Coops: welcome back to the Everything Traxide podcast. We're here to discuss the events of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which for anyone who's paying attention, happened on a Saturday. Still weird, confusing the life out me. It's a Grand Prix weekend and it's already done. Anyway, going over from that in my old brain, I am joined
James: Ha ha.
Coops: with alongside me here is Annika and James. Guys, how are we?
James: Yeah, good, thank you. Yeah, good. looking forward to speaking a bit about Formula One. Yeah, a bit strange to have it on a Saturday. I didn't mind we I didn't mind it though. Sort of Saturday lunchtime. Not like obviously I feel like usually you have to wait a long time, you know, you wait all weekend for the Grand Prix and then I didn't I didn't mind it weirdly. I'm usually a bit of F one purist, but I it had me this weekend, maybe just once in a while, you know.
Coops: Yeah, well we said that about the sprints and now it probably looks like sprints are going to be every single race for the time it happens. Annika, how
Annika: Yeah.
James: Yeah yeah true.
Coops: are you? How's your weekend been so far?
Annika: yeah, been very busy, very motorsport filled. So been covering F one, F two and Royal Superbike, so it's been very, very busy. so yeah, excited to talk about racing in Baku and yeah. It feels like a s a Sunday, doesn't it?
Coops: Yes it does and if it was a Sunday then I'd be happy because I wouldn't be working the next day but unfortunately I'm not, working tomorrow and I've got nothing
James: Ha ha ha.
Annika: Ha ha ha.
Coops: to distract me while I'm trying to get on my work so yeah Formula One it's all your fault so yeah we'll touch a wee bit of...
James: Ha ha ha.
Annika: Well World Superbike is on W World Superbike is on and it's gonna be an interesting one because Bulaga will win the championship tomorrow. Whether he's gonna do it in
Coops: Okay.
James: There you go.
Annika: su in super bowl sprint or he's gonna do it in race two, that's to be confirmed, but he's mathematically he's winning it tomorrow.
Coops: Fair enough. Spoiler alert, nobody needs to watch it. That person's winning it already, doesn't really matter.
James: There you go.
Annika: Unless he unless he crashes out, you never know.
Coops: Possibly, you know, there seems to be a few crashes
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: in the superbikes at this looks like it hurts just about every time they do it. Anyway, we're not here
James: Yeah.
Coops: to talk about the superbikes, that's for another podcast at another time. We're here to talk about Formula One. We'll touch a wee bit on Formula Two later on, but the big conversation is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was won pretty convincingly by George Russell before we get into the kind of nitty gritty of it all, guys. I want a quick three-word summary. from each of you on what you think about the Grand Prix. So Annika, I'll go with your first three words to sum up the Baku Grand Prix.
Annika: Dominance, surprise and chaos.
Coops: James, you echo those sentiments? Have you got another word to compare in there?
James: I was gonna go with a real slow burn.
Coops: Okay, yeah, it's a slow burn until the alpines decided they wanted to kill each other. I'm
James: Yeah. And then Yeah.
Annika: Boilers.
Coops: just going to go with what diff because, you know, I had it on while I was working, I'm keeping an eye on it and now the next thing everything just goes strange and people forget how to drive and... people get friendly fire as we'll probably touch on, know, no spoiler there, James is
James: Yeah.
Coops: wearing the team, the team merch for the team, we'll probably touch on in that regard. Anyway, so the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, I was a bit disappointed because once they got through the first couple of laps, I'm like, this could be a French Grand Prix all over, just scooting around the track. The most exciting part of it for me was that Antonelli couldn't get anywhere where he was and the Red Bulls looked like they were pretty much heading for a 1-2. James, did you have a kind of similar worry that this Grand Prix was going to be a bit of a damp squib?
James: Yeah, but it definitely it started off that way. You obviously hope with Aber with places like Backy, they'd have a bit of carnage at the first on the first lap or the first corner, but actually they're all pretty well behaved. And I think once George got off the line in the lead, it there was a feeling that he's probably going to to drive off. I know that's not something he's done particularly well in the past, but he's been so dominant this weekend it felt that way. And of course that's what happened. I think the Red Bulls moving up the field was quite interesting, but I think that all that's things all that stuff starts happening quite early. And then they do sort of get into those rhythms. Piastri sort of holding up those red balls in the early stages, they couldn't really get past. I thought there'd be a bit more yo-yoing here, with obvious especially with the the you know, the end the energy deprived engines towards the end of the long back straight, it was quite hard to listen to in qualifying. We just hear them so the the revs dull, you know, halfway down the straight. I thought there'd be much more yo yoing, especially maybe down like You know, in this t into turn one and back out into turn four or turn three. So I thought there would be a bit more, but it was pretty slow. I think these street street circuits have the have the tendency to do that if you were getting to their rhythms and Antony wasn't making too much progress. So there wasn't too much action there. And if it was, it was on the tiny screen in the corner. so yeah, it did look like it was going to be a bit of a procession, but you know, in Formula One things things do tend to happen when you you least expect it. So luckily we got a bit of action. But yeah, it felt pretty particularly processional, especially as George then just started pulling away, you know.
Coops: Yeah, he was on fire this weekend. It George. That qualifying lap was unreal and
James: Same.
Coops: certainly looked like he was just
Annika: It really was.
Coops: going to disappear, disappear into
James: Yeah.
Coops: the into the horizon and take the victory. Eventually did it, but you know, made it difficult for him. Annika, what about yourself? were your thoughts, initial thoughts in the first kind of part of the race?
Annika: Yeah, it was a bit of a slow ban because REPL was the w one to bring all the action in the first like eleven, twelve laps. I was like, our socials are really, really REPL filled, like so asleep
James: Ha ha.
Annika: and there was the thing with Hatcher and Max like whether they should invert the positions and things like that. And then once Hadger started like I have the pace, Max doesn't I have the pace, let me go But then obviously like whether will they, will they not, all of that. And then at one point obviously Gimme dropped a position at the start. But then next thing I know, I think it was like lap like around lap ten or so. I looked up and he was like on on P eleven. So I was like, Okay, someone's
James: Ha ha.
Annika: someone's making s places up. And then he was like, next thing I know, Crofty said, he's in the points. I was like Okay, so we'll we'll mo we might get some action there. And then obviously yeah, and then what happened later made it more interesting. So yeah.
Coops: It certainly does. We're going to start at the back. We're going to start with Aston Martin.
James: Mm-hmm.
Coops: They were the first two retirees.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Stroll lasted, I think it was nine laps, maybe 10 at a push before he was told there was an issue.
Annika: Something ala something along these lines, yeah, 'cause he managed to there was a brief yellow flag and then he managed to pull behind the barrier so it didn't really affect the race flow that much.
James: No.
Coops: No, they were at the back. It was all Honda power unit this time round. They just didn't have the power. were deficit to even the Cadillacs. Alonso seemed to retire out of nowhere. I was doing what I was doing. Had the Grand Prix on in the background. And the next thing somebody's like, Alonso's retired. Wait, how? Not that it
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: made much difference anyway. Where do you think Aston Martin, what do you think they need to do? Because where they can go is they kind of go any slower, so they need to go faster. Is this just a situation because we know that Honda are slightly underpowered and it's not going to be quite as bad in the following races or is there still some fundamental issue with that car, James? What do you think?
James: I think there is a f I feel that there is there must be a fundamental issue 'cause obviously they brought quite a large upgrade and I believe again, when did they br they brought brought it just before the summer break, didn't they? I want to say they brought it in Hungary.
Coops: They brought part in Hungary then I think they were supposed to bring some in Zanvo with the power
James: Yeah.
Coops: unit.
James: And I think I feel
Annika: Yeah, the power unit was in Sandworth.
James: was it the the power unit was in Zanvor because I 'cause we're looking at the just getting got the results up. Looking at Hungary, they finished thirteenth and fourteenth, obviously still not in the points, but a much better showing from what they've been doing. And then Fernando gets in the points in in Zanvor, finishes ninth. Obviously Lance Lance doesn't finish, but that's that's not unusual anymore. And so I f it felt like there was some progress made, but I feel like the last couple races they've just been absolutely nowhere. Yeah, neither finished neither finished in Italy. Neither what happened in Spain? I don't think either finished in Spain, did they? Lance finished Lance didn't finish, but Fernando did a couple laps down. And then here's if
Coops: Lance hasn't finished the last four races, all because of mechanical issues.
James: And I think again, I know that I know Stroll had a issues in qualifying yesterday. I think he went off once, maybe outbroke himself, but then he actually did you know retire the session. I think it was Q one. He retired from the session early. So there's obvious I feel like is it a f is it an engine issue? Probably. I think that's probably the thing. Like they look like that they took their a step with the with the chassis in the new upgrade, but obviously not a massive step up. But it does seem like there are issues. I don't know if they're they've still got the vibration issues from early on in the year. But we also did see this from Honda when they first came back to Formula One with with McLaren. Obviously it's quite big, a different I guess it's not it's not as big a job as they were already in Formula One, but a new team, new they do have these reliability problems. It's not just a slow cut, you know, down on power, but they we did have those reliability issues. So Yes, it's a tricky one for for Aston Martin. You can build the best car in the world, but if the engine's not onto snuff, you're not going to be going anywhere. And it again, they've become they've become irrelevant again. They had a two races when they were looked at potentially getting a bit more more relevant, but they're just back to being irrelevant where I don't think I w we don't really take them into account anymore. And then suddenly, like you say, they've just they pull into the pits to retire early. Fernando's is the only real interesting part of that team at the moment, or he's on track anyway. so it's tricky. I d I don't know what the answer is. Do they But they just have to keep pushing forward and hope Honda figure it out. I believe they've still got one more engine upgrade this year, maybe one or two with the new rules. Hopefully they can figure that out and bring some more bring some more power because these pay these cut in of any in any form of out of of the recent years, I think these engines are the ones that you need that that the power deficit is really showing. So honestly, I don't know what I don't know what Aston Martin can do apart from give up, but I don't think they're gonna do that.
Coops: No, and it'll seem worse, Annika, when it looked like Williams had went in pretty much a good step in the right direction with their major upgrade. Not great for Albin, he outbred himself into that. I can't remember the corners, was 15 or something, 14? No, was bit early, turn five was early on,
James: No, I think it was like turn five maybe. Yeah, f turn five or six.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: 15 was Bottas, and we'll talk about that in minute.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, he'd just done a piastry and... I think I didn't get enough speed out of the corner but the cat... yeah.
James: Yeah. Br I break myself quite early. It seemed like he
Annika: Yeah, he had a massive lock up.
James: broke I broke myself very early into that corner. yeah.
Coops: Yeah, it just
Annika: Yeah, and he had a massive lock up.
Coops: didn't seem to slow down.
James: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah. It must be worrying when your competitors are just taking that step further and when the steps you take further don't seem to be making much difference. Do you
Annika: Mm.
Coops: think that the Astons can actually keep, excuse me, can keep themselves ahead of Cadillac or do think they'll kind of slowly catch up and maybe overtake them by the end of the season?
Annika: I think Cadillac will overtake them. Because we saw that this this weekend Perez had a Ferrari token upgraded engine and he was flying he there was a significant difference between him and Potas. So he was ahead, he was like on one of the practice sessions he was P thirteen, yet they didn't get out of Q one. But there's it's still a step in the right direction. They're finishing in higher positions now. Like obviously yeah, we had loads of cars retire, but you know, he was still ahead of his teammates significantly who didn't have the upgraded engine. So put the upgraded engine in both of those cars and they will be way ahead of us then.
James: I w I think they're already ahead of Aston, to be honest. I feel like the
Annika: Well yeah.
James: Stroll was clo I think well, I think Aleco, I think you're right though. If they can they obviously need to start getting into the points and if that Ferrari engine can help them get those points, because I think, you Ast Fernando's the difference, they're really getting those three points for the team. But I think they're
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: already if they're ahead, if not equal. Do you know what I mean? Because I think I
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: Stroll finished last, but they always seem to be the two teams at the bottom. Fernando probably ahead of the others, but Stroll, again, it's hard to it's hard to judge Stroll at
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: the moment, but it feels like their neck and neck. one's probably one time where he had they have a better race than Cadillac Cadillac the
Annika: Yeah.
James: other way around. But I feel like Cadillac are probably ahead of them already. But I think it's that points difference.
Annika: Yeah.
James: They need to get they need to take the extra step to get the points. I think you're right, 'cause I'm looking at the t looking at the stats.
Annika: Mm. No, absolutely.
James: I know that I know there was a safety car, but Perez, you finished fourteenth ahead of Bortileso, not that far behind Piastri, who ended up finishing thirteenth, but only about six or six seconds back. And that's you know, for a safety
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: club period where there was about twelve, you know, I don't think that's too bad. So they're they're they're they're creeping up. Cad Cadillac and Aston Martin just seemed to in the middle of nowhere.
Annika: Mm-hmm. And yeah, and also let's not forget Cadillac's brakes were trying to kill them for a while. So but they they have they have fixed that issue now.
James: Yeah. Never a good thing.
Coops: Alright.
Annika: It was it was said in the broadcast today that they've actually redesigned the brakes. So there's now a duck that takes the heat out as well rather than like just keeping it all in. So they've sorted that issue. That's why we haven't seen the Cadillac's brake issues for a while now. So
James: Yeah.
Annika: And they have some new talent who has started there as well, so pretty soon pretty soon I think we are gonna see Gadillac in the points.
James: It'd be quite a turnaround.
Coops: Yeah, I think they will. get there pretty soon, I would imagine. mean, nobody knows how Malaysia is going to work with these cars. No, there's
Annika: Mm, yeah.
Coops: no benchmark for it. It's definitely going to be interesting. I'm all for it. I'm not going to go through every single team. I want to talk quickly about Bottas and Perez because what the hell is going on with Bottas? I was quite excited by the Perez-Bottas pairing. I thought for a brand new team, it's a very smart decision. Perez has come in, he's bit between the teeth, he's pretty much wiped the floor with him and then Bautista has just binned it, just goes off-line and puts it straight in the wall with a couple of lacks to go and Perez is away halfway round the track in front of him. Do Cadillac need to look at going with a rookie with Perez next season? Because
Annika: Think so.
Coops: we've got a wealth of that, you know, Cam... Is it Kamara? You've got Alex Dunne, you've got Tozlov, you've
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: got quite a few at the top end of the F2. From what Anika said, the F2 season this year is unreal with the kind of talent and the racing. Is it time that we just say, right Peres, you're the leader of the team, let's treat it like a team rather than a kind of social experiment or
Annika: Mm.
Coops: some sort of, you know, just a scientific thing to get things going. Let's treat it properly. Let's go out there. give that guy the opportunity just to get in the car and then, you know, step by step move forward. I think personally, before I put it out to you guys, I think personally that's kind of the way to go. You know, give them a longer term deals and say, right, two years, you're not going to go anywhere unless obviously you bin it every and do them as a pun and crash into every single wall. There's a difference, but you know, kind of take the pressure off and say, right, let's go out. Perez, you're the main man. His feedback notoriously is pretty good. I think that's kind of the way to go. think Bottas needs to do a Ricardo and just go and get on the socials and enjoy his kind of personality and his kind of, know, reputation as a kind of fun should-be ex Formula One driver. James, do you kind of see what I'm coming for or do you have a different opinion? I he should still be on the grid.
James: Yeah, I I I know where you're coming from. It just depends on what their objectives are and what their what they see their long term plan is. Because I think obviously the they've they've sort of positioned Colton Herter as the reserve driver, is he the it's either you know the American and the American team, is he are they looking to step him up? But I don't think he's particularly convinced in F two this year and that would mean then do you go somewhere else? I think that we spoke about it this way when they when they when they announced Peres and Bottas. We all said this is not the most interesting. But it'll hopefully get the job done of building this team up. And I think they've done a good job of sticking to the grid. I think when we spoke at the beginning of the year, we think, you know, if they're within two seconds of lap and, you know, anywhere near the fr anywhere near the back of the end midfield, they'll be doing well. And I think they have sort of found that rhythm and found that obviously that like Annika said, they had those those break issues that really did hamper them mid season, or at least, you know, in that middle part of this season that so far. So But for I think if you want a bit of excitement, a bit of draw, Bottas isn't gonna do that for you. and maybe it is time to get someone in. I don't think Colton Hearst is the answer right now. I think if you are gonna do it, would you go for a you know, would you go for an F two driver or would you go for a, you know, a reserve that's already there? You know, who what's Aston Mart the Aston Martin's reserve that's who won the
Annika: Crawford.
James: Yes, you know, the you know, things like that, you know, like is there there are better options. But I th I do know what I probably tend to agree with you, Coops. I think You need a bit of excitement. You've got pairs that can develop the car. Do you need two of those benchmarks? Probably not. It's probably worth experimenting with a with a with a young, exciting talent, also just to get a bit of buzz around the place. Cause again, they're another one that just sort of neither neither driver's particularly exciting. The team isn't particularly exciting. So why would you necessarily be tuning in? So I think they need a little bit of a little bit of something to just reinvigorate. So yeah, I think I probably would agree with you there.
Coops: Erica, what do you think? Do you think that Kev-Lak should get rid of... split the two of them up, go for a kind of faster use
Annika: I mean
Coops: or...
Annika: I mean I think like Waltery he is a talented driver but I think he is getting to the point where he's a bit like, you know, in lack of a better term, starting to get past his prime as a racing driver. I think maybe Cadillac well got him on as a bit of a personality because he does have this typical like Finnish humour kind of like quite funny in a way and quite like outrageous in some sense, like like his Rhino campaign at the moment. and and things like that. So I think it was maybe that was the thought process. And obviously he has been on the grid for quite a while, so he knows a lot about differ he's driven loads of different cars in different eras. So in on paper it seemed like a good lineup, but I think like they need to bring young talent in who can really kind of develop with the car and then end up taking over from Paris once Paris eventually says I'm done.
Coops: I kind of hope
James: Yeah.
Coops: that he doesn't say he's not Perez. think Valtteri has to be told he's done. I Perez probably has a good couple more years in him.
Annika: No, yeah, absolutely. But that's what I mean, like once Paris is that point where he is finally ready to retire from racing, that young talent will take over.
James: It's already been in the team
Coops: day.
James: a couple of years after Bot Test. Yeah, I know you mean. Yeah, yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: I also hope the Cadillac don't decide to go for Ocon and get rid of Bottas. think Ocon needs to also just leave, bring in an F2 driver. Well, I know it's with his F3.
James: Ugh, yeah. Yeah. No, he's just a s but he's just a slightly younger botass,
Annika: that's a possibility at the moment. That is yeah.
James: do you know what I He's just a slightly younger botass. It's not gonna be
Annika: Yeah.
James: dude, you know.
Coops: Yeah, he's not gonna, he's not,
Annika: Minus the personality.
James: Yeah.
Coops: yeah, and he's not, he's not, I mean, a rookie isn't necessarily gonna push the team forward technically, but you'll get eyes on them because they're a rookie.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: They're like, look at the performance of rookies, and he's not in the greatest of cars, but look, he's got the car at the 13th. he's managed to get it in the top 10, or he's got it in the Q2. You've got that progression and that,
Annika: Mm.
Coops: you know. Headline is it where Ocon going there. Did you just forget about the team? thought alright, okay.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: there's Ocon being lapped again. fabulous.
James: Mm-hmm.
Coops: So we'll kind of move on then we've got the first kind of big incident to look into and that was Albon and Binnet at like turn five I think it was we touched on earlier. Albon's having a bit of a poor one this year. Outside of the car being particularly awful. He's just not really stepped up, you know, sometimes they kind of adversity is, you know, it shows the character you've got as a driver and this year is definitely not been the best for Williams. Anika, you, have you noticed that Abundant and Carlos probably the same, they're not really quite, they're not really enjoying it, they're not really firing like they were last season. Is that more because of the issues with the car and they know that it's going to be quite a poor season? until maybe later on and they had to kind grin and bear it, you can't exactly keep going, yeah, I'm driving a crap car, it's a tractor, woo!
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: Eventually it does kind of wear you down a bit. Have you seen the same for the Williams drivers?
Annika: I have, yeah. And I think like it's a bit of a combination of the both. Like obviously the car hasn't been the greatest. but also I think 'cause they've been in the sport for so long. They've gone through different eras of the cars and like predominantly the down for high downforce era. So we'll see sorry, ground effect, not down for ground effect era. Sorry. so maybe they're just like stills still like learning with the new Active Era and just kind of trying to get the grips of the car. And obviously we don't exactly know what's fully going on with the car. Like why is it as bad as it is? Like you know what's going on with the sashi? Like why is it so much overweight? What's been done that's not working like in terms of Activeero or or anything like that. So we'll we just have to kind of Give them a little bit of time now that they've brought brought the upgrade in, let's see what they're doing in Malaysia, what they're doing in Singapore, and then we can kind of start judging whether it is just a car or is it just them not getting used to the new regulations and the rules and the new era of the cars.
Coops: The only good thing that happened for Albon was he did spice up the race when he decided to
James: Yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: fire into the barriers. We had a few laps, the yellow flag, safety car,
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: a couple of guys jumped out of the pits. think if I'm right, Red Bull double stacked it. Was that the first one? It was.
James: Yeah. I think ever I th I'm pretty
Annika: Yeah.
James: sure everyone pitted. I think Carlos Sainz pitted beforehand, which was ironic as his teammate
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: probably cost him a few positions, but I'm pretty sure everyone sort of dived in. I don't know I don't remember anyone had pitted especially in the top, you know, seven or eight, ten places.
Annika: Mm.
James: I don't believe anyone had pitted by that
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: time, which is interesting 'cause again it was like lap thirty five or lap thirty one of fifty one. They were just pitted by that
Annika: Carlos had bitted by that point, but no one else had.
James: point. Yeah. Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, we'll get on to, we'll touch on the tires in a wee bit. Sorry, I at want to get your opinion on it, but restart, start, George did what he needed to do, kept it in first. And then Franco called the pinto. For anyone who doesn't know this reference, go back and watch Alex Virts in Canada. And you'll see why, because it was very much a similar situation. Goes down the inside, locks up. Loses control of the car, unfortunately hits his teammate who takes out Landon Norris. Behind him
James: Yeah.
Coops: the V car decided they wanted a piece of the same action, decided to hit each other and a V spin. That basically took out both Alpines, it took out Norris. Collapindo has a grid penalty for the next race.
James: A five place, yeah.
Annika: Yes,
Coops: Yep.
Annika: five place creep penalty. It was gonna be ten second penalty, but because obviously he retired Sorry.
Coops: They have to, yep, they have to do that.
James: Yeah.
Coops: So, it's not much of a discussion because it's not really that ambiguous. James really, he just got it wrong, didn't he?
James: Yeah. I think I think Lando's comments after the race about, you know, the drivers that that sort of mistake shouldn't be happening in Formula One or those drivers shouldn't be. I think that was probably just a bit of him a bit of adrenaline, a bit of annoyance. His race hadn't been going very well. I d I think it was I think you're right. It was just that first first lap, cold tides, cold breaks, outbroke himself. and we actually saw something very similar in the F two race. I believe in the feature race won yesterday, but obviously down I think it was down into turn three, had a quite a big lock up again and then sort of You have that concertina effect and it's sort of skittles piling into each other. So Yeah. Seven cars, yeah. And the w that was a bit more spectacular than this.
Annika: Yeah, seven cars were taken out in F two with that. Including the championship leader, including the then championship leader.
James: So I think you just have that I think you have those incidents. Obviously we haven't seen it full on for a while. it was it was unfortunate and of course it's even more unfortunate they crossed into his teammate and took out the running world champion. But yeah, a s a silly one. I I think Colo Pinto's actually done a decent job this year and sort of im and slowly improved and, you know, quietly improved. So yeah, an unfortunate one. And you know, as they say, sometimes safety cars breed safety cars and
Annika: Yeah.
James: There was a few there were a few near misses in the crowd already, to be honest. Gasly and Hamilton got very, very close to each other twice
Annika: yeah.
James: leading down into the first corner, which could have ended very badly. Lando just got himself in a bad position, actually very very nicely outbreak outbreaked people around the outside, but was also caught up. And like you say, Limblad and Limblad crashed into Gasly, which didn't go down well either. So there was a there was a few bits and pieces going on in there, but I think
Annika: Linblad clushed in crushed into his teammate.
James: Yeah. Yeah, which is never good.
Coops: Okay.
James: So like two two cardinal sins delivered there. So you don't want to be crushing into the teammate. But I think these
Annika: No.
James: things happen a very long straight, cold ties, cold breaks, lots of action going on. So what you know, you know what it is, you know what it feels like.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: It's probably a tiny little mistake that Color Codinto's made and it's made a massive error. You know, we saw both McLaren's lock up massively in that corner as well, without you know,
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: with with the warm ties and warm breaks as well. So Unfortunate for
Annika: Yeah.
James: him. Five I think a five player screw penalty is probably correct because he did take out he did end two people's races.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: but unfortunate. But this is I sometimes sometimes these things happen.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, I think, think, I think...
Annika: Right. Question for you both.
Coops: Mm-hmm.
Annika: Sorry, question for you both. Have you seen Lando's statement about it?
James: Yeah, it was pretty t pretty pretty forward.
Coops: Yeah, those types of drivers shouldn't be in Formula One.
Annika: Yeah, and he calls for Colapinto actually to be banned, I think, for one race, something
Coops: Mm-hmm. Yes, he did.
Annika: yeah. So what do you think of that?
James: Yeah, I think that I think that's a little bit extreme. I think if he it's not like
Annika: Yeah, same.
Coops: Nice.
James: I feel like we saw it with we saw it with Grosjon, we saw it with Maldonado back in the day. They it happened multiple times. You know, they were they were doing this thing, you know, there was a they were three or four weeks in a row with contacts, or five out of seven
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: weeks they were somehow crashing into each other, crashing and then they got the race ban. So I think that's a bit harsh. I think again, I think that's just adrenaline and frustration after
Annika: Mm.
James: after a difficult weekend ended badly for him. to to to say something like that, I think.
Coops: Yeah, but also
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: what think Landau needs to remember is both he and his teammate locked up and went wide at the same
James: Yeah.
Coops: corner.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: Just unfortunately, the call up until did it when there was other cars in front of him. So he kinda need to, like if he's saying that mistakes like that shouldn't be in Formula One, then has he never snatched a break, never ran wide, never missed an apex, locked a break, went wide. I mean, look at the mistake he made last year on his own teammate and wiped himself out. Should he get himself
James: Mm.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: a ban because he shouldn't be making those mistakes? You're probably right.
James: Yeah.
Coops: Probably as a wee bit of the anger, the weekend didn't go very well. They had new parts in the car that have been ruined. You know, the budget cap as well with repairing the car. And I think more than anything, he just didn't have a good weekend. Piastri
James: Yeah.
Coops: seemed to have his number the whole weekend, which was weird considering 12 months ago. Yeah,
James: Yeah.
Coops: I think... five place good part is probably fair because the stewards know who Colapinto's boss is in that team and don't think
Annika: Ha.
Coops: you really want to go back into that garage with that person with those
Annika: Mm.
Coops: weird coloured glasses just standing there.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: And then if you caught the news Ted Kravitz was saying that the team principal just got off when he got into the garage he just stepped
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: off the pit wall and walked straight to the garage behind Colapinto. You're like run run!
Annika: Yep. Yeah, he did, yeah.
James: Yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
James: Calopoto kept his helmet on for that.
Coops: The mechanics in his side of the gauge were just like, sorry boss, didn't he see you fall? sorry, they're just
James: Yeah.
Coops: getting in the way while they're picking up a spanner or something. Just to give Cole the pinto a chance to get away out to the back.
Annika: Yeah. Mm-hmm. But also
James: Yeah.
Annika: talking about penalties, ca Carlos Sainz got a five crit place drop. Did you think that was fair?
James: I didn't Yeah, yellow flag infringement.
Coops: It was a yellow flag, yellow flag infringement, wasn't it?
Annika: Yeah.
James: What was it for? Was it not slowing enough or is it?
Annika: So basically 'cause
Coops: Yeah, you know, yeah.
Annika: it was in consec as far as I understood, it was in the yellow flag was in with two consecutive session sections and he
James: Yeah.
Annika: wanted to do like an umbrella slowdown across those two and he explained that to the stewards and everything like that, because he didn't slow down on that straight or he didn't lift on that straight because he didn't see any hazard around.
James: Mm.
Annika: And Lando had already cleared off at that point from the turn that he had went wide and that caused the yellow flag. So but they still gave him a five grade drop.
James: Yeah. I think those sort of things like the I feel they can be pretty cut and dry for the for the FIA. And I think sometimes drivers trying to explain I think Max does it really well that sometimes but there'll be those yellows. There might it might not be an obvious obvious, you know, issue or something, but he always he always has that momentary blip of the accelerator to say he's lifted off. And I think
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: sometimes you just need to you need to play by those rules. I think they're gonna catch you. Do you what I mean? It's like sometimes you can't explain those things away. And I think actually
Annika: Yeah. I like Yeah. But
James: that five plays probably stopped stopped science scoring more points 'cause I think if he you know, he was in a good place with the in the race, obviously that the safety card didn't help him and he still finished tenth.
Annika: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
James: He probably would have finished at least in in front of the two hases potentially. So it cost him a few cost him a few points there. But I think those sometimes those ones are probably a little bit cut and dry. And also I haven't seen the the footage entirely anyway.
Annika: Yeah. But also like he he had lifted off but he just hadn't lifted off sufficient sufficiently in both
James: okay.
Annika: sessions and especially in both like sections and
James: And both sectors. Yeah.
Annika: specifically on that straight because he didn't see any hazard around. He just went
James: Just straight. Yeah.
Coops: I think it's probably fair because yellow flag infringements are pretty stringent. Also, it's not about whether you see a hazard. If you've got a yellow flag, you need to slow down. And he just didn't slow down enough.
Annika: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
James: Yeah.
Coops: that's the way the regulations are written. You need to, yeah.
Annika: Well he thought yeah. He thought he had yeah, as far as I understood, I thought he had slowed down enough to cover the both sectors, but apparently he hadn't.
Coops: Right, we've been talking for half an hour, we haven't mentioned the winner and the top teams,
James: Ha ha.
Coops: so we're going to jump on quickly. It's a strange thing to say, this is the first Grand Slam for George
James: Yeah.
Coops: Russell, first time he's won
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: a race from being pole position, first the whole race and won it. Weirdly, there's not much to say other than... It's basically been his weekend and it's a weekend that's a long time coming for him and it's really going to spur him on now. It's right in the perfect time I think. Start of the triple header, he's got himself in that groove, got a perfect weekend. Is there much else we can really add, Annika, to that? It's been just the weekend he's needed for quite a few weeks now.
Annika: It was definitely the weekend he needed. And also what a qualie lap. He is the
Coops: Ciao!
Annika: third driver who's had a quality margin of over eight tenths. So there's been three other drivers Yeah, there's in
James: The other two in the wet weren't they as well. Yeah.
Coops: Nice.
Annika: in dry conditions. So the there's been two other drivers who've done it in dry conditions and then George did it this weekend. That lap Was absolutely amazing.
Coops: Yeah, there's nothing else you can say. He
James: Yeah, you just Yeah. You put it all together.
Coops: just got it all right. It's
Annika: It was his weekend.
James: Yeah.
Coops: almost like what Max would have been like if he finished that Saudi Arabian lap when he mainly hit the wall right at the very end and it was basically
James: Hm. Yeah.
Coops: a V perfect lap until that point.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: But yeah, we'll move away from George. I know it's weird. We've only spoke to him for a couple of minutes, but you know, when it's perfect, perfect. You can't really do much else. He did everything right.
James: Hmm. I I would say that obviously I think you're right, he was disappearing. I think that's the thing. You can't really say too much. But one thing I would say is I think he held on to Verstappen very well. Again, cool, calm, and collected at the
Annika: Mm.
James: front. He probably had that pace. He didn't quite eke out enough to, you Verstappen was constantly in that in his in his straight line mode or overtake mode, whatever want to call it. But I thought I thought George drove very nicely there, kept it cool and and and completed the job. I if Verstappen had overtaken him, that would have felt like a real gut punch. but he he got the job done. Oof.
Annika: yeah.
Coops: If he got him on the line that would have been horrendous. That would have been terrible.
James: That would have been yeah. But so he did he he he completed
Annika: Mm. Yeah.
James: the job which he needed to do.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Yeah, and it was nice at the end, just give us that one take just to be able to look at that.
James: Yeah yeah.
Annika: Yeah. And and also considering that he's probably gonna take an engine penalty in Kota, then grabbing those points now is absolutely
James: Mm, good point.
Annika: essential.
Coops: Yeah, Kimi was a strange one for me. I said, let's keep it on Mercedes quickly. Not much to say about Kimi other than he didn't really move very far quickly up the order from 16th at the start, lost the place at the start, but he kind of stayed round about the teens for quite a while, which I was quite surprised at. And then obviously he got himself into a decent position and then he get helped by the safety car, bunched things up. And I think if I remember right, seventh was his finish or was it higher?
James: No, think he finished fifth, didn't he? Yeah, it was fifth in the end. I th I think he was lucky 'cause I think he probably would
Annika: Five fifty.
Coops: Is it fifth? So.
James: have finished tenth, ninth or tenth without the safety car, you know.
Annika: Mm hmm. Yeah,
Coops: Yeah,
Annika: I think so.
Coops: which is the only block for George because he needs to try and get as many points. But, you know, he
Annika: Mm.
Coops: did exactly what he needed to do and whatever happens, happens.
James: Mm.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: The Red Bulls I'm going to jump on to quickly because they look fucking rabid. They were late. I'm like, yeah,
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: they're going straight through. We're going to have a Red Bull one, two. Morgan's going to be bouncing, thinking it's amazing. And they just didn't quite have enough. And I think the was it Piazzotti's the middle sector was just too good for McLaren which just kept him where they needed to be.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: For anyone who doesn't know the reason that the Red Bulls seem to have that kind of final sector on McLaren was their upgrades are good. They're just a wee bit draggy for such a long straight. So the middle sector just done enough, just kept him enough. Versapin did as much as he could I think. I don't think there's much more he could have done, especially with the lack of. degradation with the tyres, there isn't much movement in terms of strategy in that regard. So
Annika: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Coops: is there anything that you want to say about Max other than pretty much what he could have done he did?
James: I think he I think he maximized, didn't he? I think they were they right you say they were rapid. That ma that gap in the back of their wing looks absolutely huge compared to the other teams. It's
Coops: Yay.
James: that's massive.
Annika: Mm.
James: one thing I would say is I think I would be intrigued to have known, and I I know we'll never know now, but it would be intriguing to know if they had released Hadjar when he was looking the quicker driver, when Max was struggling that middle stint with the mediums, just because when we s when they obviously switched over to the after the safety car, Max went on to the softs and Hadjar went on to the mediums. And so did George Ronald Sov. They just pulled away from Isaac. And I know slightly different track conditions, better tie quality. It would have been easy interesting to see if if if Isaac had been able to get ahead of Piastri and what potentially he would be able to do in the race. But
Annika: Mm.
James: I think I think Red Bull maximized it. Realistically, would they have caught George? Probably not. If they could if they weren't like had the pace to get past Piastri, would they really necessarily have closed
Annika: Mm.
James: that seven, eight second their second gap? I don't think so. So I think they they did what as best they could, and that that that pace at the at the end between George and Max, you know, they just disappeared. So I think a really good weekend for for Red Bull. I do I do really like seeing that huge gap in their wing. It is hilarious. And and it's good to see Hajar back. You he's proved again that it was the right decision to put him in the car. He's he's earned that spot to be straight
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: back on the podium after, you know, six weeks out with a wrist injury. I think that's fantastic for him as well.
Annika: Also he broke the
Coops: Yeah
Annika: contact contract extension curse that's been going on this year.
James: Yes. She's always good. Yeah.
Coops: Well, there you go. Take some weeks
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: off, get your contract extended, get on the podium.
James: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, again, it's one of those ones where you kind of have to seek to believe it. It wasn't one of those kind of he locked into it. Isaac Hadjar is exactly the partner that Red Bull need for Max Verstappen. He will follow the team game, but he's not just innocently following, do what you want. He's kind of like, I want to go on. He'll have a wee try.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: He is my driver of the day, George Russell. Yes, he a good weekend, but you can expect that from him. He should be doing that. It's the best car on the grid. Antonelli is so far in front. He should be up there all the time. Isaac's came back after being three weekends away, four or five weeks, whatever it's been, out with a wrist injury. And that's not a track to be sniffed at in terms of using your wrists and you're turning the car. It's not
Annika: Mm.
Coops: like a Monza where there's its gradients. a couple of wee small kind of turns here and there. There's a lot of right angles at Baku. I'm going to quickly talk about, there's no much else to talk about in terms of other cars. It's a strange one to say because Ferrari were there. I don't remember them doing particularly much, just they were there. Sorry,
James: Na
Coops: Sock. yeah, they did
Annika: Ha ha ha
Coops: their bit. They didn't quite have the pace to do anything really. They weren't particularly, yeah.
James: that the straight line lack of straight line speed hurt them really. They were sort of just falling back, weren't they?
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Yeah, they weren't really in the fight, but they weren't completely out of the fight. They were just kind of there in the background.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: A couple of other teams, Haas had a good weekend, got themselves both into the points. And Carlos Sainz got him tenth for Williams. That's a huge point for the weekend. Hopefully they can build on it. I'm going to kind of quickly wrap it up. going to just, I've probably already said it for myself, but is there anyone other than Isaac Hajjar that you think James is your driver of the day?
James: Yeah, I think I think I'm gonna give it to George just because he dominated the weekend, that qualifying that was incredible. And he probably would have won this race by twenty seconds without the safety car, and then he held on nicely. So I do think kudos to him. It was a weekend that he dominated, needed to get the points, and he's gained some time on Kimmy. Gained some points on Kimmy. So I I I'll give it to George, but Isaac, yeah, a hundred percent is is is worthy of it as well. But I'm gonna give it to the race winner.
Coops: Annika, what about you as another driver of the day that you wanted to mention?
Annika: Well, I was gonna give it to Isaac or George, but I think I'm gonna say Max because obviously starting way back from P eight, quite early on he was up there with Isaac, like he was literally as Isaac overtook, he overtook everything and the last stint with like getting really close to George and all that, like obviously great race dominated in F P three as well. So yeah, I'm gonna give it to Max 'cause The others were already taken, but Max deserves it as well.
Coops: Fair enough, three different opinions, not bad
James: Mm.
Annika: Ha ha ha
Coops: at all. Before we go, wanker of the day for me, and we'll touch on this, and there's a reason
James: Yeah.
Coops: why I've mentioned this, is Pirelli. I'm gonna bring these guys in as the bad guys of the weekend, because they brought the tyres, think it was C something or other. C, not very good for racing, basically, because it was
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: the harder tyre to the point where... I think it was mentioned in the coverage that if it wasn't a rule about going into the pits, they just wouldn't have went into the pits. On the soft, yeah,
James: Yeah. On the softs as well. They thought the softs could finish the race. Yeah.
Annika: Mm. Yeah.
Coops: that's just really not good enough, it? mean, the commentators called out and said Pirelli should have brought the softer set of tires
Annika: Mm.
Coops: rather than the, cause they went a step harder from last year, which is the wrong way to go. The softer you go, the more they degrade.
Annika: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and even in qual yeah.
James: I d I I don't yeah.
Annika: And even in quality, like well
James: Even quality they couldn't warm up, could they? Yeah.
Annika: there's that, but also like the Q one and Q two they did the stints on the same tires, like both stints on the same tyres. They didn't even change tires.
James: Yeah. It's I think it's wild.
Coops: I think it's classed as a negative degradation, in other words the tyres just didn't degrade, they just
Annika: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
James: Yeah.
Coops: did their bit. Maybe degraded a wee bit more, there's the
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: dirt to air effect which means they'll lose a wee bit grip, not as bad as it used to be in the years, different generations of Formula One. But again, I
James: Yeah. Still.
Coops: think they need to do something, they need to make them a bit softer.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Overall I think the whole lot needs to be just a wee bit softer. I don't want things to be engineered where they kind of almost fall off a cliff where you have to suddenly on ice ranking you have to dive into the pits
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: but there needs to be something because we
James: Yeah.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: all know we've watched enough of Formula One I think you look at Japan the tyre didn't degrade the track meant that it was grippy all the time and it ended up being a particularly boring race especially when the teams are as good as they are from top to bottom if you have not got that variable in there racing is just not going to work
James: Yeah, I agree with you.
Annika: Mm.
James: Yeah, I'll
Coops: you know...
James: I'll second your bank of the day for that. Absolutely fine with that. Because
Annika: Same.
James: I think I think P Perelli should be aiming to have the one stop and the two stop at the very least be very similar in in time. So you have to there's an option. If every single every single team does the exact same one-stop strategy, that's not that's you're not doing your job as a ed as a tire supplier. They should at least be At the very least, having a one and two stop being very similar times to add that strategy. If not, I'd love them to have like two stop be the like the norm. Two stops should be what they're aiming for every time because it adds something. It creates a bit more, you know, difference, adds that strategy. And I agree with you, Cute. It's like going harder watching Azerbaijan last year is just wild. Cause you think, well, there's I
Annika: Mm.
James: don't think I don't think a team's ever done two stops of that on a safety car in it. Do you know what I It it just seems that there'd something needs to be done and they just seem they continue seem to be They're too safety orientated, which I know is a bit of a buzzword at the moment in Formula One, but they're a bit safe on it. They they need to they need to push the boundaries and I agree that you don't sh they shouldn't necessarily fall off the cliff, but there needs to be that variance and that dispute
Coops: Okay.
James: between the one top and the two top at least that
Annika: Mm.
James: at least creates that strategy, at least makes the teams think on their feet, you know?
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: Yeah, and if you've got a soft tire that doesn't degrade and your medium tire definitely doesn't degrade, there's enough. What's the point of having them? What's the point
James: Yeah.
Coops: of having these tires
Annika: Mm.
Coops: there if that's not going to work? So yeah, I think they said it in the coverage. We'll keep an eye on it as, know, every track's had to keep an eye on all the news, but it looks like they're going to go generally softer for next season. They're going to change the kind of makeup of the tires
Annika: Mm.
Coops: for next year. I mean, in all fairness, to be a wee bit of devil's side for Pirelli, it's a thankless task being a Tiger supplier, because
James: Yeah yeah.
Coops: when you've got Formula One going, you to do this, then you've got us going, that's not good enough. they're like, you know, the issue for this weekend for me is there was the option to go softer. You had that, you've got the movement, because as we all know, it's between one and six, between six being the, I want to say the hardest, I might get that round wrong way.
James: You're right.
Coops: One is the hardest, one is the softest and the three tyres go between 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 and whatever. So they could have went down a step lower, they could have kept it the same, they could have decided let's go even further softer. Maybe next year they'll go instead of one step down, they'll go two steps down and really make the tyres, your soft tyre is literally the qualifying tyre because it's just not going to be at any point. And then
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: you've got other options as Jamie says, there's strategy involved in it. And that's the biggest part of Formula One, it's all about the strategy. If take that element out, you've got not much to watch really. We all
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: watched that French Grand Prix for a few years ago. The fact the
Annika: Yeah.
James: Yeah.
Coops: highlights showed everybody's full pit stop in full
James: Yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: and that was in a 50 minute highlight package shows you how exciting that race was.
Annika: Yeah. But also like you need to have that variety with the tires. Like what if you have a late late stage safety car or early safety car and you don't wanna go up because you feel like your tire like you just don't wanna you only have like medium or hard left and you just won't be able to get them up to temperature if it's a late stage one. You need that like super soft tire to be able to be there or thereabouts and fight for the positions even in the late stage
James: Yeah.
Annika: saf after the late stage safety car.
James: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. You d you need that variance.
Coops: I think they should also stop you. Yeah, you need, I think they also need to stop the changing of the tires when they have a red flag.
James: Mm.
Coops: Because that kills things for strategy. It happened in Monaco. They changed the tires, nobody went in the pits. And then, know, Monaco's a poor race, to give you an example of the best of times. You know, and even if you have to do it for safety by changing the tire, give them the same compound then. Don't change the compound. Or
James: Yeah.
Coops: you were in
Annika: Mm.
Coops: medium, you haven't been in the pits yet. Well, you need to go back onto medium again and you still need to go in the
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: pits. You know, it needs to be that
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: sort of thing. But yeah, I think there's not much else to mention. We will have a preview for the Malaysian, sorry, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. See how stupid Formula One can get with the names.
Annika: You got it right.
James: Yeah.
Coops: We went from, let's have a really long one, to let's just say we're having the Bahrain Grand Prix Malaysia. Clearly it's contractual because they don't want to extend contracts. It's actually going to be part of the contract that Bahrain
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: Grand Prix did actually have been held. It's just in a weird place.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: It's going to be PubQuiz lower in a few years time, I'd imagine. What
James: Yeah.
Coops: was so special about the 2026? Bahrain Grand Prix. It's going to catch a few people out. We will be back very soon because we will be previewing that Grand Prix. We'll get a few people on, get some opinions. I don't know, Erica, you haven't seen any of the Malaysian Grand Prix stuff before. That track is an amazing track.
Annika: Ages and ages and ages and ages and ages ago so I do not really remember. So and I can't even remember if when I watched I found that they race in Malaysia. So
James: Mm.
Annika: yeah, it's gonna be a com yeah. It's a completely new track for me.
Coops: It's been a long time since it's been away. It's one of the better tracks.
James: It's a good one. It's one of the favourites that dropped off.
Coops: So
James: jealous.
Coops: I'm really excited to see how this will work and how this will look with the new generation of cairs. All that's left for me to say is thanks very much for coming on. Thanks, James.
James: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Coops: No bother at all. Annika, thanks very much for coming on.
Annika: Thanks Thanks a million.
Coops: No bother, I've been Coops, I've been your host Don't worry, Sean will be back very very soon Malaysia is on this weekend We'll get the preview up at the start of the week Until then, see you later Bye!
Annika: See ya.
James: See ya.
James: Ha ha.
Coops: with alongside me here is Annika and James. Guys, how are we?
James: Yeah, good, thank you. Yeah, good. looking forward to speaking a bit about Formula One. Yeah, a bit strange to have it on a Saturday. I didn't mind we I didn't mind it though. Sort of Saturday lunchtime. Not like obviously I feel like usually you have to wait a long time, you know, you wait all weekend for the Grand Prix and then I didn't I didn't mind it weirdly. I'm usually a bit of F one purist, but I it had me this weekend, maybe just once in a while, you know.
Coops: Yeah, well we said that about the sprints and now it probably looks like sprints are going to be every single race for the time it happens. Annika, how
Annika: Yeah.
James: Yeah yeah true.
Coops: are you? How's your weekend been so far?
Annika: yeah, been very busy, very motorsport filled. So been covering F one, F two and Royal Superbike, so it's been very, very busy. so yeah, excited to talk about racing in Baku and yeah. It feels like a s a Sunday, doesn't it?
Coops: Yes it does and if it was a Sunday then I'd be happy because I wouldn't be working the next day but unfortunately I'm not, working tomorrow and I've got nothing
James: Ha ha ha.
Annika: Ha ha ha.
Coops: to distract me while I'm trying to get on my work so yeah Formula One it's all your fault so yeah we'll touch a wee bit of...
James: Ha ha ha.
Annika: Well World Superbike is on W World Superbike is on and it's gonna be an interesting one because Bulaga will win the championship tomorrow. Whether he's gonna do it in
Coops: Okay.
James: There you go.
Annika: su in super bowl sprint or he's gonna do it in race two, that's to be confirmed, but he's mathematically he's winning it tomorrow.
Coops: Fair enough. Spoiler alert, nobody needs to watch it. That person's winning it already, doesn't really matter.
James: There you go.
Annika: Unless he unless he crashes out, you never know.
Coops: Possibly, you know, there seems to be a few crashes
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: in the superbikes at this looks like it hurts just about every time they do it. Anyway, we're not here
James: Yeah.
Coops: to talk about the superbikes, that's for another podcast at another time. We're here to talk about Formula One. We'll touch a wee bit on Formula Two later on, but the big conversation is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was won pretty convincingly by George Russell before we get into the kind of nitty gritty of it all, guys. I want a quick three-word summary. from each of you on what you think about the Grand Prix. So Annika, I'll go with your first three words to sum up the Baku Grand Prix.
Annika: Dominance, surprise and chaos.
Coops: James, you echo those sentiments? Have you got another word to compare in there?
James: I was gonna go with a real slow burn.
Coops: Okay, yeah, it's a slow burn until the alpines decided they wanted to kill each other. I'm
James: Yeah. And then Yeah.
Annika: Boilers.
Coops: just going to go with what diff because, you know, I had it on while I was working, I'm keeping an eye on it and now the next thing everything just goes strange and people forget how to drive and... people get friendly fire as we'll probably touch on, know, no spoiler there, James is
James: Yeah.
Coops: wearing the team, the team merch for the team, we'll probably touch on in that regard. Anyway, so the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, I was a bit disappointed because once they got through the first couple of laps, I'm like, this could be a French Grand Prix all over, just scooting around the track. The most exciting part of it for me was that Antonelli couldn't get anywhere where he was and the Red Bulls looked like they were pretty much heading for a 1-2. James, did you have a kind of similar worry that this Grand Prix was going to be a bit of a damp squib?
James: Yeah, but it definitely it started off that way. You obviously hope with Aber with places like Backy, they'd have a bit of carnage at the first on the first lap or the first corner, but actually they're all pretty well behaved. And I think once George got off the line in the lead, it there was a feeling that he's probably going to to drive off. I know that's not something he's done particularly well in the past, but he's been so dominant this weekend it felt that way. And of course that's what happened. I think the Red Bulls moving up the field was quite interesting, but I think that all that's things all that stuff starts happening quite early. And then they do sort of get into those rhythms. Piastri sort of holding up those red balls in the early stages, they couldn't really get past. I thought there'd be a bit more yo-yoing here, with obvious especially with the the you know, the end the energy deprived engines towards the end of the long back straight, it was quite hard to listen to in qualifying. We just hear them so the the revs dull, you know, halfway down the straight. I thought there'd be much more yo yoing, especially maybe down like You know, in this t into turn one and back out into turn four or turn three. So I thought there would be a bit more, but it was pretty slow. I think these street street circuits have the have the tendency to do that if you were getting to their rhythms and Antony wasn't making too much progress. So there wasn't too much action there. And if it was, it was on the tiny screen in the corner. so yeah, it did look like it was going to be a bit of a procession, but you know, in Formula One things things do tend to happen when you you least expect it. So luckily we got a bit of action. But yeah, it felt pretty particularly processional, especially as George then just started pulling away, you know.
Coops: Yeah, he was on fire this weekend. It George. That qualifying lap was unreal and
James: Same.
Coops: certainly looked like he was just
Annika: It really was.
Coops: going to disappear, disappear into
James: Yeah.
Coops: the into the horizon and take the victory. Eventually did it, but you know, made it difficult for him. Annika, what about yourself? were your thoughts, initial thoughts in the first kind of part of the race?
Annika: Yeah, it was a bit of a slow ban because REPL was the w one to bring all the action in the first like eleven, twelve laps. I was like, our socials are really, really REPL filled, like so asleep
James: Ha ha.
Annika: and there was the thing with Hatcher and Max like whether they should invert the positions and things like that. And then once Hadger started like I have the pace, Max doesn't I have the pace, let me go But then obviously like whether will they, will they not, all of that. And then at one point obviously Gimme dropped a position at the start. But then next thing I know, I think it was like lap like around lap ten or so. I looked up and he was like on on P eleven. So I was like, Okay, someone's
James: Ha ha.
Annika: someone's making s places up. And then he was like, next thing I know, Crofty said, he's in the points. I was like Okay, so we'll we'll mo we might get some action there. And then obviously yeah, and then what happened later made it more interesting. So yeah.
Coops: It certainly does. We're going to start at the back. We're going to start with Aston Martin.
James: Mm-hmm.
Coops: They were the first two retirees.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Stroll lasted, I think it was nine laps, maybe 10 at a push before he was told there was an issue.
Annika: Something ala something along these lines, yeah, 'cause he managed to there was a brief yellow flag and then he managed to pull behind the barrier so it didn't really affect the race flow that much.
James: No.
Coops: No, they were at the back. It was all Honda power unit this time round. They just didn't have the power. were deficit to even the Cadillacs. Alonso seemed to retire out of nowhere. I was doing what I was doing. Had the Grand Prix on in the background. And the next thing somebody's like, Alonso's retired. Wait, how? Not that it
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: made much difference anyway. Where do you think Aston Martin, what do you think they need to do? Because where they can go is they kind of go any slower, so they need to go faster. Is this just a situation because we know that Honda are slightly underpowered and it's not going to be quite as bad in the following races or is there still some fundamental issue with that car, James? What do you think?
James: I think there is a f I feel that there is there must be a fundamental issue 'cause obviously they brought quite a large upgrade and I believe again, when did they br they brought brought it just before the summer break, didn't they? I want to say they brought it in Hungary.
Coops: They brought part in Hungary then I think they were supposed to bring some in Zanvo with the power
James: Yeah.
Coops: unit.
James: And I think I feel
Annika: Yeah, the power unit was in Sandworth.
James: was it the the power unit was in Zanvor because I 'cause we're looking at the just getting got the results up. Looking at Hungary, they finished thirteenth and fourteenth, obviously still not in the points, but a much better showing from what they've been doing. And then Fernando gets in the points in in Zanvor, finishes ninth. Obviously Lance Lance doesn't finish, but that's that's not unusual anymore. And so I f it felt like there was some progress made, but I feel like the last couple races they've just been absolutely nowhere. Yeah, neither finished neither finished in Italy. Neither what happened in Spain? I don't think either finished in Spain, did they? Lance finished Lance didn't finish, but Fernando did a couple laps down. And then here's if
Coops: Lance hasn't finished the last four races, all because of mechanical issues.
James: And I think again, I know that I know Stroll had a issues in qualifying yesterday. I think he went off once, maybe outbroke himself, but then he actually did you know retire the session. I think it was Q one. He retired from the session early. So there's obvious I feel like is it a f is it an engine issue? Probably. I think that's probably the thing. Like they look like that they took their a step with the with the chassis in the new upgrade, but obviously not a massive step up. But it does seem like there are issues. I don't know if they're they've still got the vibration issues from early on in the year. But we also did see this from Honda when they first came back to Formula One with with McLaren. Obviously it's quite big, a different I guess it's not it's not as big a job as they were already in Formula One, but a new team, new they do have these reliability problems. It's not just a slow cut, you know, down on power, but they we did have those reliability issues. So Yes, it's a tricky one for for Aston Martin. You can build the best car in the world, but if the engine's not onto snuff, you're not going to be going anywhere. And it again, they've become they've become irrelevant again. They had a two races when they were looked at potentially getting a bit more more relevant, but they're just back to being irrelevant where I don't think I w we don't really take them into account anymore. And then suddenly, like you say, they've just they pull into the pits to retire early. Fernando's is the only real interesting part of that team at the moment, or he's on track anyway. so it's tricky. I d I don't know what the answer is. Do they But they just have to keep pushing forward and hope Honda figure it out. I believe they've still got one more engine upgrade this year, maybe one or two with the new rules. Hopefully they can figure that out and bring some more bring some more power because these pay these cut in of any in any form of out of of the recent years, I think these engines are the ones that you need that that the power deficit is really showing. So honestly, I don't know what I don't know what Aston Martin can do apart from give up, but I don't think they're gonna do that.
Coops: No, and it'll seem worse, Annika, when it looked like Williams had went in pretty much a good step in the right direction with their major upgrade. Not great for Albin, he outbred himself into that. I can't remember the corners, was 15 or something, 14? No, was bit early, turn five was early on,
James: No, I think it was like turn five maybe. Yeah, f turn five or six.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: 15 was Bottas, and we'll talk about that in minute.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, he'd just done a piastry and... I think I didn't get enough speed out of the corner but the cat... yeah.
James: Yeah. Br I break myself quite early. It seemed like he
Annika: Yeah, he had a massive lock up.
James: broke I broke myself very early into that corner. yeah.
Coops: Yeah, it just
Annika: Yeah, and he had a massive lock up.
Coops: didn't seem to slow down.
James: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah. It must be worrying when your competitors are just taking that step further and when the steps you take further don't seem to be making much difference. Do you
Annika: Mm.
Coops: think that the Astons can actually keep, excuse me, can keep themselves ahead of Cadillac or do think they'll kind of slowly catch up and maybe overtake them by the end of the season?
Annika: I think Cadillac will overtake them. Because we saw that this this weekend Perez had a Ferrari token upgraded engine and he was flying he there was a significant difference between him and Potas. So he was ahead, he was like on one of the practice sessions he was P thirteen, yet they didn't get out of Q one. But there's it's still a step in the right direction. They're finishing in higher positions now. Like obviously yeah, we had loads of cars retire, but you know, he was still ahead of his teammates significantly who didn't have the upgraded engine. So put the upgraded engine in both of those cars and they will be way ahead of us then.
James: I w I think they're already ahead of Aston, to be honest. I feel like the
Annika: Well yeah.
James: Stroll was clo I think well, I think Aleco, I think you're right though. If they can they obviously need to start getting into the points and if that Ferrari engine can help them get those points, because I think, you Ast Fernando's the difference, they're really getting those three points for the team. But I think they're
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: already if they're ahead, if not equal. Do you know what I mean? Because I think I
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: Stroll finished last, but they always seem to be the two teams at the bottom. Fernando probably ahead of the others, but Stroll, again, it's hard to it's hard to judge Stroll at
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: the moment, but it feels like their neck and neck. one's probably one time where he had they have a better race than Cadillac Cadillac the
Annika: Yeah.
James: other way around. But I feel like Cadillac are probably ahead of them already. But I think it's that points difference.
Annika: Yeah.
James: They need to get they need to take the extra step to get the points. I think you're right, 'cause I'm looking at the t looking at the stats.
Annika: Mm. No, absolutely.
James: I know that I know there was a safety car, but Perez, you finished fourteenth ahead of Bortileso, not that far behind Piastri, who ended up finishing thirteenth, but only about six or six seconds back. And that's you know, for a safety
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: club period where there was about twelve, you know, I don't think that's too bad. So they're they're they're they're creeping up. Cad Cadillac and Aston Martin just seemed to in the middle of nowhere.
Annika: Mm-hmm. And yeah, and also let's not forget Cadillac's brakes were trying to kill them for a while. So but they they have they have fixed that issue now.
James: Yeah. Never a good thing.
Coops: Alright.
Annika: It was it was said in the broadcast today that they've actually redesigned the brakes. So there's now a duck that takes the heat out as well rather than like just keeping it all in. So they've sorted that issue. That's why we haven't seen the Cadillac's brake issues for a while now. So
James: Yeah.
Annika: And they have some new talent who has started there as well, so pretty soon pretty soon I think we are gonna see Gadillac in the points.
James: It'd be quite a turnaround.
Coops: Yeah, I think they will. get there pretty soon, I would imagine. mean, nobody knows how Malaysia is going to work with these cars. No, there's
Annika: Mm, yeah.
Coops: no benchmark for it. It's definitely going to be interesting. I'm all for it. I'm not going to go through every single team. I want to talk quickly about Bottas and Perez because what the hell is going on with Bottas? I was quite excited by the Perez-Bottas pairing. I thought for a brand new team, it's a very smart decision. Perez has come in, he's bit between the teeth, he's pretty much wiped the floor with him and then Bautista has just binned it, just goes off-line and puts it straight in the wall with a couple of lacks to go and Perez is away halfway round the track in front of him. Do Cadillac need to look at going with a rookie with Perez next season? Because
Annika: Think so.
Coops: we've got a wealth of that, you know, Cam... Is it Kamara? You've got Alex Dunne, you've got Tozlov, you've
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: got quite a few at the top end of the F2. From what Anika said, the F2 season this year is unreal with the kind of talent and the racing. Is it time that we just say, right Peres, you're the leader of the team, let's treat it like a team rather than a kind of social experiment or
Annika: Mm.
Coops: some sort of, you know, just a scientific thing to get things going. Let's treat it properly. Let's go out there. give that guy the opportunity just to get in the car and then, you know, step by step move forward. I think personally, before I put it out to you guys, I think personally that's kind of the way to go. You know, give them a longer term deals and say, right, two years, you're not going to go anywhere unless obviously you bin it every and do them as a pun and crash into every single wall. There's a difference, but you know, kind of take the pressure off and say, right, let's go out. Perez, you're the main man. His feedback notoriously is pretty good. I think that's kind of the way to go. think Bottas needs to do a Ricardo and just go and get on the socials and enjoy his kind of personality and his kind of, know, reputation as a kind of fun should-be ex Formula One driver. James, do you kind of see what I'm coming for or do you have a different opinion? I he should still be on the grid.
James: Yeah, I I I know where you're coming from. It just depends on what their objectives are and what their what they see their long term plan is. Because I think obviously the they've they've sort of positioned Colton Herter as the reserve driver, is he the it's either you know the American and the American team, is he are they looking to step him up? But I don't think he's particularly convinced in F two this year and that would mean then do you go somewhere else? I think that we spoke about it this way when they when they when they announced Peres and Bottas. We all said this is not the most interesting. But it'll hopefully get the job done of building this team up. And I think they've done a good job of sticking to the grid. I think when we spoke at the beginning of the year, we think, you know, if they're within two seconds of lap and, you know, anywhere near the fr anywhere near the back of the end midfield, they'll be doing well. And I think they have sort of found that rhythm and found that obviously that like Annika said, they had those those break issues that really did hamper them mid season, or at least, you know, in that middle part of this season that so far. So But for I think if you want a bit of excitement, a bit of draw, Bottas isn't gonna do that for you. and maybe it is time to get someone in. I don't think Colton Hearst is the answer right now. I think if you are gonna do it, would you go for a you know, would you go for an F two driver or would you go for a, you know, a reserve that's already there? You know, who what's Aston Mart the Aston Martin's reserve that's who won the
Annika: Crawford.
James: Yes, you know, the you know, things like that, you know, like is there there are better options. But I th I do know what I probably tend to agree with you, Coops. I think You need a bit of excitement. You've got pairs that can develop the car. Do you need two of those benchmarks? Probably not. It's probably worth experimenting with a with a with a young, exciting talent, also just to get a bit of buzz around the place. Cause again, they're another one that just sort of neither neither driver's particularly exciting. The team isn't particularly exciting. So why would you necessarily be tuning in? So I think they need a little bit of a little bit of something to just reinvigorate. So yeah, I think I probably would agree with you there.
Coops: Erica, what do you think? Do you think that Kev-Lak should get rid of... split the two of them up, go for a kind of faster use
Annika: I mean
Coops: or...
Annika: I mean I think like Waltery he is a talented driver but I think he is getting to the point where he's a bit like, you know, in lack of a better term, starting to get past his prime as a racing driver. I think maybe Cadillac well got him on as a bit of a personality because he does have this typical like Finnish humour kind of like quite funny in a way and quite like outrageous in some sense, like like his Rhino campaign at the moment. and and things like that. So I think it was maybe that was the thought process. And obviously he has been on the grid for quite a while, so he knows a lot about differ he's driven loads of different cars in different eras. So in on paper it seemed like a good lineup, but I think like they need to bring young talent in who can really kind of develop with the car and then end up taking over from Paris once Paris eventually says I'm done.
Coops: I kind of hope
James: Yeah.
Coops: that he doesn't say he's not Perez. think Valtteri has to be told he's done. I Perez probably has a good couple more years in him.
Annika: No, yeah, absolutely. But that's what I mean, like once Paris is that point where he is finally ready to retire from racing, that young talent will take over.
James: It's already been in the team
Coops: day.
James: a couple of years after Bot Test. Yeah, I know you mean. Yeah, yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: I also hope the Cadillac don't decide to go for Ocon and get rid of Bottas. think Ocon needs to also just leave, bring in an F2 driver. Well, I know it's with his F3.
James: Ugh, yeah. Yeah. No, he's just a s but he's just a slightly younger botass,
Annika: that's a possibility at the moment. That is yeah.
James: do you know what I He's just a slightly younger botass. It's not gonna be
Annika: Yeah.
James: dude, you know.
Coops: Yeah, he's not gonna, he's not,
Annika: Minus the personality.
James: Yeah.
Coops: yeah, and he's not, he's not, I mean, a rookie isn't necessarily gonna push the team forward technically, but you'll get eyes on them because they're a rookie.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: They're like, look at the performance of rookies, and he's not in the greatest of cars, but look, he's got the car at the 13th. he's managed to get it in the top 10, or he's got it in the Q2. You've got that progression and that,
Annika: Mm.
Coops: you know. Headline is it where Ocon going there. Did you just forget about the team? thought alright, okay.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: there's Ocon being lapped again. fabulous.
James: Mm-hmm.
Coops: So we'll kind of move on then we've got the first kind of big incident to look into and that was Albon and Binnet at like turn five I think it was we touched on earlier. Albon's having a bit of a poor one this year. Outside of the car being particularly awful. He's just not really stepped up, you know, sometimes they kind of adversity is, you know, it shows the character you've got as a driver and this year is definitely not been the best for Williams. Anika, you, have you noticed that Abundant and Carlos probably the same, they're not really quite, they're not really enjoying it, they're not really firing like they were last season. Is that more because of the issues with the car and they know that it's going to be quite a poor season? until maybe later on and they had to kind grin and bear it, you can't exactly keep going, yeah, I'm driving a crap car, it's a tractor, woo!
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: Eventually it does kind of wear you down a bit. Have you seen the same for the Williams drivers?
Annika: I have, yeah. And I think like it's a bit of a combination of the both. Like obviously the car hasn't been the greatest. but also I think 'cause they've been in the sport for so long. They've gone through different eras of the cars and like predominantly the down for high downforce era. So we'll see sorry, ground effect, not down for ground effect era. Sorry. so maybe they're just like stills still like learning with the new Active Era and just kind of trying to get the grips of the car. And obviously we don't exactly know what's fully going on with the car. Like why is it as bad as it is? Like you know what's going on with the sashi? Like why is it so much overweight? What's been done that's not working like in terms of Activeero or or anything like that. So we'll we just have to kind of Give them a little bit of time now that they've brought brought the upgrade in, let's see what they're doing in Malaysia, what they're doing in Singapore, and then we can kind of start judging whether it is just a car or is it just them not getting used to the new regulations and the rules and the new era of the cars.
Coops: The only good thing that happened for Albon was he did spice up the race when he decided to
James: Yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: fire into the barriers. We had a few laps, the yellow flag, safety car,
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: a couple of guys jumped out of the pits. think if I'm right, Red Bull double stacked it. Was that the first one? It was.
James: Yeah. I think ever I th I'm pretty
Annika: Yeah.
James: sure everyone pitted. I think Carlos Sainz pitted beforehand, which was ironic as his teammate
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: probably cost him a few positions, but I'm pretty sure everyone sort of dived in. I don't know I don't remember anyone had pitted especially in the top, you know, seven or eight, ten places.
Annika: Mm.
James: I don't believe anyone had pitted by that
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: time, which is interesting 'cause again it was like lap thirty five or lap thirty one of fifty one. They were just pitted by that
Annika: Carlos had bitted by that point, but no one else had.
James: point. Yeah. Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, we'll get on to, we'll touch on the tires in a wee bit. Sorry, I at want to get your opinion on it, but restart, start, George did what he needed to do, kept it in first. And then Franco called the pinto. For anyone who doesn't know this reference, go back and watch Alex Virts in Canada. And you'll see why, because it was very much a similar situation. Goes down the inside, locks up. Loses control of the car, unfortunately hits his teammate who takes out Landon Norris. Behind him
James: Yeah.
Coops: the V car decided they wanted a piece of the same action, decided to hit each other and a V spin. That basically took out both Alpines, it took out Norris. Collapindo has a grid penalty for the next race.
James: A five place, yeah.
Annika: Yes,
Coops: Yep.
Annika: five place creep penalty. It was gonna be ten second penalty, but because obviously he retired Sorry.
Coops: They have to, yep, they have to do that.
James: Yeah.
Coops: So, it's not much of a discussion because it's not really that ambiguous. James really, he just got it wrong, didn't he?
James: Yeah. I think I think Lando's comments after the race about, you know, the drivers that that sort of mistake shouldn't be happening in Formula One or those drivers shouldn't be. I think that was probably just a bit of him a bit of adrenaline, a bit of annoyance. His race hadn't been going very well. I d I think it was I think you're right. It was just that first first lap, cold tides, cold breaks, outbroke himself. and we actually saw something very similar in the F two race. I believe in the feature race won yesterday, but obviously down I think it was down into turn three, had a quite a big lock up again and then sort of You have that concertina effect and it's sort of skittles piling into each other. So Yeah. Seven cars, yeah. And the w that was a bit more spectacular than this.
Annika: Yeah, seven cars were taken out in F two with that. Including the championship leader, including the then championship leader.
James: So I think you just have that I think you have those incidents. Obviously we haven't seen it full on for a while. it was it was unfortunate and of course it's even more unfortunate they crossed into his teammate and took out the running world champion. But yeah, a s a silly one. I I think Colo Pinto's actually done a decent job this year and sort of im and slowly improved and, you know, quietly improved. So yeah, an unfortunate one. And you know, as they say, sometimes safety cars breed safety cars and
Annika: Yeah.
James: There was a few there were a few near misses in the crowd already, to be honest. Gasly and Hamilton got very, very close to each other twice
Annika: yeah.
James: leading down into the first corner, which could have ended very badly. Lando just got himself in a bad position, actually very very nicely outbreak outbreaked people around the outside, but was also caught up. And like you say, Limblad and Limblad crashed into Gasly, which didn't go down well either. So there was a there was a few bits and pieces going on in there, but I think
Annika: Linblad clushed in crushed into his teammate.
James: Yeah. Yeah, which is never good.
Coops: Okay.
James: So like two two cardinal sins delivered there. So you don't want to be crushing into the teammate. But I think these
Annika: No.
James: things happen a very long straight, cold ties, cold breaks, lots of action going on. So what you know, you know what it is, you know what it feels like.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: It's probably a tiny little mistake that Color Codinto's made and it's made a massive error. You know, we saw both McLaren's lock up massively in that corner as well, without you know,
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: with with the warm ties and warm breaks as well. So Unfortunate for
Annika: Yeah.
James: him. Five I think a five player screw penalty is probably correct because he did take out he did end two people's races.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: but unfortunate. But this is I sometimes sometimes these things happen.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, I think, think, I think...
Annika: Right. Question for you both.
Coops: Mm-hmm.
Annika: Sorry, question for you both. Have you seen Lando's statement about it?
James: Yeah, it was pretty t pretty pretty forward.
Coops: Yeah, those types of drivers shouldn't be in Formula One.
Annika: Yeah, and he calls for Colapinto actually to be banned, I think, for one race, something
Coops: Mm-hmm. Yes, he did.
Annika: yeah. So what do you think of that?
James: Yeah, I think that I think that's a little bit extreme. I think if he it's not like
Annika: Yeah, same.
Coops: Nice.
James: I feel like we saw it with we saw it with Grosjon, we saw it with Maldonado back in the day. They it happened multiple times. You know, they were they were doing this thing, you know, there was a they were three or four weeks in a row with contacts, or five out of seven
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: weeks they were somehow crashing into each other, crashing and then they got the race ban. So I think that's a bit harsh. I think again, I think that's just adrenaline and frustration after
Annika: Mm.
James: after a difficult weekend ended badly for him. to to to say something like that, I think.
Coops: Yeah, but also
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: what think Landau needs to remember is both he and his teammate locked up and went wide at the same
James: Yeah.
Coops: corner.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: Just unfortunately, the call up until did it when there was other cars in front of him. So he kinda need to, like if he's saying that mistakes like that shouldn't be in Formula One, then has he never snatched a break, never ran wide, never missed an apex, locked a break, went wide. I mean, look at the mistake he made last year on his own teammate and wiped himself out. Should he get himself
James: Mm.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: a ban because he shouldn't be making those mistakes? You're probably right.
James: Yeah.
Coops: Probably as a wee bit of the anger, the weekend didn't go very well. They had new parts in the car that have been ruined. You know, the budget cap as well with repairing the car. And I think more than anything, he just didn't have a good weekend. Piastri
James: Yeah.
Coops: seemed to have his number the whole weekend, which was weird considering 12 months ago. Yeah,
James: Yeah.
Coops: I think... five place good part is probably fair because the stewards know who Colapinto's boss is in that team and don't think
Annika: Ha.
Coops: you really want to go back into that garage with that person with those
Annika: Mm.
Coops: weird coloured glasses just standing there.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: And then if you caught the news Ted Kravitz was saying that the team principal just got off when he got into the garage he just stepped
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: off the pit wall and walked straight to the garage behind Colapinto. You're like run run!
Annika: Yep. Yeah, he did, yeah.
James: Yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
James: Calopoto kept his helmet on for that.
Coops: The mechanics in his side of the gauge were just like, sorry boss, didn't he see you fall? sorry, they're just
James: Yeah.
Coops: getting in the way while they're picking up a spanner or something. Just to give Cole the pinto a chance to get away out to the back.
Annika: Yeah. Mm-hmm. But also
James: Yeah.
Annika: talking about penalties, ca Carlos Sainz got a five crit place drop. Did you think that was fair?
James: I didn't Yeah, yellow flag infringement.
Coops: It was a yellow flag, yellow flag infringement, wasn't it?
Annika: Yeah.
James: What was it for? Was it not slowing enough or is it?
Annika: So basically 'cause
Coops: Yeah, you know, yeah.
Annika: it was in consec as far as I understood, it was in the yellow flag was in with two consecutive session sections and he
James: Yeah.
Annika: wanted to do like an umbrella slowdown across those two and he explained that to the stewards and everything like that, because he didn't slow down on that straight or he didn't lift on that straight because he didn't see any hazard around.
James: Mm.
Annika: And Lando had already cleared off at that point from the turn that he had went wide and that caused the yellow flag. So but they still gave him a five grade drop.
James: Yeah. I think those sort of things like the I feel they can be pretty cut and dry for the for the FIA. And I think sometimes drivers trying to explain I think Max does it really well that sometimes but there'll be those yellows. There might it might not be an obvious obvious, you know, issue or something, but he always he always has that momentary blip of the accelerator to say he's lifted off. And I think
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: sometimes you just need to you need to play by those rules. I think they're gonna catch you. Do you what I mean? It's like sometimes you can't explain those things away. And I think actually
Annika: Yeah. I like Yeah. But
James: that five plays probably stopped stopped science scoring more points 'cause I think if he you know, he was in a good place with the in the race, obviously that the safety card didn't help him and he still finished tenth.
Annika: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
James: He probably would have finished at least in in front of the two hases potentially. So it cost him a few cost him a few points there. But I think those sometimes those ones are probably a little bit cut and dry. And also I haven't seen the the footage entirely anyway.
Annika: Yeah. But also like he he had lifted off but he just hadn't lifted off sufficient sufficiently in both
James: okay.
Annika: sessions and especially in both like sections and
James: And both sectors. Yeah.
Annika: specifically on that straight because he didn't see any hazard around. He just went
James: Just straight. Yeah.
Coops: I think it's probably fair because yellow flag infringements are pretty stringent. Also, it's not about whether you see a hazard. If you've got a yellow flag, you need to slow down. And he just didn't slow down enough.
Annika: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
James: Yeah.
Coops: that's the way the regulations are written. You need to, yeah.
Annika: Well he thought yeah. He thought he had yeah, as far as I understood, I thought he had slowed down enough to cover the both sectors, but apparently he hadn't.
Coops: Right, we've been talking for half an hour, we haven't mentioned the winner and the top teams,
James: Ha ha.
Coops: so we're going to jump on quickly. It's a strange thing to say, this is the first Grand Slam for George
James: Yeah.
Coops: Russell, first time he's won
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: a race from being pole position, first the whole race and won it. Weirdly, there's not much to say other than... It's basically been his weekend and it's a weekend that's a long time coming for him and it's really going to spur him on now. It's right in the perfect time I think. Start of the triple header, he's got himself in that groove, got a perfect weekend. Is there much else we can really add, Annika, to that? It's been just the weekend he's needed for quite a few weeks now.
Annika: It was definitely the weekend he needed. And also what a qualie lap. He is the
Coops: Ciao!
Annika: third driver who's had a quality margin of over eight tenths. So there's been three other drivers Yeah, there's in
James: The other two in the wet weren't they as well. Yeah.
Coops: Nice.
Annika: in dry conditions. So the there's been two other drivers who've done it in dry conditions and then George did it this weekend. That lap Was absolutely amazing.
Coops: Yeah, there's nothing else you can say. He
James: Yeah, you just Yeah. You put it all together.
Coops: just got it all right. It's
Annika: It was his weekend.
James: Yeah.
Coops: almost like what Max would have been like if he finished that Saudi Arabian lap when he mainly hit the wall right at the very end and it was basically
James: Hm. Yeah.
Coops: a V perfect lap until that point.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: But yeah, we'll move away from George. I know it's weird. We've only spoke to him for a couple of minutes, but you know, when it's perfect, perfect. You can't really do much else. He did everything right.
James: Hmm. I I would say that obviously I think you're right, he was disappearing. I think that's the thing. You can't really say too much. But one thing I would say is I think he held on to Verstappen very well. Again, cool, calm, and collected at the
Annika: Mm.
James: front. He probably had that pace. He didn't quite eke out enough to, you Verstappen was constantly in that in his in his straight line mode or overtake mode, whatever want to call it. But I thought I thought George drove very nicely there, kept it cool and and and completed the job. I if Verstappen had overtaken him, that would have felt like a real gut punch. but he he got the job done. Oof.
Annika: yeah.
Coops: If he got him on the line that would have been horrendous. That would have been terrible.
James: That would have been yeah. But so he did he he he completed
Annika: Mm. Yeah.
James: the job which he needed to do.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Yeah, and it was nice at the end, just give us that one take just to be able to look at that.
James: Yeah yeah.
Annika: Yeah. And and also considering that he's probably gonna take an engine penalty in Kota, then grabbing those points now is absolutely
James: Mm, good point.
Annika: essential.
Coops: Yeah, Kimi was a strange one for me. I said, let's keep it on Mercedes quickly. Not much to say about Kimi other than he didn't really move very far quickly up the order from 16th at the start, lost the place at the start, but he kind of stayed round about the teens for quite a while, which I was quite surprised at. And then obviously he got himself into a decent position and then he get helped by the safety car, bunched things up. And I think if I remember right, seventh was his finish or was it higher?
James: No, think he finished fifth, didn't he? Yeah, it was fifth in the end. I th I think he was lucky 'cause I think he probably would
Annika: Five fifty.
Coops: Is it fifth? So.
James: have finished tenth, ninth or tenth without the safety car, you know.
Annika: Mm hmm. Yeah,
Coops: Yeah,
Annika: I think so.
Coops: which is the only block for George because he needs to try and get as many points. But, you know, he
Annika: Mm.
Coops: did exactly what he needed to do and whatever happens, happens.
James: Mm.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: The Red Bulls I'm going to jump on to quickly because they look fucking rabid. They were late. I'm like, yeah,
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: they're going straight through. We're going to have a Red Bull one, two. Morgan's going to be bouncing, thinking it's amazing. And they just didn't quite have enough. And I think the was it Piazzotti's the middle sector was just too good for McLaren which just kept him where they needed to be.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: For anyone who doesn't know the reason that the Red Bulls seem to have that kind of final sector on McLaren was their upgrades are good. They're just a wee bit draggy for such a long straight. So the middle sector just done enough, just kept him enough. Versapin did as much as he could I think. I don't think there's much more he could have done, especially with the lack of. degradation with the tyres, there isn't much movement in terms of strategy in that regard. So
Annika: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Coops: is there anything that you want to say about Max other than pretty much what he could have done he did?
James: I think he I think he maximized, didn't he? I think they were they right you say they were rapid. That ma that gap in the back of their wing looks absolutely huge compared to the other teams. It's
Coops: Yay.
James: that's massive.
Annika: Mm.
James: one thing I would say is I think I would be intrigued to have known, and I I know we'll never know now, but it would be intriguing to know if they had released Hadjar when he was looking the quicker driver, when Max was struggling that middle stint with the mediums, just because when we s when they obviously switched over to the after the safety car, Max went on to the softs and Hadjar went on to the mediums. And so did George Ronald Sov. They just pulled away from Isaac. And I know slightly different track conditions, better tie quality. It would have been easy interesting to see if if if Isaac had been able to get ahead of Piastri and what potentially he would be able to do in the race. But
Annika: Mm.
James: I think I think Red Bull maximized it. Realistically, would they have caught George? Probably not. If they could if they weren't like had the pace to get past Piastri, would they really necessarily have closed
Annika: Mm.
James: that seven, eight second their second gap? I don't think so. So I think they they did what as best they could, and that that that pace at the at the end between George and Max, you know, they just disappeared. So I think a really good weekend for for Red Bull. I do I do really like seeing that huge gap in their wing. It is hilarious. And and it's good to see Hajar back. You he's proved again that it was the right decision to put him in the car. He's he's earned that spot to be straight
Annika: Mm-hmm.
James: back on the podium after, you know, six weeks out with a wrist injury. I think that's fantastic for him as well.
Annika: Also he broke the
Coops: Yeah
Annika: contact contract extension curse that's been going on this year.
James: Yes. She's always good. Yeah.
Coops: Well, there you go. Take some weeks
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: off, get your contract extended, get on the podium.
James: Yeah.
Coops: Yeah, again, it's one of those ones where you kind of have to seek to believe it. It wasn't one of those kind of he locked into it. Isaac Hadjar is exactly the partner that Red Bull need for Max Verstappen. He will follow the team game, but he's not just innocently following, do what you want. He's kind of like, I want to go on. He'll have a wee try.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: He is my driver of the day, George Russell. Yes, he a good weekend, but you can expect that from him. He should be doing that. It's the best car on the grid. Antonelli is so far in front. He should be up there all the time. Isaac's came back after being three weekends away, four or five weeks, whatever it's been, out with a wrist injury. And that's not a track to be sniffed at in terms of using your wrists and you're turning the car. It's not
Annika: Mm.
Coops: like a Monza where there's its gradients. a couple of wee small kind of turns here and there. There's a lot of right angles at Baku. I'm going to quickly talk about, there's no much else to talk about in terms of other cars. It's a strange one to say because Ferrari were there. I don't remember them doing particularly much, just they were there. Sorry,
James: Na
Coops: Sock. yeah, they did
Annika: Ha ha ha
Coops: their bit. They didn't quite have the pace to do anything really. They weren't particularly, yeah.
James: that the straight line lack of straight line speed hurt them really. They were sort of just falling back, weren't they?
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Yeah, they weren't really in the fight, but they weren't completely out of the fight. They were just kind of there in the background.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: A couple of other teams, Haas had a good weekend, got themselves both into the points. And Carlos Sainz got him tenth for Williams. That's a huge point for the weekend. Hopefully they can build on it. I'm going to kind of quickly wrap it up. going to just, I've probably already said it for myself, but is there anyone other than Isaac Hajjar that you think James is your driver of the day?
James: Yeah, I think I think I'm gonna give it to George just because he dominated the weekend, that qualifying that was incredible. And he probably would have won this race by twenty seconds without the safety car, and then he held on nicely. So I do think kudos to him. It was a weekend that he dominated, needed to get the points, and he's gained some time on Kimmy. Gained some points on Kimmy. So I I I'll give it to George, but Isaac, yeah, a hundred percent is is is worthy of it as well. But I'm gonna give it to the race winner.
Coops: Annika, what about you as another driver of the day that you wanted to mention?
Annika: Well, I was gonna give it to Isaac or George, but I think I'm gonna say Max because obviously starting way back from P eight, quite early on he was up there with Isaac, like he was literally as Isaac overtook, he overtook everything and the last stint with like getting really close to George and all that, like obviously great race dominated in F P three as well. So yeah, I'm gonna give it to Max 'cause The others were already taken, but Max deserves it as well.
Coops: Fair enough, three different opinions, not bad
James: Mm.
Annika: Ha ha ha
Coops: at all. Before we go, wanker of the day for me, and we'll touch on this, and there's a reason
James: Yeah.
Coops: why I've mentioned this, is Pirelli. I'm gonna bring these guys in as the bad guys of the weekend, because they brought the tyres, think it was C something or other. C, not very good for racing, basically, because it was
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: the harder tyre to the point where... I think it was mentioned in the coverage that if it wasn't a rule about going into the pits, they just wouldn't have went into the pits. On the soft, yeah,
James: Yeah. On the softs as well. They thought the softs could finish the race. Yeah.
Annika: Mm. Yeah.
Coops: that's just really not good enough, it? mean, the commentators called out and said Pirelli should have brought the softer set of tires
Annika: Mm.
Coops: rather than the, cause they went a step harder from last year, which is the wrong way to go. The softer you go, the more they degrade.
Annika: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and even in qual yeah.
James: I d I I don't yeah.
Annika: And even in quality, like well
James: Even quality they couldn't warm up, could they? Yeah.
Annika: there's that, but also like the Q one and Q two they did the stints on the same tires, like both stints on the same tyres. They didn't even change tires.
James: Yeah. It's I think it's wild.
Coops: I think it's classed as a negative degradation, in other words the tyres just didn't degrade, they just
Annika: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
James: Yeah.
Coops: did their bit. Maybe degraded a wee bit more, there's the
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: dirt to air effect which means they'll lose a wee bit grip, not as bad as it used to be in the years, different generations of Formula One. But again, I
James: Yeah. Still.
Coops: think they need to do something, they need to make them a bit softer.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: Overall I think the whole lot needs to be just a wee bit softer. I don't want things to be engineered where they kind of almost fall off a cliff where you have to suddenly on ice ranking you have to dive into the pits
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: but there needs to be something because we
James: Yeah.
Annika: Mm.
Coops: all know we've watched enough of Formula One I think you look at Japan the tyre didn't degrade the track meant that it was grippy all the time and it ended up being a particularly boring race especially when the teams are as good as they are from top to bottom if you have not got that variable in there racing is just not going to work
James: Yeah, I agree with you.
Annika: Mm.
James: Yeah, I'll
Coops: you know...
James: I'll second your bank of the day for that. Absolutely fine with that. Because
Annika: Same.
James: I think I think P Perelli should be aiming to have the one stop and the two stop at the very least be very similar in in time. So you have to there's an option. If every single every single team does the exact same one-stop strategy, that's not that's you're not doing your job as a ed as a tire supplier. They should at least be At the very least, having a one and two stop being very similar times to add that strategy. If not, I'd love them to have like two stop be the like the norm. Two stops should be what they're aiming for every time because it adds something. It creates a bit more, you know, difference, adds that strategy. And I agree with you, Cute. It's like going harder watching Azerbaijan last year is just wild. Cause you think, well, there's I
Annika: Mm.
James: don't think I don't think a team's ever done two stops of that on a safety car in it. Do you know what I It it just seems that there'd something needs to be done and they just seem they continue seem to be They're too safety orientated, which I know is a bit of a buzzword at the moment in Formula One, but they're a bit safe on it. They they need to they need to push the boundaries and I agree that you don't sh they shouldn't necessarily fall off the cliff, but there needs to be that variance and that dispute
Coops: Okay.
James: between the one top and the two top at least that
Annika: Mm.
James: at least creates that strategy, at least makes the teams think on their feet, you know?
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: Yeah, and if you've got a soft tire that doesn't degrade and your medium tire definitely doesn't degrade, there's enough. What's the point of having them? What's the point
James: Yeah.
Coops: of having these tires
Annika: Mm.
Coops: there if that's not going to work? So yeah, I think they said it in the coverage. We'll keep an eye on it as, know, every track's had to keep an eye on all the news, but it looks like they're going to go generally softer for next season. They're going to change the kind of makeup of the tires
Annika: Mm.
Coops: for next year. I mean, in all fairness, to be a wee bit of devil's side for Pirelli, it's a thankless task being a Tiger supplier, because
James: Yeah yeah.
Coops: when you've got Formula One going, you to do this, then you've got us going, that's not good enough. they're like, you know, the issue for this weekend for me is there was the option to go softer. You had that, you've got the movement, because as we all know, it's between one and six, between six being the, I want to say the hardest, I might get that round wrong way.
James: You're right.
Coops: One is the hardest, one is the softest and the three tyres go between 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 and whatever. So they could have went down a step lower, they could have kept it the same, they could have decided let's go even further softer. Maybe next year they'll go instead of one step down, they'll go two steps down and really make the tyres, your soft tyre is literally the qualifying tyre because it's just not going to be at any point. And then
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: you've got other options as Jamie says, there's strategy involved in it. And that's the biggest part of Formula One, it's all about the strategy. If take that element out, you've got not much to watch really. We all
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: watched that French Grand Prix for a few years ago. The fact the
Annika: Yeah.
James: Yeah.
Coops: highlights showed everybody's full pit stop in full
James: Yeah.
Annika: Yeah.
Coops: and that was in a 50 minute highlight package shows you how exciting that race was.
Annika: Yeah. But also like you need to have that variety with the tires. Like what if you have a late late stage safety car or early safety car and you don't wanna go up because you feel like your tire like you just don't wanna you only have like medium or hard left and you just won't be able to get them up to temperature if it's a late stage one. You need that like super soft tire to be able to be there or thereabouts and fight for the positions even in the late stage
James: Yeah.
Annika: saf after the late stage safety car.
James: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. You d you need that variance.
Coops: I think they should also stop you. Yeah, you need, I think they also need to stop the changing of the tires when they have a red flag.
James: Mm.
Coops: Because that kills things for strategy. It happened in Monaco. They changed the tires, nobody went in the pits. And then, know, Monaco's a poor race, to give you an example of the best of times. You know, and even if you have to do it for safety by changing the tire, give them the same compound then. Don't change the compound. Or
James: Yeah.
Coops: you were in
Annika: Mm.
Coops: medium, you haven't been in the pits yet. Well, you need to go back onto medium again and you still need to go in the
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: pits. You know, it needs to be that
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: sort of thing. But yeah, I think there's not much else to mention. We will have a preview for the Malaysian, sorry, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. See how stupid Formula One can get with the names.
Annika: You got it right.
James: Yeah.
Coops: We went from, let's have a really long one, to let's just say we're having the Bahrain Grand Prix Malaysia. Clearly it's contractual because they don't want to extend contracts. It's actually going to be part of the contract that Bahrain
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: Grand Prix did actually have been held. It's just in a weird place.
Annika: Mm-hmm.
Coops: It's going to be PubQuiz lower in a few years time, I'd imagine. What
James: Yeah.
Coops: was so special about the 2026? Bahrain Grand Prix. It's going to catch a few people out. We will be back very soon because we will be previewing that Grand Prix. We'll get a few people on, get some opinions. I don't know, Erica, you haven't seen any of the Malaysian Grand Prix stuff before. That track is an amazing track.
Annika: Ages and ages and ages and ages and ages ago so I do not really remember. So and I can't even remember if when I watched I found that they race in Malaysia. So
James: Mm.
Annika: yeah, it's gonna be a com yeah. It's a completely new track for me.
Coops: It's been a long time since it's been away. It's one of the better tracks.
James: It's a good one. It's one of the favourites that dropped off.
Coops: So
James: jealous.
Coops: I'm really excited to see how this will work and how this will look with the new generation of cairs. All that's left for me to say is thanks very much for coming on. Thanks, James.
James: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Coops: No bother at all. Annika, thanks very much for coming on.
Annika: Thanks Thanks a million.
Coops: No bother, I've been Coops, I've been your host Don't worry, Sean will be back very very soon Malaysia is on this weekend We'll get the preview up at the start of the week Until then, see you later Bye!
Annika: See ya.
James: See ya.
