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Verstappen, Norris or Piastri – Who's Feeling the Championship Pressure Most?
Verstappen, Norris or Piastri – Who's Feeling the Championship Pressure Most?
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About this episode
The discussion centers on the championship pressure among Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri, highlighting McLaren's bid for the Constructors' Championship and the intense physical and technical challenges of the Singapore Grand Prix. The hosts analyze why Singapore has eluded Verstappen, the impact of high heat and humidity on drivers, and the evolving race dynamics with recent track changes increasing overtakes. They also touch on team performances, driver fitness, and predictions for the weekend's podium, while sharing personal anecdotes and industry insights.
Topics:
championship pressure
max verstappen
lando norris
oscar piastri
mclaren constructors championship
singapore grand prix
driver fitness and heat
race strategy and tyres
track layout and overtaking
team performance analysis
Cars:
Chevrolet Corvette
Welcome back to Unlapped! Nicole Briscoe and Laurence Edmondson discuss the ensuing title race between Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri. Plus, who has the edge between Mercedes and Ferrari? Finally, who should you keep your eye on in Singapore?
Time Codes:
0:00 - Welcome to Unlapped!
3:38 - Who is under the most pressure: Verstappen, Norris, or Piastri?
5:03 - Will McLaren win the Constructors' in Singapore?
5:49 - Who has the edge: Mercedes or Ferrari?
7:15 - Remembering Roscoe
9:50 - Stat of the Week
10:28 - Is Max cursed in Singapore?
13:32 - Singapore Race Preview
27:22 - Podium Predictions
29:59 - Thanks for watching!
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"...s, they weren't actually comfortable to bring the C6 compound, which is a new extra extra soft one. So..."
- Welcome to Unlapped!
- Who is under the most pressure: Verstappen, Norris, or Piastri?
- Will McLaren win the Constructors' in Singapore?
- Who has the edge: Mercedes or Ferrari?
- Remembering Roscoe
- Stat of the Week
- Is Max cursed in Singapore?
- Singapore Race Preview
- Podium Predictions
- Thanks for watching!
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It's another week. Hi, hello, everyone. I'm Nicole. That is Lawrence Edmonton.
Welcome to Unlapped. My voice is sort of back to normal.
Whatever cold from hell I had has sort of kicked the bucket, not entirely, but sort of kicked
the bucket. By the way, Unlapped is presented by Oracle. Right now, Oracle is offering to
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at oracle.com slash Unlapped. Remember, if you're watching us on YouTube, awesome.
Like and subscribe. That's where you'll find us on the ESPN F1 YouTube channel
all season long, all year long, 365 days a year. Because I don't actually know if
Nate and Lawrence ever really have real days off because they're just constantly
churning out all of the things. So you can find all other stuff there.
You'll find us there weekly. If you're looking at us and watching us listening
to us on another platform, awesome. Great. Just hit us up with a five-star review.
That's what we like to hear. How are you?
I'm good, actually. I'm quite excited because I haven't been to a Formula One race
track, at least. I've been to a few other race tracks. I've been to a Formula One race
track for about a month and I'm off to Singapore tomorrow. So yeah, quite excited
to get back on the road and get talking to people again and the drivers and see what
the teams will have to say ahead of Singapore. I've never been to Singapore.
It's stiflingly hot. It's not a place, if I could choose to drive a Formula One car,
I probably wouldn't be in Singapore. But it's an amazing race to have a street circuit that goes
through such a big, vibrant city and really does take over the centre of the city. We're not
talking about some after-fought street circuit they've attached on the outskirts.
This is bang in the middle of the financial heart. Yeah, and it's great.
So actually, one thing I do put myself through every year I go there is I try and run the track,
which is not a pretty experience. It certainly is a very sweaty experience,
but that is fantastic because you're running through usually at night. Usually it's about
2 a.m. by the time I finish work because it all runs on a later schedule there.
And yeah, you're running through the centre of the city, closed roads. It feels like it's
all been set out for a marathon or something, but it's just me trotting around trying to
do 5k. But yeah, it's a really cool event and one that I think everyone in F1 still looks forward to.
It's been there since 2008, but it still has that vibe that people want to go there and experience it.
I think you and I have talked about on and off for years now. I was going to go for a run
it with you at a track, and lately I've not been running. So I think I feel like our next
and maybe last opportunity might be Texas or Vegas. So I need to get my behind
in gear. Otherwise, it's just not going to happen. And I don't know if we can...
Yeah, Austin's a good one as well. You've got that really big ramp up to turn one.
So you get all the difficult bit out of the way straight away, but...
I was just saying, can we do it in rivers?
Well, a lot of people do do that actually, but you know, a hill's a hill, right? It's a
circuit, so you're still going to have to pay for it somewhere.
But no, we've got to get you on. Maybe we can do some kind of feature,
video feature, some bonus material of a track run around Austin, Texas.
That'll be good. All right, let's get to the producer questions for this week.
Let's kind of do it in a fun way. That's trying to do it almost rapid fire,
because I mean, we didn't have a race last weekend, so I kind of feel like we could just
kind of get through some of these real quickly. Who's under the most pressure
through the last seven races? Max, Oscar, Lando.
Oscar or Belando? You'll say Oscar. I'm going to say Lando.
I say Oscar. Yeah, because, you know, I mean, Lando
really should be closer to Oscar. You know, teammates obviously had that big
DNF in Zandvoort, but this is his big chance to take a title. I feel like if Oscar does
take this title, it's going to be even harder for Lando in the years to come to bounce back from it.
So I think Lando is under the pressure and with every race, if the current gap, which is 25 points,
doesn't get smaller, if it's not smaller than that by the time we get to Abu Dhabi,
then it's going to be finished before the final race, which will be a bit of an anticlimax.
But yeah, I can see why you'd say Oscar, but I just think Lando is under more pressure at the
moment. I think Oscar, just because he's not supposed to be here right now,
he wasn't the one who was expected to be here right now. And I just think that the first time
that you're in a title fight is sort of like this whole new world for him. And he has the
opportunity to do something that no one expected him to do, at least right now.
So that's why I say him. Lando, by the way, only managed to finish seventh in Baku,
even though Oscar had that DNF. So the gap between second and first is 25 points.
But it's still 25 points. One of the things that we had last weekend was it was the first
opportunity for McLaren to clinch the Constructors' Championship. They didn't,
because it was a disaster weekend. Yes or no, they only need 13 points to close it out this
weekend. Is this weekend McLaren doesn't? Yes, I probably would have said the same ahead
of Baku, and I would have got it wrong. But yes, this weekend. I think we did.
And it's also a circuit that suits them all. Yeah, I think we did. I think we talked about it.
I think we did. They were going to do it, and they didn't.
It's a foregone conclusion anyway. They're going to win this title. It's just a matter of when,
but I really can't see a situation where they don't get those 13 points. And of course,
that's if Ferrari and Mercedes do extremely well as well. So yeah, I think they've
got it in the bag this weekend. I say yes as well. However, if they don't,
that means some real chaos has happened, and I am team agents of chaos all the time.
Next question. Mercedes and Ferrari. They are still scrapping for second in the
Constructors' Championship. Who has the edge? Mercedes.
So I think Mercedes recently has. Don't think it's rapid fire.
I know. But I'm going to say it comes down to Antonelli. If Antonelli is performing like he
has recently, then Mercedes have probably got the better overall package. But throughout the
whole season, the reason that Ferrari have been in that second place and Mercedes haven't been,
and also Red Bull haven't been, is because Ferrari have had, okay, Lewis hasn't had a great season,
but two drivers performing fairly consistently. Whereas Mercedes have been struggling with Antonelli,
and of course, Red Bull have been struggling with first Liam Lawson, then Yuki Sonoda in
the second seat. So both of those teams should be higher up. They both should be
having clearer Ferrari in second place in terms of how the cars performed at times.
But yeah, it's just having those two drivers performing consistently. But I still feel
all of those three teams are going to have race circuits where they go well up before the end of
the year, and ones that don't go so well. So let's see how it work hands up.
Antonelli has failed to score points in three of the last six races, yet Ferrari only has one
podium in the last six races. He's like, I need you, Mom. Why are you ignoring me?
I think. Obviously got opinions on which team is going to finish second in the Constructors'
championship. Actually, he is here to send his condolences to Lewis Hamilton, who at this
moment in time, it is Monday, our time, Lewis's dog Roscoe died yesterday. And if you've been
following along on social media, he's been obviously struggling. He had like pneumonia
this time and he's been on life support. So anyone who's ever had a pet of any kind,
you know what it's like to lose that very important part of your family in so many ways.
So I mean, I currently have three dogs. I've had to make the decision to put an animal down before,
which is awful. I've had another dog who died and it was out of, you know, it was surprising.
So I, my heart breaks for him because they are such an as he's creating chaos.
They're important part of your life and part of your heart truly does just break and it can
that the love of a dog is something that you can't ever replace. So Roscoe, sorry, it's just
sucks. Yeah. Yeah, it really does. And I mean, Roscoe, I was lucky enough to meet Roscoe
a few times at circuits around around the world. He used to come to tracks a little bit more often
when Lewis was at Mercedes. He was younger. He was a bit younger. But yeah, even I think
he was in Silverstone this year. And even there clearly an old dog 12 years old is old for a bull
dog, but still kind of had a lot of life. I wanted to play. But yeah, actually a really
quite friendly dog. I mean, had a mind of his own. If you weren't Lewis Hamilton,
you couldn't tell Roscoe what to do. But yeah, like a really, really nice,
nice dog. I'm quite pleased to have been able to meet him at one point.
Yeah. He actually brought Roscoe to Bristol. This is like,
God, I was still doing our NASCAR coverage at ESPN. So this was before my time on
SportsCenter. So I've been on SportsCenter now 11 years. This would have been
2007, 2008. No, couldn't have been that long ago. He was a puppy. Anyway, he brought him to Bristol.
I met him as a puppy. He was just like a delicious little squishy being. I don't remember when that
was, but ages ago. Anyway, that is sort of like the sad news on a Ferrari this week. And
anyone who's ever, like I said, anyone who's ever had a pet that they have loved and then
lost, you know what that feels like. So aside from anything that happens on the track this weekend,
you just have to make your heart breaks for Lewis a little bit. So from that,
let's get to the Oracle Stat of the Week. And the Stat of the Week is actually a little wild.
It is brought to you by Oracle. Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current
cloud bill in half if you move to OCI. See if your company qualifies at oracle.com
slash Unlapped. Singapore is the one circuit that has never been won by Max Verstappen. It is the
only active circuit that he has never won on, the only one. And it's his most start eight
without a win at any circuit in his career. He did however finish second last year, 2024,
and he did finish second one other time in 2018. So if he wins on Sunday, it would be his
31st different Grand Prix that Verstappen has won on, which would tie Lewis Hamilton for the most in
F1 history. Do you think that there is a specific reason why Singapore has eluded Max Verstappen
for all this time? Or is it just one of those odd coincidences in this sport?
No, I think if you look at recent years when Max has had his most competitive cars,
they haven't suited the Singapore track layout. And it's very specific. You know,
we're going into some detail about this in a bit, but there's kerbs to ride. It's a street
circuit. It's bumpy. And it requires a high downforce setting. And, you know, when teams design
their cars, they have to design a car that tries to work as many different types of circuits as
possible. But there'll always be a blind spot, you know, for any any car and the way it's
been designed. And in recent years, for Red Bull, that's been a Singapore. So I don't
think it's a complete coincidence. But I would be amazed if he gets to the end of his career
having not won there. Because I think at some point, maybe even this weekend, Red Bull are going to
have a more competitive package there. But yeah, recent years, especially dealing with the bumps,
having to lift the ride height a little bit while still running high downforce
and then ride the kerbs, that's been a pretty bad combination for Red Bull. Meanwhile,
teams like Ferrari have actually gone reasonably well. So I think there is actually a technical
reason behind that, certainly in recent years. Is there any reason to think that the technical
aspect of the Red Bull is any different this year, where it would make a difference, where it would
give him maybe a better chance to win? Or is it the same thing? Do they still have the same
characteristics? I think there's still some traits, but they have kind of
rounded off the harsher edges of that Red Bull in terms of the way it rides kerbs and
stuff like that. They've encountered other issues, and I think there are other issues which
Verstappen has been dealing with since the start of this year that might rear their head
again in Singapore. And namely, that is trying to find a good balance in the car, which whenever
they put the full downforce on, Verstappen struggles to get there, struggles to get
the turn in that he needs for kind of tighter, slower corners. So whether they've
solved that issue is a bit of an open question at the moment in Formula One,
because the cars run very well at the last two races. Of course, Max has won the last two races,
but whether that translates to a very different car setup, which is what they'll need in Singapore,
that is one of the biggest questions going into this weekend, actually, because if we get an
answer to that and it's positive in terms of what Red Bull won out of the car and what Max
wants out of the car and he can go and be competitive, then all those conversations we
had a week ago about is Max a title contender actually become really, really valid? Because
if he can win in Singapore, that means that the car has been quick in one type of circuit,
Monza, another type that's similar in Baku, but then will completely different in Singapore.
And then you start to wonder whether that 69-point gap is actually one that he can close down in
the remaining seven races. So for the record, if you weren't with us last week or you haven't
had time to go through everything, you said at the time that the 69-point gap was probably
too much for Max to close. So you thought, yes, while he is still a title contender,
he was still not the one that you were picking. But I had said I would not count him out given
his performance and the points he has made up in the last couple of weeks. I do think, my god,
if he wins this weekend, like, if he wins this weekend and McLaren shows up and has another,
even if it's not as much of a shocker of a weekend that they had in Baku,
even if it's half of that, if that plays out, if that's what we get this weekend,
I am now fully looking at Max. That's just a completely different situation.
I would agree with all of that. The only thing is, I don't think the Red Bull are going to
have it easy this weekend. I think a lot of the issues earlier in the season are going to
come back. And the McLaren, this is going to be a circuit that is more suited to them.
Now, if I'm wrong with that, I'll happily sit on this podcast next week and say,
hey, look, I'm wrong. I was wrong two weeks ago. I was wrong one week ago.
Let's talk about Max's fight for the championship. But my gut feeling and based on what we've seen
so far this year and how different cars have gone at different circuits, I feel like this could
be the stumbling block. But hey, like I said, if it's not, we're in for a hell of a run-in
to the final race of the season. Again, let's root for chaos because if we have chaos,
then we don't have to worry about anyone clinching the championship before the season is over.
So root for chaos. Let's have a surprise winner. Let's have a surprise podium.
Let's go for all of that. Let's have a rain race.
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I honestly feel like this could be the sad of the week because when you're looking ahead to this
weekend, forget about everything we know about who's good, who's not, who might struggle and car
characteristics. Singapore actually has a shockingly high number of overtakes on an average
race weekend. There were 42 overtakes in 2023 and 30 in 2024. Let's just start with the why.
Why is that a thing? So I think the surprise with these stats is that prior to 2023,
there were very few overtakes in Singapore Grand Prix and they changed the track layout in 2023. So
there was a section that basically went around a stadium that was set up for regattas and staff
happening in Marina Bay. And so when they first designed the circuit, they thought, wouldn't
it be nice to incorporate that stadium and have the cars go in front of it? But that created
some corners where there was no chance of kind of overtaking action and replacing that with
a straight having, they're now like redeveloping that stadium section into something else. So
you haven't turned that into a straight. I think they've now got four DRS zones there as well.
Overtaking is possible. I mean, those stats, I agree that they're certainly quite high for
what you expect from Singapore. Like I'd say compared to averages through the season,
it's probably midway. But I think there is a perception that Singapore is very difficult
to overtake on and that was the case for a very long time. But it has become slightly
easier since they made the changes. The other thing about Singapore and I think why you get
high overtaking numbers is often the lead car will control the pace. So it'll go
much slower than actually could go. And that's basically to manage the tyres, make sure they
only make one pit stop because that's the best way to victory. And that often means that cars
are pitting into traffic. But when they put into that traffic, they're a faster car on
fresher tyres and therefore they move for it quite quickly. So you get a lot of overtakes
which are not necessarily competitive overtakes that are ready for position. They're just cars
finding themselves slightly out of position and then kind of rebalancing as they go. So
yeah, there's maybe a little bit misleading as statistics can sometimes be, but certainly
since 2023, it's been a better circuit for overtaking. No, no, it's like Max has never
won at Singapore. What an absolute awful driver. He's the worst. Wait, no, that's not true
at all. All right, let's take a look at the actual track layout because I was just trying
to pull it up on my phone there to see the DRS zones. I think it is actually four.
Yeah, it is four, correct? Yeah. Okay, so why is this one of the most interesting layouts
that we're going to get in the final seven weeks? I think it's not just the layout.
When we talk about Singapore, it's also the physical challenge it presents to the drivers
because you're dealing with 30 degree heat and you think, well, you know, did you get that in
other places? But it's the humidity. The location of Singapore basically on the equator means it's
incredibly humid and while the drivers are very fit and they're able to deal with it,
the temperature inside the cockpit, the amount they sweat is unlike any other circuit we go
to. So yeah, it really does make a difference in terms of that. And so when we talk about
Singapore, when we arrive on the Thursday, a lot of the conversation is about how the drivers
manage with that. A lot of them do heat training in the weeks before Singapore. They just gradually
build up the way they're training, you know, whether it be bringing a cycling machine into a
sauna or whatever, you know, there's various different things that they do, whether it's
wearing lots of layers and turning the heat up in the factory gym. I remember George Russell
talking about that when he was at Williams and all the staff, the regular staff then came
back and they're like, why is our gym at 35 degrees? And why is there a bunch of sweaty
like clothes in the corner? And yeah, essentially that was, you know, just George's way of
adapting his body to get to a point where he could deal with the 60-odd laps that it is
in the heat in Singapore. So I'd say those are the kind of more unusual factors. Because
if you look at the circuit on paper, you know, it's quite a lot of right-angle
90-degree corners, like a street circuit, like I'd expect. But yeah, it's the heat, it's the
intensity, it's the fact that it is going through such an incredible city that all adds to making
it that little bit more special. But, you know, often this race, whether it's exciting or not,
will depend on whether something triggers a safety car, whether something, you know,
maybe a driver does just get pushed over the limit slightly and puts it in the barrier.
Then we get, you know, more exciting racing. But yeah, I think just visually as well, it's
fantastic having a night race for a city like that.
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Do you happen to know the physical effect like the tool? Because I think it's always fascinating.
Obviously, the drivers drop on the scales before and then after the race, but it gives us an idea,
like the actual number of before and after. Do you have an idea of what that would be for,
I don't know, name a driver, any driver? Yeah, so it's roughly four to five percent
of their body weight they will lose. So I'm not very good at translating kilos into pounds,
but that is significant. And it's also significant because an ultra-distance triathlon
kind of athlete might expect to lose three or four percent. So they're kind of going beyond that.
And of course, in a much shorter period of time as well. And while their bodies are capable of
dealing with that, it's basically water loss through sweating. While they're able to deal with
that loss of fluid from a physical point of view, what really takes this toll is the mental
side. Because once you start to lose that kind of amount of fluid from your body,
the concentration can start to go. And that's what can lead to those safety
car moments. Yeah. So I remember talking to a doctor about this, Dr. Luke Bennett,
who used to work with Mercedes. And it was fascinating. There is an article on ESPN,
let's give a little plug. But it's fascinating the different ways that it impacts the body
and the different methods that drivers have to deal with it. Again, so much of it is about
preparation going into the race right up to the moment they get into the car. They're wearing ice
vest and they're taking on as much fluid as possible. Because all that fluid is just
going to be sweated out over the course of the race. I literally just did, math is not my
strong suit. So I needed to use the calculator that tells you a little bit about me. I just
did the math on what that would be for me. And that's like the amount of weight the number
is something that I would actually really have to try to do. That's a shocking number.
And you're losing that over the course of two hours. That's so hard on your body.
I think that's a surprising thing, how it's a two-hour race. And it does often run up to the
two-hour time limit in Singapore. More so when they have the old corners in. It's a bit faster
now. But because it's quite a slow circuit in terms of just the average speed, it does run
into a long race. And they're just there the whole time. And there's no rest. No rest at all.
Even in the pit stops, there's not a huge amount of rest. So yeah, it is quite incredible what the
body has to go through for those drivers. You mentioned earlier this is usually a one-stop race
because that's the best way to win this. So what is the role that tyres could play in this one?
Yeah, so I actually looked at what Prelia are doing this weekend because a number of races
this year, they brought an even softer tyre compound to, especially street circuits. But in
Singapore, because of the heat and the load that they expect through the tyres, they weren't actually
comfortable to bring the C6 compound, which is a new extra extra soft one. So they're actually
sticking with the same ones they had last year, which means again, probably a one-stop race
and probably a fair bit of tyre management still from the drivers, which again is why
you'll often see them driver a relatively slow pace compared to qualifying because the lead
driver will be managing the tyres, managing the tyres, not wanting to create too big a gap anywhere
down the field for the cars directly behind it to pit into and potentially get an undercut as well.
So yeah, there's a lot of consideration going on with certainly how the rear tyres are coping
and the temperature they're running at. But that doesn't actually always make for the most
exciting racing because you often see the drivers actually driving a little bit under
the limit that they could be going up. When we obviously talked about Max and the fact that he
has never wanted this track and that historically speaking, Red Bull has maybe not had the car
for this circuit, but Ferrari has done quite well here. This year with the way that just this
year with what we know about what we have, who is most likely to have a better weekend than
not. And why is the answer not McLaren? Yeah, well, the answer is McLaren, but I mean,
I think what's interesting is that the last two races, the answer wasn't McLaren. I mean,
genuinely in Monza, the McLaren was not the fastest car. The Red Bull was. We didn't really get
to see what the McLaren could do properly in Baku, but you could build a very strong argument
from what we saw that the Red Bull was the faster car than the McLaren in Baku again.
So McLaren are actually really looking forward to arriving in Singapore because and this is the
technical reason is that you run a much higher downforce level. And when those basically the big
wings, you'll see a lot more wing angle on the rear wing, but you have a matching front wing to
balance the car. And so when the car is in that setup, the McLaren is in a much happier
place. It's more predictable. It's easier for the drivers to find a balance. And it's almost
the complete reverse for the Red Bull this season, where the more downforce has gone on,
the harder Max finds to get that balance through the practice sessions. But again,
like I said earlier, that may change going into this weekend. I think Ferrari is the other
team which it might just play a little bit back to their strengths. If you look back to
one of the last really high downforce circuits that we went to Budapest,
the car was competitive. Okay, the race fell apart a bit, but it was very competitive
and qualifying. So I think there'd be some hope for Ferrari that they can hit the ground running
this weekend. And then if you're looking further down the grid, I'd say keep it on Aston Martin,
a team whose form does fluctuate hugely or has fluctuated hugely during the season.
But again, when they have the big wings on that car, Hungary being a good example as well,
that car's gone well. So that's what the form book tells us. But actually,
I've done so many of these podcasts, I've tried to predict who might be good based
on my form book. And then it's all out the window by third practice into qualifying. And
somebody's done a remarkable job and proved me wrong.
I think that's what keeps us coming back over and over and over again. Is there anyone here
like this is just not them? This is just not their weekend. They're going to be there.
Or they're just going to be like a moving caution flag. Look out for them.
Again, in theory, the Williams might struggle. You know, Williams is a team
that we've got used to being best of the run. I mean, look at Baku with Carlos Sainz on the podium.
This is a circuit again. Yeah, exactly. So you think they are regular top 10
finishes? I think they're going to struggle to be there this weekend.
But I mean, that's the other thing is that if you qualify well at this circuit,
despite us saying that there's more overtaking than you might expect,
you can actually retain position during the race. So if Alex or Carlos put in exceptional
qualifying performances, they could prove me wrong very easily. But I would say Williams on paper,
a team that might struggle a little bit. And also, I'm going to say Mercedes as well,
not strictly a midfield team. But we just know that when the conditions are,
I mean, they may well be this weekend because when it's too hot,
that car struggles overheating the rear tires creates a world of pain. So again,
that could be a team where they're just trying to limit the damage a little bit this weekend.
I'm already getting to it. I'm writing down my podium because this is what we do.
All right. And I have to write it down because historically,
Laz and I have given the same answers on a couple of occasions. Also, when it comes to
our championship, you and I are very tight. Nate, not with us. He is in Singapore though
with you this weekend, correct? Correct. Yeah. He's actually flying right now.
That's why he's not on the podcast. So valid excuse. Yeah. I feel like last weekend,
he had a wedding on a Tuesday. I feel like he's very much like he ignored me and Montreal.
Like I feel like what did I do to annoy him? What did I do? I'm taking it personally.
This feels personal. I'm looking forward to the next podcast for both of them.
Whenever that may be. When we roll up to Austin and we're all reunited,
I'm going to be like, what up, dude? Why are you ignoring me? All right, let's get to Nate's picks.
Nate went with, let's go in reverse order, third, Lando, second, Oscar, and then winning the guy
who's never won there before, Max. I don't hate it. I don't hate it.
Yeah, he's sticking with the form book. I think it's still quite punchy given everything that I
said about what's going on with the cars at this circuit, but he's sticking with the recent form of
Max winning. He's also several points behind, so he needs to take a big swing and we're fine with
it. All right, you're going to go next. What do you got? What do you got? Okay, I'm going to say
Louis Hamilton, third place. I know, you know, hasn't had a podium yet. I just feel like
he's going to bring it to give. And yeah, it would be a nice story. So Louis Hamilton, third place,
Lando Norris, second place, and Oscar Piastri for the victory. And you just have Max not even
have a podium. And Max's Singapore curse continues. Yeah, I just don't think it's going to
see the car. All right, so we are different. We are different. I also have a Ferrari on the podium,
although I went with Leclerc. I really like your Hamilton pick just because of the emotional
connection there. The emotional connection and, you know, he has been closer to the last few
races. Although it's not gone well for Ferrari as a whole, he's been closer to Leclerc.
Yeah. Okay, so I have Leclerc, third, Max, second, Oscar winning it. I think I pick Oscar to win a lot.
That's that's where we are. Okay, so Singapore this weekend, what's your favorite food to eat there?
Oh, that's a good question. So we we tend to finish work around 2am, 3am. So our options are
quite limited. But there's some great street food there. I mean, earlier in the day,
you can eat earlier. Absolutely winner. Well, actually, I often go to Din Tai Fung, which is a
Taiwanese restaurant that is across all of Asia. It's not particularly Singapore. But I often go
there for my breakfast, which is a bit weird having kind of dim sum of breakfast. But yeah,
it's a little little like habit of mine going to Singapore. I don't find that weird at all.
There has to be I have to have coffee because I've reached that stage in my life. But then
like all bets are off. If I have the coffee, once that's in like all bets are off, I'll have tacos
for breakfast. I don't care. Like let's go. Safe travels. Enjoy your dim sum. Thank you very much.
I will talk to you next week, which is our last weekend, our last weekend apart before we get to
have our family reunion in Texas. So safe travels. Enjoy the race. Thank you for watching and
listening. Remember, leave a comment, hit us up with a five star review, hit that like button.
Also, don't forget to subscribe to the ESPN F1 YouTube channel for all of your F1 content.
And remember, Unlapped is presented by Oracle. Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your
current cloud bill in half. If you move to OCI, see if your company qualifies at oracle.com
slash Unlapped. Bye everybody.
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