Latest / Pit Talk / Midyear review: F1's top 10 with commentator Alex Jacques

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Midyear review: F1's top 10 with commentator Alex Jacques · Pit Talk

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Pit Talk brought to you by Shannon's. Cars are our
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  Speaker 4: This is the moment then, that we've all been waiting
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  Speaker 4: for for in a romax.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Here comes Oscar past three, Lando Norris.
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  Speaker 5: They aren't playing hardball out there at the moment.
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  Speaker 4: Steve pevercheol moment to twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
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  Speaker 1: On today's episode, in the mid season break, we're ranking
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  Speaker 1: our top performers of the first part of the Formula
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  Speaker 1: One season from one to ten with F one commentator
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  Speaker 1: Alex Jakes, and we're going to run through the latest
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  Speaker 1: in supercars and Moto GP. My name is Michael Lomonado.
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  Speaker 1: It's great. It's pleasure to have your company and the
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  Speaker 1: company of my co host. Ask him about his contact
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  Speaker 1: manager habits. They're very exciting. It's Matt Clayton.
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  Speaker 5: That is another separate podcasts one we were not going
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  Speaker 5: to here, but perhaps off their people can leave their
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  Speaker 5: thoughts you know, it is very strange. It's after a
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  Speaker 5: weekend where there's been no Formula One and no Motor GP.
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  Speaker 5: This is possibly the most awake you and I have
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  Speaker 5: ever been for this podcast.
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  Speaker 1: It is remarkable. Isn't only daytime racing? Can you imagine them?
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  Speaker 5: Incredible? So we're in Europe. Put your Sundays.
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  Speaker 1: The only thing missing was the Sunday Euros in this case,
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  Speaker 1: just supercars at the weekend with their one end Motor
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  Speaker 1: GP in their mid season breaks and Motor GP resuming shortly.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk about that, but let's start before we get
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  Speaker 1: to our interview in our rankings, which we will take
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  Speaker 1: up the bulk of this podcast with interested versus experts,
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  Speaker 1: straight off the top. Yes, the eternal, eternal subject.
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  Speaker 5: Can I go first?
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  Speaker 1: Please?
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  Speaker 5: All right? So Supercars brock Feeney wins a sprint car
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  Speaker 5: on the weekend. We're back at Queensland Raceway, first time
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  Speaker 5: in a long time. Lots of people at Queensland Raceway,
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  Speaker 5: which was good to see. How did he do it?
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  Speaker 5: Because we know that he won two of the three
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  Speaker 5: races over the weekend, but this is significant. This is
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  Speaker 5: the first time we've seen this format and he was
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  Speaker 5: pretty emphatic, wasn't it really?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, a lot of damp people at Queensland. This was
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  Speaker 1: e'm fatic. We knew it was coming, really because he
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  Speaker 1: already had massed such a big points lead. But this
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  Speaker 1: was the point of the finals. Is that by now
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  Speaker 1: what a you're talking about him already winning the championship.
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  Speaker 1: It's only the Sprint Cup. He won it on that
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  Speaker 1: first race. Some will say provisionally, but that's when the
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  Speaker 1: points were counted up.
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  Speaker 5: He won it then.
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  Speaker 1: And that's important for a couple of reasons before we
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  Speaker 1: talk about the weekend, and that is the automatic qualification
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  Speaker 1: of the finals, which you already had. Any Way, he
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  Speaker 1: can't move out of the top ten even if he
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  Speaker 1: didn't turn up to the endurers that's good for him,
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  Speaker 1: But it's the twenty five bonus points that are important.
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  Speaker 1: So now this weekend obviously having just the end of
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  Speaker 1: the Sprint Cup, but also the end of about this
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  Speaker 1: one thousand the Injura Cups, and we can talk about
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  Speaker 1: his bonus points that are applicable for the first weekend
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  Speaker 1: of the finals. So that means if he if disaster
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  Speaker 1: were to befall him in that first weekend where he
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  Speaker 1: had he'll have at least twenty five bonus points in
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  Speaker 1: his pocket as he wins the Endurer Cup. In a
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  Speaker 1: reminder of the Endurer Cup points and they're not carried
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  Speaker 1: from the Sprint Cup. We're gonna go on a lot
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  Speaker 1: of different points systems now a very Supercars subject. They
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  Speaker 1: kind of reset to zero, not the overall points. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: someone will get another twenty five at the end, and
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  Speaker 1: that's going to be important in a couple of months
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  Speaker 1: when we start talking about the finals. But he had
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  Speaker 1: an almost completely straightforward weekend, would have clean swept it
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  Speaker 1: except for a penalty picked up for jumping the start.
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  Speaker 1: Now I've seen the replays, it's there, but it's it's
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  Speaker 1: extraordinarily fractional. I understand why he felt a bit hard
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  Speaker 1: done by because he also had great starts every race,
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  Speaker 1: like really powerful starts, so unfortunately got ping there. Tried
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  Speaker 1: to challenge his team mate Will Brown for the win
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  Speaker 1: the second race, the Saturday afternoon race, Sunday evening race,
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  Speaker 1: couldn't get it done. Will Brown did get his first
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  Speaker 1: win since Melbourne, which is remarkable. Did drop the third
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  Speaker 1: in the championship standings anyway, because he got a penalty
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  Speaker 1: for Sunday for a pit lane infringement, but that kind
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  Speaker 1: of doesn't matter again except for those bonus points pictures,
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  Speaker 1: but he could get those twenty five in the duros.
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  Speaker 1: That's going to be target now obviously, but that's going
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  Speaker 1: to be its own chapter. But the sprint cut, the
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  Speaker 1: first ever has been wine. He've got the trophy did
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  Speaker 1: brock Feeni the very end of the weekend. So we've
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  Speaker 1: got a lot of trophies this year, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: trophies so far, still pursuing obviously the biggest one at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the year. But at the conclusion, the
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  Speaker 1: natural conclusion of this part of the season, this is
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  Speaker 1: brock Feen is here. There is a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: an irony is now. I was thinking about this before
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  Speaker 1: we move on briefly, that he you know, he's been
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  Speaker 1: building up in all these years in supercars. If this
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  Speaker 1: here had come last year, what is a different story
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  Speaker 1: last year. It's ironic that he's hit this incredible run
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  Speaker 1: and form in the year where a kinda doesn't count
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  Speaker 1: for that much. Yes, do we get to the end
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  Speaker 1: of the year, just briefly before we move on as well,
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  Speaker 1: do you want to talk about the finals picture? Because
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  Speaker 1: that has changed a little bit, not a lot in it.
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  Speaker 1: At the very bottom of reading my notes here, yes,
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  Speaker 1: I reckon there's only two. Look a lot can happen
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  Speaker 1: in your jurors. Because it's three hundred points per race,
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  Speaker 1: it's one race situation, you've got co drivers, everything's a
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  Speaker 1: bit wackier. But for me it's Kai Allen who's twenty
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  Speaker 1: points out of the ten, and Cameron Hill who summed
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and eight points. He was in the ten
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  Speaker 1: not that long ago as well. Thomas Randall's the driver
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  Speaker 1: on the bubble. He had a bit a nor new
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  Speaker 1: weekend or a bit of quiet weekend. And then above
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  Speaker 1: him Ryan Wood, who really doesn't deserve to be so
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  Speaker 1: close to the ten, that's had a bit of bad race,
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  Speaker 1: like an andre heim Gardner who's twenty one points out.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the interesting equation for me. I think for
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  Speaker 1: me it's those two drivers out of the ten. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know who's in the ten, but those bottom two
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  Speaker 1: obviously the most logically at risk. Yes, bottom three, I
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  Speaker 1: should say with Thomas Randall, it's an interesting setup because,
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  Speaker 1: like I say in Duro's can be a little bit random.
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  Speaker 1: That's the state of played Supercars Motor GP back this weekend. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I am interested. I'm also particularly interested in Jack Miller
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  Speaker 1: contract news about which we have not yet seen.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I thought this would have happened either just
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  Speaker 5: before or during the mid season break. I mean, technically
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  Speaker 5: we're still in the mid season break for a couple
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  Speaker 5: of days. But going back to the Italian Grand Prix,
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  Speaker 5: the Yamaha MD Paler Pavesio said that they would make
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  Speaker 5: a decision on Jack Miller or Miguel Olivera at Pramac.
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  Speaker 5: Hasn't happened, and I suspect what's going on here. Now
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  Speaker 5: we know that Jack went off and did the Suzuka
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  Speaker 5: eight hour, finished second in that. To go and give
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  Speaker 5: up a fair chunk of your mid season break to
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  Speaker 5: do that event for Yamaha in Japan is a very
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  Speaker 5: big That would have gone down very well with the
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  Speaker 5: Yamaha Pyes, but I suspect the bigger tail here is
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  Speaker 5: that it's the factory Yamaha seat that Jack may actually
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  Speaker 5: end up in because Alex Rins is in a second
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  Speaker 5: two and a half years now of massive underperformance and
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  Speaker 5: it's a little tough on Alex because he's not been
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  Speaker 5: the same rider since he broke his leg back at Magello.
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  Speaker 5: It's twenty twenty three. You know, he's finished once inside
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  Speaker 5: the top ten since then. It's been that grim and
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  Speaker 5: he is on this two year. He's a fantastic rider,
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  Speaker 5: we know that, but he's not been the same rider
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  Speaker 5: since then. Jack is the second highest place Yamaha rider
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  Speaker 5: in the standings. He's the only one of their four
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  Speaker 5: riders that doesn't have a contract for next year. We
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  Speaker 5: know that top brak Razatlioglu is coming in definitely at Pramak.
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  Speaker 5: What I suspect they might do here is I think
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  Speaker 5: Jack might end up as Fabio Quatrero's teammate at the
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  Speaker 5: factory Yamaha team for a guy that was the last
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  Speaker 5: ride aside for this year. I suspect that Pramak might
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  Speaker 5: go all rookie next year, bring Diogo Mourera up from
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  Speaker 5: Moto to partner him with Razkatliogloo. Almost becomes a B team,
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  Speaker 5: a Yamaha B team if you like, Jack's not going
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  Speaker 5: to be around a motor GP for a long time.
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  Speaker 5: Let's be honest. You know the clock is at what
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  Speaker 5: ten minutes to twelve at this boy, maybe eight minutes,
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  Speaker 5: just twelve but I suspect he could really help that
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  Speaker 5: Yamaha factory outfit. And if he's producing more this early
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  Speaker 5: and his Yamaha tenure than Alex rins has for basically
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  Speaker 5: two and a half seasons, it's harsh and it's not
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  Speaker 5: Alex Rinns's fault. But I suspect that Jack Miller might
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  Speaker 5: be getting some better news and perhaps we thought and
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  Speaker 5: maybe even as early as this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, And what happens with Alex rings And I
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  Speaker 1: have a lot of questions, now, what happened you do
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  Speaker 1: in this situation?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah? Look, it's interesting. There's not a lot of vacancies elsewhere.
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  Speaker 5: I wonder if Alex's destiny now is to perhaps become
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  Speaker 5: a third writer and or test writer. He's still too
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: good and he's high points to just be completely parked,
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: and he's still young enough to be on the grid.
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  Speaker 5: I would say, but where are the openings and teams
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  Speaker 5: are now? You know, you look at the success of
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  Speaker 5: Pedro Costa and Ferminal de Guez come in this year.
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  Speaker 5: Teams are skewing younger now to find that fast young
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  Speaker 5: guy out of Moto two who's not his story hasn't
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  Speaker 5: been written yet. You fear the rins story may have
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  Speaker 5: been written. Again, not his fault, but it's just a
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: confluence of circumstances that he finds himself where he does.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I've just checked my notes a Grand Prix weekend,
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  Speaker 1: which means market is gonna win.
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  Speaker 5: That we might come back to. That's lits a bit
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  Speaker 5: later on, little bit later.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Before we get to Alex Jakes, We've got to go
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to Move of the Week, brought to you by Shannon's.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Now a lot of it was one. There was one racist,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: but I know, knowing you may not be about the race.
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: No, my moves of the week have been going sort
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: of fifteen degrees or further left of center the longer
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: this podcast has gone. So I'm going to go. Move
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: of the Week is DCATI, who are winning basically every
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: motor GP race and winning the world championship this year.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: They sent all of their riders and their test rider
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: Mikaylee Piro to Balloton Park in Hungary last week with
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: seven Panagali superbikes so their riders could get laps in
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: around a brand new circuit that motor GP's visiting at
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: the end of this month. The rules stipulate that you
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: cannot test a GP, it cannot test them any bike
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: at a grawl pre circuit within fifteen days of the
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: event starting. So they went there seventeen days before the
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: event started. They shipped seven brand new Panagalis out there.
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  Speaker 5: All the riders went in on their mid season break
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: and thrashed around Baloton Park for a day. Now, and
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: it's obviously a superbike is not a modor GP bike.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: No one's been to this place before, but all the
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: Decadi guys have. And if you want, this is why
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: they are winning world championships because every little there's no
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: stone left unturned with these guys. We know how dominant
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: they are when they how good their bike is. Let's
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: give the riders some reps around this track that no
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: one's been too yet. And so for me to Move
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: of the week by being ruthless in their domination of
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: motor GP and not not letting the foot off.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I like it a lot. I do like it a lot.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: A great left field pick. I'm going to go with
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: a regular old pick for Moving of the Week, like
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: an actual overtape. Yeah, actually overtaking double overtake in fact,
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  Speaker 1: wasn't heaps of overtaking. It Queensland. But there was a
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  Speaker 1: little bit in that first race and it was Kyle
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  Speaker 1: Allen and Ryan Wood passing Will Brown for second and
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  Speaker 1: third only on the Will Brown stack out of that
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  Speaker 1: was in a little bit damp obviously out of the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: final corner both got him down into the first turn.
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  Speaker 1: It was a fine move. Okay, it was capitalizing on mistake.
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  Speaker 1: The move was fine, but what it meant was that
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  Speaker 1: we got the youngest ever podium in Australian to INCA
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  Speaker 1: Championship history. Twenty two year old was brock Feenie Caons
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: twenty years old. I'm relady written this down obviously, I
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: could never remember this. Ryan is twenty one years old,
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  Speaker 1: so the average age is twenty years and two hundred
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: and sixteen days, which is broke a record, said only Darwin,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: which was two months ago. So just gets younger and younger.
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  Speaker 5: I'm almost older than all those three guys were together.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: That's absolutely terrifying.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: You can do your own calculations at home. But let's
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: move on now, of course, to the main event of
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: this podcast, ranking our top ten drivers of the Formula
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: One season so far, and if you're looking to assemble
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a list of the top ten performers of this season
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: so far. Who better to rely on then the voice
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: of FORMUDA one quite literally, Alex Jakes is the lead
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: commentator of the F one World Feed on f one TV.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: You can also here on Channel four in the UK,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: and if you're a Foxtel Sports subscriber and you have
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: a set top box, you can hear as well with
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: your f one TV Pro subscription, which you have if
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you download the app. If you don't have that, though,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: you can hear him right now. It's Alex Jakes joining
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  Speaker 1: us to rank the top ten performers of the season
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: so far. Alex, it's great to see.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: You right now. I love it. It's great to be
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: with you. How are you, sir?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Doing very well the mid season? Never quite in the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: middle of the year, which frustrates me. But we've had
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a great fourteen rounds so far. I guess I want
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to start before we get into how we're going to
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: be ranking this top ten. You've obviously have a very
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: particular viewpoint of the season as the lead commentator. How's
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the season been in your eyes? Has it gone the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: way you've expected it to go?
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Not at the start, No, not at all.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: I thought we were going to have a pickup from
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: last year where you in and get to some circuits. Ferrari,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: we're going to be quicking some circuits. Max of Staff
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: and we're going to do his things some circuits. McLaren
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: we're going to run away. Obviously we've ended up with
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: the McLaren Show, and that's how it's. That's how it's.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: It's been interesting to go into a two horse race,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: but no I expected a wide open championship and to
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: not know I expected multiple drivers in the mix, and
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: in the end we've got two contenders for the title.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: So something completely different as turned up.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: And one of the cool things I'm guessing from your
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: perspective too, Alex, You've got two drivers in the mix
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: of the title, but two of them haven't done it before.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: There's this newness to the title fight that we can
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: predict how it might pan out, but the fact that
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: neither of them has really been in this position before.
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: We are going to have a first time world champion,
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: but how we get to that, I guess is one
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: of the real sources of intrigue between now and ab Dhabi,
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: isn't it.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And that's a really nice thing to have because
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: you could argue that we I think you've got to
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: go back, realistically, all the way to two thousand and
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: nine for it to be a two horse race. In
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: a similar fashion, it's a great phenomenon in that it's
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: a rare thing in Formula one. I think they're also
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: both acutely aware that chances like this where you've got
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: to beat the other side of the garage, the other
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: side of the garage where you've got full visibility of
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: what they're doing, they don't come around very often. So
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: it's given it a it's given it a heightened intensity
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: that only an enter team battle can bring, and will.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Be fascinating to see how that resolves itself. If you
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: McLaren your adamant that it won't need to resolve itself,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: but we'll wait and see any raceless time someone needs
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: to win. At a minimum. Now we're here to assemble
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: our top ten performers of this first part of the season.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: You at home, undoubtedly will have your own in your
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: mind top ten performers, So it's harder to write down
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a list than you'd think. I encourage you to try it,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and why not tell us on social media as well,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: But I'm sure Also, the three of us may have
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: some differences in the top generally, so I hope we
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: have some Otherwise this segment's going to go very straightforwardly.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: We're also going to be like this as high school rules.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Really the last time I was good at any sports.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: But we'll take it on turns to choose our team.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Because there are three of us and three into ten
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: doesn't quite go. That means someone's going to get extra pick.
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  Speaker 1: And what kind of hosts would we be, Alex if
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: you did not get that extra pick? So why don't
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: you kick us off with your number one performer of
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the first part of the season.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Oscar piastre very close between him and Maxistappen.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: But I think if you've done a straw poll of
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: the paddock at the start of the year, who they
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: thought the contenders were going to be, if you'd ask
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: for a lead McLaren contender. Remember we came into this
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: year expecting it to be a multi team, multi driver battle.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: I think most would have said Lando Norris. So for
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: him to step forward have the most wins of the
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: season so far, I mean he's got six, he could
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: have way more.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: That I think is the frightening thing.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: For everyone else so far this season he has stepped
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: up way beyond a second to third year expectation. And
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: for me, he is the standout performer of the season.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: And yeah, he deserves his championship lead. So he's my
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: number one.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Where did you have him?
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: Mike? We're just out of curiosity because I think we
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: should probably do that as go through these peaks before
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: I go off and you go off and pick number two.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: But I'm assuming you also had Piastre in P one.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Yes, I did not encourage anyone who wants to retain
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the suspense not to check the Fox Sports website where
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: my list was published last week, so you can not
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: do that keep the suspense. But yes, he was my
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: number one as well.
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he was my number one as well. And I
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: think you can dive into a million stats. The one
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: that I keep coming back to is, well, let's see
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: how good your memories either of you. When was the
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: last time Oscar Piastre didn't finish a Grand Prix?
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, good question, A lot time ago.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: It wouldn't have been last year.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: It was the United States Grand Prix of twenty twenty three. Wow,
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: So now we're looking at so it's a forty two
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: race finishing streak, so Hamilton has a record at forty eight,
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: the stap in forty three, so Piastre is currently on
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: the third longest finishing streak in Formula One history. And
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: I think that speaks to a little what you were
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: saying before, Alex, in that we have to remember sometimes
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: he won on Grand Prix for the first time basically
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: one calendar year ago. It does not feel like that.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: It feels like he's been winning Grand Prix for a
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: lot lot longer than that.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, agreed, I think that it's a very good point.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: It was Budapest last year that came in strange circumstances.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: He's just improved in so many facets of his driving.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Like year one, he had the speed, he was able
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: to get front rows, he was able to win sprint races.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: The next year, he was able to improve his tire
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: management throughout. That was the early task set by McLaren
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: and then and then to come into this year and
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: look pretty complete from the word go. I mean you
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: look back in retrospect and I maybe thought at the
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: start of it, wow, this is this is some performance.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: At he's home race from Oscar, He's really really started
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: the season strongly. That level is not let off, that
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: level of I'm not going to wait my turn.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: It's cool that it's cool.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: That you're telling us the whole positions, but I won't
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: be holding positions.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: He dealt with that so early on. Had the had
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: the discussion with the team afterwards about them implementing that order,
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: and I always think if you go back to your team,
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: you have to back that up with a result. Immediately
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: he did that with just a superb performance in China
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: and since then. That's that's to define the dynamic. It's
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: it's it's fifty to fifty, it's both sides of the garage.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Alex. I want to then you forgive us for indulging
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: a little bit on our number one pick when you
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: have so many minutes per pick in the time allocated.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: But he is the Australian contender obviously, But I'm interested, Okay, guys,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: I know, yeah, yeah, I'm sure the accents would have
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: given it away. Question I've been asked a lot as
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the realization has dawned that we may be on track
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: for our first world champion a very long time. Is
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: who saw this coming? We've talked a lot about improvements
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: he's made over these three seasons and that trajectory that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: he's had and perhaps slightly biggest step this season some
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: might have expected. But you've also had the perspective through
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: your commentary duties through Formula three and Formula two in
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: past years when he was competing and winning in those series.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Was it clear to you at that time that this
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: was the trajectory he was on.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, in all honesty, his if you think of different
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: attributes of a driver, his score is so high in
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: so many different categories.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: As take car control in the last couple of races.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: So in Austria would have been very very easy to
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: have an accident, didn't have an accident in budapests would
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: have been very very easy for that lock up to
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: turn into contact with the teammate and give the win
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: to George Russell. I've covered him with live commentary since
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty. I can't remember him hitting many drivers in
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: the entire time that I've covered his career, and if
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: you consider that's from four minute three onwards, where that's
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: basically part of the show is that you watch a
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: more talented drivers occasionally have a bit of a nightmare.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Now his card controlling close combat is ridiculous. And then
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: we've been talking about the journey's been on. I think
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: the expectation across the board was that the fourth season
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: a version of this Oscar Piastro would turn up. For
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: him to be doing it in season three is just
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: above and beyond all expectations. So now answer your question,
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: I thought he'd get to this standard. I did not
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: think he'd get to this standard this quickly.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it also makes you wonder what m'd still be
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to come regardless of how this season pans out. But
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: let's move on from Oscar Piastre. If I'm allowed to
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: say that on the Australian Fox Sports podcast, Matt, you
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: are not a guest, but I guess I've taken a
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: hosting role here, so I suppose I must give you
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: pick number two.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Before we get into pick number two, Michael, can I
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: just explain a little bit of the rationale here behind
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: this list that I've beautifully created In about seven words,
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: I actually came up with six different tiers. My first
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: one to four were pretty obvious. Tier five was a
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: driver all by themselves, Six to nine were in their own.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: Tier ten was in his own tier. There was a
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: tier called eleven to twenty two, and then there was
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: a last tier called lant Stroll.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: So that's where I am. It was the twenty third
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: ranks driver.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: It's only because I couldn't It's only because I couldn't
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: rank him twenty fourth, Michael. But now that you've been
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: so kind to give me the number two pick in
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: this draft, and Alex mentioned that it's an either or question,
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: I think it has to be Max for Stappen. We
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: know that he's third in the World Championship, but you
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: look at what he did early in the season. I
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: think it's actually looking better the further we get away
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: from the beginning of the season with those two early wins.
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: But the stat for me ninety four point nine percent
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: of his team's points. And the thing I keep thinking
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: with Max for Stappan is it's not so much what
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: he's doing. Let's put another driver in that car this year.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: Let's just say for the sake of this exercise, that
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: Max for Stapfen doesn't exist, and you've got random other
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: driver next to first Liam Lawson and then Yuki Sonoda.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: Where's Red Bull in the Constructor's Championship they're probably ahead
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: of Alpine, Are they ahead of anyone else? I'm really
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: not sure. And so you look at what Verstappen's done
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: in what he has had to drive at the beginning
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: of the year, it was probably a better car relative
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: to the rest that it is now. That to me
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: is the reason he has to be number two on
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: the on this list, because I don't think his level
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: has dropped at all. Is testament to how good his
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: level is. That he's managed to drag the performances out
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: of this car that he has.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean number two. I mean you've sort of
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: already hinted or suggested that number two was also Max
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: for staff and Alex. But for me, I've got I've
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: I've dissented from this. Maxis Staff no third pick for me,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: so I'm interested. I don't know. I guess I'll give
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: away my pick number two, but it kind of gives
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: away who I'm going to pick for number three. But
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I had George Russell as the second best before. But Alex,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: what you'll take on Max for Staffen's season in the
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: first year we've seen a long time, which he does
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: not have the kind of car that can take him
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: to a Driver's Championship.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think he realistically knew that, So that's
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: the first point to start with. He would have known
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: very very early on that he was fighting in the
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: same way he was at the back end of last season.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: And he knows in his heart of hearts that okay,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: the McLaren drivers might split their points like nineteen eighty
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: six style, two thousand and seven style, but he knows
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: that he's on an unlikely tilt so to produce the
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: pole app that he did into Zuka to hold both,
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: they had both McLaren's and his wheel tracks off Intozuka,
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: that epic start to.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: The race in Imola, as well the fact he took
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: pole position in Miami.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, at this stage of the season, when it's
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: zero sung between the two McLaren's, he was stealing old
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: positions and Grand Prix victories in the way that only
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: an all time great can. It's as simple as that.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: You just got it with Senna and Schumacher. We saw
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: it with Hamilton, especially in these early McLaren days, where
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: he was just able to win races that others were not.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: You're seeing it again here.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Maxistafin could easily have gone winless pollless for the entire season.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: The fact he won't do that keeps that run going
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: of winning in every season since twenty sixteen.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Just masterful.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: There are some races where he was ahead of the
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: McLarens that he just should not have been, and that
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: type of performance. Those are the drives that you remember.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: And the fact he was committed enough to still be
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: in the mix is still doing that. He's fighting and
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: losing battle and he knows it, and he still picked
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: off a couple of wins between now and the end
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: of the year. So that's why it's my number two
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: because he easily could have had if you look at
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: the points in the other car, as was referenced, he
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: easily could have just found himself going, I've won four
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: in a row. I'm exhausted, like it can take a
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: nice easy season. Remember Vettel season after four in a
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: row would have been very similar, not bad, but not
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: winning races. Daddy Ricky all the winning in twenty fourteen.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: So that's why he's my number two.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I like that Bettle analogy. Actually it's one I hadn't
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: considered that. Obviously, different circumstances, different teammates very much so
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: but there is an element of you could easily have
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: put in quite an average season so far and got
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: away with it. Really probably got away with it even
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: more than Mettle did, but has not committed to that.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: So judging by that, Michael, it sounds like you've got it.
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: Sounds like the Stappens. You're number three. But so given
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: that you do have the number three pick, perhaps you
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: should mention the name you've already mentioned, because I think
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: that's where you're going for your second pick, isn't it.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So it was close, and my top three was
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: very close to be here. I think, as we've all suggested,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: this has been a tight top of the field. But
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: it's George Russell's number two for me or number three,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I guess in our ranking I'll cop that. But I
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: think I've been really impressed, and it's a step that
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: started perhaps halfway through last season. It's been really solidified
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: now that Mercedes is very He much relied on him
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: having a rookie in the other side of the garage.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: He's just so dependable now in a way that even
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: about a year ago, I don't think he was. Like
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: we think back to Canada, maybe that's close to eighteen
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: months ago now last year, you know, that was a
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: victory that had gone begging for Mercedes at the time,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: but through him and at Leando nos at the same
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: at the time sort of fumbled the chance and Maxis
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Staffan was able to come through for a victory at
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: that time. This year, Canada, I thought was the perfect
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: reply to that, in which he was absolutely flawless. And
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: it's not only in Canada, but there's almost no race
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: other than well, you can't even say Monica. It was
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: a technical problem in qualifying that deprived him. There can't
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: really think of any major eraror he's made this year
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: in which Mercedes has allowed points to slip past in
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: one race maybe in Miami, where he wasn't quite on
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Antonalli's levels, strangely enough, the only time this year that
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: hasn't really happened other than that, a car that's been
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: so hot and cold this year as much probably as
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: almost any Mercedes gone the last few years, despite the
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: positive start of the season they've had, has just been
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: so rock solid in a way that I think ablishes
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: him in that upper to you. In a way we
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: knew he had the potential to be, but I think
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: is only really in the last twelve months really proved
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: so he was my number two, but he is our
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: number three.
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna say, Michael, I've got few notes to add
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: to that. My George Russell category on my list here
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: just says a man who has very few bad days,
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: and it just feels that he is just almost the
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: most dependable if you're not driving a McLaren, the most
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: dependable guy on the Gridford knowing where he's going to be.
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: He's the gap between his best days and his worst
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: days is pretty narrow, and that's not something you can
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: say for a lot of people on this list.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: And only fifteen points behind the staff on the Championship
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: at this point, which I think is also indicative in
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a car Why don't know, Alex have insted in your take,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: but I guess on average a CARVA has not been
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: as good as the Red Bull's had some better days
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: than the Red Bull, but I think that's quietly impressive.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: His closeness to the staffen on the title table.
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is impressive, and I think we've got to
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: add into the fact that he's had the contract hanging
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: over his head all season long as well, and honestly
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: seeing it on the ground, it was beginning to affect.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Him at some races.
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: So the fact that he's kept that consistency in performance,
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: it's got to stop going for these dry tired gambles.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: Was not this again, honestly, Like you see Charlote and
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: George in for the Slicks earlier and you're like, not
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: this again, guys, this doesn't come on so that race,
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: there's no need for this. But yeah, the yeah, apart
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: from that, and and Monaco, which you know, just the
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: nature of qualifying did for him. Then no, to to
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: get that win pole position and win and just keep
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: the rest of the field on the end of the
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: jab in Canada was very very impressive, stealing front rows
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: when he's got no right to as well, very very
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: similar in that regard to the Staben And yeah, and
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: with the Mercedes team that haven't been certain of the
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: of the design direction of the car, which has been
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: a facet of the last couple of seasons as well.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: So yeah, deserved placing for George Russell and his best
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: season so far.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I think in F one, Yes, I think that's a
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: solid top three if nothing else. But Alex, we're back
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to you if you want to take us away with
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: number four for the second round of picks.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, feel a bit.
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: Harsh putting this guy at number four, but yeah, Lando
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: Norris driver who's won four Grand Prix so far this year,
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: the preseason title favorite according to the bookies, and the
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: reason that I have him lower down is just purely
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: because I expected him to have the season that Oscar
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: Piastre has had. It's as simple as that. It's there
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: was a a he knew coming into this year what
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: the car was going to be capable of. I think
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: by the time that they realistically got to Bahrain and
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: saw the state that Red Bull rn that he would
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: have known that he had a brilliant opportunity. And essentially
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: I expected him to get the start that Oscar got.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Since then, he's had to go through a tough moment.
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: I think Saudi was a very very tough moment where
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: and this is, you know, not an easy thing to say,
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: but it did appear that the pressure was slightly getting
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: to him in that moment. He's come through really nicely,
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: obviously had the contact in Canada, but in the most
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: recent phase of the season looking like the Lando that
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: I think many expected to start the campaign. And some
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: really really close battles. Austria could have easily slipped through
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: his fingers, Hungry could have easily slipped through his fingers.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: So a much better second second stint of the first
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: half of the season. But yeah, he's opening races are
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: the reason why I've got him lower down.
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's fair, Alex Michael. He was for context. He
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: was third on my list. He was ahead of Russell,
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: not by a lot, but he was third on my list,
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: ahead of Russell. And I was particularly impressed with the
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: response after Canada because that felt like, oh, this could
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: be one of those ted Pole moments of a season
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: we look back at and this is where things started
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: to unravel a little bit. He's won three in the
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: last four since then. Okay, Silveston was a gift with
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: a penalty and Hungary he played this strategy card of
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: someone who had nothing to lose because he had already
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: lost that race until he won it. So there is
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: context to two of those three wins in that span.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: But the bounce back from Canada was something that I
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: wouldn't say that I had trust issues, but I didn't
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: necessarily see that coming based on what we've seen from him.
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: In the past it felt like it was something that
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: might linger for a little bit. So that's been really impressive.
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: But I think Alex summed it up really well. He's
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: had a perfectly acceptable season in a very good car.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: But the season you expected him to have was perhaps
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: the more rock solid season that Piastre has had, and
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: it's for that reason that he falls on the list
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: for me. But it sounds like you might have him
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: a little bit higher, actually, sorry, a little bit lower
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: than me.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: No, No, fourth was the fourth was where I had him,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: because it's hard to put the guy's only nine points
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: behind the championship leader much lower than fourth. I think
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: we've identified some exceptionalscumstances and the guys that are ahead
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: of him. I think for me the differentiation is and
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I may I say this to me no disservice too
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: what he has showed us so far, But you could
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the points Martin could even really go either way. I
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: mean at nine points, of course that's the case. But
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: for me, in the circumstances in which you go back
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: through the races and calculate how Norris could have ended
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: up ahead at this point, a lot of it is
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: more to do with mistakes on his part. If you
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: go back and find a way for Oscar be further ahead,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: which could happen as we alluded to earlier, it seems
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: more like it's bad luck that's held him back a
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: little bit. And again I say that not to say why,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you know, Norris should have been blown away or he's
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: been driving terribly, because as you said mat in the
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: last month or so, a lot of those mistakes that
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: cost him dearly are largely being eyed out so far. Well,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: wait and see what it's the case after the break
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: as well. But for me, it feels like if the
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: gap was going to be bigger, it would largely be
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: because Oscar got a little bit better a rub of
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: the green, whether you're talking about Hungary. And again, take
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: nothing away from the great Norris drive he put in
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: there after that first lap or oh, of course a
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: British Grand Prix. Okay, we can talk about whether or
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: not a penalty falls into the luck category. But it's
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: very close. You know, this is a very close top four,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: don't need two of them can win the title. So
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I guess if he wins it, he'll probably have to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: go to number one. The big jump by the end
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: of the year and we redo the thankings. But it's
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: interesting to consider that he's down in fourth considering how
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: close this isn't like you said, Alex, how much he
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: was expected to be the title leader by this point.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's.
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: An expectation thing that Lando's putting together his first full
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: championship campaign.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: He had a tilt last year, but no one expected
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: for Stappen to see it would have been the largest
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: ever points collapse in the history of the World Championship.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: If for Stappan had lost the title, It's just not
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: gonna happen.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: It's just not gonna happen with the driver of the
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: Stappen's caliber and a team that we're used to winning
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: titles year in year out, had the expertise, and they
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: still had a lot of their big hitters in place
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: at that point.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: You know, race management from.
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: Jonathan Wheatley on a race by race basis, as as
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: we've seen with self worth worth an awful lot.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: So that was never that was never going to happen.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: So this is his first full campaign and the one
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: caveat I would say is, you know, if you finish
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: strong and you have all the momentum at the end
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: of the year, you'd rather have it that way round
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: than get the strong start. But I did expect him
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: to get the start that Oscar gott and I think
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: that's why he's slightly lower on all of our lists.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Well, largely cordial, but I guess it's two to one
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: to keep him in fourth. So he is four. Matt,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: tell me about your number five, I reckon.
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: We've spent a lot of time talking about Oscar Piastri
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: and other drivers ahead on this list. I don't think
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of things that need to be said
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: about this driver because he's fifth on my list, he's
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: probably fifth on yours, Alex, he's also probably fifth on yours.
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: He's in a category of one for me at Charla Clair,
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: I don't think he could be considered for my top four.
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: But he feels to me like he's a good way
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: ahead of all the rest of them, and particularly his
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: teammate will be interested to see where he comes up.
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: It kind of feels that he's just a nailed in fifth.
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: This is life for Charla Clair in twenty twenty five.
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: It's had its high points, it's not been as high
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: as he would quite like he has his teammate covered.
• 34:03
  Speaker 5: He's not really going to be challenging the top four.
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: There's nothing behind him. He particularly needs to worry about
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: Charlock cli fifth place if I won't fight you if
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: you disagree with me, but I'll be very clexed.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: No fifth for me as well, Alex. I think I
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: saw not there. It does feel like he's a very
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: fifth driver this year.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he's well.
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: I think he's done well to get a number of
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: podiums that he's got. I think he's done well to
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: steal a few of those. Spar was one lockup and
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: max of staff and was by for example. Yeah, third
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: place in Spain was good tactics, good team tactics all
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: the way back to Saturday as well. He's obviously devastating
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: to miss out on pole position in Monaco because he
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: wasn't that far away and he knows what it would
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: have meant. Monaco and Budapest are two big opportunities for
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: him to win a Grand Prix, but no Ferrari, wrong
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: designed direction, and it's left him in a lonely you know,
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: lots of lonely races and a lonely part of this table.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: But I had him fifth as well, I want to.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Ask you, Alex, because one of the great I think
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: genuine and I say this not just because you're a
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: guest and I can tell you your face, but it's
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: a great moment of commentary last year. Last year's won
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: to co Grand Prix of Charlotte Clair winning. I think
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: even greater in retrospect because that's the only time he's
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: converted from pole in the last sixteen races, which is
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: very grimistic for Charlotteclair sixteen being his number as well.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Something Maybe I don't know what that's going to mean
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: going cool, but it strikes me and it's a bit
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: more of a long forward looking question. But he's had
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of obviously great moments with Ferrari, but the
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: list of disappointments rose, do you see? And we all
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: hope Ferrari gets back to a competitive picture next year
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: because it is good for the sport. When Ferrari is
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have to dominate, but it needs to be
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: in contention where that rubber band of relationship between him
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: and Ferrari is at risk of breaking. Considering we're now
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: entering the years we would consider a driver's most productive.
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: I just don't I just don't think so. I mean,
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: obviously there's going to have to be a point where,
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: you know, if a resurgeon Aston Martin came calling with
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: a really strong Honder power unit and Adrian Newey firing
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: on all cylinders, something like that would be pretty pretty tricky.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't it be pretty.
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: Tricky for him to go, well, what's the evidence that
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: I can win here? But he has such an emotional
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: bond with that team, He's been with them for a
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: long time. I get the sense that if you offered
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: him three titles and one team and one title at Ferrari,
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: that he'd probably he'd probably more desperate to succeed with Ferrari,
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: purely because of the amount of time and years he's
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: put into it. But one of the reasons that the
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: commentary went the way it did in twenty twenty four
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: is that you just never know when drivers are going
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: to get these chances. You know, if you go back
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: to Fernando Alonso, you would have said, oh, of course
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: it'll with more than two titles, and so that that, Yeah,
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: that historic journey to be a Monaco Grand Prix winner
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: in Monaco also one of the main reasons for doing
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: that as well. Is we have so many new viewers, right,
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: We have so many people who have discovered the sport
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: in the last couple of years.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: On Channel four.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: We have a lot of people who maybe don't watch
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: every single week and dip into it for the feature
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: race highlights.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I just didn't want anyone to think, oh, spoil rich
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: kid from Monaco. Why do I care?
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: So that the reason for that was like, here's why
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: you should care, because it's an extraordinary story. But in
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: terms of the Ferrari relationship, I think it will. I
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: think it will endure for a long time. But they're
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: on there, you know, in the history of the World Championship,
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: they're on their longest windless streak now and they've got
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: one of the all time great driver Beirings. So the
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: timing of it is not is not ideal. But no,
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: I don't think the rubber Band's going to snap Aston
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: Martin contest that in a few years time.
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: I think, think what you just said that Alex is
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: really interesting because if he gets beaten to race wins
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: in a World Championship by teams that have been in
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: the mix or ahead of him for most of the
• 38:08
  Speaker 5: time he's been at Ferrari that is one thing. If
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: someone comes from behind and pinches one while he still
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: is where he is, that is going to be twisting
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: the knife to a level that you would not believe.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: And I just think that you talk about that history,
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: it now becomes unprecedented. It's all the more reason for
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: him to want to stick around, to be the guy
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: to rewrite that. I think. I think, if anything, it
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: almost strengthens the bond. It's like it's just the way
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: he is as a personality. It's like, no, I am
• 38:35
  Speaker 5: going to be the person that gets this done. Now,
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: whether that's a futile exercise, we don't know, but it'd
• 38:40
  Speaker 5: be an even more magical story if he had suffered
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: through all of the lean times, if he is the
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: guy that actually breaks the drought. And how would he
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: feel if Lewis Hamilton won a title Ferrari after he'd
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: been there for five minutes?
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: That would be interesting? Would that would be interesting? But
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: perhaps we'll learn as we get further down the ranking. Well,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about how like that is sad times
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: for Charlotte Weir, although at least still have the record
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: for some time for longest graphic radio message in the history,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: for which there is a terrific Star Wars meme. I
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: encourage you to go and search it out. You have
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: not seen it in that.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Ranking memes. That's number one so.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Far because it's too easy, so just you knew it
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: would be easily number one. Time to come to my
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: turn pick number six, and I'm very excited to go
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: off this part of the rank because I think this
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: is actual where it gets hard. You might get very hard.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: How straightforward the top five were, we have minded disagreements,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: but number six downwards, I think it is more difficult.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to start. Well, for me, it's it
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: was a difficult pick, but I think it just feels
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: right to have Alex Albon at number six. He has
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: had some up and down patches, I guess in this
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: latter part of this first half of the season, but
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: continues to be the guy you know for the last
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: four years and a half years. You have to ask
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: the question, where would Williams be if it did not
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: have Alex Albon in the liner and any question is
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: probably a lot lower down the Constructors Championship regularly scoring points,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: He's got his best Williams finish of his Williams career
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: this year, and he's got it three times for fifth place.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Considering where Williams has been in recent years, that is
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: more impressive than it might sound to some people and
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: condus just to be very consistent to doing all the
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: things we've got used to seeing him to pull off
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: unusual strategies, great qualifying performances when the car comes to him,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: and to be fair to that deep in performance he
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: may have had, let's say a couple of months ago
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: or a month or so ago, that was when the
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Williams car was finding itself less and less competitive to
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: a midfield that was improving more than it was. But
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: more recently that one upgrade team originally said wasn't coming
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: but did end up coming, has returned again to being
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the sort of leader of the midfield, except in Hungry
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: where the car did not perform. So for me, it
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: felt pretty solidly number six. But I don't know it.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing there's some mixed reactions there.
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: Well I had him so ah good.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Happy to do it?
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Are Yeah, I haven't had him at number six.
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: I think he knew at the start of the year
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: this was going to be a Paddock perception type of
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: season for him. Got a race winner, proven race winner
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: coming into the team as well. This was the moment
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: to say I belong in that category. I'm I'm as.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Good, if not better.
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: If Carlos Signs are going to prove it, and you're
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: all going to see that, and you're all going to
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: jump to the conclusion that I could be a race
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: winner in Formula one if given the right machinery. Started
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: with that intention, blew Carlos away in the start of
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: the qualifying heads ahead, Carlos called him up again. Then
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: he's disappeared. He's had an outstanding season. Yeah, eighth in
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: the World Championship. Obviously got a little bit lost when
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: the car was unreliable, but he yeah, and you know
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: the non scoring bar Raim was because of a weird
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: quirk qualifying.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: He's knocked out in Q one and he shouldn't have been.
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: So outstanding season for him, and he knew that the
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: padot was going to form an opinion when he was
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: teammates of carl Signs and we get to the we
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: get to the mid season break and the opinion is, yeah,
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: Alex alban As, we suspected the real deal and if
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: you gave him a race winning car, he'd be very comfortably.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: In the mix.
• 42:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Michael p six on violist
• 42:17
  Speaker 5: as well, and I did with your I did, I did.
• 42:22
  Speaker 5: I was just trying to confuse the video watches. No,
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: he was pix on my list endorse everything you guys said, Michael.
• 42:29
  Speaker 5: To circle back to something that you said, where would
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: Williams be without Alex Albon? I'll reframe that, where might
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: Red Bull Racing be if they'd had Alex Albon? Because oh, look,
• 42:37
  Speaker 5: they did have him, wouldn't they, And wouldn't he be
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: a great second driver alongside Bax for Stepan right now?
• 42:41
  Speaker 5: But probably no more needs to be said about that.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Williams just full of drivers, would be great in the
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Red Bull Racing car, wouldn't It's so true. I think
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: I didquire.
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: I think they recently inquired about Alex Alban within the
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: last couple of years. I think they tried to get
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: him back. So that is thinking that Red Bull themselves
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: have had, is my understand.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, if we were to write the own all
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: the thoughts that Red Bull Racing has head over the
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: last twelve to eight months, it'd make for a missing
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: and confusing list.
• 43:12
  Speaker 5: Longer podcasts and the best memes of twenty twenty five podcasts.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Well, an agreeable number sixteen, But Alex, why don't you
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: take us to your number seven?
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: Number seven? Is Isaac Hadja for me?
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Interesting?
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: He had a nightmare in Melbourne. And the one thing
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: I knew about Isaac Hadjer is that he was rapid.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: I didn't know if he had the mental strength to
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: bounce back from tough moments in Formula one. So when
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: you start with, let's be honest, an embarrassing moment to
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: introduce yourself to the world when you're in the wall
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: on the formation, that that is that. I was a
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: little bit worried for him up against Yuki Sonoda as
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: a teammate.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: How's this guy going to do?
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: As it turns out, I wasn't going to have you
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: he Soda for a teammate very long, and I.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: Was going back immediately.
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: I think the reason I've got him so high is
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: his core speed at certain points of the season has
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: just been outstanding. There are so many times across a
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: session where you're like, that is a ridiculously good lap
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: he's and you don't know if that's ever going to
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: translate from Formula two to Formula One, and I've just
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: been mighty mighty impressed with his ability to improve the
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: racecraft all the way through to work with the team.
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: But I just think he's rapid, and he looks rapid
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: in Formula One as well. I'm just so pleased to
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: see him score so many points. He's obviously had a
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: slightly tougher run in recent races, but the way that
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: he bounced back and showed his talent after Melbourne, I
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: think he's been absolutely outstanding and he's actually paid back
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: Red Bull. You know, Red Bull take pelters for a
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: variety of different reasons, but he had a very ordinary
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: first season in Formula two. They could have cut him
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: from the program, they could have said nope, but they
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: believed in him.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: Second year, he contends for the title.
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: And I think he looks a very worthy occupant of
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: a car on the grid.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: And that's why I've put him so high.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: Where did you have him, Michael? I had him only
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: one place lower in eight for all the same reasons.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: Pretty much. I really like that he's thirteenth the championship.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: The Racing Bulls cars on average been the sixth fastest
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: car and qualifying his average qualifying position is eighth best
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: in the field, better than any driver that's not in
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: the front running car, and better than some drivers in
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: front running cars. That's really impressive, like Hiss as the
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: raw speed is clearly there, and for a lot of
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: this season his racers have also been really good. You know,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: there have been rookie mistakes and he has lost his
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: way a little bit, like a rookie is inclined to do,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: particularly in the way the midfield has moved this year,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: but has been much more solid than you would ever
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: have guessed, a judging by the kind of reluctant, dreadfull
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: racing kind of was to promote him, or just because
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: of the way that whole driver program is set up,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: or has been mired in a mess for the last
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: eighteen months, and then of course that crash in the
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: first round tempted to think that this was going nowhere.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: But it's not only the bounce back, but just the
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: can level he's consistently been at to the point where
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: it's easy to forget that even happened in Australia. Yeah
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: it is.
• 46:10
  Speaker 5: I've got to say, after listening to you too, I
• 46:11
  Speaker 5: feel slightly bad now about my list because I had him,
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: I had him tenth. I feel a bit, oh, I
• 46:17
  Speaker 5: feel like I want to hide under the table after
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: saying that, and not because I particularly don't rate what
• 46:22
  Speaker 5: he's done. I think he's been really, really good, and
• 46:24
  Speaker 5: to my mind, I think I probably had the lowest
• 46:27
  Speaker 5: expectations for him out of all of the rookies. So
• 46:30
  Speaker 5: he's the one to me that's succeeded by preseason expectations
• 46:33
  Speaker 5: of all of the new guys coming in by the
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: greatest margin, and that probably deserved higher than tenth on
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: my list. And I feel bad about it. It's nothing personal,
• 46:41
  Speaker 5: but he's been excellent. The mental resilience, I mean Australia was,
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: as you said, Alex was absolutely crushing. I mean, of
• 46:48
  Speaker 5: all the things to do in your first Grand Prix,
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: we haven't seen I can't even remember the last time
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: we saw someone do that on their debut, and you
• 46:54
  Speaker 5: know the public humiliation that that was. But he's just
• 46:58
  Speaker 5: been genuinely, very very good. And something you just said
• 47:01
  Speaker 5: then before, Michael, perhaps we should have seen this coming.
• 47:03
  Speaker 5: The fact that the Red Bull Racing pipeline seemed wholly
• 47:06
  Speaker 5: uninterested in giving him a promotion may have been the
• 47:08
  Speaker 5: absolute endorsement of how good he was going to be
• 47:10
  Speaker 5: given what happens to everybody they do rate. But there
• 47:13
  Speaker 5: you go.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: I'll be glad to know he didn't take any of
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: that personally at a minute, dropping him to ten. But
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: in my case, I'm very interested because you're the next pick.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Who is next on your lives.
• 47:25
  Speaker 5: We're going from one end of the agent experience spectrum
• 47:28
  Speaker 5: to the other. I've got Fernando a Lotso' seventh for
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: me to me he gets this season half season award
• 47:34
  Speaker 5: for doing the most with the least. And you look
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: at the way his season has gone no points in
• 47:38
  Speaker 5: the first eight rounds, twenty six points in the past
• 47:40
  Speaker 5: six rounds, and so it's not twenty twenty three reducts
• 47:44
  Speaker 5: all over again where he's making podiums. And you simultaneously
• 47:47
  Speaker 5: have all the old heads in Formula one like me going,
• 47:50
  Speaker 5: see told you this A Lotso guy was good, and
• 47:52
  Speaker 5: then all the Netflix newbie's going that old bloke's pretty quick,
• 47:54
  Speaker 5: isn't he? That Alonso guy? He looks all right, you're
• 47:57
  Speaker 5: not getting that quite you know that twenty twenty three
• 47:59
  Speaker 5: opening anymore. But in terms of what he's had to
• 48:02
  Speaker 5: work with, and how he's had to work with it
• 48:04
  Speaker 5: fourteen zero against his tea boat and qualify, which sort
• 48:07
  Speaker 5: of goes without saying to some degree, but I think
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: he's been I don't think his level when he's fully
• 48:14
  Speaker 5: motivated and on his good days is particularly dropped off.
• 48:17
  Speaker 5: I do get the sensora a couple of days in
• 48:19
  Speaker 5: a season where things are looking a little hopeless and
• 48:22
  Speaker 5: perhaps the effort level and commitment to the cause might
• 48:25
  Speaker 5: not be pik Alonso, but that's only because pik Alonso
• 48:28
  Speaker 5: is a completely different animal, and we talked about this
• 48:31
  Speaker 5: on our last podcast. I love seeing him in a
• 48:34
  Speaker 5: race where there's a sniff of doing something slightly mischievous.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 48:39
  Speaker 5: I loved what he did in Budapest, where you just
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: looked at the timing tower in the first fifteen laps
• 48:44
  Speaker 5: and you thought, I know exactly what you're doing here.
• 48:47
  Speaker 5: And the best thing is every other person in the
• 48:49
  Speaker 5: field knew exactly what he was doing as well, setting
• 48:51
  Speaker 5: himself up to finish fifth in that Grand Prix and
• 48:54
  Speaker 5: executed it absolutely flawlessly.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Mischievous.
• 48:56
  Speaker 5: Alonso is still one of my favorite altsos, so that's
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: why he is seventh on my list.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: That's the peak Alonso, isn't it mischiev isn't it? I'm interested,
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: dastardly as love it. Even if some fans must surely
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: wonder why Sonny Hayes has a Spanish accent, it is
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: still good to have him in the mix. I wonder
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: watch this along now though our first Does that sound
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: about right to you? Alex should ask you. Of course,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: we're consultative on this list to have phenandenon Onso around here.
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: He's forty four.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: He's forty four, and he's still contending at the front
• 49:36
  Speaker 4: in Formula one. I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous. The fact
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: he still wants to keep coming back, the fact that
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: he gives us moments of you know, he's provisionally on
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: the front row at the weekend. He's still providing magical moments.
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: He's still a wonderful part of the grid and delivering
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: top fives at forty four years of age. Absolutely ridiculous,
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: And to be honest, there's no press for that in
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: the in the modern history of Formula one, and even
• 50:03
  Speaker 4: when you go back to the to the era, brilliant
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: names who were competing at this age include Graham Hill
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: and Jack Brabham in cars that were much slower, much
• 50:16
  Speaker 4: less strenuous, required less fitness. He's essentially rewriting what's possible
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: for a driver in their forties and Formula one and
• 50:27
  Speaker 4: just give him a car where he can compete at
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: the front and we'll see more magic. But yeah, the
• 50:32
  Speaker 4: only disappointment for me for the last weekend was that
• 50:34
  Speaker 4: he didn't take provisional poll because Jonian Farmer alongside me
• 50:38
  Speaker 4: in commentary be saying that Aston always fade away from practice, and.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: At the start.
• 50:45
  Speaker 4: Of the session to wind him up, I'd highlighted Alonso
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: hadn't taken pole since Hockenheim twenty twelve, and the fact he.
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: Nearly took provisional pole would be one.
• 50:54
  Speaker 4: Of my favorite ever commentary box moments.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: So close, so close to wing.
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: But no, he's deservedly in that in that ranking.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: I like it. You don't know when it's going to
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: happen next year. We all hope he make his hands
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: on a more competitive car. All right, the pick comes
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: back to me for number nine and I'm going to
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: go with I think we despite the fact we've already
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: picked Ayacadja, I think a very close contender for Rookie
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: of the year. I think this is a really interesting
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: battle that's emerged, one that I didn't see coming at
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: the start of the year. It's Gabriel Portoletto. Yes, in
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: the points, he's behind Nico Holkenberg, but of course Nico
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: had that great podium in Silverston. It's taken Portletto a
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: little while to warm up to it with any end, so
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: has the car taken a little while to warm up
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: to being in Formula One. But it's the fact that
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: it's five all in the race head to head, that
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: he's a head in the qualifying head to head eight six.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: He's a head on the average fastest lap in qualifying
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: by half a tenth point zero six six hundreds. We
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: calculate that number precisely. This is a rookie who shouldn't
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: be out qualifying so regularly, even if the margin is
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: a smaller driver with so much more experience in a
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: car that isn't great, that doesn't look like it is.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: This most straightforward car to drive, that was until about
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: two months ago, the swallest car in Formula One. But
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: he's done so well to build up to this moment.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: It's been really impressive. It's been sort of a solid
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: and steady build up. It hasn't been overreach. He's built
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: into it. We shouldn't forget he's the Formula two champion
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: as well. I feel like sometimes we discount that status
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit in Formula one for whatever reason. And
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: he did it in a great way, of course, having
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: won Formula three before that, so maybe we shouldn't have
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: been so impressed. But I've been really impressed with his
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: first season. So he's number nine on my list.
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, hard to argue with that. I'll tell you one thing.
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: For the Formula two championship last year, a lot of
• 52:42
  Speaker 4: people were saying, oh, the new car, the new car
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: has changed things. It's given us a bit of a
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: random order. Well, given Bordletto season doesn't look so random anymore,
• 52:51
  Speaker 4: does it.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: He.
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: I was worried at the start of the year he
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: just wasn't going to have a car to show his
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: talent the titles, so he blew the field away in
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: Formula three. Formula two is a really close battle, really
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: open season, and then it became a head to head
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: with Hadja and he just was so good racecraft wise.
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: He was so good is his speed in qualifying this
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: year up against Houltenberg that I've just been like, I
• 53:19
  Speaker 4: just did not see that coming in year one, and
• 53:24
  Speaker 4: I think he is surprised the team and Formula One
• 53:27
  Speaker 4: and deserves his place in the top ten.
• 53:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Michael, he was tenth on my list. The thing
• 53:33
  Speaker 5: I'll add to what you guys have said about him
• 53:35
  Speaker 5: that I've really liked, he's risen with the tide. I
• 53:38
  Speaker 5: think that's a really really strong sign as the rookie is,
• 53:41
  Speaker 5: as the car has got better, as it's become more competitive,
• 53:44
  Speaker 5: as it's become more capable of better results. He's risen
• 53:48
  Speaker 5: with that. For a guy who's done fourteen Grand prixstarts,
• 53:50
  Speaker 5: I think that's super, super impressive. Given the pedigree, perhaps
• 53:54
  Speaker 5: we shouldn't have been surprised, but given where that car
• 53:56
  Speaker 5: started at the beginning of the season, I mean that
• 53:59
  Speaker 5: it looked like was going to be a pretty long,
• 54:01
  Speaker 5: fraught season for him. So the fact that he's managed
• 54:03
  Speaker 5: to get in our top ten fourteen rounds in his
• 54:05
  Speaker 5: testament to how good this guy's going to be, not
• 54:07
  Speaker 5: just how good he is.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think well summed up well, that brings us
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: to number ten. There are race winners, we haven't mentioned
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: world champions we have not mentioned on this Yes, Alex,
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: you get to round us out. Who is your tenth
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: pick for so far in twenty twenty five.
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: I was really hoping you weren't going to make me
• 54:26
  Speaker 4: peck again because we've got to leave.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Were good hosts.
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I appreciate that politeness. That hasn't put me
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: in a horrible position at all. I'd only written down
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: to number nine because guys.
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: Go Tom only looking at the list in front of me.
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, Louis Awas has won a sprint race this year,
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: so it feels pretty ridiculous to not have him in
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: the in the top ten, but then obviously obvious struggles,
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: He's actually been quite close.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: I think I'm going to go for a Hulk.
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: I think I'm going to go for a new go Holgenberg,
• 55:01
  Speaker 4: just purely because if you make ten places up four
• 55:04
  Speaker 4: times in a Grand Prix season, you are having the
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: race craft of your life.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: That podium moment.
• 55:13
  Speaker 4: There are two moments this season whereas like that just
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: looks absolutely impossible. I feel like I'm looking at F
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: one twenty five, the video game Holberg at Silverstone and
• 55:24
  Speaker 4: someone not being Christian Horner being the CEO and team
• 55:27
  Speaker 4: principal and the name yeah or racing, just.
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: Like what are we looking at? And Yeah, I.
• 55:36
  Speaker 4: Think I'm probably gonna go for Holgenberg in that it
• 55:39
  Speaker 4: would have been very easy for Holgenbogh to have scored
• 55:41
  Speaker 4: very few points this year because of the qualifying. He
• 55:45
  Speaker 4: can't get a tune out of the car right, He
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: just cannot get it to work over one lap.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: The fact that he's got.
• 55:50
  Speaker 4: Multiple points finishes and a podium for turning down every
• 55:54
  Speaker 4: strategic shout that Salva.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: Had for him. Do you want to pick now?
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: No? Do you want to stay out?
• 56:00
  Speaker 4: No? I think we'll box like all the way through.
• 56:02
  Speaker 4: He's radio for sale is so hilarious. So yeah, he
• 56:05
  Speaker 4: wins by a nose. I actually think Hamilton will have
• 56:08
  Speaker 4: a much better the second half of the season and will.
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: Turn things around with Ferrari. But yeah, Holgenberg for that
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: podium for me.
• 56:16
  Speaker 5: Two sober drivers Michael inside the top ten. That's not
• 56:19
  Speaker 5: something we've said for quiet some time in any four
• 56:22
  Speaker 5: podcast or actual race form, but it's hard to argue.
• 56:25
  Speaker 5: I think Alex's point about when he scores, when he
• 56:30
  Speaker 5: has big days, they are big capital, big days. He
• 56:34
  Speaker 5: really capitalizes on the chances that he has to impress.
• 56:37
  Speaker 5: There's all, there's not that many of them, but he
• 56:39
  Speaker 5: certainly has made the most of them. And yeah, I
• 56:42
  Speaker 5: agree with you. The two most random things we've seen
• 56:44
  Speaker 5: all year is Nico Holkenberg negotiating the steps for a
• 56:46
  Speaker 5: podium and who is that guy sitting on the Red
• 56:48
  Speaker 5: Bull Racing pitmoll calling himself the team principle. They are
• 56:51
  Speaker 5: two of the stranger moments. They'll probably be more, but yeah,
• 56:53
  Speaker 5: no argument from me. And Hamilton was in the I
• 56:57
  Speaker 5: was going to call it the honorable mentions list, but
• 56:59
  Speaker 5: I actually found that it dropped off pretty quickly after
• 57:01
  Speaker 5: top ten. To be honest, I found it very hard
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: to make a real compelling case for anybody else. So
• 57:05
  Speaker 5: I've got no issue with Holckenberg at all. Did you
• 57:07
  Speaker 5: have him in there, Michael?
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: I did. He was my number ten two top Aalba drivers,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: because I mean it's similar similar ish argument to Alex Alban.
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: If you from the points perspective, you take away his points.
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: Salba is not an outside chance to finish fifth in
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: the Constructors Championship this year, which is a sentence that
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: I feel like I shouldn't be able to say to
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: put into words after the last few years or even
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: the first couple of months of this season. So he's
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: doing And I like this line up because they're both
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: doing exactly what they've brought in to do right. They're
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: always has to show potential and deliver, and Holckenbig was
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: there to be the solid foundation to build up this team,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: and they're both doing it immediately as soon as the
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: car has given them even half of something to work with. Really,
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: like I.
• 57:48
  Speaker 4: Said, there for Cadillac as well, there's a lesson in
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: there for Cadillac. Get a young charger from Formula to
• 57:54
  Speaker 4: All Speed, all raw, don't they they don't know what
• 57:56
  Speaker 4: they don't know, and get someone with their bags of experience,
• 57:59
  Speaker 4: because if you go two very experienced drivers, you just
• 58:03
  Speaker 4: you would never have expected Hulkenberg to be beaten in
• 58:06
  Speaker 4: headead qualify at all.
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: No one would have said that was possible at the
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: start of the year.
• 58:10
  Speaker 4: You've got bart leto huge confidence, and I think there's
• 58:14
  Speaker 4: a there's a lesson there for Cadillac. But yeah, I
• 58:16
  Speaker 4: just can't believe that that Hamilton. If you said in
• 58:20
  Speaker 4: China that, oh he's won at the second weekend with
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: Ferrari in Formula One and by the way, the rest
• 58:27
  Speaker 4: of the campaign is going to see us and not
• 58:30
  Speaker 4: include him, and he's going to be in.
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: The honorable mention section.
• 58:33
  Speaker 4: H Gasley forgetting that Alpine to Q three seven times.
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: That's that's crazy.
• 58:39
  Speaker 4: That's that's one of the biggest surprises for a long
• 58:42
  Speaker 4: time in Formula one.
• 58:43
  Speaker 5: Well, crazy and surprising, But it doesn't feel like we're
• 58:46
  Speaker 5: It doesn't feel like a stretch to say that. It
• 58:48
  Speaker 5: feels completely justifiable from where I'm sitting. I think you'd
• 58:51
  Speaker 5: have to mount to be an interesting argument to try
• 58:55
  Speaker 5: and squeeze him in there, and you would feel that
• 58:57
  Speaker 5: you are shoeharning him in there because he is Lewis
• 58:59
  Speaker 5: Hamilton's sn't type world champion driving for Ferrari. But it
• 59:02
  Speaker 5: has been underwhelming in the extreme.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not the first season with Ferrari. Certainly he or
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: Ferrari envisaged and well hopefully, I mean, I just don't
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: want it to peter out. That's what I hope for
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: next year. I want decisively outcome one way or another.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: We don't have to say, oh, only this or that,
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: but will see I hope you can at least bounce
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: back next year, or as you say, Alex, in the
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: second half of the year. Well that's our top ten.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: I've got to say, much less argument than I had
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: personally hoped for, but that's okay. I mean, great minds
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: think alike. That's a shame for you, Alex, to be
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: in this conversation with Mad and I, but appreciate your
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: time all the same. I hope the second half of
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: the season as is unpredictable and enjoyable as the first part.
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: And thanks so much for joining.
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: Us, grazy join you guys, cheers for having me.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: That was Alex Jakes, the f one TV World Feed commentator.
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: You can hear him as well if you've got a
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: Foxtail set top box with a Foxtail Sports subscription as well.
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: Just get your f one TV pro app up and
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: ready for well the next race in a couple of
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: weeks time, the Dutch Grand Prix. But Alex has gone.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: We did the top ten. It was fun chatting to
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: him deciding that. But let's round out the complete list
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: and me because there are a lot of drivers in
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: good reference Lancetroll, did we know your list, yes, but
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: why do we go through our very quickly the rest
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: of the list to complete the field.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 5: Okay, I'm going to divide the last eleven drivers in
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 5: this list through in three categories. For me, yes, so
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 5: eleven through thirteen is some order of Pierre Gasly Lewis, Hamilton,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 5: Kinny Antonelli for me, And look, I know Antonelli's run
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 5: into the mid season break was grim. First five or
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 5: six rounds is pretty good. He's also had a podium,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 5: so I think there's a bit of recency perhaps with
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 5: shoving him too far down this list. I think on balance,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: he's had a perfectly acceptable season for a rookie. Isn't
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 5: a very good car obviously, but I still think there's
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 5: some high points in there. And then from there on
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 5: you've got this sort of ock on Laws and Lance Stroll,
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 5: Carlos Science, who's been pretty underwhelming, for Williams, and the
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 5: whole olive Bearman question is that there's sort of been
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 5: a lump between like fourteen to eighteen. For me, I've
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 5: seen Bearman rank quite high in a number of these lists,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 5: and there has been some speed, but man, there's been
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 5: some mistakes and some really ropey things that a guy
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 5: I know, he's young still, but there's been a huge
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 5: gap between his best and his worst, and that's kind
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 5: of why he's been a bit penalized for me. And
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 5: then you've got the category of three at the back,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 5: which is all a bit sad, Yuki Sonoda, and then
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 5: the two Alpine rookies who had no chance to actually
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 5: do anything because they were swapped out for each other.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 5: I had Jack doing slightly in front of Franco Colopinto,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 5: not just because I'm waving the Australian flag here, but
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 5: I do think that Colopinto has been given more rope
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 5: to do more with the Alpine and has probably done
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 5: less with it.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, I would agree with that. Just to start at
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: the bottom, I suppose I did have Jack doing a
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: head of Franco Colopido at the bottom. None of the
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: bottom because I think they're necessarily the worst drivers in
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: the field, but because like you say, they haven't had
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: the time to really do much. Yeah, but in Jack
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: doing shorter time, I think he did at least as
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: well as Colopindo has done with that. I'm going to
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: reckon above, but let me go back to the top.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: Weirdly enough, Hamilton's eleven for me, not top ten, probably
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: for the first time I've ever done these ranking. Yeah,
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: I think that's understandable. The longest he's gone in the
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: season without a podium so far. Had some good weekends.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Obviously the sprint victory in China was important, but I
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: think for reasons we've all talked about, hasn't had a
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: great season so far. Pierre Gazzery number twelve, getting a
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: lot out of a pretty ordinary car. Yeah, I think
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: that's fair to say. Has his weekends where he kind
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: of disappears, but they also has some really good weekends.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: Then I put Estemonock on maybe controversially, don't think it
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: was a little bit, but he's been I think quietly
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: quite good at hast not consistent enough to be a
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: top ten contender, but he's held up the team and
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: he's scored almost all of the team's pointsince keeping him
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: off the bottom of the championship.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 5: There's a bit of Holkemberg in there, and that when
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 5: there's a big result to get, he'll go get it. Yeah,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 5: maybe not to the same extent as Hulkeenberg, but similar
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 5: I think so.
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: I think that I think he's been a reasonable like
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: for like I put him just ahead of Oliver Beerman,
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: he could have gone a little bit lower. I think
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: you're right, but he's shown really great speed and he's
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: finished eleventh a lot, so I think in a pretty
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: tight midfield and an any given day there's maybe three
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: places in points available, I think that counts. Then Antonelli,
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: he has had a good season for where he's at.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: But I think where he's at is the key point,
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: which is the guy's arrived in Formula one with the
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: absolute minimum required preparation. Yeah, exactly, and so I think
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: that's there about. Then I've got Carlos Science pretty anonymous,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: but I think also there's been a bit about luck
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: in there. Liam Lawson, I think is improving. I think
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: this the mid seas come any later. I think he
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: probably be a bit higher consider than Lance Stroll because
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: he could have been a bit lower. Yuki Sonoda, you know,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: I struggled with him. You can't rank him higher because
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Max the staffan's doing so much with that car. Yes,
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: but we now know that no one can drive that
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: second car, so it's a little bit of a what
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: do you do? And he's ahead of only Jack doing.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 5: The extraordinary part of that list is that if you
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 5: had to pick before this podcast, who was going to
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 5: have Lance Stroll highest? You wouldn't have picked me.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't have That's very exciting that it's very exciting.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: But let us know what you think about the top ten,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: Top twenty, in fact top twenty one as it is.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: You picked third drivers. If you really want to social
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: media channels, go to Fox Motorsport, or you can even
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: comment on this podcast some of your podcast apps or
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: YouTube obviously if you're watching this. But we can't wrap
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: this up without the Crystal Ball by complete home filtration.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: So we've got Supercar still going, We've got the mid
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: season break of Motor GP returning. Where are you going
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: with your prediction?
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 5: I'm going Motor GP being back in action. And this
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 5: is going to sound like the most obvious thing in
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 5: the entire world. Mark Marquess is going to win the
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 5: Austrian Grand Prix. Wow, there you go, Mark Markus wins
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 5: motorcycle race. Incredible news. This actually would be incredible news.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 5: It's the least successful circuit of his entire Motor GP career.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 5: He's never won here. Really, there are only three circuits
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 5: where he has never won, Indonesia and Portamower, the other two,
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 5: But Indonesia there's only been He's only done two races there.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 5: Port's only done four eight starts at the Red Bull Ring,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 5: never won. I feel like I can remember well and
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 5: this is and this is why, because he finished second
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 5: three years in a row on last battles with Ducati's
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 5: against Andreda Vizioso twice and Jorgalornzo once and got his
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 5: nose blooded on all three of them when he was
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 5: on a Repsol Honda. It's the only circle on the
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 5: calendar where he's never won. Now, the reason I mentioned
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 5: this this year he's broken eleven year victory droughts in
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 5: Qatar and Machello and an eight year victory Drout and Accent.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 5: So it's not the fact that he's leading this World
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 5: Championship one hundred and twenty points. He's winning at tracks
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 5: that have been his kryptonite in the past, and given
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 5: the way this season has gone for him, if anyone's
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 5: going to know that stat, he will know that stat
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 5: because he knows he's been beaten thereby Ducati. So to
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 5: go back on a Ducati and perhaps correct that one,
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 5: that'll just be a na the box for him to
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 5: tick as he heads on to this World Championships.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: I can't believe that.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 5: Really funny, Crystal Ball's in good order this weekend? What
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 5: for me?
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: Good pick? So we were all braced in the world
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: of Formula One for Cadillac to announce its first driver
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: signing yes before the mid season break. Now it needed
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: to do this because obviously the first test, which is
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: the end of January next year, is quite close. Now
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: it's only a few months away, really, which is alarming
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: for its own reasons. I'm going it needs someone to
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: start developing the car, needs an experienced driver, and it
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: hasn't signed one yet. However, not something I believe that
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: they would be keeping quiet. But my prediction, and I'm
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: doing this with my fingers crossed, I hope I'm wrong.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: It's not the first time I've been wrong Crystal Ball
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: that they're going to announce the driver during the worst
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: possible time, which is the shutdown period. I mean, no
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: one will be at the news desk to cover it.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: Obviously it will be a Fox Sports because big organization,
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: but you know, in general, that's not when you announce things.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: But I believe this new American team is going to
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: make its first significant Formula one faux pas to announced
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: Feltry Botass will be driving for it in the next week.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 5: Or four fifty European Friday.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly on the next Friday, I think is it's
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: going to happen. But they do need you need to driver.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: It's on talking point that perhaps we'll be talking about
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: the next week or to particularly if they haven't announced it. Yes,
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: that they need someone to drive one of its cars
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: at least, and then on the driver after that. So
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: it's interesting theories about why that hasn't happened. We know
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: that Beltry podcasts and surgery prayers at the top of
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: the lists I've heard. Maybe Pais doesn't want to be
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: the driver that's now on second if they don't know
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: whether they want a second experience or a young driver.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: Don't know anyway, we'll find out in the next couple
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: of weeks. Presumably maybe we won't consume. We don't know yet,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: but that's all the time we have for pit talk today.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: You can subscribe to pit Talk wherever you get your
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: favorite podcasts, and you can leave us a rating and
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: interview as well, and you can watch episodes like this
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: on YouTube too. Formula one is still on a break,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: but this weekend it is the Austrian Motorcycle Grand Prix,
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: with lights out at ten pm on Sunday. You can
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: keep up to date with latest F one, motor GP
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: and supercars news at Fox sports dot com. Today you
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: until next week, depending on what podcast listening to do.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: I think this podcast in fact will take the mid
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: season one week off week after that. I've been Michael,
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: thanks very much for your company and we'll catch you
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: next week