Verstappen-Red Bull went unchallenged - 2024 Chinese GP Review

[00:00:00] Before we begin, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the folks at Amazon Music for partnering

[00:00:07] with us on this episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast. But more on this later, right then,

[00:00:13] let's get right into today's episode.

[00:00:30] I'm genuinely confused as to how a race can have so many chaotic moments,

[00:00:41] but still end up being very bland on the broader scheme of things.

[00:00:45] Max Verstappen has won the Chinese Grand Prix. Yes, of course, casual, we all know that.

[00:00:50] It's been a great weekend for him and we should talk a little bit more about

[00:00:54] how good he was this weekend. But there are so many big stories to pull apart,

[00:00:58] so many crazy things. It's a weekend where all of us folks have to celebrate because on the Inside

[00:01:03] Line F1 Podcast, we have three favorite drivers, one unironically, two ironically. Actually,

[00:01:10] no, not three, we have four, right? Because Carl has signs as well. Signs and Fernando Alonso,

[00:01:14] we can count them as our unironic favorites here. But the ironic ones both ended up

[00:01:19] getting a penalty today and that is a celebration of it all. Kunal, Logan Sargent, Lance Stroll,

[00:01:25] two incredible performances, particularly by Lance. What a restart, huh? My goodness.

[00:01:31] I mean, we just have to bring it up, right? Because we love them so much, we always talk

[00:01:35] about them, we always praise them to the point. So we have to celebrate when they

[00:01:39] board two special things together. Together and individually, right? That's what they did.

[00:01:44] Lance Stroll was actually, at the restart, you were supposed to look at the car ahead.

[00:01:50] Period. Daniel Riccardo has been so furious with him being with Lance Stroll for whatever

[00:01:57] happened there. And ironically, Lance had somebody up ahead locked up their brakes and

[00:02:03] that somebody actually was Fernando Alonso who locked up his brakes and then had the

[00:02:08] concertina effect as we say. But I think, I don't think Lance would have

[00:02:14] anywhere been in the points. What do you guys think? It's unlikely, no, Sundaram?

[00:02:18] It's, I think he was battling, I think he was battling at for 12 to 13th at the point. No,

[00:02:24] I think he was within the top 10 at that point over. He was in the points then because

[00:02:28] he was just behind Oscar Piaz III and the gang. He was literally eighth. He was eighth at

[00:02:33] that point and he could have been there maybe a point or two towards the end. But it's very funny

[00:02:39] because the person who's done this is of course, Lance Stroll and the person he's done it to

[00:02:44] did it six years ago to Max Verstappen. And I don't know if Max Verstappen got deja vu

[00:02:49] a deja vu moment during the post-trace cooldown room when he saw the replay of this. But

[00:02:54] Daniel Riccardo was furious. He was absolutely furious. And they showed the replay so

[00:03:00] many times that everyone was focusing on Fernando Alonso. But it is actually Carlos

[00:03:05] Sainz who actually kickstarted all of this. He was trying to get closer to Perez. He locked up,

[00:03:10] he didn't lock up, but he came very, very close to Perez Alonso then had to lock up.

[00:03:14] And then that just left, let everyone else come behind one after the other. Very interesting.

[00:03:21] But unfortunately, it's Lance Stoll, the person who's really been debating if he

[00:03:26] deserves a place in the sport and it's not going to help him at all this incident.

[00:03:30] But what a shot. Riccardo getting skyrocketed up in the air and then eventually what he said

[00:03:35] in the media cannot be repeated here. But let's just say you have to listen to that interview

[00:03:40] to understand more of it. But crazy 10 second penalty there. And I just really want to get

[00:03:45] rid of all the indiscipline driving before we talk about the strategy because there was so much

[00:03:50] in the strategic side of things that is so interesting about this race.

[00:03:54] But how long is it guys before Kevin Magnussen gets top-peroed now out of the seat because

[00:03:59] that move on UK Sonora and then eventually the kind of aggressive driving for God knows what position

[00:04:04] it was canal. It's, is it someday I mean, imagine right if you're a Formula One driver and you come

[00:04:10] across Kevin Magnussen, it might be the most annoying thing in the world to do because

[00:04:15] this guy will just, how do you even describe those sort of moves over there?

[00:04:18] You know truth be told, Kevin Magnussen has been on the Inside Line F1 podcast and guys he

[00:04:23] just loves being on the Inside and then he gets so excited that he forgets and he ends up tapping

[00:04:29] people. He's done this to Alexander Albin before a couple of years ago. We clearly remember was

[00:04:33] Silverstone and this is classic Kevin Magnussen right and it just so happens that you know,

[00:04:40] Nika Halkenberg goes and scores a point but Kevin Magnussen didn't and all of this actually

[00:04:45] truth be told the team debrief that I that I listened into said that not the team

[00:04:52] debrief sorry the Kevin Magnussen post race interview he said you just qualify out of position

[00:04:57] and for the Huss is not being in Q2 is out of position and this is how your race actually

[00:05:02] unfolds. So that's literally what happened but yeah just amateur is tough you know by

[00:05:07] by Kevin Magnussen because he's been here for several times. He's not racing the first time

[00:05:13] you know in Formula 1 but he keeps making this very mistake each time and I think even drivers

[00:05:21] in Formula 2 and Formula 3 sometimes don't end up making such silly mistakes if that's the word.

[00:05:28] Yeah yeah it's a weird race so a race full of silly mistakes here and there one also from

[00:05:33] our driver of the day Fernando Lonso one where he actually snapped off at the end

[00:05:38] and then control it sorry I've just unanimously declared him to be the driver of the day do we

[00:05:43] all agree firstly like because we have so many options there's Alonso there's Norris there is

[00:05:48] Halkenberg there is signs after recovering from a terrible crash as well who are you guys speaking

[00:05:54] now? No no I think we should have a driver of the day and the driver of the weekend go for it

[00:06:00] I would I would give it a Fernando Lonso for the driver of the weekend and the driver of the day

[00:06:06] I know Landon Norris wanted I know you guys track it extremely well which means probably a lot of

[00:06:11] our listeners also track these fan-voted polls that come up but Fernando Lonso through the entire

[00:06:18] weekend Fernando Lonso through the entire Chinese Grand Prix was incredible 42 year old people keep

[00:06:25] saying his age they should keep saying his age because what he did on track what he did on

[00:06:30] the gravel and then on the track again was incredible and just one clear stat which explains what

[00:06:37] Fernando is doing in four out of the five races this season Fernando Lonso has finished lower

[00:06:44] than he started right and why is this that important? This stat is important because first

[00:06:50] it proves that Fernando Lonso is taking a lot of risks in Q3 to get that Aston Martin to

[00:06:57] qualify out of position right in fact he was out of position even at the start he was P2 at the start

[00:07:03] he even overtook Chek O Perez at the start right the other reason why this stat is critical

[00:07:09] is because Fernando Lonso finishing lower than when he where he started proves that his Aston

[00:07:15] Martin doesn't actually have the pace to compete with uh the you know compete at the position

[00:07:22] he ends up qualifying at I think that's been the story for Fernando ever since he made a return

[00:07:27] to Formula 1 it's it was very uncharacteristic of him to put that Alpine in P2 in Canada a couple

[00:07:34] of years ago and then and then kind of drop off in the race and he's done that throughout last year

[00:07:39] as well I mean in fact last year they had better race space compared to this year but

[00:07:45] that's that's the sort of stuff that he does in qualifying he's managed to put those cars in

[00:07:49] places where it's not supposed to be and then just drops behind during the race he actually

[00:07:55] had one the pair of softs that he had I was wondering if he's going to actually put them on

[00:08:01] during the start but then it was meaningless because he has Perez and Westap in front of him

[00:08:05] he's not fighting them what's the point of grabbing a place or two at the very start but I think at

[00:08:10] the end also I think that was quite debatable why did he put on the softs I think I think

[00:08:15] we'll come to that but for me again we'll come to that but for me like Kunal said the

[00:08:20] the driver of the weekend was Fernando completely impressive what he had done on track and off it

[00:08:25] but my driver of the day I think I'll go with Lando Nautis very good drive not the best of

[00:08:30] starts yesterday but I think he's managed he's managed to reclaim all of that and finish P2 ahead

[00:08:35] of Sergio Perez so I think that's I'm going to go with Nautis but it's also interesting right

[00:08:42] of course Fernando for the entire weekend and for the kind of crazy stuff he's been doing

[00:08:46] and you guys echoed my sentiments exactly in that regard but with Lando Nautis it's interesting

[00:08:52] and I know we're talking about the race here primarily but it's just something that has to be

[00:08:56] brought up about how in those critical moments where you need a lot more from a driver you

[00:09:02] tend to think of Lando Nautis as being a driver who's just waiting us rather let's put it this

[00:09:07] way we always look at Lando Nautis as a driver who's best in for more who's bound for

[00:09:12] bigger things and bound for race wins and championships but when it all comes calling

[00:09:16] towards him like that one critical qualifying lap like let's say a good start in a sprint race

[00:09:22] it all seems to unravel here there's somewhat and this time even though the sprint went awry

[00:09:27] I like how he corrected it in the race and even though sure it was a big benefit

[00:09:31] thanks to the virtual safety car and then the safety car eventually Kunal we can say that

[00:09:36] it's still not there yet with him is it? It is still that little bit of I don't know what

[00:09:41] it is because he never reveals it in the interviews but maybe just that little bit more of last minute

[00:09:45] composure perhaps that seems to be lacking or something. I in fact think he's got a lot of

[00:09:50] composure for you know having been in this position for what two or three seasons now

[00:09:55] knocking on the door 2021 Russia right that's what that's the race we'll keep remembering

[00:09:59] till he actually wins something but you know he's actually been very very clear with what

[00:10:06] happened today and in general what's happening with McLaren because he's like I know the

[00:10:09] tragic tree we're on I trust that that's why I've signed long term and you can actually see that right

[00:10:15] and one of the reasons why Landon Norris and both the McLarens for that matter were pretty strong

[00:10:21] Oscar Piazzari was getting damage from Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Troll's crash right sorry

[00:10:27] but one of the reasons why Landon Norris could actually manage p2 and do it over a single stop

[00:10:33] was because the track conditions were cooler the wind direction he said was actually better

[00:10:39] wind direction for us that's a very strange thing but yeah he over to Glendale he over to

[00:10:44] Fernando Alonso so he gained track position right and you know McLaren's pace on that hard tire

[00:10:50] was what Ferrari was actually most surprised by sprint weekend not a lot of running especially

[00:10:56] on the hard Ferrari got undone by the hard but the McLaren came alive on that hard tire with

[00:11:02] Landon Norris and like you said the safety car VSC helped him convert his race into a one stopper

[00:11:09] I think it's its payback for last week last weekend in Japan I mean last time both Ferraris

[00:11:16] had the number on Landon Norris they pushed him out of the podium positions and this time

[00:11:20] Norris has just given a little bit of payback but I think Norris has been quite good even

[00:11:25] throughout the weekend even his pole lap during sprint qualifying was actually very good the first

[00:11:32] two sectors and especially he was he was very very good and he still managed to put that pole lap by

[00:11:37] 1.6 to 1 seconds the second biggest margin in the hybrid era after Nico Rosberg

[00:11:45] so I think he's been very very good throughout this weekend and he's almost there I think

[00:11:50] is getting better but yeah he's sometimes still tends to bottle it at the very last moment but I

[00:11:56] think he's managed to hold it together this time and he's looking very good and it doesn't help out

[00:12:02] that there's so much of infighting within Ferrari that we should come to in a second but let's also

[00:12:08] talk a little bit more about the strategy and what exactly went there for Ferrari. Carlos

[00:12:13] signs actually initially just getting caught up by the timing of the safety guard in the VSC

[00:12:18] he just actually boxed was it four or five laps before that so eventually he couldn't make that

[00:12:22] pit stop and Leclerc benefited a lot from that and then eventually he also had that mistake earlier

[00:12:27] on on Saturday that compromised him quite a fair bit but there's also an interesting question

[00:12:33] that we just have to ask with Alonso and that whole safety guard in VSC that completely turned

[00:12:39] around the race why did they go on the soft seriously what was going on there they

[00:12:46] had options didn't they Sundaram I think they had a hard compound tire and a medium

[00:12:51] so did they or what was the exact allocation so they had one medium one hard sorry they had two

[00:12:57] mediums one hard and one soft for this race so ideally what they should have been following

[00:13:01] was the medium hard medium and they did not they decided to plonk on a set of softs during the

[00:13:08] second VSC it's a bit surprising for me because at the time Alonso was fourth in the running

[00:13:14] and at most he would have probably finished fifth ahead of Russell ahead of Piastri

[00:13:18] but now he's finished seventh I believe he finished seventh behind George Russell he

[00:13:23] didn't just didn't have enough pace towards the end with even the mediums he did manage to get

[00:13:29] a cover a lot of ground the initial laps on that last set of mediums but then even that kind

[00:13:33] of was not able to match the Russell's time and he just wasn't able to get past him

[00:13:40] little debatable I would say if I think if he had just carried on with the hearts and not moved

[00:13:46] to softs and then made a regulation move to mediums I think he would have still finished fifth

[00:13:52] I think he's finished one or two places for the behind this time I actually have a different

[00:13:56] view than that because what happened is when the safety car came out let's remember the

[00:14:00] safety car actually ruined a lot of people's races as well Fernando Alonso included he was at

[00:14:06] the hard tire was the key tire for the race okay when the safety car came out Fernando Alonso

[00:14:12] was in the middle of his hard tire stint and that's it that was it he wanted to see if he could use

[00:14:17] the safety car to try and do something different right interestingly Fernando Alonso actually jokingly

[00:14:22] said post race was maybe next time we just don't participate in the sprint race so we have

[00:14:27] extra tires for the Grand Prix because his tire strategy was dictated by Watson Dharam

[00:14:33] pointed out that he had a limited number of tire options soft was one of those options

[00:14:37] they just decided to bolt on that soft and see where it would have landed them up I'm glad he

[00:14:42] did that because he did all the late race overtaking he was you know lapping two to three seconds

[00:14:47] quicker than the others I remember when George Russell and Carlos Sainz in you know sixth and

[00:14:52] fifth respectively got radio messages from their engineers saying Fernando's taken

[00:14:56] the softs he was at that time 11th when they got the messages and saying he might just come

[00:15:01] up very close to us by the end of the race there's something else I picked up from the from the pit

[00:15:07] radio the fact is that when Alonso was going to switch back to the mediums I think how many how

[00:15:12] many laps was it 12 laps or 13 laps from the end Aston Martin actually asked Alonso see we have a

[00:15:18] set of new mediums and we have a set of old softs what do you want to go with do you

[00:15:22] want to go with the old softs he said no no give me the new mediums I'm not going with

[00:15:26] the old softs and he eventually went with the new me and that's what that's what I'm trying to

[00:15:31] really understand Kunal because if when you had a medium hard medium obviously your middle stint

[00:15:36] the hard one the one on the hearts has to be the longer one so you have roughly 15 20 laps

[00:15:41] on the mediums why would they want to switch on to softs and then have a longer stint

[00:15:47] on the soft than he did on the hearts that's something which is really baffling to me

[00:15:51] yeah and I think also there's the soft stint when when he did them he ran them under the

[00:15:55] safety car as well yeah so that's stint even though he's done 20 odd laps even though he's

[00:15:59] done 20 odd laps on the soft because when you read the tire indicator the soft because it's 11 laps

[00:16:04] on the medium 12 laps on the heart and then 20 laps on the soft right and he ran a lot of that

[00:16:09] so they were just trying to do something different again goes back to the stat they don't have the

[00:16:14] pace they're fighting in positions much higher than the others they said can we try something

[00:16:18] else can we try something different Fernando's always said the car is p7 p8 p9 position conveniently

[00:16:25] he leaves out p10 because he assumes that's what lan stroll would be right but nicely done but lan

[00:16:34] stroll is a doesn't want to take p10 either way so that's just the reading of what their their

[00:16:39] strategy was in in my eyes at least and I'm glad it happened eventually because entertainment in

[00:16:46] the end was only guaranteed by one Fernando Alonso and even though it might be just a subjective

[00:16:52] point to talk about in the race but we really missed that I mean the kind of passes that he made

[00:16:58] the kind of battles we saw eventually going side by side wheel to wheel and I was just thinking okay

[00:17:04] if he makes that pit stop where will he cycle out how far will he come back I thought he'd

[00:17:08] finish somewhere around p11 p12 but kudos to him for finishing p7 yeah that is a great

[00:17:13] performance at the end where everyone was just dying with grip and just not having any and I was also

[00:17:19] now I was watching the radio throughout all this time so all the cars that were ahead of him

[00:17:23] they gave the driver that instruction that Alonso is coming on with with new set of mediums he's

[00:17:30] super quick he's doing a lap he's doing a second quicker do not fight him that's also

[00:17:34] the instruction they gave to Lewis Hamilton as well do not waste your tires and Fernando

[00:17:38] Alonso let him just pass so they're also just letting him pass they're also not really battling him but

[00:17:44] he did an exceptional job on the set of mediums trying to come up to seventh but after Alonso

[00:17:50] giving us a little dash towards the end I have to go back to Kevin Magnuson and Lance

[00:17:55] Trollscrapp I think that was the best bit of racing that we saw in in today's race for I think

[00:18:01] just a bit over a lap they were going at it corner after corner and I absolutely love that

[00:18:06] tattoo for the last place in the standings it was 16th or 17th place 16th place I would believe

[00:18:13] and but that's it's important we say that because Troll versus Magnuson for 16th place

[00:18:18] for everyone who probably just tuned in at the end of the race guys please remember Max

[00:18:22] Wistappen was the one who won not joke on you even though he got a bigger cheer from the

[00:18:27] crowds okay lots of lots of things to clarify it was Max Wistappen who won who's by the way

[00:18:34] won 50% of all the races since the last Chinese Grand Prix Red Bull Racing's 100th pole position is

[00:18:41] what he got like we spoke in the preview will it be Red Bull's 100th or Ferrari's 250th

[00:18:47] continues to be Red Bull also the the Chinese Grand Prix marshals actually were a bit out

[00:18:53] of practice so please pardon them for not being able to recover Valteribotas' car

[00:18:59] what seemed like a routine recovery at least I would believe so you know hit the neutral button

[00:19:04] and then the car would you know they were trying to of course do it I'm just making a joke out of it

[00:19:08] you know it's been five years since Formula One last race here because that seemed a little

[00:19:12] out of whack right suddenly there's a car stricken and then you need to you know put a full safety

[00:19:17] car there of course my daughter was excited because she loves to see the safety car rather than

[00:19:22] the you know she loves to see the safety car on track she thinks all the cars should go racing

[00:19:28] they shouldn't wait in the pit lane yeah first time in ages I think we've seen that safety car out

[00:19:33] too but weird that start I think in the last four out of five Chinese Grand Prix we have

[00:19:38] the safety car come out and eventually that changed the complexion of the race a lot but

[00:19:44] yeah I particularly also then really want to bring up one thing that we need to talk about

[00:19:50] that even though Lewis Hamilton was P18 in qualifying he actually got points guys

[00:19:56] can you believe it like for all the for all the noise everyone made on social media for everything

[00:20:02] that happened it doesn't cover up for what actually ended up being a very terrible weekend

[00:20:06] but he did get there in the end and I love to know your perspective on the entire Mercedes

[00:20:13] weekend so far and what their issues seem to be because at this stage even the press releases

[00:20:17] from Mercedes aren't quite coming out with that much further saying hey guys we're sorry

[00:20:21] sorry for the disappointment here's a letter so that we can please you or something like

[00:20:24] it's all gone expected now that's true where is that fan letter or letter to the fans

[00:20:31] DM Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team whatever the name is are you guys disappointed we don't

[00:20:38] have a letter just yet anyone from team alege listening in please let us know if you are

[00:20:43] actually missing on that letter from Mercedes because they actually did that last year now

[00:20:48] it's all about optimism now it's like you know we've got the pace the results don't show it

[00:20:52] the correlation is where we have a challenge but Lewis put it very bluntly and he actually

[00:20:56] said two things very bluntly first he said I was pretty slow the battles I had were okay

[00:21:01] right and then post trace he said on the radio that setup change that I made was on me I should

[00:21:08] have never made that setup change the one again that went viral on social media right

[00:21:14] because that's just the nature of what Mercedes is actually facing you know drivers and and

[00:21:20] engineers are just trying different things to try and see if it actually helps them recover some of

[00:21:26] the pace that's the truth with where I believe Mercedes and their problems lie he actually went

[00:21:32] on to say that he is never doing that in his life ever again making such setup change thinking that

[00:21:37] it's never gonna never gonna have any effect on on how his car performs he said yeah my bad

[00:21:44] another tough day and the team says yeah this is going to be one of those races that we don't

[00:21:48] remember surprising but Hamilton had been complaining of the car and and the tires since the very

[00:21:54] beginning he did not like starting on the soft tires and he was only relieved that he managed to get

[00:21:59] onto the mediums but a good recovery drive not not the easiest of races from and probably

[00:22:05] very unfamiliar territory for for Lewis Hamilton being at the back but he's usually been at

[00:22:10] the back when he still has a much quicker car and he can get past them much easily

[00:22:14] but I think he had his his his work was pretty much cut out he had to do a lot of stuff today

[00:22:20] and it's wait yeah sorry that was me I spoke when it was on mute but my favorite Lewis Hamilton stat

[00:22:27] was that Nico Hulkenberg who scored points for the third time in five races for Haas okay

[00:22:33] finished just 2.5 seconds behind the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton

[00:22:40] and of course Lewis Hamilton finished 20 seconds behind George Russell okay that's just where Lewis

[00:22:47] Hamilton is but hats off to Nico Hulkenberg three times in five races he scored points and you

[00:22:51] know with Lance Stroll Nico Hulkenberg actually highlighted this if the top five end up scoring

[00:22:56] points and having a regular race the midfield runners actually have no scope no chance right

[00:23:01] in all the five races this year there has been at least one chance that's been given

[00:23:08] to outside of the top five teams to claim us you know claim a spot in qualifying or in the races

[00:23:14] the two heroes and I say heroes because it's extremely competitive outside of the top five

[00:23:19] the two heroes have been Yuki Sonoda who of course got you know knocked out this race weekend

[00:23:25] and then Nico Hulkenberg so they've either taken that vacant slot in qualifying or then

[00:23:30] then taken the extra point or two in the race itself I think it's a perfect time to move on to

[00:23:36] a Nico Hulkenberg start because he's now matched the record for the most Grand Prix without a race

[00:23:43] win in Formula One so he's equal to the record set by Andrea de Cheseris back back in the 80s

[00:23:51] 208 races without a single race win one more so if he doesn't win what do we have next

[00:23:57] we have Miami so if he doesn't win the Miami Grand Prix he's going to be the outright

[00:24:01] holder of that record we need a pile up like we saw at the restart in Miami just so that we can

[00:24:09] count to that number and get the wrongs right at last we come on where is the last tool we

[00:24:13] need in the most seriously but Alpine is also a subject that we should talk about guys before

[00:24:22] we end up just snapping around the entire episode and talking about the entire race and

[00:24:26] how it went out because for once we saw a difference in the numbers via Gasly did out qualify Esteban

[00:24:33] O'Connor which is interesting to see but generally too it was great to see the Alpines mixing up with

[00:24:37] the Williams and not sure if the upgrades are 100% there and if this is the car that they're

[00:24:44] going to be carrying forward all the way through but it definitely is a step in the right direction

[00:24:48] but still Bruno Famine's comments about the drivers being happy isn't quite reflected in how the

[00:24:54] drivers look like in any of the videos Alpine have posted on the social media I mean they look

[00:24:59] tired Kunal it's like they've already had it all with this entire season and they just want to

[00:25:04] pack up and leave even though this was quite a reassuring performance in that regard yeah they

[00:25:08] had the best qualifying result of the season and then the best race result of the season as

[00:25:14] well a couple of seconds away from the points finished for Esteban O'Conn I would say O'Conn's

[00:25:21] car was the only car that had the upgrades which is up here Gasly and then at the end of the race

[00:25:26] told the team if my car had the upgrades maybe I would have been fighting up ahead as well

[00:25:32] O'Conn will get the upgrades in Miami Alpine just chose to fast track the upgrades they could

[00:25:37] so they could get just one set and they went to O'Conn's car but all in all you know Alpine

[00:25:42] will recover from this so we should you know everyone wanted to make fun of them should

[00:25:46] make fun of them right away because you know they've had a bad start but they seem like they are on a

[00:25:52] path to recovery it could be a slow path it could it is a steep path okay but I'm pretty sure that

[00:25:58] it's gonna happen and will this be a reason why there's a bigger churn in the team most possibly

[00:26:04] it could be so but you know let's see what happens when both cars have the upgrades

[00:26:10] and further upgrades in in Miami and it's going to be a weekend where there is going to be a sprint

[00:26:16] as well that's also going to be cool but to end the episode Sundaram you have a particular stat

[00:26:22] that really could be very interesting to sum it up one wait one sec what's the number all about

[00:26:28] so this is one stat I've been waiting for since a year to put out and I'm finally able to do

[00:26:33] that now that maxis happens one this race so Red Bull in 2005 decided to join formula one

[00:26:40] and 20 years later they are now the team with the most wins in formula one 117 and they've just

[00:26:46] eclipsed Mercedes I'm sure they must have done it back in 2013 2014 I mean 20 between the four

[00:26:51] years of Wettel over there but yeah they have the most wins in formula one since their debut

[00:26:56] in 2005 Ferrari have 62 McLaren have 45 and Renault have 18 just one fine day Detrich Matashitz decides

[00:27:06] that I'm going to go into formula one energy drinks company gets into formula one and is

[00:27:12] one of the most successful in two decades yeah incredible right same place where they got

[00:27:20] their first win as well yeah same place where they got their first pole interesting bit so

[00:27:24] they got the first pole here and I don't know if you noticed it in the cooldown room their overalls

[00:27:29] for this race has the design from 2009 on the caps and probably even on on the sides

[00:27:38] they have the design from from what they used in 2009 probably to celebrate that commemorate

[00:27:43] that but yes it's nice nice little touch I noticed with the check oh cap actually I thought there's

[00:27:48] a new retro collection yeah yeah I'm like blind spotted by all these things the only thing that

[00:27:54] stood out for me 2009 to 2020 24 whatever was Fernando Alonso was there back then and he was

[00:28:01] there this weekend as well as a third driver on pole position or whatever third driver and qualifying

[00:28:08] there were two drivers there were two drivers in 2004 Fernando Alonso and one joke on you

[00:28:13] oh wow yeah that's true yeah yeah yeah he was in the stands watching dreaming all of that

[00:28:19] but did you guys also notice the the the wreath that they have as a trophy it's beautiful honestly

[00:28:27] I don't know if the drivers are supposed to wear them because if it's a wreath you're supposed to

[00:28:30] wear it they were never worn it never never no chance it was much smaller and then you know a

[00:28:38] couple of more it was much smaller for Landu Norris and Sergio Perez so that would have been

[00:28:42] extremely funny if they if they wore that still possible for Max Stappen but they were

[00:28:46] never going to wear it yeah Kunal you were saying yeah it's it's like a kiss activated trophy I don't

[00:28:52] know if I've ever seen a driver kiss it and then the colors show up or whatever but Fernando Alonso

[00:28:58] also scored has gone in I think in three races he's gone from zero to six penalty points

[00:29:04] in 2024 he's halfway through to a race band okay I almost thought that after the sprint when

[00:29:10] he spoke two words in Chinese he might just get another penalty because it's Fernando Alonso

[00:29:15] but can you imagine George Russell when being told Fernando is going to get close he's like oh my god

[00:29:21] Fernando is going to get close to me is do I have to panic do I have to put all the steering

[00:29:27] wheel settings on my on on on on my dash before I before he comes closer right but the funniest

[00:29:33] moment for me was actually in the free practice Checo Perez hit a bird on the back straight

[00:29:41] okay and now his race engineer's name is you oh god so Checo went onto the radio and said

[00:29:47] I hit a bird check everything is okay and then his engineer said yeah checking and then he said

[00:29:54] Checo Perez said it's your brother okay but the strange thing is Checo Perez is always hitting

[00:30:02] something I think in in two or three out of these five races here he's hit something it's

[00:30:07] either a tear off or now in this case you birds brother some bird that they found in China but

[00:30:13] it would be strange if you bird had a brother in in in China or something but okay that's just me

[00:30:18] and my daddy jokes oh goodness but speaking of other funny things as well we actually had

[00:30:24] a weird scenario where the top three had to park on the grid but they actually had to go for

[00:30:30] the interviews in Park for main side and London or this wasn't even briefed about it so he

[00:30:34] went in the pit lane tried to reverse until he realized does it even make sense for me to go

[00:30:39] outside now I might as well put it inside anyway and that's what he ended up doing it's it's a

[00:30:44] weird little coordination but Shoguan you had a parking spot on the grid what do we think about

[00:30:50] this guy is genuinely I quite like the sentiment and it's nice that formula one wants to bring

[00:30:56] the home heroes closer but something in the back of my mind tells me hey son regardless of

[00:31:02] whether you've done good or bad you will always be a hero in my eyes it's that kind of vibe around

[00:31:06] if you get your home driver to be celebrated even though the finish I don't know 14th or whatever it

[00:31:11] might be I quite liked it because it I mean if you see China's coming back onto the calendar

[00:31:16] after five years and the stands were absolutely packed and they were cheering on Joguan you

[00:31:21] through every single session and they probably needed this but at least I liked it I thought

[00:31:27] this is a very nice way for them to cheer on and connect with their drivers towards the end I

[00:31:32] know he's not the most successful driver in terms of results over these past couple of seasons but

[00:31:37] he still had that moment and you know I'm just probably going to be waiting for that day when we

[00:31:41] all turn up at the Indian Grand Prix stands and we are able to cheer on maybe a Kushmini

[00:31:45] one of these days at the end of the race I hope it's not similar to how Joguan you had

[00:31:51] he was he managed to get on the grid even though he didn't win the race but I hope

[00:31:54] Kush is able to do that or finish on the podium and then we're able to cheer him on

[00:31:59] but I think I thought it was a nice nice little one I have one more I have one more fun banter

[00:32:04] point so we all noticed that this track was resurfaced that's what the FIA Pirelli and the

[00:32:09] teams were told when in real it was painted it was painted with something the years color

[00:32:15] science I absolutely love though I don't know how he speaks to his girlfriend and his parents

[00:32:20] and all I'd love to be a fly on the wall when that happens every other driver said yeah there's some

[00:32:24] weird paint that's there on the track and it's darker and that's pretty much what McNeeson said

[00:32:31] which happened said several other drivers literally were like weird paint something we don't know

[00:32:34] what's been treated we'll see where it goes this is what color science I have to say and I'm

[00:32:40] going to quote him I don't think the FIA or the teams quite understand what's been done here

[00:32:45] fine that's that's a typical human statement now this is a color science statement it has

[00:32:49] been a full resurface or just a weird bitumen treatment to the track he had to get technical

[00:32:56] even with something like this you know you know what's the funny bit yeah the funny bit is because

[00:33:02] it's not the drivers and teams that were caught unaware it was actually the FIA and Pirelli as

[00:33:07] well the Chinese Grand Prix organizers did not inform them that they were painting on

[00:33:13] the tarmac and even they were caught unaware so they said okay yeah they should have

[00:33:17] informed us they did not but we'll probably work closer and see that this the sort of miscommunication

[00:33:21] does not happen but even they were surprised that they turned up at the track and it was a lot darker

[00:33:26] than usual and color science eventually with the best explanation possible crazy I mean what

[00:33:34] what a wild weekend full of some really weird weird moments but eventually a good race at the

[00:33:39] end won by max but if you thought that the sprint action was over and done with

[00:33:43] we are going to be back with more from Miami very very shortly as well so stay tuned on the

[00:33:47] inside line f1 podcast folks where we'll be back with some more content and also the Miami GP

[00:33:52] preview coming up shortly thank you so much for listening and watching folks we'll be back

[00:33:56] bye

[00:34:13] you

[00:34:18] thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the inside line f1 podcast before we ended I just

[00:34:24] wanted to say a huge thank you to amazon music once again for partnering with us on this episode

[00:34:29] of the podcast