Would Dropping Free Practice Improve F1 Races? | WTF1 Podcast #18

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Another brilliant F1 race but was it the lack of running on a Friday that made it so good? We are back for our latest instalment of the WTF1 podcast, with this week focussing on the US GP. Kimi wins his first race in 113 years, Verstappen provides another fightback and who could forget the guy shouting neeeeeowm during the race! All this and more will be explored so come and have a listen.
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---- Timestamps ----
0:55 Yas Marina Circuit competition announcement
1:50 Should Free Practice go?
5:50 Tyre wear in the US GP
8:30 Kimi’s race winning defence
14:30 Vettel’s rollercoaster race
16:00 Bottas’s anonymous race
17:25 Vettel’s sidepod glitch and errors
23:14 Winning tickets to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
23:50 Verstappen vs Hamilton battle
25:23 Verstappen’s reputation
28:26 Ricciardo’s bad luck
30:50 Hulkenberg vs Ricciardo at Renault
32:50 Neeeeeowm guy
36:12 Kimi’s first win in 113 years
39:24 Driver of the day
41:00 Alonso loves WEC
41:45 Our predictions for COTA
43:59 Podcast predictions for Mexico

[@cheesemachine00]

#yasmoment having a driver win for Ferrari and not screaming Grazie Regazzi for a minute. In the words of Kimi “f*c*i*g finally”

[@orconunit]

thank you

[@christophersmith3254]

I used to dislike vettel winning just because hed turn into super mario

[@venkyo7]

#YasMoment When Max wasn't escorted out of the cooldown room.

[@MuIqHa93]

"Kimi wins his first race in 113 years" the description says. Cheeky nod to Crofty.

[@DeadlyLazer]

yea that gave me a good giggle

[@bizarrebunny5579]

Brilliant 😂

[@roscoe1032]

Instead of dropping free practice, what about making it compulsory for teams to use their reserve drivers in fp1? This would give them more on track experience, more opportunity for younger drivers to show what they can do and more exposure to fans. The reserve driver with the most fastest laps across all fp1 sessions in the season earns the team a bonus in constructors points.

[@cragnamorra]

I really like this idea. Thumbs up.

[@marksmit8575]

Yes this is good

[@VigneshBalasubramaniam]

But that would still give them the data the teams want regarding tyre wear. The idea is to give the teams as little tyre wear data as possible.

[@pascalchatzigeorgiou7619]

The good thing is that we will not have to do the boring practice programs in the game

[@taliamason7986]

I just skip them cuz I can't stand them but also because you gain more too many resource points from them and develop your car way too quickly.

[@pascalchatzigeorgiou7619]

@@taliamason7986 same

[@henrywhatzal4724]

FP1 and FP3 are useless remove them

[@ollypolly8113]

@@henrywhatzal4724 I think fp3 is the most fun one, that's the one where they do qualy runs

[@Jarvrally]

@@ollypolly8113 no irl they do it in fp2

[@rheijmans1]

About Max's supposed scare tactics (and Hamilton talking about it): watch Nico Rosberg's championship interview, the idea that you don't want to overtake Max was already in driver's minds in 2016.

[@ltdada74]

Rick kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHnPpZeKq5unrLs here’s Rosberg on Max after the race in abu dhabi

[@rheijmans1]

Yes that's the one I was talking about, thanks!

[@benjyriley9814]

#YasMoment Kimi asking hamilton in the cool down room if he won the championship XD

[@sullyguy1235]

Benjy Riley that was max

[@benjyriley9814]

@@sullyguy1235 no it wasn't XD

[@matthewminnies393]

@@sullyguy1235 it was kimi

[@WeThePeople018]

This 100% has to be the winner! Get this man to abu dhabi!

[@benjyriley9814]

@@WeThePeople018 thanks I hope I do

[@felipejensen2727]

In my opinion, diminishing the data the teams have is only a way to increase the chance of mistakes, instead of creating better racing.

[@Vincrand]

Depends on what you see as a good race. If you care about fast lap times then the free practice should stay. If you like to see less competitve cars in the front and like to see teams react more out of intuition, then the free pratice would hinder. It's also possible to scrap friday and keep the free practice on saturday.

[@felipejensen2727]

I actually don't see it like you do. I think the problem of having 6 cars always on top is related to other situations (amount of money, ownership of power units, etc...). About intuition, I do agree that it is fun to watch races in which they change strategies based on the race itself, but I do not agree that intuition should be used without enough data, as it could be confused with pure luck. The US race this year can be used as an example on the topic (since it rained on FP1 and FP2). Yes, it was really fun because Raikonnen won based on a precise strategy, but Hamilton only lost because Mercedes had no idea the soft compound would be so bad in their car. Once again, in my view better racing is achieved with strategies based on information gathered on the free practices. And we cannot forget that FP2 is usually the one in which the teams gather information that are similar to the racing conditions. When I used the word racing, I also meant the races as a whole =].

[@ollypolly8113]

@@felipejensen2727 I fully agree with what you just wrote

[@adibz959]

I agree. Mistake can be dangerous. To life threatening level

[@st3wham1]

#YASMOMENT Ferrari letting Kimi through, no-one (apart from Niklas) was expecting that!

[@Niklas_-ec8zy]

I did

[@st3wham1]

@@Niklas_-ec8zy sorry bud I'll fix it now

[@morgankendall6891]

@@st3wham1 😂😂😂

[@didi_0111]

Ofc Ferrari will let Kimi through cause Vettel hasn’t even pitted yet at that time... and Kimi is in the better strategy to win the race.. it doesn’t make sense if Ferrari would not let him win...

[@Hanna-kj6zr]

#YasMoment When my dad rolled off the couch in anger because Hamilton almost passed Verstappen. He sat on the floor for the rest of the race.

[@joaquintch9433]

My dad was happy because Ham failed overtaking

[@Hanna-kj6zr]

Joaquín Tch don’t tell my dad but I was too...

[@joaquintch9433]

@@Hanna-kj6zr hahaha yep me too

[@kippcarver01]

What an excitement indeed..... Not caring about where you sit or lay, but just watch!

[@-scevans-9042]

#YasMoment Seeing Kimi’s pure emotion after winning the race

[@12sin8]

19:00 yeah Physician is not correct Jess, it's Physicist...

[@henrywhatzal4724]

Ali is gonna go nuts that Hartley finished p9

[@colchilibeck]

How about give practice laps according to championship standing. The more points you have, the less practice you get. This would allow lower teams more time for development and make the racing closer.

[@helikopteri123]

Too unfair for me. Same as giving faster cars more weight to slow them down.

[@KaiDesigns_]

#YasMoment When Kimi asked for more front wing before his pitstop then two corners later said he doesn’t want it anymore

[@j.j.schlachtfeld9325]

#YasMoment Max finally being old enough to be on the podium in the US

[@Guust_Flater]

You mean, old enough to drink!! He nailed it, 21 years and 21 days old. 👍 😀

[@siddharthan571]

#YasMoment The entire race was really good. Teams had no idea how the tires would perform, exciting first lap, pit stop during VSC, Ham catching up and Kimi defending brilliantly causing Hamilton's tires to wear out, the last 15 laps where Kimi Max and Hamilton were within seconds of each other and the Niaaaoowwww guy on the broadcast. Plus, me spamming ༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ KIMI TAKE MY ENERGY ༼ つ ◕ ◕ ༽つ on the formula1 subreddit like 30 times was nice because Kimi ended up winning eventually and broke some records by doing so. And his radio was funny too.

[@jonasstroeven]

#YasMoment Verstappen starting P18, after one lap he was P9 and later finshing the race in P2 just a few seconds behind Räikkönen.

[@savagedesigner2478]

#Yasmoment When Vettel did his signature move

[@juhom6019]

#Yasmoment, simply kimi winning. Had to wait sooo long... and this long to the season tought he wouldnt even do it. Almoust didnt even watch it because it was so late and had school tommorow. So glad i sticked and skipped school😄. All those times he could have won and afterwords i was left disapointed: woke up early to see maleysian gp, i think last year, where kimi started second, i was so sure he had the win based on his pace in practice and qualy. That excitment was destroyed when kimi retired before start. So this win was emotional to me and worth the wait. Sorry was bit long😂

[@randy4373]

#YasMoment Stroll getting lapped twice

[@marcgoodman4561]

Top F1 teams can literally start at the back now and still get on the podium... F1 is now a joke... This is the pinnacle of world motorsport, the absolute best, The best cars the whole worlds most intelligent motorsport engineers can create with hundreds ands of millions of dollars and we end up with only 6 out of 20 cars that compete on a similar level... It's ridiculous.

[@MrRrosi]

#YasMoment Hamilton hiding from camera while wiping his ass in cooldown room

[@ThomySchneider]

0:55 so who is the winner of the last podcast now? you haven't anounced it here..

[@nephlimjedi4741]

I'm missing that too...

[@vinaylalwani750]

I don't think they announced it

[@1DarkFox1]

#yasmoment nyooooom guy

[@formulaaddict]

#yasmoment Kimi getting confused when team asked Vettel to let him trough :D

[@TheJokerit19]

Removing the Friday sessions altogether would at first yes produce similar races to the US GP, but in the long-term, things would eventually go back to the usual ways.

[@ddt3619]

You should do a red T-shirt with Kimi's face in white and red shades, black sunglasses Under it "F**CKING FINALLY" in white In the top right Kimi Räikkönen or KR7 in red, white and blue or with Finland flag, and in bottom left Austin GP, 2018

[@gijsvanputten2575]

#Yasmoment Kimi: “so did you win the championship?” Lewis: “No!”

[@DarthEvilicus]

Getting rid of Friday practice will only hurt the smaller teams that can't afford all the simulators. Instead Friday practice should be shortened FP1: 1 hr, FP2: 30 minutes and FP3 is a 15 minute warm up for qualifying

[@adentissa]

The #Yasmoment of this race was the final laps. Vettel overtaking ICantRememberWho and Max defending perfectly and with respect against Lewis. That was serious racing.

[@josiahboatengmyrie]

Adentissa vettel overtook wingman

[@AJLyon]

#YasMoment is having a ferrari winner not shouting GRAZIE RAGAZIE after every win. Love the podcast guys, keep it up. Thx

[@MrRrosi]

The nyao guy was the ex f1 meme guy Giedo Banter Garde

[@Xarotron]

#YasMoment when we realised Ferrari HADN'T shafted Kimi's strategy by not bringing him in under VSC

[@tanushguha8740]

#YasMoment Vettel's recently professed love for the Red Bull sidepods and his sidepod glitch re-appearance.

[@FroZenMemes]

#YasMoment Finally having a 3 way race for the win and seeing kimi on the top step 😍

[@DJmassefx]

#YasMoment Seeing blisters on Hamilton’s tyres

[@asadiku]

#YasMoment Kimi, the Iceman, on the top of the podium with his shades on

[@YounisHajeer]

NEOOOOOOOOOOOW #YasMoment

[@jameel626]

#YasMoment When Kimi successfully blocked Hamilton from overtaking.

[@tamasharkany2664]

#YasMoment The absolute legend "neooooww neooww" guy xD

[@monahenglehoko6661]

#YasMoment Team radio: F*cking finally.

[@markostojadinovic757]

#YasMoment When brother of Verstopper damaged Verstapen's suspension.

[@benk.4646]

Is the special guest in Mexico going to be the neoww guy?

[@j.j.schlachtfeld9325]

Guys, I forgot what WTF1 stands for and I can't find it anywhere on the web. I'm a disgrace as a fan to this channel

[@jonlawlor110]

Whose The Fastest 1

[@Nchinnam]

Whats this F1?

[@adentissa]

Wrap The Formula 1

[@markussstaskevics2164]

What the fork 1

[@Nchinnam]

@@markussstaskevics2164 you're a fan of Jordan maron?

[@colchilibeck]

#YasMoment When I realized the WTF1 podcast was going to be really entertaining because there were so many yasmoments.

[@markhenley3097]

No it's nice to have a general idea of each car's pace before qualifying.

[@Vincrand]

Maybe only keep the practice on saturday?

[@forzatoby]

#YasMoment When Hamilton went wide trying to overtake Verstappen

[@thomasbeljaars6898]

Max is the most complete driver; -Only 21 -Lots of Races Experience -Aggressive (Last races without stupid mistakes) -Great Tyre Saving -Good in the rain If Honda is good next year he’ll be Champion. (If he doesn’t make a few stupid mistakes again) Edit: He is also hard to overtake!

[@ethancatton5370]

agreed

[@davewillisporter]

Hmmmm... Not sure how you're measuring most "complete" Lewis - More race experience Aggressive - last few YEARS without stupid mistakes Great tyre / engine / chassis saving across a race and a season Excellent in the rain 4 WDC 71Wins 81 Poles Not to mention the best able to manage the stress and turbulence of a season to win WDC over and over again, something Max has yet to do. Surely the most complete is actually the most complete no? Max may be the driver with the most potential, but by every metric Lewis is ahead so Max cannot possibly be the most complete! Most potential - yes. Most complete - no!

[@jekim1865]

#YasMoment Max staying on the podium

[@roxic4275]

#YasMoment is when kimi didn't go to the box in vsc

[@thomasseeger3685]

#YasMoment Kimi being Kimi in Parc Fermé

[@kentarohonjo50]

The neeeeoooom sound affects from a fan and Crofty saying “first win in 113 years” gave me a good laugh.

[@CutyAaron]

do more drawings on the whiteboard behind to make the vroom room attracting

[@VigneshBalasubramaniam]

Kimi for the win!!!

[@FCTisthebest]

#yasmoment kimi winning after 113 and 5+ years to just give the most kimi reaction by saying thank you. F*cking finaly.

[@KaiDesigns_]

My #YasMoment was the introduction of the new and improved F1 engine sounds “Neeow Neeow neeowww”

[@bbb229]

#YasMoment "F*ck*ng Finally"

[@sebastianwinge]

#yasmoment NEOW!!

[@sanderbevers6139]

#YasMoment was the moment i realised ferrari was right about their strategy call. For me it looked like ferrari were searching in the dark. That moment i knew kimi was going to win. Although i’m a max fan, i really loved kimi’s drive. My heart was literally pounding soooo hard i felt it in my neck those last few laps.

[@IronMatty]

#yasmoment - stroll proving once again that he is not worthy of remaining in F1 and only reason he is still in is because of daddy’s 💵💰💰💵- ESPECIALLY OVER OCON!

[@siidooracing7136]

#YasMoment Vettel screwed up again... But came back P4. Also Verstappen's performance😱

[@Mondinosaur]

Yas moment = on top of the race being exciting. The neeeeeeow guy providing some professional sound effects! I felt like I was there

[@sj-qn4uy]

Suprise suprise, the ferrari has a very smokey exhaust, and suddenly they have a power advantage back!!!. they are burning oil again. i am so pleased for kimi,it was a good race for him, but vettle made another schoolboy error on the first lap!!

[@ZEROxFUSIONZ]

I was waiting for this all day yesterday 😂

[@knogginator]

#yasmoment When you wanted to go to your home grandprix being the American Grand prix, but you couldn’t afford it. Then it turns out to be the best race of the year. Why?!?!?!!!

[@samfletch7644]

Maybe if you don’t lose Friday’s but do like 30 minute practice sessions over all 3 FP sessions

[@jellevanderveen3887]

#YasMoment Guy singing the anthem, while helicopters fly over, while guys parachute down with the throphy. Such awesome build-up by Cota circuit. Well Done.

[@soholmgaming]

#Yasmoment My Yasmoment was the guy saying neeoow and then the Danish commentators started saying neeooow as well! It was hilarious....

[@SmithyOneTwelve]

I'm not sure the reduction of practice time has to be quite so extreme as removing Friday running entirely. It could be interesting to have a 1 hour session on Friday to allow the teams time to shakedown their cars, do install runs and whatnot, maybe do a long run and a short run and then have a quick 30 minute session on the Saturday morning before quali. This would still leave teams with under half the current running time they have - or if this isn't extreme enough, only give the teams 45 minutes on Friday.

[@lethalpigeon96tt]

the one reason i dont want to get rid of practise is because i dont want races decided on who gets lucky with the tier strategy. I agree with limit ting them slightly but i think its still needed.

[@dogda_]

My #YasMoment is Kimi defending Hamilton when Lewis caught him up after pitstop

[@cainebrederveld791]

#YasMoment when Perez said he was faster then Ocon (whilst Perez was losing time)

[@arviddistner3017]

Ditching free practice wouldn’t make it better beacuse when the teams know it before hand the top teams with bigger budgets will have simulated it all before and the gaps between the top teams and the midfield would be even bigger

[@Ferrari4ever23]

#YASmoment Max Verstappen going left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, left, left, left, right, right, left, right, right, right, left, left for 56 laps and somehow managing to get from P18 to P2 😱

[@mathijs0048]

#yasmoment max verstappen and Hamilton racing against each other was lovely

[@grim-upnorth]

Do a video on how high altitude affects F1 cars, seeing how the renaults are higher up the field in FP1 in Mexico than both the mercs and fezzas

[@lisawensink6906]

The neeeeow guy was Giedo Banter Garde🙈 (I have said it also in the internet best reactions) Look at Giedo his instagram😂

[@nephlimjedi4741]

Giedo VAN DER Garde

[@xXTheBULL3TXx]

Nephlim Jedi nice one mate! You missed the joke.

[@SamReaN]

the meow was martin brundles phone, where they were talking about it after the race and martin brundle said, "Was that broadcasted to the whole world"?. so it was brundles phone

[@KaiDesigns_]

#YasMoment Whoever the legend was making Neeow Neeow sounds 😂😂😂

[@velocitaaa]

Getting rid of 1 FP session would be good. Don't think it should be reduced any more than that though. The problem is that the teams are far too good at gathering and analysing data now.

[@SFSylvester]

#YasMoment has to be the Niaow guy, Unique moment. Will be remembered for years to come. NIIIIIAAAOOOWWWWW!!!!!!

[@erminator312]

#YasMoment Sebastian, KIMI IS FASTER than you, I repeat KIMI IS FASTER than you. Did you understand this message?

[@TheAzRage]

#YasMoment just seeing Kimi finally win, I'm glad he got the chance considering it's his last year in a competitive car

[@mehdibenhammou1608]

#YasMoment When Kimi fake yeeted into the pits to bamboozle hamilton.

[@dotcom2471]

#YasMoment Kimi: "Did you win the championship?" Lewis: "No." *Guy laughs in the background* Kimi: "Bwoah, I don't know, I don't know!"

[@f1statster457]

#YasMoment All the cars, including the Safety Car, powersliding through the corners during the Friday Practice sessions!

[@stefvds]

#YasMoment Arrivebene shouting WELL DONE MY FRIEND

[@kartikeychaubey]

#YasMoment 1.) Neeeeooowww Guy. 2.) Hamilton's Tyres blisterering after his First pit-stop.

[@vignesh.hariharan]

#YasMoment Lap 1 when Kimi got the lead and anyone and everyone was just like whooo..... Gave me goosebumps... Also additional Yasmoment.... Kimi's door closing skills throughout the race!

[@njkboom]

#yasmoment Max's start and seeing him climb through AGAIN and him almost winning!

[@djn3kkid]

Tommy, you like, gotta stop like, saying like something, like every second, like sectence...

[@aronszegedi8768]

#YasMoment the battle with Lewis and Kimi before the pitstop. Yeah I know... pretty obvious...

[@blue7728]

#yasmoment Kimi's (most likely) final win :O

[@moritzlehner622]

#yasmoment the last laps of the race. HAM, VER, RAI fighting for the win..awesome this was RACING

[@firenze2406]

My #YasMoment is the HamVer battle. But honestly, it’s the whole race. Even the neow guy! Best 👏Race 👏of 👏the 👏Season👏

[@markpellman4941]

My #YasMoment was Kimi crossing the line first for the victory. To borrow from #MiniDrivers: BWOAH-leluyah!

[@thelobsterandyourmum3939]

#yasmoment when I first heard my new god, the neeeeeooooow guy

[@Allukex]

#Yasmoment when Kimi tried to juke Hamilton into the pits 👏

[@danyaalabbas8598]

#YasMoment My Yas Moment is Lance Stroll's amazing display of overtaking.