Latest / The Undercut Podcast / Ryan Reynolds, Hitech and Danny Ric? - 2023 Austrian Grand Prix Preview

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Ryan Reynolds, Hitech and Danny Ric? - 2023 Austrian Grand Prix Preview · The Undercut Podcast

• 0:00
  We're never ready, we're simply prepared to a certain extent.
• 0:03
  That also seems like a Haas team motto.
• 0:06
  Prepared to a certain extent, Haas.
• 0:09
  We might make it to the end of this one.
• 0:22
  Hello and welcome to the Undercutt podcast.
• 0:24
  I'm your host, Ellie May Taylor.
• 0:26
  We're back to review...
• 0:27
  Preview, sorry, this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.
• 0:31
  Joining me as ever, I have the soft bed linen to my Eider down pillow.
• 0:35
  I don't know what Eider Down is.
• 0:36
  Eider Down, yeah.
• 0:38
  Like down from an Eider Duck, it's really soft and very sort of squishy.
• 0:43
  We don't promote animal abuse on this podcast, but we'll carry on.
• 0:48
  Jesse Billington and the itchy sleeping bag to my warm blanket,
• 0:52
  Timo Arbers daily.
• 0:54
  How are you both?
• 0:55
  I think I've weirdly got out of that one better.
• 0:58
  Yeah, I know she's the Eider down pillow.
• 1:01
  So, I mean, I'm not the one that is made out of animal products.
• 1:04
  She's accused you of animal cruelty straight off the bat,
• 1:07
  where I'm just... She's sleeping bags.
• 1:09
  I think I'm getting away with this.
• 1:10
  I'm doing a little bit better.
• 1:11
  Yeah, you probably should have proofread that one when I wrote it this morning.
• 1:14
  Yeah, and all that besides, I'm doing all right.
• 1:18
  We can fix this in the end.
• 1:19
  Perhaps I'll just give it an entirely new introduction of my own making.
• 1:22
  Yeah, finally, ready to look ahead to the off-stream of the three of them
• 1:25
  who've already got so far off track.
• 1:27
  Timo, how are you?
• 1:29
  Oh, I'm much better now, but I'm suddenly feeling cheered up.
• 1:35
  Any personal reviews from across the weekend from the two of you
• 1:38
  that you want to just sort of try and steer this ship back onto course with?
• 1:41
  Formally, in Portland, it was jolly good fun.
• 1:44
  400 overtakes plus and seven wide coming down the start-finish straight
• 1:48
  and actually on an actual track track as opposed to a straight track.
• 1:51
  So it was all rather refreshing, even if it was on a 1am,
• 1:54
  because it was in Portland, which nice place,
• 1:57
  but awkward for a time difference for a change.
• 2:00
  But at least it was on Channel 4 Live for once instead of on YouTube.
• 2:02
  Well, they could fit it onto Channel 4 Live because there's nothing on it.
• 2:06
  There's nothing on a 1am.
• 2:07
  Yeah, they can bump the scheduling, I suppose.
• 2:09
  Yeah, because it's a circuit.
• 2:10
  I'm going to take the winds where I can with them.
• 2:11
  It's weird that they've relegated to YouTube quite as much as they have,
• 2:14
  but it's a separate thing.
• 2:16
  And because Indycar used the circuit as well,
• 2:19
  they were getting pretty close to the Indycar top speeds,
• 2:21
  but it still looks dogshit on the TV.
• 2:23
  It still looks slow and slovenly and equally.
• 2:27
  Yeah, but the racing is really good.
• 2:28
  And when you see them all, 22 of them coming, 21 if we don't count them,
• 2:32
  take them, 21 of them coming down the start-finish straight,
• 2:35
  all kind of pretty bunched up together, still nice close racing.
• 2:38
  It's what you want from a single seat in motorsport,
• 2:41
  cough, hint, hint, one on one, cough, hint, hint, cough.
• 2:44
  So it was very enjoyable.
• 2:48
  It's a very good season so far.
• 2:50
  Yeah.
• 2:52
  I did have something else to follow up on, but I've completely forgotten what it was now.
• 2:56
  Oh yeah, that was it.
• 2:58
  It was full of a weird crime this week as well, wasn't it?
• 3:01
  There was the weird RFID tag reader that one team had snuck into pit entry
• 3:06
  so they could see what tyres other teams were running
• 3:08
  and sort out pit strategy and clear air strategy, which is kind of interesting.
• 3:13
  Which was denied by the drivers, but then you're like,
• 3:16
  well, yes or no, but also you're caught, so you must have done something.
• 3:21
  So maybe just, I mean, you've got in the point anyway,
• 3:23
  so I feel like it didn't really impact them too much.
• 3:25
  Yeah. Did they have like plausible deniability?
• 3:29
  They'd be like, no, that's not something we did,
• 3:31
  as in it's something they had no prior knowledge of.
• 3:34
  So I don't know, it's a weird one.
• 3:37
  It's Formula E being Formula E in its own weird little way.
• 3:40
  I assume what I could just to get you out of the hole
• 3:42
  that you put yourself in at the top of the podcast
• 3:44
  that everyone hasn't forgotten about.
• 3:46
  Yeah, but what you've done there is you've just taken everything
• 3:48
  and just pushed it straight back into the hole by mentioning it.
• 3:50
  The trick is when you do something like sort of build your way out of the hole slowly,
• 3:53
  it's to then simply not mention the hole.
• 3:55
  I'm still learning this whole podcasting, Malak.
• 3:58
  Yeah, I guess I'm not there yet.
• 3:59
  Yeah, it's plain to see.
• 4:01
  We'll move on to what the hell has happened,
• 4:04
  and we'll start with some news that Alpine is flush with cash.
• 4:08
  A 200 million euro investment from the investor group
• 4:12
  comprised of Autro Capital, Redbird Capital Partners,
• 4:15
  and Maximum Effort Investments have acquired a 24% stake in the French outfit.
• 4:21
  Alpine now says this has valued their company at 900 million euros.
• 4:26
  I believe it's the last of those listed companies,
• 4:28
  Maximum Effort Investments, that belongs to the Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds.
• 4:33
  In an online statement, the company says,
• 4:35
  Maximum Effort makes movies, TV series, content, and cocktails
• 4:38
  for the personal amusement of Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds,
• 4:41
  which is a very Ryan Reynolds way of putting things in its entirety.
• 4:45
  It's the same overarching group that's worked with the Dallas Cowboys,
• 4:48
  the NFL, Soluz FC, and notably Wrexham FC.
• 4:53
  This influx of cash is crucial for reinvesting in the team
• 4:56
  and accelerating their mountain climber plan,
• 4:59
  which sees them aim to catch the top teams
• 5:01
  in terms of the sort of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment,
• 5:05
  and they hope that success will follow.
• 5:08
  It's worth noting that this sort of buyout or this sort of 24% stake
• 5:12
  only focuses on the F1 Alpine outfit
• 5:15
  and has nothing to do with the Renault Engine Division,
• 5:17
  which is a very and is owned entirely by the Renault Group,
• 5:20
  and it's this Renault Group in which the French state owns a 15% share.
• 5:25
  So, unfortunately, there's no fun way of equating Deadpool to Republique Francaise,
• 5:28
  but hey, it's still interesting.
• 5:31
  I can't remember what we were talking about the other day, Jesse,
• 5:35
  but we were literally saying the other day
• 5:40
  how Ryan Reynolds or like a rich Canadian or American should come into F1,
• 5:48
  but I think it was to invest in our podcast.
• 5:52
  I think he's kind of gone one step further
• 5:55
  and decided to have an actual stake in an F1 team.
• 5:58
  I've kind of used my powers again,
• 6:01
  but haven't quite got full control of them yet.
• 6:04
  Yeah, I definitely recall you mentioning
• 6:06
  that we ought to have like a sort of sugar daddy for the podcast
• 6:09
  so we can afford microphones and soundboards
• 6:11
  and something that's not zoomed to record on.
• 6:13
  And you sort of triggered that with some sort of premonition,
• 6:16
  but you weren't quite specific enough with how you aimed it.
• 6:19
  You just went money into Formula One,
• 6:22
  but sort of missed the podcast bit and specifically us,
• 6:24
  but hey, we roll with what we've got.
• 6:26
  Going off that, though, if we're going to channel Alime's powers a bit more specifically,
• 6:30
  why not get Will Arnett to fund us?
• 6:32
  Because his podcast didn't exactly go to us,
• 6:34
  so maybe he funds us.
• 6:35
  We can bring him one as a guest occasion
• 6:37
  because he can then bring Danny Rick with him
• 6:39
  and we can kind of get in that way.
• 6:41
  Oh, this was his Gogglebox F1 thing, wasn't it?
• 6:44
  He did with Danny Rick through the Canadian Grand Prix.
• 6:46
  I didn't watch that. Did it go down well?
• 6:49
  I don't know if anyone watched it,
• 6:51
  but it seemed like Daniel had a good time,
• 6:53
  so I think that's what matters at the end of the day.
• 6:55
  As long as Daniel's happy.
• 6:56
  We'll touch on Daniel a bit later,
• 6:58
  but first there's some news coming out of Audi.
• 7:01
  Yes, an Audi?
• 7:04
  An Audi?
• 7:05
  Oh, this podcast is going terribly.
• 7:08
  We've got it off to a strong start. It's fine.
• 7:10
  Power on through.
• 7:11
  Once we get up to temperature, it'll be fine.
• 7:13
  Right.
• 7:15
  We'll start again.
• 7:17
  Audi announced Swiss racing driver Neil Jani as their simulator driver
• 7:21
  as they take a step towards producing power units for F1
• 7:24
  come the 2026 revolution.
• 7:27
  Jani has previously been a test and reserve driver for Red Bull,
• 7:30
  and he won the 2016 WEC season with Porsche,
• 7:33
  as well as that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
• 7:36
  So he's a decent driver and the sensible head you want on your sim.
• 7:40
  And he already has a previous relationship with Andreas Seidel.
• 7:43
  Seidel was the LMP1 Porsche boss at the same time Jani was racing for the team.
• 7:49
  Since the end of 2020, Audi have been working away on a single cylinder test bed,
• 7:53
  and at the moment are mainly focused on a fundamental concept questions
• 7:59
  with high relevance to performance, which suggests that this is going to be
• 8:03
  technical.
• 8:05
  I can't speak.
• 8:08
  Which suggests that this is going to be technology Audi will develop for F1.
• 8:15
  I will get there.
• 8:19
  But we're looking to possibly utilize in other series or even hypercars on the road.
• 8:25
  Think Mercedes project one or Aston Martin Valkyrie projects.
• 8:29
  Audi are on track to have full 1.6 liter turbo hybrid systems up and running on
• 8:33
  the dyno before the year is out.
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  And crucially, as they are inside the sport, they're able to work without a cost cap
• 8:39
  and could spend as much money as possible developing a power train ahead of time
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  with no financial hindrance.
• 8:45
  This even as an intent that Audi are going to have built up when they take over the
• 8:51
  team in 2026 is going to ultimately have some of the drivers looking to the
• 8:56
  team.
• 8:57
  Looking to the future and it is side looks to use the contacts he's already made
• 9:03
  to build a team around him.
• 9:05
  Is it becoming more and more likely that he will either have Carlos Sanz or
• 9:09
  Lando Norris in his team?
• 9:12
  Lando Norris is definitely one that's been sort of hot shoe for this Audi sort of
• 9:17
  Audi Sauber team in the future.
• 9:19
  I think there's a lot of hype for him and Seidel coming back together.
• 9:24
  And I think there's definitely something worth thinking about there.
• 9:28
  He's had a decent run with McLaren, but it's certainly not gotten any better
• 9:32
  over time.
• 9:33
  So if he was wise, he'd be looking to move elsewhere.
• 9:35
  And again, what Audi have done with obviously bringing in a season test and
• 9:39
  reserve driver, someone they know they can rely on or they've been working with
• 9:42
  their engines have done like a small single cylinder test element and then
• 9:45
  built it up to 1.6.
• 9:46
  Now they're working towards the full hybrid system.
• 9:49
  Everything they're doing, smacks of competence and just being very
• 9:54
  Vorschbrunck-Dirk technique.
• 9:55
  And that's exactly what you really want when you're looking to join an F1 team
• 9:59
  is something that just reeks of competence.
• 10:03
  Also, maybe they get Carlos Sanz in there as well because he was saying today, I
• 10:07
  think it was that he's a bit unsure of his future at the moment.
• 10:10
  He doesn't like that.
• 10:11
  So maybe he does get an extension with Ferrari, but if they can't turn things
• 10:13
  around in the next couple of years, maybe you get Norris and Sanz back there.
• 10:17
  If they can't get either Mick or Vettel there because they obviously want a
• 10:20
  German driver as their Audi, but if they can't get that, maybe this is an
• 10:24
  express thing.
• 10:25
  Norris and Sanz were good teammates together at McLaren.
• 10:28
  So maybe we get Carlando back.
• 10:33
  I don't think Carlando's off the table when it comes to Vettel coming back.
• 10:38
  I think that's a big ask.
• 10:40
  Yeah.
• 10:41
  What about Nico Hockenberg to keep Ellie May happy?
• 10:44
  Any moves from Haas to Audi?
• 10:47
  Neither Carlos Sanz or Nico Hockenberg have a contract for next year, do they?
• 10:54
  So, I mean, you'd either have to...
• 10:58
  I wouldn't want to kick Droguan Yu out.
• 11:03
  But then you lose Bottas.
• 11:05
  I know, but then one of them could always go to Alfa Romeo slash Saba in the
• 11:12
  interim and work, I guess, behind the scenes with Audi and Sirel and whatnot
• 11:18
  and just sort of wait it out a bit, I guess, until 2026 and hope that they've
• 11:24
  been...
• 11:25
  Because they need to stay in the sport if they then want to go to Audi in
• 11:28
  2026.
• 11:29
  So, is that a possibility?
• 11:33
  Well, there is an alternative strategy to this, which is the possibility of
• 11:37
  also waiting in the wings, but not with Audi and possibly with Hi-Tech if they
• 11:42
  are introduced into Formula One for 2026 because they've just announced that
• 11:46
  they've made a bid to enter the F1 championship when the new regulations
• 11:49
  kick in.
• 11:50
  And at the same time, they've also sold off 25% of their group to Kazakh
• 11:54
  businessman Vladimir Kim.
• 11:56
  So, if successful, this would mark the first time since 1982 when March
• 12:00
  runner Shassin beat both F1 and F2, and they were more competitive in F2 than
• 12:04
  in F1 that year, scoring no points in the top fight with Raul Bocesi, Jochen
• 12:09
  Maas, Rupert Kegan and Demilio de Vlota, which I apologize for any
• 12:13
  mispronunciation that I'm going to do here.
• 12:15
  There's going to be some risque moments there.
• 12:18
  You know, on the left, too, March Shassin occupied the top two steps of the
• 12:20
  championship podium with Corrado Fabi, who'd go on to join Osela for an
• 12:23
  uncompetitive season.
• 12:25
  The other driver was one looking Johnny Cescoto?
• 12:29
  I'm going to go with Cescoto, who transitioned from two wheels to four after
• 12:33
  competitive career racing Yamaha motorcycles, including a class win in a
• 12:37
  350cc class.
• 12:38
  Cescoto then came second to Fabi in F2 and also stepped into F1, scoring just a
• 12:43
  single point with a Theodore Racing outfit at the 1983 US West Grand Prix
• 12:47
  at Long Beach.
• 12:48
  But this is also just quite interesting generally from the Kazakh perspective in
• 12:52
  terms of how that plays into motorsport a bit more, because as we will touch
• 12:56
  upon in a little bit when we do our FIEDER series with you, Jesse, next week
• 13:00
  after Austria, they've got a MotoGP race this year on a five-year contract
• 13:04
  at Kazakhstan.
• 13:05
  They had a female F4 driver in the kind of FIEDER series Southeast Asian
• 13:11
  championship, I think, for a few years, but that was 2019, and then she's
• 13:15
  gone to e-sports since then.
• 13:17
  So it's kind of interesting that Kazakhstan's kind of slowly creeping back
• 13:22
  in a bit.
• 13:23
  Hitech's had some, I think, Russian backing before, which obviously you can't
• 13:27
  really have too much of that now because it's a little bit of an eek area.
• 13:32
  But it's interesting that the stands are maybe getting into that, and this is
• 13:36
  kind of an interesting loophole for that money to come in.
• 13:39
  But also, Hitech makes a lot of sense for an F1 team because they've got the
• 13:42
  F2 and the F3 presents.
• 13:43
  So maybe if you are maybe a bot ass and you know that you're not going to maybe
• 13:49
  get something for 2026 or you're a driver that can only get a two-year contract,
• 13:52
  extension with whoever you're with, and you're maybe not past your prime, but
• 13:57
  you're not at the beginning of your career either, and you're looking to stay
• 14:00
  in F1, but the seats are going to be a bit tricky to get for 26, maybe this is
• 14:04
  the option there for an experienced driver.
• 14:07
  The option is surely there.
• 14:08
  It really depends whether or not they can get this together and make this move
• 14:11
  up.
• 14:12
  At the same time, we've seen Andretti struggling to get into it, who would be a
• 14:16
  big name and certainly someone viable financially for F1 as a business to
• 14:21
  join.
• 14:22
  And you can begin to wonder just how likely it is we'll see an 11th team or
• 14:27
  possibly even a 12th team come to the field.
• 14:29
  And I'd like to see it happen.
• 14:31
  And again, it's been an interesting history since the last time we saw a team
• 14:34
  run in both F1 and F2.
• 14:36
  But yeah, Vladimir Kim is an interesting one.
• 14:39
  And F3, to be fair, and I think F1 Academy there as well, which you'd have a
• 14:42
  straight path there.
• 14:43
  You'd have a very straight path, yeah.
• 14:45
  But I was trying to find sort of an overlap between sort of F1 and the last time
• 14:49
  we had a team that matched up with FIDA series.
• 14:51
  The first one I sort of stumbled across was F2 back in 82 when it was one of
• 14:56
  the last times it was an expect series.
• 14:58
  But yeah, there's an interesting element to it.
• 15:02
  Vladimir Kim is the interesting part of this because the way he's earned his
• 15:05
  money, I believe it's chemicals and mining and it has strong Russian ties.
• 15:10
  The usual kind of stuff.
• 15:11
  The usual kind of stuff from that neck of the woods.
• 15:13
  And yeah, it's Russian money, Russian associated businesses are still very
• 15:20
  much a persona non grata at this point in time.
• 15:24
  So it's going to be interesting to be on.
• 15:26
  Maybe it's done with the idea of Andretti, you're in because it's common
• 15:29
  sense and we should just stop being stupid about it and just say yes to you
• 15:32
  and high tech.
• 15:33
  If you can distance yourself sufficiently.
• 15:36
  Yeah, if you can prove you're not wholly safe.
• 15:39
  By 2026, we'll give you the stamp 2025ish maybe just to say that you can
• 15:44
  start working on it with the provisor, but you will get through just to make
• 15:47
  sure you do the stuff.
• 15:48
  When it comes to the driver line up though, obviously Bottas is contracted
• 15:52
  until 2024, so he'll have a seat in 2024.
• 15:55
  Ocon also contracted to 2024.
• 15:57
  Gasly is on a multi-year deal.
• 15:59
  Alonso is on a multi-year deal at Aston Martin.
• 16:02
  Both Seitz and Leclerc are on multi-year contracts.
• 16:05
  No, until 2024.
• 16:07
  Kevin Magnussen multi-year contract, Norris till 25, Oscar Piastri
• 16:10
  multi-year, George Russell multi-year, Verstappen till 28, Sergio Perez
• 16:15
  till 24 and Albon on a multi-year.
• 16:18
  So this leaves open a seat next to Bottas at Alfa Romeo in 2024, both the
• 16:23
  Alfa Tauri seats next year.
• 16:25
  The seat next to Alonso Aston Martin, the seat next to Kevin Magnussen at
• 16:29
  Haas, the seat next to George Russell at Mercedes and the seat next to Albon
• 16:34
  at Williams.
• 16:35
  But also you could throw a lot of that at the window as well if one driver gets
• 16:39
  an opportunity that they think that's worth the risk, buy me out.
• 16:43
  I think the problem that teams have with another team coming in is, well
• 16:54
  Christian Horner was saying that the FIA give them a certain, they have a
• 17:02
  certain pot of money that they then distribute out to the teams.
• 17:06
  If another team comes in, their pot obviously gets smaller in terms of what
• 17:12
  money they get.
• 17:13
  The prize pot is essentially diminished by a tenth or an eleventh rather.
• 17:17
  So that's what they have a problem with.
• 17:20
  If the pot got bigger when a new team came in, they would have no problem
• 17:24
  really with a team coming in.
• 17:26
  It's all down to money.
• 17:28
  The pot getting bigger is something that was floated by Andretti.
• 17:33
  They said, look, we'd be up for stumping up for the first three years or so, an
• 17:37
  additional fee to not dilute the pot so much, which I think all the other teams
• 17:41
  are like, oh yeah, if you're going to do that, we're not too fussed about it.
• 17:45
  We'll move on to a sort of funnish fact from Ellie May.
• 17:52
  Since the start of 2022, both hash drivers have had a front row start,
• 17:59
  whilst Lewis Hamilton hasn't.
• 18:00
  Equally neither hash driver was on the 2022 grid before the 2022 season
• 18:05
  started.
• 18:06
  It's kind of an interesting one to look at that.
• 18:09
  So if you sort of wind the clock back to essentially pre-season testing in
• 18:12
  2022, you've got neither Hülkenberg nor Magnussen in the field.
• 18:19
  And Hamilton's just come off the back of a season where he's narrowly lost out
• 18:23
  to Max Verstappen.
• 18:25
  And then all of a sudden you fast forward to this point in time, Hamilton
• 18:28
  hasn't had a front row start since and both hash drivers have, one of whom
• 18:31
  didn't know who'd be racing, well, two of them really didn't know they'd be
• 18:34
  racing for the team until very late in the day.
• 18:37
  It's interesting to see how that's developed over time.
• 18:41
  And equally, if you were the sort of Twitter-arty that loves to sort of
• 18:45
  proclaim, oh, X driver is washed, this is a perfect statistic to use to sort
• 18:49
  of claim that Hamilton is past his prime.
• 18:52
  I think it'd be a rich one to try and sort of use, but it's an interesting
• 18:56
  statistic nonetheless.
• 18:57
  Correlation does not mean causation and so on and so, but it's definitely one
• 19:01
  to remember.
• 19:02
  I guess it's better to use it as a fact that you should always go out and get
• 19:09
  a good lap time in the first time you go out in case a chaotic event happens,
• 19:15
  a red flag, rain, anything.
• 19:18
  Yeah, this is more an argument for a good bank collapse than anything else
• 19:21
  really, other than Hamilton being past his prime, which I think the
• 19:25
  performances over the past, certainly in Canada, would suggest that he is by
• 19:28
  no means past his prime.
• 19:30
  If we're also running on the fact that Alonso is driving like he's in his
• 19:34
  prime, if Hamilton's able to keep pace with that, that's by no means standard.
• 19:38
  Speaking of being in your prime though, it's something that relates very much
• 19:41
  to this next point, which is Daniel Ricciardo is a potential candidate for
• 19:45
  Alpha Tauri next season, which must be galling news if you're Ayumu Iwasa or
• 19:50
  Liam Lawson.
• 19:51
  His other options are likely to be Williams or Haas, unlikely picks as both
• 19:56
  are running towards the back of the field with limited chance of picking up.
• 20:00
  Alpha Tauri, meanwhile, could see a reincarnation next season, as they will
• 20:04
  be allowed to share more parts with their sister cars at Red Bull.
• 20:08
  If Danny Ric can prove he's back to operating on the level he was when
• 20:11
  racing for Red Bull, then it's not to rule him out of moving up to the top
• 20:15
  team if he spends a year with Alpha Tauri.
• 20:18
  And like we just previously alluded to, Alpha Tauri has both seats open for
• 20:23
  2024.
• 20:24
  Sonoda's not confirmed, Iwasa's not confirmed, Lawson's not confirmed, and
• 20:27
  neither is De Vries, which really does sort of bring Danny Ric back into the
• 20:31
  scope just a little bit.
• 20:32
  He's got a tyre test coming up at Silverstone with Red Bull, and if he's able
• 20:36
  to prove at that point in time that he's still got that drive, that precision
• 20:39
  and that ability to do Danny Ric things in an F1 car, then it could throw him
• 20:45
  back into the limelight for that spot.
• 20:48
  It could put them in a very interesting position for next year as well, though,
• 20:52
  and kind of a callback to previous years, where if he does go into the Alpha
• 20:56
  Tauri and has an absolutely stonking first half of the season today, then go,
• 21:00
  oh, we're going to stick you in the Red Bull second half, because if that's what
• 21:03
  you're doing in that, and if their second driver, whoever that is, isn't living
• 21:07
  up to the potential of the car, maybe then do they swap them around or do they
• 21:10
  just spin off whoever's in the Red Bull, bring up one of the juniors that can't
• 21:14
  go back into F2 anymore for whatever reason, or maybe they're bringing
• 21:17
  Liam Lawson because he's got nowhere else to go.
• 21:19
  It kind of gets them in that Alex Elbon, and you can see it at Maximum Stepan,
• 21:23
  weird kind of area that they had a few years ago where it's kind of merry-go-round.
• 21:27
  And what do you do, or do you just stick them in the Red Bull straight away
• 21:31
  after this test, because like you say, it's a bit of a slap in the face if
• 21:34
  you're Liam Lawson or Iwasa and any of the other drivers looking to come up for
• 21:39
  2025, because then you're potentially on the back burner because Lawson and
• 21:44
  Iwasa are still waiting to get into that car.
• 21:46
  And that's assuming that De Vries and Sonoda aren't still there next year.
• 21:49
  And if Sonoda is in Red Bull, then does he only have half a season to prove
• 21:53
  himself in that car next year before Riccardo gets up there if he's quick on
• 21:56
  off?
• 21:57
  If they put them there, they give themselves more of a central headache
• 22:02
  than they need to.
• 22:04
  This is the problem with having too many decent drivers floating around,
• 22:09
  aiming for essentially one team.
• 22:11
  And you end up with this sort of situation of, yeah, we could put Danny
• 22:15
  Ricc into the Alfa-Towery if Perez doesn't perform in 2024.
• 22:19
  Do we swap them?
• 22:20
  Do we bump Perez down?
• 22:22
  Or do we simply keep Danny Ricc on the sidelines and if Perez doesn't
• 22:25
  perform next year, just simply put him into the reserve role and put Danny
• 22:29
  Ricc back in?
• 22:30
  That way we don't have to fettle with ruining two junior careers in the
• 22:33
  Alfa-Towery seats of, for argument's sake, Sonoda and Lawson.
• 22:39
  It's got so many different ways of going, and every time they add another
• 22:43
  junior driver to that mix, it becomes more and more of a headache.
• 22:47
  All they need is Enzo Fittipaldi to have an absolute blinder for the rest of
• 22:51
  the season.
• 22:52
  All of a sudden they've got a Red Bull junior driver that's at the top end of
• 22:55
  the F2 season, and then you're going, great.
• 22:58
  You're going to Super Formula.
• 23:00
  Yeah, you're going to Super Formula, you're going to Super Formula, you're
• 23:03
  going to Super Formula, everyone's going to Super Formula until we've figured
• 23:06
  out what the hell is going on here.
• 23:08
  It would genuinely be easier if Max just decided, I'm bored, I'll come back
• 23:13
  in 46 and they just got rid of Perez and had two seats open at Red Bull.
• 23:17
  It's unlikely to happen, but it would be a lot easier for them.
• 23:20
  It would be, but then you've got to put an experienced driver up into that Red
• 23:23
  Bull.
• 23:24
  No, you just put Riccardo and Sonoda in there, and then you stick Lawson and
• 23:27
  Lawson and Alfa-Terry, bish-bash-bash.
• 23:29
  Then you can get rid of anyone in Alfa-Terry after 24, because you're
• 23:33
  Red Bull and you give people one year before you kick them out.
• 23:36
  Although they didn't do that with Sonoda, which really suggests they want to
• 23:40
  stick around with this guy, and he's been racing this season.
• 23:42
  Which is why they put him to Red Bull, so there you go.
• 23:44
  It's fine.
• 23:45
  But he'd only have a season to prove himself in that one.
• 23:47
  No, I'm saying the Alfa-Terry drivers next year would only have a season,
• 23:50
  because of all the other juniors coming up, because they can't all go to
• 23:52
  Super Formula all the time, or DTM.
• 23:54
  Well, they can.
• 23:55
  Well, they can, but it's not why they're there.
• 23:57
  At what point does Red Bull have to simply start finding new and inventive
• 24:01
  racing series to put junior drivers?
• 24:02
  I think they just make their own racing series at this point, and they say,
• 24:05
  if you win this, then we actually do have to give you a seat.
• 24:08
  Yeah, Red Bull makes you do a WEC year just to find something to do with you.
• 24:14
  Like, you're winning Le Mans 24 hours in a Red Bull-designed hypercar,
• 24:18
  Adrian Newey Engineering, and you're sort of going, can I drive the F1 car now?
• 24:22
  And they're going, no, you've got to go do Daytona next, and Sebring, and Monza.
• 24:26
  And they're like, oh, fine.
• 24:27
  Well, they just do their own kind of race of champions.
• 24:30
  They're all in equal machinery in these cross-carts, and they've just got,
• 24:33
  you're on the Indy-Cool stuff now, go and figure it out.
• 24:35
  And if you win this, then, OK, we'll definitely think about putting you in the Alfa-Terry.
• 24:39
  Or like, Red Bull goes over to IndyCar and goes, well, I'm sure we can suss this out.
• 24:45
  You and you get in the IndyCar.
• 24:47
  Zach, you don't have enough sponsors on that IndyCar.
• 24:49
  Do you want Red Bull as a sponsor?
• 24:50
  Let's take a driver in there.
• 24:52
  There's got to be a cap where Red Bull can no longer keep entering motorsport.
• 24:57
  They have a MotoGP team.
• 24:59
  They can't just simply teach you to ride a bicycle and go do that until you find something to do with you.
• 25:06
  There's a limit.
• 25:09
  I feel that possibly that limit is the Red Bull sky race thing they do with stunt planes.
• 25:15
  I don't feel comfortable with putting Yuki Sonoda in one of those.
• 25:18
  I think that's the line.
• 25:20
  But everything up to that point.
• 25:22
  Don't put him in the plane with a Cardo, Nick, because you know Ricardo is just going to push him out.
• 25:26
  Red Bull soapbox race.
• 25:29
  Now we're talking.
• 25:31
  We're going to get CF1C.
• 25:32
  Yeah, when you speak of Yuki Sonoda in planes, there's that brilliant footage of him in a plane over the Austrian lakes.
• 25:39
  That's what I was thinking of.
• 25:41
  Yeah, he was terrified.
• 25:43
  I don't think Gasly was much happier about it either.
• 25:47
  Anyway, we'll move on from that.
• 25:49
  Can I say something?
• 25:51
  Thanks.
• 25:53
  I just want to say, I mean, it's famous last words, but I can't see Danny Rick going to AlphaTauri.
• 26:00
  Only because he said in an interview a while back, which we covered on this podcast, that he didn't want just any seat.
• 26:08
  He's certainly hungry for a seat next year, and I think he's pretty certain he will want one.
• 26:13
  But I don't think it's going to be in a lower team.
• 26:16
  I think he thinks he's better than that.
• 26:18
  And he doesn't want to have to restart his career right down at the other end of the field that he wants to be in.
• 26:23
  I think he's trying to get that Red Bull seat.
• 26:27
  I'd agree. And that's why I don't think Hassell Williams are a realistic option for the same reason that they weren't an option for this year.
• 26:32
  He's not there to just be trundling around, just making up the numbers.
• 26:35
  He wants to be fighting.
• 26:37
  And Max does want him in that second seat in a lot of ways.
• 26:40
  He said he's very open to that in his kind of Max Verstappen, not so coy way of going about answering that question.
• 26:46
  So I think as much as Max is enjoying his dominance at the moment, he would appreciate a bit more of a challenge.
• 26:52
  And he's clearly not getting that from Perez.
• 26:54
  And Ricardo, at least for the first year of the contract, will be grateful to be back in the F1, so might play the team game a bit more to help Max.
• 27:03
  And he'll fight him, but not so much to the detriment of the team like Mercedes in 2016, for example.
• 27:09
  But then have a year, get back up to it, and then think 2025.
• 27:14
  Yeah, I can risk it a bit more because let's face it, by that point, you can see maybe what's going to happen team-wide in 26.
• 27:20
  And if he wants to jump ship again, then maybe he can.
• 27:22
  Or leave completely, and he's at least got that fairytale ending with Red Bull either way, because he's going to win races when he gets into that Red Bull.
• 27:28
  So going into the Alfa Tower, you think if you have that for a full year next year to then go into Red Bull for 25.
• 27:35
  Because again, what if the regulations then do have a massive impact and Red Bull have a Mercedes kind of car from 22 and then back there again.
• 27:43
  It's kind of underfitting of a driver of Ricardo's caliber and he's thinking, oh no, not again.
• 27:48
  I think Alfa Tower is an option for him.
• 27:51
  And I think he has considered it because it's again within that family.
• 27:55
  And it's not something Red Bull have ever said they will not do again, where they shuffle drivers between their two teams.
• 28:01
  They are sister teams. It's not one is a feeder of the other. They're sister teams. They're allowed to share parts.
• 28:06
  This is one of the key things that's going to, with the new regulations next year, is going to hugely elevate Alfa Tower up, which is going to a help Danny Richter.
• 28:15
  But not past Red Bull.
• 28:16
  Not past Red Bull, but enough for Danny Richter to prove his worth and his metal again.
• 28:21
  And equally for that swap to not be such the extreme of 2019, wasn't it?
• 28:29
  Well, it just depends who they stick in that second seat next to Max at the beginning of the year.
• 28:34
  If it's Perez and they swap them out, it's the least worst option.
• 28:37
  But if you're Yu-Ki, well, kicking the balls, that's going to be.
• 28:40
  Yeah, but Perez is signed for next year.
• 28:43
  Oh, because contracts mean anything.
• 28:43
  I think Red Bull are at this point honored to a certain extent to give
• 28:46
  Well, with Red Bull, it's hit and miss. It depends who you are.
• 28:49
  But I think at this point.
• 28:51
  Daniel Ricciardo. There we go. Straight in.
• 28:57
  Perez the end of his contract, given everything he's done for them as that second driver.
• 29:01
  It's not been quite so apparent this season, but certainly the last two, it has been very valuable.
• 29:08
  And I think they owe him as much to at least let him start his 2024 F1 campaign in the Red Bull seat.
• 29:16
  That's where I'm going to leave that one.
• 29:18
  I have a question. Yeah.
• 29:20
  You say that Al-Fattahri are now allowed to share more parts with Red Bull. Why is that?
• 29:28
  I believe it's there's a new wave of regulations that are coming in for next year that mean that there's going to be an increased
• 29:36
  scope for sharing parts between essentially engine suppliers and their sort of customer teams.
• 29:46
  So you're going to have greater span of things from not just engines and gearboxes.
• 29:51
  It's going to be things like aero components that work around them.
• 29:55
  And that's going to certainly Red Bull and Al-Fattahri help with regards to things like anyone who buys Mercedes engine.
• 30:04
  It really depends on how much your supplier team wants to help you.
• 30:09
  But for Red Bull, it's very much in their scope to ensure that their sister team is doing pretty well,
• 30:17
  because essentially that's where they're going to be picking their drivers from.
• 30:20
  That's where the other half of their marketing money goes.
• 30:23
  It'd be great if it saw some returns.
• 30:25
  And if that means telling them exactly how to install their engines, gearboxes, how to plumb their exhaust lines,
• 30:31
  how to get the most out of the back end of their car, then it's sort of half the headache already dealt with.
• 30:36
  And I believe that's where we're going to see this possible closing up, not necessarily Red Bull moving down,
• 30:41
  but Al-Fattahri maybe taking a step forward that could be easily overlooked.
• 30:47
  Interesting. Thank you.
• 30:49
  And that, I believe, is possibly why Danny Rick would be smart to hang onto a concept of going into an Al-Fattahri seat that's likely to be an improved chassis.
• 30:57
  It's a team that hasn't been anywhere close to P5 since, I want to say, 2017 in the overall standings.
• 31:04
  Someone might want to fact check you on that one.
• 31:06
  But if it's able to take a step or two forwards against teams where there's going to be continued changes, small changes,
• 31:13
  but it's only taken small changes to shuffle up the grid, as we've seen over the past few years,
• 31:17
  it didn't take much to absolutely blow what remained of that racing point out of the water when they took away simply a triangle of floor towards the back wheels.
• 31:26
  All of a sudden, it became an absolute puff of a car.
• 31:29
  It only takes one small change to sort of shake up the system, not necessarily at the front, but certainly in the midfield.
• 31:35
  And if Al-Fattahri are able to use Red Bull bits, proven good things, that could be a valuable thing for Danny Rick to exploit to work his way back up the field.
• 31:45
  Yeah, I'm kind of having the same thought now that if that Al-Fattahri can be a bit more similar to that Red Bull,
• 31:52
  say it's a bit more like Ghazali in 2021, where you could get a couple of podiums here and there, sort of Baku, things like that,
• 32:04
  make the most out of sort of a crazy race or something like that, and you can get a couple of podiums.
• 32:10
  Back to an Al-Fattahri that was generally speaking nibbling around to P8, P9, P10 most races.
• 32:15
  Yeah, that's roughly what we're aiming at here.
• 32:17
  And I think that's what Red Bull would like to see happen with the team.
• 32:21
  If Danny Rick is able to exploit that, there's every chance that he'll go, actually, you know what, long term plan here might have to do a season in that Al-Fattahri.
• 32:30
  But if it's not a bad car and he is by no means a terrible driver, he's a very good driver who can certainly extract the most from even the worst cars,
• 32:40
  there is every chance that he'll be able to make some big steps forward and reignite a decent campaign towards 25 and 26.
• 32:47
  Hopefully that makes a bit more sense.
• 32:48
  We'll move on to some F1 Academy news, Timo.
• 32:52
  Yes, they've announced a Discover Your Drive, which is a new global initiative basically to increase the female talent pool in motorsport.
• 32:59
  The initiative aims to give girls and young women the opportunity to take part in entry level programs and professional schemes.
• 33:05
  It's the first talent identification program.
• 33:08
  So F1 Academy Discover Your Drive Karting UK, bit of a mouthful, and it's going to be operated by Motorsport UK and Team Sport Karting.
• 33:16
  It's going to attempt to address the disparity between male and female participation in motorsport by acting as a gateway for young girls into the sport.
• 33:23
  The program also aims to remove barriers that often inhibit girls from competing.
• 33:26
  And then in 2024, F1 Academy Discover Your Drive will run activations around the world prior to each race with workshops and activities aimed at inspiring local communities of 18 year old girls about a future in motorsport.
• 33:39
  So it's kind of another step in the right direction because they are having good folks on grassroots, which was being missed out on a little bit just generally full stop.
• 33:48
  And it's lying some good groundwork globally for future seasons of F1 Academy.
• 33:53
  And it's going to be interesting to see what the calendar then is for F1 Academy next year because of these workshops and these on the ground initiatives.
• 34:02
  Because if you're, let's say, I feel like it should be in Brazil, for example, because motorsport in South America is pretty difficult to get into as it is for a plethora of reasons.
• 34:13
  So if you could get some grassroots stuff going there, especially for women in motorsport, that would be excellent.
• 34:18
  Whereas not that it's not needed in Europe, but I feel like you'll notice more, I feel like there's more groundwork needs to be done in some of these other locations that you're not automatically thinking about.
• 34:31
  Because you see it all the time with these drivers, male or female, coming over to Europe or going over to America to try and get their chance.
• 34:38
  But it takes them so much time and energy and money to get there in the first place.
• 34:42
  But if they had some better infrastructure back home, maybe they could build up to that a bit more, be able to have the tools, more tools available to them.
• 34:49
  So it's not as bad when they do make that jump up for whatever reason.
• 34:53
  So it's a step in the right direction. I'll be very interested to see what happens there. And if they could just broadcast the damn thing, that would be the icing on the cake.
• 35:01
  There's definitely value in having a proper grassroots thing, because, again, as much as you spot the occasional female talent coming through, the first major hurdle is getting girls into go-karts.
• 35:13
  That's where the whole thing starts off with is like FIK supercarts and all that. They've got to have this motivation, this spark, this thing that tells them that they can go and do this at their local karting track.
• 35:25
  You've got to see it to be it. And I think definitely encouraging this and pointing out, using Team Sport is a brilliant thing because they have hundreds of courses up and down the UK.
• 35:36
  There's literally sort of three on my doorstep. They're all pretty decent, well-run places and relatively affordable to go along to and at least spend an hour on a go-karting track, which means that anyone can get a fairly decent crack at actually having a go at it and going, oh, this is enjoyable.
• 35:52
  I would like to take this up. And crucially, by actively promoting this to a female audience, gives them the chance to go, you know what, I will give it a shot and pushes it in the right direction.
• 36:03
  Is that very sort of early seedling for what a grass sport needs, Annie May?
• 36:10
  Just what is going on from that. I've got some kind of stats that's just within the UK. As you said, Team Sport are helping with the initiative.
• 36:20
  As statistics show that around 45,000 young girls visit their track every year, but only 146 girls aged 8 to 12 progress into competition out of 2,275. As a percentage, that's only 6.5%, which I'm hoping that my maths is correct on that.
• 36:40
  I mean, with how the day is going, it's probably not. But anyway, you could say that it's part of the problem-saf reason as to why we don't see as many female racers.
• 36:51
  And it's because there is a smaller group starting out, so statistically, you're going to see more boys progress further. And if young girls can see the opportunities that are open to them, they're going to be more inclined to take them, as long as there is the support and funding to get them there.
• 37:07
  I know that the pilot programme is currently taking place at just six of their venues across England, those being Eastleigh, Leicester, Manchester, Trafford Park, Mitcham, Newcastle and Reading.
• 37:17
  They just need to turn up, have a go, and they'll be scouted by one of their chief instructors. And if the initiative is successful, it will be rolled out to all venues.
• 37:29
  I think, as well, it's a great initiative to be working alongside Girls on Track as well, because they often go to schools and promote women working in STEM. So we kind of needed that racing side of it as well.
• 37:43
  And as well, if I look, even with the STEM, if I look back on my school years, I had absolutely no idea about the options available to me. And in some sense, it's also breaking down class barriers as well, because I know I have the potest voice in the world.
• 37:57
  I do come from a working class background. And as a working class girl, you don't really see those options exist to you, because they aren't visible to your reality. And it wasn't until I was in sixth form, that they even started promoting STEM.
• 38:11
  So both from a class and a gender perspective, I still didn't really think it applied to me. And I always kind of had that inkling that I wanted to work in Formula One, but I had no idea what options were readily available to me.
• 38:23
  So I kind of ignored it until 2020, until I realized, ah, perhaps journalism was an option and kind of look where I am now.
• 38:32
  But it does prove the point that we need to promote women being immotable, whether that's behind the wheel or behind the scenes, because it's not readily available to the masses, whether that's sort of seeing it or even sort of knowing about it, whether you're, you know, sort of gender or class.
• 38:49
  There's definitely an element to it that just suggests that you do need to play that numbers game and that eventually has its merits. That's something that essentially has been played with many motorsport for so long going through that grassroots thing.
• 39:01
  Simply you have so many people starting out at karting, however many thousands of young boys start it, you're only getting a tiny percentage of them as of young women starting it.
• 39:12
  And obviously, if you're only applying that sort of 6% ratio to it, you're going to get even fewer actually make it to the next step when you're doing applying 6% to many thousands of young boys going into it, you're inevitably going to get a far higher number.
• 39:25
  So it's great to see that this someone's actually sort of thought it through. They've looked at the data and gone, well, what do we actively need to do to try and sort of readdress that balance?
• 39:34
  And team sport is a great one to use because they keep all the data of lap times and people that do it, you sort of sign up, you sort of say, yeah, keep the data and you appear on the scoreboards.
• 39:44
  And it means they can look at genuine data from either people who just go karting for fun, people that go karting for training, for getting into those sports and compare real time, young women that are looking to get into it or just having a bit of fun, but equally
• 39:58
  can offer them that incentive to sort of go, you're not too bad at this. Look at where you are against genuinely the rest of the UK.
• 40:07
  Oh, that's a huge sort of way of going. Oh, it's a big ego boost, which is hugely what's needed to incentivize and motivate sort of young women to go, oh, that's an opportunity for me. Excellent.
• 40:19
  And again, the sort of the affordability, the broad scope of locations mean that it's something that does have, like you said, this ability to transcend some level of class barrier and make it very much something that's applicable to everyone.
• 40:34
  If they're interested and it's great to see F1 Academy, despite at the moment being very, very much a small thing that's barely even broadcast, has already shown this idea of growth and that it wants to have this greater impact.
• 40:49
  The early work done by the now defunct W series and all great. It's proven that that sort of, if people can see it, they want to be at mentality. How do we take that and advance it to the next step? Where can we implement this? How can we make sure that when we implement this, we're putting it in the right places in front of the right people for it to actually have a positive benefit.
• 41:09
  And it shows that the people that are working behind the scenes and F1 Academy are arguably putting in a far more legwork than many people give them credit for just because it's not shown on the telly, which is a fair enough criticism. It'd be great to actually see the action.
• 41:22
  It's good racing, but there is a lot more going on behind the scenes and I think it's easy to give credit for and certainly the efforts that the Discover Your Drive campaign are putting together really suggests that this could be something important to keep an eye on through the rest of the season.
• 41:38
  One last thing I will just say on F1 Academy there is that they were in Zandvoort at the weekend for their latest round and they kind of played a clever hand that we didn't, you wouldn't necessarily realize unless you were following the motorsport, but DTM I think was on there at the same weekend or some kind of Pt racing.
• 41:57
  No, no, this was like endurance racing cars were there.
• 42:01
  I'm pretty sure.
• 42:03
  And obviously you've got the crowd coming mainly for that and it was acting as a support series to it.
• 42:10
  And it worked quite well because they had these autograph sessions with the F1 Academy drivers and a couple of the teams were saying they kind of, they always bring a stack of them because they know that people from the local area will come and watch the race because they'll know it's on.
• 42:23
  And so they might might need a few but a couple of teams did genuinely run out because they weren't expecting quite such a high number of people to come and interact with everything there. So it's shown these people if you put it on as a support category for the stuff and don't just have it by itself and don't really tell anyone and close the doors off to it, then you will just naturally get fans there so I thought that was quite a nice overlap thing to happen there and something happened organically that they managed to get some fans that way so even though they weren't broadcasting live it was a nice workaround.
• 42:52
  I know MotoGP was at Assen, the other Dutch circuit.
• 42:58
  That was why. I'm pretty sure Fabian Volvend and Celia Martin don't do motorbikes at the moment so. No I thought it was weird that they would have essentially F1 Academy as a sort of warm up act to MotoGP. MotoGP has in itself three feeder series.
• 43:12
  But yeah, it's proof that this sort of in person visibility is also having some level of impact. Still gutted and spent 20 quid to go and watch it in Spain when I should have done but hey.
• 43:25
  We'll move on to just a very very short nib of news and that's Heikki Kovalainen has had a child. That's it. I wish his god to him and his partner and the health of their child. Congratulations Heikki. I think that's that's pretty much it.
• 43:39
  Why have we decided to promote Heikki? You know, Kimi Rikers just had another ice cube. Should we congratulate him too?
• 43:47
  We can do. I figured we need like a small sort of like women's gossip section to the paper. I figured that would be a useful thing of having like a little sort of hello F1 in somewhere tucked in here.
• 43:58
  And I know this was something I just spotted on Twitter earlier today.
• 44:02
  Whilst we're just doing the last bits of news then one thing that is relevant to Austria.
• 44:07
  No, no, no, no. Not that I'm aware of. That is related to Austria is that after the not so great event happening in the crowd last year at the Austrian Grand Prix.
• 44:20
  I'm pretty sure Gridclick and I think it's Females of Motor Sports. I think there might be one other. I'll double check this.
• 44:27
  But they're setting up WhatsApp groups for any women that are attending the Grand Prix so they can all be in a group together and keep each other abreast of where's a good place to go and kind of have a wide connection no matter where you are on track and to kind of have each other's backs a bit.
• 44:42
  Which it's annoying that that's necessary and that they have to do that and Formula One themselves aren't really doing anything on that as far as I'm aware.
• 44:49
  And if they have, they've not really made much song and dance about it.
• 44:52
  But in case anyone listening is going to go to Austria and wanted this as an option. I'm sure one of the three of us can put that in the description somewhere and we'll stick it on social media and share that about it.
• 45:02
  Yeah, I mean if you go on Females of Motor Sports Instagram page. I think if you go on any of the Instagram pages they've got links to it as well.
• 45:14
  Yeah, there's definitely we'll try and sort of put some links to all those services out there in the description of this video when it drops. So we'll look ahead to the Austrian Grand Prix although first of all, any mays fun fact kind of history lesson is back because you remember to write it this week.
• 45:29
  Yes. And I hope this goes well seeing as I haven't been able to speak for this entire podcast but we'll have a go.
• 45:37
  The first one is sort of a quiz question.
• 45:42
  Six Austrians have made their Grand Prix debut at their home race. Can you name three of them? I won't let you name. I mean, I guess you probably could get four of them. I don't know whether you'll get all six so I'll say three.
• 45:56
  Marco Lauda Rint
• 46:02
  I'm actually thinking about the Austrian F1 drivers. Schecter? Was it South Africa wasn't it I think.
• 46:12
  Just a bit off.
• 46:15
  I've got those three correct though. You have got those three correct.
• 46:19
  Okay.
• 46:21
  Trying to get any more Austrian F1. Who did you say? You said Lauda, Marco and Marco.
• 46:30
  Is that a broken mass?
• 46:32
  No.
• 46:33
  No.
• 46:34
  Helmut Marco and Niki Lauda actually debuted on the same year.
• 46:38
  1971. It's the same year Helmut Marco won Le Mans in a 9-1-7 for Martini Racing.
• 46:46
  I can't forget that Helmut Marco actually did racing like he's not just some old guy that floats around at Red Bull.
• 46:53
  You can't look it up on the internet Jesse. I'm not looking up on the internet. Yes you are. Yes I am.
• 46:59
  I'm curious because I can't think of any more Austrian racing drivers. That was horrible.
• 47:03
  You'll kick yourself maybe for one of them but the other two are...
• 47:06
  I've got a list but I don't know when they started in front of me.
• 47:12
  Just tell us Ellie mate. Don't let him do anything by cheating.
• 47:15
  Put me out of my misery.
• 47:17
  Dieter Cuesta in 1974. I don't know whether that's how you say his name or not. That was his only F1 race that he competed in.
• 47:25
  Hans Binder in 1976 and Gerhard Berger in...
• 47:30
  Oh fuck Gerhard Berger of course.
• 47:32
  Yeah.
• 47:34
  That's annoying. I should have got Berger but oh well.
• 47:38
  Yeah. Anyway the track in its original form opened up in 1961 and Helmut Marco actually won the first support race that took place at Osterreich Ring.
• 47:49
  That's the best Austrian you'll probably get from me as it was then called in a Chevrolet Camaro.
• 47:55
  And whilst the main event was called the Austrian Grand Prix it was actually for sports cars and Kurt Ahrens and Joe Sifrit won the race in a 917 Porsche.
• 48:05
  I would love to go on about a 917 Porsche but Timo would glaze over and fall asleep and this is a fun fact about the Austrian Grand Prix so I will carry on with...
• 48:15
  Why would I glaze over and fall asleep about that?
• 48:17
  Because you hate history. Don't deny it.
• 48:19
  I don't like it when you drone on about it Jesse. You just make me fall asleep when you talk about history. Literally anyone else.
• 48:29
  Anyway the first Formula One Grand Prix came here a year later in 1970 but the sports relationship with the track wasn't always smooth sailing.
• 48:39
  Around the time the track was built the aim was to have one of the fastest tracks in Europe, one that could rival Hockenheim and Spa-Franckchamp which meant that the track fell out of favour with the sport in the mid 1980s as it was considerably dangerous and highly unsuitable and the track was therefore abandoned.
• 48:55
  The track then made a resurgence in the 90s and the layout was changed to accommodate the more modern F1 Formula One car and it was renamed the A1 Ring and it hosted F1 for six years between 1997 and 2003 before being abandoned again and partially demolished.
• 49:12
  In 2005 Red Bull purchased the track to use as a test circuit and training facility but it ended up being transformed into the circuit as we know it today and it was reintroduced to Formula One calendar in 2014 and we have raced there ever since under the new name Red Bull Ring.
• 49:29
  The highest number of poles the driver has got here is three and it's shared by four drivers, Niki Lauda, Reni Anu.
• 49:36
  Fun fact about Reni Anu is that I saw him at Goodwood and I told Jesse this at the London Classic Car Show and he went, isn't he dead?
• 49:51
  I just kind of assumed that Reni Anu had died, I don't know why.
• 49:55
  Anyway, the other two are now...
• 49:58
  Reni, I'm sorry by the way, if he listens to this.
• 50:04
  The other two are now some PK and more recently Valtteri Bottas.
• 50:08
  But it's actually Alan Prost and Max Verstappen who have the most wins here with three unless you count the steering Grand Prix which brings Max's total up to four.
• 50:18
  Because of Covid, F1 actually raced Austria four times in the space of one year between 2020 and 2021.
• 50:25
  The 2020 season obviously started late and we had a double header here on July 5th and July 12th in 2020 and then due to the Turkish Grand Prix being postponed in 2021, F1 had another double header here on June 27th and July 4th.
• 50:40
  So if you want to count the sprints too, it means in some ways we've always had two races here since 2020 and this year will be no different.
• 50:52
  Austrian Overlobe.
• 50:55
  I can't remember if you can still rent a NASCAR to drive around.
• 50:59
  Two very different thoughts there.
• 51:01
  You can, you can, it's still on their website. Excellent.
• 51:05
  Because you can go to the Red Bull Ring and do like driving experiences.
• 51:11
  You can have the NASCAR Race Taxi Red Bull Ring, €449.
• 51:17
  I don't know if you get to drive it or if you simply get passengers in it. Given the fact that it says taxi, I assume you get passengers in it.
• 51:22
  You get the American from the first season of the Grand Tour to drive you around.
• 51:26
  Yeah, but you can get loads of really interesting cars to drive around there.
• 51:30
  You can also take your own car.
• 51:33
  You can, they do regular track days.
• 51:35
  Don't be silly, Jesse's cars won't make it that far.
• 51:39
  It might with the new exhaust.
• 51:41
  Yeah, £650 exhaust or however much of a pissing spent on the damn thing.
• 51:45
  I hope it doesn't.
• 51:47
  £6426 buys you a Renault 3.5 seat around the Red Bull Ring.
• 51:54
  We're getting sidetracked.
• 51:55
  Anyway, we'll move ahead to the return of the F1 Sprint weekend in Austria.
• 51:59
  We've had two sprints before at the Red Bull Ring.
• 52:02
  Do we like it in Austria?
• 52:05
  Do we think that it's going to work this year?
• 52:07
  Because we've got the new layout where we obviously have FP1 qualifying for the races.
• 52:11
  And this Saturday is just dedicated to the sprint.
• 52:13
  Do we think that's going to be beneficial here?
• 52:16
  I don't think it's going to be, it's going to be one of the least worst ones.
• 52:22
  Yeah, that's the best way of phrasing it, I think.
• 52:24
  Brazil and Austria are the only two that have had it every year so far.
• 52:29
  And it's not been awful.
• 52:33
  It's not been great, but it's not been awful.
• 52:35
  It has worked.
• 52:37
  And then last year it was mainly Mick Schumacher, wasn't it?
• 52:44
  And Ferrari dominating.
• 52:48
  Yeah, Ferrari had an interestingly good weekend in Austria last year.
• 52:52
  It's going to mark a year since Charles Leclerc's last win in for, so that's also my fun fact to bring in there.
• 52:59
  Also, we've been not far away from Carlos Sainz's last win in F1 either.
• 53:04
  Just Ferraris generally.
• 53:07
  I remember being really depressed after the Austrian Grand Prix because Carlos' car set on fire.
• 53:15
  Let's not say anything about that because you're jinxing me.
• 53:18
  Yeah. We'll move on from premonitions with regards to the sprint and Ferraris catching fire to what weather we can expect.
• 53:25
  And well, at the time of writing, Thursday is looking pretty decent for track walks and preemptive setups
• 53:30
  and for doing all usual technical stuff that you get done on a Thursday, 24 degrees Celsius and a gentle breeze with a 1% chance of rain.
• 53:37
  Friday follows much the same pattern, though a touch warmer, 25 degrees Celsius, but with a bit less cloud cover it'll likely feel hotter and we could see warmer track surface temperatures.
• 53:46
  Tire degradation isn't the highest on the calendar, but it's been above average.
• 53:50
  Taking into account the sprint and the juggled up running, getting a good run in the only available practice session to suss out strategies will be key.
• 53:57
  As we're getting running orders for qualifying, where a warm track is likely to rub it in quickly, possibly giving us elevated levels of track evolution.
• 54:07
  Saturday and the sprint is a lot cooler than the days prior and likely to be peppered with thunderstorms and showers.
• 54:14
  60% chance of rain is what the weather forecast is suggesting for Saturday and 22 degrees Celsius are the order of the day.
• 54:21
  Sunday sees a return to better conditions, but with the chance of a green track once more, 20 degrees Celsius and plenty of cloud cover will keep temperatures down and could open up some stretched strategies.
• 54:32
  Ideal for teams who have a car that can be kind on its tyres.
• 54:36
  So, which on-track battles should we look out for?
• 54:39
  Off the back of Canada, very little has been shaken up. Red Bull look to have the best package still, but Aston Martin's Alonzo reckons they could get closer as the season draws on.
• 54:48
  The tighter track here will limit Red Bull's straight-line dominance, but it's hardly like they're lacking cornering ability either.
• 54:54
  If he's on his game, Stroll could close up to the top of the field where it seems his car ought to be, but we keep saying that every race and have yet to be proven so.
• 55:02
  Mercedes have drawn themselves ahead of Ferrari, but if the Scuderia qualify well, they could have a fight on their hands for a podium position this weekend.
• 55:10
  Russell will be looking to make up for a calamitous Canadian Grand Prix and retake his championship place over Sainz.
• 55:16
  Alpine sit in a bit of a no-man's-land, still adrift of the fighting four ahead, but leaves up from McLaren a quiet and tidy weekend, Spielberg will help cement their positions on the charts.
• 55:27
  McLaren, meanwhile, have been on the podium here before with Norris.
• 55:30
  If they bring a car that suited to the possibly changing conditions this weekend, we could see them put up a good challenge against the Enstone-based Outfit.
• 55:38
  Woking are shipping the first round of upgrades to Austria in a big move that's set to take them three races to get them all implemented.
• 55:46
  Baku proved that they can get an upgraded car turned around and ready with just one practice session, so they'll be hoping for uninterrupted running in Spielberg to get the mimes down of what they'll bring.
• 55:55
  While Canada's result for Albom was strong, I'd argue it isn't enough to draw Grove into the full-time fight with Alfa-Tauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas at the bottom of the pack.
• 56:04
  Splitting this bunch is a tighter and tighter task and really depends on qualifying to see who's come where Sunday, but equally who can execute the best strategy.
• 56:12
  The latter is what brings Williams into the fray and could give Alfa Romeo a chance to nab another point or two, which leads us nicely into our predictions.
• 56:21
  And pole position, we'll start with the odd one out, Timo.
• 56:26
  Max Verstappen, because I'm intrigued as to why you two have gone Ferrari and if you've had concussions lately, but Max Verstappen, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
• 56:36
  And I mean, hey, I'd like him to not get polled because it means something interesting happened, but it's 2023, so Max.
• 56:46
  Abby May, we have both gone for Charles Leclerc. I'm interested to hear your reasoning behind it.
• 56:53
  I think seeing what they could do last week in the race, their car was quick.
• 57:03
  I think if they kind of get it all together and get it working, they could be up there.
• 57:11
  I think they actually had one of the fastest cars. They just started. They just had a poor qualifying session.
• 57:19
  They were helped a lot last week as well by Stroll being strolled and George taking himself out, though.
• 57:24
  An equally decent strategy in the hands of a safety car. So there was a lot of circumstance around it. Nonetheless.
• 57:32
  Which granted in a sprint weekend, you might get a lot of that.
• 57:36
  But as well, at the start of the race, Carlos Sainz was able to overtake Sergio Perez and he looked faster.
• 57:47
  He couldn't last week, though.
• 57:49
  Yeah, but he's in that race.
• 57:55
  It's a multi-pronged thing. And that's the thing with Ferrari. You can never tell which one of them is going to which element to them having a good weekend is going to go wrong.
• 58:03
  Is it Perez is going to drive well? Is it they're going to forget how to do strategy? There's going to be any number of things.
• 58:09
  Nonetheless, I still reckon we could see a Charles Leclerc pole position. I think it's not unheard of. It's likely.
• 58:16
  To be fair, if you do get a Charles Leclerc pole, my winning prediction is still very much up for par, given the conversion rate.
• 58:23
  Yes. Yeah. I mean, Charles Leclerc pole pretty much at this point guarantees a matchless step up.
• 58:30
  It helps you and I along with our podium predictions. Timo, we'll let you kick off with your podium again.
• 58:36
  It's a reminder of the last time out kind of top three because it's going to be a Stappano-Lonzo and Hamilton.
• 58:43
  That's that's the rule I've done for myself this year is the one I'm going to keep doing.
• 58:47
  And I can't wait for the day where we get something more complicated than what we got at Monaco.
• 58:53
  The time we get something more complicated than Monaco and probably 2024.
• 58:56
  And I've probably stopped using this rule by then. But, you know, you know, pick some other strange rule.
• 59:02
  I've gone a similar route with my podium, Verstappen win Alonso second, but Leclerc third.
• 59:08
  I reckon that while the Friday is going to be good, it's not going to be beating Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso good.
• 59:15
  Ellie May, you reckon otherwise?
• 59:19
  I've gone for Charles Leclerc win, Carlos signed second, Max Verstappen third.
• 59:25
  Why? Are you OK?
• 59:28
  I think we've learned throughout this podcast, no.
• 59:33
  But they did have a really good race last year for some reason.
• 59:38
  So I was like, well, maybe it's gone so well for them since then.
• 59:42
  Well, maybe some of that magic will come over to this one and Carlos will get redemption and come second like he was meant to be.
• 59:52
  This was the podium that we were meant to get last year.
• 59:57
  And we didn't because the Ferrari blew up.
• 1:00:01
  You are like the channel five of digging to the bottom of the barrel for optimism for Ferrari, aren't you?
• 1:00:06
  You just you keep finding that you're not quite at the bottom yet and you can find something new to to get to be hopeful for yourself, to set yourself up for what is inevitably disappointment.
• 1:00:16
  I took this is so weird.
• 1:00:22
  She's going to say some form of drug, Jessie.
• 1:00:24
  No.
• 1:00:26
  Drugs.
• 1:00:27
  It's everything you know how I have a curse if I buy much.
• 1:00:37
  Well, the day I went just before I went to go walk up the last of the tour, my Ferrari cap came.
• 1:00:47
  I call our science cap.
• 1:00:48
  I brought it with me because apparently, that's the retort has lay lines going across it. So you're closer to the energy and the vibration of the earth and all that was wrong.
• 1:01:00
  Jesse, I would have preferred drugs.
• 1:01:04
  So I brought it with me to give Carlos signs.
• 1:01:09
  Good luck. And that was the weekend of Lamont.
• 1:01:13
  Ferrari won where he wasn't racing. Yes, but it was a Ferrari cap Ferrari won Lamont.
• 1:01:19
  So then it kind of still have that same energy when it then sort of a week or two weeks later when it got to Canada.
• 1:01:28
  And they actually kind of had a good race. So maybe I just need to walk back up fast and we talk.
• 1:01:34
  I don't mind the night that night it gave me nightmares for the entire night. But if it means that Carlos signs of Charlotte Claire do really well, I am.
• 1:01:44
  Anyway, anyway, have you have you heard of QAnon? I feel like you could get along with a lot of their logic.
• 1:01:50
  No, this isn't QAnon. This is this is MLM level sort of nonsense.
• 1:01:55
  I can see that. I can see both our heads in our hands.
• 1:02:04
  I'm beginning to think we've not been wild enough with our wild predictions, Jesse, for we get there and we're going to have to say something just stupendous.
• 1:02:11
  Like they will just start driving the other way around the track halfway through.
• 1:02:14
  I don't know. Ellie May has gone for like druidic nonsense to try and predict.
• 1:02:20
  Look what you've done to her, Ferrari. Look what you've done. You happy with yourselves.
• 1:02:25
  She'll wake up early on Sunday morning and if she's watching Martin Brundle's gridwalk, she'll be thrashing herself with sort of twigs of gauze and stuff and reciting incantations as orbs levitate around her in a bid to try and create some sort of tincture that will cure Ferrari's ills.
• 1:02:42
  I don't know what's going on. I worry for the cats, to be honest, in that situation.
• 1:02:46
  Yeah. Fastest lap. Timo, let's just move on. What was yours?
• 1:02:50
  Carl lost science, but only because it's the worst I've chosen. Nothing to do with any Voodoo nonsense.
• 1:02:56
  Because it's like the one you'll stick with until they get it. Move on. I've gone for Max Verstappen because it just makes the most sense. Ellie May, what weird mushrooms did you induce before you decided, yeah, I'll just go for Max Verstappen?
• 1:03:09
  I decided to go for Max Verstappen because I thought that all my other stuff was so wacky that I kind of want to have a point. Fair enough. Wild predictions.
• 1:03:23
  Okay, Timo, we'll start with you.
• 1:03:26
  Double points for Hats.
• 1:03:30
  Because there's a little bit of a lot of trick there with and
• 1:03:36
  Yeah, yeah, they did well there last year, but they are also Hats, so I don't know if they can repeat it. But there is a sprint race, so maybe they could if they can get their qualifying. If Håkonberg can do what he did in Canada, maybe he can stay in there for a short amount of time.
• 1:03:51
  That still means that KMAG either has to do the same thing or one of them has to capitalize in the race itself.
• 1:03:58
  It's wild enough, but just about plausible enough.
• 1:04:02
  Okay, when we say double points, do we incorporate across the weekend?
• 1:04:06
  So they, like, one of them can get points in the sprint and then the same one can get points again in the race and that counts as doubling up two occurrences of her scoring points. Wouldn't that be a driver in each race? Both drivers across both races.
• 1:04:22
  Håkonberg in the sprint and the Grand Prix, KMAG in the sprint and the Grand Prix, Håkonberg in the sprint, KMAG in the Grand Prix, KMAG in the sprint and Håkonberg in the Grand Prix. Any of that.
• 1:04:33
  Or even the magical occurrence of both of them in the sprint and both of them in the Grand Prix.
• 1:04:37
  I'm not going to be that ballsy with it.
• 1:04:40
  It's a possibility that fits within the rules if it does.
• 1:04:43
  Yeah, I just wanted to make sure we knew exactly the ground you're treading on.
• 1:04:46
  But I'm just not going to put my money down on that specific thing happening.
• 1:04:50
  I don't want the listener getting confused and emailing in going, oh, well, actually, I think you're fine.
• 1:04:56
  When all of a sudden...
• 1:04:57
  You think they've recovered from the stuff yet? So that they're even comprehending anything we're saying here?
• 1:05:02
  They might have had to, like, pause, walk away and come back to it at this point. I'm assuming they've gone away. They've had a glass of water. They've had a sit, a long stare.
• 1:05:10
  Ironically, lost some smelling salts to cleanse themselves out of it.
• 1:05:13
  Bring themselves back around, perhaps at a biscuit, maybe a cup of tea and just go... Right, we'll continue with whatever they've got to say.
• 1:05:20
  Ellie May will risk it and go for your wild prediction.
• 1:05:24
  I'll be in top five finish and seeing as Timo's allowed to have that across his... include the sprint, I'm including a top five finish in either.
• 1:05:33
  Good luck.
• 1:05:35
  Yeah, I will follow in exactly the same rule of argument then. I predict there is going to be a Williams points finish.
• 1:05:42
  At some point, they will finish in the points.
• 1:05:45
  Heck, all three of us could be right and we'd actually have a decent Grand Prix weekend.
• 1:05:50
  Yeah.
• 1:05:52
  Imagine as well, Jesse, if it both has in both races, both Williams in both races and an Alpine in both races.
• 1:06:02
  It would really make a mess.
• 1:06:05
  I think between now and the review, I want you to go and work out the statistical probability of that happening.
• 1:06:12
  I've already done maths today and you can see what it's done to my hair. It's gone mad.
• 1:06:17
  That's going to be something in the realm of like an 800 to 1, probably even higher.
• 1:06:23
  I remember the odds on the Gasly Sight stroll podium being something like 431 to 1.
• 1:06:34
  You weren't well that day, were you?
• 1:06:36
  Yeah, no, but I didn't make that bid, but that was...
• 1:06:40
  No, you were just making a prediction.
• 1:06:42
  No, someone put money on it and won. That was the ironic thing. Someone in Sweden, I think it was, put like a couple of euro on the podium.
• 1:06:49
  I meant when you actually made a prediction this year, not when it actually happened.
• 1:06:53
  Oh, yeah, no, I made that prediction recently and I don't know, I think I was just deprived of some basic human instinct.
• 1:07:00
  Ellie May sent you something in the post and you shouldn't have opened it.
• 1:07:03
  Sounds like you're having the same problems as me.
• 1:07:06
  I opened a box of Ellie May's ley lines and it got everywhere. I don't know.
• 1:07:11
  Sounds pretty dodgy.
• 1:07:14
  We'll move on completely from that and finish the podcast. That's all we've got time for on this week's episode.
• 1:07:19
  Join us again soon where we'll be reviewing the Austrian Grand Prix and the Fita Series action from across the weekend,
• 1:07:25
  as well as seeing if Ellie May's weird druidic nonsense has made any impact on the racing action car from the Styrian Hills.
• 1:07:33
  So make sure you've liked, subscribed and got notifications turned on to not miss anything.
• 1:07:38
  Timo can be found... Well, why don't you tell us where you can be found? I'm so used to not being here for the previews. I'm just reading your stuff.
• 1:07:45
  There's only one, I think, in recent memory. Two. Yeah, but Miami doesn't count. I assume I was left. I don't know.
• 1:07:51
  Anyway, I can be found over on Is It Fast?, the Nitro-Rx podcast, Paddock Sorority, Instagram and on The Curbs where this Friday I'll have a good interview out with Rebecca Boosie
• 1:08:00
  because she's got an excellent announcement before she's going to get up to in July because it's not busy enough full of motorsport as it is.
• 1:08:06
  She's added some more into it for us to enjoy. Fantastic. Ellie May, where can you be found? At Boston Retour.
• 1:08:15
  Harvesting ley lines. Stay away, people. Stay away. Safe distance. Call the police. She needs help.
• 1:08:22
  You'll see her from a distance, levitating, legs crossed, hands held out, sort of humming. If you've seen one division, you know what to expect.
• 1:08:30
  There'll be runes appearing in the sky and all sorts and things are about to go wrong.
• 1:08:34
  Last time I went up there, there was a person with drums. And only Ellie May could see her.
• 1:08:42
  It was quite soothing, really. And you could also see Glastonbury Festival in the distance.
• 1:08:50
  It's all very nice. Jesse, where can the people find you?
• 1:08:53
  I can be found across social media on Twitter and Instagram as at Jesse on Cars.
• 1:08:57
  I have a YouTube channel under the same name, which I keep promising I'll do something with.
• 1:09:01
  I filmed three episodes of a new series with the MG. Haven't actually edited anything together with that yet, so maybe that will happen.
• 1:09:08
  Maybe it won't. But you can always find out what I'm up to with classic cars in Classic Car Weekly.
• 1:09:15
  Buy it. It's a good paper. It's enjoyable. I like making it. That's that.
• 1:09:19
  OK, there's a weird pause. We'll finish the podcast. Thank you very much for listening.
• 1:09:22
  We'll be back with a review of the Austrian Grand Prix.