2021 F1 Bahrain GP - Race weekend discussions

The first RACE episode is here! The much awaited 2021 season is off and FanF1ction is here to share our thoughts. We go over some controversial moments and talk about the nail-biter that this was and how FIA plays party poopers.Topics included in this podcast:New Website! www.f1fanfiction.comQualification elevator pitchDrama even before the raceRace start#MazespinRe-start after Safety-CarThe undercut trainAlonso vs Sainz Vs VettelPitstop #2Main event - VER vs HAMDriver of the dayTeam of the day"L" of the dayEquipment used:- Mics:-- Sarang: Audio-Technica ATR2100x-- Akash – Razer Seiren Mini- AV recording: Zencastr- Post-production: Audacity, AuphonicMusic:Intro: Howling (Sting) - Gunnar OlsenOutro: Your Intro by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Artist: http://audionautix.com/#F1 #Formula1 #Podcast #F1Podcast #F12020 #Formula12020 #BahrainGP #BahrainGP2021

**Race Summary:**

* The 2021 Formula One season kicks off with an exciting race in Bahrain.
* Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing takes the checkered flag, followed closely by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
* The race features several thrilling moments, including a restart after a safety car period and a tense battle between Verstappen and Hamilton in the final laps.

**Key Insights:**

* The new season promises to be more competitive than recent years, with several teams showing strong pace.
* Red Bull and Mercedes are still the top teams to beat, but Ferrari and McLaren have made significant progress.
* The midfield is also more competitive, with several teams capable of challenging for points.

**Highlights and Controversies:**

* **FIA's Controversial Decisions:** The race was marred by the FIA's handling of track limit regulations, particularly at Turn 4. Drivers were initially informed that they would not be penalized for exceeding track limits as long as they did not gain an advantage. However, mid-race, Hamilton received a warning for repeatedly going off-track, leading to criticism of the FIA for inconsistency and favoritism.

* **Hamilton vs. Verstappen Rivalry:** The main event of the race was the intense battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Verstappen attempted an aggressive overtake on Hamilton at Turn 4, forcing him off the track. Verstappen was instructed to yield the position back to Hamilton, which left a sour taste for Red Bull and its fans.

* **Red Bull's Strong Performance:** Despite the controversy, Red Bull had a strong race overall. Verstappen finished in second place, while Sergio Perez, starting from the pit lane, drove an impressive race to finish in fifth place. The team's pit stops were also executed flawlessly, contributing to their success.

* **Alpha Tauri's Team Chemistry:** Although Alpha Tauri did not achieve the desired results, the hosts praised the team's chemistry and the positive relationship between the drivers and the team. Yuki Tsunoda scored points in his debut race, showcasing the team's potential for growth.

**Winners and Losers:**

* **Driver of the Day:** Both hosts agreed that Max Verstappen deserved the Driver of the Day award for his aggressive and determined driving. He pushed Hamilton to the limit and delivered an exciting race.

* **Team of the Day:** Red Bull was chosen as the Team of the Day for their overall strong performance, including Verstappen's second-place finish, Perez's impressive recovery drive, and their well-executed pit stops.

* **Loser of the Day:** Nikita Mazepin was jokingly labeled the Loser of the Day for his multiple spins during qualifying and the race. The hosts saw it as an entertaining display of his eagerness to push the limits.

* **Bottas' Disappointing Performance:** Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes, was criticized for his lackluster performance. He finished third, but with a significant gap behind Hamilton and Verstappen. The hosts felt that he failed to challenge for the win and questioned his position as the second driver at Mercedes.

The episode concludes with the hosts expressing their excitement for the upcoming season and encouraging listeners to visit their website, f1fanfiction.com, for more content and discussions.

[00:00.000 -> 00:12.600] It's lights out and away we go. It's race weekend, folks. It's race weekend finally, after a long week.
[00:12.600 -> 00:29.040] I'm pretty sure I didn't nail it as good as David Croft, but hey, I tried and I always wanted to. So so whatever. Welcome back to a brand new episode with Fan Fiction. We
[00:29.040 -> 00:34.560] are your hosts I am Akash and I'm Sarang. You can listen to us on your favorite
[00:34.560 -> 00:39.680] streaming or any app that you use wherever podcasts are available. I just
[00:39.680 -> 00:47.360] go crazy with it. News for you folks, we are now live with our website f1fanfiction.com
[00:47.360 -> 00:53.560] come check us out, interact with us, we've got blog posts there, whatever we've
[00:53.560 -> 00:58.800] missed talking about right now, we've got you know stuff coming out over there so
[00:58.800 -> 01:03.960] head over to the website again that's f1fanfiction.com. Well if you don't
[01:03.960 -> 01:07.600] want to go to a streaming app for for listening to our podcast, come there.
[01:07.600 -> 01:12.800] And we've got a player for you there. So, you know, it's a one-stop-shop solution for you.
[01:12.800 -> 01:18.560] So, yeah. Come on, write to us. And hope to see you there soon.
[01:18.560 -> 01:25.460] This is episode number four. First ever of its kind with Race Week in play.
[01:25.460 -> 01:28.620] And what a race it was. Nail-biter to the end.
[01:28.620 -> 01:34.260] Well, diving into the weekend. What a race weekend it was, right, Saran?
[01:34.260 -> 01:36.460] Your thoughts on the weekend.
[01:36.460 -> 01:40.300] It was worthy of a season opener. That's all I can say.
[01:40.300 -> 01:45.300] It was filled with excitement. It had just the right amount of drama in there.
[01:45.780 -> 01:53.540] And, uh, even if the results look same as 2020, it still was a amazing
[01:53.540 -> 01:53.920] case.
[01:54.660 -> 01:55.360] Yeah.
[01:55.360 -> 02:02.980] Uh, nail biter to the end drama, starting off from qualifying, uh, every, every lap
[02:02.980 -> 02:05.400] sort of being that, Hey, what's going to happen?
[02:05.400 -> 02:09.600] And not just at the top, but even exciting things happening in the midfield.
[02:09.600 -> 02:11.900] So, overall, an amazing race.
[02:11.900 -> 02:13.900] Qualifying, right?
[02:13.900 -> 02:16.800] It's been an interesting qualifying.
[02:16.800 -> 02:25.840] For me, I think the two things that stood out was, why did Perez use softs when he had that one last chance to get on to the grid?
[02:25.840 -> 02:28.320] He could have probably just made it into Q1.
[02:28.320 -> 02:34.800] And yeah, I would have loved to see at least one of the legends into Q3.
[02:34.800 -> 02:37.000] But yeah, all three of them were out.
[02:37.000 -> 02:38.800] Sarang, what's for you?
[02:38.800 -> 02:42.560] Yeah, qualification itself for this race was quite interesting.
[02:42.560 -> 02:48.200] Couple of things which stood out for me was George Russell again with a very strong
[02:48.200 -> 02:55.240] performance getting into Q2, dragging that Williams over there, great effort by him.
[02:55.240 -> 03:03.280] And the other thing was Mazepin or better known as Mazespin these days, caused some
[03:03.280 -> 03:04.280] yellow flags.
[03:04.280 -> 03:05.600] As it was, there was some issue
[03:05.600 -> 03:11.040] with signs. So there were two yellow flags on the track, which caused Ocon and Vettel
[03:11.040 -> 03:16.800] a lot of trouble. They both had to kind of, they had bad lap times because of that and
[03:16.800 -> 03:22.560] Vettel really got the worst of it. The interesting thing about the sport is that,
[03:22.800 -> 03:24.240] The interesting thing about this sport is that
[03:27.440 -> 03:29.560] things in the previous session can really, really affect you in the next session.
[03:29.560 -> 03:32.040] And that's what exactly happened with Vettel.
[03:32.040 -> 03:34.320] The drama for today's race pretty much started
[03:34.320 -> 03:36.920] even before the cars were on the track.
[03:36.920 -> 03:38.920] Vettel was called to the stewards
[03:38.920 -> 03:43.920] because he failed to abandon his hot lap.
[03:44.120 -> 03:50.300] He did slow down for the yellow flags but he was supposed to actually abandon the lap.
[03:50.300 -> 03:55.860] And he didn't do that. So he was called to the stewards and he was given a 5-grid place penalty.
[03:55.860 -> 04:00.360] Which basically put him right at the end of the grid today.
[04:00.360 -> 04:09.140] Yeah, he didn't have five places to give away. So, yep. So yeah, pretty unfortunate
[04:09.140 -> 04:17.720] for him. His race was going to be bad right from there itself. Talking about bad races,
[04:17.720 -> 04:27.240] for a moment there, Perez was having nightmares. He, while he was getting to the grid
[04:27.240 -> 04:31.960] during the formation lab, I think he had some issues
[04:31.960 -> 04:35.520] and his car stalled right before,
[04:35.520 -> 04:37.640] I think the last turn or something like that.
[04:37.640 -> 04:41.920] And yeah, pretty much he had to try
[04:41.920 -> 04:43.440] and get that car started again.
[04:43.440 -> 04:46.000] He had to get into the pit lane.
[04:46.000 -> 04:48.760] They had to do an extra formation lap this time,
[04:48.760 -> 04:50.520] which basically subtracted one lap
[04:50.520 -> 04:54.000] from the total time of the race.
[04:54.000 -> 04:56.040] It was a very, very weird thing.
[04:56.040 -> 05:00.040] Yeah, I wonder if that extra formation lap cost was tap in.
[05:00.040 -> 05:02.960] But hey, we'll come back to that towards the end of the episode,
[05:02.960 -> 05:03.600] so stay tuned.
[05:02.880 -> 05:03.520] But hey, we'll come back to that towards the end of the episode. So stay tuned.
[05:04.000 -> 05:12.440] Um, I, yeah, I think the, the curse of the second race driver continued at Red Bull.
[05:12.760 -> 05:17.800] I felt sad, but Hey, I was so happy to see him, even though you're starting from the
[05:17.800 -> 05:23.480] pits, I was so happy to see him at least be in that race and then what a race it was for him as well.
[05:23.960 -> 05:26.240] Um, but yeah, race start was amazing.
[05:26.240 -> 05:31.160] I think Vastapan's been very smart on that straight.
[05:31.480 -> 05:35.760] Because he just, if you saw, he just went all the way to the right, breaking that
[05:36.240 -> 05:39.720] race line, conventional race line that the drivers have taken.
[05:40.400 -> 05:43.920] And obviously, people on the back don't want to break air.
[05:43.920 -> 05:50.080] So, they are following him to the right. But that first turn is a left-hand into the right, right?
[05:50.080 -> 06:06.640] So, that was quite a smart move from Verstappen. And back of the grid, at least the top five, there was so much fighting going on into that first lap itself that which sort of continued and caused momentum
[06:06.640 -> 06:15.560] for quite a lot of shufflings in the start of the race. Ferrari very
[06:15.560 -> 06:21.200] surprising at least for me had an amazing pace where Charles was able to
[06:21.200 -> 06:27.600] eventually get hold of P3 at a point, which was to my surprise, just amazing.
[06:27.600 -> 06:34.600] I mean, first of all, for everyone out there, I expected Ferrari to be back of the grid somewhere.
[06:34.600 -> 06:42.000] I mean, coming off of 2020, I didn't expect them to be where they are, but it's just been so surprising to me.
[06:42.000 -> 06:44.400] And Charles, what a start he's had.
[06:44.800 -> 06:48.160] But then not to just undermine other drivers,
[06:48.160 -> 06:50.880] Lando Norris, I mean, that McLaren, oh my God,
[06:50.880 -> 06:55.360] that young kid's just been killing at the start.
[06:56.960 -> 06:59.000] Yeah, I mean, my excitement's all over the place
[06:59.000 -> 07:04.000] because Gasly was fighting for that P4 and P3A2 at a point.
[07:05.000 -> 07:05.860] What a point.
[07:06.700 -> 07:09.560] What a start. Yeah, I mean, it was insane to start.
[07:09.560 -> 07:12.880] It was not just at the front where battles were going on,
[07:12.880 -> 07:14.520] it was all throughout.
[07:14.520 -> 07:15.360] Exactly.
[07:15.360 -> 07:17.360] And that was really interesting.
[07:17.360 -> 07:19.320] People were overtaking each other.
[07:19.320 -> 07:22.680] Vettel jumped from P19 to P14
[07:22.680 -> 07:25.120] and it was just craziness everywhere. Kimi Raikkonen jumped from P14 to P14 and it was just craziness everywhere.
[07:25.120 -> 07:28.000] Kimi Raikkonen jumped from P14 to P11.
[07:28.000 -> 07:35.000] Yeah, I mean, I think all veterans kind of were trying to gain a couple positions, it seems.
[07:35.000 -> 07:40.520] And to me, that sort of felt like, you know, experience more than just the car.
[07:40.520 -> 07:47.280] Because the way Westphalen started, he sort of created that tight squeeze on the back and it
[07:47.280 -> 07:52.880] wasn't that easy to sort of get through cars. But then you could see these veterans sort of make
[07:52.880 -> 07:58.800] their way using experience to their advantage, right, irrespective of the type of car they had,
[07:58.800 -> 08:05.260] which is amazing. One event that I loved, at least what happened in the start was Mazipin spinning.
[08:05.260 -> 08:12.060] Because after what he had done during qualifying, in my head, he was Grosjean too.
[08:12.060 -> 08:16.780] And I was like, this dude is going to end up doing something like Grosjean.
[08:16.780 -> 08:20.520] I had my fingers crossed. And then he spun.
[08:20.520 -> 08:25.960] So, I was like, okay, we are not going to see drama at least, uh, in a
[08:25.960 -> 08:26.960] sad way.
[08:26.960 -> 08:32.680] Um, but anyways, he spun and then he eventually at least created a safety car.
[08:32.680 -> 08:37.000] So I was like, the race has anyways just started, which is going to be exciting.
[08:37.000 -> 08:39.000] You've created a safety car.
[08:39.000 -> 08:40.840] Uh, yeah.
[08:40.840 -> 08:42.080] Yeah.
[08:42.080 -> 08:43.080] It's safety cars.
[08:43.080 -> 08:47.920] You know, I, I, I love safety cars most of the times, but sometimes,
[08:47.920 -> 08:56.240] especially at the start of the race, it feels like it kind of neutralizes the drama. And so,
[08:56.240 -> 09:04.000] yeah, but I'm glad was tapping came out better after the restart and the safety car. Basically,
[09:03.600 -> 09:08.400] after the restart in the safety car. Basically, the good thing about safety cars
[09:08.400 -> 09:10.680] is that whoever the leader of the races
[09:10.680 -> 09:13.240] gets to choose when the race restarts,
[09:13.240 -> 09:14.960] when the safety car goes in.
[09:14.960 -> 09:19.120] And that's a very important skill for each driver
[09:19.120 -> 09:22.200] to maintain the pace and restart the race at the right time.
[09:22.200 -> 09:23.640] And Vostapn was able to do that.
[09:23.640 -> 09:29.480] Yeah, I mean, and the amazing thing he did again there was right like safety car
[09:29.480 -> 09:37.600] basically for folks is something that makes everyone go slow on the track in
[09:37.600 -> 09:42.280] layman terms so that if there is any big debris or anything on the track which
[09:42.280 -> 09:46.880] can affect the cars and the safety of the race is taken care of.
[09:47.520 -> 09:54.640] And this could go on for as long as possible unless, until the race directors feel that it's
[09:54.640 -> 10:01.040] safe to continue. And when it, the place where it ends is when a new lap starts and the safety
[10:01.040 -> 10:06.000] car is out of the track. And in this case, right, what happened was
[10:14.320 -> 10:21.760] the race resets after the chequered flag finish line. And the beauty, the beauty that Max showed was he went as slow as possible on that straight right before that chequered flag line, so that he
[10:21.760 -> 10:28.160] could keep everyone so tight. And as soon as he crossed line he knew had to he had to pick up pace otherwise people could start
[10:28.160 -> 10:32.360] overtaking and he went again all the way to the right breaking that race line and
[10:32.360 -> 10:37.480] it was so beautiful from him but but thoughts on restart from you after after
[10:37.480 -> 10:43.480] safety concern yeah one thing I really noticed this time is that Honda was not
[10:43.480 -> 10:45.520] joking when they have a new engine
[10:45.520 -> 10:52.240] that that thing is a rocket ship. They are matching up Mercedes as close as they can. And
[10:52.880 -> 10:57.760] yeah, I think this year would probably be a very strong year from Max and Red Bull.
[10:57.760 -> 11:05.920] And that showed at the restart of the safety car where he was, he confidently had enough pace and he was able to keep that
[11:05.920 -> 11:12.300] gap to Hamilton right after the restart. Hamilton was not in WTAPens DRS
[11:12.300 -> 11:17.880] range right after the safety car and he wasn't there for quite a while so
[11:17.880 -> 11:23.760] definitely they have really made big strides in the engine department there.
[11:23.760 -> 11:25.640] The other interesting
[11:25.640 -> 11:32.080] thing that happened right after the safety car was a McSchumacher spinning.
[11:32.080 -> 11:39.480] That just kind of shows at what a terrible state Haas currently is.
[11:39.480 -> 11:46.480] That car is... I don't know what what that car is and they have pretty much as we had talked about last
[11:46.480 -> 11:50.560] time that they have pretty much said that they're not going to make any developments this year so
[11:50.560 -> 11:56.960] I I'm expecting just these events occurring again and again. Hey, Haas is the new Williams.
[11:59.440 -> 12:03.120] Yeah that's right you could you could say that say it that way definitely.
[12:03.200 -> 12:05.200] That's right. You could say it that way, definitely.
[12:13.120 -> 12:14.880] Yeah, and talking about crashes, Gasly had a moment of his own.
[12:22.960 -> 12:25.000] He kind of, I think, had, he overbraked or something like that and just nudged into Ricardo and basically lost his front wing.
[12:25.000 -> 12:31.560] I could see that the front wing and its entirety broke off from the nose and flew apart onto
[12:31.560 -> 12:33.280] the side of the track.
[12:33.280 -> 12:35.080] And that was a funny moment.
[12:35.080 -> 12:40.160] Yeah, I mean, that Honda engine bullet was also working for this B team.
[12:40.160 -> 12:42.160] It wasn't just...
[12:42.160 -> 12:44.040] Oh yeah.
[12:44.040 -> 12:45.000] Yeah, definitely.
[12:45.000 -> 12:47.000] Alpha Taudi looked quite strong.
[12:47.000 -> 12:55.500] And I am guessing if Gasly didn't have this moment in this race, I think he could have had a very good result this time.
[12:55.500 -> 12:56.000] For sure.
[12:56.000 -> 13:03.000] What was he? Was he like P3 or fighting for P3 at some point during restart as well, right?
[13:03.000 -> 13:06.800] Oh yeah, I think Charles and Gasly were going at it.
[13:06.800 -> 13:10.800] No, I think earlier, Botas and Charles were going at it.
[13:10.800 -> 13:13.400] Shortly after it was Gasly and Charles.
[13:13.400 -> 13:19.400] Talking about Charles and Botas, I think Ferrari after a very long time,
[13:19.400 -> 13:24.400] are in the position to fight Mercedes and that's really great.
[13:24.400 -> 13:25.600] I'm quite happy about that.
[13:25.600 -> 13:29.760] There are more teams who are now challenging Mercedes this year.
[13:30.920 -> 13:32.240] Yeah, yeah.
[13:32.800 -> 13:37.600] I mean, the safety car, as you said, is quite eventful,
[13:39.120 -> 13:41.800] usually in terms of pit stops, but
[13:44.400 -> 13:49.960] but yeah, the fights have just been amazing I can't
[13:49.960 -> 13:54.440] remember but was there was there also a fight between Charles and Lando at some
[13:54.440 -> 14:00.680] point oh yeah there were fights all over the place I think Botas finally was able
[14:00.680 -> 14:04.080] to you know gain some distance from Charles because at the end of the day
[14:04.080 -> 14:08.840] Charles was definitely over driving his car trying to fight Bottas.
[14:08.840 -> 14:11.040] Mostly still has that edge over Ferrari.
[14:11.040 -> 14:16.560] And I think at some point he was able to, you know, just fly away from Charles.
[14:16.560 -> 14:22.360] So Charles was basically, and Gasly was out of the pictures because of his issues.
[14:22.360 -> 14:26.900] So Lando got that advantage and he was able to catch up with Charles and
[14:26.900 -> 14:32.200] they were going at it corner after corner, you know, side by side. This is this wheel
[14:32.200 -> 14:37.760] to wheel action is, you know, what gets me to wake up at 6am in the morning to watch
[14:37.760 -> 14:50.360] the race and and it was there. So yeah, I'm I'm a happy person today. Yeah, so yeah, moving on. I think right after
[14:50.360 -> 14:55.200] the restart, things started to settle down, everybody was kind of getting into their grid
[14:55.200 -> 15:03.560] spot, sorry, into their positions on the track. And that's when basically everybody, you know,
[15:03.560 -> 15:08.080] gets into the waiting game of who is the first team that pits
[15:08.080 -> 15:11.760] and basically determines the strategy
[15:11.760 -> 15:14.080] so that other people can counter it.
[15:14.080 -> 15:17.880] And yeah, I think Alpine was the first with Alonso
[15:17.880 -> 15:22.880] where they got him into the pit to change tires
[15:23.080 -> 15:27.000] and forcing their opponents to take some action about that.
[15:28.000 -> 15:33.500] Yeah, I mean, what was it that you said right before you started recording?
[15:33.500 -> 15:36.700] What is it like? Alonzo starts an undercut train, right?
[15:38.700 -> 15:43.400] Because that's how it works. You know, one person pits and then everybody is panicking.
[15:43.400 -> 15:46.880] Okay, you know, this team has pitted. We have to respond somehow.
[15:46.880 -> 15:52.000] And then everybody is choosing whether to pit now, later, undercut, overcut.
[15:52.000 -> 16:00.000] It's so interesting to see. If you're seeing a race live, you know that the commentators pause when there's a radio message.
[16:00.000 -> 16:06.960] And as soon as the first person pits, it's all team radio starting to box, box, box, box, box.
[16:06.960 -> 16:11.720] And yeah, the commentary is gone for maybe two laps because the teams are just.
[16:14.080 -> 16:28.760] But it was an interesting start to the undercut train, like undercut essentially is nothing but putting earlier into the into the labs so that you have that slight edge of fresher tires
[16:28.820 -> 16:30.780] over folks that are already out on the track.
[16:30.780 -> 16:33.420] So you have that momentum going in,
[16:33.420 -> 16:35.540] gaining those extra positions,
[16:35.540 -> 16:39.140] building off a delta with the folks that you've overtaken.
[16:39.140 -> 16:41.820] And then when they pit, you get an extra edge
[16:42.620 -> 16:46.720] with that lead that you've taken.
[16:46.720 -> 16:50.200] So Alonzo started it, and soon to follow was Merck.
[16:50.200 -> 16:53.480] We've seen Merck do this quite often.
[16:53.480 -> 16:57.720] They do have a very well-formulated and proven
[16:57.720 -> 17:00.440] to win undercut strategy.
[17:00.440 -> 17:04.320] And Hamilton was right on top of it, right?
[17:04.320 -> 17:06.860] Oh, yeah. Merck is great at it.
[17:06.860 -> 17:10.580] And not just that, it's not only about strategy
[17:10.580 -> 17:14.100] that they make, it's also about they have two drivers
[17:14.100 -> 17:17.140] who are very close to each other during the race
[17:17.140 -> 17:19.760] most of the times, because of which they can create
[17:19.760 -> 17:22.740] these strategies which, you know, they can execute perfectly
[17:22.740 -> 17:24.660] because they have somebody on the track
[17:24.660 -> 17:25.560] to hold the position
[17:25.880 -> 17:31.020] They don't have to give up the position just because they're you know, deciding on an undercut. Right, right
[17:32.240 -> 17:38.260] So there are there are essentially three types of compounds in the race a soft a medium and a hard type of tire
[17:38.280 -> 17:40.600] So yeah, the way the way I understand it is
[17:41.240 -> 17:46.160] Softs may go shorter distance would give you better performance and then as you move
[17:46.160 -> 17:53.280] towards the hard compound it gives you lesser performance but lasts you way longer. So it was
[17:53.280 -> 17:59.360] interesting to see that the first undercut by Hamilton they directly gave him hard the hard
[17:59.360 -> 18:07.680] tire and to my mind I'm thinking he's probably going to go towards to the end of the race because he's done this in the past.
[18:07.680 -> 18:10.200] I'll be complaining towards the end of the race that,
[18:10.200 -> 18:14.480] well, no, I don't have any tires, which also I was ready to hear.
[18:14.480 -> 18:18.600] But he pitted with putting on the hard tires.
[18:18.600 -> 18:34.280] I was hoping for Red Bull to also stop. But I loved the fact that they tried to overshine and, you know, disprove Hamilton's undercut by just staying out there longer.
[18:34.280 -> 18:46.240] Because Max was on the mediums, if I'm not wrong, or softs at least. And he had more, at least, performance to chew out of those cars, even though Hamilton was on
[18:46.240 -> 18:54.000] new tires. And it was a perfect battle of strategies, right? It wasn't being compelled
[18:54.000 -> 18:59.760] by what the other teams were doing, but they were completely in the game. It was an amazing
[18:59.760 -> 19:06.640] rivalry at the top, not just Merck dominating, unlike previous previous seasons and a true, true battle of
[19:06.640 -> 19:08.280] strategies happening there.
[19:08.280 -> 19:09.600] Oh, yeah.
[19:09.600 -> 19:14.040] And one thing which kind of, you know, gives me the confidence that this season would be
[19:14.040 -> 19:19.080] a lot more interesting than a couple of seasons that we have had in the past couple of years
[19:19.080 -> 19:23.920] is that earlier on Red Bull always had that deficit and performance for which they had
[19:23.920 -> 19:25.360] to compensate.
[19:25.360 -> 19:30.600] And because of that, a lot of times they couldn't make these gambles and strategies.
[19:30.600 -> 19:37.680] They had to kind of follow what Mercedes is doing, because otherwise, if you don't have
[19:37.680 -> 19:41.120] enough performance in your car, you cannot do those gambles.
[19:41.120 -> 19:54.000] And I think this year, since they do have that performance with them, they can actually venture out and try these new strategies out and try to beat Mercedes not just on the track but also on strategy.
[19:54.000 -> 20:09.360] And I think that that is going to just give that nudge to the top fighting teams,
[20:09.360 -> 20:15.940] I think the middle of the pack is doing exactly that right now with McLaren. To my surprise again, Ferrari.
[20:15.940 -> 20:26.200] And Alpha Tauri as well, right? They are giving… They are in that range of the deficit right now to just keep that push.
[20:26.200 -> 20:29.800] Definitely within the Formula 1.5.
[20:29.800 -> 20:32.200] But keep that push even to the top teams.
[20:32.200 -> 20:33.400] And as we've seen, right?
[20:33.400 -> 20:37.800] Like Lando and Leclerc going all the way up to P4s and P3s.
[20:37.800 -> 20:38.800] Oh, yeah.
[20:38.800 -> 20:41.800] And it's quite evident this year.
[20:41.800 -> 20:45.760] Like all the teams are so close together. I feel I, so
[20:46.960 -> 20:53.040] right up to last year, there was a very clear distinction between like the three tiers of
[20:53.040 -> 20:58.400] teams that were there, where we would say that, you know, Mercedes and Red Bull were in a tier
[20:58.400 -> 21:07.880] of their own. These leading midfield teams, which is basically McLaren, the former Racing Point, which is now Aston Martin,
[21:07.880 -> 21:11.000] and I suppose also Renault was,
[21:11.000 -> 21:12.280] I mean, now it's called Alpine,
[21:12.280 -> 21:15.200] but these three teams were in one pack
[21:15.200 -> 21:16.800] and the rest in the other.
[21:16.800 -> 21:19.680] So I think overall this year,
[21:19.680 -> 21:23.200] I'm not able to determine honestly these distinctions,
[21:23.200 -> 21:25.200] except for Haas and Williams I would say.
[21:25.200 -> 21:32.880] But otherwise it's a really mixed up field and that we could see in this race.
[21:32.880 -> 21:34.960] Even look at Alpha Tauri.
[21:34.960 -> 21:38.320] Like unfortunately Gasly didn't have a good race today.
[21:38.320 -> 21:41.680] But Yuki had a pretty amazing race.
[21:41.680 -> 21:42.680] He was a rookie.
[21:42.680 -> 21:45.280] I mean he is a rookie and this was his first race.
[21:45.280 -> 21:47.280] And yeah, he did well.
[21:47.280 -> 21:50.800] Yeah, I mean, even though Gasly didn't finish, I mean, that was tough luck on his side.
[21:50.800 -> 21:58.240] But, you know, if he would have stayed in the race, I wouldn't have been surprised to see him way up in the points.
[21:58.240 -> 22:12.640] But while all this action was happening on the front and we talk about midfield, I think the mid-race section was completely for a viewer on whatever was happening not on the front of the race, right?
[22:12.640 -> 22:25.000] It was like all the mid-back and the back markers. After Hamilton pitted and like after he was behind
[22:28.480 -> 22:30.360] and Verstappen was in the meanwhile,
[22:30.360 -> 22:35.280] you know, just cruising ahead and not gaining or not losing.
[22:35.280 -> 22:38.000] And same thing, Hamilton itself was cruising.
[22:38.000 -> 22:40.400] Everybody was just playing the waiting game.
[22:40.400 -> 22:43.240] So things kind of started getting boring at the front,
[22:43.240 -> 22:50.860] but at the mid part, things were getting super interesting. I mean Yuki again like playing the strategy game
[22:51.360 -> 22:55.640] He stayed out longer everybody when they started pitting he stayed out on the field
[22:56.040 -> 22:59.680] and he got the p6 position because of that and
[23:02.880 -> 23:12.440] Yeah, there was a lot going on. Especially, did you see the amazing fight between Alonso, Sainz and Vettel?
[23:12.440 -> 23:20.200] While they were going at it, you know, 100%. And it was just insane to watch.
[23:20.200 -> 23:29.600] Alonso even called it out in his post-race. You are exactly bang on to not have any words to describe that situation.
[23:29.600 -> 23:35.600] Because it was like the good old days for me, right? Alonzo called it out in the post-race saying,
[23:35.600 -> 23:45.000] Yeah, we had a fun race. During the middle of the race, it was some good rivalry with old friends. And overall, it was a good race.
[23:45.000 -> 23:53.800] So, for him also, I think the highlight of the race was, you know, battling his old mates on the track.
[23:53.800 -> 23:55.800] And that was fun.
[23:55.800 -> 23:57.800] It lasted for a few laps. It was fun.
[23:57.800 -> 24:04.800] Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, two of these team names had a terrible race.
[24:04.800 -> 24:05.000] But they gave us some real good action on the track. Unfortunately, both of these three names had a terrible race.
[24:05.000 -> 24:09.000] But they gave us some real good action on the track.
[24:09.000 -> 24:11.000] And I'm very happy about that.
[24:11.000 -> 24:21.000] It was good to see battles so close that I have missed this a lot in the past years.
[24:21.000 -> 24:28.240] Yeah, I mean, having seen such races over the years and whatever was happening in the
[24:28.240 -> 24:34.160] last you know two years with the dominance and you know not a clear rivalry this race was
[24:34.960 -> 24:41.120] me feeling like a lawnser is like yes it's the good old days and we are back to the competition
[24:41.120 -> 24:45.360] we are you know we're longing to see. Right. Yeah.
[24:45.360 -> 24:46.360] Yeah.
[24:46.360 -> 24:54.360] So while all this was happening at the midfield between the Alonso, Sainz and Vettel, the
[24:54.360 -> 25:01.000] lads at Alfa Romeo were just having a chill Sunday afternoon.
[25:01.000 -> 25:04.680] And yeah, they were pretty much just cruising by.
[25:04.680 -> 25:06.120] I didn't really even see
[25:06.120 -> 25:14.100] them on the screen. Yeah, live and let live was their motto. Yeah but I mean they just missed the points I
[25:14.100 -> 25:18.600] think they came in 11th and 12th I guess just one behind each other so that's
[25:18.600 -> 25:22.920] great actually Alfa Romeo has probably made some significant progress because
[25:22.920 -> 25:25.760] last year they they could only
[25:25.760 -> 25:33.800] dream of coming 11th and 12th. So yeah great great job by Alfa Romeo. Meanwhile a
[25:33.800 -> 25:41.800] race leader decided to pit finally because yeah he probably was facing some
[25:41.800 -> 25:45.940] tyre degradation issues and so he pitted. Everybody expected that
[25:45.940 -> 25:50.500] he probably would change to hards and you know just drive that to the end of
[25:50.500 -> 25:56.980] the race and try to make it a one-stop race but he went on to another mediums
[25:56.980 -> 26:03.220] which was kind of surprising because that essentially guaranteed that he had
[26:03.220 -> 26:09.040] to pit again because basically FIA has a rule that for every race,
[26:09.040 -> 26:11.280] they have these mandatory tires.
[26:11.280 -> 26:13.040] So what you talked about earlier,
[26:13.040 -> 26:14.160] where we have three compounds,
[26:14.160 -> 26:17.560] so the one compound is kept as a mandatory compound
[26:17.560 -> 26:20.280] that you have to put on your car during the race.
[26:20.280 -> 26:21.880] And for this race, it was hard.
[26:21.880 -> 26:26.040] And since Max hadn't put hard tires yet,
[26:26.040 -> 26:28.040] by going onto the medium tires,
[26:28.040 -> 26:29.680] he basically sealed the deal
[26:29.680 -> 26:32.240] that he had to put one more time onto hard.
[26:32.240 -> 26:34.440] And that was a very big gamble
[26:34.440 -> 26:37.640] because even though, you know,
[26:37.640 -> 26:40.800] the fact that Hamilton was on hards,
[26:40.800 -> 26:42.000] there was a chance that, you know,
[26:42.000 -> 26:49.800] he could just go to the end on those tires. So, yeah. Kudos to Red Bull for trying that out.
[26:49.800 -> 26:58.740] And you are absolutely right. We have seen Hamilton pull that off, right? To everyone's surprise, he is 3-out.
[26:58.740 -> 27:05.600] Even to that fact that he is limped in with three tires winning a race. So, he's done this.
[27:05.600 -> 27:15.000] But it was interesting to see that they again went ahead with that undercut strategy for Hamilton, lap 29.
[27:15.000 -> 27:27.640] And that was the period when I think Merck decided to sort of have, you know, a Merck pit stop for both their drivers. It's, they think they are probably better off
[27:27.640 -> 27:32.160] with a double stack, which I was happy to see they didn't do
[27:32.160 -> 27:35.840] but again, like lap 29, lap 30, I thought 31st was it,
[27:35.840 -> 27:38.640] it was still back to back in terms of laps.
[27:38.640 -> 27:43.360] And there was that effect of someone getting affected.
[27:43.360 -> 27:45.960] And again, sadly this time it was Botas.
[27:45.960 -> 27:54.240] Oh yeah, Botas that poor fellow. When is he gonna catch a break? I don't understand.
[27:54.240 -> 28:09.280] I mean I don't, I'm not a fan of his. I've never been a fan of his but he just has terrible luck with things. Somehow whenever Mercedes makes a mistake, it's always with regards
[28:09.280 -> 28:15.040] to poor tyres. And the same thing happened this time, he had horrible pit stop. I think one of the tyres
[28:15.040 -> 28:23.200] was stuck, it wasn't coming off. Not that he was doing any good in the race either, but
[28:28.640 -> 28:33.760] Not that he was doing any good in the race either. But I just feel sad for him. He is the one who takes it all. Yeah, that's right. It cannot be good for his mental state.
[28:33.760 -> 28:47.800] I mean, in the post-race, when asked how was the day-to-day, Mercedes had won. So, I mean, obviously, he should have been happy. But he was like, well, it was an okay-ish day.
[28:47.800 -> 28:52.680] We could have done better. We didn't have the right strategies for me.
[28:52.680 -> 28:59.520] And to think of it, he came in third. It's not like he came in 14th or something.
[28:59.520 -> 29:05.520] He came in third and he looked as if he was dead last on the track. No, he missed out on his chance, right?
[29:05.520 -> 29:13.600] Like, since the past two years, he's had this event-winning strategy for the championship where he wins the first race and then he doesn't.
[29:13.600 -> 29:16.080] But this time, he's not won the first race.
[29:16.080 -> 29:19.120] So, he doesn't know what's gonna happen with him through the season.
[29:19.120 -> 29:25.200] I think that's the ultimate mind game that he's trying to play with Hamilton.
[29:25.200 -> 29:28.600] So let's see what happens this year.
[29:28.600 -> 29:33.800] And I think at that point, Alonso had some issues.
[29:33.800 -> 29:41.000] I think he had some debris stuck in his rear brake duct or something like that.
[29:41.000 -> 29:44.700] And that was causing some heating issues for brakes.
[29:44.700 -> 29:45.840] And yeah, he pretty much
[29:45.840 -> 29:49.920] had to come out with a statement on what actually was wrong because I never know what happened with
[29:49.920 -> 29:57.680] him yep yep they they tweeted it out uh talking about this uh that they had some debris where did
[29:57.680 -> 30:03.200] he where did he pick it up though I don't know I think there were a couple of incidents that
[30:03.200 -> 30:09.380] happened right I think with gasoline and stuff so there was like pieces of carbon fiber lying around here
[30:09.380 -> 30:13.320] and there and I think we had talked about this earlier sometime these these
[30:13.320 -> 30:18.360] pieces are pretty much like short and you know it cuts through anything and
[30:18.360 -> 30:22.600] yeah so once it's like lodged inside it's it's not something that you know
[30:22.600 -> 30:27.720] you could just pit and some some mechanic just puts his hand in and pulls it out it's like really stuck
[30:27.720 -> 30:33.240] there so yeah and then there were events happening with the other veteran to read
[30:33.240 -> 30:45.200] like what he ended up hitting Oh Khan on the rear and pulling off a classic So I mean, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of the ordinary.
[30:47.060 -> 30:52.300] But yeah, what will the other legend also doing something similar?
[30:53.160 -> 30:54.600] Yeah, it pains me.
[30:54.600 -> 30:57.760] It pains me every time when battle does a spin.
[30:57.760 -> 31:00.760] I mean, he's a great driver, but I think
[31:01.500 -> 31:04.540] the past two years, especially at Ferrari,
[31:08.600 -> 31:15.600] has somehow, you know somehow broken his confidence entirely. That's where it feels to me. He doesn't seem like the old Vettel we knew back in Red Bull anymore.
[31:15.600 -> 31:19.600] Yeah, I mean, I hope he gets converted to something similar like Raikkonen.
[31:19.600 -> 31:27.580] And then all we sort of want is him to not leave the sport. It's just fun seeing him on that track.
[31:28.660 -> 31:31.540] And then he can do whatever he wants, keep spinning every day so that we are
[31:31.540 -> 31:33.940] waiting, Oh, actually we can gamble.
[31:34.220 -> 31:39.460] Which lap do you think he's going to spin and put money on it, man?
[31:41.780 -> 31:42.180] Yeah.
[31:42.980 -> 31:43.740] There it is.
[31:44.220 -> 31:47.000] Forget Wall Street bets. This is the new Wall Street Bets.
[31:47.000 -> 31:52.000] Right. Give him his own ticker. And yeah, this sounds like a real deal.
[31:52.000 -> 32:00.000] But yeah, I mean, besides this fun, we're towards the end of the race.
[32:00.000 -> 32:09.000] Last 10 laps, I would probably say was the most exciting in terms of what was happening in the front of the pack.
[32:09.000 -> 32:18.000] I don't want to overshadow whatever happened throughout the race, but this sort of was the main event.
[32:18.000 -> 32:26.960] Nail-biter to the end. Yeah, when was the last time you remember that the second position
[32:26.960 -> 32:32.520] finished within one second? I don't. To be honest, I don't and it was it's always been
[32:32.520 -> 32:35.960] whoever I mean not always Hamilton there have been other winners but like
[32:35.960 -> 32:42.200] whoever's it's been it's sort of just been a bullet ahead and a clear winner.
[32:42.200 -> 32:47.840] Yeah, that's right and that this was you know without any shenanigans happening towards the end of the race.
[32:47.840 -> 32:54.120] It wasn't like, you know, there was some safety car that came out just towards the end which, you know, kind of compressed the pack.
[32:54.120 -> 32:59.160] This was just on pure pace that Hamilton and Wostapen were going at it.
[32:59.160 -> 33:06.380] Yeah, the only drama factor in this point was FIA right Saran? Oh man don't get me started about that
[33:06.380 -> 33:11.740] oh you know what I feel this is just the right time to talk about talk about the
[33:11.740 -> 33:21.620] incident. Yeah I think yeah this is this is my time to rant. Yeah sorry guys you're in for it.
[33:21.620 -> 33:28.400] So yeah I think basically Hamilton and Verstappen were going at it
[33:28.400 -> 33:34.680] and Verstappen was really gaining onto Hamilton and he reached into the DRS
[33:34.680 -> 33:42.440] range and he basically had that slight advantage in terms of having his DRS
[33:42.440 -> 33:48.680] open and having that 20 miles per hour advantage over Hamilton. And
[33:48.680 -> 33:58.600] he was able to get close to him and almost overtook him at turn four. And but while trying
[33:58.600 -> 34:10.300] to do that, he went off the track. And right after that, he got a radio message saying that you have to yield the position back to Hamilton
[34:10.300 -> 34:19.000] because you went off the track and you cannot gain an advantage by going off the track. So, yeah, you have to yield.
[34:19.000 -> 34:27.680] To me, that was all the more frustrating because A, I don't want to see Hamilton on the podium. Let's just put it out there.
[34:27.680 -> 34:36.800] I mean, he's sure a nice driver, blah, blah, blah. But he's a sore loser as many of the drivers have said it on the track as well.
[34:36.800 -> 34:50.320] Anytimes he sort of put up a fight. So yeah, I was just happy Max was winning. And to see that fight. But as soon as that radio message came in, I was like, this is just favoritism at its best playing along.
[34:50.320 -> 34:54.320] Because Hamilton's done this throughout the race.
[34:54.320 -> 34:59.360] And as soon as Max getting an advantage, in terms of a position, yes.
[34:59.360 -> 35:04.080] But in doing it, what was it? Like 29-30 times throughout the race.
[35:04.080 -> 35:05.920] That also adds to advantage
[35:07.360 -> 35:12.880] oh yeah certainly i mean in a sport like f1 where like every millisecond counts
[35:13.920 -> 35:29.600] doing something that gains you even like you know hundredth of a second 29 times gains you a lot of time. So yeah, I mean, I feel the blame majorly lies solely on FIA for this,
[35:30.320 -> 35:39.040] because they keep these weird rules and these weird ambiguity, which leaves this, you know,
[35:39.040 -> 35:46.160] leaves the door open for such things to happen. Like, let me tell you in detail what the exact rule was
[35:46.160 -> 35:47.880] and what the issue was.
[35:47.880 -> 35:51.960] So basically, Michael Massey, who's the race director,
[35:51.960 -> 35:56.960] like during the driver's debrief that happens
[35:57.600 -> 36:01.800] before the race, he informed the drivers that
[36:03.440 -> 36:08.480] turn four will not be monitored for track limits and you would
[36:08.480 -> 36:13.960] not be penalized as long as you don't gain an advantage by going off the track.
[36:13.960 -> 36:20.580] But here lies the issue that when you say something like gain an advantage, this is
[36:20.580 -> 36:29.600] a very subjective terminology. You have to put very definitive rules here and
[36:29.600 -> 36:34.880] very definitively say what does gaining an advantage exactly means. Because what is gaining
[36:34.880 -> 36:42.640] an advantage? Is it overtaking while you're outside the track? Is it just going outside the track lap
[36:42.640 -> 36:50.200] after lap to gain that slight hundredth of a second, which adds up and eventually like, you know, adds up in the whole race.
[36:50.200 -> 37:08.000] Yeah. And I mean, not to belittle the teams, but these folks are literally looking for every millisecond of opportunity that they can get, sort of bend those rules and, you know, exploit the holdings.
[37:08.000 -> 37:13.000] And you're bang on, I mean, when you say an even more ambiguous statement,
[37:13.000 -> 37:20.000] what did you expect? Obviously, the teams are going to go ahead and see how can they capitalize on exploiting it, right?
[37:20.000 -> 37:29.520] And yeah, I mean, these teams are multi-million dollar businesses at the end of the day They are going to try and find every single loophole that they can find
[37:29.520 -> 37:36.120] It is the responsibility of FIA to ensure that these loopholes don't exist in the first place and the most weird thing
[37:36.560 -> 37:41.240] About it was that okay, it's fine. They decided on this rule
[37:41.760 -> 37:45.920] but mid race if you notice Hamilton got this video message saying
[37:45.920 -> 37:53.200] that, hey, you have been going over, you know, going outside the track for a couple of laps now,
[37:53.200 -> 37:57.360] and we're instructed to tell you that you can't do it anymore. Otherwise, you would get the black
[37:57.360 -> 38:01.120] and white flag. And if you continue to do it, you'll get a penalty right after that.
[38:02.400 -> 38:06.160] And that basically, I think, was a result of Red Bull complaining
[38:07.200 -> 38:12.080] to the stewards, because they noticed that Hamilton was consistently going off the track.
[38:12.080 -> 38:17.840] And yeah, I mean, you're changing rules while the race is going on. That just doesn't make
[38:17.840 -> 38:29.700] sense to me at all. Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised if Christian Oner, who's the team principal for Red Bull, goes off just to chew on FIA's ears.
[38:29.700 -> 38:37.600] To make a point, because, you know, hey, this was Max's win. If, you know, the ambiguity wasn't there to begin with.
[38:37.600 -> 38:45.900] I certainly feel Max could have wrapped up at P1. But this is the first race of the season.
[38:45.940 -> 38:48.780] I don't think they're going to go too much at it.
[38:48.800 -> 38:53.480] But nonetheless, knowing Christian Honor, the way he is in terms of being
[38:53.480 -> 38:59.280] aggressive on the management side, I think he's going to go back and chew on FIAS.
[39:01.080 -> 39:09.000] There's this particular term that I've seen a lot of people refer Christian Horror as, which is a shit stutter.
[39:09.000 -> 39:29.000] And that's exactly what he is. He's always there to like, you know, add that drama into things and make sure that Survive, right? Netflix's Formula 1 show.
[39:29.000 -> 39:47.000] They have shown Christian in a similar fashion where they have time and again shown in episodes where you see him being that aggressive. More than aggressive, I see it as a good leader slash manager for your team.
[39:47.000 -> 39:55.000] Because he tries to find every opportunity to put his team on the top, one way or another.
[39:55.000 -> 40:06.000] Yup, that's right. Yeah. I mean, yeah, he's always portrayed that way and from all the interviews that I've seen and everything,
[40:07.520 -> 40:14.800] that's my impression as well that he is a great leader in that sense because
[40:14.800 -> 40:18.560] he's not afraid of putting his thoughts out there at all.
[40:19.520 -> 40:30.640] Coming back to our topic at hand, I feel that this in a way kind of ruined the race a little for me,
[40:30.640 -> 40:36.440] even though I mean, I'm not complaining about the race, it was spectacular. It had everything that
[40:36.440 -> 40:50.160] I wanted. But, you know, in a sport like F1, where the slightest moment that you have can change every single thing in the race.
[40:50.160 -> 40:55.960] These external factors when they interfere with the racing, somehow, you know, sucks
[40:55.960 -> 41:06.420] the joy out of it for me. And it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. And I don't know, I don't understand what is a
[41:06.420 -> 41:12.840] fire trying to achieve by keeping the these ambiguous rules. For me, honestly,
[41:12.860 -> 41:20.040] it feels like they on purpose leave this ambiguity, so that they can bend the rule
[41:20.820 -> 41:23.620] to the narrative that they want to push.
[41:23.680 -> 41:24.680] to the narrative that they want to push. Cash is king.
[41:24.680 -> 41:27.680] That's right. Exactly. Yeah.
[41:27.680 -> 41:33.120] That was exactly what I wanted to get at.
[41:33.120 -> 41:36.720] No, for me, it was also one of those memes, right?
[41:36.720 -> 41:38.520] Like the table-flipping memes.
[41:38.520 -> 41:42.360] And as soon as the chequered flag was out there, I was like,
[41:42.360 -> 41:48.960] Why? I mean, I was so close to having a perfect Sunday race day.
[41:48.960 -> 41:52.760] Hamilton crosses the line. FIA backing him.
[41:52.760 -> 41:54.880] I mean, not literally backing him.
[41:54.880 -> 41:58.640] But like, with the discussions we are having, sort of backing him.
[41:58.640 -> 42:07.120] Well, at the end of the day, the Red Bull, at least Max was happy with the race.
[42:07.120 -> 42:08.640] And it's the first race of the season.
[42:08.640 -> 42:11.840] I mean, we'll see how it unfolds.
[42:11.840 -> 42:19.320] We know for sure that the battle between Red Bull and Mercedes is going to go on throughout
[42:19.320 -> 42:20.320] the season.
[42:20.320 -> 42:25.000] And we're going to continue seeing that fight for position.
[42:25.360 -> 42:27.520] One more thing that I noticed was
[42:27.520 -> 42:32.520] when Hamilton won the race and they showed Toto Wolf,
[42:32.760 -> 42:36.200] who's basically the team principal for Mercedes,
[42:36.200 -> 42:40.480] when they showed Toto Wolf and the joy that was on his face,
[42:40.480 -> 42:41.960] every single time till now,
[42:41.960 -> 42:44.400] when I have seen Toto after the race,
[42:44.400 -> 42:46.000] he has, I mean, you know,
[42:46.000 -> 42:50.600] he's not excited or anything. Like it's become a common thing for them to win.
[42:50.600 -> 42:54.700] And most of the times they are winning, you know, by 20 seconds or something like that.
[42:54.700 -> 43:05.600] And for today, it felt like Mercedes did earn the win in the sense that they themselves did not expect to win this race to be honest
[43:05.600 -> 43:14.080] they knew that Red Bull is a faster car on track and it really felt like yeah he
[43:14.080 -> 43:22.240] he felt like he earned it so yeah it was overall it was a great race just that FIA were party poopers
[43:22.240 -> 43:26.720] and ruined it a little but overall it was a great race.
[43:26.720 -> 43:30.360] And I think everybody enjoyed it, including Hamilton,
[43:30.360 -> 43:34.360] because if you saw Hamilton in the post-race interview,
[43:34.360 -> 43:36.960] he was so happy.
[43:36.960 -> 43:39.980] I mean, obviously he won the race, so he is happy,
[43:39.980 -> 43:42.360] but I think after a long time,
[43:42.360 -> 43:44.120] he had to really fight for it.
[43:44.120 -> 43:46.760] He had to give in everything that he had.
[43:46.760 -> 43:49.000] I think something similar to what he had to do in Turkey
[43:49.000 -> 43:53.600] last year, where he would have to be at his 100%
[43:53.600 -> 43:54.440] throughout the day.
[43:54.440 -> 43:56.480] Yeah, there was that radio message from him as well,
[43:56.480 -> 43:58.000] like leave it up to me.
[43:58.000 -> 43:59.760] And I mean, he delivered, so.
[44:01.600 -> 44:04.400] Shortly after that, actually, I heard a radio message
[44:04.400 -> 44:06.640] on Worst Happ worst happens radio where they
[44:06.640 -> 44:11.880] basically told him, they told him that, you know, if you need anything, let us know.
[44:11.880 -> 44:17.120] Otherwise, you're on your own, like, we're not going to disturb you anymore.
[44:17.120 -> 44:21.320] Anyhow, overall, I think we're saying it's, it's an amazing race.
[44:21.320 -> 44:27.680] I mean, definitely, it is all I hope from for race one of a brand
[44:27.680 -> 44:36.520] new season with legends and amazing races and amazing teams in the race. Good battle
[44:36.520 -> 44:41.560] on the top. Although again, I don't know if I can say it enough, but I would have hoped
[44:41.560 -> 44:49.360] to see a different podium result. Hamburg bought a teal as old as time.
[44:49.360 -> 44:57.720] Anywho, but besides the FIA thing, I think it was an amazing weekend.
[44:57.720 -> 45:01.760] Who stood out as the driver of the day for you, Sarang?
[45:01.760 -> 45:10.000] For me, I think it would be Verstappen.
[45:10.000 -> 45:15.000] I was a little confused between Hamilton and Verstappen.
[45:15.000 -> 45:21.000] But I think at the end of the day, I am a bigger fan of Verstappen than Hamilton.
[45:21.000 -> 45:26.080] So I'm going to give it to him so yeah so what's
[45:26.080 -> 45:32.440] happened I think he he did everything right that he could do honestly speaking
[45:32.440 -> 45:39.280] he a lot of people did kind of criticize him for doing that move on the outside
[45:39.280 -> 45:50.000] on turn four but I don't blame no no no yeah I agree you know as Senna, if you remember, that if you don't go for that gap, you are not a race driver anymore.
[45:50.000 -> 45:54.000] In fact, I feel like that was a perfect thing to do.
[45:54.000 -> 45:58.000] I mean, kudos to him for even doing it.
[45:58.000 -> 46:07.240] In the sense, like, he is up against a seven-time world champion, way more experienced driver. He's way younger than him and the way he's pushing
[46:07.240 -> 46:10.760] another legend is just so amazing to see.
[46:12.220 -> 46:17.220] Oh yeah, and for sure, he was as well 100% in the race.
[46:18.380 -> 46:20.680] He was pushing as hard as he could
[46:20.680 -> 46:23.920] and he's matured so much.
[46:23.920 -> 46:29.620] And yeah, I have no words. Like when I started watching
[46:29.620 -> 46:34.460] F1 and when you know Wustappen came in and you know there was this buzz all
[46:34.460 -> 46:39.620] around when he had came in, when he had come into F1 and at that point I was not
[46:39.620 -> 46:44.300] super impressed but over the years I've seen him mature, I've seen him you know
[46:44.300 -> 46:45.340] become a little less hot-headed but at the years I've seen him mature I've seen him you know become
[46:45.340 -> 46:49.300] a little less hot-headed but at the same time maintaining the aggression that's
[46:49.300 -> 46:57.420] required and yeah I think he he probably really deserved the win. I wouldn't say
[46:57.420 -> 47:04.300] that Hamilton doesn't deserve the win or anything but if if the viewer turned for
[47:04.300 -> 47:11.000] things didn't happen I think think that would have probably, what's happened would have come out better at the end of the race.
[47:11.000 -> 47:12.000] Yeah.
[47:12.000 -> 47:17.000] So, what about you, Akash? Who would be your driver of the day for today?
[47:17.000 -> 47:27.840] Driver number 2 has always had this curse of Red Bull where, you know, it's since 1-2 years, it's just been sad to see what's been happening with Driver 2 and it's all been maxed at that team.
[47:27.840 -> 47:39.720] But then to see Perez, A, kudos to him because coming into this team, knew the way he came almost at the edge of the seat towards the end of the year.
[47:39.720 -> 47:46.320] Not knowing if he's going to be there. not having the car that he would have hoped, and to that
[47:46.320 -> 47:53.120] matter, not knowing if he's even going to race in his first race, right, with the pre-the formation
[47:53.120 -> 48:00.320] lap issues. And then he comes in, starts from Pit Lane, finishes what, all the way at P5, I think?
[48:00.320 -> 48:07.720] Yeah, P5. Just a splendid drive from him. I'm definitely sure Christian's gonna be happy to see
[48:07.720 -> 48:10.240] both the drivers now battling hard,
[48:10.240 -> 48:12.480] where I can now probably hope Perez
[48:12.480 -> 48:14.920] is gonna give that tough fight
[48:14.920 -> 48:17.440] on the top along with Postapin.
[48:17.440 -> 48:18.520] So, yeah.
[48:19.760 -> 48:22.920] Yeah, I mean, yeah, great job by Perez.
[48:22.920 -> 48:28.640] I mean, starting 20th, basically from pit lane and then coming in 5th is commendable.
[48:28.640 -> 48:33.840] I mean, and that basically he won the driver of the day even in the race as well, right?
[48:33.840 -> 48:39.360] Yeah, that did bias my decision, but then kudos to him. Kudos to him.
[48:39.360 -> 48:47.840] Right. One special shout out that I wanted to give was for Lando because he did an excellent job today.
[48:47.840 -> 48:53.600] I mean he drove a very good race and came in fourth. Right. I think. Yeah.
[48:53.600 -> 49:02.360] And yeah he got the edge over Ricardo at the start of the race and he maintained that throughout the race.
[49:02.360 -> 49:05.120] I didn't see him much except for the fight that he had with
[49:05.120 -> 49:10.480] Charles. I didn't see him much on the track but I think sometimes that is good as well because
[49:10.480 -> 49:17.040] you know just keeping your head down, putting in consistent laps, that gains you results.
[49:17.040 -> 49:20.320] In which case what was the team for the day for you?
[49:28.120 -> 49:34.160] day for you? So I think the team of the day for me probably is Red Bull. Yeah I mean they executed everything perfectly. They had amazing pit stops. They have an
[49:34.160 -> 49:40.560] amazing pit crew and yeah they delivered and strategy wise they did everything
[49:40.560 -> 49:46.000] right. Not many issues with the car except for the one that Paris had.
[49:46.000 -> 49:51.300] And overall, I think Red Bull got both their teams,
[49:51.300 -> 49:55.500] I mean both their drivers finishing in good positions.
[49:55.500 -> 49:59.600] P2 for Verstappen and P5 for Paris.
[49:59.600 -> 50:02.400] So yeah, they gained quite a bit of points.
[50:02.400 -> 50:07.120] And yeah, I think Red Bull really shined in this race for me.
[50:07.920 -> 50:08.560] What about you, Akash?
[50:08.560 -> 50:15.920] For me, Alpha Tauri, Red Bulls B team, we didn't see the results that we would have hoped.
[50:15.920 -> 50:29.160] But for me, I think the way they shone was the good tuning between the team and their drivers, the good compliment that was happening between the two,
[50:29.160 -> 50:33.320] to the fact that before Ghazalie was out,
[50:33.320 -> 50:37.720] he was contending for points in the top five of the table.
[50:37.720 -> 50:43.760] We saw Yuki deliver on the car space,
[50:43.760 -> 50:48.300] getting points in his first race at F1.
[50:48.300 -> 50:57.000] So overall, I can see some good chemistry between the drivers and the team.
[50:57.000 -> 51:01.020] Not the result that we would have hoped for, but I still think the team's, you know, done
[51:01.020 -> 51:10.920] so good to be the team for the day for me. Going on the fun side also, let's talk about a loser for the day, right?
[51:10.920 -> 51:16.200] Let me start here. For me, it was Nikita Mazepin.
[51:16.200 -> 51:26.400] In a fun way though because although I had hoped to see Grosjean No. 2 in him, but I don't…
[51:30.920 -> 51:39.360] I am pretty sure I am gonna see that during the season which has just begun. So, for me, he came in as someone who wanted to prove something and was gonna be aggressive on the track.
[51:39.360 -> 51:44.280] Let's do this. Trying to push the car's limit. Spun out multiple times in qualifying.
[51:44.280 -> 51:47.440] Let's do this during race and spun out again.
[51:47.440 -> 51:49.840] I was like, yes, you are the man.
[51:49.840 -> 51:53.200] So, I had fun with him.
[51:53.200 -> 51:55.440] For me, he is the loser of the day.
[51:55.440 -> 51:57.200] Sarang, let's hear yours.
[51:57.200 -> 52:02.960] Okay. I think for me, it's Bhotash.
[52:02.960 -> 52:27.280] Primarily because, I mean, he came in third. Still a good chance. Yeah he came in third in the Mercedes and he came in third with 37 seconds away from the first two. I mean come on man what Bottas I thought I thought that first race was when you
[52:27.280 -> 52:35.520] win and this is not how you win it's just terrible performance he was nowhere
[52:35.520 -> 52:43.440] near Hamilton throughout the race he never even got into a battle with
[52:43.440 -> 52:47.200] Verstappen it's just shameful at this point.
[52:47.200 -> 52:51.040] It's good for Mercedes that they have a really good card.
[52:51.040 -> 52:58.160] But otherwise, that seat would not be filled by POTUS at this point of time for sure.
[52:58.160 -> 53:02.240] If they didn't have, you know, probably not the best card now,
[53:02.240 -> 53:05.980] but the best card that they have had till now.
[53:05.980 -> 53:14.340] So yeah, I feel like he's thinking he's the leader of Formula 1.5 and that's where 1.5
[53:14.340 -> 53:15.340] begins.
[53:15.340 -> 53:18.600] Yeah, I think I think so.
[53:18.600 -> 53:25.640] So basically, we have Hamilton and Worstapp were in Formula 1. And then, rest of the world.
[53:25.640 -> 53:28.840] And towards the end, we have Nikita Mazepin.
[53:28.840 -> 53:34.040] Oh man, yeah. This is going to be a fun season.
[53:34.040 -> 53:35.400] So, I have a feeling.
[53:35.400 -> 53:36.400] No doubt.
[53:36.400 -> 53:41.040] Well folks, overall, what a weekend it has been.
[53:41.040 -> 53:46.640] Besides all the rants and all the cribbing that we've done,
[53:47.760 -> 53:53.600] it was just a great weekend to see Formula One back on track and with a bang.
[53:53.600 -> 53:59.760] This was an excellent banger, besides again, FIA playing party poopers.
[53:59.760 -> 54:03.200] Nonetheless, this was an excellent weekend. Let's stick with that.
[54:04.320 -> 54:06.440] We've been your hosts. This was an excellent weekend. Let's stick with that. We've been your hosts.
[54:06.440 -> 54:08.680] This was Fan Fiction.
[54:08.680 -> 54:12.080] Until next episode, until the next race weekend,
[54:12.080 -> 54:16.160] or unless we have a surprise episode between the races,
[54:16.160 -> 54:19.720] you can stream us on your favorite streaming apps
[54:19.720 -> 54:21.960] or wherever you get your podcast.
[54:21.960 -> 54:25.200] Don't forget to check us out on our website
[54:25.200 -> 54:27.800] at f1fanfiction.com.
[54:27.800 -> 54:30.040] We are live, drop us a message.
[54:30.040 -> 54:32.740] If you don't have a favorite streaming platform,
[54:32.740 -> 54:35.680] come listen to us on our website.
[54:35.680 -> 54:39.000] We've got blog posts and exciting other stuff for you.
[54:39.000 -> 54:40.240] So see you there.
[54:40.240 -> 54:43.080] And until next episode, signing off.
[54:43.080 -> 54:43.920] Bye-bye.
[54:43.890 -> 54:46.490] and until next episode, signing off.
[54:46.490 -> 54:47.490] Bye-bye.