2024 Las Vegas GP

And finally, we got M4X! Max has done it! Won his 4th World Drivers Championship and boy we had an amazing race to enjoy along.

In this episode we discuss:

Drunk Max is the best max!
Norris seems relieved 😮‍💨
Max Choke holding Zak Brown 😵
WFH Triathlon
Russell needs his testosterone levels adjusted.
Charles be bitchin’ 😭
Alpine engine be overperforming 💥
Another American Team? 🦅🦅🦅
Alpine forgot they had another driver
Terry much awkward

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Music

Intro: Howling (Sting) - Gunnar Olsen

Outro: Your Intro by Audionautix

[00:00:00] Did they just pack up after Gasly came in and the whole Alpine crew was like, peace out buddy, I'm gone.

[00:00:07] Oh shit, we have another driver.

[00:00:09] Because they called Okon in and then Okon's driving pass through.

[00:00:14] It was as if he got a penalty driving through the pit lane.

[00:00:17] Like wait, nobody's here, what the hell.

[00:00:20] And why did he pass through? Why didn't he go into the pit box? It's so weird.

[00:00:25] Like did he think that his tyres got magically changed or something?

[00:00:28] Like need for speed, right? Like you drive through a gas station and your car repairs itself.

[00:00:33] I don't know how many people you have played.

[00:00:35] Exactly.

[00:00:43] Hello, hello and welcome back to F1 Fanfiction, a show about the race weekend.

[00:00:49] This one, Vegas, drastically different from what Vegas was last year.

[00:00:55] But the celebrations were twice as much.

[00:00:59] Because it felt like a high school football game where everybody was a winner.

[00:01:05] Because there was so much celebrating that was happening.

[00:01:10] A new podium.

[00:01:11] Russell finally getting his win that got red flagged last weekend.

[00:01:18] But let's just dive into the usual weekend that we consider as usual.

[00:01:24] With your hosts.

[00:01:25] I am Akash.

[00:01:26] And I'm Saran.

[00:01:27] The main story.

[00:01:29] Main story.

[00:01:31] M4X.

[00:01:31] The new way to write Max.

[00:01:35] Yeah, man.

[00:01:36] How the nights have changed is what a meme I saw on Reddit.

[00:01:41] We were young boys when we saw Vettel make the symbol with four in his hand.

[00:01:48] And now...

[00:01:49] Right?

[00:01:49] Yeah.

[00:01:50] Yeah.

[00:01:50] And you know what?

[00:01:52] Not that just that he did the same thing winning four titles in a row.

[00:01:58] He did it faster than him.

[00:01:59] One day faster than him.

[00:02:01] Oh, is it?

[00:02:02] Yeah.

[00:02:02] It's apparently a stat that Vettel completed in 1079 days.

[00:02:08] Okay.

[00:02:08] Like the total time to win four titles.

[00:02:12] And this guy did it in 1078.

[00:02:15] Boy took it personally.

[00:02:16] Of course, like scheduling more races and all that.

[00:02:19] Blah, blah, blah.

[00:02:20] But you know...

[00:02:20] Boy took it personally.

[00:02:21] He wanted to finish it early.

[00:02:23] But bloody Norris got in his way.

[00:02:25] Exactly.

[00:02:27] Man.

[00:02:28] But yeah, he did it again.

[00:02:30] Yet again.

[00:02:31] Four World Championships, man.

[00:02:33] Crazy.

[00:02:34] Crazy.

[00:02:35] I've heard or at least I've seen this.

[00:02:38] I don't know how true that is.

[00:02:40] Drivers who've gone on to win championships with Nui have never won after Nui's left.

[00:02:48] So maybe there's a curse of Nui somewhere floating around.

[00:02:52] Max now faces it starting next season.

[00:02:55] So let's see where this goes.

[00:02:57] But at least for now.

[00:02:59] Yeah.

[00:03:00] Yeah.

[00:03:01] I mean, there was this scare of how things are going to go.

[00:03:05] But it's more like a movie jump scare where you know the scare is going to come.

[00:03:10] But it's not a real threat sort of thing.

[00:03:11] And I mean, Max proves that.

[00:03:14] But the car never stood a chance against Ferrari's pace and how Morskis and Ferrari were driving.

[00:03:20] Because, yeah.

[00:03:23] I mean, on that super long straight, Max was just a sitting duck, you know, for that P3-P4 fight.

[00:03:31] So if he hadn't gotten the super strong edge in the first half, this whole season would have probably seen something like Vettel's first championship win going into Abu Dhabi with like, depending on who finishes where, there could be anyone.

[00:03:52] This could be anyone's championship.

[00:03:55] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:55] Totally.

[00:03:56] Yeah.

[00:03:57] I mean, if you replay the whole season in reverse, I think it would be a very different season to look at.

[00:04:02] Right?

[00:04:02] Yeah.

[00:04:02] That's a good way to put it.

[00:04:04] Yeah.

[00:04:05] Yeah.

[00:04:05] I mean, seriously, man, even in this race, honestly, Red Bull was nowhere clearly like in terms of pace.

[00:04:13] The straights were like just killing them completely.

[00:04:17] But still, I think at one point he was able to overtake Charles.

[00:04:21] Right?

[00:04:21] Yeah.

[00:04:22] He couldn't overtake Sainz.

[00:04:24] But then they pitted and, you know, of course, they were on slightly different strategies.

[00:04:28] Max had, what, three laps of delta, something like that.

[00:04:31] So, he could like overtake at that point.

[00:04:33] But yeah, of course, like he lost positions again after that.

[00:04:36] So, yeah.

[00:04:38] But still, man, like he was able to still finish in front of Norris.

[00:04:42] So, that's all he wanted.

[00:04:44] Yeah.

[00:04:45] So, not like he cared for the winner.

[00:04:48] And it feels weird, right?

[00:04:49] Like Norris feels relieved now rather than.

[00:04:53] Totally.

[00:04:53] He felt so much under stress fighting that championship compared to now.

[00:05:00] He felt he seemed more happy than Max.

[00:05:03] I'm not even kidding, dude.

[00:05:05] Seriously.

[00:05:06] Like he was so happy when he won.

[00:05:08] He's contrasting him.

[00:05:13] Yeah.

[00:05:13] It seemed like he was completely broken mentally somehow.

[00:05:17] Like, yeah.

[00:05:18] He was just relieved that it's over.

[00:05:19] And no, no.

[00:05:20] Like nobody's going to ask him questions anymore about race and the championship.

[00:05:26] I think the best part about like all the celebrations was for me was Alonso pulling Max's cheeks after him winning.

[00:05:36] Did you see that?

[00:05:38] Like a proud father.

[00:05:39] Yeah.

[00:05:40] I mean, it's culture for old folks to do that.

[00:05:43] At least Indian folks to do that.

[00:05:45] Or I mean, Spanish is very similar to Indian, right?

[00:05:47] So, he'd say, oh, man.

[00:05:51] 95%?

[00:05:53] 95%.

[00:05:55] 95%.

[00:05:56] Yeah.

[00:05:57] And I also heard like Lewis asking Max, are you going out tonight?

[00:06:03] It almost felt like Lewis wanted an invite which he wasn't getting, I guess.

[00:06:07] Yeah.

[00:06:07] And nobody's invite.

[00:06:09] Yeah.

[00:06:09] I think there's an age barrier.

[00:06:10] If you're above 30, nobody's getting an invite.

[00:06:13] Yeah.

[00:06:14] I see that.

[00:06:14] The Haas wasn't there as well.

[00:06:16] But I don't know how drunk was he at all of this point?

[00:06:19] Because I mean, I saw somewhere that he was progressively getting drunk with each of the

[00:06:23] viewers.

[00:06:24] So.

[00:06:25] He was carrying a gin and tonic in his hand.

[00:06:27] I think he also had a few beers.

[00:06:29] That's what there was in that Red Bull can.

[00:06:31] Exactly.

[00:06:34] Precisely.

[00:06:35] Oh, man.

[00:06:36] He was just like having a blast because that interview with Zach Brown, I don't know whether

[00:06:43] it was an interview or did he just crash into his interview?

[00:06:46] I don't know what was going on.

[00:06:47] But yeah, he like, you know, comes like catches Zach Brown.

[00:06:51] And you know, what did he say?

[00:06:52] Do you recall?

[00:06:53] No, no.

[00:06:54] Yeah.

[00:06:54] I think he says something like last you said that I can only win in the fastest car.

[00:06:58] But this time it's a little different.

[00:07:00] Right?

[00:07:01] Or something like that.

[00:07:02] Something around.

[00:07:03] It felt like a bit passive aggressive from Mags.

[00:07:06] It's like, look at the best.

[00:07:08] I can win.

[00:07:09] Yeah.

[00:07:10] Exactly.

[00:07:11] Dude, it totally was that according to me.

[00:07:13] Because not just that he said that.

[00:07:15] First of all, it was live on Sky at that time.

[00:07:18] And not just that he said that later in another interview with Vaya Play, I think, which is

[00:07:22] a Dutch channel.

[00:07:23] He boasted saying this live on Sky.

[00:07:26] So he totally knew what he's doing.

[00:07:28] Yeah.

[00:07:30] Getting him to a chock hold position.

[00:07:33] Sunbe.

[00:07:36] There's this image of Max sitting in the roles after the race, driving up to the interview

[00:07:47] with Terry Crew, which we'll come back to because that was also funny.

[00:07:50] And he's sitting alone in the car.

[00:07:52] And my brain's like, this is such an apt photo if you think about that.

[00:07:58] It's a apt photo from a point of view like he's a Red Bull at this point.

[00:08:02] Because the other driver is nowhere, anywhere.

[00:08:07] You know what?

[00:08:08] You know what?

[00:08:09] What you say is so apt.

[00:08:10] I'll tell you why.

[00:08:11] Because first he was sitting alone.

[00:08:13] And then later on, like, the GP joins him.

[00:08:16] So that was perfect that they are Red Bull.

[00:08:19] They are Red Bull, right?

[00:08:20] Dude.

[00:08:21] And especially like this weekend.

[00:08:23] I mean, first of all, you're out in Q1.

[00:08:27] Sure, based on how you decided to go out, you didn't have enough time for another

[00:08:32] lab, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:08:34] But fucking you weren't fast in your attempts to begin.

[00:08:38] So shut up.

[00:08:38] Yeah.

[00:08:39] Throughout the race, it felt like Checo was just a sitting duck.

[00:08:44] All of those overtakes that happened on him were plain and outright.

[00:08:50] Yeah.

[00:08:51] You're like a skate car to me.

[00:08:53] Move aside.

[00:08:55] Yeah.

[00:08:55] The only redemption arc for his life was, I think, when he overtook Lawson and K-Mag.

[00:09:02] Oh, dude.

[00:09:03] That was beautiful.

[00:09:04] So, like, regardless of how shit he was, otherwise, I, like, absolutely give it to him

[00:09:09] for that overtake.

[00:09:10] It was just too awesome to watch.

[00:09:11] And that one also only matters because Lawson was in that mix.

[00:09:15] Yeah, exactly.

[00:09:17] Otherwise, as an F1 driver, I mean, sure, you can make such overtakes.

[00:09:21] I mean, there's a meme.

[00:09:25] I don't know how true this is, but there's a video clip or a meme or whatever after the

[00:09:32] race where Max is seeing the screen of, like, people finishing or whatever.

[00:09:36] And then he waits until, like, P16 or wherever Checo finished and then just nods and goes off.

[00:09:43] I mean, it's taken out of context, obviously.

[00:09:46] Yeah, well, makes sense.

[00:09:48] I wonder how long have these guys been carrying the M4 Max T-shirt along with their whole packing?

[00:09:58] Yeah, right?

[00:09:59] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:10:00] Good point.

[00:10:02] No, no.

[00:10:02] You can win.

[00:10:03] You can win.

[00:10:04] Yeah.

[00:10:05] You won't win.

[00:10:06] Just pack it, man.

[00:10:08] Next race.

[00:10:09] We'll take it.

[00:10:10] We'll take it.

[00:10:11] So, they got that all that merch, but they didn't get the rare wing?

[00:10:18] What was all that about, man?

[00:10:20] So, apparently, yeah, there's this room.

[00:10:23] But apparently, Christian Horner also clarified that the team didn't forget to bring the right

[00:10:29] wing.

[00:10:29] They don't have a small enough wing or low downforce circuits because of the budget cap.

[00:10:39] So, all they did was like, rimmed the thing off.

[00:10:43] Too funny, man.

[00:10:44] That's very funny.

[00:10:45] Like, that entire thing.

[00:10:46] But they actually had to shave off the rare wing.

[00:10:48] That's what I heard.

[00:10:49] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:10:49] And I think that's pretty official as well.

[00:10:51] Because they couldn't make a new one.

[00:10:53] So, they're like, what are you going to cut for the KG?

[00:10:59] Yeah, because I think after FP1, there was this chart which I'd seen.

[00:11:04] Sauber versus Red Bull, like track dominance kind of a thing.

[00:11:08] Where which team is faster?

[00:11:09] And for majority of the track, Sauber was actually faster than Red Bull after FP1.

[00:11:14] So, I think after looking at that, they were like, okay, just cut it out.

[00:11:17] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:11:19] And while you're making that statement, right?

[00:11:22] I mean, that was somewhat evident because Jao was all the way up to P10 or P11 at one point.

[00:11:28] And he ended up finishing P13.

[00:11:31] So, there was some pace and some advantage to the Sauber, Skate, Green Vomit team this weekend.

[00:11:41] Which I think Botas wasn't informed about because he was dead last 21, 15 seconds behind everybody.

[00:11:48] Botas is done for it.

[00:11:50] I think he's interviewing for the Finnish office show, running charities for what's next, running an ultra marathon or a triathlon or whatever he did during this three weeks.

[00:12:03] Did you see that?

[00:12:05] Did you see that?

[00:12:05] No, no, no.

[00:12:06] I didn't see that.

[00:12:07] Boy just decided to wake up and make an Instagram reel in his backyard where he swam the 3.8 kilometers or whatever it goes behind a triathlon.

[00:12:17] In his own pool.

[00:12:19] I don't know how many laps that is.

[00:12:21] What?

[00:12:21] Are you serious?

[00:12:22] Then he gets onto a peloton or whatever he has, rode over 180 kilometers on bike and then ran a marathon on his treadmill.

[00:12:30] So, the boy did that just one fine day in his backyard.

[00:12:36] He'll do anything but gain a point in F1.

[00:12:39] Yeah.

[00:12:40] That's why he's not continuing here.

[00:12:43] Exactly.

[00:12:44] Makes sense.

[00:12:44] He wants to do what?

[00:12:47] Work from home triathlons or something like that.

[00:12:50] That's exactly what that was.

[00:12:54] But I guess he's going to finally end up as the reserve driver in Merck.

[00:12:58] That's the rumors that I've been hearing.

[00:13:00] I don't know.

[00:13:02] Do we really care about?

[00:13:04] I mean, I think like reserve drivers is like me giving my son a dead remote so that he thinks he's controlling the TV.

[00:13:12] Right?

[00:13:13] I mean.

[00:13:14] Right.

[00:13:14] You're there.

[00:13:15] Sure.

[00:13:15] Enjoy the post.

[00:13:17] But, but, but in the defense of reserve drivers, let me bring up the topic of Ollie Bearman.

[00:13:23] That's true.

[00:13:24] Well, sometimes you get lucky.

[00:13:26] Sometimes I miss this removing the batteries out of it as well.

[00:13:29] I give him the true rule.

[00:13:30] Exactly.

[00:13:33] Oh man.

[00:13:34] Okay.

[00:13:34] Let's, let's talk about Mercedes a little.

[00:13:36] I think we have to talk about the race winner after all.

[00:13:41] Boy.

[00:13:42] I mean, he could have won last weekend as well, but it was luck and not talent.

[00:13:49] Right.

[00:13:49] So.

[00:13:51] Right.

[00:13:53] Oh God.

[00:13:55] No, but a good domination from him, man.

[00:13:58] Like during the qualifying as well, showing that race.

[00:14:05] And calling the strategy as well, by the way, in qualification.

[00:14:08] I don't.

[00:14:08] So there was this moment where he explicitly comes on the radio and says that, you know, don't send me early.

[00:14:15] Like send me at the last because I know the track is ranked up.

[00:14:18] So brilliant job there.

[00:14:20] Oh, yeah.

[00:14:22] Yeah.

[00:14:22] All of that is good, but he needs to get his hormones checked because as soon as he won, he's like, Max, I'm coming for you next championship.

[00:14:28] I'm like, dude, calm down.

[00:14:30] Calm down.

[00:14:31] It's one race win.

[00:14:33] Calm down.

[00:14:35] I'm sure you can beat him.

[00:14:36] I'm not denying that fact.

[00:14:38] You can beat him.

[00:14:39] The car is good and all.

[00:14:40] But he's not the only driver on the track.

[00:14:43] There is like two other teams that can fight you.

[00:14:48] Precisely.

[00:14:49] And like he's talking about somebody who even in this season won what?

[00:14:53] How many?

[00:14:54] 12 races.

[00:14:55] I think 10 in the first like half and then two or only one actually.

[00:15:00] 11 races.

[00:15:01] Yeah.

[00:15:01] And coming from the guy who won what?

[00:15:03] Two races this season.

[00:15:05] Yeah.

[00:15:06] So probably Nick needs his testosterone levels adjusted after.

[00:15:12] But still kudos to him, man.

[00:15:15] Overall, I think he's been doing good this year at East Denmark.

[00:15:19] I think this year for sure he is beating Hamilton, right?

[00:15:23] I think last year Hamilton still won out.

[00:15:25] Doesn't matter, dude.

[00:15:26] Hamilton's Hamilton man.

[00:15:28] I don't know what happened.

[00:15:29] So here's the thing, right?

[00:15:30] Like over the break, people started dissing him because he's going to go away.

[00:15:36] Like, hey, everybody has an expiry date and, you know, he's old.

[00:15:40] Self-life, right?

[00:15:41] Self-life.

[00:15:42] And even during the pre-weekend shenanigans on the stage with Kimmy coming in, I think

[00:15:49] Russ was asked.

[00:15:50] And Russ was like, yeah, the kid's fast.

[00:15:53] And Hamilton on the stage is like, dude, you're 25.

[00:15:55] You're calling this guy a kid.

[00:15:57] When you get to my age is when you call people kid.

[00:16:01] And he goes, yeah, you're old enough to sort of whatever, right?

[00:16:04] So all that.

[00:16:07] All that.

[00:16:08] And Hamilton uses the car space to go from P10.

[00:16:12] Yeah.

[00:16:13] I think the, I think he took it personally.

[00:16:15] I think, I think there wasn't anything wrong in Q3.

[00:16:18] He purposefully stuck the car at P10 so that he could then drive it up to P2.

[00:16:24] And if you see the Amazon stats, right?

[00:16:26] I think like at lap 39-ish, the Amazon stat came up and they showed that Hamilton is going

[00:16:34] to be in striking distance of Russ in 12 laps.

[00:16:36] Now, obviously, the laps are going to run out.

[00:16:39] Think that's what Hamilton was going to do.

[00:16:41] P10 to P1.

[00:16:43] Like, shut the fuck up.

[00:16:44] Yeah.

[00:16:45] Yeah.

[00:16:47] Right?

[00:16:48] Makes sense.

[00:16:49] Yeah, man.

[00:16:50] Like, it was insane.

[00:16:51] Like, okay, I feel like because of Max's championship win and everything, Hamilton's drive kind of

[00:16:57] got overshadowed.

[00:16:58] Like, yeah, he got driver of the day.

[00:17:00] I think it kind of got overshadowed overall because that drive was insane, man.

[00:17:04] Like, it was, this was not some extraordinary conditions.

[00:17:07] It was like proper dry race with no safety cars, nothing going on.

[00:17:12] Yeah.

[00:17:12] And still he was overtaking people like nothing.

[00:17:15] And he was just like having fun doing that almost.

[00:17:18] It was just on some another level.

[00:17:20] And also, I think what happened, he stayed out.

[00:17:24] At one point, he was leading the race, right?

[00:17:26] I think at some point, he was leading the race.

[00:17:29] And then he pitted.

[00:17:32] And I think even that time, he was complaining with the team saying that, you know, hey,

[00:17:36] man, like, why did you pit me now?

[00:17:37] Like, you put me behind so many people, blah, blah, blah.

[00:17:40] And he actually had to overtake a few people twice on track.

[00:17:43] So, it's just insane what he was doing.

[00:17:46] You're right.

[00:17:46] I mean, it's, it goes back to the intro, right?

[00:17:50] Like, there was so much happening, so much winning on the track that too much got overshadowed,

[00:17:56] right?

[00:17:56] Like, for the fact that Russell winning the race probably got overshadowed with Hamilton going

[00:18:03] P10 to P2, which probably got overshadowed with Max winning the championship.

[00:18:07] But, all of this got overshadowed with Leclerc and Radio Tandy.

[00:18:15] You see my segway?

[00:18:17] You see my segway?

[00:18:18] I love it.

[00:18:22] Oh my God.

[00:18:23] Dude, that meltdown was insane.

[00:18:25] It was so funny, man.

[00:18:27] Give this boy a tissue or a napkin or a handkerchief or something, man.

[00:18:32] Yeah, man.

[00:18:33] But you know what?

[00:18:34] While he was saying that, in my head, I was saying, that is exactly why you can't win a championship,

[00:18:39] my friend.

[00:18:40] Seriously, man.

[00:18:43] Why did he want science to be behind him?

[00:18:47] Like, I mean, clearly science was faster.

[00:18:52] Sure, in his defense, if we say, like, he was then never able to overtake science, one

[00:18:58] of the things is, like, driving in the dirty air after that is not that easy, especially

[00:19:04] on such high downforce tracks and straights that we can say.

[00:19:10] Yeah.

[00:19:11] But you were not faster than science.

[00:19:13] Exactly.

[00:19:14] Yeah, exactly.

[00:19:15] And you had multiple opportunities to overtake him.

[00:19:18] It's not like, you know, there were any team orders or anything.

[00:19:21] So, it was, I think, pretty fair.

[00:19:23] And as a matter of fact, like, the situation happened only because Ferrari messed up the

[00:19:27] pitch stop with science.

[00:19:29] Because science was clearly asking for a pitch stop long ago.

[00:19:33] The team was, like, kind of delaying it.

[00:19:36] And then they did the whole debacle of in-out thing, bullshit, what they did.

[00:19:41] So, all in all, like, if not for that, they wouldn't even be in that situation.

[00:19:45] And science would be ahead straight up, like, without anything at all.

[00:19:47] Yeah, but I don't know the sequence of orders here, right?

[00:19:50] Like, I feel like early on in the race itself, science overtook Leclerc.

[00:19:55] And then the whole pitch stop drama happened.

[00:19:58] Right.

[00:19:59] Yeah.

[00:19:59] I don't know if Ferrari is actually trying to do 30 on science.

[00:20:04] Yeah.

[00:20:05] So, I think basically what happened was since science was ahead, even after, like, that

[00:20:11] pitch stop, that messed up pitch stop, like, he overtook him and everything.

[00:20:14] But when the second round of pitch stops were happening, when Leclerc pitted, he was going

[00:20:20] to come in just ahead of science.

[00:20:24] It seems like.

[00:20:25] And that's when science basically took the opportunity and overtook him.

[00:20:28] When he was told not to.

[00:20:30] But I feel it's fine, man.

[00:20:32] Whatever.

[00:20:32] I mean, they're literally kicking him out.

[00:20:35] Why the fuck do they think that he's going to listen to their team?

[00:20:37] Yeah.

[00:20:40] Yeah.

[00:20:41] I mean, the old times were somewhere in this sense better because people fought out, fought

[00:20:48] out.

[00:20:48] Like, yeah, you have better pace.

[00:20:50] Come on, fight it out.

[00:20:51] I mean, that's racing.

[00:20:52] Exactly.

[00:20:53] You are anyways going to get your team points that you as Vassar care about.

[00:20:59] But overall, I think it's still pretty.

[00:21:03] Another weird thing I feel about, like, this race is that whole thing of him crossing the

[00:21:09] white line, like the pit white line and it not even getting investigated is so bizarre

[00:21:15] to me.

[00:21:15] Like, the whole incident that happened with Hamilton, like, back in, what, 2017, 18 something.

[00:21:23] Hamilton was penalized and rightfully so because, like, of course, like, you can't do that.

[00:21:27] And then, like, it wasn't even noted by the race directors.

[00:21:31] I was super confused what's going on.

[00:21:33] Right?

[00:21:33] Nothing.

[00:21:34] I mean, forget the whole in-in-in-in with Hamilton.

[00:21:40] What gets to me is also the point where Brazil, the white line into the pit comes out so much

[00:21:49] before that last turn that drivers get penalized for cutting that.

[00:21:55] For cutting that.

[00:21:56] Yeah, exactly.

[00:21:57] And it's right intersecting with the racing line at Interlagos.

[00:22:04] Yeah.

[00:22:05] So, yeah, I mean, this one's so bizarre.

[00:22:07] This one's so bizarre.

[00:22:08] Yeah.

[00:22:08] And it's insane, right?

[00:22:10] Like, if you allow this, then people will just straight up start doing fake outs, right?

[00:22:13] Like, you just go in and then come out, like, out of the pits.

[00:22:17] But it's so dangerous.

[00:22:18] What if Hamilton was not going into the pits?

[00:22:20] What if Hamilton was on the racing line?

[00:22:22] You know, when this happened?

[00:22:23] Yeah.

[00:22:24] So, yeah.

[00:22:25] I don't know.

[00:22:25] I don't get it.

[00:22:27] Even Hamilton was super perplexed when that happened.

[00:22:30] Where did he come from?

[00:22:31] He came out to me.

[00:23:00] Seriously.

[00:23:01] If this season, when comparatively, science is such a compliant driver, if you still feel that you get fucked over by following team orders and things, just wait and watch what happens next season.

[00:23:13] When there's this other driver, you know, as the second driver, who will absolutely not listen to any team orders.

[00:23:21] But their whole interview and radio message part is also quite funny, right?

[00:23:26] I mean, I don't know if you've seen Wasser's interview where someone asked him, hey, who's going to be driving FB1 for you during our time?

[00:23:38] Oh, yeah.

[00:23:38] Because there's apparently someone, a rumor to drive.

[00:23:42] And he says, well, it's definitely not me.

[00:23:45] And then the other, I mean, I don't know where he gets this from.

[00:23:49] He also said that I don't fit in the car.

[00:23:51] Yeah.

[00:23:52] And then after the qualifying and everything, talking about race pace and podiums and stuff, he got asked like, but usually your cars are faster on the Sunday.

[00:24:05] And he goes like, yeah, but the race is on Saturday this weekend.

[00:24:11] Dude, that guy just, I feel he's just trolling everybody constantly.

[00:24:15] That's why he's there.

[00:24:16] Turns out, we'll find out after a few months that he was never the team principal.

[00:24:21] He was just there.

[00:24:24] Sitting on that pit wall with headphones on.

[00:24:28] Fake it till you make it.

[00:24:29] Cracking jokes, that's it.

[00:24:31] But talking about some wins, at least.

[00:24:35] Gasly.

[00:24:36] Gasly, man.

[00:24:37] Oh, yeah.

[00:24:38] He had a very ironic win, I hear.

[00:24:42] He went so fast that his engine blew up.

[00:24:47] That's such his Alpine.

[00:24:48] The Alpine's not ready for so much power, right?

[00:24:53] Exactly.

[00:24:54] Yeah, but remind us again.

[00:24:57] So apparently you found some stat somewhere that showed this.

[00:25:01] So there's this F1 data analysis channel on, or rather account on Twitter.

[00:25:10] I'm calling it Twitter.

[00:25:12] Who basically kind of analyzed the data of like the consecutive laps of Gasly.

[00:25:17] Yeah.

[00:25:18] Like on the lap when his engine blew up and before that.

[00:25:21] So turns out that like looking at the RPM data for the engine and also like the throttle data and the speed data.

[00:25:29] There's this peak that his engine reached in terms of RPM.

[00:25:34] And then there's a sudden drop after that.

[00:25:36] And it turns out he also reached the maximum top speed in the race like for his car during that time.

[00:25:44] And that was right behind Sunoda.

[00:25:46] So like his theory is that basically the tow that he was getting from Sunoda was so good that the engine actually was pushed to the limit where it actually blew up.

[00:25:59] Too fast to survive.

[00:26:01] Wow.

[00:26:01] Too fast to survive.

[00:26:05] Wow.

[00:26:06] So they had an incredible win.

[00:26:09] They probably reached the highest RPM.

[00:26:12] But at what cost?

[00:26:14] And did they just pack up after Gasly came in and the whole lap team crew was like, peace out buddy, I'm gone.

[00:26:22] Oh shit, we have another driver.

[00:26:24] It was like called Okon in.

[00:26:26] And then Okon's driving pass through.

[00:26:29] It was as if like he got a penalty driving through the pit lane.

[00:26:32] Like wait, nobody's here.

[00:26:33] What the hell?

[00:26:35] And why did he pass through?

[00:26:36] Why didn't he go into the pit box?

[00:26:39] It's so weird.

[00:26:39] Like did he think that his tires got magically changed or something?

[00:26:43] Like he has to come back in the pits, right?

[00:26:45] Like he knew that.

[00:26:46] Like need for speed, right?

[00:26:47] Like you drive through a gas station and your car repairs itself.

[00:26:52] Exactly.

[00:26:55] Dude, Alpine's won multi-million last weekend.

[00:26:58] Gasly's out.

[00:26:59] Let's pack up.

[00:27:00] Yeah, let's pack up.

[00:27:01] Like Okon can drive himself home.

[00:27:05] And I also think that Okon also thought that, you know, last race was so incredible.

[00:27:09] I came in P2.

[00:27:10] I think I over delivered, you know, that's not how much they're paying me.

[00:27:13] So I need to kind of, you know, go the opposite way this time.

[00:27:20] Where did he end up?

[00:27:21] Where did he end up?

[00:27:22] Let me see.

[00:27:24] Yeah, P17.

[00:27:25] P17.

[00:27:26] Yeah, of course.

[00:27:28] I see.

[00:27:29] But speaking of Alpine, who's going to be with Merck Engines next year.

[00:27:35] One thing I forgot to mention about Hamilton was he set 12 fastest laps.

[00:27:42] Oh, yeah.

[00:27:44] So 25.

[00:27:45] I think he was feeling FOMO.

[00:27:46] Dude, he was feeling total FOMO from last race.

[00:27:49] He was like, fuck, what is this, man?

[00:27:51] Like Max is getting all the credit of the fastest lap thing.

[00:27:54] I need to kind of claw back that reputation.

[00:27:57] But he never went Bono Matai as a gun.

[00:28:00] I was very sad about that.

[00:28:05] What else, man?

[00:28:06] What's going on?

[00:28:07] Stroll apparently had no radio.

[00:28:09] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:28:10] Exactly.

[00:28:11] It was.

[00:28:12] What the?

[00:28:13] Dude.

[00:28:14] It was so weird.

[00:28:15] Like what?

[00:28:16] He just drove the race.

[00:28:17] So how did they know when to pay?

[00:28:19] They just made him sit in the car and he's like, go.

[00:28:22] Go drive.

[00:28:24] But how will I know where am I finishing?

[00:28:26] How good am I doing?

[00:28:27] Doesn't matter.

[00:28:28] You drive.

[00:28:31] Your father's given a car to drive.

[00:28:33] Go drive.

[00:28:34] Just keep turning.

[00:28:35] Just finish when you see a flag waving.

[00:28:37] Finish.

[00:28:40] Dude, the poor fellow must be driving.

[00:28:42] How many laps are remaining?

[00:28:43] I don't know.

[00:28:44] I'm just driving.

[00:28:45] I don't know how much fuel is remaining.

[00:28:46] I feel now I felt funny for him after last week.

[00:28:52] And now I feel sorry for the dude.

[00:28:53] Like he's zoned out driving into the sand.

[00:28:57] He's not giving radio this race.

[00:28:59] Dude, are they trying to pull pranks on him?

[00:29:02] Like every I don't know what's coming next weekend.

[00:29:05] Yeah.

[00:29:06] We won't give him steering wheel next time.

[00:29:09] Dude, we'll have a new legendary radio.

[00:29:12] Hey, hey, gloves.

[00:29:14] Steering wheel.

[00:29:17] Damn, dude.

[00:29:19] Yeah.

[00:29:19] Because then this thing, right?

[00:29:21] Like when he came into the pits, obviously nobody knew that he was going to come into

[00:29:24] the pits.

[00:29:25] What tires to put on.

[00:29:26] It was just like someone had a magic die somewhere.

[00:29:30] They were rolling.

[00:29:32] Like, okay.

[00:29:32] It's landed on mediums.

[00:29:35] Let's give you mediums.

[00:29:37] Yeah.

[00:29:38] Alpine should learn a thing or two from this.

[00:29:40] They were able to, you know, like do the whole pit stop even without radio.

[00:29:45] Right.

[00:29:45] Well, in other news, I think the good part is Haas is up at P6 in WCC as Hulk finishes

[00:29:53] in points off of the Alpine debacle.

[00:29:56] So that's good.

[00:29:57] Nice.

[00:29:58] That's great.

[00:29:59] And I also hear that Haas is no more the only American team on the grid.

[00:30:05] Yeah.

[00:30:07] I don't know how I feel about it because I mean, we're back to the early 2000s or late 1980s

[00:30:13] or whenever it was when like, again, all of these same teams decided to show up, come in, win nothing and then.

[00:30:20] And get lost.

[00:30:21] Yeah.

[00:30:22] So, yeah, sure.

[00:30:25] Yeah.

[00:30:26] I'm also not very, I don't know.

[00:30:28] I don't know how it's going to turn out because like, I think with Audi coming in as Sauber,

[00:30:35] sorry, GM coming in as Cadillac.

[00:30:38] I don't know how are they going to perform?

[00:30:40] Like, yeah.

[00:30:40] Trojan horses every year.

[00:30:42] Yeah.

[00:30:43] Yeah.

[00:30:43] Exactly.

[00:30:44] And then multiple layers, like it's Andretti, GM, Cadillac.

[00:30:51] So it's like, it's like Russian dolls, dude.

[00:30:56] Everybody just wants to.

[00:30:57] Keep peeling a layer.

[00:30:58] Yeah.

[00:30:58] Everybody just wants to piece of this money cake.

[00:31:01] I don't know how I feel about it as from a sport point of view, man.

[00:31:05] I mean, I don't, at this point, I don't like it.

[00:31:09] I mean, I'm sure I'm happy to be proven wrong.

[00:31:12] And this is becoming fun.

[00:31:14] But yeah, no, I think it's fine.

[00:31:18] 11th team makes sense, I guess.

[00:31:20] Like, I mean, of course, we'll find out like, unless they're like, you know, so terrible

[00:31:24] that they're like somewhere, you know, being lapped by the last car or something like that,

[00:31:29] then it's a different story.

[00:31:30] But if they're even like, you know, half competent, you know, let's see.

[00:31:36] I don't know.

[00:31:37] I'm actually more for like less teams rather than more teams.

[00:31:40] I would be more like go down to seven or eight teams.

[00:31:43] I mean, why have Botas come every weekend?

[00:31:47] You want to go carbon neutral, right?

[00:31:49] Like get rid of all of this carbon waste.

[00:31:51] That's true.

[00:31:52] That's true.

[00:31:52] Why not?

[00:31:54] Anyways, back to Vegas.

[00:31:57] I think I hit the track.

[00:32:00] Yeah, I hit too many things about this weekend.

[00:32:03] Especially.

[00:32:03] And I guess like the Americans have also figured this out because the change in how last year

[00:32:09] was versus this year is.

[00:32:12] But they were so desperate to sell tickets this time.

[00:32:18] On that point, right?

[00:32:19] There's this escalator thing that's become famous.

[00:32:24] So apparently, obviously, they barricade everything so that, you know, you can't see the race from

[00:32:31] anywhere and everything gets put up and shut out.

[00:32:34] But I forget what turn, right before the chicane where Perez did the double overtake, there is an escalator that goes up and comes down.

[00:32:46] And people are just seeing riding that continuously.

[00:32:50] Now, apparently, you can get fined if you are stationary by the Marshalls or the Vegas Fox or whoever the heck.

[00:33:02] Right.

[00:33:03] Just two or whatever.

[00:33:03] Right.

[00:33:04] But riding the escalator continuously isn't considered being stationary.

[00:33:10] So folks are going up and down all the time trying to capture.

[00:33:16] Oh, God.

[00:33:18] But anyways, I think the most beautiful part of the whole race is the globe or the sphere or whatever it's called.

[00:33:27] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:33:28] Because they use the whole thing to diss themselves or motivate themselves.

[00:33:35] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:33:36] It was amazing, dude.

[00:33:37] I love how interactive it was.

[00:33:39] Like, they planned it pretty well.

[00:33:40] Like, whenever, like, a car comes by, they're, like, you know, bringing up that driver profile and everything.

[00:33:46] Yeah.

[00:33:46] And it gave me, like, very, very, very much Hunger Games vibes when the volunteer gets.

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:33:53] So, yeah, it was fun.

[00:33:55] Yeah.

[00:33:56] Yeah.

[00:33:56] Because I remember two incidents, at least for sure, where Leclerc was battling and Leclerc comes up on the giant sphere screen.

[00:34:06] And, you know, there's, like, a cheer and thumbs up and stuff.

[00:34:09] And Perez got out after Q1 in qualifying and Perez comes up with a thumbs down.

[00:34:14] So, I'm like, dude, what the fuck?

[00:34:16] Oh, really?

[00:34:17] What the fuck?

[00:34:18] I mean, maybe not the thumbs down, but, like, at least something around, like, dissing himself.

[00:34:22] Like, what the fuck?

[00:34:23] He can't even clear Q1.

[00:34:28] Insane.

[00:34:28] Okay.

[00:34:29] I need to go and watch that.

[00:34:31] Speaking of weird things, right?

[00:34:33] The other, another weird thing is, apparently, Sunoda was shitting bricks.

[00:34:39] Because he was held for at least two to three hours by custom and almost denied entry.

[00:34:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:34:46] I heard that.

[00:34:48] It's insane.

[00:34:50] I'm like, how does it happen?

[00:34:53] He's been here.

[00:34:55] Dude, have you seen him talk?

[00:34:57] So, I'm pretty sure he was just talking out of his mouth.

[00:35:04] Like, he was basically as usual, how he does in Reese's and shit.

[00:35:07] Now, in his defense, the only thing I want to say is probably there was some old-ass veteran sitting there who thought the Japs have come back to take the country.

[00:35:20] And he's like, you, Jap, go back.

[00:35:24] Someone had to sit him down for two, three hours.

[00:35:26] And then he finally got told, like, hey, it's 2024.

[00:35:29] Yeah.

[00:35:33] Can't say that openly.

[00:35:35] Can't say that openly.

[00:35:41] Oh, right.

[00:35:42] Sunoda also said this.

[00:35:43] I think there was this moment.

[00:35:45] Was it in the race or was it in qualification?

[00:35:48] I don't remember.

[00:35:49] But he, like, blew up that styrofoam board for, like, the speed limit thing, right?

[00:35:54] In the pit entry.

[00:35:56] And then I think there was this interview where the interviewer was asking, you know, what happened?

[00:36:01] Like, were you caught off guard, like, with the sign or something?

[00:36:05] And he's like, I shit my pants when I saw that.

[00:36:10] The dude just says anything that comes to his mind.

[00:36:15] He would have said something interesting in the customs line.

[00:36:18] Be like, come on.

[00:36:21] Come on to the back.

[00:36:24] But he's going to get a special training for customs for every country going forward.

[00:36:30] The other interesting bit for Vegas being Vegas is the fact that, first of all, they drive them all the way just for people getting interviewed.

[00:36:42] And then they drive them back for the ceremony and stuff.

[00:36:45] But anyways, for this, at least this time, in front of the famous fountains, the fountains were used as the screen rather than just to display projections onto the fountain and using that as a screen.

[00:37:01] I don't know how many people actually caught that, but I found that a bit cool and interesting.

[00:37:05] Yeah.

[00:37:06] Yeah, man.

[00:37:07] I just shut off the TV after the interview with Terry Crew because it was so fucking awkward.

[00:37:13] But that was that high five, which went into a handshake or I don't know what hybrid thing that was.

[00:37:24] And Terry Crew clearly had no idea what's going on.

[00:37:27] He was there just because no other reason.

[00:37:32] Yeah.

[00:37:33] I feel like that and the whole introducing folks like the wrestling style, commentary and all of.

[00:37:42] I mean, if nobody in the world knew what being American is and how American is, I mean, this is the prime example of.

[00:37:51] Exactly.

[00:37:52] This and the elections were also last weekend.