2021 Portuguese GP Race Discussion

Coming off a great start to the 2021 Season of F1, we come to this undulating track of the Algarve International Circuit which hosted the 2021 Portuguese GP. Though not living up to the high standards set by the first two races, this was nonetheless action packed and exciting throughout. Visit us at f1fanfiction.comIn this Episode we discuss: Race Start - BOT HAM VERRocking RicciardoKimi snoozing in the carRace Restart - BOT VER HAMMercedes Fastest?BOT HAM VER - wait what?!HAM BOT VER - Wait! WTF is happening?Mazepin the GREAT!Perez racing aloneAnd HAM VER BOT it is..Curse of the 2nd Red Bull seat.Battle for P18Alonso - The man on a missionUnderperforming GaslyWhat is Vettle doing?Mick and Vettle's bromanceBattle for P17Battle of the fastest lap.Race End - HAM VER BOT! (the only consistent thing in life) Join us at Socials:Twitter: @f1fanfictionInstagram: @f1fanfictionMusic: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/FanFiction By Anirudh Mendiratta @MontanaDesi on Twitter

* **Race Start:** No major changes in positions among the leaders, except for Perez losing a position. Kimi Raikkonen crashed into his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi due to a distraction, causing a safety car period.


* **Race Restart:** Max Verstappen made a good start, briefly challenging Lewis Hamilton for the lead before settling into second place. Sergio Perez struggled with his tires and lost positions. Lando Norris overtook Perez, leading to a radio outburst from Perez.


* **Mercedes Dominance:** Mercedes appeared to have the faster car, with Hamilton eventually overtaking Bottas for the lead. Verstappen fell back and started complaining about his car's performance.


* **Midfield Battles:** Intense battles occurred throughout the midfield, with drivers like Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, and Daniel Ricciardo making impressive overtakes. George Russell also had a strong race, finishing in the points.


* **Perez's Lonely Race:** Sergio Perez found himself isolated in the midfield, unable to challenge the leaders or defend against the chasing pack. He eventually finished in fifth place.


* **Hamilton's Victory:** Hamilton cruised to victory, extending his lead in the championship standings. Bottas finished second, followed by Verstappen.


* **Curse of the Second Red Bull Seat:** The podcast discusses the ongoing struggles of drivers occupying the second Red Bull seat, with Perez being the latest example.


* **Alonso's Resurgence:** Fernando Alonso had a strong race, making several overtakes and moving up the order. He finished in eighth place, earning praise for his performance.


* **Gasly's Struggles:** Pierre Gasly had a disappointing race, struggling with his car's pace and making several mistakes. He finished outside the points.


* **Vettel and Mick's Bromance:** Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher were seen having a friendly moment during the race, with Vettel giving Schumacher some advice.


* **Battle for 18th:** The podcast highlights the battle for 18th position between the two Williams drivers, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell.


* **Fastest Lap Battle:** Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race, further demonstrating Mercedes' dominance.


* **Race End:** Hamilton, Bottas, and Verstappen finished in the top three positions, with the rest of the field maintaining their positions.


**Race Overview:**

- The Portuguese Grand Prix at the undulating Algarve International Circuit provided plenty of excitement despite falling short of the high standards set by the first two races of the 2021 Formula One season.

- The track's challenging layout, with its ups and downs and limited visibility, made for a thrilling spectacle, with numerous overtaking opportunities.

- While the race lacked a captivating battle for the lead, there was plenty of action in the midfield, with drivers from various teams engaging in close battles.

**Key Moments and Observations:**

- **Rocking Ricciardo:** Daniel Ricciardo continued his impressive start to the season, delivering a strong performance in his McLaren, showcasing his ability to adapt to the new car and team.

- **Kimi's Slumber:** Kimi Raikkonen provided a moment of amusement when he was caught on camera seemingly dozing off in his Alfa Romeo during a red flag period.

- **Mercedes Dominance:** Mercedes maintained its dominance, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas securing a 1-2 finish, extending their lead in the Constructors' Championship.

- **Red Bull's Pit Stop Blunder:** Red Bull Racing suffered a strategic error during Max Verstappen's pit stop, resulting in a lost opportunity to challenge Mercedes for the lead.

- **Alonso's Mission:** Fernando Alonso displayed his determination and skill, making several impressive overtakes in his Alpine, demonstrating his ability to challenge for points.

- **Vettel's Struggles:** Sebastian Vettel's struggles continued, with the four-time world champion failing to make a significant impact in his Aston Martin, raising questions about his comfort level in the car.

- **Mick and Vettel's Bromance:** A heartwarming moment occurred during the cool-down lap when Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel exchanged thumbs up, symbolizing their mutual respect and the passing of the torch from mentor to protégé.

- **Battle for Fastest Lap:** Bottas and Verstappen engaged in a late-race battle for the fastest lap, adding an extra layer of excitement to the closing stages of the race.

**Conclusion:**

- The Portuguese Grand Prix provided a mix of entertainment and strategic intrigue, showcasing the strengths and weaknesses of various teams and drivers.

- While the race lacked a captivating battle for the lead, the midfield battles and individual performances made it an enjoyable spectacle for Formula One fans.

- The upcoming Spanish Grand Prix promises to deliver more thrilling action, with drivers looking to capitalize on the lessons learned in Portugal.

[00:00.000 -> 00:04.960] I don't know who you are. He's telling to the car in front of you, but I'm gonna find you and overtake you.
[00:10.500 -> 00:15.900] Hello and welcome back to another episode with us at F1 Fan Fiction.
[00:16.140 -> 00:18.140] We are your hosts. I am Akash.
[00:18.400 -> 00:19.200] And I'm Saran.
[00:19.660 -> 00:29.040] And let's get into it. Another undulating race with not so undulating results the same that
[00:29.040 -> 00:37.240] we've seen over and over. I'm verbot. That's basically you know the most one
[00:37.240 -> 00:52.000] of the most consistent things in life right now for me. That's true that's true. That's true, man. Hey, but win number 97, I mean, as much as I hate this guy, it's a good feat.
[00:52.000 -> 00:57.500] He could have gotten what his 100th podium was it on qualifying, right?
[00:57.500 -> 00:58.500] I think it was his 100th.
[00:58.500 -> 01:02.000] Yeah, I think, yeah, Bhutas basically denied him of that.
[01:02.000 -> 01:09.000] It's a matter of time as we'll see later in the episode how it was just a matter of time before the win.
[01:09.000 -> 01:12.000] Although nothing much happened during the race.
[01:12.000 -> 01:16.000] It wasn't eventful but it still had my attention throughout.
[01:16.000 -> 01:19.000] Maybe just because I was hopeful that something's gonna change.
[01:19.000 -> 01:21.000] You know what though?
[01:21.000 -> 01:41.480] I thought about this a little after the race like when I was just going through the race in my head, again, I realized this, that we say that it wasn't that interesting, but if you compare it to the races from 2019 and 2020, where literally nothing happened, you could just, you know, switch off the TV, turn it on again, and nothing would change on the leaderboard.
[01:41.480 -> 01:48.480] Uh, so compared to that, actually it was quite an eventful race. But if you see the previous two races
[01:48.480 -> 01:53.080] how good they were this definitely seems like a dull race. Yeah exactly I mean in
[01:53.080 -> 01:57.480] that sense that's true. I guess our expectations also have probably gone up
[01:57.480 -> 02:04.920] because the races have started becoming so much more on every lap. But yeah
[02:04.920 -> 02:07.280] this was nonetheless still a good race.
[02:07.280 -> 02:11.360] Race start, walk us through your thoughts there, Sarang. Race start.
[02:11.360 -> 02:15.960] Well, I think race start, nothing dramatic happened at the front of the pack.
[02:15.960 -> 02:20.400] All the leaders pretty much retained their positions. I think except for Perez,
[02:20.400 -> 02:26.320] I think Perez did lose a position, right think. Eventually he did like signs signs overtook
[02:26.320 -> 02:31.600] him but eventually. Okay but that was not at the race start is it? Okay I'm probably misremembering
[02:31.600 -> 02:38.160] uh yeah but uh anyways I mean Ham were bought nobody was affected by the race start but dude
[02:38.160 -> 02:51.440] Ricardo was having a great time right I think he started off P16 obviously he had a very poor qualification. Yeah, but he somehow made it up during the race and at the race start itself, he gained some three positions.
[02:51.440 -> 02:55.320] And yeah, overall we saw what he did through the race.
[02:55.320 -> 02:57.320] So kudos to Ricardo for that.
[02:57.320 -> 03:01.640] Yeah, I mean, that was a good race start from him jumping three positions.
[03:01.640 -> 03:03.760] I think like he ended up at P13, was it?
[03:03.760 -> 03:06.160] Yeah, I mean, at the start of the race P13, I think think he ended up at P13, was it? Yeah, I mean, at the start of the race, P13.
[03:06.160 -> 03:09.680] I think eventually he ended up around P8.
[03:09.680 -> 03:10.320] Into the points.
[03:10.320 -> 03:11.360] Yeah, into the points.
[03:11.360 -> 03:11.880] That's right.
[03:11.880 -> 03:13.680] Yep, yep, yep.
[03:13.680 -> 03:16.440] The other interesting part with Ricardo, though,
[03:16.440 -> 03:22.520] was he was in that danger zone during qualification, P15.
[03:22.520 -> 03:28.800] And then his former teammate, Okon, denied him of Q2 which was interesting.
[03:29.800 -> 03:33.800] And Ocon was having a stunner of a day and a weekend, right?
[03:33.800 -> 03:40.300] Because like though there was this battle going on between Norris and Ocon at restart
[03:40.800 -> 03:49.000] where Norris over to Kokkon, Ocon regained back and then Norris had an amazing left hand turn overtake on him.
[03:49.000 -> 03:54.000] But Ocon was just flying through the race entirely.
[03:54.000 -> 04:06.480] And similarly, right, like Sainz was also having a good restart before Ferrari got into the pits and butchered both Lando, sorry, Leclerc and Sainz.
[04:06.480 -> 04:10.720] But yeah, Ferrari was quite up there after the race start.
[04:10.720 -> 04:16.240] Yeah, though like the race start didn't lead up to much because Raikkonen crashed.
[04:16.240 -> 04:19.240] Which is pretty rare actually.
[04:19.240 -> 04:22.840] But he made a real rookie mistake.
[04:22.840 -> 04:26.500] He was fiddling with the steering wheel, something, God knows what.
[04:26.500 -> 04:33.720] And I think basically he ran into his teammate, Jivanatsi, which is quite funny to see.
[04:33.720 -> 04:42.080] I was seeing this on board of Ricardo, I think because he was flying through the field, right?
[04:42.080 -> 04:43.920] Like he was overtaking left and right.
[04:43.920 -> 04:50.240] And I think he basically reached at the back of Jivenazia and Raikkonen, who were like just ahead of each other.
[04:50.240 -> 04:57.480] And they crashed and I could see like all the debris like was just flying through towards Ricardo.
[04:57.480 -> 05:09.000] He somehow just missed it and went past. It was good instinct on his side to miss out on that accident. I think knowing Kimmy, that Portugal straight first of all is quite long.
[05:09.900 -> 05:13.200] He might just have been bored and be like, hey, what's this new button?
[05:13.500 -> 05:16.100] Did they just add something new on my steering wheel?
[05:16.100 -> 05:18.600] What is it? Oh, wait. Oh, my God, I crashed.
[05:20.400 -> 05:23.500] Yeah. And even even after the crash, right?
[05:23.500 -> 05:27.440] Like when he went wherever, like into the gravels and
[05:27.440 -> 05:32.640] he was walking out, he was just random, like he was on a Sunday stroll.
[05:32.640 -> 05:36.240] He was just walking through, trying to see, hey, what's there?
[05:36.240 -> 05:41.200] I got a few screenshots out of it just to make a meme of it, but it's hilarious.
[05:41.200 -> 05:43.440] Just like, oh, wait, what's that?
[05:43.440 -> 05:49.800] What's happening? Kimmy, it really feels to me like he is out on a track day there.
[05:49.800 -> 05:53.360] It doesn't seem like he is out there racing for Formula 1 team.
[05:53.360 -> 05:56.640] He is just there as his hobby.
[05:56.640 -> 06:01.200] Because he has got nothing else better to do on a Sunday.
[06:01.200 -> 06:07.520] Yeah, man. I'll just be devastated to see the day when he says oh I'm gonna
[06:07.520 -> 06:12.840] not race anymore and I just hope he continues to be in the pits somehow as a
[06:12.840 -> 06:17.760] race engineer or tech engineer like somehow just imagine him being like the
[06:17.760 -> 06:31.000] race engineer for Hamilton oh my god my tires. Yeah, I don't care. Just keep driving. If you wanna come in, just come in.
[06:31.000 -> 06:37.000] Man, I would pay some good money to watch that.
[06:37.000 -> 06:49.000] But that brought in the safety car, right? Like, again, this is so early in the race that you can't really take any advantages from a safety car like this.
[06:49.000 -> 06:58.000] If this was like, you know, way down on the 25th, 30th lap, you could see pit lane strategies changing, people coming in, going out, sort of thing.
[06:58.000 -> 07:09.880] But this was just of the stunning restarts we've
[07:09.880 -> 07:15.320] ever seen yeah definitely I think that that was I feel like the best part of
[07:15.320 -> 07:19.480] the race pretty much like right after the restart like couple like 10 laps
[07:19.480 -> 07:24.960] after that were probably the best part of the race pretty much Potas tried to
[07:24.960 -> 07:27.440] back up the pack. Like he tries,
[07:27.480 -> 07:29.960] I that's what I've noticed. He tries to do that a lot.
[07:30.480 -> 07:33.800] Generally he really slows down. If you remember last year,
[07:33.800 -> 07:38.280] there was this incident where a lot of people had crashed towards the back of
[07:38.280 -> 07:42.680] the pack and was the person. Yeah. And,
[07:42.680 -> 07:47.200] Botas was the race leader back then as well and you know he basically
[07:47.200 -> 07:52.640] backed up the pack yeah and yeah so actually I think Crofty also mentioned this and he was also
[07:52.640 -> 08:01.200] like that I'm worried that this might happen again. Plus that race start port like the straight
[08:01.200 -> 08:05.400] is a uphill right so it's probably even difficult to see what's in front of you.
[08:05.400 -> 08:12.300] That's right. Luckily, none of that happened. And we got some exciting action out of it, right?
[08:12.300 -> 08:17.900] Like Vastapan somehow got a really good start. It was very surprising to see.
[08:17.900 -> 08:26.480] He didn't get a good slipstream, but he was just fast on pace, which was quite surprising to see versus a Mercedes.
[08:27.160 -> 08:32.440] Yeah. And what was brilliant about what he was trying to do there was he was trying to...
[08:32.880 -> 08:42.280] He knew where the start line is and he knew that he can't overtake, but he was just trying to be as close to Hamilton as possible so that as soon as that...
[08:42.600 -> 08:45.220] And if you noticed, he was going to overtake him before the race line. He as that and and if you noticed he was gonna overtake
[08:45.220 -> 08:49.000] him before the race line he realized that and he backed off right and then
[08:49.000 -> 08:54.280] used the slipstream. That was really awesome to see right like he they both
[08:54.280 -> 08:58.400] were like wheel to wheel and then he backed off right at the right moment
[08:58.400 -> 09:02.760] went behind took the slipstream and you know did a slingshot yeah went ahead
[09:02.760 -> 09:05.640] that was some really that was a really good move by
[09:05.640 -> 09:06.540] Wustappen overall.
[09:07.080 -> 09:10.820] But I think basically that didn't help Wustappen a lot because he
[09:10.820 -> 09:12.480] was stuck behind Botas right after.
[09:14.820 -> 09:19.440] It, it pretty much, it kind of, I felt that that gave Hamilton an
[09:19.440 -> 09:24.300] advantage in a way because he didn't have to attack so aggressively.
[09:24.640 -> 09:28.000] Wustappen was in the, you know, worst part of here because he didn't have to attack so aggressively. What happened was in the worst part of here
[09:28.000 -> 09:33.520] because he had to deal with the dirty air and the hot air coming from the back of Pota
[09:33.520 -> 09:40.880] Saskar and Hamilton, if you noticed, he was just enough behind them too that he didn't
[09:40.880 -> 09:49.400] have to deal with the dirty air and he could get his tires to the right temperature and yeah and get DRS once that was re-enabled and
[09:49.400 -> 09:54.100] he took advantage of it so exactly that's right I think that's part of his
[09:54.100 -> 10:00.280] genius right like he he is a world champion mainly because he thinks the
[10:00.280 -> 10:04.280] long game and that's what he did like he he kind of knew that even if worst
[10:04.280 -> 10:05.440] happen overtakes him right
[10:05.440 -> 10:14.080] now, he just needs to play cool, get the opportunity and get it back. West Happen's been in F1 what,
[10:14.080 -> 10:21.040] like five, six years now or something like that, but he's definitely grown to a maturity of twice
[10:21.040 -> 10:25.840] as much as time he spent here and this race sort of showed that where
[10:25.840 -> 10:31.120] he was trying to do that so I liked how that was happening and yeah I mean
[10:31.120 -> 10:38.160] Hamilton knew what he had to do waited for the DRS re-enabled as soon as that
[10:38.160 -> 10:45.160] was there we saw that overtake and Westhapen came on to radio right after and I was like yeah I was
[10:45.160 -> 10:54.760] just a sitting duck at that point. I mean it did feel like right up till FP2 I think it felt
[10:54.760 -> 11:00.040] like Red Bull were the favorite and obviously Mercedes was sandbagging.
[11:00.040 -> 11:08.160] They showed their true face in the qualifying. And yeah, it did seem like the Mercedes was the faster car here.
[11:08.160 -> 11:12.720] Honestly, I don't think there's anything else that was Wustappen could have done to win
[11:12.720 -> 11:13.720] that race.
[11:13.720 -> 11:17.880] I think Mercedes just won out the race on pure pace.
[11:17.880 -> 11:18.880] Yeah.
[11:18.880 -> 11:19.880] Yeah.
[11:19.880 -> 11:35.300] I think right after Hamilton overtook Wustappen, there was, I think, Max, if you noticed, right, he was not able to keep up with these two again, which kind of proves the point that they were faster on pace.
[11:35.300 -> 11:45.600] And he started falling back. Or I'm not sure whether he was not able to keep up or probably he was also kind of thinking of the long game and you know just trying to maybe
[11:45.600 -> 11:53.120] preserve his styles probably. Yeah but he was it felt weird because he on DRS it felt like he was
[11:53.120 -> 11:59.680] trying to go for that that position but Hamilton was probably just way too quick which was contrary
[11:59.680 -> 12:07.500] to what was happening during race the the first five laps, where the Red Bull showed pace.
[12:07.500 -> 12:13.300] But it felt like the weekend wasn't with Red Bull.
[12:13.300 -> 12:17.000] Because even during qualifying, the Red Bulls were just struggling.
[12:17.000 -> 12:20.000] He had his times deleted maybe two, three times.
[12:20.000 -> 12:23.000] And it just wasn't the Red Bull weekend.
[12:23.000 -> 12:28.300] Yeah, and again Perez was... Even after the restart, he didn't have a great time.
[12:28.300 -> 12:31.760] Right. I think, I think he too was having some troubles with his tires.
[12:31.760 -> 12:34.180] He was not able to get them into the right window.
[12:34.720 -> 12:40.980] The funny thing was that I think lap 12 was it, where Lando overtook Perez.
[12:41.360 -> 12:45.280] And again, like these guys raised me hard moment happened where Perez came
[12:45.280 -> 12:49.160] on to the radio and he was like just basically cribbing to his engineers
[12:49.160 -> 12:54.440] about Lando's overtake a kid crying to mom.
[12:54.440 -> 13:05.000] Perez did get the position back so like credit to him for that. If this was Albon, he probably wouldn't have covered it.
[13:05.000 -> 13:06.000] Yeah.
[13:06.000 -> 13:09.800] But that's the beauty of this race.
[13:09.800 -> 13:15.720] Like what I liked was it just wasn't Max Verbaat, but there was these smaller battles happening
[13:15.720 -> 13:18.000] all throughout the table.
[13:18.000 -> 13:19.480] Yeah, definitely.
[13:19.480 -> 13:27.560] And I think overall this season, like all the midfield cars are so nearby on pace that you see a lot more of these battles.
[13:27.560 -> 13:32.680] Early on, I feel you, if you notice, we would always get the segregation of teams.
[13:32.680 -> 13:40.320] Each teammate would be one behind the other pretty much with just some mixing in the order.
[13:40.320 -> 13:46.000] But yeah, these days, it's like the order is really mixed up with all different teams.
[13:46.000 -> 13:52.000] Yeah, we came to that what lap 20 position where Hamilton overtook Bottas.
[13:52.000 -> 13:57.000] Right. I don't think anything exciting happened before it.
[13:57.000 -> 14:07.080] No, not really. I think that in this race, I realized this, that there were these moments and then there were,
[14:07.080 -> 14:09.240] because pretty much everybody knew what the result
[14:09.240 -> 14:10.640] was going to be for this race.
[14:10.640 -> 14:12.080] Yeah, right.
[14:12.080 -> 14:14.560] As like, I think we were talking about this too,
[14:14.560 -> 14:16.800] which is, we saw online,
[14:16.800 -> 14:19.320] like as soon as Hamilton overtook Bottas,
[14:19.320 -> 14:21.120] we knew it was just a matter of time
[14:21.120 -> 14:23.280] before it was a hamverbot.
[14:25.840 -> 14:26.840] Oh, man, yeah.
[14:27.040 -> 14:30.080] But the overtake that Hamilton did on Botas was really awesome.
[14:30.080 -> 14:35.160] If you notice, like he went around on the outside and yeah, it was a pretty good
[14:35.160 -> 14:37.680] move though. He had DRS, definitely.
[14:37.680 -> 14:42.440] Yes, but Botas was also in the same car, so a better driver probably could have
[14:42.440 -> 14:43.480] defended it better.
[14:43.520 -> 14:43.800] Yeah.
[14:45.980 -> 14:47.980] But yeah, that statement is very crucial.
[14:47.980 -> 14:57.480] But I think the Bottas is probably one of the only ones who's doing his job so well.
[14:57.480 -> 14:59.980] Because he kept Max at bay.
[14:59.980 -> 15:02.480] That's what he's there for.
[15:02.480 -> 15:02.980] Exactly.
[15:02.980 -> 15:03.980] Yeah.
[15:03.980 -> 15:09.680] As long as he keeps doing that and Hamilton keeps winning, Russell is not getting that seat.
[15:09.680 -> 15:16.800] Yeah, Russell. He will have to try harder. That accident wasn't enough.
[15:16.800 -> 15:28.480] Yeah, but I mean, Botas, he did his job really well, actually, even at the, you
[15:28.480 -> 15:32.600] know, right after the restart, when Wustappen was hunting him down, he defended it pretty
[15:32.600 -> 15:33.600] well.
[15:33.600 -> 15:42.320] And even like later on, when Hamilton overtook both of these guys, he defended Max so well.
[15:42.320 -> 15:49.440] He, Max, I mean, he had no opportunities. I never saw a single place where he even got right next to him.
[15:49.440 -> 15:58.040] And yeah, that basically played into Lewis' hands and he got a nice lead in the front. I think he had about 3 seconds.
[15:58.040 -> 16:07.000] Yeah, and it was a constantly growing lead as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. So I think at that point pretty much the race
[16:07.000 -> 16:14.000] ended and I was about to turn off the TV. Yeah. And then I remembered that we have to
[16:14.000 -> 16:20.840] record a podcast. So I kept watching. You know what, that was exactly the motivation
[16:20.840 -> 16:25.480] behind watching yesterday's race and obviously like Ocon and a few others
[16:25.480 -> 16:35.720] flying through but otherwise I was so dejected when, ah man, Botas. But yeah, I'm out of
[16:35.720 -> 16:44.480] words at this point because. Yeah, I mean, I really enjoy watching Hamilton, you know,
[16:44.480 -> 16:46.480] the way he kind of drives sometimes he just
[16:46.480 -> 16:48.200] gets into that zone.
[16:48.200 -> 16:53.920] So if like basically if you notice right, the way he stayed behind at the race restart
[16:53.920 -> 16:58.240] and he just got through both of them like, you know, a knife through hot butter.
[16:58.240 -> 17:00.000] And that was insane.
[17:00.000 -> 17:04.360] Like I didn't understand like, right after the restart, we could see that Wustappen was
[17:04.360 -> 17:06.160] hunting Bottas down.
[17:06.160 -> 17:08.960] And it really felt like this is going to be a really awesome race.
[17:08.960 -> 17:14.720] Vostapen might overtake him. Then Hamilton will have to overtake Botas and then get to Max.
[17:14.720 -> 17:19.840] But yeah, he just went into his beast mode and just cut through both of them.
[17:19.840 -> 17:23.680] And he's like, I'm done with this race. I'm going to finish this race. And that's it.
[17:23.680 -> 17:28.960] Yeah, because I think last race, he realized if he's not first, he can't deal with
[17:28.960 -> 17:30.920] stress and he'll make a mistake.
[17:31.400 -> 17:36.720] So might as well just be first and only deal with other stresses like tires.
[17:37.000 -> 17:42.080] And that's why he said my tires are short, which is code for mode four, level
[17:42.080 -> 17:44.280] three, whatever crap Mercedes has.
[17:47.600 -> 17:53.760] You know what at this point I really feel that Hamilton is just mocking all the viewers and he just gives us hope by
[17:53.760 -> 17:57.840] saying that my tires are bad so that everybody is like okay we can expect
[17:57.840 -> 18:02.000] some drama and then right after that he does a fastest lap and then another
[18:02.000 -> 18:10.000] fastest lap and then another fastest lap. Yeah, I think like Bernie before going out was like probably, hey Hamilton you're winning a lot.
[18:10.000 -> 18:17.000] So, people I mean and we've seen TRP ratings and everything people just switch off TV as soon as you are in the lead.
[18:17.000 -> 18:20.000] So, yeah try these things like my tires are gone.
[18:20.000 -> 18:24.000] You know once in a while blow off one of your tire and finish it on three tires.
[18:24.000 -> 18:25.720] So, it will just blow the news.
[18:29.120 -> 18:36.120] I think the next one would be, you might just push the car across the finish line and you'd still win it.
[18:38.400 -> 18:40.600] Give people entertainment because they're bored.
[18:49.700 -> 18:56.220] Oh man, I saw this really awesome meme today on Twitter. I have seen that the trade offer meme that guy just sitting saying like you give two
[18:56.220 -> 19:10.040] hours of your time on a Sunday and I give Hamburg board. those memes have also been funny with Nikita Mazepin. You give me all the
[19:10.040 -> 19:19.420] money and I give you a spinning child. I know we are not gonna discuss him after
[19:19.420 -> 19:28.240] this so let's just talk about him right now. This guy dude oh man he did you see where he
[19:28.240 -> 19:35.960] finished? He was two laps down. As if I care. The only point I cared was him trying to
[19:35.960 -> 19:41.040] show off that he can race when he was trying to block Perez on a blue flag and
[19:41.040 -> 19:58.000] I was like dude this is you're being lapped the second time you're not racing anyone not even yourself at this point give up if I said
[19:58.000 -> 20:04.640] this last year somebody would you know just make fun of me that is laughing
[20:04.640 -> 20:05.200] ass dude you know what we did that thing in our first episode where we said make Somebody would just make fun of me. The Williams was laughing at us.
[20:05.400 -> 20:12.000] Dude, you know what? We did that thing in our first episode where we said, make a ridiculous assumption or guess.
[20:12.400 -> 20:15.600] Even this would have been ridiculous for the ridiculousness.
[20:17.300 -> 20:20.100] Oh man, that was so entertaining to see.
[20:23.200 -> 20:32.200] You know, two years back whenever I had questions about Stroll Jr. I see Mazepin and I'm like, no, Stroll Jr. is a deserving driver.
[20:32.200 -> 20:38.800] Because, I mean, with a decent car, he usually doesn't finish outside of points.
[20:38.800 -> 20:44.600] This guy, I have to hope with his skills, first of all, he finishes the race.
[20:44.600 -> 20:47.840] I mean, that's level one of achievement with Mazipin.
[20:48.120 -> 20:52.200] Level two is now finish with some decency.
[20:53.360 -> 20:58.520] I think he's going to build up to it, you know, he first decided to finish a race, as you said, right?
[20:59.080 -> 21:03.240] That's step by step. He doesn't want to just go in all in all of a sudden.
[21:03.520 -> 21:05.240] He needs to acclimatize to it, dude.
[21:05.280 -> 21:07.400] Like, come on, cut him some slack.
[21:07.440 -> 21:07.600] Yeah.
[21:07.600 -> 21:08.760] He didn't spin this race.
[21:08.760 -> 21:09.840] There is improvement, man.
[21:09.880 -> 21:10.560] He didn't spin.
[21:13.720 -> 21:13.920] Yeah.
[21:13.920 -> 21:15.840] I saw a statement right after the race.
[21:15.840 -> 21:21.600] He basically said that, uh, this was a decent performance and, uh, though there's
[21:21.600 -> 21:23.480] still more left to learn.
[21:23.880 -> 21:28.160] I'm like, if this is a decent performance, I really want to see what a bad performance is, man.
[21:28.160 -> 21:37.640] He comes out of the garage and you know how they have that front wheel drive, slight skid and they join.
[21:37.640 -> 21:46.000] He skids off and takes Gunter Steiner with him. Laughing
[21:46.000 -> 21:48.000] Dude, you made my headphones fall off.
[21:48.000 -> 21:50.000] Laughing
[21:50.000 -> 21:52.000] That's a bad day.
[21:52.000 -> 21:54.000] That's a bad day for us.
[21:54.000 -> 21:56.000] Laughing
[21:56.000 -> 21:58.000] We got to repair the car and the team principal.
[21:58.000 -> 22:00.000] Laughing
[22:00.000 -> 22:02.000] Laughing
[22:02.000 -> 22:04.000] Laughing
[22:04.000 -> 22:15.000] Oh man. Well, enough about Marzipan. But coming back to Max Verbot, I was literally actually now going to switch off the TV because
[22:15.000 -> 22:19.680] Max, I think Max complained that he couldn't get his third gear or something, right?
[22:19.680 -> 22:21.400] There's some issues going on with it.
[22:21.400 -> 22:22.400] Really?
[22:22.400 -> 22:23.400] I don't recall.
[22:23.400 -> 22:26.400] I don't recall. I don't recall. I don't see a radio message,
[22:26.400 -> 22:33.200] but I heard a Crofty or someone say Max just got onto radio saying he can't get the third
[22:33.200 -> 22:39.280] gear. Wow. Yeah, I was I was a little worried because I think he was also complaining right
[22:39.280 -> 22:43.120] even earlier that he didn't have the straight line speed overall. I think he also started
[22:43.120 -> 22:48.240] complaining about the tires a bit. Yeah, It was pretty much like it, it, it was,
[22:48.760 -> 22:50.200] everybody was just waiting. Like,
[22:50.220 -> 22:52.960] I think everybody else had already pitted by now. Right.
[22:53.680 -> 22:56.560] Or they were midfield. Oh yeah.
[22:57.440 -> 22:59.360] Midfield had pitted actually. Yeah. Right.
[22:59.640 -> 23:02.840] So race leaders were staying out long.
[23:02.960 -> 23:05.280] I think science started the, uh,
[23:05.280 -> 23:10.960] undercut train for the midfield because I think science pitted and then Lando pitted and just
[23:10.960 -> 23:15.600] basically everybody started pitting because, uh, yeah, they didn't want to lose out. And then these
[23:15.600 -> 23:21.520] three guys and Paris as well, who, who probably was just having a very, very bizarre race. Uh,
[23:22.640 -> 23:25.120] I don't know who he was racing against, but yeah,
[23:25.760 -> 23:32.400] it felt like he was in his own world. That's true. Oh, now I get it, dude.
[23:32.400 -> 23:37.760] Paris was actually being nice to him, you know, because he felt like he's not getting to battle
[23:37.760 -> 23:46.800] anybody. Oh man, dude, it was I think like lap 40 or 45.
[23:46.800 -> 23:51.360] I mean, we are jumping ahead, but like it was lap 40 or 45 and I was like, oh, wait,
[23:51.360 -> 23:52.360] this guy hasn't pitted.
[23:52.360 -> 23:55.360] When is Perez going to go in?
[23:55.360 -> 23:58.760] Seriously, dude, I kind of forgot.
[23:58.760 -> 24:02.400] You remember, there was this moment where he was ahead, up ahead.
[24:02.400 -> 24:07.480] He was, he was leading the race. Like all these guys pitted, Max pitted, yeah.
[24:07.520 -> 24:11.440] And to cover him, Botas pitted as well. And I think one lap down,
[24:11.440 -> 24:16.240] Hamilton pitted and I think Wustappen got the second position then,
[24:16.520 -> 24:21.480] which was quite an easy overtake because Botas was just sliding all
[24:21.480 -> 24:24.160] over the field at that time. So yeah,
[24:24.160 -> 24:28.080] Wustappen somehow was able to manage his car better and just go ahead.
[24:28.080 -> 24:31.280] But yeah, as Hamilton was closing the gap to Perez,
[24:31.280 -> 24:34.640] and he started complaining on the radio saying,
[24:34.640 -> 24:38.040] why is there no blue flags for this guy?
[24:39.240 -> 24:45.000] Because I think he's used to seeing Albon being the second Red Bull car and being laughed at.
[24:47.000 -> 24:51.000] Yeah. I think he's a race engineer. Nope. You're racing him.
[24:54.120 -> 24:56.720] He must be wondering, is that, is that what's happened?
[24:58.040 -> 25:02.800] Why am I racing the second Red Bull car? Oh man.
[25:03.160 -> 25:07.400] It's so weird. And 50, so I kind of understand what,
[25:07.720 -> 25:11.040] what Red Bull were probably trying to do, because honestly speaking,
[25:11.080 -> 25:13.360] Perez's race was gone long ago.
[25:13.680 -> 25:17.960] So they had enough pace advantage to cover these teams,
[25:18.000 -> 25:19.320] these other midfield teams.
[25:19.320 -> 25:22.160] So he was not in the danger of getting overtaken by them.
[25:22.640 -> 25:25.640] So I think they basically used him as a roadblock for Hamilton. I mean,
[25:25.640 -> 25:26.480] they tried.
[25:26.720 -> 25:30.500] Yeah. He was botas for Red Bull.
[25:31.460 -> 25:32.900] Not a very good botas.
[25:32.900 -> 25:35.540] Yeah. He's learning. He needs to,
[25:35.620 -> 25:40.380] he needs to reprove himself for three years before getting to actually reproving
[25:40.380 -> 25:41.200] himself.
[25:44.260 -> 25:48.220] But let's, let's pause here for a moment to to send in some mid
[25:48.220 -> 25:51.580] episode messages
[25:52.940 -> 26:02.220] fiction hey folks we are f1 fanfiction if you haven't yet checked us out go
[26:02.220 -> 26:07.600] check us out on our Instagram at the rate f1 fanfiction on our twitter
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[26:25.600 -> 26:32.000] You can also check us out on our website at f1fanfiction.com, write us over there,
[26:32.000 -> 26:37.760] check out our blogs which we usually do after the race, talk about the track and
[26:37.760 -> 26:43.520] as such check us out on any of your favorite streaming platforms. You won't
[26:43.520 -> 27:11.520] get anything serious out of us, we'll just talk about the facts and banter. on We'll re-share it again after this episode so you know where to join us. Come play with the remaining F1 Fan Fiction community and as this grows, the competition's gonna get more challenging.
[27:11.520 -> 27:15.680] So come hop on with us on the Fantast League as well.
[27:15.680 -> 27:17.200] And now, back to the episode.
[27:17.200 -> 27:23.760] Fan Fiction
[27:23.760 -> 27:28.540] Yeah, what was interesting about that pit stop on Max was also I think like if you would
[27:28.540 -> 27:36.400] have gone a few seconds or maybe sorry a few laps earlier he could have been able to undercut
[27:36.400 -> 27:42.000] Hamilton because there was a message to Botas telling him that hey try maintaining or growing
[27:42.000 -> 27:46.220] the gap to Hamilton by at least three seconds before we bring you in.
[27:46.540 -> 27:50.620] Otherwise there is a chance that Max can undercut Hamilton.
[27:51.260 -> 27:56.200] Although the good part is Red Bull is again on point with their pit stops.
[27:56.440 -> 28:02.440] So two seconds, 2.2 seconds, 2.5, whereas Mercedes have been doing three plus
[28:02.440 -> 28:04.180] seconds. So that does give...
[28:04.180 -> 28:05.000] Especially with Botas.
[28:05.000 -> 28:12.600] Always has the worst pit stops right? Like I don't understand why it in fact
[28:12.600 -> 28:16.840] did you notice this okay so when Botas got the pole position during
[28:16.840 -> 28:21.480] qualification they like switched the camera to Toto and the team everybody
[28:21.480 -> 28:26.080] was just sitting and not cheering anything and they were like it felt like
[28:26.080 -> 28:33.280] they were really sad that Bota has got the pole position instead of Hamilton. Yeah man, poor guy.
[28:33.280 -> 28:38.400] I mean it's like it's the universe trying to just go against him and he is part of the universe.
[28:42.560 -> 28:49.800] I mean no offense to him, he is a good racing driver. I don't, I don't deny him that, but
[28:49.800 -> 28:55.580] I just feel sad that that seat is kind of getting wasted, you know, and we are missing
[28:55.580 -> 29:04.200] out on some really good racing that we saw back in Nico, Nico's time. Right. And I wish
[29:04.200 -> 29:07.560] there was some driver which could really bring the fight to Hamilton.
[29:08.040 -> 29:10.440] That would make things a lot more entertaining.
[29:12.720 -> 29:13.160] Yeah.
[29:13.480 -> 29:17.360] Well, if, if he, if in the next race, he is successfully able to really knock out
[29:17.360 -> 29:23.360] that car, maybe he'll just start driving in the Williams, just repaint it.
[29:24.840 -> 29:30.000] He'll just repaint the Williams, bring it and park it in place of Motaz.
[29:30.000 -> 29:41.000] Speaking of Williams, it was a bit hilarious to see that they were showing Battle for 18th between Williams drivers.
[29:41.000 -> 29:46.640] And I was like, yeah, sure. sure not interested but have fun.
[29:46.640 -> 29:53.120] Hey come on Williams is no more a back marker. Mazepin is. Williams lapped Mazepin.
[29:53.120 -> 29:58.080] Alright. No we're talking about teams right. Drivers I mean Mazepin is a
[29:58.080 -> 30:07.000] community in himself. He's not a team. He's not a driver. Oh man, Mazepin was lapped by a Williams.
[30:07.000 -> 30:08.000] Man.
[30:08.000 -> 30:15.000] Yeah, I mean, if he said this last year, right, as I mentioned just some time ago, it's insane.
[30:15.000 -> 30:25.520] But post that max pit where I think like everyone had pitted almost everyone had pitted at that point besides
[30:25.520 -> 30:31.920] the Mercedes drivers. Ocon was having a great day as we've said this like Ocon overtook Gasly
[30:33.920 -> 30:41.760] that Alpine was just outshining all the other midfield cars yesterday. Yeah suddenly it seemed
[30:41.760 -> 30:45.360] like Alpine like found some pace from somewhere all of
[30:45.360 -> 30:51.960] a sudden. And they just weren't deserved. Right. And Ocon did so well in qualification.
[30:51.960 -> 30:58.960] Alonso didn't do that well in quali, but he did a much, much better job in the race. I
[30:58.960 -> 31:03.560] remember like, you know, towards the end of the race, I think it was somewhere around
[31:03.560 -> 31:05.280] lap 50 or something like that.
[31:05.280 -> 31:11.360] And Alonso was like, just overtaking every single person who comes in his way. And he would go on
[31:11.360 -> 31:15.600] the radio, like his engineer would come on the radio and say, like, hey, Gasly is next. And
[31:15.600 -> 31:19.040] then he would just go ahead, overtake him. And he's like, yeah, who's next? And he's like,
[31:19.040 -> 31:28.800] yeah, Ricardo is next. And then he overtakes him. And he's like, who's next? And then he overtakes her and he's like who's next and then he's like science is next and like and so on
[31:33.600 -> 31:37.520] I don't know who you are he's telling to the car in front of you but I'm gonna find you and overtake you
[31:43.600 -> 31:51.920] Yeah and poor science dude he did a pretty decent race and then it seemed like people were just overtaking him left and right and he was just a sitting duck right like Alonso overtook him I think even Gasly kind
[31:51.920 -> 31:56.200] of overtook him towards the end and Gasly was not having such a great time right?
[31:56.200 -> 32:03.920] No yeah that Alfa Romeo no sorry not Alfa Alfa Tauri there's too many Alfa's no Alfa
[32:03.920 -> 32:06.320] Tauri was not having a good weekend.
[32:06.320 -> 32:12.720] Both of their drivers, Sunoda, you are an F1 driver so I would expect more but benefit of doubt,
[32:12.720 -> 32:19.620] it was his first time racing at Portimao and it is a difficult track because that undulating nature of the track
[32:19.620 -> 32:30.080] just you know gets the best out of, it gets the worst out of even the best driver so Sunil yeah he was struggling a bit going off limits and the same usual but
[32:30.080 -> 32:34.680] Ghazali yeah I would have expected a bit more from him
[32:34.680 -> 32:41.180] I think maybe it was the car that just wasn't the pace but this is a second weekend in a row
[32:41.180 -> 32:49.440] where Ghazali's been struggling on the. I hope he finds his mojo again because he's way better than what's happening to him right
[32:49.440 -> 32:50.440] now.
[32:50.440 -> 32:56.840] And I hope like even Alpha Tauri sort of realizes how to play the strategy with Sonoda and him.
[32:56.840 -> 32:58.080] So yeah, let's see what happens.
[32:58.080 -> 33:03.040] Yeah, I think I think Alpha Tauri is like, rather than not Alpha Tauri, Gasly in particular,
[33:03.040 -> 33:05.500] I feel is probably like, you know, suffering of success.
[33:05.500 -> 33:08.900] I would say in the sense that it's kind of probably gotten to him a little.
[33:08.900 -> 33:12.500] And he probably needs to be grounded a bit more.
[33:12.500 -> 33:17.800] I mean, if you see last year, he got all the praise and he did deserve it.
[33:17.800 -> 33:19.400] Like he did totally deserve it.
[33:19.400 -> 33:25.160] But this year, it somehow seems like things aren't going his way really.
[33:29.280 -> 33:33.960] And, uh, it's, it's a bit of bad luck as well as him, not able to convert the opportunities as well at the same time. So, uh, yeah,
[33:33.960 -> 33:37.320] I hope he has a better rest of the season overall.
[33:37.960 -> 33:40.320] The point that you mentioned earlier, right. About, um,
[33:40.360 -> 33:44.800] the track being so undulating and it pretty much was like a rollercoaster ride.
[33:44.800 -> 33:47.160] If you notice like if you see a lap
[33:47.600 -> 33:50.260] Around the track like through anybody's on board
[33:50.980 -> 33:56.560] You would notice like this is an insane track unlike any other track. I would say
[33:57.140 -> 33:59.260] Yeah, it's it's just ups and downs
[33:59.260 -> 34:03.360] You can't see anything past like a couple hundred meters ahead
[34:03.700 -> 34:06.640] Which is pretty insane while you're racing
[34:06.640 -> 34:14.800] at 300 miles per hour and that that really like makes things a lot more difficult. I think there's
[34:14.800 -> 34:20.400] one of these turns I think lap turn 13 or one of these turns where it's basically you come
[34:20.400 -> 34:29.980] through a downhill which is like a drop on a roller coaster and then it's a right turn or a left turn but you get like almost 4 G's and you've gotten a
[34:29.980 -> 34:38.220] drop and the next immediate thing in a split second is a 4G onto your lateral
[34:38.220 -> 34:48.440] 4G which is oh just too crazy to even imagine. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of glad this track returned this year.
[34:49.080 -> 34:54.080] I mean, uh, it, it did give us, if we ignore the first,
[34:54.640 -> 34:57.200] like the leaders of the race, the race was actually pretty good.
[34:57.280 -> 35:01.560] Otherwise there was a lot of racing. This track is, you know, it,
[35:01.560 -> 35:07.280] it's wide enough that people can actually attempt these overtake opportunities.
[35:07.280 -> 35:12.640] And yeah, it's not like that everybody's just driving like a train. So yeah, I'm quite glad
[35:12.640 -> 35:16.880] that this track returned. Yeah, definitely there wasn't a train, right? Because as we've said,
[35:16.880 -> 35:29.280] Alpine, Alonzo was on a mission. Yeah. Just overtaking right left. What is good to see was during the time that Alonzo was overtaking, there was this Alonzo
[35:29.280 -> 35:31.640] overtake on signs.
[35:31.640 -> 35:36.000] And that overtake sort of instilled two thoughts in me.
[35:36.000 -> 35:42.240] One was Alonzo telling his former team just waving a bye because that overtake was just
[35:42.240 -> 35:47.960] flawless and just too easy. And the other thing was like Ferrari had just flipped their pace
[35:47.960 -> 35:51.960] because during the initial part of the race, they were so up.
[35:51.960 -> 35:57.400] They were so contending right behind Mercedes and Red Bull.
[35:57.400 -> 36:00.560] And then immediately, they were like back of the pack.
[36:00.560 -> 36:07.980] Yeah. Though Charles like still was able to maintain his position quite
[36:07.980 -> 36:13.560] well. I think he ended up P6 if I'm not wrong. I'll have to check that. Yeah, I
[36:13.560 -> 36:21.120] think P6. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean Charles, I have really grown to like him
[36:21.120 -> 36:27.080] a lot more. He has proven his mettle by now and that guy if given the right machinery
[36:27.080 -> 36:32.080] he definitely can win a lot of races and would be a very tough competition for
[36:32.440 -> 36:38.200] Hamilton as well as Verstappen and I really do miss those how Charles versus Verstappen battles man
[36:38.200 -> 36:43.220] Like if you remember it last year and back in Austria and wow, those battles were really good
[36:43.220 -> 36:46.080] No, both youngsters just going at it full
[36:46.640 -> 36:53.440] 100 percent and yeah I kind of miss that. I really hope to see the like Charles versus
[36:53.440 -> 36:59.440] Verstappen versus Hamilton that that would be something you know something glorious to look at.
[36:59.440 -> 37:08.240] Yeah the youngsters fight yeah. Youngsters with the veterans. Yeah, yeah. The other team not having such a good day versus having such a good day was
[37:08.240 -> 37:13.040] Alfa Romeo versus Aston Martin.
[37:13.040 -> 37:16.000] Because Giovinazzi was having an amazing day.
[37:16.000 -> 37:18.600] He finished what I'm seeing, P12.
[37:18.600 -> 37:20.600] That's just too good to see.
[37:20.600 -> 37:21.800] Yeah, right.
[37:21.800 -> 37:23.400] And Alfa Romeo quite up there.
[37:23.400 -> 37:28.000] He had an amazing overtake on Vettel. I think it was like lap 57 or something.
[37:28.000 -> 37:36.000] And it was sad to see a great driver in his career at this point. I mean, I'm not sure if he's enjoying or not.
[37:36.000 -> 37:47.520] Maybe he's just having fun. But as a viewer and, you know, knowing what he is a four time world champion. It's just been a weird a few months.
[37:47.520 -> 37:52.720] Yeah, it's pretty weird, right? Like in this qualification, I was quite happy that he finally
[37:52.720 -> 37:59.200] made it to Q3. Yeah. He was at P10. It was like, I think 15 races apart that. Yeah, almost after a
[37:59.200 -> 38:07.720] year. Yeah, almost after a year. And I was hoping that he would gain a points finish this time.
[38:07.720 -> 38:12.840] And that might, you know, like, he probably seemed at least in the qualification that
[38:12.840 -> 38:18.000] he was like, getting used to the car. But I think they just lack the pace. I think this
[38:18.000 -> 38:30.000] but it's difficult to judge, you know, I'm not sure whether it's the car that's the issue or is it, you know, Vettel still not being comfortable in that car or probably a bit of both.
[38:31.000 -> 38:45.640] But yeah, it's really sad, you know, I personally, I'm a big fan of Vettel. And moreover, I became a big fan of Vettel because he is a very genuine dude and like that's what I mean
[38:45.640 -> 38:51.460] Yeah, he is a very good driver as well. Definitely like he won four world championships and everything
[38:52.160 -> 38:56.420] but yeah, I thought like his his, you know groundedness and
[38:57.320 -> 39:06.880] His humor and wit is really nice. And yeah, I'm pretty much a fan of that guy as a human being in general. It's sad to see
[39:06.880 -> 39:13.680] him you know suffering. Yeah I guess he's also probably under some stress I guess because
[39:13.680 -> 39:23.040] he's starting to show male balding pattern. I hope it's as natural as mine and there's no stress.
[39:25.120 -> 39:28.080] it's as natural as mine and there's no stress.
[39:34.560 -> 39:36.080] But I'd hate to see him suffer because of whatever's happening right now.
[39:41.040 -> 39:45.680] One moment right after the race, I don't know if you saw that or not, but basically I was seeing this clip on Reddit where, uh,
[39:45.700 -> 39:49.140] Mick Schumacher and Vettel were like giving thumbs up to each other after
[39:49.140 -> 39:50.540] the race, during the cool down lap.
[39:50.980 -> 39:54.180] And they were like racing next to each other for some time.
[39:54.540 -> 39:57.420] And, uh, they were like, you know, giving thumbs up to each other.
[39:57.460 -> 40:00.260] Pretty much like it was, uh, you know, quite a wholesome moment.
[40:00.280 -> 40:01.240] Uh, considering that.
[40:01.860 -> 40:02.180] Yeah.
[40:02.220 -> 40:06.800] Like, uh, Michael Schumacher was pretty much somewhat like a mentor to to Vettel and
[40:07.380 -> 40:13.920] Yeah, Vettel is kind of doing the same for Mick and I'm pretty sure he probably knew him well before
[40:14.440 -> 40:19.600] Actually, they started racing. Yeah, it must be it must be cool to you know, race against
[40:20.120 -> 40:22.120] your mentors kid
[40:23.880 -> 40:27.440] Unless you race against your own kid in case of Kimmy if
[40:27.440 -> 40:48.000] he stays there longer. I have a feeling that we might actually sit down. you know like people are helping him. Give it. Oh man.
[40:48.000 -> 40:51.000] Yeah, well talking about
[40:51.000 -> 40:53.000] Mick Schumacher, I think Mick
[40:53.000 -> 40:55.000] was having some battles with
[40:55.000 -> 40:57.000] Latifi for P70 as well right?
[40:57.000 -> 40:59.000] They were
[40:59.000 -> 41:01.000] going at it towards the end of the race.
[41:01.000 -> 41:03.000] It felt like they were
[41:03.000 -> 41:07.000] you know battling for points or something. But yeah, it was...
[41:07.000 -> 41:16.800] What points? No, I'm genuine. Do you get points that back or is it just a battle for glory that I'm not lost?
[41:16.800 -> 41:27.520] Yeah, I think, no, I think it's moreover for Mick that he beat, he beat Williams in a huss and that kind of really works in his favor
[41:27.520 -> 41:30.800] considering that George Russell has been doing so good
[41:30.800 -> 41:31.920] with his Williams.
[41:31.920 -> 41:35.040] So I think for Mick, it's totally understandable.
[41:35.040 -> 41:37.000] He had nothing to lose.
[41:37.000 -> 41:39.720] What worst can happen is that he just crashes out
[41:39.720 -> 41:42.160] and finishes like P20.
[41:42.160 -> 41:44.560] And if he overtakes him,
[41:44.560 -> 41:48.000] then he gets the bragging rights of overtaking a Williams.
[41:48.000 -> 41:52.000] So, I think it definitely made sense from his perspective.
[41:52.000 -> 41:58.000] And I think for Latifi, it must be a thing about humiliation, I would say.
[41:58.000 -> 42:09.000] I am getting overtaken by ours. At least we didn't get overtaken by Mazepin. Didn't Latifi also spin out? Was it qualifying I guess?
[42:09.000 -> 42:13.000] There was some spinning happening with Latifi that I can think of.
[42:13.000 -> 42:16.000] And I was like, wait, he spun last race and this race.
[42:16.000 -> 42:23.000] You know something, for Latifi, I honestly don't know where he is in any races.
[42:23.000 -> 42:25.960] It's always so uneventful regards to him.
[42:25.960 -> 42:31.960] I'll say like, I've never heard him, any of his overtakes.
[42:31.960 -> 42:37.200] I've never heard about any of his, you know, like brilliant qualification runs.
[42:37.200 -> 42:38.040] I've never seen.
[42:38.040 -> 42:40.200] I never hear about him.
[42:40.200 -> 42:43.520] It almost feels like he's not on the track sometimes.
[42:43.520 -> 42:48.500] Yeah, I mean, I guess that's also to do probably with the curse of being a back marker because
[42:49.180 -> 42:53.380] you're not entertaining. But now that you have two back markers.
[42:54.720 -> 42:56.880] Yeah. The battle for 17th was part of that.
[42:57.500 -> 43:03.920] And the thought immediately when you said about this was in my head was like, is Haas the Botaz of Constructor?
[43:04.000 -> 43:05.880] this was in my head was like is Haas the Botas of constructors.
[43:09.640 -> 43:12.760] Cause you know, I know it's like if you see, if you see how Haas has been trying to do since the past three years,
[43:12.760 -> 43:16.800] it's been trying to prove itself through itself. And I think proving yourself,
[43:19.480 -> 43:21.880] proving yourself just takes you down the table.
[43:28.360 -> 43:34.600] Yeah. I, Yeah, I honestly am a little scared that they might just leave F1 because how poorly they are doing. Yeah, there's no no more bottom
[43:34.600 -> 43:46.640] place after the last place. Yeah, that's true. Unless like you know unless they get a huge cash infusion, I'm honestly a little worried,
[43:46.640 -> 43:49.920] past 2021, what future Haas will have,
[43:49.920 -> 43:51.360] unless they, you know,
[43:51.360 -> 43:55.160] maybe Papa Mazepin might just buy out the team.
[43:55.160 -> 43:56.000] Yeah.
[43:56.000 -> 43:56.840] Which probably is the-
[43:56.840 -> 43:59.600] With current Nikita performance,
[43:59.600 -> 44:02.160] he's not gonna stay there longer.
[44:02.160 -> 44:05.360] So yeah, there's only one way out where I own the team.
[44:05.360 -> 44:06.360] So you have to keep me.
[44:06.680 -> 44:07.180] Yeah.
[44:07.520 -> 44:08.480] Yeah, probably.
[44:09.400 -> 44:14.240] Well, anyways, towards the end of the race, I think some really weird things were going on.
[44:14.560 -> 44:24.200] Basically, I think Botas and Vostappan realized that, you know, P1 is out of question now, and they both are probably, you know, trying to get the fastest lap.
[44:24.360 -> 44:24.600] Yeah.
[44:24.600 -> 44:26.520] And, uh and was it
[44:26.520 -> 44:29.920] Botas who put it first right? I think because he had a big enough gap with Perez.
[44:29.920 -> 44:35.480] So I think he had 28 seconds or something. Yeah exactly and yeah as we
[44:35.480 -> 44:42.480] know Perez was he was out there on his old tires for like 50 laps or something.
[44:42.480 -> 44:45.400] Which was a complete waste, obviously.
[44:45.400 -> 44:47.800] But yeah, he was in no man's land pretty much.
[44:47.800 -> 44:51.080] So yeah, Bottas basically had that comfort to do that.
[44:52.040 -> 44:54.680] Was Tappan Pittard as well to try to get the fastest lap?
[44:54.680 -> 44:55.560] He did get it.
[44:55.560 -> 45:00.400] But yeah, if you notice right after the race, he went for the interview
[45:00.400 -> 45:03.560] and he's like, he's bragging about, yeah, we got the fastest lap.
[45:03.560 -> 45:08.040] And then I don't know who was interviewing and he's like wait a second you didn't
[45:08.040 -> 45:15.040] get it and they played it behind him that does like so funny he doesn't know
[45:15.040 -> 45:18.480] this because he's facing the front but you as a viewer can see it's happening
[45:18.480 -> 45:25.980] behind him yeah that was really comedic.
[45:31.620 -> 45:38.140] Yeah, something, something seems really wrong on Red Bull strategy side, I feel because if you noticed, he also mentioned this, right? Like, I think P14, turn
[45:38.380 -> 45:41.300] 14 was not monitored for track limits.
[45:41.300 -> 45:48.000] But actually I did go back and check and it was actually mentioned in the document that, uh, turn 14 will be monitored.
[45:48.380 -> 45:51.060] And the same thing had happened last race as well.
[45:51.160 -> 45:53.420] Uh, uh, so he lost the last resort at body.
[45:53.420 -> 45:54.380] And if you remember, right.
[45:54.700 -> 45:59.220] And he basically Hamilton, I mean, most of these kind of new about the
[45:59.500 -> 46:01.700] track limits on turn four, I think.
[46:02.700 -> 46:05.200] And, and yeah, whatustappen and Red Bull
[46:05.200 -> 46:06.920] were not taking advantage of that
[46:06.920 -> 46:09.280] right till up till the mid of the race.
[46:09.280 -> 46:11.960] And I think there's some gap here
[46:11.960 -> 46:13.640] which they really need to pay attention to
[46:13.640 -> 46:16.120] because yeah, he lost a point, right?
[46:16.120 -> 46:18.760] And things like these, and that's the thing,
[46:18.760 -> 46:22.280] you know, where Mercedes never makes these mistakes.
[46:22.280 -> 46:26.000] They always are at the top of the game most of the times.
[46:26.000 -> 46:28.000] Yeah, they don't miss out on these opportunities.
[46:28.000 -> 46:34.000] Yeah, I mean, overall, it was fun to see Red Bull as a team up there.
[46:34.000 -> 46:40.000] Because 1, 2, 3, 4, Merck, Red Bull, after a very long time,
[46:40.000 -> 46:45.760] slowly finding his mojo into the team, showing that he is way more experienced than
[46:45.760 -> 46:50.120] the experiments that Red Bull has done on that second seed.
[46:50.120 -> 46:54.920] Yeah, the curse of the second Red Bull seed. I think he might just break it.
[46:54.920 -> 46:58.000] Yeah, yeah. And he is slowly trying to show that.
[46:58.000 -> 47:03.200] Even on a tough track like Porto Mau, I am hoping next race, the Spanish Grand Prix,
[47:03.200 -> 47:07.440] he will probably be quite up there because that's home probably for him.
[47:09.000 -> 47:15.660] So yeah, let's see. This race was just amazing. Any last thoughts before we close this out?
[47:16.480 -> 47:21.620] Yeah, overall a great race. Though we were kind of robbed of a battle at the front,
[47:21.620 -> 47:25.120] we did get a lot of other battles back in the midfield.
[47:25.480 -> 47:27.400] So, uh, yeah, I'm not too sad.
[47:27.420 -> 47:31.800] I mean, uh, I'm, I'm kind of, it's like this, you know, uh, according to me, if
[47:31.860 -> 47:39.500] each race is as good as Imola or Bahrain, we would basically, it won't be special
[47:39.500 -> 47:41.240] anymore when we have good pieces.
[47:41.520 -> 47:45.400] So it's somewhat good in a sense that we get
[47:45.400 -> 47:47.960] like these semi-boring races,
[47:47.960 -> 47:51.200] which kind of act as a palate cleanser, I would say,
[47:51.200 -> 47:55.460] which, yeah, help us appreciate the good races even more.
[47:55.460 -> 48:00.240] Yeah, and we joke about Battle for 70 and Battle for 18,
[48:00.240 -> 48:03.700] but it's good to see that you're not seeing
[48:03.700 -> 48:06.140] only the top four people battle
[48:06.140 -> 48:09.700] it out and you're seeing everything and like every driver is getting equal
[48:09.700 -> 48:19.740] importance and footage on the screen even if you're lapped two times. And with
[48:19.740 -> 48:30.600] that folks it's been yet another episode with F1 Fan Fiction. Until next week on the next race weekend at Spanish Grand Prix, these are your hosts signing out.
[48:30.600 -> 48:31.360] Bye-bye.