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Hello, everybody, and welcome to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy.

I don't really understand how we're here.

Are we living in a simulation?

We head to Abu Dhabi, a three-way fight, and Max Verstappen is the closest challenger to

Lando Norris, 12 points behind.

Tommy, how the hell are we here?

How the hell are we here?

Because of a certain team in Orange or Papaya, whichever way you want to judge it, basically

doing everything they can to make sure that this goes down to the wire when they should

have won this championship.

Well, and we thought they had won this championship by the summer break.

It should have been an inevitability that it was between Norris and Piastri.

And there's no way they could possibly lose it.

They were getting one twos for fun in the middle of the season.

If you'd have said at that point when they got, I think it was like four straight

one twos that we'd be here and it would be Max Verstappen would be 12 points behind after

winning both races, like the previous two races, like what on earth is happening?

It's insane how it's just kept going on and on.

It just keeps going on and on.

So, of course, today we're going to chat all about the Katar Grand Prix, which was

an absolute stinker, but we have lots of things to talk about all the same.

And I'm sure you're very excited for us to get into that.

A quick shout out to our wonderful patrons who'll be getting extra chat, which once

again, same as Las Vegas, you're getting some extra sauce at the end of this and

every race review this season.

And what a bizarre thing to speak about.

And also as well, tickets are still available for Manchester and Dublin.

There's a few tickets left in Dublin if you want to see us in just over a week's

time where the show keeps evolving.

And we literally not going to finish it, basically be doing that on the

plane because we don't know who's won the title yet.

Crazy.

Tommy's not flying to Manchester, by the way, he's flying to Dublin.

He's not that much of a diva.

Right.

I know you're here for one thing and I've put it as my most memorable

moment, which is McLaren strategy fumble.

I am absolutely convinced that McLaren are a huge fan of the of the P1 podcast.

Almost.

They they or that they want storyline after storyline after storyline in a season

which has not had the most amazing races, if we're being completely honest.

The championship picture has always been quite interesting.

We've not had many bangers.

So what McLaren thought they'd do is let's let's you know, let's move the attention

away from Qatar being the worst Grand Prix potentially on the calendar to strategy errors.

I joked at the start of the watch along how are McLaren going to f this one up

then as a joke, obviously nodding to Las Vegas where they got double DSQ'd.

And this is I know we have the benefit of hindsight, but this is a decision

I have mulled upon a little bit and thought and it's got worse every time

I've thought about it.

Yeah, I am absolutely bewildered that they did not pit both drivers.

But I'm genuinely shocked that the one thing that everyone was speaking about

was, of course, the 25 lap maximum stint on the tires and also the lap

window of when a safety car might happen.

Of course, lap it was 57 laps.

So lap seven, the safety car came out, which is the prime moment to then get

essentially a free pit stop to then have one more 25 laps later and it's done.

McLaren did not pit either of their drivers.

And the reason Andrea Stella said was that they didn't know if everyone

else will pit behind. Of course, they're going to pit behind.

Why would they not pit behind?

It's a free pit stop.

They have to pit twice.

It is absolutely outrageous that they didn't stop either of their drivers.

I would understand to some degree, and this is where we'll get into it a little

bit later as well, Tommy, of splitting and going with Lando in and Oscar out.

But there are plenty of theories as to why they didn't split the strategies.

They just gave the race to Max Verstappen in that moment.

They did. It was a gift.

It was if you thought that Vegas was a gift for Max,

they've given him another one right now with a lovely little bow on it as well.

Because they had that race won so easily.

You know, they were the fastest package by a mile.

We saw it in the sprint, you know, Max finished fourth in the sprint race

and Oscar won easily and was going to win easily again.

They were so quick, they, you know, we've not had any kind of

it's just it absolutely insane scenario.

The only way they could have lost it, we said it weirdly at the watch

long, you said, have McLaren, could McLaren like fumble this?

And I said the only way it go McLaren out winning this is if they do

something themselves, and that is exactly what happened.

The decision to not pit was an absolutely insane one when the scenario

was that basically like that there was the mandatory stops

because of the tire wear and the worry about the tires exploding again.

So basically a safety car that should have been the first thing of like

if there's a safety car near the start, you have to pit like a hundred percent.

And I know there's the worry and this is their excuse that like

if Oscar Piastri goes in and everyone else stays out, he looks like an idiot.

But they were never going to do that because it was a free pit stop.

It was free and it's a twenty six second time as well.

It's the difference of the fact that if this was a normal race,

where the 25 lap maximum stint length wasn't involved,

yes, they should stay out.

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.

It's their seven lap old mediums and I don't think many people would pit.

But it's not that's not what we had in front of us.

And McLaren just gave a free pit stop to the entire field.

Let's get into a question because I am just as you can quite clearly tell

are utterly bamboozled as to what has gone on today.

Question from Googson 98.

Did McLaren decide not to pit both drivers during the safety car

to protect Norris from losing places in the double stack?

There is no other reason for it.

I don't know where I sit on this one because I think that is

a crazy theory to think that somehow benefiting Lando

because Lando himself was like, I want to pit.

And they said, obviously, like, no, we're staying out.

This is fine when obviously it clearly wasn't.

And Lando is fortunate.

He wanted to pit or did he question it?

He questioned.

I think he was like, we should have pitted with the staff.

And I'm sure there's a radio that said something along the way.

I saw that was that was a an after.

After like, why have we done this?

I want to box on a box and they say no, stay out.

Once you've seen everyone out.

But but regardless, like, you know, if they really wanted to

favor Lando, that have pitted Lando and made sure he'd stayed with Max.

And if McLaren are really this team that it's all about Lando,

which I don't think they are as much.

We've had this conversation many times that, that, you know,

we all know where's like Brown's allegiance is lie.

But they're not there.

This is arguably the job.

Yeah, arguably, this is why they're in this situation

because they can't decide on picking a driver.

And I don't I don't think that that Piastri

they've done it to help Norris in any way.

They've just completely missed it here.

They've just completely screwed it up by not not pitting them

and immediately realized that it's the wrong decision,

even though, yeah, on the radio, they kind of played it off to be like,

no, it's still fine.

But I mean, Lando Norris in particular will be counting as lucky stars

that Fernando Alonso wasn't that wasn't a little bit quicker

because he would have ended up in an even bigger train.

And we saw how hard it was to pass for him because I truly believe

McLaren was set up to lead from the front.

They didn't think about you could tell because they had DRS on Antonelli

and they didn't even gain on him.

They were just they weren't thinking about passing.

They didn't serve their car for straight line speed or anything.

And yeah, it's an insane situation.

But I don't think it was it was there to protect Norris at all.

Now, I don't think they I'm in complete agreement

that I don't think they were concerned about the double stack

causing Lando to lose positions.

I genuinely believe they thought that was the correct decision to stay out.

I know that some people will think, you know, is it the fairness side

of things as well, the papaya rules, et cetera, et cetera?

I'm I'm torn on that one.

I don't know where I sit with, you know, same like they worry about

it looking really bad if Oscar got screwed.

Yeah, yeah, exactly that.

I I I genuinely think this is just a McLaren disaster, as opposed to fairness.

I think I think I lean slightly more in that camp.

I don't know.

I really don't understand why they decided to stay out.

It made no sense, as I've made quite clear with with my point previously.

And and they've, as you say, they were so lucky

to not get into a seven or eight car long train that Alonso was was was causing.

Well, for at least for Lando, who narrowly with an amazing pit stop

came out came out ahead of clutch head of them and he couldn't go any further

laps because it was at his 25 lap maximum stint length.

Right, let's get into another question.

P1 Patriot member, the Pain Train 84.

They've won the constructors by miles,

but are McLaren about to potentially pull off the biggest bottle job of all time?

That genuinely feels like a fever dream that we're talking about this,

that Lando is leading Max by 12 points.

When you think about the start, of course, Max did get ahead of Lando at the start

and you thought, all right, he's going to gain three points on Lando

and he'll be 22 behind going into Abu Dhabi.

And Oscar would have been the closest challenger.

McLaren, you know, this this strategy call is one of the worst

I can remember for a very long time.

And it doesn't instill me with confidence that they will

win this driver's championship in Abu Dhabi.

The pressure is clearly getting to them.

You know, a baffling call aside, they've made other errors as well.

Like this driver's championship should be sewn up.

We all know that this is look at the amount of points

they've got in the constructors.

Their car is the best car and has been for the majority of the season.

We go to Abu Dhabi, where I've put a scenario out on my Twitter,

which could absolutely happen where you've got Max leading

Oscar second, George third, Lando fourth.

We then enter an entirely different realm of what do McLaren do

in that situation if they've been talking about fairness

and they don't care if they lose the drivers.

It's all about the driver.

You know, they think we can lose it to Max.

That's fine.

But that is a genuine scenario that could happen.

And then McLaren have this entire discussion

that they have to make as well, live on Team Radio

that we'll all be listening to of pleading Oscar to slow down

potentially to get Lando into a championship winning position.

And that should not.

None of this should be happening.

The fact that we're even discussing this as a scenario

in the final race is baffling McLaren.

Yeah, they have done a phenomenal job at building a car.

Hats off to the people at that team that have created a car

to dominate in the constructors, but they are not a championship

winning team in the strategy department and in making big decisions.

Should it have Red Bull created a similar package across the year?

Max would have won this title with two, three races to go.

I know Max has said that and be like, you know, if we were in the situation

and people would be like, it's a bit of trash talking.

But he's absolutely right, because they shouldn't be in this situation at all.

He made a cheeky comment again now, just to Sky Sports, where they said,

oh, you said it was a gift after what happened in Vegas.

And Max went and another one today.

And it's absolutely right.

The only reason Max is in this title this close is because of the errors

that they've made, you know, don't get me wrong.

He's been absolutely brilliant.

And I was playing one of the best comebacks and most amazing

championship campaigns for the machinery that he has.

Because it's not been a race winning car for a lot of the season.

And yet, he now, you know, is in the championship hunt

and they've all got seven wins between them.

That should absolutely not be the case at all.

And, you know, is it the biggest bottle job of all time if they lose it?

It's arguably even worse.

And I can't believe we're saying this, even worse than 2007

when they lost it with Lewis Hamilton, where basically

he had the smallest number of points to get it.

And then equally Fernando Alonso could have could have won it as well.

And they ended up losing with both cars, which was so bad.

The conspiracy theories are still that they threw the title on purpose

because of Spygate and then weren't allowed to win it and stuff.

That's how bad it was.

And arguably, this is even worse because

Lando Norris had the championship one after Brazil.

He'd beaten Max Estapa and he'd won the race again.

In Mexico, you thought, right, it's a big struggle for Max now.

Brazil, he won the race, Max was third.

All he's had to do is score the smallest number of points.

And this isn't on Lando.

And instead, he has obviously lost the 18 points from second place.

And today, fumbled a potential, like, weirdly for Lando,

he would probably have been like P3, maybe P2, if he'd have overtaken.

I don't know if he would with the in terms of like how difficult it was to pass.

But they are just throwing points down the toilet at the end with these big errors.

And the pessimist in me will be like,

oh, like it's still in Lando's hands, it's still a massive opportunity.

But the evidence is there now that McLaren are pooping their pants at this situation

to put it lightly and have made two absolutely enormous errors

in the last two races to basically put Max a step in in a shot of winning the world title.

They have this mistake they've made this weekend.

They've lost to a Williams with Lando Norris.

In a car that should have won the race by 20 seconds, I reckon.

We'll get on to Carlos later, because Carlos, phenomenal drive in a Williams.

He's, again, like another podium, ridiculous.

Nothing, I don't want to take anything away from Carlos.

But he is in a tractor compared to that McLaren.

And McLaren have given have given Carlos a podium and put Lando in P4.

Should have been P5 even without Kimmy's mistake on the penultimate lap,

which we'll get into.

But it's just insane.

But for me, obviously, I'm very excited because we get a championship decider, right?

This is what I've been hoping for this entire time.

And McLaren have gone, here you go, guys, thank you so much.

We'll give you some content for the final one.

I just want to bring up a point here that I've just read on Twitter,

that we were mentioning about the whole double stack and how you play it.

And is it favoring whoever?

And, you know, we've had these thoughts that you said as well.

And it's in the back of my mind that is this like McLaren in a weird way,

like trying to be so fair that they've done it with them both.

Because Callum F1 Mech on Twitter, a former Red Bull employee,

put option one, you risk the double stop.

Yes, Lando is likely compromised, but easily has the pace to challenge

for at least P2 and Oscar wins the race easily.

Option two, you don't want to risk the double stop.

So you split the strategies.

It's going to work for one driver, but at least you're still in control of the race.

Option three, whatever McLaren just did.

And it's so true.

Like they had the race in their hands with two cars

and they managed to both lose it.

I just can't believe they wouldn't have played out that scenario

in there when they're prepping for the race of like, OK, we're at the front.

A safety car comes out when we can get into that free pit stop window.

What do we do?

And clearly how have they sat down and they would have spoken about it.

It's not like this is, oh, oh, my God, what do we do?

We've not spoken about it.

Surely they've discussed this as a scenario and they go, yes,

that's what we do.

We stay out.

Absolutely insane, as we know.

And also as well, Lando was behind Max.

Do we? Let's not forget.

It's not like we had the two McLaren's line of stairs.

So their strategy doesn't make sense.

Lando follows. He has to.

He has to follow.

All he has to do is match Max's first happen.

Like it is crazy, like madness from McLaren.

And Lando knew straight after us as well.

You know, he said it on the team radio.

He said, should we not have come in?

Yes, you should have.

Yeah, and they're trying to spin it like, oh, well, we get to push now

and they don't.

Yeah, we have flexibility if we have another safety car,

which to be fair, right, if there was another safety car,

yes, McLaren would have more flexibility.

But that's, that's hoping for another safety car.

That's not the play.

Yeah, you don't, you're McLaren.

You're the fastest team.

Why are you like planning on another safety car

to get the advantage back?

You should always have had the advantage.

Anyway, yeah, you can tell where we sit on this one.

Next question, P1 pitch.

Remember, a good Karen.

How angry is Oscar going to be

that the team has shafted him completely

when he has been flawless all weekend?

Yeah, I'm good for Oscar.

Obviously, you know, as a Max fan,

I'm happy that he's got into the title.

But that was Oscar's race.

And particularly with Lando in third place,

that was Oscar's race to get back into the championship here.

It would have been 12 points,

which is still a decent gap, but doable.

He showed amazing form and you've got to think,

you know, Abu Dhabi, you should do well there as well,

based on what we've seen at McLaren,

but you never know how McLaren

is going to go with these things

based on the last two races.

But you could see and understand

why he was visibly absolutely fuming at that situation.

He had the race won.

He's been on such a poor run

that he needed to turn his form around

and Lando to finish, you know, out there

for him to have a chance.

It's absolutely getting for him,

because yeah, like, he needs a miracle.

Obviously, he's in the championship now,

but he still would have needed a big ask

going into the final race,

but it would have been a lot closer.

And would have arguably, you know,

put even more pressure on McLaren

of what do they do, like picking aside

and stuff in that situation.

But I can understand why Oscar was absolutely fuming

at the end of that race,

because he was going to win comfortably.

He was going to win.

He was absolutely brilliant this weekend.

Oscar, out of nowhere, fastest in almost every competitive

session, bar the one, obviously,

that mattered the most, which was the main race.

But that was down to McLaren.

You play out the scenario

where McLaren get the strategy right

and they come into the box.

It finishes Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, let's say.

A safe realistic bet

that Norris doesn't manage to catch and pass Verstappen.

Oscar is now in Max's position,

12 points behind into the final race,

and it's all to play for.

Instead, he's 16 behind and he needs...

A Lando DNF, basically.

Yeah, he needs a Lando DNF

or he needs that crazy scenario with Weber and Alonso

where they get stuck in traffic in seventh and eighth

and everything kicks off that way and he wins.

It's sad for Oscar because I think he knew.

You know, he said he was speechless after the race.

I really felt for him because he picked up his form

when it mattered most, maybe a race or two late,

but still, to ask the question

to his teammate going into the final race,

but now instead, he is a massive outside shot

for the title and yeah, it just requires even more chaos.

And sadly, he can't even rely on Ferrari to get involved

because they're too busy fighting for 13th,

which we saw this weekend and hopefully

we don't have to talk about it anymore.

We've kind of covered the Ferrari disaster class,

but yes, Oscar, I totally feel for him.

I really do.

Question from P1Patreon member Anastasia W.

Will McLaren finally make a clear last call

on which driver they're backing next week

to avoid losing the driver's championship?

No, they will not.

They have committed, and maybe contractually,

the reason that both drivers are clear

to fight for the championship.

My brain then goes into overdrive of when that ends

because as I sort of mentioned a little bit earlier

in the podcast, let's say Max is winning

Oscar's second, George's third, Lando's fourth.

It stays like that, Max Verstappen is world champion.

Oscar, I imagine with a few laps to go,

will get a call of can you help Lando into third place?

And this is with like a driver in the way as well.

I genuinely believe McLaren would come over the radio

with a few laps to go.

But in Oscar's situation, and Mark Webber,

I think will instill in him over the next few days

that the worst thing for Oscar

is that Lando becomes world champion

from a power play perspective within McLaren.

It's a disaster for Oscar.

We said that last year.

Yeah, exactly.

When he wasn't even in the shot.

So no, McLaren can't commit.

They might have to try and commit if, you know,

S hits the fan in the last few laps

and Max is on to win the title.

But I think Oscar is well within his rights to say,

well, what if Max DNFs?

What if Lando and Max have a problem in the last few laps?

What if Max gets disqualified for bankwear at the end?

Like, there's going to be so many things like that,

that yeah, like Mark Webber will be, of course,

saying absolutely not.

You do not, you know, you do not bow down to Lando

because you can't afford to do it for your career.

And also, yeah, an if moment,

if there's a disqualification,

like I know it's like an insane scenario,

but this championship has just been throwing

absolutely insane scenarios left, right and center.

I will add as well quickly.

Andrea Stella, I believe, said after the race

that they wouldn't do this.

They wouldn't back either driver

because both of them are mathematically

still in the chance of winning the world championship.

And that is the way it should be.

Oscar can't be told to move aside

at the start of the weekend.

Or the start of the race, like.

Or the start of the race.

Because too much can happen.

The late safety cars, things like that.

Mate, I cannot wait for next weekend.

I know that Lando is still the favorite.

And look, if Lando wins the world championship

after all this BS, fair play to him.

Because there has been so many things out of his hands

that McLaren have let him down,

especially in the last two weekends.

Lando should be the world champion

at the end of this weekend.

Yeah, he should.

Absolutely, he should.

I mean, if we count Las Vegas

and the fact he should have had those points,

but the plank and, you know, that's not down to him.

The plank, the DNF, and then bought loads of things.

But I am so, as a Formula One fan,

that is obviously neutral to this scenario

and I just wanna see a great battle.

Charlotte Clair sadly mathematically

out of the world championship fight

for those of you that didn't know.

I am so excited to see just how every part

of the next weekend plays out.

Qualifying, track limits, mistakes, Q1, Q2.

Anything can happen with the three title rivals

that can open it up once again.

This is, as I want to repeat,

not a scenario we should be talking about McLaren,

but we are and I thank you for it

because it's gonna make us have

a three-way title decider in Abu Dhabi

and I just cannot wait for it.

After this podcast, I urge everyone to go listen

to our prediction we did,

where we predicted the entire,

we did the entire championship table.

And both of us, obviously this, you know,

we're about to find out whether this is

the most beautifully aged prediction,

but even if it's not, it's come incredibly close.

That both of us said, yes, Max Verstappen,

at the start of the year,

he's driving the fourth best car,

he shouldn't be able to do it.

And yet, McLaren having two drivers

going for the championship,

the way they wanna be fair all the time,

the way McLaren, unfortunately for them,

are known to make errors here and there.

We both said Max Verstappen to win the championship.

And McLaren, despite, and I think we both even said,

McLaren have the best car, but I'm going for Max

because they will take points off each other

and they could ultimately fall short.

Can you imagine if that prediction comes in,

because I certainly did not expect it to come at any point,

basically after the first three races,

because it's like, oh, well, McLaren are absolutely clear.

There's no chance there.

And this is exactly like how the situation has paid out.

Like Max himself has made no kind of bones about it,

basically saying, you know, like,

I am only in this title

because McLaren are gifting it to me.

And it is one more, I mean, he needs one more.

Yeah, just one more, just before Christmas,

that would be delightful.

And honestly, be prepared for Tom Bellingham on the podcast

if Max Verstappen is world champion at the end of Abu Dhabi.

And be prepared for him on the watch long,

because I think you'll reckon he's muted for most of it,

but he will in fact just be a mess.

Oh my God.

This is what we live for, right,

as Formula One fans is to watch something like this

go down to the wire and so many things can happen.

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Granger, for the ones who get it done.

Let's go to your most memorable moment

as we are still very much locked in

with championship moments, aren't we?

Okay, my most memorable moment was

Kimmy Antonelli

losing the position on the final...

Like, right near the end.

Was it the final lap?

It's such a blur now, of course.

It was

a crazy tense end to the race.

What an insane scenario that

and we'll talk about this later

on paper was like the worst race of all time

and would have been without this McLaren strategy.

And we...

It was just tense.

There wasn't much overtaking or anything at all.

It was just tense.

And when you had Carlos

and Antonelli

ahead of Lando,

you knew it was crucial for the extra points

to close in that championship.

Because we did think

our Lando's going to finish third easily here

but of course,

when he ended up behind Antonelli

and he could not pass him,

he was not gaining with the DRS

which was quite a shock, has to be said.

I thought he'd breeze past him and be fine

but as we said earlier, McLaren clearly

not setting up the car

for a straight line speed

because they thought they were going to be clear.

And then at one point

Carlos was dropping back

and Lando is going to finish third here

Antonelli

desperately trying to hang on

but then that one mistake

crucially

allows Lando to finish third

in Abu Dhabi

and still clinched the title

and had it not been that the way

we could have had a situation

where it was the Stappen,

Piastri Norris and Max Wins the title

although arguably we then have that scenario again

about Piastri

Lando switching

I just think this title

and my main kind of memorable moment

is just

little moments like this

which I don't think it should have been a case where

the championship was as close as we've said

all through the start of this podcast

but little moments everywhere in this championship

you're going to be looking back

whatever happens of like there's this

and there's this and there's this

because everyone immediately was like

wow that could be

a crucial moment in the championship

Yeah exactly, every moment

we've had over the season doesn't feel that big

until we get to the end of the season

and we have a three-way fight

for the world championship

Spain comes to mind Tommy

I'll do that after Abu Dhabi

if Max loses the title

by nine or less points

that will be quite the discussion

I don't think we'll be over it though

somehow if we get into a few points

I say I'm over it now

when it happens by the way it's looking

we'll see

because he's already been asked it hasn't he Max

but there's so many

title scenarios isn't there

about how things are

going and what you'll look back on

because one thing

we're all looking at the

Max Verstappen scenario of course

Max Verstappen glasses of like can he

win the title

in a weird way

had Oscar have won that

race and it got to 12 points

we'd be talking about the six-point

swing that happened in Monza

and that would have meant that they would have been one too

Oscar would have won the championship

there are so many scenarios

that are

going to play out here and

whoever ends up losing

we can look back on

at the end of the day like

Max if he wins the

misses out on the title

you'll look back at

you will of course look back at

Spain and got to think like that's points down

the drain there were other

moments where they cost it Brazil but of course

that one is a moment that just didn't need to

happen

but if Lando

doesn't win the title

so many points

thrown down the drain the DNF

in Zanvo

obviously the last two rounds as well

he's lost like 50

60 points through like this

through just McLaren stuff

so yeah it's

a crazy scenario and then of course

as we mentioned Oscar

these moments where

he had to give up that position to Lando

and things like that

less moments I think for Oscar though if you look at

the entire season it's more like

amazing run of 15 races

if it's that then of course

get an amazing 15 or so races

and then he just didn't have pace

it's very black and white I think

with Oscar season whereas a lot

more variables I'd say with Lando

and Max's season

question from Mr. Trevor Top

if Max wins the drivers

championship it will be because of

McLaren's fumbling if Max loses

the championship it will be because

of Kimmy Antonelli would this be

a fair assessment

that's harsh that's very harsh you can't

say it's because of Kimmy Antonelli

that Max would have lost the championship

it's because of Red Bull not making a car

that could allow him to challenge

consistently against the McLaren's

of course Kimmy Antonelli you know

there's the talk of of course what happened

in this race in Qatar but also

in Austria as well where Antonelli

unfortunately took out Max and cost him

a podium at minimum

that's not a fair assessment

though because that is the reason why

I separate for example Spain

and other things is because Spain

was an actual moment of rage

for Max Verstappen I put that

in a box it's very different

because it is unique

and it is something that Max

had in his hands and could have

dealt with it differently

but back to this question yes I agree

with the first bit if Max wins the drivers championship

this is entirely on McLaren

and I feel for the McLaren

PR people that have to

come up with statements of how

it was a successful season

because they won the constructs

but didn't win the drivers

so yeah it's tough

it'll be very tough for McLaren

and a really bitter pill to swallow

if they don't win the drivers

I do want to also say something

about this Kimmy Antonelli situation

because he had nothing left

and unfortunately

for Formula One drivers and the way

social media is and toxicity

and all that kind of stuff

I dread to think what some people are saying

about Kimmy Antonelli

because of GP's radio

this is something I want to mention

I think that's incredibly unfair

and I know that like tensions are running high

and they wear their heart on their sleeve

and they probably didn't know that

that was going to be broadcast

but playing something like

one saying that and two playing it out

in the first place is just unfair

I think completely on Kimmy Antonelli

Kimmy Antonelli is literally like

Max Verstappen's son this year

and would probably like nothing more

so he's not throwing it in any way

and you look at like

what happened to Timo Glock

in 2008 when

people were like

saying that he's gifted the championship

and he almost had to

I think he's admitted that he's almost had to like

hide away and stuff

we don't want to see another situation like that

so

the championship is won over loads

and loads of different moments

it won't be

unfair to just blame Kimmy Antonelli

on it because he was pushing

and he was doing everything he could

but you saw his final lap his tyres were dead

Yeah he was about three seconds slower

on that final lap his tyres had hit

the cliff that we questioned whether that existed

or not but round

this circuit it's very tough

on the tyres and I have to completely agree

Tommy that Formula One

is a strange sport where

there are so many unknowns

compared to other sports that the fans

will jump on so many different

conspiracy theories

and this one makes absolutely no sense

the one thing people will say

is because it's a Mercedes engine

oh yes

Mercedes would not

want to see McLaren

a customer team win the driver's championship

because that's the PR

it's terrible news

you have Ted Kravitz going to Toto Wolf

how does it feel that a customer engine

is winning with your engine

because that just shows they've not built a good enough car

Exactly so anyone

thinking that that's the case is insane

because you genuinely just have to look at

Kimi Antonelli this year he just runs to Max Verstappen

at all times to have a chat with him

tell him where he finished and all sorts

so yeah very silly

if you do think that

next question P1Patreon member O-Lite

do you think other teams and drivers

want Max or the McLarens

to win?

There will of course be

a mention about

Kimi Antonelli doesn't want this

doesn't want that

there will naturally be like biases

throughout the grid it's something we've seen in the past

there's relationships there

you've seen it throughout

Max for example

has racing bulls

on his side

and Lando

there'll be people that maybe

want to see him win and things like that

or there's Fernando Alonso

but what I will

say is I hope we see

exactly what we saw today

in drivers

and teams

just running their own race

and doing everything they can to maximize the result

I don't want to see a situation

where

you know

you'll say of course you do

but obviously won't happen

because like Fernando Alonso

why would he be at the front but it's like

having Max positions to like

make him win the championship

and equally like

drivers not attacking the McLarens

because they're worried about getting in the mix of the title fight

I just want to see every team

and every driver

race in Abu Dhabi for what they want

and they have to just not think about the championship

they have to just do their own race

and I really hope that

that's what we see

It's what you hope but I don't see it happening in the slightest

teams and drivers

have their biases

racing balls I don't think can play any kind of

factor in the McLaren

fight because they're not quick enough

however we've seen

absolute categorical proof that Fernando Alonso

is not making life hard for Max Verstappen

if he somehow finds himself ahead of him

we saw that in the sprint

or they could have done being a bit quicker

today to help

because Fernando had a big old train

behind him

Yuki will

not stop in Abu Dhabi

and just hope to God he gets ahead of

the McLarens

but he'll need to have the pace he showed

in the sprint because that fell off

quite dramatically

he did score a point but nowhere near to help Max

today

I think quite a few

teams and drivers want Max Verstappen to win

whether that's changed

they're all Formula 1 fans at the end of the day

and they like to see a good storyline

just like you or I do

but I think there are a lot of fans of

Max Verstappen out there

but the one that we don't really know where the relationship

currently lies is Max Verstappen and George Russell

and George Russell might be one of the only drivers

that can actually get in the fight

to upset this championship one way or another

and I believe George will be

one of those drivers that does not care

and will just try to win in Abu Dhabi

and let's see what happens and where the dominos fall

definitely

there was a little spicy moment

in the media pen wasn't there between

Lando and George if you haven't

seen it do you want to explain

the moment for people that haven't seen it

really bizarre situation

I think it was picked up by Dizon

Spain and they were just

recording and

essentially it was all to do with

qualifying and

a media reporter had

essentially said to George that Lando

had been blaming George

for

messing up his last lap

and

so George mentioned that to Lando

in camera shot and in audio listening

view point whatever you want to say

and

Lando took it to heart absolutely was like

what you're talking about and then

essentially just sort of slated the media

because I can't believe you'd say

believe them over me and things like that

and Lando

quite rightly took it to heart

because if he hasn't said it then fair enough

and then George seemed to sort of poke fun after that

and you know he was trying to

help you win the championship mate if anything

George said that sounds like something you would say

which is crazy he did say that as well

just having banter and it was hard to

tell exactly how that scenario unfolded

but it did feel like Lando was genuinely upset by

whatever the media had tried to do

which was wrong by the way the media

absolutely should not be saying things that were

categorically wrong like just

completely incorrect George was out of the way

on the straight but anyway

yeah the the relationship between George and Lando

I think is a respectful rivalry

I don't think it goes as deep

as for George to move out the way to let Lando be

world champion yeah agreed

like I don't

it's going to be fascinating to see how

they all play it but

I'll just echo what I said before of like

please guys just run your

just let it play out run your own race what

happens happens and

you know we don't want to see a situation

say like I don't know

because can you imagine that

situation there at the end

where

that was like a like Kimi Antonelli

was a is that Glock moment where he's made

a genuine mistake and it's made

made Lando win the world championship

or equally like Lando is

catching Carlos Sainz and everyone's like

oh well they're really good mates and

if he gets if he gets through like

is Carlos going to try harder I think

he would but then like because of

course he wants his podium but then everyone

will say isn't and

yeah it's going to be

a bit of a mess I think whatever

happens but let's hope that all the drivers

just do that thing people will find

a way to say something when they

absolutely didn't now I have touched

upon this a little bit but we're going to get

categorical answers from the pair of us for this one

so picture this scenario from

Kuchu it's the last

lap of Abu Dhabi Verstappen

leads another driver is second

Piastri is third Lando

is fourth would McLaren

make the call to Oscar and if

they did would he do it

so

how I am picturing this at the

moment is that McLaren

absolutely would ask

the question to Oscar

the question is whether he would

do it Oscar

as a person would

want to do it I think

and I

think he would do it I'm

actually of the opinion

that he would give the position

to Lando even if

his corner Mark Webber etc saying

it wouldn't work in your favor

in the team the power

dynamic and everything else in between

I am now

and you know I'm making this answer right now

on the spot I do believe

he would let Lando through to win the title

because can you imagine

we're talking about the power dynamic fine

on the flip side of that can you imagine

the feeling in the team

for the entire next season

the garages would be split

going into 2026

I think there would be

you know feelings of negativity

you know the fact that Oscar didn't play the team game

which is all we ever hear about

is papyrals and fairness

and what not so

I do think Oscar

would let Lando through

at the last moment

but we've already spoken

we've spoken about the reasons why he could also

say no to that

and they're very very viable as well

of well what happens if blah blah blah

DNF saw there's a disqualification

but that being said

that is a very tiny

minuscule thing to happen

because

it would have to happen to both Verstappen

and Lando

for that to you know crown Oscar's champion

so I am

going to say right now I think it's

best to both of those questions

I think

that he would do it

that McLean would definitely ask him

they'd have to in that situation

because obviously

it would be embarrassing for them to lose the title

I think he would have Mark Webber

like

Mark Webber's voice in his head

saying do not do this

what

what are you doing

but I think for the team

at the end of the day Oscar's already given

I know this is

because it would literally be giving him the world championship

but he's already done it

to a point you know when Oscar was leading

he's already made that switch back

when he could have probably argued and said no

absolutely not FU

and he didn't so I think he would do it again

to keep that harmony in the team

I think it would be incredibly tough call

what I do want to throw in the mix

is that

and you kind of said this before

if Piastri was second

I know we're going into like scenario mode

here

we're excited

this is what everybody does by the way

if you're listening right now and going

it's all ifs, buts and maybes

if my grandmother had blah blah blah

but the thing is I know for a fact

that each and every one of you and your friendship groups are saying these exact scenarios as well

also on scenarios

what if the McLean took each other out in the sprint

oh it happened

what if McLean

and Vegas and Maxis and I

oh it's happened

the way this season has gone

it wouldn't surprise me

this is a very realistic scenario

of everything we've had in the last few weeks

so here's the scenario I'm putting on the table

the Stappen leads

then it's Piastri second

another driver third

and Lando fourth

is it a different ball game

even though it's exactly the same scenario

it's Oscar basically sacrificing himself

for a podium

do you think that changes the situation

at all or is it the same

because I would argue that

McLean would almost be

for me

I don't think

they would throw the world championship

for the sake of PR

but I also believe that

McLean are so

in control of their image

and want to be seen as this wonderful

fair, lovely team that

everyone loves so hard

but I think that would actually

they would

which is an insane thing but I genuinely think they would even question

whether they'd ask him at that point

and they should absolutely

but I think there's something

even more embarrassing

for McLean that he sacrifices

another position even though ultimately it doesn't make

any difference

I completely get what you're saying

because I'm of the same opinion of the fact that

on paper, it's not

not that big of a deal

but I think it looks so much worse

Oscar peeling off to the side

letting George Russell, whoever it is

letting Lando through

and then not even being on the podium

for the final race when he's been running in second

can you imagine Australian media by the way

they would

they would gobble that up

I'm sorry I should have used a better word than that

but that's just from the watch along as if you watch along

but for some reason it's so much worse

even though it isn't really

on paper it doesn't make any difference

to the situation

it's still Oscar Piastri

sacrificing a podium

four land owners

so the driver in his team

wins the title but there just seems

something so much more extreme

about them being a car in between

the two of them for it to happen

like the media would

go into frenzy I think over it

and

whether fairly or not

I don't believe it would be

this is just how championships are won

but I think Lando would

get cooked in the media as well

I don't think fairly because of course

he's going to do that

it should be world champion easily by now

yeah it would be an absolute

S show I think

if that happened which is crazy

yeah I hope

it should Lando win the world championship

this year

by whatever scenario plays out

in Abu Dhabi it would be his first world championship

it would be such an incredible moment for him

and you know I firmly

lay the blame as they should

on McLaren in the last two races

Lando should be home and dry by now

with the performances he's put in

but instead he's under this insane pressure

Oscars now come into form

Max you can never count out and somehow won

did you realise that?

how the hell has that happened after the start of the race

I would be really sad

if this was somehow tainted

with whatever plays out in the last race

but Lando is a deserving world champion

Lando would care as well a lot

if he got

like if it played out that way

and there was this like media storm

about it and people saying oh you got gifted

the championship I think that would

really you know

affect Lando whereas Max would be like

F you I don't care that one the championship

thank you very much see you later I mean look what happened in 2021 right

yeah and I hope Lando

would learn to not care about that

but you know again this is another crazy scenario

one more scenario I want to throw in is that

Oscar says no to both of well says no to McLaren

says F you I'm going to Red Bull

and then just finish a second and you know

that would that would also create some some crazy stuff

that would be a in-car Alpine

tweets basically from Oscar Piazza

yeah he scheduled

the tweet for like 345

locals without my consent

McLaren have asked me to

let Lando Norris 3 to win the championship

I do not agree and I've signed a contract

with Red Bull

oh dear well look we're having fun aren't we

yeah we are it's fun like

whatever like yeah

you can say always if that's the maybes and

scenarios and stuff we have dreamed

about this for

years now to have

an actual championship finale it's been

a long time since 2021

and even then before that you know it

hadn't happened since 2016

so you know we've waited

like 10 years and we've only

ever had one showdown

and we've got another one and by the way

it's between three drivers

three drivers crazy

question from P1Patreon member Zingy13

if it wasn't for McLaren fumbling their strategy

would this have been one of the worst

races of the year

not one of the worst races of the year I think

they can't overtake

we mention about 2025

being

it's all done at lap one

absolutely would be because if McLaren

hadn't done a different strategy there was

no interest in that Grand Prix whatsoever

and it was almost like a Monaco

situation where we said

where in my head

I was like oh well at least the two stop

will be interesting it actually made it

worse because everyone just went to the

exact threshold of what was

available on the

quota of like you have to do this

25 lap thing and everyone

would have just done it exactly the same

strategy like we saw that

to the point where people were like risking

unsafe releases and

double stacking and everything

to the point where

yeah like they had to do it there

because

people were just like stuck so

yeah it all the

intrigue from this race has come over

just the championship implications not

anything to do with the actual like racing

and overtaking because

I mean even you know

without McLaren and how they should have won the race

so easily and

a normal race I think McLaren are winning that

by 15, 20 seconds

they are gone

and yet Lando couldn't

even pass

Antonelli with DRS it's just impossible

around the track

yeah horrific the worst race of the year

I completely agree Tommy

it's such a shame because on Saturdays

to be fair Fridays as well

with two qualifying sessions it's great to watch

and I echo my thoughts

that I made I can't remember if it was the last

there's so many podcasts we've done one of the

the thoughts I made of like okay

Qatar you have lots of money

make an alternative layout

for Formula One it can't be that hard

add some hairpins rather than these

fast corners just

literally get some Formula One drivers feedback

on how to make this a circuit where you can

actually overtake because I genuinely think it's got

Abu Dhabi did it

exactly and they've got there is promise

right it's a cool track

it just needs some heavy braking zones

turn 1

it needs a Bahrain turn 1, 2, 3

whatever like extend the DRS a little bit

because I feel like the DRS is the activation

of it is far too

sort of late down the

straight although to be fair you weren't

disagreeing with that or sorry you weren't

saying for it to be any further extended

when Antonelli was under pressure from Norris

but yeah terrible race

it's going to be a terrible race forever

it feels like unless they make changes

and they have the ability to

so just make it happen

it's top of all the performance benchmarks

top of the G2 leaderboard and if you're not

happy we'll refund you up to a million dollars

which I think says it all check it out

for yourself at fin.ai

next question from

Tres Goh

why is Carlos in a Williams

what a drive

I'm actually going to stop

this narrative now of Carlos being

in a Williams as a Ferrari

Charlotte Clarke fan

I think he might be in the right place

I genuinely believe

this move that felt like a massive

demotion

I've said from the absolute get-go

that James Valls is

a team principal that

I think just gets it

he's got all of the engineering knowledge

he's fantastic with people and I think he's

excellent with managing a team

and the Williams outfit

so yes Williams aren't

consistently a top

14 but they have got

two podiums with Carlos signs

Ferrari on the other hand

are scrambling around sliding

doing everything other than basically going

in a straight line and going fast

so I think Carlos

is in the right place I genuinely believe

that Williams are on the ascendancy now

I really hope for them in 2026

with the new regulations that they

improve even further and then can

challenge I think Alex Albon made a prediction

that there'd be one higher up and

a challenge for the occasional podium of course that's

a completely random prediction no one knows

how fast anyone's going to be

but back to Carlos's drive

his pace was utterly amazing

he wasn't far off of Max's

pace on a very similar strategy

if not the identical strategy in terms of

tyre life and he drove

the wheels off of that Williams

so much so it started disintegrating

with about seven laps to go and things started falling off

but Carlos another podium

outrageously good

a outrageously good again from Carlos

like you say

his turn around in form

he was looking as we said

the most disappointing driver

I think really at the start of the season

with how we thought it was going to go

we thought Carlos

doesn't deserve to have that

demotion to go down the grid

and be in a Williams and Alex Albon

was driving absolutely

superbly and basically

by the kind of

point of the season like after Monza

Alex Albon was just scoring

points for fun

and was so far ahead

you know without sounding like

the drive to survive thing

of the fight for eighth

that they love to mention

but he was so easily like best of the rest

it was like all but confirmed

in the last few races

since Azerbaijan

Carlos has got a third, a third

and a fifth and Alex has scored

no points, he's not been higher than

eleventh

and yeah

Carlos is now only

nine points behind Alex

in that kind of inter-team

battle obviously you know

nine points is going to be a lot

in that car but

it shows like what a turn around and what

an exciting thing going into next year

as you say

there's two sides to this story

one Ferrari are just

a big joke at the moment

to say the least and

why would you want to be there

you go into the new season of course

and yeah like if Mercedes cook

this amazing engine like we think

that they might you know Williams could

be in a great position if they get their car

right and have the best power

unit in the back and just to add a

third option into the mix

and I don't want this to come across as like

a backhanded compliment

but in terms of your like stock

you'd argue that Carlos

science absolutely

doing unbelievable things in a Williams

is making a much more kind of

sort after driver

than sort of like being there or there about

some not being Charlotte Claire in a championship

in a Ferrari of course like

we've seen what Carlos can do in a Ferrari

and he deserves like to be

considered as one of the best drivers on the grid

absolutely

but you can argue that like

this position that he's in now

it's funny how Formula 1 works in that way

that Carlos goes on

it continues this run into next year

he's going to be like

incredibly sought after by the top teams

certainly will and will he even want to leave

unless Williams were the champion

are a top team which

might happen in years to come

okay let's head to

biggest winner driver or

team that's what Stappen might be getting

a vote here

for somehow winning the race

by 8 seconds

it has to be, it has to be Max first

to happen as the biggest winner he is still in the world championship

when he should not be

can I please just remind everybody

that Max should be out of this

championship mathematically

or at least 22 points

behind

it has to be Max for me

yeah it has to be Max obviously Carlos is a great

shout but Max

the fact that he's still in this title somehow

is insane

and then biggest loser

I know that

of course McLaren

they've lost a lot in the sense of

weirdly I don't think you can say

London, I think it's

Piastri, yeah I think it's Piastri from like

a championship context

you know he's lost more

I also want to throw an honourable mention to Isaac Hadjar

who was having a great race in p6

I think it was and then he got a puncture

and then that was basically his race

curtains but it has to be biggest loser

in the context of the championship

to Oscar which is

you know gutting for him absolutely gutting

yeah it's gutting and for all the

people that get triggered by the wording of this we're not

saying he's had a bad race by saying he's the biggest

loser in terms of like

it's all on McLaren

because weirdly with Oscar

weirdly with Oscar

you know he

was gonna

for like Lando

he had a situation

where he was probably gonna finish third

finish fourth whereas Oscar

it's basically him gone from like winning and really

being close to the championship

to now like kind of needing a big

miracle to do it

would have been 12 points and instead it is 16

right let's have a look at our predictions

then where it is

55, 51 to Tom Bellingham

has he sealed the deal

with one race remaining or is there

somehow a Gallagher comeback

on the cards so first and foremost

let's go into a good surprise

where initially I wanted to go for Oscar

Piastri but some

boring man

went for it instead we'll get on to him shortly

but of course for me I then changed it went for

Charles Leclerc which I think wow

what a drive from Charles Leclerc

P8

four points in a red

dustbin let's go

Oscar Piastri I went for of course

good surprise yeah

what a weekend from

from Piastri in terms of

could have been the perfect clean sweep

of course without McLaren's

fumblings it could have it really could have

big flop

I went for Alpine which

they were categorically awful in the sprint

and they finished last on the road

and then third last

it's got to be a big flop it has to be

I'm really sorry Tommy don't

you sigh I was supposed to be the competitive one

here so that's two points from me for Alpine

thank you Alpine for keeping me in this championship

you went for

Kimmy Antonelli I thought

without his food additive he would

fumble but obviously

could have done it on the last lap

could have been the point for that

little lock up

I know but yeah Antonelli

beaten George again

having a great

end to the year obviously

the narrative will be

that little mistake but

another great drive from Antonelli

looking great going into the next year so no points

yeah and Russell

kind of struggling once again just more stuck

in the train and then finishing 20 seconds behind

Antonelli in the end

right of course there's more predictions so let's get into the sprint side of things

sprint pole I went for Max Verstappen

no

I went for Landon Orriss no

sprint victory I went for Max Verstappen

no I went for Landon Orriss no

how has none of these come in

because Oscar Piaz really turned into the goat

pole position I went for Max Verstappen

no and I went for Landon Orriss no

by the way like

that is peak P1 prediction

we're basically like

the championship's going to go

one way or the other and Oscar basically

for the first time in five races like actually I'm the goat now

thank you very much

ridiculous that's absolutely crazy

okay so the race

order in third place I went for Oscar Piaz

which was incorrect

I went for George Russell which was incorrect

in second place I went for Landon Orriss

which was incorrect and I went for Oscar Piaz

which was correct

and then in first place I went for Max Verstappen

give me that point thank you very much

I went for Landon Orriss which was incorrect

okay now

our one crazy prediction I went for

Oscar breaks the podium less

streak my boy

thank you Oscar for the point

and I went for straw luck qualifies Alonzo

which is basically like throwing away a prediction now

you have two opportunities

two opportunities

not even close

ridiculous

now our patreon prediction

if you're a P1 patreon you can submit

a prediction each episode

mine was Peyton G

there is a controversial McLaren

team order

if I mean the team order was to not stop

I knew you'd try and

wangle this one

sadly there wasn't

anything to get me a point for that one

and Jim Clarke

is my goat

five or more different drivers on the sprint and race

podiums which had the McLaren's not got through

Alonzo not held them up

that would have come in of course

close

potential but no did not come in

so you have scored

you scored three and you scored one

you scored four

I scored four and you scored two sorry

wow so we

go to Abu Dhabi

with two points in it

you best believe I am not uttering

Charlotte Clara apart from if it's a big flop

I can promise you that one

am I

maybe Charlotte will just be the champion

not the champion be the champion

now our rule about not being able to go for the same thing

will literally become

like the

dirty tactics of the

title finale of basically taking

crashing into your championship

rival essentially

please don't crash into me Tommy let it play

out just like you said earlier let it play

out yeah good fantastic

stuff two points in it we didn't Michael

Massey this hardly at all and it has gone down

to the wire what about the family

top three it's 12

nine to the boring Bellingham's

and Ellie my girlfriend

went for in third place George

Russell

and my dad went for George Russell

so no points there

in second Max Verstappen

is what Ellie went for

and my dad went for Oscar Piastri

and in first place

Ellie went for Lando Norris

which was zero points

my dad went for Max Verstappen

so he's got two points it's over

the constructors is one

the one everyone wanted

everybody wants a double points in

double points finale

can I just say something

absolutely hilarious as well

so as many of you know

and also thank you

for the very kind comments about my dad

he absolutely loved it

he loved being on the pod

and yeah being

showered with lovely lovely

comments about his appearance

but when I'd finished recording and went back downstairs

he had like a face like thunder

and I was like what's wrong

like what's up and he was like

I was meant to say Norris

oh my god and I remember you telling me this as well

and he basically like had a brain fart

and said Piastri

and that's got him the point

so what you're telling me is

it was actually Lando P2

championship back on

so yeah there we go

crazy

come on

give the point back you didn't mean it

that's ridiculous

there we go

the good news is we'll get

a gross prediction for the finale

because it doesn't matter so

we'll get a good one

well done we might extend our lead

when Colin Pinto finishes third

honestly right so 24 races

3 predictions per

predictions per race

that's 72 opportunities to score a point

and it's 39

I think we need to go back to the drawing board

when it comes to the family top 3

to be fair everyone

it's always like roasts how low that score is

you've got to remember as well

and this is the thing we always say

the amount of times we get the top 3

correct who's on the podium

in the wrong order and you don't get a point

so you get the 2 like my clarins the wrong way around

you don't get a point but you're like

oh it's close so

that's the way it should be by the way

I know people have said like oh you should get a point for it

it's too complicated

it's got to be right or wrong

right that is it

that is it I hope you've enjoyed this

quite manic podcast

a lot of theories a lot of just fun

discussion really I hope you've enjoyed it

we certainly have we head to

Abu Dhabi next weekend

where 3 drivers

are in the fight

all of them could be crowned

world champion which is

utterly insane to think about

we will of course be live

on Saturday and Sunday

for the competitive sessions

qualifying of the year and the last race of the year

Tommy

I can't wait for it this is what I live for

as a Formula 1 fan

I'm going to be grinning from ear to ear

for the next few days

whilst we of course do driver ratings

have best reactions coming out tomorrow

how do you come up with some final thoughts

to share with everybody

I think what I'm most concerned about is

how am I sleeping

for the next few days because this

just championship

we'll be going around in my head

again and again

I was a wreck after

well basically after Brazil

well at least the bandaid is ripped off

like it's done at least I can chill out

literally said that

and then the fact that

we've gone into Vegas

it's still a really long shot

oh wow he's gained more points

and a 3 driver championship

going into the finale

whatever happens

whatever

whatever situation

whoever you support

drink it in because this is what Formula 1 fans

we've dreamed of

we want a championship fight

and actually I'll end on something I was going to save it

but I'm going to tell you anyway

do you remember

what your crazy prediction was

at the start of the season

it was a 4 way fight

4 way title fight and it's 3

wow

we've got a goal here to make it as close as possible

if we're going to put McLaren as the fourth entity

I'm kidding but yeah that was

that was the craziest so crazy predictions in the first place

I wish I was called to 3, why did I go for 4

you just got too much hype going into the season

yeah because I thought Ferrari might actually be good

that was the thing maybe next time

how have we got a 3 car fight going into the finale

I literally cannot believe it based on the start of the year

and we were like oh okay

McLaren have won the championship here we go

Toby we've monitored your percentage

throughout the entirety

of the last few races and it literally was like

0%

after Brazil

what is it now

what is the Tom Bellingham percentage

heading into the final race of Max Verstappen

winning the world championship

20

20%

it's going to take a lot but I think

the 20% is that

McLaren have got it in them

come on McLaren

we'll leave it on a positive

thank you McLaren for giving us this

without McLaren's

blunders we would not

this would be over and Abu Dhabi would be the least

hype ever but instead

we have this amazing championship fight

and my percentage is 40%

I think Max has a 40% chance

of winning and that's purely from

race to see by us

we've not even spoken about the way

how he's going to drive

and I would say that

Red Bull and Max will be closer than

they have been in Qatar

I think that it will play more to

Qatar is number one

on the McLaren hit list for

100% and Abu Dhabi still

suits them a lot

but

Max Verstappen is driving for the title

and I don't actually think he's driven

for the title really all year that much

we've not really seen

anything like absolutely crazy

where it has to go for it for the title

because he knows that it was such a long

shot but now we're going to see it

and one more thing because this podcast

is crazy and we love it

Oscar Piastri will not be driving in free practice

one worth mentioning

because they have to field a young driver

and it is a championship decider

and Oscar misses an hour

mad

that is a crazy situation

that McLaren have found themselves in

I'm sure the conspiracy theories

aren't going to go crazy

just look at the rules guys

that is it

thank you everybody for tuning in

if you want to listen to a little bit more

then we will be doing some Patreon questions

right after this

so come and join the P1 Patreon support us

get ad free listening as well as

lots of extra perks, access to our discord

and so on and so forth

we'd love to have you over there

but until then, next weekend

is Abu Dhabi the finale

cannot wait, lock in

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