The Foolcast may seem like just a joke, but we like to think that we have a serious side too. And it’s thanks to that serious side that just 2 months into this podcast, we can bring you our first exclusive story. We’re blowing the lid on the biggest conspiracy since the moon landings. Folks, #Hornergate is no joke. Christian Horner is a dangerous man. I can hear your protests- why would he sabotage his own driver, that would make no sense, you say. That’s just what he’d want you to think. Ever seen Christian Horner and Vlad ‘The Lad’ Putin in the same room? I thought not. This man is diabolical, and we’re going to fight until his tyre-slashing, engine-sabotaging, foot-tapping days are over.
Also, Lewis Hamilton is a 5-time world champion, that happened too.
Join Rian McDonnell and F1 novice Joe Molloy as they stumble and joke their way through each round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
First off, a quick clarification- in the podcast, Joe talked about Lewis not mentioning Valtteri. When we recorded, we hadn’t seen the post-race press conference, in which Lewis did talk about the help he got from Valtteri. You can check out the transcript of what Lewis had to say here.
As we noted on the podcast, Red Bull embraced the ‘steal like an artist’ philosophy, nicking Ferrari’s new feature involving aerodynamic devices on the floor of the car. Here’s what we were talking about.
Also mentioned on the podcast was Williams still not announcing drivers, but instead losing out on a number of big sponsorship deals. We also got a new name in the running for that seat- or rather, an old one? Esteban Gutierrez has apparently thrown his hat in the ring.
And in kind-of-but-not-entirely-market news, Hartley found himself censored when he questioned the team’s public account of what happened to Gasly’s car in Austin. The current driver is going to have to get used to this kind of thing for a while, as Franz Tost has promised that Toro Rosso will wait until DECEMBER to decide about Hartley’s seat.
Finally (I know, I just want it to be over and makes sense too), Robert Kubica may not be waiting around for Williams to make up their mind. The veteran driver is reportedly looking at the prospect of taking a role with Ferrari as a development driver.
After the nightmare continued for Daniel Ricciardo, he was despondent in his post-race interviews- and who can blame him? The pain of the last few races has clearly taken its toll, and we’re all feeling it with him. DC may have passed his comments off as ‘in the moment,’ but Red Bull took it seriously enough to address them.
We also got more information on what exactly caused the car to have to stop, with some characteristically great analysis from Craig Scarborough explaining it so even Joe could understand.
We didn’t see it on the main feed, but apparently Marcus Ericsson was given team orders to help his teammate Charles Leclerc by staying out early in the race for longer than he would have liked. That explains the spectacular defensive driving he pulled, but Ericsson was understandably less than impressed.
Carlos Sainz and Twitter celebrity Renault F1 were in great form after a disappointing day, laughing off the Spaniard’s second DNF of the season.
We already noted how classy Seb was after the race, but it’s worth saying again. This was awesome. But just in case you thought it was all because he didn’t really care, his demeanour and answers in the post-race press conference show how much he was hurting.
Click to read Vettel’s answers.
Felipe Massa left us feeling pretty conflicted about the guy after repeatedly tweeting support for Brazil’s new President-elect. There’s not really much funny to say about the guy, he’s utterly horrible and we hope Felipe has a change of heart. That said, we got a giggle from Massa’s fans (ourselves included) finding themselves in an awkward position…
Most importantly, though, it was Lewis Hamilton’s day. 5-time World Champions are a rare breed, and he deserves the glory he’s enjoying. There’s plenty of great stuff out there if you want to soak up the good vibes from his immense win, but we’ll leave you with just two: a collection of his defining moments of 2018, and a behind-the-scenes video that shows just how much it meant to Lewis’ team, and that the class & respect Vettel displayed is there between the teams off-camera too.