Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Formula Fanatics #11 - Pit Stops & Pole Positions from Baku to Bahrain

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Formula Fanatics #11 - Pit Stops & Pole Positions from Baku to Bahrain · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

0:02
Welcome to Formula Fanatics, the high-octane sub-series of BreakFix
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Podcast's drive-through motorsports news.
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This is your pit stop for all things Formula 1, from breaking
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headlines and race recaps to insider analysis and paddock buzz.
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Whether you're a diehard Tifoso, a Red Bull loyalist, or just love the
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thrill of wheel-to-wheel racing, we've got you covered with up-to-date
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F1 news delivered at full throttle.
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Strap in, because the lights are out and we're underway.
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This is Formula Fanatics.
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Adley, it's time to talk about Formula 1 again.
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What's that?
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You know, that sport where the cars go vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.
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Oh, the parade laps.
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Like at, like at every, every DE they do during the middle of the day.
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You know.
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Parade laps.
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Ugh.
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Sport, that sport where, uh, Lance Stroll is always dead last
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even though he bought his seat.
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He can't buy a win.
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He, he can't even buy a Q3 qualifying exit.
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You know, it's really funny you say that.
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You can buy a lot of things in life.
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They say money answers all problems, but he can't buy a win in Formula 1.
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Can you believe that?
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He can't buy a, a Q2- … in qualifying.
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How many has it been?
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Has it been 100?
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Oh, my god.
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101. It's an insane amount.
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Two, three exits?
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Yeah.
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It's insane.
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It's insane.
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So last time we got together to talk about Formula 1, we had talked about how
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you were gonna give us the Gemini report.
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What have you got for us this time?
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Do you have the Gemini Formula 1 report?
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I, I did a- an updated Gemini- Oh
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review, but I made sure to add a tidbit about Lance Stroll for each race.
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So I have- Oh, this is gonna be good.
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Give me… Let's, let's save that, let's save that to the end.
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Uh- Give us the highlights … when I say summarize, it says,
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uh, see, for Azerbaijan.
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Uh-huh.
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Uh, George Russell won in one of the closest F1 finishes since
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2002, holding off the field in a sprint to the checkered flag.
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Oh.
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Uh, that's the summary of Azerbaijan?
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That's the summary of Azerbaijan.
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Okay.
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All right.
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So hold, hold on.
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We'll get to the next race.
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Let's actually talk about Baku, AKA Azerbaijan.
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This is my summary, okay?
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I'm gonna give it to you one sentence.
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This track is what I call the EMEA 250.
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Enema 250?
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The EMEA 250.
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That's, you know, Europe and the Middle East.
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Oh, got it.
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This is the Monaco of the Middle East.
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There's no passing here.
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There's no nothing.
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I mean, I guess it's steeped in history and blah, blah, and all this, but I'm
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like, it is a snooze fest of a race.
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But isn't this the race where Alpine took each other out?
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There was chatter about Hajjar and Verstappen, like,
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battling for no real reason.
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Just, just- Yes … to battle.
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Yes.
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To talk about the grid, the start of the race, Audi was sent to the back because
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they did upgrades, and Kimi started 16th because he hit the wall in qualifying.
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That's an important point in the excitement of this non-passable Monaco
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of the Middle East type of race.
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So the starting order was Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, and Hajjar.
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That's an interesting front two rows there.
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Kimi does get stuck with the Audis at the beginning of the race.
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That's why I bring up the Audis being at the back.
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So Hülkenberg and Bortoleto holding up Kimi at the back of the pack.
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Then Kimi's held up by Sainz.
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Like I said, this is yet another track where there is very little room to pass.
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There's, like, maybe two spots.
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So you're watching this three mile lap and nobody's doing anything.
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To your point, a bunch of parade laps.
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You're like, "What are we watching here?" On lap eight, Oscar's
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already complaining about his tires.
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He's running on softs.
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Lap nine, your buddy Lance Stroll, dead.
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Nine laps in, he's out.
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Aston cannot get a break.
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And I wrote down, I wrote down, and this is a question for you, Brad.
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Who's the bigger P-O-S?
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Lance Stroll or the Aston Martin I feel like it's that meme from The Office where
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Pam's holding up two pictures and they're the ex- like, they're the same picture.
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I feel like that is the answer to your question.
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Or it's the three Spider-Man meme where they're all pointing at each
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other and they're all Spider-Man.
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So to answer your question, yes.
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The answer is yes.
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Yeah, the answer is yes.
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Tanya, do you agree, Aston or Lance, which one is worse?
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Aston.
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Wow.
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Ooh, we are split.
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I mean, you know, like, in the past he hasn't been dead last.
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Well, that's what I'm wondering.
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If the Aston was better, and we have seen glimpses- And the pro- and the
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problem is Alonso is also in the back.
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So is it Alonso or Aston?
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Alonso's 83 years old, like he needs to stop racing a Formula One car.
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Alonso was born during the Great Depression.
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Like, oh my goodness, his time has come and gone.
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Like, let's move on.
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He raced with Fangio once.
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Yeah, d- he's like an octogenarian.
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Like, why is he still on track?
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I don't get it.
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He's collecting a paycheck that Daddy Stroll is gladly paying him.
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1,000%. All right, d- uh, so, so a better question then for Tanya,
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what place would Stroll be if he was driving one of the Mercedes?
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Not first, I take it.
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Would, would he be earning points?
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Yes, I think so.
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This is really hard.
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Would he be finishing races?
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I don't know.
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I don't know.
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Would he have taken somebody or himself out?
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Would he take his teammate?
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Over, under, Lance goes to Cadillac.
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Um, of course not.
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Not unless daddy goes there.
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Well, when Cadillac abandons their team at the end of this year, does
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Aston Martin get a second team?
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I've got a, I've got a better one.
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Over, under, on Lance Stroll ever having a top 10 finish the rest of his career.
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Oh, there's no way.
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There's absolutely no way.
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Well, all right.
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By lap 14, Kimi's made it to 11th, and the race literally
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settles into a funeral procession.
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I mean, it's just like I am just waiting for pit rotations to start because
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maybe we'll see some action in the race.
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The coverage was bizarre because the race was so boring.
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They interviewed some dude at Alpine on, like, lap 18 for, like, no reason.
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I guess maybe because Coulthard wasn't there, and he wasn't
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giving his color commentary.
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Like, it was so bad, and there was all this dead air, and it was like, "This
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is a completely useless interview."
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And we saw him not once, but twice.
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I'm like, "Why is this Alpine guy here? Who cares?" They
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should have interviewed Stroll.
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He was out by then.
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Him and Perez hanging out together.
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He was out of the car by then.
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Sainz breaks the seal finally on lap 21.
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He's the first person to pit.
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Lap 22, guess what happens?
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Alonso retires his car.
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It's like, oh, God.
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Tanya and I were joking about it.
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You know, we heard from the Alpine guy during the boring times of lap 18 through
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22, 'cause that guy kept talking about the Alpine strategy and the strategy
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of the race and all this stuff, and we're like… And then Tanya, you had
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said to me, "Is it Alpine's strategy to let Kimi through when he shows up?"
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It was their strategy.
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I think the team principal even said they were just gonna let him go.
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It wasn't the, a race with him.
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It seemed like exactly that's what happened.
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They just let him by, and now he's ninth, and Gasly and Colapinto,
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it's like, "See you guys later." Who supplies Alpine their motors?
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Renault.
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Oh, so not, not Mercedes?
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No.
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'Cause I was gonna, I was gonna say, did Big Daddy Toto give them a call
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and say, "Hey, let him through?" They just, over the air they send a little
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patch and they cut the turbo down, like, 10 pounds of boost, so it's all good.
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Toto said, "Hey, co-pilot, can you cut the power to the Alpine cars?"
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Uh-huh.
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Uh-huh.
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This is an interesting beginning of a pattern we're starting to see with
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our current reigning world champion.
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Tanya, do you remember this?
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Lap 30, Lando goes deep into turn one locks it up- Yep.
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Yep … and has to bang a U-ey, and then Kimi moves into eighth
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place as a result of that.
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Yep.
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31, Albon's in the wall, and then it's Ocon versus Albon, so
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it was a full yellow on that.
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Okay, so yellow flag conditions.
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This is where we can talk about these yellow flag rules for a minute.
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I am so done with this nonsense.
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This whole, like, NASCAR back of the pack can get back on the lead lap thing.
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I know IMSA tries to do something too where they try to reform
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the race and then restart.
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We saw that at Rolex a couple years ago.
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I hate all of that.
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Yeah, but a- at least it's more effective in IMSA because they have
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the space on the track to get it done.
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Thank you, and they break it into their collective groups, right?
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So LMP- Yeah … one regrids, LMP2 regrids, and then they
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go about their business.
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I mean, at Le Mans they have, like, all day.
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They can do it in, like, one lap and be done.
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Bottas is dragging anchor behind.
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They gotta first turn off the lights on the safety car.
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They gotta go green or whatever's gotta happen, all this stuff, and
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then they let Bottas through, and it takes like a millennium for him to
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get around the track in that Cadillac.
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I wrote it down.
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We spent five laps under yellow on a race that's already parade, watching them
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do 65 miles an hour because Bottas has to come all the way back around to the
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back of the pack before we can start.
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I'm like, "This needs to stop." They just need to let it happen, and
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the race restarts wherever you are.
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Well, I don't understand why they can't release the lapped cars to pass sooner.
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Just do that.
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Like, once you've passed the incident, okay, let him pass
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around and catch back up.
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Yeah, as soon as the pace car comes out, do it.
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After five laps of watching that nonsense and waiting for Bottas to
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grid up and then fall back immediately, we have Forza turn one chaos.
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Lando and the Alpines go off in turn one on the restart, and it
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was, like, epic video game nonsense.
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It was pretty awesome.
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We go from a yellow, five laps of yellow.
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Two of them yellow.
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Kimi moves up a spot to seventh, and we're back yellow again.
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So Lando's out, the Alpines limp back.
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Max is behind Russell in the, I kept saying, "The danger zone.
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The danger zone." So Max is creeping up on Russell.
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Restart on lap 39, and it's Kimi versus Lewis at that point, which I
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keep saying every time that happens, I don't know if it's the Ferrari that
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just ain't got the beans or if Hamilton has just said, "I'm gonna let Kimi
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by." Don't they have issues with the Ferraris every once in a while, though?
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Like, the Ferraris, like, they're weird.
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They seem to ebb and flow.
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Like, sometimes they've got the pace, sometimes they don't.
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Or it's the tires.
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The tires.
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Their pit strategy is garbage.
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Right.
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And that ruins all of their races, but blame the tires, whatever.
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But I feel like every time I see Kimi and Hammy together, there's this passing
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the torch moment where Hamilton's just like, "I'm just gonna let him by.
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He's quicker.
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Just let him go.
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He's got the pace.
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Why am I gonna hold him up?" But when it's him and Max, though, it's very different.
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You see a different attitude in the body language of the car.
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But I just feel like there's this moment with him and Kimi where,
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where Hammy's just letting him go.
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I would like to think that that's not the case, because if that is the case,
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then Hamilton's lost his competitive edge and he shouldn't be out there.
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He should be battling it out to the checkered flag with
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anybody that's out there.
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I see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and I don't watch Drive to Survive.
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I never have and I never will.
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I've made that promise many times.
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But you see Kimi and Hammy, like, interacting with one another.
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It's like buds, and it's like, it's weird, right?
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But Kimi's so far ahead in the points, what's Hamilton got to win?
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Not to lose.
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What's he got to win at this point?
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He's so far behind.
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Up to this point, the Red Bull has not been strong.
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Correct.
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So he can battle Max and try to keep him back.
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I think he's wasting his time and his tires if he sits there
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trying to defend against Mercedes if the Mercedes has more pace.
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Just let him go then.
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Yeah.
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What are you gonna do?
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What are you gonna do?
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What's the point?
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To, to Tanya's point, though, I think it's less about, "Oh, it's Kimi, I'm
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passing the torch," and more about, like, it's more of a strategy thing and less
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of a- Yeah … because he's Kimi thing.
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I can see that.
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And Tanya brings up a very valid point.
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Up until Azerbaijan, the Fords were sort of, like, figuring it out.
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They're getting the bugs out of the system.
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But all of a sudden- Wow, Max is back in fighting form.
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The car is making it to the end of the race.
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The car is ballistically quick in a f- straight line.
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Like, it's obvious those Fords are fast.
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Now, I don't know what's going on chassis, suspension wise, 'cause he does
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seem to either maybe lose some power coming out of the corners, 'cause maybe
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he can't put it all down to the ground as quickly as everybody else can or as
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easily, so it kinda seems to suffer.
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He's always complaining about his brakes, too.
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And the tires, yeah.
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The- Yeah … like, the tires are giving up on him or whatever.
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So maybe the Ford super turbo mushroom's putting a little
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extra power down or something.
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EcoBoost.
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But he's struggling to manage it or whatever.
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I mean, I don't think Max struggles to do anything with a car, but
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my point is the Ford is fast now.
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Watch out, guys.
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Now, the question is, I don't think there's enough points left on the table
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for Max to really take a bite out of Kimi.
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I think that the math works out that if Kimi wins the next one,
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it's pretty much over, regardless of the way the season plays out.
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I don't know.
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The math I've seen is like, it's like, "If he wins it," but then
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Hamilton can only get, like, number of points, and then Russell has
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to have, oh my God, and so many…
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I'm like, "What is this stupid math?" I mean, if he wins the
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next one, he's in a good position.
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Yeah.
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There's also people t- that did the math, "Max could still win." I'm
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like- There's no way … before I see their math, I'm like, yeah, what,
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Kimi just stops racing the rest of the time, and basically it's, yeah, zero,
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zero, zero, zero for the next races.
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It's like, that's not gonna happen.
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Yeah.
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I think he can get into second place, particularly if he keeps winning.
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Basically, he's gonna pass Hamilton and Russell and end up in second overall.
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On the podium, yeah, for sure.
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The reason I'm still talking about Baku, Azerbaijan here is because
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a lot of really interesting things happened in this race, outside of it
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not being a very interesting race.
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Max noted for failing to follow race director's instructions,
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whatever that means.
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We had a quick yellow flag at lap 50.
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Bortoleto suddenly under review.
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We have another yellow on lap 51, because Bottas goes into the wall, and I wanna
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talk about that a little bit more.
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So the race ends under yellow flag conditions.
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So it ends with Max a 10th of a second at the line behind Russell.
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So it's Russell, Max, Hajar, Leclerc, and Kimi in fifth.
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Williams score some points, and Audi gets a big old goose egg.
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But can I go back to Bottas for a second?
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This is the race where later the industry rags start talking about software glitches
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and issues and how basically the car didn't know what to do coming out of
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the corner, and then the programming, and it was supposed to do this here and
16:02
that there, and the regeneration and the power delivery and a- and, and I read all
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this stuff and I'm like Hold, hold up.
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Are these drivers actually driving these cars anymore, or are they
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remote control cars with human meat behind the steering wheel?
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What are we doing here?
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A lot of inertia.
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And it becomes a very, very important point, 'cause we're gonna talk
16:22
about this again when we talk about Bahrain in Malaysia, question mark
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Well, before we move on, I have a, an actual serious question for you.
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Okay.
16:33
As you and Tanya both own Audis- Uh-huh … are you fans of the Audi team?
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You seem to rag on them all the time.
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I don't.
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And when Tanya, Tanya's defending them.
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Tanya defends them- I don't … when you start getting all, all uppity about them.
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And saying, "Oh, Audi is trash. You're in the back of the pack.
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Oh, they didn't get any points."
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And Tanya's always jumping in to defend.
16:54
I give her credit.
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Why do you hate Audi so much?
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Because Audi stopped being Audi after they pulled out of Le Mans.
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Think about it, the last good Audis were 20 years ago.
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Was the TDI.
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But they were 20 years ago.
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If- Like, the Audis of today, it's indicative of
17:12
what's going on in Formula 1.
17:13
I don't think they're at the same technical prowess that they were at
17:18
when they ran in Group B, going all the way back then, cutting edge.
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And then the next, they go to IMSA and Trans Am, and they're kicking
17:26
butt, and they're cutting edge.
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They go to Le Mans, and they're kicking butt, and they're cutting edge.
17:30
They come to Formula 1, and they're just like everybody else.
17:34
First of all, 'cause it's Sauber with Volkswagen behind them.
17:37
But the point is, I think those other series gave them a little
17:41
bit more flexibility, creativity.
17:43
They could push their ingenuity and their technology.
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They come to Formula 1, they suck like all the rest of the back markers.
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So I'm not a fan.
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I can't get excited about it.
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And I think it relates to the Audis of today.
17:55
They don't excite me.
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They're boring, four-door saloons like anything else on the road.
18:00
And the all-wheel drive mystique, it's nothing new.
18:04
It's not a great value proposition, because name me one car manufacturer
18:08
that doesn't sell a car without all-wheel drive anymore.
18:12
They don't have that market cornered.
18:14
What happens when they bring the V8s back?
18:15
Well, will they bring back the 42, which they haven't made in 100 years now?
18:20
Well, I don't know that a 42's going in a Formula 1 car,
18:23
but the V8s are coming back.
18:24
It should.
18:25
It damn well should.
18:26
You're damn right.
18:27
Damn right.
18:28
What if the Audi Formula 1 car was Audi all-wheel drive?
18:31
Would it do better?
18:32
Let them do it.
18:33
They, well, Lotus tried that back in, like, the '70s or something, do
18:36
all-wheel drive in a Formula car.
18:37
Didn't really work well.
18:39
But that's 'cause it was Lotus.
18:40
Anyway, but the, the point is, I, just the Audi of today is
18:43
not the Audi I grew up with.
18:45
And so I'm very much like, I'd rather see Mercedes win, because at least
18:48
Mercedes is continuing to excel.
18:52
They are still the Silver Arrows.
18:54
Audi doesn't come to the table like the old days.
18:57
Again, Audi's been in racing since the beginning of racing, so the,
19:00
this is really weird for them to be failing the way they're failing.
19:03
And I think it's because we got bean counters at the helm of the
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company, and that's, we'll leave that for the drive-through episode.
19:10
Yeah.
19:11
What did Gemini have to say?
19:13
I told it to stick to just the facts- Uh-huh … and cut out the
19:16
fluff, 'cause it tried to make some, like, editorial, like, whatever.
19:20
So basically, the winner was George Russell.
19:23
Podium was Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
19:26
Key stats, Russell won from pole position on the 51-lap street circuit.
19:30
Five drivers failed to finish, including Lando Norris, Pierre
19:33
Gasly, and Franco Colapinto.
19:35
And then the Lance Stroll tidbit.
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After taking a grid penalty, Stroll retired on lap nine due to
19:40
a water pressure issue, and was subsequently filmed in a tense
19:44
exchange with a marshal while trying to leave the active track area.
19:49
Ooh, now that's exciting.
19:51
Yeah.
19:51
All right.
19:52
It should be noted in this race where Colapinto took out his teammate, and
19:58
then Norris was a bystander of that.
20:01
Yeah.
20:01
That Lando Norris then basically went on a little tirade that said Colapinto should
20:07
effectively be banned from Formula One.
20:09
This is an important- Yes
20:12
comment that needs to be revisited in two races.
20:17
Baku set the stage for so many other races going forward.
20:22
It is a very important race in this season.
20:24
So let's kick the ball forward a little bit and go to Malaysia,
20:30
where we hosted the Bahrain GP.
20:33
Let's just start there.
20:44
Brad and I were a little bit behind the curve.
20:46
You were ahead of us in watching this.
20:48
Can you set the stage and explain what happened here?
20:52
It's fantastic.
20:52
It was a cluster of the greatest fuck ever.
20:59
I was not expecting.
21:01
So when I turned on to watch the replay, and then you see immediately
21:06
the length of time that the race is Three hours, 51 minutes.
21:09
You're like- It was like, "Holy crap," like something happened.
21:13
And then as soon as you kick it on, oh, it's raining.
21:15
Oh, okay, so rain delay.
21:16
Fine.
21:17
Fast-forward, fast-forward, fast-forward.
21:19
They go out on the formation lap.
21:21
It like all falls apart on the formation lap.
21:25
Never has this happened, I think, in the history of Formula 1, and I
21:29
guess never could it have happened because they were not so computer
21:32
controlled as they are today.
21:34
But it all started with Max, who was on pole, so he was in the lead of the
21:40
formation lap, and he just started slowing down, and slowing down, and
21:45
basically almost coming to a stop.
21:47
And then he was radioing in, having some sort of issue, and it seemed like, oh,
21:51
my God, like the Ford just died on the formation lap before we even get started.
21:56
Except then they pan over to Hamilton, and suddenly he's going slow and
22:01
he's getting passed by people.
22:02
And this was like the tensest formation lap ever.
22:06
Obviously, the broadcasters weren't sure what was going on, and then they're
22:09
like, "Oh, my God," you know, "If everybody passes Hamilton, he's screwed.
22:14
Basically, he's out, or he starts at the back." But then everybody was
22:18
backing up behind him because they didn't understand what was going on.
22:22
And then he basically pulled over, I think, at one point.
22:26
But then a bunch of other cars stop as well, and it's this whole cluster, and
22:31
it basically gets red flag, black flag.
22:33
They all come back in.
22:34
Red flagged on the formation lap.
22:36
Can you imagine?
22:38
Unbelievable calamity of errors.
22:41
And you hear like, I guess, Hamilton on the radio going back and forth.
22:44
It's like, "Oh, I got to like reboot," or something.
22:46
And then like he gets like the car rebooted, and then
22:49
he's able to get going again.
22:51
And similarly Max.
22:53
They all come in.
22:54
They park.
22:55
60-minute further delay to the race.
22:58
You find out, you know, after the fact that it was all had to do with
23:02
a software issue, that because of the wet conditions, essentially the wet
23:09
weather, low speed tune, they were driving too slow in that tune condition,
23:16
and basically the computers all freaked out and put them all in like- Limp mode
23:20
very severe limp mode that they couldn't get out of without software refresh.
23:24
And allegedly, whoever is out there writing the program adjusted all the
23:29
software, I don't know, within that break period, and everybody got re-flashed or
23:34
whatever, as pathetic as that might sound.
23:36
Like two hours of the race.
23:38
Yeah.
23:39
So this goes back to Baku and the issue with Bottas and his computer.
23:44
They're doing all this over-the-air stuff, and the car is pre-programmed to load up
23:48
and accelerate at this point at the apex, and like all these severe calculations.
23:53
And it goes back to are these guys actually driving these cars or not?
23:57
I said to Tanya after, while I was watching this, I'm like, "You know,
24:01
this woulda never happened back in the day when they had, oh, I don't know, a
24:04
throttle cable connected to the throttle body, which caused the motor to rev
24:09
up and rev down instead of a computer doing everything." Like, the guys would
24:13
actually be able to drive the cars, in the rain or in the dry or otherwise.
24:17
So the skill in driving a Formula 1 car, they got power this, AI that,
24:22
assisted the other thing, and whatever.
24:24
And I, I kinda wonder, I'm not saying that I can jump in a Formula car and withstand
24:28
the Gs that those things can pull, because it's like being an astronaut.
24:32
But the point is, are they as difficult to drive as a LMP1 car or a
24:36
NASCAR or an IndyCar or s- you know, things that are maybe not nearly
24:40
as technologically sophisticated?
24:42
Now a lot of those cars are catching up.
24:44
But my point is, put Max Verstappen in a Porsche 962 from the early '80s,
24:49
despite the fact that he says he doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission,
24:52
but let's take that off the table.
24:54
Could he actually drive it?
24:55
Do you think he could be effective in a classic race car?
24:58
Any of these guys, do they know how to drive a car?
25:01
Alonso.
25:03
Alonso, yeah, because he's 900 years old.
25:05
He drove, like, a Model T or something, like, back in the day.
25:09
I would say Hamilton.
25:11
Well, he owns that F40, and that F40 is a manual, so I give him credit.
25:15
A- any, anybody 30 and older, yes.
25:19
Any of the newer people, no.
25:21
Hülkenberg can drive a manual.
25:23
Damn straight.
25:23
'Cause he's also ancient.
25:25
Everybody forgets how old he is.
25:27
He's right up there with Alonso and Hamilton.
25:29
He is an old dude.
25:30
Yes.
25:31
So the other thing that's interesting, you have all these rain delays, massive
25:35
monsoon downpours, first time we've used inters for more than three seconds
25:39
when, you know, Oscar puts them on at the wrong time because the tire strategy
25:43
at McLaren is brilliant sometimes.
25:45
But on top of that, this is the first time the Sepang, Sepang, Sepang,
25:50
that's how you pronounce, right?
25:51
Circuit has been used in nine years.
25:54
So we were talking about it.
25:56
This is a new track for just about everybody except for the old-timers,
26:01
whether it's Hammy, Alonso, Hülkenberg.
26:04
The guys that have been around a long time, but they haven't been there
26:07
in almost a decade, so they got a little bit of a leg up in terms of
26:11
knowing which way the track goes.
26:13
But it's a new track for just about everybody.
26:15
And Tanya was like, "Max might have run it one time, maybe the last time
26:20
they ran it," or something like that.
26:21
And I'm like, "Yeah, you're right." You know?
26:24
So I thought it was interesting once kind of things dried
26:26
out, and it was a good lap.
26:28
It was fun.
26:28
Would love to see Malaysia back on the schedule.
26:31
It was a wild race.
26:32
It was a really good race in the sense that it was stressful
26:38
because there was so much going on and so much … I, I don't know.
26:42
It was just like, "Oh, my God. Is he gonna make it? What's happening?" The strategy.
26:47
Tire thing was like a nail-biter.
26:49
Ah.
26:50
But let's talk about that, right?
26:52
Hammy makes the executive decision.
26:54
His crew is telling him at Ferrari, "Box, box, box," and he's like, "Nah, dog.
26:59
I'm gonna stay out here on slicks." Oh, we got to back up.
27:02
We, we didn't cover that he and a handful of other people made
27:07
the choice to go out on slicks.
27:09
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:10
Instead of inters.
27:11
Partially everyone saying, "Oh, it's gonna dry up real fast.
27:14
Gonna dry up real fast.
27:15
Gonna dry up real fast," 'cause, you know, it's warm out there.
27:18
But it's a jungle, so it stays humid.
27:20
And so he did make that call, I think, to go out on the slicks.
27:24
And I think the post-interview, he kind of commented something to the effect
27:29
of like I had this sinking feeling once I saw everyone's tire covers
27:34
come off and, like, everybody had the inters on and it's like, "Oh, shit.
27:39
Too late now." That made things really interesting, right?
27:42
Because they were trying to bring him in to box, to put on inters.
27:45
But, but before you even get there, the, you've gotta cover the
27:48
insanity of the tire differential.
27:52
That's what I was building up to.
27:53
That's what I was building up to.
27:55
Half the lap.
27:55
But you're talking about the pit, but even before that.
27:57
Yeah, yeah.
27:58
Even spurring on the pitting was these guys fell over a minute- Yeah … behind.
28:05
Everybody on the slicks was over a minute behind everyone on the inters.
28:08
It was incredible, the gap.
28:12
Absolutely.
28:12
In a handful of laps.
28:14
Which, yes, then sparked people going like, "F this," right?
28:17
"We're coming in. We're gonna take the penalty of a pit," however 30 seconds
28:22
or whatever it is at that track.
28:24
But then, yes, Hamilton made an executive decision again.
28:27
And he was like, "No, I'm staying out. I'm gonna tough it
28:31
out." And boy, did it pay off.
28:34
While everybody's doing all this shenanigans and he's still out there on
28:37
slicks, he's just chopping it down and chopping it down and chopping it down.
28:41
You know, he's just clawing his way up.
28:43
One point, you know, Lawson's in fourth and all this thing is happening, and
28:46
Bottas goes off and we got safety cars.
28:48
And next thing you know, Hamilton's in ninth.
28:52
He's halfway up through the pack.
28:53
The track isn't completely dry, so he's, like, struggling with
28:56
traction and all this kind of thing.
28:58
By lap 28 of this incredible race that went on way too long, Hamilton's
29:04
fifth, and he's still on softs.
29:07
These tires are lasting forever.
29:10
So everybody else pit, like, twice.
29:12
For the people that were on slicks that came in to get inters, and the people
29:15
that were inters that came in to get, you know, it's, oh, it's a disaster, right?
29:19
Then Ocon nearly bins it.
29:21
Hajjar starts over the radio that his… He's fallen apart.
29:24
He's under so much pressure trying to keep the car going, and all of a sudden
29:27
he's like, "I'm done, I'm done, I'm done.
29:29
I've had enough." Like, "Get me out of here," kind of thing.
29:31
And then lap 43, Albon falls off, so there's a VSC.
29:35
So Hammy pits again, gets another set of tires.
29:38
He ends up stuck behind Hajjar, exits behind Piastri in sixth, and then Kimi
29:44
is leading until he eventually pits.
29:47
The virtual safety car's converted to a safety car.
29:49
There's a whole bunch of shenanigans.
29:52
But I thought it was funny, 'cause it, at one point they show the number of
29:55
pit stops, 'cause all these tire changes and inters and softs and back and
29:58
forth and is it wet and isn't on that.
30:00
Perez-
30:03
Perez pit six times.
30:07
I'm like, "Why?
30:07
Why?
30:08
Why?" After, like, the third pit stop I would've just, like,
30:11
backed it into the garage and said, "I'm done." Six pit stops.
30:15
What was he doing?
30:17
And here we go again.
30:19
There's a re-grid.
30:21
Well, and how many laps are left at that point?
30:24
Four laps to go.
30:25
And it's, like, stressful because, like, this whole time I felt so bad
30:30
for Hamilton from the start, 'cause he was in a pretty good position
30:35
when he started the race, and then 'cause of the tires fell back, right?
30:38
And you saw him clawing back, and you didn't think the strategy
30:41
was gonna work with the tires.
30:43
Yeah.
30:43
And then it starts paying off, and it's like, "Go, go, go." And then you have all
30:47
these other issues come up, and then it's like, "God, now we're stopping again.
30:52
Why are we stopping?" What happens?
30:54
We have to wait for Perez after his sixth pit stop, this is why I brought this
30:59
up, to come around the pack and do a lap of Malaysia, which apparently takes the
31:05
Cadillac seven minutes to complete when everybody else does it in 90 seconds.
31:10
So he is out there doing, like, 12 miles an hour, and it's taking
31:14
forever, and there's four laps left.
31:17
And here's the funny part, they were out under yellow for so long the drivers are,
31:22
like, bored out of their minds apparently.
31:25
And this goes back to what Tanya was talking about earlier about Lando
31:29
and his protesting and this and that.
31:31
Yeah.
31:31
What did Lando do in turn one under safety car conditions?
31:37
Nearly wiped, rear-ended his teammate, and probably would've
31:41
wiped out some other people.
31:42
Instead, he luckily at the last second evasive maneuvers and drives off the
31:46
track into the sand trap, and, and I guess luckily for him he got back out of it.
31:51
Our reigning world champion.
31:53
You have a nerve to… What about you?
31:55
You should be banned.
31:56
What if you had hit your teammate?
31:57
Then what?
31:58
And he wasn't going 70 miles an hour, he was booking triple
32:02
digits going into turn one.
32:04
I don't know what he thought had happened, but it was suddenly,
32:07
like, an oh, shit moment.
32:08
Like, you're in a video game and everybody's piled in turn one, and
32:11
d- oh, it was like a wrecking ball.
32:13
I was like, good Lord, he… I mean, luckily he didn't hit Piastri, but
32:17
if he had hit Piastri, everything he had said in the previous race
32:21
come back to haunt him for sure.
32:23
Insane.
32:24
To make a long story short, the ending was Verstappen- Then Kimi, and Hamilton third.
32:30
After all the shenanigans with the tires and the rain and the restarts, Hamilton
32:35
goes from a minute behind to third.
32:39
Absolutely good run.
32:40
Congrats to Hamilton on that.
32:42
By the way, Stroll did finish this race.
32:44
I don't know if it's in your Gemini notes, so we'll go, we'll get into that.
32:48
I, I do have Lance Stroll tidbit.
32:50
Oh, okay.
32:50
Stroll ignored late radio commands from his engineer to back away from
32:55
traffic, allowing him to cross the line in 12th place to secure his
32:59
first classified finish since July.
33:01
There you go.
33:02
And Alonso came in eighth.
33:05
That's the highest Aston is… They scored points.
33:08
Can you believe it?
33:09
Aston scored points.
33:12
They're doing better than Cadillac.
33:13
Immediately, one race, done.
33:16
Oh, by the way, Audi was 11th and 18th, completely out of the points.
33:20
Here we go again.
33:21
I j- I have to bring it up.
33:23
I have to bring it up.
33:23
But before we move on to Singapore, we have to talk about this article from ESPN.
33:30
Tanya, you brought this, and this is Toto reacting to how the public is reacting
33:38
to Russell and, uh, the Kimi rivalry.
33:41
Well, I like to say Prost versus Senna round two.
33:45
Would you care to do your best Toto Wolff impersonation?
33:48
Oh, that was funny.
33:49
Go watch Teletubbies or whatever he said.
33:54
Yeah, because there's a lot of, like, stupid fan drama, I guess,
33:59
of people accusing Toto of s- got the magic button, and he's sitting
34:04
back, and he's going, "Russell, doof.
34:07
Engine fail." Kimi win.
34:11
You know, there's this article, and he's interviewed, and he's like,
34:13
"That's not the case," blah, blah, blah.
34:15
And he made a comment saying, "People don't really understand and they're
34:19
not respecting, you know, what we do here." And he said, I quote, "They
34:23
should, rather than watching Formula 1, they should do Teletubbies or,
34:27
I don't know, some Mickey Mouse."
34:32
And it's like, bang.
34:34
I mean, he goes on to say, I mean, this isn't new news.
34:37
I mean, he's buds with Russell.
34:38
Like, they vacationed together and stuff, so it's… do not
34:42
think he has it out for him.
34:44
Yeah, it's more like he's the favorite son versus Kimi, who's,
34:48
like, the superstar, right?
34:49
I don't know.
34:50
What are you gonna do, people?
34:51
Sorry, Kimi's better.
34:52
It is what it is.
34:53
They both have their strengths and weaknesses.
34:55
Kimi is fast.
34:57
He's aggressive.
34:58
He doesn't oftentimes seem to care about track limits at all, nor does
35:04
he care about the health of his tires.
35:06
Russell is much smoother.
35:08
He's much more conservative on the tires, but he's just not as fast, and
35:12
he's had a lot of bad luck this year.
35:13
As much as I don't like him, I have to give credit where credit is due.
35:17
He's doing the best with what he's got, and the car has failed on him,
35:21
but the car's failed on Kimi, too.
35:23
Mercedes is not without its issues, but I just, I just wonder how much of it is
35:28
hype versus, not that I know anything about Drive to Survive, but if you could
35:32
actually kind of see what was going on behind the scenes, is there really all
35:36
this drama in the paddock at Mercedes or it's just Kimi's that much faster?
35:41
There probably is.
35:42
It's probably just Kimi's that much faster.
35:43
So let's just say, let's just say Russell gets mad, as we've seen
35:48
some of his caught-on-camera faces that he makes at Kimi sometimes.
35:52
What team would he go to if he wanted to leave?
35:55
Aston.
35:57
No.
35:57
Cadillac.
35:58
Cadillac.
35:58
Grr.
35:59
Grr.
36:01
So okay.
36:01
So going back to why am I poo-pooing on Audi, Audi needs better drivers.
36:06
So would anybody from the top tier go to Audi, or does it
36:10
make more sense for Carlos to go there if he had the opportunity?
36:14
But then how does that answer or solve the problem of Audi needing better drivers?
36:19
Oh, I see what you did there.
36:21
Oh, that's bad.
36:25
We talk so much about how Alonso is old and washed up.
36:28
Lewis Hamilton's getting close, even though I'm really rooting for
36:31
Lewis to, to have a comeback, and he has shown glimpses of his old self.
36:36
Nico Hulkenberg should not be in F1 anymore.
36:40
But Carlos Sainz is just as old.
36:43
He's 32.
36:44
I mean, his career is just as washed up.
36:46
What has he done at Williams?
36:48
Well, what has Williams done for Carlos?
36:50
Well, what was he doing?
36:51
There's a reason he's not at Ferrari anymore.
36:53
I don't know what the reason he's out at Ferrari anymore is, because
36:56
he wasn't a bad Ferrari driver.
36:59
Correct.
36:59
He wasn't great, though.
37:01
Like, he w- he wasn't- I think it was politics at Ferrari that-
37:04
Yeah, but you could say the same thing, then why is Leclerc there?
37:06
Because they were both had comparable seasons.
37:09
The Ferrari car was trash.
37:11
That's true.
37:11
And if anything, I think in that last trash season of Ferrari,
37:14
Carlos had more wins or more points.
37:16
Than Leclerc did, yeah.
37:18
'Cause there was only one former champion that wanted to come to
37:21
Ferrari, so they got rid of one of them.
37:23
Wow.
37:25
How did that work out for them, exactly?
37:28
Hamilton's second in driver's points now.
37:31
No, he's not.
37:32
Russell ahead of him now.
37:33
Yeah.
37:34
And, and Verstappen's gonna jump him- Third … if he
37:36
keeps doing what he's doing.
37:37
Hammy's falling back.
37:39
He's third right now, but he's on the heels of Russell, and then
37:43
Max is on the heels of Lewis.
37:45
It's anyone's game for the top three spots right now.
37:48
But still, to be in the hunt for a podium at, at the end of the season, that,
37:52
that's not nothing This goes back to the question you keep asking me on every
37:56
one of these episodes, who's gonna get their championship first, Max or Lewis?
38:00
And I keep saying it's Kimi.
38:01
Their next championship.
38:03
Which is gonna be neither of them, because Kimi's gonna have a run of
38:06
a couple of years if he's lucky.
38:07
But the point is, if you look at how this is turning out, like we said, if Max has
38:12
a good car underneath of him, and I don't think the Ferrari's that bad this year.
38:16
It's pretty reliable.
38:17
It hasn't had any engine failures and stuff like that like it was having last
38:21
year, and braking problems, all that.
38:22
It's, it comes down now to drivers.
38:25
W- with Max with a good car under him, Max is gonna show you that he could have
38:29
won the championship this year if the Ford had been on par with the Mercedes.
38:33
I think Kimi woulda had a run for his money, so Kimi's gonna get
38:36
a pass this year, and we'll have to see what happens next year.
38:39
But my point is, Kimi doesn't have it.
38:42
Max does.
38:43
Max is gonna show you that he's gonna end up second by the end of this year.
38:46
And that's why I say, if I had to choose, and taking Kimi off
38:49
the table, Max will win his next championship before Hamilton does.
38:53
But I don't know that that's still a fair comparison, because Ferrari's been doing
38:58
better than the Red Bull all year, and now the Red Bull is like Red Bull of several
39:02
years ago, where it's like, oh, Max is just gonna pull 20 seconds on everybody.
39:06
Hey, and you know what they don't have at Red Bull?
39:08
They don't have Adrian Newey.
39:11
That's true.
39:11
They don't have Honda motors anymore.
39:12
It's all gone.
39:14
And they don't have that other clown.
39:16
Like, they got a lot of stuff.
39:17
I wonder why they're doing better?
39:19
Huh.
39:20
That's fine.
39:22
That has nothing relevance, really, to Ferrari, but Ferrari
39:25
now is not as competitive.
39:28
No, but it's becoming Ford versus Ferrari, right, in a different sort of
39:32
way, but we've got Mercedes in the mix.
39:34
It's three brands at the top that we need to worry about, and
39:37
everybody else is an also-ran.
39:39
McLaren needs to figure themselves out, because it doesn't make any sense that
39:43
they went from the performances that they had last year, Oscar and Lando
39:47
going at it, being at the front all the time, and now they're just, like,
39:51
middle of the pack like everybody else.
39:53
Like, the McLaren's are junk.
39:54
What happened over the season?
39:55
They forgot how to build a car?
39:57
Things changed this year because of all the weird harvesting with
40:01
the super mushroom power go thing.
40:03
Yeah, yeah.
40:03
The beginning of the season was trash.
40:04
That's all new, and I think there's more of this weird electronic software
40:08
stuff than there was even last year.
40:11
It all needs to go away, and they need to drive real cars.
40:14
Whoa.
40:15
Well, we gotta wait till 2030 when the V8s are coming.
40:19
Oh, my God.
40:20
Are we even gonna care about Formula 1 in 2030?
40:23
'Cause if it continues the way it's going, I don't know
40:25
how much longer I wanna watch.
40:27
Like, I was having that thought the other day.
40:29
I'm like, "We've been at this for a while," and then there was all the
40:32
poking and prodding to bring me back to Formula 1, and now I'm back for the
40:36
last couple of years, and I'm like, "I don't know how much longer I wanna stay
40:39
at this party." You know what I mean?
40:41
Like, I'm kinda missing Rally and shit that's going on over there.
40:45
But anyway, Brad, what does Gemini have to say about Singapore?
41:02
Lance Stroll tidbit.
41:03
Stroll retired his Aston Martin track side on lap 39 due to an overheated clutch
41:08
and drivability issues- Yep … marking his 11th DNF of the 2026 season.
41:14
How many races have there been this year?
41:16
12 or 13, I guess.
41:18
Yeah, yeah, right?
41:18
I was like, may- this might be 15, something like that.
41:21
Anyway, so the sprint race was excellent, really good.
41:27
But I was very confused, 'cause the announcer said, "This is the last
41:30
sprint race of the season, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And I'm like, "What?
41:35
That can't be right.
41:36
There's usually one in Vegas, right?" Like, there's a
41:38
couple more sprint races left.
41:40
I heard him say that, and then I did think there is still one, at least
41:43
one more, but there is not one at, uh, I don't think there's one at COTA.
41:48
There's not one at COTA this time.
41:49
There are zero sprint races remaining.
41:52
There were- Really?
41:52
… China, China, Miami, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Singapore.
41:57
Interesting.
41:58
Well, then they were right.
41:59
There are no more sprint races.
42:00
Gee, the announcers got something right.
42:02
Maybe they know.
42:02
I don't know.
42:02
Yeah, I don't know.
42:03
They just talk to talk sometimes.
42:05
But the points that are left on the table are the points that are left
42:07
on the table, so that's interesting, too, in terms of doing the, the
42:11
mental gymnastics to see what's gonna happen for the end of the year.
42:14
Delayed start again in the rain.
42:16
Kinda, like, reminded me of Japan.
42:18
These guys are out there with brooms pushing water.
42:21
Can Formula 1 not afford street sweepers, or has America got that on lock?
42:26
Like, we're the only country with street sweeper technology.
42:29
Brushing water with brooms.
42:32
Really?
42:32
Okay.
42:33
That's just a manual street sweeper, so.
42:35
It's Formula 1.
42:36
It should be the pinnacle of all things.
42:38
It should have the greatest technology- … and the greatest stuff in the world.
42:41
They got these freaking brooms out there.
42:42
It's, doesn't make any sense.
42:44
So I asked Tanya the question, because this is, like, on yet another race where
42:48
it rains, and there's commotion and delays and this and that and the other thing
42:52
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I was like, "Imagine a future, 2030, when
42:57
the V8s come back, and we just put this piece of plexiglass where the halo is now.
43:03
We get rid of that bar in the middle so the drivers can actually see
43:06
where they're driving anymore, and then you could deflect the water as
43:10
you drive around the track." Brad, what would you call that thing?
43:13
A windshield?
43:14
Oh.
43:16
Is there another racing series or, like, all of them, including IndyCar,
43:20
that have adopted windshields now?
43:23
You know, I think, l- I have to go to my notes.
43:25
Yes.
43:26
Oh.
43:26
There, there are many other series that have that.
43:29
So we're having this discussion, and you know what Tanya says to me?
43:32
Again, Formula 1, thinking outside the box, pinnacle of technology.
43:37
She's like, "You know what they would do?
43:38
Windshield, that's for losers.
43:40
Formula 1, you would mount a windshield wiper to the helmet."
43:44
"That wipes the helmet."
43:48
And there would be sensors, thousand dollar sensors- Yes.
43:51
Yes … in the helmets to, so that it would work automatically, and
43:54
it would be controlled by AI, which would also have access to the cars,
43:58
and when the helmet would sense too much rain, it would shut the car down.
44:01
And they wouldn't turn off until they sense enough moisture,
44:04
because what you don't wanna do is have streaks on your visor.
44:08
Because tear offs don't work.
44:10
We should put a windshield wiper on our helmet, right?
44:12
I mean, that's the kind of stuff that Formula 1 does.
44:15
Makes no sense.
44:15
You know what they're gonna do?
44:16
It's not gonna be a wiper, it's gonna be a laser.
44:21
Like on the Tesla.
44:23
Yeah.
44:23
Oh, it's ridiculous.
44:24
So, so in that case, when it senses too much moisture, what would
44:27
have happened, was it Russell or Leclerc that was complaining about
44:31
there was so much water in his car?
44:33
Yeah.
44:34
There's a lot of water in your car.
44:36
It was Russell sweating his own face.
44:39
With his- Yeah … Snuffleupagus eyelashes on the rim.
44:41
And then it was Leclerc's water suit that- It's leaked everywhere in his seat.
44:47
Well, and then that happened to Kimi, right?
44:49
He got on the radio during the Singapore race, and he's like, "Something is
44:52
leaking on my feet." Half a lap later he turns, like, the fastest lap of the race.
44:56
I'm like, "What the hell's going on here?" Gave him a lead foot.
45:00
So anyway, Singapore, watch it.
45:02
It's a half an hour of your life that you will enjoy, because that last
45:06
lap, oh my God, that was beautiful.
45:09
Because again, McLaren buffoonery.
45:12
Yes, and it goes back to the words that he said, and he essentially crashes out
45:19
his teammate to take a late dive, which he defends himself in post-interview
45:24
saying he had every right to do it.
45:26
There was a gap, and he had every right to take it.
45:29
Meanwhile, what was the point?
45:31
He Forza'd that apex.
45:33
He shoved his nose in there, put his front wheel in Oscar's side
45:36
pod, and that was the end of that.
45:38
It was almost like a Tsunoda move.
45:40
You got Yuki'd, Oscar.
45:42
That was the end of that.
45:43
And Lando thinks he can get away with that, and his other classic move is that
45:47
weird offline dive on the wrong side of the car to, like, get in your mirror,
45:53
and then he's like, suddenly you're gonna freak out and move out of the way.
45:55
And it always ends in tragedy, because the driver in front of him is not
45:58
gonna budge, 'cause he's like, "Why am I gonna suddenly shift? Go around
46:01
me on the other side. Why are you go…" It's, like, totally backwards.
46:04
I don't, I don't get it.
46:05
But it was beautiful to see it.
46:07
Again, my heart goes out to Oscar, because it's just like he gets
46:11
the short end of every race.
46:13
Like, I feel like he has lost all the motivation to be at the front.
46:17
I just, I don't see the quickness out of him this year.
46:20
Maybe it's the car.
46:21
Maybe it's papaya rules, whatever that means.
46:25
I just feel so bad for Oscar.
46:27
So I think he might be on the list of drivers that would
46:31
be willing to move around.
46:32
What do you think?
46:33
Yeah.
46:33
Would he go to Haas if Haas loses Bearman?
46:36
'Cause Bearman's getting groomed to go to Ferrari now, whatever that means.
46:40
But he's always been in that driver whatever they call it.
46:43
Training program or whatever, yeah.
46:45
Yeah, like, he's always been in that, so… And Leclerc's, like, signed for
46:49
the next four years, so He's there as long as Vasseur is there, so if
46:54
they fire Vasseur, Leclerc's gone.
46:56
Apparently.
46:58
Anyway, the sprint race, the other thing that was crazy was all
47:01
the tire cooling off stuff, and obviously the spin was craziness.
47:04
At, at the very, very end, it was so close, three-tenths of
47:08
a second at the checker flag, you know, one car to the other.
47:11
So that was bonkers.
47:12
And then we go to the race, and qualifying puts us Verstappen, Leclerc,
47:15
Hammy, and Kimi in the first two rows.
47:18
It is a night race, but it's 86 degrees at 8:00 PM with 70% humidity.
47:25
That's Singapore.
47:26
It's a swamp.
47:28
It was cool.
47:28
It was a cool night.
47:29
Yeah, my God.
47:30
But I did find maximum satisfaction in the fact that George started last.
47:38
Oh, we didn't talk about the reason why.
47:40
Why?
47:41
'Cause he was leading the sprint race.
47:44
Aha.
47:44
And then he crashed.
47:46
Yes.
47:46
It was excellent.
47:47
Hadn't even made it a lap, 'cause it was the last turn of the first
47:51
lap, and he- Yes … he slid off and bended into the, into the wall.
47:56
There was a little bit of Days of Thunder that was needed to go around him.
47:59
So excellent.
48:01
All of it was amazing.
48:02
Now I remember, 'cause Max was on pole, but he had a horrible
48:06
start, and then he got jumped.
48:08
Yep.
48:08
George starts from the back.
48:10
Lap eight, Audi has a gearbox failure, so Borgwardo causes a virtual safety car.
48:15
We have some Haas action.
48:17
I believe that was Ocon versus Bearman, which was one of the most
48:20
exciting things that was happening at the beginning of that race.
48:23
Hammy is the first to pit on lap 19.
48:26
He goes in for some softs.
48:28
There's some talk by the announcers about Ocon leaving Formula 1,
48:33
and I'm like, "Wait a second.
48:34
First of all, who's gonna replace him at Haas?
48:36
And second of all, when is he leaving Formula 1?
48:39
And if he's leaving this year, well, didn't all the drivers just resign their
48:43
con-" I was, like, really confused.
48:44
We have the answer to both those questions, actually.
48:47
Do you?
48:47
What is it?
48:48
He is out at the end of this year, and Rafael Camara will be
48:53
replacing him in the 2027 year.
48:56
Who's that?
48:57
I don't know.
48:58
21-year-old Brazilian.
49:00
Okay.
49:01
But Ocon is out.
49:02
He, he's actually done with racing, I think he said, right?
49:04
He's, like, done done.
49:06
I don't know that he wanted to be done F1.
49:08
I think he hopes to come back, but I don't know what his plans are.
49:12
He's gonna go work with Danny Ric.
49:13
I was gonna say, he's doing the Danny Ric move, who's now doing commercials
49:17
about racing as a former race car driver.
49:20
But whatever.
49:21
Ocon's leaving Formula 1.
49:23
We got a Colapinto issue on lap 31.
49:26
This is where Kimi gets on the radio, he's like, "I feel something leaking between
49:29
my feet." At which I was, like, kind of going, "Is he having a code yellow moment?
49:35
Is that what's going on here?
49:36
Is he, you know, getting a little hairy, getting a little dicey out
49:38
there?" So Verstappen pits on lap 33.
49:41
Norris also pits.
49:42
Verstappen did not lose a spot.
49:45
Lando was behind him, Kimi on the mediums, all this kind of thing.
49:48
This was Verstappen's race.
49:51
I mean, he just was out there.
49:52
They didn't even give him a lot of coverage.
49:53
Every once in a while they're like, "Yep, Max is still out there on track.
49:57
He's still in first place.
49:58
Uh, let's go back and see what's going on in, like, 11th, 'cause
50:01
there's action back there.
50:02
There's nothing going on at the front." Like the Red Bull of the olden days.
50:06
Yeah, pretty much.
50:07
It was, yes, 100% like that.
50:09
Sainz is a menace.
50:11
This is what I've decided after watching the Singapore race.
50:14
So I kind of, going back to what you said before, Brad, do
50:17
we want to keep Sainz around?
50:19
'Cause he does the craziest stuff.
50:21
I watch how he blocks other drivers and some, closing the door on people,
50:26
and he cuts the track or he hits somebody, and it's all just shenanigans.
50:29
And I'm like, "Carlos, dude, you're better than this." It's
50:33
not the car at that point.
50:34
It's, like, straight up, "What are you doing?" Yeah.
50:37
You are a menace to Formula 1 And to your earlier point, Lance Stroll
50:42
was stopped on lap 39 because his car pooped and caused a VSC.
50:48
Then it becomes Lando versus Hammy, and then versus Oscar.
50:52
There's a fight for fifth place that gets really interesting for a couple of laps,
50:56
and it kind of just goes meh, and the race ends Verstappen way out in the lead,
51:01
followed by Leclerc, who hangs on for dear life in that second place position,
51:05
followed by Kimi, Lando, Oscar, and Hammy.
51:08
So that rolls out the top six positions in that race.
51:12
That's that for Singapore.
51:14
Now, I will say, because this is airing at the end of October, we're not
51:18
covering COTA in this episode because it conflicts with our 24 Hours of Le
51:24
Mans racing, so we're gonna have to cover it, unfortunately, on the next
51:28
episode, which is totally fine, as we get closer and closer to the end of the
51:32
Formula One World Championship for 2026.
51:34
So I'm excited to see how this goes.
51:37
I think we're at the point where Kimi pretty much has it in the bag.
51:41
He does not have to win every race from this point out.
51:44
He just needs to take home probably fifth or better, and he'll win the
51:47
championship regardless of what Max does or Hammy does or anybody else does.
51:51
What do you think, Brad?
51:52
What's the over under?
51:53
You think Kimi's got it in the bag?
51:55
Yes, just because we're pretty late in the season, but I think had Max had a
52:00
better car a few races ago, he would definitely give Kimi a run for his money.
52:04
He's definitely stepped back into Red Bull of old.
52:08
I'm excited to see Red Bull back up there doing their thing.
52:11
Yeah.
52:11
I still think Hamilton, Hamilton's showing some glimpses of his old self as well.
52:16
I'm th- it's setting up for a pretty exciting end of the season,
52:20
at least for second and third.
52:22
You talked about glimpses of his previous self, or are those
52:25
fleeting moments, right, where they kind of appear and disappear?
52:28
They're hard to gather, right, these fleeting moments.
52:30
What do you think about 2027?
52:32
Hamilton's still at Ferrari, right?
52:34
He continued his contract.
52:35
How do you think Hamilton's gonna do next year?
52:38
Let's just say both Red Bulls are on point- Cadillac isn't there anymore,
52:43
so we got two less cars on the grid.
52:45
Maybe Aston sorts themselves.
52:47
Everybody else stays exactly where they are.
52:49
Ferrari finds a couple tenths here and there.
52:52
I'm giving them the benefit.
52:53
McLaren cleans up their act, and Mercedes does what Mercedes does.
52:58
Where do you think Hammy ends up next year?
53:01
I think Hammy ends up middle of the top 10, so five, six,
53:07
seven, somewhere in that range.
53:08
Which means every year that he doesn't Alonso, the championship
53:13
gets further and further back.
53:15
Yeah, yeah.
53:16
To that end, predictions, Max versus Kimi next year.
53:20
If the Ford shows the promise that it's showing right now, let's say it gets
53:24
a little bit better, and they do what they, Red Bull does, is it Max versus
53:28
Kimi or does Max have it in the bag?
53:31
And that answers your question about who gets their next championship.
53:34
I think Max.
53:35
Until Kimi wins his first one, I'm not gonna choose Kimi.
53:38
Oh.
53:40
Okay.
53:41
Would you become Team Kimi after Kimi wins his championship?
53:44
I was never not Team Kimi.
53:46
Oh, oh, ooh, ooh.
53:49
He's playing all sides.
53:49
I've just, I've, I've been, I've been Team Hammy, 'cause I
53:52
just like a redemption story.
53:54
All right.
53:54
Good comeback story.
53:55
All right.
53:56
Now, I know that Verstappen has signed his contract through
53:59
'28, but no further, right?
54:01
So he's got at least two more seasons in him, and we know
54:04
Verstappen's going back to GT racing.
54:06
Yeah, tomorrow.
54:08
Does he finally leave Formula 1?
54:10
Let's just say he gets his fifth.
54:12
Does Max go for a sixth or does he just say, "2028, it's the end of my
54:17
contract. I don't really care how I finish. It is what it is." I don't know.
54:21
I don't think any of us could know.
54:23
I think it depends on how the next two seasons go.
54:25
It's gonna be a Kimi dynasty.
54:28
I think it's gonna be Rafael Camara.
54:30
I, you never know.
54:31
That dude could be blazing fast or he could be Colapinto.
54:36
You know who it's not gonna be?
54:37
Gasly?
54:38
Stroll.
54:38
Stroll.
54:42
Not that.
54:43
It's been an exciting month of Formula 1, I would say.
54:45
It has.
54:59
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