Spanish GP 2023 F1 race review

Spanners and Trumpets are joined by the voice of the London ePrix, PR meister Chris Stevens and legendary streamer and sim racer Scott Tuffey aka Stuffeyy as they taste all the tapas at the Spanish Grand Prix. From Mercedes update masterpiece to Red Bull’s romp, from Ferrari’s flailing to , no sector time goes unlogged in this, the latest episode of Missed Apex Podcast. 

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**Transcript:**

Missed Apex Podcast is a podcast about Formula One racing. In this episode, the hosts discuss the Spanish Grand Prix, which was the sixth race of the 2023 season.

**Key Points:**

* The hosts praised the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for providing exciting racing, especially after the removal of the chicane at the end of the lap.
* Mercedes brought significant upgrades to their car for the Spanish Grand Prix, which seemed to improve its performance.
* Ferrari had a disappointing race, with both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc struggling to keep up with the pace of the Red Bull and Mercedes cars.
* The hosts discussed the collision between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell during qualifying, which resulted in Hamilton starting the race in sixth place.
* Aston Martin showed strong pace in Spain, with Fernando Alonso finishing in sixth place and Lance Stroll in eighth place.
* The hosts debated whether Mercedes' strong performance in Spain was a sign of things to come or if it was due to the specific characteristics of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

**Important Quotes:**

* "This feels like the start of the season." - Matt
* "The racing was far better with the old configuration of the last two corners being super fast right-handers." - Chris
* "I think we've been calling for it for years." - Spanners
* "It was lovely to see a nice free-flowing last sector that allowed the cars to stay close together." - Chris
* "Yeah, I just want to get in on that and point out that in particular with this regulation set, the faster the cars are going, the more downforce they are making." - Matt
* "I think what the proper circuits or traditional circuits provide is a wider opportunity for different strategies to come into play." - Scott
* "We've had an agonizing few weeks of seeing if these Mercedes upgrades would deliver anything." - Matt
* "It didn't safe to say a few individuals who will not be named in our group chat." - Matt
* "This is an issue with the, I think, the engineers not collaborating or letting their drivers know about the track position of the cars around them." - Chris
* "I think you would probably put a little bit more fault on Lewis." - Chris
* "I could be completely wrong there, but you are." - Scott
* "I don't know if anyone ever has given a toe to their teammate with the DRS fully open." - Lewis
* "Russell had let signs by between turns 13 and 14 so that had already messed up his entry so he was all but he was all but done and that was proved by the fact that he was able to continue his Q2 attempt to get through to Q3 and wasn't able to make it so he was already toast the second he'd had to let signs by and then Hamilton was just taking a normal exit and he wasn't trying to overtake he wasn't going for a gap." - Matt
* "I think they were the second fastest team. Hamilton probably could have put it on the front row had he not made that last mistake in qualifying." - Chris
* "But then, but then also you have to consider there was no Perez, there was no Alonso in Q3 for various other reasons as well. So take that with the tiniest pinch of salt, I guess." - Chris
* "Mercedes is another second best team in Formula 1." - Spanners
* "Don't forget they're stuck with the chassis they came with this season. The full redesign is something we're not going to see until the start of next season." - Matt
* "I would still expect now Mercedes to be behind but catching, Ferrari to be on their own in the middle, and for Aston Martin to just settle back into the top of the midfield." - Matt
* "I think possibilities are endless." - Chris
* "I think we have to look at Alonzo in an Aston as a separate entity to Lance in an Aston." - Spanners
* "I think Alonzo in an Aston will be a thorn in the side of Mercedes pretty much for the remainder of the season." - Spanners
* "I think they made a bit of a mistake in regards to their selection of tires this weekend and the strategy they ran." - Stuffy
* "Mercedes has been extremely good always on tire management in races." - Stuffy
* "I will disagree with you, however. I think soft-soft-hard was an excellent way for them to go because it allowed them maximum attack early in the race." - Stuffy
* "I'm looking at Alonso going from 10th to 6th and clearly could have been 5th if he chose to be, based on the lap times I saw, and I'm thinking that's a pretty good recovery for an Aston." - Stuffy # Formula One: Missed Apex Podcast Episode 258 Summary

**Key Points:**

- Aston Martin's poor performance in the Spanish Grand Prix was attributed to Fernando Alonso's qualifying crash, which damaged his car's floor.
- Mercedes' dominance in the race was evident, with George Russell's impressive start and Lewis Hamilton's controlled drive to a podium finish.
- Max Verstappen's off-track excursions did not hinder his race pace, and he cruised to victory.
- Lewis Hamilton's collision with Lando Norris was deemed a racing incident, with opinions divided on who was at fault.
- Verstappen's aggressive defense against Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda's incident with Guanyu Zhou highlighted the ongoing debate about driving standards and penalties.
- Red Bull's continued dominance has raised questions about whether they have the most dominant F1 car ever, considering the struggles of their competitors.
- Sergio Perez's attempts to emulate Max Verstappen's driving style indicate his determination to challenge for the championship, but his position within the team remains uncertain.

**Detailed Summary:**

1. **Aston Martin's Struggles:**

- Fernando Alonso's qualifying crash caused significant damage to his car's floor, compromising its performance throughout the race.
- The team's overall pace was hindered, and Lance Stroll's poor tire management further limited their competitiveness.
- Aston Martin's reliance on Alonso's strong performances was exposed, highlighting the need for a more consistent driver lineup.

2. **Mercedes' Controlled Dominance:**

- George Russell's excellent start saw him gain four positions on the opening lap, showcasing Mercedes' improved race pace.
- Lewis Hamilton managed his tires and car effectively to secure a podium finish, demonstrating Mercedes' strategic prowess.
- The team's focus on race pace rather than qualifying performance paid off, as they closed the gap to Red Bull.

3. **Verstappen's Unchallenged Victory:**

- Max Verstappen's off-track excursions did not significantly impact his race pace, as he maintained a comfortable lead throughout.
- His fastest lap attempt showcased Red Bull's superior pace, although Mercedes showed promise with Hamilton's competitive lap time.

4. **Hamilton vs. Norris Incident:**

- Opinions varied on who was at fault for the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
- Some argued that Hamilton was at fault for attempting an aggressive overtake, while others felt Norris should have left more space.
- The incident highlighted the fine line between competitive racing and reckless driving.

5. **Driving Standards and Penalties:**

- Verstappen's aggressive defense against Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda's incident with Guanyu Zhou sparked discussions about driving standards and the effectiveness of penalties.
- The stewards' decision to penalize Tsunoda for his actions was seen as a positive step in deterring dangerous driving.

6. **Red Bull's Dominance and Historical Context:**

- Red Bull's continued dominance has led to debates about whether they have the most dominant F1 car ever.
- While their current performance is impressive, the struggles of their competitors have contributed to their advantage.
- The historical dominance of McLaren and Mercedes was brought up for comparison, highlighting the difficulty of establishing a truly dominant car.

7. **Sergio Perez's Uncertain Future:**

- Sergio Perez's attempts to emulate Max Verstappen's driving style indicate his determination to challenge for the championship.
- However, his position within the team remains uncertain, with Daniel Ricciardo waiting in the wings and other drivers expressing interest in a Red Bull seat.
- Perez's ability to maintain his competitiveness and challenge Verstappen will be crucial in determining his future with the team. * **Podcast Episode Summary:**

**Segment 1: The Spanish Grand Prix Debrief**

* The Spanish Grand Prix was a mixed bag, with some exciting moments but also some perplexing performances.
* Mercedes' resurgence continued with a 1-2 finish, with Lewis Hamilton taking the victory.
* Red Bull's Sergio Perez finished third, but Max Verstappen struggled and finished fourth.
* Ferrari had a disappointing weekend, with Charles Leclerc finishing sixth and Carlos Sainz finishing seventh.
* The race was also notable for the return of the old layout at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which was met with mixed reviews.

**Segment 2: Ferrari's Struggles**

* Ferrari's struggles continued in Spain, with both Leclerc and Sainz failing to challenge for the win.
* Leclerc's car was particularly problematic, with the Monegasque driver complaining of a lack of pace and handling.
* Sainz was more competitive, but he was unable to match the pace of the Mercedes and Red Bull cars.
* The team's woes were compounded by a series of strategic errors, which further hampered their chances of success.

**Segment 3: Yuki Tsunoda to Red Bull?**

* There is speculation that Yuki Tsunoda could be in line for a promotion to Red Bull in 2024.
* Tsunoda has impressed in his time at AlphaTauri, and he is seen as a potential future star.
* However, it is also possible that Red Bull will opt for a more experienced driver, such as Daniel Ricciardo.
* The decision will ultimately depend on how Tsunoda performs in the remainder of the 2023 season.

**Segment 4: The Bumper Award**

* The Bumper Award is given to the driver who makes the most impressive overtaking move of the weekend.
* This week's award goes to Lewis Hamilton, for his stunning move on Sergio Perez on the opening lap of the race.
* Hamilton went around the outside of Perez at Turn 1, and he was able to hold on to the lead for the rest of the race.

**Segment 5: Stuffy's Cat**

* Stuffy, one of the podcast hosts, has a cat that is known for causing mischief during his sim racing streams.
* The cat has been known to turn off Stuffy's power button, which has resulted in some hilarious moments.
* Stuffy has since taken steps to prevent the cat from interfering with his streams, but the feline remains a constant source of entertainment for viewers. **Podcast Episode Summary**

**Missed Apex Podcast - Spanish Grand Prix Review**

* The episode begins with the hosts discussing the Mercedes update and how it has improved the team's performance.
* They also talk about Red Bull's dominance and Ferrari's struggles.
* The hosts then discuss some of the individual drivers' performances, including George Russell's podium finish and Lando Norris's P3.
* They also give their thoughts on the Missed Apex Award and who they think missed the apex the most during the race.
* The episode ends with the hosts discussing the upcoming race in Monaco.

**Key Points**

* Mercedes' update has made a significant difference to the team's performance, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in P2 and George Russell finishing in P3.
* Red Bull was dominant in the race, with Max Verstappen winning and Sergio Perez finishing in P2.
* Ferrari had a disappointing weekend, with Carlos Sainz finishing in P4 and Charles Leclerc finishing in P6.
* Lando Norris had a strong race, finishing in P3, while Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso had a heated battle on track.
* The hosts gave the Missed Apex Award to Esteban Ocon for his aggressive move on Fernando Alonso.

**Insights and Perspectives**

* The hosts provide insightful analysis of the race, including the factors that contributed to Mercedes' improved performance and Red Bull's dominance.
* They also offer their perspectives on the individual drivers' performances and the Missed Apex Award.

**Controversies and Memorable Moments**

* The hosts discuss the controversial move by Esteban Ocon on Fernando Alonso, which resulted in Ocon receiving a penalty.
* They also discuss the memorable moment when George Russell said he was staying in Barcelona to party after the race.

**Overall Message**

* The overall message of the podcast is that the Spanish Grand Prix was a thrilling race with plenty of drama and excitement.
* The hosts also emphasize the importance of teamwork and driver skill in Formula One racing.

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[02:09.280 -> 02:23.160] You are listening to Missed Apex Podcast. We live F1.
[02:23.160 -> 02:25.440] Welcome to Missed Apex Podcast.
[02:25.440 -> 02:28.200] The title of today's show is...
[02:28.200 -> 02:30.480] That's tears on your visor.
[02:30.480 -> 02:35.040] I'm your host, Richard Ready, but my friends call me Spanners, so let's be friends.
[02:35.040 -> 02:37.000] Welcome to the Spanish Race Review.
[02:37.000 -> 02:43.680] I woke up this morning genuinely excited to see F1 back on a proper track, and in my opinion,
[02:43.680 -> 02:46.000] Barcelona didn't disappoint. All up and down
[02:46.000 -> 02:52.320] the field cars were able to pass, there was some field spread but that was not Barcelona's
[02:52.320 -> 02:57.840] fault. Once again I've been proved right, all chicanes are rubbish. Well done to F1
[02:57.840 -> 03:10.240] for listening to Missed Apex podcast and well done for restoring the final sector of this great Barcelona racetrack. There was also the first proper round of upgrades in the 2023 season.
[03:10.240 -> 03:14.400] So coming up, we'll discuss, was Spanners right all along
[03:14.400 -> 03:18.880] about what the final pecking order of cars would be once we got settled into the season?
[03:18.880 -> 03:21.280] Will anyone threaten Verstappen at the top?
[03:21.280 -> 03:23.840] And what happened to Ferrari?
[03:23.840 -> 03:24.880] We are checking.
[03:24.880 -> 03:26.080] And more on this
[03:26.080 -> 03:32.560] siesta-free episode of Mr Apex podcast that is an independent podcast produced in the podcasting
[03:32.560 -> 03:37.520] shed with the kind permission of our better halves. We aim to bring you a race review before your
[03:37.520 -> 03:48.400] Monday morning commute. We might be wrong but we're first like Andrew Roberts was, who provided that show title.
[03:48.400 -> 03:54.080] I'm joined in the shed by Matt. Two rumpets! Hello Matt.
[03:54.080 -> 03:55.960] Predictable. Entirely predictable.
[03:55.960 -> 03:57.560] Really? How so?
[03:57.560 -> 04:02.200] Well, the Mercedes chassis of course. And that is going to be huge for them going forward
[04:02.200 -> 04:04.560] because that's been one of their biggest issues to date.
[04:04.560 -> 04:08.400] I think Mercedes could do with some predictability and speaking of predictable
[04:08.400 -> 04:14.480] here's old Chris Stevens. How's it going Chris? Hey Spanners, I mean what a miserable season the
[04:14.480 -> 04:20.160] cars can't race each other and in the blue no you just need to get them on a proper racetrack.
[04:20.160 -> 04:27.760] Feels like this was the start of the season. That's how I feel. Yeah, genuinely this feels like round two see yeah, like season B
[04:28.280 -> 04:29.900] Yeah
[04:29.900 -> 04:30.920] 2023
[04:30.920 -> 04:33.240] Point-2 we could do that and we're also joined by
[04:33.900 -> 04:41.760] Internationally renowned sim streamer. It's Scott stuffy toughy has going Scott. Hey all goods. I echo your thoughts banners
[04:41.760 -> 04:48.300] Let's remove all chicanes from the remainder of the season and it will provide us with some great racing
[04:48.520 -> 04:50.940] Forever. Yeah, so that's the first topic
[04:50.940 -> 04:56.020] I think today is thinking about how the the chicane affected the Barcelona track
[04:56.020 -> 04:58.120] So I think we've been calling for it for years
[04:58.180 -> 05:07.000] But Chris the main objection in years gone by was that moto GP wouldn't be able to survive if we did this layout?
[05:07.000 -> 05:13.120] No, I mean, well, MotoGP stuck around on the old layout far, far longer than Formula 1
[05:13.120 -> 05:17.600] ever did. I think for Formula 1 it was done on sort of safety grounds and I think the
[05:17.600 -> 05:22.440] idea was as well to promote better racing. The idea is it would bunch the cars up and
[05:22.440 -> 05:30.200] in practicality it never really worked and has proven today the racing was far better with the old configuration of the
[05:30.200 -> 05:38.160] last two corners being super fast right handers. And I think what's allowed that to happen
[05:38.160 -> 05:43.660] is the improvements in not just the car safety but also circuit safety so we now have a solution
[05:43.660 -> 05:50.400] that works for bike racing and car racing. Everybody wins! And see Stuffy, it's not 1995 anymore. As Matt
[05:50.400 -> 05:54.900] was saying in the Patreon podcast, you know, we probably don't need all of those safety
[05:54.900 -> 06:01.420] chicanes anymore. No, exactly. And you think you've got the Halo, the just general technology
[06:01.420 -> 06:06.520] has improved dramatically. And these cars provide considerable more downforce
[06:06.520 -> 06:08.140] and grip than they've ever done
[06:08.140 -> 06:09.940] in their history of Formula One.
[06:09.940 -> 06:14.940] So yeah, it was lovely to see a nice free flowing
[06:15.200 -> 06:19.000] last sector that allowed the cars to stay close together
[06:19.000 -> 06:22.320] with the alteration to turn 10 as well,
[06:22.320 -> 06:25.000] no longer a tight left-h hand, a bit more free flowing.
[06:25.000 -> 06:33.000] Yeah, cars were able to stick close and go side by side down into the first corner.
[06:33.000 -> 06:39.000] Yeah, well, I just want to get in on that and point out that in particular with this regulation set,
[06:39.000 -> 06:43.000] the faster the cars are going, the more downforce they are making.
[06:43.000 -> 06:46.240] So medium high to high speed turns are actually
[06:46.240 -> 06:51.840] going to be better in terms of following than slow speed, where we have essentially a wildly
[06:51.840 -> 06:56.960] unbalanced SUV that can barely get around the corner with the amount of lock that they put
[06:56.960 -> 07:03.520] into current F1 cars. So, yeah, the more chicanes we lose now, especially here, the better off the
[07:03.520 -> 07:10.040] racing should be. Well, like, I know I joked about it at the start of the show, but genuinely, the problem
[07:10.040 -> 07:14.800] so far this season has been the rubbish circuits that we've been racing on.
[07:14.800 -> 07:22.080] Spain is only the second proper purpose-built racetrack that F1 has raced on all season.
[07:22.080 -> 07:26.000] It's all been these new street tracks, or some of them old,
[07:26.000 -> 07:30.720] that have provided less than brilliant races.
[07:30.720 -> 07:32.520] And just like last year, we've been
[07:32.520 -> 07:34.360] complaining about the quality of the races
[07:34.360 -> 07:36.720] and the fact that these new regulations don't work
[07:36.720 -> 07:37.280] or whatever.
[07:37.280 -> 07:40.160] No, you just need them on a proper racetrack.
[07:40.160 -> 07:42.960] And we got more action in those first 15 laps
[07:42.960 -> 07:45.200] than we've had in the entire season since Bahrain.
[07:45.200 -> 07:49.040] Yeah, so we had Bahrain as a proper race track, the rest have been temporary tracks. So, I mean,
[07:49.040 -> 07:53.280] you can see the negotiation. So if you're negotiating with Miami, they do want to be
[07:53.280 -> 07:58.160] up front near the front of the season. If you're, maybe you go to Las Vegas and you say, well,
[07:58.160 -> 08:02.560] you're going to be right near the end of the season. So I'm not a fool, I understand how
[08:02.560 -> 08:05.280] the money works, but I think in an ideal racing world,
[08:05.280 -> 08:09.920] if you're going to have destination tracks, and I think there is a place for Miami, Las Vegas,
[08:09.920 -> 08:15.200] and Singapore... no, I didn't say Monaco. Well, that review went okay, didn't it, with Jono?
[08:15.200 -> 08:19.360] We'll do that every year. But there's a place for them, but scatter them in.
[08:19.360 -> 08:25.020] Understand that your product does suffer in one respect when you go to those destination tracks.
[08:25.020 -> 08:30.020] And I think if they were race seven, 12 and 18,
[08:30.160 -> 08:32.220] I think less people would complain.
[08:32.220 -> 08:35.480] But let's kick off the season every year at Barcelona.
[08:35.480 -> 08:39.840] Scott, even if it means starting the season in,
[08:39.840 -> 08:42.660] what we in now, even if it means starting the season in May
[08:42.660 -> 08:44.820] and ending it in February.
[08:44.820 -> 08:51.200] Yeah, and I think what the proper circuits or traditional circuits provide is a wider
[08:52.000 -> 08:57.680] opportunity for different strategies to come into play. And since Bahrain, even though that was a
[08:57.680 -> 09:06.200] borderline two-stop, we haven't seen that been on offer since the start first race of the year. And Barcelona, well, there
[09:06.200 -> 09:11.360] was an opportunity. It was great to see Pirelli chuck out their preferred strategies as an
[09:11.360 -> 09:16.840] aggressive free stopper, even being an opportunity. Only one team took advantage of that today,
[09:16.840 -> 09:20.600] but it was, when have we ever seen a free stopper? It feels like forever since that's
[09:20.600 -> 09:21.600] even been a viable option.
[09:21.600 -> 09:24.040] A genuine, yeah. A genuine no.
[09:24.040 -> 09:26.640] And that's what the fast free-flowing traditional
[09:26.640 -> 09:31.760] circuits, which we're now heading into like the European swing, provide rather than the temporary
[09:31.760 -> 09:37.920] street tracks that tire degradation, that Pirelli, understandably have been critical of them,
[09:37.920 -> 09:45.440] but understandably are a bit cautious because if something goes wrong, there's just concrete walls either side, and there's no
[09:45.440 -> 09:51.040] room for error. These circuits are prepared for these cars and these races, and it was,
[09:51.040 -> 09:57.760] yeah, really good to see today. I do want to just add, and slightly in Pirelli's defense here, an
[09:57.760 -> 10:07.360] awful lot of the circuits we have also been to this season have been almost entirely or mostly resurfaced. And we have learned from
[10:07.360 -> 10:14.720] Sochi onwards that that positively, I guess, affects tire wear, meaning the tire can go
[10:14.720 -> 10:20.800] longer on new asphalt than on old. And so I think we are seeing the worst possible
[10:22.000 -> 10:26.440] outcomes at a lot of these street tracks as the asphalt wears in as
[10:26.440 -> 10:31.880] the micro and macro textures grow it could be that we move back towards two
[10:31.880 -> 10:35.680] stops there and the races get a little more strategically interesting. Wait, wait, wait,
[10:35.680 -> 10:40.040] Matt, I specifically said okay can we just chill on the tyre talk this week and
[10:40.040 -> 10:44.520] you've gone straight into track composition just like a... I did
[10:44.520 -> 10:45.840] exactly what you asked.
[10:45.840 -> 10:47.160] Like a tantrum-y child.
[10:47.160 -> 10:49.240] Oh, oh, oh, you want me to eat my dinner?
[10:49.240 -> 10:51.160] Fine, I'll eat all the dinners.
[10:51.160 -> 10:53.600] Chris, I beg your pardon, I went to the wrong person.
[10:53.600 -> 10:55.280] But what I would like to say is,
[10:55.280 -> 10:57.280] enough on the chicane chat for the minute.
[10:57.280 -> 10:58.840] We will do a show on the 11th,
[10:58.840 -> 11:02.360] and we will discuss exactly which of the chicanes
[11:02.360 -> 11:03.240] we should get rid of,
[11:03.240 -> 11:06.400] because I have a list of, well, all of them.
[11:06.400 -> 11:10.240] But I think the big news this week has to be those Mercedes upgrades.
[11:12.560 -> 11:14.080] Big Dirty News
[11:19.760 -> 11:24.720] Okay, well if you're a neutral, then for the good of the sport, you, I'm sure, have been hoping for
[11:24.720 -> 11:29.920] some kind of challenge from the rest of the field. And it feels like we've had an agonizing
[11:29.920 -> 11:35.280] few weeks of seeing if these Mercedes upgrades would deliver anything. And it looks like,
[11:35.280 -> 11:40.160] I think we can say conclusively, that they have done at least something, but we were denied it
[11:40.160 -> 11:46.240] in Imola. We couldn't really see what was going on in Monaco, but the faces of the team
[11:46.240 -> 11:52.720] in Silva did seem to be a little bit more upbeat. Lewis Hamilton was smiling. And in Barcelona on
[11:52.720 -> 11:57.040] Friday, yeah, it looked a little bit sketchy, but it developed throughout the weekend, Matt.
[11:57.040 -> 12:08.240] But on Friday, Matt, there was doom and gloom, wasn't there, among thefosi? Yeah there was. Much to everyone's entertainment, the moment they
[12:08.240 -> 12:15.280] hit the track, laden with test gear and FP1 and weren't immediately almost as fast as Max,
[12:15.920 -> 12:22.080] everyone who was a fan was like, it's a failure, it's over, the season is over,
[12:22.080 -> 12:27.520] the world is over, the entirety of the universe is coming to an immediate end.
[12:27.520 -> 12:29.440] I saw those tweets.
[12:29.440 -> 12:35.600] And yet, there were those who said, well, you know, it's a brand new update. It's their first
[12:35.600 -> 12:41.760] trip to a track where they can actually have validation for their concept. Probably they're
[12:41.760 -> 12:46.120] just doing a lot of testing and let's not forget Mercedes has
[12:46.120 -> 12:51.800] become very practiced at optimizing things over the Friday night into the Saturday. So
[12:51.800 -> 12:56.240] maybe we should just hold off on the doom and gloom the slightest bit.
[12:56.240 -> 13:02.120] Yep, it didn't safe to say a few individuals who will not be named in our group chat. It
[13:02.120 -> 13:09.120] was Brad. It was Brad Philbert. We're very critical and worried after seeing the lap
[13:09.120 -> 13:13.080] times on Friday and myself included with you Matt, we were
[13:13.080 -> 13:16.260] like, calm down. They're probably just gathering data
[13:16.260 -> 13:20.200] that they're just trying to find out if these upgrades actually
[13:20.200 -> 13:24.680] do what they want, regardless of everyone around them. But Lewis
[13:24.680 -> 13:25.940] did look very
[13:25.940 -> 13:31.460] worried and a little bit downbeat on Friday and we know he wears his heart on
[13:31.460 -> 13:36.580] his sleeve and that kind of did warrant some of the worries that Mercedes fans
[13:36.580 -> 13:43.620] had, myself included. But something seemed to switch overnight and it's been known
[13:43.620 -> 13:46.440] afterwards that Mick Schumacher was back at the factory
[13:46.440 -> 13:50.820] in the simulator. They worked long into the night to sort out something, whether it be
[13:50.820 -> 13:57.140] set up and mechanical changes, and they came out firing on the Saturday, FP3, and then
[13:57.140 -> 14:02.380] in qualifying, well, yeah, Lewis, other than kind of contact with his own teammate and
[14:02.380 -> 14:11.840] a mistake, a couple of driving errors, I think, last lap would have been easily p2. Okay sorry you've mentioned it now so whatever point Chris
[14:11.840 -> 14:19.440] was about to make it has to wait as we play. Whose fault is it? Whose fault is it? Oh my goodness
[14:20.240 -> 14:28.220] shadows of Barcelona 2016 when Nico Rosberg had engine mode problems and just unceremoniously
[14:28.220 -> 14:32.900] shoved Lewis Hamilton off the track into the barrier and if you want a bit of balance,
[14:32.900 -> 14:38.180] Lewis Hamilton 100% kept his foot in to make sure that if he was going down, Nico Rosberg
[14:38.180 -> 14:40.860] was sure as hell going down with him.
[14:40.860 -> 14:43.580] What was that incident in Q2, Chris?
[14:43.580 -> 14:46.000] Right, so to answer the question straight away,
[14:46.000 -> 14:49.000] this is an issue with the, I think, the engineers
[14:49.000 -> 14:53.000] not collaborating or letting their drivers know
[14:53.000 -> 14:56.000] about the track position of the cars around them,
[14:56.000 -> 14:59.000] which happen to be their teammates on this occasion,
[14:59.000 -> 15:02.000] because Russell, before even that moment,
[15:02.000 -> 15:05.560] had already like swung across before the final corner
[15:05.560 -> 15:08.800] in front of Lewis, right when they're both about
[15:08.800 -> 15:10.520] to start their flying lap.
[15:10.520 -> 15:13.040] So they were already way too close to each other.
[15:13.040 -> 15:15.680] And Russell gets a rubbish exit out the last corner
[15:15.680 -> 15:18.560] for whatever reason, moves over to the right
[15:18.560 -> 15:22.040] to try and sneak a little slipstream off the slowing
[15:22.040 -> 15:24.360] Ferrari, I think it was, in front of him.
[15:24.360 -> 15:29.520] And then Lewis has got the massive double toe coming at him like a rocket ship with
[15:29.520 -> 15:34.080] the fact that Russell had the bad exit and with effectively a double slipstream.
[15:34.080 -> 15:37.600] And so Russell's moving over to the right and Lewis thinks, oh, he's backing out of
[15:37.600 -> 15:38.800] the lap and letting me through.
[15:38.800 -> 15:39.800] Great.
[15:39.800 -> 15:40.800] What fantastic teamwork we've done there.
[15:40.800 -> 15:44.120] I've got a great toe and now I'm going to have clean air for the rest of my lap.
[15:44.120 -> 15:46.640] When Russell suddenly goes, oh, I need to take the line into turn one.
[15:46.640 -> 15:49.040] Oh, my teammates are alongside me. How did that happen?
[15:49.040 -> 15:55.960] Yeah, well, I just want to say this is an entirely, this is one of those things where
[15:55.960 -> 16:02.600] you just have to assume Russell wasn't aware that Lewis was behind him and wasn't simply
[16:02.600 -> 16:06.040] trying to get over to that line before Lewis got
[16:06.040 -> 16:10.840] there. Because remember, of the two of them, Russell was the one that was not making it
[16:10.840 -> 16:20.360] into Q3 at that point, and Russell is the one whose entry to his final lap to make Q3
[16:20.360 -> 16:27.600] was absolutely spoiled by people finishing their lap. And this weekend, he was not the only person
[16:27.600 -> 16:31.800] to get hung out to dry by traffic they didn't know was coming.
[16:31.800 -> 16:37.400] I think if we really, as we like to do here, put blame on someone,
[16:37.400 -> 16:43.800] not be neutral, I think you would probably put a little bit more fault on Lewis.
[16:43.800 -> 16:49.200] Because I don't know if anyone ever has given a toe to their
[16:49.200 -> 16:52.300] teammate with the DRS fully open.
[16:52.800 -> 16:54.700] I could be completely wrong there, but you are.
[16:54.700 -> 16:57.800] Yeah, I know Lewis has got the overdrive there, but there must
[16:57.800 -> 17:00.600] be an instant thinking, well, hang on a second.
[17:00.600 -> 17:02.100] My teammates got his DRS open.
[17:02.100 -> 17:04.400] I know it's a long straight down Barcelona.
[17:04.900 -> 17:05.320] Why is
[17:05.320 -> 17:12.920] he not backing out of this or moving over to let me buy?" And yeah, it was quite funny
[17:12.920 -> 17:13.920] to see.
[17:13.920 -> 17:16.920] Wow, so you're from the Rosberg school of things.
[17:16.920 -> 17:23.240] No, I'm just saying, I'm a big Hamilton fan, I'm a big George fan. Quite understandably,
[17:23.240 -> 17:25.160] you can see why Lewis thought he was going
[17:25.160 -> 17:31.240] to be let by because George was so slow out of the final sector. But yeah, in these cars,
[17:31.240 -> 17:35.720] I think what people don't realise as well is that there is a severe lack of visibility
[17:35.720 -> 17:39.920] in these cars to previous iterations. And while even though they're going down a main
[17:39.920 -> 17:44.000] straight, they can't see certain things on their right hand side or left because of the
[17:44.000 -> 17:46.120] wheels. Lewis probably didn't see Carlos
[17:46.120 -> 17:50.200] signs, I think it was, who George was tucking in behind.
[17:50.640 -> 17:53.560] And it's just these cars. I mean, they go, I think how
[17:53.560 -> 17:54.800] quickly they're going with the deal.
[17:54.800 -> 17:57.280] Oh, Scott, Scott, Scott, I've got to stop you that there's a
[17:57.280 -> 18:00.560] few points there that I maybe people missed because it
[18:00.560 -> 18:03.920] definitely was missed like on the broadcast. But Russell had
[18:03.920 -> 18:09.960] let signs by between turns 13 and 14 so that had already messed up his entry so he was all but he was
[18:09.960 -> 18:15.120] all but done and that was proved by the fact that he was able to continue his Q2 attempt
[18:15.120 -> 18:21.100] to get through to Q3 and wasn't able to make it so he was already toast the second he'd
[18:21.100 -> 18:25.480] had to let signs by and then Hamilton was just taking a normal exit and
[18:25.680 -> 18:28.720] He wasn't trying to overtake he wasn't going for a gap
[18:28.920 -> 18:34.880] But if you've got that much of an overspeed then obviously the person in front there their lap is toast Matt
[18:34.880 -> 18:37.680] so really like Russell only had had the choice between
[18:39.200 -> 18:48.360] Going alongside and shutting the door and that would let him have an attempt at getting into Q3, or he had the choice to go side by side and he'd have to back off and he's
[18:48.360 -> 18:52.880] definitely out. Honestly, I just don't buy it. I think Russell suddenly realized
[18:52.880 -> 18:55.480] Hamilton was closing in on him and I think he shut the door because that's
[18:55.480 -> 19:00.760] the only outcome where he would get a shot at Q3. Yeah, I mean, I think that is
[19:00.760 -> 19:05.520] a plausible conclusion and I do have to admit, I appreciate Scott being
[19:05.520 -> 19:13.960] our pain sponge here, stepping in and standing up for George. But the reality of that situation
[19:13.960 -> 19:20.920] is he very much knew that Sines was finishing a lap, and so he would be an obstacle on entry.
[19:20.920 -> 19:25.680] He very much knew that his own start down that straight was massively compromised.
[19:25.680 -> 19:31.520] What he didn't know by the team was that Lewis was that close behind him. And, you know,
[19:31.520 -> 19:38.000] I could mention the word Ghazly here, and I could suggest, or ask the question, is it time
[19:38.000 -> 19:43.840] for some kind of an automated system for drivers so they know who's on push laps, and there's a
[19:43.840 -> 19:45.720] GPS gap that's automatically
[19:45.720 -> 19:49.760] given to them on their dashboard regardless of what the team tells them.
[19:49.760 -> 19:54.480] Okay, so the question I'd like to ask now is, now that we've concluded that that was
[19:54.480 -> 19:58.280] definitely George Russell's fault, I, sorry, I just, I can't see how it's Hamilton's fault,
[19:58.280 -> 20:02.600] you know, he did, I think he did everything right. All you're saying is he's got to account
[20:02.600 -> 20:07.680] for his teammate up front, stuffing his final qualifying lap and just completely back out of it.
[20:07.680 -> 20:11.960] But moving on to, like, Merck were pretty successful today. I think they were by far
[20:11.960 -> 20:17.080] the second fastest team on track, Chris. I think, firstly, we're right, aren't we? They
[20:17.080 -> 20:21.520] were the second fastest team on track today. And secondly, why?
[20:21.520 -> 20:26.960] Absolutely. Well, brand new side pods, big side pods pods but it was the side pods all along
[20:26.960 -> 20:32.320] i told you it's just side pods but it's not just side pods though is it spanners there's been a
[20:33.200 -> 20:41.120] modicum of updates to that car which is usually quite a risky strategy because when you bolt on
[20:41.120 -> 20:47.320] a massive upgrade package onto the car that comprises of several different bits and bobs,
[20:47.320 -> 20:50.720] if one of them isn't quite working the way you want it to,
[20:50.720 -> 20:52.680] it's hard to identify.
[20:52.680 -> 20:54.400] So it's like, oh, we've got this problem,
[20:54.400 -> 20:57.680] but which bit did we put on that isn't quite working?
[20:57.680 -> 20:58.880] And that can take some time.
[20:58.880 -> 21:01.360] But when you're Mercedes in the situation they're in,
[21:01.360 -> 21:03.400] I think it was probably a risk worth taking.
[21:03.400 -> 21:10.040] And boy, howdy, did it pay off. absolutely right. They were the second fastest team. Hamilton
[21:10.040 -> 21:15.800] probably could have put it on the front row had he not made that last mistake in qualifying.
[21:15.800 -> 21:21.040] But then, but then also you have to consider there was no Perez, there was no Alonso in
[21:21.040 -> 21:28.720] Q3 for various other reasons as well. So take that with the tiniest pinch of salt, I guess.
[21:28.720 -> 21:30.120] But yeah, absolutely.
[21:30.120 -> 21:32.120] They are now the second fastest team, I think.
[21:32.120 -> 21:36.520] And we'll see how it pans out across the rest of the season.
[21:36.520 -> 21:39.080] Because it's well and good us saying,
[21:39.080 -> 21:43.040] like, yes, Mercedes is another second best team in Formula 1.
[21:43.040 -> 21:44.920] But this could be a race by race basis.
[21:44.920 -> 21:47.280] But what's promising for them is that this
[21:47.280 -> 21:50.200] is their first race on an entirely new concept,
[21:50.200 -> 21:53.920] and it's already massively quicker than it was before,
[21:53.920 -> 21:55.880] and really strong.
[21:55.880 -> 21:57.520] So they can only move forward from here.
[21:57.520 -> 21:58.560] First proper race.
[21:58.560 -> 21:59.160] Jeez, stop it.
[21:59.160 -> 22:00.680] Stop validating Monaco.
[22:00.680 -> 22:02.120] Stuffy.
[22:02.120 -> 22:10.520] Yeah, I think not to mention the dirty word, the taboo is tyres, but Mercedes today could
[22:10.520 -> 22:14.120] have taken, I mean, you heard George Russell come on and even considered the one stop,
[22:14.120 -> 22:18.760] which was kind of unthinkable at one point, but you look at their lap times, they were
[22:18.760 -> 22:23.120] very close to, well, they were clearly the better than the rest when you compare them
[22:23.120 -> 22:26.900] to Ferrari. Something that they've struggled with is their tyre life.
[22:26.900 -> 22:28.860] That's why Aston Martin have been a bit better
[22:28.860 -> 22:31.380] than them early on in the season.
[22:31.380 -> 22:34.380] We saw that quite considerably in Bahrain.
[22:34.380 -> 22:38.920] And at a track where it's, if not the most demanding
[22:38.920 -> 22:40.380] of the tyres all season,
[22:40.380 -> 22:43.880] other than maybe Silverstone, other high-speed circuits,
[22:43.880 -> 22:45.680] they were doing really
[22:45.680 -> 22:51.760] well on those tires. I expected them to pit a lot earlier on those soft tires, considering
[22:51.760 -> 22:56.960] Russell was on new and Hamilton was on used, and they both came on the radio were going,
[22:56.960 -> 23:03.280] they're good. Let's keep going. And I think that's where a massive gain has been found
[23:03.280 -> 23:06.240] for them. It just allows them to extract more performance.
[23:06.240 -> 23:07.200] Matt?
[23:07.200 -> 23:08.760] Yeah, well, I just want to say that if you
[23:08.760 -> 23:10.320] can look at Mercedes front suspension
[23:10.320 -> 23:12.520] and tell me that it's the side pods,
[23:12.520 -> 23:14.680] well, I have a bridge that I'd like to sell you.
[23:14.680 -> 23:18.780] It's a massive redesign, not only the aerodynamic concept,
[23:18.780 -> 23:21.400] but as much of the mechanical concept
[23:21.400 -> 23:23.600] as they can get away with.
[23:23.600 -> 23:25.760] So what I want to say to Mercedes fans right now
[23:25.760 -> 23:32.080] is don't forget they're stuck with the chassis they came with this season. The full redesign
[23:32.080 -> 23:37.920] is something we're not going to see until the start of next season and look at how well they're
[23:37.920 -> 23:43.440] already doing. And now we're going to talk about whether or not that Red Bull cost cap penalty
[23:43.440 -> 23:45.440] ultimately causes them some
[23:45.440 -> 23:50.960] pain at the start of next season and into the end of this season because Mercedes has a lot more
[23:50.960 -> 23:58.080] resource to be chasing down. Although they did, spoiler, pass Aston in the World Constructor
[23:58.080 -> 24:03.840] Championship so they won't quite have as much as they previously did. So if you were a content
[24:03.840 -> 24:27.280] creator that had been to saying to everybody, look this Aston Martin thing it's going to be much as they previously did. in Imola, and I'm pretty sure, or you know, the Occam's razor, the simplest thing to say is that
[24:27.280 -> 24:33.760] they would have had this kind of baseline platform in Imola too. They looked much stronger in Monaco,
[24:33.760 -> 24:40.960] they got to Barcelona, and it's kind of delivered as expected. So I think this is going to be the
[24:40.960 -> 24:46.400] start of a kind of quote-unquote normal service being resumed. I would
[24:46.400 -> 24:52.160] still expect now Mercedes to be behind but catching, Ferrari to be on their own in the middle,
[24:52.160 -> 24:58.000] and for Aston Martin to just settle back into the top of the midfield. And I want to say up top,
[24:58.000 -> 25:01.920] if that happens, there is absolutely no disgrace in that. Remember, Aston Martin
[25:02.960 -> 25:06.080] is essentially the old Force India outfit and
[25:06.080 -> 25:12.980] it's the team that used to be pound for pound, dollar for points, absolutely the best team
[25:12.980 -> 25:18.200] in Formula One. They could maximise an opening season package and you used to have interviews
[25:18.200 -> 25:22.880] with Vijay Malaga at the start of every season saying, oh do you think you can keep this
[25:22.880 -> 25:25.720] up throughout the season? And him going, no.
[25:25.720 -> 25:26.880] And then they didn't.
[25:26.880 -> 25:29.440] So for Aston Martin to make a really good start,
[25:29.440 -> 25:31.860] have all that glory at the start of the season,
[25:31.860 -> 25:33.760] and then learn from that and try and come back
[25:33.760 -> 25:34.920] at the start of next season,
[25:34.920 -> 25:38.200] that would still absolutely constitute a success.
[25:38.200 -> 25:40.280] But certainly my pundit muscles, Chris,
[25:40.280 -> 25:42.960] were twitching when we get to race six
[25:42.960 -> 25:45.160] and they're still up there in 2nd.
[25:45.160 -> 25:55.160] I still think that Aston can surprise at a few races and I will never, ever, ever discount
[25:55.160 -> 25:59.560] Fernando Alonso for something special.
[25:59.560 -> 26:12.400] We've still got so long left in this season. I think possibilities are endless. So what I want to discuss here is the bifurcation of the Aston race base.
[26:13.280 -> 26:20.160] Namely, into it, I think we have to look at Alonzo in an Aston as a separate entity to Lance
[26:20.160 -> 26:26.040] in an Aston. I think Alonzo in an Aston will be a thorn in the side of Mercedes
[26:26.040 -> 26:30.700] pretty much for the remainder of the season. I mean we certainly saw on his
[26:30.700 -> 26:37.040] outlaps on the hard tire how fast Alonzo was going relative to everybody even the
[26:37.040 -> 26:41.800] people at the front at that time. It was fast. I wouldn't write Aston off as a
[26:41.800 -> 26:47.720] competitor with Mercedes. I think they're going to bounce a little bit between being second, being third
[26:48.440 -> 26:52.060] the rest of the season. I think Mercedes will win on consistency
[26:52.060 -> 26:55.500] and I think because they have two drivers that are very closely paired in pace.
[26:55.920 -> 27:01.960] Okay, so I'd like to get carried away on the hype train that this is the beginning of Mercedes marching their way onto a
[27:02.360 -> 27:06.280] 2024 title push. So let's just pour some like cool water
[27:06.280 -> 27:13.660] over that. Disregarding Ferrari for the moment, sorry Tifosi, we will unfortunately get to
[27:13.660 -> 27:17.640] Ferrari at some point in the show and I can hear the Tifosi going, no, no, no, it's okay.
[27:17.640 -> 27:22.760] Don't worry about it. But we will, we absolutely will. So just taking Mercedes versus Aston
[27:22.760 -> 27:25.600] Martin as our start point, I think we've got a
[27:25.600 -> 27:31.120] few caveats. So Maria's asking in our Patreon live chat, and I'll put this to Stuffy, Stuffy,
[27:31.120 -> 27:34.400] could the cool temperatures have flattered Mercedes?
[27:36.560 -> 27:42.720] Possibly. Cooling is obviously an element that the teams do need to be worrisome about. We know
[27:42.720 -> 27:50.000] Ferrari always kind of struggle in the higher altitudes, where temperatures rise considerably. But no, I don't think so today. I mean, I'm
[27:50.000 -> 27:55.800] just double checking the strategy that Aston Martin ran, and they were the only team to
[27:55.800 -> 28:02.840] go soft, soft, and then to the hard at the end. And it doesn't seem like that strategy
[28:02.840 -> 28:08.520] really played out too well for him. It didn't allow him to close up to Carlos Sainz or the top four whatsoever.
[28:08.520 -> 28:11.600] So there could have been, while I think it was quite evident
[28:11.600 -> 28:15.040] they were not on the pace of quite clearly, no one is of Red Bull
[28:15.400 -> 28:19.160] or Mercedes this weekend, they should have had an opportunity
[28:19.160 -> 28:22.000] to get at Carlos Sainz in a struggling Ferrari.
[28:22.000 -> 28:24.400] And I think they made a bit of a mistake
[28:24.400 -> 28:25.360] in regards to their selection of tyres this weekend and I think they made a bit of a mistake in regards to their
[28:25.360 -> 28:31.440] selection of tires this weekend and the strategy they ran. Well, first of all I want to agree with
[28:31.440 -> 28:38.000] you. If anything, cold temperatures aren't going to help Mercedes because remember their issue with
[28:38.000 -> 28:47.380] tire warm-up in the opening laps of the race. Mercedes has been extremely good always on tire management in races.
[28:47.380 -> 28:50.680] It's been one of their strong points even when they were struggling with the
[28:50.680 -> 28:54.480] predictability of the car, which has now gone away, so we see a much better
[28:54.480 -> 28:59.580] expression of the potential of this concept. With regard to Aston, I will
[28:59.580 -> 29:06.640] disagree with you, however. I think soft-soft-hard was an excellent way for them to go because it allowed
[29:07.360 -> 29:12.800] them maximum attack early in the race when other people were having to manage more because they
[29:12.800 -> 29:17.920] knew they weren't running long stints and they had more grip to get closer on corners and chase down
[29:17.920 -> 29:28.140] on straights, which works for them with their slightly higher drag overall concept. But you were looking at Stroll not attacking signs.
[29:28.140 -> 29:34.340] I'm looking at Alonso going from 10th to 6th and clearly could have been 5th if he chose
[29:34.340 -> 29:40.460] to be, based on the lap times I saw, and I'm thinking that's a pretty good recovery for
[29:40.460 -> 29:43.460] an Aston under these circumstances.
[29:43.460 -> 29:48.960] I agree with you, Matt. I think Aston's whole weekend was compromised the minute Alonso went
[29:48.960 -> 29:54.320] into the gravel on the opening lap in qualifying. And that was on his out lap as well. I think he
[29:54.320 -> 29:58.880] just hit like a damp patch or something because the rain was sort of lingering right at the start
[29:58.880 -> 30:03.600] of qualifying. And I think that floor damage initially was probably worth around 8, 9 tenths
[30:04.800 -> 30:05.280] that floor damage initially was probably worth around eight, nine tenths per lap.
[30:10.260 -> 30:13.380] And then by the time they got around to the final lap in Q3, the repairs they've been able to do, maybe got it down to about four tenths or something
[30:13.380 -> 30:18.100] like that, and then supposedly it should have been fixed by the time the race got
[30:18.100 -> 30:20.860] around, maybe not operating at a hundred percent.
[30:21.340 -> 30:26.680] Um, but obviously that then puts you out of position and it's still not the easiest
[30:26.680 -> 30:27.680] track to overtake on.
[30:27.680 -> 30:32.800] It's better than it's been in the past but still not the easiest and I think had he been
[30:32.800 -> 30:38.880] further up the order we might have seen a slightly more competitive fight between Alonso
[30:38.880 -> 30:40.640] one-handed against the two Mercedes.
[30:40.640 -> 30:45.200] And this is it and this is where Mercedes really do have an advantage over the other teams.
[30:45.200 -> 30:51.880] So if it was out and out a Constructors' Championship, and you know, most championships scenarios,
[30:51.880 -> 30:58.920] you would say, I want that Mercedes pairing, because the Aston Martin driver lineup looks particularly weak and particularly vulnerable.
[30:58.920 -> 31:03.760] So Alonso has an off weekend, goes through the gravel, causes some damage, he's not there.
[31:04.040 -> 31:11.660] Look how poor the Aston Martin suddenly looks. So what if that wasn't Alonso? What if that was Vettel?
[31:11.660 -> 31:16.640] What if that was Sirotkin? You know, you can make a team look very, very bad by not having
[31:16.640 -> 31:20.920] a premium driver content, uh, lineup. They say, you know, drivers make no difference
[31:20.920 -> 31:28.960] in F1, Chris, but we're seeing it now. If Alonso has a bad weekend, Aston Martin have a bad weekend. To the point that most people are now saying they're the fourth
[31:28.960 -> 31:35.360] fastest car, obviously seeing a representative Alonso weekend will give us a better idea of their
[31:35.360 -> 31:40.320] actual performance. Yeah and especially against a team like Mercedes who has, in my opinion,
[31:40.320 -> 31:48.000] the best driver lineup in Formula One right now. Not to say, Stuffy, that Stroll is a mug.
[31:48.000 -> 31:52.000] That move on lap one and kind of stalking, being patient up the top of the hill.
[31:52.000 -> 31:56.000] Pretty good. Yeah, I mean, Lance Stroll has got ability.
[31:56.000 -> 32:00.000] He has got a racing pedigree. He has. He's not
[32:00.000 -> 32:04.000] there. Well, we know why he's there because his daddy owns the team.
[32:04.000 -> 32:06.520] But he has got some
[32:06.520 -> 32:14.000] racing chops. But it is quite clearly being shown that Alonso is outperforming him. And
[32:14.000 -> 32:22.480] as you say, if Alonso has a bad weekend, Lance isn't there to step up when Alonso is having
[32:22.480 -> 32:25.000] a bad qualifying or makes the odd mistake.
[32:25.060 -> 32:29.740] And the other teams have that arguably not a red ball
[32:29.740 -> 32:33.100] in regards to Perez this weekend, but yeah,
[32:33.100 -> 32:36.140] it's especially against Mercedes with George's start,
[32:36.140 -> 32:37.540] which was phenomenal this weekend.
[32:37.540 -> 32:39.940] I'm thinking he made up four places on the first lap
[32:39.940 -> 32:42.340] and was one of the highlights of the races.
[32:42.340 -> 32:47.920] And you're not seeing Lance Stroll ever do that as technically
[32:47.920 -> 32:53.360] the number two driver. Well to be fair Lance Stroll did make all the corners so whereas Russell
[32:53.360 -> 33:00.000] didn't bother Matt. Low bar, low bar. Okay so uh we can go to the Russell thing in a second but if
[33:00.000 -> 33:08.240] I am going to be defending Lance Stroll I do believe he gained two places in the first lap.
[33:08.800 -> 33:13.440] His Achilles heel ahead of a certain Lewis Hamilton.
[33:13.440 -> 33:15.520] Was that sarcastic applause?
[33:15.520 -> 33:16.320] Yeah.
[33:16.320 -> 33:16.800] Yeah.
[33:16.800 -> 33:17.120] Sorry.
[33:17.120 -> 33:23.280] But, but, but his Achilles heel and the reason why Aston's race at the front rapidly devolved
[33:23.280 -> 33:26.280] into keeping him ahead of Ocon is
[33:26.280 -> 33:29.400] simply his tyre management is just not great.
[33:29.400 -> 33:31.000] It never has been.
[33:31.000 -> 33:36.720] And it's the one area of his racecraft that if he improved would massively help the team
[33:36.720 -> 33:37.720] out.
[33:37.720 -> 33:41.960] And in fairness, Stroll's had a couple of punchy opening laps, isn't he?
[33:41.960 -> 34:05.800] Remember the one in Jeddah where he just nailed someone right around the outside? a the correct thing, the thing you're supposed to do going through the little escape road and around the bollard.
[34:06.120 -> 34:09.160] But I'll probably talk about that later as well, because I
[34:09.160 -> 34:12.920] hate the fact that there's just such an easy runoff area at
[34:12.920 -> 34:15.320] that corner, because every single year we see somebody go
[34:15.520 -> 34:18.320] side by side in there and then, and then just decide to bail
[34:18.320 -> 34:18.960] out the corner.
[34:19.880 -> 34:22.760] I think this is the thing with Stroll is that we see glimpses,
[34:23.120 -> 34:27.280] and we have done throughout his career the odd podium with Williams,
[34:27.280 -> 34:31.520] but he's had ample opportunity in F1 now.
[34:31.520 -> 34:39.360] It's his fifth or sixth year and he just doesn't do it consistently enough for a race distance.
[34:39.360 -> 34:46.360] And if he didn't, as we say quite often, if his dad didn't own the team, he probably
[34:46.360 -> 34:53.980] would have been out of a seat a long time ago. But he's got a nice Fernando Alonso with
[34:53.980 -> 35:01.120] him this year, not Fernando Alonso of old, letting him keep hold of positions. So zero
[35:01.120 -> 35:02.280] threat. Exactly.
[35:02.280 -> 35:09.680] Well, if we're in the midst of the Lancetrol fan club competition, maybe not so much for
[35:09.680 -> 35:11.160] his actual driving.
[35:11.160 -> 35:14.760] I will hand it to him that when they interviewed him after qualifying and said, how does it
[35:14.760 -> 35:16.040] feel to beat your teammate?
[35:16.040 -> 35:21.200] His immediate response was, well, he had massive floor damage, so I don't think that's relevant
[35:21.200 -> 35:22.200] in the slightest.
[35:22.200 -> 35:28.560] So, whatever we can say about his racing on track, as a person, he's being annoyingly hard to dislike.
[35:28.560 -> 35:34.520] Okay, and then if we, I know we're flip-flopping between Mercedes and Aston Martin here, but
[35:34.520 -> 35:39.080] to see Lewis Hamilton there fighting at the top, I do think, if you look at the ultimate
[35:39.080 -> 35:50.280] pace, it looked like Lewis Hamilton could have completely disregarded where Max Verstappen was, and he was racing as if he was managing a lead for, like, the non-Verstappen race win?
[35:50.280 -> 35:55.920] Yeah, I would agree with you. In fact, I would think that the movie we're just discussing
[35:55.920 -> 36:01.600] with Stroll getting ahead of him early on very rapidly put paid to any dreams Mercedes
[36:01.600 -> 36:09.880] might have had of having a closer gap to Max. And once those were gone, the only thing they cared about was the podium position for Hamilton
[36:09.880 -> 36:11.560] finishing second.
[36:11.560 -> 36:18.160] And they did a wonderful job of managing the tires and the car, Lewis and the team, to
[36:18.160 -> 36:19.160] get him there.
[36:19.160 -> 36:22.800] But no, I don't think we saw Mercedes' absolute pace there.
[36:22.800 -> 36:25.160] And I would say the same for Max at the front.
[36:25.160 -> 36:30.600] We did not see his absolute pace during the race.
[36:30.600 -> 36:36.600] I think they could have gone faster as well, his off-tracks notwithstanding.
[36:36.600 -> 36:38.680] Do we want to talk about the off-track stuffy?
[36:38.680 -> 36:39.680] What you said first.
[36:39.680 -> 36:44.040] I was just going to say in regards to outright pace, just looking at the fastest laps of
[36:44.040 -> 36:50.460] the race, Max got fastest lap with a 16.3 and then it was Perez with a 16.6 and Lewis
[36:50.460 -> 36:56.200] Hamilton only a 100th behind. So definitely pace in that Mercedes and with Hamilton. It
[36:56.200 -> 37:00.840] was a good race by him. He caught up signs a couple of times and overtook him on track.
[37:00.840 -> 37:06.120] Really confident. You could tell that he had a glow on his face after the race and after qualifying as well
[37:06.120 -> 37:07.100] compared to Friday.
[37:07.100 -> 37:08.320] That's one of the interesting things.
[37:08.320 -> 37:11.200] So I'm watching the live timings with the mini sectors
[37:11.200 -> 37:14.720] and Verstappen sets his fastest lap.
[37:14.720 -> 37:16.120] And then you think, well, that's that.
[37:16.120 -> 37:18.320] So I think it's telling that Mercedes even thought
[37:18.320 -> 37:20.400] they could go for the fastest lap.
[37:20.400 -> 37:23.440] They were all on similarly aged tires.
[37:23.440 -> 37:25.600] I think Verstappen had slightly newer tires than
[37:25.600 -> 37:29.440] Hamilton. But suddenly, yeah, the purple mini-sectors were flashing up. I was like,
[37:29.440 -> 37:33.680] oh, he's going for it. He's going for it. And he wasn't far off. But I think that really shows
[37:33.680 -> 37:38.800] how much they're managing, you know, during that phase. Well, yeah, completely. But I also think
[37:39.520 -> 37:43.760] it shows up the difference right now between the Mercedes and the Red Bull. If we flash back to
[37:43.760 -> 37:48.520] Saturday's qualifying, we have Lewis saying things like, man, this car is still hard to drive. I think
[37:48.520 -> 37:55.160] the Mercedes on light fuel at the absolute margin is still a bit of a handful. But when
[37:55.160 -> 38:00.240] we slow down to race pace, which is what they have clearly been optimizing this car for
[38:00.240 -> 38:05.840] as because now we can follow, we can pass qualifying doesn't matter as much on race
[38:05.840 -> 38:06.840] base.
[38:06.840 -> 38:12.640] I'm very interested to see how much development gets them and how close it gets them to Red
[38:12.640 -> 38:17.140] Bull by let's say by the time we get to Brazil, for example.
[38:17.140 -> 38:22.680] From a driver's point of view, Lewis Hamilton had contact with Lando Norris, but whose fault
[38:22.680 -> 38:25.280] is it?
[38:25.280 -> 38:32.520] Okay, Chris, I actually on first view I thought this was a bit rude by Lewis Hamilton. It
[38:32.520 -> 38:39.040] looked like he was aiming to go round the outside of Carlos Sainz into turn two, trying
[38:39.040 -> 38:44.600] to have the inside on the long sweeping turn three, realised it wasn't on, ducked in behind
[38:44.600 -> 38:46.400] a slowing Sain sign and caught out
[38:46.400 -> 38:51.840] Lando Norris. What do you think? I think this is Max Verstappen's fault. Yes! This is not going to
[38:51.840 -> 38:55.840] win me any favors. I actually know it's a good point. I didn't even think of this. Yes, go on
[38:55.840 -> 39:02.880] then, let's do it. Oh it's all the butterfly effect, dear, because science has got a mega run here on
[39:02.880 -> 39:09.860] Max Verstappen, thinks I'm going to take lead of my home race send that crowd going wild right but Verstappen did
[39:09.860 -> 39:13.580] exactly what he did two years ago against Lewis Hamilton where he just
[39:13.580 -> 39:18.360] edges over to the edge of the the track and go no no no no no you are not
[39:18.360 -> 39:22.100] getting around the outside of me and forces science to back up right so then
[39:22.100 -> 39:32.000] he has to sort of check up and take the slow line through two and Hamilton upon seeing that we go ah if I undercut him then I can get the better exit and
[39:32.000 -> 39:36.240] nail him around the outside of three maybe or get him you know at least alongside or something like
[39:36.240 -> 39:42.880] that but Norris has still kind of just got his nose ever so slightly alongside him so it's just
[39:42.880 -> 39:46.000] it's a kind of a concertina effect and you know,
[39:46.000 -> 39:52.960] I would say complete racing incident, but you want me to put a name, no you want me to put a name to
[39:52.960 -> 39:59.360] it. So it's all starts with Verstappen pushing science-wide. Love it. Okay, so I asked whose
[39:59.360 -> 40:06.440] spot was it Hamilton or Norris and you say
[40:01.540 -> 40:08.440] the snap and Scott stuffy
[40:06.540 -> 40:09.040] toughy. Uh yeah, the
[40:08.540 -> 40:10.440] Vestappen incident is a
[40:09.140 -> 40:12.440] discussion that we can have a
[40:10.540 -> 40:14.440] little bit. Um I totally agree
[40:12.540 -> 40:16.440] with Chris, but in that
[40:14.540 -> 40:18.440] incident, I do think it's
[40:16.540 -> 40:19.040] Norris's fault. I just think
[40:18.540 -> 40:19.540] regardless if there is a
[40:19.140 -> 40:25.440] slight check up there from
[40:19.640 -> 40:25.000] Lewis. There's not enough room and not enough of an overdrive.
[40:25.000 -> 40:26.960] He's not far enough alongside to kind of warrant
[40:26.960 -> 40:28.320] his car being there.
[40:28.320 -> 40:31.080] And that's why he's front right wing
[40:31.080 -> 40:33.800] that catches Lewis's back tire.
[40:33.800 -> 40:38.800] And I think it's just a bit of a brain fart really
[40:39.600 -> 40:42.120] in that instance, that has unfortunately cost him
[40:42.120 -> 40:48.360] a very lonely day at the back of the pack, if he was just a little bit more cautious
[40:48.760 -> 40:51.920] and didn't look at maybe the inside because he would have
[40:51.920 -> 40:54.360] had to get up on the curb anyway, and he didn't have that
[40:54.360 -> 40:58.040] drive. He would have been in this race for the long run. Take
[40:58.040 -> 41:01.040] Carlos signs is kind of outlook on it. He could have hung it
[41:01.040 -> 41:05.360] around the outside. One I have all of the long game, I don't want to
[41:05.360 -> 41:10.440] go out at T1 at my home circuit, I want to finish this race and play the long game.
[41:10.440 -> 41:14.640] And Hamilton was so lucky not to get a puncture from that because it was clearly enough to
[41:14.640 -> 41:21.200] just tear the right side of Norris' wing off. How different would we be talking about Mercedes
[41:21.200 -> 41:25.360] pace? Would we be hailing them as the second fastest team if suddenly Lewis
[41:25.360 -> 41:29.040] Hamilton were taken out of that race competitively at turn two?
[41:29.040 -> 41:35.040] Well we would because Russell would finish second. Probably. Exactly. Yeah. Okay so but
[41:35.040 -> 41:39.840] in that incident there, I do like, yeah I like what Scott's saying which is you have
[41:39.840 -> 41:50.360] to leave a little bit of margin and we talk about the drivers different approaches to lap one, Norris is always aggressive, so he's going for it. And from P3, and he never thought
[41:50.360 -> 41:54.920] in those interviews, that he was giving pre-race, that they could hang on to that and be P3.
[41:54.920 -> 41:59.360] So he said, I want to cling on. So I can't really blame him for fighting and trying to
[41:59.360 -> 42:09.400] take every inch, not wanting to get swamped in T1 and lose that position. But ultimately, yeah, if he, you know, that decision to not leave any margin for any kind of check-up
[42:09.400 -> 42:12.400] means that, look, he ended up near the back of the grid.
[42:12.400 -> 42:15.600] The Verstappen vs. Sainz one is interesting because
[42:15.600 -> 42:20.400] it's the commitment that Verstappen still has
[42:20.400 -> 42:28.220] to do that kind of move to move to the outside, Chris, because he was the one on the radio saying,
[42:28.220 -> 42:30.700] no, when you're alongside, you have to leave space.
[42:30.700 -> 42:33.700] And into that breaking zone, I mean, technically,
[42:33.700 -> 42:36.740] by the time he got to the outside, there was nothing there
[42:36.740 -> 42:39.700] because science had seen right Nova Stumpfins lifting off
[42:39.700 -> 42:41.580] and definitely going to the outside.
[42:41.580 -> 42:44.820] But you know, had science held his ground around the outside,
[42:44.820 -> 42:47.000] I think all day long long that's a collision.
[42:47.000 -> 42:51.000] Yeah, 100%. Yeah, but that's why Sines backed out of it.
[42:51.000 -> 42:53.000] Yeah. I don't know. Matt?
[42:53.000 -> 43:05.880] Well, I'm going to slightly disagree here. By which I mean entirely disagree. I think we saw Max drive to the outside of the corner because he saw Sines backing off, because Sines, as alongside
[43:05.880 -> 43:13.160] as he was, wasn't alongside enough to compromise Max's line out of the exit.
[43:13.160 -> 43:19.840] Carlos, as you say sensibly, knew he wasn't really going to win that battle and figured
[43:19.840 -> 43:23.000] he was better off making the long play.
[43:23.000 -> 43:25.820] Max responded to that by taking full advantage
[43:25.820 -> 43:31.120] on his exit, trying to get back up to the pace that he would have preferred to have
[43:31.120 -> 43:36.080] driven through that turn. And then, as we said earlier, the fact that he didn't get
[43:36.080 -> 43:41.200] all the way there resulted in Norris losing a big chunk of his front wing, which is, yeah,
[43:41.200 -> 43:49.920] more or less on Norris. I, I disagree that he would have known signs was, was there at that point.
[43:49.960 -> 43:54.440] But I think why this is an interesting talking point is because a similar
[43:54.440 -> 43:58.800] situation happened later in the race with Yuki Tsunoda and Guan Yu Zhou,
[43:59.320 -> 44:01.160] and Zhou didn't back out.
[44:01.440 -> 44:05.680] Zhou hung it in where signs could have done.
[44:05.680 -> 44:10.960] And while contact wasn't made, because Joe pulled out of it and went,
[44:10.960 -> 44:14.480] no, I'm going down the escape road because I want my race to continue.
[44:14.480 -> 44:18.000] I can quite clearly see that he's going to drive into me here.
[44:18.000 -> 44:22.400] There was then a penalty dished out, which was good to see from the stewards,
[44:22.400 -> 44:26.560] I think, for too long, incidences like this because
[44:26.560 -> 44:32.460] there hasn't been a resulting accident or contact happening. The driver who's gone in
[44:32.460 -> 44:38.120] very heavy-handed into these corners, driving people off circuit, has got away scot-free,
[44:38.120 -> 44:42.760] whereas now that isn't the case. The Verstappen incident is because it's a first lap incident
[44:42.760 -> 44:52.160] and there's always a little bit of leeway there, think but yeah the Joens-Sonoda incident was interesting and has caused a lot of discussion
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[45:54.240 -> 46:06.200] Okay, so moving on to Verstappen since we're talking about Red Bull. So we'll look at the Red Bull drivers' performances.
[46:06.200 -> 46:10.400] And it's always very difficult to talk about a driver who's
[46:10.400 -> 46:12.200] got a very dominant car.
[46:12.200 -> 46:15.200] So this weekend, as opposed to last weekend,
[46:15.200 -> 46:18.320] where they said the Q3, Sector 3,
[46:18.320 -> 46:20.060] was an absolute miracle lap.
[46:20.060 -> 46:23.840] It was the incarnation of Ayrton Senna,
[46:23.840 -> 46:28.880] and his ghost and some angels lifted him onto a rainbow to dance around Q3.
[46:29.360 -> 46:32.360] When you have a dominant car, it isn't always like that.
[46:32.400 -> 46:35.440] And I don't think he nailed his lap in qualifying.
[46:35.440 -> 46:38.240] And I think he himself said, look, we have a lot of margin here.
[46:38.240 -> 46:39.840] There was a couple of there was a couple of mistakes.
[46:40.080 -> 46:43.080] They didn't get their tyre strategy quite right in qualifying.
[46:43.440 -> 46:45.040] Yet they were still a good margin
[46:45.040 -> 46:49.920] ahead. I think he was like 0.3 ahead, but people were saying, well, he could have easily been 0.6
[46:49.920 -> 46:54.960] ahead. But when you've earned that car advantage, which Red Bull have, and Max Verstappen has earned
[46:54.960 -> 47:00.000] his place at the number one team in that, that happens. So that's the position you're in, but
[47:00.000 -> 47:04.960] we don't have to pretend that it was a super stellar performance. When it comes to the race,
[47:08.360 -> 47:11.000] he didn't have to do anything particular at all today. So this is the kind of race where he was fully relaxed.
[47:11.240 -> 47:12.920] At no point did he have to push.
[47:12.920 -> 47:17.880] The only time he had to push really was on his attempt at the fastest lap,
[47:18.320 -> 47:19.200] which he got.
[47:19.200 -> 47:22.600] And then he complained a little bit that he was overheating the front tyres
[47:22.960 -> 47:24.040] when he was on the hards.
[47:24.040 -> 47:25.160] Again, nothing
[47:25.160 -> 47:31.560] that would affect race pace. What I did find interesting was the psychology of the interview
[47:31.560 -> 47:37.240] with Christian Horner, where as all season he's been saying, oh, those teams, they're
[47:37.240 -> 47:41.520] going to catch us any minute. No, no, no, no, no, it's not domination. We are, we're
[47:41.520 -> 47:47.400] in immediate danger at any time. They were asked, you know Mercedes look like they might catch up to you
[47:47.400 -> 47:49.980] He immediately said well, we still won by 25 seconds
[47:49.980 -> 47:53.280] So the first time that he's been kind of defensive
[47:53.280 -> 47:58.640] I think stuffy that there's a comfort zone that they've enjoyed but they might be aware
[47:58.880 -> 48:01.780] That they just need to keep a little bit of an eye out
[48:02.700 -> 48:05.840] Yeah in to add on to Horner's comment after
[48:05.840 -> 48:10.480] the race, before the race, he said the only thing that is going to cause us issues today
[48:11.120 -> 48:16.800] is the weather if the rain comes in. So yeah, a little bit of cockiness there or a little bit
[48:16.800 -> 48:22.240] of reassurance that we're still top dogs. While all the talk has been about Mercedes and Ferrari
[48:22.240 -> 48:25.000] upgrades and other team upgrades. They're still there.
[48:25.520 -> 48:31.120] Maybe, maybe behind the scenes, it's a little inkling that the
[48:31.120 -> 48:34.480] cost cap might actually affect them later on in the season.
[48:34.880 -> 48:39.480] And that's a first kind of showing of that reiterating to
[48:39.480 -> 48:42.400] the fans, to the media, you know, we're still going to
[48:42.400 -> 48:44.360] maintain this advantage to the end of the season.
[48:44.720 -> 48:49.360] Um, but yeah, it was, it's intriguing psychology's intriguing psychology if you look into that sort of stuff.
[48:49.360 -> 48:55.440] I mean, there's always talk of Red Bull going to win every race this season because they've won
[48:55.440 -> 49:01.360] every race so far. This season, Max is going to have this championship wrapped up by August.
[49:01.360 -> 49:05.720] He's so much faster than Perez. I mean, I was like Perez the last few races
[49:05.720 -> 49:12.520] is really, really kind of dropped the ball and is now really not looking like the championship
[49:12.520 -> 49:16.960] contender we thought he might have been a few races ago, but I still think this is far
[49:16.960 -> 49:23.880] from the most dominant f1 car we've even seen in the last 10 years, let alone in in history.
[49:23.880 -> 49:26.720] Because I think even if Mercedes, come on, when Mercedes
[49:26.720 -> 49:33.400] had the 2020 car, for example, that probably is the best Formula One car that's ever been
[49:33.400 -> 49:38.460] built and they somehow didn't manage to even win all the races or even get, did they even
[49:38.460 -> 49:39.460] get all the polls that year?
[49:39.460 -> 49:43.400] So are you saying that this Red Bull isn't like a historically dominant F1 car?
[49:43.400 -> 49:46.600] No, I'm saying it's not the most dominant.
[49:46.600 -> 49:50.320] Okay, well, that's a really high bar to be the most dominant car ever.
[49:50.320 -> 49:52.480] Yeah, but that's why everyone's treating it like it.
[49:52.480 -> 49:54.280] But it is really, really dominant.
[49:54.280 -> 49:56.320] Yes, it is really, really fast.
[49:56.320 -> 50:00.080] Yes, I'll admit there is a significant gap between Red Bull and the rest of the field.
[50:00.080 -> 50:05.200] But I'm saying there is plenty of opportunities for other teams to win races because they're
[50:05.840 -> 50:10.800] closer than, you know, other teams were to Mercedes at the height of their powers and
[50:10.800 -> 50:18.000] they didn't manage to do it. Well, if we're going to discuss a historical dominance in a single
[50:18.000 -> 50:25.840] season, it's got to be the McLaren that won all but one race back in the, was the MP44? I can't remember which one.
[50:25.840 -> 50:26.480] 88.
[50:27.360 -> 50:30.960] No, and by the way, for the record, no, this wasn't a topic,
[50:30.960 -> 50:34.240] but by all means, let's start scrolling through Wikipedia.
[50:35.520 -> 50:40.640] But no, is the Red Bull that dominant? Well, it might actually wind up being,
[50:40.640 -> 50:46.200] but is it that dominant beating competitors that are on equal pace with it? No, no.
[50:46.200 -> 50:51.240] Everybody else, Mercedes and oh my gosh, Ferrari, have absolutely dropped this ball.
[50:51.240 -> 50:54.940] So there will be that asterisk attached to it.
[50:54.940 -> 50:57.200] And I think that's probably what we're arguing about here.
[50:57.200 -> 51:00.760] Well, I think it's more about the performance of the actual Red Bull,
[51:00.760 -> 51:02.920] and was it a faultless weekend by Max?
[51:02.920 -> 51:05.840] Well, the stats show it, but he's got the car and he's in
[51:05.840 -> 51:09.440] the mindset that he doesn't need to do what he's still
[51:09.440 -> 51:13.600] willing to get his elbows out like we saw in T1 and risk a
[51:13.600 -> 51:16.880] five-second time penalty for going for fastest lap because
[51:16.880 -> 51:19.520] his engineer even went, no, don't go for it. Like we don't
[51:19.520 -> 51:24.320] want to risk anything. He's still going for every point
[51:24.320 -> 51:25.100] that matters.
[51:25.100 -> 51:28.800] And I think what's important here is that it is a shame that
[51:28.800 -> 51:32.000] we don't have really a proper championship fight. The
[51:32.000 -> 51:35.800] championship is already out of Perez's control. He needs a few
[51:35.800 -> 51:39.100] DNFs. He needs Max to have a couple of bad weekends, but he
[51:39.100 -> 51:42.600] doesn't seem to be having that even if he has a poor weekend
[51:42.600 -> 51:50.860] what he's going to stick it on seconds because his teammates going to beat him? But yeah, they don't need to be both of them performing
[51:50.860 -> 51:55.740] at 100% to win races at the moment because they are, they do have that advantage.
[51:55.740 -> 52:01.180] Okay, well, look, so far, we've seen Red Bull only kind of pushing each other and, you know,
[52:01.180 -> 52:05.480] a lot of Perez's wins have come from when Verstappen was, you
[52:05.480 -> 52:10.720] know, messed up qualifying. Perez has had no competition from Perez where when he, sorry,
[52:10.720 -> 52:14.600] Verstappen has had no competition from Perez when he stuffed it in qualifying, where did
[52:14.600 -> 52:18.840] he put it in the gravel? I forget, he put it in the gravel in one of the races and ended
[52:18.840 -> 52:26.040] up missing Q3. Then he's hit the wall in qualifying for Monaco and and then he's messed up qualifying again here in Q2
[52:26.040 -> 52:29.280] And so apart from them challenging each other
[52:29.280 -> 52:33.120] They've not really been any under any pressure out out at front
[52:33.120 -> 52:40.280] So if Mercedes do get a package together and get a little bit closer, so they're genuinely in Red Bull's pit window
[52:40.280 -> 52:43.520] They start throwing in some undercut attempts
[52:43.520 -> 52:49.120] They start being good enough on the tyres that the overcut becomes a worry. Then we'll see, we'll see how they react
[52:49.120 -> 52:54.280] then because so far Red Bull in two seasons or a season and a quarter, they've not really
[52:54.280 -> 52:58.880] had to make a decision, they've not had to make a call. And we did see with the Mercedes
[52:58.880 -> 53:06.880] Dominance in 19 and 20, when suddenly they had Verstappen and Red Bull pushing at their door, they made a few
[53:06.880 -> 53:11.200] errors. You know, the pit stop mistakes started creeping in, they started being found to be
[53:11.200 -> 53:17.600] overcautious on those snap safety car decisions. So I don't think it's completely beyond the pale
[53:17.600 -> 53:22.080] that Mercedes, who stated, who have stated, that they've got upgrades coming to every race,
[53:22.640 -> 53:31.000] will make up that gap. Because, do we have faith? We have faith, don't we, that the punishment for the cost cap will start to kick in at some point.
[53:31.000 -> 53:35.000] So look, we could be looking at a mid-season where things turn over on their head, Matt,
[53:35.000 -> 53:40.000] and you know, there's one DNF from Verstappen, a couple of mistakes under pressure,
[53:40.000 -> 53:45.600] 50 points in a 23 race season can flip like that? Bring your game on.
[53:51.840 -> 53:57.920] Yeah, I mean, I think the idea that Red Bull is a lock to win every single race this whole season isn't confirmed yet, because we don't know the full extent of how the cost cap will be affecting
[53:57.920 -> 54:04.480] and the penalty Red Bull. And we have certainly heard from unnamed sources that it already kind
[54:04.480 -> 54:05.280] of is in
[54:05.280 -> 54:08.960] certain ways in terms of the decisions about what they choose to develop and
[54:08.960 -> 54:12.960] where they spend their resource. And as we get closer to the summer, they're
[54:12.960 -> 54:17.000] going to be even more under pressure because they also have next year's car
[54:17.000 -> 54:22.240] to consider. So by time we get again, this is why I picked Brazil, we get close to
[54:22.240 -> 54:25.440] the end of the season and we have a full season of Mercedes
[54:25.440 -> 54:30.880] under massive development, versus a Red Bull that is trying to do just enough to stay ahead,
[54:30.880 -> 54:36.000] we could have some genuinely interesting racing the last part of the year if it works out the
[54:36.000 -> 54:41.440] way it's supposed to. But that means Mercedes has to get it right, and that means the cost gap
[54:41.440 -> 54:45.760] penalty has to actually really bite as much as we sort of kind of hope it will.
[54:45.760 -> 54:49.280] Okay, any hope for Perez? Any hope for Perez?
[54:49.280 -> 54:51.840] Some qualifying results obviously not gone his way.
[54:51.840 -> 54:57.840] An interesting one from Helmut Marko was, yeah, it was a bit of a challenge at the beginning, challenge from Perez,
[54:57.840 -> 55:03.840] and then he said, this is Helmut Marko, very odd comment, now the situation has resolved itself.
[55:03.840 -> 55:06.840] What? How has that resolved itself? Helmut Marko making very odd comments, now the situation has resolved itself. What? How has that resolved itself?
[55:06.840 -> 55:09.360] Helmut Marko making very odd comments?
[55:09.360 -> 55:10.360] No.
[55:10.360 -> 55:11.360] Matt.
[55:11.360 -> 55:18.320] Well, I don't know if you caught this comment, but apparently Perez has been attempting to
[55:18.320 -> 55:22.280] emulate, to a certain extent, Max's driving style.
[55:22.280 -> 55:23.280] Oh dear.
[55:23.280 -> 55:27.560] To get more out of the car. Now this makes sense to a
[55:27.560 -> 55:33.200] certain extent if you're Perez because obviously the car is being tailored to
[55:33.200 -> 55:37.760] how Max likes to drive it and if you want to pursue a
[55:37.760 -> 55:41.040] championship and this is why I bring it up if you want to pursue a championship
[55:41.040 -> 55:49.200] you're gonna have to learn how to drive the car like Max drives it in order to push him. Otherwise, you just get the odd race where everything falls into the way you
[55:49.200 -> 55:55.440] like to drive and you can maybe win or you can be there or thereabouts. So from Perez, I actually
[55:55.440 -> 56:02.160] think it shows, if this is an accurate reporting, this shows a real mentality that he is 100%
[56:02.800 -> 56:07.680] going after this. So you might not believe it. I might not believe it,
[56:07.680 -> 56:13.280] but it's pretty clear to me Perez thinks it's close enough that he still believes it. And
[56:13.280 -> 56:18.240] that's what's going to matter as we move through the season, because until or unless Mercedes get
[56:18.240 -> 56:22.880] close, Perez is the only person who's going to make the battle for the lead interesting.
[56:23.440 -> 56:23.760] Scott.
[56:28.320 -> 56:33.840] going to make the battle for the lead interesting. Scott. My only worry for Perez is a certain Daniel Ricardo waiting in the wings and that's not, and I know Spanish is going to jump in and have a go at
[56:33.840 -> 56:40.560] this. Yeah, it's not Danny. Him from now to the end of the season, it's not so much his title
[56:40.560 -> 56:47.200] challenge, it's whether or not if he's going to stay within a reasonable distance points wise from Max
[56:47.200 -> 56:48.480] while they've got no challenger.
[56:48.720 -> 56:53.040] And if Mercedes come in and he starts not being that wingman,
[56:53.040 -> 56:56.640] or at least coming into play for wins and helping Max, even though
[56:56.640 -> 56:59.200] he's trying to fight for a championship, they've got someone
[56:59.200 -> 57:02.520] who Max gets on absolutely brilliantly with.
[57:02.560 -> 57:03.920] The team seemed to love him.
[57:03.920 -> 57:05.900] They're gushing over him every single time they're asked
[57:05.900 -> 57:09.800] about him in interviews, ready to step in there.
[57:09.800 -> 57:13.560] And even then you've got the likes of Lando Norris
[57:13.560 -> 57:16.560] who is sitting there in a McLaren that he's not happy with
[57:16.560 -> 57:18.200] who gets on really well with.
[57:18.200 -> 57:22.200] So I don't know, I feel like this might be last chance
[57:22.200 -> 57:25.680] saloon for Perez and we could maybe see a driver change at
[57:25.680 -> 57:30.720] the end of the year regardless of what happens. So you guys, you know I'm a big Perez fan but
[57:30.720 -> 57:36.000] I'm starting to get the vibe and this is coming from Red Bull management that this might be Perez's
[57:36.000 -> 57:41.440] last season. I think the closer he gets to threatening Verstappen the more under pressure
[57:41.440 -> 57:45.600] his position has actually become. So last season, he was doing well
[57:45.600 -> 57:50.240] at the start of the season, signed a contract, then won Monaco in those circumstances, and that
[57:50.240 -> 57:57.360] kind of locked him in. This season, I think maybe it did look a little bit too close for comfort,
[57:57.360 -> 58:00.000] and you don't know what's going on in the background. You get the feeling they would
[58:00.640 -> 58:06.000] like a number two, maybe someone younger coming through who is looking to just be there
[58:06.000 -> 58:11.600] to be the number two and learn and not have ambitions at King Toppling until Verstappen
[58:11.600 -> 58:17.200] decides to go and be the Kaplunk champion instead. But I think the name being banded
[58:17.200 -> 58:20.960] around is Yuki Tsunoda, so I'm going to go out there and make an early call. Yuki Tsunoda
[58:20.960 -> 58:27.360] for that Red Bull seat for 2024. It's not gonna be Daniel Ricciardo. They got him in for marketing.
[58:27.360 -> 58:29.120] He's doing a good job there.
[58:29.120 -> 58:31.560] He's gonna be 34 years old next season.
[58:31.560 -> 58:34.520] They said in the sim, we've seen some weird stuff.
[58:34.520 -> 58:36.080] His driving style's gone odd.
[58:36.080 -> 58:38.120] They're not gonna start and rebuild him.
[58:38.120 -> 58:42.440] They're not gonna Robocop Daniel Ricciardo at 34 years old.
[58:42.440 -> 58:44.000] Tsunoda's the future.
[58:44.000 -> 58:45.800] Anyone else wanna come in on that or should we move on?
[58:47.900 -> 58:48.900] Kind of makes sense.
[58:48.900 -> 58:51.800] Either that or Nick DeVries leaves and Liam Nolson comes in.
[58:51.800 -> 58:54.700] He's clearly been g'd up to come in next year, I think.
[58:54.700 -> 58:57.200] So yeah, I reckon it could be a little merry-go-round in the
[58:57.200 -> 58:59.200] Red Bull seats next year.
[58:59.200 -> 59:00.100] Looking forward to it.
[59:00.500 -> 59:01.100] Nice, move on.
[59:06.000 -> 59:08.000] Dad, do we have to?
[59:08.000 -> 59:13.000] Yes, you've got to eat your Ferrari before you can have the good stuff.
[59:13.000 -> 59:14.000] No, no, no.
[59:14.000 -> 59:16.000] Talking about Ferrari is good for you.
[59:16.000 -> 59:20.000] It provides vitamin D or something, or plan F, or plan A.
[59:20.000 -> 59:22.000] Ferrari, who wants to go?
[59:22.000 -> 59:24.000] Who's the biggest Ferrari fan?
[59:24.000 -> 59:25.360] I don't think we've got an out
[59:25.360 -> 59:30.160] and out Ferrari fan here, but who would consider themselves Ferrari adjacent? A well-wisher?
[59:30.160 -> 59:35.920] Okay, who doesn't actively wish Ferrari harm? So that's my hands down.
[59:35.920 -> 59:37.040] I like Ferrari.
[59:37.040 -> 59:41.200] Okay, go on then, Chris. Find a silver lining in whatever the hell that was.
[59:41.760 -> 59:46.980] I can't. I genuinely can't. I mean, what a mess of a weekend.
[59:46.980 -> 59:49.840] And the biggest confusion of all is what on earth
[59:49.840 -> 59:52.360] is going on with Charles Leclerc's car,
[59:52.360 -> 59:55.820] where it suddenly has no pace in qualifying,
[59:55.820 -> 59:58.700] goes absolutely nowhere in the race.
[59:58.700 -> 01:00:00.760] There's not a single redeeming feature
[01:00:00.760 -> 01:00:02.760] on that car at the moment.
[01:00:02.760 -> 01:00:04.720] It doesn't look after its tires,
[01:00:04.720 -> 01:00:17.760] it's clearly not got enough downforce, it's not exactly a killer in a straight line either, and Leclerc's obviously having a very tough time driving it, and Sainz only went backwards after looking pretty punchy in the opening stages of the race.
[01:00:27.040 -> 01:00:33.200] say this is the race where Ferrari clearly fulfilled the terms of the prophecy whereby corporate management metals replaces the team principal and they wind up in fourth place.
[01:00:33.200 -> 01:00:34.200] That has clearly happened.
[01:00:34.200 -> 01:00:38.560] You're describing like a Wicker Man kind of thing where we have the annual...
[01:00:38.560 -> 01:00:39.560] I don't know.
[01:00:39.560 -> 01:00:41.640] I don't want to continue that analogy.
[01:00:41.640 -> 01:00:42.760] That's too bad.
[01:00:42.760 -> 01:00:47.680] But I would now like to welcome all Ferrari fans to Copium Corner,
[01:00:47.680 -> 01:00:52.640] where I dangle the golden bait of hope for those of you who are losing faith.
[01:00:52.640 -> 01:00:55.200] And what I have to say to you is very simple.
[01:00:55.760 -> 01:01:02.960] What Mercedes now has, predictability and handling, is something Ferrari is still chasing.
[01:01:03.520 -> 01:01:06.520] And the good news for you is that it was
[01:01:06.520 -> 01:01:13.760] a very, very, very, very big update that Ferrari brought. And it may be over the
[01:01:13.760 -> 01:01:18.920] course of the next couple of weekends they understand it better and enough to
[01:01:18.920 -> 01:01:27.400] begin to follow the same path as Mercedes. The engine is good. The drivers are good. It's not as
[01:01:27.400 -> 01:01:30.440] done a deal as this weekend made it seem.
[01:01:30.440 -> 01:01:36.800] I would love to just take Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc out for a round of golf and
[01:01:36.800 -> 01:01:47.800] a few pints afterwards to just go, lads, come on, what's happening? because those two are publicly now just kind of not giving to
[01:01:47.800 -> 01:01:53.840] hoots because Carlos Sainz has openly come out and gone, our time measurement in Degg is
[01:01:53.840 -> 01:01:59.880] shocking, Charles Leclerc has no idea what is going on and it just seems like
[01:01:59.880 -> 01:02:06.560] it's a mess and with a big upgrade package this week, it clearly did, it moved them backwards.
[01:02:06.560 -> 01:02:11.440] I know you can argue obviously Mercedes has moved themselves forwards, but they were barely
[01:02:11.440 -> 01:02:15.640] in front of Aston Martin and then there was a possibility that as we've discussed, they
[01:02:15.640 -> 01:02:17.280] could have even beaten them.
[01:02:17.280 -> 01:02:21.760] But yeah, it's a very odd situation there at the moment.
[01:02:21.760 -> 01:02:25.440] Yeah, my response to that would be, you say it moved them backwards,
[01:02:25.440 -> 01:02:31.840] but if I look at the Saturday qualifying, it seemed like they were pretty quick overall.
[01:02:32.800 -> 01:02:37.680] At least, I mean, yeah, I know Lewis and the new wing and everything, Mercedes might have been
[01:02:37.680 -> 01:02:44.480] faster, but Ferrari has been a single lap car. And I feel like the developments haven't
[01:02:44.480 -> 01:02:45.800] significantly ruined that for them. The question is whether or not they can bring the consistency a single lap car. And I feel like the developments haven't significantly
[01:02:45.800 -> 01:02:47.480] ruined that for them.
[01:02:47.480 -> 01:02:50.120] The question is whether or not they can bring the consistency
[01:02:50.120 -> 01:02:52.560] to the race that Mercedes obviously now
[01:02:52.560 -> 01:02:54.920] has with their updates.
[01:02:54.920 -> 01:02:58.280] Yeah, you made the point there that they are a single lap car
[01:02:58.280 -> 01:03:00.200] because they're able to just switch their tires on so
[01:03:00.200 -> 01:03:00.680] quickly.
[01:03:00.680 -> 01:03:04.000] But I'm sure, of course, you don't
[01:03:04.000 -> 01:03:05.280] want to lose your performance in
[01:03:05.280 -> 01:03:09.420] qualifying. You don't want to sacrifice one for the other, but I'm pretty sure they would
[01:03:09.420 -> 01:03:15.320] sacrifice some qualifying performance to perform better in the race because they've got no
[01:03:15.320 -> 01:03:20.120] hope at the moment. I mean, Charles was just, I mean, God knows what was going on with his
[01:03:20.120 -> 01:03:29.520] car. There's lots of theories in regards to, he was struggling to turn left. Every left-hand corner, the car just wasn't reacting to what he wanted to.
[01:03:29.520 -> 01:03:34.640] And what I thought was quite bizarre was that on the Saturday night,
[01:03:34.640 -> 01:03:39.520] they opened up his car, they broke Parfumme, which is why he started from the pits.
[01:03:39.520 -> 01:03:44.160] And yet they openly said, we still don't know what was wrong with his car.
[01:03:44.160 -> 01:03:51.800] We acknowledge that there's something wrong, but we don't know what, which is a little bit disconcerting, especially if you're Charles Leclerc.
[01:03:51.880 -> 01:03:52.800] I've got a guess.
[01:03:52.800 -> 01:03:57.680] Didn't they start Friday with the upgrade only on Scientist's car?
[01:03:58.040 -> 01:04:03.280] And then I guess overnight on Friday, they also put that on Leclerc's car, or they did it between one and two.
[01:04:03.760 -> 01:04:05.760] And it was working OK on the clerk's car or they did it between one and two and and it was and it was working
[01:04:05.760 -> 01:04:08.840] Okay in on on the Friday that upgrade it just to me
[01:04:08.840 -> 01:04:13.400] It's max of if you make that bigger change over the course of a tightly packed weekend
[01:04:13.400 -> 01:04:15.800] Then you're at risk of a finger fault
[01:04:15.800 -> 01:04:22.560] You know putting something in that causes a latent failure and I think both you and Chris and Matt had theories
[01:04:22.560 -> 01:04:30.560] I think Matt you were saying it was to do with the arb or the roll bar or something you suspected. Well, that was actually that came from Brad.
[01:04:30.560 -> 01:04:36.560] He thought the torsion bar was at fault for it, but I mean, it could also be just a cracked chassis.
[01:04:36.560 -> 01:04:42.560] It wouldn't be the first time damage to the chassis has concealed unpredictability in driving.
[01:04:43.120 -> 01:04:46.000] And, you know, I mean, look, the strategy,
[01:04:46.000 -> 01:04:49.000] stuff like that, I have no real answer
[01:04:49.000 -> 01:04:52.000] for Ferrari. But in terms of the actual
[01:04:52.000 -> 01:04:55.000] car and the development of it, well, it's a
[01:04:55.000 -> 01:04:58.000] big development, it just showed up today. Let's at least
[01:04:58.000 -> 01:05:01.000] give them a few weekends before we decide that they've gone
[01:05:01.000 -> 01:05:04.000] entirely the wrong direction. Although, again, in terms of the prophecy,
[01:05:04.000 -> 01:05:06.200] it wouldn't surprise me if they had.
[01:05:06.200 -> 01:05:10.360] Stuffy, on your round of golf, I think you need to take the signs. Is it Leclerc's
[01:05:10.360 -> 01:05:11.360] engineer, Xavi?
[01:05:11.360 -> 01:05:14.600] I was just about to mention him.
[01:05:14.600 -> 01:05:15.600] We are checking.
[01:05:15.600 -> 01:05:18.560] How... I'm sorry, how's that man still got a job?
[01:05:18.560 -> 01:05:20.560] Oh, that's harsh. That's harsh.
[01:05:20.560 -> 01:05:27.920] No, he is. He doesn't air confidence whatsoever. I'm sorry, if I'm Charles Leclerc, I'm sitting
[01:05:27.920 -> 01:05:33.320] there going, what are you going on about? Listen to me. Like, just every single word
[01:05:33.320 -> 01:05:37.100] that comes out of his mouth, bless him, it just seems out of his depth and he doesn't
[01:05:37.100 -> 01:05:40.600] know what to say. He's like, he's probably looking along the pit wall going, what do
[01:05:40.600 -> 01:05:41.600] I say?
[01:05:41.600 -> 01:05:47.640] Well, maybe, well, also, we don't know. Look, this is not a football podcast. We don't tend to, like, call for people's heads here.
[01:05:47.640 -> 01:05:48.040] No.
[01:05:48.040 -> 01:05:51.000] That's your West Ham showing through, Stuffy.
[01:05:51.000 -> 01:05:52.760] Well, yeah, my East End, do we?
[01:05:52.760 -> 01:05:54.520] Yeah, get rid of him.
[01:05:54.520 -> 01:05:56.120] What's he doing? He's having a laugh.
[01:05:56.120 -> 01:05:57.280] He's a joke.
[01:05:57.280 -> 01:06:02.360] But you're not wrong that they don't exude confidence over the over the pit wall.
[01:06:02.400 -> 01:06:04.320] Not that we should have his head.
[01:06:04.320 -> 01:06:08.480] And even signs, you know, he's questioning everything. They're saying to him, you need to hurry up. Sainz
[01:06:08.480 -> 01:06:13.840] is like, no, the pace is good for this strategy. And it feels like actually, you know, later on,
[01:06:13.840 -> 01:06:17.920] they disagreed as well. They wanted him to pit to mediums. He was saying why, and then he kind of
[01:06:17.920 -> 01:06:24.720] gave up questioning it. But all through that, the pit wall were racing Ferrari, Sainz was racing
[01:06:26.640 -> 01:06:30.400] all through that, the pit wall were racing Ferrari, Sainz was racing for protecting the fourth place. So like they really didn't, they weren't on the same page at all.
[01:06:31.360 -> 01:06:39.280] I just think even if Ferrari disagree with the driver's suggestions, and you hear it with Lewis
[01:06:39.280 -> 01:06:46.640] and George in regards to Mercedes and Red Bull as well. The engineers come back with authoritative
[01:06:46.640 -> 01:06:50.880] and confident statements that, no, this is the right decision, we're doing this because
[01:06:50.880 -> 01:06:54.720] of this reason. They never do that with the Ferrari drivers.
[01:06:54.720 -> 01:06:55.720] They kind of go, oh, okay.
[01:06:55.720 -> 01:06:59.880] Yeah, it's like they're trying to play a balancing act. Well, we don't want to upset you, but
[01:06:59.880 -> 01:07:02.880] it's not the right decision. No, like, be authoritative.
[01:07:02.880 -> 01:07:05.520] You have to put your foot down at some point. Yeah, sorry, I think I was saying...
[01:07:05.520 -> 01:07:06.080] Yeah, exactly.
[01:07:06.080 -> 01:07:10.560] So Ferrari thought they were racing the Mercedes, basically, Matt, and Sainz looked to be a bit
[01:07:10.560 -> 01:07:15.920] more realistic, and he was saving his tyres for that Perez fight. And maybe the pit will really
[01:07:15.920 -> 01:07:21.040] cost Sainz, you know, a place in the end, because they were getting him to chew up his tyres and
[01:07:21.040 -> 01:07:28.320] then come in for pits to pit for mediums, where he was trying to save his tyres tires and go long so he'd have something in hand to fight the Red Bull coming through.
[01:07:28.320 -> 01:07:31.600] Yeah, so there wouldn't be that tire offset. And the medium tire,
[01:07:31.600 -> 01:07:37.200] why did it never wind up on Charles Leclerc's car? I think what we see with Ferrari is...
[01:07:37.200 -> 01:07:41.360] He asked for it. Sorry, Matt. I think Leclerc asked for it and they ended up putting him on hards.
[01:07:42.240 -> 01:07:42.560] I think you see...
[01:07:42.560 -> 01:07:43.280] The softs.
[01:07:43.280 -> 01:07:43.920] The softs.
[01:07:43.920 -> 01:07:44.160] Sorry.
[01:07:42.100 -> 01:07:45.140] and they ended up putting them on hards. I think the softs, sorry.
[01:07:45.140 -> 01:07:49.000] It's okay, I think we see an inflexibility in Ferrari.
[01:07:49.000 -> 01:07:52.680] I think we see issues with weather prediction.
[01:07:52.680 -> 01:07:55.360] I mean, honestly, you should just listen to Red Bull Radio
[01:07:55.360 -> 01:07:57.600] because they're like, okay, now it's raining in turn five.
[01:07:57.600 -> 01:07:59.880] Now it's raining, just they could save a lot of money,
[01:07:59.880 -> 01:08:01.320] get rid of their meteorologists
[01:08:01.320 -> 01:08:04.040] and just listen to Red Bull Radio.
[01:08:04.040 -> 01:08:06.320] That was from Monaco.
[01:08:06.320 -> 01:08:08.280] But the medium tire was there.
[01:08:08.280 -> 01:08:12.720] It was obviously a usable tire because the temperatures on the track were dropping a
[01:08:12.720 -> 01:08:17.920] lot so you had similar-ish to soft tire performance but longer tire life.
[01:08:17.920 -> 01:08:19.960] And they just whiffed it.
[01:08:19.960 -> 01:08:25.040] They didn't even consider it because someone in Marinello made the choice yesterday, based
[01:08:25.040 -> 01:08:30.920] on probably an incorrect weather forecast, that the medium tire would be unusable and
[01:08:30.920 -> 01:08:32.480] it was never thought about again.
[01:08:32.480 -> 01:08:35.120] And that is a problem.
[01:08:35.120 -> 01:08:38.400] Feels like to me, again, it's the age-old Ferrari thing that we say, and I'd love to
[01:08:38.400 -> 01:08:40.400] know how right I am about this.
[01:08:40.400 -> 01:08:47.440] I do feel like Ferrari, you know, up and down from driver down to pit crew, it just feels like
[01:08:47.440 -> 01:08:53.200] everyone's operating in a an atmosphere of fear and not wanting to mess up and you can you can
[01:08:53.200 -> 01:08:58.880] get choked on that. If you don't have the freedom to fail into a safe place you end up failing a
[01:08:58.880 -> 01:09:03.680] lot harder through not being able to express yourself and not trying. Okay, so another
[01:09:03.680 -> 01:09:05.440] disastrous weekend for Ferrari.
[01:09:05.440 -> 01:09:08.320] A few teams did kind of look a little bit healthier.
[01:09:08.320 -> 01:09:11.320] Chris Stevens at Chris on Racing.
[01:09:11.320 -> 01:09:16.320] McLaren, we really didn't want to damn them
[01:09:16.880 -> 01:09:19.120] with faint praise, but if you qualify P3,
[01:09:19.120 -> 01:09:21.000] you get a little bit of praise.
[01:09:21.000 -> 01:09:22.400] Yeah, absolutely.
[01:09:22.400 -> 01:09:25.640] But it was a bit of a sort of a damp squib, wasn't it?
[01:09:25.640 -> 01:09:28.440] Not really representative of where they are.
[01:09:28.440 -> 01:09:31.800] I mean, props to them, it's still a massive 180 from where they were at the start of the
[01:09:31.800 -> 01:09:40.440] season, but even Norris was not expecting to even be in the points, despite qualifying
[01:09:40.440 -> 01:09:45.320] where he did, such as the pace of that car at the moment.
[01:09:45.320 -> 01:09:50.680] And it was actually the, amazingly, the Alpha Tauris who were the ones sort of scratching
[01:09:50.680 -> 01:09:55.540] away at the lower points-paying positions, which is amazing considering that they had
[01:09:55.540 -> 01:09:58.000] one of the worst cars on the grid a few races ago.
[01:09:58.000 -> 01:10:09.320] Yeah, well, I would agree, were it not for the penalty that Sunoda collected... ALICE You mean that ridiculous, unjustified, completely
[01:10:09.320 -> 01:10:10.320] irrational penalty?
[01:10:10.320 -> 01:10:11.960] RILEY So you've got an opinion on it.
[01:10:11.960 -> 01:10:13.480] I missed all that, Chris.
[01:10:13.480 -> 01:10:14.480] What happened?
[01:10:14.480 -> 01:10:15.680] ALICE Oh, man.
[01:10:15.680 -> 01:10:23.160] Let me preface this by saying that Sunoda basically did less than what Verstappen did
[01:10:23.160 -> 01:10:27.440] on the opening lap, but Guan Yu-Jo decides he's gonna bail out
[01:10:27.440 -> 01:10:33.200] Oh, I did see it. By going across. There was a penalty for that. The runoff. That was what it was.
[01:10:33.440 -> 01:10:37.400] No, Stuffy? No, come on, come on, Stuffy. Please, please enlighten me.
[01:10:37.680 -> 01:10:43.180] Did you see how close they were and how Sonoda eventually moved over to the outside?
[01:10:43.440 -> 01:10:45.600] Yes, Max carried more speed,
[01:10:45.600 -> 01:10:51.680] but that is a pure case of the fact that just because there was no contact, because one driver
[01:10:51.680 -> 01:10:57.920] decided to save his car from a collision when he was rightfully in front and entitled to a
[01:10:57.920 -> 01:11:04.240] car's width on the outside. He was not in front. He was in front. He was in front. He was totally
[01:11:04.240 -> 01:11:05.000] in front. By what? A whisker? What? In front? Sorry, VAR. He was totally in front.
[01:11:05.000 -> 01:11:07.000] By what? A whisker?
[01:11:07.000 -> 01:11:08.000] What? In front?
[01:11:08.000 -> 01:11:12.000] Sorry, VAR. It doesn't matter if your knees are offside.
[01:11:12.000 -> 01:11:14.000] Go on, give me your football rubber.
[01:11:14.000 -> 01:11:15.000] He's footballing us again.
[01:11:15.000 -> 01:11:20.440] He was in front. He's entitled to a car's width. And I'm fed up. A little rant. I'm
[01:11:20.440 -> 01:11:31.760] fed up of cars on the inside just thinking they can take the apex as quickly as possible. Joe took the escape road correctly, was inches away from losing his front wing
[01:11:31.760 -> 01:11:36.640] because of Sunoda carrying too much speed and being later on the brakes and rightfully
[01:11:36.640 -> 01:11:42.520] so got a penalty. It's harsh because Sunoda deserved a points finish, he drove tremendously,
[01:11:42.520 -> 01:11:47.280] but in that situation he deserved a points finish, he drove tremendously. But in that situation, he deserved a penalty.
[01:11:47.280 -> 01:11:52.560] Well, I'm fed up of drivers deciding to bail out into an escape road the second they get
[01:11:52.560 -> 01:11:53.800] close to another car.
[01:11:53.800 -> 01:11:58.720] You just want the drama. I know you're mad about Russell.
[01:11:58.720 -> 01:12:02.680] Hang on, hang on. Russell clearly made the precedent that you can just drive onto the
[01:12:02.680 -> 01:12:09.160] escape road, overtake Piastra Egan and not get any penalty. So if he can do it, why can't Joe do it? Matt?
[01:12:09.160 -> 01:12:15.280] Look, if science can back out and slip in behind Verstappen, why couldn't Joe do that?
[01:12:15.280 -> 01:12:16.280] Anyway, that's fine.
[01:12:16.280 -> 01:12:19.600] Matt, no, Matt, calling is calling it. I'm calling it, Matt.
[01:12:19.600 -> 01:12:27.280] Yeah, I'm going to have to go with Stuffy on this one. So I look at the Zone, I looked at the on boards
[01:12:27.280 -> 01:12:34.400] I looked at the camera angles and I will just tell you that if I had seen what Joe saw
[01:12:34.840 -> 01:12:40.280] Based on the camera angle into turn one. I would have done exactly as he did
[01:12:40.280 -> 01:12:46.080] I think the TV direction killed us a little bit because they switched to the oncoming shot
[01:12:46.080 -> 01:12:54.800] after Joe reacted to how close Sunoda was on the entry to turn one. And so people got a mistaken
[01:12:54.800 -> 01:13:01.360] impression of, oh, there was, he wasn't really that close, but no, no, no, he really was that
[01:13:01.360 -> 01:13:05.920] close. And as far as Russell goes, I hate to say it, I looked at that one too,
[01:13:05.920 -> 01:13:11.520] and he came back out pretty much where he went off. So he was entirely correct in what he did.
[01:13:11.520 -> 01:13:17.680] If by pretty much you mean a place, a full place ahead, then yeah. He was like, he made up room on
[01:13:17.680 -> 01:13:24.080] the outside and he only put himself alongside Sines and Piastri by being fast enough into that
[01:13:24.080 -> 01:13:25.760] corner to be in a position
[01:13:25.760 -> 01:13:30.720] where you couldn't make that corner normally. So the only reason he was there was because
[01:13:30.720 -> 01:13:35.380] he sort of let loose and kind of dived down the outside and then, oh I can't make it now
[01:13:35.380 -> 01:13:39.400] so I go down the escape road and then he still came out in front of one of those two cars
[01:13:39.400 -> 01:13:44.800] in that battle. So I don't understand, like that is 3D thinking, he's a clever lad but
[01:13:44.800 -> 01:13:48.360] he's put himself in a battle that he couldn't naturally have made the corner in God
[01:13:48.360 -> 01:13:51.760] Oh, I need to go into the escape road and come out in the middle of that battle
[01:13:52.180 -> 01:13:58.140] He came out between Hulkenberg and Joe the three of them made up a load of places because the people on the inside
[01:13:58.640 -> 01:14:02.020] Got concertina, but he was the furthest
[01:14:02.540 -> 01:14:06.740] Of them and the two of them came over and he really did have no place to go
[01:14:06.880 -> 01:14:10.480] He followed the rules. He jumped on the road went around the bollards
[01:14:10.480 -> 01:14:15.100] He came back out and he did he did get in front of Joe, but he was still behind Hulkenberg
[01:14:15.100 -> 01:14:20.640] I think that's a lesson to anyone now when there's a runoff just break much later as long as you've got a bit of open
[01:14:20.640 -> 01:14:28.960] Space in front you just break much later get yourself into a position that you're just alongside like four rows forward along to it and they'll be like oh no i had to take the escape
[01:14:28.960 -> 01:14:35.280] road but technically i'm back where i was when i went off. So if they did just extend that gravel
[01:14:35.280 -> 01:14:42.560] trap then you would never have this this would be a non-issue. Yeah i'm not i'm not saying it wasn't
[01:14:42.560 -> 01:14:45.420] like clever from Russell but I think that's calculated and
[01:14:46.120 -> 01:14:51.660] That's great, but he should have got a penalty for it. Anyway. All right. I think that's about that. Let's move on to the podium
[01:14:58.000 -> 01:15:03.880] A stellar Formula One a Grand Prix and I I hope there's no one out there
[01:15:04.160 -> 01:15:05.840] Saying there was a lack of entertainment
[01:15:05.840 -> 01:15:12.320] in that barcelona grand prix that was a fairly standard a1 type formula one race there was enough
[01:15:12.320 -> 01:15:17.040] intrigue on the strategy where people had to choose and navigate their way through the tires
[01:15:17.040 -> 01:15:22.960] and the soft tire actually making an appearance was reasonably interesting too a few people trying
[01:15:22.960 -> 01:15:25.440] to strong arm that and turn it into a one-stop
[01:15:25.440 -> 01:15:30.080] unsuccessfully. A couple of people three-stopping and that turning out, you know, not to be the way
[01:15:30.080 -> 01:15:37.360] forward but it was a track reinvigorated finally by the common sense of getting rid of that chicane.
[01:15:37.360 -> 01:15:42.560] Only all the other chicanes to go. But good, I hope you enjoyed the Spanish Grand Prix. I hope
[01:15:42.560 -> 01:15:48.580] you enjoyed our review. Now it's time for us to give out our awards. Let me introduce you to our panel
[01:15:48.580 -> 01:15:55.020] There's Chris Stevens at Chris on racing on Twitter and you can go and follow his stuff
[01:15:55.040 -> 01:15:59.640] He's been commentating over at the some kind of tin top race car race
[01:15:59.640 -> 01:16:02.600] But we'll put a link to it below so people can see you in full
[01:16:03.280 -> 01:16:06.400] animated commentator style. Yeah man, on
[01:16:07.360 -> 01:16:12.720] the international GT Open, that's what I'm commenting on this year, and yeah exactly,
[01:16:12.720 -> 01:16:19.760] word for word, and not just on Twitter, on Instagram, on TikTok, I've upped my TikTok game,
[01:16:19.760 -> 01:16:26.080] I've posted two TikToks this year. Okay we'll post a link to one or the other of them but Chris go
[01:16:26.080 -> 01:16:29.920] and follow Chris. I mean you don't have to. Go and follow Chris Stevens at Chris on Racing on
[01:16:29.920 -> 01:16:36.800] Twitter. Chris what do you think was uh oh we didn't do the bumper what was your thing of the weekend?
[01:16:40.240 -> 01:16:49.440] What's your thing of the weekend Chris? My My thing of the weekend, it has to be the circuit for pushing to have the old layout
[01:16:49.440 -> 01:16:52.840] back with the last two corners.
[01:16:52.840 -> 01:16:56.080] Because I think even in, I can't remember if they tested there this year or not, but
[01:16:56.080 -> 01:17:00.960] even like before the start of the season, we were just going to have the regular old
[01:17:00.960 -> 01:17:02.900] track again.
[01:17:02.900 -> 01:17:05.120] And then they started pushing for it and they made it work and
[01:17:05.120 -> 01:17:10.960] they made the changes they needed to make and it's just brought this circuit back to life and it's
[01:17:10.960 -> 01:17:17.600] actually really enjoyable not only to watch again but also to you know see the race as well. So
[01:17:17.600 -> 01:17:26.480] that's got to be yeah I know it's a slight low hanging fruit but it's just it's made such a huge difference. Stuffy! You're known as Stuffy and it's
[01:17:26.480 -> 01:17:34.800] Stuffy with two e's and three y's. Oh god yeah it's wrong every time. Yeah double f double f e double y.
[01:17:34.800 -> 01:17:40.880] Double f e double y. Stuffy yeah and you do sim racing stuff and now we can see your face during
[01:17:40.880 -> 01:17:46.000] the sim racing because you're not on VR you're on you're on triples. Have you managed to stop the cat
[01:17:46.000 -> 01:17:48.880] turning off your sim equipment during streams?
[01:17:48.880 -> 01:17:51.400] Yes, I now have a protective device
[01:17:51.400 -> 01:17:54.520] called a book over my power button.
[01:17:54.520 -> 01:17:57.080] So yeah, very sophisticated guys.
[01:17:57.080 -> 01:17:59.920] You two are also a long suffering owner
[01:17:59.920 -> 01:18:01.880] of a rag doll kitten.
[01:18:01.880 -> 01:18:03.720] But yeah, go and check out Scott's work.
[01:18:03.720 -> 01:18:09.160] We will stick that in the show notes below as well. If you're into any kind of racing or sim racing, go and watch
[01:18:09.160 -> 01:18:13.440] that because Scott does sit and pick apart not only the techniques of his driving and
[01:18:13.440 -> 01:18:18.320] stuff, but the thing that I really love is that you're picking through quite a lot of
[01:18:18.320 -> 01:18:24.380] idiots in an open lobby, and you're fairly honest about that and how to deal with them.
[01:18:24.380 -> 01:18:26.400] And you're often very conservative as well.
[01:18:26.400 -> 01:18:28.520] You know, like, oh, let them make their mistake.
[01:18:28.520 -> 01:18:30.080] How to avoid idiots.
[01:18:31.160 -> 01:18:34.760] Yeah, I like to think that I've had plenty of experience now
[01:18:34.760 -> 01:18:37.480] to see accidents coming up.
[01:18:37.480 -> 01:18:40.160] And some people do ask, how did you see that?
[01:18:40.160 -> 01:18:43.040] Through years of experience of crashing myself, so.
[01:18:43.040 -> 01:18:46.400] Every crash was a bow in your quiver. Okay,
[01:18:46.400 -> 01:18:52.560] Scott, who gets your thing of the weekend award? My thing of the weekend is actually George Russell
[01:18:52.560 -> 01:18:59.120] in the call down room when asked by Max and Lewis, you getting on it? And he goes, Yeah,
[01:18:59.120 -> 01:19:04.080] I'm staying here tonight. So why not? But they meant absolutely nothing in regards to getting
[01:19:04.080 -> 01:19:05.040] on it in regards to
[01:19:05.760 -> 01:19:09.760] having a good time that night. I think it was something to do with spraying the champagne
[01:19:09.760 -> 01:19:14.240] at a certain individual. But yeah, if I had to give it to a racing sense, it would be Lando
[01:19:14.240 -> 01:19:20.640] Norris's P3 because the McLaren has been nowhere near a podium attempts this weekend.
[01:19:20.640 -> 01:19:22.480] How old was George Russell?
[01:19:22.480 -> 01:19:23.680] Mid-20s, 25.
[01:19:23.680 -> 01:19:26.920] 25. Yeah, see if I was a 25 year old race
[01:19:26.920 -> 01:19:32.000] driver, I can't imagine any of them not being in Barcelona, having just got a podium in
[01:19:32.000 -> 01:19:38.600] the Spanish Grand Prix. Of course you're in whatever club or hotspot or discotheque Barcelona
[01:19:38.600 -> 01:19:43.400] has to offer. Yeah, he's been pictured with Alonso a few times, hasn't he? On a night
[01:19:43.400 -> 01:19:45.440] out and he's the eldest on the grid. So yeah. All right, cool. Well, let's been pictured with Alonzo a few times, hasn't he? On a night out and he's the eldest on the grid.
[01:19:45.440 -> 01:19:46.640] So, yeah.
[01:19:46.640 -> 01:19:50.640] All right, cool. Well, let's go to Spanners. Spanners, your thing of the weekend.
[01:19:50.640 -> 01:19:52.400] Where can we catch you on social media?
[01:19:52.400 -> 01:19:57.680] Oh, I don't really like to draw too much attention to myself, but you can look on my Instagram.
[01:19:57.680 -> 01:20:01.680] And that's Spanners Ready or Richard Ready, I think, on Facebook as well.
[01:20:01.680 -> 01:20:04.400] And at Spanners Ready on Twitter.
[01:20:04.400 -> 01:20:08.000] Please follow me. I like people following me on social media
[01:20:08.320 -> 01:20:12.880] What's my thing of the weekend you say? Well, I'm gonna go ahead and give it to Lewis Hamilton
[01:20:12.880 -> 01:20:20.400] My goodness Lewis Hamilton P2 has been struggling for the last I don't know 30 races has been absolutely
[01:20:20.960 -> 01:20:24.720] throwing everything at team development has been
[01:20:26.880 -> 01:20:32.320] been absolutely throwing everything at team development, has been allowing extra sensors, upgrades on his car to sort stuff out. I think he's been playing an absolutely stellar team
[01:20:32.320 -> 01:20:38.320] game helping push the car forward with development. And this P2, after a season that looked completely
[01:20:38.320 -> 01:20:44.080] lost, I think is absolutely fair reward for all of that. And he was dominant over his
[01:20:44.080 -> 01:20:46.000] teammate this weekend, all through practice,
[01:20:46.000 -> 01:20:50.000] all through qualifying and if you look at the race as well he was consistently,
[01:20:50.000 -> 01:20:55.000] when they were on the mediums, maybe say 2 or 3, 4 tenths a lap quicker.
[01:20:55.000 -> 01:21:01.000] On the softs where he was probably even managing quite a lot, was consistently at times,
[01:21:01.000 -> 01:21:05.280] you know, nearly a second faster than Russell and had plenty in reserve as well.
[01:21:05.280 -> 01:21:10.560] So Lewis Hamilton back on his game. That's my thing of the weekend. Matt, social media
[01:21:10.560 -> 01:21:13.800] things? Promo?
[01:21:13.800 -> 01:21:18.980] At MattPT55. You can find me on most social medias there. And you know, you could always
[01:21:18.980 -> 01:21:24.560] send me an email at MistApex if you prefer that mode of communication.
[01:21:24.560 -> 01:21:25.640] Matt at MistApex. Yeah. Or feedback at MistApex. Matt gets those too. at missed apex if you prefer that Matt's mode of communication at missed apex, yeah
[01:21:25.640 -> 01:21:27.640] or feedback at missed apex, Matt gets those two
[01:21:27.640 -> 01:21:29.640] I do indeed
[01:21:29.640 -> 01:21:31.640] so originally my thing
[01:21:31.640 -> 01:21:33.640] was probably going to be the
[01:21:33.640 -> 01:21:35.640] reconfigured front suspension for
[01:21:35.640 -> 01:21:37.640] Mercedes, because that looked like a
[01:21:37.640 -> 01:21:39.640] very hard task to pull off and then I thought
[01:21:39.640 -> 01:21:41.640] well no if I say that it should probably be the
[01:21:41.640 -> 01:21:43.640] factory for bringing updates
[01:21:43.640 -> 01:21:51.040] that made the Mercedes so competitive but sadly that was all taken out by the actual race where we had George Russell going,
[01:21:51.040 -> 01:21:56.800] it's raining in turn five. And then a few laps later going, oh, wait, guys, I think that's just
[01:21:56.800 -> 01:22:02.000] my sweat on the inside of the visor because I just that thoroughly entertained me. So it gets my
[01:22:02.000 -> 01:22:07.240] thing of the weekend. That's amazing. Okay, so now we go to Chris now.
[01:22:07.240 -> 01:22:12.160] Yes, because while we're talking about the positive things and promoting our social media
[01:22:12.160 -> 01:22:17.480] channels, I would just like to say, if you're not already following at MistApexF1 on Twitter
[01:22:17.480 -> 01:22:21.120] and TikTok, then you, my friend, are missing out.
[01:22:21.120 -> 01:22:25.440] And if you are one of the 30% of people watching this video that isn't subscribed
[01:22:25.440 -> 01:22:30.560] to our YouTube channel, if you've made it this far we deserve a subscription. Hit that bell.
[01:22:37.200 -> 01:22:41.600] Not gonna lie that was pretty slick. I'm bad at doing that sort of thing. I should always say
[01:22:41.600 -> 01:22:45.520] like and subscribe but I just I never remember to, probably
[01:22:45.520 -> 01:22:50.940] because I'm 43 and I'm just not on that kind of stuff. But yes, please, if you like, listen
[01:22:50.940 -> 01:22:55.360] to us from our website, or you just find us on the Spotify website, please like, subscribe
[01:22:55.360 -> 01:22:59.960] to us on your podcatcher. That really, really helps our download figures. Subscribe to us
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[01:23:06.760 -> 01:23:09.160] just have it downloaded on your podcast app as well.
[01:23:09.160 -> 01:23:10.440] And then we're there for you
[01:23:10.440 -> 01:23:13.160] if you are suddenly stuck on a train
[01:23:13.160 -> 01:23:17.720] or you're fighting several small duck-sized horses
[01:23:17.720 -> 01:23:19.840] and you find yourself bored.
[01:23:19.840 -> 01:23:21.120] Also, if you want to be a patron,
[01:23:21.120 -> 01:23:24.240] patreon.com forward slash missed apex.
[01:23:24.240 -> 01:23:25.760] Thank you to so many brand new patrons in the last few weeks, we have a patron, patreon.com forward slash missed apex thank you to so many brand new
[01:23:25.760 -> 01:23:30.560] patrons in the last few weeks we have a patron slack group there's a bit of extra content on a
[01:23:30.560 -> 01:23:37.280] friday before a race and your podcast feed is ad free so that's all the positivity out of the way
[01:23:37.280 -> 01:23:46.400] now let's get on to judging people from our sofas with the misseded Apex Award. Oh, no, you missed the Apex.
[01:23:46.900 -> 01:23:50.900] All right, Scott, you've already called for the head of one
[01:23:51.400 -> 01:23:55.100] working person this week and you know, he's going home to his
[01:23:55.100 -> 01:23:57.400] family and he's like, hello little ones.
[01:23:57.400 -> 01:23:57.900] How are you?
[01:23:57.900 -> 01:24:00.900] And they're like, hey, Daddy, what are the podcasts saying
[01:24:00.900 -> 01:24:01.900] about you today?
[01:24:02.200 -> 01:24:04.300] Oh, no, they singled me out.
[01:24:04.300 -> 01:24:06.480] Just me. there'll be no
[01:24:06.480 -> 01:24:13.040] extra pasta for the family today, my job is under threat. But apart from that, who
[01:24:13.040 -> 01:24:18.440] missed the apex for you? I'm sure he'd get a nice severance package anyway. The
[01:24:18.440 -> 01:24:27.080] team and two who missed the apex for me are harsh. Hulkenberg in particular, eight positions lost.
[01:24:27.080 -> 01:24:28.280] Wasted, yeah.
[01:24:30.000 -> 01:24:32.800] Yeah, I mean, they brought upgrades again this week,
[01:24:32.800 -> 01:24:34.120] another team that actually looked like
[01:24:34.120 -> 01:24:36.320] they were doing okay in practice.
[01:24:36.320 -> 01:24:38.120] And Hulkenberg, once again,
[01:24:38.120 -> 01:24:41.520] a decent enough qualifying into Q3.
[01:24:41.520 -> 01:24:44.700] And then they were the only team to try a free stop
[01:24:44.700 -> 01:24:47.400] because their tire management was horrendous.
[01:24:47.400 -> 01:24:52.400] Just like the team that they buy their parts off of Ferrari.
[01:24:52.960 -> 01:24:57.840] So yeah, they've thrown away a number of good points,
[01:24:57.840 -> 01:24:59.480] finishes this year already,
[01:24:59.480 -> 01:25:02.520] because both of them have had their fair share
[01:25:02.520 -> 01:25:04.040] of making it into Q3.
[01:25:04.040 -> 01:25:05.380] And I don't think either of them have got their fair share of making it into Q3, and I don't think either
[01:25:05.380 -> 01:25:07.980] of them have got anywhere near enough points.
[01:25:07.980 -> 01:25:10.220] Matt, you want to defend America?
[01:25:10.220 -> 01:25:12.860] Oh, wait, was America attacked?
[01:25:12.860 -> 01:25:13.860] Where is my rifle?
[01:25:13.860 -> 01:25:16.260] I think that is your rifle.
[01:25:16.260 -> 01:25:17.940] Sorry, I couldn't resist.
[01:25:17.940 -> 01:25:18.940] It's not my gun.
[01:25:18.940 -> 01:25:19.940] That's all I'm saying.
[01:25:19.940 -> 01:25:20.940] It's in your religion.
[01:25:20.940 -> 01:25:22.900] It's in the script thing that you guys had.
[01:25:22.900 -> 01:25:23.900] Okay.
[01:25:23.900 -> 01:25:29.600] No, if we're talking about who really missed the apex, you might say that it was Haas who
[01:25:29.600 -> 01:25:35.360] had terrible tire degradation, but I'm going to blame Lando Norris for raising the hopes
[01:25:35.360 -> 01:25:41.840] of McLaren fans everywhere with his qualifying and then losing 14 places in the race, which
[01:25:41.840 -> 01:25:45.480] I think is even bigger than eight if I have calculated that correctly
[01:25:46.240 -> 01:25:51.000] It was it was a mirage McLaren fans at best. They were on for a point
[01:25:51.000 -> 01:25:54.360] So just I they have a lot of work to do that
[01:25:54.640 -> 01:26:00.500] I'm gonna defend and attack Lando Norris in the sweep of a hand so in his defense
[01:26:00.500 -> 01:26:04.640] He literally said to everyone like no, um, but we'll be lucky to get in the points
[01:26:04.640 -> 01:26:09.720] Like he said the same thing you're saying Matt. But also, whenever we do see Lando Norris
[01:26:09.720 -> 01:26:14.960] really up front with a chance, it goes a little bit Hulkenberg doesn't it? So when we see
[01:26:14.960 -> 01:26:18.760] him up front with the chance for the win, that chance for the podium, that's when we
[01:26:18.760 -> 01:26:24.200] see the mistakes creep in and his best performances have been lower down. Is that harsh? Because
[01:26:24.200 -> 01:26:28.380] I know there's a lot of Lando Norris fans out there and I what actually I I am
[01:26:28.480 -> 01:26:33.800] Happy because he used to be so fun and happy and then he went through a real Mardi phase
[01:26:33.800 -> 01:26:38.680] And he started the season super Mardi this weekend all weekend. He seemed really upbeat and happy
[01:26:38.800 -> 01:26:41.080] So I don't know whatever happened whatever porridge
[01:26:41.080 -> 01:26:47.720] They're giving him at McLaren keep giving him that porridge and sprinkles because he seemed kind of back to his bubbly self.
[01:26:47.720 -> 01:26:51.840] So a flip-flop between just completely slating him and praising him.
[01:26:51.840 -> 01:26:53.880] I don't know which side I'm landing on.
[01:26:53.880 -> 01:27:01.000] Well, it's a tough one because he has thrown away a win in the past, arguing with his engineers.
[01:27:01.000 -> 01:27:05.000] He has had some good podium finishes and some great battles and some amazing drives.
[01:27:05.000 -> 01:27:08.000] So he's a little bit unpredictable, isn't he?
[01:27:08.000 -> 01:27:12.000] So I'll go before Chris. Chris can end the Missed Apex Awards.
[01:27:12.000 -> 01:27:20.000] But my Missed Apex Award is going to go to Esteban Ocon for trying to absolutely murder Alonso down the straight.
[01:27:20.000 -> 01:27:27.000] What on earth was that blue rainbow doing? That was Schumacher-esque.
[01:27:27.000 -> 01:27:32.280] Unbelievable. But we're short of time. We're short of time, so there's no chance for anyone
[01:27:32.280 -> 01:27:35.880] else to respond. No, go on, stuffy them, Matt. Go on.
[01:27:35.880 -> 01:27:40.600] I was just going to say, yeah, we've conveniently glossed past Alpine's performance today. I
[01:27:40.600 -> 01:27:42.000] wonder why that may be.
[01:27:42.000 -> 01:27:46.320] I was saving it. Yeah, no, that was that was a that was
[01:27:46.320 -> 01:27:52.080] dangerous and light. And I'm surprised more as more hasn't been made of it post race as well.
[01:27:52.080 -> 01:27:57.360] Go on, Matt. Why was that somehow? Okay. Well, as the only person here who probably went back
[01:27:57.360 -> 01:28:08.000] and watched Alonzo's on board, we watched it. One, I would say that if you watch it from Alonzo's onboard, the move wasn't that big.
[01:28:08.000 -> 01:28:15.780] The move that Ocon started was roughly simultaneous with Alonzo's move to go round him, and obviously
[01:28:15.780 -> 01:28:21.280] once Ocon was aware of him there, he did move and leave room for him, and it was before
[01:28:21.280 -> 01:28:24.320] the breaking zone, and you're entitled to one move.
[01:28:24.320 -> 01:28:26.680] But I have a killer argument here gone then
[01:28:27.480 -> 01:28:33.160] One that you cannot possibly refute no matter how much you'd like to and it's very simple
[01:28:33.160 -> 01:28:39.680] I listened to the on boards to well after that move happened and you know who never said a thing about that move
[01:28:41.800 -> 01:28:46.360] Alonzo he never complained about it and I'm just gonna say if he was unhappy about it
[01:28:46.360 -> 01:28:50.320] I'm thinking we would have heard something so in the post race interviews
[01:28:50.320 -> 01:28:53.260] He belongs it definitely didn't make a big deal of that at all
[01:28:53.260 -> 01:28:57.220] But I don't know Chris it just it seemed really wrecking ball to me
[01:28:57.220 -> 01:29:00.640] I like seeing you say TV making drama this day
[01:29:00.640 -> 01:29:09.000] I don't think I think you create the drama where if you let the car get within three or four car lengths of you and then you suddenly jink to the right, I think that's what creates the drama.
[01:29:09.000 -> 01:29:16.000] I mean, I think it was late, it was aggressive, but it was borderline okay.
[01:29:16.000 -> 01:29:20.000] But I'm just going to ask, Alonso was directly behind him.
[01:29:20.000 -> 01:29:25.840] How does Ocon know where he is with only side view mirrors until Alonso moves out?
[01:29:25.840 -> 01:29:32.440] And I think people miss that but he would have known that Alonso was coming and he clearly decided
[01:29:32.440 -> 01:29:36.160] He wanted to be on the inside, but he decided that about the same time
[01:29:36.160 -> 01:29:39.120] Oh Lonzo who waits to the very last second to pull out
[01:29:39.600 -> 01:29:48.880] Pulled out and it worked out the way it should between two racing drivers who were relatively decent at racecraft. I just think it's risky to wait until the last second to pull out.
[01:29:48.880 -> 01:29:54.000] That's all. Chris Stevens, who missed the apex for you? Stop sniggering at the back.
[01:29:54.000 -> 01:29:59.600] Unbelievable. Chris Stevens. Oh, Spanners, you're on a roll this weekend, my friend.
[01:29:59.600 -> 01:30:05.840] Uh, hang on. Not everyone listened to the patron pod, so people don't know. Yeah, but this is a really great advert for it, isn't it?
[01:30:06.480 -> 01:30:14.640] Uh, no. You're all wrong. You are all so sorely mistaken, my friends, because the clear,
[01:30:15.280 -> 01:30:23.840] clear winner of the Mr. Apex Award this week is one Mr. Checo Perez, for being so abhorrently
[01:30:23.840 -> 01:30:25.840] far away from that car's potential.
[01:30:26.480 -> 01:30:31.840] Yeah, it's a yeah, I'm a big Perez fan and that's probably not particularly unfair and
[01:30:31.840 -> 01:30:37.520] we have to go now because we do have a strict one hour policy here at Mr Apex Podcast so we've got
[01:30:37.520 -> 01:30:42.480] to go but if you want to follow any of our panel the links are all magically in the show notes
[01:30:42.480 -> 01:30:47.080] below. Go and follow Scott, Stuffy Tuffy on his iRacing streams.
[01:30:47.080 -> 01:30:49.960] Catch up with Chris and all his PR and commentary goodness.
[01:30:50.160 -> 01:30:53.560] Catch up with Matt, who blows through a tube that's only got three buttons.
[01:30:53.760 -> 01:30:55.800] And follow that Spanners Ready fella.
[01:30:56.000 -> 01:30:57.000] He's the best one.
[01:30:57.200 -> 01:31:00.440] Until we see you next, work hard, be kind and have fun.
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