on that one. but I think, again, like the Ferrari one, I think could be a close call. And then Aston Martin,

probably not going to take too long this one, two-time world champ, Fernando Alonzo. Yeah. Does he want him to see any more on that one? He is Alonzo, so he will win. I was looking at the, see, the two minutes and ten seconds we just heard of from Harry there,

and I was just looking at the time ago along and along. And it got to like two minutes, like he still hasn't talked. hasn't spoken about Astamite. Is he, is he forgotten? No, it was just really that simple for him, which is fair enough. I can't believe that he made an oust every weekend joke, which is so British coded. It's so niche. If you don't know it, it's a song that says house every weekend, but I think growing up in the nightclubs, we all pretended to say oust every weekend, because in the advert, it's sounding a lot like that. And it's a room spray. I think I think you use it after you poo.

So well done, Harry. You've really brought the tone down and you weren't even here. Right. We're taking our second break. On the other side, third part of Timo Wars. Out into the bottom half of the grid. We go to Alpine, which was a very, very close battle in 2023. Pierre Gasly, 62 points to 58. And Pierre Gasly is the chosen one of the Discord. 64 to 31. So a fair margin for Pierre Gazley here. Of course, Gasley now going into his second season at the team, Ockon having done a few more. Sam, you were correct on this one last year.

You went with Gasly. Are you sticking with sausages? Well, the people have spoken, and I am no better than the people. So get yourself to the butchers. Head down to the supermarket if you're a vegan to get you some meat-free sausages. But fans of the late-breaking podcast, we're cooking up a storm on the barbecue this.

year because the sausages are out for Gasley. God, it's going to taste so good when we win again next year, folks, because Pierre is coming for the W. George W. Bush, or that W. is on the barbecue. And Pierre Gasley is going to take it like nobody's business. Yeah, I think Ockong is too, a bit delulu up in the brain. Oh, I've still got links to the same.

I still think I can be a top. driver, I'm still the result. Bugger, oh, fuck on. You've got no chance, sunshine. Pierre Gas is going to mix you up, stuff you in a sausage case, and put you in a hot dog bung, and we're going to love it come December.

So, yeah, Pierre Gazel, the gas man, he will win the Alpine battle once again. That was really passionate. We really care about the Alpine battle. I do. Love that. I tell you what, so I also am cooking up. some sausages. I've got them in the pan. I'm putting them in the bread roll and I'm going to

oh, hang on a minute. There's a bacon sandwich out the corner of my eye. Because the bacon is firmly out for Esteban Ocon. This is our first difference in opinion. I'm going with Esteban Ockon. Why? I like Ocon. I want him to win. I can't do the same. Exactly, yes. Has Pierre Gassley said anything about being in war mode, no, therefore he's going to lose. Yeah, unfortunately, whilst I've brought a lot of stats for all of the other ones, I've kind of just gone based on vibes on this one, which, you know, feels appropriate. In all seriousness, it probably will be pretty close again, I would imagine. There really wasn't much to choose between them in the first year.

They both had a podium, of course, Ghazli at Zamvor and Ocon at Monaco. I think with Esteban Okon, the key to him winning will be, can he get better in qualifying? Because even though the margin was actually pretty close between the two of them, Gazzley did win that battle 14-8, which is worse than what he did in his years against Alonzo. So we know he's capable of better than a 14-8 loss. If he can get that back to about 50-50,

I feel like he might just have one result in him to see him over the line, But this is one that I would not be surprised if this went over way. But yeah, I mean, in theory, you know, Gassley's second year at the team, that's going to spur him on. I just come on, bake enough, come on. I just, I love that as a podcast, we just boil Alpine down to greasy barbecue vibes. And whatever one we fancy goshing off on the day, that's right, I said it, is going to be who wings teammate was. and I've gone for a sausage because I love a good barbecue sausage.

That's enough about gnoshing on sausages for one day, I think. Yeah, I think that will do that. Yeah, unbelievably, we are boiling the Alpine battle down to two meat products. And unbelievably, that's without pat-fry being there. Doesn't make any sense. I can't wait to hear what Harry's got. But we do have a first difference in opinion, at least,

between myself and Sam. I'm going on as I did last year, and I'm just decided I'm going to be wrong again. And Sam was right last year, so he's decided, you know what, I'll be right again. Let's move on to Williams. You know, I said that no brave soul went for Landstrol. No brave soul going for Logan Sargent either. This one is a comprehensive win in the Discord, 96 to 0. Of course, last year they were teammates and 27 points to 1 was the gap that Albin had in his

favor, are you going for Alex Albin, Sam? I mean, I feel like this one doesn't need to be asked. I'm glad that we had some difference in opinion for our PIN, because I was a little bit nervous that we were starting to get to the back end of the fields, and there were no changes going on. Look, Logie Bear, you can bulk up all you want, your little Florida man, and I'm sure you're absolutely delightful. And you know what, you'd be welcome on the show at any time.

but when it comes to driving a race car quickly and counting things up in a championship order, I just can't see you out doing Al Bono, who I do think is still going to outclass Logan Sargent. I think the car will be a bit better. I think that the overall force of Albono is more comfortable, is secure James Vowls, Daddy Vowls, and the big fry-up himself who's going to be cooking up a storm for Williams. I just can't see it going any other way. So Albon, you're going to take the dub, the dub for Williams and the dub for you, my friend. Yeah, I think, I think this is an easy one.

I think this, as the Discord have said, I think this is one of the most obvious ones we're going to have, unfortunately. I think, I mean, I've got Alex Albin. I'll just get that out of the way now. I think Logan Sargent's key to at least getting closer, because I agree. I don't think it'll be Alex Albin, but I think his key to getting closer and at least putting forward a pitch that he should be in that. seat for 2025 is qualifying for me is the key because he was so far behind Alex Albin and qualifying. The record was 21 to 1 in the end. And, you know, a lot of those qualifying performances were pretty comprehensive. Having said that, I think towards the end of the season, there were a few opportunities

where he was unlucky not to beat Alex Albin and was on a few instances closer, which is encouraging for him. But a lot of the time, you know, I don't think his race pace was. was, I mean, obviously it wasn't on Albin's level, but I feel like his race pace was closer to Albin's race pace than his qualifying pace was. But when you're starting 20th and your teammate is routinely starting somewhere between 8th and 12th, that ain't going to work for you. So, you know, if you can start to make a few more Q2 appearances, if he can start to, I don't know, qualify just two positions behind Alex Albin or even on the same row, then suddenly maybe Albin doesn't pull away. And he can he can start.

I'll score some points off the back of that. I don't think it will affect the result here. I've still got Alex Albin quite comfortably. But yeah, I think Logan Sargent can make an effort to be closer this year. And he might need to be because we just don't know where that Williams is going to end up. If it's twice as competitive as what it was last year, Logan Sargent, it's going to be even more imperative for him to score points. I would say he got away with it last year.

He didn't need to score more than one point for Williams to get seventh. but if suddenly they're in a battle for, let's say, sixth place, that isn't going to cut it. So I've got Alman, though. All right, let's go on to Sugar Free Red Bull, aka Manardi, aka whatever else they're called. This one is an interesting one. So we've got Sonoda versus Ricardo, which technically they did have an interrupted battle in 2023. Of course, they had a couple of races in the middle of the year.

Then Ricardo had a number of races out, and then they had a few races to any. the year. Overall, in the stretches where they were teammates, Sonoda won by 15 points to six. But having said that, the Discord seemed to think that Ricardo might have the edge this year. 58 votes to 38, so relatively close. I guess a lot of the question here is, will we get the Daniel Ricardo of old? What do you think, Sam? I'm going to side with the people. I think the Discord are a smart bunch, very knowledgeable, and I would like to butter them up as much as I can with compliments

so they don't rebel and turn against the podcast. And so because of that, I agree. Daniel Ricardo, I think over the course of a season, in a car that he seemingly seems to think would be regularly scoring fifth, sixth, seventh places, where he's got a target to aim for, which I don't think he had properly for McLaren. He's already settled there.

The team know him. He's loved in that group. I do think that overall across 24 races, if they say to him, you do really well, a Red Bull Seat could be yours again. I think that's Daniel Ricaga's motivation. I think the honey bag should get unleashed. Whilst Uki-Sanoda has been better, he has been better, and he was good, if not very good, at certain points last season, I think he was also unlucky in certain races as well with, you know, doing what starts, being taken out by other people. he was far more consistent, but I have a bit of a hunch that we just saw the ceiling of Yuki Sonoda, the peak, the best that he's going to be. And whilst I think Yuki is a good driver,

and I think he deserves being Formula One, but I think as far as it goes, as much as he's a Hall of Famer at this podcast, he will always be a mid-table, solid pair of hands that you can look to to bring the car home now, whereas Daniel Ricardo is a winner. The guy, is just a winner. And I think that will, we'll see that come to fruition again in the 2024 season. So over a whole season together,

I think Ricardo has what it takes to outdo Yuki Sonoda. Yeah. So recapping 20203, teammate wars, everyone, number one, I didn't win. Number two, big reason I didn't win. Yuki Sanoda. I went against a Hall of Famer,

not once, but twice. I said that Nick DeVries was going to beat Yuki Sonoda. I don't know if he's noticed. That wasn't right. I then said that Daniel Ricardo was going to be Yuki Sonoda. Again, not right. So I guess the question is, have I learned my lesson? And for anyone who knows me, everyone I know the answer is, no, of course I haven't. I'm going Daniel Ricardo. Honestly, I'm so sorry, Yuki Sanoda, but I guess I'm not that sorry because if I'm wrong, that means you've done quite well. I have confidence that given a full off season, I think Daniel Ricardo will get back to something like his old self. And

in all honesty, I don't think it needs to be 100% of his old self. I think 90% of his old self would be enough. You know, Yuki Sanoda made good progress last year. I think you're right to mention the fact that he did get unlucky as well. Basically about six weeks where he just didn't start a race. But he did get really unlucky. And there were some good performances in there, particularly thinking about the last race of the season, Abu Dhabi, he was on a different strategy, if you remember, to pretty much everyone else around him. I think he was one-stopping where everyone else was two-stopping. He gave it a go.

It didn't work out for him, and he still finished eighth. So it was a really good result for him. And Alphateri, Al-Fatari, God's sake, God's sake, Al-Fatari, Menardi. They're going into this season with confidence, something we're going to touch on in our Patreon episode coming up later this week is that Daniel Ricardo seems confident that he can get top five finishes in the first half of the season. So naturally, Yuki Sanoda is probably going to share that same optimism. It's going to be really interesting to see if this is more of a high scoring battle than what we

had last year. I just think with Ricardo, again, going back to having a full off season to work, I think that's going to help him out. And I think there were glimpses at the end of last year. Mexico result is the obvious one where he finished seventh place and he was highly competitive. As far as I'm aware, Yuki Sonoda had a season best of eighth. I don't think he cracked the top seven. And Ricardo did in that Mexican race. But also, and this one will go on notice, but you remember the Brazilian Grand Prix

where Ricardo was taken out on the first lap, and he and Piastri were essentially running their own race in like 12th and 13th for the rest of the Grand Prix. His pace was really good. And I think he would have been actually quite competitive in the top maybe six or seven or so that day. and just didn't get the opportunity to, well, you got the opportunity to show it,

just not in the right finishing position. So just based on a few of those glimpses, based on some past performance, I'm going to put my faith in Daniel Ricardo, but I am excited for Sonoda to cost me, or more accurately, me cost myself by not backing Sonoda. Yeah, fair. Let's hope that Mr. Harry is deciding to be bold.

Let's say bold, show with his choices. Go on, Harry. I mean, he'll pick Ricardo, won't he? Go on, Harry. He loves him. Ooi,oy. Back again for a third time. You lucky lot.

Alpine. Last year, I went for Ocon. And he let me down. He let me and Ben down. Ben more so because he loves him. Pierre Ghazley obviously won. But I'm doubling down. Because as Ben likes to point out almost on a

a weekly basis, Le War mode. I think Ocon has got a lot to prove this year. We've already spoken about previously, could he be in that Mercedes seat? He obviously thinks he's got a shot. And I think he's going to come out swinging. So I'm going for Ocon.

Another close call, like McLaren, like Ferrari, I think Gasly and O'Con are very evenly matched. And it could just come down to how lucky one of them is because that was almost what it was last year. so, yeah, intrigued to see how that was going to go. It also depends if the Alpine is a pile of garbage or not, which they don't sound confident.

But yeah, I'm going to go for Ockham. Then Williams, because that's definitely the order that Ben's got on the list. Yes, Williams, great. Alex Albon. Again, this is probably the easier, one of the easier ones to choose from. I think, I believe Logan's Sard is going to have a better year.

I think as long as he picks himself up during the winter break, he's going to have a better year, but I still, Alex Albon, who had a good year last year, I think he's going to push on again, have another, have another good year, and he'll win out over, over his teammate. And then last on this list, which I keep trying to refer to, oh, yes, Menardi. Great, great work, Ben. Yes, Minardi. Look, I got, I was one from two for, with Al-Fa-Tari Menardi last year, and I got let down by Daniel Ricardo. But, as a a general rule when I do this,

I never vote against Daniel Ricardo. So, sorry, Yuki. You might have a blistering year, but I'm not voting against Daniel Ricardo because it's just what I do now, apparently. So yeah, I think Ricardo's going to win out.

Lots of intriguing things happening of that team, the name, obviously. Color scheme, pretty good. But the storyline of those two drivers is going to be interesting. Obviously, Yuki is probably having more years in F1 than we thought. would and Ricardo needs this year to be really, really good.

So yeah, intrigued to see how that one goes, but I'm going to pick Ricardo. And, oh, then I can stop and I'll come back in the next segment. Bye-bye. That's good. So how segments work. Yes. I can't, well, I don't think we've ever had it, but I can't wait for teammate wars to end up as a 2V1 scenario because myself and Harry are still absolutely matched.

But we still do have two more to go on the other side of this short break. going to be discussing steak and has. We move now on to steak slash salver slash whatever you want to call them this week. Valtry Bottas versus Jo Guanyu, third year that these two have been teammates. Valtry Bottas has won both of them, although one of them by a much bigger margin than the other. So 2022, Bottas won 49 points to six. Joe Guan Yu also scored six points in 2023, but in that year Botas scored 10. So far close a battle. Question is, Sam, in year three of this battle, is it finally going to go Joe's way? Look, we all know that I love the boties, right? The Big Bot Man. And he's just got that BDE. Now, if you don't know what BDE is, I'm not going to explain to you on

this podcast. And you can Google it. You can Google it. You can't Google it. You can. Under 17th, do not Google it. it. You have the permission of Uncle Sam who says you can Google this. Okay. He's got the BDE. And because of that, I just think he's, all right, he's super calm. The guy's basically Australian these days.

He has a coffee shop. He has a wine bar. He owns a hockey team. He loves a sauna. He's just chilling. And I just think that Joe Guangyu, as much as he's the loveliest guy, and he's so well-dressed, none of the things I've just spoken about

are relevant to driving a Formula One car. And so I do think that Valtry Bottas just has the extra 10% to outclass him each season. So Valtry B, the Botteys king, you're my pick. There's no science behind it at all. I've not even used statistics. I just think that Bodies is going to do it. It's like Harry with Ricardo.

I can't not back the Bodies. apart from when he was against Lewis Hamilton. Hey, look, come on, that's a rare circumstance. Okay. Backbotties, apart from against Hamilton. Not a bad idea to go down that route. You know what? This one, I spent longer on this one than any other.

This was the last one I had decided. I was really uncertain here because while Shoguan Yew has lost the last two years, he got far closer in 2022 points-wise, at 2023 points by, sorry. And actually, in terms of race pace, Jo Guanyu was quite frequently on a par with Bottas and sometimes ahead of him. And then I remembered Botta,

I had sort of an epiphany on this one, about actually Bottas had a pretty unlucky season in that it doesn't look like it because he didn't actually retire either from any race or very few races. But he quite, frequently picked up damage on like the first lap and then was just trundling around at the back after that. And I apologize to Bottas because I probably picked him up on it a few occasions last

year. I was like, ah, Bottas didn't do anything this weekend. But actually thinking about it, there were quite a few instances where he just got unlucky and probably impacted his race pace because of that. I'm not completely sold on this whole, I don't know, because Bottas likes to do things outside of F1, that means he doesn't care anymore. I just, I'm not really on board with that. I think he is still motivated to succeed. I think his qualifying pace is still very good. Don't forget, like, he was a match for Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, and ever since he's got, and he was more than a match for Massa before that at Williams, and now he's gone to for a Mayo Salba steak, he's still a very good qualifier. So based on that, I was tempted to go risky

on this one and say Joe Guan Yu. And honestly, it wouldn't massively surprise me if he makes a bit of a jump from year two to year three. But I just think if Bottas can, I don't know, avoid other cars on lap one. I'm not even saying it was his fault most of the time. He might just come out ahead here. I've got Bottas.

Which leads us to our last pick, which is Hass. Holkenberg versus Magnuson. Of course, Nika Holkenbergh knew to the team, but he came out victorious, nine points to three. Sam, what have you got? There was a little part of me that was going to be childish and protest giving a decision on the Haast decision because they are imposters and don't deserve one. But I have to defend my title.

I am the reigning champion and I don't win a lot if you've been a long-term listener. So I've got to take this one seriously. And I was proven very much wrong when it came to Haas last year. I backed KMAG. I thought that he had the long... Yeah, well, you know, take soon to be a fool. That's got an expression, by the way, folks. Don't use that in your day-to-day life.

There you go. Take soon to be a fool. Anyway, K-Magg had the longevity with the team. It doesn't at all. The team knew him. He understood the car. Holkerberg was new entirely to the team. He came in and he beat him.

Not only, okay, the car wasn't scoring a lot of points, but it wasn't exactly thriving anywhere. And Holkerberg really made a leap where I don't feel like a leap was really possible. So I'm going to have to go back to Nika Holkerberg. He's clearly got that sprightly ability that he used to carry within him still. And every time that Hulkie B turns up to the grid, does he ever really disappoint? Does he ever really let everyone down completely?

I don't think so. I think in his early days, his raw talent, he probably didn't reach the expectations that a lot of people thought he did. And the fact that he's never even had a podium in Formula One is mind-boggling. But I do think that after what we saw in 2023, he's got the ability to beat KMAG again. So for me, my final choice, haths, the Impostkas, the Carbon Fiber Army, Nico Holgerberg, you are my pick. just to quickly go back to stake because I realized I didn't actually give the Discord vote on that one,

but it ended up at 7423 to Valdry Bottas. And here for Hass, very much in favor of Nika Holkenberg, 83 to 16. Nill-0 draw, anyone? I mean, it wouldn't be the most surprising thing in the world based on their lack of confidence going into this season. I won't be bold enough to say it will be a draw and it will be nil-nil, but ultimately I think this will be low-scoring as it was last year. I said before that I hadn't learned my lesson when it came to, you know,

Daniel Ricardo and indeed Esteban Okon, this is one where I think I probably have learned my lesson in that Niko Holcomberg was comfortably better the last year and I will say he will win again. He was 14. Qualifying record was 148 to Holcomberg, but it felt worse because there were a lot of occasions

where Holkenberg was, I know 148 isn't great, but equally there were a lot of times where Holcomberg out qualified Magnuson by two clear sessions in that Holkenberg was in the bottom ends of the top 10 and Magnuson was P18 or something along those lines. So it's almost a little bit worse than what it looks. I just think that Magnuson and Holkneberg are set up-wise, completely the opposite direction. Magnuson likes quite a, like an oversteery car, whereas Holkenberg's much more understeer-based. And for whatever reason, the car just seems to click with Holkenberg a little bit better than it does for Magnuson. Still some solid performances from Magnuson last year. I think Saudi Arabia was pretty good. Miami, if you remember there, he was pretty good there too.

But Holkenberg had the advantage for much of the year, even though tire wear often let him down and let the team down. I've got Holkenberg, but honestly, nil nil wouldn't massively surprise me. Yeah, I do think that if it does go to nil nil before we go to Hazer,

I think that if it is a nil nil nil draw over a season, Holkenberg has got that qualifying pedig to outclass KMAG and obviously that's what we go to if that's the count back or do we do qualify? We do count back, don't we?

Count back, I think. Well, I guess by de facto, So if Holkerberg is better at qualifying, chances are he's more than likely to finish closer to the top 10 than KMAG. Yeah, but a nil-nil-n-n-draw would not shocketh me. Now, we get to hear if we're going to have a teammate wars first,

because depending on what Harry's gone for these last two picks, it might be that me and Harry are taking on Sam this year in a 2-V-1 battle, but let's see what he's got for these last two picks. Fourth time, final time. steak and bake Greg's steak bake

I don't know whatever if you want to call them Salba kick ugh who cares oh god I'm gonna go with Valtry Bottas but like I say the search warrant is still out for his form

you know if you've seen it last seen Miami 2020 I don't know it could be quite a close one but I'm just going to go on the balance of he's won some races in the past that he should beat Joe Guan Yu.

But it wasn't looking that encouraging last year. But I'm going to go with Bottas. He might let me down with his lovely golden mullet, but I'm going to pick him. And then finally, Haas, who stopped working on the car inexplicably for two months.

They could be nowhere all year, but I'm going to go for Nico Holgerberg. In a similar way that I don't ever vote against Ricardo. I never vote against Holkenberg either. And when they were teammates, That was a real conundrum for me. Anyway, Nick O'Kulkenberg, I think Magnuson's going to have a better year this year. Again, he needs to.

But Holkenberg was kind of the surprise for me last year, all on the surprises. So I'm going to stick with him, because apparently that's what I do. And he's going to win out. You're welcome, folks. I'm sorry that my appearances on this podcast are so brief, but my life at the moment is an absolute cluster fudge of a mess. So, you know, give me a break. Ben and Sam and

Sam and Kirsty were worried I was going to swear then but I'm not going to. Love you all. I'll be back at some point. Who knows? Bye-bye. I can't believe it's happened. I can't believe it's happened either.

It all comes down to Alpine this year. Whatever way the Alpine battle goes will decide the whole thing. And I can't believe you've won again this year, Sam. Well done. Ah, you can't cite with Harry Eag. The man that never wings anything, I can't believe it.

It's a destination to failure. You know, you've bought a first-class ticket. Destination, Losingville. And I'm going to run around with my golden sausage. I make the same joke every year about Harry losing. And now I've got identical predictions to him. It's not looking good, mate. It's not looking good.

It really is not looking good. And well done to Harry for not swearing there for two episodes in a row. Even with him not being here, he still managed to do that. So maybe it's a new phase for Harry, swearing on the podcast. That's going to do it for Timber. I don't want to promote 2025 teammate wars quite yet, given there's another year. But Lecler versus Hamilton and Russell versus someone new, that's going to get spicy, isn't it?

Ooh, that is spicy. That is pure, big shack eating some chicken, that is. I'm buzzing. I mean, we haven't even had this season yet, and I'm really buzzing for next season, Ben. Speaking of spicy and spicy topics, let's move on to our final topic, which is the greatest segment in all of Formula One podcasting.

It is the LB Question of the week. Should have got Harry to record the word week. Oh, yeah. Just blame it out. bag at this. Oh yeah, undeniably. So our question of the week was concerning Lewis Hamilton and Charler-Claire's. We know they're going to be teammates next year. But obviously more important than that was the question that we put out, which is what would Charles LeCler and Lewis Hamilton's band be called? Plenty of answers, as always, on Instagram and Twitter. And of course,

if you want to get involved next week, you can do. We put these out on a Monday. Any that caught your eyes start us off. Yeah, a few on Instagram that really grabbed my comedy and a few of the, clearly the followers as well, because they're very well liked, ranging into the team from Sam Prossero, I thought was very funny, a great play on words for a classic band name as well.

I'm going to steal it early, sorry, but for some reason, Barry Mangalo is becoming a cult hero on the show. And Drew, you've done it again, but Barry Mangalo's boys are red. or to abbreviate the BN BIRs, have absolute smash yet.

I love that. I think it's very, very funny. Another one that really caught my eye, which I thought, again, very much liked by the audience, is the not sure we are checking, which I don't know how it works as a band name, but equally, it's very Ferrari-centric. And the last one that really, really caught me is from Grey Primordial Soup, which is the Baku Street Boys. Great use of track name.

using a real-life band. Very funny. Good job. Yeah. Obviously, they were exactly what I was going to go for as well. There were a lot of We Are checking references, which makes sense. I did like LC Hammer from Joe. That's some creative work right there. The Tofosi Twins is another good one.

Jay Hammer 8, marinello wine mixer. sure. Oh, okay. This one's from Jordan. I like this one, actually. The Lutangler clan. It's an effort to try and get Wutang Clan in there. I'll give you that. Anything else from you, Sam? What was and what could be from Captain Crawley, I really liked that. There's a lot of variations of ham and chuckles. That one is from Clay Coulter, which is great. the budgy smugglers from Ian, hilarious, which I thought was very, very funny. You brought up already the marigella wine mixer,

which was actually one of my favorites, because of course that is a reference to the Catalina wine mixer from Stepbrothers, which is a brilliant film, if you haven't seen it already. I mean, again, the interaction on these is becoming sensational. It's arguably our most interactive post every single week that we do this now.

now. And one that's caught me here is from Riley, the bourgeois boys, which I like, because one is a sir, and the other is a lord. And, you know, we always like anything that I think has a slight Shrek reference on this show. So yeah, a system of a downforce as well from Square Portia, I thought was really funny. Good work. As always, far too many funny answers to read all of them out. That's just the credit to how hilarious you. you are and far more hilarious than we'll ever be. So we're eternally jealous, but also very grateful for your answers. And as mentioned, there'll be another question next week. If there was any concern that only two of us on the podcast would lead to a shorter episode, we can definitely say those have been quashed. We are finally at the end. I hope you enjoyed this very much bumper episode, Sam. If you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, if you have it giving your teammate wars predictions, make sure to note them down or get involved in the Discord and see how you compare to everyone else and keep count throughout the season because

it's the biggest prize of the year along with some other things like the Elbees, which of course come in Christmas and Clives comes out of the cupboard. But thank you for playing. I've had a lot of messages saying how excited people are for teammate wars and we love doing it. We've got big episodes coming. Most notably, Pimp My F1 is on the horizon. We get to review the liveries. It's the next episode. Oh, I'm very very. excited. There's a lot of chaos going on in the LB world. Two of us are moving house currently. Wi-Fi is going to be improving. We've got lights. So if you watch this on YouTube at late breaking F1, we are getting lights. All our videos have just been dark recently and all you can

hear is the voices anyway with the black screen. It's really weird. Don't know why we've done that. It's a joke. Please go and check them out. We try really hard. Kirstig has a great job editing them. for us on social media, late-breaking F1, and also we have got Patreon, where for a maximum price of what is £9, I think it's $12, you get in total two general extra episodes. You get the power rankings after every single Grand Prix. You'll also get a history-based episode. You get access to events early.

You get discount on merch. Honestly, everything ad-free. The value is ridiculous. and signing up to that helps us more than anything that you know. So to all those that have signed up recently, thank you, it means the world. To all those that are considering it, give it a go. If you don't like it, you can always unsubscribe.

It's not a permanent thing. It's the cost of like a coffee or like a McDonald's meal. Really, it helps us out more than you know, so thank you. We can't wait until we're back. Check out the patron stuff and we love you dearly. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.

Oh, Barry McAlo This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network