Reaction to Mexico City GP practice

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy, ran out of air

there.

But we are, well, to be fair, that was a good joke because of the altitude.

Anyway, Mexico City, we're here another weekend, bish bash bosh, we love the fact

that it's back to back weekends because of everything, all the storylines, all the question

marks after Austin, 40 points between the top three.

And Friday is done and dusted, no sprint weekend to get excited about Tommy.

We had two honing of the cars, but two very different practice sessions as well.

For practice sessions around Mexico City, which doesn't usually get the blood flowing,

we had rookies in one, and then, oh, dear, piastry may be in the other.

Yeah, we had the continue of form of essentially the reverse order of the top three in the championship

and their performance going into it.

So it's certainly got everyone very excited going into the competitive sessions of qualifying

in the race on Sunday.

Now, before we get into FP1 and FP2, we love to sort of kind of just look into the things

that have been spoken out in the run up to this weekend.

And it's repercussions, Kate.

We need to dive into that once again.

But that is because it's all fair in love and war, and it's fair right now apparently

according to McLaren because ahead of the weekend, piastry confirmed the repercussions

that were given to Lando after Singapore, which were supposedly for the rest of the season

have now been eradicated because of what happened in Austin Sprint, you would assume, and the

fact that Oscar did that questionable move that we kind of highlighted.

And now they're back to having a clean slate.

So I know that it's now supposedly a level playing field.

I'm like, just leave it alone now.

You've got to just leave it alone.

If we get another incident as Oscar, if Oscar's at fault, does he then have the repercussions

that Lando had initially that was going to be for the rest of the season?

But I beg McLaren, just leave them alone now.

Let them race.

It's absolutely pathetic, isn't it?

I mean, McLaren have just been doing this all year.

And I think it says a lot about this world championship, how, you know, badly and

how annoyed Formula One fans are, and neutral Formula One fans or even McLaren fans themselves

at how much McLaren are just trying to micromanage this championship with every single little

detail.

And I think it speaks volumes that even Maxistap and haters are literally begging Max

to win the world title now.

I think that says everything you need to know about people's thoughts on how McLaren

are going about this championship.

What's the phrase?

Max needs new haters because the old ones are starting to love him or something like

that.

Yeah.

I was never a Maxistap and hater.

I always appreciated his his ability.

But now, of course, I am fully in the fandom and looking forward to my daddy.

I love him t-shirt to also arrive.

No, I haven't ordered it.

Don't worry.

Maybe I need something.

Right.

Let's get into free practice one.

Charlotte Clair Fastest.

Now part of that, I'm sure, is because there were nine rookies that were taking part in FB

One.

But we ignore that as a Ferrari fan who literally, Mexico was the last time Ferrari won.

We ignore all that.

We say Charlotte Clair is back.

Ferrari are back.

Such a shame he's out of the championship hunt at this point.

But of course, Charlotte Clair Fastest with 18-3, Kimi Antonelli was second and

Nico Hülkenberg was there to clearly a very representative session, representative.

That's the main word here, Tommy, right?

Yes.

There's not, like you say, there's not many of the full-time top drivers in competing.

So, but that being said, Ferrari did look quick straight out the blocks, although not

with their other car, but they would always be on the back foot.

Obviously, Antonio Foucault is a 29-year-old that's jumped in the car to kind of, let's

be honest, tick a box for Ferrari to, you know, he's not going to be the next driver

in Ferrari or anything like that.

It's just to kind of tick off that box really.

And if Ferrari out there tick a box, he's put me in the car for the next time they

need to tick that box.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, come on.

I mean, imagine.

A 29-year-old rookie.

That'd be something, wouldn't it?

I'm four years older.

And particularly as no GPS as well in the chaos, which made it even more challenging

for the rookies, essentially.

Chaos with the broadcast where we literally just had the international feed and that was

it.

No on-boards, no live timings, apart from obviously the timing tower.

And then more so, of course, for the teams and being able to spot cars around a track

that maybe doesn't quite come across just from first glance, that it would be such

a traffic-heavy circuit.

But it is.

It's a 1 minute 18, 1 minute 17 lap with 20 cars out there.

A lot of blind corners.

Yeah, a lot of blind corners, a lot of fast corners.

So I think, to be fair, the teams and the drivers did a phenomenal job to not have anything

of real notes that you went, God, that was close to being an absolute plane crash.

Or in fact, having a crash out there, there wasn't one.

So considering all the problems, fair play.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because we have seen it before.

I think it was last year was that Alex Halban had a crash with someone during one

of the practice sessions last year, I believe, so off the top of my head.

You mentioned the broadcast as well.

You've got to feel sorry for them because, of course, they got absolutely cooked and

rightly so in Singapore, but the feedback from Austin was actually, you know, the broadcast

was doing a great job.

You could tell they listened to the memes and were affected by the Formula One community

rambling and saying, finally, yeah, finally sunk in and we actually got to see so much

of the track.

They weren't cutting away from, you know, to the garage shuts all the time and drivers,

girlfriends and all that.

And they finally get it nailed after, you know, Austin and then they go into the next

race and all their systems go down and they can't live on board.

So hopefully that's back for the main thing.

Well, free practice too.

It was sorted as well.

So it was very much a one session thing, fingers crossed, still focusing on free

practice one question from P1 Patriot member One Ming, why P1?

Arvid Linblad setting a faster FP one time than Yuki Sonoda, the only rookie to beat

his teammate in FP one.

What's the final straw for Yuki?

Wasn't it?

I was actually chatting about this with my girlfriend, Ellie.

She's a big Formula One fan.

She listens to the people and podcast.

Big shout out to you.

Well, of course, part of the crazy family prediction series that we do.

I was just trying to think about how this is going to unfold at the Red Bull family,

because I just feel like it's so unbelievably unfair for Yuki Sonoda to have had all the

hype to a degree get in the run up to the Red Bull seat.

And then he's had absolutely no opportunity to really showcase his ability purely by

the fact that that Red Bull is categorically a car that only Max Verstappen can drive.

We can all sort of accept that now.

We've had far too much evidence to suggest anything else.

Of course, seeing this, I feel, yeah, I think it's more about Linblad doing a phenomenal job,

I would say.

It's free practice one.

Let's not forget.

I'm not saying that Yuki Sonoda has put down the lap of his life and he's eighth

in free practice one, seven tenths off.

He also, by the way, has a new front wing now, which supposedly, depending on

translation, seems as though they were expecting for Yuki to be within three

tenths of Max Verstappen.

That's how some people have been reading into either way.

There should be some sort of performance gain for Yuki this race.

So I'm not going to go ahead and start saying Yuki's this, Yuki's that,

Yuki's terrible for a free practice one time.

I think this is more an opportunity to say that Arvid Linblad did exactly

what he needed to do to put himself even more on the map than perhaps he was.

I mean, this is where the hype is with Arvid at the moment anyway.

But to put down the sixth fastest time in a red ball that's supposed to be

very difficult to drive hats off to you.

Absolutely.

And I'll thank him as well, because I had Yuki Sonoda as my big flop for

the weekend and him being beaten by a rookie is that's just locked in already,

even if he wins the race.

No, I'm joking.

But I think this does say, I mean, I said the same

many times, I think it's the final straw.

It was the final straw for Yuki Sonoda.

Anyway, I don't think it's fair that that is the case.

He was fighting a losing battle, being maxed out and his teammate

particularly joining in, I'll say halfway through the season, two races

into the season and not having the testing.

But unfortunately for him, I'd be really surprised if he stays

and in the Red Bull family as well.

But it says more about Linblad for sure.

Because I think he's done a good job in Formula Two.

There's a lot of hype around him.

He's not been like absolutely unbelievable in Formula Two that it's

kind of are we absolutely has to be in like we've maybe seen with certain

drivers like your George Russell's, your LaClois, your Verstappens.

But that being said to go.

What did Verstappen do, F2, bro?

I meant just Juniors, I meant Juniors.

Sorry, just thought I'd drop some Verstappen lore there.

Actually, they will be questioning that.

Yeah, they will be.

Can't be saying Verstappen's.

But Linblad, the fact that he's jumped straight into a Formula One car

in a session, like a proper Formula One session and beaten Yuki Snowda,

like that if he already is obviously like it seems like he's like 95% confirmed

anyway, if you needed that extra 5% like easy, easy done, like he's in

that car next year, not the Red Bull, but a Formula One car in the V Cup.

Makes a lot of sense, to be honest with you.

I just hope that he's able to perform to the level that everybody is expecting.

Now, before we dive into free practice too, probably also worth mentioning

that we've got the exciting step difference in the tyres this weekend,

similar to how we had in Austin as well, which made the hard tyres

completely and utterly useless.

So the C2...

So which tyre is useless this week?

Yeah, and I would imagine, well, let's see.

But it's the C2...

Sorry, the C...

Let me make sure this is correct because I'm pretty sure the step is the hard.

So I'm pretty sure it's the C2 C4 C5, if I'm not mistaken.

Let me just 100% check this right now.

Mexico Pirelli tyres.

We're doing a live check.

I'm pretty sure it's the C2 C4 C5.

It is.

So in the sheet, I've been thrown off, but that's because I'm pretty

sure I said that initially to you and then got the numbers wrong.

C2 C4 C5 is what are the tyres available, which, yeah, again,

would suggest that perhaps the hard tyres won't be used,

which is what Pirelli, I think, are trying to do here is get those

two softer tyres on the car and perhaps push them into a two-stop.

A two-stop.

Well, whether that will happen, who knows, because as much as we

have long straights and high downforce on the cars, doesn't matter.

There's no air.

Therefore, there's no slipstream and it's probably as hard to overtake

as it is in Monza.

But I do like the fact that Pirelli are doing it again.

That is, that's a doubly.

Put them in, we're rally right now.

I do like that they're doing it for sure.

But unfortunately for them, it does rarely work just from the fact

that I mean, it's better than them not doing it, but it's

just more the fact that it does rarely work just because

that they are always allowed to obviously bin off one of the

tyres because they only need to use two.

So just get them to use three.

Come on, it's the easiest thing.

It's an interesting point, isn't it?

Because on paper, if they're forced into a two-stop, that's a win.

That's what they're after.

But the problem is, if the teams are able to do a one-stop,

that it is a very normal strategy, that there's not much difference.

You either start on the softs or start on the mediums like we saw

in Austin and then just change to the other tyre and it's a one-stop.

So there isn't even that excitement of starting on the hards

and then doing the softs because if the hards are useless

and it looks like they are, I think they're 1.7 to 1.9 seconds

a lap slower than the soft tyres in raw pace.

So let's see, I wait to be fully excited by this.

But at the same time, I like the theory of it.

I just want it to actually happen and for the tyres to degrade.

Yeah, I agree that that's what needs to happen.

But I don't want to slander probably because it's not their fault.

It's that they're only doing what they can

and they're trying something to try and spice it up.

But until we get this kind of rule

where they have to use three compounds,

which I think is such an easy thing to implement

and they should be doing it,

I don't see why they haven't even questioned it

or it been brought to the table yet.

It's not going to make a difference.

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Let's head to free practice, too,

where Max Verstappen was fastest

ahead of Charles Leclerc and Kimmy Antonelli.

Lando Norris was P4.

Piastri, P12.

Let's get into the first question on this session.

P1Patreon member Blackson,

panic stations at McLaren?

I think certainly for one driver

who will obviously go into more detail with...

I mean, McLaren,

yeah, they, of course, are...

They seem to have almost, like, maxed out their car.

They obviously had that amazing advantage,

particularly in the middle part of the season,

where, of course, we didn't think Max

was gonna be in this title at all,

because they went through that middle part of the season,

where they were just getting one-twos easily

every single weekend, you know,

around Silverstone time.

And even, you know, continuing into...

After the summer break, we got into Zambor,

and they would have got a one-two again,

obviously without the mechanical failure from Norris.

So they were looking so dominant,

and now other teams have still got, you know,

upgrades, and particularly Red Bull in the locker.

And McLaren don't really have a huge amount left.

There was a graphic come up on the screen

saying that they were third-fastest.

I don't believe that for a second.

Explain the graphic that you saw for those...

Yeah, so if you've seen at the start of the sessions,

they like to do a performance graphic

where they tell you which car's fastest,

and it had Red Bull first,

Mercedes second,

and McLaren's the third-fastest car now,

which I think it's a bit extreme to think,

particularly that they're slower than Mercedes.

I think Singapore, you know, was a brilliant lap from George,

and there's obviously loads of data involved,

and it was also incredibly difficult to judge the Red Bull

when you've only got one driver delivering as well.

But yeah, I think McLaren,

they certainly do not have the dominance that they had before.

They're not far and away the best car.

They can still challenge for victories.

I still think last time out in Austin,

you know, Lando had the pace of Max,

he saw that when he got past Leclerc.

So they do have a very good car underneath them.

But I think it's more panic stations for Oscar Piestri

being so far off his teammate again,

particularly as he is the one that did do FP1.

Yeah, Oscar's post-practice interview

was quite telling, I think,

in the sense of not exuding confidence,

sort of saying the car was reasonable,

which I think is about as polite as you can get

with a driver that's PR-trained to say,

if you read between the lines, he's not happy with the car.

And this is, I think Jacques Villeneuve said in commentary

that it seems like it's a continuation for Oscar Piestri

and I have to agree that this is not...

As much as Friday's nothing, right?

It's practice. You're trying to figure it out.

Maybe he's trying loads of different ways of driving the car,

things like that.

But I feel like he is scrambling now

to try and claw back the deficit that he has now

to Lando and to Max.

He doesn't have the healthy buffer that he once had.

He's never had a massive buffer in the championship.

But he was turning up almost week in, week out with this pace

that we expected to be as quick as Lando,

if not a little bit quicker.

So for me, this is the absolute opposite

of what Oscar Piestri needed.

He literally had an extra practice session.

Lando was the one sitting out,

had Pato awarding for FP1 instead of Lando.

So Oscar's had an additional practice session.

Now, I'm not saying he's 12th fastest.

It was a scruffy lap from what we saw.

But I really don't think he was troubling the top five

with that lap, even if he had put it together a little bit better.

Oscar tomorrow needs to be in the top four minimum.

That absolute minimum he needs to be in the top four.

With Mexico City, of course, there is an opportunity

for slipstreaming down towards turn one.

So it's not the end of the world if you're not on pole position.

But the problem for him is that,

and we've said this before about other teammate comparisons

like Max with Sonodo or Max with literally

anybody's ever had in the Red Bull,

tracks like this where the gaps between the teams

aren't that big.

If you are 3, 4, 10ths off your teammate,

you could well be starting 8th, 9th, 10th

because of how quick this circuit is.

It's a 1 minute 17.

So for Oscar, I'm a little bit concerned for him, for sure.

And I'm not saying it's Panic Stations yet,

but it's not looking great.

And also just quickly, finally on this one,

the Ferrari team radio was a bit of an insight as well

where Charlotte Clair was questioning,

you know, McLaren light years ahead,

how was the pace?

They said Lando was looking very quick.

I'm assuming here, but I reckon they were talking

about race pace because they can see the time

Charlotte doesn't need to ask, you know,

where is Oscar and things like that.

And they said that Lando looked really fast

and basically not so much Oscar.

It is fascinating how the,

I think the thing here as well is I don't think Oscar

is going to be that far off.

And he'll certainly be hoping that he's not.

But it does increase that pressure, doesn't it,

going into the rest of the weekend.

However much it is a session that literally doesn't matter.

The fact that he now has to end the day

and that will be the headline.

And as this happened as fast as, again,

an Oscar Piastri is 12th, you know,

it's a really poor position to be in.

And he'll be, of course, you know, bombarded

with questions going, and there'll be all this talk.

And that as well is the pressure of the championship.

Another thing I saw actually,

I'm sure you saw this as well,

that there's a lot of talk about these

FP1 sessions and how Oscar obviously still

has to sacrifice one of them.

And going into the final few rounds, of course,

they're not going to pick Vegas because it's a street track.

They're not going to pick the two sprints.

So he's very, very, very likely

that he's going to have to sit out FP1 at Abu Dhabi,

which, of course, is going to be the title finale.

I know it's a non-representative session.

I'm not going to start that.

Of course.

But, and, well, yeah,

you don't know how it's going to pan out.

But that's another kind of confidence blow,

I think, going into that session

just increases that pressure a little bit more.

Absolutely.

A lot of fascinating stuff going into this weekend's action.

Question from one Pablo SF1.

Is there foul play going on on Oscar's side?

No.

It's just, we discussed this, didn't we,

in the last podcast that Oscar hasn't been

as good at these final circuits

throughout his career so far.

Of course, there's a very short Formula One career,

so there's not a huge amount to go on.

And obviously, he's struggling for confidence in that car.

We know that the start of the season,

the McLaren was incredibly quick

and it suited Oscar massively and his driving style.

And that was Lando's biggest problem, wasn't it,

that he struggled with the car.

And now it seems that Lando, as that car's developed,

Lando's got a hold of it much better.

And Oscar's the one that's struggling a lot more.

But there's no way that McLaren sabotage

their own championship leader.

I do think, and I said this about Monza

and how that mentality has kind of shifted

since that moment.

And of course, the Papaya Rules situation,

and there's been a lot of talk about

Papaya Rules being this thing that they use.

And it seems that every time Oscar needs the Papaya Rules,

they kind of say, no, you're not allowed to race.

And every time Lando can, it's like,

okay, it's fine.

And there's been a lot of talk of that.

But they're not going to completely sabotage it.

It's far too risky because, of course,

Max Verstappen as well is knocking on

the door of the championship.

So a team can have their favourites, no doubt.

But they will never sabotage their own car.

That's just a ridiculous thing.

Now, it's an absolutely insane thing to think.

If McLaren don't win this driver's championship,

it is the greatest crumble by a team ever

when it comes to trying to win the driver's world championship.

Yes, they've won the constructors whoop-de-doo,

but everybody remembers the driver's champion.

I don't think it's foul play.

No, not a chance.

However, I do think there's mismanagement,

which we're seeing unfold before our very eyes

with Oscar Piastri.

And perhaps that is layered with the fact

that they have a slight bias towards Lando in some ways.

You know, Zach Brown, we know he would rather see Lando

win the championship because he's friendly with him

and he plays golf with him and things like that.

It's not foul play, but I think these things can add up.

And people have been collating all of these moments

that have favoured Lando over Oscar.

Of course, it's going to play on anyone's mind, for sure.

You can't say it's categorically that.

I think there is clearly some things here

where Oscar's just feeling the pressure

of the championship closing up

and so many things, the tracks, as you said, Tommy,

the tracks in his record,

in his very small racing record, have not favoured him.

He's finished eighth, I think, in the last two

Mexico City Grand Prix.

He got knocked out in Q1.

Am I remembering that last year?

So he's got a lot of things going against him

coming into these last few rounds,

but there's also, on the more positive side,

if you're an Oscar fan,

there's very similar journeys

and paths that Oscar has had in previous formula

where this exact scenario has played out

and he's ended up winning, I think, both championships.

So he can do it,

but he does need a very good qualifying tomorrow.

Next question.

P1 Patriot member Alan Enderpay.

How much of a hindrance will Mercedes and Ferrari

be towards the championship fight

since they look great in pace?

I am absolutely convinced

that Mercedes and Ferrari are going to play a role

in the championship fight

and may well even be in Abu Dhabi.

Their pace is very, very close to the McLaren

and to the Red Bull out in front.

They shouldn't, on paper, beat them,

but they also have.

Singapore was an incredible performance from George.

Ferrari looking strong, although question marks

over whether they're using a little bit more engine mode

to get those headlines.

Don't mind it.

Give me any headline.

Just give me hope.

Just give me faith, Ferrari.

I love you, but I am convinced

that a slightly poor weekend from an Oscar,

from a Lando, from a Max, and Mercedes and Ferrari,

especially in the hands of Charles Leclerc

and George Russell in particular,

and Hamilton, who look good in Austin,

they can take so many points away

from one of these three championship protagonists.

And yeah, I think they are going to have a massive factor

in these next five races.

Absolutely.

I think they already have been with the fact

that Ferrari took points off in Austin,

took points off Oscar, of course.

And then equally, George was the one

that stopped Max Verstappen winning the race

and gaining even more points on the McLaren.

So they're already playing a part

and it looks like they are going to be even more

as we go into the final races

because we are seeing the pack closing up.

It's kind of weirdly gone in the opposite way

I thought it would this season where

if you look at something like 2013

when there was a big rule change

and Sebastian Vettel started dominating

and had already kind of, you know,

wrapped up the championship

and everyone just put all their eggs into 2014

and Sebastian Vettel went on that massive winning streak

of winning nine in a row.

And I kind of felt like that was going to be the same

with McLaren, especially after they got all those one twos.

Everyone else is just going to say like,

enough's enough, we're at hundreds of points behind.

We're not, you know, we're not going to be anywhere now

and McLaren were just, you know, dominating

at that mid-part of the season

and I thought that was how it's going to pan out.

But if anything, the pack has come closer together

and we've kind of got that, the championship

that we kind of thought we were going to have

right from the start of the season

of the fact that, you know, you are getting,

the battle for pole is between the top four teams all the time.

So yeah, they're definitely going to play a part

and it's going to be crucial for the championship

because of course, you know, Max needs them to be in that gap

to gain even more points off the McLarens.

But equally, as we saw in Singapore,

they could beat him and stop him

from getting the maximum points.

So yeah, it's so much intrigue

going into these final races now.

I can't believe it's gone the way it has.

Me neither.

It feels not as extreme, but still kind of like Braun GP

in the sense of McLaren were so, so good

and easily the fastest.

Even literally back in Zandvoort, they were miles clear.

And I'm sure, and quite rightly, strategically,

McLaren have probably said, right, tools down.

We'll look to next year.

And they've made kind of very little progress

from that point on.

And they are now being caught at a rate of knots

with which we're actually questioning

whether they are the third fastest car

according to the F1 graphic.

I don't think it's as bad as that.

Well, it's like last year,

but you literally swapped Red Bull and McLaren

around almost.

It's bizarre.

It is bizarre.

And that pretty much sums up Friday practice.

I cannot wait for qualifying tomorrow.

How is it going to stack up for Sunday?

This is just so mad

that this is where the season is right now.

I hope everybody is as excited as we are for this

because it has injected a new,

just a new feeling of,

wow, we could be about to witness something

absolutely mental.

And I'm not even a, I know I joke,

but I'm not a Max Verstappen fan like you, Tommy.

How are you even sleeping at night?

I'm literally thinking about this championship

like most moments of the day

because it is just like,

how on earth has this happened?

And as he's kind of like making this come back,

my God, don't want it to happen so, so badly

even if the result will be me getting my first ever tattoo.

But it's a sacrifice.

And your forehead saying, Daddy, I love him.

Is that right?

Is that what was said?

I can't remember.

We'll go back on the tapes.

Right, that is it.

Thank you everybody for tuning in.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

Can't wait for Sunday.

We will be live on Twitch and YouTube as always.

Come and join us there.

Remember as well, P1 Live Delusion Tour.

We literally fly to America next week.

So please come along to one of our shows.

We'd love to see you there.

And that is it.

See you soon.

We'll also love to take care.

Sweet dreams, quite literally sweet dreams.

It's 10 to one in the morning.

Goodbye.

That was your final thoughts.

I did it right.

Oh, also actually, let's add a chore because someone literally was like basically having

a breakdown about the fact that we hadn't done a chore for a while.

Oh, okay.

And we're getting in trouble with their parents.

I can't remember what it was.

Oh, wow.

Get that mop out and start doing the kitchen floor because it's looking a little bit grubby.

I live with a dog now.

And Bruno, he likes to just...

The malt.

No, no, it doesn't malt.

I don't know why I'm still waving.

This is literally for audio.

It doesn't malt, but he's just dog food gets in places that you wouldn't expect.

And I just feel as though if you have a dog, you should do that.

Although actually similarly and oppositely, oppositely, is that a word?

They do clean up for you as well.

Yeah, they do.

So that's about 10 to 1 a.m.

10 to 1 a.m.

That doesn't feel right.

Yeah, having a dog and a baby when you're first feeding a bit, this feels like a...

We're going up.

Yeah, it is because you literally don't have to clean the floor.

Everything she dropped, Frank's just there like a snapping.

Frank's dropping some nuclear farts after that because he's eating things he shouldn't have.

Oh my God, honestly Bruno's farts linger for a good 30 minutes in the room.

I'm not even kidding.

I will leave, come back and be like, how the hell have I been sat in here?

Anyway, this has gone wild, hasn't it?

See you soon.

Goodbye.

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