Lando Norris Secures His FIRST F1 World Championship!

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Hello, and welcome to Unlapped, a special episode of Unlapped from Abu Dhabi.

If you're watching online, you might wonder where on earth Lawrence and I are, we're both

back to our hotels.

Lawrence has got a flight to catch shortly.

We've been at Yast Marina, Lawrence, hello by the way, we've just had a car journey

back together so it's kind of weird to formally greet each other like that.

We've obviously been at the Yast Marina circuit watching the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

where a new champion was crowned.

Before we get to that, just wanted to say remember, if you're watching this video on YouTube,

please like the video, leave a comment, and don't forget to leave a five-star review for

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Lawrence, maybe not a five-star quality race today, but certainly a race that

was very, very memorable and very significant in the history of Formula One.

A new world champion, Lando Norris.

He did it his way.

He said afterwards, he probably also did it the hard way, having to secure it with

third position in what was a pretty nervy race, I've got to say, straight out the gate.

I'm just going to say, what did you make of his performance, his drive?

There was a bit of jeopardy, lot of tension.

Wasn't the most thrilling race, as we said, but for him in that car, unbelievable tension

and a lot riding on it, what did you make of that as a drive to crown a new champion

in Formula One?

Well, when it became very clear that Lando was really only going to do what he needed

to do, that made me a little bit nervous because we've seen things go wrong.

So recently with McLaren, be it from the technical front with the plank wear in

Vegas or the strategy in Qatar.

And I just thought, especially when Charlotte Clerk was all over the back of

him early in the race, you know, this could slip away from Lando still.

So there was a little bit of jeopardy there, even though, like you say, it

wasn't the most thrilling on track action.

But to be fair to Norris and he, you know, he, you there said, you know,

he did it his way.

The quote that he repeated, I think maybe five or six times in the press

conference was, I did this my way.

And that meant a number of things.

One of it, I think it did refer to tonight to some extent that, you know,

he went out there, knew what he needed to do.

McLaren had made a decision that they were going to split their strategies,

make life difficult for Max, and he got the job done.

So there was that side to it.

But I think it was a much wider point as well in the he started this

season. A lot of people had doubts about him.

He admitted he had a lot of doubts about himself.

Especially after those early rounds where Piastri picks up a lot of steam

and Rodney Norris was really struggling just to get close to

Piastri was certainly consistently get close to Piastri and qualifying.

And also that he admitted and he said this right throughout the season.

I'm not a driver that goes out and gets my elbows out

and kind of, you know, gets aggressive off the start.

And, you know, I will lose places off the start.

And it's just part of something that I have to deal with and I have to

cope with. And it seems like he's gone through a massive journey this year.

Taking those weaknesses, realising those weaknesses,

but then focusing not on all of them because not all of them are fixable.

And I think he realises that.

And, you know, he's not pretending to be the most complete driver on the grid,

but doing the bits he has to do right, making the most of his natural talent,

which is unquestionably, it's there because we've seen it

a number of races this year in space.

And, yeah, really focusing on getting the results when he needs them.

And ultimately, that's why he did.

And ultimately, that's why he's world champion.

And right now we could pick through the whole season and say, yeah,

but if that didn't happen, you wouldn't have done it or that didn't happen.

You wouldn't have done it. It doesn't matter.

The points stack up at the end of the year.

Lando Norris is world champion and I think, you know, deservedly so.

I think Max had a brilliant season. We'll talk about him in a bit, I'm sure.

But Max did what he needed to do, when he needs to do it.

And that included this evening in Abu Dhabi.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I think there was an element of kind of Danika Rosberg, 2016 season about

certainly this run in with Lando in terms of, you know, in 2016, Rosberg.

I think at the time he kind of got derided for it.

But really he was a very, very smart way of doing it.

It was this is exactly what I need to do.

You know, he was going up in that case against Lewis Hamilton,

Lando going up against Max Verstappen and Rosberg was going up against

a prime Lewis Hamilton, which I think we always forget.

And he was like, here's my skill set.

Here's where we can let's lead into the skill set.

What why would I, you know, go too much the other way?

I would say that probably the one thing going into next season

that is probably still an unanswered question with Norris is how does he

cope in will to will fights with Max Verstappen?

I would say that is still the biggest area that we really haven't seen Norris

prove himself. But to your point, you don't have to.

That's not like a prerequisite for being world champion.

It's not like you have to do that.

And then they say, here's the world championship trophy.

But it is an interesting wrinkle going into next season for him.

I thought as well, the good thing I was worried that what we would get

and you always worried with this when you get a world champion is they do

if it's a bare minimum drive, it's a very kind of a drive lacking

in any kind of memorable moments. You know, I use Rosberg as an example.

He obviously finished second that year.

He won the championship in Abu Dhabi, but it came on that incredible

moment when he was being backed up by Lewis into the crowd behind.

It was a really memorable way to win it.

I thought Lando at least provided a few really

you know, pretty pretty tense overtakes.

There was the double overtake on the Aston and Lawson,

which we both kind of realised at the same time, like, oh, yeah, of course,

that's a that's a second Red Bull out there.

You know, it's another Red Bull car.

Then he had to get past Yuki.

Obviously, there was that kind of the brief moment that we thought

maybe a penalty might be what we ended up talking about for the race.

But I thought that those were moments that, yes, it's a quicker car

against midfield car, but you still have to make those moves work.

And maybe a cynic would have said that, you know, Lando Norris

of six months ago might have made a bit of a pig's ear of some of those moves

and, you know, overexerts himself, maybe gone wide,

maybe jeopardised his race a little bit.

I think he managed it really well.

You know, he knew he had the car underneath him to do that.

So I agree with you.

I think it was a nice, you know, a good way to kind of put

the exclamation point on it.

And I'm really fascinated now to see the you always see.

Don't you are levelling up.

I mean, we obviously didn't see it from Ross Bird

because he retired straight after.

But when a driver becomes a first time war champion,

you automatically see them level up the next season, you know,

that that kind of that pressure's gone, that stress of winning

the first time is gone.

I'm really curious, especially given the way Lando is, how that will affect him

and how that will make him different going into next season.

So I thought it was great.

And, you know, I think all of us went into that pattern today,

thinking, especially with some PTSD from 2021, it was, let's make sure

one of these guys wins it and it's just clean, it's fair.

There's no, you know, there's no controversy over, you know,

a steward's decision, which is why I think we all kind of had alarm bells

ringing when there was that penalty, because it was like,

let's not make this the talking point.

Yeah, I thought it was great.

And you, you people listening to this might wonder why only one of us

goes to the press conference afterwards.

There's lots to do in the paddock, as you know, Lawrence, afterwards.

And we kind of split duties after I actually quite a nice time

in the paddock talking to some of the drivers that know Lando very well.

You know, Alex Albon, Charles Leclerc, I actually missed

George Russell's session, but his quotes about him were great.

You actually got to see firsthand the man with the men themselves.

You saw all three that, you know, there was a press conference

for Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri first and then Lando Norris.

What kind of mood was he in?

Because both of us kind of observed myself in Qatar and then us

collectively this weekend.

You could see the nerves in Norris over the past couple of weeks.

And maybe something we're not used to seeing so much from Max Verstappen.

What was he like post-race?

Because I call it briefly as I walk back into the media center

and it was on the big screen, big beaming smile on his face.

What was he like to talk, you know, talk as well, champion?

Because he still seemed to have the tears in his eyes when I saw when I saw him talking.

Yeah, he was a completely different person to the Lando Norris

that had seen over the rest of the weekend in both the Thursday press conference

and the post qualifying press conference all happened in the same room,

just down from the media center.

He was fidgeting when he wasn't being asked a question,

even when he was being asked a question.

He was looking down, looking at his hands, you know,

just clearly didn't want to be there.

Completely understandable.

I mean, who wants to be talking to the press

when you've got the pressures of a world title going on around you?

But in the post-race one,

yeah, it was just all of that weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

And all of a sudden there was this beaming smile.

As is tradition, we the journalists applaud when he came in, you know,

but whoever the champion is when they come in the in the press conference

and do their own separate press conference,

they get a round of applause from the journalists,

because, you know, we do appreciate the hard work these guys put in for our season.

And we do have some idea, not a full idea,

but we have some idea of what it takes to be a champion.

And so, yeah, as he came in, he got this round of applause.

I think even that, you know, I mean, he just spent probably about an hour and a half

being congratulated by everyone in the paddock,

including the people that really mean something to him.

You know, and then all of a sudden, you know, a bunch of journalists are clapping him.

But it's still that, you know, that meant something to him.

And, yeah, he came in with a glass of his his energy drink,

which is branded with his own kind of like helmet design all over the can.

And he was putting that and he actually had two.

And I noticed he said to his press officer, oh, yeah, that one.

And one of our colleagues, Luke Smith, asked him later on,

is there anything else in that can other than the energy drink?

And he was like, yeah, there's a lot.

There's a lot in there.

And well deserved at that point.

If you can't drink after a championship, you're never going to find time.

So I don't know if he was just putting a leg or what.

But anyway, he was he was just so keen to talk about it.

And so keen, I think, to to express what it meant to him.

And the one thing which he said, and, you know, this when you read it,

it might not seem like you might just seem like the thing you have to say

in these situations.

But he said, this isn't just for me or this isn't really for me at all.

It's for my family who sacrificed all this stuff along the way.

And it's for the mechanics and for the engineers.

And of course, you know, you think, come on,

this is all about you.

You're the world champion today.

But you really got a sense with Lando that he absolutely meant that

and that it really was an emotional thing for him because anyone watching

the TV pictures would have seen his mum and dad there.

And I think, you know, to to go all that way.

And it doesn't really matter what your background is, how much money

you have and all that kind of stuff to get to this level in motor racing.

You have to do a huge amount of sacrifices and and you have to work

incredibly hard behind the scenes to get things done, both the parents

and and the driver themselves.

And, yeah, I think to have that all pay off.

And he said to have something physical when he when he gets the trophy

in a couple of when later this week in in Tashken at the FIA Gala

to get that and to share that with with his family was incredible for him.

And so you could see there was a bit of emotion there.

There was one point of which he was seemed to be still shaking a bit.

And there was another point where he got incredibly cold.

And I think basically his body had just like, you know, almost shut down

with some of its just primary functions, because there was so much

excitement and adrenaline and happiness running through him.

And, you know what, I've sat in a number of those champions

press conferences over the years and it's, you know, it is always

it's always a fun thing to be involved with.

But you always have this radiating joy from the driver.

And really, it was there with with Lando just on such a scale

that it was it was fantastic to see.

So, yeah, I think a great champion.

I think they all would have been any one of them have won it this year.

They would have been a great champion and a deserving champion.

But, you know, nice to have a new champion as well.

So, you know, Max is he also seemed fired up after that.

So I think going forward, we've got another contender, as long as McLaren

continues to be competitive for titles going forward into the next regulation set.

Yeah, I agree.

I think I think we were all, you know, we talked in the lead into this,

didn't we, about how captivated I think we definitely were by the Max Verstappen

comeback story and everything he's done and certainly, you know,

contrary to what people might think about the media for us anyway.

I can just speak about, you know, we obviously, you know, talk

pretty much every race that we've covered together.

You know, there's been some form of communication.

We kind of just want the best story and what's the best one to cover.

And I agree with you.

I think that going into that race, going as we walked in today,

there was a feeling of whoever gets this done, there's going to be something

about it that's remarkable.

And I think that actually thinking about it, you know, as we sit here now,

I'd rather have a fired up four time world champion, Max Verstappen

than maybe a five time world champion, Max Verstappen, who's maybe, you know,

he's, you know, we already know this year, they've kind of hinted at the fact

that he may be lost a bit of the love for Formula One, you know, this year.

Sometimes too many titles can do that.

You know, you're winning becomes routine, you lose that fire.

I think that having a fired up Verstappen next season will be fantastic.

You know, we know what Verstappen can do on a bad day

and what he can do on a good day is spectacular.

So I think in terms of the competitiveness of the grid next season,

that can't be a bad thing.

The Verstappen is going to go away for the, you know, for this break now

and really reflect on the fact that let's face it, these guys don't like being beaten by anybody.

And when you're the four time world champion to finally give that championship over,

I think it was something insane.

I saw it's about 1500 days since Verstappen wasn't the Formula One world champion.

Yes, it's a new reality or an old reality for him to get used to again.

So I think that's going to be great as well.

And, you know, I think that we always love a rivalry in Formula One.

Maybe Norison Verstappen is one that will continue into another season.

I don't know. But yeah, I thought it was nice just on your point about how Lando was,

you know, I remember being in one of the Lewis ones where even though he'd won,

I think I must have been his sixth one, you can still see how much it means.

And there's almost an air of disbelief about them.

You know, just moments before they're crossing the line.

Lando was saying, wasn't he, that he was shaking in the car

kind of in the final kind of corners.

And suddenly they're just sat in front of us again,

the same faces that have asked them all these questions for years.

And I think part of it as well, Lando and I mean, Max is very, you know,

somebody that goes back and forth with the media quite a bit as well.

There must be such a degree of satisfaction sitting in front of faces

that you know, have written certain things about you, have asked you questions

in the past about your mental temperament, your approach to racing.

You're suddenly sat there and you're saying, well,

you're now in a press conference with me as the world drivers champion.

I don't get who you are.

That's got to be a good feeling.

So I think that there's a degree of that with Lando as well today.

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Just speaking about press conferences and being fired up before,

so people know how it went, we got the top two finishers.

It usually would be the top three finishers, but Max Verstappen

and Oscar Piastri sat on their own, and Orlando had his own one after that.

He was also in the TV pen for about what must have been about an hour,

just an interview, answering every single question.

Piastri and Verstappen were very, very different in their press conference,

I think, to how Norris was obviously,

there was a degree of disappointment for both of them.

I thought Piastri handled that moment pretty well, I've got to be honest.

You know, it's very, very difficult to sit there.

His whole team are celebrating, a driver's championship.

You know, I think that...

I'll get to it in a minute, but I don't buy this idea

that there's been favourites in massively in one way.

I think he's come off worse, maybe, in the 50s-50s.

But I think he handled that pretty well, Piastri.

And he was very self-reflective.

What did you make, again, you were in that session.

What did you make of the way he dealt with those questions?

And how do you think he will be against,

just to keep this Lando theme a little bit there,

how do you think he will be alongside Norris next season?

Has this kind of made it a one-sided dynamic?

Do you think going forward, or do you think Piastri

can kind of replicate this challenge

against a new world champion in his teammate?

No, no, I think Oscar realises how close he was to it.

And the other thing you've got to remember with Oscar

is that he's in his third season in Formula One.

And, you know, while that is a certain amount of time,

it's not the experience that Lando Norris

and Max Sabin had going into this season.

So undoubtedly, he'll look at bits that he wished had done differently,

wished certain decisions had gone another way,

and you can piece it together that way.

But I think the one thing which we hear consistently about Oscar

from the team is that he is incredibly intelligent.

And incredibly good at taking on lessons from the realities of Formula One,

from the issues that face him during a race.

And he's one of those guys that's very rare

that he makes the same mistake twice.

And so I feel like Oscar Piastri

is absolutely the champion of the future,

given the right situation.

I do actually wonder if, you know,

if the car is good again,

whether he's got perhaps more ceiling to fill

and perhaps even a higher ceiling than Norris,

to the point that, you know, if they went up again,

then maybe he'd win it.

Actually, I think you probably rerun, you know, this season again

and just small little things have gone a different way.

And all of a sudden you have a different result.

So I think he took it very well.

And I think he has been great throughout this.

There was a concern, I think, with McLaren,

that how would they deal with the drive of the loss,

because it's been such an intense fight

between the two of them whilst remaining friendly.

But it's been such an intense fight

that it's going to be very difficult for one of the drivers

to watch the whole team celebrating with the other.

But actually, I think from what we saw of Oscar on Sunday night,

his mood, us, and this is a real strength of his,

was still relatively flat and kind of straightforward

and just looking at problems to be solved

rather than letting the emotions wash over him.

So I'm sure he'll have a moment over the next week

where he'll be pretty upset with the way things have gone.

But he will also come back with that from that even stronger.

He's definitely good enough to win a championship.

100%. Yeah, no, I agree.

I think more than anything this year,

this may be a believer in the talent of Piastri.

I know that it unraveled a bit as well, but I agree with you.

I think there's enough mental strength there to come back stronger.

What I will say that was a very standout quote

from the Zach Brown session that I was at

when this press conference was going on,

was that Brown said he was asked about

how they can solve Oscar through a moment like that.

And he said, Oscar Piastri will be a world champion with McLaren.

I know it. And I think that that was,

it's something that maybe if it said,

I'm sure Oscar Piastri will be a world champion

and then left it there, you might think,

well, maybe I think McLaren,

I think in Zach Brown's head,

he wants there to be a situation next year

where the two of them are going up against each other again.

Whether people all believe that or not.

I mean, I guess next year we'll prove how close that is to be.

But I do think Piastri can win a championship

and we've heard it a lot from people at McLaren.

The ceiling does seem to be higher with him,

at least that's what people seem to think.

So we'll see how that goes.

Just lastly as well, Verstappen himself,

I thought was very interesting in the press conference.

He seemed maybe not disappointed,

but I think there was a lot of emotion there

that we don't often see with Max.

He seemed a bit more, he was very proud of the effort,

but he did seem quite agitated to me,

especially at one question.

And the answer he gave, I think,

was telling of the fact that this is the moment,

the season really to get away from him.

Just explain quickly, we're going to wrap this up

because it's meant to be a short podcast,

but just explain quickly the moment with Max

and do you think said moment

that you were about to explain

did ultimately cost him?

Yeah, so I mean,

just to reflect slightly on something you said before,

Max did say that this is the season

that he feels like he's performed at his best

which I think most people would agree with as well.

And just to be clear as well,

he was asked about mainly the good things

about his season throughout the press conference,

but there was one glaring question

that was there, having lost the championship

by two points, how much does he regret?

The nine points I think it was

that he gave away in Spain

by having an intentional collision

with George Russell and getting a penalty for it.

And it basically, had he not done that,

he may well have been world champion.

Now I have a slight issue with that to start with

as a premise because had he got those points then

I feel like the rest of the season

would inevitably go different.

There would just be a different reality

because going into this race,

the points situation would have been different.

Therefore McLaren would approach the race differently

and Norris would approach the race differently.

He would take more risks.

So it's not as simple as giving those points

and all of a sudden he's world champion.

But yeah, his reaction, he basically said

you forget all the other stuff that I've done this season.

You're only focusing on that one thing.

He said, I knew you would talk about it.

He commented on the journalist's stupid grin.

I don't think it was a stupid grin.

I think the journalist was then without the microphone

and then able to answer what Max has said

and then Max quite fairly pointed out

that he'd benefited from mistakes

from the other side, from the McLaren side.

He said, I had a lot of early Christmas presents

in the second half of the season

and you can question those as well.

And he's absolutely right

because really regardless of what happened in Spain

Max was only in this title fight at the final race

because of the mistakes the McLaren have made

by rights in terms of by the amount of performance

that McLaren car had and by the maximum potential

of those two McLaren drivers.

Had McLaren got it right, had those two drivers,

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris got it right

throughout the season, Max Verstappen

just wouldn't have been in contention

because his car was not good enough earlier in the year

and it was something of a miracle

that he was still there

and that he managed to overhaul a points gap

of 104 points to Oscar Piastri.

Remember that was after the Dutch Grand Prix

and that wasn't to Lando Norris at the time,

that was to Oscar Piastri

so he finished ahead of Oscar Piastri

but I can't quite remember off to my head

but I think it would have been about 11 points

or 10 points

and he finished only two points behind Lando Norris

after Lando started to make the most of the McLaren

in the final stages of the season

up until Vegas Qatar.

And so I think that's what Max is probably thinking

like he's thinking you're focused on one thing

but the fact I'm here, the fact I've got this far

is you know I'm very proud of it

like I should be recognised for it

don't just focus on that one race, that one slip

and he also said you know it's most racing

and I think it is part of perhaps the Verstappen character

that you can't have the aggression

most of which is incredibly controlled

and the brilliance and the speed

and the desire and the way he goes hunting race victories

without you know sometimes it just boiling over a little bit

and him doing something stupid like he did in Spain

which you know he said he regretted

and all the rest of afterwards so

an interesting moment

but as you alluded to one that I don't think

you know I think will stay with Max to some extent

I'm sure he won't be thinking about it

but you know it's unquestionably something that he got wrong

and therefore lost some points

like I said would can you then say that had he not done it

he would have been champion absolutely not

because I think you're then on a different version of reality

going forward from that point

and all sorts of things could happen

maybe he could have got in a similar situation further down

maybe Landau would you know who knows

so yeah I think it was an interesting point

in the press conference and one that's worth raising

but I can kind of see why Max was not happy about

the question being asked

well he doesn't have to deal with the media for a few weeks now

which is true of all of them

well he's going to Tashkent to the second place award

which must also be another

of course you have to face a few of us there again

well those who make it up I won't be there

no not me but yeah that must that's a final blow

of having to finish in the top three

you have to face the media again

quick one I'll answer this one first and I'll throw it to you

I think a lot of people who are certainly people

I know have texted me saying

there's been different levels of reaction to Landau as champion

you know some people saying maybe you know

is he in the same caliber as Verstappen

I think that's kind of harsh because we've seen Verstappen win four

I think it's well agreed that Verstappen is a modern day great

and we're kind of living through that era of him

I'm not sure everybody's convinced about

the strength of Landau Norris as a champion

I out of all the three of them

he was the one that I thought I'm not sure

how it's going to be with Landau being champion

you know there's still a lot of question marks there

not everything got answered today

but I think that this is the best we've seen of Landau

and this past kind of stretched down

these past two, three months

best we've seen of Landau I think in Formula One

at any point

did he convince you fully I know that

it doesn't matter because he is the world champion now

but are you fully convinced of Landau Norris champion

it can be a quick brief answer if you want

but has he convinced you

he is in that elite level with

the likes of Verstappen and Hamilton going forward

yes because first of all to get to Formula One

I'm not sure we will quite realise

how difficult it is and how good you have to be

I mean that sometimes gets overlooked

even to be in a car going round at the back of the grid

for a couple of seasons you have to be exceptional

of what you do so that's already a level

now of course there is a level within that

and you have the true greats

and you have the drivers that maybe win

one championship the drivers that win

multiple championships within those true greats

and then you have drivers who never win a championship

but Landau absolutely deserves to be in that

by his own admission he said

he's not the same driver as Max Verstappen

he said it's up to you guys to decide

whether you think I'm as good as Max

he doesn't seem to care whether we do think that or not

and I think that says a lot about how he goes racing

you know he's his own man

as he said as we cite this podcast

he does it his own way and

all you can do as a driver

in Formula 1 when you get the car

that's good enough to win the championship

is put the results together and do it

and you know in the same way that

Nico Rosberg I think is a deserving world champion

I think absolutely Landau Norris is a deserving world champion

if you were to frame the question

will he win as many championships as Max Verstappen in his career

no I don't think he will but I agree with that

I don't think you know even he was saying

this might be the only one I don't know

you know and that's not ever the impression you got

with Max because there's just you know that level of

just that extra level that he seems to be able to

get to that other drivers can't

but yeah should he be a world champion absolutely

you know if you can put together a season

where you are consistent enough

competitive enough throughout the year

against a very good teammate

this is another issue or another point which

I think can easily be overlooked is that

a lot of drivers who go and win championships

often don't have the strongest teammate

or it's very much a one-car team

I'm not saying that that's the only reason

Max is having to be a world champion

but it does make a big difference

if you have a genuinely very competitive driver

within the same team or a driver who is on your level

within the same team and to go and do it

that's another challenge on top

and then not only has he had that

he's then had to finish the season

ahead of Max and you know

in what was a very tense final race

and all the rest of it and he got it done

so yeah okay you know

is Lando Norris the best Formula One driver ever

I don't think so

I think there are you know drivers on the grid

who are better but is he a deserving world champion

absolutely and he may well prove me wrong

on that first point as well

absolutely yeah remains to be seen

as we said earlier Lauren

thanks very much mate as always

and absolute pleasure I think this is our

10th season covering Formula One together

time does fly

but only the

only the fourth world champion

in that time for me anyways the fourth world champion

I've covered Lewis, Rosberg, Verstappen

and now Norris so nice

you know career milestone as well taking another one off

always a pleasure mate and we'll be back

I'm sure to

unpick this season to talk about Formula One going forward

we're always here doing that

and please as I said at the beginning

please don't forget to like or

subscribe to our ESPN Apple on YouTube channel

and if you're listening please do hit us with

a five star review we really really appreciate it

and yeah as always great fun

talking Formula One with you

and reviewing the season that we've had

thanks very much

switch today at QuantumFiber.com

Lando Norris Secures His FIRST F1 World Championship!

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