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65:22
Topic
Belgian Grand Prix
The Belgian Grand Prix is a Formula 1 race in Belgium. It’s usually run at Spa, and conditions there can change a lot, which affects how teams race.
Place
Spa
Spa is the famous race track in Belgium where Formula 1 cars compete. It’s known for big ups and downs and weather that can change quickly, which can make races more chaotic.
Term
Steward incompetence
In Formula 1, stewards are the officials who decide what happens after on-track incidents. If the hosts call it “incompetence,” they mean they think the officials made the wrong calls.
Person
George Russell
George Russell is an F1 driver for Mercedes. The hosts are arguing about whether his driving caused or contributed to a collision or near-miss during a race restart/turning sequence.
Person
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton is an F1 driver for Mercedes. The hosts are debating whether he made a mistake or whether the incident should be treated as a racing incident instead of driver error.
Term
washed wide
“Washed wide” means the car slides outward toward the outside of the corner instead of following the planned line. The hosts use it to explain why the cars ended up too close.
Term
racing incident
A “racing incident” is when officials decide a crash happened during normal racing and not because one driver clearly caused it. The hosts are debating whether this should be treated that way.
Term
apex
The "apex" is the point on a corner where the driver aims to be closest to the inside of the track. The segment describes Hamilton feeding in toward the apex and making a small correction, which affects where he ends up on corner exit.
Term
stewarding decisions
In Formula 1, officials called stewards watch replays and decide whether rules were broken. “Stewarding decisions” are the calls they make—like penalties or warnings—based on what happened on track.
Place
Silverstone
Silverstone is a Formula 1 circuit in the UK and one of the sport’s most important venues. It’s often used as a reference point for form and incidents because many teams and drivers have strong memories from past races there.
Term
last sector
Tracks are split into parts called sectors for timing. The “last sector” is the final part of the lap, and it helps teams figure out exactly where the car is slower.
Term
closing speed
“Closing speed” means how fast one car is catching another. If it’s very high, it leaves less time to react and can lead to near-misses or crashes.
Term
green light
A “green light” is the signal that says it’s allowed to go. In the pit lane, it means the exit is open, but the driver still has to make sure it’s safe with other cars around.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is one of the famous Formula 1 teams. Here, they’re talking about how the situation could impact Ferrari’s driver/team.
Term
unsafe releases
An unsafe release in Formula 1 is when a car is released from the pit lane or pit box into traffic without enough clearance, creating a dangerous situation. Because it’s tied to pit-lane procedures, it’s typically treated as a penalty category even if the driver didn’t cause the underlying issue.
Person
Max
Max Verstappen is a top Formula 1 driver. They’re bringing up a Miami example where he got penalized after a crash, to show how the rules have been used before.
Place
Miami
Miami is where one of the Formula 1 races is held. They mention it because something similar happened there and officials gave a penalty.
Person
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a former Formula 1 driver. They’re using him as another example of how stewards have handled penalties in similar situations.
Term
mitigating circumstances
Mitigating circumstances are reasons that might make an official decide the penalty should be smaller. It’s basically “not as bad as it looks” based on what really happened.
Term
stewards document
Stewards documents are the official write-ups from the officials who review incidents. They explain what happened and why the decision was made, like whether there was a penalty or not.
Term
no further action
“No further action” means the officials looked at the incident and decided not to add a penalty. Basically, they decided nothing extra was needed.
Term
front axle
“Front axle” is a specific part of the car used as a measuring point. Officials use it to decide which car was actually ahead during an overtake, even if the cars look close side-by-side.
Term
overlap
Overlap is when two cars are alongside each other during a pass. Officials use it to judge whether the overtake was really underway and whether the cars were in the right positions.
Term
overtaken corner
An “overtaken corner” is a turn where drivers often try to pass each other. The hosts are saying that, in this case, it’s a corner where an outside overtake might still be possible.
Person
Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc is a top Formula 1 race driver. Here, the hosts are debating whether he caused a collision and whether he should have been penalized.
Person
Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri is a Formula 1 driver. In this discussion, he’s the one who got hit/damaged, and the hosts debate whether he was squeezed off the racing line.
Term
racing line
The racing line is the best “track path” through a corner that helps a car go faster. If a driver moves off that line, it can change who has space and can lead to contact.
Term
penalty
A penalty is what race officials give when they think a driver broke the rules. Here, they’re debating whether the contact deserved a time penalty and how big it should be.
Term
black flag
A black flag is a very serious warning in racing that usually means the driver has to stop. The hosts are saying they didn’t think the incident was bad enough for that level of punishment.
Term
five or ten seconds
Sometimes officials punish a driver by adding a few seconds to their race time. The hosts are debating whether this incident should have been a smaller (five) or bigger (ten) time penalty.
Term
penalize
When they say “penalize,” they mean the race officials punish a driver for something that affected the race—usually unsafe driving or causing a crash. The punishment can be things like losing time or starting further back next time.
Term
wheel banging
“Wheelbanging” means two cars are fighting really closely and they’re bumping wheels while trying to pass. Sometimes it’s considered part of racing, but if it’s too aggressive or avoidable, officials may penalize it.
Term
DNF
DNF means the driver “did not finish” the race. It usually happens when a crash leaves the car too damaged to keep going or something breaks.
Term
suspension damage
Suspension damage means the parts that help the wheels move and keep the car stable got hit or bent. If it’s bad enough, the car can’t handle properly and may have to stop racing.
Term
virtual safety car
In Formula 1, a virtual safety car means the race is temporarily slowed down using signals to the drivers, not an actual safety car on track. Teams may pit during that slowdown because it costs them less time than pitting while cars are racing normally.
Person
Charles Clair
Charles Clair is Charles Leclerc, a top Formula 1 driver. Here, the hosts are talking about how a race slowdown period helped him move into the lead.
Person
Louis Hansen
Louis Hansen is likely a misheard driver name. The point here is that the hosts are talking about who managed to pit during the virtual safety car slowdown to gain an advantage.
Term
VSC
VSC means the race is under a “virtual” slowdown. Drivers have to reduce speed using a limit, and it can change track position a lot—sometimes helping, sometimes hurting.
Person
Charles Le Clair
This is talking about Charles Leclerc, a top Formula 1 driver. They’re saying he’s been unlucky with race slowdowns before, but in this race the timing worked out for him.
Term
pit stop
A pit stop is when the car comes into the pits to change tires (and sometimes do other quick work). When you do it can make a big difference to where you rejoin the race.
Term
FIA
The FIA is the organization that runs the rules for Formula 1. They’re the ones who decide things like penalties and safety procedures during the race.
Term
VSE
VSE is another kind of race-control safety mode mentioned alongside VSCs. It’s basically the race telling drivers to slow down and follow specific rules because of an incident or track condition.
Concept
reliability
In racing, “reliability” means the car can keep running properly race after race. If something breaks or the car gets taken out, the driver loses points and that can hurt their chance at the championship.
Term
DRS
DRS is a system in Formula 1 that briefly makes the car less “draggy” so it can go faster in a straight line. Drivers can use it only in specific places on the track, which is meant to help them pass each other.
Term
camel straight
The “camel straight” is a specific straight on the Spa track. It’s the kind of place where cars can build up speed and try to pass, especially when DRS is available.
Term
breaking zones
“Breaking zones” are the parts of the track where drivers brake hard before a corner. Passing often happens there because braking and acceleration decide who can get ahead.
Term
battery
In these hybrid F1 cars, there’s a battery that stores energy. Drivers can use that stored energy to get a temporary boost when it helps them most.
Term
energy starved track
An “energy-starved track” is a circuit where the hybrid cars don’t have as much usable energy available. So the battery boost matters more, and drivers can fall behind or catch up faster depending on how they manage it.
Term
Formula One
Formula One is the highest level of car racing with open-wheel cars. It’s known for very technical rules, and changes to those rules can make the racing feel different from year to year.
Term
track limits
Track limits are the rules about staying within the painted/marked racing area. If a driver goes outside those boundaries to gain an advantage, they can get a penalty.
Term
pitted
“Pitted” means the car went into the pit lane to do a stop, usually for new tires. When the race is under special slow-down rules, pitting can be a smarter time to do it.
Term
pit in the middle of the race
This just means changing tires not right at the beginning or the end, but somewhere in the middle. In F1, when you pit can make a big difference because tires wear out and track position is everything.
Term
zero stop
A “zero stop” strategy means the driver is expected to complete the race without making an additional pit stop beyond the initial start. If a safety period allows a tire change with minimal time loss, teams may still describe it as effectively “zero stop” relative to the planned strategy.
Term
hards to mediums
This means switching tire types during the race. Hard tires last longer, while medium tires typically grip better and help you go faster.
Term
safety card
“Safety card” is slang for taking advantage of a safety-period in the race. When the race is slowed down, pitting usually costs less time than pitting under normal racing speed.
Term
podium
A podium finish means finishing in the top three positions in a race. It’s a big deal because it usually earns lots of points and recognition.
Brand
Red Bull 2nd seat
“Second seat” means the team’s other driver spot, besides the main lead driver. It’s basically about who gets to keep that role based on how well they perform.
Brand
Audi
Audi is a car brand from Germany that also competes in racing. Here, they’re just being referenced as having had a tough time recently.
Person
Antonelli
Antonelli is a Formula 1 driver. The hosts mention him because he was involved in a collision that changed how the race played out.
Term
towing
“Towing” here means one car helps another by staying close so the other car can go faster. It’s a racing strategy, not a literal tow truck.
Person
Bottas
Bottas is a Formula 1 driver. The hosts are saying his driving decision in this race was a mistake that caused trouble for others.
Term
collision
A collision is when cars crash or hit each other on the track. The hosts are saying this specific crash had a big impact on the race.
Place
Austin
Austin is where the U.S. Formula 1 race is held. It’s a specific track in Texas, and race events there can feel different because the layout is unique.
LIVE
Vänta, vänta, vänta. Nu känns det jävligt spetigt här.
Elin, vad handlar den här podden?
Ja, du, Sofia, livskriser.
Relationer.
People pleasing.
Ångest.
Massor.
Även karriär.
Och typ så att tjänsträtt ligger efter i livet.
Tack, kan vi snälla prata om det?
Men ja, det är därför vi startade poddenrummet.
En podd där vi har väldigt svårt att hålla oss kort.
Och där vi pratar väldigt öppet om väldigt mycket.
Välkommen in i rummet.
Rummet är en del av IKOS 2-regeln.
Rummet är kommande i rummet.
Så leta bli kvar.
Men boomar nu vann.
Rummet.
Hallå, everybody, and welcome back
for the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy.
Belgian, Grand Prix, race, review.
And I think there could be some deliberations here, Tommy.
I feel like we may well have to sit down the stewards
and give them a little tap on the risks
for some of the decisions they made today.
I think that's one of the bigger talking points
that we will be diving into all the detail of.
And a lot of it, including and involving drivers
from a certain team that I'm wearing.
But the Belgian Grand Prix, Tommy, Spa, did it deliver?
Did it deliver?
It wasn't the greatest race of all time,
which is insane to think that maybe Formula One
has just got to that point and the world
that we need constant entertainment,
that literally an overtake for the lead
and a battle for the lead, you could say to some extent.
We're like, oh, not the greatest race.
There's been a lot worse Formula One races, is what I'd say.
There has been a lot worse, and on paper, as you say.
Oh, battle for the lead, closing down the last 15 laps.
But thanks to Steward incompetence we've got lots to talk about.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Tommy Popoff
is absolutely on the cards of everybody,
especially because he's a salty Max fan these days.
Be happy with the podium, all right, mate?
Enjoy the podium.
Exakt.
Kvick shout-out till our wonderful P1 Patreons,
who will be getting extra chat at the end of every single race review this year.
And of course, other wonderful benefits such as ad-free listening,
access to our Discord, early access to P1 Live Show tickets,
which you need to go get your P1 Live Show tickets.
Remember, in November, we are touring the UK.
Go and check out those wonderful venues if you'd like to see us.
And then yes, we will have a little natter at the end as well.
So come and join the P1 Patreon, it supports, directly supports,
myself and Tommy.
So we love you lots for that.
Now, Thomas Bellingham.
Yes.
Shall we start with your most memorable moment?
Let's do it, as soon as though it is.
Lap 1 and the Lap 1 chaos.
And most notably, Hamilton versus Russell.
And the incident that obviously put Russell out of the race
and caused Lewis Hamilton to get a penalty.
Now, on that just first lap in general, it was quite insane.
I think we saw the extreme nature of modern 2026 Formula 1
and how the Stappen got ahead, but then it was just a sitting duck
because everyone could then boost past him and use the slipstream.
We see that a little bit with Spa, but this was even more extreme.
Charlotte Clair looked like he had a star in Mario Kart.
Never mind the mushroom, the way he just went past everyone.
His speed was absolutely insane, how much quicker he was going
than everyone else at that point.
Always loved battery racing.
He just pressed that button so well.
No, but yeah.
But as for the Hamilton and Russell incident,
I think it's an absolute joke that Hamilton got a penalty.
I can't believe he's got a penalty in this incident.
It's a Lap 1 incident for a start, it's a racing incident all day long.
George Russell said it's a racing incident all day long.
I thought that during the watch along, I've watched it again
from the on board from those Hamilton's
and I think it's even less of a penalty.
I think it's incredibly hard done by.
And it's not a penalty at all.
I think Hamilton's been harshly treated there with a penalty.
OK, interesting.
Let's get into that with firstly the document.
The stewards came out with so five second penalty
was given to Lewis Hamilton.
And essentially, their reasoning was that Hamilton experienced under stir
and despite attempting to avoid George Russell by applying corrective steering
made contact with the right hand side of George Russell
with its left front wheel.
The stewards determined that George Russell remained within the available racing room
and that the collision was caused by Lewis Hamilton
being unable to maintain sufficient separation.
The stewards recognized several mitigating circumstances Hamilton acknowledged the presence of George Russell attempted to leave appropriate racing room and made a genuine attempt to avoid contact.
The collision resulted from a loss of front-end grip rather than from an aggressive or deliberate maneuver.
In addition, the incident occurred on the opening lap where reduced grip and compressed racing conditions are recognized.
For these reasons, it's a racing incident but no, he gets penalized.
While Hamilton was wholly at fault for the collision, the stewards considered that a five-second time penalty rather than the standard ten is the appropriate penalty in accordance with the FIA penalty guidelines.
That's ridiculous.
That is absolutely ridiculous.
It's funny, right?
Because what they've said, I think is correct, Hamilton is at fault.
No, no, no, no, up until the penalty, right?
You've said your opinion.
Okay, gone.
Settle down, salty max fan.
Is this anything to do with Max?
I know, I know, just because Charlotte beat you today.
So everything that they've said then, they've written down, I think is correct, up until the point of actually giving him the penalty.
I think Hamilton is at fault.
He is the reason that they clashed.
You can be at fault, you can have some sort of blame but also be a racing incident.
It is not a 50-50.
Hamilton, there is definite blame to be apportioned to Hamilton and the way he loses the car and hits George Russell.
The reason why I don't think it is a penalty is because it's lap one, it's low grip like they've said.
Everything else that they've said is correct.
And that should be the consideration as to why it's a racing incident because of the fact these things happen.
They are racing.
Hamilton makes a very small correction which ends up in a devastating end result.
And that's where I think the five second penalty has been applied is because of the fact George Russell is out of the race.
Should Hamilton have hit George Russell and then not be much or any damage and they carry on,
which is technically still how they should assess both of these hypothetical incidents.
I don't think it would be a penalty.
I think the fact that George Russell was out of the race is one of those things that they've gone with.
We have to penalize.
I agree in the sense that we've seen Russell essentially taking out the race and they love to give a penalty based on circumstance even though they shouldn't.
What makes me so annoyed about it and why I think it's unfair is the only reason Hamilton loses his car is because basically when he collides into the side of Russell,
which I don't think is Hamilton's fault because you watch his line.
He's not washing wide or anything at all.
He's just following the other car.
No, he does wash wide.
He literally collects into the apex.
Watch his hands.
He literally has a small correction going into the corner and then another massive correction when he hits George, obviously.
Well, that was the main swapper.
No, the only reason he has the big swapper on that then makes him hit George's wheel is because they've already made contact at this point.
I would argue that George is as much as fault as Hamilton at that point because he's making a risky move round the outside,
which I actually watch back the race from two years ago and George does exactly the same move.
That's quick.
He recorded 20 minutes after the race.
How have you watched it?
Watched back the start because I wanted to see examples of people going side by side into this corner because I think it's incredibly risky
and this maybe is why George is maybe a bit more thinking that, well, I'm annoyed by the situation.
George did this two years ago and realises bales off because you're putting your car at risk going round the outside
when it kind of bottlenecks and it's a very tight corner.
It's not George Russell's fault, but I think it's as much of his fault.
He's putting his cars in much risk as Hamilton and I just don't.
The massive swapper that he gets is because they've already tapped and then because Hamilton's washed wide into him.
But he's not washed wide into him.
He's just taking his normal line.
If you've got a massive swapper on and gone, okay, and then gone into the side and then done it again.
It's a very small bit.
The funny thing is that we both think the end result should be a racing incident,
but I think it's unfair to say that George Russell is as much to blame as Lewis Hamilton in that.
George is more than within his right to try and move round the outside.
He is in complete control of his car. Hamilton is not.
Is he not?
How is Hamilton not in control of his car?
He's just taking the corner as normal and he's barely washing wide.
I think that's incredibly harsh to think that he's like, for the stewards to be like, oh yeah, that's completely.
He's lost control of his car.
Okay, so he goes in, has a small correction, which is fine.
I'm just watching the video as we're speaking.
So you see him feeding in and as he's turning towards the apex, there is a small little correction,
which I think is the reason why he has run slightly wider than he wanted to.
Because then he's taken a slight bit more too much speed because he should be up on that curb on the right,
but he's not. He's not touching the apex with his front right wheel.
If he's all the way to the left, I understand that he's washed wide and it's really like,
it's fair to give him a penalty, but it's not an outrageous line that he's taken through there at all in my opinion.
It's not outrageous and I'm not saying that.
They've seen that and gone, yeah, but that's a bad move from Hamilton.
And that's where we agree because I don't think it was worthy of a penalty.
Everything they've described in that is what I would consider a racing incident on lap one,
but instead they've decided to penalize them.
Maybe it's because in recent years we now have 10 seconds for racing incidents unless there's mitigating circumstances,
whereas I guess before that they had five seconds, didn't they, for collisions and stuff like that.
So it was either five or nothing, whereas the stewards almost feel like there's a happy middle ground here now
where they can give out a five, which is slightly more lenient.
I don't think it was worthy of a penalty, but I also think that Hamilton had his part to play in why that happened.
Anything else to add on that one, Tommy?
No, I just think the stewards were being far too nitpicky with it.
I don't think that's a penalty at all.
And yes, they got it wrong on this one in my opinion, but you also agree in that sense that you shouldn't have got one.
That's the sole definition of a racing incident in my opinion.
Exactly.
When even the other driver says that it's a racing incident.
George Russell said it, right?
George Russell, this was before Hamilton was given the penalty, had basically said, yeah, it was a racing incident.
George knows that.
The drivers know that that is something that can happen.
Hamilton could have easily come off the worst of the two there, but he didn't because of the way in which they made contact.
Not a fan of a penalty for that and not the only time we will discuss stewarding decisions in this podcast, I promise you.
Let's go quickly back to just lap one in general.
You sort of touched upon it and most importantly for George, the reason why he was in that situation.
George has been saying since Silverstone that his car is not performing in terms of his engine, is not performing the power that he deserves.
And especially this weekend he was losing four tenths in the last sector.
It seems like it was almost a completely different problem for George in the sense of at the start of the race,
not having any power whatsoever after he comes over Radeon, which is quite a dangerous thing to have happen at that stage of the circuit.
We've seen awful, catastrophic incidents around Oruz and Radeon as we all are very far too aware.
And to have that kind of loss of power, of course everything was fine.
But it just kind of doesn't sit well with me that George was almost stricken and being swarmed by cars on lap one of a Formula One race at Spa.
I think had we replayed that start a few different times, we've had a few standing starts, there's going to be a time where there's a massive like almost Ollibem and style.
A Japan incident where the closing speed is just so massive because as George mentioned he had absolutely nothing.
So you're seeing some cars going into, you know, down the straight with loads of power, some nothing, but the main problem is the fact that you're going into one of if not the most dangerous corner in Formula One.
And everyone's got such a huge difference in power.
You know, Kimi Antonelli, Max goes ahead of him.
Charlotte Clairs alongside George Russell and then he's got nothing like these are the incidents where the kind of speed difference is why drivers have been so upset by these regulations in terms of a safety point of view.
And yeah, I think they got away with one slightly in that sense that we could have had a really nasty incident.
Obviously we still had incidents at the start, it was pretty chaotic, but thankfully no one hurt.
Indeed.
So we got through lap one just about unskade unless you're George Russell.
Question from Joe Formula 6P.
Now this is what he's currently under investigation for for an unsafe release.
I can't see it being a penalty personally because it was he saw the green light and it's kind of like an internal Ferrari.
Thing, right?
It's a dilemma for Ferrari, of course.
It's not really not nice to see that the mechanic was in the way of Hamilton as he drove away, but I can't see this being a racing penalty personally.
I don't know how you feel about it, Tommy.
I mean, as much as it's not Hamilton's fault, because the green light has come on, still, you know, that is a penalty that we've seen in the past for unsafe releases.
Even if it's not a driver's fault and they've been said to go off the top of my head, I'm thinking Max at Miami, where he had the collision with Antonelli, of course got the penalty.
Even further back, Felipe Massa, you know, going out with his like having the whole.
When we first introduced the kind of light system instead of lollipops and that whole situation occurred and there was a few times where it still was green and a driver would go.
They would give a penalty still, even though it's a little bit like incidents such as like parts on a car where they've had to be replaced and you go, that's not really the driver's fault.
It should be a team find, but then they just exploit it.
So with unsafe releases, it has always been a driver penalty.
I've never seen a fine for an unsafe release, but maybe they're doing it after the race so they can sweep it under the rug and just give them a fine and not worry about it.
Maybe they feel bad for the first incident and they're like, maybe we could change it by not giving it up for this.
I don't think that we're feeling bad necessarily, but we will see.
Yeah, it's a fair point.
Yeah, it just depends how they deem it to be honest and whether there was any mitigating circumstances which might give Hamilton a 2.3 second penalty rather than the full five.
But yeah, it's a bit of a strange day when it comes to decisions, so I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another one come out for that one.
Now, would that affect Hamilton in any way?
Yes, yes, because they told him, didn't they, to stay within five seconds.
Indeed, indeed.
Right, let's go to my most memorable moment, which was Charles Leclerc and the Oscar Piastri incident.
It was just an incident, it was just an incident on the race.
Yeah, look, this one is interesting and I think a lot of people were up in arms about why this wasn't a penalty.
Well, let's go to the stewards documents, shall we, where we've got the explanation of the no further action.
So it says on the approach to turn five Oscar Piastri moved to overtake Charles Leclerc on the outside.
Oscar Piastri had some overlap on Charles Leclerc, but the front axle of car 81 was not ahead of the front axle of car 16.
And there was no possibility of car 81 completing an overtake from that position, which I would say that's a bit presumptuous to say that there's no possibility of Oscar completing an overtake round the outside into a very well known overtaken corner.
The overtaken corner of the whole track, really.
And then it says Charles Leclerc did not deliberately crowd Oscar Piastri off the edge of the track.
I don't know how you'd determine whether, obviously I know that you probably didn't, but how do you determine that, I'm not sure.
Car 16 followed the racing line before the entry to turn five by moving slightly to the left to open up for turn five and side to side contact occurred between the two cars.
In the circumstances the stewards determined to take no further action.
I don't agree with this one.
I was convinced we were going to see a Charles Leclerc penalty for this.
I don't think he did any of that with any kind of malice or wanting to squeeze Oscar off the track, but at the same time, and it's probably more dramatic, isn't it, because we saw damage for Oscar.
In that situation, I just really do feel Oscar deserves the room and Charles Leclerc has, I think, just misjudged where the McLaren is and there's been a squeeze and contact and perhaps helped him to defend the position.
I'm a Charles Leclerc fan.
I want to see him do well, but that doesn't mean I won't call out when I think that a penalty is deserved.
It's funny.
I put something out on Twitter saying that I think Charles deserves a penalty in this situation.
People are like, fake Charles Leclerc fan!
You have to defend him at every incident, even if he rammed into the back of someone on purpose.
Imagine, I want Charles Leclerc to do well, but I also try to be when I can as objective and as unbiased as possible when it comes to instance on track.
For me, it's not like an insane black flag him, like we saw some silly people saying in the watch along, but at the same time.
Yeah, I know exactly.
But I do think this was definitely more of a penalty, not that they're the same incident, right?
They are two completely different incidents, the Hamilton one and this one.
But I think this one was more deserving of a penalty if we were to choose than the Hamilton Russell one.
It definitely should have been a penalty, whether it was five or ten seconds.
I guess now with these collisions, they give ten seconds when I personally don't think they should be.
Sometimes I think five seconds should still apply, which I guess they did for Hamilton.
But I personally don't think Charles misjudged it.
I feel like he probably expected, I imagine that Piastri would use a little bit more of the kerb.
Similar to maybe Verstappen and Lando in Austria at that time.
Because Oscar basically just stays on the track.
He doesn't use the kerb at all and he stays on the track.
And Lecler squeezes him, probably hoping that Oscar will also use a little bit of the kerb.
But he doesn't, which he's entitled not to do of course, because he deserves the room on the track.
And they make contact.
I can't believe he got away with that one personally, because it just screams like...
Someone's going for an overtake.
We say a million times that you're mentally racing room.
And this is the problem with these regulations that you can kind of...
No matter how much they can explain it and do this whole...
Put out a document that tells their reasoning.
We still, and a lot of people still very much disagree with it.
Even though they've explained the incident.
So I think yeah, Charlotte definitely got away with one there.
And of course it damaged Oscar, who then got overtaken by Hamilton.
So if we're going in consequence like the George Russell thing, you could argue that it has affected Oscar.
Obviously not as extreme, it's not put him out the race, but it's still a moment that's happened.
And yeah, I'm amazed he got away with that one for sure.
Question for Bill, patron member Anastasia W.
With the different rulings on the two separate Ferrari incidents,
are the stewards starting to take the consequences of a crash into account
when making their decisions rather than judging the incident itself?
We don't have to say starting.
They've always done this in Formula One.
We've had this conversation years ago.
We're always having this conversation about what is clearly a racing incident.
If someone gets taken out of the race, they're more likely to penalize them.
And we've just seen that in years gone by.
They're also a little bit more lenient, it feels like, when there's a bit of, you know,
they will, if you get two cars wheelbanging through a corner
and they go around the corner, all the fans love it and go,
oh my god, this is amazing racism, both of them carry on.
They tend to not give a penalty, but in the exact same incident
say someone gets a suspension damage and ends up with a DNF.
They tend to be like, oh well, we need to give this person a penalty
even if it's exactly the same incident.
It's just always happened in Formula One.
And I understand that it's hard to apply it with that logic
because you have seen someone go out of the race.
So I will kind of say the stewards kind of understand it
because it's hard to unbiass your opinion
when you've seen something actually play out and happen.
So yeah, I think they've always done this
and they will continue to do it and that's exactly what they've done today
in my opinion with the two penalties
because one should have got a penalty, one shouldn't
and it's the other way around.
But then, I guess if we're talking about consequences of a crash
there was consequences for oscopiastry and they didn't penalise.
But not as extreme. I think that's why.
If oscopiastry got out of the race, Leclerc's getting a 10 penalty all day long.
10 penalties.
Another one.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's hard to really deem what the stewards were thinking to be honest with you
because in my opinion it does not match up to consequences of something happening
to the driver that was hurting this impact or this incident
because I would say that oscopiastry was affected
and therefore, Charles Clair, he got away with it and there was no penalty.
So I don't know.
I think sometimes they do, sometimes they don't
and maybe it is what you say Tommy in the fact of the varying levels
of whether someone's out of the race or damaged or whatnot.
It's the lack of consistency.
That's the issue here because that's not what we saw today at all.
This gets a little bit into like almost like diving in football
when you felt contact.
But I reckon if oscopiastry, when he collides with Leclerc,
he goes straight on over that runoff area and continues on the track.
Leclerc gets a penalty.
Indeed.
This is not the only thing we're going to talk about when it comes to Charles Clair either
because there was a virtual safety car.
There was a few actually, wasn't there?
There was a few.
We did discuss whether there would be multiple.
We thought no and there were just random ones.
Unexplained ones.
I actually said there would be maybe one, but not multiple.
Do you remember the question that we were asked?
But yes, the virtual safety car, one of them,
really did impact the race and help a certain Charles Clair.
Gravel, debris, whatever it was,
there wasn't a huge amount of explanation being offered
as to why certain virtual safety cars were deployed.
One, I think, was out for such a short amount of time.
It didn't really impact at least any of the front runners.
But the one where Charles Clair and Louis Hansen were able to pit under,
of course, did because it put Leclerc into the lead of the race.
No, I couldn't believe it.
I was sat there trying to digest how he's gotten away
with not getting the penalty with Oscar Piastri.
He's then benefited from a virtual safety car
and is leading the race with about 15 laps to go.
And you said in the qualifying podcast, didn't you?
I said straight down the barrel of the camera,
I said, look, Charles, listen up.
Don't pit until everyone else has
because we might get a little cheeky VSC.
And lo and behold, that's what happened.
He takes the lead.
And the Charles Clair Stewart fan went, that's a good idea.
That's a great idea.
We should do that.
Maybe even the marshal just ran out there like,
yeah, as a VSC.
He wasn't even going to get it.
He dropped his Ferrari flag.
Yeah, yeah, that was not the umbrella
from last time out, but this time it's a Ferrari flag.
But being more serious,
yeah, we can't really comment on whether the VSC was needed or not
because they didn't really show exactly what was going on.
But it was, I'm not going to say
Ferrari International Assistance even though I've just said it.
I don't actually believe that.
I think it was very fortunate timing for the Ferrari guys.
And you're talking about Ferrari bias.
I mean, they literally gave Hamilton a penalty for something
I don't think that was warranted.
So it was very, very lucky
and it put Charles in a great position.
But I don't want to take anything away from Le Clair's drive though
because yes, he was put into an amazing position.
Yes, that squeeze I think was a little bit over the line.
But his pace was great
and he was able to put up a fight against Antonelli
with I think only two lap fresher tires.
So yeah, there were definite positives as well.
It's not like he just was having the worst weekend of his life
and then spawned in P1.
No, it wasn't like everything just came to him
and he was the luckiest driver ever.
It certainly wasn't that.
He drove a good race, definitely.
Yeah, he got lucky with the VSC.
Count numerous drivers over the years that have had the same thing.
It's one of those things, isn't it, with VSCs
that sometimes they go in your favor,
sometimes they screw you over.
Charles Le Clair many times in his career
has been screwed over by VSC.
This time it was good fortune for him.
It's a little bit strange that when it comes to gravel
and them sweeping up gravel,
I don't think there's any funny business,
obviously I was bantering on the watch along the side, of course, wit.
But I don't think there is any funny business going on.
But it does open that opportunity, doesn't it?
Because if you're a steward,
when do you decide that gravel is too much?
There was gravel on the track.
In theory you could wait,
not saying they did,
but you could wait for certain drivers
and certain situations and wait for people to pit.
When is too much gravel on the track worthy of a VSC?
740 pieces of gravel.
Yeah, exactly.
So everyone pitted and then that one extra piece of gravel
that this time didn't hit Niko.
Bounce off all gravel.
Fullest kill switch.
Bounced on the track and that was the exact amount of gravel
that they decided, yes, now we need to do this.
It's an interesting debate, isn't it?
And this is the problem with gravel, I guess,
if it's going to come onto the track
of when do you make that call
because it can screw people over
and it can also benefit people.
Ja, because I guess you open a proper can of worms, don't you,
if you try to, I think they have done in the past
try to not affect the race when it comes to VSCs.
But at the same time, if it's a safety concern
and they're like, there's too much gravel on the track.
You just have to do it.
I'm going to wait half a lap
because right now Ferrari is going to get a cheap pit stop
and that takes priority.
It can never be like that.
So yeah, it seemed sus.
Yeah, it looked like a little bit of money was slipped under the table
from Ferrari to the FIA.
But overall, I genuinely just think that was...
It's just good fortune.
It's just good fortune.
And I can say that as a non-Ferrari supporter
and not wearing a Ferrari t-shirt.
And hence the reason for being a Salty Max fan today
because of that particular...
Yeah, Max would have won the race by 40 seconds.
He could have definitely finished second.
Yeah, there was a chance for him to finish second
if Leclerc got the penalty, of course,
because it was 9.6 or something, I think.
And also the VSE as well.
And the VSE as well.
So Max could have got second, but, you know,
we've got 71 wins.
We don't care about P3s and P2s.
Wow, really well versed in the amount of wins.
I see you've got your full evidence ready to throw at me
whenever I say anything.
Question from people on Patreon member, medium speed corner.
Kimmy is just a force of nature right now.
But do you think we could start seeing cracks in his demeanor
the closer we get to Abu Dhabi?
Honestly, every time I think maybe, just maybe, Kimmy might
just not put a performance down.
He goes, I'll have another one. Thank you.
Put that one in the locker.
He has been so insanely impressive this year.
I cannot see if we still have this sort of...
The way of, you know, the lay of the land right now,
of Anthony being quickest,
but having some reliability issues.
And that's the only real reason why it's as close as it was,
even though it's a lot bigger now because of Russell's misfortune.
I really do not see a way in at the moment
for any of the championship contenders,
the Hamilton's, the Russell's, dare I throw LeClaire,
and probably not 78 points behind, but you never know.
I never know.
Another good VSE might help.
Just 12 more of those, please.
That would be great.
Even then, we didn't beat Kimmy today.
I honestly think he's going to be unfazed
because if you have a George Russell that's hounding you down
with a car that works for him, let's not forget, right?
George is going through a lot of issues with this car.
Mercedes don't really know what's going on.
So he is on the back foot for no reason in the last couple of races.
But surely this just builds confidence with Kimmy
with every single weekend.
The fact that he has such a comfort with the car
is able to deliver at tracks that he's only been at.
Some of these tracks, of course Belgium may be not,
but some of these tracks he's only been to twice.
His rookie year was last year.
You would think maybe there would be a few that he would have a dip in forming.
But we're not seeing that.
We're not seeing the mistakes of last year.
Yes, we've had a few now and again, but he's been able to bounce back.
He's had poor starts and he's still been able to win races.
He is, and that is absolutely correct, a force of nature.
And quite rightly on the other side of things, George Russell having things go against him.
And we're seeing the emotion from him where he might actually believe
that this championship is slipping away from him,
not just because of reliability and being hit out of the race.
But the fact is his teammate is, across the season, doing a better job.
Yeah, Kimmy's been the superior driver for sure.
We know that Russell's had some issues that he can't find an answer for at the moment.
I think there's a little bit of his driving in there for sure.
But also with his car and how, as we saw today,
him just having no battery immediately and looking like he was peddling his car
down the Camel Strait compared to his rivals.
So I'm scared to say, yes, Kimmy is so chill.
Nothing seems to phase him because we had exactly the same conversation
about Oscar Piaceri last year.
And some people will say, oh, this is different.
It's hard to know till we get there.
We've seen some moments, as you said, where, you know,
if George does find an answer, I think that what's going to happen is,
how's Kimmy going to, will Kimmy still be this cool, calm guy
even when he has some misfortune?
And look, kind of the three races before this, he's had really poor luck.
And he's still seemed very kind of chill about it.
He wasn't, you know, throwing a steering wheel
and getting really annoyed and getting upset.
He just kind of was like, oh, OK, we move on.
But when it gets closer and closer to that championship,
say George does find something.
And we see another situation like Canada
where George squeezed him wide and obviously Antoni
is there shouting on the radio and getting upset.
That's when the pressure is on.
At the moment, we're not seeing any pressure on Kimmy
because he is just unbelievable
and he's wiping the floor with everyone.
He's got a great car underneath him.
He's seemingly just half a second clear of Russell
all the time at the moment.
Four-tent of that down to the engine, though, Tommy.
Well, this is what I mean, exactly.
But he is, like, that's what's happening in the races.
But if George finds something and they're battling,
we'll see a very different Kimmy, I think.
Like we had in Canada,
where he was absolutely fuming about George running
and wide and the battling,
and then he locked up going into the next corner
with a really audacious move.
I don't want to say that Kimmy is just going to cruise
to the title because we've seen this narrative before,
even like Lewis Hamilton,
when he was about to win the world title
in his rookie season and stuff.
So there's a lot more races to go still.
Canada's a great example, actually,
of seeing those cracks for Antonelli,
just from a pressure standpoint.
But the thing is, I'm sat here going,
when is he going to see this pressure?
Because he is the quickest driver this season.
Russell's having issues.
For George's side of the camp,
he has to be mounting the pressure on every single weekend
from here until the end of the season.
He needs to be side by side with Antonelli,
asking the question.
But the thing is, Antonelli comes into a Sunday,
a lot of the time now,
with his teammate not even being on the front row,
thinking, cool, I just hope I drive away.
For this weekend, for example,
I think he said after qualifying,
I'm just hoping I am able to clear off into the distance.
There just must be that level of knowing your car is unbelievable,
knowing that your engine is the best,
even though it's technically not,
but it's up there.
There's just so many factors that will give him confidence
and yeah, he just seems unstoppable right now.
When his car doesn't explode, he's ready to go.
He is unstoppable at the moment,
but I just can't shake that comparison
of Oscar Piaz, Trin Lando and Norris last year.
I think it's more extreme than that of George being,
Lando wasn't as far behind Oscar
as George is now with Kimmy.
But we've seen titles turn,
look at what we said after Monaco
and it's, oh Kimmy's done,
and then it flipped the other way,
and only yesterday we were talking about
how George Russell could actually be leading the title
over the summer break,
and now it's actually within two wins again.
We're having a weird situation,
where we're only getting,
despite the first couple of races,
if you exclude the first couple of races,
since it's only Austria where two mercs
have been on the podium,
which you think is absolutely insane to think
based on what we saw at the start of the season.
They got 21 twos,
and then yeah,
they've never shared the podium together
other than Austria.
They said guys, we're gonna make predictions fun.
Don't worry.
We're not just gonna 12 the whole season.
Thank you.
Let's go to another question from Fergie's right ref.
Why does such a great track like SPAR
produce such boring races?
To be fair to the regulations on this one,
I think a lot of the overtakes we saw
did remind me a little bit of the DRS
at this track.
We've made our point on the regulations
at this track.
It's been a depressing watching and qualifying,
and we saw slam dunk overtakes again
with the boost a lot of the time.
But we saw that anyway with DRS,
a lot of the overtakes coming down the camel straight.
The other person flies past.
And that has been the problem in the DRS era.
The fact that if they did the DRS too short,
you couldn't overtake because it was just too hard to follow.
And then as soon as you got to the camel straight,
you run out of straight.
But then sometimes it would be so extreme
that it would just be a slam dunk move
and you would never actually see people overtaking
into breaking zones.
And that's what made Spa a bit disappointing.
Now we go into this where it's all about the battery.
You're kind of seeing the same thing where people
are just boosting past.
And because of the fact it being such an energy-starved track,
that's where you're seeing such a difference
back to the kind of start of the year
where there's such huge differences between performance
like we kind of saw in that first lap.
It's a shame because Spa's a legendary circuit.
It's the one everyone loves and it can produce...
I wouldn't say it's a stinker.
And I don't think it's been a stinker every year at Spa,
but probably not classics for a long time now.
But we still love it and we'll still miss it when it goes
and it gets rotated despite going,
oh, Spa hasn't really delivered that much again.
You guarantee the year it's off there at the calendar,
we're going, oh, it's just a travesty
that we're not racing at Spa.
Spoken like a true Monaco fan
if it ever comes off the calendar.
But yeah, look, Spa is an iconic circuit.
It's amazing to see these cars go around here
apart from this year, let's be honest.
It's been one of the biggest farces of the year
seeing the cars decelerating so insanely
in that last sector.
So for me, the iconic level of it on paper,
of course, Spa is incredible,
but you kind of say,
is it sort of a good thing
whilst Formula One goes through this identity crisis
to not race around here where they're just losing power
and corners that were so awesome to watch in the past,
like for example, the corner after no name,
the left hander, what's that called?
They said that's easy flat now, it's not even a corner.
Whereas before, it would be all about commitment,
trying to risk it on the exit to stay within track limits.
So yeah, Spa has produced quite a lot of boring races.
It can obviously bring us some rain.
We're still waiting for where that rain that we were promised
is going to fall.
I forgot that that even was a talking point
at the start of the race.
I know, they proper hyped us up as well.
Just let the rain fall without speaking.
The minute we speak, those rain clouds just dissipate
and they just go like that.
No, don't fancy it.
Spa does rely a little bit on weather to spice up the action,
but overall, it will be sad to see it alternate.
Of course, we've got it next year, haven't we?
And then it's off the year after that
and it alternates for the next few years past that.
It is a shame, but at the same time,
the racing has been kind of mediocre
for a lot of the years we've seen in recent times.
Question from people on Patreon member Blackson.
Should McLaren have let their drivers fight
or considered the bigger picture?
Well, I guess they sort of fought, right?
And I guess what this question is alluding to
is that Lando got through on Oscar
and then Oscar blasted backpass down the chemo straight
to get ahead of Lando again.
I think that was just a case of battery difference
and that Oscar thought, well, I'm just going to come through.
I'm not going to come off the accelerator
and sit behind you if I've got a massive run on you.
I'm also running my race here.
They were in completely different strategies.
They should not have been battling in my opinion.
Of course, Oscar, as I said, had to do what he had to do.
But overall, I don't really have a problem with what I saw
in terms of a McLaren team strategy.
They had a bit of a ding dong,
but overall, completely different strategies.
So, yeah, no notes from me in terms of how that unfolded.
I think that it was the nature of the regulations
and how we saw it a little bit with Leclerc and Antonelli
that Antonelli was able to close in on Leclerc quite comfortably,
yet couldn't actually,
we were questioning whether Leclerc could get him back.
And in years gone by, Leclerc had been a sitting duck
and then once he'd got behind Antonelli,
there's no chance he's ever going to be able to get back past him
because he just wasn't quick enough.
But because of that boost, even when you've been passed
and maybe you've got older tyres or your car's not quicker,
you can stick with another car
and it gives you such an advantage,
way more than DRS because you can use it.
Obviously, it's not just in one zone.
And stay close.
And fortunately for McLaren,
they kind of just had that situation where Landau got through
and then Oscar, what does he do?
Does he just completely back off?
But then it would only be the same situation
where he'd get the boost again
because he'd be within a second.
So it's a difficult situation
that McLaren found themselves in.
And I don't think there's going to be too much
fallout,
or there won't be any fallout.
It was just a nothing incident,
unlike racing balls.
Let's move this question actually
to the racing bulls, let's talk about it now.
How are they battling?
We're not seeing any of it.
Yeah, crazy.
Right, question.
P1 Patriot member, a good Karen.
Have racing bulls orchestrated their own implosion?
Lawson and Lindblad banging wheels today
and Lawson visibly frustrated during the race.
I don't know if you can really blame racing bulls.
I think this is the nature
and it always seems to happen to this team
because they've got two quick drivers
and they want to beat each other
and they're a team in the midfield
that let their drivers race.
And in this situation they were very closely matched
and together on the same car.
I'm just watching the video.
Can you send it me while I talk about the race start
so I can watch it afterwards?
My word, because we were so focused on George Russell
and Lewis Hamilton,
have you watched the racing bulls on lap 1?
Because oh my word,
they were banging wheels into the corner,
one of them goes over,
then they go for another move on each other,
they sends it down the inside.
There was no love loss between them there.
They were both going absolutely ham to beat each other
and I will be absolutely amazed
if we don't see a collision between the two of them.
Something ignited,
I would say a feud but maybe,
but in Austria what we saw
and the fact that it was Lindblad
ignored team orders
and overtook him,
there's still beef there
and they're having a lot of very close
and hard battles
and I feel like it's only a matter of time
before they collide
because we're seeing this
happen almost every race now
and it will continue
because they're closely matched teammates.
Go and watch that video.
I'm watching it now.
This is after the pit stop
of Arvid Lindblad.
I don't know what racing balls are doing by the way,
I don't know if Lindblad had a slow pit stop
but he's come out literally in the wheel tracks
of Lawson.
They've gone almost side by side
into, well through Oruja and up Radion
and then it doesn't end there
because Lindblad then spawns to the right of Lawson
after Radion.
Then they go off the track afterwards at turn five.
It's just millimetres these two.
I love to see it
but there is clearly some law
being written between these two.
It's going to happen.
You can tell there is a fierce rivalry
between Lawson and Lindblad in this team.
I'm here to watch it.
Of course Lawson didn't have the upgrades this weekend
which we all questioned as a decision
but Lawson did not want to
give that position up despite his
teammate having a quite clearly better
upgraded package.
Yeah, definitely. I'm watching it now
again.
I will say turn five
not to go back to the Hamilton and Russell thing
but it's so hard to get around the outside there
which they've gone side by side
together and Lawson
has rightfully bailed out.
The person on the inside is
able to
control that line
but it's insane
how much they're risking
and you've got to question
the team in that situation as you said
that
why are they allowing their two drivers
to come out the pits next to each other
because they know if anything
that's the moment that you need to strike
if you like
coming out the pit.
There's definitely an element
that racing balls are causing their own
issues with this
and
I just think there's something
there's definitely something bubbling up between
the two of them
to the point where it's going to be
an Ocon and Gasly situation
where they're going to come together at some point
or Ocon and Peres
or Ocon and Peres
It's true, Ocon and Peres
had a very similar teammate rivalry
it's funny actually because obviously I looked this up
on Twitter to find the video
and the next tweet I can see
is
someone saying a whole Lawson-Lynblad divorce
happening out there and we have no idea
that's basically it
We didn't see any of this
It was crazy, we saw a little bit
in mini-boxes and stuff
but they didn't really focus on it
as it was all going off
and it was
maybe our opinions on
would this have been a great race
if we'd have got to watch Color Pinto
make two part two overtakes
in one go
and the racing balls fighting
Let's speak about that
Of course you went to the toilet the minute that that happened
but I have seen it
and we were watching it on the mini-box
the fact that it was Gasly
Bortoletto wasn't it
Fighting, you're thinking
Gasly is going to clear Bortoletto
Enter Color Pinto out of nowhere
Three wide down the chemo straight
and that actually was the move for Color Pinto
to score a point
Big weekend for Franco
and yeah just
there were moments weren't there in this race
but it didn't ever feel like it was in the full box
No
There was a titanic midfield battle
between Color Pinto, Gasly Lorsson
and Holkenberg on the last lap as well
which they just didn't decide to mini-box
at all
I'm all for using a mini-box
in that situation, you have to show
respects to the winner
and have them celebrating
and everything
because obviously they did that one time didn't they
where they didn't, they showed, I think it was Oscar Piatri
in a mini-box when he won the race
and rightfully everyone was very upset
What the disrespect
That's the disrespect
but yeah, there was a lot
of great racing in the midfield
that I think was missed today
Indeed, let's go
to another question
Who was your star of the midfield?
So many battles
even though we didn't get to see much of them
there you go, so we didn't get to see them
If I was to crown a midfield
star
I mean Limblad
did a phenomenal job
with the upgrade package, I know we were talking about the battle there
I think Bortoletto is probably going to get
my award though
an awesome job
for Audi
and for Gabi of course
they've had their trials and tribulations of Audi
with their reliability issues
and Holkenberg, I don't know how on earth
he's ended at the back of that train
because he was not far away
in the opening phases of the Grand Prix
I can see here on lap 12 he was 4 seconds behind Bortoletto
but he's ended up
not even challenging for points
in a Grand Prix weekend where Audi
clearly had some pace
Definitely, I think you've got to go for Bortoletto
with a great 8th place
another strong result
when I don't think Audi were
best of the rest this weekend
certainly not
comfortably, I think that belonged to
racing balls in the hand of
the upgrades for Limblad
Alpine seemed quite quick as well
Colopinto definitely deserves
a shout for getting that final point as well
I would go for Bortoletto
and Colopinto were worthy shouts for that
I think Bortoletto did he
gain from the VSC
I think he did
versus the racing balls
I think they pitted maybe a little bit too early
but either or, he still did a brilliant job
because I think a lot of drivers did gain
from the VSC
we'll take a look at all that data for driver ratings
don't you worry
we will give you our grades
to be fair, speaking of gaining from
VSCs and things like that
P1Patreon member MV3
cursed since 2026
it's not the username, that's a discord name
but you've written it down anyway like that
it's probably like Nick or something
but anyway, that's the username we're going to go with
is that Hajar's best drive
of his career and at Red Bull
I think to say his best drive
is maybe a stretch when he got a podium
Zanvor in a V-Carb
I still think that was an absolutely phenomenal drive
but I'm not going to take anything away from Hajar
I think he was absolutely brilliant
today obviously played the team game
in qualifying, rightly so
he had nothing to gain
by doing any of that session
other than to help his teammate
because of course he had the massive penalty
that would always was going to start
dead last with having a 30 place
penalty for changing the components
and yeah, he drove a really strong race
to just make his way through
just beat Lando
at the end, you kind of assumed
that Hajar would of course get through
those runners because we've seen that massive gap
between the midfield and the top cars
but it's still
a really impressive drive from him
to back points of the team
and continue
a really strong run
of points finishes that Hajar has just
consistent
his consistency is really really good
and this is exactly what Rebel wanted
from the second driver
if they ever get back to the top
and you know
Max is able to challenge for the title
they need Hajar
to be finishing close to him
and bagging points
and taking points off rivals
and things, not finishing 17th and 18th
so another brilliant job
from Hajar
Indeed, yeah, it was a really good race
of course the reason why I said about the VSC thing
is because of course he did gain
from the VSC being able to pit in the middle of the race
to get off of that
what was supposed to be a technical
not literal but basically a zero stop
a zero stop, yeah
under the safety card to go from hards to mediums
back to hard so he could not do another stop
but that being said
the 12 seconds behind Max Verstappen
looks really good on paper considering where Hajar started
of course Max didn't gain from the VSC
so there are some
small adjustments to be made
but let's not take away anything from Hajar
who I think displayed some really really good speed
of course had Lando chasing him down
at the end, didn't crack under pressure
beaten by 7 tenths
and yeah, I think it was a really strong performance
as for his best one, no, no chance
as you quite rightly highlighted Tommy
a podium
podium in a racing bulls
is definitely eclipsing that
and just generally I think yeah
there had been a couple of drives where Hajar just really stood out
this one, I think it's a quiet one
might go undiscovered by a lot of people
but did a very good job and as
you also said about the Red Bull 2nd seat
he's doing more than enough
to keep that for the seasons
to come depending on who he's
teammates with if things maybe
maybe change their Tommy but you know
that's a conversation for another day
let's get over to
biggest winner, driver or team
who are we going to crown
biggest winner
Well, I know who the biggest winner was
of the stewards and race direction
that's Charles Leclerc
Kimmy has gained 25 points
on his teammates
championship perspective as well
that is very true
25 on his teammate
as of recording right now
he's gaining 13 on Hamilton
but that could become 15
if Hamilton gets a penalty
which I don't know whether that's been
announced yet
but
Antonija's a shout, Portoletto
is also a shout and maybe actually
who I'm going to go for
just purely because Audi
have had such struggles so yeah
we'll go Portoletto biggest winner
Yeah, Portoletto is a great shout
I think I'll go for Kimmy just from the fact that
maybe his poor
fortune has been reversed
it looked like some bad luck
was going to take it away from him again in the sense that
the
the VSC
cost him an allowed Leclerc to get in the lead
but this time his car held on
no issues and
for him
must feel like finally to be back
on the top step when he's had the pace
to win pretty much
every race this
this season and it's not
happened since Monaco
when we thought he would be completely unstoppable
and gonna do a max of stappen and win every race
for the rest of time
that's what we always think
and then eventually it does change
what about Biggest Loser
George Russell
yeah I mean it has to be George Russell
the
a DNF for him, Perez and Stroll
I don't even know what happened
Longstroll, half Belgian of course
yeah that must be gutting
for this half home race
Biggest winner should have been Alonso, only lap twice
of course it's a seven kilometre circuit
so you would hope not more than twice
I know who your biggest loser would be actually
we've not mentioned him yet
Valtteri Bottas
for a certain moment
go on
Valtteri I'm just gonna say right now
I don't know if you're gonna have a
Ferrari engine in the back of your car
come hungry because what were you
doing bro
Charlotte Clair was literally an inch behind you
and you're not moving
and then Antonelli manages to get through
maybe he tried the Hadjard toe
through Blanche Mami but I thought he was attempting
brilliant towing a Cadillac
that's gonna do it
isn't it
I have a small bit of a bugbear
when it comes to Bottas actions
just get out of the way bro
you're not fighting anyone
your head of the Aston's well done
we're not fighting anyone else
I was screaming and shouting on the watch
yeah definitely
it was a silly moment from Bottas
but easily has to be Russell
I think all weekend
from the fact that
he's still struggling with the pace
he's got no answer
and then for him to obviously
be taking out the race as well
have the collision go into
his rival in Antonelli
I know Russell's not even second
in the championship
but it still feels like
Ferrari aren't quite there
with no disrespect to Hamilton
but it still feels like
at this stage if anyone can be
Antonelli it will be Russell
if he can find an answer
because unfortunately for Ferrari
they just don't
yeah maybe
a few more VSCs
throw some gravel on the track
in Hungary
oh you best believe if we go to an F1 race
the clear pole, safety car
that one
doesn't come in the entire race
oh actually no
just keep it up
what's gravel doing at the track
turn one in Austin
there's no gravel there
replay of me throwing onto this
okay let's go to our predictions
that we made at the middle of the week
in the middle of the week
it is currently 3127
to Tom Bellingham
gonna be interesting to see how this one unfolds
so my good surprise
was Max Verstappen
which I think is absolutely
with a P2 and a podium finish
that's gonna be a point for me
a P2, wow you're giving a penalty
sorry, P2 on the grid
no no no I said P2
sorry I meant P2 on the grid
and P3 podium
yes there you go
we heard it
shut up
and I went for Ollie Berman
which was correct
he was best of the dustbins of course
best of the dustbins is wild
but it's true
sorry
it's not gonna happen
my big flop was
Arvid Lindblad who didn't win the race
with clearly the best car on the grid with those upgrades
so I will take a point for that as well
obviously not yet well done Arvid
very good performance with the upgraded vcarb
and I went for Isaac Hadjar
who of course 30 place
penalty
finished
finished
no
and then a great drive
fantastic drive
no chance
no points sadly not, okay
pole position, I went for George Russell
incorrect
shalla cla
looking close at one point
in third position
I went for Max Verstappen
this is a point
we are cooking
I went for Lewis Hamilton
incorrect
in second place I went for George Russell
no he finished or did not finish in 22nd
so not close
I went for Charlotte Clair which was
correct
for you and also for Charlotte Clair
so therefore me
and in first place I went for Kimi Antonelli
so a 2 out of 3
nice
and then a clean sweep from qualifying
did we get a consensus
on whether a little tricky point
for that top 5
I think that's a great
added little element for the predictions
from this race
so I'll take a point
okay
where were we, Russell
double award winning podcast
exactly
P what
it was P4
the question, the number and I went for Charlotte Clair
he did too well
he did
if he got that penalty you would have been right
but then I would have lost
P3
exactly
so yeah, Verstappen I went for
who was
correcta
may I also remind you again
double award winning
correcta is ridiculous
one crazy prediction
I went for neither racing ball make it through Q3
and Arvid Lindblad went I am going to drop purple sectors
you know what's really knowing about this one
so mine was racing balls
not in the points
and I was going to say
Liam Lawson not in the points
and I just had to show off
do a little wheelie and be like
no you don't get double points
no you don't
I was like Lawson and I was like
oh no I'll go for racing balls
you thought you'd flex and
there was no muscles there
there was not
no points
now our patreon prediction
I went for jacks which was all drivers
from the top 4 teams finished the Grand Prix
George Russell entered the gravel on lap 1
and that was it
indeed and I went for R&B
sheep which was Mercedes
both of ours were out
and then lap 1
yeah both of them ruined turn 1
oh dear so how many points then
so I scored 1, 2, 3
and you scored 2
alright so that's annoying
I thought I might be closing out by 2
33 30
3 points the gap
he's closing in
family top 3
currently 8-7 to the Gallagas
the only championship
anyone cares about
so my mum
in P3 went for Charles Leclerre
didn't believe in him
not enough anyway
Grace went for
Kimmy Antonelli
oh my god I completely forgot
Grace put generational predictions down
in 2nd place my mum went for George Russell
which was incorrect
and Grace went for George Russell as well
and in 1st place my mum went for Kimmy
Antonelli we score a point
well done my mum
and Grace went for Maxa Stappen
which was wrong
I think she obviously thought I wanted it
in order of 1st, 2nd, 3rd
which then she would have got 2 points
although technically
we did the good surprise and big flop
didn't we and she would have got a point for Maxa Stappen
just like I did
and I didn't get a point so next time
I'll be using her predictions
I think everyone really enjoyed
the Grace prediction so if you are
still here listening right now
we're nearly an hour or maybe over an hour
chatting please let us know in the comments
if you would like us to come up
with some kind of Grace segment
because she's got to start
working for
Gusto that she has on her table
every single evening
Gusto being a food delivery service
if you're not unaware
if you guys want Grace to be involved
now and again on the podcast and more often
then let us know we'll figure out something
with that
I know I've just voluntarily put her forward
for doing podcasts
but you know
Tommy exit strategy from the podcast
has to start at some point
exactly
oh well maybe when I lose predictions
that's it I'm done P1
finished I'm going back to an old brand
and there you go
please stay forever
okay there you go
that's the race review done
we of course don't have to wait too long
until the Hungarian Grand Prix
the most anticipated Grand Prix
for Aston Martin
I am so excited to see what they
wheel out
if they wheel out any upgrades
and they go actually no we're going to wait till the summer break
so yeah I can't wait for that
should be a Ferrari masterclass
indeed lots to look forward to
just like that
Tommy final thoughts please
final thoughts yeah
very intriguing that the very next race
could not be any more
different on the calendar
to spar
so a very intriguing one
and not long to wait
so join us for our usual stuff
and we'll get some more predictions
of course very soon
and I need some points
I need some points because
a shocking week
good not that shocking
you only lost one point to me mate
a couple of points is better than
the zero I scored I think two weeks ago
two races ago
relax yourself
okay thank you everybody we will see you very soon
lots of love take care
bye
About this episode
Spa’s Belgian Grand Prix gets a wide-ranging race review, starting with Lap 1 chaos and the Hamilton–Russell collision that triggered a five-second penalty. The hosts argue the incident should be treated as a racing incident, then widen the debate to steward consistency, unsafe releases, and Leclerc–Piastri “no further action.” Virtual Safety Car timing becomes the central swing factor for pit strategy and track position, while battery/energy management and DRS-era overtakes shape what passes actually happen. They close by looking ahead to the Hungarian GP.
Original notes
We weren’t treated to the greatest spectacle at this legendary circuit, but this season's title battle still took another dramatic turn - even if the stewards found new ways to baffle us...
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