Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief | A moment of F1 Montreal madness

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The Motorsport Brief | A moment of F1 Montreal madness · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, a flashpoint at the Canadian Grand Prix for Oscar Piastri as a teenager takes to the podium for the first time.
• 0:15
  G'day everyone, Rusty here.
• 0:16
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:18
  Big weekend, wasn't it, with the Le Mans 24-hour, NASCAR in Mexico.
• 0:23
  SVG's basically a household name in Mexico now.
• 0:27
  Shortly, some thoughts on what happened north of the American border at the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix.
• 0:32
  Thank you for the feedback, the interaction that we've had on a recent shortcast too with Nicole Bryant, where we talked about human performance in our sport and why we should be focused on that, not just horsepower and handling.
• 0:44
  Nicole is from Driver Athlete.
• 0:46
  Check that out.
• 0:47
  Some really insightful stuff in there.
• 0:49
  And our latest feature ep dropped last week with a friend and colleague, Dean Herridge.
• 0:54
  Three parts.
• 0:56
  We can talk.
• 0:57
  Almost three hours for you to enjoy at your leisure.
• 1:00
  From his early days cutting up the backyard to having a crack at the British Rally Championship.
• 1:05
  Winning a shootout with Mitsubishi for a factory drive only to choose to stay loyal to Subaru.
• 1:11
  He's been there for more than 20 years and his dad's ties go back even further.
• 1:16
  What they do at Maximum Motorsport.
• 1:19
  Dean's recollections of being among the first on scene at Peter Brock's fatal crash.
• 1:24
  Driving for another great in Possum Bourne.
• 1:26
  Plus a little known story of an incident in testing that involved several rising stars of the Australian Rally Championship at that time.
• 1:35
  That yarn really hasn't been shared or told widely until now.
• 1:40
  Time for some thoughts on Montreal.
• 1:41
  70 laps of the Circuit Shield Villeneuve on the St Lawrence River in Canada there.
• 1:46
  14 turns, 4.36km.
• 1:49
  Epic end to qualifying too.
• 1:51
  Oscar Piastri grabbed the top spot, only for Max Verstappen to go a few hundredths faster.
• 1:57
  And then George Russell stormed home for his sixth career pole position.
• 2:02
  Let's get to the debrief.
• 2:03
  Grateful to get Matt Hickey from CodeSports and News.com.au back on for another chat.
• 2:09
  Hello, mate.
• 2:09
  Thank you for joining us.
• 2:10
  Good to be back on and plenty to chat about, as it seems like there always is.
• 2:14
  We're timing those well, aren't we?
• 2:16
  Now, speaking of timing, perfectly done for George Russell with all that talk about his deal being up and wanting a new contract, winning in Canada like that superbly.
• 2:25
  And he's had a great season as well.
• 2:27
  I think, of course, he gets the reward with the win here, but George Russell's been pretty consistent throughout, and all of a sudden this Mercedes now with the first and the third starting to look decent, maybe Lewis Hamilton potentially having a few little regrets at Ferrari as well.
• 2:41
  Can we come to what you just said there about the third?
• 2:43
  I mean, how good.
• 2:45
  Awesome to see Kimi Antonelli on the podium.
• 2:49
  18 years of age, I think he's the third youngest ever driver to grace the podium, to finish on the podium like that.
• 2:56
  We knew that he was talented, but often with youngsters like this, the rush is to prove yourself in Formula One.
• 3:03
  How significant do you reckon this moment is going to be for him?
• 3:06
  Huge, monumental.
• 3:07
  We've seen how difficult...
• 3:09
  It has been this season in particular with a lot of the youngsters, of course.
• 3:12
  We spoke about Jack Doohan.
• 3:14
  There's maybe a little point we can touch on with Colopinto now as well, considering that that little five-race stint is almost up in theory, but remarkable from Kimi Antonelli.
• 3:24
  I think when you go through and look at the ability to compete as well, he yelled off Oscar Piastri.
• 3:31
  expertly, beyond his years in terms of the talent and the way that he did that.
• 3:35
  Now, Oscar Piastri is a young guy as well, but we've seen how good he is.
• 3:39
  Fantastic for Kimi Antonelli and sky's the limit for this kid.
• 3:41
  I think if you were to talk about his arrival, what you said just there, his ability to...
• 3:47
  kind of go toe-to-toe to hold off Oscar like that.
• 3:50
  That's the big takeaway in terms of, if you want to call it, his arrival.
• 3:56
  Now, can we come to Canada generally?
• 3:58
  Would have been four straight wins for Max.
• 4:01
  That didn't happen, but he does still keep...
• 4:04
  delivering with that car.
• 4:05
  It moves him now, that podium finish for Max Verstappen, to just over 20 points behind Lando in the driver's championship standing, so they're third and second respectively.
• 4:15
  He wasn't holding back with the press over the weekend, was he?
• 4:19
  He never does, Max.
• 4:20
  I think he must get it from Helmut Marko because Red Bull over there, they're built different.
• 4:25
  They're a machine when it comes to the press, and he's never afraid.
• 4:28
  That's one of the great things about Max Verstappen, where the
• 4:31
  you're a big fan of him or you think he may be a bit too aggressive on the track.
• 4:35
  He always speaks his mind.
• 4:37
  And it's the personalities like that that we love in sport.
• 4:39
  We love in racing.
• 4:40
  So Max is Max.
• 4:42
  You're never going to get anything different from him.
• 4:44
  And as you mentioned, continues to eke out every little bit out of that car.
• 4:49
  And he's not out of the race yet.
• 4:50
  Yes, there's a bit of a gap to Oscar, but he's just lurking around.
• 4:53
  And I'd be a little bit worried if I was in the papaya.
• 4:56
  If you just read some of his quotes in the press, Max, I'm talking here, you might think, oh, you know, that's direct or borderline rude.
• 5:05
  But I think we've got to stop and appreciate that we actually do need a bit of that.
• 5:08
  That straight talk is something to be admired in motor racing.
• 5:12
  Can I just say on another topic, I can't stand the manage your tyres game.
• 5:17
  I know everyone kind of circumstantially has to play it that way.
• 5:21
  And there's a caveat in my point here.
• 5:22
  You know, Charles and Lando took a different approach by starting on the harder...
• 5:27
  rubber, but it meant for the first kind of two-thirds of the race, we were a bit light on entertainment, weren't we?
• 5:32
  We certainly were.
• 5:33
  It was one for the strategists, I think.
• 5:35
  The strategists were getting an absolute workover in terms of what they were going to do with tyres and pitting and so forth.
• 5:41
  It's really interesting because it does make for...
• 5:44
  I guess, a really intriguing maybe final 10 to 15 laps of a race.
• 5:48
  And when you think of, say, Monaco, you go, well, wouldn't that be fantastic if we could have something like that come in?
• 5:53
  But then when you compare it to other races where we're just getting everybody pulled back probably 5%, 10% to save their tyres, and we saw the graining on the broadcast, you could see how much they were being impacted.
• 6:05
  A little bit frustrating, but at least we got some excitement towards the back end.
• 6:10
  Underline, highlight, excitement.
• 6:12
  It comes in the way of an incident right near the end.
• 6:16
  McLaren, Oscars ahead of Lando, Norris is closing.
• 6:21
  Oscar defends well and fairly, we should say.
• 6:24
  There just wasn't.
• 6:26
  a gap as they went along the start-finish straight there by the pit wall to allow Lando to get by.
• 6:32
  It's kind of been badged a momentary misjudgment.
• 6:36
  Lando damages his car, hits the wall, and is out.
• 6:40
  What do you think?
• 6:41
  What on earth was he doing?
• 6:43
  Let's be frank.
• 6:44
  I mean, a brain fade is probably being kind to him.
• 6:48
  It was bizarre.
• 6:50
  Now, of course, we know the famous quote, if you're not going for a gap, but there just wasn't a gap.
• 6:55
  Like that, let's be brutally honest about it.
• 6:58
  And in all of the moments to really try and stake your claim, it wasn't on a corner when potentially he might've had half a car length in front or whatever it could be.
• 7:07
  And that was where the contact happened.
• 7:09
  He just ran up the back of it.
• 7:11
  It was, it was bizarre.
• 7:12
  And I think maybe highlights a little bit of where those two drivers are at.
• 7:17
  Oscar, very cool, calm in front.
• 7:19
  And Lando, he's pushing because I think he's a bit worried that he could lose the championship to his teammate now.
• 7:23
  He got clearly a psychological boost from Monaco.
• 7:28
  You're right there.
• 7:29
  But, I mean, if you look at it, Canada's round 10 of 14.
• 7:32
  You can't blame him for having a go.
• 7:34
  But there just wasn't the gap there.
• 7:36
  You're absolutely right.
• 7:37
  Oscar finishes in P4.
• 7:39
  Thankfully, that car wasn't damaged to the point that it hurt him.
• 7:41
  So the points gap between them.
• 7:43
  Oscar on top of the ladder and leading by more than 20 now.
• 7:48
  It's 25, as you know, for a win in Formula One.
• 7:50
  He nearly has a Grand Prix win in his pocket.
• 7:53
  The risks for Lando didn't outweigh the reward.
• 7:57
  And kind of to your point, the psychological blow from this is potentially big.
• 8:02
  How he responds and rebounds is the real story, isn't it?
• 8:05
  And the other thing that could happen is if this gap continually and gradually expands out, all of a sudden now McLaren, it might not be a case of let them race.
• 8:14
  It's, well, let's protect our championship leader because we don't want the two of you taking each other out and then giving up 25 points to Verstappen or a Russell.
• 8:22
  So it could hurt him in the long term as well because when the gap was closed, Zac Brown understandably let the drivers decide it out on the track.
• 8:30
  But if there's a clear leader in that pack, which now there is,
• 8:34
  all of a sudden, maybe we can get some team rules coming out and about towards the back end of the season.
• 8:39
  I do love the let them race approach.
• 8:42
  I think they're to be admired for that.
• 8:44
  But as we saw with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in the 2010s, man, that is so hard to manage, isn't it?
• 8:50
  Oh, impossible.
• 8:50
  I mean, we all remember multi-21, Seb.
• 8:53
  Who could ever forget?
• 8:54
  But it is one of those things that, in the end, it was always going to come to a head.
• 8:58
  I think everybody watching...
• 9:00
  Formula One knew that at some point throughout the season there was going to be an incident between the two of them because that's just how it always tends to play out.
• 9:09
  Now hopefully we don't have any more contact between the two of them.
• 9:12
  They continue to battle out on the track and from an Australian point of view Oscar keeps beating him but time will tell.
• 9:18
  As sports broadcasters and journalists you need to be neutral.
• 9:22
  I mean I
• 9:23
  I can honestly sit here and say I haven't been perfect at times.
• 9:26
  I probably have been as patriotic as the next supporter or F1 follower.
• 9:31
  But, Matt, I do wonder, right, had the roles have been reversed, would the British press have treated Oscar differently to the way that they did with Lando this morning?
• 9:44
  I think you would be foolish to think otherwise.
• 9:47
  I got a few messages this morning saying, listen to the commentary when that incident happens.
• 9:51
  And it's telling in that regard.
• 9:53
  I think it would have been a lot more critical if it was potentially another driver or those roles were reversed.
• 10:00
  But that's understandable.
• 10:01
  We get it.
• 10:02
  We're, of course, you know, firmly in the Australian camp as much as we can be in that regard.
• 10:07
  But yes, it's telling.
• 10:09
  But you've got to take everything with a grain of salt when you know where your broadcast is coming from because people understandably do get behind their fellow countrymen and women.
• 10:18
  Now, to be fair, Lando has owned it.
• 10:20
  He seems to have handled it, or it appears to have been handled very well between the drivers, which is good.
• 10:26
  But as I say, I do wonder if the British press, and I've got many friends and colleagues in there, would have maybe critiqued the situation differently if it had been the other way around.
• 10:34
  A break here on the Motorsport Brief.
• 10:35
  We'll continue the convo on the Canadian Grand Prix and some of the other headlines from around the world right after this.
• 10:45
  You're listening to Rusty's Garage, our latest shortcast edition in the wake of the Canadian Grand Prix.
• 10:51
  Some thoughts on Le Mans, NASCAR and the F1 movie release coming up too.
• 10:56
  For now, back to Matt Hickey as we unpack a moment of Montreal madness.
• 11:02
  Let's come to Ferrari.
• 11:04
  Charles seemed frustrated by some of the strategy calls.
• 11:06
  Things in the background might need a bit of a tune-up there, but I still reckon Fred Vasseur is the right guy to be at the helm of the mighty Red Squad at the moment.
• 11:14
  And I tend to agree, and I think he's got the right demeanour and temperament for it as well because we all know that the scrutiny that it comes to be in charge of Ferrari, it's otherworldly.
• 11:26
  But I think he's the right guy for.
• 11:28
  I love watching him go about his business and talk to the press.
• 11:31
  He's always very entertaining.
• 11:32
  He's one of my favourites in the paddock.
• 11:35
  But, yeah, look, it's going to be that interesting battle in the constructors, isn't it, when we look through – you talk McLaren, of course, are far and away, and that's probably done and dusted when it comes to the scheme of the season.
• 11:46
  But all of a sudden, that next three, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull.
• 11:50
  So –
• 11:51
  If Yuki Tsunoda can find some momentum towards the back end, do Red Bull come into it?
• 11:56
  Will Mercedes now, with a bit of momentum from this race, pull away?
• 12:00
  Where do Ferrari sit?
• 12:01
  It's going to be one of the more intriguing battles, I think.
• 12:03
  And there's a couple of those across the constructors.
• 12:06
  I always find it fascinating when even towards the back end, you've got three or four teams.
• 12:09
  They're in a nice little bunch.
• 12:11
  And all of a sudden, that 10th and 9th place becomes a serious battle because of one or two points at the back end of the pack could be millions of dollars difference at the end of the season.
• 12:20
  Just to add another little layer to your point there, I mean, from a Montreal results point of view for the minors, good job again, Nick Hulkenberg.
• 12:28
  He finishes eighth.
• 12:29
  Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, they pick up the final points positions in ninth and tenth respectively.
• 12:35
  Yuki, who you mentioned, was 12th, a lap down.
• 12:38
  Man, that second Red Bull seat.
• 12:40
  They are fourth in the constructors now, 21 points behind Ferrari.
• 12:44
  He is 15th in the driver's standings.
• 12:47
  Lance Stroll's got more points than him.
• 12:49
  Which is saying something.
• 12:51
  Look, I felt a little bit sorry for Yuki after qualifying.
• 12:54
  That 10-place grid penalty I thought was maybe potentially a little bit stiff.
• 12:59
  I know he wasn't truly thrilled about it, but they have to start finding something.
• 13:03
  And I don't think Red Bull can switch it out again in terms of how a look feels.
• 13:09
  They just can't possibly, can they?
• 13:10
  So Yuki should be able to figure it out, but then you've got a guy like Isaac Hadjar who
• 13:16
  who's flying at the moment, and he's in the top 10 overall in terms of the driver's standings, and you go, well, in a past world, we'd bring him in again, but you just can't do it.
• 13:25
  Yeah, that would be an awkward conversation because I think, realistically, if you or I were in Hadj's shoes, you would simply be saying, look, thank you, no thank you.
• 13:34
  I think I've got to see out of my first year where I am right now.
• 13:38
  Next stop is Austria.
• 13:39
  That's at the end of the month.
• 13:40
  George Russell won there last year, as you know, from Oscar and Carlos Sainz, who was in the Ferrari then.
• 13:45
  No McLarens on the podium in Montreal.
• 13:47
  Hopefully they can bounce back there.
• 13:49
  Yeah, certainly.
• 13:50
  It's...
• 13:51
  We'll wait and see.
• 13:52
  Of course, there's plenty to play out, and it's a good little run, actually, because we go from there straight into the Great Britain Grand Prix as well, which we always know the British Grand Prix is a real thriller.
• 14:02
  The crowds turn up in droves.
• 14:04
  I think they're the only crowd that semi-matches what we get here in Australia.
• 14:08
  And, of course, it's always entertaining racing as well.
• 14:11
  So I think we've got a couple of weekends of...
• 14:14
  really fun racing and I think after the British Grand Prix will be a really good sign of what will come for the run home and in terms of where the big battles will be.
• 14:23
  Matt, now the big story to end our short cast today.
• 14:26
  The F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, about to be the big red carpet in the United States.
• 14:31
  We get it toward the end of the month.
• 14:35
  Have you made a cameo that we don't know about?
• 14:39
  What are you hearing?
• 14:39
  Are you looking forward to this?
• 14:40
  Will you be among the first, like I will, to go and check this out?
• 14:44
  I certainly will be amongst the first.
• 14:46
  I put in an offer to be Brad Pitt's younger brother.
• 14:50
  They said that role doesn't exist in nowhere close, so get on with it and move along, young fella.
• 14:55
  But, no, I'm looking forward to it.
• 14:57
  We had a little discussion about it last time when that trailer came out.
• 15:01
  I think the excitement is building.
• 15:02
  I think it's going to be the closest thing to...
• 15:05
  actual racing as we might see carlos sign said there was a few things that aren't quite the same but obviously um it's never going to replicate exactly what the drivers experience it's going to be fun i'll be in the cinemas very very early on when it comes out i'll have my giant three liter coke or whatever they tend to give you at the cinemas now when a
• 15:23
  $40 box of popcorn and we'll get stuck in.
• 15:27
  Yep.
• 15:27
  And I can't wait to see how they've filmed and shot this.
• 15:31
  Little things we've been sprinkled with along the way, obviously from the same director as Top Gun Maverick.
• 15:36
  I think they'll capture the speed and potentially the spectacle very well.
• 15:40
  So I can't wait for that.
• 15:42
  And just, sorry, I was just going to quickly jump in.
• 15:44
  They've released some of the soundtrack and it's phenomenal.
• 15:46
  There's a great Chris Stapleton song in there.
• 15:48
  It's a phenomenal soundtrack as well.
• 15:50
  So it's all coming together.
• 15:51
  You are younger than I am.
• 15:52
  My teenage daughters are raving about that soundtrack, Matt.
• 15:56
  That is going to be one I think that will be for the ages.
• 15:58
  Before we let you go, you've been busy with cricket and so on.
• 16:00
  Give us a quick little plug.
• 16:01
  What have you been up to?
• 16:02
  Oh, everything down at codesports.com.au, all the good stuff.
• 16:06
  So, yeah, cricket's been happening.
• 16:08
  There's been some 4 or 5 a.m. wake-ups, but us F1 fans and followers and reporters know all about them, so nothing new in that regard.
• 16:15
  But, yeah, plenty to check out.
• 16:16
  It just keeps coming.
• 16:17
  There's always something happening in the world of sport.
• 16:19
  Great to catch up.
• 16:20
  We'll get you on again in the coming races.
• 16:21
  Thank you very much.
• 16:22
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 16:23
  Cheers.
• 16:24
  Just on the F1 movie, after I wrapped up there with Matt, I learned that a friend of the pod, Lee Diffie, may have lent his voice to the production.
• 16:33
  He hasn't confirmed that with me.
• 16:35
  But a well-known entertainment reporter that I've worked with over the years is chasing that story.
• 16:39
  If that is true...
• 16:41
  There is a little piece of Australia in the movie, and we couldn't be prouder of our good friend Diff.
• 16:47
  That is cool.
• 16:48
  Robert Kubica joined that special club of F1 winners that have also etched their name on the Le Mans 24-hour trophy, coming from 13th to win the Classic in a Ferrari by 15 seconds from a Penske Porsche that included Aussie Matt Campbell in its driver line-up.
• 17:06
  Well done.
• 17:07
  It was a good weekend at Le Mans too for Supercars co-driver and rising star Cameron McLeod, winning in the inaugural Mustang Challenge Invitational.
• 17:16
  That looked really cool.
• 17:18
  Congrats to Shane Van Gisbergen.
• 17:19
  The hard work, it seems, is paying off.
• 17:22
  It has been a trying season for him.
• 17:24
  at times in NASCAR.
• 17:26
  He won in Mexico, booking a spot in the playoffs in the process.
• 17:30
  He was a little bit crook too with a stomach bug and some key people on the team arrived late because of some travel issues, but it all came together.
• 17:39
  Speed Cafe reporting that he even called on his mate Max Verstappen for a bit of advice on the track and how it behaves.
• 17:46
  Great stuff.
• 17:47
  I'm in Darwin this weekend for the next stop on the Supercars Tour.
• 17:51
  Brock Feeney in good form leading the standings by 72 over reigning champion Will Brown.
• 17:57
  Tassie winner Matt Payne third.
• 17:58
  And Sydney Motorsport Park winner, the round one winner, Cam Waters fourth in the standings.
• 18:04
  Next week, a well-overdue feature episode with legendary sprint car racer Brooke Tattnall.
• 18:10
  two hours worth there for you.
• 18:12
  The influence of his late father sleeping in a car while trying to get a break in American racing, driving for his mate Shane Cricky and winning an Aussie title when he wasn't even meant to be there.
• 18:26
  That is a cracking story that one.
• 18:28
  Plus the next generation Tattnall who is looking every bit like a chip off the old block.
• 18:33
  Keep an eye out for notifications on that.
• 18:35
  Have a fantastic week everyone.
• 18:37
  Bye for now.