Latest / The Undercut / Oscar Wins Again in Dominant Fashion but Do Max's Actions Cloud the Weekend? - 2025 Spanish Grand Prix Review

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Oscar Wins Again in Dominant Fashion but Do Max's Actions Cloud the Weekend? - 2025 Spanish Grand Prix Review · The Undercut

• 0:09
  Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the undercuts review of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. Please rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and enjoy the show. By being a racing driver, you are under risk all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exist, you're no longer a racing driver. All right, well, the last leg of the triple header, right, it was three in a row. The 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, obviously. McLaren one two. That's all to talk about, right guys?
• 0:52
  Speaker B: Pretty straightforward really.
• 0:53
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 0:55
  Speaker C: Qualify on, qualify on, pole, win, race, job done. Right.
• 1:01
  Speaker A: That was at least how it went for Oscar, but there was some action behind him. We just didn't see much of him during the race at all.
• 1:10
  Speaker C: That's true, that's true. They really didn't show him at all. He was never really under any pressure, was he?
• 1:17
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean he was running a different strategy obviously, the coming into it. Even though these are like the hardest tires in the compound, they went for like the C1, 2, 3, which I mean the C3 is a step harder than the hard in Monaco last week.
• 1:37
  Speaker C: Right, right.
• 1:38
  Speaker B: And so the talk was all about going to be high temperatures, abrasive circuit. It's going to not just be a one stop borefest, it's going to be multiple stops. Most people opting for two, but we can come to that.
• 1:56
  Speaker C: I mean, but Piastri drove, you know, a perfect race. I mean he was, he got the start was. He wasn't even under pressure. Right. It was the Ferraris that probably got the best start. Right. Nearly pushing out Russell and then with. Oh, I'm trying to remember, I'm trying forgotten.
• 2:22
  Speaker B: I mean restart that whole bit because.
• 2:28
  Speaker C: It was Verstappen overtook Norris. Right. To take second.
• 2:34
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 2:34
  Speaker C: And Russell lost out to Hamilton.
• 2:37
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 2:38
  Speaker B: And then there was Touchy. Yeah. And then there was some wheels touching. A couple of. I think Antonelli was down the escape road.
• 2:45
  Speaker C: Oh, that's right. He went down the escape road.
• 2:47
  Speaker B: Alex Albon, I think. Well, certainly was one of the Williams. I think it was. Alex Albon went down the. Down the side road after contact with Nico Hulkenberg who got moved over on. I forget who moved over on him, but it was a jinx to the left and some damage. Front wing loss for Alex and he had to go into the pits for, for a new front wing only to then have Liam Lawson take his new front wing off and they had to retire the car because I guess they didn't have any extra wings. So that was that.
• 3:19
  Speaker C: Then it was a week. It certainly was a weekend to forget for Albon, wasn't it?
• 3:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, it was, yeah. It was not great. I mean, actually, I think it was Liam Lawson that moved over on Hulkenberg, who then moved over on, I think onto Alex Nick, Liam Norsen. How many people did he hit this weekend? I mean, he's not the person we're talking about like bashing wheels with, but he just had a very bit Messy. Messy, yeah, Messy weekend.
• 3:48
  Speaker C: Yeah, but. Yeah, but Verstappen on the. On the start continued his streak of like just being. Having great starts and being aggressive. He's gaining. I mean, he. I guess he's used to being on pole historically, but now he's not. He's showing us that from the starts he can. He makes these overtakes. Right. So he took. Took Lando and held that spot for a while whilst Piastri drove off into the distance. And then. Yeah, with the Ferraris slotting in around George Russell. George Russell had a bit of a shocker, but Hulkenberg on the early laps as well, was passing people like crazy. Right. He started in 15th by five spots.
• 4:26
  Speaker A: On the first lap.
• 4:27
  Speaker C: Unbelievable. What, what, what was going on there? What did Sauber bring some significant upgrades?
• 4:33
  Speaker B: Did they did have a new floor. Yeah. Which meant that it could run in traffic a lot better. So, I mean, I guess before that they couldn't get close to the car in front to even move up the field, but now that they can get nearer to the car in front it, they've got something that works. So, yeah, Portoletto in 12th. Yeah, this. I mean, one thing I would say about Nico, Hulkenberg, his strategy really, they got it all absolutely perfect on his strategy. They were hedging their strategies a little bit because they didn't want all legs in the same strategy basket. And that's why Gabriel Bortoletto, despite running a very good race as well, himself finished outside the points in 12th. Think Hulkenberg stayed out. Did Hulkenberg stay out?
• 5:21
  Speaker C: He came in for a very early stop. He. On the first stint, only nine laps, I think, on the soft tires, but then he went long. He didn't make a second stop on the mediums until lap 45.
• 5:36
  Speaker B: Right.
• 5:37
  Speaker C: He went long in the middle and.
• 5:39
  Speaker B: This is where he was fortunate. I say fortunate, but where did he. He qualified 15th. Right. So he didn't get through to Q3, so he had an extra set of soft tyres over the guys further up front, so he had a bit more available to him in that, you know, post safety car period, that meant that he had really, you know, solid tyres available to him.
• 6:02
  Speaker C: I mean, and leclerc made that decision as well in qualification. Like he didn't go out for another run in Q3 to save another set of tires, already ran out basically of softer tires because nobody was putting the hard tires on their car at all in the weekend. Not when it mattered. No, Sean didn't think it help it.
• 6:21
  Speaker B: Except when it did and it was the wrong choice.
• 6:26
  Speaker C: Yes, for sure, for sure. But, yeah, like Hulkenberg. Yeah. He knew every time he put. He ended up with three pit stops, put on new tires every time. 3. Three sets of new software and a set of new mediums, which is. Yeah, that certainly didn't hurt him.
• 6:42
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I think at the restart he was ninth, I think behind. And then he got past Gasly, Hajar and Hamilton and then with Verstappen's penalty, that made him fifth, which is.
• 6:58
  Speaker C: Yeah, he finished sixth and inherited fifth.
• 7:01
  Speaker B: It's a great result for Sauber. I mean, where does that put them? That's probably had them vault up ahead of Alpine.
• 7:08
  Speaker C: Oh, in the standings.
• 7:09
  Speaker B: In the standings, Right.
• 7:10
  Speaker A: Yeah, probably, yeah.
• 7:11
  Speaker C: It wasn't fun seeing Sauber pass Hamilton on the last couple of laps. That was not.
• 7:18
  Speaker B: I think that definitely contributed to Lewis's mood in the media pen afterwards. Did you see any of his interviews? He looked like he'd lost ten bob and found two, as my friends in the north of England would say.
• 7:36
  Speaker C: Sauber have the same points now as Aston Mart 16. Alpino bottom on 11, Haas ahead of them on. On 26. So, yeah, but I mean, massive, massive turnaround for them. This race may, may, maybe it'll continue.
• 7:52
  Speaker B: Yeah, and, and you know, that takes them even on points with, like you said, with Aston Martin. And Fernando Alonso will be a happy man when he goes to Montreal and doesn't have to answer any more questions about when he's going to score some points because he now has some. He has two for finishing ninth, 10th on the road with. Moving up the one spot, obviously, again with. With Max's penalty, the only Aston Martin in the race.
• 8:22
  Speaker C: Yes. What does this mean? What does the future hold for our favorite billionaire's son? He's out of here.
• 8:30
  Speaker B: I mean, he, at the end of qualifying seemingly got quite animated in the garage, smashed some stuff and barged out the back. Now that's disqualification from the race. So I think they just withdrew him from the race so that they didn't have to. He wasn't going to get disqualified because you have to report for weigh in straight after any. Any session. He didn't get weighed in. So that's instant disqualification because it goes back to the days many years ago when drivers had come in from the race, they'd been running an underweight car, and they go hug their mechanics, and the mechanics would have lead weights and they'd put them in their pockets to give them a bit more weight when they got on the scales. So, yeah, you have to weigh in. And he didn't. He barged off. He said he was going to get some medical attention, but they basically just pulled him from the race because he was going to get disqualified anyway. What it means for Montreal, because apparently he's going to have some procedure on his wrist or wrists from, you know, obviously that injury that he. He picked up a couple of years ago on the eve of the. Was that the 23 season when Aston Martin had a great car and he was really in a hurry to get in that car. He's in kind of a hurry to get out of this one. So maybe he's having some surgery. But that means that if he's not going to be in for his home race in Montreal, who's going to be?
• 9:59
  Speaker A: It's got to be Felipe, right?
• 10:02
  Speaker B: He's doing well. I mean, yes, probably he's supposed to be driving the Cadillac in Le Mans because Le Mans is the same weekend as the Canadian Grand Prix. Both of their reserve drivers are actually racing in Le Mans or scheduled to race in Le Mans, so they'd have to pull one of them. If I was Felipe Drugovic, be like, yeah, there's. There's always next year Le Mans with. I don't know how many drivers even compete in Le Mans, like 900 a lot. Right? So it's like there's only 20 on the grid in F1. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm off to Montreal. I mean, there's still a chance that Lance could be in the car, but it doesn't really look likely. I don't think. I don't think he's going to hurry to get back, even though it is his home race.
• 10:47
  Speaker C: What do you think, Jason? Do you think it. It's. It's bigger than that. Do you think that maybe Lance is done? Is that possible?
• 10:54
  Speaker B: That's.
• 10:55
  Speaker A: It seems unlikely. It seems unlikely.
• 10:58
  Speaker B: He had all of the team's points up until that loser Alonso showed up this weekend. And even then, with Max didn't have a. A penalty, Lance would clearly would have finished ahead of him on the Road and he'd have finished 11th with no points again. So.
• 11:15
  Speaker A: Yeah, as much as we hope that there could be a real racing driver in that seat, it seems unlikely. While his dad still owns the team that he is.
• 11:28
  Speaker C: It would be unlikely, I agree. Yeah.
• 11:30
  Speaker B: Especially when the car is like this. Now, if the car was amazing and he was underperforming and they weren't getting points because of that, then, you know, maybe he'd have a heart to heart with his son if he's keen on getting a constructors title. But with the car in this state, it's not. We'll see how he goes next year and then what the, what the assets are going to be like under the, under the stewardship of Adrian Newey next year.
• 11:56
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, we've talked around the penalty, so should, should we get to it?
• 12:04
  Speaker C: I mean, what I overall, what, what a drive by the driver of the day as voted by the fans, Max Verstappen. Right. Just got the most out of his car, did an extra stop above everybody else, you know.
• 12:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, he had to. I don't think that was planned. The three stop was not as quick as the two, but he made, he was never going to do anything other than finish third if he did the same thing as the McLaren. So, you know, gutsy call from the pit wall. It was not that much slower, but it, you know, he could push a little harder to make up the 20 seconds.
• 12:40
  Speaker C: I think he was driving the wheels off it.
• 12:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. They, whether they brought him in, I guess they got some good clean air, they could get it out. And when he did need to make passes, he obviously had the tire offset to do it, so it didn't hold him up too much and it put him in, in good shape to be sitting third on what, lap 50, 55. 5, 56, 54.
• 13:05
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 13:07
  Speaker B: Went off.
• 13:08
  Speaker C: Yeah. Well, Kimmy's. His car let go. It wasn't a mistake by Kim. I think his engine blew up.
• 13:13
  Speaker B: He just, he went to turn in and his car just went.
• 13:16
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, just gave up. And then have you seen, have you seen the in car video from Verstappen? The conversation that he had with the pit wall? Have you seen that?
• 13:25
  Speaker B: Not heard that? No. No.
• 13:27
  Speaker C: So basically he said Verstappen said fresh, new, fresh tires would help. He had, you know, he'd only just come in on lap 47, put on soft, used soft tires. So he had done what, like eight laps on those, plus however many laps they'd done in qualifying or practice beforehand. I'm not, I'm not sure, but obviously he planned to go to the end on those tires if there wasn't a safety car. But he said, you know, new tires would help. And they said, they said, okay, box it, Max. And then they threw.
• 14:02
  Speaker B: We've got no tires. We've only got hogs.
• 14:05
  Speaker C: At no point. At no point did they mention the compound of the tire that they'd be putting on. And then once he. Obviously, Max saw the hard tires, goes on and pulls out, he's like, what the hell's this? And the guy, very matter of factly.
• 14:19
  Speaker B: That'S all we got.
• 14:19
  Speaker C: Max. Yeah.
• 14:21
  Speaker B: Yeah. Which was. I mean, I mean, they should have kept him out.
• 14:26
  Speaker C: Yeah, 100%.
• 14:27
  Speaker B: I mean, he would have come for people behind him. People behind him. I mean, he. Yeah, he was leading the race at that point.
• 14:34
  Speaker C: He would have been.
• 14:34
  Speaker B: People behind him would have been on new or newer.
• 14:39
  Speaker C: All. All used, apart from Hulk. All used soft, except for Hulkenberg.
• 14:44
  Speaker B: Yeah. Then they'd maybe put a couple of. Couple of laps on and yeah, he'd have. Obviously those fresh tires would have given. Fresher tires would have given the. An advantage. Right.
• 14:58
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker B: But, you know, Oscar gets by. Lando gets by.
• 15:06
  Speaker C: Yeah, it does.
• 15:07
  Speaker B: Like Charles probably wouldn't. Maybe. I don't know. But by the time he'd have been competitive enough straight off the line to be able to hold on and to a point at which the. The tyre offset might not have been there anymore, but he. Yeah, third, probably. Maybe fourth.
• 15:25
  Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, what, what a piece of driving by him. As the race restarted. Right. With those billiard ball tires on. I don't know what you call it, a tank slapper or whatever.
• 15:36
  Speaker B: Tank slapper? Yeah. Do you know that term, Jason? It's a. It's a motorbike term when the bike gets away and you're like.
• 15:43
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 15:44
  Speaker B: And it's. But how much of that was down to Oscar Piastri? Right. They were behind the safety car. As soon as the safety car lights went out and they went into the safety car line or whatever that line is, Oscar just basically stopped to the point at which there was almost a pile up behind him. And he went very, very slowly round the next two, three turns to the point at which he went. And how much of that was him thinking? I know that Max Verstappen is on hard tyres. They struggle to get up to temperature. Let's get them a little cooler between now and the start and give Sunny Lando a. A bit of breathing space. But then also maybe kind of put him into harm's way with those cars behind. And, you know, Charles. Well, I mean, like you said, the reflexes to save that slide were just nuts.
• 16:49
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 16:50
  Speaker B: And. But it. You know, Charlotte was very quickly on him.
• 16:55
  Speaker A: Yeah, he was.
• 16:55
  Speaker B: And then that's not why he got the penalty, was it?
• 16:58
  Speaker A: No. I mean, Max took all of the praise that he gets for that one moment and then throws it all in the toilet by crashing into George on purpose. I mean, do you think that his team should have told him to give that place back? Not that it excuses what he did. No, but should they have done that?
• 17:20
  Speaker C: He should never have said that.
• 17:21
  Speaker B: Yeah. I think that it was just. The pit wall at Red Bull are usually totally bulletproof. Max called for new tires. They go, let's put some new tires on him. And they put on hards, and they realized that they just made a massive error. They were a little bit discombobulated. Now, just to kind of talk our listener through what happened, Obviously, Charles got by as he got by. He's holding his line. He doesn't want to move to the marbles. He's trying to squeeze Max a little bit to try and get the slipstream from Lando in front. Max is trying to get him to get over on the marble. So he has to break earlier into turn one. And they come together, brushing wheels, just racing. You know, robbing is racing. Right. That's the saying. And then braking on cold, hard tires. He braked obviously earlier than George on his softs. George made the move up the inside, had the corner, but he just got a snap of oversteer and just gave Max a little tap, and Max had to go for the runoff. That was a legit. You know, he didn't gain the advantage because I guess George had lost the right to the advantage because he lost control of his car in the move. So it was the wrong decision to tell Max to give the penalty, give the spot back. In fact, straight after the contact, Max said, george just gave me a shove. He should get a penalty.
• 19:00
  Speaker C: Right.
• 19:01
  Speaker B: The Red Bull. The Red Bull pit wall got it wrong. The stewards actually came out as part of their later rational rationalizations or whatever on their judgments, saying that they wouldn't have taken any action on that because they viewed it as George. While he'd fulfilled category one or category two of the driving code, he got some oversteer, and so it was not his corner anymore. Massive. I mean, massive mess up by Red Bull. But that. That then, you know, having to give up the. Give up the spot. Max got fired up.
• 19:39
  Speaker C: Yeah. I Mean, I saw that. I looked at the. You can see the telemetry. There's a few graphs that show what Max was doing with the brake and the accelerator and stuff. And it's just clear as day that he, you know.
• 19:53
  Speaker B: But how much. How much was it intentional? How much or how much was it like he's there and a car goes around the outside of it and he knows he's just pulled over, but a car goes around and he's just. His instincts just kick in and he just. It's like. It's like when you kind of hit yourself in the knee and your foot shoot yourself, you know?
• 20:09
  Speaker C: Well, it was absolutely intentional that he was letting George by. He definitely was going slower on that corner than he was on any previous lap.
• 20:17
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:18
  Speaker C: And then it was. Yeah. And then maybe he just couldn't help himself. Sometimes you make a mistake and you.
• 20:23
  Speaker B: Watch from George's in car view and you see him pull to the side and you go shooting by. As far as George probably knew, he's like a couple of car lengths back.
• 20:34
  Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:35
  Speaker B: Because just the rate at which he went by him, you don't expect him to suddenly be there as you're turning in for the corner. Like Mario Kart, as Lando described it.
• 20:44
  Speaker C: That was awesome. I've done that move fast. Becoming the best part of the race weekend at some weeks is seeing the guys having a chat in the cool down room as they watch the highlights. You just can't wait for them to see what happens.
• 20:58
  Speaker B: And those three in particular, they have good banter. It's been them on a few grids. Sorry, a few podiums this year and it's always good value.
• 21:08
  Speaker C: I think Verstappen has come out since then saying things happen that shouldn't have happened. We move on to Montreal. That's about as close as you'll get to an admission of guilt or an apology. I think absolutely. From him.
• 21:22
  Speaker A: I think you should be banned from the next race.
• 21:25
  Speaker B: Jason.
• 21:27
  Speaker C: Jason is like, ban everybody. Not in a McLaren.
• 21:32
  Speaker B: He is on 11 penalty points.
• 21:34
  Speaker A: He's not that far off.
• 21:36
  Speaker B: He's one point away from having a one race band. He has two races before two of those points come off.
• 21:45
  Speaker C: Right.
• 21:46
  Speaker B: So a similar incident, incurring another three points, even if it's three races from now, could still bump him out. But if he does any minor trans. Any kind of transgression in the next couple of races, he could see him with a. With a ban.
• 22:00
  Speaker C: What gets you a point?
• 22:04
  Speaker B: Bad truck.
• 22:05
  Speaker C: Any kind of. Any kind of.
• 22:06
  Speaker B: I Don't think there's a, amongst all of the words and all of the things that like are defined. I don't know to what extent there is like a table for the points. Maybe that's our homework for our next.
• 22:20
  Speaker C: If you're getting like a fight, if you're getting like a five second penalty here or something, I know Lawson has the second most number of points at the moment.
• 22:27
  Speaker B: Yeah, he probably picked up a couple yesterday as well, but it's still way.
• 22:31
  Speaker C: Behind the, the 12. He's like on six or something.
• 22:33
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 22:35
  Speaker A: He'S not even a full like calendar's worth of races into his career yet, so I would hope that he's not catching up.
• 22:44
  Speaker C: That's true. Yeah. Probably on a, on a per race basis. Yeah, Lawson's probably picking them up faster. But yeah, I mean Verstappen, he's definitely like, this is an interesting side to him. You know, we're used to him, him being in the last couple of years, you know, way out the front, not really battling like this. So this sort of stuff's coming through. But we've seen it. It's not unique to Max. I mean, you think back to Schumacher crashing into, was it Hill or Villeneuve or both? Both on purpose. Back in the day when they saw victory slipping away for whatever reason, what did Michael get?
• 23:18
  Speaker A: He got penalized for one of those, right?
• 23:21
  Speaker C: Yeah, he got disqualified from the entire championship.
• 23:24
  Speaker A: Well, there we go. This is what I'm talking about here.
• 23:28
  Speaker C: There is precedent.
• 23:30
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 23:32
  Speaker C: But yeah, that was a little different. That was one of like the last race of the season and his, his car was disabled and he went in. I, I, I don't disagree with Verstappen's driver of the day award, especially because it's all voted on. Mostly before that, all the excitement of the last few laps, I thought he did a great job, but yeah, that's kind of inexcusable but also not unsurprising. Yeah, his reaction at the end.
• 24:00
  Speaker A: Yeah, I was just gonna say, I mean the TV commentators were going in on Max. I mean they were really talking about how like he is just like an embarrassment to like all kid fans everywhere. And it's just like pump the brakes a little bit, guys.
• 24:16
  Speaker C: Like, oh, what the think of the children excuse.
• 24:20
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:21
  Speaker A: It's like, come on, come on. These guys are like race car Dr. They're gonna go for it. Like, stop, stop blaming like hurting kids ears. Like kids are gonna want to watch it more. The more that they tell, they're like, oh yeah, Kids don't want to see. That's like, yeah, the kids want to see the guys doing this. Of course they do.
• 24:40
  Speaker C: It's. I thought they had. Because it was Nico Rosberg, right. That was the, the color commentator. I thought he did a pretty good job, you know, giving some real insight into like what the, the drivers were doing and the moves they were trying to make. And I think he said, I think Crofty said something like, let's see that again. You know, see what really happened. He's like, I don't need to see it again.
• 25:05
  Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's. That's right. I mean his, his view is the same as mine. It should have been a black flag. Right. It would have cost him one more point. But to what I was saying, like before my connection dropped, right. With Schumacher against Hill and Villeneuve, he crashed into them with the intention of taking them out the race. Right. Which is different to what actually happened with Verstappen, which he was not trying to take George out of the race. Right. I think it's much more like when Sebastian Vettel in Baku in 2018 went up and, you know, gave a bit of a hip check to, to Lewis. He got a 10 second stop go for that. Right. That wasn't under race conditions, although it was under safety car. So I don't know which is worse, but at a minimum, a 10 second stop and go penalty should have been called. I'd have said black flag, but I'd have been okay with a 10 second stop go. The net result would have been the same. It would have been that Max scored no points. The fact that it was just 10 seconds, which puts it on a par with something unintentional to me, it doesn't say that it was enough. He still gets at one point at least. And I don't know. That's all I have to say about that.
• 26:21
  Speaker C: Liam Lawson agrees with you because he would.
• 26:23
  Speaker B: Liam does. Yeah.
• 26:27
  Speaker A: Is what George did at Monaco worse than what Max did here?
• 26:32
  Speaker C: What George, when he intentionally cut the corner.
• 26:35
  Speaker B: Well, he didn't intentionally cut the corner. He intentionally didn't give the place back and he got the drive through, which is a, like a 20 second penalty, right?
• 26:42
  Speaker C: Yeah, that's true. That's even.
• 26:44
  Speaker B: I would say that Max was worse. Right. I mean, yeah, I get why they gave. Yeah. So maybe it should have been a drive through. I don't know. But either way, 10 seconds for something that's kind of intentional, like that doesn't feel right.
• 27:00
  Speaker C: I mean, yeah, it can. It could go horribly wrong. Right. Those tires, if they come together in the right way, if you bang tires together, then you sort of bounce off a little bit. But if those tires.
• 27:09
  Speaker B: Like Hulkenberg in Abu Dhabi. Was it Hulkenberg in Abu Dhabi?
• 27:13
  Speaker C: Cars can flip.
• 27:14
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 27:14
  Speaker C: You know, very easily if those tires touch. So, yeah, not smart. Not smart from Max, but it's almost certainly done now. We're now 48 hours since the incident. So. Yeah, they're not going to do anything. Anything more now and we'll. We'll see what happens in Canada.
• 27:35
  Speaker A: Well, I mean, the. For the people that we have, we've spoken about Nico. I mean, obviously he ended up finishing like we said, and P5 after the max penalty, so great day from him. The other guys we didn't really talk about, I guess, are Hajar and Pierre, who both. I mean, Hajar has been consistently getting points and another great weekend from him. And Pierre finally getting some more points on the board. It had been a little bit. Right.
• 28:00
  Speaker B: Or put him in the Red Bull. Go on.
• 28:07
  Speaker A: Do you think he would go back? You're talking about Hajar or Pierre?
• 28:10
  Speaker B: I'm talking about Hajar.
• 28:14
  Speaker A: I mean, who knows?
• 28:15
  Speaker C: Nobody wants that seat. Right. Tsunoda's just. What's. He's not. He's a non factor right now.
• 28:21
  Speaker B: He finished 13th, which is not exactly last, but pretty much last, Right? Yeah, qualified last. Started from the pit lane. To be fair, he did have a different flaw on the car because of the accident that he had, I think in Imola. I still think he's on the old spec floor. So he doesn't have a new spec floor, which, you know, puts him on the back foot a little bit. And with the grid being so tight this year, you know, qualifying, you know, a tenth of a second and you're, you know, you're five or six places further down. And if, if that's the difference between Q1, Q2 or Q2, Q3, you know. Poor Yuki.
• 29:05
  Speaker C: Yeah, it's tough for him. But surely, surely it would have been Hulkenberger's driver of the day though, right? If. If they'd had the voting, it should have been with. With Max's penalty taken into account, not Oscar.
• 29:24
  Speaker A: I mean, it's horrible.
• 29:26
  Speaker C: Oscar's just doing what he's supposed to do, you know.
• 29:28
  Speaker B: That's right. I mean, I would vote for Nico Hockenberg. In fact, you know, there was a. There was a thing on. I was on Twitter and it was like, well, if Carl gets a penalty for barging Verstappen and George gets a penalty for bumping Verstappen off the plat off the track. Then Nico Hulkenberg's finally got a podium.
• 29:49
  Speaker C: I mean he's within touching distance maybe, but yeah, he's. He still holds the record, right, for the most Grand Prix without a podium.
• 29:58
  Speaker B: Yeah. 3.2 seconds away from the podium. That's probably about as close as he's ever been.
• 30:04
  Speaker C: Wow. Yeah, wow. But yeah, I mean Piastri is just. Just doing what he needs to do. He's. He's the best driver at McLaren right now, right, Jason, he's better than. Than Lando.
• 30:17
  Speaker A: I don't think it's all that close right now.
• 30:19
  Speaker C: Yeah, Lando just can't.
• 30:21
  Speaker B: Lando just over. He overdrove he was, but he always does that. Yeah, he tries too hard. Like if I did see. I don't know. Did you see the ghost car lab? So it's. It's in car with Lando with a ghost car of Oscar. Right. And every time they went to a corner, Lando braked just that little bit later, but sacrificed the exit.
• 30:49
  Speaker C: Right.
• 30:50
  Speaker B: So it just needs to calm down.
• 30:53
  Speaker C: So, yeah. So you're saying that Piastri took more speed out the corner, which put him ahead on the lap overall. Slightly slower entry speed, but faster exit.
• 31:05
  Speaker B: Able to get on the power earlier and get the drive out of the corner on an optimal line.
• 31:10
  Speaker A: Well, I mean it was what it was the largest pole gap to P2 on the season, right?
• 31:17
  Speaker B: Oh, still. Yeah, but only a quarter of a second. I mean it's been the qualifying this year has been the closest it's ever been. The next closest was. So it's up until now it was 0.107 or something compared to 0.17 last year as an average.
• 31:36
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 31:37
  Speaker C: Right.
• 31:39
  Speaker B: Very close.
• 31:40
  Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I mean obviously is max out of the championship fight now. I mean It's a little 49 points down now.
• 31:51
  Speaker C: So.
• 31:51
  Speaker B: Yeah, you know, obviously the other big talking point going into the weekend that wasn't ever really going to be a talking point after the weekend was this technical directive and the flexi wings on the front, which I bored you guys to tears with last week. So I won't repeat myself. And that obviously had the anticipated impact of having no impact whatsoever really in that everyone saw it coming. And so with three months notice, everyone just kind of. They are where they are. I mean it the. I don't know quite what to read in to the Williams lack of performance. I mean, we haven't talked about Carlos either, but he had a miserable race finishing down in 14th as well. Botched pit stop and all sorts of stuff going on there. But is that a result of that or is that just inherently their car doesn't hold the grip, doesn't hold the aero around long corners. They prefer tighter corners like in Montreal. So if the Williams do well in Montreal, then that will back up my theory. But, yeah, there are a lot faster, longer corners here. Maybe that's a thing. But to everyone else it didn't make the slight bit of difference.
• 33:07
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 33:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, we've. We've pretty much talked about it. All right, let me try and see. So, yeah, I guess the other we talked to you said Williams was a disappointment. I guess Haas, from the. What they've been showing recently, had a very disappointing weekend as well. But could be the same thing as Williams, I guess.
• 33:30
  Speaker B: Yeah. Or it could be the technical directive.
• 33:32
  Speaker C: Who knows?
• 33:34
  Speaker B: The one person that finished nearly as badly as the Haas and worse than both Yuki and Carlos was Franco Colapinto. He's not really set the world alight these last couple of races, has he? Was he in for the. Was he in for Imola as well? Is it three he's done now or was. Do they switch him after Imola?
• 33:57
  Speaker A: I can't.
• 33:58
  Speaker B: Trying to. He's not been. He's not been in any of the races. He's been there, but I don't really recall him doing anything in any of the races.
• 34:07
  Speaker A: Was he in Monaco? He was.
• 34:09
  Speaker B: He was in Monaco, yeah. I just can't recall if he was in Imola or not.
• 34:12
  Speaker C: Yeah, I think it was awesome they switched it, wasn't it? I mean, this, this, this conversation shows the, the impact he's had.
• 34:20
  Speaker B: Exactly my point. Exactly. Yeah, he's not really looking any better. In fact, it's probably looking worse than Doohan. Obviously Doohan had more time in the car before, so expecting Franco to come in, like, dry and do better was probably unrealistic. But when you look at Pierre finishing in 8th and he's down in 15th, he's got to do better. Otherwise he'll probably find himself only having a few races to. To get stuff, you know, to get some. Well, to secure his seat for the rest of the season. They. They said they were giving him five races. So if that's three, what's the next one? Canada and then, well, Austria, I think they usually go Austria and then. And then to the uk, to Silverstone. So, you know, is he still going to be in the car in Silverstone? Where do they go next? Do they go Paul Aaron? That's Their. That's. They have a very long list of test and reserve drivers. So, yeah, you know, I think they'll.
• 35:33
  Speaker A: Stay with them for the season regardless.
• 35:36
  Speaker B: For the money.
• 35:37
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 35:38
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 35:38
  Speaker A: And it seems that he's a guy that Flavio likes regardless, so who knows?
• 35:45
  Speaker B: Flavo likes the money.
• 35:47
  Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I think that is really it from this race other than Coupes F1.
• 35:58
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Quick Coupes F1 review. So I did put the result in initially with Verstappen not having his penalty when. When the race was initially over and we got some very high scores comparable to what people had for Miami, which was some super high scores. So things were moving around a lot. But then once, obviously everybody had Verstappen high in their list. Once he dropped all the way down to 10th, a lot of points disappeared off the board. But big winners. Beaver terro with 285 points this week and milabe. Or milabe with 280 points and trout with 278.
• 36:40
  Speaker B: That puts Milab or Milabi very close to me.
• 36:44
  Speaker C: That's right.
• 36:45
  Speaker B: Just two points behind.
• 36:46
  Speaker C: Just two points behind in third. But yeah, as you were at the top between you two, Jason on 1785 and Nick on 1746. Still makes me uncomfortable that you two are leading the whole thing. But I can't change that. I can't keep apologizing. There is no collusion, honestly.
• 37:05
  Speaker A: Just a wealth of knowledge stuff.
• 37:07
  Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
• 37:08
  Speaker C: Just the cream rises to the top, doesn't it? I didn't have a particularly good race. I dropped down back out of the top 100. I think I'm 107th now. But, you know, all to play for.
• 37:22
  Speaker B: Maybe Ferraris will do it.
• 37:24
  Speaker C: I gotta stop predicting the Ferrari so high.
• 37:28
  Speaker B: I don't know. Charles in third. That must have got you some points. Charles in third.
• 37:32
  Speaker C: Yeah, I know. It worked out okay. But knowing.
• 37:36
  Speaker B: Knowing the. The irony of. Of. Of fantasy sports. You'll start getting a downer on Ferrari just as they deliver some massive upgrades and you put them down in 9th and 10th and they get a 1, 2.
• 37:49
  Speaker C: Exactly. Something like that. I was high on the. High on the Williams this. This week, and that. That got me nothing. Right. So. Yeah, anywho. But we go again in two weeks. Canada. A race that you and I have been to a few times, Nick. A lot of fun for those people that are there.
• 38:06
  Speaker B: The first time we went together was Robert Kubitz's massive shunt.
• 38:11
  Speaker C: Oof. What was that? 2006. Something like that. 2007.
• 38:16
  Speaker B: Seven. I think.
• 38:18
  Speaker C: 2007 that was crazy. And Lewis's first win.
• 38:22
  Speaker B: That was Lewis's first win, that same race. And then Kubitz came back the next year and won the race and won.
• 38:26
  Speaker C: Yeah. So there you go. Redemption arc complete. But, yeah, a lot of fun if you get. If you. If you're going to Canada, enjoy. It's a great city, great race. Well worth it.
• 38:45
  Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Undercuts review of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. Please rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen, and join us next time for our review of the 20255 Canadian Grand Prix. We'll see you there.