Latest / The Undercut Podcast / Ferrari Wins at Le Mans and Bridgestone might make a comeback? - 2023 Canadian Grand Prix Preview

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Ferrari Wins at Le Mans and Bridgestone might make a comeback? - 2023 Canadian Grand Prix Preview · The Undercut Podcast

0:00
Hello and welcome to the Undercut podcast. I'm your host, Ellie-May Taylor, and we're back
0:12
to preview this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix. Just one co-host with me this evening,
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the ever-chaotic and probably again sunburnt Jesse Billington. How are you?
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Not sunburnt, which is impressive. It was very nice sunny days, a couple of past few
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days over here in Wales, and yeah, not been too shabby. Nice time away with some friends
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from uni and just relaxing and enjoying. So all good on my end. How are things for you?
0:36
Good, thank you. Went to, well, same as you, went to London Concours, but I went on a Thursday,
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met Vicky Butler-Henderson, who I just have a huge girl crush on. She is amazing and she
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has the same love that I do for the little Renault 5 Turbo.
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She's just a good last all rounder, really a top tier egg. She's just a nice person.
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She is. We love Vicky Butler-Henderson. We haven't had her on, we should try and get
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her on the podcast or at least do an interview with her at some point.
1:09
Yes, she is. Because she loves, well, yeah, she loves the Renault. She has a big love
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of Porsches as well, isn't she? Yeah, I can't remember if she's got a GT3
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or if she is like her ultimate car is the boot and be to have a 911 GT3. I can't remember,
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but yeah, she does love, she's just an all round top tier person.
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She's amazing. Anyway, looking forward to this weekend. Well, just before that in What
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the Hell Has Happened is, well, Lamon Jesse. Yeah, Lamon, Forza Ferrari, Ferrari win Lamon
1:44
and this Lyft Elie Mays merch curse. She recently picked up some Ferrari merch and it hasn't
1:51
negatively impacted the Ferrari racing team. It's in a nice red bag as well. That's so
1:57
fancy. Look how fancy it is.
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Where'd you get it from? Did you go into a shop to actually buy it?
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No. So I bought it from the Ferrari store itself and it came in this, so I can't describe
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it. This big sort of nice red bag with an embellished prancing horse on the, on both
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sides of Ferrari sticker. And then it was, my Ferrari hat was then sort of covered in
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a Ferrari tissue paper. And again, a big sort of prancing horse embellished sticker. It's
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very fancy. Very fancy indeed. And it doesn't seem to have negatively impacted their Lamont
2:43
team or their endurance racing team too badly. Of course, Ferrari's number one car stormed
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home to a strong win over an ailing Toyota. This year's Centenia race was not just one
2:53
of celebration, but one of attrition with cars of all classes suffering in the changing
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conditions. Continued wet spells or hampered running that favored the wingless Peugeots.
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As the circuit to LaSalle dried out, the 499P came back to the four as the class's strongest
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runner. The Porsche suffered a torrid time with crashes and a lack of pace to compete
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with the Italian and Japanese outfits. While the Cadillac teams also flagged somewhat,
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but came across a nightline in formation, which is quite nice. Crucially though, if
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you look back at all the drivers from Alfa Romeo's Salva's F1 lineup since 2018 through
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to about 2021, you have an F1 world champion in Kimi Raikkonen, an Indy 500 winner in Marcus
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Ericsson, a Le Mans 24 hour winner in Giovanazzi and then Charles Leclerc.
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I'm going to skip that bit about Charles Leclerc and just move on.
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Sad times for Charles Leclerc.
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Yes, sad times for Charles Leclerc. He was there at Le Mans to see them win. Obviously Ferrari
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have come back after a 50 year hiatus away from Le Mans with their last win in being in 1965,
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just before Ford dominated the remainder of the 60s and had gone and won the Centurion race
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full a month. Everyone's going to remember that. The conditions weren't easy. It hadn't rained
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since I think the 11th of May, so about a month. The track was incredibly dirty and then when the
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rain did come down, it would sit on the track rather than soaking in because everything was so dry.
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It even caught the winners out. They got stuck in the gravel and had to be lifted out by a crane.
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It wasn't easy conditions to win, but the race between Ferrari and Toyota was tight. It was about
4:33
12 second gap, which in single seater terms, apparently that's about a second and a half.
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It was incredibly tight, but with about two, one and a half hours to go, Toyota changed their driver
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lineup from Brenda Hartley to Hirakawa. Is that how you say his name?
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I think that's how you pronounce his name.
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Yeah.
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Hartley said to him, mind the rear brakes because they're susceptible to locking.
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Hirakawa was really pushing because Ferrari had them really on outright pace. He ended up locking
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the rear brakes because he braked too late going into the corner. As he braked, he went over a
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little bump, which caused everything to be a bit unstable. Locked up and he crashed the car. We
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had to do an extra pit stop to replace the damaged parts. That really put them out of contention
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for the win. Even when Ferrari had to go through a second power cycle to get the car going again,
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after they pitted and they lost about a minute, they couldn't catch up to the Ferraris at all.
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It was a race over for them.
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Yeah. I mean, credit for that Ferrari team has to go to the drivers. Obviously, we've mentioned
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Joe Venazzi in there, who put in some long stints through the dark hours as well. Just able to
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really just keep plugging out pretty consistent pace with a good amount of care. Same for
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Brit driver James Calado. That was really nice if you noticed on their caps. Joe Venazzi and
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Alejandro Piegwidi had the standard Ferrari cap with the Italian trickle-ore under the brim.
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James Calado's had the Union flag under the brim, which I thought was quite a nice touch.
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But crucially, Alejandro Piegwidi, his pace in that final stint was phenomenal. They came in,
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had a slightly iffy pit stop, came out ahead of the Toyota, and then just flew. He got the hammer
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down and that car was on form. It was ripping past other hypercars, LMP2s, everything else looked
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like it was going backwards compared to Piegwidi and the 499P. It was spectacular and truly one of
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the greatest racing moments we're going to see this season. I'd argue so far the last lap of the
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Indy 500 are going to be remembered as 2023's greatest motorsport moments for certain.
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Absolutely fantastic stuff. The racing actually wasn't confined purely to the hypercars.
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In LMP2, the battle raged for the full 24 hours. It was really tightly fought all the way through
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in the second tier. The Competition of Energy saw the number 34 inter-Europol car come home to take
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a win. I believe this is the first win for a Polish entry into the series as well. It's really nice
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to see that. As well as Fabio Schera, one of the drivers, had his foot run over in the pit lane
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early on in the race, but continued to pull driving stints despite having a suspected broken foot.
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I haven't checked to see if there's been an update on his condition, but yeah, worth it to come through
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for that win. Again, it shows the dedication and love that these drivers have for the sport and
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what they're entering in. The kudos that Le Mans is worth. Yeah, I haven't actually checked to see
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whether it is broken or not. I imagine it is. I think it was the Chevrolet NASCAR that actually...
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So out of all of them, the heaviest one. Yeah, the big beefy boy.
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That's the one. If you're going to have your foot run over, you don't want it by that one.
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Yeah, you want to go for the really light ones. Yes. It was really early on too when he got his
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foot run over. Whenever you would see him then go do a driver change, he would be hopping to the car
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because he couldn't actually stand on it. Fortunately, it was his braking foot and the
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LMP2 cars require you to be quite soft on the brakes. Otherwise, you sort of unbalance the
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downforce quite a bit on the car. So that's how he was able to continue driving. I think
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if he was in a different category, it might have been different for him. But still, kudos to him.
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If he'd been in a different category, you'd really want it to be your throttle foot that's broken
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because you could really be quite gentle on the throttle. Great for fuel saving. But most motorsports
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series have a really firm brake pedal. So even then, trying to keep the ball of his foot off
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and putting a lot of the load through the heel of his foot, you lose the ability to be fine and
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precise if you're trying to do that. You're changing the way your feet rest on pedals.
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Something that you will become really atoned to as a racing driver. All of a sudden, you're shifting
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that on the fly, fighting through pain while trying to do that in the middle of the night
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in the pouring rain. That's an achievement. And yeah, you saw him hopping out of the car
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at the end of the stint and going hugging, I think it was his partner on the fence line.
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And the relief was enormous. And yeah, we just love to see it. We love to see racing drivers at
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their peak coming through and just demonstrating what makes racing so good. We love it.
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GT class, it was pretty strong, pretty underrated or quiet, but relatively quiet, especially given
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the tension that was in the hypercar class. It was easy to overlook the GT class, but it was
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a strong win for the number 33 Corvette racing outfit there. I don't know if you've got anything
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else to add to it. No, not really. I just want to say, I think the Iron Dames did pretty well as
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well. I mean, they were leading at one point, but they didn't really have enough power to contest
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for a podium spot in the end, but they got fourth, which I think is still pretty good going.
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You know, the only all female drivers in the whole Le Mans, which, what, there were 50 cars there?
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Yeah, there's a huge amount of entries into it. And yeah, only team that's all female.
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There's one other female driver on the field, one or two, but it's not huge.
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No, and her, did her car go out early? Not as early as Jack Aitken.
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You bless him. Did not have a good time. He was racing for Cadillac, wasn't he? Yeah.
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Unfortunate for Jack Aitken, but again, the Cadillacs are pretty good, but those conditions
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were enough to catch anyone out. It was horrendous. Crucially though, Lightning McQueen, sorry,
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the Garage 56 Chevrolet NASCAR stock car entry came in 39th overall with lap times that shamed
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the more advanced GT cars and through the night utilized its strong outright pace to harry even
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the LMPs and hypercars down the straights. It was simply incredible. And there's reports of people
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at the race circuit going, I haven't been able to sleep. I've been able to enjoy the entire full 24
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hours because every time I go to sleep, every four and a half minutes, a giant V8 alarm clock
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goes off as it just comes herring past. You're going, whoa. And then you go, right, I'm trying
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to go back to sleep. And then it comes, again, you're going, no, I give up. I'll just stay up
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and watch the NASCAR just absolutely pounding round. And yeah, credit to Jimmy Johnson, Mike
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Rockefeller, Jensen Button for pulling off that one. That cannot have been an easy drive. They're
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not easy cars to try and wheel about on ovals, let alone on proper circuits. I was speaking to Ben
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Collins about this and everyone always underestimates the technical ability you need to drive a NASCAR.
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And obviously to have one that's been thrown together and cobbled together to the point that
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it can do GT racing is really quite something. It's sort of stuff in a bit of a gearbox issue
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because I know they slapped in a sequential transmission just to try and make it a bit more
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tolerable. Otherwise, I think they have top load of four speeds. So you're literally,
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it's an instant that NASCAR was banging an original sort of gear lever. But yeah, this was
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sequential box suffered a bit of a failure, but otherwise just, you got to love it.
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Every time it came up on the screen, I just, I loved watching it and I sort of
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love sort of the little story behind it and the fact that wasn't it sort of meant to start Le Mans
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sort of at the back. And then they realised this car is actually quite quick and so they're like,
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maybe we'll put it in front of the GTs. And then it was sort of competing with the LNP2s and they're
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like, oh, okay, this is actually a very quick car. They allowed it to run in qualifyings by being
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the only thing in its class. So what they did was they sort of sent out and qualifying. So it's one
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lap pace was really good. And then they said, yeah, well, your club will just sort of order
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everything by class wise. So it means you start at the back. And then they thought, well, hang on,
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it's going to take off at an absolute monster, pretty much all the GT cars in three laps.
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Equally it's bad conditions and that's going to be dangerous. So what we'll do is we'll put it
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roughly where its pace would put it. So ahead of the GTs behind the LNP2s. So it just sets off and
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starts chasing the LNP2s and thinking, ah, I'd love to see this sort of thing enacted again,
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with a broader array of different motorsport cars. Go down the full cars to route the sort of
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world Grand Prix series and have an F1 car in there. You might want to go for a slightly older
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one, a slightly more rugged one, something from sort of the old DFV V8s, like the late 80s, early
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90s style. It's not quite as technical and a bit more manhandleable for 24 hours. Bring back the
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NASCAR, add in a WRC car, add in just a couple of other interesting racing cars from different
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series around the world. Chuck an Indy car in there. That'd be a fantastic comparison.
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You'd be seeing an Indy car versus an F1 car, duking it out for 24 hours. It would put to bed
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so many sort of claims of, oh, my sports more superior than yours. It's the same basic thing.
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It's a car on four wheels going round and round and round. But it would just be a fantastic thing
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to see. I think this has opened the door for not only proving just how much fun endurance racing is
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and the fact that it has this lighter side to it, but also proving that NASCAR is a genuinely very
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interesting, very technical sort of aspect of motorsport and one to not be poo-pooed at.
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Equally, Jimmie Johnson is a very handsome man and that is worth putting on the record.
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I've seen him at Goodwin last year. I'll try and call him if he's there again this year.
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He just looks just chiseled, especially when he's got sunglasses and a flat cap on. He just looks
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like sort of the American version of Peaky Blinders. Well, Jensen Barton, I don't think
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he was meant to say it, but he has put on his Instagram post that that stock car is going to
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Goodwood. For Vestal Speed? Yes, I think so. Oh, I'm ready to melt my eardrums. Oh, gimme, gimme,
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gimme, gimme. It's the fact that I feel like we're going to sort of look back and think,
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do you remember the time they brought a NASCAR to Le Mans? It's always going to be remembered
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and for the right reasons as well. It's very much going to be one of those stories of do you
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remember that time when? The fact that it was able to compete is a testament to the work of the
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Garage 56 team, the fact that they were able to put that all together and get it done, and then
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a testament to the drivers for being able to actually make it work on track as well. It's
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just superb. So yeah, the Hendricks Motorsport, Chevy V8 powered stock car going up against some
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of the most technically advanced GT and LMP cars on the planet and just going, you just need a V8
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and a straight line, boys. Superb. Anyway, speaking of technology and technical direction,
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Alfa Romeo have announced that James Key will join their team as their new technical director
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from the 1st of September later this year. This sees him reunited with former McLaren colleague
16:04
Andreas Seidel as the latter seems to be forming a super group of talented names, but now under
16:09
different management. The rate and readiness of which people are leaving the working outfit
16:13
suggests that possibly all is not well with their working world and possibly the managerial style
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that's coming down from the top. However, on the face of it, looking at the technical state of
16:22
McLaren, one has to ask what the worth was of bringing in a man who's been a big name in their
16:27
backward steps over the past seasons. But Seidel having left that environment will know the
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conditions that Key was working under and has a previous appreciation of what he can do when
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handled properly. Key nonetheless has a big job on his hands of dragging a middling Alfa Romeo up
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the ranks, though he has the backing from his new boss and brings with him a significant F1 experience.
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His experience dates back to 1998 when he joined the sport with Jordan. He stayed on when they
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became midlands, stepping up to technical director and continued on the Spiker and Force India banners
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before joining Salba in 2012. It was only a short stint of around two years as he was snapped up by
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Toro Rosso, but this previous Atalos Swiss outfit should prove useful as he'll seek to integrate
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himself quickly into the team when he starts in September. While at Toro Rosso, he was renowned
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for his strong leadership, heading the technical team and was efficient in making the most of the
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limited budgets. Stepping up to a bigger project like McLaren in 2019 came at the right time in
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his career and gave him scope to develop and we saw some competent chassis from the team
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in the years that followed, though their current form doesn't wholly reflect the efforts that he's
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put towards. Yeah, I think firstly, I think you perhaps can't just judge him for his downfall of
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McLaren. I think he's been in the industry a long time and perhaps like Danny Rick, he's good at his
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job. It just didn't work out at McLaren and you always have to think whether he had too much on
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his hands to really excel because his one single role has now been cut into three different
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departments and then under them, new roles have been created to help in the management of it all.
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So was it just too much for one person? That's very much my theory is the fact that his plate
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was overlaid and the managerial style at McLaren doesn't seem to be one that's working for a lot
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of people, especially people that have come from teams where they've had a lot of freedom to do
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their own work, to lead technical units and progress the car in a manner that's sort of
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quite holistic and has a future goal to it. Whereas potentially you could say the current
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McLaren team very much focuses on short-term gains and that's very much been to its detriment. I
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don't expect that to be something that's been driven by the engineering and development teams.
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My reckoning is this has come from somewhere else and that's why we've seen so many of these names
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leave because they can no longer run the technical side of the F1 team in a way that a technical F1
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team should be. I won't point and name names but I think it's easy to understand possibly who I'm
19:00
referring to or where the issues might lie. Yeah it's like they had a number of good people but
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just couldn't make it work. Yeah. I mean I guess for him it's got to say something if your ex team
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principal wants you back. They have an appreciation and understanding of the work you can do when
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you're given the support and they all know the environment that you've seen you
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previously flourish in. They all then sort of go you're great, I can give you the environment that
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you want to work in, come with me. I think that's what we're hopefully going to see with sort of
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revived James Key over it. Well it's going to become Audi essentially when they move in it's
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going to be the Audi Sauber brand and if they've got hopefully a very hands-off approach from Audi
19:51
that just goes if these are the people you want and the people that you reckon can put Audi at
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the top of F1 so be it we will put the money where it needs to be. I don't think it needs to be very
20:02
handheld or misdirected from that top board. Yeah and you've got to think if I mean Audi not coming
20:10
into it in 2026 so they've got a couple of years to get into the role and they haven't really got
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they're not going into a championship team and sort of trying to keep it going. Yeah. Yeah they've
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kind of got nothing to lose and whatever they sort of try in these next couple of years because
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Alfa Romeo Sauber hasn't really been anywhere. Yeah.
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Which hasn't been anywhere really for a good while. No. So we have to go back at like the 1950s where
20:43
Alfa Romeo was dominant. Yeah who was Alfa Romeo's last great driver Nino Farina? Yeah it'll be an
20:51
interesting one to see but I think in the start of September gives Key enough time to start making
20:56
tweaks changes and adaptations to a 2024 car so we could see small steps forward there but again
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it's going to be all relative to the engine and powertrain they're allowed to use from Ferrari as
21:06
well so there's a lot still to be seen from that move but it's positive if you are going to be
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a fan of Lando Norris driving an Audi in Le Mans or not in F1 I suppose. I was jumping ahead there
21:19
and thinking wouldn't it be great if Audi would then entered Le Mans and then somehow found a
21:25
way of getting Lando Norris's seat in the car for the 500. He could be the next driver to do the
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triple. I mean well Audi dominated. They've had previous yeah as anyone who's read your Instagram
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post will have known. Yeah. Audi loved Le Mans and did very well at it. Speaking of German motoring
21:45
brands Mercedes tests tyres with Schumacher. In the time since his replacement at Haas Roman
21:50
Grosjean's fill-in has since run in two seasons of F1, scored points, battled with Verstappen,
21:55
been booted from the role, joined Mercedes and done the elusive Mercedes test that's been promised
22:00
to the French pilot. Mick Schumacher recently enjoyed a test period with Mercedes helping develop
22:04
Pirelli's next generation of tyres. Times and results aren't truly relevant and haven't exactly
22:09
been revealed either but Mercedes drive to use the boys promising for him having a career that
22:14
though that doesn't immediately equate to a seat. So I think crucially it's keeping him in F1
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which is what you need and you know say somebody starts flailing at the end of the season
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Toto Wolfman be like well I have this driver who's only been out for a year
22:37
but he has also been driving our Mercedes this year why don't you give him a shot? I mean
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you've got to think where could he fit in? This was something I was pondering earlier and
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rentable are unlikely to take him especially if they've got Danny Rick there if they want to
22:58
replace Perez. Ferrari aren't really going to go anywhere beyond Sainz and Leclerc for the moment
23:04
they're trying to build on something that's different beyond their driver pool so they're
23:08
unlikely to also want him back as a former FDA driver. I think he's very much cut his ties with
23:13
the group. Then you look at your next in line Aston Martin aren't going anywhere they've got
23:18
Dragovic sat on the sidelines who's been doing exactly the same job and when in an F1 car proved
23:24
to be ferociously fast when he did the pre-season testing in place of Stroll a lot closer to Alonso
23:29
potentially than Stroll would have been. Then obviously next on the grid we've got Mercedes
23:35
maybe but you're really hoping that like a Hamilton or a Russell starts having problems or starts
23:41
looking elsewhere. Russell signed on for another few years Hamilton's essentially not going to be
23:46
going anywhere for the time being so next up on the list Alpine no he's not really going to want
23:52
to go there he's sort of flirted with the idea previously but they've got a lot of junior drivers
23:57
in ranks below them they could either go for a Victor Martens or Jack Dunne. Then what have we
24:04
got next McLaren again they've got so many drivers all over the spot in different classes they could
24:08
possibly bring in and again they're not getting rid of Norris and Piazzetti both are on long-term
24:13
contracts for at least another two years. Alfa, Taury maybe but then you've also got Iwasa and
24:19
Lawson to consider and both of them are very quick at the moment in the season series they're in
24:25
Lawson especially I think is every time he races in Formula Super Formula over in Japan he inches
24:31
closer just taking that De Vries seat and it's unlikely Sonoda would go to open up both of them
24:36
at the same time. Haas unlikely to want him back they just want safe hands in there so they can
24:41
just keep money coming in. Alfa Romeo again have got Teo Poche if they do want to replace Bottas
24:46
and Jo is really outperforming the Finn he's not going anywhere anytime soon now he's proven his
24:52
worth and that just leaves Williams who aren't going to be getting rid of Alex Albon anytime
24:57
soon because he's the only one that can somehow get points out of that thing and then that leaves
25:01
Sarjan who they're reportedly looking at signing for another year so it's not great if you're Mick
25:06
Schumacher but he's still earning a living. Yeah it's tough at the minute I think like you said
25:15
the only really options he's got is maybe Alfa Thare or maybe but I doubt it Williams but
25:23
because Williams has obviously got the tyres with Mercedes that they could sort of shoehorn him in
25:29
that way. I mean McLaren I reckon is a possibility if Norris gets really bored of the car but then
25:36
he's throwing himself at risk of moving out of the sport and waiting for that chance to come at the
25:42
essentially the reformed Audi-Salvo unit and that's a big gamble for him to take I think he'd much
25:49
rather just sort of wait it out for in Max Verstappen's jet ski for weekend trips and
25:54
just sort of living his best life in a slightly slow McLaren so it's unfortunate and I was reading
25:59
up on the role actually Esteban Ocon when he was in the role Mick Schumacher now has
26:04
said that there were points where he was getting 45 minutes of sleep so he'd be up almost
26:09
45 minutes of sleep so he'd be up all night doing factory setup stuff literally running the sim rig
26:15
doing race day setups and then flying out to the race if it was nearby to go and sort of be a part
26:21
of the race team for that weekend offering tips and pointers through the race and he said you're
26:26
doing that all 45 minutes sleep plus if you get to sleep in the plane over it's an intense intense
26:32
role and the fact that Mercedes are singing Schumacher's praises for being able to pull it
26:37
off is a testament to his development as a driver personally in that very short scope of time since
26:43
leaving Haas so I think it's proven that he needed the right environment and also that there is a
26:49
good driver in there it just need the way of being found unless Audi decide they want a German driver
26:58
yeah they really might do in which case not out of the question but again you're floating around
27:03
until 2026 that's another two and a half seasons essentially from where we sit now of F1 to sit on
27:09
the sidelines and wait Ocon got very lucky that he only sat on the sidelines at Mercedes for a year
27:14
after 2018 then came back in in 2020 wasn't he made his return he set out most of like 2019
27:20
then came back with what was Renault at that point time to partner Daniel Ricciardo so yeah I think
27:26
Ocon was very lucky where he was because there was no other coming out the top of F2 at that point
27:31
either but then as well who would have thought Hülkenberg would get back in we all knew Hülkenberg
27:38
was a very good driver he just sort of deserved to be back in F1 we never really thought it would
27:43
happen yeah it was an odd one but equally he was the only viable option that Haas could get them
27:52
it's on for a decent price last minute that also wasn't going to completely total the car every
27:58
time he got in it which Mick Schumacher by that point got the unfortunate reputation for so it's
28:04
it's mixed really speaking of tyres though which is what we sort of started this point on Bridgestone
28:10
are reportedly putting together a tender for F1 tyres in 2025 so Pirelli is now having to work
28:16
to reorganise and structure a competitive plan for the sports tyres and for once is actually going
28:20
to have to fight to prove that it should remain as the tyre provider for the sport which is
28:26
interesting obviously we saw a lot of Michelin tyres being was it Michelin being run at Le Mans
28:30
mostly yes yeah because I think I vaguely recall seeing the Ben them there the Michelin man so
28:39
yeah it's interesting to see Bridgestone making a possible reappearance but of course
28:43
they will have some data they can pinch from Firestone their American counterparts
28:48
who make high-speed single-seater tyres for IndyCar so they might be better lined up for this than
28:55
people give them credit because they do did Formula Race switch over from Michelin to Bridgestone as
29:01
well just this year oh I can't remember what Formula R are running but it's not very good
29:07
tyres at the moment Formula E 2023 I know they've no longer got Michelin they run Hankook tyres
29:16
and that's it which mixed I've spoken to people from inside the FE world
29:28
people are not a fan of those tyres they do they do not provide the grip or the support that the
29:33
cars demand and bear in mind how heavy the FE cars are as well that's a lot of force to be put
29:38
through those tyres and they're just not capable of keeping up with it especially on the rough
29:41
street circuits that Formula E utilises so I wouldn't really want to see Hankook making a
29:46
bid for F1 stuff but Bridgestone I reckon could do a good job of it and equally bear in mind
29:51
Bridgestone were the reason why we had those problems at the 2005 US Grand Prix where we saw
29:56
six cars line up because Bridgestone knew what the IndyCircuit was like because they used the
30:02
Firestone later because it's their sister company that was how Ferrari was one of the like three
30:06
teams that pulled up onto the grid everyone else went nah we haven't got tyres for it mate
30:12
I think yeah it'll be interesting to see what F1 really do with this because I'll do half the
30:17
reason we only have Pirelli is because no one else wanted to do it really and
30:24
when we had two tyre manufacturers it didn't really work the last time an F1 did it because
30:30
a manufacturer would make the tyre more suitable for one specific team aka Ferrari and the rest of
30:36
them had to fit around it so is it going to be up to like the discretion of the teams who they
30:44
choose and kind of what's the consequences of that do you know do the teams pay for the tyres out of
30:50
the cross-clatt? Yeah they pay for the tyres yeah. So could it be a case of who offers the cheapest tyres?
30:57
Yeah F1 say well let's you know Pirelli and Bridgestone battle it out let the teams pick
31:08
the teams are going to go well let's have maybe let's have the cheapest tyre.
31:13
So that's the cost for extra parts development through the year and so on.
31:18
I was trying to think whether we don't have any single seater racing do we that uses two
31:25
tyre manufacturers at the same time it's all very much been you have one?
31:33
Off the top of my head I don't think there is one yeah I think it's all sort of single make tyres
31:38
that sort of appear in these classes and again it's because there's no easy way of solving the
31:43
problem of well how do you have to do it. If you do know of a racing series that has two or more
31:50
tyre providers get in touch with us social media is all in the link for the insta podcast and the
31:56
youtube channel. Let us know on the socials which racing series has more than one tyre provider.
32:03
Be interesting to know and equally see how they manage to sort of balance out who has what for it.
32:09
I guess as well if I mean if it has to be that only we only have one tyre manufacturer and
32:16
F1 stick to Pirelli at least Bridgestone could kind of be like well Formula Re we can make a
32:24
Formula One tyre how about you know you look at us if the if Mangook's not being the greatest of
32:33
tyre manufacturers then I mean it is completely sort of it's very different Formula Re don't have
32:40
pit stops to change their tyres or anything like that sort of almost these all weather.
32:47
It's a cut tread tyre as well I believe Formula Re yeah it's very different but we'll have to see
32:53
what happens with that one. It's very much an unknown unlike the next piece of news which
32:58
some of you have been counting for sort of feels like a year now. Kyle Army won't be replacing
33:05
Spar just yet. South African Russian links have seen the sport turn away from the African nation
33:13
circuit and the possible return of Formula One to the continent after the last racing there in 1993
33:18
has been sort of thrown away really. Formula One doesn't like the look of South Africa having links
33:25
and ties with Russia which is very much a sort of persona non grata at this point in time.
33:30
So we've got yeah we won't be appearing at Kyle Army for a little while so Spar remains which is
33:35
great I like Spar ultimately at the end of the day I really like Spar as a circuit it is a fantastic
33:42
ribbon of tarmac and provides some beautiful racing action. I would have liked to have seen
33:48
Kyle Army made a return I still don't think I could justify it being at the expense of Spar.
33:52
Yeah I absolutely love Spar it's my dream to go and watch a race at Spar and but I also think
34:03
I know we've raced in South Africa in the past but if South Africa isn't an option I don't think
34:08
that everyone should go oh well let's just stop looking at races in Africa then if we can't have
34:13
South Africa you know okay it takes a while to build an FIA status and then you know you know
34:21
FIA status track or but I definitely think we can look elsewhere you know even someone like
34:28
somewhere like Senegal for instance okay hosted Extreme E that's incredibly different I think
34:34
they use sort of the beaches but they also hosted the latest Africa Cup of Nations so they can host
34:42
big events they've got the pedigree to do it so just let's look elsewhere. Yeah Africa despite
34:50
what many Americans think is not one big country it is a continent comprised of about like 30 other
34:57
countries possibly not that many haven't done geography in a while but yeah there was a lot
35:02
of other nations there that are financially stable enough I would like to think that could
35:07
get away with hosting a Formula One event or would possibly benefit from hosting a decent Formula One
35:12
event so it'd be interesting to see if there's continued interest in an African Grand Prix to
35:18
use such a phrase and where it would lead us although I won't leave that as my big question
35:24
my big question for you early May is we've now seen all three elements of motorsports Triple Crown
35:30
if you could enter one of them which would you enter you're given a decent enough car a chance
35:36
of winning you're obviously a decent enough driver theoretically to do it which one are you
35:40
entering which one do you want to be stood on the podium for and celebrating? Come on. That's what I
35:46
was thinking earlier today I was like yeah Monaco is great I'd like to do it for the pomp and
35:50
ceremony but having watched the emotion from that Ferrari pit garage as car 51 comes across the line
36:00
I think that the hard work and effort that goes through pulling off a Willamor win would be the
36:06
one you want to experience. I loved Indycar this year the Indy 500 was superb it was a bit crazy
36:13
towards the end but the celebration for Joseph New Garden coming through the Thirsty 3 is
36:18
absolutely triumphant and then the milk on the podium I think is cool it's unique it's
36:23
it'd be great to experience but of that those three I think you don't have to be Lamor
36:30
it's just such a vibe. Yeah I think out of the more that's got to be the most rewarding
36:36
it's so difficult and you're going to be so tired at the end. But that's where the raw emotion comes
36:44
from you're so tired you can't mask it anymore you can't hide it anymore you're just so god damn
36:49
happy and yeah I would love to love to give that a shot and give it a go. Well there's two of us.
36:58
There's two of us. We'll find one of the girls from Valkyrie Racing I'm sure one of them wants
37:06
to give it a shot. Anyway let's do it you've got to get a driving license first let alone
37:14
Oh well let's just go win Le Mans. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it until then though
37:19
it's time to look ahead to the Canadian Grand Prix and crucially what weather we can expect.
37:24
Thursday is set to be peppered with showers throughout the day meaning any tech walks and
37:28
preliminary track investigations could be wet. Equally it's likely to reset the racing surface.
37:34
Friday is much the same but not likely to be as warm so wet patches are likely to linger for longer.
37:40
Try saying that one after four shandies. Saturday sees the temperatures climb high again to 25
37:45
degrees Celsius but no rain is forecast at the moment and Sunday isn't going to be as warm around
37:50
23 degrees Celsius but crucially it's looking dry. With warm conditions on the Saturday qualifying
37:55
could be competitive with a track that will rubber in a lot as the sessions pass so setting a good
38:01
bank lap and then a second push lap will be valuable. The cooler Sunday should alleviate
38:05
some worries about tyre degradation and open up a bit of diversity in the strategies that teams
38:11
employ. I can't remember the degradation on the circuit. Let me check the Pirelli notes.
38:15
It's relatively low as for abrasion they've got written down but it is high track evolution
38:22
so obviously if we see a lot of that evolution with a warm track on the Saturday qualifying
38:28
could vary hugely from the times we see drivers setting Q1 to those who get into the top 10 shootout
38:34
of Q3. So which on-track battles should we look out for? A comfortable third of the way into the
38:41
season or so the running order of a weekend would conventionally be easy to ascertain but the
38:46
significant upgrades brought by Mercedes and some tweaks from Ferrari have thrown some questions
38:51
onto the field just behind Red Bull. Red Bull are undoubtedly the fastest car of the season and
38:57
unless they've made a change to the car that's ruined Adrian's work they will certainly have a
39:01
step on the podium crossed off. Aston Martin will need a good qualifying to stand a chance of
39:06
battling a reinvigorated Mercedes though the actual pace of the W14 isn't yet clear after a
39:11
shaken up Spanish Grand Prix revealed little of its pace in comparison. Ferrari could also be in the
39:16
fight against Brackley and Silverstone but lack the in-corner pace of the bulls and can't quite
39:21
hang with them on the straights. Essentially picking the P2, P3, P4 teams will be a tricky one.
39:27
P5 is looking more and more likely to be Alpine. Two strong races with good points hauled from each
39:32
has opened their lead over McLaren and alleviated the pressure on their drivers,
39:36
allowing them to work more confidently and push the envelope a little more.
39:40
Hass, Alfa, Taury, Alfa and Romeo could all be linked in tight battle for the final point
39:45
though the high demands of circuit Gervilneuve could expose significant flaws in their cars.
39:50
If Jo has a good qualifying we could see him ahead of Sonoda and De Vries though the
39:54
former of the Fianza outfit could continue to challenge for a point as he has been so far this
39:59
season. Williams are a long way back in the development race, you really have to check out
40:03
their Bogos spec floor, it is one flush surface compared to the detail that's gone into the
40:08
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Williams will be lucky to achieve much this weekend where their
40:13
lack of pace and cornering ability will hamper any chance of running close to the pack. Don't
40:18
be surprised if we see Sargent down two laps on Max early on. Knowing that will rumble into our
40:24
predictions and we haven't bitten them off completely. We've still got Timo's predictions
40:28
written down in front of us and his pole position is Max Verstappen. Elime, you've gone for the same.
40:35
He's actually the same, unless it rained, although it did rain last year didn't it and he's still got
40:41
pole. Yeah, he had Alonso in P2. He did. Which is where I reckon that Alonso might be able to
40:48
inch it one step further this year and get that pole position. Could go either way I reckon,
40:56
it really depends on how good that qualifying is, but I reckon Alonso is cunning enough to be able
41:01
to make a changing track work in his favor. After how many laps the Grand Prix is, it is 70 laps
41:10
around so it's your go on F. What will the podium be? Timo is still sticking with his,
41:15
just simply copy the last race thing. Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell is his prediction.
41:20
Fairly likely, I think he's got high odds of this one paying off actually. Now we've got the two
41:23
Mercedes up there, but that's really putting a lot of hope on the W14 being good enough.
41:29
Elime, you've gone the same but different. Yes, I've gone for Verstappen win. Signs in second,
41:37
I don't know why. Perhaps it's the delusion of Ferrari winning at Le Mans or just,
41:45
I've been so tired today when I've made these predictions and I've been tired all day. Until
41:53
we started talking about Le Mans, especially the NASCAR and I started getting really excited and
41:57
now I'm awake. If you are tired, what we need to do is talk about a NASCAR at Le Mans and it gets
42:02
you excited. Signs in second, then Hamilton in third. That's an unlikely prediction and I think
42:11
it would be an interesting one to see certainly three different constructors up there. I've also
42:16
gone for the same thing, three different constructors, Verstappen winning. I've gone
42:20
for Alonso second place and Leclerc third. I reckon Leclerc after attending Le Mans will be
42:26
jazzed up by the idea that, yeah, maybe Ferrari can mean something on a race car and will really
42:33
get the car into a window that works and get something from it. I think that'll be an
42:37
interesting one to see. We've all gone very different though with fastest laps.
42:43
I've gone for Fernando Alonso, mainly because I just haven't put Aston Martin in my podium that
42:50
I thought could have been... If they're not podiuming, they'll probably be challenging
42:54
with the fastest lap with a last eight minute soft tyre pit stop. Interesting. Timo has taken
43:00
Carlos Sainz and said he might have the fastest lap and I've gone for Pierre Gasly. Yeah, I was
43:08
going to go for Pierre Gasly and then I saw that you'd put it in and thought... Be different. Yeah.
43:14
He's on a decent run and form at the moment. I reckon that he can extract the pace from the car
43:19
around Giro Vilna. I reckon he's got the balance that's needed to work those corners through
43:24
sector two and into sector three really nicely. Well, he got, at some point last week, he did get
43:33
fastest lap. It got taken off of him because it was mid-race, but he did get it because I did put
43:39
Pierre Gasly as my fastest lap last week and I was like, yeah, technically I was kind of right. It
43:45
just wasn't the one at the end. Yeah, that is very true. So we've obviously got our fastest laps,
43:52
but what about our wild predictions? Timo's gone for Alex Albon top eight Grand Prix finish,
43:59
which is interestingly worded and I'm sure it gives him scope somewhere in his mind to argue
44:04
that one when it does not play his way. Ellie, mate, you've gone for a very straight down the
44:10
line, Stroll top five. Well, is it because he's only got one top five finish? I mean, as the way
44:20
of writing it, it's quite clear cut. Whether or not it's going to happen is clear cut is yet to
44:25
be decided. Yeah, because I thought, is that too safe? Because I thought, you know, I usually like
44:30
to kind of do some sort of theme to if it's a driver's home race and I haven't got Stroll
44:35
anywhere else. And I thought I'll put him in a top five. And then I sort of looked at
44:42
looked at where he's finished this season. And yeah, he's only got the one top four,
44:47
which was sort of Australia. And obviously that was a, that was a crazy race. Yeah. And I thought if
44:53
Mercedes are up there as well, it makes it harder for that top five. So I can see it being a
45:00
challenge for him to get there. So I'll accept it. It's certainly wild. I've gone for Simona top
45:05
seven because he's been flirting around the bottom end of the points, but I can just see him
45:08
potentially having a good run here. They're just sort of catapults him up. Like there'll be
45:13
a pit strategy this season running P4 for a while and they'll lose places through a spread out field
45:17
to come home P7 or something. I reckon that's, that's something we could see from Sonoda. And
45:22
I'd love that to happen. I'd love it too. Yeah. Well, that pretty much brings us to the end of
45:31
this week's episode. That's all we've really got time for. All we've really got to cover. Our
45:35
congratulations of course, go to Joe Venazzi, Pierre Guidi and the other fella from Ferrari,
45:40
what's his name? James Kalado. Can't believe we've got it just under the wrap up. On the
45:46
Le Mans win in the Ferrari hypercar. And of course, we'll be back reviewing the Canadian Grand Prix
45:52
in about a week's time. It'll be about four days time by time. I've edited this and got it out.
45:56
So make sure you've liked, subscribed and got notifications turned on to not miss anything.
46:01
Timo can be found on Is It Fast? on the Curbs, the Nitro IX podcast, Paddock sorority and Instagram.
46:08
Ellie May, where can the people find you? You can find me doing the graphics for the Instagram page.
46:15
I'll also have out this week, the Canadian track guide. We've also got,
46:24
we've got a fresh TikTok out. We do have a fresh TikTok out and an Instagram
46:31
reel out of London Concours. Some photos of it as well. And if you have just watched Le Mans
46:41
for the first time, or you want to know a little more about the history, then I've collated some
46:45
of Le Mans most defining moments and put them on our Instagram page as well. So you can check them
46:50
out too. No mean feat considering that's 100 years of crazy racing action combined onto just 10
46:56
Instagram slides. It's quite neatly done if I do say so. Thank you. It was quite hard to do. There
47:02
are, there are lots that I've missed out that I would have loved to put in sort of, you know,
47:06
like Johnny Herbert, not making it to the podium because he's passed out coming out the car and,
47:13
you know, Hulkenberg and Le Mans, Hulkenberg and Alonso winning at Le Mans as well. I've missed
47:19
out, but you can't have it all. You simply cannot. But there we go. There's plenty of that to read
47:25
up on. And I can be found on Instagram and Twitter as at Jessie on Cars. And you can find me writing
47:31
weekly for Classic Car Weekly. The latest issue is out and it's our sports car special edition
47:37
with my write up from when I went to Classic rallying and crucially won. So worth picking
47:42
up and giving that a read ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, which is all this weekend until we're
47:47
back to review it. Have a fantastic time and we'll see you shortly.