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Has McLaren revealed a vulnerability? Japanese GP Review · Pit Talk

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shaddon's.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: On today's episode, Max Mustafan makes it three different winners
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: from three Grand Prix with a masterclass at Suzuka, and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: we look forward to this weekend's bah Rain Grand Prix.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: My name is Michael Lomonado. It's great to have your
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: company and the company of my co host. He's never
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: felt the need to appease the whims or views of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: jacques Ville Nerve. It's Matt Clayton.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: There's so many ways I could go after that intro, Michael,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I think I'll just say thank you for the intro,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: and look, we're a couple of days behind. Keen listeners
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: will know that we're a little bit behind schedule here
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: this week. I wondered if you'd taken a couple of
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: days to count on two hands and maybe one foot
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the number of overtakes that we had at Suzuka on
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: the weekend. You were counting one for every four hours
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: since the race finished on Sunday, because there were a
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: lot of them. But you are slightly under the weather.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: So if there's a little bit of me talking this
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: week and a little less of you, bad news for
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: the listeners, but probably good news for your voice.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, probably bad news for the listeners having to listen
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to this voice to begin with. So we have made
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: it here. I did does triple counting the number of
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: overtime I mean, in fact, probably had to triple count
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: seven times over, I think to fill the time with counting,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: considering how few we ended up getting fifteen for those
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: counting at home. But fear not, because Matt later on
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: we'll be doing a Move of the week nonetheless, so
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: you can look forward to probably us naming all of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: them between us that segment. But let's look at that
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Japanese Grand Prix, round three of the series and the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: first of the triple header that we're in the thick
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: of right now, and it wasn't one of the McLaren's winning,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: which I think probably if you rewind to our race preview,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I can only imagine we would have said, well, of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: course they're going to win. It's a McLaren track, high
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: speed circuit. They're in the they are the form team.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And obviously both Lando Norris and Oscopiastri individually in great
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: form and they were and McLaren was, but not winners.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: It was Max Forstaffen for the fourth time in a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: row at Suzuka, and it gets Red Bull Racing on
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the board. This is sort of my overwhelming feeling afterwards,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: is that it came way earlier than I would have
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: thought for Red Bull Racing win. No, it is Max
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: with staff and of course that we're talking about, how
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: significant to your mind is it that Red Bull Racing
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: has been able to get on the board at this
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: point in the season, And what do you think it means,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: if anything, going forward for the next month or so.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: It's funny, isn't it. We keep using the term papering
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: over the cracks with Verstapan and I think what the
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: weekend in Japan taught us is that he's the best
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: champion on the current grid. He also might be the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: best underdog as well, because I don't feel like this
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: was a race that anybody else in an adjacent car
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: and I use adjacent in air quotes because it's not
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: really adjacent to the McLaren. This felt like a Grand
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Prix weekend that only he could have come up with,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: given what it is that he's driving. And to my mind,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the absolute moment of the F one season so far
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: was that qualifying lap in Q three on Saturday, the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: sort of lap that only a driver like Verstappan could do,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and he very rarely lets his guard down to the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: degree when he was a younger driver these days, he
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: was utterly stunned and so excited about how good that
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: lap was. And I'm sure you did this as well.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You go back and watch the onboard. It is as
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: close to flawless as you could possibly imagine. And how
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: he attacked the final chicine. I can't think you could
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: have pushed that point one of a percent harder and
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: actually managed to get the cas stick through that chicaine.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: It was absolutely mesmerizing. And we know how significant it
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: was apsychologically because they'd taken it to McLaren and beaten
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: them at a McLaren track. But we know how races
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: at Suzuka play out. We've seen plenty of these over
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the years, and there are a number of factors that
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: made this race even more of a Suzuka race that
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: it normally was. But he had the high ground and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: from there on it felt like it was his to lose.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: And the one thing we know about maxis Stapanie. He
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: doesn't often squander good results from a position of advantage.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: He's got you in the choke hold at this point
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: and he just had to execute that first lap or
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: two on Sunday to more or less had it have
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: it done. But I was so impressed with what he did.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: He the difference in a car that look, it's getting better,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: but poundpha Pount, it's still not a McLaren. I don't
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: even know if it's a Ferrari or a Mercedes. Quite frankly,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: it has its high points, but he is so massively
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: papering over the cracks. But one thing I did enjoy it.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I knew this would raise a smile from you, is
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed Christian Horner after the race saying this is
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: even good on the Christian Horner scale of ambiguity. The
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: basically saying that Redbell were in an advantageous position because well,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: McLaren had two drivers and they had to decide what
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: they wanted to do against Max. And I'm like, hang
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: on a set here, you're trying to take credit for
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: the fact that you've got a two team program that
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: can't produce two drivers a loan for you're going to
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: take a victory lap because you're one absolute a list
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: and managed to win the Grand Prix. So you know,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: talk about making the most of a situation. But Max
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: was absolutely outstanding. And the narrative that you read across
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the weekend was was this a Grand Prix McClaren lost.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: I don't buy that at all. This was a Grand
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Prix that red Ball and more specifically Max Verstappen took
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: from McLaren by ninety seconds of genius on Saturday and
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: then converting it on Sunday, and it felt like only
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: a race that he could have won.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I loved that line from Christian Horner. I'm not sure
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I loved it ironically or not, but I think I'm
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: only very tightly paraphrasing. I think it's the phrase he
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: used was McLaren's made it, but its bed, and now
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: it must lie in the bed of having two competitive drivers.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Imagine I thought that what's remarkable. It's like it's been
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: so long that he's forgotten and it must be it
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: must be the goal of F one to have only
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: one driver because McClaren's might got to it's a stay to.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Be fair, to be fair to Christian here, like he's
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: getting on in age a little bit it has been
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: seven years since they had two capable drivers in their team,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: so it's been a little while. A lot's happened, So
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: we'll forgive him that for one weekend at least.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I thought that was great. But I think you're absolutely right,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And so it's a word that's very rarely not hyperbole,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: but perfection is really what this weekend was. For years,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I can't think of a single mistake he made at
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: any point, like you said, that qualifying lap for anyone
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: who went to watch it on board, and we're expecting
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: it to look really larry like it was stepping out
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: in the way that we've described that Red Bull Racing
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: cast off in this season. It was remarkable because it
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: was exactly the opposite. It was a lap that was
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: like it was perfect that like you say, there was
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: no corner, particularly not that chicquet that that final she
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: came where he made up so much time and which
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: there was any more time on the table. It was
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the perfect lap. And contrasted to talk about McLaren's element
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: here with small, like really small but decisive in the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: end mistakes from both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri And
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: for me, this is the third race in a row
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: in which we've seen qualifying mistakes from either the drivers
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: or the team, whether it's qualifying in Australia where they
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: both lost their first Q three laps, the sprint qualifying
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: strategy that ultimately meant Lewis Hamilton was able to take
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: pole and win the sprint there or again here where
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Max Mustaffen was allowed to be able to take pole.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: It was only forty four hundredths of a second across
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the top three, but that's the only margin Max with
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: staff and needed to nose ahead and then ultimately win
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: this race. And it even extends then to the Grand
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Prix because well there was perhaps at best and extremely
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: narrow path for McLaren to win this. Then even in
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the race they found themselves responding strategically right like George
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Russell's early pit stop meant that they couldn't undercut Max.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Even if that would have worked, it was unlikely to,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: but it just meant that they had nothing to respond
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: to the staff and with and in the end were
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: just forced to kind of follow him home very closely,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: which only underlined the fact that that car was quicker.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: But there was just no way to prevent Max with
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: staff and from winning this. So I guess to ask
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the McLaren question here, how much will this one sting?
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Because I'm kind of struck by the fact there are
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: really two attitudes of McLaren. On the one hand, listening
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: to Andrea Stella on Sunday night, it seemed very relaxed
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: about it, I think because, and they say it quite openly,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: they know they've got the faster calf and now they
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: know they can win back these points. From the other hand,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: no one would have expected Max winning this weekend. This
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: weekend either. George Russell I think didn't show his full
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: hand to you look quick at points this week end.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Ferrari I think's got it in there somewhere. The fact
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: they were able to perform briefly in China suggests, you know, okay,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: might take a while that they've got it. Do you
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: think this is at risk of stinging or is that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: just too ready, too much into a really good MAX performance.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you can. The pain of losing a
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: race weekend like this is when there's twenty four of them,
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: you can afford to have one or two like this.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: And you know you mentioned in your intro this is
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: the fourth year in a row that verstappens one at Zuzuka.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: This is a Max track. There are so many characteristics
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: about this strace track, and even the resurfacing for this year,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: which I'm sure we'll get into at some point, that
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: made it possible. Where are other tracks. No matter how
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: good Max might be, or how close to as good
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: as that Red Bull car could be, you're not going
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: to have that window to operate in because there might
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: be more overtaking possibilities or greater strategical variants or other
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: factors that weren't on the table at Suzuka. So it
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: was a narrow band for everybody to work within, and
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Max extracted that more so I think, you know, over
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: a full balance of season and circuits and with the
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: car advantage McLaren seem to have that can temper some
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: of the pain from losing this one. But the thing
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: with Max is he's a point behind in the driver's
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: stat is it's not even something that we're necessarily taking
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: super seriously after three rounds because there's twenty one of
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: them to go. But also it just feels that McLaren
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: has more ceiling, more headroom here across a wider range
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: of tracks and so yeah, there will be some tracks.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: We know how good Max is in certain situations, and
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: there are going to be weekends where, despite the car disadvantage,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: you have to look at him as being at least
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: the equal of the McLaren's, or perhaps even more favored
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: than the McLaren's. But they are more the outlier than
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: the norm, so you can afford to be reasonably relaxed.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: I don't think you know. You mentioned the little mistakes
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: that both McLaren drivers made in qualifying that's been a
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: thieve of this early part of the season. It stands
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: to reason that those mistakes will start to become less
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: frequent as the season goes on. And if it comes
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: down to can Max overcome such a significant car advantage
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: in order to actually make a difference or is he
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: just going to be that other guy who's always on
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: the podium. But going back to something that I said before,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: he's had it so and I hate to use the
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: word easy, because twenty twenty three just they just romped
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: through twenty twenty three and the first half of twenty four.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: You look at what he's done in the second half
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: of twenty four. In the start of this year, a
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: staff and he's not had the best car for the
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: back end of twenty four, but really controlled that championship
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and had that one amazing race in Brazil where it's like, well,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: this is why I'm going to be the four time
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: world champion. That was the clincher, but he held everyone
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: at arm's length, and the way he started this season,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I'm actually enjoying him being the underdog and having to
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: really fight his corner. I think that allows the more
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: casual fan to have maybe more of an appreciation for
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: what it is that he's doing and how good he
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: is in the historical context of the sport.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I think so. I think there was a ugliness, might
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: be a little bit of an exaggeration, but when he
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: could feel that advantage slipping away last year, when the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: trips he was using was suddenly less effective, he saw
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: some of those almost old fashioned Verstafens elbows too far out,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: you know. I think if some of the clashes he
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: had with Lando Norris been really quite indicative of a
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: driver who knew he just didn't have the car underneath
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: him anymore and really need to push the limits starting
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: behind the eight ball, I think has brought out, like
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you say, this very controlled element to Verstafan's approach, where
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: he's really just he knows there's a limit on what
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: he can do, and he's going to get to that limit,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and he's going to get that fourth place in China
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: because that's the maximum. Maybe fifth was actually the maximum,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: who knows, but you know, he's just getting that absolute
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: maximum out of the car. And I think that's going
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: to be interesting to see how it plays out later
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: in the year, particularly because Red Bull Racing thinks that
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: once the front wing rule changes changed after round nine
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the Spanish gran free remember the Spanish cran Frie was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: around three back in the day, then the game might
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: change in Red Bull's favor. So it's just hanging on now.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: But if I was Red Bull Racing, I'd be going
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and paying every tracks to resurface between now and the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: end of the Sea. Certainly played a significant role in
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: McLaren not having the advantage it expected. Tywee was way lower,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and it does seem like based on Suzuka, which is
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: obviously only one particular type of circuit, but the McLaren's
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: race advantage really does lean close to exclusively at least
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: in reference dreadball racing on that tire. Where because in
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the race, okay, it was clearly the faster carve Andrea
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Stella was sort of talking about tenth of a second
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: at most, and Max is able to make the difference
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: there and pudge that gap. So I think there's something
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: interesting and that then you sort of think you can
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: do this sort of mentally, I suppose. I think all
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the tracks that are coming up over the course of
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the season with degradation is pretty low. Most street tracks,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: degradation is pretty low. Some it's nonexistent. Suddenly you studdenly
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: pencil some of these in, regardless of whether or not
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: rule changes bring RedBull back into it or whatever. I
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: was thinking, well, actually, you know, those fears of George
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Russell trying to say well, they're just going to win
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: every race seemed pretty far wider than mark.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I've got a question for you, which will give you
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: a chance to rest your voice for the next thirty
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: seconds while I ask it. But you mentioned before about
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: the Piastre stop. You know, everyone was going to make
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: one stop because of the low tie wear, and there
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: was a story really that you know Piastre pitted when
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: he did to cover off George Russell after Russell had
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: gone earlier. I now, whether I'm looking at the wrong
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: data or whether I'm just misinterpreting it or not. I
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: felt that that was less of a threat from Russell
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: behind than was being made out, and you extrapolate that through.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: McLaren really needed to pit Norris on the lap that
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: they pitted Piastre to give them some sort of tool
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: to fight within this fight with Verstappam. Because if you're
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Red Bull racing, you're looking at Piastre pitting first, we
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: know it's a one stop strategy. The logical assumption from
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: there is like, well, they're just going to pit Lando
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: the next lap, surely, and then because Versappen was ahead
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: of Norris on the road, they could pit at the
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: same time. So in a race where there were very
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: few strategical cards to play, McLaren were committed to doing
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: this stop with Norris aft. Because they pitted Piastre first,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Red Bull could just cover them off and that was
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: pretty much game over. From there, it relied on Max
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: making a mistake to allow Norris back through. But from
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: your vantage point in the press room and from everyone
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: that was there, was there a bit of a surprise
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: that they were so worried about Russell behind Piastre and
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: not really looking forward with Norris.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was super cautious, and I think this sort
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: of defines McLaren's entire approach to this Grand Prix, being
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: really defensive having it seems really like they decided Andrea
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Stale got close to sort of saying as much that
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: by the time the race started they couldn't get ahead
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: of Max at the start, then that the maximum they
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: were probably going to get was second and third because
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of strategic option. He really spoke,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: He said more than once, I think of this idea
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: that if you fall behind a car through strategy, whether
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: because you're undercut or because you stay out and there's
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: a safety car, because he addressed even the idea that, well,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: why didn't Lando just stay out longer to build an
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: offset and that might have damaged it strategically or whatever,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: that you just wouldn't get it back because no car
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: had a significant enough pace advantage all things being equal,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to overtake at this track, because overtaking is so hard,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and so he was saying, well, if they'd fallen behind
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: George Russell, even though I think it was around four
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: seconds when Russell pitted, and I think it was still
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: around four seconds when Oscar petered to cover him. Plus
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: there were three cars between them once he pitted, and
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Oscar briefly fell behind Oliver Beerman if memory serves correctly
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: as well, so if you flip them with Norris, you'd
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: say probably wouldn't have fallen behind Oliver Berman, and I
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: think it would have worked out, but it just seems
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: super cautious. I don't think he would have had they
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: would have had a problem pitting the other way around.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I also don't necessarily think that would have got Nora's
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: ahead of a stap and either considering that it was
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: just hard strategically to make any moves. But it just
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: think and I think to say it was defensive and
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: conservative is the correct identification because I think that's exactly
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: what they were doing. I don't know. I don't know
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: that it was I don't know that it is baked
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: into the way they're going to approach this season. We've
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: asked questions about their overall season approach so far this year,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and obviously it'll take more races to know what's a
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: season based assumption or what is a race by race approach,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: but that was definitely what was happening this weekend. It'll
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: be interesting to see because the other question, I guess
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: to answer your question with another question something I was
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: thinking about in the media center afterwards. If the positions
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: were reversed and this were Red Bull Racing, but in
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: this hypothetical there has to be a second competitive Red
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Bull Racing.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Cars, Well, that's it. That's the end of the question
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: from the stuff.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't imagine, but if positions were reversed, I
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: think if you were Red Bull Racing, even if you
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: were Mercedes in its title winning era, you choose the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: more aggressive option, even if the odds are not that high.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I don't think either of those teams would settle for
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: second and third knowing that well, you know, they'll probably
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: win more races later and then it'll be fine, agreed.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I just think that. I think it does say something
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: about the way McLaren's going to go about this year.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: It's talked a lot about it's going to win the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Contructors Championship first. Confident can do that, then worry about
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: drivers later. It's very methodical. But part of me wonders
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: is that if it's going to end up being too
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: methodical when push comes to shove and decisions like these, and.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: It may not matter in terms of the Constructors Championship.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: It probably won't, to be honest, but you know, we
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: have to remember that. You know, yes, last year they
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: won the Constructors Championship. It wasn't something that they had
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: the entire year and defended because the first half of
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: the season, I mean, their season really came alive after
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Miami last year, and they slowly built and built and
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: built and then got to a position of advantage. But
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: it was never significant enough that they could relax on that.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: And that's one of those things that they haven't competed
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: from this position of pace and competitive advantage for a
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: long long time. You know, a lot of people in
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: this team have never done that. So maybe there's that
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: built in layer of conservatism where your example there is
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: a very good one, except for the bit when it
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: required Red Bull to have two competent drivers at the
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: front of the race, because if the situation was reversed,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I could absolutely see Red Bull rolling the dice to
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: try and put McLaren in a position to make a mistake. Now,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: nothing ventured, nothing gained, right, It might not work, but
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I can see Red Bull asking the question that McLaren didn't,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: and that, to my mind, is the difference between a
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: team that's done a lot of winning and is prepared
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: to back itself and a very processed, driven team that
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: is still coming to two with the fact that they
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: are now the hunted and not the hunter, and there
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: is a psychological difference between and two.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: All Right, Matt, I think we've put it off long enough.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: It's time for Move of the Week by Shannon's. No
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: reflection on Shannon's, of course, more on a reflection of
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the word move in this particular segment name. Japanese Grand
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Prix featured fifteen overtakes in total. None of them were
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: among the top six, and only one was among the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: top ten. It was that kind of Grand Prix matters
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: is not just because it's traditional, but also because I
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: think it makes life easy for me. Do you want
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: to go for your move of the week?
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Would you like me to count them down from fifteen
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: best to first? Probably? Do have the time, Let's not
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: do that. Very handy gadget on FOREX, the Great Formula one.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Stat's a data base that I went into because I
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: knew you were going to ask me this very question.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go for the only move on track
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: that changed a position within the top ten, which was
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: on lap six when Lewis Hamilton overtook Isaac Hadja to
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: go from eighth place to seventh and flip those two around,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: because every other driver in the top ten finished in
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the same position in which they started. So it's a
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: very very low bar, but Lewis Hamilton was able to
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: go over it or under it, depending on what you'd
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: like to do with bars. So Lewis Hamilton over Isaac
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Hadja on lap six is the best of a very
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: very shallow pool of overtakes for this week. Do you
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: have another option that's better?
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: I do have another option that's better. Is really up
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to you. Just for those playing at home, only four
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: drivers finished higher than they started with his entire Grand Prix.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: My option for move of the week is Red Bull Racing,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: moving Liam Lawson back to racing bulls and putting Uki
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Sonotia in the seas. I had to go for a
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: little bit of a lateral approach here. I don't know
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that it beats you by the strict interpretation of the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: rule to this segment and we will talk about this
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit later on in the show as well.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: We look forward to the Barrain Grand Prix. But despite
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: returning no points, not escaping that one, I think it
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: did pay immediate dividends for Red Bull Racing. Not only
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: was there a remarkable atmosphere around this at the Japanese
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Grand Prix, because this was a really big deal for
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the home fans. We have been wondering many of them
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: would have been assuming that Yuki had a pretty good
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: chance of being out of a driver, as I think
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: we talked about last year by the end of the year,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and has been unloved by the Red Bull program almost
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: since he was inducted into it. It seems so for
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: him to get this drive in a competitive car and
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to look competitive in it until making a mistake in
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Q two that left him knocked out of Q two
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and therefore unable to score points. As we've illustrated, I
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: think none of that negates the fact that he looked
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: like an immediate upgrade in that seat on Liam Lawson,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and if I were Red Bull Racing, I'd be looking
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: forward to seeing how he does from here, because I
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: think suddenly it feels a little bit more optimistic.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more. I think that's actually a really
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: good call. I'm going to follow this up with a
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: quick question, because you were on the ground and I wasn't.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Sonoda was announced as moving to Red Bull Racing a
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: little over a week for his home Grand Prix, and
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I know how the Japanese Grand Prix works, having done
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: a million of them over the years. I'm assuming that
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: every piece of poster and paraphernalia and promotional equipment was
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: hastily changed at the last minute and was probably absolutely
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: perfectly executed by the organizers. I'll be shocked if you
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: tell me that wasn't the case. But explained to those
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: of us only watched it on the TV what it
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: was like being there with Uki in that Red Bull
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: main team, because I'm sure it would have been absolutely fantastic.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was honestly. The first thing I noticed was
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: how he was in his Red Bull gear everywhere you went.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Train station. Yeah, at train stations like things not even
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: connected directly to the Grand Prix. Random promotional material had
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: him front and center in his Red Bull Racing overalls.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: When you consider that, it appeared to me the people
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: who run the F one TV Intro could only get
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a still image for him in the intro sequence. Go
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: back and have a look, not even a video sequence.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: A remarkable work from the organized and we're not just
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: talking small posters, we're talking the big grand stand size ones.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: They did a remarkable job, and it was reflective of
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the fact that it was such an enthusiastic atmosphere for Yuki,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: even having arrived in Tokyo. It's obviously quite farther the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: race circuit from any major city people who know about
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Formula One, and most people there have an awareness of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the Grand Prix. Regardless when not they're fans, the first
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: thing they'll say is, well, Yuki Sonoda. They're all very
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: excited about Yuki Sonoda, obviously more so the fact baps.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Some of them were maybe a bit more excited they
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: need to be, considering he'd set his dream target I
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: think was his phrase, as a podium, so that probably
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: got hopes up a little bit higher than they needed
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to be. But nonetheless, everyone was very excited to have
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: their home guy in a competitive drive. It's something that
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: surprised me every time I hear it that no Japanese
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: drivers ever won a Grand Prix and it does feel like,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, you'd have to beat Max with staff and
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: to do it obviously, but he could be the first. Now,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: now that's reading a lot into some good practice and
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: qualifying times, but he feels close enough from what we've
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: seen that that's not an unrealistic thing to think about, pending,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: of course, a few more Grand Prix. It doesn't feel
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: like we're sitting here talking about why it needs a
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: few months to really get up to speed.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: It feels like, no, no, there's not like there's fifteen
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: things that need to happen for it to be a possibility,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: like it's absolutely probable. But to take people behind the
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: curtain of what Suzuka is like, and this is one
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: of my highlights of going there every year. The race
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: happens because the sun sets very very quickly. As we
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: were discussing offline before we started recording today, the sunsets
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: there super super fast. So the race will happen. There'll
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: be the podium, and then all on the big screens
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: around the circuit they will replay the race for a
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: second time, and the main grand stand, which is massive,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: it takes up the entire start finished straight at Suzuka
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: basically nobody leaves and they sit and watch the race
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: again that they've just already watched before on the big screen.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: And then when the race finishes, everyone politely claps and
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: then leaves. It's one of my absolute favorite traditions of Suzuka.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: It could not happen anywhere else. That is what this
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: fan base is like. So I can only imagine how
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: super charged it was with Yuki and the big team.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: All right, let's move on now, map to this weekend's
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Bahrain Grand Prix. If you enjoyed the time zone of
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the Japanese Grand Prix, we'll hold that close to your
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: heart because those days are over a one am start
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: time on Monday mornings, So get excited for that. But
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: let's look at what we have to look forward to
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: with this Grand Prix because there is quite a lot.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: It's I actually think but and this is not just
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: because I think Australia belongs is Round one, but I
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: think this is the natural place for the Bahrain Grand
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Prix because if we're going to still have pre season
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: testing there, it gives everyone a little bit of a
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: run up to it. You know, everyone's discovered something about
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: their cars, They've all been back to Europe as well,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: since the n or back to their factories obviously after
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the Chinese Grand Prix before Japan, and have had time
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: to work on what they learned from pre season testing.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Now we returned to the circuit at which preseason testing
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: took place. There's a lot of data therefore banked up
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: with these specific cars, around about three days worth, depending
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: on how many technical problems you had, which means I
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: think we'll have after this race a much clearer look
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: at the form guide than we've really been able to
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: have it first three Grand Prix now they're all different circuits,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: of course, these when we get up to the first four,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: even the first five after Saudi Arabia, but this is
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the one I think will really give us a good
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: indication of who's actually really maybe more than just the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: form guy, but who's really understanding the car they've got.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Because we know roughly what happened in testing, no, roughly
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: what we've under the last three races, what happens this weekend,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I think we'll really give a simplarity.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I love the fact that
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: we've got this gap between preseason testing and then having
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: the Grand Prix on the same circuit a because it
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: gives us time to let things bed in a little bit.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: But there's also you look at the way these first
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: three rounds have played out this year. The race in
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Melbourne was affected by weather China, and round two is
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: a sprint weekend, so that's naturally going to be compromised anyway.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: And then Suzuka is just such a one of one
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: in terms of what we're talking about in terms of
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: track servicing and ability to pass and so on and
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: so forth. It does muddy the picture a little bit,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: but we've got time to see what's happened over these
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: three races. If you have a Grand Prix at the
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: same track ten days after preseason testing finishes, guess what
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: you're going to get a fairly predictable Grand Prix. So
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I like the fact that it's a little bit later
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: in the season. Who has managed to retain where they
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: were in pre season testing, who's made the jump? And
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: that goes with drivers too, because so much of this
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: year's grid is so unproven at Formula one level, you've
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: got this other variable where a quarter of the grid
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: have done their first three Grand Prix in these first
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: three weekends. So who's come on faster, who's learned, whose
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: rat of improvement is going up or down? And then
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: you add the whole Red Bull team swap thing going on.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Super interesting. I do like the fact I don't think
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: it's going to happen, but I would love to see
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: more seasons wherever we end up testing and it's increasingly
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: going to be barray in these days. Let's be honest,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: let's not have it as Round one. Australia needs to
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: be Round one. Everyone knows this, of course, But I
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: do like the fact that we've been able to get
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: the narrative of the season started, and so we're not
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: beginning the story at the same track where we've had testing,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: We're continuing it. And I think that's a super interesting
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: variable for one am on a Monday morning. I'll take
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: what interesting very much I can get.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: I think in that context as well, this is a
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: really big weekend for Ferrari because Ferrari is a team
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: that looked certainly more convincing in pre season testing than
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: it has done since it didn't look like it was
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: going to be a McLaren bead or necessarily even on
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: par with McLaren. That seemed to be general consensus after Bahrain,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: but we thought that it would be a much closer match,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and with the exception of that sprint qualifying and race
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: in China hasn't really been there. It's been a little
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: bit in no man's land in fact, somewhere bobbing between
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: third and fourth fastest kind of in competition with Mercedes,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: which weirdly felt like it's overperformed a little bit, despite
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the fact that doesn't really look that convincing either, except
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: when George Russell pulls out a really clean weekend like
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: it did in the first two rounds of the year.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: But Ferrari for me in particular, is a big one. Obviously,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: they've got the Lewis Hamilton storyline this year. Charlotte Clair
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: is the driver who seems like he's been getting most
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: out of it in the last couple of rounds with
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: some good performance of his own inclining with a missing
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: front wing in China. How big a weekend you think
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: this needs to be for the Italian team? It does
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: already feel like the way Fred vass is talking is
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that getting into that period where we've just got to
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: keep everyone's hopes up a little bit.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: I feel confused by Ferrari more than I feel, and
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: that's not I mean that could be a compliment because
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: they may have upside, But after three rounds, I feel
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: like I've got a reasonable handle on where teams are,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: whether they're at the sharp end or whether they're at
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: the back. I mean, I kind of know what Alpine
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: is at the moment. It's not great, but I know
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: what they are. I kind of feel that I know
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: what most of these other teams are, even with the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: driver swaps going between Red Bull and racing Balls. But
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Ferrari to me is it's kind of the shoulder shrug
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: emoji at the moment, like I'm not really sure what
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: they are. I'm not sure they know what they are
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: and how they are because like you talked about, I mean,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: they've had a sprint pole and a sprint win already
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: this season, and then you have other races where you know,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Lewis Hamilton is not really anywhere at Suzuka, and then
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: after the race there was this particularly vague interview in
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: the pen where it's like, well, there's some things that
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: aren't right and we need to change this one thing.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: But we found this thing, and there's lots of references
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: to things in inverted commerce, which is what you say
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: when you're not really quite sure why you are where
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: you are. So whether that's him just masking over some
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: of the issues that they have, or whether he's just
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: trying to be diplomatic, I don't know. But I'm just
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: confused by what they are because I suspect that their
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: upside is really quite high, but I've got no confidence
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: that they're going to get to it. And you know,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: you mentioned Fredversh, so he mentioned at Suzuka on Sunday
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: that this season could very well go down the path
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: of being a quality championship in that qualifying is going
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: to have outsize importance given the difficulty of dirty air
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: and passing as we've seen in these first three rounds.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: If they can't get Saturday right, there needs to be
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of randomness or curveball step apps change their
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: fate across a weekend. And so I'm just not one
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: hundred percent sure what they are at the moment. I
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: think they're capable of a lot better, but I need
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: proof of it. And you mentioned Leclair to me Hamilton
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: at this point of his career is probably going to
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: be spikier and that the performance Graft's going to have
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: quite high peaks and quite low valley's relative to La
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: Laclare's the guy who's just always there. But is that
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: always their fourth or fifth or is that always their
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: genuine podium chance on a weekend. I don't think we
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: can have any questions about what Charlotte Clare's ceiling is.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: We've seen it. He's a very, very very good Formula
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: One driver. I'm just not sure about the team operationally
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: and where that car is at at the moment. There's
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: just a lot of questions coming out of the first
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: three rounds. For me.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it seems like the problem really is
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: that they can't run the car anywhere near as low
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: as they'd thought. It sounds a lot like Mercedes probably yes,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: over the last few years, but then it makes you
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: one day, Okay, bar Rain is quite an old surface,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: but I guess because of the temperature of the climate
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: there whatever, it's still pretty smooth in a macro sense.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: It's like quite rough for the tires, and it's a
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: whole different story for this weekend. But maybe they'll find
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: they can run it and the way they did during testing,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: they'll look a bit more competitive and this might actually
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: end up being a good weekend for the Wino. Charlotte
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Claire does reasonably well around here, certainly better than McLaren
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: has historically. Yeah, that's something, but they do. I think
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: they really need more than they need a good result.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I'm necessarily how do you're saying, well, they really need
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: to win now for anything to happen this year. But
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I think they need to result that they can explain afterwards.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I think that's more of the because even if you
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: talk to them still about the Chinese Grand Prix, other
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: than Lewis Hamilton being ahead at the start, which obviously
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: was very important, they can't really tell you much more
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: about it than that. And I think that, for me
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: is almost the more concerning that McLaren dissected very well.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: You know why they weren't able to win this Grand Prix,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Max Vestaffan's Brilliants at Red Bull Racing sort of we
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: understand what happened this weekend with Ferrari. Every week it
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: seems like, well, to go back to where you started,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: a bit of a shoulder shrug. I don't know, see, well,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: whatever happened happened.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah it was good. It wasn't good it's not great,
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: not great podcast content, that's not great for a media debrief.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: So what was your weekend? So good for it? Oh
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: there's a bit of that going on at the moment,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll be interested. The fact that we are
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: going back to a track where we have relevant twenty
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: twenty five data to draw should mean that their starting
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: point is more set this weekend. And then it comes
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: down to execution. What can they do in the long
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: runs on Friday, assuming we get a normal weekend without
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: red flags every three minutes and things being on fire
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: outside the track they were at Suzuka breaking up all
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: the long runs, And then what can you do in qualifying?
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Because you know, yes, it's a circuit with bore passing
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: opportunities than Suzuka most circuits are, but this is also
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: a track where your grid position is pretty important. We
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: know they've got two really good drivers, one of whom
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: is still finding his way, one of whom is an
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: absolute elite performer. But I just some of the removing
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: some of the confusion would be a good outcome for
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: this weekend.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I think one other driver I want to see a
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: big weekend from this weekend is Jack doing not because
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I think I'm not buying into the narrative. Always really
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: got end to a lot of pressure. You's got to
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: show something. But I think it's just I think he's
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: just due for a more complete weekend. Certainly. I think
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Japan obviously was a real low point and he's big.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Crashing FP too really colored the rest of his weekend,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: But so was losing FP one time, obviously to the
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: one of the mandatory reserve cards Alpines had to play
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: this year. He's been quick throughout this season over one lap,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: hasn't he, But he just hasn't been able to put
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: it into a full race performance. To be fair, Neither
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Alpine drivers scored yet, and I think that I feel
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: like he's building up to it when now back at
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: tracks he knows a little bit more. Intimately, Bahrain's pretty
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: well worn, particularly even in the junior series as well.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I feel like, if it's going to happen, this weekend's
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: a good opportunity for him to really to put it
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: all together. You know, I have a regular Grand Prix weekend.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: As far as I know, there are no reserve drivers
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: lining up to take his seat in FP one this
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: weekend or any other session. I think that I'd like
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: to see him bounce back from that crash well this weekend.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Well, Alpine did stick a guy in the car for
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: FP one who subsequently left the team in the past
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: few days, just signed on as a reserve driver with half,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: so that was interesting. But look, it was to use
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: the Sky Sports analysis of his crash in at the
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: start of FP two on Friday, oh dear seemed to
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: be the way that was described on the commentary. And look,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: clearly it was a mistake by Jack and he was
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: lucky that he wasn't more physically damaged from that, although
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: he was compromised during the Grand Prix with that left hand.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: But you're right, he just needs a weekend of just
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: stacking decent performances one after the other, because I feel
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: that the others have all been slightly compromised to a degree.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: We mentioned the Sprit weekend in Shanghai. I don't know
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: about you, but look, they're the only team that hasn't
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: scored a point yet Alpine, so it's not like he's
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: being massively outperformed by ghastly at this point. But this
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: feels like Jack may not score a point in Bahrain.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: I don't know but this feels like a weekend where
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: he needs to be or just about made Q three,
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: like he's out by a tenth and a half or something,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: and then he's in the conversation for perhaps that sort
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: of ninth to twelfth in the race. It's a circuit.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: He's very familiar with this circuit. He's done reasonably well
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: in the past. You've been their preseason testing. A lot
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: of the usual rookie hurdles are out of the way
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: for him. This weekend he'll actually get too practice sessions.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: So you know, there's no such thing as make or break,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: and we know the stories of him being on a
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: short leash and so forth still bubbling away. But if
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: there was a chance for him to have a solid
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: weekend and perhaps still a point or two, this definitely
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: feels like it.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And in a similar
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: veay this being let's say a rookie friendly experience, not
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: only because the track's got lots of runoff all that
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: kind of thing, but then there's a preseason testing element
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: and this having been a regular feature in the junior series,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: I think fascinating question this weekend is going to be
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: the Yuki Sonoda Liam laws In comparison, it was all
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: of the build up to the Japanese Grand Prix. It
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: was non stop through qualifying. It did stop a bit
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: in the race because obviously not a lot happened in
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: the race. But now we get a much cleaner situation.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: It's not the first weekend back for both of them.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Yuki doesn't have his home race thing. Lem's not going
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: to be after are answering questions about being dropped, sort
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: of a more normal experience. Both of them obviously their
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: first experience of these cars at this track, so the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: preseason element doesn't count, but all the other things should
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: be good in their respective favors. I think a really
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: big weekend to see what both of them are capable of.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Yuki Sono weirdly almost think you Snoda might be under
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a little bit less pressure because I think think he
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: did prove a little bit in Japan. Liam Lawson relative
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: to Isaac Hadja is fascinating to me because Isaac's doing
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: such a good job no matter how tight his belts are.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: It turns out I think it's actually going to be
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: even more challenging than perhaps even I thought. Liam going
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: back to that team for him to put in a
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: relatively competitive good showing.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: I'm just sitting up a little more straight more seat
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: after thinking of that, Isaac Hadja qualifying. Oh no, let's
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: not go there. Yeah, I'd agree with you in that
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: I felt that there was some control and composure with
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Sonoda at Suzuka, given the stakes and the crowd and
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: the first time out with Red Bull and being at
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: home and so on and so forth. I don't think
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: he's been conservative, but their ramifications of getting it wrong
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: at Suzuka are pretty severe. As we know. Bahrain is
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: the complete opposite, of course, because you've got so many
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: of these corners where you can take a risk and
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: there's a shopping center car park on the outside where
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: you can just run off and rejoin again. So perhaps
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: we see him push things a little bit more this
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: weekend and that could have, you know, on extreme or
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: the other in terms of results. But he really needs
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: to be in Q two sorry Q three for mine
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: to you know, Suzuka was all the caveats that you
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: mentioned before. I think he needs to be a little
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: bit better, but the lawsome thing. I'm looking at this
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: more in the context of I'm not sure too many
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: of us thought that Isaac hajo would be this quick,
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: this quickly. He's been excellent so far, and look, we
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: know what happened at the start of the race in Australia,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: and you know Helmet Marko and so on and so forth.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: There's not don't need to go into that, but the
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: pace that he's shown over these first three weekends for
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: a guy who came through F two with a reputation
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: of being a bit spiky emotionally and perhaps a little
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: bit radic, he's been really, really, quite good. And so
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: I think every result that Lawson gets, obviously back in
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: a team that he's more familiar with, needs to be
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: looked at through the prism of what Hajar is doing.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Because to my mind, Hajar has been terrific and Lawson
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: we've seen that it's there because he's done it over
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: the course of his cameos in the past couple of seasons.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: But he needs to be back on that speed pretty quickly,
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: because the thing about that racing balls car, when you
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: watch it on track, it actually looks, you know, less
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: difficult to drive than some of the other cars that
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: we see that are being man handled or are just
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: playing slow. It looks like a pretty drivable sort of
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: a car, and I think Hajar's performance is in that
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: probably spelled that out. So yeah, I would expect Lawson
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of pressure off. You know, the conversations of
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: seven days ago was suddenly going to change, aren't they
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: this weekend because he's more settled, But big weekend for
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: probably more lawso than Sonoda, I would say, because I
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: think Yuki can comported himself pretty well at Suzuka laws
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: and we need to see a bit of an Upticknate
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: with relative to who he's driving within the other car.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: And at a minimum, there's no one really a replace
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: with but Laws and there are options, So there's always
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: more pressure racing balls, isn't there. You wouldn't think if
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: you think it'd be longer than two races.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: Well, Isaac haj said that he'd be ready to step
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: up to Red Bull if need, so you can always
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: be play that card by about round seven or something.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: We haven't had a time to change for a while.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: But after that then, yeah, the cup's pretty bare, isn't it.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: You wouldn't put it past anyone, would you. So maybe
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: that's a good point before we wrap this one up
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: and let's look at the complete home filtration crystal ball.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: What we've got to look forward to in the next week.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of action this week. In fact,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: all three of our categories F one, Motor GP and
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: supercars are in action. Kick us off, what are you
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: predicting for the next week of racing.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: I'm predicting that my double espresso consumption on Monday may
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: reach world record levels given we have a one am
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: Formula One race followed by a three am Motor GP race.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: Also can as an aside, why have two World championships
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty k's apart on the on the
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: map which I actually looked at and went their basically
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: could drive from one to the other almost inte both.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: But my crystal ball has been mostly broken so far
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: this year because my crystal ball keeps telling me Lewis
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Hamilton's going to be on a Grand Prix podium and
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: it doesn't happen. So I'm going to stay with the
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: podium theme and I'm going to say that Sunday in
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Bahrain is going to be Kimmi Andtonelli's first Formula One
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: and he's going to finish third.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Go for it. He was just predicting the wrong Lewis
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Hamilton car you're talking.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: About, Yes, yes, the successor not the incompany. Yes, yes,
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: I'm saying Kimmiy Antonelli is going to end up on
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: a Formula One podium sooner rather than later, and it
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: could be as soon as Monday morning Australian time.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Well, I would love to see it, and he did
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: have a good weekend in Suzuka in the end, despite
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: starting on the back foot, actually ended up doing really
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: quite well. And I think we're seeing pretty much every
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: round why Mercedes rates him so highly. I'm going to
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: go towards the back end of the points and I
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: am going to say in the points, to hark back
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: to something we were talking about earlier, I think this
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: is Jack Dowin's first points this weekend. I feel like
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: these are the circumstances for them. I feel like that
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: he's already proven that one lap speed is there and
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: I think in the circumstance of Bahrain he'll be able
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: to show it. Should have pretty clean build up to it,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: and then in the race. I mean the LPNE car
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: at some tracks just has the pace to do it
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: if they don't shoot themselves in the foot with strategy.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: I think he can get it done. I think it'll
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: be important weekend for him to do it. I think
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: it'll certainly go quite a long way to changing the narrative.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: It's still kind of lingers a little bit about these
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: rumors about his seat, and look, it'd just be a
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: good story, wouldn't it your rookies to score his first
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: points and from obviously to be Jack to And I
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: think that'd be a good outcome.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Completely agreed. And there will certainly be a lot of
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: people listening to this podcast who are nodding their head
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: because look, the more Australians in Formula one the better.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: And we know the journey that he's taken to get there,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: we know the pressure that he's been under. This would
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: go a long way to alleviate some of that. So
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: let's hope we get to see it.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: On that note, that's all the time we have for
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: pit Talk today. You can subscribe to pit Talk wherever
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave us
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: a rating and review as well. And this weekend, as
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: we said, is the bar Rain Grand Prix at one
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: am is all in Australian Eastern Standard time. The Kat
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: a Grand Prix at three am and all weekend we've
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: got supercars from New Zealand. That's actually more morning time,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: so you might just have to get up early and
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: then roll through go to better around three pm in
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the afternoon. That might be the best approach and you
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: can keep up to date with all of it all
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: the lates steff on Supercars and what a GP news
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: at Fox Sports dot com dot Au from Matt Clayton
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: and me Michael Lomonado. Thank you very much for your company.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next week.