Latest / Pit Talk / Who will win in Melbourne, and how is the F1 field shaping up? Australian GP Preview

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Who will win in Melbourne, and how is the F1 field shaping up? Australian GP Preview · Pit Talk

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:09
Speaker 1: On today's episode, it's Australian Grand pre Week, with Formula
0:13
Speaker 1: one's season opening race just days away in Melbourne's Albert Park,
0:17
Speaker 1: but not everyone is ready for the first Grand Prix,
0:20
Speaker 1: with questions over Aston Martin's participation this weekend. My name's
0:25
Speaker 1: Michael Lamonado. It's great to have your company and the
0:28
Speaker 1: company of my co hosts. Much like Conder, he knows
0:32
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six has started much too early, but unlike Honda,
0:35
Speaker 1: he's ready for it.
0:36
Speaker 2: It's Matt Payton, don't about ready for it by We're
0:39
Speaker 2: just talking to you here before that. It's one of
0:41
Speaker 2: those things you look up again. It's Australian grown pre Week.
0:43
Speaker 2: We've known this to be true for months, of course,
0:45
Speaker 2: but has stuck up on us a little bit. But
0:48
Speaker 2: of all the years to have the first race, I'm
0:50
Speaker 2: super excited that we have it this year because it's
0:53
Speaker 2: the new look Formula One. We get the first taste
0:56
Speaker 2: and there's a lot of pre event, isn't there. But
0:58
Speaker 2: the best thing is going to be FB one. We
1:01
Speaker 2: see cars out on track, some of them will go
1:03
Speaker 2: round for the majority of the hour. Some of them
1:05
Speaker 2: may not do many laps at all, but at least
1:07
Speaker 2: we get to actually start talking about the narrative. So
1:09
Speaker 2: I'm super looking forward to Friday and getting the season underwear.
1:12
Speaker 1: Yes, of course, we had a similar vibe last year
1:14
Speaker 1: when we got the first Lewis Hamilton Ferrari race and
1:17
Speaker 1: didn't that story go well for the rest of the year.
1:19
Speaker 1: So braise yourselves for twenty twenty six and how this
1:23
Speaker 1: is going to go to go. This is going to
1:24
Speaker 1: be one of the more extreme circuits as well for
1:25
Speaker 1: the new formula in terms of how the engines work.
1:28
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about the engines perhaps a little
1:29
Speaker 1: bit later on, and certainly as we go through what
1:32
Speaker 1: we're expecting for this season, because to preview the Australian
1:34
Speaker 1: Grand Prix for you're going to go through effectively team
1:37
Speaker 1: by team or group by group what we expect those
1:40
Speaker 1: groups to be. Anyway, based on pre season testing, no
1:42
Speaker 1: guarantees any of these are right, So I would probably
1:44
Speaker 1: hold off taking your money to your local bookiet to
1:47
Speaker 1: put anything down based on all we're about today. But
1:49
Speaker 1: this is the vibe at least as Formula One heads
1:53
Speaker 1: in a somewhat haphazard way anyway towards Melbourne this weekend,
1:56
Speaker 1: and let's start at the front of the field. Of course,
1:58
Speaker 1: is the big ticket stuff, and this is where we
2:00
Speaker 1: expect local favorite Melbournie and Oscar Piastri to be competing. Anyway,
2:05
Speaker 1: among the front runners, the vibe seems to be matt
2:07
Speaker 1: and we touched on this briefly last week. We can
2:08
Speaker 1: spend a little bit more that the front four from
2:12
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, as we've come to know
2:13
Speaker 1: it continues to be the front for Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari
2:17
Speaker 1: and Red Bull Racing all look roughly in the ballpark.
2:21
Speaker 1: We don't know how big that ballpark is after testing,
2:23
Speaker 1: but they're all roughly there. The one outlier for me
2:26
Speaker 1: and we may as well start here given that's where
2:28
Speaker 1: Piastre is is. McLaren not because I thought there's anything
2:31
Speaker 1: particularly suspicious about their preseason testing, but it's the only
2:35
Speaker 1: non works team in that top four, and I wonder
2:37
Speaker 1: if that's going to become something we talk about over
2:40
Speaker 1: this season.
2:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. Perhaps with the early season rate
2:44
Speaker 2: of engine speck perhaps, I mean, I know we're going
2:47
Speaker 2: to see these cars in very similar spec in Melbourne
2:49
Speaker 2: and beyond that. But when you mentioned those top four teams,
2:52
Speaker 2: I was going to slightly take issue with you, only slightly.
2:55
Speaker 2: I don't like to disagree with you too much on
2:57
Speaker 2: this podcast because you are hosting after all, but I've
3:00
Speaker 2: kind of split. I reckon that there's about four different
3:03
Speaker 2: tiers of teams amongst the eleven, and we'll get to
3:07
Speaker 2: the team I think is at the top of tier
3:09
Speaker 2: one Tier one A perhaps in a sec But sticking
3:11
Speaker 2: with the McLaren question, I think, to my mind there's
3:15
Speaker 2: a lot of When I say uncertainty, I don't mean
3:17
Speaker 2: that in a bad way, like I suspect that they're
3:19
Speaker 2: not going to be particularly good, but wasn't sure we
3:23
Speaker 2: learn the full picture from them in testing relative to
3:25
Speaker 2: the other three teams in this sort of first group
3:28
Speaker 2: that you mentioned. I still think there's a few unknowns there,
3:31
Speaker 2: not for bad reasons, but I just think there's a
3:32
Speaker 2: little bit that's inconclusive. And I guess one way to
3:36
Speaker 2: look at that is that you can trust in the
3:37
Speaker 2: body of work they have because they are now a
3:39
Speaker 2: two time Rating Constructors Champion, So the concept of them
3:43
Speaker 2: maybe being a little bit behind the eight ball or
3:45
Speaker 2: we don't quite trust them. I don't think we have
3:46
Speaker 2: that conversation in twenty twenty six. Maybe we had it
3:48
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, but it's proof of concept there.
3:51
Speaker 2: I think they will get it right, but I'm still
3:53
Speaker 2: not one hundred percent certain where they're going to be
3:56
Speaker 2: in that top group at the moment. And I guess
3:59
Speaker 2: there's two ways to look at that. Yes, there's more
4:01
Speaker 2: head room for them as the season goes on. It's
4:04
Speaker 2: just a little bit of a shame that I'm not
4:06
Speaker 2: going to say they're going to be at their weakest,
4:07
Speaker 2: but they're going to be at their most inconclusive, perhaps
4:10
Speaker 2: this weekend in Australia, because I don't think the McLaren
4:12
Speaker 2: we see in Australia is going to be the McLaren
4:14
Speaker 2: we see for the rest of the season. Which look,
4:16
Speaker 2: if Oscar Piastri gets on the podium, we don't have
4:18
Speaker 2: to write that no Australia has ever been on the
4:20
Speaker 2: Australian we're all pre Formula one podium ever again, then
4:22
Speaker 2: happy days for all of us. But I just wonder
4:24
Speaker 2: if McLaren's going to be the best version of themselves
4:26
Speaker 2: this weekend, if it might take them a little bit
4:29
Speaker 2: of time to come to the boil. I don't know
4:30
Speaker 2: whether that's your conclusion from preseason testing, but that's how
4:33
Speaker 2: I felt, just a bit not sure.
4:35
Speaker 1: I guess it's certainly been the way the team has
4:39
Speaker 1: been forecasting its own performance and treas teller in a
4:42
Speaker 1: Q and A recently that he did that they were
4:44
Speaker 1: going to be playing a defensive game for the opening
4:46
Speaker 1: part of the season. But they said this even a
4:48
Speaker 1: couple of months ago before the cast if the track,
4:49
Speaker 1: that while there have been many big upgrades already to
4:52
Speaker 1: several teams, Ferrari for example, for a pretty big upgrade
4:54
Speaker 1: I think it was in the second bar Rain test
4:56
Speaker 1: Mercedes as well. McLaren's taking what feels very much though,
5:00
Speaker 1: like the McLaren approach for the last few years, which
5:02
Speaker 1: is wait and see, bide your time. Big upgrades come
5:05
Speaker 1: when we're certain of them, and we're not sure when
5:08
Speaker 1: they will start coming this year. But they've said, and
5:10
Speaker 1: perhaps they'll be lying, who knows. We'll find out when
5:12
Speaker 1: they get here that it's total misdirection, but there are
5:15
Speaker 1: no big upgrades in Melbourne. So essentially the car they've
5:17
Speaker 1: been testing with is fundamentally the car that will be
5:20
Speaker 1: in Melbourne, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Like you say,
5:22
Speaker 1: we don't know, but it feels like it'll take much
5:26
Speaker 1: like twenty twenty four. I suppose when the team powered
5:28
Speaker 1: up to eventually we need to Constructor's title if you're
5:30
Speaker 1: going to win it, or they're going to be in
5:31
Speaker 1: the mix. I think it'll be a slow build up
5:34
Speaker 1: towards that. They've got twenty four hounds to do it,
5:37
Speaker 1: plenty of time for that build up. But I think
5:39
Speaker 1: that that seems to be the vibe and most of course,
5:41
Speaker 1: you know, there's so much sandbagging and misdirection going on
5:44
Speaker 1: among all the teams that actually the order is dramatically
5:47
Speaker 1: different to what we expected from testing, and maybe they
5:49
Speaker 1: do just emerge as the fastest car.
5:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, for those of you playing bing go at home,
5:53
Speaker 2: you can cross sandbagging off your Bingo car because we've
5:55
Speaker 2: got to that in the first five minutes of this
5:56
Speaker 2: year's episode. But that twenty four to twenty five points
5:59
Speaker 2: really important. I think this feels like more McLaren twenty
6:03
Speaker 2: twenty four speck coming into the Australian Grand Prix with
6:05
Speaker 2: promise but not the finished article and then they slowly
6:08
Speaker 2: build and become the best team by the end of
6:09
Speaker 2: the season. Last year we arrived at Albert Park and
6:12
Speaker 2: we were finding pretty slim reasons to not install McLaren
6:17
Speaker 2: as favorites. They looked like they would go to dominate
6:19
Speaker 2: Albert Park, and they did dominate Albert Park, and Oscar
6:21
Speaker 2: Piastre was going to be on the podium, and then
6:23
Speaker 2: it rained and so on and so forth. But last year,
6:26
Speaker 2: the fact that they were running one two for most
6:27
Speaker 2: of the weekend, in whatever order it was, was no
6:30
Speaker 2: surprise whatsoever. I'd be really surprised if we saw that
6:33
Speaker 2: this week they're going to be there and thereabouts. But
6:36
Speaker 2: I think they're going to be a team that does
6:38
Speaker 2: the steady improvement as the season goes on, because, as
6:41
Speaker 2: you've said, this is the way they've gone racing these
6:43
Speaker 2: past couple of years. Twenty twenty four was the classic
6:45
Speaker 2: example of that. Was it the Austrian GP that year
6:48
Speaker 2: they bought that big upgrade. I seem to remember. I
6:49
Speaker 2: think it was twenty four, maybe it was a British.
6:51
Speaker 1: Was the first one? Noris Scott, Yeah, that's Austria. Was
6:54
Speaker 1: when Pastre finally they finally down their level.
6:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, that's why that's why I'm thinking Austria
6:59
Speaker 2: and then from there on they were clearly the team
7:02
Speaker 2: to be despite not winning the World Championship at the
7:04
Speaker 2: end of it, and then last year at the start
7:05
Speaker 2: of the season they were just did a league of one,
7:06
Speaker 2: weren't they. So I don't think we're going to see
7:08
Speaker 2: that for twenty twenty six. And how much that storyline
7:12
Speaker 2: you brought up earlier about them being the only customer
7:15
Speaker 2: team in that top four, how much of that is
7:17
Speaker 2: a factor or whether that's just a storyline of convenience.
7:20
Speaker 2: I guess for the other three, I'm not really sure yet,
7:22
Speaker 2: but they'll be strong. Will they be strongest? To me, no,
7:26
Speaker 2: Because I think we're talking before about those top four teams,
7:30
Speaker 2: I would divide them in. I think there's a one
7:32
Speaker 2: A and then there's a one B category in that
7:34
Speaker 2: top group, and I think one A category one A
7:37
Speaker 2: only has one team. I don't know about your thoughts,
7:39
Speaker 2: but to my mind, Mercedes has to be in one A,
7:41
Speaker 2: don't they.
7:42
Speaker 1: That is my feeling. But I wonder how much of
7:46
Speaker 1: that is simply we've been hearing rumors for a year,
7:50
Speaker 1: maybe longer, but Mercedes is on the front foot with
7:53
Speaker 1: these regulations. These rumors, they all come from somewhere, and
7:56
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they've planted it anyway, because it seems
7:59
Speaker 1: like they're pretty accurate based on pre season testing. Completely,
8:02
Speaker 1: the most laps were always near the top of the
8:03
Speaker 1: time sheets. Looked like a team that really knew what
8:06
Speaker 1: it was doing, although we shouldn't figure it too quickly
8:08
Speaker 1: that that first bar rain test was hampered by quite
8:11
Speaker 1: a few reliability issues or the second wasn't. I mean
8:13
Speaker 1: that's when of testing. Every tim will say anyway in
8:16
Speaker 1: response to problems. But it certainly feels like a team
8:19
Speaker 1: that looks confident, that feels confident it has an engine
8:23
Speaker 1: that clearly is working very well. Even though it tried
8:25
Speaker 1: to tell everybody that the Red Bull engine was the best,
8:27
Speaker 1: I think by the end of the testing it was
8:29
Speaker 1: pretty clear that the SADES was at least competitive for
8:32
Speaker 1: the top spot. They've got. George Russell, I think we
8:34
Speaker 1: talked about the end of last year, feels to me
8:36
Speaker 1: like a driver who's ready to be fighting right at
8:38
Speaker 1: the front. I think he proved that last season. A
8:40
Speaker 1: very polished performance from him and Dre KIMMI Antonelli looks
8:44
Speaker 1: like a very solid number two based on the end
8:46
Speaker 1: of last year. Of course, he is still a teenager.
8:48
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure I wouldn't expect him to be a
8:50
Speaker 1: number one just yet. It feels like this team's ready
8:53
Speaker 1: to be back at the top, and it feels like
8:54
Speaker 1: the stars of a lining in a way they just
8:56
Speaker 1: weren't really obviously during the last set of regulations tech,
9:00
Speaker 1: but even just the way the team is going about
9:02
Speaker 1: it to.
9:02
Speaker 2: Visits, Yeah, that's the key port you just mentioned there.
9:05
Speaker 2: It says like a silly thing to say. It teems
9:07
Speaker 2: to me have body language, right. You can tell when
9:11
Speaker 2: they know that they think that they've got the answers
9:13
Speaker 2: to be at the top. This is not a swagger
9:15
Speaker 2: as such, but you know, if you're looking at if
9:16
Speaker 2: you're looking at posture and Formula One teams, Mercedes right
9:19
Speaker 2: now are standing very upright with the shoulders back, excellent posture.
9:22
Speaker 2: And we look at that because I'm looking at the
9:25
Speaker 2: way they've attacked the preseason and I'm looking at it
9:28
Speaker 2: going huh, this looks convincing. It also looks familiar. This
9:32
Speaker 2: looks like the Mercedes have perhaps an iteration of the
9:35
Speaker 2: rule set previously, maybe not as far back as fourteen,
9:38
Speaker 2: but certainly through that Lewis Hamilton winning era, through the
9:40
Speaker 2: back end of the teams, the twenty teams, they just
9:44
Speaker 2: there was just that inner belief and confidence there that
9:46
Speaker 2: they knew what they needed to do to get it done,
9:49
Speaker 2: and they knew their areas of superiority. I'm getting vibes
9:52
Speaker 2: a little bit like that. Perhaps the only reason that
9:56
Speaker 2: I'm a little cautious about that is that we still
9:58
Speaker 2: need to see it when it actually matters. I don't
10:01
Speaker 2: think they were that disappointed they didn't headline the times
10:03
Speaker 2: at the end of the test. It's always the perfect
10:05
Speaker 2: outcome for them, and that they were reliable and they
10:07
Speaker 2: put a lot of k's in and the car looked good.
10:09
Speaker 2: But no one was talking about them being top of
10:10
Speaker 2: the timesheets and running away with it. And that's almost
10:13
Speaker 2: a perfect situation if you're a team like them. We
10:15
Speaker 2: mentioned before about being really interested to see what happens
10:18
Speaker 2: once the cars get on track for FP one in
10:20
Speaker 2: Melbourne for Mercedes, I am so looking forward to Q two,
10:25
Speaker 2: Q three. I think that's going to be when we
10:28
Speaker 2: might get that first answer. Oh okay, maybe these guys
10:31
Speaker 2: are in their own little category subcategory at the top
10:34
Speaker 2: of tier one. I suspect that may be the case,
10:37
Speaker 2: And I think if you were as unknown as this
10:39
Speaker 2: race weekend is, and we'll get to the circuit and
10:41
Speaker 2: what have you in a minute, But to not imagine
10:43
Speaker 2: a Mercedes on the podium and perhaps on the top
10:45
Speaker 2: step is a bit of a stretch at this stage.
10:47
Speaker 1: I'd say, yes, one a first among business class, I suppose, indeed,
10:51
Speaker 1: looking forward to I'm sure they are actually getting onto
10:55
Speaker 1: the track and starting to do the business. I'm not
10:57
Speaker 1: sure what the emotions inside Ferrari would be at this point.
11:00
Speaker 1: Maybe a little bit of optimism, because certainly their test
11:03
Speaker 1: seemed to go pretty well. Both drivers seemed cautiously optimistic
11:08
Speaker 1: about where they'd landed, not necessarily in the sense they
11:10
Speaker 1: think they're at the front, that the nightmare of twenty
11:12
Speaker 1: twenty five is behind them. That seems at least to
11:15
Speaker 1: be the case. The car feels like a happier one
11:17
Speaker 1: to drive, at a minimum, whether or not it's very
11:19
Speaker 1: fast or very slow to top the times, but times
11:21
Speaker 1: in PC's in testing, they are what they are. Can't
11:24
Speaker 1: read too much into them, but I think that's for
11:28
Speaker 1: me at least, and I wonder if this is a
11:29
Speaker 1: little bit true for Ferrari as well. Q two and
11:31
Speaker 1: Q three is going to be somewhat tense of a moment.
11:34
Speaker 1: That's when we're really going to find out whether that
11:36
Speaker 1: slow build through testing that looked that looked pretty confident. Admittedly,
11:40
Speaker 1: this was a team that also seemed like it really
11:43
Speaker 1: was set on doing what it was doing and it
11:44
Speaker 1: was working. Whether or not that was accurate. That accurately
11:48
Speaker 1: describes where that car is at because the drivers we
11:51
Speaker 1: know are there, Okay, some question marks this year, admittedly
11:53
Speaker 1: around Lewis Hamilton, but we know his potential and we
11:56
Speaker 1: know the theoretical potential of Ferrari, even though it's very
11:59
Speaker 1: rarely men. I think that's quite a big moment for Ferrari.
12:03
Speaker 2: I agree, and the point you make there about the
12:06
Speaker 2: I feel that they'll be slightly more on edge through
12:09
Speaker 2: Q two and Q three than perhaps some of the
12:11
Speaker 2: other teams in that court top quartet that we're talking about,
12:13
Speaker 2: because to me, they probably have the greatest variance, and
12:16
Speaker 2: that can come from execution, it can come with all
12:20
Speaker 2: sorts of other things that traffic that everyone else has
12:22
Speaker 2: to deal with. But I'm not so much looking at Lewis. Look,
12:24
Speaker 2: it's good to hear that Lewis Hamilton is optimistic. It
12:26
Speaker 2: still amazes me with him that after all these years
12:30
Speaker 2: and how experienced it is, that he still rides such
12:32
Speaker 2: an emotional rollercoaster. Either it's the best day of his
12:35
Speaker 2: life or the worst, even now in twenty twenty six.
12:37
Speaker 2: To my mind, if the car is a bit easier
12:40
Speaker 2: to drive, a bit more benign, then we're going to
12:42
Speaker 2: see his performances left. But then, Charle Clair, is there
12:45
Speaker 2: a better one lap driver in formula I don't know
12:47
Speaker 2: there is. I mean he hasn't had the machinery to
12:49
Speaker 2: necessarily show that the last couple of years. A Ferrari
12:52
Speaker 2: on pole in Melbourne, it's you know, we've seen it before.
12:54
Speaker 2: Things tend to go pretty well where Ferrari's qualified very
12:57
Speaker 2: well in Melbourne particularly, But yeah, the x cution and
13:00
Speaker 2: the tension aspect, you get the feeling that if they
13:04
Speaker 2: have some good Q three and the maybe both cars
13:07
Speaker 2: are in the top five or certainly on the first
13:09
Speaker 2: three rows in Melbourne, it's not going to be a
13:12
Speaker 2: proof of concept. Fist pump, Yeah, we did this moment
13:14
Speaker 2: it might be more an exhale of relief if they're
13:17
Speaker 2: able to do that, because you know, typically if Ferrari,
13:20
Speaker 2: if there's a way for Arraider trip itself over in
13:22
Speaker 2: these situations where they might have an advantage, they tend
13:24
Speaker 2: to find it. So if they can be in the
13:26
Speaker 2: top two to three rows in Melbourne, I think that
13:29
Speaker 2: will be a bit of a relief for one and
13:31
Speaker 2: just take some of the pressure off of this early
13:33
Speaker 2: part of the season because they, like so many other teams,
13:36
Speaker 2: the whole of last year was wait till next year,
13:38
Speaker 2: Wait till next year, wait till next year. Well, we
13:40
Speaker 2: don't have that anymore, we hear, and you know, the
13:43
Speaker 2: time for talking and the time for all this optimism
13:45
Speaker 2: is kind of coming to an end because on Saturday
13:47
Speaker 2: afternoon in Melbourne, we're going to get our first The
13:50
Speaker 2: first votes will be in, if you're like, the verdict
13:52
Speaker 2: will be in on which teams have actually got things right,
13:54
Speaker 2: and then the real story starts. And for the sake
13:57
Speaker 2: of the show, I think it would be really good
13:58
Speaker 2: if Ferrari was able to convert that preseason promise into
14:01
Speaker 2: something on Saturday.
14:02
Speaker 1: For me, the wild card here is Red Bull racing,
14:05
Speaker 1: which is somewhat surprising to say over so many years
14:08
Speaker 1: the team started testing very well. It's engine earned a
14:11
Speaker 1: lot of praise. Some of that was probably a little
14:13
Speaker 1: bit heavily lay it on, but I think we shouldn't
14:16
Speaker 1: attract from the achievement, and we can tell this by
14:19
Speaker 1: comparing it with the Audi engine and certainly the handre
14:22
Speaker 1: engine Red Bull Power Trains. First power unit from a
14:25
Speaker 1: ground up operation, looks competitive, looks enough to be among
14:28
Speaker 1: the front runners, which is which is a pretty significant achievement.
14:31
Speaker 1: The team we know can win titles max of Staff
14:33
Speaker 1: and came within only a couple of points of winning
14:35
Speaker 1: the title last year despite the car being pretty ordinary,
14:37
Speaker 1: so much so that the Yuki Stoa was sacks for
14:39
Speaker 1: driving it by the end of it. New teammate in
14:42
Speaker 1: Isaac Haadja this year. That'll be an interesting comparison, first
14:45
Speaker 1: of all, particularly given the way these engines seem to
14:47
Speaker 1: want to be driven. Seems to be a max for
14:49
Speaker 1: staff and things, as much as he seems to dislike them.
14:52
Speaker 1: But this is the team I'm really struggling to place,
14:54
Speaker 1: despite being a works manufacturer, despite being relatively stable as well,
14:57
Speaker 1: not with sending some management changes at the top and
14:59
Speaker 1: the new engine. I can't figure out where I want
15:02
Speaker 1: to put them in the order.
15:03
Speaker 2: And I think that's a separate question because what clouds
15:07
Speaker 2: that a little bit is because they have the ultimate
15:09
Speaker 2: difference maker in a sport in Max Fastappan if they
15:12
Speaker 2: just had a perfectly acceptable lead driver and an inexperienced
15:15
Speaker 2: teammate that Hajab is is only coming into his second season,
15:18
Speaker 2: I think where we perhaps put them in the pecking
15:20
Speaker 2: order is far different. You know that they have a
15:23
Speaker 2: guy that, given the slightest sliver of opportunity to do something,
15:27
Speaker 2: and if it requires a different driving style, even if
15:29
Speaker 2: it's one that he might not like or might not
15:31
Speaker 2: necessarily want to come to terms with, he feels to
15:34
Speaker 2: me like you'll be the quickest adapter out of any
15:36
Speaker 2: of these drivers. And you mentioned the thing about stability before,
15:39
Speaker 2: and I always look at this with Red Bull because
15:41
Speaker 2: their story began here all those years ago. It's bizarre
15:45
Speaker 2: to me that Red Bull Racing in twenty twenty six.
15:48
Speaker 2: You look at the continuity of senior people they've had
15:51
Speaker 2: over the course of the journey. Now this is at
15:52
Speaker 2: Red Bull Racing with no Christian Horner with no Adrian
15:55
Speaker 2: Newey with no helmet, Marco like, it's a team that
15:58
Speaker 2: we know and it looks the same as a team
16:00
Speaker 2: that we know. But the one holdover is Max fis
16:02
Speaker 2: Stabbin right. There's obviously a lot of CDIO people in
16:05
Speaker 2: management positions there that are going along on engineers and
16:07
Speaker 2: what have you. But Verstappen, to me, this is a
16:10
Speaker 2: separate question if they have insert other driver here in
16:14
Speaker 2: the lead car over the course of the weekend, and
16:16
Speaker 2: the uncertainty is like, you know that he can drag
16:20
Speaker 2: a car in two positions that it may not necessarily
16:23
Speaker 2: on merit should be in because we saw it last year.
16:25
Speaker 2: It was the twenty twenty five World Championship. The fact
16:27
Speaker 2: he was even within two points of Norris at the
16:29
Speaker 2: end of the season, given what those two guys were driving,
16:31
Speaker 2: was an achievement that probably only one driver could have
16:34
Speaker 2: done last year. I don't think there's anyone else that
16:36
Speaker 2: could have done that. So that's why there it seems
16:38
Speaker 2: funny to talk about Maxistappen is a bit of a
16:40
Speaker 2: wild car but a kind of feel, and that's where
16:42
Speaker 2: they are this weekend. He could do something absolutely extraordinary,
16:45
Speaker 2: wouldn't be surprised because we've seen it before. But yeah,
16:48
Speaker 2: I'm not super sure about them at the moment because
16:51
Speaker 2: there's just been so much change. Despite the fact that
16:53
Speaker 2: that new engine, the new engine program rolled out pretty seedlessly,
16:56
Speaker 2: you have to say.
16:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, really smoothly, and I think you're I mean, I
17:00
Speaker 1: also think Verstappen he could come to embrace this year
17:03
Speaker 1: as much as a driver who only obviously wants to win.
17:06
Speaker 1: I think we saw the second half of the last
17:08
Speaker 1: third of last season really in really embrace the irritant roll.
17:13
Speaker 2: I think, oh, yeah, yeah, I wrote this a bunch
17:17
Speaker 2: of times last year, like he revels in being an agitator.
17:21
Speaker 2: He absolutely loves that role, and we talked about this
17:24
Speaker 2: on the pod last year a couple of times. We
17:26
Speaker 2: know that he's probably the best driver in the field.
17:28
Speaker 2: We know that he's the best champion in the field,
17:29
Speaker 2: and he's also the best underdog in the field, which
17:31
Speaker 2: is a sentence we never thought that we'd have to say,
17:33
Speaker 2: because we never had reason to know that. Last year,
17:36
Speaker 2: I just thought it might have been his best Formula
17:38
Speaker 2: One season despite not winning the World championship. I know
17:40
Speaker 2: that sounds counterintuitive, but he was so good at being
17:44
Speaker 2: the potential spoiler of being the underdog. That I kind
17:47
Speaker 2: of liked underdog Max a lot more that I like
17:49
Speaker 2: dominant Max because it was a different side to his
17:52
Speaker 2: career that quite frankly, we never thought that we're going
17:54
Speaker 2: to see.
17:55
Speaker 1: Yes, well, wait and see what side of Max we
17:57
Speaker 1: see this season. Before we get to the rest of
17:59
Speaker 1: the field, let's go to Move of the Week, brought
18:02
Speaker 1: to you by Shannons. We are now pretty much in
18:05
Speaker 1: the thick of the motorsports season internationally, at least we've
18:08
Speaker 1: had supercars, we've had Moto GP. Now at the weekend,
18:11
Speaker 1: what caught your eyemap?
18:12
Speaker 2: Well, I was going to mention something that happened in
18:14
Speaker 2: the Motor GP sprint race, but you told me off
18:16
Speaker 2: here before. They haven't watched it yet, so I don't
18:17
Speaker 2: want to spoil it for you. So everyone else, everyone
18:20
Speaker 2: else that's watched the Motor GP sprint race can go,
18:22
Speaker 2: oh yeah, that bit, and just don't tell Michael hasn't
18:24
Speaker 2: watched it yet, but Moves a week listening for a
18:27
Speaker 2: few minutes, that's fine, just like standard podcast re lea
18:31
Speaker 2: can just turn your headphones off. Move of the Week
18:34
Speaker 2: for me and this is a slightly left field. What
18:36
Speaker 2: I'm going to stick with motor GP in Thailand because
18:38
Speaker 2: it was the highest profile thing that happened last weekend
18:42
Speaker 2: was after an absolutely grim race for Yabaha in burram
18:47
Speaker 2: that they basically stopped all four of their riders from
18:50
Speaker 2: speaking to the press because things were so grim, and
18:53
Speaker 2: Yamaha's managing director Palo Vivesio came up and threw himself
18:56
Speaker 2: in the fire for ten minutes in front of the
18:58
Speaker 2: world's press explaining why Yamaha was so grim and how
19:02
Speaker 2: things as though terrible, but there is going to be
19:04
Speaker 2: a way back. And what's really interesting is that you
19:07
Speaker 2: know this is a more not as living at day
19:10
Speaker 2: to day as I do with Motor GP. There's a
19:13
Speaker 2: huge rule change set for twenty twenty seven, right and
19:15
Speaker 2: where the whole thousand cc eras going in the bin.
19:18
Speaker 2: We're going to have eight fifty cc motorbikes no arrow
19:20
Speaker 2: on them. It's going to be very, very different formula.
19:23
Speaker 2: Yamaha has taken this really drastic decision to run a
19:26
Speaker 2: V four engine project that's probably not ready this year
19:29
Speaker 2: with an eye to next year. It brings them into
19:31
Speaker 2: lockstep with all the other motor GP manufacturers. But the
19:34
Speaker 2: project isn't really ready, and it's very unlike a Japanese
19:37
Speaker 2: company to throw something that's still in a developmental stage
19:40
Speaker 2: into the white heat of competition, knowing the prospect for embarrassment.
19:45
Speaker 2: And I cannot tell you in bu Aram how bad
19:48
Speaker 2: the Yamahas were. The only reason that any of them
19:50
Speaker 2: score points is because other people had crashed out or
19:52
Speaker 2: retired and they were half a minute off where they
19:55
Speaker 2: should have been. They're in a class of one, and
19:57
Speaker 2: it's a class of one you don't want to be in.
19:59
Speaker 2: So I thought it was interesting that rather than let
20:02
Speaker 2: this story just sort of run its own course, Yamaha
20:05
Speaker 2: so tried to get on the front foot with this,
20:07
Speaker 2: sent its most senior person out in front of the
20:10
Speaker 2: press to try and explain it. And as moves go
20:13
Speaker 2: to gag your own writers after one race and for
20:15
Speaker 2: have a senior management figure come out and put his
20:17
Speaker 2: hand up and said, this is all going wrong. That
20:20
Speaker 2: is one hell of a move. Whether it's a good
20:21
Speaker 2: pr move or not, I don't know, but I admire
20:24
Speaker 2: the bravery. So, in the true tradition of left field
20:27
Speaker 2: moves of the week, that is mine.
20:29
Speaker 1: Yes, I like it a lot. I like the courage
20:31
Speaker 1: that must have been required, more courageous than anything might
20:33
Speaker 1: they might have happened on the track. Oh, we go
20:36
Speaker 1: there and disembowel yourself for ten minutes in front of
20:39
Speaker 1: the media. Very well, very well done, and a very
20:42
Speaker 1: good pick on. So I'm sticking left field. I'm going
20:44
Speaker 1: to go to Formula one. In the build up to
20:46
Speaker 1: the Australian Grand feet the start of the season. The
20:49
Speaker 1: end of last week, the World Motorsport Council met the
20:52
Speaker 1: Fine Comissioner sent before that side on last minute rule
20:55
Speaker 1: changes as a bit of a traditional Formula one change
20:57
Speaker 1: the regulations a few days before the start of the year.
20:59
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm going with this one. The move to
21:03
Speaker 1: drop the two stop rule from the Monaco Grand Prix
21:06
Speaker 1: last only one year, as it should should have it
21:08
Speaker 1: even been implemented last year. Well, I think we can't
21:10
Speaker 1: blame anyone for trying, I suppose, but certainly a fear
21:14
Speaker 1: few teams and drivers suspected what would happen. Did happen,
21:17
Speaker 1: which was everyone would go even slower than usual to
21:20
Speaker 1: give them time themselves, time and space to make their
21:22
Speaker 1: second pit stops. No additional action was brought to the race.
21:26
Speaker 1: In fact, it ended up looking a bit more like
21:27
Speaker 1: a fast than it normally does, so that won't be
21:30
Speaker 1: the case this year for Monaco. Not sure if there's
21:32
Speaker 1: any talk of any other random left field rule changes
21:36
Speaker 1: to try and spice up the Grand Prix. Maybe there's
21:38
Speaker 1: some optimism that actually these cars will be very suited
21:40
Speaker 1: compitted the last couple to Monoco and might at least
21:42
Speaker 1: look more spectacular even if there's no additional racing.
21:45
Speaker 2: No fair court. I mean, I think as one of
21:47
Speaker 2: those ones, as soon as that came in last year,
21:50
Speaker 2: we all spotted the loophole the way the teams were
21:52
Speaker 2: going to exploit that last year, and ostensibly that was
21:55
Speaker 2: a rule brought in to improve the show, and god
21:57
Speaker 2: knows the show that Monaco needs improving. But I think
22:00
Speaker 2: we all saw that one as suit as the ink
22:02
Speaker 2: was barely dry. So this isn't going to work because
22:04
Speaker 2: this is how teams are going to tack all this.
22:06
Speaker 2: So I will give Formula one kudos for not stubbornly
22:10
Speaker 2: sticking to this and say no, it'll work. Just give
22:12
Speaker 2: it time to realize maybe not, and anything that brings
22:15
Speaker 2: any spectacle to Monica at this point of all for
22:17
Speaker 2: it because it looks pretty in the first lap's great,
22:19
Speaker 2: and the charge up the hill at all of that,
22:21
Speaker 2: and then wake me up when it's over. It's a
22:24
Speaker 2: it's kind of become one of those sorts of races.
22:25
Speaker 2: But when it's only one of twenty four hours, Mike,
22:27
Speaker 2: we can get away with these things.
22:29
Speaker 1: That's true. That is true. The only question now is
22:32
Speaker 1: whether or not Christian Horner will be in charge of
22:35
Speaker 1: Alpine by then, and at that point we can start
22:38
Speaker 1: the countdown to him suggesting they just elongate the track
22:40
Speaker 1: towards the east, which will never happen, but like clockwork,
22:44
Speaker 1: someone suggests it and we can all talk about that
22:46
Speaker 1: for a week while we wonder what it is so bad.
22:49
Speaker 1: Let's move on now to the rest of the fieldhead
22:52
Speaker 1: of the Australian Grand Prix, and why why don't we
22:54
Speaker 1: start talking about Alpine. I want to compare them with Williams,
22:56
Speaker 1: the two Mercedes Howard teams in the midfield, the other
22:59
Speaker 1: two Mercelle his customers on the grids. Williams of course
23:02
Speaker 1: headed the midfield pretty comfortably in the end last season,
23:05
Speaker 1: trajectory scene going to be upwards and they missed a
23:07
Speaker 1: Barcelona test and it all felt very twenty nineteen or
23:11
Speaker 1: even it was only a couple of years. Agoes, Well,
23:12
Speaker 1: they missed the first age and they were the car
23:13
Speaker 1: turned up undercooked. Alp No finished last, the worst last.
23:18
Speaker 1: I read I haven't checked the numbers on this, but
23:20
Speaker 1: I trusted the worst last in F one history by
23:22
Speaker 1: points margin. Remarkable, But here they are looking fairly competent
23:27
Speaker 1: after testing with that Mercedes engine and not mo Reno
23:30
Speaker 1: engine in the back. How do you see these two
23:33
Speaker 1: teams faring?
23:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting is that you've sort of got this
23:36
Speaker 2: next cluster of teams in what I'm calling Tier two.
23:39
Speaker 2: I would not have expected to have Alpe probably at
23:42
Speaker 2: the top of this list. I mean, it looks like
23:44
Speaker 2: the Mercedes power plant's going to be the one to have.
23:47
Speaker 2: And I'm wondering if this is more a commentary on
23:49
Speaker 2: Williams than it is on Alpine, and that Williams did
23:52
Speaker 2: miss the first test and the cars overweight and they're
23:54
Speaker 2: certainly not starting from a great place. But if you're Alpine,
23:57
Speaker 2: this is why you shutter your own engine program to
24:00
Speaker 2: go buy one from somebody else. And the whole of
24:03
Speaker 2: last year felt that they were just in this holding
24:05
Speaker 2: pattern because they were developing an engine they weren't going
24:07
Speaker 2: to use anymore, and they were kind of it. There
24:10
Speaker 2: were so much of an afterthought. Every now and then
24:12
Speaker 2: Pierre Gasly had pop up and you go, oh, Alpine's
24:14
Speaker 2: in Formula one, Pierre Gasly's in Q three.
24:16
Speaker 1: That's nice.
24:17
Speaker 2: Franco Colopinto scored as many pois as Jack Doin did,
24:19
Speaker 2: so there was nothing much to talk about there. But
24:22
Speaker 2: it's really interesting that you can see. I'm not discrediting
24:27
Speaker 2: what Alpine has done as a team and as a
24:29
Speaker 2: chassis design, but it's pretty clear that Mercedes engine is
24:33
Speaker 2: good right now and Alpine, of the customer teams other
24:36
Speaker 2: than McLaren is doing their best job of exploiting that.
24:39
Speaker 2: And because of how big this rule change is, this
24:42
Speaker 2: is the season where you can go from the worst
24:45
Speaker 2: last team in the history of Formula One into a
24:47
Speaker 2: credible midfield performer. This is why you take all the
24:50
Speaker 2: pain of last year if you're our plan. It's just
24:53
Speaker 2: a shame that Jack Dowan's not the card this year
24:55
Speaker 2: rather than last year. But that's a separate story. But
24:58
Speaker 2: they came out of testing as pro be the best
25:00
Speaker 2: of that whoever's fighting for fifth place group. That's an
25:03
Speaker 2: interesting little fight because I think you'd be shocked if
25:06
Speaker 2: any of those top four teams fell down into this category.
25:08
Speaker 2: But there is an interesting fight within a fight here.
25:11
Speaker 2: Alpine clearly looks to be the better of the Mercedes
25:14
Speaker 2: Customer teams coming into Australia, and it's either got to
25:17
Speaker 2: be maybe hassess in that conversation, maybe like a little
25:20
Speaker 2: half step behind, but that who's the next best team?
25:24
Speaker 2: And when we say next best team, that means that
25:25
Speaker 2: you're in Q three. Probably that means that on a
25:28
Speaker 2: good day you might be finishing top five or six
25:30
Speaker 2: in a race, particularly early in the season where we
25:32
Speaker 2: don't know how these cars are going to be racing
25:34
Speaker 2: and what's the reliability, Like, there's big points on offer
25:37
Speaker 2: here for whoever is that next best team outside the
25:40
Speaker 2: big four, And it wouldn't surprise me if that next
25:42
Speaker 2: best team right now is our Paine.
25:43
Speaker 1: It's a really good point in fact, because I think
25:45
Speaker 1: qualifying is also a little bit of a question mark
25:47
Speaker 1: in terms of how teams approach that with these mfms,
25:49
Speaker 1: with keeping the battery up to charge and warming apvertiers
25:51
Speaker 1: all that kind of thing, especially as the track like Melbourne.
25:53
Speaker 1: But if you are that next cab on the rank
25:56
Speaker 1: in terms of order behind the front runners, it's not
25:58
Speaker 1: outlandish that you actually qualify ahead of a few of them.
26:01
Speaker 1: Not necessarily on let's say pure raw pace. This is
26:05
Speaker 1: going to be a weird distinction. We have to make
26:06
Speaker 1: it various times of season, I think. But just by
26:08
Speaker 1: executing better at the right time. Yeah, but just by
26:12
Speaker 1: nailing the way you've prepared everything that'll equalize over the season,
26:16
Speaker 1: I'm sure. But these first few rounds we could be
26:18
Speaker 1: liable to see a couple of surprise performances. I think
26:21
Speaker 1: Williams is surprising. You know, Alpine and Williams both abandoned
26:24
Speaker 1: last year's cars pretty much immediately to do this. Yes,
26:27
Speaker 1: Alpine maybe talked about it a bit less because the
26:30
Speaker 1: team was in such dire competitive straits that it was
26:34
Speaker 1: sort of almost crisis levels even though they knew that
26:36
Speaker 1: they were going this direction for this year, whereas Williams
26:39
Speaker 1: was pretty open about how much it was devoting to
26:41
Speaker 1: this year while also performing well on track a little
26:43
Speaker 1: bit surprisingly, I think, even how well they didn't end,
26:46
Speaker 1: but not willing to right off Williams completely because I
26:49
Speaker 1: think my confidence has been shaken a little bit by
26:51
Speaker 1: how this free season went. But I think the trajectory
26:53
Speaker 1: is still good. I think the preparation that's gone in
26:55
Speaker 1: for this season is good enough that I think the
26:58
Speaker 1: season can be salvage maybe not as good as it
27:00
Speaker 1: should have been. I think they'll still be set up
27:03
Speaker 1: for the medium term under these rules to ultimately be
27:06
Speaker 1: at least the best midfield team. But we'll wait and see.
27:09
Speaker 1: I think that's a big question mark considering how much
27:11
Speaker 1: they talked about preparation for this year has been key
27:13
Speaker 1: Rialdy for a couple of years now. But the comparison
27:15
Speaker 1: there you mentioned, hass because we don't know. I think
27:17
Speaker 1: the midfield looks as tired as it's ever been, or
27:19
Speaker 1: at least it's unpredictable as it's ever been. I want
27:21
Speaker 1: they've got the two I guess ultimate customer teams in
27:24
Speaker 1: half versus racing bulls, Racing Bulls very much being the
27:27
Speaker 1: B team, I guess again, at least that's the that's
27:30
Speaker 1: the approach they're taking to red bull racing and Hals
27:32
Speaker 1: buying a lot from Ferrari. Although it was coming to
27:34
Speaker 1: od branding on the cards. Can you get complicated versus
27:37
Speaker 1: the new works team in Audi, they've bought the Sauber team.
27:40
Speaker 1: They've assumed the Sauber teams are the engine and the
27:42
Speaker 1: chassis factory are separate. But this is the Audi operation.
27:47
Speaker 1: I think Audi is probably at the back of this pack.
27:50
Speaker 1: But I also don't feel confident about making that prediction,
27:53
Speaker 1: nor about really racing bulls. I'm a bit more optimistic
27:56
Speaker 1: about Hass, but it.
27:57
Speaker 2: Feels very clouded racing bo I am kind of scratching
28:02
Speaker 2: my head as to like, they're a racing team. That's great,
28:05
Speaker 2: They've had some good drivers come through. I'm not sure
28:07
Speaker 2: what the purpose of the whole thing is. I mean,
28:08
Speaker 2: they've changed their mind on a hundred times at this point.
28:10
Speaker 2: That's inconclusive for me the Haars and Audi conversation. AUDI
28:15
Speaker 2: probably starts the year at the back of that group,
28:18
Speaker 2: simply because you know, Okay, the name on the door
28:20
Speaker 2: is different. It's not an exact startup, but it's you
28:23
Speaker 2: and I feel they have more variants and it wouldn't
28:25
Speaker 2: surprise me that they have maybe higher peaks this year
28:28
Speaker 2: and some of the other teams that we've just been
28:30
Speaker 2: talking about but maybe the median is a bit lower
28:33
Speaker 2: than that. Hass to me, and I've got an analogy here,
28:36
Speaker 2: it's going to make you hungry, so you have to
28:37
Speaker 2: stick with me here, Hals Hals is the vanilla ice
28:41
Speaker 2: cream of Formula one at this point, and that it's
28:43
Speaker 2: perfectly dependable, that it tastes ice and you know what
28:46
Speaker 2: you're going to get, But it doesn't really move the
28:47
Speaker 2: needle for me. I've got to say, like, it's compointly fine.
28:50
Speaker 2: They and I say vanilla, that's I'm not dissing them
28:53
Speaker 2: in any respect there. They kind of feel like, oh, yeah,
28:56
Speaker 2: that's just hass, that's just what they do. And where
28:59
Speaker 2: that's interesting for me is you mentioned before about how
29:01
Speaker 2: the start of this season, we're not sure how it's
29:03
Speaker 2: going to play out, could be a little bit messy,
29:04
Speaker 2: could be a little bit chaotic. Operationally, the way these
29:07
Speaker 2: cars needs to qualify, it would not surprise me at
29:10
Speaker 2: all sometime in these first four or five races that
29:12
Speaker 2: we see a race where half scoops up a heap
29:14
Speaker 2: of points just through being operationally slick and dependable and
29:19
Speaker 2: making fewer mistakes than the rest. And that's kind of
29:21
Speaker 2: the business model with hears really and like I said,
29:24
Speaker 2: Familla ice cream. If it's a hot day and it's nice, right,
29:28
Speaker 2: I don't. It's one of those known things. It's going
29:30
Speaker 2: to be good. There's no ambiguity that I'm going to
29:32
Speaker 2: be happy with this. They're going to scoop up some
29:34
Speaker 2: points in this early four or five races just by
29:36
Speaker 2: being hals more than maybe some of these other teams.
29:38
Speaker 1: Yes, well advised, and I suspect deliberate use of scoop
29:41
Speaker 1: through that analogy as well. Thank you, well done. Not
29:45
Speaker 1: ten minutes left. We could talk so much more than
29:47
Speaker 1: ten minutes about these last couple of teams, one of
29:50
Speaker 1: them in particular, I think. But this is in my
29:52
Speaker 1: back markers category, as I'm sure it is for you,
29:54
Speaker 1: although perhaps you've got two tiers of back markers as well, Matt.
29:57
Speaker 2: I'm increasingly having two tiers and back markers.
29:59
Speaker 1: Yes, the back row and the one closest to the
30:02
Speaker 1: toilet that's getting the most use on the airplace. I
30:04
Speaker 1: guess Cadillac and Aston Martin for me in that order,
30:09
Speaker 1: which I'm surprised to say. I didn't think this would
30:11
Speaker 1: be the case even if Aston Martin were at the
30:13
Speaker 1: back that they would be last reports out the morning
30:16
Speaker 1: we're recording this on Tuesday before the Autralian Grand Prix
30:18
Speaker 1: that there was some consideration from Aston Martin to just
30:21
Speaker 1: not even turn up in Australia. I think that's from
30:24
Speaker 1: waters fort out and the race reporting that. But they
30:25
Speaker 1: will turn up because the contractorally obliged to. They may
30:29
Speaker 1: not have enough engine components to get to the end
30:32
Speaker 1: of the weekend because they went through so many. Honda
30:34
Speaker 1: has some terminal battery issues brought about by they believe
30:38
Speaker 1: unexpected vibrations in the power unit. They can't forget how
30:41
Speaker 1: to solve it, yet they'll have some fixes in place.
30:43
Speaker 1: It's going to cost a lot of performance. There are
30:46
Speaker 1: rules that allow for reliability fixes even when engines are frozen.
30:49
Speaker 1: Almost certainly though, Honda will will get the concessions that
30:53
Speaker 1: will allow it at a minimum one upgrade this year,
30:55
Speaker 1: if not to, depending on how far off the pace
30:56
Speaker 1: they are. I don't know if the rules have scope
30:59
Speaker 1: to make that decision if they're not finishing any races
31:02
Speaker 1: to analyze their performance, but that's a question for the year.
31:05
Speaker 1: But it certainly seems like Cadillac, the brand new team
31:09
Speaker 1: running for Ari engines, but built from the ground up.
31:11
Speaker 1: They've got its entry only about twelve months ago, I
31:15
Speaker 1: think was the end of last January or early last
31:17
Speaker 1: February that they were told they would be a Formula
31:19
Speaker 1: One team, maybe not finishing last in Australia or perhaps
31:23
Speaker 1: even this year.
31:25
Speaker 2: Well. And to think that they are only allowed in
31:27
Speaker 2: after they prove that they wouldn't embarrass themselves or the
31:29
Speaker 2: sport being a Formula one isn't that amusing. But anyway,
31:33
Speaker 2: we took a little bit about this last week and
31:36
Speaker 2: it sounds like sort of faint praise when you're describing
31:38
Speaker 2: someone as being perfectly acceptable or credible. But as far
31:42
Speaker 2: as Cadillac go, like the undertaking to start a new
31:44
Speaker 2: team in Formula One in twenty twenty six is absolutely
31:47
Speaker 2: monumental when you've got this huge rule change, and yes,
31:51
Speaker 2: you can recruit from all of the other teams and
31:52
Speaker 2: build your staff out and you have two very sensible
31:55
Speaker 2: drivers for a first year team in Sergio Perez and
31:57
Speaker 2: Voucheri Botas. I think what they've done through pre season
32:00
Speaker 2: and the way they will arrive in Melbourne is better
32:04
Speaker 2: than maybe anyone else might have thought they were going
32:06
Speaker 2: to be but maybe not better than they thought they
32:08
Speaker 2: were going to be. There's been this sort of inner
32:10
Speaker 2: confidence there where they haven't made big, grandiose statements about
32:13
Speaker 2: what they're going to be doing. But in no situation
32:16
Speaker 2: did you feel that they were a bit exposed or
32:18
Speaker 2: not quite ready. They seem to me. I think they
32:21
Speaker 2: will turn up, they will look good, they will perform
32:23
Speaker 2: like a Formula one scene. They will do a perfectly
32:25
Speaker 2: credible job. And are we going to be seeing them
32:28
Speaker 2: in Q two? Probably? I mean, maybe this's a lap
32:31
Speaker 2: that comes that might sort of be more on what
32:33
Speaker 2: other teams do, I think. But to see them turn
32:36
Speaker 2: up and be as credible as they're likely to be,
32:38
Speaker 2: and as step one on this big, big climb that
32:41
Speaker 2: they're on, I think they're going to be perfectly acceptable
32:43
Speaker 2: this year. But to turn up all the way down
32:45
Speaker 2: here and do what they're going to do this weekend,
32:47
Speaker 2: I will be really surprised if they don't do anything
32:49
Speaker 2: other than compete and hold themselves in really high esteem.
32:52
Speaker 2: And like, again that sounds like faint praise, but when
32:54
Speaker 2: you're a starter with the complexities of operating in Formula
32:58
Speaker 2: one in twenty twenty six, that is a really really
33:00
Speaker 2: good outcome, and I think the only people that won't
33:02
Speaker 2: be surprised about them are themselves because they've carried themselves
33:05
Speaker 2: like this the whole way through preseason, haven't they.
33:07
Speaker 1: Yes, they've been so well prepared, super methodical. I mean
33:10
Speaker 1: it sounded funny at the time, but even late last year,
33:13
Speaker 1: when they'd hired people to work in the team, they
33:16
Speaker 1: were running through simulated race weekends like acting as if
33:19
Speaker 1: they were there. They were at their vas in Silverston,
33:21
Speaker 1: going through the routines, doing as much as they could
33:24
Speaker 1: to feel like a real Formula One team before becoming
33:26
Speaker 1: a real Formula One team. It'd be interesting to see
33:29
Speaker 1: them under the pressure of competing. Admittedly, there's probably only
33:31
Speaker 1: so much pressure they're going to be under. They're going
33:33
Speaker 1: to be near the back. You never know, though, like
33:35
Speaker 1: when Rubbi hits the road. I mean, they may at
33:37
Speaker 1: least have Aston Martin to compete with as long as
33:38
Speaker 1: the Astamatin car stays on track. But I also think
33:41
Speaker 1: this is the kind of year and this looks like
33:44
Speaker 1: the kind of outfit where I wouldn't be surprised to
33:46
Speaker 1: see them pick up the odd point very occasionally. I
33:49
Speaker 1: certainly don't think they're gonna be regular top ten scores,
33:51
Speaker 1: but in those races there's a little bit of attrition,
33:53
Speaker 1: something random's going on, maybe it's a bit of weather.
33:56
Speaker 1: They look well prepared enough to be in that midfield
33:58
Speaker 1: mix to pick up a tenth place and well pass
34:01
Speaker 1: to get that point or welty Bot has to to
34:03
Speaker 1: maybe get a que two appearance that looks very impressive.
34:05
Speaker 2: And this is where that driver lineup's really important, because
34:08
Speaker 2: when there is a strategic dice to roll or something
34:10
Speaker 2: you can do executionally, you know that you've got two
34:13
Speaker 2: drivers that are well versed in bringing those sorts of
34:15
Speaker 2: strategies home. That's not a variable you have to worry about.
34:18
Speaker 2: You've got two drivers who are super experienced. If you
34:20
Speaker 2: do go slightly left field on a strategy or there
34:22
Speaker 2: is an opportunity to do something, you're going to capitalize
34:25
Speaker 2: on that opportunity because the two guys behind the wheel
34:27
Speaker 2: are proven commodities, and yeah, they're closer to the end
34:30
Speaker 2: of their careers in the beginning, but they're also not
34:32
Speaker 2: going to drop the ball on a chance to actually
34:34
Speaker 2: do something big, which would make just be so big
34:36
Speaker 2: for this team to be able to get off that
34:38
Speaker 2: zero sometime in the first you know, four or five
34:41
Speaker 2: six races to be able to get some points in
34:43
Speaker 2: the bank as a building block for the future.
34:45
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, now we've got to talk about Aston
34:48
Speaker 1: Mardon because team you may not see very much this weekend.
34:51
Speaker 1: Who knows ports running out of parts as we said
34:55
Speaker 1: it is. I think we can use the word crisis
34:57
Speaker 1: quite openly now, considering there was some consideration of them
34:59
Speaker 1: not even turning up to Australia. That's pretty significant. Even
35:02
Speaker 1: in that new era, a new team's era of two
35:05
Speaker 1: thousand and nine ish, when those teams at all eventually
35:08
Speaker 1: fold today all turned up to Melbourne. They didn't always
35:10
Speaker 1: they didn't always qualify Aston one will qualify if the
35:13
Speaker 1: cars get on track within one hundred and seven percent.
35:15
Speaker 1: Are all pretty confident about that. I think they've got
35:17
Speaker 1: to make it there though, But then the weekend essentially
35:20
Speaker 1: becomes for as long as they can last a test session.
35:23
Speaker 1: The problem, I mean, it's both a problem and maybe
35:25
Speaker 1: you can see it as an opportunity that it's clearly
35:28
Speaker 1: the engine that is most holding it back. We don't
35:30
Speaker 1: know how good the car is, admit it could also
35:32
Speaker 1: be very slow, but the major problem here. The reason
35:35
Speaker 1: we're talking about them as a crisis team is that
35:36
Speaker 1: the engine is not reliable enough. That means if you
35:39
Speaker 1: can fix the reliability, then everything else can start to
35:42
Speaker 1: fall into place. Rather than the car. You're thinking it
35:44
Speaker 1: being very fast and actually it's just simply very slow.
35:46
Speaker 1: That can be more difficult to understand. But the downside
35:50
Speaker 1: is that engine repairs, reliability fixes take a long time.
35:53
Speaker 1: It's not going to happen for Australia, probably not going
35:55
Speaker 1: to happen for China. You'd certainly be hoping if your
35:58
Speaker 1: Hondra you'd least basically understood it in your home race
36:00
Speaker 1: in Japan or Man. Yes, I bet they're wishing Japan
36:04
Speaker 1: was back at the end of the year. But this
36:05
Speaker 1: is going to be a very painful few months, if
36:08
Speaker 1: not entire season for Aston Martin, the team that spent
36:11
Speaker 1: big on being ready for twenty twenty six.
36:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, a Japanese GP in October it would be quite
36:16
Speaker 2: any right. My only question to you is, so the
36:19
Speaker 2: race star is three pm local on Sunday in Australia.
36:22
Speaker 2: What time is Fernando a Lotso's flight Do you think.
36:27
Speaker 1: I am Sunday Sunday saying I reckon if when he
36:33
Speaker 1: got the message, saying inevitably his flight was canceled. I
36:36
Speaker 1: think he was said, that's fine.
36:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I never received this message. Sorry, I have no idea.
36:41
Speaker 2: Who oh, I never never showed up. Look, I mean look, Also,
36:45
Speaker 2: should we just mention that it's twenty five years ago
36:47
Speaker 2: that Fernando a Lotso first debuted at albert Park. What
36:49
Speaker 2: a what a statement that is to say, there's a
36:52
Speaker 2: part of me I love for Wheela one wo Fernando
36:53
Speaker 2: a Lotso's fighting for something meaningful. You think back a
36:55
Speaker 2: couple of years ago when he's standing on the podium
36:57
Speaker 2: at albert Park. It was just it's great, there's energy
37:00
Speaker 2: to Formula one when he is good. But you mentioned
37:03
Speaker 2: before the key thing here is we can't just say, well,
37:06
Speaker 2: once they get the engine sorted, the car will be fine,
37:09
Speaker 2: because we just don't know yet. And the fact that
37:11
Speaker 2: we're on the eve of a new season. Yes it's
37:13
Speaker 2: twenty four rounds. They are so so undercooked at this point,
37:17
Speaker 2: they haven't even been defrosted, less gott in the oven yet.
37:20
Speaker 2: They're so undercooked, and so we just don't know. And
37:25
Speaker 2: there are so many holes in the burst out wall
37:28
Speaker 2: they're trying to plug right now. The first one has
37:30
Speaker 2: to be the engine, right, You've got to get that
37:32
Speaker 2: sorted first. As you said, not the work of a moment.
37:35
Speaker 2: But this is going to be a long, slow, tortuous
37:38
Speaker 2: season for them. They're going to clearly be at their
37:40
Speaker 2: worst here. And I mean if either car was still
37:45
Speaker 2: running after fifteen laps on Sunday, that would be a
37:48
Speaker 2: bit of a surprise. You would have to say, I
37:50
Speaker 2: think they're going to go around for as long as
37:51
Speaker 2: they can go around. It just may not be for
37:53
Speaker 2: very long.
37:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, not for very long at all. So if you
37:55
Speaker 1: asked Martin foun get your photos in as soon as
37:57
Speaker 1: you see him on the track, because that might be
37:59
Speaker 1: your first last chance to get any good footage of
38:02
Speaker 1: them before we wrap up. I just want to taste
38:04
Speaker 1: very very briefly on the other last minute rule change.
38:08
Speaker 1: It won't come in to effect till June a little
38:09
Speaker 1: bit earlier, but Mercedes included has voted unanimously all the
38:13
Speaker 1: edge of manufacturers have to change that compression rule loophole.
38:16
Speaker 1: I think we talked about very briefly last week that
38:18
Speaker 1: Mercedes says is only worth two or three horse power
38:20
Speaker 1: that Red Bull thinks is worth ten times as much.
38:23
Speaker 1: It seemingly is against Mercedes' interest to vote against to
38:26
Speaker 1: vote for this rule change. It does also prevent, though,
38:29
Speaker 1: other teams from pursuing similar avenues, and there were rumors
38:32
Speaker 1: that might have happened. We did talk about the end
38:34
Speaker 1: of last year. But it does set up that first
38:36
Speaker 1: of June date, which is between Canada and Monaco, so
38:39
Speaker 1: after the Canadian Grand Prix, before the Monaco Grand Prix,
38:42
Speaker 1: as a potential little change in how we understand the
38:46
Speaker 1: form guide to look and potentially how we understand the
38:48
Speaker 1: engine form guide in particular look, which maybe, considering we've
38:51
Speaker 1: got three different manufacturers in that front running group, may
38:54
Speaker 1: change the complexion of the season.
38:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, savvy by Mercedes, I think you would say, because
38:58
Speaker 2: it's one of those make a little bit of short
39:01
Speaker 2: term potential paying the longer term game, because the last
39:04
Speaker 2: thing you want is if you've stumbled across something clever
39:06
Speaker 2: and you've maximized that, if it becomes allowable and everyone
39:09
Speaker 2: else does the same thing, then we're all back to
39:11
Speaker 2: the starting spot, right. So it's one of those things
39:13
Speaker 2: that politically there would have been a bit of all
39:16
Speaker 2: right there, Mercedes, and we'll go through with this. But
39:19
Speaker 2: yet you to use a famous Bikeael Lemonado, say, we're
39:22
Speaker 2: kicking the can down the road here, aren't we. We're
39:24
Speaker 2: just taking a little bit of short term pain for
39:27
Speaker 2: longer term advantage. It's one of those strange rule changes
39:31
Speaker 2: where I feel that everyone has lost it, everyone as
39:33
Speaker 2: one at the same time, and maybe the status quo
39:36
Speaker 2: maintains and Mercedes still has that little baked did advantage.
39:38
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was not the outcome to that little
39:42
Speaker 2: stoush that I was expecting. I had to say when
39:44
Speaker 2: that kicked off.
39:45
Speaker 1: Yes, but again, to go back to where we started
39:47
Speaker 1: this podcast, it certainly sounds like confidence from Mercedes, doesn't.
39:51
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, let's find out because this weekend we get
39:53
Speaker 1: some answers at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park,
39:56
Speaker 1: the first round of the season. Because that's all the
39:58
Speaker 1: time we have for Pittalk this week. You can tribe
40:00
Speaker 1: to Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts and you
40:03
Speaker 1: can leave us a rating and a review as well.
40:05
Speaker 1: This weekend, as I said, is the season opening Formula
40:08
Speaker 1: one Australian Grand Prix with lights out at three pm
40:10
Speaker 1: eastern daylight time. It's also the Supercars Melbourne Super Sprint,
40:14
Speaker 1: with races everyday Thursday to Sunday, all of which you
40:16
Speaker 1: can catch live on both Fox Sports and KO. You
40:19
Speaker 1: can get up to date with all the lates step
40:21
Speaker 1: one Supercars and MURDERGP news at Fox sports dot com
40:24
Speaker 1: dot Au. From Matt Clayton and me, Michael Lamonado. Thanks
40:27
Speaker 1: very much for your company and we'll catch you next week.