The Land of the Disqualified - 2023 United States GP Review

Lewis Hamilton drove a mega race at the Circuit of the Americas. Yes, the 2023 United States Grand Prix certainly gave fans a lot of hope - that Max Verstappen's Red Bull might well be challenged in the near future.

However, several hours post-race (when most fans were asleep!) the FIA deemed that Hamilton's Mercedes was illegal - as it had excessive plank wear than permitted in the regulations. As a result, Hamilton was disqualified and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc joined him on this list.

In this episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Soumil Arora, @f1statsguru and Kunal Shah discuss the 2023 United States GP. The Sprint weekend did make it tough for the teams to fine tune their setup - in fact, four out of ten teams had setup issues.

Haas & Aston Martin chose to start from the pit lane while Mercedes and Ferrari were too low and faced disqualification.

But why does the FIA conduct post-race checks? How do they choose what cars to check and what do they eventually check? This topic is fairly technical but Soumil-@f1statsguru do well to explain the situation.

Finally, the disqualifications saw a significant change in the final race result and the drivers who ended up scoring points. After 18 races in his debut season, Logan Sargeant finally scored his first race point!

We are probably Lance Stroll's biggest critics, but credit where it's due - from the pit lane to the points is always a super result, especially when there are no mid-race interruptions. 

There's a lot packed into this show, enjoy it! 

(Season 2023, Episode 56)

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

Image courtesy: Mercedes

**Summary of the 2023 United States Grand Prix Inside Line F1 Podcast Episode 56**

* **Main Talking Points:**
* The disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc due to excessive plank wear.
* The impact of the sprint weekend format on team setups and strategies.
* The dominance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing.
* The resurgence of McLaren and the emergence of Logan Sargeant.
* The struggles of Ferrari and Mercedes.

* **Key Insights and Perspectives:**
* The FIA's post-race checks are conducted to ensure compliance with technical regulations.
* The choice of cars to check is based on indicators such as excessive plank wear, driver head movement, and circuit characteristics.
* The sprint weekend format presented challenges for teams in fine-tuning their setups, leading to several teams having issues.
* Mercedes' decision to attempt a one-stop strategy was influenced by their belief that they could not challenge Red Bull on pace.
* Red Bull's focus on maintaining clean air and optimal tire wear allowed them to overcome their lack of track position.
* Mercedes' pit stop times have been slower compared to other teams, costing them valuable seconds during the race.
* McLaren's improvement in pit stop times highlights the importance of efficient pit work in Formula One.
* Lewis Hamilton's disqualification overshadowed his impressive pace and renewed motivation.
* The race showcased the psychological aspect of Formula One, with drivers' thoughts and emotions being accessible to the audience.
* Ferrari's struggles with tire wear and strategy contributed to their disappointing result.
* Ferrari's race engineers' communication with drivers appeared shaky and lacked confidence.

* **Controversies and Particularly Insightful Moments:**
* The disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc sparked debates about the fairness and consistency of the FIA's technical regulations.
* The differing strategies employed by Mercedes and Red Bull provided an interesting contrast in approach to the race.
* Lewis Hamilton's comments during the race, such as "No shit, Max is closing up," offered a unique insight into the mindset of a Formula One driver during a competitive battle.

* **Overall Message and Takeaway:**
* The 2023 United States Grand Prix was a race of surprises, with unexpected results and strategic twists.
* The dominance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing continued, while Mercedes and Ferrari faced challenges.
* The sprint weekend format added an element of unpredictability and highlighted the importance of adaptability and quick decision-making.
* The disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc served as a reminder of the strict enforcement of technical regulations in Formula One. **2023 United States Grand Prix Recap and Analysis**

The 2023 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas provided Formula One fans with a glimmer of hope that Max Verstappen's Red Bull dominance could be challenged in the near future, thanks to Lewis Hamilton's impressive performance. However, post-race checks by the FIA resulted in the disqualification of Hamilton's Mercedes and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc due to excessive plank wear, significantly altering the final race results.

**Key Discussion Points:**

1. **Post-Race Checks and Disqualifications:**
- The FIA conducts post-race checks to ensure compliance with regulations.
- The selection of cars for inspection is based on various factors, including team performance, car setup, and potential rule breaches.
- The checks focus on specific components, such as plank wear, which must meet prescribed limits.

2. **Technical Explanation of Plank Wear:**
- The plank is a flat, wooden surface located underneath the car's floor.
- Excessive plank wear can compromise the car's aerodynamic performance and lead to disqualification.
- The FIA strictly enforces plank wear regulations to maintain fair competition.

3. **Impact of Disqualifications on Race Results:**
- The disqualifications of Hamilton and Leclerc resulted in a significant change in the final race standings.
- Logan Sargeant of Williams scored his first Formula One point, marking a milestone for the American driver in his debut season.
- Lance Stroll's impressive performance, starting from the pit lane and finishing in the points, was a highlight of the race.

4. **Aston Martin's Struggles and Setup Issues:**
- Aston Martin faced setup problems, with both cars starting from the pit lane.
- The team's decision to use older parts instead of new upgrades raised questions about their development strategy.
- Fernando Alonso's retirement marked his first DNF of the season, highlighting Aston Martin's challenges.

5. **McLaren's Resurgence and Lando Norris's Performance:**
- McLaren has shown improvement since the Austria upgrade, climbing in the standings and challenging for higher positions.
- Lando Norris surpassed Charles Leclerc in the Drivers' Championship, showcasing his consistent performance.

6. **Logan Sargeant's First Point and Its Significance:**
- Sargeant's point-scoring finish in his home race, despite the unusual circumstances, was a positive result for Williams.
- The team praised Sargeant's progression and racecraft, emphasizing the importance of building momentum and confidence.

**Conclusion:**

The 2023 United States Grand Prix provided excitement, controversy, and a glimpse of potential shifts in the Formula One power dynamics. The post-race disqualifications highlighted the FIA's strict enforcement of regulations, while the performances of Sargeant and Stroll demonstrated the unpredictable nature of the sport. As the season nears its conclusion, the Mexican Grand Prix promises further drama and intense competition.

[00:00.000 -> 00:23.240] This right here folks is the United States Grand Prix review on the InsideLineF1 podcast
[00:23.240 -> 00:27.120] and on this episode we are going to be talking a lot about planks.
[00:27.120 -> 00:30.280] Not the one on SpongeBob, not the one you do in the gym,
[00:30.280 -> 00:32.840] but also the one on the bottom of a Formula One car.
[00:32.840 -> 00:34.200] Why is it so important?
[00:34.200 -> 00:36.720] And why was that the reason why Leclerc and Hamilton
[00:36.720 -> 00:38.920] got taken away from the race?
[00:38.920 -> 00:41.920] And why was that the reason why Logan Sargent scored his first ever points?
[00:41.920 -> 00:44.680] More on that, more on Verstappen and his dominance,
[00:44.680 -> 00:49.640] more on the weekend as a whole, how did it work out and crucially, how on earth did Mercedes
[00:49.640 -> 00:54.080] and McLaren end up losing a race that they controlled for such a long period. That's
[00:54.080 -> 00:58.640] going to be the agenda of this weekend and of this race review on the Inside Line F1
[00:58.640 -> 01:03.600] podcast. But very quickly, let's firstly introduce ourselves. My name is Somal Arora. I'm the
[01:03.600 -> 01:07.400] voice of the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix and also the host of the Indian Racing
[01:07.400 -> 01:09.040] League on Star Sports.
[01:09.040 -> 01:13.560] Joined as always by firstly Kunal Shah, the former marketing head of the Force India F1
[01:13.560 -> 01:18.640] team, an FIA accredited F1 journalist for the Viaplay network and also an occasional
[01:18.640 -> 01:20.800] TV expert in Norway as well.
[01:20.800 -> 01:25.680] And of course, F1 stats guru, fresh off a stint in the F1 Academy as well with the stats finally being used on that broadcast there as well. And of course, F1 stats grew fresh off a stint in the F1 academy as well with the stats
[01:25.680 -> 01:30.880] finally being used on that broadcast there as well. But folks, that is us. Let's very quickly
[01:30.880 -> 01:36.480] get to the Grand Prix. Now, what happened at the end was very simple Kunal, Verstappen dominating
[01:36.480 -> 01:41.520] once again, winning in the sprint, winning in the main race. He came from P5, very patient at the
[01:41.520 -> 01:46.840] start, very unlike Max actually, from the very past, but then the control seeped in.
[01:46.840 -> 01:48.800] And even though Mercedes and McLaren seemed to have
[01:48.800 -> 01:51.720] decent pace towards the mid and the end respectively,
[01:51.720 -> 01:54.160] it just couldn't trouble Max.
[01:54.160 -> 01:55.760] And I have a question for you.
[01:55.760 -> 01:58.800] What is the definition of insanity in your head, Kunal?
[01:58.800 -> 02:00.240] Like very quickly, what do you think of
[02:00.240 -> 02:01.160] when you say a person is insane?
[02:01.160 -> 02:04.500] When they try a one-stop strategy in Austin,
[02:04.500 -> 02:07.880] I would say that's probably a bit of insanity out there.
[02:07.880 -> 02:10.000] And I remember, I think 2019,
[02:10.000 -> 02:12.880] Lewis tried it and got beaten by Valtteri Bottas.
[02:12.880 -> 02:14.920] Of course, the whole formula was different.
[02:14.920 -> 02:17.480] All the variables were different back then.
[02:17.480 -> 02:20.680] But that's just, again, recency bias at play,
[02:20.680 -> 02:23.160] but that's insanity for me.
[02:23.160 -> 02:24.960] And I think Charles Leclerc actually said this
[02:24.960 -> 02:25.240] in his post-race media pen. see bias at play, but that's insanity for me. And I think Charles Leclerc actually said this
[02:25.240 -> 02:28.080] in his post-race media pen.
[02:28.080 -> 02:31.920] He said, I don't know how this worked out.
[02:31.920 -> 02:33.320] The biggest learning for me today
[02:33.320 -> 02:36.560] is that you can't do the race in Austin on a one-stopper.
[02:36.560 -> 02:41.000] And then he said that Ferrari's numbers indicated
[02:41.000 -> 02:44.000] that a one-stopper would just be as good as a two-stopper.
[02:44.000 -> 02:49.980] And so they decided to put him on a one stopper. Isn't it fun though that since we have
[02:49.980 -> 02:53.700] the sprint we can't quite actually validate these things in a good free
[02:53.700 -> 02:57.120] practice so we just threw everything in the mix and figured it out. But in my
[02:57.120 -> 03:00.760] head Sundaram, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
[03:00.760 -> 03:08.360] again and expecting a different result. We play out the same strategic master class of a race for 18-20 times in a season and expect
[03:08.360 -> 03:12.640] someone else apart from Max to win. I think we're honestly just stupid, really.
[03:12.640 -> 03:18.520] You know this race immediately took me back to my seventh grade maths lesson on
[03:18.520 -> 03:24.160] constants and variables. There have been a few constants, for example Max Verstappen
[03:24.160 -> 03:25.000] winning every
[03:25.000 -> 03:30.360] single race, Charlotte-Clerc starting on pole and then dropping down the grid, quite clearly
[03:30.360 -> 03:37.280] due to tyre issues, tyre wear issues and Ferrari not opting for the most ideal strategy. And
[03:37.280 -> 03:42.560] in terms of variables, we saw Yuki Tsunoda taking a point, he even took the fastest lap,
[03:42.560 -> 03:45.760] Lance Stroll taking a point, finally getting points
[03:45.760 -> 03:51.840] after the summer break. And he had Logan Sargent, in fact, both the Williams cars scored a point.
[03:51.840 -> 03:55.280] Quite a bit of guys, quite a bit of both happening through this weekend.
[03:55.280 -> 03:58.880] I don't feel the energy. What's up? Logan Sargent has scored a point guys. We need to
[03:58.880 -> 04:05.920] celebrate this. Make some noise. Come on. I don't think so anyone's celebrating it better than you, Swamiji.
[04:05.920 -> 04:10.460] But it's, actually, you know what, we'll get to Logan Sarge in a second, we really want
[04:10.460 -> 04:14.860] to talk about him, but let's very quickly look at the main race results, right, because
[04:14.860 -> 04:20.240] we are incredibly clear that Verstappen is the constant at the top, but what I genuinely
[04:20.240 -> 04:28.540] want to talk about immediately is why Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified because quite clearly Kunal, they had a race built up especially Lewis right
[04:28.540 -> 04:31.980] with that new Mercedes Ford upgrade, you could tell that that
[04:31.980 -> 04:35.780] second place was very well earned but then to be disqualified because their
[04:35.780 -> 04:39.340] plank, the plank at the bottom of their car that's needed for safety reasons was
[04:39.340 -> 04:43.740] not thick enough because it got skidded away during the race. I mean what do you
[04:43.740 -> 04:45.120] tell a kid who's just built a
[04:45.120 -> 04:49.200] beautiful sandcastle and then someone just walks in and destroys it? Like seriously, what do you
[04:49.200 -> 04:54.240] tell a kid? It depends if the kid is George Russell or Lewis Hamilton, isn't it? But the
[04:54.240 -> 05:00.400] question has to be asked, was Lewis's pace genuinely because of the upgrades or was it
[05:00.400 -> 05:06.160] because they were running the car a little lower than expected or than it should have been run?
[05:06.160 -> 05:09.880] And hence the car was deemed illegal, right?
[05:09.880 -> 05:15.280] And that's a word that can really hurt, especially, imagine this in a country or rather in a world
[05:15.280 -> 05:21.480] where there are so many car manufacturers, only the elite get to participate in Formula
[05:21.480 -> 05:22.600] One.
[05:22.600 -> 05:27.980] And Red Bull, an energy drinks company could could figure the plank, the ride height, correctly,
[05:27.980 -> 05:30.300] even though it cost them performance.
[05:30.300 -> 05:33.540] But Ferrari and Mercedes didn't end up doing that.
[05:33.540 -> 05:36.660] And of course, we can attribute this to human error,
[05:36.660 -> 05:39.100] obviously, or an engineering error,
[05:39.100 -> 05:40.660] because of the sprint race weekend.
[05:40.660 -> 05:43.260] But this is also what I love about the sprint race weekend.
[05:43.260 -> 05:51.520] I mean, four out of 10 teams had set up issues, Ferrari and Mercedes, as we know, because of illegal,
[05:51.520 -> 05:57.040] the cars not conforming to the technical regulations were sort of off. But also Haas and
[05:57.040 -> 06:00.800] Aston Martin decided to start from the pit lane because they're like, oh my God, we got the setup
[06:00.800 -> 06:05.600] all wrong. We'd rather change the whole car and start from the pit lane
[06:05.600 -> 06:07.720] than start from the back of the grid
[06:07.720 -> 06:09.160] and drive with a bad car.
[06:09.160 -> 06:11.760] So four out of 10 teams, that's 40%
[06:11.760 -> 06:14.960] of the grid that got the setup wrong this time.
[06:14.960 -> 06:18.160] No, but it's ridiculous because of that, Sundaram.
[06:18.160 -> 06:22.120] We saw so many, I wouldn't say mishaps,
[06:22.120 -> 06:26.200] but mismanagement in races in a way, because some cars were
[06:26.200 -> 06:28.480] slower or faster than we expected them to be.
[06:28.480 -> 06:34.040] But the main talking point, right, why did the FIA take away Hamilton's well-earned P2
[06:34.040 -> 06:37.840] and also Leclerc's P6, inconsequential at the end, but that's okay.
[06:37.840 -> 06:41.760] But the way the checking goes quite simply is very clear, right, at least that's how
[06:41.760 -> 06:43.440] it happens in domestic motorsport.
[06:43.440 -> 06:49.240] P1 is always checked, quite simply by the scrutineers, right? You have to do that as a norm. Normally
[06:49.240 -> 06:54.440] when P1 is checked, they also check the car in P4, because quite simply that is the next
[06:54.440 -> 06:58.120] one that will get promoted if something's wrong with P1. After that's done, normally
[06:58.120 -> 07:04.080] things are okay, usually, then they go to P2 and the car in P5. Now in this case, in
[07:04.080 -> 07:07.920] the provisional results, that was Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, both of them unfortunately,
[07:07.920 -> 07:12.480] suffering from the same result. And now that they will be taken off, they will then check car
[07:12.480 -> 07:15.680] number three and then car number six. And eventually that's how the way things go.
[07:15.680 -> 07:20.000] And if there's a general trend, they might pull up more cars, or if there are other people
[07:20.000 -> 07:24.880] generally protesting. For instance, if they notice something funny in the engine, right,
[07:24.880 -> 07:29.280] a team going to a certain level of RPM band that nobody has ever extracted and then someone
[07:29.280 -> 07:33.120] protests, maybe they'll check that for all the cars with the same engine. But generally that's
[07:33.120 -> 07:39.200] how it works and in this whole pulling of strands Sundaram, they very randomly pulled up, I wouldn't
[07:39.200 -> 07:43.760] say very randomly but they pulled up Lewis and Leclerc and all of the things that made a good
[07:43.760 -> 07:48.240] race have been vanished now. Like Lewis's podium, wasn't it incredible to watch?
[07:48.240 -> 07:52.360] Absolutely. I think one of the things that actually made this race enjoyable
[07:52.360 -> 07:56.400] was the fact that the balance kept shifting across multiple teams and
[07:56.400 -> 08:00.080] that's what we really enjoyed. You never really knew if it was going to be
[08:00.080 -> 08:04.160] a Red Bull win, is it going to be a Mercedes win, is it going to be a McLaren win.
[08:04.160 -> 08:05.120] But going back
[08:05.120 -> 08:09.600] to the previous point that we discussed before this, I think the reason why a lot of teams do
[08:09.600 -> 08:15.600] not have their setups finalized is also because that's what Formula One wants, or the FIA wants.
[08:15.600 -> 08:21.920] The scheduling causes these little problems or the unpredictability. That's what they were looking
[08:21.920 -> 08:27.320] for. The more you have in terms of practice sessions, the more you're able to fine-tune your setup and that's
[08:27.320 -> 08:31.760] how more predictable the race ends up to be. When you have only one practice session
[08:31.760 -> 08:35.040] there's going to be a bunch of teams who don't have the setups in the right
[08:35.040 -> 08:38.440] order. There are a bunch of things that teams don't check like in this case with
[08:38.440 -> 08:43.400] Mercedes and Ferrari. Not a lot of teams were able to do high fuel runs and
[08:43.400 -> 08:50.200] they were not really able to measure how much the plank gets eroded or rubbed away. And now coming back to
[08:50.200 -> 08:54.640] this point of how, because a lot of people have been asking, was it randomly
[08:54.640 -> 09:00.200] checked? And FIA's technical delegate does look at certain indicators before
[09:00.200 -> 09:04.320] the race, during the race and even after the race. And the scheduling, I mean
[09:04.320 -> 09:07.800] current scheduling is such that we have a sprint shootout, we have sprint
[09:07.800 -> 09:11.200] qualifying, we have a sprint race and it's also a triple head-on. So there's
[09:11.200 -> 09:15.600] only so much time available to actually check every single car. So they really
[09:15.600 -> 09:19.280] have to pick out the cars based on certain indicators. It's definitely not
[09:19.280 -> 09:24.600] random and what are those indicators? During the race, if the titanium skid
[09:24.600 -> 09:25.120] plate, if it titanium skid plate,
[09:25.120 -> 09:27.280] if it gets, what's the right word,
[09:27.280 -> 09:31.080] rubbed away a bit too much, it emits a certain odor.
[09:31.080 -> 09:33.760] And that kind of triggers an alarm for you that,
[09:33.760 -> 09:35.080] okay, this is one of the cars
[09:35.080 -> 09:36.600] that we probably have to check.
[09:36.600 -> 09:38.600] They also check a lot of indicators during the race.
[09:38.600 -> 09:39.920] They check for the driver footage,
[09:39.920 -> 09:41.960] if their head is bumping a lot,
[09:41.960 -> 09:45.920] if the car is bumping a lot on straights.
[09:45.920 -> 09:48.880] And plus also the circuit's characteristics.
[09:48.880 -> 09:51.480] Qatar had a lot of high race curves.
[09:51.480 -> 09:53.880] So that is why a lot of cars were checked post race.
[09:53.880 -> 09:56.360] Not as much for the previous races.
[09:56.360 -> 09:59.680] In Austin, the track surface is very bumpy
[09:59.680 -> 10:01.320] and it changes year on year.
[10:01.320 -> 10:03.560] So that's why there were up to four cars
[10:03.560 -> 10:10.000] that were actually picked out and checked. And probably they felt that these indicators were not there for the sister
[10:10.000 -> 10:14.160] cars. A lot of people have been asking this very question. Why didn't they check this
[10:14.160 -> 10:17.800] for the other teams? Or why didn't they check the sister cars? The technical delegate probably
[10:17.800 -> 10:21.720] didn't feel that those indicators really raised any sort of an alarm. And that's where just
[10:21.720 -> 10:30.240] these four were picked in addition to what you said. And at the end of the day also who has really protested for it like if there was a major
[10:30.240 -> 10:34.320] championship implication to it you know for a fact the other team would be protesting and
[10:34.320 -> 10:38.560] immediately the stewards would have to pick it up if it's an official legally registered protest.
[10:38.560 -> 10:44.080] That's a long lengthy FIA based story but let's not get into that today let's get more into the
[10:44.080 -> 11:06.400] race and if you were wondering about the results if you were confused about all that just happened in We saw Lewis Hamilton being taken out. So Lando Norris gets second. Carlos Sainz is third. Sergio Perez
[11:06.400 -> 11:13.920] Well, hey guys finally in P4 and then we have Russell in P5. Pierre Gasly making it P6. Lance Stolen in 7th. Yuki Sonoda 8th.
[11:13.920 -> 11:19.080] Alex Albon 9th. Logan Sargent 10th and most importantly of them all
[11:19.760 -> 11:26.640] After a terrible strategy, Daniel Ricardo on his return in P15. But we'll get back with the main talking points in a second.
[11:26.640 -> 11:27.640] We'll be back.
[11:27.640 -> 11:30.160] Stay right here.
[11:30.160 -> 11:32.960] Welcome back in folks to the InsideLine F1 podcast.
[11:32.960 -> 11:37.080] Now we have it very, very clear about why Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified.
[11:37.080 -> 11:43.240] But what I want to talk to you about now Kunal, and what I generally also am very eager to
[11:43.240 -> 11:45.320] put it out there is Mercedes'
[11:45.320 -> 11:48.820] conservatism because we saw the float upgrade work well in the sprint, we saw
[11:48.820 -> 11:52.560] the float upgrade work well in qualifying-ish, they were closer than before
[11:52.560 -> 11:57.840] clearly and in the main race right that haunting pace from Lewis Hamilton that
[11:57.840 -> 12:01.400] really scared Landon Norris at the end, you could feel that this car suddenly is
[12:01.400 -> 12:05.360] turned on, turned on by what is a different question,
[12:05.360 -> 12:10.400] I'll leave that to your imagination, but something went right, clearly. Now, where do you think they
[12:10.400 -> 12:14.480] really lost it? Do you think, apart from the DQ that is, assuming in a good ideal world the DQ
[12:14.480 -> 12:20.000] didn't happen, but I genuinely felt that in the first pit stop, Mercedes were, I think, caught out
[12:20.000 -> 12:24.000] by the sprint weekend format because they didn't have enough time to prepare, so they went for a
[12:24.000 -> 12:28.720] half-baked choice of going for a one-stopper and clearly that didn't work out. But do you think
[12:28.720 -> 12:36.160] they were too conservative? Well, you know, depends how you see it. In my mind, McClartin and Mercedes
[12:36.160 -> 12:42.640] knew all along that Red Bull and Max Verstappen or rather Max Verstappen in that Red Bull had the
[12:42.640 -> 12:45.000] pace to win and was going to win.
[12:45.000 -> 12:49.000] They knew that eventually they're going to see track position to him.
[12:49.000 -> 12:55.000] So they realized that the only way to try and get him was to try something different on strategy.
[12:55.000 -> 12:59.000] Because when they tried something different on strategy, at least they were giving themselves a chance.
[12:59.000 -> 13:05.320] If they were all pitting within each other's windows, trying just that one lap undercut or overcut,
[13:05.320 -> 13:06.960] it wasn't gonna work, right?
[13:06.960 -> 13:08.880] And that's the reason why they tried what they did.
[13:08.880 -> 13:10.520] So they eventually tried the one stopper.
[13:10.520 -> 13:12.560] I think both Zac Brown and Toto Wolff
[13:12.560 -> 13:13.800] alluded to it post-race.
[13:13.800 -> 13:15.640] And we thought we'll do the one stopper.
[13:15.640 -> 13:16.720] Then we realized that the one stop
[13:16.720 -> 13:18.480] was actually not working out.
[13:18.480 -> 13:20.440] And then they suddenly had to switch mid-race.
[13:20.440 -> 13:23.400] And in all of this, I loved what Red Bull was able to do,
[13:23.400 -> 13:26.320] because Red Bull turned around and said, okay, we don't have track position,
[13:26.320 -> 13:29.240] but what we do know is the more we keep Max in clean air
[13:29.240 -> 13:31.680] and the more we just run through the optimal strength
[13:31.680 -> 13:33.240] lens for our car,
[13:33.240 -> 13:35.960] we will eventually be the faster car on the grid.
[13:35.960 -> 13:37.760] And we will of course have to make overtakes,
[13:37.760 -> 13:39.120] which is what Max did,
[13:39.120 -> 13:42.000] even though overtaking was not just as easy as,
[13:42.000 -> 13:48.880] you know, as easy as, you know, as it's been for him before. So it was just down to Mercedes trying
[13:48.880 -> 13:55.280] to do it differently. Were they conservative? Well, I would probably imagine they were just
[13:55.840 -> 14:01.520] like, okay, we got to roll the dice and see where it lands. And now Mercedes is of course wondering
[14:01.520 -> 14:06.800] that, was their pace or the true pace masked by
[14:06.800 -> 14:11.440] the fact that they ran lower, at least on Lewis's car. So that's probably going to be one variable
[14:11.440 -> 14:16.160] that's playing on their head as well. You know, there's also the point that,
[14:16.880 -> 14:21.840] like we discussed earlier on as well, Verstappen didn't really have it easy and starting from P6,
[14:21.840 -> 14:25.240] he didn't really overtake for the lead I think
[14:25.240 -> 14:31.040] after the first 15 or 20 laps it took him that long and Verstappen he literally
[14:31.040 -> 14:35.580] sounded flustered during the whole race he was literally being put to test by
[14:35.580 -> 14:41.240] the tyres, by the strategy so there was a lot happening there and even
[14:41.240 -> 14:49.360] Red Bull's pitstops weren't the quickest. Verstappen had a 2.5 second pit stop and a 3.3 second pit stop the second one.
[14:49.360 -> 14:53.760] They were not, I would say, usually how perfect they are in the other races.
[14:53.760 -> 14:57.040] They were really not as perfect in the US Grand Prix.
[14:57.040 -> 15:01.360] But I really have a bone to pick with Mercedes and this has been long coming.
[15:02.000 -> 15:06.080] We've seen what McLaren has been doing over the last couple of seasons with improving
[15:06.080 -> 15:08.400] their pitstop times.
[15:08.400 -> 15:10.920] Mercedes has been going the other way.
[15:10.920 -> 15:16.720] Ever since 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 now, for the last 3 seasons, Mercedes have not
[15:16.720 -> 15:19.240] been putting fast pitstop times.
[15:19.240 -> 15:27.120] They're somewhere at the bottom, I think 6th or 7th amongst the 10 teams in terms of changing tyres.
[15:27.120 -> 15:30.920] Yesterday Lewis Hamilton had a 2.6 second pit stop and his second pit stop, the more
[15:30.920 -> 15:35.800] crucial pit stop was I think 3.6 seconds and you have McLaren and the other teams doing
[15:35.800 -> 15:39.160] close to 2.1, 2.2, 2.3.
[15:39.160 -> 15:46.560] If Mercedes had done just a second quicker, at least a second quicker, 2.6, Lewis Hamilton would
[15:46.560 -> 15:51.280] have been much, much closer and probably even in DRS range to Max Verstappen on the final
[15:51.280 -> 15:52.280] lap.
[15:52.280 -> 15:56.080] And it probably doesn't matter as much in the other races because you're really not
[15:56.080 -> 15:58.240] battling as close, probably in the midfield.
[15:58.240 -> 16:02.880] But when Red Bull really slips up, you cannot afford to have these sort of other mistakes
[16:02.880 -> 16:04.800] and even a second really, really matters.
[16:04.800 -> 16:06.640] But did Red Bull really slip up?
[16:06.640 -> 16:08.560] That's what I'm wondering, because they just
[16:08.560 -> 16:10.080] had to run their car a little higher
[16:10.080 -> 16:12.680] because of the bumpy nature of the circuit
[16:12.680 -> 16:14.520] and to avoid plank wear.
[16:14.520 -> 16:16.400] And you're right, Sundaram, though,
[16:16.400 -> 16:19.400] that Mercedes should have been a little more sharp.
[16:19.400 -> 16:20.880] Because the first stop came late.
[16:20.880 -> 16:23.520] They were sort of in the middle of nowhere, Plan A, Plan B,
[16:23.520 -> 16:29.800] Plan C, or Plan D, depending if you're Ferrari, right? But they lost some seven, eight seconds in the
[16:29.800 -> 16:34.440] first stop and some more seconds in the second stop trying to be out of sequence, trying
[16:34.440 -> 16:39.000] to, you know, try and high speed game of chess, but you know, you're losing, you know, that's
[16:39.000 -> 16:45.000] that's how it was. And maybe they maybe Hamilton would have been, you know, would have been closer to Max.
[16:46.060 -> 16:48.380] Maybe there would have been a battle out there.
[16:48.380 -> 16:51.260] Who knows, but eventually he would have still been
[16:51.260 -> 16:53.220] disqualified for the setup change.
[16:53.220 -> 16:55.340] But yeah, I think we should leave the disqualification
[16:55.340 -> 16:56.180] on the side.
[16:56.180 -> 16:58.500] But the way I also see it is McLaren would be
[16:58.500 -> 17:01.920] not feeling too bad after not just the result,
[17:01.920 -> 17:03.780] but the disqualification still means that
[17:03.780 -> 17:10.720] they were the second fastest car. And some more depth if we were to take within the race results. And
[17:10.720 -> 17:15.600] you know, I liked how you picked up Yuki Sonoda extra point for the fastest lap. That's because
[17:15.600 -> 17:22.640] he had such a massive margin to be 11 in, you know, Alexander Albon at that time, who of course
[17:22.640 -> 17:32.320] had a had a time penalty as well. But very interestingly, Pierre Gasly got eighth place, but was still 23 seconds away
[17:32.320 -> 17:35.720] from George Russell in seventh.
[17:35.720 -> 17:38.280] Of course, I'm just reading out the old race results.
[17:38.280 -> 17:40.000] So this is very confusing for everybody.
[17:40.000 -> 17:45.760] But the gaps were such that, you know, there was like, like Samuel says, Formula 1.
[17:45.760 -> 17:49.920] And suddenly McLaren and Mercedes were within the Formula 1 range because Max finished,
[17:49.920 -> 17:51.680] what, 2.2 seconds ahead.
[17:51.680 -> 17:56.780] In Formula 1.5, it was about 23 or 22 seconds with Alpine and the likes.
[17:56.780 -> 17:59.400] And Alfa Tauri was a part of Formula 1.5.
[17:59.400 -> 18:03.840] Because imagine an Alfa Tauri in 10th place could say, I'm going to make the extra stop
[18:03.840 -> 18:05.760] and I'm going to get the extra point.
[18:06.120 -> 18:09.640] So all in all, it was a different race.
[18:09.640 -> 18:12.800] It wasn't the most entertaining one, if I may put it as that.
[18:12.840 -> 18:18.160] Lots of strategy that was there, but different narratives within the whole field out there.
[18:18.160 -> 18:22.840] And of course, the narrative that hogged the limelight was the disqualification.
[18:23.080 -> 18:25.520] But it shouldn't take away from the fact that
[18:25.520 -> 18:29.240] Red Bull, Maxwell Stappin delivered a brilliant race.
[18:29.240 -> 18:34.440] Hannah Schmitz again, shown as she normally does, as she always does on the pit lane.
[18:34.440 -> 18:38.480] And also Lewis Hamilton, he just seemed more fired up than usual.
[18:38.480 -> 18:40.280] I don't know if it's because he was racing in America.
[18:40.280 -> 18:48.000] I had some of his celebrity friends there, or just that this new floor suits him and is giving him what he wants from a race car
[18:48.000 -> 18:53.600] But Hamilton was a delight to watch. I mean imagine saying to anyone in the outside world, right?
[18:53.600 -> 18:58.320] I just need a new floor and my life will change completely. They look at you like what are you stupid?
[18:58.320 -> 19:01.600] What do you mean new floor? But on Hamilton and the race?
[19:01.600 -> 19:05.160] I think one very interesting thing to watch this weekend
[19:05.160 -> 19:08.120] was just Lewis Hamilton so focused in the middle of his game.
[19:08.120 -> 19:12.800] Now, in any other sport, we can't quite listen to the athlete in the middle of a battle as
[19:12.800 -> 19:15.160] much as we can in Formula One, right?
[19:15.160 -> 19:18.760] Imagine a cricketer facing a ball while batting in the final of a World Cup and then hearing
[19:18.760 -> 19:19.760] their thoughts.
[19:19.760 -> 19:22.800] Or say a footballer, again, playing in a major league as well, for instance.
[19:22.800 -> 19:26.960] In the NFL, they've tried, but I don't think you can get as raw and as unfiltered as a
[19:26.960 -> 19:29.080] Formula One driver in the middle of a race.
[19:29.080 -> 19:32.560] And when you heard Lewis Hamilton say, no shit, Max is closing up.
[19:32.560 -> 19:35.880] That was amazing, because you could tell the way he's thinking, like, yes, I know that's
[19:35.880 -> 19:36.880] happening.
[19:36.880 -> 19:37.880] What can I do about it?
[19:37.880 -> 19:41.520] There's that psychology of Lewis as well, like, buddy, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm giving
[19:41.520 -> 19:42.520] it my best.
[19:42.520 -> 19:48.600] To know what goes on in the mind of an athlete right in the middle of their competitive battle of sorts,
[19:48.600 -> 19:50.840] I think that is phenomenal.
[19:50.840 -> 19:51.840] And I'm personally so grateful
[19:51.840 -> 19:54.480] that we get to see access to technology like that.
[19:54.480 -> 19:56.360] But the second thing about the main race,
[19:56.360 -> 19:58.160] and this is the interesting part, Sundaram,
[19:58.160 -> 20:03.160] it's a lot like expecting the result of an experiment
[20:04.920 -> 20:06.560] where you put Mentos and Coke in
[20:06.560 -> 20:09.440] a bottle and expecting like a big blast.
[20:09.440 -> 20:14.360] Except this was more like putting soda into water with lemon and getting a small fizz.
[20:14.360 -> 20:17.360] It takes more time for the main race to compound.
[20:17.360 -> 20:18.360] And this one was more of that.
[20:18.360 -> 20:23.560] It was not like a instant pop bang, lots of chaos because of many different variables.
[20:23.560 -> 20:25.360] I think the fact that the race took
[20:25.360 -> 20:30.560] its time to compound and let all the variables mix up like the strategy, the lack of practice,
[20:30.560 -> 20:35.520] the new flow, the driving ability, the plank, I think that really made for a good mix at the end,
[20:35.520 -> 20:40.320] because all the variables eventually ended up finishing where they are meant to finish. Like
[20:40.320 -> 20:44.400] if you put rocks in a bottle of water, they will eventually sink down. And that is exactly what we
[20:44.400 -> 20:47.720] saw today. That's a very good point and that's exactly what happened.
[20:47.720 -> 20:52.460] Eventually what happened did when Lando Norris came second, Hamilton was there on the podium.
[20:52.460 -> 20:57.080] But the fact was that I think people were a little miffed or unhappy with the way how
[20:57.080 -> 21:01.960] sprint the sprint race went and it kind of gave out a lot of how the tire wear is going
[21:01.960 -> 21:04.220] to be or how the tires are going to react as well.
[21:04.220 -> 21:07.480] So people were a little unhappy with how the sprint went and they kind of
[21:07.480 -> 21:10.080] predicted that it's going to be a pretty straightforward race and it is far from
[21:10.080 -> 21:14.480] it and when you have different tyre strategies like one driver is on a
[21:14.480 -> 21:18.920] medium and another is on a hard, the race will always go into the final stages of
[21:18.920 -> 21:22.560] the race and you can't really figure out who's going to be winning it and that's
[21:22.560 -> 21:27.540] what really happened and on the last, I think Hamilton was 1.5 seconds,
[21:27.540 -> 21:28.500] 1.3 seconds.
[21:28.500 -> 21:30.080] You look at it.
[21:30.080 -> 21:30.820] It's that close.
[21:30.820 -> 21:32.940] It's that fine margin.
[21:32.940 -> 21:35.360] One lap more and probably could have been a different story
[21:35.360 -> 21:35.860] altogether.
[21:35.860 -> 21:37.660] And that's the fun part of it.
[21:37.660 -> 21:40.040] When you see a race being decided on the final lap,
[21:40.040 -> 21:43.540] on the final few corners, that's when you feel this, yeah,
[21:43.540 -> 21:45.320] you've done very good race.
[21:45.320 -> 21:49.040] GP came up to read the gap to Max Verstappen,
[21:49.040 -> 21:50.920] saying Max it's 3.6.
[21:50.920 -> 21:53.240] And by the way, Max was facing a lot of issues
[21:53.240 -> 21:54.080] with his brakes.
[21:54.080 -> 21:55.840] He had to change his brakes on Saturday.
[21:55.840 -> 21:57.880] He wasn't comfortable with it, et cetera.
[21:57.880 -> 21:59.440] So that's what the, those were the issues
[21:59.440 -> 22:02.340] that he was referring to on the radio each time,
[22:02.340 -> 22:03.400] time and time again.
[22:03.400 -> 22:07.920] But one sec, when GP said, gap to Lewis is 3.6,
[22:07.920 -> 22:11.920] and he was saying, don't speak to me in the breaking area, whatever, that was fun.
[22:11.920 -> 22:16.640] But at that time, I was just wondering if that was a hidden message to say, you know,
[22:16.640 -> 22:21.520] we're in America, the biggest fan base market that we're trying to attract,
[22:21.520 -> 22:25.300] could you slow down a little and you know and let Lewis finish a little closer to you?
[22:25.300 -> 22:28.260] And is that why it came down to 1.1, 1.2,
[22:28.260 -> 22:30.540] and then eventually max is like 2.2 is fine.
[22:30.540 -> 22:33.440] It's just half of 4.4 or 44.
[22:33.440 -> 22:36.000] Anyway, but I'm just making joke of it.
[22:36.000 -> 22:40.100] But this whole talk of one more lap,
[22:40.100 -> 22:42.300] Lando Norris said, had I had one more lap,
[22:42.300 -> 22:44.640] I would have had a podium in the sprint or something.
[22:44.640 -> 22:46.680] I never understand this concept. If I had one more lap, I would have had a podium in the sprint or something. I never understand this concept.
[22:46.680 -> 22:51.160] If I had more of this, I would have done that and my life would have been different.
[22:51.160 -> 22:58.360] And if I, I mean, beats me, but anyway, you just had 56 laps and I'm glad you all made it count.
[22:58.360 -> 23:01.000] If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a bike.
[23:01.000 -> 23:07.760] I'm sure we've all heard of that, it's time for a lame joke alert right,
[23:07.760 -> 23:12.480] the reason maybe Max is having brake issues is because he's quite simply at this moment in time
[23:12.480 -> 23:20.800] unstoppable. Let's talk about Ferrari. We had a Ferrari on Pole Sundaram and I think it really
[23:20.800 -> 23:25.260] helps out with your sort of love for trends in Formula One because
[23:25.260 -> 23:29.540] yet again, I think it's the 10th race in a row where Charles Leclerc has taken a pole,
[23:29.540 -> 23:34.540] I mean, 10th pole position of Leclerc, where he hasn't quite converted it into a Grand
[23:34.540 -> 23:35.540] Prix win.
[23:35.540 -> 23:37.340] And we didn't expect this to happen anyway.
[23:37.340 -> 23:40.500] I mean, looking at the pace, looking at the first and the way they were managing their
[23:40.500 -> 23:50.240] tyres, it was evident that yes, while at some circuits, their problem of managing the degradation was better than others. This one wasn't that one. I mean, over here,
[23:50.240 -> 23:54.160] they really badly got exposed in that regard. Pace wasn't really the best, they had a scrappy
[23:54.160 -> 23:58.360] battle here and there in the middle as well. What went wrong according to you all the way
[23:58.360 -> 24:03.320] through for Ferrari? Because I genuinely can't pick it out. Like it's at this stage where
[24:03.320 -> 24:08.980] it's like, where can you go from here now honestly I mean I've honestly not even checked that stat to
[24:08.980 -> 24:12.820] be very honest I'm not even seeing how many wins Verstappen has taken off Charles Leclerc
[24:12.820 -> 24:16.860] polls the only fact being that's happened so many times I mean no matter
[24:16.860 -> 24:21.100] where Verstappen starts if Leclerc is on poll he has to end up winning I mean
[24:21.100 -> 24:26.000] Verstappen has to end up winning but But for Ferrari, I think, like I said,
[24:26.000 -> 24:27.640] there's been a bunch of constants.
[24:27.640 -> 24:31.040] I mean, within the first lap itself, first corner itself,
[24:31.040 -> 24:33.200] you could kind of realize that it
[24:33.200 -> 24:36.400] was kind of ending for Leclerc's hopes of winning this race,
[24:36.400 -> 24:39.600] because they were being really affected by tire wear.
[24:39.600 -> 24:42.800] And I felt that the fact that this was a sprint weekend,
[24:42.800 -> 24:44.960] and probably not a lot of teams had a lot of running
[24:44.960 -> 24:47.680] on the hard tires. So they really don't know how long
[24:47.680 -> 24:52.360] those tires could extend to and Ferrari in that sense really tried to take a
[24:52.360 -> 24:57.100] gamble and see maybe it was conservative or whatever it is but you can still see
[24:57.100 -> 25:01.240] those little issues with strategy creeping in and then for some reason I've
[25:01.240 -> 25:10.240] just been noticing this over the season Ferrari Ferrari's race engineers, I mean Leclerc or Sainz's race engineers don't sound very inspiring
[25:10.240 -> 25:15.680] when they're speaking to their drivers. It sounds very shaky, it sounds, they sound very nervous.
[25:16.720 -> 25:22.960] 10 laps or 8 laps of the race to end, they go ahead and ask if he can do a Plan C. I'm not sure
[25:22.960 -> 25:30.240] if it really instills confidence in Leclerc and Sain and science but I mean take an example of GP or Bono when you ask a question you get a
[25:30.240 -> 25:34.560] straight answer with a lot of confidence. In Ferrari's case it's like yeah we're checking
[25:34.560 -> 25:40.080] what do you think can we do C can we do D what are your thoughts let us know and I don't know
[25:40.080 -> 25:45.840] how the drivers tend to feel after that. This is where the whole plan C, plan D conversations came in
[25:45.840 -> 25:48.540] and Ferrari are still on the alphabet thing.
[25:48.540 -> 25:52.920] But honestly, race engineers, after a point,
[25:52.920 -> 25:55.480] are just messengers to the drivers.
[25:55.480 -> 25:57.320] There's a strategy team that's filling them in,
[25:57.320 -> 25:59.360] asking them what's what, and then the race engineers
[25:59.360 -> 26:01.360] are literally just getting feedback from the driver
[26:01.360 -> 26:05.760] and their view, which is where the whole question comes up for Ferrari
[26:05.760 -> 26:11.520] specifically. But also I think, a little bit of flak less for the Ferrari race engineers,
[26:11.520 -> 26:17.520] because if you're not British and if English is not your first language, then you don't always
[26:18.720 -> 26:25.520] sound as good or as confident as you would in native languages, whether it's Spanish or whether it's Italian or the likes.
[26:25.520 -> 26:31.360] And do you guys remember from the Friday poll position contest where
[26:32.160 -> 26:36.320] Xavi actually came up on the radio to say, so lap time deleted,
[26:36.320 -> 26:41.760] four-way stappen and then Charles Leclerc blew a lid and he said FFS.
[26:42.560 -> 26:48.120] Okay, you guys know what that means, but yeah, he said, FFS, say the name first.
[26:48.120 -> 26:50.720] And then Shavi, as expected, actually turned around
[26:50.720 -> 26:53.720] and said, wish tap and lap time deleted.
[26:53.720 -> 26:56.760] So he was just following instructions of his star
[26:56.760 -> 26:57.320] driver.
[26:57.320 -> 27:00.820] But all in all, I think for Ferrari, at least in the race,
[27:00.820 -> 27:03.680] they admitted that they read the strategy wrong.
[27:03.680 -> 27:06.040] And that was the cause of their downfall,
[27:06.040 -> 27:08.240] which Charles Leclerc with Carlos Sainz,
[27:08.240 -> 27:10.880] they believe actually they maximized the race strategy
[27:10.880 -> 27:11.600] as we could.
[27:11.600 -> 27:13.520] Now, I don't know if it was them who
[27:13.520 -> 27:15.680] decided on their race strategy or if it
[27:15.680 -> 27:17.400] was Carlos Sainz himself.
[27:17.400 -> 27:20.200] I like that Ferrari kind of plays the role of a therapist
[27:20.200 -> 27:20.960] as a driver.
[27:20.960 -> 27:23.200] Because if you go into a conversation with anyone
[27:23.200 -> 27:26.080] who studied psychology, they'll become
[27:26.080 -> 27:30.880] enablers in a way, they won't give you the answers to your questions but they'll enable you to find
[27:30.880 -> 27:35.840] them on your own, so on your pursuit of truth and destiny. So whenever Leclerc has a question in the
[27:35.840 -> 27:40.000] middle of a race, right, that hey should we go on the hard compound tires, the engineer should simply
[27:40.000 -> 27:44.400] respond saying I don't know, should we? And put him back to Leclerc because eventually you are the one
[27:44.400 -> 27:48.000] who will find your own destiny. Figure it out you've got to be independent on your own only you
[27:48.000 -> 27:52.880] are the one who knows all the answers so why bother relying on anyone else. It's a it's good leadership
[27:52.880 -> 27:59.920] isn't it Kunal. It is and you know whoever decided to put the soft on Carlos Sainz's car in the sprint
[27:59.920 -> 28:05.080] as well because 19 cars on the medium, one car on the soft.
[28:05.080 -> 28:07.080] And you would have just, you know, this is a pub quiz.
[28:07.840 -> 28:08.400] Which race?
[28:08.400 -> 28:10.380] There was one race that happened in history.
[28:10.740 -> 28:12.360] There were 19 cars that took the medium.
[28:12.360 -> 28:13.960] One car took the soft.
[28:14.700 -> 28:16.120] Didn't win the race on the soft.
[28:16.400 -> 28:18.120] Which team do you think it was?
[28:18.460 -> 28:21.000] And there's a very high chance people would just say Ferrari.
[28:21.000 -> 28:24.000] And I wonder if there was Carlos Sainz just saying, I'll take the soft and manage.
[28:24.000 -> 28:28.720] And he managed pretty well so that he saved an extra medium for the main race on Sunday but
[28:29.360 -> 28:36.000] we also have uh I think for once and this is where Ram one of our listeners very active on social
[28:36.000 -> 28:41.680] media would be pleased Aston Martin got the setup wrong started both the cars from the pit lane
[28:42.320 -> 28:46.960] Lance Stroll scored points from the pit lane. Incredible.
[28:46.960 -> 28:52.400] Yeah, we let that sink in. Let's have a two-minute silence in celebration. My god, it's incredible.
[28:54.240 -> 28:57.520] I don't know what to feel Kunal. I don't know what to feel because this should have been
[28:57.520 -> 29:02.160] Fernando Alonso's points, realistically. I mean, they both would have gotten points. Yes,
[29:02.160 -> 29:07.320] the way things go. But Alonso, unfortunate with that retirement in the middle of that race.
[29:07.320 -> 29:11.400] But you know, I really want to talk about Aston Martin for a second for this very reason,
[29:11.400 -> 29:15.760] because they're now representing what Yamaha and Honda have been in MotoGP for the last
[29:15.760 -> 29:16.760] two years.
[29:16.760 -> 29:22.760] For context, God-tier manufacturers have won uncountable number of world championships.
[29:22.760 -> 29:25.120] But in the recent years, they've been so far flung back
[29:25.120 -> 29:30.080] in the development war that the only thing they do when an upgrade comes in is use the old part
[29:30.080 -> 29:34.240] because they feel they're more comfortable with it. Aston Martin came in with new parts this time
[29:34.240 -> 29:38.320] on, they're like no, we want to use the old setup, the cutter setup, because they're more comfortable
[29:38.320 -> 29:42.160] with that. And this is a trend that's been happening for a few races now for them. And
[29:42.160 -> 29:47.200] they're in that stage where their new advancements aren't quite as good as their old parts, they aren't quite as
[29:47.200 -> 29:50.860] comfortable. Are they not taking enough risks? Are the new developments not good
[29:50.860 -> 29:54.760] enough? What's really happening there because from the standards that we set
[29:54.760 -> 29:59.080] early on in the year Sundaram, celebrating P7 for launch troll is like
[29:59.080 -> 30:02.960] where are we now? It's a good thing like but still where have we come to?
[30:02.960 -> 30:07.640] The Aston Martin story is a bit of a sad one. I think there's quite
[30:09.280 -> 30:12.400] an exciting one towards the start of the season, seeing them take what, seven
[30:12.400 -> 30:17.280] podiums, but the way they've literally fallen off the cliff in every single race
[30:17.280 -> 30:21.880] since, I don't know, Austria, was it? It's kind of really sad to see.
[30:21.880 -> 30:26.080] And the really good thing that they can take out from this
[30:26.080 -> 30:28.880] race was that they managed to take points.
[30:28.880 -> 30:31.080] Lance Troll managed to take points when starting from the pit lane.
[30:31.080 -> 30:35.240] And I think Fernando Alonso had his first retirement of the year.
[30:35.240 -> 30:41.120] He's not gone so long in a season, if I'm not wrong, I really have to check this.
[30:41.120 -> 30:46.400] I don't think he's gone so long into a season without a single retirement. What?
[30:46.400 -> 30:49.600] Yeah, I think, what is this, race number 18?
[30:49.600 -> 30:56.000] He's just preparing for one big retirement at the end of the year, considering the weightings of the NFL boys.
[30:56.000 -> 30:58.000] This is race 18.
[30:58.000 -> 31:07.000] But yeah, coming back to Aston Martin, they've dropped below McLaren in the standings and they have a healthy lead against Alpine.
[31:07.000 -> 31:12.600] It's quite sad to see a team that was probably fighting for P2 in the championship has come down all the way down to P5.
[31:12.600 -> 31:15.480] I think that's an improvement of 2 points from last year.
[31:15.480 -> 31:16.600] Wow. Yay!
[31:16.600 -> 31:19.480] I don't know if you can celebrate that.
[31:19.480 -> 31:24.480] Talking of points, Lando Norris is now ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Drivers' Championship.
[31:24.480 -> 31:26.480] And about 22 points away from Carlos Sainz. points. Lando Norris is now ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Drivers' Championship and about
[31:26.480 -> 31:32.080] 22 points away from Carlos Sainz. I'd love to see if he's able to go catch Carlos Sainz.
[31:34.560 -> 31:39.360] The rate at which Aston Martin has dropped, McLaren has climbed 2x of that since that
[31:40.320 -> 31:45.280] Austria upgrade. But also, we spoke about Ferrari. Just one quick thing.
[31:45.280 -> 31:48.120] I think on the grid, Charles actually
[31:48.120 -> 31:51.440] told Pierre Gasly that he was going to one-stop.
[31:51.440 -> 31:54.520] And Pierre Gasly was like, no effing way.
[31:54.520 -> 31:56.280] The cute thing was that Charles actually
[31:56.280 -> 31:58.520] believed that he could pre-race just share
[31:58.520 -> 32:00.280] with Pierre Gasly, who was his friend,
[32:00.280 -> 32:02.280] that I'm going to do a one-stopper.
[32:02.280 -> 32:04.480] I mean, if they were competing for the championship,
[32:04.480 -> 32:07.920] he probably wouldn't. But he knows that Alpine is nowhere
[32:07.920 -> 32:11.200] amongst the fight for Ferrari.
[32:11.200 -> 32:14.440] But we were on Aston Martin, and Fernando Alonso
[32:14.440 -> 32:15.880] took the old floor.
[32:15.880 -> 32:17.760] Lance Stroll took the new floor.
[32:17.760 -> 32:18.280] I don't know.
[32:18.280 -> 32:19.840] Conventional logic would make you
[32:19.840 -> 32:21.880] believe that you want to do the other way around,
[32:21.880 -> 32:23.880] but you know whose father owns the team.
[32:23.880 -> 32:31.040] Or maybe Fernando just turned around and said, I would rather do the old floor because I've done enough on the new floor to know, uh, you know, to
[32:31.040 -> 32:38.480] do an actual, uh, in season in, in race weekend comparison and do it as a test. And then finally, Logan Sargent, he scored a
[32:38.480 -> 32:45.760] point home race. Only bummer is that he didn't get to do it live in front of his fans, in front of home fans,
[32:45.760 -> 32:50.720] assuming he's got a lot of American home fans. And he actually did a decent race because he was just
[32:50.720 -> 32:55.840] 1.2 seconds behind Alexander Albin. Of course, Albin had those time penalties.
[32:56.560 -> 33:00.480] I think we're bad people. Come on, Kunal, we should celebrate this a little bit more. I mean,
[33:00.480 -> 33:07.760] we legitimately made an episode slandering his, uh, this Williamson's decision to put him in the seat next year,
[33:07.760 -> 33:11.600] but genuinely like all jokes and sarcasm aside,
[33:11.600 -> 33:14.800] which is hard to do at times, it's a good result. I mean,
[33:14.800 -> 33:17.520] even though it's needed two cars to be disqualified,
[33:17.520 -> 33:20.760] five cars to be taken away from the main race because of retirement,
[33:20.760 -> 33:23.920] some sort of other issues, many others to go on stupid strategies,
[33:23.920 -> 33:27.680] but whatever it was, we got a point for Williams and Logan Sargent,
[33:27.680 -> 33:30.120] and what this does in my head, Sundaram,
[33:30.120 -> 33:32.840] is also just place them at a certain level.
[33:32.840 -> 33:34.680] Now that they've proven that they can,
[33:34.680 -> 33:36.560] even in weird circumstances, at least that is,
[33:36.560 -> 33:38.120] but get points in both cars,
[33:38.120 -> 33:39.880] I think it really puts pressure on them for next year
[33:39.880 -> 33:40.960] to make the right choice,
[33:40.960 -> 33:43.720] that, hey, even if your worst driver can get points,
[33:43.720 -> 33:50.400] imagine how good you would be with a good one. So it's a I know it's a bit of a somber take on a guy scoring his first ever
[33:50.400 -> 33:55.600] points in Formula One but I see potential I see Williams potentially maybe being in that fight
[33:55.600 -> 34:00.560] with the likes of the Alfa Romeo's and Alfa Tauri's on a more consistent basis rather than just once
[34:00.560 -> 34:29.360] in a while popping up and being B4 and Z4. make those decisions I think they've been really spot-on in certain situations in terms of strategy going the long way and going on a one-stopper and really
[34:29.360 -> 34:32.480] putting a lot of bulk of the pressure on Alex Albon who's also been doing
[34:32.480 -> 34:36.320] extremely well and the sort of question that you asked I'm just wondering why
[34:36.320 -> 34:39.640] hasn't Aston Martin asked that very same question or if they've asked it
[34:39.640 -> 34:43.760] why aren't they acting on it but yes it's going to be very interesting to see
[34:43.760 -> 34:45.120] if that car really
[34:45.120 -> 34:50.400] has the potential. You really want two of your best drivers to be there and then probably there
[34:50.400 -> 34:53.920] are other reasons why Logan Sargent is in their second seat as well and that's something they have
[34:53.920 -> 35:00.400] to really take care of as well. But as long as he's able to end the season in good fashion,
[35:00.400 -> 35:07.040] if he's really able to show that he can learn through this and he can really bring in the results however few few occasions that we have that on
[35:08.080 -> 35:09.040] then
[35:09.040 -> 35:10.320] I don't know
[35:10.320 -> 35:13.360] if if it was me if it was me, I would have
[35:14.240 -> 35:16.240] Gone with maybe a Liam Lawson or someone else
[35:17.600 -> 35:20.000] That was personal dude, come on that is a slight dig
[35:21.920 -> 35:27.680] I'll tell you what, Logan Sargent actually, him scoring points or no is irrelevant in certain
[35:27.680 -> 35:33.520] cases because they also check progression and so on. Scoring a point is just a big weight off
[35:33.520 -> 35:38.800] your shoulders or monkey off your back, whatever you call it. But in the post-race, Pit to Car
[35:38.800 -> 35:47.960] team radio channel, Williams actually commended Logan's build up through the weekend. They said, that's what we were talking about when it came to building up on the
[35:47.960 -> 35:50.800] Sunday. And they said, he actually delivered a very good race.
[35:50.800 -> 35:54.480] And that's what matters to them more because getting through the process is more
[35:54.480 -> 35:59.000] important than just the final result, especially any sport that you play.
[35:59.480 -> 36:00.360] And then interestingly,
[36:00.360 -> 36:03.160] the only thing that Logan picked as something he could have worked on and he
[36:03.160 -> 36:05.000] didn't do very well was pit stops.
[36:05.000 -> 36:08.520] And he said, I wasn't stopping on the marks as I should.
[36:08.520 -> 36:09.960] And he said, I will try and do better there.
[36:09.960 -> 36:12.560] And the team said, yes, we all learn together and grow from there.
[36:12.560 -> 36:15.200] So all in all, a great result for Logan.
[36:15.440 -> 36:19.080] Sometimes, you know, just this is where the confidence seeps in.
[36:19.280 -> 36:22.760] This is where the momentum, as we've spoken about several times, just helps you.
[36:23.040 -> 36:28.320] I mean, at no point do we want a driver to make it to Formula One and then not stay there, right?
[36:28.320 -> 36:31.200] Unless it's just there because of nepotism, right?
[36:31.200 -> 36:34.160] As we call it, or just because your daddy owns a team.
[36:34.160 -> 36:36.400] But we're here because we love the drivers.
[36:36.400 -> 36:39.280] We love them as athletes and the personalities that they are.
[36:39.280 -> 36:42.160] And it would be great to just see all of them,
[36:42.160 -> 36:44.360] you know, driving to their best capabilities.
[36:44.360 -> 36:45.120] And that's the
[36:45.120 -> 36:49.760] end of my philosophy lesson. Unless it's Jacques Villeneuve, I wouldn't want him to stay for a
[36:49.760 -> 36:54.240] very very long time either. He was just a menace but that's a different thing altogether. Jacques,
[36:54.240 -> 37:00.000] I hope you're not listening to this but folks that is the end of the 2023 USGP review episode
[37:00.000 -> 37:08.720] on the InsideLineF1 podcast. While we end, I just have one small question for you. What on earth is a kilometer? I hope we've gotten that answer this weekend, because if we didn't,
[37:08.720 -> 37:13.120] we'll get the answer next to next week when Formula One comes back to Las Vegas. But before
[37:13.120 -> 37:17.360] that, there's an important race. The Mexican GP comes up this time next week as well. And we'll
[37:17.360 -> 37:22.640] be back on the Inside Line F1 podcast for that preview episode. So I'll see you over there for
[37:22.640 -> 37:27.100] that one. Take care, folks. Thank you for listening, subscribe to the podcast and all platforms and all
[37:27.100 -> 37:30.740] channels and a big thank you to Amazon music for making this happen. See you
[37:30.740 -> None] folks and I'll be back for the Mexican GP preview. Bye Bye you