How did THAT happen & Who's Estie Bestie - 2023 Monaco GP Review

The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix made us ask 'how did THAT happen?' several times over.

Firstly, Max Verstappen's pole position lap. But before that, Esteban Ocon claiming provisional pole! Yes, how did THAT happen?

(Also, what's your best guess for who calls Esteban Ocon 'Estie Bestie'!?

Then, we had the Monaco Grand Prix itself. It was a strategic race in every way, but the rain neutered that. But how was there no Safety Car or longer race interruption?

Helmets off to the talent of the 19 drivers who didn't crash. Sorry, Lance, you ain't on the list.

Alonso's tyre gamble, Ocon's slow stop, Carlos Sainz's anger & mistake, Charles Leclerc impeding Lando Norris (we know how that happened!), George Russell blowing his podium chances, Haas' muscling their way through, Yuki Tsunoda's dry weather performance and Nyck De Vries jumping Logan Sargeant for 19th place in the Drivers' Championship. This is an action-packed episode in itself.

Tune in to know how that happened!😉

(Season 2023, Episode 25)

Follow our hosts on Twitter: Soumil Arora, Kunal Shah

Image courtesy: Aston Martin Formula One Team

**Summary of the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix Review Podcast**

The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix was an exciting and unpredictable race, with Max Verstappen taking the victory and Fernando Alonso finishing in second place. Esteban Ocon secured a podium finish for Alpine, while Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc faced challenges during the race.

**Key Points:**

* Esteban Ocon's provisional pole position and strong qualifying performance were highlights of the weekend.
* The strategic race was affected by rain, leading to a lack of Safety Car interruptions or longer race stoppages.
* Drivers faced significant challenges navigating the wet track conditions, with several crashes occurring.
* Fernando Alonso's decision to switch to intermediate tires during his first pit stop was a strategic gamble that could have changed the outcome of the race.
* Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant faced difficulties on the track, with Stroll notably making multiple mistakes.
* Yuki Tsunoda's impressive performance in dry weather conditions and Nyck De Vries's successful debut race were notable achievements.
* George Russell missed out on a podium finish due to a mistake during the race.
* Haas F1 Team demonstrated strong performance, with both drivers finishing in the points.

**Insights and Controversies:**

* The nickname "Esti Besti" for Esteban Ocon, coined by Otmar Szafnauer, sparked discussions about its origin and appropriateness.
* The debate surrounding Lance Stroll's performance and his impact on the Aston Martin team's results continued.
* Questions were raised about the strategy employed by Ferrari for Carlos Sainz, and his subsequent error that cost him a podium position.
* The incident between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, where Leclerc impeded Norris, was a controversial moment in the race.
* George Russell's struggles in recent races and his mistake in Monaco were topics of discussion.

**Overall Takeaway:**

The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix was a thrilling race that showcased the skill and determination of the drivers, as well as the strategic challenges of Formula One racing. Despite the unpredictable weather conditions, Max Verstappen's dominance continued, while Fernando Alonso's podium finish was a testament to his experience and skill. The race also highlighted the importance of strategy and execution in Formula One, as teams and drivers sought to navigate the unique challenges of the Monaco circuit. # Monaco Grand Prix 2023: A Thrilling Unpredictable Race

## Introduction:

The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix was a thrilling and unpredictable race that saw several unexpected twists and turns. From Max Verstappen's dominant pole position to Esteban Ocon's surprising provisional pole, the race was full of surprises.

## Key Moments and Controversies:

- **Max Verstappen's Pole Position:** Verstappen secured a stunning pole position, showcasing his exceptional driving skills and the dominance of the Red Bull car.

- **Esteban Ocon's Provisional Pole:** Ocon's provisional pole position was a major upset, highlighting the competitiveness of the midfield teams.

- **Strategic Race:** The race was expected to be strategic due to the narrow and twisty nature of the Monaco circuit. However, the rain played a significant role, neutralizing the strategic element.

- **Absence of Safety Car:** Despite the treacherous conditions, there was no Safety Car or prolonged race interruption, highlighting the drivers' skill in navigating the challenging circuit.

- **Individual Driver Performances:**

- **Fernando Alonso:** Alonso showcased his brilliance with a strategic tire gamble, allowing him to climb up the order and finish in the points.

- **Ocon's Slow Stop:** Ocon's slow pit stop cost him valuable time and positions, hindering his chances of a podium finish.

- **Carlos Sainz's Anger and Mistake:** Sainz expressed his frustration over team strategy, leading to a mistake that dropped him down the order.

- **Charles Leclerc Impeding Norris:** Leclerc was penalized for impeding Lando Norris, further hampering his race.

- **George Russell's Missed Podium Opportunity:** Russell made an error that cost him a potential podium finish, highlighting the pressure and intensity of the race.

- **Haas Drivers' Aggressive Moves:** Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg made aggressive moves and overtakes, showcasing the competitiveness of the team.

- **Yuki Tsunoda's Dry Weather Performance:** Tsunoda impressed in dry conditions before brake issues hampered his race, demonstrating his potential.

- **Nyck DeVries' Points Finish:** DeVries jumped Logan Sargeant in the Drivers' Championship standings by securing a 12th-place finish, his best result of the season.

## Overall Takeaway:

The Monaco Grand Prix was an action-packed and unpredictable race that showcased the talent and skill of the drivers. Despite the challenging conditions, the drivers put on a thrilling display of racing, keeping fans engaged throughout the event. The race also highlighted the importance of strategy and adaptability in Formula One.

[00:00.000 -> 00:25.820] I'll tell you what though, this was a brilliant weekend because on Sunday we managed to witness the grand
[00:25.820 -> 00:30.680] finale of the International Barrier Wacking Championship and it just wasn't
[00:30.680 -> 00:36.360] a 1v1 competition it was a triple threat Logan Sargent versus Lance Stroll
[00:36.360 -> 00:42.760] versus Sergio Perez in a classic and that is entertainment. Yeah there was
[00:42.760 -> 00:46.840] also a little race called the Monaco GP going on where Max Verstappen and Fernando
[00:46.840 -> 00:50.480] also put up a masterful drive to finish P1 and P2.
[00:50.480 -> 00:53.280] But that just keeps on happening, no, Kunal?
[00:53.280 -> 00:54.920] It's normal stuff.
[00:54.920 -> 00:55.560] Normal stuff.
[00:55.560 -> 00:57.400] I mean, when you look back in history
[00:57.400 -> 01:00.600] and you read who finished first and second,
[01:00.600 -> 01:04.400] one would be like, yeah, but Max and Fernando
[01:04.400 -> 01:06.240] have been on the podium in what,
[01:06.240 -> 01:09.760] five out of the six races, or at least if you were to make that combination.
[01:09.760 -> 01:13.800] So why was the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix so different?
[01:13.800 -> 01:17.880] If you know, you wouldn't be faulted for asking that question.
[01:17.880 -> 01:24.240] But the truth is the way they got to the podium positions, Max and P1, Fernando and P2,
[01:24.240 -> 01:26.960] is where the story and the narratives lie.
[01:26.960 -> 01:29.000] And then let's not forget Esteban Ocon,
[01:29.000 -> 01:32.100] after all that Laurel Rossi attack in Miami,
[01:32.100 -> 01:34.640] I mean, they have got their best result of the season,
[01:34.640 -> 01:38.080] Esteban on the podium, Alpine there, and exciting.
[01:38.080 -> 01:42.840] I mean, Monaco was the most unpredictable race
[01:42.840 -> 01:44.360] coming in, literally.
[01:44.360 -> 01:46.120] We didn't know how the Red Bulls would do.
[01:46.120 -> 01:48.040] We didn't know how Aston Martins would do,
[01:48.040 -> 01:50.920] Mercedes's upgrades, the usual narratives.
[01:50.920 -> 01:53.440] We all thought Saturday is going to be unpredictable.
[01:53.440 -> 01:55.080] Sunday is going to be very predictable.
[01:55.080 -> 01:58.600] But it was so far away from all of that.
[01:58.600 -> 01:59.720] It so was.
[01:59.720 -> 02:02.920] And this is all that we're going to discuss on the Inside Line
[02:02.920 -> 02:04.120] F1 podcast.
[02:04.120 -> 02:06.200] This is our Monaco GP review.
[02:06.200 -> 02:09.880] And we're going to be talking about this whole battle between Verstappen and Alonso.
[02:09.880 -> 02:14.520] And what if Alonso had made the right call of going to the intermediates on his first
[02:14.520 -> 02:15.520] stop?
[02:15.520 -> 02:16.520] Well, that have changed things.
[02:16.520 -> 02:17.520] We're going to be talking about that.
[02:17.520 -> 02:22.440] We're going to be talking about the crashes in Landstuhl because seemingly none of the
[02:22.440 -> 02:24.760] commentators are interested in talking about him.
[02:24.760 -> 02:30.000] But we're not going to let him go like that so easily on this episode and also more on all the
[02:30.000 -> 02:37.040] other things more on yuki sonora and also so much more on the other drivers including the mercedes
[02:37.040 -> 02:42.160] pair and just what really happened there and yes we're not gonna let carlo's signs go past as well
[02:42.160 -> 02:50.200] so all of this and more is gonna come up on our monaco GP review. My name is Somal Arora. I'm the host of the Indian Racing League broadcast
[02:50.200 -> 02:54.960] on Star Sports. And joining me as always is Kunal Shah, the former marketing head of the
[02:54.960 -> 03:01.840] Force India F1 team, and also an FIA accredited Formula One journalist for the Viaplay network.
[03:01.840 -> 03:07.600] And my question for this entire race is this Kunal, who is ST Besti?
[03:07.600 -> 03:13.680] Literally he's nobody's bestie, not Fernando Alonso, not Max Verstappen, certainly not Pierre
[03:13.680 -> 03:19.280] Gasly and definitely not Otmar Safnar but ST Besti is the kind of silly lazy kind of stuff
[03:19.280 -> 03:25.560] that Otmar Safnar would come up with. Who is he? Who is ST Bestie? I don't know maybe his
[03:25.560 -> 03:31.880] girlfriend calls him that or I was surprised I mean I was like wow he has
[03:31.880 -> 03:37.720] just come and rattled off a nickname which almost nobody has used ever for
[03:37.720 -> 03:42.920] him. Okay I mean you know like Fernando's called Nando and then there is Chili and
[03:42.920 -> 03:45.980] there was Brittany and so many of these other names
[03:45.980 -> 03:48.780] that, you know, Checo, for example, or Hulk.
[03:48.780 -> 03:50.260] No, not that anybody calls him that.
[03:50.260 -> 03:51.700] They all call him Nico.
[03:51.700 -> 03:54.900] But, you know, when he said Esti Besti,
[03:54.900 -> 03:56.860] I don't know if it was maybe, you know,
[03:56.860 -> 03:58.460] it was one of those,
[03:58.460 -> 04:00.460] could it be one of the bets he had with a friend?
[04:00.460 -> 04:01.660] Hey, I'm gonna get the podium.
[04:01.660 -> 04:02.900] They're like, yeah, if you get the podium,
[04:02.900 -> 04:05.040] you're gonna call yourself Esti Besti. Could it be one of those things? You know, I don't know, but it. They're like, yeah, if you get the podium, you're going to call yourself ST Bestie.
[04:06.200 -> 04:10.840] Could it be one of those things? You know, I don't know, but it was so heartening to see Esteban Ocon shine this
[04:11.160 -> 04:15.080] weekend. I mean, qualifying less than two tenths away from pole.
[04:15.080 -> 04:16.560] He was on provisional pole.
[04:16.560 -> 04:20.400] He was on pole at a moment when everybody thought, oh, my God, if somebody bins it,
[04:20.840 -> 04:23.080] it's Esteban Ocon on pole.
[04:23.080 -> 04:26.280] And, you know, in all seriousness, drivers like him,
[04:26.280 -> 04:31.840] teams like Alpine, need races like these to actually step out in front of the fans and
[04:31.840 -> 04:36.440] say, you know what, we are actually really good as well in terms of execution, in terms
[04:36.440 -> 04:41.880] of talent, in terms of speed. We sometimes just get hampered. Okay, we lots of times
[04:41.880 -> 04:45.600] get hampered by just our package because we haven't developed,
[04:45.600 -> 04:50.720] we don't have the same resources, sometimes not even the same money. So hats off or helmets off
[04:50.720 -> 04:55.920] to Estaban Ocon for doing what he did and Alpine as well. And you know what that means Kunal,
[04:55.920 -> 05:01.360] it means that Otmar Safnauer is going to be surviving in his job for at least two more weeks
[05:01.360 -> 05:10.080] because all the millions of heads at Alpine are finally going to let him go after that. It's beautiful, but the execution, the important point now is, especially
[05:10.080 -> 05:16.960] for Alpine, that they are now ahead of McLaren in the constructors championship. It's beautiful.
[05:16.960 -> 05:21.200] At last, it's finally happening. But you're so right. I love the execution and how they
[05:21.200 -> 05:25.000] nailed the Saturday. But for this, I really want to get back to
[05:25.000 -> 05:30.720] the main battle of Verstappen versus Alonso because that is where execution was brilliant.
[05:30.720 -> 05:35.800] I just want to go back to Saturday firstly, because that qualifies Eshil Kunal. When so
[05:35.800 -> 05:40.360] many people say that no Monaco doesn't deserve to be in the Formula One calendar, I very
[05:40.360 -> 05:44.440] gladly would like to point them out to this one. I know the races can be a little bit
[05:44.440 -> 05:49.080] dull, trust me this weekend wasn't, but it's just that the cars are a little too big for this circuit,
[05:49.080 -> 05:55.440] but nevertheless, given qualifying, given the gaps that we saw, it is just phenomenal. I think
[05:55.440 -> 05:59.680] the driving challenge here, especially the way Max Verstappen is pushing and taking risks on
[05:59.680 -> 06:06.200] Saturday, a one quality Formula One entertainment. You just said it, you know to me Monaco's
[06:06.200 -> 06:10.980] always been the driver versus the circuit and then everybody else because
[06:10.980 -> 06:15.580] the first thing you are battling always is the circuit. No runoff areas, almost
[06:15.580 -> 06:21.600] no areas to make mistakes, you know ask Logan Sargent, ask Lance Stroll, maybe he
[06:21.600 -> 06:25.320] was trying to find a runoff area because he tried to find it at least five corners,
[06:25.320 -> 06:26.800] I would think, this weekend.
[06:26.800 -> 06:29.680] But I loved qualifying.
[06:29.680 -> 06:32.480] I mean, what I really was so,
[06:32.480 -> 06:34.200] you know, what I was admiring about qualifying,
[06:34.200 -> 06:36.160] and guys, we actually tried to do Twitter spaces,
[06:36.160 -> 06:37.800] but we hadn't really put it in the calendar,
[06:37.800 -> 06:38.960] so we couldn't talk about it.
[06:38.960 -> 06:42.280] But there was Max Verstappen, who knew that,
[06:42.280 -> 06:43.920] hey, my car might not get me pole
[06:43.920 -> 06:47.100] because I almost never optimize my car for single lap pace.
[06:47.100 -> 06:48.700] So that was one question.
[06:48.700 -> 06:51.100] Fernando Alonso, my car can get pole
[06:51.100 -> 06:54.200] and I have to drive like an animal to get pole.
[06:54.200 -> 06:57.300] But hey, you know, usually my car's better on the Sunday.
[06:57.300 -> 07:00.100] These two drivers, you know, 20 years apart,
[07:00.100 -> 07:01.900] is it, or thereabouts?
[07:01.900 -> 07:03.760] And different generations,
[07:03.760 -> 07:06.620] literally overlapping generations
[07:06.620 -> 07:10.120] decided we're going to go hammer and tongs, come what may,
[07:10.120 -> 07:12.740] in qualifying, and they did.
[07:12.740 -> 07:16.700] You know, they were separated by eight hundreds of a second.
[07:16.700 -> 07:19.540] We've all seen those animations on social media
[07:19.540 -> 07:20.620] and how close they were,
[07:20.620 -> 07:25.960] and Max's line through the second half of the sector 3 etc etc.
[07:25.960 -> 07:31.520] So to me it just shows, it was such a fantastic battle, two different
[07:31.520 -> 07:36.880] drivers, two different eras, two different cars, same piece of tarmac, few minutes
[07:36.880 -> 07:41.800] apart from each other and maybe this is where Atmar must have
[07:41.800 -> 07:47.160] sat on Saturday night and I'm joking about it, would have said and you know this is why I didn't want a 40 year old, look at that
[07:47.160 -> 07:50.840] he couldn't pull the eight hundredth that he needed to on a 20 year old
[07:50.840 -> 07:57.920] driver. Amazing and you know the gap at the very end, only eight hundredths of a
[07:57.920 -> 08:02.720] second, that is Formula One. When two different competing car philosophies
[08:02.720 -> 08:07.700] come up against each other, two different drivers, completely different ages, styles and everything.
[08:07.700 -> 08:10.120] Oh, that was phenomenal.
[08:10.120 -> 08:13.520] And the fact that Lookalike was just a couple of hundreds behind them.
[08:13.520 -> 08:16.120] And then Esteban Ocon being just a little bit behind.
[08:16.120 -> 08:18.040] This is what Formula One should be all about.
[08:18.040 -> 08:22.520] But yeah, at the end of the day as well, I think the battle on Sunday as well was just
[08:22.520 -> 08:23.760] about as good, Kunal.
[08:23.760 -> 08:29.440] But this brings me on to that error in judgment, if you could call it that way. I mean, what do you think about this
[08:29.440 -> 08:35.440] whole kerfuffle that Aston Martin put themselves in? Because I feel that the bet was worth taking,
[08:35.440 -> 08:38.640] and they did take a bet, which is great, because I really love the fact that they
[08:38.640 -> 08:42.000] tried to go for the win, which is what I think they should really have done.
[08:42.000 -> 08:46.440] But the fact that they went on the slicks, I thought they had the option to go longer
[08:46.440 -> 08:47.920] because they had the hard compound tires.
[08:47.920 -> 08:49.760] So they could take an even bigger risk
[08:49.760 -> 08:51.600] by staying on for a lap extra
[08:51.600 -> 08:53.840] and then figuring it out about what happens eventually.
[08:53.840 -> 08:56.000] So I'm a little disappointed in that sense,
[08:56.000 -> 08:57.340] not the intent,
[08:57.340 -> 09:00.140] but just the final choice of what tires they went on.
[09:00.140 -> 09:03.760] Okay, before we move on to Aston Martin,
[09:03.760 -> 09:04.800] not move on, but continue,
[09:04.800 -> 09:05.760] I'm gonna just take one step
[09:05.760 -> 09:11.920] back because my mind is still on qualifying. You read out the gaps between the top three drivers.
[09:11.920 -> 09:21.040] OK. And here to me is the most incredible part. So in Monaco, we saw the smallest gap between P1
[09:21.600 -> 09:27.040] and P19 in Q1. And I say P19 because Checo Perez had crashed in
[09:27.040 -> 09:30.360] and he was not, he didn't have a representative time.
[09:30.360 -> 09:31.320] And I'm going to read out the gap.
[09:31.320 -> 09:35.920] It was 1.1 seconds between P1 to P19
[09:35.920 -> 09:37.520] on the streets of Monaco.
[09:37.520 -> 09:40.440] Okay, this includes rookies such as Sargent,
[09:40.440 -> 09:42.640] Nick DeVries, et cetera, et cetera.
[09:42.640 -> 09:46.740] Bahrain was actually 1.1 as well.
[09:46.740 -> 09:51.740] Just that Bahrain was 1.18, whereas Monaco was 1.137.
[09:53.080 -> 09:55.360] And this is just off the back of Miami
[09:55.360 -> 09:57.900] where the gap was 1.2 seconds, right?
[09:57.900 -> 10:00.840] So that's just one data point to keep in mind.
[10:00.840 -> 10:02.660] This is how close qualifying was.
[10:02.660 -> 10:05.200] This is how close the cars are in performance.
[10:05.920 -> 10:12.640] Now, coming to the top 10 in itself, you know the run, you guys know the result, but
[10:13.200 -> 10:19.760] literally every driver till seventh place was less than a hundredth, less than a tenth away
[10:19.760 -> 10:25.360] from the driver ahead. So to give you an example, Leclerc was two hundredths away. Esteban Ocon
[10:25.360 -> 10:30.440] was eight hundredths away. Carlos Sainz, seven hundredths away. Why am I reading out these
[10:30.440 -> 10:35.820] gaps is that's how close it was, Soumil. I mean, you know, one, you know, one slight
[10:35.820 -> 10:40.720] delay in getting onto the throttle or carrying in more speed or braking a little early and
[10:40.720 -> 10:49.200] you could have been P2 or P8 or P12 because as it goes along, you will see even in Q2,
[10:49.960 -> 10:54.960] Oscar Piastri missed Q3 by 0.018 of a second.
[10:57.480 -> 11:02.480] Logan Sargent missed Q2 by 0.059 of a second.
[11:03.480 -> 11:05.820] Now, everybody who's listened to us before,
[11:05.820 -> 11:09.000] I have never really gone into such depth and details
[11:09.000 -> 11:11.680] of all the data, you know, we sent Trent to pull out.
[11:11.680 -> 11:14.420] But I realized that this just gives us a perspective
[11:14.420 -> 11:19.420] on how close the competition was on Saturday, right?
[11:19.440 -> 11:20.580] So I'm gonna park that aside.
[11:20.580 -> 11:23.340] Now I'm gonna move to your point of Aston Martin.
[11:23.340 -> 11:31.040] Very interestingly, Aston Martin turned around and Mike Crack said, guys, we read the weather wrong. Our
[11:31.040 -> 11:38.480] radar told us that it's not going to rain as hard. So we decided to say, let's just put on
[11:38.480 -> 11:43.200] another set of the hard tire and go because we'll figure out what happens next. Oh, sorry, he took
[11:43.200 -> 11:50.160] the medium because they said that the hard would have been tougher to be on and that's why they took the medium in the interchanging
[11:50.160 -> 11:54.800] conditions and let's remember just one third of the track was wet at that time like George Russell
[11:54.800 -> 12:07.520] also pointed out. Now here's the fun part. Okay even P2 in the race had such a cushion to P3 that they could pit with the wrong tyre, come back,
[12:07.520 -> 12:11.720] pit again, take the right tyre and still come out P2.
[12:11.720 -> 12:17.880] I mean, typically we speak of P1 having such a margin to P2 in conditions like these, but
[12:17.880 -> 12:24.760] P1 and P2 had such a strong margin that they could pit when they wanted, pit again if they
[12:24.760 -> 12:26.740] needed and still come out and hold position.
[12:26.740 -> 12:30.500] And funnily enough, my crack also said,
[12:30.500 -> 12:34.440] Fernando has a lot of experience in driving his endurance races,
[12:34.440 -> 12:37.560] where he's taken slicks on a wet track and he survived.
[12:37.560 -> 12:39.840] So we thought, why not just give him a slick?
[12:39.840 -> 12:43.760] I hope he was joking, but either way, it was great to just see them
[12:43.760 -> 12:50.440] try so many different things to try and beat Max Verstappen and get mission 33 accomplished.
[12:50.440 -> 12:52.880] Yeah, if only, if only.
[12:52.880 -> 12:58.040] But eventually with all that's happened, Alonso is only 12 points off Sergio Perez.
[12:58.040 -> 13:03.660] And that's what I really want to discuss right now, that even after such a stellar weekend,
[13:03.660 -> 13:06.320] it's only that that's the gap and it's amazing how fragile
[13:06.320 -> 13:13.120] this championship is Kunal because one bad weekend for Sergio Perez and he's that far off right now,
[13:13.120 -> 13:18.480] it's just the worst place to make a mistake because any other track right you could maybe
[13:18.480 -> 13:23.840] recover to let's say somewhere around P5, P4 thereabouts the Red Bull Racing car is that good
[13:23.840 -> 13:25.920] but here over there at Monaco,
[13:25.920 -> 13:30.240] Sergio had to make so many bold moves, some incredibly stupid ones as well it seemed,
[13:30.240 -> 13:36.720] and still the best that you could get is just someplace outside the points. It's so amazing
[13:36.720 -> 13:41.680] what kind of challenge this race preserves, not preserves, presents to you in front and that is
[13:41.680 -> 13:48.960] such an incredible part to me that so many drivers here were just whacking everyone. It was just a proper competition going on to try to
[13:48.960 -> 13:53.040] whack the barrier. It was Logan Sargent who was trying his very best and then
[13:53.040 -> 13:58.320] Lance Stroll Kunal. Lance Stroll. Why are we not talking about him again? I think
[13:58.320 -> 14:02.440] maybe my account has probably got some money from the strolls to not talk about
[14:02.440 -> 14:05.840] Lance Stroll taking a stroll back to the pits, being the only driver who
[14:05.840 -> 14:07.840] strolled back to the pits.
[14:07.840 -> 14:09.800] But wait, wait.
[14:09.800 -> 14:13.680] Lance Stroll, very interestingly, I mean,
[14:13.680 -> 14:15.480] I don't know what's so interesting.
[14:15.480 -> 14:18.880] There's always this question, is he holding Aston Martin back?
[14:18.880 -> 14:22.960] The truth is, Mercedes is, what, one point away from P2
[14:22.960 -> 14:24.420] in the Constructors' Championship
[14:24.420 -> 14:26.240] because Alonso's done all the heavy lifting.
[14:26.640 -> 14:31.080] Lance Stroll has scored in only 50% of the races that have been held this season,
[14:31.080 -> 14:33.080] out of which just one was a retirement.
[14:33.320 -> 14:36.160] And the funny thing is, he actually turned around and said,
[14:36.600 -> 14:38.880] in Barcelona, I aim to get into the points.
[14:39.000 -> 14:42.320] OK, well, with that Aston Martin, points are an obvious.
[14:42.360 -> 14:43.640] Can you try and get to the podium?
[14:43.640 -> 14:48.680] Because that's what Fernando is definitely trying to do every weekend and getting there.
[14:48.680 -> 14:52.880] But yeah, it was just amateurish stuff from Lance Troll.
[14:52.880 -> 14:57.640] I can understand Logan Sargent, for example, struggling because first time, you know, Formula
[14:57.640 -> 15:00.040] One car in Monaco, in the wet, etc, etc.
[15:00.040 -> 15:04.440] And that's different, you know, but Lance Troll has done millions of miles in previous,
[15:04.440 -> 15:05.340] you know, in private testing
[15:05.340 -> 15:06.860] with Williams.
[15:06.860 -> 15:09.920] And then I don't know how many races, how many ever races he's done.
[15:09.920 -> 15:12.340] So unacceptable stuff.
[15:12.340 -> 15:15.900] But hey, if his father can accept it, who are we to stop?
[15:15.900 -> 15:19.620] Because it's his father's money who's trying to sort of go off.
[15:19.620 -> 15:27.340] And very interestingly, when that happened, I was wondering, and guys, pardon me for being controversial here,
[15:27.340 -> 15:30.780] but I was wondering, ah, is Lance really trying
[15:30.780 -> 15:32.740] to get out of safety car?
[15:32.740 -> 15:34.740] I'm not going to explain why I thought of that.
[15:34.740 -> 15:38.140] But it's funny you mentioned that.
[15:38.140 -> 15:39.940] I had a friend of mine, a couple of them,
[15:39.940 -> 15:42.820] actually, were just watching Formula One for the first time.
[15:42.820 -> 15:44.740] And then I told them, there's this team called
[15:44.740 -> 15:47.120] Aston Martin, who has this incredible driver called Fernando
[15:47.120 -> 15:52.000] Alonso that you have to support and then they were like bro why is this team made
[15:52.000 -> 15:56.560] all the way back down there? How do you tell them? Seriously how do you tell them?
[15:56.560 -> 16:00.120] How do you justify what's happening? And watching him drive somehow felt like
[16:00.120 -> 16:04.000] anyone playing Formula One the video game on the simulator for the first time
[16:04.000 -> 16:08.800] at Monaco where you're just trying so hard to keep it on the track but your
[16:08.800 -> 16:13.560] skill is so much worse in an ambition and quite clearly the only place that
[16:13.560 -> 16:17.360] you could go is the barrier it's ridiculous how it worked out and I I
[16:17.360 -> 16:22.080] find it amazing Kunal I find it amazing I find it so intriguing that there were
[16:22.080 -> 16:25.680] 18 of the best Formula One drivers on Sunday trying their
[16:25.680 -> 16:30.800] absolute hardest, driving the slowest that they could possibly do to make sure that the car was
[16:30.800 -> 16:35.520] on the track, feathering the throttle, dicing their way around, dancing through the track
[16:35.520 -> 16:40.000] and then Lance Strude and Logan Sarge just did what they did. It's beautiful, skill difference is
[16:40.000 -> 16:44.480] the thing. And you know what Samul, we all know that Sebastian Vettel was in the paddock,
[16:44.480 -> 16:45.200] the thing. And you know what, Samu? We all know that Sebastian Vettel was in the paddock.
[16:50.320 -> 16:55.280] Imagine if Aston Martin had Alonso and Vettel racing. Could there have been two and three in a race where could there have been two and three in a race where Pacheco Perez was not,
[16:55.280 -> 17:00.320] you know, there for podium positions and almost literally nobody wanted third place.
[17:01.040 -> 17:07.520] Let's discuss P3 because Esteban Ocon, while he did a fantastic job, Alpine messed up
[17:07.520 -> 17:15.120] in the pits. It was two seconds off, right, when he sort of, you know, he got held back and suddenly
[17:15.120 -> 17:21.200] I was like, oh my god, that's it, that's all that Laura Rossi needs to keep firing his missiles
[17:21.200 -> 17:26.820] one more time towards Otmar Safnauer. And of course, I have a soft corner for Otmar for obvious reasons.
[17:26.820 -> 17:31.320] But then, so that was Esteban and we spoke about how P1, P2 had such a margin, but imagine
[17:31.320 -> 17:38.200] Esteban O'Connor in P3 also had a margin that despite a two second delay in the pit stops,
[17:38.200 -> 17:44.160] he still came out ahead of Carlos Sainz when racing resumed after their round of pit stops.
[17:44.160 -> 17:46.000] So literally nobody wanted P3 and Carlos
[17:46.000 -> 17:52.160] Sainz hit the barrier. He couldn't really challenge for P3 and there was one more challenger for P3
[17:52.160 -> 18:00.000] who was in P3 but ended up using the escape route and that was George Russell. Yeah, yeah, he had a
[18:00.000 -> 18:06.960] shocker didn't he Kunal? I mean the rejoin was just sorry blatantly bad. No the rejoin was
[18:06.960 -> 18:13.120] blatantly George Russell. Let's face it he's had a lot of on-track skirmishes in the last several
[18:13.760 -> 18:18.640] races, several months. He's going through that bedding in period where you know you keep crashing,
[18:18.640 -> 18:22.000] you keep hitting people and then suddenly you become very clean. We've seen a lot of other
[18:22.000 -> 18:28.240] drivers do that. Maybe Charles Leclerc is still going through that whole procedure, but we're going to just leave it at that. Oh goodness,
[18:28.240 -> 18:34.640] no, don't put it that way. That's a stinger, but it's terrible. I really want to bring it back
[18:35.280 -> 18:40.400] to Russell here for a second, because they tried in with the upgrades, so much of positivity around
[18:40.400 -> 18:48.640] them, wasn't it? Coming into the weekend that, hey hey Mercedes have a new car and finally they have a base platform on which they can build up
[18:48.640 -> 18:52.760] to develop this car so well and Hamilton was saying oh this is gonna be amazing
[18:52.760 -> 18:57.280] Toto Wolff as always was saying that this is gonna be amazing but remember
[18:57.280 -> 19:01.080] when the moment of truth finally arrived Kunal on Saturday before qualifying
[19:01.080 -> 19:05.600] Lewis Hamilton started off with his usual oh no I'm feeling a little nervous,
[19:05.600 -> 19:09.440] this car is a bit too tricky to drive, I'm not well prepared and all that whatever he says,
[19:10.080 -> 19:15.120] it's just back to reality I think and now I feel Mercedes are going to be good because Lewis
[19:15.120 -> 19:20.960] Hamilton is complaining again. And I would say that in general Mercedes realize oh my god we've
[19:20.960 -> 19:25.580] hyped up the upgrade so much we We better talk positively around it.
[19:25.580 -> 19:27.180] This is the whole PR strategy.
[19:27.180 -> 19:31.900] Anyway, but they scored their highest points ever at a race weekend by finishing fourth
[19:31.900 -> 19:32.900] and fifth.
[19:32.900 -> 19:35.820] They finished fourth and fifth, I think, one of the previous races, but Hamilton got the
[19:35.820 -> 19:36.820] fastest lap of the race.
[19:36.820 -> 19:39.180] So they've got 23 points.
[19:39.180 -> 19:42.100] I would say Mercedes had a decent race.
[19:42.100 -> 19:49.460] They actually had a very good strategy by splitting the two drivers, George Russell running really hard and late, waiting for
[19:49.460 -> 19:53.800] something to happen, waiting for the rain to come, actually, you know, after having
[19:53.800 -> 19:58.140] the pit stops, going ahead of Ocon and Sainz only to then end up making that
[19:58.140 -> 20:02.740] mistake and losing out on a podium position. So all in all, I mean, I would
[20:02.740 -> 20:09.280] say this was a strategy masterclass which then got accentuated or I mean, I would say this was a strategy masterclass, which then got accentuated, or I would say neutralized by the rain in itself.
[20:09.280 -> 20:13.360] Because when the rains came in, suddenly everybody who was driving to a strategy
[20:13.360 -> 20:17.120] had nothing to do and it sort of neutralized everybody's impact.
[20:17.120 -> 20:21.120] Because you touched upon Aston Martin and their strategy,
[20:21.120 -> 20:27.040] and I would say full marks to them for trying to do something different each time
[20:27.040 -> 20:29.240] to try and beat Max Verstappen.
[20:29.240 -> 20:31.080] But we've already spoken about that.
[20:31.080 -> 20:34.240] We need to talk about your best team, your best driver,
[20:34.240 -> 20:36.000] Carlos Sainz, Ferrari.
[20:36.000 -> 20:38.040] Why don't we just get to that?
[20:38.040 -> 20:40.120] I know you're trying to delay it, saying, oh my god,
[20:40.120 -> 20:40.760] we can just wait.
[20:40.760 -> 20:41.420] We can just wait.
[20:41.420 -> 20:43.360] They finished much lower down the order.
[20:43.360 -> 20:44.360] But guess what?
[20:44.360 -> 20:47.720] Charles Leclerc finally finished a race in Monaco.
[20:47.720 -> 20:48.640] The second time, no?
[20:48.640 -> 20:50.440] I think he finished one last year as well.
[20:50.440 -> 20:51.080] It's happening.
[20:51.080 -> 20:51.760] Last year, yeah.
[20:51.760 -> 20:52.600] We're getting there.
[20:52.600 -> 20:55.360] Slowly and steadily, we are getting there.
[20:55.360 -> 20:57.240] One day he'll be on the podium.
[20:57.240 -> 21:01.040] And one day, I mean, am I dreaming way too much of a say
[21:01.040 -> 21:02.760] that one day he's going to win this race?
[21:02.760 -> 21:03.560] Probably I am.
[21:03.560 -> 21:10.560] But to the point right now, I am, I don't know what to think Kunal, because at this one stage I'm thinking, oh well,
[21:11.120 -> 21:16.000] it's a little disappointing from Ferrari to mess up the strategy with Carlos Sainz and they maybe
[21:16.000 -> 21:20.720] should have called him a couple of laps earlier. That's one thing, but I'm also thinking, why
[21:20.720 -> 21:29.000] should Carlos Sainz be disappointed at them when he eventually also made that major error at Mirabeau that eventually cost him those couple of seconds that allowed Esteban
[21:29.000 -> 21:30.000] Ocon to go ahead.
[21:30.000 -> 21:34.320] I mean, if he's saying that the strategy is something that cost him this weekend, I don't
[21:34.320 -> 21:35.320] 100% agree.
[21:35.320 -> 21:39.680] I mean, certainly to a degree, but it's also him who made the error eventually.
[21:39.680 -> 21:45.520] So I know it's very tricky conditions and probably the hardest part in the world to drive a Formula
[21:45.520 -> 21:52.320] One car, but nevertheless, it's a little Carlos Sainz-y that when the moment of truth arrives,
[21:52.320 -> 21:56.400] he makes an error. Well, so does Charles Leclerc and you very cheekily just said,
[21:56.400 -> 22:00.960] maybe he'll get a podium one day at home. I think he will, I think he will win at home.
[22:00.960 -> 22:05.120] The question is if that team is going to be Ferrari because the way things are
[22:05.120 -> 22:09.920] going, I don't know if he's going to stick around. But again, it's just speculation,
[22:09.920 -> 22:15.520] just conjecture at this point. But all in all, Ferrari had a disastrous weekend, if we may put
[22:15.520 -> 22:20.320] it as that. The drivers were making errors, the race engineers were making errors. Leclerc had a
[22:20.320 -> 22:25.680] great lap. I think everybody was disappointed that it was Fernando Alonso challenging Max
[22:25.680 -> 22:31.120] Verstappen for pole. Esteban Ocon was a great surprise, but the disappointment was where did
[22:31.120 -> 22:37.280] Leclerc go? Because this was the circuit where the Ferrari was supposed to be the best in slow
[22:37.280 -> 22:43.360] corners and tractions and exits and so on. Yeah, exactly. It should have been them and it was meant
[22:43.360 -> 22:50.240] to be them all the way through. It's a little strange how everything dropped off, but I don't know, I'm so disappointed
[22:50.240 -> 22:55.240] at the way their race handled, was handled this weekend by them. But at this point, if
[22:55.240 -> 22:59.280] I'm the one being disappointed, maybe I'm the stupid one because my expectations have
[22:59.280 -> 23:03.760] been a little bit too high. Nevertheless, let's actually move on to one of the most
[23:03.760 -> 23:10.080] exciting segments of our show. It's time to come up with the stats review. And for that, we've got F1
[23:10.080 -> 23:14.040] stats group. Hey folks, it's time to do the stats review of that slightly chaotic Monaco
[23:14.040 -> 23:18.140] Grand Prix. My name is Sundaram, also known as the F1 stats group. Let's get straight
[23:18.140 -> 23:22.880] into the numbers. Now, match to step in is breaking records once again, and it takes
[23:22.880 -> 23:28.400] me back to the time when Lewis Hamilton was doing so, literally in every race, in the earlier part of the hybrid era,
[23:28.400 -> 23:32.900] actually between 2014 and 2021. But it's Verstappen's time to do so, because it is
[23:32.900 -> 23:37.560] the Verstappen era. With that win, Verstappen has taken 39 wins with the Red Bull team,
[23:37.560 -> 23:42.400] making him the most successful driver for Red Bull in Formula 1 history. He's just
[23:42.400 -> 23:49.920] gone past Sebastian Vettel's tally of 38 wins, which has taken a decade to do so. Verstappen also led all of the laps of the Monaco Grand Prix,
[23:49.920 -> 23:55.840] which takes him past 2000 laps led in his Formula 1 career, and he's just the 7th driver to do so.
[23:55.840 -> 24:00.080] Now with those 25 points, Max Verstappen has now taken the 4th longest point scoring streak
[24:00.080 -> 24:05.280] in all of Formula 1. He has only Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen ahead of him on that list.
[24:05.280 -> 24:10.000] But the other thing that he's also done is gone past Fernando Alonso on the all-time point scorers
[24:10.000 -> 24:13.760] list. Now if you take a look at the top five of that list, you have Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian
[24:13.760 -> 24:18.240] Nettl, now Max Verstappen, then Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. And Verstappen is the only
[24:18.240 -> 24:21.840] driver to have not driven when the previous point system existed. So that's kind of worked in his
[24:21.840 -> 24:30.960] favor in accumulating all of those points. But talking about Fernando Alonso at the age of 41. At the age of 41 he is now the oldest driver
[24:30.960 -> 24:37.920] to take a podium at Monaco in five decades. The last one to do so was Jack Brebham in 1970. So he
[24:37.920 -> 24:45.040] is really on a dream run and the other thing that he's done is become the only driver to take a podium at Monaco with
[24:45.040 -> 24:52.160] 4 different constructors. He did so with Renault in 2006, McLaren in 2007, Ferrari in 2011 and 2012
[24:52.160 -> 24:56.880] and now with the Aston Martin team this year. Let's also talk about Esteban Ocon,
[24:56.880 -> 25:01.040] what a brilliant drive he had. He is the first Frenchman to stand on the Monaco podium,
[25:01.040 -> 25:07.880] which was actually a home race for him this year because we don't have Paul Ricard on the calendar. But yes, the first Frenchman to stand on the Monaco podium
[25:07.880 -> 25:12.800] in 26 years, the last one to actually stand on the Monaco podium was Olivier Panis in
[25:12.800 -> 25:18.000] that chaotic 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, which only saw 3 race finishes.
[25:18.000 -> 25:23.560] ST Besti has now stood on all steps of the podium, first in Hungary 2021, second at Sakhari
[25:23.560 -> 25:25.600] 2020 and now third in Monaco
[25:25.600 -> 25:30.680] 2023. And the last stat of today is that the top 3 finished in the exact same order. West
[25:30.680 -> 25:35.720] Alpen P1, Fernando Alonso P2 and Esteban Ocon P3. They started in that same order, they
[25:35.720 -> 25:40.280] finished in that same order, which last happened at the 2021 United States Grand Prix. You
[25:40.280 -> 25:44.280] don't tend to see that very often. Well, that was the stats review. I hope you folks really
[25:44.280 -> 25:48.080] enjoyed that one and I hope you enjoyed the race as well to a certain extent. For more
[25:48.080 -> 25:52.800] such interesting stats and facts do follow me on my Instagram and Twitter under the name F1StatsGuru.
[25:52.800 -> 25:58.960] I'll see you folks very soon. Amazing isn't it Kunal, Fernando Alonso, four different constructors
[25:58.960 -> 26:07.360] and podiums for all of them at Monaco. This guy is on another level. But I want to talk about a couple of other
[26:07.360 -> 26:12.800] teams and drivers as well. And before I do that, I really want to talk about the skill level
[26:12.800 -> 26:18.160] and the challenge of driving here at Monaco when the rain came in. Because when we saw that camera
[26:18.160 -> 26:23.280] angle, the visor cam specifically, and the amount of rain coming in and the margin for error between
[26:23.280 -> 26:30.080] the gaps, this Kunal is peak Formula 1. And that to me was just one of the main reasons why you should
[26:30.080 -> 26:31.080] watch this sport.
[26:31.080 -> 26:32.280] It's a perfect advertisement.
[26:32.280 -> 26:37.320] Some of the best drivers in the world in some of the trickiest cars battling with so little
[26:37.320 -> 26:39.520] margin for any error.
[26:39.520 -> 26:42.520] That's such a brilliant way to get anyone hooked on.
[26:42.520 -> 26:44.400] And some of the best celebrities in the world.
[26:44.400 -> 26:50.720] There was so much glitz and glamour that we had a very famous Bollywood celebrity who called qualifying
[26:50.720 -> 26:56.880] a semi-final and then that whole image went viral and then I'm assuming she called the race a final.
[26:56.880 -> 27:04.240] But for all of y'all following that was Kareena Kapoor. Her husband actually worked on a Bollywood
[27:04.240 -> 27:06.360] racing film which is better
[27:06.360 -> 27:10.140] not spoken about and then there were two very famous cricketers. That wasn't a
[27:10.140 -> 27:14.140] bad movie Kunal, my childhood was based on that movie, it was beautiful. You mean
[27:14.140 -> 27:19.840] ruined by that movie, is that what you meant? But I'll tell you what, talking of
[27:19.840 -> 27:23.680] Monaco, we see of how you know there are all these fashion shows and walking the
[27:23.680 -> 27:30.760] ramps and so on, there was a different kind of walking off the ramp this weekend. There was a parade
[27:31.280 -> 27:33.080] for the drivers
[27:33.080 -> 27:37.920] Where they wanted to show the floor of their car. We saw Lewis Hamilton's floor
[27:37.920 -> 27:41.240] We saw the new floor that Mercedes was working on then
[27:41.760 -> 27:46.720] Checo Perez thought hey, why not show the world how the Red Bull's floor is?
[27:46.720 -> 27:48.680] So he crashed in qualifying.
[27:48.680 -> 27:50.280] Now, the disappointing part here,
[27:50.280 -> 27:54.160] and this is where I guess the Strolls have paid money for it,
[27:54.160 -> 27:55.880] was when Lance Stroll crashed.
[27:55.880 -> 27:57.600] He was the only retirement of the race,
[27:57.600 -> 27:59.800] and they recovered his car.
[27:59.800 -> 28:03.400] We did not get a single image of the underfloor of the Aston
[28:03.400 -> 28:03.900] Martin.
[28:03.900 -> 28:07.340] Now, of course, I joke about it each time I say the strolls are paid money,
[28:07.340 -> 28:13.400] but, you know, it was so interesting that millions of dollars going into hiding all these things,
[28:13.400 -> 28:18.500] suddenly one crash, and there the crane operator lifts it so high,
[28:18.500 -> 28:22.700] all the camera people zoom in with their best lenses, and they're like, there we go.
[28:22.700 -> 28:26.000] We have uncovered all the tricks by just
[28:26.000 -> 28:32.080] having the drivers crash. Yeah it's beautiful and the best headline of the entire weekend that
[28:32.080 -> 28:38.160] I've seen so far is one on racefans.net where I'm paraphrasing it a little bit but the headline
[28:38.160 -> 28:44.320] roughly said the Red Bull floor is so complicated and curvy that the rivals couldn't quite understand
[28:44.320 -> 28:49.200] what's going on underneath there. What else do you expect? Really? What else do you
[28:49.200 -> 28:52.600] expect? It's just genius from Aiden Newey and the fact that they were really
[28:52.600 -> 28:56.880] trying into Zoom and then also figured it out but it's you still can't copy
[28:56.880 -> 29:00.520] that stuff can you Kunal? You really can't considering how many little...
[29:00.520 -> 29:05.120] Depends who you ask. Oh yeah if you're talking about Aston Martin. It's like if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:05.120 -> 29:06.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:06.120 -> 29:07.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:07.120 -> 29:08.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:08.120 -> 29:09.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:09.120 -> 29:10.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:10.120 -> 29:11.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:11.120 -> 29:12.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:12.120 -> 29:13.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:13.120 -> 29:14.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:14.120 -> 29:15.120] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if
[29:15.120 -> 29:29.200] if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if But that is also such a major game that was being played this weekend. Whose flow can you properly capture? And hey, now that we're talking about Otmar, did you notice Alpine are now ahead of
[29:29.200 -> 29:34.240] McLaren in the point standing. So the biggest victory for them is right here. But in that whole
[29:34.240 -> 29:41.760] midfield as well, it was such a problematic affair for everyone, including my favorite Yuki Tsunoda.
[29:41.760 -> 29:46.040] Did you see what happened in the race, where Yuki Tsunoda literally became human
[29:46.040 -> 29:50.040] and conveyed that the thoughts that every single driver has,
[29:50.040 -> 29:51.320] but they're just a little bit too afraid
[29:51.320 -> 29:52.640] to say it out loud on radio.
[29:52.640 -> 29:54.240] He said, the brakes are shit.
[29:54.240 -> 29:55.480] And what do you want me to do?
[29:55.480 -> 29:56.920] Crash in the barrier.
[29:56.920 -> 29:59.520] Every single driver must have that thought in their head,
[29:59.520 -> 30:01.640] but Yuki Tsunoda is the only one
[30:01.640 -> 30:03.480] who doesn't maintain that filter.
[30:03.480 -> 30:06.840] And that's why I love him. And that's why my heart pains so much
[30:06.840 -> 30:07.760] at the end of the weekend,
[30:07.760 -> 30:09.960] that this guy is just the nicest guy
[30:09.960 -> 30:12.760] trying to help out solving the floods in Imola last week.
[30:12.760 -> 30:16.280] And then here we are, amazing qualifying on Saturday,
[30:16.280 -> 30:20.680] comes up in Q3 and then the breaks.
[30:20.680 -> 30:22.720] Well, you know what?
[30:22.720 -> 30:26.440] Lando Norris finished best of the rest.
[30:26.440 -> 30:29.200] And now best of the rest is literally the fifth fastest.
[30:29.200 -> 30:32.080] See, McLaren scored double points finish only the second time
[30:32.080 -> 30:33.040] in the year.
[30:33.040 -> 30:35.320] McLaren, by the way, are less than half
[30:35.320 -> 30:36.360] of the points of Alpine.
[30:36.360 -> 30:39.720] So despite the whole battle between all of them,
[30:39.720 -> 30:41.320] McLaren are really lagging behind.
[30:41.320 -> 30:51.240] But talking about Yuki Sonoda, before the rains came, actually he was the one running, I think it was eighth place at that time, right?
[30:51.240 -> 30:54.880] Yeah, yeah. That was really impressive and what happened, he had brake issues and
[30:54.880 -> 30:59.640] when the rain came, it just accentuated that, you know, it exaggerated the issues,
[30:59.640 -> 31:05.520] brake temps were a challenge and that's when everything went bust for him. So Yuki
[31:05.520 -> 31:09.440] Zenoda, yes I would have loved to see him perform you know with the whole hopes
[31:09.440 -> 31:16.000] that he's gonna be racing alongside Lance Stroll in 2026 in Aston Martin
[31:16.000 -> 31:22.000] Honda. I don't know that's what Honda would at least hope for. Yeah exactly and
[31:22.000 -> 31:28.600] another amazing story from this weekend was Christian Ohno literally coming out in the media and then saying that hey had we known
[31:28.600 -> 31:32.440] that Honda was actually going to come back so soon we probably wouldn't have
[31:32.440 -> 31:36.720] invested in Red Bull Technologies just giving away how clueless that company is
[31:36.720 -> 31:42.080] as well. I love Honda deep down but I don't know it just feels like a teenager
[31:42.080 -> 31:45.680] in their first ever relationship where one fine day they'll walk up to you and say,
[31:45.680 -> 31:47.920] oh darling, I love you, you're the one for me.
[31:47.920 -> 31:49.800] And then they'll eventually go by and say,
[31:49.800 -> 31:52.560] oh no, it's not you, it's me, something's not right.
[31:52.560 -> 31:54.560] And then the next day they'll be back saying, I love you.
[31:54.560 -> 31:56.360] It's a little silly how it all goes about.
[31:56.360 -> 31:59.000] But I also want to talk about something even sillier.
[31:59.000 -> 32:02.200] And that Kunal is the Haas drivers.
[32:02.200 -> 32:04.920] And they were absolutely going for it.
[32:04.920 -> 32:05.760] I mean Nico
[32:05.760 -> 32:09.640] Hulkenberg was sending in so many great moves and Kevin Magnussen literally
[32:09.640 -> 32:14.520] sent two absolutely fuck it I'm gonna do this kind of dives on Logan Sargeant in
[32:14.520 -> 32:19.360] the first 17 laps this is brilliant racing I mean everyone was sending it
[32:19.360 -> 32:23.460] down the instead of Logan Sargeant and all it proves to me is if one drive was
[32:23.460 -> 32:25.760] bad enough Monaco can produce
[32:25.760 -> 32:30.240] so many great overtakes. This was great racing today.
[32:30.240 -> 32:35.120] Yeah Logan Sargent, poor guy. I think he lost three or five positions in a span of a couple
[32:35.120 -> 32:42.240] of laps. But I think what I really loved was despite the cars being so wide and heavy and
[32:42.240 -> 32:46.320] long and all of that, we've already highlighted how the drivers
[32:46.320 -> 32:48.920] behave themselves so well in the whole treacherous part
[32:48.920 -> 32:51.360] that almost everybody was waiting for a safety car,
[32:51.360 -> 32:53.360] but nobody got a safety car because they were like,
[32:53.360 -> 32:54.600] no, I'm waiting for a safety car,
[32:54.600 -> 32:55.760] so I will not call it out.
[32:55.760 -> 32:56.740] And the other one was like,
[32:56.740 -> 32:58.440] but hey, I'm also waiting for a safety car,
[32:58.440 -> 33:01.200] so I will not be the reason why the safety car comes out.
[33:01.200 -> 33:03.360] And then everybody was waiting for the other
[33:03.360 -> 33:06.680] and the safety car didn't eventually come out so why am I saying that is because
[33:06.680 -> 33:11.580] the Haas drivers showed that if you needed to overtake if you needed to
[33:11.580 -> 33:17.200] bang wheels and find your way through you could do it and they did that and in
[33:17.200 -> 33:20.880] in many ways I liked that about Monaco because everybody thought it's gonna be
[33:20.880 -> 33:23.960] a procession you'll just drive around but there were people who wanted to
[33:23.960 -> 33:26.400] overtake they were like I will bang wheels if I
[33:26.400 -> 33:31.720] have to but I will make a move and we saw a few fun moves you know it was it
[33:31.720 -> 33:37.440] was like a boxing match on track and with Formula One cars. It was phenomenal
[33:37.440 -> 33:42.920] and that's why I love Haas so much it's just cowabunga craziness madness all
[33:42.920 -> 33:49.800] the way through but well before we end episode, I really want to take out a second to talk about the challenge of the Monaco GP,
[33:49.800 -> 33:54.800] because they did this while being in such a tricky track and then the treacherous conditions coming in.
[33:55.200 -> 34:00.600] The more I think about it Kunal, the more I am in awe of these drivers for what they've achieved,
[34:00.600 -> 34:05.360] especially Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso for just the kind of amazing
[34:05.360 -> 34:12.520] driving that they've put through and Max especially because the gap to Alonso just kept on increasing.
[34:12.520 -> 34:17.040] Phenomenal driver skill, unbelievable, especially when his medium compound tyres were getting
[34:17.040 -> 34:20.760] chewed out and he literally had no grip left at all.
[34:20.760 -> 34:25.280] So hats off to him and we hope that we get to see just as good driving and just as good
[34:25.280 -> 34:31.040] racing in fact next weekend as well because if you are in Mumbai you get to join us for our Spanish
[34:31.040 -> 34:36.320] GP screening and Tadar Social on Sunday. It's going to be good fun F1 stats crew and myself are
[34:36.320 -> 34:41.920] going to be there. We're going to have a pre-race interaction, a special Formula One quiz and a fun
[34:41.920 -> 34:49.120] post-race interaction where we can just talk about the race, Formula One in general and also have a really fun time over some food and drinks.
[34:49.120 -> 34:54.000] So for more information on that, you should check out the link in the episode description
[34:54.000 -> 34:55.940] for how you can join us as well.
[34:55.940 -> 34:57.940] And we'd be very, very glad to welcome you along.
[34:57.940 -> 35:02.480] But all in all Kunal, great weekend, I think far better than what I'd imagined it to be
[35:02.480 -> 35:03.480] this Thursday.
[35:03.480 -> 35:06.880] Yeah, I have two stats that I've, you know, I'm going to read out.
[35:06.880 -> 35:09.920] One is, of course, a hard break for you before we end it.
[35:09.920 -> 35:14.480] Ferrari equaled their lowest point score from a race weekend in Monaco.
[35:14.480 -> 35:17.360] In Bahrain, they are 12 points. In Monaco, they are 12 points.
[35:17.360 -> 35:18.880] I had to do that to you.
[35:18.880 -> 35:23.520] But for all the Nick DeVries fans who are waiting for him to score a point,
[35:24.560 -> 35:28.720] Nick DeVries was 20th and last before Monaco.
[35:29.040 -> 35:32.200] He scored 12th, his best finish of the season.
[35:32.640 -> 35:38.760] And now he has actually jumped Logan Sargent and he's taken 19th place.
[35:38.760 -> 35:42.380] So those two drivers are yet to score a point this season, but they're already
[35:42.380 -> 35:46.240] engaged in a battle where it's like Max
[35:46.240 -> 35:50.440] Verstappen and Checo Perez are going, of course,
[35:50.440 -> 35:51.940] Max has just been first throughout,
[35:51.940 -> 35:53.060] so he's been unchallenged.
[35:53.060 -> 35:54.940] But imagine there is a battle for a driver not
[35:54.940 -> 35:58.560] wanting to finish 20th, and that's between the two
[35:58.560 -> 36:00.880] rookies this season.
[36:00.880 -> 36:02.360] It's amazing.
[36:02.360 -> 36:06.440] And I think they're also going to be in the fight for fighting for P21 as
[36:06.440 -> 36:07.440] well.
[36:07.440 -> 36:11.120] And Nicholas Latifi, I just hope he comes back and then we have him once again finishing
[36:11.120 -> 36:13.040] 21st in a 20 driver championship.
[36:13.040 -> 36:15.440] But maybe I'm dreaming a bit too much right now.
[36:15.440 -> 36:18.680] But folks, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, thank you.
[36:18.680 -> 36:20.220] Thank you for coming to this stage.
[36:20.220 -> 36:22.920] And thank you for subscribing to our podcast as well.
[36:22.920 -> 36:26.040] And by the way, if you really love this, you can also send us your feedback
[36:26.040 -> 36:27.500] and what you thought about the race
[36:27.500 -> 36:30.400] as well by clicking on the feedback section
[36:30.400 -> 36:32.560] down below on Spotify especially.
[36:32.560 -> 36:34.960] Or if you don't see that option on your platform,
[36:34.960 -> 36:37.600] you can reach out to us on social media anyway.
[36:37.600 -> 36:38.800] But thank you for listening.
[36:38.800 -> 36:42.600] We hope you had a fun time this weekend because we surely did.
[36:42.600 -> 36:44.440] We'll be back for the Spanish GP preview.
[36:44.440 -> 36:45.840] That was it. Take care.
[36:56.790 -> 36:58.850] you