Episode 386 - GP2 Pt2 GP2er

So the new season is finally here, with the new regulations, new teams, new driver (singular), returning drivers (X2) and new worries about the cars being fast enough, stable enough, capable of lasting for an entire qualifying session (let alone a race) and a whole new order up and down the grid.Well we got a half decent opening to 2026 at least, overtakes with the new moveable aero (don't call it DRS, even though that's what it looks like) and drivers seemingly having to do hardcore maths while working out batter levels and charging/clipping/superclipping levels.This week on the podcast we look back at the Australian Grand Prix, where the new order appears to be the last order but 2 with Mercedes taking the top 2 steps on the podium this time out, but was it as clear-cut as the results say? There was a recovering Max thanks to an issue with the car in Q1 that sent him into the barriers, and some questions over Ferrari's strategy call under a VSC (at least some things don't change!)There's also a look at the other stories circulating round the paddock at the moment, especially concerning the Bahrain & Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and if they're going to happen at all this year, or will the current conflict in the Middle-East leave us without F1 for the entire month of April?Also don't forget to see how you did in the Prediction League and Official F1 Fantasy League too.And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with testing, practice and qualifying) head over to our ⁠Discord⁠ where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠BlueSky⁠ & ⁠Twitter (or is it X)⁠ and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our ⁠Twitch⁠ channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our ⁠Patreon⁠ as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

It's the eve of the 2026 season (Seasonmas Eve?) and 10 teams are poised to launch into 2026 with new cars, with new aero and engine regulations, but wait... Who's that clunking round at the back with bits falling off the car at half the speed of everyone else? It's the new Aston Martin Honda powered donkey!As we all wait in anticipation for the start of the latest new era of F1, good old Honda have done it again, they've managed to create an engine that vibrates itself practically to pieces and has done so, so many times that they've run out of spare parts and it looks like they might only make the first few laps when when the season opens in Melbourne this weekend!This week on the pod we take a brief look back at the 3 testing sessions that took place in Barcelona and Bahrain where, as usual, we learnt next to nothing over who is going to be quick and reliable, but did learn who isn't!Bit of a hurridly thrown together show this week, but we've still managed to cram as many tangents in as possible, along with the launch of this season's Prediction League and Official F1 Fantasy League too.And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with testing, practice and qualifying) head over to our ⁠Discord⁠ where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠BlueSky⁠ & ⁠Twitter (or is it X)⁠ and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our ⁠Twitch⁠ channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our ⁠Patreon⁠ as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

Happy New Regulations everyone! Yes it's 2026 and the new F1 rules are coming into force very soon, even if the teams, F1 themselves and even the FIA aren't 100% sure of what they are and how they'll work. What could go wrong? (We'll find out soon, Scarbs will be joining us to explain all that!)This week on the first podcast of 2026, we take a look back at the major F1 stories that have happened since we last got together a couple of months back. We've seen Friend of the Podcast Lando Norris become World Champion, the end of the Helmut Marko era at RedBull, rumours about the return of Christian Horner to the grid (with Alpine this time) and we wildly speculate about when we'll see the Renault name back in F1 again after they left, not for the first time, this year.There's a load of tangents as well as we just generally have a catchup as it's the first time all 4 of us have spoken to each other at the same time since before Christmas, so it's a bit of a freeform, all over the place kind of show. But we have got an Is That Glock for a change!And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with testing, practice and qualifying) head over to our ⁠Discord⁠ where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠BlueSky⁠ & ⁠Twitter (or is it X)⁠ and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our ⁠Twitch⁠ channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our ⁠Patreon⁠ as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

It was all lined up. The penultimate race weekend of the season at a track that isn't exactly condusive to overtakes. Lando  just needed to outscore both his rivals by 2 points over the sprint and the Grand Prix to claim his first World Driver's crown, he was starting ahead of Max Verstappen in both races and he's had the measure of Oscar Piastri recently. It's a sure thing isn't it?This week on the podcast we look back at the race weekend where Lando Norris could well have lost the championship after McLaren took a gamble on strategy straight out the Ferrari playbook and managed to keep the 3 way title fight alive right up to the final race of the season next weekend in Abu Dhabi (and we all know how that's gone before don't we). How did they manage to get everything so wrong and be the only team not to pit under a safety car with 50 laps to go when there were compulsory stops after a maximum of 25 laps on a set of tyres?At least for the likes of us we've got another season where the finale isn't a dead rubber/lame duck and we're not going to know who the 2025 World Champion is until Sunday afternoon (unless something goes badly wrong in qualifying of course!) So of course we're speculating like nobody's business on that and on what the 2026 RedBull & VCARB lineups are going to be along with which one of the 5 prosepective drivers is going to be left without a seat (spoiler, it's Yuki) until someone messes up and gets demoted/fired! Obviously we've got a good few tangents as well as it wouldn't be an episode of 3L4W without them!And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our ⁠Discord⁠ where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠BlueSky⁠ & ⁠Twitter (or is it X)⁠ and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our ⁠Twitch⁠ channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our ⁠Patreon⁠ as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

As the saying goes; what happens in Vegas, stays In Vegas. And that was true about Lando Norris's 24 point lead over 2nd place in the World Driver's Championship after a double dq for McLaren and an imperious win for (former, but on longer title outsider) Max Verstappen. Could Max actually do it this season, from an over 100 point deficit to taking the title in the last 2 race weekends? If he does manage to pip both papaya clad drivers to the title, this will probably go down in history as just about the greatest championship win ever. So get your popcorn ready, we're at the sharp end!This week on the podcast we look back at a Las Vegas Grand Prix that had more tha a few shocks. A wet track, an utterly abysmal Ferrari qualifying strategy, even by their own, already low, standards. Lance Stroll ending up as the victim of a move from Bortaletto that could only be described as "Strollesque" And a reault that's keeping the championship a three way scrap for far longer than anyone thought possible at the Summer break.You might notice that we recorded this on Wednesday this week and thanks to a huge stroke of luck when it comes to F1 news, the Adrian Newey appointment as team principle at Aston Martin from next year was still doing the rounds of shocking and confusing everyone. What is Lawrence Stroll playing at? Is he actually a genius or will this come crashing down like his last few TP appointments did? (We're going to be going through a LOT of popcorn in the future)And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our ⁠Discord⁠ where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠BlueSky⁠ & ⁠Twitter (or is it X)⁠ and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our ⁠Twitch⁠ channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our ⁠Patreon⁠ as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

Said the greatest driver ever to come out of Brazil. Sadly a few too many of the current grid took that to heart this weekend and a few teams were left with serious repair jobs, penalties and wasted weekends.This week on the podcast we look back at the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend where a combination of a drying track, soaking kerbs (hey, we're British OK!) and quite possibly a lack of spatial awareness from some drivers gave us both an entertaining sprint and a Grand Prix that showed us that you cannot count out Max Verstappen when there's even the faintest sniff of a podiumAs usual, we go team by team for who did what, who didn't do what and what the hell were they doing throughout the weekend after 2 races that have firmly tipped the balance for the World Driver's Championship very much onto Lando's side.And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our Discord where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky & Twitter (or is it X) and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our Twitch channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our Patreon as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

With a rare week between races, it's a good time to take stock of what's been going on this season and who better to do it with than VritualStatMan himself Sean Kelly.This week on the pod, Sean joins us from StatHQ and as always he's got an absolute mountain of facts, stories and plenty of anecdotes from the F1 paddock and beyond. Including getting told where to go by Guenther Steiner, Adrian Sutil's fashion sense, Jenson Button's credit card and tons more!There's all the usual tangents as well and what would a show with Sean on be without a quiz, so we've got an Is That Glock that we've been holding in reserve fot ages, just for him!And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our Discord where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky & Twitter (or is it X) and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our Twitch channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our Patreon as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

Track limits, leaving the track and gaining an advantage, causing a collision, not leaving space at apexes, marshals on track with cars at full speed, contentious VSC on the penultimate lap, maybe at some point we'll get some racing in? The Mexican Grand Prix this year wasn't the best day for F1 race direction and the ever rotating cast of stewards. Amongst all the controversy we still got one of the best races of the season with battles going on all the way down the grid, even Lance Stroll managed to get a clean overtake in (if that doesn't say it's the end of days, I don't know what does.) And through all that, the 3 way battle for the championship is still going on and going down to the wire.This week on the podcast we look back at the Mexican Grand Prix where Lando Norris managed to re-take the lead in the Word Driver's Championship for the first time since before the Suadi Arabian GP, after a very off the boil start to the weekend for team-mate and rival Oscar Piastri. But you can't forget the looming shadow of Max Vertappen, who is still up there too.As always there's some attempts at predictions for how the rest of the season is going to pan out as we've still got 4 races and 2 sprints to go and it's really anyone's guess as to who is going to walk away with the 2025 crown. Doesn't stop us having a go though!Also, sorry for missing last week after the US GP, but we were victims of the Amazon outage last Monday and it took until Wednesday to get things recovered properlyAnd if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our Discord where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky & Twitter (or is it X) and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our Twitch channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our Patreon as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy(PS, sorry for the delay, but I got caught up playing Power Washer Simulator 2!0

So Singapore then? Yes we got to see George Russell on the top step with a seemingly resurgent Max Verstappen taking 2nd, which only leaves 1 step on the podium for McLaren and this time round it was Lando Norris, but it was in a way that didn't exactly please Oscar and the other side of the garage.Congratulations to McLaren on clinching their 2nd consecutive World Constructor's Championship, but now the hard work really starts for them. They've got 2 drivers in contention for the driver's crown, but it seems like things aren't exactly cordial right now. After Forcing Oscar to let Lando past after a fudged pit stop in Monza and now not letting him by after the usual Sinagpore GP lap 1 "3 into 1 doesn't go" first corner. Do we get the impression that Oscar is now driving for Oscar, due to the team having got their spot at the top?We try and make sense of what's coming for the rest of the 2025 season as well as a stack of our usual going off on tangents (there's more in the Patreon show if that's your kind of thing). Along with our usual team by team lookback at the race and some of the best radio we've heard from Fernando Alonso since the last time he let the pitwall know his thoughts!And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our Discord where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky & Twitter (or is it X) and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our Twitch channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our Patreon as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy

There's always something special about the Italian Grand Prix. It's a combination of the out and out speed of the circuit, the stands full of the Tifosi , even when Ferrari aren't on top form and of course a National Anthem before the race that it's impossible to sing without sounding like you 100% mean every word of it. And this week, we got the full package!This week we look back at the Monza race where Max Verstappen proved that RedBull can still make a car that can destroy the rest of the grid on pure pace alone and McLaren proved that they are human after all by making mistakes and then fudging their solution to them when they crop up! Big announcement form us this week as well as we launch our new merch store, thanks to the wonderful people (especially Larisa) from Dashery. We've already got a few new designs up and it's not just t-shirts, there's mugs, stickers and even cushons with more designs to follow. Check it out at https://3legs4wheels.dashery.com/Aside from that there's the usual ton of tangents and occasional missed jokes (Paul). And if you want to join in with the chat during the races (along with practice and qualifying) head over to our Discord where there’s always a great crowd of people to watch along with. And on the socials we’ve got our Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky & Twitter (or is it X) and Paul’s attempts at Sim Racing on our Twitch channel. And if you want to support us you can donate to our Patreon as well from as little as £/$/€ 1 per monthEnjoy