Latest / The Undercut / Oscar goes Toe-to-Toe with Max to take Third Win on the Season - 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Review

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Oscar goes Toe-to-Toe with Max to take Third Win on the Season - 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Review · The Undercut

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:09
  Speaker B: Thanks for tuning in to the undercuts review of the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Please rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and enjoy the episode.
• 0:20
  Speaker A: By being a racing driver, you are.
• 0:22
  Speaker B: At the risk all the time. By being a racing driver means you.
• 0:27
  Speaker A: Are racing with other people.
• 0:28
  Speaker B: And if you no longer go for.
• 0:30
  Speaker A: A gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver.
• 0:34
  Speaker B: All right, Martin, so round five, the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. And of course, I'm guessing you're not expecting this, but the biggest thing on the weekend, the record. Lance Stroll has exited Q1 more than any other driver in the history of F1. 75 times he has been knocked out in Q1.
• 0:59
  Speaker A: Oh, wow. I was not. I was not expecting you to lead with that stat. This is like my live. This is like my live reaction, right? Yeah, I, I was looking at the standings and I don't know people who listen to my. I, I've been kind of high on Aston, especially bringing in Newey, and I was like, it's time for them to get better and improve. And yeah, that just has not. Has not happened. And Stroll and Fernando have just not performed at all. But Stroll has been particularly terrible. But now he's not even getting out of Q1. Oh, my God.
• 1:42
  Speaker B: I mean, well, he's in the record books. He has.
• 1:47
  Speaker A: That. That's. That's an un. That's an unwanted stat. I mean, I guess it. It talks to his longevity in the sport. Right. Other play. Other drivers wouldn't be able to underport, underperform for that long without getting kicked out. But he's a special.
• 2:00
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 2:01
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 2:03
  Speaker B: He is the longest, worst driver ever in the history of the sport.
• 2:09
  Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know If Latifi had 75 opportunities to get knocked out in, in Q1.
• 2:14
  Speaker B: Exactly.
• 2:16
  Speaker A: But, yeah, that, That's. Yeah. I mean, for a hot minute there at the start of the season, he picked up a few points. But, yeah, he's. He's gone nowhere since. But. All right.
• 2:26
  Speaker B: But there to stay.
• 2:27
  Speaker A: But that was not the headline I was thinking about.
• 2:29
  Speaker B: I know.
• 2:30
  Speaker A: This weekend I figured.
• 2:31
  Speaker B: I figured I wanted to throw you off your game for the, for the start there. But in all seriousness, we did have highlights from the start. I mean, Max up to his same old tricks. Oscar had an incredible jump off the line, but Max just decided not to put his foot on the break going into turn one and, you know, complaining that he got a penalty because he didn't want to break. So.
• 2:57
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I, I'M happy that how they adjudicated everything, like five second penalty seems, seems fine. You know, he gained an advantage by leaving the track. That's pretty standard. Um, I don't want to get too conspiracy theory, but, like, are the tracks to blame for this? Because if that was a gravel area, if it wasn't just straight runoff, if that was a wall or a gravel area or something more penalizing, drivers wouldn't go off there. Like, even Piastri wouldn't go that far out. So I think Max was happy to just stick it out there, see if he could make it stick. He knew he was. Had room to move if he needed to when he did. And then he had the five second penalty, but he was in front. He's got clean air. He wasn't making his tires work too hard. Maybe he could have made it work to his advantage. We've seen drivers do this many, many times. And Max just as much as anybody else use these runoff areas. So I don't. Yeah. Am I overthinking it, Jason? Too much there? Should we blame the track, the drivers?
• 4:12
  Speaker B: No, no. Max is 1,000% default. I mean, he knows that. I mean, I, I see what you're saying. That because there is no gravel there, he has the opportunity to not break. But there was no way that he was making that corner. Oscar had it down easily and Max just decided not to break and just, you know, take the easy line and keep it. Which Ru, in the end ruined the races for Charles and Lando, who could have potentially gotten by him if he had been in dirty air because he had broken there.
• 4:49
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying that Max calculated all of that in the one second, you know, that everything.
• 4:55
  Speaker B: No, of course not.
• 4:56
  Speaker A: You know, but, you know, it's on instinct. But that is his instinct. And yeah, and he got, he got a five second penalty for it. And yeah, it cost him the win. But like you said, did it gain him second place? You know, would he have been worse off fighting in amongst other cars? So. But what are you going to do?
• 5:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, because Oscar said, I mean, he, after the race he was like, obviously it was an incredible race for him. He dominated all weekend. He was the fastest car pretty much all weekend. And you know, the one time during the race where he was the most uncomfortable when he was, when he was in the dirty air behind Max, who shouldn't have been there. So it's like, it probably made the race seem more exciting in the end. So maybe it's better for the sport that it happened that way that we didn't know how it was gonna turn out. But as a, you know, biased McLaren.
• 5:48
  Speaker A: Fan, but it didn't. I mean, did it look to you like Piastri could have overtaken Verstappen, like, on the track, or was he just biding his time? You know, it looked like Verstappen was pulling away. Right. So it did.
• 6:01
  Speaker B: That's why they brought him in so early. They brought in so early.
• 6:05
  Speaker A: So, you know, fair play. Fair play to Oscar, though. You know, that's the hand he was. He was dealt, and he played it. Played it perfectly. I mean, he got a great start. Like, it all started from Oscar's reaction time. So fair play to him. And the way that the. The starting grid is set up, that set him up to be on the inside for the corner. So.
• 6:27
  Speaker B: Yeah, you know, and I said on the last episode, I made the bold claim that I thought that Oscar was the favorite to win the championship coming out of last. The last race.
• 6:38
  Speaker A: Right.
• 6:39
  Speaker B: And then coming into this race, all the odds change as practices are happening, and Oscar was the favorite in the Vegas lines to win the championship. And Obviously now he's 10 points ahead of Lando, which is the biggest gap we've seen at the front so far. And Max is right behind Lando by like two or three points, something like that.
• 7:02
  Speaker A: If you. If you do, like a count back. I mean, we're only five races in. They seemed like they've flown by.
• 7:08
  Speaker B: Right.
• 7:10
  Speaker A: I mean, Oscar's biggest issue was the. Was the reign in Australia, Right. Where he spun out right when he was in what they. Were they running one first place, he would have won. Right. And he's. He's spun out, which is kind of like, quote, unquote. No, no fault of his own, and managed to recover to 10th after being stuck on the grass for, like, 20 seconds or something.
• 7:31
  Speaker B: Right.
• 7:31
  Speaker A: Or even longer. So, you know, beyond that, he's been the most consistent driver. I mean, he's been on the podium, if not winning every other race. He's one.
• 7:44
  Speaker B: He's the only driver to win more than once, and he's won three times.
• 7:49
  Speaker A: Yeah. And he's been on the podium, I think he was.
• 7:52
  Speaker B: I think four times.
• 7:53
  Speaker A: He was third in Japan and that was it. Yeah, he's either one come third or he was like, 10th in Australia because he spun out. So. Yeah, he is. And what. I mean, you forget he's only in his, like, third year.
• 8:05
  Speaker B: Yeah, he's like, 21.
• 8:08
  Speaker A: There's been such turnover with so many rookies. Joining Piastri seems like the old mat, one of the old men of the sport now, but he is. Yeah, he's an absolute star, it seems. And Lando just can't get it done. Yeah, he's got something over Lando. I don't know what it is.
• 8:26
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, someone was probably gonna crash at some point. Obviously. We had a crash in the race on lap one between the former teammates of Yuki and Pierre.
• 8:39
  Speaker A: That looked like just like a racing incident to me. You agree?
• 8:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, I, I do agree. I mean, if you had to put blame on one, I would say Yuki because he kind of went a little wide. But it was lap one, going through really tight corners and I just, you.
• 8:56
  Speaker A: Know, racing incident, they could have been a foot in a different position and like if the tires don't touch, it's just a tiny tap and they carry on. So. So, yeah, it's just unlucky.
• 9:07
  Speaker B: Yeah. And Yuki has been looking progressively better. Obviously not where Red Bull wants their second car to be, but comparing them to Max is just not a fair assessment right now.
• 9:20
  Speaker A: Max is getting everything he can out of that car and maybe more. But, yeah, Yuki's doing better than. Well, Liam Wilson was. But do we expect to see Yuki on the podium though, this year? It's going to be tough.
• 9:43
  Speaker B: I feel like he'll probably get one up there.
• 9:46
  Speaker A: Yeah. At some point he's going to give him some, but he's, he's doing well enough to give to, to earn himself more time, that's for sure. Nobody's questioning that because what. Lawson was basically driving around in 20th, wasn't he?
• 10:00
  Speaker B: Well, Liam is just his, his confidence is gone. He looks like a shell of the driver we saw last season driving in the rv. Yeah, it's, it's, it's. I feel bad for him. I wanted Yuki to be in the Red Bull car, but I feel bad for how Liam has been treated and it just does. It's not seeming to get any better.
• 10:25
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:27
  Speaker B: But, yeah, it is what it is, I guess. Let's see. I guess we didn't speak about the few battles between Lando and Lewis. I mean, Lando, I would say overall he's probably very disappointed with the weekend with qualifying in 10th, but he had an incredible race. I mean, he moved from P10 all the way up to P4 in the end and was really pushing Charles till the very end to get back on the podium. An incredible race, even though very disappointing result.
• 11:02
  Speaker A: Yeah, he had the. I mean, he had the fastest lap we know for whatever that means. But it doesn't mean that much, I guess, because as the cars get lighter and faster, so the pace is there. Yeah. It was fun to see him battle with Lewis. The whole, like, Drs chicken game started up again. Maybe Lewis sort of showing his race craft and understanding, you know, what he can and can't do in the Ferrari to keep Lando behind him, to let. Let Lando take the place and then use Drs to take it back. What, two laps in a row he did that?
• 11:37
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 11:39
  Speaker A: Before Lando learned himself, just hang out and then go for it.
• 11:46
  Speaker B: I was not happy with him not figuring that out. After one try, I was like, are you serious?
• 11:52
  Speaker A: Try it again. Well, yeah. On any other track, when you've got the faster car and you're ahead, you assume you're going to stay ahead. But yeah, and this is going to be. This is going to be interesting next year. Right? I mean, I don't need to start a separate discussion, but we got to eventually, later on this year, start talking about the new regulations for next year, which is. DRS is gone, but they're gonna have new hybrid engines that will give them, like, push to pass or new power boosts. Right. At certain points. Really? Yeah, I think so. Something like that. So all this stuff's back up in the air again. But whilst DRS is here, this little gamer chicken came back and, yeah, Lewis used it to his advantage. Because the Ferrari with Lewis in it is. Is not good.
• 12:39
  Speaker B: Not at the moment. No.
• 12:40
  Speaker A: Not as he's. He's the worst of the best. And Charles is the one getting like. Like Max is getting the most out of the Red Bull. Charles is getting the most out of the Ferrari.
• 12:50
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 12:52
  Speaker A: So, yeah, Lewis is. Is struggling. He hasn't worked it out yet.
• 12:57
  Speaker B: Yeah, you're. Yeah, you're. You're spot on there. I mean, Charles, that was his first podium of the year. Right? I mean, yeah, it seemed like he. He has not been that disappointing. It's almost shocking that he hasn't been on the podium up to this point. Cause he's driven well.
• 13:12
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, but he's already a distant, you know, fourth. Not distant, but, you know, the points start racking up, but it already looks like it's between the. Sorry. Distant fifth for Charles. Sorry. No, he is a distant fifth. Yeah. 47 points to Charlotte. George Russell, 73, and then Max, Lando and Oscar at the top. So it's. It really already looks like it's between those three. And George Russell would be annoyed that I would say that he's like, what about me? I'm. I'm right there. But it's not. It's not going to stay that way, is it?
• 13:48
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 13:50
  Speaker A: What's McLaren going to do? You know, what are they. I keep doing what they're doing, I guess, is the easy thing. The guys aren't battling so hard. They're taking each other out. That's the nightmare scenario.
• 14:01
  Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess if one qualifies in P10, there's no real worry of that happening, is there?
• 14:08
  Speaker A: For sure. So what did you. What did you think of his. His crash in. In qualifying? Like, have you seen any analysis of what happened?
• 14:17
  Speaker B: I mean, he just clipped the inside wall in like, a tight street shack Shrek chicane. And, you know, it's a rookie mistake.
• 14:27
  Speaker A: I don't know if he hit the wall on the inside. No, I saw some analysis that said he wasn't tight enough so that Oscar.
• 14:36
  Speaker B: So he went. He lost it and went wide into the wall.
• 14:39
  Speaker A: So, yeah, he was actually, like, on a part of the curb that was a bit more angled. If he was tighter, the inside wheel would be on a kind of flatter part of the circuit closer to the wall. I mean, we're talking about inches here.
• 14:52
  Speaker B: Right.
• 14:53
  Speaker A: But because he was like a little bit wider on a bit of the curb, that was sort of point pushing the car out, taking in maybe a bit too much speed. You know, it sort of pushed him out and then he was too far out on the sec, on the cause. A bit of a chicane there. And yeah, that was it done for him. And Oscar coming into that same corner was much, much tighter. Probably carrying less speed, too. So definitely a mistake from Norris and yeah, that just ruined his whole. This whole race. Right. Starting intense. It's just a damage can. Damage control.
• 15:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it. It seems that I think that Lando had a good shot at the podium if they had like, geared the strategy towards him rather than Oscar. Obviously it makes sense to do it to Oscar because he was the one leading the race. But when Lando started on the hard tires and was looking really, really good out ahead after everyone had pit, if he had stayed out longer, it would have been beneficial to him because he could have maybe gone on to soft tires at the end and really stormed up the field. But he put Oscar in dirty air behind him, who's the leader? So that's when they. That's when they brought him in to pick. Yeah, Oscar kind of caught up to him.
• 16:14
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, Norris ended up staying out. Yeah. Longer Than, than most. Yeah, like 30 plus laps, didn't he? But yeah, still went on to the mediums and everybody else went. Went medium hard. But yeah, I mean if, yeah, if one of your guys is on pole and is effectively leading the race because he's behind a guy who's got a five second penalty, then yeah, that's where your, your focus is. So yeah, it's 19, 1988 all over again. Prost and center at McLaren. McLaren then when they, when between the two of them won every single race bar one. So yeah, you know, Max is the other guy in that mix. So we'll see what happens.
• 16:56
  Speaker B: Yeah. And this is the fir like the first time. I don't know if you saw that picture I sent, but it's the first time a McLaren driver has like lost the championship in season Since Senna in 93 or something like that.
• 17:11
  Speaker A: You mean Norris was leading the championship and now somebody else took over even though that's another McLaren driver.
• 17:18
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 17:19
  Speaker A: Yeah. But I mean how often has a McLaren driver been leading the championship in the past it's just been Mercedes and Red Bull.
• 17:27
  Speaker B: Well, I guess in 2008, 2008 and 2009 when Lewis won.
• 17:32
  Speaker A: Exactly. I mean that's 17 years ago, isn't it?
• 17:36
  Speaker B: I know. Long time ago.
• 17:40
  Speaker A: It's a very long time ago.
• 17:41
  Speaker B: I mean it's a happy. It's a happy problem to have for me. You know, the Aaron's up at the front.
• 17:48
  Speaker A: It's shaping up. You know, even though we're already. I'm already saying, hey, it's between these three guys. At least it's between three guys. Right. It's not one or, or we'll take two. If it was two people battling out to the end. So if they have three guys in the mix, you know, bring it on. That's.
• 18:05
  Speaker B: And if. Let's see. Maybe Mercedes comes with some crazy upgrade to Miami and then all of a sudden they're 1 and 2 and George shoots up the. Shoots up the rankings. Who knows where we're going to be come the next few races.
• 18:20
  Speaker A: Yeah, George is. George is driving really well. Three podiums. Obviously no wins but you know, very solid. And Kimmy Antonelli too. So Mercedes have definitely put together like a drivable car. They're not absolutely crushing it. But for Kimmy to come in as a rookie and be doing this. Well, yeah, they've, they've, they've created something there. Mercedes. So hopefully they can improve on it.
• 18:46
  Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And there's this whole fan culture obsessed with Kimmy and Bono's new partnership because he was, because he was with Lewis for so long. He seems to be really enjoying his time with this like very young kid next to him and kind of mentoring him up and then. Yeah, seems to be this Internet culture.
• 19:08
  Speaker A: I haven't seen any of that. I haven't really thought about it. But yeah, I mean, I don't know that much about Kimmy, but yeah, he seems to be just enjoying the smart. Got his head screwed on tight for what is he, 18, 19 years old?
• 19:20
  Speaker B: Eighteen, yeah. Just got his driver's license.
• 19:25
  Speaker A: And Bono, you know, as a race engineer is what, in his X hundredth.
• 19:30
  Speaker B: Grand Prix, whatever it might be, eight time champion.
• 19:34
  Speaker A: Exactly like, you know, 99 or 100 plus race wins with Lewis or something. So he, he's seen it all right. That's for sure. I mean, most improved Williams. Right. They seem to be putting it together now. Both of them finishing in the points this week.
• 19:52
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 19:53
  Speaker A: Solid race, you know.
• 19:54
  Speaker B: Absolutely.
• 19:55
  Speaker A: Yeah. I mean Sainz hasn't been particularly lucky at the start and struggled a little bit. Yeah. But maybe this will help him turn a corner and yeah, Albon's, you know, in there. He's eighth in the championship right now.
• 20:08
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 20:09
  Speaker A: I mean, what a turnaround from Williams a couple years ago when they got like literally zero.
• 20:13
  Speaker B: Right. Right. I mean it's, it's a great, a great turnaround from them. And we got to see Carlos doing his old trick from Singapore where he was helping Albon stay in his Drs so that he wouldn't get passed by Hajar in the last few laps. So Carlos kind of like dropped back just to make sure that he was able to stay there so that they would stay in P8 and P9 in the end.
• 20:36
  Speaker A: Good racecraft bring him along.
• 20:38
  Speaker B: Absolutely.
• 20:39
  Speaker A: Talking about drivers helping each other out like it was Bortoletto who didn't help out Fernando. He nearly put him in the wall.
• 20:51
  Speaker B: The guy who's part of his management team.
• 20:53
  Speaker A: That was crazy. Yeah, he went way over to the right all of a sudden.
• 20:58
  Speaker B: He just, he must just not have seen him.
• 21:00
  Speaker A: I guess he was just setting up. Yeah, I just go wide for the corner and didn't see him, but oof. That was. I, I couldn't believe that they didn't touch and I know Fernando squeezed through there. Yeah. Couple of words between those two afterwards. Sure.
• 21:16
  Speaker B: Yeah. When they have the, have the management meeting because y. I said Alonzo is part of the management team that manages Bordetto's career, so pretty interesting between the two of them. But we also saw the amazing pass that Oscar made on. On Lewis. I guess after Oscar had passed through those really fast corners in the last part of the track, he just slipped by him and was able to get by. It was amazing.
• 21:44
  Speaker A: Right around. Right around the outside. Yeah. You saw sort of like dust kicking up. Cause it was like the dirty part of the track. He just kept his foot in it and. Yeah, that was. That was pretty good. That was very good. Yeah.
• 21:58
  Speaker B: Yeah. Great stuff from him. And I feel like that's. That's pretty much most of it, obviously. Hajar, another great weekend getting in the points.
• 22:06
  Speaker A: Yep.
• 22:07
  Speaker B: I mean, other than Kimmy, he's gotta be the second best rookie on the. On the season.
• 22:12
  Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, he's put. He's put that. You know, when he crashed on the formation lap in Australia, we all thought the worst. Right. But he seems to have put that firmly behind him and now he's, you know, doing. Doing the best that he can with. With what he's got. You know, Liam Lawson's, you know, doing worse than. Yes, he is at the moment and potentially is the better driver. But yeah, Isaac's looking good. I mean, the other rookie doing. He's not doing much, is he?
• 22:50
  Speaker B: No.
• 22:50
  Speaker A: Present neither.
• 22:51
  Speaker B: Neither is Gabby.
• 22:53
  Speaker A: Yeah. Well, bought a letter. Apart from taking out his part of his management team, he's there. Yeah. Those two guys are really struggling.
• 23:00
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 23:01
  Speaker A: Maybe Doohan has the opportunity to do better because Gasly's, you know, getting more out of his car. Maybe Hulkenberg is too. Right. They're both getting a few points here and there, and Doohan and Bortoletta just. Just can't get it going.
• 23:16
  Speaker B: So it's crazy. There are four drivers that have zero points on the season.
• 23:21
  Speaker A: Right.
• 23:21
  Speaker B: Three of them are rookies. Liam, Jack and Bordetto. The last one is Fernando Alonso.
• 23:30
  Speaker A: Alonso, who would have thought that that was. That is kind of surprising, especially because Strolls got 10 points.
• 23:38
  Speaker B: Right. He's 10th in the driver's championship. Stroll.
• 23:41
  Speaker A: Yeah, he was out of the. He was out of the Ferraris at one point.
• 23:45
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 23:48
  Speaker A: So what happened with. What happened. I haven't really got it in my brain what happened with Fernando with all these races? Was he close? Did he crash out? Was he 11th? I. I don't even know.
• 23:56
  Speaker B: He's been just tooling around. Their car is just that bad. I mean, I think that Lance had a couple moments where the safety car helped him out and he was able to go long on stints because he started back.
• 24:09
  Speaker A: Right.
• 24:10
  Speaker B: And it just worked out for him.
• 24:12
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, I mean, Fernando was 11th this race, right? Yeah, but he was still. But still nearly 10 seconds behind Hajar, so it wasn't exactly. Wasn't exactly close, but.
• 24:24
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 24:25
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's gonna be tough for. For Fernando. What happened to the Adrian Newey effect that I was predicting? Just goes to show what I.
• 24:33
  Speaker B: Well, I. I think they have officially said that they're giving up on this season. Like, they're not doing anything for the rest of the year. Everything is focusing on next season for them. So they're not going to get any better.
• 24:45
  Speaker A: Right, Right. I mean, they showed up with a decent car, what, two years ago with the new regs, and we're in it, but they've just backslid ever since. Yeah. Anyhow.
• 24:59
  Speaker B: Yeah, very disappointing from them, but exciting for me. Martin, we got to get into coops.
• 25:05
  Speaker A: Is that why you're skipping through this? That's all the highlights. Let's talk about my predictions.
• 25:10
  Speaker B: Yeah, talk about me more.
• 25:15
  Speaker A: So this. This race had some of the highest points so far. You know, not many people crashed out. We only lost those two drivers. Right. So. And we're getting a good feel now for, you know, who are the top drivers. So people's predictions are getting a bit more spot on. So, Yeah, I don't even know how you pronounce this. Username R. McMinn, maybe with 295 points and Gonzalo with 295 points, top scores and overall standings. Max sucks. Sticking at number one, but up five places to number two, our very own Jason. Yes.
• 25:56
  Speaker B: Back to.
• 25:58
  Speaker A: Although I didn't. I just. I just see. Yeah, Max sucks. He's got 30. Sorry, he's got 70 points.
• 26:04
  Speaker B: Yeah. He's got a big gap right now.
• 26:07
  Speaker A: On you, so a little bit of a gap there, but, you know, long way to go. Our very own nick up to 11th as well. Nice. So, you know, doing great. I don't know. How did I do? I moved up, I think. Oh, I dropped. I. I dropped massively last week, and then I came back up a little bit this week, so I'm 150th or something. All right. I still.
• 26:32
  Speaker B: Where you started, you're getting.
• 26:34
  Speaker A: I still haven't given up on Lando. I keep predicting Lando to come roaring back and. And win these races, and I'm. I'm overestimating Lando's performance and underestimating what Verstappen can do.
• 26:48
  Speaker B: So, yeah, I think I've picked Oscar the past. The past few races. And that has helped.
• 26:55
  Speaker A: It's hard. It's hard not to pick him now. He is the man. And in fact, you know, the consensus, the early consensus for Miami is Oscar won Lando two, and it's been Lando all season in the top spot, but.
• 27:10
  Speaker B: Right.
• 27:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's stateside in two weeks. Right. May 4th.
• 27:18
  Speaker B: That's right.
• 27:20
  Speaker A: And before they return to. Before they return to Europe, to Imola towards the end of May or middle of May.
• 27:28
  Speaker B: So that's right where then it starts coming quickly until we get to the summer break. Right.
• 27:36
  Speaker A: Every time around this year, Jason, you start looking at your bank account and thinking, can I go to Miami? Dare I try and buy a ticket?
• 27:43
  Speaker B: No, definitely not Miami. No.
• 27:45
  Speaker A: There's no Happy.
• 27:47
  Speaker B: Doesn't seem like the one. I think Canada is the one.
• 27:49
  Speaker A: Canada's great. I've been to Canada a few times. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. It's worth a. It's worth a visit.
• 27:55
  Speaker B: I mean, I've looked potentially into going over to Europe sometimes. Like, it. Honestly, it's more financially responsible to fly to Europe and go to a race there than it is to any of the three races in the US they are crazy expensive, the amount of money.
• 28:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I don't know. I mean, Montreal's so good just because it's like inner city, so it's easy to access the track and all that kind of stuff. So I don't know about some of the other city races. I don't know where the tracks are. Like, maybe Singapore, maybe That. That's not financially.
• 28:29
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I would love to go there. That would be great.
• 28:34
  Speaker A: No, Mexico City or something, but that'll.
• 28:36
  Speaker B: Be kind of cool.
• 28:37
  Speaker A: Yeah. Anyhow. But, yeah, I mean, that. Yeah, I wish there was a bit more. Are we missing more action, like, lower down in the field? There weren't too many.
• 28:45
  Speaker B: There wasn't much.
• 28:45
  Speaker A: Yeah, People like, overtaking each other.
• 28:48
  Speaker B: I mean, like, we were talking trash on Fernando, but like you said, he did have, like, a pretty decent race, I think that he started. Where did he start? He started in okay, I guess. Not really. He started in 13 and moved up to 11, so, yeah, Hajar was below him and gotten the points.
• 29:07
  Speaker A: Right. Right.
• 29:10
  Speaker B: So, yeah, I mean, I guess.
• 29:11
  Speaker A: I mean, in two. Two of those spots were Yuki and Gasly's that they took effectively. They got two freebies, so.
• 29:17
  Speaker B: Right.
• 29:18
  Speaker A: Yeah. Just a little bit of shuffling. Yeah. Load. Lando had the. Had the best drive as far as, like, improving his position. So. Yeah. What. What could have been, you know.
• 29:27
  Speaker B: Yeah, I didn't see who got driver of the day, but it seems to be just a homer contest at this point. It has nothing to do with what the actual racing.
• 29:35
  Speaker A: It's just a popularity contest. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 29:40
  Speaker B: I guess the only thing we really didn't talk about is surprisingly Haas was not very good where they have been good as of late and they weren't able to get any points. So.
• 29:51
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, maybe this circuit just didn't. Didn't suit them. I mean both of those guys finished next to each other, right. 13th, 14th, Bearman beating out Ocon for whatever that's worth. I mean it was a 20 point gap there. I think a 20 second gap. I'm sorry, between them. So handily beat him. But yeah, maybe that. These cars are getting quite sensitive now to, to the tracks or on any. They're quite. They're so evenly matched on any given circuit, 10th of a second here that somebody has over somebody else or just track knowledge or skill makes a difference. So.
• 30:24
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 30:25
  Speaker A: Um, it's always interesting when they go to Miami because it's not a proper circuit. Right. It's just a parking lot that they make. So it's not really rubbered in. Who can find the grip. It's got some interesting lines that maybe they can take. So maybe that will see Haas coming back.
• 30:39
  Speaker B: But yeah, we've seen, we've seen some great racing in Miami that was not really expected there from the get go. People were worried about it. But it's always been really good race in there.
• 30:51
  Speaker A: So. Yeah, I mean that was Norris's first win, right?
• 30:55
  Speaker B: That's right. That's right.
• 30:56
  Speaker A: Maybe that will bring him some luck. So.
• 30:59
  Speaker B: And I think that him and Oscar are now equal on race wins in their careers, which is crazy.
• 31:05
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 31:06
  Speaker B: Yeah, like five. They each have five race wins.
• 31:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, we'll see how it goes. But if those two are squabbling, who knows? I mean, good problem for McLaren to have, I guess.
• 31:18
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 31:18
  Speaker A: It's their job. That's a job that you want to have to. It's a problem that you'd like to have. Right.
• 31:22
  Speaker B: As long as they don't take each other out, that's fine.
• 31:25
  Speaker A: Exactly. Don't do a. Nico and. Nico and Lewis.
• 31:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. Senna and Prost center and pros.
• 31:34
  Speaker A: Senna did that when he was already. What he. Well, to win. It was going to be between the two of them to win the championship and he just made sure of it.
• 31:43
  Speaker B: But Michael Schumacher style. Well, I guess Senna did it first.
• 31:47
  Speaker A: But they didn't take. They gave it to Senna. They didn't take it away. Schumacher crashed into who did he crash into?
• 31:52
  Speaker B: Damon Hill.
• 31:53
  Speaker A: Damon Hill. And then they literally disqualified him from the whole season. Like they just took away his entire. Who? Yeah, they kicked him out. Schumacher.
• 32:02
  Speaker B: Schumacher.
• 32:02
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think they did. I gotta check.
• 32:04
  Speaker B: No, he got the championship for that and then Damon Hill came back and won it. The next season maybe.
• 32:10
  Speaker A: I'm thinking about a different one. There was one season where they sort of like just.
• 32:13
  Speaker B: I thought that was McLaren got all their points taken away.
• 32:17
  Speaker A: We need Nick here. Nick is our historian. Well, yeah, he'll.
• 32:20
  Speaker B: It definitely did happen to McLaren. I can't remember why. It was the year that Lewis and Fernando were both at McLaren and they were battling it out and then they did something wrong and for whatever reason all the constructors points got taken away.
• 32:36
  Speaker A: Right.
• 32:37
  Speaker B: I don't remember why.
• 32:40
  Speaker A: Yeah. 1997 Formula One season. Michael Schumacher's championship hopes were dashed after a controversial collision with Jack Villeneuve in the final race. The FIA disqualified him from the champion. Jack Villeneuve. Sorry.
• 32:52
  Speaker B: Oh, sorry.
• 32:53
  Speaker A: Yeah. The FIA disqualified him from championship standings due to safety measure introduced after the Imola tragedy. Yeah, so he was. He was disqualified from the entire Championship in 97 after crashing into Villeneuve on purpose in the last race.
• 33:10
  Speaker B: Was he at Ferrari at that point? No, he was at Benetton, right?
• 33:14
  Speaker A: No, he was in Ferrari and Vilna was in Williams. I think he made a mistake and went off the track and then he came back on and hit Villeneuve kind of on purpose because he knew he was going to lose the race. And.
• 33:26
  Speaker B: Yeah, fun stuff.
• 33:30
  Speaker A: And they ended up both crashing out. Yeah, drivers, like I said, they like talking about Max on the first corner. It's. It's so much instinct. I don't want to get too deep into like who was thinking what at what time in that short period of time. But they, they.
• 33:46
  Speaker B: Well, I'm sure Max was thinking in the time.
• 33:50
  Speaker A: Me, me, me.
• 33:51
  Speaker B: I'm. I was in the lead. So I'm sure he wasn't thinking, oh, those guys behind me are getting screwed. Of course not. He was just thinking, I'm in the lead, I'm staying in the lead. They can penalize me, I'm keep lead and they can suck it. That's what he was thinking.
• 34:06
  Speaker A: I think you are not far away in Dutch maybe, right?
• 34:12
  Speaker B: Yeah. Although his English is very good, so you never know. He has to give up the corner. I had the nose ahead.
• 34:22
  Speaker A: What is wrong with these people?
• 34:26
  Speaker B: Thanks for listening to the Undercuts review of the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Please rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join us when we review the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. We'll see you there.