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The Motorsport Brief | Canadian Grand Prix-view · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:08
  It's race week in Formula One, and that is the focus of today's Motorsport Brief.
• 0:14
  Hi everyone, Rusty with you for another short cast.
• 0:16
  Matt Hickey is standing by at CodeSports HQ ahead of what's become round five of the World Championship, the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.
• 0:25
  Teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli is on top after the Miami race on 100 points.
• 0:30
  20 clear of his teammate George Russell there at Mercedes.
• 0:33
  Ferrari Charles Leclerc third on 59, reigning champion.
• 0:36
  And Lando Norris is next on 51.
• 0:39
  Oscar Piastri is sixth on the ladder behind Lewis Hamilton.
• 0:42
  And then Max Verstappen, seventh.
• 0:44
  Bit of talk there about Oscar and Max and Red Bull, which we'll get to.
• 0:49
  And a pledge by the governing body to bring back the V8 in the next four years.
• 0:54
  Quick mention of two fabulous recent feature episodes.
• 0:57
  The legendary Kenny Smith.
• 0:59
  who should be knighted, on racing in his 80s.
• 1:03
  Going up against the likes of Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jimmy Clark and lots of other legends of the 60s and 70s, as well as the mentoring and assistance that he's provided to the likes of Scott Dixon.
• 1:14
  Greg Murphy, Liam Lawson and more.
• 1:16
  There is also nearly two hours with Stephen Gaul, if you like your two wheels.
• 1:21
  In fact, his story is more than just for two wheel fans.
• 1:24
  He was a Mr. Motocross star of the 70s, battled with his great mate, Anthony Gunter, and saw the emergence and rode against Jeff Leask and Craig Dack, who you can find in our library.
• 1:35
  There is a yarn about Gawley testing a supercar too that I didn't know about and his world-class rider and athlete training.
• 1:43
  Both feature episodes are captivating chats.
• 1:45
  You'll love those.
• 1:46
  Now to get our teeth into F1.
• 1:48
  He was a regular on the pod last year.
• 1:49
  He's been super busy, so have we, so it's nice to get him on finally.
• 1:53
  Matt, welcome back to the podcast.
• 1:56
  Rusty, thanks for having me back on.
• 1:57
  It's been a little while, but we're ready to get stuck into things.
• 2:00
  Been too long.
• 2:01
  Hey, with the rounds that we've had to date, Toto Wolff looks like a genius, mate, doesn't he?
• 2:06
  With, you know, backing of Kimi Antonelli.
• 2:09
  I mean, you've got to do that really with a rookie in those early years.
• 2:13
  You do that knowing there might be some speed humps along the way.
• 2:16
  Did you think we would see this kind of form from him or that it might have perhaps even taken a bit longer to get there?
• 2:25
  I mean, look, you're spot on.
• 2:26
  You do just have to back these young drivers in when you have the faith that they have the ability to do so.
• 2:31
  We've seen it succeed over the years, and we've seen it not so much succeed over the years as well.
• 2:37
  A few years ago, if you told us we'd be here, I would be a little bit surprised.
• 2:41
  I will give myself a little pat on the back, though, Rusty, at the start of the year for Code and Herald Sun.
• 2:48
  We were asked to do our crystal ball for the Formula One season.
• 2:52
  I did have Kimi winning the championship.
• 2:54
  There was a lot made of George, understandably, but, you know, Kimi was going to be driving the same car and I thought he could maybe surprise a few people.
• 3:03
  So in terms of this year, I'm not massively surprised because, as I said, they are driving the same car, but in terms of how quickly that career has progressed, it's very impressive.
• 3:14
  What gave you that confidence?
• 3:17
  Something about all the chatter being about George, and as I said, understandably so,
• 3:24
  a prodigious talent.
• 3:26
  We know how good he has been.
• 3:28
  And for Mercedes, a team like Mercedes, to back him in so young, clearly their indicators show that he was ready for it and he's proving it right now.
• 3:40
  The stats and polls with that three-peat that he's enjoyed put him in, you know, very rarefied company along with some of the greats.
• 3:51
  In addition to how you backed him there, do you feel like he's got all the makings beyond the car to be a champion this year?
• 3:59
  And I say that because some of the prelim stuff we saw at Miami, it looks like his interaction with the team, the way he's kind of galvanising the crew, that is someone well beyond his years, don't you reckon?
• 4:11
  Absolutely.
• 4:12
  Oh, 100%.
• 4:13
  And I will admit, Rusty, the only reason I'm getting around myself is because it doesn't happen too often.
• 4:17
  So you've got to celebrate the wins because there's so few of them.
• 4:20
  But look, it's a long season.
• 4:22
  We know that.
• 4:23
  We know that with Oscar last year, we experienced it.
• 4:26
  And it didn't necessarily end the way that he had hoped and that we had all hoped from an Australian point of view.
• 4:32
  So, you know, he's not by no means a lock to win the championship.
• 4:34
  championship is less than a race lead.
• 4:36
  We know what happens, especially in these new cars.
• 4:38
  But again, it does seem as though this is a guy who has at least one world title, if not multiple by the time his career has come to a close.
• 4:49
  He's just that type of driver.
• 4:50
  And at the moment, he's got the car to allow him to do that as well.
• 4:53
  Just to pick up on what you were saying there a moment ago about George Russell too, gee, I feel for him.
• 4:57
  Because on paper it looked like his year.
• 5:00
  How will he respond to this?
• 5:03
  Obviously he's had a bit of time to think about stuff with the two Middle Eastern races getting postponed and so on.
• 5:08
  Now we're right back into the grind.
• 5:10
  He does have time though, Matt, doesn't he?
• 5:12
  There's still plenty of races left.
• 5:15
  All he has to do is look to his good mate, Lando Norris.
• 5:18
  found himself in a similar position throughout the season, trailing his younger teammate who had shot out of the blocks.
• 5:26
  I think George will be calm at this point.
• 5:28
  There's no point in stressing Major League.
• 5:31
  We haven't had too many races with those cancelled races in the mix as well.
• 5:36
  So I think George will be okay.
• 5:38
  He'll be biding his time.
• 5:39
  If we get to three or four races left and he's got a little bit of a
• 5:49
  experience for him while we're now.
• 5:51
  It sounds like the team are mindful of what happened between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, you know, a decade ago, basically.
• 5:58
  And they've already moved to ensure that if this stuff intensifies between their two drivers, that it plays out as fairly as possible.
• 6:07
  We know it will, right?
• 6:08
  We've both seen enough Formula 1 to know that when it's a car that is above and beyond the rest, at least as it currently stands, we're seeing maybe they're starting to catch up a little bit the rest of the pack.
• 6:19
  But two drivers who are right in the thick of it, it will get tense.
• 6:23
  There will be nudges and niggles along the way.
• 6:27
  Again, it'll be fascinating to see how it pans out from a team perspective.
• 6:31
  You mentioned McLaren there a moment ago.
• 6:33
  They look like they're starting to kind of find the form that we saw of them in 2024 and 2025.
• 6:38
  Do you agree?
• 6:40
  Yeah, I think so.
• 6:41
  I mean, based off Miami, you'd have to say that if they were potentially a little bit braver with their strategy choices, that might have been a race win when you look back at how that panned out.
• 6:50
  So I think McLaren are well and truly in the thick of it.
• 6:53
  If we get to the end of the year and Oscar Piastri has won a couple of races, I wouldn't be shocked because I think McLaren are making up some ground.
• 7:02
  The chat about Oscar to Red Bull, if, underline, if Max pulls up stumps, that's created plenty of chat.
• 7:10
  Is the risk of Max going, do you think, more serious than ever?
• 7:14
  And I think people are in this conversation, Matt, maybe undervaluing Oscar's ability or potential to be a team leader.
• 7:22
  I feel from a
• 7:23
  timing perspective, what he would have learned at McLaren and so on.
• 7:27
  I'm not saying he's going to leave.
• 7:28
  He's contracted there for a little while, obviously.
• 7:30
  But I feel like he's got the personality and he'll have the skills that he's learned now to do that.
• 7:36
  Yeah, I 100% agree with that one, Rusty.
• 7:38
  I think the fascinating part of it, the other conversation as well that's kind of taking place is because Gian Piero Lembiasi is making that move to McLaren to be the chief racing officer that maybe Max will follow and it's a straight swap scenario.
• 7:51
  That's the other rumour that's getting floated and pushed around.
• 7:55
  My only concern for Oscar, and obviously we're looking down the track, so a lot can change in that time.
• 8:01
  But I get the feeling that in recent, probably last year, Anand,
• 8:05
  the early parts of this year.
• 8:07
  I think because Max is so talented, and it's not to say that Oscar doesn't have talent that can get to that point as well, the Red Bull as a team, their performance may be a little overinflated in terms of what we see because Max is getting the absolute ridiculousness out of that car.
• 8:30
  so many teammates in the last 18 months, I don't think you can say anymore that it's the teammate that is underperforming.
• 8:38
  I think the attention is more Max is just overperforming what this car actually gives him.
• 8:43
  So my only concern from an Oscar Piastri point of view is potentially is Red Bull not where we actually think they are because Max is making the car look better than it actually is.
• 8:54
  So in other words, timing, right?
• 8:55
  Is it the right time to go there?
• 8:57
  Have they got the...
• 9:00
  the complete package for Oscar to be able to deliver and how seamless would that transition be if he did make it.
• 9:07
  We saw something similar with Daniel Ricciardo, right, as well.
• 9:09
  You know, that timing didn't necessarily work out for Danny Rick when he looked to become the number one driver somewhere else.
• 9:16
  So it doesn't always necessarily work out that if you are the number one driver that the results are going to follow.
• 9:22
  You obviously at Code Sports cover lots of different sports, right?
• 9:27
  I don't know how much you and the team that cover AFL, for example, have had, and if you've had dealings with Emma Murray.
• 9:35
  She's obviously worked with Scotty McLaughlin and things like that.
• 9:38
  She's a part of that team piastry there now.
• 9:42
  Good addition.
• 9:43
  What do you think?
• 9:45
  Yeah, I mean always the case when you can add expertise and people who can come in and I guess help.
• 9:52
  We know how much of a mental game Formula One is.
• 9:56
  If you can have someone come in and help out with that, I definitely think it's a handy addition and I think it's...
• 10:02
  also good that Oscar is being conscious of that because sometimes we see people being brought into teams when potentially things it's a bit too late or things have gone too far and it's a tougher road to get back to where you'd like to get back to.
• 10:15
  Everyone I talk to says she is a good addition.
• 10:19
  We're going to grab a quick break here.
• 10:20
  Will you stick around with us Matt?
• 10:22
  We've got a bit more to talk about as Formula One builds up to its next event.
• 10:26
  Always stick around Rusty, always.
• 10:32
  You're listening to, maybe even watching, the Motorsport Brief, our Rusty's Garage shortcast.
• 10:37
  Delighted to be joined for the first time this year by Matt Hickey from CodeSports, who was a regular throughout season 2025 as we previewed and reviewed Formula One.
• 10:45
  And we thought it was timely, given that we're more or less hitting the accelerator in the run-up to Monaco, for example, to chat with him about the state of play.
• 10:54
  Max was someone we were...
• 10:57
  You know, we had in focus there before the commercial break.
• 11:00
  He's loving this whole GT program.
• 11:02
  Nürburgring over the weekend, obviously.
• 11:04
  I have, Matt, a bottle of gin riding on him, turning up at the Bathurst 12 hour, possibly as early as next year.
• 11:13
  I have absolutely no proof of whether there's any legs in that.
• 11:17
  That is pure gut feel.
• 11:20
  But he's relishing this, isn't he?
• 11:22
  Yeah.
• 11:22
  Yeah, he certainly is.
• 11:24
  James Phelps and Beck Williams from Co jumped into that discussion recently as well.
• 11:30
  It is a fascinating one.
• 11:31
  Of course, Bathurst 12-hour falling in February next year, so I think the organisers are hoping, hey, it's outside this F1 window.
• 11:38
  Let's get the great man in.
• 11:39
  And I think the fact that, as you mentioned, we've seen him at Nerva Ring that...
• 11:43
  Maybe potentially there is that opportunity.
• 11:46
  He has spoken about his love for Bathurst in the past, which I'm sure many people will remember.
• 11:50
  So, hey, fingers crossed, wouldn't that be some sort of spectacle?
• 11:54
  I tell you what, it would be absolutely packed at Mount Panorama.
• 11:59
  Sure would.
• 12:00
  Is that second seat at Red Bull kind of still a bit of a down if you do, down if you don't drive at the moment?
• 12:08
  Yeah, I mentioned earlier, it's one of those ones where, I guess, you're continually being compared to one of the, let's probably say, top three drivers of all time, depending on where you sit.
• 12:21
  But he's definitely in the mix for that, if not already there.
• 12:25
  It's a brutal, it's a brutal comparison.
• 12:29
  I'm sure everybody would understand how brutal that is.
• 12:33
  I think, as I mentioned earlier, it's probably time for us to start thinking,
• 12:38
  is this the co-driver that is underperforming or is it just Max vastly overperforming as Max tends to do?
• 12:46
  So it is a brutal seat, but we saw Isaac Hadjar, how good he was last year.
• 12:52
  So it's not to say that the talent isn't there.
• 12:54
  I think maybe it's time to move past that rhetoric that, oh, we're putting these people in the car too early.
• 13:00
  It was brilliant last season, Isaac Hadjar.
• 13:02
  So I think maybe we start to look at the conversation a little differently.
• 13:07
  Yeah, and Isaac wouldn't have lost that overnight.
• 13:09
  There's no doubt about that.
• 13:10
  Max in brilliant form.
• 13:13
  Some chat that Sir Lewis Hamilton might announce that he's going to retire at the British Grand Prix.
• 13:20
  What do you think?
• 13:21
  And could he be swayed to stay a little bit longer if he has a bit more of an uptick in form?
• 13:26
  Yeah, look, I'm hoping he doesn't.
• 13:29
  I'm hoping he doesn't because what an absolute gift and treasure to the sport that he is.
• 13:36
  If it is the case, what a career.
• 13:39
  Just purely unbelievable.
• 13:41
  Will go down as, again, one of those, arguably the best driver of all time in Formula One.
• 13:46
  A fantastic story as well.
• 13:49
  You know, we've heard so much about him and his dad growing up.
• 13:52
  I hope it's not the case, if it is a fitting place to do it nonetheless.
• 13:57
  But time will tell.
• 14:00
  If we see Ferrari uptick a little bit, obviously that lure of the next championship is always just sitting there.
• 14:08
  All right, and Ollie Beerman clearly would be the man most likely to take over if he did.
• 14:13
  Can we come to the regs?
• 14:14
  We haven't even spoken about that.
• 14:17
  What do you make of it all?
• 14:18
  I mean, we're giving it time.
• 14:22
  Is it a dud?
• 14:23
  Will it get better?
• 14:24
  You know, sometimes when we're at the end of a regulation period, when everything tightens up and people have got their heads around it technically and so on, the racing ends up close and exciting.
• 14:33
  Will this work, do you think?
• 14:34
  Yeah.
• 14:35
  Look, the crystal ball, I will say yes, because we've seen it work in terms of regulation changes time and time again.
• 14:44
  There will be engine modifications as early as next year as well, but they're changing slightly in the regs, so there'll be more internal combustion power versus electrical power.
• 14:54
  I think that's moving to a 60-40 split from memory.
• 14:58
  Obviously, we had the safety concerns when we see that massive difference in energy use
• 15:05
  and harvesting that the drivers spoke about.
• 15:09
  The other thing that I think everybody probably should take with a little bit of a grain of salt, especially in the early parts of the season, there tends to be a bit of a pattern rusty where the teams complaining about the regs are the ones that aren't winning and the teams who don't complain about the regs are the ones that are up and about in the podium.
• 15:25
  So we also, let's just see how it plays out
• 15:28
  before we jump to any conclusions.
• 15:31
  Obviously, let's make it safe.
• 15:33
  But I think over time, this will figure itself out.
• 15:36
  I'm a believer that we do need to listen to the drivers there, the ones who are there.
• 15:42
  And for the first, I don't know, third or half of the race at Melbourne, when we got our first glance at these new regulations and what the cars would be like, I thought, this is great.
• 15:51
  We've got a lot of passing here.
• 15:53
  And then the reality sort of sunk in that there was a...
• 15:58
  an almost artificiality about it.
• 15:59
  It didn't feel as on the absolute limit when they made those passes as we want, as purists of the game.
• 16:07
  Now, not many people are fans of the boss of the FIA.
• 16:11
  That's a very difficult job, obviously.
• 16:13
  He told us in Miami that they're likely to fast-track the next series of regulations with a view to kind of V8s again and hallelujah, I say.
• 16:26
  Yeah, I mean, just for the sound purely, let's get that off the gun straight away for all the purists out there.
• 16:33
  And if you've been to the Oz Grand Prix, the supercars do sound better than the F1s, which is saying something, well, in my mind, they do anyway as it currently stands.
• 16:44
  Yeah, look...
• 16:46
  As I said, I think we will figure it out as a sport.
• 16:50
  It'll get to a point, but it's a good point that you raise, Rusty, about let's not get into passing for the sake of passing.
• 16:56
  Let's not just create passing opportunities, not because of the racing, the cars and the drivers.
• 17:03
  Instead, it's being...
• 17:05
  officially created, to use that phrase, these passing opportunities.
• 17:10
  So you have a look at the number of passes in a race and is that overinflated because of something we've just created ourselves?
• 17:18
  And yes, at times it can be entertaining.
• 17:21
  What I do like though about rate changes is we get to see things like the Macarena wing.
• 17:26
  We get to
• 17:29
  like that.
• 17:30
  That's one of my favourite parts about regulation changes.
• 17:33
  What little loophole is somebody going to try and exploit?
• 17:36
  What different bit of creativity are we going to see?
• 17:39
  And so that's been a little fun, I guess, side quest in terms of the regs, which I have found entertaining.
• 17:45
  Looking ahead to this weekend's race, can Kimi Antonelli do it yet again?
• 17:51
  Who wins?
• 17:54
  Look, I'd be a fool to say it wouldn't be Kimi.
• 17:58
  I wouldn't be shocked if we see a little bit of a surprise as well.
• 18:01
  I don't know what that surprise is going to come in the form of, but I feel like we're due for a little bit of a surprise, maybe somebody from another team popping up.
• 18:11
  But I will also do that with a little bit of a fence sitting at the same time.
• 18:18
  Okay, so far your tips for 2026 are going all right, my friend.
• 18:23
  Before we go, what have you been working on there at Code Sports?
• 18:25
  Give us a little insight to some of the stuff you've been covering.
• 18:29
  Yeah, plenty, plenty going on.
• 18:31
  As I mentioned, yeah, great yarn from Beck Williams and James Phelps about Max and that potential for the Bathurst 12-hour.
• 18:39
  They have a column track talk, which has got some really great stuff in it for all the motorsport fans, lots of different tidbits and whispers from around the various paddocks around the country and, of course, Formula 1.
• 18:51
  Thank you for coming back on again, Matt, and we'll get you on again in a few rounds' time.
• 18:55
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 18:56
  Great to be back, mate.
• 19:03
  .