Latest / Banter with the Boys / Fast Laps with the Boys - F1 2024 - Jeddah Preview

Transcript

Fast Laps with the Boys - F1 2024 - Jeddah Preview · Banter with the Boys

0:00
You're listening to Banser with the boys.
0:05
From high octane to adrenaline, starting lineups to starting grids.
0:11
Right, right.
0:13
Gridiron to Grand Prix, get laced up.
0:17
Let's go.
0:18
It's time for Banser with the boys.
0:22
What's up everybody?
0:31
Welcome back to Banser with the boys.
0:33
Fast laps.
0:34
First race of the season is come and gone, but first let's get everybody in here.
0:38
Joe, how we doing?
0:39
How we feeling?
0:40
Feeling good.
0:41
First race of the season, like you said, done and gone.
0:44
Looking forward to the next ones.
0:45
Hopefully we get a little bit more action in the next ones.
0:48
I agree, man.
0:49
It wasn't the most exciting race, but we'll get into that.
0:52
Cole, how you doing?
0:53
How you feeling?
0:54
Good, man.
0:55
Sunshine and beautiful day.
0:56
No place I'd rather be.
0:58
I 100% agree with you.
1:00
Unfortunately, Mr. Smelty is out sick today, so it'll just be us three men in the ship.
1:06
Let's get right into it.
1:07
Bob rain.
1:08
The season is upon us and it is off to a bang.
1:12
Wasn't the most exciting race as we all know Verstappen took home the dub as we all kind
1:17
of expected.
1:18
But what are your initial thoughts on it, Joe?
1:21
Unfortunately, it's exactly what I was expecting.
1:23
Max starting in the lead, keeping the lead, ended the race 22 seconds ahead of second
1:30
place.
1:31
Perez, you know, taking that second place as well.
1:33
I'm also a little bit expected.
1:35
The person that I was not expecting to do what they did or just to have the race they
1:39
had Charles Leclerc.
1:40
I would have at least expected them to do a little bit ahead of Sainz, but the car was
1:46
just not agreeing with them this weekend, it seemed.
1:49
Yeah, Sainz was quick.
1:51
Carlos had or sorry Leclerc had all the problems with breaking all the problems with breaking.
1:58
But I'll wish you cool.
1:59
What are your initial thoughts on the race?
2:00
Yeah, Sainz.
2:01
I love that.
2:02
I think he's shooting for a top of that one.
2:03
You know, the bigger teams now.
2:04
I mean, he's he's making his mark the end of last season, the beginning of this season.
2:08
All in all, it's it's honestly kind of exciting.
2:10
I know me and Tyler were talking after the qualifying.
2:13
We thought it was a lot closer than it was.
2:16
I mean, the race pace just wasn't there for a lot of these cars.
2:18
The one lap speed looked great, though, for a lot of these cars.
2:21
But still, it's exciting to see your top four teams all at the top spots, you know, fighting
2:26
for the points already.
2:27
I think we're never really close races, at least there.
2:30
I think the race this year is, you know, second, third, fourth, 100 percent.
2:33
And I think it's going to be pretty open for that second, third, fourth.
2:37
You know, like you mentioned, the one lap speed was there for I mean, across the board
2:41
at the end of Q1.
2:43
There's only a second gap or the 20th.
2:46
The second Alpine was just over a second, but from Verstappen's pace to the 20th pace
2:50
there, we don't you don't have those kind of discrepancy that that little of of like
2:54
leeway there, unless it's so short circuits.
2:57
You know, you might get that in Austria, you know, where it's so short circuits where you're
3:00
running a minute, 10 minute, 15 lap times.
3:02
But these longer tracks, you don't see that close really at all.
3:07
So I was expecting it to be a lot closer race than it ended up being.
3:11
I mean, Max won by what it was 22 seconds, if I'm not mistaken.
3:15
So it looks like it's going to be the Max show this year, as we all kind of expected.
3:19
But Checo looked really good.
3:20
I was quite impressed with him.
3:22
Now, Sians was pretty much matching him from a pace perspective.
3:25
Just he just had too much of a lead at that point to kind of come back.
3:29
But I was really impressed with Carlos.
3:31
I was really, really impressed with Carlos and Checo.
3:34
I believe it was like eight laps to go or something.
3:37
Science jumped in and he was like, you know, how much longer do these soft tires have?
3:42
And he was like, this is a lap.
3:44
I mean, they're going to start decreasing.
3:45
You saw that five, five and a half second gap by the end of the race.
3:47
It was down to like two.
3:49
Like science has the speed.
3:50
Watch out Checo.
3:51
Because I mean, we know LeClaire.
3:53
I think LeClaire is a faster racer than science, all in all.
3:57
And I mean, if we have them that close, I mean, it might be tough for for Checo to stay
4:01
up there in the top three in a lot of these races.
4:03
Yeah, I absolutely agree.
4:06
I think it's really going to come down to the track playing to Checo's strengths.
4:10
We'll kind of talk about Jetta a little bit later, but first race of the season, I think
4:16
Checo always does a little better.
4:18
I think everyone's still trying to figure out the strength of their car a little bit.
4:21
And I think the Red Bull just really shows off how competent and how strong it is.
4:26
And you know, Ferrari, I think, looked great, all in all.
4:30
But Mercedes was a little upsetting.
4:34
Like still you have Russell race, a great race, I'll give you that.
4:37
Still you have Hamilton, their top driver, who is still like we don't have the straight
4:41
line speed to keep up with these cars.
4:43
They're just too fast, which that sucks.
4:46
You know, everybody I think wants to see Hamilton win another one, want him to compete again.
4:50
Being the level of racer he is, it just kind of sucks to see that out of Mercedes.
4:55
It also very unexpected because the car had, you know, some pace.
4:59
Like Russell held on to, you know, second for a pretty long time.
5:02
Or was it second?
5:03
Yeah, it was second for a pretty long time and then held on to third for a decent time.
5:07
But that Ferrari is just, that Ferrari is going to be a force to reckon with this year.
5:10
So if they can keep it together and eliminate the brake problems and just whatever durability
5:15
issues they're going to, they're going to see because it's Ferrari.
5:19
Like I mean, again, I think this is, I think Versapin is going to win another 15 races
5:23
this year, unfortunately.
5:25
But I'm excited for that battle from two to really, you could say even two to six or seven,
5:29
I think is going to be tight this year in the WDC.
5:32
We definitely saw that we saw everything out of Ferrari.
5:37
And I mean, yeah, I don't know.
5:41
I really liked the race pace of the car.
5:43
The car looks great.
5:44
Obviously we're going to jump in here with, you know, LeClaire with his braking issues.
5:48
But I mean, it was really, it was a couple of times it was hard and I think it was turn
5:51
10, right?
5:53
I think it was turn 10 it was kept happening.
5:55
But he's locking up.
5:58
But by the end of the race, he figured it out.
5:59
So I think a lot of that and especially with Hamilton and like these kind of racers, we
6:03
may be jumping out a little too early on this because a lot of these racers, it takes them
6:07
a couple of races to get underneath the car and really feel this year's car.
6:10
Yeah, it's like I would, I would agree with you from like a Hamilton perspective.
6:13
I just don't think he's been comfortable in that car for three years now.
6:17
And it's the same.
6:18
I mean, it's a new car.
6:19
So it's a new concept for Ferrari's perspective.
6:21
Yeah, they'll fix the braking issue.
6:22
I think that was more Charles, just giving the car a little bit too much trust.
6:28
You know, he was trying to take that hairpin turner, which you have to take slow.
6:31
I hate that turn in the game.
6:33
It's just the worst.
6:34
But as he was just trying to go in too fast and so many drivers were doing it on that
6:37
turn, you know, so many runoffs there.
6:39
But what worries me isn't so much like the braking issue with Ferrari.
6:43
It's the engine failures that are going to happen.
6:46
You know, it's everything else that just eliminates specifically really Charles from competing
6:50
once he grabs a pole or whatever it is, you know,
6:53
And the nice thing about it all, though, I think we talked about it last episode, but
6:58
I think we're starting to see what Hamilton saw in Ferrari.
7:02
Right.
7:03
They're definitely upticking the uptake last year.
7:05
They start this season hot.
7:06
And I think we're going to see a lot more, maybe two threes this year from Ferrari.
7:10
Yeah, I agree.
7:11
I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'd be comfortable saying Ferrari is number two,
7:16
you know, constructors at this point, at least 100%.
7:19
I still think we have a lot of obviously a lot of season to go.
7:22
I think just like last year, McLaren has some room to grow and improve.
7:26
I think right now we see them fighting Mercedes pretty much neck and neck.
7:32
And if history is to repeat itself, I think we have a pretty good fight on our hands by
7:35
the end of the season.
7:36
Yeah, I agree.
7:37
Mercedes, McLaren came out a heck of a lot stronger this year than last.
7:41
That's for sure.
7:42
You can tell that they continued some improvements in the car.
7:44
You know, there were leaps and bounds.
7:45
That's the thing is the top four teams, you know, who finished one through eight being
7:49
obviously Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren.
7:53
I think they are leaps and bounds ahead of everybody else.
7:56
Even Aston.
7:57
Aston did not look good at all.
7:59
I mean, Alonso wasn't even fighting.
8:01
He didn't even have elbows out.
8:02
And that's not Alonso.
8:03
So he had to have been given direction.
8:05
Just let him, you know, just there.
8:07
Your car, the car is not there.
8:09
So whatever improvements McLaren lasted made last year seems to just keep going.
8:14
And Aston, the downfall that they had, doesn't seem to get any better.
8:17
It's fun.
8:18
I think it's going to be a lot closer like the second through four.
8:21
Like we're seeing, I think we're going to see some cool and interesting fights this
8:24
year from five through seven too.
8:26
I think we might not see, you know, Aston or Alpine.
8:29
I definitely I don't right now.
8:30
I don't think we're seeing Alpine maybe fight for eighth.
8:33
You know, I don't think Alpine is going to be able to fight for 11th or 12th right now
8:36
with where that car is at.
8:38
It's bad.
8:39
And they're like they're like 11 kilos over the weight limit and they can't take any more
8:43
paint off the car.
8:44
It's all carbon fiber as it is.
8:45
Yeah, I was talking about the constructors eighth or ninth in that spot.
8:49
Oh, got you, got you, got you.
8:51
Yeah.
8:52
Yeah.
8:53
I mean, that Haas look quick.
8:54
That Haas look quick.
8:56
Telling you, I started the season Haas always looks a little bit better than the end of
8:59
the season.
9:00
I don't think they're going to keep it.
9:01
But yeah, man, Alpine, what is going on?
9:05
Yeah, I mean, even that Saber, that steak, you know, with the Gauffer, Gaucho, Ganyu,
9:12
I don't know, the driver that's not Valtteri Bates on Saber, you know, finished in 11th.
9:18
I wouldn't have expected Saber to be 11 through 15 even.
9:21
Yeah, I think we're going to see the Racing Bulls, Saber maybe, maybe not to the end of
9:26
the season.
9:27
Right now we might see them a few races and then the Williams and Aston Martin are going
9:30
to be fighting for those that middle pack.
9:33
And yeah, I mean, I think with Albond being on Williams, that automatically puts them
9:37
above everybody else in my opinion.
9:40
I think the only exception, eliminating Aston from that conversation, I think there's a
9:44
there's a, in my opinion, there's a gap between those top four I mentioned and then Aston
9:49
and then the other four.
9:50
It's like it's Red Bull is tiered god.
9:55
And then it's the other three.
9:56
Then I would put, you know, Aston and then the bottom.
9:58
Right.
9:59
V-Carb, I think, could get there with Williams.
10:01
Or I'm sorry, could get to Aston's level this year.
10:04
I think they have the driver talent.
10:06
And if Red Bull says what they're going to do and actually wants to develop that car
10:09
and see what they have in those drivers, then they should kind of bridge that gap a little.
10:13
But I mean, speaking of V-Carb, Yuki and Danny Rick with some post-race drama boys.
10:20
What are we doing?
10:21
What are we doing?
10:22
I mean, in my opinion, though, I'm 100 percent with Yuki where it's like you shouldn't have
10:26
called for the team mortars at that point.
10:27
You're not going to catch him.
10:28
If you catch Magnuson, great.
10:30
You're not catching Zell.
10:31
He was six seconds ahead of Magnuson.
10:33
So it's like even on the softs, there's just not enough time where you're going to close
10:36
that gap, where when you're looking at the future of that Red Bull seat, the prime position,
10:41
where that like if it happens to be where Danny Rick has two better finishes this year
10:46
and this might have been the one time one or whatever the case may be, where that could
10:50
be a deciding factor.
10:51
I totally get Yuki's frustration.
10:53
But the post-race antics don't help you get that Red Bull seat.
10:56
I completely agree.
10:58
Kind of talking during the race, I kind of disagree with you.
11:01
I'm kind of on team Danny with this only because the team orders.
11:06
I don't love team orders in general.
11:08
I think a lot of the time they just create more friction.
11:10
I understand why they need to happen sometimes.
11:13
That was probably not a great situation for him.
11:16
But you should follow him if they're going to get your team points or if you think your
11:20
team is going to get points from him, you should follow him.
11:23
Yuki didn't abide by them or listen to them for a couple of laps.
11:27
Who's just won?
11:28
Who's just won?
11:29
Just one lap.
11:30
OK.
11:31
So, he didn't follow that for one lap a little bit.
11:36
Running down Danny's tires a little bit.
11:38
Danny definitely wasn't able to catch up after he did give that spot up.
11:42
So I think both sides of the story kind of can be told a little bit differently.
11:46
But yeah, those post-race antics back to the pit lane, crazy.
11:52
And hold on, let me rephrase that.
11:53
I agree that Yuki should have followed the team orders.
11:55
When you're given that direction, you have to follow it.
11:57
I just don't think it was necessary.
11:59
If that was for the 11th spot and you have the chance of getting that 10th spot for points,
12:03
take the chance.
12:04
Right.
12:05
But go ahead, Cole.
12:06
Yeah.
12:07
So I'm going to disagree too, because I don't think it's I don't think they're doing that
12:11
to try to get 10th there.
12:12
I think Yuki's had the battle with Magnussen.
12:15
He's not winning the battle.
12:16
Let's see what Danny Rick can do.
12:18
I think we've got to see how this car and which driver can compete and get those passes
12:22
because there is going to be there is going to be a time down the road here in a couple
12:26
races where you're going to have that spot where it's 11th or 10th.
12:29
And if they're both sitting there, who are we sending through?
12:31
What's the team orders who we send in through?
12:32
They know they're not getting points, but which race are we riding with this year?
12:36
Yeah, I don't know.
12:37
I mean, because they're even they came out and said afterwards that they were just trying
12:39
to get to that 10th spot.
12:40
So I totally get your point.
12:42
I mean, I could see that.
12:43
But it's and if you're in the spot for points, I don't think Yuki's even frustrated at that
12:47
point because Danny's on softs.
12:49
You're on softs or mediums with that much in the race, you're going to give it to the
12:51
guy with the softs.
12:52
Right.
12:53
That's the strategy.
12:54
And that was what Danny Rick said afterwards, too.
12:55
It's like they talked about that going into the race that Danny's probably going to be
12:59
on softs later.
13:00
So if they're in that position, they're going to call team orders.
13:02
So it was strategized and they executed the strategy that was put in place.
13:05
So for Yuki to have that reaction is a bit outlandish, although in the grand scheme of
13:09
things, it was all 100 percent irrelevant.
13:12
It's just like you can't be mad when that's the strategy going in to.
13:16
And this is why people love Danny Rick.
13:20
Right.
13:21
After the after the race, he is like, what a helmet.
13:23
You know, he's just a people's guy.
13:28
That's why everybody loves Danny Rick.
13:29
He's awesome.
13:30
And I'm so right about Danny Rick, man.
13:32
That guy's great.
13:33
100 percent love Danny Rick.
13:34
Yeah, he made sure to get that little common in, but also didn't stoke the fire, you know,
13:39
create even more separation between the two.
13:41
And he's not going to do that.
13:42
He's not mature.
13:43
Absolutely not.
13:44
He's been in the game too long.
13:45
But that's another thing.
13:46
I think that is a great pairing for Yuki because he like Yuki is very immature.
13:50
100 percent.
13:51
He blows up.
13:52
He just has these rage.
13:53
He raged at the last race when they said the team orders, you know, what are we doing?
13:58
You know, it's it's it's crazy that.
14:00
But I think, again, the nice thing with Danny Rick is there's really never any scuffles
14:04
with him and the other racer in the seat.
14:06
He's always just, you know, he's an easy one to have on the team because he's one, he's
14:09
a great racer and two, he's no no BS.
14:12
Yeah.
14:13
And he brings a lot of experience.
14:14
And then like in that situation, he's not going to confront him.
14:16
He'll go and just kiss him on the cheek or slap their ass.
14:19
You know, it's just Danny Rick being Danny Rick.
14:22
So but yeah, it's going to be, you know, if there's any future fallout with that, we'll
14:26
see kind of what happens.
14:27
Like you said, I don't think Danny Rick will allow it to happen.
14:29
And even Yuki with his immaturity knows that he has too much at stake right now to let
14:33
some sort of confrontation hold him back.
14:35
Yeah.
14:36
This is probably hopefully the start and end of their like rival arc.
14:39
Yeah.
14:40
Yeah.
14:41
I think, like I said, that post race move, that dive bomb, crazy, not something that
14:45
I've seen in a long time.
14:47
But I'm hoping that's the end of it.
14:49
I'm hoping Vcarb sees that and puts a quick stop to it really, really quick.
14:55
And then that's one thing that like Christian Horner will do.
14:58
Oh, yeah.
14:59
You know, you can count on him and Helmut to not let anything kind of go there.
15:03
Now we know that Helmut's going to side with, but so over to a little bit of wild news,
15:11
no safety car this rap, this this race, you know, it's it has never happened in Bahrain.
15:18
And the only yellow flag we had was Logan Sargent being, you know, Logan Sargent just
15:22
having a little runoff there.
15:23
He blamed on the car.
15:24
But I really just think it was himself like, you know, just Logan Sargent.
15:27
Yeah.
15:28
What's going on with Logan that he had not a good year last year.
15:31
He came in preseason saying, you know, I'm in different mindset, changed my workout routine.
15:36
I'm ready to get in there and get going.
15:38
And Botas with the 52 second pit ended faster than Sargent.
15:44
What's going on there?
15:45
What's that?
15:46
It's just insane.
15:47
I mean, I think he was doing pretty good in the last year.
15:48
But for a good portion of the beginning of the race, I didn't think he was doing half
15:52
bad.
15:53
He didn't look half bad where he was sitting.
15:54
I think he was sitting in like 12th or 13th or something at one point, Sargent.
15:57
He was racing good for a while there.
16:00
And I was like, huh, maybe this is a new Sargent.
16:02
But then again, Sargent being Sargent blows right through turn one.
16:06
And yeah, there's not much you can do with that guy.
16:09
Did we figure out if sorry, did we figure out if it was a car issue that he just kind
16:13
of sat there on the track for a while?
16:15
I don't know if anybody really cared enough to look into it or asked Williams about it
16:18
after like it was so I mean, like he said, it's Logan Sargent.
16:22
He might have been in 11th, he'll finish in 17th.
16:26
It's just Logan Sargent.
16:27
The guy's not meant to be an F1 driver, I guess, which sucks because he's the lone American
16:30
on the grid.
16:31
It doesn't bode well for us for the future.
16:34
But you know, maybe one day Williams got all their chips on album right now.
16:37
They need him to get 25, 45 points to help them secure a six or a fifth this year.
16:43
That's all they have, which is going to be tough.
16:45
If he does it, hand him the Red Bull seat.
16:48
100% if I can finish in the top 10 and points this year, that would be in.
16:53
I mean, that's even I'd say even top 12 would be quite impressive.
16:59
But let's move on.
17:00
That's all we have for this race.
17:02
Just because we didn't actually officially say it.
17:04
Verstappen, Perez, Sian took the podium.
17:06
A little bit of a recap from what we all predicted last week.
17:10
Only one of us got two of the three correct.
17:12
And that would be Joe, who picked Verstappen, Checo and Leclerc.
17:16
Everybody took Verstappen.
17:17
So we all get one point this week with Joe taking the early lead with two points on the
17:21
season.
17:22
Well, let's jump in, do some news.
17:29
We're going to start with some hot news right now.
17:33
Boys, Max Verstappen is going to Mercedes.
17:35
We can only hope, I guess.
17:37
I don't know.
17:38
Maybe the downfall of Red Bull for sure, but at the same time, best move for him.
17:43
I don't know.
17:44
Obviously there's a lot of talk about his father and Toto, that photo they got taken
17:47
together when they were chatting.
17:49
It could just be blown out of proportion.
17:51
I mean, these guys talk all the time in the paddock and everything like that.
17:54
But yeah, obviously some huge news around this.
17:56
It seems to be the only thing that's on my phone.
17:59
What an insane move if that were to happen.
18:02
I just even even after all the news that we got this past week, all the turmoil that Red
18:08
Bull is seeing right now, I just can't see Max wearing that black and cyan.
18:14
I just can't see it.
18:15
I don't know.
18:16
Look kind of good on him.
18:17
I saw like a CGI thing or something where they put it on him.
18:20
He looks cute in black and blue, dude.
18:21
He do look pretty good.
18:23
He do look pretty good.
18:25
But yeah, it's just interesting that it's smoke season.
18:30
And then you have the footage of Joseph Verstappen and Christian Horner having a heated exchange
18:37
at there for the race with all the speculation with Horner right now being the root cause
18:42
of it, apparently.
18:44
And then, you know, there's news that Ford's pulling out of the Red Bull deal, too.
18:49
It's just I don't know.
18:50
It's so hard to believe any of this right now just because of the season we're in.
18:54
And I mean, Lewis is going to Ferrari.
18:56
So that just opens up the floodgates of this could happen.
18:59
Right.
19:00
But I'm with you, Cole.
19:02
If Max were to leave, let's see how good that Red Bull car really is.
19:06
And let's see how really bad these other cars are with these drivers.
19:09
You put Max and he starts winning races.
19:11
Greatest of all time.
19:12
Yeah, no doubt.
19:14
But also, like, if if Marco leaves, then it's in Max's contract, he can walk away that day,
19:20
which is going to be very interesting to see, because I think Marco's pretty upset about
19:23
the whole Christian Horner thing as well.
19:24
And I mean, I was looking at the Ford thing to maybe be a downfall for Red Bull.
19:29
So if Ford really pulled out, watch out if you're the rest of the field, because that
19:33
may be just a benefit for Red Bull if Ford's not with them anymore.
19:36
I don't think so, though, because it like Honda has already come out.
19:39
So Honda's been the power train supplier for a number of years, ever since Red Bull left
19:43
Renault or not left them, but stopped the partnership of their engines.
19:47
And Honda has already come out and said they are no longer making engines after the twenty
19:50
twenty five season.
19:51
So if Red Bull, if Ford were to pull out like that's that's where Red Bull's everything
19:56
is for their engines at this point.
19:57
Like, it's I mean, yeah, they could buy a Renault, buy a Ferrari, buy a Mercedes if
20:02
I guess if they needed to.
20:04
But I don't know.
20:06
I mean, and Ford, they're not foreign to Formula One.
20:10
Like they had Ford engines in cars before.
20:12
Now, granted, it's been a while, but at the end of the day, it's a whole new engine they're
20:15
essentially building in twenty twenty six anyway.
20:17
So it's you get the Red Bull engineers in that Ford engine.
20:20
I don't think it really matters who's making it or what parts are it are as opposed to
20:24
who's actually making it.
20:25
Yeah, I'm curious to see if that were to happen.
20:28
What Red Bull would take as their engine supplier, because I don't know if they'd want
20:31
Mercedes.
20:32
I think Ferrari probably sounds like the best option.
20:36
I can't see them taking Renault again.
20:38
That was such a mess with Renault's at right now with we're helping.
20:42
I mean, why would you even like think of that?
20:44
Yeah.
20:45
And then the next question is how much is it is the Honda engine?
20:48
Like how much is that pushing that Red Bull and how much is it aerodynamics?
20:51
I think obviously aerodynamics is going to be playing huge, huge part.
20:56
But do we see that gap less in between the other cars if they switch their engines?
20:59
Well, I don't think from an aerodynamic perspective.
21:01
I don't think it's as much the engine as the built of the car.
21:03
Yeah, it's more the power aspect of it.
21:05
And I mean, Honda shown that they've built the most powerful engine, like durability
21:09
wise the last the longest.
21:10
And at the same time, though, I was also supplying V car with their engine and they have been
21:15
since Red Bull got there, too.
21:17
So is it really the engine that's doing this or is it the engineers back at the warehouse
21:23
or headquarters?
21:24
But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what Max Verstappen's future holds, I guess.
21:29
You know, I'm just I just want it to be next season and know where all the drivers are
21:32
going at this point because there's just so much uncertainty out there.
21:35
But let's switch switch paces over to Alpine.
21:37
They lost their technical director and head of aerodynamics.
21:41
They chose to leave to seek.
21:43
They chose to leave the team to seek new challenges.
21:47
No surprise there because that car is terrible.
21:51
And you wonder if you know how much say he really had in the car.
21:53
Maybe that was a frustration, too.
21:55
It doesn't seem like if you leave right after a race like that, it's probably not because
21:59
your design didn't work.
22:01
You know, well, they came out after two.
22:03
It's like they were they were actually like let go or mutual, whatever it was like a
22:07
week before, but they were going to go through the race and then announce everything.
22:11
So it wasn't just like a spurt decision after the race.
22:13
They were going to leave.
22:14
It was in the works already.
22:15
They just wanted to keep the press on the actual race, I guess.
22:19
But I mean, you're right.
22:20
It's like what obviously they're not offering much there.
22:23
Like take whatever they're going to pay it.
22:25
Go work for another team that's going to pay a probably close to it and actually make a
22:27
difference, build your name back.
22:29
Yeah.
22:30
There was pressure for them to leave because our management was seeing the car not do so
22:35
well and they're like, you guys got to go.
22:37
Or were they just not allowed to spread their wings and build a good car?
22:41
I mean, I think that could definitely be the case.
22:42
I think that's a good, you know, thought on it, too.
22:45
Alpine is just a mess right now.
22:47
I think, you know, hopefully they come out with the real news, what really happened and
22:50
everything like that.
22:51
But at the end of the day, they need some change.
22:54
And if it means a new technical director, if it means whatever rebuild, you know, it's
22:57
almost like a rebuild year here now for Alpine with the way they started.
23:00
Well, then what was last year?
23:01
They let go of their team principal halfway through the year.
23:03
Like, what is Alpine doing right now?
23:05
Halfway through a race weekend.
23:06
Halfway through a race weekend, yeah.
23:08
They almost, they almost need to take like, not to get too far in the weeds here, but
23:12
go to like a football side of things.
23:14
They almost need to take like a play out of that book and just rebuild everything.
23:17
Let's start fresh, get some rookie drivers, let's rebuild everything around this team
23:21
because the way they're going right now, if their path is to try to win a championship,
23:25
they're not close.
23:26
Not even remotely close.
23:27
They're not even close to seventh in the drivers championship right now.
23:31
But they need to just sell it to Andretti.
23:33
Sell everything to Andretti.
23:34
Let him get in there, take over and just wipe your hands clean.
23:37
That would be fun.
23:39
You got to feel bad for O'Connor and Gasly though.
23:41
They're given such a bad car.
23:43
And they're two super talented drivers.
23:45
I like both of them.
23:46
SD can get a little, I don't know, he's kind of a little temperament.
23:49
He's a little too emotional, I guess, for me.
23:52
A little firecracker.
23:53
There's words that I want to say that I'm not allowed to because we're trying to keep
23:55
this PG podcast, but he's a little brat, I guess.
24:00
And Gasly, I've liked Gasly since he was on AlphaTory.
24:02
I wanted to see Gasly get a shot, get in a good car and see what we can actually do.
24:05
I don't think he was treated right when he got that Red Bull seat.
24:08
He didn't get a fair chance.
24:09
And I just, I've always been a fan up here.
24:11
So I would like to see him in a good car.
24:16
We'll switch paces then to some other big news.
24:19
The FIA president, Mohammed bin Sulaim.
24:23
Sulaim, we'll just go with that, is under investigation for an alleged attempt to interfere
24:29
with an F1 race, which apparently happened last year at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand
24:34
Prix.
24:35
Fernando Alonso was given a couple of penalties that they won.
24:38
Everybody agreed it wasn't too fair.
24:39
Well, the president of the FIA decided to as well and apparently tried to interview
24:43
and overrule that penalty, which is terrible news for the sport.
24:49
From an integrity standpoint, the last thing you want to hear is any interference from
24:52
any higher up in any sport you're watching.
24:54
We all know of the football rigged rumors that are out there.
24:57
The last thing we want to hear is this, with all the speculation the FIA has had, especially
25:02
after the Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen drama, like you're in such a big spotlight and you're
25:07
the president of the FIA.
25:10
You can't simply, you can't even like let this be a rumor that you even entertained
25:15
it to the point where it got to that point.
25:17
Like this is just insane.
25:18
Yeah.
25:19
I feel like when we were just getting to a point where people could start trusting FIA
25:23
again, I feel like all of last year, well all of the last two years after that moment,
25:27
that last race with Lewis and Max, everyone was calling the mafia.
25:31
It was, yeah, it was bad.
25:32
No one trusted them anymore.
25:34
I feel like we were just starting to lose that kind of grip and then this comes out.
25:38
Weird that at almost a year, like exactly a year after we come out with this news and
25:43
it's starting to get investigated a little bit more, but yeah, not a good look.
25:47
I mean, we just had the Christian Horner thing, which made major headlines.
25:51
Now we have this with the FIA.
25:52
FIA, you know, like you said, the football, it's like you're Roger Goodell.
25:56
They're going to get hate, but this is one of the things that you don't want showing
25:59
up and especially now with, I mean, the drive to survive is absolutely huge.
26:03
You have more fans.
26:04
We have three races in the USA now.
26:06
The fan base over here is growing.
26:08
This is what hurts that growth.
26:10
This is what hurts everything for the F1 down the road.
26:13
I think this is one of the worst things that can happen for F1 and it sucks being a fan
26:17
and having this happen because you just want, you know, the heat to grow, everything to
26:21
grow around the sport.
26:22
So, you know, you're going down and you meet a long lost cousin.
26:24
He's like, Hey, did you watch the race last weekend?
26:27
Right now it's not how it is.
26:28
And this is not helping that path.
26:29
Yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred percent.
26:31
The FIA has enough on their plate with like, Oh, the track limits are overplayed, whatever.
26:36
That's the kind of negative press they need, right?
26:38
That's what they should get.
26:39
Yes.
26:40
You should, they're never going to be perfect.
26:41
They shouldn't ever be perfect.
26:42
Right.
26:43
So it's just, it's just a bad, bad look, man.
26:45
And you're right, Cole.
26:46
It's going to hurt the viewership.
26:47
It's going to hurt the potential future fans, especially in America where we're the ones
26:51
always starting those rumors of the speculations and the rigged all that BS, you know, it doesn't
26:56
come from across the pond.
26:57
It's from America.
26:58
So it's just not good.
26:59
I hope they get it under control.
27:01
If this is any inkling of this happening, he needs to be removed.
27:04
New person put in that position.
27:05
That's without question.
27:07
And you're right, Joe.
27:08
It's like they were, they've been in the, after the 2021 ending to the season, they
27:13
did everything right from that point.
27:16
They got rid of the president, the president, right?
27:18
They redid so much.
27:20
And now it's just like, I'm surprised this hasn't gotten as much of attention as it has
27:24
now for stopping going to Mercedes is going to overrule anything, but it's just not a
27:28
good thing.
27:30
I think too, like one with, I think they dropped the ball big on the Christian Horner thing.
27:35
And I think this is like the way they can step up and change the pace and just be like,
27:39
okay, you're out.
27:40
Like, don't sit on it.
27:41
Don't make anything crazy.
27:42
Just kick them out, get them out and maybe even change up to where, you know, fans could
27:48
have more fun around it.
27:49
Maybe make it like a paddock thing, like the team presidents or something, the team owners
27:52
make it something more unison where we're getting votes on these things and all that,
27:56
you know, make it more like, like the NBA kind of has something like this, right?
27:59
You might be able to spend it better, but make it more around that instead of just having
28:02
one guy up there making the big shots.
28:04
Yeah, and I don't think, I think it is like it's the FIA board of governors.
28:08
It's not just the FIA presidents, the overruling decision maker.
28:11
Like it has to go through a board process similar to like Godel and the NFL where it's
28:15
not Godel making the decisions.
28:16
It's the board.
28:18
It's a similar concept like that.
28:19
Now how the FIA president gets elected, I don't know.
28:22
Because in the NFL, the owners have to vote, like the owners put in the commissioner.
28:26
They essentially choose or elect the commissioner.
28:28
So I don't know how that would work in the FIA.
28:29
But like, like with the NBA and the players committee, what's the proper term for that?
28:34
It's the players union.
28:35
Players union.
28:36
Players association.
28:37
Something like that for F1 or something.
28:39
I think that even build, you know, the fan base and make it more exciting.
28:41
Oh, I get what you're saying.
28:43
I don't think that would be a thing because you got 20 drivers.
28:46
It's so limited where you don't have a, you don't have enough people to unionize to a
28:50
certain degree.
28:51
And at the end of the day, it's like, I think it's more like the teams have the issues with
28:57
the FIAs than the drivers per se.
29:00
If that makes sense.
29:01
Yeah, so I'm more so talking maybe like presidents or like your president and your lead engineer,
29:04
like getting some sort of unison so we can have that so where you're not having that
29:08
hash with the, because right now all that happens is if a team has an issue, they're
29:12
bringing that directly to the FIA.
29:14
And we know that happens all season, every season, every race, you know, oh, hey, what's
29:18
going on with this guy's side pods?
29:19
What's going on with this guy's back wing?
29:21
Like we know Mercedes is going to get looked at for theirs, right?
29:23
All this kind of things that they're going to start looking at now.
29:26
Like, why not just make it something like that?
29:28
It's a long shot.
29:29
Obviously they're not going to do it.
29:30
But it's an interesting take.
29:32
I think that, you know, there could be some benefit there for the teams and the fans to
29:37
follow.
29:38
You know, I thought I always thought it was fun.
29:39
Again, talking to the NBA, I always thought it was fun.
29:41
You know, you would hear like with the shutdown and the bubble and you had Chris Paul, you
29:46
know, making a lot of these plays and like the bigger top end players or the team captains
29:50
are going in and doing that.
29:52
That's a fun thing.
29:53
That's a fun thing for a fan to follow because you're no longer following a person who's
29:55
at the top like Roger Goodell, who everybody hates.
29:58
You're following the people you like in the organization or your team.
30:01
Yeah, that's interesting because I've always been on the side with doesn't matter the sport
30:04
with like any sort of officiating body should be former players.
30:08
So you could do a similar thing like that.
30:10
You get some of the guys out of the booth, the Jolene Palmer's, the David Cole hearts,
30:13
you know, you get some of these retired drivers that yeah, it's a different I mean, because
30:17
the thing with F1 from the 60s till today, you're doing you're doing the same thing.
30:21
There's just different regulations and safety measures, right?
30:23
Where from football today, it's a completely different sport.
30:26
Yeah.
30:27
And then motor racing, you can't really do too much to tweak it.
30:30
Right.
30:31
So it's you get those old retired drivers and come to like some sort of I really like
30:33
that idea, actually.
30:34
Yeah, I really like that.
30:35
It sounds like a great idea.
30:39
I love seeing drivers that I mean, drivers who used to be drivers, obviously, there's
30:43
only 20 of them.
30:44
So we don't get a lot of them.
30:45
They have a lot of really good experience.
30:47
Unfortunately, when they're done, they end up in those commentating spots.
30:50
Having something there that at least gives a little bit of input into what should happen.
30:54
Setting them up super high, I can see the argument being made that they're originally
30:59
from this team.
31:00
So they hold some bias with this team, maybe.
31:02
But I think in general, they just want what's good for the sport.
31:06
Yeah, I think your last point there, they want what's good for the sport.
31:09
I think that's awesome.
31:10
And also it puts like the reason we love people being commentators, like, you know, obviously,
31:15
we're big football fans here.
31:17
But like Tony Romo, I love when he commentates because he knows what's going on.
31:20
You know, he's reading the plays like an actual player.
31:23
And having more like having that in the F1 race is awesome.
31:25
Like listening to those commentators.
31:26
I love it.
31:27
So having that also in the FIA and understanding what's going on and making more clear and
31:31
concise decisions other than people that haven't raced the car, I think it could just be beneficial.
31:36
Yeah, I'm 100% on board with that.
31:38
100% on board with that.
31:40
But I mean, going back to the to the point here, it's they need to have an extensive
31:44
investigation into this.
31:45
I mean, I'll repeat it again.
31:47
If there's any inkling that this even was a thought of happening, he needs to be gone,
31:50
banned from the sport, and they need to get somebody in there with some actual integrity.
31:53
You guys remember how wonky that was last year?
31:56
I remember Russell getting third because of that five second penalty, getting the trophy.
32:01
And then later that night, him being told he has to give the trophy back to Alonzo and
32:05
then kind of like giving a trade off about a week later.
32:08
It was terrible.
32:09
I mean, the whole thing was terrible.
32:10
He shouldn't have got the penalty.
32:11
The penalty was BS as it is.
32:13
But it's like, whether it's a BS penalty or not, the rules are the rules.
32:18
Make a change to the rules after the fact because of that.
32:20
Like we've seen that happen countless times.
32:22
Oh, yeah, definitely can't interfere with how things are present time.
32:27
I hate how we like I understand what you're saying around having, you know, like go through
32:31
the long process of the investigations.
32:33
I hate that.
32:35
Make him step down right now.
32:36
Make him step down right now.
32:37
Put somebody else in his shoes in the background to the investigation.
32:40
But let's build back up F1 and stop letting stuff like this tarnish the sport.
32:45
Yeah, I would agree with that.
32:46
I mean, he should at least like like have a suspension of sort until the investigation
32:50
takes place.
32:51
If he turns out to be whatever, then OK, put him back in his position.
32:54
But at least yeah, I 100 percent agree with that.
32:56
I 100 percent agree with that because you're right.
32:58
This investigation is going to be two, three, four, maybe six months.
33:01
Season is going to be halfway done.
33:02
They're not going to want to bring this the press into that at that time and take.
33:05
Yeah, you know, you're right.
33:06
I would just say suspend him indefinitely until whatever is resolved.
33:10
Let's get rid of these headlines.
33:11
Bring back in the solid headlines that we actually care about and we want about the
33:15
racers, the drivers and the teams to get the FIA off the headlines.
33:19
100 percent agree, 100 percent agree.
33:22
Well, let's change pace.
33:23
We have another race upon us this weekend, boys.
33:28
All right, boys.
33:32
Well, another race this week.
33:33
I love the first two weeks of the season because we get a race in back to back weeks.
33:36
I don't like those week gaps.
33:37
It just leaves you in suspense.
33:39
But we're headed to Saudi Arabia going to do a race on that jet of track, man.
33:44
Joe, why don't you tell us a little bit about last year's race?
33:47
Yeah, let's let's get into it first.
33:49
First got to ask you guys think about Jetta.
33:50
You like the track.
33:51
What are your thoughts on it?
33:53
It is one of my favorite tracks in the game to race because it's technical.
33:56
We also got those just bear out letter it.
33:59
Yeah, the back half of the track right before the hairpin before you hit the cross the finish
34:03
line.
34:04
It's a little bit like there's a couple of turns, but you're taking them full speed.
34:07
It's I'm with you, man.
34:08
It's my second favorite track behind Austria.
34:09
Oh, yeah, I have to completely agree.
34:11
I love I love racing it in F1 or any of the F1 games.
34:14
I also love sending it straight into the wall and those really fast corners.
34:17
So a little bit of little fun facts and then a little preview from last year.
34:21
Jetta first race was in twenty twenty one.
34:23
We see the most pole positions coming from Hamilton and Perez.
34:26
I think Perez undeniably just a really good street circuit racer.
34:30
Most wins coming from Hamilton Verstappen and another quick little fun fact, Jetta most
34:34
corners out of any other circuit on the calendar at twenty seven.
34:37
I did not know that.
34:38
I think that's also, you know, speaking of last year recap, that's also why we saw Alonso
34:43
take over a portion of that track last year because of how many corners and how good and
34:47
technical he is in the race.
34:49
So I think, you know, big factor this week.
34:51
Yeah, absolutely.
34:52
I'm kind of playing into that a little bit.
34:55
Some highlights that we got from last year.
34:58
One of the biggest ones Verstappen had a drive shaft failure earlier in the weekend, so he
35:02
started 15th.
35:03
Little spoiler alert.
35:04
He did end on the podium in second.
35:06
We did see him complaining about some drive shaft issues during the race as well, but
35:10
he was unable to catch Perez about five seconds ahead for 25 laps.
35:15
So that was kind of the gap near the end of the race as well.
35:17
We saw Alonso get a podium last year as well.
35:20
At least he did we got a podium.
35:23
You can't see it, but I'm giving finger quotes.
35:26
He got a podium last year with two big penalties, a five second one for incorrect starting position
35:32
and then a ten second penalty for not serving that penalty correctly, which was overturned
35:36
after the race.
35:38
We saw Russell get that trophy and then get it taken away from him about a week later.
35:43
Lance Stroll was a car retirement, bringing out the safety car.
35:47
This gave Verstappen and Perez the pit stop advantage.
35:49
That's how they were able to kind of get a little bit more ahead.
35:51
I think Verstappen would have gotten that podium either way.
35:53
He was so quick, but that definitely got him into the top three a little bit quicker.
35:58
Albin with the brake failure, our second and last retirement for the race.
36:02
He got into the pits and then Verstappen taking the fastest lap on the last lap to keep
36:08
the championship lead to himself.
36:10
So we saw the podium Perez Verstappen and then Alonso swapped into George, swapped back
36:15
into Alonso again to once again be taken away about a week later.
36:20
Verstappen taking the fastest lap.
36:21
That was big news last year.
36:23
That was that was a lot of hate around because then they tell Checo not to go for it.
36:26
They told Verstappen not to go for it and then he went for it anyway.
36:30
Well yeah, that was they did because Checo had it at the time and then they radioed to
36:34
Checo saying, yeah, you have the fastest lap, no need to push and then Verstappen went against
36:38
the orders and went and got the fastest lap.
36:40
Yep.
36:41
I remember I was listening to a recap of it today and the exact radio lines were Max asking
36:47
what the fastest lap was, GP replying, we don't need to worry about it.
36:50
And then Max coming right back and saying, well, I'm worried about it.
36:53
And yeah, last lap of the race.
36:55
He took it from him.
36:57
Typical Max.
36:58
Typical Max.
36:59
Yep.
37:00
Turd bag.
37:01
Yeah, that race was it was quite exciting last year.
37:04
I mean, I do remember there was quite a few overtakes.
37:06
It was I mean, it was exciting seeing Verstappen actually start from 15th having to fight for
37:11
it.
37:12
You knew he was going to get there.
37:13
It's a matter of how much time.
37:14
Yep.
37:15
You know, so it's like there were side bets if he has it by 25 laps, 30 laps until he
37:17
gets in that top five, top three, whatever it was.
37:21
And I'm in if I think I do think if it's not Pera's number one, Verstappen wins that race.
37:25
Oh, absolutely.
37:26
I mean, but to be honest, a race like that, Pera's looked great last year.
37:31
Oh, he did.
37:32
I would say he does have the same pace as Max, but I mean, this is this is a track you
37:35
can kind of count on.
37:36
Chacko, even this year.
37:38
Yeah.
37:39
Yeah.
37:40
I mean, I would argue that his pace is probably on par very, very similar to Verstappen in
37:43
a road track.
37:44
Verstappen takes the cake in any circuit, obviously.
37:46
But yeah, I'm excited for this race.
37:48
I think there is going to be a little bit more action.
37:50
The course or the circuits designed for more action than, you know, Bahrain.
37:54
So it's going to be a battle of that top line speed.
37:56
I think Haas might be able to finish in the top 10 this week.
37:59
I finished 10th last year.
38:01
So I think they might be able to squeak out some points this week.
38:04
And I'm I'm excited to see how Sauber kind of bounces back this week and see if they
38:09
can get that that 11th through 12th, 13th, they're locked down to show them that they
38:13
are going to compete in the midfield this year.
38:15
I do agree.
38:16
I think we might see Haas up there in the top 10.
38:18
I also think a car you might want to watch out for the top five, top four.
38:24
Not a podium, but top four maybe is McLaren.
38:26
They have really nice top line speed and Mercedes doesn't have that.
38:29
This could be a really rough race for Mercedes to drop down in the Constructors Championship
38:33
because they don't have that top line speed.
38:36
We might see them six, seven.
38:37
I mean, to be honest, even last race, Piazzari looked very good.
38:42
He looked very good.
38:43
He's gained a lot of experience.
38:45
Watch out for him this year.
38:46
Just, you know, Lando is obviously the goat on that team.
38:49
But watch out for the McLaren this week with that top line speed.
38:52
We'll see how they compete against the Ferrari.
38:54
Yeah, I do think that McLaren has a better car.
38:57
The car is better suited for this track than Mercedes for sure.
39:01
I still think that Ferrari is quicker though.
39:03
Yeah, yeah.
39:04
I still think I saw a Ferrari on my podium, but it is interesting.
39:08
We'll see how it unfolds.
39:09
I think, you know, right here, though, we're going to see a change, I think, from Mercedes
39:13
and McLaren and the Constructors, which will be big.
39:16
And yeah, I think it's going to be a fun race all around.
39:19
I think we're going to see a lot of the turns on this race are always fun.
39:22
Even coming off on the first turn right there with that back to back.
39:25
I mean, it's a super fun turn every year.
39:28
Super technical.
39:29
And every year you have people bumping into each other, people messing up and, you know,
39:33
people like Alonso last year taking overlaps and stuff there, passing people because it
39:37
really favors the veterans who have raced this track a lot.
39:40
Yeah, there's a certain line you have to do to get it fast and those vets definitely know
39:44
it.
39:45
I do.
39:46
I disagree with you, though.
39:47
I think Mercedes is still going to take it this week over McLaren simply because I truly
39:51
think this race is going to come down similar to last year.
39:54
We're going to have one or two retirements and Mercedes strategy is just too good.
39:59
So I got to ask.
40:00
So I think so I would say Lando's above one of the Mercedes.
40:05
I think it's a McLaren Mercedes, McLaren Mercedes, maybe not in that order, but I think
40:10
that's how it's going to line up as far as, you know, one's going to be above the other
40:13
and all that.
40:14
Do you think it's both Mercedes above both McLaren's?
40:19
I don't know if I go that far.
40:21
Similar to what I'm saying then.
40:23
Similar to what you're saying, but I would think that I don't know.
40:25
To be honest with you, I think I got Russell in my podium this week, so I think we're also
40:29
going to take that third spot and then I think it's going to be one if not both Ferraris and
40:33
then the Mercedes and the McLaren.
40:34
Also, do you have both Mercedes above the McLaren's?
40:37
Not necessarily.
40:38
No, I got Russell at third and then the two for one or two of the Ferraris and then the
40:43
Mercedes Ferrari, McLaren mixed in with the next five throughs.
40:47
Gotcha.
40:48
So you have Russell be in the Ferraris this week.
40:50
You interesting.
40:51
I do.
40:52
I think it's going to come down to strategy this week and Ferrari cannot capitalize on
40:55
strategy for the last seven years.
40:57
Well, I shouldn't say seven, but however many drivers survived there's been because that's
41:01
when I started.
41:02
That's the history of the sport that I know and that I haven't been able to strategize.
41:06
Yeah, I want to agree with you.
41:09
I think McLaren and Mercedes, they're definitely the ones fighting each other.
41:13
They're pretty even in my eyes a little bit.
41:15
I kind of think McLaren has a little bit more on them.
41:19
I think obviously Mercedes has a bit more experience with Hamilton, so that might edge
41:23
it a little bit, but McLaren just has a better car this year.
41:27
I don't see Mercedes on the podium.
41:28
I see them maybe close.
41:30
I don't know how McLaren is going to do.
41:31
They're definitely going to do better than last year.
41:33
They were bad last year at this track, but you know, that was pretty much all car.
41:39
For a stop in Paris, my top two, I think for sure I'm just going to call it out.
41:43
I know we're just thinking three.
41:45
I just I don't see Mercedes beating a Ferrari.
41:50
I'm going to stick with what I had last week and I'm going to say Leclerc fills in that
41:53
third spot.
41:54
All right.
41:55
All right.
41:56
And yeah, and then I do think that the McLaren is has more top end speed than the Mercedes
42:01
and those those straights definitely do come into play on this track.
42:04
I think the experience of Russell and Hamilton in the corners with having so many is where
42:09
Mercedes is going to put themselves above McLaren, but it's going to come down to if
42:13
there's those safety cars and what the strategy comes down to pit stops.
42:16
I think pit stops are going to play the deciding factor in this race.
42:18
Yeah.
42:19
I also think it's going to be a big factor in the qualifying to who can put out the fast
42:22
lap because yes, because they all have fast cars for one lap and Mercedes has that.
42:26
So if Mercedes starts third again, I you know, I might lean your way to take them above McLaren
42:31
if they start above McLaren in the beginning of the race because how good they are in the
42:34
corners and how much more experience their drivers have.
42:37
So depending on the qualifying, I would say I might agree with you even on the Mercedes
42:40
beating the McLaren, but I think the qualifying, especially in a race like this, beginning
42:44
of the race here, it's huge because we all know once the pack starts and we all have
42:49
DRS on those fast, it doesn't really matter.
42:51
Those DRS trains get to get in there and then everybody's equal.
42:55
So this this might be as far as for those two, three, four teams right now.
42:58
This qualifying is huge.
42:59
So who do you got on the podium?
43:02
My podium obviously I'm going to go for seven in Checo this week.
43:05
I think that, you know, Checo has got the advantage in the street track here.
43:09
And then I'm a little bit of a draw here.
43:12
I want I think a Ferrari, but I don't know.
43:15
Like it's either Leclerc is going to come back and he's going to be with a vengeance
43:19
or science is going to keep racing out of his mind like he has been the past six races.
43:23
Put science in for me.
43:24
I think science at three.
43:25
All right.
43:26
All right.
43:27
And unfortunately with Smelti being sick, he did have to phone his picks in this week.
43:32
So he had Verstappen, Checo and Russell.
43:34
So he had the same as me actually.
43:36
Really Russell?
43:37
Yep.
43:38
He finished fourth last year.
43:40
I mean, he arguably third, depending on how you want to view that penalty.
43:43
He was fourth in my opinion, but I just think the experience takes it.
43:46
And the McLaren and the Mercedes are so close to me in car performance right now where I'm
43:52
going to have to take the driver in that regard.
43:54
The Ferrari is ahead of them.
43:55
And I mean, you can make an argument.
43:56
The two Ferrari drivers are, I would say equal to Hamilton and Russell if you equal them
44:02
out.
44:03
Obviously, Hamilton is a step above both of science and Leclerc, but I would take science
44:08
or Leclerc over Russell.
44:11
So I think, you know, they're equal for the most part there.
44:13
So it's going to come down to strategy and experience.
44:15
And I just think Mercedes is going to take that third spot.
44:18
You don't get the same sickness as Smelti, do you?
44:22
Not quite sure what that is, but I'm excited for this answer.
44:24
I'm just saying.
44:25
Oh, I thought you were going to say, I thought it was going to be some stupid little Cole
44:28
joke, but no, no, I'm pretty healthy.
44:32
Okay.
44:33
Because I mean, Mercedes up there over the Ferrari, I just, I can't see it.
44:36
But the straightaways in this track, I just, I don't know.
44:39
I'm not a believer in.
44:40
I think it's going to take some failures, engine failures for them not to take the podium
44:45
at Ferrari and it could happen.
44:47
It's not a long shot for Ferrari for them to blow up a car.
44:52
I get that.
44:53
But I think it's going to take something like that for them not to take a podium this week.
44:56
Yeah.
44:57
I'm hoping they fix Leclerc's issues that they had last weekend.
45:00
I can't see why they wouldn't.
45:02
So I'm kind of with you.
45:04
I think it all comes down to strategy at the end of the day and you're right.
45:07
Ferrari has clearly proven time and again that they are not good at that strategy.
45:13
Hopefully they can figure it out this weekend for me.
45:15
Yeah, absolutely.
45:16
Well, it's been a pleasure, boys.
45:19
For the viewers at home, we're going to take a week break being how the next race in Australia
45:23
is two weeks away.
45:24
So we'll be back in two weeks with our recap and then previewing Australia.
45:28
As always, like, comment, subscribe, Spotify, Apple, YouTube.
45:32
We are everywhere.
45:33
We love the followers.
45:35
We always want more.
45:36
It's been a pleasure, boys.
45:37
And if I just add, hit us up on YouTube.
45:39
We want to make this live.
45:40
We want to get a video going so you guys can see our beautiful mugs.
45:43
Hit us up.
45:44
Post comments, like, share it.
45:47
Your friends will love it, too.
45:48
Your mom will love it.
45:49
Thank you.
45:50
Don't forget to follow, like and subscribe.
45:54
Tune in next time for more banter with the boys.