The Miami Grand Prix is a Formula 1 race in Miami, Florida. It’s a big event, and the track is laid out on city streets, so the racing can be intense and dramatic.
Formula One (F1) is the highest level of auto racing with very fast, open-wheel cars. The rules are strict, so races can feel similar from year to year even when drivers and teams change.
Term
P3
P3 just means “third place.” When they say someone lost P3, it means they dropped from third to fourth (or lower) near the end.
The rear wing is the big spoiler on the back of the car. In F1 it can be adjusted to change grip in corners versus speed on the straights.
Term
overtake chicken
They’re using a playful phrase for a tense back-and-forth where each driver is trying to time the pass. It’s basically a “who goes first and who makes the better move” situation.
“Overtake mode” is a special setting that gives the car extra push for a limited time. Drivers use it when they’re trying to pass someone on the track.
“Boost” means the car gets extra power to accelerate harder. The hosts are saying Leclerc thought using it at the end would help him catch and pass Piastri.
A “spin” is when the car starts rotating and you lose control of the direction. It can happen when the tires lose grip, and it often ruins the rest of the lap or race.
FIA is the organization that runs and enforces the rules in Formula 1. After a race, they can review incidents and decide if a driver should get a penalty.
“Unsafe manner” means the stewards think a driver’s actions were dangerous. If they judge it that way, the driver can receive a penalty even if the outcome wasn’t intentional.
Track limits are the rules about where you’re allowed to drive on the track. If you cut corners too much, you can get penalized because it gives an unfair advantage or breaks safety rules.
A five-second penalty means the stewards add five seconds to the driver’s race time. That can make them lose positions even after they’ve crossed the finish line.
In F1, penalties are punishments for breaking race rules. They often add time to your race or change where you start next, which can make you lose places fast.
“Realism” means being realistic about what’s probably going to happen. In this kind of race talk, it’s the moment you stop expecting miracles and accept the likely result.
A “watch along” is when people watch the race together online and the hosts talk about what’s happening live. Viewers can usually join in through chat while they watch.
Passing means getting ahead of another car. In racing, it’s not just about overtaking once—you also have to defend your position right after, or you can get overtaken again.
A chicane is a section of track with quick, tight turns. Drivers have to slow down and be very precise—if they get it wrong, the car can lose grip and spin.
Overcompensating is when you try to fix a mistake, but you do it too aggressively. Instead of stabilizing the car, the correction makes things worse and can lead to a spin.
Track position just means where you are on the race track compared to other cars. If it’s hard to pass, staying ahead can matter more than trying something risky.
The penultimate lap is simply the second-to-last lap. What you do on that lap often determines how much you can push or defend on the final lap.
Term
turned off the straight line mode
This sounds like a driving setting on the F1 car that changes how it behaves when you’re accelerating in a straight line. Switching it off can change traction and throttle response, which can make the car easier or harder to defend with.
The wings are what push the car down onto the track for grip. Closing them usually makes the car faster on straights, but it can reduce cornering grip.
A slingshot overtake is when the car behind gets a speed boost from being in the other car’s wake, then pulls out and passes at the next opportunity. It’s basically using the leader’s slipstream to gain momentum.
Slipstream is the “draft” effect—when you follow closely behind another car, the air resistance drops. That can give you extra speed to try to pass later.
Tyres work best in a certain temperature range. If they get too hot or too unevenly heated, the car can feel grippy for a moment and then get worse or wear out faster.
A puncture is when a tire gets damaged and goes flat or loses a lot of air. In an F1 race, that usually means the car won’t grip well and the driver may have to change strategy or pit.
Car
Hamilton
Hamilton is an F1 driver. They’re saying he still did well even after a tire problem, and that context matters when judging what happened.
Suspension damage means parts of the car that control how the wheels move are hurt. When that happens, the car can feel wobbly or handle poorly, so the driver can’t drive as smoothly or as fast.
Straight lining a corner means you don’t turn as much as usual and try to go through more like a straight path. It can be faster, but if it involves going outside the track rules, officials may penalize it.
Moving under braking means the driver changes lanes or direction while slowing down. Officials watch for it because it can make it harder for other drivers to stay safe and compete fairly.
An illegal overtake is when a driver passes in a way the rules don’t allow. It usually means the move was unsafe or didn’t follow the correct racing behavior. Here, they’re saying the pass should have been penalized.
“Move under braking” refers to changing your car’s direction while slowing down, which can be dangerous because the other driver may not be able to react in time. Racing regulations generally restrict this behavior to prevent drivers from forcing opponents off their line.
Late braking means you wait longer than normal before slowing down for a turn. It can help you go faster through the corner, but it also makes the timing harder.
This means trying to pass someone by going on the inside of a corner. It’s a risky move because you have to brake and turn perfectly to fit alongside without crashing.
A flat spot is when a tire gets damaged by sliding or locking up. It can make the car shake and feel less grippy until the tire warms back up and the surface evens out.
“Different strategy” means changing the plan for when to pit and what tires to run. If something changes on track, teams adjust the timing to try to gain positions.
Being “under investigation” means race officials are reviewing whether a driver broke a rule, such as crossing a white line that defines track limits. In F1, crossing certain lines can be penalized because it can imply gaining an advantage by leaving the track.
“Went wide” means the car didn’t follow the planned path through the corner and ended up too far out. That usually costs speed and can make you lose the lead.
In racing, “defending” means you try to stop another driver from getting past you. You do it by placing your car so they can’t take the best line or braking spot.
“Going up the inside” means trying to pass by taking the inside part of a turn. It’s tricky because you have less room and you need the brakes and grip to be just right.
When a driver “locks up,” the brakes are so strong that the wheels stop turning. That makes the car slide, and it can make it harder to steer and stay on the best racing line.
The “line” is the path the driver takes through a corner. A “compromised line” means they got off the best path, which can slow them down or make the next part of the lap harder.
“Runs wide” means the car goes wider than planned when turning. That usually costs speed and can make the next part of the lap harder to handle.
Term
bias against certain drivers
They’re talking about whether the commentator seems to favor or dislike certain drivers. It’s basically about whether the analysis feels fair.
Car
Max Verstappen
They’re talking about Max Verstappen, the Formula 1 driver known for taking aggressive risks. The episode highlights how his constant attacking can look brilliant—or sometimes go too far and cause trouble for others.
They’re basically saying that racing is all about timing and precision. A move can look brilliant when it works, but if it’s just a little off, it turns into chaos fast.
Term
sending his nose in
It means the driver pushes the front of the car into the turn aggressively to try to get ahead. If the other car isn’t where you expect, it can get too close and cause contact.
A “dive bomb” is when a driver brakes really late and tries to squeeze into a corner at the last second. It’s exciting but risky—if the timing is wrong, it can lead to a crash or contact.
“Sprint pace” is how quickly the car can go during the sprint event. It doesn’t always match the main race speed because teams can change things between the sprint and the full race.
“Mediums” are F1 tires that sit between the softest and hardest options. They’re faster than hard tires but wear out sooner, so if you spin, the tires can get worse quicker.
Tire degradation means the tires get worse over time and stop working as well. If something like a spin happens, the tires can wear out faster, which affects speed and pit timing.
Red Bull is the racing team in Formula 1 they’re talking about. They’re saying Red Bull has improved the car, and that could help Max fight for the championship.
“Front row” means the car starts right at the front of the grid—usually first or second. If you start there, you’re in a better position to fight for the podium or win.
A “championship challenge” means trying to win the overall season title. That usually requires strong finishes again and again, not just one good race.
Mercedes is another top Formula 1 team. They’re saying Mercedes didn’t show up with much improvement for this race, so it wasn’t a fair comparison of who had the fastest package.
McLaren is another Formula 1 team they’re pointing to as being fast right now. If McLaren is strong, it means Red Bull has more tough competition to beat.
A “level playing field” means everyone is competing with similar equipment. They’re saying Mercedes and others weren’t on equal footing because of differences in what upgrades they had.
Upgrades are improvements the team adds to the car—new parts or tweaks—to make it faster. If one team brings more upgrades than another, it can change who’s quickest.
They’re talking about finishing near the front—roughly in the top half of the field. If you’re regularly around there, you’re more likely to score points and stay in the championship fight.
Term
race space
“Race space” is basically how much breathing room a driver has during the race. If you have more race space, you’re less likely to get trapped behind other cars.
A burnout is when a driver spins the driven wheels while holding the car in place (typically to generate tire smoke). In this context it’s used metaphorically for stress building up, not as a detailed racing technique.
An “exit line” is a marked line on the track that drivers have to respect when they leave a section of the circuit. If officials think a wheel crossed it when it shouldn’t have, they may review the incident.
“On board” means the camera is inside or on the race car. Here, they’re saying that the in-car camera view isn’t clear enough to prove whether the wheels fully crossed the line.
They’re focusing on whether the car’s wheels were fully over a boundary line. Sometimes one wheel might be near the line, but officials want to know if both wheels clearly crossed it.
The pit exit is where the car comes out of the pit lane and merges back onto the track. There are strict rules there, and breaking them can lead to a penalty.
It’s a sports technology that tells you very clearly if something crossed a line. The speaker is comparing that to how F1 would want a similarly clear system to confirm line-crossing penalties.
The gearbox is what changes gears and helps the car put power to the wheels. If it has a problem, the car may not behave normally, which can lead to crashes.
Telemetry data is the car’s “live logs” of what’s happening—like whether a gearbox or other system had a problem. Teams can share that information to help officials understand why an incident happened.
Topic
P4
“P4” means the driver finished 4th. People talk about it because 1st–3rd (the podium) is a much bigger deal than 4th.
Kimmy Antonelli is a Formula 1 driver. The conversation is about whether he’s currently the strongest contender for the championship based on how he’s been performing.
Car
George Russell
George Russell is a Formula One driver. In this segment, the hosts say he’s not performing as well as expected, and that changes the championship picture.
Consistency means getting good results again and again, not just having one great race. In F1, that matters because the championship is decided by total points.
Car
Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri is another Formula One driver the hosts bring up as a comparison. They’re saying his early-season success looked similar to what Antonelli is doing now.
This part of the show is talking about the Miami Grand Prix and what it might mean for the drivers. They’re basically reviewing the weekend and predicting how things could go.
The “world championship” is the big season competition in Formula 1. Drivers earn points at every race, and the one with the most points by the end wins.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy, a big old sigh with the back this time.
Not necessary, it's usually got some good passion behind it.
This time, it's exasperation.
We'll get into all of that very, very shortly.
But what a race it was.
You know, if you're not a Charlotte Clairfan, what an incredible Miami Grand Prix.
Easily the best Sunday we've seen around Miami.
And maybe even safe to say that it's the closest Formula One has been to being Formula One or feeling like Formula One and all that good stuff.
But overall, you know, if I'm able to compartmentalize how I'm feeling and not think about a certain driver and their last lap, it was very entertaining.
Yes, my driver also had pain, but I mean, it was an absolutely incredible race.
Worth the wait, we've had a long time to wait for a Grand Prix and boy did it deliver.
You know, even without rain and things, the first lap was absolute carnage, the final lap was carnage as well.
And just throughout the whole race, really, you know, didn't know who was going to win battles for all the top positions.
You can't really ask for much more than that from a Grand Prix.
So well done, Miami. It was absolutely awesome.
Still waiting to see if the rain is in the room with us.
I'll be honest with you, you know, a few drops was all we got, but perhaps this race didn't even need it.
Now, before we dive into all of that and much more so much to get into, a quick shout out to our wonderful patrons who'll be getting extra chat at the end of every single F1 race review this year.
And a pretty good race for us to start with right here, as there is a lot to talk about.
I will also say that if our voices feel a little bit softer, it's because we've had an entire Grand Prix and it is still 5.37 in the morning where I am.
So just just to be wary of that.
But I'm sure once we get into certain topics, which actually it's my most memorable moment coming up so it might be getting loud quite quickly.
So my most memorable moment, why don't we start there?
The thing that you're all probably tuning in for, Leclerc, losing P3 at the end, P3 at right at the end.
You know, these race reviews are raw.
They're very quick after the race.
I feel like a driver, right?
You know, the driver, they have a microphone put in front of their face immediately after the Grand Prix.
This is the same thing.
Because this was the final lap of the race.
Look, at the start of the race, Charles Leclerc led from P3 on the grid.
Gorgeous stuff.
You know, a lot of chaos going on, but he was out in front.
I am a decorated Charles Leclerc fan at this point, right?
I've got a lot of experience under my belt.
I know how these things usually go when Charles Leclerc is leading.
And that is exactly what happened once again, is that the pace wasn't there and he wasn't able to hold on.
And then at the end, which is this more specific memorable moment.
Of course, he was fighting Oscar Piastri.
I, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, wish that he'd just fought him normally, but he did not.
He decided, and I actually saw it during the watch line, I was like,
I'm pretty sure he has shut his rear wing halfway down the back straight leading on to the last lap.
He's trying to play some, some overtake chicken.
He's trying to get that overtake mode for the final, final lap,
because he believes that's the best chance for him to be able to get Oscar back on the final lap,
is to be able to have that extra bit of boost in his car, which I think is a fair analysis to have made.
You know, Oscar nearly got through on the penultimate lap, didn't.
And so Charles thought, look, he's probably going to get me this lap.
However, terrible exit out the final corner.
Well, I guess it's the second to last corner because there's a little kink, isn't there, before you go over the line.
The last hairpin, terrible exit out of there, not a great exit out of turn one either.
And then, and then it all happens.
And the incident.
And then, and then the incident happens and losing P3 was only the beginning.
It is mad to think that you were kind of a bit down about the fact that Charles Leclerc had led the race.
At one point, you know, Antonelli got through and he thought he was going to check out, but then Charles was still leading.
And then, you know, finds himself at the end thinking, how has this race got away so badly, 20 seconds off the lead,
but still in P3 is at least something to salvage.
And then, yeah, it goes all wrong from there.
The moment out the final kind of couple of corners, the overtake chicken and then, and then the spin as well,
that caused all sorts of issues.
But yeah, bad times for Charles Leclerc just when you thought it couldn't get any more painful for you.
Exactly.
I'm going to be keeping because obviously this race review comes out quite quickly afterwards.
I'm going to be keeping an eye on any updates that the FIA might come out with because there's a lot of drivers under investigation.
Charles Leclerc included.
So is George Russell.
So is Max Verstappen.
All three of those that were fighting at the end are all under investigation for one thing or another.
I will say hands down without even having the update, Charles Leclerc is getting at least one penalty,
if not more for driving in an unsafe manner, because I don't think commentary quite realized just how bad Charles Leclerc's car was.
When he went into the final corner, when, you know, when he made contact with George on the last lap,
he turns his wheel like to make it round the hairpin.
You can see the front left literally wobbling like that.
It is ridiculous.
It's ridiculous, yeah.
I mean, there's no wonder he was he was cutting corners left, right and centre.
So it's no excuse.
He's driving his car in an unsafe manner.
He's corner cut, which is track limits.
He's going to get at least a five second penalty, if not more.
So he'll be lucky to finish ahead of Hamilton.
He finished nine and a half seconds ahead of Hamilton.
If he picks up two penalties, then that's game over.
We go down to seventh.
So it could get even worse from there.
Tell me a driver.
Tell me a driver that leads races and then finishes 44 seconds off the win.
Tell me there is not a harder driver to support than Charles Leclerc.
From the highs of the hopeium to the lows of the realism.
It's ridiculous.
So I will continue to back him.
Of course, I will.
Thanks to all the thousands of people that came in to check on my wellbeing when Charles Leclerc was almost out the race,
but, you know, pretty much just limping home.
Now, there is a story behind this and there's a question which tees it up quite nicely, I guess.
I don't really want to talk about it, but I guess some people do.
Question from Joe Formula 6P.
Is Matt ever going to have a TimTam bar ever again?
So if you weren't there in the watch along, first of all, what on earth were you doing?
Matt P1, Tommy, come join us either on YouTube or Twitch.
Next time out in Canada.
So this, you know, I'm in Australia.
They're wondering what on earth is this question?
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. What a question, right?
So I'm in Australia.
I'm in Adelaide.
It's been a couple of days and we've bought some TimTam bars, which if you're in the UK, it's kind of like a penguin, right?
Like they have similar...
Don't say that, you've triggered all Australians.
Characteristics.
It's similar character.
It is a penguin.
It's basically the same.
They don't taste the same, I'll be honest.
But anyway, so on lap 51, so I think that's like seven laps or so from the end.
I was a little bit hungry, a little bit peckish, you know?
I was like, what can I have?
And all I've got is some kind of chocolate at the moment in the apartments.
I was like, right.
And I don't know why I said this, but I was like, I'm going to have a celebratory TimTam bar for Charles Leclerc getting a podium when it looked like he might well have the measure of Oscar.
I think Oscar was two, two and a half seconds back at that point.
Yeah.
Stupidly, I've done that.
And then obviously everything has gone so downhill from there that Charles has been absolutely nowhere near the podium come the end.
And will I ever have a TimTam bar again?
No.
They will be going directly into the bin.
Thank you.
So triggered.
So triggered by it.
And yeah, it was quite the moment on the watch along that you immediately, as soon as you said it, I think you regretted it and went, oh wait, actually no, there's still time here.
Yeah, because obviously you never would have expected how badly it would go for Charles, but it would just be a P4.
You'd have taken it at that stage.
But yeah, it was a horrible moment and could be even worse for him.
It could.
Horrible moment.
Was it a horrible moment for you?
Did you find it horrible?
I'm finding it quite amusing, but I mean, my driver also spun, which we'll talk about in a bit.
Yeah, he did.
He did a lot earlier.
Actually, we bookended the race with spins for our drivers, lap one and the final lap.
Let's get to a question from P1Patreon member Zingy13.
Why did Charles think it was necessary to play games with Oscar at the end of the race and let him through with the idea to repass him into turn one?
I actually think there's a little bit of hindsight here, so it's hard, hard to know.
Maybe it's a case of, of course, you say that now we've seen how it's panned out, but I think this was the wrong call.
We'd seen how hard it was to pass.
People could pass, but it wasn't a case of the second you got passed, you were breezed past again like you were before.
There was an element of that, but it wasn't completely crazy.
I see why he went for it, but it was a risk.
And of course, that risk completely immediately unraveled from the mistake that he made coming out of those final two quarters.
That set him up horribly.
And then, of course, as he went into that first corner and had the spin through that little kind of chicane or like fast section,
he was probably overcompensating to try and make up for that first error that he'd done,
thinking, oh, no, I've really after this now and I need to catch up and really make this happen.
And of course, made another mistake and goes into the wall.
So it's always a risk when you play those games.
But I would say that even without the two errors, I'm not sure.
It's a difficult one to know because these cars are so unpredictable.
We saw some absolute slam dunk overtakes like we had in previous races, but then others were a bit more close.
And I think it was the wrong call for Charles to go for that personally.
It's a track position, kind of just stay in it and hope to hold on.
And then if anything, if Oscar passes, you can go for it again.
I'm trying to separate what happened with the actual idea itself.
And I don't mind the idea.
I really don't.
I think that it was one way to try and put the ball in Charles Court, right?
He had seven lap holder hard tyres than Oscar.
And as I said earlier, I think, you know, on the penultimate lap, he barely kept ahead of Oscar and Oscar was closer.
So Charles, of course, as I mentioned, turned off the straight line mode.
He turned off, you know, had the wings closed so Oscar could breeze past.
And had he got a good run out of that final corner or the final hairpin, he could have slingshot it back ahead in turn one.
Or perhaps he was trying to shape a move even for the final lap with the final hairpin.
But yeah, you know, it's easy to say now that we've seen it that it was a terrible decision.
But I think Charles loses P3 if he stays ahead.
He tried to, you know, do something a little bit different to perhaps throw Oscar off a little bit with a move on that final lap.
So as for the idea, I don't mind it, but obviously it's ended terribly.
It's like a hero-zero call, isn't it?
Yeah.
Well, it shouldn't have been.
It should have been a hero or P4, but it was a hero-zero because of the fact he was overcompensating, as you said.
You know, he may have even just brought up the temperature of the tyres ever so slightly, you know, spiked them with those couple of mistakes trying to stay with Oscar
and then having the big slide with 36 lap old hard tyres come the end of the race.
So yeah, it's a shame.
You know, Charles's post-race interview was very down, as you can imagine, and he said it himself, you know, it was his mistake.
And yeah, it was the wrong decision.
So it's a shame.
But as for the idea itself, I don't mind it, but it did not end particularly well.
A few questions to sort of cover.
So will Leclerc get a penalty for cutting the corners at the end?
I have already said yes, I believe he will slam dunk, get a penalty for that.
Tommy?
I think he will as well.
I'm trying to remember, there was then not an incident fairly recently where Hamilton and Alonzo, there was a Hamilton at Singapore,
he had like a brake failure and he kept cutting corners.
And I'm trying to remember, did he get a penalty for that or not?
Yes.
I know it was quite controversial.
He did, didn't he?
I'm pretty sure he did, yeah.
I'm pretty sure he did.
And obviously, yeah, they were kind of, because I think Alonzo is very annoyed about it on the line.
And then of course, you've got a penalty anyway.
You can't just, you know, he's made the error, so he's put his car in that situation where it's essentially broken.
And, you know, you still have to stick to the track.
Now I can already hear some people probably going, Hamilton won that race when he had a puncture in Silverstone and crossed the line.
You stayed on the track at the end of the day in that situation and kept within the white lines.
So it's a very different situation.
Charles had basically suspension damage and could not drive the car properly.
And, you know, it's that situation where he even had he stayed ahead.
I think he's getting penalties here because the reason he's managed to stay ahead of those cars around him is because he's straight lining corners and things.
So I think we're in agreement with that one.
I believe there might have even been Perez at Canada.
I think there was something that happened there or perhaps that was more to do with him carrying damage and it being an unsafe car.
Of course, we're talking about cutting the corners, but Leclerc driving the car in an unsafe condition full stop is another matter altogether.
So that's why I think they could be a handful.
Yeah, a handful of penalties.
So good.
How far was Colopinto back?
17 points.
Oh, God, you're really looking that.
Keep an eye.
And then another question with regards to penalties is to do with George Russell and whether he will get a penalty for moving under braking.
Of course, probably by the time this podcast goes out, the decision should have been made.
So this is more a case of asking.
You'll be able to check and see if we were correct for this one.
I do not think Russell is going to get a penalty for moving under braking.
I think it's marginal.
And yes, the stewards, as we joke about many, many, many, many times need to take into account the actual incident and not the external, which is Charles Leclerc had a broken car.
But I think without Charles Leclerc having a broken car, Charles is moving slightly to the left there and it's fine.
So I am leaning towards racing incident for Russell, but it's close.
I can also understand if he does get a penalty because it is pretty marginal.
I don't think he'll get a penalty, but I think he should.
I think it's an illegal overtake regardless of the car being Charles Leclerc's car being basically broken and beaten up and he's passing a limping car.
At the end of the day, there's rules in place to stop you moving under braking and you do that anywhere else.
It's a penalty and it's a very, I think it's a very unnecessary move from George as well because essentially he's fighting a completely ailing car anyway, why he needed to make such hard work of it.
And then for him to move under braking and kind of like bang wheels again.
I don't think the incident with the Stappen is under investigation as well, but obviously he got contact there as well.
So two bits of contact for Russell at the end when realistically he should have just passed the Stappen fairly easily and then definitely passed Leclerc easily without this issue.
So it puts him under a bit of pressure for a penalty, but I think he should get a penalty for that move under braking.
It's a dangerous change of direction, but then I don't think you will because I think they will go with what you say in the fact that Leclerc's already got damage.
OK, all right. Well, from one spin to another, Tommy, what is your most memorable moment?
Well, what a surprise. It's my driver, Max Stappen, spinning off exactly the same part of the track because he's the superior driver.
Of course, he kept out of the wall. No, tricky.
Well, actually, if we're going to go into technicals, he spun earlier than what Charlotte Clair, Charlotte Clair was another turn later.
I was bantering.
Don't banter.
Yes.
What a ridiculous start. You know, Verstappen did actually have a decent start.
It wasn't perfect.
Of course, Max covered Lando off to make sure he didn't get through.
It happened exactly as we thought that the fast starting Leclerc and Norris were just amazing off the line.
And Max had, you know, Leclerc got through. Max had managed, despite being very late breaking, made the corner.
But he was far too eager to stay ahead of Leclerc when I think, and this is why he's Max Stappen.
And to be fair, why I support him and why I find him entertaining.
But in terms of a racing brain and maximizing your result, that's not the way to go to try and fly down the inside of Leclerc.
Because he almost tried too hard to then get the position back from Leclerc immediately and go side by side into that corner.
Something he's done a few times actually at Miami.
No, did it with Hamilton in the sprint.
I think Lando, I think it was last year or the year before, that happened there as well.
So he was trying to send it into that corner at full speed and hope he could dive down the inside and go side by side with Leclerc.
But instead, spinning, tumbling down the order.
And it's a big shame because we're still kind of yet to see how good that Red Bull is.
Because of course, that then meant that he was probably flat-spotted his tyre.
Of course, when his teammate went off, he went on a different strategy.
And we still don't really know how much that Red Bull has improved in race pace.
Of course, he looked a lot better for him.
And he may well finish fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh.
Who knows?
Because he's also under investigation for crossing a white line.
But a crazy start to the race for Max Verstappen and equally as well.
He was just on a mission.
You could tell that he hadn't done a Grand Prix for a while and just wanted to enjoy himself and go for moves everywhere.
Yes, he did. He was a proper menace.
Focusing on the start, you know, Lando got a lot of stick for many things last year.
One of them being the Saudi Arabia start where he focused so hard on Max Verstappen that he locked up, right?
And he went wide and he lost the lead.
It was Vegas, wasn't it?
Sorry, what did I say?
It was Vegas.
You said Saudi.
I'm true to Saudi.
Yeah, I just heard a door slam.
I thought somebody was about to come in and tell me to shut up in the morning.
So I panicked.
Yes, of course, Vegas.
Yeah, that's what I meant.
And it's not, I don't think it's as bad as that.
But I think Verstappen was, you know, trying to focus on too many different things at once.
You know, he's defending from Lando.
He's also trying to go up the inside of Leclerre and he's thinking about Antonelli as well.
He runs wide, of course, locks up, puts him on a slightly compromised line.
And yeah, again, so eager to try and fight Leclerre when Leclerre was a little bit too far ahead for Max to even have a chance.
And then I think he said to Corrine Chandoch after the race that he just caught a bit of will spin and it was a mistake.
So what I found utterly amazing in a kind of sarcastic way is Martin Brundle.
I know what he meant, but the way in which he delivered it is hilarious.
So he basically, he didn't lead with that was a huge mistake.
But I really like the way he's caught the spin.
He went genius, absolute genius as the first.
I was joking about it at the start.
Yeah, and then obviously, you know, then goes on to explain what he meant.
That's a mistake from Max.
Yeah, that's going too far the other way of like people thinking you're like bias against certain drivers and stuff.
And then you're like praising him for making a mistake.
At the end of the day, it's a Max error.
And like this is the thing with, yeah, he's sped.
It's like it's fine, but like it's not good that he saved it.
Exactly. And also like he's gone.
Yes, that one go down in history 20 years ago was was phenomenal.
That one, I don't know if you can call any of what Max did at the start of that race genius, to be honest with you.
No, definitely not.
It's very him though, isn't it?
You mentioned about him being focused on other drivers.
And this this is just what you get with with Max Verstappen and why he is such a polarizing driver that he will go for it all the time.
And there are moments where it kind of is a bit farcical and ridiculous.
We've seen that many times at, you know, like a Saudi Arabia or something like diving down the inside or or whatever.
And then you have moments of genius like Imola last year where he goes for it.
But equally, you know, even that move that goes slightly wrong.
Why is he doing that move?
You know, it's these fine lines of fine line between genius and chaos.
And this time it was absolute chaos basically because he was just sending his nose in every single opportunity on that on that first lap.
He was battling Lawson as well afterwards and they were going side by side into corners and banging wheels.
It was just madness.
Yeah, he was.
I think that was an element of desperation in Max's driving at the start of that race after losing so many positions.
He was like, no, you are a midfield car and get behind me.
I don't care where you are.
Like the dive bomb on our bond was absent from about five car lengths back.
There were so many huge moves from Max, which of course is great to watch unless it's your favorite driver fighting Max Verstappen.
And Charlotte Clair was fighting him at one point and I was like, please, Max, stop doing it.
I don't like it.
But, you know, when it's not, it's great to watch.
Back to the start question from Ari 1584.
Did the spin cost Max Verstappen a shot at victory?
I don't think so.
I think that Antonelli and Norris were in a league of their own today.
They cleared off.
Their pace was unbelievable.
I think Max, I think, to be honest, I don't really see him finishing higher than P4 if I'm being completely honest with you.
Piastri, yeah, was lacking, but Piastri was also finishing 16 seconds clear.
Come the end of the race ahead of Russell Verstappen Leclerc and that gaggle of cars.
It's hard to tell, right?
You know, of course, Max had a good qualifying.
The sprint pace wasn't particularly comparable to the front runners, but also it's not exactly with the changes you can make between the sprint and the main race weekend.
Red Bull had clearly taken a step forward, but it's so hard to judge because he was on the hard tires for 51 laps.
Had a spin at the start on the mediums, which would have, you know, of course, degraded those tires much quicker than those that hadn't spun.
So, yeah, I mean, potentially P3 is on the cards with how Oscar was struggling for pace, but Oscar also came good at the end and was very quick.
So P3 may be P4.
Yeah, I think a podium may have been an opportunity.
Of course, he would have been behind Leclerc had he not spun.
This is why it's so hard to know because he was on a different strategy to everyone else.
So we didn't get to see him running like everyone else really.
Of course, he was flying through the midfield, but they're very different cars to the leaders.
And then for the rest of the race, he was on totally different strategy where he was basically going really long on the hards.
And at the end, he was just trying to defend and hang on.
But Red Bull have definitely made a step forward.
It's just victory seems along a big stretch because of how quick Antonelli and Norris were in that race.
Yeah, they were absolutely rapid.
Question from Mr. Nobod35992696.
If Red Bull can maintain this pace and improve further, is there any hope for Max to go for the championship?
No chance. I'll get a tattoo if he wins the championship.
Here we go.
I'm hoping that works again and he suddenly starts winning every single race.
I think that's a big stretch from the fact that I think it's one step at a time for Red Bull.
They've finally found something where he could start on the front row.
He could challenge potentially for a podium and challenge in those front runners again rather than fighting Pierre Gasly in the top end of the midfield.
So that's the step there to think about the championship.
Yes, it's really early days, but you will need a lot more from Red Bull to be able to challenge the likes of Mercedes and now McLaren who look really, really strong.
Exactly. And we also have to remind ourselves that Mercedes brought hardly anything to Miami.
They were not fighting on a level playing field when it comes to upgrades.
So it's scary to think that what Mercedes could bring from, I think it is Canada onwards, I believe they're bringing upgrades.
So it's still a long way to go for Red Bull and Max.
It's better, of course, you know, if he can fight within the top six, seven drivers.
Oh, no, I said it. Oh, no, no, no, fight in the top seven.
Then, you know, you'll be able to sort of have a bit of hope if you're Tom Bellingham, but to mount a championship challenge.
I think first and foremost, he needs to win a race.
He needs to be on the podium.
Has he had a podium this year?
No, that feels good to say.
I knew that I just wanted you to say it.
So, you know, he's still got a long way to go.
But I do think that if Red Bull have found quite a bit in Miami, then it means that there's a long, long way to go.
And that Max Verstappen not winning a race prediction might well go down the toilet at some point.
So, it's given me a bit more hope, I think, for that side for you to lose a point in the overall season predictions.
But I'll be happy about it.
How do you feel about it right now?
Because obviously you've gone for it.
Insanely confident it's not going to happen.
How do we feel now?
I still think that Mercedes are mighty and we'll talk about them in a bit.
The fact that they've managed to still end up winning when they didn't have like the upgrades and looked a little bit on the back foot.
I think that's going to make it really hard for everyone else.
But I still think that they're too far off at the moment.
What Max managed to do this weekend with qualifying and has shown a bit of race space here and there.
I think it is more likely that he could sneak a win this season in maybe a bit of a crazy race or just with like a moment where he's just like absolutely perfect and delivers.
Because I fully expected to go into this race and it'd be much of the same.
He's fighting the Alpines.
Red Bull are still kind of way at the back and I'm thinking is this Max's last year in Formula One and retiring and he's just going to finish the championship in about ninth place.
So it's looking a lot better, but I think to think about a championship is insane.
Yeah, it's a little bit rosier in the gardens of Tom Pessimism Bellingham, but it's not.
There's no championship challenge happening just yet.
And just remember everybody, the tattoo has been put on the line if Max does in fact get on to win this championship.
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Let's go to the next question from P1Patreon member Joey G. Maj.
Why do they keep delaying decisions on incidents to happen after the race?
A lot of it seems to really have the potential to impact the race.
This is a bugbear, an irritation that fans have had for many, many years.
And there are some incidents where I completely understand why they'd have to investigate it after the race.
This one, to do with Max Verstappen in particular and the crossing of the exit line.
That for me, I believe the problem there is that they don't have the correct camera in order to assess whether he did or not.
They only have his on board and you can't tell from the final frame whether his two wheels are completely over the line.
So that's what I believe is why they've done it.
But then I go back to it and I'm like, this is a multi-billion dollar sport that can't set up a camera to be accessible for the stewards to check these kind of things.
So it just comes down to the infrastructure of what the stewards and the FIA have available to them.
So it's kind of like, really?
We're having to do that because of the fact that you can't see it?
That's crazy though, because if that is the case and your theory is correct, I get it if it's turn seven, turn eight or whatever.
But the pit exit and the fact that it is a penalty if you cross that line, surely there needs to be a camera on there like a goal line technology football thing, right?
Because that is a situation where you can preempt the fact that that is going to be a penalty and people will push the limits there on that bit.
So I understand that it's going to be difficult to set up track limits on every single thing, but surely they can see something on the exit line.
I don't know if there's like CCTV they can then go through and that's what they can now kind of change, maybe I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, I have no other theory to put to the table as to why they would delay a simple whether you crossed the line or not.
I really don't understand.
You don't need to ask Max Verstappen whether he crossed the line or not.
He's going to go, no.
And great conversation.
There's no external factors that need to be taken into account.
Whereas like, let's say the Lawson-Gasley thing.
That was an incident that of course had huge consequences for the Gasley, but it actually turned out that Lawson had a gearbox problem.
And that's the reason why he crashed into Gasley.
So that kind of telemetry data that the team can bring to the stewards is something that can help sway a decision one way or another.
And that's what I'm a fan of, right?
You don't really want to penalize a driver necessarily if there are external factors that caused him to do something that he wasn't in control of.
So those things I get, I understand why Russell's, to a degree, I understand why Russell's won because it was at the end of the race is being investigated.
I understand to a degree the Leclerc one, although the track limits should be a slam dunk anyway.
Like you crossed the line three times, it's a penalty.
So I don't know because we've already seen in the past.
Before they were incidents at the end of the race, they have kind of just gone, here's a decision, you've got a penalty.
And usually if we find out in like the cooldown room or something.
But I want to say, and this is based on vibes and feeling that that is usually when the podium is changes.
When it's to do a P4 and below, don't think it matters as much.
Whereas obviously the podium, you want to be true.
Yeah, that's fair enough.
Yeah, it's a good point.
Yeah, I don't really know how it's going to go.
But I understand the F1 fans frustration because we immediately were just like up in arms about it.
Like after the race, there's 35 laps or something to go.
How can you not make that decision now?
And if it's a case where you don't have the data and can't prove it, then you just have to say, well, it's not a penalty then.
And no further action or it's not a penalty.
And it's mad that that can happen with so many laps to go.
Yes, yeah, the max one is ridiculous.
So we'll see what the reasoning is.
I'm sure there will be the document from the stewards that will come out and we can have a look and see if my theory is correct.
Or if there is other strange reasons that I cannot think of right now that meant they had to investigate it afterwards.
Let's move away from stewards irritation and head to a more positive note.
And it's from Parker from Mars.
Is Kimmy Antonelli now the championship favorite?
I think probably he is, whether he should be, I still think it's very close.
And I think Kimmy has done an unbelievable job this year.
You can't commend him enough for what he's done.
Three wins Grand Prix victories in a row now is amazing.
Yes, he's got, of course, a very good car underneath him.
But so many, like, you know, the majority of people would say that Russell was going to walk this championship.
And Antonelli in only a second season, even Toto kind of almost kind of made those things of like, well, we're not expecting Kimmy Antonelli to win the title in the second year.
He's still got a lot of learning, of course, qualifying last year.
He had his good moments, but even some of Antonelli's good moments last year when we were praising him was still him finishing like third when Russell won the race or something like that.
Whereas this year, he's been absolutely, you know, rapid.
He's got amazing pace.
Russell is struggling big time.
It feels and particularly in that race.
You know, Antonelli put 43 seconds on him in a race with a safety car is madness.
It's just going to be now if Kimmy Antonelli can continue the consistency to fight for the world championship.
There's always that thing in the back of my mind thinking back to like Oscar Piastri last year and a very similar story of his teammate struggling.
Piastri is doing amazing.
Wow, he's so early in Formula One.
He's doing unbelievable.
He's not not feeling any pressure.
And I would actually argue that even more so than Oscar because Oscar was looking like invincible at the start of that season.
Kimmy has still had moments where he needs to be very careful like track limits today.
So nearly got one more track limit warning and have lost the Grand Prix win.
He lost sprint points to his title rival Russell in the sprint.
So there are still moments.
It's all going to come down to if he can make minimize as many mistakes as possible and absolutely jump and capitalize on this Russell blip because it's a huge blip from Russell at the moment.
Yeah, I still believe that George Russell has the best opportunity to win over the course for season.
Now some people might be going, what are you talking about, Matt?
He's finished.
He's washed.
Yada, yada, yada.
But let's not forget the coming into this weekend.
We've spoken about the problems that George has had one weekend to another after Australia, you know, China and Japan were both not clean sailing for him.
You know, the problem in China with qualifying, the problem with the setup that he had, I think, in Japan.
You know, this is not me coping.
I'm not like a George Russell stan, but I'm just kind of putting to the table that things have not gone exactly George Russell's way.
We then head to Miami where, of course, we've discussed, you know, he's not good on a grass court.
He's only good on clay and that's me referring to the Toto Wolf tennis player analogy.
So Miami's not great for him.
It wasn't great for him last year.
We head to Canada, which is next.
He was amazing around Canada.
Kimmy got a P3 there as well.
Don't forget.
And the thing for me that isn't unknown and the reason, you know, the main reason if I'm going to try and pick as to why I still think George Russell will win this world championship currently is that we have not gone to the period of races where Kimmy Antonelli was dreadful last year.
Like there were a series of retirements, series of just really poor results that we have not seen a consistent championship or even just a season campaign from Kimmy yet.
So that's where I'm kind of hesitant to say Kimmy is the championship favorite.
I will say he stepped up massively.
He's been brilliant so far this year and clearly he can take the pressure of a championship at this stage, but it changes, right?
At this stage, there are a lot of, I guess, things to calm a driver down if you're leading a world championship.
There's 18 races to go.
It doesn't really feel like we're fighting for the championship right now.
It's a bit more, I don't know, it's just a bit more relaxed at the start of a year.
So I would say if Kimmy has a couple of race wins in the kitty come halfway through the season, then I think then we have to really sit up and take note that Kimmy might be able to do this.
But until then, I still firmly believe George will bounce back and he'll bounce back really well.
I think this was a very poor weekend from him.
But I just think George has done enough in the sport so far in the last few years to suggest that he's got enough in the locker to be able to bring something to the table in this championship.
So let's see, pressure's kind of, I don't know if it's more on him at the moment or slightly less.
At what point does Kimmy take the mantle of championship favorite?
But yeah, let's see.
It's going to be a fascinating one.
And if we can get McLaren in the mix.
Maybe Charlotte Clair.
Probably not.
Question from P1Patreon.
Remember, Thima, we were promised rain.
Where is it?
We had a few droplets, didn't we?
You just knew that it was so up in the air, no pun intended, about whether we were going to get it or not by the fact that every single team radio we heard from a different team was a different prediction.
It was like, ah, it's going to be five laps.
It's going to be really light.
It's going to be a turn 11 for one lap.
It's going to be pretty heavy, but then it's going to go away.
We're not going to need to change tyres.
Then you've got Charlotte Clair going, when's the rain coming?
I don't think we should appear at what you're talking about.
So there was so much kind of question marks around it.
I am not going to kick off right now on the podcast and say, I can't believe we didn't get rain because one, we had a really good race.
It was a really enjoyable race, a lot of overtaking, a lot of question marks about who's going to win, different race leaders.
I don't think we can complain about that.
And I'm just kind of breathing a sigh of relief that, you know, we took this three hour earlier start time, which was insane for us in Australia.
And we didn't get any thunderstorm stoppages, which was the big thing.
So I'm kind of glad I'm happy that we had a dry race and we saw what we saw unfold.
We saw, we had an unbelievable race.
I don't think that it needed rain to make it better.
Yes, of course, it would have created even more chaos at that midpoint of the race.
But I can't look at that race and go, oh, I wish it had rained because it was absolute banger of a race.
I mean, we spoke last year about how we saw fantastic qualifying and amazing championship battle, but we didn't get any bangers.
The racing in terms of like really good races, well, they had a lot of action and a lot of chaos and a lot of overtakes and, you know, unpredictability.
We didn't really get that last year.
So for me, that race was far and away better than anything we saw in 2025.
And, you know, one of the best races we've seen in quite a while.
So, you know, we always want more as Formula One fans, but the rain, I think.
I think you need to, I think we do for all the criticism we give Formula One and the FIA and everything like that.
It can be absolutely commended that they moved this because we really wanted them to learn from what happened at Spa in 2021.
And a race just not going ahead and all the fans missing out and just a really farcical situation saying that, you know, why don't they just move it?
Because you can see that it's going to rain.
You've got weather radars.
And if something is going to happen, we need to make sure that they don't just race then.
And we always go, oh, but the TV and all this kind of stuff, we got a race.
We got a full race.
We got an absolutely fantastic race.
So I think, yeah, they need to be commended for actually moving it and making sure we got one.
Absolutely.
Yep.
Has to, I echo your thoughts on that one.
They did a good job and we got a race.
So learnings.
Woohoo.
Next one from FIFA NR6.
Were McLaren too afraid of the rain that they didn't pit Norris earlier to secure the victory?
I feel like Lando, and I think fairly was was disappointed after the race, which shows how far McLaren have come in that short time that he wasn't even starting races a while ago.
And he's now gutted that he's finished second because the win was absolutely on.
He could have had the perfect, you know, weekend with a sprint win and a main race victory.
He was ahead.
It was so close coming out the pits.
He got, you know, got undercut and you've got to think that McLaren missed an opportunity there.
Because soon as Russell came in first, I believe you always knew that Antonelli was wouldn't be too far.
Like longer coming into the pits.
So you do think McLaren should have taken that opportunity to pit Lando.
It is always tough because, as Charlotte Clair said, and of course it's paid up completely differently.
But you look really stupid if you do come into the pits and then it rains two laps later and then we all go, oh my God, what strategy blunder?
They're so stupid.
And it's just bad luck.
But I do think McLaren, yeah, they lost that race because they allowed Antonelli to undercut them.
And it was so close on the kind of pit exit with Lando and Kimmy.
Yeah, I don't think McLaren deserved too much criticism on this, to be honest with you, because they had a difficult call to make.
They were obviously analysing and keeping an eye on the weather forecast.
And realistically, they pitted one lap later than Antonelli.
Antonelli had a 2.2 second pit stop and then had a phenomenal out lap and they came outside by side.
So it's not like it's one of these Ferrari strategy calls from days gone by where it's just an absolute disaster and the clown memes being rolled out.
This was very fine margins and that's it, right?
I don't know whether, and I'm just judging this based on how Norris reacted in the call down room, whether McLaren actually had communicated that he would be racing on exit with Kimmy Antonelli.
That was something that clearly caught him slightly by surprise.
And then Antonelli was able to get through literally at the next corner, perhaps with a slightly better, strategical use of the boost.
So that would be my only thing is that Norris felt almost like, oh, I didn't even see you sort of thing.
So that would maybe then suggest that he didn't know that he would potentially be side by side with Antonelli into the first couple of corners.
So realistically, it's a shame for Norris, but look, it's still a second place.
He won the sprint and McLaren have taken a massive step forward.
So he's going to be a little bit annoyed, but I think generally speaking, he'll be glad that he's starting races and like China where there's only a couple of Grand Prix ago.
So what a turnaround from McLaren and maybe they'll be giving us a slightly more exciting championship battle over the next 18 Grand Prix weekends.
If so, that'll be great to watch.
Next question. Who on pitch remember that Fox? Can McLaren fight with Mercedes for the rest of the season?
I mentioned earlier in the podcast that it's worth just before we all start getting our party balloons out.
Mercedes haven't brought their main upgrades to the table yet.
And that's a big concern because Mercedes were miles clear before they've been caught up a little bit now has to be said Russell struggling Antonelli just about winning in Miami.
They didn't win the sprint, but I think Canada might be a different kettle of fish.
So let's judge. Let's let that be the litmus test of just how far Mercedes are going to be clear once they bring upgrades to the table.
And then we can maybe reassess.
But right now, I don't think so. McLaren have lost quite a lot of points already in the championship.
They're going to have to mount a serious sort of back to back to back race weekend win kind of run in order to bring themselves back into the championship.
I'm looking at the stats right now.
Norris is 49 points behind Antonelli and Oscar is 57 points behind if this championship table has indeed updated.
So they're nearly two race wins behind already and I wouldn't say they have the fastest car, although marginally very close in Miami.
But as a general package with upgrades coming from Montreal for Mercedes, I still think they're going to be behind.
I think they'll be behind. I think there's a chance.
And I think if anyone can do it, which is painful for you, Matt, with Ferrari, but also in same with me with Red Bull,
I think it will be McLaren that take that fight to Mercedes if anyone can do it.
You know, they've got the we've seen a little bit of that even before this this break in Japan where Oscar Piazza almost won.
And same like McLaren with a few tiny little bits of good fortune here and there could have won the last two races,
which is absolutely mad to think about.
And but the problem is for Mercedes.
Yes, they've not up for everyone else.
Sorry is that Mercedes haven't brought those upgrades like you say.
And even in a race weekend where they looked a little bit on the back foot like after the sprint,
you thought, well, wow, Mercedes aren't on the fastest anymore.
This is this is insane. They're not doing very well.
And, you know, with with the fact that we we mentioned about how difficult it was for Mercedes to get through the pack and about that.
Landau was leading and Charles leading.
You thought Mercedes have come away and still won the race again and made sure they've continued that 100% Grand Prix win ratio this this season.
So it's going to be tough for the others, but I do think if anyone can do it, it's going to be McLaren this year.
Yeah, agreed.
I think McLaren have the best shot with the fact they have the same engine as Mercedes and clearly are unlocking more parts to the manual as the season goes on.
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Question from P1Patreon member MZT. Have the tweaks to the new regulations worked?
It's too early to say because of the fact that it is literally one race.
I'm amazed how good that race was after what we saw in the sprint.
I was worried in a weird way, and this won't happen every week, so don't get your hopes up.
But in a weird way, we saw almost like a crazy amount of action that we thought was kind of artificial at the start of this season.
Then in the sprint, we were kind of talking about, oh, it feels more like Formula One again,
but some people, understandably everyone's got different opinions, were like,
oh, I kind of missed the fact that they're like racing and passing all the time.
And I thought that the race might go that kind of way, but instead you did see people passing.
We saw a bit of yo-yoing, but I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as Suzuka,
where people were just flying past on the straight.
We saw a few of them, but you see that with DRS anyway.
Some DRS passes were great and quite close, others were just slam dunks and people were defenceless.
So in that same sense, it's hard to know if the new regs are this perfect fix,
and I think it's unfair to think that you can have perfect Formula One all the time.
Every single race has so many different scenarios, and you'll have a bad race next time out.
I don't think it necessarily means the regs are terrible again,
but I think it did certainly help it feel a bit more like real Formula One again.
Qualifying was much better, and the racing wasn't quite so slam dunk with all the overtakes,
and boy, did we get so much action.
We certainly did. I would say it's a step in the right direction.
I'm not saying it's a fix.
I'm not saying that Formula One is back.
However, you define Formula One, because I saw so many people kicking off after the sprint being like,
well, you all wanted F1 back, the real F1.
Well, here it is, no overtakes and rubbish races.
So it really does depend what you turn up for.
We're more about the integrity of the sport and overtakes feeling valuable, which I think they were.
I think the value of an overtake was definitely higher.
There are still points, and the reason why I only say it's a step in the right direction
is because there were some insanely farcical overtakes.
The fact that Charlotte Clair nearly hit the wall, got passed by Oscar Piastri,
and then somehow breezed back past him because he clearly had a bit more deployment.
I mean, Oscar in the cooldown room was basically being like, did you see that?
He was a little bit slander for the race. I can't believe they didn't cut it.
I can't believe Stefano Domenicali didn't just come like steaming through the door
and just mute the whole thing.
I can't believe they allowed a radio message that said yo-yoing as well.
That is a step in the right direction from Formula One.
We're opening up the conversation.
They're not using mushrooms anymore by the sounds of it.
They're like, yo-yo, that's fine.
You can somewhat use that to describe the racing.
I feel a lot better, again, whether it's the tweaks,
whether it's a bit of desensitising, who knows.
But as long as I'm enjoying Formula One and enjoying what I'm seeing,
that's all that matters.
And for me, that was one of the most enjoyable races I've seen,
especially this season.
I know I've not had that many races, but it was definitely right up there.
So happy. I'm happy, especially after what we saw in the sprint
and what we thought we might have got.
We got something very, very different and it was great to watch.
So more of that, please.
Because if the regs, which I think still need to be continuously tweaked
and taken feedback on,
if we can get places like Miami to deliver racing,
then there won't be a case of,
oh, it's a bad track coming up with no overtaking apart from Monaco.
There's a bad track coming up.
Because Miami clearly was able to deliver.
So I'm excited to see what some of the other bad tracks can bring.
Yeah, and did you see that the,
and maybe we save this for a podcast for the next break?
But MBS was basically kind of saying,
oh, well, the V8s are coming back crazy.
So yeah, let's say one to talk first.
I mean, I'll take what he says with a pinch of salt.
I don't know how much of it is him just trying to literally get some kind of fan sentiment.
And then ruins it by pouring water on,
giving out his head as he's in Park Fermi.
Why is he doing that?
Why does he think he's Pally with the drivers?
Because as far as I'm aware, I don't think he is.
But yeah, look, V8s, he was like,
yeah, it doesn't matter if the teams want it or not.
Going to bring it back.
If they do sign for it, it'll be 2030.
If they don't sign for it, it'll be 2031.
All right, mate, that's five years from now.
Tommy will be 40, all right?
Like, I know that you're celebrating something that's a long way away.
We've still got five seasons of F1 to deal with.
So let's focus on the near term first, shall we?
Right, next question from Delirious133.
Okay, all right.
This is where I'm going to be honest.
I really don't like the Miami track.
All right, it is soulless.
It is absolutely soulless.
I don't really like much about any part of the weekend in Miami.
It's all about celebrities, all about high-end stuff,
pricing most people out.
So from that side, I don't really like it.
I've been there.
I think I went there.
I think it was the first weekend Miami ever was on the calendar.
I can't remember exactly, but I've been there once.
And it's very polished.
It's not really, doesn't really feel like it's got much character.
Whereas Austin, I will always say,
is one of the best circuits on the calendar.
So for me, I still don't really like the track.
There's no legendary corners.
I don't think there'll ever be a legendary corner around that circuit.
So in terms of changing my outlook with the fact that we can get racing
around these tracks, great as for the circuit itself, not a fan.
And I'm not sure I ever will be.
Yeah, I don't like the circuit.
And I think there's, it's not one I look forward to.
It's delivered some good racing, but I'd go back to the point again.
And this is not to say that, you know, I'm not just trying to be like,
oh, I don't like Miami, whatever.
But it goes back to the whole thing before we said about the new regs.
Like you can have great races on terrible circuits.
You can have absolute stinking races on amazing circuits.
Formula one is ever changing.
There's so many scenarios that happen.
And just because we had an unbelievable Formula one race doesn't make Miami
the greatest circuit in the world.
I don't think it is awful.
And I think all tracks can deliver something.
The things I don't like about it are like, yeah, those, those kind of things
you say where it feels soulless.
The whole weekend is a bit of a cringe fest in my opinion.
But the in terms of like at the end of the day when there's Formula one racing
on if it's a good race, I'm happy to be watching it.
So I don't think I don't think this race means that Miami is the greatest
circuit in the world now because the sprint was a bit mere.
Formula two is always banging.
It was a wet race as well.
So that's a hard kind of judgment there.
But yeah, it did deliver for sure.
But how much of it was Miami and how much of it was maxed us up
and going backwards into turn two that caused absolute carnage
and set the precedent for a chaotic race?
Probably the latter.
I'll be real.
And I'm still desperately trying to remove the imprint in my memory
of Jimmy Fallon eating Martin Brundle's microphone.
So that's something that Miami has brought to me that I never wanted.
So thank you for that one.
Let's now head to biggest winner.
Shall we drive or team?
We're going to crown someone or a team.
I am going to crown Williams as my biggest winner.
A double points finish ninth and 10th.
Congratulations to them.
It is a much better weekend.
And got to say, I mean, I didn't see it coming.
Someone did on this podcast because, you know, it's just a boring,
boring man.
But yeah, the signs and 10th Albin is a great result.
It's got to be Williams when they've been so bad.
I think an honorable mention to Colopinto, who's had a fantastic weekend
and could actually deliver the result as well to get a P8.
Gasly obviously had that collision.
But Colopinto, you know, had Gasly even been in the race,
Colopinto looked at the measure of him in both qualifying sessions.
And it's nice to see him be able to deliver a great result as well
and back up that qualifying pace that he had and finished best of the rest.
Yeah, a comfortable best of the rest as well.
He only finished eight seconds behind Hamilton,
who of course was running the damage.
But he was 20 seconds clear of signs in ninth.
So it's a brilliant drive from Colopinto.
And yeah, a very fair biggest winner as well.
He's got a biggest loser.
Hadja, easy.
Hadja, yeah, that's...
Did he lose much though?
Started from the back, crashed.
From a flop perspective, yes.
From a flop, Hadja is up there.
In the mix because he was leading.
Brussels up there with his weekend.
Leclerc of course is in the mix as well.
I'm going to do a quick update.
I'm going to do a quick refresh to see if...
Did have a look to see if there's any news.
Nothing yet. What are they doing? Hello?
Maybe there's a rainstorm.
I don't see any...
I don't see any updates.
It's been ages.
Yeah, it's been a long time after the race now.
So surprised about that.
They go through it in order as well.
So they're probably spending four years working out
if Max's rear tyre went over 0.1 of a millimeter
of the pit exit before they investigate anything else
because they have to do it in order.
And they go through every incident.
So that'll probably be why we've not heard anything
from anything yet.
And they're still maybe investigating each one.
But hopefully we hear from it soon.
Yes, I've just checked.
I think it's worth talking about...
Yeah, I do think it's worth talking about Hadja's race
while we're on the subject of...
Or lack of.
A lack of race.
But we mentioned about how too early to say
when he was a second behind Max in qualifying
and he's had a good start to the season
so he needs to knuckle down.
And he's been still in that kind of midfield battle
and then to make a big mistake like that
where he clatters the wall.
We've rarely seen that at Miami
even though when you watch the helmet cam views
it does look like the kind of incident that could happen.
We rarely see it.
And yeah, it's a big error from Hadja.
Yeah, it's a poor one.
Raging.
Oh my God.
Yeah, Hadja is...
I mean, wearing his heart on his sleeve
is probably an innocent way of saying
how he takes it out on himself.
That's for sure.
He's punching the life out of his helmet
and his steering wheel.
It's quite tough to watch.
They tell him...
I guarantee they've told him,
don't press the team radio.
When you're raging, don't press the team radio.
And he's like, well, don't you?
You never said I couldn't just
absolutely destroy my helmet in my car.
So yeah, he made it very obvious how he felt.
Not a happy boy at all.
Quite a short fuse it has to be said for Hadja.
But more to do with the actual incident itself.
Yeah, he struggled this weekend and it's ended badly.
These are the kind of highlight or low light moments
that you have to avoid as that second Red Bull driver.
So one to forget for Hadja
and he'll have to bounce back.
Whatever these upgrades are on the Red Bull car
he needs to figure it out
and figure it out quickly.
Although no helmet Marco,
so he might get a little bit more time
to actually learn and develop.
But yeah, a poor weekend for Hadja.
Right, that's the end of the podcast.
We're not going to be looking at the prediction.
I'm kidding.
We're going to now reflect on predictions that we made
at the start of the week.
To see how we did.
Of course you are because you're leading 14-6.
An absolute disaster.
I've always wondered when this would happen
where one of us would just romp away with our predictions
and you are eight points clear.
And let's see how it ends.
Come the end of these predictions.
So first and foremost, good surprise.
I went for Lando Norris,
which I think is a generational good surprise considering
how difficult his season has started.
Sadly, that's only one point
because it's a driver, Tommy.
What did you go for Tommy?
I went for a team, which is of course two points
and the biggest winners were of course Williams
and I went for Williams as good surprise
and they got a double points finish,
their best points all of the season.
And yeah, unbelievable scenes.
Yeah, unbelievable indeed.
I'm not basking the glory too much.
I can tell, your smug face is really coming out.
A big flop, I went for Lawson.
So I'm two from two right now.
I'm only matching you right now
because you went for a stupid team.
Tommy, who did you go for?
For a big flop, I went for Max Verstappen,
which is incorrect.
I got neither.
When he was 16th and backwards at turn two,
I thought, well, that's locked in.
And yeah, I got neither.
I didn't get the, well, I've jinxed him
and he's done unbelievably amazing
and got a podium or a win or something
and I also didn't get the flop.
No, I'll pull you. What a shame.
He kind of came back through the pack.
What a shame.
Right, sprint pole position.
I went for Antonelli, which was wrong.
And I went for Oscar Piastri, got the wrong McLaren.
Oh, poor you.
Sprint winner went for Antonelli, which was wrong.
I went for Oscar Piastri, which was wrong.
The wrong McLaren again, so no points.
Pole position, I went for Kimmy Antonelli,
which was indeed correct.
Thank you, Kimmy.
I went for Russell, which was, of course, not correct.
And now for the main race.
3-2 in this race.
Shout out, shout out, shout out,
because it was going to go so much better
and I'm in my feelings,
because in third place for the race,
I had Charles Leclerc, of course I did.
Of course I had Charles Leclerc, P3,
which was literally lap 56 or 57 correct.
And they're not, so not only did I lose the point.
Oh yeah, just to rub some salt in the wounds.
Who did you go for P3?
I had Oscar Piastri.
Who inherited the P3.
I actually just looked further down and it gets even better.
Right, so one point for me.
So yeah, P2.
In second place, I went for George Russell,
which, no, apparently he did not know
how to drive around Miami, so that did not happen.
He did not.
P2 went for Antonelli, which, of course, was wrong.
Wrong indeed.
In first place, I went for Kimmy Antonelli,
which was correct.
Indeed, and I went for George Russell,
which was incorrect.
Very wrong.
And now to our new segment in the predictions,
which is P-Watt.
If you get it bang on, it's two points.
If you get it closest, it's one point.
I went for Piastri for P-Watt, which was before.
It would have been P4.
Oh my.
You've just realized you would have got a two-pointer.
So Leclerc cost you your third,
then gave me a point, and also cost you P-Watt,
being bang on.
And three-point swing.
That's a three-point swing.
I feel like Kimmy Antonelli would track limits
right now from the sprint.
That's a three-point swing.
I mean, you've won because I went for Norris.
You went for Norris, you finished second, of course.
Oh my.
God, I didn't realize it was even more on the line.
I was annoyed at the fact that I knew I'd put him third.
Yeah, so you'd have got P-Watt.
That's painful.
Exactly right.
Okay, good.
Let's move on because I don't want to talk about it anymore.
One crazy prediction.
I went for Mercedes win by the biggest margin of the year,
and I don't think 3.2 seconds is that.
So that'll be a no-pointer.
And I went for Mercedes don't top every competitive session,
which was correct.
Correct.
So happy for you.
Well done.
Patron prediction.
I went for Shazan,
which was teammates have a collision.
I don't recall any collisions.
No, there wasn't.
Are we sure?
No.
I'm just thinking up and down the grid,
there was nothing, was there?
Maybe there was a little wheelbarrow.
Yeah.
I mean, we can add it in if we see on social media
that Bottas and Parris have a generational wheel-to-wheel battle
and two different wings off at one point.
All right, yeah.
Parris and Bottas, I don't know to be fair,
Bottas was five light years behind everyone else this weekend.
So yeah, let us know if you did see teammates collide,
but if not, that's no points.
And S Mitchell 8 was mine,
a three car incident into turn one,
which there was carnage in turn one,
but I can't take that.
No, not three cars.
And it wasn't really turn one, was it, either?
It was the incident that kind of happened at turn two.
Imagine it was a three car incident at turn two,
and I'd be like, nope, no, that does not happen.
No, zero points, thank you.
Okay, so points tie.
So what's that now?
You're the maths guy.
One, two, three, four, five.
I scored five points,
and you scored two, three, four points.
I've gained a point.
There's 18-11, I think, yeah?
I've scored five points.
Well, so you've actually done it.
You've done all right,
because you're Antonelli, you've actually,
you've not done as bad as you thought.
What do you mean?
Did you think you'd scored more points than me?
No, no, I thought it was going to be quite close.
You mean as bad, by the way?
I've scored five points.
I've almost doubled my tally after one weekend,
and you've gone five or six.
I scored five points.
You've scored four points.
Yes, okay.
God, Tommy's locking.
Get the maths going.
You've not done as bad as I thought.
I was on six points coming into this.
Yeah, okay.
So it is, in fact, 18-11.
That is the brand new scores on the doors.
18-11.
Seven points.
The championship comeback is on its way.
Trust me, here we go.
Right.
Oh, it gets so much worse.
As we go to the family top three,
where it's four-two to the Gallagher's.
Oh, no.
That one incident has changed the entire complexion
of both the Drivers and Constructors Championship
of this prediction.
So, my dad in P3 went for Charles Leclerc.
And you're already laughing, but it gets even better,
because my wife, Katie, went for Oscar Piastri.
You cannot make it up.
You cannot make it up.
Oh, in second place, my dad, of course,
did not go for the correct Mercedes driver.
He went for Kimmy Antonelli.
And my wife went for George Russell.
And in first place, my dad went for George Russell.
No points.
And Katie went for Antonelli.
So it's two, so it's four all.
Unbelievable scenes from the Bellingham.
Oh, that's so painful.
How have I only gained one point in the last two of the Gallagher's?
As if that incident affected both championships.
Mental.
Absolutely mental.
You could not write that.
That is absolutely cinema.
Yeah, that's cinema.
That really is.
So, I hope you enjoyed that.
I'm sure you all did.
I didn't whatsoever.
And that is the end of the main podcast.
We're going to get into some P1 Patreon questions next.
If you want to come join the P1 Patreon,
support myself and Tommy.
Get ad-free listening, early access to tickets,
access to Discord, and so on and so forth.
Lots of benefits.
And including, of course, listening to the extra bit of waffle
at the end of every race review.
Then come and join the P1 Patreon.
Which normally is when the FAA results come in.
It's true.
It's usually the break news part of the podcast.
So come and join if you want to come support us.
And that is it, Tommy.
Final thoughts and don't let it be something to do with lap 57
or 57.
Thank you.
It won't be.
It will be...
No, I don't want to end on a negative.
I was going to say, well, I'll say that was...
I'm not going to mention that there's a three-week break.
I mentioned that first.
But what a return for Formula One.
Yeah, what a return to Formula One.
That was incredibly enjoyable.
And I'll also say that really excited now to do our live shows
in Australia and see some new places in Oz.
See all you lovely people that we've been excited about seeing
for a very long time.
And boy, are they going to be amazing shows now
with all that to talk about as well.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
Lots to discuss.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
If you haven't got your tickets, go get them
because I feel like there's going to be even more despair
and depression at the P1 live show.
So go and check out the tickets already.
There's a few available at each of the Australia venues.
And that is it.
Thank you, everybody.
Thanks for tuning in.
Hope you enjoyed that one.
We certainly did.
And we'll see you as in the Matt and Tommy post-race review
personalities and them alone.
We'll see you in three weeks.
But lots more content to come from the other Matt and Tommy
personalities that turn up for the other episodes.
So I don't know why I do that.
But we'll see you very soon.
Lots of love.
Take care. Adios.
And goodbye.
Bye.
P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST Created Network.
Thank you.
About this episode
Miami delivered a chaotic race that the hosts thought felt properly Formula One, with late drama, penalties, and plenty of debate over racecraft. Charles Leclerc’s late collapse and Max Verstappen’s opening-lap chaos dominated the analysis, while McLaren’s strategy call cost Lando Norris a shot at victory. They also praised Kimi Antonelli’s form, questioned FIA stewarding delays, and picked Williams as the weekend’s biggest winner after a double points finish.
Well, credit to F1 for moving the start time of this weekend’s Miami GP because that was one of the best races we’ve seen in a long old time. Join us as we recap a certified banger!
We're in Australia this month! There are a small handful of tickets for a few of our shows - get your tickets at: http:/tix.to/p1aus
You can listen to an extended version of THIS EPISODE if you sign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommy
