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Term
P2
P2 means starting second on the grid. Starting near the front usually makes it easier to manage the race.
Person
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton is one of the most successful Formula 1 drivers ever. In this part of the episode, they’re talking about how he got a good start and managed the race to win.
Topic
British GP in 2024
They’re talking about the British Grand Prix from 2024 as an example. The point is to compare what happened there to what’s happening now.
Person
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is a top Formula 1 driver who has won world championships. In this segment, he’s linked to a safety-car-like moment (VSC) that changed how the race played out.
Person
George Russell
George Russell is a Formula 1 driver. Here they’re talking about him starting from pole and doing a strong job at the beginning to keep the lead.
Term
wing
The wing is the car’s aerodynamic part that helps it stick to the track. It can make the car faster in corners, but it has trade-offs like added air resistance.
Term
three-stop
A three-stop strategy means the driver plans to change tires three times. It can help if the car is much faster on new tires, but it costs time in the pits.
Term
VSC
VSC (Virtual Safety Car) is when race control makes everyone slow down using the car’s systems, without a real safety car on track. It can change strategy because pitting during VSC can cost less time.
Term
tyre delta
“Tyre delta” is basically how much faster one car is because its tires are in better shape. If one driver’s tires are working better, they can gain time lap after lap. During race slow-down periods, that time advantage can become even more important.
Concept
safety car
A Safety Car is when the race slows down because there’s something unsafe on the track. Cars bunch up together, so the time gaps between them shrink. That can completely change the strategy for pit stops and tire use.
Term
yellow flag infringement
A yellow flag means “danger ahead—drive carefully.” If a driver doesn’t slow down enough or ignores the caution rules, that’s a yellow flag infringement. It can result in a penalty, which is why it can affect how fans feel during a tense race moment.
Term
race pace
“Race pace” means how fast the car can stay over the whole race, not just for one quick lap. It depends on tire wear and how the car behaves after a few laps.
Term
one lap pace
“One lap pace” is how fast the car is for a single lap. It’s like a best-effort sprint lap, which may not be the same as how fast the car stays over an entire race.
Person
Carlo Santy
Carlo Santy is the person in the pit wall who talks to the driver during the race. In this segment, they say his upbeat, clear communication helped Hamilton stay confident and consistent.
Person
Kimi Reichen
Kimi Reichen is referenced as someone Santy used to work with. The hosts bring it up to explain Santy’s experience level, not to analyze Reichen’s driving.
Term
radio
“Radio” means the live messages between the driver and the team during the race. The team can tell the driver what to do next and confirm whether they’re hitting the right targets.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is one of the famous Formula 1 teams. Here, the host is praising Ferrari’s race strategy—how they planned pit stops and tire choices—to help them win.
Term
soft tire
In F1, “soft” tires are built to grip the track better, so the car can go faster. The trade-off is they usually don’t last as long as harder tires.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is another top Formula 1 team. In this moment, the host is saying Ferrari’s strategy made Mercedes have to react instead of controlling the race themselves.
Topic
pit stops
A pit stop is when the car pulls in to change tires and get service. In F1, the exact timing matters a lot, especially when the race is slowed down by officials.
Place
Catalonia
Catalonia is the Spanish region where the Barcelona race track is. When they say “Catalonia,” they usually mean the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend.
Topic
practice
Practice is the time before the race where teams try things out and learn how the car feels. It’s often used to predict who will be fast on race day.
Term
tarmac
Tarmac just means the asphalt track surface. In racing, the exact surface can change grip and tire behavior, so it can affect who performs well.
Term
tyres degraded
“Tyres degraded” means the tires lose grip and performance over a stint as they wear and heat-cycle. In F1, how quickly tires degrade can strongly affect race strategy and which team looks fastest at different points in the race.
Topic
Austria
Austria is being mentioned as the next race the host wants to use to confirm the trend. One race can be misleading, so they want more data.
Place
Silverstone
Silverstone is a well-known Formula 1 race track in the UK. The host is saying they’ll look at how teams do there to see if the improvement is real.
Term
sliding
Sliding means the car isn’t gripping the track as well as it should, so it moves sideways or rotates more than you want. If a driver is struggling with sliding, it usually makes the car slower and harder to drive.
Person
Kimmy Antonelli
Kimmy Antonelli is one of the drivers being talked about a lot in this part of the race. The hosts say he was strong late in the race and made a big pass, and they also treat him like a serious contender for the championship.
Term
tyre wear
Tyre wear is how much the tyres get used up during the race. If someone is “comfortable” late in tyre wear, it means their car still feels controllable even as the tyres lose grip.
Term
overtake
An overtake is when one driver passes another car during the race. The host is praising Antonelli’s pass as especially impressive, meaning it was done well despite the other car being nearby.
Term
racing line
The racing line is the best path around a corner to go faster. If a driver gets pushed off it, they have to take a less optimal route and usually lose speed or control.
Term
pole
Pole position means you qualify fastest and start the race from the very front. The host is saying Russell did great in qualifying, but the race didn’t go as well as it could have.
Concept
points matter that much at this point
F1 uses points to decide the championship, but not every race’s points feel equally important. Sometimes people focus more on whether a driver is showing real race speed and progress, not just the number of points from one weekend.
Term
final stint
A “stint” is how long the car stays on one set of tires. The “final stint” is the last part of the race, usually when tires are wearing out and the car’s grip changes a lot.
Car
McLaren
McLaren is a Formula 1 team. The hosts are basically saying McLaren had a car that was competitive, but the results depended on how each driver could extract pace.
Term
Grand Prix
A “Grand Prix” is just a single Formula 1 race weekend. When they mention “Miami” or “here,” they’re talking about different races on the F1 schedule.
Person
Lando Norris
Lando Norris is a Formula 1 driver. In this part of the race review, the hosts say he helped McLaren perform better, especially compared to their rivals.
Place
Monaco
Monaco is a Grand Prix held on a very tight street track. The host is saying it’s unusually difficult and unpredictable compared with other races.
Place
Miami
Miami is another Formula 1 race. The host is using it as an example of how McLaren has been doing well recently.
Term
ground effect era
Ground effect is when a race car’s shape under the bottom helps push it down to the track using airflow. “Ground effect era” just means the rules/design period where that kind of aero mattered a lot.
Term
engine
In F1, the engine is the main power source, but it’s managed very precisely. When they say a team must control its own engine, they mean it can run its power system the way it wants.
Term
battery
The battery in an F1 car stores energy and helps the car use extra power when needed. How well the team manages it can change how fast the car feels lap after lap.
Term
gearbox
The gearbox is how the car changes gears to stay in the right power band. In F1, it’s tuned so the car accelerates efficiently and stays manageable on tires.
Term
multiple stops
“Multiple stops” means the driver pits more than once during the race. Pitting again can give you better grip from newer tires, but it also costs time, so teams try to balance both.
Person
Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri is an F1 driver. Here they’re talking about how he handled the race strategy well—especially the pit stops and tire management—to win.
Term
track position
“Track position” means who is ahead on the track. In F1, being in front is often a big advantage because it can be harder for others to pass you, especially when tires are wearing out.
Term
offensive
“On the offensive” means trying to take control and gain positions, not just react. Here they’re saying Piastri wasn’t really trying to attack—he was mostly defending or losing ground.
Person
Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc is an F1 driver. They’re describing a moment where he passed Piastri, then pulled away, while Verstappen stayed out of reach.
Term
DNF
DNF means the driver didn’t finish the race. Usually it’s because of a crash or a mechanical problem, so they have to retire early.
Term
did not start
“Did not start” means the driver couldn’t begin the race. Something prevented them from getting on the grid—often a problem with the car or a health issue.
Brand
Red Bull
Red Bull is an F1 team. The speaker is saying that if their car had been strong enough, Verstappen could have fought for the top positions.
Person
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen is a leading Formula 1 driver. Here, the host is saying he did the best he could in the race by getting a strong result even if the team wasn’t fully fighting at the front.
Term
recovery drive
A “recovery drive” is when a driver has a bad start and then fights back to gain places. They’re basically trying to make up for lost time during the race.
Person
Isaacadja
The host is talking about a specific driver who had a rough start and then had to fight back during the race. The name in the transcript looks misspelled, so the exact driver may need confirmation.
Term
reliability issue
A reliability issue is basically a car problem that makes it unsafe or impossible to continue. If it causes retirement, the driver has to stop because the car can’t keep going.
Term
mid-race management
Mid-race management is how a driver and team control the race after the start—like pacing the car and managing tires and power. The idea is to stay fast enough to win, without burning things up too early.
Term
Wilspin
Wheelspin means the tires lose grip and start spinning instead of pushing the car forward. That can make the car feel unstable, especially when you’re trying to turn in.
Term
turn one
Turn one is the first corner on the track. It’s usually where things get most hectic right after the start, so mistakes there can cost you positions quickly.
Person
Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson is an F1 driver. The hosts are talking about how well he defended his position during the race.
Term
chassis
Here, chassis means the car’s overall setup and how it handles. If the chassis isn’t working well, the car can be hard to drive and slower over a full lap.
Concept
penalised
“Penalised” here means the rules might take away some advantage. The host is saying Red Bull’s good situation could be reduced because other teams will get help instead.
Term
undercut
An undercut is a pit-stop strategy where one car stops earlier than a rival to get out in cleaner air and build a faster lap on fresh tires. In this segment, Lawson avoids Audi’s undercut, meaning Audi tried to gain track position with an earlier stop but Lawson’s timing prevented it from working.
Term
preservation of the tyres
Tyre preservation is about not wearing your tires out too quickly. Drivers intentionally manage their speed so the tires last longer and the car stays competitive later in the race.
Concept
swap it
“Swap it” here means changing tires with a pit stop. Even if the driver thinks the tires can last, the team might still call for a change to improve the race outcome.
Term
Q3
In F1 qualifying, Q3 is the last and most important part where the quickest cars fight for the best starting spots. If someone doesn’t reach Q3, they get knocked out earlier and have to start further back.
Term
second stop
A “stop” is when the car comes into the pits to change tires. A “second stop” means the driver is doing a two-tire-change strategy, and when that second stop happens can make a big difference to where they end up on the track.
LIVE
Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday.
Hello and a very welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hawking, reviewing the Barcelona Catalonia Grand Prix 1.
I've got written down here by Ferrari, by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.
Yes! Yes! I did it! He did it! We're back! We're so Yes!
Yes!
I thought you might appreciate that one.
I'm usually very unbiased, but right now, very happy. Very, very happy. Yes!
All right, we can carry on now.
No, it's all right. For the next hour, Sam is going to sing the National Anthem of the United Kingdom.
Of Lewis Hamilton.
But it is going to be called Save Lewis rather than...
Of course.
There's actually more to get into other than just Lewis Hamilton's win, but I think it makes sense that we start right there.
You have to go all the way back to the Mexican Grand Prix of the 2024 season for the last time Ferrari won a race.
You have to go back to the Belgian Grand Prix of that same year, 2024, for the last time that Lewis Hamilton won a Grand Prix.
And after what was a very difficult year together in 2025, Lewis Hamilton's first at the team, finally, they've managed to break through that glass ceiling.
Lewis Hamilton wins a Grand Prix and ultimately wins it very comfortably, taking advantage of a VSC to do his last stop.
And then just going off into the distance with Russell Antonelli-Norris, not really being able to do anything about it.
Pretty special achievement for both driver and team, Sam.
How impressed were you by what they were able to do together?
I thought it was phenomenal. And I didn't really see it coming.
I don't know if you thought differently at the start of this Grand Prix, but even with Hamilton starting on the front row,
when it was announced that he was starting on the soft side, I already said,
why Ferrari? Why have you done that?
And with the tyres, the way they were disintegrating and qualifying, I was surprised that they could go as far as they could.
And yet it seems like the stars have really aligned for Hamilton to take this victory.
There was kind of a stat release that it was kind of one by pole, one by P2, one by pole, one by P2, one by pole,
and Lewis Hamilton was starting P2.
And then if you look at the British GP in 2024, the last time that Fernando Alonso was outqualified by Lance Stroll,
was the British GP in 2024.
George Russell was on pole position that race. Lewis Hamilton started P2 in that race,
and the wing comes from Lewis Hamilton.
Spooky.
Spooky. Weird.
Who the hell cares?
He got the wing.
But it was not as plain-setting as I think it appeared.
The stars didn't go the way they expected.
George Russell with a main start to hold on to the lead going down.
He didn't even challenge by the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.
And it looked like the initial pace was there from the Mercedes,
able to pull away comfortably having a good three or four second gap
that was maybe just impenetrable from the undercut,
which Lewis tested as we saw.
He tried to go onto the three-stop early on.
The tyre wear, of course, being held on by Lewis really well.
And even though some would say he was saved by the VSC coming out,
brought out by old nemesis Fernando Alonso in the middle of the Grand Prix,
I don't think it was all set and done.
I don't think it was all over at that point.
Yes, there's a real chance that he might be able to catch up and pass
the Mercedes if it was Green Flag running the whole way through.
And, Ben, you brought this up before we started the show.
That probably would have been a more classic, more amazing style Grand Prix.
But I do think that just having the ability to pull away from those
Mercedes with how dominant they've been so far this season
is just as an impressive achievement as it would have been
if he overtook them on the track anyway.
Excellent stuff.
And I mean that from both the team and the driver's perspective.
As referenced, this has been a tough journey for Lewis Hamilton
in terms of his Ferrari career.
The team weren't operating on the level that they would have wanted to last year.
But Hamilton as an individual was definitely not operating on that level either.
And Leclerc was very comfortably the better of the two.
And I don't want today to be sweeping remarks about what I expect
for the rest of the year.
I just want to focus on what happened today.
And on the day, Lewis Hamilton delivered a classic performance.
I've got no idea whether this will lead to more of these in the future from him.
I've got no idea when people say, Hamilton's back,
whether that's actually true or not right now.
I don't care.
And actually, I don't think he does either because he will just be
valuing what an excellent afternoon it has been from him.
And you're right in saying that the VSC played into this.
It helped him, no doubt about that.
But I don't think it saved him.
I think there was every chance Hamilton was winning this Grand Prix anyway.
And the way in which he was able to keep touch with the Mercedes drivers early on,
obviously he was ahead of Antonelli, but keeping touch with George Russell,
is something that we haven't seen from Ferrari up until this point in the season.
Them fighting out front, them taking leads, we have seen that before.
But we've also seen them very quickly lose those leads at the likes of the Miami GP,
the Chinese GP.
And it felt different today because even throughout those first five or ten laps
when Russell relatively comfortably held the lead,
crucially for Hamilton, he wasn't letting him get away.
And that's where you felt that strategically they could do something
that could give him an advantage.
And as soon as the VSC came out, as soon as he had that tyre delta on his opponents,
I think it was relatively done and dusted at that point,
even if a minor worry about a potential safety car, a yellow flag infringement,
might have caused a few Hamilton fans their hearts to flutter a bit.
But other than that, it was plain sailing towards the end.
So I just want to congratulate Hamilton on what was a brilliant race.
It's a brilliant weekend.
And the way in which he recovered it from earlier on in this weekend,
remember, he didn't take part in first practice.
He took part in the second part of practice, which didn't go very well.
He looked down on the Mercedes, he looked down on his teammate
and everything recovered for him.
And I say that as if he didn't do it himself.
He recovered the weekend on Saturday and it worked in terms of one lap pace.
It worked in terms of race pace as well.
Really impressed.
Yeah, really, really impressed.
There's a bit of an unsung hero that I want to shout out here,
which I think was a key part of why Lewis Hamilton was so successful today.
And that's Carlo Santy, his race engineer who is kind of interim race engineer for him.
Previously, the race engineer of Kimi Reichen and of course at Ferrari.
The level of enthusiasm and passion and positivity that Santy displays over the radio.
That's what Bono did for Hamilton at the Mercedes and that's what he needs.
Hamilton thrives off energy.
And you can hear with the, tell me what time I need.
How am I doing?
What am I doing?
You're doing great.
This is fantastic.
You're hitting the right times in the right place.
Good laps.
Keep it up.
We're doing this.
The communication is clear.
It's positive.
It's concise.
And even when they do come over the radio to say to him,
just change your brake adjustment.
I don't hear it.
Move on.
They shut up.
They move on.
I just think that that is something that Ferrari has been lacking for so long.
It's clear and concise conversation over the team radio.
I just want to shout out Santy.
I thought it was fantastic today and he delivered what I think Hamilton has really been lacking.
I agree with that because whilst it might seem from the outside that all of these drivers
need the same thing from a race engineer, that is not true.
What works for Hamilton probably wouldn't work for others.
As an example, I think Antonelli.
I think Antonelli needs a race engineer that brings him down almost.
A firm hand.
Yeah, to rein him in a little bit when something like the track limits started to pile up.
And I think that works well for him.
You're right in saying Hamilton needs the opposite.
Hamilton needs that enthusiasm, that encouragement over the team radio because Hamilton,
I think at times can be a little bit pessimistic until he starts to see something form in front of him.
There's still doubts about, am I catching them?
Am I getting closer?
Having that sort of, it doesn't even need the words to be encouraging.
It just needs to be the way in which it's said.
Hamilton will pick up on that.
And I think that definitely helped him out today.
And I actually want to not just compliment Santy.
I want to compliment the entire Ferrari team,
which I appreciate about 10,000 people have just fallen down at the words that I've just uttered.
It's a bit compliment for Ferrari.
Normally, it's the complete opposite.
They nailed it today.
They absolutely nailed it.
Strategically, I've been wanting this from Ferrari for years.
Be aggressive, be proactive.
Take the race to your rivals.
So often they are caught napping or they are just on the wrong strategy to begin with.
Today, Hamilton and Ferrari orchestrate a great strategy.
They tried that undercut, 11 laps in.
They went with the soft tire early on.
I love to see it.
That's not something we often see from the top four or five drivers
where they'll just be on the same compounds.
This is Ferrari going, we have a chance to win this Grand Prix today.
We are not going to let strategy spoil that.
And even again, yes, the VSC helped things out.
I still think he might well have won anyway
because they were the ones asking Mercedes to respond to them.
Brilliant strategy.
Absolutely brilliant.
You're so right to call that out.
Well done to the picker itself for delivering consistently quick pit stops as well.
No mistakes from the Ferrari side,
even with the adaptation of the VSC being thrown out there.
They're so quick to respond.
Obviously, Hamilton comes round the pit lane and he's too late as the VSC comes out.
He can't come in, but they're ready and waiting the next time he gets round there.
And they're so on the money with the timing that you see him come out of that pit lane.
And Russell is what?
A second and a half away from overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the exit.
That's because of the brilliant execution of the pit lane crew.
We haven't seen that very often in the last few years.
A whole unit, a whole team working together.
Incredible result, very well deserved.
A lot was made going into this weekend
that Ferrari were bringing significant upgrades.
We know they brought some to Miami a few weeks ago now.
Didn't really bring anything to Monaco.
Big upgrade package here.
Early signs pretty encouraging.
They are encouraging, but oddly so.
Because they brought eight upgrades to Catalonia here.
So it's a big upgrade package.
And there was a lot of remarks made about the F1 broadcast team
speaking about how they're out developing Mercedes right now.
But I think if you ask that question after practice,
you would quickly argue that they're not out developing the cars.
And actually they were struggling with the way that the effects were happening.
Charlotte Clair looked faster of the two, but still not faster.
The rivals, McLaren showed better pace.
Mercedes were still comfortably faster.
And it was only actually when it came to race day.
And even the first half of the race day,
you can argue that Mercedes and Ferrari were very much on par.
And this could have gone the way of George Russell or Antonelli.
Had one event gone the other way.
So it feels good.
This felt much closer.
I'm going to be a little bit reserved in my judgment
before I start to declare that Ferrari are actually back.
They're actually catching.
This could have been a huge mitigating amount of factors.
The weather, the type of track.
We've seen tarmac play a key part in it.
Maybe the way the tyres degraded might have favoured Ferrari.
There's a lot of results here that could go a certain way.
I'm just going to wait till we've had the likes of Austria.
Maybe Silverstone before I commit to them being properly there.
Yes.
And I'm fairly confident in saying this is a jump.
Whether it will be enough to keep winning races
or whether it's enough to get them into a comfortable second.
I don't know.
But it does feel like with the type of track that Spain is
with it being quite well balanced.
I'm relatively confident in saying at least some of this will hold elsewhere too.
I'm not overly surprised that in the race they happen to be quicker than McLaren
because whilst on one lap pace throughout practice,
McLaren seemed to have the advantage.
In race pace, Charles Leclerc was the closest competitor to the Mercedes drivers
and was actually I think maybe marginally quicker than George Russell
in the long run that they did in FP2.
That of course was on Charles Leclerc's car,
which is not how it went down today,
but obviously they're both running the upgrades.
So I think Ferrari can be cautiously optimistic.
I think you're right to say we've got some other tests coming up,
particularly Silverstone, Spielberg.
And then I think at that point,
we will start to understand what they can realistically achieve
throughout the rest of this year.
But Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have got to win.
It's a starting point.
Yeah, they can go away happy.
Let's see if the same thing happens in Gostra.
Yes.
What about the Mercedes duo?
So Kimmy Antonelli and George Russell,
ultimately George Russell winning the day with him finishing second
and Antonelli going out late with a reliability issue,
but not before Antonelli had overtaken George Russell on track.
George Russell, of course, having held pole position
and the lead throughout the first half of this Grand Prix.
What did you make of their performance first and foremost?
Yeah, it was an interesting one.
George looked like he had the early pace in the bag.
And in the first 10 laps, it felt like stretching away well.
The gap between Antonelli and Hamilton
was bigger than I expected it to be.
I think it got upwards of six seconds at one point
between the second and third place drivers at the time.
And I was surprised to see actually that Kimmy was unable to
hang with Russell and Hamilton early on.
And yet every time we got to the midpoint of a stint,
Russell started to come backwards
and Hamilton and Antonelli started to step forwards.
And it felt like these two either had a better gauge on their tyre wear
and they were able to pace the tyres better throughout the stints themselves.
Or Russell was struggling with sliding more.
And that actually meant that Hamilton and Kimmy Antonelli
were more comfortable in the latter stages of the tyre wear.
And eventually that culminates, of course, in Antonelli making...
I think quite a phenomenal overtake on his teammate and title rival.
They got very close at one point.
At some point Kimmy Antonelli picks up front wing damage.
I'm not actually sure when this happened.
No, I was wondering whether it was related to Antonelli and Russell
going side by side down the...
But obviously Antonelli was forced quite far off the racing line there.
I don't know if that's where he picked it up.
Yeah, it's possible.
He's seen some replays as to where that was picked up.
But I was actually...
I ended up being disappointed in Russell.
I thought the weekend started brilliantly for him.
And it fell into his lap a little with how well he took pole.
And there was a car between him and his closest rival in the championship.
I'm ignoring Hamilton here because I actually thought at the point
that Ferrari weren't a legitimate second.
It was more of a reliability-based second.
But who knows, maybe that changes now.
And you think, alright, Russell's done well.
Antonelli's kickstarting the weekend really well here.
Practice looks good. Qualifying pole position.
He gets away into turn one really well.
Kimmy got close.
And yet, come lap 50 or so,
Antonelli's making a move on Russell
and has been glued to the back of him for a long time.
So I was really quite surprised that Russell was unable to kick on
and extend rather than Antonelli reeling him in.
What did you think?
Who do you want me to start with, Antonelli or Russell?
Antonelli.
OK.
I think his pace was pretty good.
And overtaking your teammate on track is no mean feat
because obviously you have the same machinery underneath you
and to be that close to your teammate
with relatively small tire offsets,
I know Antonelli went a little bit longer, I think,
on both of the pit stops.
But equally, it's not like Antonelli had a 10 lap advantage
over Russell or anything ridiculous like that.
So for Antonelli to get that overtake done on track,
very impressed.
I think given he was stuck behind
George Russell for at least some of this race,
if Antonelli had put his lap together in qualifying,
I think there's a chance he could have won this Grand Prix.
But ultimately it was Russell that put it together on Saturday.
And I think Antonelli was, even if he'd got on the front row,
maybe that's where Antonelli can go on to win this race.
But even though the result is bad in terms of the DNF,
I think we were aware this was going to happen at some point for him.
It was almost too weird that the McLarens and the Williams
and George Russell had had all of these reliability issues
and Antonelli had managed to avoid them all.
It was always going to hit him at some point.
But I don't think he'll be overly phased by it.
So that's the positive side of things.
George Russell, it's a race review.
This is raw reactions, you know.
Dig into it, man. Come on.
And I encourage you all to clip this next 30 seconds or so
for when I'm wrong.
George Russell is not winning this championship.
He's not winning it.
Antonelli is too good at this point in his career for Russell
to recover this, in my opinion.
And it seems like a weird day to say that,
given this is the day that Antonelli has scored no points
and Russell has scored 18
and Russell got pole position yesterday.
There is too much there that wasn't there last year
for Antonelli for Russell to get back in this, in my opinion.
Do you think the overtake from Antonelli on track
is almost bigger than the point scored in the past?
Yes, 100%. I don't actually think...
It's weird to say it because it's 18 points.
I don't think the points matter that much at this point.
The statement of being able to overtake your teammate on track
in these conditions says something.
And I was reluctant to be overly into the Antonelli hype
until we got to this point in the season
because he started relatively well last year
even though Russell was better.
And we got to this sort of midpoint in the year.
We got to the European season
and that's where Russell was far better than Antonelli.
We've now seen Monaco and we've now seen here as well.
It doesn't seem to be an issue again for him.
And the theory is he's only going to get better from here.
I can't see...
Russell might well improve throughout the season goes on,
but I can't see Antonelli not also doing that
based on his age and his experience.
I don't know exactly how the seasons can go, obviously,
and I could well be wrong,
but I cannot see Russell winning the title.
I cannot go out on a limb here
and say that he won't be there in 2027.
I was going to stop short of that.
It's definitely in conversation.
A lot of that in our Discord going on over the race as well,
that Russell had basically lost his seat after this Grand Prix.
If I had one pound to bet right now
on yes or no for Russell being there next year,
I would put it on no.
I'm not saying it's likely or definite, but...
You've got right on it off.
No, definitely not.
See how that goes.
Strategically as well, I wanted to discuss Mercedes here.
Do you think they lost themselves the race in some regard?
I know we've complimented what Ferrari have been able to do,
and I think rightly so.
Antonelli, I think, lost quite a bit of time behind George Russell
to the point where it was...
The question was being asked,
will Mercedes try and orchestrate something here to get Antonelli by?
Is there a chance that...
Mercedes have been so internally focused to this point in the year
and that they haven't really had rivals outside of themselves
that they've almost been caught napping?
This is the lifelong problem of Mercedes.
We've seen this for them for years now.
The moment they're actually challenged in pure pace on the racetrack,
they're unable to be proactive.
They're unable to think or act first on the racetrack.
They will not ever be aggressive and execute a strategy before anyone else.
They had the perfect scenario where it was two drivers versus one.
And the amount of times that this happened with Max Verstappen
when he was up against Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
in the late teens of Mercedes' domination,
it felt like they should have won.
And the amount of times that Verstappen was able to almost mitigate the problem
because Mercedes were not able to act faster, proactively, sooner.
It's costing them again.
Why did they not go, OK, Russell has decided to stay out once Hamilton's pit,
but Antonelli will go early, will pull the plug,
or completely flip it round, Russell straight in.
Kimmy, you now stay out for a long time.
That's the way I think I would have played it.
I would have done the same.
And yet I think they had this weird middle ground,
especially on that second stop from Hamilton,
where he was 22 and a half seconds a lap faster.
They're both of them.
And they're dilly-dallying, fighting each other.
They're going side by side, pull one of them in, change the strategy,
do something different, and they're just silent on the radio.
The most you hear is Bono going... Until it's too late.
It's just too late. They've lost it.
Bono was going, just beware of track limits.
That's not your concern right now.
The concern is the guy in red,
co-osing two to three seconds a lap faster than you.
You're about to lose this race.
I will say in Bono's defence, he's not the guy calling track.
He has to be the one telling Antonelli that sort of thing, because...
Of course, communications.
But it needs to come from higher, a different role,
to say strategically what we can do here.
Because I agree.
I would have pulled in probably Antonelli,
probably Russell, sorry, at the same time Hamilton goes for his second stop.
And I think if they were in a different championship position right now,
they would have done.
I think if Ferrari were level or close to level on points with Mercedes,
I think they would have played it that way to ensure
at least one of their two drivers was going to be on a different strategy
to Hamilton, and one was going to be on the same.
I think because up until this point,
they haven't really had threat from these other teams,
there might be a bit of complacency in there.
I think you're right. I think complacency is the great...
I was really disappointed.
And I think something actually that Antonelli still does need to learn,
despite coming on leaps and bounds and generational talent,
I think he's being used a lot, but I don't think it's incorrect.
I do think he can learn to be a bit more of a cockpit dictator a little bit.
The guy that calls the shots a bit more to go.
Are we being undercut?
Ask the question.
Shall I come in?
Shall we do something different?
You heard it from Russell.
And while sometimes I think Russell will overthink his race strategy,
I think we could see a bit more of Antonelli asking what's going on with the race strategy.
Yeah, might well come in time.
Let's take our first break.
On the other side, we're going to be chatting McLaren and Red Bull.
Welcome back, everyone.
It was mentioned after the race that the podium today was the first All-Brit podium since 1968,
which, of course, was comprised of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes of George Russell,
and a third team, the McLaren of Lando Norris,
ultimately not too far away from the Mercedes,
kind of dropped back a little bit towards the end of that final stint.
It's a tough one to judge, I think,
because whilst we're very understandably focused on what Ferrari have been able to do this weekend,
above and beyond what they've done so far,
finally being a team to take a win off Mercedes,
McLaren probably a bit annoyed they couldn't be that team.
But at the same time, they're kind of there.
I think you've got to give props to Lando Norris here, more than the car.
He's been brewing as well, I think, Lando Norris.
He's like a few good performances that have gone quietly away in the distance.
They've not amounted to a proper result,
but you look at what he did in Miami, for example, where he was chasing down Antonelli for the majority of the Grand Prix.
That was fantastic. And then we get here as well.
And I actually do think that the McLaren is somewhere between what Norris was achieving
and what Piastri was achieving.
And Piastri's race was pretty woeful.
It was pretty far off that pace.
I think he was ending up over 30 seconds back from his teammate.
But Norris was just plugging away, trying so hard to keep up with cars that I think were faster than him.
Heading shoulders clear of Verstappen, Leclerc.
Obviously Hadjar has the awful start, his teammate as well.
I really think he's doing everything he can to be that scrappy little pest at the back of the queue that's kind of like,
I'm here, I promise I'm still here.
And I think he's really driving that car.
You can hear over the radio that he's like, what do you want me to do here?
I'm trying my hardest props to Lando Norris.
Well, I think that McLaren has fallen off a little bit in comparison of race pace to their other two key rivals.
I think it's Lando Norris that made the difference.
Yeah, I think they'll be okay with where this race ended up.
And I know there was a disappointment maybe that they weren't more in the fight for pole position,
because it seemed throughout practice that they would be.
But then also the race pace kind of looked a bit shoddy.
And then we get to race day, and at least on Lando Norris' side of the garage, it looks far better.
And he was in the mix.
And sure, he didn't...
Imagine the race where Lewis Hamilton is not involved here.
And Antonelli and Russell were kind of battling for the lead.
And Lando Norris is three seconds back, or at times he was one second back, right?
I think we leave this race going, McLaren have done quite well here.
They seem to be far closer to Mercedes.
So whilst there's not going to be a lot of attention on them, I get why.
I think they can be quietly happy with how this one has gone.
Again, stressing on the Norris side of the garage here,
which we've seen Piastri and Norris very level at most Grand Prix over the last couple of years.
I think there's got to be hope, at least, that Piastri can also do that at future races.
So yeah, I think they were looking okay.
And if you take out Monaco, which as we know can be a bit of a weird, unique challenge, sure.
Look at what they did in Miami.
Look at what they've done here.
Suzuki.
It's starting to come together, I think, for them.
So it wouldn't surprise me if they're knocking on the door for a victory sometime soon.
I just think they're getting a point of difference.
Mercedes aren't going anywhere.
Even if they're saying a horrible, weird world, they don't win this title, right?
Despite having such an advantage at the start.
Their advantage is directly tied to McLaren, and McLaren directly tied to Mercedes.
If the advantage that Mercedes has falls away, McLaren don't have a point of difference.
The chassis has to be so much better, and they got to do that at the end of the ground effect era.
But here, Mercedes already have the head start.
So they have to start both with controlling their own engine, their own battery, their own gearbox, and their own chassis.
McLaren can't get ahead in any way.
And by being a pure customer, I just think they're missing out.
I think that is related to one of the areas where they will focus after this Grand Prix.
Because whilst Norris did a very good job of staying with both Mercedes, we saw late on in the final stint,
Norris really dropped off the back of both of them,
likely meaning that he was having to work the tyres, work the car harder to stay in that fight
until the point where we know the deg was really high, he couldn't keep up anymore.
That was McLaren's number one strength last year.
And the year before, I think you could say as well, they were far better on tyres versus all the other teams.
I don't think that advantage has carried over into this year.
And if that is an area that they can at least get back to somewhere close to the top,
then again, I think they could be in the mix for wins at some point relatively soon.
The tyre wearing theory for that final stint should have been quite level between Russell, Antonelli and Norris.
So Russell, at least in my notes here, Russell pit on lap 36, Antonelli 37, Norris 35.
So it's all very similar.
And I know, again, it's high deg to the point where even one or two laps can make a difference.
But it's not like Norris was dealing with a five lap older compound compared to those two Mercedes.
So the fact that he dropped off the back might concern them a bit.
But overall, I think he can be pretty contempt.
You mentioned Piastri, woeful was the word you used, right?
Yeah. And I think when you're 35 seconds back from your teammate,
it is hard to put anything positive really on the spin of your weekend here,
beating and qualifying by the finest margin.
But that finest margin turned out to be a bit of a canyon between the two teammates.
And I think Piastri will look at this and he'll be quite confused as to what's going on here.
This isn't Piastri's strongest racetrack either.
We've seen a couple of times here that he's been handedly beaten by Norris.
Do you remember?
It was pretty good last year, though.
It was. But the year before, when we had a bit of an issue up front,
we kind of spoke about how Piastri maybe should have taken his first victory here,
but was nowhere to be found.
He was all the way back, I think, in 6th or 7th in 2023.
So 2024, sorry.
So I think the gulf between them might be more on driver than on car.
I can't see what Piastri was dealing with, but Norris wasn't in this circumstance.
So I think he'll be asking some questions.
It's odd because this feels like a...
This feels like a Piastri type of race in that...
And I'm not even talking about the racetrack itself,
but I'm talking more about these multiple stops managing the tyres,
because that's effectively what we had last year.
I can't remember if it was a two or three stop last year that Piastri won on,
but we were dealing with multiple stops because of the high tyre...
He was very aggressive with the strategy, wasn't he?
Yeah, and he was having to see off Max Verstappen,
who was doing a bit of a similar, maybe similar-ish job to what Hamilton was doing today.
But Piastri did brilliantly well to sort of see that off
and go on to take a very comfortable race win.
If anyone ever references last year's Spanish GP,
people are often talking about the Verstappen and Russell contact as the main highlight.
Out front, Piastri was kind of just doing his thing and dominating that Grand Prix,
which is why I'm quite surprised that that didn't, at least in some part,
carry over to today that he could do the same thing that Lando Norris did.
A lot of it is track position.
Sure, in that Piastri was on the wrong side of that versus a couple of cars.
I get that, but there was never any point, really,
that Piastri felt like he was on the offensive against someone.
It was always like he was either defending against the car or falling behind another car.
Never on the front foot.
No.
When Leclerc got past him and moved on quickly,
Verstappen forever out of reach for him, he was never in that fight.
I feel like he ends up close from pace to Hager,
and then he does to the guys in front.
I wonder if Hager had a normal start if he finishes behind him.
I don't know.
I don't think it will concern him or the team too much in that they've been very close this year.
I think going into this race, they might have been exactly level on points.
He's dropped five points in total here.
It's not the end of the world.
Yeah, exactly.
Piastri's had two did not starts this year.
Norris has had one did not start and one DNF.
I think it's pretty close between them.
So one result isn't going to massively sway things.
But I think Piastri will be looking to the next race in Austria.
Just get that advantage back.
What about Red Bull?
Because it kind of felt like they weren't ever really in the fight out front.
Max Verstappen might have maximized his day really getting fourth place.
Isaacadja, as you reference, tough start for him,
meaning he's on a more of a recovery drive.
Yeah, I think Verstappen had a fantastic start.
I think he did well to get himself up fighting with the cars around him.
Relative to some other stars they've had as well.
Well, you look at Hadja's start as a direct comparison.
Verstappen's right there with the McLaren guys.
If they could provide a Red Bull for him, it was actually genuinely competitive.
There's a real chance that he might have stuck with it
and that him and Norris might have gone away.
There was an occasion where Leclerc was starting to close down Verstappen.
You heard over the radio, that's your racing front.
Only a couple of seconds, keep pushing.
Then I thought, here we go.
Leclerc, look at the pace that Hamilton is able to deliver.
Leclerc will close up to the back of Verstappen and pass him.
And never did.
Leclerc never really materialized.
And I thought that was quite impressive from Max
to be able to maintain the gap to Leclerc
and actually pull away.
Of course, Leclerc ends up retiring with a reliability issue.
But I thought that was a great mid-race management
in what felt like a very boring middle of the road,
nowhere near any one kind of Grand Prix from Max.
And on the other side of the garage, Hadja, terrible start.
And actually, I think that's Hadja's fault.
I think the Wilspin kicked in.
He gets all out of sorts going into turn one.
I think it could have been saved, but it wasn't.
But he does fight back to sixth place.
Now, it's good recovery.
I think Moore was on the cards for him.
As I said, I think he probably kicked a beat in Piastri.
Hadja had a normal race start here.
But to finish, only two places behind your teammate
and only dropped four points.
It's not the end of the world for him.
Yeah, I think on Verstappen's side of the garage,
it was a weird race strategically
in that we knew going into the Grand Prix
that he would only have one hard tire compound available
versus pretty much everyone else having two.
And I think it turns out that the hard tire
was probably the best-favoured compound.
So yeah, Verstappen was a bit hamstrung by that.
And yet they still made something work of it.
But the reason I say the strategy ends up really weird,
he goes soft, medium, hard, medium.
The shortest stint he did was on the hard tire.
And the reason being, obviously, the VSC comes out
and they decide to rightfully take advantage of that
and go on to that second fresh set of mediums
that they had that other teams didn't have.
So it made sense, but it just meant that
maybe the tires weren't maximized.
You want to be on those hard tires
for a good chunk of this Grand Prix.
And ultimately, I think Verstappen was on those tires
for one-sixth of the race.
So in that regard,
I think he's done pretty well to get fourth place,
helped, obviously, by Antonelli dropping out.
But he was still on track for a decent finish anyway.
I'm disappointed that there wasn't a bit more from Red Bull.
I think this will be the kind of race
that will annoy Verstappen.
I think he'll look at this and look at Formula One and go,
I've just got enjoying this.
And I think that's a problem.
And we know that a duo is looming,
not to make it too terrifying,
meaning there is a very realistic prospect
that it won't get better than this.
Do you believe that they've been charged
throughout the best ISE?
I can, weirdly, because, again, in that first sector,
that Red Bull is fine.
And I do genuinely think in a straight line,
it's got a lot of power.
I think another, just to move the conversation
slightly to the midfield here,
I think the other proof of that is how good racing bulls
and Liam Lawson were at keeping rivals behind,
because no one could get by him,
even though I think his race pace was arguably worse
than the couple of drivers behind.
So I can understand why the ISE is as strong as it is.
The problem is either the chassis or the battery management.
Like, the rest of the lap just isn't good enough.
And it's a real shame, because on a weekend where Ferrari have won,
Mercedes were obviously looking on course for a double podium,
and McLaren are right there as well with Lando Norris.
It's a very comfortable fourth place for Red Bull here.
Yeah, the way that Hajar cut back through that midfield,
I think also shows you just how dominant they could be
against a lesser car, right?
I mean, this is the great prospect to Hajar.
It doesn't sway me one way or the other.
No, I have not praised him for the overtakes that he's doing,
because it was so easy for him to make those overtakes.
I think Red Bull would be so frustrated
that the one thing they've got going for them
is the one thing that's now going to essentially be penalised
by giving benefits to other teams.
Yeah, I think it could be.
And I thought, based on practice,
they might be a bit closer than this.
I didn't think that they were going to compete for the win
in the same way that maybe Mercedes or Ferrari would,
but I felt...
He's 40 seconds off the leaf, you know?
Yeah, I felt he'd be closer than that.
Yeah, I thought he'd have been not within touching
necessarily Norris,
but I thought the gap might be between 5 and 10
between Max and Norris at the English Grand Prix.
And it's not. I've got it down here as 18 seconds
between the two drivers.
It's a big gap between a Red Bull and a McLaren.
Is it a bit worrying in that we had...
We were asking a lot of serious questions
about Red Bull going into Miami,
and obviously we had the big break
before we got to Miami.
And we get there, they have a big upgrade,
and it mostly works.
They definitely get closer.
They weren't in the midfield as they were
at the likes of Japan and China, right?
But it doesn't look like they've kicked on.
It feels like that was...
That's the best it's been so far.
Even Monaco was all right with the second place on the grid.
But now this, this has to be their,
I think, worst race in terms of race pace
since before that break.
Yeah, I agree.
You would argue that they looked the closest
to maybe top all Mercedes,
especially when it came to qualifying.
Max was stopping at two front-road starts,
and no one else did that wasn't a Mercedes driver
before we got to Barcelona this weekend.
Of course, Hamilton now taking that mantle.
So you felt like if the one pace,
one lap pace was strong,
that could then slowly move into a full race pace difference.
It's almost gone the other way.
They've really stepped back, and the other teams around them,
and now it feels like out developing them.
Yeah, in which case,
they can be relatively happy to take away 20 points
on a day that no one team has taken more than 25.
So they haven't really, points-wise,
lost out a great deal.
Finally, just on Hajar as well.
As soon as that start
went the way that it did,
eighth place, or eighth place
before the retirements, I should say,
was the only way,
was the only finish he was going to have.
He was always going to get by the midfield.
He was always never going to catch up to anyone else.
His day was set as soon as that happened.
It was. It's just not fun, though, is it?
This is the issue with the current regulations.
While I think we've had some good races,
I thought today was a really good Grand Prix.
It is frustrating that when a big team
make a mistake, whether it be qualifying
or it be in the Grand Prix,
they can scupper themselves back
to the most basic position,
because the other guys can't compete.
They're not close enough.
Yes, sadly, that is the way that it's going at the moment.
We'll talk more on the midfield battles
after this next break.
Before we get there, though, shall we do
Driver of the Day?
The verdict is in.
You're the driver of the day.
You're the driver of the day.
You're good at driving.
In all the praise
and euphoria for Lewis Hamilton,
I didn't actually see
whether he won the vote.
I'm guessing he did.
I have no idea.
I'd be pretty shocked if he didn't,
but anyway, who's your driver of the day?
It is Lewis Hamilton.
It was the best driver I've seen
from him.
Maybe in two seasons, I think.
Maybe since he did win.
It was an icon.
You're telling me it was an icon.
What? The guy that beat his teammate
due to a DNF?
It's just dabbing on the grave.
Yes, it's Lewis Hamilton,
my driver of the day.
I get to say it that often,
but he was sensational
by far the best driver of the grid to go.
I'm looking up and down the grid,
and I don't think there's a close
second today, really.
I think it's definitely Lewis Hamilton.
Lando Norris actually probably
would be second place on this list.
Credit as well to Pierre Gasly
in the midfield, although he was
at least somewhat helped by
that virtual safety car.
That's why I've not brought him up.
I thought Gasly did well.
He has to be let past his teammate
as well by team organs.
Couldn't get the overtake done,
but a good Grand Prix for Gasly.
There's a few things that go against
being driver of the day.
I would also go with Lewis Hamilton.
What about worst driver of the day?
Another race with a lot of
retirements, things not going
particularly well. Where are we going
with worst driver of the day?
Tricky, this one, because I don't think
anyone made a blatant and obvious
mistake. For example, we didn't have
any stupid penalties handing out.
We didn't have any crashes up and down
the track, so really difficult to pick
someone from that regard. I've had to
go, in my opinion, on pace
against a teammate.
I have gone with Hajar
in that sense, that I think he's
achieved the absolute bare minimum
that I expect a working Red Bull to
achieve, and sixth that's complimentary,
because it should have been eighth.
It does, and
I can't lie, he is
in my list of contenders as well.
Oh, I might need...
I might have to give it to him as well.
No, I'm going to go with Alex
Alban. Science was far better than
this weekend. Far better. Would you mean
a camera fell into his car?
Oh yeah, everything was going really well before
that, my bad.
I'm sorry, Alban.
Guy was on course for a podium
until that wretched camera.
He was the only thing stopping Hamilton
from winging until the camera fell into
the car. I mean,
Williams weren't just pants the whole
weekend anyway, but
Science is ending up 12th, I don't
know. I think he's actually had another
pretty good Grand Prix. It's really good,
ain't it, Carlos?
I swear to our folks, Science is a top
three driver this season. I stand
by it. He's been
brilliant. Check out Balbankans. They found that on Patreon.
Come and check them out. Yeah.
What about Big Brain Strat?
Yeah.
I don't know how long I can keep doing
this for.
Audi!
Sort yourselves out!
This isn't even talking about the Hulk
DNF, by the way, which is
sure he's actually on course for points
at some point.
Oh my God. They were actually kind of quick
as well. Okay.
Liam Lawson is ahead of Nico
Holkenberg. Holkenberg
every single lap
is between half a second and a second
away. He cannot overtake
him because, again, that racing bull
is pretty good in a straight line. Audi
just doesn't have the grunt at the moment to get by
even though I'm pretty convinced
Holkenberg had the best pace of the midfield
at that stage. He was quick.
Lawson avoids
an undercut from Audi.
Makes sense.
Lawson has terrible stop.
Six and a half seconds. Six and a half seconds.
It might be the worst stop we saw all day.
What do you do if you're Audi?
Is it a
bring Holkenberg in the very
next lap to actually pull off
an overcut?
No, no. Or is it be
wait another
lap before bringing him in, therefore
allowing Lawson to get
the undercut on you? It'll be that one, I think.
No, it was the first one, Audi.
Damn it. And that isn't even talking
about what was going on
with Bortoletto's race. I know Bortoletto got a
horrible start, but of all the
drivers that could have got an undercut
early on to get some clean air,
it was him. No, we're
going to leave him out a long time. I thought, all right.
Okay, fine. I respect that you've left
him out there. Surely you're going to go
long on the next thing. No. Now we're going
short on the second thing. He was just
stuck behind cars all day because
Audi apparently don't know how to do a strategy.
They've got a really quick car.
I keep saying it, at least relative
to the midfield, but they don't
show it. I haven't scored
any points again, Ben. How?
They, they
are just as quick as Alpine
and Racing Bulls. I promise
you, the table, the championship
table is not telling you the truth
in terms of pace. It's telling
you the truth in terms of competency, but not
in terms of pace. You know the
asthmatic, I've got half the points that Audi
do. It's ridiculous.
They only have two more points than Cadillac.
I probably sound like I'm a
massive Audi fan right now. I just
hate that they have this unfulfilled potential.
Yeah.
So, um,
I haven't really decided what my big
brace tries.
Ben just got off at one for fun.
What was yours? I'm actually giving it to Ferrari
for a competent use of the free stop.
I genuinely think it was fantastic. I thought the
soft was silly. It worked. Hamilton's time management
was great. The pit stops executed
perfectly. They gave him the best chance
to wing and wing he did. Very
good. Let's take another break on the other side.
We're getting into the midfield scrap.
Welcome
back, everyone.
We now
go to Alpine and
Racing Bulls.
We go to Alpine
and Racing Bulls, both of which
scored double points. Gasly
in 7th Colour Pinto in 8th.
Lawson in 9th.
Limblad in 10th.
Alpine struggled in
qualifying, but they seem to have got
their act together for the race itself.
Yeah, but they had to have a helping hand
to get that act together.
Colour Pinto blocking,
I guess, Gasly,
who was the faster of the two cars on the
hard tyre. Switch cars?
What does that mean?
Maybe he's a big fang of the
Will Smith hit song in the early 2000s.
Maybe. Wow.
Not the Nintendo console we're going to
Will Smith early 2000s.
Come on. It's like a conic piece.
Yeah, it was
interesting and you would argue
that being switched, as they did,
in a stink of
preservation of the tyres, it was management
periods. We saw that those cars were trying
to eke out the laps. It was unusual.
You could hear in Colour Pinto's voice at the time,
I'm not going flat out. I'm trying
to make the tyres last. I don't really understand why you're trying to swap it.
And yet, swap it, they did.
Gasly was very quickly gone up the road.
He was a few seconds clear, very, very fast.
Able to join the fight, which was, I believe,
Hulkenberg and Lawson in front of him
very, very quickly, which became
a three-way fight. They were also
helped out by the VSC. So,
whilst the result for Alpine looks
really positive and another great double
points finish for them, I do think
that actually they've gotten away with
one here. I think that they
maybe weren't as clear in terms of pace of
the likes of the racing balls as
initially shown or expected,
so to speak. Actually, racing
balls have come away a little bit unlucky to not
pick up a few more points as to how it's unfolded.
I think it was pretty level between
them. And based on
racing balls having the advantage in
terms of track position, I think
they'll feel a little bit aggrieved.
Again, the virtual safety car definitely helped
Gasly's race, but the decision
to switch him and Colopinto was absolutely
the right one. Colopinto was fine,
but Gasly was better today.
And as soon as Gasly was released from
that, as you say, he was then able to join the
battle in front of him. And then it was really a
case of, we've got this
racing balls in front of us. What can we
possibly do about it?
In the case of Gasly, it was
the safety car in terms of Colopinto.
I think it was an undercut. So
it kind of worked out for both of them,
but you're right. It's not like they were
head and shoulders clear of the racing balls today.
But it was far
better than practice. Like practice, they were
really struggling. So good for Alpine to
pull it together, at least. Another great
sign, of course, is that both the drivers have
finished again next to each other. It shows that
whilst I think Gasly was naturally the
faster the two drivers, as you would expect,
Colopinto really has come along
leaps and bounds. He's no longer this
liability. He's no longer struggling. He's
not crashing or, you know, having
weird pace problems. He's able to run a
race at really strong, consistent levels
and he's matching his teammate consistently.
He's reliable now. We're seeing really
good results for Colopinto. It's a shame he's
being replaced by Alonzo next year, isn't it?
Well, I think it's Gasly. Oh, is it the other one?
Yeah, yeah. Either way, it's going to be
Gucci Alping Alonzo. That's the team.
For the content, man. I don't think we can turn it down.
I just want Alonzo in pure Gucci drip.
That's all I need. Retiring
in his Gucci drip.
In terms of Lawson's
defence versus Hülkenberg, we know
Hülkenberg was unhappy about that over
Team Radio. Did you see why? Yeah, I saw
why. I do think it was probably
the wrong side of the line. Not the worst
defence I've seen of moving under
the breaking and it did smell
a little bit of old school Lawson who
would do anything on the racetrack to hold on
to a position. So I understand why Hülkenberg
was frustrated, which is a shame because
it was probably the only besmirchment
upon Lawson's entire Grand Prix. We're being
besmirched. The return of Besmirch.
Bring it back.
Hashtag Besmirch.
Yeah, I just think that his race
was fantastic other than that moment
where I was really disappointed to see
that that was his defence. Yeah.
I was surprised that it
didn't get a black and white flag unless
it did and we didn't see it. I think you
could get investigated. No, and I didn't
think it would lead to a penalty because
in most instances where something like that
happens. You get a warning
first. Well, exactly. And that's where I thought
a warning would come in, but apparently
not. Other than that, though, I thought
Lawson's defence versus Hülkenberg was
very good and he needed to
keep at it for a number of laps because it
was quite an onslaught. It was
pressure lap after lap, even after
the pit stops had taken place.
So, respect to Lawson for that. I also
just want to say with Limblad as well, because
I think he had a pretty good Grand Prix.
I think somewhat just hurt a little bit
by not making Q3 yesterday
in that as soon as he didn't make
Q3 and he was behind Hülkenberg
and he was behind Lawson,
he was the one that
made sense to do something a bit different and
he went very long on that first in. Was he the
longest? I think so, yeah. I think
he went just longer than Bearman did.
He went
22 laps, according to my notes,
which was far longer than most
of his rivals did. He would have been
begging for the virtual safety car or the
safety car to come out at the right moment
for him. It didn't.
He then would have also been hoping
for that virtual safety car or safety
car to come out before his second stop.
I think he made his stop
two laps before it came out,
which is pretty brutal. So
slight timing differences.
Limb Lab might well have got more than
one point, but I still think he'll be
pretty happy with his efforts. So it's a well fought
hard river one point and I think he can be
very happy with the race.
Indeed. Anything else that caught your
eye in the midfield?
I just want to raise Carlos Sainz
if I'm honest.
He's trying. He's just trying so hard
that a car that is being, you know, it's clearly rubbish
around here and Albin wasn't
good. They had the problem anyway, so you
have to lose that reference point as well.
But Sainz is really
dragging a bad, bad
Williams to a really
respectable position. They only have taken one more
incident, really, to elevate him to close
to points again. So just want to shout him
out. I thought it was a really good result from him.
Yeah, I was pretty impressed as well that
he was keeping what was it,
Bearman and Bortoletto behind him.
Bearman was on better tires
than Sainz was, I think, at that point.
And Bortoletto, that
was how he was quicker than the Williams. So the
fact that he was able to keep both of them behind
until he decided, or they decided
to stop him once more, very
good. And we spoke to
we spoke to James Vowell's not as often as
we usually do. I think he only made an appearance
once or twice.
Twice, I think, most mainly because
there wasn't a lot to chance about when it came to Williams, maybe.
But I was
when he said that
Sainz is doing his best to
fend off the guys behind. I was like, yeah, he's trying
but he's not going to do it. And he kept
doing it, credit to, even though Bortoletto
has eventually ended up ahead as a result
of the undercut.
I thought he scrapped away well.
Sainz heard you and said, oh my beer.
And that's why the Williams was so bad
this weekend. Exactly. Sainz was drunk.
No, just for legal reasons.
He was not. What was it?
But Bernie says, don't drink a drive.
Yeah, because someone crashed
into the dome.
Haas are still a bit smelly, aren't they?
Haas suck.
They suck. This is so Haas.
Start the season well.
Haven't got the facilities of the resource to continue building up
and improving. Yeah, we've got the facilities for that big man.
You have not got the facilities for that big man.
Ocon lucky that
Bearman doesn't finish this Grand Prix because he's getting
absolutely smoked like a ham.
And what would you make bacon with, Ben? Ham.
Little piggy has a good old speed.
Yeah, yeah. I mean,
he was not good.
He was not good.
He wasn't.
They were going, obviously, different ways with the strategy
and
well, first of all, I'm not entirely certain
why they started
Ocon on the softs and Bearman on the mediums
because whilst it went well
and Ocon pulled off a pretty good move on
his teammate into turn one,
you probably could have avoided that
by just putting Bearman on the soft
tied start and then Ocon on the mediums,
but never mind, worked out okay
in the end.
And then it felt like their strategies, which were very
different, were at some point going to converge,
but they converged much earlier
than I thought they were going to in the
Bearman strategy and Bearman
just quicker than Ocon.
Just faster. Bearman just faster.
The car, I think, has slipped back to being
the third slowest car now. I think they have already
got Kagalack and Aston Martin behind them.
Even with Williams having a bit of a down day,
I think the overall capability of that Williams is better
than Haas. They need an upgrade brought in.
They do. I think if you were to average
the last three races or so,
I'd put them where
you just said third worst.
It's a shame because it was really exciting seeing
them fighting that midfield pack and it does feel like
we've lost an element to that now.
But we'll see because
if you look at racing balls, you look at
Alpine and you look at Williams, all three of them,
they will have
an engine upgrade advantage in theory
over all of them. It's only Audi that they
won't have an advantage over.
So maybe that brings them back
in later in the season
possibly. We'll see.
Anything else
on the midfield before we wrap up
and go to our final segments?
Peres doing alright again with me?
I think he did okay again.
Yeah.
It's hard to measure. Especially with Bottas.
It was really tough today because his three rivals
didn't finish. Yeah.
But Peres is just consistently out there
plugging away, doing good laps in a car that
is pretty ropey. Good weekend from Peres
overall. Qualifying went well.
Upgrades since you've made a good steady
impact on the car. Peres comes away happy.
Before we go to our
final break, actually, an opportunity for us to
review our bold predictions from our preview
episode midweek. If you weren't with us
for that one, by the way, we have an episode out
every single Wednesday, but on the week
of the race, it's a preview specific
Grand Prix. And as part of that,
we include bold predictions.
What was yours, Sam?
I said there will be eight changes
for the lead. That's got eight different
leaders. That's got eight overtakes on the
racetrack, necessarily. That's got the whole
lap leg. Just eight different changes
for the lead. With pit stops,
we got to five. We got five to be okay.
And then Lewis Hamilton decided to just
wing. Yeah.
I think we would have got to seven had
the routine happen. Do you think if Hamilton
had got back through without the VSC, I
think I might have got it. I'll take
five. No points, though. No points for
me either.
You were close at one point. I thought it was
going to happen. My bold prediction was
that Antonelli and Russell would have
contact that would lead to both
of them retiring from the race.
And even if it comes out that for whatever
reason, the reason why Antonelli
retired was in
part because of the contact with
Russell and the fighting. Maybe you ought to
try to argue the point, but Russell didn't
retire anyway.
I kind of felt it. It felt close.
I could smell it in the air a little bit, you know.
I think I was right.
Okay, so I wasn't correct,
but I was right to predict it.
It's like when you could smell the neighbors
barbecue. The logic was right.
Something's cooking. It's not me, but
something very close is cooking.
Well, another week.
No points for me. We'll be back with
bold predictions in about ten days time
when we have bold predictions for the Austrian
GP. A quick final break
on the other side. Open of the race.
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About this episode
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari win at Barcelona-Catalunya is framed as a controlled, strategy-driven result, with the VSC timing and a tyre “delta” shaping the last-stop window and effectively deciding the race. The hosts debate how track position, tyre degradation, and pit-stop execution swung outcomes across the field, from Russell’s early lead to Antonelli’s late reliability DNF. They also weigh Ferrari’s upgrade momentum, McLaren’s Norris-led race pace, and the midfield’s constant churn—plus a few sharp calls on team decisions and regulations.
Original notes
History was made today in Spain as Hamilton cruised to his long-awaited first victory in red! Ben and Sam break down his magnificent drive and Ferrari's (sorry, what?) strategy masterclass, along with all the other action from up and down the field...
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The Late Braking F1 Podcast
The Late Braking F1 Podcast
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