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Azerbaijan GP Race Review
Azerbaijan GP Race Review
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About this episode
Matt and Tommy dive into the Azerbaijan GP, focusing on Max Verstappen's back-to-back wins and the championship battle heating up. They discuss Oscar Piastri's disastrous weekend with multiple mistakes, Lando Norris's missed opportunities, and McLaren's internal dynamics. The hosts highlight standout performances from Carlos Sainz and George Russell, debate Red Bull's resurgence under new leadership, and preview the crucial upcoming Singapore GP. The episode also features listener questions, race predictions, and reflections on the intense pressure shaping the title fight.
Topics:
max verstappen comeback
oscar piastri mistakes
lando norris performance
mclaren team dynamics
red bull leadership
carlos sainz podium
george russell drive
championship battle
singapore gp preview
race predictions
The CRAZIEST of starts in Baku meant some Championship contenders were given a great chance to close the gap - but did they take it?
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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 Podcast
with Matt and Max Verstappen fanboy, Tom Bellingham,
who, if you're listening on audio, is dripped head to toe in swag of Max Verstappen swag.
He's got the number one hat on.
He's got the Max cape on and the Max Verstappen t-shirt.
So I have a feeling, Tommy's in a reasonably good mood today.
A little bit, yeah, but still also just like...
That was such a weird race.
We kind of got the race that we thought it might be,
where it didn't deliver as much of carnage as qualifying,
but at the same time, it's created some incredible and spicy talking points,
particularly about the championship.
Now, before we get into all of that, a quick shout out to our P1 Live Show tickets.
There will be a link at the top of the description on YouTube,
as well as there'll be in the episode notes as well.
If you want to come and see us in Australia,
or if you want to see us in the US or Canada or Manchester in England,
plenty of venues, plenty of opportunities.
We'd love to see you and it'll be...
It's always fun. It's always a lot of fun.
Okay, also our wonderful patrons will be getting extra chat
at the end of every single race review this season
and we have a lot to talk about.
So, if you want to go join our Patreon,
it's patreon.comforces.mapp1tommy to get more exclusive stuff,
including ad-free listening as well.
Righty-o then, Tommy.
Shall we begin with your most memorable moment?
What it might be?
Yes, for a second week in a row,
it's about Max the Stappen winning the race
and this time having the same conversation of,
is championship back on?
And I've gone from, or absolutely not,
there's no chance to slightly believing.
Hence the clothes.
And look, there's obviously something in my being
that started to believe in some way
because I was so nervous watching that race,
thinking, oh my God, if Max wins this,
I was constantly thinking, oh my God,
if he wins this and watching where Landa is going to finish
and obviously Piastro is at the race,
which we'll talk about later.
We joked about that scenario, didn't we,
where it said like, oh, in the next race,
it would have to be for Stappen winning again
and then Oscar Piastro DNFing
and as if it's actually happened immediately.
And yeah, I look back, I'm still very much,
it's going to be a huge ask to do it,
but it's certainly, you know,
it's going to ramp the pressure up on McLaren now
that he's kind of lurking in the background a little bit.
Like they already said yesterday
that we do have to kind of take his championship seriously
and I was kind of like, he's not in it,
but he's bagged 25 points on Piastro in this one,
in one go.
So my God, yeah, it's making me nervous now.
I swear you change like the back who win, do you do?
Like during the race watch along,
nah, it doesn't matter, I'm still nervous,
but it's not even 1%.
And then you come off the stream and you're like,
well, actually, I feel like it's more like 2%,
maybe 10%.
2%? Yeah, 2% I think.
Yeah, so...
Singapore is going to be the biggest one, I think.
It's on, it's absolutely on.
It's absolutely on.
If you also consider, right,
so we've got seven races to go,
69 points, Max Verstappen is behind Oscar Piastro
in the championship,
which means he can win every single one of the races
from here on to the end of the season.
Piastro finishes third and Max is world champion.
So there are more realistic scenarios happening
each and every race weekend it seems.
And it's, the other point I wanted to make about this
was that not only are we talking about Max the Resurgence,
perhaps Red Bull have got a car that can win it,
tracks for the rest of the season,
but you've got Oscar and Lando
who are going for their first ever world championship.
Now, Max isn't close enough in the rearview mirror right now
to get like particularly shaky,
but what a mistake for Oscar Piastro to make on lap one.
We'll talk about that in a little bit,
but you know, McLaren barely scored.
Lando finished where he started the race.
It's, it's, it's fumble city for McLaren at the moment.
You know, with the pit stops,
with the whole nicey, nicey stuff,
which I don't agree with,
like it just feels like something could
and may go wrong.
Something potentially changed in Monza
after all that pressure,
all those questions that they were getting,
because we said like, oh, you know,
Monza's an outlier, Max is going to, you know,
he's won the race by a comfortable margin,
but I didn't believe that Red Bull had the fastest car.
I think the reason I'm still quite pessimistic
to a point about it is the fact that
it's not a scenario last year
where it feels like McLaren have fallen off a cliff.
You know, if you look at last year
and how that kind of,
it switched actually between them,
but Lando, when he was chasing Max Verstappen,
it felt like Max was hanging on to the championship lead
by, you know, dear life,
whereas this one feels like Max is just over-delivering
and he's chipping away at it,
whereas the situation here is that
McLaren are still incredibly quick,
you know, despite them saying that,
oh, you know, Red Bull look quick this weekend.
I don't for a second believe Red Bull
suddenly have the fastest car
and they're well clear of McLaren.
Now, if that was the case
and McLaren were starting to like fall off a bit in performance,
I would definitely be backing Max to do something incredible.
It would still take an absolute miracle,
I think for him to do it,
but he's there and it's two in a row now.
And as we say, like the more late,
the later it goes on into the season,
if he keeps doing this,
the pressure is going to just ramp up more and more
for the McLaren drivers of,
you know, you can't make mistakes in qualifying.
You can't do this, you can't do that.
Yeah, and as well, look, we're talking about
the whole McLaren fight
between Lando and Oscar for the world championship.
Break it down a little bit more.
Max has only 44 points behind Lando Norris
with seven races to go.
That seems more bite-sized.
You know, when you break down the numbers
between second and first, you're like, well,
you're going to be like in Charlotte class,
30 points behind Loc Russell and 60 points.
I was doing the math and, you know,
Charles was 161, I think it was
coming into this behind Oscar
and when Oscar crashed out,
you know, I start to believe no.
It's an interesting thing to talk about.
It's something that, you know, as a Formula One fan
that prioritizes just awesome racing
and a championship battle first,
just the thought of that scenario
of Max chipping away, like if he hadn't
have taken Russell to the cleaners at Spain,
he'd be 60 points behind potentially.
So yeah, there's so many scenarios
that that is the painful thing for me
is like looking back on these tiny little moments
of like the, yeah, like the head loss in Spain,
but you could even go further back
and say that, you know, it was very unfortunate
for that whole situation to happen
with him running out of ties
and then putting the hard ties on.
He was on for an easy P3 at that situation.
Antonelli taking him out at Austria.
Of course, you know, everyone will say,
well, McLaren have had that fair share of issues as well.
I think I'm separating those incidents to like
things that of course out of his control,
Antonelli eating him and then him seeing
Red and going Russell.
And that was in his control.
You're coming with me.
And we will know at the end of the season
whether this is something
that is genuinely going into it.
I think we'll know in Singapore to a point.
I think if Max is up and wins in Singapore
and even if the McLaren's finished seconds
and third, it will be like, oh my God, okay.
I'm like, Red Bull can like win
at all these kinds of circuits.
Whereas I know it's an insane thing
because we said it after Red Bull.
Sorry, after Monza when we said Red Bull, you know,
that yeah, they've won by 20 seconds.
But you know, back is a very different circuit
and they've won again.
I do genuinely think that Singapore will be
a much better outlier of like where we are with this
because it's a very different circuit
because if he manages to eke out the points,
this is something you said on the watch along.
You look at the circuits coming up.
Mexico, he's brilliant at.
Interlagos, he's brilliant at.
You know, these circuits that he has been good at in the past.
And Singapore has never won at?
No, I think it's the only one on the calendar
is not won, I believe.
So yeah, so yeah, it's, we'll see.
Singapore, I think is going to be very, very interesting indeed.
Yeah, exactly.
We'll know whether it's a three-horse race
or a two-horse race, I think.
After Singapore.
After Singapore.
Question from P1Patreon member Tony Soprano.
How close would Max need to be in the standings
for McLaren to start considering favoring their lead driver?
Oh no, Papyrus is coming.
Oh no, not the talk about Papyrus again, please.
How close would he need to be?
I think honestly, McLaren seemed to be very much,
it's difficult, right?
We've had this whole shenanigans in Monza
which wasn't a case of favoring their lead driver.
Although some people might say it was
because you know, people think that Landau
has a McLaren bias there.
But it wasn't a case of,
Landau is the lead championship leader,
Oscar let him through,
because obviously Landau is behind Oscar.
When do I think McLaren would have to do that?
I think if Max was to pass Landau in the championship,
then it's Oscar, it's Oscars to win.
And I think that's probably,
I don't think McLaren have an argument until then
to say, okay, Oscar, we have to back you.
This is again another big scenario in my head
that may well not happen.
44 points, that's two wins.
True, and you do wonder,
people will say this is insane,
but I think, you know,
Landau at that point might even be like,
well, I'll do everything for the team
because he has been very,
the way he's kind of said that,
as he's kind of gone on.
I would actually weirdly wouldn't put it past Landau.
If he does say that,
he better be more than two race wins behind Oscar.
Yeah, yeah, but,
if he says it with one race win,
I'll fall off my chair.
Yeah, but I also can,
I can also see that happening
based on how this season's gone so far in Landau,
the character that he is,
that many times said that,
even last year he was kind of like,
well, I want to win the title in the right way
and all this kind of stuff.
So yeah, he,
I do think that,
yeah, if Max managed to surpass Landau,
which would again be a stretch,
but they say 44 points
isn't absolutely kind of insane,
then maybe it does get to a bit more
like they need to like really panic,
but also at the same time,
you know, this is McLaren,
we had this conversation about Hungary
and Monza last year
when Landau realistically was the only one
that could have caught Max.
And that time they did have a brilliant car,
the best car in the field
and Red Bull were falling off a cliff
and couldn't, you know,
really score many results.
And they still didn't go,
yeah, Landau all the way.
So I also wouldn't put it past McLaren,
just letting them,
them to it and I mean, imagine,
imagine the scenario where
we get a Kimmy Reichenan
versus Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton,
but the Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton
is because they've been too nice to each other
rather than hating each other.
I think as well, not as much as myself
and yourself, Tommy,
we've watched Formula One that way,
but maybe we need to add a bit of context to that
just for people that haven't seen...
So for the people that haven't watched it,
2007, basically the championship
had basically been won by Lewis Hamilton.
It seemed like you'd won it from Fernando Alonso.
There was a lot of kind of controversy
during that season
and basically Hamilton had a couple of failures
towards the end of the season
and Kimmy Reichenan nicked it off,
both of them, it felt like
it was very much going to be McLaren's win
and which McLaren drive would do it.
And Kimmy Reichenan snuck in
and got the W by a single point.
The last Ferrari Drivers World Champion.
Wow, yeah.
And you've had to explain how long ago it was.
Yeah, fun times.
Yeah, people will literally won't remember
the last time Ferrari were World Champions
in the Drivers category.
Okie dokie, next question.
Let's go to people on Patreon member Marjo.
What has Lauren Mechey's done
or were the tensions inside Red Bull
affecting racing that much?
I don't know if he's like,
you can say that it's Lauren Mechey's coming in
that suddenly they're now, you know,
really quick and max is challenging for the title
because of course they won races
at the start of the year as well.
Hold on, did you just say
max is challenging for the title?
Did that just come out of your mouth?
Oh no, I said it.
Sorry Mr. 1%.
Sorry Mr. 1%, max is challenging for the title.
Wow.
2%.
But this is the scenario now
where people are kind of saying this
and going, oh look, he's won two in a row.
They're really good, but they did win races
at the start of the season as well.
But it certainly can't be a bad thing
to have much better kind of team harmony.
You know, look at Yuki Sonoda
getting his best result as well
and finally getting some big points
on the board for the team and Red Bull
kind of even having conversations
and Mechey's having conversations of like,
we know we could get second in the championship
which was never thought would possibly be happen.
I still think it's a massive stretch of course.
But yeah, I think he's clearly done a great job
and deserves credit
and maybe it's what Red Bull need
going into these new regulations
and yeah, maybe it isn't a case of like
counting them out from it.
Yeah, I don't know if we can just say
that Laurent has gone in
and changed everything for completely overhauled
what's going on in Red Bull.
Obviously tensions don't help
and we don't exactly know what was going on
behind the scenes
and how all the staff members on the ground
were feeling with everything going on.
But what it can do now potentially
especially with a few wins now under the belt
is just bring a bit of stability to Red Bull.
Whether Laurent will be the one to stay
as the figurehead for, you know,
sufficient and a long amount of time.
We don't know that either yet
but he is the CEO
which is he's gone straight in at the top.
But no, he's clearly doing a very good job
and he's got the engineering background he knows
and that I think is really something
that we're going to see more and more of
as Formula One continues to go into the 2030s
and you know that the James Vows is the
the ones that really know
Formula One cars inside and out
and if they have that natural leadership skill as well
then they can take teams to the front I think.
So yeah, a phenomenal job from Laurent so far
and if he wins the championship
then he'll be Lord of the greatest team principle of all time.
So yeah, there you go.
Yeah.
Right, let's go to my most memorable moment
and it has to be the Oscar Piastri crash.
Again.
I can't really believe what I've witnessed
just from Oscar's entire weekend in Baku.
Practice, struggling, clipping walls.
Pretty lucky you'd have to say
to not have had at least a Lando crabbing incident in practice.
Then crashes in qualifying, jumps the start
and then crashes on lap one.
I was genuinely worried as to whether Oscar Piastri's car
had been hijacked by a fan
that was just wearing the same outfit and overalls.
Zach Brown was driving it or something or?
Yeah, crazy.
Yeah, I mean that won't have the McLaren bias allegations
if it was.
But at such an out of sorts Piastri we saw today,
utterly shocking.
The mistake to make as a championship leader
was, I was going to say unforgivable,
he may well be forgiven
because he lost less points crashing
and Lando finishing where he was
than if he was to finish second to Lando finishing first.
That is mad. Which is utterly mad.
Yeah, it is. It's absolutely madness.
But we'll get on to Lando later.
But in terms of Piastri, the most insane thing for me
is that Piastri, and rightly so so far this season
has kind of got this Iceman persona
and we've said that his kind of very chill nothing phases him
is going to really do him wonders
going into these final few races.
And to me it's insane that it's not only just one incident
if he'd had the crash in qualifying
and he started at the back or something had gone wrong
would have said oh you know that's a big moment in the championship
but for him to then jump the start is insane
and then crash immediately.
I don't remember a world championship leader.
You know we've seen in the past
like a world championship leader have moments
where I'm thinking Sebastian Vettel
where you know the infamous incident
at Hockenheim where he went off
and it's like oh this is huge for the championship
he's gone off and many other incidents
he's gone by but for three massive incidents
all to happen in the same weekend
I guess count himself lucky that one
the points that Lando picked up
and two that for his sake you'll be hoping
that all his bad bad kind of
it's not even fortune because it's his own error
has kind of all happened
in one concentrated weekend of pure floppiness
because he was in such an insane finishing streak
as well wasn't he?
I think he had like the third longest streak
of finishing races and then it ended like this
which is ah yeah I can't believe it
a question from P1Patreon member Moreno8
will Oscar's penalty be transferred to Singapore?
I seem to remember some shenanigans in Mexico
when Red Bull sent Perez out
after being in the garage for 10 laps
just to do a pit stop and take the penalty he received
so to clarify on this one
because it was a five second penalty
the stewards are not carrying over
and don't carry over penalties to the next race
people might be questioning
well but Hamilton had one
but that was for a double waved yellow flag infringement
and that was a 10 second penalty
that they would have given Lewis
had it been even the start of the race
so I don't know how you'd anyway
it would have been a 10 second penalty
which is something you do carry over
so that was my initial thought as well
so you're very fair to have thought this
of like oh will Oscar carry this over
because I had to check as well
and I thought maybe he would
but nope he will not carry any penalties over
and it's yeah it was never going to be more than five seconds anyway
but it's a good thing for him
that he doesn't have to carry over this
absolutely horrendous weekend to the next one
yeah imagine if he'd like taken a car out on his
lay on the brakes and taken a car out
got a 10 seconds carried on
you know that's the only way this weekend
could have got any worse for him
if he did then carry the penalty over into the next one
because yeah a complete shocker for Piastry
certainly was
next question people on Patreon remember Rebecca
people are constantly expressing concerns
about Lando's mental strength
should we really be concerned about Oscars
I think both will talk about Lando
and I think he deserves
you know Lando deserves some criticism
but like yesterday
we had it's weird how we're going to have the same conversation
of Oscar Piastry is the one that's crashed
Lando is the one that's not capitalised
and so yeah you've got to
we'll talk about Lando in a bit
but you also have to you know talk about Piastry
and there'll be a lot of question marks of like
what on earth has gone wrong this weekend
with a driver that seemed so confident
maybe this is unfair to mention
but you know we all this kind of chatter
around the last race in Monza
and should he have let Lando go
is this going to cost him in the championship
has that got in his head
I personally don't think so
I think he just had absolutely awful weekend
but this has shown the Oscar Piastry
whether it continues whether we see another
mistake we don't know
but it shows that he isn't going to be like
completely invincible and nothing will phase him
because yeah it's an absolutely shocking weekend
and it's all self-inflicted
it's not like he had a mechanical failure
or something like that
is that all three mistakes were completely his own doing
for sure I think that being concerned
about both of them the mental strength
I don't know I think for Oscar
it's one as you said Tommy
concentrated weekend of disaster
like this was an absolute disaster for Oscar
gets away with it in the championship to some degree
although Max Verstappen gained in 25 points
and he was never a good good thing to hear
I think for any driver
I am going to be this next weekend in Singapore
I mean which is a very difficult track
to maintain focus
and it's incredibly hot
one of if not the hardest
alongside with Qatar
you know physical challenge as well
Oscar has to bounce back in Singapore in my opinion
otherwise this could snowball into something
really quite bad
so for me I'm definitely more concerned about Oscar
just in terms of it being a bit of a question mark
as to how he will bounce back from this
because it will have knocked his confidence
quite drastically I would say
because it's not just one incident
it's the jump start
jumping the start
like that in itself
we rarely see that anymore do we?
yeah like that's not something
especially from Oscar
who's in ninth place
like it's not like he was on the front row
and really needed to win the race to gain in the championship
it's just have a clean start
and then try and use the car
that you've got underneath you to get a good result
especially because he had that moment
didn't he yesterday where
you know he had the big crash
it was like oh this is going to cost me loads
and then of course Landau
was only a couple of places higher on the grid
so if anything that kind of pressure was off then
that okay we're back to almost like square one
it's not really a hugely different for me
in my championship battle
so then to jump the start and crash madness
yeah so for me the answer is definitely Oscars
I'm very interested I say
in a couple of weeks time when we go to Singapore
and with Landau
we'll get into it in this next question
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P1PET remember pickle nick
Norris had two shots this weekend
after Piastri mistakes
but has he thrown it?
He's left a lot on the table
as Lando
I think for qualifying
I lent on the side of
you know, I don't think that being the first
out there was the best
time to be out there
but he in my opinion
just kept it very much within the
within the sort of proximity of the track
try to put in a good
benchmark of a lap time
and get in the top five
that did not work. He started seventh
today had a slow pit stop
4.1 seconds had that been 2.1
maybe even 2.6
I think he comes out
side by side with Lawson
does he keep that position
it's a question mark
because clearly there was a lap of tire warm-up
in this in this race
that put drivers on the back foot
so I'm not convinced
even with a good pit stop
he would have been ahead
like slam dunk
but then the thing for me
that was just so difficult to watch
was him getting to within about
three-tenths of Sonoda into turn one
and just not going for a move
I feel like it's something that we
consistently see with Lando
is that he will play
he will very much be a
very sort of cautious
he'll be very cautious with his overtakes
he has had the occasional
really good overtake
don't get me wrong
he's not completely
like it's not impossible
that he can't make those moves
but it was
a point where I sat there going
you can't be finishing seventh
in what we would say
is the best car on the grid
finishing in the same position
that you had
you started in
when your championship rival
has shown a massive
massive dent in his armor
it was just
I couldn't believe it
you Tommy you were saying
the watch long is going to finish
on the podium easy
I thought on the run
on the run up to the race
yeah
surely Lando is going to finish
on the podium
I think everybody
believed that
it was difficult to overtake
I'm not saying it was
impossible
and he was stuck in a DRS train
but for me
I don't know
he got close enough
to be able to throw one to the inside
at least once
every time he got close enough
he allowed Yuki to
just shape a little move to the inside
Lando gets forced to the outside
and then he doesn't get through
yeah
I can't
I can't
defend him
with with some of the things this weekend
is is sort of
himself has tried to
say in the media like
are you know
we just weren't quick this weekend
the red balls
quick
you know
you go back to
to qualifying
I know we've already spoken about it
yesterday
but
you know
he's
he's also kind of
trying to say that
it was all undone in qualifying
and I know he mentioned like
going out first
but
you know
I know he's gone out first
but equally
Carlos Sainz
in a Williams is
is up there
Liam Lawson
has put it
P3
in a
in a racing balls
so you know
it's
he had
his championship rival
out the way
he should have done a better result
there he made a mistake on his lap as well
so
definitely in that situation
then we come to the race
and
again
you know
he's
he's said in his post race interviews
we weren't quick this weekend
we would
you know
we just finished 7th
that's
that's kind of where we were
he had a bad start
for a start
you know
he's
yeah
he messed up his start
and again
we're kind of thinking
yeah he was
and we're thinking like
how
how you're losing a place at the start
you're on the clean side as well
you know
he should be making
making these moves
he was then completely asleep on the restart
which made
which
got like I got back
back past him
yeah
and you know
you look at these people ahead of him
you've got Antonelli's having
who had a
great race
but has had
a pretty stinker of a season
Liam Lawson
in a racing balls
and Carla Sainton of Williams
you should be part
you should be passing these people
and
yeah
then we get to
to the bit of the end
guess he's had a slow pit stop
which is unfortunate
and he's then
ended up behind
Yuki Snowder
but he had so many chances to make that move
and people
will say like
and he himself said
it's incredibly hard to overtake
but people did overtake during
during that race
there were people overtaking
and this is the world's championship
that you're trying to win here
and your
championship rival
is
not scoring any point
every single point matters
and you can say
and maybe it's unfair to go
or Max Verstappen would have
made that move
I think
George Russell would have made that move
Charlotte
Charlotte-Claire would have made that move
he's in a McLaren
and he's battling
you know
Yuki Snowder that's not had a quickly great season
a racing ball
he had to capitalise
it's
it's not unfair to criticise Lando
for that
that weekend
because he
absolutely should have
capitalised
and he can say all he likes that
the Red Bull was quick this weekend
even if it was
fine
you should be finishing second behind Max then
and he finished 7th
also I will
I will say as well
because I know some
some fans get
you know
a little bit
uh
up and
and a bit upset don't they at times
that
two things can coexist
where
Piastri did terrible
and Norris
yeah exactly
they've both messed up
yeah
but
they
it's exactly the same conversation as yesterday that
you
you
the narrative shouldn't be that
Lando Norris has completely bottled it because
because Oscar Piastri has
smashed it into the wall
and done much worse
and had the worse weekend ever
but the two things can coexist
and both McLaren drivers
Oscars had the worse race
but that doesn't mean
the Lando Norris
shouldn't have capitalised on it
because
this was the dream ticket for him
to see
Piastri in the wall
and on the first lap
and then
the cars in front of you
are
George Russell with a stomach ache
Kimmy Antonelli
Carlos Sainz and a Williams
Yuki Sonoda
and
Liam Lawson in the racing balls
like
how have you finished in the same position you started?
Yeah
it is
it is madness
question from
WinApp
does Norris
even want to win this championship?
didn't look like it
I mean I guess this one is
is unfair
because every drivers different
and you know you said afterwards
you know
I am trying
and I don't
doubt that
and not everyone is going to
send it down
I guess
we have to
think that
you know we've watched Max Verstappen for years
and other drivers
made all these insane moves and stuff
and maybe we have to like
readjust our
our brains of
of kind of like
not every driver is going to like absolutely go for it
and be
be
crazy and send it and stuff
and I don't think that means he doesn't
want it
he's just not
he's just not got that
in him it feels like
to
throw
caution to the wind and
go for an absolute dive bomb and think
this is everything I need to make make this move
and he's
just played the the percentages
what I would say is he's still
he's still in that
he still has gained
and he's still in the championship
so you know he'll look like
a genius for
you know if he does win the championship will forget all this
because
you'll say well
you know you didn't need to make a silly move dive bomb
potentially crush into Snowder and lose a bunch of points
but equally
if he loses the championship by two points
you'll look back on these moments and go
bro the
like
go late on the brakes and overtake this move so
yeah this is this is f1 and this is a championship fight isn't it
there's
it's such fine margins
back to the question
I do think Lando wants to win the championship very very very much
that's why he races
I think that
yeah what's frustrating for
you know both myself and you tell me
you know we've seen many a championship fought for
but probably not one like this that I can think of for a very long time
can't remember the last time we watched two drivers that neither had won the world championship
trying to
you know
I know you'll have to access your encyclopedia brain knowledge as to when that might have been
but
but it just feels like a different championship fight it almost feels like
they both are sort of making mistakes
and it's
either of you really want to win this one I think Oscar of course before this weekend you would say Oscar had the upper hand but
it's just it's tough to see yet you don't expect to see someone crowned a world champion
being sort of very tentative when it comes to making overtakes
you can't be safe and win this one I really don't think you can especially from Lando's position
yes he's gained
six points
on Oscar
but
that's not going to be enough there's no guarantees that land is going to be quicker than Oscar when we go to the next races and
yeah it just feels like a missed opportunity
but to
further my point
Oscar did worse
but we can both just
they both deserve I think criticism
to varying level
yeah don't worry we'll grade them in drive ratings and I'm sure you'll totally agree with what we've said and
oh yeah for sure yeah yeah I'm sure you'll be ready for Oscar Piastri's grade
next question from Blue Ranger 1993
does Carlos now have to keep the unicorn sticker on his helmet for the rest of the season
oh yeah you know that that's he'll probably have a unicorn helmet made
after this race
for sure you could see how much it meant to him it was such a wholesome video wasn't it of
of putting that unicorn on a
corner on in the first place
and
just what a drive in general you know Carlos
to put a second on the grid
yes there was a little bit of track conditions
there but he had to put the lap in and he did
and it was a
is a phenomenal one at that because it put him right in the mix started second
and then his pace was was brilliant you know George Russell I think deserves his own commendation
shortly
but for Carlos
I think he extracted absolutely everything he could out of that I think we all were kind of forgetting at times that he was in a
Williams when he was just chilling in second on his own he'd cleared off from Liam Lawson
he wasn't a you know massive amount behind Max in that first stint
so yeah I think that one yes you'll keep the unicorn sticker and two it was
you got you got everything out of that
he did like it's an absolutely brilliant drive and what a
what a reward for for Carlos for what's been a really difficult season he's had
you know he's not been
the driver that we know he can be but he's also had a terrible amount of bad luck as well
in certain moments and this it all came together you know in a brilliant qualifying
and then to
you know it's not like it's just been completely impossible to overtake
and it was very difficult to overtake but not completely impossible where
it's a Monaco situation or something and he's just got into turn one and he's fine he had to
dig deep he had to you know have great pace which he did and it's awesome to see Carlos
and I said this in the watch along what an insane thought it is when Carlos Sainz got
demoted to Williams and we said like how unfair it is that he doesn't deserve
to be dropped from Ferrari that he would would be the one to score a podium before Lewis Hamilton gets one in a Ferrari
what an insane thing to think about that is
absolutely ridiculous isn't it absolute madness amazing for Carlos and perhaps not so great for Lewis with the struggles
that he's had this year P1 Patriot member Edith is my middle name
why is no one giving credit to George drove a brilliant race after a troubling weekend with sickness
I mean I will give credit to George Russell I think he was absolutely brilliant
he's done another you know it's maybe it's the fact that we've seen
much less happen when the race Carlos Sainz brilliantly get on the podium
that maybe George goes a little bit under the radar
maybe he's a victim of his own success just because he's been doing so brilliantly this year that you almost expect it of
George Russell now and him to deliver a good performance and be a fantastic drive from him as well
again just you know one of one of the quietly one of the drivers of the season that I
think a lot of people would maybe go George Russell driver the season
but then when you actually look back at like what he's done this year and the results you go
oh yeah fair enough and he's been very consistently good and yeah another another great result from him
yeah exactly definitely very close to drive of the day I know Carlos got it of course that's very very deserving
but George now he was stuck in traffic didn't have the best of qualifying was out qualified by Kimmy
but he chose the right tyre at the start for sure and I so did Max there was a bit of a chatter afterwards
and Max was the one that really pushed to start on the hard tyres to Red Bull
George going for that same tyre allowed him to just go long and to I guess keep his tyres in a good condition
whilst he was stuck and then obviously got through on Kimmy but he then was able to put in some absolutely awesome lap times
very similar to Max Verstappen out in front to get the gap to be able to come out ahead of Carlos
despite having wearing hard tyres towards the end of that first stint so yeah brilliant drive from George
I can't believe he's been able to do that through the illness that he has been suffering and he has been suffering this weekend
and what a reward it has been to finish second and something that yeah I don't think if when we heard his team radio on Friday
where it was basically like it was a completely different person it's it's hard to believe he finished P2
Okay we now go to M Crickers did Lawson just defend his seat for next season
I think that was what we were seeing before our very eyes Lawson versus Sonoda
I think Sonoda had a pretty good weekend for his standards with with how he's been able to manage that Red Bull up until Baku
I think he finished what 33 seconds behind Max which is not great but he was fighting in the points
and you have to kind of be happy about that Lawson on the other hand a great qualifying
and for me Lawson's one in that fight not only just in in position but of course he's in the racing balls
which is supposed to be the inferior car of the Red Bull but who knows where that really lies
but Lawson did a great job Sonoda needs much more of this fighting for P6's P5's
to be able to even have a shout of defending A seats not even as Red Bull seat just A seat in Formula 1
in either of the Red Bull camps but Liam did a great job and I bet Yuki was sat there going
why is it Lawson up here in P5 why can't he just be in like 11th and I can just be the star of the show for once
Had Lawson and Sonoda collided and there'd been a safety car and it cost Max the win
I think neither of them would have been in the Red Bull next year
but joking aside yeah it is getting for Sonoda because he's had the best result
although probably not in terms of time behind Verstappen because we've had races where
he's been 30 seconds off Max and he's finished 17th or something or whatever
and in this one he's got good points but unfortunately for him
Liam Lawson's had a brilliant race in that RB and it's going to be a difficult decision for them to make
but unfortunately I think unless Sonoda goes on this amazing run hopefully it's a confidence boost for him
it might make it a bit closer between the two of them of who they pick
but I still believe that Lawson will get the nod there
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At Joe Formula 6P, why didn't we get a lot of crashes after what happened in qualifying yesterday?
Because people leave more on the table in the race
and I see Oscar Piesto on lap 1 apparently
Too soon, too soon
Too soon but it's true
Yeah, the drivers
Lap 1 is where you can make moves
We saw a little collision didn't we between
I want to say Holkenberg and Ocon as well
in that moment
That is the moment that we know is going to be the chance
where you can make up a couple of positions
and have a fantastic start
and move up the order
But when you settle into that rhythm of DRS trains
and you're sticking to the times that you need from your tyres and stuff
you're not pushing like crazy like you are in a qualifying situation
where you're trying to get the best of every single lap time
So that's why we've not seen drivers going into the wall
and 100 red flags like we did yesterday
Exactly, they're very much in tyre management
They want to make their hards go 40 odd laps
You're mediums, almost 40 odd laps
They're stuck in a train
They're going a handful of seconds slower than they are in qualifying
So they leave some margin for error for sure
That's probably about it
Although we talk about this as if we didn't get one singular crash
We had Albon on Colopinto
We had Holkenberg and Ocon
We had Hamilton very nearly go into the wall
before the castle section
and plenty of drivers skimming the walls
Thankfully, good, I'm glad
because every time I rode on board
with a driver going into the pits
I winced
That pit entry is insane
I know we've been racing at this track for so long
But I'm still sad they're going
One day that's going to go wrong
One day someone's going to clip a wheel on the inside wall
going to have a tiny bit of a Carlos slide
not Carlos signs, Carlos
or a slide or something like that
I was thinking Carlos slide
I was like what's Carlos done
Why is it, why are you singling out Carlos, you hater?
The Carlos slide
I do think as well
I know we've had it many times
but this brilliant new onboard that's slightly further back
and gives that kind of field of view
where the cars look so much quicker
and I think that is one of the best things
we've seen introduced Formula 1
in terms of TV direction
that onboard looks so much quicker
that when we watch that footage of George Russell
all my word
that is
that is spectacular
say what you like, that is spectacular
it's crazy, it's insane
you do worry that how is that
how is that even legal
that pit entry
because they cut it as well
don't they as well
those lines are absolutely non-existent
you do one day
they bring the pit entry speed limit
sooner and then they'd have to break a little bit earlier
but nope, they just take it like a fast chicane
I'm going to show my age now
but back when I was watching Formula 1
as a kid in the 70s
you did have more
pit entries where
you had to slow down
whereas now on most circuits
even one like that where you think
you'd have it
like a chicane or something
most of the entries are
you just fly into the pits, hit the brakes
but back on a lot of
more old school circuits
you used to have that kind of situation
where you'd go
I remember in particular like
Suzuka where it would be before that final chicane
you'd slow right down
and you'd go round a bit
and they were almost like a circuit in themselves
the pit lanes
with entries
but I'm surprised they don't do something
to try and make it slower
or dangerous to put in almost like a corner
when they're flying into it
it's difficult isn't it?
I think essentially F1 drivers will make up
as much time as they possibly can
even if it is how they come into the pits
Right, let's head to biggest winner
driver or team
and I mean Carlos is very much up there
Max Verstappen
is also a big winner
if he ends up winning the championship
You can notice half won it
but you know
half win for Yuki for his best result of the season
Antonelli needed that as well
Antonelli needed that
I am going to say Max Verstappen
because he's winning the world championship after that
Carlos, yeah definitely Carlos
to get a podium after the year
he's had
insane and a brilliant result
very pleased for him
Biggest loser
so you would think like it would just be straight off the bat
Oscar Piastri but he lost six points
he lost six points in the drivers championship
which is utterly insane
and then you can't even say McLaren because
like
I don't know can you say McLaren?
I think McLaren can, I mean what
they scored six points as a two car
best car team
on the grid
it's definitely up there
I think Charles Lecler
is a shout as well
the Baku monster
has had an absolute stinker
Alpine
were literally two dustpins at the back of the field
the only two to have been lapped
of course Colopinto got
taken out, yeah
I'm going to say Oscar
it has to be, I think just in terms of
what this can do
from here on in, how does he bounce back
that is a massive question mark
and it's something that's going to be asked constantly
and of all the tracks
to go to where you're like
being constantly hammered about
you're going to make a mistake
it's another street track in Singapore
yeah exactly, it's got to be Oscar
isn't it, I know Lando's
failed to capitalise but
it's not
I know we can say oh it's only the equivalent
of them finishing first and second but for Oscar
it's not him finishing second it's him
putting it in the wall twice and jumping the start
and there will be many question marks
of how he bounces back
and you know
whether it is just a
blip and he kind of
is straight back into being kind of
Oscar pastry
chill mode we'll find out
we will, right let's now head
to the predictions championship
where
we currently have it written down it's 42-41
is that correct Tommy before I announce that
and it's to you, it's to me
perfect okay you didn't write that bit down
so I could have easily tried to skew the
skew the championship but
42-41 to Tom Bellingham
and this might well be
the strangest
predictions to react to
for a few reasons
so let's get into it with a good surprise
I went for Kimi Antonelli
which absolutely P4
was very much on the pace
yes George had a miraculous drive
to finish second but I think Kimi can also
be very happy with how he performed
this weekend. Yeah I'd love to raise
him be like it didn't be his teammate blah blah blah
but no Kimi needed
he really needed a performance like
that I think the P4
hopefully for his sake we talk about
kind of pressure and how you bounce back
from things
hopefully that just kind of calms the nerves
and of course this is the race
after Toto Wolf kind of
called him out for being a bit underwhelming and stuff
and everyone said is this where he spirals
now that he's not
daddy Toto is not being kind to him anymore
and he's done a
great job so I'm pleased you got that
point
Ollie Bearman no
disappointing
P12 I think
just what might have been
I think without that crash. He was looking good in practice
but sadly not
a big flop
I went for Charles Leclerc
and wow wow
wow did that come in
more so than I thought
didn't even get pole crushed
and the fact that I couldn't
yeah I couldn't even get the
oh well actually beat Lewis Hamilton
what I was saying
did you see as well actually before we go into
what you were about to say was that
Hamilton was told to give Charles Leclerc the position back
on the last lap
team radio
they were like right Charles 1.5 behind whatever
Lewis starts slowing down so he knows the order
doesn't slow down quick enough takes the position
did he
did he actually I did not see that
oh my god that's amazing
yeah I don't know if he just misjudged where the line was
or he just didn't slow down in time
or no anyway
yeah I mean for 8th and 9th
I don't think Hamilton really cares
but yeah it was and some people have said
ah but the team radio
they were basically
as he came over the line no it wasn't he was clearly
visibly slowing down
with about 50 meters to go 100 meters to go whatever it might have been
but yeah didn't didn't press the brakes
hard enough and he kept the position anyway
that's amazing
oh he clearly wanted
your point
really meant everything
to him
I say
I wanted to argue your point how I'm getting the same number
of points as you for my prediction
because
I can't get 100 points but if you could
it would be 100 points
I went for Oscar Piastri
and I said I've just got a funny
feeling that something's going to happen this weekend
and boy did he take that literally
and when
you know what Tommy I've got the bad
vibes as well I'm going straight in the wall
twice
look at that big flop
I can't believe that
that must be and I'm
kind of reveling in it now because we're
later on going to witness the worst prediction I've ever done
that might be the best prediction I've ever done
yeah you have the best
and worst in the same podcast
this is a shame that you're not
finishing on the best in fact we're going to finish
on the worst so I look forward to
reflecting on that but it's the fact that you were
like I just have a feeling yeah
it's not like you just thought Oscar might finish
6th not gonna have a great race whatever
you had a feeling something was going to go
wrong and it could not have gone more
wrong for Oscar Piastri
utterly amazing stuff from you
well done for the point even I will accept
that that is a point for you well done
pole position I went for Oscar Piastri well that was great wasn't it
yeah not even not even close
I'm for Maxis Tappan
well done hope you're happy with the money so that's what I'm not so happy with
you know screw you and I'm kidding
in third place I went for Maxis Tappan
that did not happen I went for
Charlotte Clair P3
no second I went for
Charlotte Clair and that was a new
and I went for Landon Orris
P2 no
no not even close no McLaren on the podium
crazy yeah and
and there was us discussing that we'd gone for
one McLaren on the podium
we were like it's so boring
if we just go for McLaren
one two all the time and then so true
they're not even on the podium and then in first
I went for Oscar Piastri first hit the wall
maybe and you
went for Maxis Tappan
unbelievable scenes yeah yeah that's good
from you well done Tommy I went
for for one crazy prediction
Lance Stroll out qualifies Alonzo
that was a few seconds
away from glory seconds away that was
literally about five seconds if that until
the red flag was flown at the end of Q1
why oh why
and I went for we're having a drum roll for
this
no red flags for a crash
all weekend
so that's minus five points because
you got it wrong and then there were five more after
that in qualifying actually
in Azerbaijan a weekend
is Sunday and Monday so
technique it's not it's not
yeah
what
so yeah terrible terrible prediction awful
the worst prediction you've ever made
the worst prediction and the best prediction
the same podcast record
breaking prediction
yeah that's what you went for in the opposite way
that is crazy
okay let's go to our Patreon prediction
if you want to get involved with this join the P1 Patreon
support myself and Tommy on this wonderful
adventure and you can put a prediction
in each race weekend and we select
one of them to be part of our
set, mine, Emma
safety car at least two times
my goodness how do we not get two
safety cars after what happened in qualifying
just one and just an Oscar Piastri one
and I went for Pickle Nick
papaya rules play a part
in the weekend and no
yeah no even though we joked about like
them hitting the ball and then
yes no papaya rules
because there was no rules to place
two points and I got
one two three
okay so still very close
you are two points clear now
great adding from you
I'm literally watching you update this in the show
because you were one point ahead and you scored one more
point so therefore you are two points ahead
don't you dare
it's because I fumbled your score
yeah you are fumbling the bag I love how you
tried to make it three points
when you scored one more one plus one
Tommy one plus one
yeah I just thought I'd done better
that's fine
you were very smug on the watch
I've cooked even though I've had the worst
prediction in the world
especially because when
when we were kind of looking
at the race as well
I was kind of thinking oh Norris P2
that looks like it could be on as well
but alas no
alas no let's go to
the family top three where it's 8-7 to the Boring Bellingham
and a lot of points scored
this week in third place
my girlfriend Ellie went for Charles Leclerre
which was of course not correct
my mum went for Lewis Hamilton
no in second
place Ellie went for
Verstappen not Piastri that was
the first spoiler alert
my mum went for Landon Norris
and in first place
she went for Piastri
and my mum went for Piastri as well
lots of so a whopping
zero points from the family
completely washed you will be
redrafted
I literally might as well have got Grace involved
and actually I should have got Grace involved
because you probably would have said Max is up and to win as well
or a science podium
okay maybe Grace is
brought in for Singapore
I've got a story to tell actually
I said it on the watch alone but for anyone that's not heard
so if you remember
right at the start of the season you've been following P1
and our journeys for quite a long time
my daughter Grace
she wore it as a baby Max is up and would win
to the point where
it went on in this crazy winning streak
and we got it signed by Max
and Stephanie put two Grace on it
which is amazing
I was so like
championship back on after that race
I ordered Grace of Max Verstappen t-shirt
does that count as a onesie though
or does she the Max Verstappen trousers as well
yeah maybe okay if they exist
just be head to toe in just Max merge
okay wow
well let's see if that starts to work
and then you can get that one signed when Max wins the world championship
okay there we go
thank you everybody we're going to continue over now
for a little bit with our wonderful patreons
patreon.com.fo
if you want some extra waffle from myself
and Thomas Bellingham
Tommy what are your final thoughts please
final thoughts
why do we have to wait
for another couple of weeks until
F1 because
I'm just so hyped for the rest of the season now
yeah you're so excited to see it
I need to know what's happening
I need to know
if it's championship on or
if it's all over
because we will know this time in two weeks
I will be
head to toe in Max Verstappen merge again
one lap of free practice won
dream's dead
okay thank you everybody
we will see you either now
if you're part of the people on patreon
we will see you very soon
bye
see you very soon
love to take care
bye
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