2024 Hungarian Grand Prix Race Recap

Hi, my name is Rochelle. And you're watching or listening to box. Box F1 pod. Today we're debriefing the most awkward, dramatic, sassiest Grand Prix. Despite it being oddly boring, it was. It's a very strange combination of events, but that's that. Those are the combination of events. we're chatting about the Hungarian Grand Prix. while we chat, I will be making a traditional Hungarian dish called meggyleves That's all 100% pronounced wrong, but, it's spelled meggyleves. and it's basically a sour cherry soup. And I am making it because, it's a traditional Hungarian dish. my mother also bought, like, 40 pounds of sour cherries. so she had a lot. And I was like, why not make sour cherry soup? Particularly when it's tradition? No. And when there was so many sour cherries on track, Looking at you, Lando and Max. anyway, lots of Soviet vibes with the Cherries in this house. What you see in here? There's some in here. There's some in here. The stuff in here doesn't scratch the surface. I will also be drinking. so I tried this. My friends came to visit last week, and we tried, we went to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. There's only, like, six in the world. Obviously, we have one because it's Seattle. and we had, a flight of espresso martinis, and one of them was cherry flavored. And my mother, brought this cherry liqueur back for me when she was in Lisbon. so. And I had an espresso mix. I didn't make the espresso martini myself, so I basically am making. I'm trying to recreate whatever they did for me. Starbucks because it was bomb. but obviously this is I really half assed this cherry lemon espresso martini. But if you're ever in your reserve, I highly recommend you go and try their espresso martini fight. Anyway, we will be discussing today. we will be discussing today the drama on track and definitely the drama that's going to follow some of these teams Way, way, way off track looking at you, Zak Brown. but before we get into that, it's time for the digital warm up. Doo doo doo. Lap 1 F1 news. While I talk, I will be content. I've de-pitted about half the cherries and I will continue de-pitting them. It's an arduous process. so Kevin Magnussen has decided to leave. Actually, that's a boldfaced lie. Kevin Magnussen was fired. Kevin Magnussen will be parting ways with Haas at the end of 2024. Not his choice, but as he said in some interview, losing the seat in F1 really has very little to do with your skill set. which is unfortunate. And Guenther was on the Red Flags podcast. he said that Kevin did reach out to him to ask for the number of some of the team principals. So Kevin is doing work. But then again, we're all waiting on a certain someone. And that certain someone is Carlos Sainz. he still seems to be the missing piece in the 2025 drivers line up. Pierre Gasly was asked what he thinks of the line up next year, and he said he's eager to welcome the fastest guy and we all know who that is. It's Carlos as the of the available drivers, it's definitely Carlos. So Pierre is excited to welcome him to alpine. Carlos was asked, if he'd made any decisions about his future, and he said he was busy watching the euros and he, in fact, did not make any decisions about his future. He's funny. red bull seat is also still up for debate, despite them offering a multi-year contract again to Checo. Doctor Helmut Marko said that they will make a decision about the seat after Spa. my assumption is that translates to, there's a performance clause in his contract that, indicates that they're not allowed to act until, Until the summer break. Basically, they can't like enact the performance clause until then. Yuki got asked if he wants that seat, and Yuki said he did think it would be weird if William Lawson got the Red bull seat over him. I don't know, it's such a difficult thing. I don't know who's right for that seat, because I think it plays a really huge mental toll on it, on the person. But I do see Yuki's point like Liam did have, did perform really well the the few times that he sat in the RB, but Yuki has demonstrated consistent improvement in performance, consistency, and commitment to the Red bull family. which and he comes with a lot of money, so I think that should be rewarded. Despite me loving Liam Lawson, I do think Yuki need to be rewarded. And I did love Pierre sticking up for Yuki, saying, I hope he was at least considered for the Red bull seat. I don't know if he was even considered before Checo was offered the first thing, but I do hope he's considered this time around. All right, well, Lap 2, off duty F1. So and some of our random pieces of news, in case you haven't heard. we had the, like, global. It shut down, on Friday, from the company CrowdStrike, which is a cyber security company, not Microsoft. Got to put that out there. People keep calling it a Microsoft outage. It was not a Microsoft outage. Microsoft was impacted by the outage caused by CrowdStrike and therefore anyone who uses PCs was impacted. But it was not Microsoft's fault. It was CrowdStrike’s fault. however, what's funny is that one of the industries impacted by this and there were many industries impacted was, in fact, Formula 1. but there's just one funny image of, Of of the Mercedes pit wall staring at like, the error screen up on the up, up on the wall. And, but it's like the back of the guy shirt, and it says in big letters. CrowdStrike. Those are Mercedes sponsors. It's pretty funny. and other random news. Pierre, Pierre and Charles went on a double date with their girlfriends. to the Eras tour. From what I'm gathering, it was an accidental double date. they didn't know the other person was going to be there. and again, I don't know how they got tickets because they just ended up accidentally in the same area, but it looked like they had one, like the celeb area, so I wasn't sure. How did they accidentally end up in the celebrity area? when he said area, maybe just now, like we were both in attendance. Didn't know. everyone else had kind of assumed that Pierre Pierre and Kika had never, like, indicated they were any sort of Taylor Swift fans, not in a bad way. I think Kika literally had said that she's not a huge swiftie, but she just doesn't really know her music. but, I assumed that the tickets had come from them because of Travis and Alpine, maybe their tickets did come from there, but, and then Charles and and Alex just attend it on their own. Or maybe they all just bought their tickets and thought it'd be fun to, Alex is definitely a softie. She was belting the ten minute version of. I have the whole thing memorized and I can’t remember the name of the song. The ten minute version. You know which one I'm talking about? and Charles looked like he was having a great time. I think he's complimented Taylor Swift before. That's so his vibe by the way, to just be a massive Swiftie. I do Pierre did say in the media on media day that, he has become a huge swiftie now because, like, he's never seen them performance like that. And he thought it was crazy. And like, I honestly feel like everyone becomes a fan of Taylor Swift once if they weren't before, if they refuse to listen to her music, if they somehow end up at her concert. You can do nothing but respect the girl. It looks insane. All right, now we've got a new addition that we're adding to our, digital warm up. And that is pets of the paddock. Because Pierre Gasly and Kiko got a puppy named Simba and he's so cute. And that makes him the latest. puppers to join the, paddock squad. And I'm obsessed. They're going to have to start getting like official dog stuff, like, Like, you know, a place for them to go to the bathroom. Handler's dog walker. It's going to become a whole bunch of budget like category for F1. but the puppy is very cute. I love that they got a puppy together, And then speaking of existing dogs of the paddock, Leo and Roscoe finally met. I think their hospitalities were right next to each other last week or two weeks ago. And so they finally stage the meet up. and it was very cute. They posted, joint posts on Instagram, of the meeting. And Roscoe just looks huge and unbothered. And Leo's like a puppy still and literally like, the size of Roscoe's paw. Not that Roscoe's big, but compared to Leo, and it was very cute. I really, honestly can't wait until next year when we've got, like, a full Ferrari puppy paddock. And I must know if you guys might have seen in some of my videos before I have a Ferrari dog bed for my dog Yozhka. and I really need to know if, Charles and, Lewis are aware of this contraption and whether they will be getting matching Ferrari dog beds for their dogs. And I will assume that if they do, it is because of me. Moving on. I've called the session. We like sports and we don't care who knows? Because, my God, F1 drivers love a sport. And Sunday, last Sunday was a big day for sports. Like, thank God we didn't have a Grand Prix because there was the euros finals, the Copa America finals and Wimbledon finals. and our drivers were tuned in. George Russell pre final, I think it was semifinal. George, George and Djokovic met up, took a picture together. George was in his like full on suit. There was actually a picture of Pierre Gasly with Carlos Alcaraz who ended up winning. And Carlos posted a story congratulating Carlos. Carlos has got, got to stick up for Carlos, as you know. and then there was a euros final. George and Carmen posted a cute selfie on the way to the euros final. so they're facing off with each other, like, sort of like going like there. It was like you, and there was another shot, like a fan shot at the actual finals of George sitting just a couple rows below. Harry Styles and James Corden. the funniest moment for me personally was, Lando attended the euros and by the way, we were watching it and I had, like, turned away for a second and my mom goes, It's Lando, it's Lando. And I was like, what? And we were. It was Lando. my mom's getting really good at recognizing them. but Lando attended the euros final with Jimmy Butler, who is a huge F1 fan and specifically a huge Lando fan as well. but what I found really comical is that Jimmy posted on his story, him and Lando sitting in a hotel lobby, right? Robbie? Robbie right before the finals. because they attended live sitting in the lobby of the hotel on Jimmy's phone, watching the Wimbledon finals together, and they cheering on Carlos's win. it's just such a random amalgamation of sports. And I think I could have also like, I think he would have been fine if it was like Lando watching the Wimbledon finals at the euros finals with another like European athlete. But I think the fact that it was Jimmy Butler, like really threw me off. also in the follow up of the euros final this weekend, in Hungary, someone clocked Lando's parking spot. which had his name on it. Underneath his name, someone had graffiti two one Viva Espana! And it was Carlos and Caco, his manager slash cousin. but it was funny. Fernando, I guess, had his, prep media day press conference first, and he was asked about it. He was like, there is another Spaniard on the grid. It was not me, but he was cackling. All right. lap four trackside in Hungary. So one of my favorite things that Lando has ever done is that he, If you remember, throwback to last year in Hungary, he. When he did his famous, infamous, I should say, bottle smash and, broke Max's, trophy, which had been a porcelain cup designed and made over an unthinkable number of hours by local Hungarian artists. he broke it and they had to have it redone, and they had, like, a whole thing where they came to Monaco to deliver the new trophy. And everyone's like, haaa Lando don’t touch it!! And now, like, it became like a whole thing. Lando breaks trophies. so he had that team design his helmet with the same design that was on the trophy last year, and I thought that was a really fun callback on his part. So in other news, and this is like, this is very strange to me, but, everyone became, like, obsessed. With, Max's bedtime the day before the race. So he was doing another 24 hour Sims race. And if you recall, the last time he did one, he went on to win the race. Slightly different circumstances. in that his car was a bit better and he was sort of leading from the get go. And it was probably a slightly lower lift, which is all I’ll give to the people that are critiquing his bedtime, because, well, let it go. Nico Rosberg brought it up before the race and he was like saying how he's. Lando went to bed at 11 and woke up at whatever, and he got a full, correct number of hours of sleep because he's so and he had a specific thing for breakfast. And look at him, he's so disciplined. And Max is just complacent now. And that's why he's going to bed at 3 a.m. and competing in Sims races, because he doesn't give a fuck. like Nico. Please. Like that is just so not true. First of all, I remember last time when everyone was talking about Max's bedtime and how it's hilarious that he won that race and that, like, he also won the Sims race and like all that stuff. and how he could do it on so little sleep. And lando I was like, well, I also like, I went to bed at like, whatever. But I didn't sleep. I was watching other stuff. so the fact that you for some reason know the exact time when they went to bed, in the exact time he woke up and exactly what he had for breakfast, doesn't mean any of that actually happened. I go to bed, I never I'm never asleep at the time I go to bed. Like, yes, there might be something said that you could be on even more top peak performance if you had gone to bed at a specific time and slept a specific way. But there's nothing to say that the rest of the driver slept the exact correct number of hours and where, you know, like it's just stupid because, like, I wasn't the last one to bring it up. I got murdered by coffee like five times during the race. Like every time Maximus is like, should have gone to bed. Now, this is what happens when you race all night. It was just ridiculous. And I'll talk about it later. But. with that very sleepless note, we end the digital warmup do do do, on to the race rhyme! Welcome to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where we had more drama than you could believe. Before we launched into all the happenings that occurred on Sunday. The know Max got like, no sleep last night because he's a Sims junkie. Anyways, when the lights went out, Oscar sure did go. He took the lead while Max went off track to overtake Lando, which is a no no. Once he conceded the place quite angrily, I might add. Oscar. Lando. Max became our top three. Let's hope nothing else will make Max mad. Just kidding. Almost everything pissed Max off today. But if you're up sim racing all night, of course you're going to be grumpy during the day. Never mind. Your brakes are being weird and your strategy is shit and you just don't have the pace. Maybe if Max slept a little more, he might win a race. Meanwhile, over at McLaren, Oscar is thriving in P1. So naturally, McLaren pit Lando first because I actually think they might be fucking dumb. Oh, but there was the threat from Lewis,(who was nowhere even close!) so McLaren was like, let's undercut our own driver. Zak Brown, I have some notes. Because what are you going to do when Oscar comes out and needs to make up the gap you've created? Oh yeah. Great idea. Let's beg Lando to give the spot back. That'll make everyone elated! Except that's exactly what McLaren decided was a super great idea. Desperately ask Lando to do his duty for the team and the country, or some similar word diarrhea. Meanwhile, Max tried to overtake Lewis but launched up into the air and into P5 instead. He finished the race, but P5?? Please, Max, maybe you should just go to bed. GP wasn't the only one getting nonstop comebacks on 4.1 Sassy FM. Lando was getting progressively more unhinged, giving us some great gems. In Lando's defense, the radios he was getting were wild and he was only matching the vibe he was receiving because tell me why. McLaren's pit wall was giving Friday Night Lights, trying to get all up in Lando's feelings. When Lando finally gave the spot back to Oscar with three laps left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But we were all still rather distressed. McLaren put Lando in an awkward situation and made Oscar his well-deserved first win. An awkward operation. The internal drama this will cause is a tale for later, specifically DTS season seven, which will only make the drama greater. But right now, let's focus on Oscar's incredible performance and first F1 win. Mama Piastri has even canceled pilates for the occasion. We have one more race left until the summer break. Think that'll give you some time off from the drama? Please give me a break. Okay, on to analysis. so starting with Quali, it was raining or about to rain, or there was raining by then. Just kept bringing of rain. But I didn't actually see any rain. with six minutes left to go, in Q1, Checo crashed out. I'm not sure if it's entirely his fault, but he still crashed out. Logan and Alex almost made it into Q3, but were knocked out in Q2, but it was still exciting and he still out qualified Checo!! and then in Q3 again, first quote of Q3, if the rain is coming in, it's not coming in like that is like the story of F1. It's insane. Yuki Tsunoda had an accident out of turn five with like two minutes left and it was a red flag and we weren't sure if was going to get restarted or not. And I felt so bad for Yuki, he just like held his head in his hands and I was just really sad for him. Q3 did restart with about two minutes left. Not everyone, participated. Fernando didn't participate. I think Max didn’t participate because I didn't think they could get better times out. The commentator goes, this might be the most disappointing two minutes of Formula One ever. it was funny. Oscar got really weird instructions. He was like, you must not drive too slowly out of the pitlane, but you must still drive slowly. And then there was a zoom in on Oscar's face, and he was like. Like his eyes just spoke a thousand words. but anyway, two minutes later, Lando got pole But the starting grid is as follows. Lando. Oscar. Max. Carlos. Lewis. Charles. Fernando. Lance. Daniel. Yuki, Nico. Valtteri Alex. Logan, Kevin. Checo, George. Guanyu, Esteban. And then Pierre. And then Pierre had some work done in parc ferme. So he would be starting from the pitlane. Before we head into the race, I'm going to start assembling this. So I have about a pound of cherries in here. The recipe calls for two, but I got tired of pitting. so I put all the pitted cherries in here. I you can see you, guy, So I'm using sour cherry juice mixed with water. for some reason some of the recipes are, were implying that there should be more juice released from the cherries, but, there wasn't. So I was supposed to just cover all the cherries. and then you put in the sugar. And then spices. So this is on the spice of the salt, cinnamon and lemon zest. And then the rest of the spices, which is like cloves, nutmeg. and these etc., I put into, like, this little tea thing and I'm gonna just insert it into the pot. and then I'm putting it here and it's going to come to a boil and I'm going to simmer it. Okay, so I put all the ingredients and the rest of these ingredients going a bit later. So there's some sour cream and flour. and I'm going to mix it with some of the hot cherry liquid from there once it's ready. And then I'll slowly pour that back in and then it'll cool and then it'll be done. but until then we're going to talk about the race. So, I'm not gonna talk about the race in a traditional way. I will talk about this very quickly, but other than that, I'm going to talk about Max, and I'm going to talk about McLaren because let's be honest, it's kind of boring. So, starting with the start, Lando I mean, Oscar got a really good, really, really good start when a lot of terrible start. actually, I think he said at one point he got a horrible start in the post race, and he's like, well, actually, it wasn't horrible, just wasn't good. but basically, Oscar went into the lead. Max tried to overtake Lando. He did overtake Lando, but he did it by going off track. Max believed the land pushed him off and he didn't need to give the spot back. everyone else believed otherwise. so I recommended that he give the spot back, and Max was very salty about it. I have a feeling Max was annoyed before everything started, but, that certainly started to exacerbate things. However, in general, I think there were several things working against Max today. first of all, the car was not fast. They lacked race pace significantly. the second he kept complaining, well, there was some sort of concern with this car. Something about the brakes being set to some. I'm not entirely sure, but his brakes weren't working properly for him. and he was struggling that with the entire race. Then the circumstances around him were affecting him. So Lewis undercut him. And Max was not pleased about it. But then he spent many while trying to catch up to Lewis and wasted a bunch of time on that. And I think he was more annoyed about that than the undercut. and then after that, instead of bringing Max in for his second pit stop, thinking not a bit later, again thinking that it would be more effective and give him more of a lead. But inside Max, Max gets stuck in the traffic of the back of the grid and slows down even more. When he finally does get another pit stop, he put on mediums, and because the temperature of the track, it's it's like 30 degrees in Hungary. it's a bit too hot for mediums. so basically there's some circumstantial things that are kind of out of his control, but like, if everything else was going well, none of those would really matter. But because the car is subpar and the strategy was bad. that, like, really set him off. And I've, like, I've always said that what sets Max off more, like what brings Hulk Max out, is when things happen that he feels can be prevented, whether it's by him, whether it's by other people on his team, like a better strategy or a stronger car. And he would have been able to navigate the rest of the issues you face today. But because he didn't have those things, he just kept getting more and more frustrated. And I think that's fair. I think what isn't fair is the way he was speaking to GP on the radio, he was a bit aggressive with the GP and I know that's Max was down in the GP's used to it, but Max Max has gone a lot better in controlling his emotions and his frustration on track. And I just think there will always, always be things that trigger you, especially when you add adrenaline to it and he just needs to get a tad better at that. just speaking to GP a bit more politely, I also feel this is a great time to mention Crofty's personal theory that this is in fact, the reason everything was going tits up today is because Max was playing SIM until 3 a.m. last night, because he was part of another 24 hours sim sims race. However, last time he did that, he in fact went on to win the race. perhaps there's something to be said about the circumstances. Last time he was leading, last time he had a better car. This time the car wasn't functioning the way you want it to be functioning. He was starting third. Things weren’t really going his way. And that kind of exacerbated. Sure, sure, a person can be grumpy if they don't sleep enough, but like saying it like 5 or 6 times is insane behavior also it’s hot. I think people will behave crazy when it's hot. It's hot. He might be a little tired, like things are not going his way. Obviously it's been exacerbated, but he could have gotten eight hours of sleep and still be annoyed by everything that's going on. I just I just think it's ridiculous to bring it up. So, like, you're showing your age, Crofty. Like even Ted. Ted who, let's be honest, hates Max came into the into his defense and was like, well, he last time he won in this sort of like condition and not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. And as I said earlier in this episode, Lando said, last time the Max won in those conditions, I was like, how do you do it? And sort of sleep when I was like, well, I like went to bed at 11, but I didn't sleep at 11. also Max the Max race all night, but the race was like a 2 p.m. that time in Hungary. So like. So he had, like, all day to rest, like I don't think the Sims racing had anything to do with anything. Like it was just a stupid argument. And they brought up so much, so much. Every time something went wrong, he's like, well, see, this is what happens when you don't get your eight hours of sleep. Not everyone's geriatric crafty like, let's move on. so the biggest issue that happened to Max, I think, was his incident with Lewis, and this was towards the end of the race. And this is like when he was trying to overtake him for like the hundredth time. by the way, this was all happening while Lando, an engineer, and his engineer are, like, yelling at each other, like about Sunday meetings and the world championships and team spirit and whatever the fuck else they could throw him. The Max and Lewis touched and that sort of flew into the air and landed so hard onto the ground, like it was like NASCAR level, like thump. But he kept going, and finish P5. Max had been called into the stewards office. Same with Lewis. So Lewis at the car, his post-race press conference short, Lewis had said in an interview, that he thought it was a racing incident, which I think I would agree with. Max was coming in quite aggressively, but I think Lewis might have turned in a bit earlier than he should have just a bit. And also both were continuing were able to continue racing. So I think because of all those things, it becomes a racing incident. But Max was very peeved at the time. and there was there's this one interviewer in the media pen and she's always like stirring shit again. I think she works for Sky sports. I don't know who she is. I never see her face, but like, I know her voice. and I've literally one. I think she has a vendetta against Max, because I literally remember last time when there was an issue with Max and Lando, and she spoke to Max and she asked him if he should apologize to Lando and Max, like, well, I don't really know what happened. You need to review the tapes before I figure out who's to blame or like, who's at fault or whatever. To the fair enough answer. and then when Lando spoke to her, like a few minutes later she was, like, so Max, thinks he should never, ever apologize you he has absolutely nothing to apologize for. And then, like, girl, we you're on tape. We heard you. And she did the same thing today. she asked a max about the issue with Hamilton and Max pace because, like, I felt like I did this, and I felt like Hamilton did this, and I feel like because of what Hamilton did, I was forced to do this, and that's why the result happened. But I need to review everything so I know exactly what happened, like from an outside perspective then like on track. And then I can comment and the lady literally turns round and goes to Lewis. So what are your thoughts on, Max fully blaming you for everything that happened? and I also thought it was annoying because in the post-race press conference, one of the interviewers brought up, he was like, well, Max, that is your fault. And Lewis is like, well, he's always going to like for my side. It's an in racing incident. But like, there's always going to be like blame and aggression from his side. And I think that's slightly unfair because Max had only said that in the heat of the car. Like, I feel like we really need to take what drivers say in the car out of the equation when they say after and again the response, I need to review what happened besides, like what I saw from like the tiny little window in my cockpit is a really fair response and I don't think they should be judged for it anyway. I hate this little Sky news lady interview or person, whoever is storing all this shit. Usually I'm there for stirring shit, but it's always it's like one way and it's only what Max says. She's only like screwing up what Max says, and it's like she forgets she's videotaped. Well, she's live on camera. We we know what she's saying, what he's saying back. he she also did ask him if he should apologize to the team and Max and Max said we all need to do better, but, like, I'm allowed to be vocal on radio, which is a fair response. He could have said, yes, I should apologize, GP, I don't think he fully remembers exactly how he sounded when he spoke to GP, which again, I think upon review she probably will apologize to GP, but in general it's a dumb question. Why is Max always being asked when he's going to apologize to now, like he's that's not who he is? I think he makes amends and takes responsibility with the people he cares about the most, and in the situations where he truly feels like he's wrong. Human GP have a very, very strong relationship and I don't think it would be that strong if he didn't take accountability when it was needed. And if GP didn't feel like it was a two sided relationship. I am also the biggest Max Verstappen apologist on this planet. it's a little disgusting but I can't change who I am. I will defend them until the day I die. but anyway, let's go through Max's radios because they were truly unhinged today and it was very comical, but also bordering on insane. So first. At the beginning, when Max had just let Lando back through. Oh, so we're just letting people push people off track. Now, you can tell the FIA that's how we're going to race from now onwards. Just driving people off the road. then Max was like, I minus five brakes bias and this thing just doesn't fucking turn. It's just unbelievable. GP's like noted Max. Again, it's quite impressive how we've let ourselves get undercut and just completely fucked up. My race max and interaction GP goes well that was a gentle introduction and Max no, do not give me that bullshit now you guys give me this fucking strategy, okay? I'm trying to rescue myself, for fuck's sake. And it was a shit strategy. A little intense on the delivery, but. Okay. And then after his hit with all this, Max goes, yeah, I moved out of braking, and we have officially reached GP's boiling points off because his response was, I'm not even going to get into a radio fight with the other teams, Max. Well, let the stewards do their thing. It's childish on the radio, childish. Now everyone took that as him calling Max childish, which he probably was, but like he. His message is about getting into fights with the other teams on the radio, and I think he's referring to getting fights with the teams on the radio is childish rather than Max throwing a hissy fit, though that is also childish. Maybe it was just a double whammy for him. I also like that after after the race, GP gets on the radio to tell Max that Max will need to be seen by the medical personnel in Parc ferme and Max goes send the medical team up to the stewards so they can check if they're okay. I feel fine. Yeah, I love Max when he’s sassy. And I feel like GP also loves Max when he’s sassy. But all the close ups of GP looking stressed AF at the pit wall, I felt for him. It's tough, it's tough in the moment but it's kind of funny afterwards. And I, I firmly I need to believe this and I do I do believe this but I need to believe the Max. Apologize to GP for how he spoke. He was wearing a curved cap today. And if you go if you're an OG box boxer, you will remember we used to have this theory about curved cap versus flat cap max. And when he was fully mature and emotionally stable, he wore the curve cap. And when he was Hulk, Max, he wore the flat brimmed cap. Max had mentioned theory, and I, I'm still convinced that someone picked up our theory and he heard it from them, because I'm not seeing this theory anywhere else. But, I fully claim that theory copyrighted, Max would be wearing the flat burn today, and that's just an alternate ego. And we can't judge someone. on their alternate ego can we. only. All right, now let's move on to McLaren. Oscar had the better start, leads the Grand Prix for the first, like, 55 ish laps. Then things get messy when McLaren decide that the best course of action is to pit Lando first, rather than Oscar. When Oscar's leading the race. and their reasoning was that, well, we need to hold off Lewis when Lewis was nowhere in sight, like he was not close enough for them to do that because yeah, it helped Lando, but he didn't need the help. And it fucked Oscar over. So when they finally do pit Oscar, Lando ends up leading the race, putting Oscar in P2, which theoretically he didn't like. But he got it. I guess it's sort of merit in the sense that Oscar didn't, like physically. Like pause on track to let Lando through, but like he was given that by the team, Oscar only lost his position because he was undercut by his own team. Lando immediately gets told that they're going to reestablish team order, but there's no response from Lando. And then Lando didn't immediately give the place back. He now has like a 3.8 second lead on Oscar because of the gap created by their own team, and unless Oscar can catch up to him, it doesn't seem very likely that Lando plans to give the place to Oscar because I would also like sacrifice Lando's race. I don't want to sacrifice it that much often to catch up to Lando, but the reason he's struggling to catch up to Lando is because they pitted Lando first, put him ahead, gave Oscar a worse strategy, and put Oscar into a giant gap between him and as he made it, now he's struggling to catch up. So it's all McLaren's fault. so after him, a couple of messages about the tires. Lando’s engineer goes. okay, uh Lando, radio check, please. Lando. And then Lando goes yep loud and clear, I can hear ya! So we've all got confirmation that Lando is just blatantly ignoring his team. So this is when things get literally absolutely ridiculous. And I realize they have no private forms of communication in the middle of the race. But like, we can literally all hear you guys, and the level of desperation that begins to creep into these like messages is tragic for everyone involved. Like the increasingly erratic progression of these radio messages is like, it's it's it's hysterical. But like then you remember this is a high level organization that really shouldn't be acting like this. Like, this isn't private Slack messages. This is broadcasted around the world. Like, be careful. This is basically how things go. So first is just like calm messages about like switching spots like Queen. They're calm like, hey Lando, we need to get this spot back to Oscar. When that didn't work, they went for like, coded hints where they were like, we need to save the tires. As if we don't all know that saving the tires means let Oscar through and slow the fuck down. Then when they literally get no response from Lando, they what do we go like, hey, you up? And then I was like, I can hear you guys. I'm up. everything you're saying, I'm copying. Copy, copy. so now that they have confirmation that Lando was just ghosting them, they become more and more desperate and literally, we switch to emotional blackmail, with messages like, I know you'll do the right thing and remember our Sunday morning meetings. And, like, appealing to his Britishness. think how awkward it's going to be if you don't let Oscar through, bro. McLaren. Like, well, I won't miss an opportunity to call Lando for being petty. And he certainly was a bit petty and immature in this situation. McLaren's making things awkward. McLaren made things awkward like, oh shit, who should we be? They're literally like gaslighting Lando into making this is his fault. It's their fault. They fucked up. like, he doesn't need like the emotional blackmail of like, but don't you love him? Like that's unnecessary. and it's going to be, like, awkward no matter what. Because at this point, you're embarrassing yourself so hard, there's no way it's not going to be awkward anyways. When emotional blackmail didn't work, they decided to do their best impression of a high school football coach in a sports movie at, like, halftime. like a big game, like the penultimate finale of the movie. And they come in with, like, I wish this was a joke, but they actually said this out loud. The way to win a championship is not by yourself. It's with a team. You need Oscar. You need us helping this. So for fucking real right now, I'm McLaren like a really shitty strategy call you made has threatened the trust you spent years building with Lando. And Oscar has to now live with the fact that you've really begged Lando to to let him by. Lando was trying to prove a point. Like he was trying to, like, show that he's the fastest. But, Oscar, this was Oscar's win. So they put Lando first. They were manipulated. It's a Lando was first. And then like actually in the don't be first. Lando wasn't supposed to be there. it just all so embarrassing. And it takes away from the fact that Oscar driving an exceptional race and deserves the win, like through and through. So the best part, the best way to sum all of this up was like, oh. And I was like, I look stupid if I didn't fight to win this right? And there was like a safety car and he had just let, Oscar pass and then he, like, missed a chance to, like, get the win. so I understand him holding off for the last possible moment, but like, the what he said in the in the post-race press conference, he was like, it's not my fault that I was leading the race. It wasn't his fault. McLaren put him there and then they’re like JK, move. like it's rude and awkward for everyone involved. And there's only one culprit, and it's McLaren, Lando’s only at fault for like being, petty and sometimes kind of immature. Like we have to have the race kind of annoying me. I'll get into that in a second. But like. I do want to go through Lando's increasingly sassy responses. So. So. One of the messages that Lando got was. We need you to say more tires, please. And we do want to let Oscar through, and Lando goes, well, we should have box in first, then surely no. The engineer goes, it doesn't matter. And then it goes. I mean, it does to me. Maybe there. Then he goes, then the engineer goes. We think both cars are using their tires too much. Just remember every single Sunday morning, meaning we have and land it goes. Yeah. We'll tell them to catch up then. Please. And then Lando gets the message. Lando, he can't catch you up. You've proved your point, and it really doesn't matter. And Lando just, like, goes on a little rampage like I will done this or done that. Like it doesn't matter. Blah blah blah. and Lando basically just goes like, I'm fighting for a championship. I'm like, you get it? It's hard, it's a hard, it's a hard thing. And it's mostly hard because he was put in the situation and he didn't choose to be in the situation. And I think that's deeply unfair for him. And like I did judge him a lot for the way he responded to his team and everything. But like at the end of the day, I don't actually judge him because who wouldn't be petty and annoyed in the situation I do. Judging for how he treated Oscar, which again, I'll get to in just a moment But anyway, I think the progression of these radio messages are so funny because. like, the tactics they took, like, from, like, straightforward to coded messages to emotional blackmail to, like, inspirational high school football coach to resign, like, just fucking do it. Just just do it. And it's like, it's like they were entering prompts into ChatGPT like how to convince someone to do it and why when they're not doing it. And we've asked so many times it was it was crazy. Like, I applaud them on their, versatility and variety in ways to try to get Lando to do what they wanted. Even though we all know Lando was going to do it anyway. Lando puts up a good front, but he's going to do what he's told. But, I think what's really sad is that while this is frustrating for Orlando, I think what really this all of this does is take away from. From Oscar success. Do you know what I mean? Like, this is sort of like the way they're behaving sort of ruins his first F1 win. And like. I think this is most exemplified by Oscar's, like, post-race radio message. And like, we all know, Ros, for, announcing Rosco for a while, but I know Oscar is, emotional range is a bit more limited than other drivers. Like, he's very composed, very, like, cool as a cucumber under pressure, like showing intense emotion is not really his vibe. So at no point did I think that Oscar's winning race message was going to be like, yabadabadoo, like some people. But I thought like maybe a little bit more excitement. And his whole thing was so subdued, like they were like, oh my God, Oscar, your race winner, great job. He did great. And his responses yep. Thanks everyone. Yeah, this feels great. thank you for the coordination. Sorry I made the swap a little more painful than I needed to be, but thank you. I appreciated. Well done. Yeah. First F1 win. thank you very much. The fact that he apologized makes me really sad. when he got out of the car. This is. where Lando started to piss me off. Like I was a bit peeved by his messages. But at the same time, I fully understood where he was coming from. But he didn't congratulate Oscar when he got out of the car. Charles immediately came over from P4 to Congrat congratulate him and I'm like, hug him. I know it's son, but like he didn't have to do that. That's quite a trek. That's quite a track for, him to do. Quite. And then, like, Oscar came, he got weighed. He immediately went over to the team to hug them. Okay, so great news. The last 20 minutes of the podcast, were not recorded because I ran in the space on my phone and it did not indicate it to me in any way. So, here we are. I am going to speed through the last part. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I've already plated this. It isn't great. It looks very Valentine's Day. it's very yummy. Doesn't taste like soup. It's kind of sweet, but it's fine. All right, well. Anyway, I think the last thing I said is I feel bad for Oscar. but I understand, Lando and I think I talked about the cool down room, but maybe I didn't. But I also only have 25 minutes left on my phone, so, I guess I'll speed through it very fast in the sense of being very fast. I apologize this because I thought I already had it. the code room was very awkward. Lando was quite rude to everyone. I guess he hasn't cooled down quite yet. Cool down. Room didn't come down. but it was like not just taking it out on Oscar, which he did a lot. It was also taking out on Lewis the conversation between him and Lewis. Lewis was like, phew, you guys were fast, and Lando was like, well, you had a fast car seven years ago. And I know this is like seven years ago. That was a long time for you here. Seven years ago. And Lando was like, well, you had a quick car. You made the most of it. Now it's our turn. And Lewis is like, I wasn't complaining, I was complimenting your car Lando, Chill. And then he ignored Oscar the whole time, which made me sad. but I would like to point out that his mother tweeted, I will be canceling my 6 a.m. Pilates class with the champagne emoji. Loved it. She also posted a picture of the two dogs asleep and said some are not as excited as us. It was like one, I am there. but I do want to say that I hope, Oscar has a good support system around him, because I know Mark Webber flew to London for the formula E Championship. to support another one of those drivers and like, yes, Oscar one. And I guess he seemed confident in that, but, like, it is an awkward situation. Be nice for him to have some sort of emotional support around him, even though, as we noted, Oscar is not that emotional. Oh, the guy. anyway, no trophies were broken during the podium ceremony, and we got to hear the Australian national anthem. Always fun to mix things up. There was a funny clip of, like, Oscar fully moving his trophy out of the way as Lando, like, went down to slam his champagne bottle. I do want to call out the genius idea to have, Nico with the post-race interviews after, the most dramatic, pettiest race of all time, directly reflecting driver relationships and team orders. Top ten driver today is Oscar. No argument there for me or anyone, because what a race. Fully deserved. You know what any of this discount that. and I also want to shout out Lewis, who got his 200 podium. Amazing work. I thought it was really funny. In the post-race press conference, they kept asking about and he was like, everyone here is like 20. Please stop bringing that up. I feel really old. I feel that, the dick in the box box is so painfully McLaren. I think we can name another couple of very close runner ups, but it definitely boils down to McLaren and the way they handled both Oscar and Lando. I don't really want Lando for his behavior on the radio or post-race, even, because adrenaline's still running high and like, you haven't had time to process anything, you're immediately like, hit with a million questions. But he was a bit rude. And he's particularly rude a little bit, a little bit rude to Oscar. When asked. It wasn't Oscar's fault. It's hard to separate. I got it, but it was really Oscar's fault. And then I would be remiss not to mention Max. the way he spoke to GPT was pretty rude. and I understand there's a relationship and that's who Max is, and yada, yada yada, but, he should apologize. And I feel like he would apologize because, like, in the heat of the moment, he felt everything he was feeling. But once he heard the way he actually spoke. I guarantee he'll apologize to GP, because again, I don't think GP would maintain such a strong bond relationship with him. If Max didn't take any accountability. Speaking of Max, I think the runner up for dick in the box box is one million percent The commentators nonstop talking about Max's sleep schedule. So the results of this race were Oscar, Lando Lewis, Charles, Max, Carlos, Checo, George Yuki, Lance, Fernando, Daniel, Nico, Alex, Kevin, Valtteri, Logan, Esteban, Guanyu, and Pierre DNFed due to a hydraulic issue, which is actually quite sad because he was doing pretty well considering he started in the pitlane, I think at one point he was close to the points or in the points, so it's really sad that a technical issue took him out yet again. The driver standings for the top ten are Max with 265, Lando with 189, Charles with 162, Carlos with 154, Oscar with 149, Lewis with 125, Checo with 124, George with 116, Fernando with 45 and Lance with 24. I know Lando was worried that people would judge him for carrying him by the driver championship when he's so far behind Max. But you should care about the driver championship. That's literally his job. Like, obviously you should care. That's not all people are annoyed about. And I think that's what Lando’s problem might be, is like, he doesn't fully grasp where people will be annoyed at him or what they'd be annoyed at him for because it's not him caring about the world's drivers championship. the constructors Championship is Red bull with 389, McLaren with 338, Ferrari, 322 Mercedes, 241 Aston 69. What a fucking jump. RB 33, Haas 27, alpine nine, Williams four and Kick Sauber zero. And that's it for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sorry for the sped up last 20 minutes. That turned out to be probably like four at this rate. next up is spa, which will be the final race before the summer break. given how much drama and versatility we've had in the races so far, I can't imagine the spa will not deliver something exciting and fun. And if it doesn't, there's always silly season that comes right after that and we've got a lot of loose ends tie up. We'll Checo stay with Red bull. Where's Carlos going? I'm sure he knows our Carlos is so anal. There's absolutely no way that like his thing. Like I was watching the euros I didn't have time to think about. My career is true. Carlos is exclusively thinking about his career. But anyway, make sure you subscribe, share with any potential boxes and email me any thoughts, suggestions, questions for topics. send me content that I might have missed because I miss a lot. It's there's only so much one girl can handle. and I just love talking to you guys. So, in the meantime, make sure you follow @boxboxf1pod to keep up in between races and until spa. Fox box.