Latest / Banter with the Boys / Verstappen Claims WDC in Vegas | Vegas GP Recap - Fast Laps with the Boys | Qatar GP Preview

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Verstappen Claims WDC in Vegas | Vegas GP Recap - Fast Laps with the Boys | Qatar GP Preview · Banter with the Boys

0:00
Let's go!
0:01
It's time for Banter with the Boys.
0:13
Yo yo welcome back to Banter with the Boys, a fast lapse, the Vegas recap guitar preview.
0:21
Joe, welcome back for another week of course as our co-host.
0:24
What's going on?
0:25
Thank you, thank you.
0:26
Happy to be here.
0:27
We're almost there man, two more races.
0:30
Don't say that.
0:31
Two more races and then it's all over until February.
0:34
To be honest, off-season's really short so that's nice at least.
0:40
We dislike a three week break.
0:42
I suppose, we'll probably have a shorter break between episodes in the real off-season than
0:47
the summer break I feel like.
0:49
Maybe yeah, we'll probably do a pre-season, we'll do a season wrap up, maybe we'll throw
0:54
like a little F1 history in the middle of winter in there so I might just through that
0:58
out there.
0:59
We'll do that on Christmas Day.
1:00
Ooh, Kev, Christmas Day?
1:03
Oh yeah and don't forget Kev behind the camera who's making everything happen and allowing
1:08
us to record on Christmas Day.
1:10
Lie.
1:11
What are we talking about?
1:13
Vegas, Vegas Vegas, the Vegas recap.
1:17
Joe.
1:18
Smelty.
1:19
What did you see in quality there?
1:22
You said you had a couple little tidbits, might as well just pop them out there.
1:24
Quick notes in quality, yeah.
1:26
No shocker to anyone, Pear is out in Q1.
1:29
Colapinto crashing in Q2 causing him to have to start from the pit lane during the race
1:36
because of the damage to the car.
1:38
Luckily, they were actually able to get the car to the race so that's good.
1:42
But yeah, quick quality recap.
1:46
It was really, going back a little bit further, practice one really cold.
1:51
I remember everyone was losing grip.
1:54
Did this end up being, I don't think it did, but did this end up being the coldest F1 race
1:59
on record?
2:00
I'm not sure.
2:01
It's going to have to be close.
2:02
It was probably pretty close.
2:03
It was pretty chilly all weekend.
2:06
So yeah, definitely hard on the tires, just getting them in the right area.
2:11
It was surprisingly during the race, even the tires were kind of acting a little funny.
2:16
A lot of people with different kind of strategies, some of them only able to run the mediums
2:20
for like seven laps.
2:21
So it was fun to kind of watch that happen.
2:23
I know they're on like the softest compound.
2:25
And everybody was like, oh, it's going to be a one stop race.
2:28
And there's like pretty high confidence about that pre-race.
2:32
Like everybody was like, yep, one stop.
2:34
It's either you're going to run the mediums and then go to hards and stick it out or try
2:39
to go as long as possible on the hards to start the race and switch to the mediums,
2:42
try to go as fast as possible at the end of the race.
2:45
But yeah, I didn't catch which allocation they were using, but I assume they were probably
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using the softest that they could of the three.
2:52
So if that's the case, then that would make sense as to why, you know, they ran out so
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quickly.
2:58
Yeah, no.
2:59
Most teams went to.
3:00
Yes.
3:01
Yeah.
3:02
But the race, the Grand Prix, what was the title of this one again?
3:06
Heineken something Grand Prix, Heineken Silver Grand Prix.
3:09
It almost had it silver.
3:11
That's Heineken Silver Grand Prix.
3:14
Normally we start about start talking about the driver who has won the race and the team
3:20
that's won the race.
3:21
But this week, of course, Max Verstappen.
3:24
He's four time WDC champion.
3:32
Cole Cole's not here.
3:34
I am.
3:35
I mean, I would love to hear his take.
3:37
Yeah.
3:38
I want you would still say that.
3:39
Well, I never mind.
3:40
I was going to say he'd still say that he deserves it.
3:43
But then I'd be no, he'd come up with something about how he does.
3:46
Yeah.
3:47
I mean, it's hard to tell.
3:48
I think he would not be surprised.
3:50
I'm not surprised that Max took it.
3:52
I mean, he had such an incredibly strong start to the season.
3:54
It's you know, no surprise.
3:55
Oh yeah, we figure at the beginning of the year, it's no contest.
3:59
Yeah.
4:00
But it was fun.
4:01
It was fun that somebody was lurking there, you know, for a little bit.
4:04
Lando, I feel better about him winning than I would have earlier in the season.
4:08
Like I think I would have been the worst thing in the world.
4:09
Why is that?
4:10
Just because I he's kind of you know, the car's not as good.
4:13
Yeah, the car is not as good.
4:14
He's really proved himself through a lot of these.
4:16
He's also done some stuff that made him like dislike him more.
4:19
But especially recently, he's I mean, like the Brazil like the Brazil race was crazy
4:24
just to see him come from like 17th or something all the way out.
4:27
I mean, that's so I feel better about it now, I guess.
4:32
And now they can you know, now we can just see him have some good old fashioned fun on
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the track.
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Constructors is still up for grabs.
4:38
So and that is a fight.
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Very much so.
4:40
That's a race right now.
4:41
I'll have to talk about that when we maybe we get through the teams.
4:44
Yeah, let's make sure we we mention that before we move on for sure.
4:48
Checo.
4:49
I mean, whatever.
4:50
Did he did he make whatever?
4:52
Did he make points?
4:55
Let me check really quick.
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Yes, he did.
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He got one.
4:58
He got 10th.
4:59
He got one.
5:00
Yes.
5:01
So he made he made it up to 10th.
5:02
He had a pretty good take.
5:03
We just watched passes that that late pass actually not two passes, two positions that
5:07
late pass on K.
5:08
Megan Alonso to get into point.
5:10
So that is good on him.
5:13
It's weird seeing all the cars with that small little wing this week.
5:17
Yeah, like a really, really short wing.
5:19
We saw the Red Bull with kind of like the shark kind of work on it.
5:23
The DIY wing.
5:24
Yeah, look like, yeah, they had taken some scissors.
5:27
Yeah, just like some waves with it.
5:28
That's good.
5:29
Yeah.
5:30
I mean, kind of eat any of that performance and a lot of I heard the commentators talking
5:34
about McLaren's wing and how because of that rule that was made where the the DRS was kind
5:40
of like opening slightly, that maybe some of their pace is gone because of that.
5:43
I don't know how true it is, but they definitely were not as fast as some of the other drivers
5:49
out there this weekend.
5:50
Yeah, no, for sure.
5:52
They really struggled this week before before we get into that.
5:56
Before we get into them, let's let's give Mercedes their due.
5:59
I mean, we have to.
6:01
I mean, finishing one two and not only one two.
6:04
George Russell, do I dare say dominated.
6:07
Oh, my gosh.
6:08
A good portion of this, right?
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I mean, he did crazy well.
6:13
I am.
6:14
Where is this carbon?
6:15
One of the I mean, Lewis has even said we don't know why the car is so good here.
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He speculates it's because it's so cold that the tires, they were able to manage them a
6:24
little bit better, which means if that is exactly what's happening, Qatar is going to
6:29
be just horrible for him.
6:31
It's going to be so bad.
6:33
Is it slated to be ridiculously hot?
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No.
6:36
So I'll talk about a little later, but we are later in the season, so it's not going
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to be as hot as it was last time out.
6:40
But still hotter than Vegas by a by a large, by a bit of a margin.
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So I mean, considering we were talking last week about Vegas potentially being the coldest
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race ever.
6:51
So yeah, I don't think it was by the way.
6:53
Yeah, I think we're seeing like 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
6:55
All your Celsius folks, I'm sorry.
6:59
We're seeing 77, 25 degrees Celsius.
7:02
So you are.
7:03
Thanks, Kev.
7:04
We'll just switch the.
7:05
So we'll just switch now on the show for F1 only.
7:08
I know that zero is freezing and we'll stop there.
7:12
Cool.
7:13
So if it is the tires, then yeah, they might be in trouble next weekend, but it was so
7:18
I I wasn't able to watch it live.
7:21
I was unfortunately busy, but when I was watching it after I was like some messaging, some people
7:25
just my comments during the race, seeing Lewis pass Max.
7:31
Just put me in a good mood.
7:32
They didn't really have a chance to fight because Max was like, this isn't my fight.
7:36
I'm going to win the WDC.
7:37
For sure, he did not put it does not matter.
7:39
But seeing him be able to pass Max like after seeing Max do the exact same thing, sometimes
7:44
even lap him.
7:46
It was it was so beautiful.
7:47
I was so happy to see that they did so well.
7:50
I wish the car was like that.
7:52
I wish it was like last year where like, you know, they're fighting for second in WDC.
7:55
I don't know if this is going to carry on to next weekend, but man, now I'm curious
7:59
though, right?
8:00
Now this kind of shows us where that Mercedes car is really going to be at to start next
8:04
season, which kind of leads me into our last question, my last question anyway about Mercedes
8:07
is.
8:09
Is George Russell going to be enough for Mercedes next year to really help lead them and maybe
8:14
be top three in constructors next year?
8:17
And that is he going to be enough?
8:19
Antonelli obviously big question mark.
8:21
We don't know.
8:22
We'd like to assume he's going to be great.
8:23
But again, with all the rookies that are going to be out there next year, it were.
8:27
Oh, God, don't even get me started about next year.
8:29
It's going to be ridiculous.
8:30
But I started.
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I know.
8:32
I know.
8:33
I know.
8:34
That's what this question is.
8:35
Like, can George put his name in the ring to compete?
8:38
He thinks so, right?
8:39
Obviously, you have to think that way as an F1 driver, I reckon.
8:42
But do you think he can actually compete with the likes of Max Landau, Oscar Charles or
8:47
even Lewis in a Ferrari next year for that WDC?
8:51
I honestly think it's going to really rely heavily on the car itself.
8:55
But I think he's more than proved himself this year.
8:58
He's definitely their lead driver in points and on track, just from what we can see.
9:04
He's outpacing Lewis.
9:05
Don't get me started.
9:06
This could be an offseason topic.
9:08
I think there's some weird stuff.
9:10
Or like they may be favoring his side of the garage.
9:13
I'm willing to admit that that could be the case as well.
9:15
They got to know what they're going to have.
9:17
So they might as well start now.
9:18
But that being said, he drives the car he's given and he does it well.
9:22
Is it WDC material?
9:24
I think when I saw him in Williams, I would definitely say this kid has the chops to be
9:30
a WDC.
9:31
Yeah, he was like the next.
9:32
For sure.
9:33
Like everybody was super high on him.
9:34
He kind of got Mercedes right when it started going a little more downhill and we were like,
9:37
you know, I think he still has a chops, but I don't know if he's going to get the chance.
9:41
Do I think he's going to take WDC next year?
9:44
I don't think so.
9:45
I hope he fights for it, though.
9:46
I think that would be awesome.
9:47
I'd love to see him.
9:48
Fighting for podiums every week, potentially type of deal.
9:50
That would be great.
9:51
Consistently.
9:52
I think he's, you know, recent track record, not great early season or throughout the whole
9:57
season this year, but I'm hoping they can turn it around next year.
10:00
I would love to see him up there.
10:02
I'm hoping the car is good right off the bat, too.
10:05
If it is, I definitely think he can lead that team.
10:08
Do I think he's going to be in the same position Lewis is in when George joined having all
10:13
that tenure?
10:14
I don't know how that might benefit Antonelli or like how that team dynamic is going to
10:21
be.
10:22
I feel like George is probably better at racing his own race versus maybe being like the team
10:28
player.
10:29
I mean, he's number one.
10:30
Right.
10:31
Exactly.
10:32
No matter what next year.
10:33
Exactly.
10:34
Doesn't really have to worry about that.
10:35
It's just, yeah, he hasn't reached the veteran status that Lewis is, so I don't know.
10:37
I agree with that.
10:38
Wow.
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There's not a lot of guys on the grid that have reached the veteran status of Lewis,
10:42
I would say.
10:43
Yeah, exactly.
10:44
I don't know how he's going to take, you know, team orders being put against him if Antonelli
10:47
is just as fast.
10:48
Just ridiculous.
10:49
Yeah, that would be crazy.
10:50
The new Max for Sabin.
10:51
Yeah.
10:52
Right.
10:53
With Antonelli having a rookie, this is the first time he's, you know, racing long term
10:58
in an F1 car.
10:59
Mercedes as a whole, probably not going to win Constructors either just because you got
11:03
a rookie there.
11:04
For sure.
11:05
Right.
11:06
And you got other high end competitors.
11:07
Exactly.
11:08
But WDC, I'm hoping we see Russell up there a little.
11:10
Okay.
11:11
Fair enough.
11:12
Top five finish next year maybe?
11:13
Yeah.
11:14
I wouldn't.
11:15
I would say why not?
11:16
I mean.
11:17
More comfortable?
11:18
Let's see.
11:19
We've got four.
11:20
We've got Max on the grid.
11:21
I know.
11:22
That's what I mean.
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A lot of drivers.
11:24
So even top five might be tough.
11:25
You got Max on the grid.
11:26
I would love both.
11:27
I mean, Oscar's proven himself.
11:28
I don't see why he wouldn't be top five.
11:29
Who can't imagine the Papayas being up there?
11:31
Yeah.
11:32
I was thinking, and then Lewis is, yeah, I don't know.
11:35
Top five could be difficult in the current Mercedes, right?
11:38
So you're fighting whoever's in that second Red Bull seat, I think at least probably.
11:43
For sure.
11:44
Yeah.
11:45
Fair enough.
11:46
Before we move on from Mercedes, Lewis, obviously mega drive.
11:48
Driver's a J.
11:49
Such a good drive.
11:50
Yeah.
11:51
Where did he, he started in?
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Cars fast this week.
11:54
Yeah.
11:55
He started in like 10th, right?
11:56
Yep.
11:57
Yeah.
11:58
That was a crazy, crazy drive from Lewis.
12:01
If he had been able to qualify a little bit better, he would have won that race.
12:06
I mean, he was driving.
12:08
There was a point where, I think his tires kind of fell off a little at the end.
12:12
He was catching George a little.
12:13
Would they have, well, George was probably trying to back off a little bit too to probably
12:17
make sure he makes it to the end.
12:18
Oh yeah.
12:19
He was catching his tires.
12:20
He was up 28 seconds at one point, I'm pretty sure.
12:22
He was.
12:23
So, yep.
12:24
But Lewis closed the gap back up to seven seconds without any major safety car or anything.
12:29
True.
12:30
So yeah, great drive from Lewis.
12:32
Great weekend for Mercedes.
12:33
Better drive than I've seen him do in a while.
12:35
So it was nice to see him out there.
12:36
He's got to feel good.
12:37
I hope he could win like in Abu Dhabi or something.
12:40
That'd be cool.
12:41
That would be nice.
12:42
One more time.
12:43
Even Qatar's fine.
12:44
Just one more win for Mercedes.
12:46
I wrote down during this as like we should do like a little Lewis Mercedes recap in the
12:51
winter.
12:52
I'm just going to, we'll have shows.
12:53
We'll have a recap for every single driver.
12:56
Well, how'd Joe do this year?
12:59
Yeah, yeah.
13:00
How did Joe do?
13:01
Yeah.
13:02
So Ferrari's finishing three, four.
13:05
Kind of some interesting drama.
13:07
Truly.
13:08
Truly most of the interesting stuff.
13:11
It's funny.
13:12
It's because Carlos, he qualified second and then he finished third.
13:16
But yeah, most of the stuff with Ferrari like was like happened in the radio or in strategy
13:25
like we saw in the old days of Ferrari, right?
13:28
Carlos asking to pit, the team saying no, no pit.
13:32
And then him losing out some places, possibly second because of it.
13:36
Then freaking out on them.
13:37
Yeah.
13:38
And then freaking out on them.
13:39
And then when he finally does pit to come out, he's told not to pass Charles, but he
13:43
does pass Charles.
13:45
And then Charles, yeah, his huge rant at the end of the, yeah, just a weird, weird kind
13:49
of...
13:50
Charles was ranting like mad at the end of the race.
13:52
He was super upset.
13:53
Yeah.
13:54
I have to call it out because they told him he was like, we told Carlos not to pass you
13:58
and then we see Carlos pass him.
14:00
And then Charles says, maybe try Spanish.
14:01
It was just probably one of the best radios, probably one of the best radio messages we've
14:06
heard all year.
14:09
And this includes what race was hungry when the whole, the Max fighting with his engineer
14:15
and then Lando in Oscar.
14:17
Yeah.
14:18
Can we play that audio royalty free you think?
14:20
Probably not.
14:21
Team comms.
14:22
Just at the end.
14:23
Just an episode of team comms.
14:26
I think we could probably get away with playing the clip and then talking about it.
14:30
I don't think we'd have any issues with doing that.
14:31
We're going to have to look into that.
14:32
We'll look into that next year.
14:34
Maybe at the end of the year as well.
14:35
Yes, off season.
14:36
That sounds fun.
14:37
We got off season.
14:38
Yeah.
14:39
So that was wild.
14:40
And then that being said, still good finishing for both of them.
14:42
For sure.
14:43
For sure.
14:44
But you put down in good point because I totally forgot that this even happened.
14:46
How did Carlos not get a penalty for seemingly going to box and then skirting over the white
14:53
lines to get back on the track in a more dangerous manner?
14:57
Yeah.
14:58
So commentator, oh, a hundred percent.
14:59
Like, I mean, we all thought it was coming.
15:01
The commentators definitely thought it was coming.
15:02
I, they couldn't stop talking about it, which was weird.
15:05
Brundle was like, or maybe not Brundle, but one of the people in sky sports was actually
15:10
going into like the rule book and pointed out exactly, you know, what happened.
15:15
He brought up like article blah, blah, blah.
15:17
Yes.
15:18
He was like, he was like, and he did this so we should be getting a penalty.
15:22
I think the lowdown and what I've done a little bit of research on it just to kind of figure
15:26
out why this had happened.
15:28
And I think the lowdown is we had a new race director and they do have the authority to
15:35
based on what they tell the drivers before the race, some of the rules or some of the
15:39
things that are going to enforce whether or not they may enforce them.
15:43
And apparently this race director did not talk about the pit lane entry and any of any
15:50
of the penalties that may be with that.
15:52
Like, like some previous races, the race director might've said, if you're, if you're in the
15:56
pit lines, any pit line, you must stay in that pit line.
15:59
He did not do that and therefore could not enforce it.
16:02
And that's why we didn't even see it under investigation.
16:04
But in that moment, which is fair, that makes sense.
16:06
That all makes sense to me.
16:07
Does it though?
16:08
Yes, it does.
16:09
It does.
16:10
But in that moment, do you think if that rule was talked about beforehand, do you think
16:13
Carlos still does it?
16:14
Looked like a race decision.
16:17
Or do you think he honestly thought about that?
16:20
Like, oh, well, they didn't say, I, you know, couldn't.
16:22
Man, if he, if he thought about it, that was such a big brain, such a big brain move if
16:27
he thought about it, but I don't know.
16:28
It feels, it felt very in the moment.
16:30
That's what I mean.
16:31
Yeah.
16:32
I think he still would have done it, but I don't know.
16:34
I don't know.
16:35
Yeah.
16:36
Just saying.
16:37
So yeah, that's my sort of tinfoil, not really tinfoil because I heard it somewhere else
16:42
that might have not been true.
16:43
You can't say tinfoil hat on this show anymore until it shows up.
16:47
So many times.
16:48
Yeah, I know.
16:50
And there's no tinfoil hat here.
16:51
We keep all of our stuff here.
16:53
Maybe the tinfoil hat was the friends we made along the way.
16:56
Yeah.
16:57
Oh, anyway.
16:58
Anyway.
16:59
What's next?
17:00
Oh, McLaren.
17:01
Well, why don't you just start it off for us with old McLaren.
17:06
I don't really know what to say.
17:07
You're such a McLaren fan.
17:08
You know?
17:09
Well, other than repping Mercedes on the.
17:11
I mean, yeah, I had to.
17:12
One, two.
17:13
You know?
17:14
I had to.
17:15
You have to.
17:16
Lando started sixth.
17:17
Oscar started eighth.
17:18
They both ended up, Lando kept sixth and Oscar got into seventh.
17:24
So Oscar made up a couple of places, but to be fair, I believe one of those places was
17:29
Gastly, who retired.
17:32
He was.
17:33
And I'm really curious where Gastly would have finished.
17:35
I'll talk about him.
17:36
Yeah.
17:37
And then Yuki, who I just didn't have the pace against him.
17:39
So yeah, not incredibly, not incredibly strong.
17:42
I would have imagined or hoped that they would have been a little bit stronger here.
17:45
I had like truly no idea how Lando would have placed.
17:49
They just didn't really look good, like the entirety of the race.
17:53
Yeah, not really.
17:54
I will say Oscar got that Oscar got a penalty for the pit lane start or not.
18:01
Pit lane start.
18:02
Sorry.
18:03
False start.
18:04
False start.
18:05
Yes.
18:06
He got a penalty for false start.
18:07
It looked incredibly close to not being.
18:08
And I'm not a McLaren fan.
18:10
And they even said on the on the on the broadcast.
18:14
If they call that a penalty, I'm saying fine.
18:17
If the system says it's a penalty, that's it's a penalty.
18:20
Whatever they they gave me like a single camera angle to see it.
18:23
It looked fine, but they know better than me.
18:27
I'm not worried about it.
18:28
He obviously handled it well.
18:29
He was able to pit and get it get it cleared relatively quickly and then went on with his
18:34
race.
18:36
But other than that, yeah, a little disappointing.
18:38
I would have hoped they would have gone up a little bit more.
18:41
But what are you going to do?
18:42
You know, what are they going to do?
18:45
Next week, I guess.
18:46
I guess.
18:47
I'm curious how they'll do there.
18:48
No, it was truly disappointing for me.
18:51
And again, not me not being a McLaren fan boy.
18:54
But I just yeah, you kind of expect more from them, especially with the constructors still
18:58
on the line.
18:59
I will say and also WDC was on the line for Lando as well.
19:02
Technically, we hoped it never seemed like it was even possible for him to get past Max
19:07
because he would have had to get at least finish one place in front of them no matter
19:11
what.
19:12
Right.
19:13
Yeah.
19:14
He would have had to and that would have had to be a high place because he got like if
19:16
they got seven and eight doesn't matter.
19:17
Yeah, because I think it was a that'd be three point difference.
19:20
Yeah.
19:21
So it would I would have loved to see a.
19:24
Man, I would have loved to see more of a fight for the win.
19:29
But like after lap one, it was like, no, it's just yeah, they just didn't have it.
19:32
They don't have the pace.
19:34
Even even Ghastly at the time was faster.
19:37
Yeah, I would say Red Bull and like Max and Lando probably had similar pace throughout
19:43
the race.
19:44
Like they looked relatively even.
19:45
I don't think Lando.
19:46
I don't think Max really I mean, he didn't make up a ton of ton of places.
19:50
You know, no, he started and ended fifth.
19:52
So right.
19:53
So they kind of held Max driving the pants off the thing.
19:56
Exactly.
19:57
Keep it on the track at this point.
19:58
Yeah, he does just seem super off.
20:01
Yep.
20:02
Yeah.
20:03
Cars not not the car we saw last year, that's for sure.
20:05
Or at the start of the year.
20:06
But yeah, so that's all I kind of have to say from McLaren.
20:08
I don't really have, you know.
20:10
Yeah, no, it's it's it's it's not bad.
20:13
Could be worse, but it's definitely not good.
20:16
So it's good that I will say it's good for them that Mercedes got a one two because for
20:20
Ferrari could have gotten a huge, huge jump in points in the constructors.
20:25
It's I mean, they already get a pretty big point jump, but it could have been a lot worse.
20:30
So Lando getting that fastest lap right at the end there to help them a little bit.
20:34
So that's what we should be focusing on going forward is now McLaren and Ferrari.
20:40
And I don't think I don't think Red Bull can make it.
20:43
I don't think Czech was going to allow Red Bull to make it back.
20:45
Probably not at this point.
20:46
Again, we'll we'll update those in a minute here.
20:49
Real quick touch points.
20:51
We don't need to spend a ton of time on them.
20:52
Sorry, Mike.
20:54
Nico, though, getting P8.
20:56
Yeah, another solid showing for him again.
21:00
I can't remember. Did Mike say he was sad to lose Nico next year?
21:03
Pretty sure he is.
21:04
He said to lose.
21:05
I think he said to lose Nico, but he's also happy Nico still on the grid.
21:08
And he also did mention that once they become Audi, he's going to become an Audi fanboy.
21:12
So true. He did say that Nico's not going anywhere.
21:15
I thought I was going to as well until until we get to our news.
21:19
Yeah.
21:21
I'm going to be a fanboy of that thing.
21:22
But anyway, Yuki for Racing Bulls.
21:25
Oh, yeah. And then the other host driver.
21:26
Sorry, KMeg finishing P12.
21:28
KMeg two races left.
21:31
Yep. I read a bit.
21:33
Maybe. Oh, yeah.
21:35
Yeah. I mean, maybe maybe I just isn't this is not, I don't think, related to what you're saying.
21:39
I read that he still wants to be part of the host team in some kind of fashion.
21:43
So maybe maybe we'll see him in the paddock next year.
21:46
So you think he's going to be just like, you know, I'm going to retire.
21:48
I don't think he I don't think he wants to retire.
21:51
I don't know. I'm not sure.
21:53
I just read that he wants to remain part of Haas.
21:55
He wants to remain part of Haas in some kind of capacity.
21:57
I doubt they would keep him on as a reserve.
22:00
But, you know, maybe he's got experience.
22:03
So if anything like, let's say, let's say one of the drivers for some reason,
22:07
their home country, you know, had some really horrible thing that happened
22:11
and then they get banned from the sport.
22:13
Maybe he can get called on again.
22:15
Who knows?
22:16
Yeah, that's never happened before. Never.
22:20
All right. Yuki finishing P nine for racing bowls.
22:23
You get a couple of points there.
22:24
The other racing driver, Liam, finishing barely on the lead lap.
22:30
Not a great showing from Liam, a guy who's potentially trying to fight for that.
22:37
Red Bull spot that's not open at the moment.
22:40
But obviously, there's a three three way fight right now.
22:43
And we'll talk about it when we get to our preview for Qatar.
22:46
But the three way fight hypothetical fight, you know, between Checo, Liam
22:50
and Yuki for that twenty twenty five Red Bull seat at some point in twenty
22:56
twenty five. Not necessarily to start.
22:58
Yeah, I think we're pretty confident Checo's going to start in the seat.
23:00
But I mean, at this point, we know, especially if we don't win constructors.
23:05
And again, we'll update those standings, too.
23:06
But I mean, yes, I'm not I'm not confident he starts in the seat.
23:10
I still think it's completely possible he does. Sure. Right.
23:13
I'm just yeah, I just I just don't know what's going to happen.
23:15
Yep. And then just real quick.
23:19
Let's see. Oh, yeah.
23:22
It's still not having comms the entire race for us.
23:25
So that's insane.
23:26
It's actually he end up finishing 15.
23:28
I mean, whatever he finished. He finished. Yeah, it's yeah.
23:32
Imagine going to the pit lane.
23:33
And that is the like that is the notification your team gets that.
23:36
Oh, he's looking to pit.
23:38
He's coming down the lane right now. He's coming right now.
23:40
So we had that like 30 second pit pit or something like that.
23:43
It's not nothing you can do. Yeah.
23:44
Not the teams. Well, not
23:47
not the people that actually change the tires.
23:49
I had someone say, you know, someone was like, it's not Stroll's fault,
23:53
but it technically is Stroll's fault because it's his car and his company.
23:56
So really, you kind of the latter of. Oh, the latter of Stroll. Yeah.
24:01
OK, the latter of Stroll. Yes.
24:02
And then it's Stroll's fault.
24:05
It is Stroll's fault. OK. Yeah. All right. Anyway, Aston.
24:09
I don't know why I put notes down for kick, but yeah, I will say Joe
24:12
for a while had he was up there.
24:14
Actually, yeah, just decent running.
24:17
So they can get into points, but got relatively quick.
24:19
I I would like to see Joe get a point or kick, get a point this season.
24:24
Just one point.
24:25
Do you think we'll talk about it? OK, we'll talk.
24:29
I got all sorts of tin foil hat stuff and I don't even have a tin foil hat here.
24:33
So I probably shouldn't even say it.
24:35
Williams Colapinto starts from the pit lane after his Q2 crash.
24:39
Another crash from Colapinto. Yeah.
24:42
It's starting to become a little common for a guy who's still trying to
24:45
yeah, land an F1 seat in the future.
24:47
I was looking at the D Constructors championship points
24:52
and until the destructors championship and until this race,
24:55
Pierre Gasly was.
24:57
I think he's zero dollars.
24:59
I think he's I think I think he can still be considered zero
25:02
because it isn't his fault.
25:03
He didn't cause any like body damage or anything.
25:05
So you're right. I think he's still at zero.
25:07
That being said, is insane, by the way. Yes.
25:09
I don't know if any drivers ever crazy good from gas.
25:12
Not even a puncture. Keeping it incredibly clean.
25:13
Yeah, that's awesome.
25:15
But Franco's up there.
25:17
He's pretty and he's only had half a season.
25:19
So that's that's not good.
25:20
He's that being said, super hard rookie.
25:23
Yeah, super green. Yeah, yeah, super green.
25:26
Let's see. Oh, and his teammate.
25:28
Yeah, just a bad week for Williams, unfortunately.
25:31
Albon having to retire because I heard maybe he had some overheating issues.
25:36
So maybe some of the trash on the on the track that got there.
25:39
That's kind of embarrassing.
25:40
I saw some of the two.
25:41
Some of the yeah, the banks blown across.
25:44
Yeah, lap two.
25:45
I saw this lap to the entire race.
25:48
Russell's car and Charles car.
25:51
Both had trash hanging from unbelievable.
25:53
Yeah, come on.
25:55
Sin City. You're making this look bad.
25:56
Come on. Unbelievable.
25:58
What's going on here? Frickin.
26:00
Yeah, Qatar and Abu Dhabi and like, OK, Abu Dhabi.
26:03
Never mind. But like Qatar and like these other like desert desert tracks.
26:07
You know what I mean? Nothing's coming across those tracks.
26:10
And you think there's, you know, this barren, you know, there's going to be random crap.
26:13
Not even a tumbleweed.
26:14
Nothing. Maybe you'll get a rabbit.
26:16
There might be like a rabbit or something every now and then.
26:19
But like, yeah, that moves itself.
26:21
Yeah, like the bags like it does.
26:22
It doesn't move itself.
26:24
And it's really sad.
26:26
It's really sad.
26:27
Yeah, no, it's it sucks to see.
26:30
Luckily, you know, doesn't shouldn't rather affect too much with the car.
26:34
But still, you know, it's not.
26:36
No, it's that's my that's my home country.
26:38
I don't want to see that.
26:39
Completely embarrassed.
26:40
Yeah. And Miami's just embarrassing by itself.
26:43
Go go, Kota.
26:45
Kota is the best.
26:46
I think Vegas is probably the I don't want to talk about Vegas anymore.
26:49
All right. Fair enough.
26:50
Real quick, before we're done talking about Vegas,
26:53
Alpine, though, Ghazali.
26:55
Yeah, the whole engine pretty much blown up on him.
26:58
Deal that that sucks. Yeah, Ghazali.
27:00
He didn't he didn't have a great start and he was starting to kind of fall back
27:03
a little bit. But then he started picking up.
27:04
He would have gotten a point, I think, you know, at least at least a point.
27:08
So it's to see that he would have been able to finish in front of X first.
27:15
No, no, I think he finishes ahead of Nico, probably.
27:21
OK, fair enough. Fair enough.
27:22
Not in front of the McLaren's even do you think he would have gave a battle
27:25
with the McLaren? I think he would have battled the McLaren.
27:26
I think he would have got a finish in front of both McLaren.
27:29
Yeah. But that's me being ghazali fan.
27:33
Yeah. And then O'Conn having to go into the pit when his team wasn't ready
27:36
and just having to drive through like that's I can't have that.
27:39
Yeah, you can't have that. We cannot have that happen.
27:41
That's some Ferrari level strategy right there.
27:43
Oh, Alpine heading in the right direction.
27:46
Thank God. I'm a fan.
27:47
The car is better. Team still not so good, but we'll get there.
27:51
So constructors constructors and talk about it.
27:55
Let me let's pull it up here real quick. I should have had that.
27:57
I got him up here as well.
28:00
All right.
28:01
So we currently have three teams with any possible chance of winning this.
28:06
And Red Bull, that's going to be really difficult.
28:09
Red Bull's. Yeah, you have one driver pulling pulling the weight
28:12
and the car is not as good as it once was.
28:15
I don't think that's going to happen.
28:17
I don't think so either, especially.
28:20
Let's see the most that you can get out of a weekend
28:23
minus a sprint, which we do have this weekend is.
28:28
Well, even with the sprint, do they eight, seven, fifteen
28:30
constructors points in this room?
28:33
Yeah, yeah.
28:34
I thought it was if the driver scores a point for the team, the team gets it
28:38
as well. So 26, 25, 51 and then eight and seven.
28:43
Fifteen, which would be what are you talking about?
28:46
Sprint sprint points and then race points.
28:49
Yeah, I was like, I'm hearing numbers and I'm
28:52
there for the team is.
28:55
I shouldn't be doing math on.
28:57
I hear you. Me either.
28:58
I do not blame you at all.
28:59
I just I don't know if they can make it.
29:02
But I think Ferrari and and McLaren should still be.
29:06
Ferrari has a legitimate chance actually at beating McLaren
29:09
and somehow pulling off the constructors, which at the beginning of the year,
29:13
absolutely not. Yeah, so absolutely not.
29:16
Yeah, it's it's going to be it's going to be close.
29:19
Just so we have the points that we're we're kind of talking here.
29:22
McLaren is currently at six oh eight with Ferrari at five eighty four
29:26
and Red Bull at five fifty five.
29:28
So right now it's Red Bull fighting Ferrari, Ferrari fighting McLaren.
29:32
Red Bull would have to finish one to the next two races.
29:34
Yeah, Red Bull.
29:35
Checko needs to get up.
29:37
Yeah, not going to have like Kevin's Kev's laughing.
29:41
Checko, checko just needs to get points, truly.
29:44
Yeah, he's get more than one point a race and then they can.
29:46
He needs to be five or better at least.
29:48
And that's without trying to do math on here.
29:50
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why you tried. Yeah.
29:53
Excuse me. Jeez. Choked on my spit. That's OK.
29:56
Anyway, so 20 points, 24 points Ferrari from McLaren.
30:03
They I mean, they get another one to or they get even two for very positive.
30:07
Right. Like McLaren Carlos is racing really well.
30:10
Yes, he is. They're both.
30:12
Yeah, Charles is too.
30:13
But like Carlos is it's not just because he finished P3
30:17
ahead of Charles this week, but like last couple races,
30:20
it just feels like Charles has paid. Yep.
30:22
So it's interesting.
30:24
A little send off for him.
30:27
Yeah. And then best of the rest, Aston with the sorry Mercedes.
30:31
What's 425?
30:32
Mercedes not moving from fourth.
30:34
Mercedes has fourth.
30:35
So good for good for Mercedes.
30:37
Aston's at 86.
30:39
And then we got. Yeah.
30:40
The bottom insanity. The bottom six, seven, eight.
30:45
Hass Alpine Racing Bulls in that order.
30:46
That's and they are.
30:47
50, 49, 46. That's crazy.
30:50
That's insane.
30:52
And all you need is just a couple low points.
30:54
Just being the couple like low tens during a race and you and you make a difference.
30:57
And we've seen Nico being able to do that.
31:00
We've seen K make it a point, I believe.
31:02
We've seen both racing bull drivers.
31:04
Well, Liam, you know, has some work to do right now.
31:07
I think he's got at least a point. Yeah, he does.
31:10
And then you've seen both
31:12
both Alpine drivers as well.
31:15
Getting points. So I that's a toss up for me.
31:19
I don't I don't know. It is.
31:20
I think whoever's car is the healthiest will end.
31:23
Exactly. And that's has been pretty consistent.
31:25
They have. And that's why Alpine probably isn't going to get six.
31:29
You don't think so?
31:30
I don't. I think it's not.
31:32
The drivers can consistently get in points.
31:34
Yes. The next two races.
31:36
I think Nico can consistently get in points.
31:37
I think KMAC can get close.
31:39
I think Gastly can probably consistently get points.
31:41
I don't think Ocon can.
31:42
I think they're going to need.
31:43
I think if KMAC plays teammate.
31:46
For the constructors to finish six,
31:49
which is at the highest they've ever finished.
31:51
No. I don't know.
31:53
I tie the highs. I don't know.
31:54
But Mike, Mike, where are you?
31:56
Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.
31:59
Dang, where was I going now?
32:00
Now my brain's going everywhere.
32:03
But anyway, darn, I just.
32:05
And we even we even mentioned like putting B carbon that mix like they like.
32:09
I mean, you can do it.
32:11
He can. You could absolutely do it, too.
32:13
And he can beat Nico.
32:14
I feel like I've seen Haas a bit more consistent, but their points are so close.
32:17
Right. They're so close.
32:18
And what's what's the difference in points between like
32:22
seventh and tenth?
32:23
I know tenth is one.
32:26
Between seventh and tenth, I think it's all one.
32:28
It is just one, one, one. I think so.
32:30
But I mean, at this point, racing bulls four points back of Haas. So.
32:37
Two races left.
32:38
I guess you're going to need a little bit more than that.
32:40
You're going to need both drivers to raise points.
32:42
You know, yeah, I think it's a one point.
32:45
I mean, I can check really.
32:46
So I need so if Gatsby just, you know, wins next week like he like he will.
32:51
Then it's actually it's actually a five point difference.
32:53
It's one for tenth and six for seventh.
32:55
So it's absolutely possible.
32:57
OK, absolutely possible.
32:58
And Yuki got got nine to get two points.
33:01
Nico got eight. So we got fourth four points.
33:05
Dude, yeah, this could go.
33:06
It's going to be. Yeah, it's going to be really close.
33:07
You're going to be fighting in car in there at least.
33:09
You who knows? Yeah.
33:11
So yeah, interesting.
33:13
And then one last bit before we move into our news was kind of funny.
33:17
The little awkward drive after the after the race.
33:21
It seemed awkward to me with Carlos and both Mercedes drivers.
33:24
And then when you think about it, it's kind of just funny.
33:26
You know what I mean, George?
33:27
Probably thrilled he just won the race.
33:29
He's going to be Mercedes number one driver.
33:30
Just sit in the middle.
33:32
Just he wasn't like smiling or anything, but like he just looked like he's good.
33:36
You know what I mean?
33:36
And then Lewis is kind of like looking out the window.
33:39
Carlos got I feel a little bit awkward.
33:41
You know, it's just a good picture and that should be right here.
33:45
So next season.
33:46
But Lewis at one point was like, how long is this drive, man?
33:49
Like it's I I still it just looked awkward.
33:53
I've said it. I've said it for months at this point.
33:56
Ever since we kind of been talking about Vegas, like I just dislike the fanfare
34:00
around it, I think just a lot of people put them on the podium.
34:03
I don't you're definitely not alone.
34:05
I see Terry Cruz interview them, but he's not going to give us anything
34:08
like incredibly beneficial that happened during the race.
34:11
It's just that I can't do.
34:13
You know what I mean?
34:14
You're right. That is beneficial to F1.
34:15
Yeah, it's a good TV.
34:17
I didn't think about that. It's good TV.
34:19
Anyway, moving on, Kev, let's head to our news.
34:34
And really, the only news we have this week,
34:36
unless you have something else crazy that's like tinfoil, haddish.
34:40
Well, I'll keep it.
34:41
Oh, OK. Well, unofficially official.
34:45
You heard that Cadillac to join the grid in twenty twenty six
34:50
without the Andretti name. Yes.
34:53
Which was not the case when they first tried to and were denied.
34:57
So that's kind of interesting. We'll get there.
34:59
Yeah. Ferrari to supply their power units for twenty six and twenty seven.
35:03
And then GM General Motors, for those of you that don't know, to supply
35:07
its own power unit by twenty twenty eight. Yep.
35:10
So this will be I think General Motors team.
35:13
This is a GM team, but they're going to use a Cadillac name
35:16
because that is the racing General Motors Cadillac.
35:18
Yeah, yeah. That would be more than likely.
35:22
Kind of going back to Andretti.
35:25
I think one of the biggest reasons why they allowed them on the grid
35:27
is because Andretti is no longer part of it.
35:30
You know, just wild. So he is no he has no hand at all.
35:34
With the team at all.
35:35
I wouldn't. I don't think that's true.
35:37
I'm sure he's probably in some capacity,
35:41
you know, at least supporting them.
35:43
What am I missing? Right.
35:45
He I mean, Andretti just wasn't his dad.
35:47
That was an actual F1 WDC champion.
35:50
I don't know.
35:51
I just know during the whole like talks of Andretti joining,
35:54
he did a lot of stuff on social media that no one loved.
35:57
And so they kind of just that's what it is.
35:58
I think so. I think it's just not not a really a good not a good face
36:02
to start a new company.
36:03
I mean, and then GM kind of comes to the table and it's like that
36:05
that they're right.
36:06
So it's like they're waiting for it.
36:08
We're still super early. Yeah, exactly.
36:10
We're still super early.
36:11
I mean, so much can happen. We're only in principle.
36:13
They could still probably access if they wanted to.
36:15
But it would be cool to see another American team.
36:18
Another American team.
36:19
This is the team I would be hopping on the bandwagon for.
36:22
Another just another team in general. Right.
36:25
I don't think they're going to do well at the start.
36:28
So way, way, way, way, way too early.
36:31
See, wait. Oh, yes, of course. Mick.
36:36
You think I just wanted to see her face?
36:39
For those of you on Spotify or Apple podcast, you got to go look up the YouTube
36:43
just just to see his face when I just said, Mick, we all know
36:46
he really wants to see Mick back on the.
36:48
I mean, I think I think everybody does, honestly.
36:51
But yeah. So think about it.
36:52
Mick Botos, K-Mage could be out there.
36:55
They're not going to convince Roman Grosjean to come back into the
36:57
into the one grid.
36:59
But but who knows, you know, out there.
37:02
Fetal, how old is he going to be in 2026?
37:04
I doubt it. You know what I mean?
37:06
But there's veteran options that you could just slap in there.
37:09
Danny Ricardo, does he make a return to the grid?
37:11
Danny Rick is probably one of the God.
37:14
What about starting your team?
37:15
That'd be a great idea. PR moved.
37:17
I mean, he is almost an American already.
37:19
So like, why why not?
37:21
I feel like Danny Rick in terms of all of those veterans,
37:24
he's probably one of like the most obvious choices.
37:27
Unfortunately, he doesn't have a great track record as of recently,
37:30
but good PR move.
37:32
Botos, I don't think he's done anything really wrong.
37:34
He's had a bad car.
37:35
So why not get him? He's a good veteran.
37:38
But it's also possibly could just start swimming with some young blood.
37:42
Who knows? Both of them at the same time with a new car.
37:45
It makes sense to get a veteran in there.
37:46
But at least one, though, I could see one in one. Right. Yeah.
37:49
Older guy, young guy.
37:51
We're also two years away.
37:53
You know, maybe we see one of the current seats go over and fill fill their
37:58
to be Danica Patrick.
38:02
I'm just kidding. That's an interesting take.
38:04
No, I don't think so.
38:06
But I think we are very close to seeing a female F1 driver at some point.
38:10
Yeah. I know there's one that just joined the Academy for Darnit.
38:17
Haas. Oh, wait. No. Ah.
38:20
Was it? Maybe.
38:21
I don't know. I know that a lot of them join all the time.
38:26
But.
38:29
Kev's pulling up some some stuff.
38:31
I think I know Chloe Chambers is already a ton of female academy.
38:34
There are already a lot of young guys been there for a while.
38:36
He's bound to make that jump, though.
38:38
Yeah, I mean, they got to get to F3 and then.
38:40
Yeah, it's so I'm hoping that that does come to fruition.
38:43
That would be really fun.
38:45
But yeah, Cadillac knows
38:47
still a couple of years before we see him on the grid.
38:50
But it's exciting, though.
38:52
I also was. Go for it.
38:54
I was what I would just kind of reading an article before we started
38:56
just to kind of, you know, see how they got in and like what they're planning
38:59
on doing, you know, we know that they're going to have a GM motor late,
39:03
late decade, probably 27 or 28, 28.
39:07
Sorry. Absolutely.
39:08
Going to use a Ferrari engine, which is a decent engine.
39:10
I mean, Haas is using it, right?
39:12
Haas's issue isn't the Ferrari engine, so that's good.
39:14
Good engine to be using, I think. Right. Right.
39:18
So, yeah, it'll I mean, we have so many like
39:20
I feel like America has just kind of taken over the sport a little bit.
39:22
Right. Two teams now up to power trains by that time.
39:26
They're just trying to grow it.
39:27
They want more viewership. That's what it is for sure.
39:29
And if they don't get it, it'll all be gone.
39:32
Yep. But yeah.
39:35
Yeah, I think that's all we got really for news.
39:37
I think so.
39:38
I had one little thing, but I'm not it's not coming to me.
39:41
I'm going to have one little thing,
39:43
just an article title, and I'll read it out.
39:45
I don't want to say anything else.
39:46
I was going to say about the Cadillac thing. Yeah.
39:47
Horner, Christian Horner was the only one that came out.
39:50
It was like, hmm, I don't know about sharing the prize money
39:53
because Cadillac is going to have to pay 200 while GM Cadillac.
39:55
Sorry. You have to pay 200 to 600 million or whatever
39:58
to try to offset the prize money deal.
40:01
So Horner's a little bit nervous about that.
40:03
But everybody else seems to be.
40:04
Zach Brown seems to be an ambassador even for them joining.
40:08
So the American, the unofficially official joining of GM.
40:13
Yep. No, yeah, I mean, I think it's I think it's good for the sport.
40:16
I think I think in for the most part,
40:18
people wanted to see Andretti join, you know, they want to be.
40:22
He'll be he'll end up being part of it at some point.
40:23
But what were you going to say?
40:25
This is really quick.
40:26
Just a headline.
40:27
Red Bull not confident for twenty twenty five F1 car,
40:29
despite Verstappen's latest title.
40:32
I don't know if it means anything.
40:33
Such a weird thing. Such a weird headline.
40:35
Yeah, it was. It came out from Autosport.
40:37
Just so you guys know, we're probably not winning next year. Yeah.
40:40
I I don't it's probably I don't know if it has any.
40:43
That's super weird.
40:44
Any weight behind it.
40:45
But I thought it was interesting to see.
40:48
They're just trying to save face early.
40:50
Maybe it's possible, but it would be nice to see everyone
40:53
fighting each other at the start of next year.
40:55
It will happen to start those first five races.
40:57
Watch out. I'm Australia. Watch out. Yeah, I'm hoping it didn't happen this year.
41:01
So I'm hoping it's going to happen next year. Yep.
41:03
A lot of rookies, a lot of rookies anyway.
41:06
Yeah, Kev, let's go into our preview of Qatar.
41:29
And to start our Qatar preview, like always,
41:33
I actually this week I put Qatar preview featuring Joe.
41:37
So, Joe, there you go.
41:39
Thanks for having me. Yeah, no problem.
41:41
Welcome. Last week, I was saying this is my show.
41:43
Now it's your show.
41:44
It's perfect. I took ownership back.
41:47
It's probably I didn't let you know. Sorry.
41:49
That's OK. I didn't let you know either.
41:50
Oh, you did not.
41:52
Should we talk about Qatar? If you want to.
41:54
I do. Thanks. Hey, thank you.
41:56
Thank you for giving me that permission.
41:58
So this year we got Formula One Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024. Fun fact.
42:04
First ever F1 race was that was in Qatar was 2021.
42:08
Not really a fun fact. Kind of just the fact, I think.
42:11
It would be forget it hasn't been around forever. That's true.
42:14
I mentioned this earlier, but this is last sprint weekend of the of the whole season.
42:17
And last year it was very hot.
42:20
I remember this one being surprisingly one of the hardest weekends due to heat.
42:24
And I don't think many of the drivers were expecting that either.
42:26
Yeah, it was really hard on the drive. Yeah.
42:28
The race is I mentioned this was is a little later in the year this season.
42:32
So we we already kind of got our weather.
42:34
You think they did that on purpose for that reason for the drivers?
42:38
I don't know, because I feel like the the order of the
42:42
the order of the, you know, of the races are determined
42:46
before this race could have happened last year.
42:48
So I'm not sure.
42:50
Maybe, though, or maybe maybe they had to do it like earlier in the year last year,
42:54
but it really was supposed to be slotted later because they knew the heat was bad.
42:58
So shouldn't be as bad this year.
43:01
But we will see. No, not when this comes. Yeah.
43:04
So our starting grid was Max George and Lewis before the race even began.
43:09
Carlos's Ferrari encountered a technical issue during the buildup to the race
43:12
that the team was unable to fix before lights out.
43:15
So he did not take part in the race.
43:17
Lining up for the start, KMAG accidentally took the incorrect pit box
43:21
in the missing Ferrari's place, getting himself a 10 second penalty
43:24
before the race even started off the line towards the first corner.
43:28
Lewis got a good start and goes alongside George, starting to even challenge Max.
43:33
But as they reach that corner, Lewis cuts in a little too much towards George
43:37
tagging his back wheel and George's front left
43:40
completely knocking off his own wheel and spinning into the runoff.
43:43
So Lewis knocked off his tire like he hit George so hard.
43:46
He got his tire knocked off and he spun off.
43:48
George spins off a little further in the corner.
43:50
Lewis immediately out of the race and George rejoining in last place.
43:54
Absolutely shambles for Mercedes early on in Qatar.
43:57
Across the line after the safety car restart, Verstappen leads
44:00
Piastri and Alonso behind on lap five.
44:02
Leclerc close behind both of them.
44:05
Everyone is able to keep it nice and clean for this restart.
44:07
Russell ends up in 14th at the restart, but makes quick work of Perez
44:11
for for 13th one lap later.
44:14
He's able to continue fighting up the field and eventually
44:16
actually makes his way to fourth for the end of the race.
44:19
Kind of makes you consider how big an opportunity for the win
44:21
he would have had if he hadn't spun out.
44:23
And honestly, I when I was watching the highlights,
44:26
I just kind of noticed like most of these are Russell
44:28
just kind of making these overtakes over and over again.
44:30
So we had a crazy good race last year despite, you know, the spin early on
44:34
lap 33 Alonso goes off goes off the road for the second time during the race,
44:38
this time finding the gravel, pushing him back to six behind Leclerc.
44:42
On lap 41, Logan reported not feeling well under the Qatar heat
44:45
and decides to retire, struggling to get out of the car when he makes it to the garage.
44:49
I'm just kidding. That's pretty serious.
44:55
Can't be doing that in any car, brother. Crazy.
44:58
We saw we actually saw a lot of interesting actions from the drivers
45:01
due to the heat.
45:01
George put his hands in front of his face to get some air to them.
45:05
Drivers struggling to get out of the car at the end of the race.
45:07
I think Gasser, I remember George putting his hand out.
45:09
Yeah, he was doing like, yeah.
45:10
And I think Gasser reported like, I think, yacking in his helmet
45:13
during the race as well. Yeah, it was rough. Not.
45:17
Last little note, I have Norris, who started in 10th
45:19
performed a decent drive.
45:21
He made his way through the field to third by the end of the race.
45:24
His teammate Oscar is able to capitalize on Merck
45:26
spinning early and hold second throughout the entire race.
45:28
So our final was Verstappen to Piastri, Norris to Russell,
45:33
Leclerc to Alonso, Ocon to Botas and then Stroll to Perez.
45:38
So we actually saw Botas get a point last season
45:40
during this race or a couple of points.
45:42
I do not think he will be getting a point.
45:43
No, probably, probably not, unfortunately.
45:45
Yeah, so really the heat was really the the headline of last year's race
45:53
and kind of just bearing it and getting through.
45:55
So maybe a little bit more action this week.
46:00
Yeah. I don't know.
46:04
I I'm not the huge fan of this track.
46:06
I like racing it, though, actually, on the game that you hate.
46:10
The game that I went so hard into it, I don't want to talk about anymore.
46:14
Don't even get me started.
46:16
Yeah, I like racing it, too, though.
46:18
It is fun. It flows. It's got a good flow to it.
46:20
Yeah, it does have a good flow to it.
46:22
It didn't promote.
46:23
It's one that I don't crash at very often.
46:25
Yeah, it's not it's not too easy to crash there, I think, besides that.
46:28
I mean, that incident between Louis and George.
46:32
I don't think we're going to see a ton of action.
46:35
I think this is the first that that was the first year there was a safety car.
46:39
Before that, there was a zero percent safety car probability.
46:41
I think we only had like one race beforehand.
46:43
It's a super early track or super new track, rather.
46:45
So but yeah, I don't know if we're going to see like a ton of like crazy action.
46:50
But, you know, it's a race.
46:51
So it's a race. It's a race.
46:53
Jamie and Chip's done, but there's still going to be some great racing.
46:56
Again, we mentioned the Haas Racing Bowl and Alpine race right now.
47:00
That's insane. We're going to be having a focus.
47:02
First, McLaren's. I mean, that's going to be a it's all in constructors now.
47:05
You know, they. Yeah.
47:06
And at this point, I honestly do feel like they kind of want it now,
47:10
especially like Ferrari, especially for McLaren.
47:12
You know, you're not you're not getting the WDC this year.
47:15
So you want that constructors bad.
47:17
Yeah, Red Bull's probably not going to get it. Great opportunity.
47:21
We'll see. But as far as our picks go, last week in Vegas.
47:28
Joe's rubbing his eyeballs.
47:29
He's either tired or disgusted about his picks last week.
47:32
I think I got you're correct. You got zero points.
47:34
Cole, zero points. Tyler, zero points.
47:37
Mike, zero points. Smelty, one point.
47:39
No. Yes, sir.
47:41
You know who was George Russell?
47:42
Yeah, I was in Mercedes. I would have never guessed.
47:45
Oh, my God. Me either.
47:46
That's crazy. And then I did.
47:48
So, yeah, complete guess.
47:50
Further solidifying my last place.
47:52
Thank you for that.
47:53
No, Mike's in last place. He has zero. Mike doesn't count.
47:58
Oh, God. Did you end up grabbing Tyler and Cole's picks?
48:02
What did they say?
48:03
Cole goes first? Yeah, or is it Tyler?
48:04
Tyler goes first. Tyler goes first.
48:06
All right. Tyler's picks are signs.
48:09
LeClaire and George.
48:11
Oh, OK. Now we're going to pick George now.
48:15
OK. Yeah. Wow. OK.
48:18
What do we got for Cole?
48:19
Cole is Max, LeClaire and Hamilton.
48:22
We're seeing some Mercedes now.
48:23
He actually picked Max. Isn't that crazy?
48:25
That's what I'm. He actually picked Max.
48:27
That's why do you think he picked Max?
48:29
All right. Who are the other two?
48:30
I totally blanked out. LeClaire and Hamilton.
48:32
LeClaire and Hamilton. Wow. What?
48:37
Yeah, I like the Hamilton pick. That's kind of low key.
48:39
I don't hate that.
48:43
That's tough. Oh, now it's me.
48:45
Darn it. It is you.
48:47
Hmm. Hmm.
48:51
I'm going.
48:54
I'm going Max Carlos
48:56
and I haven't told Carlos in a while and George again.
49:00
Max Carlos, George.
49:02
I think LeClaire could be in there.
49:06
Did you know? OK, this is an opportunity for you.
49:08
No one has picked him.
49:09
McLaren. That's what I was about to say.
49:12
This is an opportunity for you if you go Lando or something.
49:14
And so usually I come to these.
49:15
I come to these with my predictions.
49:17
I have not thought about this at all because I just don't know.
49:21
But seeing that, knowing that we're so late and that I need points,
49:25
I'm going to go Lando and Oscar. Whoa.
49:28
Double up on the papayas.
49:30
Man, I want to pick a Mercedes, but yeah, I almost think that.
49:35
Ferrari, though.
49:37
Yeah. And plus, I almost think that maybe maybe Vegas was just a good track for them.
49:41
I don't think I don't know if they're going to be able to carry the momentum.
49:43
I'd like to think they are. No, Mercedes.
49:44
Oh, Mercedes. Yeah, I hear you.
49:46
But I just don't know. Man.
49:49
You guys picked him. I've gotten George to last.
49:51
You all have you all have a Ferrari and a.
49:56
Would Safe Bet be Max?
49:57
I don't think so.
49:58
I do. Gosh, that's tough.
50:01
Because what is he racing hard for now other than being Max Verstappen?
50:04
So he I mean, he raised hard last year to race hard.
50:07
He won. What am I talking about?
50:09
OK, fun fact.
50:10
He won in the sprint of Qatar last year.
50:13
And this was earlier in the year, early.
50:17
And he still raced just as hard at the end of the year.
50:19
He still was winning races back to back to back to back.
50:23
Like, I think the only race he didn't win after he won was Singapore.
50:26
So he was winning, I think.
50:28
Don't fact check me on a fact check.
50:30
Don't fact check. But.
50:32
Yeah, so it's man, the third pick.
50:42
Singapore was before Qatar, I'm sorry.
50:45
Stop delaying Oscar Lando. Yeah.
50:50
Actually, you said Lando Oscar, but Lando Oscar George.
50:55
I'm going to go, oh, George.
50:57
Yeah, join the party. That was a bad choice.
50:59
It's Max is winning the race now.
51:00
We got extra points to.
51:02
To possibly grab today. They did.
51:03
OK, what did they say?
51:04
All right. So our extra point this week is who finishes higher
51:08
between Liam, Yuki and Checo, because one of the main topics is,
51:12
is Checo going to get his seat?
51:14
So. Is Chako going to get his seat taken away?
51:18
I didn't finish my sentence.
51:20
Um, so Tyler says Yuki and Cole says Yuki and Cole says, yeah,
51:27
this is for two points, right?
51:28
This is for two points.
51:30
Extra two points.
51:34
We think, well, you took a chance on the McLarens when nobody else is.
51:38
I'm going to take a chance on Checo because I have a feeling.
51:41
Oh, man, does Checo Checo didn't do well last year, I don't think.
51:45
You do. Yeah, but.
51:50
What did Checo get last year?
51:52
Last he got 10th last year.
51:54
How does the point?
51:55
Was he ahead of Yuki?
51:57
That's the question.
51:59
He was. He was ahead of Yuki and Liam.
52:02
Watch Liam just blow him out of the water.
52:04
But their car is better this year.
52:07
I was going to go.
52:08
This was the only thing I did think about coming here.
52:10
I was going to go Yuki, but in the spirit of being different, I'll go Liam.
52:15
Oh, Liam.
52:17
I watch our two leaders get bonus points and we get nothing.
52:20
Such a bad choice. We should ask Mike.
52:23
What happened to ask Mike?
52:25
Mike, there you go. I didn't.
52:26
He says, yeah.
52:28
Oh, yeah, I feel like Liam was a bad choice.
52:29
I'm regretting it almost instantly.
52:31
Yeah. Real quick, before we leave, if you're checking out the bottom,
52:34
you can see the driver odds.
52:36
Is that for this week?
52:37
Oh, interesting.
52:38
Specifically, look at you with your Lando pick.
52:42
Max 400.
52:43
Well, well, you know.
52:46
But Oscar 450, that's kind of crazy.
52:48
I don't know. Oscar did do well.
52:50
Are they just based?
52:51
Do you think that's mostly based off last year?
52:53
Maybe. I'm sure there's got to be.
52:55
I would be curious how they based F1.
52:58
And then George and Lewis are high up there because of last week.
53:01
I don't know. I don't. Yeah.
53:03
I don't know this. I don't know how to.
53:05
I don't know how to do this odd thing. That's fine.
53:06
It's more math. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
53:08
And we've we've found out all season that we're just not quite
53:11
not quite quite there with the math.
53:13
But with that, you got any last comment, Joe?
53:17
Um, that's not about the F1 game.
53:21
We know. No, no. Second to last race.
53:23
Um, we got a sprint.
53:25
So at least we get, you know, two for one.
53:28
I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing McLaren
53:32
keep their leading constructors.
53:33
And if not, I'm hoping for a really good fight going to the end of the year.
53:37
Now, it would be fun for it to come down to the last. It would.
53:40
I know he listens to this podcast, Max or staff.