Latest / Pit Talk / What happened to Oscar Piastri's pace? Mexico City GP Review

Transcript

What happened to Oscar Piastri's pace? Mexico City GP Review · Pit Talk

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: On today's episode, Lando Norris resumes the championship lead with
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the season's largest victory margin at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: But what's happened to Oscar Piastre's pace after slipping one
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: point off the title lead. My name is Michael Lamonato.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: It's great to have your company and the company of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: my co host. He knows it's unsportsmanlike to boo a driver, unless,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of course, you're English at the British Grand Prix and
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the driver, as maximustappened, it's Matt Haydon.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Any more of this, Michael Lamonato, I might start booing
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: you for your intros, but yes, thank you for having
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: me as always, and yes, boo gate. Could you have
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: to stick the word gate on the end of any controversy,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: don't you? It was alive and well in Mexico, much
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: to the surprise of Lando Norris and the Sky Sports
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: commentary team, but perhaps not so maybe a bit more
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: obvious for the rest of the world, but that's something
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: we can cover in the next three minutes or so.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, the boos, why you know, I want to address
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the boes immediately, because let's addressed to it. Can't see
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: where else we're going to take it other than simply
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: addressing and moving on. And I doff my cap if
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: one does such a thing to Fast mag which I
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: believe is a Mexican publication, or at least.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: You doff your sombrero, is what you're telling me.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Oh, doff my sombrero? Tremendous. Who had an answer for
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the booing? In fact, they're representative Carlos Yealife. I hope
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I pronounce that correctly, had quite the conversation with Landon
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Norris in the post race pest conference, revealing that his
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: magazine had run a poll in Mexico, I guess, and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: has suggested the booing is because the sentiment of the
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Mexican viewing public is unhappiness about the team orders from
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Monza about a month and a half ago after that
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: slow pit stop which Lando Norris gott second place back
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: following the Papaya rules, and as a result, he is
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: now out of favor among the Mexican public.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Mexico doesn't like pitstop calam redressing. That's what we've learned
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: from this particular press conference. Who would have known that
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: would have been the thing that set the entire crowd off.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: But I've got to admit I was, you know, when
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: I found out why that was, I thought, okay, that's interesting.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I was a little bit taken aback that I thought,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: why now, because it feels like it was old news
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: to a degree. But yeah, they've they've been saving that
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: one up for Lando, just in case he happened to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: win the Grand Prix. Because normally the only thing that
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: will fire the Mexican crowd up massively is whether you've
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: done something wrong with Sergeia Perez or you know, you
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: haven't got your allocation of kitcast as you've walked in
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the door. It could be something along those lines. And yeah,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the crowd not pleased, but the reason they were not
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: pleased very interesting. But I was also not pleased about
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the Monza pit stop reddressing. So maybe I should have
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: joined it.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, maybe you should have bought your tickets and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: gone to boo with the rest of them at the stadium.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, so we know now, Yes, as we're told on
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the broadcast, the British don't boo, but they do que.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So perhaps there's some sort of some sort of poetry
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: in all of.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: This, and boy do they Lando Norris, He's been queuing
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: for fifteen rounds to take the championship lead, and here
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: he is at the front of the queue, one point
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: ahead of Oscar Piastre, and he's looking forward to doing
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: whatever British people do after they complete the queueing four
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: rounds to go one point in it. The momentum feels
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: like it's with Lando Norris. But before we look at
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: how he's built this comeback, what kind of form he's in,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: of course, we should probably start with Oscar Piastre, the
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: local hope who's lost that title lead, who had controlled
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: well the entire middle part of the campaign more than
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: just the middle most of the campaign up to this point,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and he has been off pace and this was his
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: other than Nazerbaijan. I guess we don't know exactly what
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: his pace was there because he kept crashing, but this
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: felt like he's least competitive, perhaps is a better way
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: to say it. Round of this season he was all
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: but six tenths off the pace in qualifying off his
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: teammates pace pole getting teammates pace, he qualified eight, he
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: started seventh, He finished fifth, So I guess there's some
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: progress there, but he was forty two seconds off the lead.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Of course, traffic tells us a little bit about that,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: but nonetheless it's illustrative of drivers in I think it's
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: fair to say different leagues this weekend and is now
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the time map that we should begin to panic about
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Oscar Piastri's title hopes.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Panic's a little strong still because I keep coming back
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: to this. If you'd said to Oscar Piastre at the
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: start of the season, it's like, tell you what, you're
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: going to be one point off the series lead with
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: four rounds to go, he'd probably bought your arm off.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's an amazing opportunity to win a first
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: world championship if you say, look, you're a point off
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: the serious lead with four rounds to go. But of
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: course that doesn't allow for the context of everything that's
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: come before. And you mentioned that forty two second number
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: that was painful. Here's another set of numbers. It's a
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: little bit painful. Since the Lando Norris inverted commas robbed
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: zanvut race, Pastre had him beat. Anyway, since that particular race,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it's Norris eighty two points, Piastrec forty seven points. And
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: perhaps more interestingly, Maxvstappen one hundred and sixteen points in
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: that particular time frame. So this has been sort of
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: the death by thousand cutsie of Roscar Piastre. We've seen
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: this coming for a little while. I think, what's alarming
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: if we're going to use the word panic in lower case,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: if we're going to be a little bit alarmed here
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: there's a trend. It's going in a particular direction, and
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: if you're an Australian Formula one fan or Oscar Piastre,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: it's not a direction that you would like, because every
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: weekend seems to be just that little bit worse than
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: the one that preceded it. And I think the disturbing
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: thing for this weekend was that there's been other weekends
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: where he's been a little bit off and we've been
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: a little bit surprised or a little bit taken aback,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: or we've been like, that's all right, he's got time
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: to get this back on track and at least limit
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the damage. There wasn't at any point of this entire
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Mexican Grand Prix weekend where you felt that that damage
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: was going to be limited. It felt quite inevitable by
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the time all the regular drivers got back in their
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: cars on second practice on Friday. There didn't really seem
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: to be a way out this time for Piastre And okay,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: yes he's relinquished the series lead. It's kind of been
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: in play since the Azerbaijan DNF. But you look back
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: as far as the Dutch GP. That's a really big
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: turnaround in a really short space of time. So you
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: could look at that as being a little glass half
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: empty or half full. Yes, it shows you that you
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: can get momentum and run with it from a base
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: of not very much. Because Norris obviously despondent after zanfor
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Big leave for Pastri, it was all looking terrible four
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: hours ago, one point off the series lead. There's time.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Can he redress this downward arc that he's been on.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: We know that there's probably three drivers, unless you want
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: to look at say something like Las Vegas, it's a
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: little bit random where another tea driver combination might get
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: in the mix. Is a fair chance these last four
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Grand Prix and two sprints, let's not forget, are going
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: to be won by some combination of these particular three drivers.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: So he's right there where he would have liked to
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: have been at the start of the season. But yeah,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: it is a little bit alarming, just the trend of
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: late and the fact that this particular weekend felt to me.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but it felt to me
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: like there was no real weight out of it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely felt more. He felt more absent than
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he did in the United States. But thing in Austin
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: there felt like there was a little bit of a flicker,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: maybe because I mean, in sprint qualifying he was right
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: up there. Even if the gap in terms of time
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: was large, it was still enough for him to start
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: right behind Norris and him to even have had the
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: better start, And even though the team judged him to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: have been the predominant cause of the crash and you know, consequences, etc.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: It still felt pretty punchy. He felt like he was
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: in the mix. And then the Grand Prix was much
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: more faded and qualifying from there on, but it felt
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: like there was something there in Mexico. It never really
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: felt like it came together. There were barely glimpses of
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: that pace. I'm choosing to as I often do, listen
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to Andrea Steller because he has just such a great
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: way of saying things and speaking, but he's put this
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: down in fact to circuit characteristics. He says it's more
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: explainable than simply a form slump, as it increasingly feels
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: like considering it's been now, what is that five races
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: off the podium and five races in succession being outscored
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: by Landon Norris, the most of any point this year
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: between either driver and either direction in fact, but that
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: actually Austin and Mexico City share one particular trait, and
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: that is that both are really quick, low grip and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: this has been a weakness of Oscar Piastres throughout his career,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: but continues to be this year. And I think that's
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: sort of interesting because this is a driver who we
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: said before Matt has very few weaknesses remaining. He's wanted
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of the tracks that were his weak tracks
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: in previous years, he's won them this year, and the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: ones he hasn't won, he's been right in the mix
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: as well. But Austin quite a low grip track struggle there.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Mexico is almost sort of the ultimate low grip track
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: because of the thinness of the air, there's no way
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: to recover that grip through upgrading your car or whatever.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: That is just the way it is. Sunday also particularly
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: warm as well, So I think there's something in that
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: in trying to explain where this pace has gone because
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: and I think we've asked this question before as well, Matt,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: But why if he's going to ever feel the pressure,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: why would he have started feeling it in let's say Azerbaijan,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: which is being increasingly picked as the moment the wheels
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: began falling off the title campaign. Why then, I'd believe
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: if he came out and was wobbly for the rest
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: of the year, having lost the title lead, we'd be
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: able to say, well, you know, that's the pressure, But
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: why would he felt it up to this point? I'm
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: not convinced.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the low grip services part of these.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: It's a really peculiar racetrack. I mean, you've been there
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: more than I have. It's a it's an unusual setting.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Everything about it. It's not really like anywhere else. There's
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: just some oddness about the place. And I find that
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: it's either one of those tracks that guys either get
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: or they don't, and there seems to be nowhere in between.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: And you see guys that have very very good records
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: here and guys that just can't race here at all.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: And you know, look the way Andrea Stella tries to
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: very technically explain these sorts of things. There's got to
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: be some mirror in that. But for me, the more
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: disturbing thing was I've always had the faith in his
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: in Pastri's way to engineer himself out of some of
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: these difficulties he's had year on year track to track
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: or even within race weekends, And to my mind, this
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: was the first time that I don't think there was
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: ever really a flicker of that. But the other part
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: that's interesting for me is that you know, these drivers
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: are very very good at telling you very very little.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Press debriefs got those only you and I. I know
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: this because we're trying to write something when you've got
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: nothing to say half the time. But I don't know
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: what you thought about this, But you listen to Piastre's
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: debrief afterwards, and there were a lot of references to things. Now,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: things are very nebulous, aren't they. Oh this thing didn't work,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: that thing was a bit too much like this, This
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: other thing was a bit too much like that. Is
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: that someone searching for answers or is this someone who
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: knows the answers and just doesn't want to give anything away.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: It's always hard to tell with Piastre because he never
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: gives you all of a lot at the best of
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: times with these sorts of things. But I wondered if
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: that was a man searching for answers or someone that
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: knew the answers and wasn't prepared to discuss them. Yeah.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I think that's a really interesting point because from you know,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a timeline from Austin to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: here because they're back to back races, so every day
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: pretty much someone's asking him something just about it, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: it's gone from Austin being way, you know, it's just
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: one of those weekends. The next is saying I don't
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: expect these problems to continue because we looked at Austin,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: they won't continue, and then on qualifying saying well, maybe
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: actually some of these problems are the same problem, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: then by Sunday night essentially saying, wow, these two races
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: have been very bad in a similar way. I think
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: that that's interesting because to go back to Andrea Stella,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: he's been pointing this out from pretty much day one
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: in Austin. So I'm not sure if there's a psychological
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: play in it for Piastre to deny that there's any
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: deep seated problem with the way he's driving that's not
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: going to work at these tracks. If that's one of
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: those driver defense mechanisms whereby you never admit any kind
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: of problem until after the fact, I guess, when there's
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: nothing anyone could do to capitalize on it, or whether,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: like you say, that is a driver who is either
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: unwilling to believe that he has some kind of inherent
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: weakness to overcome at these tracks, or whether he just
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: actually had not seen it until Sunday night when he
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: looks at the results he's finished fifth, he's finished forty
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: odd seconds behind his team and says, Wow, maybe there
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: is something in this. I think there's a little question
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: in there, isn't there that we need to understand and
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: figure out, because it doesn't feel like the assured Piastre
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: we've had, even at some of his less competitive rounds
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: earlier this year.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think this is probably part of the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: reason why this is so jarring at the moment, because
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: it always feels like for a guy in his third
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Formula One season, there's always the belief and the maturity
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and everything feels quite explainable with him. It always has
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: the entire year where X does lead to why. It
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: doesn't always with every driver, but it's always felt that,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: you know, there's a very controlled way about the way
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: he goes racing and the way he communicates and everything
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: about his sort of persona and his third year of
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Formula One, and at the moment it just seems to
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: be I don't know, like the body language and what's
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: coming out of his mouth right now, there seems to
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: be a little bit of searching. We're sort of stretching,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: searching for something that maybe we don't know the answer to.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: It's I think maybe it stands out because it is
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: so unusual if you had someone that was more emotionally spiky,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: then maybe we're not having the same discussion right now
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: because we come to expect it. But I think it's
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: so not in keeping with his personality and character that yeah,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: that's why we're asking questions.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's always a little concern. I certainly
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: in my mind whenever you hear a driver say the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: car feels good with the lap times, not there when
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: they're comparing to their teammate, not simply just that the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: car is slow, that they are slow relative their teammate,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: because that says, as you were alluding to that there
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: would suggests that there are not very many answers to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the questions being posed inside the garage, So be interesting
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: to see. We'll look forward to the last couple of
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: rounds in a moment a little bit later on the podcast,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: But I want to talk about Lando Norris here as well,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: because he has been a little bit the forgotten man
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: in the last few races, because we've obviously been talking
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: about Oscar Piastri the title leader, and then Max Vistappen
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: the championship challenger, all of a sudden, and Lando Norris
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: has sort of been in the middle, almost forgot. But
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: here he is leading the title race by one point.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: He's resumed it. Last time he let it was the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Bahrain Grand Prix before Piastri pinched it from him in
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia. It almost feels like a mirror image this
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: season so far, because excluding that Australian Grand Prix at
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the beginning of the year, there was the story in
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the first few months of the season of Lando Norris
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: just not understanding how Oscar Piastre is getting the same
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: kind of pace out of the car. Now we feel
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: like we're in the opposite situation where Norris is actually
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: performing at an extremely high level. I thought this race
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: was also more meaningful considering McLaren's taken a little bit
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of a beating in the last month from Red Bull Racing.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: He's gone out and proved actually, look, we had some
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: underperforming rounds, but the car is still there and he's performing.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: I think we'd have to say at his very best.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I can't remember more consistent or more effective land of Norris.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is where this whole concept of narrative
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: comes back into it that we were talking about before.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: I've just sort of slightly joked on the pod this
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: year a couple of times that you know, I have
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: trust issues. It's kind of the term that I used
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: with Lando a little bit through this year, because we've
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: seen things this year like Canada running into the back
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: of Pastree. You know, obviously the response to Zanvort was
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: so disappointing. There's been times during the year where, either
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: through his actions or through some misfortune, that you've had
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: maybe less reason to trust the overall picture with Norris,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: this was very reminiscent of what he was doing at
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: the beginning of the season, or even some of the
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: races he had last year in his Faux Championship contender.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: So he's with Maxistaf and he just looked utterly dominant
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: from lap one, no mistakes. It looked very, very simple
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: and psycho logically when you look at how he's had
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: to come back from the despondency of what happened to
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Zanfort to get back to where he is in a
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: fairly short space of title. Let's be honest, I think
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: that probably, maybe maybe that reveals something in Norris that
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: perhaps we didn't see coming know about you. I do
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: this all the time. I probably shouldn't, but so much
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: of the way I view Norris and the way his
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: career is panned out is trying to sort of pull
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: back some of the hysteria from the commentary we get here,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: because I find it really difficult just to judge him
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: objectively as another driver and look at what it is
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: that he's doing, because I feel like I'm having to
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: let air out of the balloon the entire time. So
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: perhaps perhaps I underrate some of the really good things
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: that he does, because I'm trying to be a little
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: bit more balanced with what we read and here sometimes.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: But this was an absolute top shelf for Foreman's and
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: to get back to where he was, as you said,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: as far back as Bahrain, and you think of the
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: twists and turns in this season, and if you had
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: to plot, you know, the negative moments of this campaign.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: I think Norris is a number more than piastri has
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: had over the course of the season. The fact that
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: he's back there in the lead of the World Championship.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: But I keep coming back to let's take this full
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: circle and go back to a bit of Monza booing here.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Of course, those positions being flipped in that race at
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Monza because of Papa rules, and Lando's had a bad
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: pit stop, so on and so forth. That's a three
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: point swing, right. We know Sky Sports loves talking about
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: a point swing. A let's talk about our own swing.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: We've got a three point swing here. So if it's
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Pastre second and Norris third at Monzo, then guess who's
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: leading the World Championship.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Oh what about if the strategies went to plan in
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Hungary or what about in Singapore. The move that Claren
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: decided after the fact was not on, but during the
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: race it was on. I mean, we could talk about
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: this all day because because inevitably someone will bring up
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the power unit trail here in Netherlands and then someone
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: will say, well, you know Osco Piastri was told not
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to race Lando Norris in Australia. Maybe he was leading.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: He wouldn't have gone off the track and lost twenty
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: three points.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Twenty million rounds ago.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, so you know this is the thing about
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a twenty For any championship, but particularly one that lasts
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: for twenty four rounds, is there going to be quite
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: a few of these little sliding doors moments, And if
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: it is decided in the single digits, there are plenty more.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: But the best thing about this now is, you know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: monds of this Australia, that power unit, whatever you look
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: at it. From here, we have a four round world
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: championship here with three drivers and we haven't talked about
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: the third one yet, with three drivers who are absolutely
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: within the realm of possibilities who could win this World championship.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: These seasons are interminably long. God only knows. We know
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: that we were laughing. We're laughing, go fair before about
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the time frame for Australian fans for these last four
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: rounds other than Vegas will be great, but the other
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: three are horrendous. But you've got three drivers in with
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: a chance of winning the world championship with four rounds
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: to go, and you can make a case for all
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: three of them. That's fantastic that we've got to this
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: point because we know with these twenty two to twenty
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: four round seasons the story can be pretty much done
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: two thirds of the way in and then you're just
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: playing out the string. We've got this fantastic title climax
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: bubbling to the boil. At this point, we don't know
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: where it's going. And that's the best bit about this,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: regardless of the fact that the person that most of
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: the people listening to this podcast will be supporting is
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: now not the leader. But not all is lost.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: No, before we look at that forecast, let's talk about
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Max with staffan. Yes, this one out finally before we
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: go to mover the week, et cetera. This was not
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the momentum fueled performance perhaps we expected, considering how he's
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: been traveling pretty much since the midseason break after the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Dutch Grand Prix. Anyway, Red Bull Racing didn't really quite
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: have the pace. Came very close to finishing second in
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the end, though, despite his despondency after qualifying well off
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the pace in qualifying, in fact, he was probably one
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: virtual safety card deployment away from pinching second from Charlat Clair,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: as was Oscar Piastri from probably retaining the title lead
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: by passing Oliver Bearman. But that's by the bye, so
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: reasonableerformance in the end. But considering, and he pointed this
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: out himself after the race, that he's been saying only
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: perfection will get him over the line by the end
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: of the year, this wasn't quite perfect. Perhaps executed perfectly,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: but in terms of performance was not the perfect performance.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Is that changed anything in your mind? The fact that
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: we have hit a bit of a speed bump fields
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: like it's back to the way things were before the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: mid season break about for Stapfen's candidacy.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: No, I mean he's closer to the lead than he
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: was before. And you know, some days this goes in.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: This gets filed under the category of great saves for
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Max for Stapfen because there were points of this race
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: where he was getting embroiled with dust ups with Lewis
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Hamilton and falling way back down the field. It looked
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: pretty dire. It really looked like, oh, this will be
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: the race that we look back at and he's finished
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: a pretty ordinary seventh or something, and then maybe we
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: can just extinguish this flame of a potential championship for him.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: The fact that he got back to finish in third
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: place and if fifteen points is the worst it's going
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: to get for the rest of the season, this felt
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: like a day where he could have lost a hell
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: of a lot more and really changed the way these
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: last four rounds went. It was a brilliant save. His
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: second stin was so good, my goodness, and to me,
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the gap between him and whoever the second best driver
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: is in Formula one has widened this year because he's
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: been absolutely superb in the second half of the season.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: A really really good save. Yeah, could have had three
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: more points, had have been another green flag lap at
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: the end, but if some barts. But in the circumstances
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: of given what there was to lose on a day
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: like this where things clearly work going particularly well, he
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: wasn't very happy with the car through Friday and Saturday,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: a really really good save. I still think he's super
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: threatening because you look at what's coming up, and we'll
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: talk about that in a minute. With the tracks coming up,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: and I just can't understate he's been there and he
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: knows what it takes in these situations. That's what makes
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: him way more dangerous than any other driver that might
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: be thirty six points off the seriously at this at
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: this time. The fact that he's been there and done
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: it and knows exactly what's required makes him so formidable.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: And yeah, he's going to have a massive say in
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: what happens through these last four rounds.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's no denying that. You just can't
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: discant him especially, and I advise everyone to keep an
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: eye on the radar ganprit a couple of weeks because
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: if there's rain, I don't think there's a single driver
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: who would say anything other than that will be acts
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: for staff and victory, and considering as well how the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: McLaren drivers did in the wet at that track last year,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: could present a reasonably large point swing as well to
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: go that way. But that's still a couple of weeks
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: from now. Let's go before we move on to the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: forecast for the rest of the season to Move of
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the Week, brought to you by Shannon's. There was non
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: stop racing this weekend, Matt. In fact, I don't feel
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: sufficiently slept despite the friendly times over to the Grand
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Prix this weekend, considering we had all three of our
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: categories on Formula one of course in Mexico City, MOTORJP
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: in Malaysia, and on the Gold Coast it was the supercars,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: so plenty of overtakes to choose from where are you
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: going to take us?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: And there are a million and one things happening in Mexico,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: it's really hard to try and put them in some
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: sort of hierarchy. I'm going to go with the slight
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: deviation to Move of the Week. I know that's unlike
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: me in a specificlar podcast, but I'm more calling at
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: first quarter of the week because I'm going to reference
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Oli Bahman here, the man from Chelmsford. We have to
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: tick that box. Incidentally, by the way, Chelmsford it's only
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: about twenty odd miles from where I was born, so
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: maybe he's Violibam and not just our very good Yeah
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: who knew? But look, you know from ninth on the grid.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: The fact that he got up to six that turned
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: one when there was all the nonsense going on with
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Leclaire and for Stappen and what have you. That was
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: what set him up so beautifully for this run to
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: a career best fourth place and fourth that it didn't
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: feel fluky or he didn't inherit something. It was really
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: really coolly taken. And you look at how many experienced
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: he is. I mean, he came into this weekend eighteenth
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: in the World Championship, had scored four points in the
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: previous four rounds and okay, yeah, the late race virtual
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: safety car we talked about it before. That probably saved
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: him from losing a spot to Oscar Piastre. But still,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, you look at his race. He soaked up
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: pressure from Max Forstappen, he soaked up pressure from two Mercedes,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: and then he had Piastre all over him late the
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: first lap that he had unlocked the ability to be
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: able to have a race like that, and he executed
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: it and finished fourth. So I'm so moves of the
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: week to do what he needed to do on the
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: first lap of this particular race. It set the entire
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: race up and then he converted on that so well
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: played my oliben.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I like it a lot. I do like it a lot.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: It was a great race by him. I feel like
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: it was a real you know, in a season that's
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: been quite inconsistent for him and for his team. To
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: be fair, it's not all been about him. I thought
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: this was the kind of result that just reminded you.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: This is why Ferrari's keen on.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Him, as as.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Is why team boss Ayakamatsu was so effusive in praising
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: him last year during all of his various practice appearances
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and those two Grand Prix. It was just too I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: think for him, wasn't it plus that one? But Ferrari
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: it kind of demonstrated that, And it's now. I was
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: looking at some of the statistics. He's now just crept
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: ahead in all the key metrics of vestbarnoch On, including
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: on the championship table, as you mentioned just before. Suddenly
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: it feels like there's a little little power shift going
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: on there, or potential one anyway, setting himself up one
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: potentially for next season. So I like that. Pick a couple.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: A couple came to my mind for this race. I
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: was very tempted to give it to Charlotte Claire for
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: cutting the first corner and gaining or holding second place
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: as a result.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I love the first quarter at Mexico. It's just choose
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: your own adventure pretty.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Much, is it. And at some point the stewards must
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: look at like a screenshot of that first corner, going no,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to look at this, it's not worth it,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: not worth the pain. Very tempered to give it to that,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: but I'm going to give it, and I'm going to
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: give any Oscar Piastri fans who are despondent this week
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: a little bit of hope because I really liked his
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: move on George Russell on lap sixty I think it
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: was it was the fifth was ended up being where
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: he finished for fifth place. Just this really high risk
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: on a racing which he was aggressive but never really
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: high risk. This high risk moved through turn four, five, six,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: coming exactly which of those I think was turned five
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: just to get underneath him, catching him a bit so
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: by surprise, really risking contact there but got him in
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that ended up being his finishing position. Again. I think
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: that also put him in a place to potentially grab
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: fourth had the VC not intervened at the end, or
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: at least we would have been battling for another lap
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: or two. But just thought that was a really great
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: move and must have been very satisfying as well, considering
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: how many laps he's spent stuck behind one or the
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: other Mercedes. Oh, to finally not see any in front
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: of him must have been very satisfying.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: It's kind of funny and that it was vintage Piastre
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: overtaking in a way, And it was also a bit
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: nostalgic because like, oh, I remember this, this is great,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: really impressive, really decisive, wasn't out of control, crossed up
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: doing anything completely ridiculous, really enjoyed it. Really good nomination
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: by you, And yeah, it shows you, even on a
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: not a particularly good day, that it's still in there
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: and there's still plenty to look forward to with him.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Let's change tack a little bit now and look forward
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to the rest of this season. I really like the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: way you put it, mat that we've got a four
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: round world championship, because that's what it feels like at
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the front. You know, depending on how terrible or not
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: you want to be towards Maxis stap and you could
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: say thirty six points thirty five points is his handicap
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: in the steampionship tattle, and he could still close it
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: from there. Oscar Piastri just one point off. That's as
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: good as even really considering it's an uneven number between
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: first and second in terms of the points paid. We've
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: got four rounds left, and as is the way in
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: this later part of the season, all the races are
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: really quite different. They're all a little bit wacky, they
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: all bring a little bit of their own character to it.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: It is the real wild card part of the season,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: I think, and that's what makes a close championship battle
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: all the more unpredictable. Next up will be the South
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Palo Grand Prix in a couple of weeks. A couple
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: of weeks after that will be Las Vegas, and that's
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the first of a triple header, would you believe it?
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: With geographical pair cutter only as sure it's like eighteen
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: thousand kilometers away or something like that. And then Abu
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Dhabi of course, to close the season, as is now tradition,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: a lot riding obviously on all of these races. Considering
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the closeness of the championship, let's start with Brazil, though
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: we're away from at least until we get to Vegas.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: But that's a bit of a differ kettle fish from
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: these low grip circuits that seem to trouble Piastre so much.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: For me, I think he has to win either Brazil
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: or Cutter. I think I don't think there's a way
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: for him to get to the title without winning at
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: least one of those. Historically, there's not not much history
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: with Piastre either way. He's only in his third seasons.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: There's only so much precedent we can talk about in
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: any of these. But Brazil hasn't really been a highlight
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: race for him, has it?
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: No? And Brazil, you know we're setting this up before
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: there's four rounds. Verstapen's thirty six points behind and so
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: you're going well, nine points around on average. Is not
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: that much, really, is it? But to my mind, the
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Vestapan candidacy, candidacy for this easy for me to say
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: is not. It doesn't wholly depend on what happens in Interlagos.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: But I think if you look at the remaining tracks
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: on the calendar, this is the one where I feel
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: that Vastapan's pedigree and performance here in the past offers
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: him the potential biggest advantage over the two McLaren's. He's
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: been so good here in the past, doesn't matter about
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the weather, and you know there will be whether Interlagos.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: It's just an absolute given the fact that you've also
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: got a sprint race there extra points. So this feels
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: like a big Verstapan move weekend in prospect because I
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: feel that his advantage over the McLaren's at this track
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: is potentially larger than the advantage that any of the
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: others will have over the others at any of the
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: remaining tracks. This where Brazil feels so important. It's really
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: funny with Brazil, like pre this is sort of probably
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: predating your involvement in F one. Brazil was always super
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: early in the season. It was always like round two,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Round three. I think it opened the season a couple
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: of times before Melbourne came along, and so it used
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: to be a bit of a bla grand PERI to
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: be honest. To quote the great Phil Brannigan used to
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: call it the race around the garbage dump back in
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: the day. He used to I always enjoy that. I
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: reminded him of it every time I see him, by
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: the way, But now that it's become later in the season,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: the weather's a little more volatile. It feels to me
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: it's the one track you can routinely be guaranteed to
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: have a good sprint, because most sprints are just like,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: there's always good sprints here. You know, you think it's
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: the big charge Lewis Hamilton had back in what was
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: twenty one. Things happen here at this weekend, they always do,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: but while there's all this chaos going on, it feels
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: like a weekend wherever staff and historically has sort of
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: sailed serenely along to get very very big result. And
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: you look at some of the winds he's had here,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: he's made that some of the years here, he's made
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: the rest of the field look really really but quite
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: bad to be honest, because he's dominated to such a degree.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: This is so pivotal this one to me, because this
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: feels like if he's going to take a big chunk
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: out of now Norris as the leader, it feels like
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: this will be the weekend that does it. And then
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: those footsteps behind Norris and Piastri get ever louder. If
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: we leave into Largos and you look at the extra
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: points for the sprint and say the margin is suddenly
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: seventeen points or something along those. If it's less than
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: twenty points, for example, which is completely believable. If it's
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: less than twenty, then look out, because I feel that
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: he will firm massively in the odds to get to
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: the World Championship. Interlagos is the biggest weekend for all
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: the rest of them. For Verstappen in and of itself
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: and also what it means to McLaren. I think it's
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: going to be a super pivotal weekend.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we don't have to be thinking about
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the sprint format. It was twenty three points he took
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: out of the championship lead in Austin, and he dominated
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that weekend from start to finish. But a driver who
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: gets on a roll and we shouldn't forget the stapp
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: and I think is the sort of king of sprints,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: speed king as they used to call it, speaking thankfully
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: no longer. I don't believe so anyway, for a reason
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: because he's really great at just getting in the car
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and finding that sweet spot on red Bull Racing is
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: back in that zone now as well, where the car
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: is roughly where it needs to be on Friday when
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: you get that one practice session, so if he starts well,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: he can finish well on a sprint weekend. I think
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: that's the thing, and I mean you take another twenty
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: three points out of this advantage and it's on like
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I would always declare the title favorite at that point.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: So I think that that's a really good one and
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: we move on to Las Vegas, which now then is
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: another low grip circuit for a completely different reason. Again,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: it's usually quite cold considering the start time of the race,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: although everything's a little bit earlier this year, it has
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: been in the past a little bit more reasonable if
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you happen to be a local or race going person
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. So good news for you, find news
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: for Australian time zone as well, but I'm likely to
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: be good news for McLaren at track that the team
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: has never really been very good at. In the first year,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: as could be, Astrit did have a pretty reasonable race there.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: It was undone by a safety car in the end,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: but did have good pace in the race. But in
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: general it's been quite a week McLaren track. I actually
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: think that off the back of Brazil, particularly if the
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: staffan builds up a momentum. Again, this is the danger
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: race for McLaren's driver's title hopes, I think, rather than
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: one or the other driver.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, i'd agree with that. If the four circuits are left,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: this is the one that shapes as their weakest and
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: there's a world and that you could absolutely see. I mean,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: all three of them could be within fifteen points after Vegas.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: That doesn't seem that doesn't seem out of the realms
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: at all. Hopefully no two am FP two sessions like
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: the famous first time we went to Las Vegas, which
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: is utterly ridiculous. There was someone that was working with
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: one of the teams at the time that's admitted to
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: having a little bit of a nap in the ninety
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: minute FP two session as the cars were barreling around
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: at quarter to three in the morning or whatever time
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: it was. But of the four tracks left, this feels
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: like McLaren's weakest one. Now the asterisk with this is
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: I don't feel it's necessarily going to be red Bull's
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: strongest one because we've seen Mercedes has been very strong
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: here in the past. If any other team is going
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: to muscle in for a potential win through these last
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: four rounds. It feels like Vegas would be the one
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: where that would happen, simply because we know that Mercedes
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: is particularly good in the cold. They're very good there
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: last year. I don't see any reason why that trait
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: wouldn't come up again. And we know that Mercedes doesn't
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: have consistent race winning pace, but they've also won a
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: couple of Grand Prix this year where there's been certain
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: circumstances that have played to them. So it shapes to
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: me is the track where someone other than Red Bull
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: and McLaren win. But it also shapes shapes out to
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: me as the track where McClaren might be the weakest
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: over the last four. So you talked about the historical president.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: I like the fact of these four races, the order
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: of the four of them is really interesting to me
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: because you know what we've just talked about with Brazil
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: and Las Vegas. The fact that they're the next two
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: in that particular order, it's almost like someone's writing the script.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Michael, don't make it close. I agree with that one
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: as well. I think Vegas's going to be a very
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: interesting round. It's proved to be an entertaining one as well.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Over in the past two years, contrary to some expectations,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: including my own, to be totally honest with you, Kata
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: comes next, and this I'm finding really hard to read
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: because on paper it should be all about McLaren. Obviously
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: in the first year, extremely competitive and though that was
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: in an absolute domination era from Maxwistappen, So there's not
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: really any hope of victory except in the sprint, which
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: was for Osco Piastre last year. Though okay pstre won
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the sprint, but in the Grand Prix was maxwis stappin
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Norris was competitive. It seems like it could be a
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: real close contest because the guide has changed since last year,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: but the form guard at the moment suggests both teams
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: are extremely close.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Again, is this just the hardest Grand Prix on the
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: calendar to get a feel and a read on. I
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: always feel that what's happened in there in the past,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: and it's a really hard one to get your head
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: around it. We're talking about this off air before. It's
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: the nature of the circuit layout there and that it
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: feels like the same corner twelve times over through the
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: course of the lap because of the particular track layout,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: and I look at this track a lot more from
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: my two wheel experience as a motor GP circuit, and
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: all my references are completely out when it comes to
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: cars because they absolutely annihilate these medium and high speed
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: corners there, so it's not really like anywhere else on
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: the calendar. It's got the big long straight obviously, but
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: there's no real out of there any slow corners at
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: this circuit, so that's going to be interesting. The heat,
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: while not as extreme as it was in the year
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: where everyone was passing out, we're doing mandatory tire stints.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: That was the survival of the fittest that year, so
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: that's not going to be as much of a factor.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: But for Stappen's raced well here having the sprint. Whether
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: that suits Red Bull or I don't know, but his
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: race paces Grand Prix paced for Staff and he has
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: always been really, really good. But of the four tracks
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: that are remaining, this is the one that's the biggest
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: unknown for me because I don't think we have much
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: data really to draw upon, and the data is a
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: little bit confusing. Quite frankly, I'm really struggling to nail
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: my sort of anything to the mast here as to
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: where I think this one's going to go. I don't
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: know whether you feel the same.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: No, I completely agree. It doesn't feel like the form
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: guide is established enough for this circuit. Maybe it's because
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: of that funny break we had between its first race
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one that everyone forgets, like a race
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: we just had to get through, and then the somewhat
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: less forgettable races of the last couple of years. But
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: it doesn't feel solid, and I think that's ally to
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: the fact that even this year, it's hard to know
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: for sure where that balance of power sits between Red
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Bull Racing and McLaren. That the clearly very closely matched,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: but I think the domination of McLaren this weekend races
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: some questions. It's gonna be very interesting to see where
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: we are by the time we get there, and then
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: of course we get to the Abu Dhabi finale, which
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: should be a McLaren circuit. Lando want it pretty comfortably
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: last year, although Oscar Piastre was tipped into a spin
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: on the very first lap, so it's hard to know
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: if he could have made a challenge of it. But
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I feel like the characteristics of this track, having learned
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: what we have about Red bull racing. This second part
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: of the year is perhaps less obviously nailed on for
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: McLaren than we would have thought earlier in the year.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: I know that the similarity is it's pretty tenuous to
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: liken it to Austin, but I think there's a similar
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: bread of corner profiles. Yea, as there is an Austin.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: And then the question is how much did the conditions
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: make help Maxwist happen to dominate there? How much did
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Charlotte Claire being in second head of land and or
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: has helped maxwistappen to dominate there. I feel like that
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: one actually could be a little bit more open, probably
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: still advantage McLaren, but a little bit more open, which
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: might be ideal depending on what the points picture is arriving.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: There, let's hope say, because God knows, we've sat through
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: some god awful boring Abbidavid Grand Prix's in our time.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: But the thing about Austin's interesting because the corner profile,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: if not the configuration of them, but there are some
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: similar corner profiles there for this last round. The other
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: factory in all of this, we're taking all of these circuits.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: Is not a criticism of you and I Michael, I'm
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: just merely making a point. We're taking all of these
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: circuits and discussing them one after the other based on
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: where the points are. Right now, what if we're in
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: a situation where McLaren's going to have the numerical advantage
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: in this title fight, if it comes down to the
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: three of them, what are we going to learn about
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: the way McLaren operates if it's clearly in the team's
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: best interest to have one or the other drivers perhaps
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: be a bit of a stone and for Stap and
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: shu At Avid Dhabi, if this thing is actually on
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: as opposed to it just being a straight fight between
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: the McLaren drivers, that's the biggest unknown for me because
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: the outline that we've just put forward in these past
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: few rounds to me is bringing for stapphen Moore into
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: the title fight that he actually is. Currently we're talking
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: about Brazil and we're talking about Qatar, and we're finding
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: reasons to think of ways that for Stappa could keep
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: chipping into this points deficit. So what are we going
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: to get by the time we get to Avidhaby And
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: then where does this two versus one fighting for a
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: world championship if it's live at that point, where does
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: that factor into things. I'm all for anything that makes
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Aberdabi more interesting than it is, because it's starting off
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: a fairly low base from me. But we've had over
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: the years that we've been there, we've had a lot
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: of not particularly good races, and we've had some of
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: the most memorable races in Formula one history. You remember
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: the Rosberg Hamilton title fight and just the absolute bastardry
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: that was going on that night. That was fantastic TV.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: And yes, twenty twenty one. We can all sit back
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: at our chairs and sight at this point, but it
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: was pretty compelling with what was going on. So perhaps
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: we're going to get our once hit every three or
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: four years interesting Aby Derby. But that McLaren versus for
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: Stappen dynamic in all of this. If that's what it
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: comes down to, isn't that a curve border consider.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: It really is? I'm just talking about this has got
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: me more excited than I thought I was about the
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: last four rounds of this season. We've got some pretty
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: dreadful time zones. But you know what, I'm going to
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: be up for it. I'm going to be there. I'm
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: going to turn up to work. It's going to be great.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: They was going to be dreadful whether we had a
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: live championship fight or not. The fact that they're going
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: to be dreadful and we've got a live championship fight
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: and one of the three people in the mix is
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: an Australian. It's good days and we can catch up
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: in our sleeplots. The season has finished, yes, not long ago.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Now before we wrap up MAP, we have to visit
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: the Crystal Ball, brought to you by Complete home Filtration.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I think my streak of success has ended, sadly. I
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: think I'm bit to the Yuki Sonoda was just going
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: to be resigned for no reason. I think that actually
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: probably not going to happen at all. But anyways, move
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: on from last week's predictions. What would you like to forecast?
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Speaking of people who need to move on from last
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: week's predictions, I believe this bloke said on this podcast
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: last week McLaren's won their last grand breach of the season,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: and then Lando Norris goes and wins by their largest
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: time gap that he's won a race all seasons. So
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: well done by me, Crystal Ball in the bin, New
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Crystal ball, however, plogged in charged up. Now after the
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: last weekend you mentioned before, we had F one in Mexico,
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: we have Moto GP in Malaysia, we had supercars on
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: the Gold Coast. We go from everything to nothing, and
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: so I'm going to throw further forward here and put
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: Motor GP in the chat this week simply because we've
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: got two rounds to go. Portermout and Valencia. World Championships
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: wrapped up. Runner up in the World Championships wrapped up,
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Rookie of the Year is wrapped up. Here's a stat
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: for you. Of the twenty two full time riders in
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: Motor GP this year, do you know there's any four
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: of them that have never won a Grand Prix. That's
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: how deep this field is now, it's insane. Eighteen of
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: the twenty two have won Premier class Grand Prix. So
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I'm saying, before the end of the year, near the
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Portermout or Valencia, one of the four who hasn't won
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: a Grand Prix, that it be Pedro Acosta on a KTM.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: I think he's going to add his name to the
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: list of winners and we may only have a series
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: where only three of the full time starters in this
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: series have not won a Premier class Grand Prix, which
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: you compare that to any other championship around the world.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: I think it proves that Motor GPS in a pretty
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: amazing place right now with the depth of talent on
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: that grid. He's too good to be in that four
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: that are on the outside, and I think he addresses
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: that before the season's out.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: I like that a lot. It is underrated. How just
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: wholly competitive the Motor GP field is.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: I think just because unbelievable.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Mark Marcus is there winning a lot of the races.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Is not there now?
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Well, imagine if we were talking about a Formula One
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: where sixteen or seventeen of the regulars had won Grand
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: Prix before. It's a totally different conversation, isn't it.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, I'll leave it up to you imagination. Which of
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the four Formula One drivers would not have won a
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Grand Prix in that scenario, totally up to you.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: I've got one anyway, I think you would.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: I'm also going to throw forward a little bit because
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: we have to. This is I guess, I don't know
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: if it's probably not adenderm but a modification to a
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: previous prediction. I think one of us has made.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: You're not trying to rewrite history, are I.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Was wrong anyway at the time, so I think that's
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: probably wrong anyway, I just correct it if you like. Sure,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: four Grand Prix remaining plus two sprints, I guess we
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: shouldn't discount them. Actually, so let's say six races remaining.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: I'm predicting two more changes in the Championship League of
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: the season. You to decide in which order those changes
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: are going. Who's rotating into top spot at those various points.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: But that's what I'm saying.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Is one of them happening on the last lap in
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: Abdabase It's happening behind the safety car, Yeah, the Hollywood
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: safety car. Let's throw one of those out.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Not unprecedented, sadly, but just to come over the next
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: five or six weeks, however long there is until the
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: end of the season. But that's all the time. We
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: have a pit Talk today. You can subscribe to Pittalk
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: us a rating and review as well. This weekend is nothing.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Go home, spend time with your loved ones, rejarge on
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: your sleep before racing Racunes. The following week you can
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: give up to date in the interim with all the
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: latest F one Murder, VP and supercars news at foxsports
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: dot com dot Au from Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonato.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Thanks very much for your company and we'll catch you
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: next week.