F1 hits jackpots, manhole hits Sainz - 2023 Las Vegas GP Review

What a race, just what a race! The inaugural 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix was Formula 1 hitting a jackpot, at least on-track. Just the way a manhole hit Carlos Sainz on-track on Thursday.

If the racing is good, do we forget the teething issues that Formula 1 faced in Las Vegas? Well, at least, in the first half of this episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, we've chosen to do so.

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When last did we see the top-3 battle for the lead of the race in the way Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez do so in Las Vegas? Could Charles Leclerc have won the race if not for the second Safety Car? Why could Sergio Perez not keep the lead of the race ahead of Leclerc? How is it that Ferrari suddenly had better tyre wear than all their rivals, Red Bull Racing included? Why did Ferrari choose to not pit Leclerc under the second SC, just as Red Bull Racing did?

Was Max Verstappen justified in taking pot shots at the Las Vegas Grand Prix overall? And of course, his shots at everyone who came in his firing range of opinions about everything Formula 1? How did Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon recover from a Q1 elimination to a top-5 finish? Also, is the five-second time penalty justified or should the FIA necessitate a swap on-track?

Just how was the racing so good? How did McLaren mess up the weekend? How was Red Bull Racing unbeatable despite being only-second quickest in both, the slow speed and straightline?

And finally, the key insight as to why Red Bull Racing and several other finishers in the top-10 chose fresh rubber for the Safety Car restarts.

Soumil Arora, @f1statsguru and Kunal Shah bring to you our 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix review episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.

Tune in!

(Season 2023, Episode 62)

Follow our hosts on Twitter: Soumil Arora, @f1statsguru and Kunal Shah

Image courtesy: Red Bull Content Pool

**Race Highlights and Controversies:**

* Despite the initial hype, the Las Vegas Grand Prix delivered an entertaining race, showcasing intense battles for the lead among Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Sergio Perez.
* Carlos Sainz Jr. faced a grid penalty due to a manhole cover incident during practice, potentially costing him a chance at victory.
* The race featured two safety car periods, with the second one playing a crucial role in determining the outcome.
* Ferrari's tire degradation was surprisingly better than Red Bull's, allowing Leclerc to challenge Verstappen for the lead.
* Verstappen's five-second penalty for a collision with Leclerc raised questions about its fairness, as it arguably benefited him by keeping him ahead and providing him with clean air.
* Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon made impressive recoveries from qualifying setbacks to finish in the top five.
* The race highlighted the importance of fresh tires during safety car restarts, as demonstrated by Red Bull's strategic decision.

**Key Insights and Observations:**

* The low-grip and low-downforce nature of the Las Vegas circuit provided an exciting challenge for drivers, requiring constant car control and steering adjustments.
* Pirelli's hard tires performed exceptionally well, enabling aggressive racing and reducing the need for mandated stint lengths.
* Ferrari's improved tire degradation compared to Red Bull was a significant factor in Leclerc's ability to challenge Verstappen.
* The second safety car period significantly impacted the race strategy, with Leclerc losing out due to his decision to stay out on old tires while Red Bull pitted for fresh ones.
* The race demonstrated the importance of track position and clean air, as Verstappen's advantage in these areas proved crucial in securing the victory. **2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix Review**

* The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a thrilling race, despite some teething issues.

* Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Sergio Perez battled for the lead throughout the race.

* Leclerc could have won if not for the second Safety Car.

* Perez was unable to keep the lead due to Leclerc's superior tire wear.

* Ferrari opted not to pit Leclerc under the second Safety Car, unlike Red Bull Racing.

* Verstappen criticized the Las Vegas Grand Prix and Formula One in general.

* Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll recovered from Q1 elimination to finish in the top five.

* The five-second time penalty for contact between Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri was justified.

* The racing was exciting, despite McLaren's poor weekend.

* McLaren's struggles highlighted the challenges of qualifying in Las Vegas.

* Lewis Hamilton had a chaotic race but still finished P7, ahead of George Russell.

* The Las Vegas Grand Prix had several off-track issues, including lawsuits and an oil spill.

* The new podium ceremony, which included a drive through the Bellagio fountains, was met with mixed reactions.

* The Drivers' Championship is decided, but the battle for P4 remains open.

* Jacques Villeneuve got married in the paddock chapel.

* Formula One's focus on profit and casual fans is understandable, but it may alienate hardcore fans.

* Toto Wolff's comments about European viewership of practice sessions sparked a debate.

* Ferrari may take legal action against the Las Vegas organizers for the manhole cover incident.

* The Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success overall, despite the challenges.

[00:00.000 -> 00:07.280] Before we begin, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the folks at Amazon Music for partnering
[00:07.280 -> 00:10.800] with us on this episode of the InsideLine F1 podcast.
[00:10.800 -> 00:12.500] But more on this later.
[00:12.500 -> 00:40.940] Right then, let's get right into today's episode. And so after years and years of hype, the Las Vegas GP is finally over.
[00:40.940 -> 00:42.880] Does it feel flat at the very end of it?
[00:42.880 -> 00:50.360] Does it lift up to all the hype that we've built up over the last few months and days as well? That we should discuss on the InsideLine
[00:50.360 -> 00:54.400] F1 podcast among many other things as well. We should talk about the grandstand gate,
[00:54.400 -> 00:58.800] the manhole covers, the stewards, about so many things like the surface as well. And
[00:58.800 -> 01:03.600] also is a five second penalty for Max enough or was it more of a gift? What do you think
[01:03.600 -> 01:05.200] Sokunal? Five seconds for Max,
[01:05.200 -> 01:10.080] I mean, yes, he accepted it, but in a way, if you come to think about it, he actually benefited from
[01:10.080 -> 01:15.920] that penalty. If he was forced to drop down, maybe Ferrari could have had a win. If we had a manhole
[01:15.920 -> 01:19.920] cover not really blowing up, maybe Carlos Sainz could have been winning. Who knows?
[01:19.920 -> 01:25.200] And maybe if the fans were allowed to stay in the grandstands on the Thursday,
[01:25.920 -> 01:29.120] they wouldn't have had a class action suit towards themselves.
[01:29.120 -> 01:30.320] The Las Vegas Grand Prix.
[01:30.320 -> 01:33.280] I mean, we all saw it coming at some point of time, saying,
[01:33.600 -> 01:38.560] if you mess up a service in America, there's a good chance somebody could sue you.
[01:38.560 -> 01:41.440] In this case, there are lots of somebodies who are suing Formula One.
[01:41.440 -> 01:44.640] But should we really open with the suing part?
[01:44.640 -> 01:50.560] Should we really open with the penalty part? Or should we just really get to how good or how bloody
[01:50.560 -> 01:58.040] damn good this race was? And why we really think, you know, giving insights, of course,
[01:58.040 -> 02:23.600] why we really think that this was a damn good race. I mean, when was the last time, gentlemen, that we had the top three in the battle for the win on merit? We literally had no clue who's going to finish for second or third. But I must admit, when I saw Max closing in on Checo and Sharl, I said, I know he's finishing first. I didn't know the position of the other two drivers.
[02:23.840 -> 02:25.960] I didn't know the position of the other two drivers. It's like the Jaws background music working all right.
[02:25.960 -> 02:30.160] You can see Max coming in and you know it's the end coming through.
[02:30.160 -> 02:34.080] But funnily enough Sundaram, after Singapore, this is the first time that we've had a gap
[02:34.080 -> 02:35.080] that close.
[02:35.080 -> 02:37.880] And at last, yes, we've had all the chaos in the background.
[02:37.880 -> 02:42.800] Yes, we have a smiley on the Las Vegas sphere and a Google Chrome logo and Fernando Alonso's
[02:42.800 -> 02:44.320] face and so many other things on there.
[02:44.320 -> 02:48.080] But at the end, I think it's fair to say it was a good race, right? In a way?
[02:48.080 -> 02:52.160] Yeah, we're talking specifically about the race. I think it was a brilliant race. I think there's
[02:52.160 -> 02:59.920] no other way of looking at it. I think the general hype was around the whole event in entirety. Sure,
[02:59.920 -> 03:03.840] there were things that could have been better. Sure, that there were things that should have
[03:03.840 -> 03:09.760] been taken care of beforehand itself. Considering the sort of hype, considering the sort of price
[03:09.760 -> 03:13.920] that people are paying for the event, but generally, if we look at the race in isolation,
[03:13.920 -> 03:18.960] I think that was a bloody good race. It had everything. It wasn't the case where one battle
[03:18.960 -> 03:25.840] dictated how the race went in general. But I think there was a lot happening up and down the whole grid, safety cars, collisions,
[03:26.920 -> 03:32.220] difference in strategies as well. So in general, I'm very very happy with what I saw in today's race.
[03:32.800 -> 03:38.480] Let's see how next year's race goes. And thankfully we got the moment of the entire season. At the end of the year,
[03:38.480 -> 03:40.720] we do the Insideline F1 podcast awards,
[03:40.720 -> 03:49.200] where we review all the bullshit moments that we tend to see, right? All the rubbish that normally people would miss that we keep an eye on. And one of those things
[03:49.200 -> 03:54.560] was Bruce Buffer screaming Sergio Perez's name right on his face. And Sergio just didn't
[03:54.560 -> 03:58.520] know how to react. He was just sort of confused, like, am I meant to be shouting? Am I meant
[03:58.520 -> 04:06.800] to be puffing my chest? It's funny how the American treatment feels so awkward to all the Formula One drivers.
[04:06.800 -> 04:11.120] But let's get to that in a second. Firstly, let's tell you who we are and what this is.
[04:11.680 -> 04:16.480] Yes, this is the Carlos Sainz Fan Club podcast. It's also the Carlos Sainz Heartbreak Consoling
[04:16.480 -> 04:21.360] Club podcast as well. But more formally, we're known as the InsideLine F1 podcast.
[04:21.360 -> 04:26.320] My name is Somal Arora. I am the host of the Indian Racing League and also the voice of
[04:26.320 -> 04:32.080] the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix. Joining me as always F1 stats guru, our friend Sundaram Ramaswamy,
[04:32.080 -> 04:37.280] who is a part of the WTF1 content creator pool and also the official statistician for the Indian
[04:37.280 -> 04:42.560] Racing League among many other championships, including hopefully soon the F1 Academy Series
[04:42.560 -> 04:48.600] as well. And of course Kunal Shah, the former marketing head of the Sahara Force India Formula 1 team.
[04:48.600 -> 04:52.820] Which by the way is a very interesting point because we are going to have a special connection
[04:52.820 -> 04:55.120] episode to that coming out soon on the podcast.
[04:55.120 -> 04:56.120] Stay tuned folks.
[04:56.120 -> 05:00.920] But also he is currently an FIA accredited F1 journalist working for the Viaplay Network
[05:00.920 -> 05:01.920] in Norway.
[05:01.920 -> 05:05.600] Now then, Saturday night race, one o'clock local time,
[05:05.600 -> 05:07.000] there's chaos all along.
[05:07.000 -> 05:09.040] Guys, do we want to talk about the serious stuff first
[05:09.040 -> 05:10.400] or the banter?
[05:10.400 -> 05:14.400] Because in a way, what we saw on track was fantastic,
[05:14.400 -> 05:16.320] but there are also times and cases
[05:16.320 -> 05:19.120] like the grandstand issues, like the manhole covers,
[05:19.120 -> 05:21.160] like the max penalty or the surface,
[05:21.160 -> 05:23.520] that really, I think, put to highlight
[05:23.520 -> 05:25.800] why this was such a hollow event in a way.
[05:25.800 -> 05:30.800] It's kind of like all American sports that the hype is so great, but they lack in their
[05:30.800 -> 05:35.320] fundamentals and the fundamentals, right, just basic stewarding.
[05:35.320 -> 05:36.920] I think that was a bit off.
[05:36.920 -> 05:39.520] What do you guys think of the Carlos Sainz penalty firstly?
[05:39.520 -> 05:44.680] Because in my opinion, had he not got that penalty, genuinely, I think it wouldn't have
[05:44.680 -> 05:45.920] been Max winning the race.
[05:45.920 -> 05:49.200] I mean, look at the pace. He went back down to the back of the grid, came back up to P7,
[05:49.200 -> 05:54.080] even though he had a disaster and got impeded by the safety car. I just get a feeling, Kunal, that
[05:54.080 -> 05:58.080] we got lost. I mean, we lost out on an even better battle than we got.
[05:58.080 -> 06:01.920] Well, yeah, we lost out on a battle, most definitely. But I see what you've done here,
[06:01.920 -> 06:11.220] Samuel. You very nicely weaved us all as the Carlos Saenz fan club members. Are we not? Well I'm actually a fan of
[06:11.220 -> 06:16.500] maybe 18 out of the 19, 18 out of the 20 drivers on the grid and probably if
[06:16.500 -> 06:21.540] you're an avid listener of our podcast or follow us on social media you know
[06:21.540 -> 06:28.520] the two drivers I'm not a fan of right so make clearly putting myself out there there are two drivers who I'm not a fan of
[06:28.520 -> 06:34.880] quick hint North American drivers but we leave it at that. So according to
[06:34.880 -> 06:38.960] Helmut Marko that does not include Sergio Perez right? Yeah you could say I
[06:38.960 -> 06:43.960] mean yeah so that's true yeah depending on how he sees his map or his globe
[06:43.960 -> 06:46.960] positioning but no on a very serious
[06:46.960 -> 06:52.160] note, the Carlos science penalty is a bit of a bummer, right? Because when something like this
[06:52.160 -> 06:55.920] happens, the stewards actually said, we don't want to penalize him, but we can't do that.
[06:55.920 -> 07:01.600] And that's why we have to still penalize him. To me, the bigger challenge here was not just
[07:01.600 -> 07:06.120] the grip penalty, which saw today's entertainment be impacted.
[07:06.120 -> 07:11.760] And I say entertainment because imagine we had three cars from two different teams battling.
[07:11.760 -> 07:15.920] Could have been four cars from two different teams battling strategy against the other
[07:15.920 -> 07:17.840] one holding up the other.
[07:17.840 -> 07:22.280] We've seen Carlos Sainz's defensive driving in the last few races as well.
[07:22.280 -> 07:25.680] We know how good he can be trying to keep some drivers
[07:25.680 -> 07:26.180] back.
[07:26.180 -> 07:28.360] And I get this feeling when he's battling,
[07:28.360 -> 07:30.680] when he's defending against Max, he's
[07:30.680 -> 07:33.240] a little more aggressive in his defense, Carlos Sainz.
[07:33.240 -> 07:36.960] But anyway, leaving that aside, the grid penalty aside,
[07:36.960 -> 07:40.280] it's also the impact Ferrari would have, or now actually
[07:40.280 -> 07:43.520] has had, on the budget gap.
[07:43.520 -> 07:45.520] Because all these components he's changed were very
[07:45.520 -> 07:50.000] expensive and I mean the best way to summarize this is that Carlos Saenz
[07:50.000 -> 07:55.280] finished ahead of both the Mercedes cars and it was Christian Nimmelwal from
[07:55.280 -> 07:59.880] motorsport.com I think it was motorsport or motorsporttotal.com I can't
[07:59.880 -> 08:06.000] remember was the one who sort of said that it was Mercedes and Toto Wolf specifically who
[08:06.000 -> 08:11.360] vetoed against giving Carlos Sainz a free change of components because
[08:11.360 -> 08:15.280] obviously Ferrari and Mercedes are battling for P2 in the Constructors
[08:15.280 -> 08:20.640] Championship. I mean come on Sundaram, I mean if it was Toto's car that got hit
[08:20.640 -> 08:24.040] up by this surely he would be complaining as well right. The only thing
[08:24.040 -> 08:28.080] I have learned from looking at all the last couple of years and all the media interviews that
[08:28.080 -> 08:33.120] Christian and Toto do is to never trust what a team principal says when they're on a job
[08:33.120 -> 08:37.040] because they're just so, I mean, sure, they have to do what they have to do for their team,
[08:37.040 -> 08:41.680] but come on, you can't be that lacking in principle, if that's the right word.
[08:42.800 -> 08:45.800] For someone who's a team principal, actually, that makes it even funnier.
[08:46.200 -> 08:49.560] I think that's been the general theme this weekend. In general,
[08:49.560 -> 08:53.760] I've seen a lot of cases where a lot of people have just been pro
[08:53.760 -> 08:55.840] the event and pro the regulations or pro the
[08:55.840 -> 08:59.880] decisions. But Toto Wulf's outburst, especially in the
[08:59.880 -> 09:03.160] press conference, or generally in actions, were a little
[09:03.160 -> 09:10.080] questionable, in my opinion, because the one thing that I really don't get after free practice one, why do we
[09:10.080 -> 09:14.120] still have drain cover issues? And the fact that Toto Wolf mentioned that
[09:14.120 -> 09:19.600] we've had it before, it's nothing. Two things are really of concern for me.
[09:19.600 -> 09:25.400] Firstly is the safety of the drivers because if manhole covers can't be drilled down or they can't
[09:25.400 -> 09:31.840] be welded into place properly, does that really guarantee the safety of the drivers or the
[09:31.840 -> 09:37.480] participants involved? We remember seeing Romain Grosjean having a very, I would still
[09:37.480 -> 09:42.800] call it a nasty crash in Malaysia 2017. So my question is why do we still have issues
[09:42.800 -> 09:47.840] with manhole covers? Sure, we are racing around street circuits and probably every single rain cover is different
[09:47.840 -> 09:53.820] from the other, but probably these things could have been taken care of beforehand.
[09:53.820 -> 09:59.000] And then secondly, then comes the lengthy delays with the audience being literally kicked
[09:59.000 -> 10:02.740] out, a five-hour delay with free practice too.
[10:02.740 -> 10:07.040] My only expectation was the fact that if you're hyping up the whole event to this extent,
[10:07.040 -> 10:10.000] that this is probably the biggest spectacle
[10:10.000 -> 10:13.200] of the whole world or of F1 history.
[10:13.200 -> 10:15.280] These are things that could have been
[10:15.280 -> 10:16.720] sorted out beforehand.
[10:16.720 -> 10:18.000] That's my only thing.
[10:18.000 -> 10:19.880] You know, frankly, I think you're right.
[10:19.880 -> 10:21.360] Manual covers have been a problem.
[10:21.360 -> 10:24.440] We've seen this in China, in Baku,
[10:24.440 -> 10:25.320] even in Monaco,
[10:25.320 -> 10:29.360] which has been hosting a race for 70 odd years that's there.
[10:29.360 -> 10:32.280] I just have two things to just summarize this point
[10:32.280 -> 10:34.400] because I really want us to talk about the racing,
[10:34.400 -> 10:35.400] which was so fabulous.
[10:35.400 -> 10:37.480] I would have loved to speak about manhole covers
[10:37.480 -> 10:41.320] and grandstand issues and all the entertainment
[10:41.320 -> 10:42.480] if the racing was bad.
[10:42.480 -> 10:46.920] But after the checkered flag fell on Sunday, I'm like, I'm willing to just forget
[10:46.920 -> 10:51.360] all of that, at least on the Sunday and be like, Oh my goodness, what a damn race that
[10:51.360 -> 10:54.240] was, what a damn good race that was.
[10:54.240 -> 10:59.400] But just to wrap up the manhole point in my view, Formula One, especially the FIA aren't
[10:59.400 -> 11:01.240] doing street races for the first time.
[11:01.240 -> 11:08.040] They've been doing it several times over. Clearly what came out and not has been confirmed by anybody,
[11:08.040 -> 11:12.160] but maybe track preparations were delayed
[11:12.160 -> 11:15.360] given the mammoth event that Formula One, Liberty Media's
[11:15.360 -> 11:16.880] promoters were trying to pull over.
[11:16.880 -> 11:19.640] And I think, again, one of the motorsport journalists
[11:19.640 -> 11:23.440] reported that the homologation actually took place
[11:23.440 -> 11:25.520] at a very late time. And they were under pressure to just homologation actually took place at a very late time and they were
[11:25.520 -> 11:28.720] under pressure to just homologate the circuit. So the question is whether
[11:28.720 -> 11:33.720] Manhole Cover is tested or not because this is the 1100th race of Formula One.
[11:33.720 -> 11:39.760] We've had so many street races over the years, so many different promoters over
[11:39.760 -> 11:48.400] the years hosting street races that they should have gotten this right for safety, for drivers, for fans, for everything point of view.
[11:48.400 -> 11:53.320] And of course, on Friday or whenever, Thursday, when this happened, everyone was questioning.
[11:53.320 -> 11:59.000] You're able to put in half a billion dollars into a pit building and all the entertainment and stuff like that.
[11:59.000 -> 12:02.840] But hey, what does it cost to, you know, weld and secure all the manhole covers?
[12:02.840 -> 12:05.280] Probably 1% or half a percent of that
[12:05.280 -> 12:10.000] budget. Did you not do it? Did you forget to do it? Did you not do it right? And this also takes
[12:10.000 -> 12:16.080] me back to, for example, the MotoGP in India. There was so much negative press and the general
[12:16.080 -> 12:22.480] perception in the world was India can't pull out such an event. The truth is that even a country
[12:22.480 -> 12:25.600] like the USA, and like we've had Donald Trump say all along,
[12:25.600 -> 12:29.440] make USA great again, maybe this is going to be his voting pitch the next time.
[12:29.440 -> 12:34.000] Next time we have a Las Vegas Grand Prix, we make sure that the manhole covers are secure,
[12:34.000 -> 12:50.880] because we got to the racing on the FIA I know it's a it
[12:50.880 -> 12:54.400] seems like a rubbish penalty for Gala Sainz right he's penalized for something that's totally out of
[12:54.400 -> 12:59.920] his control literally that causes him to in a way lose the race because had he qualified where he
[12:59.920 -> 13:04.240] would have qualified there's a very good chance he would have gone on to win it but the thing is
[13:04.240 -> 13:06.400] the stewards can't do anything because they have to set an
[13:06.400 -> 13:10.160] example and things like petitions don't really work out in the sporting
[13:10.160 -> 13:14.120] regulations of Formula One. A local level championship, yes, you can have that
[13:14.120 -> 13:17.600] wriggle room, not really when the FI is involved and it's a world championship.
[13:17.600 -> 13:21.760] And that's why even though everyone in the stewards office admits they can't do
[13:21.760 -> 13:28.020] anything about it, it's a terrible penalty, they just have to give it. I'm just surprised that we can't have that wriggle room in that case
[13:28.020 -> 13:32.940] and maybe let common sense do the talking. But I think let's also put the common sense
[13:32.940 -> 13:38.360] to the talking in terms of racing. Because folks, were you really entertained? I unfortunately
[13:38.360 -> 13:43.440] missed out on watching the race in real time, so I can't tell 100%. But was it genuinely
[13:43.440 -> 13:49.920] as entertaining as the hype made it up to be? The views were fantastic, the sphere was amazing, the lights were beautiful,
[13:49.920 -> 13:53.920] the fake Eiffel Tower in a way made it even more special and the fact that the cars were
[13:53.920 -> 13:58.040] just revving out and topping out on the straight which is something I've never seen happen
[13:58.040 -> 14:01.920] as much in a Formula 1 car, that for me gave me the entertainment at least on the social
[14:01.920 -> 14:09.040] media clips but what was it like for you folks? What about you, Kunal? Did you find it to be a very enjoyable race in a way? At least the gaps
[14:09.040 -> 14:13.680] made it seem like one. It was enjoyable, when was the last time that there was a competitor who
[14:13.680 -> 14:19.440] finished so close to Red Bull, especially in the RB19? Yes, you'll throw me back to Brazil when
[14:19.440 -> 14:25.560] Lando Norris was close enough, etc. But you know, the the fact is they still have a margin on this car
[14:25.560 -> 14:26.440] to finish ahead.
[14:26.440 -> 14:27.880] And when we,
[14:27.880 -> 14:30.240] we know the history will say Max Verstappen
[14:30.240 -> 14:32.120] won yet another race.
[14:32.120 -> 14:34.320] His 18th win of the season,
[14:34.320 -> 14:38.400] he's now equal with Sebastian Vettel with 53 wins, et cetera.
[14:38.400 -> 14:39.340] We'll throw all these numbers,
[14:39.340 -> 14:42.280] but again, he was made to work hard for the win.
[14:42.280 -> 14:46.460] Right from turn one, lap one, with that penalty,
[14:46.460 -> 14:52.920] with all the chasing, with clearly not having the fastest car on the straights.
[14:52.920 -> 14:55.280] The Ferrari was much quicker on the straights.
[14:55.280 -> 14:57.000] He had to do a lot of chasing.
[14:57.000 -> 15:02.920] He had to work hard for this win again, pull off a lot of overtakes, which again, on the
[15:02.920 -> 15:05.440] medium tire, when Red Bull was running, they were
[15:05.440 -> 15:10.800] not as good with their tire degradation. So it wasn't an easy win for him. But you know,
[15:10.800 -> 15:16.080] all in all, my mind goes back to the fact that we had three drivers battling, we had several more
[15:16.080 -> 15:22.160] within the field, the Alpines were battling, Lance Troll made a recovery, Esteban Ocon made a recovery.
[15:22.160 -> 15:27.000] It was also strategy involved because the second safety car came in at a great time.
[15:27.000 -> 15:36.000] And, you know, Samuel and Sundaram, all through the weekend, everyone was talking about how cold it's going to be and how tough it's going to be for the tires, right?
[15:36.000 -> 15:47.360] On Viaplay, Mario Isola actually gave a brilliant insight, which wasn't really carried on a lot of networks. He said, we have tested in cold conditions before.
[15:47.360 -> 15:50.360] We've had pre-season testing that's happened in Barcelona.
[15:50.360 -> 15:52.360] We've seen snow, so we have tested.
[15:52.360 -> 15:55.160] So we are not worried about cold conditions.
[15:55.160 -> 15:57.560] But he said with the circuit characteristic,
[15:57.560 -> 16:00.760] with these long straights, with these kind of corners,
[16:00.760 -> 16:03.480] the biggest challenge teams will face
[16:03.480 -> 16:05.000] is at the safety car restart.
[16:05.000 -> 16:12.000] You will need to have a new tire, which is easy to put energy into compared to an old tire.
[16:12.000 -> 16:17.000] Guess what happened? Second safety car, both the Red Bulls on the new tire,
[16:17.000 -> 16:22.000] Charles Leclerc on a five lap old hard tire, and we know how that race panned out.
[16:22.000 -> 16:25.600] So that insight from Vissola now makes so much more sense.
[16:25.600 -> 16:27.300] So I really hope that I'm pretty sure the teams
[16:27.300 -> 16:29.360] knew all of this all along.
[16:29.360 -> 16:31.060] I think what made it even more fun
[16:31.060 -> 16:32.800] was the fact that we had that layer
[16:32.800 -> 16:34.460] of unpredictability in the race.
[16:34.460 -> 16:37.160] I mean, watching Leclerc's pace all the way through.
[16:37.160 -> 16:40.060] And then when he got boxed in by the safety car,
[16:40.060 -> 16:42.360] that I think was the game-changing moment.
[16:42.360 -> 16:43.560] Eventually you saw the pace,
[16:43.560 -> 16:44.900] you saw everything that he was doing,
[16:44.900 -> 16:46.320] and you thought, hey, maybe
[16:46.320 -> 16:51.040] just maybe we could just see a second Ferrari win of the year and one each for Leclerc and
[16:51.040 -> 16:52.040] Sainz.
[16:52.040 -> 16:54.080] But I want to talk about the safety car, Sundaram.
[16:54.080 -> 16:58.780] At that point, do you think it was the right or wrong thing for Leclerc to not box?
[16:58.780 -> 17:03.040] Because he just had new hard compound tires that were five laps old.
[17:03.040 -> 17:05.680] In that situation, I don't know, I don't think
[17:05.680 -> 17:10.880] the process of deciding was wrong in any way whatsoever because if you've got five lap
[17:10.880 -> 17:15.400] new hard compound tyres and it's meant to be a long race afterwards, I don't think it's
[17:15.400 -> 17:19.920] technically wrong to box and compromise on track position. It's just that Verstappen
[17:19.920 -> 17:24.360] seemed to be so dominant but eventually, I don't think I can fault Ferrari for that.
[17:24.360 -> 17:25.040] They just got locked
[17:25.040 -> 17:30.320] in by a very mistimed safety car. What do you reckon? Oh, absolutely. I think I even I can't
[17:30.320 -> 17:35.040] really fault them for the fact that they didn't pit during the second safety car. That was just
[17:35.040 -> 17:41.680] five laps after he pitted previously. I mean, generally, Luckluck looked quick throughout the
[17:41.680 -> 17:48.000] whole weekend, quick going quickest in the practice sessions, even throughout qualifying and even today even on the medium
[17:48.000 -> 17:50.000] compounds, he was quicker than Verstappen.
[17:50.000 -> 17:54.840] It's actually on the hard tyres that Verstappen was able to light those tyres up and go quicker than
[17:55.360 -> 18:01.600] Liklerck, but generally if not for that safety car, Liklerck would have won this race for two main reasons.
[18:01.600 -> 18:08.640] The fact is that the others really got that time advantage in the pits when the safety car is out and then this fact is that
[18:08.640 -> 18:12.660] they got quicker tires even if it was five laps younger they got quicker tires
[18:12.660 -> 18:17.280] than Leclerc towards the end but generally I really can't fault them
[18:17.280 -> 18:21.880] they were Leclerc went 20 laps on the medium compound starting off so he was
[18:21.880 -> 18:26.080] really inclined towards the one stopper. But I think Ferrari
[18:26.080 -> 18:30.640] really didn't want to take the risk of pitting again and then getting stuck within the grid
[18:30.640 -> 18:35.200] between cars. So they went with the one stopper and I think it worked almost well. It worked
[18:35.200 -> 18:40.800] almost well for them. I actually have a different view than Sundaram. So Ferrari had a new set of
[18:40.800 -> 18:47.040] hearts available, but they chose track position over the Red Bull cars rather than,
[18:47.040 -> 18:50.560] you know, I don't think it was a one-stop or a two-stop strategy. They knew that
[18:51.760 -> 18:56.480] their cards were sort of dealt the minute the Red Bulls pitted because the reverse could have also
[18:56.480 -> 18:59.280] happened that Shaal would have pitted and the Red Bulls would have stayed out and they would
[18:59.280 -> 19:05.360] have lost track position. And we've seen several times this year that track position has been more vital
[19:05.360 -> 19:11.760] than anything else given strategy or degradation or on track position and so on right so it was
[19:11.760 -> 19:16.800] them choosing track position and like you said Sundaram they had just five laps old tires they
[19:16.800 -> 19:23.600] actually had better tire degradation than Red Bull on the medium which all very clearly attributed to
[19:24.160 -> 19:25.000] the cold temperatures.
[19:25.000 -> 19:27.000] He's literally said post race,
[19:27.000 -> 19:33.000] I don't think our tire degradation is suddenly going to become better in the warmer climates of Abu Dhabi.
[19:33.000 -> 19:36.000] It was just the cold that made our tires better.
[19:36.000 -> 19:37.000] So it was just down to that.
[19:37.000 -> 19:43.000] And then Shaal actually said that he just couldn't bring in newer energies in his worn out tires,
[19:43.000 -> 19:45.040] even though he was taking good care of his heart.
[19:45.040 -> 19:48.960] So, you know, that that was just down to what happened. But I'll be honest, I actually thought
[19:48.960 -> 19:55.120] again towards the end of the race, because of how Red Bull was chewing their tires, I thought that
[19:55.120 -> 20:00.000] Charles's tires would again outlast the Red Bulls and he would probably make an attack. But that
[20:00.000 -> 20:11.120] clearly wasn't to happen. But credit again to Pirelli, because that hard tire was so good that it allowed for more flat-out racing
[20:11.120 -> 20:12.120] in Las Vegas.
[20:12.120 -> 20:14.840] And if you just go back to Qatar, we were all discussing,
[20:14.840 -> 20:17.680] let's mandate stint lengths, because that
[20:17.680 -> 20:21.240] will make drivers push harder between stints.
[20:21.240 -> 20:23.600] But imagine this, you have a really good tire,
[20:23.600 -> 20:26.480] no mandated stint lens and the drivers
[20:26.480 -> 20:32.160] were still able to push harder so that sort of just made the difference and you know Sundaram
[20:32.160 -> 20:38.000] and I were just digging through some data in the top 10 if we were to just look at the strategies
[20:38.560 -> 20:46.000] there was just Charles Leclerc who didn't pit under the safety car, the safety car that was on the lap 25 or 26.
[20:46.000 -> 20:53.200] Okay, so in the top three, there was also Ocon who didn't pit under the safety car,
[20:53.200 -> 20:58.080] who finished fourth, great recovery. And then it finally was Oscar Piastri,
[20:58.080 -> 21:03.520] who also didn't pit under that safety car. So pitting under the safety car is typically what
[21:03.520 -> 21:09.460] most people were doing in that top three or top ten. You know one of the other reasons why a
[21:09.460 -> 21:13.560] lot of other drivers I mean if you look at the bottom half people like Albon or
[21:13.560 -> 21:17.880] Sargent didn't pit was the fact that they didn't have a spare set of hard
[21:17.880 -> 21:23.000] tires so it was really just the top many of the top ten finishers finishing where
[21:23.000 -> 21:27.280] they finished and yet we mentioned Ocon,
[21:27.280 -> 21:31.600] we also have to touch upon, I think it's important to touch upon where Ocon and Stroll finished.
[21:31.600 -> 21:38.000] Ocon started by 16th, Stroll started 19th, and they finished fourth and fifth in the standings.
[21:38.000 -> 21:43.760] And it's all attributed to how well they started. Stroll started on softs, and Ocon started on
[21:43.760 -> 21:49.040] mediums, but they really made the most of that first lap, the opening corner collision there
[21:49.040 -> 21:54.720] or Alonso spinning around, not collision, Alonso spinning around on his own, a
[21:54.720 -> 22:00.680] rarity that but they really did well beyond after that and a very interesting
[22:00.680 -> 22:09.280] start I think this is my favorite start of this weekend. This because we're also the Lance Troll supporters club. This is the first
[22:09.280 -> 22:13.520] I know I've bashed around the guy over the last couple of races but the
[22:13.520 -> 22:17.880] fact is Lance Troll has finished in the top five in consecutive races for the
[22:17.880 -> 22:22.560] first time in his career. For the very first time in his career. You're kidding
[22:22.560 -> 22:28.760] me guys. Where's the applause? I've checked it twice. Don't put me in a doubt. Don't put me in doubt.
[22:28.760 -> 22:31.440] But I'm gonna check it once again. But I'm pretty sure this is the first time
[22:31.440 -> 22:35.640] he's finished in the top five in back-to-back places. So credit where it's due.
[22:35.640 -> 22:39.480] Credit where it's due. He's been doing extremely well. He's had a bit of a
[22:39.480 -> 22:46.440] barren run. Bit of a barren run? Yeah, that's true. Guys, one sec. One sec. one sec, where is the applause?
[22:46.440 -> 22:47.440] Where is the applause?
[22:47.440 -> 22:49.120] Come on, we can't be that bad.
[22:49.120 -> 22:52.120] We have got to be good human beings, right?
[22:52.120 -> 22:53.120] Come on.
[22:53.120 -> 22:54.480] He deserves it, he deserves it.
[22:54.480 -> 22:58.520] No, so you could look at it that way and be like, he's on the best run of form in his
[22:58.520 -> 22:59.520] life.
[22:59.520 -> 23:04.800] No, but in all seriousness, genuinely, genuinely great to see Lance Stroll do what he's actually
[23:04.800 -> 23:05.320] capable of doing, just that sometimes the form dips out very, very badly. business. Genuinely, genuinely great to see Lance Stroll do what he's actually capable
[23:05.320 -> 23:09.840] of doing. Just that sometimes the form dips out very, very badly. And you need this stuff.
[23:09.840 -> 23:14.440] For once, it's actually Lance Stroll doing well and not Fernando Alonso. And that is
[23:14.440 -> 23:19.160] in a way heartening to see. If only that team can have two competitive drivers, it'll be
[23:19.160 -> 23:23.640] amazing for next year. But that's that by Sundaram was indeed a bombshell. And just
[23:23.640 -> 23:29.200] like Jeremy Clarkson says, and on that bombshellhell we should take a short break but we'll be back in a second here's a quick
[23:29.200 -> 23:36.640] message. Welcome back folks to the InsideLine F1 podcast and our Las Vegas GP review. Now we've
[23:36.640 -> 23:41.760] spoken about Max, we've spoken about how good he was actually we haven't touched upon that let's
[23:41.760 -> 23:46.960] just say it's a classic Max Verstappen performance. Even though he had damage, even though he
[23:46.960 -> 23:50.240] had a five-second penalty, class apart as always.
[23:50.240 -> 23:52.240] I think let's talk about Max for a second, right?
[23:52.240 -> 23:55.080] I want to talk about that penalty in a way.
[23:55.080 -> 23:57.920] Now, here at the JKT national racing championship in India,
[23:57.920 -> 24:00.280] it's been discussed quite a lot by the stewards.
[24:00.280 -> 24:02.200] Was it a fair penalty or not?
[24:02.200 -> 24:03.600] It's kind of funny, isn't it, Kunal,
[24:03.600 -> 24:05.640] when you come to think about it, that the five-second
[24:05.640 -> 24:08.320] penalty in a way is a gift for Max.
[24:08.320 -> 24:11.800] Because after that, even though he admitted full blame for it, fair enough, fair play
[24:11.800 -> 24:13.240] to Max for that one.
[24:13.240 -> 24:17.120] In a way, because he got to stay ahead of Leclerc, A, it helped out with his tyres,
[24:17.120 -> 24:21.920] he wasn't able to be in dirty air, which is great for your tyre wear as it goes on.
[24:21.920 -> 24:27.160] And B, clean air to Max, that's like giving, I don't know, that's like,
[24:27.160 -> 24:29.440] name a good warrior, that's like giving,
[24:29.440 -> 24:31.400] Julius Caesar wasn't a warrior.
[24:31.400 -> 24:33.440] Okay, that's like giving Brock Lesnar a fight
[24:33.440 -> 24:35.080] against a lightweight athlete.
[24:35.080 -> 24:37.120] He'll just crush him completely and that's what Max did
[24:37.120 -> 24:38.560] with the clean air eventually.
[24:38.560 -> 24:39.880] Especially in that Red Bull, right?
[24:39.880 -> 24:41.360] Which is so good on its tyre.
[24:41.360 -> 24:46.560] So, yeah, you know, the FI should necessitate a swap
[24:46.560 -> 24:49.760] in such situations, because track position,
[24:49.760 -> 24:52.680] like we spoke before, is crucial.
[24:52.680 -> 24:55.360] Running in clean air is even more crucial.
[24:55.360 -> 24:59.800] And somehow, Max, I like the way he explained it.
[24:59.800 -> 25:03.480] He said, actually, I was just slipping on four tires.
[25:03.480 -> 25:06.040] I didn't intend to run him out, but I just ran out of grip.
[25:06.040 -> 25:09.080] And then he said, we actually, both of us, you know, brake late.
[25:09.080 -> 25:09.560] Fair enough.
[25:09.560 -> 25:13.320] He admitted his fault, which is always a good thing, which is not always a
[25:13.400 -> 25:16.160] Maxwell-Schnappen thing, especially in, you know, wheel-to-wheel combat.
[25:16.640 -> 25:22.800] But Max was actually out, you know, in a very lion-hearted way to get to anybody
[25:22.800 -> 25:24.600] and everybody who got in his way.
[25:24.600 -> 25:30.640] It was Esteban Ocon in qualifying, then some dude named Steve Hill from Las Vegas Grand
[25:30.640 -> 25:35.400] Prix who was trying to shoot down Max's comments against Las Vegas.
[25:35.400 -> 25:40.760] And then when the Thursday fiasco happened, Max literally said something like, suits him.
[25:40.760 -> 25:45.840] It was like kind of getting back to Steve for what he said but you know
[25:45.840 -> 25:52.480] all in all that Red Bull was epic and the circuit configuration was so good that usually we get the
[25:52.480 -> 25:58.800] you know straights, slow speed, medium speed, high speed these are the four variables on which you
[25:58.800 -> 26:07.040] you know compare cars and packages. Las Vegas was slow speed straights, literally just two variables that you compared and
[26:07.040 -> 26:14.000] Red Bull was consistently second fastest across both of them. Okay. And that's why the Red Bull
[26:14.000 -> 26:23.440] was just so good on on this. And somehow I also love these low downforce, low grip, icy circuits
[26:23.440 -> 26:27.120] because you could see on the onboard, the drivers were constantly
[26:27.120 -> 26:32.720] you know fighting the car, they had those steering movements that they were doing all along which
[26:32.720 -> 26:37.360] sort of helped. I'm sure the track temperatures had been colder helped as well. There was a lot
[26:37.360 -> 26:41.920] of track evolution which you know we saw in qualifying, we saw during the race as well
[26:41.920 -> 26:51.960] and maybe we should touch upon qualifying a little later on in the show as well. But all in all, Max Verstappen, another, you know, another super
[26:51.960 -> 26:58.560] win that I think he dominated in a way that we've seen him dominate all season long. And
[26:58.560 -> 27:06.500] I, only thing is, you know, maybe he can just let people be like Ocon or Steve Hill or whoever and just fine
[27:06.500 -> 27:09.340] Let's let somebody have their way on him
[27:09.340 -> 27:14.000] It's like my way or no way with Max Verstappen not that I'm saying is right or wrong
[27:14.000 -> 27:18.700] I'm just making a comment. He wouldn't be max if that was the case no Kunal
[27:18.700 -> 27:22.840] He wouldn't be the kind of driver of the person he is if he just let them go in a way
[27:22.840 -> 27:27.920] But I find it funny. Then he'd be neutral or medium or average wish to happen right he's maxing
[27:27.920 -> 27:32.740] all his emotions or whatever daddy joke. Oh God. I should have given a daddy joke alert but.
[27:32.740 -> 27:37.520] You finally gotten to my level of jokes though I love it. Have I had that much of
[27:37.520 -> 27:43.100] an influence on you? You see well I should ask my daughter if my jokes have
[27:43.100 -> 27:46.320] become better she's the only pure metric
[27:46.320 -> 27:51.840] for this. But now that we're talking about influence in a way, it's interesting how the
[27:51.840 -> 27:58.160] Verstappen influence kind of came to Sergio Perez in this race. I like what he did in a way. His
[27:58.160 -> 28:03.280] pace was good. We were genuinely interested to see if he could potentially get pole. Now that
[28:03.280 -> 28:07.620] didn't work out according to plan. in the middle of the race there was looking
[28:07.620 -> 28:11.060] like a time where he could have at least gotten Leclerc but eventually that got
[28:11.060 -> 28:15.420] faded out as well. Fair to say that it was the best that he could have got
[28:15.420 -> 28:18.620] Sundaram. At least looking at the data, at least looking at the lap times and
[28:18.620 -> 28:22.740] hearing his side of this race, it seemed like the best he could have done but in
[28:22.740 -> 28:25.640] a way it's still much much better than what he's seen so far.
[28:25.640 -> 28:29.600] And we slandered him a lot for his terrible performances.
[28:29.600 -> 28:34.240] I think it's fair to comment that he is much better now than he was a few races ago.
[28:34.240 -> 28:36.400] And that's quite heartening to see in a way.
[28:36.400 -> 28:37.400] Absolutely.
[28:37.400 -> 28:42.640] And you know, the sort of form that he had in Qatar, especially, you kind of see a driver
[28:42.640 -> 28:44.880] going down that downward spiral.
[28:44.880 -> 28:45.160] And we just hope that it stops at some point. especially, you kind of see a driver going down that downward spiral and we
[28:45.160 -> 28:48.280] just hope that it stops at some point and the driver gets a little bit of
[28:48.280 -> 28:52.640] momentum, a little bit of confidence and that kind of worked in Brazil the last
[28:52.640 -> 28:57.200] time out. I felt him battling with Alonso throughout the latter stages of
[28:57.200 -> 29:01.400] the race and still coming out just a little bit behind him, I felt this is
[29:01.400 -> 29:04.880] probably a step in the right direction for Perez, that okay he probably gonna
[29:04.880 -> 29:09.440] see a couple of good performances from him and thankfully we saw that today. It didn't start off
[29:09.440 -> 29:13.680] well, I mean he didn't have the best of qualifying and he didn't have the best of the opening laps as
[29:13.680 -> 29:20.160] well, he had to pit, he was caught up with the whole Alonso Portas thing over there but what he
[29:20.160 -> 29:30.480] made out of the race after that, sure the safety car also kind of was helpful in that sense, but what he made of the race thereafter was very very impressive and the moment Perez actually
[29:30.480 -> 29:35.360] passed Leclerc, I was like okay probably Perez is going to win another race. I kind of started
[29:35.360 -> 29:40.640] imagining or visualizing all those sort of stats that go into Perez winning a street race, but then
[29:40.640 -> 29:47.320] Leclerc brought it back. But I think this kind of silences all the rumors,
[29:47.320 -> 29:51.360] at least for a little bit, in Perez's part.
[29:51.360 -> 29:53.080] He's done well in the last two races,
[29:53.080 -> 29:56.160] and let's hope that that continues for him in the future.
[29:56.160 -> 29:57.600] In a way.
[29:57.600 -> 29:58.100] Go ahead.
[29:58.100 -> 29:59.120] Go ahead.
[29:59.120 -> 29:59.760] OK.
[29:59.760 -> 30:03.600] So Perez, actually, I like how all he needs
[30:03.600 -> 30:05.760] is one or two really good weekends and suddenly
[30:05.760 -> 30:10.480] everybody is happy to back him, including himself, and it's all in the mind, which is great for him.
[30:10.480 -> 30:15.680] Congratulations, Mr. Checo Perez on P2 and all our Mexican listeners, who we know there are tons of
[30:15.680 -> 30:22.240] them out there. But the main thing is, again, an insight on why Checo Perez couldn't keep the lead
[30:22.240 -> 30:31.600] even though he had the lead of the race, right? What Sundaram just said is Checo was actually in a higher wing configuration than Max Verstappen
[30:31.600 -> 30:39.120] and he accepted that he was actually losing out on straight line speed advantage compared to
[30:39.120 -> 30:46.420] Charles Leclerc and then of course to Max Verstappen as well, which is why when Schaal was able to make that dive in
[30:46.420 -> 30:48.660] and just make the overtake,
[30:48.660 -> 30:51.660] it was just down to the extra speed advantage
[30:51.660 -> 30:54.040] that Schaal had on that back straight.
[30:54.040 -> 30:56.100] So all in all, great recovery.
[30:56.100 -> 30:58.200] I mean, not the best of Saturdays for Checo,
[30:58.200 -> 31:01.320] but we've seen that everybody calls him a Sunday driver,
[31:01.320 -> 31:04.480] which suddenly could also work against him next year
[31:04.480 -> 31:11.680] if somebody else comes in battling the Red Bull you know Red Bull racing clan. And that
[31:11.680 -> 31:16.960] high high wing setup in a way I don't think he means that had he gone for the low setup he would
[31:16.960 -> 31:21.800] have won because some racing drivers the reason why they do that is just to cover up for their
[31:21.800 -> 31:28.640] deficiencies sometimes you need more confidence heading into the corners, which is probably the reason why Sergio might have gone for a setup quite
[31:28.640 -> 31:32.560] like that. And maybe if they're not gone for that same setup, he just wouldn't have been
[31:32.560 -> 31:36.620] up there in the first place. So who knows, it's a, it's a little bit of a topsy turvy
[31:36.620 -> 31:42.780] thing in a way. But let's now very, very quickly talk about the other things. McLaren very,
[31:42.780 -> 31:45.440] very quickly, guys. I don't think their weekend was as
[31:45.440 -> 31:51.040] bad as it looked like because after Oscar Piastri and Landon Norris came out to the media on Sunday,
[31:51.600 -> 31:55.840] wait, not Sunday, Saturday night, in a way. Okay, let's call it Sunday because in the time zones,
[31:55.840 -> 32:00.240] it was Sunday. But in a way, the fun fact is they said that the only reason why their weekend was
[32:00.240 -> 32:06.400] bad, guys, was because they went out on Q1 on only one set of tires, the track evolved
[32:06.400 -> 32:10.800] way too quickly. And even though in practice, they had good pace for Q3, and also the race
[32:10.800 -> 32:14.760] pace looked like they would be somewhere in the upper top 10. They eventually ended up
[32:14.760 -> 32:18.600] just getting knocked out of Q1. And once that happens, we just saw the amount of chaos that
[32:18.600 -> 32:23.360] you get involved in. Piastri still ending up with a decent order result in a way, even
[32:23.360 -> 32:29.040] though he had that clash, but Lando Norris getting involved in a clash in a kerfuffle of sorts in the first couple of laps.
[32:29.040 -> 32:32.960] And there we are at the end, McLaren ending up with one of their worst weekends of the year.
[32:32.960 -> 32:40.160] It sort of is a little artificial, but I feel that these sort of weekends are where McLaren
[32:40.160 -> 32:47.840] really should be performing higher. And it feels a little bit of a dagger to the heart as a McLaren fan where we see stuff like this happening and they're
[32:47.840 -> 32:51.120] not able to close up to Ferrari as quickly as they could have done Sundaram.
[32:51.120 -> 32:56.600] Oh that's true and the thing is that them not having a good race weekend kind
[32:56.600 -> 33:01.360] of brings Aston Martin back into contention because they are just 11
[33:01.360 -> 33:05.040] points ahead of Aston Martin going into Abu Dhabi. McLaren has scored just
[33:05.040 -> 33:10.760] two points this time out. Aston Martin scored, how much was it? 12 points. They scored 12
[33:10.760 -> 33:15.280] points today and that kind of takes things, I mean Ferrari and Mercedes are just four
[33:15.280 -> 33:21.360] points away from each other. But yeah, McLaren, I think they did have a decent pace and they
[33:21.360 -> 33:25.440] would have finished, like you said, in the upper top 10. Piastri could have,
[33:25.440 -> 33:30.960] I mean I think Piastri did extremely well for however long he did before the incident with
[33:30.960 -> 33:36.160] Hamilton but he was making moves, he looked strong, he finished 10th, he finished 9th eventually but
[33:36.160 -> 33:42.560] surely he could have been up there 5th, 6th. An unlucky weekend for them all in all, not the best
[33:42.560 -> 33:45.480] but probably the whole circuit configuration
[33:45.480 -> 33:48.760] probably not working in their favor.
[33:48.760 -> 33:51.360] But things could probably be better in Abu Dhabi.
[33:51.360 -> 33:54.360] And I'm going to explain the McLaren situation a little more,
[33:54.360 -> 33:58.560] because yes, it's down to bad luck, bad results, all of that.
[33:58.560 -> 34:00.440] But this also highlights the challenges
[34:00.440 -> 34:03.160] that drivers are now facing in qualifying,
[34:03.160 -> 34:05.500] because clearly, you know,
[34:05.500 -> 34:07.100] the Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying
[34:07.100 -> 34:08.180] was a different challenge.
[34:08.180 -> 34:10.180] Usually you want to keep your tires alive,
[34:10.180 -> 34:12.060] so you drive really slow,
[34:12.060 -> 34:14.920] so you don't burn out your tires on the opening lap itself,
[34:14.920 -> 34:17.280] or the out lap, as we call it, right?
[34:17.280 -> 34:19.060] In Las Vegas, it was the opposite.
[34:19.060 -> 34:22.220] You needed to do two or three high-speed runs
[34:22.220 -> 34:23.860] for you to get your lap in.
[34:23.860 -> 34:26.160] So suddenly, you were fueled up higher and you
[34:26.160 -> 34:30.960] were just going round and round and round and your second and third and fourth lap sometimes was
[34:30.960 -> 34:36.000] giving you the key lap time you needed in qualifying. But there were two more complexities.
[34:36.000 -> 34:42.880] You have the maximum delta time you got to follow. You cannot open up a gap even in the pit lane now
[34:42.880 -> 34:45.760] with all those weird FI rules that have come in.
[34:45.760 -> 34:48.400] So what happened is a lot of, even Checo Perez,
[34:48.400 -> 34:50.520] he was out of the car instead of being out on track,
[34:50.520 -> 34:54.820] trying to make, have another go at the lap times, right?
[34:54.820 -> 34:58.560] So run plans for a lot of teams were compromised
[34:58.560 -> 35:01.480] because you were suddenly needing to not just plan
[35:01.480 -> 35:04.000] for your rivals doing one push lap,
[35:04.000 -> 35:05.720] they were all doing two or three push laps.
[35:05.720 -> 35:08.120] So how do you plan for such a run plan?
[35:08.120 -> 35:11.080] And I think McLaren were just caught out with that.
[35:11.080 -> 35:14.400] And then like you said, Sommel track evolution was big.
[35:14.400 -> 35:16.200] But I love this about Formula One,
[35:16.200 -> 35:18.060] different tracks, different temperatures,
[35:18.060 -> 35:19.000] different compounds,
[35:19.000 -> 35:23.000] all of them offering different challenges each race weekend.
[35:23.000 -> 35:24.400] The narratives keep changing,
[35:24.400 -> 35:25.200] the variables keep changing, the variables keep
[35:25.200 -> 35:31.680] changing, right? And at the end, very glad that Lando Norris was, you know, fine and safe. That
[35:31.680 -> 35:37.680] seemed like a relatively simple crash, but he had to go to the Circuit Medical Inspection Center,
[35:37.680 -> 35:41.920] and then he was admitted to the University Medical Center, which is basically the hospital
[35:41.920 -> 35:45.880] that I believe was affiliated or joined with the Las Vegas Grand Prix
[35:45.880 -> 35:47.400] for precautionary checks.
[35:47.400 -> 35:50.440] And it was only a couple of hours after the crash
[35:50.440 -> 35:53.880] that he was released after those precautionary checks as well.
[35:53.880 -> 35:57.960] But this means that Aston Martin, which we all thought,
[35:57.960 -> 36:02.240] we all wrote off after some point, are now how many points?
[36:02.240 -> 36:06.000] I think eight points away from McLaren, which is fantastic.
[36:06.000 -> 36:10.480] McLaren's two points, is it 11 points? Yes, 11 points. Sorry. Yes.
[36:10.480 -> 36:10.960] Yeah, 11 points.
[36:10.960 -> 36:16.400] Math is always bad between an eight and 11. So, anyway, and McLaren's two points are,
[36:16.960 -> 36:21.440] is their lowest score from a race weekend in which they have scored points. And mind you,
[36:21.440 -> 36:26.080] they haven't scored points in five race weekends this season.
[36:26.080 -> 36:32.080] And you know I think if Aston Martin pipped them okay and maybe Fernando Alonso is kicking himself
[36:32.080 -> 36:37.680] for that overzealous move into turn one where suddenly he was he was more Mazispin style than
[36:37.680 -> 36:47.120] Fernando Alonso style I would say but to just finish fourth would give Aston Martin so much of a psychological advantage
[36:47.120 -> 36:49.240] and do everything that they've tried to do this year.
[36:49.240 -> 36:51.840] And mind you, they made a significant step
[36:51.840 -> 36:54.240] from last year to this year.
[36:54.240 -> 36:56.600] Now then, folks, after all of McLaren,
[36:56.600 -> 36:59.360] we very, very quickly need to talk about two things
[36:59.360 -> 37:01.480] before we come to the end of the show.
[37:01.480 -> 37:03.360] Firstly, a word on Esteban Ocon.
[37:03.360 -> 37:05.200] Brilliant, brilliant driving, great recovery but we
[37:05.200 -> 37:09.920] have spoken about that in a little bit of depth. I want to talk about Lewis Hamilton for a second
[37:09.920 -> 37:15.360] guys because we know him as the ultimate showbiz professional of Formula One. He's always the
[37:15.360 -> 37:20.160] flashy one, always with the bling, always with the fancy outfits, always starting up with the
[37:20.160 -> 37:26.560] headlines. I think this was the most, what can I say, what's the right word I'm looking
[37:26.560 -> 37:32.960] for, I think the most Lewis Hamilton weekend but in a negative way where he still, I mean he had
[37:32.960 -> 37:36.720] just all the chaos in the world right, dropped back down after the opening lap, had contact with
[37:36.720 -> 37:42.160] everyone, made contact with Piastri as well, eventually fell back in and still after all
[37:42.160 -> 37:45.480] all the chaos and drama that he went through, he a. ended up
[37:45.480 -> 37:49.160] beating George Russell and b. ended up finishing P7 in the race.
[37:49.160 -> 37:54.040] It's like you expect the best of the very best from Lewis Hamilton, which he also showed,
[37:54.040 -> 37:55.680] but there's also the parallel side to it.
[37:55.680 -> 37:58.320] I don't think bittersweet is enough to sum it up.
[37:58.320 -> 38:01.480] It's like walking into a casino and ending up with the same amount of money that you
[38:01.480 -> 38:04.200] walked into and not winning anything extra.
[38:04.200 -> 38:09.280] It's still fine. You're not losing money, but it's not really extra special. If that is a Las Vegas reference to
[38:09.280 -> 38:15.360] use in a way. I kind of found Lewis Hamilton's weekend to be super fun. And with all that chaos
[38:15.360 -> 38:19.600] as well, Russell just wasn't able to keep up, which I found to be very interesting. But do we
[38:19.600 -> 38:23.760] want to talk about the off track stuff, folks? Do we want to talk about the lawsuits and the oil
[38:23.760 -> 38:28.880] spill? I think that, Sundaram, is the craziest part of it all, right? Well, Lewis Hamilton,
[38:28.880 -> 38:33.120] in fact, talk about his crazy weekend. Lewis Hamilton's parade car ended up having an oil
[38:33.120 -> 38:38.720] spill at the outset of turn one, which apparently was the reason why Max Verstappen lost grip.
[38:38.720 -> 38:44.640] Crazy in a way. It is. And I mean, everything just turned up for the last Las Vegas Grand
[38:44.640 -> 38:46.000] Prix, all the sort of controversies.
[38:46.720 -> 38:51.120] This is the first of 10 races that we're going to be having in Las Vegas, they have a 10-year
[38:51.120 -> 38:55.360] contract and you really want your first race weekend to go off well, you really don't want
[38:55.360 -> 39:01.520] to have these sort of issues happening and everything kind of just came in at the same
[39:01.520 -> 39:05.200] time and I'm sure people are going to be talking about it.
[39:10.160 -> 39:10.960] But yeah, things worked out for, I mean, things didn't work out for Lewis Hamilton.
[39:19.280 -> 39:25.260] He started off on the hard tires, he finished the 17 laps on those and everyone else did easily 20-25 laps on those hard tires. So him actually tagging with Oscar Piazzari meant he had to cut short his overall
[39:25.260 -> 39:31.260] stint and he just did another 9 laps on the medium. So it didn't really work out for him.
[39:31.260 -> 39:34.820] Yeah, I really don't know what to say beyond this.
[39:34.820 -> 39:39.820] You are a lot like Rohit Sharma in a way. When asked about Sachin Tendulkar's statue.
[39:39.820 -> 39:41.780] I really am. Yes, absolutely.
[39:41.780 -> 39:45.440] It's a statue, what do I have to say about that? I love that guy.
[39:45.640 -> 39:49.280] Hopefully he brings us the World Cup by the time this episode comes to an end.
[39:49.440 -> 39:53.440] But on to other matters. Kunal, I want to know your thoughts on
[39:53.840 -> 39:56.360] your thoughts on the entire weekend as a whole, generally,
[39:56.640 -> 39:59.600] because looking at all the videos that the fans have put in,
[39:59.920 -> 40:02.840] looking at all the articles that the journalists have written
[40:02.840 -> 40:04.800] and all the footage that we get to see on the Internet,
[40:05.400 -> 40:07.560] it seems like they've made it happen.
[40:07.560 -> 40:08.920] Yes, there are teething issues.
[40:08.920 -> 40:12.880] Surely, manhole covers are fixable.
[40:12.880 -> 40:14.040] Let's put it that way.
[40:14.040 -> 40:14.760] Things like that.
[40:14.760 -> 40:17.200] And they were fixed very well, I must say.
[40:17.200 -> 40:20.760] They were just not fixed on time or in time for Thursday.
[40:20.760 -> 40:24.000] They were fixed in time or fixed maybe six hours too late.
[40:24.000 -> 40:24.640] But that's OK.
[40:24.640 -> 40:28.540] I mean, I think we should just move on from manual covers. We're not gonna
[40:28.540 -> 40:34.060] mention manual covers ever again. But I can tell you the class action
[40:34.060 -> 40:39.660] lawsuit, $200 that everyone got, fans being asked to go home, security was
[40:39.660 -> 40:46.700] overworked etc. I'm sure the organizers did their, trying to do best for what was for Formula One.
[40:46.700 -> 40:48.920] At no point, you know, does Formula One
[40:48.920 -> 40:49.760] have to turn around and say,
[40:49.760 -> 40:51.060] no, let's send the fans back,
[40:51.060 -> 40:53.280] especially when fans are paying the highest
[40:53.280 -> 40:54.400] to be at this race.
[40:54.400 -> 40:56.440] I'm pretty sure they had their reasons.
[40:56.440 -> 40:59.160] Let's remember the races also happen at really odd hours.
[40:59.160 -> 41:02.680] The track sessions happen like 4 a.m. or something.
[41:02.680 -> 41:05.280] I mean, imagine this, if it was a music concert at 4 a.m.,
[41:05.280 -> 41:06.640] there's a good chance you would have been told,
[41:06.640 -> 41:09.120] sorry, but please go home and we'll give you a YouTube link
[41:09.120 -> 41:14.120] to go watch the music performance on.
[41:15.480 -> 41:19.060] But all in all, I think, again, a very packed race
[41:19.060 -> 41:20.260] when it comes to celebrities.
[41:20.260 -> 41:22.740] I saw the Star Tread helicopter shot and I said,
[41:22.740 -> 41:25.800] how are they gonna clear this before the five minute mark?
[41:25.800 -> 41:28.720] David Beckham went from the Cricket World Cup in Mumbai
[41:28.720 -> 41:32.440] to the Las Vegas Grand Prix in Las Vegas, obviously.
[41:32.440 -> 41:33.640] Paris Hilton was there.
[41:33.640 -> 41:38.320] She said Lando Norris was her favorite driver.
[41:38.320 -> 41:40.240] Now I sound like a newsreader just reading out
[41:40.240 -> 41:41.080] who all was there.
[41:41.080 -> 41:42.800] Shaquille O'Neal was there, but I mean,
[41:42.800 -> 41:46.000] you know, his answers were very, very robotic.
[41:46.000 -> 41:50.120] I actually thought he will drive the cavalcade
[41:50.120 -> 41:51.240] or be a part of that.
[41:51.240 -> 41:53.960] But what did you guys think of the new podium ceremony?
[41:53.960 -> 41:56.320] Because they drove through the Bellagio.
[41:56.320 -> 41:58.320] They had the fountains thing.
[41:58.320 -> 42:01.720] It was Max's podcast on the way there.
[42:01.720 -> 42:03.800] Reminded me of Ocean's 11.
[42:03.800 -> 42:06.120] David Coulthard did an interview with just one mic,
[42:06.120 -> 42:08.160] so he was handing over his mic to the driver.
[42:08.160 -> 42:10.840] Somebody forgot the driver's mic out there.
[42:10.840 -> 42:13.560] And then they came back on a Checo Perez podcast,
[42:13.560 -> 42:15.560] which was so boring that they didn't broadcast
[42:15.560 -> 42:17.080] more than 30 seconds of it.
[42:17.080 -> 42:19.120] I was a little surprised to be honest,
[42:19.120 -> 42:22.760] because I know Formula One in general is very picky
[42:22.760 -> 42:26.160] or a little concerned about their broadcast times.
[42:26.160 -> 42:29.480] And that is actually one of the things that I thought happens in Spa.
[42:29.480 -> 42:33.960] Usually after the race ends in Spa, you don't have drivers doing the whole lap because the
[42:33.960 -> 42:35.360] whole lap is that long.
[42:35.360 -> 42:40.140] So they kind of go the other way around in the pit lane just to save on time, save on
[42:40.140 -> 42:41.720] broadcast time.
[42:41.720 -> 42:43.960] That didn't seem to be a concern this time out.
[42:43.960 -> 42:46.080] Everyone is going
[42:46.080 -> 42:49.920] all the way to some other part of the whole track for the post-race interviews. And then
[42:49.920 -> 42:54.120] they came back. That was what was really very surprising for me because then they had those
[42:54.120 -> 43:00.240] platforms set out on the circuit and drivers were walking up to their podium positions
[43:00.240 -> 43:05.760] there. They really had a lot of time on the broadcast post race which was very surprising for me not a
[43:05.760 -> 43:10.080] fan of it to be very honest I just want to get over the podium and get on with other things in
[43:10.080 -> 43:17.280] life but yeah I think it was a bit too lengthy for my life. I'm just glad they didn't have a random
[43:17.280 -> 43:24.480] American interviewer for the podium questions because that is blasphemy for me but anyway.
[43:24.480 -> 43:25.800] I think once again Danica
[43:25.800 -> 43:30.280] Patrick should be also counted as a random podium interviewer genuinely I
[43:30.280 -> 43:34.360] think I'm a little mixed you know sometimes she asks you know I think when
[43:34.360 -> 43:39.640] she puts her race car driver a hat on she asks really good questions when she
[43:39.640 -> 43:43.040] takes that hat off I don't know what hat she puts on because then the questions
[43:43.040 -> 43:47.620] are really random but I'm assuming it's just one and zero race car or not a race car
[43:47.620 -> 43:51.200] driver but. But it's, is it fair to say she's just there for the accent in a way
[43:51.200 -> 43:53.820] because it feels like that because sometimes there are better interviews
[43:53.820 -> 43:58.880] David Coulthard is very good why bother changing? Yeah I agree he's a
[43:58.880 -> 44:03.940] via play expert we have him every race which is fantastic best insights. I'm
[44:03.940 -> 44:05.280] glad we don't have a certain
[44:05.280 -> 44:08.800] Scottish driver who I've worked with in the past doing interviews anymore.
[44:09.360 -> 44:15.200] Won't name people, but that's a hint enough. But P1, P2, P3 all confirmed in the Drivers'
[44:15.200 -> 44:21.520] Championship. P4 is a four-way battle which will be settled in Abu Dhabi. I think it's Sainz,
[44:21.520 -> 44:26.840] Alonso, Norris, Leclerc. That actually reminds me, opening lap spins
[44:26.840 -> 44:29.400] were the two Spaniards in spinning in succession.
[44:29.400 -> 44:30.880] You're like, oh, Alonso spun.
[44:30.880 -> 44:32.000] Maybe I need to spin the car
[44:32.000 -> 44:34.280] and Carlos went behind him as well.
[44:34.280 -> 44:36.680] But no, all in all, you know,
[44:36.680 -> 44:41.240] the race in itself was pretty memorable,
[44:41.240 -> 44:42.840] if that's the word I would say.
[44:42.840 -> 44:48.000] And the biggest, the best memory is gonna be for Jacques Villeneuve.
[44:48.000 -> 44:48.500] What?
[44:48.500 -> 44:58.000] The former world champion who got married in the... Yeah, the former world champion, 1997 world champion got married in the paddock.
[44:59.000 -> 45:02.000] In the chapel in the paddock, I should say that, right?
[45:02.000 -> 45:05.040] In the race to the altar. Yeah, it's public news and I
[45:05.040 -> 45:10.080] know you were, you know, commentating for the Indian Racing League and the JKTN National Racing
[45:10.080 -> 45:16.480] Championship, but Sharks Wheel Love got married. Now, if I was to ever get married again with
[45:16.480 -> 45:21.680] Mithila, I would definitely go there and say, you know what, Las Vegas, chapel, here we come.
[45:21.680 -> 45:25.000] Why not? It's a very Shark Wheeluve thing to do as well, right?
[45:25.000 -> 45:28.000] Retire from Formula 1, start a music career, quit a team randomly,
[45:28.000 -> 45:31.000] go to the Indy 500 after winning the F1 World Championship
[45:31.000 -> 45:34.000] and maybe just get married at the Las Vegas altar.
[45:34.000 -> 45:37.000] If there was one person in the world who could have and should have done it,
[45:37.000 -> 45:39.000] it was Jacques Villeneuve.
[45:39.000 -> 45:41.000] But folks, any final comment from you Sundaram?
[45:41.000 -> 45:48.160] Because I feel that even though Max has come out for a two and a half minute tirade in the press conference, criticizing everything that the
[45:48.160 -> 45:53.900] Las Vegas GP stands for, I think it's a little hollow because there are two sorts of fans
[45:53.900 -> 45:58.300] in the world. There are people like us who watch every single session constantly, track
[45:58.300 -> 46:02.460] all the data, all the timings, look at the stats and all of your wonderful stats as well
[46:02.460 -> 46:05.520] and are really hardcore into what makes the sport so
[46:05.520 -> 46:09.920] special. But let's not forget, half the money comes from the people on the other side, the
[46:09.920 -> 46:15.360] casual people, the people who think Leclerc are cute and only watch it for that. And it could be
[46:15.360 -> 46:20.240] fair to say that a lot of the Las Vegas audience was generally a lot from that audience. But
[46:20.240 -> 46:28.260] why do we discriminate? Why do we not create a product for them as well? I think what Formula One is doing with the Las Vegas GP and Miami and many other circuits
[46:28.260 -> 46:30.400] is only fair.
[46:30.400 -> 46:32.540] It is meant to be a profit-making enterprise, right?
[46:32.540 -> 46:35.280] It's not meant to be a boon for the sport.
[46:35.280 -> 46:37.160] Formula One is a business at the end of the day.
[46:37.160 -> 46:43.300] It's not meant to be kind of like a religious pilgrimage of sorts for racing lovers.
[46:43.300 -> 46:45.220] It's essentially there to have a profit
[46:45.220 -> 46:48.380] on the Business for Liberty media and that's what it stands for. And that'll
[46:48.380 -> 46:52.600] that'll always be the case in any business or any sport. The fact being
[46:52.600 -> 46:56.080] that there's always two different types of fans. Sure, we call us purists or
[46:56.080 -> 46:59.460] whatever it is, there will always be fans who don't watch every single session.
[46:59.460 -> 47:06.360] And what they created I think with Las Vegas, I think even more than the Miami Grand Prix,
[47:06.360 -> 47:10.320] if there are any casual fans who tuned into the race, just the race and probably not even
[47:10.320 -> 47:13.600] any of the practice sessions, I think they were treated to a very good race.
[47:13.600 -> 47:16.280] They were also treated to a very good qualifying in that sense.
[47:16.280 -> 47:20.480] And sure, they're probably going to turn up for the race next year because of how well
[47:20.480 -> 47:21.960] this event turned out.
[47:21.960 -> 47:24.840] The main event is what I'm talking about.
[47:24.840 -> 47:25.760] And I think that's also
[47:25.760 -> 47:31.120] good in that sense. Formula One, we kind of know why Formula One went to Las Vegas. We know why
[47:31.120 -> 47:39.040] Formula One chose that particular section, why they chose this venue as the circuit and sure
[47:39.040 -> 47:47.440] there are apart from on-track advantages, there are other things that help in the background.
[47:47.440 -> 47:50.200] The lot of business opportunities that arise from this,
[47:50.200 -> 47:51.480] locally and for Formula One.
[47:51.480 -> 47:55.240] So in that sense, I think they'll go away feeling happy.
[47:55.240 -> 47:57.000] Yeah, and I have to ask a question.
[47:58.080 -> 47:58.920] Toto Wolf said,
[47:58.920 -> 48:02.280] who in Europe watches these sessions anyway?
[48:02.280 -> 48:06.480] Okay, the Spotify poll for this episode is going to be,
[48:06.480 -> 48:12.720] if you're anywhere in the world and you watch free practice sessions, please answer and tell us what
[48:12.720 -> 48:18.480] all sessions you actually watch. Tick off all the sessions you watch because I know a lot of people
[48:18.480 -> 48:23.440] who watch pretty much all the sessions out there. But an interesting point about this whole
[48:23.440 -> 48:26.480] business. Now, F1 teams have become these franchises
[48:26.480 -> 48:29.280] being valued at a billion or a couple of billion dollars.
[48:29.280 -> 48:31.320] You can throw any number and you just say,
[48:31.320 -> 48:33.160] it's a valuation, right?
[48:33.160 -> 48:35.640] Here's my small take.
[48:35.640 -> 48:39.120] And I know now we've definitely breached the 40 minute mark,
[48:39.120 -> 48:43.520] which is what review episodes are typically as long.
[48:43.520 -> 48:45.920] But hey, it's Las Vegas and it's a Sunday, so I'm
[48:45.920 -> 48:49.760] hoping that people are still, I know people will still have been tuned in, so thank you very much
[48:49.760 -> 48:54.800] for your time, but you know, with this, with Formula One teams becoming positive business
[48:54.800 -> 49:08.240] entities, making a profit, your survival in the sport, your survival instinct for the sport changes. Five years ago, when the businesses needed to perform on track,
[49:08.240 -> 49:16.640] to survive, they were as hungry as ever to perform on track, to survive. I'm not saying the hunger's gone down in any way,
[49:16.640 -> 49:25.880] but now they know whether they finish second or third in a race or in the championship or whatever, the business is still making pot loads of money, right?
[49:25.880 -> 49:29.200] And that was, I think, the Toto Wolf,
[49:29.200 -> 49:32.040] the businessman in Formula One,
[49:32.040 -> 49:34.880] who spoke on that Thursday or that Friday, actually,
[49:34.880 -> 49:36.400] because the team principals speak a day
[49:36.400 -> 49:38.020] after the drivers, right?
[49:38.020 -> 49:41.440] And not the team principal of a Formula One team.
[49:41.440 -> 49:44.480] No, I find it interesting how things have all gone about
[49:44.480 -> 49:45.800] all the way through. But yeah, Sundaram, you had a really fun point, No, I find it interesting how things have all gone about all the way through.
[49:45.800 -> 49:49.400] But yeah, Sundaram, you had a really fun point right on this entire weekend and anything
[49:49.400 -> 49:51.120] that really pops under your mind?
[49:51.120 -> 49:53.600] Well, I'm just looking forward to one more thing right now.
[49:53.600 -> 49:58.600] I want to see if Ferrari is going to take the last week's Grand Prix promoters to court
[49:58.600 -> 50:04.320] because that's what Haas did in 2017 when they had a manhole cover.
[50:04.320 -> 50:07.000] I know we've spoken enough about manhole covers.
[50:07.000 -> 50:14.000] But that's, I know we've spoken enough of that. But actually Haas took the circuit to
[50:14.000 -> 50:21.000] court in 2017 over the drain cover coming loose and giving the sort of damage that Romain
[50:21.000 -> 50:27.280] Grosjean's car had. Who won? And that whole thing took a year to settle.
[50:27.280 -> 50:30.320] And they did pay the team out of their insurance money.
[50:30.320 -> 50:31.120] The circuit did pay.
[50:31.840 -> 50:34.000] I'm not sure if they did that in 20...
[50:34.000 -> 50:36.720] If Williams did that in 2019, when was that?
[50:36.720 -> 50:37.920] 2019, Baku.
[50:37.920 -> 50:39.440] Was it 19 or 20?
[50:39.440 -> 50:40.080] 2019.
[50:40.640 -> 50:44.880] I remember Clare Williams saying that we will take this up with the circuit.
[50:44.880 -> 50:45.960] No news after
[50:45.960 -> 50:46.960] that.
[50:46.960 -> 50:49.560] And I know Fred Vasseur was livid in the press conference.
[50:49.560 -> 50:54.840] He was absolutely frustrated, annoyed at what happened.
[50:54.840 -> 50:56.960] And it also really matters because it's a budget gap.
[50:56.960 -> 51:01.200] Sure, it won't kind of help them in the sense that it reduces the money that the circuit
[51:01.200 -> 51:03.760] may give, it reduces that from the budget gap.
[51:03.760 -> 51:05.240] It's still going to be put on there.
[51:09.120 -> 51:09.960] But I just want to see Ferrari takes the Las Vegas organizers to court to kind of recoup that money.
[51:10.200 -> 51:10.480] Yeah.
[51:10.480 -> 51:13.920] You mean if Ferrari will take Liberty Media to court to just say,
[51:13.960 -> 51:15.360] you're paying us so much money,
[51:15.360 -> 51:17.920] you pay us a little more for the damage of the car. But hey,
[51:18.160 -> 51:20.920] that's what Liberty Media gets for taking on the, you know,
[51:20.920 -> 51:22.920] for being a promoter in Formula One, I guess.
[51:24.320 -> 51:25.080] But at the end of
[51:25.080 -> 51:29.360] the day all is well that ends well and yes it might have just been a Verstappen
[51:29.360 -> 51:33.200] win at the end of the day that's what the results will say a far greater story
[51:33.200 -> 51:38.040] than that but eventually good to see finally the hype being settled finally
[51:38.040 -> 51:42.800] we have a race at Las Vegas now and it's no longer just a dream that we've had in
[51:42.800 -> 51:48.400] the past as well but folks thank you so much for listening in to this episode and hearing us banter about
[51:48.400 -> 51:50.800] manhole covers among many other things.
[51:50.800 -> 51:54.800] And in case you enjoyed this episode, please, please, please support us by subscribing to
[51:54.800 -> 51:56.640] the Inside9F1 podcast.
[51:56.640 -> 52:00.840] And also by sharing this episode to all your friends and family members who might enjoy
[52:00.840 -> 52:01.840] this as well.
[52:01.840 -> 52:04.720] Folks, we'll be back very quickly for the...
[52:04.720 -> 52:42.320] What's next? Abu Dhabi only? Is that it? Yeah, I think it is Abu Dhabi only. who might enjoy this as well. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Inside Line F1 podcast.
[52:42.320 -> 52:47.000] Before we ended, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Amazon Music once again
[52:47.000 -> 52:50.000] for partnering with us on this episode of the podcast.