Saudi Arabian GP F1 2023 Race Review

Spanners and Trumpets are joined by Formula 1 Tik Tok star Antonia Rankin and Danish TV journo Kristian Pedersen as they deploy all the Safety Cars in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. From Perez’ precision to Max’s move up the grid, from Russell’s relentless radio to Ferrari’s fallibility, no fragile gearbox goes unreplaced in this, the latest episode of Missed Apex Podcast. 

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Matt Trumpets mattpt55 (@mattpt55)

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Antonia Rankin Antonia (@f1antonia) TikTok | Watch Antonia's Newest TikTok Videos

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**Missed Apex Podcast: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Review**

* **Race Recap:**

* Max Verstappen, starting from P15 due to a drive shaft issue in qualifying, staged a remarkable comeback to finish in second place, just behind his teammate Sergio Perez.
* Perez controlled the race from the start, leading every lap until the safety car came out late in the race. Verstappen was able to close the gap to Perez during the safety car period, but Perez held on to win the race.
* Ferrari had a disappointing race, with Carlos Sainz finishing in eighth place and Charles Leclerc retiring due to an engine failure.
* Mercedes showed signs of improvement, with George Russell finishing in fifth place and Lewis Hamilton finishing in tenth place.

* **Key Talking Points:**

* Verstappen's drive from P15 to P2 was one of the most impressive performances of his career.
* Perez's win was his first since the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix and his first for Red Bull.
* Ferrari's struggles continued, with the team now facing a significant gap to Red Bull in the constructors' championship.
* Mercedes took a step forward, but still has work to do to challenge Red Bull and Ferrari.

* **Controversies and Insights:**

* There was some debate about whether Verstappen's win was earned or gifted, with some arguing that he benefited from the safety car and others arguing that he would have won the race regardless.
* Red Bull's team orders strategy came under scrutiny, with some questioning whether the team should have given Verstappen a clear advantage over Perez.
* Ferrari's engine failure with Leclerc raised concerns about the team's reliability, which could be a major issue in the championship fight.

* **Overall Takeaway:**

* The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a thrilling race that provided plenty of excitement and drama. Red Bull continued to show its dominance, while Ferrari and Mercedes both had disappointing weekends. Verstappen's win was a reminder of his immense talent, while Perez's victory was a well-deserved reward for his hard work and dedication. # Missed Apex Podcast Episode 475 Transcript Summary

**Introduction**

- Spanners, Trumpets, Antonia Rankin, and Kristian Pedersen discuss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
- The Safety Cars are deployed throughout the race, affecting the strategies of various teams.

**Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team**

- George Russell's impressive performance, qualifying ahead of Lewis Hamilton and finishing P3.
- Hamilton's struggles in qualifying and the race, including a strategic error with tire management.
- Russell's potential to become a more assertive teammate, similar to Nico Rosberg's rivalry with Hamilton.
- The ongoing debate within Mercedes regarding driver preferences and team dynamics.
- Concerns about Hamilton's unhappiness with the team's decisions, potentially affecting his motivation.

**Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team**

- Aston Martin's strong performance, with Lance Stroll delivering an impressive overtake on Carlos Sainz.
- The team's potential to challenge for second place in the constructors' championship.
- Stroll's resilience and determination despite his recent wrist injury.
- High expectations for Aston Martin's progress and upgrades throughout the season.

**Scuderia Ferrari**

- Ferrari's overall lackluster performance in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
- Charles Leclerc's struggles with tire degradation and strategic errors.
- Carlos Sainz's disappointing race, finishing outside the points.
- The team's need to address their issues and improve their competitiveness.

**Alpine F1 Team**

- Fernando Alonso's impressive podium finish, showcasing his continued talent and fighting spirit.
- Esteban Ocon's penalty for a pit lane infringement, costing him a potential podium position.
- Alonso's resurgence and rejuvenation in Formula One, despite his age and previous career decisions.

**Other Notable Moments**

- Sergio Perez's precise driving and move up the grid, securing a P4 finish for Red Bull Racing.
- Max Verstappen's strategic tire management, allowing him to maintain a strong position throughout the race.
- Russell's relentless radio communication, expressing his concerns and frustrations during the race.

**Overall Message**

- The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix provided exciting racing and strategic battles, with unexpected results and ongoing storylines.
- The season is poised for intense competition among the top teams, with Aston Martin emerging as a potential challenger.
- The performances of Russell and Alonso highlight the importance of driver talent and determination in Formula One. ## 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

**Missed Apex F1 Podcast Episode Transcript: Spanners, Antonia Rankin, and Kristian Pedersen**

**Summary**

- Spanners, Antonia Rankin, and Kristian Pedersen discuss the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
- Sergio Perez's precise driving and Max Verstappen's move up the grid are praised.
- George Russell's relentless radio communication and Ferrari's fallibility are also discussed.
- The safety car deployment is criticized for being too quick and unnecessary, potentially affecting the flow of the race.
- Charles Leclerc's frustration with his team's communication is highlighted, emphasizing the importance of clear and timely information for drivers.
- The etiquette and importance of providing drivers with essential information are debated, with different perspectives presented.
- The McLaren team's disappointing performance is mentioned, along with Oscar Piastri's learning experience in a racing incident with Pierre Gasly.
- The question of whose fault it was in the incident between Piastri and Gasly is raised, with varying opinions among the speakers.
- The ongoing trend of trigger-happy safety car deployments is criticized, with concerns about the impact on the entertainment value of the race.
- The FIA's decision to deploy the safety car is defended, considering the standardized procedures and potential safety concerns.
- The presence of a recovery vehicle parked in an escape road, affecting its usability, is questioned.
- The new race controller, Niels Wittich, and his focus on different rules and penalties are discussed.
- The issue of weaving and its interpretation in the context of defensive moves is debated, with suggestions for clarification in the regulations.
- The difference between preventative and defensive moves is raised, considering the impact on the driver behind.
- The potential impact of limiting defensive moves on DRS passes is mentioned.

**Overall**

The podcast provides an engaging and informative discussion about the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, covering various aspects of the race, including driver performances, team strategies, controversial incidents, and rule interpretations. The speakers offer diverse perspectives and insights, making the podcast an interesting listen for Formula One fans. # Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Race Review

**Thing of the Weekend**

* Lance Stroll's move around Carlos Sainz on lap one.

* Mercedes putting color tabs on the top of their halo.

* Logan Sargent's qualifying lap in Q1.

* Sergio Perez's performance and comments about being a world champion.

**Miss the Apex Award**

* The dangerous nature of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

* The lack of overtaking opportunities.

* The performance of Valtteri Bottas.

**Other Notable Moments**

* Kevin Magnussen's overtake on Valtteri Bottas.

* The retirement of Fernando Alonso.

* The safety car periods.

* The battle for the lead between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

**Overall**

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a thrilling race with plenty of action and drama. However, the dangerous nature of the circuit and the lack of overtaking opportunities were major concerns. The race was ultimately won by Max Verstappen, with Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz completing the podium.

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[01:54.320 -> 02:00.480] by standby in the moment but don't worry we do realize through the course of the recording
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[02:05.520 -> 02:12.320] You are listening to Mist Apex Podcast. We live F1.
[02:23.640 -> 02:26.200] Welcome to MistApex Podcast.
[02:26.200 -> 02:31.660] The title of today's show is Old Man Forgets to Park His Car Properly, and that is from
[02:31.660 -> 02:33.600] Mark Greenhow on Twitter.
[02:33.600 -> 02:38.920] I'm your host Richard Ready, but my friends call me Spanners, so let's be friends.
[02:38.920 -> 02:43.040] It is our review of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from the Jeddah racetrack.
[02:43.040 -> 02:45.640] It produced some interesting fights and an
[02:45.640 -> 02:51.480] overall entertaining weekend on a track that still makes me hide behind my hands at times.
[02:51.480 -> 02:57.080] But through luck or skill or judgement, the race passed without major incident and revealed
[02:57.080 -> 03:02.520] another interesting square on the Formula One scratch card. The Red Bulls finally showed
[03:02.520 -> 03:10.080] us some true pace and it became clear that there is not yet a clear number two mentality in the number 11
[03:10.080 -> 03:16.640] car. So coming up we'll discuss was that win earned or gifted? Was this the
[03:16.640 -> 03:22.400] hardest Ferrari have Ferrari'd this season so far? Have Mercedes taken a step
[03:22.400 -> 03:27.000] forward and how long can Alonso keep up this whirlwind start?
[03:27.000 -> 03:32.000] We are an independent podcast produced in the podcasting shed with the kind permission of our better halves.
[03:32.000 -> 03:35.000] We aim to bring you a race review before your Monday morning commute.
[03:35.000 -> 03:38.000] We might be wrong, but we're first.
[03:42.000 -> 03:48.000] We're joined in the shed by Matt to Rumpets. How's it going, Matt?
[03:48.000 -> 03:52.000] Oh, wait, is that a JCB in my parking spot?
[03:52.000 -> 03:56.000] We're also joined by TikTok sensation Antonia Rankin.
[03:56.000 -> 04:02.000] Hi. Yeah, I'm already regretting my optimism that McLaren might actually be fighting for podiums this season.
[04:02.000 -> 04:10.560] You poor sweet summer child. Was that really a prediction of yours? Not a prediction so much as an aching hope. That's why I don't make any
[04:10.560 -> 04:15.280] predictions whatsoever. No going back to the winter shows. And we're also joined by Danish
[04:15.280 -> 04:19.040] international superstar DJ Christian Pedersen. How's it going, Christian?
[04:19.040 -> 04:28.200] Glad introduction though, always. I'm just going to say, imagine racing for a team famous for engine over aero,
[04:28.200 -> 04:31.120] and in race number two of the season, you have an engine penalty.
[04:31.120 -> 04:37.520] I know. I mean, that was Ferrari that said aerodynamics is for people who can't build
[04:37.520 -> 04:41.720] engines. And yeah, well, I guess they need some aerodynamics then.
[04:41.720 -> 04:45.200] It's race number two. That's too early for an Indian
[04:45.200 -> 04:49.600] party I'd say. No, let's jump to wild conclusions about this season but let's
[04:49.600 -> 04:53.760] start off with the race action and I guess let's find out where the race was
[04:53.760 -> 04:56.520] won and lost.
[05:01.640 -> 05:06.440] Okay Matt, I think it's fair to start with, I think the most interesting story of the
[05:06.440 -> 05:10.600] race weekend, I think that's where we like to go, isn't it? We don't go team by team,
[05:10.600 -> 05:15.680] we don't go blow by blow, we don't recap the race that you just watched, just the things
[05:15.680 -> 05:20.600] that are interesting to us. And I think the story of the race was Max Verstappen with
[05:20.600 -> 05:26.800] his drive shaft issue out in Q2, having to start from P15, and the big question was,
[05:26.800 -> 05:31.400] would he be able to fight back to win this race? I thought it was a shoe-in, I thought
[05:31.400 -> 05:36.760] it was easy, I thought we had a guaranteed Red Bull 1-2, and I just, something in my
[05:36.760 -> 05:41.400] head, even as a Perez fan, I just thought he was going to swan to the front of the grid.
[05:41.400 -> 05:52.000] You had a different pre-race theory. Yeah, I did. And this is based on a lot of different things, but mostly facts. Namely,
[05:52.000 -> 05:58.800] into wit, that it's really hard to win from that position just because you lose so much time
[05:58.800 -> 06:03.200] cutting through traffic. And I actually went and looked at the Bahrain race and I said, well,
[06:03.200 -> 06:05.620] who started in the 15th spot? And that would have been Alex Al race, and I said, well, who started in the 15th spot?
[06:05.620 -> 06:07.680] And that would have been Alex Alban.
[06:07.680 -> 06:10.640] And I said, well, you know, when they enabled DRS,
[06:10.640 -> 06:12.620] but he'd moved up to P13,
[06:12.620 -> 06:15.080] and he was already 12 seconds behind the leader.
[06:15.080 -> 06:17.000] So I was immediately thinking,
[06:17.000 -> 06:19.240] all these people thinking easy win for Verstappen.
[06:19.240 -> 06:20.140] I was like, no way,
[06:20.140 -> 06:23.120] there's so much that could go wrong for him.
[06:23.120 -> 06:25.200] Yeah, there's a lot of room, of course, coming from P15. There's so much that could go wrong for him. Yeah, there's a lot of room, of course, coming
[06:25.200 -> 06:30.400] from P-15. There's so much time there in theory for even just a small thing to happen, you know,
[06:30.400 -> 06:34.080] Max accidentally clips a wall somewhere, pulling off a bit of a risky manoeuvre.
[06:34.080 -> 06:40.240] But I do think the fact of the matter is, with a driver like Max, a lot of the drivers in front of
[06:40.240 -> 06:45.200] him just kind of don't put up too much of a fight because they think, well,
[06:45.200 -> 06:48.880] he's not my problem. You know, he's not the person that they're trying to fight.
[06:48.880 -> 06:52.800] And we did get that with Mercedes though, as well in that era. And you can kind of see
[06:52.800 -> 06:56.920] it and Kevin Magnussen can kind of confirmed it on the grid. And he said, you know, what
[06:56.920 -> 07:00.320] are you going to do with Verstappen around? He's like, it's not my problem, is it? Just
[07:00.320 -> 07:01.960] won't lose time fighting.
[07:01.960 -> 07:05.200] But I mean, even with Alonso at the front of the grid,
[07:05.200 -> 07:06.400] thinking with Perez,
[07:06.960 -> 07:10.560] there was a bit of not believing that maybe he had to put up a fight
[07:10.560 -> 07:13.440] because actually his race was with the people behind him
[07:13.440 -> 07:16.240] and poor Alonso, as we then saw, it didn't quite work out.
[07:16.240 -> 07:18.720] But I think there's a mentality within the rest of the grid
[07:18.720 -> 07:20.720] that Red Bull are a bit untouchable.
[07:20.720 -> 07:22.880] And quite frankly, they proved that today.
[07:24.080 -> 07:30.280] Yeah, well, you know, they were untouchable within themselves, but Christian, there was
[07:30.280 -> 07:32.240] still some infighting to have.
[07:32.240 -> 07:35.880] I think you're going to look a little bit ridiculous if you try to fight with Verstappen
[07:35.880 -> 07:47.080] because everyone, this is all facts, everyone knows they're a second faster, maybe 1.5 seconds, so it's placing your heart in a defensive manner.
[07:47.080 -> 07:48.760] I mean, what's the point?
[07:48.760 -> 07:52.840] And I think you can basically feel most of the grid feels like that.
[07:52.840 -> 07:56.680] So even Hamilton and those guys, when Verstappen comes from behind,
[07:56.680 -> 07:58.880] I mean, what are you going to do?
[07:58.880 -> 08:02.440] But it is a bit disappointing though, in some ways,
[08:02.440 -> 08:04.320] we want to see some really good racing.
[08:04.320 -> 08:08.400] And it almost feels like the grid are a little bit resigned to Red Bull winning everything,
[08:08.400 -> 08:13.280] because maybe if some of the mid-pack did put up a bit more of a fight, we would have had a
[08:13.280 -> 08:18.960] more interesting race on our hands. Max, luck was on his side today, especially with the safety car.
[08:18.960 -> 08:23.440] However, if there was a bit more of a spar maybe in the middle with a few of the drivers,
[08:23.440 -> 08:25.680] it could have been a little bit tighter.
[08:25.680 -> 08:28.480] I don't know, I think it's disappointing almost
[08:28.480 -> 08:31.240] that the rest of the grid seem to have accepted
[08:31.240 -> 08:32.600] how fantastic Red Bull are
[08:32.600 -> 08:36.160] because that works so much in Red Bull's favor.
[08:36.160 -> 08:38.040] Well, I totally agree with that point.
[08:38.040 -> 08:42.880] I also, I think it's a, first of all, mental thing
[08:42.880 -> 08:46.400] that if you know there's no chance, you're just going
[08:46.400 -> 08:47.560] to put down your shoulders.
[08:47.560 -> 08:50.320] I don't think you can even convince yourself to do it.
[08:50.320 -> 08:52.200] And that's the same vibe within the teams.
[08:52.200 -> 08:58.680] But if you look at the times from, let's say, qualifying FP3, something like that, you have
[08:58.680 -> 09:04.400] the entire, I'm not talking Red Bull, let's just exclude Red Bull from this diagram, but
[09:04.400 -> 09:12.240] you have the entire field basically within one second. So this is 10 different garages building 10 different cars from
[09:12.240 -> 09:19.360] four different engines and they are all within the same percentage. I mean, that is mind-blowing.
[09:19.360 -> 09:22.880] That is not happening in any other businesses. This is unique.
[09:23.600 -> 09:28.000] But doesn't that prove the point though, even in just what you've just said, like if we
[09:28.000 -> 09:32.560] exclude the Red Bulls from comparison, they are in their own league.
[09:32.560 -> 09:34.200] They definitely are.
[09:34.200 -> 09:38.560] Yeah, well, in order to make meaningful comparison between the grid, we need to exclude Red Bulls
[09:38.560 -> 09:41.080] because they are an anomaly in the best possible way.
[09:41.080 -> 09:44.880] I mean, it's unheard of.
[09:44.880 -> 09:51.000] Maybe we could see a ParisVerstappen fight. I bet we all kind of had that vibe during
[09:51.000 -> 09:55.160] the last third of the race or something. Maybe, maybe a Nico Hamilton.
[09:55.160 -> 10:01.760] Oh, don't, don't. Yeah, look, don't make me hope. We'll definitely get onto Perez
[10:01.760 -> 10:10.560] in a little while. But Matt, yeah, you were picking out right from the beginning that he needed a safety car in each stint Verstappen did. But I think
[10:10.560 -> 10:13.040] it was a little closer than that.
[10:13.040 -> 10:20.760] I was a little worried after the first safety car, but I had imagined in my hypothetical
[10:20.760 -> 10:25.920] scenario that he would be fourth at the pit stops and that's actually kind
[10:25.920 -> 10:31.360] of where he was and I think I worked out that with the laps and like say a 12 second deficit
[10:31.360 -> 10:38.000] which didn't seem unreasonable that he still needed like oh what was it like maybe uh four
[10:38.000 -> 10:49.300] tenths of a second per lap on Perez to catch him in in 30 laps So I just looked at those numbers and I thought, well, you might get that on a single lap,
[10:49.300 -> 10:55.160] but over that many laps, I just didn't see Max being that much faster.
[10:55.160 -> 10:59.400] And the only thing that would have made it work at that point was another safety car
[10:59.400 -> 11:01.080] collapsing the gap all the way.
[11:01.080 -> 11:02.080] Christian?
[11:02.080 -> 11:09.560] I think, again, we see the, should we say, the gains you get from basically leading the
[11:09.560 -> 11:14.940] race. For Stapen, using his tyres, going through the field and stuff, that would definitely
[11:14.940 -> 11:22.000] handicap him at the last part of the race. But still, there's the linker of hope that
[11:22.000 -> 11:24.600] perhaps there's a title up front to fight for.
[11:24.600 -> 11:25.320] Yeah, exactly.
[11:25.320 -> 11:32.120] I just want to go back to what you were saying, Matt. I don't know if a safety car could have
[11:32.120 -> 11:33.520] brought Max onto the podium.
[11:33.520 -> 11:35.160] The win, the win.
[11:35.160 -> 11:41.240] Well, the win, I mean, yes. Just because it was between him and Checo, and that would
[11:41.240 -> 11:45.280] have involved then the team interfering with who they wanted to win
[11:45.280 -> 11:50.440] in terms of, you know, Checo was on course for a very well-deserved win, and he had controlled
[11:50.440 -> 11:56.000] the race up until that point, say, of the hypothetical safety car. So that would mean
[11:56.000 -> 12:01.320] in Pitt's strategy, in order for Max to win, Red Bull would have had to then introduce
[12:01.320 -> 12:05.080] some kind of under or overcut wherein Max comes out on top. And
[12:05.080 -> 12:09.880] that opens up a whole debate in itself of, do we enforce team orders this early in the
[12:09.880 -> 12:16.160] season purely based on the probability that later in the season we think Max is going
[12:16.160 -> 12:18.240] to be the better driver.
[12:18.240 -> 12:25.480] And here's the thing with the Verstappen performance. I still think that this is the standout drive of the day,
[12:25.480 -> 12:28.600] kind of, to come from P15 to P2,
[12:28.600 -> 12:31.240] even to get that close to Perez.
[12:31.240 -> 12:33.160] And there's a lot of things that are positive
[12:33.160 -> 12:34.720] about Perez's performance, Matt.
[12:34.720 -> 12:37.520] But the fact is he used up a lot of tires getting up there,
[12:37.520 -> 12:40.880] probably got a cheaper stop on the safety car,
[12:40.880 -> 12:43.080] got to stop a little bit earlier.
[12:43.080 -> 12:49.600] They all stopped for the safety car, Verstappen and Perez and Russell and Hamilton, I believe.
[12:49.600 -> 12:54.320] Yes, but what that meant was the penalty for using up his tires coming from P15
[12:54.320 -> 12:59.040] kind of got wiped out and now they're back on even tires again. And so in that scenario,
[12:59.040 -> 13:03.600] he still got to then do the harder bit really, which was get through the faster cars. But you
[13:03.600 -> 13:09.800] could see the car advantage really starkly. And I have to say say I'm not anti-DRS in any way, I don't think
[13:09.800 -> 13:17.040] it's perfect, but the way Verstappen breezed past a George Russell who was on form in an
[13:17.040 -> 13:23.880] improved Mercedes like it was standing still, it just rendered, didn't it just render DRS
[13:23.880 -> 13:27.000] and the title fight sort of ridiculous in one swoop?
[13:27.000 -> 13:33.000] He sort of played with the other cast at the last corner and then finally he was just like, well, never mind, I'll just do what I like.
[13:33.000 -> 13:35.000] I don't even need to do that. Yeah.
[13:35.000 -> 13:36.000] Exactly.
[13:36.000 -> 13:42.000] Yeah, I will say, I did have a lot of comments on my videos saying, nerf DRS, like DRS is too powerful.
[13:42.000 -> 13:46.720] And it does open up the debate, yes, but I do think ultimately it does just come down
[13:46.720 -> 13:48.720] to the fact that that Red Bull's pace is...
[13:48.880 -> 13:49.720] And the DRS.
[13:49.720 -> 13:50.220] Incredible.
[13:50.220 -> 13:50.720] Yeah.
[13:50.720 -> 13:56.080] Well, with the DRS especially, but that just accentuates pre-existing abnormal
[13:56.200 -> 13:57.480] greatness in the car.
[13:57.960 -> 13:58.460] Matt.
[13:59.200 -> 14:03.600] Well, what I love about this is you saying that drive from 15th to second was the
[14:03.600 -> 14:05.240] drive of the day, but I think
[14:05.240 -> 14:06.640] I'm going to argue with you.
[14:06.640 -> 14:07.640] How?
[14:07.640 -> 14:13.400] I think I'm going to say Perez at the front on the restart with Max only two spots behind
[14:13.400 -> 14:19.800] him and matching him once Max is in 2nd all the way to the end of the race.
[14:19.800 -> 14:22.200] I mean, I think that's worth a little bit.
[14:22.200 -> 14:25.600] I was watching their lap times and there was nary a tenth between
[14:25.600 -> 14:33.280] them lap after lap after lap. Antonio is desperate to argue but Ranko, there wasn't really a period
[14:33.280 -> 14:38.160] was there where Max was just chewing chunks out of Perez's lead and he wasn't able to respond.
[14:38.160 -> 14:41.280] If Max could have closed that down to two seconds I'm sure he would have done.
[14:42.000 -> 14:45.680] My goodness, when will we stop praising the bare minimum?
[14:50.960 -> 14:57.280] Perez is an absolutely exceptional driver. Why are we always acting surprised that he drives like an exceptional driver? Yeah. We're placing Max on such a pedestal because yes, he is a once-in-a-generational
[14:57.280 -> 15:03.600] talent. He's absolutely phenomenal. But so is Perez. That's why he's Max's teammate, as he
[15:03.600 -> 15:05.840] should keep the lead. He's a fantastic driver.
[15:06.480 -> 15:09.760] He shouldn't make mistakes because he's not the type of driver to make mistakes.
[15:09.760 -> 15:14.560] And Max, his teammate in Equal Machinery, shouldn't be taking chunks out of his time.
[15:14.560 -> 15:18.160] Perez did an absolutely fantastic job, as he should.
[15:19.040 -> 15:20.400] Yeah. Matt?
[15:21.360 -> 15:29.480] I want to pick up on the words Equal Mach machinery. The reason a lot of people were surprised at Perez is because he did struggle with last
[15:29.480 -> 15:30.480] year's car.
[15:30.480 -> 15:36.000] And I think it's a big, important point to make that this year's car clearly works much
[15:36.000 -> 15:39.800] better for him, relatively speaking.
[15:39.800 -> 15:44.720] Now we'll see what happens when developments come onto the car, but for the time being,
[15:44.720 -> 15:46.740] they seem to be pretty well matched.
[15:46.740 -> 15:50.260] And I got to say, if there's going to be a saving grace for the season right now, it's
[15:50.260 -> 15:51.860] probably going to be that.
[15:51.860 -> 15:59.880] How about that radio for Paris where he calls the pits saying, so guys, which, what's my
[15:59.880 -> 16:00.880] lap time?
[16:00.880 -> 16:01.880] Is it 32.6?
[16:01.880 -> 16:03.560] Yeah, 32.6 is fine.
[16:03.560 -> 16:06.480] But how about Verstappen? Yeah, he's 32.6.
[16:06.480 -> 16:12.720] Weren't he 32.4? Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Don't worry about it. But just,
[16:12.720 -> 16:16.800] yeah, 32.6 is fine." And then he just put the pedal down. I mean, imagine being the
[16:16.800 -> 16:21.840] racing driver in that car and not feeling your team is actually on your
[16:21.840 -> 16:27.000] side. I'm not sure if this was just a mistake, and I'm not sure how much that radio was delayed
[16:27.000 -> 16:32.900] because at the time it was broadcasted, it wasn't even the right reference time they
[16:32.900 -> 16:33.900] gave him.
[16:33.900 -> 16:40.520] So, I mean, you don't want, shouldn't his side of the garage at least be on his side
[16:40.520 -> 16:42.520] and fight for the win?
[16:42.520 -> 16:45.120] Yeah, and he's been burned before though, I think.
[16:46.160 -> 16:51.440] I think this is, I actually would argue that it was about the same for both of the drivers,
[16:51.440 -> 16:57.680] and I think the communication with the drivers echoed the uncertainties that we as a fanbase
[16:57.680 -> 17:03.120] are seeing, which is that Red Bull aren't presenting a very clear one-two preferential
[17:03.120 -> 17:06.240] lineup this season. Aside from the expected
[17:06.240 -> 17:11.280] Max is the world champion, he's probably the better driver. Because when they were communicating
[17:11.280 -> 17:16.200] with Max about fastest lap, at that point Perez had the fastest lap and they said, Max
[17:16.200 -> 17:21.120] don't worry about it. They didn't say push for fastest lap, even though, you know, as
[17:21.120 -> 17:25.160] his engineers, you might expect them to want Max to get the fastest lap.
[17:38.440 -> 17:45.200] It seems that actually this year they're coming in deliberately with equal footing, thinking, you know I was the team boss at Red Bull, I would
[17:45.200 -> 17:50.080] just go for Max 100% and have a second driver only supporting Max, because that is just
[17:50.080 -> 17:57.180] the way forward. What I don't like is it feels like they're telling Satya Paresh one story
[17:57.180 -> 18:05.380] and then acting another one. And I think that's going to give them trouble as a team eventually. Matt?
[18:05.840 -> 18:11.440] Yeah, well, this brings up another, I think, really big sort of underlying story here. And
[18:12.080 -> 18:17.600] that is that neither one of those, like, from a Red Bull point of view, they didn't want Max
[18:17.600 -> 18:22.400] caring about the fast lap because they had a car that they weren't sure would finish the race.
[18:22.400 -> 18:29.000] The last thing you want is people going, you know, pushing the very limits of your machinery if you think the car is going to break. Having
[18:29.000 -> 18:34.420] said that, listening to the driver radio, it was clear that neither driver was listening
[18:34.420 -> 18:38.980] to the team in the slightest. They were like toddlers high on candy running around the
[18:38.980 -> 18:43.320] room and you're there as a parent going, I just give up. I mean, they literally said
[18:43.320 -> 18:44.320] that.
[18:44.320 -> 18:47.280] They did. How many times have I've had this with my boy and he's like on the,
[18:47.280 -> 18:47.840] what do you call it?
[18:47.840 -> 18:49.520] The jungle gym or the climbing frame.
[18:49.520 -> 18:50.880] And I'm like, don't go on top of it.
[18:50.880 -> 18:53.200] You're not supposed to go on the top of the roof bit.
[18:53.200 -> 18:54.240] It's not, do you know what?
[18:54.240 -> 18:55.120] Fine, fine.
[18:55.120 -> 18:56.160] I'm just going to go over.
[18:56.160 -> 18:56.960] I'm going to have a coffee.
[18:57.840 -> 19:01.360] So when you British people say things like jungle gym and stuff like that,
[19:01.360 -> 19:07.160] it just, just know then 90% of who's listening to this is going like, what are these people
[19:07.160 -> 19:08.160] doing?
[19:08.160 -> 19:10.920] I have to, I have to translate between American and English.
[19:10.920 -> 19:11.920] I'm all over it.
[19:11.920 -> 19:12.920] Don't worry.
[19:12.920 -> 19:13.920] Transatlantic, transatlantic part.
[19:13.920 -> 19:18.640] But look, I know I had my bet down on a Red Bull one too, Matt.
[19:18.640 -> 19:21.160] And I don't think that was, that was in doubt.
[19:21.160 -> 19:25.520] In a way, it was always going to be down to Verstappen versus Perez.
[19:25.520 -> 19:29.840] And I think we've got a perfect storm here with Perez, where he was decisive on the first
[19:29.840 -> 19:34.900] lap to get past Alonso, which is not always decisive on lap one. His start wasn't as bad
[19:34.900 -> 19:43.080] as normal, but still pretty bad. And then he cleared the field and pulled a gap. So
[19:43.080 -> 19:46.560] this is also a street circuit that suits him and he seems a little bit
[19:46.560 -> 19:51.680] more comfortable in this car relative to Max Verstappen anyway. So I guess the fear as a
[19:51.680 -> 19:58.000] Perez fan would be that this is just a perfect storm of events and he's good enough to have this
[19:58.000 -> 20:03.440] perfect storm every now and then but I still think Verstappen wins this race seven or eight times
[20:03.440 -> 20:08.040] out of ten. That's my odds Matt Matt, and you're shaking your head.
[20:08.040 -> 20:10.760] Nope, I disagree.
[20:10.760 -> 20:13.120] I put it in the chat after the safety car.
[20:13.120 -> 20:19.080] I'm like, he needs 0.23 seconds a lap from here out to catch Perez at the end of the
[20:19.080 -> 20:20.080] race.
[20:20.080 -> 20:21.880] And you were like, you thought it was easy and done.
[20:21.880 -> 20:22.880] Oh yeah, I thought it would be easy.
[20:22.880 -> 20:28.440] I thought it would was easy, yeah. And it's just, when the cars are in racing trim
[20:28.440 -> 20:31.660] and they have only a limited amount of fuel
[20:31.660 -> 20:33.680] that they have to make last,
[20:33.680 -> 20:36.980] and they have tires that can't be overheated,
[20:36.980 -> 20:39.360] the differences you see in qualifying
[20:39.360 -> 20:42.860] really get very, very narrowed down.
[20:42.860 -> 20:44.760] And I think a lot of people miss that
[20:44.760 -> 20:45.080] because they
[20:45.080 -> 20:48.280] look at the qualifying gaps and think that that can be done lap after lap
[20:48.280 -> 20:53.180] without refueling. You can't do that anymore. But is it fair to say that this
[20:53.180 -> 20:56.980] is the Red Bull was showing its pace today when it might not necessarily want
[20:56.980 -> 21:01.720] to? Had Verstappen not had that issue and had just been out in P1, he'd have pulled
[21:01.720 -> 21:08.960] the gap and then maintained it and Perez would have been told, you know, just hold station, tyre save, and maybe they've only got a gap of like 10-15 seconds to
[21:08.960 -> 21:14.560] the field. But today we saw that, that car at full beans and they've showed us it, they've
[21:14.560 -> 21:19.600] showed us what's under the hood now and there's no denying that's a monster. I think actually today
[21:19.600 -> 21:25.120] was a very good example of Red Bull showing that they can dominate in every aspect. They aren't just a car
[21:25.120 -> 21:30.640] who can win from the front row, they're a car that can win from very far back in the field. They've
[21:30.640 -> 21:35.840] got every type of pace, you know. But just going back to what you were saying earlier with the
[21:35.840 -> 21:41.440] upgrades coming and with it being a perfect storm perhaps for Perez, I would love to think that it
[21:41.440 -> 21:52.000] isn't. But you know, we've got upgrades coming through the year and of course those will be tailored to whichever driver that the team want to kind of put the proverbial eggs in the basket of.
[21:52.000 -> 22:06.000] However, I do think this early in the season, that's a really promising thing to see that Perez is winning races and is doing so confidently and commanding a race, driving intelligently, because it means that unlike last year maybe,
[22:06.000 -> 22:07.680] where Red Bull were coming off of the back
[22:07.680 -> 22:09.720] of a disputed championship,
[22:09.720 -> 22:11.340] they wanted to prove themselves again.
[22:11.340 -> 22:14.400] And the best way to do so was by putting all of their eggs
[22:14.400 -> 22:16.600] in a proven champion, Max,
[22:16.600 -> 22:19.360] you know, and putting forward the best that they have.
[22:19.360 -> 22:20.600] Whereas this year,
[22:20.600 -> 22:22.960] maybe subconsciously on a psychological level,
[22:22.960 -> 22:24.600] the team know that they have the ability
[22:24.600 -> 22:25.500] to win championships, not just as a driver level, the team know that they have the ability to win championships,
[22:25.500 -> 22:28.500] not just as a driver, but the constructors.
[22:28.500 -> 22:34.500] So they can think, actually, we can really have a toy around with this and see what the best formula is for us to win.
[22:34.500 -> 22:36.500] Christian?
[22:36.500 -> 22:40.500] I don't know if any other of you, when you watched the last part of the race,
[22:40.500 -> 22:45.360] when suddenly Perez called in and said, listen, my break is long.
[22:45.360 -> 22:49.160] And then Verstappen called up and you can basically hear Mariah Carey's soprano noise
[22:49.160 -> 22:51.160] in the background.
[22:51.160 -> 22:57.800] I was thinking, okay, the Adrian Newey cloud is maybe moving in over Jeddah because Adrian
[22:57.800 -> 23:06.540] Newey is, at least he was, famously, notoriously known for building cars that are so fast, but every engineer
[23:06.540 -> 23:12.640] working on the car, mechanic, hate ingenuity cars because they are impossible to work with.
[23:12.640 -> 23:16.800] Because they, at least this was back in the McLaren days, they were manufactured in a
[23:16.800 -> 23:19.480] way that was only to the benefit of the car.
[23:19.480 -> 23:23.280] There was not thought about how you worked on it, how you drove it, et cetera.
[23:23.280 -> 23:26.400] That is why, for instance, the Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren days,
[23:26.400 -> 23:27.920] the car broke down all the time.
[23:27.920 -> 23:31.960] But when it didn't, it just blew everyone away.
[23:31.960 -> 23:37.040] When I saw the last part of the race, if both Red Bulls had gone out today,
[23:37.040 -> 23:41.240] that would have been the Adrian Newey phenomenon.
[23:41.240 -> 23:44.440] I'm not hoping for that, because, I mean, hats off for that car.
[23:44.440 -> 23:47.760] No, and we'd be having a very different conversation now. We'd be having a similar
[23:47.760 -> 23:52.960] conversation to what we had last season when they were having the DNFs and it gave all the
[23:52.960 -> 23:59.040] Ferrari fans false hope. And I'm just grateful that the Ferrari fans' hope has been snubbed
[23:59.040 -> 24:03.760] out so early this season, because I hate stringing those guys along. It's not fair.
[24:03.760 -> 24:05.480] They have suffered
[24:05.480 -> 24:06.480] enough.
[24:06.480 -> 24:11.560] Has not everyone suffered enough? Preverbially, of course. I mean, genuinely speaking, it's
[24:11.560 -> 24:16.960] great to see a team nail it as much as Red Bull are. But I'd just love to see some other
[24:16.960 -> 24:21.000] teams also nailing it and also coming out with these absolutely phenomenal feats of
[24:21.000 -> 24:25.120] engineering. It's like I said at the start of the episode, I'd love to see
[24:25.120 -> 24:30.800] McLaren up there. Me being British girl through and through, it'd be fantastic to see them up there
[24:31.600 -> 24:36.000] winning podiums with the most dominant car ever. But it's a lot more fun when there's a few of
[24:36.000 -> 24:40.240] them all fighting against each other. Well, if we're wishing for things, I'd like a second home
[24:40.240 -> 24:47.120] on the beach that I go to alone. I don't know. I'd like a Porsche 911 and a Ferrari
[24:47.120 -> 24:52.800] Championship win. So nothing against a Red Bull or Verstappen but if you wanted to say put hope
[24:52.800 -> 24:58.080] and say right is this championship season over or not which everyone was saying it was after race
[24:58.080 -> 25:03.200] one we've seen a few things that might go no there's still a little bit of interest to be had
[25:03.200 -> 25:09.760] the Perez thing you know winning and looking you decent as well, albeit off the back of a difficult qualifying
[25:09.760 -> 25:14.080] for Verstappen, kind of opens up a little bit of intrigue. Also the fact that down the line,
[25:14.880 -> 25:19.040] he was celebrating with all the Red Bull mechanics, got to Jos Verstappen and neither of them,
[25:19.040 -> 25:24.320] there was no awkward moment, they both knew that Perez was skipping past Jos Verstappen.
[25:24.320 -> 25:25.760] And so there's not all
[25:25.760 -> 25:32.880] is well there still. Listening to the radio conversations, Perez thinks he's in it.
[25:32.880 -> 25:35.680] Whatever anyone else thinks, Perez thinks he's still in it. And then the second thing
[25:35.680 -> 25:39.640] is that card doesn't look bulletproof. So there's going to be little glimmers of
[25:39.640 -> 25:49.200] hope for the other teams. And that may well get snuffed out by Barcelona. But at the moment, Matt, they do look good, but they're not invincible, and it's not all settled for
[25:49.200 -> 25:50.200] Verstappen.
[25:50.200 -> 25:57.720] Not in the slightest. And I love that you bring up that moment, not just after the race,
[25:57.720 -> 26:09.520] but if you think about how Max was talking on the radio about his car. He didn't sound like a driver who knew he was going to win no matter what.
[26:09.520 -> 26:16.360] And a confident Perez is about the last thing he really wants at this point in the season.
[26:16.360 -> 26:18.040] This is a tire question for Matt.
[26:18.040 -> 26:19.360] Spanis, do we have time?
[26:19.360 -> 26:22.560] I said a quick final point, and then you bring up tires.
[26:22.560 -> 26:24.600] We have an extra 45 minutes.
[26:24.600 -> 26:25.060] Continue. Go, go, Christian. And then you bring up tires. Go on, quick, quick, quick. Yes, we have an extra 45 minutes. Continue.
[26:25.060 -> 26:25.880] Go on, go on, go on.
[26:25.880 -> 26:30.320] OK, after Bahrain, which is the most abrasive tarmac
[26:30.320 -> 26:32.840] during the year, I think, for the cars,
[26:32.840 -> 26:35.520] the Red Bulls were just running around on the soft tire
[26:35.520 -> 26:39.000] twice on full fuel, not destroying them.
[26:39.000 -> 26:42.240] My thought was, if they can do that on the most abrasive
[26:42.240 -> 26:44.840] tarmac, how about when they get to the races
[26:44.840 -> 26:48.440] where the tarmac is completely different, which is Jeddah?
[26:48.440 -> 26:50.040] And they still do that.
[26:50.040 -> 26:53.720] How is this possible with the tyres, the management from Red Bull?
[26:53.720 -> 26:54.720] I mean...
[26:54.720 -> 26:57.600] Well, there's only one person to ask about that, and that's Antonia.
[26:57.600 -> 26:58.600] Exactly, Antonia.
[26:58.600 -> 27:04.600] Well, of course, that's why we have our different compounds, I suppose, isn't it?
[27:04.600 -> 27:08.560] Yes, the asphalt abrasiveness score for Bahrain is very high,
[27:08.560 -> 27:13.040] and Bahrain generally is very hard on the tyres due to just brake intensity,
[27:13.040 -> 27:14.920] the actual physical demands of the track.
[27:14.920 -> 27:16.800] It's very high downforce in some areas.
[27:16.800 -> 27:20.240] It's that it requires some hard tyres.
[27:20.240 -> 27:23.000] But that's why, of course, we have the whole Pirelli range to move between,
[27:23.000 -> 27:24.960] so that when we go to another circuit,
[27:24.960 -> 27:28.640] what is the soft tyre in Bahrain is then a hard
[27:28.640 -> 27:30.480] tyre elsewhere, for example.
[27:31.760 -> 27:34.000] That's where the Pirelli range comes in.
[27:34.000 -> 27:38.320] In terms of the Red Bull itself, it's very clearly just a car that looks after its tyres
[27:38.320 -> 27:42.720] well, and it's got a good relationship with that Pirelli compound.
[27:43.440 -> 27:44.160] Definitely.
[27:44.880 -> 27:51.720] Matt? Yeah, I would add to that, really I would pick up on the last of what Antonia
[27:51.720 -> 27:58.000] said, which is the Red Bull simply has superior downforce and balance, therefore it does the
[27:58.000 -> 28:03.600] least damage to its tyres and is best able to keep them from overheating and otherwise
[28:03.600 -> 28:05.240] falling into trouble. As to
[28:05.240 -> 28:10.080] why we saw other teams doing better, well the other characteristic of the Jetta circuit
[28:10.080 -> 28:15.600] is that it is a front-limited circuit, whereas at Bahrain it was rear-limited, which made
[28:15.600 -> 28:30.320] a lot of teams look even worse than they will be at most of the other races this season.
[28:30.320 -> 28:35.360] And let's move on to the second team of the weekend. And in fact, the team that's running
[28:35.360 -> 28:40.320] second in the championship overall, that's for... Oh, it's not Ferrari, is it? Oh, it's
[28:40.320 -> 28:45.320] Aston... No, no, no. Who is it? Sorry. can I just check the graphs? Who's second in the championship at the moment?
[28:45.320 -> 28:51.140] Oh, is it Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team? Like I said it would be very quickly.
[28:51.140 -> 28:58.520] Oh, yes, it would be. All you people sliding into my DMs. I don't need you. I don't need a grovelling apology.
[28:58.520 -> 29:01.780] I don't need you to delete your Twitter account in shame.
[29:01.780 -> 29:06.720] I will simply accept bunches of flowers sent to missapexpodcast
[29:06.720 -> 29:09.320] at the shed dot real life.
[29:09.320 -> 29:10.320] See Matt?
[29:10.320 -> 29:11.320] See?
[29:11.320 -> 29:12.320] I told you.
[29:12.320 -> 29:13.320] Second best team.
[29:13.320 -> 29:14.320] Undeniable.
[29:14.320 -> 29:19.120] Yeah, as long as we're not talking about the actual pace of the car or the fact that probably
[29:19.120 -> 29:24.480] had Strollnut made more money pulling off of the circuit than completing the race.
[29:24.480 -> 29:29.400] That's a joke. No, hang on. Performance, right? You don't get points for pace, you get points for performance.
[29:29.400 -> 29:29.600] Yeah.
[29:29.600 -> 29:34.280] Part of that performance is knowing where to park your car, yeah? And part of that performance is
[29:34.280 -> 29:39.040] knowing when you are allowed to put the car up on the jacks. Russell parked his car in the right
[29:39.040 -> 29:44.040] place. Russell didn't have to serve a penalty and get another penalty on top of that. Table doesn't
[29:44.040 -> 29:48.160] lie. Boom. Everyone agrees with me. Oh, wait, are we talking about Ocon or Alonso here? I'm confused.
[29:48.160 -> 29:52.240] Yeah, I know. It's interesting. Don't get him started on Ocon, my goodness, without time.
[29:53.920 -> 29:59.040] But look, I'm going down in championship and race order, which means that we're going to talk about
[29:59.040 -> 30:03.440] Mercedes race now. I finished gloating. Half the audience has turned off. I'll check the live
[30:03.440 -> 30:09.040] stream figures to see how true that is. Yep, yep, yep. No one enjoyed that bit. But Mercedes race, I guess we
[30:09.040 -> 30:14.960] start with with George Russell, Antonio, you know, I had a funny feeling about George Russell all
[30:14.960 -> 30:19.440] weekend, all through practice, where Lewis Hamilton was being ragged, he just kind of got on with it.
[30:19.440 -> 30:23.680] And then sure enough, qualifying, he pops right up there, four tenths above Lewis Hamilton,
[30:23.680 -> 30:27.400] you just go, oh, there's something, there's something real, isn't it?
[30:27.400 -> 30:31.160] Yeah, you know, when you said something in the group chat saying, I have a feeling about
[30:31.160 -> 30:35.720] George Russell, I knew that if he even remotely performed well, you'd brag about this. So
[30:35.720 -> 30:36.720] I've been prepared for this.
[30:36.720 -> 30:37.720] Yeah, called him psychic spanners.
[30:37.720 -> 30:41.880] Yeah. And of course you did. And now all of the money you made from betting on him, I'm
[30:41.880 -> 30:44.280] sure is funding the podcast for a few more years.
[30:44.280 -> 30:45.760] It's a little bit true.
[30:50.160 -> 30:54.400] No, he did a great job. Russell, generally speaking, is a fantastic driver in terms of he can just put his head down and get results. You know, today, towards the end of the race,
[30:54.400 -> 30:58.960] we saw him getting a little bit flustered in terms of Alonso because there was a little bit
[30:58.960 -> 31:03.040] going on with that penalty that we weren't sure about. And yeah, he pushed towards the end of
[31:03.040 -> 31:06.040] the race. I think he was 5.1, was it, by the end of the race
[31:06.040 -> 31:08.720] behind Alonso, just slightly missed the five second mark,
[31:08.720 -> 31:10.240] but of course it was a 10 second penalty,
[31:10.240 -> 31:11.840] so that didn't end up mattering.
[31:11.840 -> 31:13.380] But no, I actually think he put on
[31:13.380 -> 31:15.560] a fantastic performance this weekend.
[31:15.560 -> 31:17.320] George, I think his experience at Williams
[31:17.320 -> 31:19.840] did him a very big solid in terms of
[31:19.840 -> 31:22.480] he just has good confidence in his ability
[31:22.480 -> 31:25.440] to draw great potential out of a car and do well.
[31:25.440 -> 31:30.960] So yeah, Hamilton didn't have the best weekend, but peripheral, peripherally to him, he's got
[31:30.960 -> 31:35.120] tunnel vision and he put on a great performance today. P3, yes, I'm sure there's going to be a
[31:35.120 -> 31:40.080] lot of people in the comments saying, I've already had people in mind going mafia, you know, with the
[31:40.080 -> 31:45.840] FIA thing and saying Mercedes assistant, rigged, goodness, you know, and whatever you think
[31:45.840 -> 31:48.160] about that, George did a good job.
[31:48.960 -> 31:54.320] I just need to briefly interject, those are provisional results, and we don't actually
[31:54.320 -> 31:56.800] know yet if he's finished third or not.
[31:56.800 -> 31:58.720] And why is that? Why is that Trumpet?
[31:59.680 -> 32:03.840] Because they've not finished hearing the Aston evidence about the penalty yet.
[32:04.000 -> 32:10.640] they've not finished hearing the asked and evidence about the penalty yet. Okay, all right, but listening to Mike Crack giving his opinion on that, it all
[32:10.640 -> 32:16.880] came down to whether or not using the jack counted as as working on the car. So
[32:16.880 -> 32:20.340] it didn't seem to be like they'd got their Mississippis wrong. One
[32:20.340 -> 32:23.960] Mississippi, two Mississippi. Hey Derek, put that jack down. I don't think it was
[32:23.960 -> 32:29.520] that. I think they just thought they were allowed to put the jack on. And so that's just going to come
[32:29.520 -> 32:34.080] down to who's read the rules right. But I think everyone feels confident that that's actually a
[32:34.080 -> 32:40.160] penalty. Antonia, then Christian. I said this about Ocon in Bahrain. In my opinion, this kind
[32:40.160 -> 32:45.120] of thing is very arbitrary. As the team, it is your responsibility, especially in terms of this
[32:45.120 -> 32:49.360] kind of thing, to know exactly what you are and are not allowed to do. So in that way I find it
[32:49.360 -> 32:53.920] very black and white. They shouldn't have had the jack under the car, therefore they got a penalty.
[32:53.920 -> 32:58.720] I'm sure they can argue as much as they like that, you know, we didn't know you weren't allowed to
[32:58.720 -> 33:03.360] have the jack under the car and then we can debate with the wall about whether that counts as working
[33:03.360 -> 33:08.520] on the car. But if the FIA in their regulations have said you are not allowed to, then in my opinion,
[33:08.520 -> 33:09.760] it is that simple.
[33:09.760 -> 33:12.000] And that was a fair enough penalty.
[33:12.000 -> 33:18.200] In regards to the to the times in the race when Hamilton, after the restart from the
[33:18.200 -> 33:21.240] safety car, Hamilton had fresh tyres, right?
[33:21.240 -> 33:22.240] Soft.
[33:22.240 -> 33:23.240] No, it wasn't.
[33:23.240 -> 33:29.280] It was the yellow one. And Russell was in front on hards and Hamilton
[33:29.280 -> 33:33.400] catched him. And then as soon as he catched him, I don't know what happened. We didn't
[33:33.400 -> 33:38.440] hear the radio, but Russell just upped up his pace, upped up his pace so much that he
[33:38.440 -> 33:47.120] was almost within DRS on Alonso. And then Hamilton's tyres dropped off and then they both dropped off
[33:47.120 -> 33:52.560] the pace of Alonso and he pulled away again. I just found that little séance kind of odd
[33:52.560 -> 33:57.360] that if Russell really wanted to go fast, he could go fast and Hamilton could go fast
[33:57.360 -> 34:03.520] and then suddenly none of them could go fast. It seems like there's something in the car
[34:03.520 -> 34:06.160] that is not being used all the time.
[34:06.160 -> 34:11.800] Yeah, so the general point there, I think it's a dance we see fairly often in mid-stint
[34:11.800 -> 34:16.880] where, and I know Matt's the one who's really schooled me on this kind of tactics, is when
[34:16.880 -> 34:20.540] you see a gap close, it's not necessarily because one driver's just better or faster
[34:20.540 -> 34:22.240] than the other.
[34:22.240 -> 34:25.480] Sometimes drivers are saving, and the message that came from Russell seemed to be,
[34:25.480 -> 34:26.680] well, I'm tire saving.
[34:26.680 -> 34:29.360] Surely Hamilton should be saving as well,
[34:29.360 -> 34:31.680] and then we'll both go and get Alonso together.
[34:31.680 -> 34:35.880] And then that's when he lied about not thinking that Alonso
[34:35.880 -> 34:39.680] had his penalty served already.
[34:39.680 -> 34:40.560] Max, oh, go on.
[34:40.560 -> 34:41.480] Christian, then Matt.
[34:41.480 -> 34:42.560] One small thing.
[34:42.560 -> 34:47.620] The consistency from Mercedes is what's going to be the difference in the end.
[34:47.620 -> 34:49.680] It's always been Hamilton's thing.
[34:49.680 -> 34:51.800] It's always been Alonso's thing.
[34:51.800 -> 34:54.440] Consistency, consistency, consistency.
[34:54.440 -> 34:58.240] And you have to argue Mercedes is consistent this year.
[34:58.240 -> 34:59.240] Trumpets.
[34:59.240 -> 35:00.240] Yeah.
[35:00.240 -> 35:10.080] Now we're getting to something that really, really interests me. Both from an intra-team point of view, you have Lewis on faster tires, catching up with
[35:10.080 -> 35:11.080] Russell.
[35:11.080 -> 35:17.800] Now, even if Russell had that pace in hand, why would you not let Lewis chase down Alonzo,
[35:17.800 -> 35:21.760] who's only a second or two ahead, on those faster tires?
[35:21.760 -> 35:23.560] And here's my reasoning.
[35:23.560 -> 35:25.760] Now tell me, tell me, tell me if you disagree with me.
[35:26.320 -> 35:33.200] My reasoning is pretty simple. On those medium tires, Hamilton might have had an off chance at
[35:33.200 -> 35:38.560] slowing down Alonzo, making him defend, and maybe even getting past him with the superior grip,
[35:38.560 -> 35:42.800] because we saw him, we saw Hamilton make some very good moves and use those tires
[35:42.800 -> 35:50.060] very effectively at the restart after the safety car. But those tires at that pace probably wouldn't have held on the Mercedes
[35:50.060 -> 35:56.320] because it is not arguably, it is the third fastest car in the field behind Alonso and
[35:56.320 -> 36:02.480] Aston and Stroll possibly, but with broken wrist and he continues to stop early, who
[36:02.480 -> 36:06.880] knows. At that point, you've backed Alonso into Russell,
[36:06.880 -> 36:08.400] who will have better tires
[36:08.400 -> 36:11.660] and potentially be able to take him on track
[36:11.660 -> 36:13.500] for that position.
[36:13.500 -> 36:17.420] But Mercedes didn't make that team order happen.
[36:17.420 -> 36:19.180] And they wanted to, I think that was their instinct,
[36:19.180 -> 36:21.420] was to go, Hamilton's going fast on a softer tire,
[36:21.420 -> 36:26.800] go through, and Russell just didn't yield. He came up with reasons and
[36:26.800 -> 36:31.680] then ultimately he said, right, do you know what? I was tyre saving, but I'm going to use up a lot
[36:31.680 -> 36:37.920] of my tyre allocation and my tyre wear now to fend off this team order. And then maybe that's
[36:37.920 -> 36:44.160] ultimately why he didn't have enough juice, enough beans to go and chase Alonso down at the end.
[36:44.160 -> 36:48.160] So even though they might technically have got the podium, it sounds like what you're saying is
[36:48.880 -> 36:50.560] Russell cost Mercedes a podium.
[36:51.600 -> 36:57.200] It just, like, it sticks in my head. It's kind of odd to see that when teammates are on different
[36:57.200 -> 37:03.120] tire strategies that you don't give preference to the strategies playing out in their best fashion.
[37:03.920 -> 37:06.680] Thing is, though, we don't know if they told Russell,
[37:06.680 -> 37:09.320] Hamilton is coming, and he said, I want to keep it.
[37:09.360 -> 37:10.760] Then they said, fight for it.
[37:10.760 -> 37:11.840] And he just drove away.
[37:11.840 -> 37:14.400] We don't know if that happened, basically, and that could have happened.
[37:14.400 -> 37:17.600] But that would have been a very bad call from Mercedes to go, OK,
[37:18.000 -> 37:19.640] you guys sort it out amongst yourselves.
[37:19.640 -> 37:24.320] And in doing that, destroy both your tyre strategies.
[37:24.560 -> 37:27.200] That doesn't feel like that would have been the call.
[37:27.200 -> 37:28.200] Antonia?
[37:28.200 -> 37:33.240] Well, it's like we said, they were on different strategies and Lewis, his strategist, will
[37:33.240 -> 37:37.200] have factored in a potential chase within that so that once he did chase and catch,
[37:37.200 -> 37:39.920] ultimately, he wouldn't have wasted valuable tires.
[37:39.920 -> 37:44.520] Instead, he kind of veged for a little while whilst the tires kind of just degraded a little
[37:44.520 -> 37:45.680] bit slowly
[37:45.680 -> 37:52.640] and yeah I mean did did that cost them a podium because they have a provisional podium? Has it
[37:52.640 -> 37:57.440] all just kind of worked out quite happily for them in the end? Yeah so yeah I suppose yeah the
[37:57.440 -> 38:02.720] hypothetical situation that we were arguing that has kind of been dissipated given that you know
[38:02.720 -> 38:11.040] they were given that penalty in the end but going forward in the season are Mercedes kind of been dissipated given that, you know, they were given that penalty in the end. But going forward in the season, are Mercedes kind of too nice and too diplomatic to just put their foot
[38:11.040 -> 38:16.400] down and go, George, enough's enough, we think this is the best tactic, pull over, let him buy.
[38:16.400 -> 38:21.920] Because ultimately that's in his contract. If they say to do that, you know, he quote unquote
[38:21.920 -> 38:30.080] has to do it or face the consequences. Too nice and diplomatic? Absolutely not. I would like to see George Russell's villain
[38:30.080 -> 38:31.080] arc begin today.
[38:31.080 -> 38:35.560] Oh, I meant Mercedes, not George Russell. I've been saying this from the beginning.
[38:35.560 -> 38:41.080] George Russell, he's a posh tiger.
[38:41.080 -> 38:45.720] Mercedes have allowed it to happen under their nose before, wherein we've had some fantastic
[38:45.720 -> 38:50.440] killer battles with Rosberg and Hamilton. I would like George Russell to slowly over
[38:50.440 -> 38:55.920] the course of this season begin his arc towards becoming more Rosbergian, wherein by the end
[38:55.920 -> 38:57.800] of this, I'm going to coin that term.
[38:57.800 -> 39:01.280] Begin? Yeah, I think he's been like that from the beginning, honestly.
[39:01.280 -> 39:06.720] Well, I, again, they don't really have the car to do a Rosbergian, but if
[39:06.720 -> 39:13.200] I would love to see some real spats between some teammates this year. I don't mind if I get it from
[39:13.200 -> 39:18.400] Verstappen and Perez or from, you know, I don't mind. It can come from any of the teams. I would,
[39:18.400 -> 39:23.200] I just love a little bit of really good battles between teammates where we've got some of the
[39:23.200 -> 39:25.360] politics, they're in equal-ish
[39:25.360 -> 39:29.920] machinery, bar a few tweaks. I think it's great because it's like I've said so many times, the
[39:29.920 -> 39:34.400] best way to judge a driver is by the performance of their teammate. So if they are right on each
[39:34.400 -> 39:39.520] other's level, that's fantastic. You just want a soap opera, you won't be happy until George
[39:39.520 -> 39:46.680] Russell's evil twin turns up, you know. Don't align me with the stereotypes of my generation, I beg of you.
[39:46.680 -> 39:48.760] Don't make me start talking about downforce and stuff.
[39:48.760 -> 39:51.960] I'll spit out some tech talk right now just to backtrack on those comments.
[39:51.960 -> 39:53.800] Okay, no one call her Gen Z, Matt.
[39:53.800 -> 39:57.760] I don't even know what her generation is called.
[39:57.760 -> 40:02.360] Last point on this, Max, I do want to dig into some, I want some sofa psychology.
[40:02.360 -> 40:06.640] I was going to say, hang on, I'm just going along on aluminum before I start this comment.
[40:06.640 -> 40:09.440] But do you remember Hamilton?
[40:09.440 -> 40:09.760] Yes.
[40:09.760 -> 40:12.640] Stating the team didn't listen to him?
[40:12.640 -> 40:13.140] Yes.
[40:14.320 -> 40:19.360] Yeah. Okay. I remember that too. Do you see how happy Russell is in the car right now?
[40:19.360 -> 40:19.860] Yeah.
[40:20.560 -> 40:28.320] Does anybody else besides me remember that time at McLaren when he was with Button and
[40:28.320 -> 40:34.040] they kept on trying to make Button faster instead of doing what Lewis asked with the
[40:34.040 -> 40:35.040] car?
[40:35.040 -> 40:41.800] I just wonder if there's maybe already some unhappiness on the Lewis side of the camp
[40:41.800 -> 40:46.280] because what we're seeing now goes back to decisions that were made in the winter,
[40:46.360 -> 40:50.240] where they took George's recommendations and not Lewis's.
[40:50.740 -> 40:53.160] I understand, I would understand the frustration behind that,
[40:53.240 -> 40:56.620] because being an immensely experienced, talented,
[40:56.700 -> 40:59.000] you know, every positive adjective in the book,
[40:59.080 -> 41:02.580] driver, that Lewis is, I'm sure he is expecting his opinion
[41:02.660 -> 41:04.700] to be taken seriously, because as it should.
[41:05.280 -> 41:10.720] However, I also probably think that there's a bit psychologically where Lewis perhaps sees himself
[41:11.360 -> 41:18.320] as a considerably more valuable opinion than George and that might not in every single case
[41:18.320 -> 41:23.120] necessarily be the truth. I'm sure there's many times being different drivers having different
[41:23.120 -> 41:27.120] styles where George's opinion and Lewis's directly clash.
[41:27.240 -> 41:32.200] And unfortunately, sometimes the team might go with George because you can't
[41:32.340 -> 41:36.360] always listen to every input from one driver you've got to take on a balanced
[41:36.360 -> 41:39.080] perspective because you win and lose as a team.
[41:39.840 -> 41:45.560] So for instance, if I was like working on a TV show and there was a host, he's been
[41:45.560 -> 41:50.840] hosting for 10 years somewhere, he's a famous host and he tells us, no, I don't want that,
[41:50.840 -> 41:56.560] then we always listen to him because we know from his experience it won't work.
[41:56.560 -> 42:00.600] I have a feeling within the Formula One team where you have 1,500 people, well, you have
[42:00.600 -> 42:09.520] between 600 to 1,500 people, that experience, if no one listens to that and it goes wrong, then that host, for instance,
[42:09.520 -> 42:11.120] on the TV show will go to all of us.
[42:11.120 -> 42:15.400] But I told you, and if that happens again and again, he will lose his blah, blah, blah,
[42:15.400 -> 42:16.920] he will do a bad TV show.
[42:16.920 -> 42:18.160] That is the same for Hamilton.
[42:18.160 -> 42:23.000] I bet you if I was a seven-time world champion and I said to my team, listen, do this and
[42:23.000 -> 42:25.560] this and this, and they didn't listen and the car was crap.
[42:26.480 -> 42:28.120] I would feel very demoted.
[42:28.840 -> 42:31.480] I completely see where you're coming from, completely.
[42:31.480 -> 42:35.760] However, we're acting as if he's the only one with experience on this team.
[42:36.000 -> 42:37.240] No, I didn't mean that.
[42:37.240 -> 42:41.280] No, no, no, of course, but as in all of these mechanics and every other person
[42:41.280 -> 42:48.800] working on this team is immensely experienced. So we can't forget, of course, of course, Lewis's opinion is immensely valuable.
[42:49.040 -> 42:53.800] But as is that of every mechanic who probably has a right to listen to George
[42:53.800 -> 42:55.520] and go, actually, yeah, I agree.
[42:55.520 -> 42:57.880] There's a there's a phenomenon in football coaching,
[42:57.880 -> 43:00.840] that you can lose the dressing room and players can do that.
[43:00.840 -> 43:01.760] Managers can lose that.
[43:01.760 -> 43:03.600] And in F1, you can lose the garage.
[43:03.600 -> 43:11.240] And I think like Fernando Alonso, 2007, lost that McLaren garage and it flitted over. Sebastian
[43:11.240 -> 43:16.960] Vettel lost the Ferrari garage, 100%, you know, after too many clashes with Leclerc,
[43:16.960 -> 43:22.600] after pretty much throwing away 2017 and 2018. So it can happen. And so it was a bit of a
[43:22.600 -> 43:29.000] clumsy statement. That, to be fair, Lewis Hamilton has walked back from where he said, like, they didn't listen to me. I know how to build
[43:29.000 -> 43:33.640] a car. And, you know, if you're a mechanic, you think, well, mate, I, you know, I kind
[43:33.640 -> 43:38.660] of build the car and we fix it. And then Toto Wolff's response to a lot of Lewis Hamilton's
[43:38.660 -> 43:42.600] comments was, well, if we can't provide him a car, I guess he'll go somewhere else. And,
[43:42.600 -> 43:47.280] you know, I won't have any hard feelings. And then we come out and everything seems to suit Russell. So yeah,
[43:47.280 -> 43:54.560] we'll all take a share of Matt's tinfoil hat for a little bit. But I do just wish that sometimes,
[43:54.560 -> 43:59.120] and it's a stupid wish because we've been watching Lewis Hamilton for the last however many years,
[43:59.120 -> 44:06.240] 14 years, that he wouldn't just tell us all his feelings. He's so honest, absolutely honest to a fault.
[44:06.240 -> 44:10.960] And like I tell my children, you know, if you've got a feeling, push it deep, deep down
[44:10.960 -> 44:15.600] in a tight, angry ball when no one will ever see it. And what did they say on Frozen, Matt?
[44:15.600 -> 44:20.340] Conceal, don't feel, don't let it show. He's doing the opposite of that. He was on the
[44:20.340 -> 44:30.880] ragged edge in practice. He just seemed to be over-driving it Friday and Saturday and then he went for the flip strategy of the hard tyre, which to me feels like the
[44:30.880 -> 44:32.220] Charlotteshire strategy.
[44:32.220 -> 44:35.860] It feels like Jenson Button when he used to just do the opposite of everybody else when
[44:35.860 -> 44:36.860] some rain came down.
[44:36.860 -> 44:40.980] Whatever everyone else did, he did the opposite and he might look like a genius.
[44:40.980 -> 44:47.000] And you don't do that alternate hards strategy if you've qualified well and if you're feeling on top of it.
[44:47.000 -> 44:51.000] So it was a, it was, to me, it felt like, oh, that's a disappointing approach.
[44:51.000 -> 44:53.000] He's going for the gambler's choice.
[44:53.000 -> 44:54.000] Matt?
[44:54.000 -> 44:57.000] Yeah, it was very much the gambler's choice.
[44:57.000 -> 45:04.000] And I will say, I mean, if I'm remembering last year correctly, this may not be simply his favorite track.
[45:04.000 -> 45:07.840] This might be a bit of a bogey track for him, which might be part of it.
[45:07.840 -> 45:13.200] But yeah, no, you don't start seventh and put on the hard tires unless you think you
[45:13.200 -> 45:16.320] do not have the pace to compete with the people around you.
[45:16.320 -> 45:17.320] Christian?
[45:17.320 -> 45:25.920] They are already talking about how the new concept of the new W14 will be.
[45:26.360 -> 45:30.920] And they're already talking about the gains they see from the new approach,
[45:31.360 -> 45:35.480] which is making me think this must have been started way back.
[45:35.480 -> 45:38.400] And then probably they chose a route at some point,
[45:38.520 -> 45:40.520] so they don't have to start from scratch.
[45:40.800 -> 45:42.840] They're already in the tunnel and stuff like that.
[45:42.840 -> 45:45.120] So, I mean, in a month's
[45:45.120 -> 45:52.040] time, if we have a Mercedes capable of fighting Red Bull and they are second in the championship,
[45:52.040 -> 45:58.480] it's not dead yet. Don't just say, hmm, Sven. Agree.
[45:58.480 -> 46:05.380] I want to agree, but you're right, Christian, in that they've said, you know, we've made more gains in the last since you know
[46:05.380 -> 46:10.100] Presumably since Bahrain on paper than they made over like winter testing or something
[46:10.100 -> 46:15.760] So there's a lot of big noises coming out of Mercedes and they don't tend to to over promise like that
[46:15.760 -> 46:20.400] They tend to kind of manage expectations, but now they're going no we've made gains. So there you go, Antonia
[46:20.400 -> 46:22.520] Bye Barcelona Mercedes are back in the hunt
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[47:32.760 -> 47:39.120] I feel as though what Mercedes are doing right now is the exact opposite of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Wherein it is broke and they are fixing it. They're trying absolutely everything
[47:39.120 -> 47:44.520] to, you know, mix and match and try and figure out the best way forward with the car concept.
[47:44.640 -> 47:50.720] know, mix and match and try and figure out the best way forward with the car concept. And I think that's why we're seeing a driver who was so frustrated, Lewis Hamilton, who was so
[47:50.720 -> 47:56.240] talented and yes, so used to having a fantastic car beneath him. Of course, he's driving like he
[47:56.240 -> 48:00.960] has everything on the line because he wants to be up there so badly. He's trying everything in the
[48:00.960 -> 48:05.200] book because hopefully if they try everything, one of them will work.
[48:05.200 -> 48:10.880] That's why we've got a whole new, what feels like their backup plan car coming through,
[48:10.880 -> 48:14.480] where they thought, we actually know we might not start the season very strong,
[48:14.480 -> 48:18.880] and we know this concept might not work. So we'll have one in the back waiting.
[48:18.880 -> 48:23.440] And hopefully, if the first one doesn't work, this one will. So I bet the new concept that
[48:23.440 -> 48:25.120] we'll see will almost be
[48:25.120 -> 48:30.560] the black and white opposite of the concept we're seeing now, because they just want to try
[48:30.560 -> 48:34.000] anything, understandably, to make it work. Matt?
[48:34.880 -> 48:39.360] Show me the numbers and the Aston Martin side pods. That's all I'm going to say.
[48:52.160 -> 48:58.960] Well, so we're going to Aston Martin, Matt, whilst yes, we are still watching on Twitter and seeing the ongoing back and forth that the Aston Martin penalty might yet be overturned.
[48:58.960 -> 49:02.280] Curse you FIA for not getting this sorted quickly.
[49:02.280 -> 49:05.800] And we might be wrong wrong but first thing is really
[49:05.800 -> 49:10.440] starting to bite us in the butt here and my whole ranty monologue at the beginning of
[49:10.440 -> 49:14.760] the Mercedes bit will be turned on its head because I believe that would put Aston Martin
[49:14.760 -> 49:18.240] back into second place if that penalty is taken away.
[49:18.240 -> 49:19.240] Penalty is overturned.
[49:19.240 -> 49:20.240] Oh you're joking, has that really happened?
[49:20.240 -> 49:21.240] That's how I'm rated.
[49:21.240 -> 49:22.240] Oh forget that.
[49:22.240 -> 49:23.240] Oh come on.
[49:23.240 -> 49:24.240] No it's the most reliable source.
[49:24.240 -> 49:25.000] Yeah but it's Alba Fabreg all on Reddit. Oh, forget that. Oh, come on.
[49:25.000 -> 49:27.000] Reddit is the most reliable source.
[49:27.000 -> 49:29.000] Yeah, but it's up for break-up on Twitter.
[49:29.000 -> 49:30.000] Oh, okay.
[49:30.000 -> 49:31.000] So it should be fine.
[49:31.000 -> 49:33.000] Darn. Okay. So, you know.
[49:33.000 -> 49:34.000] So Alonso is back.
[49:34.000 -> 49:37.000] Ignore all that. And Alonso has tweeted about his podium as well.
[49:37.000 -> 49:43.000] But look, that is the risk of getting these race reviews ready for your Monday morning commute.
[49:43.000 -> 49:45.000] So I hope you will forgive us.
[49:45.000 -> 49:51.000] But Aston Martin themselves, I think a testament to how good that car was handling and driving,
[49:51.000 -> 49:59.000] was the overtake of the day was, I think beyond doubt, Lance Stroll around the outside of Carlos Sainz.
[49:59.000 -> 50:09.580] And I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't think Stroll suddenly is a better driver than Carlos Sainz, but that was a great and bold move around the outside.
[50:09.580 -> 50:10.780] That was a lovely move.
[50:10.780 -> 50:12.400] That was a perfect move.
[50:12.400 -> 50:17.920] And I mean, it was probably the move of the race if it wasn't for my Danish genes, which
[50:17.920 -> 50:20.640] leads me to, of course, pick another overtaking.
[50:20.640 -> 50:25.280] But I mean, on the outside of corner 13, that is just a boss move.
[50:25.280 -> 50:30.920] I mean, I think this started a year ago, you and I, Spanners, were talking about Straw
[50:30.920 -> 50:32.800] and he's got something in him.
[50:32.800 -> 50:36.760] He's got something in him that no one sees just because he's got a very rich father.
[50:36.760 -> 50:39.040] Matt, can you get in there?
[50:39.040 -> 50:43.440] Because, Matt, your long pauses are working against you because Christian's just in there
[50:43.440 -> 50:45.040] with his big Viking spirit with
[50:45.040 -> 50:47.480] a big or a big Viking or coming in.
[50:47.480 -> 50:49.200] You've got to get in there quicker, man.
[50:49.200 -> 50:53.920] Sorry, I was watching now that Alonzo's penalty has been overturned to see if Ocons has as
[50:53.920 -> 50:54.920] well.
[50:54.920 -> 50:55.920] It's not happened yet.
[50:55.920 -> 50:57.360] I'm just going to tell everybody.
[50:57.360 -> 51:00.080] No, I think that it shows that overtake.
[51:00.080 -> 51:06.160] Yeah, it does show that Stroll is a good driver, maybe not the best, but a good driver.
[51:06.160 -> 51:11.440] But what it really demonstrates is the superior qualities of the Aston Martin they have built,
[51:11.440 -> 51:20.760] which was beyond argument the second fastest car on circuit by team, I mean, not by individual
[51:20.760 -> 51:21.900] driver.
[51:21.900 -> 51:24.640] And it is the second fastest car.
[51:24.640 -> 51:26.200] They are the number two team right now,
[51:26.200 -> 51:29.440] even though with Stroll not finishing the race today,
[51:29.440 -> 51:33.240] they are slightly behind Mercedes in the constructors.
[51:33.240 -> 51:37.800] And it's going to be up to Ferrari and Mercedes
[51:37.800 -> 51:40.720] who have, well, given Aston's example,
[51:40.720 -> 51:44.840] clearly under-delivered at the start of this season
[51:44.840 -> 51:46.760] to make it up and take back
[51:46.760 -> 51:49.000] the places that they think should be theirs.
[51:49.000 -> 51:53.360] And that is going to be a great battle all year long, and I can't wait to see it play
[51:53.360 -> 51:54.360] out.
[51:54.360 -> 51:55.360] Antonio?
[51:55.360 -> 51:56.480] No, I completely agree.
[51:56.480 -> 52:00.280] I think we've got an absolutely fantastic season ahead of us, and that's why I get so
[52:00.280 -> 52:04.120] frustrated when everyone says, oh, it's done already.
[52:04.120 -> 52:09.800] Red Bull may as well just take the trophies now. No, I've waited months over Christmas for this. I've waited months.
[52:09.800 -> 52:16.200] I want my battles. Aside from that, yeah, I'm very actually, I am admittedly happy to
[52:16.200 -> 52:21.000] see that Alonso does get his podium. They were the second fastest car. They did deserve
[52:21.000 -> 52:25.520] it. And it's great to see Aston Martin up there. The improvement arc,
[52:25.520 -> 52:30.000] obviously with Stroll, him staying on the team, he's the main base of comparison for the car's
[52:30.000 -> 52:35.520] performance. I think it's really good to see them putting in solid performances, especially with
[52:35.520 -> 52:41.120] Lance. Bless him, two broken wrists. I wouldn't so much as be getting out of bed if I were him,
[52:41.120 -> 52:46.160] and here he is driving around at 200 kilometers an hour. So if he's putting in
[52:46.160 -> 52:51.920] what we call the expected standard now, under the weather with a broken toe, I'm so excited
[52:51.920 -> 52:56.160] to see how the team as a whole get on towards the end of the season, especially with upgrades.
[52:56.160 -> 53:01.600] I was holding my breath a bit in qualifying, Christian. I think he was on for pole at one
[53:01.600 -> 53:06.240] point. I think after Sector 2 he was on pole, and it's the greatest
[53:06.240 -> 53:10.560] lap that never was, but we never saw why he lost six tenths in the final sector. So I'm
[53:10.560 -> 53:16.080] assuming he just overcooked it into the final corner, but the pole was on genuinely for
[53:16.080 -> 53:17.080] Stroll.
[53:17.080 -> 53:22.760] It was Alonso Banana at the last corner. Actually, I just wanted to mention a short thing because
[53:22.760 -> 53:30.120] there was a short interaction between George Russell Russell and Alonso after, before the penalty came out or the verdict.
[53:30.120 -> 53:35.520] And he said something in Spanish, which has been translated to, I don't care, they can't
[53:35.520 -> 53:38.320] take the good times away from me.
[53:38.320 -> 53:43.680] That is the most dangerous Fernando Alonso in the world, I think.
[53:43.680 -> 53:47.560] I think that speaks volumes for Alonso's presence in the sport, to be honest.
[53:47.560 -> 53:52.800] When he came back, everyone was so uncertain about what on earth he was doing.
[53:53.080 -> 53:55.540] I know I for one thought, my goodness, couldn't we have given this
[53:55.540 -> 53:57.080] opportunity to a younger driver?
[53:57.440 -> 53:59.280] Alonso's just coming back as a hobby.
[53:59.520 -> 54:02.760] He's just doing it for the fun of it because retirement was a bit boring.
[54:03.480 -> 54:05.360] But he came back with this absolute
[54:05.360 -> 54:10.980] fighting spirit, immeasurable talent and just a pure love of racing. And my goodness hasn't
[54:10.980 -> 54:16.760] it showed. He has put in performance after performance and done a fantastic job. And
[54:16.760 -> 54:23.520] I personally, I'm showing my age here, I grew up with Alonso on my screen and seeing him
[54:23.520 -> 54:26.040] back and actually putting in really impressive
[54:26.040 -> 54:32.600] race results, it's great because how often do we see a driver revive their career in
[54:32.600 -> 54:38.120] the way that he has? And I'm so glad, actually, George put a tweet out, he said, you know,
[54:38.120 -> 54:44.360] that Alonso deserved it. I'm nice to have another trophy, but it belongs to Alonso and
[54:44.360 -> 54:45.280] I'm glad that everyone's
[54:45.280 -> 54:50.160] been very sporting about it. But I cannot overstate how actually happy I am that Alonso's
[54:50.160 -> 54:56.080] come back into the sport and brought back and rejuvenated so much of just the love of racing.
[54:56.080 -> 54:59.040] When did Fernando Alonso start in Formula One?
[54:59.680 -> 55:02.880] No, don't start with the quiz. I know when his championships were.
[55:02.880 -> 55:09.200] I'm trying to Google it now, just seeing when he started. I'm trying to, what I'm trying to get at is, I think he may have been racing in F1
[55:09.200 -> 55:16.160] for your whole life. I'm pretty sure it was, it was, it was the same year or slightly around the
[55:16.160 -> 55:21.680] time that Oscar Piastri was born. Yeah. Because there's been various statistics about it. So it's,
[55:22.320 -> 55:25.040] give it a good, he's definitely been in F1 longer than me.
[55:25.140 -> 55:27.040] I think we can safely say I'm 19 years old.
[55:27.140 -> 55:29.140] I am a fetus compared to these men.
[55:29.240 -> 55:30.240] Yep, everyone.
[55:30.340 -> 55:31.340] 2001.
[55:31.440 -> 55:33.180] 2001. There we go. Confirmed.
[55:33.280 -> 55:35.880] And we all hate you because of jealousy. Matt?
[55:36.380 -> 55:39.480] I just a minor tweak to Antonio's comment
[55:39.580 -> 55:42.320] about Alonso reviving his career
[55:42.820 -> 55:44.660] after throwing it away multiple times
[55:44.760 -> 55:48.000] in different series. There we go. That's correct.
[55:48.000 -> 56:05.200] And you might have missed it, but Ferrari competed in this Grand Prix as well. And I'll tell you what, although the overall performance, Scuderia Ferrari, and
[56:05.200 -> 56:10.160] although the overall performance was lacking, like they seemed to be lacking pace, they
[56:10.160 -> 56:15.800] couldn't catch up to the Mercedes at the end, functionally and operationally, we saw some
[56:15.800 -> 56:17.800] decent strategy from them.
[56:17.800 -> 56:25.680] Yeah, well, and this gets into, we haven't really talked about the role that Lance Stroll played that was integral to the race
[56:26.800 -> 56:33.120] in bringing out this safety car. But if you were going to pick a team that was negatively affected
[56:33.120 -> 56:40.400] by it, you could hardly do worse than Ferrari. You have Leclerc making an amazing start on the
[56:40.400 -> 56:45.440] soft tires, catching all the way up. He's by Hamilton. He's ahead of the Alpines.
[56:45.440 -> 56:52.780] He's right there. Max catches him, passes him. He dives for the pits. And meanwhile,
[56:52.780 -> 56:59.760] you have poor Carlos Sainz, who racing Stroll for the fourth position at that point, Stroll
[56:59.760 -> 57:09.020] dives early in for the pits, undercut attempt., and signs to goes overcut, gets out just in
[57:09.020 -> 57:13.400] front of him. But the way it timed out was the pair of them were done with their pit
[57:13.400 -> 57:20.080] stops before the safety car, and therefore they got completely hammered by Lewis on the
[57:20.080 -> 57:26.080] hard tire, who was able to pit under the safety car, jump the both of them plus Alcon in one
[57:26.080 -> 57:30.480] fell swoop. And after that, it was just Ferrari v Ferrari.
[57:31.280 -> 57:37.840] Yeah, I just to emphasize how horrendous this timing was for Ferrari. Lap 16, Carlos signs
[57:37.840 -> 57:43.120] pits, the overcast is successful, he comes out in front of Stroll. Everyone is happy.
[57:43.120 -> 57:46.320] Lap 17, Leclerc pits. Verstappen moves
[57:46.320 -> 57:52.640] up into fourth, various other things happen, he comes out ahead of Stroll. Lap 18, Stroll parks
[57:52.640 -> 57:59.520] his car. It's a series of unfortunate events and if I were to bet my inheritance on a team to have
[57:59.520 -> 58:06.340] Miss Fortune on a race, it would unfortunately be Ferrari because these overcuts were working
[58:06.340 -> 58:12.620] so well. It was boom, boom, bang. Christian.
[58:12.620 -> 58:19.160] But if you do things like the not warning about Hamilton pitting during safety car so
[58:19.160 -> 58:26.140] he doesn't get out in front of him. If you do things like that in a team like Ferrari,
[58:26.140 -> 58:30.040] I mean, I think for 100 pounds,
[58:30.040 -> 58:32.920] you could get built a software telling you
[58:32.920 -> 58:34.520] that this would be a problem.
[58:34.520 -> 58:35.600] And this is Ferrari.
[58:35.600 -> 58:37.440] I mean, I just don't understand it.
[58:37.440 -> 58:40.200] Explain quickly, Christian, what was going on there
[58:40.200 -> 58:44.760] because Leclerc was audibly unhappy with his engineer.
[58:44.760 -> 58:51.360] So when you have a safety car alert on your dash and on markings on the track, you have
[58:51.360 -> 58:58.520] to turn down your speed and follow like a delta time. And there are certain points on
[58:58.520 -> 59:06.080] the track within those points, you have to be a certain amount of fast and a certain amount of slow.
[59:06.080 -> 59:10.720] You have to be within a delta, basically like a virtual safety car, just slower.
[59:11.520 -> 59:18.000] And if you can control that, you're not going to gain an advantage, but you can be in one end of
[59:18.000 -> 59:24.320] the delta time or the other end. You can be just behind or you can be in the back end. If you are
[59:24.320 -> 59:26.800] close to your delta, then maybe you can gain something.
[59:26.800 -> 59:36.000] For instance, if someone pits, then maybe you can come out in front of them, at least hit the safety car line before them.
[59:36.000 -> 59:39.800] Then you will gain an advantage. But if they don't tell that to the driver...
[59:39.800 -> 59:54.600] Yeah, that's rough. That's rough. Let's go with Antonia and then Matt. Yes, and ultimately, this communication, miscommunication, I should say, puts him behind Hamilton, a car that he could have really done being in front of.
[59:55.100 -> 01:00:01.000] And Paul Leclerc, we hear radio message after radio message of him emphasising his frustration.
[01:00:01.000 -> 01:00:06.580] And I said this last season, they have all of the ingredients of a world
[01:00:06.580 -> 01:00:13.720] championship dominating team, Ferrari. They could be great. And yet the connections between
[01:00:13.720 -> 01:00:21.000] this circle of great points are made out of spaghetti. There's very poor communication.
[01:00:21.000 -> 01:00:29.280] I mean, surely this is the most simple form of communication in a team, the pit wall and the driver. Surely that's one of the most simple forms of communication.
[01:00:29.280 -> 01:00:34.800] And to tell him information like that late, which is so valuable for not just championship points,
[01:00:34.800 -> 01:00:41.120] but grid position, but also just in its core, Charles Leclerc feeling confident in his team
[01:00:41.120 -> 01:00:48.080] as early in the season as race two. If at race two, Charlecler doesn't think his team have his best
[01:00:48.080 -> 01:00:52.240] interests at the forefront, then my goodness, doesn't that bode
[01:00:52.260 -> 01:00:54.180] very poorly for the rest of the season?
[01:00:54.240 -> 01:00:54.880] Shocking.
[01:00:55.000 -> 01:00:55.360] Yep.
[01:00:55.480 -> 01:00:59.240] Matt, a positive spin for the Tifosi.
[01:00:59.760 -> 01:01:00.200] Sure.
[01:01:00.480 -> 01:01:03.720] I'm Leclerc's race engineer.
[01:01:03.960 -> 01:01:05.720] I see that Lewis is on the hard tire.
[01:01:05.720 -> 01:01:07.920] I see that Lewis pits and puts on the medium tire.
[01:01:07.920 -> 01:01:11.120] I see that look, clerk is on the hard tire and I think it doesn't really matter.
[01:01:11.120 -> 01:01:15.520] I mean, I mean, honestly, it didn't matter.
[01:01:15.520 -> 01:01:17.280] He passed signs too.
[01:01:17.280 -> 01:01:18.920] And look, clerk can even pass signs.
[01:01:18.920 -> 01:01:21.660] So it was kind of a done deal.
[01:01:21.660 -> 01:01:26.420] I think look, clerk in the particulars is correct. As a matter of etiquette, he should
[01:01:26.420 -> 01:01:32.840] have been warned because LeClerc could probably have played with his timings enough to be
[01:01:32.840 -> 01:01:37.320] ahead of Lewis, but he would not have been there for long. So, you know.
[01:01:37.320 -> 01:01:42.460] It's all about the shoulders, right? I mean, Alonso's shoulders is up here right now and
[01:01:42.460 -> 01:01:45.720] he can do anything. LeClerc's is all the way down.
[01:01:45.720 -> 01:01:47.140] You can just see it in him.
[01:01:47.140 -> 01:01:48.800] You can see it in his eyes.
[01:01:48.800 -> 01:01:50.600] He's starting not to believe.
[01:01:50.600 -> 01:01:55.280] I mean, so a matter of etiquette, really?
[01:01:55.280 -> 01:01:56.280] A matter of etiquette?
[01:01:56.280 -> 01:02:01.800] No, this is essential information for a driver to have.
[01:02:01.800 -> 01:02:06.120] Not to sound silly, but the butterfly effect is real. Had Leclerc been in front
[01:02:06.120 -> 01:02:11.480] of Hamilton, that could have held up Hamilton to stop signs from being taken by Hamilton.
[01:02:11.480 -> 01:02:16.200] There's so much that could have impacted. A driver, in order to perform at their best,
[01:02:16.200 -> 01:02:21.560] has to have every single facet of the truth in order to know how to adjust their performance.
[01:02:21.560 -> 01:02:27.820] They are professionals. I know it sounds stupid to say, but they need to know important things like that,
[01:02:27.820 -> 01:02:29.860] especially when it comes to being able
[01:02:29.860 -> 01:02:31.740] to be in a better grid position.
[01:02:31.740 -> 01:02:34.320] Surely, that's one of the most important things.
[01:02:34.320 -> 01:02:35.820] Of course, the purpose of the pit wall
[01:02:35.820 -> 01:02:37.060] is to filter out the things
[01:02:37.060 -> 01:02:39.620] that the drivers don't necessarily need to know, yes,
[01:02:39.620 -> 01:02:42.860] but basic essential communication about,
[01:02:42.860 -> 01:02:46.240] oh, you could actually make up a place here. I mean, come on.
[01:02:47.120 -> 01:02:52.080] I'm not really sure how Antonia feels after all that, Matt. I wish she'd been clearer about it.
[01:02:52.080 -> 01:02:57.760] I feel kind of judged, if I'm being honest. I feel like I need a space here for a moment.
[01:02:57.760 -> 01:03:04.080] Please know this is coming from a place of a very sad Ferrari fan. Everyone's a Ferrari fan. I love
[01:03:04.080 -> 01:03:25.760] them. I just want them to do well etiquette, but no, etiquette is incredibly before that's proved one way or the other. Matt? So maybe it is just my age using words like
[01:03:25.760 -> 01:03:31.920] etiquette, but no, etiquette is incredibly important. It is exceedingly important, I think,
[01:03:31.920 -> 01:03:37.120] number one. But number two, if you look at race pace analysis, Ferrari was slower than Mercedes
[01:03:37.120 -> 01:03:47.600] and Lewis was on faster tires. Maybe Leclerc holds him up for a lap, but no, that was an absolutely done deal and I suspect
[01:03:47.600 -> 01:03:51.920] that it just got lost in the shuffle of other things that Ferrari was worried about.
[01:03:52.960 -> 01:03:58.640] I feel like I'm being lectured by one of my dads about being polite and things. No, I'm sorry,
[01:03:58.640 -> 01:04:06.400] even if it was for a lap, even if it was for a lap, that would have been the smidgenest of tyre degradation on Lewis's car.
[01:04:06.400 -> 01:04:12.480] That could have made up a couple of tenths. Every tenth matters in F1. I don't care.
[01:04:12.480 -> 01:04:18.480] Everything matters. Every position matters. Every overtake matters. I'm very passionate about this.
[01:04:18.480 -> 01:04:23.120] They should have told Leclerc. If they didn't think it would matter, why did he tell him late?
[01:04:23.120 -> 01:04:29.440] If he didn't think it would matter, he shouldn't have told him at all, but he told him late and let, let Charles know
[01:04:29.440 -> 01:04:33.760] that what he could have had, it was dangled right in front of him and Charles Leclerc was left to
[01:04:33.760 -> 01:04:37.280] deduce the fact that it was too late. If they didn't think it was important information, they
[01:04:37.280 -> 01:04:41.840] shouldn't have told him because psychologically, like I said, a driver needs to trust their team
[01:04:41.840 -> 01:04:47.160] and what that came across as wasn't a deliberate miscommunication.
[01:04:47.160 -> 01:04:50.940] It was purely a case of he told him too late.
[01:04:50.940 -> 01:04:56.560] If he wanted to leave that information aside from Leclerc, he shouldn't have told him.
[01:04:56.560 -> 01:05:01.960] I'm fairly sure Fred Vasseur, who is a racer at heart, will not be happy about things like
[01:05:01.960 -> 01:05:05.840] this exactly, because this has to work at least.
[01:05:06.720 -> 01:05:11.840] No, I agree. And that's what I'm saying. Exactly. At least, at least a driver needs to understand
[01:05:11.840 -> 01:05:16.560] that the information they're getting from the pit wall is A, punctual, B, accurate,
[01:05:16.560 -> 01:05:20.480] and C, in their best interest. It's getting the basics right, isn't it?
[01:05:20.480 -> 01:05:20.980] Exactly.
[01:05:20.880 -> 01:05:25.520] in it. Exactly.
[01:05:32.560 -> 01:05:40.080] Okay, let's further down the grid. Antonia, you did mention that you had high hopes for McLaren and then you were instantly disappointed and, you know, like I tweeted, if we took away the top 14,
[01:05:40.080 -> 01:05:48.240] that was a classic battle between Williams and McLaren. On the positive side, we got to see Piastri doing a bit of racing.
[01:05:48.240 -> 01:05:50.160] He learnt a bit of a new... didn't we?
[01:05:50.160 -> 01:05:55.240] He was side to side with Gasly and instantly learnt you don't really do that to Gasly.
[01:05:55.240 -> 01:05:57.980] He's probably not going to always leave a displace.
[01:05:57.980 -> 01:06:00.480] So at least we got to see a decent qualifying performance.
[01:06:00.480 -> 01:06:03.240] Well, hang on, I'm jumping to conclusions here.
[01:06:03.240 -> 01:06:11.120] I'm saying that that was Gasly's fault, but whose fault is it? We do like to play a little game. OK, so we haven't
[01:06:11.120 -> 01:06:15.360] actually had that many crashes so far in the first two races, but just so you know, here
[01:06:15.360 -> 01:06:19.620] at Missed Apex Podcast, we play a game called Whose Fault Is It? We do not do, oh, it was
[01:06:19.620 -> 01:06:25.680] just a racing incident and move on. We are the opposite of what Mercedes claim to be. We are a 100%
[01:06:25.680 -> 01:06:31.200] blame culture. So, Antonia, whilst we're on that, whose fault was that crash between,
[01:06:31.200 -> 01:06:33.840] or that little wing chip between Piastri and Gasly?
[01:06:33.840 -> 01:06:39.000] See, I like to think I'm a balanced person. The older generations don't like this, so
[01:06:39.000 -> 01:06:43.040] Spanners is going to get a bit stroppy with me now. But as a younger generation, I like
[01:06:43.040 -> 01:06:46.640] to consider all facets of the truth and then make a fair
[01:06:46.640 -> 01:06:47.640] judgment.
[01:06:47.640 -> 01:06:50.080] As long as it ends in blame, I don't mind.
[01:06:50.080 -> 01:06:55.600] I'm okay. I'm sensing some deep issues here.
[01:06:55.600 -> 01:06:56.600] Yeah.
[01:06:56.600 -> 01:07:07.960] But I will, in this case, I will just, yeah, okay, I'll blame them on Clarence, but, but, those that, but only for the sake of
[01:07:07.960 -> 01:07:11.160] starting a little bit of, of nitter natter between the group.
[01:07:11.160 -> 01:07:12.160] Oh, okay.
[01:07:12.160 -> 01:07:15.000] Because if I don't get to be balanced, I can at least be the devil's advocate.
[01:07:15.000 -> 01:07:17.160] Okay, well, look, okay, so I'll put it this way.
[01:07:17.160 -> 01:07:22.600] From my point of view, that's a big squeeze by, but Gasly trying to be intimidating, maybe
[01:07:22.600 -> 01:07:26.080] Piastri doesn't know better to know that one of the
[01:07:26.080 -> 01:07:30.080] bigger kids, one of the older kids has just raised its arched its back and hissed and gone
[01:07:30.800 -> 01:07:34.720] that's my part of the track. But I still think technically Gasly should have left him a bit more
[01:07:34.720 -> 01:07:43.280] room. I agree but Piastri is a more intelligent racer than that. He's fantastic in every way.
[01:07:43.280 -> 01:07:46.080] I've sung his poses before. He's champion after champion
[01:07:46.080 -> 01:07:50.880] after champion. You don't go for a gap that doesn't exist. Again, this is this is Devil's
[01:07:50.880 -> 01:07:54.840] Advocate so please don't cyber bully me after this, guys, if you're listening.
[01:07:54.840 -> 01:08:00.960] No, that's for the listeners to do. So go and follow Antonia by clicking the links in
[01:08:00.960 -> 01:08:02.680] the show notes below. It will link to your TikTok.
[01:08:02.680 -> 01:08:05.760] I'm going to drop my address in the comments and be like, go send a hate mail.
[01:08:05.760 -> 01:08:11.000] Well, I'm not going to drop it in there again, but we'll send people to your TikTok and you've
[01:08:11.000 -> 01:08:16.320] got over 60,000 friends on TikTok, followers on TikTok, which is amazing. And you're also
[01:08:16.320 -> 01:08:19.840] on Twitter as well. So yeah, go and tell her why she's wrong.
[01:08:19.840 -> 01:08:20.840] Go send me hate, please.
[01:08:20.840 -> 01:08:26.320] Yeah, go send hate on that. But make sure you do follow her first. So, Christian, obviously, Antoni's
[01:08:26.320 -> 01:08:29.600] wrong about that. Gasly drove into a space where a car already existed.
[01:08:31.840 -> 01:08:36.560] It was a non-issue for me. I didn't even see... I mean, it's like a go-kart race
[01:08:36.560 -> 01:08:42.240] that when no one touches in corner one, how can this happen? We are the world's fastest
[01:08:42.880 -> 01:08:45.500] racetrack in the world.
[01:08:45.500 -> 01:08:48.860] We have Spanners sitting on the edge of his seat back in England.
[01:08:48.860 -> 01:08:49.860] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:08:49.860 -> 01:08:55.640] We are at the peak and still we, I mean, if a car gets off the track, spins, they just
[01:08:55.640 -> 01:08:59.380] turn on the car again, turn around and drive on.
[01:08:59.380 -> 01:09:04.580] This is new times and I think we should all appreciate the fact that we have Formula One
[01:09:04.580 -> 01:09:06.640] cars keep driving and driving
[01:09:06.640 -> 01:09:11.520] at such a high level at such a high speed without anything happening. I mean, it's worth a salute,
[01:09:11.520 -> 01:09:16.800] I think. Matt, this is all silly. Whose fault was it? It was Gasly's fault. Gasly's fault. Yeah,
[01:09:16.800 -> 01:09:20.880] I agree. I agree too. Oh, see, I've annoyed the old people. I knew this would happen.
[01:09:23.520 -> 01:09:29.560] You know, I only watched the onboards from three different cars, so I could be wrong here, but it
[01:09:29.560 -> 01:09:37.440] looked pretty much like Gasly rocked up onto the curb into turn one, aimed at turn two and had zero
[01:09:37.440 -> 01:09:39.800] idea Piastri was alongside him.
[01:09:39.920 -> 01:09:47.040] They're beveled for a reason. The curbs are beveled for a reason. You're meant to ride them a little bit.
[01:09:47.040 -> 01:09:49.280] They're meant to launch you at other kerbs, yes.
[01:09:49.600 -> 01:09:53.600] Spanners, could we do a whose fault is it on the safety car?
[01:09:53.760 -> 01:09:56.240] Oh my goodness, yes, we absolutely can.
[01:09:56.240 -> 01:09:57.240] Whose fault is that?
[01:09:58.000 -> 01:10:01.360] I am of the opinion, Christian, that this is an ongoing trend.
[01:10:01.360 -> 01:10:02.360] Could you do another jingle?
[01:10:02.360 -> 01:10:03.360] Oh, sorry.
[01:10:03.800 -> 01:10:04.800] No, that's the wrong one.
[01:10:05.260 -> 01:10:12.520] Whose fault is it? I am of the opinion, Christian, that this is the ongoing trend in trigger-happy safety
[01:10:12.520 -> 01:10:13.520] cars.
[01:10:13.520 -> 01:10:15.880] And I think they know full well that it is going to bunch it up.
[01:10:15.880 -> 01:10:19.520] It is going to cause a bit of excitement.
[01:10:19.520 -> 01:10:23.440] The pure racer in me tingles at that, but it is the way F1's been going.
[01:10:23.440 -> 01:10:26.160] And I think they look for an excuse.
[01:10:30.320 -> 01:10:35.280] But I mean, that was just that was too much, wasn't it? I mean, that was too obvious that we would press the broadcast,
[01:10:35.280 -> 01:10:39.560] listen, broadcast button and then every screen lights up and commercial.
[01:10:40.000 -> 01:10:44.200] It felt like they press the entertainment button somehow.
[01:10:44.200 -> 01:10:45.560] And I hate it when they do that.
[01:10:45.560 -> 01:10:46.560] They don't have to do that.
[01:10:47.640 -> 01:10:53.120] I, I am inclined to agree because of course, as the sport's grown, the direction
[01:10:53.120 -> 01:10:57.480] it's taken in the last few years is that of, uh, racing as an entertainment
[01:10:57.480 -> 01:10:59.200] spectacle, as opposed to a sports spectacle.
[01:10:59.680 -> 01:11:04.560] However, I, I would like to give our beloved, I say that hesitantly,
[01:11:04.920 -> 01:11:06.240] FIA the benefit of
[01:11:06.240 -> 01:11:10.760] the doubt. There are very standardised procedures to follow in terms of the deployment of a
[01:11:10.760 -> 01:11:16.040] safety car, even if we can look and go, the car was out of the way. If they've got sensors
[01:11:16.040 -> 01:11:20.000] that are saying the car is still on track, yes, it might have just been the rear wing
[01:11:20.000 -> 01:11:30.900] or so, but if they have sensors that are telling them there is a car on the track, they are probably obliged to then put the safety car on the track as a matter of standardization.
[01:11:30.900 -> 01:11:34.120] So I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one.
[01:11:34.120 -> 01:11:37.880] Pooh, it's generous. It's generous.
[01:11:37.880 -> 01:11:42.920] I will say, you have an amazing career ahead in mid-level corporate management with those
[01:11:42.920 -> 01:11:45.320] kinds of rationalization skills.
[01:11:45.320 -> 01:11:53.520] If Antonia just suddenly appears on F1 TV, we'll know what this answer was about.
[01:11:53.520 -> 01:11:57.320] It was an exceedingly Naskarian safety car.
[01:11:57.320 -> 01:11:59.240] Ooh, slandering other series, nice.
[01:11:59.240 -> 01:12:04.600] He was almost entirely off the circuit, and had someone not parked a large construction
[01:12:04.600 -> 01:12:05.080] vehicle there, it wouldn't have even been a virtual safety car. entirely off the circuit and had someone not parked a large construction vehicle
[01:12:05.080 -> 01:12:08.680] there it would have been a it wouldn't have even been a virtual safety car
[01:12:08.680 -> 01:12:13.080] would have been just double-waved yellow so yeah I thought it was an early and
[01:12:13.080 -> 01:12:21.760] quick call and not entirely justified and completely affected the flow of the
[01:12:21.760 -> 01:12:26.480] race so so we're talking about what those rules really should be.
[01:12:26.480 -> 01:12:30.080] I will say that's interesting that you said that though, because that raises a really
[01:12:30.080 -> 01:12:34.560] interesting question. Why on earth was there a recovery vehicle parked across where an
[01:12:34.560 -> 01:12:39.540] escape road is? That makes the entire escape road redundant, no? Surely this comes down
[01:12:39.540 -> 01:12:46.560] now actually to a matter of the tracks stewarding management team, wherein if the safety escape road isn't
[01:12:46.560 -> 01:12:54.000] fully usable, that is a very serious concern. Why on earth was the JCB parked in such a way
[01:12:54.000 -> 01:12:56.640] that the then escape road couldn't be used effectively?
[01:12:57.600 -> 01:13:01.520] Well, look, this is the thing, Matt, we are now under kind of new management. I've forgotten
[01:13:01.520 -> 01:13:03.520] who's in charge. Who's the race controller now?
[01:13:04.720 -> 01:13:08.520] Niels Wedditch. Right, okay. So in a way, it's good that I sort of, that's not rolling off my tongue,
[01:13:08.520 -> 01:13:13.600] that that's not become, you know, obviously a lot of focus on race control in recent years.
[01:13:13.600 -> 01:13:20.040] But the fact that they are focusing on different rules, like the pit box rule, no sorry, the
[01:13:20.040 -> 01:13:25.680] starting grid rule, and then really enforcing this penalty thing, you know, if you don't
[01:13:25.680 -> 01:13:29.180] serve your penalty right with Ocon and Alonso. So they're focusing on different things.
[01:13:29.180 -> 01:13:35.920] We also saw them focusing and applying the rules seemingly differently to me with weaving.
[01:13:35.920 -> 01:13:38.720] So that's the sort of thing I wanted to talk about next, because there was two drivers
[01:13:38.720 -> 01:13:43.680] that got called up for weaving, and the first one was Lewis Hamilton while defending from...
[01:13:43.680 -> 01:13:45.680] I've forgotten now,
[01:13:45.680 -> 01:13:47.920] Ocon or Gasly, one of the Alpines.
[01:13:47.920 -> 01:13:50.320] It was Gasly early on in the race.
[01:13:50.320 -> 01:13:51.320] Was it Leclerc maybe?
[01:13:51.320 -> 01:13:53.640] I think it might have been a Ferrari.
[01:13:53.640 -> 01:13:56.320] Yeah, it was Leclerc when he was coming past on the soft tires.
[01:13:56.320 -> 01:14:01.280] Yeah, so I think it was actually, it was initially one of the Alpines and then the Ferrari came
[01:14:01.280 -> 01:14:02.280] through.
[01:14:02.280 -> 01:14:06.080] But my interpretation always of the weaving was that
[01:14:06.080 -> 01:14:09.880] you could move across to defend, so you could go and write, I'm going to take the inside
[01:14:09.880 -> 01:14:14.520] line as long as there's no one near you, and then as you came to the corner, you could
[01:14:14.520 -> 01:14:19.140] then go back out to the racing line to resume your racing line, as long as you left one
[01:14:19.140 -> 01:14:24.360] car's width racing room. And this is like how you could behave on the straight. Anything
[01:14:24.360 -> 01:14:25.920] beyond that was considered
[01:14:25.920 -> 01:14:31.280] weaving or blocking. I don't think Hamilton did that, Antonia, yet he's still got a black and
[01:14:31.280 -> 01:14:35.520] white flag for weaving. So are we seeing a change in how they police this?
[01:14:36.240 -> 01:14:41.280] Yeah, I must admit I'm in really two minds about this because we say, okay, well you can only make
[01:14:41.280 -> 01:14:48.240] one defensive move, in which case weaving, yeah, it is very dangerous. You can't make two defensive moves because that's how you're going to have a very nasty incident.
[01:14:49.120 -> 01:14:54.000] However, if he's saying he was only doing it to break a toe, do we consider breaking a toe as a
[01:14:54.000 -> 01:15:00.000] defensive move? I would say so. That's a defensive move because you're trying to hinder the guy
[01:15:00.000 -> 01:15:06.080] behind you. But that's not a dangerous thing to do per se because the guy isn't immediately
[01:15:06.080 -> 01:15:10.720] behind you. So yes, it's a defensive move, but it's not as dangerous, say, if the guy's literally
[01:15:10.720 -> 01:15:16.480] behind you about to overtake. So I think maybe we need a little bit of clarification in the wording
[01:15:16.480 -> 01:15:22.480] of that regulation, wherein we say, okay, a defensive move where the car is about to make
[01:15:22.480 -> 01:15:25.760] an overtake, as opposed to just trying to break a toe because
[01:15:25.760 -> 01:15:30.880] then otherwise it's something as simple as following an ideal racing line could then
[01:15:30.880 -> 01:15:35.760] be deemed weaving because if you're going left and right you know there's so many technicalities
[01:15:35.760 -> 01:15:41.440] that that could expose no? Yeah and I never thought of Matt of the breaking the toe as a
[01:15:41.440 -> 01:15:48.720] defensive move but I guess so but even in that all he ever did was go to the inside and then go back to the racing line. So I'm a little confused on that. I would
[01:15:48.720 -> 01:15:57.760] love someone to clarify it. Matt, then Christian. Right. So I'm an old bike racer and the draft and
[01:15:57.760 -> 01:16:04.480] the toe is absolutely a thing. The way I see it is that it's pretty simple. If that person,
[01:16:04.480 -> 01:16:08.000] depends on how far away the person is, if they're not about to pass you,
[01:16:08.560 -> 01:16:11.600] then weaving to break the toe is absolutely acceptable.
[01:16:11.600 -> 01:16:17.040] But if they're in a position where they might at the apex of the turn be alongside you,
[01:16:17.040 -> 01:16:18.720] then no, you can no longer weave.
[01:16:18.720 -> 01:16:24.080] You have to take your one move and either make it stick or lose out.
[01:16:25.000 -> 01:16:26.440] And I think I think that's fair.
[01:16:26.440 -> 01:16:28.320] And that's always been the way it's treated.
[01:16:28.840 -> 01:16:32.160] And what strikes me is I think what strikes you is it's like a
[01:16:32.880 -> 01:16:37.000] different approach to policing these kinds of rules with being
[01:16:37.000 -> 01:16:42.360] very picky about being in the grid slot with, oh, a hand
[01:16:42.360 -> 01:16:43.080] touched a car.
[01:16:43.080 -> 01:16:46.160] We're going to call that working, which, you know, is in the rules,
[01:16:46.160 -> 01:16:51.360] but I'm not sure it was always exactly enforced that way. Might have been, might not have been,
[01:16:52.080 -> 01:16:56.320] but it's like, you know, when you go to your next year's class and you suddenly have a new teacher
[01:16:56.320 -> 01:17:00.320] and they behave very differently to what you're used to. I think that's kind of what we're getting
[01:17:00.320 -> 01:17:05.440] here too. Kristina? Sorry, can I just say really quick, do we then need to maybe
[01:17:05.440 -> 01:17:11.600] clarify between a preventative move and a defensive move wherein you're anticipating
[01:17:11.600 -> 01:17:17.040] that your actions could positively impact the driver behind you so you're not directly defending
[01:17:17.040 -> 01:17:21.680] but you're just foreseeing, you know, like the hazard part in your driving theory test
[01:17:21.680 -> 01:17:29.120] where you see a hazard coming and you go, oh, no. But I think the danger would be, Christian, I think that if you've got DRS and you really
[01:17:29.120 -> 01:17:34.480] limit the amount they move, what you're basically saying is DRS passes is automatic at that point.
[01:17:35.120 -> 01:17:38.000] I think I will look at it from another perspective and say,
[01:17:38.720 -> 01:17:42.320] racing is supposed to be on the track within the white lines, right?
[01:17:42.400 -> 01:17:43.200] to be on the track within the white lines, right?
[01:17:51.880 -> 01:17:52.520] So, but could race director tell me not to weave if I was just alone on the straight?
[01:17:55.960 -> 01:17:56.920] He, I mean, according to the rules, he, I don't think he can.
[01:18:01.200 -> 01:18:07.600] Uh, he could probably do it if he, he was to, uh, convince everyone that it was dangerous racing, but just me weaving in my own car alone on the street, that's not dangerous
[01:18:07.600 -> 01:18:09.200] racing for a professional race driver.
[01:18:09.600 -> 01:18:15.500] So the question is here, at which point does it become racing with another car?
[01:18:15.500 -> 01:18:17.700] How close does that car have to be?
[01:18:18.000 -> 01:18:23.700] And I think we must look out for not being too, I mean, all this is semantics.
[01:18:23.800 -> 01:18:26.800] This is words. And if we just...
[01:18:26.800 -> 01:18:32.720] All these bureaucratic words, keep throwing them around. Hamilton had to go get his ear nose
[01:18:33.280 -> 01:18:38.400] cleared again this week. And it's just... What's going on, man?
[01:18:38.400 -> 01:18:42.960] I have to confess, I don't quite understand the link between those two things, but they did also...
[01:18:42.960 -> 01:18:45.440] They're overruling, I think.
[01:18:45.440 -> 01:18:48.880] And they also sorted out to make sure none of those dangerous bicycles or scooters
[01:18:48.880 -> 01:18:52.880] are on any of the track walks so at least that's sorted. Antonia?
[01:18:53.840 -> 01:18:59.840] I do agree, I think especially with the policing of driving techniques. At what point do we just
[01:18:59.840 -> 01:19:06.840] say F1's pretty dangerous? Yeah, because you could justify ruling out most things on the
[01:19:06.840 -> 01:19:11.800] grounds of danger. Overtaking another car going at 200 miles an hour does not come without
[01:19:11.800 -> 01:19:17.840] its risks. We can justify all of these things by saying they're too dangerous, but where
[01:19:17.840 -> 01:19:21.640] do we draw the line where we say actually they're just making a pretty savvy move,
[01:19:21.640 -> 01:19:26.240] that's just their driving style, good for them. It works. You know, there's
[01:19:26.240 -> 01:19:31.920] a difference, a huge difference between a malicious, dangerous, last minute jerk to the right
[01:19:31.920 -> 01:19:37.360] to stop your opponent from coming up and grabbing your place off of you. And then actually just,
[01:19:37.360 -> 01:19:42.080] like I said earlier, foreseeing a hazard and overcoming it. And yeah, we really do need to
[01:19:42.080 -> 01:19:45.800] be careful of these kind of pernickety rules, which really
[01:19:45.800 -> 01:19:51.640] make no difference to the overall performance of the athletes. You know, with the jury rule,
[01:19:51.640 -> 01:19:57.960] for example, with Lewis, he is a big boy. If he wants to mutilate his nose, he can mutilate
[01:19:57.960 -> 01:20:03.200] his nose. That doesn't put anyone else at risk. You know, for example, if the FIA are
[01:20:03.200 -> 01:20:05.600] saying, yeah, but it's dangerous, then he's a big boy.
[01:20:06.880 -> 01:20:13.040] So I agree with the regulations that you can't be a horrible person on track and literally
[01:20:13.040 -> 01:20:18.160] deliberately cause crashes just so that you win. However, at what point do we just say,
[01:20:19.920 -> 01:20:23.360] you're being pretty cool and smart right now. No, you're not allowed to do that.
[01:20:24.000 -> 01:20:25.960] Well, it could be a case, Matt, that, you know,
[01:20:25.960 -> 01:20:28.480] the new teacher is just trying to control the kids
[01:20:28.480 -> 01:20:30.320] in the class and those things could settle.
[01:20:31.200 -> 01:20:33.280] Yeah, they're just trying to sort of stamp their
[01:20:33.280 -> 01:20:37.600] authority onto the drivers so that they know they
[01:20:37.600 -> 01:20:41.280] have to be respectful of what is said.
[01:20:42.200 -> 01:20:50.000] Which, after all of the conundrums pertaining to penalties over the last few seasons, can you blame them?
[01:20:50.000 -> 01:20:52.000] You're not going to make us talk about Abu Dhabi, are you?
[01:20:52.000 -> 01:20:53.000] No, no, there's only one.
[01:20:53.000 -> 01:20:55.000] That's why it was rhetorical, Spanners!
[01:20:55.000 -> 01:20:57.000] Oh yeah, and then I said it.
[01:20:57.000 -> 01:20:59.000] Do the section change music!
[01:20:59.000 -> 01:21:07.600] It's the podium! As commanded by Ranko. Thank you very much to my panel and we're
[01:21:07.600 -> 01:21:12.520] gonna give out our awards here on Missed Apex podcast but if you want to follow
[01:21:12.520 -> 01:21:16.480] the panel all the links to their stuff will be in the show notes below and if
[01:21:16.480 -> 01:21:19.680] you want to catch up with our preview show we were doing it on Fridays now
[01:21:19.680 -> 01:21:24.880] after FP2 and it's a bit of a it's doomscrolly we talk about our lives a
[01:21:24.880 -> 01:21:25.440] little bit, whereas
[01:21:25.440 -> 01:21:29.920] me and Matt catch up, and try and kind of set ourselves up for the race. What are we
[01:21:29.920 -> 01:21:33.520] looking out for? What tactics are we looking out for? How do we think the tyres are going
[01:21:33.520 -> 01:21:39.400] to play out? And it was a really fun, enjoyable live stream. Obviously it's out of date instantly,
[01:21:39.400 -> 01:21:43.340] which is kind of why we've not put it on the mainstream, but if you're on our $1.99 tier
[01:21:43.340 -> 01:21:49.060] or above, patreon.com forward slash missed apex apex maybe try that out for a month and see
[01:21:49.060 -> 01:21:53.900] if it's for you and see if supporting missed apex podcast provides any kind of
[01:21:53.900 -> 01:21:57.880] value but we are going to give out the awards now the first one is thing of
[01:21:57.880 -> 01:22:00.300] the weekend
[01:22:03.300 -> 01:22:07.440] I'm gonna go first I'm gonna bagsy it before anyone else takes it.
[01:22:07.440 -> 01:22:12.040] My thing of the weekend was Lance Stroll's move, I think it was on lap one, around the
[01:22:12.040 -> 01:22:18.760] outside of Carlos Sainz, and that is just the pure joy of racing when you see two people
[01:22:18.760 -> 01:22:24.680] taking a line, you know, really hard, flat out, and it's what we hoped Sochi turn three
[01:22:24.680 -> 01:22:25.480] was going to be, but never really turned out to be, but it's what we hoped Sochi turn three was going to be,
[01:22:25.480 -> 01:22:29.600] but never really turned out to be. But it seemed to work well on this track.
[01:22:29.600 -> 01:22:34.760] So that's my thing of the weekend. Christian Pedersen, you're on Twitter a little bit,
[01:22:34.760 -> 01:22:39.000] so we're gonna link to your Twitter account and people can go and follow you.
[01:22:39.000 -> 01:22:44.640] Kevin, of course, is overtaking, but I already mentioned that.
[01:22:44.640 -> 01:22:45.880] No, did you? Yeah, I did. Do overtaking, but I already mentioned that. No, did you?
[01:22:45.880 -> 01:22:46.880] Yeah, I did.
[01:22:46.880 -> 01:22:47.880] Do it again.
[01:22:47.880 -> 01:22:48.880] Do it again.
[01:22:48.880 -> 01:22:49.880] Mention it again.
[01:22:49.880 -> 01:22:50.880] No, I want to mention something else, Ben.
[01:22:50.880 -> 01:22:51.880] Go on, then.
[01:22:51.880 -> 01:22:52.880] Okay.
[01:22:52.880 -> 01:22:53.880] I have two things.
[01:22:53.880 -> 01:22:54.880] Is that all right?
[01:22:54.880 -> 01:22:55.880] Yeah, good.
[01:22:55.880 -> 01:22:57.440] The more you say, the more chance you've got of upsetting Matt by stealing his, so go for
[01:22:57.440 -> 01:22:58.440] it.
[01:22:58.440 -> 01:22:59.440] I'm probably not.
[01:22:59.440 -> 01:23:00.440] This will not have a solution.
[01:23:00.440 -> 01:23:02.880] What have I done now?
[01:23:02.880 -> 01:23:08.000] The first thing is Mercedes putting color tabs on the top of their halo.
[01:23:08.000 -> 01:23:12.000] What's it called?
[01:23:12.000 -> 01:23:14.000] What's it called? The thing? Is it called the halo?
[01:23:14.000 -> 01:23:15.000] The halo, the round loop, yeah.
[01:23:15.000 -> 01:23:16.000] Yeah, exactly.
[01:23:16.000 -> 01:23:21.000] They're putting color items so you can differentiate between the drivers.
[01:23:21.000 -> 01:23:25.440] And why does everyone not do this? Why is this not a mandated thing?
[01:23:25.440 -> 01:23:30.640] Anyway, I want to mention one thing as thing of the week, because this is a Formula One
[01:23:30.640 -> 01:23:34.120] fan who built an app called MultiViewer.
[01:23:34.120 -> 01:23:41.080] So if you have access to Formula One, F1, TV Pro, whatever, download MultiViewer on
[01:23:41.080 -> 01:23:42.080] your computer.
[01:23:42.080 -> 01:23:43.440] It's free.
[01:23:43.440 -> 01:23:45.840] And your mind will be blown.
[01:23:45.840 -> 01:23:48.960] Awesome, nice, go and check that out.
[01:23:48.960 -> 01:23:54.960] Matt2Rumpets at MattPT55, your links as ever will be in the show notes below, and we'll
[01:23:54.960 -> 01:24:02.480] link to the series of romantic novels that have a romantic theme that your wife writes,
[01:24:02.480 -> 01:24:04.660] so a follow at AWeaverWrites.
[01:24:04.660 -> 01:24:06.000] And just like,
[01:24:06.000 -> 01:24:09.440] you know, sometimes you read the magazines for the articles and you barely even notice
[01:24:09.440 -> 01:24:14.400] the pictures are there, I read Amanda's books for the plot in between all the mucky
[01:24:14.400 -> 01:24:15.400] stuff.
[01:24:15.400 -> 01:24:16.400] Mmm.
[01:24:16.400 -> 01:24:21.080] Yeah, and the dialogue's pretty, pretty smokin' too, if I do say so myself.
[01:24:21.080 -> 01:24:22.840] What was your thing of the weekend, Matt?
[01:24:22.840 -> 01:24:45.480] Well, I will agree, concur with Christian, re-multi-viewer, but usually we get them to give us money first, my friend. So Yeah, what I like to call humor. Eight years, why are you starting now?
[01:24:45.480 -> 01:24:47.680] So, in America, you're not meant to know what funny is.
[01:24:47.680 -> 01:24:48.680] Oh, that's true.
[01:24:48.680 -> 01:24:49.680] Carry on, carry on.
[01:24:49.680 -> 01:24:50.680] Carry on.
[01:24:50.680 -> 01:24:56.080] All right, now, my thing of the week, and Christian has made it difficult by choosing
[01:24:56.080 -> 01:25:00.400] none of the things I actually would have chosen, is going to be the greatest qualifying lap
[01:25:00.400 -> 01:25:06.440] that was ever run by Logan Sargent, of course, in Q1, which actually wound up not
[01:25:06.440 -> 01:25:07.680] being a real lap.
[01:25:07.680 -> 01:25:09.160] That's a good point.
[01:25:09.160 -> 01:25:10.160] Yeah.
[01:25:10.160 -> 01:25:11.160] Very good.
[01:25:11.160 -> 01:25:16.360] It would have looked decent, and in the end, he got within just 40 seconds of the pole
[01:25:16.360 -> 01:25:17.360] position time.
[01:25:17.360 -> 01:25:20.720] No, he would have actually made Q3 at that time in Q2.
[01:25:20.720 -> 01:25:21.720] It was that good.
[01:25:21.720 -> 01:25:27.120] But the reason no one's talking about it being the best lap ever is because he failed to hit a wall before the end of it.
[01:25:27.120 -> 01:25:32.080] So, actually, we've seen a few good things from Logan Sargent now, which was that first
[01:25:32.080 -> 01:25:38.240] lap in Bahrain and the qualifying performance here in Saudi Arabia. Okay, so I did say my
[01:25:38.240 -> 01:25:42.640] bar would be higher for Logan Sargent, you know, given the wealth in his family, but,
[01:25:42.640 -> 01:25:45.760] you know, fair play. that's two weekends out of
[01:25:45.760 -> 01:25:47.360] two, he's done impressive things.
[01:25:47.360 -> 01:25:50.800] All the rookies have done good things, I think.
[01:25:50.800 -> 01:25:51.800] Yeah.
[01:25:51.800 -> 01:25:54.680] And Tony Rankin, who's done good things for you?
[01:25:54.680 -> 01:25:58.380] I'm going to give it to kind of the obvious one. I will say, I wish Ocon had done something
[01:25:58.380 -> 01:26:01.880] cool so that I could just rub it in Matt's face that I said something about Ocon and
[01:26:01.880 -> 01:26:02.880] he didn't.
[01:26:02.880 -> 01:26:03.880] Yeah, but he didn't.
[01:26:03.880 -> 01:26:04.880] Sadly not.
[01:26:04.880 -> 01:26:06.280] No, he rarely does.
[01:26:06.280 -> 01:26:11.260] I'm going to give it to Perez, not for his exceptional performance, but for putting his
[01:26:11.260 -> 01:26:16.480] foot down a little bit and really saying, no, the comments I made about me thinking
[01:26:16.480 -> 01:26:22.660] I can be a world champion, I meant that and I'm going to show you that. And to his credit,
[01:26:22.660 -> 01:26:26.000] he did. And I think to to be honest standing up in that way
[01:26:26.640 -> 01:26:32.880] that publicly against someone like Max Verstappen he's got some guts and you know the performance
[01:26:32.880 -> 01:26:37.040] to go behind it as well so good for him that's my thing of the week. He's a race driver isn't he
[01:26:37.040 -> 01:26:42.880] that guy? Oh yeah. Yeah don't write him off just yet wait a few races at least. Now that was nice
[01:26:42.880 -> 01:26:49.300] and positive and it was all the good thing of the weekend. Here we're being a bit more armchair critique-y and being a bit mean,
[01:26:49.300 -> 01:26:53.940] so this is our Miss the Apex award. And it's the bad thing.
[01:26:53.940 -> 01:26:56.940] Oh no, you missed the Apex.
[01:26:56.940 -> 01:27:02.900] So I'm going to go first. I'm going to put this to Antonio as well actually, because
[01:27:02.900 -> 01:27:05.680] my bad thing, my Miss the Apex award, is still that
[01:27:05.680 -> 01:27:10.240] I have to watch this race through open fingers, especially during qualifying when they're going
[01:27:10.240 -> 01:27:15.600] flat out, because at some point someone is going to be sideways and there's not going to be enough
[01:27:15.600 -> 01:27:22.320] time and we're going to have a side-on impact. I know they made some changes, but I still...
[01:27:22.320 -> 01:27:26.040] I'm getting too old for this, but I still was like, oh careful,
[01:27:26.040 -> 01:27:29.800] steady now. A bit of a dad energy I know, but they did try.
[01:27:29.800 -> 01:27:33.720] Oh, you're making me want to change my thing of the weekend now because I actually quite
[01:27:33.720 -> 01:27:34.720] liked the changes that they made.
[01:27:34.720 -> 01:27:38.360] Go for it, that's fine. Go on, tell us what did they try to do and how effective was it?
[01:27:38.360 -> 01:27:44.560] Well, so they've added rumble strips to various turns of the track wherein it basically just
[01:27:44.560 -> 01:27:45.920] reduces the traction of the car, wherein it basically just reduces the traction of
[01:27:45.920 -> 01:27:48.880] the car, gives it a little bit of throwing off balance, and it puts them off of going
[01:27:48.880 -> 01:27:54.560] a bit too close to the wall. So that's a safety measure. They've also replaced metal, very
[01:27:54.560 -> 01:27:59.200] hard kerbs with beveled kerbs, which means that they're slightly sloped, which means
[01:27:59.200 -> 01:28:05.200] that it's a lot easier for drivers to go across them without flipping the car. And that's at turns 4, 8,
[01:28:05.200 -> 01:28:11.920] 10, 11, 17 and 23. So a very fair portion of the track. And I think that actually has
[01:28:11.920 -> 01:28:16.880] made in itself racing a lot safer. And of course, they've reprofiled the little S-turn
[01:28:16.880 -> 01:28:21.800] towards the end of the lap to make it tighter, which has made it a lot more interesting and
[01:28:21.800 -> 01:28:30.240] slowed the cars down. But also just from a general safety perspective, they've shifted these fences outwards. And this means that drivers can see
[01:28:30.240 -> 01:28:34.320] down the track, we can see down the track because we've got the camera angles for it now.
[01:28:35.120 -> 01:28:38.960] And generally speaking, we don't need to watch it through our fingers as much because if there's a
[01:28:38.960 -> 01:28:44.000] car parked around the next turn, the drivers generally can see it. You're more likely to see
[01:28:44.000 -> 01:28:46.640] it. Yeah. Young people are so coddled.
[01:28:47.440 -> 01:28:48.160] No, it's me.
[01:28:48.160 -> 01:28:52.720] Young people put such good justified arguments down, gosh darn it.
[01:28:52.720 -> 01:28:54.800] I'm the one that's sitting there going, oh, careful now,
[01:28:54.800 -> 01:28:56.880] as if they're all like my kid or whatever.
[01:28:56.880 -> 01:28:57.840] Okay, let's see.
[01:28:57.840 -> 01:28:59.760] Well, Antonio, and we'll come back to you, Antonio, then,
[01:28:59.760 -> 01:29:01.280] because that was my bad thing.
[01:29:01.280 -> 01:29:04.240] Christian, what was your missed Apex award this week?
[01:29:04.880 -> 01:29:05.360] Who missed the Apex award this week? Who missed
[01:29:05.360 -> 01:29:06.760] the Apex for you?
[01:29:06.760 -> 01:29:13.160] I don't really have anything that's negative from this. I mean...
[01:29:13.160 -> 01:29:14.160] That's too nice.
[01:29:14.160 -> 01:29:17.920] There's so much, go on, find something.
[01:29:17.920 -> 01:29:21.320] If you're determined to be nice, I'll move on to Matt and let me know if you think of
[01:29:21.320 -> 01:29:23.440] one. Matt, who missed the Apex for you?
[01:29:23.440 -> 01:29:28.000] Well, I think the chat is encouraging me to say the band that played the anthem,
[01:29:28.000 -> 01:29:30.480] but I'm not going to. That is true, man.
[01:29:30.480 -> 01:29:35.040] I loved the Kazoos. That was my favourite bit. I was hoping they'd return for the
[01:29:35.040 -> 01:29:37.680] national anthems at the end. I wasn't going to mention that,
[01:29:37.680 -> 01:29:39.360] but my goodness. That was great.
[01:29:39.360 -> 01:29:41.920] I wanted to hear the Mexican national anthem in Kazoos.
[01:29:42.560 -> 01:29:46.120] I'm just going to say sound for live instruments
[01:29:46.120 -> 01:29:50.200] could be challenging and leave it at that. But I thought we weren't going to talk about
[01:29:50.200 -> 01:29:54.280] that. Also, I just want to be clear. I don't know too much about that culture. If that
[01:29:54.280 -> 01:29:59.040] is like a tradition or some kind of thing. Exactly. I don't want to be rude to it. That's
[01:29:59.040 -> 01:30:02.880] why I thought we weren't going to talk about it. Yeah. All right. The far clear of it is
[01:30:02.880 -> 01:30:09.920] I could. So my person, because it's a person this week who missed the apex, is Valtteri Bottas, the
[01:30:09.920 -> 01:30:12.560] only person to finish the race and be lobbed.
[01:30:13.080 -> 01:30:13.840] I don't know.
[01:30:14.160 -> 01:30:17.360] Maybe he's got a crack in the chassis and they need to replace it.
[01:30:17.360 -> 01:30:17.560] But-
[01:30:17.560 -> 01:30:19.520] He did say that the car didn't feel good.
[01:30:19.960 -> 01:30:21.920] Boy, was he nowhere this week.
[01:30:22.600 -> 01:30:22.960] Christian?
[01:30:23.600 -> 01:30:29.680] What sure thing I would like better next race, more Sonata radios.
[01:30:29.680 -> 01:30:31.760] We only had one Sonata radio where he said,
[01:30:31.760 -> 01:30:32.760] UGH!
[01:30:32.760 -> 01:30:33.760] And that was it.
[01:30:33.760 -> 01:30:34.760] That was so funny!
[01:30:34.760 -> 01:30:35.760] It was.
[01:30:35.760 -> 01:30:38.080] Just the scream, yes.
[01:30:38.080 -> 01:30:40.680] That was after Magnusson's overtaking him.
[01:30:40.680 -> 01:30:43.480] Just pure UGH!
[01:30:43.480 -> 01:30:48.000] Well let's look forward to getting the transcripts of the radios for that then.
[01:30:48.000 -> 01:30:52.000] Thank you very much for joining us. That was our Saudi Grand Prix race review.
[01:30:52.000 -> 01:30:57.000] Please follow my panel, Christian Pedersen, Antonio Rankin and Matt Trumpets.
[01:30:57.000 -> 01:31:01.000] And you can follow me as well. All these links are in the show notes below.
[01:31:01.000 -> 01:31:03.000] But do follow me at SpannersReady on Twitter.
[01:31:03.000 -> 01:31:05.120] And we're going gonna have some midweek
[01:31:05.120 -> 01:31:08.320] content with you. We're gonna do a bit of a catch-up because I know there's things we'll
[01:31:08.320 -> 01:31:12.880] have left on the table and we can look a little bit more into the rules side but we do have a
[01:31:12.880 -> 01:31:18.400] fabulous interview lined up with Mark Preston talking about Super Aguri and he was the chief
[01:31:18.400 -> 01:31:23.680] technical lead there and in charge of their 100 days plan to get into Formula One and he was also
[01:31:23.680 -> 01:31:26.160] one of the most successful Formula E team
[01:31:26.160 -> 01:31:27.000] principals as well.
[01:31:27.000 -> 01:31:28.360] So that will be there on Tuesday.
[01:31:28.360 -> 01:31:31.360] But wherever we see you next, work hard, be kind,
[01:31:31.360 -> 01:31:32.040] and have fun.
[01:31:32.040 -> 01:32:05.760] This was Missed Apex Podcast. Phew, we just sneaked in under an hour.
[01:32:05.760 -> 01:32:06.760] That's our vow.
[01:32:06.760 -> 01:32:11.960] Never go over an hour.
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