Pit Lane Speeding Penalty Controversy

BBC Sounds Music, Radio Podcasts . Your time starts now. You're about to listen to a BBC podcast absolutely right. So you might like to know that the BBC makes loads of other podcasts. Really? Wow . And many of them are very funny, which I think means a hat full of ha ze and energy. Even if we do say so ourselves? I agree one hundred percent with that. Find them all on B aby Counds. Just come . Just search comedy on BBC Sounds. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in five live Formula One Hello, welcome to the Checker Flag podcast a preview this weekend's action in Barcelona and we've listened to you listeners and we've taken on board the feedback . We have finally got rid of Harry B enjamin, everyone round of applause in the podcast. Yeah, thank you. No , he will be back. He will be coming back. He's on sky duties this weekend . But I do have alongside me two people that know formula one very well, BBC F one's correspondent Andrew Benson and the twenty twenty four F one Academy Champion and recent history maker in the GB three championship Abby pulling and we're going to start with quickly Abby before we dive into it. I'm sure Andrew wants a word on your win in sp ongratulations poll position first female to get a poll position in GB three and the first female to w in a GB three race as well. So well done. Thank you very much. No, I mean, I'm a driver that doesn't like to focus too much on the fact that, you know, I was the first woman to do this and so on. I'm just proud of myself as a driver that I've achieved this personally. But of course I understand the buzz and the hype around it being the first female to do so and how it's inspiring the next generation. I'm so proud to be that person for someone. But yeah, it was an awesome weekend, awesome achievements . I just hope to keep the form going really. But yeah, thank you, thank you very much. Yeah, I mean, I think Abby, it's a statement that you've made there with that victory, you know, from pole position as Alice said, and couldn't be more impressed or pleased for you so well done. And obviously GB three is a very serious international racing championship, so it shouldn't be underestimated what you've achieved. Well, we'll pull you back down now, sit you back in the chair , put you back down to earth. We've got a new name for the race this weekend . We can't say it's the Spanish Grand Prix because of course that's going to be Madrid later on in the year. So it's the Barcelon a Catalonia Grand Prix. I'm not going to attempt that in a Spanish accent, but one takeaway from the Monaco Grand Prix, but it cannot be anything to do with or related with Kimmy Antonelli. Asphalt . Okay. You know, to get people excited about . The track not doing what the track should be doing . It did kind of get ignored in there forgotten about but actually it's such a big thing. Like obviously there's been so much going on behind the scenes now that everyone's forgotten that we red flagged the Monaco Grand Prix due to the track not staying where the track should be. I thought that was insane , you know? Yeah, and it doesn't happen very often Formula One. It was there was a patch of asphalt that was sort of off slightly off the line but was on the edge of the line and it was obviously much newer than the rest of the asphalt round there and it broke up in the course of the races. You say the top surface crumbled and you were left with a sort of dusty sandy section and definitely although Leclerc was very clear that he blamed his braking problems in his Ferrari for his accidents and thought that the track service breaking up was only sort of tangential to that. It was obviously a significant issue. They didn't really fix it, did they for the restart of the race either because they couldn't really? They just told them to avoid it really did . It's very rare in Formula One, modern formula I for that to happen. It's a long time ago now, but in nineteen eighty five, the Belgian Grand Prix was actually postponed as a result of breaking up track surface . And it used to be a big thing, but technology's moved on so much , but yeah, it has been, I'm sure the FIA will be looking at it, but there's other things that are perhaps of more importance at the moment to come out of Monaco that have taken precedence . I don't know, what's your takeaway than Andrew? This is a buildup now. It better be an exciting one. I think I can guess. Well, the thing that came out was the pitling speeding penalties. But put that to one side for a minute because we're going to get on to that in a second, I'm sure. But for me, I think the most sort of striking aspect of the Monica Weekend was George Russell and his he was saying . He's kind of rode back on those comments a bit, but it really since then on Thursday yesterday at the Spanish Grand The Sorry I did it myself, didn't I? Barcelona, Catalonia Grand Prix he was sort of trying to say he'd maybe over exaggerated his issues, but it really struck me powerfully on Saturday afternoon in Monaco after qualifying when Russell admitted for the first time that he was struggling to keep up with Kim my Antonelli. I guess this is you asked me not to make a point about Kimm Antonelli. This is half about Antonelli and it's actually it was can never stick to the rules. Yeah, it was it was kind of a confirmation of an impression that had been building in Russell's season. You know, he did start off very strongly. He did have some bad luck in China and Japan , but through Miami and Canada , it did look like he was definitely struggling. Now, obviously Russell would counter that, I'm sure by saying that in Canada he put it on Sprint Pole and won the sprint, put it on Grand Prix Pole and was leading the Grand Prix when he retired . But for me, the striking bit about Canada was that was the race that was supposed to be him coming back on form because he's so good there as opposed to Miami, which is a track that he didn't like. But Antonelli was all over him. And then for Antonelli to be so dominant in Monaco, it was really alarm bells time. And I think you could see that in Russell's comments. And so that's what really struck me that weekend. I was only after a sentence or two Andrew, so thanks for that. But of course, we're going to start with K imi Antonelli who well, we're kind of running out of ways to describe Kimmy Antonelli, aren't we? Yeah, I mean it's really nice to see, I think, especially a younger driver going into one of the top four teams, you know, Mercedes have took I wouldn't say a pun on him because he's been there kind of golden boy for out the junior junior ranks, but I mean we remember his first FP one at Monza and putting it into the barrier very abruptly early in his F one career. But since then he's struggled a bit in twenty twenty five. He got a full time seat of course, replacing big shoes in Lewis Hamilton and it wasn't anything special to be desired his rookie season. Although he was, you know, quietly there. It seems over the winter , he's just a different driver and he's got such a quiet confidence about him. He's not big headed, he's not rubbing it in anyone's face and becoming obnoxious about it. He's doing it in such a modest and respectful way and it just makes you live in more if I'm honest and it's so cool to see him breaking all these records and in the modern day of F one and these records have stood for a while to see him doing this and yeah it's looking likely he could take it all the way. I mean what's the static it's P two for the rest of the year and then George will just get close enough by Singapore just edge in front of him at Singapore. So it's he's giving himself a comfortable margin. I mean sixty six points against P two in the championship Hamilton . He's got basically two and a half race wins in the bag . I think it's extremely impressive. I just hope that he keeps this mindset because it's something that can be exhausting. Your mindset is such a big thing in motorsport and in any sport and to maintain a positive mindset or the productive performance mindset that he's been in, it can be quite exhausting and you've got to have people around you to help you with that. And listening to what Toto saying about it in press confere nces and so on it seems like is being said around him that's the correct thing is to keep him in this mindset. It's just, you know, I mean at nineteen years of age winning the Monaco Grand Prix in such a fashion as welld. How' you hope at some point you know the pressure doesn't get to him? Yeah, well he's very aware of the situation that you were just describing out because yesterday in the press conferences he was saying, you know, I've still got questions to answer this season. You know, he's he's very aware that a Formula One season as you say is an endurance test as much as anything else. He's got to keep it together. The pressure okay, the pressure is not that heavy at the moment because the lead is so big, but the pressure will come at some point, presumably he'll have some bad luck at some point because people tend to through a season. So he does have to deal with all that situation, but just parking that for one minute and just looking at what he's done so far. I think it's the progression from last year to this that's so outstanding . He had flashes of pace last year. You know, let's not forget that he out qualified Russell in Saudi Arabia, which was what the second or third race of the season. That was pretty impressive. And then he did it again in both qualifying sessions in Miami, put it on pole for the sprint in Miami. So that was early in the season. He did have a very difficult patch , but coming into this season, because that season was so up and down and because it was obvious that he still had a lot to learn . P kneopleew in Formula One that Mercedes were going to be the leading force this year. And so everybody picked George Russell as the championship favorite and Antonelli just come out of the blocks and okay Russell won the first race and Russell had's some bad luck, but if you go through the races one by one , it's not like the bad luck completely turned everything around. Antonelli's been right there from the very beginning and he's obviously made his learnings very impressively over the winter. He's keeping his feet on the ground as you say. He's got Toto Wolf trying to manage the pressure in Italy. Apparently, it's going absolutely crazy for him at the moment as you can imagine. It's kind of Ant onelli and Yanak Sinner the tennis player are the two national heroes and he's got his father Marco Antonelli helping him sort of stay grounded but it's one thing to have people around you helping you do that. It's another thing for it to not bleed into your performance in the car because Formula One is a pressure cooker environment to extreme levels and many people have wilted in that scenario. So far he hasn't, and he's living he's really living up to all the potential that everybody thought he had as he was coming through the junior categories. He's one of those names that was on people's lips in Formula One for quite a few years, you know, when he was in carting and so on. And those sorts of drivers, those names are few and far between, but they are the likes of Alonso, Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc. Those are the guys who when they were in the junior categories had a buzz about them. Antonelli was one of them, and he's proving why. He certainly is, and the youngest dri ver to win an F one race in Monaco celebrated the win with a dip in the harbour. I don't want to know what it was in the water first of all in the harbour, but it was enjoyable. Very fresh, refreshing after a hot race and it was good, you know, it was a good moment with the whole team . It was a good moment to share and to win this as well. And I think it's one of those moments that you remember , you will remember forever . And I think also seeing the team so so happy and involved really made me happy as well. So definitely it was very cool . But of course , Monaco's in the past now and obviously we have Barcelona this weekend and we'll try to repeat ourselves even though it's not going to be easy. And then about the part of the gala was cool. I mean, I'm not used to doing these kind of things , but it was a really cool experience and definitely wouldn't be bad to be back next year as well. Fernanda was just talking about what it's like to arrive in Formula One quite young and then start winning and challenging for championships only after a season or two in the sports . How are you finding that pressure, that expectation and the step up from your rookie season to this year, what's changed to make that happen ? Well, a lot of change. I think the year of experience itself has been playing a massive role , just making your own experiences and understanding what's good and what's not good for you during the weekend and outside the weekend. Bless you, by the way . So definitely it's just the experience being able to coming back into the weekend and having done it the year before plays already a massive difference because you know better the track evolution during the session. You know better how the weakenest tractor as well. So you're also able to balance your energies in a better way. And so also when you go in the car you feel also better in terms of energies . But as well also you become more aware of your potential . Also you get to know even better the team . So the bond just gets stronger and stronger with the team. And so it's all those things that at the end of the day, they play a massive role . And then about championship , we are not really worrying about it . Of course , I know was the opportunity , you know, the opportunity that is on the table . And of course, I want to make the best out of it and trying to maximize it . But at the same time, I don't want to drive or raise thinking about that . I just want to try to really focus on the process on what I have to do and trying to enjoy as much as possible as well. The driving, the weekend and just trying to drive as fast as possible and then we'll see where we end up at the end of the year. We promised you a Harry Benjamin Free show and we absolutely failed you there with that clip. It's great to hear from Kimmy Antonelli and before we move on to George Russell Abbey, one question , is pressure even something that he feels? Because that clip there from Thursday's press conference, he just sounds so calm and is dealing. There's clearly a lot of press ure on any race drivers shoulders that are racing in Formula One, but he seems to deal with it well like a duck to water in the harbour. Yeah, he seems he seems really at home and I think Mercedes as well they're they're giving him a really positive environment to thrive in. And don't forget he's he's still learning, you know, he's only in his second year in Formula One. He's his first and a half year in Formula One, you know, it's it's still so much information that he'll be learning and things he'll be figuring out. And I think with that, potentially, the new regulations has helped him to an extent because that also means that his teammate George is still learning in this new era of car because there is so much to now comprehend and change and that's maybe bridged the gap from the rookies to the more experienced drivers and actually made it that everyone's learning. So that could be running in his favor a little bit, but in the sense of his process and how he's doing things, it's so refreshing to hear a driver talk like that because you can absolutely see he's executing that and he is just fully processed driven and fully just doing the best job he can do out on track and wherever he ends up he ends up at the moment just seems to be that he's winning everything with that kind of process and mindset. So it's really cool to see and I hope that the team keep that positive energy around him. Of course, things can change throughout the year as power units and cars get upgraded. So that kind of performance gap that Mercedes have could dissipate a little bit and that'll be where he'll be really tested. He definitely feels pressure because we saw evidence of it last year. You know, when he was going through that sticky patch through the European season, he talked about it a few times how difficult he was finding it to deal with it , the emotional load on him at that time. There were races like Imola last year where he brought his school friends to the weekend with him and it affected him quite badly. He got distracted. And then after the European season when Mercedes had reverted their car, he was talking about enjoying being at the flyaway races as they call them formula because he didn't have that sort of external focus on him. He could just focus in on himself again. What's impressive is the way that he's learned from that and moved forward in what seems like several hundred steps all in one go over the winter. And you also heard there a little snapshot of his personality. Someone sneezed in the press conference and he said, Bless you interrupted his answer. So polite. He's a lovely lad, he really is . And that to me was indicative of the way he is keeping his feet on the ground. He's very humble. He's quite happy to stop and have a chat and long may it stay that way. Of course he's going to become a megastar, that's very obvious but it doesn't have to spoil you and at the moment it certainly hasn't done. Kimmy Antonelli came second to George in the remaining races. It would take Russell up to Singapore for him to get his nose back ahead. So we're on round seven and Singapore is round sixteen . So would you say a lot of his woes have been out of his control a little bit, Abby, of course, the power unit in Canada and potentially could have been a race win there for him. I mean, without a doubt, a lot of George's issues have been out of his control, I mean going from Canada to Monaco. You could see in qualifying he drove so the word is tight, you know, he didn't look comfortable in the car. He looked like he lost a lot of confidence and that to be honest, I mean I don't know what he was feeling in the car and so on and if there was a difference between the two Mercedes they don't always run identical setups, but that was fully in his control to take that qualifying and to kind of bounce back and he struggled over the Monaco Weekend okay of course it was better throughout the race until of course all the controversy of the penalties and so on . But listening to George when he's been doing interviews and speaking about the season as opposed to Kimi OK, two vast different seasons, but the mindset is so different and whereas it's hard to see the opportunity in the sense of where George is, but he just needs to kind of go in no regrets, just go in organ's blaze. He's got anything to lose essentially at the end of the day now. Whereas every time I hear George talk about his season and the year, he's focus ing so much on the things that are out of his control . And it's really blatant and he 's often repeating it and repeating it that, you know, this go wrong, this go wrong, this go and he almost feels like he's justifying it to us. And you know, we're all aware of the bad look that he's had. He doesn't need to necessarily justify it to us . So it's almost like he's justifying it to himself to an extent as well. Like he's in a position where, you know, I've not been f forighting for amula one world championship, but from the outsider looking in, he needs to just focus on the next race and the next opportunity opposed to justifying all these things that have gone wrong in his year so far. I mean, we saw last year Max Verstappen come from over a hundred points back. So it's not an improbability. Okay, like Kimi is on some absolute form at the moment, but he isn't in my opinion, listening in in the best headacesp going forwards and he's not actively getting himself in that better headspace that he needs to be. I mean, I hope he proves me wrong this weekend and he was fastest in FP one and so on, but yeah, well let's hear from him. It's like a psychological roller coaster . This sport you go through the ups, the downs , even the travel , the sleep, it all has an effect on you psychologically pressure , stress and it's something I've worked on for the last six years to be honest. And honestly it's something I've spoken a lot this week about coming off the back of Monaco , of course I feel I felt like everything is going against me and when you look at the headlines of where I am in the championship , the run of form Kimmy is on, you know, it's of course it feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth . But then when I think about things objectively and I think we comfortably could have had three more podiums this season, not even with good luck just with a normal race. We probably would have had three more podiums . Two out of three sprint race victories . The championship would look very different and then the slightly bad weekend in Monica and Miami doesn't seem like such a big deal. So for me it's very, very helpful, very important . I feel in a good place coming into Barcelona because I feel the things I can control it hasn't been a perfect season, but it's been a good season and somewhere I can keep on building from. And that mindset is something you had to learn or no. It's I wouldn't say I had to learn but it's need to have the conversations on how to deal with different scenarios. And to be honest, a lot of the stuff isn't rocket science , but it's a conversation that a lot of people are scared to have . So having that conversation, opening up, talking with a professional who understands how the mind works and how the emotions work , I think is where a lot of athletes are these days. He's never finished outside of the top four here as a Mercedes driver has George Russell. So would that give him a bit of confidence? Andrew? I mean, he needs to finish in the top one, basically, doesn't he? And he needs a cle an weekend a mistake free weekend from his side too. Yeah he just needs to get back on a sort of even keel doesn't he? I mean in the media sessions yesterday another thing he was talking about which was quite interesting was going into this weekend with a clear head, not getting too caught up in the data, all of which sort of feeds into this idea that he's just overthinking, but I think he's overthinking because of the situation that he's in. I won't repeat what I said earlier, but the fact of the matter is that Antonelli has stepped up a level and Russell's finding it so far hard to live with. Now in Monaco he was justifying that by saying that the tyres and the cars this year are more towards Antonelli's dri ving style and less towards his Thursday in Spain, he was kind of backtracking from that thing. He'd maybe exaggerated his point a bit. Mercedes are saying we just need to get the right setup window for him. The fact of the matter is Anthony's just been fundamentally a bit quicker this year and you can understand why that's psychologically difficult for Russell to deal with because he beat Lewis Hamilton over three seasons. You know, two out of the three seasons Russell was ahead of Hamilton. He beat Antonelli very convincingly last year . So the change in psychology he must have had to face as a consequence of what's happened this year must be enormous . But this is what I mean by Formula One being a pressure cooker. It tests people to their absolute limits. You get stripped naked, you cannot hide who you are , and you only survive at the very very top of Formula One if you are psychologically completely bulletproof . He's got to find a way to put this behind him and just it's got the right idea in terms of free trying to free his mind and just drive natur . But that's one thing to say that, it's another thing to do it. And this is a good opportunity for him to prove that he can. But that mindset, Abby , when you are down and things aren't going your way, we've both experienced it throughout our career . That's tough to come back from, isn't it? When races are coming thick and fast ? So how does George get, out of that? Because I know when you take you listened to his interview yesterday, you were saying he's so negative. He was looking at the past a lot and you mentioned it there as well. So what advice would you have for George Russell I think he just he has nothing to lose and he needs to really realize that to an extent and just keep pushing on and he knows that he's, you know, he's in a Mercedes car. He's he's got the tools that needs to do a great job. And he's obviously performed very well in the past as Benny said , you know, he's beaten Hamilton as a teammate. So he's got all the tools he needs. It's just finding his rhythm again and finding his confidence and yeah, hopefully this weekend the Barcelona Grand Prix can he can figure it out because as you say the race is coming thick and fast and he doesn't have much time to find his feet. Well let's see, George R ussell how he gets on this weekend, but a driver that's had plenty of success around this circuit is Lewis Hamilton and he was back on the podium at Monaco, moved into the top two of the driver's championship for the first time since Aber Dabi in yes, twenty twenty one, ninety eight races ago , but that's great to see for Lewis. He seems much happier, can we say, Lewis is officially back . It certainly looks that way. It's much closer with Charles Leclerc this year. Obviously Leclerc's had a couple of bad races with technical issues with his brakes, so the pattern of the season has not been perhaps fully established at Ferrari, but he's definitely in a happier place. And the brakes is one of the reasons because that's a technical issue that he wasn't happy with the Ferrari about last year and they've changed them for this year, different kind of brake pad material brake disc material, I should say that he's using to get the feel that he wants, which is very important to his driving style. Also the characteristics of the cars this year are much more in his favor. He didn't like the ground effect cars of the last few years, but it was interesting to hear him after Monica saying he feels like he's having to rem ind people who I am. Well, you know, it was he was the one last year who was saying how terrible he was half the time. So of course he doesn't have to remind people who he is. He's Louis Hamilton. He's the most successful former one driver of all time, but I'm sure it's a relief to him as much as anything else that he's back in this place now. And he's certainly firing on much more like all Hamilton cylinders this year, which is great to see, you know, it was quite painful watching him go through the experience that he had at Ferrari last year. Let's take a listen to see what Lewis Hamilton said going into this weekend . I knew we'd get to this point at some point, you know, I knew that last year was a building year and I knew that if we acted on the things that I'd asked for and we would eventually get to where we're going. We still have work to do. We're still not there to share. But things that I was asking for the last year I've got a car that I've had input into helping develop, adding things to new ways that we work together for it's been great in collaborating with me and it feels great to be part of that and see progress . Quick fire question for you, Benson, because I know you're going to know the answer to this. Last win for Ferrari around Barcelona . Was it the twenty thirteen Spanish Grand Prix when it chance? With Fernando , so there we go. That's why I asked you because I know So his last win, believe it or not, thirteen years ago. Yeah. Many, many years ago. So Abby could we see if Ferrari win happen this weekend? Honestly, I know I'm supposed to be unbiased , but I've grown up watching Lewis Hamilton and I would absolutely love to see okay a Ferrari win of course would be would be iconic and you know it's been a while since we've seen thear Sclet Ferrari at the front, but I mean to see Lewis Hamilton do it, I would absolutely love to see it. I mean, they're bringing upgrades so potentially it's a possibility , but we're, you know, we're yet to see any performance from it as of yet? Yes, I think that will be a very popular win if it was Lewis Hamilton. We are getting towards the end, which means we just have enough time to fit in the engine chat, which I know Andrew ' beens super excited rubbing his hands together . So there seems to be another update, Andrew, on the future of the power units. Yeah, so very briefly, they've finally come to a conclusion on twenty seven and twenty eight rules . They're moving the ratio between the internal combustion engine and the electrical components to six thousand forty in favor of the internal combustion engine by twenty twenty eight, it's going to be a halfway step from this year to next year . This is all about returning on the limit qualifying because one of the biggest complaints about this year's engines has been the level of energy management that was required, particularly on a qualifying lat which has meant dri vers are not being on the limit at all times as you would expect to be normally as a racing driver. So I think everybody's pleased that that's happening. There is also a bit of shenanigans going on over the what they call the additional development and upgrade opportunities that FIA has told the teams but not published the results of their investigation on that, which has put Rebel as the best internal combustion engine followed by Mercedes and then the rest. Rebels are not happy about that and the VASA is having a look at it so that's not all resolved yet. Well, let's hear Max Verstappen's reaction to that news . We were all a bit surprised in the team with that because I mean, yes, I think we can be proud of the job that we have done , but we never felt like we were , let's say, the best. So that's why yeah, we were surprised and that's why I think we were discussing with the FAA to understand what happened there . But let's see, let's see what comes out of it. Do you think you might get overturned or different? I don't know. I mean , I think it's worth a discussion . Well, certainly worth a discussion indeed at Gasly . He finished third in the Monaco Grand Prix because he's got his spot back on the podium, Andrew after Alpine went to the FIA and said hang on, these speeding infringements aren't right and it worked for them because he's got his third place back. Yes, there are various words that one could use to describe this situation. Some of them are broadcastable and some of them aren't . Mess, I think, would be the one of the politest ways of putting it. Yeah, he was found to have broken the pit lane speed limit twice in the Monaco Grand Prix. Alpine didn't believe that he had done, so they launched what's called a right of review, which is all that's open to a team when certain penalties which can't be appealed against are applied and the pitlane speeding is one of them . He wasn't the only driver who that applied to, but they were the only team that appealed and they won . And what was found in that appeal, which was something that all the teams kind of knew about already was that the way they measure the pit lane speed limit, it's done by time over a distance, which of course is the very definition of speed , but it's not speed as in the speedometer, if you like . And it's emerged that the drivers were able legally to drive a shorter distance down the pit lane than the FIA and Formula One had realised . And as a consequence, five of them broke the speed limit. Now there were six penalties in total, two of them were Gazleys. Five of those six penalties were by point one of a kilometer an hour and the other one was by four of a kilometer an hour. It emerged that even during the Grand Pri x the Stewards questioned race control to ask why are there so many penalties happening for Pittlane speed limit? Because this is unusual and they were told there was nothing wrong, but it turns out in the end that there something was something wrong. And of course this is, open ed a massive can of worms because George Russell is the person who's most badly affected by this scenario because he got a pit lane speeding limit penalty , which he failed to serve correctly in his pit stop , which then led to a drive through penalty which dropped him from third place to thirteenth and he scored no points. This is one of the many elements of bad luck that Russells had Mercedes team principal total Wolfers just said today that they're going to look at ways that they can try and get some recompense for that, try and turn that around. They're obviously not optimistic because there's nothing obvious within the rules that they can use to try and do that. Oscar Piastri from McLaren is another driver who was affected by that. He lost two or three places as a consequence of a penalty . So obviously it's a completely unsatisfactory situation that there were six penalties , none of which should have applied. One of them, two of them, sorry, have been overturned, and only one driver has been recompensed for something for an injustice that he for an offense that he didn't commit. Formula One gets itself into these sorts of problems every now and again, and obviously it's never satisfactory when they do. And it'll be interesting to see how they resolve this because at the moment there's obviously what's very obviously a injustice has been served . So whether it stands or not, we'll have to see . If you were Hadra Abbey, you'd be feeling pretty disappointed just losing your first podium for Red Bull. And but if you were Gazley, you'd be over the moon. So mixed emotions, I'm sure down the paddock. Yeah, it's a really bizarre situation really. I mean, I don't think there's any love loss between the two of them, but it's you know, Pierre is getting a podium for a position he wouldn't have been in the first place if it wasn't for other people getting penalties. So it's it's a tough one and I'm glad I'm not the one that's having to deal with it so but I mean obviously high emotions on the Alpine side . I think Isaac he drove a really great race and he also deserves, you know, the recognition for that says yeah, it's it's one that I wouldn't want to call but both the drivers doing a great race and they were the ones to make the most of the situation, I guess. I mean, essentially it's one of those situations where like in football, for example, a referee gets a call wrong and someone gets a penalty they shouldn't have had and that's just the way it is probably how it's going to end up. It's that's just the way it is . But obviously in an ideal situation, this is one of those ones that you would think was relatively easily avoided. I think for me one of the most damning aspects of it is that I know for a fact that a number of teams were discussing this issue with the FIA through the course of the weekend saying, look, this could happen because of the way the pit lane has been changed for this season, but nothing was done about it. So it seems extraordinary that you can get into a race , assuming that the verdict is correct, that the Stewards actually raise the question of what's going on here . And even though the teams have been questioning the FIA about it over the course of the weekend, they were the answer to the studios was well there's nothing to see just carry on. Well that obviously wasn't the case. And in that red flag drama as well, George Russell literally went to the to the office to argue his case and say, look , there's clearly something wrong. Let's not have to serve this drive through penalty that probably isn't deserved anyway and have to kind of fight it after the fact. He was trying to avoid the situation a very rare occasion you get a red flag where you can fight your own case. It was quite a unique situation. But he was told basically, you know, if you don't serve it, then you're in breach and you'll get probably get another penalty. So it's yeah, it was really tough for him. The cascade of mishaps, misfortunes , bad decisions, whatever you want to call them has been quite extraordinary and obviously there's going to have to be a little bit of a review and a sort of post fact assessment to try to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again. Certainly and he doesn't want to get to the end of the season and look back and go, well, if they just say do their job properly but maybe let's let's call it that then he could have been more in the fight or be world champion instead of not being well this is, fifteen points Russell's lost and he's now sixty eight behind. Now he may never catch that up but just say he loses a championship for less than fifteen points to Kim Atonelli, you know Now of course , that wouldn't be the first time something of that ilk had happened. And we don't have to look back too far in Formon history to see Aber Dabi twenty twenty one and see another example, a much more severe example of where race officials completely messed up and it affected something in a very significant way . Everyone accepts that mistakes happen, but I think what's most extraordinary about this situation is that there seems to have been along the way a series of points at which someone could have said, Whoa , whoa, hang on a minute. Something's not going right here and at no point along that way was it addressed until yesterday in Barcelon a, and that doesn't seem right. Certainly doesn't. So to round off guys, predictions, quick predictions, I'm going to emphasize on the word quick for this weekend. I have to say I think Antonelli's gonna do it again. Antonelli, Abby. I'm gonna go for Verstappen because Verstappen does Verstappen things . Yeah, you saying that just because he won here ten years ago. Got his first win. Yeah, yeah, they have rewrite history ten years later . That would be quite cool . Maybe not in the sense of two Mercedes crashing into each other to get that but it would exactly yeah exactly I'm going to go for Russell. Why not I'm going to say that it's game on and Russell win. But thank you very much. Guys, the race gets underway at two PM on Sunday and you can catch all the action on Five Live, we'll of course have commentary of free practice and qualifying on BBC sounds and we look forward to catching plenty of the action across the weekend. This has been an IMG production for BBC Radio Five Live