In the end, Max Verstappen always wins - 2024 Canadian GP Review

[00:00:02] Before we begin, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the folks at Amazon Music for partnering with us on this episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.

[00:00:10] But more on this later, right then, let's get right into today's episode.

[00:00:27] A bumper sporting weekend comes to a close. We've seen the end of Roland Garros, the end of India-Pakistan and an equally dramatic end to a Canadian GP where every single thing in the world that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

[00:00:49] But tell me about it, Kanal. Every single thing that could possibly happen happens and at the end of it all, the story remains the same.

[00:00:55] Max Verstappen ends up winning the race. Let's just call the show over here, right? We've seen this all for the last two years now. It's all too common.

[00:01:03] It's all too common. It's what Montreal always gives us. One of the reasons why I absolutely love this circuit.

[00:01:08] But it wasn't a straightforward race win for him. He got lucky for once. He got lucky. I mean, when I say for once as in of course he has been lucky several times.

[00:01:19] But in Miami, he got unlucky behind the safety car. This time he did get lucky and he won the race.

[00:01:26] And it was one of those races, Somal, where we could have literally had three drivers who were equally quick and capable of scoring the race win.

[00:01:36] Lando Norris, post race has said I could have won. I had a 15 second lead. That safety car that made me win in Miami made me lose this time.

[00:01:45] That's what motor racing is all about. And Mercedes with that brilliant restart call of tire taking new tires for George Russell actually gave him a chance to win as well.

[00:01:56] Yeah, so many crazy incidents and look at it this way. Right? I think this has to be one of the best race weekends we've had so far this year, which is a tough statement to make because this year generally has been a very good one for Formula One.

[00:02:10] But look at it this way. We had Russell very much in contention, a different car getting pole position, which is huge by the way.

[00:02:17] We also saw Ferrari getting knocked out and not getting into Q3. We saw the McLarens also having a legitimate chance to win this race. And at the end of it all, Verstappen wins and none of us are actually disappointed, which goes to prove the point, Kunal.

[00:02:31] It doesn't matter who wins so long as we had a good race. And I'd say today it was a solid nine on ten of a race. I mean that is a proper Grand Prix.

[00:02:41] But at certain points, you're not even sure of what strategy is going to be the best one. Like there was literally a point where I think in lap 46, the top three had three different tire compounds on their tires.

[00:02:53] Firstly, your rating almost never makes sense for me. I don't know how it's a nine on ten or a seven.

[00:03:03] It's a good race. Yeah, but why nine on ten and not nine and a half or ten on ten or ten and a half on ten? Like what is the rating parameter? We need a special episode just for that.

[00:03:13] Samuel Arora's F1 Grand Prix rating parameter, just like there are some driver ratings.

[00:03:18] One point has been deducted because Ferrari weren't there in the top three and Carlos Sainz just reminded us of Sebastian Vettel from the late 2010s, which nobody wants to be reminded of. So that's why I'm taking one point off.

[00:03:30] Either way, I think it was a great race. I don't have a rating. I almost never do. I think all races are either one on ten or ten on ten. That's where I leave it if you know where I go.

[00:03:43] Because there are a lot of narratives one can take away from every race. This is where I get boring. But you spoke of strategy with three key moments of strategy in my mind.

[00:03:54] First, the houses deciding to start on the wet and not the inters. OK, to me that was absolutely incredible because the houses just took a gamble and then they were just flying all around because that was actually the right time to be on.

[00:04:10] The strange thing, Samuel, is that the drivers absolutely hate the wet, which is why they take on the inters even when the conditions are for the wet.

[00:04:20] So it was one of those situations where they're, you know, I'm not going to take the right tire because we don't like it. And they were pretty vocal about it.

[00:04:26] So that was one part. Houses flying in the early stages of the race. It's a very harsh thing to do, isn't it?

[00:04:34] Like, why don't we just put on wet tires? Why don't we just race each other in the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix when we're dead last? That sort of stuff.

[00:04:42] But this time they actually got the race. I mean, Kevin Mucknusen, can you imagine the driver with 10 penalty points, one crash away from a race ban or whatever you call it, went from 18th to 14th to fourth or something in the first six laps of the race?

[00:05:00] And then, of course, the harsh thing was they actually gave him a bad pit stop. OK, so that's what sort of cost him. But so that was one strategy stand out for me.

[00:05:10] The second, I would say, was Yuki Sunoda and Esteban Ocon actually going 44 laps on the inter. So they didn't make a switch to the new inters under the safety car. They decided to stay out, gain track position. They were running in the top 10.

[00:05:25] So they did that. Ocon went from 18th to 10th, scoring points. He was eighth and then was overtaken by Ricardo. Team orders came into play with Kastley.

[00:05:34] But the third and the most crucial one was what I just said at the start, when Mercedes had that free pit stop to make under the last safety car, they bolted on the new tires.

[00:05:44] And then George Russell was absolutely flying, as was Lewis Hamilton before people jump onto me, just that George was on the medium. So there was flying a little bit faster.

[00:05:56] Which is where this race seems to be a race of false dawns in my eyes, because there were so many false dawns where we thought, wow, well, this could be the start of something.

[00:06:09] And it didn't. You talk about Haas at the start and eventually them potentially getting a good position, that terrible pit stop. And eventually the way things cycled out, they just didn't have any advantage.

[00:06:19] And yet again, Haas were 11th and 12th. It pains. But the second thing, Daniel Ricardo's false start was a false dawn as well. Luckily for him, touch wood, he even ended up scoring some points and shutting off Jacques Villeneuve just slightly.

[00:06:33] But we'll find out more as the season goes on. But another real false dawn in this whole scenario as well was Lando Norris getting the lead, Kunal.

[00:06:42] And at one point in time, 15 seconds up ahead, the safety car comes in. Let's just talk about could Lando Norris have won this race had it not been for that safety car?

[00:06:52] I genuinely believe the answer could well be no, because if the safety car had come out at the right time and Lando Norris would have been in the right scenario to pit.

[00:07:02] It just could have been very tricky anyway, because once the lead back would have been bunched up after the safety car, having someone like Max Verstappen behind you is a very, very tough task.

[00:07:12] And even on top of that, that whole what if dilemma remains? Would McLaren have then kept Lando Norris out a couple of extra laps had he been in the lead?

[00:07:21] I just feel it's so many hypothetical scenarios that you just find it a little hard to imagine that McLaren could have won, even if the safety car would have been there on time.

[00:07:30] Because again, so much happened in the second half of the race as well.

[00:07:33] I definitely think McLaren would have won the race hands down without a doubt.

[00:07:40] One on one Verstappen versus Norris in the weights. Do you think Norris could have kept it on?

[00:07:46] Absolutely. I don't see why he wouldn't have kept it on. I think he would have.

[00:07:52] None of these drivers are intimidated by Max Verstappen. Let me put it that way.

[00:07:56] Okay, firstly, which is how it should be. I mean, we may appreciate Max for what he does, but like Lando Norris said, Max was just ahead, but he wasn't as...

[00:08:05] He said he was quicker, but not as quick that I couldn't have challenged for the win.

[00:08:11] It was just the timing of the safety car in his mind at least, and I would say so.

[00:08:15] It was also a track position after a point, and we've seen in these cars, track position is typically vital to staying ahead or not, unless you have a very massive tyre delta like George Russell had towards the end of the race as well.

[00:08:28] So I think Lando Norris was in a position to win if McLaren would have done the right thing.

[00:08:36] But anyway, I think they did the right thing because even on those old inters, he was quicker. He was pulling out a gap.

[00:08:42] He had what, a 20-22 second gap or something to Max Verstappen. He actually came out just alongside Max Verstappen.

[00:08:50] Okay, so he did pull out that lap and the gap that he needed.

[00:08:55] It just so happened that the pit exit, which was not used so much, was more wet. And of course, McLaren knew all of this. They were gambling, and I absolutely love it when they gambled there.

[00:09:05] Yeah, and talking about the first safety car and could McLaren have done anything differently?

[00:09:10] The answer is no. When you look at the footage once again, Lando Norris was clearly in a place where he couldn't have stopped and made that pit stop.

[00:09:17] So he had to go that extra lap to make that stop anyway. And that's the reason why eventually McLaren lost that track position at that point in time.

[00:09:25] But you're right, they were gambling and they were faster at one point in time.

[00:09:29] But another false dawn in that whole aspect is Red Bull Racing complaining about Max Verstappen.

[00:09:35] Actually, Verstappen complaining about the car not being able to ride the curves very well and saying that, oh, I've got to stay away from the curves. I can't ride on them.

[00:09:43] And us thinking, well, maybe if he cannot ride on the curves, which are vital at Montreal, he'll probably go slower and end up losing the race.

[00:09:50] That didn't work out very well, did it? That's another false dawn.

[00:09:53] Especially in that final restart where he pulled away one second over a second under just a lap or something.

[00:10:01] He was riding those curves very hard. So of course, when he says I can't ride those curves, it's not that he can't ride them.

[00:10:07] It's just that he chooses to not ride them, which means that when he wants to, when he needs to, he is going to ride them.

[00:10:13] And he said this suspension is locked. It was like he was driving a go-kart out there.

[00:10:18] But can we just say Verstappen on the restarts, this guy is probably the best in Formula One.

[00:10:23] Like I've never seen him buckle under any restart ever.

[00:10:27] And we've been watching him for what? Eight years now, more or less.

[00:10:29] Yeah, that's true. Max Verstappen.

[00:10:31] Incredible.

[00:10:32] I mean, there is no doubt that he is the talent of this generation has yet to put a foot wrong, especially in this era of Formula One,

[00:10:41] as he's had the dominant car and has had the momentum and confidence and all those things that are needed.

[00:10:47] But to me, my favorite Max Verstappen moment actually came at the end of the race when he was being interviewed by Martin Brundle.

[00:10:55] And Martin Brundle asked him how satisfied are you with that victory?

[00:10:59] And Max just said thank you and walked away.

[00:11:01] OK, so either he was able to hear and he didn't choose to reply.

[00:11:05] He probably just didn't hear Martin Brundle's question.

[00:11:08] So there was a Max Verstappen false dawn where him turning around and saying how satisfied he was to win his 60th race in Formula One was something that we missed out on.

[00:11:18] But we probably could have guessed that answer from Max Verstappen either way.

[00:11:23] But when we talk of Max Verstappen, we have to talk of Jaco Perez got a renewal.

[00:11:28] The renewal is not a bit of a surprise.

[00:11:30] It's the length of that renewal, two years.

[00:11:33] But two years of this, driver not making it a Q3, drivers spinning around and just having a bad weekend.

[00:11:39] Can you believe it?

[00:11:40] I mean, Max Verstappen is up there battling the Mercedes and the McLarens and Jaco Perez just waiting around.

[00:11:47] I don't know. Red Bull gives him wings, but he decided to just throw them off in the barriers.

[00:11:52] Yeah, broken wings.

[00:11:53] Yeah, that didn't work out very well.

[00:11:56] Driver error, properly driver error in that case.

[00:11:59] And if the reports are to be believed correctly, isn't that a one year plus one year extension similar to what they had for Yuki Tsunoda's contract?

[00:12:08] I think it's a two year deal.

[00:12:10] If I remember, yeah, Jaco Perez has managed to get a two year deal.

[00:12:15] And I think it's one of those rewards for not beating Max Verstappen in a race for over a year.

[00:12:20] And then they said, you know what, you actually deserve a two year deal because that's what we want a number two driver to do.

[00:12:24] Not beat Max Verstappen.

[00:12:26] Okay. So anyway, I'm joking. We've got lots of listeners.

[00:12:29] You're basically telling me the criteria to be the Red Bull number two is not to do well.

[00:12:34] No, I'm just so everything that you've been.

[00:12:38] No, but basically, but that's what it feels like, does it not?

[00:12:41] That performance is like what we saw this weekend and also what we've seen over the course of the last, what, couple of years now are being excused.

[00:12:50] And I wonder what the scenario is. Is it a case of Red Bull not having good options in the background?

[00:12:55] Do they not trust Yuki Sunoda enough?

[00:12:57] Do they not see Ricardo as being ready enough to get back in that seat again?

[00:13:01] Jacques Villeneuve clearly believes so.

[00:13:03] Or do they not have enough belief in Liam Lawson to put him straight up into that Red Bull?

[00:13:07] And is it just a commercial factor of having someone like Checo wing them in or the main reason which I believe to be the case is that they believe that keeping peace in the team is more important

[00:13:17] generating performance together than it is to have some chaos and then having both their drivers not doing well.

[00:13:22] Like they believe in Max so much that they're willing to sacrifice the other driver so that he can give 1.5x of what the other driving means.

[00:13:29] That's what's happening. Max is giving them what they need.

[00:13:33] Like Helmut Marco says, it's the Max Verstappen factor that's actually helping Red Bull go ahead and to think of it, you know, Helmut Marco also said Checo Perez sells a lot of merchandise, which is easy to believe.

[00:13:45] And like Ralf Schumacher probably joked on Sky Germany saying they need Checo Perez to bring in all the money given all the multi-million dollar contracts that they have signed with Max Verstappen for winning.

[00:13:56] So basically Perez brings in all the money so that they can keep Max Verstappen signed up at the super duper 100 plus million whatever he must be making after all his racing achievements on track.

[00:14:10] So anyway, but that's the Checo Perez conundrum. We're going to discuss this like I said for the next two years.

[00:14:15] But I must say his performance before the upgrade came in, his performances were not bad, Sawant. He was actually up there.

[00:14:22] It's just that when the upgrades have come in and Red Bull is taking time to understand the car, when they are lost with the car, Checo Perez is lost even more with the car, whereas Max Verstappen is still able to find himself somewhere out there.

[00:14:34] So that's the false dawn about Checo Perez and another false dawn.

[00:14:39] Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest lap, lost on the podium.

[00:14:44] He actually had, Mercedes scored their first podium of the season and like F1 stats guru who couldn't make it to this episode,

[00:14:55] actually send us a great stat that George Russell is yet to win a race from pole position in his Formula One career.

[00:15:04] And Mercedes has been on the podium at every Canadian Grand Prix since 2013.

[00:15:09] So the signs were there all along for Mercedes, right?

[00:15:12] But Lewis Hamilton actually turned out and said the positive signs with the car, but this was my worst race ever.

[00:15:19] I didn't have a positive feeling with what I was doing.

[00:15:22] And it was so funny because in the entirety of the race, Hamilton was a little bit of an afterthought compared to Russell.

[00:15:30] And then at the end there was one speck of light and one speck of hope where you thought, yes, Hamilton, is he going to get a podium on the hard compound tires?

[00:15:39] What a genius decision! And it vanished quicker than it came.

[00:15:43] It all fell off and eventually got passed by Russell in the end. What a false dawn that was.

[00:15:48] And Lewis actually had to choose between the medium and the hard.

[00:15:52] And he chose the hard and he actually said, can I take the soft?

[00:15:55] But Mercedes says we don't think we should risk it with the soft, just putting some context out there.

[00:16:00] And or I think he used up the medium.

[00:16:03] So the hard was the only choice he could have made if my I'll have to go through my notes to verify this.

[00:16:08] But that's where that's where it was.

[00:16:12] But another false dawn, if I may go ahead on that, Alexander Alban pulled off a brilliant double overtake on Ocon and Sonoda on those old inters that we spoke of.

[00:16:24] He was running in the point, so he should have technically finished the second race in succession in the point.

[00:16:29] But guess what happened? Carlos Sainz spun and then just collected him back and threw him off.

[00:16:34] And Alban knew that this is it. My race is done just as he was trying to cross Sainz.

[00:16:39] One second. Why are you talking about this?

[00:16:42] Why? I thought because I thought we were imagine Williams scoring.

[00:16:47] Yes, Williams scoring points, but and they were taken about taken out by a driver who is probably going to join them next year.

[00:16:55] Don't rub it in like that. Come on.

[00:16:57] Don't rub it in like that. It's been the worst possible weekend for Carlos.

[00:17:03] Carlos, you don't rub it in like that. You know the amount of hurt that all of us are feeling right because of this.

[00:17:09] The fact that he has no options that he has to go to Williams and then he has this weekend similar to Seb in the past.

[00:17:16] Come on, don't do that. Come on. You don't have to rub it in.

[00:17:20] Hurt all of us or you? Who are you talking of?

[00:17:24] Seriously, no, I can say all of us this time because it was not just him but Charles Leclerc as well who had all these troubles

[00:17:31] which was baffling to my mind because in qualifying we all thought yes, they're going to carry forward the momentum and this ideally

[00:17:38] shouldn't be a terrible Ferrari track.

[00:17:41] But as it turns out as beautiful Maseris were in qualifying Ferrari were just as terrible and a lot of it can be boiled down to

[00:17:50] probably not the ideal warm ups, the tires not being in the right temperature, maybe them being slightly overconfident about things.

[00:17:56] But the end result we never imagined it could have been this bad especially in changeable conditions where if you're starting lower

[00:18:03] and have a faster car you theoretically can do a lot more but it just didn't quite work out.

[00:18:08] And especially with Leclerc I like the fact that they had to stop the car to do a factory reset and then they took the gamble on the

[00:18:15] hearts and just as they pitted it eventually got better and then had the Ferrari been working properly who knows where they could have been maybe a couple of points here and there.

[00:18:23] I like how you're saying who knows where they could have been and then you're saying maybe a couple of points here and there so I clearly like the

[00:18:29] Ferrari couple of points is typically what Williams would be going for but I think Ferrari was...

[00:18:34] I have to reset my expectations now with Carlos Sainz that's what I'm doing I'm resetting my expectations for 25 that's all.

[00:18:41] The earlier the better because of course it is heartbreaking to see him not get that seat and Maseri is now saying Kimi is our focus even though we hope

[00:18:50] and wish Carlos gets a top seat etc but everybody says that right you always give sympathy but you'd still do what you want to do.

[00:18:56] But on the whole Ferrari conversation I think they...

[00:19:03] Ferrari's turned around and said let's not overreact okay we didn't overreact after winning in Monaco let's not overreact after having such a bad weekend in Montreal.

[00:19:12] They're pretty positive that this is a one-off blip in performance and that they'll be back in the front in Barcelona and this is something that they look to iron out that even on a bad weekend

[00:19:21] they should be taking home some points not completely going off because that's what a top team would do like a Maseri or a Red Bull and the likes on a bad weekend you still take away some points right.

[00:19:34] I also believe it's the cooler conditions that probably took away Ferrari from their setup that you know this is all sensitivities are so much with car setups and everybody talks of widening a setup window finding the sweet spot.

[00:19:46] Something Maseri's could do with machis and it was also one of the reasons that you know the front wing that they added in Monaco which both the drivers finally had in Montreal.

[00:19:55] If you remember in Monaco Lewis said I'll never beat George Russell in qualifying ever and then he said I chose not to take the front wing he actually did take the front wing in Montreal and they were really quick.

[00:20:05] Okay so it's just these finer nuances and these are those inside points that you and I and Sundaram pick up each time that's why we've got so many thousands of listeners for each episode Sambil.

[00:20:18] Actually on those little insights I want to dig something out from you right because while I was watching the race and while I was listening to all the commentary and all the storytelling around the fact that there was at one point in time rain expected in around 10 minutes.

[00:20:36] But their intermediate tires were also wearing out heavily and there was also a dry line appearing on the track which would only worsen the impact of the tires and there was also safety car risk.

[00:20:46] So in that period of time where you're confused about all that's happening I was just wondering man there must be so much overthinking in that pit lane all the engineers all the strategists thinking if it rains now what do we do?

[00:20:59] If the tires are chewed out now what do we do? If the safety car comes up now what do we do? And these sort of scenarios right it's such it must be such a nerve-wracking thing to be a strategist for a Formula One team where we are constantly calculating different scenarios.

[00:21:14] Of course you do a lot of it beforehand but in the middle of the race as well it must have been just a strategist's nightmare when you're in that weird little unpredictable scenario where you can't really tell how much the tires will last or when the rain will come or when the safety car could come which eventually did happen.

[00:21:32] I don't think there's overreacting that happens as strategists are used to this.

[00:21:37] No I don't think there's overthinking either at least not with the top teams because let's assume let's go back to this scenario of the race. They're running on the inters George is leading and then Max is chasing and McLaren's are chasing and they're saying rain in 10 minutes.

[00:21:54] Now at that time everybody is in the same situation which is that the inters are not the right tires to be on it's either the slicks assuming it's the slick so the turns one and two was the reason why they couldn't take the slicks turns one and two.

[00:22:06] Still wet but not good for the slicks which is why all the drivers on the radio were saying it's dry everywhere it's slicks everywhere but turns one and two.

[00:22:16] So you either wait for turns one and two to clear up that's what happens when you want to sort of have the crossover or you just wait that everybody's inters degrade because everybody's in the same point but you do not preemptively make a move because you will lose track position.

[00:22:33] Okay or you wait for an interruption either the rain comes interruption you're waiting for to get to the next set of inters or you wait for a safety car another interruption that you require to get to the next stage of the race.

[00:22:45] So it's fairly simple and by the time you're actually at the Grand Prix weekend or sorry you're at the Grand Prix during the Grand Prix you anyway have a limited set of tires available because you've used up most of the tires for the rest of the race weekend so you know which are preferred tires are.

[00:23:01] And for giving you an example like I spoke of the Lewis Hamilton example where he wanted the soft and then he was told it's too risky. Oscar Piaceri another example was told Oscar if there was a safety car now what would you take the medium or the hard and then he asked how many laps were left and he said okay if these many laps are left and there's a safety car now I'm going to take the medium.

[00:23:21] So a lot of this is teams already having the data drivers already knowing at what stage their race is they discuss a lot of these scenarios throughout and I think it's the teams just know what's what and maybe in the case of Ferrari there was a bit of overthinking this weekend especially with Leclerc they put him on the hard to put him on the inter they had an engine issue they were losing a second and a half a lap so they said can we just run things as we test as they go.

[00:23:48] So Leclerc declared post race that Ferrari were asking him to make a lot of settings changes on the steering wheel dash to get the power unit back in action and that was actually trickier because of anyway the racing was not that easy and then eventually it seems that his power unit issues were solved but they still decided to retire from the race because classic Leclerc radio messages and he was very decisive on the radio song.

[00:24:15] He actually asked what's our target what's the objective of running right now okay and then promptly a few laps later they retired the car.

[00:24:23] And I also like the fact that he established boundaries sort of in a way with or rather communication standards with his engineer when his new race engineer eventually ended up asking rather telling him that there was just enough of a gap that he was losing out with the power unit and then Leclerc was like no stop with the ambiguity tell me how much are we losing on this track.

[00:24:45] And that's a learning for him as well don't tell Leclerc the ambiguous stuff because some drivers actually prefer it that way I mean I don't blame the engineer because sometimes you don't need to know because eventually that compounds your performance because you're in a cycle of negativity like I'm losing this much I'm losing this much I'm losing this much.

[00:25:02] But it's different with Leclerc clearly and it's interesting to see those dynamics play out right before our very very eyes as is another interesting dynamic which is what's going on at Alpine and this is a crazy stat.

[00:25:14] I mean F1 stats guru has really pulled out a really interesting one where Esteban Ocon has now got a hundred percent scoring record in Canada which is the race where Alpine were actually considering dropping him for the season as well.

[00:25:29] I mean why would they do that? Eventually they did the right decision didn't drop him for this race they dropped him for next season but eventually points for Ocon and at the end it was also chaotic because Ocon wasn't the points and Gasly wasn't but then it got switched around because of all the madness.

[00:25:43] Yes and that madness is very important to discuss right because you know the chain of events was somebody released a rumor saying Bruno Famine said there'll be consequences.

[00:25:54] Esteban Ocon said there's a lot of hate and whatever we spoke about it in the preview and he said I'm going to race in Canada and Alpine said yes you'll race in Canada but you're not going to race next season with us okay and then they of course spoke of a split.

[00:26:08] But in the race Ocon actually drove brilliantly well on those old inters to keep position ahead of Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo as well.

[00:26:18] Then they asked if they could swap but the swap was ordered three laps to the end and then Ocon asked why and they said we're going to try and get Daniel and Ocon said it's not going to happen okay.

[00:26:30] They would assume one would assume that they would swap back typically that's what teams do you swap and then you swap back.

[00:26:35] So Esteban Ocon was livid post race he actually said I did what I had to do but the team didn't and then they said it's a long way into the season 15 races to go so you know clearly it's reached that bitter extremely bitter moment already in their first race after they've announced a split.

[00:26:55] But for Alpine for the first time they have scored double points at a race meet which means they're now eighth in the Constructors Championship two points behind Haas in seventh place but crucially three points ahead of Williams in ninth place so that's actually worked for them.

[00:27:14] One second let's just take bets now we should do this what are you betting on listeners do you think this partnership is going to last until what race are we talking about here?

[00:27:25] Abu Dhabi? No. Let's just throw a marker. Okay. Abu Dhabi? No Abu Dhabi is too late. Maybe Singapore do you think we're going to last till Singapore? My feeling is no just for fun but what do you think?

[00:27:41] I don't think this is going to work out. I think it's not this way they'll be forced to make it work okay with the car getting better like for example Ocon had the heavier Alpine this weekend they'll be forced to make it work but we're going to get box office radio messages and you know statements.

[00:27:59] It's like if Hamilton is going to make a statement against Mercedes each time like I said you know even earlier like yesterday he said after qualifying I'm losing half a second I didn't change anything and I don't know and these are kind of those spicy statements.

[00:28:10] I think with Ocon we're going to get bitter spicy statements you know it's like they're not good spice but we're going to get spicy statements against Alpine time and time again. One second so do you say there's going to be no Bruno famine of interesting radio messages?

[00:28:25] Do you really want to hear Bruno famine? I always want to hear that. No you didn't get it no there's going to be no famine of radio of good radio messages like this that way. Talking of Bruno famine Totten Wolf came onto the radio to tell George Russell that towards the end of the race but another team to try to get into the race was the Alpine team.

[00:28:53] But another team to talk about someone Aston Martin they actually thought they actually said that Canada would suit their package the best and they needed to get double points or whatever and they maximized performance. They scored double points sixth and seventh 14 points the highest point score at any race this weekend so they knew that this their package was going to be best in Canada.

[00:29:16] They delivered maximum points in Canada I wonder if this was because it's a strolls home race and they wanted to show that or not but for the first time since Melbourne Aston Martin has scored points with both cars.

[00:29:30] And Fernando Alonso not just congratulated Lance Stroll he congratulated all the drivers you know Fernando Alonso the statesman. He said most of the race the racetrack was just two meters wide you couldn't put your tire outside of the dry line so congratulations to everyone for keeping it clean.

[00:29:51] Is this the same person Kunal? We don't know this guy do we? I don't know this guy who is this guy? This is not the Fernando Alonso I know.

[00:30:03] Well it's the same person who actually even said Lance Stroll is ready to lead Aston Martin in Formula One even after he has retired so there we go.

[00:30:14] Man something is up this is not the same guy we grew up watching clearly clearly something is up. Maybe maybe the Aston Martin money is probably corrupting the clarity of thought and sometimes you end up saying things that maybe you don't believe.

[00:30:32] I don't know I don't care who knows who cares. As long as Fernando is racing in Formula One till such time he wants to because Lance Stroll is going to continue to do that as well but for once actually Jax Willnow didn't pounce on Lance Stroll he pounced on Daniel Ricciardo.

[00:30:49] So say this is you know hurtled out some brutal facts and Ricciardo said he can say what he wants etc. But you know it's always good if this is the kind of Ricciardo we get but we get this Ricciardo in flashes and he goes away five four five races and then he comes in a flash and goes away.

[00:31:04] And even today Sunoda was actually ahead of Ricciardo when Sunoda actually had that unfortunate spin and then crash and whatever he went out of the point.

[00:31:18] But that all that actually also led to a scary situation because Nico Hulkenberg literally missed Yuki Sunoda head on by a few millimeters he said that he actually said I had my eyes half closed.

[00:31:32] I was bracing for impact yeah Nico Hulkenberg and well just the story of how racing can always will always be dangerous.

[00:31:42] And actually talking of dangerous spectators invaded the track this weekend before the race actually ended.

[00:31:51] So the local promoters Octane Racing Group or whatever it's called have been summoned by the FIA for this misbehavior or lack of promote lack of organizing skills or whatever you call it.

[00:32:06] Lack of well promotion what's the term we can use here?

[00:32:11] I don't know maybe the race was so excited you know everybody had the adrenaline rush and they just let the spectators on track.

[00:32:20] But either way that's always the scariest thing to do as everyone knows.

[00:32:24] So I wonder if there'll be a financial penalty or the likes but you know one of the best circuits to actually go racing on like we said in the preview we spoke of the curbs in the preview Max's vengeance in the preview qualifying in the preview everything literally just.

[00:32:40] Fired some yeah seriously seriously so again we've got to say so including including I'll tell you what I'll tell you what else fired land strolls PR overdrive fired to a level where Pirelli called him a three time race winner.

[00:32:55] Yeah okay and they really released a press releasing land stroll deserves to be in Formula One to me that is the most ridiculous thing.

[00:33:06] Okay that I've ever read or experienced in Formula One.

[00:33:12] No no no wait wait wait we will come up with something even more ridiculous now this will really hurt your brain because F1 stats group has come up with a really crazy stat that land stroll has more points finishes in Canada five from six races.

[00:33:27] Then the man on who the circuit is named after she will be nerve himself last one has more points finishes in Canada than she'll be now.

[00:33:36] Circuit launch tool coming up soon for twenty twenty six this is going to be right that's going to be the proper PR overdrive ending my goodness is that what we're going to grow up to is that what my child is going to grow up to 20 years from now.

[00:33:48] Circuit launch tool so could you we'll know we'll be renamed to circuit land stroll yeah it's celebrating his highness and his brother my goodness.

[00:33:56] But but why don't we take a look at the drivers championship some very interesting things have happened so Daniel Ricardo courtesy of his four points has finally jumped Oliver Behrman for 12th place okay.

[00:34:12] Land stroll is now two points away from you Kisunoda for 10th place in the drivers championship okay pure Gus Lee with his two points actually jumped Alexander Albin for 15th place and Esteban Ocon the reason why he was best about that extra point.

[00:34:31] That he had he lost even though Albin gained is because he's now 17th with two points when he could have actually been tied for 15th with Gus Lee with three points right so just some movements in the bottom part something that we don't really end up tracking all the time right Somal.

[00:34:50] Yeah yeah and also Leclerc has had his second place gap chopped off massively after not having any points this weekend so that whole scenario is also opening up where we have land stroll or land on Norris legitimately in the fight for second place it's all turning out to be a good season after all but last question for today.

[00:35:11] Yeah and Checo Perez has gone two race weekends without scoring a point he has been you know he was overtaken by Carlos Sainz last race weekend itself so one point separates them Carlos Sainz is on 108 and Checo Perez is on 107.

[00:35:27] It's insane it is insane we will see how that plays out eventually but the last question for today Kunal performer of the weekend who do you really can give it to who can you really give it to I am I'm confused because again George Russell's driving this weekend was immaculate getting that pole position leaving nothing on track his driving was I think best as it could have been given the conditions and given the car on track that he had in hand as well.

[00:35:56] But I'm equally conflicted because Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were just about as faultless.

[00:36:02] Piastri was the only driver in the top five who really didn't cut a corner and make that one mistake but his pace was obviously not there but I'm confused now Verstappen, Norris, Russell who really was the performer of the weekend?

[00:36:15] I think Piastri definitely had the pace in fact the reason why Piastri in the later stages of the race lost out was because he used up his tires faster than he should have something we've spoken of where he was learning how to drive slower on these on these tires and he was experiencing training and that's why Mercedes of course with the tire advantage got the better of him where he went from third to fifth literally in the race right but I don't think Piastri was bad in fact he's on 81 points which is his

[00:36:45] car number either way right but I would say several performers this weekend are difficult to choose on George Russell in that Mercedes when the cars they put it on pole fantastic pole lap by George as well as Max I love that there are two drivers who had the purple tag on them you know right till the third decimal point.

[00:37:08] So George Russell great performer Lando Norris you know in the opening stages of the race when he got his chance he put on pulled that gap when he had to so tough to choose tough to not put him there as well and even Max Verstappen because if the Red Bull is literally the handful that they claim it is or he claims it is and we see what Checo Perez is not able to do it is literally the Max Verstappen factor that got him the race win and like you said at the start of the show it doesn't matter who wins it's just of how they end up winning the race and all

[00:37:38] three drivers who were quick enough today to score the race win were actually in contention for the race wins Omid.

[00:37:47] And that's all that we can ask for from a Formula One race weekend seriously that is all that we can ask for multiple drivers in contention lots of pandemonium lots of craziness good hard racing towards the very end and ultimately we all go home happy even if you're a fan of McLaren or Mercedes because at the end you got the best that you could potentially get

[00:38:07] and if you're a Ferrari fan you hungry for more.

[00:38:09] And the performer of the race weekend also if I had to pick one was Brian Bozzi.

[00:38:15] Okay I mean something is up with Leclerc and his race engineers okay he needs to fix this because there was this moment when he took the hard tire and Brian said okay keep it on track let the rain go then we can go fast literally he actually said that and there was that big gamble that they took

[00:38:35] and Leclerc is no longer the only driver who finished in the top four in all the races this season.

[00:38:42] So that's I would say Brian Bozzi also a performer of the race weekend also I would say the FIA suddenly after being very lack of bicycle in jump starts have penalized Danny Ricciardo for moving one or one and a half millimeter at the start as well you could barely see

[00:39:01] you move drivers have moved much more and now they've just suddenly tightened the screws up so what an exciting race that 40 minutes in and we are still finding things we've not spoken of as much because just so many things happened so seriously seriously what a weekend and next time in Spain is going to be even better because that's where we really find out who ends up where how are they in terms of performance and who really has the best chance of winning the championship this year.

[00:39:30] We shall find that out in a bit but folks thank you for listening to this episode of the Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:39:36] We'll be back soon so you better be right here subscribe to the podcast share this episode with all your friends and family members who might be interested and we will catch you in a bit. Bye.

[00:39:53] Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:40:09] Before we ended I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Amazon Music once again for partnering with us on this episode of the podcast.