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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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We always really appreciate it.
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
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and if you're listening please do hit us with
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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
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