Join us as we talk (a lot) about the Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda races of Singapore and Suzuka. So much, there's a second part coming, oy.
In Singapore, Red Bull coulda extended their historic winning streak, but they didn’t . George Russell woulda been on the podium if he hadn’t stuck his car in the wall, but he did. And the stewards shoulda given penalties to Max Verstappen for any of three different impeding offenses during Quali - but they didn’t.
In Suzuka, Checo Perez coulda improved on his poor performance in Singapore but he really didn’t. George Russell woulda seemed like less of a tool if he hadn’t decided to pick a fight on track with his teammate repeatedly and then whine about it on the radio, and Mercedes’ pit wall shoulda known what to do with a driver on fresher tires with better pace fighting to stay ahead of one of the Ferraris, but they didn’t.
Join us as we talk (a lot) about the Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda races of Singapore and Suzuka. So much, there's a second part coming, oy.
In Singapore, Red Bull coulda extended their historic winning streak, but they didn’t . George Russell woulda been on the podium if he hadn’t stuck his car in the wall, but he did. And the stewards shoulda given penalties to Max Verstappen for any of three different impeding offenses during Quali - but they didn’t.
In Suzuka, Checo Perez coulda improved on his poor performance in Singapore but he really didn’t. George Russell woulda seemed like less of a tool if he hadn’t decided to pick a fight on track with his teammate repeatedly and then whine about it on the radio, and Mercedes’ pit wall shoulda known what to do with a driver on fresher tires with better pace fighting to stay ahead of one of the Ferraris, but they didn’t.
Greetings and welcome to Formula XX, a podcast by two Gen X women about Formula One and other motorsports, usually with adult beverages and always with adult words. Today we're talking about the Kuda-Wooda-Shiitarraces of Singapore and Suzuka. In Singapore, red Bull Kuda extended their historic winning streak, but they didn't. George Brussel would have been on the podium if he hadn't stuck his car in the wall, but he did. And the Sturz should have given penalties to Max Verstappen for any of three different impeding offenses during Kuali, but they didn't.
Speaker 1:In Suzuka, checo Perez could have improved on his poor performance in Singapore, but he really didn't. George Brussel would have seemed like less of a tool if he hadn't decided to pick a fight on track with his teammate repeatedly and then whine about it on the radio. And Mercedes Pitball should have known what to do with a driver on fresher tires with better pace finding to stay ahead of one of the Ferraris, but they didn't. Lots done back after these two races and luckily, as always, I have Gen here to help do just that. Gen, how are you? Where are you and, importantly, what are you drinking tonight?
Speaker 2:I'm doing fairly well. I am in Campbell River, which is on Vancouver Island, about two-thirds of the way up on the east side. I am visiting my parents and I am drinking Shelter Point, smoke Point. Shelter Point's the local distillery here, and it is an amazing whiskey. It is smooth, it is caramel-y. They char the insides of the barrels with various driftwood that comes up on their beach and it is fantastic. Heather, where in the world are you and what are you drinking?
Speaker 1:I am in Seattle, washington. I am still recovering a little bit from my very first shiny bout of COVID. I have to say that was a less enjoyable aspect of my recent vacation. That said, I can actually taste things for the first time in about 10 days and I'm happy to report that I can taste my Maple Hays cider from Incline, a Seattle area cidery. It is a very tasty fall beverage. So nice to be here with you tonight With two races to cover. I know there's a lot that we want to talk about. Say we should just jump right in with Singapore, which was definitely a little bit unexpected after a seemingly endless streak of Red Bull domination. Kick us off with free practice Are 30 words?
Speaker 2:or less for free practice. Lizards causing yellow McLaren big updates that work. Mercedes, briefly, the fastest car. Red Bull teasing, they might not get P1. Ferrari doing well. How will the Ferrari themselves?
Speaker 1:Interesting right Because right out of the gate it wasn't Red Bull domination.
Speaker 2:For all that I said in my 30 words or less about the lizards, they never showed up again to cause any sort of mayhem, which was both, as a tree hugging vegetarian, very happy for me that lizards weren't getting hurt or in any way stressed out, but also dude the size of the lizards that were in free practice. There were several of them. I can't remember now if it was two or three yellow flags because of lizards and different lizards in different sessions.
Speaker 1:I hate to be the one to tell you, but Alonso did drive over a lizard. That was sort of the running joke. The joke was that his bad boo-doo was because he'd run over one. I didn't know that at all.
Speaker 1:Which got us to Kuali Kuali in three minutes or less. New layout, singapore, faster lap times. Ocon kisses the wall, max bitching about traffic Straw, massive shunt and Q1 causing a long red flag. Lucky not to collect Piastry, who is out together with VB Sargent and Joe Russell, was very quick For Stapin and Piede Sinoda. Both Red Bulls were out in Q2, to the delight of everyone who is completely sick of them. Max, for Stapin stomps off like the awful brat that he is. The Ferraris were strong on their first run. Carlos had the upper hand early, but George had a mega lap to get himself on the front row and the top three were within a tenth. We've talked throughout the year about how tight Kuali is up and down the grid. Singapore was razor thin margin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a really interesting Kuali. We found out after the fact, which is now like 493 weeks ago. His hit, his impact, was a 50G hit to the wall and, spoiler alert, he didn't race because of that hit. I can't even imagine what 50Gs does to your organs, but it can't be good.
Speaker 1:Again, you can't say it enough the miracle that is, the safety improvements that have happened on cars over time in Formula 1, both the tethers I think the front tethers, but I don't remember. I know at least two of the tethers to hold the tires on failed. It was enough of an impact that you really had to be momentarily surprised that he immediately said, when asked, that he was okay because that car really had crumpled, and every time you see it happen you fear the worst. So great news that he was okay. I do think that it's kind of hard to overstate the stunning turn of events to have the Red Bulls both out in Q2. I was sitting watching Kuali on my phone and let out a not insignificant squeal at the moment that it happened because really they'd had a rough start to the weekend. They just were never looking like they were going to be at the sharp end in free practice.
Speaker 2:I think it's the first time in nearly eight years 2016, 2017, I can't find it where I put it in my notes that at least one Red Bull has not made it to Q1, which is kind of incredible to think about.
Speaker 1:It is, it's definitely 2008,. It says in my notes I think the funny statistic that I'm remembering is Valtry Bottas has a record of 103 sequential Q3 appearances, and with both Red Bulls out in Q2, they literally don't have a record as long as his anymore, so it makes sense that it goes back that far. Whether you're a fan of Red Bull or not, you have to stop and think. Thank God, it made the weekend potentially interesting in a way that we frankly haven't had a race be in quite some time.
Speaker 2:I just found it interesting that them not making Not interesting. What I found it was irritating that them not making it through was the story, as opposed to how quick the Ferraris were, how quick the McLarons were, the fact that we had this really big battle happening and not having Max on pole and I get that not having Max on pole is a story, but also great. You say it and then you talk about this really interesting battle that's going to happen within Ferrari. That potentially could happen within Ferrari. That's going to be McLaren catching up. The Mercedes had good pace at times during quality and practice. Why isn't that your story?
Speaker 1:Well, I think we know why. It's a manufactured narrative that the whole F1 Liberty apparatus is trying really, really hard to push. I think at the time and yes, thank you, rhys, for joining the conversation I think it's the time we're recording this. We're belated, to say the least, but there's been plenty of discussion in the last 24 hours on social media about the fact that F1's social media footprint, basically the number of mentions and hits, has dropped 70% in the last 12 months. The Liberty narrative being shoved back today is no, no, no, no. That's not true. But in real life, we all know that's true. You don't need to be a marketing strategist to understand that the only thing you can hitch to the pony in this season is for stappin', for stappin', for stappin', for stappin', and they keep trying to sell it and it's not working.
Speaker 2:I mean despite the fact that we have this podcast. I know I've tagged F1 significantly less this year than I have probably in the last three or four years that I do in like a month. Here's the other thing. It's not that I've stopped watching, it's not that I've stopped consuming their media in various teams and fan social media Is that I am so irritated with Liberty and F1 and Red Bull that I've stopped tagging that everything and I've stopped posting about it. And for better or worse, I've definitely migrated and started watching other motorsports like Formula E. I've been watching the Enduro stuff. I've been watching the Iron Dames. There's other things that I'm watching that's far more interesting to me than Red Bull and fucking Max or Stappin' and how Marco and Christian Horner Like I'm glad you're doing so well.
Speaker 1:The fact that there's domination at the sharp end of the grid didn't have to be boring. However, it's combined with a team full of characters that are very challenging to like. Unless you are a diehard Max or Stappin' fan, he's not charismatic. We've talked about it before. There's no joy. There's no sense of woo-woo. The good news is McLaren at this point will talk about it more as we talk through. The rest of Singapore and Zezuka are at least in a position to be competing for podiums, which is 2% more interesting than constantly having two Red Bulls and Alonso on the podium. In any case, it was very satisfying to have them both be out To your point. There was a lot going on. The folks who did get into Q3. I think Carlos has been on a significant run. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of conversation about the fact that Carlos has been beating Charles since the summer break, that George is beating Lewis since the summer break. So that was really, I would say, the big narrative message going into the weekend by the Liberty Media talking machine.
Speaker 1:And in fairness, Hamilton was nowhere in Kuali, compared to certainly to his teammate, but really to the others he did not cover himself in glory.
Speaker 2:So let's get into the race. So the race started with a slightly different grid because Stroll wasn't there because of his crash. Also, the Red Bulls were so much further back. One of the interesting things to note, too, is that Joe was starting from the pit lane on the weekend that he'd be signed his contract. The other interesting thing about the start of the race was Leclerc was the only one on softs in the top 14. Max Verstappen was on hards and everybody else was on mediums.
Speaker 1:I think Checo started on hards too. I may be misremembering that to your point. I think one of the key things that came out of Singapore for me, and a key differentiator between a lot of races we've seen and how Ferrari has, I think, in many ways taken a big swing for the positive. It's not necessarily putting them in the same category as, say, mclaren, but everyone has talked nonstop all year long and joked about the fact that Ferrari's strategy is just horrifically bad. But it was very clear with Charles on the softs and the way the race immediately started to unfold, that Ferrari had decided they were going to win this race. That was the priority they were going to win and they were going to say from the get-go this is what we need to do. And they executed on it. And the juxtaposition between that and I think certainly Mercedes, which is worth talking about in a while, was right there. At the start of the race. They knew Charles had to do what he needed to do to get ahead and jump George, and by God it worked.
Speaker 2:You could tell from that strategy that they were going to use Charles as a defense and if he got on the podium or finished in the points, fantastic. But that was not their priority. Their priority was finishing number one, correct. And I don't think it mattered who would have been the first car, unlike, say, if the positions were reversed with Red Bull. You'd know they were going to sacrifice Checo, and they actually have in past years tried to sacrifice someone. He's ahead of Max. There was no number one, number two driver with Ferrari On that day, sykes was the number one driver. It didn't matter who's driving what. He is in the front of the grid. He is the one that, in this race, is going to be probably the only driver to stand on the top of the podium in the entire season. It isn't a Red Bull driver. That probably isn't for the rest of the season. A Max for Stapin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, agreed, they were very upset and I think they get big kudos for doing it. They were very honed in on what was going to be necessary and they were focused on the team game and, unlike the other examples that we're going to talk about, there was no whining, there was no back talk. There was no we need to soothe anybody's ego to make this happen. I'm sure there were some blunt conversations prior to the race, so it wasn't like it was unfolding as a surprise for Charles in real time. He had a job get off the line faster, jump George, do what he can to keep George behind him from there, but always see the lens that that was being done to protect Carlos. And you know what you got. To give him credit for that, because they have not always made great calls and they're fighting hard for P2 in the constructors right now.
Speaker 1:The start of the race was also interesting from the standpoint that Lewis had a really good start. Frankly, he actually was all the way past Norris and right up alongside Russell. George and I don't think intentionally, but I think just because of the nature of the corner pushed Lewis wide and Lewis took to the runoff. But I cannot believe that Lewis was required to give the position back. I totally understood and was not surprised that he had to ultimately give the position to George back. I'm still pissed off that they told him he had to give the spot back to Norris.
Speaker 2:So did they tell him he had to give the spot back to Norris, or did they do it preemptively, because I don't have any memory.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, they told him he had to. Ultimately, it turned out that they had said to him that he had to give it back or get the five second penalty. Have didn't immediately give the position back to George. He did, I think after a lap or two, whatever it was. Even after he gave back the position to George, he didn't immediately give it to Norris and it turned out that they had said that he had to. Okay, and I just I think that was absolutely a bullshit call. You can rewatch that start 15 times and every one of them he's way past Lando.
Speaker 2:The only reason he went off track was because his teammate would have taken him out and I, frankly, teammate or no, he went off track to avoid a collision and if there hadn't been a car in front of there doing its thing, he would have been fine. He would have overtaken Lando, handily, handily he had overtaken Lando.
Speaker 1:That's my point. Though he had overtaken Lando, he had not overtaken George, so I understood that that was gaining an advantage. There was no advantage gained. He was beyond, not even like rear axle, the front axle with Lando. He was all the way past Lando and was going to make the corner, except for George running him wide. This is just one more. Well, and I'm sorry, we jumped over the entire aspect of Kuali, where Max Verstappen literally impeded three different times, twice on track and once he just sat at the end of the pit lane, blocking both Mercedes from leaving for 18 seconds, and nothing from the stewards, who then turned around and coughed this bullshit up. Is there ever gonna be a point where the stewarding isn't awful? Inquiring minds wanna know. I think they're so just doubling fucking down.
Speaker 2:They're little kids in the play yard who have broken something and they're like no, it's definitely not broken, it's fine. We're definitely doing it this way because it was a fucking joke. And Lando bitching and whining on the radio about Lewis, like and on and on. I don't know if they were showing that as a precursor to like oh, he definitely needs a penalty, because before that the announcers didn't really comment on it too much until Lando started bitching about it. I wonder if they got a note saying hey, he's gonna have to get the position back and we're playing this clip now. So you guys better get on board with the narrative.
Speaker 1:I don't know, we may have been watching different feeds. You know, I felt like they were immediately all over the fact that Lewis had to give it back, and it wasn't until they went back and started doing the replays, because it was Cooltart and Jolin Palmer and they were both like, oh well, that's, he can't do that la la, la, la, la la la.
Speaker 2:I thought it was that they were saying that for George he had to get the place back to George, but not for.
Speaker 1:Lando, oh, my recollection is that they thought that it was for both of them and then it wasn't, until they started doing the replays, which took a while. You know, like I'm never quite sure how come sometimes the direction's immediately and then sometimes they jump right into it. But as soon as they did both the overhead and the onboard, then they started sort of changing their tunes about it a little bit, but it didn't matter, because at that point the stewards had already said he needed to give it back, which was just the wrong call.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. And you also had on the first lap. You'd fucking Paris being a ping pong ball, taking out, you know, yuki, destroying his race like he was done. He got one lap, paris hit him and off he goes right, yep stewarding aside, there was some interesting sort of jockeying pretty early.
Speaker 1:I know Piastri and Paris had a good battle, although Paris was not making moves quickly up the field. Max was, relatively speaking, of course you know they were on hards but Verstappen was making some progress. Verstappen was up to ninth by the second lap, which you know again was impressive in the sense that on hards, you know. But again, they're not really driving a boat, they're driving a rocket ship.
Speaker 2:Then Verstappen was behind the boat driven by Magnuson, who would have fucking taken him out in a heartbeat and not cared, which I found a very interesting battle. See, he was behind Wouldn't that have been fun. He was behind Magnuson for a good three or four laps, which I was like this is gonna be interesting, yep. And you could tell from Verstappen when he tried to overtake that he knew it was Magnuson and he knew that Magnuson didn't care, would have taken him out, as opposed to everybody else who gives him like a fucking car width if he's coming up behind them. And Magnuson was like try me, bitch, try me yeah that could have been fun.
Speaker 1:Sadly it was just boring, which was really ultimately what the race was for the first 20 laps. Once the initial who has to give what back phase happened, and again a little blurb of interesting trackmanship between Oscar and Checo, I have to say I thought, oh, this is just the worst until lap 20. It was a procession. It was not enjoyable to watch. Everybody was tire saving, nobody wanted to push and you just had started to think this is gonna be the longest race ever.
Speaker 2:And then I was on a plane and the feed wasn't working. And when I landed you're like, oh no, no, it got much more interesting later on, cause I had the feed and I was like, well, it pauses every 10 seconds, but I sort of feel like that's what the race is doing and it's fucking boring. So, come lap 20, no, come lap 19,. We have Sergeant doing his thing. I gotta tell you if you could combine Latifi and Mazda Spin and some really good driver that just goes for it in his nuts, like Schumacher or Ertensenna. So you're just going for it, cause you're like, absolutely, this is gonna work, no problem. Except he has, like, the combined ability of Mazda Spin and Latifi. That is Sergeant, like he goes for it, he fucking floors it, and then there's a wall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sergeant, We'll have more to say between this and Zuka. But yeah, complete unforced error. Was not in a battle, not wheel to wheel, not hit by another vehicle, just drove himself into the wall.
Speaker 2:And how he didn't get a meatball was another bad stording call. He was leaving shit behind him.
Speaker 1:Well, and, more to the point, they waited until he was all the way back into the pit lane, having dragged that front wing under the car and, like you said, spitting off shit from the damage that was doing he's all the way back in. And then they pulled the safety car. To this day, nobody, I think, understands why, because they didn't pick any of the debris up off of the track during the safety car. The lizards told me to do it, maybe, man, it was very weird. It was slow. When it finally happened, and then the laughable imagery of once they got through the safety car and restarted the first thing they're showing you is the debris still on the track was like okay, whatever, people. Anyway, all the pit stops kicked off, everybody piles into the pit lane, except for poor Joe who did his pit stop on lap two, which fucked his race over.
Speaker 2:But yeah, sorry, everybody piles into the pit stops.
Speaker 1:Double stacks no totally All the double stacks just for timing and release. Poor Charles has a 5.7 second stop because he couldn't be released because Lewis was coming in for the second half of the Mercedes double stack, which effectively more or less put Lewis in a position to get by him shortly thereafter. Then it at least got reasonably interesting. We started to see some overtaking, oh and with that pit stop.
Speaker 2:Alonzo came in across the pit lane as a drunken sailor or something.
Speaker 1:Poor Alonzo. I don't really know what happened somewhere in there, whether he had actual front suspension damage at that point or if it happened later in the race, but he swayed across the pit entry line and picked up a five second penalty In that safety car period. Norris also had just a smoking fast pit stop relative to everyone else and certainly faster than Charles and that effectively let him jump Leclerc when he was delayed getting out of his pit box. That was sort of the first shakeup in terms of who was where. Charles had been being used more or less as a buffer at that point up to that point, trying to keep everybody with a big fat gap between him and signs so that signs would be in a good position to pit. In the end, charles got double screwed by the slow pit stop. I just think this is one more key way that McLaren has stepped their game up. It's another example of where teams getting pit stops right actually matters, because that hasn't always been the case. This year.
Speaker 2:I think McLaren has stepped like. They've stepped their car up, they've stepped their strategy up, they've stepped their pit stops up. I think McLaren is just getting better and better and better with every race. I agree, and I don't know exactly what's changed, like they haven't had any sort of big management shakeup. They haven't had. I don't know, maybe Piaz Street's magic, maybe Piaz Street's magic has changed everything there.
Speaker 1:You think Piaz Street's magic, can I think that Having two good drivers is magic for a team that hasn't for a while? I also just think there's a natural psychological edge that you get when you have a car that is competitive and you know it. You know they were so on the back foot at the start of the season. To have had this amazing swing in season would be very inspirational for a team and I think once you recognize that, you have the ability to go after wins, which they clearly do, don't misunderstand it requires something like this where you either have a mechanical failure, some other DNF, some unusual circumstance, but that is still crazy. When you think about where they were in the first race of the season. Yeah, I think everybody's just feeling it and they're performing. It's a pretty bold juxtaposition to some other teams that share engine manufacturing and sort of sad. In any case, the best part of the race, I swear to God, was watching people pick for styling off after.
Speaker 2:Right Norris laughed him or not laughed him, but pipped him. Russell pipped him, hamilton pipped him, everyone passed for stopping and it was amazing it was.
Speaker 1:It was a pretty fun moment for those of us who do not appreciate the first stoppin', so that was fun. By lap 30, I was starting to wonder if Mercedes knew what strategy they really wanted. Signs was absolutely controlling the pace. You had George II, hamilton IV, but it just didn't feel like they were sure what they wanted to be doing. The only thing that kicked things into gear again because by this point you really were like, well, we're back into the same sort of boring rhythm. It was like that first phase of the race suddenly, like George was not challenging signs. Clearly, signs was tire saving again and controlling the pace, and you just thought, okay, well, this is how it goes. Is this really what we're gonna watch for another 25 laps? And unfortunately Esteban Ocon, who had had some great moves and was really doing very well, had his fifth DNF of the frickin' season. He climbed up twice.
Speaker 2:He climbed up phenomenally twice. And the fact that his car, like all last season and for part of the season we were joking, you know, for while we go boom but Alpine go boom and not like spectacularly the way Ferrari did, like Alpine's having some sort of fucking consistency problem, mechanical problem, whatever with their vehicle. Like it is not awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know there was some talk a bit more, probably a month or so ago, about Alpine trying to get the other teams to give them some concession, basically letting them do more work on their engine.
Speaker 2:I don't know about. Like I feel like if you're Ferrari, you're like fuck right off. Like we figured out how not to explode, so you can figure out how not to stop.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's essentially what the teams have said. I can't blame Alpine for trying, but you just have to question like are you self-sabotaging, for fuck's sake? Like what is going on? They've had a really rough season in general, but for him to have had five DNFs is just like oh my God, this is so harsh because he really was driving extremely well.
Speaker 2:The fact that we thought that Alpine's rough season was going to be between Ocon and Gazzli and their sort of infamous budding heads, and that's not at all the case for Alpine. The fact that, like, it's some sort of mechanical problem that they're having is both great and horrifying. Like I'm glad that Ocon and Gazzli seem to be getting on, seem to be having a good time when they're driving well, there doesn't seem to be any big rivalry between them at the moment.
Speaker 1:But shit man, those Alpines, they go, boom, they do indeed go boom and I hope that they're done going boom, because I think that both drivers have deserved better than sometimes the car has provided. So Esteban's DNF did provide the opportunity for Mercedes to take advantage of the fact that they had an extra set of new tires and at that moment they opted to bring Georgian from second and Lewis in from fourth to double stack onto their new tires. I'm going to say at that moment, even though there's been lots of talk about how bold Mercedes strategy was, that at that moment, what Mercedes did was prioritize George rather than the win. Oh, absolutely, and I think they screwed themselves 100%.
Speaker 1:Both because of the radio messages in the race and in watching James Allison's debrief video after Singapore, it's even more clear to me that that was what they were choosing to do was to react to what George wanted. In my opinion and I am curious to hear yours but if they wanted to prioritize getting the win, what they should have done is what George opted to do to Lewis in Zandvoort last year, which is they should have left Georgian second. They should have brought Lewis in. George needed to get himself pass signs on track. If he couldn't get pass signs on track by the time Lewis got up to him, they would have given team orders and Lewis should have gone right around him in second, overtaken signs and won the race. I agree. Well, that was easy 25 years.
Speaker 2:I agree. I think that's right. I think Mercedes, for better or worse, has the idea and the culture of prioritizing their first driver. They've always said they don't have a number one driver, similar to Ferrari. They have a first driver and they tend to prioritize that first driver. I think that was a huge mistake here. I think they had prioritized Lewis and used that strategy. I think they had a very good shot at the podium. I think Lewis could have got that podium, but I think the fact that they prioritized George, who was their first driver not their number one driver, but their first driver fucked them over. I think that George fucked them over.
Speaker 1:I think Mercedes fucked themselves over. I think George is immature and I'm tempted always to think that he's selfish. I recognize that all F1 drivers are selfish, so that's not the insult that I think that it is when. That's how I tend to frame it. But I think Mercedes are idiots. They could have had at worst a 2-3, very possibly a 1-2, and they are in an ever-tightening battle with Ferrari to try and cling at this point to P2.
Speaker 1:The inexperience of the driver they chose to favor was never more on display than it was here. George immediately cooked his tires. George came blazing out of that pit stop, roaring down the road. You got a fastest lap. Well, you got a fastest lap. I don't care, it's when you get the fastest lap. Lewis got a fastest lap too. The difference was Lewis took two full laps to bring the tires in. Yeah, oh, absolutely. In the meantime, george, in addition to having already taken the best out of those tires too early, lewis's pace was blistering in that last segment, which is consistent with how he has been pace-wise performing all season long. The last stint. When that car gets on low fuel, the car is always better. That car on low fuel in Lewis Hamilton's hands is a beast. If you know that, and I know that, how does the Mercedes pitwall not know that? Right, they do. They just didn't care.
Speaker 2:I think they're so used to prioritizing their first driver in terms of the race that they just aren't out of that mentality. And you need to prioritize the driver that you think is going to get you into a higher position. And there was no way George was going to be that driver on this day. There just wasn't. He doesn't have the experience.
Speaker 2:And to your point about being selfish and they all are I agree with that but I also think George is so used to being the wonder boy and the golden child of Williams and being like the best and coming in and realizing that he is not consistently beating Lewis, as he probably in his mind and everybody told him he would be. And when he does consistently beat him, as last season, it's because Lewis has all these horrific things on his car so that the Mercedes team can understand the car and George knows in the back of his mind that he's not beating Lewis. I think he's not going to be the shiny golden child he thinks he is and I think that's making him snottier and snottier At the end.
Speaker 1:As those two drivers both closed in, they were both able to overtake Charles. They closed in on Carlos and Lando, who are one, two at that point.
Speaker 1:I will say probably the best racing of the year took place in those last six laps of Singapore. Oh, absolutely, it certainly was, I think, insightful in the sense that Verstappen, red Bull, blah, blah, blah narrative often times overshadows the fact that there is some great racing happening a step down, and that was certainly the case here. The bottom line was, by the time they got to that point, george had no tires left. He couldn't get past Lando, which fair enough. Lando is a tough driver. To get by he's very good. He's not going to just roll over or pull over, and he didn't.
Speaker 1:We went into the last three laps I don't think I was aware of it as much on first viewing as I was on the second viewing George's tires, his rear tires, were cooked. He was sliding all over the place. Lewis was way faster at that point but couldn't get by George. The team had an opportunity still, I believe, at that point to have made a call and said George, give Lewis the opportunity to get by, we'll reverse positions if he can't get by Lando. Yeah, they could have still done that at that point, even in those last couple of laps of the race.
Speaker 2:Lewis has proven that when he passes his teammate on team orders and cannot pip the car in front of him, he gives the position back. No problem, no bitching, no moaning, does it?
Speaker 1:Again, that is not where the 2023 Mercedes strategy team is pointing things. I think because George was, as you said, the first driver, they opted to leave it in George's hands. And enlighten me, Jen what?
Speaker 2:happened. Let's go back a step too, because I want to say props to Carlos Sykes who played that fucking perfectly. Oh yeah, he kept asking where North was and you could hear at one point in the team radio his engineer was like Norris is really close to you. He is within DRS and sex was like I know I'm keeping him within DRS because he knew what he was doing. I have to say Carlos Sainz can retire tomorrow and have an amazing career as a proper strategist, like maybe he can go for a.
Speaker 1:Mercedes and be a strategist for a while. I have not ever been a huge Carlos Sainz fan, but there will never probably be a better example that you can give that he is a smart driver who is very aware strategically of where everybody else is on track. I remember that all the way back from frickin' Hungary Ah, it must have been 22. I don't know. It was the year Esteban won. We'd all been distracted by the Alonzo vs Lewis battle that went on for several laps. Once Lewis cleared, alonzo, sainz knew like to the millisecond where Lewis was and was thinking 10 steps ahead. He has always been a very strategic minded and we've heard him do it before Like. He's overridden the Ferrari strategy team multiple times just this season. He absolutely gets the credit for making that decision to use Lando as a DRS shield. It was brilliant, absolutely. He deserves props. He 100% deserved the win.
Speaker 2:He did really, really well. And this is where Mercedes fuckin' fell down on the job 100%. They should have swapped the cars. They didn't swap the cars, george, whose tires, as he said earlier, hooked early on. He didn't bring them up properly. He just fuckin' went balls to the walls and, you know, on lap 62 of 63, he fuckin' spanned it into the wall. He was pushing Norris so hard that Norris said after the race that he lightly skimmed the wall and George, right after that, spanned it into the wall. And that was that. You went from having a 3-4 or potentially an easy 1-2 to having, you know, a 3 and a DNF.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was a serious hero to zero moment and everybody has them. Lewis had his break magic moment in Baku. There's no exemption, I think, from having moments like that, but I think for me the fact that he did it on a weekend where he was so busy shoving his ego down the throat of the team, like the radio messaging some of this, is just a personality thing that bugs me. The fact that he, I think, was driving Mercedes strategy, pissed me off and that the reward for all of the work in getting everything to that moment was, yeah, lewis got on the podium, but Lewis Hamilton has never looked sadder on a podium, except for Abu. Dhabi. I have literally never seen Lewis look as unhappy after a race as he did, except for fucking.
Speaker 2:Abu Dhabi, and that's inclusive of Monaco. After Nikki died 100%.
Speaker 1:This wasn't sadness about external factors, this was sadness about internal factors. He's, unfortunately, incredibly easy to read and I will say this about the fact that nobody from fucking Mercedes showed up for that podium, and I don't give a shit how much James Allison tries to gaslight by saying oh, there were people there in the back, blah, blah, blah, blah. We had drop you, don't, even, don't even. It's the second fucking time this season that there has been nobody in Park Fermé for him when he's on the podium. I don't believe that that was inherently why he was sad. I think he was disappointed, sort of in the aggregate. He recognized under different circumstances at a different moment in time, and if he had fucking qualified better which he only had himself to blame he would have won that race 100%. It's the third time in two years, with slightly different circumstances, lewis Hamilton wins the fucking race. Instead, here we are. We're going to go through a second season without him winning, and fuck, that's hard to watch.
Speaker 2:Especially, I think, when he knows he could have and should have won the race right and not having the team there for him. I think that's another big thing, like the fact that the fucking team didn't show up, and I get that a whole bunch of them had to be there legally to take Russell's fucking spanner bits and pieces car.
Speaker 1:Not all of them. That shit excuse worked back in Australia. Here's the only upside to it. I have never seen the likes of the outrage on social media that was geared towards Mercedes for three solid days after that race. They got lit up in ways I wouldn't have believed possible. On every social media platform, as they should have, as they should have YouTube, instagram, x, in anywhere that they had a footprint, they got lit up. I made a single comment on IG on a post and just basically said why were the team not there for him? In Park Fermi, again, 850 people liked that fucking basic comment. Jesus, I was one of many, many, many, many hundreds of similar comments.
Speaker 1:I think that that sort of led and resonated with then what has happened in Suzuka in terms of watching Mercedes really, I think, losing their way fundamentally in a whole bunch of different directions at once. You know, at one end of this doubleheader we have this shit strategy failing to optimize points, losing a bunch of ground to Ferrari, both because George stuck his car in the wall and scored nothing at the end and because they failed to maximize the strategy, and then just sort of the overall fail culturally to go. We don't acknowledge that that didn't look right. But of course they could have just said you know, of course we're there with Lewis and Spirit. We should have tried harder. They pretended like they were there. They weren't there. None of them were there. You can't fucking pretend that they weren't there Like I've seen 15 overhead shots. There are three white Mercedes shirts in a hoard of 350 people around Park Fermi.
Speaker 2:No, that's not trying, due to flying and having connectivity issues, I couldn't watch the race. When Heather and I watched it on Monday, I was like no, no, james Allison was saying they were all there, liberty Media was filming all the Ferrari stuff, because that was the story, and I was like I read all the things that they said and then we watched it. I'm like no, no, no, you're right. On the overhead shots there's fucking no one there from Mercedes. You have one dude who spattered it into the wall. He totally fucking biffed it on his own unforced error. Any of one guy on the podium, go to the guy on the podium.
Speaker 1:Right and to make it worse, that complete absence of the Mercedes personnel there to support their driver, who did get on the podium through his own very strong efforts. I will add, you have McLaren personnel and Ferrari personnel congratulating Lewis on camera. For every social media platform it's shown over and over and over again that McLaren and Ferrari are congratulating Lewis, while his own fucking team isn't. So I give Mercedes a gigantic fucking L for the Singapore weekend, because every opportunity to perform passed them right by, with the exception of Lewis Hamilton, who was phenomenally fast in that last stint and, frankly, deserved an opportunity to fight for the top step of the podium 100%. So tell me what's your rating for this? Carlos Lando Lewis podium.
Speaker 2:Least happy podium for me ever. Lewis looks so sad. That's a lie. Second least happiest podium ever for me ever, because there's another one that shall not be names that everybody talks about. That is the least happiest podium.
Speaker 1:Agreed. If I'm just looking at it in terms of like, hey, do I like this group of drivers? It's okay. Any podium that Lewis is on is going to be okay, but I could not get past how unhappy he looked. That was just depressing. I want to believe that internally, the message finally sank into somebody behind the scenes after they got their asses handed to them in every possible way. But I guess we'll find out. So, overtake du jour. I went with Esteban on Alonzo on lap 37. I thought that was a brilliant overtake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have Esteban over Alonzo and then Perez and that whole battle is amazing, but Esteban was just fucking phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Driver of the day. Who do you have For Driver of the day? I actually went with Carlos. I think he was fast when he needed to be. He was super strategic, meaning he outqualified his teammate and everyone else for that matter. On Saturday, he got the full support of the team for the win and then he was smart and tactical and held on to it and did what he needed to do to win. That's a good Driver of the day.
Speaker 2:I have Esteban Ocon as my Driver of the day because he got himself up pretty high and then he had a bit of it if he pitstopped and got himself back up and he DNF'd in sixth. The only reason he didn't finish sixth or higher was because of his fucking car and I think he just he had an amazing drive. Lucky son of the bitch of the day. Who do you?
Speaker 1:have. I was Lando Norris, me too, because he got beat off the line handily by Lewis, was given a fucking gift to get that position back, and then George decided to opt out of P2, so he got handed P2 on a silver platter.
Speaker 2:I have Lando Norris for not spannering it into the wall when he said he almost did. Same Driver, different reason. How about that? Poor bastard, Poor bastard. I have a couple of options, but as we haven't talked about it, I have Alonso for having the most Keystone cop, like just comedy of fucking tragedy errors pitstop of 25.8 seconds, only five of which were a penalty.
Speaker 1:Oh, but we're gonna outdo that and I have my own Keystone Cups pitstop award when we get to Suzuka. But fair enough, I went with Esteban because all the reasons that you talked about earlier. You know he was having an amazing race, he was doing so well and then to have that fifth freaking DNF, yeah. And also Yuki, who you know the previous race didn't even get to start, then got screwed by Verstappen during Kuali, then got himself a decent start, only to be smashed out, and couldn't my pair is no less by a sister team.
Speaker 2:Right Like fuck, right off.
Speaker 1:Who did you have for douche? Canoe of the race.
Speaker 2:Nevermind the race, the whole fucking weekend. Max Verstappen, are you fucking kidding me with those temper tantrums he was throwing? What a whiny little bitch. To quote one of our favorite authors.
Speaker 1:He was a whiny little bitch. If anyone else behaved the way he did and does when he's under any form of pressure, they would get so much shit. And when you think about if Lewis Hamilton stomped off out of the pit lane because he was out in Q2 the way Max Verstappen did, it would be nothing but media headlines for two weeks solid. He is a hideous example of a sportsman. Every fucking time I can tell you, I will tell you he's a hideous example of being a sportsman. I also had George for putting it into the wall, though. Yeah, I don't know. To do that on the last lap was pretty shit.
Speaker 2:Who do you have?
Speaker 1:for he's a good egg. I actually went with Charles. I think he was a great team player. He, I think, was certainly frustrated. He did not enjoy having to be the cork in the bottle. His resistance to creating the buffer that the team was asking him to create at times, I think, reflected the fact that you know that's not what any driver ever wants to have to do.
Speaker 2:I was told multiple times keep a three second gap and he was like but I can go faster, I know, I know, but he didn't bitch and moan about it.
Speaker 1:He didn't have a snit, he didn't stomp and complain on the radio, he didn't have a hissy fit about it. 100% At the end of the race he ended up in P4. And you know what that is points that Ferrari needed and that was points that closed the gap to Mercedes. I like your good egg of the day, I would take it.
Speaker 2:if I had thought about it earlier, I'd read your notes. My good egg of the race award goes to Lewis Hamilton for not being smug about Russell's love affair with walls, as he keeps kissing them and then full on embracing them.
Speaker 1:It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time this season that George has managed to stick the car into the wall all of his own. One of the things we've talked about is the manufactured bullshit Liberty Media talking point of the weekend. What did you have, if anything, for this weekend?
Speaker 2:I have fuck you, liberty Media, for making Ferrari's win all about red bull racing. Amen, that's a really good one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I like that. I actually also included the fact that Lewis needed to give that place back to Norris. I have expanded my Liberty Media definition to include the commentators, so there are times where I just feel like they are literally nothing more than mouthpieces for Liberty and that entire ongoing dialogue that Lewis needed to give that place back was bullshit and even though I feel like they kind of backed off of it once they saw the onboard and the overhead, it was just cliche at this point that if Lewis is involved, you're going to hear about why he has to do something because he's the bad guy.
Speaker 2:Heather and I have joked while we were watching the races together in a ha ha not so ha ha fashion that the commentators must be paid by the mention in the positive of Max Verstappen and then deducted money for any time they mentioned Lewis Hamilton in the positive or maybe even say his name, because sometimes they just talk about him as the driver in these amazing historic battles like and the other driver and the other drivers fucking Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 1:It's so overt sometimes that you just whoo yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you have anything for your ass? Nine comments today.
Speaker 1:I do I think Jolin Palmer, describing Max's constant bitching and whining throughout free practice and quality as quote demanding the best of his team into quote Again like no other driver, could behave that way and not get their ass handed to them. But because it's Max, it's framed as he's just demanding the best of his team. He's just demanding the best of his team while being a petulant little asshole which was then in a tie. But I'm going to lean a bit into David Coltart, who claimed that he's not comfortable with cruising to victories. A literal quote, boys and girls, you can't see my fingers, but there is a literal set of air quotes around that phrase when Sine said that he had a second in hand for pace on the radio. I'm not comfortable with cruising to victories, as if we haven't just watched 15 fucking cruise to victory races in a row for Max Verstappen, where they spend the entire time sucking his dick on air. We bring you. Hmm. How dare Carlos say that he has a second of pace in hand? Like lightning should have struck DC at that moment.
Speaker 2:DC. God bless him for being a dickball, but he also had when Max was coming up on Magnuson. Oh, he's one of the feistiest drivers on the grid, I'm like way to say he and Max are the two drivers that will run you off the fucking road in a heartbeat. Feistiest again. Unseeable air quotes on my behalf, and that's not actually my ass and I in comment, my ass and I in comment of the day, and I didn't know who said it was. This is the fairest fight for the rest of the grid in Red Bull racing.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm glad I blocked that mentally. I was like fuck you Right.
Speaker 2:Let's go with our driver ratings From the bottom. We start with Stroll. What is your driver rating for Stroll for this race?
Speaker 1:None applicable, because Stroll didn't either start at the race nor drove in the race.
Speaker 2:I have same NA 50 G hit. I'm glad he's OK-ish. The next person, sonodo.
Speaker 1:I also gave him an NA. I don't feel like it's fair to rank him. He got taken out of the race too early to be scored for anything. I just feel bad for him.
Speaker 2:I gave him a C because they had a pretty solid qualifying. That was super fucked by other drivers and he had a decent start. That was also super fucked by another driver. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Who was he? Super fucked by.
Speaker 2:He was super fucked by Max Verstappen a couple of times and then he got fucked without lube and broke by Perez. Thank you All right.
Speaker 1:Next Ocon. I gave Estabon an A, I think. Up until the moment that car DNF-ed, he was absolutely having a great race. It was just terrible that that took him out.
Speaker 2:I gave him an A as well. I have, for fuck's sake, some amazing overtakes, and he made it up to 6 when he DNF. Next Bottas.
Speaker 1:I honestly don't have a rating. I'd probably give him a C. I did not see enough of what was going on with Veltry prior to his DNF to have any real opinion.
Speaker 2:I gave him a C as well. I think that it has more to do with the car than him. He did make it to the 53rd lap, but the car go boomed, I guess, technically, ferrari go boomed Next.
Speaker 1:Russell. So I gave George two ratings. If you look at the free practices in Qualley, I think he deserves an A. I think he was really honestly outperforming the car this weekend. He was extremely comfortable from the get-go and was really doing well. But I give him a D for the race, and not just because he spattered it into the wall but that's the primary reason but also because I think his ego was writing checks that his performance couldn't cash.
Speaker 2:I give him a D as well. It was stupid infighting that makes it all about him and you are a driver and you do want to be all about him, all about yourself, rather. But he also fucking spanned it into the wall Again. As Heather said before, it isn't even the first time this season he's done an unforced error into a fucking wall, like no D man. You barely, you barely got a D, never mind a D minus or an F for me. Next, and the first driver who finished Alonso, who started in seventh and finished in 15.
Speaker 1:I gave him a C. I don't know if that's an unfair rating, because I'm still not entirely clear what was wrong with the car, but I think that his frustration over the last couple of races, because the car is suddenly not as competitive as it was at the first part of the season, is manifesting in some ways. So I gave him a C.
Speaker 2:I gave him aD because I thought his error going into the pit lane was a personal error, not an unforced error, and he, being the wily old fox that he is, bingo should not have made that sort of error, even if you have massive problems on your car. I feel he is experienced enough that he should have been able to not do that. It's not as if they were on flying laps, they were under safety car. He should have been able to bring the car into the pit. So okay, next, finishing in 14th, starting in 18th Sergeant.
Speaker 1:I gave him an F. It was an unforced air to stick it in the wall. It's not really different than George, Only it's worse because George was in a battle. George had seven-time world champion teammate that he wants desperately to beat breathing down his ass while simultaneously trying to overtake Lando Norris. So at least he had mitigating factors. Logan Sergeant just drove into the damn wall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I gave him a D minus because he finished a race, which might be a bad thing on my part. Maybe I should give him an F, but I have him back to zero races since last contact with the wall. The only reason he wasn't last was because Lando's car had issues. Next, Halkenberg started 8th, finished 13th.
Speaker 1:I honestly don't have a rating. I don't remember anything about Halkenberg in this race, literally. I have not a single recollection but the fact that he started 8th and finished 13th. I'm assuming it's something C or below, but I honestly don't have a rating so I gave him a B minus.
Speaker 2:He tried really hard, he did really well. He got really fucked in the double stack after the safety car. They just fucked him Like. Mag came in first and he came in. He just got bowled over. He had to wait. He had a really bad pit stop. He climbed up from where he was but his tires were so old that everybody was just picking him off because he could not and that has his heart on tires anyway. He just could not keep it on the road.
Speaker 1:I think I remember now he drove a straight line into a corner and was overtaken by Gasly. Now that I'm thinking about it and I'm going to stick with my seat, Next Joe started pit lane, finished 12th. I gave him a B. I think anybody at this point who's able to get that Alpha Romeo to the end of the race deserves a pat on the head, just on principle. And to come from pit lane to 12th, fuck it. That's a great performance, frankly.
Speaker 2:I gave him a B same. He drove it really well. He came in on lap two from soft to go on to hards and when he came in again under the safety car, his hards only had 18 laps on him and then he put them on mediums and he finished the race on those mediums. And again, it's not the first race he's been on where he's been continuously picked off because his tires were shit and at that point it's a hard call for the strategy what to do. But I think they fucked up. And, of course, a pretty good track where you know there's going to be a safety car. If you are starting on any tire, who cares what you're starting on? You do bring your car in on the second lap unless it has issues to change the tires and to my recollection he did not have issues. They just brought him in and they put them on hards and they shouldn't. They should have let him go for another like five or six laps on those softs. All right. Next, albon started 14th, finished 11th.
Speaker 1:I gave him a B. I suspect although I didn't see it based on Czecho Paris having slammed into his car in the latter part of the race, that he might have been able to finish even higher. I agree, I give him a B plus.
Speaker 2:He had a very solid drive. He did really well even on super shit tires that were dying. And then Paris, just fucking Paris. Like Paris is the new Mazda spin, except instead of like randomly spinning his car for shits and giggles, he hits other drivers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are gaps that don't exist and that is not working out well for anybody.
Speaker 2:Magnuson started sixth, finished 10th.
Speaker 1:I gave him a D. The only thing I remember about Magnuson is that he got a black and white for pushing someone off the road, and while it was probably enjoyable to watch him battle with Max briefly at the end of the day, you know, other than the fact that they got a point, I don't know, I should probably be nicer. It's a. Has he got a point? Woot, right.
Speaker 2:I give him a C minus. He stepped his elbows out for Max, for Stappen did not suck a stick and let him buy for shits and giggles. He did get a black and white for Gasly, but it's a has. As you said, he got a point Finishing in ninth, starting in 10th, Lawson A scored points.
Speaker 1:This is a new track he wasn't even familiar with. He did an amazing job, I think. Yeah, Lawson, super impressive again.
Speaker 2:I gave him an A plus. He got points Track. He didn't know. He honestly legit battled with Max for Stappen. How many other Alpha Tori Red Bull drivers have you seen Toro Rosso drivers have you seen battle a Red Bull and not been told to let them buy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, in retrospect I should throw a plus sign on that too, because I'm just remembering the fact that Lawson's the one that bumped fucking Verstappen out of Q2.
Speaker 2:Right, Starting in 13th, finishing in eighth Perez.
Speaker 1:I gave him a D At this point for that race. D seemed practical. He was super clumsy. He screwed Albon over. I could go lower, but I'm saving that for Suzuka.
Speaker 2:Oh see, I fucked that man. I gave him an F. He shit the bed in Kuali. He was not good. He ruined Sonoro's race. He ruined Albon's race. He just did not drive. Well, fuck him very much. I don't think he deserved points. I think he should have gotten penalties and dropped out of the points.
Speaker 1:Tell us what you really feel, Jen.
Speaker 2:Drink more whiskey. Japan's going to be even better reviews. Finishing in seventh, but starting in 17th, Piaz Tri.
Speaker 1:I gave Oscar a, B plus, I could be persuaded to go to an A minus. I think it was a really good recovery drive in general. I think he got screwed in Kuali by the stroll shunt. He was actually lucky not to get collected by the stroll shunt. To come from 17th to seven is really impressive. I think the only differentiator differentiator for me, sorry is he didn't quite have the pace. I think again, McLaren was really smart on strategy. They made good choices about when they pitted him. He just drove really well. I don't feel strongly that he doesn't deserve an A minus.
Speaker 2:I gave him an A. He did really, really well. He made up a lot of supports. We need to take into account, too, that only Norris had the upgrades. He was driving with the older car, 17th to 12th, finishing in six Gasly.
Speaker 1:Again, this is probably one of those ones where I don't really think there's a huge difference between the B plus that I gave him and the A minus he could also be considered to deserve. He fought hard. I think that he had to do a little work to get by a couple of the other drivers to get that far up as it was. Again, I feel bad that Esteban dropped out of the race, but I'm glad that Piaz finally had the opportunity to get into the points and some good points.
Speaker 2:I agree. I gave him a B plus. He had a very solid drive. He did not get taken out by Magnuson, for whatever black and white flag Magnuson was given that we didn't get to see. That's some sort of magic miracle. Starting 11th, finishing fifth, they're stopping. I gave him a B.
Speaker 1:It was a decent recovery drive. I don't think I can complain about the fact that the car was clearly not working for them. He actually had to drive through the field. He made up six spots. I don't begrudge him a, b.
Speaker 2:Fuck that. I gave him a D plus for being such a whiny little bit with his temper tantrum all throughout the weekend. Also, when you look at other drivers who made up spots, they did better than him. I think it speaks to Verstappen's temperament, rather than his driving style, that he was just like through this whole weekend away. He was like no, the car is bad, everything is going to be bad. I am fainting on a couch with my wrist on my forehead and everything is awful, tra-la-la All right.
Speaker 1:I think part of the difference is that I've been framing these a little bit as race only and that's probably something that I need to think about. If I look at it in the context of the race, I don't have a problem giving him a B. I think if I look at it in the context of the race as a whole, 100% the fact that he wasn't fucking penalized for the 92 things he did douchey in Kuali could drop that to a DL by itself.
Speaker 2:Finishing in fourth. Starting in third Charles Laclaire. Charles Laclaire gets a B. I gave him a B plus. It turns out that he finished and started in the exact same positions as he did the previous race. He had a very solid drive, despite being a sacrificial driver, and he didn't complain and whine about it. Starting in fifth. Finishing in third Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 1:I also gave Lewis a, b, I don't think ironically, I think in the context of the race, that third stint. He had an amazing pace. I think he got screwed by his teammate and the stewards at the start of the race. But, in complete opposition to what I just said, I feel very strongly that Lewis screwed himself in Kuali. I just can't get past the fact that this is one of those races where if he had performed to his ability and I have high expectations for him in Kuali he would have started in a position he would have won that race. He got screwed in this instance, in terms of the strategy, by the pit wall, but I just have higher standards for him.
Speaker 2:I gave him an A minus. I agree he fucked himself in qualifying the fact that he didn't ever just fuck it and drive into his teammate. 100% props to him. He gave the spot back as soon as he could, which part of it was total BS, especially for Norris and his last stint. That third stint in that car was fucking amazing. And starting and fourth, finishing, and second Norris, I gave Lando an A.
Speaker 1:I don't love the fact that he whined on the radio, but that's the game you play. There was no reason he wouldn't try to get that position back, and so I'm not particularly holding that against Lando. It's not like he went on and on about it. He just made the statement that Lewis needed to give the spot back, and of course he did, and of course his team fought for that, and the stewards should have been the ones to go fuck. No, he was always past you, but they didn't. But he had to survive the pressure of those last few laps and he did, and he also understood what Carlos was doing and he was smart enough to make it work for his own advantage and at the end of the day, I think he drove really well.
Speaker 2:I gave Norris a B. Part of it was brought down for his whining, which irritated me. But I also agree he did a solid drive. He did not he clipped the wall but was close enough and far away enough that he did not lose it and he kept his car on the road and he took it. As you said, he took advantage of what Carlos Sykes was putting down Like. He did a fairly solid drive, started in first, finished in first. Carlos Sykes.
Speaker 1:Hey, I already set it for driver of the day. I think Carlos did everything he needed to do and even though I don't think he's the greatest wheel-to-wheel driver on the grid, he's one of the smartest and most strategic and he did exactly what he needed to do to win. He deserved that win. I gave Carlos Sykes a solid A.
Speaker 2:He had a great drive, he did not have any enforced errors and his strategy not from the Pratt perch, but his personal strategy kept him in the first position, kept Norris, where it needed to be. So the Mercedes did not gobble him up, because I think those Mercedes could have eaten him at the last bit of the race.
Speaker 1:Yeah, his tires were done and he did exactly what he needed to do to hang on. All right. How about teams In order of current constructor standing? What did you have for our friends at Red Bull Winers? I said lovely. Watching them flail was lovely, mercedes.
Speaker 2:Mercedes, I have problems.
Speaker 1:I have assholes, it's possible. I'm still bitter about them not being at the podium. Ferrari Writers, that's a good one. I went strategic, but in hindsight that really was Carlos, not them. But yeah, fair enough. Aston Martin, your race. I had nowhere McLaren Faster. I had better Alpine Aston, that works. I had no Williams Hard. Oye Hass Defensive. I had oye Alpha Romeo Bro Can. I had oye Alpha Torrey Lawson. I'll go with that too. He's earned it All right. Ladies and gentlemen, that is our summary of the Singapore Grand Prix in 2023. We are going to continue on now to Suzuka. We're going to talk about the second of two races and what made these bookends particularly interesting.