The Oscar Piastri Show, Hustle From Russell, Plan ♾️ ｜ #F12025 #ChineseGP Review

[00:00:00] I think we're officially live. The way they check sound and vision is by doing a small clap. I think we've done that. So you'll be able to tell us if we are live or not. If we are indeed live, drop us a comment on our live stream because that's what a live stream is for. We get to talk to each other and discuss what went down in the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix where I honestly had lots of Nico Rosberg flashbacks. It's weird. Did you guys not have that?

[00:00:30] Nico Rosberg. No, I had the flashback of a unicorn. There was some very popular Chinese celebrity who came dressed as a unicorn on the start grid and my daughter is obsessed with unicorns. So that was my flashback. But what's with Nico Rosberg, Samuel?

[00:00:48] Okay, Nico Rosberg was kind of like a unicorn. He appeared for one beautiful year and then we never got to see the best of him. But Nico Rosberg, because 2012, first pole position for Mercedes converts that into his first race win. And in that race, Nico was sublime. Like the way he controlled everything. And there were lots of doubts. Like Michael Schumacher was getting better in that season. And it was now or never, basically. You have to prove if you're the one.

[00:01:16] And then Nico just did that to perfection. And that reminded me so much of what Oscar Piastri did. Just total control. And we spoke about this, didn't we, Sundaram? Like the redemption arc of Oscar Piastri. We said that this is going to be the most important race of his Formula One career so far. And on that day, he's not packed down. He's actually delivered.

[00:01:37] Oh, yes, he has. And there are two things to consider about Oscar. Because firstly, the sort of a bad race that he had last weekend. So he really needed to bounce back and make an impact in terms of performance. He did that in qualifying as well as in the race. But the more important point for me that I have, that I immediately went back to is just a couple of months ago, Oscar kept saying there are two areas that I really need to work on.

[00:02:01] That is tire management and qualifying. And what we saw from the sprint is that if you're able to get the good track position, you'll have a more effortless race in that regard. You don't have to be in the dirty air as much. So he basically put himself in that position by having a very good qualifying, being in P1, not having to leave it to McLaren and Papaya rules, and then just manage the race throughout the rest of it.

[00:02:25] So I think the most he was challenged today was at the start with George trying to pass him at the very beginning. But it's a good redemption for him, I would say. He did everything that he needed to do. And he'll look back at this very fondly. So I will remember after qualifying, we said Oscar Piastri's first point that he wanted. He didn't want a race win. He didn't want a podium. He didn't want pole position.

[00:02:49] He just said, I want free air in China. And he had free air for the entire period of that Chinese Grand Prix. And that's literally what won him the race. He was managing that race in such a sublime fashion, just as some of the best drivers on the grid have done that. So we said this pre-race, it's the most important race of his season, the most important race of his career. And he bounced back in such a fantastic fashion.

[00:03:19] Yeah, I want free air too. Living in Mumbai, Sundaram and I, we all want a lot of free air. And Oscar Piastri got that and used it so well. But this is an important point too, guys, because Oscar Piastri won this race because he delivered on Saturday when his team made tint. And McLaren now have an even bigger problem on their hand. Who do they favor now? Who's their number one driver? I mean, it would theoretically become much easier for them to just have to pick one and back them to the hilt.

[00:03:46] But the drivers are making this an issue for themselves. They're delivering one weekend and they're not the other. This is as much a Lando Norris issue as this is an Oscar Piastri win. Because had he not sort of missed the bus a little bit on Friday and Saturday, this could have been him today. But Oscar, he did that to perfection. Brilliant, brilliant job. And we're getting lots of comments as well for everyone joining in. But that's what it is, Kunal, ultimately. That grit of Oscar Piastri, you can't count him out.

[00:04:13] Like, even Baku last year, if he takes pole, he wins. You know Oscar Piastri is not one to back down or one to make mistakes. I think, of course, it's not the right way to compare stats. But Oscar has converted more poles to win than maybe Lando Norris in the last 10-12 months. You can see Stats Guru's brain lighting up. You can see the exact moment.

[00:04:38] But truth be told, I think this race weekend was fantastic to see how Oscar Piastri reacted. Also, how Lando Norris was commending Oscar's bouncing back. Because Norris said, this has been a very tough track for me to figure out how to drive our car around. We were quick in some sectors. We were quick in some mini sectors. But to stitch that lap around was not coming very naturally to Lando.

[00:05:05] That's why he made a lot of mistakes. And he said, full marks, full credit to Oscar. He's worked on it. It was difficult for Oscar as well. And, you know, Oscar just made it happen. And, you know, in the official press conference after the race that I was sitting in, the drivers were asked, are you guys both title contenders? And then they both laughed at each other. And they said, yeah, we're going to do exactly what Hamilton and Alonso did in 2007.

[00:05:31] And I think Lando said, the next time he comes to pit behind me, I'm just going to hold him up. And there was a, you know, burst of laughter there. And, of course, you know, then Lando in his all honesty. And he's a very nice, honest, friendly person. Lando said, we are nervous, but we are very excited that we are going up against each other as teammates teammates who will be, who could be title contenders in 2025.

[00:05:58] And I think that's a very beautiful way to put it by Lando Norris. It's so difficult to dislike Lando Norris. He's such a fun character, honest, self-critical, sometimes a bit too much, I would say. And actually made up a position on the opening lap this race when he's usually been the one who loses, you know, a position on the opening lap. And I think that also helped McLaren's race when Lando just got George Russell on the opening lap itself.

[00:06:27] It allowed them to control everything about the race. I think this actually bodes well for McLaren because they have both their drivers performing well. And if one falters at some point in time, they still don't really lose out as much. And that helps them in the Constructors' Championship. We've seen that with Verstappen and Red Bull in general. He's pulling a bulk of the points. And if at any point in time he has a DNF or a bad race, you don't have the second driver getting as many points.

[00:06:56] So in McLaren's case, fine, Lando's had an off day on Saturday and Friday, but we have Oscar who's doing just as equal a job, a good job in that regard. So it really won't affect them in that regard as much. And your 1-2 stat, Sundaram, that was the amazing one. I literally read it at 2 o'clock in the night while preparing for the race today. And that blew my mind. You've basically confirmed that McLaren are winning the Championship this year.

[00:07:21] Yes, because they qualified 1-2 in qualifying. Yeah, they qualified 1-2. And they're the 13th. It's the 13th time that's happened through F1 history. And every time that's happened in the 21st century, a team has gone on to win both the titles. So if we didn't already know it, it seems McLaren is the favorite for both titles. It's crazy, crazy how this race panned out. With Lando also, we've discussed how it all went down.

[00:07:50] I'm not sure if we should directly move to George next because I do get that there's a lot of intrigue around it. But I think the biggest story here is Ferrari. With George, I think we can sum it up by saying he said that it was his best weekend in terms of driving. He had a great performance. That start was very courageous. Had to back out because Oscar was even more courageous than him. His race pace was phenomenal. That Mercedes looks good. Good things are coming their way. But just not quick enough to win the race. But on to Ferrari.

[00:08:19] Because that's where all the headlines are, Kunal. And my big question for this weekend is, would Leclerc have reacted differently to that turn one incident if Lewis was in a Mercedes rather than a Ferrari? Because he was very apologetic on the radio saying that... Not apologetic. Maybe that's not the right word. He's very understanding, very open about it. That, hey, these things happen. We're racing drivers. One goes on the outside. One goes on the inside. I know I'm trying to spin up a narrative. I'm guilty of it.

[00:08:49] But would that be the case? No. I think opening lap incident, it was just one of those things. And Leclerc also very honestly said, you know, I don't know if he was trying to defend somebody. But he was well within his rights to just come in and defend me on the inside as well. It just so happens that they're teammates. But the bigger news is that Charles Leclerc's Ferrari has been found to be underweight post-race. It's a whole kilogram underweight. And I say a whole kilogram because it is a whole kilogram.

[00:09:17] Even if it was, you know, one-tenth of a kilogram underweight, they would have still reported it. So Ferrari will be meeting with the stewards later. They've been summoned, as we say in the world of Formula One. And usually these situations mean a disqualification. So there's a very good chance that Leclerc, who drove a fantastic race without a front-wing flap, was quicker than Lewis Hamilton, who had a very intact Ferrari himself,

[00:09:46] just suddenly will find himself disqualified from the race. And strangely, guys, Leclerc said that they had the pace in the race today in China. And just, they didn't have the pace to even defend against Verstappen and even attack George Russell. But he actually says they had the pace and the potential to win the race in China. Maybe this is where Frederik Vossuer will say that actually our season is going to start in Suzuka.

[00:10:16] I don't know. But he's kind of right about that, Sundaram. Because Leclerc himself said that in race pace, we're right there with McLaren. And we saw the lap times. They were very, very similar. In spite of Leclerc actually having a broken end plate. I was amazed at how little the difference was. But after that in qualifying, that's where they really lost it. And then everything spirals down from there. I think that's always been the case. Not always been the case. That's been the case in the first two rounds.

[00:10:43] We've seen that Ferrari is not really qualified in the top four in both of the rounds this season. And Leclerc did mention that they are better in race pace. But in qualifying or over one lap, they're really not able to stitch it together. And that largely comes down to finding the right setup. It worked for Lewis in the sprint. But then they realized that on race day, we really have to manage the tires. And we really have to limit tire degradation, move the setup. And it really went away from him.

[00:11:11] I was really surprised that despite losing half an end plate or an entire end plate on one side, he still had the pace. He was literally on the rear of Hamilton. And the pace was really separated by a tenth or two. And it really wasn't more. And the fact that he was so close to him, he was really hurting his tires. In that regard, I think if you look at it in entirety, it was very surprising that Lewis did not suffer a puncture. And it's probably a good decision that Ferrari did not change the front wing.

[00:11:40] They would have lost another further eight seconds. So it could have probably been worse for Ferrari. So where they eventually finished, was it five and six? It's probably the best that they could have done considering the sort of situation they had. And also since Kunal mentioned that Leclerc is supposedly facing a disqualification, do you remember the last time when this happened? We had an underweight car and that person was disqualified. The person right behind him was also Lewis Hamilton. George Russell. George Russell in spa.

[00:12:10] And the person in second was Lewis Hamilton that day. Crazy. And wasn't it Hungary 2021 where we also had Lewis Hamilton get onto the podium because Sebastian Vettel's car was disqualified for being underweight? That was also a very similar scenario. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I think Ferrari is actually going to face a double disqualification. I've been busy typing away because I just got news from race control.

[00:12:35] The skid wear of car number 44 was checked. There were three measurements taken. 8.6 millimeters left hand side. Car center line 8.6 millimeters. And car right hand side 8.5 millimeters. As this is less than the 9 millimeter minimum thickness required by the technical regulations, I'm referring this matter to the stewards.

[00:13:02] So by my reckoning, yes, Sanjay. What? What? What? That's what my reaction also was. But I have a feeling this is it. Ferrari is going to face a double disqualification. Do you remember the last time this happened? The Chinese Grand Prix. No. No. Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified from the US Grand Prix in 2023. And Hamilton had the same reason for it. Skid wear. So it's all coming back once again.

[00:13:32] And in that race, Lewis had a podium, didn't he? There was... No, Leclerc had that podium and Lewis had it taken away. Something like that. Hey, so have they checked all the cars? Because I remember after the race, Toto Wolff said that Kimi had some plank damage, which is why he wasn't able to do better and pass Ocon. Now, I'm not sure if that's an issue. Kimi had floor damage. Floor damage? Not the skid? No. No, not the skid. Yes. The floor damage. Yes. Okay.

[00:14:02] In fact, why don't we try and do this? So if there is a double disqualification for Ferrari coming in, Ocon becomes fifth. Antonelli becomes sixth. Albin becomes seventh. Behrman becomes eighth. Gasly becomes ninth. And Stroll becomes tenth. Which means all ten teams would have scored points. In the first two races of the season. So what does it need for Alpine to score points? A double disqualification from Ferrari.

[00:14:31] That's what Max spoke about. The only way he can win a race is by everyone retiring in front of him. That's what Alpine's doing. Even in Brazil. Oh my. They're the masters. They inherit so much. Frederick Vassour's patriotism for the French team is coming through. That's my reading here. You know, he's like, y'all haven't scored. Y'all are the only team not to have scored points in 2025. Why don't we just do a double disqualification? Sorry, I'm just kidding. Bad joke. But yes, Sundara. Who wants a fun stat?

[00:15:01] So Lewis Hamilton has had a disqualification with McLaren, with Mercedes and now with Ferrari. That takes some doing. My God. But wait a minute. I find it weird. In all of this, it's like Kimi Antonelli is playing Formula 1 Monopoly. And he's ending up stepping on community chest and chance every single time. Last time, chance, rain, he was the one who profited. This time, community chest.

[00:15:31] Oh, two disqualifications. You end up scoring eight points. Phenomenal. But I stand corrected. Alpine will not score because Gasly is also underweight. In which case, I think Carlos Sainz will end up scoring. So he will end up opening his account. In which case, and this is where it gets fun. We will then have... Behrman opened his account this weekend. Carlos Sainz would have opened his account.

[00:15:59] So then there will be, I think, just five drivers to have not scored a point yet. Or whatever. So there will be Gasly, Hartjar, Lawson, Duan, Bortoletto, and Alonso. Double DNF for Alonso. That's another thing. My goodness. What are we talking about next, Salman? Wait a minute. Let's just process all of this. This is a lot to get through. Okay.

[00:16:26] So Leclerc has had an underweight car. He basically a kilo extra of something was used or let go during the race. So in the past, we've seen brakes end up leaking water because teams had stored water there as a means to show their car to be overweight. That's long in the past. Maybe it could be that they've just used an extra fuel. Just an extra kilo of fuel, Sundaram. Or something like that.

[00:16:54] Maybe the spare wing that Kunal was talking about earlier. Maybe that was heavier than the normal wing that they weighed at the end of the race. Something like that. That's what we heard too. So combination of factors, clearly. I mean, honestly, it's just down to extra fuel use. Literally, that's my reading. Because the FIA has actually explained it very well that they used a spare wing because Leclerc sort of had that front wing flap not there.

[00:17:23] The spare wing was two kilograms heavier than the damaged one during the race. So they put all those checks. Ferrari also confirmed the conformity of the weighing scales and all of that. So literally, it's just more fuel usage in the case of Charles Leclerc. And in the case of Lewis Hamilton, it's just a car that's bottomed out more than it should. And that's probably where it's gone south for Ferrari. My goodness.

[00:17:50] Imagine zero points after that pole that they had in sprint qualifying, the win that they had in sprint qualifying. Incredible. They're pointless. And if you remember this, if you remember Spa from last year, even that was anticipated to be a two-stop. And I think George went for a one-stop.

[00:18:16] So he had worn off so much more tread on his tires that he had lost a little bit more weight than usual. That's also another thing. So in the case of Charles, maybe that could also have been the reason that there's probably a little bit more tread that's worn off. In the case of Lewis having plank wear, the fact that China has been resurfaced and it's a lot more smoother. Cars are running lower than they would have done as usual. So cars are running three seconds quicker than last year. So cars are lower.

[00:18:47] That's why there is a lot more plank wear. You wouldn't obviously see that from the sprint because sprint is only 19-20 laps. But over an entire Grand Prix, you really get to know who's kind of got it wrong and who's got it right. Wow, man. Madness. Ferrari are pointless. Ferrari? No, not pointless. No, they're not pointless. They're not pointless. They had the sprint win which Maranello... I don't know if for a sprint win...

[00:19:12] Do they put a smaller flag in the factory of Maranello? But they wouldn't know. They wouldn't have a protocol because it was the first time that Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton actually got a sprint win in their response. And they had the best in their respective careers as well. But yeah, it's insane. Okay, what's next? And Sema, yes, this is official. I'm reading race control messages and documents. So yes, this is official.

[00:19:42] We bring you authentic news straight away from the paddock when we can. No rumors, no clickbaits. Just what we know from the sport directly from the source. So Ferrari have scored nothing from this race. That's happened eventually. Which is big. And also, I don't think the radio exchanges were a big issue. Side note. Because people are making it such a big thing on the internet. Saying that, oh, they're already imposing team orders. They're not.

[00:20:10] We've seen a report coming out in the last hour that Fred Busseer has said to lots of media that Lewis called for it. The timing of the radio and the way it's shown on the races is interesting. The race director has now... Since the race director became the TV director, the TV director has also had a lot of fun in showing the way the race is presented to you. So some messages are given to you at certain times to add more intrigue in the race. So maybe that message was hidden out. Maybe we didn't hear that.

[00:20:39] I did hear that on the Hindi Formula 1 broadcast. So that's what it is. And Fred Busseer is saying that Lewis asked for it before Leclerc eventually was offered that position. So there's no issue there. Ferrari are fine. But they have bigger issues to solve. A double DNF. But let's stick to that. Because Lewis Hamilton actually said, I'm struggling. I'm just going to let Charles go by. Okay. He said that. He offered it to the team. He was playing the team game. And, you know, just got played up on radio as...

[00:21:08] Or rather on TV as, you know, most things do. And I also get this feeling that there was... You know, Charles was away. You don't just let your teammate go by slowing down and, you know, losing a few seconds yourself. So I think that was well... Of course, the embarrassment for Ferrari, apart from these disqualifications, whenever they will officially be announced, is that Leclerc's broken Ferrari was faster than Lewis's completely intact Ferrari.

[00:21:35] And this is despite Lewis, you know, dominating in the sprint race yesterday. What did he pull? Seven seconds in 19 laps. But the magic was those two words which Oscar Piastri was chasing, which was free air. Yeah. And they made set-up changes in the middle. Lewis said that he changed the balance of the car, hopefully to suit the race a lot more. That's why he didn't get a good qualifying lap.

[00:22:03] And hence, once he was in the middle of that back-end, once he was in traffic, things don't really work out the same way anymore. You need clean air, as Kunal's been constantly trying to emphasize. And that's what Oscar did as well in this race. So it didn't work out very well for Ferrari. Do we have anything else to add? Because I think this weekend, what I can sum up Sundaram largely is that I think their results are looking worse because their qualifying is not that good.

[00:22:32] And it's like you're setting yourself up for failure eventually, which is why the failures look even heavy. It's not that they're a bad team. Their pace is incredible. If they can fix qualifying, which weirdly has been their bane for the last couple of seasons, they could be a lot better. I don't think they're genuinely out of this championship. No, no. I mean, they're definitely not out of the championship. But you also have to understand the sort of races that we're going to.

[00:22:58] I think the pecking order in this era of regulations, it largely depends on the circuit layout, the characteristics, the weather conditions, and everything around it. If you look at Australia, difficult track to overtake, although it has four ODIR zones. You look at China, difficult track to overtake. Japan also is going to be very similar in that regard. So when you have such sort of track layouts, it's even more important to ensure that your qualifying goes better than your race performance.

[00:23:25] So in that regard, Ferrari have not done well in qualifying, and that's what basically it is. Come Bahrain, probably it can be a different case altogether, but sure, it'll be the same for everyone out there. So ultimately, Ferrari couldn't capitalize on what the layout was in terms of setup. And they had a better showing in the race, but just not enough. And Samuel, what you're saying is very interesting because this is something Leclerc confirmed himself. He said McLaren are the biggest threat in the championship.

[00:23:53] They are really quick in qualifying and the race. He said we have the potential in the race, but we are just not there in qualifying. And we've seen this time and time again with some of the biggest teams in Formula One, that you're quick on one day, but not quick on another day. And, you know, points are awarded on the Sunday. So in a way, it's right that, you know, all teams sort of have a bias towards getting a proper race car. We saw what happened to Haas a few years ago when their biases towards the sun was Saturday.

[00:24:21] They would qualify high up there and then suddenly the race go backward. So it'll be lovely to see how Ferrari actually turns things around. They don't need to turn things upside down. They just need to have fine tuning and tweaking their setup into how to find that balance. And there we go. You said that statement with some personal vendetta given the last 10 years, right?

[00:24:47] Like they don't need to turn everything upside down because that's what they used to do back in the day. Oh, we are qualifying fifth and sixth or double disqualification. All of Italy goes up in the air. The prime minister gets sacked. The team principal will be publicly incarcerated. Like that's not happening anymore, which is good, which is what Ferrari needs, which is why we're also confident that they will come back eventually. Yeah. And, you know, everyone says strategy is so important. They need to be quicker in strategy. Teams need to be better in strategy.

[00:25:16] Truth be told is that strategy works better if you have a car that can compete. Strategy can never compensate for lack of pace in the car. What was it that our beloved lollipop man used to say? Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Yes, that's what it is.

[00:25:41] The tragedy of this is, you know, we've got race winners running out of creativity when they have radio messages. Because Max Verstappen said simply lovely. Lando Norris just thought copying simply lovely was important. Oscar Piastri said, this is the least emotional race win for me. I'm just happy I was there. And what did he say? Very lovely. I mean, he said it was his least emotional but most satisfying win. But it didn't feel like it.

[00:26:11] He's very poised. He's very nonchalant. But very gritty also. I think Oscar is a poster boy for Australian sport generally. I mean, he's got his own swagger. He's not as loud as the Australian cricket team or rugby team would be. But he's got that quiet confidence about him. Like, after a disappointing weekend at home, most people would capitulate. They'd fold. They'd cry. Shoghwan, you cried after finishing outside the points or something last year in Shanghai. I know it's different stories. They've come from different journeys.

[00:26:38] But still, after a weekend like that, he comes back next weekend and delivers. I think Australia should be proud. They have an athlete. They genuinely do. They definitely should. They definitely should. But I think this is a good time to look into the other drivers who really showed up on this day. I think we should really talk about the driver of the day debate. I think there's something around it. Because for me, it's different. I'm sure it's different for everyone out there. So, probably, Kunal, let's start with you. Who's your driver of the day? Okay.

[00:27:08] So, my driver of the day is definitely not Kimi Antonelli. So much so that Kimi Antonelli himself said, what? It's me? That's weird. And then, Toto Wolff said, it's maybe because of your looks. But truth be told, my driver of the day is Lance Stroll. Okay. It was... So, actually, it's Lance Stroll. And I would tie that up with Pierre Gasly. Okay. There are two winners of that. Firstly, Lance Stroll went... Took on the hard and went really long.

[00:27:36] And that gave everybody the data and the confidence to say, maybe this is not a two-stopper. Pirelli, yes, you make all the tires. Yes, you give us all the best information on how to use them. And you tell us what the possible strategies are. Shit, I was almost going to say tragedy again. But okay. But we are the ones who have the product. We know how to use our product best. You know, it's like the way... Sometimes I see people, you know, using keyboards. That there is Control-C, Control-V.

[00:28:05] It's written in the code of Windows, right? To sort of copy-paste something fast. But people will still go highlight and then press... Right-click and then do a copy. And then go elsewhere and do a paste. So what I'm trying to say here is Pirelli make the product. But they're not the ones who use the product. The users of the product are using it completely differently than the ones who are making it.

[00:28:30] So Lance Stroll, starting on the hard tire, gave a lot of people information about that hard. And let everyone feel that one-stopper is the way to go. George Russell was one of the first ones. And, you know, strangely, Liam Lawson, who also went on the hard, did just 18 laps on the hard. So Red Bull didn't really have representative data from their own driver. And then Oscar Piastri said that, you know, 10 laps in on the hard,

[00:28:56] I knew this was a tire and I could have just cruised on the way till the end. So that's the reason why I would give it to Lance Stroll. He gave us this really interesting strategy where a one-stop versus two-stop worked. And unfortunately, there was a very heavy bias towards the one-stoppers. Oliver Beeman was the only one on the two-stop who finished in the points. And right now I'm considering points based on the final classification and not the disqualifications, because that is not officially done yet.

[00:29:24] And the reason why I would say I would choose Pierre Gasly as the other driver of the day is he was the one outside of the top 10 who triggered the pit stops. When he pitted, Yuki Tsunoda went into pit. Yuki Tsunoda went into pit. And then Kimi Antonelli went into pit. Yuki Tsunoda, of course, undercut Antonelli. And then that just brought in the early cascades of pit stops as well.

[00:29:50] So two very weird but very important drivers of the day, I would say, when it comes to entertainment. Because otherwise, this is a swingish race. We were always waiting for something to happen and pretty much nothing happened. My driver of the day is going to be Oliver Beeman. And I think it also ultimately comes down to the fact that Haas pulled out a very good strategy call and Beeman delivered with that.

[00:30:19] Because, like Kunal said, as much as we can understand or try to understand Formula 1 based on paper, based on what we read from Friday and Saturday in the sprint, ultimately it's an adapting game that you have to do on a Sunday. So it doesn't really follow a script as such. And although everyone was talking about tyre degradation and two stops, ultimately the teams reacted to what they saw and what they felt. And Haas pulling off a one-stopper for Beeman and him pulling off, I think, five or six different overtakes

[00:30:45] and giving us a couple of classic chows and borgios and I don't know what not. But I think that was a very fun part to see one of the rookies actually being to deliver in such a way. So questionable if Antonelli was the driver of the day. Maybe people were just... I think he's one of the more popular rookies out there. But for me, in terms of what he extracted, considering how the race was, I think Beeman is the one for me. And also the points, right? Because I just double-checked it.

[00:31:14] If Ocon is indeed fifth and hence Beeman is eighth, that would mean 14 points for Haas. Which is crazy given the fact that all other teams just haven't scored that many. Haas are literally scoring double of what they scored last time. 7. 7 plus 14, 21. Let me just very quickly pull up the 2024 standings to tell you that Haas last year had only 58 points. Two races and they're on course for 21.

[00:31:42] That's nearly double in the first couple of races. And the whole world was saying that Haas is in trouble. Oh my god, look at them. What's going on with them? Do they not know how to prepare a car? Are they not prioritising their qualifying pace? Well, they just did. They literally changed 80% of their car between the sprint and then the qualifying. Ocon was 11. And that's why he was able to do so well. And I remember, I said it on the Hindi commentary as well. You have to be a thug to race in the midfield.

[00:32:11] Ocon was a thug against Antonelli. He did not spare anything. That's your welcome to Formula One moment, Kami Antonelli, if there ever was one. That's a veteran reminding you, not of your place, but reminding you of just how much you'll have to fight to earn every point in Formula One. He did that and he's gotten 10 points for his Haas Formula One team. I've been telling it for a long time. Ocon is the poster boy Haas driver. If they're ever looking to create one from their mold, it would be him. And he got it all.

[00:32:41] He got it all. And all their efforts have paid off. They've got to continue that, though, of course. They do. And, you know, one of the things that both the drivers actually said is that, yes, the drivers did well, but it was the engineers who actually did better. They were commending the changes that they made, the strategic calls that they made as well. They split the strategy between the drivers and, you know, and now such a massive hall of points.

[00:33:07] It's almost like Mohammed bin Salaam was watching the Chinese Grand Prix and he's like, hmm, this is not very interesting. Is there any way I can spice it up? Is there any way I can add to the drama? And that's what's been happening post-race because I think it's just going to blow up. And there's a good chance that the time we end this, you know, broadcast of ours, there'll be a couple of more drivers who will be summoned by the FIS tours for doing their thing.

[00:33:36] But, you know, what a delightful post-race we've had, even if the race wasn't as delightful, I would say. Sundaram, you were saying something. I've totally forgotten what I was going to say. But, yes, we might not have had a lot of on-track drama, but then sure, there was a lot of numbers crunching and strategy, you know, analyzing. But now there's a lot more to be done.

[00:34:03] We are doing live standings right now as we sit and wonder if disqualification is going to happen, who is going to gain points, who is going to lose points. It's exciting nonetheless. And there is something we must talk about. Before we end, we need to talk about the missed opportunities too. I don't know what the final order is and where Yuki Snoda and Isaac Ajar will have been. But whatever, even if they've scored six points combined in this race, it's still bad.

[00:34:32] They should have scored a lot more. And it's the second race in a row where they've had an incredible car and everyone's talking about their pace. But strategy has backfired. They were committed in this race. They were committed to going on the two-stopper. They didn't buy into the hype that Lance Stroll was creating by going on the hearts for longer, which is okay. It's a decision you make. They have their process. But that process ended up giving the wrong outcome this time. And Yuki Snoda said, We know we have good pace.

[00:35:02] I think we're relying too much on that. Maybe we missed something that's really important before this race. That's what he said to F1 after the race. Maybe that something is a certain calculation, perhaps, Kandal. Maybe an accounting of factors. Perhaps of just how much grip there is. And if they could create pockets of space, which they did in this race, how much they could ease off the pressure on their tires. Maybe that was the calculation. You know, the other thing I would like to say is, of course, Racing Bulls is a customer team to Red Bull in many ways.

[00:35:32] They buy a lot of tech off there, which is legally allowed. Maybe they should buy some time of Hannah Schmitz and the strategy team as well. Because what Yuki Snoda said was, they've been surprised by the turn of pace in this package. And, you know, Max Verstappen himself said that the Racing Bulls seems like an easier car to drive. And maybe Liam will go quicker in that car if he goes to drive there. Maybe that's the hint that Helmut Marko and Christian Horner took

[00:35:58] and are reacting to the news or the rumors that, you know, Liam Lawson might just be demorted as early as Suzuka to Racing Bulls. And maybe Yuki Snoda will get the call-off. We'll talk about that in a second. But I think what's happening at Racing Bulls is they just messed up strategy. Snoda also said the focus should now be on how to get more accurate with strategy. In the future, especially if they've got a quick racing car. How do you make sure that quick racing car keeps competing

[00:36:28] in the sharper end of the grid, where pretty much everyone is a mastermind in strategy as well. So it was just down to that. You know, it's interesting. I said strategy can never compensate for lack of pace in the car, but strategy can definitely demolish the, you know, the good results that a quick car can get you. And that was the example with Racing Bulls, I would say. And of course, I must add, there is some overlap.

[00:36:58] I don't know. Okay. I must add, Yuki Snoda's wing failure was actually a massive puzzle. Okay. Which is a bit disappointed. It just crumpled on its own. But yeah, that's what it is. That's very sad to see for a team that has so much of pace. I think Yuki was running the top five in Australia, and he was here for a sure shot P7. But that's unfortunately the case. Like you said, you really have to adapt to the situation.

[00:37:25] Going into Sunday, none of the teams had used their hard tires. No one really knew what the pace was like. And it was literally Lance Stroll being the guinea pig there and giving everyone an idea of how the tire really performs. And unfortunately, of all the teams that literally went for it, was Racing Bulls with both their drivers. So they really lost a lot in terms of positions and points where inherently that car has a lot of pace. And the positives also has to be the fact that

[00:37:53] Yuki Snoda is definitely dejected that he's not got the Red Bull drive, but he's still performing to the level that's expected from him. Isaac Hajar, very difficult weekend for him last time out in Melbourne, but he just came back, put the car literally in the top 10 in Q3. So he's really put that behind him, and he's really being able to bring the performance from that car. That's very interesting to see because if you look at all the six rookies, he's probably the only one being the closest to his teammate,

[00:38:20] not even an Antonelli or anyone else for that matter. But it's a very interesting situation in that Red Bull squad. You have the sister team where the pace is genuine, the drivers are able to drive the car. And then you look at a Red Bull. And for me, to be very honest, I'm still pondering where exactly is that Red Bull car space? Is it somewhere in between and Max is able to overdrive it and Lawson's not able to drive it at all? Or is it somewhere in the top four? Is it somewhere lower? You really don't get an idea of it

[00:38:50] because Lawson's qualifying P18, P20, and Verstappen's putting it in the top four every single time. So that's a very interesting situation for them to figure in terms of driver lineup and also in terms of where the true pace of that car is. I think you're on mute, Kunal. I realized there was some overlap every time Sundaram and I were speaking. So I thought it's better to just be on mute. So in case I speak, I actually don't speak on Sundaram.

[00:39:19] But it's a very interesting position to be in because Yuki is still saying Red Bull is the faster car, mind you. He's saying I'm ready to take over it in Japan. And Liam Lawson has also said, I am excited to go to Japan. It's a track I really like and I've driven there before. And clearly Liam is not driven in Australia and China. But more so what Red Bull would be looking at is not really just track performance because yes, that's what eventually is visible.

[00:39:47] But also how Liam is settling in, how Liam is sort of finding his way, trying to unlock his challenges in that Red Bull. And maybe that's where he's also not delivering as, you know, the management would be expecting because Liam Lawson said, I just need more time in the car, literally. And then he says, but I know I do not have more time in the car. And he emphasizes how narrow the window of operation

[00:40:15] in that Red Bull racing car is. And Sundaram, you made a very, very interesting point. It's so tough to say where Red Bull is because Max Verstappen is literally Alonso-esque if we were to remember all the Alonso days. You know, from... Thank you. Yeah, yeah. From the Renault, from the early Ferrari days, you know, outperforming that car. You know, and I know, I mean, by outperforming the car, I don't mean he's defying laws of physics,

[00:40:44] but he's just taking that car so much to the edge of addition to the limit and then bringing it back, controlling it, that it just seems like Max is able to pull off those couple of tenths when it matters. And then just, you know, he said, he was actually strong in the second stint of the hard tire. So if you were to break the race down into, you know, two thirds or a third each, sorry, he was second in the last third of the race.

[00:41:13] And he said it was the first stint that literally didn't do much for me. And he said, I was focusing on myself. Yeah, I think we've lost Kunal momentarily. But news has come in that Charles Leclerc has been disqualified already. So no news yet on what happens with P.I. Gasly and Lewis Hamilton,

[00:41:42] but Charles Leclerc has been disqualified. I think it's going to be a very gutting moment for him because he literally pulled that car throughout those, what, 56, 58 laps. And at the end of it, he's had to be disqualified. Yikes. Yikes. That is big. And for Red Bull also, everything that's happened must happen. There's something so ice cold about it, right, Sundar? I'm like, you're the one who's out driving the car and taking it to the limit.

[00:42:11] It's unbelievable. And it's a double-edged sport situation, as Sanjay has mentioned. Absolutely. Absolutely. Between Yuki and Liam and everything that's going on over there. Okay. But it's a long-term problem for Red Bull. It is. I know Max prefers the car a certain way and that really works for him. I mean, eventually, Red Bull is going to lean Max Stappen's way. He's the person who's bringing in the titles and then the wins and the points. But that's going to be a problem for them

[00:42:40] at a time when Max chooses to leave the team at some point, whenever he does choose to do so. Because then who do you bring in and who's able to drive that car? Sure, you'll move the philosophy around those new drivers. But right at this point of time, you're putting all, what do you call it, you're putting all your money on just one driver. And although he's delivering, the question is when he stops delivering or when he moves away, what are you going to do then? So that's a very difficult situation that they find themselves in at this point.

[00:43:13] Yeah. What a wild, wild situation it is for Red Bull Racing. I think we're deep in. We could be seeing lots of crazy things happening later on. Liam Lawson's demotion is also on the menu, it seems. There are lots of reports coming out saying that Red Bull are already... The report's already saying that Liam Lawson could already be demoted down to Red Bull Racing's junior team,

[00:43:42] V-Carb, for the next race. Which I don't want to buy. I get it. Sundaram, I remember we had like a proper hour-long podcast before we recorded a podcast on this exact same thing about Red Bull's legacy and the kind of problem that they're creating for when Max leaves. But they surely won't. They surely, surely won't demote Liam now, would they? It'll be shambolic if they do so because it's just been two races in.

[00:44:11] And at least from what I see is the fact that he's not able to hook up a single lap on that car. It's not a case of him not having the pace. That's a different question altogether. Once you're able to hook a lap together, once you're able to get past the challenges of wet weather or high tire degradation, it doesn't just feel that he's... He doesn't feel that he's at one with the car. Once he's able to do that, once he's able to hook these fast laps, then you can probably start comparing the pace difference between a Max and a Liam. Then that's a more better reading of where he stands.

[00:44:41] At this point, he's just really struggling. You look at free practice, you look at the sprint, he's been going off the track and really doing a lot of corrections. See, Australia and China are also very fast-flowing tracks and you can't really afford to do a lot of corrections as you go through a lap. So it's a very difficult situation for him. And if you're in a Red Bull, you obviously have a lot of focus on you. But I think people are being a little harsh on him and I hope Red Bull don't do the same.

[00:45:08] Red Bull have gone from mid-season changes to early season changes. Third race of the season is not a mid-season. I don't know where I got thrown out. Yes, I froze. It's actually not too cold here in Oslo today. But Liam said he needs time and he doesn't get that time in the car. And Sundaram, you explained it very nicely. He's probably not hooked up, you know, too many quick laps to make a valid comparison. And then Red Bull clearly is wondering

[00:45:37] where their car actually is. Because yes, on one hand, they've got a number two driver problem. But if they do not give a car to Max, which he can go battling with, they're soon going to have a number one driver problem as well. And Helmut Marko has been very vocal about this. In fact, now that this rumor is coming, I'll try and see if we can get him again on the podcast at some point to talk about what's actually happening with Liam as well.

[00:46:06] But interesting times ahead in the world of Formula One. And a very interesting question that I saw there, which was, so much has happened in the first two weekends. What lessons do teams walk away with? Right? Sarika, that's a very, very interesting point. The one lesson teams, or not one, but a couple of lessons teams will walk away with is that it can still be anybody's race. Even if McLaren is up there winning,

[00:46:35] you can still be in the points. Reliability is key. I mean, after years of running in China, I imagine Alonso and Norris were facing brake issues and some of the other drivers also, just that it probably won't get reported. So to finish first, you finish is key. And most importantly, with the field being so closely bunched up, the biggest learning for everyone is that you have to bring your A game

[00:47:03] every single time. You cannot not be efficient. You cannot not be at your maximum performance at any of the key sessions because your rivals will most definitely be there, taking points away from you then. I like Sanjay's idea. If Red Bull could rotate their second driver each race to find the best fit, who gets which track? Yeah, might as well do that. Might as well.

[00:47:33] Like, if Daniel Ricciardo is great at Spa, put Ricciardo at Spa. If Liam Lawson is great at Zangwood, put him at Zangwood. Wow. What have we come to? What have we come to here? I'll tell you what we've come to. We now have official confirmation that the two Ferraris have been disqualified. That is Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton's experienced everything in the last seven days from communication issues to the first print poll, the first print race win to the first disqualification as well.

[00:48:02] Now he'll sit in the Suzuka press office and he'll still be telling you critics, I don't even know what to say. Can you just stop criticizing me? Because I'm still trying to get a hang on this team and get things going. And then, of course, nobody cares or not too many people, unfortunately, care about it. But Pierre Gasly has also been disqualified from the 2025 Chinese country. So that has also been confirmed. This is what's called the Ferrari orientation program.

[00:48:32] You get to know all the team's problems straight away Yeah. And you're aware of all of these problems. You walk in knowing exactly what's going to happen. Full well aware that something or the other would go wrong. And it has. It is phenomenal. Has Liam raised at Suzuka before? A same-ass question. I'm sure he must have with Japanese Super Formula. I think he was there for a bit. So that must have happened. They raised at Suzuka very often. But, okay, we need to end

[00:49:01] with a great question that Sarika has asked. Let's try to give 30 seconds each to all of us so that we have some sort of structure because then we'll keep on talking for the rest of the night which I'm sure you guys will love. But that's not the best idea. But is that all that we're going to talk about George Russell? Seriously? Yeah, I think we should. Right? He's got a dragster. Yeah. No, because a lot of our focus tends to go towards McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari.

[00:49:32] People are forgetting that a lot of other teams are also making small gains. For example, something I realized yesterday is that Sauber has had one driver I mean, going past Q1 in the last 10 races and in the last 10 rounds and in the first 23 rounds of 23 races of 2024 they had a combined 8. So teams are making small strides when their upgrades are coming in and even if you look at George Russell he's finished in the top 5 in every Grand Prix or top 6 I would say in every Grand Prix

[00:50:02] since Azerbaijan and even he started on the front row in 4 of the last 6 races so quietly and slowly and steadily he's actually bringing those results in qualifying and in the race and he's collecting all the important points. Sure, they're not as quick as a McLaren but he's still doing a very good job in whatever capacity that he still can and Charles did call him a dragster did he call him a dragster? Yeah. He called him a dragster and if you look at the sector times George Russell was quick blisteringly quick

[00:50:31] in sector 3 and I think he was one of the drivers with the highest top speeds as well nearly 340 kilometers on that long stretch so he really had a lot of time that he was pulling out in those traction areas and also on the straights and Ferrari were losing out a bit over there as well but George a very commendable effort over these last couple of races and rounds especially. He's got a double podium something that you know goes back to 2022 I believe so for George Russell to get a

[00:51:01] double podium itself is a is a big deal and I think it's the 300th podium in Mercedes' history as a constructor as well big resurgence of Mercedes Mercedes is probably like George said you know to be 8 seconds ahead of Max and 12 seconds ahead of Ferrari no man's land so maybe the truth also is that the four teams are evenly matched when it comes to qualifying

[00:51:29] when it comes to race day they end up spreading themselves out a fair bit as well and maybe today was one of those what do you say examples of where they actually stand as well but yes the dragster comment was because George Russell had phenomenal traction exiting those corners and one of the things that I think it was Leclerc who said that because he had such better traction exiting out of turn 12 he couldn't make that overtake into turn 14

[00:51:57] onto George Russell so such small little nuances that come in like you said Samuel we could be here for the next 24 hours dissecting information without repeating anything that we've already said just because there is so much that happens in Formula 1 and I think that's the beauty of the sport I'm a bit miffed that the next race is not the next weekend but the weekend

[00:52:27] after that we could be here all day all day but learnings from this first doubleheader 30 seconds guys I'll go first time me 3 2 1 yeah okay the big learnings we can take is that the rookies will take time give them some time this wasn't an easy weekend for anyone wet followed by a sprint one practice session it's not enough so give time to the rookies give time to the people

[00:52:56] who are switching teams that is where the season really begins and if you have to look at anything apart from that wait for Spain the season's not done yet don't count Mercedes and Red Bull out and in the meantime just watch for how the McLarens will take points off each other because that to me is the big story the season is divided into 4 different quarters as Sundaram brought up last time quarter number 1 must comprehensively belong to one driver for them to have an advantage later on who's that gonna be that's

[00:53:24] that's such a fun story okay for me I think it's not just about a car or a driver it's about the fact that what conditions they're racing at every track is different every sort of weather conditions that's been thrown at you sometimes it's cooler sometimes it's hotter that's really something that you need to know and then try to make correlations as to which team did well for example Mercedes were very quick in last year in the cooler tracks or the cooler temperature tracks

[00:53:54] this time China has been somewhere in the mid 30s so that kind of gives you indications that probably they've gone beyond that issue where they're able to do and perform only in the cooler tracks keep a look at the take a look at the conditions take a look at the track characteristics see which team performs well and then you'll be able to draw conclusions from that my conclusion is it's going to be a McLaren battle all throughout but the other battle that or the other factor

[00:54:23] in the battles that we will see are the tires right the Pirelli tires if you ask a lot of people they'll say that are not the most suited for Formula 1 in fact if you look at the tires you know let's take Lawson for example he couldn't get into SQ3 because he couldn't cool down his tires enough right but if you look at Alexander Albin who had a significant tire advantage when he switched finally he was hoping

[00:54:53] to make the overtake on Kimi Antonelli he said the tires just didn't be great enough for me to have enough of a performance delta to make an overtake so cracking the tires is going to be very crucial whether you're a rookie or an experienced teammate and I just hope that the rookies get enough time I believe this is the best set of rookies Formula 1 has had since a long long time and I really hope that the oldest rookie of all has a turnaround in fortunes because he's got

[00:55:23] two DNFs and I can't believe I can't remember the last time he you know he had two DNFs back to back probably back to the McLaren Honda days that were there but you know Sundaram always has a stat there 2017 he started the season with two DNFs and he didn't score points he didn't score points in the next race as well he had a DNF there as well I didn't want to bring that up and jinx it already but yes not a great start for him fingers crossed

[00:55:52] we have better luck for him next time but it's going to be Japan so Alonso's home race the home of GP2 engine the home of phenomenal corners proper proper smooth flowing circuit different conditions hard tires lot of hard tires so watch out for that we're going to come back with a preview on that in a bit let's yeah let's do some fun content in the midweek also but thank you for watching folks that's all from us for today see you we're going to see you