Leclerc ‘transforms the narrative’ + more Mercedes drama – British GP Review

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2:37Charles Leclerc wins the British Grand Prix! Let's go! finally how big a win was this for a complete transformation of the narrative until time over last only until people left

2:55Jolyon Palmer:Leclerc was back to his best and it was Lewis that was left scratching his head it was a fantastic drive I think Lewis's reaction afterwards said a lot he had Charles Leclerc on the end of the jab and that's now vanished the fascinating thing to me was after the race Kimi wasn't demoralised it's not Ferrari the Mercedes is it It's Ferrari v 'Antonnelli. Yeah, George, I think straight line was okay in the race. My interpretation of that comment was, mate, look in the mirror. The spiciest slapback on a victory lap radio since Mark Webber said not bad for a number two driver. Wasn't a victory lap.

3:28Oh, come on. This stuff plays out.

3:36There's always drama at Silverstone. Hello everyone and welcome to F1 Nation's review of the British Grand Prix. I'm Tom Clarkson and joining me in the paddock in the Ferrari motorhome I should add are F1 TV commentary teammates, former F1 driver Jolion Palmer and lead commentator Alex Jakes. Now guys, what a race.

3:59Jolyon Palmer:Really enjoyed it, I have to say. Yeah, it was a great race. They were just drama from the front to the podium fight, probably further back, but we didn't get to see so much of it because there was loads going on at the front. And then, yeah, you've got the Mercedes duo both having issues. Verstappen, obviously, having his own issue. Late safety car, shame. We didn't get one last lap of racing. But, yeah, great race at Silverstone. Jake, were you warming up for a last lap dash in the commentary booth? Doing lunges. Doing stretches. You rarely get a last lap shootout. I used to get excited when it was a last lap shootout in Formula 3 to win the British Grand Prix.

4:37And you just, if you get racing around here with one to go, you knew you were going to be into three wide action, cars going through. It would have been a melee like we had at the start of the sprint race. Oh, well. Look, we had hoped the safety car would come in on the penultimate lap, but it went round again as the FIA were actually just following the rule book to the letter. But even you talk about three wide, Jake, even if we'd had that lap, do you think it would have changed the result? Or do you think Charles Leclerc had it in the bag? I think Charles Leclerc had it in the bag. He was nervous.

5:12And for all of his worry that he had to go through that final moment, I think he was going to win the Grand Prix regardless. I think the melee would have been caused by George Russell trying to hang on to second. And do you think he would have done?

5:23Jolyon Palmer:No. I think Russell's the man that was breathing the biggest sigh of relief because he's obviously collected some good points. He was out there on pretty old medium tyres. Everyone behind him was on new softs. I was fascinated to hear Charles actually talk about tyres were feeling cold one lap obviously the leader's jitters when he had the race in the bag but if you imagine if Charles worried on a new soft on a used medium that's really tricky for for George so I I think I think he'd been gobbled up actually in a in a lap I Lewis definitely would have had a chance to come through I even wonder if Lando's coming through for a podium just with one lap of racing for for George it would have been so tricky we've also seen And a few times this year, safety car restarts, even when he's on the right tyres, have been tricky, if you think back to Japan and China.

6:08Jolyon Palmer:So he is a very lucky man today. Well, look, Charles won brilliantly and it had been 624 days since his last win at Austin in 2024. But perhaps the biggest headline surrounds Kimi Antonelli, who suffered his second reliability issue in the last three races when he was closing in on Leclerc. I mean, these reliability issues have cost him in particular a load of points. He's not sleeping easy tonight. Two times in three races, he's been on for hugely demoralizing moments for George Russell with the result he was about to score. He passed him on track to beat him in Barcelona. He was going to extend the championship lead by, let's be honest, winning the British Grand Prix.

6:55And those results slipping through his fingers. He's now had two big ones slip away. George has had the disappointment of Canada.

7:02Jolyon Palmer:So I think there's a 31-point swing in that moment. You've got George running fourth, which you would say is probably where he's most likely to end up, whether he passes Max or gets done by Lewis. He was in the middle of that three-car sandwich with the pace to be in the middle of that three-car sandwich. So he's fourth. You've got Kimi certainly heading to victory with the pace advantage he had on Charles. I don't think there was a chance that Leclerc holds on to that. And in the moment, you've suddenly got Kimi getting no points and George getting up to second place. So it's 31 points. On the one hand, you say that, yeah, he's not sleeping well because all of those points have slipped through his fingers.

7:40Jolyon Palmer:There was another, what was it, 21-point swing that he had in Barcelona where he retired and George inherited three more points for second place. So it's hugely damaging. Obviously, George had his own moment in Canada. but the fascinating thing to me was after the race Kimi wasn't demoralized he wasn't you know at his wits end he was quite calm about it he probably had a few laps to process it but nonetheless he has pace we spoke about it already on on this podcast a few times where George gets a good result but he doesn't have the pace and for me that's the bigger question I think George even mentioned it after the race where it was almost easier Sunday night in Canada for him because he felt like he deserved to win the race there.

8:21Jolyon Palmer:Whereas here you inherit second, but you're still worried about kind of your inherent skill or your ability to get performance out of this car that he needs to win a championship. JP, put your helmet back on and put us in the driving seat of that Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, right? That looked from the outside as to be quite a small bit of aerodynamic damage on the front left. And yet it had massive ramifications. Can you just tell us how that might have felt behind the wheel? well it seemed like it was just a physical it was obviously a carbon fiber component on the on the inside of the wheel that must have got lodged to actually stop him being able to turn the wheel so he was he was or turn the wheel but not it's affecting the steering arm so he's not able to actually turn the car um yeah we were on board with him at the time and he was kind of slow into into maggots and beckett's and then he really couldn't turn the car when he had to do it at the final part so you realize straight away there was a problem thought maybe it was a puncture because of what was happening to George.

9:18Jolyon Palmer:But in so many of these, any reliability part is so often a tiny part that has bigger consequences. And I think just the way that that part failed was even more unlucky because obviously when they ripped it off, he managed to at least continue. And if they'd done that at the first time of asking in the pits, probably he could have held on to a sixth place or something and got a few more points. Well, look, let's now celebrate the winner, right? Charles Leclerc, his first win, as I said earlier for 624 days given all of his problems particularly in recent races how big a win was this for him a complete transformation of the narrative he laid the foundation for it in qualifying by finding a balance good enough to beat Lewis Hamilton that's not been easy of late he was obviously ahead of him in Austria but there was a there was a mitigating factor with the with the deployment of the yellow and the crash of Verstappen.

10:15So to get to the front row on merit was huge. First time he's ever done that at the British Grand Prix around Silverstone, despite the pace he's had here in the past. And then to convert it on a day where it could have easily got away from him, very, very strong. And I think Lewis's reaction afterwards said a lot. He had Charles Leclerc on the end of the jab, and that's now vanished with this result today.

10:39Jolyon Palmer:Even yesterday after qualifying, he was circumspect, because I think he's been through the ringer quite a lot recently. You've had Lewis rise back to his greatest level, I would say. And meanwhile, Schal, who's had this team pretty much where he wants it for recent years, forever actually at Ferrari, even when Seb was here, Schal came in and had the pace on him. Suddenly he's having to have some deep inner thoughts on, am I good enough? How do I get more out of myself? And it was week in, week out. even if it was small details the consistency was with with Hamilton so he did a great job yesterday in qualifying he's spoken quite a lot about making big changes with the car having looked at something from Friday a bit of data and it seems to have translated because in the race unlike in Austria where he just out qualified Lewis or other recent races where the consistency of Lewis's ability to pull out of time is shown over multiple laps here it was the role reversal Leclerc was back to his best and it was Lewis that was left scratching his head it was a fantastic drive.

11:39Just to continue the boxing analogy, Jake, I thought there was an interesting moment in the press conference afterwards where Charles had just been discussing about finding something in the data on Friday night. And then Lewis then spoke and said, well, you know, he migrated towards my setup. I very much felt it was Lewis just saying, hang on, it's me. It's my ideas that's driving this team forward. Fascinating moment. Lewis was incredibly downbeat. He was next to the the press conference room leads to the commentary box. And he was outside the commentary box, just on his phone, in his own thoughts afterwards.

12:14I think watching you guys, by the way, on F1 TV, looking at your analysis. Yeah, that's why he was so downbeat, bless you. Yeah, I think just to suddenly be getting Ferrari around you and when it's always been Charles' team, when he's suffered that 2025 moment where he was just the worst season of his career, suddenly to turn the page and have Charles Leclerc struggling, that has vanished with this weekend.

12:42Jolyon Palmer:It's interesting that he's vocalising that, though, to everyone with Charles next to him. That's a flex, isn't it? It's a jab. I think he's hit him. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Although what was interesting, while he was saying this, Charles was talking to George, so I don't even know if Charles was listening. He'll know when everyone writes it up. Charles will listen in to this podcast. Look, what about the pace of Ferrari? I know, JP, you were saying that this was Kimi Antonelli's race until he had his problems, but Ferrari have now won two of the last three races, right? We're going to Spa next. I mean, just in terms of pace between Mercedes and Ferrari, who has the faster car now?

13:21Jolyon Palmer:Mercedes. Emphatically? With enough, I think. But what's brilliant is it's close. So Mercedes are having obviously these reliability blows. So you've got Antonelli in two of the last three races not finishing. Austria is the massive blip for Ferrari in between. I think they're so encouraged by their ability this weekend when they came in doom and gloom about what they were going to do off the back of last week. The power unit suddenly looks like it's working much more aligned to what they thought they were going to bring when they put it on the car in Austria. Degradation was not a factor here.

13:58Jolyon Palmer:When it's a factor again, we might see Mercedes just have that advantage once more. What I was really impressed with Ferrari was the translation of performance from the sprint to the Grand Prix. Even if you look at Hamilton v Antonelli, it felt like Kimi was having to work a lot harder to clear Lewis. In the sprint, it felt like he was catching, catching, catching past really easily. Whereas in the Grand Prix, the deployment looked better for the Ferrari in wheel-to-wheel battle to the extent that Kimi was on the radio saying, please don't drop me back into traffic. That was hard work. so that's encouraging for them but I still when we say Ferrari v Mercedes it's not Ferrari v Mercedes is it it's Ferrari v Antonelli I think Antonelli has not only Ferrari but I think he's got George under control if you had two George Russells in the car I think Ferrari would be cockahoot I think they'd be absolutely fine with life but Kimi's making the difference this episode is sponsored by Indeed building a great team is never easy if you're a small business hoping the right people see your job posting isn't the best growth strategy.

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18:28Back to George then. Did we see any improvement from George this weekend compared to Austria? Let's not forget, he won the last race. Yeah, he was worse this weekend.

18:39Jolyon Palmer:he was pole and he won in Austria and interestingly after the race in Austria he was saying yeah this isn't even my kind of track the Red Bull ring is not my kind of track just you wait till we get to Silverstone and you're saying he was worse well he was wasn't he it's not too hard to work that out pole to the win versus P4 on the grid to a lucky second place it's not to say that he was he was great in Austria either so his comments were valid but he just didn't translate to the performance here look while we're talking about jabs I thought it was Don't bring that I'm jabbing George No no no I was wondering where the Toto Wolff was right because George has been quite outspoken this weekend about the lack of straight line speed and he even talked about it on the radio and Toto came straight back at him and said no the straight line speed's fine my interpretation of that comment was mate look in the mirror The spiciest slapback on a victory lap radio since Mark Webber said not bad for a number two driver Wasn't a victory lap Victory lap for Charlotte the spiciest one for a second place yeah for the oh come on no like sorry like it's the end of the race he's not i know he's not one but like that was i thought that was toto wolf saying you find the answer but you know what george is he he should have a future i'm sure he will not want it but if he wants to go to politics he'd be brilliant because not only does he know the rule book very well which we saw in in um in austria we saw him immediately explain why it was fine i backed off single yellows all that he knows the rule book he plays the games but we also hear him get what he wants to say across all the time and he's thinking about it he knows he's not performing at a level good enough to win the championship he knows that as a driver you're realizing if you're having to fight 11 tenths of your potential to get close to your teammate but he's trying to find he's trying to get once again his message across so if you're saying you're down on the on the straights that means it's not the driver that means it's something wrong with the car Toto Wolff swatted it away didn't he it was uh no you need to find more stop blaming us the team but even if you look at Austria he did have a solid enough race he won the Grand Prix I didn't think it was swashbuckling I thought the two behind were a little bit quicker but he came across the line and told us on the radio once he did it without a drink went to the cool down room and immediately I found it almost Sorry, mate, it wasn't the cool down room.

20:59It was actually a spare cupboard.

21:03Sorry, no need. You two have spent a lot of time together this weekend. It's been a long week. It's been a long week. Went to the spare cupboard.

21:13Jolyon Palmer:But it was almost the way that he was like, Max, sorry, just checking. Did you have a drink for the race? Yeah. Kimmy, did you have a drink? I didn't have a drink, guys. And it was very much like, yeah, he's making his point of there was a little bit more in there. He was slightly uncomfortable. and he's very good at just getting across what he wants to get across and he was trying to do the same on the in-lap but obviously Toto Wolff wasn't interested in that becoming a line for him to use and it was a bit spicy. And George said that I'm not performing at the level to win the World Championship.

21:43It's important just to keep on fighting but the truth is there's been a lot of things this weekend we don't really understand. I have straight line speed issues yesterday and on Friday. I think it was better today but the performance wasn't good enough and if I'm being brutally honest, I'm not going to fight for a championship if the performances continue like that. So I'm not coming away from this weekend satisfied. I'll take the result. I was probably more satisfied leaving Canada when I broke down from the lead than I am today standing P2 just because I probably deserve the win in Canada and today I didn't deserve to stand where I stood.

22:24he was then asked well you know do you think the the points gap between you and Kimi is an accurate reflection of your season because you know do you feel the the bad luck that you've had is now you know Kimi's had his bad luck so it were even Stevens and he said he said that the points gap up to now he should be behind he said anything between 10 and 30 points is what he thought was an accurate reflection of their two seasons I don't know whether you two agree on that Across the board, regardless of how it's shaken out, if he can't find an answer of how to access his talent in this regulation set, it doesn't really matter.

23:03Which is why his mood is in one place and Antonelli's is another, despite where they finished. Antonelli, at the current level of performance compared to George Russell, would need an extraordinary run of bad fortune. he's clear against all expectations but he is and Russell knows this

23:20Jolyon Palmer:When was the last time George was quicker than Kimi on a race in a race? I mean Melbourne right? Melbourne Yeah Yeah That's a huge problem it's difficult 25 points is so generous that George is this close to Kimi to be honest given their relative performance Do you know what I think would be a fascinating conversation would be to sit George and Charles down together maybe right here in the Ferrari motorhome and say guys you too have struggled with the 26 spec cars are the problems the same it's fascinating that they're the ones that have been capable of great q3 laps at the end find it when it matters in ground effect cars jakesy and then you had someone like lewis hamilton who just hated the ground effect cars from day one and he's probably going i sat through the regs that didn't suit my driving style and now you have to sit through the regs that don't suit your driving style they've got a final answer to the problem the one the one thing that maybe George can take is is Lando Norris last year after they had the suspension update to the front of that McLaren Lando a few races later mind you was able to to find his best again so it's not over but if he doesn't answer that question that it's it's going to be Antonelli and I still think that's the that's the one thing that will be sitting uneasily with Kimi is his level of performance is so good but he only has 25 points on the board George is a driver that's fully capable of finding his feet again and and dishing out three wins on the bounce and and having that swagger back so for all that the reality right now isn't great for him even if he's scrabbling around for results it might be like Lando it might be that he comes on good there's so much of the season to go and Oscar might have felt a similar thing when he lost the Grand Prix win here at Silverson last year no worries I'm still feeling great it went away from him and Kimi still has plenty to prove over over the season do you think George can get there with the car as it is now or will it require an upgrade from Mercedes to take it more in the direction that he wants he doesn't seem to have a huge explanation for what's going on I was speaking to the guys at Mercedes and they were saying well it just feels like Kimi's able to drive it more on the limit of grip than George so he gets to what he feels is the car sliding around and unless it's a q3 lap or everything something's just talking to him that extra bit and he's going to take some risk he's not able to to take it to that level basically 100 of the car and so he they were almost saying that he's kind of under driving it slightly whereas you get kimmy there that's so in tune with what the car's doing he's got some feeling inside him that's basically your innate skill to feel the car and he's able to do that more consistently if you look through the data a lot of the time you see and through this weekend as well first lap on a new tire Kimi's able to execute the lap second lap on the tire George gets much closer so maybe Kimi is just taking this is in qualifying mode maybe Kimi is taking that little bit more in in the first lap more risk when there's a bit more grip around taking more out of the tire so it's a feeling that George is getting and I don't know how easy that is to fix.

26:29Jake, so you made the point on the preview on Thursday that if you look at the season as a whole, you know, George invariably gets there for that last lap of Q3, but Antonelli gets there on lap one. And this might be an unpopular thing to say, but are we just seeing Antonelli, is he just a faster racing driver? Is that an unpopular opinion? Well, he did have flashes last year, didn't he? Even in the ground effect era of being able to turn up to a racetrack that he'd never seen before Miami sprint put it on sprint pole after one hour of practice so he's had that and then obviously with the experience of going round again he's he's he's had that uh way more consistently I I think the strange thing for Russell is that and Jolene can speak to this uh in detail it feels like Charles Leclerc and George Russell started digging in to the data in the gap as to why it wasn't particularly working.