THIS is why we LOVE Formula 1 - 2025 Australian Grand Prix Review

[00:00:00] There can't be a better season opener than this. There simply cannot be one. Where in the world do you see a Kicksauber outscoring both the Ferraris and the driver who we all expected to win after his blistering pace and beat a record of ultimately being the first Australian ever to stand on the podium and also win a home race, ultimately losing out on sheer bad luck?

[00:00:27] And then we saw so much madness around it. We saw Max Verstappen not being able to challenge for a win. We saw most of the rookies, including Fernando Alonso, crash out in the wet. We saw Carlos Sainz uncharacteristically crash out in the wet too and just the craziest Formula 1 race ever. I don't even know where to begin.

[00:00:49] I mean, Kunal, you said something about something that the friend of a podcast Alex Jakes mentioned on F1 TV. I'd love to bring out that part in the opening minutes of the race. What did he say that we fell in love with?

[00:01:00] He said we did not oversell the 2025 Formula 1 season to you all. And I think that is the most beautiful tagline Formula 1 could have for all of 2025. If they have it, I would say let's adopt it because what was our concern all along? Our concern was the 2024 end and will 2025 be something else?

[00:01:22] Well, the truth is, this seems very much like a continuation of the 2024 Formula 1 season. Yes, just one race in. But, you know, I would say this race gave us enough glimpses that there is still, you know, there are still four teams in the battle.

[00:01:39] And there is still the Max Verstappen factor at play and that there is Lando Norris 2.0, if we may call it that. You know, I love the communication that they had with McLaren and the pit wall and the drivers and the papaya rules as well, which sounded a little sour.

[00:01:57] But truth be told, we need to thank Max Verstappen because the first half of the race before chaos began, had it not been for Max splitting the two McLarens, the McLarens would have just run away with the Australian Grand Prix. And maybe we would have said, oh my God, we're going to have a single team domination this year. I mean, for me as well, I've always thought that Australia has to be the season opener.

[00:02:23] And although I am from someone who grew up in Bahrain, I've always felt that Bahrain can be a little bit of a stop-start sort of race. But Australia, nearly 250 kilometers per hour on average, it's a fast, fast circuit and it's a street circuit, it's a semi-permanent one. So there's very little margin for error. So in my opinion, start the season in that manner. Push everyone to the limit and see how they feel. And in that regard, I think it was a banger of race.

[00:02:52] So many different storylines to talk about, which we'll try and fit in over the next 30-40 minutes. So yeah, let's get started. Yeah, let's dive right in. First up, we need to be talking about Lando Norris and Max Verstappen and what a beautiful battle that was. Let's just put it out there. I think Lando 2.0 is here. Nora Winter on F1 TV asked a phenomenal question in the post-race show.

[00:03:17] And she said, would the Lando Norris of 2024 have won this race in changeable conditions with Max Verstappen pressurizing from behind? Would the Lando Norris of 2021 have won this race? I mean, we saw Sochi 2021 as a glittering example of what could go wrong in changeable conditions. And it's evident, Kunal, McLaren and Lando have come such a long way. I mean, the decision-making today, yes, it seemed indecisive, but ultimately they made the correct call.

[00:03:46] And even after they were bullied by Max Verstappen or rather pressurized by Max Verstappen, they didn't get bullied like they were last year. Lando stood his ground and he worked on the one thing that we all claim to be his biggest weakness in 2024. The starts and the restarts because all of them were timed perfectly today. Yes, they were timed very perfectly today. I think Lando was also aided by the fact that it is very difficult to overtake around the Albert Park circuit.

[00:04:15] So, you know, it's easy to sort of get away with making little mistakes. That's what they were also talking about, the cool-down room where Max said there was just no place. You said Max bullied him and, of course, you corrected yourself. Well, I still think Max didn't get a chance to bully him because the McLaren has, you know, what we spoke about all along in the offseason, that the best way for Lando Norris to win a race, to dominate Formula One, to hopefully win the World Championship,

[00:04:44] is to have that slight margin in performance. And I thought we saw that with the McLaren package, this race in Australia. And I loved Australia for two reasons. It was, it gave us a glimpse of what McLaren's pace advantage is in the dry, as well as in the wet, and maybe somewhere in the mixed conditions as well. And that McLaren was ferociously quick. And what that then allows you as a driver is, it gives you a little more leeway when you make certain mistakes,

[00:05:12] which every driver does, for that matter. You know, even if your favorite driver's not Lando Norris and it's Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, they make mistakes. It also gives the team a little bit of more comfort when it comes to strategy. I think McLaren and Lando Norris were spot on with their race strategy, with their race communication. There was something very refreshing about them, very confident, very calm about how they were going, you know, about with the proceedings.

[00:05:42] And contrasting to last year, if you just see, you know, what we saw with them last year, there was like panic, oh my God, we need to make a decision. And what do we do? And should we just do what we think? Have you checked the Twitter feed? Have you checked on Reddit telling fans, you know, fans telling us what to do? And I think that calmness also came through. The only, you know, only thing that I wish wouldn't have happened was when they called for papaya rules and they told Oscar to stay back and not attack and whatever. But we can dissect that later.

[00:06:11] All in all, I think this was a great race. Lando Norris 2.0, you know, 2.250, whatever you call it. I really hope this stays because that seems like a quick car. And, you know, I'd love to see what Norris is able to do with all the hype that's been created around him this season. So, we were speaking about this on the phone, right? About Lando and how that decision actually was made. Because to the outside world, it might seem like he was a little tentative about the call

[00:06:40] of switching from dry tyres to the inters at the end. But they timed it perfectly. Apparently, Lando Norris got that call the moment Oscar and Lando started to slip out on the final couple of corners of the circuit. Yeah, and I think although McLaren have received a lot of criticism for the way they communicate, I think it was a very important to and fro between the engineer and the driver exchanging ideas. Because, see, in a dry race, I always believe or what it largely seems is the case

[00:07:10] that the team has as much information as possible. But when it comes to wet races, although the teams have data at their side, you still have to ask the driver how he feels in terms of grip, in terms of instinct. So, that to and fro of ideas exchanging does tend to happen around races like this. And I felt that was very normal. And eventually, they timed it perfectly. We've seen throughout last year, McLaren has seemed very tentative. They've tried to wait and see what other teams do. Because then they would always do the overcut.

[00:07:39] They would always do a pit stop a lap or two later and then they would lose out. This time, they timed it perfectly. There was a little bit of a luck element as well because Lando did go off track. But eventually, he did retain the lead. But one thing I really want to talk about Lando is the redemption arc of Lando. So, two years ago, first race of the season, he was the last classified finisher P17. Okay, right now, he's the race leader. He won this race.

[00:08:08] And 12 months ago, I put out a stat about Lando Norris saying that he has the most podiums without a race win. The thing is, Lando, when he started off in 2019, he started off with the likes of George Russell, Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen was there for a couple of years. And when these drivers started getting a lot of success in terms of podiums and wins, the question was always there, when is Lando going to step up? When is McLaren going to step up? He spent five years with McLaren without a win.

[00:08:36] And by that time, you see a lot of drivers move away. They're already frustrated. He still wanted to go ahead with McLaren. And look what it's brought him over the last several races. Nine poles in the last 16 races. Five wins each better than the previous one. And the first thing that came to my mind after the race win is, he's done a full, he's come a full circle from Sochi 21. Sochi 21, full wet conditions. That was arguably the greatest driver of that generation. Hounding him.

[00:09:05] They made a strategic error. He bins it. Four years later, it's the same thing. Wet conditions. The greatest driver of this generation is hounding him throughout the race. He does not win it. You can also talk about Abu Dhabi, where the title is on the line. These two races really show the sort of class that Lando has reached over the last 12 months. I didn't believe that he was a championship contender until this race. I think I might have to change my perspective now. Yeah, and this means...

[00:09:33] This means that I have won the bold prediction competition. So have you, Sundar. You also predicted that Lando's going to win. So that's phenomenal. No, you didn't. No, I predicted that Shaal is going to win. But we will talk for that later. We'll get to that later. But it's phenomenal. It's like, as you rightly mentioned, Lando Norris has come full circle and he's growing, Kunal. You know, the development arc of every driver is so different. They all don't grow in a very linear way. Some people take their time to get there.

[00:10:02] I mean, we famously saw Damon Hill winning a world championship in his 30s, even though he came to Formula 1 that much later. But Lando, you can tell that he's not... He doesn't sound that confident when he speaks to the media, but that's just how he communicates. Maybe his way of thinking is different. Maybe this is the style that my generation of people resonate with because we don't talk the same way as the people of the last generation do. But ultimately, it's not about what we say. For me, it is because that's my job.

[00:10:28] But for people like Lando, it's about what they do in the car and every single thing they did was perfect. Arguably, Oscar was the faster driver, which we will get to in a second. But this is phenomenal. Lando is now properly evolving into a better driver. Nailing the starts. Good in the strategy. Keeping Max Verstappen behind. Not making mistakes. Good in the wet. What more can you ask for from him? And he also got pole position this weekend with only one qualifying run. He didn't have a bank collapse. And even then, Kunal, he was phenomenal. So throw weather at him.

[00:10:58] Throw Max Verstappen at him. Throw Oscar Piastri at him. Whatever it may be, Lando has hit it all out of the box for a six. It's phenomenal. I love the cricketing analogy. But Lando also had the support of Papaya Rules, you know, at his disposal this race weekend, which is what we said in the preview that, you know, the two teams with two alpha number one drivers, McLaren and Ferrari, could they use team orders at the very first race weekend?

[00:11:27] And, well, McLaren did that. And I kind of support what they did. And I love how, again, 72 hours ago, pretty much everyone was still questioning if Lando Norris has it, doesn't have it. And now suddenly everyone's like, oh, my God, that's where my championship contender is going to go. I'd love to see how that turns out, because it would be a great transformation, not just in terms of numbers, as Sundaram put it,

[00:11:52] but also in terms of the evolution of the human personality as well as the psychology. And, you know, Samuel, one thing that really stood out, and I said this before, is the clarity with which McLaren and Lando went about doing their business. And, yes, Lando gives very funny answers. A lot of his humor is very British humor, which is absolutely fine, which can be misquoted, misunderstood, all of that.

[00:12:19] But all in all, I think the one big difference I've seen this season, and even more so in Australia and after the race, as Lando said, yes, we are title contenders. Yes, we're going to have good races. In fact, we're going to have better races than what we had in Australia at certain times. And, yes, we've made progress. So he's sort of confidently putting it out there, which I think is very bold,

[00:12:46] and also embracing the pressure that comes with putting it out there. Maybe that's what happened last year. Everybody made him a title contender before he thought he himself was a title contender. And now he's like, you know what, I'm actually ready to be a title contender, even if you don't think I am. And you nicely pointed out he got pole, he's had wins, he's got back-to-back wins for the first time in his career.

[00:13:11] I think back-to-back race winner ever since Max Verstappen and Red Bull started to dominate because they pretty much won everything as well. Yeah. But the margins are so small. We have to talk about that because, yes, we are celebrating Lando, we are celebrating his turnaround, transformation, call it what you may. But Oscar Piastri was eight hundredths of a second away in qualifying. Lando picked up a toe on the main straight in qualifying,

[00:13:41] got that one-tenth of an advantage going into, I think it was a 10-kilometer-per-hour advantage, if I remember, going into turn one. The tables could have very well been around. You know, if it was Oscar Piastri who got pole, and I guess even Oscar Piastri would have controlled the race, not made a mistake, and got home this win for McLaren. What I mean to say is McLaren should be very glad they've got two equally capable drivers

[00:14:11] that are capable of producing a solid result in what's seemingly the class of the field when it comes to a package. And after a thousand days, Max Verstappen has lost the lead of the World Drivers' Championship. And it's not Lewis Hamilton who's picked it up, or it's not Charles Leclerc, or it's not anyone else, not a George Russell. It's actually Lando Norris, and it's phenomenal. But it could have been Oscar Piastri. And let's touch up upon that,

[00:14:38] because I, internally, as happy as I am for Lando, and as happy as I am that my prediction worked out well, I'm also equally sad for Oscar Piastri, because this stings. He could have won this race. He was the faster driver when McLaren actually told him to back off. And in hindsight, it was not that that cost him the win. It was ultimately the slip-up that he had when the rain came in, and that could have happened to anyone. Even Lando slid out a little bit, and Max Verstappen did too.

[00:15:07] So that's just bad luck. And Oscar Piastri's race awareness to just reverse the car and get back in, and then the last lap passes on Lewis was just phenomenal. But what I'm really sad about is the timing of it all. Because first race of the season, at your home race, to be told not to pass the driver ahead, because the overlap, like the crossover point from the dry to wet was coming, just baffles me. Especially because McLaren didn't stay true on their word a few laps later,

[00:15:36] and when Oscar Piastri backed off a little bit, that's when they said, okay, you're free to go now. Is that, I mean, maybe an extreme word to describe it would be hypocrisy, but I just don't understand it. How do you reverse a decision that quickly? And I get it. Part of the threat might also be backmarkers, but I just don't understand the timing of it all. It feels like after Silverstone last year, this just is added to the list of what could have been moments for Oscar Piastri, where this was partly out of his control.

[00:16:05] And I think it's also going to be very frustrating for him, because in terms of qualifying at least, he's probably not as quick as Lando. And in that regard, whenever a race starts off, and Lando is able to hold on to first position by the end of the first corner, he knows that he is at the disadvantage. Largely, teams do tend to prefer for the driver who's at the front. And then you have to look at other factors. How close are you to the driver behind in third place? In this regard, in this place,

[00:16:31] Verstappen was 16 seconds behind the race leader, and Piastri was very close behind him. So yes, it was a little shocking that, yeah, up until this point, they've been saying that they're going to let both of them fight, but they did not. Sure, you want to talk about the crossover? Yes, rain was imminent. But then a few laps later, you go back and say, now you can fight. So it does seem like McLaren is still tentative to some extent. They're still trying to negotiate. Piastri said, I am the fast one. And they're trying to put pressure back

[00:17:00] on the strategy team. So they are probably still not as bulletproof as a Red Bull or a Mercedes used to be. And I think that will come with more and more such situations. I think they have a huge headache in terms of papaya rules, having two of arguably the best drivers there on the grid right now and both delivering so consistently. And I think it'll just snowball with more and more races as they go. It's just great. But I'll tell you what, my reading is actually a little different because firstly,

[00:17:29] we know that radio messages on the world feed are delayed. I wish they were in real time. They are played out in entertainment time. They're played out, you know, much later when there is more context to be offered. And trust me, there are so many radio messages, 20 drivers into 20 radio messages per lap. Literally, that's the kind of radio chatter they have. So my reading is that A, the radio messages were delayed. B, it made complete sense

[00:17:58] for McLaren as a team to say, let's just get rid of the crossover, whether it's a pit stop or whatever, and then give you guys the chance to go fight again. Right? And of course, Oscar Piastri has to make a statement, much as every other driver. Right? I'll be very surprised if a driver suddenly in the cockpit says, yeah, you know, this makes sense. I will drive, you know, one-tenth off the pace. I will settle for second place. I think Oscar Piastri is saying, but I'm the quicker driver or I'm the faster driver.

[00:18:28] Again, is complete sense in the cockpit, adrenaline in the moment, all of that. So truth be told, again, they used papaya rules to maximize their result in that moment. They knew that conditions were changing. They knew that they didn't really have a free stop, so to say, et cetera, et cetera. And as a result of which, they said, you know what, let's just get rid of this immediate threat. And then once that immediate threat is crossed off,

[00:18:56] we will have you guys free to race. It's just the timing of those radios that sort of seemed a little hypocritical to me. But truth be told, I like the way it came out on TV because, you know, Oscar was closing in. They get this radio saying, Oscar, we're going to hold position, blah, blah, blah. Then Oscar Piastri makes a mistake at turn four, makes a mistake at turn six. The commentators hype up saying, oh my God, this is getting so emotional. Oscar is losing lap time to Lando Norris. And then, you know,

[00:19:26] it seemed like a very good progression. And then suddenly he was told again, you are free to race. And then he picks up the pace. And then both the McLarens go off track. And again, I think, you know, I loved how Oscar Piastri put it, saying the consequence of that mistake was so high that that's what disturbed him or, you know, got him really upset. And he said, I drove 56 and three-fourths of a lap very well. It was just a very, very big consequence

[00:19:55] for a small mistake, which actually isn't even really a mistake. In these conditions, it can happen to anyone at any point of time on the circuit. I mean, I'm not trying to switch teams and drivers, but Fernando Alonso went off because somebody else ahead of him put gravel on the circuit. And then boom, he was there. When was the last time we remember Fernando Alonso making such an uncharacteristic error? Again, not switching tracks. I remember everyone. I'm sure you do. Yeah. But, you know,

[00:20:25] what I mean is that at the end of the day, Oscar Piastri will, just go away thinking he had a great opening race at home. Great. I loved his overtake on Lewis Hamilton. It was like he've, you know, channelized his, all his inner anger into making that last lap overtake on the outside of Lewis at the fastest part of the circuit turned nine and ten. But I think he will know that he's kept the pace. He's matched Lando. He's come back fresh through the winter.

[00:20:55] And it's all the more and everything to play for come China. Wait, Sundaram, is that mistake you're talking about one that he's made on track or off track? Because I don't remember any on track mistakes, but off track, there are a few. Which ones? Oh, Alpine, Aston Martin, leaving Renault. Let's see, let's not go there. Let's not do Dukti Ragpe, let's not do that. Which one do you want? Tell me, which one do you want? GP2 engine. GP2 engine.

[00:21:23] I very vividly remember every on track and off track mistake of Fernando. But yes, but like Kunal said, very uncharacteristic and so many other factors that influenced what happened eventually in the race. And I think we had some very good radios as well. Charles Leclerc coming out, I think that was the quote of the race for me. Something to say for words of wisdom. It's just water. Yeah, words of wisdom. Let's leave that for the words of wisdom. But one second.

[00:21:54] When was, Sundaram, this is the quiz point for you. When was the last time a teammate was ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Drivers' Championship? Ooh, it'll definitely go back to Alpine. Ocon was ahead of Fernando a few years ago. I think this might be the first time even Lance is ahead of Fernando ever since he joined Aston Martin. So, yeah. Lance Stroll feeling the pressure. Adrian Newey coming,

[00:22:22] everyone's asking for a seat and he's upped it. You know, he was invisible, scoring all the points that he could. But speaking of Fernando, we have to go to the rookies because Fernando Alonso had a rookie mistake, much like pretty much every other rookie had a mistake, right? Because there is a beautiful rookie championship that Formula One's, of course, been tracking after the race. You know, I think it was three hours after the race that Mercedes is protested against the

[00:22:52] five-second time penalty that Andrea Kimi Antonelli was given was overturned, which means Kimi Antonelli now is fourth on debut with Mercedes. I think that's a brilliant comeback. You know, Q1 exit, pulling off overtakes. He drove to the longevity of the inters. That's what Mercedes said. He maximized his stints. He again pulled off overtakes. No crashes. Had one characteristic, and I say characteristic for Mercedes drivers because George Russell had a similar spin there

[00:23:22] in practice as well. Had one spin and then finished fourth. Of course, in a race of attrition, but he wasn't one of the rookies who binned it or, you know, who brought out the yellows. And surprisingly, despite all the rookies and all the mess, there wasn't a single red flag to this race as well. Yeah. And you know what I love about Kimi Antonelli the most? It's not that he's pushing extremely hard or it's not that he's driving the car to the limit or saying the right things

[00:23:51] to the media or acting unfiltered, which is also something I really love. It's the fact that he has such a strong and composed head that even after he made a mistake while passing Nico Halkenberg, he said, okay, I don't care. I'm here to drive. I will go and drive the best possible race. And so he did. You know, normally after a mistake like this, a rookie might fold. They might lose confidence. They might just go back into their own shell and try to be conservative. Not this guy. This guy is ready. This guy is different. This guy is unlike any rookie you will see

[00:24:21] that's come up in Formula 1 in the last 10 years since Max Verstappen just because of how prepared he is. Like, I've heard stories of Kimi that when his counterparts were actually doing Formula 4, Kimi already had racked up thousands and thousands of kilometers testing Freca which is the Formula 3 equivalent and then he's always been a cut above the race in everything he's done and that he's tested GT cars at the age of 16, 17 and that got so much experience there. Like, this guy is a racing prototype and he reminds me so much

[00:24:50] of what Max Verstappen was like in the 2016, 2017 season but just a little softer but with the same aggression and that to me Sundaram was unbelievable, right? Like, the resilience from Kimi. Most of the other rookies crashed and they bind it completely. Kimi held the car A and then had such a phenomenal drive after that B. It's unbelievable what talent this guy has and I think the world is finally getting to see it. Well, absolutely and

[00:25:20] the one good point that you mentioned was resilience. I think that's something that we have to keep an eye on because all the six rookies even if you consider Liam Lawson doing his first full season all of them have been tested going into this weekend or at this weekend. Kimi Antonelli especially because there was a lot of hype around him throughout last season that he's the next big thing he's the one replacing someone like Lewis Hamilton and then he goes and bins it in Monza during FP1 so sure he must have gone back and thought about it and it just makes it just gives me

[00:25:49] flashbacks of every single rookie out there Isaac Haja today Oliver Behrman throughout what happened in Sao Paulo he crashed I think three times there and then he's had a terrible weekend this time Liam Lawson coming under a lot of scrutiny throughout this whole race weekend he had very less testing time and also running time this weekend who else was there Jack Doohan coming with a lot of you know scrutiny as to if he is going to be there for beyond six races so all of the rookies are currently in a high pressure situation

[00:26:19] how they come out of this from a race to race basis and how they are able to deliver is going to be one of the biggest focal points as well Kimi Antonelli as well sure he has George Russell as a teammate someone who is going to be leading the team but people do expect Kimi to be on the podium to start winning races and if he is not able to do that if he is languishing in P6 P7 they will start questioning that as well so it's not easy being a rookie in Formula 1 and it's not easy being a rookie in this sort of a season and he becomes the second youngest point

[00:26:48] scorer after Max Verstappen so I'd love to you know like I've said in several episodes before we've got Fernando Alonso the goat of his era then we've got Lewis Hamilton the goat of the previous era if we may call it that we've got Max Verstappen the goat of this era and Andrea Kimi Antonelli the supposed goat of the next era if you were to believe Toto Wolff and you know all the opportunities that might come his way so we've got such stellar drivers but at 18 years and 200 odd

[00:27:18] days or whatever he's at Kimi Antonelli becomes the second youngest driver to score points and I'm glad that the Antonelli chapter has also started off on a positive note despite having a Q1 exit last year because you know Mercedes needs that he needs that and of course Toto Wolff needs that as well but it's never easy to be a rookie in Formula One we can imagine Fernando Alonso

[00:27:47] after 400 races with the rookie status if he can bin it anyone can bin it as well but I was really expecting a lot more from Portoleto great qualifying just ended up you know having another rookie crash in those conditions as well and guys we have to state the obvious that because it's a semi-permanent street circuit you probably heard it on the broadcast whatever language you hear the broadcast in including Hindi if you heard Samil because those white lines

[00:28:17] that you see actually are far too many given that Australia is a semi-permanent street circuit and those white lines actually have oil that is released when you put water on them or when the water mixes with it and that's why it becomes far more slippery and I really wish the rookies would have done one thing yesterday there's a clip of Max Verstappen which actually went viral when he was asked so what's it like at a wet race and he said a wet race is slippery I wish the rookies would

[00:28:47] have probably just seen the four-time world champion talk about it and be like yeah we're gonna keep a mind of that because it seems slippery because Isaac Hudgar he was so he was so disappointed desolate after a formation lap crash but again it was not down to talent it wasn't down to pressure he said I was just trying to warm my tires up get the best warm-up I think he said he upshifted and then boom it just went away from him so it

[00:29:16] just shows that even though he was the title contender for Formula 2 the minute you reach Formula 1 there is so much more to keep in mind he said it was the tiniest mistake and then I was just a passenger in the car so you know just goes to say just goes to show it's not easy and I think the opening race literally just upped the challenge to multiple levels for all the rookies in Formula 1

[00:29:45] yeah and so cool to see Anthony Hamilton actually consoling Isaac Adjar Isaac is a big big Lewis Hamilton fan and I also heard a story that when Isaac was signing autographs this week and Lewis Hamilton walked in and the fans were screaming in awe even Isaac turned around and I was like oh my god it's Lewis Hamilton and to see Anthony Hamilton come out and support Isaac after a crash like that it's just heartwarming he knows he knows what it's like because he saw Lewis Hamilton pin it in

[00:30:15] Shanghai 2007 while fighting for a world championship in a totally silly error like he beached in the gravel trap while entering the pit lane so he knows Anthony Hamilton knows what that's like incredible but rookie report clearly Kimi Antonelli has taken the lead and now the pressure is on the others apparently Gabriel Bottoletto had a rear wheel failure and not a crash on his own so maybe there's a redemption coming for him when we go to China as well we'll find out that's the rookies although although Samuel I

[00:30:45] think I think he hit a curb and then he went into the wall that broke his tire which eventually led to a spin so I don't think it was a car failure from what I understand but yes Anthony Hamilton he's actually he was one of the mentors of the force India driver academy and he's really good with the junior drivers I've seen him work personally with Jehan Darwala and with Arjun Maini as well so it was very heartening

[00:31:14] to see him walk up to Isaac and you know I can't imagine what you would even feel like I mean Harjar was completely blank in the media pen because what do you even tell people that yeah I'm a great driver but I've been on the formation lap several greats have done it before him so it's not new to Formula 1 but it's definitely new to you know how a debut has happened before I would say but the racing bulls actually if I can just stay on that

[00:31:43] should have actually scored points we had 17 score points the racing bulls should have actually either racing bulls or even Alpine should have been the eighth team that should have scored points today but what happened is Yuki Sunoda who was the highest second highest red bull qualified driver had to he was the victim of a really bad strategy call the team left him out there for too long and then boom it was all over he went from being

[00:32:13] P4 to P11 and then I guess it was just all over from there so what a horrible weekend just goes to show the team the pitch wall the mechanics every single thing as to fire in Formula 1 to give you a decent result and teams like racing bulls would actually be scratching their heads saying my goodness why did we do this because there were just 13 classified finishers in the race some of the biggest names

[00:32:42] Liam Lawson had crashed for example again creating space in the top 10 Carlos Sainz had crashed as well Fernando Alonso had crashed as well so when these races of attrition happened these are the best times for midfield teams especially the lower midfield teams to say you know what we are just going to stay in there not crash and pick up the points and that's actually one of the things even Kimmy Antonelli said after a point I just didn't want to make any mistake bring the car home and see

[00:33:12] where it gets me not a reality that clearly this is something that even Ruth Buscom told me you know that these the strategists didn't know which races are those with race filled with attrition and Australia has one such race so what these lower teams tend to do is they tend to wait it out and see if something happens at the front if there's a safety car if there's a crash around races like this and then they go and pick up the pieces and they get crucial points for the championship so like Kunal said it's important that you

[00:33:42] hold and see and it's important to finish first and foremost and one of the people who also had the benefit of that was Lance Stroll he's coming off 11 race streak the longest of his career without points and then he just managed to do everything right eventually and score points similar to George Russell he was anonymous throughout the race but he ended up on the podium so keeping it together and not making mistakes is also key around such races yeah big time and that's something

[00:34:11] that Williams did amazingly with Carlos Sainz helping out with strategy and deciding the right moment to pit with Alex Albon that got them B5 in the end 10 points for Williams they scored 17 last year 10 today Albon was phenomenal and a great piece of teamwork from them to have Carlos Sainz really giving them the right insight on when to do that so that's a quick word on them but aren't you glad about that Samuel you're like my favorite driver Carlos Sainz he's useful inside the

[00:34:41] cockpit and on the pitch wall but his spin was a bit strange because there was a torque surge as he said and there was a multiple factors James Wawel said which led to the unpredictability but they found it in the data to make sure it doesn't happen again should it even happen again so Carlos Sainz very uncharacteristic spin again especially with the beautiful stack that Sundaram put out with the previous year's winners and what's actually

[00:35:13] happened to them in the race in the following year as well but to see Williams there to see Alexander Albon there he battled with Lewis Hamilton for pretty much all the race Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari just could not overtake Alexander Albon and the Williams and I think that was one of the best narratives or best stories for me from this race weekend that there was Albon who's been a

[00:35:42] discarding in Formula 1 Williams who pretty much the 9th or 10th fastest team last year again have delivered to their preseason hype that we've actually made a step forward and Alex Albon pointed out very well post-race he said wet conditions windy conditions those are the kind of conditions we

[00:36:12] guns and I think hats off with what Williams and James Wabble particularly have done through the winter break but while there's reasons to celebrate for Williams and Albon we have to now talk about Lewis let's just put it this way welcome to Ferrari Lewis Hamilton welcome to a world of absurd strategy calls of unclear communication of too many radio messages and sometimes just general lack of

[00:36:42] certainty because that's what we saw from him in his debut race now let's be fair to him this wasn't really a bad performance given everything Sundaram given the fact that he's just learning the car the driving style is very different the conditions were tricky he didn't know all of the switches because that turned out to be his biggest rival in the entire race just finding out all the different switches and buttons and just trying to make sure that he was as polite as he could be to Ricardo Adami without without trying to sort of lose focus

[00:37:12] from the race but ultimately it wasn't a terrible performance but just an introduction into the world of Ferrari which Charlotte also got another taste of today oh yes and I think he was literally pushed into the deep first race of the season it's a wet race and then you're still trying to come up to grips as to what's happening with the car and then also trying and communicate very transparently and clearly with the team so like I've said races like this high pressure races like this

[00:37:42] especially in the wet it leaves a lot of things out in the open and then you this and

[00:38:14] this time this time he was constantly trying to tell him K1 K1 you need to press this when you're able to overtake and he's been very polite we know how Lewis can sometimes be passionate especially someone around someone like Bono but this time he was very polite he knows this is a new relationship I need to keep low and polite early on but that was something that was very evident to see and I

[00:39:03] go going call right because McLaren's advantage was so so so good or so much that the only way they could compete was by making a risky strategic call and at that time you know the race was people were not sure what was going to happen the on the slicks saying

[00:39:32] we'll stick it out on the slicks for a couple of laps and then hope that the rain goes away and that's unfortunately what didn't happen which is where McLaren sticking to their guns despite Lando Norris and Will Joseph saying isn't the the right tire to be on don't worry we'll think about that situation later when it has to come so lots of real life or real race real time strategy decoding that happened okay so I'm glad actually that

[00:40:02] Red Bull kept Max Verstappen on the slicks and Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari and of course even Leclerc were on the slicks as well because that brought in some entertainment like I said if Max Verstappen was Lewis using the words please on radio but as the race went on he also got more decisive and I think one of his radio messages

[00:40:32] were yes I know okay like I know and then he said but that guy is not too close enough for me to use the overtake button so that's what we know K1 stands for okay which is every time we also know what plan C stands the radio moment of the race weekend has to be down to Charles Leclerc and Brian Bozzi for the water leak that

[00:41:02] he you know he faced and then he was told yeah that's probably the water which of course he meant was a drink system and then Leclerc said yes let's leave that spin as well and he was actually hoping to get onto the podium today do you guys think that could have happened I

[00:41:54] to give one of the drivers a gamble and see if they are able to make it to the podium spot Leclerc and Hamilton both pitted on lap 47 it wasn't a case that Leclerc pitted a lap earlier and they were at at least try and minimize the risk but no both of them pitted on lap 47 and I've heard the same narrative from Canada last year

[00:42:24] back end of the whole pecking order who has no other way of getting points than trying a gamble like this but Ferrari being at least arguably the third fastest team why do you need to make a gamble that to on both your drivers for a podium spot it's the first race of the season do you want to go a negative momentum towards the next set of races rather than

[00:42:56] it's like this if you know you tried your best and it doesn't work I would actually have positive momentum feeling I tried my best it's okay doesn't everything like what I mean is a lot of a lot of the Ferrari situation hype etc yes we are all disappointed because they did fantastic content and collaboration we are content creators and suddenly Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari like the epic brands that you can we saw

[00:43:27] that reality today but I think they just tried because if they would have done what everyone else is doing they would have sort of you know where life is going to or rather what's going to happen when the checkered flag drops so they were just trying something different of course it's easy for Lewis to say that I where you could have looked at data differently

[00:43:56] or instinct or even checked is it really raining at the other end of the circuit because like Lando Norris said one part of the circuit was wet so I get a feeling Ferrari and Lewis will learn but them trying different strategy in fact them not splitting tire strategy goes to show that they backed the information they had at that time which was that being on the slicks was actually the right thing to do and maybe and this

[00:44:26] is where I'm being funny now maybe everyone is still in 2024 where oh my god if McLaren has taken the slicks that's definitely the why why going why go

[00:44:56] for it take the points take what you have I know trying something different is sometimes beneficial but given the nature of what's happening given the obvious data points that all the other cars are slipping and sliding I think they will revert because I think P3 P4 could have been a possibility given where they were but that's just hindsight and hindsight is a funny little point to make Sundaram why don't you go first

[00:45:26] yeah I'll keep it short because on the gamble thing I don't think so Ferrari wants to be a season so in that regard it shows where they are right now and we

[00:45:56] should probably look at it over the next year and see how well they've been able to exchange ideas and calculated bets or calculated gambles guys at least that's

[00:46:26] my reading anyway okay so two points the Australian fans they were fantastic they were cheering Oscar Piaztri when he was driving forward but even more so when he actually drove in reverse I loved that when he said you know the tractor I drove on Jeremy Clarkson's farm actually helped me get my McLaren back in reverse and rejoin that race but my parting point and this is something for people who love

[00:46:55] design I know Sundaram you've got an eye for it I know Sarangar producers got an eye for it or both the eyes for it that LV logo was it blurry or was it made blurry to give a you're talking about it yeah but I mean I'm never going to buy it and luckily Mithila is not somebody who's going to buy anything either my point is that looked like Formula One from 1990s you know

[00:47:25] pixelated on screen that logo specifically but anyway it got your attention and yeah yeah that's true okay we've spoken about it when Singapore Airlines was what Carlos not Carlos George Russell hit in Singapore anyway but let's end this I know we've had a long day early morning start and it's better to move on before Sarang puts one more saying end it now so let's end it

[00:47:55] see you in China subscribe to the podcast and we'll be back bye