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02:02
Hello everybody and welcome back to the V1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. We're done.
02:11
Formula 1 is officially over. We have a new world champion. What a disaster of a Grand Prix it was.
02:20
Felt like I was watching Qatar all over again. But look, whenever we have relatively poor races
02:26
from an overtaking entertainment side of things, it usually unleashes the Bellingham. That's what
02:32
a lot of people are saying on the streets. They're looking forward to a Tommy rant. I've
02:36
heard there's one on the horizon. It was a rubbish finale, Tommy. Still tense because of
02:42
the championship connotations and anything could happen with the title on the line, but
02:46
it was a bit of a struggle. It was. I can't believe we had the finale we did after we hyped
02:52
it up so much. We know Abu Dhabi is basically an awful track to have a finale on anyway.
02:59
There's a little teaser of the rant coming. But the fact that we didn't even see any
03:06
gamesmanship or swapping, things like that, all the kind of scenarios just didn't happen at all.
03:14
It was crazy, really. Absolutely crazy. I love how we got so excited and Max let us down
03:21
from a scenario perspective. We thought, we thought Red Bull would try something,
03:25
and the only thing they did was Yuki Sonega to get onto. Too nice. What simulation are we
03:31
living in? I couldn't believe it. But there are some things that could have happened,
03:35
in which case, then other things might have happened, which of course we'll get into in this
03:38
podcast because we love to talk about everything that went on. Before we do, a quick shout out to
03:42
our wonderful patrons who will be getting extra chat at the end of this race review,
03:46
and of course, lots of other benefits as well, ad-free listening, you get access to a discord,
03:49
early access to P1 live show tickets, and so on and so forth. We'll have a bit more to
03:55
reflect on after the main podcast is done. My most memorable moment, as much as I want it
04:03
to be about Charles Leclerc, it's not going to be it. It's going to be Lando Norris World Champion.
04:10
He did absolutely everything he needed to do in the last sort of quarter of the season.
04:19
At the end of Zandvoort, everyone's writing him off. DNF, Oscar has over a race win in the
04:25
pocket. But what Lando did was he got more confident with the car quite clearly, started
04:30
putting in great performances. But the thing that impressed me the most was dealing time and time
04:36
again with high pressure moments. He has come on leaps and bounds in that area, in my opinion.
04:43
Even in this race, we're talking about it being quite a dull one, to say the least.
04:48
He still had Charles Leclerc all over the back of him, which would have essentially,
04:52
at that moment, taken him out of championship winning position. Yes, we can get into the fact
04:57
that Oscar would have moved out of the way and yada, yada, yada. But he still needed to
05:02
hold position. He needed to not fly off the track, make mistakes, and he didn't do that.
05:07
That's one example. The others are from the previous races. Vegas, he did everything he
05:11
needed to do. Got disqualified through no fault of his own. Brazil, again, such a key moment
05:17
in the championship where he could have easily made a mistake in those conditions. What did
05:21
he do? He clean swept the sprint weekend. Salando Norris, world champion. He is absolutely
05:27
deserving of this. Nobody has had a perfect season. All three of the title contenders have had
05:32
moments that we can say, they lost points here, or they made a mistake there. But what Lando did
05:38
is he scored more points than everybody else, and he is a deserving world champion in 2025.
05:43
He did. He got it over the line, and that's really what all he needed to do.
05:48
Looking back at the season, his brilliant races in Mexico and Brazil almost wrapped it up for him,
05:55
and it was just an inevitability. It shouldn't have really been this close without the disqualification,
06:01
and you can say all you like about looking at the end. At the end of the day, it's always
06:09
going to divide opinion, isn't it? There's fans of other drivers. There'll be people that
06:14
loving it, people that are disappointed and stuff like that. But at the end of the day,
06:17
Lando put himself in that position because of the points he scored in the championship
06:23
to be able to cruise home to P3. And yes, he drove and resisted the pressure,
06:30
particularly at the start of the race. We mentioned it was boring. My heart rate
06:35
wasn't very low at the start because we had Leclerc all over the back of him.
06:40
And yeah, he resisted that pressure. He didn't need to do anything crazy, as we said at the
06:47
start of the weekend, and he did what he needed to win the world champion. At the end of the day,
06:51
he is a world champion. He's a worthy world champion, and that consistency has won him the
06:56
world championship. It certainly has. Question from L. Dude Echo. Are people finally going to
07:03
give Lando his flowers now? He has won the World Drivers Championship, or is all this
07:08
unnecessary hatred going to continue? I hate to break it to you, but social media is a vile place
07:14
at times. And Lando, as a person, should not go anywhere near it. He should celebrate exactly what
07:21
he has achieved this year, which is a Formula One World Championship, and he has got a really nice
07:25
tight-knit family, friends, and things like that. And it looks like he's dealing with it
07:29
absolutely fine, anything else. People are going to hate no matter what. People are going to
07:33
think that Lando is an undeserving world champion no matter what. People have their own
07:37
biases and things like that. It's funny how we get thrown, you're biased about this,
07:40
you're biased about that, usually from a biased fan base. People have their favourites, right?
07:46
The hatred to Lando has come, obviously, because of moments that people don't enjoy,
07:51
or didn't like Lando saying this, and this, that, and the other, or whatever.
07:53
But if you actually purely looked at his driving this year, it is the best season
07:57
he's put together. And also, if you think he's an undeserving world champion, you're
08:02
comparing him to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, two of the greatest we've ever
08:05
seen in Formula One. If you genuinely think he's undeserving, shouldn't be a world champion,
08:10
it's quite clear you've not watched Formula One for very long if you think that you have to be
08:15
at this insanely high standard in order to win a world championship. I hate to break it to you,
08:21
but Formula One world championships are usually won with a driver who has a fast car.
08:26
That is as simple as that. It usually is the fastest car. You can probably count on one hand
08:31
how many times a driver with a ridiculously terrible, or even just mediocre car has been
08:36
able to haul it to the world championship. It's not usually the case. Lando deserves credit.
08:42
He certainly does. He's not been flawless, as I said, but he has been better than his teammate
08:47
Oscar, who fell off, of course, in that last few races. People will say, of course,
08:51
that he was giving away points and things like that. And you're entitled to your own opinion.
08:55
But to say that Lando doesn't deserve it is unfair and discredits
09:01
some amazing performances that he's put in at the highest of pressures this year.
09:06
Exactly. And I will say that at the end of the day, fan bases are always going to be
09:11
disappointed when their driver doesn't win whoever won that championship deserved it.
09:18
You can, we'll look back on this season and look at, I don't know, driver ratings. And Lando,
09:25
we don't know this, but probably isn't going to be the driver of the season.
09:31
But he's done enough what he can. He's given an opportunity in a car to take the world
09:36
championship. And he's absolutely done that. You can't, I think you put it completely rightly
09:44
that I think maybe people have been spoiled or don't understand what we've seen in years gone by
09:52
because we've had Max Verstappen doing unbelievable things and dominating, Lewis Hamilton doing
09:57
unbelievable things and dominating and just looking like these unbelievable drivers that
10:01
are completely untouchable. He's made mistakes. He's had bad moments, but he's got it over the
10:05
line and won the world championship. And it's deserved with what he's done. He's got
10:10
enough points to win the world championship. He's been given the car this year to challenge that
10:15
world championship and he's taken it. So, you know, my advice would be, and I don't need me to tell
10:21
you this, but if you're a Lando Norris fan or whatever, don't let people on the internet
10:27
enjoy, like ruin your enjoyment of this world championship. There'll always be people
10:31
whoever won. If Max had won, people would say this, that or the other. Oscar had won,
10:35
people would say this, that or the other. Same with Lando. He's a worthy world champion
10:41
and he's got it over the line and done it.
10:45
Arguing with people on social media who are blinded by negativity and hatred is a waste of time.
10:50
I can promise you that. Just enjoy the fact if you do or are a supporter of McLaren and Lando.
10:54
I just want to add one more thing actually. A lot of Lando Norris
10:59
sort of like haters or people that dismiss him as well.
11:03
A forgetting, and this goes again to like the curse of the best car in Formula One curse.
11:09
But you know what I mean, like Lando Norris was so highly rated. You'd like remember him driving
11:14
in that McLaren when it was a midfield in like 2021. He had an unbelievable season that year
11:19
and he was being spoken about. I remember Lewis Hamilton saying on the radio one point,
11:24
such a great driver Lando. He was being lauded as like give Lando Norris the machinery to win the
11:29
world championship. Like to have a chance to the championship, he'll win it. Hello, he's done it. Well
11:35
done. Like it's amazing how like as soon as people get, you know, you can, we can argue all day
11:42
long about what would a Maxon in the McLaren? Oh, the red bull's not there blah blah blah.
11:47
At the end of the day, Lando Norris has won the world championship and he's deserving of it.
11:52
Exactly. Let's go to a question from P1Patreon member PiperMZMimicX. Did Lando Norris deserve a penalty?
12:04
I'm unsure. I'm unsure. I'm going to sit on the fence.
12:07
No, get off the fence and decide.
12:09
Right. I think maybe he deserved a penalty. It's difficult because I think you look,
12:15
I think people will bring up previous incidents. I mean, at the end of the day,
12:18
I didn't make any difference. I know it would have added something into the mix where Max could have
12:22
then backed up the field. Five second penalty would have been crucial. There's two sides to this,
12:28
in my opinion, that you shouldn't really be allowed to overtake off the track in any circumstance.
12:35
I do want to, I do like say that I think that McLaren did play a big risk not letting
12:42
telling him immediately let that position go. Just overtake him again. It would have gotten
12:46
passed easily and there was a risk there of him getting a penalty. I think it would have been
12:54
harsh and I do wonder how much of it is the controversy. It would have been weirdly more
13:02
controversial to give it than it wouldn't have been to not give it, in my opinion.
13:07
I'm not going to sit here and act and I know some people will like,
13:11
oh, Max was robbed of the championship because Lando didn't get that five second penalty.
13:15
I don't think it would have made a huge amount of difference. We would have maybe seen more
13:18
games from Max at the end if he could have even done that, but it was the right decision that
13:25
Yuki Sonoda, and we'll talk about him later because I don't think he did a very good job
13:30
of what he was trying, if he was trying to help Max, pushing, he pushed Lando off,
13:36
basically. That is why Yuki deserved the penalty and not Lando.
13:41
Okay, so you've come off the fence and you've said that Lando didn't deserve a penalty there.
13:45
Yeah, I could have seen them giving it based on what was done in the past, but I see why they
13:51
didn't. Yeah, for me, now the dust has settled, I don't think Lando deserved the penalty.
13:58
Of course, we liken it to other incidents. Oh, what about Austin, maybe, where Max,
14:04
Lando went off the track there, passed him and took the position. This was, and to give
14:11
the stewards some kind of credit, they've looked at this situation where Yuki has made one move,
14:18
starts kind of straightening up for a split second, Lando commits to the inside,
14:23
Yuki then goes again. Yuki makes two moves, absolutely penalty worthy because
14:29
that's not allowed. You're not allowed to do that.
14:32
But Lando has committed to this move, which is halfway down the straight.
14:36
It's not like Lando wasn't getting this move done. It was nowhere near the braking zone.
14:42
Lando had the run and Yuki has forced him off the track. You look at the on-boards,
14:48
the last-minute movement from Yuki is what causes Lando to go off the track.
14:52
It's very marginal, I think. I can see why some people would be arguing,
14:56
oh, he's off the track. But for me, I sit on the fact that, no, considering the circumstances,
15:02
considering how Yuki drove in that situation, considering that he got a penalty for the way
15:06
he was driving, you then think in the future, oh, right, so I could try and force someone off the
15:13
track, do something illegal myself and get them a penalty because I've done something
15:17
not in the rulebook. Yeah, it would open a can of worms to forcing someone off because
15:22
then you basically, you could give your opponent a five-second penalty by just basically forcing
15:27
one. Yuki was not allowed to just shove Lando off the track because he has not earned the right
15:34
to be able to shove him off the track. It's not like we're at the apex and Yuki's ahead of Lando
15:38
and he's won the corner. There's none of that. It's a straight and he's moved very late
15:43
and pushed Lando off the track. Do you agree it was slightly crazy for McLaren not to just
15:48
say, don't take any risk in position back? Yeah, I mean, we were in the watch long, weren't we,
15:52
and we were screaming. We were saying, obviously, at first glance, we're thinking, oh, well,
15:55
Lando's off the track. If the stewards deemed Lando to have done anything wrong, he's getting
15:59
a penalty. It was a risk that McLaren have played there, which I genuinely believe some
16:04
people might not believe this, but I wholeheartedly believe that had Lando picked up a five-second
16:09
penalty there, the entire complexion of that race changes. Max Verstappen will come into the
16:15
pits and risk just coming out ahead of Oscar for fresh mediums and back the entire pack-up,
16:20
because if he does, there is a genuine chance that Lando can drop two positions back. Exactly. Of
16:25
course, then you open the can of worms of, well, then maybe McLaren would deploy Oscar to go behind
16:30
Lando and then go even slower than Max. It could have been an insane farce. Thankfully,
16:35
it didn't, because I don't think that's what Formula One should be, is who can go the slowest
16:38
to block the other one. But I genuinely believe we didn't see any games from Max, but we'll
16:44
get into that. I think there was a reason for that with the strategy of McLaren and the way they
16:47
split it. But had Lando got that five-second penalty, which I think in another universe,
16:54
he may well have got it, depending on the stewards, but I think the stewards got it right this time.
17:00
It's as simple as that. Of course, a lot of people were screaming for it, whether they are
17:03
blinded by Lando nor his hatred, or they wanted to see Max win, or they wanted to see a close
17:07
title decider. There were a lot of people up in Arsenal watch along that were saying,
17:11
that should be a penalty, FIA, that's fixed. I stand by, it's far more controversial to give it
17:16
than it is to not give it. Way more controversial, because he has been pushed off,
17:22
and you know, you're giving Yuki the penalty. So it's like, you've admitted that it's Yuki's
17:29
fault. So then to give Lando a penalty would be incredibly harsh. Do you have the document
17:35
right there, Tommy, or shall I load it up just to read it out first? I do have the
17:39
document, because I think I have it somewhere close as well. So it was for car number four.
17:44
Here it is. Right, so the stewards, because this is what we're discussing right now,
17:49
the driver of car four overtook car 22 off track. However, this occurred because the driver of car
17:53
22 made multiple moves defending his position against car four. Had car 22 not made those
17:58
moves, car four would have overtaken it without going off track, but moved off track to avoid
18:02
contact with car 22, which I think is absolutely fair. Further, the driving standards
18:07
guidelines provide that if a car is forced off, which is effectively what occurred here,
18:11
it is not considered to have exceeded track limits whilst technically the overtake took
18:15
place off track. We determine in view of the above to take no further action.
18:21
So there you go. That is what the stewards have said on the matter. I know some people
18:26
who are very much of the opinion that he wasn't forced off track and that they are two
18:31
separate things of Yuki weaving and Lando driving off the track, but I would say that
18:35
they're kind of linked. Again, who would want to be a steward when the championship's on the
18:40
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All right, Tommy, might well be the time that it all becomes a little bit more depressing.
24:57
So what is your most memorable moment? My most memorable moment is, of course,
25:03
Max Verstappen. Missing out on the title by two points. I feel like we need like
25:08
sad violin music playing as I'm about to do a little monologue here. Missing out on the tattoo
25:15
by two points. Missing out on the tattoo by two points. That's the saddest part.
25:19
Yeah, we were so close to the greatest comeback we've ever seen in the history of Formula One.
25:25
So, so close. What I would say, and I don't know how much, maybe it's going to sink in
25:32
more later. Maybe it's because part of me was so like flat after the race because no jeopardy,
25:41
nothing crazy happened that I felt like I just watched a practice session rather than
25:45
a championship finale. But of course, I'm absolutely gutted that Max didn't get it over
25:52
the line and win the world title. It would have been absolutely incredible. However, like,
25:57
if I look back on the season, my sort of like, my thoughts here is just like
26:07
proud Max Verstappen fan of how he did it. And it's an insane thing that I'm about to say here,
26:15
because it's the first time in five years he's not won the world championship. But this has
26:21
easily been my favorite year supporting Max Verstappen, like hands down, even though he's not
26:27
won the title, which is a mad thing to think about. You know, I've watched him win like,
26:35
get pole positions and win like in an underdog scenario a lot of the time. He's made amazing
26:41
moves. He's been doing side quests. He's also like, I've seen people that like, hate him or
26:47
his haters like now basically like supporting him. And I think this has been a year for Max,
26:53
where people have not just kind of said, Oh, he's, you know, one of the greatest of all time.
27:00
You've heard people saying, you know, he might even be the great stroke we've ever seen.
27:03
And for him to be two points away is absolutely gutting. But this season, I have enjoyed
27:12
so, so much. And I'm almost like with Max in terms of like, it almost means more the stuff he's done
27:20
this year than if he just won. Oh, it's another world title. I know it's an insane thing to think
27:24
and of course I'd love, I would have loved him to win the world title. But like, this was the
27:29
year where Max elevated himself even more and put himself like, in that absolute goat debate, no
27:37
doubt. And I think I've enjoyed it even more than I would have if he'd just won the season
27:41
in a dominant current guys fifth title. It makes sense. I don't think that's a crazy sort of left
27:48
field opinion because you want to see your driver in the mix. You want to see your driver fighting
27:53
other opponents. And you said this when he was dominating 2023. I wish there were other drivers
27:59
battling him because that's what you want to see. You want to see your driver battle other
28:03
teams, perhaps even be a slight underdog come out on top. Those are the victories that
28:08
mean the most. And for the majority of the season, Max was phenomenal. He was hauling a car that
28:16
we don't know just how fast or slow it is. Because his teammate has scored like 20 points or something.
28:23
In any other team, you go, wow, Max is doing an insane job. But in Red Bull, you're like, we
28:26
don't actually know, which is insane because obviously that is Max doing a phenomenal job.
28:32
And for him to miss out on two by two points, I think you would have taken that
28:36
after Zanvor. I think you would have said, wow. I just said, what are you smoking?
28:40
Yeah, you're in the title decider. What are you talking about?
28:43
So we've discussed this before. McLaren kept Max in that title. He should not have been in
28:50
the fight in Abu Dhabi. But just great to watch. I was a newly recruited Max Verstappen fan since
28:57
Zanvor, just purely because I wanted to see something amazing happen in the championship.
29:02
We got that title decider and he just narrowly missed out. Let's go to a question from P1
29:08
Patriot member, Thimmer. Should Verstappen have done more than just winning the race today for his
29:13
title chances? I am surprised and not surprised. I'm surprised if you said to Matt before the
29:22
race even begun and I hadn't seen the tyres that everyone was on, that Max was going to do
29:26
nothing and just drive off into the distance and win, I would have been fully shocked.
29:30
After I saw Oscar Piastri put hard tyres on, I was like, hmm, I think this changes the game
29:36
ever so slightly because he couldn't do the backing of the pack. He needed the advantage over
29:42
Oscar because Oscar and Lander were doing two separate strategies. So one of them would have
29:46
probably ended up beating him had he started to do some very cheeky gamesmanship. However,
29:54
that being said, there was still an opportunity for him to play the games at the end.
29:58
But I feel as though these drivers, they watch the race on the screens. They know what's going on.
30:03
They know how far behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc are. I genuinely believe that
30:09
Max Verstappen read the race and went, George is slow AF. 100%. He probably just saw it as
30:15
there is no chance. Even if I back the pack up, all I'm doing is jeopardizing a potential
30:19
victory when nothing is probably going to change behind. Perhaps there's a part of him that
30:25
wants to just have a normal Abu Dhabi for a change rather than a controversial one.
30:31
Yeah, I just think he had nothing to play with there with the fact that
30:38
one Oscar Piastri, as soon as he went on a different strategy, I think we said it in the
30:42
watch along that Oscar, as soon as Oscar went on that different strategy and the race played
30:47
out as it was, and you saw the pace of George Russell, I mean, George Russell finished 50
30:50
seconds behind Max and 32 behind Lando. So he was nowhere. As soon as you saw that pan out,
31:01
Oscar Piastri in a weird way was way more likely to win the world title than Max ever was,
31:06
if he'd have got that, because basically it would have been a Sebastian Vettel moment where
31:12
what happened in 2010 was Alonzo and Weber followed each other. Vettel did something
31:18
different and won the title, and that's what Oscar was trying to do here. And equally,
31:23
Max being on that situation where he couldn't back up the whole field because Oscar was on
31:29
the hard tyres and would have just stayed out on the race or whatever, it was always incredibly
31:34
difficult. And yeah, I think he couldn't really do anything because Charle Clair, maybe in this
31:43
scenario he had, of course, they would have just switched anyway, even if Lando, I can't believe
31:50
we didn't get the situation, though, where we didn't even need to see that happening. Of all
31:55
the scenarios, we didn't even need it and Oscar finished ahead of Lando and there wasn't even
32:00
a situation where McLaren even needed to play team orders, which they must be in
32:05
dream land over as well. Because even just the switch, which was a sensible one to do
32:12
and always would have been, McLaren wouldn't have enjoyed the backlash from it and stuff.
32:19
And Lando's title would have been tainted as well because of what we say, not from like an
32:24
actual people with a brain cell, but people would have jumped on it and stuff. So yeah,
32:33
it just never was on and it was weirdly down to the pace of George Russell and not
32:38
Charle Clair. After all that talk, Russell was just not there. It basically did play out how
32:46
we said pessimistic me was right, that unfortunately, the others are too slow. They were the class of
32:55
the field, the two McLarens and Max, they just were off in the distance. Charle Clair did
32:59
unbelievable, I don't know how he managed to finish fourth and be that close. I do because
33:03
he's a fantastic driver. I'll give him his credit. Don't start now at the end of the
33:08
session. It's a bit late mate. There was nothing Max could do, unfortunately. He needed safety cars
33:17
and things, but it's Abu Dhabi and you don't get them because Latifi's might in the race.
33:22
No, we had all 20 drivers finish as well, I think, didn't we?
33:25
It was the most literally vanilla ending to a championship fight. Hype versus race was...
33:33
Yeah, the expectation was far too high and we should have known deep down.
33:37
Let's go to a question from Elion underscore Smith. Why didn't Max pit right after Lando and
33:42
Oscar to back them up into the pack? Because it was a weird situation. The whole race panned
33:52
out where Max couldn't do this backup strategy and even to the point where he couldn't have
33:58
backed them up at the end because it would have jeopardized Oscar and Charlie even more because
34:05
their pace was falling off at the end. They didn't have the tires Lando did at the end. Lando was
34:09
catching Oscar at the end. Obviously, he didn't need to do anything, so he wouldn't have even...
34:14
He didn't need to push to try and catch him. But in a normal race, who knows because
34:21
the mediums weren't the way to go at the end by the look of it. They were
34:25
groaning and falling off. It was also incredibly borderline with the gap that he had because
34:32
Max wasn't ever going to risk pitting straight after Lando because he'd have basically a slow
34:40
stop allows Oscar into the lead. Equally, he had to do it immediately, but they missed the
34:49
opportunity and it was borderline of the slowest stop by a couple of seconds would have lost him
34:57
the win. He had to just win the race easily and just cruise out front and hope for chaos,
35:04
which is exactly what he said in his interview. I hope it's not nothing to do with me and I
35:08
hope there's chaos. There was no chaos in that race at all. Max kept to his word as well.
35:15
Absolutely kept to his word. Yeah, it goes back to what we said about the fact that there weren't
35:20
really any drivers, Bar-Charles Leclerc, that were able to fight the McLarens in the slightest.
35:28
I am a little bit surprised that they didn't try something, anything to try and slow them down,
35:33
but the problem is as well, and Max said this before the race, the track is different to what
35:37
we saw back in 2016 with Hamilton and Rosberg. There aren't as many slow corners. It is
35:44
fast, it is furious and there's a likelihood that Oscar could have passed and beaten Max
35:50
to the last victory of the season. I'm glad in some ways from an integrity of the sport
35:56
and so on and so forth. I'm glad that Max and Red Bull didn't do anything too crazy.
36:01
I'm surprised they didn't do something a little bit because I thought there was going to be
36:04
something, but they didn't. They won the race fair and square and nothing happened behind
36:10
because 2025 Formula One, that's what happens. Whenever you say something,
36:16
Tommy usually would like it for you to be unmuted when you say it.
36:19
I say the ultimate combo, I know. Okay, the ultimate combo indeed.
36:23
All right, next question from P1Patreon member DK161444.
36:29
Why did Red Bull not let Yuki go out with dignity, used him as a tow on Max's slower
36:34
quali lap, then used him as a sacrifice that ultimately ended in a penalty for him?
36:40
This one I don't particularly agree with. I can understand why Red Bull have tried to use Yuki
36:47
with the hard tyre strategy. Fair enough. It's literally the strategy that Piastri was on.
36:52
It's not like it was an insane thing, Piastri finished second.
36:55
So there's that. Used him as a tow in quali, fine. Used it for the first lap,
37:01
not the second lap. Yuki extended, got track limits and had his lap time deleted. That's on Yuki.
37:09
And then for the penalty, again, that's on him for not driving and defending
37:15
as well as me nor Tommy expected him to. I genuinely believe that Yuki would have slowed
37:21
a lot more in sector three, Ala Sergio Perez in 2021, and then attempted to try and obviously
37:28
defend. But what he did was, as we mentioned earlier, moved very late on that second part
37:32
of the defensive move, which he's not allowed to do. And just generally, I just don't think
37:36
it was a very good defense considering that. But then again, I'm sat there going,
37:40
what does Yuki really owe Red Bull? Not a lot. He's not going to be in that seat next year,
37:45
and he's not even going to be in the team full stop, either racing balls nor Red Bull. So
37:50
as part of me that goes, it was a pretty poor defense. And I don't think Red Bull threw
37:55
him out on the streets and went, boo, Yuki could have done more. But also, why should he?
38:01
Exactly. There's many sides to this. There's one, of course, Red Bull. We're going to use this.
38:08
Is there just like Lando had the kind of trump card that Oscar could just dive out of the way if
38:15
needed to help if that situation arose? Red Bull are in the same situation where, of course,
38:22
they were going to get like, that's the only way that he's going to bring Yuki into play
38:25
because he's not at the pace this year to fight. It was only going to be, we said it,
38:30
we said it in the qualifying, like hard tires, he was always going to stay out.
38:35
He played it incredibly poorly. Now that there is a side to it that I just want to cover off,
38:41
which is like, yeah, like Yuki doesn't need to do this. Like he's abiding by what the team
38:49
says. They wanted him to hold up and realistically like Max, like Yuki basically couldn't do everything
38:59
to like win Max the championship. But my God did he did a particularly good job when you compare
39:05
it to Sergio Perez. You know, I think I think it makes what Perez did look even more impressive
39:12
of what he managed to do in 2021, because he didn't get a penalty. He held him up and
39:18
exactly the right area. Like, and again, people say I was really harsh on Yuki because he doesn't
39:24
owe him anything. And that's fine. But I'm just talking about the factual information. If he was
39:29
trying to help Max, he didn't do a very good job because he let Lando catch him at completely
39:35
the wrong part of the track, because he was catching him at the middle sector,
39:40
who should have just backed off and then held him up in that final sector. You can't
39:44
overtake in that final sector. That is why Perez could do what he could do when he was so slow.
39:49
There is just no opportunity. It's basically Monaco, that final sector. So Yuki had to allow
39:57
Norris to catch him then. And then instead he let him pass on the straight. Then sort of
40:03
panicked and did was way too aggressive and not the right way where he needed to do it
40:08
and just kind of messed it up. And then weirdly spent more time holding up Charlotte Clair than he
40:14
did Lando Norris. So Yuki doesn't owe them anything. Some may argue that had he had a
40:21
contract next year, he might have tried a bit harder or done anything. It looked like he was
40:24
trying to do what he could, but he didn't do a very good job. He didn't do a great job. Of
40:29
course, he's on old hard tyres versus Lando on fresh. It would have been very unlikely he
40:35
would hold him up for any longer than a lap. But yeah, I agree that the last sector should have
40:40
been the place for Yuki to do the Sergio Perez move. Didn't do it. Should we talk about his tweet?
40:45
Perez's tweet. Let's do it. Let's do it. So the F1 troll account had a meme that said maybe
40:53
we treated you too harshly. And it was then a picture of Sergio Perez within that.
40:58
And then Perez quote tweeted it with perhaps...
41:03
He was watching going, well, actually, you see how well I did that.
41:07
Perez did struggle at Red Bull, but he did a phenomenal job in 2021 to help Max Verstappen
41:12
the way he did because that literally won Max the World Championship with the
41:16
gaps that Max had to Hamilton with when the safety car came out and so on and so forth.
41:20
So yeah, Yuki not the best defence, but then again, he struggled with the car all year
41:25
as well. They didn't really have the pace to hold him back much anyway.
41:29
Next question, Just Rijalst. For his third year in F1, Oscar Piastri should be damn proud of himself.
41:36
Do you think he will clinch a World Drivers Championship at some point?
41:40
I think he will. I think Oscar deserves a huge amount of credit for what he's done.
41:46
We've praised Lando, we've praised Max, and we absolutely should praise Oscar as well.
41:51
Yes, unfortunately, he's the one that's come out of this championship with a great opportunity to win
41:57
and he hasn't won it. He led the title. I'm pretty sure this is true from what I heard,
42:02
that he's led the title for the longest of anyone in the history of Formula One without
42:06
winning it. Obviously, that goes because of the amount of races that we have of course now as
42:12
well. But he was leading that championship for so long. Of course, he was so incredibly
42:20
close to Lando Norris. Let's not forget. You take the Monza switch, obviously,
42:28
into occasion and he's gaining a few more points on him. It's so close in that situation
42:34
between the two of them. There's almost like with everything as it's played out,
42:41
they're so evenly matched and I think Oscar deserves a huge amount of credit for being
42:46
that close to a driver who, as we mentioned earlier, is highly rated despite what people say on the
42:52
internet. In his seventh season of Formula One, and Oscar's only his third season in Formula One
42:59
and come that close to the World Championship, he's driven brilliantly for so much of the season.
43:04
Yes, there will be that moment of the kind of bad run of races he had.
43:11
But you can't deny that Oscar hasn't done an absolutely fantastic job and what a career
43:16
he's going to have ahead of him because he's shown this year what a great driver he is.
43:22
He certainly has. He can be so, so proud of himself. He took us all by surprise with just
43:27
how consistent and fast he was at the start of the year. And for most of the year,
43:33
do I think he's going to be a world champion at some point when he's shown all the hallmarks
43:37
of one this year? Absolutely. It's just a case of right place, right time now for Oscar
43:43
because there are some great drivers in Formula One and it is, this is what Formula One, sadly,
43:50
for a lot of talented drivers, that's what it's all about is being in the right team that create
43:54
the fastest car. He was in it this year, perhaps a little bit early in his Formula One career to
44:00
be challenging for a World Championship. I'm sure he'll look back on it and go,
44:02
I wish I did this a little bit better. I wish I did that a little bit better.
44:05
But third season in Formula One, if McLaren roll out next year with the fastest car,
44:11
you'd be silly to bet against him at least having another title finale with Lando Norris,
44:17
because he's been on the pace for the majority of the season, barring obviously what we know
44:21
what happened after Baku. But Oscar should be insanely proud and he's a very exciting prospect
44:29
for the future of Formula One. Right, next question and we're going to talk about Ferrari
44:34
and I'm happy to do so. P1P, do you remember Dan Bonehill? Where did Ferrari's pace come from?
44:40
I have absolutely no idea.
44:44
Charles turned the car around from FP2 to FP3, turned it upside down, changed everything.
44:49
And the race pace, though, wowee. When he pit, two-stop, by the way, amazing. How he's saying
44:59
it's the worst race I've ever watched and it was a two-stop. That's impressive from
45:03
Yasmurina. Charles Leclerc, you know, we're saying Ferrari's, Hamilton did a decent job
45:09
as well from where he qualified to score some points in P8, a very good recovery drive from
45:16
where he qualified. Of course, had he qualified better, he probably could have at least beaten Alonso
45:21
to P6. But for Charles Leclerc, he's fighting Lando Norris for the majority of the race.
45:28
How many seconds did he finish behind? Seven, six and a half seconds behind Lando at the end,
45:33
fully clear of George Russell, who's 25 seconds further back. I think Charles Leclerc did an
45:38
absolutely phenomenal job this weekend. You know, I was celebrating P5 in Qualley,
45:42
didn't think it could get better. I joked that I would wear Ferrari on Saturday, but not Sunday,
45:46
because we've got no hope in the race. And I had to eat my words. So what Ferrari love to do?
45:53
Just tease you. Just tease you with a little bit of performance at the end of the season.
45:58
They did that last year. Charles was challenging for the victory against Lando.
46:02
They've done it again this year with Charles Leclerc. Just a little, by the way,
46:06
as Fred Vassour has called on social media. Yeah, exactly. And Fred Vassour has called on
46:11
social media, Mr. Potential Man. We've actually seen some potential from Ferrari. Of course,
46:16
it's a completely new car next year. But the delusion was gone. The delusion was
46:21
gone by the end of the year. I just didn't want to even talk about Ferrari. Now we're
46:24
so back. See you next year. Can't wait to see what Ferrari put together. So impressed.
46:30
So impressed with Charles Leclerc in particular.
46:32
Yeah, I can't believe that Charles Leclerc was the closest guy to potentially helping Max out
46:39
and closest to Lando to try and pass him. George Russell's pace was nowhere. Obviously,
46:45
we saw Lewis Hamilton end up eighth. You know, that's a case of what might have been had
46:51
he qualified better as well, because definitely the pace was there. And Charles Leclerc,
46:56
yeah, an amazing performance in P4. Penny for his thoughts of, you know, we mentioned,
47:04
you mentioned about you kind of need to be in the right place at the right time.
47:07
Must be hard for him to see, you know, Lando Norris win the world title, Oscar
47:11
Piastri have an opportunity to win the world title and must be thinking like, when is my
47:16
time? We'll find out next year, whether that's the case. Because he's got it in him to
47:22
do it, but hasn't had the machinery. And I think he drove a brilliant race, you know,
47:27
one of the drivers of the race has to be has to be said with what he's got underneath him to be that
47:32
close to the McLarens is actually quite insane. So yeah, decent from Ferrari, but
47:41
is it really a, is it really something to be smiling about? Yeah, ending a year. Yeah.
47:47
Have you seen? Have you seen what Ferrari have been putting down lately? We will absolutely
47:51
take it. Let's just recap on this podcast. So I've been like,
47:57
look, I'm proud of Max. He missed out on the title by two points. He didn't have the car.
48:00
And you're like, yeah, we didn't win a race all season, but P4 in Abu Dhabi.
48:06
I'd say that's good surprise for a Ferrari, isn't it? It's good surprise.
48:11
Yeah, of course, look, Charlotte Clair, this season, is he seven podiums? One, two, three,
48:15
four, five, let me move over there, six, seven, seven podiums when his teammate didn't manage one,
48:22
of course, apart from the sprint win, but we don't took the sprints. We know that they don't
48:25
actually go down as proper podiums. It's not obviously the best season for Charlotte Clair,
48:31
another winless season, which I don't want to talk about. But he's shown this season that
48:36
he still has the talent. And it's been sad at times when he's been saying, look, I've
48:41
got absolutely no, no more pace in the car. So fingers crossed, we have more pace in the car
48:46
for next year. Let's end it on a positive Charlotte Clair World Champion 2016. Right,
48:49
next question for Bill Petra. Remember, MCT, can we all pitch in to pay for Brazil to be the
48:54
finale again? Yes, please. Yeah, I made a joke on my Twitter saying, can we,
49:01
surely we can get enough fans to crowdfund it? Look, yes, the cars are absolutely
49:07
woeful this year. They are very poor. We even heard Oscar Piastri in the cool down room say,
49:17
at least we don't have to drive these anymore. They're talking about something like they were
49:21
behind Colopinto and, you know, they couldn't, they could barely pass them and stuff,
49:26
how bad it was. But Abu Dhabi makes things even worse. You go into that title finale,
49:33
and you know it's mostly going to be a stinker. And Brazil would just add that extra level of
49:40
jeopardy or any other circuit really, apart from Qatar, that, you know, I'd happily have Vegas,
49:47
I'd happily have something else. But Brazil, yeah, like Brazil would be amazing, but
49:53
Abu Dhabi doesn't deliver with the finale, no matter what we get. You know, you look at
50:00
the seasons where the finale has gone down to Abu Dhabi. 2016, sorry, yeah, 2016, absolutely awful
50:10
race. It basically meant that Hamilton could back the entire field up because it's so hard to overtake,
50:16
which tells you everything you need to know about the circuit. 2021 relied on a safety car and
50:21
them going crazy and Michael Massey doing crazy things to allow any kind of incident because
50:28
it was basically just going to end with the most anticlimactic race and basically be like this one
50:32
before that incident. This one, awful, nothing, nothing happened at all. 2010, again, was won
50:41
because you couldn't overtake and Alonso couldn't pass Petrop. It was basically a race where everyone
50:47
pitted behind a safety car and that was the race over. It's an awful, awful, awful, awful
50:54
track for a finale. You go to Brazil and I know we go, oh, it's dirty air and you look at the
51:00
difference like 2012, 2008, because there are things, there are moments like people make mistakes
51:06
because there's grass and gravel to go off. It's harder to pass. There's more chance of
51:12
incidents and mistakes and crashes and things rain as well. It just sucks that this is the
51:18
finale. It really does. It's been the finale for a very long time and will continue to be.
51:23
We'll continue to be because money talks, as we know, and of course that's what the question has
51:29
also sort of hinted at, the fact that we have to pitch in to pay for Brazil. I would love Brazil
51:34
to be the finale. It's what it was when I was obviously growing up and the championship finale
51:38
there with Hamilton and Isaac Block and things like that. We know that Brazil delivers every
51:44
single year, but they don't have the money for it. They don't have whatever arrangement that
51:48
Formula One have with Abu Dhabi to big money moves. From a Formula One fan perspective,
52:00
Yasmarina on paper doesn't look that bad. The new version of Abu Dhabi looks like it should
52:07
in theory work to a degree. Our main frustration should be with these cars. We see Formula
52:14
2 races here that are interesting and it's not like we've never seen a good race around Abu Dhabi
52:20
in any category, i.e. the other formulas. I still think that there are certain parts of the track
52:27
where they want to show the downforce of the car, but by doing these fast sweeping left handers,
52:32
you don't give any opportunity to late break and make a move, a la what we see in Qatar,
52:37
for example. That's what essentially that long left hander is, unless you're literally side
52:41
by side with a car, you can't make the move. Then the final sector is the worst thing ever.
52:46
It's built around a landmark and that's the only reason it's like that. It's literally built
52:50
around a hotel. Separate the cars. You're always going to struggle. You're always going
52:54
to struggle to keep the cars close. My main bug bear is always going to be with the cars,
53:00
because if they could follow, we would get racing. Yes, I also think that it lacks
53:06
it lacks character. It lacks Brazil. It's shown in enough seasons now that even,
53:14
you know, I shared those examples. I've just been like this year, but the fact that like 2016
53:20
had good racing. The cars were much smaller. They could follow. There was passing. They couldn't
53:25
pass. I know that I know the circuits changed since, but there's just never been a good
53:32
finale there, other than obviously people say 2021, but obviously we know what happened and why
53:38
that was the way it was at the end. That's how you get an overtake apparently around Dabby Dabby.
53:50
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slash start now. Growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and
55:43
insurance plan. Okay, next question from mt underscore Louis. Is this one of the worst
55:51
seasons in terms of racing? The championship battle was interesting in the end, but
55:55
didn't hide the poor quality of racing. Aren't we glad to see a new set of regulations?
56:01
I was saying this to Tommy in the watch along. It genuinely is one of the worst seasons we've
56:06
had in terms of bangers. We asked the chat, what were your submissions for bangers?
56:14
And they were saying, Australia, that's the first round of the season.
56:17
First race of the season.
56:18
And that was only good because it was chaotic because of the rain. I don't think it was actually,
56:23
in my opinion, classified as a banger in the context of 2025, for sure. Silverstone was,
56:29
of course, a good race. Also rain.
56:33
Also rain. But apart from that, we have been really starved of great racing. So fair play
56:39
to all of us and to all of you, if you've been sticking with this season the entire
56:43
way through the championship, of course, has made it interesting to some degree.
56:46
But even then, McLaren tried to suck a little bit of fun out of that by being
56:49
surgical with it all. But overall, it's not been the best of seasons. But it will be remembered
56:56
because of the fact we had a three-way title fight at the end, which ended with a stinker as
57:00
well. So it almost feels poetic that the 2025 season ended this way.
57:05
Yeah, it depends how you see Formula One. It reminds you very much,
57:09
throw it back all the way to 2010. But that was a season where you had,
57:15
and also the last time that we saw more than three drivers going for the championship finale,
57:21
as I mentioned, a terrible finale in Abu Dhabi because you couldn't overtake and
57:26
nothing happened as always. But the actual races were really quite poor and you couldn't
57:34
overtake and it was really difficult. The Bridgestone tyres made the fact that you could
57:40
just, they didn't have tyre wear back then and things like that. So it was a really poor,
57:48
yeah, like a poor races. But then people look back on that and go, oh, wow, you had all these
57:53
different drivers going for the world championship. And yeah, you look at seasons
57:58
gone by and last year, you know, Max won the title by a long way in the end, over 60 points.
58:06
And yet we had absolutely bangers seemingly all the time. The races were absolutely superb. But
58:13
then we were saying, oh, we should have a close title fight. It seems like only,
58:19
feels like only 2012 off the top of my head is one of those years where we managed to get
58:23
both. So yeah, it very much feels like one or the other with how last season, dream scenario,
58:31
the races that we had in 2024 and how exciting they were with this title fight.
58:38
We can't have it all though, can we? We can't have it all. But my god, yeah, the racing was
58:43
utterly awful this year. Like, I'm not going to be around the bush. Like,
58:48
you get into the first corner first, you're basically winning the race unless you're
58:51
paroligal or hungry. Yeah, great. I thought I'd try and cover that off before you said it,
58:55
but you still said it all the same. Good. Okay. Tough, tough. But look, next year, we're saying
59:01
about we're glad to see the new set of regulations for sure. I'm excited, you know, a fresh look at
59:08
Formula One cars and how they're going to be with no DRS but mom instead. Going to be interesting
59:13
to see how you commentate that. But also on the flip side of that, the things I'm more
59:18
hesitant and concerned about are the fact that new regulations usually mean a period of dominance
59:23
for a certain team. So fingers crossed that doesn't happen and they're all within two-tenths.
59:27
When we get an amazing scrap for over sixth place and everyone's moaning going, oh, George Russell's
59:33
40 seconds clear. Like, why can't we have a closed title fight like we did last year?
59:38
Remember what we said about this race. Remember the racing. Remember the racing.
59:42
Okay, let's go to biggest winner, driver or team. I wonder. I think Lando might be a shout for
59:48
winning the World Championship and being able to fend off the pressure from the entire event.
59:56
Who else would be a, I mean, for Stappen, the fact that he won around Abu Dhabi is
00:01
shocking to most of us by 12 and a half seconds in the end as well.
00:06
Hmm. Ocon is an honourable mention in P7 in the house. That was a great performance from him,
00:12
but I think I'm going to lock in Lando Norris because he had to deal with it all.
00:17
He won his first World Championship. So congratulations.
00:21
Indeed. Yeah, it has to be, it has to be Lando by looking up and down the order as well.
00:26
We didn't even get like a crazy point swing in, you know, the fight that everyone was on
00:32
tent hooks over the fight for seventh in the Constructors title, which, you know, we all
00:37
tuned in for, but it didn't change anything because they all kind of scored a few points
00:43
here and there and it kept exactly the same like no one team really dominated. So it's hard to
00:48
say someone really changed anything apart from Lando winning the World Championship. So there we go.
00:56
One on Lando. Biggest loser. Alpine have had one of the worst endings to a season ever with the two
01:03
19th and 20th, I think in the last couple of Grand Prix, although I don't think they finished
01:08
19th and 20th in Qatar, but it was pretty close. Who else is, Williams is a very meh, very meh.
01:16
Antonelli's got to be a great show. He had a really poor weekend in general 15th.
01:20
Sonoda kind of as well with the one job he had of the defending.
01:25
Yeah. I mean, it must be a shame for you. You got to think like you've ended the season.
01:33
Yeah, it's obviously like you couldn't help your teammate. You've not got any points.
01:38
You've probably been, it felt like you've kind of been had that race where you've been
01:43
sacrificed trying to help your teammate and ended up with nothing. And then it's just
01:46
like a sad way for you to end what is probably going to be his F1 career as well.
01:51
Yuki's a great show. Okay, let's go with Yuki Sonoda then.
01:55
Right. The moment we've all been waiting for, which is the Predictions Championship.
02:02
So it is currently 58-55 to Tommy. Three points. The advantage to Tommy going into this one.
02:11
It's really going to be a lot more exciting than the race.
02:14
How is it going to end? Because I've got a slight smile on my face because I know
02:18
that I've got some things right. So let's get into this then. A good surprise. I went for Alex
02:24
Albon, who didn't get lapped. Good surprise locked in. That's zero points for Alex Albon.
02:32
And I went for Nico Hülkenberg. Got a lovely little P9.
02:35
Hülkenberg ended ninth. How on earth did Hülkenberg end ninth?
02:42
That is a point because he literally qualified 18th, isn't it?
02:45
Yeah, he did. He looked like he was completely out there at one point. He did the strategy of
02:50
pitting very, very early, like Lewis Hamilton. Did Okon do it as well? And Stroll? I can't remember.
02:58
Now I was obviously focused on the leaders. No, it was the two-stop.
03:02
They did a two-stop, didn't they?
03:05
Yeah, so it worked for him.
03:07
Yeah, it did. Well done to Nico Hülkenberg. All right, Tommy's now four ahead.
03:11
Let's go to a big flop. I went for Sonoda.
03:14
How do you feel about that one, Tommy?
03:18
Let me look at his most recent run. Did he flop?
03:22
Is it like one of those where you get an easy point because he's...
03:30
Okay, hold on. Right, so it's his second worst result since Hungary.
03:35
Yeah, I guess he's done worse, hasn't he, than... Have you finished...
03:39
It's one of those things where, like, because he's been poor anyway,
03:43
it feels like a cheap point. But then if I actually take my...
03:49
...competitive hat off, I was doing exactly the same thing with us,
03:52
but Okon, and it didn't work, so five has the point.
03:55
You can't, you can't.
03:56
Well, let's just read out his results.
03:58
9, 13, 6, 12, 7, 11, 17th, which was worse, 12th, 10th, and then 14th.
04:02
And of course, I've got the penalty as well.
04:02
I think immediately, like, yeah, he got a penalty.
04:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, yeah, of course, yeah.
04:06
He was slow. He didn't manage to do anything for Max, in fact.
04:12
Yeah, it didn't look great what he did for Max and got a penalty.
04:16
So, yeah, I'll get you. It's got to be.
04:18
OK, thanks, Tommy. I appreciate it.
04:19
All right, three points to get once again.
04:21
We go to pole position, where I went for Oscar Piazza.
04:23
Oh, you didn't actually say Okon.
04:26
Yeah, Okon. So you went for Okon.
04:27
Okon, I went for the easy point of us when Okon,
04:29
he became the greatest that he's ever been all season.
04:32
Absolutely ridiculous. Thanks, Estee Bestie.
04:34
Amazing result for Esteban, though.
04:36
I'm pleased for you, but how dare you?
04:38
I also screwed him.
04:42
Tommy went for cheat points and it backfired.
04:45
Pole position, I went for Oscar Piazstri, which was incorrect.
04:49
I went for Lando Norris, incorrect.
04:52
OK, third position in the main race, I went for Lando Norris, correct.
04:59
I went for George Russell, incorrect.
05:01
Where was your pace there?
05:03
Two points, the gap.
05:05
We go to second place.
05:06
I went for Oscar Piazstri, correct.
05:11
I went for Lando Norris, incorrect.
05:14
The sadness, is it Tommy's voice?
05:16
OK, one point, the gap.
05:18
And in first place, I went for Max Verstappen.
05:20
Oh, you're stupid clay.
05:22
You're stupid clay.
05:25
I can't believe the play worked.
05:28
Also, so yeah, I went for Oscar Piazstri.
05:31
People said you should have gone for Max Verstappen
05:35
because basically that would have forced you into basically
05:38
picking like a Russell or something or a Leclerc win.
05:41
And I managed to not do it because I was scared of jinxing it
05:44
and Max didn't win the title.
05:48
Biggest loser, Tom Bellingham actually, let's just change it to that.
05:51
What an absolute disaster.
05:52
OK, so we're level now.
05:54
It is level on points as we head to the one crazy prediction.
05:58
My one was at least two drivers will be in the championship winning position during the race.
06:03
Why did I allow that one?
06:05
You allowed and thankfully it was only Yuki Sonoda on hard tyres that allowed that to happen.
06:11
So it could have easily been that they all just ran away.
06:13
To be fair, you look at it in hindsight, but I remember at the time going,
06:17
yeah, that's fair because I thought we thought McLaren were going to just dominate the race
06:20
and Max wouldn't be able to do it.
06:21
So I'd say it was a reasonable prediction.
06:23
So that's a point and Tommy.
06:35
Like, come on, Lyrus, what are you doing?
06:36
Gallagher out of nowhere opens mom to take the lead.
06:40
It's like Gallagher.
06:42
Sorry, that was crazy.
06:44
And then finally, well, not finally,
06:45
because you went for world champion as well, our Patreon prediction.
06:48
If you're part of the P1 Patreon, then you can get involved and submit a prediction
06:52
every single race weekend on the Discord.
06:57
The season will be over and there will be zero controversy.
07:00
Peace will reign and there will be goodwill to all men.
07:06
Like, I think that would be one of the...
07:08
You can't give it because the penalty...
07:10
I mean, look at social media telling me that there was no controversy, the penalty.
07:14
The penalty, I don't think people would give you that one because of the penalty.
07:23
Have I been robbed?
07:24
Have I been robbed?
07:26
Tommy, I went for that bloke.
07:29
Carlos Sainz finishes ahead of Albin in the World Drivers Championship,
07:34
He did not get a point.
07:37
He finished way off.
07:39
What are you doing, Carlos?
07:41
And finally, Tommy, who did you go for for world champion?
07:45
I went for Lando Norris.
07:46
So you're level on points, but I also went for Lando Norris.
07:51
He's if you've won by a point.
07:53
Oh my God, in the last...
07:55
In the last second,
07:57
the Klaxon is going and Gallagher has thrown a three-pointer.
08:02
How have you done that?
08:06
You've obviously welled the other predictions
08:10
By the way, if that Patreon prediction had come down to whether I won or not,
08:16
this was going big.
08:17
That would be more controversial than the five-second penalty in the first place.
08:25
Oh my God, that's so annoying.
08:27
Tommy, look, it has been an honor to share the stage with you.
08:30
What a great predictions championship we have shared.
08:33
Oh, for God's sake.
08:34
So I just want to thank everyone.
08:35
I want to thank my mom, my dad, my sister, my girlfriend.
08:37
Why? They lost the family prediction.
08:42
I want to thank everybody for their support.
08:43
I want to thank everybody that said that I tried to get cheap points.
08:47
I want to thank Dean Bellingham for calling me out on the podcast.
08:50
All those cheap points came into rest at the end.
08:55
I'm glad you're gracious in defeat, Tommy.
09:00
The funniest thing is as well, I was like,
09:02
I almost got gross to do all my predictions for me because I'm like,
09:06
we've been so washed this year, like barely got any points.
09:09
And then of course, I genuinely think that is the biggest
09:12
point tall of anyone.
09:15
And as if it's happened from a tactical play.
09:20
I can't believe it as well.
09:22
I genuinely I put Max Verstappen down as P1 with zero confidence.
09:27
Because I just didn't win the world title.
09:29
I lost the predictions and the world title.
09:33
This is the worst Formula One season of all time.
09:37
Are you taking note, everybody, that Tommy has said I'm the
09:40
competitive one this entire year?
09:48
So I've somehow clinched the title.
09:50
The family top three has been wrapped up
09:54
because Tommy didn't allow for a double pointer in the last one
09:56
and it didn't matter anyway.
09:59
14-9 to the Bellingham's.
10:01
My sister put a very strong line up together.
10:04
In third place went for Piastri, which was incorrect.
10:07
Grace went for Max Verstappen.
10:13
Regina went for Verstappen.
10:16
And Grace went for Pierre Gathley.
10:22
My sister went for Lando Norris, which was incorrect.
10:24
She got the podium correct, but in the wrong order.
10:27
And Grace went for Franco Colopinte.
10:32
If you turned it round, she would have won.
10:33
Turn the entire grid upside down.
10:35
She'd got two points.
10:38
We look forward to some more predictions.
10:39
Her top drivers finished 20th, 19th and first.
10:46
I'm looking forward to a lot more of that as she gains
10:48
more wheel knowledge into 2026.
10:50
And I will say as well, of course, if you love the predictions,
10:54
of course, we're going to reflect on our yearly ones as well,
11:00
which could be interesting.
11:03
Yeah, we'll find out.
11:04
Once we made it to the start of the year, also the championship table.
11:07
So there's a couple more predictions championships to be had here as well.
11:12
Tom is clinging on to any hope, but we know this one's the real one.
11:15
We know that this one's the real one.
11:16
Apart from last year when I won it and you were like,
11:18
are we decided on all that?
11:21
Last year was for fun.
11:22
This year was for real.
11:26
We are done and dusted for the race of you.
11:28
We will be carrying on for all of our wonderful patrons
11:30
for a few questions afterwards.
11:32
If you want to join our Patreon to reflect on the season,
11:35
you're more than welcome,
11:35
but we will have lots more content coming out as well.
11:38
I just want to say for me,
11:39
thank you so much for your support over the course of this entire season
11:44
It has grown from strength to strength to a place
11:47
that I never even believed was possible with P1
11:50
when we launched this at the start of 2023.
11:53
To see all of your comments,
11:54
the way that you speak to us at the P1 live shows
11:56
and say that you have your own predictions championship
11:58
and things like that that we do for a little bit of fun,
12:01
we forget that anybody listens and watches our content.
12:05
And here we are with a Formula One podcast
12:08
that I think both myself and Tommy can be very proud of.
12:10
And thank you once again for all of your support
12:13
in the watch alongs.
12:15
We'll of course be doing watch alongs next year as well.
12:18
And yeah, overall it's been absolutely awesome.
12:21
And I am utterly indebted to each and every one of you
12:23
that listens and watches along.
12:26
So Tommy, final thoughts?
12:30
Of course, I'm going to echo what you said.
12:31
We've got an amazing community.
12:33
Like your support has been unbelievable this year.
12:37
It's been an incredible year for us,
12:39
like so proud of what P1's achieved.
12:42
And you guys are still being here
12:45
Obviously, you know, like we've been doing it a few years
12:47
since we made the crazy journey to start this.
12:51
And it still never feels any less surreal
12:54
that I get to just and both of us get to just chat
12:57
about Formula One all the time and you guys enjoy it.
13:01
So yeah, thank you for all the support.
13:03
And also, you know, we're reflecting on this,
13:06
but don't go anywhere because plenty more to come,
13:10
particularly as there is barely an off season
13:13
because car launches are early January as well.
13:17
Think you said five weeks didn't you on the watch along?
13:19
Yeah, mid-January I think are the first car launches,
13:20
which is five weeks away.
13:21
But we'll have our wrap up content as well
13:23
and drive ratings and drive ratings for the season
13:26
and predictions and all that good stuff.
13:27
We're not disappearing.
13:28
Don't you worry about that.
13:29
So make sure you're subscribed everywhere you need to be.
13:33
Thank you everybody once again
13:35
and enjoy a bit of downtime
13:37
before we get cracking again for next year.
13:48
P1 is a stack production
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and part of the ACAST Created Network.
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