Leclerc-Ferrari: Dreams Do Come True - 2024 Monaco 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] Today is a rare day. There are very few moments in life when we often end up seeing dreams of this caliber and of this importance getting complete.

[00:00:44] Dreams that are dreamt not just by the dreamers themselves but on other people on their behalf.

[00:00:50] Moments like Michael Jordan winning the NBA title in 91, like MS Dhoni bringing the World Cup for India in 2011.

[00:00:56] Moments like this where you see the dreamers and their dreams being complete.

[00:01:02] Dreams that they have talked to the entire world about for decades that this is something that they want to do once in their life.

[00:01:08] And when it all comes together on a day when it feels perfect, you have got to admit a small tear does drop out from your eye.

[00:01:16] That is something that happened to me and thousands of people around the world.

[00:01:20] And don't lie, that included yourself too when we saw Charles Leclerc win the Monaco Grand Prix.

[00:01:27] The boyhood dream is complete Kunal.

[00:01:30] And I know we could start this episode talking about a million different things.

[00:01:35] About the comedy of the accidents, about the processional nature of the race, about Ferrari finally winning.

[00:01:41] But let's just take a moment to soak in the emotion.

[00:01:44] A Monaco driver has won the Monaco Grand Prix.

[00:01:48] It has never happened in an entire century.

[00:01:53] This is such a big moment, genuinely.

[00:01:56] Firstly, I have to say this on the record.

[00:01:59] It is so fantastic to have you back Somil.

[00:02:03] Opening the way you do which is so fantastic.

[00:02:06] You lend your voice to the Inside Line F1 podcast and several other sports including MotoGP.

[00:02:12] And now Norway chess to come as well.

[00:02:15] So thank you for coming back.

[00:02:17] I hate it when you take a holiday, even though I know why you should.

[00:02:21] But no, it was a fantastic race win for Charles Leclerc and for Ferrari.

[00:02:28] Iconic, historic dreams come true.

[00:02:31] All of that.

[00:02:32] I think the last time a Monaco asked one was all the way back in 1950.

[00:02:37] Louis Chiron, however you pronounce that.

[00:02:41] And you know, a lot of people are happy with the result or rather I'll put it this way.

[00:02:46] I'm yet to meet someone who's not happy with the result.

[00:02:51] What people are not happy about is how the win came through.

[00:02:56] It happened at the slowest possible pace.

[00:03:00] It happened as though the prancing horse or prancing horses were crawling on the streets of Monaco rather than racing.

[00:03:10] But that's just Monaco, is it not?

[00:03:13] I mean, it's something that we should come to accept now, right?

[00:03:16] That a Ferrari car will always be fast.

[00:03:19] A road car, I mean.

[00:03:20] That a Mercedes will always be full of brawn and full of style.

[00:03:24] And Monaco will always be processional.

[00:03:27] Do you think the expectations were slightly skewed in a way?

[00:03:30] I think you're right.

[00:03:32] The expectations going into Monaco always is that we're going to have chaos and safety cars.

[00:03:37] And somebody starting 18th will suddenly find a podium.

[00:03:40] And that's what we all expect.

[00:03:42] That's what we all hope because that's what's entertainment.

[00:03:45] We want to see teams, drivers, pit wall being challenged, taking all these decisions as they come.

[00:03:50] But clearly the way Charles Leclerc won today is textbook Monaco.

[00:03:55] You get pole position, drive as slowly as you need to.

[00:03:59] Because if you remember when you go back and check our preview episode out,

[00:04:03] we said this is that one race where it's not about winning in the shortest possible time.

[00:04:08] It's about winning in a way that you do not give track position away to your rivals.

[00:04:14] And that's what Charles Leclerc did.

[00:04:16] And maybe this is a good time now, Samuel, to discuss why actually were they all driving slow?

[00:04:23] Yeah, genuinely. Let's answer that question.

[00:04:27] We know that Alan Prost back in the day was famous for driving and winning races at 90% of his overall speed.

[00:04:35] There is a reason behind that.

[00:04:37] Although Formula One is meant to be a sport where the fastest drivers win,

[00:04:41] I think in the modern day, in fact, for the last 40-50 odd years,

[00:04:45] more than the fastest driver, the most efficient driver and the most efficient team ends up winning the race and dominates.

[00:04:52] That is precisely what we saw in Monaco as well, didn't we, Kunal?

[00:04:54] Where drivers and teams were sort of incentivized not to go faster,

[00:04:58] because if you end up doing that, you end up chewing out your tyres.

[00:05:01] And the amount of time that you gain in isn't just, let's say, big enough

[00:05:07] and passing here is going to be so hard off the track that it just literally makes it a nullified affair.

[00:05:11] So you might as well drive slow, conserve your tyres

[00:05:14] and in the case of something going wrong, just have some extra rubber with you. Is that right?

[00:05:18] Yeah, that's actually right. And in the case of something going wrong,

[00:05:21] which means having a safety car, use the safety car to make a pit stop,

[00:05:25] because then everybody will make a pit stop at that time.

[00:05:27] So track position, like I said, is vital.

[00:05:30] And there were actually four races going on today.

[00:05:35] Let's just elaborate on that. Firstly, of course, Charles Leclerc.

[00:05:39] He was lapping at 118, 119, 120, right?

[00:05:45] The fastest Formula Two feature race lap was by Dennis Hauger at 122.

[00:05:50] So he was literally lapping as slow as he possibly could.

[00:05:54] In fact, there was times when Logan Sargent, Daniel Ricciardo, everybody in the bottom five

[00:05:58] were lapping in 126s, which is slower than a Formula Two car around Monaco.

[00:06:04] So there was of course Charles Leclerc, race number one.

[00:06:07] Race number two was George Russell.

[00:06:10] Race number three was Yuki Tsunoda.

[00:06:13] And race number four was Fernando Alonso with Lance Stroll.

[00:06:18] So why do I actually pull these out?

[00:06:20] So Charles Leclerc was trying to make sure that he keeps the McLarens bunched up

[00:06:24] so they cannot undercut or overcut him, right?

[00:06:28] George Russell was trying to do the same thing that Max Richtappen doesn't undercut or overcut him,

[00:06:34] including Lewis Hamilton.

[00:06:37] Yuki Tsunoda was trying to make sure that Alexander Albin and Pierre Gasly don't do the same to him.

[00:06:43] And then Fernando Alonso was trying to do that to Stroll

[00:06:46] so that Stroll takes a fresh set of tires and then tries to charge up the field.

[00:06:51] So the slower pace was to nullify any pit stop advantage your nearest rivals could get.

[00:07:00] So Leclerc didn't care if Hamilton got a free pit stop under Tsunoda

[00:07:05] because Hamilton was never going to charge up to Leclerc, right?

[00:07:09] But what he cared about was Piaz 3 and Norris not getting that free pit stop,

[00:07:14] which is why towards the end of the race, we saw Carlos Sainz holding Lando Norris back

[00:07:19] because Norris had opened up enough of a gap to take a free pit stop and put on the medium tire.

[00:07:25] So it was a lot of strategy at play.

[00:07:28] And you know, when we look back, Somil, the strategy is what we'll end up missing out on in terms of a narration, right?

[00:07:36] Because we see top 10 qualified, top 10 finished the way they did,

[00:07:41] literally in exactly the way it should, right?

[00:07:45] So the emotion gets missed.

[00:07:47] The finesse of how these drivers pulled off all their race strategies gets missed.

[00:07:53] But that is why we at the Inside Line F1 podcast do what we do so that we can bring in these elements

[00:07:59] that tend to get lost in the middle of the entire race.

[00:08:02] So let's talk about the one key moment where the race was won.

[00:08:06] And this is special because think about it.

[00:08:09] In qualifying one, the top six drivers were separated by each other by literally one tenth.

[00:08:16] Top six, one tenth.

[00:08:18] Can you imagine the margins that put on play right there?

[00:08:22] And the first, the fastest lap in Q1 was 111.4 by George Russell.

[00:08:27] Charles Leclerc, no I call him Charles Leclerc, Charles Leclerc.

[00:08:31] Let's give him that little bit of more finesse because it's his home race and he won it.

[00:08:34] Charles Leclerc qualified with a one minute 10.2, a literal 1.2 seconds faster in Q3.

[00:08:42] And that is where the race was won.

[00:08:45] 1.2 seconds of that Q1 lap time shows you A, great track progression,

[00:08:50] and B, a driver who has literally nailed the most important qualifying lap of the entire season.

[00:08:57] I have often criticized him for buckling out of those critical pressure moments

[00:09:01] and signs tends to do better in those moments at that point of time.

[00:09:05] Fair play to you Charles Leclerc, you nailed it in qualifying three.

[00:09:08] That was a special, special lap.

[00:09:10] And I'm so glad you're breaking it down with qualifying one, two, three because

[00:09:15] Leclerc was the fastest in three practices and he was like, oh my God, look at his pace.

[00:09:19] And then he turned up and said, I'm just taking more risks than the other drivers and whatever he was saying.

[00:09:24] Let me actually flip that around because qualifying, like you pointed out,

[00:09:30] wasn't as straightforward. In fact, through Q1 and Q2, I was very certain Leclerc is not getting pulled.

[00:09:38] And the reason is he didn't have momentum in Q1.

[00:09:41] He picked up a sponsor sticker so he had to make a pit stop in Q1.

[00:09:46] He also had some pedal things that were going on.

[00:09:49] He was complaining. He was out of sequence.

[00:09:51] He was complaining to his new race engineer that it was horrible to be out of sequence.

[00:09:56] And we've seen this happen with Leclerc time and time again.

[00:09:59] And I said, oh my God, he's got the pace, but just no momentum.

[00:10:02] And qualifying is about, especially in Monaco, building confidence, getting as close to the walls,

[00:10:07] not worrying about MI out of sequence and Q1, whatever.

[00:10:10] But he put it on pole even before qualifying between FP3 and qualifying.

[00:10:16] He had an engine change as well.

[00:10:19] So lots of tense moments for him eventually that finally delivered that pole position, a tenth and a half on PS3.

[00:10:29] He had to make two starts, tackle two opening laps.

[00:10:33] He did that with a lot of ease. Ferrari didn't buckle under all the numbers

[00:10:40] that they had to run with what are the lap times he needs to target.

[00:10:44] And then luckily for Leclerc, and I say luckily, the red flag was in the first lap,

[00:10:48] which means every driver who started on the soft went onto the medium and vice versa.

[00:10:53] Which means that it was a hint that if we can run the whole race on one set, we will.

[00:11:00] And there was just one driver who didn't make that change.

[00:11:04] And that was Logan Sargent.

[00:11:05] Every other driver was going to go till the end of the race if it permitted them to do so.

[00:11:11] But let's for a second step back and talk about the gravitas of this win,

[00:11:15] about how big it is for Formula One, for Charles Leclerc and for Ferrari.

[00:11:20] As I mentioned earlier on, it's a childhood dream come true.

[00:11:24] You literally cannot script these moments any better.

[00:11:28] It's things you imagine when you're six or ten or eight,

[00:11:33] and as Charles Leclerc mentioned, when you remind yourself of the special moments

[00:11:37] and the conversations he had with his dad about winning this race.

[00:11:39] These are the kind of dreams that get you in the sport in the first place

[00:11:43] and then to be one of the very few people who can actually achieve it.

[00:11:47] It's such a special moment for Leclerc that will be etched into the history

[00:11:52] and the journey of his entire career when we look back at his special moments.

[00:11:56] But the numbers behind it too.

[00:11:58] I think it's the first time since 2020 where we've had three different teams win three consecutive races,

[00:12:05] 39 races since Leclerc last won a race,

[00:12:08] and his third Monaco pole position at last converted to a Grand Prix win.

[00:12:14] That must be a heavy one to digest for him.

[00:12:18] I'm going to add more. It's Leclerc's longest point-scoring streak that he's on.

[00:12:24] He was on 16th, which is long, which has now become 17th.

[00:12:27] He remains the only driver to finish top four in all the races in 2024

[00:12:34] and then the best one, which you've written here in our common notes,

[00:12:38] is 12 pole positions without a race win and he finally converted one.

[00:12:43] It was always since 22, since the new era, it was a Leclerc pole and a Verstappen bend

[00:12:48] and that's what we typically used to see.

[00:12:51] It's great to see and I love the fact that three different constructors have won in the last three rounds

[00:12:55] with three different drivers.

[00:12:58] So very, very exciting stuff for Formula One.

[00:13:02] And credit F1 stats, Guru, but it's due as well.

[00:13:06] 45 years since Ferrari converted a Monaco pole to a win.

[00:13:11] It has happened.

[00:13:13] It gives you goosebumps. John Elkin was there

[00:13:16] and the president of Ferrari basically being on ground,

[00:13:19] wearing the most incredible Monaco ass clothes

[00:13:21] and then being celebrated with by Princess Charlene.

[00:13:24] God, I love her.

[00:13:26] Then Prince Albert also being right.

[00:13:28] She's pretty, isn't she? Come on, don't make that face.

[00:13:30] I wouldn't recognize her if she walked on the street, but it doesn't matter.

[00:13:33] Come on, you didn't see her from 2017 though.

[00:13:36] Oh goodness.

[00:13:37] I have no clue. I have that F1 lens on.

[00:13:40] I was just looking at data and whatever else.

[00:13:44] Anyway, yeah.

[00:13:45] Wow, I have to Google and now or maybe check out on Instagram or wherever.

[00:13:49] Princess what?

[00:13:50] Monogasc elegance, Princess Charlene of Monaco.

[00:13:52] So fun fact, she was actually a South African swimmer

[00:13:56] who then got married into the royal family

[00:13:58] and has done tons and tons of work for charity and for the community there.

[00:14:01] And goodness, she is elegant.

[00:14:03] But the point being all of those celebrities be.

[00:14:07] I am. I am. Rightfully so.

[00:14:10] But what a moment right?

[00:14:12] Ferrari in their scarlet red with the entire team,

[00:14:15] the Italian national anthem playing, the Monogas royalty being there,

[00:14:18] the Monogas flag over look like.

[00:14:20] This is a moment you will literally put on your frame

[00:14:23] and remember for years.

[00:14:25] I know I'm going on for too long,

[00:14:27] but we have to because Ferrari haven't won with Leclerc

[00:14:31] for the last two years now.

[00:14:33] Yeah, it's huge.

[00:14:34] It's incredible.

[00:14:35] And I love that there was a live band playing.

[00:14:37] The band played their own national anthem,

[00:14:39] which is easier to play than see the Dutch national anthem.

[00:14:42] They're also more motivated.

[00:14:43] It was emotional.

[00:14:44] The marshals were emotional.

[00:14:46] Prince Albert had his own champagne bottle,

[00:14:48] which he opened and drank out of.

[00:14:51] You know, Leclerc and Vassour have been jumping into the Marina.

[00:14:54] Leclerc said it's going to be a big night or whatever something.

[00:14:59] He could have just sang that song tonight.

[00:15:01] It's going to be a good night.

[00:15:02] That's what he should have sang.

[00:15:03] But either way, you know,

[00:15:04] he can win and say whatever he wants as long as he doesn't say

[00:15:08] to whomsoever it may concern and what Lando no wins

[00:15:11] and we've got smooth operator.

[00:15:13] Right. So we've got a few.

[00:15:15] And anyway, but with the numbers,

[00:15:18] Red Bull hasn't been on the podium for the first time since 14 races

[00:15:22] and Rich Tappan, of course, on Saturday saw his eight pole position streak being broken.

[00:15:28] So he is now tied with Senna.

[00:15:31] He probably has nine more races to get pole

[00:15:33] and make his own record since he's been on a record breaking spree itself.

[00:15:37] But let's talk about this whole scenario because normally when Max wins,

[00:15:40] we just talk about it for two minutes,

[00:15:42] talk about his greatness and then move on.

[00:15:44] Luckily in the last few episodes,

[00:15:46] we have discussed Max and his driving a lot more

[00:15:49] because we've seen more opportunities where we've had to talk about the brilliance of Max.

[00:15:54] And this time, I think we could sum up this entire weekend for Red Bull Racing

[00:15:58] by that one comment Max was Tappan made.

[00:16:00] He said, I challenge anyone in the entire palette

[00:16:03] to drive this car at this weekend faster than me.

[00:16:07] I don't think many people could.

[00:16:09] So let's talk about why nobody could do that very well.

[00:16:12] And I think it's a little bit of a weird phenomenon,

[00:16:16] is it not, Kunal?

[00:16:17] Where a car, a lot like the 2021 Mercedes,

[00:16:21] is fast in all the high downforce sections.

[00:16:24] But when it comes to the slow speed corners and riding curves,

[00:16:27] it's a little bit tacky.

[00:16:29] Now what exactly does that mean for everyone listening?

[00:16:33] My goodness.

[00:16:34] At 16 minutes you're asking me a question which will straight away take us to 32 minutes.

[00:16:38] But okay, I'm going to break it down.

[00:16:41] The Red Bull, like Max said, it's like a go-kart.

[00:16:45] It almost doesn't have a suspension.

[00:16:47] In fact, Post Race, one of the first comments,

[00:16:49] and he made a few comments and funny ones, I'll repeat them.

[00:16:53] One of the first comments he made was, my goodness, my back is broken.

[00:16:56] Not verbatim, but he was complaining of his back being broken

[00:16:59] and he's been doing that the last couple of races.

[00:17:02] He's been carrying Red Bull for the last three years anyway.

[00:17:04] Of course his back will be broken.

[00:17:06] Tell me about it.

[00:17:08] That's a great one.

[00:17:09] This is why I missed you so much.

[00:17:10] As much as I'm missing Sundaram right now for not being around,

[00:17:14] seriously.

[00:17:15] So that was one point.

[00:17:18] Red Bull are unable to ride these mechanical bumps that come on the circuit,

[00:17:24] street circuits, bumps, curbs.

[00:17:26] They're unable to.

[00:17:27] In fact, in sector two, one of the reasons why Max was slow is he said,

[00:17:30] I just couldn't touch the curbs.

[00:17:32] Our car didn't like it at all.

[00:17:34] So through the Mickey Mouse, the slow section,

[00:17:36] he was just being off the curbs.

[00:17:38] And Mark Hughes has very nicely asked a question saying,

[00:17:41] Are Red Bull's simulation tools,

[00:17:43] are they not correlating on the mechanical elements of the car?

[00:17:47] Because on the aerodynamic elements like we saw in Imola,

[00:17:50] there was a correlation where you put it in the sim,

[00:17:53] fix things and you work it out at the track and it worked,

[00:17:56] but not so much so in Monaco.

[00:17:58] So that's just what happened to Red Bull.

[00:18:00] They just didn't have the pace.

[00:18:02] And now it's time to actually tell you some of the funny things

[00:18:05] that Max Richtappen said.

[00:18:07] He said,

[00:18:08] The funniest part for me was that I had to go to the toilet from lap 20.

[00:18:12] I'm not making these up.

[00:18:14] Okay.

[00:18:15] Then he said,

[00:18:17] of course, he's you know,

[00:18:18] he said I thought the ride was bad yesterday,

[00:18:20] but today is even worse.

[00:18:22] But the best of all were the two of them.

[00:18:25] First, he said,

[00:18:26] this is so bad and I'm now beeping out some of the expletives.

[00:18:30] I should have brought a pillow is what he said.

[00:18:32] Okay.

[00:18:33] And then finally when he was trying to chase Max Richtappen,

[00:18:36] sorry, when he was trying to chase George Russell,

[00:18:38] he said, I can't get any close.

[00:18:40] I'm floating with the wind.

[00:18:42] Okay. So I'll just land here.

[00:18:44] These are all radio messages he and GP were exchanging.

[00:18:48] But yes, truth be told,

[00:18:50] Red Bull did not have an answer to the challenge,

[00:18:53] the mechanical challenge that Monaco threw at them.

[00:18:57] And I would say all these years they could mask these,

[00:19:01] you know,

[00:19:02] they had so much advantage over the others that they could sort of mask these shortcomings and still win.

[00:19:08] But Ferrari and McLaren hats off credit to them for actually having caught up.

[00:19:12] But that isn't necessarily a bad thing for Red Bull racing,

[00:19:16] because remember the late rather the early 2020s and the late 2010s,

[00:19:22] Mercedes were always struggling in Monaco compared to Red Bull and Ferrari.

[00:19:28] There is a reason behind that.

[00:19:29] The circuit is a heavy, a heavy outlier to the point that it's unlike any circuit in the Formula One calendar,

[00:19:36] which is why a certain type of car and a certain type of design and a certain type of setup works at Monaco,

[00:19:44] but doesn't work anywhere else.

[00:19:46] Remember 2021 where Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas was struggling with Mercedes,

[00:19:50] we were literally raining down on their parade saying,

[00:19:53] My word, is this the worst time to be a Mercedes fan because are they finally losing their championship winning streak?

[00:20:00] But it didn't end up happening completely because that circuit was such a big outlier

[00:20:05] that it exposed one part of Mercedes' weakness to that extent,

[00:20:09] which is somewhat similar to what we're seeing with Red Bull.

[00:20:12] The interesting story is that Red Bull back in the day was strongest at this very circuit

[00:20:17] where they have now conceded that one big win.

[00:20:20] And that to me is a bigger story of sorts as you become the dominant force,

[00:20:25] Monaco starts to become less of your favorite track because your car is generally better overall

[00:20:31] that Monaco is a place where rather than Achilles heel where a smaller team can attack,

[00:20:36] which is what credit to McLaren and Ferrari. They did so well today.

[00:20:39] That's actually very well explained because what you do is you design a car

[00:20:43] that works around a larger range of circuits than some few of them

[00:20:48] and that's what you've literally tried to highlight very nicely.

[00:20:52] And then just to also add, the Red Bull, of course in the ground effect era

[00:20:58] needs to go lower to get its performance much like any other car.

[00:21:02] But with these bumps, it cannot go any lower

[00:21:06] and that's why it has to trade performance with ride quality and so on.

[00:21:10] And that's one of the reasons why they are where they are.

[00:21:13] But we should talk of McLaren because McLaren could have easily won as well.

[00:21:19] They had the measure of Ferrari throughout.

[00:21:21] In fact, I think they were also quicker, but track position is vital

[00:21:26] and that's what got them second and fourth place in the race.

[00:21:33] And Oscar Piaz III again not a single foot wrong,

[00:21:36] had all the upgrades outshone Lando Norris through the entire Grand Prix weekend.

[00:21:42] Honestly, what a driver! Seriously.

[00:21:46] And it all comes down to qualifying. Yes, ultimately that's the main decider.

[00:21:51] But that one comment from Piaz III really sticks out for me

[00:21:57] where after qualifying he said that if I had the Q1 of my last run,

[00:22:02] rather the first half of my last run and the second half of my current run,

[00:22:06] I would have gotten pole position.

[00:22:08] And that is literally a moment where you can see the brain of a driver working

[00:22:13] and then realizing, oh, dang it, that little bit more.

[00:22:16] And you can see that progression happening with this kid and it's beautiful.

[00:22:19] You could see more and more pages being added to his book,

[00:22:23] which will eventually when it's complete, my word is going to be a good meaty one.

[00:22:28] Yeah, and actually a lot of drivers didn't string their lap together.

[00:22:31] That's the term as you know we use in the world of motorsport, right?

[00:22:35] It's a nice one actually.

[00:22:36] It's a lovely one, right? You string all your or you stitch all your sectors together,

[00:22:39] however you call it.

[00:22:40] And I think it was Russell, it was Ricardo and several others who were out of place.

[00:22:45] And I sort of liked qualifying.

[00:22:47] And that's what Monaco qualifying is also about, right?

[00:22:51] It's about how much time you leave on the table by not going as close to the walls

[00:22:56] or having more margin to the walls, as you call it as well.

[00:23:00] But we should talk about the opening lap, the first start.

[00:23:06] Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Checo Perez.

[00:23:12] Of course, FIA being inconsistent and lenient with Magnussen

[00:23:17] has sort of seen him go away from getting a race band

[00:23:20] because everyone thought that's it, Oliver Behrman will be in the car in Canada, right?

[00:23:26] But it just so happens that the FIA have deemed it leniently,

[00:23:31] I would say or adjudicated leniently and let Kevin Magnussen go.

[00:23:36] What are your thoughts, Somal? How did that all play out?

[00:23:39] As much as I love his aggression and everything that he stands for,

[00:23:43] I think that's a whole heap of bollocks.

[00:23:46] There is no clearer incident that literally screams that a driver must be banned.

[00:23:52] Should it not, Kunal?

[00:23:53] If Romain Grosjean for SPAR 2012 got a ban, and that was a compounding thing.

[00:23:59] It wasn't just that event that caused it to happen.

[00:24:02] But this, we know that it's meant to be like riding a bicycle in your living room,

[00:24:08] which is what one so-called great once said.

[00:24:11] But this, putting a car down the inside where there's literally no incentive

[00:24:15] and then taking your teammate out as a result as well.

[00:24:18] I know you've been, I wouldn't say supportive of Kevin Magnussen,

[00:24:22] but rather accepting of the approach that you need to test the limits to the very end

[00:24:27] and just be as hard as you can.

[00:24:29] But come on, this surely must be one step too far, right?

[00:24:32] I'm going to repeat what Chekhov Peres said.

[00:24:34] Chekhov Peres said that at least there should have been an investigation of this incident.

[00:24:41] Race control said noted and then they said no investigation necessary.

[00:24:45] Yeah.

[00:24:46] Okay. And I just thought that that's a bit of a bummer

[00:24:51] because I believed that this should have been a slam dunk penalty for Magnussen

[00:25:00] because he hit the wall on the right and then he went into Peres

[00:25:04] and few people wrote to me on Twitter saying,

[00:25:06] but Peres could have gone on the left.

[00:25:07] Let's remember Peres was the car ahead.

[00:25:09] And hence he needed, he could have defended position as he would have wanted to.

[00:25:15] But then Peres did leave some room.

[00:25:17] It just so happened that Magnussen hit the wall first

[00:25:20] and then to avoid hitting the wall further, he went and he decided to hit Chekhov Peres.

[00:25:25] And Peres' car, my goodness, in the cost cap era to have that kind of a crash is crazy.

[00:25:32] Yeah. It's almost one of those ones where the car looks worse than it actually was.

[00:25:38] I mean, the accident looks worse.

[00:25:39] It kind of like Russell's crash in Australia earlier this year,

[00:25:42] which proves how good the survival cell is.

[00:25:45] But those finances, well, they aren't surviving very well

[00:25:48] because that's a big, big, like, like literal write-off.

[00:25:52] Would it not be? Wait, unfortunately, if you had that crash,

[00:25:54] back in the day, if you had a big crash like that,

[00:25:57] is it literally like a write-off?

[00:25:59] Like you just look at the books and be like, we can't salvage anything.

[00:26:03] And you just scrap the car?

[00:26:04] Well, the engineers will take a look and see whatever they can salvage.

[00:26:08] Right. Before deciding something like that.

[00:26:11] Of course, I think Hulkenberg said it's a write-off, so maybe he knows better.

[00:26:16] He was with me at Force India as well.

[00:26:18] But there was another incident because Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz,

[00:26:22] again the first start that we had, Sainz had a very strange puncture.

[00:26:27] He got lucky he could join in the restart.

[00:26:30] And very interesting, Carlos Sainz's brain immediately like Ricky's at a red flag.

[00:26:35] Oh, this is like Australia.

[00:26:36] That means I need to go back and I can actually restart the race.

[00:26:39] And he actually planned all of that with his engineer,

[00:26:41] as you'd expect Carlos Sainz to do.

[00:26:43] But every time now you guys see pictures on social media of the teeths

[00:26:49] that cars have on the floor and you wonder what do these even do?

[00:26:54] Now you should know that this is what they do when a car gets really close to you.

[00:26:58] The teeth go and puncture your rival's tires,

[00:27:02] as Oscar Piastri's car did with Carlos Sainz.

[00:27:05] So that little nudge, I was like what the hell?

[00:27:08] These cars can actually hit the barrier.

[00:27:11] They've all been kissing the barriers fairly hard through Monaco.

[00:27:15] That will do nothing to the tires.

[00:27:17] But one nudge on those teeth-like protruding things on the floor

[00:27:23] or wherever part next to the side parts of the car and boom,

[00:27:27] the tires will not survive that.

[00:27:29] Are we in the Speed Racer era?

[00:27:31] Have you seen that movie?

[00:27:33] Speed Racer, 2008. Do you remember?

[00:27:35] No. Something in the desert where people were doing, I don't know, I think so.

[00:27:42] Maybe I haven't seen it.

[00:27:43] That's Mad Max.

[00:27:44] Oh there we go.

[00:27:45] Speed Racer was kind of crazy.

[00:27:47] I remember my dad went to the LA, to the US, to Los Angeles.

[00:27:52] I don't know what it's called.

[00:27:53] But he went to LA back in the day,

[00:27:55] which is a big thing for anyone in Mumbai.

[00:27:57] And he bought this beautiful Speed Racer kind of prototype.

[00:27:59] And remember in the movie, you had buttons where if you press a certain button on the car,

[00:28:04] you could have a tooth-like protruding thing sticking out of your wheels

[00:28:09] so that you could smash into the wheels of another car and puncture their wheels.

[00:28:13] So maybe we are sort of in that Speed Racer generation.

[00:28:15] Who knows where the way things are going?

[00:28:17] Weird, weird how volatile these cars can be.

[00:28:23] Which is also what we saw with Esteban Ocon's crash, didn't we?

[00:28:26] About him just...

[00:28:28] Sorry, what's the adjective are we going to use here?

[00:28:30] I was going to say stupidly centered in.

[00:28:32] Which is similar to what Bruno Famine inadvertently said.

[00:28:36] What adjective would you use for that move, Kunal, on the opening lap?

[00:28:39] I think he was over...

[00:28:41] He was impatient, put it bluntly.

[00:28:44] He was impatient.

[00:28:46] Justified?

[00:28:47] No, no, never.

[00:28:48] I mean, especially on your teammate.

[00:28:50] He knew that he's got to make the move opening lap,

[00:28:53] much like every driver did.

[00:28:55] He didn't watch the way he did it.

[00:28:57] And it's...

[00:28:59] Gusley couldn't have gone anywhere but in the barrier.

[00:29:02] Okay.

[00:29:03] And then finally coming out and apologizing much later, etc.

[00:29:08] In which case, Gusley scoring his first points

[00:29:10] despite having that first lap crash

[00:29:12] and resultant damage to the car is also fantastic.

[00:29:16] But of course, you can argue this is Monaco

[00:29:18] and it's easy to drive around a Formula One car at Formula Two pace.

[00:29:22] But Gusley scoring points, which means 18 out of 21 drivers

[00:29:26] have scored points in the first eight rounds of the season.

[00:29:30] The two Sauber drivers and Logan Sargent are yet to score a point

[00:29:34] because Alexander Albin and Williams

[00:29:38] scored their first points of the season.

[00:29:40] So nine teams have now scored points.

[00:29:42] And what I love about Albin, and I'm actually switching to him,

[00:29:45] is they have been working on making their car

[00:29:49] quick at circuits like Monaco.

[00:29:51] And just when he could do that,

[00:29:53] and got into Q3, qualified in the top ten,

[00:29:57] drove a race, protected his position

[00:30:00] and then scored points for the team as well.

[00:30:02] Yeah.

[00:30:03] And that was such a fun little story playing out in the background

[00:30:07] about them finally getting those points in.

[00:30:10] And at the same time, Yuki Sonoda was also best of the rest again

[00:30:13] in that whole scenario, as you mentioned, in that whole field.

[00:30:17] As you mentioned earlier, he was trying to back everyone up behind him.

[00:30:20] But let's not forget, he's now, if I am not mistaken,

[00:30:23] won seven on the qualifying record to Daniel Ricciardo.

[00:30:27] Is it not?

[00:30:28] Whatever it is, it is significant.

[00:30:31] And it goes under the radar.

[00:30:34] But he's not that problem kid anymore.

[00:30:36] He's not. He's had five points finishes right till date

[00:30:42] out of eight rounds, which is fantastic.

[00:30:44] He's been in Q3 again, I think, five times.

[00:30:47] He's eight points ahead of Stroll.

[00:30:50] And it sort of baffles me that Red Bull are just going to completely overlook him

[00:30:55] for the second seed next to Max Richtappen.

[00:30:58] I don't know.

[00:30:59] I know that his career is heavily linked to Honda

[00:31:01] and what Honda does and goes, and Red Bull and Honda are parted ways.

[00:31:04] But, you know, Checo Perez, last weekend he lost second in the championship.

[00:31:09] This weekend he's lost third in the championship.

[00:31:11] So Max is there up ahead.

[00:31:13] Leclerc is at 138.

[00:31:15] Norris is at 113.

[00:31:17] Carlos Sainz is at 108.

[00:31:19] And mind you, Carlos Sainz actually missed a Grand Prix as you remember in Jeddah.

[00:31:24] And Checo Perez is at 107.

[00:31:27] It's his first no score of the season.

[00:31:30] You've got to give him that.

[00:31:32] But imagine his scores have still not been enough because the others have,

[00:31:37] of course, finished far ahead of him and him playing catch up.

[00:31:42] How low do you think he'll finish this season?

[00:31:44] Ooh, wow.

[00:31:49] You've put me on the spot here.

[00:31:51] No.

[00:31:53] I think he'll be top three or top four because Norris and Leclerc have a car

[00:31:58] consistently that's able to give them a position to challenge.

[00:32:02] They will continue to challenge.

[00:32:04] I've taken you out of the spot now.

[00:32:06] Yeah, but again, it's one of those things where you really have to wait for a late season

[00:32:11] resurgence as well.

[00:32:12] And again, being such a long championship, there is room for something like that

[00:32:16] coming along.

[00:32:17] And that is something that I particularly am excited about because when the year

[00:32:21] began, who would have thought that McLaren would have won a race, Ferrari would have

[00:32:25] won a race and Red Bull also would have won a race in consecutive order.

[00:32:29] That is baffling the way things have been playing out, which has only got me

[00:32:34] wondering in the entire grand scheme of things about how exciting the second half

[00:32:38] could be because McLaren now have doubled the points compared to Mercedes.

[00:32:42] We are now in a scenario where Ferrari are generally challengers and Red Bull,

[00:32:46] that time where they need their second driver has arrived.

[00:32:51] We were talking about this for the last two years, weren't we?

[00:32:54] That they need their number two driver.

[00:32:56] And until the day they wouldn't really need them, there would be no need to

[00:33:00] talk about Sergio Perez's future.

[00:33:02] Should we talk about it now?

[00:33:04] We should because the gap is 24 points between Red Bull and Ferrari, which I think

[00:33:12] is very, very close.

[00:33:14] 24 points in the constructors is nothing given that you can literally score a lot

[00:33:20] of points in the constructors championship.

[00:33:22] I think you can do 26 plus 18.

[00:33:24] So that's 44 points in a race weekend that you can score, right?

[00:33:28] Which Red Bull, mind you, has done three times this season.

[00:33:32] So they know what it takes to get a one-two and a pole and a fastest lap point as well.

[00:33:38] But you're right, they will need to consider that if Checo goes on this way because

[00:33:44] it's the second time that he's messed up qualifying.

[00:33:47] And if he continues to go this way, could they get Carlos or could they get somebody

[00:33:53] else in place of Checo?

[00:33:55] Because it's always going to be needed, like you're saying, when the others come

[00:34:01] chasing, right?

[00:34:03] And when the others come chasing, I think the two teams that will not chase the top

[00:34:09] three this season, and I'm making a prediction here.

[00:34:12] First is Mercedes, right?

[00:34:14] Russell has been, of course, outshining Lewis Hamilton in that Mercedes.

[00:34:18] Could be various reasons.

[00:34:20] But Lewis, in fact, also turned around and said, I don't think Russell's, I'm

[00:34:23] going to out-qualify Russell in 2024 at all.

[00:34:25] It's just the nature of what we are trying to do.

[00:34:28] So that's number one.

[00:34:29] And the second is Aston Martin.

[00:34:31] I don't believe, I mean, you can argue or there are 16 more races and things

[00:34:36] could flip around, which is possible because three races ago, you know, Max was

[00:34:40] still winning with a 15 second margin and now he's not.

[00:34:43] Okay.

[00:34:44] But I think the deficit is still too much for them to overcome.

[00:34:49] Yeah.

[00:34:50] And the funny thing is with that team, the qualifying record is 4-4.

[00:34:59] We are the Lance Troll Celebration Podcast.

[00:35:02] Of course we are.

[00:35:03] We acknowledge him at every little moment in time.

[00:35:06] But we seriously need to talk about this because Lance Troll, I'm not calling

[00:35:10] him a top of the line Formula One driver.

[00:35:14] I am not calling him to be a generational talent or even a significant

[00:35:18] talent per se.

[00:35:19] But to put things into context, he has out-qualified Fernando Alonso four

[00:35:24] times this year, which is something he couldn't do at all last year.

[00:35:28] So credit where it's due, it's either Alonso is really messing it up or

[00:35:33] Troll is doing really well, but the numbers speak for itself and we've

[00:35:36] got to acknowledge it.

[00:35:37] So the Aston Martin after it's been upgraded has become difficult to

[00:35:41] drive.

[00:35:42] It's not letting Fernando do his magic, you know, which is typically

[00:35:47] punching way about the weight of the car and the package.

[00:35:50] I believe Fernando is just over driving or forced to overdrive the car to

[00:35:54] get anything out of it because he doesn't want to qualify in ninth and

[00:35:58] tenth. He wants to get that sixth and seventh, and that's possibly

[00:36:02] what's taken it away.

[00:36:03] So three race weekends in a row where I think Lance Troll has

[00:36:07] out-qualified him, which is why I'm shocked that it's a four by

[00:36:12] four or four versus four for Alonso and Troll.

[00:36:15] I am massively shocked.

[00:36:17] Seriously, and with more races coming up, let's see if it's actually

[00:36:21] an accident or if it's something genuine, but lightning does not strike

[00:36:25] when lightning strikes four times, you know, it's kind of genuine.

[00:36:29] So I'm kind of worried about the whole scenario that's happening

[00:36:33] with Fernando Alonso, but that's among the major stories that we

[00:36:36] need to talk about for Canada, which we should in depth in the

[00:36:40] Canadian GP preview, but you have something to say.

[00:36:42] Yes. And one more thing, you know, Lewis Hamilton, of course,

[00:36:45] very good on Friday, then sort of loses his way, chose to not use

[00:36:50] the new front wing that got available in Monaco.

[00:36:54] Right. And one of the reasons is because of Park Forme.

[00:36:57] So he opted to not use it and then George opted to use it.

[00:37:00] And if you would have crashed it, then there could have been

[00:37:03] reasons because Park Forme said if you use a part which is new,

[00:37:06] you've got to continue using it.

[00:37:07] Right. So he didn't have the same car as George Russell,

[00:37:10] which we should sort of highlight.

[00:37:12] But something strange in Lewis's race execution today, because

[00:37:16] there were two times when I was like, Lewis, but we know that

[00:37:19] sitting at home or sitting in the studio where I was with Viya

[00:37:23] today, he said, you didn't tell me the outlap would be critical.

[00:37:27] Now, this is Lewis Hamilton, who's been most famous for

[00:37:30] hammer time. He knows what hammer time means.

[00:37:33] Doesn't mean only when he's leading the race and, you know,

[00:37:38] chasing or chasing P1.

[00:37:40] I was surprised when he said you didn't tell me the outlap

[00:37:43] was critical was what he asked Bono.

[00:37:46] And then the second one was, you know, at some point in the

[00:37:49] race, he actually asked Bono saying, are we supposed to be

[00:37:52] closing the gap?

[00:37:53] Right. Which also was just before the pit stops and so on.

[00:37:56] So I was a bit puzzled.

[00:37:58] And of course, these radio messages are taken out of context

[00:38:01] in a lot of cases because we weren't privy to the entire

[00:38:04] conversation.

[00:38:05] But Lewis is Lewis and I hope he's able to, you know, find

[00:38:09] he's able to have a fine ending with Mercedes and not this

[00:38:13] one because he's at 42 points.

[00:38:15] George Russell is at 54.

[00:38:17] And it's all about the magic that Lewis and, you know,

[00:38:21] Mercedes have done all these years.

[00:38:23] This is not how we want them to sign off.

[00:38:26] Yeah.

[00:38:27] And the funny thing is the cover of the book,

[00:38:30] already has romanticized Leclerc and Hamilton in Ferrari

[00:38:34] colors.

[00:38:35] And maybe that's just a premonition of sorts about what

[00:38:40] to expect with one relationship going sour.

[00:38:43] And then we're all looking forward to the other one.

[00:38:46] And the second one, the one that's been going on for a

[00:38:48] longer time, Leclerc and Ferrari finally maturing into

[00:38:51] a beautiful fine red wine that we've enjoyed this weekend.

[00:38:54] And then the third one, the one that's been going on

[00:38:57] for a longer time, Leclerc and Ferrari finally maturing into

[00:38:59] a beautiful fine red wine that we've enjoyed this weekend.

[00:39:01] Well, hopefully there is more to come starting from

[00:39:04] the next races, which is going to be the Canadian Grand Prix

[00:39:07] and for its preview episode, we know that you're

[00:39:09] going to be right here listening and watching the

[00:39:12] Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:39:14] Folks, if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a like,

[00:39:17] share this episode with all Charles Leclerc fans and

[00:39:20] any Formula One fans in your circle who you think might

[00:39:23] enjoy this and we shall see you rather soon.

[00:39:26] Thank you so much for listening and watching. Bye bye.