The Formula 1 Iceberg Explained, Vol. 1 

In Spain we have a "theory" that since Alonso crash in 2015 pre-season, he still thinks is a rookie, they told him who he was, and that's why he's still so fast at his age

A theory of mine is that Seb never got covid at the start of the 2022 season, he just didn't want to race in countries with poor human rights, as he is a known activist of this.

I'm pretty sure Kvyat being the best driver on the grid is based entirely on him beating Ricciardo in 2015. This is used to infer that much like Daniel he would beat Vettel (2014) and Verstappen (2016-17), you could use the latter to say he's even better than Hamilton based on 2021, as insane as you'd sound. GOAT candidate.

20:40 in all the times I’ve heard about Spygate, I never knew that it ended in a suicide… poor guy 😢

I thnk the rumor about Mick being Ralfs son stems from the perception of their driving styles being quite similar. But that makes sense since Micheal would not have been able to much influence his sons carrer due to his disabling injury from 2013, with Mick being just 14 at the time, and had yet to race more then carts. Thus his next most logical mentor for his F1-precursor years: his uncle

For me, Bianchi's fatal accident is an 'iceberg'. Although a report on the course of events was published, Bianchi's accident is treated by Formula 1 as a complete taboo topic. For example, while the accidents of Senna and Hubert are repeatedly mentioned, this is not the case with Bianchi. Since apart from the mobile phone video and two pictures there are no published recordings of the accident and this is poorly documented for the public, I can't shake the feeling that something about the accident is being deliberately kept secret.

there was a top gear episode about why the finnish are so good at driving, they did a rally and raced against amateurs and still lost

Tier 6 went from 0-100 really quick, I can’t stop laughing and I’m sure Brook also was trying to conceal some laughs, especially with the Will Smith theory lol

Got a conspiracy theory of my own: Hamilton never had a gearbox problem at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix. He was told by McLaren to give up the title so they wouldn’t be remembered as the spy gate champions.

Malaysia 2017 - Vettel illegally completed the race in Kimi's car, with Kimi going to the grid in Seb's car and the team knowing that he would never be allowed to start that race: Following the double Ferrari crash in Singapore two weeks prior, which saw Hamilton extend his championship lead significantly over Vettel (having only taken the overall lead in Italy the round before), Ferrari knew that they needed to prioritise Vettel moving forward if they were to have any chance to turn the tide on a championship that was slipping away. A new engine was put in Seb's car for the weekend, however unbeknownst to Ferrari this unit had some major issues, which became apparent in qualifying. Seb was unable to set a qualifying time due to these issues, however Kimi's car was working well with him able to set the second fastest time. In order to not break curfew while trying to diagnose the issue, as well as risking not being able to fix the issue anyway as, Ferrari decide to switch the cars. Vettel is told of this plan, Kimi is not. In direct contravention of the rules, the mechanics switch over the seats, steering wheels and adjusted the pedals of each car to each drivers requirement, as well as the decals showing the driver numbers. Race day - Vettel is at the back of the grid in Kimi's car. The mission: overtake as many cars as possible and minimise the haemorrhaging of points to Hamilton for the second race in a row, in a championship fight that up until this point has been extremely close. Kimi is unaware that he is driving Seb's car with a compromised engine. During the warm up lap Kimi notices that he has power issues and informs the team. They tell him to pull onto the grid to see if they can fix it there in line with standard procedure. The team comes and does a performative exercise pretending to look to fix the car when they know full well this car is not going to be allowed to race, as they cannot risk the FIA scrutineering the vehicle and uncovering the ploy. Quickly the car is then wheeled off the track - this thing needs to be out of sight and out of mind. Kimi does not start the race. Vettel starts the race and fights back admirably ultimately finishing fourth. Luckily for him and Ferrari, Verstappen has given himself the ultimate late birthday present one day after turning 20 and has driven the wheels off his Red Bull to secure victory over Hamilton, after passing him on lap 4. Overall the outcome is pretty good - only six points lost to Hamilton at a weekend that looked like it might be much, much worse. Only one last problem: how to get the car back to the pits without anyone from the FIA getting a close look at it? Ferrari knows there is only one way to do that and that is on the back of a tow truck. As Vettel drives the cool down lap he spots Lance Stoll ahead of him. Lance is on the inside so Vettel goes around him in a clumsy manner, making sure to hit his rear tyres in a way that ensures damage to his rear axel, making it impossible to limp back to the pits. The car is parked on the side of the circuit and while Vettel jumps onto Wehrlein's car to wave at the crowd, distracting everyone from looking into the bizarre event that just unfolded too much, the car is towed inconspicuously back to the garage, away from prying eyes and no one is the wiser. Either all of that, or the Ferrari engine was just giving us a preview of its 2022 reliability in both cars and Lance Stroll can't drive properly. 😂

I’d imagine the Ralf is the faster Schumacher comes from a WTF1 video where they discuss the most unrealistic times when teammate comparisons prove certain drivers were quicker than others.

I agree with George Russell never having a puncture. If he won the race, Merc might've felt the pressure to dump Bottas a year early and promote Russell likewise. Having said, Bottas was unlucky with the pit stop problems with incorrect tyres. Maybe Merc pretended Russell had a puncture to save Bottas' blushes. Although I may say, Russell is outscoring Hamilton, but he's not outpacing him when everything is working for both drivers

DAS wasnt banned next race because when Mercedes came to the FIA with the DAS idea they said no because it was activated with a button. The FIA told Mercedes that it was legal so long it was done purely mechanically through driver input, thinking that Mercedes would never figure it out, they did. If the FIA wanted to ban it immediately, Mercedes could protest, saying that it was made legal by the FIA themselves.

1:02:27 I think it's about Massa being slower after his crash in Hungary. Nelson Piquet once said that himself lost sense of depth after his Indy crash, and believes that Massa suffered some sort of sequel, being a slower driver as a result.

What the actual fuck, I was expecting some pretty outrageous theories but the hamilton and sutil theory had me laughing my ass off

One thing you forgot to note about the “fernando is faster than you” moment is that Ferrari spent a good few laps before that telling massa to pick up the pace but massa didn’t. It’s in the season review and is a very interesting perspective

1:03:38 WRC Rally Finland, formerly known as the Thousand Lakes Rally, is the fastest rally in the calendar, usually averaging speeds exceeding 120 km/h - for this reason, the rally is also called "the Grand Prix of Rallying". So, in a uniquely finnish way, Finland does have its own GP

My Theory: Leclerc was hired by Ferrari solely based on the fact, that his country's flag looks like the Marlboro Logo

I do firmly believe that George did not have a puncture, not because Mercedes saw his potential as a threat, but rather as a test to see how he would handle things not going his way and putting him under extreme stress.

For Tier 8 Leclerc's sacrifices of it being a coincidence is not that plausible because it's human nature to work unbelievably harder when someone close to you is either struggling or not here anymore. I believe Leclerc just has spurts of motivation to dedicate whatever award to the people he is close with that are still living or gone Edit: Leclerc is my favorite driver and not only does he use his motivation but he keeps that momentum very well. He is Human like us and he can crack but when he doesn't he shines like a star and he is on his way to reach a World Title

Try = Senna and Prost was actually a "bromance", with an unreciprocated feeling, however. I read it once on Reddit, and to some degree, it makes so much sense. Prost said that ever since Senna met him at some funky unimportant races in DTM-like Mercedes cars, Senna somehow "chose" him, from the first race it was Prost who Senna found the guy to beat. Their personal relationship had always been bizarre and Prost revealed that for instance, back in 1988 they were to take part in a Honda event in Geneva and had lunch together at Prost's house nearby. Senna was apparently very evasive, spoke little if anything and slept through his stay at Prost's. Obviously after the 1989 season it became even further strained. What I find interesting is what happened at the end of Prost career. Senna was desperate for Alain to remain in F1 and even convinced McLaren to sign him. He couldn't live without Alain driving alongside him. Was it just because of competitive spirit and him being an arch-nemesis? Or maybe was it because he had a huge crush on Prost, and knew that F1 race weekends were the only moments where he could see him, meet him. Without all this, Alain would be gone. Prost revealed too that during the winter of 1994, Senna told him "something that I was meant to keep a secret all my life, never told it to anyone, not even my wife, my family". What possibly could have been so important to keep in secret? Was it the secret crush? This is a far-fetched one, but there are even claims that Senna deliberately killed himself at Imola. Realising that Benetton was a rigged car, that he might not be challenging for the title, and that his beloved Alain is out of the sport, he no longer saw purpose in continuing. Dying a legend would immortalise him forever as one of the GOATs and make him into a God-like figure. And I must say, that no matter If purposefully, he achieved that.

6:00 first of all, impeccable re-creation of that question. Secondly, it's actually not a bad question, if the guy had just got to the point.

I have a theory of my own. In the 2021 season, Mercedes used Bottas for testing engine reliability. Experimenting in the races on how high they could put the engine without damaging it to much for next races. Although I’m not sure how true it holds up. It is kinda fun to think about.

Senna being sniped is interesting. Not because I believe it, but during the 1999 season, Eddie Irvine got a letter from a fan, offering to shoot a small bullet into Mika Hakkinen's tyre at Monza that year. There is footage of him reading the letter in his Life in the Fast Lane documentary. Some Italian antics?

My favourite conspiracy theory: Michael Schumacher personally hated Williams (both the team & Frank himself) because in his mind their actions causes the death of Ayrton Senna in Imola and robbed him "passing the torch" moment for him. It also explains* his racing antics with Rubens Barrichello* in 2010* where he almost made then Williams driver racing near the pitwall considering that Barricello was his former Ferrari teammate for 6 years. * For editing grammar, Name and year

Seeing this and having been around to remember these, especially the 'Hamilton crane assistance' one shocked me, as in the footage you can see the other car almost crash into the crane - which is exactly what killed Jules so many years later. That there hadn't been anything learned from it at the time shocks me now, as looking back, Jules could still be with us now if that had been properly reviewed.

41:15 If Im not mistaken this is a reference to comparing a long chain of drivers. In short Rosberg beats Hamilton, Webber beats Rosberg, Vettel beats Webber, Ricciardo beats Vettel and finally Kvyat beats Ricciardo

Fernando's Mclaren crash is bar none my favorite F1 conspiracy

I was on bluetooth headphones and was doing chores while listening to this. And when you mentioned "the 1939-1940 Winter War", I honestly thought RU-vidd autoplayed to a history channel

6:11 this is an amazing impression and you deserve props. I’ve heard this sound bite 1000 times and forgot it was you speaking

41:09 Hey man, I think this one's about the 1v1 driver methodology. WTF1 has a video explaining how absurd it is, but basically if driver A beat driver B who beat driver C, then objectively driver A is better than driver C. For example, Sainz beat Leclerc in 2021, who beat Vettel in 2020-2019. Therefore Sainz>Vettel. Considering Max is nowadays widely regarded as the best driver on the grid, then that title should be given to Kvyat, as he beat Ricciardo in 2015, who then beat Max in 2017. Therefore, Kvyat>Max

The full iceberg explanation. That's what I have been waiting for. Thank you so much for making this video

the rare but well-timed jokes with such a monotone delivery make this easily the most entertaining iceberg video i've ever watched

I'm with the theory that Russel didn't have a puncture and they did it just to stop Russel from humiliating Merc Also, the Alonso Testing Crash was really weird him slowing down and suddenly turning sharply is a sign of the car having an electric issue and probably shocking Alonso and amazing video you did a really good iceberg video

I'd absolutely LOVE another one with a completely different iceberg

My theory about the "cursed Red Bull second seat" was that those cars were just incredibly difficult to drive, and Verstappen was just really, really, REALLY good.

It should have another F1 Iceberg but more specified on old years! This one's really modern focused! Great work man!!!

Me: seeing the thumbnail and clicking on it “I wonder if Alonso’s 2015 testing crash will be on here” Tier 7: there we go

Tier 8 was so anticlimactic. Just like Russell's race for Mercedes in 2020.

I watched the summary of the Russell Sakhir situation hundrends of times. And not once did it start to hurt a bit less.

DAS was not banned because it was a "moveable aerodynamic device". it literally only affected the toe angle of the front wheels allowing for less tyre scrubbing and higher top speed on straights; and it wasn't not banned the same year "because Mercedes", but because it was already deemed legal by the FIA for 2020. the FIA had to alter the 2021 regs in order to ban DAS

I always hate that video of Vitantonio Liuzzi sliding off at turn 1 at the Nurburgring and touching the crane - it was so close to pre-empting Jules Bianchi by around 10 years, and it was such a stupid decision for the marshalls and the crane to enter the trackside in those conditions with so many cars aquaplaning off.

1:12:12 This refers to some people's claims that Mick isn't Michael's son due to his lacklustre pace and poor race results since his F1 debut as at the time he'd still yet to score his first points. They reasoned that a son of the legend Michael Schumacher shouldn't be this slow and should've had the "golden genes" like his father. These claims were quickly squashed after Silverstone when Mick fought wheel to wheel with Verstappen and scored his first points as well as in Austria where he battled other drivers fairly well and even defended against Lewis. The claim also fell further when pictures of an Angry Mick came out that looked near identical to pictures of Angry Michael.

I really like when one of the bullet points was just so out there and you just say no. This was really well done and gave good insight. I’m a new fan and it’s nice learning about the sport. You got a sub

44:50 about that with the 2012 Williams, I think the explanation you gave with that is not the exact reason why it's there. In the buildup to the Monaco Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado said that after his win in Spain, he believed he could challenge for the title. I think that's why the '2012 Williams was a championship capable car' was there on that iceberg.

James Allison actually asked the FIA in 2019 if a DAS system could be done on a button on the steering wheel but the FIA said if they were to invent such a system, you would have to pull the wheel. The FIA thought merc wouldn’t try it but lo and behold, Merc did it. Therefore it was justified that it was banned for 2021 instead of the 2nd race in 2020

There was one time around the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, where a Ferrari Mechanic got injured due to a driver error (I think that was Olivia Beretta driving). He was driving a Ferrari SF-70H. I only seen that video until recently, and I believe it should belong around the bottom. Around 2002, there was a bank called Phoenix Finance, and they wanted to race in Formula 1. So they bought some assets from Prost Grand Prix. But the FIA seemed sus about this, because they needed to pay to enter, but they didn't. This eventually led to court, and Phoenix Finance never entered. I also never heard of this until another iceberg from Reddit I saw.

The sheer casual way you said "and then he walked into traffic 4 years later" about Stepney's suicide was wild and seemed so callus, It would be interesting to picture where ferrari or Stepney himself would be in F1 (if at in any motorsport currently) he was a very talented man.

In terms of the Russel Sakhir thing, everyone remembers Russel’s problems, but no one seems to remember that poor Bottas didn’t get fresh tyres

Okay I’m 38:35 I gotta pause the video cause I have a interview soon but, this video is amazing. Great job Peter, this video is going to be huge

Suddenly turning into an essay about Finland "Well I don't mind"

A bit surreal to see it all one after the other. It genuinely feels like there are more true conspiracies beyond the ones that have been uncovered and confirmed like crashgate.

Thank you for filling a void I've missed for a long-long time with this type of content, love your way of presenting things. Dont change a thing and youll blow up any day now.

48:26 i think the entry is refearing to that F1 broadcast team has not show him on tv.A good example is the austrian gp of 2019 when he overtake a ton of drivers to finish in the points.the 2019 brazilian gp that he was show only 4 times and manage to go to p20 to finish p4 and with a hamilton penalty p3.And most of the races where he overtake a ton of drivers to go back in the points is not that show.From 2021 to 2022 this thing change but from 2015 to 2019 this a thing

52:41 , i was just about to comment this, honestly gets you thinking of the lengths teams are willing to go to protect their most reputable / favorite driver (and/or to avoid embarrassment and humiliation i guess) and also gets you thinking how truly great of a driver russell is, i only look forward to the great achievements he’s on his way to in the sport.

cant tell you how long i've been waiting for a good f1 youtuber to do a full iceberg, tysm, ur vids are super underrated.

massive effort mate. well done.

Out of the more bizarre theories, I only really kinda believe in the Sakhir 2020 GP. It's just far too much bad luck and team mistakes in one race. That failed pit-stop, if it were Ferrari, yeah maybe plausible, but Mercedes? Ok, very weird but hey, there's always a first I guess. But than that "genuine" slow tyre puncture with 10 rounds to go, each being under a minute? It all just seems far too convenient. Plus Merc also had both championships in the bag at that point Was it because they didn't want to humiliate Bottas or even Hamilton? Maybe it was so to not shine more light onto Russel and put some sort of public pressure on them in giving him the 2021 seat?

even though I've been watching F1 for almost a decade, and have already heard a lot of these F1 slung terminologies/theories, I seriously enjoyed your video. Well done!

What a great and fun video. Glad to see the hard work has paid off and good luck on future growth of the channel!

you seem like you have some sort of vendetta against hamilton 😂😂

Great video. I appreciate the amount of time you must put into every video, from ranking every F1 car of the 2010s to this. Thank you for the content!

Been waiting for this one, awesome work!

Less go that's what I was waiting for

my personal theory is that Vettel doesn't know all of F1 champions during grill the grid finale, he wrote them all down at the bottom of his cap's brim

There should be some mention in a future iceberg about Nikita Mazepin writing a cryptic comment on George Russell's instagram attempting to 'out' him from the closet

If you look at Scotland on its own (not part of the UK) it has around double the championships and way more race victories, whilst having the same population as Finland. Making it the most successful country per capita!!

Can't believe someone would take the time to thoroughly explain all this, you are a legend! I didn't even feel the video was ove 1hr long. Just suscribed!!

really good video, keep up the great work!

Great video and breakdown. I'm kind of surprised that the Renault 2019 break bias mess wasn't also on the iceberg.

Once Again another great Vid Peter Love these podcast style longer vids Learning things about F1 that even as a lifelong fan I never knew 👍

Great video. Doing the iceberg properly was always going to be a hit.

I still can’t believe you don’t have at least 10k subs keep up the work!!!

The reason DAS was deemed legal was because it was specifically the steering wheel controlling the direction of the front wheels. If it was a separate switch or lever, it would have been illegal. Mercedes were specific and clever. FIA don't care what team it is.

Waiting since yesterday. As always really good content.

I really enjoyed this, thank you! Your open and honest thoughts are refreshing. Subbed for more.

1:02:17 damn, I wasn't expecting that call out from out of nowhere 😭😂

I loved that Finland part. You perfectly captured the essence Finland. Although I don’t think it takes 2 years to get your drivers licence. Sisu is the closest thing we have to ”racing genes” :D

This was amazing to watch, great video :)

I've already listened to this episode on Patreon, but the editing of the video makes it worth watching it again :) Just such unique F1 content, lovely

Hey man well done. I can't believe the efforts you took for this. Also the burn at the end for ralfs son was cold💀

Hulkenberg is literally a paradox, one of the only drivers from that generation that had a stellar junior career with winning all 3 junior formulae categorically(Hamilton, Grosjean, Hulkenberg) being the others. He and Grosjean should've achieved more in their careers. but they did well with the cars they were given!

Great video you hit 30k views already keep up the great work man youre doing great

Banging video honestly, i love stuff like this

This was entertaining as hell , but what the hell was that sutil - Hamilton relationship one 🤣😂

Surprised not a single mention of Martin Donnelly's Jerez crash on here, his car LITERALLY DISINTEGRATED AND HE WAS LEFT MOTIONLESS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TARMAC.

Best F1 video I have watched in ages. Well done!

I won't say I knew everyone one of these, but a lot of them. And of those you nailed it just how I remember them. Class video. Very good. Subbed.

This video is an absolute work of art. I applaud you

The “that's raidillon actually” bit on WTF1 was them making fun of Crofty for correcting the live tv coverage during the previous years Belgian GP I believe

Mega video mate well done

Oh boy this is going to be great I’ve been waiting excitedly

My favourite conspiracy is Pirelli gave Williams a different set of tyres in Brazil 2012 to commemorate Williams time in f1 and the fire in the garage was to cover it up. Obviously untrue but fun nonetheless The fire was in Senna’s garage not Maldonado’s and the idea they’d have to cover it up with a fire is ridiculous. Particularly one that was extinguished so quickly

thank you so much for covering this! this is some stuff I never imagined being covered! we all owe you a couple of hours!

Awesome vid thank you for all the research!

your version of the "question" was right on and deserves a like!!! you nailed it!!

Interesting video! I was unware of this F1 iceberg meme and also of some of the conspiracies mentioned. Some of the topics you mentioned, reminded me of some interesting F1 conspiracy theories I've heard of/read in my time. A couple are linked to topic's you've mentioned in your video, plus an extra one... And in case any lawyers are reading the comments, I'm not saying these are true! Merely mentioned because they're interesting! 😅😂 Bernie 'fixed' Maldonaldo's win conspiracy: Frank Williams turned 70 in 2012 and the team 'officially' celebrated his milestone at the Spanish GP, as it was the first European race of that year and, by then, Frank was (largely) only attending european races. Along-time friend and ally, Bernie E., also knew about the commercial and monetary issues Williams F1 were suffering with. So, in order to celebrate Frank's milestone and to give his team a boost in attention (and possibly sponsorship), Bernie allegedly got Pirelli to supply Williams a few sets of 'special' tires, which Pastor used to qualify on (eventual) pole and win the race with. The conspiracy goes further, and suggests that the post-race pit-lane fire Williams suffered was no accident, and was carried out to destroy the 'special' tires and hence the evidence they existed. (I've also heard a variation where the tires were a red-herring but it was 'special' fuel instead). Spygate lead to Spankgate: Supposedly, Max Mosley hated Ron Dennis; he hated his character and his immense success - that Ron came from humble origins and made McLaren a massively successful team and company (whereas Max was from a privileged background and failed to do the same with March). The story is that the £100 million fine for spygate was allegedly driven by Max, to spite and hurt Dennis. (Other FIA members where supposedly fine with just chucking McLaren out of that years results, because it was down to some rogue individuals rather than McLaren being a corrupt organisation). Dennis (and close allies) knew of this and plotted revenge, allegedly getting private investigators to dig into Max's private affairs which lead to the 'spankgate' story being leaked to the press... Ferrari politics sabotage's Irvine's '99 title charge: After Schuey's Silverstone leg-break, Ferrari where surprised (as the season progressed) that Irvine remained in contention for Ferrari's first drivers' title since '79. However, this caused a headache for Todt - how could he justify (to certain members of the Ferrari board/hierarchy) his operation of a clear number 1 and 2 driver policy, when the number 2 driver got the job done? (Especially when Schuey was on (iirc) $25 million per year and Eddie on $5 million. Despite the budget Ferrari had/was willing to spent, accountants will always seek to cut costs!). So, to avoid this scenario and the possible undermining of his leadership by antagonistic board members, Todt supposedly ordered development of the '99 car to be slowed (with development focus shifted to the 2000 car) despite some protests within the team (including Eddie!); other team senior members brought into this idea too, and (allegedly) orchestrated the botched pit-stop at the European GP, which cost Irvine a vital points finish towards the end of the season...

The cursed red bull second seat is possibly just Verstappen being incredibly quick and aggressive, that would be my thoughts

Awesome vid!!

awesome video glad i got recomended this your content seems really interesting will defenetly watch more i wish you the best for the future and i rly hope you will grow more to be bigger one day