Latest / Pit Talk / Dissecting Hamilton's struggles and the latest silly season rumours: Miami GP Preview

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Dissecting Hamilton's struggles and the latest silly season rumours: Miami GP Preview · Pit Talk

0:02
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:06
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Lewis Hamilton sees no reason for optimism
0:10
Speaker 1: all this season after his dire start to life as
0:13
Speaker 1: a Ferrari driver and silly. Season starts early with Christian
0:17
Speaker 1: Horner and George Russell reportedly exploring each other's availability for
0:22
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. My name is Michael Lomonado. It's great
0:25
Speaker 1: to have your company and the company of my co host.
0:28
Speaker 1: He knows the difference between Miami and Miami Gardens. It's
0:31
Speaker 1: Matt Clayton.
0:32
Speaker 2: Is there a difference, Michael, I guess this is the question.
0:34
Speaker 2: But race around your favorite stadium car park as I
0:38
Speaker 2: like to call it, the Miami Grand Prix. But yes,
0:40
Speaker 2: it's time for fake marinas and all sorts of other nonsense.
0:43
Speaker 2: But a six am race star on a Monday morning.
0:46
Speaker 2: For Australians, breakfast Formula one is an underrated thing.
0:50
Speaker 1: I would say I'm a big fan of the breakfast
0:52
Speaker 1: Grand Prix concept. You put your coffee on, you have
0:55
Speaker 1: your toast or breakfast or choice perhaps of porridge, something
0:57
Speaker 1: like that. With the Americans, maybe bacon and eggs if
0:59
Speaker 1: you American or pancakes.
1:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, a stack of about fourteen of them.
1:03
Speaker 1: Ye, that'll go down easy. You'll be good and sorted
1:07
Speaker 1: for the six am start to get excited about that.
1:09
Speaker 1: Not too bad at all. Certainly we've had worse. But
1:13
Speaker 1: let's look at the a little bit of a retrospective
1:16
Speaker 1: and prospective this weekend, because Lewis, Hamilton and Ferrari has
1:20
Speaker 1: certainly been one of the major talking points of the
1:23
Speaker 1: opening five Grand Prix of the season, at first for
1:26
Speaker 1: positive reasons, not only of course, because he's one of
1:28
Speaker 1: the biggest driving moves of a generation. But he did
1:30
Speaker 1: okay in Australia, and then of course one sensationally the
1:34
Speaker 1: sprint in China, just the second round of the season,
1:36
Speaker 1: and suddenly we all thought, well, here we go, it's
1:38
Speaker 1: all clicking into place. Since then, however, it's been a
1:41
Speaker 1: story of woe, culminating with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix,
1:44
Speaker 1: where he was effectively last in class, last among the
1:47
Speaker 1: front runners, had nothing of the pace of teammates char
1:50
Speaker 1: La Clair, who finished on a podium for the first
1:52
Speaker 1: time this season and ended the weekend by saying no
1:56
Speaker 1: reason to think anything will get better for him this Yeah,
2:00
Speaker 1: now Lewis Hamilton map is good. Of course, I always
2:03
Speaker 1: say he tends towards pessivism when things are not going
2:05
Speaker 1: his way. So perhaps we shouldn't read that absolutely literally.
2:09
Speaker 1: But there's been no doubt that this has been more
2:11
Speaker 1: down than up so far in twenty twenty five. What's
2:15
Speaker 1: a bird's eye view of how this has been going
2:17
Speaker 1: so far?
2:18
Speaker 2: It's funny, is it's the most British thing that Lewis
2:20
Speaker 2: Hamilton does these days. I always think if you ask
2:22
Speaker 2: a British person how they are, they say not bad
2:24
Speaker 2: when they mean good. They always ask, they always answer
2:27
Speaker 2: with their negative when they trying to be positive. But
2:29
Speaker 2: I would like to point our listeners towards an excellent
2:32
Speaker 2: story with the title f on that lessons Learned so
2:35
Speaker 2: Far on Fox Sports dot com dot A You've written
2:37
Speaker 2: by a black called Michael Lamonato. The first word of
2:39
Speaker 2: the Lewis Hamilton section is grim and it's a bit
2:42
Speaker 2: of a favorite word for you and I discussing many things,
2:45
Speaker 2: not just Lewis Hamilton. But it's so interesting, isn't it.
2:48
Speaker 2: How Look, we know the glass tends to skew more
2:52
Speaker 2: towards more. It's being half empty when Lewis is in
2:54
Speaker 2: these situations. I mean, it happened at McLaren we're talking,
2:56
Speaker 2: you know, a decade and a half ago. Now it
2:58
Speaker 2: happened a very very long time ago. But it's interesting
3:01
Speaker 2: how you know it's China was round two, won the
3:05
Speaker 2: first sprint. Everything's happy days now we know. He was
3:08
Speaker 2: disqualified from the Grand Prix the next day, as was
3:11
Speaker 2: Charlote Cliff for completely different reasons, one of one of
3:14
Speaker 2: the Ferrari Bingo car for if I'm playing at home.
3:16
Speaker 2: But since then it's just been not only has it
3:20
Speaker 2: been poor, there's a degree of it being comparatively helpless
3:25
Speaker 2: and hopeless. At the same time, there doesn't seem to
3:27
Speaker 2: be an answer. He's lost France's the team is trying
3:31
Speaker 2: very very hard to say the r. I think you're
3:33
Speaker 2: probably thinking they're wondering what's actually happening here, And I
3:37
Speaker 2: think it's probably a conflation of two things that yes,
3:41
Speaker 2: there's a bit of old dog nutrix going on here,
3:44
Speaker 2: because obviously Lewis is in his forties and it's I
3:46
Speaker 2: think it's much harder for a driver to make a
3:49
Speaker 2: big move and perhaps change the way they operate driving
3:51
Speaker 2: style and what have you the older they get into
3:54
Speaker 2: their career. Filed under Riccardo Comment, Daniel, We've discussed this
3:57
Speaker 2: story at infinitum, but I think there's two things happening here.
4:00
Speaker 2: It's a problematic car that he's finding it very hard
4:03
Speaker 2: to get his head around. I also think it probably
4:05
Speaker 2: under sells a little bit just what Charlotte Clair is
4:07
Speaker 2: doing because I don't think that that car is particularly good.
4:09
Speaker 2: I think Leclare is doing pretty amazing things in a
4:13
Speaker 2: car that's not particularly good. But I don't know from
4:15
Speaker 2: your perspective, But the Hamilton thing, it's all gone very
4:18
Speaker 2: very south, very very quickly. And from your perspective, is
4:22
Speaker 2: that a dose of reality for him? Or is he
4:26
Speaker 2: trying to perhaps temper expectations for the rest of the
4:28
Speaker 2: season if they can't find a way out of this.
4:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's definitely a degree of the latter.
4:33
Speaker 1: I think, like we were already saying, that tends to
4:35
Speaker 1: be Hamilton's way, even when he seems like he's on
4:38
Speaker 1: the cusp of some decent results or has had some
4:40
Speaker 1: okay weekends, He just does tend towards even personal expectation
4:44
Speaker 1: management or the psychology of Hamilton, something that is maybe
4:47
Speaker 1: a little bit lesser explored, just because he's had so
4:50
Speaker 1: much success in the last decade. It's not really something
4:52
Speaker 1: you have to think too much about. But I don't.
4:55
Speaker 1: I've always had the sense he doesn't mind being in
4:57
Speaker 1: a corner a little bit, you know. I think back
4:58
Speaker 1: to the end of his title losing season in twenty sixteen,
5:02
Speaker 1: where you had to feel like even the team was
5:04
Speaker 1: against him. At one point suggested that maybe he was
5:06
Speaker 1: getting unequal machinery. Did that actually a little bit of
5:08
Speaker 1: Mercedes last year as well, when he was on the
5:10
Speaker 1: receiving end of a pretty decent qualifying beating from George Russell,
5:14
Speaker 1: And then sometimes that makes him lift. So I think
5:15
Speaker 1: there's a degree of that. I think it's also making
5:18
Speaker 1: us assess and there is a there is I guess
5:20
Speaker 1: a little bit of a Daniel Ricardo parallel here that
5:24
Speaker 1: these ground effect rules haven't suited everyone. And the further
5:27
Speaker 1: along the line we've got in this regulatory era, and
5:30
Speaker 1: every team's talked about how it's so hard to add
5:33
Speaker 1: performance to these cars without making them harder to drive.
5:36
Speaker 1: The further along we've got, the harder they are to drive,
5:38
Speaker 1: the more difficult it must be to switch teams. We've
5:41
Speaker 1: seen other drivers struggle, admittedly not to this extent. Your
5:43
Speaker 1: Carlos Signs did take quite a few races to get there.
5:46
Speaker 1: I say quite a few. He still got there by
5:47
Speaker 1: the end of the five race run, but clearly was difficult.
5:51
Speaker 1: And then there is that element, and you sort of
5:52
Speaker 1: mentioned old dog new tricks. There's definitely a learning curve
5:56
Speaker 1: and that speaks to some of that. But the question
5:58
Speaker 1: that we can't answer yet, and I think we probably
6:01
Speaker 1: won't be able to say definitively until next year because
6:04
Speaker 1: if we assume the ground effect rules are part of it, well,
6:06
Speaker 1: they're not changing this year. I think that's part of
6:08
Speaker 1: the pessimism. But is it just that he's left it
6:11
Speaker 1: too late in his career to learn not an entirely
6:13
Speaker 1: new team, but a new car concept, a new way
6:16
Speaker 1: of working. You talk quite a lot in Melbourne, didn't
6:18
Speaker 1: it the season opening Australian Grand Prix, about how him
6:20
Speaker 1: and the telemetry is upside down at Ferrari compared to
6:23
Speaker 1: the way it is at the same It's just one
6:25
Speaker 1: example of the different way of working. So all of
6:28
Speaker 1: those things that are combining to what's being a pretty
6:31
Speaker 1: ordinary result. I think it's qualifying for me though, that
6:33
Speaker 1: it really sums up the difficulty because and this is
6:35
Speaker 1: going to be one of the interesting battles, wasn't it.
6:37
Speaker 1: Arguably the quickest driver informing on today, char Leclair has
6:40
Speaker 1: so many more poles than he does wins and they're
6:42
Speaker 1: not all his faults. That's Ferrari's fault, and I think
6:44
Speaker 1: that actually underlines how quick Ye is. Rather than the
6:46
Speaker 1: opposite up against the most prolific pole getter of all time,
6:50
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton, the guys, he's got more poles than anyone else.
6:53
Speaker 1: The qualifying difference between them on average this season is
6:55
Speaker 1: just under three tenths of a second zero point two eight.
6:58
Speaker 1: But if you look at the last three rounds after
7:00
Speaker 1: that disqualification in China, where it seems like Ferrari's had
7:03
Speaker 1: to rethink the way it's setting up its car, it's
7:05
Speaker 1: almost half a second. It's four four seven zero point
7:08
Speaker 1: four four seven seconds. That's in Formula one. That's enormous
7:12
Speaker 1: and to the point of where I think it's very
7:15
Speaker 1: early to be saying any of this. But if you
7:17
Speaker 1: are at Ferrara and you alluded to the same, surely
7:19
Speaker 1: there are maybe not an alarm bell ringing, maybe the
7:21
Speaker 1: blue light before the red light starts going off on
7:24
Speaker 1: the roof.
7:24
Speaker 2: But this is I mean that sort of difference between teammates.
7:27
Speaker 2: That's the thing that gets teams paying drivers out a
7:30
Speaker 2: year early to leave their contract again. File under McLaren
7:33
Speaker 2: and Daniel Ricardo because that was what was going on there.
7:36
Speaker 2: But you mentioned something really interesting before, where the more
7:39
Speaker 2: mature this rule set has become, there's a law of
7:43
Speaker 2: diminishing returns with these things. You're looking for such marginal
7:46
Speaker 2: gains through a tiny, tiny aperture. Everyone knows that these
7:50
Speaker 2: rules are going in the bin basically at the end
7:51
Speaker 2: of this season, and that will provide the definitive answer
7:55
Speaker 2: as to has Lewis's career gone on the other side
7:59
Speaker 2: of the hill it is going down or is this
8:01
Speaker 2: just a byproduct of the machinery and the rule set
8:04
Speaker 2: that he's been given to work with. We're not going
8:06
Speaker 2: to have an answer to that until twenty twenty six.
8:10
Speaker 2: We still have seventeen more round nineteen more rounds to
8:14
Speaker 2: go kind of account ahead of Yeah, he is hoping
8:18
Speaker 2: nineteen more rounds, by the way, was considerably longer than
8:21
Speaker 2: the actual length of the entire season when Lewis deputed
8:23
Speaker 2: back in two thousand and seven. So if this is
8:27
Speaker 2: going to be his lot, this is going to be
8:29
Speaker 2: a really difficult time for both him and the team because,
8:33
Speaker 2: let's be honest, Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton, you know, the
8:36
Speaker 2: biggest most popular brand on the team, on the grid
8:40
Speaker 2: with seven time world champion who's a legend in his sport.
8:43
Speaker 2: You marry those two things together. It's an amazing story
8:46
Speaker 2: for the sport and the fact that Australia got to
8:49
Speaker 2: see the first laps of that marriage in anger was fantastic.
8:53
Speaker 2: I love the fact that we got to have that
8:54
Speaker 2: slice of history. There's a lot of pressure on everybody
8:57
Speaker 2: involved here for the sport, for Ferrah, for Hamilton. This
9:01
Speaker 2: needs to work as a narrative, particularly if we're going
9:04
Speaker 2: to go into the final season of a rule set.
9:06
Speaker 2: We've talked about this on previous podcasts, where one of
9:09
Speaker 2: two things tends to happen. You end up with this
9:12
Speaker 2: really fraught championship fight between two teams at different stages,
9:15
Speaker 2: like in twenty twenty one, but more usually you end
9:18
Speaker 2: up with a team that gets it very over a
9:20
Speaker 2: right and everyone starts to switch the tap off for
9:22
Speaker 2: next year. So if we do have what looks to
9:24
Speaker 2: be an intra team McLaren fight with occasional cameos from
9:27
Speaker 2: Maxiwstapp and the rest of the way, the Hamilton Ferrari
9:30
Speaker 2: story is perhaps not a story for winning races, but
9:33
Speaker 2: it's something else to watch that's very, very high profile
9:37
Speaker 2: behind what might be battles for victories. If this doesn't work, Yes,
9:42
Speaker 2: we know there's an end date to this particular rule set,
9:45
Speaker 2: and perhaps that's the what solves these problems for both parties.
9:50
Speaker 2: But now nineteen more rounds of this and it's escalated
9:53
Speaker 2: so quickly. It was three rounds ago that it was
9:55
Speaker 2: all fantastic and he was winning a sprint, and you
9:58
Speaker 2: mentioned that qualifying deficit. Since that it's not that's not
10:02
Speaker 2: tenable as a storyline even at that for the remaining
10:05
Speaker 2: nineteen rounds, the littlone if it gets worse, and there's going
10:09
Speaker 2: to have to be a hell of a lot of
10:10
Speaker 2: patients from both parties here to try and engineer their
10:13
Speaker 2: way out of something. For a team where if you're Ferrari,
10:18
Speaker 2: you're not winning this year's championship. You're not winning the drivers,
10:20
Speaker 2: you're not winning the constructors, they will certainly be having
10:23
Speaker 2: much more of an eye on twenty six before too long.
10:25
Speaker 2: So how does that play into the equation when you've
10:28
Speaker 2: got such a high profile signe to the team who's
10:31
Speaker 2: really struggling relative to the guy that he's racing against.
10:33
Speaker 1: It's not really a scenario that I think too many
10:37
Speaker 1: people countenance. For a couple of reasons, there was always
10:39
Speaker 1: a risk right that he was going to go to
10:40
Speaker 1: Charlotte Clair's team. LaClair's so embedded there, knows it inside out,
10:45
Speaker 1: has a habit of being able to get the most
10:47
Speaker 1: out of it when the cars just in its sweet spot,
10:50
Speaker 1: and we're starting to see that now. Actually, in fact,
10:53
Speaker 1: I think he's getting performance out of this despite it
10:54
Speaker 1: perhaps not being in sweet spot. He's now at the
10:56
Speaker 1: level where he's able to force it into that zone
10:59
Speaker 1: when the cart doesn't even want to be in there,
11:00
Speaker 1: which I think is part of the problem. But I
11:02
Speaker 1: just or I certainly I didn't think, and maybe it
11:04
Speaker 1: was a naive of me that the only outcomes are
11:07
Speaker 1: really going to be Lewis Hamilton's going to go there
11:08
Speaker 1: get the second win. He may yet next year and
11:11
Speaker 1: either match or beat Leclaire, or alternatively, it would be
11:14
Speaker 1: like almost a passing of a baton sort of scenario
11:17
Speaker 1: where Okay, Laclaiir would have the upper hand for most
11:19
Speaker 1: of the time, but Hamilton would would play a great
11:21
Speaker 1: team game, He'd win some races for Ferrari, he ticked
11:24
Speaker 1: the box. Maybe there was no championship involved, whatever, but
11:28
Speaker 1: it would at least be somewhat satisfying end to his story.
11:33
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton bowing out and again, look we're five races in,
11:36
Speaker 1: but this does illustrate how confounding this performance gap has been.
11:40
Speaker 1: But the idea of him going to Ferrari, getting belted
11:43
Speaker 1: for two years and then bowing out just doesn't really compute.
11:48
Speaker 1: I'd hate to see it. It is not me speaking
11:51
Speaker 1: from any biased perspective, but a legend of the sport
11:55
Speaker 1: going out that way, even existing in that way, I
11:58
Speaker 1: just think doesn't really work. So you really see what
12:02
Speaker 1: happens here. But I think there is a to draw,
12:04
Speaker 1: perhaps another not quite parallel, but an example here. I
12:07
Speaker 1: think part of the element is that it's difficult to
12:10
Speaker 1: drive Ferrari car, as you mentioned earlier on because this
12:13
Speaker 1: isn't the step forward the team thought they were going
12:14
Speaker 1: to have from last year in the car was relatively
12:16
Speaker 1: easy to drive, was probably the fastest car. In fact,
12:19
Speaker 1: by the end of the year, it hasn't worked so far,
12:21
Speaker 1: and we did learn last few things can change pretty quickly,
12:23
Speaker 1: so who knows. By the end of the year, maybe
12:25
Speaker 1: some of these problems are solved. But Chal knows how
12:28
Speaker 1: to set up this car. He's figured out rather how
12:30
Speaker 1: to set up this car in spite of itself, essentially
12:32
Speaker 1: to put it mechanically in a position where he can
12:35
Speaker 1: get some performance out of it. It's difficult, but he's
12:37
Speaker 1: managing it. And by performance I mean just scraping in
12:39
Speaker 1: for third in Saudi Arabia. It's the other part of
12:41
Speaker 1: this is that Ferrari generally is underperforming, so it's not
12:44
Speaker 1: all necessarily on Hamilton Lewis just doesn't have those tools,
12:48
Speaker 1: and I'm sort of reminded, maybe most viscerally, but this
12:50
Speaker 1: happens from time to time. When Max forstaff and joined
12:53
Speaker 1: Red Bull Racing in twenty sixty, he was beaten, of
12:56
Speaker 1: course in qualifying immediately by Daniel Riccardo had been there
12:58
Speaker 1: for so long, but his response afterwards was I just
13:01
Speaker 1: didn't know how to make this car better in the
13:03
Speaker 1: way Daniel couldney. He looked afterwards the way Ricardo had
13:05
Speaker 1: changed front wing levels or whatever, and he said, Oh,
13:07
Speaker 1: if I knew that, it would have been obvious. Lewis
13:09
Speaker 1: doesn't have any of those tools at the moment, and
13:11
Speaker 1: he's in a car that just isn't working, so there's
13:14
Speaker 1: probably reason to be more optimistic than he is. But nonetheless,
13:18
Speaker 1: that gap is enormous. I think that's the thing. It's
13:20
Speaker 1: really going to need team and driver to close. It
13:22
Speaker 1: needs a car to get better before Lewis can probably
13:25
Speaker 1: be thinking about himself improving.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a couple of thoughts here. I think
13:30
Speaker 2: Leclaire is so accustomed to bending a Ferrari against its
13:35
Speaker 2: will or exceeding its performance curve because he's basically done
13:39
Speaker 2: at the entire time he's been there. And I think
13:43
Speaker 2: this is a weird thing to say for a guy
13:44
Speaker 2: who's won Grand parin is one of the best qualifiers
13:46
Speaker 2: we've ever seen. I still think he's a little bit underrated,
13:49
Speaker 2: which is a silly things. I think he's an absolutely
13:51
Speaker 2: spectacularly good driver who's never really been in a position
13:55
Speaker 2: to win the big prize at someone of his talent
13:57
Speaker 2: probably deserves, but on a wider level, and we were
13:59
Speaker 2: to talking about previous Mercedes Championship fights personally for me
14:04
Speaker 2: that run into the end of twenty twenty one, when
14:08
Speaker 2: Lewis had his back absolutely against the wall in the
14:11
Speaker 2: final year of that rule set, that changed how I
14:14
Speaker 2: felt about him as a driver, because I thought what
14:16
Speaker 2: he did in those final five races of that year
14:19
Speaker 2: was absolutely spectacular. I thought that was the best Lewis
14:22
Speaker 2: Hamilton we've ever seen because everything had to go right,
14:25
Speaker 2: but he had to make it go right, and Valorie
14:28
Speaker 2: Bosj has kind of checked out at that point. He
14:30
Speaker 2: was fighting, fighting a bit of a lone hand. He
14:33
Speaker 2: was unbelievably good and I think it was an end
14:35
Speaker 2: of season performance that probably deserved a World championship. And
14:38
Speaker 2: then Abu Dhabi and you and I sending each other
14:41
Speaker 2: sighing text messages at three am or whatever it was.
14:43
Speaker 2: But there was a little part of me after that
14:46
Speaker 2: that kind of felt like the old Lewis. It was
14:49
Speaker 2: like the death of the old Lewis in a lot
14:50
Speaker 2: of respects. I don't think he's quite had that sustained
14:54
Speaker 2: level of just not commitment, but the hunger, and there's
14:58
Speaker 2: a bit of weariness that's crept in over the last
15:00
Speaker 2: couple of years, and that when you've had as much
15:02
Speaker 2: much success as he's had, you don't get out of
15:05
Speaker 2: bed to finish fourth. You don't get out of bed
15:06
Speaker 2: to finish fifth. He hasn't been in that mindset since
15:09
Speaker 2: because of what happened in twenty one, and to my mind,
15:13
Speaker 2: when he moved to Ferrari, this was for me. It's like,
15:15
Speaker 2: all right, he needed maybe a change of scenery to
15:18
Speaker 2: get out of where he'd been for so long, to
15:20
Speaker 2: sort of kick that old Lewis back into gear again.
15:22
Speaker 2: And so far, at least, it's all been a little
15:25
Speaker 2: bit too difficult. And you know, I'm not prepared to
15:28
Speaker 2: rule a line through a guy with us who's had
15:30
Speaker 2: the success that he's had and as talented as he is.
15:33
Speaker 2: But the more time ticks by, both this season and
15:35
Speaker 2: in terms of the calendar, because he's going to be
15:37
Speaker 2: a forty one year old next year, you do wonder
15:40
Speaker 2: if it's going to be there any more than intermittently.
15:43
Speaker 2: And that's not what he went to Ferrari for, and
15:45
Speaker 2: that's certainly not for what Ferrari paying for.
15:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot of the questions that we're trying
15:50
Speaker 1: to be asked last year, but he was using the
15:52
Speaker 1: Mercedes car to keep a decent gap to them that
15:55
Speaker 1: under pulling Mercedes car, they now at the door, aren't they?
15:57
Speaker 1: And you can only probably hold them at the door
15:59
Speaker 1: for a few more months, I think, till next season.
16:02
Speaker 1: Surely he'll get the benefit of that. Even this season
16:04
Speaker 1: gets worse somehow, But if it's if next year under
16:07
Speaker 1: new rules, you can't make it work. Relative to Leclear,
16:09
Speaker 1: there are going to be some really serious evaluations or
16:12
Speaker 1: reevaluations about this whole latter phase of his career. Ferrari
16:16
Speaker 1: switch of course chief among them. But only five races
16:20
Speaker 1: in like you say, nineteen rounds to go, nineteen rounds
16:23
Speaker 1: to go, nineteen five sprints, plenty of time for him
16:27
Speaker 1: to bounce back. Matt. Let's look now at move of
16:30
Speaker 1: the week brought to you by Shannon's only Moto GP
16:34
Speaker 1: over the course of the weekend in her at the
16:36
Speaker 1: return to Europe, the return to regular timing. Very excited
16:40
Speaker 1: about that. A couple of standout moves. I think I'll
16:43
Speaker 1: let you kick us off.
16:44
Speaker 2: I am going to go with something that we haven't
16:47
Speaker 2: seen for a really long time because I so enjoyed
16:49
Speaker 2: seeing this guy back up to the front again. I'm
16:51
Speaker 2: going for a lap one term one of the sprint
16:53
Speaker 2: race at Hareth where Pole sit at Fabio Quaturra. I'll
16:57
Speaker 2: say that again, Poles at Fabio Coutura after one of
17:01
Speaker 2: the best Motor GP qualifying laps I have seen for
17:03
Speaker 2: a very very long time. Was absolutely mesmerizing. What he
17:07
Speaker 2: did on Saturday, got beaten off the start by Mark
17:10
Speaker 2: Marquez into term one and center pass on Marquees. That's
17:14
Speaker 2: the sort of pass that you send where you're thinking
17:16
Speaker 2: it might be a while until I'm back on the
17:18
Speaker 2: front row or at least on Pole again. Completely clean,
17:21
Speaker 2: completely decisive, completely caught Marquez out. He said afterwards, I
17:25
Speaker 2: thought that was done and was pretty stunned to see
17:28
Speaker 2: Quatro come through. It was a brilliant weekend for him,
17:33
Speaker 2: generally obviously finishing on the podium in the Grand Prix,
17:35
Speaker 2: but I think of all the good things he did
17:37
Speaker 2: that weekend, that was the standout one because it's like,
17:40
Speaker 2: I'm not fighting for a championship here, this is my moment.
17:42
Speaker 2: I've done something pretty amazing, and by the way, here's
17:45
Speaker 2: how good I can be when I'm in a position
17:47
Speaker 2: to do something. So it was for nostalgic reasons it
17:50
Speaker 2: was really really nice to see. But in terms of
17:52
Speaker 2: clean and clinical and opportunities, that was the absolute move
17:55
Speaker 2: of that herth weekend for me. But it sounds like
17:58
Speaker 2: by your intro that you might have another one stashed
18:00
Speaker 2: up for me.
18:01
Speaker 1: Well, nothing as a dramatic as that, because you're right.
18:03
Speaker 1: It was one of those great lap one moments. Was
18:06
Speaker 1: not where everyone had to try and put their cards
18:08
Speaker 1: down at once and suddenly had a higher card than
18:11
Speaker 1: Mark obviously was expecting, and it was great to see
18:13
Speaker 1: him at the front again. But for me this was
18:15
Speaker 1: more about the outcome, which was Alex Marquerz moving on.
18:18
Speaker 1: This is the Yuni and yer I guess taking first
18:20
Speaker 1: place off Guadrares. It ended up being after Mark christ
18:22
Speaker 1: out of the race. It was a pretty clinical move.
18:24
Speaker 1: It was nothing too exciting. It was into the first corner,
18:27
Speaker 1: but he had to get it done because Fabia was
18:29
Speaker 1: in such a successful mood this weekend, let's say. But
18:32
Speaker 1: I liked that when Mark went down this race was
18:35
Speaker 1: up for grabs, and it could have been up for grabs.
18:36
Speaker 1: I guess between three different riders, between Alex and Fabia
18:39
Speaker 1: and maybe even Peco Banyaya, considering that he is in
18:43
Speaker 1: the championship contention on the same bike as Mark Markerez,
18:45
Speaker 1: but only one of them really stepped up and said
18:47
Speaker 1: it is going to be my race, and it was
18:49
Speaker 1: Alex And it's actually so I had to think back
18:51
Speaker 1: and he had won a sprint. We're talking about this beforehand,
18:53
Speaker 1: but it almost surprised me. This was his first victory
18:56
Speaker 1: and this is him taking the lead of the championship
18:57
Speaker 1: as well, maybe because he's had such a would start
19:00
Speaker 1: to the year. Generally it felt like it had to
19:02
Speaker 1: have already happened. But him to win his first Grand Prix,
19:05
Speaker 1: I just thought that that move very straightforward, but a
19:08
Speaker 1: great outcome for him, an important one potentially in the
19:11
Speaker 1: context of the championship.
19:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for him it's interesting, like when you've
19:14
Speaker 2: been the nearly man for so long, I mean, you
19:16
Speaker 2: forget He's a Murder three and Motor two world champion.
19:18
Speaker 2: He's a very very accomplished writer. He just happens to
19:21
Speaker 2: have one of the greatest hit history living in the
19:23
Speaker 2: same house as him growing up. Of all the things
19:25
Speaker 2: you have to deal with. But this was the first
19:28
Speaker 2: time you felt that. All Right, Mark's crashed out, he's
19:31
Speaker 2: back in the pack. This is the best opportunity he's
19:33
Speaker 2: ever going to have when you've never done it before
19:36
Speaker 2: and you've been a murder GP for as long as
19:38
Speaker 2: he has when that moment arrives. Is the writer going
19:42
Speaker 2: to be ready for it? That's always a question for me.
19:44
Speaker 2: And Quatro is not a guy who generally makes mistakes.
19:47
Speaker 2: He's incredibly difficult to pass, and we know Herretha's a
19:50
Speaker 2: pretty tough track to pass at the best of times,
19:52
Speaker 2: even if you're on it to catty like Alex was
19:54
Speaker 2: so spotted his chance, took it and then completely cleared
19:58
Speaker 2: off and won that race in a matter befitting a
20:00
Speaker 2: guy who'd won eleven Grand Prix. Not one outstanding performance.
20:04
Speaker 2: Don't think it'll be the last this season, but yeah,
20:07
Speaker 2: don't mind that selection by you at all.
20:09
Speaker 1: Let's we've got now back to matters in Formula one,
20:12
Speaker 1: Matt because the other one of the other little interesting
20:14
Speaker 1: stories of this little break between the opening five rounds
20:18
Speaker 1: and the Miami Grand Prix, which is this weekend, comes
20:22
Speaker 1: from the race, which is reported that Christian Horner and
20:24
Speaker 1: George Russell have been having some off the record chat,
20:27
Speaker 1: some little communications. Not sure if Whatsapple was involved or
20:30
Speaker 1: not about twenty twenty six availability. So this is the
20:35
Speaker 1: driver market certainly firing up early. The background context of this,
20:39
Speaker 1: of course is Max with Stafford, who we've been talking
20:42
Speaker 1: about pretty much since last year, since it was clear
20:43
Speaker 1: that the wheels were beginning to wobble on the Red
20:46
Speaker 1: Bull car, that he could perhaps trigger an early exit
20:49
Speaker 1: before the end of his contract, which currently is due
20:52
Speaker 1: to expire in twenty twenty eight. A little bit of
20:54
Speaker 1: security perhaps from Christian Horner for his team by talking
20:57
Speaker 1: to another front running driver, should Max for staff and quit.
21:01
Speaker 1: Also interesting in that report was the idea that well
21:04
Speaker 1: Max's exit clause could be triggered by the middle of
21:06
Speaker 1: the year, and I think too unusual about that, but
21:08
Speaker 1: the claim that it could require him only to be
21:11
Speaker 1: outside the top two in the Driver's Championship. I'd suggest
21:13
Speaker 1: that if Red will sign that contract, probably need to
21:16
Speaker 1: get some new lawyers involved. But it certainly sets us
21:18
Speaker 1: up for a pretty interesting silly season to perhaps climax
21:22
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier than those sort of late September
21:24
Speaker 1: October months.
21:26
Speaker 2: Not gonna be as silly as last year. Mostly this
21:27
Speaker 2: won't be. But look, I think it's from a red
21:31
Speaker 2: bull point of view, it is smart because if you
21:35
Speaker 2: just take the question of, well, if Max for Stapfan's
21:37
Speaker 2: not going to be in your car for next season
21:39
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, breaking a clause or retiring or doing
21:42
Speaker 2: whatever he's going to do, you look at the rest
21:45
Speaker 2: of the grid and say, who would you want in
21:47
Speaker 2: that team that you might be able to get your
21:49
Speaker 2: hands on. Now, the correct answer to this question last
21:51
Speaker 2: year was Carlos Science, which you know you and I
21:53
Speaker 2: have discussed at infinitum, But who is the next guy
21:57
Speaker 2: that you would want? And it seems to be a
22:01
Speaker 2: very sensible discussion to open. You do wonder how much
22:06
Speaker 2: of this is a bit of Horner Toto Wolf destabilization,
22:11
Speaker 2: getting the Netflix bloome mic in there and let's discuss
22:13
Speaker 2: that line and get a whole episode out of for
22:15
Speaker 2: the next series of Drivers of Vibor. You wonder if
22:17
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of that going on there as well.
22:19
Speaker 2: But in terms of who you would target to take
22:22
Speaker 2: over that seat, it's a sensible name to throw into
22:26
Speaker 2: the mix. The question that i'd have and for George
22:29
Speaker 2: if he was on this podcast, which is not. But
22:30
Speaker 2: I'll ask you instead, is that an advance that you
22:34
Speaker 2: absolutely want right now? Going into a rule set for
22:38
Speaker 2: next year where Red bulls a new engine partner. We
22:41
Speaker 2: know what happened to the last time Formula One had a
22:43
Speaker 2: big engine change, but Sodas did rather well out of
22:45
Speaker 2: that back in twenty fourteen, so you have to wonder
22:48
Speaker 2: how much that factors into the equation. And given what's
22:52
Speaker 2: gone on so publicly with Red Bull over the past
22:54
Speaker 2: couple of years, with oh, look there's another driver in
22:56
Speaker 2: red Bull overalls that seems to be every two or
22:59
Speaker 2: three races quite chaotic. Would you want to go to
23:02
Speaker 2: Red Bull Racing? And of all the drivers that would
23:05
Speaker 2: go to Red Bull Racing other than just putting Fernando
23:08
Speaker 2: a lot So in there because he's the master of
23:09
Speaker 2: being in the right place at the wrong time. If
23:11
Speaker 2: you're George Russell, would you like to go there? Because
23:14
Speaker 2: I don't see right now how that's a better option
23:17
Speaker 2: than where it is your thoughts.
23:19
Speaker 1: I think that's such a great question because it was
23:21
Speaker 1: only about twelve months ago. I guess when we were
23:24
Speaker 1: first talking about the idea that Max with Stafford might
23:26
Speaker 1: be leaving Red Bull more for political reasons than anything
23:28
Speaker 1: else in fact, and he was linked to Mercedes largely
23:30
Speaker 1: because Toto Wolf has made it no secret of the
23:33
Speaker 1: fact he'd love to see him in a Mercedes. And
23:35
Speaker 1: then it took a little while, but the question was asked, well,
23:37
Speaker 1: hang on, Mercedes had a dreadful a couple of years
23:39
Speaker 1: under these rules, and redneral Racing the previous season won
23:42
Speaker 1: every race but one, Why on earth would he go
23:44
Speaker 1: to Mercedes? And it's just interesting how quickly that equation
23:48
Speaker 1: is flipping. I'm not sure it's one hundred percent flipped yet,
23:51
Speaker 1: because maybe you could argue Red Bull and Mercedes right
23:53
Speaker 1: now are in quite a similar place competitively, but you're right,
23:55
Speaker 1: the applook is certainly in mercedes favor. And there are
23:59
Speaker 1: a couple always to break down why these conversations might
24:02
Speaker 1: be happening, other than it just being prudent to avail
24:05
Speaker 1: yourself of all the options. And one is of course,
24:08
Speaker 1: that Maxwithstappen leaves two Mercedes, in which case one of
24:12
Speaker 1: the drive is going to be displaced, and it's almost
24:14
Speaker 1: certainly not going to be Andrea Kimi Antonelli, considering how
24:16
Speaker 1: well hyped he is and how solid a start he's
24:18
Speaker 1: had to his career, it's probably going to be George Russell,
24:21
Speaker 1: in which case you get a straight swap scenario. Everyone's
24:24
Speaker 1: kinder happy, relatively happy. But what's really interesting to me
24:29
Speaker 1: is that if Max were to quit and he would
24:32
Speaker 1: go to Aston Martin, because there's some momentum there, maybe
24:36
Speaker 1: not behind the car at the moment, but behind the team.
24:38
Speaker 1: Obviously a lot of money being spent their brand new
24:40
Speaker 1: facilities and putting a new wind tunnel, and most of all,
24:43
Speaker 1: Adrian Newey, the former chief technic officer of Red Bull Racing,
24:46
Speaker 1: is now designing next year's car, as well as the
24:49
Speaker 1: Hondomotor tie up, which is obviously one that maxwith Stapfen
24:52
Speaker 1: has worked pretty well. There seems to be maybe at
24:55
Speaker 1: least as many reasons to go there next year as Mercedes,
25:00
Speaker 1: even if right now that team is not proving that
25:02
Speaker 1: it's capable of being at the front. But if that's
25:04
Speaker 1: the case, then that question absolutely comes into play, doesn't it,
25:07
Speaker 1: Because suddenly it's Red Bull Racing in need of a driver,
25:10
Speaker 1: trying to convince other drivers to come into the team,
25:13
Speaker 1: and if I were George Russell, I would be saying no,
25:16
Speaker 1: because what reason is there other than a ludicrous paycheck,
25:20
Speaker 1: which Total Wolf could probably match, because if he's got
25:23
Speaker 1: no one else he doesn't want to lose. George Russell
25:24
Speaker 1: I could actually see by the end of this year
25:26
Speaker 1: or by the mid season break whenever these moves might
25:29
Speaker 1: be made that rather than as Mercedes was last year
25:32
Speaker 1: scrambling to replace Lewis Hamilton, even if Total Wolf insists
25:34
Speaker 1: it took only five minutes to decidden his replacement. And
25:37
Speaker 1: it's Red Bull Racing again going oh, well, who's gonna
25:41
Speaker 1: go in this car? Now?
25:42
Speaker 2: Well, what you're actually saying, if you read between the
25:45
Speaker 2: lines here, is that Maxis Stappen will go to Aston
25:48
Speaker 2: Martin and then Lance Stroll end up at Red Bull Racing.
25:51
Speaker 2: And given that the Red Bull Racing car this year
25:54
Speaker 2: is basically a Q one car in anyone's hands other
25:56
Speaker 2: than Verstappen, then Lance Stroll will be out in Q
25:58
Speaker 2: one and the world keeps turning because that's what happen
26:00
Speaker 2: with Lance Stroll, as we know based on our previous podcast.
26:02
Speaker 2: But isn't it interesting you just said they're tried to
26:06
Speaker 2: convince someone to go to Red Bull Racing eighteen months
26:09
Speaker 2: after they were winning every race but one in the season.
26:13
Speaker 2: And here we are where you've got to a position
26:17
Speaker 2: where the when the greatest asset in a team of
26:21
Speaker 2: that size, with that much compedigree and that much money
26:23
Speaker 2: to behind it is one driver. It shows you how very,
26:27
Speaker 2: very tenuous this is. And so you go back a
26:30
Speaker 2: previous era where they also had a four time world
26:33
Speaker 2: champion in the car at a particular time named Sebastian Vattal.
26:36
Speaker 2: The reason that Vattle leaving after twenty fourteen to go
26:40
Speaker 2: to Ferrari wasn't as big of a blow as it
26:42
Speaker 2: was because they had Daniel Riccardo there and he was ascendant,
26:45
Speaker 2: and it was twenty fourteen, and he's winning races and
26:47
Speaker 2: he's happy to be there, and he's the only guy
26:50
Speaker 2: winning races that's not driving Mercedes that year. The thought
26:54
Speaker 2: of Sebastian Vettle not being in a Red Bull for
26:56
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen was unthinkable at the end of twenty thirteen.
27:00
Speaker 2: So things can escalate super super quickly here. The curious
27:04
Speaker 2: part about it for me is Vastapan's never been the
27:07
Speaker 2: sort of guy to me that's going to hang around
27:08
Speaker 2: in Formula one on the Great Kimmy Rerchen and superannuation
27:11
Speaker 2: to it. He's going to be a guy who gets in,
27:15
Speaker 2: does he's winning, doesn't necessarily care where he sits in
27:17
Speaker 2: the pantheon, a great World champions, wins a lot of stuff,
27:20
Speaker 2: and then goes off and does things with the rest
27:21
Speaker 2: of his life because he doesn't need the rest of
27:23
Speaker 2: what Formula one he is. It's really curious whether would
27:27
Speaker 2: he want to leave and try and win somewhere else
27:31
Speaker 2: to almost I'm sure you have the belief that he
27:33
Speaker 2: could do that, But is that the sort of thing
27:34
Speaker 2: that motivates him enough to want to go and tie
27:38
Speaker 2: get tied in with as you said, Adrian Nuey and
27:40
Speaker 2: Honda in a different address and try to win there.
27:43
Speaker 2: Or is he just going to be the sort of
27:44
Speaker 2: guy because I'm twenty nine years old, that's all fine,
27:47
Speaker 2: You'll never see me in the paddock again. Sort of
27:49
Speaker 2: a guy. So it's different, you know, you look at
27:51
Speaker 2: the different personalities in this case. Sebastian Vatta was a
27:54
Speaker 2: guy who was always in love with F one and
27:56
Speaker 2: the things that are around it and hung around probably
27:59
Speaker 2: a little bit too long in the but you couldn't
28:00
Speaker 2: begrudge him that because of the success that he had,
28:02
Speaker 2: and he turned into this statesman like spokesperson for the sport,
28:06
Speaker 2: and I think left the sport in a better place
28:08
Speaker 2: than when he arrived. He's a different cat to for Stappan.
28:10
Speaker 2: And so you do wonder if the Stappens next movie
28:14
Speaker 2: is sideways or out where. I don't think that was
28:17
Speaker 2: ever a question for Veattle in that time when he
28:19
Speaker 2: was a four time world champion at red Bull Racing
28:21
Speaker 2: a decade ago.
28:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, even the prospect of a sabbatical has been raised,
28:25
Speaker 1: perhaps with no great impetus, let's say, behind it, but
28:30
Speaker 1: it has been raised. And my first instinct was people
28:33
Speaker 1: love just to say sabbati. It was in the Mika
28:35
Speaker 1: Hacken and took a quote marks sabbatical.
28:38
Speaker 2: He's still on his, isn't he?
28:39
Speaker 1: He's still on Equally, maybe he'll replace him at Red Bull.
28:41
Speaker 1: I believe he had a Red Bull time at some point,
28:46
Speaker 1: but you know that loves to be raised. But then
28:47
Speaker 1: I think you know exactly as you outlined, but Stappan's
28:50
Speaker 1: motivation is wildly different to what you might expect for
28:53
Speaker 1: a young four time world champion. He doesn't really not
28:56
Speaker 1: really made in the same mold as as Sebastian being
28:59
Speaker 1: a great analogy there, and has a kid on the
29:02
Speaker 1: way this year, which is something that sort of struck
29:04
Speaker 1: me earlier. Maybe he does want some time off, you know,
29:07
Speaker 1: maybe he can he does. He obviously obviously has the
29:09
Speaker 1: Cachet's a four time world champion, presumably won't add to
29:12
Speaker 1: that this year. But I guess you never know four
29:14
Speaker 1: time world champion to take a year off, suss out
29:16
Speaker 1: who's going to do well under the next regulations next year,
29:20
Speaker 1: and then just force his back into wherever it is.
29:25
Speaker 1: I just couldn't totally discount that. I mean, stranger things
29:27
Speaker 1: have happened in Forbid one.
29:28
Speaker 2: Well, because he's so sort of direct and everything. There's
29:32
Speaker 2: not much sort of you know, fluff around in the
29:34
Speaker 2: periphery with Max. He's the sort of guy that could
29:36
Speaker 2: absolutely do that, sit out for a year and then
29:38
Speaker 2: just pick the phone up. Every team principle is answering
29:41
Speaker 2: that court. It's like, I've seen what you're doing. It's
29:43
Speaker 2: going really well. There's potential for upside, how about it? Yeah,
29:47
Speaker 2: that would be a that'd be a contract that would
29:48
Speaker 2: be signed in five minutes. We all know that, yes,
29:51
Speaker 2: and so he's still young enough to do that. He
29:54
Speaker 2: has the power and the pedigree to do something like that,
29:57
Speaker 2: and probably the belief too. Yeah.
29:58
Speaker 1: And a lot of contracts are up next year. They're
30:01
Speaker 1: not this year. A lot of them are up at
30:02
Speaker 1: the end of twenty six, precisely for that reason, because
30:05
Speaker 1: drivers want to keep their options open under those new rules.
30:07
Speaker 1: Maybe his option is just to come back into the sport.
30:10
Speaker 1: It would be a fascinating twist on a story of
30:12
Speaker 1: all assumed would end at one of two teams. Perhaps
30:14
Speaker 1: it ends at none of those two teams. And it's
30:17
Speaker 1: still Red Bull Racing looking for yet again a driver
30:20
Speaker 1: to fill one of its cars. Apps trying to argue
30:23
Speaker 1: the point mat. Before we wrap up, let's look at
30:25
Speaker 1: the crystal ball, brought to you by Complete Home Filtration.
30:29
Speaker 1: He said. Nineteen f one grand free still to go,
30:31
Speaker 1: Plenty of Moto GP rounds, lots of supercars rounds, a
30:34
Speaker 1: lot of motorsports still to go. It is only the
30:37
Speaker 1: end of a start of back. What are you predicting
30:40
Speaker 1: in your crystal ball this week?
30:41
Speaker 2: I did tease this with you before we got on.
30:43
Speaker 2: I've gone deep in the deep in the archives here,
30:46
Speaker 2: but of f on trivia for you, I've given the
30:48
Speaker 2: crystal ball a good polish for this week's episode. My
30:52
Speaker 2: crystal ball is telling me that Oscar Piastre is going
30:55
Speaker 2: to become the first Australian to win three consecutive Grand
30:59
Speaker 2: Prix since and I'll let you finish this, since when and.
31:02
Speaker 1: Who three consecutive Grand Prix. Now I know that Alan
31:07
Speaker 1: Jones won two consecutively because I think I've brought that
31:10
Speaker 1: stat a couple of weeks ago in nineteen eighty. It
31:13
Speaker 1: couldn't well, I'm going to just guess that it must
31:16
Speaker 1: be Alan Jones.
31:18
Speaker 2: I'll put you out of your misery here. So Alan
31:20
Speaker 2: Jones in nineteen seventy nine and one in Germany, Austria
31:23
Speaker 2: and the Netherlands. So that was the last time it happened.
31:27
Speaker 2: Mark Webber won two in a row once, Daniel Rocado
31:30
Speaker 2: won to in a row. Also once. Jones won two
31:34
Speaker 2: or more races in a row three times. I did
31:36
Speaker 2: it in nineteen eighty, had two doubles in nineteen eighty
31:40
Speaker 2: and he also won if you go the first race
31:42
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty one. He actually won the last two
31:44
Speaker 2: of eighty in the first race of eighty one. But
31:47
Speaker 2: that'd be a good stat for you if it's twenty one,
31:49
Speaker 2: forty six years since an Australia won three Grand Prix
31:52
Speaker 2: in a row. If you're wondering what the record is,
31:54
Speaker 2: and I know you are because you like these sorts
31:56
Speaker 2: of things. Sir Jack Brabham won five Grand Prix in
31:58
Speaker 2: a row in nineteen sixty, including one at a circuit
32:02
Speaker 2: that I didn't know existed in Portugal, so that was
32:05
Speaker 2: a little bit of a deep a little bit of
32:06
Speaker 2: a deep dive in forex for you. But yeah, my
32:08
Speaker 2: crystal ball's telling me that we're going to have the
32:10
Speaker 2: first time in Australian wins three consecutive Grand Prix in
32:13
Speaker 2: forty six years this weekend.
32:15
Speaker 1: I like it a lot, you know. I love a
32:17
Speaker 1: good stat and you've found some very good ones there
32:20
Speaker 1: and made my prediction look totally under as a result.
32:23
Speaker 1: But I'm a big fan.
32:24
Speaker 2: I did probably spend at least five more minutes on
32:26
Speaker 2: mine than.
32:27
Speaker 1: You have, so I like it. I'm all for it.
32:29
Speaker 1: I'm raising the game. My prediction is very in a
32:32
Speaker 1: very similar way. I haven't predicted specifically the outcome. I
32:35
Speaker 1: suspect part of the prediction is to predict Thedoscopyastri. Yes,
32:39
Speaker 1: we'll win this weekend, but that's only because my prediction
32:42
Speaker 1: is there will be a record low number of references
32:44
Speaker 1: to the safety car that helped Lando Norris win last year,
32:48
Speaker 1: because I think the story this week it's all going
32:50
Speaker 1: to be about our Lando going back to Miami where
32:54
Speaker 1: he won his first Grand Prix. No asterisk required one
32:56
Speaker 1: that totally because he led it the whole time. Don't
32:59
Speaker 1: remember started from pol who could possibly rememberho started from
33:01
Speaker 1: pole last year and he won it totally on THERI.
33:04
Speaker 1: He did have a very good race. The McLaren car
33:06
Speaker 1: was fast in the second half of that race, but
33:08
Speaker 1: we should not forget that it was Oscar Piastri was
33:11
Speaker 1: the fast McLaren driver. Had he pitted only one lap later,
33:14
Speaker 1: he would have won that Grand Prix.
33:16
Speaker 2: And isn't it so funny? Like at the time I
33:18
Speaker 2: remember that because it was a Monday morning, obviously we
33:20
Speaker 2: were kicking ourselves, going, oh man, that's a first Grand
33:23
Speaker 2: Prix win. That's just gone completely begging through no fault
33:27
Speaker 2: of his own. It's different if you don't achieve that
33:29
Speaker 2: Grand Prix win because you've made a mistake. This was
33:32
Speaker 2: one of those just complete confluence of circumstance and when
33:35
Speaker 2: you hadn't won one before us Oh, man, is this
33:37
Speaker 2: guy going to win one? Because at the first half
33:39
Speaker 2: of last year you didn't necessarily think that was going
33:41
Speaker 2: to happen. But isn't it funny how Miami last year
33:44
Speaker 2: was like, Oh, this McLaren team's turned up, haven't they?
33:46
Speaker 2: And then do you look what happened for the rest
33:48
Speaker 2: of the year. That was the thirty point of last year.
33:50
Speaker 2: But hopefully twelve months on Oscar gets what perhaps he
33:54
Speaker 2: should have got this time last year.
33:55
Speaker 1: I think that should be the story this weekend. We'll
33:58
Speaker 1: wait and see if it is. But that's all the
34:00
Speaker 1: time we have for Pittalk today. You can subscribe to
34:02
Speaker 1: Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts, and you can
34:05
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review as well. This weekend
34:08
Speaker 1: is the Miami Formula One Grand Prix at six am
34:11
Speaker 1: Monday Australian Eastern Standard time, and you can keep up
34:13
Speaker 1: to date with all the latest F one news as
34:15
Speaker 1: well as Supercars ad Werdo TP news at Foxsports dot
34:18
Speaker 1: com dot Au from Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonado
34:21
Speaker 1: thanks very much for your company. We'll catch you next week.