Could Ferrari LET GO of Charles Leclerc? | Kimi Antonelli wins Ferrari's & his HOME RACE at Monza

[00:00:00] Ufff! Meine Zehen bringen mich um. Diese Schuhe sind viel zu eng. Trägst du immer noch diese spitzen Dinger? Ich meine, sind nicht alle Laufschuhe so geformt? Nein, du brauchst Altras. Altra? Altras sind geformt wie deine Füße mit einer fußförmigen Zehenbox. Einfach viel bequemer. Bezwinge deinen Lauf mit Hallenzehen. Okay, das klingt traumhaft. Mehr Komfort, Kraft und Dynamik. Alles durch die Passform. Altra versteht das einfach. Altra, stay out there.

[00:00:32] Welcome back. We're live on the Inside Line F1 Podcast discussing probably the best Formula 1 race weekend ever. Is there anything wrong with me saying that Kunal? Is this not the best Formula 1 race weekend that we've ever had? Ever is a bit too much given that it's been 1162 races in history of Formula 1. But in recent times, probably yes. In 2026, most definitely yes.

[00:01:01] And all our pre-race fears where we were the first ones to say, forget Temple of Speed. This is a temple of super clipping. The fears were unfounded. Okay, and hats off to the FI for doing what they did. And listen, they didn't do any magic. They reduced the harvesting limits. They reduced the deployment limits. As a result of which, the cars were actually slower as we saw in qualifying.

[00:01:26] But tell me one thing. Did you really miss fast racing cars when you had such beautiful racing? I wouldn't call it overtaking, but some beautiful racing if we call it that. I think the reason why we didn't miss fast racing cars is firstly because we saw Michael Schumacher's old Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel. So our fast and noisy quota was done. And that was beautiful.

[00:01:52] To the point where it's Monday evening, right? I've just come back home. I was away for the weekend commentating on a boat tug of war race. And that's why I missed commentating on this race. Jealous of you two. But it's Monday evening and my dad is still watching that Sebastian Vettel lap over and over again. And that's just the tip of the iceberg because this weekend we saw Lightning McQueen at a Formula 1 track. A giant dinner hosted on the Monza Home Straight by Barilla, the pasta company, and everyone was there.

[00:02:19] We saw pretty much everybody in the paddock. All the famous people in the world that you can imagine were there. We saw Vettel driving Schumacher's old car. We saw Alpine on the pole position and Gasly finally getting his first after what? Nine years in the sport? 191 races? Yeah. And then a driver winning from 19th in his home race. This is just perfect.

[00:02:44] And to top it all off, Kunal, and I think we should start off with this because Antonelli, we can go on and on for days. Both the Ferraris imploding because that is the biggest story to come out of Monza. I personally thought the biggest story of Monza was that Sebastian Vettel in Michael Schumacher's original car. So not the liveried car which Leclerc and Hamilton were running. Of course, great livery and seven-star salute and whatever we call it.

[00:03:10] But Sebastian Vettel actually did more laps around Monza than Charles Leclerc. Oh, yes. In a car which is more agile, more nimble, which sounded more ferocious. And I know they love to do these tributes in these old cars. But after a point, there are lots of fans who feel, yeah, that's what F1 should be. And that's what you've taken away from us. So maybe it backfires each time. That's what I wonder that, you know, every time there's these old cars running.

[00:03:39] I think it was Abu Dhabi a couple of years ago. Fernando Alonso did one of the demonstrations in his 2006 Renault. And then Lewis Hamilton said, just wait, let me hear that engine note. So you can imagine. Maybe these throwbacks actually work against F1 given the modern era. Yeah, maybe they do. Every downshift was so ferocious. But I think we should do a separate episode on that because we will go on and on about it.

[00:04:06] We should definitely do some of old Formula 1 race cars that were brought back to life for one weekend only. That'll be a really cool one. But let's come back to Monza. Because a race car driver winning a race from 19th out of a grid of 22 is unique anywhere. Whether you're racing trucks, whether you're racing touring cars, whether you're racing NASCARs, whatever it may be. To do it in Formula 1 is outrageous, Kunal.

[00:04:33] And we've only had one other race when a driver has started lower and gone on to win. And that was John Watson in the McLaren back in the old days. 1983, I believe, right? Exactly. Unprecedented. This is unprecedented. This, honestly, for me, one drive alone puts Kimi Antonelli in legendary status. Not just as the driver. I'm not saying his whole career is legendary. But this moment of what he's achieved, this is on par with Raikkonen at Suzuka in 2005. It really is.

[00:05:02] It is on par with Raikkonen in Suzuka. And of course, you know, in the aftermath of the race, there's been a lot of statistics being dug. There are certain drivers who've done P17 or lower. So, not Antonelli. Kimi Raikkonen, 2005, Suzuka, P17. So, two Kimis have won a race below 18th position. That's crazy. Yeah. And then Max Verstappen in Sao Paulo from P17. Yeah. Okay.

[00:05:30] We already spoke of John Watson in Detroit. Watson has done it twice. Has he? Yeah. Watson, I think, won from 17th one time and 22nd in Detroit, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Watson's done it two times. Okay. Watson is very, very underrated. But the only driver which... We're like, what is he doing on this list? Is Rubens Barry Kello. P18. Yeah. I think it was Hockenheim.

[00:06:00] Hockenheim. 2000. So, 2000. And I remember this race. It was half wet, half drive. He hung on to those slicks. He drove one of those legendary races he was capable of. So, hats off. Fantastic race for Andrea Kimi Antonelli. What an unbelievable comeback. And, you know, actually the race worked against him in two parts.

[00:06:28] First part was, of course, the new power unit. And then he was going to start P19, which he did. And what do you do from P19? You take on the hard tire. Because you want to try and go as long. And you want to try and expand your, you know, the net of luck for as long as you can. But then guess what happened? On the fourth lap, there was a red flag. So, the only option that was left for Antonelli to do was to try and run the race on the medium.

[00:06:53] So, in a way, Leclerc's red flag helped Antonelli go from P12 to the win. And I say P12 because he had already made up six places. And then Leclerc was out. So, it became seven places. So, he went from P19 to P12 under the red flag. And then from P12, he was racing up front. And then Lance Stroll's VSC helped him take that cheaper stop. So, he had the talent. He had the car. He had the right tire as well. But he also got a bit lucky.

[00:07:24] Yeah, sure. But that's a trend in everyone who wins from that position, right? I just think of Max starting from 17th and winning the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. There was a big intervention in the middle as well. I think red flag of VSC. I think it was something where Verstappen got a really cheap pit stop. And Lando complained and said, it's not talent, it's luck. But, well, George Russell was more gracious than that. Russell said he was really impressed by that.

[00:07:51] He congratulated Kimi, said this is a very big moment for him. But you could see the pain on George Russell's face during the podium. Let's not kid ourselves, guys. This is probably George Russell's most bitter defeat ever. He's in a championship fight. Despite doing everything right. Yeah. He was on the front row. He made good starts. He was battling in free air. He was battling his teammate. He was battling Verstappen. Made all the overtakes.

[00:08:18] But then, like some of the presenters said on the live feed yesterday, what do you do when you encounter such a phenomenon as Kimi Antonelli? You just sit back and be like, oh my goodness. And that's what Valtteri Bottas has gone through alongside Lewis Hamilton. That's what Checo Perez, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Yuki Sunoda have gone through against Max Verstappen. Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello have gone through against Michael Schumacher.

[00:08:48] You just come against... Do you want to? That would be very harsh on Mark Webber, but yes. What a brilliant recovery in every single way. And we've got to also say one more thing on Antonelli's win. He had a newer engine. So when he was battling Russell, he had that slight offset of having a better engine. And it also...

[00:09:12] I believe in the cool down room, Russell almost gave it away by saying what stat Antonelli was racing in. They were racing in different strat modes, which basically means how much power output each driver is trying to... Still, but still... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just saying that you and I pick all these smaller nuances from the big story. And I'm just narrating those. Yeah, no, no, it's true. It's true. But it's still... This is... This is the worst defeat that Russell has suffered.

[00:09:41] I don't think any P2 would have tasted as bitter as this one. Just... You're not supposed to have your teammate beat you from starting 19th cleanly when you've done nothing wrong in your race. Like, arguably, Russell's strategy was on par, if not probably only, a second, second and a half slower. Yeah. It's... It was right up there. You can't say that Mercedes compromised his race by putting him on the... I think it was the hard compound task for the longest time, right? So... He was on the hard.

[00:10:10] He went straight from the red flag to the end, which is what the McLarens did. Is it a bad strategy? No, absolutely not. And the hard has actually done so many laps before as well. 2025, Esteban Ocon has done, what, 51 laps on the hard. Actually, he did more tyres. Of course, you can argue who was in the midfield. Didn't have so many, you know, laps of battling and so on. But just goes to show... I don't believe Russell did anything wrong. I don't believe Mercedes did anything wrong. I know the question was being asked.

[00:10:40] Did Mercedes fit Antonelli because they favour him? Were they already saying he's the number one driver? But no, you've got Russell on the hard. That tyre can go long. Why would you give up track position? And it was obvious that Antonelli's mediums wouldn't have lasted as long. Maybe five or six laps lesser from the end. And that would have compromised him. So it was obvious that you just fit your medium short driver. And that's what happened to Antonelli and even to Max Verstappen.

[00:11:09] And Mercedes took that cheap stop, Samuel. Because it was under the VSC. The instruction to Antonelli was very clear. If the VSC is still on while you come to the pit entry, pit. But if the VSC goes off, you stay out on track. So they were also banking on that free stop. Or cheap stop, rather. Yeah, but unbelievable. Unbelievable, Kimi Antonelli. There are races where you just watch and you feel like an angry shark is coming to hunt everyone.

[00:11:38] This felt like it. And just... So for a bit, even though I love listening to Kunal and Chetan on the Hindi F1 commentary, I went to F1 TV and I just turned the commentary off. Just because I wanted to hear what the Italian fans were sounding like during that. And it was majestic because you had so many overtakes. Like every moment the crowd was at their feet. I think 400,000 people attending the entire weekend. Just... So I'm just going to take a step back from the racing and be like,

[00:12:06] Formula 1 has delivered a 10 out of 10 weekend. In terms of marketing, in terms of the spectacle, in terms of engaging the fans, the crowd, the audience, the new broadcast cameras, which by the way, we've been asking for a very long time. The drone shot, Kunal, you remember, right? From the final corner where everyone was chasing each other. You could see them... Yeah, you could see them exiting the parabolica. Yeah? Ludicrous. In fact, one of the shots, you actually saw the drone coming down and then suddenly just zipped through pasta because they're like, Oh my God, we're on camera. We're on the feed. It's that camera.

[00:12:35] No, it was a fantastic race weekend. I loved the start-finish trade being used by a food brand to deliver a culinary experience in a country like Italy where food is also loved, much as it's loved in India and several other parts of the world. And in general, I mean, what a weekend. And, you know, let's not take away from Pierre Gasly's pole position because that also added to the spectacle of the race weekend.

[00:13:02] It was all about being, getting it right with timing, which Alpine did. Having a car fast, super fast in the straights, which Alpine has with that Mercedes engine. And everyone who thought last year, Oh my God, look at Briatore. Why would he dump a Renault engine? That decision was vindicated. That's why you do that. And then they sent him out at the right time. Pierre Gasly nailed that lap as he had to. And this is a guy who's been nailing qualifying laps,

[00:13:30] but never got pole position in nine years. So, you know, it just goes to show how high, how high the barrier is, how high the talent pool is, how serious Formula One is. is that there's a midfield driver. The team was last, last year. Probably the sixth best chassis. He's a driver which no top team even looks at if you have two seats empty. Which I find ludicrous. But, because he couldn't beat Max Verstappen,

[00:13:59] and that's unfortunately the stamp he'll carry all his life. But anyway, but he's still stepped up. He said, that's it, I'm going to get a chance and I'm going to go for it from Q1 on the pace. So, what a weekend. And so much of wheel-to-wheel racing that Chetan and I were running out of breath as you saw Somal. Because we were like, oh my God, yet another overtake. And there were two things that we predicted in the preview which came out correct, Somal. The first was,

[00:14:28] the TV director and the circuit entertainment staff will play the Macarena song. And they did play that song. They did play that song. And then, you know, everyone got the Macarena wings that they had too. Bharat is here. He's saying he was waiting for this episode after a fantastic race weekend. Great to have you and the others on the stream as well, Bharat. And then the second thing which we called right Somal. And this is why I love to tom-tom about us and how we watch racing. What did we say?

[00:14:58] We said exit from the parabolica will be important. Very. But that overtake will not end at the turns one and two sequence. It will carry on to the next chicane. And that's what was happening. Even if you swapped positions at turns one and two, the exit from turn two was crucial for you to actually keep the lead by the end of the lap. So it was so brilliant with the racing. Yeah.

[00:15:25] And the master of all of it was Max Verstappen. Genuinely. I think along with Kimi, had we not seen this generational performance from Kimi Antonelli, which ranks right up there with Kimi Raikkonen's performances and Fernando Alonso's legendary races, this was probably one of Max's best tries of the entire season. In spite of facing all the rare instability he was throughout the weekend, the way he was defending his positions and the way he was just

[00:15:55] confidently beating everyone on the outside of turn four and five. Wow. Wow. My colleague was actually asking me over the weekend that, hey, what happens if we put Arvid Lindblad in a Red Bull racing? Do you think he'll be able to beat Max? And this is the paradox of racing, right? Where the talent of any midfield driver can never truly be identified until you put them in a top car. But then there's someone like Max and regardless of whatever car you put them in, you can tell that this guy will beat the other person. And that was, that is evident. Like he's,

[00:16:23] Max has just reached a different level now, Kanala. But what he did this weekend, putting that Red Bull up there, mighty. Extremely mighty. And I'm going to, you know, I'm going to ask you a question. Can we rate the overtaking, the racing that we saw in Monza? It was very un-Monza-like. Monza is typically, you know, DRS trains and you try and do a slipstream and you may just make a move and then you just run away and try and stick with it.

[00:16:53] Here, what was happening is it was difficult for any driver to break away after taking the lead because the overtake button and the overtake mode was powerful enough to keep the defender or the attacker behind you. So that's where we were seeing so many swaps back and forth between Antonelli, Russell, Max Verstappen and the like. But how do you rate the overtaking? Sorry, yeah, but I suppose it's the best case scenario, right? Like Monza is always meant to be the best case scenario if you consider

[00:17:23] the following chasing, energy boosting part. And I'd say it's a 10 on 10. I'd say it's a slam dunk 10 on 10. There is not one thing in this race I would change. For once, I agree with you that it was 10 on 10. Despite knowing... Which is a big story, folks, because Kunal has never given a 10 on 10 rating. He always stops at like eight and a half or nine saying, oh, things can always be a little bit better. And they couldn't have. You know, maybe I'm changing the way I'm seeing Formula 1 because let's be honest, these cars were not as quick

[00:17:52] as they've been around Monza. We saw that with the qualifying lap time. So that's fine. The overtaking that was happening eventually was discussed or defined very differently by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Lando said the overtaking was about who presses the button and then. So clearly it was not down to skill and that's where the teams were still calling it let's stop yo-yoing and start building a gap. So it was still yo-yo. It was still not down to 100% driver talent.

[00:18:22] But Max Verstappen in his defending he was actually asked how are you pulling all those defenses off? And he said, listen, it was simple. I was so slow on those trades that I was entering the braking zone and slamming the brakes at the very last moment so I could recover some of the positions I was losing on the straight. So when you see it as a purist, this is not the Formula 1 you've grown up to. But this Formula 1 where, you know, your battery component is bringing cars closer together, I think F1

[00:18:51] has tasted blood and they're never going to let this part of the Formula 1 of F1 go away which is letting the battery be there so you see a lot of these overtakes. They're never going to let it go. Yeah, but let's not kid ourselves. Formula 1 is still not perfect. There is way too much battery involvement still. Like one good race or one outlying race does not change the fact that these regulations are still fundamentally flawed

[00:19:22] greater proportion of internal combustion power. Which will happen from next year. Which will happen. But I'll put it this way, you know, Somal, pre-race, the apprehensions we had, the worries we had, what you and I and several other broadcasters were scared of, they were completely unfounded. Formula 1 found an engineering solution to that problem. No, I kind of disagree on that to a degree, Kunal, because there's always two sides of a motor race. There's what the viewer sees and there's what

[00:19:52] the driver does. And have you noticed, like in the last few months, Formula 1 has managed to quash all the driver complaints through one way or the other. Not Max Verstappen. Not Max Verstappen. Not Fernando Alonso. Not Lando Norris. Fernando is different. Not Lewis Hamilton. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Have these, Max Verstappen, when he re-signed with Red Bull Racing, explicitly said that he's encouraged by what the FIA is trying to do to be able to make the sport better and he's working with them to try to make sure that

[00:20:22] it goes in a direction he wants to. So he's not as vocal as he used to be at the start of the year. The drivers are not complaining about the cars as much, but maybe because there are greater forces at play and everyone realizes... I beg to differ. The drivers instill on the press conferences and whatever I sit through, I'm like, wow, how... You know, it's great that F1 still allows them to speak their mind. But there's also this, you know, a couple of races ago, I remember Max saying, listen, I don't want to sound like a broken record. I think it was Spa

[00:20:52] when he said that I'm just going to complain about deployment. Well, this is what it is and I just got to, you know, suck it up and live with it. Yeah, so they've sort of given up saying, let's just go and have fun if we have to. And if the fans are thinking this is fun, okay, maybe it is. And team communication members decide the narratives heading into the race weekend. So trust me, the drivers are voicing it out to their team PR people, but then they're told what to say and what not to say to a degree as well. Yeah, no, no, absolutely. Yeah. And I think there are drivers like Arvid Lindblad,

[00:21:22] Oscar Piastri, etc., who still keep their mouth shut. But then there are world champions who are very secure with where they are, you know, number one drivers. Clearly, they speak their minds and saying, okay, this is not how it should be. It's not perfect, though. It's not perfect. No, no, absolutely not. But you still rated a 10 on 10. So in a way, I'm like, yay. Okay. Yeah. But then again, Håkanen 2019 was also 10 on 10. But were the 2019 Formula One cars the best? And I look back and I'm like, This is where I'm like, wow.

[00:21:51] But you've compared oranges and apples, my friend. Okay. That way, that way, 1965 Italian Grand Prix had 41 changes for the lead of the race. It was a race of strip-stripping. Okay. So now I'm like, I'll also throw a historical. Hey, 19 was not historical, Kunal. 1965, but 90, 2019, now seven years ago, Somal. Don't say that. Well, there's a great question from Bharat that's come up.

[00:22:20] And I think we should address this before we go to Ferrari and the rest. Even with super clipping, if the race can be this good, is it other racetracks that are the issue? Is there a need to relook the racetrack layouts for the future? What's your view? I love this question, Bharat, because for basically up until the 21st century, Formula One was limited to what circuits were available in the world to be able to compete there. And hence, in the mid-1990s, the circuits could not

[00:22:50] change as quickly as the cars became faster. And hence, we had to add chicanes, we had to improve the crash structure and everything after Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger passed away. But now, the economics of the situation are different. It's Formula One who controls what racetracks are built and hence race tax. Which means we're now genuinely for the first time in Formula One's life, where F1 can decide whether the circuits fit F1 rather than whether F1 fits at that particular circuit, which genuinely is happening now. Does Formula One

[00:23:20] legitimately need to go to Zandvoort or does it legitimately need to go to Singapore or Monaco just to make the spectacle good? I know for commercial reasons and other stuff, it's very important, but theoretically, it's not the perfect F1 track that way. It's not. I mean, clearly, it's about who's paying, which country or which government or which private promoter is paying to take Formula One to which country and hence then, what's the circuit available there? Okay, so it's always a function of who's paying

[00:23:50] and that's, of course, you know, it's a business and that's how it should be. But very interesting, you know, the question here is, is there a need to relook at the racetrack layouts for the future? And I really hope this is where FOM's internet has broken and they don't listen to this answer, but I don't want racetracks of the future to purposely not be a Monza and be a, you know, a Hungaroring or a Sanfud just so that they're energy-rich circuits. Okay, so I'm hoping circuits remain independent

[00:24:20] of what Formula One cars are always going to be capable and that the cars have engineering solutions to fit to a circuit rather than the other way around. Korshaw actually said this long time ago, the cheapest way to fix Formula One is by fixing the circuits because it is infrastructure. You just make changes to the track layouts and you'll still get decent races. But I'm glad they are not going down that road. I think to a degree they are with Madring, just how they've designed that layout

[00:24:49] like big banking and hard braking zones and all that. Obviously, they incorporate... But the thing it's Herman Tilke was involved and there was previously another designer. But what I mean is it's not that here's a car which can't go fast in straight lines and it's eating up energy and hence have banking corners or hence have slow, medium speed, high speed corners. It's not that way around. I believe that's where the question is going. Yeah, yeah. No, no. Proper. It's true. But it's good.

[00:25:18] Monza is good. Madring, we'll see where that takes us. But shall we now go to Ferrari? We should. Yeah, we should because, you know, we've done... I think we should do... We've been typical Tifosi's. Okay. We found an Italian driver who's won in Italy after 60 years and we've just obsessed ourselves with Antonelli which is what we've done and we've forgotten the prancing horse. But is there a favorite Kimi Antonelli stat you have from this race weekend, Somal? I don't remember. I haven't done

[00:25:48] the stat digging. Okay, I'll tell you. So this was Mercedes' first one-two finish since the opening two Grand Prix's of the year. Which just tells us that despite them being so dominant, it's taken them 10 races to get back to a one-two finish. Okay. And of course, Mercedes has not had a podium here in Italy for the last three years. So that's been won. And Ludovico Scarfioti won Monza and the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari 60 years ago. So after 60 years,

[00:26:18] Italy finally had a home hero and that's why the Tifosi has actually fallen in love with Andrea Kimi Antonelli. And this was also the 50th Grand Prix win for an Italian in Formula 1 history. And it just bothers me because the first ever world champion Nino Farina was Italian. And you know, we had Alberto Ascari's of the world. But only 50 race wins for an Italian driver or drivers of Italian origin. And he actually

[00:26:47] went from P19 to P1 in the opening 18 laps of the race only. So now that I've signed off with some of the stats, let's talk about Ferrari because there was one Ferrari in the barriers after that driver tried to put the other Ferrari almost in the barriers but did put him in the gravel. I know I'm being a bit, you know, dramatic there. No, no, it's less. I'd say you're less dramatic because the way I would like to describe it is

[00:27:17] Ferrari has been torn apart internally. There are two sides now. And Fred Basur has to pick a side or he has to establish rules because both the drivers will not be able to race each other the same ever again. This is a scar that you don't come back from. Pushing your teammate into the gravel is a scar you don't come back from. The drivers, sure, they will shake their hands and say we'll race each other respectfully but somewhere in the back

[00:27:46] of their mind every single time they go racing against each other that incident will play in their head. You know for sure. This, you don't come back from moments like this, Kunal. This basically is the end of the free reign era at Ferrari and I'm now going to put my spotlight not on Leclerc or Hamilton but on Fred Basur. What does he do? Because this is now both the drivers actively costing Ferrari points. Why would you say both the drivers? Because in the Dutch Grand Prix

[00:28:16] that was the previous one, Leclerc didn't let Hamilton through. Here, Hamilton made a legitimate move on the inside on his teammate. Wasn't as aggressive if you ask me. Why do you say both drivers are costing the team and not one? If I'm a team principal, I'm just like figure this out within yourselves. Just do whatever. Drivers have never figured it out without management intervention and that's where Lewis is saying maybe we need written rules and maybe that's the way and I've been trying to do a bit of thinking on what is actually happening

[00:28:46] and my fear is that Charles Leclerc is not too bothered by Lewis Hamilton's pace because he's had the measure of Lewis after early season Lewis out qualified him outraced him. Last several races, Lewis is, you know, Leclerc has been matching Lewis in qualifying and in the race and sort of been ahead most of the times even if early season progress means Hamilton is up in the rankings and Leclerc is not. So pace-wise, I don't believe Leclerc is feeling challenged.

[00:29:15] Where he is feeling challenged is Lewis Hamilton's influence on Ferrari in the thinking, in the approach, in the mentality, in the processes and is Ferrari listening more to Hamilton and is Leclerc feeling that neglect or maybe he's realized that Hamilton is just bringing better ways of working than he and Carlos Hines has had or he and Sebastian Vettel had had. So those are some of those questions that, you know, I'm wondering

[00:29:45] where, you know, this whole Leclerc-Hamilton scenario is. That's true. And this makes you wonder whose team is it? Is it Charles' team or is it Lewis' team? And it's the typical Formula 1 story. Can you have two Alphas in a team? You can, but until how long? It has to end at some point. And I'm not thinking, beyond 28, do you break this partnership up? Like, is this going

[00:30:14] to just deteriorate and cause Ferrari to lose more than they gain? Because of all the infighting? That's a great question because Leclerc has a really long contract with Ferrari. But if Leclerc continues this way, I get a feeling they're going to get rid of him. I know I'm being controversial, I'm being judgmental, I'm probably shooting from the hip, but Leclerc, if he is, you know, it's like this. So there's one aspect that I said that he is afraid of Lewis Hamilton's influence on Ferrari. Fine.

[00:30:44] Okay, that could be one. The other is he's upset at Ferrari for the wrong choices of tires or the wrong choice of the turbo or the wrong strategy or wrong team calls or whatever. And is he taking that anger out on Lewis Hamilton? On track? And is he unable to separate these emotions of his, and like you said, it's costing him points. And is it going to cost Ferrari more points? And do they at some point say, you know what, let's just

[00:31:14] give him a break. Let's give ourselves a break, even if we keep Hamilton on and bring Oliver Baiman on. Well, well, well, that is, we'll see, long story, but, but yeah, it's a possibility. It's a possibility. You never know at this stage. Beautiful weekend that way for Formula One given Ferrari's drama and Hamilton's title challenge basically is now slipping away bit by bit with this whole thing.

[00:31:44] Lewis Hamilton had a really crazy race fighting with Oscar P. Astri and Ferrari didn't pit him in the VSC. They didn't put a fresh set of cars on him. That could have been a changing point, perhaps. It could have. My reading there is Ferrari were not confident of their overtaking pace. They were not confident that Hamilton would fall back behind Arvid Lindblad and Linnblad and Pierre Gasly had he made the stop, that he would have overtaken both cars. So they were not confident and hence they just banked their

[00:32:13] position and did not make the stop. Remember, this is a track where they introduced the Aduo too. So in a way, it's not showing a lot of confidence in their upgrades. But Monza is where you need engine power, you're on the throttle for 80% of the race and the likes. So at the end of the day, I believe it was just down to them not being confident that they will make those overtakes back. But Leclerc's mistake into Parabolica, six years apart, what did you think of that?

[00:32:43] You saw it from the outside. Yeah, it's just weird, man. It's a driver error, yes, you don't go on the green, you don't until you need to, but it's just a common trend. But he wasn't on the green, he wasn't on the green from what I saw. He was offline, yes, because Oscar Piastri was overtaking him and that's another thing, actually, great point you mentioned because he went a little offline and he still did what he did on the previous lap when he was on the

[00:33:13] racing line. He had a wheel on the green. I'm going to have to see the replays again. But he was offline, and it was extremely dirty offline already within just the first four laps of the race weekend. He was offline, he still did what he did, what he would do when he would be on the racing line and crash, boom, he was in the barriers. And I remember we were trying to dissect this, Chetan and I, during the live broadcast and for a second I thought maybe there was a tap, slight nudge from Oscar Piastri's

[00:33:43] wing because Oscar Piastri had a bit of a wobble as well. That's what I thought when I first saw it. I thought it was a tap. Yeah, and maybe something broke on the car because Leclerc went backwards on that lap. I think he lost three positions, but it was just a driver error. unfortunate, but now he's I believe, I was reading this somewhere. He has crashed 26 times in his Formula One career, out of which 23 times there

[00:34:12] was a complete write-off of the session in itself. So I love that fans are able to pull out all these moments and do all these stats. But either way, I believe Charles Leclerc will have some introspection to do. I was reading his post-race media, no mention of his incident with Lewis, you know, even though Lewis was extremely harsh and trying to get the team to rally behind him. But politics will always be a part of Formula One, much as the Inside Lion F1

[00:34:42] podcast will always be a part of Formula One as well. That is true. That is true. Do you want to talk about McLaren briefly? I honestly forgot that entire race weekend. I barely felt like they were there, apart from Oscar Piastri and his constant battling with Lewis Hamilton, which was a nice side gig to have in this race. Yeah, I think it was good to see Piastri there, no doubt. It was a bit of a shock to see Lando Norris, you know, qualifying even behind, wasn't it, Arvid? He was even

[00:35:11] behind Arvid Lindblad in qualifying, I believe, or he was eighth or, you know, he was off, even though it was just half a second splitting the top 10 in qualifying. We said Red Bull took the leap forward, but McLaren were then, you know, left battling with the Ferraris of the world. So McLaren would probably be happy that the scene of their last win with Daniel Ricciardo, which we all celebrated, which was 2021, wasn't it, when Ricciardo won? Yeah, you know,

[00:35:41] this circuit is gone with their short gear ratio, even though they had the Mercedes power unit and the likes. And now on to Mad Ring, which we all don't know how it's going to play out. We have no idea. We have absolutely no idea. It's going to be fast. It's going to be different. It's going to have lots of banking. It's going to have places where overtaking will be tough because the entry to the corners have a lot of walls nearby. It's going to be an interesting weekend. Yeah,

[00:36:10] for sure. But lastly, Kunal, before we go, quick word on Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto. Gasly, I think, maximizes the race, but I'm hard-broken for Colapinto and it yet again proves just how good Pierre Gasly is. This guy is unbelievable, finishing sixth at the end. No, not sixth. Gasly finished eighth, didn't he? I have. No, it was Colapinto who climbed up the ranks to ninth. But no, Pierre Gasly was ultimately just down to, he had a massive

[00:36:40] qualifying eighth session. Seventh, ultimately, yeah. Gasly was, it was not a mixed weather session. It was in the dry and very rarely have we gotten such shocks when it's been completely dry. And we spoke about a great lap and then in the race, it was just down to the others having better race car and Gasly just driving to his race, which shows his maturity. And Flavio Briatore on the pre-grid start grid

[00:37:09] was asked, what are you going to do? And he's like, we're just going to bank as many points as we can because they clearly are trailing racing bulls in the Constructors Championship. And Colapinto again was racing as high as up to third place only to go off and then finally even recover. So Alpine actually has a great car that they could run or recover even with somebody slightly less experienced as Colapinto. Yeah, it was a good weekend. But Monza is Monza suits their car a lot. Muddering, we shall see. But folks, for now,

[00:37:39] we should say goodbye on the InsideLine F1 podcast. It's been our Monza GP race review. We'll be back in a couple of days for the Muddering race review. And yeah, let's see where we are for that one. Kunal's going to be in the commentary box. I'm going to be in the commentary box for sure. We'll see if Kunal's there as well on the F1 podcast. Well, I know I'm there with Wireplay for sure. But we'll see. Exoteric is here saying Kimi and Max were amazing favorite race of the season. Forgot to give him a

[00:38:09] shout out. But let's see. Let's see. Maddering, I'm excited to see what Maddering brings to the table. Very interesting circuit. We've never driven there. And in the preview, we should talk about how teams actually prepare when it comes to new race circuits. But see you in a few days. For sure. See you guys. Bye-bye.