Do you belong here? Troubleshooting an engine in a military workshop? What's your gut saying? Wanna turn the volume down? Or, stay here and get paid to learn a trade. With an army apprenticeship that will set you right for life. Still listening? You belong here. Army. Recruiting now. Search Army Job. Your business is going places with three business. Enjoy business class roaming in EU destinations. whether you're video calling from Vienna or networking in Naples.
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london for the first time ever the famous south by southwest festival is coming to london and let me tell you you really want to be there it's a convergence of creativity culture and technology covering topics like ai tech and business It's the first time that South by Southwest has been in Europe so be the first at the first.
it will be a multi-site event across more than 25 venues in Shoreditch running from the 2nd to 7th of June 2025. Search South by Southwest London and use code GRACE20 at checkout to get 20% discount off all passes. You are listening to Missed Apex Podcast. We live F1. Welcome to Miss Apex Podcast. I'm your host, Richard Reddy, but my friends call me Spanners. So, let's be friends. Welcome to our Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race review. Of course, I've got to start by telling you that we have two...
Saturday events coming up for Grand Prix. We have the Silverstone Grand Prix and we have the Miami Grand Prix where we're going to be having meetups. on the saturday so for miami it's the 3rd of may all you have to do is email me spanners at mistapex.net And then after qualifying, head 20 minutes south and I will give you all the details that you need to know. But doors open at seven and then we'll be recording and doing live stuff from eight.
till 10, live quiz, sprint review, all the good stuff. And then for Silverstone, 5th of July, we'll have a little bit of karting and a live panel. So again, email me spanners at mistapex.net today. was a fairly interesting race. We got a safety car. which did nothing. We had tyre strategy, which also did nothing because the tyres all lasted so well. But we did get lap one drama. We did get overtakes and we did get some racing. It was it was fine. So coming up, we'll discuss.
why this was not a good episode of lando i am starting to fear that he has the yip Basic things are not going well since the Australian Grand Prix. Piastri continues to arm his fans with ammo to come at poor Uncle Spanners. who's just trying his best. But kudos to Piastri fans. It's looking super sunny for the Piastrifosi. Enjoy it.
bathe in it uh oh he did eight things i think he did eight things that were pretty good and maybe two things wrong this weekend so i am very impressed i'm also impressed with the ferrari progress it's back to a default competitive baseline but only on one side of the garage. And also Red Bull continued to frustrate me on both. sides of the garage and I continue to be impressed.
with russell in that fourth fastest mercedes we are an independent podcast produced in the podcasting shed with the kind support of our patrons and partners we aim to bring you a race review before your monday morning commute We might be wrong, but we're first. I'm joined by a bit of a legend in the making, YouTuber Scott Stuffy Tuffy. How's it going, Scott?
Hey Spallers, I'm doing very well, thank you. Saudi Arabia, it left a little bit to be desired, to be honest with you. Saturday for me was just... So much more exciting than Sunday and... I think that's going to be the story for the rest of the season. And we're also joined fresh back from Dutch Adventures by Antonia Rankin. Hello, Antonia. Hi, I'm really excited to be making a comeback with the sole purpose of telling you how wrong you are. About what?
Most of your opinions, but that's okay. That's okay. I'll be the voice of the listeners. That's okay. As we've established over nine years, I don't think any of this project is dependent on me being correct. which is fine. But let's talk about the race in general, because when Scott was saying you were downplaying it a little bit, Antonia seemed surprised. So I think, Antonia, maybe you have the best overall impression of this Grand Prix.
I think not only is Jeddah an underrated circuit, but it provided a lot of insight and confirmed a lot of suspicions that fans have been discoursing about for a very long time. There's three key takeaways for me. First, that... Piastri overall is the strongest driver on the grid right now, considering his race craft and his package on his car. I nearly said his package.
Second of all, that Lando... Okay, let's be clear. You didn't nearly say it. You just literally said it. So welcome. Thank you. You're just, you know... You're so welcome. If we miss Christian at any point, at least we have Antonia. Anyway, point two. Second, that Lando Norris, as it stands, doesn't have what it takes to be the world champion. And most disappointingly, that Lewis Hamilton cannot, for the life of him, get to grips with that Ferrari.
They are all very interesting points. And I think maybe we just shoot in and we just let that lead. lead our agenda to be honest so let's start with um piastri then why is piastri the you here's your words you said the best driver and then you very quickly caveated it to be well best driver car combination
I think when you speak about any driver within the scope of any motorsports, you have to consider the car that they're driving. Obviously, you can be a Max Verstappen in a Haas, you're not going to be winning races. At the moment, to me, Oscar Piastri has the full package.
Not only do they have the strongest car on the grid overall at the moment, but he can keep such a cool head. He barely shows a single emotion whilst in the car. I've spoken to him outside of the car. He doesn't show many there either, but that's not the point. And in a race scenario, he always makes the correct decision, not just for himself, but for the overall strategy of the team. He's communicative on the radio and he executes everything to a T. And that's where Lando Norris misses out.
Okay, so versus Lando, that's fine. But if you think that the McLaren was the fastest overall car, then why didn't Piastri get pole? Because Max Verstappen is an absolute god. I'm going to say it. I'm going to slightly disagree there. Out of order. Matt's got pole position because he got help from me. His lap was brilliant. However, if anyone has seen the ghost comparison lap, I highly recommend you check it out.
Verstappen is great on the brakes, but he got an advantage from the toe down a start finish straight from Yuki Tsunoda that gave him a head start in that first sector. which ultimately with it being a hundredth of a second separating them for pole
That was the fine margin that got him in. And Piastri actually did get ahead of Max towards the end of the lap. Max was a brilliant last corner and it won in pole position. But without Yuki's toe... he still would have been behind piastri and that's why piastri was really calm and said look my my lap was good i was happy with it there's not much more i can do and that's the nature of
having been a number one driver in a team and having a teammate who's willing to give you a toe. Whereas McLaren wouldn't be so kind to do that because I'm sure we'll get on to Lando in a very short moment. they're not going to give each other a toe because they're in competition with each other. But it's still a great lap, but the Red Bull is still a very quick car just in certain environments.
I don't necessarily think that that's why Lando didn't give him the toe. I think Lando didn't give him the toe because he was so focused on getting his own lap that he ended up in the wall and needed a literal toe out of it. I think that's something that McLaren would have done given how powerful the slipstream was at Jeddah. had they been given the opportunity to do so. I agree there is a lot of competition though.
between Lando and Piastri. And that's why the debate about which of the two is stronger is so prevalent at the moment because McLaren need to choose a top driver who they are going to prioritise in these quali scenarios. Well, I think the argument... There's not much of an argument right now because Lando was looking pretty good after Australia and it looked like it might be business as usual so he can qualify ahead and was just on top of it. But the fact that...
Norris has fallen apart in the last two races and Piastri hasn't. It doesn't tell us anything about the battle between the two, but it's really hard to get away from while Piastri is doing the job. And Norris, like I said in the intro, he's got the yips. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the yips, but it's when an athlete...
just stops being able to do the very basic things. So it's not one error. It's not like Tsunoda this weekend who has biffed it into Gasly. You can argue with me if you want. If we look over the last weekends, each weekend we can point to like four, five, six, seven areas where he's left stuff on the table. This is a chronic... issue with performance with Norris right now. Antonia then.
I totally agree, but I don't think it's a new thing. If we cast our minds back to the fated Sochi race in the wet where Lando completely spun out because he refused to acknowledge the team's recommended strategy onto the wet tyre.
I actually think this is a systemic pattern with Lando where we excused it when he was less experienced and we can no longer excuse it as the seasons go on. I made a video about this because whether it's luck, whether it's... fate itself stepping in or whether yeah lando does not have what it takes fundamentally to be the world champion there is an established pattern of something always just not being quite right and we excused it when he was less experienced but in his sixth season now
There's not a lot that we can say that isn't an excuse for him anymore. OK, so we've got some pushback in the live chat. Maria says, oh, geez, he's not just fallen apart. Mark says it's a couple of mistakes. Let's not go crazy stuff. Well, the problem is that a couple of mistakes now with the fine margin.
the whole grid has I mean we saw 17 cars separated by less than a second at the end of Q1 yesterday And Lando, in a championship where it is going to be a qualifying championship, it's five races in now, Lando has made multiple mistakes in qualifying, which has cost him his race result.
Piastri, fair play to the lad. He's made one mistake, which was in... changeable conditions which anyone could have done and he still managed to recover and score points he was 20 points behind after Melbourne he's now leading by 10. He's won three races out of five, okay, excluding the sprint race, but...
That is phenomenal. That is a phenomenal response from Piastri. And he's been calm and collected. And he hasn't actually made a single mistake in qualifying. And even when he's been out-qualified, he's still been starting on first. Norris hasn't. We have a go at Hamilton, Lewis, for his qualifying mistake. You do, hater. Shut up. I'm the one with the Hamilton poster here. I'm a Hamilton fan, but it showcases this current era of F1 or where we are with this current red.
is that qualifying is where it matters. And Norris, unfortunately for him, he continues to put himself under considerable amount of pressure when it comes to qualifying. This is the first time where he hasn't had a bank lap here, but his first lap every single time is not quicker.
And he just makes mistakes and he's always putting himself under considerably more pressure in that final lap. Well, he didn't get the final lap, did he? He didn't get the final lap. It's even worse because he binned it. On the banker lap. On the banker lap, and that's the problem. Whereas Piastri gets that banker lap in, and at worst case, he's still going to be in front three, which is where he should be. Ranko. My issue is...
Exactly what Stuffy is saying. Every single session matters because if you give Verstappen an in... he will take it and turn it into a race win. The question isn't, should we be giving Lando the benefit of the doubt? How much is Max and his other opponents going to maximise on every single little error? So yeah.
Even if you do say, OK, it's only been a couple of mistakes, which I think is overly generous. It's been loads. I agree. It's been quite a few. You cannot afford to make these mistakes because if you put yourself in the position of you're watching the race.
Max Verstappen is chasing Lando versus Max Verstappen is chasing Piastri who are you trusting to get that race win home And watching the race today, it wasn't a shadow of a doubt for me that as Piastri came into turn one, if he stuck it, he would win the race. So I was looking at, like, obviously in practice and stuff and in qualifying. It did seem, and I think people, I'm not alone. People were saying Norris looked the faster of the two.
in in qualifying and you know in the build-up to qualifying and everyone was also saying that that mclaren was going to just walk away with this race today. It didn't walk away, it didn't win, and it didn't get a pole, but people were talking about how far it would be dominating, not whether it would be dominating.
So I feel like what we're getting at the moment is with Norris's yips and Norris's mistakes. I'm going to call it yips. I'm going to settle on yips. And Norris is having a nightmare right now. Still, though, his overall performance has the potential to be higher than Piastri's. Piastri is cruising along. And if we say that that McLaren was touted as the best car into qualifying and Verstappen got pole, then Piastri must have left a lid or something.
on the table, maybe a little scruffy out the final turn on that qualifying lap. And maybe, though, it is sensible to go about your season going, let's just keep going for the high percentage shot. So, you know, if you're engulfed, you know, you just go, right, shall I hit my five iron off the tee? Shall I make sure that I'm on the fairway? Or shall I go for that glory 300 yards?
you know, drive every time. Stuffy, you're a golfer. I think maybe that's what's happening. Piastri is looking at it and hitting his wood off the tee. Whereas... Your golf analogies are bang on. Nice. With the hips and the shot. It's match play. It's good old-fashioned match play. You play your opponents. Now, Piastri has had different opponents kind of each race weekend. One weekend it's been Verstappen. One weekend it's been Norris. But he's...
Realistically, with that peaky red ball, and I think McLaren internally probably see this. The overall championship rival for him is his teammate. So if he's sticking it on the front row, while of course he wants to win races, he's sticking it on the front row and he knows his teammate is down in sixth with it all to do to get on the podium. And today in 10th, and he did a good job, Lando, to recover. It just shows what could have been for him. So it's a bittersweet result.
He's just doing that right. He's playing a percentage game. He's playing his opponent, and he knows that if he even finishes on the top two positions, he's going to have enough points because Lando is his own worst enemy at the moment. And that's why sometimes you don't always go for the birdie. You go for the part. You do what you need to do to win the hole and to win the match.
And that's what Piastri at the moment is doing. You've got to scramble. You've got to scramble. You've got to get up and down. If you miss that green, you've got to get up and down. But Piastri, though, isn't scrambling. He is making those birdies. I mean, today, Antonio's already mentioned it. Antonio's losing it on the golf. There's a reason I'm not on a golf podcast. Antonio, you're long though. You must play golf.
Why does this keep coming up? You've got the levers. Why do you keep calling me long? Because you're really long. You've got the levers to play golf. If you're not playing golf, that is a missed opportunity. Can I go back to my point? Yeah. Also, Antonio had some F1 stuff. Guys, if you're listening, I'm trying to keep him on track. I'm trying my best. Piastri down into turn one. I didn't know at the time before this race began which side first place was starting on.
And I think everyone, myself included, was saying whoever starts on that inside line with the ahead of the apex rule is going to have that advantage into turn one because of how tight... Turn 1 is and how often we see drivers just go to the escape road there. And Piastri just showed he is not going to be bothered.
Can I give like a super controversial opinion actually about this turn one incident? Do you want to go to the turn one incident? Okay, let's go there. Let's go there. Let's do it. Whilst we're here. Let's do it. I can completely understand from Max's perspective why he thought he had that corner. If you look at the very specific on board, that one shot that Christian Horner keeps waving around as evidence.
I can see from his perspective why he would think he has grounds to argue that he was in front of the apex. He obviously was not, as the stewards agree, and I completely think that was Piastri's corner, 100%. But looking at the onboards, as the driver, I think I can see why Max thought that he had ground to argue there. I don't, however, think that the team made the right call in not looking at any single other thing and rightfully telling Max.
No, you need to give this position back. Red Bull are not a team that gives the position back. Then they get five second penalties and they can suck it up and whinge on the radio. Suck it up, buttercup. They have done post-race as well. So Christian Horne has been touting this photo where he's trying to prove... but he's got he's got like a i thought it was someone posted this to me and i genuinely thought it was a photoshop
No, no, no, no. He's done this so many times with telemetry. And I thought, this is Photoshop. I had to go and find another source for this. And there's various people tweeting it, like reputable journalists. Yeah, I'll take Medland, Medland. If I murder someone, I want Christian Horner in my corner because he will back me. It's the fact he has a little ring of journalists around him and he's like, no, but look. If I'm his driver and he sees me commit a literal crime in person.
he will blatantly lie for me. That's what he does for Max Verstappen. I mean, credit where it's due, he will die on the hill for Max. And you'll never tell him he's in the wrong, and he never has done. The thing is, outboard. He showed an on-board, but outboard. So for me, if you want to claim this rule of if you're ahead at the apex, you can pull out an RPG and explode the other driver. That seems to be the thing that was happening last season. If you're ahead at the apex, nothing else matters.
brackets so long as you make the corner but for me the if you look at some stills and i've tweeted it so follow me spanners ready um on blue sky or on I've got a screenshot of that first turn. So to me, I think the apex line that we're all talking about is 45 degrees from the straight. So as you come down the straight, say the turn is 90 degrees, then for me, the apex, you go 45 degrees to the outside. You've got a diagonal line. That's the apex line.
Max Verstappen is not ahead at all until you get way, way past the apex. So in any case, I don't think Horner has any grounds here. This is where I totally agree. But again, I can see why with a distorted idea of where that apex might be, especially from the cockpit, Max is throwing a bit of a straw. But with any reasonable track side strategist, someone sat on that pit wall, they should have been able to tell Mac. to give that position back. I know we're saying Red Bull would never do that.
but it objectively would have been the better move for the team. They wouldn't have had the penalty. and Max no doubt would have been able to contest that position. It just comes down to a clear cut of what would the better idea have been. It's so simple to me, and I don't understand why this is the hill of all hills they've chosen to die on. This is all just very ironic and quite comical to me because this is what Max Verstappen has made a living of doing is pulling off this exact type of move.
I'm ahead at the apex. The whole racing rules have been now implemented and racing guidelines are the way they are to accommodate Max's style of driving. This is what... This is what Rabal have introduced into the sport and someone else has finally used that against him. And I still have issues with the penalty itself because I don't think...
Five seconds and him not having to give the position back is anywhere near suitable. Let Antonia in because her arms... I'm so excited to talk about this. You're going to blow a rotator cuff with the amount you're waving your arms around right now. Oh, don't say that because I actually...
lol guys you're gonna laugh I broke my collarbone falling off a bike in Amsterdam like about a month ago it's it's really funny and then I went to the hospital and I was like yeah I'm sorry I'm really bad at being Dutch and the doctor was like If you were Dutch, you wouldn't have fallen off. No, they're really good at bicycling, which you clearly are.
Sorry, I had to share. That's really funny. That's fine. So, first of all, we've always been saying someone needs to beat Max at his own game. Everyone has been saying it since Max rose to the top of the ranks. Someone has just... not got it in their heads that this is finally what we've been asking for someone to actually hold their ground and say no actually I'm ahead so you can move out of my way for once
And it's really nice to see this kind of elbows out driving that we've been missing for so long. I've said it before on this podcast, actually. Because everyone for a couple of years just went, my battle's not with Max. I'm not going to waste tyres on this. I'm going to let him pass. And Abu Dhabi last year, he held his ground.
And it's really nice to see it. And it's not always going to fall Max's way. Sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. And that's part of the joy and excitement of it. No, because we get to argue about whether the stewards were right. So on that note, were the stewards right? So in the official notes and the press release, etc, they said we would normally give a 10 second penalty for this, hence why.
We saw Lawson get the 10 second penalty for doing the exact same thing. But they said because it was lap one, turn one, they considered that a mitigating circumstance and therefore they turned the penalty into five seconds. Fine. I understand the logic. I think it's a completely flawed outcome because it was no punishment at all. We can say, yeah, well... Red Bull finished less than five seconds behind McLaren. So they would have won the race. No, they wouldn't. No, they wouldn't. Because if...
If Max was behind Piastri at turn one, as it was going to be anyway, had that incident not occurred, like I said, most people are putting their money on Piastri to lead that race till the end anyway. Honestly, I think Verstappen loses in nearly every scenario here. His only chance was to not biff the start. So look, when we talk about skill... Verstappen is very consistent, but something went wrong on that start. That's why Piastri was alongside.
We talk about can drivers start well. Norris came under a lot of fire for not starting well, not getting off the line well. Verstappen got off the line poorly and lost turn one. The second Piastri was alongside him on the inside line. It was over. You know when you have the Piastri situation like that into a left-right chicane.
You know that basically you're going to be heading for the inside line on that chicane, on the second one. On the second turn, you know you're heading for the apex. And good luck, everyone on the right-hand side. I turn now. I'm turning. Good luck. So, Piastri had that. Verstappen's only chance was to play this silly, silly game. that the FIA have invited by talking about who's ahead at the apex. And here's the key. Here's the key thing. Other drivers have not been aware, have not been...
looking out for the fact that Verstappen just lets off the break. He doesn't break late. If he was breaking late, you could predict that and you could go, oh, OK. He's breaking later. I'm going to wait. We're going to play a game of chicken. What he does is he breaks and then he lets off the break.
to make sure that he's ahead at the apex. And when he's on the inside line, that's particularly devastating because then he's forcing the driver on the outside out, but he can say, well, I was ahead at the apex. Yeah, because you stopped braking. Here, I think if you look at the slow-mos, click through frame by frame, Piastri did something that Hamilton didn't do. Piastri does something that Norris didn't do, which is that he saw that coming and also...
let off his break. So I think Piastri saw that, played the same game that Verstappen played and was ahead at the apex and then just fully headed. to the exit. So Piastro is never, ever in a million years going to leave any racing room for Verstappen there. And Verstappen knew there wouldn't be any racing room, but he tried to play for the foul. He tried to play for the, oh no, I got forced off.
So technically, Verstappen could have cranked the steering on and made the corner with a little bit of brake. But he was always on to a loser because that tactic that Verstappen has had over the rest of the field for years now, Piastri is on to. Right, who do we go to first? Right, okay. I've been talking for a long time there. Sorry. Okay, Scott and then stuff. Scott and Antonio, sorry.
That's fine. I can speak for... You be both. Pick the floor, mate. No, I totally agree with you, Spanners. Piastri, you'll see because of his trajectory of his car once Max bowed out of the corner, it took him straight to the apex of turn two. So Piastri did exactly that, rolled off the break. And Piastri, Max did it, took it to even more of an extreme, though, to ensure that he could look like he'd made the apex ahead of him because...
He was carrying so much speed. I mean, if Max tried to make that apex of turn two... There's no way. I mean, they would have almost had to come to an... stop to try and make the right hander that's what Piastri also said as well so yeah for so long he's cleverly allowed the stewards to make decisions for him and he's come top trumps in most of those scenarios because no one has known how to play these rules.
as well as Max does. But now, there's a driver. Clearly, it's the first time, actually, they collided in Abu Dhabi, but Max was making a send from nowhere. This is the first time Piastro and Verstappen have truly gone wheel to wheel for something that... And Piastri has come out on top. But I will just end my point here heading on to Antonia. I just don't like these racing rules. Can I just reiterate that? No, no, no.
I hate talking about this. The race racing should not be over after one corner. It shouldn't. I mean, there's not to say that with these cars, they would have gone side by side for that much longer anyway. But they should be able to make it through the damn first corner side by side respectfully. Is that too much to ask for?
But that's the thing, it is too much to ask for from someone with Max's driving style and Piastri who knows exactly the type of opponent he's going up against and in many ways I don't think... that Oscar cares who he's going up against and that is what makes him so steel-faced when competition is right up against him. But let's not pretend that these drivers don't know exactly what they're doing going into these very familiar circuits.
full well that with the line he had he wouldn't have been able to come out ahead yes no no no 100 yeah so he had to play the referees that is 100 that's what he was doing he was going oscar will have known as well that he had that like they know they've done this thousands of times on a simulator. No, no. In soccer terms, he was going for a foul. He was pretending to trip over the outstretched leg of the defender and then claiming a penalty. Scott.
I just want to touch on the penalty itself again. On one hand, I agree the penalty was correct. but I don't necessarily agree in the severity of it. However, I also don't think necessarily a 10-second penalty to Max was also correct in this scenario. I don't like the idea, as we saw also with Max in Mexico. how he's allowed and afforded the opportunity to pull out a gap when he's illegally held onto that position.
What is so wrong under the safety car as well? I understand you had the U-King Gasly crash going on, but they were out of the race pretty quick. It was easy for us to see, okay, they're out of the race. We don't need to investigate that straight away. Let's focus on this Turn 1 incident because they're under safety car conditions. Let's swap the positions there. That's a penalty enough in itself, especially with the dirty air.
that is so prevalent now. It would have been tricky. It was all about that first corner, of course, getting ahead, as we know. And Max was afforded the opportunity until his first pit stop. To pull out a gap and hurt Piastri's strategy in his race. I'm not an advocate for this. What is so wrong when it's so obvious as well? to just issue, like it was in Mexico, it should have been a drive-through straight away, removes him from the...
scenario for his foul. Yeah, they don't do it. It's worth noting that the stewards don't give a swap order. So they don't have a penalty where they go swap position. No, they should allow the whole rule kind of changed, didn't it? Where now it's on the onus of the teams to make that decision. If they don't do it and the stewards deem them at fault, then they get a penalty. But I feel like in this scenario, this specific scenario...
It's just so simple, especially with the safety car, but the perfect point and opportunity for them to swap. I don't see what's so wrong with that. This is the thing and I want to move on from this because I feel like I'm just going to be complaining the whole time. That's what we do here. In good racing spirits, it's so malicious and just it's not enjoyable to watch. A lot of Red Bull fans have been saying after this today, it's not nice to watch the race be decided by a penalty.
But in my opinion, the race result wasn't decided by the penalty. This manoeuvre at the first corner where neither of them could give each other enough room and they both decided to do the equivalent, like you said, of rolling around on the floor. It just sucks the fun out of it for everybody. Well, Verstappen can't race normally.
He doesn't race normally. But the stewards then are deciding when to insert themselves and when not. Like you said, they don't have this swap order, so they can't say, OK, five-second penalty and give the place back. But then they also decide to insert themselves in other ways like, oh, we're actually going to make it five seconds because we think this time it's actually kind of okay. And that's what I really struggle with is they can't tailor their decisions to a situation, but only half do it.
And that's what results in these really... skewed outcomes where kind of nobody is happy here justice quote quote was not served and also the red bull fans are peeved too it just doesn't work and doing things by half measures As the referees of the sport who have already come under so much fire recently, it doesn't work. It just doesn't. Do you belong here? Trouble shooting an engine in a military workshop? What's your gut saying? Wanna turn the volume down?
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The outside driver had to yield and then would have to give up that place. I feel like that was completely normal. This thing of what happens at that chicane is quite a modern thing. So Verstappen has had an impact on the sport in the same way that before him, Verstappen had, sorry, that Hamilton had, that Schumacher had, where they start doing something that sets them apart from the crowd. And then the newer generation comes through. So with Schumacher, it was being fixed.
and it was treating Formula One like a sport. So he came in, and sorry, this is going to offend a lot of people, but a lot of the time, Schumacher was fighting bums. And he was fighting people who were just rolling out of the pub and in many cases out of the police station. That literally happened. And then by the time he ended his career, he was driving against professional athletes. Lewis Hamilton entered the sport in a period where his braking technique was just godlike.
compared to the people he was racing against now all the kids coming through can break like that And also the sport doesn't necessarily lean towards that particular braking technique as something that sets you apart. Verstappen. changed the game in just going oh well you don't have to be a gentleman sorry holland but max verstappen is not a gentleman
Sorry, Holland, but Max Verstappen is not burdened by being a sportsman. He doesn't really care about sporting etiquette. He just wants to play those rules. And he came into a generation of drivers who kind of played by the rules a little bit. And he stunned them. And they were like, oh, I didn't know you could do that. And the stewards went, looked at the rule book and said, yeah, you can. You can do that. But he might already be experiencing.
smart drivers that come in and go oh well we can also do that like thanks max thanks for setting the trend of going we will do everything to the limit and we will make the stewards make the decision Now there's going to be a generation of drivers there. When Verstappen's 35, 40 years old, they're all going to be doing that if the stewards and the rules don't change it. So, yeah, Piastri has seen what Verstappen's done.
And to me, this is one of the things where you go, well, he's smart. I don't have to jump out of his way. That's what he said in Abu Dhabi. I don't have to jump out of your way. I'll just let you hit me and then actually buy the rule book. I don't want to risk having damage. So if you look at, like, signs, you know, that's an example. In the last race where, yeah, okay, he held his ground, Tsunoda hit him.
And he was out of the race. But in Abu Dhabi, Piastri decided to go, well, no, Verstappen's made a habit of going, I'll do this and you jump out of my way. I'm not going to. Here, he said, Verstappen makes a habit of... Just not breaking or lifting off the brakes and being ahead of the apex. I'm going to beat you at that game. And he has. So Verstappen might have found his match here a little bit in piano.
Well, we've seen Piastri already show his racing chops in the two years prior to this. He's made some great overtakes. He's not afraid, no matter what your status is, to make... and pull off audacious moves as well. And I think the key here as well is that the relationship between Piastri and Verstappen is completely the opposite to what Norris is and Verstappen. Norris has been in the sport longer.
So he's also become very good friends with Verstappen. Okay, yes, that relationship may have... soured a little bit off track because he knows that Verstappen isn't going to treat him like a friend on track. But Piastri has no attachments, has no really personal connections to Verstappen off track. He is racing for those wins. He's racing for that championship.
He doesn't care. He's going to treat him just like any other driver, use the rules to his advantage. And well, Lando again today, I just want to kind of maybe go back to Lando because I think we ignored it. Lando again showed today that... He still has a lot to learn when it comes to actual racing, which is crazy to think. I mean, I was head in hands when I saw Lando Norris. Foul twice in a row to overtake Lewis Hamilton. Oh my goodness. That DRS move. The switchback of Lewis.
The DRS, anyone who didn't actually tune into the race will know where the DRS is. Yeah, go on. Describe this one, Scott. Down the back straight. There's three DRS zones. One in the middle sector, which doesn't matter too much. There's one at the last sector. down towards the last corner. This is where you saw Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the past play DRS games. And the last DRS detection zone for the start-finish straight, to avoid those...
silly games that Leclerc and Verstappen had in 2022. Hamilton and Verstappen. No, this was... Oh, sorry, 22. Stopping on the brakes and so forth. They had that in 22. And to avoid any of this for safety reasons... they moved the drs detection round the last corner so if you overtake into the last corner it's pretty much
a detriment to yourself because that start finish straight is long enough with DRS for the driver you've just overtaken to come straight back at you. That's exactly what Lewis Hamilton did twice in a row because Lando... stupidly decided to not learn his lesson. It took him three times of asking before he actually learned. And you're just thinking, if that's Piastri or Verstappen, My issue is it shouldn't have even happened once.
He should have known exactly where those detection zones are because that is part of your job. You should know exactly. I mean, come on. You have one job and it's to know the circuit that you are currently about to do 50 laps of. So when he's coming up behind Lewis Hamilton, someone who he knows he has superior pace to, but also knowing how powerful DRS is, he should have been able to calculate where best to make that move happen. And we saw some excellent overtakes.
Various places on the track, for example, where Piastri and Albert both did those gorgeous sweeping overtakes. Stunning, right? Because they knew exactly where to make it happen. They had the grit to do so and the talent to execute. It's not that hard and it comes down to being able to make educated and calculated decisions behind the wheel that aren't just the result of you having the faster car.
Just a slightly broader general point in that, yeah, Piastri had that overtake on Hamilton. There was a 20-lap tyre delta on that. i think at the moment f1 has a real problem with there not being any kind of tire offset there's not really any kind of strategic options at the moment so uh we we really need like not uh piastri who's You know, the best driver in the best car on that race against a struggling Hamilton in the third best car with a 20 lap.
delta offset to pull off those kind of great overtakes and we're really not in a place this season Scott where we're getting, I think this season is in trouble because for whatever reason, the ties are just lasting forever. I mean, Bahrain was the outlier here because it was a very high abrasive circuit. Has kind of never been relayed, I don't think. I think there was a stat that it...
The surface is older than Kimi Antonelli or something, which was quite funny. But that showcased how important strategy and tyre offset is. in f1 especially with the regs and how close the cars are i mean that yeah the closeness of the cars is a big thing yeah they're highly developed now they're throwing off more dirty air i know that word gets used a lot but it truly is piastri stated in his interview afterwards
that he was feeling dirty air from the lap cars ahead from as far as four seconds back. That is, I mean, obviously Jed is a very high-speed circuit, but that's... That's the state at the moment we're in because the cars are so... developed in this last year but we need higher offsets we need a considerable different strategies when
We had a one-stop again this race, even though we're a step softer. We had similar in Suzuka. Melbourne potentially could have been the same as well. China was the same. I mean, Bahrain, one race where we've really seen on-track overtakes, I know it's not the be-all and end-all, but even a mix-up in strategies makes things interesting. Scott, I've gone full, I need overtakes.
so you know it's like oh i think i'm like that as well at the moment and i'm and i'm normally a very optimistic and positive guy five years ago five years ago like oh where are we gonna get that i know five years ago i was gatekeeping a lot and i was like hey guys you know come on
I know sometimes there's no overtakes and it looks like nothing's happening, but you just need to watch it better. I've moved, like how I used to enjoy E.T., but now I couldn't watch it. Even Logan's Run, one of my favourite films as a kid. I'd watch that now and I'm like, get on with it. Jeez. Yeah, just beat that robot guy and go to the Outlands. Now I do want, I do want a bit.
I think we can all agree Lando didn't need to pit today. Those hard tyres could have just gone on and on to the end of the race. What lap did he pit? 36, 37? He could have gone on to the softs and people are saying, no, the softs wouldn't have lasted. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm not sure. I think everyone was surprised by how much. So early in the race on the high fuel. there was a risk that some of the tyres would go off. So, here's my...
I said Piastri did eight things right and two things wrong. So the two things wrong is a little bit scruffy, I think, in Q3 and probably could have got... Okay, fine. He made up for that later with a great start. The other thing was, at the end of that first stint...
He couldn't keep up with Verstappen when Verstappen decided. So normally in that first kind of stint, everyone's managing their tyres, see how long they can get it going. But because of the five-second penalty, Verstappen decided, no, no, no, I'm going to try and pull a gap and let's see what I can do.
piastri then couldn't keep up so from them doing like 33s piastri did actually drop into the 34s and at the end of that medium stint He did start dropping off, which is really convenient for any middle-aged commentators who've been, you know, talking about this narrative about Piastri. struggling entire management. But if they'd have had to push that stint 10 laps longer, I think it would have got worse. But apart from that, yeah, there was no real drop.
It was that first sector which really cost Piastro. I was watching the timing screen. Yes, it was. He was losing on average around three temps per lap to Verstappen in that first sector and he'd recover it. on the remainder of the track where there wasn't so many turns. The first sector had, of course, turns one and turn two.
And then you had the most change of direction through that first sector, where actually Max was quick in all of qualifying through that first sector. So the Red Bull was strong in clean air. And there's only so long, even with no Degg, that... you're going to be able to last on those tyres before you're just sliding around a bit more with the dirty air. But yeah, he did struggle and that McLaren, I've said before, it's not this all supreme car.
It is very quick and clean air, but in dirty air, there's still a lot of work that both Lando and Oscar have to do to pull out performance. Yeah, I mean, it's easy in quality to simulate a perfect lap because, like we said earlier, you can have the toe, you can have near perfect conditions, you can get the...
slipstream and then cut away just before your brakes start getting angry with you. One thing that I found really interesting with the McLaren was how well it handled the tyres actually, especially compared to the Red Bull, for example. weren't running as high downforce as they were. The reason that I think that balanced out actually a bit more is because if you look at the ghost lap, which like Stuffy was saying, I really recommend you look at. The ghost lap was amazing, yeah.
So interesting. The most interesting thing for me was looking at the braking. If you see how late Max brakes compared to Piastri, it was ridiculous. And then Piastri then caught up because he could pick up the throttle earlier. But how pointy Max likes that Red Bull, I think compensates. for the downforce differences with the setup in the McLaren this weekend, just because it was so on the nose that actually in the end, it ended up pretty even in tyre distribution and day.
Okay, so when I looked at that ghost lap, it was so interesting. If you can find it, you have to go and find it. And through the high speed, left, right, like the high downforce corners, you could see how much of the McLaren was catching up. The most interesting thing I found stuffy was as a sim racer.
Like I'm pretty decent when we have the F4, F3 where, yeah, there's a little bit of aero, but it's mostly down to mechanical grip and you're feeling the weight transfer through your hands. When I watch the onboards, even from like Hamilton or anyone else. I suddenly realized why I'm not good once we step up to the Indy or the Mercedes that they have in iRacing or the Super Formula because...
You have to trust the downforce so much. It's nothing to do with your hands or the weight transfer. It's all about... Just knowing that you can throw it in and watch an onboard on a lap around the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It looks like the drivers are going to crash multiple times through the circuit and somehow the casting.
Yeah, it's really evident to see kind of the different driving styles and also the approach that McLaren have been taking. We've heard, obviously, Lando say that the car is a lot trickier to drive this year. kind of stone face as he always is doesn't show any emotion but they've run a much higher downforce package than the top teams at Bahrain and here yet they've been on pole position and 100th of a second off of pole only a toe from Max's teammate was the difference.
It showcases that there's still more potential and pace, in my opinion, in that McLaren at the moment. Max is truly showing. what the driver can do to make the difference. But maybe Piastri and Norris, obviously we know Norris is struggling more than Piastri. There's more that they can do with the setup of that car to extract performance from it. And maybe Max could get more out of that car with how he's able to...
control that red ball as we see. It's quite erratic sometimes watching the on-balls, the twitchiness and that. What's evident is that he is just so in control of that car and the brakes through corners. And the last corner in itself was just the amount. I mean, he wasn't even on shot when you watch that ghost lap. He's well behind Piastri. And then all of a sudden, he shoots through under breaking as Piastri is quite conservative. Piastri starts to gain a little bit as...
As Antonio said, with that extra downforce, he can pick up the throttle earlier. But Max just is truly making the difference at tracks where that Red Bull comes into that narrow window of performance. But I still think there's a lot more from McLaren. And will we see if improvements from the other teams arrive? Will McLaren start to try and eek more performance out of that car?
I'm interested to see. I think one thing that's been really interesting thus far this season is how low a lot of teams have been having their ride height. A lot of the downfalls of an F1 car comes from the floor. It's about a third overall distributed between the front, rear and floor.
And we've been seeing a lot more teams relying on it a lot more than they were before. And especially in a car like the Red Bull, where, like I said, Max has a very specific setup that a lot of drivers really struggle with. I think that's why a lot of the Red Bull second drivers have been struggling with it a lot. We've got to Red Bull second drivers, have we?
And I think it's really disappointing today that we didn't see how Tsunoda handled it around this track. Okay, but we have to ask, whose fault is it? Whose? Tsunoda versus Gasly. Whose fault is it? I will say tread softly for you tread on my dream. I'm not playing into your weird little obsession right now. I've been pushing against this for years. Yeah, you're anti-Synoda. You're a Synoda hater, full on. You're a full on Synoda hater. Yeah, you always have been.
I think there's just some weird short king bromance going on. I think as a long person, you just cannot respect people with less long bones. That's how I feel. There's less... I give them proportional respect. Them? As if I'm not them. I'm them. You're talking to me. No, I... that i mean textbook what what was that i'm sorry that was wild to me that whole again they know that corner this is what gets me and it really ticks me off because there was
absolutely zero self-awareness there's a sense it's called the sixth sense of your body called proprioception It's the idea that if I put my hand somewhere randomly and close my eyes I know where my hand is in relation to my body. And with F1 drivers, a big part of their job is knowing where the car is in relation to them. They always say that it feels like an extension of their own body.
Where was that energy today from Mr. Yuki Tsunoda and Mr. Pierre Gasly? Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, I'm 100%. It's Yuki's fault. No, I agree. I do. But... I don't think that he was entirely a passenger in that to be honest Pierre
But it was Yuki's fault. It was 100% his fault. So there's a couple of Austria scenarios. Turn four, I think we had like Perez versus Russell. And you go, okay, yes, the inside car shouldn't... steer or understeer out into the outside car but you know the outside car has a has a choice So we said this with Sainz in the last Grand Prix against Tsunoda, actually. Sainz could have jumped off the track, couldn't he, when Tsunoda ended up getting on the throttle too quickly and hitting Sainz again.
I did blame Tsunoda for that. could have gone, OK, discretion, better part of Valor, I'll jump out of the way. He's done the Senna thing. OK, so what Tsunoda's done, two races in a row. is the Senna thing that we all admire and the Verstappen thing that we all admire. Either get off my way or I'll crash. And the two drivers in both incidents have just gone, no, I'm entitled to this bit of racetrack.
And I think they're right. I think Gasly today was entitled to stay four wheels on the racetrack. And good, he was right. But in the end, that ended up with Tsunoda clattering him from behind. I think a part of that issue as well is what we were just saying about this Red Bull, about having to just throw it into the corner and put it where it is and hope for the best. Tsunoda will still be learning the limits of this Red Bull because it will be a lot...
it will be a lot different to what he's used to, obviously. I just think Tsunoda thought he owned the corner and he didn't. And so EJ just said, so Yuki couldn't have gone much tighter due to the walls and stuff. Yeah, but he could have gone slower. You could have gone slower. He didn't need to throw it in and hope for the best. No, you could have gone slower and not gone all the way to the outside. Like that was a choice.
stuffy stuffy yeah i've just watched it back because i was just trying to remind myself of it um and It's a tricky one because it's the start of the race. I feel like if I do put more blame on Yuki because I think there's a point of where you have to go. okay, even though these cars are as large as they are and visibility is an issue, Gasly is more than ahead, pretty much. I mean, he's got his rear wheels, his front wheel to rear wheel, and Gasly is there. And I think Yuki to try and...
hold on to that position is a bit wishful thinking. Gasly also maybe could have given a bit more of a wider line. Gasly says, oh, I was trying to... Keep my wheels there. But then on the other hand, that's also the curb. We saw lots of curb strikes there. The actual entry to it, we saw the front of the floor, Lando, Max Verstappen, Piastri. They all had moments there. Of course, Lando, the biggest.
But I think Yuki ultimately could have scrubbed off more speed. He was as tight as possible, but he's ultimately drifted into Gasly there. However, can I just say, I think it was still a positive weekend for Yuki, even though he crashed the last corner. Yeah, it wasn't a lawsony. What would Yuki fans have asked for this weekend? We'd have said Q3. I think every weekend Q3 for Yuki is a positive. As long as there's some form of progression and him feeling more and more comfortable in the car.
then that's all you can ask for in that second red ball. That's what every other blooming second red ball driver has struggled with. So a low bar, but good, I think, for Yuki, even though... I think another key takeaway from this weekend, speaking about the issue with the second Red Bull seat. One thing it's really clarified for me is the extent that Lawson has just completely folded in on himself.
And I think it's such a shame. I really do. Lawson was nowhere this weekend. Hadjar was running circles around him. I will say Hadjar, 10 out of 10, he's really making a positive impression. Great job he's doing. But I really find it difficult to watch in a way. I've got to the point now where it's... We've seen Lawson get two races in this car. And then in what was... I think quite a brazen publicity stunt. They put Yuki in for their last race with Honda at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Before giving Lawson, let me speak, before giving Lawson a proper chance at the seat. In my opinion, a contract goes both ways. If you are letting a driver be given this brilliant opportunity to race for the first team, you know, he's promoted. How exciting.
you need to give them some coaching, some time, some support help them in the role that you've given them you cannot plonk a driver in a seat like that and go where's my results hello and you can see the extent that it's knocked lawson because he's sat in this v carb or however many letters it is And he's really fighting for it, which he wasn't before. Yeah. Anyway, I feel like...
It's Yuki's fault and I feel sad and I would just like a solid weekend with a nice top five. Is that too much to ask? Your teammate finished P2. Just give us a top five. You don't need to chin Gasly lap one. That was an Alpine. You are in a red bull. You are in the car that came in pole position. You don't have to rush it. You will get past that Alpine. Come on, Yuki. Give me something. Give me something. Ferrari. Oh, Ferrari. Okay. So. A lot of positives for Ferrari this weekend, except...
They were meant to be title contenders, and they haven't got there. And they were meant to be giving my favorite driver, Lewis Hamilton, a platform to be brilliant. And frankly, he's not being at all brilliant. So the first thing I want to say is there was always a Ferrari-shaped hole ahead of... Mercedes and behind the front two and now I think Ferrari have filled that they're in that that space now and they've kind of shown how far Mercedes is behind
But it is all Leclerc. Hamilton is at sea. He is nowhere right now. Is Ferrari plural? Is it made up of two Ferraros? Anyway, Ferraro of Charles Leclerc is absolutely phenomenal. Mr. Ferraro is doing such a brilliant job in that car, finally extracting a baseline level of success. That's not sporadic top threes. It's consistent and that's finally where they've worked to be for so long.
But in the other half of the garage, we can all see it plainly now. It's not adding up. Something is not there between Lewis and his car. We could try denial. We could try just being fully in denial. You can. I'm too young for that. Oh, yeah. Good point. I just think... And this is really harsh. This is, sorry, sorry. Close your ears, spanners. I think Lewis is completely unadaptable and is at a stage in his career after so many years. Well, in his life, Antonia.
Um, how old is he? Like 40? Yeah, 40's old, man. Wow, old man. You said that with a grimace on your face as well. I'm not, I can't, I'm not, yeah, I'm 44. I can't adapt to Jack. But I think he's at a stage in his career where he is not adaptable anymore. He's not mouldable anymore.
Again, I hate to say this. I love Lewis and I love Ferrari. It's not going to happen. It's not going to work. He's not going to magically fit in that car like Play-Doh because the Play-Doh is set. He's old. Stuffy, I'm where Antonia is right now. it hurts it hurts it sucks no no but someone said to me someone said to me but pre-season you said six months for any driver changing team I'm like yeah any driver not Lewis obviously not Lewis Lewis needs to hit the ground running and
Man, Scott, you don't know. Like, you two don't know. Antonio, you're well behind your peak. You're like pointlessly young, but Stuffy, you're right in your peak right now. But you will never feel more vital and vibrant than you do right now. It only goes downhill because right now you don't know what you have to lose. You guys have got no idea.
how much you have to lose in life. You just think, oh, it's brilliant. Let's just go for everything. Let's just risk everything. When you get to 44, you kind of go, oh, I've got stuff. Also, if I dedicate a whole bunch of time to learning this brand new skill, I'll have to discount the other brilliant things in my life. Whereas, Antonio, you're still young enough to learn to juggle, for example. I would never at my stage in life now bother learning to juggle. But you have the time to do that.
To be fair, I'm learning Dutch, which is just as clowny. Oh my god, why? It's so hard. I'm a German speaker, so I thought, piece of cake, right? But they... Excuse you, okay? sorry Dutchies love you so much thank you for letting me stay in your country Hate the language so much. Don't get it. Really don't like. Anyway, I understand it because I can speak German, but then it's kind of like if German had an American accent and like you were a tomboy.
That's the best way I can explain. Anyway, I can't remember my point anymore. Oh, that you were learning Dutch. Right. It's too little too late for me. I think Lewis should have left Mercedes. 2023 a couple of years ago when it became clear that they weren't going to bounce back the way that they expected from the incident And I think that Lewis is not adapting quickly enough for what Ferrari need because the car is clearly there. And with all of the...
What's become clear with Kimi Antonelli joining Mercedes and George taking on the role he has... so effectively which is the first driver who's feeding back communicating driving consistently driving well Lewis wasn't doing that last year. George is doing a considerably better job than him. And I do think it might be time for the conversation. It might be. We might be getting close. Scott, was ist ein Meinung?
No idea what that means. What's your opinion? I just want to touch on Hamilton. I disagree, Antonio. I don't think that Ferrari is still a good car. I think what we've got is a scenario akin to Red Bull where we have a driver who is... Extremely good. Who has been at that team for multiple years. and knows how to drive that Ferrari engine and
That car, he is wrangling the absolute neck out of that Ferrari at the moment, Charles Leclerc. And I don't think it's, there is praise for Charles, but I don't think because he's not sticking it on pole position and because the car isn't there. I don't think he's quite getting the praise that it deserves. I mean, his first in today was...
was lovely. He went the longest on the medium tyres. Yes, he was so good. And he was doing 32s, Scott, as well. I was sitting purples. Couldn't believe it. Him, he wasn't lapping any faster than him on fresh tyres. It was, I was like, whoa, where has this come from?
I think you're hearing a lot of complaints on the radio with Lewis. And I'm thinking, this is like I'm listening to the second Red Bull driver. They're struggling with the car, complaining about the car sliding around the place. And I think Lewis... Yes, his age is a factor, but he's not as adaptable as he used to be. That's just biology. But I think this current era of cars, Lewis has never got to grips with them. How bulky they are, how laboured they are for the corners.
That's not what Lewis is used to. I think it'll be a reset for him next year. But yeah, I think credit, definitely more praise needs to go to Charles because... is the result of a dogged Ferrari in my opinion and Lewis is truly showing where that car should be. I understand where you're coming from, but I think you're completely wrong. Just because Carlos wasn't this far behind. Full stop. He was still getting podiums.
He wasn't on Charles' level. That's because he's not as good of a driver as Charles. Carlos had driven the Ferrari for what? what, three, four years? I don't think Lewis has driven it for five races. Lewis has got seven championships under his belt. That's a very different amount of length of time that Lewis has driven this car after driving the Mercedes for 10, 12 years.
Just because Lewis isn't adaptable, it doesn't mean he's a bad driver. He should be able to lap what Carlos Sainz was lapping. I don't think that's a debate, to be honest. I think, yes, he's unfamiliar. Yeah, there's going to be an adjustment period. He's still one of the best drivers of all time. You know, like, it's like, it's like saying, you know, like, okay, I drive a Beamer, right? Of course you do.
Right. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. I know what an indicator is. I use it sometimes when I'm feeling whimsical. Right. You disconnect it before you drive. I'm not going to be as comfortable if I hop in. a vw after never driving one before fine that doesn't mean that i'm crashing this car constantly for example it just means that i'm not going to be as good at you know nailing the apex of the roundabout for example Lewis hasn't lost all of his ability, but Ferrari isn't a complete shitbox.
And I think to say that it's not... Oh, I'm so sorry. No, we'll let it ride. Kids, if you've learned that word from Aunty Antonia today, I do apologise. i i i think it harsh to say that the Ferrari isn't a good car because I think it is otherwise it wouldn't be on the podium I also think that the Red Bull is a good car it's just difficult to drive unless you know it very well I think that the Ferrari has the capacity to be
two drivers on the podium every other weekend. Maybe not every weekend. They're not the best car. But I don't think it's as bad as the Red Bull problem. They're the third best car, in my opinion. And the fourth best car is Mercedes. And I continue... My admiration of George Russell this season. So this weekend, he had no tools to go fighting against the top guys, but he went and fought against them anyway. And yes, he ultimately lost out. And I think, you know, Leclerc...
being faster and the Ferraris filling in that Ferrari-shaped hole that I talked about before. And also, you know, Norris coming through the pack. But Norris identified... Sorry. Russell identified at every point what was going on with his car, was smart, and maybe this time did open himself up to a bit of graining, but recognised that, and was calling for the suicide. Tire swap at the end. Hey, guys!
Do you think, and I think this was like four laps from the end, should I pit again and just throw away this entire race result? Which was a little bit silly, but he was just talking about like... His tyre was opening up, which did show that the top three teams were fairly comfortable on tyre wear. Mercedes were struggling. But I think this race... shows you how good Russell has been doing and maximising his result.
to get the results from the first four or five races. I think this race, to me, is a little bit more representative of where I thought Mercedes would be, Scott. Yeah, I'm really intriguing about the tyres because I didn't expect Mercedes to be... this slow and suffer with the tyres as they did I think arguably you could say they were one of the worst teams on the grid with tyres well in the top half yeah
Yeah, I mean, well, their overall pace is always going to be ahead of a stake F1, as an example. But I think if you probably looked at the state of the tyres at the end of the race in relative... relative comparison i mean they really dropped off i was really surprised about that but george is he's just quietly going about his business he said something that i thought was brilliant at the start of the week because he's the only driver who doesn't have a
signed for next season and that's still up in the air and of course all the hoo-ha about will Max stay? Will he won't stay?
when you go to mercedes and they asked george and they said well you don't have a contract yet are you worried blah blah blah and he said no he said everyone can have a contract so he goes you see drivers have a lack of performance and they lose their seat because of even when they've got a contract and he said something that i thought was brilliant and he said a driver's currency is their performance if you're performing you have a lot of currency and you'll maintain yourself
And at the moment, I'm performing. That's all I'm focused on about this weekend, the weekend after. And I think he is absolutely nailing it at the moment in that Mercedes and getting the most he can. George was one of the drivers of the weekend for me. Sounds silly because he was nowhere in the race. But the way that he handled the tyre degradation, but also the way that he led the team, he communicated with them, the way that he drove and the role that he assumed.
I think was exemplar and incredibly impressive. the way that Charles Leclerc is Mr. Ferrari. I do think that George is assuming the Mr. Mercedes role in a very impressive way and in a difficult race scenario. He did an excellent job today. Excellent. Let's move on to... Okay, that was a...
fine Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It gave us a lot of talking points. And as we get to the end of this show, all I will say is that now we are going to do our awards, but... if you would like to support us on patreon and if you've got this far with just antonia and stuffy just yelling at me then maybe you might look at our patreon because that is the only way that we are able to put out
eight, nine shows a month, and that we are able to prioritize Miss Apex over other work. And the only reason that we are going to be out, you know, in Miami, maybe Cota, maybe Montreal, that we're going to have a Silverstone event. The Patreon support basically empowers us to do this as a full-time endeavour.
to push forward, to try and grow. So patreon.com forward slash Mist Apex. You get an ad-free feed. Join us in Discord and just have that warm, fluffy feeling that if you didn't support Mist Apex... then the whole of iTunes top charts would be... Those big evil. No, they're not evil. But, you know, it would be all like, you know, the top funded websites, newspapers, magazines and stuff. And we are able to be the top independent F1 podcast in those charts.
because of you patreon.com forward slash missed apex so we're gonna do our negative award the mistake And then we'll do the positive award so that we can end, you know, on a high note. So we'll start off by asking who missed the apex for you. Oh, no, you missed the apex. Let's start with Antonio Rankin. Antonio. Your main thing isn't this long form.
habit of just chatting with middle-aged people uh and being grumpy about formula one no you're a dynamic vertical stroll scroll stroll vertical scroll how dare you vertical scroll star of TikTok and Instagram. How are things going in that content? Contrary to what this podcast might suggest about my ability to argue with middle-aged men, I like to think semi-successfully. Yeah, you seem like you do okay.
I actually am a presenter. I actually do like present stuff and that's quite fun. And I really like it, which is always good. So, yeah. Where should people go to follow you, Antonio? On Instagram and on TikTok, I am Antonia.Rankin. And we have fun on TikTok. I treat TikTok like... the little vent space for all of my opinions and teaching people stuff that they don't want to have teached to them.
And then Instagram, we have a lot of fun on there too. So yeah, come say hi because I like to think that it's nice. I love your TikTok because like you are... essentially as grumpy as i am but you dress it up in a lie of being vibrant and young and happy but like it's all with this sarcastic Fallout thumbs up. So do follow Antonia by clicking the links in the show notes below. But who missed the apex for you?
in a very literal sense, Max Verstappen, and not just... for this one manoeuvre because I don't think it was that serious. But the debate that it's opened up for me about the way in which drivers approach the sport, I think is very interesting in a way of trying to beat the regulations rather than their opponents. I think it opens up a really interesting and important wider debate.
I mean, you tell me Christian Horner has a very compelling screenshot. OK, so that is actually that is my Missed Apex Award is because Christian Horner. So Christian Horner gets my Missed Apex Award. Because he keeps doing this where he'll present... a printout that someone has obviously printed out for him that he then goes and he sits and he's like...
his Trumpian media circle. Sorry, sorry, sorry, but it's true. And he'll go, look, look, I've got this screenshot. And the screenshots of the outboards exist. yet you are still pushing this screenshot that is very selective of later in the corner where Verstappen is ahead. Like, you must know... that what you're doing is very, very easily disprovable, yet you think that you can just go out and change the narrative with your...
Screenshot. It's wrong. It's weird. Anyway. So anyway, that's my Missed Apex Award. You can follow me by going to Instagram and searching for Spanners Ready or searching for Spanners Ready on X or Blue Sky. Scott. Hey, mate. Hey. All right. Yeah, good dude. What's up? I'm all right. You're all right, good. Earlier, you watched the race and you let other people watch the race with you.
track map yeah but like you not live footage copyright reasons obviously no but you like put the camera on you and you were like nah don't listen to an ex racing driver You were like, don't listen to, you know, someone who's won Grand Prix. Don't listen to someone who's, you know, gone through the Junior Series. Just listen to Stuffy. No, you don't need to listen to expert analysis from Sky or F1 TV. Watch along with Scott.
I mean, lots of people. Lots of people did it. Lots of people. Thankfully, I mean, it's the biggest compliment. They actually turned. their tv coverage i can't believe that you listen to me and that's the biggest compliment in the world so thank you everyone who does tune in i think i think with with the the handicap of your accent i think you've done really well To be fair, this is an all Essex podcast, isn't it? Oh my gosh, it is. International viewers. Come on.
Somewhere in the South. I see me. I see me for the win. Queen Bodicea would be very, very proud. But Scott, what is your channel and where can we find it? And people should definitely watch along the F1 race with you. Yes, they should. My channel is stuffy. If you don't know how to spell it, link will be in the show notes below. So head down there and drop me a subscribe.
few races just just see what you're missing out and why so many people enjoy it but my miss the apex award this weekend can i have two you can of course you can so the first one is the obvious one no one said lando i mean I feel like, once again, it wasn't just qualifying because he literally missed the apex. He was wired of that wall of turn four, which caused him to run out wide. Well, he hit it too much.
I think that's what caused him to go out wide. He was so on that apex. The exit curb, but the inside wall, he was wide of it. Everyone else was like centimeters away. He was... more than that uh and then also his lack of race craft with lewis i just think just that potentially cost him a podium today because he fell short of charging also everyone uh else had to do the lewis
And basically Norris failed the Lewis challenge. Piastri nailed it around the outside. And also Verstappen dispatched Lewis. So like everyone else passed the Lewis. Gatekeeper to the podium. Painful. Oh, no. But yeah, Norris keeps failing at these wheel-to-wheel. He took a long time to get past Leclerc last weekend as well.
I think he should be cruising past. Yeah. Yeah. And I just think Piastri is not even going to be concerned when hopefully we do eventually get them go well to. I can't believe we're five races in and we still only seen him on the front row once, which was Melbourne. So Lando, please sort it out and provide us some entertainment, please. Secondly...
I'm going to give it a broadcasting thing, which was Martin Brundle. I don't know if anyone saw this. I think it was in Quali. I can't remember the session. He actually suggested Jack Doohan break check. oh now some people will say it's tongue-in-cheek and i don't really hold too many people to account with these kind of like comments but
I don't know. I feel like Martin Brundle has a couple of things he also said over this weekend. I just thought... I've got one. I've got one. Are you losing your touch a little bit, Martin? No, I don't want to say that. I don't know. Martin Brundle has been brilliant. I feel like there's some things recently where I'm a bit like... Well, we tend not to criticise the book. But since you've brought this up... No, that's exactly what I'm doing. Since you started it. So, okay, so...
I think Brundle's done a thing that a lot of people do with Hamilton, in that Hamilton is held to a different standard somehow than other drivers. So there's one particular thing that got me. May I just say that Martin Brundle is a broadcast hero of mine. I feel like he saved us from Murray Walker, so...
Please see that it's from a general place of love. But he called Verstappen's playing the referee around the outside very clever, genius level. He's always thinking, he's always looking for that extra thing. When Hamilton... did it with the DRS when he braked a little early, which, yeah, I'd agree. That might be a little dangerous, but he called that naughty.
The only worst thing he could have said was to call it cheeky or facetious. But to call that naughty and then Verstappen's thing where he's also playing those same rules and those same mind games. Genius.
I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but since the whole thing of like... hate Max Verstappen they're so British biased you always notice a little bit of like overcompensation yeah no 100% it gets quite noticeable where it's like you are just glazing Verstappen for breathing the comments but like it gets to a point where it's like okay it's a British broadcast they're probably going to like the British drivers more
You know, it gets quite tiresome. I'm already getting some heat for the comment of saving us from Murray Walker. I loved Murray Walker as well. But Murray Walker came from an era where it was... I just have to make this as exciting as possible and as fairly uninformed viewers as we were in the 80s. The 80s is a real time, by the way, Antonia.
And the 90s, we just didn't have the same information. Did everyone really wear leggings? Was that a thing? Mate, you should have seen me at the roller disco with my big fluffy socks in the 90s. No image that I want to see. Apologise right now. Yeah.
What would spanners look like with a chimney on him? My goodness. But yeah, in that time, it was all about the excitement. And then Martin Brundle came along and started pointing out, you know, the points where Murray Walker would get stuff wrong and wouldn't. you know, realize that, you know, he'd get confused between different teammates and stuff. And Brundle was the first proper analyst.
in Formula One, who informed the viewers. And I think Martin Brundle educated a lot of the F1 viewing audience, which is why I'm reluctant. But I do think there might be a bit of a blind spot with Hamilton. So why was Hamilton naughty? And why was Verstappen a genius? But these are normal broadcasting things. People getting habits, people getting grooves. So who have we not done a Missed Apex Award for? I think we've done it all. So we're moving on to the good thing now, aren't we? I think.
So we get to be positive. So now we say, who hit the apex? This is our Good Thing Awards. So, Antonia, who hit the apex for you?
The very specific moment in which Piastri performed that God-level overtake. You're going to give it that? Okay. Yeah, swooping around those corners. It was... so perfectly executed and you see it in the replays the way he just tucks in afterwards before that gorgeous sweeping corner it stunning it's so perfectly done it showed such calculation i think it was just exemplar and a real evidence of
how piastri has been a little bit overlooked and this is such a small thing and it's really probably a really controversial opinion i think piastri would be so much more popular and people would believe in him so much more If he had a personality as Lando Norris. Oh, sorry. I mean... Piastri isn't trying to win the media. I mean, I wasn't going to say that. I wasn't going there. He's really nice. Piastri, he's not trying to media. He's not trying to do a Daniel Ricciardo, is he?
He's not a nasty boy, you know, and he's not overconfident in the media and he doesn't play games and whatever. And I think that's why he gets unfairly overlooked. And now people are finally going, yeah, I can't do that anymore. But with the drive to survive generation, you know, Ricardo developed a lot of clicks.
for that by being a big personality, as did Lando Norris. And then there was like drama. Lewis Hamilton will provide drama by telling you everything he's feeling. And Horner as well. And the whole Red Bull garage will provide drama by being aggressive. Whereas Piastri is just, you know, he's the kind of guy, you know, you go, what happened after your race victory? You say, yeah, I was so excited that I came home. I went upstairs and I threw my girlfriend on the bed.
And then I vacuumed the spot that she was standing on. And that is just Fiastri's general media persona. No comment. That's a really old joke, by the way. Scott, who hit the apex for you? I'll give one. And then if it's not. If you don't say the same one, I'll say another one, basically. I want two, because I'm being greedy today. Do it, do it, do it. First one is, I think it has to go to Carlos Sainz. I think he's finally finished.
in the top 10. It's been a great weekend for him and he did a tremendous job in playing the team game to give his teammate Alex Albon the DRS to hold off and also very well performing Isaac Hayes. because he got Williams double points today. And I think Williams, supposedly for a team that are focusing solely on 2026, have made a very good start. But they did say that they're turning the taps off.
of the wind tunnel. They said, that's it. We're done for 2021. For the next season? No, for now. They're the first team that has just said, nope, we're done. Yeah, that's what I thought. They're all eggs in the basket for 26. I mean, they need to reap the rewards while they can, I guess. But yeah, great qualifying from signs and a great race to round it off. I think it goes without saying most teams will be all eyes forward to 2026 right now. The amount of changes that it will bring.
especially with all of these crazy regulations in terms of the size of the cars, there will be... so much research going into these cars from 2023 even as soon as they knew these regulations were coming and we'll start to see a drop-off of which teams have really really pushed
for this huge change and have stopped putting research in because we'll just see teams like Haas do what they did in 2021 and just go we don't care anymore sorry and I think that's great it's so exciting and it builds up a lot of a lot of talk and a lot of predictions for next season. And I think that can only be a good thing. I mean, yeah, I don't want to dwell on what happens with 26 too much, but could we see, could either... Or... Or...
It just becomes quite bland and it's just Red Bull McLaren at the front. I don't know. I'm a bit concerned about them turning, a lot of teams putting sole focus. on next season. No doubt there'll be a, probably a line that they've decided, a racetrack where things don't work out for them. That's it. It's all wise on 26. But hopefully it doesn't spoil the rest of this season.
It's Hajar. So Hajar must have looked at Tsunoda and gone, oh, I'm doing all right. I'm sort of keeping up with him vaguely. And then he gets promoted and they go, OK, well, Lawson, that's a different thing. Oh, I've got him covered. have absolutely got him covered. And I think at the moment, yeah, Visa Cash App, they've got a good car. and Hajar's doing great, and he's outperforming Lawson.
But you go, OK, I think if Tsunoda was there, I do think that Tsunoda would be doing better. But even if Hadjar's gap to Tsunoda had persisted and Tsunoda had not been promoted, I think Hadjar would still be.
my thing of the weekend quite often. So well done to him. And I think for him, the skies have opened up. It's like your biggest opponent went into the pits and now he's able to kind of... breathe there's snow does not there he's got lawson who's very unsettled who's really struggling and he's looking he's looking really good and it looks like they've found a way to accommodate his
extra needs, you know, he needs a little bit more room, you know, downstairs. And it looks like they've managed to accommodate the seatbelt for him there. He's got a little bit of drinks, bottled issues, but yeah, Hajar. is looking like he could settle in and be one of the stars of 2020.
I was just going to say that was going to be my second thing if you didn't say it. So I'm so glad that you did. Okay, good, good, good. Yeah, I'm so glad that he's really hitting the ground running, especially after what could have been. and just ruin this whole season for him after what happened in australia so he's bounced back brilliantly and excited to see more of him
Go and follow my panel. Go and follow Scott Stuffy Tuffy by clicking the links in the show notes below. He does a bunch of other stuff, but really only the YouTube is worth bothering with. Follow Antonia Rankin. I think TikTok is still the main place to go and follow you. And go and follow Spammers.
He's the best one. I think the best place to follow me right now is probably on X and on Blue Sky. But do make sure if you want to come and hang out with us in Miami or Silverstone, you email me spanners at mistapex.net. subject line Miami or Silverstone May 3rd that's the main one we've got a good crowd there I'm really looking forward to hanging out with a bunch of you and we will catch you next And there's going to be, oh, so there's going to be the Miami preview. We're going to be live.
from talladega there's going to be a nascar special as well and then there's going to be a live sprint review from miami as well as an in location miami review until we see you next work hard be kind and have fun this was Misty Pax Podcast. Man, it's 20 past midnight. But we are all in Essex, so time to hit the club. Do you belong here? Trouble shooting an engine in a military workshop? What's your gut saying? Wanna turn the volume down?
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