McLaren got bullied by Max Verstappen at Suzuka | #F1 2025 Japanese GP Review

[00:00:19] What's the point of having the fastest car, Kunal? What's the point? What's the point? The point of having the fastest car is so that you hopefully attract the fastest driver. But has McLaren really attracted the fastest driver? Can any other team actually attract the fastest, best driver of this generation, Somal?

[00:00:41] What a masterclass the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix has been in qualifying on Saturday and then on the race today. Incredible. I just want to ask you one question. For a Formula 1 team, when you were at Force India, what was more important? The driver... Okay, you guys are not fighting for the Drivers World Championship. Hopefully someday this team and that guys will. But if Force India at that point were fighting for the World Championship, when you were there with Vijay Mali owning it,

[00:01:10] Do you think Vijay Mali would have said, let me just prioritize on winning the Championship with Checo? Or would he have said, I want both Checo and Nico to score points for the team? Or it's... Would he have sacrificed to win so that there could be harmony between the two drivers? Is what I want to know. No. I don't think any team sacrifices wins, polls, positions, podiums, whatever. They want to maximize their race outcomes. Even if it's at the cost of team harmony.

[00:01:39] I know where you're going with this. Did McLaren choose driver harmony, team harmony over scoring a win? Did McLaren feel, you know what, this is an outlier. Let Max go win this race. We've got 21 other races to win because we clearly have the package across all the races. Whereas Suzuka was just one of those outliers. Could that be... Is that what you're thinking? If that's the case, I think that's arrogant. You never let go of a race win. Ever. You never know when the next one could be. For all you know, Red Bull turns up with the car the next time.

[00:02:09] That absolutely just blows you away. For all you know, anything could happen. I mean, I don't want to wish for the worst. But I literally have seen my football club have all of their players go vanished. Because the plane crashed. And they couldn't ever make it back to the stadium where they wanted to go. So you never count a win out. If you have a win on the table, I say you take it. I think McLaren let Max win. Yes, I think McLaren let Max win.

[00:02:37] I think McLaren were not really wanting to challenge Max. And if you remember in the post-qualifying show that we had yesterday, I'm sure all the thousands of listeners who've come across video and audio, which is basically on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, everywhere, whether you see us or you hear us, you would remember we said that Max will win it at the start, which he did. And then Max's biggest challenge would come in the pit stops. Because McLaren would go two against one, which they did not.

[00:03:07] Right? And that was, you know, like Parikshit, our editor, wrote to me saying, they had two bullets to fire when it came to race strategy. And both of them didn't. So that was one. And the second was whether McLaren even considered, for whatever reason, trying to swap their drivers, giving Oscar the chance to attack Max. Because we never saw anything of that on the radio chatter. Okay? And to me, this actually points to two things.

[00:03:32] First is a qualifying agreement, which is, you know, Mr. King of Free Air, Oscar Piastri said, well, if I wanted to win, I should just max qualifying. Does McLaren have an agreement that if you are the guy who qualifies ahead and you have race, you know, you have priority race position, you will be prioritized come what may. Could that be one of those things? And second to me, it could also be that McLaren just realized that the overtaking delta for Suzuka was very small between themselves and Red Bull.

[00:04:02] And they said, you know what? Forget it. Let's just bank two and three. And well, if that's the way they saw it, I'm sure that's great for McLaren. But not great for Formula One because we would have loved to see a Piastri versus McLaren, Samuel, because Norris versus Verstappen was just not coming. Yeah, Piastri says McLaren will also happen at some point when they realize that, oh, yikes, we can't keep both people happy. And that will happen at some point.

[00:04:28] And you can see somewhere in the background, Mark, where we're trying to turn things around, trying to make sure that what happened to him doesn't happen to his client, Oscar. And that will eventually, I mean, everyone says it. Everyone in the paddock says it. We say it. The other teams say it. It just won't work all the time. It can't go on this way. At some point down the road, there will be chaos. They're sitting on a ticking time bomb.

[00:04:54] And what I found amusing, Kunal, was that they opted to go for the same strategy with Oscar and Lando. I say same, just a lapse for the difference. So it is roughly the same. But they didn't try something when people die to have two cars so that they can try something. Like Helmut Marko was speaking to the media this week. And he said, our primary objective with Yuki is to make sure that he's close enough to Max so that we can offer Max more opportunities to win. They didn't even do that.

[00:05:19] I feel like they're scared to upset anyone within the team by making a decision, which is where harmony comes in. Which is very true to McLaren's roots because 1998 Australian GP, handshake agreement between Kulthor and Hakanen. It's very true to who they are, which I love. I love the fact that there are different identities and visions about a Formula One team. Red Bull, we focus on only one driver. McLaren, we focus on the Constructors World Championship. The Drivers World Championship would figure itself out. But at some point, you've got to be thinking that. And I love this, right?

[00:05:48] Because we're just people bickering about this. We're the four people, the four people who talk about everything that go on. But at the end, it still is important. McLaren have sacrificed a race win because they prioritized harmony and peace over picking someone. Because it was clear, Kunal, that Piastri was the faster one. I don't think we can debate that. For differing parts of the races, for sure.

[00:06:11] Yeah, I don't think it's absolutely debatable because Piastri was able to get in within those 6-7 tenths of a second to Lando Norris, whereas Lando Norris was just not able to get into Max Verstappen's wake. And I must say, yes, McLaren banked two and three. The only issue I had with this race was McLaren had the chance to try and go for the win. Okay.

[00:06:36] With a different strategy, as you pointed out, Samuel, or with letting Piastri swap with Lando Norris and let him have a go. And if it didn't work, they could have just told them to swap back, which is what a lot of teams have done as well. Which is what they did in Hungary also last year when Piastri got his first win. Yeah, so I get this feeling that the whole qualifying, whoever qualifies first and is, you know, prioritized race position will get preference. Maybe that's one of those things that are there.

[00:07:02] And secondly, like I said, you know, they just realized that they did not have that much of a significant race pace advantage or a tire delta advantage. Because both, you know, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, of course, pitted on the same lap as well. Which we, of course, know the lawnmower moment that they spoke of. But what we should, you know, just say is, guys, we should at least have a battle.

[00:07:28] We should at least have McLaren trying to do something else to try and get that race win. And maybe they're just literally like what I said, you know, maybe this is that outlier of a race weekend where they're like, let them go win this. We will take all the other races. Because McLaren has at least been on the podium on all the other races, whereas Red Bull hasn't. Can you think about, can you genuinely think like that as a Formula One team, Kunal? Like, let them win it.

[00:07:55] That whole sentiment goes against everything that Formula One stands for. Because the difference, ultimately, if we are saying that qualifying is where the race was won, which is where a majority of the race was won, even Oscar Piastri admitted that in the post-race media session, then every race becomes Monaco, doesn't it? Whoever gets the jump wins. And we know that McLaren are mostly going to be the ones at the top because they have overall the best package, unless we get to see a Max Verstappen masterclass every weekend, which we could.

[00:08:23] But not every weekend will favor Red Bull quite like this weekend does. And they won't be able to turn it around every single time. But I feel it's slightly arrogant of a Formula One team to think that we can win the next one, let them win this one. I think that goes against every fabric of what Formula One stands for. I don't know. That statement doesn't sit right with me. Or maybe it was just, we'd rather not upset both parties and keep the harmony and dynamism the same.

[00:08:49] I feel Chris Medlin articulated it very well in the F1DB post-race show where he said that they would much rather solve an external threat than an internal threat because the internal threat can upset everything. And that's what they've chosen today. But that still seems like a very odd choice to make because you're sacrificing a race winner's trophy and you never know when the next one could come. Yes, viewers are pouring in. Thank you. Hi, Sarika. Good to have you back.

[00:09:17] I remember you were there in the qualifying post, post-qualifying show as well. Samil, firstly, those were my words that, you know, we don't want to go for the race win. We'll win all the others. Let them win this. But I don't know if McLaren... I get you. I get you. Yeah. I get you. And, well, truth be told, we would have just wanted a battle because a battle is what we tune in to watch Formula One for. Just as we also tune into Formula One to now see who the driver of the day would be.

[00:09:46] Because as strange as Kimi Antonelli won this in China a couple of rounds ago, Yuki Tsunoda was the driver of the day this season or this race, which actually is a bit of a surprise. Again, driver voting going absolutely in sway of all the fans who were there in Suzuka. And again, even the attendance at Suzuka Samil reported by Formula One was 266,000 fans, which is so Japanese, right?

[00:10:13] We will not be one less or one more through the gate. We will stop just when the counter hits a triple zero. So that's what it was. But, you know, you also explained Monaco. Very, very interesting. Your favorite driver, Carlos Sainz, who, by the way, has had a 20,000 euro fine for missing out on the press car. No, the national anthem before the race.

[00:10:39] So he's got a 20,000 euro fine from the FIA for missing out on the national anthem. 10,000 of that is suspended, which means Carlos will have to pay 10,000 euros, okay? Which is still fine, right? For a dump. Most likely, it must have been a dump. What else could it have been? So he had a stomach issue. The team's medical doctor actually came in as well. Okay, you and Carlos are connected to the hip. You exactly know what was it.

[00:11:08] So he took his team medical doctor and, you know, the FIA said this is great. But the FIA also said that in the regulations for missing the national anthem, which is, by the way, a TV commitment as well. Happens at the 46th minute every hour before the race, right? You want to guess what that fine is? A regular fine. 60,000 euros. For a dump.

[00:11:39] For missing the national anthem. Why else would you miss it? Why else? Honestly, where else would you be? Genuinely, where else would you be at that time? Because your car is on the grid. Everything's there for you. Your engineer's there. Your team principal's there. You're only here at the track to drive the car, which is literally standing behind you. You're not going to go there meeting someone. You have more important things to do. Where else would you be?

[00:12:05] There's only one place, as Kimi Raikkonen went to, when Pelé was doing his opening ceremony at the Brazilian GP in 2003, 2004 something. He went to have a dump. That's a costly fine for that. Come on. Must have been a good one then. In which case. But I can't fathom it. That has to go in the post-season awards show. For sure. Like that. But yeah, I find it amazing. Well, costly dumps have been taken. Like what we saw at the top of the field.

[00:12:34] I was just genuinely so disappointed for that. Like I was so sad during the broadcast not to see McLaren give it a punt. Like do something. Like put someone on the overcut. Put someone on the... Try something. You have two drivers. Because what's the worst that could happen? I know every race matters and everything is consequential. But you literally have a driver who's 15-20 points behind your number one driver in the championship right now. Let's put it that way. Why not? Go for it. Give it a shot. Why go for the easy way out?

[00:13:05] Take a risk. Try something else. And Piastri said in the post-race interview that they pitted when they did to cover off the cars behind them. Which is strange. Because there was nobody. I think they must have meant the cars. The slower cars that they would have had to face when they boxed right. So, they wanted to come up with a clean pocket of air which Piastri ultimately did. I think he had to pass one car there. But even then, even then, I mean, I don't know. Why don't we bring up this point?

[00:13:34] You know, Abhishek has made a point which is... I'm going to put it up on the screen. You think it was overly creative on McLaren by not pitting the lead car first or just overly defensive to cover George behind. Either way, not bold. Although, that slow max stop could have paid off Orlando. So, Abhishek is leaving extremely interesting comments on our YouTube page. Thank you for that, Abhishek. Appreciate it when fans come with a lot of knowledge and a lot of interest in the sport.

[00:14:03] So, thank you for that. But I think George Russell was the first one. Actually, I know George Russell was the first one in the top 10 to make the pit stop. And at that time, you know, everyone thought that the undercut would be extremely powerful. Which it typically is because you just have newer rubber which comes into, you know, its working range. And then you were able to go faster on your outlap and sort of hopefully make a position.

[00:14:27] The truth there is, Lando Norris was, you know, of course chasing Max Verstappen. So, they decided to pit Oscar Piastri out of sequence. Out of sequence because typically the driver on the road is the driver who gets the first preferential pit call. So, I think they just had to cover George Russell at that point of time because overtaking was very tough. Following was very tough as well. And then with Lando Norris, you know, Norris actually explained that hindsight is a beautiful thing.

[00:14:55] He, you know, he said this in the post-race press conference that I was sitting through. And he said, I wish I could have gone one lap longer. Maybe I could have, you know, gone one lap shorter. But he's like, imagine if I did that and a safety car came out. You guys would be sitting here and laughing at me for trying something else. So, he's like, we could have tried something else. But we did not. And we just have to admit that Max drove a perfect race and that he did not make a mistake. And that's where it was. I still find that weird, Kunal.

[00:15:22] Because what's the hardest thing in Formula 1, genuinely, today? It's passing Max Verstappen. I do not remember an instance where Lando Norris passed Max Verstappen cleanly with both of them on the same strategy last year. I don't. I don't. Max pushed him off. Or they just made contact in one way or the other. Sometimes Max got a penalty for that. But you don't pass Max Verstappen on the road. There's a certain fear attached to it. There's a reason why. And you know that. And you can feel that. And it's bold and brave of you to go and try again.

[00:15:52] But when the world can see that there's not enough delta and your lap times are consistently similar. And yours is only a tenth faster than him, even though you're in dirtier. Which means that you probably might have a delta of around, what, 2.25 seconds or something like that? Faster than that? Which I don't think is enough. And plus there's only one DRS zone around Suzuka. All the signs, again, hindsight is a beautiful thing. And we are watching from the outside with all these beautiful screens. And it's easy for us to sit in a room like this and say, hey, this is what my Taren should have done.

[00:16:20] But I just feel it's the hardest thing in Formula 1 to pass Max Verstappen. And you're setting yourself up for a very tough job if you put yourself on the same strategy as Max. So you're banking on either a good start or a great pit stop, which is tough because Red Bull are great. Even you are. But it becomes even trickier for them to execute something better. And McLaren did have a slightly faster pit stop. But then that one moment where they could have gotten past, they couldn't really do that.

[00:16:48] Because Max ultimately cycled out ahead because he had track position and advantage that way. And yes, Lando in the moment might have thought that it was Max's fault. But we all saw the radios. We all saw the replays. We all saw that it was not his fault. Max was just driving straight. Lando ran out of road. And that's normal. That's fine. I mean, I can't fault him for what he said in the moment. You don't have enough information unless you're Max Verstappen. But it is what it is. And then I was just surprised that they didn't go bold. Which is a repetitive thing, isn't it, Kunal?

[00:17:17] Because I remember we discussed the same thing at least five times last year. Particularly Silverstone last year where Oscar had a genuine opportunity to win. But then they boxed Lando first because I don't know why. McLaren's still learning. And, you know, Aniket has made an interesting point. Max can only lose when McLaren choose their first driver. Yeah. Yeah. And otherwise it's mad Max.

[00:17:42] But Max Verstappen also said to Wireplay, I don't even want to think what would happen if I was in that McLaren. Then you wouldn't have even seen me. And I think that's possibly true. We have seen that. Max in that fastest car. And Samuel, we said this in the preseason episodes. We said it in the episodes with Scabs as well. Craig Scarborough, the F on TV tech guru who's been on our show several times.

[00:18:06] That it's one thing to have a dominant car, but it's another thing altogether to dominate Formula One. And that's what McLaren will learn in 2025. Much as they learned a lot about their pit stops in 2024 as well. Or pit strategy as well. But Sadhanab says, will Ferrari ever get it together? Well, they did, right? Because for the third race in a row, Ferrari actually had the fastest pit stop.

[00:18:32] Well, people did tell us that Ferrari could be one of the fastest teams in 2025. Just that they didn't say they could be one of the fastest teams in the pit stops in 2025. But Ferrari were pretty much maximizing their potential. I think Charles Leclerc said, I got everything out of the car. I'm very happy with how it worked for me. But I'm not happy that the best we could get out of the car actually was just P4 out there.

[00:18:59] But him being ahead of Mercedes in itself, I think would be a great result. And I know you said Monaco, you said Carlos Sainz. We've spoken about qualifying as well. Actually, a lot of drivers said how difficult it was to follow around Suzuka. And Carlos Sainz actually said, Suzuka has become the new Monaco. Just that it's with high-speed corners. They said it's difficult to follow. Nico Hulkenberg said, it's great. We've got a resurfaced track.

[00:19:28] It's more grippy. Adds more speed. But guess what? It also adds the dirty effect that much more. And he said, I just could not follow anyone. Which is why there were lots of drivers who said they had lonely races. Right? And when we talk of lonely races, I think in the top 10 itself, there were three instances where drivers were like 10-10 seconds behind their rivals. So it just goes to show that, yes, it was an enjoyable race. Was it really an enjoyable race for you, Samuel? Or was it boring for you?

[00:19:57] I mean, it was very enjoyable. So many stories to deliberate, right? Because 20 minutes into the episode and we haven't even touched upon anyone else apart from the top three properly. Which tells you, it was a very enjoyable race. There's a lot to pick apart from that. And we could go on for the next 30 minutes. But we won't. We should only be here for the next 20 or because episode lengths are a thing and we don't want to bore people out as well. And also, it's easy to segment stuff. But if you're enjoying it, we can keep going. So send in your comments and we'd love to read them out and have that discussion with you.

[00:20:27] But yeah, I think it was very, very enjoyable. Yes, the lonely races didn't help. But so many other micro stories to pick out as well. No, Kunal? Like the story of Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda. Who you might say are not connected at all this weekend. But I say both of them had a very interesting weekend that tells you just how competitive modern Formula 1 is. Because at the start of the weekend, Kimi was struggling. Yuki was thriving. He got to understand his car very well.

[00:20:55] And Red Bull trusted Yuki so much that they only gave him one set of soft tires, new soft tires in Q2, which he didn't make it out of with. But Kimi had two sets of new soft tires, which he used, got into Q3, qualified very well. And today he finished P6. But Yuki was out of the points. Again, both of them had a very similar approach right up till qualifying. One was good, one was bad. But then one qualifying session and just one lap, that one Q2 lap has decided the fate of both of their drivers.

[00:21:24] And one of them today has set a new lap record. And his driver of, at least in my eyes, one of the drivers of the day. And the other one is the fan motor driver of the day, but got no points in his debut. Just through one qualifying session, Kunal. That to me, epitomizes modern Formula 1. And I can't call that a boring race or a boring weekend at all when things like this are coming. Would you agree? Yeah, you know, what you're saying is actually true. Because qualifying is even more important at tracks like this where it's impossible to follow.

[00:21:52] Because Yuki Sunoda got out of the car and he said, you know what? I had a good race, could extract maximum performance, you know, etc., etc. Like every driver says, and I just need to qualify up higher. Post-race on the radio, one of the first things he said is, I just need to qualify up higher. And we pretty much saw that, you know, drivers finished in the order they qualified in. And, you know, Oscar Piastri was asked post-race in the press conference, how important is qualifying? Is it even more vital? And he said, you know what?

[00:22:20] In the history of Formula 1, qualifying has always been more vital. And I think the trend continues since 1991. That pole position, or rather the front row continues to score wins. Of course, this time it was pole position. So eight out of the last 13 races, I believe, have been won from pole position at Suzuka.

[00:22:42] Max Verstappen goes unchallenged since 2019 in qualifying and in the race as well. And, you know, Aniket has asked if I can just shift something. Yes, okay. First, Aniket says, what's your opinion on Yuki versus Lawson? You know, we all saw it coming that the racing bulls would actually probably do a little better

[00:23:08] because it just seems a more balanced, more, well, what do drivers talk of balance? Let's actually talk of that. It's just a car which is easier to extract performance from through all kind of corner ranges and so on. Lawson would be happy that he's still on the grid in Formula 1. He would be happy that the likes of Arvid Lindblad are still in Formula 2. Otherwise, he could have well been just thrown out of Formula 1, given how Red Bull goes. I think one race is too soon to make any comparison.

[00:23:37] Yuki did fairly well in all the laps, except for that lap in Q2. Whereas Lawson, of course, a lesser experienced teammate and Isaac Hartjar ended up scoring points, which for racing bulls, they would be really pleased that, you know, even though they've lost Yuki, who scored points in the previous two races, Isaac Hartjar actually continues to, you know, end up scoring points for them as well. And I love how Hartjar, after his formation lap crash,

[00:24:06] has actually been the best qualifier outside of the top four teams. And Sawmill, you know, he actually made a statement saying we maximize performance and we've got a car that works in all corner ranges and all conditions on track. So more than Lawson, I'm actually looking out for Isaac Hartjar in the Racing Bulls car. And that's just how quickly the narrative can move from you. Absolutely. Which is, I think, what Lawson also needs at the moment. Just take the spotlight away from him.

[00:24:34] Let him develop on his own. Tough weekend for him, of course. It's a totally different car to what he drove at Red Bull Racing just a couple of weeks ago. But Isaac Hartjar, I was particularly impressed by what he did in Q1 yesterday. I mean, unbelievable. His seat belt issue, it didn't involve his thighs feeling very tight. Let's put it that way. I think he was feeling pressure somewhere else. And he almost crashed as a result of that. Which I cannot even imagine. That is unbearable pain.

[00:25:04] But he still got a lap out at the end. Which put him back into Q2. They solved the issue. He put the car up very high. I don't remember where he started. Q3 it must have been, for sure. He was P7? Something like that? I don't have the exact grid slot with me right now. And then after that, to score points. To be on a totally different strategy. It must have been so lonely for him, not knowing where he was. Because all the drivers around him constantly had different strategies. And he was all... He was cycled down for a big part of the race.

[00:25:32] But to manage that as a rookie very well. To be in control of your emotions. To be in control of your pace. To manage the tyres very well too. And to fight against experienced drivers like Carlos Sainz. And complete an overtaking manoeuvre very well. Fair play, Isaac Hartjar. I'm very impressed. I'm also very impressed by Oliver Baerman Kunal. Points once again for Haas. He out-qualified Esteban Ocon by 5 tenths. And as we realised yesterday, Ocon is the same driver who went head-to-head with Fernando Alonso in 2021 in qualifying. And was matched 11v11.

[00:26:02] So for Baerman to beat Ocon by half a tenth is amazing. And that's why today he got points. And Ocon didn't. So it's... I'm really impressed. I'm really impressed by what both these rookies have put forward today. Yes, Oliver Baerman is now 12th in the Drivers' Championship on 5 points. With Isaac Hartjar. Actually, where is Hartjar? Yeah, Hartjar is 13th with 4 points. And Yuki Tsunoda is third with 3 points.

[00:26:30] So Isaac Hartjar is actually ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the Drivers' Championship. Although that's not a fair comparison. But Fernando Alonso finished a race for the first time in 2025. He is now classified for the first time in the 2025 Drivers' Championship as well. Somil. He enters in straight at 11th place because he finished 11th. Sorry, at 17th place because he's finished 11th.

[00:26:57] That's where Lawson, Doohan and Bortoletto who are after him in that order in the Drivers' Championship have been 12th, 13th and 14th. But you spoke of Oliver Baerman and Esteban Ocon. Well, truth be told, I believe Haas were running split setups. Because after qualifying, Ocon said, we know what's quick. We know it's working on Oli's car. We're going to make that shift into our car. He said that even after the race today, we took a direction. We picked up a lot of data.

[00:27:26] Now we know which direction to go with. I can't wait for Bahrain to come because I will then have the same direction that Oli had to extract all that performance. But for Haas to end up scoring points again is pretty fantastic. Because in the Constructors' Championship, of course, McLaren are first with triple one points. Mercedes are second with 75. Red Bull Racing are third with 61. All right.

[00:27:52] And Haas are actually sixth with 15 points. And they are just four points behind Williams who are there with 19 points. 19. Which, by the way, is two more than what they scored in all of 2024. Already. Think about it. That's what Alexander Albin said. You know, we've got a much better racing car. Williams are one of the three teams that have scored points in all three rounds. Right.

[00:28:22] And, Samuel, the crucial point here, like we keep saying, Albin has scored 18 out of those 19 points. He's one of the eight drivers to have scored points in all three rounds as well. And I would say Williams also, I mean, I love numbers. For everyone, anyone who loves numbers, Williams finished fifth, seventh, and ninth in the first three rounds. Which hopefully means that in Bahrain they don't end up going 11th. Because then at least Albin will be out of the points.

[00:28:52] But all in all, I think the midfield as well has had a fantastic run for yet another race weekend. It's no longer just the top four teams scoring all the points. It's anyone's, you know, play, especially if you qualify higher up the order, which is also something we are seeing. Yeah, absolutely. And Behrman said that in the post-race show as well. That if I can put my car high enough, even if we don't have enough qualifying pace, I know we have it in the race.

[00:29:21] So we can sustain everything there. Abhishek has come up with a comment. Why do you think no one triggered the pit window earlier, even though the tyres were robust? Held up well and undercut margins were everywhere. Was it just unavailability of clean gaps in back behind? Partly. Partly. Because we did see lots of cars within that 23-second window, which is what you would lose on an average for a pit stop. But also partly because why would you want to? I mean, if your tyres are going well, you want to extend them, right?

[00:29:47] Because you want to put less pressure on the final stint and make sure that you save less at some point. So if you still have life left in your tyres, which most teams did, and that's what they communicated on the radio, that, hey, Lando, you can go longer. Max, we can push now. You might as well do that because then you're leaving things on the table. And it's true to leave things on the table. If there's a meal on the table, you have it. So it's partly what you mentioned and also the fact that there was more grip than they thought they had. And there was no graining. Like all teams were telling their drivers on all compounds.

[00:30:17] Because another unique situation for the Japanese Grand Prix is that the race start saw all three compounds being put in use. The bottom most grid slot actually saw soft tyres being used as well. So all the teams knew that there was no graining across all three compounds, which is great because then you're not really managing your tyres as such. You're driving to a stint length, which is usually what they plan.

[00:30:41] And, you know, if you can extend it by a lap or two, you would try and do that just in case a safety car comes out or any other race interruption that happens. So one of the reasons why people weren't triggering the pit window was that they could go flat out on these tyres and they were real limited, as McLaren also told them. And Charles Leclerc actually got a very interesting message mid-race just around them from Brian Bozzi, his race engineer.

[00:31:08] And Brian told him, so we are extending because we are not able to find a gap to pit you into, which was so true because the pace was so high. Nobody was managing tyres as high as everyone thought pre-event. And I think the cooler conditions help, like Max said, with the overheating with the compounds as well. Which is why when even the likes of Max and George Russell and Lando Norris, etc. pitted, including Oscar Piastri, they all came out around slower cars needing to make overtakes.

[00:31:38] So in a way, I mean, strategically, this was a very interesting race to see how things would transpire and what would actually happen as well. But any more banter points, Samuel? Because I have written down that your favourite driver, Carlos Sainz, actually used the green patch at the Casio Triangle more than any other driver did over that 53 lap race weekend. Not even Kimi. Kimi did it twice, no?

[00:32:07] Yeah, but Carlos did it more than that. More than that? Are you kidding me? I mean, banter point, I don't know, but Carlos was the first one to go there. Yeah, I mean, he's, again, son of a world rally champion. I don't believe him. He's good on the greens. But let us know in your comments if your favourite driver actually pulled out that move as well. I know Lando Norris did. I know Kimi Antonelli did. Carlos Sainz did. Lewis Hamilton almost did as well. Who else do we remember? Lando particularly.

[00:32:38] Lando particularly. You know, I want to talk about Lando for a second because this brings up Max. And on the broadcast today, I was mesmerized by Max for one thing. Driving aside, awareness. You know what he said? He said that I think Lando accelerated a bit too early. I think he put the pit limiter off before he should have. Which is mind-boggling. How do you know? And this again reminds me of what he did in Qatar last year, where he was able to tell that Russell actually accelerated when he wasn't supposed to, during the safety car window. And he was right about that.

[00:33:08] He was right. Which blows my mind. This guy's sixth sense about driving a race car is unbelievable. You know, because I am a normal human being. I can do two things at a time. I think I do. I can. But my limit could be driving a car and taking a phone call. And driving a car normally. But pushing a car to the limit, while communicating with your engineers, while warming up your tyres and putting down the throttle properly, while also checking where your rival is in the middle and seeing if they're accelerating at the right time or not,

[00:33:36] and also making sure that you leave them enough space is just, is crazy. It reminds me of the stories of Michael Kunal, where all the other drivers used to be so tired while talking on the radio and Michael would sound like he's just reading his child a story to bed. I think Max is that kind of a driver. And that to me is a moment I just cannot ignore from this race. It's unbelievable. Yes. On that note, actually, Michael Schumacher has become a grandfather because Gina Maria has had a baby last few days ago as well.

[00:34:05] Hoping he's able to enjoy those moments. But going back to, you know, the drivers who cut through the chicane, your favourite driver did it. I'm going to keep rubbing it in as well. You know, Abhishek is saying Max might as well be the acting race toured while he is driving. I swear, which is true. In the press conference yesterday, he said, poop in your pants. When he was asked, what's it like to drive a Formula One car around Suzuka? And then he looked at the FIA media delegate and said, are we allowed to say that in the press conference? And then of course,

[00:34:35] everyone started laughing as well. But a race, which was boring, a lot of driver, actually every driver, and I can read out if you guys want, Alexander Alban. It was a boring race. My radio was a fairly hot topic. He got really animated about lots of things on that radio. And I like that, you know, when you have a driver who's capable of fighting in the front, is in the top 10, knows that one slip up and that Williams will never recover.

[00:35:02] And he was really aggressive with his race engineer. But he said, I like boring races. We keep picking up the points. We didn't feel as comfortable with the car, but that's the great thing. We still scored points because he said it was a boring race. I can tell you who else. Charles Leclerc said it was a boring race. Okay. And then Lewis Hamilton said it was a pretty lonely race. And, you know, again, Ferrari, well, they got what they did. They scored 18 points from this race weekend. Second time in three races, they actually have scored points.

[00:35:31] They are fourth with 35 points. And will Ferrari actually get it together? Well, you know, Frederick Wasuwer said, we are trying to, we are trying to work around the limitations of our package. We are hoping that we find solutions that allow us to extract more potential from our package. So we've got to just wait to see when that actually happens. And to me, Ferrari's race, and I'm pretty sure this is going to happen.

[00:36:01] We're going to see a lot of memes on those radio messages. Because, you know, Charles Leclerc had a radio message where he says, there is a reason why I did not change the engine braking plus one setting. And then I wrote down a few other radio messages that really were interesting. I think Lewis Hamilton was being coached by Ricardo Adami on actually driving, you know, driving, driving through some of the corners, right? Lewis wanted that more, actually. Yeah, he said he wanted more of that.

[00:36:30] And Lewis actually told Ferrari and Adami as well that I can't see my pit board. Can you imagine somewhere? Lewis Hamilton not being able to see his pit board. And there was one point of time when Charles Leclerc was inquiring on the radio. This is an AI generated radio transcription. How's the video? So I literally thought if he was inquiring about some of the video collabs, Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari keep doing time and time again on social media. But anyway. Oh Lord. Oh Lord. Let's not go there.

[00:37:00] Aura farming. That's what I'd like to say about it. But no, not a boring race at all. So many interesting stories and talking points from that. I'm just amazed at how many stories this race has created ultimately. Because in the Drivers World Championship, we now have Verstappen just one point behind Lando, which is completely open. And I genuinely think that there is a legitimate chance of Max being the world champion. As Sarika has pointed out,

[00:37:27] one point between Lando and Max is building up expectations for the season. Absolutely. And we should have those expectations. And why shouldn't we? We just can hope for a battle. And let's hope that we have teams who want to provide us a battle and not just kill things off with a pre-race agreement. Not good for anyone. But then also Leapfrogs came to enter nearly up into fifth in the standings. He's now only 15 points behind George Russell, which I think is impressive. I think he had a great weekend. Especially how he salvaged that.

[00:37:55] Alexander Albon is seventh in the standings with 18 points. Three ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Two behind Charlotte Click. Words that I absolutely did not imagine I would be saying at this point of the season. And I think it's turning out to be so good. And I'm particularly excited for the return of most teams in Bahrain. Because we then go to a circuit that's more normal, where they have tested before. But with a few teams bringing in lots of upgrades. Like Haas is going to come up with this new flow that they've used in Suzuka.

[00:38:24] Some other teams have brought in some performance elements as well. Changing things left, right and centre. So I think we're going to get the answers to the questions we actually asked in Bahrain. But after a month, which I'm very excited for. Yeah. And, you know, I know I've only answered in banter mode for Ferrari. One of the things that we have to remember for Ferrari is Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton split set up choices for the race weekend. Charles went very aggressive and he wanted to go.

[00:38:51] He was hoping gambling on a dry race, which is also what happened. And Lewis Hamilton said post-race. And I read it out saying that he was probably overbalanced when it came to protecting his right front, which was one of the reasons why, you know, he probably was slower than Leclerc. Because I said there were strange gaps in the top 10. Leclerc finished 14 seconds behind George Russell in P4.

[00:39:19] Lewis Hamilton finished 10 and a half seconds behind Kimi Antonelli in seventh place. Oliver Behrman finished 14.1 seconds behind Alexander Albin in tenth place. Funnily enough, Oliver Behrman said post-race that he was managing a square front right tyre. Okay. And another, you know, comical incident that happened with Leclerc post-race was that he complained that his car was going forward in Park Fermi

[00:39:47] because the marshals didn't put something underneath his tires to stop it from rolling as well. So I think, like you said, you know, there was, it was an interesting race on track and off it. And, you know, as we go, you know, get closer to the end of this episode, I will read out what Jean-Pierre Lambie is, GP as we call him, Max's race engineer, told him after China that it was the points tally at the end of the season, at the last race of the season that mattered.

[00:40:16] And to me, it's unbelievable that Max Verstappen is just one point away, despite being in the fourth fastest car, right? There's been a user on Twitter who's been engaging with, you know, with me on a debate saying it's not the fourth fastest. It's somebody called Samaksh. Well, maybe this race weekend, it wasn't the fourth fastest. And maybe it was the third fastest. Maybe it was even the second fastest. Okay, but it clearly wasn't the fastest.

[00:40:47] But to be one point away after three race weekends, okay, not just this race weekend. We've had three race weekends and we've seen other race weekends when Max was clearly out of position, right? So he, of course, was fourth in China as well, just off the podium. I sincerely believe Max is over delivering and it is the fourth fastest car that he's racing this season.

[00:41:13] And if Spain, when the flexi wings, whatever comes into play, all works in Red Bull's favor, it would be unprecedented if Max and Red Bull actually pull out a championship win. Because on one hand, we're all discussing that could Max actually leave Red Bull Racing at some point? But, you know, days like these, Max would actually want to believe a lot more in Red Bull Racing.

[00:41:39] Because on this race weekend, Max has pretty much changed everything he could change on that car to get comfortable, to get more corner balance as he's kept talking through the race weekend. And then why would he give up on a team that is putting him in the fight, right? And I know I'm also changing colors just after one race weekend.

[00:42:01] But when I hear those radio messages, I'm just like, yes, it's easy for us to sit behind the camera at home and talk about should he leave? Can he leave? Will he take a billion pound offer at Aston Martin? Should he go to Mercedes? But if Red Bull just keeps keeping him in that fight, why would he want to leave is the big question. Especially when everything's tailor-made for him. I don't know. I mean, I still feel Max is more likely to leave Formula 1 than Red Bull. But that's just me.

[00:42:31] That's just how I think. That's just what I frame of what I've seen from him in all aspects of life outside of Formula 1. But that's an interesting point of discussion that we should have for some other day. I also very briefly want to touch up upon a few things from this race. Particularly Anton Nelly and his stint at the end. I found it amusing how Mercedes just gave him a free run to learn a lot. I think that was very interesting.

[00:42:59] 30 laps on the mediums, just go give it a short wait. Give it a try. Let's see what happens. And it worked out at the end. And what I felt sad seeing was Lewis Hamilton just disappear while being on the mediums on the fifth or sixth lap when Anton Nelly was on the hards. That felt sad. Clearly, there's something not fundamentally right with it. Sky Sports would like us to believe that there are rumors in the paddock circulating about something in the rear end of the car. Again, I can't confirm or deny. It's just a rumor.

[00:43:29] And rumors can be true. Rumors can be false. It's just what's being reported. But you can clearly tell something's not right there. And Lewis said something about the ride height of the car also not being ideal after qualifying. So, there's fundamental issues they're trying to fix here. And that can also be said for Yuki Tsunoda too. Because, you know, actually this point about comfort is one thing I'd like to bring out towards the end. Where we're actually criticizing some drivers for going a little bit too comfortable on their setup. Like Lewis, like Yuki during qualifying.

[00:43:57] Because he had a very downforce oriented, confidence inspiring setup that didn't get him through. But the same was also the case for Kimi Antonelli. And that's how he got into qualifying three in the first place. Because he said that he had a very comfortable setup. That he wanted to firstly just get a hang of. So that he could have confidence in the car. And he could then keep on building lap after lap to improve. So different driving styles as well. Some people want a more fast, crazy, frantic race car.

[00:44:24] But the other ones want to build up from a baseline of comfort. And then improve confidence there. So I found these very interesting little perspectives on how to get better during the weekend. To be very fascinating. Because a Formula 1 race weekend isn't just about what happens on Sunday. It's about how you build through from Friday. In fact, Thursday from when the parts arrive all the way to Sunday. So these are all little micro stories that I'm very fascinated to see. Nice and lovely. Oh yeah.

[00:44:49] And you know, Antonelli, if anyone told him, you'll have the opening three rounds of the season. Where you will score points in all three races. You will. I think he made it to Q3 in two out of three races. Right? And he's just 15 points behind George Russell. Yeah. I think he would take it. I think anyone would take it for that matter as well. And, you know, George Russell, he's never been on a podium three times in a row. That streak also continues.

[00:45:19] He's never been on a podium three times in a row. He didn't make it here through to the podium. And Lance Stroll, he was eighth in the Drivers' Championship before Suzuka. Now he's down to 10th. So that, you know, slide will sort of end up getting completed. Fernando Alonso, like we've said already for the first time, has finished a race as well. Alpine continues to be last in the Constructors' Championship. They are yet to score a point this race weekend. And what else do we have?

[00:45:47] Alexander Albon has had two top seven finishes. And then, of course, he finished ninth today in Suzuka. It was Jonathan Wheatley's first race with Sauber. Not that much came out of it for him or for, you know, Jonathan Wheatley as well. But I will end by asking you this question. Do you believe any other driver could have won today's race the way Max Verstappen did in that Red Bull racing car?

[00:46:16] Yes. I still think someone else could have won this race if they had been given the opportunity. No, I meant... Just putting it out there. Yeah, but I get you. Nobody. No, you're saying PS3, I assume, right? What I mean is in that Red Bull, for Red Bull, could any other driver have won that race? Honestly, only Lewis. You think so? Only Lewis. So you're saying Lewis in the Red Bull could have still won a Maxxis race?

[00:46:45] But yeah, Lewis in a third fastest car or a second fastest car. Sure, he would have had, let's say, more things to say because Lewis often gets animated when the car isn't going his way, which is just human personality, right? You can be... My captain Bruno Fernandes is also animated when the team doesn't do well. But when he plays, he takes Manchester United forward. So there's no problem in complaining if you can actually deliver on track. Lewis would do a lot more of that. But I think Lewis is the only one on the grid.

[00:47:09] I don't think anyone else has that ninth gear or because Formula One cars have eight gears. I don't think anyone has a ninth gear apart from Lewis and Max. You know, they're the only two. Okay, Fernando used to. Maybe, I'm not sure. We haven't seen enough of it to tell if he has that anymore or not. But what do you think, Kunal? I genuinely think they're the only two people who could have won this race. Well, I'll go with maybe Lewis of the old. I'll probably leave it at that.

[00:47:39] Lewis a couple of years ago, maybe. Yes, you're right. Okay. And yes, we are in the Lewis fandom. But Uttara is saying our McLaren fandom entering the dreaded Ferrari fandom deadlock. Well, I think it's too early to call it that. McLaren still has... You know, all said and done, when you have a fast car, it is still about delivering scoring points, which McLaren has done, mind you. I mean, you know, they are more than 35 points or whatever, 36 points ahead in the Constructors' Championship.

[00:48:08] They've scored, you know, they've scored a podium in all three rounds as well. And I would say they had their 50th 1-2, you know, in China last race weekend. I don't think they'll have to wait that long to score their 51st 1-2 as well. We've, of course, criticized their decision-making this race weekend, but we'll see.

[00:48:30] But going back to the Red Bull points, Samuel, you know, Dr. Marco actually said that it was only Max who could have won today's race in that Red Bull racing car. He also said three races. Next three races are damage limitation. Imagine this is how they believe in damage limitation, right? And I think that's the best way to cap off this episode. And, you know, thanks to Max Verstappen, now Red Bull becomes the first team to win eight times at Suzuka.

[00:48:59] That's one more than Mercedes, sorry, McLaren and Ferrari. And Oscar Piastri, since we are all believing, you know, all believing that he could still be the driver's champion. Well, he is my driver of the day, I would say. He was clearly quicker. You know, I just wish you would have come on and told the team, guys, let's swap and I can swap back. He was being very subtle. Somebody says, you know, I think it was Sarika or was it Sadhana who said that, you know,

[00:49:27] I'm waiting for Oscar Piastri fury to open up in the McLaren radio channel or the garages. That could happen at some point. But Oscar Piastri has now scored points for 29 consecutive race weekends. That's the longest current active streak going on as well. And guess what? The top six actually finished in the same order that they started. And I can't remember how many times that has actually happened before in Formula One. But that's it from me.

[00:49:57] Okay, last question. We've gone overboard, but we still like to take all these questions because these are really good ones. Because Abhishek has asked, driver of the day outside Max, of course. Quickfire. Oscar Piastri just picked one. Yeah, I think I'll have to go for Oscar. No, no, I can't do that because he didn't have the book. Again, ideally, you're right. He could have done more. That's what McLaren would have said. I'm going to go for... Isaac Hadjar. Isaac Hadjar, yeah. Isaac Hadjar.

[00:50:27] I love what he did today. But yeah, we have our drivers of the day. Abhishek, let us know your driver of the day along with all of you folks. We can still see your comments after we end the stream. So it'll be fun to know. But we can't debate any further because we've been on for 50 minutes. And it's insane. We told you. We told you we would get there. It's that good of a race. But thank you for joining in. Uttara, Abhishek, Sadika, Sadhana, everyone, all of you. And Aniket as well. It's amazing to have all of you sharing your thoughts, perspectives and opinions on the sport with us.

[00:50:52] And we'll be back not too far away from today for the Bahrain GP preview. Because it's a triple header and it keeps on rolling. And the Inside Line F1 podcast will be back with a lot more. And Sundaram, F1 stats guru, will be in Bahrain covering the race from the track. So make sure you also check out what he's doing starting from tomorrow. But thanks for watching, guys. And we will catch you in a couple of days. Bye-bye.