FIA-sco for McLaren as Lando Norris deserved the penalty in Lusail - 2024 Qatar GP Review

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[00:01:20] Max Verstappen has done it again. A weekend where I literally thought he wouldn't be able to score a win. He has thrown it out of the park. And how? But not without what we on the Inside Line F1 Podcast believe was an absolute fiasco for the FIA at the Qatar Grand Prix. Although, those are really big talking points. What? You and I are going to look at Sundaram before we get to the introduction.

[00:01:49] What exactly are we talking about today? What exactly are we talking about today? This is a very corporate style presentation. I love doing these. Lots of animations as well for everyone watching on YouTube.

[00:02:00] But we're going to talk about the FIA in the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix. Maxster class yet again. And I particularly want to talk about how he pulled off that win, Max Verstappen, and his spatial awareness again.

[00:02:19] And I say again because we saw that in Brazil where Lando Norris actually started an illegal formation lab.

[00:02:26] And Max was one of the first ones to point out saying, but hey, the lights are still there. Why did he leave?

[00:02:31] So his spatial awareness is brilliant. We saw it yet again in Qatar.

[00:02:35] And then Lando Norris' penalty. I think this is that slide where we're going to either spend three minutes and move on or 30 minutes and keep debating it.

[00:02:45] It was harsh, but was it really fair?

[00:02:50] And then rumors are abuzz. Will Checo Perez self-retire after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?

[00:02:56] Well, he did retire himself, self-retire himself in Qatar after burning his clutch.

[00:03:01] And a very interesting question. I'm waiting for the official investigation.

[00:03:06] But why did the left front tires puncture for Hamilton and signs in Qatar?

[00:03:13] Followed by Lewis Hamilton. Yet another time, he's had two unforced errors on a single day of a Grand Prix weekend.

[00:03:22] We will dig deep into that as well. And I'll also share why I'm saying yet another time.

[00:03:26] George Russell, his lack of spatial awareness. Clearly, yet one more time, you know, in qualifying, slowdown lap.

[00:03:34] We know what happened. Another fiasco for the FIA that we should discuss.

[00:03:39] Pierre Gasly to fifth.

[00:03:42] And Alpine to sixth position, followed by first points for Sauer and Cho Kuan Yew.

[00:03:49] And I know, Sundaram, you were there to watch Fernando Alonso's 400th Grand Prix, where for the first time in four races, Aston Martin actually scored points, which will be the last talking point we should talk of.

[00:04:03] But before we move on to the fiasco, welcome to the Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:04:08] Samuel Arora is clearly not here. I'm sure you guys know I don't sound like him.

[00:04:12] My name is Kunal Shah. We'll do a formal introduction later.

[00:04:15] But I also have with me Sundaram, a.k.a. F1 Stats Guru, who just, I think, three and a half hours ago has landed into the port of Mumbai from Qatar.

[00:04:27] He was there at the race. He's been in the paddock. He's done a lot of work with Pirelli, a lot of content.

[00:04:34] Sundaram, how was your experience at Qatar? Was the race as exciting in the stands?

[00:04:39] Oh, it absolutely was. And I think the whole race weekend was very exciting because all the categories that we had, F1 Academy, Formula 2 as well, there was lots of action going on through the sprint races and even the feature races there.

[00:04:53] So lots of interesting sessions, a good Grand Prix experience in general, lots of activities.

[00:05:00] But also watching a race live is mostly about the experience and the atmosphere rather than the race itself.

[00:05:09] You can barely see much from a corner, but still we did get to see a fair bit.

[00:05:13] We were sitting a little straight ahead from the opening corner.

[00:05:16] So we did see the hairpin and drivers chucking the cars through turn two, turn three.

[00:05:20] And I absolutely loved it when the cars went over the curbs, the rumble steps.

[00:05:25] There was just some odd satisfaction that I was getting while that was happening.

[00:05:29] But I enjoyed the trip and the race was also very fun, a little chaotic.

[00:05:34] And I'm sure we'll break it down one by one like you've already said.

[00:05:38] I think you're being very modest as you always are when you say a little chaotic.

[00:05:41] That race was very chaotic.

[00:05:43] But I'm going to pick on what you said about the rumble strips and the sound of the tires hitting those curbs.

[00:05:50] It's equivalent to when you say you hear a golf club middling a golf ball, that thing that you get, for example.

[00:06:01] You know that's a perfect shot.

[00:06:03] Or even in the case of cricket, when you middle the bat with a season ball, you know what that feeling or that sound is like.

[00:06:11] And you're right, you know, the tires hitting the curbs are actually as much to motorsport as some of the other sounds that I said are to the world of other sports as well.

[00:06:20] In fact, I would probably say even the screeching of tires, which you can hear a little more in since the V6 hybrid turbo, you know, power units were introduced as well.

[00:06:28] But before we actually run out of time, which we almost always do, we have to get into the fiasco for the FIA in the Qatar Grand Prix.

[00:06:41] So what were actually the fiascos?

[00:06:43] And I've actually just listed down the ones that we saw on Sunday, because on the Saturday, we saw that one place grid penalty.

[00:06:50] They gave driver number one who races car number one for Red Bull Racing, who's also the driver number one at Red Bull Racing.

[00:06:58] Right.

[00:06:59] They used I don't think they use numerology the way I did, but they just gave him a one place penalty.

[00:07:04] But apart from that, what else were the issues on Sunday?

[00:07:07] Why don't we just sort of read them out?

[00:07:08] There was a wing mirror that was left on that main straight for many, many laps under full racing conditions.

[00:07:16] OK.

[00:07:17] The second was Lando Norris did not slow under the yellow flag, and he was noted, investigated many, many laps later.

[00:07:25] It wasn't instant.

[00:07:26] It was many laps later.

[00:07:28] And the third, which Max Verstappen pointed out, was the safety car lights were malfunctioning.

[00:07:33] OK.

[00:07:34] And just goes to show we had a new race director, Rui Marquez.

[00:07:39] We saw Rui Marquez, you know, suddenly lands up in Qatar and is told, guess what?

[00:07:43] You're not just doing Formula One, but you're also going to do Formula Two and the F1 Academy and whatever else.

[00:07:49] Because, hey, the person who was supposed to do F2 and everything else has also been asked to go.

[00:07:55] So do you believe that the FI was just overloaded this weekend and race control stewarding was a little out of whack with all the chaos that you mentioned?

[00:08:03] I wouldn't know if it was overloaded, but it is definitely out of whack because coming off a couple of weekends where we felt that they were not being harsh enough in handing on penalties.

[00:08:15] Especially when you look at Brazil a couple of races ago.

[00:08:17] And this Lando Norris penalty and even Verstappen's penalty in qualifying, it takes me back to Sao Paulo.

[00:08:25] The race start which we dissected so deeply where there was a clear safety issue there as well.

[00:08:31] They did not do anything at all and they handed out financial penalties.

[00:08:35] And here I just felt that they were being overly harsh about just about anything.

[00:08:40] So out of whack, inconsistent.

[00:08:43] Sure, there might not be a precedent for a lot of things.

[00:08:46] You might be setting a precedent right now.

[00:08:49] But then in my opinion, a lot of things did not make much sense to me.

[00:08:53] I get the wording of it.

[00:08:55] I get what they're trying to say.

[00:08:57] But I just felt some things did not need to be that harsh.

[00:09:02] A lot of penalties.

[00:09:04] I already get a feeling that you and I are going to disagree on a lot of these things.

[00:09:08] I'm excited to go on to those slides where we do that.

[00:09:11] But the FIA actually issued clarifications.

[00:09:14] I'm glad they did that.

[00:09:15] Because to a lot of new viewers, especially with Drive to Survive, etc.

[00:09:19] Suddenly you're just seeing a driver running second.

[00:09:22] He's given a stop-go penalty 10 seconds.

[00:09:25] From second he becomes last.

[00:09:28] And I believe while the broadcast is happening, there needs to be a more official explanation that comes.

[00:09:36] Not just from, I would say, the commentators.

[00:09:40] Because the commentators will always commentate on what their view of the penalty is.

[00:09:45] But what the FIA needs to do is have these clarifications come more real-time.

[00:09:50] Even if they're fair, unfair, harsh, not harsh.

[00:09:53] Just how they are thinking.

[00:09:54] What they are thinking.

[00:09:55] It shouldn't be something that happens post-facto.

[00:09:58] Right?

[00:09:59] So the FIA actually issued clarifications.

[00:10:02] A couple of clarifications.

[00:10:03] Or three of them.

[00:10:03] I've just tweeted two of them.

[00:10:05] Because these were of most interest to me.

[00:10:06] First was Lando Norris's stop-go penalty was in accordance to the penalty guidelines that the teams were given on the 19th of February in 2024.

[00:10:18] Which is, of course, you know, a few months ago.

[00:10:20] So they're saying it's a precedent.

[00:10:22] It's happened before.

[00:10:23] The teams knew it.

[00:10:24] The guidelines happened.

[00:10:25] Any driver.

[00:10:26] And I stand by this.

[00:10:27] You know, as somebody who's watched motorsport.

[00:10:30] But also as somebody who's driven in a lot of racing series as well.

[00:10:34] A yellow flag infringement is where the governance is the strictest.

[00:10:42] Right?

[00:10:43] And that's what the FIA said in the clarification.

[00:10:44] They said a double yellow infringement is considered as a serious compromise of safety.

[00:10:51] So we will dig into this later.

[00:10:53] We will show you the visuals of what actually happened.

[00:10:55] But it just goes to show it was a yellow flag infringement.

[00:11:00] But to me, at least, it was black and white of Lando Norris either getting that penalty or not getting that penalty.

[00:11:08] In fact, the only question is why they actually took so long in giving away that penalty.

[00:11:13] Did they even realize that Lando had not lifted till Max Verstappen actually brought it to his notice, their notice, everyone's notice?

[00:11:22] Sorry, you'll have to repeat that again.

[00:11:23] Sorry.

[00:11:24] Yeah, no, I'm saying the FIA, you know, A, they took really long in giving this penalty to Lando Norris.

[00:11:31] But B, the explanation.

[00:11:33] Do you think the explanation makes any sense to you now post facto?

[00:11:36] Because I know there were emotions were high during the race when it happened, etc.

[00:11:41] But after you read an explanation like this, an official explanation, what do you think?

[00:11:47] It's, that's what I said, doesn't, it doesn't make sense to me because I get it that it is double waved yellows.

[00:11:54] And that is a very serious situation.

[00:11:57] But for me, there was no car that was stuck in traffic.

[00:12:02] There were no marshals on track.

[00:12:04] There was no recovery vehicle.

[00:12:05] Okay.

[00:12:06] And in that regard, I don't feel that it was that grave a safety issue at that point.

[00:12:11] Yes, there were shards of carbon fiber on track, which needed cleaning up or someone had to pick it up.

[00:12:18] But in that regard, I don't believe that, yes, Lando should have been penalized.

[00:12:23] But I don't think so.

[00:12:26] It really warranted a 10 second stop go penalty.

[00:12:29] That's what my opinion at least is.

[00:12:31] And sure, their explanation just kind of makes sense that, yeah, it was against the director's notes that that can go for any sort of penalty that they dish out.

[00:12:39] But in this regard, I feel that the penalty was harsh.

[00:12:45] And the explanation doesn't change it much for me.

[00:12:49] I think I still have the same belief that, yeah, it was very harsh.

[00:12:52] What penalty would you give Lando Norris if you were in the stewards room race control in Qatar?

[00:13:00] No, because that's what I'm saying.

[00:13:01] There is no physical contact with any car.

[00:13:05] There is no crash involved.

[00:13:06] And like I said, there was no one in the vicinity of a fast moving vehicle.

[00:13:11] And whenever we've had two cars coming together or two drivers or driver brake testing another one, they've had much lesser time penalties.

[00:13:21] Now, if you consider a 10 second stop go penalty, it was easily a 30 second drop for him, the overall grid.

[00:13:27] If you consider Hamilton was stopping at Silverstone, that was a 10 second time penalty for Lewis Hamilton.

[00:13:33] If you consider Hamilton and Seb in 2017, I think that was again a 10 second penalty.

[00:13:39] So it did not impact as much as Lando was impacted here for no real safety threat to anyone in the vicinity.

[00:13:48] That's what I believe.

[00:13:50] Interesting.

[00:13:51] I remember Alex Jakes, who's also been on the podcast with us before, said that maybe double yellows were not needed and single yellows would have done where, you know, maybe the FIA over exaggerated the safety situation on track.

[00:14:07] Maybe, maybe not.

[00:14:08] But I'll put it this way.

[00:14:10] Go on.

[00:14:10] But that's true, because especially when there was a mirror on track, I don't agree with that explanation that the mirror was off the racing line and it did not need to be picked up.

[00:14:25] A safety car is usually called out for more serious situations and a VSC could not be called out because the cars were a bit more spaced out.

[00:14:35] So the marshals could not come and pick up the mirror, but it should have been.

[00:14:39] It was still off the main racing line.

[00:14:42] But if cars are going two wide or three wide on that straight, you would, someone would end up going over the mirror.

[00:14:48] So I believe that they should have stopped, not stopped.

[00:14:53] I would say they should have probably called the safety car out to clear that debris so that the subsequent Potas going over it or Hamilton and Sainz going over it could have been avoided.

[00:15:03] Absolutely.

[00:15:04] And to me, to me, these two are connected, but differently.

[00:15:08] I'm still going to go back to your yellow flag thing, because I think, you know, you give examples of Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton, Hamilton, Verstappen.

[00:15:18] Those were sporting penalties, if you know what I mean.

[00:15:21] And to me, any breach of safety has to be the harshest in-race penalty.

[00:15:30] And there is a reason for that.

[00:15:32] The reason is that, and we actually discussed this during Brazil when Lando actually started that illegal formation lab and just got a reprimand for it and whatever.

[00:15:40] The reason is that the FIA is the first and only body that we will pick up on in case there is a serious safety incident that happens on track.

[00:15:52] Okay.

[00:16:26] And then, if you know what I mean by the way, it's a serious safety incident that happens on track.

[00:16:33] And I think it was a very harsh penalty, but a very fair, I would say he deserved that penalty.

[00:16:40] And there is a precedent to that penalty, you know, when safety like this has been compromised by other drivers.

[00:16:46] Lando Norris, in this case, has joined the lustrous list of Nikita Mazepin and Nicolas Latifi when it comes to a 10-second stop-go penalty for not, you know, slowing down enough under a yellow flag.

[00:17:01] And somebody actually pinged me on Twitter and, you know, Formula Data Analysis has done a great review that Max Verstappen lifted literally for one second, 10% throttle lift was there.

[00:17:12] And I think people ask me, is that enough?

[00:17:17] And to me, it's more like these cars, when you're on full throttle, you're on the edge, you're on the limit.

[00:17:24] Even when you drive them 10% off throttle, you are still creating a lot more space and room and maneuverability to act in case something comes up.

[00:17:35] So, it's subjective, yes.

[00:17:39] But just the very fact that you lift is an indication that I've acknowledged that there's a yellow, there could be a reason for me to stop or slow down further and so on.

[00:17:49] And that's where it goes.

[00:17:51] But since you then mentioned the safety car, yeah, very interesting because the FIA said the race control doesn't use safety car to remove on-track debris in usual conditions.

[00:18:00] The VSC wasn't a solution because the field was spread out.

[00:18:03] So, you know, a marshal didn't have enough time for pickup.

[00:18:07] In my mind, they just thought that we leave it there.

[00:18:10] We let somebody crush it and then we'll see what happens because that's literally what they did, you know.

[00:18:14] And the Bottas incident, poor chap, he had blue flags, so he had to move over for Charles Leclerc.

[00:18:21] But to me, the dumb part on the FIA's fiasco here was there is just literally one overtaking zone, okay, on the circuit.

[00:18:31] This window or this whatever, wing mirror as we'd call it, was on that overtaking line, okay, which means that it's not that it's so off the line that nobody's going to drive on it.

[00:18:43] There was definitely a chance that somebody was and then eventually somebody did drive on it.

[00:18:47] But quick visual, this was the yellow flag which Lando Norris saw but did not react to.

[00:18:55] And 18 minutes in, I have to ask you, why don't you send us your thoughts on the fiasco in Qatar?

[00:19:02] We are at InsideLineF1Pod on almost all the social media handles that you can think of.

[00:19:08] And we already, Sundaram, have some questions that have come in.

[00:19:11] We can just quickly take them through.

[00:19:14] Has the FIA ever been more scrutinized than 2024?

[00:19:17] I believe 2021 Abu Dhabi was when they were most scrutinized.

[00:19:22] But yes, we are increasingly getting into a space where the FIA is under big, big scrutiny.

[00:19:26] There's one question which you can definitely answer as our weatherman.

[00:19:30] Was this race as hot as the one in 2023?

[00:19:34] No, it wasn't.

[00:19:35] And so in 2023, the Qatar Grand Prix was scheduled in the month of October, late October.

[00:19:42] And that's when it is still peak summer.

[00:19:45] And that's why a lot of the drivers faced extreme exhaustion and dehydration because the weather conditions and temperatures at that time in 2023, in late October, were that high.

[00:19:58] In 2021, when Lucille hosted the first ever Qatar Grand Prix in Formula 1, it was held in December.

[00:20:05] So there were no such issues back then.

[00:20:08] So it was clearly a case of scheduling that wasn't right in 2023.

[00:20:13] So this time when I went last week on the Monday, I felt it was mildly hot, mildly humid.

[00:20:20] But the moment I went to the track the next day, it's out in the desert.

[00:20:24] It's in the middle of nowhere.

[00:20:26] So it's very windy and it turned out to be very, very chilly as soon as the sun set at 5 p.m.

[00:20:32] Sun sets very early in the Middle East.

[00:20:35] So by 5 p.m. the sun is set.

[00:20:37] And by the time the session starts, it becomes extremely chilly and cold.

[00:20:40] We all had to carry a couple of pullovers and jackets and sweaters because everyone is literally freezing at the end of the day.

[00:20:47] So no, it wasn't hot at all.

[00:20:48] It was very, very chilly on the fact.

[00:20:53] You just spoke of the sun sets very early in the Middle East.

[00:20:57] Living in Oslo, the sun sets at 3 o'clock after getting up at like 9.30 or something in the morning.

[00:21:03] So the Middle East still have it better than us.

[00:21:07] But safety car delay, we've already spoken about that.

[00:21:10] Parth Karg working in, actually working in Billund in Denmark with Lego.

[00:21:16] He's one of our ardent listeners, I would say.

[00:21:20] Is the Senna series authentic?

[00:21:23] The one on Netflix?

[00:21:24] No, definitely not.

[00:21:25] Please watch the one by Manish Pandey, which is the original series sanctioned by the family.

[00:21:32] Manish Pandey is also a friend of the pod.

[00:21:33] He's been here before.

[00:21:34] The other series of his to watch is Lucky, which Somil Sundaram and I have enjoyed several, several times over.

[00:21:43] And the key question, Sundaram, what upgrades did Sauber bring to finally score points in Qatar?

[00:21:50] It's not related to upgrades at all.

[00:21:52] It's also one of the reasons why Leclerc managed to make his way into the podium spots.

[00:21:58] It was just a chaotic race.

[00:22:01] Some drivers had a bad race and it kind of benefits a couple of other drivers.

[00:22:06] And I like that it's worked out that way for Sauber because many times when it did feel that they had pace throughout the season,

[00:22:15] they didn't have enough pace and they didn't have a lot of things going their way.

[00:22:18] Most importantly, the pit stops through the season.

[00:22:21] And this way and in this race, a lot of those things kind of came together.

[00:22:27] There were a couple of crashes early on in the race.

[00:22:31] A couple of drivers went off and it wasn't any of the kick saubers.

[00:22:34] So they were perfectly positioned to gain from all the chaos and drama that was happening.

[00:22:40] And once Lando Norris dropped off because of the penalty, once George Russell dropped off because of his pit stop, delayed pit stop,

[00:22:48] they managed to find themselves in the right space to get a couple of points.

[00:22:52] And Valtteri Bottas was running P10 also at one point in time.

[00:22:56] So they could have come up with five points at the end of the Grand Prix.

[00:22:59] But I think they'll be very, very happy going in with four.

[00:23:02] They're not going to make a jump in the standings.

[00:23:05] They're going to finish for 10th, most likely, unless they do something remarkable in Abu Dhabi.

[00:23:10] But it wasn't a case of upgrades, just a lot of things that happened during the race perfectly working for Sauber.

[00:23:16] And you're right, because there was a point when Bottas and Lawson came together for which Lawson got a penalty.

[00:23:24] And if that had not happened, it would have been Bottas finishing ahead of Joe and scoring those points and not Joe.

[00:23:30] And I liked how I really felt when Bottas put out a heartfelt message saying how that incident has turned his race because Joe had track position.

[00:23:37] And then he got the premier or the premier pit stop strategy.

[00:23:43] So he was prioritized in the pit stops and so on.

[00:23:46] But I must highlight that the Sauvers were actually very quick in Qatar last year, the double points out there.

[00:23:52] So very good that they could maximize the chance when they came this year.

[00:23:57] Because let's count who all were out of the points or out of position.

[00:24:00] Lewis Hamilton, Checo Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson.

[00:24:06] And I say the Racing Bulls because they've pretty much been fighting for points but haven't scored points.

[00:24:11] And Nico Halkenberg.

[00:24:13] Yeah.

[00:24:13] And I would say to an extent, Alexander Albin as well.

[00:24:17] So a lot of those regular point scorers were not scoring points.

[00:24:20] And Joe Gwan, who just made the hay when the sun was not shining, when the moon was shining in Qatar, I would say.

[00:24:29] But in other news, we have to go here.

[00:24:32] Esteban Ocon had actually, he ended his final race with Albin on the first lap.

[00:24:39] Actually, the first corner of the first lap.

[00:24:41] So not even the first lap.

[00:24:42] And he's not going to race for Albin in Abu Dhabi.

[00:24:47] In comes Jack Doohan.

[00:24:48] This swap has happened so that Ocon is able to drive in the post-season tire test with Haas.

[00:24:56] So it was one of those contractual things.

[00:24:58] And they said, why don't we just get rid of him and get Doohan to have some more experience?

[00:25:01] Which I think is sensible from a Doohan point of view.

[00:25:04] But I know Sundaram, you have a view on the Constructors Championship where now Albin has 5 points over Haas in P6.

[00:25:13] Yeah, they have 5 points over Haas in P6.

[00:25:17] And they're 13 points, just 13 points ahead of RB.

[00:25:21] I don't think that gap is going to close.

[00:25:23] But it's just 5 points in Abu Dhabi.

[00:25:26] And if Haas have a good outing and Albin has no points finish, especially if Jack's doing his first race,

[00:25:35] they're possibly going to lose a good 15-20 million pounds over there or dollars there.

[00:25:40] And that could affect their chances next year, which is why this is a little baffling for me.

[00:25:47] Sure, they wanted to start the partnership or association earlier than next year.

[00:25:53] It gives you a little bit more prep time.

[00:25:54] I get it from both parties, from Albin from a Doohan point of view, Haas from an Esteban Ocon point of view.

[00:26:00] But could not an arrangement have been reached where Albin says, let him race in the final race with us in Abu Dhabi.

[00:26:09] We will let him still join Haas for the post-season test.

[00:26:12] Because that has happened before.

[00:26:14] That has happened before.

[00:26:16] It has.

[00:26:16] I mean, it was probably just one of those things.

[00:26:18] It's Flavio Piratori probably thinking, ah, I need to be the one coming out on top here.

[00:26:24] And if I'm giving Ocon away, I need something else, whatever.

[00:26:28] But either way, I agree.

[00:26:29] It seems strange with the P6 thing.

[00:26:31] But I'm pretty sure enough money has exchanged hands for these things to happen.

[00:26:36] And I'm actually glad for Jack Doohan because, you know, Jack Doohan getting as many miles under his belt will be good before the 2025 Formula One season.

[00:26:47] And this means that two drivers have had their last race with a team without getting a proper farewell.

[00:26:55] Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon.

[00:26:57] And this is now the third or the fourth in-season driver replacement that's happened.

[00:27:03] Because Ricciardo gave way to Lawson.

[00:27:06] Sargent gave way to Colapinto.

[00:27:08] And now Ocon is giving way to Doohan.

[00:27:11] And I'm actually not counting Berman Sainz and Berman Kevin Magnuson because that was just illness.

[00:27:17] That was not one of those irreversible driver swaps that happened.

[00:27:20] I mean, in this case, Ocon is still back on the grid next year with Haas.

[00:27:24] But 26 minutes in, we have to talk off the Maxster class.

[00:27:31] That's what I'm calling it.

[00:27:32] Okay, you have something to say.

[00:27:33] You know what?

[00:27:34] This whole Ocon-Dohan situation has actually led me to a very strange question.

[00:27:40] Because Doohan is going to be making his Formula One debut in the season finale.

[00:27:45] At this point, I don't remember any driver making his debut in the season finale.

[00:27:50] We did have the likes of Pietro Fittipaldi and Jack Aitken debuting at the Sakhir Grand Prix,

[00:28:01] which was the penultimate race of the season.

[00:28:04] So I really have to sit and dig.

[00:28:06] Have there any been?

[00:28:07] I'm sure there must be a couple, but I don't remember when is the last time that's happened.

[00:28:11] So that's something I have to sit and dig after this.

[00:28:13] But yes, now let's talk about Max Verstappen.

[00:28:15] The Maxster class.

[00:28:17] Max Verstappen.

[00:28:19] What a turnaround.

[00:28:21] You know, we've seen Max deliver races and win races that he shouldn't have won.

[00:28:29] We've seen that.

[00:28:29] We know that's capable.

[00:28:30] After many, many, many races, we actually saw Red Bull do an in-race weekend turnaround

[00:28:39] like no other team before.

[00:28:41] I mean, he was so many tents down in sprint qualifying and suddenly puts it on pole in the sprint shootout.

[00:28:50] He was like, you know, miles behind the race winner at that time.

[00:28:54] Pretty much thinking that's it.

[00:28:56] Max is, you know, his car's got a hangover, if not Max, after all that partying in Las Vegas.

[00:29:02] But Red Bull used Checo Perez in that F1 sprint to run a test on settings.

[00:29:08] They liked the settings.

[00:29:09] Max just went even more aggressive on the settings.

[00:29:12] And then he put it on pole.

[00:29:14] Then the pole was taken away because of that silly one-place grid penalty.

[00:29:19] And then he told George Russell, I'm going to still take that position into turn one.

[00:29:22] He did that.

[00:29:23] Then he defended every single attack from Lando Norris and claimed that, you know, ninth win of the season,

[00:29:31] 63rd win, you know, stat after stat that, you know, just speaks volumes for Max's talent and his legend in Formula One.

[00:29:40] To me, Sundaram, I don't think that Red Bull was the quickest car in Qatar.

[00:29:48] But he still managed to win.

[00:29:49] And it was all down to track position at the start and in those restarts.

[00:29:55] Because had George Russell gone up ahead, maybe Russell would have won.

[00:29:59] You never know.

[00:30:00] Actually, Russell probably wouldn't have won because the Mercedes actually had a lot of tire degradation.

[00:30:05] But we'll come to that.

[00:30:05] But had Lando Norris taken track position on Max Verstappen, definitely this would have been a Norris win.

[00:30:13] Of course, he just had to make sure he lifted off at a yellow if that yellow came later as well.

[00:30:17] But what's your view on the Maxster class?

[00:30:20] Because you saw it in person in Qatar.

[00:30:22] No, exactly.

[00:30:23] Because then we all came into this race weekend and we've discussed this extensively.

[00:30:27] This was not supposed to be a Red Bull track at all.

[00:30:31] There were clear indicators that showed that this was going to be a McLaren track.

[00:30:34] High-speed corners and everyone expected them to do well.

[00:30:38] And they did do well.

[00:30:39] Putting the car where it landed on pole position, correct?

[00:30:43] And they had a 1-2 in the sprint.

[00:30:46] That's correct.

[00:30:48] All the indicators were going in the correct direction that McLaren are still going to win this in the Grand Prix as well.

[00:30:54] But that's a turnaround that Red Bull are able to do.

[00:30:57] Like you said, Checo was able to do a sort of test to ensure and understand what the correct setup would be.

[00:31:04] And I like how operationally good Red Bull are in these situations.

[00:31:08] That even if early indicators don't really favor us, we can still turn it around.

[00:31:13] And at the track, when we saw Max Verstappen putting it lap after lap,

[00:31:18] it goes to show that how much, how really good he is and how talented he is.

[00:31:24] And I think everyone at the grandstands were in awe of what Max is able to do.

[00:31:30] Once again, he was the driver who did not make a mistake.

[00:31:32] But yet he has always been on that edge of the car.

[00:31:36] Very, very controlled in his aggression as well.

[00:31:38] But very, very quick.

[00:31:39] So, a lot of credit also has to go to Max, but also to Red Bull to be able to change that setup.

[00:31:46] Not make a mistake once again.

[00:31:47] I keep saying that over and over again.

[00:31:49] There's a reason why Red Bull are champions because they don't make as many mistakes as their rivals.

[00:31:54] Mercedes having a very delayed pit stop.

[00:31:58] That also is a key contributing factor for George not fighting up there with Max.

[00:32:04] So, in that regard, Max being able to turn up the wick at the right moment,

[00:32:09] this goes to show how incredible a driver he is.

[00:32:12] Oh, yeah.

[00:32:13] No, no, no.

[00:32:13] By saying Red Bull turnaround, I didn't mean to take it away from Max.

[00:32:17] I loved how he was able to control that DRS gap to Lando Norris.

[00:32:23] And to do that, he had to hit a target sector in the middle or target time in the middle sector.

[00:32:28] And Christian Horner said post-race that he was within one-tenth of that sector time lap after lap,

[00:32:37] just to make sure that Lando did not get that run into him on that DRS zone, right?

[00:32:43] But, you know, yet another time he wins a race in what's not the quickest car.

[00:32:49] He wins a race that nobody assumed he would win by just doing what he does, which is the Max to class.

[00:32:56] And the chaotic race gave us a very different top three because Leclerc benefited from PS3's bad luck with the pit stop and the safety car timing,

[00:33:06] which meant that, of course, McLaren are now not as many points ahead in the Constructors' Championship.

[00:33:14] So, the battle in P2 in the Drivers' Championship and P1 in the Constructors' Championship has gone down to the wire.

[00:33:21] Leclerc scoring his 12th podium of the season is also his most podiums in a season, I believe so.

[00:33:29] And I have to, though, say that this wing mirror on the straight from Alexander Alban,

[00:33:37] which Valtteri Bottas then just blew up, was my moment of the race.

[00:33:43] Usually, a broken mirror is, you know, bad luck.

[00:33:47] It was bad luck for a lot of drivers like Oscar Piastri, who I just said, in the quicker McLaren stuck behind Charles Leclerc

[00:33:54] and just couldn't make an overtake because of the difficulty of overtaking in Qatar.

[00:33:58] But this was definitely my moment of the race.

[00:34:02] There's no denying.

[00:34:03] Otherwise, I don't know how the race would have turned out.

[00:34:05] But now we go into Abu Dhabi with just 21 points separating McLaren and Ferrari,

[00:34:12] which, like we've kept saying, for all those old timers, this is that nostalgic moment

[00:34:17] when you actually have a McLaren versus a Ferrari at the front of the Constructors' Championship.

[00:34:26] And, of course, Red Bull is only third.

[00:34:28] Max Verstappen, like we've said, has won his World Championship in the third best car.

[00:34:33] Because not just his talent in the car, but what he's able to observe.

[00:34:40] I mean, I have to talk of that moment when he said, Lando Norris has not lifted.

[00:34:46] Can you check?

[00:34:49] Were you surprised when Max actually made that radio call?

[00:34:55] I don't know if you actually get to hear it when you're at the circuit or if you're tuning into commentary there.

[00:35:00] But to me, I was like, what on earth?

[00:35:04] Max literally would have seen in his wing mirror, which luckily didn't fall off.

[00:35:08] You know, suddenly he would have seen Lando go from this much to a little bit bigger.

[00:35:13] Like, okay, what?

[00:35:15] And then he would have seen his gap and Lando was suddenly six tenths in the gap.

[00:35:18] And immediately he was on the radio.

[00:35:20] How surprising is that level of skill for you, Sundaram?

[00:35:24] No, we did not hear that at the track because there's a different commentator that's there that does the track side commentary.

[00:35:32] We don't really hear the broadcast feed that everyone at home gets to see.

[00:35:37] So we really did not hear that radio message from Max.

[00:35:40] But then when I watched the race highlights, just to catch a lot of the things that I might have missed out while being on track.

[00:35:46] It was almost instantaneous that he goes on the radio and instantly he says, Lando has not lifted.

[00:35:53] And he's nearing the first corner, which is still a considerably fast corner.

[00:35:58] And then there's these high speed sections that come after it.

[00:36:02] So he had enough awareness to understand that Lando has become suddenly closer than initially than he was.

[00:36:11] And that is crazy.

[00:36:12] I'm not sure that's safe enough as well, because he needs to be concentrating about the next section of corners.

[00:36:18] But like you said, that's great spatial awareness about what's happening in his surroundings.

[00:36:24] And it's incredible for me that he's actually caught that at that speed as well.

[00:36:30] Well, if you're Max Verstappen, or I'll put it this way, I'm not going to single out Max.

[00:36:34] I'll single out George Russell.

[00:36:36] If you're George Russell, then it's not safe.

[00:36:38] His spatial awareness has been a bit of a challenge.

[00:36:40] We'll come to that.

[00:36:41] I'm being a little sarcastic.

[00:36:44] But frankly, when you're driving a race car, you're already fidgeting with so many settings that you know that it's safe enough when you do it.

[00:36:53] You know what are the times, what parts of the circuit or what parts of the lap you can look away from your surroundings and look down on the dash and change some things and so on.

[00:37:04] So that way, it's pretty safe.

[00:37:05] But the other was, of course, Max Verstappen telling his pit wall that, hey, the safety car lights are not working.

[00:37:12] And that was one of the reasons why he didn't know the safety car was either coming in or not, which the FIA then said they found an issue.

[00:37:18] They fixed it, but they deployed the other safety car when the third time the safety car had to come out.

[00:37:26] But another rivalry has been picked up from this weekend, which is Max Verstappen being annoyed with George Russell.

[00:37:31] That move into turn one from the dirty side of the grid has to be spoken about.

[00:37:39] There are two things to speak about here.

[00:37:40] First is George Russell, Mr. Goody Two Shoes.

[00:37:43] That's what Max Verstappen was hinting.

[00:37:46] Has a dual personality, one in front of the camera, one in front of the stewards.

[00:37:49] And he went out of his way to get Max a penalty.

[00:37:53] And one of the reasons why he wanted to give Max the penalty, interestingly, Sundaram, was that in the sprint, George Russell said that the dirty side of the grid actually made poor starts.

[00:38:05] Okay.

[00:38:05] Which means that by giving Max a penalty, he was automatically making himself go on the cleaner side of the grid.

[00:38:11] Okay.

[00:38:12] But guess what?

[00:38:13] Max on the dirty side of the grid made that move happen.

[00:38:19] And frankly, I think that penalty that Max got for qualifying was the most absurd thing.

[00:38:27] That was a bigger fiasco than Lando Norris' top core penalty.

[00:38:30] I mean, we've not heard of a one-place grid penalty before.

[00:38:34] Not that I can remember that far behind.

[00:38:37] But it was very, very absurd because any case of impeding that we usually talk about is when a driver blocks another driver who's on a push lap or a fast lap.

[00:38:47] In this case, both of them were not on push laps.

[00:38:50] Both of them were still leading up to their next push lap.

[00:38:54] Probably Russell was going to do it in the immediate lap after.

[00:38:56] Verstappen was going to do it two laps later.

[00:39:00] But still, Russell's argument was that during every cool-down lap as well, they still have to stick to a certain delta that the race director shares before each race weekend or after a couple of practice sessions.

[00:39:14] Russell was in the urgency to try and keep up to that delta.

[00:39:17] That's why he had to speed up.

[00:39:19] And en route of doing that, he found Max right on the racing line.

[00:39:23] So in that regard, I won't be beating my delta.

[00:39:27] I would then be penalized.

[00:39:28] So I might as well then go and complain about Max's step and that he's right in the middle there impeding me.

[00:39:33] So you need to take a look at it.

[00:39:34] And yes, it is absolutely absurd because we've never come across something like this and a driver being given a one-place great penalty.

[00:39:41] I think that particularly annoyed Max Verstappen.

[00:39:45] But I also kind of get Russell's point of view here because I think they're all drivers.

[00:39:52] They're all competitors.

[00:39:53] If they find the slightest of opportunities, they will always call out the other person.

[00:39:58] Just as what Max did with Lando as well, that he did not slow down.

[00:40:02] I think Russell is within his right.

[00:40:04] If he finds an opportunity to penalize any driver or team, he would gladly take it with both hands.

[00:40:09] Well, I agree with you on Max and George and drivers taking their chances, etc.

[00:40:18] My point is, if George Russell was not able to meet his delta, he should have done it on the other parts of the circuit.

[00:40:27] And Max and not there because the stewards report actually says George could see Max through the S's.

[00:40:34] And so could he see Fernando?

[00:40:36] And if Max had Fernando ahead of him, where do you think Max would go, for example?

[00:40:40] And for it to happen on a cool-down lap is the big question mark.

[00:40:45] I think I wouldn't be surprised if Max or Fernando Alonso, the two naughty boys, I like them, you know,

[00:40:54] will try and test this rule just to tickle the stewards a little more in Abu Dhabi.

[00:40:58] So look out for that.

[00:40:58] We will talk about that in the Abu Dhabi preview.

[00:41:00] But there's a question from Gitanj, which was saying, would the FI finally get a wake-up call and reverse their changes?

[00:41:07] I think they get a wake-up call every race.

[00:41:11] But I'm glad they don't go and reverse some changes, their decisions,

[00:41:15] because if there's one decision they probably should have reversed was 2021 Abu Dhabi.

[00:41:20] Depending on who you ask, again, I've forgotten what my stance was.

[00:41:24] It's long ago.

[00:41:25] We're entering the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

[00:41:27] So we should just talk, you know, give a reference to that, but move on from there.

[00:41:31] But 40 minutes into the episode, a quick word who we are.

[00:41:34] We are the Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:41:35] That's me, Kunal Shah on the left.

[00:41:37] Methila Somil, who's on a bike ride in the south of India, tried to join, but the Wi-Fi didn't support him.

[00:41:43] And funnily enough, he wrote on our group chat saying, the wife didn't support me,

[00:41:48] which was the funny part for a guy just in his early 20s.

[00:41:52] And here's F1 Stats Guru, who you've been hearing along with me.

[00:41:57] You know, and I am a TV expert and an FIA accredited journalist for Wireplay,

[00:42:04] formerly with the Force India Formula One team, have written for several motorsport publications like the Forbes.

[00:42:10] Forbes is not motorsport, but I wrote on the business of motorsport for Forbes.

[00:42:14] Used to work with Star Sports and several other publications as well.

[00:42:18] So, Somil, the voice of motorsport in India, who is right now on a sabbatical for a few days,

[00:42:25] although he really tried to join.

[00:42:27] You would have heard him if you were in the MotoGP Grand Prix in India last year.

[00:42:32] You would have heard him for Formula E and pretty much every other Indian racing series that happens.

[00:42:38] And then, of course, there's F1 Stats Guru Sundaram,

[00:42:42] the official stats person for the F1 Academy.

[00:42:45] And his stats have been consumed either by official sources legally or by official sources illegally,

[00:42:53] because people love to steal his stats.

[00:42:56] You know, this weekend, I was credited.

[00:42:59] I'm not sure if people are listening to a podcast and then feel that I need to be given credit for my stat.

[00:43:04] But this weekend, one of my stats did make it to the F1 TV broadcast.

[00:43:07] And I was very kindly mentioned by Laura Winter on a stat that I shared for Max Verstappen.

[00:43:14] Which one was this?

[00:43:16] So, I gave the stat that Max Verstappen so far has won eight of his nine dead rubber races,

[00:43:22] which is basically all the races that he competes in after the championship has been sealed.

[00:43:27] He's won eight of those nine.

[00:43:29] And that was before the race.

[00:43:31] And now it's nine out of the ten races that he's participated.

[00:43:34] The only one, the only outlier is George Russell back in Sao Paulo 2022.

[00:43:40] Correct.

[00:43:41] Yes.

[00:43:41] And some of the brands we worked with, there's Red Bull, it's the energy drinks,

[00:43:45] but that doesn't make us biased.

[00:43:47] Puma, Johnny Walker, Fancode, the official broadcaster of Formula One in India,

[00:43:51] and several others.

[00:43:53] Social is one of our favorite partners to work with.

[00:43:55] You're pretty sure lots of our listeners have interacted with us offline at a social in Mumbai

[00:44:03] or some of the other cities in India as well.

[00:44:06] But Lando Norris, going back to it, like we said, has joined Latifi and Mazepin.

[00:44:12] I ran this very quick poll and I asked, do you think it's harsh?

[00:44:16] Do you think it's fair?

[00:44:18] 60% people thought it was harsh, but that doesn't mean that they thought it was unfair.

[00:44:22] But I'll tell you what will not be harsh is if Checo Perez self-retires himself in Abu Dhabi

[00:44:31] because he spun in Qatar after giving Max Verstappen the edge with the setup in F1 Sprint.

[00:44:37] He burnt his clutch.

[00:44:40] I can't remember the last time that's actually happened to a Formula One driver.

[00:44:44] Very, very old school, especially in such modern, complicated cars.

[00:44:48] But there are rumors that he could self-retire after Abu Dhabi.

[00:44:53] He'll be given an ambassador role.

[00:44:56] And Red Bull has already been hinting at this in the last five races that they hope

[00:45:00] Checo will wake up and smell the Red Bull.

[00:45:03] That, hey, it's time.

[00:45:05] It's done.

[00:45:05] You know, he's had these dips.

[00:45:06] He's come back from them.

[00:45:07] But this time it feels like he's just not recovering from these dips.

[00:45:12] Yeah.

[00:45:12] I mean, there's nothing that's really worked in Checo's favor.

[00:45:15] And I believe that's been the case for a very, very long time.

[00:45:19] He was on the winner's scoring sheet last year in the initial four races.

[00:45:24] He won two of those.

[00:45:25] But then ever since then, he's not won a race.

[00:45:28] And if you have the fastest car on the grid, which he considerably had for, I mean, which

[00:45:33] he had for a considerable amount of time, it's really not worked in his favor.

[00:45:36] And the results have just kept dipping further and further and further.

[00:45:41] It initially started with the P1, P2.

[00:45:43] But then he would start going further down to a P4, P5 many times out of the points.

[00:45:48] And he hasn't been in the top five for a very, very long time.

[00:45:51] And although he's been given a very long rope to try and get some momentum back, it

[00:45:56] hasn't happened at all.

[00:45:58] Neither in qualifying, neither in the race.

[00:46:00] And there seems nothing that can be done to salvage his career or his seat with Red Bull

[00:46:06] in just one race.

[00:46:07] And let's ask, why is Red Bull being so lenient with Checo Perez?

[00:46:13] It's important to ask that because they weren't so lenient with somebody even like the likes

[00:46:17] of Daniel Ricciardo, their blue-eyed boy, or Alexander Albin or Pierre Gasly.

[00:46:23] And that's where the hint lies that it's actually all about the money.

[00:46:27] They're all, and when I say all, I mean Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Energy Drinks and Checo

[00:46:32] Perez holding on for that Mexican money the Perez brand is able to bring in.

[00:46:38] So it is about the money.

[00:46:39] And I get a feeling this self-retirement or whatever they call it will eventually mean

[00:46:44] calling or finding a solution with that money as well.

[00:46:47] How can we keep you or not keep you in the car, but still keep the money and so on?

[00:46:52] And it's happened before in Formula One.

[00:46:54] And it's going to happen again after this race weekend.

[00:46:58] So look out for that.

[00:46:59] My pick for the Red Bull seat is actually going to be Yuki Tsunoda.

[00:47:04] I get a feeling that the others haven't really stepped up in the short time they were given.

[00:47:11] Liam Lawson, I think it's not fair to test him in five races and then six races versus Yuki,

[00:47:17] who's done now 60 races, right?

[00:47:19] And Franco Colapinto as well.

[00:47:22] I think he came with a blast.

[00:47:24] Suddenly he's faded away a little bit.

[00:47:26] Lots of question marks coming in.

[00:47:27] But does that mean he's not quick?

[00:47:29] No, I don't think so.

[00:47:30] I think he's quick again.

[00:47:31] He needs time to settle in.

[00:47:33] So that's what's going to happen after Abu Dhabi.

[00:47:37] But did you get to see Carlos Sainz, Somel's favorite driver,

[00:47:43] do a full lap around the Lusail International Circuit with a punctured left front?

[00:47:49] We did.

[00:47:49] We did.

[00:47:50] We saw that.

[00:47:51] And I don't remember if I saw Sainz, but I did see Luis.

[00:47:56] And it was very, very clear even from where we were watching it that

[00:48:01] this car is parking a lot more than it was doing earlier in the week.

[00:48:04] And it seemed off.

[00:48:06] And then in just a couple of seconds, we realized that he had a puncture.

[00:48:10] So we did see that.

[00:48:11] It was very much evident from where we were sitting.

[00:48:13] So Pirelli, of course, hasn't yet revealed the final result of the investigations behind

[00:48:18] the punctures.

[00:48:19] But it seems like a mix of the two that tire energies were, of course, very high in Qatar,

[00:48:25] as we know.

[00:48:26] And there was no thermal degradation.

[00:48:30] So you were actually using the carcass of the tire, which is a beautiful thing when you're

[00:48:34] a racing car driver, that you get to use the tire for what it is rather than driving to a

[00:48:39] temperature of the surface of the tires, right?

[00:48:42] Which is what we heard in a lot of races.

[00:48:43] When you manage a tire, you're managing the temperatures of the tire.

[00:48:47] So the suspect here is what Pirelli suspects is that both Mercedes and Ferrari used the

[00:48:54] entire tread of that tire.

[00:48:57] But given how unique this circuit is treating the tires, they didn't really face a drop in

[00:49:02] performance.

[00:49:03] So when they used up the tread, some sharp debris from Bottas's incident of driving over,

[00:49:11] you know, Alexander Albin's wing mirror eventually caused a puncture because it happened on the

[00:49:16] same lap pretty much just at the same time.

[00:49:18] And I think that's where the FIA probably thought, hey, maybe something's wrong.

[00:49:22] You know, we don't want to risk it.

[00:49:23] Why don't we just throw up a safety car?

[00:49:25] Okay.

[00:49:26] And somehow, somewhere, because imagine if it actually was that scenario where a lot of

[00:49:34] drivers were pretty much running the medium tire as long as they could because it was

[00:49:38] the quickest tire, right?

[00:49:40] And if more cars had just driven over those debris and had multiple punctures, etc., that could

[00:49:45] have created some bit of uncertainty about the safety of the race at that instance.

[00:49:49] So maybe that's why the FIA just threw in what they could with regards to double yellows

[00:49:54] and a safety car and so on.

[00:49:56] But uncharacteristically or maybe, okay, sorry, you have something to say.

[00:50:01] It's a case of deja vu.

[00:50:03] You know, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton having a puncture in very short distance or gaps

[00:50:10] between both of them.

[00:50:11] Do you remember when it happened the last time?

[00:50:13] 2020.

[00:50:17] British Grand Prix.

[00:50:18] First was Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton.

[00:50:21] The very same tire.

[00:50:24] Wow.

[00:50:25] Interesting.

[00:50:27] But that Lewis Hamilton to this Lewis Hamilton.

[00:50:30] Two unforced errors for Lewis Hamilton again.

[00:50:33] I say again because Las Vegas Grand Prix, Q3, two unforced errors, George is on pole, Lewis' stand,

[00:50:42] Qatar Grand Prix on the Sunday.

[00:50:44] He made a false start and then he was speeding in the pit lane.

[00:50:47] And to me, a false start and speeding in the pit lane has got nothing to do with talent.

[00:50:52] It's only got to do with, I don't know if Lewis's focus was a little wavering somewhere.

[00:50:57] Maybe he was just so emotionally upset with how that car was and how this whole end to his Mercedes era is coming that he's just probably wasn't dialed in himself.

[00:51:09] Because these two instances cost him a lot of points.

[00:51:15] It costs LH44, his loyal fan base, a lot of heartburn.

[00:51:20] Everyone's trying to go for there is a conspiracy.

[00:51:23] It cannot happen to Lewis.

[00:51:25] It cannot happen to our Lewis.

[00:51:26] He's the be-all and end-all of all racing car drivers in the world, etc., etc.

[00:51:31] But there has to be something.

[00:51:33] Atle Gulbrunson, who's my colleague at Wireplay, one of the most experienced commentators in the world of Formula 1,

[00:51:39] 27 full seasons and counting Sundaram.

[00:51:43] He asked a question saying, why is it that Ocon, who's leaving Alpine,

[00:51:47] Sainz, who's leaving Ferrari, and Lewis, who's leaving Mercedes,

[00:51:52] why are these three drivers struggling more than their teammates?

[00:51:56] And I think that's somewhere a valid question.

[00:51:59] Absolutely.

[00:51:59] And from the outside, we won't get to understand the inner workings of what's happening in the team.

[00:52:05] But what's also very clearly understood is the team will, to some extent,

[00:52:10] favor the driver that's going to continue with them.

[00:52:13] There's a lot of information that's then cut off from the driver that's leaving the team.

[00:52:17] More with regard to the next year's car.

[00:52:22] But generally, I think there's also a certain feeling of preference when it comes to the driver who's committed to staying with the team.

[00:52:30] And I think that's a very valid question, or at least a very valid pattern in this case,

[00:52:35] that the driver that's leaving the team is not the one that's performing as well as the other.

[00:52:41] But in the case of Lewis Hamilton, I feel that he's really checked out.

[00:52:46] He and Lance Stroll.

[00:52:49] Lance Stroll for a very, very long time.

[00:52:51] Because I just don't see a lot of enthusiasm or excitement whenever he speaks in any of the press conferences.

[00:52:57] That is Lance.

[00:52:58] But let's not talk about Lance at this point.

[00:53:01] But I think Lewis Hamilton is just eager to just end the season.

[00:53:04] It's been very tough for him in many ways.

[00:53:06] Although he did have a good Las Vegas, he's otherwise not had a great season with the car.

[00:53:13] Understanding the car, understanding the setup of the car.

[00:53:16] And sometimes he sees that his teammate is able to out-qualify him or out-race him.

[00:53:21] So I feel he's in that mental space that he just wants to end this relationship

[00:53:26] and then look forward to the partnership with Ferrari next year.

[00:53:30] Yeah, and you know, that's probably what explains these unforced errors.

[00:53:33] Like I said, it's got nothing to do with the car.

[00:53:36] When you make a false start or pit lane speed limit, not formation, etc.

[00:53:41] But his teammate, George Russell, his special awareness.

[00:53:46] We saw this in Australia.

[00:53:48] He was behind your favorite driver, Fernando Alonso.

[00:53:50] He put it in the wall, fidgeting some settings.

[00:53:53] We saw this in Qatar.

[00:53:55] Cool down lap behind Max Verstappen.

[00:53:57] Just very puzzling what actually sometimes happens with George.

[00:54:01] And I was, you know, on Twitter with Chetan Narula, sports broadcaster from India.

[00:54:06] He said, George has always been a mid to decent driver, but not championship material, dot, dot, dot.

[00:54:14] Like Lando Norris.

[00:54:15] And I somewhat tend to agree with that.

[00:54:19] Because, you know, George is always complaining on the radio.

[00:54:22] Every time Oscar Piastri pulled a defensive move, he was like, oh, did you see that?

[00:54:26] He's always turned in on me.

[00:54:27] Oh, he's turned in on me again.

[00:54:28] Oh, he's dangerous.

[00:54:29] So I don't know.

[00:54:30] Let's see how George's story unfolds.

[00:54:33] But definitely Lewis's story at Mercedes is not unfolding.

[00:54:37] They had a very messy spat on the radio.

[00:54:40] Lewis wanted to retire.

[00:54:41] Bono kept telling him, no, you're not.

[00:54:43] And he said, I'm going to just park and shut the car.

[00:54:45] And Bono said, fine, if you want to carry this time penalty into the next race, then by all means do that.

[00:54:50] Do one more lap.

[00:54:51] And then finally, Lewis just finished the race, even though he was out of the points, which was a bit of a surprise.

[00:54:57] Because I thought he was going to do that extra lap like Lance Stroll did and park up.

[00:55:02] But his friend and team boss, Toto Wolff, actually said this.

[00:55:07] That he was surprised at Lando Norris' top core penalty.

[00:55:10] He needed to review it more before comments.

[00:55:13] But he said that could cost McLaren the Constructors' Championship.

[00:55:16] And that's where I felt there were two things.

[00:55:20] Toto Wolff getting some sense of deja vu on the fact that, oh, my God, is the FIA actually going to take a championship?

[00:55:26] They took a driver's championship away from Mercedes.

[00:55:29] Could they take a Constructors' Championship away from a Mercedes-powered team?

[00:55:33] And maybe he's fair in thinking that way because he can't win.

[00:55:37] Can he get a Mercedes-powered team to win the 2024 Constructors' Championship?

[00:55:41] Why not?

[00:55:41] You know, when you're watching the race from the track, at one point, it really hit me that I might be witnessing the Constructors' Championship actually being sealed right in front of me.

[00:55:51] And I was actually being very, very excited.

[00:55:53] I was getting very excited to probably witness that, especially McLaren's first Constructors' title in nearly, what, 25 years.

[00:56:03] So I was really, really gearing up for that.

[00:56:06] But then the penalty came in and then I'm like, this is possibly the reason why they could actually lose out to Ferrari in the championship.

[00:56:14] And if that does happen, I think Landon Norris will find it very difficult mentally to be able to come back for next season.

[00:56:21] Because this Constructors' title is very firmly in McLaren's hands or at least until now before the Qatar race.

[00:56:28] And it looks like that it might have slipped away slightly.

[00:56:32] And it might even add more pressure for them next weekend to kind of maintain that gap to Ferrari.

[00:56:39] It might just give so much more of fire for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to push even more because they have nothing to lose.

[00:56:45] They're already second.

[00:56:47] They really have to go on the offensive to kind of put McLaren on the back foot and get more points than them.

[00:56:54] Yeah. And, you know, they're saying that Abu Dhabi, the Yas Marina circuit could actually favor the Ferrari package, which I absolutely love.

[00:57:03] And we spoke of Maxster class before.

[00:57:05] And I think the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix was sort of giving me the feels of what the 2025 Formula One season could be like.

[00:57:12] Because on one day, we had McLaren quick.

[00:57:15] On the other day, we had a Mercedes quick.

[00:57:17] On the third day, we had a Red Bull quick.

[00:57:19] And we could pretty much have that.

[00:57:21] We've had that in the last few races, the last several races in 2024.

[00:57:25] That's what 2025 is going to be all about.

[00:57:28] But, you know, Alpine, we've spoken about Gasmobile.

[00:57:33] We've spoken enough there.

[00:57:35] I think very well done to them.

[00:57:37] He's been in the momentum.

[00:57:39] Even more momentum for Joe Guanyu.

[00:57:41] P8 gets there.

[00:57:43] All 10 teams have scored points.

[00:57:44] But your favorite, Fernando Alonso, scores points for Aston Martin.

[00:57:50] First time in four races.

[00:57:52] Which also is...

[00:57:53] I think they're going to be fifth in the Constructors' Championship either way.

[00:57:57] And pretty much everyone's just waiting for Adrian Newey to join.

[00:58:02] But my former colleague and a very, very good person, Andy Stephenson, the sporting director of Aston Martin,

[00:58:10] has completed 601 races with Team Silverstone.

[00:58:17] Okay.

[00:58:18] He's been there since Jordan, Spiker, Midland, Force India, Racing Point, and now Aston Martin.

[00:58:25] 601 races, Sundaram.

[00:58:27] Isn't that absolutely incredible?

[00:58:29] He's done more than half of the Formula 1 races that have happened over 75 years.

[00:58:34] And he's been in the sport since when?

[00:58:37] Since the first...

[00:58:38] 1991.

[00:58:39] Since the first race that Jordan had in Phoenix.

[00:58:45] But yeah.

[00:58:46] And Aston Martin, of course, I just got to know this from my friends there.

[00:58:51] They are going to have a performer, Andrew Cushion, if I pronounce that right,

[00:58:56] perform at the Brand Experience Center on the 3rd of December, which is tomorrow.

[00:59:00] Because that's what the new headquarters actually has.

[00:59:04] They have a Brand Experience Center where you can host performances like these.

[00:59:09] But before we end the show, any closing notes from you, Sundaram,

[00:59:13] since you are the one who's just most recently been at a Grand Prix?

[00:59:17] The Grand Prix experience is amazing.

[00:59:19] And the more you go and watch a race, the more you want to further watch them again.

[00:59:24] And I'm actually looking forward to watching a couple of races next year as well.

[00:59:28] So, very, very happy with the Qatar Grand Prix.

[00:59:31] Very excited to see what happens in Abu Dhabi.

[00:59:33] Who wins the title.

[00:59:34] How it ends.

[00:59:36] A lot of farewells for a lot of drivers.

[00:59:39] One of them could possibly be Sergio Perez.

[00:59:41] How the nature of that divorce, how that happens also is going to be very curious to see.

[00:59:48] So, we'll cover all of this and more in the preview.

[00:59:51] But yeah.

[00:59:51] Final race of the season.

[00:59:53] Looking forward to it.

[00:59:54] And then looking forward to a very long break after that.

[00:59:58] Yes.

[00:59:58] And Somal is, of course, missing it.

[01:00:00] Because while we were recording, he sent two points.

[01:00:02] He said Joe Guanu has had 28 races, which is Grand Prix and sprints,

[01:00:07] since the last time he scored points.

[01:00:10] In that much time, Lando and Oscar hadn't even won a single race.

[01:00:15] Okay.

[01:00:15] And then the second was Esteban Ocon is, in all probability, Alpine's most successful driver since Kimi Raikkonen.

[01:00:24] So, it's Team Enstone, which Kimi Raikkonen won races for at Lotus.

[01:00:29] The famous story of how his bonuses actually made the team go bankrupt.

[01:00:34] But thank you very much, everyone, for tuning in.

[01:00:37] Thank you for this hour, Sundaram.

[01:00:39] Literally the one whole hour that we do on TV, on Vioplay.

[01:00:42] We are doing one whole hour of review as well.

[01:00:45] But just the nature of races, this race, this 2020 for Formula 1 season.

[01:00:49] A big thanks to everyone leaving comments on YouTube and Twitter and Instagram,

[01:00:54] and even more so on Spotify as well.

[01:00:57] Thank you very much.

[01:00:59] Please follow us on all the social media handles and your favorite podcasting platforms.

[01:01:04] And we will be back in a few days, maybe with Somal leading the broadcast,

[01:01:09] for the preview of the Abu Dhabi country.

[01:01:13] Adios.