Alonso's podium fiasco and will Red Bull win every race?

Matt Baker, David Croft and Natalie Pinkham join for our latest pod.

They review the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (2.10) and discuss the controversy around Fernando Alonso's podium (7.43).

The team debate whether Red Bull will win every race this season (30.47) and assess Ferrari's poor start to the season (34.36).

**Summary of the Podcast Episode**

The latest Sky Sports F1 podcast episode delves into the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the controversy surrounding Fernando Alonso's podium finish. The hosts, Matt Baker, David Croft, and Natalie Pinkham, provide their perspectives on the race and discuss various topics related to Formula One.

**Key Points:**

1. **Race Review:**

- Sergio Perez secures a dominant victory, ahead of Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.
- Alonso's initial podium finish is later overturned due to a penalty.

2. **Alonso's Penalty:**

- Alonso receives a five-second penalty for an infringement during his pit stop.
- The penalty is initially missed by the stewards but is later reviewed and upheld.
- The decision to award the penalty after the race raises questions about consistency and clarity in rule enforcement.

3. **Debate on Red Bull's Dominance:**

- The hosts discuss Red Bull's impressive start to the season and their potential for continued dominance.
- Concerns are raised about the relationship between Perez and Verstappen, with both drivers asserting their authority.

4. **Ferrari's Struggles:**

- Ferrari's poor start to the season is analyzed, with the team facing difficulties in both qualifying and race pace.
- The hosts speculate on the reasons behind Ferrari's struggles and their chances of recovering throughout the season.

5. **Sporting Advisory Council Meeting:**

- The upcoming meeting of the Sporting Advisory Council is mentioned, where rule changes and improvements may be discussed.
- Suggestions are made to simplify the rulebook and reduce the influence of teams in shaping the regulations.

6. **Comparison to Other Sports:**

- The hosts draw parallels between Formula One and other sports, such as rugby and football, in terms of rule controversies and governance.
- The importance of fan understanding and engagement is emphasized, with a focus on simplifying complex rules and regulations.

7. **Entertainment vs. Credibility:**

- The balance between entertainment and credibility in Formula One is discussed.
- The hosts acknowledge the need to maintain the sport's integrity while also ensuring that it remains engaging for fans.

8. **Alonso's Controversial Pit Stop:**

- The hosts delve deeper into the specific incident that led to Alonso's penalty.
- They examine the footage and discuss the technicalities of the rule infringement.

9. **Fan Questions:**

- The hosts address fan questions related to the race, the penalty decisions, and the overall state of Formula One.

10. **Conclusion:**

- The hosts summarize the main talking points and controversies from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
- They emphasize the need for clarity and consistency in rule enforcement to maintain the integrity of the sport.

**Review of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix:**

- Matt Baker, David Croft, and Natalie Pinkham discuss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
- They analyze the race, including Fernando Alonso's controversial podium finish.

**Debate on Red Bull's Dominance:**

- The team debates whether Red Bull will win every race this season.
- They consider factors such as reliability and the team's wind tunnel and CFD time restrictions.

**Ferrari's Struggles:**

- The team assesses Ferrari's poor start to the season.
- They discuss Ferrari's lack of pace and tyre degradation issues.
- They also address concerns about Ferrari's engine reliability.

**Fan Questions and Insights:**

- The team answers fan questions on various topics, including the possibility of Red Bull winning every race, Max Verstappen's parking incident, and Ferrari's struggles.
- They provide insightful analysis and commentary on these issues.

**Overall Takeaways:**

- The team emphasizes the importance of competition and the need for other teams to challenge Red Bull's dominance.
- They express concern about Ferrari's current performance and urge the team to address its issues.
- They highlight the need for drivers to defend their positions more aggressively to create more exciting racing.

[00:00.000 -> 00:06.760] Under the lights in Saudi Arabia, no one could stop Sergio Perez, not even Max Verstappen.
[00:06.760 -> 00:09.920] The drama, though, for this race was after the chequered flag.
[00:09.920 -> 00:14.520] Alonso was on the podium, then he was off the podium, then he was on the podium again.
[00:14.520 -> 00:15.920] Was the right decision reached?
[00:15.920 -> 00:23.840] This is the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.
[00:23.840 -> 00:24.960] Hello all, I hope you're well.
[00:24.960 -> 00:27.840] Welcome to this week's podcast where I'm joined by David
[00:27.840 -> 00:33.280] Croft, fresh off the flight. Hello, from London Heathrow to Sky Studios. And Natalie Pinkham.
[00:33.280 -> 00:34.280] Hello.
[00:34.280 -> 00:35.640] Hello, hello. You're looking very fresh Crofty.
[00:35.640 -> 00:41.920] I think on a scale of one to 10, I'm not doing too bad for a 75 year old man.
[00:41.920 -> 00:43.480] Is that how you feel?
[00:43.480 -> 00:47.400] I do feel a little bit like that. It's it's weird.
[00:47.400 -> 00:51.880] I'm very good at sleeping. But I didn't sleep a lot last night at all. There was a lot of
[00:51.880 -> 00:57.680] noise on the plane. Bernadette Collins travel with Bernadette Collins anytime she just keeps
[00:57.680 -> 01:05.240] herself to herself no noise whatsoever. Simon Lazenby, you know, slightly different. A snoring Simon Lazenby? He does sometimes.
[01:05.240 -> 01:06.060] Does he?
[01:06.060 -> 01:08.900] No, not last night, but he does occasionally.
[01:08.900 -> 01:12.800] Rather loud child, that three rows behind me.
[01:12.800 -> 01:15.560] And two people having a conversation
[01:15.560 -> 01:18.040] at a level where it kept me awake.
[01:18.040 -> 01:20.440] I couldn't quite decipher all the words
[01:20.440 -> 01:21.360] that were being said,
[01:21.360 -> 01:23.600] but they were kind of shouting at each other
[01:23.600 -> 01:24.440] across the aisle.
[01:24.440 -> 01:25.080] So you're kind of like at each other across the aisle.
[01:25.080 -> 01:26.720] So you're kind of like either speak up or down but not at that level because that's
[01:26.720 -> 01:27.720] really annoying.
[01:27.720 -> 01:31.960] Yeah it was like speak up a bit and I'll join in, keep it a bit quiet and I'll go back to
[01:31.960 -> 01:34.800] sleep again but don't keep it as it is.
[01:34.800 -> 01:39.480] But you know what Matt, it doesn't matter how little sleep I got, the mere fact that
[01:39.480 -> 01:41.240] you also travel back.
[01:41.240 -> 01:43.040] Well yes, I didn't want to mention it.
[01:43.040 -> 01:46.080] You know, I look 10 times better than I do.
[01:46.080 -> 01:47.720] And Pinkham had the weekend off.
[01:47.720 -> 01:49.160] It makes me feel even better.
[01:49.160 -> 01:51.040] You have more sleep than both of us put together.
[01:51.040 -> 01:52.320] Which makes a nice change.
[01:52.320 -> 01:53.920] Happy Mother's Day for you.
[01:53.920 -> 01:55.000] Thank you.
[01:55.000 -> 01:56.040] Did you watch the race?
[01:56.040 -> 01:56.840] Absolutely.
[01:56.840 -> 01:57.640] Covered in children.
[01:57.640 -> 02:00.080] We had eight children staying over the weekend.
[02:00.080 -> 02:01.080] Eight children.
[02:01.080 -> 02:01.560] Blimey.
[02:01.560 -> 02:02.560] Not all my own.
[02:02.560 -> 02:06.000] I love how you had to justify that one there.
[02:06.000 -> 02:07.000] Probably goes without saying.
[02:07.000 -> 02:10.360] Right, well there's an awful lot to get into, but I want to try something different for
[02:10.360 -> 02:11.360] the start this week.
[02:11.360 -> 02:14.120] I want us to do our one word race reviews.
[02:14.120 -> 02:17.080] Okay, so I have briefed you, because otherwise this would...
[02:17.080 -> 02:18.080] That's impossible.
[02:18.080 -> 02:19.080] You have briefed us?
[02:19.080 -> 02:20.080] Yeah.
[02:20.080 -> 02:21.080] I mean, why would you let that...
[02:21.080 -> 02:23.080] I mean, we want to sort of spontaneous and...
[02:23.080 -> 02:24.080] Straight off the bat.
[02:24.080 -> 02:25.120] Yeah.
[02:25.120 -> 02:26.120] Okay, fine.
[02:26.120 -> 02:27.120] What's your one word then?
[02:27.120 -> 02:28.120] Bullish.
[02:28.120 -> 02:29.120] Bullish?
[02:29.120 -> 02:30.120] I like it.
[02:30.120 -> 02:31.120] Yeah.
[02:31.120 -> 02:36.880] I'm going bullish because I feel there is a sense of authority growing in the paddock
[02:36.880 -> 02:38.000] with Red Bull.
[02:38.000 -> 02:40.680] They're owning it this season.
[02:40.680 -> 02:48.000] But I also sense maybe an air of foreboding about the relationship between Checo and Max.
[02:48.000 -> 02:52.000] And both of them are trying to assert themselves over one another.
[02:52.000 -> 02:54.000] There's one point separating them in the championship.
[02:54.000 -> 02:57.000] I'm going to change my word.
[02:57.000 -> 02:59.000] Because I was going to go for expected.
[02:59.000 -> 03:04.000] Because the result was exactly what I expected. Perez to beat Verstappen, to beat Alonso.
[03:04.000 -> 03:12.720] But I'm going to go swan-like. Because you think it's serene at Red Bull at the
[03:12.720 -> 03:15.820] moment and I think under the water there's a lot of legs kicking and I'm
[03:15.820 -> 03:22.620] not quite sure everything is exactly how Christian Horner would like it and how
[03:22.620 -> 03:27.200] the team would like it for a smooth domination.
[03:27.560 -> 03:31.780] They are dominating Formula One on the track at the moment,
[03:31.780 -> 03:35.360] but they came very close to not
[03:35.360 -> 03:37.480] having that one, two in Bahrain.
[03:37.480 -> 03:39.880] They had issues in the race yesterday.
[03:39.880 -> 03:42.760] I think if you look in the cool down room after the race,
[03:42.760 -> 03:45.200] there is still friction between the two drivers
[03:45.200 -> 03:47.440] and Shekho was not a happy man
[03:47.440 -> 03:49.640] being asked to do target lap times
[03:49.640 -> 03:53.000] that were slower than his teammate.
[03:53.000 -> 03:54.920] And as for his teammate's dad,
[03:56.060 -> 03:59.600] all is clearly not well in Jos Verstappen's mind
[03:59.600 -> 04:01.560] when his son finishes second,
[04:01.560 -> 04:03.320] leads the World Championship,
[04:03.320 -> 04:05.200] and he can barely break a smile.
[04:05.200 -> 04:11.400] But being front and centre, rather than taking a step back, he was front and centre.
[04:11.400 -> 04:15.280] He knew the cameras were going to be right there, and he looked quite grumpy, didn't
[04:15.280 -> 04:16.280] he?
[04:16.280 -> 04:20.800] He looked very grumpy, twice, as did Max's manager, Raymond, as well.
[04:20.800 -> 04:23.520] So if they're listening to the podcast, guys, come on, smile.
[04:23.520 -> 04:24.520] Crack a smile.
[04:24.520 -> 04:29.120] For heaven's sake, you're about half a postcode clearer the rest of the field.
[04:29.120 -> 04:30.600] It could be worse.
[04:30.600 -> 04:35.480] And when you think about how impressive that recovery drive was from Max, now he said it,
[04:35.480 -> 04:39.480] albeit through gritted teeth, that he was delighted to have secured a P2.
[04:39.480 -> 04:40.640] That's what he was aiming for.
[04:40.640 -> 04:46.840] But the dominance with which he did that, had he not been starting P15, and perhaps slightly unnerved
[04:46.840 -> 04:50.760] by those drive shaft issues, he could have won the race.
[04:50.760 -> 04:55.760] But, I just do predict, and I think we're actually agreeing
[04:55.960 -> 04:59.040] with each other, that Christian's gonna have his work
[04:59.040 -> 05:01.200] cut out to manage those two this year.
[05:01.200 -> 05:04.440] I think technically, it's worth pointing out,
[05:04.440 -> 05:06.320] transmission is the problem
[05:06.320 -> 05:15.640] for Red Bull. Maybe a bit of overheating at times as well. But as I say, Bahrain and more
[05:15.640 -> 05:22.080] audibly in terms of the drivers concerns, Saudi, there are concerns there. But it is
[05:22.080 -> 05:25.720] often us with an Adrian Newey inspired car, and it's not
[05:25.720 -> 05:29.440] just Adrian, of course, that's designed this car, but it's all, you know, let's go for
[05:29.440 -> 05:35.780] maximum performance and sometimes a little bit fragile in that respect. So reliability
[05:35.780 -> 05:41.440] could be a key, it is to a lot of other teams at the moment as well. That fractious nature
[05:41.440 -> 05:46.960] between Perez and Verstappen, and Perez is in the last year of his deal at Red Bull.
[05:46.960 -> 05:50.840] So if there's no signs of another deal coming,
[05:50.840 -> 05:53.120] what's in it for Sergio to start helping his teammate
[05:53.120 -> 05:55.400] in the way that Red Bull would quite like?
[05:55.400 -> 05:58.200] But they have got a huge amount of pace.
[05:58.200 -> 06:00.880] They've done a superb job with this car,
[06:00.880 -> 06:04.520] which should be applauded and not seen as a negative.
[06:04.520 -> 06:07.120] You know, we all applauded McLaren back in the day
[06:07.120 -> 06:09.240] when Prost and Senna were winning everything.
[06:09.240 -> 06:10.920] We should, and we applauded Mercedes
[06:10.920 -> 06:13.640] for the job they did at the start of the turbo hybrid era.
[06:13.640 -> 06:15.480] We should applaud Red Bull for this too
[06:15.480 -> 06:18.840] because excellence is what we want to see in sport.
[06:18.840 -> 06:23.840] But yeah, I think there are a few banana skins
[06:25.000 -> 06:26.120] down the road. I think it was the few banana skins down the road.
[06:28.760 -> 06:30.600] I think it was the radio message that was quite telling. Checo asking, you know, where is Max,
[06:30.600 -> 06:32.000] how far away is Max, and what was it,
[06:32.000 -> 06:35.840] he said four point, he was doing 130.
[06:35.840 -> 06:38.360] 32.6 plus four.
[06:38.360 -> 06:42.920] Yeah, basically, Max was there, safe in the knowledge
[06:42.920 -> 06:46.000] that he could put that fastest lap in on the last
[06:46.000 -> 06:47.600] lap and Checo wouldn't be able to respond.
[06:47.600 -> 06:50.580] He'd saved everything up for that because he knew with four laps to go, there was no
[06:50.580 -> 06:53.140] way he was going to catch his teammate.
[06:53.140 -> 06:54.660] He got a bit lucky in the race.
[06:54.660 -> 06:59.320] The safety car helped him yesterday because he hadn't pitted at that stage when it came
[06:59.320 -> 07:00.320] out.
[07:00.320 -> 07:03.340] You need a bit of luck to slice your way through the field from 15th.
[07:03.340 -> 07:05.640] It was a super drive.
[07:05.640 -> 07:10.680] Once he got going and realized that the Red Bull is a difficult car to handle in traffic,
[07:10.680 -> 07:17.920] and he was going to have to put up with a bit of understeer from time to time.
[07:17.920 -> 07:21.840] When you're alone in the cockpit, and we don't know this, that's because we're not racing
[07:21.840 -> 07:26.800] drivers, but you can empathize with the paranoia that must go on
[07:26.800 -> 07:30.000] in Checo's brain, where he's had this perfect weekend,
[07:30.000 -> 07:32.800] but he knows that at some stage his teammate
[07:32.800 -> 07:35.920] is gonna be scheming to get as much out of it
[07:35.920 -> 07:38.280] as he possibly can, because that's what Max does,
[07:38.280 -> 07:40.840] and that's what any racing driver does.
[07:40.840 -> 07:42.360] We haven't heard Matt's word yet.
[07:42.360 -> 07:43.480] Go on.
[07:43.480 -> 07:45.920] I'm pretty proud of this one, but I can't take credit for it.
[07:45.920 -> 07:47.520] Because it's from Twitter.
[07:47.520 -> 07:50.320] So you plagiarised is what you're saying.
[07:50.320 -> 07:52.080] I'm going to credit Mr Bridget on Twitter.
[07:52.080 -> 07:54.480] FIA... ASCO.
[07:54.480 -> 07:55.680] Fiasco.
[07:55.680 -> 07:58.400] You mean FIA SCO.
[07:58.400 -> 07:59.760] FIA SCO, yeah.
[07:59.760 -> 08:01.280] Fiasco.
[08:01.280 -> 08:02.960] Which I think leads us quite nicely into our next...
[08:02.960 -> 08:03.760] Well it's clever.
[08:03.760 -> 08:05.160] It's very clever.
[08:05.160 -> 08:08.320] Well don't, it's maths not having been clever. I nicked it.
[08:08.320 -> 08:10.960] So who did you get that from? Mr Bridger.
[08:10.960 -> 08:17.520] Mr Bridger. From the Italian job. Noel Coward striding down the stairs.
[08:17.520 -> 08:21.280] I'm very grateful for that. Maybe next week I'll try and get an original one.
[08:21.280 -> 08:24.160] I wouldn't Matt. I like it, I like it.
[08:24.160 -> 08:25.440] If it's good, plagiarise it. Highest
[08:25.440 -> 08:31.200] form of flattery and all that. There we go, exactly. Right, so, Fiasco, Alonso. I think
[08:31.200 -> 08:35.000] what would be sensible would be to try and explain this chronologically. Yes, go for
[08:35.000 -> 08:39.480] it. Crofty, I don't know if you, well you were there. I was there so I'll try. I can
[08:39.480 -> 08:45.120] try and explain it in terms of timing. Okay. But I think that's quite key.
[08:46.560 -> 08:48.200] I'll do my best on this one. Are we allowed to interject between each?
[08:48.200 -> 08:49.040] Yes, please do.
[08:49.040 -> 08:52.020] So Fernando puts his car on the grid
[08:52.020 -> 08:55.920] and he is quite significantly out of position.
[08:55.920 -> 08:57.160] Okay, so here's my first question.
[08:57.160 -> 08:58.000] I love this.
[08:58.000 -> 08:59.440] We got the sentence in.
[08:59.440 -> 09:00.640] Why doesn't it happen more?
[09:00.640 -> 09:03.080] You know, this is the most technologically advanced sport
[09:03.080 -> 09:09.520] in the world and it's been called into question with paint on the grid. Why doesn't that happen more? And surely there's
[09:09.520 -> 09:11.120] a way of safeguarding against it.
[09:11.120 -> 09:16.680] Yeah, they can and did last year extend the yellow line from the side of the box because
[09:16.680 -> 09:21.320] drivers were complaining about visibility. It's happened twice already this season. I
[09:21.320 -> 09:25.840] think they might need to extend it a bit more. And the wheel brows
[09:25.840 -> 09:32.960] I think are causing drivers some issues on that one. Saying that, you know, Fernando's
[09:32.960 -> 09:38.040] parked his car, he's either done it by chance and he's made a mistake, or he's trying to
[09:38.040 -> 09:43.120] get a little bit further down the inside to try and get past Sergio, because he's got
[09:43.120 -> 09:44.520] that inside line going for the first turn.
[09:44.520 -> 09:45.000] Can you presume the latter, surely? It's someone of his experience. to try and get past Sergio because he's got that inside line going for the first turn.
[09:45.000 -> 09:48.000] Can you presume the latter, surely? It's someone of his experience.
[09:48.000 -> 09:50.000] Nothing happens accidentally. Especially not with Fernando.
[09:50.000 -> 09:53.000] I think the key question though is does he gain an advantage?
[09:53.000 -> 09:55.000] Well that's the thing, if he is...
[09:55.000 -> 09:58.000] By being on the, essentially on the left because I guess...
[09:58.000 -> 09:59.000] He's a bit more down the inside isn't he?
[09:59.000 -> 10:01.000] We're talking centimetres aren't we?
[10:01.000 -> 10:03.000] We're talking thousands of a second sometimes aren't we?
[10:03.000 -> 10:04.000] Every little matters.
[10:04.000 -> 10:05.600] Look, it could be an
[10:05.600 -> 10:10.000] absolute genuine mistake on this one. But if it is a mistake they should guard
[10:10.000 -> 10:14.600] against that because look at the ramifications of it. As we'll get on to
[10:14.600 -> 10:17.360] in a moment there's a meeting of the Sporting Advisory Council on Thursday
[10:17.360 -> 10:20.040] and I'm sure that sort of thing is going to be discussed between the
[10:20.040 -> 10:25.000] sporting directors and the team managers and the FIA.
[10:27.720 -> 10:30.360] It's a hard and fast rule, isn't it? You've got to be within your pit box and he wasn't.
[10:30.360 -> 10:32.600] So therefore it's a slam dunk,
[10:32.600 -> 10:35.080] five second penalty on that one.
[10:35.080 -> 10:36.280] But that isn't the issue.
[10:36.280 -> 10:39.920] The issue here is that he came in to serve his penalty
[10:39.920 -> 10:44.400] and this was what lap 18 from memory.
[10:44.400 -> 10:47.540] And the rear jack man pushed the rear jack in
[10:47.540 -> 10:49.260] and touched the car.
[10:49.260 -> 10:52.500] Now, it is easier to touch the car
[10:52.500 -> 10:53.660] with a rear jack this year
[10:53.660 -> 10:57.700] because the rear ride height is lower,
[10:57.700 -> 10:59.540] certainly on that Aston Martin.
[10:59.540 -> 11:02.760] And it's not as easy to get the jack underneath
[11:02.760 -> 11:04.620] without touching the car.
[11:04.620 -> 11:06.040] Now you can argue to the cows come home,
[11:06.040 -> 11:07.560] does that give you an advantage or not
[11:07.560 -> 11:09.040] if you're touching it?
[11:09.040 -> 11:11.760] But in a sport where thousands of a second
[11:11.760 -> 11:15.420] are often the difference between success and failure,
[11:16.760 -> 11:19.800] to be as close as possible in position
[11:19.800 -> 11:22.080] to get going on the five seconds,
[11:22.080 -> 11:23.480] which you can't work on the car
[11:23.480 -> 11:25.280] until the five seconds is over,
[11:25.280 -> 11:27.500] must be seen as an advantage.
[11:27.500 -> 11:30.300] But the crux of the matter after that was,
[11:32.000 -> 11:35.520] with the wording saying you can't work on the car,
[11:35.520 -> 11:39.580] does touching the car constitute as working on the car?
[11:39.580 -> 11:41.080] So we can have that debate now.
[11:41.080 -> 11:43.000] What do you say, Nats?
[11:43.000 -> 11:49.600] I mean, you would have to argue it's an advantage an advantage but and I don't want to sort of preempt what you're going to say
[11:49.600 -> 11:55.840] later, they were able to prove there were seven other occasions when the front
[11:55.840 -> 12:00.520] checker touched and that wasn't deemed an advantage. I think as a fan of the
[12:00.520 -> 12:04.560] sport, I speak for other fans when I say you just want clarity and consistency
[12:04.560 -> 12:05.360] that that's the key and you don't want to be finding out the result after the a fan of the sport, I speak for other fans when I say you just want clarity and consistency.
[12:05.360 -> 12:09.320] That's the key and you don't want to be finding out the result after the chequered flag. I
[12:09.320 -> 12:14.640] know I'm jumping forward a bit here but this is my, you know I had the pleasure of watching
[12:14.640 -> 12:21.320] back home a house full of 25 people on Mothering Sunday, couldn't really hear any of it. But
[12:21.320 -> 12:27.040] it was so interesting to watch it and actually think, this isn't right, we can't have the decision to change.
[12:27.040 -> 12:28.800] What other sport changes that,
[12:28.800 -> 12:31.600] unless you're being stripped of an Olympic medal,
[12:31.600 -> 12:34.320] I can't think of other examples where the results changed
[12:34.320 -> 12:35.840] after the end of the event.
[12:35.840 -> 12:39.920] Well, it happens, we always compare things to football.
[12:39.920 -> 12:41.520] The result might not change in football,
[12:41.520 -> 12:44.000] but red cards get rescinded all the time.
[12:44.000 -> 12:50.320] I guess though with football, yeah, it doesn't affect the fundamental end of 90 minute result.
[12:50.320 -> 12:54.640] But so I'll ask you this question, what do you want? Do you want a sport that makes an instant
[12:54.640 -> 13:00.640] decision that might be wrong? But it wasn't instant, it wasn't instant, that's our point
[13:00.640 -> 13:06.720] though is it? Alonso said you could have made that decision in the race
[13:06.720 -> 13:09.640] and I would have had 37 laps to make up that difference.
[13:09.640 -> 13:11.080] They made it afterwards.
[13:11.080 -> 13:12.640] Let's get onto the chronology.
[13:12.640 -> 13:13.640] OK, back to the race.
[13:13.640 -> 13:14.520] I can't even say it.
[13:14.520 -> 13:15.320] I told you I'd get overexcited.
[13:15.320 -> 13:16.480] Chronological order.
[13:16.480 -> 13:20.720] Lap 49, the last lap of the race,
[13:20.720 -> 13:25.000] the race director asks the remote operations center
[13:26.260 -> 13:27.680] to have a look at it again.
[13:27.680 -> 13:29.620] And this is like VAR.
[13:29.620 -> 13:30.460] Yeah, this is like the VAR.
[13:30.460 -> 13:32.980] This is a room full of screens in Geneva.
[13:32.980 -> 13:34.540] Yeah, well, the inference is that,
[13:34.540 -> 13:37.020] is that somebody has alerted the race director
[13:37.020 -> 13:40.060] to there being a possibility that something was wrong
[13:40.060 -> 13:41.000] at Alonso's pit stop.
[13:41.000 -> 13:42.140] Well, who would do that?
[13:42.140 -> 13:43.980] Who would benefit?
[13:43.980 -> 13:44.820] Who would gain an advantage?
[13:44.820 -> 13:45.240] Yeah, who would benefit at all from would gain an advantage? Yeah, who would
[13:45.240 -> 13:50.900] benefit at all from that? I'm not going to name names. There's names flying around all
[13:50.900 -> 13:57.620] over the place. But the inference is another team would have alerted the race director
[13:57.620 -> 14:02.920] to this. And whilst team principals can't talk to the race director, the sporting director
[14:02.920 -> 14:06.200] team manager still can.
[14:06.200 -> 14:10.100] And don't forget the teams have a whole load of people back at base that are watching and
[14:10.100 -> 14:16.560] scrutinizing footage and looking for possible misdemeanors that they can turn into their
[14:16.560 -> 14:18.360] favour.
[14:18.360 -> 14:23.880] So the argument, this could have been cleared up 20 laps previous, doesn't really wash with
[14:23.880 -> 14:26.120] the timeline because the remote
[14:26.120 -> 14:29.440] operation centre weren't looking at it, the race director wasn't looking at it, the stewards
[14:29.440 -> 14:34.240] hadn't been asked to look at it, everything had been done and dusted until it was brought
[14:34.240 -> 14:36.440] up again by an outside party.
[14:36.440 -> 14:42.120] Okay, but much like football, you can refer to VAR but it has to be instantly. Why isn't
[14:42.120 -> 14:45.120] the same rule applied to Formula One?
[14:45.120 -> 14:50.920] Why can you not have a rule that says if it's not reported within X amount of laps or X
[14:50.920 -> 14:51.920] amount of time?
[14:51.920 -> 14:57.600] You do. From my knowledge, I think you've got 30 laps and I think it came in right on
[14:57.600 -> 14:58.600] the 30 laps.
[14:58.600 -> 14:59.600] Oh, really?
[14:59.600 -> 15:05.000] But you would do. If you were another team wanting to get it re-examined,
[15:07.000 -> 15:09.320] you're not gonna give Aston Martin the chance
[15:09.320 -> 15:10.880] to make up a 10 second gap.
[15:10.880 -> 15:11.720] Yeah, true.
[15:11.720 -> 15:12.560] Yeah?
[15:12.560 -> 15:13.380] I mean, oh God.
[15:13.380 -> 15:18.380] Now, obviously we hear chatter on the radio,
[15:18.560 -> 15:20.640] from Mercedes and from Aston Martin
[15:20.640 -> 15:26.120] about the possibility of this five-second penalty and I said in
[15:26.120 -> 15:28.920] commentary well it won't be five seconds it'll be ten because that's what Esteban
[15:28.920 -> 15:32.680] Ocon got and the Ocon thing was a completely separate they did actually
[15:32.680 -> 15:39.160] start taking the the front wing off after 4.6 seconds so they did break the
[15:39.160 -> 15:46.960] rules on that one and so it was a pretty instantaneous decision as far as these things go, albeit it was done
[15:46.960 -> 15:53.680] after the podium presentation.
[15:53.680 -> 16:00.700] Fernando is on the podium celebrating, massive grin, smile on his face, trophy in the air,
[16:00.700 -> 16:02.280] the penalty comes.
[16:02.280 -> 16:05.400] And he has the trophy wrenched off him.
[16:05.400 -> 16:07.500] I mean, imagine the scenes.
[16:07.500 -> 16:08.340] Unbelievable.
[16:09.200 -> 16:11.480] Who would, also, who would be the person to take it off him?
[16:11.480 -> 16:12.640] Was it George Russell?
[16:14.020 -> 16:16.200] Only if George Russell was still wearing his crash helmet,
[16:16.200 -> 16:17.720] to be fair, I wouldn't want to be the person
[16:17.720 -> 16:19.200] to wrench it from Fernando.
[16:19.200 -> 16:20.520] The pity the fool.
[16:20.520 -> 16:21.920] What I was so impressed with,
[16:21.920 -> 16:24.360] the fact that Aston Martin were able to draw upon
[16:24.360 -> 16:25.560] seven examples of when the jack had touched the car What I was so impressed with, the fact that Aston Martin were able to draw upon seven
[16:25.560 -> 16:32.080] examples of when the jack had touched the car in a pit stop previously.
[16:32.080 -> 16:35.640] I mean, how did they even go about doing that in such a small period of time?
[16:35.640 -> 16:43.200] Well, they'll build up a file of various instances, races, they'll go back many, many years on
[16:43.200 -> 16:45.880] this one, but I doubt they had to go back this far because...
[16:45.880 -> 16:50.000] So we're literally typing to a search engine incidents where Jack touched...
[16:50.000 -> 16:53.320] Yeah, well we have stuff like here at Sky all the time, don't we?
[16:53.320 -> 16:58.360] We have a system where we can pull up things on the track and off the track and they will
[16:58.360 -> 17:07.460] look at areas where they will need this cache to use in defense should a problem ever arise. Teams for
[17:07.460 -> 17:13.440] instance will practice pit stops serving a five-second penalty during the course
[17:13.440 -> 17:18.140] of a weekend. They'll look at how many times on average they get a five-second
[17:18.140 -> 17:21.060] penalty and then they'll work out the percentage of how many times they need
[17:21.060 -> 17:23.820] to practice it during the course of the weekend. So they're always looking at
[17:23.820 -> 17:25.620] whatever eventualities that need to be it during the course of the weekend. So they're always looking at whatever eventualities
[17:25.620 -> 17:29.360] that need to be practiced or taken into account for.
[17:29.360 -> 17:31.840] But Andy Stevenson, who is the sporting director
[17:31.840 -> 17:35.000] at Aston Martin, basically your rules and regs man.
[17:35.000 -> 17:36.120] He sits on the pit wall.
[17:36.120 -> 17:37.080] Very clever man.
[17:37.080 -> 17:38.800] Very clever man, comes from Northampton.
[17:38.800 -> 17:40.760] There you go, says it all.
[17:40.760 -> 17:42.400] Just like Nats, you see.
[17:42.400 -> 17:44.280] Just to prove this, two people from Northampton
[17:44.280 -> 17:46.120] that have excelled in their life here.
[17:46.120 -> 17:49.040] Apologies to everyone from Northampton for that one.
[17:49.040 -> 17:51.280] Alan Carr and Graham Swan,
[17:51.280 -> 17:52.120] because I was in a list once.
[17:52.120 -> 17:53.520] You can't deny it, it's quite a good list.
[17:53.520 -> 17:54.360] I tell you what.
[17:54.360 -> 17:55.360] Four people out of the millions
[17:55.360 -> 17:56.520] that have come from Northampton.
[17:56.520 -> 17:58.740] I was listed as the third most famous person
[17:58.740 -> 17:59.580] to come from Northampton.
[17:59.580 -> 18:03.160] Now I will take that after Alan Carr and Graham Swan.
[18:03.160 -> 18:05.440] Seriously, I'm the second best Formula One driver
[18:05.440 -> 18:06.280] from Stevenage.
[18:06.280 -> 18:10.800] I've had three laps, I'll take it.
[18:10.800 -> 18:12.360] Anyway, back to Andy Stevenson,
[18:12.360 -> 18:15.520] the fifth most famous person to come from Northampton.
[18:15.520 -> 18:17.600] So Andy is your rules and regs man,
[18:17.600 -> 18:20.360] and he will basically be on the phone to the team
[18:20.360 -> 18:22.520] back at their mission control at Silverstone to say,
[18:22.520 -> 18:25.940] right, okay, I think we've got instances
[18:25.940 -> 18:26.840] that we can call upon.
[18:26.840 -> 18:28.360] I need this, this, and this.
[18:28.360 -> 18:30.520] Now I did see Andy after the race.
[18:30.520 -> 18:32.720] He was on the phone a lot.
[18:32.720 -> 18:35.320] He was looking very stressed, but he was,
[18:35.320 -> 18:38.060] he has like an hour, an hour's timeframe
[18:38.060 -> 18:41.280] once a document is published
[18:41.280 -> 18:43.520] to decide what they're going to do.
[18:43.520 -> 18:49.000] What I think happened was Aston Martin knew there was no appeal process because it was
[18:49.000 -> 18:53.100] a time penalty and you can't appeal a time penalty.
[18:53.100 -> 18:56.980] But they did ask for a right to review and they're very different things.
[18:56.980 -> 19:02.600] The right to review is where you go to the FIA and to the stewards and you say, we've
[19:02.600 -> 19:06.120] got new evidence that you didn't have
[19:06.120 -> 19:07.960] when you made your decision.
[19:07.960 -> 19:09.360] And because of that new evidence,
[19:09.360 -> 19:11.760] we think you might want to change your mind
[19:11.760 -> 19:13.260] because we think we were in the right,
[19:13.260 -> 19:14.360] you think we were in the wrong,
[19:14.360 -> 19:16.960] but this new evidence might actually back up our case
[19:16.960 -> 19:18.280] more than yours.
[19:18.280 -> 19:20.480] Rather than an appeal that just says,
[19:20.480 -> 19:22.560] oh, you can't do that, that wasn't fair.
[19:23.440 -> 19:26.600] You have to have new evidence for the stewards
[19:26.600 -> 19:28.840] to hear that review.
[19:28.840 -> 19:33.460] My argument is that if touching the car
[19:33.460 -> 19:37.120] is deemed to be working on the car, or it's not,
[19:37.120 -> 19:40.000] then why are there seven examples beforehand
[19:40.000 -> 19:41.480] where it's happened and been let go?
[19:41.480 -> 19:42.320] And we also don't know how-
[19:42.320 -> 19:43.760] Because it wasn't picked up at the time.
[19:43.760 -> 19:45.680] But we don't know how long these examples go back.
[19:45.680 -> 19:47.640] They could only go back to the middle of last season,
[19:47.640 -> 19:48.480] for example.
[19:48.480 -> 19:51.720] So it might not be a huge bang for the swat.
[19:51.720 -> 19:52.600] But it's enough.
[19:52.600 -> 19:53.440] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[19:53.440 -> 19:54.280] It's enough to overturn the decision.
[19:54.280 -> 19:55.360] I want to get into some fan questions here,
[19:55.360 -> 19:57.320] because there's understandably a lot of confusion
[19:57.320 -> 19:59.880] amongst fans, and I think this kind of sums it up
[19:59.880 -> 20:00.720] quite well.
[20:00.720 -> 20:02.840] So this is from a tweet from PeaseTV.
[20:02.840 -> 20:04.560] Do you think that the silly penalties
[20:04.560 -> 20:09.320] and the time taken by the FIA to make decisions may turn off some of the newer fans? We've
[20:09.320 -> 20:14.360] got a lot of new fans who've come to our sport and there are people at home who'll be watching
[20:14.360 -> 20:19.120] this who might go to sleep Sunday evening having had their Sunday dinner going, oh great,
[20:19.120 -> 20:23.880] you know, Alonso's on the podium, that's the last thing I saw. They come in on Monday and
[20:23.880 -> 20:26.480] they start reading Twitter and they see all this other stuff has blown up as well.
[20:26.480 -> 20:31.360] Yeah, the thing is he's still on the podium. He's still confirmed the decision was still right.
[20:33.040 -> 20:39.600] I think you're right. If you don't understand all the nuances, it can be quite off-putting.
[20:40.560 -> 20:44.480] But you can't simplify everything all the time.
[20:45.000 -> 20:45.200] And that's why we love the sport, let's be honest. But you can't simplify everything all the time.
[20:47.440 -> 20:49.600] And that's why we love the sport, let's be honest. Sometimes things have to be done properly
[20:49.600 -> 20:51.400] and processes have to be put in place.
[20:51.400 -> 20:55.800] Now, what I would say on this is I do think the rule book
[20:55.800 -> 20:58.920] and the sporting regulations are getting very complex
[20:58.920 -> 21:00.880] and the technical regulations too
[21:00.880 -> 21:03.480] and are getting ever elongated.
[21:03.480 -> 21:09.760] And Steve Nielsen, who's gone from Formula One Liberty to the FIA as their sporting director,
[21:09.760 -> 21:13.880] one of the things I think Steve's going to look at is how to simplify the rule book.
[21:13.880 -> 21:19.640] But I'm just going to give you a little for instance here from last night, where, and
[21:19.640 -> 21:26.160] I think your point, Nat, is, look, why doesn't the rules just say you can't touch the car? Right? That's really
[21:26.160 -> 21:32.880] simple. If you've got a penalty to serve in the pit lane, you can't touch the car. So I put this
[21:32.880 -> 21:39.120] to a couple of leading team members at a Formula One team. I went, right, Thursday, Sporting Advisory
[21:39.120 -> 21:42.720] Council, you're going to get together, the rules are going to be rewritten. Well, I wouldn't say
[21:42.720 -> 21:45.360] that, Crofty. Well, why not? Well, it's very technical.
[21:45.360 -> 21:46.240] It's very complicated.
[21:46.240 -> 21:47.160] I said, no, it's not.
[21:47.160 -> 21:49.080] Just make sure you can't touch the car.
[21:49.080 -> 21:50.960] Well, you can't have that.
[21:50.960 -> 21:52.520] So why can't you have that?
[21:52.520 -> 21:54.000] Well, what about the front jack?
[21:54.000 -> 21:56.120] What about the front jack?
[21:56.120 -> 21:58.880] If the driver comes in and he brakes a bit too late,
[21:58.880 -> 22:01.300] he doesn't stop on his marks and he hits the front jack,
[22:01.300 -> 22:02.800] we're going to get a bigger penalty.
[22:02.800 -> 22:04.080] I said, well, yeah, fine.
[22:04.080 -> 22:05.400] I mean, the front jack doesn't need to to get a bigger penalty. I said, well, yeah, fine.
[22:05.400 -> 22:07.400] The front jack doesn't need to be there.
[22:07.400 -> 22:09.000] It's not a fast pit stop.
[22:09.000 -> 22:12.840] You've got five seconds when the car stopped to get in there.
[22:12.840 -> 22:18.280] But the teams will find reasons why it's not very simple.
[22:18.280 -> 22:23.360] So maybe, I'm going to suggest this right now, it is time to think once again about
[22:23.360 -> 22:25.200] how much involvement the teams have
[22:25.200 -> 22:27.440] in shaping the rules and regulations of Formula One.
[22:27.440 -> 22:32.360] Because I think one of the cruxes to this argument, and maybe one of the big problems,
[22:32.360 -> 22:36.960] is that the teams have too much influence on the rules and regulations.
[22:36.960 -> 22:41.520] And in no other sport really do the competitors have that much influence.
[22:41.520 -> 22:45.840] So if we want to simplify things, and we want to make it easier to
[22:45.840 -> 22:50.600] understand and not have quite so many rules and regs for the future.
[22:50.600 -> 22:55.360] Fan palatable, I like this one. That's good. Yeah, if we want to focus on the fans and
[22:55.360 -> 22:59.600] and we should be doing, helping the fans get the most enjoyment out of the sport
[22:59.600 -> 23:03.520] that we all love, then maybe take the team's influence away.
[23:03.520 -> 23:09.740] One point I'd like to make is the fact that this sport does have so many subplots does
[23:09.740 -> 23:18.320] make it compelling and the marginal gains and the miniscule room for error is part of
[23:18.320 -> 23:23.600] the reason that we watch it. And so the fact that the rear jack touched the car was enough
[23:23.600 -> 23:25.320] to scupper a podium,
[23:25.320 -> 23:26.920] actually is fascinating,
[23:26.920 -> 23:28.480] because you don't get that in any other sport.
[23:28.480 -> 23:30.520] I mean, how much time is that saving?
[23:30.520 -> 23:32.600] That's like 0.3, 0.4 seconds,
[23:32.600 -> 23:34.720] but if you add that onto a pit stop,
[23:34.720 -> 23:36.840] that is the kind of time difference we're talking about
[23:36.840 -> 23:39.240] of being a good pit stop to a poor pit stop, right?
[23:39.240 -> 23:41.400] Exactly, and it keeps us on the edge of our seats.
[23:41.400 -> 23:43.240] And these pit stops are always gonna be quite slow
[23:43.240 -> 23:45.120] when you're serving a penalty anyway,
[23:45.120 -> 23:48.880] because the car's stationary and everyone's waiting and then they have to, you know, get
[23:48.880 -> 23:49.880] in there with the wheel.
[23:49.880 -> 23:53.640] Normally, the car's moving and the wheel gun's attached.
[23:53.640 -> 23:56.200] That's how they get it done so fast.
[23:56.200 -> 24:01.000] And maybe, maybe there's an episode in Drive to Survive where actually we could stop going
[24:01.000 -> 24:08.480] around Christian Horner's house and maybe we could go to the FIA stewards room and we could actually look at detail, simplified
[24:08.480 -> 24:11.480] detail of the sport to help people understand. I personally love seeing
[24:11.480 -> 24:15.680] Geri on her horse. I want to get on to other sports and their governance and
[24:15.680 -> 24:18.720] their rules because I think it's fair to say F1 has had some issues with rules
[24:18.720 -> 24:23.760] and governance certainly since Abu Dhabi 21 and I'm sure before that but also you
[24:23.760 -> 24:25.640] know more recently I think in F1 we are
[24:25.640 -> 24:28.400] going through a bit of a process at the moment of just learning and and
[24:28.400 -> 24:31.920] developing those rules but if you look at other sports rugby for example this
[24:31.920 -> 24:36.400] weekend Freddie Stewart's red card in the England-Ireland game you know a lot
[24:36.400 -> 24:40.080] of ex-pros are saying that is absolutely outrageous that's not how the game is
[24:40.080 -> 24:44.120] played you then look at football Crofty I'm sure I don't need to reel off some
[24:44.120 -> 24:46.960] West Ham VAR moments from the past season.
[24:46.960 -> 24:50.360] Please don't. The guy's traumatised enough by his flight.
[24:50.360 -> 24:53.520] I've gone a whole half an hour without thinking about Damian Brady.
[24:53.520 -> 24:54.520] I like that, yes.
[24:54.520 -> 24:58.400] But look, now, I mean it is, yeah, you can't deny that other sports are having the same
[24:58.400 -> 24:59.400] issues as well.
[24:59.400 -> 25:03.400] Well, I think we do need to remember we're in the entertainment industry. Fans pay a
[25:03.400 -> 25:08.600] lot of money to watch it and yes, yes okay we want to maintain our credibility and integrity
[25:08.600 -> 25:15.200] throughout but it is important to know what affects the fans and their
[25:15.200 -> 25:20.760] understanding of the sport. Now I married into a Welsh family who are deeply
[25:20.760 -> 25:25.960] passionate about their rugby and as much as it pained my father-in-law to tell me,
[25:27.400 -> 25:28.600] he believed England would have won that game had it not been for the red card.
[25:28.600 -> 25:31.640] So that red card changed the direction of everything.
[25:31.640 -> 25:33.600] It also made it incredibly complicated
[25:33.600 -> 25:36.600] because even if ex-professionals can't explain it,
[25:36.600 -> 25:38.440] what chance have the fans got?
[25:38.440 -> 25:40.200] And I think we need to be very careful
[25:40.200 -> 25:42.680] about being too technical with Formula One
[25:42.680 -> 25:46.620] because yes, it's one of the compelling
[25:46.620 -> 25:51.260] elements of our sport that draws people in, it's nuanced, it's layered, it's got countless
[25:51.260 -> 25:55.420] subplots but you have to be able to take those bite-sized elements and have them explained
[25:55.420 -> 26:00.040] which is why it's great to have Crofty in the comms box. My husband has always played
[26:00.040 -> 26:04.560] and loved rugby, he's over it. He says it's way too technical and if you take out the
[26:04.560 -> 26:09.880] physicality by red-carding someone like Freddie, then what's the sport got? And I think we
[26:09.880 -> 26:15.960] have to learn lessons from that. Always draw upon parallels with other sports and learn
[26:15.960 -> 26:18.140] potentially from their mistakes.
[26:18.140 -> 26:29.740] We are in the entertainment business and Formula One has done very well to make that quite a key focal part of its mission
[26:29.740 -> 26:31.920] statement going forward.
[26:31.920 -> 26:33.880] But we're not WWE.
[26:33.880 -> 26:40.000] You know, we're not about trying to engineer results just to make it a spectacle.
[26:40.000 -> 26:45.160] Well, unless you're Bernie and you bring in fake rain.
[26:45.160 -> 26:49.040] Well that was his idea, wasn't it? Sprinklers by the side of the track, which wasn't a stupid
[26:49.040 -> 26:53.200] idea to be fair, because as we know, when it gets wet, it gets exciting.
[26:53.200 -> 26:59.480] But you do have to main credibility and the integrity of the sport, I do accept.
[26:59.480 -> 27:07.160] You absolutely do. It has got complicated. The technical regs are very complicated.
[27:07.160 -> 27:11.880] Are we at a stage now with Formula 1 where the best thing to do is to say, right, we're
[27:11.880 -> 27:13.640] going to police your accounts.
[27:13.640 -> 27:19.260] We are going to absolutely police your accounts like you've never seen before.
[27:19.260 -> 27:24.040] You've got $200 million a year, go and do what you want.
[27:24.040 -> 27:27.680] That is your budget. Because at the moment, the budget cap's 140 million,
[27:27.680 -> 27:29.280] something like that.
[27:29.280 -> 27:32.320] But the top three earners and the drivers' salaries
[27:32.320 -> 27:34.800] aren't part of that, marketing isn't part of that,
[27:34.800 -> 27:35.960] blah, blah, blah.
[27:35.960 -> 27:40.320] Here's $200 million, do what you want to design your car.
[27:40.320 -> 27:42.520] That's a very exciting prospect, isn't it?
[27:42.520 -> 27:43.360] Yeah.
[27:43.360 -> 27:45.000] Go on, knock yourself out. Buy yourself something free.
[27:45.000 -> 27:46.000] Would you build a car?
[27:46.000 -> 27:53.120] But the thing is, does that then satisfy the huge amount of fans who have been with Formula
[27:53.120 -> 28:01.000] One for many, many years, who like the complexities, like the technical nuances, are deeply involved
[28:01.000 -> 28:06.780] and have invested their passion, whilst at the same time,
[28:06.780 -> 28:10.560] not alienating any of the new fans that have come in,
[28:10.560 -> 28:11.440] you know, during the,
[28:11.440 -> 28:13.620] we should call it the drive to survive era.
[28:13.620 -> 28:14.580] Yeah.
[28:14.580 -> 28:16.840] Which I think, you know, has brought, we know that.
[28:16.840 -> 28:19.860] Cause whenever we have conversations, you know,
[28:19.860 -> 28:21.280] with people who are new to the sport,
[28:21.280 -> 28:22.540] yeah, I've been watching drive to survive.
[28:22.540 -> 28:24.280] It's been brilliant.
[28:24.280 -> 28:26.460] Ultimately we've had this discussion,
[28:26.460 -> 28:28.440] was the right decision made?
[28:28.440 -> 28:29.260] Yes.
[28:29.260 -> 28:30.100] With Alonso.
[28:30.100 -> 28:31.760] Yes, and I think even George Russell accepts that.
[28:31.760 -> 28:35.520] Yeah, I mean, he said it even before he was given,
[28:35.520 -> 28:36.680] well, when he was given the trophy,
[28:36.680 -> 28:38.800] he said, I sort of feel a bit guilty for taking this.
[28:38.800 -> 28:40.080] Because also, I guess, as drivers,
[28:40.080 -> 28:43.320] you know that if the rules are being applied to Fernando,
[28:43.320 -> 28:46.320] the next week, you're gonna be subject to them as well.
[28:46.320 -> 28:48.800] And I do hope that on Thursday of this week,
[28:48.800 -> 28:50.320] as we record this on a Monday,
[28:50.320 -> 28:53.360] the rules are rewritten to say you can't touch the car.
[28:53.360 -> 28:55.600] And however, some teams might think
[28:55.600 -> 28:59.000] that's not a very good idea, it is a much clearer way.
[28:59.000 -> 29:01.000] Don't touch the car.
[29:01.000 -> 29:03.000] And then at the end of five seconds,
[29:03.000 -> 29:04.560] you know, when the stopwatch says five,
[29:04.560 -> 29:08.400] or your team manager's counted to five, however the teams do it.
[29:08.400 -> 29:10.480] One banana, two banana, three.
[29:10.480 -> 29:11.040] Some teams do that.
[29:11.040 -> 29:12.080] How do they count?
[29:12.080 -> 29:13.040] No, but some teams do that.
[29:13.040 -> 29:15.040] One Mississippi, that's longer.
[29:15.040 -> 29:15.520] Yeah.
[29:15.520 -> 29:16.160] Than one banana.
[29:16.160 -> 29:18.640] Yeah, but that's building in a buffer, so it's okay.
[29:18.640 -> 29:21.440] I mean, genuinely, how do teams count their five seconds?
[29:21.440 -> 29:22.480] Well, some do.
[29:22.480 -> 29:23.680] They really, they count.
[29:23.680 -> 29:26.040] Some do a verbal count, some do a stopwatch.
[29:26.040 -> 29:27.560] And is it being checked by the FIA?
[29:27.560 -> 29:30.800] Yeah, the FIA will have their own stopwatch on it.
[29:30.800 -> 29:34.960] I do it when the kids are naughty, I'll go, I'm going to give you 5 seconds, 4, we do
[29:34.960 -> 29:42.240] hang about quite a long time on 3, 2 and a half, not sure that would work in Formula
[29:42.240 -> 29:43.240] 1.
[29:43.240 -> 29:47.400] You can imagine the race director coming down on the radio doing that.
[29:47.400 -> 29:55.640] But yeah, so just rewrite it so that no one touches the car, everyone's in the same boat,
[29:55.640 -> 29:59.880] they can all hover millimetres away and then get to work and get out.
[29:59.880 -> 30:03.280] I wonder as well if you, I don't know how you actually enforce no one touching the car,
[30:03.280 -> 30:04.280] you know like the game operation.
[30:04.280 -> 30:05.320] I was just thinking that.
[30:05.320 -> 30:08.640] Do you have to like put some sensors on the car?
[30:08.640 -> 30:09.640] You get electrocuted if you touch it.
[30:09.640 -> 30:10.640] You get electrocuted if it goes back.
[30:10.640 -> 30:11.640] Okay, so I'll go back.
[30:11.640 -> 30:14.000] So put some sensors on the car, that's logical, isn't it?
[30:14.000 -> 30:15.000] Yeah, yeah.
[30:15.000 -> 30:16.000] Yeah, but sensors of weight.
[30:16.000 -> 30:17.000] Of course.
[30:17.000 -> 30:18.000] And that's extra weight.
[30:18.000 -> 30:19.000] Of course.
[30:19.000 -> 30:20.000] And the teams don't want extra weight.
[30:20.000 -> 30:21.000] And who writes the rules?
[30:21.000 -> 30:22.000] The teams.
[30:22.000 -> 30:23.000] See how complicated it gets.
[30:23.000 -> 30:24.000] Well, teams and the FIA.
[30:24.000 -> 30:25.600] Very good. All right, well look, I think we can agree
[30:25.600 -> 30:26.680] the right decision was reached,
[30:26.680 -> 30:30.920] even if it took four, three, four hours, five hours?
[30:30.920 -> 30:32.240] It took a bit.
[30:32.240 -> 30:33.480] It took a bit.
[30:33.480 -> 30:37.240] But I go back to, I want to see the right decision
[30:37.240 -> 30:40.840] being made, not quick, snappy decisions
[30:40.840 -> 30:42.200] that could still be wrong.
[30:42.200 -> 30:47.200] ♪♪ I want to get into some fan questions now, decisions that could still be wrong.
[30:48.640 -> 30:50.080] I want to get into some fan questions now, because we've put out a little post,
[30:50.080 -> 30:51.080] thank you for your comments,
[30:51.080 -> 30:52.160] on Twitter and Instagram,
[30:52.160 -> 30:54.680] about the race and to get your thoughts on it.
[30:54.680 -> 30:57.620] So, Alex on Instagram wants to know,
[30:57.620 -> 30:58.840] we're going to completely change tacks here
[30:58.840 -> 31:00.780] from Alonso and Aston Martin,
[31:00.780 -> 31:05.000] can Red Bull win 100% of the races in 2023?
[31:05.780 -> 31:06.620] Can they?
[31:06.620 -> 31:07.440] Yes.
[31:07.440 -> 31:08.280] Will they?
[31:08.280 -> 31:09.120] No.
[31:09.120 -> 31:11.400] Because I think reliability will come into play.
[31:11.400 -> 31:12.240] Yeah.
[31:12.240 -> 31:14.180] I mean, they had three DNFs in the first three races
[31:14.180 -> 31:15.340] last year.
[31:15.340 -> 31:17.900] But as we've talked about already,
[31:17.900 -> 31:21.300] they've had some close calls in the last two races.
[31:21.300 -> 31:22.980] No car is bulletproof.
[31:22.980 -> 31:26.800] 23 races is a big ask to win every single race.
[31:26.800 -> 31:30.200] I'm going to have a couple of crofty DNFs if we're not careful. You bring him into this
[31:30.200 -> 31:32.360] podcast without any kip again.
[31:32.360 -> 31:36.880] I'll pack my sleeping bag next time.
[31:36.880 -> 31:38.480] DNS, did not sleep.
[31:38.480 -> 31:51.200] Did not sleep. No, they won't. But the other thing, of course, is that as the season goes on, they get less wind tunnel CFD time than certainly Aston Martin. The fact that we've got an Aston Martin-Red Bull
[31:51.200 -> 31:56.480] battle at the moment is brilliant because Aston Martin, under the wind tunnel and CFD restrictions,
[31:56.480 -> 32:01.200] get 100% of the time because they finished seventh in the Constructors' Championship last year.
[32:01.200 -> 32:10.780] Red Bull get 70% of the time, but because they were naughty boys and girls and overspending on the cost cap reduced by another 10% so they only get 63%.
[32:10.780 -> 32:19.040] So Aston Martin have 37% more wind tunnel CFD time. That equates to about 120 wind tunnel
[32:19.040 -> 32:22.200] runs in the course of an eight week period.
[32:22.200 -> 32:23.200] That's a lot.
[32:23.200 -> 32:24.200] How long is a wind tunnel run?
[32:24.200 -> 32:26.920] Well it's kind of every time it's turned on.
[32:26.920 -> 32:27.760] Right, right, right.
[32:27.760 -> 32:28.720] Yeah but how long does that last?
[32:28.720 -> 32:29.560] How long does one last?
[32:29.560 -> 32:31.520] It can last as long as it wants.
[32:31.520 -> 32:34.400] That's the bit from turning it on to turning it off.
[32:34.400 -> 32:35.360] When you've gathered the data.
[32:35.360 -> 32:36.360] Oh I see, because obviously you're-
[32:36.360 -> 32:38.840] As far as I know, I am not a wind tunnel expert.
[32:38.840 -> 32:39.840] You sounded pretty good to me.
[32:39.840 -> 32:41.840] Yeah, just take a deep breath and go for it.
[32:41.840 -> 32:46.560] Okay, I think conclusively then we can say that we don't think Red Bull are going to
[32:46.560 -> 32:47.560] win every race this year.
[32:47.560 -> 32:50.640] I think we certainly probably, in the interests of the sport, hope they don't.
[32:50.640 -> 32:53.000] I think it'd be great to see some other people win this year.
[32:53.000 -> 32:55.080] I certainly think fans would say that too.
[32:55.080 -> 32:58.200] But you know what, if they do win every single race, what an achievement.
[32:58.200 -> 33:00.520] What a brilliant achievement and we should celebrate that.
[33:00.520 -> 33:01.520] I agree.
[33:01.520 -> 33:04.160] I'm not into variety for variety's sake.
[33:04.160 -> 33:06.000] I want competition out there.
[33:06.000 -> 33:08.000] But if one team have excelled...
[33:08.000 -> 33:10.000] But I go back to our original point,
[33:10.000 -> 33:12.000] whereby the battle will not be with others,
[33:12.000 -> 33:13.000] it will be internally.
[33:13.000 -> 33:15.000] Okay, that brings me on to my next question.
[33:15.000 -> 33:16.000] Clark on Instagram,
[33:16.000 -> 33:19.000] why didn't Max park his car in the second position
[33:19.000 -> 33:21.000] at the end of the race?
[33:21.000 -> 33:22.000] Anyone else would have got a penalty.
[33:22.000 -> 33:24.000] He parked it on the...
[33:24.000 -> 33:25.200] I think he came into the pit lane, didn't he? Yeah, just didn't put it on the... by where the one, two would have got a penalty. He parked it on the pitlane.
[33:25.200 -> 33:29.440] Yeah just didn't put it on the where the 1-2-3 car positions are.
[33:29.440 -> 33:36.320] Clark I'll take you back to Monaco 2009 and the shot of Jenson Button running down the main
[33:36.320 -> 33:42.080] straight because he parked his brawn car after winning in the pit lane and forgotten that he
[33:42.080 -> 33:45.520] was meant to park it on the grid in front of the Royal Box.
[33:50.080 -> 33:50.880] So Clark, stop looking for conspiracy theories here, anyone else will get a penalty.
[33:54.800 -> 33:58.560] I would imagine Max just brought it in to where he normally brings it in and had forgotten and wasn't told that he was meant to park it on the grid.
[33:58.560 -> 33:58.880] Do you think?
[33:58.880 -> 34:00.800] No. Really?
[34:00.800 -> 34:05.160] Yes. Do you think? But I mean mean Max is quite used to winning Formula One races
[34:05.160 -> 34:08.720] Yeah, but how he knows where to park. Yeah, you know fair enough if it's your first race
[34:08.720 -> 34:14.540] And also Jenson would have been overwhelmed with emotion having won the Monaco Grand Prix. He can be forgiven for forgetting
[34:14.540 -> 34:16.540] Where did Max park his car in Bahrain?
[34:17.160 -> 34:19.160] I've no idea
[34:19.880 -> 34:26.000] Under the podium in Parc Fermé. Where do cars normally pull into at the end of a race?
[34:27.280 -> 34:30.400] Parc Fermé. They don't normally go on the grid.
[34:31.120 -> 34:31.920] Oh, I see.
[34:31.920 -> 34:33.920] So it's a bit, it's not a one-off.
[34:33.920 -> 34:34.480] No, no, no, okay.
[34:34.480 -> 34:35.920] Because it happens all the time.
[34:35.920 -> 34:37.440] Final question from the fans.
[34:38.320 -> 34:42.080] Jack on Twitter, should Ferrari be worried with their lack of pace?
[34:42.080 -> 34:42.320] Yes.
[34:42.320 -> 34:42.880] I think yes.
[34:44.400 -> 34:47.840] I mean, I couldn't believe when we looked at the
[34:47.840 -> 34:51.920] drivers championship that Charles has six points.
[34:52.760 -> 34:53.600] Six!
[34:53.600 -> 34:54.740] Unthinkable.
[34:54.740 -> 34:56.920] Well, he didn't finish the opening race
[34:56.920 -> 34:58.100] first time in his career,
[34:58.100 -> 35:01.080] that he's not finished the opening race of the season.
[35:01.080 -> 35:03.540] I'm really sorry about this, Ferrari fans,
[35:03.540 -> 35:06.000] but I'm gonna give you a little story from the way back.
[35:06.000 -> 35:13.000] I had a chat with someone from Ferrari and I said, did you turn your engines down in the second part of the race?
[35:13.000 -> 35:17.000] Because you were okay in the first stint, and Charles was coming through quite nicely.
[35:17.000 -> 35:21.000] The safety car caught you out a little bit because they pitted before the safety car.
[35:21.000 -> 35:25.920] But did you turn your engines down after that? And they said, no.
[35:27.200 -> 35:31.480] So I went, ooh, and they went, yes.
[35:31.480 -> 35:33.880] So that is all that you say, that's all they've got.
[35:33.880 -> 35:36.000] That was their pace on the hard tyre.
[35:36.000 -> 35:38.280] And that is where I would worry
[35:38.280 -> 35:39.360] if I'm Ferrari at the moment.
[35:39.360 -> 35:42.000] If they were turning the engines down for reliability,
[35:42.000 -> 35:44.960] then you assume that reliability gets fixed.
[35:44.960 -> 35:45.440] But if that was
[35:45.440 -> 35:49.200] their pace at the end, at a track they thought they'd do okay.
[35:49.200 -> 35:51.440] I don't get it. I don't get it.
[35:51.440 -> 35:57.680] I think they were suffering tyre wear. I think teams are finding out that actually it's not
[35:57.680 -> 36:02.920] as easy to follow the cars this year as it was last year. They're going faster, there's
[36:02.920 -> 36:09.320] a bit more downforce being created, a bit more turbulent air, tyre construction's different. Things have changed a little bit
[36:09.320 -> 36:13.800] in terms of how easy it is to follow. But Ferrari were suffering tyre degradation and
[36:13.800 -> 36:17.120] that is their main... I'm going to say it again because it's my favourite gag of the
[36:17.120 -> 36:22.840] year so far, Achilles' wheel, is tyre degradation. But it has been for so long, it begs the question
[36:22.840 -> 36:25.120] why they haven't got on top of it. Well I think they're trying.
[36:25.120 -> 36:29.320] And reliability as well, because if you look at the state of the engines, I mean, you look
[36:29.320 -> 36:34.040] at Charles, he's on another controlled electronic system as well.
[36:34.040 -> 36:36.000] Yeah, that's one part.
[36:36.000 -> 36:39.040] Yeah, it's not looking good, and we're only two races in.
[36:39.040 -> 36:43.440] But while we're trying to demystify F1 a little bit, I did get a tweet last week that said
[36:43.440 -> 36:48.820] control electronics, how can Ferrari get penalised for that because it's all the same isn't it? It's not. The
[36:48.820 -> 36:54.600] control electronics refer to part of the power unit which is spec to all teams or to all
[36:54.600 -> 37:03.040] power unit manufacturers but there is an ECU that all the teams run that is standard and
[37:03.040 -> 37:06.120] that collects all the data and basically makes sure
[37:06.120 -> 37:09.920] that the FIA can monitor the car so that the teams aren't cheating or doing
[37:09.920 -> 37:14.240] anything they shouldn't. So don't confuse control electronics with ECU because
[37:14.240 -> 37:20.280] some people were last week. Fair enough. I think Ferrari, if yeah, if I was a
[37:20.280 -> 37:27.160] Ferrari fan I'd be a little bit worried. This should be their year. Yeah. You know, you felt like you were sitting at such a fast car
[37:27.160 -> 37:27.660] last year.
[37:27.660 -> 37:29.640] I was just going to say, you said it last year.
[37:29.640 -> 37:32.360] And that's the, it feels like they've taken a step back
[37:32.360 -> 37:33.400] rather than gone forward.
[37:33.400 -> 37:35.860] Well, I think Red Bull have taken a massive step forward.
[37:35.860 -> 37:38.400] Aston Martin have taken a massive step forward.
[37:38.400 -> 37:43.640] And Ferrari are somewhere within the Aston Martin, Mercedes,
[37:43.640 -> 37:44.320] Ferrari battle.
[37:44.320 -> 37:47.000] They've had a little shuffle forward, but not quite a full step.
[37:47.000 -> 37:49.000] And, you know, you're only...
[37:50.000 -> 37:53.000] You know, you may think that you have confidence
[37:53.000 -> 37:55.000] in what you've achieved over the winter break.
[37:55.000 -> 37:58.000] Well, it means nothing if everyone else has moved further ahead of you.
[37:58.000 -> 38:00.000] Look, Peschard finished seventh,
[38:00.000 -> 38:03.000] and that was Ferrari's target, P5 to P7,
[38:03.000 -> 38:04.000] for a man starting...
[38:04.000 -> 38:05.000] Given his penalty.
[38:05.000 -> 38:06.000] Well, given his penalty.
[38:06.000 -> 38:10.000] The worry is that they just weren't making any impression in that final stage,
[38:10.000 -> 38:14.000] and Carlos had a target of a podium, and they didn't look like they were going to get that.
[38:14.000 -> 38:18.000] Yeah, and when you see how Max carved his way through the field to finish P2...
[38:18.000 -> 38:20.000] See, there's another thing.
[38:20.000 -> 38:27.040] This worries me a little bit, because going into that race yesterday,
[38:27.040 -> 38:29.400] talking to the people that we do in the paddock
[38:29.400 -> 38:33.100] before a race, nobody was saying they're gonna fight Max
[38:33.100 -> 38:34.760] if he comes up behind them.
[38:34.760 -> 38:36.640] Because everyone's saying, well, they're not our race.
[38:36.640 -> 38:38.320] Red Bull aren't our race at the moment.
[38:38.320 -> 38:40.600] We're not gonna make it easy for him,
[38:40.600 -> 38:42.680] but we're not gonna lose too much time
[38:42.680 -> 38:51.280] holding him up and ruining our own race. That does worry me a little bit because the whole point of Coscap and
[38:51.280 -> 38:56.500] then the wind tunnel and the CFD restrictions as well was to close up
[38:56.500 -> 39:01.080] the competition so that you weren't gonna get a team blasting by as Max did
[39:01.080 -> 39:05.000] with Lewis and I said like an f2 car trying to defend against an F1 car.
[39:05.000 -> 39:07.500] You at least want to see some kind of fight, don't you?
[39:07.500 -> 39:08.000] Yeah.
[39:08.000 -> 39:11.000] Just seeing a car breeze past another car is dispiriting.
[39:11.000 -> 39:12.000] There was no fighting.
[39:12.000 -> 39:13.500] I mean Lewis almost moved out the way.
[39:13.500 -> 39:16.500] Imagine how it feels for the driver that hasn't defended.
[39:16.500 -> 39:17.500] Yeah, goodness me.
[39:17.500 -> 39:18.500] If you're dispirited.
[39:18.500 -> 39:20.000] Yeah, I'll do it.
[39:20.000 -> 39:21.000] I don't know how they feel.
[39:21.000 -> 39:24.000] Dispirited, yes, I can imagine.
[39:24.000 -> 39:26.000] Right, I think that's all we've got time for.
[39:26.000 -> 39:28.000] Really? I was only just getting going!
[39:28.000 -> 39:30.000] That was worth worrying him!
[39:30.000 -> 39:33.000] I think we're going to send you off to a long sleep.
[39:33.000 -> 39:34.000] Let's get into bed.
[39:34.000 -> 39:36.000] Yeah, go to sleep, go home.
[39:36.000 -> 39:37.000] Thank you.
[39:37.000 -> 39:38.000] Thanks for coming.
[39:38.000 -> 39:40.000] Or leave from the car if you like, if you want to keep talking.
[39:40.000 -> 39:51.500] Do you know what? I've got a car waiting for me. I will be asleep within about 20 seconds.
[39:51.500 -> 39:58.340] The best thing in able to cope with what we do for a living is to learn the ability to
[39:58.340 -> 40:05.440] sleep wherever, at any stage, planes, trains and automobiles. If ever you- Do you remember when I fell asleep
[40:05.440 -> 40:06.820] standing up on the-
[40:06.820 -> 40:07.660] Yes.
[40:07.660 -> 40:08.480] Travelator.
[40:08.480 -> 40:09.320] Yes.
[40:09.320 -> 40:10.160] The airport.
[40:10.160 -> 40:10.980] I actually did.
[40:10.980 -> 40:11.960] I was standing up and I found,
[40:11.960 -> 40:14.320] Coffey went, oh, oh, we've got a fall out.
[40:14.320 -> 40:15.520] He literally caught me.
[40:15.520 -> 40:16.960] She's great at that sort of thing,
[40:16.960 -> 40:17.840] is staying asleep.
[40:17.840 -> 40:18.680] That's your problem.
[40:18.680 -> 40:19.500] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[40:19.500 -> 40:21.080] That's a whole other podcast.
[40:21.080 -> 40:22.380] Yeah, I honestly,
[40:23.480 -> 40:24.800] if ever I'm not driving,
[40:24.800 -> 40:26.280] I will sleep in a car.
[40:26.280 -> 40:27.240] I sleep on a train.
[40:27.240 -> 40:30.560] I get on at Milton Keynes and my body clock wakes me up
[40:30.560 -> 40:32.320] just as we're pulling into Houston.
[40:32.320 -> 40:34.280] How it happens, I really do not know.
[40:34.280 -> 40:35.120] The marvels.
[40:35.120 -> 40:36.680] But I've developed that one and planes,
[40:36.680 -> 40:38.440] yeah, I'm asleep before takeoff.
[40:38.440 -> 40:40.000] Unless there's a baby sitting next to him.
[40:40.000 -> 40:41.040] Unless there's a baby.
[40:41.040 -> 40:41.880] Which was hilarious.
[40:41.880 -> 40:45.920] But it was a baby, it was a very loud child on the flight.
[40:45.920 -> 40:47.040] Called Simon Lazenby.
[40:47.040 -> 40:52.040] On that note, we will end it there.
[40:52.680 -> 40:53.920] Thank you very much for your company.
[40:53.920 -> 40:56.080] We will be back next Tuesday
[40:56.080 -> 40:57.700] to look ahead to the Australian Grand Prix.
[40:57.700 -> 40:58.700] We will see you then.
[40:57.460 -> 40:59.520] you