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Will Buxton (Part 2) - Australian GP Special · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:10
  I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust, and this is Rusty's Garage.
• 0:27
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with F1 broadcaster and Drive to Survive storyteller Will Buxton.
• 0:35
  If you haven't heard part one, jump back to the library and have a listen.
• 0:38
  It's a great reminder that persistence pays off and that you can create opportunities around things that you truly love,
• 0:46
  Even if, like most of us, you don't have that rare driving talent that the champions possess.
• 0:51
  From the lasting impressions motorsport had on him at an early age, to writing for magazines on the sport that consumed him, Formula One, and a move into broadcasting and a stint in IndyCar.
• 1:03
  Plus, how the media world helped him sample life as a racer and competing.
• 1:08
  a little behind the wheel.
• 1:10
  We begin part two by delving into Drive to Survive, how the chance to be involved in this incredibly successful Netflix series came about and what it's like to be a part of it.
• 1:24
  So the first thing I knew about it was Sean Bratches, who was head of commercial at Formula One when Liberty took over Formula One, who's one of the most inspirational leaders I've ever worked with.
• 1:37
  Just a really cool guy, massively enthusiastic about everything.
• 1:40
  And he was kind of walking through the office in London one day and he was just like, yo,
• 1:45
  We're doing this thing and you've got to be a part of it.
• 1:46
  And I was like, what is it?
• 1:48
  And so he kind of explained it.
• 1:49
  And I'm like, so what do I have to do?
• 1:51
  He's just like, nothing.
• 1:52
  They're just going to ask you some questions like five times a year.
• 1:55
  So I can do that.
• 1:56
  That's easy.
• 1:58
  And it's actually not like, you know, I can ask questions, but being asked questions is really difficult.
• 2:07
  So I just, yeah, so I just sat down.
• 2:09
  in a dark room with these guys from Netflix five times during that first season, and for four or five hours at a time, just answered questions about what's going on, trying to bring context to it.
• 2:21
  And a lot of really simple questions that I know the fans absolutely hate when I try and explain it.
• 2:28
  But what I realized, obviously, and what we do realize
• 2:32
  now is is so much of it is about explaining to non-fans things that we take for granted things that we you know we we look at and you know when i say something stupid like you know you know qualifying is important because it's where you start the race on sunday and obviously the higher you can start up the grid the better off you are in the race you know well if you've never watched a formula one race you never watched motor racing in your life you might be asking what's qualifying or you know whatever
• 2:56
  It's a tightrope of all that stuff, mate, isn't it?
• 2:58
  Because you are appealing to the legion of new fans, which the sport has now garnered.
• 3:02
  And at the same point, we've got to look after and fence in the good folk who've been with us the whole way along that are ultra loyal.
• 3:08
  Yeah, and ultimately that was something we had to do at NBC a lot.
• 3:12
  We knew that the figures, you know, when I was working stateside, were growing all the time.
• 3:16
  And we knew that we would have people watching the broadcast who'd been watching it for 30 seconds and people who'd been watching it for 30 years.
• 3:22
  And you had to speak to both.
• 3:24
  So sometimes you do have to explain things and you just hope that the long-term fans will kind of look past that and realize, oh, okay, that's not for me that bit, but it's five seconds, so it doesn't matter.
• 3:36
  I can get past that and move to the next bit.
• 3:38
  But look, I don't think anyone was expecting Drive to survive to be as successful as it has been.
• 3:43
  And I think a lot of it came actually out of necessity and a little bit by mistake.
• 3:47
  And that's because in season one, Mercedes and Ferrari, who were the two championship protagonists at the time, wanted nothing to do with it.
• 3:54
  And so you had no content from the championship protagonist.
• 3:58
  So they had to look for other stories.
• 4:00
  And in looking for other stories, they found all these great human narratives.
• 4:05
  And they found Swery Gunther.
• 4:07
  And, you know, obviously we know how wonderful he is, but the world didn't know how brilliant Daniel Ricciardo was.
• 4:13
  You know, they found him.
• 4:15
  All these great storylines, all these really fascinating parts that made Drive to Survive, you know, what it was, really came out of that necessity.
• 4:24
  So huge success and really, you know, a blueprint of...
• 4:31
  how to promote a sport to people who've never watched it before and might have ordinarily looked at it and said, that's not for me, are now tuning into it, turning around at the end and saying, I want to watch the next race.
• 4:44
  And that's, I think it's incredible.
• 4:47
  Look, it's not a silver bullet.
• 4:48
  It's not a silver bullet for every single sport, but it's really interesting how many sports, be they sporting leagues, be they championships, whatever, are saying, we need a drive to survive.
• 5:01
  It's been huge.
• 5:03
  It's been absolutely massive.
• 5:05
  Without giving away any trade secrets of it, maybe share with our listeners, if you can, a bit about the –
• 5:11
  you know, the volume of people it takes to do it, some of the people behind the scenes, maybe the bit of the planning that goes into it.
• 5:18
  And are you in, you know, not just the narrative storytelling that you've been doing so well, mate, but are you offering a little bit of, hey, you know, we've got to follow this person, they're a great character, or this is going to be a storyline this weekend and things like that?
• 5:34
  I'm not, no.
• 5:35
  And that often gets confused.
• 5:36
  People think that I have something to do with the production and the decision over the narrative and, you know, making the heroes and the villains.
• 5:45
  Yeah, I have nothing to do with that.
• 5:48
  If I did, I would probably have focused on...
• 5:52
  some different things and and and taking things a slightly different way but that's not my that's not my choice um that's that's entirely down to them and you know they've got people like james gay reese who was behind the center movie um you know and paul martin who was behind that and the maradona documentary and things like they know how to tell stories and they know also what kind of stories work like you know lando norris
• 6:18
  wasn't really a part of the series at all until season three.
• 6:24
  And that's because in his rookie season, it was kind of like, you know, young kid comes in, does well.
• 6:29
  There's no redemption arc.
• 6:30
  There's no rise and fall.
• 6:33
  Similarly, you know, like, I think, you know, season four, there's not really any mention at all of Kimi Raikkonen.
• 6:39
  And a lot of people said, why wasn't he mentioned?
• 6:41
  It's like, well...
• 6:42
  World champion struggles through his final season, phones it in for a bit, you know, and retires with a couple of points to his name.
• 6:50
  It's not it's not it's not a great story.
• 6:54
  So they focused more on things that that they believe are the more highs and lows, rise and fall.
• 7:01
  It's all gone wrong.
• 7:03
  Oh, and here's the redemption.
• 7:04
  You know, that's that's what they're going for.
• 7:08
  There's a huge team on the ground, but they can't be everywhere.
• 7:12
  Unless you've got a five-man crew doing audio, doing two cameras, everything.
• 7:21
  You know how much it takes to film on a crew.
• 7:25
  Unless you've got a crew with every race team at every Grand Prix 23 times a year, and even then you're not going to catch everything.
• 7:35
  So I think there's usually a team of around 10 of them at a Grand Prix.
• 7:39
  They'll usually base themselves with two teams per race weekend.
• 7:43
  Certainly under COVID, they were far more restricted in where they could go per weekend because we all had to stay in our little COVID bubbles team by team.
• 7:53
  Huge editing team back at base and an audio team and, you know,
• 8:00
  the myriad of people that it takes to put together a television program.
• 8:05
  And then, you know, they pull us in to do interviews through the year, drivers, team bosses, and a couple of us as journalists.
• 8:12
  And I'll sit down with them about five times a year throughout the season, always trying to wear the same clothes so that they can edit between.
• 8:20
  And it looks like they've just... And so you get people saying, oh, they've just sat you down after the season and given you a script.
• 8:26
  It's like...
• 8:27
  Honestly, I spend probably 25 hours a year in interview.
• 8:32
  If I was that bad at reading a script that it took me 25 hours, I should be doing something very different.
• 8:40
  So, and also, mate, you know me, right?
• 8:43
  This is how I talk.
• 8:45
  If I dramatically paused between every...
• 8:52
  Few words.
• 8:55
  We'd never get through a conversation.
• 8:57
  Also, you know, no one would live with me.
• 8:59
  So obviously, you know, there's a little bit of editing in there and zhuzhing it up.
• 9:05
  But it works.
• 9:06
  I don't mind the memes and all that.
• 9:08
  It's quite fun.
• 9:09
  Because ultimately what it's done is it's created this...
• 9:12
  You know, it's created this crazy successful series that isn't just about bringing figures to Netflix.
• 9:19
  It's about bringing new fans, new eyeballs to the sport.
• 9:23
  And, yeah, it's been huge for that, dude.
• 9:26
  Most massively.
• 9:26
  I mean, if someone said to you at the commencement of it all that it would have...
• 9:31
  that it's had now, would you have believed that?
• 9:34
  I mean, obviously some very good people behind the scenes as you've just detailed, but it has been collectively made a runaway success, hasn't it?
• 9:43
  Yeah, I don't think anyone expected it.
• 9:45
  You know, not even Sean Bratches or the guys at Box2Box Films that make it.
• 9:48
  I don't think anybody knew that it would be this huge.
• 9:52
  Yeah.
• 9:54
  It's just, it took everybody by surprise.
• 9:58
  And I guess that the big thing now is how do you keep it fresh?
• 10:01
  How do you keep it moving?
• 10:03
  How do you get back to that season one, you know, this is something really different, this is something really new.
• 10:10
  And how do you stop the people who are a part of it from becoming a caricature of themselves?
• 10:15
  You know, because that's quite difficult.
• 10:20
  you know, Christian, you're becoming even more Christian and Toto becoming even more Toto.
• 10:26
  And it's just, no, nobody knew it was going to be this successful.
• 10:33
  Because Formula One is so popular.
• 10:35
  Formula One has so many viewers globally.
• 10:38
  You kind of thought, well, how is this little show going to add to that?
• 10:43
  And it's because ultimately it spoke to fans that were waiting, that didn't know they were fans.
• 10:50
  And that's, yeah, that's why it's been so good.
• 10:52
  I mean, the proof, I mean, as you and I talk, we are gearing up for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, which is a sellout, I think, on Sunday.
• 10:59
  And as we talk, nearly the same on Saturday.
• 11:03
  So the reaction in Australia is absolutely huge.
• 11:07
  And we haven't had a race for two years.
• 11:09
  So in that timeframe, we've seen a lot of what we're talking about here now.
• 11:12
  And that's had an impact.
• 11:13
  There are people that have definitely bought tickets that I don't think have been to the race before.
• 11:18
  And it's clearly because of Drive to Survive.
• 11:20
  Yeah.
• 11:21
  You know, we talked about IndyCar earlier.
• 11:24
  And when I was over at St. Petersburg, Florida for the first race of the year, the number of people walking around in Grosjean t-shirts who were at the IndyCar race because they'd watched Drive to Survive and had become Romain Grosjean fans because of that episode where...
• 11:39
  That's tremendous.
• 11:41
  He went through the barrier and the car set on fire.
• 11:44
  So it's having influence not just in F1, but in the rising tide lifting all ships.
• 11:50
  I think it's increasing an interest in motorsport in general because people are realizing how incredible racing drivers are and what they put themselves through.
• 12:00
  And that behind the visor, there are these fascinating, complex athletes that exist underneath it all.
• 12:07
  So that's absolutely fantastic.
• 12:09
  And we saw it in Austin last year as well.
• 12:11
  You know, leaving the track, I'd never seen anything like it.
• 12:16
  You couldn't drive out of the road because it was just full of people stopping every car, whether it was full of mechanics and engineers or a team boss or a driver.
• 12:26
  They just wanted photos and autographs.
• 12:29
  And, you know, speaking to some of the folks there, again, it was their first race.
• 12:34
  They'd never watched Formula One more than 12 months ago.
• 12:37
  And they were there in the team kit and they were completely devoted McLaren fans or completely devoted Charlotte Clerk fans or whatever it was.
• 12:49
  And because that was their driver, that's what got them into it.
• 12:53
  Yeah, huge, absolutely huge.
• 12:55
  Right, before we wrap up Drive to Survive, does the storytelling, because I think people can pick it up from our podcast discussion here, it's just you.
• 13:03
  So I'm assuming they must come to you and go, okay, we need you to help us link to this and maybe have some dot points or whatever it is, but then it is just Will Buxton in conversation that gets us there.
• 13:13
  Is that the process?
• 13:14
  Is that how it happens?
• 13:16
  Yeah, I mean, sometimes they'll be like...
• 13:20
  Yeah, as we sort of said earlier, like, okay, so can you explain how the sprint race format will work for this year?
• 13:28
  And I just go, sure, okay, so sprint races are blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 13:33
  But then sometimes they'll be like, okay, what kind of a racing driver is Lewis Hamilton?
• 13:38
  And so I'll just give them an answer.
• 13:40
  And it's just a conversation like we're having here.
• 13:42
  Although, you know, when you're sat in that chair and there's the light on and the camera and all of that.
• 13:49
  you know, they're firing questions at me and I'm sort of, I'm thinking in real time.
• 13:52
  And what I'm thinking is, okay, what do I need to say?
• 13:56
  What do I need to say that also, you know, doesn't sound like it's biased or that I'm getting too excited about one driver and not about another?
• 14:05
  How do I not be unfair as well?
• 14:08
  I need to try and keep it very, very balanced.
• 14:11
  So there's a little bit of
• 14:13
  brain whirring around while I'm, while I'm giving the answer, which I guess leads to the, um, the pauses, you know, um, but they're a bit more pronounced in the edit.
• 14:25
  Uh, but, um, yeah, man, it's just, as I said, dude, it's five hours of interview at a time, five times a year.
• 14:32
  So, you know, I'll sit down and they'll have like 20 pages of questions and,
• 14:36
  And we'll get to the end of the five hours and we've got through like six pages.
• 14:40
  So they're like, right, yeah, we're going to have to pick this up again in a few months.
• 14:46
  I'm like, OK.
• 14:47
  So it's great.
• 14:48
  But what's really interesting is, you know, sometimes you'll say something and then you'll say it because it was right at the time.
• 14:57
  And obviously it then ends up being totally wrong.
• 14:59
  And sometimes you have foreshadowed something that's about to happen.
• 15:04
  You know, it really depends.
• 15:06
  It depends.
• 15:07
  And obviously, you know, when you get to it, there's, from what everybody's said, you know, there's 19 hours and 45 minutes of content that is on the cutting room floor.
• 15:18
  But the 15 minutes of actual, you know, stuff that's clipped up and used in the program is used to, you know, to kind of highlight the narrative arc that they want to show.
• 15:41
  Recap the Bahrain Grand Prix with three emojis.
• 15:44
  1.
• 15:45
  Monagosk flag.
• 15:46
  2.
• 15:47
  Spanish flag.
• 15:49
  3.
• 15:49
  Dutch flag.
• 15:50
  Wait, I mean Mexican flag.
• 15:53
  Holy sh**, a British flag.
• 15:55
  On paper, does the 2022 season, do you think, have the ingredients for another great season of Drive to Survive?
• 16:03
  And there are many elements to that.
• 16:05
  There is George Russell getting a plum seat alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
• 16:12
  There are brand new cars which are captivating everyone's imagination.
• 16:16
  What do you think?
• 16:17
  Totally.
• 16:18
  And, you know, look, I'm not part of the production of Drive to Survive in terms of putting it all together.
• 16:23
  And so people will always say, oh, he's always going to be very biased and say it's only positive things about it.
• 16:28
  But I think I think everybody can if they've seen series for that, you know, a lot of people have said it's maybe not as strong as previous seasons or whatever.
• 16:38
  And I think some of that feeling possibly comes down to the fact that for the first time they had a world championship fight.
• 16:45
  to show and so a large percentage probably probably about 50 of the show is really geared towards showing that world championship fight so actually kind of lose some of those little storylines and some of those really interesting personal stories that made the first three series so strong yeah so i think
• 17:03
  What season four will hopefully give the guys making the show is a lesson in how to get that balance right if there's a season five.
• 17:13
  And if we get a championship fight like we had in in 2021 to bring out those really interesting behind the scenes stories that we don't know.
• 17:22
  But also keep that excitement of a thrilling world championship fight on track.
• 17:27
  The ingredients certainly are there.
• 17:29
  I think this completely clean sheets of paper, new cars, really not knowing what the competitive order will be or how it will change over the races through the year.
• 17:41
  Because the rate of development will be so vast and who's fastest at the start of the season will not necessarily be the team that's fastest by race six.
• 17:50
  And then that order will change again by race 10.
• 17:53
  And then it will change again by race 15.
• 17:55
  And it's a 22, 23 race season.
• 17:59
  The ebb and flow of it, I think, is going to be incredible.
• 18:02
  And I think it's going to be an amazing season.
• 18:07
  And who's going to be world champion at the end?
• 18:10
  Dude, like...
• 18:15
  I have no idea.
• 18:16
  I'm not going to ask you to predict that because I reckon that's always hard, particularly at the foot of a massive mountain, a huge championship to come.
• 18:22
  What about a couple of observations?
• 18:24
  Firstly, did you genuinely worry that Lewis might not come back?
• 18:29
  I mean, he seems like, if anything, it has hardened his determination, unbelievably, to come back for all those world titles and to be as hungry each time.
• 18:39
  And if anything, the observation some of your colleagues are making is he seems...
• 18:43
  if it's at all possible, hungrier than ever.
• 18:46
  Yeah, I mean, look, Lewis was obviously extremely put out by the final race in Abu Dhabi and in how it went down.
• 18:58
  But Lewis isn't the type of guy who lets a situation like that push him away.
• 19:12
  He's not...
• 19:15
  His personality isn't to walk away from difficulty or to allow difficulty to tell him that he can't.
• 19:24
  He uses it as motivation to show people that he can.
• 19:29
  It's what he's done all the way through his career, and especially over recent years, in everything that he's been very vocal about...
• 19:38
  Had he walked away, I think that would have undone a lot of the message that he's been portraying.
• 19:45
  Yeah.
• 19:45
  So I never so hard on.
• 19:46
  Yeah.
• 19:46
  And I never believed for a minute that he would walk away.
• 19:49
  Yeah.
• 19:50
  I genuinely didn't because then the dark forces that you think are working against you have won.
• 19:59
  And that's not Lewis.
• 20:00
  He's not going to allow that to win.
• 20:02
  So, no, first of all, I never thought he would walk away.
• 20:06
  Secondly, I mean, we saw in the tail end of 2021...
• 20:11
  What Lewis Hamilton looks like when you push him up against a wall and he comes out swinging like hard.
• 20:18
  And he he was unstoppable, almost unbeatable, probably the best version of Lewis Hamilton I have ever seen.
• 20:26
  So you put that guy then into a whole season with that kind of motivation and more motivation.
• 20:32
  motivation because of Abu Dhabi than he had in those last four or five races, it could be the best version of Lewis that we've ever seen.
• 20:38
  He wants to come out and demolish the field.
• 20:40
  The question then, if you're Mercedes, is how do you deal with that?
• 20:43
  Because sure, great, you've got a guy here who wants to come out and obliterate everyone, but if he obliterates everyone, that includes George Russell, who you've just promoted to your top team as the future of your team.
• 20:54
  If Lewis obliterates everyone, that includes George, and that doesn't mean just clipping his wings, but snapping them, probably off.
• 21:01
  and subjugating him not just into a wingman role, but he could completely obliterate him.
• 21:07
  But then if George turns up and is competitive and is pushing Lewis, how do they deal with that without turning that into a Rosberg situation?
• 21:15
  So that's a fascinating narrative for me, is how Mercedes deal with what could be quite a spicy situation between their drivers.
• 21:26
  How will Max grow from the title win and what observations have you perhaps made in that regard already?
• 21:33
  I think Max's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness.
• 21:39
  And that is the team around him constantly and unwaveringly telling him that he can do no wrong.
• 21:49
  It gives him the confidence to go and push, get his elbows out, be the racer that we see in the world champion that he's become.
• 21:56
  But then it also means that if he does step over the line, as he can sometimes do, the team still tell him, no, no, no, you're in the right.
• 22:03
  So I wonder if the learning...
• 22:06
  creeps in or if he keeps consistently doing the same thing because he's constantly told no don't worry about it everyone else has got it right and you've got it wrong um i do think he has grown i do think he has has learned has had to learn since he came into the sport and he's a far more rounded driver and person than he was you know even even 18 months two years ago um
• 22:28
  I also love that what we saw throughout 2021 was both Lewis and Max trying to figure each other out.
• 22:35
  You know, Lewis at Silverstone, he knew what he was doing.
• 22:40
  He put his car exactly where he needed to to force Max into a decision.
• 22:43
  You know, either you back out of this or you're going in the wall.
• 22:47
  And Max ended up in the wall, you know, and and throughout the year, they were both.
• 22:53
  They were both trying to figure each other out.
• 22:56
  And Lewis learned very quickly that Max isn't the kind of driver to back out.
• 23:00
  Max isn't the kind of driver who's going to let you have the corner.
• 23:03
  And so Lewis had to amend the way that he drove because of that.
• 23:07
  Max has never changed.
• 23:09
  I do love that element of Max that he doesn't get bullied, that he won't be moved.
• 23:16
  But as I say, you know, that comes from the people around him and it is his greatest strength.
• 23:22
  But it can be his undoing.
• 23:24
  The new cars.
• 23:25
  What do you think of them?
• 23:26
  So I think they look great.
• 23:27
  I was really worried they were going to look quite big and bulky.
• 23:32
  They look fantastic.
• 23:34
  They're clearly difficult to drive.
• 23:39
  I hope that the racing is as good as the regulations intend it to be.
• 23:45
  But what I think is most brilliant is a lot of people were worried that with sort of a tightening of the technical regulations, we would essentially have 10 cookie cutter cars that would all look the same and that it would be, you know, not Formula One.
• 24:03
  What we've got are 10 completely different takes on the regulations.
• 24:08
  And that's brilliant because it just shows the level of ingenuity and innovation that still exists within the sport that you can give what are essentially very prescriptive regulations to these genius designers and engineers.
• 24:21
  And they've come up with 10 completely different approaches to it.
• 24:24
  So it's just, it's to the point where, you know, Ross Braun during the test in Bahrain, you know, looked at that new Mercedes.
• 24:31
  And they've had a department online for a year that has been going through these regulations, trying to do every single variance of how a team could design a car around these regulations to find the loopholes.
• 24:42
  He looked at that new Mercedes and said, yeah, we hadn't anticipated anybody was going to do that.
• 24:47
  Yeah, exactly.
• 24:48
  It's just, it's incredible.
• 24:50
  It's absolutely amazing.
• 24:51
  Crazy.
• 24:52
  Crazy.
• 24:52
  Before we wrap up, just the thoughts, if you will, on the potential things in 2022.
• 24:58
  An Aussie-flavoured question.
• 25:01
  One, do you think this car may suit Dan Ricciardo a little better?
• 25:07
  And that may be hard to answer because as we talk, he's had COVID and they've had some brake issues at McLaren.
• 25:12
  And what are your observations on Oscar Piastri's talent and what we hope he could maybe do one day in Formula One?
• 25:19
  So...
• 25:21
  The Dan question is a really difficult one because he missed so much of preseason testing because the car itself experienced so many problems during that three days in Bahrain.
• 25:30
  Car's quick.
• 25:31
  I joked it's so quick they can't stop it because they've got brake issues.
• 25:36
  Look, Ferrari have clearly taken a step forward.
• 25:40
  Has Ferrari moved up into the top three in McLaren, stayed steady where they were in fourth?
• 25:44
  I think what would be crazy cool is if we get a battle for the championship between McLaren and Ferrari and Red Bull and Mercedes that are a little bit behind because they'd focus so much on 2021.
• 25:53
  That would be really cool.
• 25:58
  These cars are a blank sheet of paper.
• 26:00
  And I think what we have to do is look at 2021, which was a carryover year.
• 26:04
  And the car in 2021 was very much a development of the car in 2020, which wasn't designed for Dan.
• 26:10
  It wasn't designed for his driving style, for what he likes.
• 26:13
  And he really struggled to adapt to it.
• 26:15
  But in talking to him last year, particularly at the end of the season, he said that...
• 26:20
  last year was hugely important for him because there was a lot about his race craft that he'd always just taken for granted, that he'd driven naturally.
• 26:27
  And in having to understand why things were going so badly at McLaren, he had to take himself apart piece by piece to figure out what was going wrong.
• 26:35
  And in taking himself apart piece by piece to figure out what was going wrong, he also learned how and why the things that he does do right, he does right.
• 26:45
  So it actually allowed him to really...
• 26:48
  piece himself together again and learn why he's quick and how he can maximize all those things so actually last year i think would have been incredibly beneficial for him um and potentially create an even more potent force than than he's ever been so if the car's on point i think
• 27:07
  I don't think we ever need to question Daniel.
• 27:09
  It's Daniel.
• 27:09
  He's phenomenal.
• 27:11
  But I think he could be even better than we've ever seen him.
• 27:14
  But it is a huge year for Daniel.
• 27:16
  He has to perform because we know McLaren have waiting in the wings.
• 27:20
  Patricio Award, who's doing brilliantly in IndyCar, they love him.
• 27:23
  They've tested him.
• 27:24
  He's impressed them tremendously.
• 27:26
  And Patricio himself has said it's going to be next year or the year after, if he's going to make a move to Formula One, that it has to happen.
• 27:33
  McLaren have also done this deal with Colton Hurta in IndyCar to bring him through and give him some time and some training.
• 27:40
  And although we don't think Colton would race with McLaren in Formula One, if he impresses, there's always that potential.
• 27:47
  So Dan has to have a good year.
• 27:49
  Lando's locked in for the long term.
• 27:52
  So Dan has to have a good year.
• 27:55
  His future at McLaren literally depends on it.
• 27:58
  As for Oscar, I just, I can't believe he's not racing.
• 28:03
  It baffles me.
• 28:03
  You know, this is a kid who's Lewis Hamilton good.
• 28:07
  You know, Charles Leclerc good.
• 28:08
  He's, he's, no, but he is, you know, you look at, you look at what he's done.
• 28:13
  What he's achieved so far.
• 28:14
  Yeah, and how he's achieved it.
• 28:16
  Year on year, just in, championship, pow, step up, championship, pow, step up, championship.
• 28:22
  You know, there aren't many drivers that can do that.
• 28:26
  Lando didn't do that, you know.
• 28:30
  George did it but not quite as fast Oscar's Oscar's next level it breaks my heart that there aren't enough seats or that he didn't ultimately get the nod but um
• 28:44
  I can't for a moment believe that he won't be in Formula One in 2023.
• 28:50
  If he isn't, there's something seriously wrong.
• 28:51
  We hope he is, mate.
• 28:52
  I mean, it does seem like he's got an absolute bucket load of talent and patriotically there's a lot of people that would love to see another Aussie in there.
• 29:00
  A couple to wrap up on.
• 29:02
  Firstly, your schedule must be nuts, mate.
• 29:07
  So between things like the post-show,
• 29:11
  on twitter some of the digital content doing the great stuff for motorsport tv this week with will buxton and so on and even as you have done so we're loaning your voice to uh to the official game and so on i mean it's just i mean there's a great old cliche but it's living the dream mate it's it's it's great it really is great um
• 29:32
  I'm actually doing fewer races this year than I ever have done before.
• 29:37
  I think COVID has given us all the chance to take stock, to reflect on what's important.
• 29:43
  I love my sport.
• 29:44
  I love my job.
• 29:45
  But I love my family and my friends and, you know, and my little girl.
• 29:51
  you know, you, you, you dedicate so much of your life to trying to create a career.
• 29:56
  Um, and, and this year I've, I've really taken the time to think, actually I need to spend, I need to spend more time with the people that are really, really important to me.
• 30:05
  So, um,
• 30:07
  I'm only going to 12 races this year.
• 30:09
  Wow.
• 30:10
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:11
  So I'm doing 12 races on site.
• 30:13
  A few races back in the UK as well.
• 30:16
  But that means a return to commentary, which is going to be great.
• 30:19
  So I'm going to be doing Formula One commentary on F1 TV, both at the track and from back at base as well.
• 30:27
  So that's going to be, it's going to be really great.
• 30:29
  It's going to be really fun, but it will allow me a bit more time.
• 30:31
  I'm getting married this year as well.
• 30:32
  So it allows me a bit more time to thank you.
• 30:36
  It allows me a bit more time just to, you know, get that work-life balance right.
• 30:43
  Because I think that's really important.
• 30:45
  And I think if we've learned anything over the last two years, it's the real necessity to do that.
• 30:51
  Most definitely.
• 30:51
  To finish, is there a bucket list?
• 30:54
  I mean, you've done IndyCar.
• 30:55
  I think there's a little bit of WRC on the CV as well.
• 30:58
  A love of Formula One.
• 30:59
  We know that.
• 31:00
  Is there a little something that you'd like to tick the box on one day in a broadcast or media sense?
• 31:06
  And if so, what is that?
• 31:10
  I'd like to conduct an orchestra.
• 31:14
  um i mean that's not something you can do overnight that takes a hell of a lot of time and training there used to be a tv show in the uk where they took people and trained them up to be a conductor um and that that that sort of dropped off fairly quickly but i always thought that was a great idea for a tv show um
• 31:32
  Bucket list thing.
• 31:33
  Yeah, I'd love to do that.
• 31:35
  That would be absolutely huge.
• 31:38
  I don't know, Matt.
• 31:40
  Look, how can I say I have a bucket list of things to do when for 20 years I've been able to write and talk about this sport that I love?
• 31:51
  If it was to all end tomorrow, I could say that I have done everything I ever hoped that I could do and more.
• 32:00
  It's I just I just feel tremendously grateful to be doing this, mate.
• 32:06
  It's it's mad.
• 32:08
  It's it's it's more than the 13 year old me ever thought I'd be able to do.
• 32:13
  So I'm I'm forever grateful for it.
• 32:15
  And I'm living the bucket list, mate.
• 32:17
  I just I love it.
• 32:18
  Love every second of it.
• 32:20
  Well done.
• 32:20
  Finally, what's in the Will Buxton garage?
• 32:24
  Is there a two-wheeler, a car?
• 32:27
  Is there a resto project in the pipeline?
• 32:30
  Come on.
• 32:31
  So in the Will Buxton garage is lots of cushions for the outside seating areas.
• 32:40
  Uh, pots of, pots of half used paint, um, a fridge freezer.
• 32:47
  Um, I'm not, so here's the thing, right?
• 32:51
  Everyone's like, ah, you must have like a crazy garage full of cars.
• 32:54
  I'm not a car guy, right?
• 32:55
  Like I had my, I had my midlife, even my midlife crisis car isn't very impressive.
• 33:00
  My midlife crisis, it's a, it's a Mercedes C300, uh, soft top, right?
• 33:07
  It's not even a Porsche, right?
• 33:08
  I didn't even get that right.
• 33:09
  So, you know, no, it's the craziest thing.
• 33:15
  Look, I don't have the time to do a restoration project.
• 33:18
  And I'm so cat handed that it would never work anyway.
• 33:21
  You know, I traditionally have never got the right car.
• 33:27
  Yeah, it's just, it's honestly, mate, it's embarrassing.
• 33:30
  It's really, really embarrassing.
• 33:31
  One day, hopefully, I will get to own like a Morgan, which I grew up in Malvern, so on the Malvern Hills.
• 33:38
  So owning a Morgan is like a, that's like a huge pipe dream.
• 33:41
  Or actually...
• 33:43
  Bucket list is I'd love to own a Ferrari Dino.
• 33:45
  That's my dream car.
• 33:46
  But I'm terrible because I always think, you know, you live in the now and you've got to enjoy your life now.
• 33:54
  So I don't save.
• 33:57
  I just I don't.
• 33:58
  So I'm never going to afford that big house.
• 34:01
  I'm never going to afford that great car because...
• 34:04
  Dude, it could all end tomorrow.
• 34:05
  And what's the bloody point of it if it's all sat in an account?
• 34:08
  Just enjoy it.
• 34:09
  That is engraved.
• 34:10
  It is engraved on the back of your watchmate, is it not?
• 34:12
  Did you not get a something?
• 34:14
  Yes.
• 34:14
  What does it say?
• 34:15
  It says there is only now.
• 34:17
  There is only now.
• 34:18
  You know, don't worry about the things that have gone.
• 34:21
  You can't change them.
• 34:22
  Don't worry about what's to come because it's not here yet.
• 34:25
  Just, dude, there is, I mean, you know, people might think that's a bit sort of silly and pathetic and all that.
• 34:31
  No.
• 34:31
  there is there is i think we spend so much time worrying about what we've done decisions we've made and we won't make spend so much time freaking out about what's going to come in the future but you know it's like it's like the hourglass isn't it the sand that's gone you can't push back up and you don't know how much sand you've got at the top you just got to worry about that little bit in the middle you know day by day just enjoy every day and have fun man there's only now that's
• 34:58
  Well, the now has been you and I talking and it's been an absolute delight, mate.
• 35:02
  Congratulations on getting to do things like hosting the Autosport Awards in addition to everything else.
• 35:07
  Thank you, buddy.
• 35:07
  I mean, the fact that you have in some ways, you know, to have that all kind of come full circle in starting out the way that you did and doing some terrific things like that and enjoy the year of balance and hopefully it's a cracking season for Drive to Survive.
• 35:21
  Well done.
• 35:22
  Thank you, mate.
• 35:23
  And thank you so much for inviting me on.
• 35:25
  It means a huge amount, because you know how much I respect you, everything that you do, and how appreciative I am for your friendship, buddy.
• 35:33
  It means a lot.
• 35:33
  It's been great to chat, mate.
• 35:34
  Thank you.
• 35:35
  Thank you, mate.
• 35:43
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 35:47
  Series editor and producer is Ed Gooden.
• 35:50
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