Farewells & Donuts at Yas Marina - 2024 Abu Dhabi GP Preview

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[00:00:58] For the 24th and final time this season, we can actually say it's race week. And for the 24th and the final time this season, we actually have a preview episode that we are recording. This is of course a 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview. Sundaram was with me just a couple of days ago. Sundaram is back with me just a couple of days now. Because it's race week.

[00:01:49] Again, Sundaram, how are you doing? What's happening? I know lots of things brewing in your life. What can you share with us?

[00:01:57] Lots of interesting things happening in life. But whenever the time is right, that will be announced.

[00:02:03] But yes, it is the last race week of the season. I'm really looking forward to it. Also because I'm looking forward to the break. But the fact is that it's going to be an exciting, exciting season finale for a lot of reasons.

[00:02:17] The Constructors title is yet to be sealed. But it's going to be a race weekend of so many, so many farewells, so many drivers moving teams and so many drivers having very uncertain futures.

[00:02:31] So a lot to look forward to this weekend. And I'm sure there will be some drivers who will want to make a statement.

[00:02:37] So I'm very excited to see what happens and what goes down in Abu Dhabi.

[00:02:41] I like how you said some drivers will like to make a statement. I guess the one statement everyone's speculating, rumoring, waiting to see is Sergio Perez or not.

[00:02:53] But will this be his last ever Formula One Grand Prix? And how will the divorce happen?

[00:03:01] It seems imminent. It's about how it'll happen. We'll get to that.

[00:03:06] But before we go on, a big round of thanks for all of you listening in, tuning in, watching in, tweeting, leaving comments on Instagram.

[00:03:16] Lots of people expressing surprise that we also have this as a video on YouTube.

[00:03:21] Lots of people expressing surprise that why is the YouTube algorithm not giving you more views?

[00:03:26] I agree. We should get more views on YouTube. Audio still remains our primary medium.

[00:03:31] We love what we do. Thank you very much for the support.

[00:03:33] We are grateful to be on the journey and to have you on the journey that we have been on the Inside Line F1 podcast and in Formula One individually and together,

[00:03:45] if that's any hint that I can actually drop right now two and a half minutes in.

[00:03:50] But why don't we actually just start with the one farewell that we'll all be looking forward to?

[00:03:58] It's not a farewell to actually bid goodbye to a driver from Formula One forever.

[00:04:04] It's a farewell to bid goodbye to one of the most legendary drivers that the sport has seen in recent times.

[00:04:15] And just to give everyone a bit of an overview, how many farewells are we actually looking at, Sundaram?

[00:04:22] Just wild, just throw a number at the top of your head.

[00:04:25] I don't know the exact number, but are we looking at seven different changes at least?

[00:04:29] If I'm not wrong.

[00:04:31] Let's count.

[00:04:31] Let's count.

[00:04:32] Yeah.

[00:04:32] So, of course, there's Lewis Hamilton.

[00:04:35] There is Carlos Sainz, hence.

[00:04:38] So, that's the link.

[00:04:39] There is Kola Pinto, his last race in Williams, right?

[00:04:45] Then there is the two drivers in Sauber, Joe, Kuan Yew and Valtteri Botta.

[00:04:49] So, how many have we done?

[00:04:50] We've done five.

[00:04:51] Five.

[00:04:52] Maybe Perez, if we were to look at him.

[00:04:56] Kevin Magnuson.

[00:04:58] Seven.

[00:04:59] Did we miss anyone?

[00:05:01] Did we miss anyone?

[00:05:05] I suppose not.

[00:05:07] Yeah.

[00:05:09] Why don't we actually do this?

[00:05:10] So, seven drivers out of 20, that's almost 40% of the field.

[00:05:16] And the interesting thing is, this season, we came into this season without making any

[00:05:21] changes to the driver lineup.

[00:05:23] And next season, we are making nearly a third of the grid shuffle or go away.

[00:05:29] So, I think Formula One teams have really believed that the young drivers are definitely

[00:05:35] the way to go.

[00:05:36] And sure, a couple of drivers have moved places.

[00:05:38] But lots of drivers incoming also into next season.

[00:05:42] There's also Jack.

[00:05:42] There's also Jack.

[00:05:43] Wait, wait.

[00:05:44] Wait a minute.

[00:05:44] Before we go to incoming, I just realized who we missed.

[00:05:47] We missed the one driver who Alpine definitely didn't want to give a farewell to in Qatar.

[00:05:54] So, that's Estabano Khan.

[00:05:55] That makes it eight drivers.

[00:05:56] And if we count Ricardo and Logan Sargent, that's 10 drivers.

[00:06:03] So, 50% of the grid.

[00:06:05] Is not there next year.

[00:06:07] Oh, sorry.

[00:06:08] Is moving.

[00:06:09] Is moving.

[00:06:10] Is having a farewell of some sort or the other.

[00:06:13] And wow.

[00:06:15] You know, before we actually move on to celebrating Lewis at Mercedes, I just want to say one thing.

[00:06:21] Whether or not it's a Checo Perez farewell.

[00:06:25] What seems to be happening in my mind if I can read my Formula One politics right.

[00:06:30] It's been 20 years of doing this.

[00:06:31] But I think it's all breaking out in the media.

[00:06:35] I just saw a tweet of Checo Perez's father saying 2025 Red Bull Racing celebrating with lots of cans of Red Bull with computers and stuff with the Mexican flag hugging all the cans.

[00:06:46] And I think it's going to be a media warfare.

[00:06:50] Okay.

[00:06:50] Between the Perez's and between Red Bull Racing.

[00:06:55] Red Bull has pretty much been telling the media that, listen, we've got a contract, but clearly the performances are not there.

[00:07:03] And they are now saying to the media, but we actually think Checo is going to make up his mind.

[00:07:08] The decision lies in his hands.

[00:07:10] And, you know, his future lies in his hands.

[00:07:13] And, you know, by saying that, by of course saying that shareholders will decide, etc.

[00:07:18] I get a feeling Red Bull has made up their mind and they want Checo to choose a respectable exit from the team.

[00:07:27] But like Daniel Ricciardo, Checo is waiting for a miracle this weekend to then say, hey, guess what?

[00:07:34] I'm going to be around in 2025.

[00:07:35] What do you think?

[00:07:36] I don't know if that's going to change because I think, I mean, if Red Bull had to oust him, they would have done it by now.

[00:07:43] And like you rightly said, there are so many clauses, so many things in the background that's happening.

[00:07:48] That's probably hindering that movement.

[00:07:52] And if Red Bull, we know Red Bull is very, very ruthless.

[00:07:55] If they decide that they're going to chuck a driver out, they really do it.

[00:07:59] And that's happened with many drivers before.

[00:08:01] And I think it's a very, very complicated situation with Sergio Perez.

[00:08:06] But talking strictly about performances, I think there's no need to dive deep into it at all.

[00:08:12] There's nothing in terms of impressive results in the last 20 odd races, including sprints.

[00:08:19] So if he's back at the season opener next year, I would be very surprised.

[00:08:24] Yeah.

[00:08:24] And if he's back at the season opener next year with Red Bull Racing, I'll be very surprised.

[00:08:29] As a second driver.

[00:08:30] As a second driver.

[00:08:31] As a second driver.

[00:08:31] If he's back at the season opener next year with another team, I might not be as surprised.

[00:08:39] Because he brings in so much money from Mexico that somebody might just say, you know what, for that kind of money, let's just have him.

[00:08:47] But there's no other team.

[00:08:48] No, well, you never know.

[00:08:50] I mean, you know, if Alpine was interested in Franco Colapinto for all that money from Argentina, could it be that Alpine says, can we have Checo Perez as Flavio Briatore there?

[00:09:00] You know, and let's put it this way.

[00:09:03] Even if Checo Perez was to win.

[00:09:05] Okay.

[00:09:06] It would be his first win since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last year.

[00:09:10] Okay.

[00:09:11] He's not been on the podium since China this year.

[00:09:15] Well, yes, he could have been on the podium in Azerbaijan.

[00:09:17] Again, a race he goes really well at and so on.

[00:09:19] But it's like there is almost no performance reason why Checo Perez should be kept on at Red Bull.

[00:09:27] It's all emotional.

[00:09:28] It's all financial.

[00:09:29] It's all of that.

[00:09:31] And let's see where that goes.

[00:09:33] We don't have a picture of Checo Perez, which is why I'm stuck on the picture of Lewis Hamilton.

[00:09:38] The driver who Checo Perez very valiantly, you know, defended against in 2021, helping Max Verstappen gain a lot of time on Lewis in that super controversial race that we had.

[00:09:50] But on to the big farewell, because Lewis Hamilton's farewell is actually the farewell of a rock star, which is he has a tour that he's doing of farewells.

[00:10:02] He's in Abu Dhabi.

[00:10:03] He's going to Kuala Lumpur to, I think it was one of the Petronas.

[00:10:11] Petronas.

[00:10:11] Yeah.

[00:10:11] Then he's going to Stuttgart, which is where Mercedes is.

[00:10:14] He'll be at Brackley in Bricksworth.

[00:10:17] So that's one.

[00:10:18] But it doesn't end there.

[00:10:19] Petronas is actually paying for Lewis to drive three of his previous championship winning cars at Sylvester at some point as well.

[00:10:27] I think it's already done.

[00:10:29] It's already done?

[00:10:29] Yeah, I could have guessed because it's almost it's too late to drive in Sylvester in terms of the weather.

[00:10:34] But so it's not it's it's it's the farewell of a rock star of if you were to ask Stuttgart, he might say farewell of a fading rock star or a rock star whose cognitive abilities are diminishing or whatever.

[00:10:48] But I think he's going to prove himself wrong.

[00:10:50] But Mr. Statman, what's your favorite stat of Lewis Hamilton?

[00:10:54] My favorite stat about him is that, you know, this is the most successful partnership in all of Formula One.

[00:11:03] No driver has taken six titles with with the team and together they have won eight titles.

[00:11:08] So Lewis Hamilton is transitioning from the most successful partnership in F1.

[00:11:14] And he is going to the most successful team in F1.

[00:11:17] And that has never happened in Formula One history.

[00:11:20] The most successful driver in terms of wins or world titles has never moved to the most successful team.

[00:11:27] They've always gone to teams or they've always not been champions and they've gone to teams and they've made that a successful one.

[00:11:35] Example, Shumi and Ferrari.

[00:11:36] But this is a big one.

[00:11:39] And what baffles me is Lewis Hamilton has spent 26 years with the Mercedes family.

[00:11:45] Of course, he did drive a McLaren Honda very recently in Brazil.

[00:11:51] But he's been with that Mercedes family for over 350 races ever since his teenage years.

[00:11:59] How many wins is it?

[00:12:01] 84 wins with the Mercedes team.

[00:12:05] 150 plus podiums.

[00:12:08] There's a lot of history.

[00:12:10] There's a lot of success that is there together with this team.

[00:12:13] And it's going to be difficult.

[00:12:14] It's going to take a while to sink in to not see him in the black overalls or white overalls or with the three-pointed star on his chest.

[00:12:22] It's going to take a while.

[00:12:23] It's going to take a while.

[00:12:24] Yeah, let's read it out.

[00:12:26] His first race was 2013 Australian Grand Prix.

[00:12:28] The good old days when Australia was hosting the season opener, which is also what's going to happen in 2025.

[00:12:35] He, like you said, 84 race wins, right?

[00:12:39] 78 pole positions.

[00:12:41] Six championships.

[00:12:43] Okay.

[00:12:44] All with Mercedes.

[00:12:46] In fact, he started racing as a Mercedes junior as well.

[00:12:50] At that time, it was McLaren Mercedes.

[00:12:52] It was that McLaren was the works team of Mercedes.

[00:12:55] It was always known as the Silver Arrows.

[00:12:57] And Lewis is responsible for 105 of the 222 Mercedes-powered race wins.

[00:13:07] So whether it's Mercedes as a constructor or Mercedes as a customer team, it's all what Lewis Hamilton has done.

[00:13:14] So very illustrious.

[00:13:15] Distrious, you know.

[00:13:16] And he's never experienced an engine in Formula One, which is not Mercedes-powered.

[00:13:21] So imagine when he sits and he suddenly races that Ferrari engine next year.

[00:13:26] I'm sure he'll also feel the difference in like, okay, this is what it's like to race a Ferrari engine.

[00:13:32] Not just the emotion and the pride of being a Ferrari driver, but how it actually responds to his right foot, right?

[00:13:39] And I think Lewis might just do one race early next year where he'll drive into the Mercedes pit box only to then drive forward to the Ferrari one.

[00:13:50] Or Ferrari will actually have his race engineer in the first few races say, remember Lewis, it's the third box.

[00:13:58] Remember Lewis, it's the fifth box.

[00:14:00] Actually, it'll be the third box because or maybe the first box.

[00:14:03] You never know if Ferrari ended up winning, but 13 minutes in to this episode.

[00:14:09] Clearly, everyone who's been listening in in recent times knows that it's Somal Arora who hosts this, but he still has bad wife, as he said the last time.

[00:14:19] We'll continue with the joke.

[00:14:21] And quick round of introduction.

[00:14:23] That's me, Kunal.

[00:14:24] There's Mithila after me.

[00:14:26] And there's Somal and F1 Stats Guru out here, of course.

[00:14:30] I have been an FIA accredited Formula One journalist for TV and print for several years.

[00:14:36] For those in Norway actually get to see me on Wireplay, formerly the head of marketing and sponsorship and the junior driver academy at Force India.

[00:14:44] And I've written for several esteemed publications in the world of motorsport.

[00:14:49] Pretty proud of that.

[00:14:50] But what I'm even more proud of is the team I get to work with.

[00:14:54] There's Somal Arora, the voice of Formula One.

[00:14:56] Not yet.

[00:14:58] Maybe Tango Slip.

[00:14:59] Maybe a hint that I dropped again.

[00:15:01] I don't know.

[00:15:01] Voice of Motorsport in India.

[00:15:03] Voice of the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix.

[00:15:05] He's pretty much commentated on everything on wheels, two wheels and four wheels that happens in the Indian subcontinent.

[00:15:13] And along with me on this broadcast is Mr. F1 Stats Guru, also known as Sundaram, which I think you just have to change your name to F1 Stats Guru.

[00:15:24] I can almost never on a broadcast call you Sundaram.

[00:15:27] But official statistician for the F1 Academy.

[00:15:33] And his stats are consumed by fans all over, by media all over.

[00:15:38] And my favorite line to introduce him is, you have definitely come across his stat, whether it's from his handle or from a handle that's stolen it.

[00:15:47] Okay.

[00:15:47] But he's also a member of the WTF Talent Group and is on to big things in the world of motorsport in the offseason.

[00:15:57] I'm pretty very sure of that.

[00:15:58] And as a collective, we've actually worked very closely with lots of brands, Red Bull, Fancord, Social, Amazon Music and the likes.

[00:16:06] And for all of you listening in, we've got Spotify Wrapped that's come up.

[00:16:11] So we will share our Spotify Wrapped in the next couple of days.

[00:16:14] Very interesting numbers.

[00:16:15] Thank you for all the love.

[00:16:16] But you can send in your questions to us and your race predictions and your comments and your criticism and your love for us on Actrate, Inside, Line, F1 Pod on every medium.

[00:16:29] But talking of farewells, we actually have.

[00:16:33] So there was something to say.

[00:16:35] Yeah, you know, as a Fernando Alonso fan, I usually don't like drawing parallels between Lewis and Fernando.

[00:16:42] But then there were two things that struck me.

[00:16:45] First and foremost, we know that Fernando Alonso has had a career of many what ifs, what if this and many controversial or debatable decisions, career moves.

[00:16:57] Whereas in Lewis Hamilton's case, it seemed like a terrible choice back in 2013 when he did move from McLaren.

[00:17:06] I think Jeremy Clarkson said it was probably one of the worst decisions ever.

[00:17:11] And look at how it's turned out.

[00:17:13] But the second point is I was just looking at Lewis Hamilton stats.

[00:17:16] Lewis Hamilton has had only 14 DNFs with Mercedes over the last 12 years.

[00:17:22] There's just over one DNF each season.

[00:17:26] And Fernando Alonso, during his three years with McLaren Honda, Honda especially, not Renault, had 22 DNFs in those three seasons himself.

[00:17:37] So I'm sure if Fernando is listening to this episode, he's going to switch off right here at this point.

[00:17:43] But that's how unfortunate Fernando's career has been and how decorated and well thought out and well executed Lewis's career has been.

[00:17:52] Wow. But why don't we just spend a minute on Lewis's career?

[00:17:57] What's your favorite memory of Lewis Hamilton?

[00:17:59] He's not leaving Formula One, but he's leaving Mercedes in Formula One.

[00:18:03] What's your favorite memory of Lewis till date?

[00:18:08] I think there are a couple.

[00:18:11] Firstly, the way the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix when he won his seventh title.

[00:18:16] The emotions behind probably tying or equalling the greatest of all time and even your hero, your idol at some point.

[00:18:28] That is one memory because that was also a very difficult race which he came through and he won and he managed to take a seventh title.

[00:18:38] But what also stands for me is the fact that his ruthlessness.

[00:18:42] I will always equate Lewis Hamilton to consistency.

[00:18:46] That's what really earned my respect.

[00:18:50] Being a Fernando Alonso fan, obviously you don't start liking Lewis Hamilton straight away.

[00:18:55] But then you are forced to like, respect and love the guy for what he's done on track.

[00:19:01] And a very good example.

[00:19:04] This is a stat that I've been holding very close to my heart and I don't want to put it out because I want to do a piece of content around it.

[00:19:09] But I have to say it now because it is the occasion.

[00:19:13] There have been just two drivers over the last 25 years who've topped every single session of a race weekend.

[00:19:21] Mika Hakkinen did it in 1998.

[00:19:23] Lewis Hamilton did it in 2015 in Italy.

[00:19:26] He topped FP1, FP2, FP3.

[00:19:29] Q1, Q2, Q3.

[00:19:31] Took pole.

[00:19:32] Won the race by leading every single lap.

[00:19:35] And took the fastest lap.

[00:19:36] Wow.

[00:19:38] And no drivers done it since.

[00:19:41] Max Verstappen during his most dominant years of 2022 and 2023 has not done it yet.

[00:19:49] Wow.

[00:19:51] Wow.

[00:19:52] Incredible.

[00:19:52] I'll tell you my memory.

[00:19:53] And I have two memories as well.

[00:19:57] A couple of them.

[00:19:57] First was, I can't remember, it was British Grand Prix or the 70th anniversary Grand Prix.

[00:20:02] But the one he won on three tires.

[00:20:05] Ooh, yes.

[00:20:05] I think that was incredible.

[00:20:07] You know, we've celebrated Fernando Alonso on one tire in Baku at some point.

[00:20:11] But Lewis won three wheels on his wagon.

[00:20:14] And I loved it for how that race turned out.

[00:20:18] And it won.

[00:20:19] And, you know, since I'm a very spiritual person, for all those who know me very closely, and I believe in, you know, what you give is what you get back, sort of.

[00:20:29] It was during, I can't remember the year, but I remember the race.

[00:20:34] It was Hamilton versus Vettel.

[00:20:36] Vettel was in Ferrari.

[00:20:37] Hamilton and Bottas in Hungary.

[00:20:41] And as a teammate.

[00:20:42] And Bottas gave him track position.

[00:20:45] They swapped with team orders and Lewis Hamilton would have finished, I think, third or fourth, I believe.

[00:20:52] And sort of lost fewer points to Vettel.

[00:20:55] But Lewis actually gave up that position to Bottas because he said, that's not how I want to win a title.

[00:21:01] He eventually won that title that year.

[00:21:03] But I just thought that, you know, for the personality that he is, for the rock star that he is, for all that he's achieved,

[00:21:12] there is a very, I often joke on the podcast, but, you know, he's St. Louis Hamilton.

[00:21:17] There's a very philosophical, content human inside that helmet, inside that heart, brain, body, whatever we don't get to otherwise see.

[00:21:27] And a lot of people think that he's a lot of PR with his diversity, inclusiveness, inclusion, et cetera, and all those stances he takes.

[00:21:35] But I believe he's a lot more than his racing car driver personality.

[00:21:39] And it's just about how deep one can think in their own emotions before you can understand the different facets of what makes Lewis Hamilton.

[00:21:50] But we should move on because clearly there is a constructor waiting to be won.

[00:21:57] And I can't remember the math, but I do remember that Ferrari isn't a chance to win.

[00:22:05] There's eight points in it, which means with two cars, it's a higher chance to actually get a swing to happen if one was to call it that.

[00:22:16] McLaren won 17 points in Qatar.

[00:22:19] Ferrari got 26 points, which already was a nine-point swing, right?

[00:22:23] So it's all about whether Ferrari can make its swing.

[00:22:28] If I do remember correctly, Sundaram, and I have to check, but I don't think that a team has entered the last race of the season second in the Constructors' Championship to finally then go on to win the Constructors' Championship.

[00:22:43] I remember discussing this in the Wireplay studio and we were like, yeah, we don't think that somebody's actually come second and then won it on the last race of the season.

[00:22:52] So that was one.

[00:22:53] And then second was it's what, 16 years, longest gap for Ferrari since Constructors' Championship win 2008 to 2024.

[00:23:03] And frankly, if they were to win, I think Leclerc and Sainz should just step, leave everything, go to Ferrari world, sit in the fastest roller coaster in the world just to embrace Ferrari for everything that it is on track and off it.

[00:23:17] Yeah, because Red Bull are officially eliminated from the Championship.

[00:23:22] So for the first time in 14 years, we'll see a different team celebrating a Championship success, be it drivers or constructors.

[00:23:29] The last team to do that was Braun back in 2009.

[00:23:33] And what a great backstory to that as well.

[00:23:35] But this has been a constant period of struggle for both McLaren and Ferrari and more so for McLaren because of their terrible, you know, falling back the grid, falling back to the very bottom during the McLaren-Honda era.

[00:23:52] And the way they've, you know, taken it step by step, it's also a huge vote of confidence for Zac Brown's leadership.

[00:23:59] The moment he came in 2018 and he's built that team, built, if I'm not wrong, they actually sold their headquarters back in 2020 as well.

[00:24:09] And it was leased back to them.

[00:24:11] So they've been through a lot, McLaren as a team.

[00:24:14] And the way they've come back is incredible.

[00:24:17] And it's worth highlighting because while Ferrari is still struggling in so many different aspects to have a consistently front-running car and a front-running team,

[00:24:28] McLaren have been able to do that.

[00:24:30] And with a 21-point lead, it's very unlikely that they will lose it.

[00:24:35] It's very unlikely that they'll lose it.

[00:24:36] And if they do, it's going to be probably the first time in F1 history that a team, Ferrari in this case, wins the constructors title after never leading the constructors standings throughout the season.

[00:24:49] Is that a record of sorts?

[00:24:52] I believe so.

[00:24:53] That's what I've done my validations.

[00:24:55] I might still have to do it because I don't see anyone else talking about it.

[00:24:58] But I think that has never happened before.

[00:25:02] Ferrari has not led the standings this year at all.

[00:25:04] And if they do that after Abu Dhabi, it's going to be a repeat of what Sebastian Vettel did in 2010 because he won the title after leading the championship for the very first time after Abu Dhabi.

[00:25:15] He had not led the title standings until that point.

[00:25:20] So it's going to be a very interesting story for both teams.

[00:25:24] They are one of the OG teams of Formula 1.

[00:25:27] And they have long waited for this opportunity.

[00:25:29] But whoever comes on top, I'm sure it's going to be a massive, massive celebration.

[00:25:34] Yeah.

[00:25:34] And, you know, their turnaround from last year and this year, a fantastic turnaround this year, the Miami update last year, the Austria upgrade.

[00:25:42] And just a couple of years ago, midway through the season, they had a management reshuffle.

[00:25:46] They had James Key leaving for the team that's now called, I think James Key is with Racing Bulls or is it he Sauber?

[00:25:53] I think he's with Sauber now.

[00:25:55] Yeah, he's with Sauber with Andrea Seidel, who's no longer there.

[00:25:59] But yeah, James Key moved.

[00:26:01] James Key coincidentally was also with me at Force India at one point.

[00:26:05] But Andrea Stella, and I've known his son, Eduardo, on and off through our social circles in London.

[00:26:12] But what a guy.

[00:26:15] I mean, you know, and the funny thing is for a lot of new fans, Andrea Stella was actually a longtime Ferrari employee.

[00:26:22] He was a race engineer.

[00:26:23] He's actually spent a lot of years as Fernando Alonso's race engineer at Ferrari.

[00:26:28] And now to see him lead the team with what it is, is pretty, pretty fantastic.

[00:26:33] So that's one battle.

[00:26:35] Definitely big bucks, big pride in it.

[00:26:38] Ferrari versus McLaren, the good old history.

[00:26:41] I mean, if you've woken up 20 years, you know, after a 20-year hiatus, you probably think, what?

[00:26:46] They were battling 20 years ago and they're still battling?

[00:26:48] Where are all the other teams?

[00:26:49] Well, the truth is the last 14 championships, if I remember, have been shared by Red Bull and Mercedes.

[00:27:00] Okay.

[00:27:00] So Ferrari and McLaren are actually coming back to claim what's originally, historically been theirs, which is the F1 crown.

[00:27:08] And I'd love to see Williams get in there at some point.

[00:27:11] But the other team, there is a battle for P6, which is Alpine versus Racing Bulls versus Haas.

[00:27:18] And, you know, Haas not getting this P6 would be such a heartbreak.

[00:27:26] Not for any other reason, but just how beautiful their season has been, how consistent their season has been.

[00:27:34] Five points in it between them.

[00:27:36] This P6 has changed two times in the last three races, Sundaram, right?

[00:27:41] And just goes to show how much of it is down to the upgrades they bring.

[00:27:47] Alpine is very pleased with the upgrades.

[00:27:49] Haas has built themselves on consistency through the season, especially with Nico Halkenberg.

[00:27:54] And, you know, a very outside chance for Racing Bulls.

[00:27:57] But, you know, Racing Bulls could still get seventh because they are just about eight points away from Haas in that position.

[00:28:03] So lots of pride to fight for, even though Max Verstappen has actually sealed the Drivers' Championship in Las Vegas.

[00:28:10] And one thing, you know, Max had three chances to seal it in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

[00:28:15] He sealed it in the first one.

[00:28:17] McLaren actually had two chances to seal it, which was Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

[00:28:20] And they did not seal it in the first instance.

[00:28:23] So lots of battles going down to the wire.

[00:28:26] And I really hope that there is no FIA intervention in unjustly, if that's a word, or unfairly settling any of these.

[00:28:38] There are five positions out of 10.

[00:28:40] So 50% of positions are up for grabs.

[00:28:42] And I really hope that the FIA doesn't intervene in an unfair, unjust manner to settle any of these.

[00:28:49] You know, as much as I want the rest of the season to be controversial, to be unpredictable,

[00:28:54] I would actually generally want to see a straight fight.

[00:28:57] No controversy, no penalties, swinging things one way or the other.

[00:29:02] Just the best team taking position, either winning the title or, like you say, taking P6.

[00:29:08] I just want to see a straight fight for some reason.

[00:29:10] And the thing about Haas, compared to an Alpine or an RB, RB they had a much better first half of the season.

[00:29:19] Alpines had a much better second half of the season, especially the last couple of races.

[00:29:23] But Haas has been consistent through and through, which means that their upgrades have worked from the very beginning.

[00:29:31] And they've made that whole operation work without Gunther Steiner, the first year for Aya Komatsu.

[00:29:36] And I'll say it again, looking at how they came into the season, I did not have a lot of belief into Ayao.

[00:29:42] And I think he's proved everyone wrong that this is the best decision that Gene Haas has taken in a while.

[00:29:49] And they've made it click with the driver who's, what, 35, 36 years old, Nico Hulkenberg.

[00:29:56] And Kevin Magnussen does come in with a lot of experience, but being able to tame him at times might be difficult.

[00:30:02] And Ayao has done it.

[00:30:03] Yeah.

[00:30:03] And I remember in preseason testing, they were the only team that kept doing long runs, long runs, no focus on short runs.

[00:30:10] And Nico Hulkenberg has had, what, nine or 10 Q3 appearances, right?

[00:30:15] So for all the data they picked up for optimizing race runs, he's actually gone and, you know, put it in Q3, which I think is a big achievement for a team like Haas.

[00:30:24] And I'll be honest, you know, usually I'm neutral, but going into Abu Dhabi, I'm actually neutral about McLaren and Ferrari as well.

[00:30:34] Okay.

[00:30:35] If anything, I'm just in awe that despite having such a shitty season, Ferrari are still in the fight.

[00:30:41] I mean, that's the general perception, right?

[00:30:43] That McLaren have had a great all-round car.

[00:30:45] They've been the team to beat, but they couldn't win the drivers.

[00:30:48] And now they're being challenged in the constructors.

[00:30:50] Whereas Ferrari, after winning in Monaco, had like four or five really trashy races.

[00:30:55] And anyway, but my point is, in P6, I'm actually biased.

[00:31:01] I'm actually cheering for Haas.

[00:31:04] And not because Nico is somebody I've known for a long, long time.

[00:31:08] And I've had the privilege of knowing him as a friend and, you know, as a colleague at Force India.

[00:31:12] But just what you said, you know, the recovery, I mean, the turmoil they went through with Gunther Steiner leaving,

[00:31:20] then Steiner taking the team to court and them still having a battle, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:31:25] And pretty much everyone wondering, oh, well, why do we need, you know, we need Andretti because Haas is not doing enough as an American team, blah, blah, blah.

[00:31:33] Haas is adding no value.

[00:31:34] But Haas is adding tremendous emotional value this season, I would say.

[00:31:39] And I think because of Gunther Steiner's popularity, I think all of us were sold on his story that he wasn't getting enough funds from Gene Haas, which is why the team is struggling.

[00:31:51] And I think all of us were sold that Gene Haas was the problem and Gunther Steiner was doing everything right that was possible.

[00:31:59] And sure, there was a lot of controversy.

[00:32:01] And that's why I say that we really do not believe in Aya Komatsu.

[00:32:04] And then he's gone and proven everyone wrong that it is still possible with what Gene provides with us.

[00:32:09] I can still make efficient use of it.

[00:32:11] So that's why it is one of the stories.

[00:32:13] And I think people really relate to that.

[00:32:15] And that's why, apart from the big teams, apart from McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, I think one of the most loved teams after that has to be Haas.

[00:32:24] And guess what?

[00:32:26] It's not for drive to survive that Haas is being loved.

[00:32:29] It's for what they're doing on track.

[00:32:31] Yeah.

[00:32:32] And that's the one thing that really stands out for me, you know, that the real performance is what talks.

[00:32:37] But Alpine, of course, very bold with what Alpine is doing because in a battle for P6, they actually have Jack Doohan replacing Esteban Ocon.

[00:32:50] Right.

[00:32:51] And a lot of pressure on him.

[00:32:53] A lot of pressure on the team because, you know, Esteban actually scored a lot of points, has scored a lot of points.

[00:32:59] And if you had just one race to, you know, put both or choose two out of three drivers, you'd pick a Gastly and Ocon to try and get you maximum points.

[00:33:09] But he's not there.

[00:33:11] What does Jack need to do?

[00:33:12] And in my view, after having worked with several junior drivers and upcoming drivers, I think, A, he needs to keep it clean.

[00:33:20] But B, given the whole atmosphere around young drivers who've gotten in and literally picked up the pace in no time, he needs to be on the pace.

[00:33:30] So if Gastly's in Q3, which is what's happened in the last, I think, four out of five races or something, Jack Doohan needs to be not more than a couple of tenths down.

[00:33:41] And this is a circuit Jack has driven on.

[00:33:43] He's done a lot of private testing as well, not as much as Kimi Antonelli, but he's done a lot of private testing.

[00:33:50] And I know because, you know, a couple of tests that I was with, with Kush Maini, Jack had just driven, I was coming to drive along with Victor Martin.

[00:33:57] So Alpine has been running him several times, which means he cannot crash since that's anyway not the best way to pick it.

[00:34:06] But a couple of tenths, that's all he's got.

[00:34:08] And if he has the chance to score points, he has to go for it.

[00:34:12] He has to show, you know, that he's of course got the hunger, but the capability to deliver on that hunger and that pressure.

[00:34:19] And apart from the pressure of making a Formula 1 debut, it's also the fact that Alpine are still fighting for P6.

[00:34:27] They are still five points, just five points ahead of Ahas.

[00:34:30] And if it comes down to Jack Doohan making that decisive climb up or pass, which could decide Alpine finishing P6 or P7, that could be added pressure in your very first race.

[00:34:45] That too, which is also the season finale.

[00:34:47] And I remember discussing about this during our last review.

[00:34:51] The fact is, there have been just two drivers in this millennium who've actually debuted in the season finale.

[00:34:59] And one of course was Kazuki Nakajima.

[00:35:05] And the other one was...

[00:35:07] Andre Lothra?

[00:35:08] No, no. Kazuki Nakajima in Brazil 2007.

[00:35:12] And Will Stevens in Abu Dhabi 2014.

[00:35:16] Sorry, the only two drivers in the last 30 years, not just this millennium, the last 30 years.

[00:35:22] Wow. Incredible.

[00:35:24] Incredible.

[00:35:24] But there is one more driver making debut.

[00:35:27] Lots of drivers doing FP1 sessions.

[00:35:29] I've pretty much lost track because when I see this, okay, Arthur Leclerc being there in that FP1 session is an absolute shocker.

[00:35:41] Because again, I've worked with several drivers who should have gotten a chance but didn't.

[00:35:47] But this is, you know, question, is it talent?

[00:35:51] Is it nepotism?

[00:35:52] What do you think?

[00:35:53] I think it just seems like a PR stunt in my opinion.

[00:35:56] Because if I'm not wrong, I think Arthur Leclerc is not even part of Ferrari's Driver Academy at this point.

[00:36:02] Correct?

[00:36:03] I think he's one of the former drivers.

[00:36:05] And he left the team.

[00:36:06] Yeah, yeah.

[00:36:07] Arthur Leclerc left Ferrari's Driver Academy last year.

[00:36:10] So, it really even baffles me.

[00:36:12] Even I'm wondering, what is he doing in that Ferrari seat?

[00:36:15] Yeah.

[00:36:16] And, you know, I tweeted this.

[00:36:19] It became a very popular post where normally we keep saying Red Bull's junior driver program is depleting.

[00:36:26] Mercedes pretty much doesn't have a junior driver program.

[00:36:28] Apart from Antonelli, they dropped Paul Aaron last year.

[00:36:32] Esteban O'Connor is still a Mercedes junior, interestingly.

[00:36:35] But, you know, in the case of Ferrari, Oliver Behrman doing so many races in the season has actually worked against Haas and Ferrari because he's no longer classified as a rookie.

[00:36:46] If you do more than two Grand Prix's in Formula 1, you're no longer a rookie unless you've had a more than two-year break from the sport.

[00:36:53] So, Oliver Behrman is out.

[00:36:56] Robert Schwartzman has left the Ferrari Driver Academy as a junior as well.

[00:37:00] So, Ferrari literally has no one else to put in the car.

[00:37:03] And they still have, you know, an FP1 session to give away by the regulations to a rookie driver.

[00:37:09] So, in comes Arthur Leclerc.

[00:37:11] The other drivers, of course, being Antonio Giovinazzi who's done two seasons at Alfa Romeo.

[00:37:16] So, he definitely is not a rookie.

[00:37:18] But Sundaram, he could have come in as a rookie with a two-year break from Formula 1 because he's clearly had that two-year break.

[00:37:27] But anyway, that was one.

[00:37:28] And then the other one…

[00:37:29] But they also have a Dino Beganovic who had a very good Formula 2.

[00:37:34] I don't know if it was his debut, but he came into the season midway and he had a brilliant race in Qatar.

[00:37:42] Yes, he's a Swedish driver.

[00:37:43] Yeah.

[00:37:43] Yeah.

[00:37:45] So, Dino Beganovic was one that came up but could have been that he has literally no experience of being in or around a Formula 1 car.

[00:37:53] That could have been one.

[00:37:54] And, you know, without a TPC most of the times, you wouldn't really want to put a driver straight into FP1.

[00:37:59] But Antonio Foucault or the guy who won Le Mans with Ferrari and Giovinazzi, that's somebody they could have put in.

[00:38:06] But you'll probably find out this weekend why it isn't him.

[00:38:10] But 37 minutes in, I have to ask you, what are the important numbers for Abu Dhabi?

[00:38:16] And before you actually share yours, yours, mine.

[00:38:19] From the last 12 races, nine of them have been won from pole position, right?

[00:38:28] Two have won from P2, which means the front row has won 11 out of the last 12.

[00:38:34] And then Kimi Raikkonen's race in 2012, he won from P4.

[00:38:38] Is that correct?

[00:38:39] You can forget nine of the last 12.

[00:38:42] It's actually the last nine Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have been won from pole position.

[00:38:47] Okay, yeah, same thing.

[00:38:48] Yeah, yeah.

[00:38:50] And the last 12 races in Abu Dhabi have been won by the team taking the front row.

[00:38:58] And 14, sorry, 14 of the last 15 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have been won from the front row.

[00:39:05] And Abu Dhabi is the venue where we've witnessed the most season finales.

[00:39:10] And the UAE is now going to become the country that has hosted the most season finales.

[00:39:16] One of the few twilight races that we have in Formula 1.

[00:39:19] And one of the few races where the Grand Prix name is named after the host city rather than the country.

[00:39:27] Yeah, Sao Paulo is the other one that comes to mind.

[00:39:30] But very interestingly, guys and girls, Sundarav and I were like, yeah, what do we talk about the circuit?

[00:39:35] And honestly, this is what he said.

[00:39:36] Yeah, well, the circuit really doesn't have much character.

[00:39:39] So we just wrote characteristics of the circuit.

[00:39:42] Oscar Piastri said McLaren will have a strong weekend here.

[00:39:45] But in general, the belief is that this is Ferrari territory with the amount of slow speed, medium speed corners that are there.

[00:39:53] But you never know how they all go.

[00:39:56] Ferrari territory this year.

[00:39:59] Ferrari territory this year.

[00:40:01] Because this is one stat I've been using for the last two years in my stats packs that Abu Dhabi is Ferrari's bogey track.

[00:40:10] They have never taken pole here.

[00:40:12] They have never won the race here.

[00:40:14] Although the Ferrari world is barely a couple of kilometers away.

[00:40:17] They have never won at this track.

[00:40:19] And they've led all of 13 laps at this circuit.

[00:40:23] They have raced the most laps around Abu Dhabi.

[00:40:27] But they've led just 13.

[00:40:29] And Williams have led 14 laps around this track.

[00:40:33] One lap more than Ferrari.

[00:40:35] So can they completely quash all of my stats, put it on pole, win the race and lead all of the laps and then go on to win the title?

[00:40:45] I don't know.

[00:40:45] But it's going to be interesting to see if they can do that.

[00:40:48] Wow.

[00:40:49] Very, very interesting.

[00:40:50] So let's see how they go.

[00:40:52] Because the circuit definitely, I think, I've always wondered what happens if somebody just crashes into the pit lane.

[00:40:58] But that's almost never happened.

[00:41:00] Because the pit lane exit is a tunnel.

[00:41:01] I like the circuit for what it looks like on TV.

[00:41:06] But it's pretty characterless otherwise from a racing point of view.

[00:41:10] I think the one big challenge the teams face is because it's a twilight race, they have to set up the car differently.

[00:41:19] For example, FP2 is more relevant than FP3.

[00:41:25] Because FP2 and qualifying is run pretty much at the same time.

[00:41:27] So they just run a different run plan, but that's what they need to adapt to per se.

[00:41:33] But apart from that, any other memories of this circuit apart from 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sundaram?

[00:41:41] I have very bad memories of Abu Dhabi.

[00:41:43] You don't want me to go back to, what was it, 2010?

[00:41:47] 2010 Abu Dhabi.

[00:41:48] Fernando Alonso losing the title at this very track.

[00:41:51] So I don't have very great memories, please.

[00:41:54] I'll tell you what, I was actually at that race myself.

[00:41:57] And I'll tell you why I don't have great memory.

[00:41:59] Yeah, because that was my second year at Force India.

[00:42:02] We were locked in battle with Williams.

[00:42:06] And now I have to check this on Wiki.

[00:42:09] Okay.

[00:42:09] But we were locked in battle with Williams for, I think it was pretty much the last few spots in the Constructors Championship.

[00:42:19] I can actually tell you.

[00:42:20] Yeah, we were locked in battle for sixth place and not really the last one.

[00:42:24] It went down to the wire and we lost sixth place to Williams by one point.

[00:42:32] By one point.

[00:42:33] Williams was 69 points.

[00:42:35] We had 68.

[00:42:37] All we needed to do was score at least one point.

[00:42:41] We had 13th and a retirement and Williams was 12th and 16th.

[00:42:46] And at that time, Williams actually had a Cosworth engine.

[00:42:48] But yeah.

[00:42:50] So that's the Abu Dhabi story.

[00:42:52] But any bold predictions before we call it a night?

[00:42:57] The only bold prediction would be that Ferrari wins the title.

[00:43:00] There's no bold prediction that you can make.

[00:43:03] But it's going to be tricky this one.

[00:43:09] You know what?

[00:43:10] There is one bold prediction that is possible.

[00:43:12] We have not taken a look at the driver's standings.

[00:43:15] You see, we've been speaking about this being a title between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen,

[00:43:21] which I feel to some extent has been very overhyped.

[00:43:24] A non-existential championship battle.

[00:43:27] But you can see Norris is slowly falling into Leclerc's clutches.

[00:43:32] There's only eight points separating the both of them.

[00:43:35] And imagine if Leclerc finishes the race P1, Norris finishes P3.

[00:43:42] He goes past him and he goes P2 in the championship.

[00:43:46] So I think that's going to be my bold prediction.

[00:43:48] Since we already said that this is going to be key Ferrari territory.

[00:43:53] Leclerc has actually been brilliant.

[00:43:55] There was one stat that I pulled up from the last race.

[00:43:58] I'll have to dig it up.

[00:44:00] But I think Leclerc has been the only driver who's finished in the top five in every of the last 10 to 12 races.

[00:44:07] So Leclerc is in prime, prime form.

[00:44:11] If he wins and if he's able to create the deficit to Norris, he could take P2.

[00:44:15] So that's going to be my bold prediction.

[00:44:17] Leclerc takes P2.

[00:44:18] I'll make two bold predictions all linked to the same driver.

[00:44:21] So at least one will come true.

[00:44:23] Checo Perez will win in Abu Dhabi.

[00:44:26] And then announce his retirement.

[00:44:28] Not happening.

[00:44:29] Not happening.

[00:44:30] Yeah.

[00:44:31] Okay.

[00:44:31] On to the final lap.

[00:44:33] Team standings.

[00:44:34] Who do you think is taking P6 in the constructors?

[00:44:38] It's.

[00:44:40] See, the thing is, even if the equal points.

[00:44:43] No, no, no.

[00:44:43] No explanation.

[00:44:44] Name the team.

[00:44:46] Take a stance.

[00:44:48] Alpine.

[00:44:49] Alpine.

[00:44:50] And the reason I'm saying the reason I say that is,

[00:44:52] even if Alpine is equal on points with Haas,

[00:44:56] they have a P2.

[00:44:56] They have a P3, which Haas doesn't have.

[00:44:59] So Haas really needs to score six points this weekend.

[00:45:02] And it's not a sprint weekend.

[00:45:03] They don't have multiple opportunities.

[00:45:05] So their drivers will have to finish P4.

[00:45:08] Sorry.

[00:45:09] They'll have to score four and two points.

[00:45:10] So that is ninth and seventh.

[00:45:14] Seventh.

[00:45:15] Sorry.

[00:45:15] Ninth.

[00:45:15] Eighth and ninth.

[00:45:16] Eighth and ninth.

[00:45:17] At the very least,

[00:45:18] and Alpine doesn't have to score at all.

[00:45:20] I feel that's going to be difficult.

[00:45:21] So I'm going with Alpine.

[00:45:23] I will go with Haas because it's so tough to bet against this Haas outfit.

[00:45:29] But that's me.

[00:45:30] Send in your bold predictions.

[00:45:32] Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube,

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[00:45:37] Sundaram is on Stats Guru on Instagram.

[00:45:39] I am at Kunal A. Shah on Twitter.

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[00:45:44] But anyway, follow us.

[00:45:46] Send in your bold predictions.

[00:45:48] Like us.

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[00:45:50] Whatever.

[00:45:50] Whatever.

[00:45:50] But thank you for being on this journey with us.

[00:45:52] 24 races.

[00:45:55] 24 preview episodes.

[00:45:56] We've got the race review coming in after Abu Dhabi.

[00:45:59] And guess what?

[00:46:00] I will actually be in Mumbai for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

[00:46:03] And we are still trying to figure out if we're going to have a race screening event or not.

[00:46:07] But stay tuned for that.

[00:46:08] Thank you.

[00:46:09] And adios.

[00:46:09] Good news.

[00:46:10] Thank you.