Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief | McLaren’s bungled bet as Max wins in Vegas

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The Motorsport Brief | McLaren’s bungled bet as Max wins in Vegas · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  Max Verstappen dominated the Vegas F1 race while McLaren made a costly mistake.
• 0:11
  Against all the odds, is the Red Bull star now about to snatch what seemed like a certain McLaren driver's title?
• 0:22
  G'day everybody, Rusty here with a GP-focused shortcast.
• 0:25
  Matt Hickey from Code Sports will join us in just a moment for a convo on the shock disqualification for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the wake of the Vegas race and more.
• 0:37
  Quick mention of a recent F with young Aussie Joanne Cicconti who dropped into our Melbourne Listener Studios just before jetting out to the final round of the F1 Academy where she again impressed.
• 0:49
  Joanne is making the most of the opportunity
• 0:51
  and already inspiring others too.
• 0:54
  The 16-year-old is determined to make a career in motorsport internationally and right now only dreams of making it to F1.
• 1:02
  That's a nice chat, that.
• 1:04
  Plus, a wrap with the new Australian rally champions, Hayden Patton and John Kennard.
• 1:09
  The Kiwis are taking the trophy over the ditch.
• 1:12
  They were super impressive this season in their Hyundai Rally.
• 1:15
  We spoke with them right after the podium at the final round in Tasmania.
• 1:20
  That ep also contains a catch-up with Aussie Taylor Gill, who went so close to winning the Junior World Rally title this year.
• 1:28
  It is a heartbreaking story, a heartbreaking finish, but he is eyes forward on continuing his journey to the WRC.
• 1:37
  Lando Norris was advised to lift and coast toward the end of the Vegas race.
• 1:42
  And we kind of wondered if he was going to be able to challenge Max Verstappen at one point for the win.
• 1:47
  Were there perhaps some fuel-saving measures that he needed to do and so on?
• 1:51
  He still finished a distant second, dropped back a bit.
• 1:54
  Oscar Piastri was fourth.
• 1:56
  But a post-race investigation on both cars found the skid blocks underneath them, particularly the rearward blocks...
• 2:04
  had worn down below the minimum 9mm thickness that's required.
• 2:08
  Interrupted practice, rain on Saturday, and more porpoising of the cars than they had anticipated led to the excess wear.
• 2:17
  But history shows, even for a minor breach of this kind, that disqualification is the precedent.
• 2:24
  McLaren...
• 2:25
  has apologised to both of its drivers for the error.
• 2:28
  Neither therefore picks up any points at round 22.
• 2:32
  It means that Lando is only 24 ahead now, again, but it's over Max Verstappen, who's drawn level with Oscar Piastri, both of them second on the ladder, just two sprint races remaining.
• 2:46
  To try and unpack it, we welcome Matt Hickey back to the podcast.
• 2:49
  G'day, mate, and thank you for coming on.
• 2:52
  Thank you, Rusty.
• 2:53
  A bit to chat about today.
• 2:55
  Let's start with the disqualification.
• 2:57
  I cannot believe it, mate.
• 2:58
  How could they have made that blue?
• 3:01
  I know they've explained the reasons why and that, you know, there was the lead up in terms of the wet weather and the issues in practice and then the porpoising during the race impacted their ability to measure that stuff properly.
• 3:14
  But I just can't believe they made that sort of error, made the championship winning, the constructors championship winning team.
• 3:19
  Yeah, it is a little bit baffling, especially towards the business end of the season.
• 3:23
  They've had almost a faultless run throughout the year.
• 3:28
  And to see this is a bit of a shock.
• 3:30
  I think from an Australian point of view, there are a lot of Aussie fans who are glad at least it happened to both cars and not just Oscar.
• 3:36
  Because actually in the scheme of the championship...
• 3:39
  It's a good result for Oscar, but on the flip side of it, it also could potentially mean by the end of the year, he could finish third in the championship, which is quite remarkable to think about from when we were talking two or three months ago.
• 3:51
  The numbers favour Lando going into the final couple of races, but the reality is the fox is in the hen house now.
• 3:58
  Max is, I think as we've talked about on the show a couple of times now, he is right in this.
• 4:03
  He certainly is.
• 4:04
  I mean, level with points with Oscar now, only 24 points behind Lando.
• 4:09
  And don't forget as well, the Qatar's a sprint race too, so we've got some extra points thrown into the mix on that front.
• 4:14
  He is right in the thick of it at the moment.
• 4:16
  And this, just for McLaren, I get the feeling there's just a little nerves.
• 4:20
  They're starting to get a little tense.
• 4:22
  They've had it in the bag seemingly for the entire year, but now he's within a race.
• 4:27
  So one mechanical, one little clip on a first corner, and all of a sudden Max Verstappen could be in the lead of the championship, which is quite remarkable.
• 4:35
  He was mighty on the streets of Las Vegas there.
• 4:38
  And then I think since we've had you on Rusty's Garage last, there's been a variety of different venues, and the Red Bull's been good everywhere.
• 4:44
  Do you reckon they can bring something to the table for that final Middle Eastern portion that'll have him with the best possible shot of adding another title to the collection?
• 4:54
  Well, the thing with Max is pure competitor.
• 4:57
  So we know he's going to be in and amongst it whenever he gets the opportunity.
• 5:01
  Now he's got the confidence and the team's got the confidence and this momentum.
• 5:04
  And you look through the history at Qatar and at Abu Dhabi.
• 5:09
  In Qatar, Max won the last two races with that third not going ahead.
• 5:14
  In Abu Dhabi, Lando won last year, but the previous four winners before that went by the name of Max Verstappen.
• 5:20
  So, yeah,
• 5:21
  Tell you what, McLaren under the pump, that is for sure.
• 5:24
  But it does make for such an exciting finish, which, you know, for the last couple of years with Max absolutely dominating, we've maybe been starved of since that incredible year we had with Lewis and Max.
• 5:36
  But I tell you what, buckle yourself in.
• 5:38
  Yeah, I reckon that's sage advice there because he is going to, he'll box hard here, mate, won't he?
• 5:44
  It's going to be tough for both Oscar and for Lando for that matter.
• 5:47
  Yes, certainly.
• 5:48
  And you get the feeling that maybe they're starting to feel that pressure a little bit as well.
• 5:54
  There's nothing like being the hunter as opposed to being the hunted.
• 5:58
  And at the moment, the McLarens are being the hunted.
• 6:01
  And Max, this is right in his element at the moment as well.
• 6:03
  He's been arguably written off mid-year.
• 6:05
  It looked like McLaren's championship to lose.
• 6:07
  It was McLaren's championship to lose.
• 6:09
  And now he's just gone about his business head down and driving that thing like the beast that he is.
• 6:15
  I can't understand the change in fortune for Oscar.
• 6:20
  It struggles to pass the pub test in some ways.
• 6:23
  I mean, there'll be people that will say that he hasn't been perfect and that there's elements that he could have done better.
• 6:30
  But I can't understand how someone in the midpoint of this championship who is so dominant, so quick, can suddenly not be on the same kind of pace and form as his teammate.
• 6:41
  How?
• 6:42
  It's a fantastic question and we have to take it at face value.
• 6:45
  There are plenty of people in the F1 fan universe who have theories galore and conspiracies as to why that may potentially be the case.
• 6:52
  We won't dive into those.
• 6:54
  But I think potentially we might be seeing that and maybe we've had a little reminder that this is still a pretty young guy who is still in the very early parts of his F1 career.
• 7:07
  And we've seen the best of it.
• 7:09
  And now we're starting to see that maybe he still has a few things to put together and learn.
• 7:15
  He hasn't been in the game in terms of Formula One game for very long compared to some of the rest of the field, the likes of, I mean, obviously Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, but Max and we go even into Lando and guys like George Russell who...
• 7:29
  Although they seem like the young bunch, they've actually been in the caper of a fair time and on that grid.
• 7:34
  So maybe we're just starting to see a little bit of that from Oscar.
• 7:38
  And I think either way, no matter where this championship ends, it's going to be a fantastic learning experience for him moving forward.
• 7:46
  We are not done yet on this edition of The Shortcast.
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  Stick around.
• 7:50
  More on the Vegas fallout and the big call ahead of the final two rounds of the season.
• 7:59
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief.
• 8:00
  Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a few feature episodes, one with Colin Bond, the Australian touring car great who was equally as talented in a rally car, factory success with Holden and Ford.
• 8:12
  He's got a great new book out just in time for Christmas too.
• 8:16
  Check it out if you haven't already.
• 8:17
  Full Tilt is the title.
• 8:19
  Let's get back to the convo on Las Vegas F1 now with Matt Hickey.
• 8:24
  The team as a group did such a good job to stitch together the Constructors' Championship, but it does beg a belief some of the things that they either haven't done or haven't done well to end up in this situation now where we've got the three of them, not just the two of them, you know, vying for the title.
• 8:43
  When they wrapped up the Constructors' Championship a little while ago, we thought, right, it's going to be a head-to-head battle for the team.
• 8:47
  between the two orange machines, the two papaya cars.
• 8:51
  Max, I think even in Singapore, the drivers were canvassed about it and Charles Leclerc gave him a 15% to 20% chance, Max Verstappen, of winning the title.
• 9:01
  The odds now are far better than that.
• 9:03
  As we said before, the numbers favour Lando, but we could very easily in the wake of a sprint race at the next round see a significant swing even further in his fortune.
• 9:16
  Yeah, there was lots of criticism and there has been lots of criticism across the year about these papaya rules.
• 9:21
  And in the middle of the year, that criticism maybe seemed a touch far-fetched in terms of the fact, well, they had two drivers up the front, constructors basically stitched up, and like, as you said, Rusty, it was basically going to be a one-on-one duel between these two cars.
• 9:37
  Now we're starting to see a little bit as to why teams for so long
• 9:42
  have had a number one driver when that picture becomes clear in the middle of the year.
• 9:46
  Because all of a sudden, if you don't put it to bed, you get somebody like Max Verstappen, who is now really in and amongst this championship fight with two races to go.
• 9:56
  So I would be very, very surprised based off how the end of this year is playing out if McLaren look to instigate and continue with those papaya rules moving forward.
• 10:07
  Yep, yep, it's a blue.
• 10:09
  I think it's a mistake.
• 10:10
  Was Vegas overhyped this time?
• 10:13
  What did you make of all the Disney celebrations after?
• 10:16
  I mean, it's Vegas, right?
• 10:18
  But there were elements of it where I sort of think, you know, far out.
• 10:22
  It's a bit over the top.
• 10:24
  I'm interested, Rusty, to get your thoughts on Terry Crews driving around the podium in a Lego pink Cadillac.
• 10:32
  Well, I mean, for teams that are powered by either Mercedes or Honda to be jumping in the back of a Cadillac, which is joining the championship next year.
• 10:42
  I mean, it's a town that's known for its glitz and glamour and theatre and show.
• 10:49
  And they seem to have put it on in spades.
• 10:52
  There were elements of the race, I've got to say, Matt, where I didn't think the actual on-track entertainment was that great.
• 10:58
  Yeah, I guess it's with a new circuit, or new-ish, I guess, on the calendar, we're starting to kind of get an idea of what it looks like, and qualifying with the rain made that entertaining.
• 11:10
  That was for sure.
• 11:11
  Yes.
• 11:12
  The on-track, I agree.
• 11:14
  There may need to be a few more places where drivers can pass, but what I do really enjoy about the F1 calendar at the moment is the kind of mixture of we have these races like this where it's a –
• 11:28
  It's a big event.
• 11:28
  It's this big entertaining thing.
• 11:30
  The sideshow is massive.
• 11:31
  We saw Beyonce and Jay-Z there yesterday as well.
• 11:34
  And you've got that glitz and glamour and madness of what Vegas and races and places like it offer.
• 11:40
  But then you also have your traditional...
• 11:42
  historical tracks and races like a Silverstone and a Monaco.
• 11:46
  So I think that is a good mixture for F1 and not only keeps your hardcore motorheads around, but also perhaps your drive to survive generation too.
• 11:56
  And I think they're doing actually a relatively good job of trying to please everyone, although it's very difficult to do.
• 12:02
  I have to eat a bit of humble pie, I reckon, mate, because the reality is where that stuff you're talking about permeates or reaches is far greater than the purest in me.
• 12:12
  And that's obviously a good thing for the game.
• 12:14
  Couple to finish here.
• 12:15
  I thought Kimi Antonelli, although he made life hard for Oscar Piastri, he put in the kind of drive that again reminds us why Toto Wolff has banked on him here.
• 12:28
  Yeah, certainly.
• 12:28
  He's an absolute beast when he gets out there on the track.
• 12:31
  And, I mean, to be in that fight right up the front, we've got to remember this guy was born in 2006.
• 12:37
  Yeah.
• 12:39
  which I don't know about you, Rusty, but that freaks me out a little bit.
• 12:42
  2006 and you're doing that kind of thing on an F1 track is a bit of a concern for some of us who may be a touch older or born with a one at the start, not a two at the start.
• 12:53
  But he's been fantastic.
• 12:55
  Of course, had that little error at the start.
• 12:57
  Looked like he started to roll almost before the lights went out, but a massive race from Kimi, that's for sure.
• 13:04
  Ferrari, your thoughts on where they're at at the moment?
• 13:06
  There's been some tough statements, some criticism, if you like, from the very highest levels of management of the car company.
• 13:14
  What do you think?
• 13:15
  Yeah, it's intriguing.
• 13:16
  I mean, we saw Lewis's comments as well.
• 13:18
  He's obviously not pleased at all with how his year has gone.
• 13:22
  The last couple of races, specifically in qualifying, have been pretty difficult from Lewis's point of view.
• 13:27
  They're going to finish top four on the Constructors, which we almost take as a given these days.
• 13:31
  They're still only 13 points behind Red Bull in third on the Constructors' standings.
• 13:38
  And if you came into this year, if they do eventually somehow manage to pluck out that third, obviously it's going to have to be a joint effort between the two drivers, right?
• 13:45
  versus Max and if you can pick up some points in the background.
• 13:49
  You probably go, that's about where we would expect to have them.
• 13:53
  Now, we all know that the expectations and the legacy of Ferrari is so large that the pressure is always on, and especially when you have a Lewis Hamilton joining the team.
• 14:04
  But look, as we know, new regs next year, we'll just have to wait and see.
• 14:09
  But I think...
• 14:10
  It's not an overwhelmingly disappointing year from Ferrari.
• 14:13
  Yeah, there are some races that were a bit of a letdown, but I don't think it's kind of toys out of the cot situation.
• 14:20
  Was the Aussie versus Kiwi rivalry in full swing with Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri at Turn 1?
• 14:27
  And I kind of worry a little bit about the knock-on effect of some of that, not the Tasman rivalry, more just that it's happening at a critical time for Liam.
• 14:36
  I know that they dismissed it in race control, but he fired up there pretty aggressively, and I know Oscar wasn't too happy about it.
• 14:42
  Yeah, it was one of those turn one incidents, wasn't it?
• 14:44
  I mean, big lock up from Liam on the inside and Oscar, understandably, was pretty upset.
• 14:50
  I think he was also very lucky that he didn't have similar damage to his car that Liam did and we saw how poorly that eventuated through the first kind of lap and a half for Liam and that front wing, the damage it did to the car and he dropped right to the back of the field.
• 15:06
  Look, it's an unfortunate one.
• 15:07
  From an Oscar Piastri point of view, that just comes with when you qualify not on the front row or even not on the second row at times as well.
• 15:17
  So you do get in situations like that.
• 15:20
  And from Liam, we know...
• 15:23
  What a tough year it's been for him.
• 15:24
  And, of course, he's going to be looking to make some big moves down the stretch to try and prove himself and continually prove himself ahead of next year.
• 15:32
  But you have to do it, I guess, within moderation because otherwise you end up on the other side of it like we saw yesterday.
• 15:39
  Would you like to wrap this up with a bold prediction to finish the championship?
• 15:44
  You can think about this, and I'm going to lead you into it.
• 15:46
  Here's mine.
• 15:47
  I reckon we are in for the kind of finish.
• 15:51
  It won't necessarily be the Toto Wolff, Michael Massey, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen finish to that championship that everybody remembers.
• 16:01
  But I have a feeling there is a sting in the tail coming here and this will be a championship and the finish to a championship that we talk about for some time.
• 16:10
  Ross, do you want bold?
• 16:11
  I'm going to give you bold.
• 16:13
  Max Verstappen will be this year's world champion.
• 16:16
  Ho!
• 16:17
  That's big, mate.
• 16:18
  But as we've talked about in this pod here, mathematically doable, knows how to win a championship, psychologically is up for it.
• 16:26
  A title win and the titles that he has in the bank already and what he brings to the table for this fight, it's very difficult for the other two to match that, even with Lando's points advantage, isn't it?
• 16:38
  Yeah, and we can't forget as well, like I mentioned earlier, Qatar, there is a sprint race there as well.
• 16:42
  So there's a few more points on offer than potentially a normal race weekend.
• 16:47
  Max Verstappen to win the championship.
• 16:49
  Hey, quickly, we're chatting to you in Perth.
• 16:51
  What have you been up to at Code Sports and so on?
• 16:53
  Yeah, been very, very busy, busy few days covering the cricket over here in Perth.
• 16:58
  Lots of great content journal-wise and then written and video on social as well.
• 17:04
  But I tell you what, what a whirlwind two days.
• 17:06
  And Rusty, I'm not sure if you spent much time in Perth, but the city's a little bit quiet during the day on a Sunday, except yesterday there were so many English tourists with absolutely no idea what to do with themselves on a Sunday in Perth.
• 17:22
  It was quite a scene to be held.
• 17:24
  We need them to come to a supercar street race there, maybe in the years ahead.
• 17:28
  Great to get you on again, Matt.
• 17:29
  We will, I think, do that to wrap up the 2025 championship, maybe look ahead to 2026.
• 17:34
  You've been awesome with your time this year.
• 17:37
  It is going to be a cracker run to the line.
• 17:39
  That is one thing that's for certain.
• 17:41
  Catch you soon.
• 17:41
  Cheers, Rusty.
• 17:42
  Can't wait, Matt.
• 17:45
  Before we go, the Supercars family and Australian motorsport community has been rocked again following the passing of Alan Moffat just weeks after Gary Rogers left us.
• 17:55
  The Canadian who came to Australia in his late teens made a hell of an impression in touring cars and on the Australian sporting landscape generally.
• 18:05
  Famously with Ford, but also with Mazda and later in the commentary box with the Seven Network.
• 18:11
  As Tony Cochran reflected this week, Alan was a giant of our sport, even pairing with his rival and great friend Peter Brock in later years and a Holden.
• 18:20
  I can recall being with my dad at the Surface Paradise track in the 80s, watching Alan race the RX7.
• 18:27
  They booed him that day.
• 18:29
  He totally owned it.
• 18:30
  And yet, in later life, the very caring and genuine man that I had the chance to interview on occasion, I just couldn't imagine anybody booing him.
• 18:41
  To all of the Moffat family, his friends and the fans who are all hurting right now, our thoughts are with you at this time.
• 18:49
  Rest in peace, Alan.
• 18:50
  Thank you for what you did for motor racing in this country and beyond.
• 18:54
  We'll catch you later in the week, everybody, ahead of the Supercars Grand Final in Adelaide.
• 18:59
  Bye for now.