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FCTTN: McLaren conspiracies are back! · Full Credit to the Noise

• speaker-0: This week on Full Credit to the Noise Oscar darted in Hungary The GT3s hit Hidden Valley And we preview Wanaroo. Welcome to Full Credit to the Noise. Well, hello, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and welcome to Full Credit to the Noise. You can find this podcast on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at FCTTN Podcast. You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky, and Facebook at Former underscore legend. You can find the boy across me on Twitter at AVL underscore motorsport. He's on Instagram at AVL dot motorsport. He's a man who this week was the flag bearer for the Cayman Islands at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. He's been linked to a role of Ken in the Barbie movie sequel. And tonight he's wearing a US Navy SEALs member T shirt. Welcome to Speed Cafe's Andrew Van Lewen. speaker-1: Thank you, Former. I think out of those three things, probably ⁓ making it to the com games is more likely than me being ⁓ cast as Ken or recruited by the Navy SEALs, to be ⁓ to be perfectly honest, which is which is saying something. Although I know I mean I know they've slimmed back the the com games in terms of sport, but if there ever was an international sporting comp that the average athlete would fancy getting a start at Surely it's that one. speaker-0: What sport would you have a crack at? Some old duck at seventy four made a debut in lawn bowls, I mean there's hope for all of us. speaker-1: Yeah, that's actually that's a good point. What ⁓ what are they left with? They've they cut a heap of ⁓ out, didn't they? You have to be that fast in the pool to get a medal, to be fair. speaker-0: I don't know. Doesn't I still reckon lawn lawn bowls in Commonwealth Games and what's that sweeping one in the Winter Olympics? That can't be that hard. That cannot be that hard. Vick all. Although, as you said, I've never seen a man use a broom. But anyway, that's different over where you're at. But what happened this week, mate? Did you watch Darwin? I thought it was awesome. Did you see any of it? speaker-1: I did. I actually tuned into a fair whack of the Saturday coverage and it did feel like a really handy addition to the Speed Series schedule, to be honest. Like it just obviously it was something different 'cause they'd never raced there before. I was pretty jealous of ⁓ everyone up there having a having a nice, you know, rel I mean, I know obviously it's a it's a you know, the Speed Series i is one of our top ⁓ tiers of motorsport in this country. But still probably a little more relaxed a weekend than the supercar's weekend for a lot of the people ⁓ up there and ⁓ It's just such a great place to be this time of year. So I was a little bit jealous, but it looked great on the T V. ⁓ some of the racing was interesting. It was always going to be a bit of a tough circuit for passing and stuff with GT style cars and and high era cars. But yeah, there were some interesting results and it felt like, as I said, a a a nice addition to that to that schedule. speaker-0: Yeah, for anyone who didn't see it, the Alec ⁓ the Audi of Alex Peroni and Mark Ross survive well, what was opening lap chaos? I'll tell you what, I don't think they've seen an opening lap without some sort of incident. But ⁓ they took a victory ⁓ from Jaden O'Jada and Paul Liketty in their Merck, and then ⁓ R Will Davison and Renee Gracie came third in their Ferrari. In the second race on Sunday was early. It actually caught me by surprise. Brad Schumacher and Brock Feeney got the win from Ryan Wood and Steve Brooks. ⁓ and Josh Buck and and Cam Campbell getting third in the Ferrari. And I should say before we go any further, well under William Exton and also Jack Johnson, who's the son of Western Bulldogs AFL great Brad Johnson, they took their first monochrome G T four Australia win in race one at Hidden Valley. I've seen Jack run around in XLs and I know not many people think that's much of a form guy, but he is rapid in those things, and so I'm not surprised that he's got speed in in ⁓ G T fours. speaker-1: Yeah, I guess ⁓ he's got a pretty good pedigree in terms of that sort of ⁓ understanding of professional athleticism and, you know, that drive and hunger that you need to succeed at that level, given the fact that he's I imagine watched the career of his old man fairly closely. So ⁓ yeah, that was certainly one of the interesting results that that came out of the weekend. speaker-0: Yeah, well, Brad only played for like forty-eight seasons straight, so I'm pretty sure we've got to see some of the some of the but ⁓ over in Hungary in the Formula One, we'll talk about the race because there's a fair bit to talk about. In qualifying Blando Norris took his first Grand Prix poll of twenty twenty six as a world champion, survived two late yellow flags in that last lap. Lewis Hamilton ⁓ got second to top a dramatic qualifying session, as we said. World championship leader Kimi Antonelli qualified third and George Russell further back in seventh. ⁓ Anthony appeared to be on a lap capable of challenging for a pole up but but was caught by a yellow flag. But that wasn't good enough. He actually got ⁓ penalized later on because he went too fast past Max for Stappenhood spun. ⁓ yet again. I don't think I've seen Max spins as often as I have this year. speaker-1: No, but that but that was a weird that was a weird penalty, right? Because like if I was if I was Kimmy, I'd be sitting there going, hang on a minute. It wasn't that long ago that my teammate scored pole when Max was heading out of the wall. Like so I don't yeah, I think I I think that that was always gonna open a bit of a can of worms and we kinda saw a little bit of that. You know, I think that you know, there were two big penalties out of quality. One was obviously Lewis Hamilton impeding Oscar Piastri, that was about as big a slam dunk as an speaker-0: I feel sorry for the kit. speaker-1: impeding penalties, you're ever gonna see not not really any complaints from anyone there, except for Lewis at his team for not telling him that there was a faster car coming up behind him, which does tend to happen in qualifying sessions. But ⁓ yeah, I think the Kimmy one was a that was that was a weird one. And I think it does come back to the kind of ambiguity that came out of, you know, the FIA allowing George Russell to keep that poll in Austria. speaker-0: Yeah, I think ⁓ Bono had something to say, but pretty much held his lips tight ⁓ last night just before the race. I know he he sort of said, Yeah, it's ⁓ interesting compared to other recent incidents, but I gather guess 'cause the ⁓ other reason is it would involve the bloke across from in the next shed. Might have ⁓ slowed him in from talking. ⁓ yeah, as we said, Oscar moved to third. Antonelli received a three race ⁓ s three place grid penalty for failing to reduce his speed. That was all Run and done on Saturday, then the race on Sunday. Well Oscar actually got to the lead, but after that he suffered pretty much heartbreak after a bizarre clash with Carlos Saints cost him crucial time. Before a late gearbox failure ended the race altogether, he left Lando Norris, his teammate, to secure McLaren's first win of the season. Piacchi made a superb start from third on the grid. He passed Charles Leclerc into turn one before then getting the lead from ⁓ Norris at turn two when he ran wide. Basically I'll break it down. It looked like Oscar was faster in patches in the race, but overall, and as much as I hate to admit it, Lando had the pace and I think was a worthy winner. we'll come back to that. Behind him, Max Verstappen ran second, while Kimmy Antonelli recovered from seventh on the grid to complete the podium. Charles Claire was fifth on track but was promoted to fourth after Lewis copped another penalty for speeding in pit lane. Isaac Hadger was sixth, George Russell was ⁓ seventh with another afternoon to forget. He hit anti stall on the opening lap and ⁓ fell to the rear of the field before recovering to run seventh. Let's go back to what w happened to Oscar. W is that fair to say that probably the faster block won? speaker-1: ⁓ I definitely think so. I think to me, where I sort of felt like his race was unraveling was ⁓ on during that second stint when he was under immense pressure from Lando Norris. And even there was that moment where Lando ran wide at turn four, ⁓ and the gap kind of ballooned out to like it was over a second and a half. I think it was sort of one point seven, one point eight seconds. And within no time, Lando was right back on his gearbox. ⁓ so I I think there was a fairly sizable pace offset that was gonna be ⁓ really difficult for for Oscar to to overcome despite the fact he had track position across those first two stints. ⁓ you know, let's let's have a chat about the whole obviously, you know, the the McLaren conspiracies are are back. You know, at that point of the race, late late in that second stint, Lando was basically on the radio saying, Hey, I'm I feel like I'm a lot faster than this guy. He actually said, I reckon I can pull 10 seconds on him if I can get in front of him. ⁓ and he was asking to pit They pitted Oscar, they said no to to ⁓ to Lando and pitted Oscar instead. And you kind of I guess there was, you know, there was that was that decision from McLaren to pit Oscar when they did. Then there was a run-in with Carlos Science, and then you know, Oscar was pretty upset on the radio, and I think that kind of caused a bit of confusion about how it all played out, and it did revive the conspiracy theories regarding the perceived favouritism of Norris. But ultimately the team did deny Norris a request to pit first. They gave Piastri the priority he had earned to that point of the race. Had McLaren pitted ⁓ Norris when they pitted Piastri, I'd have a lot more time for the conspiracy theorists. But the team actually did exactly what it has consistently done and prioritised the lead car. It was just unfortunate that A, the science thing happened, and B, that that Norris had what was clearly superior pace and was likely to end up in the lead, whether he was overcutting, undercutting, or or had to pass Oscar on track. So I think if you take the gearbox failure out of the conversation. I think Oscar's only real hope in that race was that if he had managed to undercut enough to retain the lead for the last stint and then McLaren had put a hold on the two cars, which I think they were probably unlikely to do. And we don't really want him to do that. We want to see car racing, you know, not hold position racing. So I think that I think they would have let him race and I think Norris probably had enough to get the job done anyway. And and Oscar was pretty clear after the race that he completely agreed with when McLaren pitted him and that his comment about You know, you guys could have factored that in. It sort of sounded like he was talking about the traffic, but he he sort of clarified that he was more hoping that the team would have left Lando out longer after the science clash so that he could so that Oscar could reestablish the undercut, which even Oscar admitted, you know, i in the p in the T V pen, once he'd probably thought about the situation was a completely irrational expectation. You know. It it was not unlike Silverson last year when he was asking the team to reverse the positions after he got penalised. It was It was speculative fishing through frustration more than anything at how things had played out. So I think it was a bit misconstrued. ⁓ and even myself at the time thought, hey, is he upset that the team pitted him when they did? But he clarified that wasn't the case. That was the right call. That was the fastest strategy. He obviously just then got tangled up with with science. ⁓ in terms of that. Clash, that was clearly a massive fail on on Carlos's behalf. And even without the blue flag system working on the steering wheel, you know, there were blue flags at flag points. There were blue light panels. ⁓ and I think Oscar was right to be absolutely furious with how that played out, even if it ultimately didn't matter because of the technical failure that took him out of the race altogether. But I think he was well within his rights to be really angry with that because it did at least cost him a chance of trying to retain the lead and seeing what he could do at the at the front of the field, even if I do probably hand on heart think that that the the winner of the race would have been the same outcome anyway. speaker-0: I agree with everything you just said. The one thing I'll say about Carlos is is that he said, ⁓ I didn't know that was ⁓ Oscar behind me. You're in a twenty twenty six Williams, Carlos. Everything behind you is faster. Like it is generally cons conceded from your team that everything from beh coming from behind is probably to lap you. So just get out of the way. Yeah. You've got two mirrors. You've been in Formula One since Jesus played halfback for Jerusalem. So just get out of the road. For him to then say I didn't know it was him, mate, who did he think it was? Like honest honestly, I I thought that was pretty poor from a bloke who who doesn't mind chucking rocks, but we'll get to that a little bit later. speaker-1: I don't know why they don't just take the mirrors off F one cars altogether now. Yeah. Like 'cause the the reliance on information from the team. I understand visibility is not amazing when you've got these cars with all these wings and, you know, big tires on the back and all this sort of stuff, but you've still got a mirror. Like you can still look in the mirror. And it's the same with the Hamilton case. And I know it's an oversimplification. I I understand that. But you still have a mirror and you can still have a look back and go. Jesus, a car coming ripping along here. I might just get out of the way. Yeah. So yeah, at that point of the race, again, if there was no blue flags anywhere, Carlos might have a point, but it was only the notification on his steering wheel that wasn't working. The flag marshals were still manually and very effectively showing blue flags. You can see them on the replays. They were everywhere. So Oscar was right to not buy that. And I think Carlos underestimated how understanding Oscar was going to be 'cause he kinda said, ⁓ yeah, it's no he'll understand that there was nothing I could do. And that was certainly not what Oscar took out of the situation. speaker-0: ⁓ we go to the standings. I just thought I'd put you y include this in here, mate. ⁓ Antonelli's now stretched it out. He he's a fifty odd, sixty odd in front, but George Russell slipped further back. I'm gonna ask you, we don't talk about this later on the show. Is he gone? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean you if you yeah, if you were a betting man, it's there'd be pretty short odds on on on Kimmy at this point and you wouldn't really it doesn't feel like George is a factor in the title fight right now. ⁓ I guess we gotta keep in mind that ⁓ Max Verstappen came from more than a hundred points down at this point of last season and lost the championship by two points. So things can change. It's gonna be an outright development war in the second half of this season because we've seen we're seeing these instances of of the form fluctuating so much as teams bring upgrades to the cars. So, you know, there's a lot of racing and a lot of points to to come. But I mean you can't look at Ferrari's performance on Sunday night at a race where they were really expected and on Saturday night as well, to be perfectly honest, at a race where they were really expected to have the fastest car and be convinced that you've got Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc really in the title fight. Like they're just too inconsistent and they're to and too con their their only consistency is not performing at the races where they should have the advantage. You I mean everyone was talking about the fact that, you they're on the soft tie for the start of the race. The the cars are are are really quick off the line. You know, those guys, those two Ferraris should be down the road by halfway through lap one. And it just wasn't even close to I mean, Charles Leclerc went back to fifth or whatever it was on the first lap. Like So and then, you know, who who knows? Obviously, you know, Lando's a long way back, ⁓ Oscar's a long way back, but who knows where the development of this Mercedes ⁓ sorry, this McLaren package is gonna go. And again, they're all still within striking distance points wise of what Max was at this point. So yeah, it's gonna take a lot to for anyone to run down Kimi Antonelli. ⁓ I think he put in Well, he just put in he put in a title winning drive l on Sunday night. Yes. Like that's what it was, to to go and and rescue speaker-0: Good too, mate. speaker-1: a podium from that ⁓ from that position. So if he keeps doing that, no one's gonna catch him. But, you know, you can't you can't write the whole thing off yet. But it sort of feels like obviously you would expect, you know, Mercedes, you know, if they've got the best car on any given weekend, that limits how much ground George Russell can really make up on Kimi. Because even if they're running one-two, the points gap's quite small and the points gap in the championship's quite big. So you're probably looking at it needing to really Come down to some more reliability issues for Mercedes, which is again absolutely not out of the question, on Kimmy's side of the garage for George to get himself back into the fight. So that's probably a longer shot than, you know, McLaren or Ferrari getting their act together and giving their drivers a car fast enough to to run that that points gap down. But all of it is definitely in the long shot category, I think. speaker-0: I mean, I I'm loath to say that it's a done deal only because last year there were points where we thought there's no way that ⁓ Lando could come back and he did and did it quite well. But there's just something about the way Antonelli is doing it that makes me think it's a championship run. Whereas before l last year there seemed to be cracks and ebbs and flows between both Oscar and and Lando. But ⁓ Antonelli on his bad weekends, it's a bit like when Scafe was at his absolute best. His bad weekends are thirds. Yeah. And it's like, you know, this is th this looks looks the goods. I think it's gonna have to be something's gonna have to drastically happen. Like you say, the improvement of the McLaren's might be something Ferrari just seemed to be able to drag a loss out of a certain victory everywhere they go. So Yeah, I think look, it's looking extremely good and when we go back to George Phew, yeah, we'll come to that later, but geez, I ⁓ it d does not look good. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean your championships are lost on your bad weekends. Like that I sorry, your championships are won on your bad weekends in terms of limiting the damage of those weekends. And ⁓ anytime Kimmy's had any say in where he's finished the race, he's he's maximized what he's had under him. You know, obviously you can't say much about ⁓ about technical DNFs. Not much you can do about that. But yeah, that that I certainly agree that I I looked at that result on ⁓ on Sunday night and went yeah, that's a that's a guy who's who's really limited the damage this weekend ⁓ and will head into the summer break. Probably, you know, I I've probably not over the moon about the the the general pace issues that that Mercedes had on the weekend, although by the end of that race he was looking like a match for anyone out there. ⁓ and had he started a little closer to the front it could have been quite interesting. But he should certainly be pretty happy with how he performed in that hungry race and and how that can set him up for the second half of the year. speaker-0: You know my highlight of the whole two nights of watching that Grand Prix, and I rarely ever think this is a big thing, but was Martin Brundle's pit walk when he came across Casey Stoner. I thought this was the absolute highlight of the night. He ⁓ basically had the opportunity to talk to Casey about anything, including Moto GP, which is quite interesting this year and moving forward into ⁓ the new bikes for next year, but he inexplicably ⁓ asked Probably one of the straightest shooters in motorsport about the current F one regulations. And then you could see the regret in his eyes almost immediately, Avio, where Casey went, Well, it's not real good, is it? Like and r rapidly he tried to smother Casey's reply with a little bit of shushi mate, shushy, ⁓ national anthem, national anthem, this that, this, that. ⁓ I thought that was fantastic. speaker-1: Yeah, it was pretty funny. I mean it was incredibly awkward even by the generally awkward standards of Martin Brundle's grid walk. ⁓ and I think, you know, that the the biggest issue that caused the awkwardness was actually the live TV constraints. Cause he started the interview saying we've got 30 seconds here. He had a very awkward amount of time to fill, but the interjection with yeah, but we still love the cars when when ⁓ Casey says yeah well I'm not really enjoying it all that much this year was ⁓ was pretty unnecessary and was always going to leave poor Martin in the firing line a little bit ⁓ when it came to ⁓ people watching along and having a bit of fun with it. speaker-0: Alright, we'll go to the shift cut because there's more F1 news to talk about. speaker-1: Harry. speaker-0: And we'll start with Max Verstappen. I I put only put this in because of how the weekend ended, but ⁓ he said he has moved beyond desperation after a mysterious aerodynamic problem left his Red Bull undriveable, quote unquote, in Hung the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying the four time world champ, qualified sixth at Hungering after spinning at the final corner on his last Q three attempt, ending another frustrating session for a Red Bull. He said, and I quote, The weekend in general has been difficult, but when you ⁓ instead of the tires degrading, your car is degrading, then you have a big problem. The car kept getting worse and worse, lap after lap, so the more laps I did, the more difficult it was to put a lap together. And for tomorrow, as in the race, he said we need to fix it because the car is just not drivable like that, as you can see in the final corner. he vented his frustration over team radio. He said this car is just completely broken aerodynamically. It's just getting worse and worse. What a joke, what a joke. Honestly, what a shit weekend. ⁓ that Shit weekend culminated in a second. speaker-1: Yeah, just when you think Max's brat era is over. He has a weekend like that with some ⁓ with some pretty interesting radio communication. I did you know, even during the race he was complaining about the shifting and basically saying, you know, I can't drive this car all the while he was storming towards the podium. Even the I think the thing that really got me was ⁓ when he pulled that brilliant move on on Lewis Hamilton. That turned Yeah, it was absolutely fantastic. ⁓ and obviously, you know, there was a back marker involved. Lewis is obviously gonna have not initially probably on turn and expected that gap to be filled by a car and then Max gets on the radio and complains about Lewis moving under brakes, which I just thought, why on earth would you like it like if anything, given from how far back Max came, I thought Lewis was pretty friendly on that turn into that thing. Like it if they clattered into each other, there would have been a case to answer for for well, how far back do you think you can come around another car and pull off that move? So it relied on Lewis playing ball. speaker-0: He had to be. Yeah, yeah. speaker-1: To for the move to happen. ⁓ and then he complains about it. And I thought that just felt entirely unnecessary. Like just enjoy what you've done, which was something brilliant. But yeah, that was a pretty tough sell job to the stewards that Lewis should be penalised for, you know, like I say, actually doing the dance in terms of allowing that pass to happen without contact between the cars. speaker-0: This afternoon I found some more stuff from in ⁓ Max's radio where he gave both Visa, Cash App, whatever they call themselves Red Bull Racing. Mate, he gave them a fair serve. Both Liam and Yeah, Limblat, sorry, if mine went blank. Yeah, but he gave them a fair whack. speaker-1: I've lean black. speaker-0: over the knuckles as well. ⁓ if you do find that it's it's a good listen. And someone straight away underneath wrote Mad Max's back and it has been mad as in very cranky. Formula One Stewards have reportedly accepted that a repeat of Charles Leclerc's controversial Belgian Grand Prix clash with Oscar Piastri would likely result in a penalty. The incident was among the key topics discussed during a scheduled meeting between the drivers and FAA stewards ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Leclerc and Piastri made contact while fighting over third place at Lacombe on Lap eight at Spa with the Ferrari moving across on the Australian attempting to challenge out around the outside. LeClaire also acknowledged ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that he'd pushed his defence too far. He said I kind of agree with Oscar, I think. ⁓ at the end of the day, my view on the car is that I had tr to push things to the limit with Oscar. It was a bit on the other side, so that's probably not the way I want to race all the time. Interestingly, there was no mention of them getting the Hamilton Russell decision wrong, but we all knew that anyway. speaker-1: There w there was ⁓ a couple of things here. There was ⁓ there was I think in the actual meeting there was a little bit of pushback from from Sharl. He obviously, you know, came out in the media and did say that yes, I I probably was a little over the line there. In the meeting, ⁓ apparently he was more saying that it was line ball rather than a slam dunk sort of dog act on on Oscar, but still a very interesting admission from the Stewards. And as you flagged, I I I do believe that there the Stuarts seem to to stand by the the Hamilton. penalty for that Russell clash ⁓ at Spa, which leaves them and you as the last people on earth that agree with how that played out. but Lewis wasn't actually at the meeting. He was one of I think three or four drivers that that were the only ones not in attendance at the meeting. And I would have thought based on what had happened there and the fact that Lewis does he is picking racking up penalties like crazy at the moment, I would have thought he would have been pretty keen to to to be at the meeting and ask some questions about some of these things because obviously Like I say, the impeding penalty, that was a that was a clear penalty. The ⁓ he's pit lane speeding one on the weekend. If the data suggests he was speeding, then that that has to be like a technical infringement, it has to be a no tolerance, ⁓ a no tolerance ruling. So that's absolutely fair. But you know, I'm I'm very surprised he didn't take the opportunity ⁓ to sit down with the stewards and say, All right, well talk me through how that played out because yeah, that I would have thought he would have wanted to do that. speaker-0: Another thing that came out over the weekend was the Aston Martin upgrades. Now there was a list of sixteen different things. I'm not going to list them right now, but there were sixteen different upgrades to the Aston Martin car and they first ran the new package. It probably proved inconclusive in open practice. ⁓ Alonso finished thirteenth while Strahl placed twenty-first after a rear suspension failure that sent him flying off the track and s triggered a red flag. But on Saturday, Alonso got it a Q2 showing that the improvements were genuine. I know that warmed your heart. But my thing with this is if sixteen things are thrown at the car and look, probably me and you aren't going to solve this problem ⁓ it right here, right now, but how do they know what works and what doesn't? speaker-1: Well, I guess it's a sign that nothing was working in the first place. If you're gonna go that far and you're happy to bring that level of upgrade, you know, this is full B spec kind of ⁓ upgrade here. This is even beyond that. It's almost it's almost a new car, to be honest. So I look, I think they they definitely spooked the midfield, ⁓ in Hungary, ⁓ Aston Martin. I think and you know, I I'm pretty sure it's Zanvoort that the the engine upgrade is coming, so that'll be interesting as well. But either way, we're still so far. I mean Alonso making into Q two, if that's our kind of if that's the benchmark. Like this is the team and driver that some very respected F one analysts placed them as the team to beat heading into this season, you know? Like early in the off season before the full spectrum of the issues became clear as as testing rolled around. So we're still a heck of a long way away from where a lot of people thought that team was gonna be. And that was effectively like works engine, Adrian Newey, Shazzy, Nero. ⁓ new rules, no one's gonna see which way they go. So it's still, you know, even if they become a regular midfield contender, even if they become the top of the midfield and they're racing the racing bulls the Audis week in, week out, this is not where anyone thought they were gonna be. Like that's that's a good comeback from where they ended up, but we can't lose sight of just how embarrassing it's been for ⁓ so far this season. speaker-0: ⁓ Formula One will return to Malaysia for the first time in nine years after the Sepang International Circuit was confirmed as host of the relocated 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix. The race will be held from October 2 to 4 and retain its official identity as the Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Seppang takes the vacant position between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grand Prix, creating a three-race run across consecutive weekends. Now additional rumors over the weekend were suggesting that Portermaw would be the other venue to take over from the Abu Derby round, although an announcement is yet to be made. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean this is a great decision. For starters, Sapang is a fantastic circuit, so it's awesome to have it back on the calendar. It makes perfect sense, ⁓ being so cl like geographically close to Singapore. ⁓ it's good to get one of those cancelled races back, you know, like we're not that we've got at least a race back. Calling the Bahrain Grand Prix is super weird. ⁓ it's a far bigger step than the old days of having the San Marino Grand Prix at Imla, which is not in San Marino, but this is a whole other a whole other kettle of fish in terms of ⁓ in terms of a name that doesn't quite fit in with the geography. But I think what's going to be really interesting now is what decisions are going to be taken about the two Middle Eastern races that we haven't had yet. The ones that close out the season, you know, because it still feels very unrealistic that those races will be able to take place, or at least unrealistic that they'll be able to say with any certainty anytime soon that they can take place. Because obviously like you know, the sit that situation in the Middle East hasn't hasn't really changed too much. So, you know, reportedly there is pressure from the teams to have some concrete clarity on how the back end of the season will look because they need that for both logistical reasons and planning around upgrades. Because you know, with this seesawing form, as I as I pointed out before, w the second half of the season is going to be an all out development war. Pardon the punt. So like it's gonna it it's important for the teams to know what's happening. And I feel like there's some pressure being applied now. to ⁓ to FOM to sort that out and that's why we're starting to see some movement and I have a feeling we might learn a bit more about the fate of of the the the final two races of the year in ⁓ in Qatar and Abu Dhabi soonish. speaker-0: I fear these cars on Sapang butt, mate. speaker-1: Yeah, probably. It's got a few long strides, doesn't it? speaker-0: We'll be talking about yo-yo, and there might be three three overtake root maneuvers on the one straight the way these things are. But ⁓ anyway, more rounds the better, I guess, especially the back end of the year. I should go out to to say before we go into any other motorsport, congratulations to Lance Stroll. I know ⁓ you sent out your own personal congratulations. He took part in his two hundredth Grand Prix ⁓ last night. Only twenty-four F one drivers have reached the milestone. He surpassed four-time world champion Alain Pross for race starts. And after two hundred starts, he now has three podiums in Formula One more than me and you combined, which is an incredible stat. ⁓ amongst these two hundred races, Avial, which one of his twelfth places was the best would you reckon? I mean, Oni has a reputation speaker-1: It's like trying to pick your favourite children, right? You just can't do it. speaker-0: He has a reputation that on his day he is very stoppable. And I think we can all agree that he's one of the most underhated drivers of all time. ⁓ Kiwis and Aussies overseas, NASCAR, Shane Van Gisbergen qualified twenty fifth in the prickyard four hundred at Indianapolis, and in the race he improved on his starting position to finish sixteenth in a race won by super sub Corey Haim, which is an interesting thing filling in for the in the Jordan team, given that there are some rumors blowing around that. SVG was being considered for that seat. So ⁓ Corey, stop winning if you can. And also we'll go back to Hungary to say that in F3 in the sprint race, James Wharton made it up to eighth for Premo Racing after starting in P15, while teammate Louis Sharp finished in twelfth. In the feature race, Wharton got to eighth and Louis Sharp to ninth. And finally, I know you like this. The outdoor super crossover in America, the Lawrence brothers are Are leading the AMA Pro Motocross. MILF Hunter is on 367 points from Brother Jet on 355. Third place, Hayden Deegan, is all the way back on 298 points, and there's only three rounds left. So you can almost guarantee ⁓ Aussie won two there. ⁓ all right. After the break, we will preview the Wannoroo 400, I think it is, 440. One of those ones. That'll do. And also speaker-1: for it. speaker-0: Yeah, I'll get your predictions 'cause I'm interested in your best Ruffy for this week. After the break, see you then. Credit to Winter could spell bad news for your vehicle's battery. Here are three maintenance tips from the battery gurus at RNJ Batteries. 1. Avoid frequent short trips to keep your battery at a healthy state of charge. 2. Keep the battery terminals clean and corrosion free. 3. Avoid running your accessories with the engine off for too long. If your battery is three years or older, it might be time to get it tested for free at your local R<unk>J batteries. R<unk>J Batteries Power like nothing else. Yes, welcome back. ⁓ time to preview the Super four forty from Wannoroo, or as it's known these days, Motor Mall Wannoroo Raceway, formerly known as Carco.com.au raceway, formerly known as Wannoroo Raceway, formerly Barbagallo Raceway, formerly Wannoroo Park AVL. The formats for the weekend on Friday, there's two practice sessions commencing at three PM and then three forty PM, both lasting twenty five minutes. And then on Saturday, Supercar's qualifying lotto continues again. This time there are two thirty minute qualifying sessions on Saturday, and then those sessions will fill the grids for two fifty lappers in Saturday afternoon. Sunday, we go to a thirty minute qualifying session, a top ten shootout, followed by an eighty lap race. Weather what's going on? speaker-1: They obviously aren't all they aren't all in thirty minute qualifying sessions on either day, but I do not want to spoil the surprise of qualifying lot. No, I actually I I I I thought I'd I better look this up, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say what the formats exactly are because I do just enjoy this ⁓ I enjoy this qualifying lot it. speaker-0: You don't know. Tell me they're running in alphabetical order or something. speaker-1: Yeah, that's not intended to be good. speaker-0: Chances of showers on Friday and Saturday, last check, AVL. What's going on over there? I thought it was supposed to be hot and dry all the time. speaker-1: No, it's winter. It's pretty cold. I got my my fireplaces going right this second. speaker-0: The supports Super Two, Super Ute, Trans Am and The Radicals now predictions. What's your podium for the weekend? ⁓ speaker-1: Just gotta have Matt Payne up there at the moment, just based on his form and the form of Grove Racing. ⁓ Brody Kastecki, very good in Perth, and I think, you know, would really like to to he is a WA boy ⁓ and would really like a result on on home soil. Well well more results on home soil. So I could see him doing some damage over the weekend and I'm gonna I'm gonna put Brock Feeney in there 'cause I feel like I feel like the experiment of this whole setup experiment speaker-0: Peace. speaker-1: process I think might be wearing a little thin and they might go back to a slightly more traditional baseline and ⁓ actually have a crack at getting some results. Whether whether he can be quick enough to really challenge, you know, the likes of Payne and Kastecki based on their Townsville form, we'll wait and see, but I'm gonna put him on the podium just in case. speaker-0: I've got Brody, Anton and Chaz is my podium for the weekend, so one from each camp. ⁓ what about your shootout on Sunday? speaker-1: I'll go with Brody. speaker-0: I got chess. And that is completely on trust obviously and the unknowing Toyota package. speaker-1: It's interesting because you know, like we have seen walk and shores be so strong there in the last couple of years after some really tough times in Perth. So ⁓ in the years before that. So it will be fascinating to see how that again just a whole new challenge for that for that Toyota package. But you like it wouldn't be shocking if they did what they did was it last year or the year before and locked out the front row. Well it must have been last year. ⁓ so yeah, it's they're they're good tips. They're definitely good tips. speaker-0: What about your best Ruffy? speaker-1: Well it feels like Feeny is a bit of a roughie at the moment. Like it feels like that tips that tips almost in that camp at the moment. But ⁓ no, I'm just gonna keep saying Jade No Jada for as long as I can get away with it. I just he's just such a locked on roughie call. speaker-0: I'm going Heimgartner. ⁓ yeah. To repeat Tasmania, maybe. I think if Toyota's a strong speaker-1: Yeah, that's a that's a that's a decent shout. A home race for him of sorts as well, given the fact that he ⁓ lives over here in the West. speaker-0: Safety cars over the three races. speaker-1: I've gone two from the three races 'cause obviously we're s we've seen very few safety cars this season, but ⁓ I know just how deep those sand traps are, trust me. speaker-0: I'm going one for the entire weekend for some reason. When was the last time you were in the sand there? speaker-1: I had a very well, yeah, the the meeting before last, but I had a very narrow escape in qualifying last Saturday where I managed to just just keep it on the concrete apron. speaker-0: Unlikely headlines from the weekend. speaker-1: ⁓ qualifying falls flat with five second field spread. speaker-0: I'm gonna say Wannoroo overcome with crowd, Perth rah street race now off. If this is the answer, what's the question? The answer is on the news on Sunday night. speaker-1: I've got no idea, but I feel like you've got a good joke for this one. speaker-0: If you mess with Cooper Murray as you come over the hill on the back straight, where will you end up? speaker-1: ⁓ that's good. That is good. speaker-0: ⁓ if this is the answer, what's the question? The answer is three hours. speaker-1: Well if your headline's correct ⁓ that could be ⁓ how long it takes to get out of the public car park on ⁓ on Sunday night. ⁓ speaker-0: How long it takes to get to Jundaloop Drive after the last race on Sunday. It should be a good weekend. I I I always thought that this was a race that lent itself to a night race outside of the time difference, I guess. speaker-1: That's the issue with it from a night race perspective. It's actually the you know, it's an easy enough circuit to light. The time we did it was pretty cool. It was. So I agree with that. But it just it's kind of a twilight. It's it's a it's it's almost a prime time race when it's in the afternoon, just because of the two hour time difference. So that's probably the challenge for it there. ⁓ but it'll be no, look, it it will be an interesting weekend. It does obviously it's really tight, so it's a bit like Tassie, where you do someone can get it right. Or even just execute qualifying really well and and you can get some sort of ⁓ different results, which is always good. There is the the tie dead question. It's not been as bad as it as it used to be in recent years, so it's not it's probably more of a talking point than an actual factor across the weekend like it w like it once was, just because of the the the current surface, which is not as hard on tires as it used to be. But yeah, it's ⁓ it's just a different sort of bull ring and and it always makes for some decent ⁓ kind of racing. So fingers crossed that's what we see on the weekend. speaker-0: horrendous error removing that ⁓ hump that used to get him up on two wheels at around turn three and four. speaker-1: Well, it's it's still there. They the drivers just don't use it. Just not like they just don't use it anymore. The curb's still there, but their gen three cars just don't take off like the old cars do and the and the time benefit just isn't there to climbing up over that curb. It is a great shame, but you know, it's it's kind of we saw it on the Gold Coast to some extent, you know, the reprofiling of the chicane has brought back the spectacle in terms of just how how ⁓ quick they're launching the cars through there, but they still don't do the big two wheel climb like they used to. So speaker-0: It used to be. speaker-1: That has the ruined one of the great spectacles of of Wannoroo. speaker-0: The pit entry also worth mentioning. I mean every year there's someone that has a late decision to pull in and it it trips someone trips over that and that that hump, can we talk about that? What's that like to hit in a Formula Ford? Because even in a sedan they seem to rip the arse out of the under tray so which one speaker-1: I was at the the the at the the curb at the last corner. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, you don't want to hear that in the formula forward. I can tell you right now. Let me tell you, actually I I did I had to go over it going around ⁓ the outside of someone on the last lap that and it's yeah, it's as soon as I did it, I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna hear from the boys when I get back to the pits about this. ⁓ because it's not it's not great for the car and it's not great for your backside, I'll tell you right now. speaker-0: All right, we'll go to a break and we'll come back with rear of grid, including a red hot rumour. Back in a minute. Yeah, welcome back to Rear of Grid. Both of us were sitting in the Discord last night. I was still praying that you would confuse where you were at one stage and put up what you wanted to write the Discord on the updates on the Speed Cafe website, but ⁓ too professional at this stage. speaker-1: It go it was getting a bit spicy in the Discord as well. So that would have been it would have been doubly damaging, I think, if I had done that. But some good, robust discussion. That's what that's what we want. People with different a good a good piastre conspiracy will really ⁓ can really set the cat amongst the pigeons in a in an informal discussion like that. It's fun. speaker-0: Someone messaged me and said, Have you did you hear Ted Kravitz I said, nah, I ⁓ elected to go with the alternate commentary and I don't regret my decision. But apparently he was enjoying the ⁓ the result when Lando got the win. But ⁓ yeah, if you want to be part of the Discord and also other ⁓ benefits, become a member of FCTN.com, go there, follow the links, go to the membership and then if you get stuck ⁓ apparently I'm the one that just heads you over to the ⁓ to the Discord. So yeah, come over and enjoy especially things like last night when there's a meeting on and it's a race on at like nine thirty, ten o'clock at night. At least you can sit there with other like minded individuals and and discuss what's going on. All right, credit or shreddits. I'm gonna make a statement. You tell me if you agree or disagree with a simple credit or shreddit and we'll come back after we've done all six, number one. The V eight supercar's paddock is the biggest collection of glass jaws in Australian sport. speaker-1: Ooh, that's a good one. I'm gonna go shred it but just. speaker-0: Read it. I can't think of anywhere else. ⁓ number two, George Russell will need to have a year off in twenty twenty seven. He'll be mentally destroyed when he doesn't win the title this year in what should be a clear two horse race. speaker-1: ⁓ shred it. speaker-0: ⁓ credit. Number three, in twenty twenty four, the year that Will Brown won his Supercars title, he raced in GT3 and NASCAR and was also doing TCR the year before. Will Brown needs to get back to racing in a few categories to regain his championship winning form. speaker-1: Dread it. It's a good one. speaker-0: Credit. Number four. There is only two spots up for grabs in the top ten finals race in the supercars. The first eight cars are a lock. speaker-1: Ooh. Yeah. Yeah, I'll go with credit on that. speaker-0: Yeah, credit. Number five. If the bend wants to bring crowds to Supercars enduro meeting at the track in September, they should hold a podcast host's invitational race. speaker-1: Ha ha with shredded. speaker-0: Ford, are you listening? Get around that. I'll say credit. Number six, Carlos Sainz is the first bloke to throw stones at other competitors for getting in the way, but ultimately he's one of the biggest hypocrites on the grid. speaker-1: Yeah, it's got credit. Credit. speaker-0: Alright. The biggest collection of glass jaws. If it's not supercars, where is it? speaker-1: Yeah, I don't ⁓ well I don't know, and that's that's why I'll go shred it, but you the supercar's patio speaker-0: You were saying off here y y you thought it was the Matildas, I thought that was quite brave of you. speaker-1: It is very sensitive ⁓ in the supercast paddock. ⁓ if I had to guess, I'd say it's right up there. ⁓ and it is something that does hold the sport back and will continue to be one of the reasons that the sport struggles to regain a foothold in mainstream media unless there's some pretty drastic change in terms of a bit more robustness around criticism and that sort of stuff. But to categorically say it's the most sensitive ⁓ kind of ⁓ yeah, place in Aussie sport is just too big a call for me to make when I personally haven't worked in all of the other professional sporting codes. But I would reckon it's it's not too far off it. speaker-0: Mm. I noticed you said something in the Discord the other day and that's what sparked that ⁓ suggestion 'cause I think you might be onto something. George Russell will have a year off in twenty twenty seven when he doesn't win this title. speaker-1: I think it takes more than losing a world championship to drive someone away from a paycheck that extends into the tens of millions of euros per year at the very least. Like honestly, like you'd have to be pretty mentally damaged to to not be able to get up, you know, on January one and say, All right, I'm gonna go back to work. So and you won't get redemption sitting on the sidelines either. So I don't I don't think it's going to mentally break him to that point. It's probably one of those things where like would you rather lose it in a by two points in a heartbreaking finale or would you rather It's a bit like when your footy team's getting thrashed in the grand final. At least you can sort of grieve by half time and move on. But you know the the if you lose it right at the end. I mean, yeah, you probably don't know too much about that West Tigers fan. But speaker-0: I'll tell you what, I definitely don't know about it right now. But anyway, that's for another podcast. ⁓ my yeah. I'm in the horrors, I'm not gonna lie. I I look, I didn't think about the money side of things, so you probably are right there, but I tell you what, I maybe I'm a bad judge. He does look like he's carrying his divots at the moment. It looks like he's hurting. speaker-1: ⁓ no, I think he definitely is, but I still think it's a yeah, it'd be a big call to say I'm I don't want to be a Formula One driver anymore. speaker-0: This one was alluded to in the Discord last night. Will Brown should get back into racing other cars to get that form back? speaker-1: Yeah, it's a really interesting point. I I've gone with Shreddit because the funny thing is, almost exactly this time last year, people in the supercars paddock were talking about how, you know, Feeny was so far ahead of Will Brown because Brown was too focused on trying to do NASCAR deals and Feeney was turning down international GT drives to focus on supercars, which is something that he did do last year as well. So I you know, there are there are definitely people around that do think that that you know, focus on the driving side of of his life and career is is an issue for Will Brown. Whether that's fair or not, I'm certainly not saying that is an issue, but there are people that do share that or have sorry, have that view. I don't think it's fully related to not racing in other categories. Like, you know, Brody doesn't do a whole lot outside of supercars. You know, Matt Payne doesn't do a whole lot outside of supercars at the moment. So I don't know if the evidence fully stacks up, ⁓ even though of obviously being in a race car. Is better than not being in a race car. But it's just it's funny how the tables have turned on that discussion because the exact opposite discussion was happening last year. speaker-0: Two spots left in the top ten. speaker-1: Yeah, I think that's pretty fair. I mean, even, you know, Chaz Most in ninth, I I like I feel like he should and will make finals. So you could even say I like I struggle to see too much more movement in the top nine, which only leaves that one spot up for grab. And I guess the wild card in all of it is the Enduro Cup because you know, you've got a pairing like David Reynolds and James Courtney going to the Enduro's. Now Reynolds is not going to qualify on points. So that is going to be his shot at making finals. And, you know Like they might not go into the Enduro Cup as favourites, but that's a pretty handy pairing. And it's two races and and anything can happen. And even if you look at like a Golding stanaway pairing, like James Golding may still make the top ten on points. He's he's right in that fire. But if he doesn't, if he you know ends up on the wrong side of that bubble, that's a pretty strong pairing heading into backers as well. Keeping in mind that James Golding did cross the line first at the great race last year. So that's I feel like this year, do the way the points are playing out. there's gonna be a little bit more interest around that enduro cup because there's a there'll be there'll be some pretty handy pairings out there that that could do some damage and throw a bit of a spanner in the finals works. speaker-0: If the Ben wants to bring crowds to their track for the Supercars in Dura, they should hold a podcast podcast hosts invitational race. A VL. I'm not gonna lie, Will Brown, Brody Kastecki is gonna be tough to beat. speaker-1: That was exactly the point I was gonna make. I was like I don't know how well you've thought this through 'cause there might be a few blokes that are tough to beat out there. speaker-0: If somehow you can get to the lead and I'm in second, you will win. I guarantee you that. That that's what I will tell you. So ⁓ you just gotta find the lead and then even if I've gotta wait two years we'll come back around, I'll get you a win. No, don't worry about that. speaker-1: I think if we go on the f I think if we go on the fourth light instead of the fifth one, we might have half a chance. But other than that, pretty tough. speaker-0: That's the You need some of those Zach best tires to get us around and we'll be fine. Exactly. Carlos Sainz is the first bike to throw stands, but he's a hypocrite. speaker-1: Yeah, I don't have a huge body of evidence on this, but Oscar was pretty emphatic about it, so I'll ⁓ I'll back our boy on that one. speaker-0: Same. The Whisper of the Week. Now I haven't even told you about this, so there's gonna be a huge announcement at Perth. I am absolutely sworn to secrecy, but trust me, it's gonna be big and it will please a lot, a lot of longtime supercar. speaker-1: I I know exactly what you're talking about. speaker-0: Mate, I think it's a fantastic story. That's all I'm gonna say because otherwise I will spill the ⁓ spill the beans. So just stick around. I don't know whether it's before, during or after Perth. If I was them I I would be announcing it during Perth, but I think it's a fantastic story, so speaker-1: Yeah, I reckon this it'd be worth keeping an eye on things this week. Regarding that. speaker-0: Fan letter of the week comes from Matt Edwards. Now I don't know whether this has been raised before, but I thought it was worth bringing back again. He said, this is on Instagram, he said, we have the Jason Richards trophy, Darwin's got the triple crown, Larry Perkins trophy, we've got that. Why not have another interyear trophy in the name of Dick Johnson? And it's the best local or total scores over the Queensland rounds of Townsville, QR and Indi and ⁓ Gold Coast, obviously. He said it'd be awesome to have Dick present the trophy while he's up and about and kicking and heavily invested in the sport. The supercar's drivers love racing for a big trophy in the name of someone highly regarded in the sport and what better way to immortalise DJ at the same time. Thanks, Matt. Matt, absolutely stellar idea. speaker-1: Yeah, no, I I mean I I do think you can overdo the trophy thing. ⁓ but this ⁓ I'm struggling to pick too many holes in this as a concept. speaker-0: Yeah, and I think like Townsville and the Gold Coast, because there's a gap between ⁓ and and you've got Q I think it's just a great idea. Different types of tracks and everything else, why not? So get onto that if you can, AVL, tomorrow morning, first thing. Anything else before we go? speaker-1: No, I think that we've just about covered it all off. speaker-0: Alright, well that'll about do us for this episode of Full Credit of the Noise. Don't forget you can find the show on all the socials at FCTTN Podcast and you read ABL's excellent work at speedcafe.com where they rake all the big motorsport news first. Until next time, I've been Former Legend, he's been ABL. This has been Full Credit of the Noise and we'll see you at Barbagallo, Wannaroo, Carco, whatever. speaker-1: See speaker-0: Credit to the noise.