The Late Braking F1 Podcast Apr 12, 2026

Unpacking GP Lambiase's SHOCK McLaren switch

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Brand

Red Bull

Red Bull is the Formula 1 team involved here. They’re known for being very competitive and for having a strong team of engineers working closely with the driver.

Brand

McLaren

McLaren is one of the major Formula 1 teams. In this segment, they’re bringing in a top race engineering leader to strengthen their race leadership.

Concept

F1 is Formula 1, the highest level of open-wheel racing. Teams and drivers sign contracts that line up with the racing seasons, so when someone announces a move can affect how everyone plans for the next few years.

Concept

2027 season

The “2027 season” is the next year of Formula 1 racing. The point here is that people might expect a change to happen right after that season ends, but the timing doesn’t seem to match that expectation.

Concept

direct rival

A direct rival is a team that competes closely for the same results. If someone moves there, it can quickly affect how strong they are.

Brand

Williams

Williams is an F1 team, but here they’re being described as not strong enough right now to challenge the very top teams for the long run.

Term

radio

The radio is how the pit wall talks to the driver during the race. They use it to give instructions and updates while the car is on track.

Concept

gelling

“Gelling” just means people working together smoothly. In racing, if the team isn’t on the same page, it can lead to slower or conflicting decisions.

Brand

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is one of the Formula 1 teams. Here it’s mentioned as an example of a team that has had the right people but still hasn’t been winning as expected.

Brand

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen is a Red Bull Racing driver and a central figure in the team’s recent success. The episode ties his performance to the broader team context and the importance of engineering and leadership stability.

Brand

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is a Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver and one of the most successful F1 racers. The transcript uses his 2021 matchup context to highlight how competitive the season was and why the team’s performance mattered.

Concept

coaching role

A “coaching role” in F1 typically refers to mentoring and performance guidance rather than direct race-day engineering. The transcript suggests the person could move into a senior development function, influencing how engineers and drivers work together.

Concept

structural and cultural changes

Teams don’t just change parts—they also change how they’re run and how people work together. In F1, that can affect how fast the team fixes issues and how well everyone coordinates.

Concept

Christian Horner

Christian Horner is a key leader in the Red Bull F1 world. The speaker is saying his exit was connected to serious issues inside the team.

Term

aero

Aero is how the car’s shape interacts with the air. In F1, better aero helps the car stick to the track and go faster, especially in corners.

Concept

pre-season testing

Pre-season testing is the practice period before the season starts. Teams use it to check their car and upgrades, but you can’t always trust the lap times because they may not be pushing as hard as they will in races.

Concept

fuel loads

Fuel load means how much fuel the car has onboard. More fuel usually makes the car slower and changes tire wear, so testing times can be misleading.

Concept

sprint races

A sprint race is a shorter race on a race weekend. It’s used to help decide where cars start for the main race, so teams often push differently.

Concept

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is a very experienced F1 driver. The podcast is praising him for being able to adjust his driving style when the cars and rules change.

Concept

social media

They’re talking about how social media can make people look perfect. In racing, that makes it harder to be honest when things aren’t going well.

Concept

the goat

“GOAT” means “best ever.” They’re saying sports culture pushes people to act like they’re perfect, even when they’re dealing with real problems.

Concept

motivation, confidence, environment

The speaker is saying that racing isn’t only about raw skill. How confident you feel, what motivates you, and whether your team situation fits you can all affect results.

Concept

Belgian GP

The Belgian GP is one of the Formula 1 races. Here it’s used to identify the exact race where the big crash and strategy battles happened.

Concept

halo

The halo is a safety bar around the driver’s head area. It’s there to protect the driver from debris and certain crash forces.

Term

shooey

“Shooey” is Daniel Ricciardo’s signature celebration where he drinks from a shoe after a win or podium. It’s a recognizable personality/brand moment in F1 culture and is referenced here to mark the emotional high point.

Concept

four-time world champion

Calling Vettel a “four-time world champion” emphasizes his proven championship pedigree and sets context for how impressive it is that Ricciardo is challenging him. In F1 storytelling, these titles help listeners gauge relative experience and performance expectations.

Concept

Monaco GP

The Monaco Grand Prix is famous for its tight street circuit, limited overtaking opportunities, and high dependence on qualifying and track position. Because of that, a driver’s ability to capitalize on race incidents (like safety cars) can be especially important.

Concept

race craft

“Race craft” means how good a driver is at racing smart, not just fast. It includes things like when to overtake and how to defend without losing position.

Concept

front row

“Front row” means starting right at the front of the grid, in the first two spots. That usually gives a driver a better chance because they’re ahead of everyone else.

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Hello and a very warm welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage

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We've got plenty coming up on today's show.

We've got comments from Daniel Ricciardo and a bit of a top five list about his top drives

in his F1 career.

The Bahrain Grand Prix was obviously supposed to take place today,

so our thoughts on what might have happened if it had gone ahead.

But let's start with news that was broken on Thursday.

You are in the bad books.

You don't break news on Thursday.

That doesn't align with our podcasting schedule, but we will cover it anyway,

which is Jean-Pierre Lambiassi, Red Bull's head of race engineering,

has agreed to join McLaren from 2028.

The team said Lambiassi, who is most well known for being Max Verstappen's race engineer,

will become McLaren's chief racing officer reporting into team principal Andrea Stella.

The statement said,

the role of the chief racing officer already exists within the team's structure with

overall leadership of the race team.

These duties are currently managed by Andrea Stella,

in addition to his role as team principal.

The statement said Lambiassi would join McLaren when his contract ends,

no later than 2028.

Red Bull also put out a statement confirming that Lambiassi would leave the team in 2028,

when his current contract expires.

Um, firstly, Sam, your reaction to the news?

But it was a joke.

You thought it was a joke?

Thought it was fake news.

Wow.

Yeah, didn't think this was actually happening, and it took me by such surprise

that I think that besides Hamilton to Ferrari,

Nui to Aston Martin, this might be the biggest move of Personnel

that I've seen in a long time.

He's so Red Bull, so Max Verstappen, through and through.

You know, those two are maybe the most famous pairing at the moment in Formula One.

You know, we used to have Hamilton and Bono, for example.

That was always the pair that you'd always think about.

Um, maybe McLaren, Ricky.

Oh, sorry, science for Ricky.

Ricky!

For other reasons.

But these two are, you know, they're like bread and butter.

They go together.

They're the first thing that you think of.

And so when the news broke that GP was leaving Red Bull and going to McLaren,

obviously initially it was, oh, he's just leaving Red Bull.

About an hour later, it was also announced that he'll be joining McLaren.

Shortest unemployment in history.

It felt like it wasn't real.

It felt like it didn't actually make sense to me.

So, yeah, completely taken by shock with the news.

I really wasn't expecting it.

Yeah, there was certainly an element of surprise about it.

I'm less surprised about the move itself and more about the timing of it,

because it felt like whilst there was some speculation towards the end of 2025

about would he stay at Red Bull?

Would he look to go elsewhere?

It felt like that had mostly died down.

But it is very odd to see an F1 figure,

whether it's a driver or just a senior figure in the sport,

announce they're leaving 18 to 24 months before it actually goes ahead.

It's pretty rare for that to be the case.

I have no doubt McLaren will want to organize that to happen sooner.

I think their statement, Zach Brown's comments, indicate that,

that it will be 2028 at the latest.

That is when the contract expires.

Red Bull, though, pretty clear in the statement to say

it will be in 2028 and not sooner.

I think that firstly, the interesting thing there is that there's no comment

about it being the end of 2027.

There's no, you would maybe expect it to be the conclusion of the 2027 season,

but that doesn't appear to be the case.

So for those thinking that when they say 28,

he'll be there ready to go at the beginning of the year,

that might not be the case.

We don't know when his contract does expire in that year.

It could be similar to Adrian Newey when he left.

I think his contract was up in April.

It was, yeah.

So it might be a case where they aren't getting ready for the season

in January and February with him, and he comes a bit later on.

But if I had to guess, McLaren and Red Bull will come to some sort of arrangement

to get this done sooner.

It just doesn't benefit anyone by dragging it out.

That's what I think.

I've got visions of December 31st, 1155.

Woo, Happy New Year.

We love you, GP.

And then literally one big past midnight,

is there outside the Red Bull factory?

You are Satan's.

Get out.

You know, doors shut behind him.

They carry on party without him as he stood out in the cold.

It doesn't benefit either party to drag out this contract for as long as possible.

He's so integral to how Red Bull work right now,

but he's going to a direct rival.

If he was maybe going to Cadillac, for example,

if he was maybe going to Audi or something like that,

Williams, which is rumored at the start at the end of last year,

where they are much further down the pecking order and not someone that we

expect Red Bull to be competing with long term for the next two or three seasons,

you can almost sit there and be like,

well, it doesn't matter if he brings over a little bit of information,

because there's so many other things that they need to sort out

to make themselves properly competitive with where Red Bull expect to be

over the next season and a half.

But McLaren are already in front of them.

And if the development cycle continues in the way that we're seeing it already

at the start of these new regulations,

then McLaren might stay in front of Red Bull for the next two or three seasons.

So going to a direct competitor who are already on a level playing field,

if not better, you don't want to give them new stuff

that they're going to be working towards over the next two years.

But equally, you don't want to ice out someone like GP for the next 18 months

because he might harbor information that is important from McLaren.

So you've just got this weight on the side of you,

someone who was so important, who is now just kind of like,

can you talk to Max over the radio, please?

We're paying you a lot of money just to talk over the radio

and help with some strategy because we can't tell you much more

because we don't want you to take it to a direct rival.

So I do think once they saw a suitable lineage, a suitable replacement

and work out probably what Max's dapper is going to do,

I think that realistically, that'll be when GP actually gets the move.

I think start at 27, that's when we'll see GP actually go.

It wouldn't surprise me and they need to, if you're Red Bull,

think about the future because I agree with what you say,

that there isn't much point in dragging this out from Red Bull's perspective.

I don't actually think that benefits them.

So they need to start to think about who is that replacement regardless

of whether Verstappen is there or not, they're going to need someone in the role.

And if that person is ready and trained or whatever word you want to use,

if that's the case by the start of 27, then I feel like you just

pull the plug and go for it because if you can then use 27

as a bit of an adjustment period or at least the first few months of that,

then suddenly whoever it is, both engineer and driver,

have got a much better relationship at the end of 27 than going into 2028.

Putting it off might not benefit anyone at this point.

I am surprised a little bit by McLaren on this, not about the move itself

because Lambiase is highly regarded in the F1 paddock and rightly so.

And I think having him in your team is an obvious benefit.

But a lot can change in 18 months, two years,

that we might be looking at before Lambiase is going there.

McLaren's recovery has relied heavily on structure

and ensuring that they have these pillars of three pillars.

They've relied quite heavily on that beforehand.

It was a bit of a mess at the team in terms of the organization, the structure.

They're fitting him into a role that does exist,

but they don't know what the rest of the team is going to look like in two years.

I hope from their side, they haven't just hired the individual

without thinking too heavily about the role and the fit.

I would assume they haven't done that, but I think that's worth thinking about at least.

It makes sense that it's such a high-profile role opening, so to speak.

You would be a high-profile figure, someone who is highly experienced.

Look, there's only going to be a handful of candidates

that actually make sense to fit into that role anyway.

With the conversation that Stellar has been doing this role

alongside his team principal role, it's a really interesting dynamic.

And a technical director as well, I should add.

He's doing three roles.

My guy is maybe underpaid.

I'm joking. I would take 10% of that.

But my point here is Stellar is incredibly qualified.

He's brilliant at what he does, but there's a very odd dynamic at McLaren

where he runs his TD role, he has the team principal role,

he's head of racing and on-track racing.

Then you've got Zach Brown, who of course is such an involved CEO role,

who almost acts as like a vocal team principal.

You've got brilliant members like Rob Marshall,

who are also very much involved in the overall building of the team

and the way that the car is developed.

It's a very multifaceted team.

I'm really intrigued to see what happens to Stellar once GP joins,

because I think we might see a lot less of him.

If GP is planning to run the racing side of the team,

which is actually the on-track organisation and how that might manifest,

I don't think he'll be a singular engineer.

I don't think we'll see him speaking directly to one driver.

I think that will remain. I think he'll be above that.

So, I wonder how Stellar will intertwine now into the day-to-day running of the race weekend.

Yeah. If you're Andrea Stellar as well, and you are doing three roles at the same time,

and you've had a big part to play in the hiring of Lambi Assi, of course,

and that will be a large part of Lambi Assi's role as communication with Stellar.

But if you are Andrea Stellar and you're overworked in,

it's like, well, we've got a solution in place to take something off your plate.

Cool. When are we activating that? 2028.

God, great. Two more years.

Right. Yeah. I mean, there is something to that as well.

I just think we've fit and roll, and you look at other teams, and there's just

precautionary tales, I think, from other teams about how this doesn't necessarily always go the

way you want when it comes to hiring very effective individuals into your team,

and it not necessarily gelling with what you've already got going on.

Just look at Aston Martin.

Aston Martin would be the number one example, for sure.

Nui and Cowell, you put those together, and immediately you think

they can't do anything but win a championship. They can, apparently.

They've not been winning it.

They've not been winning right now. And look at maybe Aldi as well with Wheatley and Bonotto.

Two guys that can fulfill a pretty similar role,

but the idea there was that they'd play to each other's strengths.

Instead, it just didn't really work.

And I know Wheatley might be leaving for other reasons as well, but there were a lot of reports

that two of them aren't necessarily working as well as they could have done.

So that is something to watch out for when it comes to McLaren.

The next thing I wanted to ask you, and I think you've just kind of answered this,

was what role he would play exactly. We know he's going into this sort of,

off track role, but away from being an engineer and sort of sitting above that.

So you don't think he will become one of the race engineers here?

No, I think McLaren have redefined what a lot of the team definitions are.

We've seen Zac Brown very much involved. We've seen Stella be a very different

side of team principal, usually away from the cameras.

He'll do some of the interviews, but very much involved in the team development.

I think he will essentially sit between Stella and the everyday race situation.

So he will speak to the direct race engineers.

He'll speak to strategists. He'll work out the data for the track

and work out what the best method moving forward for success is.

I think he will be that liaison between their headquarters and what's going on on the racetrack.

I think he will essentially run everything on the road.

And then I think it will allow Stella to be a little bit more technical in his development

of the car whilst also managing the overarching running of the team.

And I actually wouldn't be surprised if we see Zac Brown step away slightly

to govern the wider McLaren portfolio, of course, as CEO.

So I think that might open that up a little bit.

That would make sense. And my instinct is that he won't become one of the two race

engineers because whilst he's doing that right now with Max Verstappen,

it's almost like that's a relationship Red Bull can't really afford to lose.

It works that well. It is quite rare for a race engineer to have such a senior position

away from that job. It's only really himself and Peter Bonnington.

Those are really the only two guys that hold those quite senior roles outside

of what they do for the driver. But I get the sense that McLaren would rather him focus on

his role outside. The role that they've hired him to do, I think you're right on that one.

I also think as well, like in terms of the value that he could bring to McLaren and

particularly if you think of Tom Stallard and Will Joseph, obviously overseeing

Piastri and Norris, respectively, he is vastly experienced as Lambiassi.

He's done that job. He's straightforward. He's quite an honest figure.

He garners quite a lot of respect. I think he could help the two of them in terms of their comms.

I don't want that sound patronising at all because they could do their jobs. But equally,

we know that in the last year or so that McLaren haven't been perfect when it comes to

strategy communications between driver and engineer. Lambiassi, I think, could help there.

I fully agree. There's a reason that a meme emerged from McLaren's 2025 season in that

papaya rules or papa rules, if you're a long-term listener at the show, in the sense that

they couldn't communicate anything clearly, efficiently. It felt like a bit of a mess.

We had drivers complaining over radios. The strategy wasn't always clearing what was going on.

Let him pass. Do I let him pass? When do I let them pass? It was all a bit of a mess many times.

And when you're in a title fight, when you're in that hunt for both the drivers and constructors,

these are constructions you don't want. You want total efficiency, clarity,

in how you're going to be successful. The GP has been in that situation many, many times,

arguably in more stressful versions of a title fight. He was there with Max Verstappen when he

went up against Lewis Hamilton in 2021. It was a key part of that season being so successful

for Max Verstappen. With that, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes on a large coaching role

in the terms of how the race engineer department works. If we do see some structural and cultural

changes in that, I was hoping, though, that McLaren won't shift too much culturally.

They do have a very unique identity on the grid. They are very much like a

one-on-all community. We do it together. That's been their mindset now for a few seasons.

GP coming from Red Bull, it is a very different world. I do wonder how he will integrate into

this kind of McLaren altogether or one for all rather than a cutthroat, get the job done,

worry to upset the apple cart, be the bad guys of racing, which I think Red Bull quite enjoyed

that kind of monitor. No doubt. We'll take a quick break at this point. On the other side,

we'll wrap up this conversation thinking about what, if anything, it says about Red Bull. Also,

is there any chance for Staffen joins GP on the way to McLaren?

Welcome back, everyone. We've looked at this GP lambiasi move to McLaren more from

McLaren's perspective and also GP's perspective. We haven't really yet touched too much on what

this means, if anything, for Red Bull. He's a very senior figure there, and it's not exactly the

first big-time move from the team in the last couple of years. Is this actually a case, Sam,

of someone not being fully committed behind, not fully committed, but not being fully invested

in this Red Bull recovery as they're in right now? I think a season ago, he would have been

invested. I think when all these changes happened, you've got to remember they've lost so many key

personnel. The structural change at Red Bull is almost unfounding in Formula One.

It doesn't look like the same team from a few years ago.

It literally isn't. I've got a list here. Of course, we've lost Helmut Marco, Chief Mechanic

for Max Verstappen, Matt Cullerwent, Jonathan Wheatley has already gone, Front End Mechanic

on his shacks also gone. Now, of course, we previously lost Christian Horner, and now GP

is off as well. All these leading faces of the last couple of years from Red Bull are gone.

They're a whole different team. When you're Red Bull and you think, well, what do we do here?

How do we pull this together? What does this look like for us? I can see why he was maybe thinking

this isn't the team I was with. Everyone else has moved on. There's a whole new load of people

here that maybe I'm not as close to, I don't work as well with. Nui, the guy that was building the

cars that my drivers were winging with, isn't here anymore either. What do I do now? I'm not

surprised that we've seen a shift from GP, but when it comes to Red Bull, they've got to really

make sure that their foundations are cemented and they've got some good names coming through.

Whether they're homegrown or whether they go and poach from elsewhere, that's a very

different question. I don't know what your thoughts are on them picking up new talent to

replace what they're missing. Well, I think they have to. If you look at the guys that have left

Red Bull in the last few years, and you've just listed most of them there, I actually think this

one could be the most concerning of all for Red Bull. Not because he's the most senior or the most

important one of that bunch, but because if you look at Rob Marshall when he left, big up Rob Marshall,

felt like a bit of a promotion for him. Same with Jonathan Wheatley, definitely when he became

team principal at Audi. I know he hasn't stayed there, but he moved away from Red Bull for that

sort of a reason that you can understand that. Nui, whilst he hasn't ever really properly confirmed

why he left might well have been attached to the Christian Horner situation. Christian Horner

didn't leave. He was fired as a result of poor performance. All of these other exits, I think,

have some sort of clear reason attached to it. I can't really do the same thing with this one,

because it's not a promotion, I don't think. It feels like a sideways move. He's currently the

third most senior member at Red Bull from a trackside perspective. He'll be pretty much the

same thing when he goes to McLaren. It's not really a change in role, because even if it was

to say, well, McLaren won't have me as a race engineer and I don't want to do that anymore,

I feel like Red Bull would have compromised to say, to keep you, if that's what it takes,

we will do that. I'm pretty sure that would have taken place. I don't think it's money, because

again, if McLaren offered him a lot more money than what Red Bull are paying him at the moment,

I'm pretty sure Red Bull would have turned around and said, we'll match it. We can't afford

another loss, because we've had so many in the last couple of years. I don't think it's any of those

things. In which case, I do think it is maybe a lack of faith in this Red Bull recovery.

And the most damning thing about it is not, I don't think this is a, I don't like where we are at

the moment kind of move, because he's not moving now. He's moving in two years. This is a, I don't

trust where this is going move. And that is way worse in my view.

It's clearly outside what Max Verstappen views Formula One, where he's vocally said,

I don't like Formula One at the moment, because GP didn't like Formula One. He wouldn't go to

another team, right? You may as well say with the team you're at, if you're willing to see it

through the regulation, but he's not. He's going to a rival that currently are beating them.

Yeah. And it's fairly close right now in the, McLaren are definitely the better of the two,

but maybe you'd expect that with the Mercedes power unit early on in this, in this set of

regulations. By the time 2028 comes around, the Red Bull could be better. No reason to believe

that that's impossible. And yet Lambiasi, Lambiasi's not saying, I don't want to work here now.

Lambiasi's saying, I don't think I'm going to want to work here in two years time.

I don't think that's a great message. That is not good. Imagine me saying,

like, yeah, I don't want to be on this podcast in two years time. Just so you're aware.

I mean, mark that down 12th of April, 2028. Sam Leves. Right. We need to work on a replacement

in the next two years. Don't worry. The podcast will just be better. We'll get GP in.

Final question. Any chance Max Verstappen joins him?

I don't think it's zero percent. That's for sure. I don't think it's, you know,

how when Lewis went to Ferrari, we had the conversation of if Bono would go with him.

I don't think it's the same way, the opposite way. I agree. I don't think it's, oh,

I'm going there for, do we get Max as well as like a little plus one as a little bonus?

I don't think it's that simple. I think Max is very much a man of his own mind,

and I think he will happily make his decision whether GP is in racing or not.

I don't think he needs to be glued to GP to feel successful or like he can

wing in a race car. It's definitely possible for him either way. Would he go to McLaren?

Sort of no. It's whether he believes in the project, I think. It's whether he sees that

the wider sport is going to be enjoyable for him, because I actually think that is more important

to him than winging Grand Prix. Is he enjoying the race car itself? And if it was anyone,

would it be McLaren? It's more their current driver lineup. You know, I know that we always say

that, hey, if Max Verstappen was going to turn up at your team, would he replace pretty much

everyone? I think maybe barring one or two drivers on the green. It's a yes. And those one or two

drivers aren't at McLaren in my mind. So yeah, like 5-10% chance. What do you think?

I don't think it's impossible, but equally, I don't think GP being there is the reason

why. Because as good as their relationship has been over the last 10 years, and it really has,

this will go down as one of the best combinations of driver and engineer in a very long time in the

sport. But as good as that relationship has been, if Verstappen was forming a top 25 reasons to go

to McLaren in 2028, I don't think GP makes the list. Really? You don't think he's top 25?

That might be an exaggeration. But if he will look at the competitiveness of the chassis,

aero, engine, is he enjoying the sport? Will he get on with the team principle at McLaren?

Does he want to be an F1 for reasons of being away from his family? All of these things are

going to rank higher than is GP at the team. I don't think that's going to be much of a factor.

Yeah, that's fair. I'm not saying he'll get on with another engineer as well as he has with GP,

but I'm just trying to visualise the situation. I really want to be in a team where GP is.

Yeah, GP forever. MaxTV and my mate GP. I think as long as an engineer is able to

deal with his bluntness and give him clear and concise information when he needs it,

I don't think Max will snap him cares. I don't think he cares.

No, but if he was considering McLaren, would it be a nice, oh, that would be good. Sure.

Sure. Yeah, you know, it's like turning up to the pub and someone's when we bought you a pint.

Oh, lovely. Appreciate that. Yeah, that's great. Really enjoy that.

Well, I came to the pub to see my mates, you know, but as a pint waiting, ideal.

No. G-pint, we'll call him. Okay. Love that. Pint size GP.

Let's move on to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is, of course, taken place today.

Massively exciting race. I loved it. Unpredictable grid from qualifying yesterday. I did not expect

to see Valtteri Bottas on the front row with Nico Hülkenberg. But hey, from there, Sam,

what a Grand Prix we had. What a Grand Prix. I just cannot believe that Carlos Sainz

did 18 donuts at the third turn and still managed to get to the top 10.

Yeah, it was, it was pretty insane, even after crashing with his team mate.

Honestly, him and Alvin made jumping to one car together to work it amazing. Never

seen anything like it. Yeah, Clash are heads towards the end as well. I think they're both

in concussion protocol, but other than that, like really good from Williams. Brilliant stuff.

In more serious news, this should have been when the Bahrain Grand Prix was happening, of course,

for very obvious global reasons. It isn't going ahead and that's been announced for

a very long time. But which teams do you think will be most disappointed this isn't going ahead?

I think you need to excuse Mercedes from this conversation, because I actually think Mercedes

have got more to lose and they have to gain the further into this season we get. I think it's

starting to look a little shaky, but it is the Mercedes powered engine cars that if you look

at pre-season testing, we're the ones that were doing all right in comparison to their rivals.

We saw how well McLaren performed in Japan. It was definitely a better turn out. They had

both cars finished, for example. That's always a solid start to a race. And then they picked up

second place, of course, with Oscar Piastri, who many believe, including us, that he might have

gone on to win that Grand Prix, had the safety car not come out and disrupted the order of things.

So, you know, there's a chance they were very competitive. But in pre-season testing,

I thought McLaren looked good around Bahrain. Really good. And you can't read endless data

into what was going on in pre-season testing. We don't know fuel loads, tires, set up, whatever

it might be. But they looked very, very good there. And they ran a lot of laps and looked very

comfortable. And equally, with it being a power track, you would think that the Mercedes power

unit would be able to deliver more performance out of this. And that's why I also think that

Alpine, specifically Pierre Gasly, will have been quite competitive here. I genuinely think that

that car might have had its best performance of the season so far at Bahrain, and we aren't going

to get to see it, which is a real shame. So, I think that those teams, specifically, have missed

out on a great opportunity to really forward their campaigns here. I appreciate the reason why you

said that Mercedes, you can kind of put them to one side. I am going to tackle Mercedes here,

because it is maybe a more obvious place to start just based on where they've been in the first

three Grand Prix. And I think they would have, I think they'd have done quite well here, because

it's a race track in their end of Mercedes. I've been surprised with the first three Grand Prix,

despite the fact that they are different circuits, how their competitiveness has remained pretty

steady. Like, we haven't seen a massive drop anywhere, really, in terms of their competitiveness.

In Australia, they were very comfortable out front, likely managing a great deal towards the

end of that race to ensure that they didn't have a needless DNF. China, they were a pitstop

clear of everyone else. And Suzuka, I think Antonelli probably would have won by about a pitstop

if he had started there. Bahrain is, and we saw this in preseason testing, an easier place to

recover energy versus the first three races. So, it would have been a bit of a new challenge for

Mercedes, but also the other teams as well. But of the three races that we have gone to,

Shanghai is probably the closest in terms of energy management that we've had. And again,

they were massively clear there. So, I do think they would have been unsurprisingly

very competitive. And right now, Mercedes only real weakness is their race starts and sometimes

just being caught a little bit in traffic. I think it's not as much dirty air as it's been in

previous years, but this following has been a bit trickier for them. At Bahrain though, it's not

the same as Suzuka where overtaking opportunities are a little bit more limited. At Bahrain,

there's so much opportunity to get by that even if they had a poor start and they were fifth and

sixth after lap one, I'm pretty sure there'd be one, two after 10 laps. Wow. Yeah. I mean,

they have been incredibly done at all three race tracks. And you're right, their only weakness

has been the starts, which we think are less driver aiding and more energy management,

sporting up the turbo, struggling to get off the line. Whereas Ferrari have obviously been

an absolute beast with their starts, which does kind of almost juxtapose the Mercedes weakness.

If they were also just having standard starts, I actually think Mercedes might be even more

dominant because they're not going to red car jumping in front of them immediately.

But yeah, I've been shocked if they weren't at least one three at the worst-case scenario here.

I agree with your pick on Alpine as well, by the way, because Gasly was strong here in

pre-season testing. He was strong here in 2025. And the momentum is kind of, at least in terms

of the midfield, it is with Alpine and Gasly at the moment in that he's one of only five drivers to

have scored all three main Grand Prix so far this year. And the first time he's scored in three

consecutive races since May to June in 2024. So horrific. It's awful. Yeah. But

Alpine have shown improvement versus where they were last year. So I think they could have done

reasonably well here. The fastest driver in pre-season testing was Charles Leclerc,

I believe, at least over one lap. Could you argue Ferrari would have been closer here?

I actually think the other side of the garage will be a little bit more disappointed.

I think Charles Leclerc found his form. We went to a track where he felt more confident

other than Melbourne and China, which he famously has said that he does not enjoy his race tracks.

Lewis Hamilton was on the back foot in Suzuka. And I actually think Bahrain is a track that he

also enjoys. Lots of heavy braking, lots of being able to maneuver the car around. I think this is

a track that he would have felt quite comfortable at. And I do wonder if the gap between the two

drivers would have condensed a little. I'm not saying a beach shell outright, but I do think

that we would have seen a similar pace to China than we would have done to Suzuka, for example.

I'm not saying they could have gone into one, but a podium would definitely be on the cars,

I think, for Ferrari here. Yeah, I don't think they would have challenged for the win. And if you

look at the pre-season testing and say that Leclerc was fastest, maybe he could have been

best overall here. I think Mercedes showed that they were, yeah, Mercedes were saving

something for Australia, no doubt. But I think they could have been clearer of McLaren here

based on what I saw in pre-season testing. Like Charle Clare and Lewis Hamilton, both very effective

and the Ferrari itself, very effective through those sort of low speed corners, which there are

a lot of. Bahrain, there is a lot of straight, heavy braking, slow corner back onto another

straight. So yeah, I think they, particularly through turns one and turns four, if you think of

the sweeping corners at the beginning of the second sector, I think they'd have been quite

strong there. And I would have had them as the second fastest team. Yeah, I think we have seen

that advantage ahead of McLaren for the first two races, which we didn't fully see, of course,

due to lack of running. But I think that would have been re-established.

My pole one, two, three prediction would have been Antonelli on pole, Antonelli win

Russell second Leclerc third. So not a very exciting top three, but that's very interesting,

because that's exactly what mine would have been. And we have to assume we would have been right.

We're always right. What was your bold prediction? My bold prediction is that

Carlos Sides and Alex Albert would have raced the same car together. You know what,

you got our point. Incredible. Come on. Get it in there, mate. I said,

bought us on pole. No. Yeah, it was only through Antonelli taking a five-place penalty that,

you know, he didn't get there. So another point for us. Wow. Harry's going to be gutted,

he hasn't picked up a bold prediction point today. Obviously, bring the abacus out.

Where's the abacus? Bring grease, mate. You know what? It probably is.

Yeah. Well, Harry's going to be devastated when we tell him on the next episode that

he hasn't got a point. And we have got bold prediction points today.

Do you think that with F1 itself, rather than looking specifically at a team or a driver,

and again, we're just looking at the context of the race here and not the situation going on,

would they be quite happy that this race isn't going ahead? We've kind of mentioned that from

an energy management perspective, it might have looked a bit better than the first few races. So

is there disappointment that it isn't going ahead? It's not a cut and dry situation,

is it? It's not all, you know, your posts on one side. So I do think if Bahrain was

more capable for drivers, they were able to harvest and kind of use energy more efficiently.

Then it would have been a better PR story to show that the racing was more manageable. We

were still getting great racing. Qualifying might have looked better because you could have

gone through your energy management system in the right moments where you weren't necessarily

lifting off because while we have proper straights in Bahrain, they're not like Shanghai where

they're enormously long. You've got a lift off so early down the straight. So whilst we would have

still some super clipping, I don't think it would have been to the same level. So the PR story

coming out of Bahrain in theory would have been a better one. I do think, but I do think the

negatives of the series so far are going to be outweighing that. So having a month off

to reevaluate, readjust, and we have already heard that a meeting has taken place and that

they will be making some changes before we go racing in Miami, I think that overall is a better

relief for F1 fans across the board. I do think the series will benefit from having these changes

put in place sooner rather than later. I couldn't quite decide my answer to my own question on this,

because if you go and watch LeClaire's onboard from his fastest lap in Bahrain preseason testing,

it looks a lot better than most other fast laps we've had so far this year. It's not perfect

in that he has to do a bit of lifting towards turn one. Outside of that, it's not too bad. You do

have turns 12 and 13, which we commonly call the devil curb corner. You touch that, you're spinning.

If you're on the F1 game, you are gone if you touch that curve. But as we know, that's quite high

speed. He was using that a little bit to recharge and you've got that turn one sort of

lifting as well. But outside of that, it looks pretty all right. So I think in that regard,

maybe it would have been a positive for F1. But I agree with what you say in that I wouldn't want

it to mask some of the other issues that have happened across the first three races. I wouldn't

want this to give off an impression, a false impression of what F1 is right now. So it might

actually be for the sake of the sport and being quite cutthroat about what decisions and what

changes are happening, it might be better than it didn't go ahead. Weirdly, this is how I wish

I evaluated sprint races. Instead of just creating statistics that no one can access or view,

I would rather they go, we're going to leave off a sprint race actually, just reevaluate how we

think the weekend might go and see if we like that. I wish that's how they approach things more

Let's take our next break on this episode. On the other side, we're chatting comments from Daniel Ricciardo.

Welcome back, everyone. Daniel Ricciardo has admitted it came as a relief to lose his Formula

1 drive in 2024 following his slump in performance. RB's decision to drop Ricciardo spared him a

difficult decision. He said, once that happened, I'd been let go twice in the last two years.

It had also taken a lot out of me. I'd put a lot of soul into it and I did feel pretty exhausted

by it. In reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me because I think it would

have been hard to say I'm done. Ricciardo felt he was no longer at his best. I think I knew I was

probably done because I knew that it was harder for me to perform at the level I could. Alonso,

these guys, they're in their 40s in F1, still competing very highly. For whatever reason,

I lost a little bit of something and it's okay to admit it. It's fine.

Sam, your thoughts on a very honest Daniel Ricciardo here and admitting that he'd lost

something towards the end of his career? It is honest. It's very convenient to say a statement

like this, I think. If I walked into Asdenow and I walked down the road, I would. I walked down

the Seizing Allile and I saw that F1 was the Seizing of the Moment and this Daniel Ricciardo

statement was sat on the shelf. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. This feels like a, you know what,

events have taken place outside of my control and I'm going to use words to bring it back

under my control and make it look better than it has. There's no world where he wants to leave

Formula One. I think he would much rather change the course of events. I think he much rather be

giving a bit more time. I think in his head he could have gotten better. He could have improved.

I think he's aware that he makes some poor career choices further back in his career.

Leaving Red Bull was a bad one. I mean, there's every chance he's still at Red Bull now

if he was still there before he left what, 2018, 2019. I think he could have easily

stayed alongside Max Verstappen. He might not be a world champion. Sure, but he'd be a more race

winner. He'd have had title fights and we're seeing it with other drivers where certain

regulations haven't suited them. We're seeing weird Hamilton in the ground effect era. He didn't

enjoy those cars and I have to give credit to Fernando Alonso because you argue that his biggest

strength is actually his adaptability in the way that he's able to still get really good raw

speed out of these cars era after era after era. He's still on par with so many brilliant drivers.

Just with this Ricardo statement, he was what F1 embodied. He was this raw,

outrageous guy who was happy to put it all on the line to achieve the ultimate dream.

I do think, whilst I'm sure he has lost, you know, a tenth of speed in him,

that happens with that. That's happened with many great drivers. I do think that

he's having to reflect slightly and make some adjustments in his statement to almost bring

the back under his own guys a little bit because I do think that, hey, I got let go out of my own

choice. I didn't get saying it. Well, they're going to make it sound like I'm grateful for what

happened and keep things looking good because I don't want to kick off what two years later after

I was dropped. For me, I don't think there's 100% transparency here. I do think he's being honest

here. I think it's easier for him to be honest with himself right now than it was compared to when

when it was happening. But it is tough to be open and transparent about this sort of thing.

I get the sense that it wasn't improving, like his performance at RB. Whilst at the time, I'm

sure he would have been absolutely gutted to leave behind something that he'd worked so hard for

and bear in mind as well. And it's not just Ricardo, but particularly when you have drivers

not from Europe, they will quite often have to make very big decisions early in their life,

very early in their life, to leave, whether it's Australia or somewhere else, to come to Europe

and go either carting there or you're starting to get into sort of F4 at that point. So he would

have been, you look at his journey in F1 and you can say, well, that started in 2011. His journey

to F1 started quite a bit before that. So to be told, essentially, as he said twice in the space

of a couple of years, that dream is now over. That has been his life. So I can respect him

coming forward in a world where it constantly feels like particularly on social media, like you

are putting forward or a lot of people are putting forward like the perfect version of

themselves that don't have any weaknesses or vulnerabilities. And for Ricardo to come out

and say, I'd lost something. I wasn't quite what I was a few years before that, even if at the time

he was disappointed and would have liked it to have been his own decision. Maybe in hindsight,

you can look back and say it wasn't getting better. It might have been for the best that I was let go.

Yeah, it's definitely possible. And I think the bit you mentioned about social media is

a very good bit to focus on in a world where it is difficult to be transparent. It's difficult

to show vulnerability. It's difficult to show that you're not this perfect idolized, especially in

sport, massively in sport, that you are the greatest, the goat. It is tough. And I do still

think that there is a part of him that would want to say, no, I was kicked out too soon. I did

have it. I have got it. But maybe you're right. Maybe the side of him that was slightly reducing

inability has won out in the conversation he has been honest. But I do commemorate him on being

positive in his outlook and honest in his outlook and trying to give a true story.

And when you're in the car and you're driving, like you have to have that mentality of I'm the

best person out here, even if like, I remember a number of years ago, probably when the series

started beyond the grid, some F1 podcast out there that stayed not that good, to be honest.

Kevin Magnussen was interviewed on it. And he at that point, I don't know if it's maybe 2018 or

something like that. And he's like, my objective is to be world champion. And I remember everyone

clowning on him like, you're not going to be world champion. You know, we're near good enough.

But he has to believe that same thing with Sergio Perez from a few years ago as well,

where maybe Valtteri Bottas too, where they're asked about their objectives before a season.

And at that point, they are very firmly established as the second best driver in their

respective teams. And they'd be asked about their ambition and they'd say, be world champion,

beat my teammate. Everyone's like, you're not going to do that. You're not as good as your

teammate. But the second you lose the mentality of like, I'm the best driver here,

you might as well pack your bags. So for Daniel Ricciano in the moment to have the

mentality of like, yeah, I deserve to be here. I can still get back to my best. Like, yeah,

he had to be that way. But I think as soon as you're detached from it, that's where you can be

a bit more reflective of whatever the reason was. I wasn't the same guy as I was in 2018.

I'm still quite sad he hasn't gone and raised something else properly.

Yes, I would like to see that. I still think two tenths off Daniel Ricciano is more than

good enough for many seasons to be competitive. As part of this statement, he did mention

Fernando Alonso as an example of someone who's still very competitive into their 40s.

We know Daniel Ricciano, I think it's about 36 right now. So definitely younger than Alonso

by nearly 10 years. But definitely older than we are. But definitely older than what we are.

One of the few. But also Ricciano is closer to us in age than Ricciano is to Alonso,

which we don't like. A bit more of a generic question, maybe, but what determines longevity

in F1, do you think? Is it talent? Is it adaptability? Is it mentality, like the ability

to keep going? I do think that those are very much different words for the same thing. It is

that intangible quality that keeps you relevant in a sport. You look at, let's come out of Formula

1. Let's go look at football, our football. Leo Messi, for example, he comes on the scene

about 2008 where he starts to really be a name that's well known. And he's still being spoken

about today as someone who could do it all. And that's through different players coming through,

different variations of the sport, different pitches, different grounds to play on different

mentalities, goals to be achieved. Still seems the best. You want an example in football? Cristiano

Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, I think they're the same age. Rooney is the go. Arguable. But I don't

remember when Wayne Rooney retired, but he retired a number of years ago and went off to America

before that. And I know Ronaldo is not playing at the peak of his powers anymore, but there's a

difference. Yeah. I mean, only one of them coached for a reason. And Ronaldo somehow did a better

job even though he was the one who didn't. Yeah, sure. So with Alonso, he does have that mentality.

You know, you see it in every interview. He has that mentality of, I am only here to win.

I don't care how I get there. I want to win. And he's always been like that.

He has always been one of the most cutthroat individuals. And I think he learned that from

drivers around him and before him. You know, that Schumacher era that he essentially came up with

as a young driver, watching Schumacher become the first time, then second time, then multiple

time world champion. Schumacher was one of the most, I will go through you to win this. I was

with Senna, you know, Alonso had to look at those as his upbringing. And then you see Alonso's

mentality when he arrives, which is the moment I get an opportunity to win it. I'm going to win it.

And actually, to the point where he was willing to possibly bend some rules to get there because

he wanted that greatness. And I think that's the case now. I still think that if you were to put

Fernando Alonso and that Mercedes, he will happily do anything to beat out anyone to make sure that

he is a race winner. And that's the mentality that likes Hamilton has still, I still, I think

Nico Holkeberg even has that mentality that if you gave him a top drive, he would still want to tear

down the walls to make sure that he won that Grand Prix. So mentality is a combination of having

the talent to back it up. And I do think the moment that you notice some cracks in that overriding

talent, which maybe Daniel Ricciardo did, then you lose the ability to say to yourself, I can do

this. I am good enough to do this. You know, if someone trusted me that number one car and said

to me, win the race, I bet every driver on that grid right now would say, yep, I can do it. I

can win that Grand Prix. That's the difference right now, I suppose. I think talent definitely

comes into it. If you look at the oldest drivers to win a Grand Prix or at least some of the more

recent oldest drivers to win a Grand Prix and you come up with names like Reichenan and Prost and

Mansel and I guess Hamilton would be on that list now after winning the British GP a couple of years

ago. All of these names, like they are world champions, they are some of the best that we've

seen in the sport in the last 25 years. So more often than not, if a driver is getting into their

late 30s, early 40s in F1, it means they are one of the most talented. But it's definitely not

the sole reason because you've already brought up, Nico Holkenberg. I was going to go there as

well because he's two years older than Daniel Ricciardo. And I don't think you would automatically

say, well, the reason Holkenberg is in F1 and Ricciardo isn't right now is because Holkenberg

is more talented than Ricciardo. I would say it's pretty close. But I don't think I would come

forward and say, well, talent is the reason Holkenberg is there and Ricciardo is not.

And you can even bring in, say, Sebastian Vettel to the conversation as well. Sebastian

Vettel, I think, is the same age as Nico Holkenberg, but still younger than Alonso.

Vettel and Alonso have both been at Aston Martin and face Lance Stroll in recent years,

and they've definitely both been the better driver against Lance Stroll. But Alonso has dominated

Stroll in a way that Vettel didn't. And again, would you say automatically Alonso is way more

talented than Vettel? Look at what Vettel did at Red Bull. There's a reason he won four titles.

It's not linear. Sometimes motivation, confidence, environment, all of these things are more

important than they're given credit for. Sometimes you need to be in the right place at the right

time. And Ricciardo, for whatever reason, whether it was confidence, whether it was

ambition, who knows, he sort of fell off earlier than some other drivers do. But it just doesn't

work the same for everyone. Yeah, I think Formula One is definitely more than many sports. There's

a litter of history of drivers who are in the wrong place. You know, they just made the wrong

move or they are in the wrong team in the wrong year. And the next year, it was a race-winning car

and there's so many great drivers who have got a hang for one victory. Robert Kubica, for example,

where actually had one thing, different change, they might have been one of these drivers that

we talk about as being this to drive with longevity, who won on multiple generations. It was a

multiple world champion. And because of one action, they are. Yeah. Should we take our final

break? And then on the other side, we're going to get into a top five list of Daniel Ricciardo's

best races in F1. There were a few. There were a few.

Welcome back, everyone. We're going to finish off this episode linked to the last topic that

we just chatted about. We're going to do a top five list of Daniel Ricciardo's best races

in F1. And, Sam, you just said before the break, there are plenty to choose from. I do wonder

if that's going to give us a lot of the time, we'll say there's plenty to choose from and then

we'll somehow end up with exactly the same list. So, fingers crossed, we haven't done that today.

Yeah, fingers crossed that we get some differences at least. The first one I've got on my list is

I had to get a Monaco in there. Of course, you know, the famous celebration of him in the pool

with the arms stretched wide. I've got with the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. The reason it's five on

my list, he did win with the broken car, right? He had the damaged MG UK. He was really limping

around the racetrack, but at any other race, the pass is on. I think he did a great job at

managing that car. I really think it was a sensational victory from him. I do just think

that if it isn't Monaco, it isn't a win. And that's why I've kind of had to lower it down my list.

But the way that he was able to carry that car around, I think from like what 50 laps he had

a battle behind him harrowing him. I think the defense is pretty immaculate. But again,

not Monaco, some win. Yeah, Monza, that's gone in a corner, isn't it?

Right. Number five on my list, I've gone with the 2014 Belgian GP, which one of his first

early wins. I think he's sometimes underrated based on you look at the Grand Prix and you think he

was kind of handed it. But I think there's more to it than that. So this is the race where Lewis

Hamilton and Nico Rosberg come together. And Lewis Hamilton at that point is kind of out of

contention. Nico Rosberg at his first stop has to change his front wing. Daniel Ricciardo at

that point is third place. And Sebastian Vettel, who is second place, his teammate,

goes off and Ricciardo inherits second place. Ricciardo then after the front wing change for

Rosberg is able to pretty expertly pull away from the likes of Vettel, Reichen and Bottas, who are

kind of all in contention. And whilst Rosberg, based on how quick that Mercedes was, which was

ridiculous, was able to catch Daniel Ricciardo later on to be quite close, the excellent tire

management of Ricciardo, which is a really underrated trade of his actually excellent tire

management, just meant that his, his two stop just about beat the, I think it was the three stop,

three stop of Rosberg. But he beat Sebastian Vettel, his teammate, by nearly a minute in this

race. And he's like 30 seconds clear of anyone, not Rosberg, not named Rosberg.

He was good, wasn't he? He was really good. One bad. Number four, what have you got?

Number four, I'll make sure I've written my list down properly here. I've gone with the

Azerbaijan Grand Prix. No, I haven't. I've gone with the Italian Grand Prix 2021.

The bait and switch.

Psych! It's his, it's his only Grand Prix victory, of course, with McLaren,

his only Grand Prix victory outside of racing with Red Bull. He quoted it saying that it might

have been his biggest moment in his Formula One career, which is pretty mega for him to put that

outside of the Red Bull family. There was, of course, the, the incident that occurred that

opened this up for him really was the collision between Verstappen and Hamilton, which at the

time, very shocking incident. There were a lot of complaints about it online, where Verstappen's

car is almost on top of Lewis Hamilton's car. And the, the halo does a lot of work to support

structure that stopped Lewis Hamilton from being injured. But this does mean that the,

the doors are open for another driver to come through. And one of the most controversial

moments of it is Landon Norris is right behind Daniel Ricciardo. And there's a longer conversation

on if, you know, should Ricciardo let Norris through? Norris is the youngster, he's been there,

he's really been trying to hustle his way through McLaren. And actually, it's a team effort. I think

Norris is actually quite happy for Ricciardo to take that win. He manages the race really brilliantly.

It's the first win, I think, for McLaren in, I think, nine years at this point that they picked

up, which is a long, long time. And just a huge emotional moment for both of them. He does his

shooey, of course, on the podium with his teammates. So overall mega race, the door was open for him.

I do think with Ricciardo, he's never outright had the best car on the grid when he's picked

up these victories. So a lot of his wings have become taking advantage of a mistake or an

issue from someone else, but he is regularly the person who does take advantage of that mistake.

And I do think the 2021 Grand Prix is a real highlight of that.

I'll keep this short and snappy, because I also have that in fourth place.

As you say, like Lando Norris kind of had the momentum at McLaren going into this,

like he had three podiums earlier in the year, Ricciardo had none. And the only other things I

really wanted to mention here, the Verstappen and Hamilton crash is the thing that people remember

most outside of the Ricciardo win, maybe from this Grand Prix. And sometimes again, people think,

well, Ricciardo went on to win this race because of that crash. I think the opposite is true. Ricciardo

was like very comfortably clear of the likes of Norris at that point. And he was clear of Verstappen

and Hamilton as well. He had to defend a lot against Verstappen in the first stint. Like Verstappen was

within his DRS for a good chunk of that first stint. And he kept him at bay.

The safety car actually brought everyone back together. Like without that,

he might have won this quite comfortably. He was very good that weekend. So,

yeah, I had that on my list. I fourth felt low, but-

Fourth felt low, but there's a couple up there that I'm like, I just couldn't move.

Is this the race where he did the how I just stepped aside?

Oh, I don't remember.

Because that may be why I brought it down.

Number three on my list. I've gone with the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which might seem

like a bit of a strange one. It's the only one going to appear on my list that isn't to Daniel

Ricciardo win. And of course, he did win several races in 2014, some of which haven't made my list.

But this one, last race of the year, of course, whilst there's a lot of attention on

the championship battle, I think that's maybe why it's slightly forgotten is because there's

so much attention on Rosberg versus Hamilton for the title win.

I actually forgot that he won that race. 50 points for a win.

Ricciardo started from the pit lane because of, well, he and Vettel both started from the pit

lane because their front wings were deemed illegal in qualifying. So, he goes from essentially 20,

if let's say, pit lane, all the way to P4 in this Grand Prix. He had to overtake

Kevin Magnussen quite early on where Sebastian Vettel, his teammate, couldn't.

And again, excellent tire management because he goes really long on both the first and second

stints, able to overcut quite a few cars as a result of that. Some really clinical overtakes

in this one. But to go from, and he beats Vettel by like 45 seconds again, which is insane.

He goes from the pit lane to fourth place. That in itself is a massive achievement.

There's no safety car in this Grand Prix. That is on pure performance. I think it's maybe his

most underrated race. Interesting. I might have to go back and watch it without the vision of

Rosberg versus Hamilton. Yeah. Number three on your list. Number three on my list is another

2014 race. And it is a win. It's his first ever win. And that was the Canadian Grand Prix.

This was right at that moment where we thought Mercedes are literally going to dominate every

single race this season. This was what? Race seven, I think of the season. Six or seven,

something like that. And at that point, it was pure Mercedes dominance until both Mercedes cars

come up with a serious brake issue, an electronics issue, which meant that essentially

they lost their 160 horsepower turbo. They're unable to really mitigate any defense from behind.

Hamilton retires from the problem, but Rosberg is desperately trying to live home.

And Rosberg does live at home to second place, because the only person that manages to cut

through the traffic is sixth place starting Daniel Ricciardo, who not only beats the likes of

Butting in the McLaren, Alonzo in the Ferrari, that awful Ferrari. Holkeberg, who's in fifth

in that fourth India, but his teammate, who is still five seconds behind and unable to get

anywhere near the overtake on Nico Rosberg. This was Daniel Ricciardo at his rawest.

This was Ricciardo when he really burst onto the scene to quote Michael Richie.

And this was where we started to see that actually Ricciardo might be a bit of a match for

Vettel at the start of these new regulations. He started to turn the tables on a four-time world

champion. And at this point, he's almost a rookie. He's only big in back market cars that

nearly not been fast enough to even qualify, let alone be race competitive. So Ricciardo,

his first win, I had to get on the list. It was a real moment for him.

Don't blame you whatsoever for getting that one on there. Not on my list,

but very much an honorable mention when it came to putting together my top five.

Go straight ahead with number two. And number two, now I've got the answer by

Sean 2017 Grand Prix. It was on my list for a reason. This was a bizarre race. And again,

the focus of this Grand Prix is often given to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel,

where during a safety car moment, they come together. When I say they come together,

Sebastian Vettel quite literally drives his car into the side of Lewis Hamilton. And it was

a real shocking moment where Ferrari and Mercedes were at the peak of their powers fighting each

other in that hybrid era story. Lewis Hamilton, I believe, also has a headrest issue, which he

keeps rising up every time he goes down the straightest to come into the pit lane to get

changed. The whole race was chaotic. But at one point, Daniel Ricciardo drops all the way back

to P17 and yet through a series of incredible overtakes, great race management, he manages

to pull off one of the best comeback drives he'll do of his career, and he wins the Grand Prix.

And it's just one of those, I think, again, is regularly forgotten about because of the other

chaos that takes place in the race. Yep. Very good shout, no doubt. Number two on my list,

I've gone with the 2018 Chinese GP. Now, this hasn't quite made it to number one,

but if I was asked, I'm newer to F1, tell me a race I should go and watch to get

peak like Daniel Ricciardo, like quintessential Daniel Ricciardo. This is the one I would choose

because this is him in a nutshell, this Grand Prix. He's actually a quiet sixth place until the

the safety car appears. At which point, Red Bull, as they often did at this point, executed

a very impressive strategy to put him on a better set of tires, and he can then go overtaking.

He overtakes Kimi Raikkonen, goes by Max Verstappen when Verstappen isn't able to overtake Lewis

Hamilton. A very late move on Lewis Hamilton, one of his better ones in this Grand Prix and

across his career, actually, and then gets by Sebastian Vettel quite comfortably as well.

And then, of course, Valtteri Bottas is the last overtake he needs to make in this race to

essentially get the race win. One of my favorite overtakes from this era because it looks like

the door is shut. Valtteri Bottas thinks he's done his job like a calf. I've seen him off here,

he's got it, and he doesn't care. He still comes through and gets the race win as a result of that

move. It goes on to win this race by like nine seconds as well as soon as he's got clear.

It's not quite number one, just based on, he probably would have been sick if not for the

safety car, and also, I don't know if this is much of a reason, but him versus Verstappen in this

race pace-wise, probably not much in it. Verstappen might have been quicker, but the reason Riccardo

wins this Grand Prix is that he's just so much more clinical, and let's face it, more mature at

that point to be able to cut through the traffic in a way that Verstappen couldn't quite manage.

But this is just, it's so Riccardo, this one. What is number one on your list, sir?

That is number one on my list, and it is the recovery from the safety car, which his teammate

was unable to do after a collision with Sebastian Vettel occurs, which causes essentially an

inability for him to cut through the way that Riccardo does. But the fact that he surges from

sixth place to first in only 10 laps is something we don't really get to see in the modern era of

Formula One. Like, it was the quality of every overtake that he makes, it's what's put it into

first place, because this is what Riccardo was known for. It was daring, it was bold, it was,

he can't do that, and then he does do that. And that was that move on Valtteri Bottas,

which he spoke about. I remember watching it, it sticks in my mind, you know, he's covering

all but a car's width going down the, I think it's towards turn six in China, and you see Riccardo

shape it up, you think, we'll try to go around the outside, there's no way he's going down the

inside. And then he just sends it. And I remember mouth open, gasped at what I just watched, you

think, I can't believe he's done that. And he just pulls away into the distance to end up having a

nine second lead over what was a truly dominant Mercedes car at the time as well. Again, we're

in that era where it's Ferrari and Mercedes, Mercedes is still retaining that endless dominance

that we've seen since 2014. And yeah, okay, a safety car had to reopen the race, but that's not on

Riccardo, you know, you take advantage of what you're given here. And he did, he absolutely took

advantage where his now multi-time world champion teammate was unable to make the difference, and

he was. So the quality of drivers he overtook, the way he overtook them in just what 10 laps, as I

mentioned, is a phenomenal return to the top spot. And this was a true honey badger performance. This

is quintessential Daniel Riccardo. Number one on my list to kind of complete this Daniel Riccardo

top five sandwich, because you kicked off with the 2018 Monaco GP and I'm ending it with that same

race. All of your points incredibly valid as to why this is only fifth in that this isn't a win

anywhere else on the calendar. Nowhere else on the calendar is this a win. But there are a few

reasons why I've got this number one. And some of it is slightly emotion driven because of what

happened to him two years prior to this at the Monaco GP. 2016 he should have won that race.

And it was only a slow stop that caused him to finish second behind Lewis Hamilton.

It came back here in 2018. Red Bull at this point very good at Monaco at a time where they weren't

very good at most other tracks. This always felt like an opportunity for Red Bull that they didn't

have elsewhere. And he is throughout the full weekend so good. Like he is fastest in FP1,

FP2, FP3 gets to qualifying. He's four temps clearing Q1. He's over a tenth clearing Q2 on what

I think was only one run rather than two runs. And then in Q3 he gets pole position by over two

temps and a new lap record as well to boot. So he cleans sweeps the free practice sessions. He

cleans sweeps the qualifying sessions gets to the Grand Prix. He's leading relatively comfortably.

And then as you mentioned on lap 2080 loses the MG UK which is responsible for about 25% of the

power of the engine at that point. He also only has access to six of the eight gears as well.

And he has to hold off Vettel for 50 laps. And whilst it is tough to make an overtake happen

at Monaco, still took a lot of smarts, a lot of intelligent driving.

The car placement is fantastic.

Yeah. So whilst there is context to this and that anywhere else, he might actually retire

from this race, let alone finish it and win. I just think from first, it would have been Thursday

practice at that point. From Thursday all the way through to the end of Sunday,

he is absolutely dialed in in this Grand Prix.

God, Thursday practice.

Yeah. I think it would have been Thursday.

What a strange world that was.

Yes. A bit of variety in that top five.

We didn't quite get 2014 hungry on that which was maybe the only...

Sensational race as well. And you know why? I was a bit sad to not put it in mind. I've put it

I think that's worth a shout which you brought up there. And the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix is the

other one that I've got on my list that I haven't actually brought up. Which is again,

not as flashy as the 2018 version, but great race craft that you put in there.

Yeah. So there's a lot about Ricardo's career that we can quite comfortably put together a top

five list of his best Grand Prix. A couple of those I think we've reviewed on Patreon as well.

So particularly 2018 China, we definitely have relatively recently as well. So that was a good

race to go back on what. So if you're already a member of Patreon or want to become a member of

Patreon, check out the historic race review category that we've got on there and go back

to that one and relive it with us. But I think that's about it.

I think that is about it. Yeah.

And now the Sunday ticked off before we eventually get back to some actual Formula 1 racing.

Because despite our very convincing storytelling, Mika Holgerberg was not on the front row,

where it came to the Bahrain Grand Prix.

We'll have to wait until Miami for that to definitely happen.

When that will actually happen, of course. Yeah. Carlos, Alex, get ready to ride together.

Carbono!

Hi, for Wodeams on the card. Anyway, thanks for listening, folks. Thanks for joining us again

for another Gong Race weekend Sunday. It's a real shame, but we appreciate the support.

If you're enjoying the top fives and the classic stuff and the historic stuff,

last episode we talked about documentaries and books and films and things that you could go and

pick up. Come and join Patreon, because as Ben mentioned, we reviewed the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix

a little while ago. We're about to review the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix as well for this month's

benefit. And you know what? You unlock the entire library when you come to Patreon.

So you don't just get the current month, you get everything we've ever done.

So if you're looking for some content, that's the place to go and pick it up.

And the support for the show is massive. So thank you to everyone already in Patreon City.

Go out there and check it out. You can cancel it after a month if you think that.

It's not for me, but we appreciate you trying it out. Make sure you enjoy this big week where

we've got more chats, more Formula One news to review, and I'm sure a whole lot of other

sitting us to get involved with. Join us there in the meantime. I'll be sending you a message.

And I've been Ben Hawking. And remember, keep breaking late.

0:00

69:40

Unpacking GP Lambiase's SHOCK McLaren switch

Red Bull

McLaren

F1

2027 season

direct rival

Williams

radio

gelling

Aston Martin

Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton

coaching role

structural and cultural changes

Christian Horner

aero

pre-season testing

fuel loads

sprint races

Fernando Alonso

social media

the goat

motivation, confidence, environment

Belgian GP

halo

shooey

four-time world champion

Monaco GP

race craft

front row

About this episode

Original notes