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Is Sauber the feel good story of F1 this season?
Is Sauber the feel good story of F1 this season?
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About this episode
The hosts dive into the surprises and disappointments of the F1 season so far, highlighting Sauber's unexpected rise with Hulkenberg's podium and Bortoletto's progress. They discuss Lewis Hamilton's struggles at Ferrari and Charles Leclerc's consistent performance, pondering Ferrari's potential resurgence post-summer break. The conversation also covers midseason driver rankings, with Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, and Nico Hulkenberg standing out. Bold predictions include Hamilton winning at Monza and Williams snagging a race victory. The episode blends insightful analysis with personal reflections and a look back at pre-season predictions.
Topics:
sauber performance
hulkenberg podium
lewis hamilton struggles
charles leclerc consistency
ferrari prospects
midseason driver rankings
max verstappen
oscar piastri
nico hulkenberg
bold predictions
Welcome back to Unlapped! Nicole Briscoe and Nate Saunders discuss the latest around the grid during the summer break. Who is the biggest surprise of the season? Who has disappointed the most? Plus, will Ferrari bounce back in the second half of the season? Finally, Nate and Nicole rank the drivers and bring some bold predictions. All this and more on Unlapped!
Time Codes:
0:00 Welcome to Unlapped!
2:28 Who is the biggest surprise?
10:46 Who is the biggest disappointment?
18:15 Who will be the breakout team after the break?
21:48 Oracle stat of the week
22:35 Is Charles in for a strong two races?
29:10 Reviewing Nate's preseason predictions
35:49 Ranking the drivers in 2025
52:03 Bold predictions
58:20 Thanks for watching!
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Welcome to Unlapped!
Who is the biggest surprise?
Who is the biggest disappointment?
Who will be the breakout team after the break?
Oracle stat of the week
Is Charles in for a strong two races?
Reviewing Nate's preseason predictions
Ranking the drivers in 2025
Bold predictions
Thanks for watching!
Select text to request an explanation
From 30 for 30 Podcasts.
Brian Padda, Senior Defense of Lyman for Miami.
Gun down.
The key to this case, it's Brian.
An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody.
This might be a hit.
You want the truth.
They just want a conviction being placed under arrest.
We had a killer amongst us.
We had a killer amongst us.
We had a killer amongst us.
We had a killer amongst us.
We had a killer amongst us.
We had a killer amongst us.
We had a killer amongst us.
Do you ever have those moments when you realize you've not
actually seen or heard from your people in a really long
time and then you finally catch back up and you're like,
hi, it's nice to meet you.
But as we were just talking about before we recorded, I was in a place a lot of American
listeners will be very familiar with, at least from history. I went out to Plymouth last week
for a wedding. So I saw the coast out where the pilgrims sailed away from. My friend got married
there. Funnily enough, in the UK we don't talk too much about that. We just kind of let that
history go. But yeah, so I've just been kind of around the UK. It's been nice because
we spend so much of our life in terminals and train stations and stuff. I saw it was a drive
down to there, but it was just nice to be in one place for a little while.
And then we have, I mean, it's, you know, before we know it, I mean, this time next week,
I'll be getting ready to go to Zandvoort. So it comes back around quickly.
Back into it.
What about you, Nicole? You just mentioned you were busy.
You had your friend's wedding. I celebrated my mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary.
Wow, 50 years.
And I had some friends, did some hiking as well in Maine. By the way, like,
Maine off the charts, you should totally go. So next, next summer break,
I got some things for you to do like here. Yes, there we go. So anyway,
welcome to unlapped. We're presented by Oracle. Right now Oracle is offering to cut your current
cloud bill in half. If you move to OCI, see if your company qualifies at oracle.com
slash unlapped. It's been a minute since we have like been in the same place at the
same time. So remember, if you are watching, you can like and subscribe. You can find us
all season along on the ESPN F1 YouTube channel. If you're listening someplace else, great. Awesome.
Just hit us up with the five star review. And remember we are here weekly throughout the season
and actually it's just throughout the year. So 365 days. Even though we go away, we don't actually
ever go away. You know who doesn't go away? Our producers because they're needy as always.
No, they hit us up with some questions. Brilliantly needy, I would say.
Brilliantly needy, right? Right Q? He's on mute. You can't hear us. Anyway, let's start with the
questions that they have for us for this week per usual. And the first one's kind of, you know,
just like reflecting on the season so far. Who is the biggest surprise of the season in your eyes?
There's quite a few. I think that the one, the one standout really, and I think it's really
actually impossible to ignore lately has been Sauber and Hülkenberg and Portoletto. And the
important thing, isn't it when you're looking at surprise or disappointment, you almost have
to look back at what expectations were at the start of the year. And then that kind of almost
is where your expectations are. Sauber really have done a lot of nothing since,
you know, the last kind of four or five years, they really haven't, you know,
they haven't really scored a lot of points. They've always, you know, especially recently,
we've been waiting for this Audi project that's coming in next season. And I think even this
season coming in, it was a big coup, them getting Hülkenberg, but I don't think anybody
thought they'd be 48 points. And to put that into perspective, they're about 10 points away
from where they finished total last season, right? You know, they're already way ahead of where
they were. And obviously, the big, you know, the big standout result was the Hülkenberg
podium. And that was incredible. And I think it was probably one of the field
good moments of the last couple of seasons. But also five of the last six races,
they were finishing the points, Portoletto seems to be making a step up as well.
So I think all the things are kind of coming together for Salba nicely.
And I would say that would, for me, I wouldn't have called that, you know,
ahead of the summer break, I would have said, sorry, ahead of the season, I would have said,
you know, I'd like to see that happen. But really, we hadn't seen much progress from
Salba for a long, long time. So I have to say that. But I think there's a
few other candidates. I'm curious to see if you think.
But I also think you can like take it in spurts, because I think there was,
you know, if you would have taken the first handful of races.
And I think even we did like a mini power rankings at one point. And I think we all sort of said
Williams for a while was a bit of a surprise. Yeah, that's right. Early in the year.
Early in the year, they were surprised. More Alex Algon than maybe Carlos Sainz.
But there was there was a point in the year where I think I was pleasantly surprised by
Williams and their development, though lately, they've sort of maybe gone backwards a little
bit or hit a bit of a low. There have been times when I have been like hugely surprised by the
racing bulls. Isaac Hadjar's maturity, like especially since the way the season started
with him not even taking the green flag in Melbourne.
Yeah, we I almost forgot that happened. His ears been so strong since then. So yeah,
I think I think had you are really good, really good. Cool. Yeah.
So there's been there's been that I don't think I expected this first. I think I had it in my head
that the second Red Bull would be better. Yeah. And obviously, one of the biggest surprises,
I think is is not even related to anyone on the grid this year. To me, one of the biggest
surprises is, oh, hey, maybe Sergio Perez wasn't that bad. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's
that's kind of Perez's stock has been really helped, hasn't it? By the fact that Red Bull
have had to cycle through two drivers, one of whom only got two races. And I think it's
yeah, the hindsight kind of valuation now of Perez, I think is has been set in good stead.
I think it's a really good call. I mean, so I wrote a couple notes down here because I thought
Sauber wanted out, but I also had that Nicole, I had specifically Lawson only getting two races.
But just yeah, just just how bad that second car or that second driver has been,
I think all of us assumed something would click right, you know, maybe maybe Perez
was in like a confidence spiral. Maybe he just wasn't there. And yeah, I think
it sounds like Sergio Perez will be back next year with Cadillac. You know, there's a lot of
reports are saying so probably good that he's coming back with kind of it's a bit like when
historians look back on an event, you know, back in the day and they kind of revise what's
happened, don't they? And they say, Well, actually, it wasn't this bad. It was, you
know, this is what happened. So I think that's happening with Perez. So I think it's a very
fair one. And generally speaking, the biggest surprise, because I mean, it genuinely
did shock me at the time in Red Bull was Christian Horner leaving the team. I don't think
anyone would have called that either. So yeah, I think, you know, that's as surprises go,
that's pretty much the biggest one you're going to get. But also the timing of it.
The timing the I mean, and the fact that like, my actual surprise when getting the text saying
he had gone from somebody at Red Bull was was genuine, like a gasp, you know, which I
don't I don't tend to I don't tend to react that much to stuff like that. But that really
did get me. So yeah, those honorable mention ones. But I think I think all the ones you've
listed there are really fair. And yeah, Hadja, I've got to say that's a really good, really
good shout because I think out of everyone, if you'd said the moment he spun out into
the wall in Australia, hey, hadja is actually going to be really impressive come the summer
break. I think you thought really like he's going to come back from that because that
seemed really at the time it was like, that's that's as humiliating as it could get. So
the fact that kind of, you know, kind of got around that, I think, yeah, that was pretty
impressive and pretty surprising. Because I think it takes us back to the situation too,
because I would have said, when the season started, Kimi Antonelli was the most impressive
rookie. And then we've seen a bit of a lull from him. And while he's taken the lull,
Hadjar has gone up. So the question is, is interesting to think about it as a whole,
because I think you can take the season in various parts and and take surprises from
from various parts. There have been times when I've been surprised, both good and bad,
by Max Verstappen's performance. Because let's be honest, he's doing things that he probably
shouldn't be doing in a car. Because if you look at the other car, clearly, it's not that great.
And so I was surprised by his performance. Well, it's funny to say that because I was
going to see where we got to with Red Bull, but I actually put down here, like,
I'm surprised at how how little I've been surprised by Max this year, if that makes
sense. So I totally agree. He's done so much stuff that it's almost become second nature now.
He'll pull out a crazy lap. And it's funny being in the press center, you know, the press,
the media center in at these races, because Max could do something amazing. And everyone's like,
wow, he's pretty good. And they like, it's almost like a shrug. Like, wow, okay, I mean,
there it goes. Yeah, we're just witnessing something incredible. So yeah, I think,
I think it's, I think what is surprising is the is just how stark the gap has been. So to
your point, exactly the fact that Max has just has made Liam and then you keep just looks so ordinary.
It's been remarkable. And there was that spell wasn't there for from about, I mean,
from the beginning of the year through to maybe there was Imola, maybe into Canada,
and then Red Bull's car really seemed to get away. But there was there was that spell of about
five or six races where literally everything Max did was just was just the best thing you've
ever seen. This is like every, every week, it was like he was raising the bar again.
So yeah, I think that's, I think that's a fair one too. But yeah, surprise, I would be surprised if
Max doesn't win another race for the rest of the year. You know what I mean? That's, that's where
Max now, even if the car's not great, like, even if the car's rubbish. Yeah, yeah, like with Max
now you're in that position where you think like it's actually he's so good that the bar is
just almost unreasonably high. And you know, your surprise then comes if he falls short
of that, which obviously every driver falls short eventually of some of something like that.
But like in a lot of ways, that is also, it's not a disappointment, but it's sort of like the
because when I was answering these questions, I was like, maybe some of my biggest surprises
are because of somebody who's not doing what I thought they would be doing. Like so part of
me is disappointed that Red Bull isn't better because I thought they would be, I thought they
would be a little bit more competitive in sort of keeping, keeping tabs on, you know,
the McLaren situation. I am hugely disappointed in Lewis Hamilton. I expected so much more out
of Lewis Hamilton. I am disappointed in basically all things Aston Martin.
Yeah, I think that's fair. You know, maybe not eyebrows, but one race at the end of the,
you know, the first 14, which really, you know, I think maybe is slightly misleading.
Yeah, I think Aston, Aston almost, that's why I mentioned Sal, but Sal would like having the kind
of, you know, headline grabbing stuff that really Aston should be doing, you know,
everything they've put in that team, and they should be doing it way better, you know,
because they've been building that team for longer. So I think, I think Aston's a really
good shout. And yeah, I mean, because I mean, they've been super underwhelming all year.
I'm just looking at the like Alpine, like what, what, what, what are you doing?
Yeah. Well, it's, it's mad, isn't it? Because you've got, you've got down the bottom there,
you've got Alpine at the bottom, and Aston ninth, and now look, you know,
no disrespect to house, but you always expect has to be down that lower end racing, racing balls.
But then you've got Salba and Aston Martin. There's one point between them, you know, and Aston
would not have expected to be kind of in that cluster down there. So I think that's a really
fair point. And I mean, actually, if you take Fernando Alonso out of that car,
I think they're in a, they're in a world of hurt, aren't they? They're down there with Alpine.
I mean, Stroll's got, let me just have a look at what Stroll's got. I mean, he's got 26 points,
for, you know, fair enough. But okay, actually, he's got more than I, more than I
realized he has. She's actually got exactly half the point. So actually, if Lawrence was here,
he would, he would fairly make the point he always makes. I thought Fernando Alonso was
carrying the team, but there you go. No, because I remember there was the longest time when
Alonso didn't even have a point. You're right. Yeah. I'm just looking at it now. It was right
up until Spain, when he, yes, the Spanish GP, he got ninth. And then he went on a crazy run
and he scored pretty much since then. And yeah, so apologies to, apologies to Lawrence Stroll.
And he was, but that, and I think that's the thing. There was a large portion of the season
where Alonso was maybe carrying the team and qualifying and then the race would come around
and the race would just go, and then all of the points would be up to Stroll and Stroll,
who was starting way at the back would have to figure it out. I just think, in terms of,
to put it fair, there was the first two races Stroll scored and then he didn't score again until
the British GP. So there was a long stint that it was just that Stroll got sixth in Australia
then ninth. So yeah, you know, but I just, I just hadn't realized how many he'd got
towards the end of the break. So there you go. Another surprise for me is how many
points Lawrence Stroll has. But I think if you're going to ask me though, like the biggest
disappointment, the biggest. I think you named it with, for me anyway, it would be Lewis.
I just, if you go back, if you go back to our first show of the season, we, we were so hyped.
We were so hyped. And even if we were going into it being cautiously optimistic, I think
our optimism for what Ferrari could do this season, based on where they were at this point
a season ago and how from the summer break on they were the best team on the grid. And I,
and I just think you, I think we all thought, okay, they're going to pick up essentially where
they left off. They're going to show improvement. They're bringing in an absolute world class
driver, obviously. And I don't want to say he's turned into a shell of himself, but there
have been times this season where Lewis Hamilton has seemed like a shell of himself. And it has
made me wonder not about Ferrari, but about like him. Yeah, that was definitely the, like the optics
of what he was saying suggested that, didn't it? I mean, I think the disappointment for me is
twofold. I think the Lewis one is, is there. But I keep telling myself, I'm like, you know,
Lewis did say at the start of the year, I want to win in 26, 25, I'm going to bed in.
So I think we'll be able to know next season how disappointing it is. But you're right,
Nicole, like when you're a seven-time world champion, you know, it's like, it's like if
Tom Brady had gone to the Bucks in 21 and just bombed out of nowhere, you would say, you would
say, like, look, yes, that it's tough to move teams, but you are the self-proclaimed greatest of
all time. You know, you need to, you need to do better than that basically. So I think that
it's fair to, to be disappointed. And I don't think any, any fan would have expected that
Lewis hadn't been on the podium once come other than the sprint race, you know,
become a point. But I think that I think the really key bit to hammer home for me as well is
that Ferrari thing, because I think that, you know, one overtake away last year in the final
race of the season, they would have been constructed as championships. They've been a
catch lander at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. So obviously coming to this season,
and because of 26 on the horizon, this big rule change, we all thought, well, how much,
how much regain really can one team make over, over its nearest rival over the winter?
Obviously, McLaren have taken a huge step forward. Ferrari just haven't replicated that.
But even with that, I thought if Ferrari does maybe not match McLaren in terms of, you know,
the development over the winter, having Lewis there is just such a boon for any team,
the experience, the title winning pedigree, you thought maybe that would, you know,
that would push him over the edge. Obviously, it's quite difficult to move teams at this
point in the regulation. I think we're seeing that with signs and, and, and with Lewis.
But yeah, disappointing. I'd say the bigger word for me is deflating more than disappointing.
I think, you know, you almost get used to Ferrari not living up to expectations at this point.
So the deflation comes in pretty hard. But yeah, I think, I think Lewis, like, I mean,
you know, we had disappointments are in here. I had Lewis kind of underlined just because,
and I think the other thing, it's not even disappointment. It's because I think Charles
has been great, you know, lately as well. But it's almost like you feel like your parents
a little bit here. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit,
because I do think, I do think that as, as media and as fans, we should judge Lewis on 26
rather than 25, you know, because ultimately, we know, we now know Ferrari ain't going to win the
championship. But this is going to still paint our expectations going into next season,
because Charles looks so much more comfortable than him. But yeah, that's a good, that's
actually quite a good analogy. Not mad, just disappointed. You know, it's kind of,
it's kind of just, yeah, it's just whatever reason hasn't clicked. And actually
kind of sad to see how deflated he was at the last race. I think that was more,
that was more it. I wasn't, I wasn't mad. Like I wasn't upset a driver was like that. It was just
like, oh man, like this is really sourd very quickly for him. And you just hope
getting away for the summer break, coming back and obviously we've got Zandvoort next week,
then we have Monza. Hopefully that getting in front of the Defosi driving in Italy,
you would hope that maybe that's just enough to kind of just kickstart
that feeling that Lewis had at the start of the year when really he did look like he was just kind
of floating around on air the whole time. He was so happy. He was like, I'm a Ferrari. I can't
believe I keep looking at my race suit and it's red. And I'm just like, oh my God, I'm dry.
Like that element of it seems to have just diminished a little bit in the last couple
of weeks. And that's disappointing too. Even if you look at it through like a slightly
cynical view where you're like, yes, that person is really, really excited to be doing what
they're doing because that was a lifelong dream and so on and so forth. And even if you look at it
like there was some sort of performance element to it. And I think the cynical part of my brain
always does that where if he was saying he was at 10 out of 10 excited, my brain is like, okay,
so he's at least at a six or a seven. I saw there was genuine excitement. And I just feel,
I think sad saddened because there's part of it that feels like you're watching the end of
potentially the end of one of the greatest careers we've ever seen.
And I hope that that doesn't go out like this. I hope that there is sort of like a resurgence.
So when I think back to him putting on the red uniform for the first time and him posing,
you know, in front of the buildings and and just being like, hi, I have arrived,
there was just so much hope and optimism for the entire team. And then to just see it go
the way that it has. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it was like sad.
So yes, I'm disappointed because I was expecting so much more, but part of me is also just sad.
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Do you think, though, given where they were a season ago, and at this, well, at this point,
going into the summer break a season ago, Ferrari was sort of like struggling,
out of the summer break, like we just said, they were the best team the rest of the way.
If you're looking at teams who are going to make a big run now, is there hope that they can
repeat what they did a season ago? Or are we just like, no, done?
Yeah, I am clinging onto that hope for Ferrari. And not just for Lewis, but for
Charles Leclerc as well, because I think Charles is really at the moment probably
driving as well as we've seen him drive for a while. What happened last year as well that
was really interesting, Nicole, was, and you'll remember this, because we, it was right
after Miami, wasn't it? They introduced that upgrade in Spain last season.
And everyone thought this is going to be the big thing for Ferrari going to be right up there.
And it just didn't quite work for them. They weren't happy with it. They spent a lot of
races troubleshooting it. They then, in the races leading up to the break, they were like,
we think we've worked some things out, came out of the summer break, and you're right.
They, basically from Zanvo onwards, were the strongest team on a consistent basis.
Probably should have won more races than they did. If you look at Baku last year,
they should have won that. But yeah, it seemed that what happened was, and I think that, I do
think there is this with Ferrari and, you know, I plug it all the time, but when I was writing
the Ferrari book that it sat behind me. Wait, you wrote a Ferrari book? Yeah, I know. No one
would know that if they listened to the part. I never missed it. Wait, what's behind you
right now? Is that like a Ferrari book? Oh, wait, look, there is a Nate guy wrote it.
But one of the things that came up in that, and I do think there's a lot to it, is that
I'm sorry, when I spoke to people that have been in the team previously, a lot of them,
a lot of them wouldn't actually want to say this on record.
You know, but they said Ferrari, when they're in the thick of a season, all the pressure,
all the expectations, all the media reports, everyone's on top of each other, the, you know,
the noise is just echoing around their heads. And when they can get away from that a little
bit, he said, you know, the smarter decisions can get made, because it's just a little less
pressure. And I do wonder if last year, them kind of getting things together in the summer break,
coming out from Zandvoort, like, okay, right, we've had a bit of a break, let's just reset,
reset. Ferrari has a really smart group of people that that team, you know, we always paint them,
or they can be painted quite often as this kind of massively incompetent team kind of running
around. But the biggest surprise and frustration kind of historically with Ferrari is they've
underachieved with incredibly talented people. And that's, you know, that's consistently what
they've done. So I actually think they could get it together. Obviously, the frustration
from that point now is, a, McLaren is so far up the road, it's not going to make a difference. And,
b, you kind of look at it and you're like, all right, well, the longer term gain here isn't there,
because obviously the 2026 car is completely different. I'm sure there are little things
they'll learn at this point that can go on to next year. But if they did get it together,
and imagine Nicole, if we're in Austin again in October, I remember we were sat together
watching when Charles went into turn one ahead. If Ferrari are that good come that point
in the year, you'll be like, man, why couldn't you guys have just done this straight out of the
gate? You know, there will be that feeling again. So even if they can replicate it, and I, you know,
I feel like they might be in a better, better, I think Zandvoort and Monza will be two strong
races, certainly for Charles the Clerk anyway. It'll just be, it'll just be more frustrating,
won't it? Because you'll look at it and be like, this was tantalizingly close. It was there,
you guys just took 14, 15 races to get to it. So we'll see how it goes.
Okay, so I know you have an article coming out soon. I want to get to that in a second.
But as long as we're sort of focusing on Ferrari for a second, the Oracle stat of the week is,
it's obviously the stat of the week is brought to you by Oracle. Right now Oracle is offering to
cut your current cloud bill in half. If you move to OCI, see if your company qualifies at
oracle.com slash unlapped. And the reason why I wanted to get to it real quick is because
in Leclerc's last three races, he's actually had the same result as 2024. So hungry fourth,
both years, Belgium, third, Silverstone, we'll just won't forget about it.
Zambort podium, Monza was a win. And it's, it's the next two. Yeah, those are the next two. So
in your opinion, given the two years, but also given the history of what they are able to do,
how confident are you that Leclerc can sort of repeat what he's been doing,
and therefore actually get a win in the next couple of weeks?
Yeah, I think you've got it. I mean, I love stats like that as well, because sometimes
you can look at some sports and those stats make a little bit more sense. It's four on one,
sometimes they just don't, you know, at all. But Charles, the one thing, the one thing you
can say about Charles Leclerc right now is he is driving as consistently as we've seen him
for a little while. I think he had a bit of a wobble earlier in the year, but he's looking
a lot better. I could definitely see him at least being on the podium at one or not,
if not both of those races. Ferrari and Leclerc's one at Monza multiple times now.
I think he loves racing there. You know, obviously, so for people listening at Zandvoort
next week, August 30th and then September 6th is the Italian Grand Prix, obviously Ferrari's
home race. So I mean, but can you imagine if that trajectory holds, he does replicate
third in Zandvoort and the win in Monza next year, regardless of what Hamilton does,
the whole feeling around Ferrari's season would kind of flip around, I think at that point. I
don't think you'd think they're going to win the championship, but you would suddenly
be like, yeah, that is a team that can just kind of out of nowhere, kind of get it together.
So I think that I really hope they can do that for the sake of this, this, this
despondent kind of feeling we have around the team. It'd be great if he could do that.
I've certainly, I'm not sure the winning Monza, the McLarens are going to be so
difficult to beat in that kind of place. But I remember saying that last year and,
you know, Charles Leclerc beat them because they were able to stop one time less. So
if they can replicate that again this year, not quite sure that characteristic has stayed
sadly with the two cars. But yeah, you know, we'll see. But definitely if anyone in F1
right now can do it, then the clerk would be the guy.
Can I just be honest? Because there's a, oh man, I'd love to see Leclerc win. I really would,
it'd be great. But it kind of goes back to like that disappointing, the disappointment and the
sadness with Lewis Hamilton. If Leclerc does get a win in the next couple of weeks,
or if Leclerc does continue to, you know, obviously the British Grand Prix was a bit of a,
but fourth, third.
Well, was it, was he, it was out of the points then, wasn't he?
He was in 14th. Yeah. So he was working hungry on the podium in Belgium.
Again, but remarkable, remarkable that both years it was the same.
I just, I just think that if Leclerc continues to do what Leclerc has been doing,
and I don't hate it, but it does add to the sadness and the disappointment
about Lewis Hamilton, because in that opinion, like he should be better.
And unless that Ferrari is exactly what's happening at Red Bull, where one car is great
and the other one is not, or one driver can drive it and the other one can't.
There's, there, then I have so many questions there about where Lewis Hamilton is.
And I think it adds to the, I think it adds to the sadness and the disappointment,
honestly. Yeah, I could see that for sure. But then if you're Leclerc, it would be a real
boon if you can do that. So Charles Leclerc, people forget this. He was actually kind of lobbying
quite hard when he, when he heard that John Elkin wanted to bring Lewis Hamilton to the team
and Fred Versailles wanted it. They were a bit like, Oh, do we want to, do we want to put,
you know, do we want to put Hamilton and Leclerc together, like,
to star drivers and Leclerc heard about it. And he told them both like, absolutely,
bring him in. Like I want to, he's like, how am I going to know how good I am as a driver,
unless you put me alongside Hamilton. And I think, look, I don't know what Hamilton we're getting.
It's obviously impossible to say versus previous seasons. You know, it does seem like there's a
big confidence issue there and he's not happy with the car. But we can only judge what we're
seeing on track. And Leclerc, if you take that China away and maybe a handful of the races
at the start of the season, Leclerc has looked more than comfortable against,
more than comfortable against Lewis. And that's got a, you know, that's got a rate really highly
in his kind of, you know, when you're putting checkmarks next to his name. So I know what you
mean about the Lewis situation, but if you're Ferrari, the one good thing you can take from
this is maybe Leclerc is just like, maybe Lewis is just struggling a little bit. And
Leclerc is actually just doing so well. And it's actually has raised his game,
like a lot of great athletes do when they're kind of put alongside another great, they're
like, right, I, you know, I either have to do something with this or have to lose it.
So I do think that in all the Lewis talk, both that we've done, you know, over the last couple
of weeks, and just generally in Formula One, I do think Leclerc's name kind of gets forgotten a
little bit. Because I think if he wasn't doing as well, I think he's actually
terribly underrated. I think, yeah, I think, I think he's, he's underrated and you can see
why this year, because it hasn't been a whole high the whole time. There has been dips and
peaks. But yeah, I think he's probably not getting the plaudits. I think if it was,
yeah, maybe, maybe everyone knows about Leclerc, and we know how good he is in qualifying, but
it does feel like there should be more kind of respect on his name at the moment. So maybe,
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So one of the things that like this time of year, you're on vacation,
Lawrence, was he like he was like photographing at MotoGP?
Yeah. Yeah. So Lawrence couldn't get away from me for a second. He was just like, yeah.
I've said this to him a number of times like you're a great writer. You're great on TV.
Like, dude, you're in the wrong profession. He does. Like if you haven't seen this man's photos,
please check out his Instagram because he's...
Lawrence Edmondson. Yeah.
I think it's Lawrence Edmondson F1. Yeah.
He's so talented when it comes like just his travel photos, whatever anyway.
Well, so when we... I went to Japan for the first time last year. Lawrence and I went and
then this year happens. Usually because Japan, because of where it is in the calendar and
just because it's Japan and you want to see as much of it as you can,
a lot of people stay out there and then we'll travel on to the next race.
Me and Lawrence did similar things where I went one way, he got on his bike and went the other
and I was taking pictures of my little iPhone at the time of Mount Fuji as I passed on the train.
All awful. All stuff I looked at after was like that was terrible. I know what I was thinking.
Then you see Lawrence's photos and every single one of them, it's like that is
one of the best things I've ever seen. So yeah, he's incredibly good at that.
I only spoke to him briefly, but it sounds like he'll have a great set of stories for us
next week about the MotoGP. So yeah, awesome opportunity for him to do that.
So back to what I was saying earlier is you are about... Because during this break,
he's out doing MotoGP. There's not a ton of news. Computers are not allowed to be opened.
No email sent. It's pretty great. So you have an article that's looking back on some of your
pre-season predictions, which is always one of those scary moments where you're like,
how right was I? But also, how wrong was I? Do you... How scary was it for you to dig in?
Yeah, it was a little bit because the thing is, there's those kind of joke Twitter accounts,
isn't there, of freezing cold takes. I think every one of us fears being the guy that says,
Lamar Jackson's not... He's going to be a bust for the Ravens or whatever.
Louis Hamilton's going to win the championship that week as well.
And I said something similar to that. I was like, there's no reason Lewis can't win the championship
in when Lawrence and I spoke in December last year. So this wasn't one of the predictions I
looked at, but I basically made the point we made earlier. Like, if the car's good, why not?
But here are all my predictions I made, if you want to look at them. And we can see,
and some of them I cringed at. Give me the cringy. Give me the cringy.
The cringiest one, well, the one that hasn't aged is Alonzo will take Aston Martin back to the podium.
Obviously that one hasn't happened. And the other one, and it has a big picture of
Liam Lawson underneath it. Sorry to Liam Lawson, but a rookie will win a race this year,
because I was banking on the fact that you had Antonelli and you had Liam Lawson
in front running cars. Antonelli had the podium in Canada, but it hasn't been
that strong. There's one I'm going to say for the end, which kind of redeems me a little
bit, I think, because it was a left field when I got I got right. Verstappen will leave Red Bull
as well. I think that I was on the right track with there was no smoke without fire. There was
a lot going on there. I was happy with what I wrote around it, saying like, you know,
if you follow this closely this year, this will be a talking point. So I was happy with that.
Then this one, I would like to know from Unicor, how nitpicky I should be on this,
because technically, this one hasn't come true yet, unless you count the sprint race.
But I said, Charles Leclerc will win two races before Lewis Hamilton wins one. Now,
obviously, Lewis has won one sprint race. I don't count the sprint race as a race.
I don't either. So I think that's that obviously is still up in the air.
And I was still, I would actually still stand by that one as as a longer season.
And I think that and but that's what's interesting. What I wrote at the time was,
you know, Lewis, it will take him a bit of time to bed in, you know,
it's the sentiment of the struggle.
Exactly. And I was like, look, by the middle of the year, they'll be on even par.
But early in the year expect Leclerc to be the quicker one. And actually,
you know, Charles was up and down, like we said, and has finished stronger.
There's a great line here where I put a slow start relative to Leclerc seems a fair prediction,
given where both men are coming into their first year as teammates. I mean,
you know, in a weird way, I've nailed it, even though I didn't nail how close it was.
But the one, the one I'm proud of and the one that I think saves me from complete ridicule
and embarrassment is one that I think you'll agree was left field at the start of the season.
But I said, Oscar Piastri will be leading the championship at the summer break.
So by nine points, I don't think that is out of left field, though.
I don't think that is out of left field.
Yeah, I think it would have been, I think it's only felt like it in,
in, in March when I wrote this, because the Norris was such a strong favorite.
I think we thought that Max would be right up there with him as well.
And maybe you'd get similar to what we had in 24 where it was kind of
Lando and Max Verstappen fighting for a lot of the wins and then Piastri.
And the reason he wasn't really considered at the start of the year was
he was the inconsistent McLaren driver last year.
And then just out of nowhere this season, he's kind of made that step up,
especially in qualifying, which has kind of set the bedrock for everything else that he's
done. But I'm really pleased to have got that right because for a long time now,
you know, long time listeners of this podcast will, will hopefully remember.
I mean, even though that even though one of my biggest bug bears is whenever I write anything,
people will just tweet back and say, British bias, British bias.
But like, I do think Piastri has the highest ceiling out of the two of those guys,
the Australian and the British guy. And I've thought it for a while.
And the, the, the, the bit I wrote at the time in that article was
if Piastri can kind of close that floor up to Norris's level,
then over a 24 race season, he'll be the guy to beat.
And I think that that's, I have to say, Norris has impressed me how he's kind of almost,
I think he's stabilized this season a little bit. And we're actually now in a position where
they're so close together, it's almost as hard to call it as it ever has been.
But if I was to, you know, gun to my head, you'd say pick one of them, I'd still pick Piastri.
So pleased with that one. So that one, so I think without that one,
I would have been a bit like, well, I got all of those very wrong.
That one was, you know, that's like the lead, if you're going to get any of them right,
getting who's like the championship fight one right, I think it's the best one to get.
But yeah, so about, about one out of five strike rate, I would say there,
but it was meant to be intentionally kind of left field out there predictions. So.
I like it. I don't think, I don't, okay. I don't think, I don't think any of them,
maybe the Alonzo one is a bit cringe. The Alonzo ones are like, oh my God,
I can't believe you said that. I think it's, it's all, so well, well done.
But then, I mean, Nicole, you know, it really summarizes what you said about Aston,
exactly that point, you know, like podium maybe is a little bit like us, but, but like,
I think we all expected that Aston would be, would make a step up this year.
That's why they're a disappointment. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it's kind of funny
when you look back at predictions, it actually helps you understand why
you feel certain ways about teams and drivers. She's like, oh, look what I was saying in
March about that guy. And then now he's in this place here. So I think that's,
that's quite telling for them, I think, because they've been nowhere near the podium.
You know, I mean, imagine if, if I did look back and I was like,
imagine if just out of nowhere, I'd said, Nico Hülkenberg will get a podium this year.
Not that I ever did that, but I was looking at it and I was like, man, like,
imagine, imagine if you, imagine if we called that, like how, how cool that would have been.
But obviously none of us, none of us can even claim to have thought that,
not even that weekend. You know, that weekend, I didn't even think it was going to do it.
So I have to tell you, Ryan just walked in here and he was like, Will Buxton?
Oh, really? Wow. Okay. No, Will Buxton. No. That would be if I was explaining, you know, to,
to make the green flag fly. Yeah. To make a prediction, you have to say something you
think will happen. Yeah. Right. Sorry to Will. Will's, Will's got no way of responding here as
well. I feel like. That's where we can attack now. Yeah. Yeah. I think we can just keep going.
It's like the end of Jimmy Kimmel. Our apologies to Matt Damon. We ran out of time. Apologies to
Will Buxton. We ran out of time. Let's go through our midseason rankings. Do we want to do this a
little bit like a, I don't want to do it by points. I think in my, you want to do it more
like a power rankings thing. Yeah. And, and top three or top five for me is good. I mean,
it's always tough enough one because like obviously, like we've done these before,
Lawrence tonight, the end of the season, when you're ranking like the top driver of the year,
and really the number one guy should be one of the top two guys in the championship. It's very
difficult to say the guy leading the championship isn't there, but I think you can look at the
context of the car. Sometimes you have to look at what they're using and what they have and how
they use. And there's a big one in mind that will, I mean, it won't surprise a lot of people,
but like who will stand out for that reason. Like he's not high at the championship, but
for what he mentioned his name, people might guess who it is, but happy if you want to go
first to call with, with your three or your top, you know, your top one and we can go back to back.
But if you say your three us and say mine, if you want, and then we can kind of work out how we got
there. So I really struggled with, I really struggled with who goes third for mine because
you, yeah. So I will, I'll be honest, my, I will still say my, my number one driver is actually
Max. Yep. And it's, and it's for me, it's a little bit what you said before about Max will
do these things. And we're almost like ho hum, there goes Max again. But if you really look at it,
it goes back to what I've been saying about him forever. He can drive a shoebox. And at some point
you start taking that for granted, or you start to pay attention to just how great he is. And
you can look at the team, you can look at the chaos in the team. You can look at the fact
that they had to sack their team principal in the middle of the year. You can look at the
fact that Sergio Perez is suddenly looking a lot better than he was a season ago. Yet Max
is still out there. Now, is he going to win the championship? No, he's, he's not. Is he still
in contention to win races? Yes. And is he still a threat and a menace weekend and week out? Yes,
yes. So for me, for me, I think Max is my number one driver. And then for me, number two
is Piastri. And part of that is the fact that he has made the jump that he has made.
Part of it is the fact that he has closed the gap in qualifying. Part of it is also
watching his mental maturity, dealing with some of the things that he's dealt with,
the mistakes, the frustrations, the whatever you could say. And I'm not surprised that
he's been so even keel because that's just who he is. But I think when you
can maintain those, those aspects of your personality when you're in a pressure cooker
and the person who is putting the most pressure on you is actually your teammate.
You really start to see it form in sort of like a higher level. So for me, number two is,
is Piastri. I'm struggling though with number three, because I feel like I could go three,
four, five, six and throw in a couple of drivers and they're almost interchangeable.
Yeah. Yeah, I struggled. Well, so I, I struggled with three for a different reason,
but I think it's, it's more because not that I didn't want to put max number one,
but I wanted to try and look beyond max and that, you know, the usual, as the usual suspect,
but I think everything you said about max is fair. I can give you my top two if you want,
because I put, yeah, give me your top two. And then I want to talk about who like you have in
the mix for three. Well, I think one of my, my two might be one of your, one of your
people in the mix. So I really have been impressed with this driver. So number
one, I actually put as Piastri because I think, you know, the, I think the maturity,
the step up and the fact that it's kind of come with the hour, come with the man style thing where
he's finally got this championship winning car underneath him and he's risen to that.
And I think Lando has struggled a bit more with that and, and it's been telling,
obviously at this point, I actually put max first, I crossed him out and I was like,
let's be, let's be a bit more fun. I actually put Nico Holkenberger is number two,
not just because of the podium, but I think that if you look at what he's done across
the season. He's ninth in points. Yeah. But like, if you look at what he's driving,
like if you look at, if you look at like, if you look at kind of the way he's reset the
expectations around that team. And I think obviously the, the podium stands out as just
such a big result, but I think it was such a big result. It's, it's kind of got him.
It's got to push him right up there, you know, in terms of, in terms of how you look at his
season and doing a lot with a little. Yeah. And I think also we, we, I mentioned earlier that
Bortoletto's level is stepped up. I think that a lot of the time when that happens,
if the other teammate is performing, you have to kind of give them credit in a way you're
like, look, you know, you, that's why teams, when they get a rookie driver and they're like,
we need a really solid driver in the other car because we need the benchmark to be high.
We need to better point to this young driver. Bortoletto looks incredibly exciting.
But with any young driver, you need to be at a point across the garage and say, well, look,
okay, here's how he does it. And he's really, really good. And Holkenberg has done that. And
I think Bortoletto, ever since that podium, weirdly in Silverstone, Bortoletto seem,
you know, his, his, he's been on the rise. Um, so I actually put him there.
Now obviously the big missing one for me is Max and he probably is third, but I,
I put in brackets underneath George Russell harsh on him because he's been so good as well.
Like at one point when we were talking about George Russell not having a contract for next
season, I think all of us said like, how crazy is that? Because he's actually been
one of the best drivers of the first kind of bit of the season. Um, but yeah, so mine,
mine that I would finish with after a lot of scribbling and a lot of doodling and everything
was Piastri one, Holkenberg two, obviously with the context of what he's driven and how
he's driven it and then free Max. But I feel like that is incredibly harsh on Max.
Like Max really easily could have been number one, but I think, um, again,
the opposite reason is true of Max. My expectations for Max are so high anyway.
I don't, he does just doesn't, he doesn't, not that he doesn't impress me anymore,
but you're almost, you're almost like, no, but Max just does that.
Like he's, yeah. So, so I'm only, I'm only putting him there because of how,
how good I think Max is. Like he should be in the top three,
but I just had to put Holkenberg above him. I think Holkenberg deserves that,
those board, it's at a higher level than Max just because of what he's driven, but
my conversation for third, my conversation for third is actually Leclerc, George Russell and Holkenberg.
Yeah, which I had similar. And it was at one point you've got to look at it and say,
you've almost got to, you've got to almost discount the front runners a little bit and just say like,
Lando was not in the conversation. You realize that?
Which is telling, yeah, which is telling me five, six deep and did not name Lando Norris.
Yeah. I think we've seen too many mistakes from Lando and I, you know, as, as, as I've alluded to,
I think his, his last couple of races, it does feel like he turned a corner a bit in terms of
the way he was approaching things. There was obviously a few of those mistakes in Belgium
when he was chasing Piazza, but I don't think he was ever really going to get Piazza,
but if you look at like Monaco, Austria, when he was being chased by Piazza the whole time,
and then Budapest again, where the same thing was happening, really solid races from him.
And so, you know, if he carries that on, I think it'll be all right. But yeah,
you know, the fact that neither of us put Lando in our, our top three, this, you know,
this is the guy who's second in the championship, nine points off the leader of the championship,
I think it is. I think says a lot. So I think I do have to, I do have to raise my hand
and apologize to Mr. Charles, Mr. George Russell, because they easily could be there.
I think Nico Hockenberg just, he had to like, for me, I was like, the guy's driving a
salber, you know, he's scored a podium with it. He's like you said, he's in ninth. He's kind of
there's been rare that he's really, you looked and be like, you know,
Hockenberg's made a mistake or he's driven awfully. So that's why I put him in there.
But yeah, a lot of honorable mentions in there. And weirdly, you know,
I don't think there's many other drivers that have been as consistent as those five
drivers you mentioned, Nicole, Max, Piastri, Hockenberg, Leclerc, you know,
once he got his head around things and Russell, I think those five guys really,
any of those could be in there interchangeably. And then I think the rest, Albonne maybe,
I thought could, I think if Albonne had been a little bit more consistent.
Yeah. If we were doing a top five, Albonne maybe would be kind of in that,
who's who's in fifth discussion. And then and then yeah, I think Albonne's in my
conversation for maybe being in six through eight, which I think he's eight points.
So it's pretty, pretty much fitting. I feel like the bottom three conversation is actually far easier
for me. Although my bottom one is sort of like a conglomeration. It's a team effort. For me, it's
Hamilton. Okay. Wow. You say he's been the worst. Or is this, is this, are we doing best
and worst? Are we doing best? And because I think, I think Lewis still, you know,
I would counter that he's still won the sprint. He's still, even that those two races
before the summer break were pretty bad, Belgium and Hungary. But before that, he'd looked okay.
I think the, the disappointment factor with Lewis was how kind of, how off edge you look,
but hey, I don't want to, like,
No, but I think it's like for the same reason that I look at Max Verstappen and I put him
at number one. Yeah. I'm doing that, but the opposite with Lewis Hamilton. Also, you,
you break from the table seven world championships. How many wins? How many podiums? Like you are
considered one of the greatest drivers of all time and you are fulfilling your childhood dream.
And we had all of these expectations. And yes, there's a fair amount of like sort of recency
bias in, into all of that. I just think the demeanor, the attitude, the ability to
clearly the car has something in it. You're supposed to be one of the greatest drivers of
all time. Why can't you unlock it? Why can't you figure it out? So to me, that goes down as a
massive disappointment. And yes, there are worse drivers on the grid. But you're not,
I'm holding you to a level. I'm holding you to an expectation because you are Lewis freaking
Hamilton. So for me, Hamilton's in my bottom three. Yuki is in my bottom three. Yeah.
Again, because even if that red bull is not great, still have a lot better than like the
Haas. It's still a lot better. And you're consistently being out, like out, outshine
by your, your baby bulls. Like he's been in the points. I can't even remember how many
times now what two or three, it's just, it's not enough. And it's, it's the same,
it's the same thing. You have something, you're not using it. And then for me,
the bottom one is sort of like the team effort between Colopants who do it.
Yeah. Yeah. I them, I them is the worst that the two of them together.
Me too. And I, and it's, and I sometimes I don't even think it's not necessarily fair to the
drivers because I don't think they're getting the support that they need mentally. They're,
they're not, they're, there's something fundamentally flawed with that team.
And it's not helping the younger drivers. It's not helping the development. Like the
situation of here, here's a short term contract. Go see what you can do. But no pressure
or like here do and go into a season. The whole situation is absolutely,
I can't say the word because it's, it's naughty and we'll probably get fine. But to me,
Colopants are doing Alpine. Like it's a team effort. They're clearly like the, the bottom one.
Yeah. No, I had the same one. I kind of, I wasn't sure if, if
they'll tell you them together, but I think it's fair to put them as,
so that's my number one, Colopants are doing. Yeah.
What's really interesting about this is if we had done this before the Austrian Grand Prix,
I think number one categorically would have been Liam Lawson. You know,
started the year, looked like a deer in headlights, dropped by Red Bull. I think unfairly, but
he just looked, he just looked like he wasn't in his head was in the game.
Since Austria, he's finished sixth, then he had a retirement, then he finished eighth twice.
You know, he's had Jaren that same spell, hasn't scored any points. So I really struggled
to put Lawson in a top three worst, you know, the worst three drivers of the year because
of that. I know his reasons he buys, but again, I think the context of everything Lawson
went through this year, so damaging for him. And I spoke to a lot of people at Racing Balls and
Red Bull over the past couple, you know, what the whole season, but last couple of weeks,
they said they only just felt like the kind of the old Lawson was back, you know, last year's
kind of, you know, he walks with a swagger, you know, he's a confident dude. So I really
struggled. They're only separated by two points. Yeah. And that's, and that's really
a testament to how Lawson has managed to kind of turn that around, I think. So
yeah, I felt harsh with this one as well. But I mean, so my second was Sonoda. And then I had to say
afterwards, and I feel like this maybe is a harsh one because he did have a mega start this season.
But Bearman from like Miami onwards just really hasn't looked all that great.
His qualifying has been brutal all season, though.
Yeah. So I think that that is a really big one for me. But I always think with, you know,
with rookies, you know, he's got, Esteban Alcon is not a bad driver in any stretch,
but you look at the difference there, you know, 19 points at a team like Haas is a really big deal.
So Bearman in there, I totally get what you meant about Lewis. I just couldn't bring myself to
say Lewis has been one of the worst. He's been in the points like every day.
British bias.
Yeah. Well, yeah, there you go. There's my British bias coming up. But I think,
I think definitely Lewis is, if it was who's been the most disappointing driver,
like we said, Lewis would have been a mind, but that would be mine. The Alpine two,
out of interest, who was, who would you say was worse?
Doing, if we had to break our one into, into one,
doing or Cola Pinto, who do you think's been the worst driver? I have a very strong opinion on this.
But I wonder who yours is first.
Cool. Sorry to put you on, sorry to put you on the top level. Yeah, I'm the same. I think
Cola Pinto would be.
I was trying to think back and make sure that it wasn't like a recency bias sort of thing.
No, he's, he's been, he's been, he's been awful below average. Yeah.
And he can really ride off a car.
Well, and the thing, the thing is as well, I think with that is that doing,
doing didn't look great. I mean, look, you know, he, he obviously spun out on Australia on the
first lap. He had that, he had that weird thing in Japan. Remember where he hit the brakes with
the DRS open and everything and spun out? No, I don't remember that one, but okay.
Yeah. It was just, it was, you know, it just didn't look weird, but you have to
put the mitigating circumstance on doing that before it even turned a wheel this year,
that signed his replacement, you know, and I think coming into his first race at home and
pressure around him, there were at least extenuating circumstances. I think that,
and Annie was driving, let's place it, Alpine this year, haven't looked great. I mean,
I think Gazzley has made them look fantastic at points.
I don't think we knew how bad they were when, yeah.
So I think there was exactly, I think there was, there was mitigating circumstances with
Coalipinto, he came in and really all he had to do was not be as bad as doing looked
in the car. And I would say arguably he's been worse. And what didn't help him as well
is he came into the season with that kind of, that massive hype from the Williams,
I think fair as well, because he looked great last year with Williams.
But I also, it also makes me wonder. That's hurt him as well.
Like the support, the support aspect of it, because I think Williams speaks,
I think they still speak highly of him. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, yeah, he's still on the books at Williams. I mean, he's still on the long-term
project for now. And I think that James Vows has talked about it quite well,
hasn't he? He said like, oh, you know, we know he's in a tough situation there,
but they can't be that impressed. I mean, he's been so stark, the performance gap to
Gasly. And bat. And if you look at it, too, at the end of last season, there were a few
moments with Williams where he wasn't going. Got a good car. Yeah. And they had a good car.
And what was interesting with Coalipinto was he had a fantastic first few races.
Everyone was raving about him. I remember walking down the paddock and there was like
people screaming and I was looking back and I was like, are they screaming at
Frank Coalipinto? He's like, but you know, the rise was massive. And then there were two
big moments. One was him crashing in Vegas and then him crashing in Brazil,
street circuits. Brazil was tricky, let's be honest. It was a tough place to go
and race for anyone. A lot of good drivers spun out there, but it did seem that
the pressure around him is pretty big and you do wonder how detrimental that's been to him
longer term. But yeah, I would say if we were breaking into one driver per position,
I would say it's Coalipinto worst doing second. And then I guess you'd have to put,
you'd have to feel harsh putting in there because I feel like, like with Perez, we know the
circumstances, but he's in a red bull. The red bulls won three races, two races this season,
had a bunch of pole positions. So yeah, you can't, you can't, you can't look away from
Yuki sadly. Before we let you go, what is one bold prediction? I love these. What are,
what's one bold prediction that you have for the second half of this season, which by the way
actually starts next weekend. Yeah, we're preempting this, aren't we, a little bit?
And we have to throw all of these to Lawrence as well, so that he's also got the potential
to have some freezing cold takes as well. This is one that, and having mentioned, I'm now
bold. You have to be bold. You can't be like, oh, McLaren's going to win the championship.
Well, yeah, yeah. I mean, that would be the most milk taste.
McLaren's going to win the constructor's title. That's mine.
Yeah, I think anyone thinking that's not going to happen would be, would be really bold.
That would be bold. I think it's difficult, is it? Because looking at it, I want to do one about,
you know, race wins really or podiums. What I wanted to say, but I just don't believe it,
is the problem. I wanted to be like, oh, Yuki will get his head back in the game and
he'll be finishing top five by the end of the year. But I remember coming out the
summer break last year, making the same call about Sergio Perez, and let's face it,
Perez was a more experienced driver than, you know, is a more experienced driver than Yuki
and didn't get that there. Now, this is where the British-
I want to make mine about wins too. Yeah, you go, if you want. But mine is,
mine is going to throw the British bias allegations right back at me. But I have
a reason. I'm going to say Lewis Hamilton wins. Monza would be my
the reason I say it is because I don't think Lewis is where we need him to be at the moment,
or where for I need him to be at the moment in terms of fans enjoying the sport.
But Lewis, more than any other driver in the time I've covered racing, he's like,
he's a moments guy a lot of the time. You know, look at Silverstone last year,
a moment presents itself. He steps up. It's one of the things that I think it was
always easy to overlook when he was at Mercedes, because everyone said, well, he has the best car,
but he really, in those moments, he was able to really turn and Max does the same thing.
It's the hallmark of the great drivers. And I think that, yeah, I could definitely see
Lewis coming to a place like Monza or, you know, one of the races later in the year,
and just like he did in China, just something clicking and him winning the race and kind of
flipping the narrative on its head. That is, and again, that's pretty bold. Yeah, he's behind
the, he's behind Charles by about 40 points. So I'll say that I'm pleased to send all your
British bias accusations at me, at Nate Saunders F1.
Hold on. Stand by. Fire off a tweet as we, as we speak. No, I'm kidding.
I mean, do it. Yeah. I mean, it's a fair one, but that would be mine. I mean, there was,
I wanted it to be a big, you know, a big kind of brash one. I was going to say maybe
Antony Winsor race, but I'm not sure if he's going to be in that headspace.
I'm not sure how much I actually believe in my bold prediction.
But that's the half the thing with these productions. Am I just being,
am I just being bold for the sake of it? Like, am I just being like, oh, yeah.
But I think that's, that's what I mean. It has to be bold. So I'm going to say
Williams is going to win a race for the season ends.
Oh, wow. Not even podium. Just straight up win.
Yeah. I think there's going to be, I think there's going to be some race somewhere where
there's some sort of like bizarre strategy, chaos, whatever. Maybe it's a rain race.
You've been watching too much of the F1 movie, Nicole. I think is the,
you know, I still haven't watched it yet.
Oh, have you not? Okay. Well, I mean, I was going to say, if you had been,
you'd be like, absolutely can win. But maybe I'll watch it last year.
Brazil last year, we had two opinions on the podium.
I know no one would have called that in the summer break. So,
you know, sometimes these things sound crazy in the, in the moment and then
something can happen. Also, maybe I was just inspired by the hat that's above your head.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is one of my favorite, favorite hats have been,
they've been wearing it a lot recently. It's their old kind of iconic
actually Saudi based colors from the late seventies.
I like that one. But okay, if the bold prediction is Williams,
which of the two guys wins? Oh, God, come on.
Because you've got, you've got a tough one there because you got, obviously,
you've got a race winner in Carlos Sainz, but you've also got Alex Albon, who I think has been
better. Well, yeah. I think he's been one of the kind of the,
you know, the standout guys outside of that top three I mentioned earlier.
Yeah. And yeah, like signs. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. So a bit like me with Hamilton,
you think like the, the experience would tell eventually. I don't know.
Interesting. Well, no, I'm not going to hold you.
I'm just over here throwing darts, making bold predictions. You're making me.
If Williams were to race this year, Nicole, and Albon wins, I'm not going to turn
around to you and be like, well, you didn't call, you didn't call Albon.
Like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm not going to clutch your straws.
Okay. I won't do that. I just, I just thought it was interesting to see which
one you'd pick, but I mean, honestly, I would say as well, if Williams even get a podium this year,
that'd be one of my favorite results of all time in F1.
Let's remember they were, well, they got taken down to, what was it? They got,
they were fourth in Australia and then they, they got the position taken away.
They've not been far. They've really not been. When they're decent.
Yeah. And if they continue to make changes.
Yeah. The problem, the frustrate, the frustration for Williams, but I think
what's been so good about this season in Formula one is the, everyone down from that top four,
it's so competitive. I think, I read, I think motorsport.com had it the other day that
whoever finishes last this year, it's going to be the highest last place finish in terms of points.
Yes. For, for, for ages. Like there's never been a season where the team in last has or will
have many points they're projected to get. So, you know, you're, you're looking at a year where
all these teams are just making so many steps forward. And you do wonder, as, as those top teams
look to 26, will that gap actually really shift up before the end of the season? So I'm, I'm not
going to, I'm not going to dismiss it as crazy because I mean, I just said Lewis Hamilton won
a race this year. So, I mean, that's almost as crazy as Williams at this point.
Do we get the whole game back together next week? I believe so. I believe we get the
photographer, Mr. Lawrence Edmondson and the two of us. So we'll have to, we'll have to
I think early on put, put his feet to the fire. Who's his bold prediction?
Let's not give him time to think about it though. Yeah. I know he'll listen. He's very
good at listening to this pub when he's, when he's not on it. Probably no, but speaking of
listening and watching. Thank you for watching and listening. We call that a transition.
That was great. You struggled with those in your hosting days. Did you not?
I did indeed. There's a blooper reel that I think I know. And I, I mean,
Quinton, our producer who we've mentioned a couple of times, the guys did a great job of
bleeping out my swearing, but that was, I was like, see, it's not as easy as it looks.
It's tough. It is tough. And I've got to say, you know, it's always really impressive when
obviously, you know, you've been doing this for a long time. When Katie's been on as well,
the two of you have had the sports center experience and it's, it is genuinely unreal
to see just how, how good you are at doing them, Nicole. We're very, we're very talented.
And I tell friends of mine all the time, the hardest thing in this job is those,
just segueing from one thing to the other. It sounds easy when you listen to podcasts
and you try to do it. It's sometimes it's not, you're like, how am I going to get out of that?
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And you're, you know, yeah. So no, that was, that was another
perfect one. So I'm, I'm making notes of these mentally. Thank you. Thank you.
Next time I do it, if I have to, I'll be better. All right. I have missed you.
I will see you next week for you who are watching home. Thank you. Remember,
leave a comment, hit us up with the like button, hit us up with that five star review.
Subscribe to the ESPN F1 content or F1 channel for more content all season long.
And remember unlapped is presented by Oracle. Right now Oracle is offering to cut your
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slash unlapped. I will see you next week. Bye bye.
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