2022 Inside Line F1 Parody Awards

Our most-awaited, funniest and wittiest episode of the year - the Inside Line F1 Parody Awards. This is the 10th edition of the Inside Line F1 Parody Awards, where 'winner is never who you think it is'.

The trio, Soumil, @f1statsguru (aka Sundaram) and Kunal get together to bring to you this hour-long special that captures some of the best, almost forgotten & most-cherished moments from the 2022 Formula 1 season.

Race of the Year, Driver of the Year - and the usual categories feature in the Inside Line F1 Parody Awards. But there's also the Prediction of the Year, Strategy of the Year, Moment of the Year and several more serious categories with humourous winners. Tune in & enjoy the banter!

(Season 2022, Episode 72)

Follow our hosts on Twitter: Soumil Arora, Sundaram Ramaswami and Kunal Shah

Image courtesy: Red Bull Content Pool

# Inside Line F1 Parody Awards 2022

## Introduction

- The Inside Line F1 Podcast Parody Awards is an annual event where the hosts, Soumil Arora, Sundaram Ramaswami, and Kunal Shah, present humorous and unexpected awards to recognize various aspects of the Formula One season.
- This year marks the 10th edition of the awards, and the hosts are excited to share their unique perspectives on the 2022 season.

## Categories and Winners

### Battle of the Year: Mercedes vs. Porpoising
- This award recognizes the most entertaining and memorable battle of the season.
- The winner is Mercedes vs. Porpoising, as the team struggled to tame the bouncing issues with their car throughout the season.

### Unexpected Battle of the Year: Formula One vs. Sky
- This award highlights an unexpected and entertaining rivalry or conflict that occurred during the season.
- The winner is Formula One vs. Sky, as several teams, including Red Bull and Haas, boycotted Sky Sports coverage due to perceived unfair treatment.

### Strategy of the Year: Haas and Nikita Mazepin
- This award recognizes the most ingenious or surprising strategy employed by a team or driver during the season.
- The winner is Haas and Nikita Mazepin, as the team released Mazepin from his contract and kept his sponsorship money, using it for development.

### Race of the Year: Saudi Arabia
- This award goes to the most exciting and memorable race of the season.
- The winner is Saudi Arabia, as the country hosted two Formula One races in six months, despite a missile strike occurring near the track during one of the races.

### Additional Highlights

- The hosts also discuss other notable moments from the 2022 season, including:
- The DRS battles between Leclerc and Verstappen
- Max Verstappen's struggles with DRS issues
- Alpine's legal battles with McLaren over Oscar Piastri's contract
- Pierre Gasly's frustrations with his car's braking problems
- The FIA's controversial decisions and inconsistent stewarding
- The departure of Mattia Binotto from Ferrari

## Conclusion

- The Inside Line F1 Parody Awards 2022 was a fun and entertaining way to recap the 2022 Formula One season.
- The hosts provided unique and humorous insights into the various storylines and controversies that unfolded throughout the year.
- The awards also highlighted the unpredictable and ever-evolving nature of Formula One, which keeps fans engaged and excited for each new season.

**Summary of the Inside Line F1 Parody Awards Podcast Episode**

* The podcast begins with a discussion on the missile strike in Saudi Arabia during the race weekend and Formula One's decision to continue with the race. The hosts criticize Formula One for prioritizing the sport over human rights and safety.


* The hosts then move on to discuss the various award categories for the 2022 Formula One season, including Race of the Year, Driver of the Year, and Partnership of the Year.


* For Race of the Year, the hosts nominate the Japanese Grand Prix, which was won by Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances. They also mention the British Grand Prix, which was won by Carlos Sainz Jr., and the Belgian Grand Prix, which was won by Verstappen after being red-flagged due to heavy rain.


* For Driver of the Year, the hosts nominate Verstappen, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc. They ultimately award the prize to Oscar Piastri, who did not race in Formula One in 2022 but was involved in a contract dispute between McLaren and Alpine.


* For Partnership of the Year, the hosts nominate the relationship between Sergio Perez and Verstappen at Red Bull Racing, the relationship between Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin, and the relationship between Formula One and America. They ultimately award the prize to Porsche and Red Bull Racing, despite the fact that the two parties did not end up forming a partnership.


* The hosts then discuss the Prediction of the Year category, which is awarded to the person who made the most accurate prediction about the 2022 Formula One season. The hosts nominate Matteo Binotto, Fernando Alonso, and themselves. They ultimately award the prize to themselves for predicting that Russell would win a race before Lewis Hamilton.


* The hosts then discuss the Lie of the Year category, which is awarded to the person who told the biggest lie during the 2022 Formula One season. The hosts nominate Leclerc for claiming that there was a problem with his engine after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing for claiming that they would let Perez and Verstappen fight for the World Championship, and Perez for claiming that he spun on purpose in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. They ultimately award the prize to Red Bull Racing for claiming that Verstappen was only told to give way to Perez at the final corner in Brazil.


* The hosts then discuss the Revelation of the Year category, which is awarded to the person or thing that was most surprising during the 2022 Formula One season. The hosts nominate the fact that Verstappen revealed that he is a virgin, the fact that the FIA rulebook is often interpreted differently than it is written, and the fact that Verstappen was revealed as the World Champion in Japan when nobody, including Christian Horner, knew that he had won the title. They ultimately award the prize to the FIA for their inconsistent and often baffling decision-making.


* The hosts then discuss the Penalty of the Year category, which is awarded to the person or team that received the most severe penalty during the 2022 Formula One season. The hosts nominate Red Bull Racing for their budget cap penalty, Alpine for their penalty for letting Piastri go, and Ferrari for their penalty for using an illegal rear wing. They ultimately award the prize to the FIA for their consistent inconsistency in applying their own rules.


* The hosts conclude the podcast by discussing the Moment of the Year category, which is awarded to the most memorable moment of the 2022 Formula One season. The hosts nominate Verstappen's victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, Leclerc's pole position in Monaco, and Russell's victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix. They ultimately award the prize to Verstappen for his victory in the Japanese Grand Prix.

**Inside Line F1 Parody Awards: A Humorous Take on the 2022 Formula One Season**

1. **Drive of the Year:** Sebastian Vettel's scooter ride after his car stopped during FP2 in Australia. A hilarious moment that showcased Vettel's sense of humor and resilience.

2. **Moment of the Year:** Nicholas Latifi taking a wrong turn during a practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix. A moment of confusion that perfectly encapsulated Latifi's season.

3. **Prediction of the Year:** The prediction that Alex Albon would finish in the top 10 in the Drivers' Championship. A bold prediction that ultimately came true, thanks to Albon's impressive performances in the second half of the season.

4. **Strategy of the Year:** Red Bull's decision to pit Sergio Perez for a second time during the Monaco Grand Prix. A risky strategy that paid off, as Perez went on to win the race.

5. **Race of the Year:** The Japanese Grand Prix. A thrilling race that featured several lead changes and a dramatic finish.

6. **Driver of the Year:** Max Verstappen. The Dutchman dominated the season, winning 15 races and securing his second consecutive Drivers' Championship.

7. **Team of the Year:** Red Bull Racing. The Austrian team won both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, showcasing their dominance in the sport.

8. **Rookie of the Year:** George Russell. The young Briton impressed in his first season with Mercedes, scoring a podium finish and finishing in the top five in the Drivers' Championship.

9. **Overtake of the Year:** Sebastian Vettel's overtake on Fernando Alonso at the Japanese Grand Prix. A brilliant move that showcased Vettel's skill and experience.

10. **Controversy of the Year:** The budget cap saga. A major controversy that overshadowed the season and resulted in Red Bull being fined and docked constructor points.

11. **Commentator of the Year:** David Croft. The Sky Sports commentator brought his usual enthusiasm and expertise to the broadcast, making the races even more enjoyable for fans.

12. **Most Improved Driver of the Year:** Lando Norris. The McLaren driver made significant progress in his third season in Formula One, scoring several podium finishes and finishing in the top six in the Drivers' Championship.

13. **Unsung Hero of the Year:** Alex Albon. The Thai driver had a difficult start to the season but bounced back with some strong performances in the second half, helping Williams to finish eighth in the Constructors' Championship.

14. **Funniest Moment of the Year:** Nicholas Latifi's post-race interview after the Canadian Grand Prix. A hilarious moment that showcased Latifi's sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself.

15. **Most Memorable Moment of the Year:** Sebastian Vettel's farewell to Formula One. The German driver received a standing ovation from the crowd at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he crossed the finish line for the final time in his career.

[00:00.000 -> 00:21.160] That's the best way to begin folks.
[00:21.160 -> 00:24.600] That's exactly what you're going to expect over the course of this episode.
[00:24.600 -> 00:29.160] You've read the title and you might be wondering what on earth are these folks going to talk
[00:29.160 -> 00:30.160] about?
[00:30.160 -> 00:34.400] This ladies and gentlemen is the Inside Line F1 Podcast Parody Awards.
[00:34.400 -> 00:38.760] And let's just clear out who the jurors are on this committee of people who's going to
[00:38.760 -> 00:42.400] decide the winners and the unexpected winners by the way, we shall explain more on that
[00:42.400 -> 00:43.400] in a second.
[00:43.400 -> 00:45.440] Firstly, it's myself Somal Arora. You've heard me throughout the year. I'm also shall explain more on that in a second. Firstly, it's myself, Somal Arora.
[00:45.440 -> 00:46.640] You've heard me throughout the year.
[00:46.640 -> 00:48.960] I'm also now commentating on the Indian Racing League.
[00:48.960 -> 00:49.920] So that's me.
[00:49.920 -> 00:52.480] I've got F1 stats crew Sundaram right by me.
[00:52.480 -> 00:56.880] I can see and I can touch him literally, even though he lives 30 minutes away from where I actually live.
[00:56.880 -> 01:01.280] And at last, Kunal Shah, the former marketing head of the Force India F1 team.
[01:01.840 -> 01:08.160] An FIA accredited Formula 1 journalist, not just a collection of pixels. he's real, he's human, I can finally see you Kunal.
[01:08.160 -> 01:14.840] Yes, it's me and my avatar and not the NFT avatar that you see or all the Zoom calls
[01:14.840 -> 01:19.500] and the Zencaster and Riverside connections that we've done. It's so good to be doing
[01:19.500 -> 01:27.520] this in studio. It's our regular post season episode, our best ever that we do. It's
[01:27.520 -> 01:32.120] our most followed, most anticipated, most funny, of course I'm just bragging now
[01:32.120 -> 01:36.760] but so good to do this. Yeah exactly and quite clearly folks the
[01:36.760 -> 01:41.520] tagline of this one is the winner is never ever who you think it is. So
[01:41.520 -> 01:48.680] Sunderam, we're just gonna get some wild nominations and even wilder answers. Not answers but winners, right? But we
[01:48.680 -> 01:52.760] actually invited everyone. We could tell that nobody wanted to join. We sent an
[01:52.760 -> 01:55.240] invite to every single person in the Formula One Parag but it seems like
[01:55.240 -> 01:58.560] nobody wants to come to Mumbai in this time of the year. Not even we want to be
[01:58.560 -> 02:02.840] here. Oh, that's their loss if they've not made it into the studio. But I think
[02:02.840 -> 02:07.480] this is gonna be a super episode. I've been listening to this episode for years
[02:07.480 -> 02:10.180] and it feels great to be a part of this finally.
[02:10.180 -> 02:12.880] And we're recapping the whole season in a way
[02:12.880 -> 02:15.600] and there have been some very interesting moments
[02:15.600 -> 02:16.600] throughout the whole season.
[02:16.600 -> 02:18.740] And I think we're gonna be talking about that
[02:18.740 -> 02:19.640] through the rest of this episode.
[02:19.640 -> 02:20.940] It's gonna be super fun.
[02:20.940 -> 02:21.780] It is.
[02:21.780 -> 02:23.100] And since you said you've been hearing this
[02:23.100 -> 02:26.240] through the years, I actually just remembered.
[02:26.240 -> 02:30.480] This is in this is our 10th parody awards edition.
[02:30.480 -> 02:32.520] I'm surprised we don't have a sponsor already.
[02:32.520 -> 02:36.040] We need to hire Zach Brown to do his magic, you know.
[02:36.040 -> 02:41.320] But it's our 10th edition because we had we started the podcast in 2011.
[02:41.320 -> 02:45.800] And then we started doing all the parody stuff from 2012.
[02:48.480 -> 02:51.680] And we've had the awards ever since. And now it's been such a fantastic year.
[02:51.680 -> 02:55.520] I mean, you know, I want to start off by thanking all our listeners, our viewers,
[02:55.520 -> 02:59.400] our social media followers, everybody on Twitter, Instagram,
[03:00.320 -> 03:04.360] because, you know, Spotify wrapped, which is, of course, at this time of the year,
[03:04.360 -> 03:09.420] the most hashtagged, you know, social posts that we see,
[03:09.660 -> 03:11.060] we've had some great numbers.
[03:11.060 -> 03:16.060] And Spotify has said that we are top five percentage
[03:16.060 -> 03:19.560] of the most followed podcasts in the world.
[03:19.560 -> 03:22.580] And top five percentage
[03:22.580 -> 03:25.000] of the most shared podcasts in the world.
[03:26.040 -> 03:27.260] So thank you dear listeners,
[03:27.260 -> 03:28.360] you've done on the listening
[03:28.360 -> 03:29.480] and you've done on the sharing
[03:29.480 -> 03:31.000] then we've sort of been tracking for us
[03:31.000 -> 03:33.300] and the interesting part for everybody who loves numbers
[03:33.300 -> 03:36.920] and you know, Spotify is only our third best
[03:36.920 -> 03:38.120] source of listen.
[03:38.120 -> 03:43.080] So when you look at the global overall all podcast scenario,
[03:43.080 -> 03:48.000] we actually are top 1.5%. I don't even know if Ferrari
[03:48.000 -> 03:55.480] performed top 1.5% in the second half of the season when it came to the F1, you know, F1
[03:55.480 -> 04:00.000] performance base level. What do you mean? Was Ferrari even competing? I didn't see them.
[04:00.000 -> 04:06.480] Come on. I knew you were going to say that. But there's going to be more of banter like this on the episode.
[04:06.480 -> 04:09.520] But also coming back to the whole point about how much you've listened, folks.
[04:09.520 -> 04:13.840] We've done 70 episodes this year and almost had 600,000 listens.
[04:13.840 -> 04:16.400] Folks, you're taking out so much time to listen to us.
[04:16.400 -> 04:20.760] It feels so amazingly grateful that you're getting heard.
[04:20.760 -> 04:22.400] And folks, thank you for taking all the time.
[04:22.400 -> 04:25.320] So seriously, it's a feeling unlike anything else.
[04:27.880 -> 04:31.240] But there's going to be more listening coming up for you to do as well, because in the off season, Sundaram, we've got so many fun episodes to come.
[04:31.680 -> 04:34.640] The season never really ends for us because after the Paravie Awards,
[04:34.640 -> 04:37.680] after we're all drunk at the end of this and we've all had the after party,
[04:38.040 -> 04:40.840] there's going to be some really fun guests on the podcast coming up.
[04:41.280 -> 04:43.200] Oh, we're just getting started. To be very honest,
[04:43.240 -> 04:49.200] there's a lot of stuff that we're planning for the off season. So before the first race next year, before
[04:49.200 -> 04:52.480] Bahrain, there's going to be a lot of a lot of stuff. I don't want to give away a lot
[04:52.480 -> 04:56.960] of the topics that are going to be talked about. But yes, people should definitely stay
[04:56.960 -> 05:01.360] tuned in for this. Okay, I'm a little generous because I've had more coffee than you have.
[05:01.360 -> 05:07.000] I'm going to give away one guest that is going to be next on the podcast
[05:07.000 -> 05:10.360] and our social media channels after the parody awards.
[05:10.360 -> 05:13.900] So we all know Lucky, the documentary series
[05:13.900 -> 05:16.680] that Bernie Eccleston is narrating, all his stories
[05:16.680 -> 05:18.760] and memories of Formula One.
[05:18.760 -> 05:23.120] And while you may not like his off track or off Formula One
[05:23.120 -> 05:26.180] personality, let's remember he has the best stories.
[05:26.180 -> 05:29.120] He has the best, you know, it's like the ring side seat.
[05:29.120 -> 05:31.420] He's been the ring master of Formula One all these years.
[05:31.420 -> 05:35.800] So Manish Pandey, who's been producing Lucky
[05:35.800 -> 05:39.840] along with Bernie Eccleston is gonna be a guest on the show.
[05:39.840 -> 05:42.460] We're gonna be interviewing him later on in the week.
[05:42.460 -> 05:45.520] So expect that episode to follow in the coming
[05:45.520 -> 05:51.460] week. And I think Lucky releases across all the world on the 27th of December. And to
[05:51.460 -> 05:57.220] me as you know, as a Formula One fan, yes, Drive to Survive is bringing in the masses.
[05:57.220 -> 06:02.900] But I expect a series like Lucky to sort of pull you down more in the depth and the history
[06:02.900 -> 06:08.080] and the storytelling of Formula One, like I said, from the ringmaster himself.
[06:08.080 -> 06:12.760] And it's the same Manish Pandey, who also directed Senna, who also directed Heroes,
[06:12.760 -> 06:16.480] who also directed Grand Prix Driver, among other films as well.
[06:16.480 -> 06:19.160] He's the best Formula One movie director out there, quite clearly.
[06:19.160 -> 06:21.840] I mean, we should just put him instead of Michael Massey or someone like that, like
[06:21.840 -> 06:23.640] just be the race director as well.
[06:23.640 -> 06:28.560] Do a better job. There's going to be more on that. But let's actually start off with the award
[06:28.560 -> 06:32.320] categories because Manish is going to come, I think next week. So we can't wait to see how
[06:32.320 -> 06:36.240] that episode pans out as well. But here's the moment you've all been waiting for, folks,
[06:36.240 -> 06:41.600] the categories. What are we going to get to? So firstly, let's make this clear. It's only the
[06:41.600 -> 06:48.880] three of us. We're only the jury. We're only the committee. Nobody has decided to join us. I feel very sad. But we also didn't send them tickets or free food
[06:48.880 -> 06:52.880] or free drinks. So I think that's kind of fair. But the first category, the budget budget cap
[06:52.880 -> 06:58.080] is the reason why they couldn't. Oh, good point. Good point. And we couldn't get a sponsor for our
[06:58.080 -> 07:03.920] catering. So that was also. And we also didn't make an award, right? It's been we I think we
[07:03.920 -> 07:07.640] should make an award. That's the pixelated award that people can get.
[07:07.640 -> 07:08.140] An NFT?
[07:08.140 -> 07:09.480] An NFT, yes.
[07:09.480 -> 07:09.980] Ah.
[07:09.980 -> 07:12.440] Well, given the amount of airtime we've given to NFT,
[07:12.440 -> 07:16.720] we need to tell our studio that handles us to get us an NFT sponsor.
[07:16.720 -> 07:17.880] We should, actually.
[07:17.880 -> 07:18.380] Yeah.
[07:18.380 -> 07:19.720] But that'll happen eventually.
[07:19.720 -> 07:22.720] The first thing I want to talk about, though, folks, is the first category.
[07:22.720 -> 07:30.480] It's called Battle of the Year, and there are so many fun nominees. Firstly, of course, in a straight face way there is Leclerc versus
[07:30.480 -> 07:35.760] Verstappen and the DRS battles that happened. Wait, this year? It happened this year Sundaram?
[07:35.760 -> 07:41.280] Yes, in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia and it was a treat to watch seeing Verstappen and Leclerc,
[07:41.280 -> 07:48.400] you know, battling before the DRS start line And I think it was very smart usage of that whole rule.
[07:48.400 -> 07:49.600] But yeah, that was this year.
[07:49.600 -> 07:50.400] That is that.
[07:50.400 -> 07:53.600] There's also this amazing battle of Max versus the DRS
[07:53.600 -> 07:57.000] during the Spanish GP, and it just would not just open, Kunal.
[07:57.000 -> 07:58.480] That is one.
[07:58.480 -> 08:03.480] We are hyping up the DRS, and there's this Ross Braun walking out saying,
[08:03.920 -> 08:05.960] hey, we are going gonna have the reverse DRS
[08:05.960 -> 08:07.400] because hey, why not?
[08:07.400 -> 08:08.640] Let's not talk about that, please.
[08:08.640 -> 08:10.760] I mean, yeah, banter, yeah.
[08:10.760 -> 08:12.840] So we've had Max and the DRS issues
[08:12.840 -> 08:16.480] and him going bonkers and crazy as well.
[08:16.480 -> 08:19.560] And I just remembered one more nomination
[08:19.560 -> 08:21.560] for the battle of the year,
[08:21.560 -> 08:27.120] Alpine versus McLaren, not just on track, but even in the courtroom,
[08:27.120 -> 08:32.120] you know, Alpine going to the court of appeal,
[08:32.360 -> 08:35.760] and sorry, the contract recognition board,
[08:35.760 -> 08:37.960] trying to fight for PS3 services
[08:37.960 -> 08:40.120] without actually having a contract with him.
[08:40.120 -> 08:42.000] So maybe that should also be a strategy
[08:42.000 -> 08:43.360] of the year nomination.
[08:43.360 -> 08:46.080] I'm giving some of the pearls away in the early part.
[08:47.040 -> 08:53.600] Oh, yeah, there's this big one that eventually spilled out in in one case to Alpine's favor, the other case to McLaren's favor.
[08:53.600 -> 08:55.920] So the scores are still settled and even between them.
[08:56.160 -> 09:02.000] But there's also Pierre Gasly's battles with braking because the poor guy just could not get the car to brake properly for
[09:02.400 -> 09:05.040] how many races did we had this year? 21? He got so
[09:05.040 -> 09:09.520] frustrated that he said, screw it, I'm leaving. Are you sure we have 21 or do we have 22?
[09:09.520 -> 09:15.520] David, I actually never remember the total number because the FIA announces a total number, hey,
[09:15.520 -> 09:22.160] we can't do more than 25 races, so that's one number. Then there is the World Motorsport Council
[09:22.160 -> 09:30.180] that announces the calendar, which is, you know, 21, 22, 23, and nobody up front is able to go and tell the Chinese saying you won't
[09:30.180 -> 09:34.660] have a race because, hey, if we tell you, you won't have a race, then we don't get paid
[09:34.660 -> 09:36.080] for it or whatever.
[09:36.080 -> 09:40.600] And then suddenly a few months later, the Chinese actually say, zero COVID, sorry, we
[09:40.600 -> 09:41.600] won't have a race.
[09:41.600 -> 09:48.800] So suddenly you, I don't know how many numbers to deduct, but yeah, some 20-odd, 22-odd plus races. That's a fun battle, the FIA versus all the people working
[09:48.800 -> 09:52.320] in the sport because they just want to cram so many races in and all the people working in the
[09:52.320 -> 09:57.040] sport are like, give us a break, please. And that never happens. What if we're just going to have a
[09:57.040 -> 10:00.960] season-long season? So we have two different crews working in six-month shifts, but that's for later
[10:00.960 -> 10:05.360] on. We should go to the winner. So who's winning this category, Kunal?
[10:05.360 -> 10:12.360] So the winner of the Battle of the Year award is...
[10:12.360 -> 10:16.360] Mercedes versus Porpoising.
[10:16.360 -> 10:17.360] Oh!
[10:17.360 -> 10:20.360] Okay, like we said at the start, Samuel was very clear.
[10:20.360 -> 10:22.360] The winner is never who you think it is.
[10:22.360 -> 10:27.240] So each time you wonder, this is absolutely dead right, the winner.
[10:27.240 -> 10:30.800] I promise you it's not going to be the winner because these awards are fixed.
[10:30.800 -> 10:35.880] We're not going to agree or deny if you paid for it, right?
[10:35.880 -> 10:40.440] We paid for it in love and all the good reviews and comments you'll write for us.
[10:40.440 -> 10:44.840] But yeah, the winner of the award is Mercedes versus Park Racing because, you know, through
[10:44.840 -> 10:49.680] the season, one thing became very apparent that Formula One drivers, their favorite genre
[10:49.680 -> 10:54.960] of music was rock music with all the headbanging they did at the start of the season and, you
[10:54.960 -> 10:56.240] know, and so on.
[10:56.240 -> 11:04.000] And I loved how Mercedes as a team used their might in the sport, used their drivers and,
[11:04.000 -> 11:06.120] you know, George Russell as GPDA and just kept
[11:06.120 -> 11:08.480] saying oh so how are you doing today?
[11:08.480 -> 11:09.480] Porpoising.
[11:09.480 -> 11:10.480] Do you want to eat something?
[11:10.480 -> 11:11.480] Porpoising.
[11:11.480 -> 11:12.480] What did you eat yesterday?
[11:12.480 -> 11:13.480] Porpoising.
[11:13.480 -> 11:16.520] And then you know the whole Baku incident that happened with Lewis Hamilton and so on.
[11:16.520 -> 11:20.920] So it was they won the battle against porpoising because they believed that porpoising was
[11:20.920 -> 11:26.880] holding them back only to realize that after having fixed porpoising it was genuinely the packageh was holding them back, only to realize that after having fixed Poppersingh, it was genuinely the package that was holding them back.
[11:26.880 -> 11:30.240] So, the battle of the year was Mercedes versus Poppersingh.
[11:30.240 -> 11:32.720] They won the battle, but sort of lost the war.
[11:33.320 -> 11:36.000] So, in a way, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell
[11:36.000 -> 11:38.000] became living, breathing bobbleheads, Sundaram.
[11:38.000 -> 11:39.400] Yes, they did.
[11:39.400 -> 11:40.960] Like, all the time, they must be sitting there,
[11:40.960 -> 11:42.160] like, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.
[11:42.160 -> 11:44.480] But there were more unexpected battles too.
[11:44.480 -> 11:45.000] Who would have expected something like Jacques Villeneuve versus Lance Stroll? all the time they must be sitting there. But there were more unexpected battles too.
[11:45.000 -> 11:47.000] Who would have expected something like
[11:47.000 -> 11:50.000] Jacques Villeneuve versus Lance Stroll?
[11:50.000 -> 11:52.000] I mean, we know that Jacques Villeneuve can attack.
[11:52.000 -> 11:53.000] Would he attack a fellow Canadian?
[11:53.000 -> 11:55.000] That's not very Canadian of him, is it?
[11:55.000 -> 11:57.000] Would he attack a Lance Stroll?
[11:57.000 -> 12:01.000] I mean, Lance Stroll, a world champion, Lance Stroll.
[12:01.000 -> 12:02.000] But that's the thing, you know,
[12:02.000 -> 12:04.000] Lance Stroll is being attacked by world champions
[12:04.000 -> 12:07.800] these days, off late and so on.
[12:07.800 -> 12:12.760] And then also, you know, F1 drivers, I'm going to add another nomination to these unexpected
[12:12.760 -> 12:19.000] battles would have never imagined that they would be fighting off the money filled sheiks
[12:19.000 -> 12:20.640] of Saudi Arabia.
[12:20.640 -> 12:25.000] And you guys know exactly where I am going with this, right?
[12:25.000 -> 12:29.000] But that was also one of the nominations that we actually came up with.
[12:31.000 -> 12:32.000] So who's winning this one?
[12:32.000 -> 12:35.000] Who's the unexpected winner of the...
[12:35.000 -> 12:37.000] The winner of the unexpected battle of the year?
[12:37.000 -> 12:38.000] Actually, it's so unexpected,
[12:38.000 -> 12:41.000] we didn't even decide this category before we prepped for this episode.
[12:41.000 -> 12:42.000] It's that unexpected.
[12:42.000 -> 12:47.360] So the winner, folks, folks is Formula One fighting against
[12:47.360 -> 12:52.800] Sky. They've just, Formula One just does not like Sky at all because there's Ralph Schumacher
[12:52.800 -> 12:57.200] versus Gunther Steiner. They had this major fallout, Kunal. We saw Gunther Steiner banning
[12:57.200 -> 13:02.880] Sky Germany in 2022. And then Max Verstappen banned Sky Sports from Mexico as well. So what
[13:02.880 -> 13:07.680] is it? Are we going to have Sky Sports broadcasting? Because you work for a company that also broadcasts Formula 1.
[13:07.680 -> 13:10.800] So in a way, you're somewhat winning this battle, no?
[13:10.800 -> 13:11.920] Your biggest rival is getting...
[13:12.880 -> 13:15.280] No, I mean, I'll put it this way.
[13:15.280 -> 13:21.840] I mean, the unexpected battle in this, you know, when Max boycotted Sky Sports,
[13:21.840 -> 13:25.440] it suddenly became, oh my God, like he's boycotted Sky Sports. It suddenly became, oh my God, like, he's boycotted Sky Sports,
[13:25.440 -> 13:31.720] the British media house. But Gunter Steiner, not speaking to Sky Germany, almost went unnoticed.
[13:31.720 -> 13:36.960] It happened for so many races of the season. But hey, it was Ralph Schumacher coming to
[13:36.960 -> 13:42.440] make Schumacher's, you know, rescue. And we sort of know what happened. We shouldn't use
[13:42.440 -> 13:45.560] this to become a Schumacher awards episode
[13:45.560 -> 13:47.640] or whatever, you know, talking about it.
[13:47.640 -> 13:51.440] But yeah, to me, media houses, Formula One teams
[13:51.440 -> 13:52.840] go hand in hand.
[13:52.840 -> 13:56.000] And sometimes you scratch my back, I scratch yours.
[13:56.000 -> 13:57.400] That's typical.
[13:57.400 -> 14:00.760] But yes, the winner of the unexpected battle of the year,
[14:00.760 -> 14:04.260] definitely Sky Sports and Formula One teams.
[14:04.260 -> 14:05.320] Although I don't know who really won that battle because despite all the year, definitely Sky Sports and Formula One teams. Although I don't know who really
[14:05.320 -> 14:10.480] won that battle because despite all the bans, everybody went back to speaking on the media
[14:10.480 -> 14:13.200] houses. Yeah, how futile, how pointless at the end
[14:13.200 -> 14:17.240] of the day. Sky Sports has this amazing tactic in the world of football that even when we
[14:17.240 -> 14:21.600] have a civil discussion, they will put the title heated in the in the YouTube one. So
[14:21.600 -> 14:24.680] maybe that's what they tend to do. They just make things more heated for the sake of it.
[14:24.680 -> 14:25.280] And the teams are like,
[14:25.280 -> 14:27.200] screw you, we're not going to talk to you anymore.
[14:27.200 -> 14:29.200] But we should not talk more about Sky.
[14:29.200 -> 14:30.320] We should not give them too much airtime
[14:30.320 -> 14:32.800] because they didn't pay for this particular episode, by the way.
[14:32.800 -> 14:35.840] So we should go to the strategy of the year.
[14:35.840 -> 14:37.840] And so many nominations, Sundar.
[14:37.840 -> 14:40.080] There's so many fun little strategies,
[14:40.080 -> 14:42.000] but so many unexpected ones as well from that.
[14:43.280 -> 14:45.280] Oh yeah, there are definitely a lot of unexpected ones.
[14:45.280 -> 14:46.480] I'll take the first one.
[14:46.480 -> 14:49.040] The first one is Alpha Tauri using duct tape
[14:49.600 -> 14:53.520] to fix the rear wing of Yuki Tsunoda's car in Baku.
[14:53.800 -> 14:56.800] And like they say, duct tape fixes everything.
[14:56.800 -> 14:57.760] And we've always seen that.
[14:57.760 -> 15:00.960] We've all seen that photo of the guy with a leaking jar of water
[15:00.960 -> 15:02.760] and he slaps a strip of duct tape onto it.
[15:02.760 -> 15:04.320] And that ends all your problems.
[15:04.320 -> 15:12.240] So that was the first nomination of this category. I would say the second one for me was definitely
[15:12.240 -> 15:16.400] Red Bull Racing's strategy with Checo Perez. You know, at the start of the season,
[15:16.400 -> 15:20.160] of course, they had all their DNFs and suddenly they realized, oh my God, the battle is not with
[15:20.800 -> 15:26.720] Leclerc and Ferrari, the battle is with Checo and Max. And then they gave him all
[15:26.720 -> 15:32.080] the hope and all the media statements saying, equal rights, you know, equal status in the
[15:32.080 -> 15:37.960] team, you can go fight for the World Drivers' Championship, only to finally have the, you
[15:37.960 -> 15:42.820] know, team orders that we had in Spain very early on in the season. And then only to make
[15:42.820 -> 15:48.640] sure that all the upgrades were first being delivered to Maxwell Stappin. So Chekhov Perez was told he would fight equally with Maxwell
[15:48.640 -> 15:54.080] Stappin in a car that was totally different, that was overweight and that was doing a lot of testing
[15:54.080 -> 16:00.080] and so on. Yeah, and there's also other fun strategies as well, mainly employed by so many
[16:00.080 -> 16:05.440] drivers. The hit and run strategy. That seems to work very well for celebrities around here right
[16:05.440 -> 16:10.960] because we saw George Russell just completely hit and run and completely run away from Mikshu
[16:10.960 -> 16:15.360] Markar in Singapore but it worked Sundaram in Mexico when Daniel Ricardo did it and actually
[16:15.360 -> 16:22.000] got some points for how many what only the third or fourth time this year yes it works yeah and he
[16:22.000 -> 16:26.640] did that with Yuki Tsunoda I mean yeah he pushed him off track and I think he DNF'd in that race.
[16:26.640 -> 16:27.600] Yuki did.
[16:27.600 -> 16:33.360] Yuki did. And then he went on to do a couple of daredevil overtakes that he usually does.
[16:33.360 -> 16:38.400] We saw classic Ricciardo that time and yeah, he was in the points for I think third or fourth time.
[16:38.400 -> 16:40.720] He hit and ran away so far that he's not an F1 anymore.
[16:42.240 -> 16:45.360] Okay, sorry. I'm still a Daniel Ricciardo fan. But what else? What
[16:45.360 -> 16:49.760] other major strategies did we have? Oh, probably even Nick Dufries, you know,
[16:49.760 -> 16:54.640] being the merchandise collector of the year. He's driven for, yeah, he's driven for five different
[16:54.640 -> 17:00.240] teams. There's Mercedes, Aston Martin. He did the Alpine test, the private Alpine test. And
[17:01.280 -> 17:05.000] oh, wait, do we have more nominations for this question?
[17:05.360 -> 17:06.200] We do.
[17:06.200 -> 17:07.600] So I'm going to finish the DeFreeze thing
[17:07.600 -> 17:09.720] because he drove for five teams,
[17:09.720 -> 17:11.720] but he collected six overalls.
[17:11.720 -> 17:14.000] Wait a minute, how?
[17:14.000 -> 17:16.240] Because he also had McLaren when he was trying to stand in
[17:16.240 -> 17:19.220] for Lando Norris in the last race or whatever,
[17:19.220 -> 17:21.720] last couple of races of the season.
[17:21.720 -> 17:24.600] And he actually had the overalls, he had a seat fit,
[17:24.600 -> 17:27.000] but he didn't drive. Right.
[17:27.000 -> 17:30.880] And since you mentioned Alpine, I'm going to put Alpine out here with their whole strategy
[17:30.880 -> 17:38.000] to keep Fernando Alonso, but also keep Oscar Piastri in the team, and then eventually keeping
[17:38.000 -> 17:42.600] neither. But I guess, I guess.
[17:42.600 -> 17:44.600] That's a move light by Pierre Gasly.
[17:44.600 -> 17:47.280] Were you guessing something?
[17:47.280 -> 17:55.440] Yeah, I'm sure strategy of the year has to have a mention of Ferrari.
[17:55.440 -> 17:56.760] Are you questioning me?
[17:56.760 -> 17:57.760] Question?
[17:57.760 -> 17:58.760] Yeah, exactly.
[17:58.760 -> 18:00.240] That's what happened, right?
[18:00.240 -> 18:06.000] You know, with the whole, hey, Carlos, is that your name question?
[18:06.000 -> 18:08.000] You know, the whole radio message.
[18:08.000 -> 18:10.000] So they wanted to, you know, have driver inputs on strategy
[18:10.000 -> 18:12.000] and they were like, we got to be seriously
[18:12.000 -> 18:14.000] asking the drivers the questions because
[18:14.000 -> 18:16.000] especially if it's Carlos, because he
[18:16.000 -> 18:18.000] normally engineers his own
[18:18.000 -> 18:20.000] races from the car as well.
[18:20.000 -> 18:22.000] But Ferrari's strategy, my word,
[18:22.000 -> 18:24.000] who decides on such a radical
[18:24.000 -> 18:25.600] solution like that?
[18:25.600 -> 18:29.980] But this year, Charles Leclerc has so many polls that he could take each poll, bonk every
[18:29.980 -> 18:34.440] member of the Ferrari strategy team on the head just to knock some sense into them because
[18:34.440 -> 18:35.760] what have they been doing?
[18:35.760 -> 18:41.560] Like, he's driving a 320 KP at Sundaram and they're asking him like a 15 paragraph long
[18:41.560 -> 18:43.080] question on what does he want to do?
[18:43.080 -> 18:44.760] He's only a driver.
[18:44.760 -> 18:46.580] That's something which only Ferrari could have a feeling.
[18:46.580 -> 18:49.220] Sadly enough, that's very ingenious of them.
[18:49.220 -> 18:52.220] But let's get into who the winner of this category is.
[18:52.220 -> 18:56.420] And the winner is Haas and Nikita Mazepin.
[18:56.420 -> 18:58.300] So basically what they did is they took
[18:58.300 -> 18:59.480] all his sponsorship money,
[18:59.480 -> 19:02.260] I think it was to the tune of $12 million,
[19:02.260 -> 19:04.660] and then casually just released him from the team.
[19:04.660 -> 19:05.120] Used all that money for development and the driver is not even there. to the tune of $12 million and then casually just released him from the team, used all
[19:05.120 -> 19:08.440] that money for development and the driver is not even there.
[19:08.440 -> 19:15.820] And I think it even went to this extent where the whole Mazipin camp, they passed, I think
[19:15.820 -> 19:20.520] there was a lawsuit of sorts and Haas responds saying, no, there is actually a term in the
[19:20.520 -> 19:25.520] contract that if this affects our image, we can get rid of the driver. And they
[19:25.520 -> 19:33.600] demanded $8 million more from Haas if Nikita Mazepin wants the 2021 car as a gift, I suppose.
[19:33.600 -> 19:39.120] But I think that was the strategy of the year. And maybe Alpine could learn a thing or two from
[19:39.120 -> 19:45.360] Haas in reading about the contracts a bit more. I would say this was also financial masterstroke
[19:45.360 -> 19:47.640] of the year by Hux.
[19:47.640 -> 19:49.560] Employed two rookies, and they literally
[19:49.560 -> 19:52.840] kicked both of them out in a span of 12 months
[19:52.840 -> 19:54.840] and then 24 months.
[19:54.840 -> 19:55.600] Not bad.
[19:55.600 -> 19:57.560] I wonder if they actually didn't really
[19:57.560 -> 20:02.360] have a strategy to exploit the Schumacher name in their car.
[20:02.360 -> 20:03.720] I guess that's what happened.
[20:03.720 -> 20:06.180] And I don't know if it was this whole rumor
[20:06.180 -> 20:08.800] about Steiner wants to be the most recognizable brand
[20:08.800 -> 20:10.200] in the team, but that's happened.
[20:10.200 -> 20:11.660] And that's happened with, you know,
[20:11.660 -> 20:14.580] Mick's dad in Ferrari, when in 2006,
[20:14.580 -> 20:16.660] the Schumacher brand became sort of bigger
[20:16.660 -> 20:18.480] and more known than the Ferrari brand.
[20:18.480 -> 20:21.800] And it's just come back to bite Mick
[20:21.800 -> 20:23.940] just at the start of his career.
[20:23.940 -> 20:27.600] Well, it's good that Haas is now becoming a team of comebacks right now. It's like a return ticket,
[20:27.600 -> 20:31.040] right? Everyone who's gone on a Formula One, ticket, ticket, ticket. Does anyone want to
[20:31.040 -> 20:35.920] weigh back in? But there are other fun races to talk about. That's the fun category we should go
[20:35.920 -> 20:41.520] to next, the race of the year. And there's so many straight faced nominees in this one. You've
[20:41.520 -> 20:48.800] got the British GP where, oh, Carlos Sainz won. By the way, he's a race winner, guys. The Hungarian, what about, did you remember
[20:48.800 -> 20:53.560] that Carlos Sainz wins in the round? The highlight of that race for me was the last six laps,
[20:53.560 -> 20:58.000] we had five different drivers fighting for P2. There was Hamilton, there was Perez, there
[20:58.000 -> 21:02.560] was Leclerc, there was Alonso and Landon Norris. So either one of them could have been second.
[21:02.560 -> 21:07.040] And I think that's what people are always going to be talking about. The double overtake of Lewis Hamilton. That was
[21:07.040 -> 21:10.140] also in the last few laps. I watched that yesterday. To be very honest, I watched it
[21:10.140 -> 21:15.840] yesterday and I watched it thrice. And that always gave me goosebumps. Just what Formula
[21:15.840 -> 21:20.120] One should be. Yes, exactly. And then it was all ruined for Max Verstappen by one of his
[21:20.120 -> 21:26.760] teammates, his underflow passes. So ridiculous what happened. That was a good race. Hungarian GP was an entertaining race
[21:26.760 -> 21:28.400] because we saw Ferrari make,
[21:28.400 -> 21:31.040] I think their most colossal mistake strategy-wise
[21:31.040 -> 21:33.520] are there by putting them on hards.
[21:33.520 -> 21:35.280] And Verstappen was just showing off by,
[21:35.280 -> 21:36.960] you know, like, let me do a spin
[21:36.960 -> 21:38.600] and then I'll go on and win this as well.
[21:38.600 -> 21:40.760] Celebratory donuts mid-race.
[21:40.760 -> 21:41.600] Oh!
[21:41.600 -> 21:42.720] Mid-season, mid-season as well.
[21:42.720 -> 21:43.560] Mid-season as well.
[21:43.560 -> 21:44.400] Mid-season as well.
[21:44.400 -> 21:48.000] And without the FIA actually saying you can do a donut here, you know, but...
[21:50.000 -> 21:51.000] That's my mind.
[21:51.000 -> 21:53.000] It wasn't sanctioned, but yeah, he went and did it anyway.
[21:53.000 -> 21:55.500] Whatever, lad. What a man Max Verstappen is.
[21:55.500 -> 22:00.000] Then there's the Sao Paulo GP where the hit and run strategy almost worked for Lewis Hamilton.
[22:00.000 -> 22:01.500] I mean, wait.
[22:01.500 -> 22:03.500] So are we putting the blame on him now?
[22:05.400 -> 22:06.800] No, the FIA said it wasn't. I love the silence.
[22:07.000 -> 22:10.400] The FIA said it wasn't him, so I think we're going to consider on with the FIA.
[22:10.600 -> 22:15.100] We should talk about them later on as well because we have a different category for the FIA later.
[22:15.300 -> 22:18.300] But the Sao Paulo GP was one where we saw George Russell become a race winner.
[22:18.600 -> 22:25.080] But I think one of the best races that we saw this year was Mattia Binotto being chased by the Ferrari management all
[22:25.080 -> 22:29.040] year round. Like just pushing them, just kicking them in the back, like get out, get out, get
[22:29.040 -> 22:34.400] out, get out, get out, get out now. And all of a sudden, can we now claim that corporate
[22:34.400 -> 22:38.080] communication is utter bullshit because 10 days before he resigned, Ferrari said a message
[22:38.080 -> 22:42.680] to him that, oh, this is all rumours. So basically corporate communication is just rubbish, never
[22:42.680 -> 22:45.600] read it before, right? Never always... It never tells you the full story.
[22:45.600 -> 22:49.360] I get a feeling it was Matthew Binotto who took his phone,
[22:49.360 -> 22:51.560] logged onto Twitter for the first time ever,
[22:51.960 -> 22:55.520] using the Ferrari admin rights and just put out that message saying,
[22:55.520 -> 22:59.880] ha ha ha, I'm going to make this even more fun for the world than it actually is.
[22:59.880 -> 23:00.720] But no, you're right.
[23:00.720 -> 23:03.480] I mean, it's I mean, it is Ferrari things, right?
[23:03.480 -> 23:09.680] They're, you know, when, you know, usually when a rumor comes out, there's this whole thing of where there's
[23:09.680 -> 23:11.240] a smoke, there's a fire.
[23:11.240 -> 23:13.440] We had the rumor come out for Daniel Ricciardo.
[23:13.440 -> 23:16.320] He put out a statement, he was still kicked out, right?
[23:16.320 -> 23:20.080] And then similarly with Ferrari and Mattia Binotto as well.
[23:20.080 -> 23:26.400] But I think that's a race that they will regret having won in the time to come.
[23:26.400 -> 23:28.160] Because what they did before is they made
[23:28.160 -> 23:31.440] their best engineer the team principal.
[23:31.440 -> 23:34.400] And now they have not just kicked out the best engineer,
[23:34.400 -> 23:36.160] but they've also kicked out a team principal.
[23:36.160 -> 23:39.760] So technically, they wanted him in the best engineering role
[23:39.760 -> 23:41.880] that he should have been because they clearly,
[23:41.880 -> 23:44.040] he's brought the car up to what it is today.
[23:44.040 -> 23:48.200] And now I realize that this is supposed to be banter and parody and this is not meant for this.
[23:48.480 -> 23:50.200] The platform is not meant for that.
[23:50.200 -> 23:55.960] I can already see the virtual guests going away to the bar saying, Oh my God, this is the boring part of the conversation.
[23:55.960 -> 23:57.320] Let me go get a couple of drinks.
[23:57.360 -> 24:02.000] We should actually sign up a tissue paper sponsor just to clear all the tears in the wipes.
[24:02.040 -> 24:04.600] So maybe they can have a Sommel Brown at work.
[24:02.040 -> 24:02.120] Just to clear all the tears and the wipes.
[24:03.360 -> 24:03.440] So, maybe they can have a direct...
[24:04.640 -> 24:07.280] This is Samuel Brown at work.
[24:10.120 -> 24:10.400] Oh, well. But let's actually get to the winner of the race of the year.
[24:12.080 -> 24:12.440] And the winner is...
[24:16.160 -> 24:16.520] Saudi Arabia for hosting Formula One two times in six months,
[24:18.400 -> 24:18.680] regardless of a missile strike.
[24:20.920 -> 24:21.360] And they wanted two races in a calendar year.
[24:24.280 -> 24:24.360] How... It's like... I just said outrageous demand.
[24:25.680 -> 24:30.680] They literally had a missile strike behind and they were like, yeah, it's fun. Wait, this is Hindi tagline, which is aaj
[24:30.680 -> 24:35.360] kuch tufaani karte hain, which means let's just do something thunderous today. That's
[24:35.360 -> 24:39.760] what they did. It was actually for our listeners to understand why we've given Saudi the race
[24:39.760 -> 24:50.220] of the year because the race went ahead. Yeah. I mean, I think it was Friday evening, the missile strike was barely 10 kilometers away and yet the ministry or even the organizers telling
[24:50.220 -> 24:56.560] that it's impractical that we don't go ahead with the race. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
[24:56.560 -> 25:02.220] Yeah, what you mean is that the race, just by virtue of it going ahead should be given
[25:02.220 -> 25:10.160] the race of the year award, right? It should have just been cancelled. But money talks. And he just made a statement, he being the Saudi whatever chief,
[25:10.720 -> 25:16.400] that the Middle Eastern nations should host more Formula E races as well. So basically,
[25:16.400 -> 25:23.520] they just want to keep hosting all these races. And it's just scary. Why? I don't know. Why?
[25:21.000 -> 25:22.000] It's just scary. Why?
[25:22.000 -> 25:23.000] I don't know.
[25:23.000 -> 25:24.000] Why?
[25:24.000 -> 25:27.040] They're having this fun little city called Neon.
[25:27.040 -> 25:28.640] It's a line.
[25:28.640 -> 25:30.200] It's like a 200 kilometer line.
[25:30.200 -> 25:33.880] And it's going to be vertically as tall as the One Trade Center in New York.
[25:33.880 -> 25:35.120] And they're going to make something like that.
[25:35.120 -> 25:36.800] And they're sponsoring so many Formula E teams.
[25:36.800 -> 25:39.080] They sponsored Mercedes, they sponsored McLaren.
[25:39.080 -> 25:42.040] And all this while just waiting and wondering, well, what's the whole point of the sports
[25:42.040 -> 25:44.440] washing when the negative press already is getting to it?
[25:44.440 -> 25:45.720] It's just getting too serious.
[25:45.720 -> 25:48.240] Let's move on to formal and corporate communications.
[25:48.240 -> 25:51.480] I just, just be honest.
[25:51.480 -> 25:54.320] But again, I'm too young to maybe realize that I have.
[25:54.320 -> 25:56.920] But on this podcast, we will never
[25:56.920 -> 26:00.800] let Formula One ever forget that there was a missile strike.
[26:00.800 -> 26:01.320] Oh, yes.
[26:01.320 -> 26:03.360] It will be wiped out from our memories.
[26:03.360 -> 26:04.400] They'll work really hard.
[26:04.400 -> 26:09.720] But our communications over overdrive will keep reminding you and Formula One, there
[26:09.720 -> 26:14.880] was a missile strike and we still had the race. And that's precisely why Sundaram here
[26:14.880 -> 26:17.700] has chosen to give it the race of the year award.
[26:17.700 -> 26:22.280] Formula One drivers are just pawns at the end of the day, right? Essentially for a country's
[26:22.280 -> 26:26.000] driver, whatever. Too much on the Middle Eastern nations,
[26:26.000 -> 26:28.000] especially with the World Cup going on right now.
[26:28.000 -> 26:30.000] But Sundaram, the next category that we've got
[26:30.000 -> 26:32.000] is the driver of the year.
[26:32.000 -> 26:36.000] And the nominations this year are interesting, to say the least.
[26:36.000 -> 26:38.000] Of course, Max Verstappen is definitely up there.
[26:38.000 -> 26:40.000] 15 race wins in one season,
[26:40.000 -> 26:42.000] taking a different record.
[26:42.000 -> 26:44.000] I mean, he's claiming the record altogether.
[26:44.000 -> 26:45.440] And then you also have George Russell, he's claiming the record altogether. And then you
[26:45.440 -> 26:50.240] also have George Russell, who's been super, super consistent, lots of top five finishes
[26:50.240 -> 26:54.640] throughout the year. And he also outscored Lewis Hamilton in his first year with the team. I don't
[26:54.640 -> 26:58.960] think a lot of Hamilton fans are going to be happy with that. But I think we have one more
[26:58.960 -> 27:09.280] nomination here. It should be Charles Leclerc for his pole run. I mean, to have that record pole, what, how many poles he had?
[27:09.280 -> 27:10.280] I think nine.
[27:10.280 -> 27:11.280] Nine poles.
[27:11.280 -> 27:12.280] There you go.
[27:12.280 -> 27:13.280] That's the stat man talking.
[27:13.280 -> 27:14.280] Nine poles.
[27:14.280 -> 27:16.840] Nine poles that he had.
[27:16.840 -> 27:18.800] So many of them were not converted into wins.
[27:18.800 -> 27:19.800] Let's not get into the stat.
[27:19.800 -> 27:20.800] Just three.
[27:20.800 -> 27:21.800] There you go.
[27:21.800 -> 27:22.800] Okay.
[27:22.800 -> 27:23.800] We got into the stat with Mr.
[27:23.800 -> 27:24.800] No, sorry, just two.
[27:24.800 -> 27:30.000] Okay. So, there we go. Okay, we got into the stat with Mr. No, sorry, just two. Okay. So, there we go. But I think Charles Leclerc, I would definitely give it to him.
[27:30.000 -> 27:36.000] I mean, even the sheer emotion of sitting in the car every Sunday, imagine motivating himself saying,
[27:36.000 -> 27:40.000] Oh my God, what could my team mess up today?
[27:40.000 -> 27:43.000] No, I'm serious. I mean, he's put it on pole.
[27:43.000 -> 27:45.960] And even in a place like Monaco, starting
[27:45.960 -> 27:49.480] from pole and still losing. Was he on pole in Monaco?
[27:49.480 -> 27:50.480] He was.
[27:50.480 -> 27:51.480] He was. There you go.
[27:51.480 -> 27:57.240] But it must be very dreadful being Charles Leclerc on pole ahead of a Sunday race. He
[27:57.240 -> 28:00.400] must be really dreading what could possibly go wrong today.
[28:00.400 -> 28:05.340] But I must say the battle of the year actually is also Leclerc versus Benotto because all these
[28:06.120 -> 28:08.120] movements that have happened in Ferrari
[28:08.680 -> 28:13.720] Everybody's been saying there is probably a Nicola Stott at work as well. But anyway, oh
[28:14.240 -> 28:17.360] So who's the winner Sundaram? Who are we giving it to? And the winner is
[28:18.160 -> 28:19.680] Oscar Piastri
[28:19.680 -> 28:24.720] Over the whole McLaren Alpine saga now you're probably starting to understand why we've given it to that
[28:24.720 -> 28:25.000] We've given it to Oscar Piastri were the whole McLaren Alpine saga. Now you're probably starting to understand why we've
[28:25.000 -> 28:28.880] given it to Oscar Piastri, but the thing is, he did not drive this year at all. And that's
[28:28.880 -> 28:33.880] the exact, that's the point. We had a person who's yet to make his F1 debut. And then you
[28:33.880 -> 28:38.440] have teams like McLaren and Alpine, two former world championship winning teams fighting
[28:38.440 -> 28:44.260] over his services, over a few irregularities in the contract. But I think it must be very
[28:44.260 -> 28:49.200] difficult for Oscar Piastri as well, because being put into this situation before his debut, before his
[28:49.200 -> 28:53.040] first race in Formula One, it's probably the best way to get into Formula One, you have teams
[28:53.040 -> 28:57.360] fighting all over you kind of ups the stakes as well. And I like what you said, teams fighting
[28:57.360 -> 29:03.040] all over you without you having driven a Formula One car. Exactly. So we had a race of the year
[29:03.040 -> 29:09.280] that shouldn't have happened. And we had a driver of the year who's actually never driven. I think I know where this is going,
[29:09.280 -> 29:16.000] because I see that I have to now speak of the partnership of the year category, right?
[29:16.000 -> 29:21.680] And the nominees that we've put down are obviously Checo Perez and Max Verstappen.
[29:22.480 -> 29:26.160] Clear number two while letting him believe he has a shot at the title.
[29:26.160 -> 29:27.960] Congratulations, Checo, we love you.
[29:27.960 -> 29:28.800] But.
[29:28.800 -> 29:29.640] Feliz Navidad.
[29:29.640 -> 29:31.880] Feliz Navidad or whatever it is.
[29:31.880 -> 29:33.640] That's what Sebastian Vettel said.
[29:33.640 -> 29:34.480] What a team.
[29:35.580 -> 29:38.320] Oh, but then of course we've also got other nominees.
[29:38.320 -> 29:40.560] There's Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin
[29:40.560 -> 29:42.680] for not criticizing the strolls.
[29:42.680 -> 29:44.960] Because as soon as he signed the Aston Martin contract,
[29:44.960 -> 29:52.560] Fernando Alonso has been happy. He's spitting out flowers instead of curses from his mouth
[29:52.560 -> 29:57.360] whenever he's talking about Lance Stroll. The FIA literally went on air to say no, Lance Stroll was
[29:57.360 -> 30:02.000] at fault and the USGP incident, but Fernando wouldn't say that. So that's a great partnership,
[30:02.000 -> 30:07.000] even before they've worked together, they're already agreeing on not to speak ill of each other.
[30:07.000 -> 30:07.840] That's one.
[30:07.840 -> 30:08.920] Corporate communications at work
[30:08.920 -> 30:11.840] since corporate comm is what you were talking about.
[30:11.840 -> 30:14.400] But how long can you silence Fernando for?
[30:14.400 -> 30:15.280] But that's one question,
[30:15.280 -> 30:16.480] but also Formula One in America,
[30:16.480 -> 30:18.040] that's a good partnership, Sundaram.
[30:18.040 -> 30:20.760] Oh yes, we're going to be having an American driver next year.
[30:20.760 -> 30:23.340] We're going to be having three races in one season.
[30:23.340 -> 30:26.000] F1's love for America is becoming more and more visible.
[30:26.000 -> 30:29.000] And yeah, I think that's turning out to be one of the partnerships of the year.
[30:29.000 -> 30:35.000] And America's love for our podcast.
[30:35.000 -> 30:40.000] I mean, yeah, we are clearly one of the top performing podcasts in America
[30:40.000 -> 30:42.000] because we see that in our analytics.
[30:42.000 -> 30:45.780] Anyone wanting to dig through the data with us, just write into us.
[30:45.780 -> 30:47.740] And I love this whole thing.
[30:47.740 -> 30:48.840] There is an American team,
[30:48.840 -> 30:51.000] but there is another American team that wants to come,
[30:51.000 -> 30:52.320] which is Andretti.
[30:52.320 -> 30:53.680] And then how everybody said,
[30:53.680 -> 30:56.480] they're welcome, they're welcome, put in a billion dollars.
[30:56.480 -> 30:57.800] And now suddenly like, no,
[30:57.800 -> 31:01.080] we are a closed franchise of 10 clubs
[31:01.080 -> 31:03.420] or closed club of 10 franchises or whatever.
[31:03.420 -> 31:06.360] So F1's love for America, I love the whole partnership.
[31:06.360 -> 31:11.640] I mean, in order to try and woo the American audience, so many other ancillary audiences
[31:11.640 -> 31:14.080] have come in as well.
[31:14.080 -> 31:17.680] And I have a nomination, since I just remembered.
[31:17.680 -> 31:24.420] It should be Mercedes and the brakes on their car, more specifically, Lewis Hamilton.
[31:24.420 -> 31:25.900] Because all through the season, he kept saying, oh, there's an issue with the brakes on their car. Most specifically, Lewis Hamilton. Because all through the season, he kept saying,
[31:25.900 -> 31:27.820] oh, there's an issue with the brakes,
[31:27.820 -> 31:30.140] almost never explaining what the issue was.
[31:30.140 -> 31:31.500] But closer to the end of the season,
[31:31.500 -> 31:33.480] he just gave it away, saying, you know what?
[31:33.480 -> 31:35.560] The right side of my brakes are coming up to temperature
[31:35.560 -> 31:36.740] much before the left side.
[31:36.740 -> 31:38.680] We've had this problem all season.
[31:38.680 -> 31:40.240] I don't really know what to do.
[31:40.240 -> 31:42.800] Let's hope we fix it for next season.
[31:42.800 -> 31:44.060] What else can he say?
[31:44.060 -> 31:47.880] The other thing he can say is what Mr. Lollipop Man Comics has done.
[31:48.140 -> 31:50.260] He's gone and picked up the car and put it in the bin.
[31:50.260 -> 31:51.880] And the reason why I'm mentioning this,
[31:52.220 -> 31:54.600] that on the InsideLine F1 podcast,
[31:54.600 -> 31:56.600] we actually had some fantastic,
[31:56.940 -> 31:58.060] groundbreaking,
[31:58.400 -> 32:01.100] global audience winning partnerships, right?
[32:01.100 -> 32:03.780] So the first one we've had Mr. F1 StatsGuru,
[32:03.780 -> 32:10.720] who's on the mic here on my right. There is Lollipop Man Comics. We've just sort of forged a relationship with
[32:10.720 -> 32:18.160] him and you will see lots of interesting content that we will put out in the animated version
[32:18.160 -> 32:23.520] in the offseason. Then we had our own race watch along sessions. They were hosted by
[32:23.520 -> 32:27.200] award-winning journalists like Peter Windsor and Steve Slater.
[32:27.200 -> 32:30.080] And we had some fantastic guests on the podcast.
[32:30.080 -> 32:33.440] Somal, you hosted Bob Varsha and Ben Edwards as well.
[32:33.440 -> 32:35.360] So I'm putting these as nominees,
[32:35.360 -> 32:37.820] but let's not give ourselves the award.
[32:37.820 -> 32:41.840] So I am actually going to give the award too
[32:41.840 -> 32:44.640] for the partnership of the year award.
[32:44.640 -> 32:46.240] Wait, so who's it going to be?
[32:47.620 -> 32:51.660] It's going to be Porsche and Red Bull Racing.
[32:51.660 -> 32:52.960] Wait, let me guess.
[32:52.960 -> 32:55.920] Is it because they were a partnership that never happened?
[32:55.920 -> 32:58.040] Yeah, in the similar realm of a driver
[32:58.040 -> 33:00.040] that never drove a race that shouldn't have happened
[33:00.040 -> 33:02.060] and here's a partnership.
[33:02.060 -> 33:05.920] But can you imagine, Porsche never saw this coming.
[33:05.920 -> 33:08.240] Can you imagine Red Bull almost always knew
[33:08.240 -> 33:10.340] this could have happened, right?
[33:10.340 -> 33:13.040] And a team like Porsche, sitting with the brand,
[33:13.040 -> 33:15.980] the lineage, the money, the know-how,
[33:15.980 -> 33:19.680] and nobody, almost nobody is signing them on,
[33:19.680 -> 33:21.680] or at least making news about them.
[33:21.680 -> 33:23.840] And you know, if at all, it's like,
[33:23.840 -> 33:26.160] if Porsche wants to enter, they can sign up with Williams.
[33:26.160 -> 33:30.280] So, they've gone from signing from the best team on the grid to hoping that they get the
[33:30.280 -> 33:35.000] worst team on the grid, at least based on 2022 results, right, and so on.
[33:35.000 -> 33:40.200] So, I just feel, I would love to see, I think Porsche is already going to win the partnership
[33:40.200 -> 33:52.240] of the year next year, because I'm really eager to see who they eventually sign up with and how Formula One as Liberty Media sort of does all the scheming behind the scenes to get
[33:52.240 -> 33:57.680] Porsche in because they've aggressively lobbied with the Volkswagen board to get Audi and
[33:57.680 -> 34:03.240] Porsche in as well. But again, I realized that this is not banter. So this is not meant
[34:03.240 -> 34:06.160] for this. This is not the platform.
[34:06.160 -> 34:08.920] Oh, well, but we've also got other fun categories.
[34:08.920 -> 34:10.340] Now at this stage,
[34:10.340 -> 34:13.160] I'm going to come up with the most weird one.
[34:13.160 -> 34:16.260] This is going to be the prediction of the entire year.
[34:17.480 -> 34:19.020] Oh, well, let's go for the nominations.
[34:19.020 -> 34:20.400] Who have we got Sundaram?
[34:20.400 -> 34:22.000] Oh, I think this goes straight up there.
[34:22.000 -> 34:25.360] Matteo Bonotto, I think just before the Hungarian Grand Prix,
[34:25.360 -> 34:30.160] going up and saying that there's no reason why Ferrari cannot win the next 10 races.
[34:30.160 -> 34:34.240] I think at that point of time, I think Leclerc was 60 points behind Verstappen,
[34:34.240 -> 34:36.640] Ferrari were 80 points behind Red Bull.
[34:36.640 -> 34:41.280] And it probably wasn't the best way or the best time to really say that.
[34:41.280 -> 34:44.640] Because interestingly, they didn't win even a single race.
[34:44.640 -> 34:45.240] I get
[34:45.240 -> 34:49.160] what Vinoto was trying to do. Probably trying to instill a little bit of confidence, saying
[34:49.160 -> 34:53.400] that, yeah, we know what we're doing and we will win both championships. But Ferrari didn't
[34:53.400 -> 34:56.480] win a single race after that. And I can tell you what must have happened after that. And
[34:56.480 -> 35:00.680] I'm being very brutal because that's what this podcast is about. All of us did the mental
[35:00.680 -> 35:05.920] math, including Leclerc. And guess what the Ferrari strategists did? They picked out
[35:05.920 -> 35:11.280] the calculator and they did it manually saying how many points will we gain every race and hence
[35:12.240 -> 35:17.520] what could be the total at the end of the 10th race that our boss himself has said we will win,
[35:17.520 -> 35:22.960] because it's easy math to do, right? No, but the thing is that maybe Benotto had that little
[35:22.960 -> 35:26.640] optimism inside him, because this is something which Ferrari has done before as well.
[35:26.640 -> 35:29.440] They've won 10 races on the trot back in 2002.
[35:29.800 -> 35:33.880] And that isn't actually the record. I think McLaren did 11 back in 1988.
[35:33.880 -> 35:34.440] 88, yeah.
[35:34.440 -> 35:37.520] So, he's like, yeah, we've done it once, we can definitely do it again.
[35:37.920 -> 35:42.160] But they had Schumacher, they had Tord, and they had Braun.
[35:42.800 -> 35:46.040] Ferrari doesn't have that anymore. And I would have loved
[35:46.040 -> 35:50.880] that rumor of Ross Braun joining Ferrari and all of that that happened, but eventually
[35:50.880 -> 35:54.820] Ross said I'm going to sit on the sofa and watch Formula One as a fan.
[35:54.820 -> 36:00.120] But I love the fact that Binotto said, I don't see a reason why. Could you not see a thousand
[36:00.120 -> 36:04.520] different things, like not getting the tires arranged properly, to making the wrong strategic
[36:04.520 -> 36:08.480] calls to the engine blowing up to the car not being fast, the new technical directive,
[36:08.480 -> 36:14.720] to the heat affecting the tires. Did he have something on his eye when he was doing it?
[36:14.720 -> 36:19.200] Like, could he not see something? Oh, well, we should go to other nominees, right? We've spoken
[36:19.200 -> 36:22.960] too much on Ferrari. We've actually... I have a nominee, former Ferrari driver,
[36:22.960 -> 36:26.720] Fernando Alonso. Him signing up with Aston Martin,
[36:26.720 -> 36:28.300] again with so much optimism.
[36:28.300 -> 36:31.040] And you know, in general, he was always optimistic.
[36:31.040 -> 36:33.300] He could predict his race outcomes,
[36:33.300 -> 36:34.920] even if he was on the wrong tire,
[36:34.920 -> 36:36.440] even if the team was asking him,
[36:36.440 -> 36:37.920] do you want a medium, do you want a soft?
[36:37.920 -> 36:39.280] Doesn't matter, just put whatever,
[36:39.280 -> 36:40.580] you know, the car's quick today.
[36:40.580 -> 36:44.560] So prediction of the year, the predictor of the year,
[36:44.560 -> 36:45.520] Fernando Alonso would
[36:45.520 -> 36:53.440] be one of my nominations. And then I believe you Sundaram had made a mid season prediction.
[36:53.440 -> 36:57.120] Yeah, you should just give it to me. Just give it to me straight away. Yeah, I did make a
[36:57.120 -> 37:01.280] prediction in our mid season review that George Russell, that is a pretty bold prediction,
[37:01.280 -> 37:05.720] I said at the time, that George Russell is going to win a race before Lewis Hamilton.
[37:05.720 -> 37:10.240] I don't think people really liked that comment of mine, but turns out he did.
[37:10.240 -> 37:12.040] Lewis Hamilton's not won a race earlier.
[37:12.040 -> 37:15.640] George Russell's taken pole and he's also won a race in Brazil.
[37:15.640 -> 37:16.960] So yeah, I get that.
[37:16.960 -> 37:20.200] I should have actually bet a little bit of money on that probably.
[37:20.200 -> 37:21.360] My loss.
[37:21.360 -> 37:22.360] You literally predicted.
[37:22.360 -> 37:26.160] But did you predict the Undertaker like streak ending for Lewis Hamilton?
[37:26.160 -> 37:28.800] Because it's the first time ever he's got nothing.
[37:28.800 -> 37:30.160] Yes, that's the first time.
[37:30.160 -> 37:32.960] And that sadly, you know, I like seeing patterns continue,
[37:32.960 -> 37:36.800] but sadly, this was a year where we saw no Hamilton poll, no Hamilton win.
[37:36.800 -> 37:38.320] And he's not won.
[37:38.320 -> 37:41.840] And he's, I mean, no one's still won a race after the 300th Grand Prix.
[37:41.840 -> 37:43.760] And maybe next year is a chance for him to do that.
[37:43.760 -> 37:45.560] But who's winning this, Soumya?
[37:45.560 -> 37:50.400] It is you. It has to be you. There can't be anything else. This has to be the winner of
[37:50.400 -> 37:55.280] the prediction of the year, undoubtedly. But with the prediction, we can see that most
[37:55.280 -> 38:00.560] of them turned out to be lies, apart from Sundaram's one. What about the lie of the
[38:00.560 -> 38:04.440] year? I think we should get to that very quickly because there are so many fun nominees like
[38:04.440 -> 38:06.440] Leclerc's Radio and Bahrain, Kunal.
[38:06.440 -> 38:07.440] Oh, yeah.
[38:07.440 -> 38:12.600] When, you know, after the race, he won so comfortably, he went and he said, guys, there's
[38:12.600 -> 38:14.120] a problem with the engine.
[38:14.120 -> 38:15.920] And I think that was a lie.
[38:15.920 -> 38:17.880] Because yes, there was a problem with the engine.
[38:17.880 -> 38:22.120] But technically, there was a problem with the team altogether, right?
[38:22.120 -> 38:23.980] I'm being again, brutal.
[38:23.980 -> 38:25.120] But that's that's where I'm going. So
[38:25.120 -> 38:30.160] that to me was one of the lies. And you know, they say there's a thing like a commentator's curse.
[38:30.160 -> 38:33.600] Yeah. And this time it was a driver's curse, because he was talking what he was joking about
[38:33.600 -> 38:38.560] the engine, but he actually jinxed it for himself and the team because they had a lot of reliability
[38:38.560 -> 38:46.000] issues. And that engine, that engine literally went up in smoke. I think where was it? Austria? But yes, Somil, who's winning this?
[38:46.000 -> 38:48.000] I'm torn apart between two.
[38:48.000 -> 38:50.000] So, wait, I know my winner.
[38:50.000 -> 38:52.000] I've just thought about it for a second.
[38:52.000 -> 38:54.000] I know my winner.
[38:54.000 -> 38:56.000] So I'll tell you the nominee first,
[38:56.000 -> 38:58.000] the last one that I have in mind.
[38:58.000 -> 39:00.000] Red Bull Racing lying by saying
[39:00.000 -> 39:02.000] they'll let Perez and Verstappen
[39:02.000 -> 39:04.000] fight for the World Championship.
[39:04.000 -> 39:09.200] We all thought for a second, right? After Baku, we all thought, or after Monaco, precisely, we thought, yes, Perez vs Verstappen. We literally had an episode
[39:09.200 -> 39:15.840] titled that. Could this be the fight of the year? And then how have the tables turned?
[39:16.480 -> 39:28.040] Well, that's one. But what do we think about it? I think the lie of the year, nominee should also have Checo Perez lying about Monaco,
[39:28.040 -> 39:31.920] whether he actually spun on purpose or not in qualifying
[39:31.920 -> 39:34.200] and hence qualified ahead of Max.
[39:34.200 -> 39:36.680] And then the whole issue that happened in Brazil.
[39:36.680 -> 39:38.700] And then anybody and everybody who knows
[39:38.700 -> 39:40.960] how to make telemetry charts in Formula One,
[39:40.960 -> 39:44.020] and now there are a lot of people, which is great, right?
[39:44.020 -> 39:45.680] Suddenly we're putting out all these charts,
[39:45.760 -> 39:47.800] saying, guess what? There was a tap on the throttle
[39:47.880 -> 39:50.080] in the mid-corner, he didn't do this the previous lap,
[39:50.160 -> 39:51.560] and whatever, whatever.
[39:51.640 -> 39:55.320] We still don't know if that was a lie of the race or not.
[39:55.400 -> 39:57.760] You know, these are things that you could probably never really know,
[39:57.840 -> 40:00.280] no matter how much data that you have.
[40:00.360 -> 40:03.080] So you could probably say Perez probably did lie in Monaco,
[40:03.160 -> 40:09.200] or you could also say Red Bull probably lied about the budget gap overall. It was just catering, but only
[40:09.200 -> 40:12.920] they would really know if they actually did that. But Samuel, I think there was an artist
[40:12.920 -> 40:18.640] on Twitter who made a picture of a graphical animation of Red Bull's pit lane at the entire
[40:18.640 -> 40:22.240] whole thing. And they had a little section where it said catering do not enter. They
[40:22.240 -> 40:26.280] were cooking something and inside they were actually having aerodiagrams and wind
[40:26.280 -> 40:29.600] tunnels here and there and that was labeled as the cooking room, the kitchen.
[40:29.600 -> 40:31.420] So maybe it could be that.
[40:31.420 -> 40:36.640] But the winner for the lie of the year, Red Bull Racing, for saying that the informed
[40:36.640 -> 40:40.040] was to happen only at the final corner in Brazil.
[40:40.040 -> 40:41.360] You uncovered this Kunal.
[40:41.360 -> 40:42.880] We did, yes, on Wireplay.
[40:42.880 -> 40:47.280] We actually, we put on our Sherlock Holmes hat
[40:47.280 -> 40:50.640] and we said, you know what, we are gonna dig through this.
[40:50.640 -> 40:52.800] So we worked with Formula One and, you know,
[40:52.800 -> 40:55.200] we got the unsynced and the synced footage
[40:55.200 -> 40:57.200] because what you see on radio, on television,
[40:57.200 -> 40:58.560] radio is delayed.
[40:58.560 -> 41:00.320] So we got the actual radio.
[41:00.320 -> 41:03.560] And it turns out that the first time Max was actually told
[41:03.560 -> 41:06.600] of, told to give way to Checo Perez was
[41:06.600 -> 41:11.700] at turn seven and not turn 12, 13, 14, whatever Red Bull claimed they did.
[41:11.700 -> 41:14.100] So we uncovered their lie.
[41:14.100 -> 41:19.460] But at some point, everybody just realized, let's just move on and let just Red Bull do
[41:19.460 -> 41:20.500] what they're doing.
[41:20.500 -> 41:27.880] Because it was actually adding to a narrative after they had sealed both the titles and, you know, hey, we need to have some controversy
[41:27.880 -> 41:29.580] for Abu Dhabi because, hey, it's Abu Dhabi,
[41:29.580 -> 41:30.540] they pay us a lot of money,
[41:30.540 -> 41:32.680] controversy is good for the sport.
[41:32.680 -> 41:34.300] No, it's actually funny that they thought
[41:34.300 -> 41:36.500] they would get away with this because,
[41:36.500 -> 41:38.640] I mean, in this age when F1 is giving access
[41:38.640 -> 41:39.540] to all the viewers,
[41:39.540 -> 41:41.680] you can literally hear the radio messages,
[41:41.680 -> 41:44.240] you can see the onboards in live time.
[41:44.240 -> 41:47.600] So obviously everyone knew that this is not the truth.
[41:47.600 -> 41:50.120] Still they went ahead and put out a statement
[41:50.120 -> 41:52.680] that Vastapan was informed only at the last corner.
[41:52.680 -> 41:54.720] Did they really think we would buy it?
[41:54.720 -> 41:57.280] Nah, I think none of us really bought it.
[41:57.280 -> 41:58.100] What's that?
[41:58.100 -> 41:59.400] Oh yeah, it's an ostrich.
[41:59.400 -> 42:01.000] It's like literally an ostrich taking the head
[42:01.000 -> 42:03.080] and just dumping it in the soil like nothing happened.
[42:03.080 -> 42:07.120] I don't know, nothing happened, I'm not here. It's just something like that for Red Bull.
[42:07.120 -> 42:12.640] Well, what a joke. What a lie. But there are other fun categories. It revealed that Red Bull
[42:12.640 -> 42:17.440] Racing are not always the most honest, which we know by Christian Honours media statements as well.
[42:17.440 -> 42:23.040] But that brings us on to the revelation of the year Kunal. And I already have a couple of really
[42:23.040 -> 42:26.160] weird nominees. Max Verstappen revealed that he's a virgin.
[42:26.160 -> 42:29.400] But sorry, but he's already screwed Ferrari's championship
[42:29.400 -> 42:31.800] all together, single-handedly.
[42:31.800 -> 42:33.200] How can he be?
[42:33.200 -> 42:35.400] That is information I did not need to know,
[42:35.400 -> 42:36.400] but yeah, thank you.
[42:36.400 -> 42:38.200] It just pops up, right?
[42:38.200 -> 42:40.000] It just pops up randomly.
[42:40.000 -> 42:41.200] That's crazy.
[42:41.200 -> 42:43.400] And the other nomination that we have is
[42:43.400 -> 42:46.880] the fact that the FIA rulebook,
[42:46.880 -> 42:51.080] it's revealed that the rules have a different interpretation than actually what's written
[42:51.080 -> 42:52.080] in it.
[42:52.080 -> 42:55.720] I mean, for example, take Monaco for example, we had Verstappen and I think maybe even Perez
[42:55.720 -> 43:01.000] going over the pit entry line and it turns out that's not actually what it means.
[43:01.000 -> 43:04.080] You have to go completely beyond it and not just on it.
[43:04.080 -> 43:05.000] And I think Yuki Tsunoda
[43:05.000 -> 43:09.700] was extremely upset with that because last year he was I think handed over, handed a
[43:09.700 -> 43:14.120] reprimand or something of that sort for going over the line at one of the races. I think
[43:14.120 -> 43:19.000] it was Austria or France, but that's crazy. It's written in a certain way and it's interpreted
[43:19.000 -> 43:20.000] a different way.
[43:20.000 -> 43:23.120] Brazil as well, right? Yuki Tsunoda getting lapped and all that?
[43:23.120 -> 43:24.120] Oh, yes.
[43:24.120 -> 43:26.320] Because... FI forgetting that Yuki was in the race.
[43:26.320 -> 43:27.000] Exactly.
[43:27.000 -> 43:30.240] Literally, that's the literal interpretation of that.
[43:30.240 -> 43:33.160] But I like where this is going.
[43:33.160 -> 43:38.240] You know, the FIA rule book kept revealing itself as the season progressed.
[43:38.240 -> 43:41.640] We had a Japan where only the FIA knew what was happening,
[43:41.640 -> 43:45.600] that it's going to be full points and then the tractor coming on track.
[43:45.600 -> 43:48.200] And again, the FIA revealing that,
[43:48.200 -> 43:50.760] you know, there was some ways that they followed,
[43:50.760 -> 43:51.800] which they should have anyway.
[43:51.800 -> 43:54.560] That's a very, very messy thing to talk about.
[43:54.560 -> 43:59.560] But the winner of the revelation of the year award is,
[43:59.960 -> 44:02.160] and actually we have a tie, right?
[44:02.160 -> 44:06.200] The first one is budget cap related,
[44:06.200 -> 44:08.680] but it's not really about the budget cap.
[44:08.680 -> 44:11.180] So I'm going to put it as a mathematical question there,
[44:11.180 -> 44:12.020] right?
[44:12.020 -> 44:12.840] Not just to you two,
[44:12.840 -> 44:15.160] but all the thousands of listeners that are there.
[44:15.160 -> 44:20.060] When we say a team spends $142 million a year on racing,
[44:20.060 -> 44:23.120] what percentage does one normally think
[44:23.120 -> 44:26.960] goes into upgrading a car? Because every race,
[44:26.960 -> 44:31.760] there's a new car, the car that starts in testing in Bahrain and the first race in Bahrain
[44:31.760 -> 44:35.920] is very different from the car that lands up in Abu Dhabi. There are race specific updates for
[44:35.920 -> 44:42.400] cooling, for, you know, for grip and for whatever, like Monza spec wing and a Singapore spec wing.
[44:42.400 -> 44:46.960] And when you add all the complexity, and when you think of Formula One being such
[44:46.960 -> 44:49.320] a complicated, expensive sport,
[44:49.320 -> 44:51.680] and then you have somebody like a Frederic Vossoeur,
[44:51.680 -> 44:54.360] you know, the chief of Sauber, Alfa Romeo Racing,
[44:54.360 -> 44:56.000] whatever you call it, like,
[44:56.000 -> 45:00.360] says that $2.5 million, he revealed, right,
[45:00.360 -> 45:04.960] that $2.5 million is all that it costs a team
[45:04.960 -> 45:07.600] to upgrade a car through the season.
[45:07.600 -> 45:08.080] And now when you...
[45:08.080 -> 45:09.120] What are you saying? Seriously?
[45:09.120 -> 45:09.760] Yeah, and when you...
[45:09.760 -> 45:10.400] For real?
[45:10.400 -> 45:14.080] Yeah, I mean, when you work back all the percentages, it is so small
[45:14.720 -> 45:20.080] of what the team spend annually. But there's this whole hype around who's bringing what upgrades,
[45:20.080 -> 45:25.880] you know, like Mercedes' Austin upgrade and Mercedes' Silverstone upgrade last year and so on.
[45:25.880 -> 45:27.420] And then add to the context.
[45:27.420 -> 45:31.680] I said last year, Lewis Hamilton said, of course, in the wake of Red Bull's controversy,
[45:31.680 -> 45:40.560] he revealed that $300,000 is all that he could have spent extra, Mercedes could have spent
[45:40.560 -> 45:42.160] to win the 2021 title.
[45:42.160 -> 45:43.160] All right.
[45:43.160 -> 45:45.060] I mean, I'm sure he's at some point thought,
[45:45.060 -> 45:47.000] can I just put it, it's pocket change for me,
[45:47.000 -> 45:49.180] like I can just put the money and get an extra wing,
[45:49.180 -> 45:52.180] but it just reveals that it's an expensive sport,
[45:52.180 -> 45:55.680] but again, all these small little differences,
[45:55.680 -> 45:57.300] which we hype up in our mind
[45:57.300 -> 46:00.260] are sort of the main things to focus on.
[46:00.260 -> 46:09.520] But the joint winner of this is, has to be, Max Verstappen being revealed as the drivers champion
[46:09.520 -> 46:14.320] in Japan when nobody, including Christian Horner,
[46:14.320 -> 46:16.560] did not know that he was world champion.
[46:16.560 -> 46:18.000] And I remember this, right?
[46:18.000 -> 46:21.160] So there was a world feed, podium ceremony, whatever.
[46:21.160 -> 46:22.920] And Johnny Herbert said, hey, you won.
[46:22.920 -> 46:23.760] What do you think of Max?
[46:23.760 -> 46:25.400] Like, no, I've got a point.
[46:25.400 -> 46:28.440] And we had Christian Horner right next to our Viaplay
[46:28.440 -> 46:30.280] Netherlands reporter, right?
[46:30.280 -> 46:33.520] And we said, OK, just go and ask, like, what's the scene?
[46:33.520 -> 46:35.960] And Christian said, no, no, by our calculations, one point.
[46:35.960 -> 46:40.080] And all the models that we run real time during broadcast
[46:40.080 -> 46:41.440] said one point.
[46:41.440 -> 46:50.160] But the FIA revealed that he was the champion. That's crazy, because we often tend to talk about F1 being the pinnacle of motorsport. So ideally,
[46:50.160 -> 46:55.040] you would expect that the rule book is foolproof, well read and understood. And then you have these
[46:55.040 -> 47:00.160] sort of loopholes that tend to come up every few races. It's absolutely crazy.
[47:00.800 -> 47:05.680] You know what, we should actually penalize the FIA for it. Oh, wait, how can we do that?
[47:05.680 -> 47:09.960] We'll actually think about that. But let's actually go on that to the penalty of the
[47:09.960 -> 47:14.680] year. We are going to talk about the nominees, there are going to be many of them. The budget
[47:14.680 -> 47:19.880] cap penalty 300,000 for Red Bull Racing, the Piasco, the penalty that Alpine had to pay
[47:19.880 -> 47:23.360] for letting go of one of their own drivers. It was how many million was it again?
[47:23.360 -> 47:25.880] I think it was close to a million. They had to pay for everything.
[47:25.880 -> 47:27.680] Legal costs were more than a million.
[47:27.680 -> 47:30.120] Yeah, it was also the lawyers fees
[47:30.120 -> 47:32.320] and taking everybody's time and whatever.
[47:32.320 -> 47:33.400] Even McLaren's, yeah.
[47:33.400 -> 47:34.400] Yeah, exactly.
[47:34.400 -> 47:37.720] Yeah, and the paupersing technical directive
[47:37.720 -> 47:39.960] was also kind of like a big penalty to Ferrari
[47:39.960 -> 47:41.720] in a way that came in from Mercedes.
[47:41.720 -> 47:43.200] If they could ever do that,
[47:43.200 -> 47:44.200] as you mentioned, Kunal,
[47:44.200 -> 47:48.400] the lobbying element, but they just slapped Ferrari and suddenly they disappeared, didn't even come out.
[47:49.120 -> 47:55.600] Absolutely. And I would say even a penalty here was, you know, Alpine blowing Fernando Alonso's
[47:55.600 -> 48:03.680] engine, because after 0.7 DNFs is what he had. So they realize, if we have to put all the upgrades
[48:03.680 -> 48:07.200] and whatever, and you know, everybody's calling their engine a bomb these days.
[48:07.200 -> 48:15.200] So, Alpine blowing, you know, Alonso's engine, some sort of way of penalizing Fernando for all his outrageous outbursts on radio.
[48:15.200 -> 48:17.440] For being Alonso, for being just Alonso.
[48:17.440 -> 48:18.400] Yeah, exactly.
[48:18.400 -> 48:19.360] Exactly.
[48:19.360 -> 48:21.040] I think that's the line you mentioned, right?
[48:21.040 -> 48:23.040] Penalizing Fernando for being Alonso.
[48:23.040 -> 48:27.600] Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, and you know, having all those races where,
[48:27.600 -> 48:31.760] despite not having as much reliability,
[48:31.760 -> 48:34.480] he was still so much quicker than Esteban Ocon.
[48:34.480 -> 48:37.360] And then it would just make Alpine look so bad
[48:37.360 -> 48:41.280] for having signed Ocon, but having let go of Fernando.
[48:41.280 -> 48:45.560] But yeah, so Alpine penalizing Fernando for being a loner.
[48:45.560 -> 48:48.120] But who's the winner Sundaram?
[48:48.120 -> 48:52.480] No, actually, I actually like what you said there Saumil. So the winner of this category
[48:52.480 -> 48:58.440] is us. We are going to penalize the FI for their consistency and their decision making
[48:58.440 -> 49:03.560] or the lack thereof. There have been so many instances throughout this year, pick and choose
[49:03.560 -> 49:08.080] anyone. There's been this just been so much of inconsistency with applying their own rules.
[49:08.080 -> 49:12.640] And at times, teams have had to go forward and tell them, hey, this is what your rulebook says.
[49:12.640 -> 49:15.520] Let's talk about US for example, the US Grand Prix, for example, where
[49:16.080 -> 49:21.600] Haas made a protest and Alpine goes and protests Haas' protest and tells him basically,
[49:21.600 -> 49:29.340] your rulebook is wrong. You should not have even taken or even considered the protest because they lodged the appeal way too late.
[49:29.340 -> 49:34.320] Just FI things, isn't it? Even though the actual offense was legitimate,
[49:34.320 -> 49:40.400] the only reason why Alpine got away and Haas did not is because Alpine said that Haas lodged
[49:40.400 -> 49:46.480] it too late. And Alpine lod it late as well. They lost it late as well. And I think it was when
[49:46.480 -> 49:51.280] they had a right to review. That's when it was accepted. And that's when they realized that,
[49:51.280 -> 49:56.560] hey, this penalty is, we can't give this penalty. So basically, what we're doing,
[49:56.560 -> 50:00.560] we are penalizing the FI. But when are we going to give this judgment? Yeah, what are we going to do?
[50:00.560 -> 50:06.400] How are we going to penalize the FI? And for what, Somal? For being consistently inconsistent?
[50:06.800 -> 50:07.800] Yes.
[50:07.880 -> 50:10.400] They were consistently inconsistent last year as well.
[50:10.480 -> 50:13.280] So we will declare the announce of...
[50:13.840 -> 50:18.320] We will announce the results of the penalty post-episode.
[50:18.400 -> 50:19.400] Right? So...
[50:19.480 -> 50:21.360] Because that's what the FIA usually does, right?
[50:21.440 -> 50:24.200] Under investigation, we'll be revealed four hours out,
[50:24.280 -> 50:26.440] 15 hours or 48 hours after the race.
[50:26.440 -> 50:27.240] So, you know what?
[50:27.240 -> 50:28.360] Let's not do it post episode.
[50:28.360 -> 50:30.820] Let's do it before the first race next season.
[50:30.820 -> 50:32.000] So we have quite a bit of time.
[50:32.000 -> 50:34.200] Yeah, we can make a detailed report on it.
[50:34.200 -> 50:37.600] A report that says absolutely nothing and does absolutely nothing about it.
[50:37.600 -> 50:39.360] And just blames it on human error.
[50:40.840 -> 50:42.160] We could do all of that.
[50:42.680 -> 50:48.960] Oh, well, it's like they're scared to take responsibility.
[50:48.960 -> 50:50.760] Not in terms of safety, not in terms of safety.
[50:50.760 -> 50:52.520] And they're absolutely proactive.
[50:52.520 -> 50:55.520] The best out there in any sport whatsoever.
[50:55.520 -> 51:00.840] But in terms of these, in comparison, trivial matters, it's like, I don't know, I didn't
[51:00.840 -> 51:01.840] do it.
[51:01.840 -> 51:02.840] I don't know.
[51:02.840 -> 51:03.840] It's not our fault.
[51:03.840 -> 51:07.120] They fall within a framework where where doesn't always make sense.
[51:07.120 -> 51:10.160] But let's make sense of the next category. What have we got, Samal?
[51:10.160 -> 51:12.720] Oh, yes, we've got the best drive.
[51:13.320 -> 51:16.240] And it's not properly a drive, drive.
[51:16.240 -> 51:18.360] It's also drive in a way of a journey.
[51:18.360 -> 51:20.320] Let me let me tell you more about it,
[51:20.680 -> 51:23.360] because Kevin Magnusson had an amazing drive,
[51:24.440 -> 51:26.960] or a ride rather, behind a marshal after he got
[51:26.960 -> 51:32.560] stuck in the midfield of the Brazil circuit for almost 40 minutes. He was mobbed. He was mobbed
[51:32.560 -> 51:36.560] as well. Was he? Yeah, that's what he said. He's like, wow, that was the ride of my life getting
[51:36.560 -> 51:41.360] back. Oh, yeah. So that happened. Similarly, Lewis Hamilton got stranded as well in Belgium,
[51:41.360 -> 51:45.400] didn't he? As a lonely walk back to the paddock, yes. In spa, right?
[51:45.800 -> 51:48.400] And a similar one for Sergio Perez in Canada, Kunal?
[51:48.680 -> 51:51.640] That is correct. And you know, to my mind, while we are doing all this,
[51:51.720 -> 51:55.600] only image that comes across is of Kimi Raikkonen in the desert.
[51:56.280 -> 51:58.640] There you go. See, all of you all knew I was going to say that.
[51:58.720 -> 52:02.200] And then, at least for, you know, everybody else,
[52:02.640 -> 52:04.440] he going back and grabbing an ice cream.
[52:04.520 -> 52:05.040] So, that's the usual.
[52:05.040 -> 52:07.600] Mithila won't be happy you've mentioned Raikkonen on the episode.
[52:07.600 -> 52:08.800] We have. We have.
[52:08.800 -> 52:14.880] We're gonna keep his legacy alive till ace man Robin Raikkonen does something in Formula 1 or
[52:14.880 -> 52:17.920] could be daughter Rihanna as well. You never know. Yeah.
[52:17.920 -> 52:22.160] Totally out of context in this one. We also had this one shot in the Indian Racing League that
[52:22.160 -> 52:27.040] I'm working on right now. The way one driver unfortunately got taken out in another person's crash.
[52:27.040 -> 52:31.140] I shall describe the crash some other day on a different episode because it's one that deserves an episode.
[52:31.140 -> 52:34.000] It's the craziest one I've ever seen and the driver was okay.
[52:34.000 -> 52:36.600] But the other driver literally had a similar scene.
[52:36.600 -> 52:43.360] He was walking in the wilderness, but you could only see the part above his chest because the grass at the Madras International Circuit has grown so much.
[52:43.360 -> 52:43.860] Oh wow.
[52:43.860 -> 52:46.500] That you could only see the driver who's 5 foot 6 by the way, till his chest because the grass at the Madras International Circuit has grown so much. Oh wow. That you could only see the driver who's 5 foot 6 by the way,
[52:46.500 -> 52:47.500] till his chest.
[52:47.500 -> 52:51.000] That is like weird, you could only see a picture of it apart but
[52:51.000 -> 52:53.500] that's not going to be the one who wins this category.
[52:53.500 -> 52:57.000] I think the winner for the drive of the year has to be...
[52:57.500 -> 52:59.000] Sebastian Vettel.
[52:59.000 -> 53:02.500] Now, you might be wondering, Sebastian Vettel, drive of the year,
[53:02.500 -> 53:09.280] sure, USA was amazing, Abu Dhabi was pretty decent as well considering what he did in that race, but I am thinking
[53:09.280 -> 53:11.800] of giving it to him for Australia.
[53:11.800 -> 53:14.760] So you mean the best ride of the season?
[53:14.760 -> 53:17.040] Oh, actually, yeah, it's right.
[53:17.040 -> 53:18.040] So yeah, it's a scooter journey.
[53:18.040 -> 53:19.400] So it has to be a ride, right?
[53:19.400 -> 53:20.400] Yes, absolutely.
[53:20.400 -> 53:23.400] Him taking the Marshall scooter after, what did he have at the time?
[53:23.400 -> 53:24.560] I mean, what was that?
[53:24.560 -> 53:28.720] I think his car stopped in FP2. Yeah, his car stopped in FP2. And then he casually just takes
[53:28.720 -> 53:33.600] a Marshall scooter waves to everyone on his way back. This is post session. So he knew the session
[53:33.600 -> 53:38.400] was on. Yeah. And we had some hilarious memes on social media delivery boy and all those sort of
[53:38.400 -> 53:44.160] things going on. And he drove in reverse of the circuit that's there. I think he didn't drive
[53:44.160 -> 53:45.400] the circuit direction. He drove in the reverse. At least that's one of the memes that's there. I think he didn't drive the circuit direction. He
[53:45.400 -> 53:49.400] drove in the reverse. At least that's one of the memes. I don't know if I got caught
[53:49.400 -> 53:58.480] out by a meme. Oh my goodness. But I'm thinking what Marshall let him go past. He was a fan
[53:58.480 -> 54:01.920] Marshall. I wouldn't say rogue Marshall. You have to be a Sebastian Fettel. If you're a
[54:01.920 -> 54:06.480] fan, you just stick behind him. Take me there with you. I don't want to leave you alone.
[54:06.480 -> 54:07.840] Talk to me in that five minutes time.
[54:07.840 -> 54:09.040] Tell me something about your life.
[54:09.040 -> 54:12.960] Tell me how cool you are or how much you're going to work for the environment or something like that.
[54:12.960 -> 54:14.320] It's ah, what a drive.
[54:14.320 -> 54:17.840] That would be a very nice moment for that fan, Marshall.
[54:17.840 -> 54:19.680] But yeah, maybe we should go to the next category.
[54:20.160 -> 54:21.840] Moment of the year.
[54:21.840 -> 54:27.280] Now, last year, Kunal, we had this fun little category called the oof moment of the year. No, actually, Kunal, we had this fun little category called the OOF moment of the year.
[54:27.280 -> 54:29.280] No, actually no, I haven't described it correctly.
[54:29.280 -> 54:36.000] It was won by Mark Webber for his fantastic OOF in Baku.
[54:36.000 -> 54:37.600] So that's the OOF moment of the year.
[54:37.600 -> 54:42.480] But this year, the OOF sound is going to be different because there are so many different moments throughout the year
[54:42.480 -> 54:48.320] that made us go OOF but different variations of it. So let me talk you through the nominations. Firstly,
[54:48.320 -> 54:53.420] there's Alex Albon's Australia Stimper. He just lasted one tyre compound for literally
[54:53.420 -> 54:58.600] 99.95% of the race and changed it in the last lap. What sort of sounded that make you feel
[54:58.600 -> 55:06.000] like what sort of what variation of ooh did that get out of you? Oh, wow. That's how it went. Because Alex Albin, William. So it was more like, oh.
[55:09.120 -> 55:10.200] So that's one.
[55:10.280 -> 55:12.200] Sundaram, there was Vastapan spin to win in Hungary.
[55:12.280 -> 55:13.380] What sound did that get out of you?
[55:13.460 -> 55:14.460] I went like, oh.
[55:15.040 -> 55:16.620] Amazing. Okay, there's that.
[55:16.920 -> 55:19.920] There's Sebastian Vettel's overtakes in the second half of 2022.
[55:20.000 -> 55:22.580] Japan, that battle with Fernando Alonso.
[55:22.800 -> 55:25.360] His great race in Kota where he passed Kevin Magnussen.
[55:25.360 -> 55:27.840] That made me go, oh, wow.
[55:27.840 -> 55:29.760] Why is this man retiring?
[55:29.760 -> 55:31.800] That's what also went in my head.
[55:31.800 -> 55:33.280] Yes, exactly.
[55:33.280 -> 55:36.560] Then there was Sean Leclerc screaming no in France.
[55:36.560 -> 55:38.160] What did that make you go like?
[55:39.600 -> 55:44.200] It was just like, it reminded me of Vettel's spins and crashes when he was at Ferrari.
[55:44.200 -> 55:45.960] And I was like, hmm, okay, that's similar.
[55:45.960 -> 55:50.840] And I love this one video of somebody who actually landed a Cessna
[55:51.320 -> 55:53.680] in that same spot and then took off a Cessna
[55:53.680 -> 55:57.400] just to show how much wide space there was at France
[55:57.400 -> 56:00.560] and still a clear crashed out there, if you know what I mean.
[56:00.560 -> 56:02.240] Wait, someone actually did that?
[56:02.240 -> 56:02.760] Yeah.
[56:03.920 -> 56:04.840] I'll link you to it.
[56:05.760 -> 56:07.360] Oh my God, wow, someone actually did that? Yeah. I'll link you to it. Oh my God. Wow.
[56:07.360 -> 56:08.360] That's a lot of space.
[56:08.360 -> 56:10.480] Then there's also another great moment.
[56:10.840 -> 56:12.400] The fake marina in Miami,
[56:12.560 -> 56:14.480] followed by the real marina in France.
[56:14.480 -> 56:15.320] That made me go like,
[56:15.640 -> 56:17.320] Oof, that's cheap.
[56:17.800 -> 56:19.880] That's a different kind of ooo I never thought I'd say.
[56:19.880 -> 56:21.160] But when I saw the prices, I'm like,
[56:21.160 -> 56:23.520] Oh, that's expensive for no water.
[56:23.520 -> 56:24.040] Yeah.
[56:24.760 -> 56:26.900] But if you pay that much money, why would you dip your foot?
[56:28.600 -> 56:31.200] I can't make sense of it. But okay, good, good optics, whatever.
[56:31.400 -> 56:33.700] Then there was the Silverstone protest.
[56:33.800 -> 56:34.600] That's on the road.
[56:34.600 -> 56:35.200] What?
[56:35.800 -> 56:37.600] Oh, that's the sound of that was the one I went
[56:37.600 -> 56:41.000] and they knew about that beforehand that it's possibly going to happen as well.
[56:41.000 -> 56:44.600] And then and cars went right past those people as well.
[56:44.600 -> 56:46.560] And then you were like, oh oh that is actually so close.
[56:46.560 -> 56:48.160] So what sound did he make?
[56:48.160 -> 56:48.660] Oh.
[56:48.660 -> 56:50.400] Oh okay that's different.
[56:50.400 -> 56:55.920] He's very consistent like the FI. He's like high moments, low moments, neutral moments. Oh.
[56:55.920 -> 56:56.920] Oh.
[56:56.920 -> 57:02.000] Wait. I thought Mithila was a Kimi Raikkonen fan. Are you supposed to support Fernando?
[57:02.000 -> 57:03.360] Yes exactly.
[57:03.360 -> 57:05.600] Go go go. and fan. Are you supposed to support Fernando? Yes, exactly. Shouldn't you be going Mamma Mia,
[57:05.600 -> 57:11.440] although no, that's only him in Italian Ferrari mode. But yeah, but we had some crazy radio
[57:11.440 -> 57:17.440] messages as well. We did. We had, I think mine was Viking comeback. That was, you know, when
[57:17.440 -> 57:23.520] Gunther gets onto the radio, it's always a bit fun, more fun than when, when Toto Wolff probably
[57:23.520 -> 57:25.920] gets onto the radio, I would say. And then
[57:25.920 -> 57:35.000] there was lots of Czecho radio messages, there was Perez and Magnussen sneezing on the radio.
[57:35.000 -> 57:41.280] And I must say, you mentioned Vettel, but Vettel fighting Alonso to the line at Suzuka.
[57:41.280 -> 57:45.840] Iconic driver, iconic driver, iconic car brands, all of that, fighting for P7,
[57:45.840 -> 57:51.120] P8 at the most iconic racing circuit in the world, literally. And I remember, you know,
[57:51.120 -> 57:56.680] it was, I think, at least from the visuals that I saw, Alonso was ahead, but I think
[57:56.680 -> 58:00.920] the deployment that Vettel had just pipped him to the line just there. So it was one
[58:00.920 -> 58:10.400] of those drag races. And I like that because, you know, we all grow up to drag races as well. And that was like an F1 drag race, one going back to Gasly versus Hamilton in
[58:10.400 -> 58:16.960] Brazil a couple of years ago as well, you know, Toro Rosso powered by Honda out dragging a Mercedes
[58:16.960 -> 58:23.200] car while there. And one of the other moments I had, this was a very warm one, was when the 20
[58:23.200 -> 58:27.440] drivers were together in Abu Dhabi for Sebastian Vettel's
[58:27.440 -> 58:31.600] farewell. So it was like, oh, wow. And then I'm like, oh, but isn't it weird that Ricardo and
[58:31.600 -> 58:37.200] Latifi and Mick don't get a farewell themselves? Because, you know, four drivers were outgoing.
[58:37.200 -> 58:40.320] And that was the first time and they were all together for a team photo, because that did not
[58:40.320 -> 58:44.800] happen at the preseason test and neither at the Bahrain Grand Prix. So that was the first time
[58:44.800 -> 58:45.760] all 20 of them. You should add context. Why did that not happen at the pre-season test and neither at the Bahrain Grand Prix. So, that was the first time all 20 of them...
[58:45.840 -> 58:47.040] You should add context.
[58:47.120 -> 58:49.240] Why did that not happen at the pre-season test?
[58:49.320 -> 58:52.160] So, pre-season testing, Daniel Ricciardo missed it because of COVID
[58:52.240 -> 58:55.520] and Sebastian Vettel missed the first two races of the season
[58:55.600 -> 58:56.560] again because of COVID.
[58:56.640 -> 59:00.160] So, that's why they never stood together for the group photo.
[59:00.240 -> 59:03.200] I'm going to add a controversy, which of course I'm going to blow myself.
[59:03.280 -> 59:09.440] I first thought Vettel wasn't racing in Saudi and Bahrain, not in that order, but you know,
[59:09.440 -> 59:12.520] because of some human rights issue, something he wasn't agreeing with.
[59:12.520 -> 59:16.440] But you know what, he came and he raced in Abu Dhabi, so that logic really doesn't add
[59:16.440 -> 59:17.440] up.
[59:17.440 -> 59:18.440] Yeah, yeah, it doesn't.
[59:18.440 -> 59:23.400] But that all the drivers coming together, it made me feel like, oh, wow, this can happen.
[59:23.400 -> 59:25.680] The GPDA is not just a symbolic body,
[59:25.680 -> 59:27.160] it actually exists.
[59:27.160 -> 59:28.840] But the one moment that got me saying,
[59:28.840 -> 59:32.140] ooh, even more was, who paid that bill?
[59:32.140 -> 59:33.920] It was Lewis Hamilton.
[59:33.920 -> 59:35.040] 650,000?
[59:35.040 -> 59:39.280] No, no, no, let's not fall for all the fake narrative.
[59:39.280 -> 59:42.760] Alexander Alban revealed that it was a fixed menu,
[59:42.760 -> 59:45.200] it was Lewis's plan and Lewis sort of paid for the bill.
[59:45.840 -> 59:50.480] So somebody was very optimistic in just taking a picture, uploading it and saying, guess what,
[59:50.480 -> 59:55.120] this is what the drivers ate. And that person, whoever it is, has gotten a lot of publicity
[59:55.120 -> 59:59.600] without actually having the drivers. Guys, we've given this a lot of build up,
[59:59.600 -> 01:00:06.220] please. Who's winning this category? Who's winning this category Kunal? This has to be
[01:00:06.720 -> 01:00:08.720] Mr. Nicholas Latifi.
[01:00:08.720 -> 01:00:10.720] Had to be.
[01:00:10.720 -> 01:00:12.720] He's had several moments of the year.
[01:00:12.720 -> 01:00:14.720] Several P20 in the, you know,
[01:00:14.720 -> 01:00:16.720] qualifying. He was 21st
[01:00:16.720 -> 01:00:18.720] in a 20 driver champion.
[01:00:18.720 -> 01:00:20.720] Did you say that with a straight face?
[01:00:20.720 -> 01:00:22.720] I am trying.
[01:00:22.720 -> 01:00:24.720] Sorry.
[01:00:24.720 -> 01:00:26.760] Right, so he was 21st in a 20 driver champion...
[01:00:26.760 -> 01:00:27.760] For a while.
[01:00:27.760 -> 01:00:28.760] For a while.
[01:00:28.760 -> 01:00:29.760] For a while.
[01:00:29.760 -> 01:00:32.640] Then eventually managed to salvage his Latifi name.
[01:00:32.640 -> 01:00:33.640] Right?
[01:00:33.640 -> 01:00:36.160] No Driver of the Day award, which is why we said that's it.
[01:00:36.160 -> 01:00:38.560] His outgoing season, we are going to give him an award.
[01:00:38.560 -> 01:00:41.600] That too, the most iconic moment of the year award.
[01:00:41.600 -> 01:00:44.800] Someone can decide if he's going, oh, or oh, I don't know.
[01:00:44.800 -> 01:00:47.360] However... The sound that go for this one is we
[01:00:47.360 -> 01:00:48.840] Oh, what?
[01:00:48.840 -> 01:00:50.840] This is Japan.
[01:00:50.840 -> 01:00:52.960] I remember an F1 stats guru
[01:00:52.960 -> 01:00:56.320] stats and he actually topped an FP3 session as well.
[01:00:56.320 -> 01:00:58.320] He topped a session
[01:00:58.320 -> 01:00:59.680] before
[01:00:59.680 -> 01:01:02.360] before Lewis Hamilton topped the session this year.
[01:01:02.360 -> 01:01:03.000] There you go.
[01:01:03.000 -> 01:01:04.000] But to me,
[01:01:04.000 -> 01:01:06.600] the gotifi moment of the year this year. There you go. But to me, the gotefe moment of the year
[01:01:07.520 -> 01:01:09.720] had to be at Suzuka.
[01:01:09.720 -> 01:01:11.600] He chose to do the most iconic thing
[01:01:11.600 -> 01:01:13.440] at the most iconic circuit.
[01:01:13.440 -> 01:01:17.320] On the Friday, he took a wrong turn in Japan,
[01:01:17.320 -> 01:01:19.040] despite having done hundreds of laps,
[01:01:19.040 -> 01:01:21.360] maybe thousands of laps on the simulator.
[01:01:21.360 -> 01:01:24.160] I mean, anybody and everybody who has a PS,
[01:01:24.160 -> 01:01:26.800] you know, the F-122 game, I know
[01:01:26.800 -> 01:01:31.400] for a fact, Suzuka is one of the circuits you will drive on for all the hype and for
[01:01:31.400 -> 01:01:36.560] the genuine hype that it has. But he took a wrong turn, which is okay, that's a Latifi
[01:01:36.560 -> 01:01:41.400] thing to do. And then he blamed the car. You know, I'm surprised he didn't do that at Paul
[01:01:41.400 -> 01:01:45.520] Ricard because that track has 167 configurations and he didn't do that at Paul Ricard because that track has 167 configurations
[01:01:45.520 -> 01:01:49.760] and he didn't do it in Paul Ricard, he did it at Suzuka in probably the penultimate corner
[01:01:49.760 -> 01:01:52.880] and like you said he just went hmm strange.
[01:01:52.880 -> 01:01:56.600] We have a Transformers movie coming up next year, maybe it's a Decepticon that's actually
[01:01:56.600 -> 01:02:01.040] taking control of the car and doing all those crashes and all those weird little turns.
[01:02:01.040 -> 01:02:04.840] I love the next line he said though, he said, I'm okay though.
[01:02:04.840 -> 01:02:05.360] Are you? What have you done my man? We are little tons. I love the next line he said though. He said, I'm okay though.
[01:02:06.360 -> 01:02:06.960] Are you?
[01:02:08.080 -> 01:02:09.440] What have you done, my man?
[01:02:13.360 -> 01:02:16.840] It kind of reminded me of 1988 or 89, was it? When Senna got disqualified for using a slip road at the end of the championship.
[01:02:16.840 -> 01:02:19.240] And Ron Dennis protested saying that's what slip roads are for.
[01:02:19.560 -> 01:02:23.320] Nicholas Ritty, if he decided to honor that moment and say, yep, I'm going to use slip roads properly.
[01:02:23.840 -> 01:02:25.360] But it's happened in the memory of Senna.
[01:02:26.320 -> 01:02:28.640] And in the memory of all the Senna stories
[01:02:28.640 -> 01:02:31.360] that Peter Winsor actually shared on our channel.
[01:02:31.360 -> 01:02:33.440] And guys, just so y'all know,
[01:02:33.440 -> 01:02:34.720] so both of y'all know,
[01:02:34.720 -> 01:02:37.200] and so all of our listeners know,
[01:02:37.200 -> 01:02:40.400] we were not paid to give him this award.
[01:02:41.040 -> 01:02:42.880] There is no Lavazza branding on us.
[01:02:42.880 -> 01:02:43.920] There is nothing.
[01:02:43.920 -> 01:02:47.320] There's no grandstand that's going to be named after us somewhere.
[01:02:48.240 -> 01:02:52.120] There's probably no Nicholas Latifi ever on our podcast,
[01:02:52.120 -> 01:02:54.480] which is why we are probably more comfortable taking pot shots.
[01:02:55.360 -> 01:02:56.200] Yeah, exactly. No,
[01:02:56.200 -> 01:03:00.320] but I think something like this happened in MotoGP as well where I think Jack
[01:03:00.320 -> 01:03:04.440] Miller did it in, in Barcelona until he was told, but he didn't bring the bike.
[01:03:04.800 -> 01:03:06.200] That's the most important.
[01:03:06.200 -> 01:03:07.800] Yeah, my bike made me go there.
[01:03:07.800 -> 01:03:08.280] Not me.
[01:03:08.280 -> 01:03:09.640] I'm a smart chap.
[01:03:09.640 -> 01:03:10.800] I won't do that.
[01:03:10.800 -> 01:03:11.280] Wow.
[01:03:11.280 -> 01:03:12.720] But what a season.
[01:03:12.720 -> 01:03:14.240] But does this end the season?
[01:03:14.240 -> 01:03:14.920] Does it?
[01:03:14.920 -> 01:03:15.640] Question.
[01:03:15.640 -> 01:03:17.440] Question?
[01:03:17.440 -> 01:03:19.560] It does end the recording hour.
[01:03:19.560 -> 01:03:22.440] We've literally just gone a few minutes over the hour.
[01:03:22.440 -> 01:03:27.240] Our longest, our best, waiting for the last part of the season.
[01:03:27.240 -> 01:03:28.920] But the season's not over for us.
[01:03:28.920 -> 01:03:29.920] It never is.
[01:03:29.920 -> 01:03:30.920] We never take a break.
[01:03:30.920 -> 01:03:34.480] Bhaag Daur Bari Zindagi Hai, Bhukna Manaya, Revital, sorry.
[01:03:34.480 -> 01:03:38.400] If you don't know, if you don't worry about it, but the season's not over for us because
[01:03:38.400 -> 01:03:42.440] as we mentioned at the top of the episode, we are going to have Manish Pandey, the director
[01:03:42.440 -> 01:03:45.440] of Lucky, Senna, Heroes, Grand Prix Driver,
[01:03:45.440 -> 01:03:50.080] he's going to be on the Inside Line F1 podcast. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, Kunal.
[01:03:50.080 -> 01:03:54.720] That is the tip of the iceberg. There's going to be a lot of Lollipop Man and F1 Stats Guru content
[01:03:54.720 -> 01:04:01.760] that we are collabing with that will come out. We really are planning an educational series as well.
[01:04:01.760 -> 01:04:05.080] Like, you know, there are lots of so many Formula One fans
[01:04:05.080 -> 01:04:06.800] coming in, but you don't know where to start.
[01:04:06.800 -> 01:04:09.020] You don't know what to pick.
[01:04:09.020 -> 01:04:10.380] Like, what is Formula One?
[01:04:10.380 -> 01:04:12.020] Why is it called Formula One?
[01:04:12.020 -> 01:04:13.800] Why does a car look the way it does?
[01:04:13.800 -> 01:04:16.240] Why do the drivers dress the way they do?
[01:04:16.240 -> 01:04:19.320] Why is a race for X number of laps?
[01:04:19.320 -> 01:04:21.360] And why is a, you know, of course,
[01:04:21.360 -> 01:04:23.000] I'm giving away a lot of content ideas
[01:04:23.000 -> 01:04:24.320] that we're working on,
[01:04:24.320 -> 01:04:30.440] but if somebody has more ideas of things they would want us to simplify, write into us,
[01:04:30.440 -> 01:04:34.680] let us know, we're going to try and bring this out in the offseason. But there are just
[01:04:34.680 -> 01:04:40.000] so many things to look forward to, including your good reviews and ratings. After you've
[01:04:40.000 -> 01:04:45.920] heard our 71st episode of the season. Wow, that's a lot. There's going to be more as
[01:04:45.920 -> 01:04:49.680] well because Dry to Survive comes up rather soon. So that's going to be a talking point.
[01:04:49.680 -> 01:04:53.620] It's going to be our educational series. There's going to be the guests we have. We're going
[01:04:53.620 -> 01:04:57.480] to get lots of fun people on the podcast to interview and talk to. We are going to have
[01:04:57.480 -> 01:05:01.240] the Force India series as well, Reject. So we can have more episodes of that. So that's
[01:05:01.240 -> 01:05:04.380] going to be interesting. More stories from the Force India F1 team that you possibly
[01:05:04.380 -> 01:05:08.480] may not have heard. So all that fun stuff is coming up. But for that, folks, you've got to
[01:05:08.480 -> 01:05:13.360] do only one simple thing. It's not take a wrong turn at the Japanese GP circuit. It's subscribe
[01:05:13.360 -> 01:05:18.240] to the Insideline F1 podcast. Very simple to do. Press the button on whatever platform you follow
[01:05:18.240 -> 01:05:22.160] and write to us on social media, reach out to us, send in your questions. We'd love to interact
[01:05:22.160 -> 01:05:27.920] with you. But as we mentioned time and time again again the season is not over for us. Stay tuned right here folks
[01:05:27.920 -> 01:05:31.720] we'll be right back. Have a good time!
[01:05:43.880 -> 01:05:45.880] you