McLaren quickest, but Max Verstappen always wins! 2024 Spanish 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. But more on this later. Right then, let's get right into today's episode.

[00:00:35] We watch a lot of National Geographic, Kunal. I used to. I used to pretty much be about all the wild animals attacking their prey if that's one of those fun things. I think those are kind of videos that also go viral on Twitter and Instagram, right?

[00:00:49] A big animal attacking a small one or sometimes even a small one escaping if there is a big attack. Yeah, exactly. Right. And we saw something similar today.

[00:00:59] It's kind of like when you see those Lion King sort of documentaries on National Geographic, there are 15 minutes worth of the animal just chilling. And that's what we saw in the Spanish GP, the wild lion.

[00:01:11] Actually, the greatest lion in this sport just chilling around, lazing around, his tail is wagging around here and there, just sipping some water.

[00:01:19] But then there is only one moment where he sees the prey and he has to attack the prey any later and then the prey is gone. Jampiro Land Biasi came to Verstappens here and told him, Max, this is the right moment. You've got to make it work now.

[00:01:35] Think wisely. Guess what? Act wisely. Even set that. Yeah. Think wisely. Yeah. Think wisely. He didn't just think wisely. He attacked wisely and decisively.

[00:01:46] And you know, in Formula One, when you're watching the live broadcast, the moment where the prey gets attacked by the predator isn't quite showcased as many times.

[00:01:55] But had you taken Verstappens' move on Russell in a documentary which Drive to Survive will do, man, it needs the cinematics because that is a proper race winning move. Is it not? Can I? It is.

[00:02:07] And it is that one move that Max has attributed to for winning the race. Max has been actually, he's made a few post-race statements saying, ultimately, we're not the fastest car.

[00:02:18] I would like to keep winning, but we won't always get it right when it comes to strategy, when it comes to overtakes. Of course, he was feeding that. The McLaren was the quickest car at the Spanish Grand Prix.

[00:02:30] It was that overtake on George Russell, which Max credited to him winning the race.

[00:02:35] But also immediately after the overtake, the gap that he opened on Landon Norris at the start of the race was eventually the cushion he could fall back on when Norris was slightly the quicker car at the end of the race.

[00:02:49] But, Samuel, I have to add here and I know you're going to introduce the podcast after this. So maybe this is the time to put the wisest, my wisest outcome. My wisest thought from the race was, I think Max was going to win either way.

[00:03:04] I think GP was just adding some artificial excitement to the Spanish Grand Prix, especially at that time when Landon's going all out. Well, Landon going all out was still just three seconds, three tenths or four tenths of a lap quicker than Max was snapping.

[00:03:22] Okay, and that means that to overcome a five second margin, you need more than 10 laps. Okay, and there weren't more than 10 laps at that point. So I think it came pretty close. It wasn't as close as it was artificially enhanced in my view. No, wait.

[00:03:39] So are you telling me that Jan Piero's Lambiasi radio message was a lot like the fake commentary drive to survive but only done in real time and not in the studio? You know what? Could be. Could be. Could be. Could be. Could be.

[00:03:51] But am I saying that he did it on purpose or anything? No, I just think that we just kidding. Yeah, but even Max's tyres going off at the end, etc. They knew their strength length. It's not that it was an 80 lap race which ended on lap 64.

[00:04:06] So they had done their calculations. Wait, wait, wait on this. You know, it's so funny because Charlotte Clark said and you told me this right before we went recording. We fell one lap short of getting that final position. Well, Red Bull didn't fall one lap short.

[00:04:21] They knew how long the race was and they planned it perfectly. But to think about this, Kunal, we're now in a world of formula one where firstly, Lando Norris is disappointed with second. It's a big thing. 12 months ago, this would have been news.

[00:04:35] And today we're actually seeing a genuine race and I truly believe that had best happened not made that one move at the right time on George Russell. And he claims the same as well.

[00:04:45] When you listen to his post race debrief in the cooldown room, he said, had it been one lap later, the car would have been completely off. The tyres would have been too hot. Performance wouldn't have been there and the margin I had over Lando wouldn't have been there.

[00:04:58] And you know what the margin was at the end? 2.2 seconds. This is insane. I mean, yes, we saw a lot of time management, but at the end 2.2 seconds in a race. That is what we go racing for. Incredible.

[00:05:12] And I think Max sort of did run out of tyres. He said his tyres were overheating, pushing at that particular pace. But in the end, Max Wischtappen won the 1111th Formula One 3 in history. So 1-1-1-1 race in history, won by car number one and also Max...

[00:05:31] 1-1-1 of Formula One. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. 1-1-1. I hated this joke when it happened on him.

[00:05:44] But also, Max won his 61st Formula One Grand Prix which also happens to be the 61st Spanish Grand Prix if you combine all the Spanish Grand Prix that have happened. So lots of numerology working in Max Wischtappen's favour, isn't it not? But yeah, it is.

[00:06:02] And before I tell you what was another key factor in Wischtappen's win, let's first clear the air. Do not listen to some random Max Wischtappen fans bantering, although sometimes it can end up being like that considering how good he is.

[00:06:17] This is the Inside Line F1 podcast where one of the top 1.5% of all the podcasts on Spotify, India's best sports podcast as well was awarded to us a last couple of weeks ago. And the other voice you're hearing on the show is Kunal Shah, the former marketing

[00:06:31] head of the Forced India Formula One team and a producer and consultant to the Viplane Network's Formula One broadcasts. My name is Saman Arora. I'm the voice of the Morrow GP Indian Grand Prix which hopefully will happen next March,

[00:06:45] among many other things including being the commentary ran presenter for the Indian Racing League, Indian Supercross Championship and so much more. But interestingly Kunal, you know what the first pit stop length of Max's stop was? 1.9 seconds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow! 1.9. It all just comes in together.

[00:07:05] Yeah, compare that to George Russell's who had a 5 second stop after that stonking start that he made. We can't not talk George Russell's start. We were talking at the start, we were talking about the move that which happened made on Russell.

[00:07:20] Truth be told, we were all looking at will it be Max, will it be Lando Norris at 600 odd meters of a drag race to the entry point of turn 1 and suddenly out of nowhere George Russell comes on the outside and he just makes that move.

[00:07:36] He leaves enough of a cap on the inside for those two in case they get it wrong because that's what you're scared of. I've got the best start I could think of, I could dream off and then oops, are those

[00:07:46] guys on the inside going to scramble on that brakes or whatever? And George Russell said he channelized his inner Fernando Alonso from 2012 and that he was dreaming of this start through the night. It just, he never thought it would come to fruition.

[00:08:02] George Russell might be great at a lot of things including driving, bodybuilding and flexing, mewing if that's the thing as well. But what is not really the best at is history because the inner Fernando Alonso from 2012 didn't have a really good Spanish turn three.

[00:08:18] 2011 and 13 now that was a good start. Mike. Who's going to correct him Kunal? Not me, I'm just happy he made that start. My goodness. I can't even remember, I just know 2013 was Fernando's last Formula One win ever and

[00:08:33] happened to be at home but I have no clue what happened in 2011, 2012, 13. Well, 11 he had a great start you know, he just undercut a couple of drivers got the inside line and did something that Russell did today.

[00:08:45] But on that whole subject, I really want to put this question right. It's a tough one. We should decide this before we go recording but here we are. You get to listen to us prepping in real time.

[00:08:56] But do we talk about Norris first or Russell because I believe the bigger story to cover is why Norris thinks he could have won and where he lost it almost. I would choose Lando Norris. Hmm, go for it. What do you reckon happened over there?

[00:09:12] According to Lando, it was just the start. Everything else was perfect. Absolutely with that? I absolutely agree with that. Had he kept the lead at the start, the race could have probably seen a different narrative, could it have seen a different outcome?

[00:09:29] One doesn't really know its speculation I would say but at least he would have had a better chance of winning because he would have been leading from the front rather than doing the chasing that he did over the 66 laps. So I believe Lando Norris should have kept P1.

[00:09:47] Had he kept P1 after the opening lap itself, we would have probably seen a different race play out in the Spanish Grand Prix. I hate to be that guy but I have to be that guy. Isn't it kind of a recurring trend now?

[00:10:00] China this year, Brazil last year, couple of races before that. Lando has certainly got his act together but starts are still where it's a little bit concerning especially when at the end the margin is only 2.2 seconds and we saw that right.

[00:10:15] He was almost able to get that McLaren faster on command. When Mr. Sapan stopped Norris put in the fastest first sector. When he was on the soft tyres, he cut down that 8 second gap on the final stint even though Max was not pushing down to only 2.2.

[00:10:29] We know that car is good and maybe, maybe just maybe, it's just the current nature of Formula 1 that the starts are so important that if you just get them wrong which Lando unfortunately has been getting them wrong, I think you've lost it completely

[00:10:43] unless there's a safety car coming in. That's true and especially at a track like Barcelona. Two things about the start. Last year Red Bulls actually used the medium tyre at the start. You normally in Barcelona use the stickiest compound, the grippiest compound at the start

[00:11:00] because track position is so vital. Red Bull didn't have that advantage going into the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix so they did what everyone else did which is put on the soft. The whole field, mind you Samuel, put on the soft.

[00:11:13] They all wanted to maximize track position at the opening round of the race. Similarly for Lando Norris, it was the soft tyre and it just so happened that at least in my memory I can't think of, has he made bad starts all the time?

[00:11:31] Or is it, is that so? I think a few key races. China was one clear example. I remember if my memory serves me correct, Qatar last year wasn't great, neither was Brazil. But again it's becoming a bit of a thing now and Lando sort of acknowledged it himself

[00:11:51] at the end of the race where he said, ah just the start, I could have done better there and it would have been us. But not just the start, I also want to put the question down on to McLaren's strategy.

[00:12:01] Now according to some, some might think that McLaren did the wrong thing by keeping Lando out for longer. Do you think so? Did they sabotage themselves? Did McLaren sabotage themselves by keeping Lando Norris out for longer

[00:12:14] and putting him on a bit of a tire offset compared to Max? So there are two ways I would look at this, Samuel. Okay the first thing is if you're chasing Max Wistappen, you need to chase him for the 66 laps of the race, not the last six.

[00:12:29] That's essentially what happened in McLaren's case. So what do I mean is, why would you say that? Because you need to keep pressure on Max, you need to not let him settle down. You need to, you remember Max at one point said the tires are so inconsistent.

[00:12:46] What was the situation at that time? It was Max, it was George and then Lando. Okay, so the pressure was not on him as it was in the last six laps of the race. You don't just pressurize him in the last, you know, in 10% of the race

[00:12:59] you need to pressurize him 100% of the race, right? So that's something McLaren will review. We have just done what everyone was doing, box at the same time and then just trust our pace to keep up with Max Wistappen because that's the alternate view that could have played out.

[00:13:16] Don't go on longer, don't create the tire delta what they did. So that's one way of looking at it. Well how McLaren actually saw it in real time? Let's talk of that. They realize that the two cars, the McLaren and the Red Bull,

[00:13:31] were very close in the race space. They were very close in the free practice to sessions when teams do long run sessions. In Barcelona, overtaking is difficult to happen if there is a very marginal delta of performance or lap time between the two cars.

[00:13:47] We know we saw an overtaking fest etc. But let's remember those were overtakes between cars on different tire compounds or tires or cars on tires with different tire life. Okay, so in the case of Norris and Wistappen we just created a delta and then try and overtake him.

[00:14:05] That's literally what they tried to do. But interestingly, Norris said, forget George Russell, let's just go for Max Wistappen. To me that was the radio message of the race weekend. It's nice to see them thinking in the right direction and ultimately I don't think Norris gave up.

[00:14:20] He just was practical about it. At that point had you not made that pit stop and not covered Russell, you wouldn't have even potentially gotten second. Actually, you might have gotten second but with a lot more hard work and why do you want to do that anyway?

[00:14:34] You just do things in life to make life easier for the future which is what McLaren did. But the whole point here is I don't think you can blame McLaren for going for the alternate tire delta in the way they did

[00:14:46] because quite simply had they not gone for clean air that car would have ultimately had so many heat issues the tires would have been hotter the brakes would have been hotter and the performance ultimately slows down. So on McLaren's part

[00:14:59] it was sort of fair to offset things a little bit maybe hope that Landau can be exponentially faster in clean air and that to me was a sign of McLaren believing in their car believing that if we are at the clean air

[00:15:10] maybe we can go faster than the Red Bull. That belief speaks volumes and I like that from McLaren, they're taking their chances. Absolutely and some will they were the quickest car on track when it came to clean air, right? That's what also Max Wish happened was fearing

[00:15:28] towards the end of the race but I think Max eventually had it all under control he's done this 61 times in life, remember whereas if we were to now consider McLaren I think they scored a podium for the first time at this circuit since 2011

[00:15:46] and Landau Norris for the first time moves into P2 in the drivers championship for the first time I think it's McLaren's sixth consecutive podium it's the longest run again since 2011-2012 and Landau Norris is the only driver to finish in the points in every Grand Prix in 2024

[00:16:09] Do you want one more? Of course I do Of course I do Wish Tappin and Norris have finished 1-2 in either order, either Norris is 1 or Wish Tappin is 2nd or whatever of course but Wish Tappin has won more

[00:16:22] so they've finished 1-2 for the fifth time in the last six races They don't pay you the big bucks at Bioplay for nothing, huh? Well, this is good digging This is good digging by the way folks after only 10 minutes of the race ending

[00:16:39] I'm not even kidding you, Winnie Winnie just got finished and then I had a quick shower by the time Kunal's done so much of digging that we can bring you these numbers in almost real time Yeah and this is exactly why people love to watch races

[00:16:53] without summons so when we host our events in India across Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi we have a packed audience just because of the way you Sundaram myself we are able to dig in through data we are able to dig in through stats we're able to understand what's actually happening

[00:17:12] beyond what we get to see on television and we absolutely love taking Formula One fans on the same journey that we've been on for several years now Yeah and now that you've mentioned that we're kind of missing Sundaram now it's been a while man

[00:17:27] I mean just hoping that he gets well soon enough and comes back with us to share all of his incredible numbers and stories very, very shortly but another incredible story that we have to talk about is Russell channeling his correction in a 2013 Fernando Alonso

[00:17:43] and getting P1 in what has to be one of the best stars ever after Fernando Alonso but why did it not work out is a question that I kept asking myself in the middle of the race constantly it was meant to work out right Russell had track position

[00:17:59] if anything P2 would have been ok in terms of raw pace of course Lando was faster at some point in time he would have gotten past owing to the nature of the circuit and tyre wear and so Lando would have created a delta

[00:18:12] he would have gotten past George losing P3 and I just get a feeling that Mercedes sabotaged him by putting him on the hard tyres there was no need and I'll back up my statement with a quote by Lewis Hamilton in the post race interview

[00:18:28] David Coulthard asked Lewis Hamilton Lewis was the decision to go on soft medium soft a choice that you made on your own was it brought by the team he said it was always meant to be soft, medium, soft for me which means I would have most likely also

[00:18:45] would have been soft, medium, soft for George conventional logic says that because that's what all the teams would have wanted to do I can't imagine a world in which Russell would have voluntarily said after seeing the performance of the hard tyres in the practice that no

[00:19:01] I will not do this instead I will go for the hard compound tyres why would he do that? I think we'll know in due course we've recorded too close to the race to sort of turn around and tell us why they actually made the decision

[00:19:15] but yes in the end it was that hard tyre he did 30 laps on that hard tyre just a little under half race distance which caught him off but could George Russell have won the race? No I don't believe so I think Max

[00:19:27] and Lando Norris would have anyway jumped him but I believe George Russell would have finished third, that would have happened Moussedi's actually finished third and fourth for the second consecutive race so their upgrades actually for the first time apart from all the PR machinery

[00:19:43] and the statements that come seemed to be working across two different variations of circuit very drastic variations that we explained in the preview Montreal shorter corner ranges in terms of speeds but Spain is the ultimate test that you'd want to put a formula on

[00:20:01] car through also George Russell I believe has led the opening lap in the last two gruntries because he was of course on pole last race weekend and then by I think just about two milliseconds he was ahead of Louis Ham...no he lost P3 to Louis Hamilton

[00:20:17] either way but I think it was I don't think there was sabotage I'd love to see where it goes but Pirelli did say that the soft medium soft or the soft hard soft would have been the ultimate strategy I think Moussedi's maybe just decided to split their options

[00:20:31] at that time and they realized that George's hards were not working which is why it became even easier to choose the soft for Louis Hamilton but my question here is why would you put the driver with the better track position on the tire that has notably been worse

[00:20:51] all throughout the weekend that's I mean we'll find out yeah of course Pirelli's we'll tell us why I can add one data point so the track temperatures were not as hot on Sunday as they were on Friday when they were extremely hot on Friday

[00:21:05] the hard was degrading worse than expected in cooler conditions the hard was not expected to be as bad okay so in a way it was probably and you know Spain happens to be one of those race weekends where all three tire compounds end up being used

[00:21:19] one of those rare race weekends because it was not just George Russell but Carlos Sainz used the soft then the medium then the hard Pirelli did that Ocon, Hulkenberg so several drivers actually did do that it just so happened that it wasn't

[00:21:35] the right tire for George Russell to be on if you wanted to score a third position in Spain and Louis Hamilton now has 198 podiums 198 beating the former great podium record held by Sir Louis Hamilton himself of 197 podiums 198 is mind blowing I and his first of 2024

[00:21:59] to me that's more mind blowing exactly it baffles me and of course the moment after he was done with the race he firstly thanked the team which is great to see that the bond is still somewhat there and great to hear Dora Wolf beat bonding

[00:22:15] then and Louis Hamilton on the radio at the same time not complaining which is incredible but I just sort of feel that it was again passed on in a little bit because of Russell's hardly ideal strategic call but then also because Ferrari went nowhere and that to me

[00:22:33] is surprising have we gotten down to the bottom of why that was the case I mean terrible in qualifying not really much in the race there's no word from them on why that happened and they didn't have the best Canadian Grand Prix either but

[00:22:47] just one word on Louis Hamilton before and you know before we sort of move on to Ferrari but Louis Hamilton first podium in qualifying it seemed like the Lewis of the old that we are so used to he was so gracious in the post race

[00:23:03] radio with the team he actually complimented their pit stops he said keep up with the great training lovely pit stops okay so he complimented the driver the mechanics on the pit stops then he also of course you know he was

[00:23:17] Landon Norris at the fastest lap of the race so he told Mercedes I think I could have gotten the fastest lap of the race had we pushed for it as well so he literally was in a great mode but coming to Ferrari

[00:23:29] they just claimed they didn't have they were lacking grip overall and they were lacking pace and what they started to do when you lack pace and this is typical not just of Ferrari but anyone is you just start cycling through your tires much faster

[00:23:43] okay so you run out of you run out of pace and then you pit earlier and then of course it gives a false notion that you've pitted and you're trying to undercut someone but the truth is you're just trying to you're just trying to cycle through your tires

[00:23:57] one fresh rubber to go through or to have more pace but you know George Russell said 30 laps on the hard was actually extremely long for him then to contend with because that's what happened at least in the case with Leclerre they could do a soft medium soft

[00:24:13] which is what the top three drivers also ran eventually it's just Ferrari probably going backwards with all the upgrades and good points some will hear you and I have disgusted that the upgrades sound like they're an upgrade on the car but they could also be downgrades as well

[00:24:29] they really could because sometimes you believe that upgrades will always improve the car but sometimes they just don't work in your favor because reality is often disappointing a and b simulation and reality sometimes can be a little bit different to what you actually

[00:24:45] think they are going to be which is surprising for Ferrari in a big and I hate to say it but I called for it we told you before the race that when a driver who heads into a home race without a seat for the following year

[00:24:59] they don't get on the podium case in point Nico Hulkenberg Germany 2019 Felipe Massa Brazil 2013 and Logan Sargent at every single American Grand Prix since the start of his career Carlos Sainz has just added himself onto that list and it's a

[00:25:15] fact that I will never forget and I will bring up once again in our mid-season awards along with also the fact that there was a fire this weekend another one in Spain 12 years no? 12 years 2012 that I remember past the Maldonado everyone was wondering if this could be

[00:25:33] an omen that Williams could win they actually had one of the worst race weekends ever I think Alexander Albin first ever Q1 exit of the year and already happened on Saturday and then funnily enough I think at F1 was testing their on track

[00:25:49] graphics and they put out Logan Sargent first win in Formula 1 and then everyone pointed out even more saying is this the omen that there was a fire and then you know could this lead to Williams win which is what happened in 2012 but no in all seriousness very glad

[00:26:05] nobody got injured because everything in the paddock is so close by and Mario Esola was one of the first responders he ran in with one of the fire extinguishers and if we remember during the pandemic he was driving around an ambulance helping people cope with whatever

[00:26:23] the world went through back in 2020 did that really happen yeah yeah yeah we well yeah absolutely yeah I wasn't not aware of that that's yeah he was driving I think it was in Milan and he's trained he was very clear I'm not trained as a fire officer but

[00:26:41] as a first responder and Pirelli of course then turned around and said we all teams compete on track I believe a lot of teams helped McLaren with food so their team could be sort of fed through the weekend and we will have several good stories

[00:26:59] that will eventually come out between now and Austria I believe because Formula 1 did come together the other nine teams Pirelli and everybody else who has support products did come together to help McLaren because you know there was a story Landon always ran out

[00:27:15] in his socks and he even left his shoes in there and so on he was camping in Zach Brown's office whereas Oscar Piaz III was in one of the engineering offices in the truck and so on are we well is there a fire at Red Bull Racing

[00:27:31] as well because weirdly Sergio Perez has been complimented for a race that's hardly brilliant or inspiring what's the word you would be using for Perez's performance this weekend what did Horner use actually I'm more curious Christian Horner actually complimented him saying it was a strong race performance because

[00:27:53] Checo Qualified 8th started 11th after a grid penalty from Canada which I believe was team inflicted during traffic or something and then just shows you know it was so close that even in a dominant Red Bull if you're not fighting up ahead

[00:28:09] you could just be where Perez is which is finish 8th which is the last of all the top four finishers and this is despite Piaz III having a really bad weekend one of the first bad weekends that I can remember in his 1.5 years in Formula 1 but Checo Perez

[00:28:27] started 11th he ran a 3 stop race and he ran a soft soft medium soft to finish 8th he was actually he overtook Piaz Gasly on the last lap of the race he finished 25 seconds behind Oscar Piaz III which is literally the pit lane time loss plus the extra

[00:28:53] stop he would have made so he sort of to get the fresh rubber he did that but yeah so it was Red Bull thing it was a good race for him which yeah anyway there we go but he got some points

[00:29:09] I failed to find a good analogy for that where no I know I know you know where the older child really has to do so much just to get the acceptance of the parents and the younger one weirdly just has to be alive

[00:29:23] to get all the love from them it's kind of similar to that where you just be there finish the race and you have done a good job oh my precious I don't get it incredible right I don't get it

[00:29:37] do we want to talk about Alpine and Aston Martin very quickly because the run order between the two of them has really been reversed badly with this weekend we saw Alpine getting into the points we saw two Alpenes getting in first time ever

[00:29:53] and getting them into Q3 as well we saw the V-Carbs being nowhere and Fernando Alonso struggling for grip at Barcelona I never thought I'd say this after the McLaren days but here we are what just happened there Kunal well V-Carb got upgrades and it seems that

[00:30:13] the correlation is a problem which is why they were just completely out of the setup window which is why Sunoda for once also struggled I would say I would say also because if you see Yuki Sunoda he finished 14th today

[00:30:27] which is also what he finished and the opening round in Bahrain but he's always had point scoring finishes in fact he's had more point scoring finishes than any other midfield driver I believe I don't even need to check the stat I probably know that

[00:30:41] but it was just down to setup I would say if we may leave it at that I would say Aston Martin just didn't have to face Fernando Alonso said they were just sliding too much in the high speed corners which is why the tyre degradation was extremely high

[00:31:01] and that's just so happened that it was Fernando Alonso's home race and I think Aston Martin clearly have been leapfrogged at least in this race by Alpine the other team that you mentioned but Fernando Alonso has gone without scoring points for the third time

[00:31:17] in the last four races if you were to look at how it goes isn't it strange Fernando of all people is not scoring points but anyway when his former team which were apparently overweight and had internal conflicts have got both their cars quietly in the points

[00:31:45] as even more baffling for me they were touted to be the favourites they were touted to get Adrian Newby New Factory and all and it has just been sliding down I'm actually curious to see where the improvements on the Alpine have genuinely come is it just the weight

[00:32:03] have they found anything new with some new upgrades and I mean it will be fun to hear what the team principals eventually say when we have a sit down interview with them but that is a big mystery because they have leapfrogged so many people

[00:32:17] at the circuit which normally reveals the most about the long term potential of every car in Formula 1 and I think that's what Alpine will actually say is their positive that of all the circuits that they got a double Q3 and double points finish

[00:32:33] it was Barcelona the biggest litmus test for a Formula 1 car as we'll put it it has been overweight it's trying to bring in all the upgrades they've got Flavio Bria-Torri and we've heard at some point talk about the biggest blot

[00:32:47] in the history of the sport has actually been brought back to Alpine to help them recover their fortunes but Alpine now moves ahead of Haas and into 7th place in the Constructors' Championship Pierre Gassli has scored for the third consecutive race

[00:33:07] after a slower start than even Esteban Ocon he actually scored four points as well he finished ahead of Ocon but there was one more team you actually asked about Alpine, wasn't it? Yeah No, no, no, no, no, Haas Haas, yes. They had another podium sorry not podium

[00:33:27] a false start for Magnussen a false start for Magnussen speeding in the pit lane for Magnussen and speeding in the pit lane for Nico Halkenberg but the positive is that Halkenberg finished I think it was 11th for the 4th time in a race weekend I think so imagine

[00:33:53] you're not scoring points but you're finishing 11th which I think is pretty pretty fabulous I mean if that's the target you're chasing sure because again there's Haas, right? So we should be a little kinder I would say five times that he's finished 11th

[00:34:09] so he's been so close yet so far but my favorite stat about Aston Martin because Haas finished ahead of Aston Martin this weekend, okay on lap 52 or 58 actually of a 66 lap Grand Prix Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin was 17 seconds behind Nico

[00:34:33] Halkenberg in the Haas in 11th place shocking I was shocking how far have they fallen seriously man no quite a story but is that it 35 minutes in are we going to call it an end and look forward to Austria in a couple of days time

[00:34:53] I think we should because if we don't I'll be getting a call from work saying Somal you've not showed up even though you were supposed to 30 minutes ago but we were talking about the formula one that is the perfect way and to end your day is it not

[00:35:07] it's the perfect way to end the podcast but your day begins now because Somal Aurora is working with the Sony Sports Network on the broadcast of the Yoros and for all those listening to the Yoros in India there are certain times you will hear Somal Somal's voice actually

[00:35:23] during the Yoros broadcast yes indeed it's so exciting so I'll get back to the football for the next couple of days but we'll be back in a few more days to talk about Austria which comes up in five days from now so another episode should be here

[00:35:39] in three or four odd days it will be there so yes it's a sprint weekend oh boy even more fun that'll be lovely but subscribe to the Insigline F1 podcast that's where you'll hear the first of ours with our episodes as well and also on all

[00:35:55] of our social media pages too thank you for listening thank you for watching I'll rush off to work you better enjoy your day and you better enjoy the greatness of Max because you're going to get that every single weekend take care folks bye bye