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Supercars finals permutation + McLaren's next chapter: F1 US GP Preview · Pit Talk

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:02
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Formula one is set to resume for
0:05
Speaker 1: its long swing through the Americas with this weekend's United
0:09
Speaker 1: States Grand Prix. Matt Payne wins a barnstorming Baptist one
0:13
Speaker 1: thousand with now six time winner Garth Tander, and we
0:17
Speaker 1: book ahead to this weekend's Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at
0:20
Speaker 1: Phillip Island. My name is Michael Lomonatto. It's great to
0:23
Speaker 1: have your company and the company of my co host.
0:26
Speaker 1: He watched the Grand Final of our sport and was
0:28
Speaker 1: surprised to hear there are three rounds still remaining.
0:31
Speaker 2: It's Matt Payton, the eternal thing that happens every Supercars season. Also,
0:36
Speaker 2: that's it, then, is it?
0:37
Speaker 1: Oh?
0:37
Speaker 2: No, it's not. But Michael, I have got to give
0:40
Speaker 2: you a massive hat tip here because we don't pump
0:43
Speaker 2: one another's tires up enough quite frankly on this podcast.
0:46
Speaker 2: But this is a perfect time for me because we
0:50
Speaker 2: have this segment called interested versus Expert. I'm very much
0:54
Speaker 2: interested in supercars, but not the expert. Now, someone wise
0:58
Speaker 2: on this podcast this time last week, said hm My
1:01
Speaker 2: crystal Ball tip for the Bathist one thousand is Matt
1:03
Speaker 2: Pain and gaf Tender. And as I was watching the
1:07
Speaker 2: last bit of Bathist and the last bit by that point,
1:09
Speaker 2: it was almost dark in Australia by that stage, because
1:12
Speaker 2: the last five laps seemed to take forever. It was
1:14
Speaker 2: completely insane, And at the end of it, the first
1:16
Speaker 2: thing I thought was, for the first time this year,
1:19
Speaker 2: your crystal ball can go in the crystal Ball Hall
1:21
Speaker 2: of Fame because you were right.
1:24
Speaker 1: I've got to admit to you. It was only this
1:25
Speaker 1: morning in the shower that I remembered that puts to
1:28
Speaker 1: tells you how much stock I put into my predictions,
1:31
Speaker 1: assuming that they're just going to be wrong. And then
1:33
Speaker 1: I thought, hey, on a second, I knew this was
1:36
Speaker 1: going to happen.
1:36
Speaker 2: And the whole this is the Dictionary definition of that
1:39
Speaker 2: old saying that a stopped clock is right twice a day,
1:41
Speaker 2: isn't it.
1:42
Speaker 1: But look, if it's Bathist time, I'm not bad. I'm
1:45
Speaker 1: not too upset to get the Bathist prediction right every year,
1:48
Speaker 1: but everything else I predict is wrong.
1:50
Speaker 2: But that was absolutely bananas, wasn't it. The last five
1:53
Speaker 2: laps of that I mean, I was in and out
1:55
Speaker 2: of it all day, as you know, as interested versus
1:58
Speaker 2: expert tells you, But the last five like, how are
2:00
Speaker 2: we at the last five laps? It's basically dark and
2:02
Speaker 2: what on earth is going on?
2:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I've got it. Like when I saw qualifying
2:06
Speaker 1: as well on the Friday night, seeing Pain and Tanner
2:08
Speaker 1: out in eighteen, I was like, well, well, this is
2:10
Speaker 1: probably why I stopped thinking about my prediction. To be honest,
2:12
Speaker 1: I thought, well, that's all over and done with. But
2:16
Speaker 1: let's start with interested versus expert. Let me tell you
2:18
Speaker 1: a little bit about what happened to Bautist one pounds,
2:20
Speaker 1: if anyone who hasn't already caught up with what's being
2:22
Speaker 1: built as one of the great Bathists. I'm always cautious
2:25
Speaker 1: about using that. I've only seen so many of them, obviously,
2:28
Speaker 1: I have not seen every Baptist or various previous iterations
2:32
Speaker 1: of them in history. But it was a pretty good one, yes,
2:34
Speaker 1: largely because of all those all the weather, of course,
2:36
Speaker 1: that tends to shake things up, which is bad news.
2:39
Speaker 1: If you're Brody cossetque your cam waters is obviously you
2:41
Speaker 1: were battling for the lead until the rain arrived and
2:43
Speaker 1: they got caught out by pizzop sequencing, and then the
2:46
Speaker 1: number of safety cars laid and well, part of me,
2:49
Speaker 1: and I've mentioned in your opinion on this mat part
2:51
Speaker 1: of me thinks that safety cars shaking up sport dead
2:54
Speaker 1: obviously always creates intrigue because you just get more race starts,
2:57
Speaker 1: even if their rolling starts. There's alway jeopardy there. But
2:59
Speaker 1: sometimes I think that's a bit of a cover to
3:02
Speaker 1: call that a great race doesn't really count. But I
3:04
Speaker 1: think some of the battling we actually saw in those conditions,
3:07
Speaker 1: and we saw fresh wet tires are actually really treacherusis
3:10
Speaker 1: or feenie in the wall for example. So there we
3:12
Speaker 1: was somebody that apts. I can't remember exactly when that was,
3:13
Speaker 1: but in that late stage of the race, I think
3:16
Speaker 1: what we saw in those conditions explains why this was
3:19
Speaker 1: such a great finale. It wasn't about the constant restarts
3:22
Speaker 1: that I think are a little bit artificial, even though
3:24
Speaker 1: we needed them. It was actually about the talent we
3:27
Speaker 1: were seeing on the road.
3:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, completely. I mean, sometimes too many safety cars can
3:30
Speaker 2: just be code for this is not a very good race,
3:32
Speaker 2: and we need the you know, my favorite Formula ones
3:35
Speaker 2: like the Hollywood safety car just out there when things
3:37
Speaker 2: are a little bit dull, but there was none of
3:39
Speaker 2: that because it was so treacherous. There were and we
3:43
Speaker 2: know what this race does. It builds to a boil.
3:45
Speaker 2: You add the conditions, how treacherous it was and this
3:48
Speaker 2: lap counter coming down. It was enormously compelling. I have
3:52
Speaker 2: read some things in the last twenty four hours at
3:54
Speaker 2: the TV viewing figures because it pushed so late everyone
3:57
Speaker 2: was cheating in to see what was going on, were massive,
3:59
Speaker 2: like some of the big in years, and you can
4:01
Speaker 2: see why. This is why. This is what makes this
4:04
Speaker 2: race what it is, and it makes the end never
4:06
Speaker 2: race like this so compelling because the jeopardy and just
4:09
Speaker 2: how treacherous things were, and it all built to this
4:12
Speaker 2: fantastic conclusion where you're looking at it with five laps
4:16
Speaker 2: to go and you're like, all right, there's probably twelve
4:19
Speaker 2: minutes left of this race. I have absolutely no idea
4:22
Speaker 2: what's going to happen here. It was fantastic sporting theater.
4:25
Speaker 2: And then yeah, the last five laps in and of
4:26
Speaker 2: themselves are probably worthy of a podcast, don't they.
4:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, And it's Matt Paine, who emerged victorious. So
4:31
Speaker 1: I did not take the check a flag that was
4:33
Speaker 1: James Golding, which would have been a remarkable zult for
4:35
Speaker 1: Premiere is nonetheless a poonium is a remarkable zult for Premiere.
4:38
Speaker 1: He was penalized for causing a collision earlier on in
4:41
Speaker 1: the race with Cooper Murray, and not even that much
4:43
Speaker 1: earlier on in the race. Admittedly it was still during
4:45
Speaker 1: these conditions, which in my opinion was fair, and this
4:48
Speaker 1: has proved controversial among some quarters. I just think in
4:51
Speaker 1: those conditions it was two ambitious. I feel really bad
4:53
Speaker 1: for Cooper Murray, actually, who was if we had a
4:56
Speaker 1: start of the Day segment, maybe someone's responsor to that, Yeah,
4:58
Speaker 1: it'd certainly be mine, considering his rookie status. But in
5:02
Speaker 1: those conditions, when you know, like you say, everything builds
5:04
Speaker 1: to crescendo, suddenly drivers don't just see the lead but
5:08
Speaker 1: the checkered flag ahead of them or the finish line.
5:10
Speaker 1: Sometimes things get a little bit crazy behind the wheel.
5:13
Speaker 1: But Matt Paine kept his call, as you'd imagine if
5:16
Speaker 1: anyone's anyone has to see how Matt pain behaves in
5:18
Speaker 1: real life, He's always keeping his call and was in
5:21
Speaker 1: the perfect position to capitalize on, for want of a
5:24
Speaker 1: better phrase, the RGI bargie ahead of him and win
5:28
Speaker 1: the bout this one thousand, a huge result for him
5:30
Speaker 1: as quite a young driver, one of the stars of
5:32
Speaker 1: the future. Obviously massive for Grove as well. The first
5:36
Speaker 1: about this one thousand A team that, as we've talked
5:38
Speaker 1: about before, as you may have read about at Fox
5:40
Speaker 1: sports dot com dot who is clearly a growing force
5:42
Speaker 1: in the supercars and really interesting considering we have a
5:45
Speaker 1: bit of a realignment of the Ford teams next year
5:48
Speaker 1: with Triple eight coming in, but Grove obviously growing into
5:51
Speaker 1: its position among the Ford squads. And then I don't
5:54
Speaker 1: necessarily probably think it's right to say this has flown
5:56
Speaker 1: under the radar. It's been talked about plenty, but just
5:58
Speaker 1: something that I think him being a obviously means it
6:01
Speaker 1: attracts a little bit of tension, but less attention. Rather
6:04
Speaker 1: Garth Tander now being a six time winner of this
6:06
Speaker 1: race almost quietly impressive achievement. Obviously a lot of those
6:10
Speaker 1: have come as a co driver. That means nothing less
6:12
Speaker 1: because you're still driving the car. You're still driving pretty
6:14
Speaker 1: much fifty cent of the laps, so thereabouts. That's equal
6:17
Speaker 1: now with Mark scaife and Larry Perkins, and behind only
6:19
Speaker 1: Peter Brook's nine and Jim Richard's and craiglownds as seven
6:24
Speaker 1: could easily achieve what it couldn't achieve at least seven
6:26
Speaker 1: next year, and then who knows beyond that. You know's
6:29
Speaker 1: a couple more before we get to the ultimate record,
6:31
Speaker 1: but that I think is really impressive. And I think
6:33
Speaker 1: he was talking in the press conference after the race.
6:35
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of skepticism when he chose
6:37
Speaker 1: to leave Triple eight to join grow Triple eight. Obviously
6:40
Speaker 1: the powerhouse team in its own right, but at Bathist
6:43
Speaker 1: in particular had won all those Bathists with Shane van Gisbergen,
6:47
Speaker 1: and now he feels that there is this great sense
6:49
Speaker 1: of vindication that he's contributing to the team. In fact,
6:51
Speaker 1: he said he contributed to the team more off track
6:53
Speaker 1: than he has on track, even though he's one of
6:54
Speaker 1: the Bathists one thousand with them, But he's getting some
6:57
Speaker 1: of that back. I really like that story, and it'll
7:00
Speaker 1: be interesting, you know, if we come back next year,
7:02
Speaker 1: maybe we're not talking about Matt Payne and Garthtander as
7:04
Speaker 1: a good slightly outside perhaps pick, but actually the team
7:09
Speaker 1: that is to beat of the combination that is to
7:10
Speaker 1: beat next season, because they'll be the defending badest one
7:13
Speaker 1: thousand winners and that's pretty powerful nigga to this time
7:15
Speaker 1: of year.
7:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And you judge someone by the company they
7:19
Speaker 2: keep historically, and you know that list of names you
7:23
Speaker 2: just read out, then that's basically who's who of the event,
7:25
Speaker 2: let's be honest. And now he's in that sort of
7:28
Speaker 2: pantheon of great guys and thoroughly deserve because he's done
7:31
Speaker 2: it different ways. But I think you know that that
7:34
Speaker 2: sort of crystallizes for me, that puts his career on
7:36
Speaker 2: a different plane for mine. It was already a very
7:38
Speaker 2: very successful one. But the other thing that Bathist did
7:42
Speaker 2: this weekend once we all tried out from watching it,
7:44
Speaker 2: of course, you know the subtext of this whole season.
7:48
Speaker 2: We've been talking about the finals right for a while now.
7:51
Speaker 2: There's a lot to take away out of that, and
7:53
Speaker 2: sometimes it's the hard luck stories and god, there were
7:55
Speaker 2: time after this weekend, but I know you've had a
7:58
Speaker 2: good look at this and sort of broken down the
8:00
Speaker 2: near misses and the people that have cemented their places.
8:02
Speaker 2: But what was your big takeaway from all of that?
8:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, so after all of the finals permutations, we talked
8:07
Speaker 1: about them a little bit last week, and it was
8:09
Speaker 1: close for let's say, a handful of positions, even if
8:11
Speaker 1: many more were mathematically in contention. No changes to the
8:16
Speaker 1: drivers who qualified. Everyone was in the top ten last
8:18
Speaker 1: week remained in the top ten after this week, which
8:21
Speaker 1: does show you know, we talked about big points paying races.
8:23
Speaker 1: It is genuinely big misfortune that means you miss out
8:26
Speaker 1: for a moment there Though it looked like brock Feni
8:29
Speaker 1: might have lost top seed billing, it would have been
8:31
Speaker 1: significant because when he ended up in the wall, I
8:33
Speaker 1: assumed he wasn't going to be rejoining, but he did.
8:34
Speaker 1: He's scored enough points to stay ahead of Matt Pain,
8:36
Speaker 1: not by much, but he did. So the order in
8:38
Speaker 1: the end of the top ten is Feenie, Matt Pain,
8:41
Speaker 1: Will Brown, who holds third place, but quite distantly the
8:43
Speaker 1: defending champion. Then cam Orders Brodie is stick. He moved
8:46
Speaker 1: up one place ahead of Chas Mostat, so he gets
8:48
Speaker 1: a couple of bonus point in the finals. I'll talk
8:50
Speaker 1: about that in a second. Anton de Pasquale Thomas Randall
8:53
Speaker 1: moved up to place ahead of Ryan Wood and then
8:55
Speaker 1: kay Allen a rookie in the finals. That's very exciting
8:58
Speaker 1: and that really reflects how strong not a finish to
9:01
Speaker 1: the campaign. This wasn't the Grand Final, the second. For
9:04
Speaker 1: the middle part of the campaign, how we want to
9:05
Speaker 1: discover it has been really good, really impressive and justifying
9:08
Speaker 1: his promotion to the main game. But I want to
9:11
Speaker 1: take you well first of all the ones who missed
9:12
Speaker 1: out and then tell you what it means to the finals.
9:14
Speaker 1: Feenie kept that top speed seed spot by fifty six points,
9:18
Speaker 1: but Andre Heimgartner and cam Hill eleventh and twelfth, missed
9:22
Speaker 1: out on passing Kayellen by three points, which in supercars,
9:25
Speaker 1: remember it's three hundred points for a weekend. That's like
9:27
Speaker 1: a point zero one percent whatever, nothing practically a tie,
9:33
Speaker 1: but that's how close it was. Both did really well
9:36
Speaker 1: at Bathist by the way, these were good rounds for them,
9:39
Speaker 1: but kay Allen did just enough to stick in there
9:42
Speaker 1: and defend that position. So some really hard luck stories there,
9:45
Speaker 1: particularly because cam Hill was in the top ten for
9:47
Speaker 1: quite a lot in the early part of the campaign.
9:49
Speaker 1: After he went the straight in Grand Prix missed out
9:52
Speaker 1: after a little bit of misfortune through the middle of
9:54
Speaker 1: the campaign, and that just meant that he had a
9:57
Speaker 1: long fight back and lo and Vald he hasn't been
9:59
Speaker 1: able to make it back into the topped him to
10:00
Speaker 1: shame he dropped out only in Townsville. I think it
10:03
Speaker 1: was only two rounds ago, so unfortunate for him. But
10:06
Speaker 1: let me tell you about the bonus points down because
10:07
Speaker 1: Gold Coat's only two weeks away, so you want to
10:10
Speaker 1: know how that's going to work out, because all the
10:12
Speaker 1: top ten now have their points three set to three thousand,
10:16
Speaker 1: which is a very supercouse number. But then we get
10:19
Speaker 1: this scrolling down bonus points system. But because Phenie won
10:24
Speaker 1: the Sprint Cup, Pain won the Endura Cup courtesy winning
10:26
Speaker 1: about this one thousand, getting a podium at the Bend earlier,
10:29
Speaker 1: they've got a little bit of a head start and everybody,
10:31
Speaker 1: and I do think this is important considering you know,
10:33
Speaker 1: bad luck can happen to particularly at the Gold Coast
10:35
Speaker 1: with the walls are so close. Phoenie now starts on
10:38
Speaker 1: three thousand. I'm just going to forget the three thousand
10:40
Speaker 1: on one hundred and seventy five points, and then Pain
10:43
Speaker 1: has one hundred and forty five points, so it's only
10:46
Speaker 1: thirty point difference, which is small. Third Will Browns all
10:49
Speaker 1: the way down on ninety six points, so he's almost
10:52
Speaker 1: one hundred off the lead. He's about fifty off second plate,
10:55
Speaker 1: so that is a little bit of a deficit. Then
10:56
Speaker 1: it's seventy eight down to sixty six to fifty seven,
10:58
Speaker 1: forty eight, thirty nine to thirty in twenty one, so
11:00
Speaker 1: much smaller gaps. I remember it's the next three who
11:04
Speaker 1: were eliminated after the Gold Coast. Of the bottom three drivers,
11:07
Speaker 1: that's kay Al and Ryan Wood and Thomas Randall, all
11:09
Speaker 1: the ones who need to make up the most points
11:12
Speaker 1: in the Gold Coast to survive. This is now uncharted territory.
11:16
Speaker 1: It literally is uncharted territory for the Supercaus we've never
11:18
Speaker 1: done the finals before. We don't know what that pressure
11:20
Speaker 1: is going to be like of three successive title deciding rounds. Effectively,
11:24
Speaker 1: I think you have to think of it like that.
11:26
Speaker 1: And to start it at the Gold Coast, which is
11:28
Speaker 1: always such a wild card round. It's a little bit
11:31
Speaker 1: mean for the drivers, but I'm sure it'll be a
11:32
Speaker 1: great spectacle.
11:33
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean, that's what I was going to
11:35
Speaker 2: say the fact that the very first of these three
11:37
Speaker 2: is possibly the circuit with the greatest peril of the entirety.
11:41
Speaker 2: I mean, talk about throwing a curveball into things. But
11:43
Speaker 2: you know you mentioned the points gaps there. You look
11:46
Speaker 2: at the margins by which certain guys missed out this year. Yeah,
11:50
Speaker 2: it just does show you that every lap place session
11:53
Speaker 2: the importance. I think this is what the finals wanted
11:55
Speaker 2: to do. It wanted to raise the stakes, right, and
11:58
Speaker 2: it's definitely done that. But yeah, man, of all the places,
12:01
Speaker 2: you probably don't want to go if you're hoping for
12:03
Speaker 2: a little bit of good luck, because Gold Coast there's
12:05
Speaker 2: enough things to trip you up, but other people's misfortune
12:08
Speaker 2: could also trip you up. So it's double jeopardy for
12:11
Speaker 2: that round and always good TV, which is frankly, that's
12:14
Speaker 2: what we want to see.
12:15
Speaker 1: That's in two weeks time on the Gold Coast. But
12:17
Speaker 1: this weekend I'm very interested in the Australian Motorcycle Grand
12:22
Speaker 1: Prix down at philip Island, one of the great motorcycling
12:25
Speaker 1: circuits of the world. Everyone's always very excited to head
12:27
Speaker 1: down to the Island or philip Iceland, depending on your pronunciation.
12:32
Speaker 1: One of the riders who won't be heading down, however,
12:34
Speaker 1: among many is Mark Marquez. The he's not the defending
12:37
Speaker 1: champion yet the champion elect, I suppose we call him.
12:41
Speaker 1: We knew he was going to miss out on this
12:43
Speaker 1: round when we talked about this last week. But now
12:46
Speaker 1: he's elected to have surgery. How does that change the
12:49
Speaker 1: rest of his season?
12:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. So we remember he had the first
12:53
Speaker 2: lap accident with Marco Betzeki in the last round in
12:55
Speaker 2: Indonesia and flew back to Spain, and the plan initially
12:58
Speaker 2: was to not have surged on the right shoulder that
13:01
Speaker 2: he had a fracture in from that, because you know,
13:03
Speaker 2: once to get back before the end of the season,
13:05
Speaker 2: wanted to go with rest and rehabilitation, and when you've
13:08
Speaker 2: had as many surgeries on a particular part of the body,
13:10
Speaker 2: the right side that Marcus had, you can understand why
13:13
Speaker 2: they didn't want to go down that road. But it's
13:16
Speaker 2: subsequently emerged over the past weekend where he's actually had
13:18
Speaker 2: the surgery on the right shoulder, So he was going
13:21
Speaker 2: to miss Australia and Malaysia. Anyway. I think the thing
13:24
Speaker 2: for me now is there's two rounds after that, Portamow
13:27
Speaker 2: and Valencia. Valencia, you want to be there, not because
13:31
Speaker 2: it's you know, okay, it's the final round of the season.
13:33
Speaker 2: You can become officially well chairman at the end of it.
13:36
Speaker 2: But I also think that you have the post race
13:39
Speaker 2: one day test and that basically the beginning of twenty
13:41
Speaker 2: twenty six starts as soon as twenty twenty five finishes,
13:44
Speaker 2: so you want to be on track for that one.
13:46
Speaker 2: I'm wondering now if the surgery rules him out of Porteramow,
13:50
Speaker 2: the penultimate round of the season, that is a pretty
13:52
Speaker 2: Gnali track at the best of times, and a place
13:55
Speaker 2: where you certainly don't have small accidents. It's probably more
13:58
Speaker 2: important for him to get through Valencia, be right, get
14:01
Speaker 2: things going for twenty twenty six. So I wonder if
14:03
Speaker 2: the surgery rules him out for Portugal as well. The
14:06
Speaker 2: statistical part of this, we never really get to see
14:09
Speaker 2: how the story finished, because he was on track to
14:11
Speaker 2: beat his all time most winsay to season mark, which
14:14
Speaker 2: was thirteen. He's on eleven at the moment, so you'd
14:16
Speaker 2: obviously need to do and win the last two rounds
14:18
Speaker 2: of the season anyway. So the fact that there's some
14:21
Speaker 2: statistical improbability there and really there's nothing really to race
14:25
Speaker 2: for in twenty twenty five. Now it's all about prepping
14:28
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty six. So I would be surprised if
14:30
Speaker 2: we see him in Portermou. But his absence in Australia
14:34
Speaker 2: this weekend it's so interesting in that Mark is out
14:38
Speaker 2: this weekend, who won last year at Philip Island, won
14:40
Speaker 2: at four times there. The fastest rider at Philip Island
14:43
Speaker 2: since we came back post COVID has been Jorge Martin,
14:45
Speaker 2: even though he hasn't won the race there, He's been
14:47
Speaker 2: on pole three straight years, owns a circuit record. He's
14:50
Speaker 2: not going to be there. And the other rider who's
14:52
Speaker 2: not going to be there is Maverick Vinalez, who's won
14:54
Speaker 2: at Philip Island before and was the other front row
14:57
Speaker 2: start at last year when he was still at a Prillier.
15:00
Speaker 2: So we've got this bizarre situation where at the entire
15:03
Speaker 2: front row from last year's Australian Grand Prix is not
15:06
Speaker 2: going to be at Philip Island this weekend. And you
15:08
Speaker 2: look at the shadow that particularly Marques and Martine, at
15:11
Speaker 2: that circuit cast it might be the most open Australian
15:15
Speaker 2: Motor GP that I can think of in the years
15:17
Speaker 2: that I've been down there covering it, which is twenty
15:20
Speaker 2: what will that be four years? I think now I
15:22
Speaker 2: can't think of a more open race coming into this
15:25
Speaker 2: weekend because the guys at the top of the points
15:28
Speaker 2: standings behind Marques aren't particularly good at Philip Island or
15:31
Speaker 2: in horrendous form. And then maybe the guy who's in
15:34
Speaker 2: the best form and on a bike that looks really,
15:37
Speaker 2: really good, in Marco Betzeki is injured after what happened
15:40
Speaker 2: in Indonesia. He will race in Australia. He's also got
15:42
Speaker 2: a grid penalty for what happened with Marques in the
15:44
Speaker 2: first lap at Mandalika, So you throw all those elements
15:47
Speaker 2: into the mix and yeah, good luck finding a winner
15:49
Speaker 2: this weekend. But it'll be interesting.
15:51
Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see how this weekend pans
15:54
Speaker 1: out down at the Island. And if you want to
15:55
Speaker 1: hear more of Matt's thoughts along with those of Ronita
15:59
Speaker 1: Vermule and you can hear them in this very podcast
16:02
Speaker 1: feed with the Pit Talk Moto GP podcast which will
16:05
Speaker 1: be online later this week. But now it's time for
16:09
Speaker 1: Move of the Week. Brought to you by Shannon's plenty
16:12
Speaker 1: of laps to consider over the course of the weekend.
16:14
Speaker 1: I was very pleased. Actually, I hadn't calculated this before
16:16
Speaker 1: that one hundred and sixty one laps of Bathist equals
16:19
Speaker 1: pretty much exactly one thousand kilometers one thousand point two.
16:22
Speaker 1: I think it is so of those very pleasing one
16:24
Speaker 1: thousand point two kilometers. Well, is that where you're going,
16:27
Speaker 1: Matt with your move of the week or is it
16:29
Speaker 1: going to be a bit more of a left field one?
16:32
Speaker 2: That is such a Michael Lamonatto. I like my numbers
16:34
Speaker 2: to be all nice and neat and they look good
16:36
Speaker 2: in a spreadsheet response by you. But my move of
16:40
Speaker 2: the week and there it is formula one adjacent, as
16:44
Speaker 2: most things with me tend to be. Move of the
16:46
Speaker 2: week surely has to be chasms at cracking a beer
16:48
Speaker 2: after having a d and effort Bathist. I mean, that's
16:50
Speaker 2: got to be the absolute movie of the week. And
16:53
Speaker 2: the first thing that I thought of, of course, was
16:54
Speaker 2: Kimmy Reichenden a Monaco in six when he was sitting
16:58
Speaker 2: with his shirt off, drinking whatever used riaking on the
17:01
Speaker 2: yacht beside the track. There now no harbors and yachts
17:04
Speaker 2: and things at Bathist. But the chasmostit response was such
17:09
Speaker 2: a great Australian way to react to some disappointment. Someone
17:12
Speaker 2: had a him a beer, He shrugged, he pulled the
17:14
Speaker 2: top on it and got on with the rest of
17:15
Speaker 2: his life. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great
17:19
Speaker 2: Bathist moment, and I really love the response when they
17:21
Speaker 2: cut back to his team and everyone's response was just
17:24
Speaker 2: like that is an all time moment, so great social
17:27
Speaker 2: media finner. One thing we'll remember from this race, and
17:29
Speaker 2: a slightly even for me, left field move of the week.
17:32
Speaker 2: But I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I dare say that
17:35
Speaker 2: something in those one thousand point two or whatever it
17:37
Speaker 2: was kilometers that you saw probably caught your right better
17:40
Speaker 2: than mine.
17:41
Speaker 1: I love that. During the devastation that always comes with
17:44
Speaker 1: retiring from the baths one thousand but at least he
17:47
Speaker 1: got the after party started. I had a couple that
17:50
Speaker 1: I couldn't wasn't sure how to choose between them I
17:54
Speaker 1: really liked. I didn't even make a note of the
17:56
Speaker 1: lap lap sixty six Brodie Casteki verssus Cam waters passing, repassing,
18:01
Speaker 1: just as the rain was arriving, was before and not
18:02
Speaker 1: on the switch to wet tires. All the way from
18:05
Speaker 1: the bottom to the top and across the top of
18:07
Speaker 1: the mountain, it was for the lead, but then the
18:10
Speaker 1: safety car happened, they dropped down the order. They both
18:12
Speaker 1: had pretty ordinary races after that. So I'm not going
18:13
Speaker 1: to give it to that. I'm going to give it
18:15
Speaker 1: actually to not just one move, but the entirety of
18:18
Speaker 1: Garth tanders opening stint gained it places after studying eighteenth
18:23
Speaker 1: on the grid, and I just was thinking, and this
18:25
Speaker 1: is sort of indicative of Bathist. No wheready talked about it,
18:27
Speaker 1: so we don't have to get this brief. But there's
18:29
Speaker 1: this idea that ian this is endurance racing generally, that
18:33
Speaker 1: you've just got to kind of hang in there, do
18:35
Speaker 1: your best race, and then in the last you know,
18:37
Speaker 1: whatever it is, how along the race is, in this case,
18:39
Speaker 1: probably last hour for Bathist, that's when you really try
18:42
Speaker 1: and sink your teeth in it and go for the
18:43
Speaker 1: jugular if you're in a position too. But Bathist is
18:47
Speaker 1: now such essentially a six hour sprint race. It just
18:49
Speaker 1: feels like a really long version of any you see
18:52
Speaker 1: and he treated it like that, and I just know
18:54
Speaker 1: there are a couple of people saying, oh, you know,
18:56
Speaker 1: this is a bit too much, he's taking too much risk,
18:59
Speaker 1: or that risk put him a position to capitalize on
19:01
Speaker 1: those safety guards that got made pain in the position
19:03
Speaker 1: to take the lead after the Ticckert plagu has it happened.
19:06
Speaker 1: So I really like the approach he took, go in
19:08
Speaker 1: caution to the wind, because that delivered and that shows that. Actually,
19:11
Speaker 1: I think the approach for batist you have to take
19:13
Speaker 1: now is you've got to be all out for six hours,
19:15
Speaker 1: and that actually I think heightens a spectacle in some
19:17
Speaker 1: respects because it means that you know, you're seeing these
19:20
Speaker 1: drivers going all out all the time. It's not like
19:21
Speaker 1: a traditional endurance way through. He's just trying to make
19:24
Speaker 1: it to the finish. So I'm giving it to him
19:26
Speaker 1: for I think it was five overtakes maybe in that
19:29
Speaker 1: first sin to have to go back and count the ball,
19:30
Speaker 1: but obviously added up to a lot more than that
19:33
Speaker 1: by the time we got to the ticket flag well.
19:35
Speaker 2: And as we touched on earlier, that's when you've got
19:37
Speaker 2: the experience and the pedigree around there to know when
19:39
Speaker 2: it's time to go, I think, and that was one
19:41
Speaker 2: of those situations like, oh, okay, we need to do
19:43
Speaker 2: something now because you can see how these races play
19:46
Speaker 2: out going forward because you've had so much experience at
19:49
Speaker 2: the front of them. So I do like the selection,
19:51
Speaker 2: but I also love me a bit of bathist where
19:54
Speaker 2: it's not quite wet and not quite dry and a
19:56
Speaker 2: little bit sketchy. It certainly brings you forward on the
19:59
Speaker 2: end of the on the edge of the couch, doesn't it.
20:01
Speaker 1: I think. So it was a great race, and it
20:03
Speaker 1: was the great Race, as they call it, and that's
20:05
Speaker 1: the great race start for one year. But let's move
20:07
Speaker 1: on to a different race, the United States Grand Prix.
20:10
Speaker 1: It is this weekend. Formula On resumes after a week's
20:13
Speaker 1: break following the Singapore Grand Prix and Matt you'll be
20:16
Speaker 1: very excited to know it's a spread weekend, thirty three
20:18
Speaker 1: points up for grabs for the winner of the races,
20:22
Speaker 1: and the sprint is that the time's not perfect for
20:24
Speaker 1: Australian audiences, but you know, you can get up and
20:26
Speaker 1: watch it anyway, or you can record it. How do
20:28
Speaker 1: you like to do it? But that means more racing
20:31
Speaker 1: this weekend and more opportunities for us to understand exactly
20:34
Speaker 1: where the title battle and how it is poised, because
20:37
Speaker 1: the last few weeks have given us some information, perhaps
20:41
Speaker 1: not as much as we wanted. The headline numbers, of course,
20:44
Speaker 1: that Piastri still leads the title by twenty three or
20:47
Speaker 1: twenty two points rather over Orlando Norris and Max with
20:50
Speaker 1: Stappan's still sixty three points by and still a lot.
20:52
Speaker 1: But the other way you can look at it is
20:54
Speaker 1: that Verstappen's beaten at least one McLaren driver over the
20:56
Speaker 1: last four weekends and beaten both in the last three.
21:00
Speaker 1: That seems fairly definitive, doesn't it. For the Red Bull
21:02
Speaker 1: Racing's momentum. McLaren believes Singapore is evidence of that that
21:06
Speaker 1: Red Bull Racing's back in the game. Maxwistafan said, well,
21:09
Speaker 1: actually turns out the car is probably capable of this
21:11
Speaker 1: all season. We just needed someone brackets Laura Mecky is
21:15
Speaker 1: not Christian Horner to figure it out. This will give
21:19
Speaker 1: us more of an answer because this for the first
21:21
Speaker 1: time pretty much all this part of the season since
21:24
Speaker 1: the mid season break, where at what we'd probably consider
21:27
Speaker 1: Matt a typical well rounded circuit the weather should be
21:32
Speaker 1: pretty quote unquote normal, warm and sunny. I assume I
21:36
Speaker 1: haven't actually checked the forecast yet, and who knows by
21:39
Speaker 1: that time. By the time we get there, this should
21:41
Speaker 1: be a pretty good litmus test.
21:43
Speaker 2: I think so because this strikes me as being more
21:45
Speaker 2: of a pure car race, and I use air quotes
21:48
Speaker 2: around that because you take away some of the other
21:50
Speaker 2: variables of some of the circuits that we've been at recently.
21:53
Speaker 2: Monds are obviously just complete one off of a track
21:56
Speaker 2: Backuho's a bit mad for a street circuit and fairly unusual.
21:59
Speaker 2: And then Singapore with all the various challenges there, this
22:02
Speaker 2: feels more like a more like a baseline circuit, if
22:05
Speaker 2: you like. And what's really interesting for me, well, there's
22:08
Speaker 2: two things here. What point do these footsteps really start
22:11
Speaker 2: getting loud with the stap and trailing the two McLaren's
22:14
Speaker 2: but eating into this margin race by race because we've
22:18
Speaker 2: round by round, given they've got sprints to go. I
22:20
Speaker 2: think there comes a point where one really really poor
22:24
Speaker 2: weekend for Piastre or Norris will do so much damage
22:28
Speaker 2: to their chances for the rest of the season and
22:31
Speaker 2: totally changes the narrative. Whereas maybe a couple of rounds ago,
22:34
Speaker 2: you'd have that one blar weekend and we'd say, well, okay,
22:36
Speaker 2: mathematically sure, but it's not really changed a whole lot.
22:39
Speaker 2: I think the footsteps are definitely getting louder. What's interesting
22:42
Speaker 2: for me is that we still have a quarter of
22:44
Speaker 2: the season to go, at least I remind you, But
22:48
Speaker 2: we're coming into a point of the season now where
22:51
Speaker 2: it's out of two teams, really Mercedes might have the
22:54
Speaker 2: outlier of Vegas. And I'm not even mentioning Ferrari because
22:56
Speaker 2: I don't think they're going to do anything. But you
22:58
Speaker 2: look at Red Bull and mcla To my mind, you
23:01
Speaker 2: look at the rest of the calendar, I think there
23:03
Speaker 2: are definitive circuits that suit either team. Despite the fact
23:07
Speaker 2: that you know how this is going to work, they're
23:09
Speaker 2: both going to run us far away as being considered
23:10
Speaker 2: favorites for any race ever, Like you know, the McLarens
23:13
Speaker 2: could be in a race by themselves. Oh no, we're
23:14
Speaker 2: not favorites for this one. Everyone loves to play the
23:16
Speaker 2: underdog card here, But you look at the tracks that
23:19
Speaker 2: we've got coming for the rest of the season, with
23:21
Speaker 2: Kosha being the first one. I think you can see
23:23
Speaker 2: a bit of a pattern as to which tracks might
23:26
Speaker 2: suit which teams and particularly which drivers, and then that
23:30
Speaker 2: may enable us to perhaps project forward a little bit
23:33
Speaker 2: and see what do we have coming down the pipe
23:35
Speaker 2: here for these last six Yeah.
23:36
Speaker 1: I think it's a really interesting thing to consider, and
23:39
Speaker 1: let's go through it now and you can read about
23:41
Speaker 1: it as well over the course of the week at
23:42
Speaker 1: Fox sports dot com dot au because when you have
23:45
Speaker 1: some wild card circuits in this last part of the year,
23:47
Speaker 1: I think, more so than the first flyaway segment of
23:50
Speaker 1: races as well, I think there's some real curve balls
23:53
Speaker 1: in here. But this, as you said, being the good
23:55
Speaker 1: baseline to start us off and give us an impression
23:57
Speaker 1: on paper, Matt, I would have said this was more
24:00
Speaker 1: on the McLaren side of the LEGI you know, we've
24:02
Speaker 1: think about that first sector after the Heapin anyway, I've
24:04
Speaker 1: got a lot of medium to high speed corners, long
24:08
Speaker 1: duration corners. That's McLaren territory. Not to mention the fact
24:11
Speaker 1: it's usually going to be hot, and yes I have
24:12
Speaker 1: just to forecast low thirties all weekend and not a
24:15
Speaker 1: cloud in the sky. That is perfect. McLaren conditions for
24:18
Speaker 1: keeping those rear tires in their happy plays. McLaren, however,
24:22
Speaker 1: Andrea Stellar is hearing him speaker after the Singapore Grand Prix,
24:25
Speaker 1: suggests that the tightness of a lot of the corners
24:27
Speaker 1: and you think about that first heappin and the last
24:30
Speaker 1: sector so oh, the heapin heading onto the back straight
24:32
Speaker 1: as well, and then the last sector much tighter, he believes,
24:36
Speaker 1: is much more red Bull Racing territory. We're now in
24:39
Speaker 1: that part of the championship and it does feel a
24:41
Speaker 1: little bit reminiscent of last year where both teams say
24:43
Speaker 1: the other team is the favorite, which, well, I think
24:46
Speaker 1: that sort of tells us nothing. In one respects I
24:48
Speaker 1: think tells us a little bit about McLaren, which is
24:50
Speaker 1: it's now keeping expectations very much in check for Red
24:53
Speaker 1: Bull Racing. I think they're more likely, Weirdly enough, I
24:55
Speaker 1: don't know if I've said this about Red Bull before,
24:57
Speaker 1: more likely to be being honest in that as sense.
25:00
Speaker 1: Good look, I think that I think that this might
25:03
Speaker 1: be a bit more of a curveball. I'm still going
25:05
Speaker 1: to stick with McLaren, but do you see it differently?
25:07
Speaker 2: This track, to me is one where I think you
25:11
Speaker 2: can track position and can you defend. Now it's not
25:14
Speaker 2: quite Suzuka in that regard because there's so few places
25:17
Speaker 2: to pass there, but track position here and Verstappen's ability
25:21
Speaker 2: to protect a lead, as we've seen that a couple
25:23
Speaker 2: of times this year where he's been so brilliant at this,
25:26
Speaker 2: the big test will be what's their traction like out
25:28
Speaker 2: of the hairpin going down the back straight and can
25:30
Speaker 2: they retain position there a lot of the rest of
25:33
Speaker 2: this lap. You could see him driving a very very
25:35
Speaker 2: wide red bull if he has a track position at
25:38
Speaker 2: this weekend. And that's another curve ball here because I
25:41
Speaker 2: would trust for Stappen in our head to heead fight
25:43
Speaker 2: when he's in the ascendency, probably more than I would
25:46
Speaker 2: trust Norris or Piastric quite frankly, because we've seen it before.
25:49
Speaker 2: So taking the high ground here, I mean, look, this
25:52
Speaker 2: is you know you're saying this feels like a McLaren track.
25:54
Speaker 2: I mean vestappens one three to the past four here, right.
25:56
Speaker 2: McLaren hasn't won here for ages, and I know a
26:00
Speaker 2: lot of McLaren's past in that time has not been
26:01
Speaker 2: particularly impressive, but this should be a track that suits
26:05
Speaker 2: McLaren Moore. But the keyword for me is should, because
26:08
Speaker 2: I don't have a massive amount of confidence that it will.
26:10
Speaker 2: And then you feed that into what's coming after Austin
26:14
Speaker 2: in terms of the narrative of the championship and keeping
26:16
Speaker 2: us all on the edge of our seats. Man of
26:18
Speaker 2: a Stabbin win this weekend would be quite something, wouldn't.
26:21
Speaker 1: It would be huge? And just one other thing I
26:22
Speaker 1: went out to the mix in Austin before we move
26:24
Speaker 1: on to the other races, is this is usually a
26:26
Speaker 1: strategy race. It'll be a couple of pit stops because
26:28
Speaker 1: of the heat, and I think I would be willing
26:32
Speaker 1: to say a weakness if they're locked in a tight
26:34
Speaker 1: battle with the stab and for McLaren is strategy because
26:36
Speaker 1: now they're thinking about how they can make it fair
26:38
Speaker 1: between two drivers. If we're assuming the two drivers are
26:41
Speaker 1: battling Max, that numerical advantage we normally consider to be
26:44
Speaker 1: a strategic advantage I think would actually be a hindrance
26:47
Speaker 1: for McLaren this weekend. So that's going to put the
26:49
Speaker 1: spotlight back on that entire situation that we've been talking
26:52
Speaker 1: about on and off all season and certainly since Singapore.
26:55
Speaker 1: How does McLaren play this one?
26:56
Speaker 2: The other part of battle this you mentioned multiple pit
26:58
Speaker 2: stops are more strategy. When was the last time McLaren
27:01
Speaker 2: had a race where they nailed all their pit stops.
27:02
Speaker 2: It's been a while exactly.
27:04
Speaker 1: Yes, the team's now talking about this being a year
27:07
Speaker 1: long problem they won't be able to solve till next year.
27:09
Speaker 1: And I was thinking about that as I saw those comments,
27:11
Speaker 1: and just thinking, what a terrible time to have that realization. Oh,
27:15
Speaker 1: when you've got you've got maxistaff and approaching, you've got
27:19
Speaker 1: this fairness issue with your drivers. It's something to keep
27:23
Speaker 1: an eye on, certainly. Like you say, two stops, terrible
27:25
Speaker 1: outcome from McLaren. Then we're moving on to Mexico City
27:29
Speaker 1: immediately afterwards, one of the great wild card circuits because
27:33
Speaker 1: of the altitude. You'll hear it a lot in that week,
27:35
Speaker 1: which is the week after Austin that it's wings like Monaco,
27:38
Speaker 1: but downforce like Monza. It's hard to know exactly how
27:42
Speaker 1: to read that one. There are a couple of elements though,
27:44
Speaker 1: I think we should throw in there. One is the heat.
27:46
Speaker 1: McLaren does really well in the heat, has what appears
27:49
Speaker 1: to be really effective cooling as well. A bit of
27:50
Speaker 1: a question mark for Red Bull. I'm considering they haven't
27:53
Speaker 1: been really put through its paces since its lader's upgrades
27:55
Speaker 1: and all that kind of thing. But I do think
27:57
Speaker 1: we've seen that Red Bull has a much more efficient
28:01
Speaker 1: aerodynamic package and perhaps we realized earlier on in the campaign.
28:05
Speaker 1: And I wonder whether that actually puts Red Bull Racing
28:08
Speaker 1: ahead for this race and becomes a bit of a
28:10
Speaker 1: danger race for McLaren, particularly considering you will remember both
28:14
Speaker 1: of the last two Mexico Grand Prix, one of the
28:16
Speaker 1: McLaren drivers have been knocked out in Q one.
28:19
Speaker 2: Yes, and also the other factor here if you're looking
28:21
Speaker 2: for a differentiator between the two teams. Max Fustappens won
28:24
Speaker 2: this Grand Prix five times and sometimes he was in
28:27
Speaker 2: the best car and there were some years that he
28:28
Speaker 2: wor most certainly was not in the best car. So
28:31
Speaker 2: Mexico and I'm sure we'll get to Brazil in a
28:34
Speaker 2: sec they're the two races for the rest of the
28:36
Speaker 2: year where I believe I would say that Vestapan has
28:39
Speaker 2: the biggest chance to make the most difference relative to
28:42
Speaker 2: his rivals. The fact that they're coming up in the
28:45
Speaker 2: first half of this final six to go for the
28:47
Speaker 2: rest of the season really could turn the screws on McLaren.
28:51
Speaker 2: And then we don't really know how McLaren's going to
28:53
Speaker 2: react with a dwindling margin and they're trying to keep
28:57
Speaker 2: this fairness it inverted cobbers between two drivers consistent for
29:02
Speaker 2: the rest of the season, there might come a point
29:04
Speaker 2: where they have to prioritize.
29:05
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, yeah, I think that is going to be
29:07
Speaker 1: very interesting. Let's move to Brazil. Let's consider it as
29:11
Speaker 1: a duo if youel like I was a week off
29:13
Speaker 1: between them, because that feels like, certainly after last year
29:16
Speaker 1: Max Withstappen's victory there that effectively sealed the title to him,
29:19
Speaker 1: snuffed out any chance of this big long shot Lando
29:22
Speaker 1: Norris title recovery. Plus Norris and McLaren generally having a
29:26
Speaker 1: bit of an ordinary race in mixed conditions, of course,
29:29
Speaker 1: this feels like a big for Stapen opportunity. I think
29:32
Speaker 1: if we're still seeing that title gap come down, if
29:34
Speaker 1: it's coming down at the required rate, this could be
29:36
Speaker 1: the one that really gets him back into contentent, particularly
29:39
Speaker 1: considering I know there was a stat a while ago
29:41
Speaker 1: that's saying, actually, most Brazilian Grand Prix are dry, but
29:44
Speaker 1: it feels like it's always a risk that it's going
29:45
Speaker 1: to be wet.
29:46
Speaker 2: I can't remember the last one that was fully dry.
29:48
Speaker 2: Every single year there is a session that is compromised
29:51
Speaker 2: somewhere by the rain, and maybe some years happened on
29:53
Speaker 2: the Friday. We've kind of forgot by the time we
29:55
Speaker 2: get to the race weekend, but we know that if
29:57
Speaker 2: it's somewhat damp around there, that's for staff and territory.
30:01
Speaker 2: Like some of his most dominant Formula one wins have
30:04
Speaker 2: come at that particular venue when there's been weather involved.
30:07
Speaker 2: I think if there's any weather at all, I think
30:08
Speaker 2: he wins that one pretty comfortably. But yeah, where are
30:11
Speaker 2: we going to be by the time we get to Intologos,
30:13
Speaker 2: Because you know what happens to ostin, what happens at
30:15
Speaker 2: Mexico City. It just comes a point. I just keep
30:19
Speaker 2: thinking of this word footsteps here, like, at what point
30:22
Speaker 2: does the tremor of the ground beneath McLaren really start
30:25
Speaker 2: to raise some raise some pulses. Because of all the
30:29
Speaker 2: things we don't know for the rest of the season,
30:31
Speaker 2: the one thing that we do know, if there's a
30:33
Speaker 2: championship to be taken. Maxistappen is good enough and talented
30:36
Speaker 2: enough and confident enough to go and take that. That's
30:39
Speaker 2: not something we have any conjecture over. We know that
30:42
Speaker 2: we've seen it. That's the one certainty in the back
30:45
Speaker 2: end of this season. What's going to happen with the McLaren's.
30:47
Speaker 2: Which one's going to be in front, Are they going
30:48
Speaker 2: to be able to hold their nerve, can they execute
30:50
Speaker 2: a pit stop? All these other things? With what is
30:53
Speaker 2: it one hundred and seventy four points still to play for,
30:56
Speaker 2: those footsteps could get pretty loud, pretty fast, I think.
30:59
Speaker 1: So that's it felt like in a McLaren's performance after
31:02
Speaker 1: locking out the front row. I think it was or
31:04
Speaker 1: at least in the sprint, and then yeah one two
31:06
Speaker 1: in the sprint as well. Of course, with the team
31:08
Speaker 1: orders situation there or was Lando Norris on Pilwick, they
31:11
Speaker 1: didn't look out. The front row qualifying was pretty wild,
31:14
Speaker 1: but the execution was just not great at that race.
31:16
Speaker 1: But Staffen was also very fast in the sprint, if
31:18
Speaker 1: you'll remember, McLaren couldn't shake him and then obviously won
31:21
Speaker 1: that race. So on paper, I think you could say
31:23
Speaker 1: that this layout should be about McLaren, but I think
31:25
Speaker 1: there's just something for Staffen brings to this one, So
31:27
Speaker 1: that's gonna be one to watch, as you say. Then
31:29
Speaker 1: we go to Las Vegas after another week off. This
31:31
Speaker 1: is the start of triple headed to end the season
31:33
Speaker 1: in non stop by the time we get to the
31:35
Speaker 1: technical flag. But this for me is a real unusual
31:38
Speaker 1: one because Okay, maybe there's no real likeness to this track,
31:42
Speaker 1: but perhaps the most recent similarity riddle track we can
31:47
Speaker 1: think about is perhaps Baku, very different conditions but sort
31:50
Speaker 1: of similar in the sense it's long straights, ninety degree corners.
31:53
Speaker 1: The Staffen was obviously very good there, but I'm actually
31:56
Speaker 1: thinking back to last year, Matt, when Mercedes was just dominant.
31:59
Speaker 1: They still have a lot of the strengths and weakness
32:01
Speaker 1: is of last year. I think this may actually be
32:02
Speaker 1: the one third party victory left in this season.
32:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd agree with that. I think that if there's
32:07
Speaker 2: any race that won't be won by a McLaren driver
32:10
Speaker 2: or maxivstap and I was going to say Red Bull,
32:12
Speaker 2: but let's speak to call it what it is. If
32:14
Speaker 2: there's going to be any of these remaining six it's
32:16
Speaker 2: not won by any of those three, it would be
32:19
Speaker 2: Vegas because it's also so cold. That's the other part
32:22
Speaker 2: about it there, we know how well that Mercedes does
32:24
Speaker 2: in the cooler conditions. That's another little wildcard, isn't it,
32:27
Speaker 2: Because very rarely have we said this year we go
32:30
Speaker 2: into a Grand Prix where we don't think that it's
32:32
Speaker 2: a McLaren or Verstappan that will be the favorite heading
32:34
Speaker 2: into it. I could see neither of those two teams
32:37
Speaker 2: being super confident of beating Mercedes, given what we know
32:40
Speaker 2: about Vegas and the two times we've been there.
32:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a good call. But I do
32:43
Speaker 1: think we could say that regardless of who wins it,
32:46
Speaker 1: assuming it's not one of those two teams, it's probably
32:48
Speaker 1: going to be a staping ahead of McLaren's. Last year,
32:50
Speaker 1: we saw this was a real McLaren week race. They've
32:52
Speaker 1: been forecasting off for quite a while that this will
32:54
Speaker 1: not be a great race for McLaren and on pape
32:57
Speaker 1: you can understand why. It's all tight corners. It's cold
33:00
Speaker 1: reartire advantage it doesn't exist, So I think that could
33:03
Speaker 1: at least be you know, if we're not talking about
33:04
Speaker 1: the massive points that could still be a big opportunity
33:08
Speaker 1: for Max to outscore McLaren. And then we get to
33:10
Speaker 1: the last two in Kata and Abu Dhabi. This is
33:14
Speaker 1: another couple of races where on paper, and we've heard
33:18
Speaker 1: Abu Dhabi talked about McLaren track as well. On paper,
33:21
Speaker 1: you can understand why this should be a race that
33:23
Speaker 1: McLaren should be able to a couple of races rather
33:25
Speaker 1: that should be able to close out the season on
33:27
Speaker 1: a high, secure the driver's title presumably by then. But
33:31
Speaker 1: last year we thought that a cutter and Max for
33:33
Speaker 1: staff and was very competitive there and won the Grand Prix.
33:36
Speaker 1: And looking at Abu Dhabi, okay, they've taken out some
33:38
Speaker 1: of the tighter corners and we've now got, for example,
33:40
Speaker 1: that turn nine long parabolic corner and hour as opposed
33:43
Speaker 1: to that sort of Biddley chicane situation. The heap in
33:46
Speaker 1: the end of the first sector has been changed as well,
33:49
Speaker 1: but there are a lot of tight corners here, still
33:51
Speaker 1: breaking up the long back straight as a chicane. That
33:54
Speaker 1: whole pretend city section of the last sector is all
33:57
Speaker 1: just tight ninety degree corners. The first turns not that fast.
34:02
Speaker 1: I actually wonder whether and look, we're looking a long
34:05
Speaker 1: way down now. We're going to learn a lot in
34:06
Speaker 1: the next certainly this weekend, the next few weekends to
34:09
Speaker 1: assess these as we get closest to them. But I'm
34:12
Speaker 1: actually looking these and are wondering if everything we've learned
34:14
Speaker 1: is accurate over the last four rounds, maybe these are not.
34:17
Speaker 1: This is not the happy final few weeks for McLaren
34:20
Speaker 1: that they were probably counting on earlier in the year.
34:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, even as recently as three rounds ago, you could say,
34:24
Speaker 2: three or four rounds ago. But the other factor in
34:27
Speaker 2: all of this, as much as we can think which circuit,
34:29
Speaker 2: which suits which driver and which team, there's the tension
34:33
Speaker 2: element of all of this. And we've talked about McLaren
34:36
Speaker 2: all year. Well, they've been the best team and the
34:38
Speaker 2: driver's going to finish one two in the championship. The
34:41
Speaker 2: very fact that neither Piastre nor Norris has won a
34:44
Speaker 2: world championship all come close before in Formula one, and
34:47
Speaker 2: you've got the trailing party in all of these is
34:50
Speaker 2: the person who we've got no questions about. We know
34:52
Speaker 2: exactly what he's capable of. In situations like that, there
34:55
Speaker 2: is a tension slash human element. As the clock ticks down,
35:00
Speaker 2: that is going to become increasingly a factor, not so
35:02
Speaker 2: much as track layouts and conditions. And I just wonder
35:05
Speaker 2: at what point the performance of the cars that the
35:08
Speaker 2: various drivers are driving takes a little bit of a
35:11
Speaker 2: backseat or is less important than the emotional belief. You know,
35:16
Speaker 2: you've got this huge prize in front of you if
35:18
Speaker 2: you're Piastre or Norris, completely uncharted territory for both of them,
35:22
Speaker 2: uncharted territory for McLaren. They've not been this deep in
35:24
Speaker 2: a title fight for a very very long time. And
35:27
Speaker 2: the last person you want behind you in this situation,
35:29
Speaker 2: I would say would be Max for Stappin.
35:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that is a definite twist there is.
35:34
Speaker 1: It's not all just about form, but it's also going
35:36
Speaker 1: to be about holding, you know, it's absolutely correct, and
35:40
Speaker 1: just also considering whether the maths comes into it. You know,
35:42
Speaker 1: if we get to those last couple of rounds and
35:44
Speaker 1: Piastre has a twenty odd point lead over Nora, still
35:48
Speaker 1: does he play for points just to grind it out,
35:50
Speaker 1: or if Max Verstappan's closing into they just play to
35:52
Speaker 1: try and push him out of the equation rather than
35:54
Speaker 1: gambling on racing him completely and then finding out they
35:57
Speaker 1: can't continue to do it. That is going to be
35:59
Speaker 1: an interesting component to this. It'll be fascinating to watch.
36:02
Speaker 1: But the first round of this last six of the
36:05
Speaker 1: season is this weekend at the United States Grand Prix.
36:08
Speaker 1: It's going to be a fascinating one to watch. We
36:10
Speaker 1: can't wrap up this podcast without going to the crystal ball,
36:13
Speaker 1: brought to you by a complete home filtration. Obviously, I'm
36:16
Speaker 1: on a great streak of one, but you like to
36:20
Speaker 1: kick us off.
36:21
Speaker 2: If you get it right this week, then we'll call
36:23
Speaker 2: it a coincidence. I'm not ready to call it a
36:26
Speaker 2: trend just yet. You probably need three or four for
36:28
Speaker 2: me to give you a little more credit than that.
36:29
Speaker 2: But well, given that it's in my wheelhouse here my
36:33
Speaker 2: two wheelhouse, I'm going to look at the MAJORVP round
36:36
Speaker 2: in Australia, And as much as we talked about Marco
36:38
Speaker 2: Batzeki before being a little bit secondhand after his crash
36:41
Speaker 2: at Mandalika, I think Berzeki wins this weekend simply he's
36:46
Speaker 2: been too fast lately to not be right up the front.
36:49
Speaker 2: And I think the most interesting part for me. Yeah,
36:51
Speaker 2: he's got to overcome some bumps and bruises and he's
36:53
Speaker 2: going to have a great penalty at Philip Island. It's
36:55
Speaker 2: probably not as much of a penalty as it is
36:57
Speaker 2: at other tracks. This is the time of year where
37:00
Speaker 2: a Prillia has tended in the past to go a
37:02
Speaker 2: bit missing when we get to the flyaways. It's been
37:05
Speaker 2: a bike that's been amazing at certain tracks, but not
37:08
Speaker 2: particularly good when you get to the flyways. It had
37:10
Speaker 2: a sweet spot of you know, Argentina or Cashaaluna or
37:13
Speaker 2: somewhere like that, and we tend to fade into obscurity
37:15
Speaker 2: a little bit. Here's a stat for you. And Aprilli
37:17
Speaker 2: has never finished better than eighth in an Australian Grand Perox,
37:20
Speaker 2: so it's not been a very happy hunting ground for them.
37:24
Speaker 2: But you look at who's not here, the form that
37:26
Speaker 2: Buzeki's in. I know he's got some things to get
37:28
Speaker 2: over this weekend. But Aprilia has been much more of
37:30
Speaker 2: a bike for all seasons and all conditions this year.
37:34
Speaker 2: And I think my crystal ball is telling me that
37:35
Speaker 2: Marco Pozeki is going to be standing on the top
37:37
Speaker 2: step of the podium in Australia where he should have
37:39
Speaker 2: been doing it in Indonesia two weeks ago.
37:41
Speaker 1: Oh, it'd be quite Yeah.
37:43
Speaker 2: I don't think you're going to be quite as granular
37:45
Speaker 2: as me. But I dare say you're going four wheels
37:47
Speaker 2: in Austin. What have you got?
37:48
Speaker 1: Yes? Because Worth just adding there that you do need
37:50
Speaker 1: a bike quite literally for all seasons, of all conditions,
37:54
Speaker 1: certainly do so. I think that's a good good sign.
37:58
Speaker 1: I'm going to go four wheels to the the United States.
38:01
Speaker 1: Grow on pre Obviously, all the talk leading up to
38:04
Speaker 1: this race has been about the situation of McLaren, what's
38:07
Speaker 1: going on with the team internally. I'm going to keep
38:09
Speaker 1: this one simple. I think the resolution we're going to
38:11
Speaker 1: finally get to all of the McLaren saga this weekend
38:15
Speaker 1: in Austin. Both drivers are going to take each other
38:17
Speaker 1: out on the fast floor. It's gonna be a great
38:19
Speaker 1: race for the championship for Max Verstaffman. I think it's
38:23
Speaker 1: gonna happen. You know, I was very much of the opinion,
38:26
Speaker 1: despite what Zach Brown was saying, that it wasn't gonna
38:28
Speaker 1: happen this season too. They're too much playing by the
38:31
Speaker 1: rules that they aren't. I really didn't say anything malicious
38:33
Speaker 1: in Lando Norris did, even if I think that the
38:35
Speaker 1: fairness questions it raises are genuine. But I think if
38:38
Speaker 1: you're Oscar Piastre, you're not giving anything anymore. I think
38:42
Speaker 1: you're too irritated unless they've given him just a tremendous
38:45
Speaker 1: explanation back at working in the last week, I think
38:48
Speaker 1: you are just out not completely for yourself. You're not
38:50
Speaker 1: going to be absolutely ruthless, but when it comes to
38:53
Speaker 1: racing your teammate on track, I think he will be.
38:56
Speaker 1: And I think that's going to result in someone not
38:58
Speaker 1: giving enough room, not going to say who don't have
39:00
Speaker 1: that level of granularity in this crystal ball still from
39:03
Speaker 1: last week, but I'm still top's coming this weekend.
39:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I mean you look at all of the
39:08
Speaker 2: first corners of all the tracks we talked about for
39:10
Speaker 2: the remainder of the season, Austin and maybe the essays
39:13
Speaker 2: the center ess at Interlagos is the other one where
39:15
Speaker 2: things can go a bit wrong. But the context of
39:18
Speaker 2: what happened in Singapore last time out and the fact
39:20
Speaker 2: the team has the Constructors Championship in the bag, now
39:23
Speaker 2: there might be an increased level of aggression. Of all
39:26
Speaker 2: the race weekends that I didn't want to sprint, it's
39:28
Speaker 2: this weekend because I don't want I want to see
39:31
Speaker 2: what happens at the first corner on Sunday. I don't
39:34
Speaker 2: want to dress rehearsal on Saturday and then all of
39:36
Speaker 2: the various redressings of things and changing of tactics. I
39:40
Speaker 2: kind of wish we just had a Sunday Grand Prix
39:42
Speaker 2: with those two in the first two rows, because there's
39:44
Speaker 2: so many lines you can take into turb one there
39:46
Speaker 2: at Austin. I think that is a very very good
39:49
Speaker 2: call by you, and I'm calling it now. Your crystal
39:52
Speaker 2: ball's got a lot more chance of happening than my.
39:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, underrated the first turn at Austin, I think's probably
39:57
Speaker 1: one of the great first turns for Grandfrex racing anyway.
40:01
Speaker 1: And'll be fascinating to say, big weekend of motorsport. It's
40:03
Speaker 1: all on Fox Sports. But that's all the time we
40:05
Speaker 1: have for Pittalk today. You can subscribe to Pittalk wherever
40:07
Speaker 1: you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave us
40:09
Speaker 1: a rating and review as well. And this weekend it
40:12
Speaker 1: is The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix with live coverage on
40:15
Speaker 1: Fox Sports and KO all weekend and with lights out
40:17
Speaker 1: on Sunday at two pm, followed by the Formula one
40:21
Speaker 1: United States Grand Prix from six am on Monday. That's
40:25
Speaker 1: all times in eastern daylight time. You can keep up
40:28
Speaker 1: to date with all the latest F one, MotoGP and
40:31
Speaker 1: supercars news at foxsports dot com dot au. From Matt
40:34
Speaker 1: Clayton and me, Michael Lomonato. Thanks very much for your
40:37
Speaker 1: company and we'll catch you next week