Latest / Pit Talk / Is Verstappen really back in the title fight after Piastri's Baku nightmare? Azerbaijan GP Review

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Is Verstappen really back in the title fight after Piastri's Baku nightmare? Azerbaijan GP Review · Pit Talk

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by
0:02
Speaker 1: Shannon's On today's episode, after three big mistakes in twenty
0:06
Speaker 1: four hours that sent him crashing out of the race,
0:08
Speaker 1: what's behind Oscar Piastre's dire weekend in Baku? And after
0:13
Speaker 1: maxistaff and claims another dominant victory, is he really back
0:16
Speaker 1: in the drivers Championship battle? My name is Michael Lomonato.
0:20
Speaker 1: It's great to have your company and the company of
0:22
Speaker 1: my co host. Even he couldn't have predicted that the
0:25
Speaker 1: red flag count would be higher in the Land of Fire.
0:28
Speaker 1: It's Matt Clayton. It doesn't get any higher than six,
0:30
Speaker 1: doesn't it.
0:31
Speaker 2: As we discovered as we were watching this on Saturday
0:34
Speaker 2: night Australian Time, and you and I were swapping messages
0:37
Speaker 2: on Saturday night saying, thank goodness this was a ten
0:40
Speaker 2: pm Eastern qualifying for Australian Time. Because if this was
0:44
Speaker 2: Qatar or somewhere else, know where, you're saying up at
0:46
Speaker 2: three or four o'clock in the morning and there's lots
0:48
Speaker 2: of things to hit at various circuits, we wouldn't have
0:50
Speaker 2: been very happy about it. But yes, qualifying was longer
0:53
Speaker 2: than the actual Grand Prix. But yeah, it was that
0:55
Speaker 2: sort of weekend, wasn't it.
0:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely right. It's still at Bill's cruel though that
0:59
Speaker 1: Australian get one on the Eastern coast, get one, nice
1:02
Speaker 1: time zone and it still finishes after midnight, which is disappointing.
1:07
Speaker 1: Get your acts together for Ward one drivers, But the
1:10
Speaker 1: more interesting session of the weekend, it turns out, and
1:12
Speaker 1: did set us up for an interesting result at least
1:15
Speaker 1: in the context of the championship for Max with staff
1:17
Speaker 1: and the winner. Even in his words, it was pretty
1:20
Speaker 1: straightforward at the front. We will get to him a
1:22
Speaker 1: little bit later on, but qualifying more or less ended.
1:26
Speaker 1: One of the final chapters of qualifying was with Oscar
1:28
Speaker 1: Piastre crashing into the barriers without a time in Q
1:32
Speaker 1: three that left him ninth on the grid. Not that
1:34
Speaker 1: it mattered too much anyway, because a false start followed
1:37
Speaker 1: by a crash on the first lap meant he made
1:40
Speaker 1: it no further, did not finish a Grand Prix for
1:43
Speaker 1: the first time in a very long time. In fact,
1:46
Speaker 1: he's broken his forty two round scoring streak and his
1:49
Speaker 1: forty four race finishing streak and remarkable statistics. I think
1:53
Speaker 1: we talked about this last week, Matt, didn't we when
1:55
Speaker 1: would it end? It turns out immediately it.
1:58
Speaker 2: Was funny because we were kind of temp fate with this,
2:00
Speaker 2: but there was also part of it where because there
2:02
Speaker 2: were so many rounds to go. I think the point
2:04
Speaker 2: we were trying to make last year is that you
2:07
Speaker 2: would expect that there is going to be a race
2:08
Speaker 2: in these final eight where he doesn't finish or he
2:10
Speaker 2: finishes outside the points, because he's going to have to
2:13
Speaker 2: rewrite Formula one history if this record is going to
2:16
Speaker 2: stay intact. And there's a reason that we were talking
2:19
Speaker 2: about it because it had never happened in seventy five
2:21
Speaker 2: years of a sport, so we kind of felt, well,
2:24
Speaker 2: at some point there's probably going to be that race
2:26
Speaker 2: weekend where someone crashes they do and bought the car
2:28
Speaker 2: breaks down. Turns out that neither of those two things happened.
2:31
Speaker 2: He was very capable of having two accidents by himself.
2:34
Speaker 2: But if you're going to have your DNF A couple
2:37
Speaker 2: of thoughts, well, three thoughts. A. You mentioned the fantastic
2:40
Speaker 2: start time for the Australian audience. Nice of us to
2:43
Speaker 2: see five quarters of the Australia's world Championship leader before
2:46
Speaker 2: he crashed out on that nice time slot. But anyway,
2:49
Speaker 2: but if you're going to have a weekend like that,
2:51
Speaker 2: better to do it with more races to go so
2:53
Speaker 2: you can make up for it in inverted commas. And
2:56
Speaker 2: also better to do it on a weekend where your
2:58
Speaker 2: teammate has an open goal and manages to somehow spray
3:01
Speaker 2: it over the top of the crossbar. I think we
3:04
Speaker 2: learned a lot this weekend in Azerbaijan, and I think
3:08
Speaker 2: there's a three part thing for me. Do I have
3:11
Speaker 2: any less faith that Oscar Piastre is going to win
3:13
Speaker 2: the World Championship? No? Do I have any more faith
3:16
Speaker 2: that Maxivstappan could win the World Championship? Absolutely do. I
3:20
Speaker 2: am I changing my opinion on whether I think Lando
3:23
Speaker 2: Norris is going to win the World Championship. Absolutely not,
3:25
Speaker 2: because I didn't think he was going to win it
3:26
Speaker 2: before this weekend, and I certainly don't think he's going
3:29
Speaker 2: to win it now. To only take six points off Piastre,
3:32
Speaker 2: and I know we'll get to this where you had
3:34
Speaker 2: the most open of open goals, even on a weekend
3:37
Speaker 2: where McLaren wasn't particularly good. I think that explains the
3:41
Speaker 2: difference between maybe Norris and other drivers that have got
3:43
Speaker 2: World Championship credentials, or maybe even Norris and his teammate.
3:46
Speaker 1: Yes, well not even one open goal, but two, because
3:49
Speaker 1: I've been qualifying in the race. Yeah, open goals totally miss.
3:52
Speaker 1: Let's pick up those three points that you very neatly
3:54
Speaker 1: laid out one by one, and let's start with Oscar
3:57
Speaker 1: Piastre's uncharacteristically scrappy weekend Following this weekend, obviously from start
4:02
Speaker 1: to finish, from first practice to the check and flag,
4:04
Speaker 1: and on Friday he looked scrappy, and Lando Norris did
4:07
Speaker 1: at various points, and obviously Landon Irris did crash. And
4:10
Speaker 1: that's not that unusual for Oscar Piastrido to come out
4:13
Speaker 1: on a Friday and not look like he's got things together,
4:15
Speaker 1: but inevitably, or at least until now, inevitably would come
4:18
Speaker 1: back on Saturday morning show he's done his homework, probably
4:21
Speaker 1: quickest or near the top in FB three and be
4:23
Speaker 1: a whole contender by qualifying. I thought it was unusual
4:27
Speaker 1: when even in Saturday practice he still didn't look like
4:30
Speaker 1: he had things together. That was the first sign for
4:31
Speaker 1: me that something was a miss, and obviously from there
4:34
Speaker 1: everything kind of fell apart for him, but in a
4:36
Speaker 1: way that we have not seen in his Formula one career.
4:40
Speaker 1: I'm feeling increasingly confident saying this was his worst weekend
4:43
Speaker 1: in Formula one, and that's not to be overly critical
4:45
Speaker 1: of him. More it's to highlight the fact that he's
4:47
Speaker 1: been so consistent in his career in Formula one. Highly unusual,
4:52
Speaker 1: and I think more so because Matt there didn't seem
4:55
Speaker 1: to be an obvious reason for so many mistakes to
4:59
Speaker 1: crop up so quick for a driver who so rarely
5:01
Speaker 1: makes them.
5:02
Speaker 2: The whole weekend, it felt like he was chasing his tail,
5:04
Speaker 2: and that's not a position that we feel even when
5:08
Speaker 2: you say, like some of these fridays can be a
5:09
Speaker 2: little bit underwhelming or slow to come to the boil,
5:12
Speaker 2: but there's always a sense that, no, no, I've got this,
5:15
Speaker 2: I'm in control. It's fine, and the results have borne
5:17
Speaker 2: that out over the course of the past two years
5:19
Speaker 2: while he's been on this incredible finishing streak that we
5:21
Speaker 2: were talking about, but it never really quite felt like
5:25
Speaker 2: he was in control. Not out of control in a
5:28
Speaker 2: true sense of the term, but the normal trajectory and
5:31
Speaker 2: the development of his weekend felt like it wasn't going
5:33
Speaker 2: to happen, and even ahead of qualifying, the feeling that
5:36
Speaker 2: you had is like, whchiez, I hope you can kind
5:38
Speaker 2: of jag a decent result out of this, because this
5:40
Speaker 2: doesn't really feel like the ideal build up, and as
5:43
Speaker 2: it turned out, it wasn't. But I go back to
5:46
Speaker 2: something that Andrea Stella said after the race, and a
5:49
Speaker 2: lot of what Andrea Stella says at the moment, I
5:51
Speaker 2: kind of just outwardly laugh or raise an eyebrow because
5:54
Speaker 2: I understand. I understand what it is that he's doing.
5:56
Speaker 2: He's trying to manage the team and the expectations of
5:59
Speaker 2: two drivers, and McLain has not been in this position.
6:01
Speaker 2: Some of the things he's saying at the moment, I'm
6:03
Speaker 2: sort of like, come on, you know, you don't honestly
6:05
Speaker 2: believe this. To you just try to sell a story here.
6:07
Speaker 2: But the point that he made where he said along
6:11
Speaker 2: the lines of it, I'm paraphrasing here. Even the really
6:13
Speaker 2: good ones, even the really good drivers, have these weekends
6:16
Speaker 2: that are just a bit off, and Michael Schumacher is
6:19
Speaker 2: the classic one. He obviously worked with Michael at various points,
6:22
Speaker 2: and even in Michael's absolute dominating years with Ferrari, he
6:27
Speaker 2: would have this one or two weekends a year, sometimes
6:30
Speaker 2: after he by the championship, mind you, but you know,
6:32
Speaker 2: one or two weekends a year where you just go
6:34
Speaker 2: they put a body double in his car for the
6:36
Speaker 2: weekend because he would just be erratic and make mistakes
6:39
Speaker 2: and just do dumb things and take corners off cars
6:42
Speaker 2: and not qualify properly. And every now and then he
6:45
Speaker 2: would do this. And the reason you noticed it because
6:48
Speaker 2: it was just so much not in keeping with how
6:50
Speaker 2: he normally went about his business. There was this huge contrast.
6:54
Speaker 2: And to my mind that was the thing with Piastre
6:56
Speaker 2: is that anyone could have a scrappy weekend, but two
6:59
Speaker 2: things was so not in keeping with the driver that
7:02
Speaker 2: he has become. If it was any other driving, it's
7:04
Speaker 2: so well fine. But this stood out because of how
7:06
Speaker 2: unusual it was. And I think the other factor here
7:10
Speaker 2: is I don't it's similar to Shuemacher. I don't really
7:13
Speaker 2: think it's going to linger. It doesn't strike me as
7:16
Speaker 2: something that's oh no, this is the beginning of a trend,
7:18
Speaker 2: and the wheels are wobbling and he's feeling the pressure
7:20
Speaker 2: and all that sort of stuff. Each didn't have a
7:22
Speaker 2: very good weekend, and that's going to happen. The fact
7:24
Speaker 2: that it's taken us this long in his career, as
7:27
Speaker 2: you said, for probably his worst Formula One race weekend
7:30
Speaker 2: in a career that's been going two and three quarter
7:32
Speaker 2: years now, it's pretty testament to how good the guy
7:35
Speaker 2: is and how even he is temperamentally. But also probably
7:38
Speaker 2: another reason why I don't think this is going to
7:40
Speaker 2: be seen as anything other than a bit of a
7:42
Speaker 2: track specific, bit of an off weekend specific situation. I
7:46
Speaker 2: don't think it's going to repeat itself. I mean, obviously
7:49
Speaker 2: we could be completely wrong on this, but this doesn't
7:51
Speaker 2: feel like the beginning of a trend, if you know
7:53
Speaker 2: what I mean.
7:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I personally don't buy. And to be fair,
7:56
Speaker 1: this theory hasn't really gained much traction anywhere, but the
7:59
Speaker 1: idea that he's suddenly feeling the championship pressure, because why now,
8:03
Speaker 1: of all the races, you know, race that you've performed
8:06
Speaker 1: well that last year, the title picture is not really
8:09
Speaker 1: any tighter than it was last week. You know, if
8:11
Speaker 1: he was going to start feeling the pressure. It would
8:13
Speaker 1: have been immediately after the break, when it was clear
8:15
Speaker 1: it was just down to him and Norris, or then
8:16
Speaker 1: maybe that's not clear anymore and all the focuses on
8:19
Speaker 1: him and ten rounds to go doesn't really make a
8:21
Speaker 1: lot of sense. And it's worth pointing out the last
8:23
Speaker 1: time he made a race changing mistake like this, although
8:27
Speaker 1: there were far more mitigating circumstances, was in Australia. We
8:30
Speaker 1: ran off the road, finished ninth, and then he won
8:33
Speaker 1: in China and was at a pretty straight trajectory back
8:35
Speaker 1: into the championship lead after that. So I think you're right,
8:38
Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if we saw anything other than a
8:40
Speaker 1: straightforward bounce back. That said, the next couple of races
8:44
Speaker 1: are sort of bogie tracks for Piastre, if you can
8:47
Speaker 1: say that for such a short career, tracks in which
8:49
Speaker 1: he hasn't performed that well relative to Norris. So if
8:52
Speaker 1: it is a bounce back that's going to be on,
8:53
Speaker 1: that's going to be emphatic. One wan look at the
8:55
Speaker 1: Norris side of things now, talked about an open goal
8:58
Speaker 1: being missed if you asked him, certainly was not a
9:00
Speaker 1: missed opportunity, thank you. Very much and stop asking about
9:03
Speaker 1: it please. It was too in fact in qualifying, and
9:06
Speaker 1: the race had a golden chance to qualify highly. Perhaps
9:11
Speaker 1: Paul was out of reach considering that Maximstaff and poll
9:13
Speaker 1: app was something pretty special, but nonetheless seventh should have
9:16
Speaker 1: been It was the minimum. It should have been a
9:19
Speaker 1: lot more on the cards for McLaren and to finish
9:21
Speaker 1: only there in the race I think was pretty disappointing,
9:25
Speaker 1: even if it was a weekend. As you say that
9:27
Speaker 1: McLaren wasn't performing very well, how much of this do
9:30
Speaker 1: you think. I almost think this is a little bit
9:33
Speaker 1: of an underrated part of the story. Obviously, the big
9:35
Speaker 1: story is the rock solid Oscar Piastre crashing out irregularly.
9:39
Speaker 1: But Lando Norris being unable to capitalize on this opportunity,
9:42
Speaker 1: to me feels like the more important championship story from
9:46
Speaker 1: this weekend.
9:47
Speaker 2: Because I totally agree, because Piastres just not given anyone
9:51
Speaker 2: really a sniff this season. You referenced Melbourne. It's three
9:54
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy five rounds ago or eighteen rounds ago,
9:57
Speaker 2: whatever it is. It's so long ago that he even
10:01
Speaker 2: cracked the door open for someone to perhaps exploit something
10:04
Speaker 2: like this, so history would suggest that's not going to
10:07
Speaker 2: be an opportunity that comes along particularly often. But you
10:10
Speaker 2: may not be able to beat Max Verstappan in that
10:13
Speaker 2: car in that moment in time, given how good Max
10:15
Speaker 2: was in Baku on Sunday, But surely with his teammate
10:18
Speaker 2: out of the picture and knowing that you have to
10:21
Speaker 2: go into that last part of Q three to get
10:23
Speaker 2: that lap and then the race you would have to
10:26
Speaker 2: think has to be a podium minimum. And now look
10:29
Speaker 2: he could have finished a couple of places ahead. McLaren
10:31
Speaker 2: had another poor pit stop for him in Baku, and
10:34
Speaker 2: you know we've sort of you look at these things
10:37
Speaker 2: in isolation. There's a bit of a trend here with
10:39
Speaker 2: Norris's pit stops going back probably four or five races
10:41
Speaker 2: now who've not been optimal At this point, I was
10:44
Speaker 2: a little surprised at Andrea Stella didn't go down to
10:47
Speaker 2: Red Bull and Racing Balls and say, look, he would
10:49
Speaker 2: have come out of the pits ahead of Sonoda and
10:50
Speaker 2: Laws and so could you just ask him to move
10:52
Speaker 2: over please, because that seems to be the way they
10:54
Speaker 2: go about things. But to my mind, it's more the
10:58
Speaker 2: fact that there's two things here, one that Norris didn't
11:01
Speaker 2: capitalize on the opportunity with Piastre out of the picture,
11:05
Speaker 2: and two because I don't feel that Piastre is going
11:08
Speaker 2: to provide many opportunities to do that. And I look
11:12
Speaker 2: at this situation. If you were to flip these two
11:14
Speaker 2: drivers into the championship standings right now, I would have
11:17
Speaker 2: a much easier time believing that Norris would be more
11:20
Speaker 2: vulnerable to perhaps prizing that door open more regularly for
11:24
Speaker 2: the chasing driver to come through than the situation that
11:27
Speaker 2: we've got right now. So yes, in and of itself,
11:29
Speaker 2: it was an opportunity lost, and McLaren just didn't have
11:32
Speaker 2: their standard dominance that they've had for so much of
11:35
Speaker 2: this year in Baku. But to not finish better than
11:38
Speaker 2: where you started in a race weekend where your main
11:41
Speaker 2: title rival and your teammate in the identical car is
11:43
Speaker 2: out five corners into the rays, to say that it's
11:47
Speaker 2: anything other than enormously disappointing is a little bit disingenuous.
11:50
Speaker 2: And yeah, the tenor of the response to questions after
11:55
Speaker 2: the race, So I always think sometimes these things are
11:57
Speaker 2: a bit of a tell if someone's trying to get
11:59
Speaker 2: ahead of the story and shut it down before you've
12:00
Speaker 2: even asked the question. Then you've clearly hit a nerve there,
12:03
Speaker 2: haven't you.
12:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. And I buy to an extent
12:07
Speaker 1: Andrea Stella's defense, which is that while overtaking was pretty
12:10
Speaker 1: difficult on Sunday, and it was, there was very little
12:12
Speaker 1: overtaking for cars that were dramatically out of position or
12:16
Speaker 1: in some cases even with massive tire advantages. There wasn't
12:19
Speaker 1: much difference. But he did make two passes. But there
12:22
Speaker 1: are two positions he lost at the start of the race,
12:24
Speaker 1: which I think is probably the more indictable part of
12:27
Speaker 1: his Sunday performance, rather than just not making up a
12:29
Speaker 1: lot of ground which I think was never going to
12:31
Speaker 1: be made up after qualifying. But okay, lose a position
12:34
Speaker 1: to Isaac Hadra off the line. Okay, at the start,
12:36
Speaker 1: especially in Bakhu, things are pretty wild, and I assume
12:40
Speaker 1: he was probably taking the approach that better not to
12:42
Speaker 1: be crashed out of this first lap and at least
12:44
Speaker 1: make it that far. But really caught napping at the
12:47
Speaker 1: safety car restart, and I thought that was I think
12:50
Speaker 1: that for me is the like, if you sum up
12:53
Speaker 1: his weekend, it is almost that which is that you
12:56
Speaker 1: have the opportunity now, even if you're going to only
12:58
Speaker 1: make up one or two places, Every point is free
13:01
Speaker 1: this weekend. Every point is free today and lost a
13:04
Speaker 1: place to Charlotte Clair, lost touch with that leading back.
13:07
Speaker 1: Who knows he could have made up positions at the restart.
13:09
Speaker 1: I think that for me is, you know, if you
13:12
Speaker 1: would be disappointed as Orlando Norris fan looking back on
13:14
Speaker 1: that race.
13:15
Speaker 2: It felt like every sort of fifty to fifty fork
13:17
Speaker 2: in the road moment over the course of the weekend,
13:20
Speaker 2: he underwhelmed in all of those. You know, you're looking
13:22
Speaker 2: at Q three, you're looking at the start of the race,
13:24
Speaker 2: looking at the safety car restart and okay, the pit
13:26
Speaker 2: stop thing clearly not his fault, but any of those
13:29
Speaker 2: controllable fifty to fifty situations over the course of the
13:32
Speaker 2: weekend where you could have transformed the next hint of
13:35
Speaker 2: the race, or the next part of Q three, or
13:37
Speaker 2: you know, even bigger picture of the entire weekend, it
13:39
Speaker 2: felt like he underwhelmed in all of those fifty to
13:42
Speaker 2: fifty situations. And if you get one or two of
13:44
Speaker 2: those right there, maybe you're finishing fourth and you've gained
13:46
Speaker 2: some more points. But the thing about him finishing seventh
13:50
Speaker 2: th and scoring six points. I mean, there's a bigger
13:51
Speaker 2: points difference between first and second if they've got one
13:54
Speaker 2: two in the race. It's astonishing to think that he
13:56
Speaker 2: owned it was able to gain six points in a
13:58
Speaker 2: season where I mean McLaren gain six points over everybody
14:01
Speaker 2: else by about two laps into most races. Let's be honest.
14:04
Speaker 2: It was so underwhelming, and magnified more by the fact
14:08
Speaker 2: that his teammate had actually made a mistake for the
14:10
Speaker 2: first time in nearly two years.
14:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now I want to look at the third element
14:14
Speaker 1: of this, but to preface that, we should say that,
14:17
Speaker 1: of course, we were talking a lot about McLaren winning
14:19
Speaker 1: the Constructors Championship in Singapore and the build up. Had
14:22
Speaker 1: this weekend looked even remotely like any other weekend this year,
14:25
Speaker 1: it would have won the Constructor's Championship, but it did not.
14:28
Speaker 1: The championship goes to Singapore, where it truly will be
14:31
Speaker 1: a formality unless there is an absolute catastrophe in that race,
14:35
Speaker 1: which would make one hell of a post race podcast.
14:37
Speaker 1: So you can stick yeah, stick around perhaps see what happens.
14:42
Speaker 1: But the other side of that equation, of course, was
14:44
Speaker 1: that Red Bull Racing had no trouble winning this Grand Prix.
14:47
Speaker 1: It's second in a row, the first time Max has
14:48
Speaker 1: won two races in a row since last June, which
14:52
Speaker 1: tells you the struggles or underlines the struggles the team
14:54
Speaker 1: has been enduring since then. His fourth Grand Prix winn.
14:57
Speaker 2: Of the year.
14:58
Speaker 1: That's one fewer than Norris, three fewer than Piastre. He
15:00
Speaker 1: has more polls than any driver this season, remarkable, has
15:03
Speaker 1: led more laps than Lando Norris this season also remarkable,
15:08
Speaker 1: and that's prompted Andrea Stella, the McLaren Voss and again
15:11
Speaker 1: you can you can take it with a pinch of
15:12
Speaker 1: salt or not, but to insist, to insist that it
15:15
Speaker 1: is written in capital letters, that yes, Max Verstappen is
15:19
Speaker 1: a Driver's title contender. It's sixty nine points in seven rounds. Matt,
15:24
Speaker 1: I know, I feel like this will appeal to you.
15:25
Speaker 1: You love a good stat but I think, like me,
15:27
Speaker 1: you also love a good niche stat. If Max finishes
15:31
Speaker 1: every race and sprint first, Norris every race and sprint second,
15:35
Speaker 1: Pastre every race and sprint third, he just gets it
15:38
Speaker 1: over the line by seven points in Abu Dhabi and
15:41
Speaker 1: they remain in order of Verstappen Piastre at Norris. It
15:44
Speaker 1: is the perfect scenario, a highly unlikely series of events,
15:48
Speaker 1: but it is mathematically possible in those scenarios and also
15:52
Speaker 1: obviously in a variety of others. But is he really
15:55
Speaker 1: in driver's title contention?
15:57
Speaker 2: If we have another one of these Abu Dhabi ones
15:59
Speaker 2: that comes from left field and biass at about three
16:01
Speaker 2: o'clock in the morning, I'm not sure I'm going to
16:03
Speaker 2: be able to make it twenty one twenty one just
16:05
Speaker 2: about what we are. But is he I'll go back
16:09
Speaker 2: to my This is the second thing that Andrea Sella
16:11
Speaker 2: said over the course of the weekend that I actually
16:12
Speaker 2: agree with. Yeah, I do. I do. And if it
16:15
Speaker 2: was anyone else other than Max for stap And, I'd say, well,
16:17
Speaker 2: that's nice. He's in some good form and he's still
16:19
Speaker 2: a long way behind, and so on and so forth.
16:21
Speaker 2: There is the very real sound of footsteps here, and
16:25
Speaker 2: they're heavy footsteps, because the guy you're talking about is
16:28
Speaker 2: the raining four time Formula One world champion. And I
16:33
Speaker 2: almost think that sometimes for Stappen is a better underdog
16:36
Speaker 2: than he is a front runner. I know that sounds
16:37
Speaker 2: a little ridiculous for a guy who has done so
16:40
Speaker 2: much winning as he's done in the past four years.
16:42
Speaker 2: But the single mindedness and the ability to extract the
16:45
Speaker 2: absolute maximum amount of situations that present themselves. I'm not
16:49
Speaker 2: sure there's anyone better on the grid, quite frankly, And yeah,
16:52
Speaker 2: those footsteps are real because there's proof of concept he's
16:55
Speaker 2: done it before. I think the wider question in all
16:58
Speaker 2: of this now and we've got on you know, McLaren
17:01
Speaker 2: has just these papayah rules that are more opaque. Let's
17:04
Speaker 2: be honest, it's been such a strange year with you know,
17:07
Speaker 2: you've got to pull over because your teammates had a
17:09
Speaker 2: dodgy pit stop, so on and so forth. You can
17:11
Speaker 2: do that from a massive position of advantage. That's fine.
17:14
Speaker 2: What remains is that Oscar Piastri has a twenty five
17:17
Speaker 2: point lead over Lando Norris and Maxims Stappen's only sixty
17:20
Speaker 2: nine points behind Pastre at this point. Are we going
17:25
Speaker 2: to have an uncomfortable situation at some point where they're
17:29
Speaker 2: going to have to almost sacrifice Lando Norris to protect
17:33
Speaker 2: Oscar Piastre Because I think if we have another one,
17:37
Speaker 2: maybe two weekends that go in the same manner as
17:40
Speaker 2: Monza and Baku, where the staph And wins and the
17:43
Speaker 2: McLarens don't score fantastic points obviously both on the podium
17:46
Speaker 2: in Italy. That's fine nowhere near the podium obviously here,
17:50
Speaker 2: but if we get one or two rounds it becomes
17:52
Speaker 2: a numbers game. At this point, as you were saying
17:54
Speaker 2: seven rounds to go, we get to five rounds to
17:56
Speaker 2: go and all of a sudden for Stapanese, I mean,
17:58
Speaker 2: what's the magic number is forty? Is it thirty five?
18:01
Speaker 2: What have we got here? Given that we've got three
18:03
Speaker 2: sprint rounds to go as well? Is there a point
18:06
Speaker 2: where McLaren are going to have to say to Lando Norris, Look,
18:10
Speaker 2: the gap between you and Oscar is pretty similar. We've
18:12
Speaker 2: got a problem here coming from behind, and we're going
18:15
Speaker 2: to need to prioritize the driver that is in the
18:18
Speaker 2: lead of the World championship. How is that going to
18:21
Speaker 2: go down? And of all the dynamics I thought we
18:23
Speaker 2: might get between now in Abu Dhabi, this was not
18:26
Speaker 2: one that I saw coming and it's you know, look,
18:28
Speaker 2: Baku was a bit of a disaster for McLaren relative
18:31
Speaker 2: to the rest of the season. But Verstappen has been
18:34
Speaker 2: so good and so dominant for the past two rounds,
18:38
Speaker 2: both through specific circuits that maybe lend themselves to being
18:41
Speaker 2: more in Red Bull sweet Spot than Singapore particularly coming up.
18:44
Speaker 2: But this proof of concept with Verstappen, we know he
18:46
Speaker 2: knows how to win World Championships, and I wonder what
18:49
Speaker 2: is the number in terms of deficit that's going to
18:53
Speaker 2: make this a little bit uncomfortable within McLaren because Verstappen
18:58
Speaker 2: is just the freest of free swings here. No one's
19:00
Speaker 2: expecting give to will win the World Championship mathematically. Sure,
19:04
Speaker 2: there's been a huge change behind the scenes here with
19:06
Speaker 2: no Christian horder and so on and so forth. You're
19:08
Speaker 2: completely playing with house money at this point, because if
19:10
Speaker 2: you finished third in the World Championship, everyone's going to say, well,
19:12
Speaker 2: that was great, that wasn't a fantastic car. World done
19:14
Speaker 2: good for you, maybe one of your better seasons. But
19:18
Speaker 2: what's the magic number here? Like when does this start
19:20
Speaker 2: to become uncomfortable for McLaren And just for the sheer
19:24
Speaker 2: sake of the narrative at this point, given that you
19:26
Speaker 2: know the Zappa has never been particularly good at Singapore
19:29
Speaker 2: and it's a totally different circuit to Mons and Baku.
19:31
Speaker 2: Imagine if for Stapham wins Singapore and the McLaren's are
19:35
Speaker 2: third and fifth or something, it's a bit of a
19:37
Speaker 2: blar weekend for them, then we're going to have to
19:39
Speaker 2: have a serious conversation about a storyline we did not
19:42
Speaker 2: see coming.
19:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think this is I think it's almost less
19:45
Speaker 1: of a numbers game and more what the next I'm
19:48
Speaker 1: going to say two results are I think Singapore is
19:50
Speaker 1: an important one, Like you say the status the only
19:52
Speaker 1: I think the only track on the calendar he hasn't
19:53
Speaker 1: won at. Correct, that's a track red bull racing in
19:56
Speaker 1: the recent era at least hasn't gone that well at either.
19:59
Speaker 1: And it's latest line of two or three or four cars,
20:03
Speaker 1: and it's a track that plays with a lot of weaknesses,
20:04
Speaker 1: not so much the downforce levels but riding the curves
20:07
Speaker 1: and bumpinesses of the track. Heat should also play the
20:09
Speaker 1: McLaren's hands. If Max can win there, then suddenly it
20:12
Speaker 1: does look like this upgraded car is a more all
20:15
Speaker 1: round performer. And then after that we go to the
20:17
Speaker 1: United States, which non paper is the McLaren circuit of
20:20
Speaker 1: the next few because it's got such a variety of
20:22
Speaker 1: different speed corners. If Max can win there, then I
20:26
Speaker 1: think you're looking at a scenario where maybe he can
20:28
Speaker 1: do it. The circumstances are totally different. But don't forget
20:32
Speaker 1: that in twenty thirteen Sabash and reddle one all nine
20:34
Speaker 1: of the last races after not looking like anything like
20:36
Speaker 1: that kind of run was going to be possible that year.
20:39
Speaker 1: Very easy to reflect on the vetal years and think
20:41
Speaker 1: he just won all of them, but no, I think
20:43
Speaker 1: he won only two or three in the first half
20:44
Speaker 1: of the year and then just dominate it the second half.
20:47
Speaker 1: It could be possible. We could be at the very
20:49
Speaker 1: beginning of a verstapen that bit, what would be a
20:52
Speaker 1: nine round victory streak to get to the end of
20:54
Speaker 1: the year. It is possible, and then you only need
20:57
Speaker 1: one or two trip ups from McLaren to suddenly not
20:59
Speaker 1: require results to go his way for him to do
21:03
Speaker 1: it himself. It returns to being on his own bat
21:05
Speaker 1: So I think it's almost not so much the results
21:07
Speaker 1: as it is not so much the points, rather so
21:09
Speaker 1: much as it is the next couple of results that
21:11
Speaker 1: will set the tone. And I think that puts a
21:13
Speaker 1: really interesting pressure on McLaren because for the last as
21:16
Speaker 1: much as they've been saying, you know, it's never over
21:18
Speaker 1: till it's over, for the last couple of months, it's
21:20
Speaker 1: been clear that they were probably going to win the
21:24
Speaker 1: driver's title anyway, and I think had settled into that
21:27
Speaker 1: mindset whereby you do make decisions like you do in Italy,
21:31
Speaker 1: which is that we're only racing against each other. We
21:34
Speaker 1: are dictating the entire environment. We will make decisions that
21:36
Speaker 1: suit the fairness of environment. Whatever. Fine, we can move
21:40
Speaker 1: past that as a decision in that context. But suddenly
21:42
Speaker 1: you have this third stressor and you have to think
21:45
Speaker 1: about fairness to use the McLaren principle or value in
21:49
Speaker 1: a completely different way because you can't control what's fair
21:52
Speaker 1: in racing if you can't control that third variable, which
21:55
Speaker 1: is maxistappened. So I think that's very interesting, and I'll
21:58
Speaker 1: just put in here a reminder. I guess that at
21:59
Speaker 1: the start of the year Zach Brown said he would
22:03
Speaker 1: prefer to lose the driver's title and enact team orders
22:05
Speaker 1: to ensure he wins it against Max for staffen So
22:08
Speaker 1: that is the backdrop of the seat that didn't seem
22:10
Speaker 1: like it was relevant at the time. Maybe that's why
22:12
Speaker 1: he felt free to say it now, maybe it is
22:16
Speaker 1: a little bit more relevance. I think that is a
22:19
Speaker 1: really interesting twist, and part of it look obviously well,
22:23
Speaker 1: I am impartial as a journalist. I'm impartial as an Australian.
22:27
Speaker 1: Be great to have an Australian winner after four fight
22:30
Speaker 1: nearly five decades, But what a story max with Staffen
22:35
Speaker 1: comes back from here. As a journalist, I'm biased towards
22:38
Speaker 1: the story and that's what's exciting.
22:40
Speaker 2: That's what we do. I mean, journal's people get this,
22:43
Speaker 2: people get this twisted all the time. Journal's generally cheer
22:45
Speaker 2: for the best story because they're the wor's best ones
22:47
Speaker 2: to tell and talk about and write about. And this
22:50
Speaker 2: would be because we didn't really see it coming. Would
22:53
Speaker 2: be an astonishing story. But I'm thinking of two things here.
22:56
Speaker 2: I'm looking back to races earlier this year where Verstappen
22:59
Speaker 2: just poured points down the toil. I remember how angry
23:02
Speaker 2: he got with George Russell at the end of CATALOONYA
23:04
Speaker 2: like just throwing points away. Wouldn't those points be handy
23:07
Speaker 2: right now? But I'm also trying to imagine. Can you
23:10
Speaker 2: imagine the broadcast if McLaren decides to prioritize Piastre over
23:15
Speaker 2: Morris and ask and ask Norris to play the dutiful
23:18
Speaker 2: wingman vulterie Botas style. How is that going to go down?
23:22
Speaker 2: It will literally be black armbands for the rest of
23:25
Speaker 2: the season, I think.
23:29
Speaker 1: Again, I hope for the story, but let's red now,
23:33
Speaker 1: because well, this has got plenty of time to run
23:35
Speaker 1: with so many rounds still remaking the season, Let's move
23:38
Speaker 1: on to Move of the Week, brought to you by Shannon's.
23:42
Speaker 1: Like we said, wasn't absolutely action packed with overtaking him Bacu.
23:46
Speaker 1: Perhaps the race didn't quite live up to the billing
23:48
Speaker 1: after qualifying promised so much, but we've got some interesting results.
23:51
Speaker 1: But what moves caught your eye this weekend?
23:53
Speaker 2: Am I allowed to say the move of Harry Benjamin
23:56
Speaker 2: into the commentary mood? I just didn't know. Let's not
24:00
Speaker 2: say that even though I just did. Now there are
24:02
Speaker 2: only twenty five overtakes in this Grand Prix. I did
24:04
Speaker 2: do some research before we got on, and obviously the
24:06
Speaker 2: race lasted half an hour less than qualifying, So I
24:09
Speaker 2: guess we've got a liverit to time for these overtakes
24:11
Speaker 2: to happen. But to my mind, mover of the week
24:14
Speaker 2: is Liam Lawson qualifying third and finishing fifth, but more
24:18
Speaker 2: holding his nerve for those last fifteen laps with this
24:21
Speaker 2: huge train of faster cars bearing down him, and given
24:25
Speaker 2: you know how tenuous his situation looks, and obviously he's
24:28
Speaker 2: had so much, you know, he said, such a tumultuous
24:31
Speaker 2: year anyway, obviously being promoted to Red Bull, demoted within
24:34
Speaker 2: two races, if there was ever going to be an
24:36
Speaker 2: opportunity to be probably higher than you should be and
24:40
Speaker 2: then maybe drop the ball and lose a position, he
24:43
Speaker 2: was absolutely flawless for those last fifteen laps of that race,
24:47
Speaker 2: and I enjoyed watching it because it was a serious
24:51
Speaker 2: pressure point situation that everyone knew. He knew it, his
24:55
Speaker 2: team knew it, All of the other drivers in the
24:57
Speaker 2: train behind him knew it. Sometimes you're not just rac
25:00
Speaker 2: the current in front of you, you're racing the person
25:02
Speaker 2: that's driving the curR in front of you because you
25:04
Speaker 2: know their vulnerabilities or the narrative behind their story. It
25:08
Speaker 2: was a situation where there was a lot to lose
25:10
Speaker 2: for Lawson in those last fifteen laps, the fact that
25:13
Speaker 2: he was able to convert on that career best finish,
25:15
Speaker 2: but more the way he handled the back end of
25:17
Speaker 2: that race. I know it's not technically a move as such,
25:20
Speaker 2: there weren't many moves, but his ability to keep the
25:23
Speaker 2: drivers behind him in such a high pressure situation, to
25:27
Speaker 2: my mind, that's kind of move of the week for me.
25:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, I think you can give him the move
25:30
Speaker 1: that he put on Yuki Sonoda to take back that
25:33
Speaker 1: position after the final pit stops. If you wanted to
25:35
Speaker 1: strictly speak and qualify for of the week, then sure
25:39
Speaker 1: that was there.
25:39
Speaker 2: You know, I like to stretch the definition of this
25:41
Speaker 2: and you tend to be a bit more literal. So
25:42
Speaker 2: I'm sure you've actually got one of these twenty five
25:45
Speaker 2: overtakes is probably on your list, but I just don't
25:46
Speaker 2: know which one.
25:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was one of the ones on my
25:49
Speaker 1: list because of that story. But the other, but in retrospect,
25:52
Speaker 1: actually was not a move. It was an attempted move
25:54
Speaker 1: or was a defensive move, and that was Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
25:58
Speaker 1: In the end, it was defending Russell at the safety
26:01
Speaker 1: car restart for what I think was fourth or fifth
26:03
Speaker 1: of the time, pushed him, probably slightly borderline for a
26:07
Speaker 1: teammate on teammate defensive move, pushing him towards a barrier
26:11
Speaker 1: at turn one. But I really liked it because he
26:13
Speaker 1: had a great weekend Antonal. It wasn't, obviously at the
26:16
Speaker 1: level of George Russell, who Despine as total Wolf seemed
26:19
Speaker 1: to be describing, was halfway to being deceased before the
26:22
Speaker 1: weekend started. Finished second, nonetheless, and if you hear some
26:26
Speaker 1: of his team radio during Friday practice, he did sound
26:29
Speaker 1: extremely grim. Apparently Vultrie Potass was limbering up just in case.
26:34
Speaker 1: But Antony had a very solid weekend, exactly the weekend
26:36
Speaker 1: he needed. After the last couple of rounds, did not crash,
26:39
Speaker 1: which was a great tick for him, had the pace
26:42
Speaker 1: in qualifying, had great race pace. Still, we shouldn't be
26:45
Speaker 1: surprised he continues to lack polish in his rookie year
26:48
Speaker 1: as a teenager after only four years racing cars or
26:52
Speaker 1: whatever exactly it is. But it was the weekend he
26:54
Speaker 1: needed to steady after the European campaign, and also though
26:58
Speaker 1: continues this unusual trend of whenever he's not racing in Europe,
27:02
Speaker 1: he looks pretty good, like he looked at this like good.
27:04
Speaker 1: At the start before we arrived in Europe, he scored
27:07
Speaker 1: no points until the very end of the European season
27:09
Speaker 1: except for his main podium in Canada. Yes, and then
27:12
Speaker 1: now that we're back on tracks that are outside of Europe,
27:14
Speaker 1: he looks pretty good again. So I was pleased to
27:16
Speaker 1: say it.
27:17
Speaker 2: Canada definitely not Europe, just like Azerbaijan, definitely not Europe.
27:20
Speaker 2: But no, I do. I did like the response because,
27:24
Speaker 2: for the first time after MON'SO Toto, Wolford poured the
27:26
Speaker 2: asseid on him a little bit, and it was probably
27:27
Speaker 2: a little bit over due. He'd been quite protected, as
27:29
Speaker 2: you could imagine of Antonelli. I thought the response was terrific,
27:32
Speaker 2: and the move in and of itself, yeah, a little
27:34
Speaker 2: bit borderline on your teammate, But I like the fact
27:36
Speaker 2: that he went for it. But we were talking before
27:38
Speaker 2: about six red flags in qualifying. If I had told you,
27:41
Speaker 2: if you hadn't seen qualifying and there were six red flags,
27:43
Speaker 2: you would one hundred percent have his name next to
27:45
Speaker 2: one of them, wouldn't you. So the fact that he
27:47
Speaker 2: wasn't the cause of any of the red flags another
27:49
Speaker 2: big tick for him.
27:49
Speaker 1: Yes, a very successful weekend and andre Kimi Antonelli and
27:52
Speaker 1: Mercedes up to second in the Constructors Championship a heaven
27:55
Speaker 1: Ferrari as a result, so no bad thing for them.
27:58
Speaker 1: I want to look at, of course, the other story
28:00
Speaker 1: of this weekend now, which was Carlos Signs finishing on
28:03
Speaker 1: the podium for the first time as a Williams driver.
28:05
Speaker 1: Qualified second, probably actually incredibly had the speed to qualify
28:10
Speaker 1: on pole, but didn't quite nail his fastest lap. That
28:13
Speaker 1: was just about the only mistake if we want to
28:15
Speaker 1: call it that we want to call qualifying second in
28:17
Speaker 1: the Williams that he made all weekend because he finished
28:21
Speaker 1: a pretty flawless third in the race, got that podium trophy,
28:24
Speaker 1: was very pumped about it. Williams is very excited about it.
28:27
Speaker 1: Suddenly it feels like the Carlos scigence switch is all
28:30
Speaker 1: moving in the right direction and validating for Williams's improvement
28:35
Speaker 1: this year as well. But it felt to me Matt
28:38
Speaker 1: also that I think he realized he needed this result
28:43
Speaker 1: more than he simply wanted it, obviously, because I couldn't
28:46
Speaker 1: help but notice that at every opportunity he did not
28:49
Speaker 1: pass up the chance to say, well, I've been fast
28:51
Speaker 1: all year, I've been quick with the transition, been far.
28:54
Speaker 1: I've been quick a year. We've just needed the chance
28:56
Speaker 1: to do it, which is partly true. His qualifying pha
28:59
Speaker 1: has been good, but I think it's fair to say
29:01
Speaker 1: he has at least some responsibility for the lack of points,
29:04
Speaker 1: but not this weekend. This weekend he was pretty much
29:06
Speaker 1: perfect well.
29:07
Speaker 2: And that's been the weird thing about his season in
29:09
Speaker 2: that it's been a season of not really executing, which
29:12
Speaker 2: is not something you would have expected from him after
29:14
Speaker 2: his time at Ferrari, because it always felt like he
29:15
Speaker 2: executed quite well there. And I mean, look, you can
29:19
Speaker 2: take a victory lap with a bit of recncy bias,
29:21
Speaker 2: can't you know when you've scored almost as many points
29:23
Speaker 2: on one Sunday as you have for the remaining the
29:26
Speaker 2: rest of the season put together. Before we got to back,
29:28
Speaker 2: I think he gained six places in the Driver's Championship
29:30
Speaker 2: in one fell swoop. But you're right, it was just
29:33
Speaker 2: a weekend of you know, yeah, you can take points
29:35
Speaker 2: off him for the Q three era as such, that
29:37
Speaker 2: maybe cost him pole position. Other than that, it looked
29:41
Speaker 2: so nailed on and assured. There was never a point
29:43
Speaker 2: in the race where you thought, well, that's kind of
29:45
Speaker 2: the end of that. I mean, yes, he got jumped
29:47
Speaker 2: by Russell. The Mercedes is faster. George Russell just quietly
29:50
Speaker 2: sort of stealth MVP the season. Now, I quite frank,
29:52
Speaker 2: he's been so good, He's been incredibly good for a
29:55
Speaker 2: lot of the season. But it was a really deserved result.
29:58
Speaker 2: But a couple of things came to mind for me.
30:01
Speaker 2: Won the fact that in the driver Merry Go round
30:06
Speaker 2: of last year, I think you would have had a
30:07
Speaker 2: hard time convincing too many people that Carlos sites would
30:09
Speaker 2: have been on a Grand Prix podium before the man
30:12
Speaker 2: that replaced him at Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton. And also,
30:15
Speaker 2: now you'll have to correct me on this, because I
30:17
Speaker 2: know George Russell was on the podium in that nonsense
30:19
Speaker 2: Belgium Grand Prix. That wasn't where they waited four hours
30:22
Speaker 2: to do two laps in the rain a few years
30:23
Speaker 2: ago their previous podium, Williams would have been this. I
30:28
Speaker 2: should have looked at this before we got on twenty
30:30
Speaker 2: nineteen or something. As I said about it.
30:31
Speaker 1: Right, No, it's close, it's twenty seventeen seventy my Jean
30:34
Speaker 1: grand Prix.
30:35
Speaker 2: Oh, of course, well another driver who somehow was ahead
30:41
Speaker 2: of his teammate in the standings. Yes, it's of course, yes,
30:44
Speaker 2: beating across the line right at the death by valchery
30:46
Speaker 2: botas so you go God, twenty seventeen.
30:47
Speaker 1: That's incredible, long time ago, isn't it, Between real podiums
30:51
Speaker 1: as opposed to that fake podium of twenty twenty one.
30:54
Speaker 1: The Lewis Hamilton comparison one, he's an interesting one and
30:57
Speaker 1: I thought Carlos classically outed away the question. The question
31:01
Speaker 1: had to be asked, but the question nonetheless about all
31:04
Speaker 1: It's funny, isn't it that you've got your podium first?
31:06
Speaker 1: Before it was? Compton did, But it's funny to think obviously,
31:11
Speaker 1: had he stayed at Ferrari, we can only assume he
31:14
Speaker 1: would have had probably a handful of podiums by now.
31:16
Speaker 1: I think Charlotte clai is sitting on five podiums, five
31:18
Speaker 1: or six podiums for the season despite someone having none.
31:22
Speaker 1: So signs having already been established there, we knew he
31:24
Speaker 1: was pretty much a match for Lacleur. More or less
31:26
Speaker 1: over the last couple years, would have got a few,
31:29
Speaker 1: do you think. And I know we're not at the
31:31
Speaker 1: end of the season yet, we don't know what the
31:32
Speaker 1: last seven races are going to hold in store, But
31:34
Speaker 1: which driver has won out of this change? Because while
31:38
Speaker 1: Carlos signs obviously much further down the temperature order, probably
31:42
Speaker 1: is further away from a potential title than Hamilton is
31:45
Speaker 1: to his next one on paper, but it feels to
31:48
Speaker 1: me like his at the moment and recent advice is
31:51
Speaker 1: a player role here, because before the podium it was
31:53
Speaker 1: looking a little bit grimmer. But it feels like he's
31:55
Speaker 1: actually emerged a head out of this switch, except for
31:59
Speaker 1: the fact his bank account isn't being inflated at quite
32:02
Speaker 1: the same range.
32:03
Speaker 2: Well, and that's maybe the answer to your question is
32:05
Speaker 2: both and neither at the same time, because yes, you've
32:10
Speaker 2: got the Lewis Hamilton goes to Ferrari, what an amazing story,
32:12
Speaker 2: final chapter of his career, so on and so forth,
32:15
Speaker 2: and Science in Prospect is like, all right, Williams is
32:18
Speaker 2: not an a list team or maybe even a b
32:21
Speaker 2: blusted list team right now, You've got a driver that's
32:23
Speaker 2: proven to be a top flight driver and we'll find
32:26
Speaker 2: out how good Alex albon Is and so on and
32:27
Speaker 2: so forth. There's a lot of ways you can say
32:30
Speaker 2: both drivers won in that situation, but there's also a
32:32
Speaker 2: way you can say that neither of them have won
32:34
Speaker 2: because Hamilton's first season at Ferrari has been particularly underwhelming.
32:37
Speaker 2: They couldn't even execute a positions swap the night properly
32:42
Speaker 2: on the final lap. I mean, if anything sums up
32:44
Speaker 2: Ferrari's twenty twenty five, it's like you can't even swap
32:48
Speaker 2: positions for three World Championship points, sorry, three six World
32:52
Speaker 2: Championship points properly on the final lap of a race,
32:55
Speaker 2: like what are we doing here? But also the science question.
33:00
Speaker 2: The interesting part for me is that, yeah, a great result, right,
33:02
Speaker 2: and the sort of podium he would expect someone of
33:04
Speaker 2: his caliber to take. He has been so comprehensively the
33:09
Speaker 2: second best Williams driver for the entire season. And as
33:12
Speaker 2: much as you know we were saying before, how we
33:14
Speaker 2: just cheered the story with these sorts of things, we
33:15
Speaker 2: don't care about the people necessarily. I felt a little
33:18
Speaker 2: bit sorry for Alex albon because he's had such a
33:21
Speaker 2: good season and he's clearly been their best driver, and
33:24
Speaker 2: it felt that if there was a result like this
33:25
Speaker 2: that was going to come to one of their drivers
33:27
Speaker 2: that probably should go to him, And obviously he had
33:29
Speaker 2: his error in qualified or hit the wall and a
33:31
Speaker 2: bit of a scrappy race and so on and so forth,
33:33
Speaker 2: and yeah, he's his teammate who he has absolutely smashed
33:37
Speaker 2: in the boys table the entire year, bombs up and
33:39
Speaker 2: takes a podium on a weekend where McClaren would nowhere,
33:43
Speaker 2: Ferrari were tripping over themselves on the finish line and
33:46
Speaker 2: there was only one Red Bull going to score a podium. Obviously,
33:49
Speaker 2: it was a sort of weekend that a team like
33:51
Speaker 2: a Williams or maybe an Aston Martin or someone should
33:54
Speaker 2: have come through and actually had a really strong result,
33:56
Speaker 2: and of all the people that did it, it wasn't Alex Albon.
33:59
Speaker 1: I do feel a little bit bad Alex, because he's done.
34:01
Speaker 1: He's had done the hard yards of Williams. Really, he's
34:03
Speaker 1: been there from a pretty ordinary start of his career
34:06
Speaker 1: there to now when it does look like these random
34:09
Speaker 1: results could come his way, and they have not come
34:11
Speaker 1: his way, at least not yet. There is time to
34:13
Speaker 1: run this season. But I thought this weekend was a
34:15
Speaker 1: great example of why Williams has Carlos Science on the
34:19
Speaker 1: books because his Sunday poor execution and not all just
34:22
Speaker 1: down to him. Some of it's poor team execution. That is,
34:25
Speaker 1: the team has been inconsistent this year, and some of
34:27
Speaker 1: it has been bad luck as well, but we shouldn't
34:29
Speaker 1: underplay that science has contributed to some of it, despite
34:31
Speaker 1: his protestations otherwise. But this week and it showed, you
34:34
Speaker 1: know that strategizing from the cockpit, his great view of
34:37
Speaker 1: the race overall while being in the race without having
34:40
Speaker 1: the pitball perspective, his ability to sort of really focus
34:44
Speaker 1: and be consistent on the track, Like his lap times
34:46
Speaker 1: when he thought he could still merge ahead of George
34:48
Speaker 1: Russell were really phenomenally consistent, and he got very close
34:52
Speaker 1: to keeping ahead Russell before that pissed off. I think
34:54
Speaker 1: had Russell emerged behind him, he would have finished second.
34:57
Speaker 1: So the performance was so good. He has been lacking.
35:01
Speaker 1: But I think if we treat these moves, and I
35:03
Speaker 1: inclined to treat the Hamilton move, but I want to
35:05
Speaker 1: talk about him in just a second as well, with
35:08
Speaker 1: the view that it's all about next year, then I
35:10
Speaker 1: think we kind of have seen just enough from science
35:13
Speaker 1: to know, all right, you've got to put it together
35:15
Speaker 1: next year. But it's clear that you haven't gone there
35:17
Speaker 1: and been found out and embarrassed by a driver who's
35:20
Speaker 1: actually much better than you.
35:22
Speaker 2: No, no, not at all. I mean is an argument
35:24
Speaker 2: for another podcast one day. It might be the second
35:26
Speaker 2: best driver line up in Formula one. Yeah, and I
35:30
Speaker 2: think there's actually a decent argument there. You mentioned something
35:33
Speaker 2: that I do really like about him. There's a cerebral
35:36
Speaker 2: way of the way he goes about his Grand Prix
35:38
Speaker 2: racing in terms of you talked about managing the race
35:41
Speaker 2: and calling the shots from the cockpit, and we remember
35:43
Speaker 2: that at Ferrari, where they were seemed to just be
35:47
Speaker 2: calamitous decisions from one and he'd be the person being
35:49
Speaker 2: their dissenting voice, going no, no, we shouldn't do this,
35:51
Speaker 2: but we should do this, or the other way around.
35:54
Speaker 2: It reminds me very much of I've always enjoyed the
35:57
Speaker 2: way Fernando a Lotso has managed races when he's in
35:59
Speaker 2: a position to do something, and Science is probably the
36:02
Speaker 2: driver that reminds me the most of a lot So
36:04
Speaker 2: in that regard, in that he's got much more of
36:06
Speaker 2: a three hundred and sixty degree view of everything that's
36:09
Speaker 2: going on in the race itself, not just his race,
36:12
Speaker 2: not just that moment in time, but everything that's going
36:14
Speaker 2: on more globally other than a lot. So he might
36:17
Speaker 2: be one of the best in the business at doing that,
36:19
Speaker 2: and I do enjoy the way he is able to
36:22
Speaker 2: capitalize on an opportunity to get a good result. It
36:25
Speaker 2: was a hallmark of his time at Ferrari and it
36:27
Speaker 2: was very much evident in Baku on Sunday.
36:29
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I think we should be excited to
36:31
Speaker 1: see Williams move up the order the next year, because
36:33
Speaker 1: I think that lineup can do a lot of damage
36:35
Speaker 1: to teams that maybe haven't nailed it next year, or
36:37
Speaker 1: perhaps Williams does even better than anyone's expecting and they
36:40
Speaker 1: are towards the point end of field. But I want
36:42
Speaker 1: to close just with the brief comment on Ferrari and
36:44
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilinon's weekend you touched on it. It was pretty disappointing
36:47
Speaker 1: all round, failing to execute a team order. One think
36:49
Speaker 1: the Ferrari traditional is meant to be a good apt
36:51
Speaker 1: and they failed it on the line like the last
36:53
Speaker 1: lap over eighth and ninth place and even Charlotte Clair,
36:56
Speaker 1: despite being a little bit frustrated by the lack of
36:58
Speaker 1: respect for racing rule, said look, it's for place I
37:02
Speaker 1: don't really care, and it wouldn't have made me any
37:04
Speaker 1: happier to finish eighth. I thought it was a little
37:07
Speaker 1: bit unncessarily for them to switch positions, considering they had
37:09
Speaker 1: different strategies. I know that it's often done anyway, but
37:12
Speaker 1: I mean the whole thing was just a bit pointless,
37:14
Speaker 1: which is the sad thing, because after Friday it looked
37:16
Speaker 1: like Ferrari was on for a good weekend, perhaps not
37:19
Speaker 1: quite to the level of good that Lewis Hamilton was
37:21
Speaker 1: talking about as a pole contender and maybe a race winner,
37:24
Speaker 1: possibly a podium getto who knows, in a different universe.
37:26
Speaker 1: But execution, despite having a car that should have been
37:29
Speaker 1: up there roughly up there, just seemed so poor in
37:33
Speaker 1: a way that I think undermines a little bit of
37:36
Speaker 1: the positivity that had been built up in the last
37:38
Speaker 1: month or two, where it felt like, Okay, this season's
37:41
Speaker 1: clearly not gonna be anywhere near as good as even
37:43
Speaker 1: last year, but that at least if they can end
37:45
Speaker 1: the year looking like they know what they're doing then
37:48
Speaker 1: there can be a little bit more positivity for twenty
37:50
Speaker 1: twenty six, when it will count for a lot more.
37:51
Speaker 1: And I actually thought Ferrari perhaps reminded us that as
37:55
Speaker 1: much as Louis Hamilton's been underwhelming this year, the bigger
37:58
Speaker 1: problem is the team and where it is in this story.
38:02
Speaker 2: I don't know what you're talking about. They're just building
38:04
Speaker 2: up for their fantastic last five rounds of the season
38:06
Speaker 2: where they look really really good and storm to second
38:09
Speaker 2: place in the Constructors Championship and Hope springs a turtle
38:12
Speaker 2: and then we repeat the same cycle all over again.
38:14
Speaker 2: But the whole thing's just so underwhelming. It's got to
38:17
Speaker 2: the point now where any other team that would have
38:20
Speaker 2: a good Friday, I'd be like, all right, I've got
38:22
Speaker 2: my eyes on this. I wonder how this is going
38:23
Speaker 2: to shake out. With Ferrari. My general response at the moment,
38:26
Speaker 2: it's just like, sure, I have massive trust issues with
38:30
Speaker 2: whatever it is that they do early in the weekend
38:32
Speaker 2: where it's all promising, and you know, Hamilton was practically
38:35
Speaker 2: giddy when he was doing his media debriefs on Friday,
38:37
Speaker 2: like he's the most excited person of all time. This
38:39
Speaker 2: is fantastic, and we know that he can ride a
38:41
Speaker 2: bit of an emotional rollercoaster, even in his later years
38:44
Speaker 2: of his career. But when it does go sideways, you're
38:48
Speaker 2: not in the least bit surprised anymore. And I think
38:51
Speaker 2: you mentioned before, I mean Charlie Clare kind of shrugging
38:54
Speaker 2: your shoulders and going, well, you know, it's only over
38:56
Speaker 2: two points. Who cares? It's almost like what's going to
38:59
Speaker 2: be written on the obituary of Ferrari's twenty twenty five season.
39:03
Speaker 2: Yet another season where they don't we neither the drivers
39:05
Speaker 2: or Constructors Championship Ferrari, it's only two points? Who cares?
39:09
Speaker 2: That will be the tagline for the end of season video.
39:12
Speaker 2: Perhaps who cares?
39:16
Speaker 1: Just in general really does some things up. So an
39:18
Speaker 1: interesting couple of results up and down the grid in Azerbaijan,
39:23
Speaker 1: and potentially a little twist the championship as well. But
39:25
Speaker 1: we can't wrap up without checking in on the Crystal Ball,
39:28
Speaker 1: brought to you by Complete Home Filtration. I only remember
39:31
Speaker 1: the predictions that I don't get right, which is most
39:33
Speaker 1: weeks between us Matt, we promised a Charlotte Claire pole
39:37
Speaker 1: and victory.
39:38
Speaker 2: Wow, that went well, just don't listen to the previous
39:41
Speaker 2: five minutes of the podcast. But no, that clearly didn't happen.
39:44
Speaker 2: So in the spirit of try to actually come up
39:46
Speaker 2: with something that will happen in the Crystal Ball, and
39:48
Speaker 2: we kind of touched on this a little bit earlier,
39:50
Speaker 2: I'm saying that Max for Stappen's going to win Singapore
39:53
Speaker 2: because you've never won Singapore and we all know that
39:55
Speaker 2: Max fa Stappin loves an external stimulus. At this point,
39:58
Speaker 2: and again let's cheer for that. Now, there are still
40:01
Speaker 2: six rounds that follow Singapore. That's six or one third
40:04
Speaker 2: of an entire Formula One season. Back in the day,
40:07
Speaker 2: I would love him to win Singapore. Like, irrespective of
40:10
Speaker 2: what McLaren do, they can be second or third or whatever.
40:13
Speaker 2: I still can't see for Stapham winning the title. If
40:16
Speaker 2: you had to ask me to invest some of my
40:18
Speaker 2: heart earned on the prospect of him perhaps splitting the
40:21
Speaker 2: McLaren's in the driver's standings by the end of the season,
40:24
Speaker 2: I think I might have to give him a credit
40:26
Speaker 2: card details because this might be happening and if he wins.
40:29
Speaker 2: If he wins Singapore at this point, then is there
40:32
Speaker 2: a roadmap to him finishing second in the Driver's Championship
40:34
Speaker 2: and making the back end of this season a little
40:36
Speaker 2: bit nervy for McLaren. Yeah, absolutely there is. So I
40:39
Speaker 2: think he wins Singapore. I don't know what happens after that,
40:41
Speaker 2: but it's never been particularly good for him. More his
40:45
Speaker 2: teammate Sergio Perez back in the day the street fighter,
40:48
Speaker 2: even though he hated being called that because he win
40:50
Speaker 2: all these races on street circuits, but for Stapa has
40:52
Speaker 2: never won there. It's not a track or conditions that
40:54
Speaker 2: particularly suit the Red Bull. But as we can see
40:57
Speaker 2: in the past month or so, Red Ball early season
41:00
Speaker 2: and compared to now, it's almost like it's two different teams.
41:02
Speaker 1: Even if even if Max for Staffan ultimately plays no
41:06
Speaker 1: meaningful role in the championship by the end, if it
41:09
Speaker 1: only gets down to fifty forty points or whatever, I
41:12
Speaker 1: think we shouldn't underestimate how much fun he'll be clearly
41:16
Speaker 1: having while the McLaren drivers get a little bit serious
41:19
Speaker 1: as it gets. Oh yes, I think that would just
41:22
Speaker 1: be great value to see him having a laugh. He's
41:24
Speaker 1: out there literally winning for fun at that point, because
41:26
Speaker 1: it's not going to have any effects in title campaign.
41:29
Speaker 1: Just putting the other guys under pressure, making their lives
41:31
Speaker 1: a little bit more miserable, for no personal game to himself.
41:35
Speaker 1: I think that would be fun to see, so I
41:37
Speaker 1: hope so.
41:38
Speaker 2: There will be more comments like when they told him
41:40
Speaker 2: that the McLaren's switched positions in his comment was what
41:44
Speaker 2: because they had a band pitch so that we just
41:45
Speaker 2: laughed at laud. There'll be a lot of lulls going
41:48
Speaker 2: on the Steven.
41:49
Speaker 1: Care I think so. I'd love to say it, so, well,
41:51
Speaker 1: good luck I've been now that we've predicted. It's obviously
41:53
Speaker 1: not going to happen, but such is the way.
41:55
Speaker 2: What have you got on the crystal balls? Probably something
41:57
Speaker 2: far more sensible than me.
41:58
Speaker 1: Well, I've gone to a story we have had time
42:00
Speaker 1: to talk about this week. Perhaps we will next week,
42:02
Speaker 1: but it's a bit of a perpetual story that doesn't
42:03
Speaker 1: need too much more money, which is the Red Bull
42:06
Speaker 1: driver lineup four cars, only one of them has committed,
42:10
Speaker 1: it's Maxistaffen. All sorts of talk about what's going to
42:12
Speaker 1: happen there. German Media, Automotor nd Sport. It's reported that
42:17
Speaker 1: Isaac Hades as good as a done deal to race
42:19
Speaker 1: at Red Bull Racing next year though the teams is
42:21
Speaker 1: that's not the cats. I think actually the outcome here,
42:25
Speaker 1: because anything is possible at Red Bull, isn't. At this point,
42:27
Speaker 1: they don't really seem to know what they're doing with
42:28
Speaker 1: all these drivers. They don't know how they've ended up
42:30
Speaker 1: with all of them. They don't know what to do
42:31
Speaker 1: with them. They don't know if they want more or
42:33
Speaker 1: fewer of them. Is that they will just keep Sonoda
42:37
Speaker 1: and Lawson at racing Bulls like the good old days.
42:40
Speaker 1: Maybe turn it out into an actual shootout next season
42:43
Speaker 1: because the external pressure, the upwards pressure is coming from
42:46
Speaker 1: Arvid Lilyndenblad, their junior driver in Formula two. His first
42:49
Speaker 1: year in Formula two, he's been ordinary, maybe is too
42:54
Speaker 1: harsh in the Australian sense of the word ordinary. He's
42:57
Speaker 1: been five, he's one one feed race, He's only three
43:01
Speaker 1: points behind Pepe Marti's teammate who's more experienced than he is.
43:04
Speaker 1: But he's I think quite a distant seventh in the championship.
43:08
Speaker 1: I just think that actually, if this is really a
43:10
Speaker 1: new Red Bull under Lauren Mechiaz, they should be saying
43:14
Speaker 1: we don't need to promote this guy right now, he's
43:17
Speaker 1: allowed to have a second season in Formula two to
43:19
Speaker 1: try and win that title. Let's use the drivers who
43:22
Speaker 1: we know, in some configuration can perform. We're just not
43:26
Speaker 1: sure exactly what that configuration is. Yet, give him another year.
43:30
Speaker 1: You can get that shoot out that they keep saying
43:32
Speaker 1: they want all the time, never actually do between Sonoda
43:35
Speaker 1: and Lawson in that Racing Bull's car next year, then
43:38
Speaker 1: whoever does best will replace Hadja the following year, and
43:40
Speaker 1: he underperforms at Red Bull Racing and Honica.
43:42
Speaker 2: That's a very Laurent Mechias Engineering Crystal Ball prediction by you.
43:47
Speaker 2: Of course, old red Bull and I use old in
43:49
Speaker 2: air quotes would have vid Lindbladd in a Racing Balls
43:52
Speaker 2: next year, in a Red Bull the season afterwards, and
43:54
Speaker 2: then driving in Super Formula or in Japan the season
43:57
Speaker 2: after that when he's proven to be no good. So
44:00
Speaker 2: perhaps the new Red Bull has really turned over a
44:02
Speaker 2: new leaf. But let's be honest, whether it's Hadja, Laws
44:04
Speaker 2: and Sonoda, you me it's going to be a one
44:06
Speaker 2: car team at Red Bull and based on what Max
44:09
Speaker 2: for steppends then the past two Grand Prixs, maybe you
44:11
Speaker 2: should be a one car.
44:12
Speaker 1: Team yes, we'll keep your phone off silent just in
44:15
Speaker 1: case the call comes through from Helmut Marco. But that's
44:18
Speaker 1: all the time we have for pit Talk today. You
44:20
Speaker 1: can subscribe to Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts,
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Speaker 1: and you can leave us a rating and review as well.
44:25
Speaker 1: This weekend is the Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix with lights
44:28
Speaker 1: out at wait for it, three pm Eastern Standard Time
44:32
Speaker 1: on Sunday. You can tune in and watch Mark mike
44:34
Speaker 1: Is win the title if you like. You can get
44:36
Speaker 1: up to date with the latest Step one, Moto GP
44:38
Speaker 1: and supercars news at foxsports dot com. Dot are you
44:40
Speaker 1: from Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonato. Thanks very much
44:43
Speaker 1: for your company and we'll catch you next week.