Latest / Pit Talk / Monza Madness, Marc Marquez Magic & Nick Percat chats Enduro Season | Shannons Round Up

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Monza Madness, Marc Marquez Magic & Nick Percat chats Enduro Season | Shannons Round Up · Pit Talk

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We have got a lot to catch up on because
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: F1 Championship leader Kimi Antonelli won his home race from
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the back of the grid in an historic day at Monza.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Supercars gears up for Enduro Cup starting at the bend
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this weekend. And MotoGP, well, what can we say? We
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: went from Marquez land. Now we head to the marvellous
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix. And I tell
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you what, that championship is starting to get spicy. But
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: this episode of Pit Talk, Shannon's Roundup, is brought to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you by Shannon's Insurance. And we are the home for
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: everything happening across the world of motorsport. I'm your host,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Renita Vermeulen. And joining me is the man who you
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: can call to answer any of your F1 questions, except
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: why on earth did Ferrari keep doing this? Michael Laminato?
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: And let's go to MotoGP, where it gets a little
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: bit chaotic to explain. There's only one man we call,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and unfortunately for him, he always seems to answer. It's
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Matt Clayton. Welcome, fellas, back to the Pit Talk, Shannon's Roundup.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: And Michael, let's start with the Italian Grand Prix, because
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Kimi Antonelli, do I need to say any more?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Remarkable weekend for Kimi Angeli and really all on him
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: to salvage a good Italian result on a day Ferrari
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: let everyone down I know we're going to talk about
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: that a little bit later on but just one of
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: the you know I don't know about you Matt when
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: you were watching it but I just laughed when he
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: crossed the line in first like I couldn't believe it
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: that he could actually pull that off from the back
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: of the grid and not only that obviously defeating his
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: teammate George Russell was the, I'm not sure if it's
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: the icing on the cake or the stab in the heart.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: It depends on your perspective, I guess, on this one. Um,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: but a remarkable performance that I think if, you know,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the question we're constantly asking ourselves, not just because we
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: want an exciting ending to the season, but because it
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: is the question of the moment, will anything stop Antonelli
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: from winning the title? This is one of those performances
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: that you just underlined. The answer being no, this is,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: this is where he's going. It's a championship winning kind
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: of performance from a championship caliber driver.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Um, Just outstanding.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: This will go down, I think. We don't know how
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: his career is going to play out from here, but
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: this will be one of those races that we look back.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: A bit like when Sebastian Vettel won at Monza in 2008.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: It's one of those races that will be, do you
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: remember the day Antonelli won from the back at Monza?
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: And the crazy part about it is I was talking
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: to someone who was very deeply entrenched in F1 for
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: a long while, who now no longer is. And at
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: the start of the race, he said, can you imagine
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: if Antonelli beats Russell in this race today? And I
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: just went back instantly and said, yes, I can. Because
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: there's just something about both of those drivers in a
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: situation like that. I was trying to play the role reversal.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Imagine if Antonelli was on pole and Russell was at
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: the back. And could you have imagined the opposite happening?
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: No, I couldn't.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: And I think the crazy part about what he did
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: on Sunday was that he didn't make it. Look, it
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: wasn't easy. And there was definitely some benefit with what
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: happened with the red flag and the fact that he
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: got to have two goes at first laps and did
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: incredibly well on both of them. But there was just
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: this seeming inevitability about it all, which is crazy when
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: you think he's just won from the second lowest grid
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: position in the history of Formula One. But it didn't
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: feel surprising. It just felt incredibly impressive. And, you know,
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: your reaction when he crossed the line to laugh, I
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: did something similar in that I just shook my head,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: but it wasn't in disbelief. It was more that knowing, yeah,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: this guy really is this special, isn't he? Because that's
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: the sort of race win that very few people in
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: F1 history would be able to muster. And the fact
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: that we just saw it as being, oh yeah, this
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: is something this guy can do. I think it's his
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: first race as a 20-year-old, if I'm not mistaken. It's
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: just impressive on so, so many levels.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it is, if you go back and watch
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: the first lap, I think it applies to both of them,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: but particularly the original first lap, I guess, rather than
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the restart one.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: What I thought, and this isn't the first time, sadly,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: that I've made a bit of an Oscar Piastri reference here,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: but it's negative, but I don't mean it to be negative.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: But 20-year-old, home Grand Prix. We know what he's been
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: like at his home Grand Prix for the last two seasons,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: haven't we? Crashed out of FP1 that first year, before
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: he was an F1 driver. Last year had such a
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: poor performance that he got, in his own words, a
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: kick up the bum from Toto Wolff and his race
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: engineer and said, it's time to put your head in sun.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: This year was completely flawless. But that first lap was just...
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: It could have been the opportunity where he threw it
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: all away because he had nothing to lose in a
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: way anyway. He was going to score maybe a handful
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: of points or so.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: But the.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: The perfect balance of aggression and control and cautiousness, but
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: still being assertive, was just what was so impressive about
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it for me. Because he had to pass, obviously, quite
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: a few cars to get to the front. And almost
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: all of them were overtakes. There was not that much
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: attrition in this race, really, other than the Ferrari drivers,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: but we'll talk about that again in a moment. That
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: he had to do that work and never seem off-balance
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: by it, nothing seemed to overwhelm him, as I think
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: It speaks to the mental side of it as much
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: as the driving ability side of things. And then let's
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: contrast him before we move on to George Russell here,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: because that's the other side of the equation. This was
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the weekend for him to score some points against his
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: teammate who was starting at the back of the grid
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: and put some kind of hope in his championship challenge,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: which I mean, it's surely over at this point. But
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: the thing that must hurt for him most is is
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: that he actually had a perfectly good race. You know,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: he should have qualified on pole, but whatever. Sometimes Monza
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: qualifying is a little bit funny. Pierre Gasly, we can't
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: fault him for an excellent performance there. Passed Gasly very quickly,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: controlled the pace of the race, had to fend off
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Max Verstappen, did eventually get ahead of him. It's not
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: easy to get ahead of Max Verstappen. There was no,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: he didn't really make any mistakes and he wasn't even
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: really slow because he still finished well ahead of Verstappen.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: But his teammate was just better as he has been
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: for so much of this season. And that's the thing
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: that's got to hurt more than any other element is
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: that he did everything right.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: And that's what he's been saying he's been struggling to
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: do for a lot of the season. Everything went right
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: and he still couldn't win.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a 9.5 out of 10 performance. It
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: was completely fine in and of itself. But you're always
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: compared to the driver in the sister car. And I
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: just think, you know, you look at... You know, this
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: was a weekend where he should have and realistically could
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: have gained a decent haul of points to perhaps delay
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: the inevitable. Because like you, I've been a little bit
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: sceptical about the championship challenge for the entire year. But
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: you also have to look at this in the wider
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: lens of their time together as teammates, however long that
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: is going to be from here. This is a win
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: or a loss, if you're Russell, that's worth far more
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: than the seven points between first and second place in
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: a Grand Prix. Psychologically, this is so unbelievably damaging where...
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: You've got the perfect scenario. You are starting at the
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: front in the best car in the field, and the
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: other guy in the best car in the field is
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: at the other end of the grid, and you still
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: can't win. And I think psychologically, that is a huge blow,
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: much more than the loss on the day, much more
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: than the seven points that he shipped in the championship.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: There's a more longer-term question here, simply because of the
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: gradient of this Antonelli arrow right now. You mentioned the
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: previous two years that he'd been there. He drove in
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: 2024 and 2025 at Monza like an 18 and a
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: 19-year-old should drive at Monza. He was completely driving as
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: he should have. What he's done year on year, if
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: you compare where he is now to where he was
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: 12 months ago, and where that maybe leads to in
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: the future, Antonelli's going to be the sort of driver that,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: quite frankly, no one's going to want to be teammates
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: with at this point, because this is what he's doing
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: to George Russell, who is a perfectly good, acceptable, race-winning
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: Formula One driver. And on this day and at this
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: time and in that car on Sunday, he made him
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: look very, very average. And so I just think psychologically
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: it's worth more than the points that he gained. And
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: you were right in that he's been praying for one
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: of these cleanly executed weekends. Nothing really was there to
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: trip him up. He just ultimately was not quick enough.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: That's what's really interesting is the Kimi Antonelli thing is
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: it's a home Grand Prix. And we know from any
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: athlete who's performing at their home Grand Prix... They have
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: extra pressure, families, their extra media commitments, like you name it.
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: It's this buildup. It's this hype.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Some athletes thrive on it and others just absolutely hate it.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: And I think Kimi learned from what's happened previously at
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: these rounds. And I think he just utilized it to
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: his potential and used it as ammunition and off he went.
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: So, I mean, kudos to him.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And then let's go to the other team that we've
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: mentioned so many times so far, Ferrari. Home Grand Prix
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: once again for them and not necessarily the drivers, but
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the manufacturers. And then this weekend just did not go
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: to plan for them, what they're thinking, you know, what
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: they came with the new engine, some other upgrades. And
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: there was, you know, they could have been a potential
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: podium there for them, but the drivers fought, Charles crashing out, Lewis,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: what is he, sixth? And then those comments that he
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: made at the end. So where does this leave Ferrari?
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Because it seems like there's just no coherence with those
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: guys at the moment.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this was the worst possible outcome. I thought maybe
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Lewis Hamilton not even finishing the race, but the way
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: he finished it wouldn't really make much difference either way.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: This is the, you know, I think to put it
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: in the words of, I think Fred of the show,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: I think he's been on the show, Nate Saunders from ESPN.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: This is such a toxic love affair Italy has with
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Ferrari and Antonelli's finally given them an exit clause because
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: they're someone Italians can get behind for once. It is
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: remarkable for all the reasons you laid out, Renita. They
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: had all these opportunities to do well. They never expected
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: to realistically win this race without circumstances because they know
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: this is the sort of track that doesn't suit this car.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: But the engine from, look, it was hard to get
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: a perfect read on it because of the way racing
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: works in Formula 1 these days, but the engine certainly
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: seemed like a step forward enough that they could have
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: been respectable. And qualifying how they executed better clearly could
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: have been respectable. Probably should have finished ahead of Max Verstappen,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: but Max had just one of those great Verstappen races.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Should have been on the podium.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: But execute this could clip and replay any clip we've
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: talked about for over the last couple of years executionally
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: so poor every day of the weekend at no moment
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: did they look like a race winning or constructors title
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: contending team and this is what I thought was really
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: interesting about the way Hamilton reacted not just afterwards, but
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: for a lot of the weekend, pretty much once the
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: weekend started, probably says as much as anything, that it's
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: almost like he could see the weekend falling apart by
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: the way Ferrari was managing. Now undoubtedly part of that
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: is that home pressure we talked about. As you said, Renita,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: some athletes or teams in this case thrive on it.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Ferrari is not really one of them. Sometimes they have
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: just things click, but most often they don't. You could
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: feel it falling apart. Instead of Hamilton, who is... Compare
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: him to last year when he was talking about how
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: he felt like he wasn't in a position to succeed.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: This year, he feels like everything is sort of in
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: a position to succeed, but he's realized there are a
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: lot of fundamental weaknesses in this team. This felt like
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a, I don't know, it felt
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: like an important moment, not just because it was in Italy,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: but it was a really important reality check of where
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: this team and project is.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's interesting. It feels that his voice is
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: getting louder and more frequent and more irritated the longer
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: this season goes on. And I think so much of
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: last year was him needing to work on himself and
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: to sort of wash away the Mercedes-ness of the way
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: that he went racing because he was there for so long.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: And it's one of those things, the longer you stay
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: with a team and have the success that he had,
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: it takes some time to gradually wean yourself off that.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: And so maybe in hindsight, his 2025 wasn't so much
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: of a surprise. I mean, obviously, statistically, it was poor
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: relative to what we're used to. But you can see
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: in the comments and the mounting frustration that he clearly
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: feels that he is in a much better place on
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: a personal level. And I think this goes back to,
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: you know, in the back of his mind, he must
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: be thinking, how would Mercedes have handled this? And, I mean,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: the short answer to that is better because it would
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: be hard to be worse, quite frankly, than Ferrari at
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: the Italian Grand Prix on the weekend. But there is
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: an element to it. I've been somewhere that knows how
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: to win these things and knows how to manage them.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: And there is a clear management position and there is
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: a direction and there is a plan that we attempt
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: to follow. Now, we don't always nail the plan, but
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: there is a plan and there is a roadmap to us.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: It always feels to me that... Ferrari is almost making
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: things up as they go along. And if things don't
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: go catastrophically wrong, then that's as much good luck as
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: good judgment, quite frankly. And you cannot have that being
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: the principle of a team with that history and the
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: sort of gravity that it has in any Grand Prix,
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: and particularly this one. And I think that, you know,
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: I mentioned before that I wasn't super surprised with how
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: good Antonelli was over the course of the weekend. I'd
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: probably use that same term for Ferrari because if they
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: had have been slick operationally and pulled off a really
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: great weekend, we would have raised our eyebrows and gone, oh,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: that was good. They got away with that then, didn't they?
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: Because it never really felt like they were going to
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: do that at any point over the weekend. And the
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: defining image for me is what on earth are you
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: guys doing? Was Leclerc and Hamilton side by side into
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: the first two corners where you know at Monza that's
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: going to end in tears. It's all very well if
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: it ends in tears when one of the cars in
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: the two car fight is not one of yours. When
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: they're two Ferraris side by side into the first two corners,
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: everyone loses. And you could just see that coming from
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: a mile off and it just compromised the entire Sunday
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: for them.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: The Mercedes, what would Hamilton be thinking Mercedes would be doing,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: I think really rings true, not just probably in general,
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: because that's kind of why he's there as well, is
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: to bring some of that championship winning insight to a
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: team that hasn't done it in 20 years. But in
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the last few weekends, he's seen great examples of it.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: You know, we saw team orders from Mercedes in this race,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: some temporary ones to prevent the racing, to ensure they
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: were clear of Max Verstappen. A little bit of, you know, unhappiness.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Of course, there is going to be the racing drivers.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: But then they got on with it. And Antonelli still
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: won the race after that. It was similar in Zandvoort,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: in fact, wasn't it? When George Russell was told not
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: to race his teammate, he was bickered a little bit,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: got on with it. To the betterment of the team,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: they got the result. In Zandvoort, Charles Leclerc appeared to
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: ignore team orders to let Hamilton on a faster strategy through.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Hamilton really strongly believes that cost him at a minimum
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: a podium, if not the victory. This weekend, he described
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: there being no rules at all internally at Ferrari, which
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: seems to be the case. But it's just one of those,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: it's probably more than a 1%, because look at what
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: it cost him this weekend. But it's one of those
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: things that is really worth thinking about in advance that
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: may not seem like a lot, just to give your
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: teammates some space on the first lap. if there's a
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: different strategy we just let them through some of these
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: preconditions that just make things move more smoothly maybe it's
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: because Ferrari hasn't had to seriously think about this in
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: so many years but this was just a race that
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: of course had to be the Italian Grand Prix where
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: so much was on the line not just for pride
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: but you know if they were if they were going
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: to be real championship contenders they needed to look respectable
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: this weekend it just so happened it was the Italian
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Grand Prix but really showed up how many gaps there
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: are in this team's game to make it to the top. Again,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: that's what Hamilton's there for is to fill in some
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: of those gaps because the car is still pretty good.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Like obviously not on Mercedes level, but enough that if
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: it was a very well run operation, we could be
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: have been talking about an outside title chance, but it's
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: clear that that's not going to happen this year. Hamilton
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: himself has said it's too late to be talking about
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: this kind of stuff. And some really stern words going
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: to be happening in Maranello in the next couple of weeks,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: because it feels like we've got a little bit of
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: a clearer insight into the Maybe some tension behind the scenes.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I don't want to overblow it because I don't think
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: it's that serious, but there's clearly a lot of not
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: clicking happening there.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: With nine or 10 rounds still to go in the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: F1 championship, you just mentioned there about Ferrari kind of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: being out.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Of the title fight.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like it's the same then for McLaren?
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I know we haven't really touched on them so far
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: in this episode, but what's your thoughts with them for
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the rest of this championship?
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: I'm interested in your take on this, Matt, because I
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: thought McLaren's weekend was actually a little bit difficult to read.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think, first of all, after Antonelli, I
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: don't think anyone's in this championship anymore, regardless of what
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: the point... Even if he'd just taken a 10-point lead
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: after a race like that, I'd be saying it's all
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: over and it's done. But McLaren, you know, looked as
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: ordinary as I expected in practice. Then Oscar Piastri got
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: within a tenth and a half of pole, and now
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: qualifying was messy, but that was still quite a good performance.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Tenth and a half of a Mercedes-powered pole position. Just
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: not the Mercedes you expected. And in the race, okay,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: not really quite on it, but we see how easy
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: it is to lose race time when you're battling. And
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: the McLaren drivers spent the entire race battling either themselves,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Max Verstappen for a period, Lewis Hamilton for a period,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: very brief period, Kimi Antonelius, he just drifted past them.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: So I think even that gap was a little bit
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: bigger than it could have been. I'm not convinced this
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: was good enough to say, actually, at the average track,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: they're going to be on it. I think they've lost
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: too many points now as a result of Monza anyway.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: But I'm not sure if I feel like this was
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: the positive race for them in terms of just the
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: rest of their season or whether it was actually more
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: of a back down to earth, we're hungry in Zandvoort, Sudadrukha,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: but these next tracks won't.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought it was more one of those sort
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: of neutral, because of just, you know, Monza is such
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: an anomalous track. There's nowhere really like it. And we
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: know that it has, you know, it's draggy on the straights.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: We know that. I mean, the question I would sort
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: of pose would be which out of Ferrari and McLaren
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: would you trust to win more races between now at
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: the end of the year? I'm choosing column.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: B, thanks.
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: But, you know, is anyone else in the championship? No,
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: we've already answered that. But in terms of McLaren for
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: the Monza weekend, it was kind of. It's such an
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: outlier of a place. I mean, I know we've got
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Baku coming up, which has some characteristics with massive straights,
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: but at least there are other elements of that particular track.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: But I wasn't, they were just kind of okay. There
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: was nothing more to it than that. You mentioned the
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: fact that they spent most of the race either racing
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: one another or racing other cars. And much as we
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: hate to say it, racing very, very hard other than for,
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: you know, the win is probably not advisable in Formula
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: One in 2026. You've got to choose where to deploy
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: what you've got. which is a sad state of affairs
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: with Formula One. That's a separate podcast. But in terms
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: of the Norris-Piastri dynamic, I thought, I don't know how
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: you felt about this, Michael, but this felt to me,
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: it was better but not great by Piastri, and that
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: it was a step in the right direction after what
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: had happened the previous two Grand Prix. We know that
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: Norris got him on the final lap, and Piastri settled
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: into what's becoming, unfortunately, a very familiar sort of fifth
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: or sixth place finish at the moment. But I did
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: feel that it was better, But I didn't really think
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: this was a set of circumstances that allowed either McLaren
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: to shine. And, you know, they go onto a new
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: track this weekend in Madrid and, you know, go to reset.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: But I don't think Monza is particularly indicative of the
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: way the rest of their season is going to play out.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's fair. I'm glad you mentioned Madrid.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Sorry, Michael.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Sorry, just really briefly on Piastri. I think you're right,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: although I think his race pace was really good. And
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: I think that was important because the qualifying pace, as
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: we've sort of said in the past, hasn't been the problem.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: But this track, I think some drivers were saying on Friday,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: was much higher grip than expected. And we know that
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the grip level is really closely correlated with Piastri's level
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: of performance. His race pace, by my calculations, was bang
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: on with Norris. And that's all we can ask for,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: because Norris is obviously performing at a.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: Very high level.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: I think if the race had gone on one more lap,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: they would have stopped again. Another lap after that, it's
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: unfortunate Piastri finished behind. But it needs more races. But
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: the trajectory is good, at least, you can say, with
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: one race.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Right, okay, I'm not going to talk over top of
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: anyone now, but Matt mentioned Madrid, and that's something I
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you guys about, because it's got
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: a somewhat confusing name. But apart from that, what can
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: we expect for this weekend?
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: I'm going with Madring, Matt. I don't know about you.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: People saying Madring, I think it should be Madring.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: I want it as two separate words, possibly with a hyphen,
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: so we can just emphasize the mad part of it all.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I want to hear... a couple of different
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: sets of commentators completely butcher and then maybe I'll go
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: somewhere in the middle but something I am looking forward
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: to I don't know about you have you done your
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: research about the famous La Monumental corner Michael Yes.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Oh, I love the name to begin with. The names
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: are all very good. Fantastic. I like the idea that.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: There's a corner like this, a monumental corner like this,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: on what is nominally a street circuit.
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Because it's a very non-street kind of corner. Sort of
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: half Zandvoort, half, I don't know, maybe Singapore's probably not
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: quite right. It's a half other street circuit, let's say.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a really interesting combination. I'm also interested,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, three hours of practice, everything kind of levels
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: out a little bit. But Ferrari's obviously had a little
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: bit of a sample run there. I think Red Bull
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Racing has as well, I think I'm right in saying,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: but not the other teams. And it's debatable how valuable
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: these filming days are, non-representative tyres and all that kind
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: of stuff. But given this track does... It's definitely got character,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I guess, in terms of its layout at least. It's
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: not a standard 90-degree left-right street circuit. It's got some
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: parts to it. How valuable will that running be to
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: getting a bit of a head start this weekend?
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: I do like the fact, I mean, so Renita, for
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: your purposes, it's a 180 degree quarter, which I'm drawing
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: with my finger, which is useless for anyone listening to
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: us on audio right now. But you're in the corner
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: for six seconds and it's got a 14 degree banking
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: in it. So it's a bit like the last corner
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: at Zandvoort. It's almost like a motocross quarter to some degree.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: It's pretty wild. And so watching the different lines that
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: the cars take through here will be interesting because the
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: rest of the track is... a bit standard street circuit.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: It's such an anomalous corner for the remainder of the track.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: It'll be really interesting to see how people use that
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: particular part of the track to set up passes at
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: subsequent corners because we've got no sample size yet. So
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: the opening lap and the different lines that people take
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: through there, it's going to be really interesting. I'm quite
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: looking forward to it, I've got to say.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: It's exciting.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, something new, a new circuit coming to Formula
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: One is great. We know that new circuits are popping
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: up in a lot of these championships that are happening.
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: So, I mean, change is.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Always welcome. I say that with a little asterisk there
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: because I'm sure there's going to be, you know, a
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: lot of people having their opinion on this as well.
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: I wonder what you're thinking about there, Renata. But anyway, continue.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Go on.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Carry on.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Let's move on from Mad Ring. I'm going to go
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: with that for a hot minute to Move of the Week. And, fellas,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: this is brought to us by and to listeners by
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Shannon's Insurance. I'm going to start because mine's so trivial
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: and then you guys can go off with the cool stuff.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But Lightning McQueen being at Monza.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: This was my favorite part of everything.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know how you felt about this. I'm assuming
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: that you must have been watching Cars when you were younger,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: but the Cars is a 20-year-old franchise.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: I didn't like hearing that.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: No, no, that's confronting.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God.
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: I was old then. I was old then.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: But I did like that because I think it was
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Liam Lawson who, I don't know if he was, to
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: some extent unironically described Lightning McQueen as his hero as
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: a child. And there's a very genuine photo of him
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: with the little car there.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: And I just liked that. I thought that was nice.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: That's cool. I do like the nomination.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: I just want to say, I don't know if you
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: guys have been on social media.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: But the amount of AI-generated beams of a mater going
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: in and towing out like Charles' car when it crashed
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: and things like that.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: I mean, people are really playing off of it. I
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: know the listeners are going to be.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Like, she's not serious, but I'm all about this, okay?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Lightning McQueen being there, the younger generation coming up.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: Showing it.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: And then when we hear Owen Wilson's voice, Lightning doing
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: a ka-chow on the track, that was.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: Everything for me. So that's my move of the week,
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: but you guys.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Take it away.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: Whatever you got, Michael. Matt, as is tradition, I'll go
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: first this time. I'll go first.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Because I don't think we've ever given an overtaking award
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: to him, as far as I can remember. We're going
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: to give the award to Franco Colapinto for his move
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: on Oscar Piastri on lap two.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, all the.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And look, we've talked about this a lot. Maybe let's
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: not go down the rabbit hole here. But it was
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: hard to know what to think of a lot of
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: the overtakes. There's a lot of action in Monza. But
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: a lot of it was hard to know how much
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: setup there was compared to how much power there was.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: The reason I like Colapintos in that context was that
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: there was clearly a lot of forethought about it. He
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: saw Piastri trying to go down Charles Leclerc's inside at Parabolica.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Saw Piastri back out. Positioned his car then. Clearly saw
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Leclerc have a little bit of a wobble. Maybe he
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: was thinking about the exact same wobble he had six
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: years ago. Charles Leclerc exactly at that point of the track.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: And then set up for the overtake. Obviously, I probably
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: could have known there was a red flag or at
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: least a safety car coming considering there was a big
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: crash there. But in short, he was ahead of Piastri
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: right then. Didn't matter what was going to happen by
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: Turn 1 because the red flag was going to come out.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I just thought it was a really well-executed overtake in
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: a time when we don't know how well-executed the overtaking
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: is in Formula 1. Just a nice bit of thinking,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: capitalising on Lap 1 or Lap 2 as it was, chaos.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give it to him.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: I thought he had other than going off and squandering
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: what would have been probably much better results and otherwise
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: quite a good weekend.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: No, I agree.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: He was very good over the weekend. It was a
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: very opportunistic piece of driving. You mentioned about going down
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: the rabbit hole again. I don't think I've left the
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: rabbit hole. I'm still in there. Don't get me started
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: on battery power graphics, or this may just be thumping
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: the table for the next 20 minutes. I don't want
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: to start doing that. But for my move of the week,
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: entering the left field department, which is why I'm here,
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: let's be perfectly honest. Can we talk about Kimi Antonelli
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: setting the fastest lap of the race on the final
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: lap when he didn't need to, when the race was
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: in the bag? And it was the fastest lap of
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: the race, Michael, by seven tenths of a second. And
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: as far as move of the week goes, that is
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: just a power flex move saying, oh, and by the way,
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: I've just come from 19th on the grid. I'm going
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: to win and have some of this before you leave
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: because I could have gone... I could have gone even
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: faster and it was completely unnecessary. I'm not sure Toto
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: Wolff was completely thrilled with it because he'd done the
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: hard bit. He didn't really need to sort of showboat
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: for the final lap of the race. But that was
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: just a little bit of a reminder to everyone. It's like,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: by the way, I got to the front. That's all
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: very impressive. Look how fast I could have gone in
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: clean air. And I really enjoyed the move for me
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: is the power flex to say, there's plenty more of
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: this where that came from over the course of the afternoon.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: That's one of those ones that everyone else will look
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: at their fastest laps, and then you see this guy
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: seven-tenths of a second ahead of everybody else, and that
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: is the cherry on the gelato, Michael.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very good.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: I like that as well, just because if you're George
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Russell or you're a George Russell fan, you're saying, well,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: that VSC is really what won Antonelli the race, and
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: it certainly helped, but he was only four seconds away
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: from neutralising that gain he got with the VSC.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: So I think.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Seven-tenths of a second only takes a couple of laps
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: for you to realise, actually... He had all the pace
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: he needed to get it done, B or C or no.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: So I like it. It's a great pick.
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: Indeed.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Very good. Let's move to MotoGP now, guys. We've got
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: San Marino this weekend.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: But first of all, because it's been a while since
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: we've all caught up, let's catch up on some of
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: the bigger stories leading into this weekend. And for us, certainly,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: there's none bigger than the news we all saw coming,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: but nonetheless felt very deeply. Jack Miller's MotoGP career is
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: at an end this season. when him and Pramac will
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: part ways. I mean, this year has obviously not been
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: a career highlight for him, given largely the underwhelming Yamaha
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: machinery he's got at his disposal. But tell me, Matt,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: about the timing of this. I mean, we've been talking
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: a lot about his career and when it was going
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: to end and would he be forced out of the
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: sport for the last couple of years. What do we
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: think now that it's actually done? How do we reflect
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: on this?
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: I think the news itself, it's a little bit of
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: a relief I think it's been the longer this story
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: has gone on through the year. I mean, we were hearing,
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: I think, Renita, you were at Jerez, weren't you, where
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: the first sort of signs came out that Jack was
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: told that he was basically, you know, not part of
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: their plans for 2027. They were going to bring Ethan
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: Guevara up from Moto2. I think it's right for a
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: couple of reasons. I think that the Yamaha project's been
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: massively underwhelming this year. We know that. I also think
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: that 27, because of the huge rule change to the 850s,
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: the Pirelli tyres coming in to replace Michelin, it's actually
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: a good time to come in as a rookie next year.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: These bikes aren't going to be these 1000cc, fire-breathing monsters
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: that all these guys are very, very familiar with on
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: familiar tyres. So, It seems that every manufacturer, we know
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: that Davide Alonso is coming in with Honda. Danny Holgado
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: is going in at Ducati. Each manufacturer is bringing in
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: the next guy from Moto2. So it makes sense to
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: bring someone like Guevara in. As far as Jack goes,
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: I mean, look, he was employed by Pramac for the
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: last couple of years for a reason to a degree.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: to try and bring forward this V4 engine project. It
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: hasn't really worked. You could argue that they rushed it
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: into competition this year in a bit of a last-ditch
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: attempt to try and keep Fabio Quattrora, and we know
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: how that's gone. And so, you know, it kind of
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: feels right to a degree. I think the astonishing thing
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: with Jack, and it's something we probably take for granted
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: because he's just been around for so long, When he
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: finishes at the end of this year, he will have
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: started more MotoGP races than every other rider in history,
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: bar six. There'll be six riders that have started more
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: MotoGP races than Jack, which when you think where he's
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: come from, where he's been, and the roles that he
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: has played, it's astonishing he even got there at all.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: And so to get to the end of a career where,
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: you remember, he jumped from Moto3 straight to MotoGP as
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: a 20-year-old in 2015. To finish your career on 220-ish
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: Premier Class Grand Prix starts is kind of astonishing and
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: also just testament to the way here over his career
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: from being this sort of crazy, mullet-wielding lunatic when he
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: came in in 2015 to becoming someone who was just
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: this really technically astute rider. He had a lot to
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: do with the evolution of a lot of the aero
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: and the ride height devices when he was at Ducati.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: He sorted out all the electronics at KTM when he
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: was there because that was a mess when he got there.
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: He's the guy that you turn to now as one
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: of the sports sort of, you know, him and Luca
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Marini are probably the two best technical minds on the grid.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: That's not something we ever would have thought about Jack
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: when he first came in, but it also shows you
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: that you evolve and you have longevity. And, you know, yes,
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: he didn't win the same number of races as Casey
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: Stoner and Vic Dewitt and Wayne Gardner and some of
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: the greats that come from this part of the world.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: But I don't think we should underestimate his impact on
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: the grid.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: And you could just.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: See from the commentary and the sort of the tributes
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: that were going to Jack, you know, he's obviously not
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: finished yet. He's still got nine races to go. But
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: you could just see at Aragon the esteem in which
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: he is held by people within the sport. And it
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: just kind of felt right. I mean, I think he's
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: had a really good run. It feels like the end
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: of that run is here. He will still go and
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: race somewhere because he is a racer. He's still 32
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: years old, 31 years old. But it felt kind of right.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: Renita, you were on the ground at Aragon. How did
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: you feel he took the news? Because he seems sort
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: of accepting but still a little bit restless by it.
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: Would that be the way to describe it?
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like people need to know also
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the backstory of what happened on his way to Aragon.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes.
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: You wrote in your article.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: People don't know this.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: He drove down in his van and had some, like,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: oil leak or something and then rocked up and was
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: trying to fix the van on the side of the road.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: And then he was late for his, like, they call
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: it media scrum, where the riders come and talk to
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: all the press and everything. So he's been late, was
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: late for that. And then they made the announcement. There
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: was all this stuff that happened before. So when he
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: was there... You could just see, and Jack being Jack
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: was just so typical, like, bloody hell, you wouldn't imagine
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: this has happened.
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: And et cetera, et cetera.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: But I think, Matt, you really painted a picture there
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: for people who don't know. What we see from Jack
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: on the cameras is this character, and it's this Australian
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: character that he's definitely portrayed, and it's very natural to
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: who he is, the mullet, the guy who walks around
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: in Crocs and when he pulls wheelies on the tuk-tuk
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: in Thailand, and, you know, like all that stuff. It's
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: so typical Jack. But then there is this really intelligent
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: developer that people also don't see. So it's really easy
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: for people to sit on a keyboard and be like,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Jack doesn't deserve to be there, blah, blah, blah. What
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: you just listed is like the icing on the cake
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: of everything. There's all these layers that he has done
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to help develop these bikes. But to answer your question,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: I think there is like some form of acceptance there.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: I think that Jack's had a time to look back
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: on his career and he is a multiple MotoGP race winner,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: podium finisher, rode for Pretty much every manufacturer that there's
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: been in MotoGP, like he's achieved a lot in his career.
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: I think now he's got the family, he's got the daughter.
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: For him to.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Move to World Superbikes is kind of like that next
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: step where he can keep racing, keep doing what he loves,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: but also live the life that he loves and not
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: be on the road for 22 plus weekends a year and,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: and everything like that. And also that pressure, because like
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: you said, he is in his early thirties, that's getting
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: on for the MotoGP rider. Like he's had his fair share,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of great starts, a lot of great races,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of crashes too, but I mean, he's done
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: us proud as Australians and it's not the end. We're
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: going to have more Australians make their way up through
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the premier class. And what he's done is just help
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: pave the way for it.
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: Cause we know he's so.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Hands-on as well with a lot of the junior guys
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: that are making their way through too. So it's bittersweet.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: It's going to be sad to not have Jack in
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the panic next year in his larrikin. So Phillip Island
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: this year is going to be one hell of an
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Australian Grand Prix.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: Oh yes.
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: For so many reasons.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: Only 10 when the Cars film came out. Remarkable to
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: put it in that context. Let's go back to the
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Yamaha side of this equation because we hinted at it
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: there that Fabio Quattoraro's long and drawn-out breakup with Yamaha
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: is starting to.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: Get pretty ugly.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: I don't know if anyone, I don't know how predictable
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: it was or not, but it's certainly not going well
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: in this final half of the season considering there's a
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: title winning and multiple race winning partnership as well. We
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: heard at the previous round that he's refusing to test
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: new parts for his bike for what he says are
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: personal reasons. What are those reasons? And what's Yamaha's reply
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: been ahead of this weekend?
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: So Quattroro is as checked out and mailing it in
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: as anybody can be a MotoGP right now. And of
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: all of the riders that we're going to change teams
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: or leave the sport at the end of the year,
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: if you had to do a draft of who's going
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: to check out first, it was definitely going to be him.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: To some degree.
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: look, he has now not won a race since the
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: German Grand Prix of 2022, which is the last time
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: Yabaha won a MotoGP race. So those two things go together.
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: They obviously won a world championship. His career has really
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: fallen off. You know, I personally can't wait to see
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: him on a more competitive bike next year because we
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: know how good the guy is. But This divorce was
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: always going to be messy. And at Aragon, he was
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: testing a million things. The engine blew up in the sprint.
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: He finished last in the Grand Prix and, frankly, could
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: not have tried less in that race. He was just
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: tootling around at the back. And the personal reasons that
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: you allude to there, he wanted to be part of
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: the 8.50 test at Austria on the Monday after the
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Austrian Grand Prix coming up later this month. because he
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: wants to get some experience on the Pirelli rubber. And
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: Yamaha have said, no, you're not doing that, which is
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: not unusual for a manufacturer to do that with a
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: rider that's not going to be there next season. There's
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: plenty of riders who won't get to do that test
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: because they are not riding for their new teams until
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: the Valencia post-race test. So that's not altogether unusual. And
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: Quattoraro's thrown the toys out of the cot at this
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: point and said, well, I'm just not testing anything else
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: for you guys for the rest of the year. I'm
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: just not doing it. These are the personal reasons. He
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: had a very a very open press call with the
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: French journalists after Aragon. And Yamaha management has come back
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: and basically said, well, you know, sorry, but, you know,
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: you complain that we're not bringing things and we bring
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: things you don't want to test them. Well, you know,
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: so which is it? Which do you want? And I
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: think the interesting part about this, and I have written
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: about this on a piece that's going to go up
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: on the Fox Sports website, probably after everybody listens to this,
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: but the interesting hire for me, Renita, was the fact
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: that Quattroro signed that two-year contract extension with Yamaha in 24,
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: so to cover 25 and 26. That was done when
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: Lynn Jarvis was still in charge. And so Paolo Pavesio
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: has come in about five or six months after Quattroro
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: had signed this deal. It's about a 12 million euro
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: a year deal. So he's one of the highest paid
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: riders on the grid. The results have been next to
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: nothing and things have just got increasingly fraught. And I
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: think it's getting to a point where Yamaha management usually
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: doesn't say much to bite back in situations like this,
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: but I think they probably just got a little bit
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: over it. and have said, well, look, you're asking us
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: to bring things here, there, and everywhere, and now you
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: don't want to test them.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: So which is it?
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: Do you want the things, or do you want to
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: test what's actually going on here? And we don't have
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: a crystal ball segment on this particular podcast anymore, but
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: I'd like to resurrect it for the next 30 seconds,
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: because if you had to think of a rider team
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: partnership that might not last until the end of the year,
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: it would not surprise me if they get to a
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: point where they just say, look, can you just not
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: come for the next last few rounds of the season?
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: We've got Augusto Fernandez. We'll stick him on the bike.
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: you don't have to be at the flyaways or don't
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: turn up in Portimao or whatever it is. Because to me,
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: this feels like it's only going to go in one
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: direction from here and that direction is worse.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Is this not like a flashback of like Vinales? I mean,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: also not necessarily a flashback, but a flashback in that
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: same situation.
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: Completely.
• 37:25
  Speaker 6: Whoa.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: Spicy.
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: I love it.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: I never thought of it from that angle, but yeah,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: it was, you know, watching him in Aragon and, Watching
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: his body language, watching just Fabio out on track, it's
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: not him. And like you said, he's checked out. I mean,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Pecco's also the other one that's definitely checked out now too.
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: But I am very excited to see Fabio on the Honda.
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: Now, rumors are.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Diogo Moreira is going to be joining him on the factory.
• 37:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Honda and David Alonso will go to LCR, which I
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: personally think is a really, really good combination there to
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: have Zarco work with a rookie, have Diogo, who we
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: see that potential. But then I also start to think,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: what's that going to be like? Diogo, Fabio in factory Honda.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: So I'm so excited for 2027. We've every time we
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: do a pod, we're like, yeah, next year is going
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: to be great.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: But Fabio this year.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: I think he's just counting down.
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: He's like, Aragon, done.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Mazzano's so bittersweet for him as well because that's where
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: he won the world championship.
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: Michael Laminato's favourite moment in modern MotoGP history, the CGI
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: dancing devil when he won in 2021.
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: Does he get better? That'll be the tattoo. Not the devil,
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: but the scene of the devil coming out of the ground.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: Comfortably one of the greatest bits of television, probably in
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: sports broadcasting, I think.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, no. It's so grim. It was so bad.
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: I'm going to have to put that back onto the
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: socials this weekend.
• 38:52
  Speaker 7: Yeah, we need to see it for old time's sake.
• 38:54
  Speaker 7: Remember when. Let's do it. I think personally MotoGP has
• 38:59
  Speaker 7: only got worse since then. That was the high point. Look,
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: from the Checked Out Championship, let's go to the real thing.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: And I want to start not just with the permutations,
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: although inevitably we will get there, but with Marc Marquez,
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: of course. Can't talk about the title without talking about him.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Dominated in Aragon. Sprinted Grand Prix victory. We all know
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: he's been getting to this unexpected championship challenge this year,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: considering where he started the year, despite, obviously, that growing
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: list of injuries that have defined his last few seasons.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: But I want to talk specifically about the photo he
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: posted to Instagram at the weekend displaying approximately 50% of
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: a normal right arm. How much does that recontextualize his
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: battle in this championship? Because we know the injury is
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: part of it. We talk about it pretty much every round.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: But how much does seeing how much of him is
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: physically absent in this battle mean? change the story here.
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: I oh god you get you go first because i
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: i have a point to make here but go on
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: you go.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: First imagine a soccer player you know when they roll
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: an ankle and they're out for the rest of the
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: season imagine a football player should i keep going Mark
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Marquez is riding around controlling a bike, defying gravity, utilizing
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: his whole every ounce of his being with part of
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: his arm that is just not there. Oh, I posted
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: it on the socials, guys.
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: Go and look at that.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: All of this is not there, and he's muscling around.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Imagine trying to drive a car normally, and this man's
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: doing it in Aragon. It was bloody hot, you guys,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: and he's still out there doing it, and he won.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: Did I make a point now, Matt? You can make
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: a point now.
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: I enjoyed that a lot. I especially enjoyed the rolling
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: of the right shoulder because you actually have one where
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: he doesn't. The thing I absolutely loved about this, I'm
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: so glad we've brought this up, is that Mark is
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: as savvy and as cunning as an operator behind the
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: scenes as there has possibly ever been in MotoGP. And
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: so anyone that thinks that that photo was just posted
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: on that day on a whim for no particular reason
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: is absolutely kidding themselves. That was put up there. very
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: very deliberately for a reason as if to say well
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: i've won four of the last six grand prix and
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: i'm in the championship fight and look how compromised i
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: am so if these guys can't beat me given that
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: i've only got one and a half working shoulders oh
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: and we're about to go to misano which is a
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: right-handed circuit and it's a vr46 circuit and oh who
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: did i have a rivalry with back in the day
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: And I'm very good at Masano, but I've still only
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: got one and a half working shoulders, and I'm still
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: in this championship fight. So it's almost as if to say,
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: if you guys can't beat me this year with me
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: looking like this, then I don't know what you're doing,
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: quite frankly, right now. I loved it for the timing
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: of it, because everything that Mark says and does is
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: so deliberate and so of a point. Now, getting back
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: to Renita's point, it is borderline miraculous what he is
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: doing right now, considering how compromised he is physically. You
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: can even see the position that he sits on the
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: bike at the moment is not a natural position because
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: he is making allowances for the fact that half his
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: body doesn't really work. And so it's astonishing that he
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: is in this championship position. He was 102 points behind
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: at one point, and it's one of those things where
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: you're saying, well, no one's coming back from that far,
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: but he's not nobody. We've seen that time and time again.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: And it's really interesting, Michael, you mentioned the not-checked-out championship.
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: It kind of feels to me that it's starting to
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: morph into a battle between three riders now. It's the
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: two factory Aprilias with Bizzacchi and Martin and Marquez on
• 42:32
  Speaker 4: a Ducati. You add the fact that Marquez has one
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: and a half working arms. You add the fact that
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: Jorge Martin's leaving at the end of the season, which
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: is another big storyline.
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: In all of this.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: This is all building to a really, really nice championship
• 42:45
  Speaker 4: fight between... Bizecki is the healthiest and probably has the
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: most to gain from this. Martin's getting paid from Yamaha,
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: and he's already won a world championship, so it'd be
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: nice to have. No big deal if he doesn't. He's
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: probably not the quickest of that three. But if Mark
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: was to win this championship, having missed two Grand Prix
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: and being in the physical condition that he is for
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: it to be his eighth Premier Class World title, it
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: would be absolutely astonishing. And I just love the, I'm
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: just going to put that photo out there a week
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: before Mizano so everybody can talk about it tactic because
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: it's clearly worked because we're doing it.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: But what about the social post that came out from
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: RotoGP.com where it was Mark's mother, Rosa, talking to Pedro.
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: After the Aragon.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: So Pedro made it onto the podium, which we know
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: what he's doing on a KTM right now is phenomenal.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: And the fact that she goes, wait for next year
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: to Pedro. She's like, you just wait for next year
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: because we know he's going to be teammates with Mark
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: at Ducati. So even that is like so exciting. And
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: hopefully if Mark's healed and everything's better and he actually
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: has like 75% of a working arm or something, like.
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: It's just going to be phenomenal.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: But then you have that other point of what you
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: just said of Jorge Martin. Imagine Jorge Martin wins the
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: championship again. and then moves to another manufacturer again.
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: Again, yeah.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: We've never had that happen in MotoGP before.
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, the best part about this is that
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: there's not an outcome that you can look at and go, yeah,
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: I absolutely cast-iron believe this is going to happen. It
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: feels so up in the air right now. And you
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: add to the fact that we still don't even know
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: how many races we've got left between now and the
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: end of the season. That's just another curveball to add
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: into things. So the championship running is going to be
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: absolutely fantastic. The fact that you add the final Australian
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: Grand Prix at Phillip Island in the mix for all
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: of that somehow in those last eight or nine races,
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: however many we've got, the end of the season is
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: going to be awesome. I cannot wait.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: Give me your very quick picks before we move on
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: to a little bit of a crossover subject to take
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: us to the finish.
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: What are you.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: Expecting this weekend? Mazzano, we know Marquez has a pretty
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: good recent record there, certainly, with or without 100% of arm.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: It's hard to know where the percentage has been over
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: the last few years, I guess. Important as we get
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: towards the end of the European season, there's only a
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: couple of races left. How do you see this one
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: playing out?
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: It's his best clockwise circuit of his career. He's won
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: there six times. So, you know, this whole anti-clockwise versus
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: clockwise thing isn't as much of a factor as it
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: is here. My pick for this weekend is Marco Pesecchi.
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: I think it's one of those weekends where I think
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: he's a month further on from where we saw him
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: at Silverstone, where he probably shouldn't have been on the bike.
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: He was in such discomfort there and he's managed to
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: get through that. He's banked decent results. He was very,
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: very good at Aragon, took the fight to Mark as
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: we saw as much as anyone can there. He's at home.
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: He battled Mark there very, very strongly the last time.
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: And maybe I'm just cheering for the championship narrative here
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: because him winning would make it closer at the front.
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: But I think this will be an Aprilia track. I
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: think it'll be Bizecki, but I think it will be
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: incredibly close. And if Mark runs him really, really close here,
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: then I think that just shows you the level that
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: Mark's operating at at the moment. But I can see
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: another Bizecki-Marquez head-to-head.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I also think, remember, this is
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: a VR46 home track, a home territory. So with that
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: being said, I wouldn't necessarily rule out the Italians that
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: are going to come through. And in particular, I'm thinking Digia.
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: I know he's not really.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: Part of the whole, like, academy thing, but Ducatis are
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: going to be strong here, tie in race, tie in
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: home track, everything like that.
• 46:22
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't necessarily rule him out.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: But, yeah, as soon as Michael asked the question, I
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: was like, bez. he's part of the VR 46 mafia
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: as well. So, I mean, it's all interconnected, but yeah,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: I really think this is a best, a best track.
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: Well, and the bonus of this circuit as well, Michael,
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: as a person that hates corner names with a passion
• 46:37
  Speaker 4: and just likes to number things, being the pedant for
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: these things as you are, one of my favourite corner
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: names in MotoGP, La Quecha, the oak tree, I believe
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: it's called. So you'll enjoy that. Or you just call
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: it turn six, but yeah, sure. Yeah, well, it's not
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: so much that I'm against corner names. I'm just against
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: corner names being a substitute for personality.
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: That's the only thing that I'm up against. Okay, sure.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: But there are some, look, MotoGP has some great corners.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: Some of the MotoGP circuits, rather, have some great corner names.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: There's no doubt about that. I'll give you that one.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: Let's go to a little bit of a crossover angle here.
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: What's that, sorry?
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: Arabiata 1 and 2.
• 47:12
  Speaker 5: That's it, Mugello.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: I just love it. It's like, do you like country
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: or western? I like country and western. 1 and 2.
• 47:17
  Speaker 5: Sorry, continue.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: Very good.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: Let's move on now to just before or as we
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: transition seamlessly into supercars, of course, there is a little
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: bit of a shared territory here. In the last week
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: as well, we got the revelation of the new Adelaide
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: street circuit that will be in use from next year
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: when the Australian Grand Prix Motorcycle Grand Prix moves from
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: Phillip Island to Adelaide. That also means, of course, that's
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: where supercars will be racing because that's what's currently occupying
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: roughly those arrangement of roads in roughly that area at
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: the moment. The last Adelaide Grand Final on the current track,
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: which dates back to 1999, will be later this year.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: But this was the question, obviously, in MotoGP that was
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: being asked about this race for a long time, is
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: what is it actually going to look like? The track
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: that was revealed at the launch is similar-ish to the
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: track that was ultimately revealed, but there's that street element.
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: That was always the question. Can you race bikes on streets?
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: I guess the question I have here is, is what
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: they revealed streets in the first place? And what do
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: you think about it from the MotoGP perspective more generally?
• 48:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I've got to say, you know, the whole
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: concept of MotoGP having a street race, you know, you
• 48:20
  Speaker 4: automatically think of layouts like the Adelaide Supercars layout or,
• 48:24
  Speaker 4: you know, your mind drifts to Macau or Monaco or
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: any of these proper street tracks. It's not like that
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: at all. I mean, it is a parkland circuit would
• 48:32
  Speaker 4: be the way I'd describe it. It's not a permanent track.
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: It's not a street track. It's a parkland track. It
• 48:37
  Speaker 4: reminds me a little bit of Albert Park, Michael, funnily enough,
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: in that there'll be a few trees around and so
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: on and so forth. As far as a layout goes...
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: You have to look at this through two lens. The
• 48:47
  Speaker 4: first lens is the obvious one. Is it Phillip Island?
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: No.
• 48:50
  Speaker 4: That's the end of that conversation because nowhere is. I mean,
• 48:52
  Speaker 4: Phillip Island and Mugello, and I'll fight you for which
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: one you'd like to think is the best track in MotoGP.
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: If we're comparing this to Phillip Island, then it's obviously
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: a very, very poor second place. As far as an
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: actual circuit goes, given the geography that you've got to
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: work with and given where it is next to a
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: city circuit, I expected to dislike the layout more than
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: I did. I don't mind it at all. Now, I'm
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: not looking at it from a position of how safe
• 49:17
  Speaker 4: is it, how good's the racing going to be and
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: that sort of stuff. We don't necessarily know that but
• 49:21
  Speaker 4: in terms of the layout the way the corners flow
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: the types of corners the fact that you will see
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: these bikes hitting 340 ish on the main straight which
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: is you know pretty damn quick for any track let
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: alone a parkland circuit i'm not going to call it
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: a street circuit I didn't mind it as far as
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: the layout went. Now, I mean, obviously the proof of
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: the pudding's in the eating and all of that, but
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: maybe because my expectations were very low with what it
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: was going to be like, I did not actually mind it.
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: But Renita, you were on the ground at Aragon, so
• 49:51
  Speaker 4: it was announced on the Sunday morning of Aragon. So
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: it was obviously Saturday, Sunday afternoon here in Australia. What
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: was the reaction like within the paddock once people had
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: seen it? Because I think people were a little bit
• 50:03
  Speaker 4: surprised from a distance.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely felt like that. It felt like a
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: lot of people were expecting quite a boring, like, you know,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: we saw that rough outline when the announcement originally happened
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: earlier this year. And I think, you know, when I
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: was looking at the video content that was shared and
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: looking at the photo, it's like, oh, there's a chicane here. Okay. Like,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: like there's, there's some characteristics to it.
• 50:29
  Speaker 5: And that kind of was what everybody was talking about.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's still really up in the air and,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: and Pekka Bunyaya was like, it's not Phillip Island, but
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: it's never going to be Phillip Island, like you said.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: So I think people are also trying to start to
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: come around and come to terms with the fact that, okay,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: we're going to go to a new place. We're going
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: to do something different. And then I think looking at
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Mark's reaction was quite interesting where he's like, oh, there's
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of trees. And he's just looking at this video,
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: you know, oh, there's a lot of trees.
• 50:59
  Speaker 5: And it's like, oh, yeah.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: You forget, like MotoGP circuits are homologated that there's literally
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: nothing around, right?
• 51:06
  Speaker 5: I'm trying to think of the closest tree.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking of the one at Phillip Island, but that's
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: like upwards towards, like at the Hayshed. But if you
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: go to the national series, you go to like BSB
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: or something, they're racing at tracks where there's jumps, there's trees,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: there's this. They're so used to it.
• 51:21
  Speaker 5: It's been so far removed from MotoGP that I think
• 51:24
  Speaker 5: to bring.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Something like that back was quite, oh, okay. But one
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: thing that I think people really started to notice were like, oh,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: they've utilized some of the OG F1 track here because
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: they've kept the Senna part of.
• 51:36
  Speaker 4: It, right?
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: And I was actually talking to Senna about it. And
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: he's like, it's really cool that there's a part of
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: the track that Senna raced on and my name's Senna
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: and blah, blah, blah. So I think people are starting
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: to come around to it.
• 51:47
  Speaker 5: It's mixed still.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: It's going to be mixed until we get there because
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: there's still people going, is it even going to go ahead?
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: And obviously we want it to go ahead and we
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: want it to happen. But look at what happened in
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: Brazil earlier this year, you know? So I think when
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: MotoGP do get there, it's like we want all the
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: boxes ticked. We want to make sure everything's good to
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: go ahead because we're going to be making history here
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: in Australia doing this.
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I just wonder what corner the sinkhole is going
• 52:11
  Speaker 4: to be on, Michael.
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: But that's another story.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
• 52:13
  Speaker 5: Let's not go there.
• 52:15
  Speaker 3: Let's not go there.
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: But from your perspective, from that four-wheel supercars perspective, I mean,
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: you've got much more of a read on what the
• 52:23
  Speaker 4: reaction was going to be like. And it obviously is
• 52:25
  Speaker 4: a very beloved circuit for supercars and hasn't really changed
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: over the course of the history of that event there. Now,
• 52:31
  Speaker 4: you know, not all change is good, clearly, but are
• 52:33
  Speaker 4: there elements of this that you see people being relatively
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: okay about, or is there a lot of just lamenting
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: about what it isn't?
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: I've got to admit, I was.
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: Obviously, knowing Adelaide is quite a well-loved track, but I've
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: always thought of Adelaide more as a well-loved event.
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: It's a very good supercar track, obviously.
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: But I was almost taken aback by how much lamentation
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: there was among fans for the loss of this circuit.
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: It probably recontextualized things a little bit for me. And
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: that's because a lot of the parts of it that
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: are iconic are gone. And that's because most of the
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: track is gone. The reality is that this is pretty
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: much an entirely new circuit.
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: I think I did the.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: Measurements and there's about 600 meters that's retained roughly of
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: the current track compared to.
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: The new one.
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: And comparing it to the original F1 track, I think
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: it's close to 1.2 Ks from memory, I think I
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: wrote something like that. So it is pretty much a
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: brand new circuit. It's designed to look in parts like
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: the old one. And in that sense, you can't really
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: talk about it in the way that I think a
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: lot of people are anticipating, which is how much of
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: the goodness of the current Adelaide track have they retained,
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: because the answer is pretty much none of it. That
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean it's going to be a bad track. It
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: just means it's going to be a different track. I
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: think there are some elements that will work really well.
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: It's obviously much like it will be for MotoGP. It's
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: going to be very fast. It is going to be
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: very Albert Park-esque because it is clearly designed for faster,
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: more extreme and Grand Prix distance vehicles or bikes, bikes
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: and cars, whatever you want to say. I think I'll
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: be really interested to see how the racing goes because
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: I think sometimes, and you guys are kind of getting
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: this as well, it's easy to look at a layout
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: and think of a similar layout and go, oh, it's
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: not going to work for that reason, or it is
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: going to work for that reason. And sometimes you get
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: to a track and you're actually surprised that it's actually
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: much better than you thought, or for some reason, much
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: worse than you thought. So I'm willing to give this
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: one a little bit of the benefit of the doubt because,
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: you know, Albert Park, the new Albert Park especially, didn't
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: seem to work at sort of first glance for supercars,
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: but then there have been some great races there more recently.
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: Like it's the cars have sort of become to suit
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: the circuit, or maybe they've The drivers have just understood
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: it better, whatever the reason is. So I'm optimistic this
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: can deliver some good racing. It definitely won't be street-style
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: racing because that's a really specific thing in supercars. They
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: race on really street circuits when they say they're racing
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: on street circuits. Like the staircase section of this track,
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: the 90-degree corners, was a great racing section for supercars
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: because that's the way these cars work. There are no
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: corners like that now because the bikes can't do that
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: kind of thing, obviously, understandably. So it'll just be a
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: very different racetrack. And I think that's going to take
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: some getting used to, first of all. But it doesn't
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: mean it can't end up being a great racetrack. But
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: we'll just really have to wait and see until we
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: get there. I think that's always sort of the bottom
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: line with these new tracks is judging them on paper
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: never really seems to work.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: But you caught up with Nick Perkat, didn't you? So
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: did you get a chance to speak to him about
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: what he thinks of Adelaide? Because he's from Adelaide and
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: the Adelaide winner in 2016.
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, a good old Adelaide boy.
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: And I did, I caught up with him and asked
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: him exactly what he thinks about it and what he
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: thinks it's going to mean for his home event. Well, Nick,
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: thanks so much for joining us on Pit Talk.
• 55:41
  Speaker 8: No worries at all. Thanks for having me.
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: Now, before we get into the season, the Enduro Cup
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: that's coming up, we've just been talking on the podcast,
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: of course, about the newly revealed Adelaide Circuit. You're a
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: proud Adelaide boy, and not only that, a race winner
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: in Adelaide as well. What was your first impression of
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: the new circuit, and how do you think it'll work
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: from the supercar's perspective?
• 56:02
  Speaker 8: I think it's interesting. It's obviously very good for.
• 56:08
  Speaker 6: MotoGP and the tourism side of South Australia, which is Um,
• 56:13
  Speaker 6: always been massive with Adelaide 500. So it's definitely exciting. Um,
• 56:19
  Speaker 6: there's definitely an element of my, of me. That's not,
• 56:22
  Speaker 6: doesn't love it because it's the history of that race. Um,
• 56:26
  Speaker 6: and those streets, um, there was so much, obviously there's
• 56:30
  Speaker 6: a reason why it's called the Senator Kane and all
• 56:32
  Speaker 6: that kind of thing. But, um, yeah, I guess eventually
• 56:37
  Speaker 6: things do change and, um, yeah, it's well above my
• 56:42
  Speaker 6: pay grade to make those decisions, but I would have
• 56:44
  Speaker 6: loved it if they just somehow modified the current track
• 56:48
  Speaker 6: and kept some of the history there.
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: We'll have to wait and see how it all pans
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: out next year, I suppose. And just before we look
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: at the Enduro Cup starting this weekend, this race comes
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: around about a year after you announced you were calling
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: it a day as a full-time driver. Preparations for the
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: Enduros aside, because obviously it wasn't long after that that
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: you announced you were going to become a co-driver. How
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: have you found that transition out of going racing every
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: other couple of weeks and being part of the main,
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: the grind.
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: Of the sport?
• 57:17
  Speaker 6: Oh, it's been, it's interesting. I'm probably busier than ever.
• 57:22
  Speaker 6: Like I run my own race team now. So yeah,
• 57:25
  Speaker 6: I'm looking after 25 odd drivers and.
• 57:29
  Speaker 8: I'm at a racetrack nearly every single weekend.
• 57:32
  Speaker 6: So yeah, looking back on the supercar side, it probably
• 57:36
  Speaker 6: looks nearly like it was, part-time versus what I'm doing now. So, yeah,
• 57:41
  Speaker 6: I definitely, you know, you miss the supercar aspect of
• 57:44
  Speaker 6: just driving one. Driving those cars is amazing. But, yeah,
• 57:49
  Speaker 6: I'm enjoying what I'm doing now. So it's, yeah, I
• 57:53
  Speaker 6: feel like I've got the best of both worlds.
• 57:54
  Speaker 8: I get to.
• 57:55
  Speaker 6: Mentor and help and run a race team for the
• 57:58
  Speaker 6: next generation, but also go to AAA and Red Bull
• 58:02
  Speaker 6: and drive with Brock for a couple of weekends a
• 58:04
  Speaker 6: year is pretty cool.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: Well, let's look at the next couple of races that
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: are coming up. As I said, it wasn't long after
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: you announced your full-time retirement that you signed up with
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: 888 as a co-driver for this year. There's obviously a
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: lot more to the role than just turning up this
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: weekend and then Bathurst as well. There's preparation involved and
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. But the fact that it
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: does culminate in two big races, what kind of mindset
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: changes that when you get just sort of two weekends
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: to unleash that competitive element of yourself? Does it change
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: the way you have to think about your job, your craft?
• 58:35
  Speaker 8: I think.
• 58:36
  Speaker 6: I think so a little bit, you know, it's, I
• 58:38
  Speaker 6: don't do anything different to how I would have prepared
• 58:40
  Speaker 6: to be the main driver, but, um, look, there's, you're
• 58:45
  Speaker 6: obviously not driving it at absolute 10 tenths. Um, and
• 58:51
  Speaker 6: on the verge of, you know, the, of making a mistake, it's,
• 58:55
  Speaker 6: you know, your role is a little bit different, but
• 58:57
  Speaker 6: you still expect it to be extremely fast. Um, but yeah,
• 59:01
  Speaker 6: I guess from my side, you know, the test day
• 59:03
  Speaker 6: was a lot different. You're, you just think about driving
• 59:05
  Speaker 6: the car and race trim. You're not worried about peak
• 59:07
  Speaker 6: lap time at all. Um, For me, it's just been
• 59:10
  Speaker 6: more about getting to know the team really well. I
• 59:14
  Speaker 6: spent a lot of time with Brock. I've spent a
• 59:17
  Speaker 6: bit of time at Triple Eight with the engineers. I've
• 59:19
  Speaker 6: been going to a few of their pre-briefs and debriefs
• 59:21
  Speaker 6: during the year just to stay in the loop of
• 59:23
  Speaker 6: what's going on with the cars and how this team
• 59:25
  Speaker 6: operates and then Yeah, this weekend will be interesting at
• 59:29
  Speaker 6: the bend. Like, yeah, just do the couple of co-driver
• 59:32
  Speaker 6: sessions and strap in for the race and just do
• 59:36
  Speaker 6: the best job you can. And hopefully, you know, we
• 59:38
  Speaker 6: have a fast car and I can leave the car
• 59:41
  Speaker 6: in a pretty decent position for Brock to bring it home.
• 59:43
  Speaker 8: But yeah, normally I'm the really nervous one watching my
• 59:46
  Speaker 8: car drive around.
• 59:47
  Speaker 6: So yeah, hopefully I don't make Brock too nervous, but
• 59:52
  Speaker 6: it's definitely a different mindset.
• 59:54
  Speaker 3: Let's start from that team change angle, first of all.
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, you've worked with some of the sports bigger
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: teams in the past, but AAA, at least in the
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: modern era particularly, is the big dog, I guess. What
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: makes this team tick? What have you learned about it,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: particularly in that test day? And is there anything that
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: you've needed in particular to adjust to in the sense
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: of the way they do their business?
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 6: No, the way they do their business makes complete sense.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 6: It's very transparent. It's a team with a very good culture. No,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 6: there's no backstabbing or anything. finger pointing it's we work
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 6: and win and lose as a team um and that
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 6: doesn't matter if you're the driver engineer apprentice chef everyone's
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 6: got the same goal so it's a lot different culture
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 6: to any other team i've been with in my whole
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 6: career to be honest so um it's um definitely refreshing
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 6: and it's i guess all those years of racing them
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 6: wondering what it was like between behind those walls and
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 6: doors it's uh it's probably more than what i expected
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 6: and it's uh yes, it's very clear to see why
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 6: they've had success.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: Well, the teamwork element is obviously going to be very
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: important specifically to your role and your relationship with Brock.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: You are racing the same car. The fact that you
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: have to compromise to some extent as well, the way
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: you both need to get what you need out of
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: that car to find some kind of middle ground. How's
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: that process gone with Brock specifically to take you very
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: long to get on the same wavelength as him having
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: raced against him for so long, but now with him
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: this weekend?
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 8: Um, not really.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 6: I think I got a little bit lucky because the
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 6: MSR team at last year or the two years I
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 6: was there was using triple eight setups.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 8: So we had their IP.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 6: So I had access to Brock's data, um, and set
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 6: up and, you know, I knew a lot sooner than
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 6: other people where I'll be driving an Enduro. So probably
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 6: found my car was set up similar philosophy to his,
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 6: to the back end of last year.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 8: Um, And then, yeah, when I drove it at the
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 8: test day, it all made sense.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 6: Obviously, we'll see what happens, you know, in more anger and,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 6: you know, when, like you said, a bit more competitive sessions.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 6: But so far, it's been nothing crazy. You know, if
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 6: he thinks it's understeering, I thought the same thing. And
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 6: at the end of the day, I think, to be honest,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 6: everyone on the grid, you.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 8: Know, if they get the car right, all of us
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 8: can do a very good job. So fingers crossed.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 6: We get the car in the right window and it
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 6: does definitely make the driving side easier.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: And the relationship with Brock more specifically, I guess, important
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: that it's a positive one. I've no doubt that it is,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: but how have you gone getting to know him a
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: little bit better and particularly in a season where he's
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: trying to go one better than last year?
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we, we drove together a long, long time ago
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 6: at the 12 hour when he was a rookie.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 8: And then I've always had a lot of respect for
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 8: what he does.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 6: So yeah, for two to three years I was you
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 6: know I was always thinking if I once I do
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 6: retire he would be one that I'll be the top
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 6: of my list to drive with because of his work
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 6: ethic off track and just the type of person he
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 6: is that not many people get to see so it's
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 6: been super easy you know we we talk in most
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 6: days see each other you know most weeks as well
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 6: so it's it's been pretty easy and he's just a
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 6: racer and one that's very methodical and.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 8: Yeah I think we're very similar.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 6: In a lot of ways of how he goes about
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 6: his racing as to how I did in my career
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 6: so it's been pretty simple at the moment.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: I want to go back to something you said a
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: little bit earlier as well about the difference between obviously
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: being your car and you're the main driver and then
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: the co-driver getting in to some extent someone else's car
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: certainly it is the case all year. With the finals
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: format it deprioritises some of these races to some extent
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 2: in terms of the points in the championship table but
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: How much is it on your mind that you are,
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: in a sense, playing with another driver's points?
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 3: You've got two weekends to hopefully make a positive impact.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 3: But if anything goes wrong, it's sort of more on Brock,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 3: I guess.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I know how it feels.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 6: I've been on the receiving end of that when your
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 6: co-driver through no fault of their own gets caught up
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 6: in something or something happens in Enduros and it's a
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 6: big dent in your championship. But yeah, to be honest,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 6: the way... Brock and Triple Eight treat each race, they
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 6: just go there to win. So I haven't heard anything
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 6: spoken about finals or anything like that, but I guess
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 6: it makes it easy when he's won the Sprint Cup,
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 6: so he's through.
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 8: But yeah, it's more about.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 6: We're going to execute and get the best result we can,
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 6: and ideally that's a win, and that's just the way
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 6: Triple Eight's wired.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 8: It seems to be they take it a race at
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 8: a time, but.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 6: The froth forefront is this they just go to win
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 6: every single race there's no if buts or maybes so
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 6: um that's probably a little bit different mindset to what
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 6: i've been in other teams so um yeah it's it's
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 6: interesting like yeah like you said it's a big whack
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 6: of points but uh but they also yeah they do
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 6: win and lose as a team so um even some
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 6: of the stuff scotty pyres told me over the years
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 6: of his co-driving there when he's unfortunately crashed the car
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 6: at bathurst he came back to the pits and he
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 6: was really worried and the support he said he got
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 6: um was incredible so yeah it does seem like it's
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 6: definitely um all in together.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: As a driver with a long career behind you probably
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: don't need much of an injection of confidence but heading
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: into the enduro cup and bathurst obviously being the main
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: part of that being a winner of that race before
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: what does that add when you turn up knowing you've
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: done it before and i guess in this particular situation
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: having done it as a co-driver following on then from
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: podiums as the main main game driver oh it was.
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 6: A long time ago uh but i I had a
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 6: really good run at Bathurst for the first five, six
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 6: years of my career at Bathurst.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 8: I had very good results and I found myself on
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 8: the podium nearly every time.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 6: So I think if anyone says they know exactly what
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 6: to do to win there, probably telling a little bit
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 6: of a fib, you know, it's one of those events
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 6: where it does feel like the situation in a day
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 6: in the mountain picks you. So it's yeah, you just
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 6: need to go there with the open mind and, I
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 6: treat Bathurst like any other race.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 8: You go in there to do your job.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 6: So you shouldn't be putting more effort into winning at
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 6: Queensland Raceway than you do to Bathurst because it's still
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 6: a race win.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 8: So, yeah, I'm just, I'm excited to get back there.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 6: Especially with a team like Triple Eight and driving alongside Brock.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 6: And then, you know, on the other side of the garage,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 6: you've got Will Brown and Scott Pye, amazing drivers and,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 6: You know, our team boss is Jamie Wingup, so there's
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 6: a fair bit of brainpower there on how to drive
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 6: the car fast.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 8: And that team knows how to win, so I think
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 8: I'm going to learn a lot from them.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: And finally, of course, it starts with the bend this weekend.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: What's it going to take for a good result in
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: tail and bend?
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 8: No mistakes, really. It's a difficult place to pass. We're
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 8: on the West Circuit, obviously.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 6: I think, honestly, that race becomes a bit of a
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 6: sprint race these days, so it's... you're just going to
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 6: have a fast car, um, minimize mistakes in, in and
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 6: out laps, race starts, pit stops, um, you know, driver changes.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 6: But at the end of the day, it, the way
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 6: the tire degradation is at tail and bed, we've seen
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 6: over the years that the cars get faster over the stint, um,
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 6: with the fuel burning off.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 8: So it's just an all out sprint each stint. So yeah,
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 8: as long as.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 6: We execute our run plan and everything in practice, um,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 6: and put ourselves in the best spot we can with, um,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 6: car set up and starting position, I think would be
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 6: in for a good day, but, uh, you know, there's
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 6: some seriously fast competitors like the Brodie Hazelwood cars can
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 6: be super fast.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 8: You know, you got Cam Waters, Winterbottom, um, Dave Owens
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 8: lady out there.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 6: Like it's, you know, you're, you're winding back the clock
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 6: five years ago and that's the front three or four
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 6: rows of a main game race.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 8: So, um, it's not going to be easy at all.
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 2: Well, good luck for this weekend and for the Enduro Cup.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: And thanks for making the time to talk to us
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: on Pit Talk.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 8: Thank you.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 3: Thanks to Nick.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: Percat for joining me to chat about, obviously, the Enduro
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: Cup coming up, starting with the Bend this weekend, where
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 2: he'll be co-driving with Brock Feeney. Also, of course, a
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: Bathurst winner. So in a weird way, taking a bit
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: of his own experience into the new lineup there. But also,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 2: of course, looking back at the changes to Adelaide and
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: what that means for his home event.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: Amazing. Well, it seems like that's pretty much wrapped up
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: all the latest goss that we have from the world
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: of motorsport for Pit Talk this week. But listeners, you
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: better get comfy on that couch because we have got
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: all three on track this weekend.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 5: First up, it is supercars.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: Like you said, the Enduro Cup, they're at the Bend 500.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: It is on from 2.15 AEST from this Sunday. And
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: then I just gab some more snacks, get comfy, get
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: those pillows because MotoGP heads to Misano, like we said,
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: the Motorcycle Grand Prix of San Marino. That is on
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: at 10 p.m.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 5: AEST.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: And then if you're at it, just tune into the
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: Formula 1 because it is at Mad Ring for the
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: Spanish Grand Prix at 11 p.m.
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 5: So yeah, I would not bother moving at all Sunday.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: Cancel all the plans. It is a motorsport back-to-back-to-back. And
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: don't forget because you can catch every practice qualifying sprint
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: race and Grand Prix live and ad break free on.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 5: Fox Sports and KO.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: If you want to stay up to date with all
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: the latest motorsport news from Michael and Matt, you can
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: do so on our website. We are at foxsports.com.au forward
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: slash motorsports. And follow us on socials. We are at
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: Fox Motorsport, at Kerosports, and at Fox Sports Oz. I'm
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: going to try and take you guys behind the scenes
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: this weekend at Mizano to check it out because I've
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: never been and I'm so excited. But if you guys
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: want to listen to the audio version of this, you
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: can do so. We are on all your favorite podcasting platforms.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: Just search for the Pit Talk podcast.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 5: But if you prefer to see our beautiful faces, you
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 5: can do so. We are on YouTube as well. Just
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 5: search up Pit Talk there.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: But from Matt Clayton, Michael Laminato, and myself, Renita Vermeulen,
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: that is all from now. We're going to be back
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: real soon with more Pit Talk.