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F1's silly season unpacked + Monaco GP Preview · Pit Talk

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:08
Speaker 1: On today's episode, the European Formula One season is upon us,
0:12
Speaker 1: and so is the Silly season, and there are some
0:15
Speaker 1: key seats to watch as the twenty twenty seven driver
0:18
Speaker 1: market unfolds, and we look ahead to this weekend's Monaco
0:22
Speaker 1: Grand Prix on the famous streets of Monte Carlo. My
0:25
Speaker 1: name's Michael Lomonado. It's great to have your company and
0:28
Speaker 1: the company of my co host. You may not know it,
0:31
Speaker 1: but just like Oscar Piastre, he too was named after
0:34
Speaker 1: a one hundred million year old wasp. It's Matt Clayton.
0:37
Speaker 2: I can't imagine what the name of the wasp was.
0:39
Speaker 2: It would have been fairly boring in Anglo and white
0:41
Speaker 2: renef it was, but I'm prepared to take it. Any
0:44
Speaker 2: association with insects of vet. It's probably bad use for
0:46
Speaker 2: the insect, but not so much for me. But I
0:49
Speaker 2: thought you were going to introduce this week's show congratulating
0:53
Speaker 2: us on episode one hundred and seventeen. I believe it'll
0:56
Speaker 2: be that's next week's episode, because this seems to be
0:59
Speaker 2: the week where we're commemorating milestones one thing too early,
1:03
Speaker 2: because yes, we have the famous McLaren one thousand race
1:06
Speaker 2: livery coming up for Monico this weekend. But I don't
1:09
Speaker 2: think they've done nine hundred and ninety nine races, Michael,
1:11
Speaker 2: But that's perhaps another podcast.
1:13
Speaker 1: Is this the stat that is going to haunt me
1:16
Speaker 1: for the entire weekend? This show loves the staff. I
1:21
Speaker 1: think it's fair to say this podcast does enjoy statistics.
1:24
Speaker 2: It does.
1:25
Speaker 1: The idea that McLaren would celebrates one thousand Scrand Prix
1:28
Speaker 1: one weekend to early deeply irritating to me. I'm interested
1:33
Speaker 1: to see how they sell it, how they twist it
1:36
Speaker 1: this weekend, because in fact, the one thousand start, if
1:39
Speaker 1: in fact either car start this weekend, because this was
1:41
Speaker 1: the problem that neither car started in China, is in
1:44
Speaker 1: fact the what are we calling this year the Barcelona
1:47
Speaker 1: Catalunia Grand Prix the following week or perhaps whichever race
1:50
Speaker 1: comes after that one as well.
1:52
Speaker 2: Look that they're just celebrating it a week early. It's fine.
1:55
Speaker 2: I once work with a tangent here. I once work
1:58
Speaker 2: with a football journalist who describe described someone as a
2:01
Speaker 2: soon to be twelve game player. So you played ten
2:04
Speaker 2: games so you know, we can kick this down the
2:08
Speaker 2: other road at some point. I mean, at some point
2:09
Speaker 2: McClaren will do it's one one hundredth Grand Prix. Let's
2:12
Speaker 2: have a livery at a party. Fantastic. I don't know
2:14
Speaker 2: when that'll be, but that's im material at this point.
2:16
Speaker 1: Yes, Look, everyone just gets around a special livery these days,
2:19
Speaker 1: so I guess any reason to celebrate. Maybe it's because
2:22
Speaker 1: they know that they didn't have time to change the
2:23
Speaker 1: paint scheme before Barcelona, which is the following weekend. And look,
2:27
Speaker 1: I'm happy with that kind of practicality. On the other hands,
2:30
Speaker 1: if they tell me, I'll be very satisfied with that answer.
2:33
Speaker 1: Let's look though, to what is the start of the
2:35
Speaker 1: European part of the season. We've got nine Grand Prix
2:38
Speaker 1: uninterrupted thanks to Canada moving a little bit earlier, which
2:41
Speaker 1: is also very satisfying to think about from a statistical perspective.
2:44
Speaker 1: But this is the business part of the season, isn't
2:46
Speaker 1: I guess you can't call it the business end because
2:48
Speaker 1: that's normally the end. But this is where we get
2:50
Speaker 1: the shape of the form guide. This is where the
2:52
Speaker 1: big moves are normally made in how the Championship is
2:55
Speaker 1: going to start playing out more to the point this
2:57
Speaker 1: year though, it's also really important part of the driver
3:01
Speaker 1: market or the silly season, because this is when a
3:03
Speaker 1: lot of decisions are going to be made, and we
3:05
Speaker 1: do have not just a majority, but the vast majority
3:08
Speaker 1: of the grid out of contract this year, as many
3:11
Speaker 1: as seventeen drivers depending on whether or not you're counting
3:13
Speaker 1: exit clauses for drivers like Max Withstappen, and I think
3:16
Speaker 1: we probably should considering how frequently he threatens to end
3:20
Speaker 1: that contract. Plus, of course it doesn't includes Lance Stroll
3:23
Speaker 1: who I mean, I don't know. I can talk about
3:25
Speaker 1: what the state of that contract is at some other time,
3:27
Speaker 1: I suppose. But that's a lot of seats that are
3:29
Speaker 1: up for grabs. We don't have to spend too much
3:32
Speaker 1: time talking about Maxis Stappan because I think we've unpacked
3:34
Speaker 1: the criteria he's judging his future by. But he's also
3:38
Speaker 1: the most important part of this driver market. I wonder
3:41
Speaker 1: whether this is going to be a case mat of
3:43
Speaker 1: is everyone going to wait and see whether he moves
3:46
Speaker 1: or quits, because obviously he would then be vacating one
3:49
Speaker 1: of the top seats in Formula One maybe or maybe
3:52
Speaker 1: not taking a different one, and that would have a
3:54
Speaker 1: huge effect on where some drivers would be hoping to go.
3:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this where's going to be interesting for these
3:58
Speaker 2: next nine rounds, as you mean, we're going to get
4:01
Speaker 2: a little bit of a crash course here in Formula
4:03
Speaker 2: one driver self awareness simply because if you are prepared
4:08
Speaker 2: to hold out and not sign anything that intimates that
4:11
Speaker 2: you believe you might be a candidate for either the
4:14
Speaker 2: Verstapan seat or the knock on effect that someone taking
4:18
Speaker 2: the Verstapan seat would create elsewhere, perhaps in a higher team.
4:22
Speaker 2: So do you have a realistic expectation of your place
4:24
Speaker 2: in Formula one's pecking order. We might have some answers
4:27
Speaker 2: to that in the next nine rounds if nothing else,
4:30
Speaker 2: because there'll be some drivers that will say, oh, here
4:32
Speaker 2: is a seat I can sign, and it's a seat
4:35
Speaker 2: on the Formula one grid. I will have that, please,
4:37
Speaker 2: whereas there'll be other people that will be holding out
4:39
Speaker 2: for something better. And of course the danger of holding
4:41
Speaker 2: out for something better is you could be holding out
4:43
Speaker 2: for something that's nothing at all. And so the degrees
4:46
Speaker 2: of self awareness with some of these drivers thinking not
4:49
Speaker 2: necessarily that they might slot into a vacated Max for
4:52
Speaker 2: staff and Red Bull seat if that's what happens, But
4:54
Speaker 2: there'll be someone that needs to move into that seat,
4:57
Speaker 2: and you just get this shuffling long game of musical chairs.
5:00
Speaker 2: If you're holding out, you're not necessarily holding out for
5:03
Speaker 2: a Red Bull seat, but you might be holding out
5:04
Speaker 2: for I don't know, William's seat, or a Mercedes seat
5:07
Speaker 2: or another seat if it is. If it is the
5:10
Speaker 2: case that vastappan, who's the cork in the bottle here,
5:12
Speaker 2: if he does move. So it's interesting from that regard
5:16
Speaker 2: because you look at the incumbent drivers and of that
5:19
Speaker 2: seventeen you mentioned that are out of contracts, out of
5:23
Speaker 2: being out of contract and being out of contract, right,
5:25
Speaker 2: there's people who don't have many options, and there's people
5:27
Speaker 2: who will have many options, and they're not necessarily tied
5:31
Speaker 2: into where you might sit in this year's points table.
5:34
Speaker 2: And I think that's possibly the interesting part about this.
5:36
Speaker 2: There'll be people who are driving for teams this year
5:39
Speaker 2: that we know and the sport knows and the other
5:41
Speaker 2: teams know are perhaps better than that, and they may fall,
5:44
Speaker 2: you know, they may fall upwards rather than for all
5:46
Speaker 2: dour woods just through a sheer circumstance, they may end
5:49
Speaker 2: up in a better position.
5:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a lot of moving parts in
5:52
Speaker 1: this because I mean, all these drivers are out of contract.
5:55
Speaker 1: Of course, because this is the year of new regulations,
5:57
Speaker 1: everyone wanted to see was there going to be a
5:59
Speaker 1: big shape up in the order. No one wanted to
6:02
Speaker 1: nail their colors to a mask before they knew whether
6:05
Speaker 1: that mask was sinking or floating.
6:06
Speaker 2: I suppose you could.
6:07
Speaker 1: Say, and despite being five races into the season and
6:10
Speaker 1: normally by the time we get to Europe, we've got
6:12
Speaker 1: a bit of a handle on how things are going.
6:14
Speaker 1: I mean we know some truths. Obviously Mercedes is clearly
6:17
Speaker 1: at the front. We've still got that front running pack.
6:20
Speaker 1: It just hasn't been representative enough to really know the
6:22
Speaker 1: direction of travel for a lot of teams, especially in
6:24
Speaker 1: the midfield where most of these drivers are out of contract.
6:27
Speaker 1: Because we've had only five Grand Prix weekends. One of
6:30
Speaker 1: them was Australia, which was the first race of the
6:32
Speaker 1: season under these new rules, the biggest field spread of
6:35
Speaker 1: the season. Most teams have had what to date is
6:37
Speaker 1: their worst performance there. That's almost just too much of
6:40
Speaker 1: an outlier. Then three of the remaining four were sprint weekends,
6:43
Speaker 1: and that tends to shuffle the order a bit because
6:45
Speaker 1: no one, particularly this year with all new cars, nails
6:48
Speaker 1: there set up exactly right, so you don't get the
6:51
Speaker 1: best out of them. We've seen some trends emerging, but
6:53
Speaker 1: it's really going to this European part of the season,
6:56
Speaker 1: not Monocha obviously outliers. We'll talk abut a little bit
6:59
Speaker 1: later on. Next week in Barcelona will be a really
7:01
Speaker 1: great test, and then the rest of the circuits really
7:03
Speaker 1: are all tried true tracks, or we should be seeing
7:06
Speaker 1: pretty accurate pictures of performance. Only one sprint race among
7:09
Speaker 1: them two as well the Netherlands as well as Great Britain.
7:12
Speaker 1: So I've got a couple of sprints, but still a
7:13
Speaker 1: pretty good stretch of normal weekends. So that's what's going
7:16
Speaker 1: to be interesting. I want to go back to Mercedes
7:17
Speaker 1: now though, just for a moment, because there's an interesting
7:20
Speaker 1: contractual situation here where Mercedes only announced both Russell and
7:24
Speaker 1: Antonelli would be racing this year. This was last year
7:27
Speaker 1: obviously in twenty twenty six. The suggestions, of course, their
7:31
Speaker 1: contracts are longer than that, perhaps though heavily burdened with
7:34
Speaker 1: options on one side or the other. So not strictly
7:37
Speaker 1: speaking long term deals, but deals it could become long
7:39
Speaker 1: term ones.
7:40
Speaker 2: But of course the title fight is.
7:41
Speaker 1: The fascinating context here, particularly when we think of I think,
7:45
Speaker 1: and you know, at risk of overblowing it, but I
7:48
Speaker 1: do think it is interesting the question of George Russell
7:50
Speaker 1: if he were to not win the title this year,
7:51
Speaker 1: if he would be defeated by anton Elly, particularly if
7:54
Speaker 1: he continued trying to close up and Antonelle would pull away.
7:57
Speaker 1: It's not just about that DNF in Canada. Where does
7:59
Speaker 1: that put him in the picture of that team against Antina?
8:02
Speaker 1: It will continue getting better next year? Is only in
8:04
Speaker 1: your second season Formula one? We know Antonelli's sort of
8:07
Speaker 1: the next golden child who maybe jumping the cub at
8:10
Speaker 1: which Russell thought he was the head. What does that
8:12
Speaker 1: happen considering that he could be at least in some
8:15
Speaker 1: way out of contact at the end of this year,
8:17
Speaker 1: and on top of that as well, of course of
8:19
Speaker 1: a stap in question.
8:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so the Mercedes thing is interesting because one
8:22
Speaker 2: of the few things we can actually be pretty sure
8:24
Speaker 2: about after this really convoluted five races that you mentioned,
8:27
Speaker 2: and even the fact that we're already pre empting that
8:29
Speaker 2: Monicos going to be an outlier. So we've got a
8:32
Speaker 2: sample set of six Grand Prix that we don't feel
8:34
Speaker 2: a particularly representative because new cars sprint races far fine
8:38
Speaker 2: locations and throw Monaco in there as well. One of
8:40
Speaker 2: the few things that we can absolutely know for sure
8:43
Speaker 2: at this time of year is that Mercedes is quite
8:45
Speaker 2: comfortably the head of the field. Whoever is second through
8:48
Speaker 2: fifth and then so on and so forth, that's up
8:50
Speaker 2: to conjecture Mercedes isn't And so you mentioned the key
8:54
Speaker 2: point there. It's not so much that if Russell doesn't
8:56
Speaker 2: win the World Championship in a good car, it's more
8:58
Speaker 2: than if he gets beaten by his teammate in the
9:00
Speaker 2: same car, because right now it's hard slash impossible to
9:05
Speaker 2: make an argument for any other driver other than those
9:08
Speaker 2: two winning the World Championship. Right now, there would have
9:10
Speaker 2: to be such a performance gain by somebody else, which
9:13
Speaker 2: is possible with a new set of rules. Someone could
9:15
Speaker 2: make a big jump. But they've spotted those two guys
9:18
Speaker 2: such a massive advantage so far that it's really hard
9:20
Speaker 2: to You really have to squint to imagine anyone else
9:23
Speaker 2: being the World Championship right now. So it's interesting in
9:26
Speaker 2: that the narrative coming into the season would be I
9:29
Speaker 2: don't think anyone's surprised that Mercedes are good. I think
9:31
Speaker 2: we knew that was going to happen. But the narrative
9:33
Speaker 2: kind of wrote itself to a point because if Antonelli
9:36
Speaker 2: had been beaten to the World Championship in a dominant
9:38
Speaker 2: car this year by a more experienced teammate, everyone just
9:41
Speaker 2: shrugs their shoulders and says, well, that's what's supposed to happen.
9:45
Speaker 2: And so I kind of feel that George Russell, he's
9:48
Speaker 2: in a lose lose situation, did a lot of respects
9:50
Speaker 2: because if he wins the World Championship, but it should
9:52
Speaker 2: be well, so you're should You're the big experienced driver
9:55
Speaker 2: driving the most dominant car on the grid, and you
9:57
Speaker 2: know this is your championship to win. And if he doesn't,
10:00
Speaker 2: and that's the key part for me, you could be
10:03
Speaker 2: a little bit alarmist here and start saying, well, if
10:05
Speaker 2: he doesn't win it, they have to make a change,
10:06
Speaker 2: and he's clearly not up to it, and so on
10:08
Speaker 2: and so forth. I don't necessarily see that's not the
10:12
Speaker 2: way you have to go if you're Mercedes. Now, a
10:15
Speaker 2: lot of it comes down to how they interact in
10:18
Speaker 2: this championship fin I think that's pretty that's an unknown
10:21
Speaker 2: at this point, but I don't know if you necessarily
10:23
Speaker 2: need to make a change of that team just because
10:25
Speaker 2: the senior driver hasn't won the world title with one
10:28
Speaker 2: caveat and so obviously a very substantially sized Dutch caveat,
10:32
Speaker 2: because if Max Fastafa springs available, then all bets are
10:35
Speaker 2: off for everybody because everyone will want him if he's
10:38
Speaker 2: not at Red Bull Racing. So they're two strands of
10:42
Speaker 2: the same story that are not necessarily interlinked, but one
10:46
Speaker 2: does play into the other. I just think the Russell
10:47
Speaker 2: situation is I was being slightly facetious by saying that
10:50
Speaker 2: it's a bit of a lose lose situation, but it
10:53
Speaker 2: kind of is, because if he wins the championship, everyone
10:56
Speaker 2: shrugs their shoulders. If he doesn't win the championship, everyone's like,
10:59
Speaker 2: hang on, do we have a problem here? And if
11:00
Speaker 2: he doesn't win the championship and the best driver in
11:03
Speaker 2: Formula One becomes available, it's not even a question. Quite frankly,
11:06
Speaker 2: if Max Mustappen wants to drive for Mercedes and they
11:08
Speaker 2: can come to a deal with him. If that's how
11:10
Speaker 2: it shakes out, you would be insane to keep one
11:12
Speaker 2: of your present drivers to not employ Max. So it's
11:15
Speaker 2: a really interesting situation that Russell's found himself in kind
11:19
Speaker 2: of through no fault of his own, really, like he's
11:20
Speaker 2: beat a very very good Mercedes driver for a very
11:22
Speaker 2: long time. But because of the rule set, the way
11:26
Speaker 2: Antonelli has developed, and the lack of credible challenges elsewhere,
11:29
Speaker 2: it's become a really interesting question for this year.
11:31
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, born in the wrong year, essentially, he's
11:34
Speaker 1: his problem. Yes, I think it is interesting. It's less
11:36
Speaker 1: than Mercedes perspective on it, though, and more perhaps his one,
11:40
Speaker 1: like if he sees the riding on the off we
11:41
Speaker 1: get to, you know, it's gonna be interesting to see,
11:44
Speaker 1: as we sort of alluded to, when all these decisions
11:45
Speaker 1: really start to be made. We think Vestappen's contract trigger
11:48
Speaker 1: will be around the mid season break. He might have
11:50
Speaker 1: till October to decide if he wants to Tiger It
11:52
Speaker 1: so potentially does prolong this whole period.
11:54
Speaker 2: But if you are.
11:55
Speaker 1: George Russell and you're still being beaten in the driver's
11:57
Speaker 1: tied in the middle of the new Here whispers the staff,
12:00
Speaker 1: and might be talking to Toto Wolf again. You've been
12:03
Speaker 1: through this last year. Do you make the move where
12:06
Speaker 1: you say, all right, Antonelli is now essentially a top dog,
12:10
Speaker 1: rather than risk being frozen out of the driver market
12:12
Speaker 1: because I want to talk about Carlos Science in a second,
12:14
Speaker 1: do you preemptively go and find do you take that
12:17
Speaker 1: red Bull seat as an example, or whatever seat becomes
12:19
Speaker 1: available to you. I think there's an interesting questionnaire. Of course,
12:22
Speaker 1: on the one hand, it would be a pretty bold
12:24
Speaker 1: move to leave what at the moment at least obviously
12:27
Speaker 1: looks like the dominant team, as you said, but we
12:29
Speaker 1: don't know what position we're going to be at in
12:30
Speaker 1: the middle of the year. Sciences I alluded to out
12:33
Speaker 1: of contract at Williams, as is Alex Elbow. I don't
12:35
Speaker 1: want totally discount him, but signs for me is the
12:37
Speaker 1: driver that is sort of the front runner in exile
12:40
Speaker 1: if you like, having been pushed out of Ferrari by
12:42
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton and having no other front running drives available
12:45
Speaker 1: to him. I wonder what Christian Horner must be thinking
12:47
Speaker 1: about the decision to keep your pairs. Don't know it
12:50
Speaker 1: was Yuki Sonoda, of course in that seat last year.
12:52
Speaker 1: Know is Liam Lawson? My goodness, too many drivers of
12:54
Speaker 1: that Red Bull seat that weren't Carlos Science will not
12:56
Speaker 1: the least You've got to be wondering, thank you. You
12:59
Speaker 1: got to be one wondering what he must be thinking
13:02
Speaker 1: with Williams's slow start to the season, because I don't
13:05
Speaker 1: think there was too much doubt about his buy into
13:07
Speaker 1: the Williams project once it was clear he is going
13:09
Speaker 1: to have to move down the grid. I think that
13:11
Speaker 1: was pretty honest and realistic. But this is obviously not
13:15
Speaker 1: the direction of travel the team had sold him on.
13:17
Speaker 1: It has I mean, excuses is probably too lenient a word.
13:21
Speaker 1: It knows its car is too heavy, and when it's
13:23
Speaker 1: lighter it'll probably be more competitive, more as was expected.
13:26
Speaker 1: But if this driver market moves quickly, will Williams's progress
13:30
Speaker 1: be too slow to convince Carlos Science to stay if
13:33
Speaker 1: a Red Bull or a Mercedes becomes available.
13:35
Speaker 2: It's interesting that you overlooked Alex Albom there you can
13:38
Speaker 2: go work for sky Sports if you get this sort
13:39
Speaker 2: of business happing. It's funny how Alex Albom becomes more
13:43
Speaker 2: tigh when the things are going particularly well at Williams,
13:45
Speaker 2: rather than a good old, our old Alex Albert another
13:49
Speaker 2: subject the cars science question. So it does bring into
13:53
Speaker 2: even sharper focus if that was needed, that the complete
13:56
Speaker 2: insanity that he was overlooked to the second red Bull
13:58
Speaker 2: seat for whatever reasons they were, and we know that
14:01
Speaker 2: some of them have been alluded to. He is a
14:04
Speaker 2: front running driver hiding in plane sight and always has been,
14:07
Speaker 2: quite frankly. And what's interesting with the Williams experience is that, yes,
14:11
Speaker 2: it clearly hasn't it hasn't delivered on what Williams hoped
14:15
Speaker 2: and had promised, But I don't feel that Science's reputation
14:18
Speaker 2: has taken much of a hit at all. Quite frankly.
14:19
Speaker 2: I think he appears you look down the rest of
14:23
Speaker 2: the grid for credible replacements. And we talked about the
14:25
Speaker 2: knock on effect before is if you remove the stap
14:27
Speaker 2: and out of the driver lineup and the people shuffle
14:31
Speaker 2: up into various positions, He's the first name you look
14:34
Speaker 2: at for the drivers in that mid to back grid
14:37
Speaker 2: part of the grid, in that they're absolutely well, they'd
14:40
Speaker 2: be available, they're not tethered to another program, let's say
14:43
Speaker 2: Oli bahman Is, but they'd also be someone that would
14:45
Speaker 2: be a very very credible option for a number of teams,
14:48
Speaker 2: despite the fact that he sees is not going particularly well.
14:50
Speaker 2: So I think that's testament to what we've seen him
14:52
Speaker 2: do in a front running car before. He's science is
14:56
Speaker 2: because of the way he approaches it and the intellectual
14:58
Speaker 2: nature of it and the fact that he feels like
15:01
Speaker 2: he's someone who goes in and organizes teams and has
15:03
Speaker 2: that sort of presence about him. He's the right guy
15:06
Speaker 2: for a pretty particular role. And any of the seats
15:09
Speaker 2: that might spring open further up the grid do strike
15:12
Speaker 2: me as places that would benefit from having him in
15:14
Speaker 2: their employ including of course Red Bull. But we've been
15:17
Speaker 2: there this road before. But yeah, it's an interesting question.
15:21
Speaker 2: He he's the last person that this acide anything right now.
15:25
Speaker 2: His phone needs to be on ring, her up, vibrating
15:28
Speaker 2: tone on the whole lot. None of this you call
15:30
Speaker 2: screening nonsense, like be ready for the phone to ring,
15:32
Speaker 2: because I think it will ring. He might be perhaps
15:36
Speaker 2: the only driver in this group of seventeen that you're
15:38
Speaker 2: talking about that he may actually have multiple options to
15:42
Speaker 2: consider and none of them will be bad. And that's
15:45
Speaker 2: really interesting in terms of the decision making procos because process,
15:48
Speaker 2: Because I mean, it's fair to say, I don't think
15:50
Speaker 2: he's going back to Ferrari's. It could rule them about
15:52
Speaker 2: and Williams would obviously love to have him, but they
15:55
Speaker 2: also probably realize that if something else comes up that
15:57
Speaker 2: they might lose him. He's going to have multiple suitors
16:00
Speaker 2: for mine. And then the interesting thing for him in
16:02
Speaker 2: that the agent stage of his career is you've got
16:05
Speaker 2: there's a degree of projection with these rules, and just
16:07
Speaker 2: because of how immature they are, and we still don't
16:10
Speaker 2: really know what's going on behind Mercedes right now, He's
16:13
Speaker 2: going to have multiple horses he can pick from. But
16:15
Speaker 2: which one does his pick that's the interesting part for me.
16:18
Speaker 2: So some people will just be you know, as soon
16:20
Speaker 2: as the phone rings, will take any option they can get.
16:22
Speaker 2: He will have the benefit of having multiple choices. I
16:25
Speaker 2: would suspect he's also not going to have a hell
16:27
Speaker 2: of a long time to be able to make those choices.
16:29
Speaker 2: That's the interesting part because this market's going to move
16:31
Speaker 2: fast when it moves and so he, other than Vastapan,
16:35
Speaker 2: is the most fascinating person in all of this for me,
16:36
Speaker 2: because I think he's one of the few that has
16:38
Speaker 2: multiple options.
16:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not like when you had to choose Williams
16:40
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, where a lot of the
16:42
Speaker 1: midfield market was almost waiting on him. Yes, the highest
16:45
Speaker 1: profile driver moving down, and he's really one fish in
16:48
Speaker 1: this quite big pond, and it really depends on the
16:51
Speaker 1: order of movement as to how much time he's going
16:53
Speaker 1: to get to make that decision. I wander only very
16:55
Speaker 1: briefly on LPE because I think that's suddenly an interesting
16:58
Speaker 1: prospect in the fact that they have one set up
16:59
Speaker 1: for grabs, Franco Cola Pinto's and that team is now,
17:02
Speaker 1: at least after five races, the fifth best team, the
17:04
Speaker 1: fifth in the Constructors Championship, up from last last year.
17:07
Speaker 1: But Colo Pindo's also improved in the last couple of weekends,
17:10
Speaker 1: and love Ebritori, as much as he says anything, clearly
17:12
Speaker 1: has suggested that Cola Pinto has it in his power
17:16
Speaker 1: to make that seat his. I think that's fair enough,
17:18
Speaker 1: because we do need to wait and see where the
17:19
Speaker 1: Alpines big jump forward is sustainable. That's going to take
17:23
Speaker 1: an entire season to figure out. But there's one other
17:25
Speaker 1: midfield team that I do think is interesting because we've
17:27
Speaker 1: we've had the hint that this seat is at risk
17:30
Speaker 1: for a long time, and that is esterebuknock On seat
17:32
Speaker 1: at heart also, and I think we could probably say
17:35
Speaker 1: an upwardly mobile midfield team, or one that at least
17:38
Speaker 1: has punches above its weight very effectively, is perhaps a
17:40
Speaker 1: better way to say it. Maybe they shouldn't have that
17:42
Speaker 1: much upwards mobility, but they've looked pretty reasonable at the
17:44
Speaker 1: start of this year under these new rules, despite being
17:47
Speaker 1: the smallest team in Formula One, and yes that includes
17:49
Speaker 1: Cadillac as well. The season started before a race it
17:53
Speaker 1: even got underway, with team boss Ayokamatsu saying that he'd
17:56
Speaker 1: expected more from esterbunnock On last year, that he'd been
17:58
Speaker 1: disappointed with what he got. Not exactly the way you
18:00
Speaker 1: want to start a year. But the trend of Oliver Bearman,
18:03
Speaker 1: who last year, of course was a rookie, overpowering oc
18:06
Speaker 1: On over the later stages of last year, has continued.
18:08
Speaker 1: He's accelerated, perhaps even this year Benman's clearly the lead
18:12
Speaker 1: driver there. Yes, there are circumstances and all these results,
18:14
Speaker 1: but five is enough to say it's more than just circumstance.
18:17
Speaker 1: And every driver can tell you why they should have
18:19
Speaker 1: been ahead at any given rates. That the rumors about
18:22
Speaker 1: a big blow up between Comatsu knock On are not true.
18:24
Speaker 1: They rebuffed that very enthusiastically, I think in the last
18:29
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. But it's true that ock On seat
18:32
Speaker 1: is at risk, that he's not performing at the level expected.
18:34
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're being beaten as comprehensively by a
18:36
Speaker 1: driver any second year, you kind of then think that
18:39
Speaker 1: has must have other ideas. But you don't need a
18:41
Speaker 1: guy who's got a lot of experience but not turning
18:43
Speaker 1: that into results. And that's of course interesting that because
18:46
Speaker 1: the reserve driver is Jack do It. He is a
18:48
Speaker 1: Grand Prix driver of some races, seven Grand Prix, but
18:53
Speaker 1: obviously wants add a few more to his tally.
18:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, that move to become the third and reserve driver
18:57
Speaker 2: that is looking better by the week is that for
18:59
Speaker 2: Jack do And so I think as we get to
19:00
Speaker 2: see him back on the grid at some point, there's
19:02
Speaker 2: another element to this look. I totally concur with everything
19:05
Speaker 2: you just said, and I know we don't want to
19:06
Speaker 2: get stuck on this for too long. The other factor
19:08
Speaker 2: in the Hass equation, of course, is that you know,
19:10
Speaker 2: we pretty much suspect that Olibaman is Lewis Hamilton's replacement
19:14
Speaker 2: in waiting as and when Lewis Hamilton decides he's had enough.
19:17
Speaker 2: And had Lewis Hamilton had a season this year like
19:19
Speaker 2: he had last year, it wouldn't have surprised me if
19:21
Speaker 2: he decided that this was enough. You go to these
19:23
Speaker 2: new cars and new rule set and if you mother
19:26
Speaker 2: in law and not have a great season, then perhaps
19:28
Speaker 2: you're like, well, maybe I don't want to do this anymore.
19:30
Speaker 2: I'd be more confident that Hamilton will probably be on
19:32
Speaker 2: the grid next year now that I was at the
19:35
Speaker 2: beginning of the season. I think he's been perfectly acceptable.
19:37
Speaker 2: He's been very good on occasion, not fighting for the
19:40
Speaker 2: wins that the all time race wins leader would probably like.
19:43
Speaker 2: But he's certainly the question of his results and his
19:47
Speaker 2: decline whatever, because he's not at his absolute best, as
19:49
Speaker 2: you shouldn't be when you're forty two, you're forty one
19:52
Speaker 2: years old. But he's still a very credible option at
19:54
Speaker 2: a top team, and I think that question has been
19:56
Speaker 2: kind of put to bed this year. It'll depend on
19:58
Speaker 2: whether he wants to do it. But the other part
20:00
Speaker 2: of the hass equation is that at some point there's
20:02
Speaker 2: this understanding that Olibahmer will be Lewis Hamilton's replacement at
20:05
Speaker 2: the end of this year, at the end of next year,
20:07
Speaker 2: at the end of we don't know when. And so
20:10
Speaker 2: part of the decision with och On on what they
20:12
Speaker 2: decide to do is you're not just bringing in necessarily
20:14
Speaker 2: a second driver. You're bringing in the driver who might
20:16
Speaker 2: be your next longest tenured driver when they make their
20:19
Speaker 2: next change. And that's the interesting part of all of
20:22
Speaker 2: this for me, because you look at the other teams
20:24
Speaker 2: around them in their pecking order, they've all got I guess,
20:28
Speaker 2: sort of sensible and explainable driver lineups to a degree.
20:32
Speaker 2: And I don't think you can see the potential Ochon
20:34
Speaker 2: replacement or retention as an isolated case, because I think
20:38
Speaker 2: that there is another Dominot to for pretty quickly in
20:40
Speaker 2: that team. So whoever you bring in, if it's not Ockon,
20:44
Speaker 2: needs to be able to be that bridge between Haasan
20:47
Speaker 2: when they have another driver coming in, and a lot
20:49
Speaker 2: of that actually depends on what Louis Hamilton was to do.
20:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's making a decision to ensure post Baarman continuity
20:56
Speaker 1: really without knowing when post Bearman begins. Because you say
20:59
Speaker 1: it's it's got a lot to do with Lewis Hamilton.
21:01
Speaker 1: Shouldn't discount in the next couple of years, if Ferrari
21:04
Speaker 1: really can't get it back together, that it also could
21:05
Speaker 1: be a Charlotte Clair's replacement. But that's a much bigger
21:09
Speaker 1: decision to ponder. For Charlotte Clair for so many years
21:12
Speaker 1: has been essentially he's been built as the savior of Ferrari.
21:15
Speaker 1: Yet to get the opportunity to save that team though,
21:18
Speaker 1: which is again an interesting question in itself.
21:21
Speaker 2: For Ferrari.
21:22
Speaker 1: We haven't touched on rumors around Oscarp well, we did
21:24
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. In fact, whether or not
21:26
Speaker 1: he could go to Red Bull Racing doesn't seem to
21:28
Speaker 1: be too much in that one, although we never know
21:29
Speaker 1: what's going to happen in the silly season. Also rumors
21:32
Speaker 1: about the position of Beltric Bothouse the Cadillac team, which
21:36
Speaker 1: is remarkable. He's a driver that is in contract, one
21:38
Speaker 1: of the few drivers in contract and no real prospects
21:41
Speaker 1: of him being replaced by Colton heard of the reserve
21:42
Speaker 1: driver who does not have a super license. And in
21:45
Speaker 1: any case, when you're fighting so far at the back,
21:47
Speaker 1: what do the driver decisions really matter? As long as
21:50
Speaker 1: they've got some experience. But there's some interesting key seats
21:53
Speaker 1: that set us up for what could be a really
21:54
Speaker 1: interesting silly season. As we alluded to, it's hard to
21:56
Speaker 1: know when it's going to start to unfold, but you
21:58
Speaker 1: do get the sense that once it starts, it's going
22:01
Speaker 1: to happen very quickly as drivers trying to get themselves
22:03
Speaker 1: into the best seats. Let's go now, Matt to Move
22:07
Speaker 1: of the Week, brought to you by Shannons. I feel
22:10
Speaker 1: like we're slowly getting into a real rhythm of motorsport now.
22:13
Speaker 1: Most weekends seem to have races on them. So is
22:16
Speaker 1: the Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix. At the weekend your eyes
22:19
Speaker 1: were on it was your Move of the week.
22:21
Speaker 2: It's always good when you're doing a motorsport podcast to
22:23
Speaker 2: actually have motorsports. It's a bit of a prerequisite I
22:25
Speaker 2: find with these sorts of things it's always it's always
22:27
Speaker 2: good Italian Grand Prix. Magello, we talked last week about
22:31
Speaker 2: just the magnificence of that racetrack. I hope that you
22:33
Speaker 2: tune did and watched it. I hope you enjoyed the
22:37
Speaker 2: fastest straight line speed in the history of motor GP
22:41
Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty eight point six kilometers an hour
22:45
Speaker 2: on a motorcyclecl which is absolutely ridiculous to even contemplate.
22:50
Speaker 2: And this kind of leads me to Move of the
22:52
Speaker 2: Week because that speed was achieved twice last weekend, once
22:56
Speaker 2: by Pauge Martin and once by Marco Bozeki. I did
22:59
Speaker 2: not really tractory a Prillia teammates, so Martine was in
23:02
Speaker 2: practice on Saturday and Bizeki was in the sprint, and
23:05
Speaker 2: so they both achieved the exact speed record to the
23:08
Speaker 2: single decimal place. And move of the week for me
23:12
Speaker 2: is it's really interesting, like Magello, for me, was going
23:15
Speaker 2: to be this sort of referendum on all right, we've
23:17
Speaker 2: seen what Aprillia has done this year, but this is
23:19
Speaker 2: decatting territory. They've won seven of the last eight Italian
23:22
Speaker 2: Grand Prix and they locked out the podium in the
23:24
Speaker 2: last three, so if a Prillia really was going to
23:26
Speaker 2: move into being Motor GP's foremost manufacturer, this was the
23:30
Speaker 2: weekend they had to prove it, and just to run
23:33
Speaker 2: you through what they did over the course of the weekend,
23:35
Speaker 2: Michael Marco Bozeki took Aprilia's first poll at Magello in
23:39
Speaker 2: twenty seven years on Saturday and broke the circuit record.
23:42
Speaker 2: In doing so, both riders set a new all time
23:45
Speaker 2: speed record. They locked out the front row of the
23:48
Speaker 2: grid with Berzeki, Ralphernandez and Jorge Martin. That's the first
23:51
Speaker 2: Aprilia front row lockout in motor GP history. They finished first, second,
23:56
Speaker 2: and fourth in the sprint. They finished first, second, and
23:59
Speaker 2: fourth the Grand Prix and move of the week to
24:02
Speaker 2: the absolute undisputed kingpin of Moto GP. Move over to
24:06
Speaker 2: Caddy because Aprilia has just embarrassed you at your home
24:09
Speaker 2: track and done there what they've done pretty much for
24:11
Speaker 2: the remainder of this season. But to do it in
24:14
Speaker 2: the manner that they did it, there's no question now
24:16
Speaker 2: who the strongest manufacturer is in Motor GP, and Aprillia
24:19
Speaker 2: kind of rubbed their noses in it over the course
24:21
Speaker 2: of the weekend. Now to Caddy. Have some caveats because
24:24
Speaker 2: Mark Marquez is just back from injury and Peco Vannaya
24:26
Speaker 2: was very good at Bagillo, but that's not what he
24:28
Speaker 2: has been for most of the last half a season.
24:31
Speaker 2: I suppose there are caveats there, of course, but the
24:34
Speaker 2: fact that you've got all four Aprillia riders in the
24:36
Speaker 2: top six of the championship now and they're just winning
24:39
Speaker 2: spirits and Grand Prix and emphatically for fun move of
24:41
Speaker 2: the week, there's no question they are the best manufacturer
24:43
Speaker 2: in motor GP now.
24:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, it felt like it was a result that had
24:46
Speaker 1: a lot more significance than just another race wind for
24:49
Speaker 1: the title leader or yes, battle with his chief title contender,
24:52
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean it may be the only
24:54
Speaker 1: reason it maybe felt somewhat less significant. It was an
24:56
Speaker 1: Italian handing over to an Italian at the Italian Grand Prix,
24:58
Speaker 1: so it wasn't as if you were getting a emotional
25:00
Speaker 1: reaction one way or another from the crowd. But certainly
25:03
Speaker 1: it felt pretty significant and not a moment too soon.
25:07
Speaker 1: I guess with rules changing next year, you may as
25:08
Speaker 1: well capitalize. Well, you do have that opportunity to, but
25:11
Speaker 1: that makes it that much less expected, doesn't it.
25:14
Speaker 2: It does now, given that we had a dearth of
25:17
Speaker 2: other motors brought on the weekend. Unless there's something you
25:19
Speaker 2: were watching that I wasn't. I'm assuming you're sticking two
25:22
Speaker 2: wheels here, but I could be wrong.
25:23
Speaker 1: No, I'm going to stick with two wheels because I mean,
25:26
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the Grand Prayer. I've enjoyed watching any
25:29
Speaker 1: race at this circuit, and every year I think, oh,
25:31
Speaker 1: great to see Formula one back there. Yes there was
25:33
Speaker 1: no passing, but it looked good thought. But I really
25:36
Speaker 1: liked Pego Vanya's defense ahead of Ayagura on the last
25:39
Speaker 1: lap of the Grand Prix because it did look like
25:41
Speaker 1: as the commentator said, and I put my blame on
25:43
Speaker 1: them saying it, it looked like a done deal. Agura
25:46
Speaker 1: was closing with as I think we've spoken about on
25:48
Speaker 1: this podcast, or you certainly would have won the Motor
25:49
Speaker 1: GV podcast. His late race speed is phenomenal, and by
25:52
Speaker 1: nine had spent everything in his tires and it looked
25:54
Speaker 1: for all money that it was, there was nothing he
25:56
Speaker 1: was going to be able to do. Simply he's going
25:58
Speaker 1: to just be passed. And he was into that last
26:01
Speaker 1: corner but just a great cutback and then great exit
26:04
Speaker 1: out of the last corner to make sure it wasn't
26:05
Speaker 1: passed over the finish line either. Was just a great
26:08
Speaker 1: piece of really desperate in the best possible way, defending
26:12
Speaker 1: at obviously a very important track for him, for the
26:15
Speaker 1: brand at a time when as you've alluded to, as
26:18
Speaker 1: you've said, the Ducats sort of unwillingly handing on the
26:21
Speaker 1: bat and to another Italian manufacturer as well. I just
26:24
Speaker 1: thought demonstrated great guts and a season that obviously has
26:27
Speaker 1: gone nowhere need to plan for him after another season
26:30
Speaker 1: that had gotten no one need to plan for him
26:31
Speaker 1: last year. Just nice to see a good and sort
26:34
Speaker 1: of uplifting a supposed result for him.
26:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very cannily executed, and there was just
26:40
Speaker 2: a bit of a degree of desperation about the whole
26:42
Speaker 2: thing because it's not just finishing third and being on
26:44
Speaker 2: the podium. It's being on that podium. And you saw
26:47
Speaker 2: the vision of two Italian riders and three bikes from
26:52
Speaker 2: Italian manufacturers on that Magello podium. The shots out of
26:55
Speaker 2: the helicopters now to the drones of that podium were
26:57
Speaker 2: just stunning. On Sunday, really good and your arms up
27:01
Speaker 2: and the prospect of Banyai are potentially missing that podium
27:04
Speaker 2: at a track where he'd won three out of the
27:06
Speaker 2: past four when Decadi was much more dominant. There was
27:08
Speaker 2: a bit of a degree of desperation in that last
27:11
Speaker 2: quarter of the way he handled it, because you don't
27:12
Speaker 2: often see that from two time world champions. But yeah,
27:15
Speaker 2: it's interesting that we're talking about Jakati salvaging a podium
27:19
Speaker 2: by three hundreds of a second that would have locked
27:21
Speaker 2: out a complete Aprilia podium, just to really rub it in,
27:24
Speaker 2: But yeah, I do enjoy the choice, and you were right,
27:27
Speaker 2: like the commentators made the call that it was done
27:29
Speaker 2: and they weren't wrong, Like it looked absolutely done for
27:32
Speaker 2: all money. And that's one of those ones too where
27:34
Speaker 2: you just wonder Agura's amazing late race speed but still
27:38
Speaker 2: relative inexperience in motor GP. And I mean he has
27:40
Speaker 2: he ever been in a last quarter battle for a
27:42
Speaker 2: position like that in murdor GP before, No, And I
27:45
Speaker 2: think he'll attack it very differently next time. He is
27:48
Speaker 2: clearly one of the stories of the season. He's come
27:50
Speaker 2: on so quickly this season. But that's one of those
27:53
Speaker 2: ones that maybe the experienced guy was just that little
27:55
Speaker 2: bit wiser.
27:55
Speaker 1: Would it mattered, Yeah, and that shows you what Banay
27:58
Speaker 1: can still bring to the equation. Had it been uh
28:01
Speaker 1: it w wouldn't it have been a podium lockout? It had
28:03
Speaker 1: been next year because all Martin's probably not going to
28:05
Speaker 1: be in a Prillier, so it could have been a
28:07
Speaker 1: different kind of not a Prillier double podium. Anyway, that
28:12
Speaker 1: was the Italian Grand Prix for MotoGP good to have
28:15
Speaker 1: racing on every weekend at the moment, we have more
28:17
Speaker 1: this weekend, not only in Moto GP, which goes from
28:19
Speaker 1: one of the best circuits to the Hungarian Grand Prix,
28:22
Speaker 1: but we've got the Monaco Grand Prix, one of the
28:25
Speaker 1: iconic tracks in world motorsport on the Formula one schedule.
28:28
Speaker 2: Does it produce great racing? Usually not.
28:31
Speaker 1: But there is an interesting question mark over what kind
28:34
Speaker 1: of spectacle we're going to have this weekend with these
28:36
Speaker 1: all new cars that race in quite a different way. Matt,
28:40
Speaker 1: We're not expecting to have to talk about energy starvation
28:44
Speaker 1: and battery charging and super clipping too much this weekend
28:47
Speaker 1: because this is a very slow tracks, got a lot
28:50
Speaker 1: of corners, a lot of breaking zones, A battery will
28:52
Speaker 1: be perpetually topped up, but of course drivers still have
28:55
Speaker 1: access to that boost button to deploying their energy differently.
28:59
Speaker 1: Might we get something that at least looks a little
29:01
Speaker 1: bit different, And even if there's not necessarily more overtaking,
29:04
Speaker 1: although it'd be pretty difficult to have less, might we
29:07
Speaker 1: see some different pressure points press in the battle for
29:10
Speaker 1: victory or other places that might trigger some more mistakes
29:13
Speaker 1: that does give us.
29:14
Speaker 2: I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, Because qualifying is sort
29:16
Speaker 2: of ninety percent of the race at Monaco, and I
29:17
Speaker 2: think that's the interesting part for me, and that we've
29:20
Speaker 2: gone there with the previous iteration of cars and the car.
29:24
Speaker 2: The track is so inadequate for Formula one anyway, but
29:27
Speaker 2: let alone Formula one in twenty twenty five spec. You're
29:30
Speaker 2: now going to have inadequate cars or an inadequate track,
29:33
Speaker 2: So RT everything's developed equally here. I'm actually looking forward
29:37
Speaker 2: to the challenge of that because the way these cars
29:39
Speaker 2: need to be driven there's not It'll be interesting to
29:43
Speaker 2: see how quickly people find the way to drive these
29:46
Speaker 2: cars around here. And that's not really anything we normally
29:50
Speaker 2: talk about with Modoco because you're so obviously working within
29:52
Speaker 2: the limitations of the circuit with the machinery that you have,
29:56
Speaker 2: and you know, in jest I mentioned about the inadequacies
29:58
Speaker 2: of the cars. There clearly is something about them that
30:01
Speaker 2: the way you have to drive them, and we talk
30:03
Speaker 2: about energy starvation and so on and so forth. The
30:06
Speaker 2: way to extract a good lap around Modico this year
30:08
Speaker 2: is going to be different. So is qualifying still going
30:11
Speaker 2: to hold the same amount of outsize importance on a
30:13
Speaker 2: track where you can't pass? Yes, how we get there?
30:16
Speaker 2: That's a really interesting part for me, And I still
30:19
Speaker 2: get the feeling that you know what this track is like,
30:21
Speaker 2: and track evolution and constant red flags and interruptions. We
30:24
Speaker 2: might get to qualifying and there's people that aren't quite
30:27
Speaker 2: sure necessarily how to extract that lap time that you're
30:29
Speaker 2: going to need in qualifying. So normally these things are
30:32
Speaker 2: simulated to with it in each of their lives. You've
30:34
Speaker 2: just got to go out and execute what the theoretical
30:37
Speaker 2: best lap time is. Are we going to know what
30:39
Speaker 2: the theoretical best lap time is? Are we going to
30:42
Speaker 2: know how to achieve it? Because you can't rely on
30:45
Speaker 2: anything you've known about Monico in the past because the
30:47
Speaker 2: way these cars need to be driven anyway is so different,
30:50
Speaker 2: but particularly at a track like this. So for the
30:52
Speaker 2: first time in a very long time, Look, I mean
30:54
Speaker 2: I love the final lap, last two minutes of Q
30:58
Speaker 2: three part of Modico qualifying. It's the bit of the
31:00
Speaker 2: Bodico weekend by mile. But the whole of qualifying is
31:03
Speaker 2: going to be so interesting because there'll be people still
31:06
Speaker 2: trying to find the limits and you know what happens
31:08
Speaker 2: there If you get one millimeter over that limit, then
31:11
Speaker 2: new cars in bits in a fence somewhere, So that's
31:13
Speaker 2: going to be super interesting. Will the race still be
31:15
Speaker 2: a case of the follow the leader if it's a
31:17
Speaker 2: dry weather, relatively green flag seventy eight lap race, Yes,
31:20
Speaker 2: because it's Monaco. But maybe for the first time this year,
31:24
Speaker 2: the cars might actually be worth watching for the right
31:26
Speaker 2: reasons and not the wrong ones. Yes.
31:30
Speaker 1: Also worth noting on the jeopardy of qualifying an extra
31:33
Speaker 1: two cars in Q one. Yes a year obviously, which
31:35
Speaker 1: will only make the traffic situation on what is a
31:38
Speaker 1: short track much worse and you will have one mistake.
31:42
Speaker 1: Is still very costly because then you need to prepare
31:44
Speaker 1: your lap again or return to the pits. You still
31:46
Speaker 1: only get the same number of chances, and the risk
31:49
Speaker 1: of obviously going out of the wrong part of qualifying
31:51
Speaker 1: is massive. I mean, even if you drop out in
31:52
Speaker 1: Q two year, odds of scoring points are pretty slim
31:54
Speaker 1: without some drama ahead of you. Also massive importance off
31:58
Speaker 1: the line, and we've seen a lot of varied darts
32:00
Speaker 1: this year. Possibly good news if your Ferrari, even if
32:04
Speaker 1: the advantage of their start seems to be declining raced
32:06
Speaker 1: by race, as I suppose it probably would. But nonetheless,
32:09
Speaker 1: a weekend Ferrari must have circled in its diary because
32:13
Speaker 1: the layout of this circuit with no long straights, in
32:16
Speaker 1: fact no long straights to the point that we know
32:17
Speaker 1: straight line this weekend, where the wings open up for
32:20
Speaker 1: straight line speed, they just aren't enough. Also good news
32:23
Speaker 1: to Ferrari. It's not an engine track in any way,
32:27
Speaker 1: or not only in the way that we've said, but
32:28
Speaker 1: it's not really bad engine power at all, and Ferrari,
32:31
Speaker 1: we know, lacks on the power front. This is a
32:34
Speaker 1: big opportunity for a car that, as we've said multiple
32:37
Speaker 1: times this year, looks like a pretty great dynamic car.
32:40
Speaker 1: If only it had a better engine. Well this weekend
32:41
Speaker 1: that might not better.
32:42
Speaker 2: No exactly, And then you add in there that I mean,
32:45
Speaker 2: Charlottelu's done some pretty special things around there, particularly over
32:48
Speaker 2: one lap in the past. It's you know you're saying it.
32:50
Speaker 2: You know, the engine is an issue there. It's good
32:52
Speaker 2: in the lower gears, it's good traction car, and so
32:55
Speaker 2: I mean Monco is all about traction, Let's be perfectly honest,
32:57
Speaker 2: So really looking forward to see what he can do.
33:00
Speaker 2: You mentioned then the starts, and that's probably something that
33:03
Speaker 2: I've overlooked a little bit in this whole situation because
33:06
Speaker 2: we have had some pretty varied starts this year. It's
33:08
Speaker 2: always a nervy start there because what is it two
33:12
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty odd meters to Santa Voulte, Like it's
33:14
Speaker 2: so you blink and you miss at half the time
33:16
Speaker 2: and your entire weekend can just go up and smoke
33:18
Speaker 2: in that first two seconds of the race. So that
33:20
Speaker 2: makes me a little bit. There's a little bit of
33:22
Speaker 2: trepidation there, I would say. And there's obviously no way
33:25
Speaker 2: you can simulate this. We don't have a spruit werry,
33:26
Speaker 2: so we had to get one start this weekend. But
33:29
Speaker 2: the interesting part about this weekend is if this was
33:31
Speaker 2: any other track, in a normal inverted commerce track, we
33:34
Speaker 2: wouldn't necessarily be talking about who might win the race
33:37
Speaker 2: because it's down to one of two drivers. Probably if
33:39
Speaker 2: it's if it's a normal race, when you have the
33:41
Speaker 2: advantage that Mercedes have, Like right now, you know you've
33:44
Speaker 2: got to do Monaco at some point, but you really
33:46
Speaker 2: don't want to. You'd like to go to a track
33:47
Speaker 2: where you could just thrash everybody. So for everybody else
33:50
Speaker 2: that's in that near vicinity, there's that, Oh, here's an opportunity.
33:55
Speaker 2: You do wonder how that works strategically over the course
33:59
Speaker 2: of the weekend of the drivers. If you're a McLaren driver,
34:02
Speaker 2: or if you're a Ferrari driver, or if you're a
34:04
Speaker 2: Red Bull driver, you might be thinking, this might be
34:06
Speaker 2: my last chance to win a race or get high
34:08
Speaker 2: up on the podium for a while. Because this isnt
34:11
Speaker 2: a normal racetrack. You know what will happen. We'll go
34:13
Speaker 2: to Catalonia the next weekend and you'll be the standard
34:16
Speaker 2: Cataludia race where the cars light up in teammate order,
34:19
Speaker 2: you know, the Noah's Ark grid lining up two by two,
34:22
Speaker 2: and we know that not much happens at that particular
34:24
Speaker 2: Grand Prix, So with the context of that looming a
34:26
Speaker 2: week later, you might look at Bodoco and go, oh,
34:28
Speaker 2: here's my chance. So the final lapse of Q three
34:32
Speaker 2: and perhaps the first lap of the race could be
34:33
Speaker 2: pretty punchy. I think yeah.
34:34
Speaker 1: And I want to talk about McLaren as well here
34:36
Speaker 1: because while it's Ferrari, we've got a lot of talk
34:38
Speaker 1: about punching out of corners, as you say, and not
34:41
Speaker 1: having that engine deficit McLaren in its estimation of where
34:45
Speaker 1: it stands relative to Mercedes. You know, the engines are
34:47
Speaker 1: the same if you can use them a little bit differently,
34:49
Speaker 1: but the potential is the same McLaren's had. It feels
34:53
Speaker 1: like a little bit of an advantage of a Mercedes
34:54
Speaker 1: through the corner depending on the layout. You know, we
34:56
Speaker 1: think back to Japan. This is before the upgrades arrived.
34:58
Speaker 1: But Oscar piastric was able to defeat George Russell before
35:01
Speaker 1: the safety car and looked like he was on track
35:02
Speaker 1: to finish at least ahead Russell and maybe win that
35:04
Speaker 1: Grand Prix in Miami. Okay, that's not a particularly outstanding
35:09
Speaker 1: track in any particular way to put it by, I guess,
35:12
Speaker 1: but they were competitive there. Canada used an outlier of
35:15
Speaker 1: a circuit's all about engine performance and McLaren's never done
35:18
Speaker 1: that well there. But I wonder if this is also
35:19
Speaker 1: an opportunity for McLaren as well, to have an opportunity
35:24
Speaker 1: to beat Mercedes in the only way that it can
35:27
Speaker 1: at this point of the season. Good opportunity. Obviously, Orlando Norris,
35:31
Speaker 1: who won their last year Oscar Piastro, was also very
35:33
Speaker 1: good the previous year and he finished on the podium
35:35
Speaker 1: last year to track that both drivers do relatively well at.
35:38
Speaker 1: Perhaps this is the opportunity if you're talking about Ferrari,
35:40
Speaker 1: a team that has, let's be honest, the history of
35:42
Speaker 1: fumbling over not just wins, but wins in Monaco, a
35:46
Speaker 1: good chance for McClaren to capital.
35:48
Speaker 2: Arte very much so, and that's where I talked about
35:50
Speaker 2: the clock ticking down at the end of Q three.
35:52
Speaker 2: We've seen Norris do some pretty special things in qualifying
35:54
Speaker 2: there particularly, So this strikes me as being an important
35:57
Speaker 2: pastre weekend because I just felt that, you know, Canada,
36:01
Speaker 2: there was a definite pecking order between the McLaren drivers there,
36:03
Speaker 2: unfortunately for Australian fans. So this strikes me as an
36:06
Speaker 2: important one for Pastre for two reasons. A it's the
36:09
Speaker 2: opportunity of an abnormal racetrack, as we talked about before.
36:12
Speaker 2: But you don't want weekends like Canada to become the
36:15
Speaker 2: narrative here when you're not fighting for something significant. And
36:18
Speaker 2: obviously last year every Norris versus Pastre session was looked
36:22
Speaker 2: upon in the context of oh, yes, and these two
36:25
Speaker 2: are also fighting for the world championship. Now they're not
36:27
Speaker 2: doing that this year right now, and probably not at all.
36:30
Speaker 2: But you also, don't you know, there's a momentum piece
36:32
Speaker 2: to this, isn't it, And so he needs, you know,
36:35
Speaker 2: there'll be a need for him to address what happened
36:37
Speaker 2: in Canada, I suppose. But also just in terms of
36:39
Speaker 2: the opportunity, these opportunities aren't going to come round at
36:41
Speaker 2: many circuits this year. In fact, this would be the
36:43
Speaker 2: outlier of outlies you would think based on current performance.
36:47
Speaker 2: So it's an important weekend for if they are probably
36:50
Speaker 2: the second best team in Formula One right now, which
36:52
Speaker 2: they probably are, this is a weekend where there is
36:55
Speaker 2: a potential big reward for one of them, and wouldn't
36:57
Speaker 2: a win for either of them be so interesting in
37:00
Speaker 2: terms of not much the championship aspirations or their position,
37:04
Speaker 2: but just what it means within the team, because right
37:05
Speaker 2: now McLaren's not going to win the same Mattagron Brize
37:08
Speaker 2: they've done the last two years when things are much harder.
37:11
Speaker 2: Who's the person that can capitalize on that?
37:13
Speaker 1: I think also, you know, if we talk about Ferrari
37:14
Speaker 1: and McLaren here, I think a Ferrari win would have
37:17
Speaker 1: a certain feel good element because the leader be Leclair
37:19
Speaker 1: winning at home again a race he should have won
37:21
Speaker 1: many more than just the one time he has, or
37:24
Speaker 1: Lewis Amlin getting his first win for Ferrari obviously a
37:26
Speaker 1: great result either way, but it's a McLaren win that
37:28
Speaker 1: I feel like would offer a little bit more hope
37:30
Speaker 1: for the season, notwithstanding that the performances in Mcconmonaco haven't
37:34
Speaker 1: really mean anything in the grand context of the season,
37:36
Speaker 1: but it would just be I think a little bit
37:39
Speaker 1: more of an injection of hope that this season might
37:41
Speaker 1: not just go very easily the way of Mercedes in
37:44
Speaker 1: the way it's looked at so far, and you know,
37:47
Speaker 1: we should look back at the last couple of races
37:48
Speaker 1: when McLaren that upgrade in Miami seemed to do the job,
37:51
Speaker 1: and then Canada in qualifying pace at least it was
37:54
Speaker 1: right there, and then the race was obviously disastrous. As
37:56
Speaker 1: we talked about last week, there is some signs of
37:59
Speaker 1: hope that just need a clean run to be demonstrated,
38:03
Speaker 1: and maybe they can at least do that here and
38:05
Speaker 1: pull out a result. Having said that, sure it will
38:07
Speaker 1: be another of Mercedes one too. The question is whether
38:09
Speaker 1: it's Aunt and Allie ahead of Russell or not, because
38:11
Speaker 1: that is the story.
38:13
Speaker 2: I was just going to do a little public service
38:14
Speaker 2: announcement here. But if because if it is a Ferrari
38:16
Speaker 2: or a McLaren that is likely to win the race,
38:19
Speaker 2: I would look at who of those drivers from within
38:22
Speaker 2: those two teams is going to win the race and
38:23
Speaker 2: then choose your commentary feed Accordingly, there will certainly be
38:27
Speaker 2: a case for some f on TV commentary if a
38:30
Speaker 2: particular driver either of those aforementioned teams is winning. But
38:33
Speaker 2: I'll let you join the dots on that one. Alex Jakes.
38:35
Speaker 2: We love your commentary at Botico.
38:37
Speaker 1: Yes, you can choose if you're a KAA subscriber to
38:39
Speaker 1: listen to either the Sky Sports or their Fun TV
38:42
Speaker 1: commentary feed for the Grand Prix, just find the relevant tire.
38:46
Speaker 2: What a segue by me? What a segue?
38:48
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38:50
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38:58
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39:01
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39:08
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39:09
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39:12
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39:15
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