Ferrari Triumph as McLaren Fumble! | F1 2024 Italian GP Reaction

hello everybody Welcome to the post race reaction podcast for the Monaco Grand Prix and the race had lots of little battles throughout strategy mixup some collisions to make sure that the order kept getting changed throughout it just felt like everybody had to battle for all 53 laps and that's exactly what we want to see in Monza and Monza does seem to deliver just some really fun entertaining races consistently in terms of the finishing order Shir managed to come out the victor the Ferrari we'll talk a lot about that with Oscar piash and Lando Norris behind in second and third place respectively Carlos SS in the other Ferrari came home fourth then Lewis Hamilton was fifth Max V stappen in sixth place which actually ended up being probably a little bit better than he was expecting George Russell in seventh place Sergio Perez in eighth Alex albon picking up another couple of points for Williams in ninth place and Kevin Magnuson had another very mixed weekend finished in 10th picked up point but also picked up another couple of points in a different vein Fernando Alonzo picked up 11th Place just outside the points for Aston Martin colapinto managed to finish in 12th Place on his Formula 1 debut Daniel Ricardo came home in 13th esman okon 14th with his teammate Pierre gazley behind him in 15th Place alter botas in 16th Nico hulkenberg 17th Joe Guang Yu in 18th and Lance stroll the final finisher in 19th Place one retirement from Yuki sonoda and it wasn't really his fault in any way whatsoever that does changed the driver standings just a little bit Max vapen still on 303 points leading the way at the top of the championship but Lando Norris does close the gap once again 241 points to the McLaren car charlot Clair still in third place 217 and then it's it's kind of everyone where you'd expect them to be to be honest with you Kevin Magnus picking up a point finally gets himself equal with Ole bman but that could change next weekend we'll get into why that Alex Alon also then gets himself up onto six points ahead of estban okon Logan Sergeant just stays ahead of colapinto because Logan s managed an 11th Place finish this season just one place better than colapinto so far and valter botas moves into 22nd in a 22 driver champion ship then in terms of the constractor championship Red Bull still topping it but ever increasing that pressure from McLaren they are now only a few points behind just eight points separate Red Bull and McLaren at the top of the table Ferrari also putting themselves into contention doesn't feel like too long ago we were talking about Ferrari being kind of out of it Ferrari could definitely catch Red Bull if the form continues as it was in Monza Mercedes in fourth place kind of a little bit of a no man's land for them unfortunately just too far off those top three teams in my opinion Aston Martin same kind of thing in fifth place RB H Alpine Williams stay where they are and stake Sala still on zero points so far this season it was a ridiculous Monza Grand Prix it really was let's get straight into it there's too many things to talk about at this point sorry about there being no guests unfortunately this week couldn't get hold of somebody um after there was a late cancellation but absolutely fair and one of those things that we will get over and there will be guests back in a couple of week time for the aaban Grand Prix but let's talk back you because as I said FS of Ferrari fors ofir absolutely amazing drive from Char clir another curveball in this insane season and Ferrari like the big change this weekend for them was obviously the brand new flaw on that Ferrari car yes they had a new front Wing yes they had a new rear wing that was specifically for Monza but they do that every single year they always bring a Monza package hoping that they can win in front of the toosi and they managed it for the third time in the last 15 16 years with Charla Clair picking up his second victory in Monza he really is becoming a Ferrari hero but as I was talking about that brand new floor on the Ferrari car obviously we don't get to see too much of it a lot of the interesting stuff is underneath the car and unless Charla Clair or Carla science has a big spin in the last eight races and we get to see underneath the car because it's lifted up by a crane we're not going to see those big changes but the ventury tunnels the floor that we can see on the side of the car the Angles and position of those completely different to what we saw beforehand trying to control that bouncing issue that they had and it seemed to work obviously monzer isn't the most bouncy of circuits they do have the new track layout to help them out a little bit there and also the fact that the track has been resurfaced but Char declair putting in a really really good run and Carlos SS also being incredibly positive about this weekend's running but even with that upgrade we still needed Char clir to put in a master class in terms of Tire Whispering with that final stint it was ridiculous to see how well he was able to hold on to those tires and if you haven't seen it I really really implore you to go and look at the onboard go and look at the videos because there was actually an amazing video by f1tv that looked into all the things that charlot Clair was doing especially in the last kind of 10 15 laps to keep those tires in perfect condition or as as perfect as they can be whilst still putting in the lap times that you need to to keep yourself ahead of the rest of the pack I mean he was doing such subtle things as well like through turn 11 turning the wheel really gently but just about carrying the moment through turn 11 to make sure that that front left which was the one that was graining most for everybody to be honest that front left tire didn't slide across the track in anyway it's like the smoothest turn 11 that you'll see from charlot Clair and then also through the chicanes through turn one through turn two four and five as well just making sure that he used the curbs just the right amount like he wasn't bouncing around inside that Ferrari car at no point did you see the Ferrari jump up in the air like you did see with some of the McLaren Mercedes behind but the Ferrari planted to the ground using just enough curb every single lap absolutely beautiful from charlot Clair really worth watching those onboards cuz as I say just a a stunning class in how to keep hold of your tires in that perfect window and that perfect balance between keeping the tires in a position where they're going to make it to the end of the Grand Prix without falling off a cliff whilst also maintaining the pace needed to keep in front of those McLaren cars and keep the McLaren at Bay towards the end and given the Ferrari seemed like the fourth fastest car really it's it's been a little while since we've talked about Ferrari properly battling for victories I guess Monaco was a little bit of an outlier track and we were starting to get into the position where it was like are Ferrari just going to be the master of the outliers you know the Monaco the singapor are they just going to be able to win those sort of four five grand prix throughout the season and actually they not be the conversation and be clearly the fourth fastest car for the rest of those races but now it's just one of those things that this season is continuing to throw up another ridiculous change in that Ferrari just reminded us this weekend that when they do get the car in the right situation when they do have the car in the right spot and the drivers are comfortable inside of it and able to get the pace that is under the Hood in that Ferrari out on track they really are a force to be reckoned with and can continue to win races this season and I think the fact that both drivers were so optimistic coming off the back of this weekend even Carlos SS who just missed out on the podium places didn't quite have the pace that charl clir did it was weird actually because Carlos SS obviously came in after Char lir for those final tires but charir running in the Clean Air having a little bit better time with the traffic as well was able to just do that a little bit more whereas Carlos SS had already lost a lot of time to the McLaren in the first in and therefore wasn't able to hold on to those Podium places but both of the Ferrari drivers really optimistic that this floor change and this change to the Ferrari car in general won't just be good in Monza but actually they now seem to understand it that little bit better and they'll be able to move on to the next eight races and continue to be competitive which again just makes it even more exciting when we were talking about Ferrari maybe being the fourth fastest and having three teams battling for victories and now looks like we might have three teams battling for victories but the Red Bull is the team that we're now thinking oh were they a little bit off the pace are they going to be able to battle for victories once again in 2024 this season has had so many ups and downs it really has been a roller coaster and I honestly even though I'm a McLaren fan I do hope that that floor does really click for Ferrari and are competitive in the last few races and I I do want to see it work because I do want to see a really competitive 2025 season where we've got all four of those top four teams swapping drivers obviously going into next year and then also swapping Victory swapping podiums and being really really close to one another throughout the entire season not giving Max for stappen a six race Head Start in the drivers Championship even with a dnf in Australia and obviously missing out in the victory in Miami it did feel like Max for stappen just had too big of a lead we'll get into whether that is the case a little bit later on but really positive from Ferrari really happy for them to win in Monza as frustrating as it is as a McLaren fan shall we talk about McLaren got this picture here of Lando noris and there is Chatter once again that Lando Norris messed up the starts Lando Norris starting from pole position but losing places on the first lap and I just don't think that's the case this time look i' I've been there in in Barcelona I said it I said that you know he looked too much at Max Ven and was worried too much about that and he missed up the start there I am more than happy to kind of throw in the flag when Lon Norris does make a mistake I don't think he made a mistake here in moner I did say before the race that I was worried about Landon Norris going into turn four but that was just because looking at his qualifying time it was the second sector which was really where the McLaren came to life under Lando Norris and therefore I felt like if he could get out of turn five in the lead we would see Lando Norris win the race it was literally he was millimeters away from getting through turn five in the lead but turn four Oscar piash goes for the move and fair enough Lon noris loses that place and I don't know I just feel like I get that McLaren don't want to interfere with the drivers and I get that you know this whole McLaren rules thing was talked about lots and over the course of the race and the McLaren rules clearly state that Oscar panre is allowed to go for the victory over Lando Norris and they don't have to work as a team as long as the move is sort of safe and neither car is damaged in that but applying that to the race or or sort of saying that in principle sounds great you know you're like okay you're allowing your drivers to race you're allowing your drivers to do whatever they want to do and that sounds like the best thing for Formula 1 and for your team because you've got two competitive drivers that can keep battling at the top top level doing it in practice doing it in the race where Lando Norris and oscap asri that first lap scuffle that they have I think does make the difference and does change the complexion of the entire race compared to if Oscar piastri had been ordered to just sit in behind Lando Norris maybe they can have a battle with one another a little bit later on in the Grand Prix you know you say to your drivers for the first five six laps right if you're one two going out of turn two then down towards turn four turn five again do the same thing keep yourselves to a breast but make sure nobody else can get past and make sure that we're one two coming out of the final the first lap right as long as we're onew coming out of the first lap then they can build a little Gap then they can build a lead up and therefore if they want to have a little battle at the end of that stints or in the second stint where they've built up enough of a gap to the rest of the field absolutely Fair enough but that little scuffle those few seconds lost you know you look at the fact that Oscar piash only finished the race just three seconds behind charir again it just feels so silly that they are having that battle and not working as a team and you know you're looking at the constructor's championship the driver's Championship the fact that they could close in on Red Bull they they just don't seem to be taking the opportunities that are handed to them and it's it's really frustrating in and then on top of that Oscar patri going for that move opens the door for charl Clair to take second place in the Grand Prix and the McLaren aren't then able to cruise off into the distance together at least if Lon Norris was still in second place Oscar piash and Lon Norris could have built that lead together in the McLaren but they don't they have charl clir now in the middle of them and they have to then change their entire race strategy because they now have to plan around charir in the middle like Lando Norris had to try and undercut charl clir had to go for that move a little bit earlier had to pit a little bit earlier so he wasn't then able to do a one stop that was never an option for him he always had to go for the two- stop because he had to go for that undercut similar with Oscar pastri he realized that charl Clair was stopping he then has to think about what charl Clair is going to do next whereas if you've got a onew and we see this a lot with those big teams towards the front you look at the Mercedes dominance when you had Hamilton and botas onew so consistently Mercedes never really felt like they were under threat they were never under pressure and okay yes the car was a lot more um ahead in comparison to the rest of the field but I don't know it just really doesn't click with me the fact that they are allowing the two drivers to race and I think that kind of mentality I want to say it's a bit naive I think Tomo literally put out a video and said it was naive I'm thinking of that short that he put out now I think he is naive I think he's absolutely spot on in terms of that thought process and the fact that McLaren maybe thought that they had the one two locked up so well that they could allow their two drivers to race and that just isn't the case you need to make sure you need to guarantee that when those positions arrive when those opportunities arrive you get them and it's it's very very annoying and I get it you know I get that Oscar patri on the first lap he earned that position like let's talk about the positives for Oscar piash in there because a lot of people were saying you know is Oscar piash now going to be that number two driver to Norris for the rest of the season I think this is hard and fast absolutely not from Oscar pastri and this is Oscar pastri kind of putting his stamp down on the team and being like just because Lando is ahead of me in the championship now you know Lando did also get the upgrades before me Lando has had a lot of things before I have in this McLaren team and Oscar patri has no will to want to be Lando Norris's number two he has no will to want to be the second driver in that McLaren team and I I get that Oscar piash earned that lead and it was a really really good move down towards turn four like expertly timed and positioned you look at OS as defending really well from George Russell through the first Corner then you obviously have the fact that well he does clip George Russell but I feel like George Russell was slightly more at fault for that to be honest with you and therefore nothing really came of it then round turn three he gets into the slips room of Lon Norris sells him a little bit of a dummy maybe catches Lon Norris a little bit short Lon Norris not expecting the move move from his teammate down towards turn four but the the racing between the two of them was absolutely perfect the fact that neither of the McLarens came together in any M meaningful way and the fact that he pushed his teammate so wide he actually opens the door to charlot Clair I mean if they were in a championship battle say and it was Oscar pastri trying to beat Lando Norris to the championship that's exactly what you want to do right you want to put a driver in between you and your Championship rival to make it a little bit more complicated I kept saying that on the live stream every single time like Oscar pastri or Lando Norris came out of the pits it felt like there was always a car in between always a back marker that they had to get over I think it was Alex Alor after the second stint where Alex Alor was in the way of Lon Norris and Lon Norris just had an extra car to have to deal with because he dropped so far back from Oscar piastri in the first stint and that's exactly what you want if you're Oscar pastri you're making sure that your teammate doesn't really have any real run at you whilst you're getting your tires into the window you want them to be in really really good drive from oscap asri have to say that you know I I know that not working together and I know I've just talked about them not working together being a massive negative but I think the positive you can take away from this weekend is Lando Norris absolutely dominated zambor Oscar piastri was clearly quicker than Lando Norris here this weekend you have a proper driver in Oscar piash and just keeps doing the the things that I want him to do to prove that he is going to be right at the top end right at the sharp end and probably battling for championships at some point in that McLaren C I'm really really excited to see it obviously though both Lando Norris and Oscar patri disappointed was the words that they used and uh frustrated after the Grand Prix because the McLaren team just let another win slip through their fingers it does feel like that Gap to Max ven could have been so much smaller and especially on a weekend where Max V stappen really struggled in the Red Bull I'm going to talk about Red Bull in a second but 62 points now the Gap could have been so much more you know you're looking at Lando Norris gaining an extra 10 points if he wins the Grand Prix today down to 52 points I know that he has to average eight points gained on Max V stappen throughout these last few races and he he did manage eight points gained in the first race and he has managed eight points gained in the second race but averaging eight points does not mean getting exactly eight points every single weekend there's going to have to be weekends where if Landon Norris is going to do this Landon Norris picks up 25 points and Max for stappen picks up well 0 one two four like that is the kind of Gap that you need you need one of those weekends because there is going to be an on the flip side of that there's going to be a weekend where Max maaan does finish ahead of Lando Norris but I don't think this Championship is going to be a walk in the park Lando Norris just has to manage eight points every single weekend and the the McLaren will now always be ahead of the Red Bull I do think there's going to be weekends where Max foren is better and I don't know I just keep getting told that M McLaren are the second fastest team or the fastest team on the grid sorry I keep getting told that McLaren should now win the Constructor Championship they should win it easily ahead of Red Bull easily ahead of Ferrari but I just can't see it happening because every single time I'm told that McLaren are the f Fest team and I I agree they are the fastest time out on track right now every single time I'm told that you know from Miami to now they've only managed two grand prix victories a hungry Victory and then obviously last weekend in zampo that is the same as Ferrari Ferrari have managed to win in Monaco and in Monza at no point am I ever told that Ferrari are the fastest team and yet they've managed to do exactly the same in terms of Victories when it comes to McLaren and then Mercedes in that time have managed three victories you know and I'm told that the McLaren car is the fastest car and the McLaren team should be winning the Grand Prix but Mercedes will won more Grand Prix in that time and I know that that's what we want I know that that's competitive right I know that we won Mercedes winning a few Ferrari winning a few McLaren winning a few Red Bull winning a few all four of those top teams sharing the victories between them maybe even a victory for an outside like crazy winner an Alex Alba or Fernando Alonzo or something ridiculous along the way would be even more insane but just the fact that McLaren should be doing better and for the team to have such a good car and come away from almost every single weekend as a oh maybe that should have happened maybe we should have done this maybe we should have done that and then we'd have won you know Austria there was obviously the the collision between Max um and Lando even Barcelona the fact that Lando threw the victory away just just so many Belgium didn't go their way it's starting to get really frustrating being a McLaren fan which it shouldn't be right I should be so positive because look at where they have come in the last two seasons they started the 2023 season as the slowest car they should not be winning races 18 months later but they are they they are winning races and they should be winning more is what I'm arguing but very very frustrating to be a McLaren fan lots of things that that needs to be tinkered with and that McLaren rules driving we'll see how that kind of plays out Red Bull all over the place once again Max ven really really not happy and Max saen just couldn't turn the car again if you want to watch an onboard that kind of shows you how much match the Sten was struggling watching on board of his final uh flying lap in qualifying compared to Lando Norris's flying lap in qualifying and specifically the final sector like turn eight turn nine turn 10 turn 11 and even well turn 11 specifically you'll see Lon norres hit the Apex Drive Away obviously get that car onto Pole Position really good lap from Lon noris you'll see Max V Sten try and do exactly the same thing on the wheel and the car just drift over to the left and drift away from the Apex and he's really hammering the wheel trying to do everything possible to find some grip in that red bull car but the car just continues to drift over to the left hand side of the track and that's where he lost so much time like he was actually Max V stappen and Lando noris had near identical qualifying times up to that final sector then through 8 n and 10 Max stappen loses a couple attempts then through turn 11 loses another couple attempts and that's the difference right between pole position and seventh place now it is so competitive three corners can be the difference between pole position and starting nowhere near even in contention for vict is is absolutely brilliant but also a disaster for Red Bull and again Max V stappen Sergio Perez said they were fighting a monster of a car this weekend then on top of that you're add in the fact that they had slow pit stops a 6.2 second stop for Max ven obviously that rear left getting stuck just really ruined any chance of him going for an alternative strategy and killed any hope of Max VPP and getting anywhere close to any of the Podium places I think he'll be fairly happy with a sixth place finishing ahead of a Mercedes probably wasn't in his running order considering everything that went wrong and the fact that on top of that so had a really poor qualifying where the car wasn't in the right window had terrible pit stops a strategy that wasn't going to work and then also an engine problem as well he had clipping in the engine at the top top speed uh when the battery wasn't deployed fully so that's just happened just raining through his battery which is something that you want to try and keep just in case you need it to try and overtake somebody ahead never going to happen for Max for staan and sixth place finish was all he could really do do um I don't know with with Christian haet even saying with the pace that we had today both championships are absolutely under pressure for sure so we need to turn this situation around very quickly that was what chrisan hor said afterwards let's look at it right driver standing 62 points eight races to go as we talked about eight points required or an eighto Gap every single race weekend required for Lando Norris is that possible yes is it very very hard yes like it's going to be almost Perfection from McLaren and and I said that before the race even started in Monza I think I feel like Lon Norris needs a perfect end to the season you know coming off the win in zamort you had Andrea Stella comparing Lando Norris to um Sebastian vettel's half of the Season where he won nine races in a row you had that comparison being made like you know Sebastian ble did it he won that many races why can't we and then it comes to the next weekend and they throw away the victory but by the by I think we are going to need Perfection from Lando Norris in these last eight races and I'm not sure Lando Norris has that in him I feel like there's still just too many little operational errors from McLaren but also little errors from Lando Norris that sneak in every week weekend and therefore I don't think L Norris is going to be able to get the victory done in terms of the driver Championship I I do think he'll win some more races you know aaban should be a good weekend Singapore's always like one of those outlier tracks a little bit like what I said with Ferrari I feel like Ferrari should be good there but whether they'll be as good as they were last season or as good as they were in Monaco we'll have to wait and see Texas obviously a Sprint race there as well Mexico Brazil Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi it's just like picking who will win each of those Grand Prix completely flip-flops like I thought Mercedes were going to be the most competitive team this weekend in Monza because they were the most competitive team in Belgium and Belgium's very similar high speed and then Mercedes were nowhere so it was really hard and I feel like expecting Perfection from Lando Norris in a season that fluctuates so much and teams have brilliant weekends and horrible weekends so many times like that's flittered between I just think that is going to be really really hard although Red Bull talking about it Max V staffen talking about it getting a little more concerned about the driver's Championship you know it's not over until it's over it's just going to be really really hard The Constructor Championship is the main one isn't it the Constructor Championship almost seemingly gone for Red Bull considering that Red Bull have seen their Constructor Championship lead just this weekend cut from 30 points to eight points Ferrari now also only 39 points off Red Bull too like those fixes that are required for Red Bull need to happen now because Max ven is now also losing out on points and then again you you look across the other side of the garage you look at Sergio Perez I think Sergio Perez had a good Monza weekend I don't think there was much more that he could do but again he finishes in eighth place of that top eight and he wasn't really competitive with anybody else in there at least Max ven was able to get in front of George Russell like you're you're looking at George Russell race and we'll get into Mercedes in a second you're looking at George Russell's race and you're going George Russell had a broken front Wing he had to ruin his strategy and come in early to change that front Wing which then forced him onto a two stop and then a bad two stop at that because he had to go longer in the middle stint and the final stint than he would have wanted to and then he had a poor slow pit stop it was a really slow pit stop from George Russell as well all of those issues and Sergio Perez still finishes behind him still finishes behind George Russell by a a reasonable margin and I know Sergio Perez had issues as well I know the Red Bull car had issues but that does just feel like a damning indictment once more on Sergio Perez and I don't know how Red Bull fix it I don't know how Red Bull fix all of those issues that they've got they've got so many Arrow balance issues they've got so many mechanical issues you know we saw the the old school floor on the car in zamvil a new floor again what it will be I'm not sure it just feels like Red Bull are hitting a wall with their 2024 SL sort of 2023 this era car they they're hitting that ceiling of performance they're not able to get anything else out of it and anything that they do add actually seems to be taking performance away from the car you know they had such a great start to this regulation cycle and I feel like that was down to Adrian neui Adrian neui of course working on ground effect cars way back in the day gave them a big boost in terms of in this regulation cycle right and it's why Red Bull were so dominant in 22 were so dominant in 23 they had the floor the arrow everything settled before everybody else but well of course we know Adrian new is now out so whether or not Adrian NE is still tinkering with the car in the same way that he would be probably not you know I think we've all been in that situation where you're leaving a job soon and you you just take your foot off the gas a little bit I'm ass sure Adrian yui is still working is he working as hard as he possibly could be to make sure that Red Bull guarantee this Championship Victory probably not and then it also feels like everyone else has just realized that oh this kind of works on our car you know you've got McLaren with their brand new wind tunnel finally getting it under way and it seems like every single time McLaren bring an upgrade it works you got Ferrari tinkering with bits and pieces here and there again being the king of the outlier tracks and now with that brand new floor so much positivity after this winning really could carry them forwards as well you've got Mercedes who do seem to flipflop it's either really amazing or really terrible um I think they should have done better this weekend I think George rashall should have been in contention for the podium places had it not been for that first lap incident and therefore you've got such a battle on Red Bull's hands at the top of the standings because even though Mercedes aren't in that battle I wouldn't say they are still going to take points away from Red Bull from McLaren from Ferrari at various occasions and that's going to make it even more interesting for those teams towards the top moving back to it then let's talk about let's actually talk about Mercedes let's go go to George Russell at this point frustrating I think is the word I would use frustrating weekend for Mercedes who I expected more from again considering how well they did in Belgium I was expecting this to be a Mercedes style weekend in fact going into qualifying I was thinking Mercedes looked really good Ferrari looked really good I think McLaren must have been hel holding a little bit back because I was like I think poll position could be between George Russell and charl L clir here or or Lewis Hamilton and charl clir here sorry yeah I think that was what I said going into qualifying trying to remember what I I my own words I'm trying to remember I said it was going to be the Three L's battling for pole position thought it be Lando lir and Lewis I know that doesn't quite work because it's shir's last name but by the way I thought it was going to be the Three L's battling for pole position because I thought Mercedes L really good Ferrari looked really good and obviously McLaren being so good in zamvil I was expecting them to continue that kind of form but frustrating I think is the word for Mercedes a fifth place finish for leis Hamilton a Seventh Place finish for George Russell I don't want to blame Kimmy Antonelli because obviously going into free practice one Antonelli crashed into the barriers of parabolica 10 minutes into that first free practice was it his fault yes but also you know he was trying to push the car to the absolute limit and I said multiple times over the weekend I'm not why Mercedes put him on soft compound tires and low fuel on his first ever run in Formula 1 I know that they wanted to see him at the top of the time and sheets but at the same time it was a big risk and a risk that didn't pay off because he did try just put that car through parabolica at way too high a speed and ended up in the barriers and that just kind of seemed to put George Russell the whole team everybody on the back foot a little bit didn't it obviously kimy Antonelli still confirmed and expected to be in that seat uh for 2025 alongside George Russell but George Russell then just seemed a little bit out of sorts obviously had to wait a little while in free practice too while they were still putting that car back together again we don't know whether the parts that they put on George Russell's car would have been exactly the parts that they'd have wanted to put on George Russell's car because you don't know which bits were were damaged in that Kimmy Antonelli crash it just felt like George Russell did incredibly well to actually put in that qualifying performance and actually that was a little bit unexpected considering the start of the weekend that his side of the garage had had with Kimmy Antonelli but getting back to the race on Sunday you know you you go into turn one George Russell then has to bail out of that move at the start I think he was thinking of what he did in Spain and going around the outside of the front two can't quite do that in Monza because of the chicane that's there but he wanted to be in the mix right he wanted to be right underneath oscap asri just in case something happened and I mean you know we did see that right we saw that charl clir was then the actual driver that took advantage of that and got ahead because George Russell had to go down the Escape Road had that been George Russell in third place we might be looking at George Russell winning another grand prix I know that there's lots of ifs there and there's 52 laps between that George Russell SL sha lir taking second place if that would have happened as it was down towards turn four but you know going down towards turn one destroying your front Wing after that great quality perform performance and following that up with a pit stop that was too early too long killed any kind of strategy that he had yeah I felt really bad for for George Russell it felt like the whole weekend he tried to save it it felt like he'd saved it in qualifying it felt like he was going to be right up there and then it just fell away from him again and similar with Lis Hamilton felt like the weekend was there for him as I said he was one of my three that I had an eye on for pole position come qualifying then just didn't quite put the lap together you know I expected him to maybe be starting in the podium places I think he said himself he was expecting to be starting you know if not on pole at least on the front row or third and where George Russell was but just a little mistake from him in qualifying didn't quite put it together and ended up being a little bit of a No Man's Land race for for Lewis Hamilton in general didn't it he he never really looked like he was going to catch the two Ferraris and the two McLaren ahead but also never seemed to be under too much pressure from Max for STA and behind and was able to eek out a nice little Victory I know at the top of this I said that all the cars were battling throughout I think LS Hamilton is the one exception to that I think Lewis Hamilton just kind of drifted to a fifth place finish I suppose the Silver Line in of the weekend they still outscored Red Bull but like they didn't really need to because they're not in that battle for the drivers or Constructor Championship just taking a few points off Red Bull which I feel like Lewis Hamilton would want to do right I feel like Lewis Hamilton would much rather see a McLaren win a championship than a Red Bull but again for him just a little bit of an anonymous weekend for him and Mercedes just in general after what was looking really promising Williams is the next te I had down because Alex alurn Alex alvon goodness gracious me another Ninth Place finish his third Ninth Place finish in 16 races which doesn't sound amazing but when you look at where Williams have been throughout this season and the things that Williams have had to overcome throughout the winter break throughout the first five races where they just decided to destroy the only car that they had working uh continually and had to keep sending it back to the factory the fact that Alex Alon back here once again and I know that the Williams is expected to be quick on these highspeed circuits and Alex Alan does get the best out of that Williams car when it is there you know when the Williams car has Pace Alex Alon gets it but I don't know it was one of the best drives I again I think compar able to charl Clair's Drive in terms of he was on the same strategy accomplished that One-Stop strategy like charir and was able to make those Tire stick with Alonzo barreling down on him and making the ground up behind him it did feel like Fernando Alonzo in a similar ve to Oscar piastri was just trying to get back to where he should have probably been but finding that perfect balance between Tire deck and holding on to your position the same praise I gave charl Clair I feel like you have to kind of give that praise to Alex albor as well and Alex albon shown that he can do that multiple times throughout his uh Williams career and the the races that we've seen him in a Williams car obviously the Williams upgrade helped the Williams upgrade that was on the car in zamort he obviously qualified inside the top 10 in zamort but then come well obviously got disqualified and come race day had to start at the back of the pack and there wasn't much you can do in zamvil overtaking is really tricky to do there so yeah we didn't really get to see the proper Williams car in zamvil unfortunately this time the upgrade is back on it wasn't 0.3 mm too wide as it was in zamble is just tin the tiniest of margins isn't it it's absolutely ridiculous the kind of uh well it's not ridiculous it's in the regulations but it's ridiculous how tight the regulations are and how close to the regulations these cars run and the fact that you know 0.3 mm was the difference between Alex Alan starting in the top 10 and zamal maybe picking up points there actually starting at the back of the pack and completely kind of throwing away his weekend but as I said the upgrade on the car this weekend for him in Monza and two very different circuits now where the Williams has qualified inside the top 10 albon has been in the mix for points I feel like he's going to be in the mix for points for the rest of the year I think this is a massive massive step forward for Williams and they are now on comparable Pace to the hes the RBS the Aston Martins and those teams that they really really want to be fighting with whether or not they're going to be able to catch Alpine in the Constructor Championship it's going to take a lot of Ninth Place finishes from Alex Alban you know you're expecting the top eight to be the top eight so Ninth Place is that best of the rest slot and I know he inherited Ninth Place today because Kevin Magnuson had that 10-sec penalty but at the same time he kind of factored that into his driving he made sure that he kept within 10 seconds of Kevin Magnus said without having to do the overtakes and I remember there was a radio message even from the Williams team reminding Alex that he had a 10-second penalty and that because Alex album was gaining and trying to overtake um Kevin Magnuson and he was fighting with Daniel Ricardo as well and they just reminded him they were like Alex like both of those drivers got 10c penalties keep it clean and we'll get in front of them anyway and Alex albon did exactly that yeah those those seven points though to Alpine in eighth place it's not impossible definitely doable but as I said Ninth Place is pretty much the best you can ask for most weekends unless of course somebody in the top eight has an absolute disaster or a dnf and that's what they're going to be hoping for at Williams isn't it they're going to be hoping that Alex Alburn can still be that best of the rest driver and that somebody then in front of them maybe a couple of people in front of them have a terrible weekend eighth place definitely not out of the rums possibility Seventh Place h i I think is too far especially because the H card does look like the fifth fastest car at the minute I would say that the H really really was very quick this weekend and we'll delve into them a little bit bit later but do want to give that posit positivity to Alex albon outside of charl clir being driver of the day and maybe give it to Alex albon second just because I thought he was really really impressive colapinto let's talk about him I'm not going to discuss the driver swap too much because I did a video when that news dropped and the fact that Logan Sergeant was dropped for colapinto and how that would affect the team going forward and why that decision was made not going to talk about that if you want that's Linked In the description but the qualifying mistake that he made I mean he made up for in terms of Sunday I think that was just that little bit of inexperience wasn't it that little mistake just dipping his tires onto the gravel did really well to hold it to be fair we saw Kevin Magnus earlier on in the weekend Barrel into the barriers um at turn seven kapino onto the gravel but didn't go into the barriers managed to keep that Williams car going but qualifying in 18th Place maybe could have been better you know maybe could have been better but again going to put that down to an experience fair enough I think he more than made up for that in terms of his Sunday drive like that progress from 18th Place on the grid to a really solid 12 Place finish and the fact that he was putting in overtakes the fact that he was getting the better of his strategy the fact that he made that strategy work like colapinto did the same strategy as Alex Alor he did a One Stop two and did a 37 lap stint on hard compound tires managing his tires really well considering that he hasn't had long runs in a Williams C considering this is his first ever Formula 1 grand prix what am I saying this is Debut the fact he did 37 Laps on that hard compound Tire didn't mess up the tire strategy at all and managed to finish in 12th Place absolutely amazing try now now I'm thinking about it again I had really good written down you know I'm I'm bumping that up from really good to absolutely amaz him from colapinto I think that's exactly what the team wanted from him and he finished where is it 14 seconds of drift of his teammate without any safety car help you know and you look at 14 seconds over the course of 53 laps going to do some quick Ms here 14 seconds 14 seconds 53 laps he lost out on two TS of a second every lap to his teammate two and a half TS of a second every lap to Alex album that's not bad you know his race paac is two and a half temps off in his first ever Grand Prix to Alex alurn in a Grand Prix on a Grand Prix circuit that we expect the Williams to be really competitive on that's amazing and I mean you know you look at it the fact that this was first Grand PR we could be so positive about it would Logan Sergeant have done the same thing we will never know and it's a hypothetical question I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below but I don't think he did any worse than Logan Sergeant would have done is maybe a little bit harsh on the American but I don't think Logan Sergeant would have done any better than that and therefore that Williams swap that seemed crazy to begin with right it seemed like a really weird swap to do especially because it's just for a rookie you know a rookie who has zero Formula One experience has been pretty good in Formula 2 but you know isn't battling for like anything ridiculous in Formula 2 either the fact's come in his first Grand Prix weekend done really well for the team I I'm very very impressed with colapinto I said when he came in like with nine races left to go if he can manage one point scoring finish obviously that would be better than Logan Sergeant has done throughout the other 15 races this season but also that would just cement himself as like a proper if if a drive became available you know if a seat opened up somewhere maybe he'd just be in the talks of that it would kind of put him in that Liam Lawson mold right now we've got that with Liam Lawson after his five races last season hav you know Liam Lawson on the periphery of a Formula 1 seat continually being talked about by lots of teams you know we had Liam Lawson linked to Stak saber earlier on in the year Liam Lawson linked to Williams as well earlier on in the year whilst they were still talking to Carlos SE so Liam Lawson is now being talked about with those seats because of those five races last season colapinto has got nine races he can do really well across those nine races not have any huge incidents or anything like that that kind of puts a question mark next to him and maybe pick up a point score in place doino could be a driver that we see on the Formula 1 Grid in a full-time slot at some point soon so I think he did really really well and very very impressed with him Kevin Magnuson Kevin Magnuson let's talk about H they were the final Point scoring Place Kevin Magnuson with that 10-sec penalty dropped into 10th place and like when I tell you Kevin Magnuson left Monza with three points that sounds like a really good weekend doesn't it you know you're looking at that you're like oh three points maybe you got you know Ninth Place in the fastest lap or was there a Sprint that I forgot about maybe he picked up a point in the Sprint then when I tell you two of those points were penalty points it is a lot less positive isn't it it's a lot more frustrating that Kevin Magnuson just cannot have a weekend where I can talk positively about him every single weekend where I want to give praise to Kevin Magnuson he does something sille he does something stupid and and I think this time around obviously he picked up that 10c penalty for that scrap with Pierre gazley on lap 19 of the Grand Prix but it was a little bit harsh it was a little bit harsh of a penalty I'm not going to lie I'm not going to say oh he definitely deserved it you know he's got 10 points already on his license so far this season he definitely deserved the two more I don't think that he did I think Kevin Magnuson made a good point in that you know Pierre gazley went off the track gained a position back in the grand scheme of the race it made no difference to anybody and then also you look at the fact that there were other incidents from other drivers that maybe were a little bit worse and they only picked up 5 Seconds whereas Kev Magnuson got 10 it was an interesting one even Pierre gazley was the other side of the coin said yeah it was just kind of a bit of a racing incident little bit harsh on Kevin Magnuson to pick up two penalty points there but it does also mean that Kevin Magnuson will be the first driver ever little bit of a record for Kevin Magnus probably not the record that he would have wanted considering you know the other records he's got a like debut Podium and things like that when he was at McLaren or pole position for H the other record that he's now got is the first ever driver to miss a race due to the penalty point system that was introduced in 2014 give you a little rundown basically drivers have to have a super license it's renewed at the beginning of every season and they have a 12-month period where if they you know well in this case if they cause a collision or break regulations or do something a little bit silly they get given penalty points if they're licensed within a 12-month period they manage to acrw 12 penalty points they have to be banned from one Grand Prix and we've seen Drivers Edge towards that 12 points did Pierre G I think Pierre gazley even got 12 points at one point but managed to convince the stewards otherwise and that the the 12 points maybe shouldn't have been given he kind of talked about it and didn't get that race Bann no this has been a hard and fast one for k Kevin Magnuson he has been given that race ban which means we will not see Kevin Magnus in Baku which is a real shame because again had a really good race this weekend and H looked really really competitive this weekend and Kevin Magnuson probably should have finished in ninth place like I should be probably saying you know Kevin Magnuson couple of points really good weekend out did his teammate etc etc but no is Kevin Magnuson will miss the aaban Grand Prix because he's picked up another two penalty points and that's what I mean Kevin Magnuson so divisive goes one way goes the other you want to give him praise then you have to take it away you want to be mean to him but then he picks up a point for H and you're like well what am I really doing here with Kevin Magnuson they real shame when he leaves the Grid at the end of the season because he is an exceptional talking point if not an exceptional Formula One driver we will get to see olle bman back though and that's why I talked about the driver standings Kevin Magnuson with that point gets himself on level pegging with olle bman but olle B will be on the grid obviously he was had that little cameo in Saudi Arabia sixth place finish for Ferrari don't know what I'm going to do here in terms of the graphic does he stay as a Ferrari driver now is he a h driver we'll have to wait and see a much Keepers Ferrari because he picked up the most points with Ferrari assuming he doesn't pick up you know eight 10 15 points in the aaban Grand Prix because it is one of olle Ban's favored tracks Ole bman is usually pretty damn decent when it comes to aaban so I think that's going to be a really interesting thing to see Ole bman in a house obviously he's going in there next season anyway but what he can really do you know it hasn't been an amazing Formula 2 season from ole bman that's mainly been down to prman not really delivering the car that we would may be expecting the new Formula 2 regulations not going in in PR's favor but there we have it olle bman will be on the grid once again be interesting to see what he can do oh yeah Niko hulkenberg of course should probably talk about Niko hulkenberg considering and he is the higher H rated driver at the moment in terms of the driver standings started in the points it was it was yeah annoying I don't he was complaining that the car was kind of bouncing couldn't really get to grips with it and you then saw that right obviously took that 10-second penalty with colliding with Yuki Coda at the start of the race then he obviously had to come into the pits a little bit earlier there was damage to the car Yuki soda then retired because of that so really harsh on like Yuki Coda not that he was starting anywhere in particular what was Yuki sowa started 16th yeah wasn't running anywhere crazy but Nia hulkenberg kind of throwing away a good opportunity there throwing away slash the car throwing it away a little bit because you saw the pace it was there right Kevin Magnuson finishing in ninth place on the road 10th place in the standings is a very good drive I feel like Nik hulkenberg could have easily done that and Nik hulkenberg could have easily been that best of the rest driver finished in Ninth Place couple of points more puts him ahead of Yuki Coda on points not just you know on Merit in the driver standings and yeah felt bad for ni hulkenberg felt bad for Yuki sow as well thought it was interesting it was those two that came together wasn't it and ruined both of their races both of them on 22 points in the driver standings tough day for H tough is weird isn't it tough day for half they picked up a point they picked up a point it should be so positive but ni hulkenberg was just such a Negative the fact that Kevin Magnuson picked up those penalty points and misses a race is such a Negative a tough day for H even they picked up a point they're just H are incredibly difficult to really judge as a Formula One team aren't they because never makes any sense when you're talking about H Aston Martin I I I wanted to talk about Fernando Alonzo just because he was like just outside the points in 11th place and probably should have been up there was running in ninth place for a good chunk of time but then went onto the uh two-stop strategy the strategy that wasn't quite as good as we were expecting it to be still managed to get the better of you know colinos your Daniel Ricardo obviously Daniel Ricardo picking up a 10c penalty as well 5sec penalty that became a 10-sec penalty but that's another thing for RB just that that guy touching the front Wing wasn't it and you saw it just quickly on that like it was obviously when you have a 5-second penalty you come into the pits and everybody has to not touch the car for 5 seconds that's what the 5-sec penalty is and the guy literally just grabs the front Wing out of instinct like as you would because you're the pit crew and you're trying to get the car in and out of the pit as quickly as possible instinctively and it's the tiniest little touch of the front Wing because then he pulls his hand away it's almost like a and then he hits his helmet he knows exactly what he's done that 5sec penalty then becomes an additional 10sec penalty because they didn't do the uh 5sec penalty correctly and yeah really really awkward for that mechanic I'm sure he's going to get a talking to but back to ason Martin I don't know I I didn't expect too much from them in monzo was one of those ones where it's like either they're going to be really good or really bad and actually they ended up being kind of in the middle which was unexpected from me when it came to Aston Martin when it came to their race Pace Alonzo did say it was much much better than expected so maybe he was expecting it to be a pretty tough weekend but the team still missed out on points even with Kevin magnuson's penalty Fernando Alonzo was still a tenth behind Kevin Magnuson I think that's going to be really really frustrating you know the fact that they could have been with in that 10 seconds of Kevin Magnuson quite easily had a couple of things just gone slightly differently but the tire degradation was the thing that really killed them such high Tire degradation in comparison to other teams and that meant that they couldn't go for that one stop you know you're talking about um charl Clair doing the one stop the Williams is doing the One Stop Fernando Alonzo never had that option because the tire degradation was just so heavy in that Aston Martin car and therefore I mean Fernando Alonzo said it himself but he said that they were quite hungry for time players the ason Martin cars this weekend and it felt like he was just trying to do as much as possible whilst the car was against him and it was one of those Fernando Alonzo drives where if he had got into the points we'd be like wow that is a really stunning point from Fernando Alonzo I think even 11th place is a really good 11th Place when you consider Lan stroll finished all the way at the back I think he a really good 11th Place finish from asy Martin and Fernando Alonzo I think he can take a lot of positivity from it just the car was never there to really deliver points from this weekend obviously not ideal for him or ideal for the team they they do want to pick up points even though it doesn't really mean much for them at this point you know Constructor standings is done for them isn't it 74 points 40 points ahead of RB that's done and they're not going to make up the 220 something points to to Mercedes ahead of them either so that's done and dusted it doesn't matter to them massively but you still want to pick up points just for the sake of saying you picked points I think finishing behind the Williams's behind the hes being comparable in Pace to Daniel Ricardo's RB that makes that very interesting doesn't it I don't think it's going to be very easy for Aston Martin to pick up points for the rest of the season I do think the hes the RBS now the Williams car do look to be on at least level pegging if not a little bit quicker than the ason Martin and that's great isn't it I think again something Tomo said I want to say in his post race reaction I had it on in the background while I was doing the dishes um I think he said you know even though Aston Martin have all the money and have put in so much in terms of the infrastructure it does still come down to the fact that the teams are human beings the designers behind the scenes the team back at the garage the team back at the factory everybody has to culminate there has to be this harmony this working together and H even though they have nowhere near the budget nowhere near the extense of wealth and the amount of people that Aston Martin have brought in these Specialists from Red Bull and Mercedes and bringing in all of those names has still have been able to deliver a car that is comparable to the Aston Martin and better than it this weekend and it does just go to show that money can't buy you everything and that I feel like like the thing that I kind of clicked with when Tomo said that was what about Ali Ali have thrown a lot of money at this and Stak saber still right at the back of the pack that would be very very weird to see if Ali come in and they absolutely don't hit the ground running and they're still the 10th fastest team and that's Stak salba then Ali Just is really really slow in comparison and even the teams that have the lower budgets your Williams's your hes you're still able to put in the better performances and still able to get more out of the car and that'll be very very interesting to see F thing I did want to touch upon and I touched on it uh before the Grand Prix weekend itself was obviously the Alpine employees in France going on strike alongside the protest at the Italian Grand Prix I didn't really get to see much of it I don't know whether it just wasn't covered by sky or Formula 1 TV in the UK I didn't really get to see what was actually going on with it but obviously this is in opposition to renault's plans to ax its Formula 1 engine program I think it's fair enough that they don't want the engine program you know these people don't want to be out of a job they want to keep Renault on the Formula 1 grid this team that has won championships remember Rena carried Red Bull and Sebastian vettle to those world Championship victories but yeah I didn't really get to see the repercussions of this obviously the repercussions of the actual strike itself will be seeing over the next few race weekends whether or not Alpine do completely close down that Renault side of or the Renault engine side of things it's looking more and more likely isn't it and uh it's worth keeping an eye on because even though Alpine looked like they were getting better this season and even though Flavio Bor is come in he's ripped up the rule book he's got all of her Oaks in he's sorted out people he's sent people on their way he's brought in his team still behind the scenes at Alpine is an absolute disaster class like it is a real mixed bang of people that are being pulled in One Direction then the team principal changes they're being pulled in another Direction then the team principal changes that being pulled in a third Direction you know one team principal really likes the British UK side of things and is trying to get that to where it needs to be at End Stone another then you bring famine in and fam's really really hyped on the Renault engine side of things then you bring Flavia briori in he decides to get rid of the Renault engines and get rid of Bruno fam in from this uh formula one side of things and and bring in Oliver Oaks like is all chaos at Alpine and that's culminated in the Alpine team um or at least the Alpine Engineers who are on the the Renault side of things striking uh during this weekend's Grand Prix and we'll kind of see what comes from that but I think that'll do us won't it for the Italian Grand Prix Monza once again very very fun indeed hats off to charl clir deserved the victory even as a McLaren fan I can say absolutely deserved the victory there a brilliant drive from Charla Clair and a really entertaining Monaco Monaco Monza Grand PRI I was going to say he won in Monaco he won again in Monza he does just win home Grand pris doesn't he charl Clair is built for drama nothing else it used to be the curse when it came to Monaco now it's finally that Monaco Victory Monza won twice in a Ferrari at mono like he really is just becoming the Ferrari dream man isn't he shair but I'm going to leave it there thank you guys so so much for watching this we'll be back live for the aaban Grand Prix uh we got qualifying is it Sprint weekend it's not a Sprint weekend we've got qualifying we've got the Grand Prix live stream as well a few videos coming out in between now and then as always thank you guys so so much for your support in recent weekends we are nearing that 100,000 subscriber plaque which is Absolut absolutely ridiculous but I'll leave you there thank you so so much for watching thank you Monza for delivering another fantastic race and I'll see you next time