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Can Russell strike back against Antonelli? Canadian GP Preview · Pit Talk

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:09
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Andrea Kimi Antonali leads the championship ahead
0:13
Speaker 1: of teammates George Russell, ahead of the crucial Canadian Grand
0:16
Speaker 1: Prix that could have big implications for the Mercedes Dynamic,
0:19
Speaker 1: and we preview some of the burning questions ahead of
0:22
Speaker 1: Formula One's long awaited return in Montreal this weekend. My
0:26
Speaker 1: name's Michael Lamonado. It's great to have your company and
0:29
Speaker 1: the company of my co host. Much like Max m Staffan,
0:32
Speaker 1: his idea of a weekend off is to stay awake
0:34
Speaker 1: for twenty four hours consecutively at a racetrack. It's Matt Clayton.
0:39
Speaker 2: Michael, I'm glad you're actually here for the intro of this.
0:41
Speaker 2: I thought I was going to be doing my own
0:42
Speaker 2: intro at introducing myself. You not the greatest help of
0:46
Speaker 2: you to be taking into a Canadian Grand Prix weekend,
0:48
Speaker 2: and I'll thank you ever so much indeed for staying
0:50
Speaker 2: up as ever. But yeah, after last weekends covering Motor
0:54
Speaker 2: GP Catalunya, which felt like about twenty four hours of
0:57
Speaker 2: coverage in one night, given what happened in that well,
0:59
Speaker 2: Probab we touch on a little bit later on in
1:01
Speaker 2: this podcast. I feel very ready for this weekend, and well,
1:05
Speaker 2: you know what, I feel ready for Formula One because
1:07
Speaker 2: I don't really remember too much about it this year.
1:09
Speaker 2: It feels like we said this before Miami. It feels
1:12
Speaker 2: like round one because here we are in late Maine,
1:14
Speaker 2: we've had four Grand Prix. It doesn't feel right, does it.
1:17
Speaker 1: Yes, by the time we get to the other side
1:19
Speaker 1: of the Canning Grand Prix and then to the European season,
1:21
Speaker 1: it will have been two races in nine weekends. I
1:24
Speaker 1: think my maths is correct, which is probably unprecedented outside
1:28
Speaker 1: of even COVID actually was more densely packed calendar than
1:31
Speaker 1: this one's it actually started, so a very unusual time
1:35
Speaker 1: for Formula One. But don't worry, the races will becoming
1:38
Speaker 1: thick and fast once we get to the other side.
1:40
Speaker 2: Looking forward to you having like eighteen race weekends in
1:42
Speaker 2: about a month coming up in about September or October
1:45
Speaker 2: or something again, So you're going to copy it at
1:46
Speaker 2: the other end, that is for sure.
1:48
Speaker 1: Yes, when they decide to squeeze in bar and Saudi,
1:51
Speaker 1: maybe a new Middle Eastern race, who knows at the
1:53
Speaker 1: end of the calendar we can catch up again then,
1:56
Speaker 1: but let's revisit where we are in the championship. It
1:59
Speaker 1: is Mercedes leading the constructors championship and it's Andrea Kimi.
2:02
Speaker 1: Antonelli had a George Russell in the driver's title standings,
2:05
Speaker 1: the margin between them twenty points. But of course the
2:08
Speaker 1: fact that it's Antonelli ahead of Russell is the remarkable
2:11
Speaker 1: element here, something no one would have considered. Something of
2:13
Speaker 1: course we've talked about well the whole season really because
2:16
Speaker 1: it's been about Mercedes all season at the top of
2:18
Speaker 1: the standings, but since Antonelli has been able to extend
2:21
Speaker 1: that with three of the last victories ahead of Russell,
2:24
Speaker 1: and it puts Russell in a slightly certainly unexpected position,
2:28
Speaker 1: but potentially awkward and tense one as well. After Miami,
2:32
Speaker 1: of course, he noted that that's never been a favorite
2:34
Speaker 1: track of his and he was beaten by Antonelli there
2:36
Speaker 1: last year. On the balance of things as well, what's
2:39
Speaker 1: interesting is that as we come to this weekend's race
2:41
Speaker 1: in Canada, it should be, if not tables reversed, because
2:44
Speaker 1: of course Antonelli doesn't have that much history in one
2:46
Speaker 1: wind one to say whether tracks are good or not
2:48
Speaker 1: for him, But it's certainly a George Russell track. His
2:51
Speaker 1: pol get at the last two seasons in Montreal. Last year,
2:54
Speaker 1: of course he won, probably should have won in twenty
2:56
Speaker 1: twenty four, and he kept a clean ahead and had
2:58
Speaker 1: Mercedes played the strategy better as well, was the quicker
3:01
Speaker 1: Mercedes driver in both of those as well. That qualified
3:04
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton in twenty four about a quarter a second,
3:06
Speaker 1: and then Antonelli boy about half a second last year.
3:10
Speaker 1: Does that put the pressure on Russell? Do you think,
3:12
Speaker 1: Matt or is that something that eases his mind a
3:14
Speaker 1: little bit knowing he's coming back to a happy hunting ground.
3:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would more think the latter, because what you
3:20
Speaker 2: said earlier about you know, Antonelli's got such a limited
3:24
Speaker 2: resource of results. We don't really know what is an
3:27
Speaker 2: Antonelli track and what is not an Antonelli track, And
3:29
Speaker 2: it's almost we could almost throw last year out there.
3:32
Speaker 2: Last year we had this discussion before. He was strangely
3:35
Speaker 2: weak at the tracks that he knew and very good
3:37
Speaker 2: at the tracks that he didn't. So you could theoretically
3:39
Speaker 2: say that any track is an Antonelle track At this point.
3:41
Speaker 2: But there are certain places for any driver in a
3:44
Speaker 2: season where they walk through the gates and it could
3:46
Speaker 2: be because they've won a race, or they've been quick,
3:48
Speaker 2: or they've always had something on their team mate. It
3:50
Speaker 2: could just be anything like that. You speak to any
3:52
Speaker 2: Formula One driver and they will have races where, for
3:56
Speaker 2: whatever reason, it's a vibe thing they will turn up
3:58
Speaker 2: and go, yeah, I'm ready for this. This one feels
4:01
Speaker 2: like it's come at the right time for George Russell,
4:04
Speaker 2: if that makes sense, because I think he needs to
4:06
Speaker 2: come into a race weekend with a little bit of confidence.
4:08
Speaker 2: The fact that Mercedes has won these opening four races,
4:11
Speaker 2: I think surprise is absolutely nobody. But it's more that
4:14
Speaker 2: Antonelli has the level has risen but really quickly, and
4:19
Speaker 2: it hasn't feel like Russell's necessarily floundering. But momentum is
4:23
Speaker 2: a thing good and bad, both within the sport and
4:25
Speaker 2: within a team and the team elements. The interesting part
4:28
Speaker 2: of this because we've seen this at Mercedes before. Right
4:31
Speaker 2: now Antonelli has that twenty point lead, but because it's unexpected,
4:34
Speaker 2: it feels like it's worth a little bit more than that,
4:36
Speaker 2: and so Russell coming to a circuit where he's had
4:38
Speaker 2: success in the past and probably, as you said, should
4:40
Speaker 2: have won another race there. It's really important the timing
4:44
Speaker 2: of this. Now, the points gap, it is what it is.
4:46
Speaker 2: It's twenty points. There's seven million races to go after this,
4:49
Speaker 2: so the actual number of the points gap isn't really
4:52
Speaker 2: the significant thing, but the fact that there is one
4:54
Speaker 2: and it's you. We'd have been having this discussion it
4:56
Speaker 2: was Russell twenty points in the lead right now, we'd
4:58
Speaker 2: be saying, well, twenty twenty six is going completely to script.
5:01
Speaker 2: So an important location I think for Russell to turn
5:05
Speaker 2: up to this weekend and the narrative either way, if
5:08
Speaker 2: he's able to sort of write the ship and we
5:10
Speaker 2: expect on balance that a Mercedes would win the Grand Prix.
5:13
Speaker 2: If he's able to win here, we'd go, okay, he
5:16
Speaker 2: needed that just to settle things down a little bit.
5:18
Speaker 2: But the reverse can also be true here. If Antonelli
5:21
Speaker 2: wins at a inverted Commas Russell track, then we really
5:25
Speaker 2: have to start having a really serious discussion because we
5:28
Speaker 2: will like the Antonelli story right now, but it's so
5:30
Speaker 2: early that it's just in the nice story category. If
5:33
Speaker 2: he starts winning at circuits where Russell has been traditionally strong,
5:36
Speaker 2: then that's a different conversation.
5:38
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, it's worth saying, because we have so
5:40
Speaker 1: little history on Antonella, we do have very little to
5:42
Speaker 1: go on, as you said, about where he might be good,
5:44
Speaker 1: and even the elements of different tracks he likes, and
5:47
Speaker 1: even the elements of cars that he likes, particularly given
5:49
Speaker 1: last year was a totally different set of regulations as well.
5:52
Speaker 1: But it is worth reflecting that Canada last year P
5:54
Speaker 1: four was his qualifying result. That was his equal best
5:57
Speaker 1: Grand Prix qualifying result or equal second best I think
5:59
Speaker 1: it was after Miami. It was also his first podium
6:02
Speaker 1: of his career. That can't be just coincidentally got that
6:05
Speaker 1: by having a great start and then holding off Oscar
6:08
Speaker 1: Piastre for a lot of the race, who was one
6:11
Speaker 1: of the who was the title leader at the time
6:13
Speaker 1: and certainly a title protagonist for most of the year.
6:15
Speaker 1: So it's not as if we're going to a track
6:16
Speaker 1: where obviously Russell is good, but where Antonelli inversely was bad,
6:21
Speaker 1: as if it's the opposite of Miami. We're going to
6:23
Speaker 1: a track where, for all we know, Antonelli's the step
6:26
Speaker 1: he's taken this year makes this an antonellly track, or
6:28
Speaker 1: at least the track that it can be very competitive
6:30
Speaker 1: bat I think there's a lot to be said about
6:32
Speaker 1: where I think momentum is the word. I feel like
6:34
Speaker 1: the moment is the best word to sum up what
6:36
Speaker 1: we've seen so far, because it's not as if either
6:38
Speaker 1: driver has been performing very well or very badly. It's
6:40
Speaker 1: just been these little percentage elements in the game. I
6:42
Speaker 1: feel like this could be a really influential race in
6:45
Speaker 1: deciding where momentum is going to go as we head
6:47
Speaker 1: into the European season, which is traditionally where we really
6:51
Speaker 1: get the shape of the championship. But then again, considering
6:53
Speaker 1: how bad Antonelli was in Europe last year is another
6:56
Speaker 1: fascinating element to this unfolding battle.
6:58
Speaker 2: Well, and there's two parts to this momentum question. For me,
7:00
Speaker 2: there's momentum within the sport, and it's easier to see
7:03
Speaker 2: it's more visible for Mercedes this year because they are
7:05
Speaker 2: the benchmark where they haven't been for the last little while.
7:08
Speaker 2: But there's also momentum within the team and I think
7:11
Speaker 2: this is going to be one of those stories that
7:15
Speaker 2: the volume of increases if Antonelli continues to be the
7:19
Speaker 2: leading driver here, because we know the dynamic that's at
7:21
Speaker 2: playwright and these driver combinations in dominant teams are never
7:26
Speaker 2: coming from a completely same platform. To begin with. We
7:30
Speaker 2: know that Toto Wolf took you know, an educated gambler
7:34
Speaker 2: to gamble, nonetheless putting someone as young and an experienced
7:36
Speaker 2: as Antonelli in the car. And there were times over
7:39
Speaker 2: the last twelve to eighteen months where you could probably
7:42
Speaker 2: justifiably question that I think was at one point in
7:44
Speaker 2: seven rounds last year and you're thinking, well, this just
7:47
Speaker 2: isn't up to being in a team like this. Now
7:49
Speaker 2: we've seen the reverse this year, but that feels like
7:52
Speaker 2: there's a lot of internal momentum to be gained or
7:55
Speaker 2: lost within this team. Look, George Russell has been in
7:57
Speaker 2: the Mercedes family for a really long while, but along
8:00
Speaker 2: comes Antonelli and it's like, you know, the shiny new toy, right,
8:03
Speaker 2: you know, you sort of you say, well, this looks
8:05
Speaker 2: this looks fun, this looks exciting. It's an unknown story.
8:08
Speaker 2: It gets, you know, the narrative picks up through the media.
8:11
Speaker 2: The fans are more engaged. It's exciting to see someone
8:14
Speaker 2: really make their mark on the championship for the first time.
8:18
Speaker 2: How that plays out within the team, and a team
8:20
Speaker 2: as experienced as Mercedes are fighting for championships, They're not
8:23
Speaker 2: immune to this. Everyone's immune to this when you've got
8:25
Speaker 2: two drivers that are competing for something and perhaps the
8:29
Speaker 2: unheralded driver so far as the one that's got the momentum.
8:32
Speaker 2: Of course, there's some teams that don't bother with this
8:34
Speaker 2: whole two drivers sort of thingure We've discussed this before.
8:36
Speaker 2: I mean, you never have a problem within Red Bull
8:37
Speaker 2: because they sometimes they only enter the second car most
8:40
Speaker 2: of the time because they have to. But you know,
8:42
Speaker 2: within Mercedes, just the dynamic of the young upstart, Oh,
8:46
Speaker 2: this is all fresh. We don't know how this is
8:47
Speaker 2: going and how that works within the team is a
8:50
Speaker 2: really interesting part of this early stage of the season.
8:52
Speaker 2: I think, I think so.
8:53
Speaker 1: And this is the interesting element here for me, is
8:56
Speaker 1: that if this is going to be a championship battle,
8:59
Speaker 1: they're too real different drivers. It's not like McLaren's championship
9:02
Speaker 1: battle last year where okay, Pastre had less experience, but
9:05
Speaker 1: in you zoom out a little bit, Norris Pastre pretty
9:08
Speaker 1: much the same age, not a massive amount of differences
9:11
Speaker 1: in Grand Prix between them. Certainly by the middle of
9:12
Speaker 1: the year, we weren't talking that much about Pstre's inexperience anyway,
9:15
Speaker 1: because it was clear that he was there pretty much
9:17
Speaker 1: and pushing Norris. These are two drivers, okay, looking for
9:20
Speaker 1: their first title, pretty closely matched on wins now actually,
9:24
Speaker 1: which is something interesting to say. Yes, and there is
9:27
Speaker 1: an age gap certainly, And that's the difference for me
9:30
Speaker 1: is that it's almost as if if Antonelli goes through
9:32
Speaker 1: with this, he contends with the title, he wins the title,
9:34
Speaker 1: and that's a subject for many months down the line,
9:37
Speaker 1: but it almost automatically forces in a little generational change
9:41
Speaker 1: that puts George Russell in a sort of in a
9:43
Speaker 1: bit of a gray area. And I add to that
9:45
Speaker 1: equation you, char Leclair's the drivers who have been waiting
9:48
Speaker 1: for years to have a crack. If you miss that opportunity,
9:51
Speaker 1: it sort of asked questions of whether the sport has
9:53
Speaker 1: passed you by if you like, or your moment has
9:55
Speaker 1: passed it completely.
9:57
Speaker 2: There's that whole generation that Russell belongs to that if
10:00
Speaker 2: someone like an Antonelli was to as you said, leap
10:02
Speaker 2: frogdam will jump them to take the title. That asks
10:04
Speaker 2: a lot of questions of that particular generation of drivers.
10:07
Speaker 2: Too interesting. You mentioned the McLaren thing as you were speaking.
10:10
Speaker 2: It sort of made me think that whoever lost out
10:13
Speaker 2: of Norris and Piastre last year had less to lose
10:17
Speaker 2: because they're contemporaries, right, and to all intents and purposes,
10:20
Speaker 2: they are, as you said, more or less in the
10:22
Speaker 2: same age bracket. And yes, it sucks to lose one, clearly,
10:27
Speaker 2: but it doesn't say as much about the loser of
10:30
Speaker 2: that particular battle as what would happen at Mercedes would
10:33
Speaker 2: be if the underdog in Verdicom was here, the guy
10:36
Speaker 2: who came into the season with the lesser expectations, if
10:38
Speaker 2: he's the one that wins out here, there's more at stake. Now,
10:41
Speaker 2: if Antonelli doesn't win the championship, if he has a
10:43
Speaker 2: very good year and Russell comes over the top, everyone
10:45
Speaker 2: will do that. Well, okay, that's what's supposed to happen.
10:49
Speaker 2: Whereas if you're in Russell's age and generation, there's a
10:51
Speaker 2: lot more to lose if you are on the losing
10:54
Speaker 2: side of history to a young driver who is doing
10:57
Speaker 2: what Antonelli's doing so far. So yes, it might be
11:00
Speaker 2: an intratae battle for the World Championship like it was
11:02
Speaker 2: last year, but I think the dynamics behind it are
11:05
Speaker 2: very very different.
11:06
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see if push does come to shove,
11:09
Speaker 1: if we're talking about this still on the other side
11:10
Speaker 1: of the midseason break surely or towards the end of
11:12
Speaker 1: the European leg of the season, what this does to
11:15
Speaker 1: the Mercedes internal dynamic. We talked a little bit about
11:18
Speaker 1: the momentum to be gained inside Mercedes. I mean it's
11:20
Speaker 1: almost ten years to the day. It's just over ten
11:22
Speaker 1: years to the day, in fact, since the twenty sixteen
11:24
Speaker 1: Spanish Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, the
11:27
Speaker 1: height of their rivalry, crashed out on the first lap
11:31
Speaker 1: just after the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, opened
11:34
Speaker 1: the door to Max with Staffens first wing as it happens,
11:36
Speaker 1: and an incident that not only was it in itself
11:39
Speaker 1: so bad, but was the culmination of years of tension
11:42
Speaker 1: between these two drivers that Toto will sign the papers
11:45
Speaker 1: to sack both of them as a tangible threat that
11:47
Speaker 1: if you don't knock this off, one of you will
11:50
Speaker 1: be gone. I think he even threatened. This is in
11:51
Speaker 1: an interview only this year with the Athletic he said,
11:54
Speaker 1: and I might make a mistake, I might sack the
11:56
Speaker 1: wrong driver, but that's all the more impetus for you
11:58
Speaker 1: to pull your heads in, and they sort of did.
12:00
Speaker 1: There are a couple more coming togethers, but nothing quite
12:03
Speaker 1: like that. I think it's fair to say, I think
12:05
Speaker 1: quite as aggressive as that. And then, of course Nick
12:07
Speaker 1: Rosberg retired at the end of the year and that
12:08
Speaker 1: certainly helped matters well.
12:10
Speaker 2: And we remember what happened in the last Grand Prix
12:12
Speaker 2: of twenty sixteen as well. That was Lewis Hamilton and
12:14
Speaker 2: he's absolutely most asterdly as well. But it's interesting you
12:17
Speaker 2: mentioned that Spain twenty sixteen. I've just written about that
12:19
Speaker 2: actually on the Maxim staff and winning his first Grand Prix.
12:23
Speaker 2: You're right about the culmination of a number of things,
12:26
Speaker 2: because we remember in twenty fourteen when they were even
12:29
Speaker 2: more dominant than they are right now. Canada was one
12:31
Speaker 2: of the races they did not win because that was
12:33
Speaker 2: Daniel Riccardo's first Formula One win, and that was a
12:36
Speaker 2: technical issue for McLaren and that for Mercedes in that race,
12:40
Speaker 2: But of course we remember at other points during that
12:42
Speaker 2: season there were actual physical flash points as far back
12:44
Speaker 2: as twenty fourteen. You think Belgium, another race at Ricardo
12:47
Speaker 2: one where they ran into each other, and Spain. Twenty
12:49
Speaker 2: sixteen was the most predictable story of all time because
12:54
Speaker 2: it had been brewing for the best part of two
12:56
Speaker 2: and a bit seasons where we're not sure what Antonellie
12:59
Speaker 2: Russ or Bruise into yet even if it brews into anything,
13:02
Speaker 2: very very different personalities, and so much of the Hamilton
13:05
Speaker 2: Rosberg story was based on the fact they had that
13:07
Speaker 2: shared pass through karting and they'd been friends and they
13:10
Speaker 2: grew up and they've fallen out and all that sort
13:11
Speaker 2: of thing. But yeah, it's hard to manage these sorts
13:15
Speaker 2: of things, and to think that what happened in twenty sixteen,
13:19
Speaker 2: I think with Mercedes was pretty instructive for what they've
13:21
Speaker 2: done with their drivers since, really, because when Rosberg retired
13:25
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, they went with the safe, apolitical not
13:30
Speaker 2: quite as fast but still plenty fast enough option with
13:32
Speaker 2: Valtteri Botas and there was none of this so who's
13:35
Speaker 2: going to win the championship business? Because everyone knew their
13:37
Speaker 2: place in that team at that point. That's the interesting
13:40
Speaker 2: part of this for me. The Antonelli story right now
13:43
Speaker 2: is one we didn't necessarily see coming. It's great that
13:45
Speaker 2: it has come because if this becomes a season where
13:47
Speaker 2: Mercedes dominates, it's good to have an unexpected storyline in there.
13:51
Speaker 2: But yeah, to think Rosburg Hamilton twenty sixteen, literally to
13:54
Speaker 2: the week, that's one I feel old too. Man. That
13:57
Speaker 2: was good. That was that was peak Formula one because
14:01
Speaker 2: that's one of those ones. I'm sure you did the same.
14:03
Speaker 2: You watch that and you see the accident happening, and
14:05
Speaker 2: you step back from the screen, so I cannot believe
14:08
Speaker 2: they've done this from a position of such dominance. You
14:10
Speaker 2: pull your head, bay, what are they doing? And then
14:13
Speaker 2: you immediately start thinking with your journalist hat on. The
14:16
Speaker 2: fallout is going to be fun, is it?
14:18
Speaker 1: Yeah? It's one of those accidents that felt like, not
14:21
Speaker 1: only did the literal incident have to happen where the
14:24
Speaker 1: drivers hit each other again in a moment of hot headedness,
14:27
Speaker 1: but you know Hamilton sliding off the track. The car Okay,
14:30
Speaker 1: physics dictates going to go and say direction, but the
14:32
Speaker 1: car would go anywhere, But it had to hit Rosburg,
14:34
Speaker 1: didn't it happen to hit Rosburg and take them both
14:36
Speaker 1: out of the raids, as if that just needed to
14:39
Speaker 1: come to a head. Then it was one of the
14:41
Speaker 1: many turning points of was a really interesting title campaign
14:44
Speaker 1: as well. Rosberg had really quite an enormous points lead
14:47
Speaker 1: at that point and then Hamilton whittled it down with
14:50
Speaker 1: a series of winds. After that, Rosberg took the momentum
14:53
Speaker 1: back after the break ended up very close. There was
14:55
Speaker 1: of course a technical retirement for Lewis Hamilton and Malaysia
14:57
Speaker 1: that sort of gave Rosburg match point just about when
15:00
Speaker 1: he won the Japanese Grand Prix after that, and then
15:02
Speaker 1: as you said, that infamous Abu Dhabi Hamilton winning at
15:06
Speaker 1: the slowest possible speed. He would have gone slower he could,
15:09
Speaker 1: I think, yeah. And then Rosburg winning the title I
15:12
Speaker 1: think a slightly underrated rivalry. You have the ring of
15:16
Speaker 1: Senna and Pross does it, but it certainly has the.
15:19
Speaker 2: Agro it might have been. I mean there's plenty of
15:22
Speaker 2: Abudhabi Grand Prix. I don't want to revisit that particular
15:25
Speaker 2: one in twenty sixteen, just how bare faced Hamilton was
15:30
Speaker 2: in doing what he had to do to his own teammate,
15:33
Speaker 2: where he knows this is going to go down like
15:35
Speaker 2: a lead balloon most of the time, but he's still
15:37
Speaker 2: going to go through with it anyway. It was like
15:39
Speaker 2: watching slow speed chess. It was bizarre because they were
15:42
Speaker 2: going so slowly and he was just desperate to trip
15:46
Speaker 2: Rosberg over. I mean, in retrospect, it's not surprising that
15:48
Speaker 2: Rosberg retired. The guy went through the ring that day.
15:51
Speaker 2: That was a as much of a mental test as
15:54
Speaker 2: a physical one. He would have been fried after that
15:56
Speaker 2: Grand Prix.
15:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. That's, as you mentioned, that's sort of
15:59
Speaker 1: the last time Mercedes has had to and quite consciously
16:02
Speaker 1: deal with that because they went for an apolitical option
16:05
Speaker 1: for Vultry Botas. But not even that, I get the
16:08
Speaker 1: sense it's been the pretty clear impression that in choosing
16:10
Speaker 1: Antonelli that hasn't been a break from that because he's
16:13
Speaker 1: so much younger than Russell. Russell is so presumed to
16:16
Speaker 1: be the team leader that this year is a little
16:19
Speaker 1: bit of an unexpected surprise. Obviously, that's true. Total Wolfer
16:22
Speaker 1: said he didn't expect Antonelli to look so good so early,
16:25
Speaker 1: but the fact that the team might be thrown into
16:27
Speaker 1: a position where they have to manage even if it
16:29
Speaker 1: is less combative, and it surely will be less combative
16:32
Speaker 1: than Hamilton and Rosberg. But you can be a lot
16:34
Speaker 1: less combative and still be difficult to manage. The fact
16:37
Speaker 1: that team may have to manage a championship rivalry is
16:40
Speaker 1: certainly something they probably wouldn't have had on their cards,
16:42
Speaker 1: and I think the only thing that I guess works
16:44
Speaker 1: in their favor in this situation is that unlike in
16:46
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, when we were still okay, it wasn't maybe
16:50
Speaker 1: that recent memory, but it was still the way to
16:52
Speaker 1: win the titles, to have your number one driver. We
16:54
Speaker 1: just had vel win a bunch of titles, obviously, but
16:57
Speaker 1: it wasn't that long before we had Schumacher and then
17:00
Speaker 1: Alonzo Button or to a lesser extent, Raich. We're all
17:03
Speaker 1: clearly leading by the time they won the championships their teammates.
17:06
Speaker 1: I mean, this year we're coming off McLaren pretty well
17:11
Speaker 1: succeeding in winning both titles and pretty much succeeding improving.
17:15
Speaker 1: You can have it both ways. You can have two
17:18
Speaker 1: evenly matched drivers and you probably have to accept you're
17:21
Speaker 1: going to make some mistakes along the way in managing them,
17:24
Speaker 1: but showing that you can get to the end of
17:26
Speaker 1: the season without a blow up and allowing both drivers
17:28
Speaker 1: to contend.
17:29
Speaker 2: History will record it as that. Yes, I would say
17:33
Speaker 2: there's a little bit more luck than judgment perhaps in
17:35
Speaker 2: the way that turned out, because you know, yes, history
17:39
Speaker 2: only records the win. As we know this, we'll look
17:40
Speaker 2: back and go, oh, yeah, that was good, though really good.
17:42
Speaker 2: That year had too, but the way it was being
17:44
Speaker 2: handled in the moment was so and this sounds like
17:47
Speaker 2: a twenty twenty five year podcast here. There was just
17:50
Speaker 2: so much dithering going on. I don't suspect that Mercedes
17:53
Speaker 2: would be a team that would dither quite as much,
17:55
Speaker 2: To be honest, I think they'll probably jump on potential
17:58
Speaker 2: issues a little bit quicker than McLaren. McClaren was looking
18:01
Speaker 2: for some sort of Formula one utopia, which we know
18:03
Speaker 2: does not exist. And so, yes, they got the outcome
18:06
Speaker 2: that they wanted. They won both championships. You could add
18:09
Speaker 2: an asterisk for that and say they got the driver
18:11
Speaker 2: that they wanted to win the World championship if you
18:12
Speaker 2: live in this part of the world. But that's fine.
18:14
Speaker 2: I won't judge you, but I suspect that Mercedes might
18:17
Speaker 2: handle it a little bit differently as it comes to that.
18:19
Speaker 2: But maybe the best part about all of this that
18:21
Speaker 2: we're talking about it is this is not a conversation
18:24
Speaker 2: we expected to be having, and that's testament to Yes,
18:28
Speaker 2: Mercedes has got these REGs clearly, very very right. But
18:31
Speaker 2: Antonelli has risen up several estimations. Yes, there's only been
18:34
Speaker 2: four rounds. He could not really have done much more
18:36
Speaker 2: to be as impressive of this as this, And there's
18:39
Speaker 2: been questions asked if George Russell at this point of
18:41
Speaker 2: the season that we did not imagine would happen.
18:43
Speaker 1: Yep, it is a fascinating scenario and we get the
18:45
Speaker 1: next chapter in Canada this weekend. You can read a
18:47
Speaker 1: bit more about the twenty sixteen title battle and then
18:51
Speaker 1: entire rivalry in fact fourteen to sixteen at Mercedes at
18:54
Speaker 1: the Fox Sports website, and of course coverage of this
18:56
Speaker 1: weekend's race. Let's move on now, Matt though to move
19:00
Speaker 1: week brought to you by Shannons, we did have some
19:03
Speaker 1: racing of the two real kind at the weekend. I
19:05
Speaker 1: used to have some racing on track again, two races
19:07
Speaker 1: in a row for MotoGP. I can't remember the days
19:10
Speaker 1: when one used to do such a busy schedule as this.
19:14
Speaker 2: I'll one up here on they have about three races
19:16
Speaker 2: in one night, because that's what we got on Sunday
19:18
Speaker 2: night with Moto GP. And so for this week's Move
19:21
Speaker 2: of the Week, I'm actually going to introduce a new
19:23
Speaker 2: element which is not on the agenda because we don't
19:25
Speaker 2: have one. Will be let's add a debate into this
19:28
Speaker 2: as to move of the week. How many times should
19:31
Speaker 2: we be restarting races? This is the question for you
19:34
Speaker 2: before we actually call them off at this point, because
19:36
Speaker 2: we had three race starts at the Grand Priov Catalonia
19:41
Speaker 2: for MotoGP on Sunday, and of course Race start two
19:44
Speaker 2: and Race start three were after serious accidents and not
19:47
Speaker 2: just small accidents that caused red flags, accidents that I'm
19:52
Speaker 2: not going to lie. When I saw the Alex Marquez
19:53
Speaker 2: accident that caused the first race to be stopped, there
19:56
Speaker 2: was that thought that there could be a fatality here.
19:59
Speaker 2: That was I've not seen an accident that violent with
20:02
Speaker 2: that much ramification. And if you haven't seen it, social
20:05
Speaker 2: media or fix you up there, but the fact that
20:07
Speaker 2: a bike disintegrated itself and just created an absolute hailstorm
20:11
Speaker 2: of debris that the entire pack then had to ride through.
20:15
Speaker 2: It comes to point that there's a duty of care
20:18
Speaker 2: to the competitors and there's also just a fatigue factor
20:21
Speaker 2: with the audience with this that how many times do
20:23
Speaker 2: we restart this at this point when there's been two serious,
20:26
Speaker 2: serious injuries. This is not just an a fence be
20:29
Speaker 2: punctured or something like that. This is two guys. There's
20:32
Speaker 2: ambulances on track taking guys to hospital after two major
20:35
Speaker 2: major accidents. And to me, move of the week is
20:38
Speaker 2: what are the organizers doing with this in that should
20:40
Speaker 2: the show always go on in this situation or should
20:44
Speaker 2: we just go you know what? I don't really think
20:45
Speaker 2: anyone's in the correct state to do this. And some
20:48
Speaker 2: of the comments from some of the writers afterwards, where
20:51
Speaker 2: Pedro Costa Jorge Martine was just saying like enough is
20:54
Speaker 2: enough with this sort of thing. Pecavannaya, who finished third
20:57
Speaker 2: in the end after a heap of post race penalties,
20:59
Speaker 2: a bit of that during the last part of the race,
21:01
Speaker 2: that he wasn't fairly particularly great and he was feeling
21:03
Speaker 2: a bit dizzy, and you know the usual word of
21:05
Speaker 2: GP health and safety protocols kicked in in that he
21:08
Speaker 2: was involved in the enormous accident that just about to
21:11
Speaker 2: your hand, Zycho's leg off and was back on the
21:13
Speaker 2: bike and riding around and even in the moment didn't
21:15
Speaker 2: feel right. So I do wonder Jo'll be keen to
21:18
Speaker 2: get your point of view here. What's the move in
21:20
Speaker 2: this situation for the organizers? Is there a point where
21:22
Speaker 2: we just go, look, maybe we just need to call this.
21:25
Speaker 2: I'm sort of torn between it, but I'm keen to
21:27
Speaker 2: get your thoughts.
21:27
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was thinking about this naturally enough after the
21:30
Speaker 1: second red flag as a first red flag, as as
21:33
Speaker 1: bad as the Alex Marquez crash obviously was one red
21:37
Speaker 1: flag is putting again the course to one side is
21:39
Speaker 1: something that happens in racing.
21:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was fine with that.
21:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you get the start line crash after a
21:44
Speaker 1: race resumption. We've seen this in Formula One as well.
21:47
Speaker 1: I think back to Australian Grand Prix a couple of
21:49
Speaker 1: years ago. Now I was twenty two, twenty three, twenty four. Yeah,
21:51
Speaker 1: it feels like it's that combination of adrenaline people aren't
21:55
Speaker 1: ready for another restart. A couple of writers spoke about.
21:58
Speaker 1: In fact, I think it was it was Joanne Zako
22:01
Speaker 1: was talking about it. At the second restart, he was
22:03
Speaker 1: upset about the way he decided to continue after hitting
22:06
Speaker 1: some debris I guess from Alex Markez's crash and maybe
22:09
Speaker 1: that playing a role in him coming off the bike
22:12
Speaker 1: in a big way. At that restart, there were some
22:14
Speaker 1: riders and you might have a top of mind who
22:17
Speaker 1: I can't if they were speaking during the break or
22:18
Speaker 1: then after the race, who were hinting at this idea
22:21
Speaker 1: as well, but also acknowledging that it's hard to make
22:24
Speaker 1: a hard rule where they sort of said, yeah it
22:27
Speaker 1: is when is enough enough? And it's coming up with
22:30
Speaker 1: that idea what constitutes enough? And I think that's the
22:34
Speaker 1: challenge in deciding that. But certainly at that second red
22:36
Speaker 1: flag I would have been I would have been perfectly fine,
22:40
Speaker 1: as much as I wanted to see a motor race
22:42
Speaker 1: for them to say, all right, I think we're going
22:44
Speaker 1: to pack this one up, because then the idea of
22:46
Speaker 1: all those riders getting on the bike again, and unbelievably,
22:48
Speaker 1: of course, they all did, and we did eventually get
22:50
Speaker 1: the race finished. But for me, I mean, I'd never
22:54
Speaker 1: write a murder to Berbake in the first place, But
22:56
Speaker 1: for me to get on it another time seems like
22:59
Speaker 1: asking a lot of what what for most for the
23:01
Speaker 1: most part, is a bunch of kids as well, like, Okay,
23:04
Speaker 1: there are some older statesmen in there, but most of
23:06
Speaker 1: them are very young.
23:07
Speaker 2: And the ramifications of having a rider as opposed to
23:12
Speaker 2: a driver on a motor GP bike not quite being
23:14
Speaker 2: right from a mental sharpness point of view. Having clearly
23:18
Speaker 2: seen I mean all of the riders rode past Alex
23:20
Speaker 2: Marquez laying on the side of the track, clearly not
23:22
Speaker 2: in a very very good space. There's TV's on everywhere,
23:25
Speaker 2: there's replays everywhere to try and cocoon yourself. For I
23:28
Speaker 2: think there was a thirty minute break after the first
23:30
Speaker 2: red flag, at a twenty minute break after the second one.
23:33
Speaker 2: You're alone with your thoughts, You're trying to stay in
23:35
Speaker 2: the zone. Some of these riders were injured. Fabio de
23:38
Speaker 2: jan Antonio, who won the race, had been cleaned up
23:40
Speaker 2: by Alex Marquez's wheel as it had bounced back on
23:42
Speaker 2: the track and knocked him off the bike and actually
23:44
Speaker 2: hurt him and you're trying to process all of this,
23:47
Speaker 2: and meanwhile the show must go on. And I just
23:49
Speaker 2: your point is, you know, after the second red flag,
23:52
Speaker 2: if they just said, all right, I think we've had
23:53
Speaker 2: enough yet. Now. Not all red flags are created equal, clearly,
23:56
Speaker 2: but those two were on the extreme end because we
23:58
Speaker 2: had ambulances on track and riders injured. And I just
24:00
Speaker 2: wonder if the move here, getting back to the getting
24:03
Speaker 2: back to the topic here, if the move for the
24:04
Speaker 2: race organizers was just to sort of say, look, in
24:07
Speaker 2: the interest of everyone here, Like I got to say,
24:09
Speaker 2: I enjoy I enjoy watching Murder GP more than most people.
24:12
Speaker 2: I could not wait for that third race to be over.
24:14
Speaker 2: You just wanted it to be over with no one
24:15
Speaker 2: getting injured. It we just get a result, we get
24:17
Speaker 2: out of here. And the fact that both Marquez and
24:21
Speaker 2: Zarko have managed to get away relatively unscathed, if you
24:24
Speaker 2: can call a broken collar bone and knee ligament damage
24:27
Speaker 2: a what have you unscathed? But given what the consequences
24:30
Speaker 2: could have been, the fact they got away with that
24:31
Speaker 2: relatively unscathed, I don't think justifies or doesn't make more
24:36
Speaker 2: right the decision to keep going. I think that's just
24:38
Speaker 2: if there are two separate topics.
24:39
Speaker 1: For me, yeah, there anything is a sort of a
24:41
Speaker 1: random PostScript on this because I think about this sometimes,
24:43
Speaker 1: even again in the context of Formula One, where the
24:45
Speaker 1: risk to the drivers is much lower. Yes, but the
24:48
Speaker 1: risk I guess if to the race being constantly interrupted
24:50
Speaker 1: is as higher, if not higher because of the nature
24:53
Speaker 1: of the racing is at some point do you stop
24:55
Speaker 1: having standing starts? And I don't think there's an alternative
24:58
Speaker 1: in murder GP and the rules is there, whereas in
25:00
Speaker 1: in four wheel motorsport there's always a safety car option.
25:03
Speaker 1: I think there's up There is something about starting a
25:06
Speaker 1: race on a grid that naturally increases the nerves, increases,
25:09
Speaker 1: the tension, increases the adrenaline. Is that what you need
25:12
Speaker 1: after those situations?
25:13
Speaker 2: Well, and I think this is the point you're making here.
25:15
Speaker 2: This is one of my sort of bug bears with this.
25:17
Speaker 2: It's very circuit specific for me. So the start finished
25:20
Speaker 2: line at the circuit to Barcelona Catialuonia it's a five
25:22
Speaker 2: hundred and ninety five meter run to the first corner.
25:24
Speaker 2: I know that because I wrote it a thousand times
25:25
Speaker 2: over the course of the weekend. It's the longest run
25:28
Speaker 2: to the first quarter in Motor GP, and three of
25:31
Speaker 2: the last four years, including in the sprint race a
25:33
Speaker 2: Catalunia on the Saturday, we've had first corner accidents because
25:37
Speaker 2: at this point the bike, the bikes will approach term
25:39
Speaker 2: one off a standing start doing over three hundred ks
25:41
Speaker 2: an hour like process that for a second, and then
25:44
Speaker 2: your cold, coldish tires on the brakes, try to get
25:47
Speaker 2: the right height device up. You're in a pack there.
25:49
Speaker 2: The way that corner configures, if you know the track,
25:52
Speaker 2: it's a tight right hander followed via long left. It's
25:55
Speaker 2: an absolute black spot for accidents, and it has been
25:57
Speaker 2: for a while. There's been several seriously ones there over
26:00
Speaker 2: the last few years. So the second question I guess
26:03
Speaker 2: to all of these is should the start line be
26:05
Speaker 2: moved closer to the first corner simply to reduce the
26:09
Speaker 2: entry speeds? If that start lines two hundred meters further
26:12
Speaker 2: along the main straight, and then maybe you're doing two
26:15
Speaker 2: hundred and ten k's an hour, not three hundred. Now,
26:17
Speaker 2: accidents are still going to hurt at two hundred and ten,
26:19
Speaker 2: but there's not going to be the same consequences. So
26:21
Speaker 2: maybe that's something that needs to be looked at in
26:23
Speaker 2: the future. But I know we've got massively offscript here,
26:26
Speaker 2: which is unlick me. I know, but I did want
26:28
Speaker 2: to talk this out with you because I think there
26:30
Speaker 2: comes a point that just for everybody involved, writers, spectators,
26:33
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone particularly enjoyed that last race, like
26:36
Speaker 2: it was the race we had to have. But like
26:38
Speaker 2: in the future, do we need to be doing this,
26:39
Speaker 2: I don't know.
26:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's got to be. You know, particularly's
26:43
Speaker 1: a very interesting discussion to be had here in probably
26:45
Speaker 1: another podcast, yes, But nonetheless we can we can end
26:49
Speaker 1: it here. We can end this discussion as we go
26:51
Speaker 1: through this in that is, as moto GP attempts to
26:54
Speaker 1: capture a broader audience. Liberty media. I know it's such
26:57
Speaker 1: a everyone loves linking literally everything in MotoGP, it im media,
27:00
Speaker 1: in the f oneification of MotoGP and so on. But
27:04
Speaker 1: you have to ask a question of the not just
27:08
Speaker 1: the risks, but this for one of a better word,
27:11
Speaker 1: let's just say the spectacle what you watch in moto GP,
27:14
Speaker 1: what has been accepted over generations because MotoGP's audience has
27:18
Speaker 1: been has been pretty fundamentally hard poor like rusted on
27:21
Speaker 1: bikes people, Will a broader audience accept what happened on
27:25
Speaker 1: Sunday seeing two massive crashes? Okay, as someone who wants
27:28
Speaker 1: to watch motog has to accept the risk is high
27:30
Speaker 1: because these are just people sitting on missiles essentially but
27:34
Speaker 1: constantly restarting the race. Is that something a general audience
27:38
Speaker 1: will be willing to accept or will a general audience
27:40
Speaker 1: feel like the line has crossed between this sport being
27:43
Speaker 1: gladiatorial and being a bit of a blood sport. I
27:46
Speaker 1: think that's a question that they'll have to they'll have
27:48
Speaker 1: to face.
27:48
Speaker 2: Well, I guess we'll find out the next time we
27:50
Speaker 2: have a situation like this. But now that I've got
27:52
Speaker 2: you massively off topic here, I'm hoping that for your
27:56
Speaker 2: move of the week you have something that is far
27:57
Speaker 2: more sensible and shorter and less about two wheels because
28:00
Speaker 2: I've let us down a particular rabbit hole that we
28:02
Speaker 2: need a torch to get out of right now.
28:04
Speaker 1: It can be shorter, but it is still in two
28:06
Speaker 1: wheels because I'm not a GP's the only thing that's
28:08
Speaker 1: giving us anything at all to talk about for the
28:10
Speaker 1: last few weeks. But it is directly related, but it's
28:13
Speaker 1: a bit, more of a bit, more of a positive story,
28:15
Speaker 1: I guess a little bit, and the move or moves
28:18
Speaker 1: if you like of the week go to for me
28:21
Speaker 1: Francesco Bangay and Luca Marini for staying with Joanne Zako
28:24
Speaker 1: after that big crash at the set of the second restart,
28:27
Speaker 1: hard to keep track a little bit, helping with the
28:30
Speaker 1: I guess, the medical extraction if you like, or helping
28:32
Speaker 1: until the marshals could get on track and help him
28:34
Speaker 1: out and ensure he was comfort and well. He certainly
28:37
Speaker 1: wasn't in comfort sudging bose descriptions of how much pain
28:39
Speaker 1: he was in, but just a good sign. I think
28:42
Speaker 1: that still speaks to everything we were talking to as well,
28:44
Speaker 1: that the writers were clearly feeling I guess was not
28:46
Speaker 1: a normal situation. I mean, the injury was also pretty significant.
28:49
Speaker 1: I'm sure they would have done it in any circumstance,
28:52
Speaker 1: but I think it was just, you know, amid that
28:55
Speaker 1: question of well, the show's got to go on, This
28:58
Speaker 1: was a good demonstration of the humans being here, humans
29:00
Speaker 1: on the track. Sometimes we say O A GV runs
29:02
Speaker 1: aren't quite human, but this was a very human display
29:04
Speaker 1: from both of them. I also praised by marshals or
29:06
Speaker 1: one of the marshals afterwards who wrote so on social
29:08
Speaker 1: media thanks to them for their exemplary, exemplary behavior in
29:12
Speaker 1: that moment. But I thought that was I mean, it's
29:15
Speaker 1: difficult to see, obviously because a big crash, but I
29:18
Speaker 1: thought that was an important moment to see him on
29:20
Speaker 1: all that chaos.
29:21
Speaker 2: I agree. I think there's a you know, any rider
29:24
Speaker 2: realizes that, you know, that could very easily be me
29:26
Speaker 2: this time or the next time, and you would hope
29:28
Speaker 2: that people would do the same thing for them. It
29:31
Speaker 2: goes back a little bit to what we were saying
29:32
Speaker 2: before though, that after you have stayed there with a
29:34
Speaker 2: writer who's clearly injured and made sure that he's got
29:36
Speaker 2: the correct medical attention, and an ambulance takes them away,
29:39
Speaker 2: I'll get yourself back to the pits. We're there to
29:41
Speaker 2: get you on a bike that's repaired, and you know,
29:43
Speaker 2: start the race again. So you know, it goes back
29:45
Speaker 2: to sort of the original point. But I do agree
29:47
Speaker 2: with you. It was very heartening to see that, and
29:49
Speaker 2: I think, you know, these guys are all very very aware,
29:52
Speaker 2: more aware than any of us ever could be about
29:54
Speaker 2: the risks that are being taken and know that if
29:56
Speaker 2: you are going to race these things for long enough,
29:57
Speaker 2: you are going to have a serious incident, and you
29:59
Speaker 2: would hope that your peers, your comrades, would do something similar.
30:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was Banyaya got in the It was a
30:05
Speaker 1: couple of years ago and it wasn't quite the same crash,
30:07
Speaker 1: but obviously took some pretty serious leg injuries. Yes, corner
30:10
Speaker 1: correct A couple of years ago, now, wasn't it. Let's
30:12
Speaker 1: move on though, to Formula one again four wheel Motorsport
30:16
Speaker 1: and this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, the long away return
30:19
Speaker 1: of Formula One on track for just round five of
30:23
Speaker 1: the season. Here we are at the end of May,
30:26
Speaker 1: remarkable seeds, but we do arrive. While Mercedes continues to
30:30
Speaker 1: dominate the sport. We don't know what's going to happen
30:32
Speaker 1: this weekend for a couple of different reasons. One is
30:34
Speaker 1: we had all those upgrades of course in Miami that
30:36
Speaker 1: took things up a little bit. Still we're understanding what
30:39
Speaker 1: the rule tweaks, what effect they'll have at different circuits.
30:41
Speaker 1: The rule tweaks made ahead of the Miami Grand Prix
30:43
Speaker 1: about a month ago now, three weeks ago now. But
30:46
Speaker 1: also because while Mercedes will be bringing a big upgrade
30:49
Speaker 1: package of its own. Of course it didn't in Miami.
30:51
Speaker 1: McLaren is also bringing effectively the second half of the
30:54
Speaker 1: upgrade package it brought to Miami. It's the way McLaren
30:56
Speaker 1: has historically on the last couple of years anyway, done
30:58
Speaker 1: things done it in these steps. Not quite as big
31:01
Speaker 1: an upgrade package. I think it's been described as sort
31:03
Speaker 1: of sixty forty if you like. That's still pretty significant,
31:07
Speaker 1: but it does mean and of course we shouldn't forget
31:09
Speaker 1: in the context of a sprint weekend, and he won
31:11
Speaker 1: practice session to get all these cars sorted for the
31:13
Speaker 1: rest of the weekend, But we can't be certain of
31:16
Speaker 1: what the form guy is going to look at on
31:17
Speaker 1: what is also a pretty close to unique track in
31:20
Speaker 1: Formula One.
31:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad Canada exists as a track. I don't
31:24
Speaker 2: think you'd want too many more of them like this,
31:26
Speaker 2: but it is a very, very one of one layout.
31:29
Speaker 2: It has in the past thrown up some pretty odd results,
31:32
Speaker 2: but just because of the nature of the place. McLaren
31:35
Speaker 2: for me, what was interesting with Miami was, yes, they
31:38
Speaker 2: said this was going to be an upgrade in two parts,
31:40
Speaker 2: probably not two equal parts, but two parts. Nonetheless, it
31:43
Speaker 2: felt that after the first three rounds we knew who
31:47
Speaker 2: the best team was, and there was a cluster of
31:49
Speaker 2: teams and we weren't quite sure what to make of
31:51
Speaker 2: the whole. Ferrari McLaren red Bull brackets for Stap and
31:55
Speaker 2: element to all of this, simply because Ferrari's races had
31:59
Speaker 2: been hard to understand, knowing that they were going to
32:01
Speaker 2: make amazing starts and were they actually quicker, were they
32:04
Speaker 2: just defending We're not entirely sure. And then you know,
32:06
Speaker 2: of the first three races, mclarenone he actually competed in
32:09
Speaker 2: two of them, and Oscar piastri Al he competed in
32:11
Speaker 2: one of them, so we weren't that was an unknown,
32:14
Speaker 2: I guess coming into Miami, they made a lot of ground.
32:18
Speaker 2: I thought I was actually quite taken aback with how
32:21
Speaker 2: much ground they seem to have cleared from that other
32:24
Speaker 2: two teams in that best of the rest pack. So
32:27
Speaker 2: if you're McLaren, you'd be pretty optimistic that, yes, this
32:30
Speaker 2: might be the smaller half and inverted commas of the
32:32
Speaker 2: upgrade this weekend. But they felt to me like a
32:35
Speaker 2: credible challenger to Mercedes in a way that I don't
32:38
Speaker 2: think Mercedes a bit challenged in the first three rounds,
32:41
Speaker 2: So super interested to see what happens there. I mean,
32:44
Speaker 2: we were remibercated a last year because they ran into well,
32:46
Speaker 2: Norris ran into Oscopiastri, let's be honest. So that was
32:50
Speaker 2: they ran into each other, I think was the term
32:51
Speaker 2: that the broadcaster used, but Lando Norris ran into Oscar Piastree.
32:55
Speaker 2: But I'll be really interested to see where they end
32:58
Speaker 2: up this weekend because to my and they pretty emphatically
33:02
Speaker 2: look like the second best team before we the one
33:04
Speaker 2: in Miami, And so does the second part of this
33:08
Speaker 2: upgrade increase that gap. And the nature of this track
33:12
Speaker 2: is the thing that you mentioned before. It's you know,
33:14
Speaker 2: as much as it's got a kick get it at
33:15
Speaker 2: the start of it, that back straight and how much
33:17
Speaker 2: these cars might run out of energy by the end
33:20
Speaker 2: of it is going to be really really interesting because
33:22
Speaker 2: it's a very hard place to pass. Other than that, really,
33:25
Speaker 2: I mean term one, you've got to be pretty brave
33:26
Speaker 2: in there, But that back straight, I don't know whether
33:29
Speaker 2: it's going to be fascical with the amount of overtaking
33:31
Speaker 2: that goes on there with cars running out of energy
33:32
Speaker 2: or not. But it's going to be lively and it'll
33:36
Speaker 2: be curious to see the sprint. We've said this before,
33:38
Speaker 2: the sprint racers can often be a bit of a
33:40
Speaker 2: let's all see who gets the first through the first
33:42
Speaker 2: sequence of quarters and protect our cars for qualifying. But
33:45
Speaker 2: with the sport and these cars in such a state
33:47
Speaker 2: of flux, maybe we get a bit of a different
33:49
Speaker 2: sprint race this weekend in that it might be a
33:51
Speaker 2: little bit more lively and won't just all be follow
33:53
Speaker 2: the leader after Turmine. I'm not sure how you think
33:55
Speaker 2: about that, but I'm actually almost looking forward to a
33:57
Speaker 2: sprint race. I guess that's the headline.
33:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, with this, this is a very different track to
34:01
Speaker 1: what we've had so far. You know, if we've got
34:03
Speaker 1: a reasonable cross section of circuits now only four races,
34:06
Speaker 1: but this is one of those outlies. It's in the
34:08
Speaker 1: Monza direction. It's gonna be one of the hardest tracks
34:10
Speaker 1: for energy before Mons and going to be obviously the hardest,
34:14
Speaker 1: but it's kind of like a slightly less extreme version
34:16
Speaker 1: of Mons. I think that's interesting because there's a lot
34:17
Speaker 1: of just traction zones, which means some energy recovering to
34:20
Speaker 1: the corners and then using all of your battery out
34:22
Speaker 1: of them, and which which potentially means it's really going
34:25
Speaker 1: to be about drivers in maybe a good way, because
34:28
Speaker 1: it's going to be much more obvious and active the
34:30
Speaker 1: way that they're generating the battery, regenerating the battery because
34:33
Speaker 1: there aren't real any high speed corners for them to
34:35
Speaker 1: do the super clipping all that kind of stuff. It's
34:36
Speaker 1: going to be about how much you're willing to sacrifice
34:38
Speaker 1: on the brakes and how much is that going to
34:40
Speaker 1: give you out of the corners. So it might actually
34:41
Speaker 1: be in a weird way hopeful anyway, I'm trying to
34:44
Speaker 1: be hopeful somewhat satisfying to see it's at least going
34:48
Speaker 1: to be obvious. There's not going to be too much
34:49
Speaker 1: smoke and mirrors in the engine management that kind of thing.
34:52
Speaker 1: Having said that, I do what I do think is
34:54
Speaker 1: interesting in this McLaren Mercedes comparison is that we saw
34:58
Speaker 1: in Miami the upgrades a side for the Sprint Week
35:01
Speaker 1: part of the weekend, if you likes up until qualifying
35:03
Speaker 1: on Saturday afternoon, McLaren was using the Mercedes engine better
35:07
Speaker 1: than Mercedes. Was it had set it up better. Yes,
35:10
Speaker 1: does that happen again as McLaren sort of got this
35:13
Speaker 1: more intrinsic or more creative or whatever understanding of how
35:17
Speaker 1: that engine wants to work. Can they catch Mercedes on
35:20
Speaker 1: the back foot again at least for the sprint or
35:22
Speaker 1: will there be mind games about when they deploy whatever
35:25
Speaker 1: in terms of the setup for the race. There's something
35:28
Speaker 1: interesting in that because if it is going to be
35:29
Speaker 1: McLaren versus Mercedes in a very close battle for the season,
35:34
Speaker 1: considering how bigger old the engine's playing this year and
35:36
Speaker 1: the fact they share the engine, that's a fun little
35:39
Speaker 1: side story. Is frustrating, I guess at times, as the
35:42
Speaker 1: engine has been.
35:43
Speaker 2: But the other part of this too is that you know,
35:45
Speaker 2: Mercedes maybe hasn't had to explore the avenues to extract
35:49
Speaker 2: more performance out of its own engine than McLaren has.
35:52
Speaker 2: Because when you're the underdog, you're scratching around looking for
35:54
Speaker 2: something that will give you an advantage or to get
35:56
Speaker 2: you back in the game. Mercedes has been in this
35:58
Speaker 2: position of dominance where they have necessarily had to do that.
36:01
Speaker 2: So you do wonder what you learn between Miami and Canada,
36:05
Speaker 2: how much you can deploy of that because when you're
36:08
Speaker 2: effectively running the show, as Mercedes has been for much
36:11
Speaker 2: of the year, you don't necessarily have to go looking
36:13
Speaker 2: for those marginal games because you're in the position of ascendency.
36:15
Speaker 2: So that's really interesting for me. And you talked a
36:18
Speaker 2: little bit about the way this track has to be driven.
36:22
Speaker 2: The most interesting corner for me this weekend in Canada
36:25
Speaker 2: will be the hairpin a bit before you get onto
36:29
Speaker 2: the start fitting straight. I'm drawing this with my figures,
36:31
Speaker 2: which is useless for a podcast, I realized. But who's
36:34
Speaker 2: willing to push really really hard in there on the breaks,
36:37
Speaker 2: and who's willing to tactically not roll through there but
36:40
Speaker 2: certainly approach that quarter differently knowing what you've got coming
36:44
Speaker 2: up at the end of the lap of what is
36:46
Speaker 2: traditionally Canada's primary passing place, which is into that final chicane.
36:50
Speaker 2: This could be tactically a really interesting race, I think,
36:53
Speaker 2: And you just hope that you have a race where
36:56
Speaker 2: there's not necessarily conditions that play a part. You want
36:58
Speaker 2: to see as new tral as an environment as possible
37:01
Speaker 2: to allow these cars to actually race one another, because
37:04
Speaker 2: I think strategically the way the drivers approach, particularly that
37:07
Speaker 2: last sect is going to be really interesting.
37:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. That's going to be
37:10
Speaker 1: a big challenge for the entire weekend is finding the
37:13
Speaker 1: balance into the hairpin to ensure you're not losing too
37:15
Speaker 1: much down that long straight, which will be decisive for
37:18
Speaker 1: these engines. A couple of more points I want to
37:20
Speaker 1: touch on before we wrap this one up. We can't
37:23
Speaker 1: end the podcast without talking about Max Verstappan, who has
37:25
Speaker 1: we lose to at the start, spent one of his
37:27
Speaker 1: shoe weekends off at the nrper Gring in the neber
37:29
Speaker 1: Gring twenty four hours, almost won the thing as well
37:32
Speaker 1: him and his teammates. Of course, a superlative performance for
37:35
Speaker 1: him in his Mercedes no less, but of course it
37:38
Speaker 1: was technical problems that cruels him around about three and
37:40
Speaker 1: a half hours, I think from the finish, which is
37:42
Speaker 1: almost the worst time only the last three hours. I
37:45
Speaker 1: think to lose a victory is debilitating in endurance racing.
37:50
Speaker 1: But I'm interested to see how he comes back to
37:52
Speaker 1: form to one. What his attitude is, Is he feel
37:54
Speaker 1: refreshed because he was racing something that he enjoyed a
37:56
Speaker 1: little bit more? Has it convinced him one way or
37:59
Speaker 1: the other about what he wants to do next year.
38:01
Speaker 1: What's his attitude going to be this weekend?
38:03
Speaker 2: Well, one thing, we're not going to be left wondering,
38:05
Speaker 2: because when you hear some Max radio from FBI to
38:08
Speaker 2: give it a cod practice session before sprint qualified, we're
38:11
Speaker 2: going to know how he feels about things. But in
38:13
Speaker 2: a lot of respects, the way the whole in herburgering
38:15
Speaker 2: thing played out was a little bit what I expected.
38:18
Speaker 2: I thought he would be absolutely amazing, And you do
38:20
Speaker 2: wonder how much the way he pushes a car and
38:23
Speaker 2: not being necessarily a driver in that discipline all the
38:26
Speaker 2: time had to do with the with the reliability failure.
38:29
Speaker 2: You're never going to know these things. Of course, there's
38:31
Speaker 2: three drivers in these cars. But the takeaway from me
38:34
Speaker 2: was that felt like an event. I mean, you saw
38:37
Speaker 2: some of the vision and the way it was received,
38:41
Speaker 2: awesome TV pictures. Those cars are genuinely fantastic, and that
38:45
Speaker 2: track is clearly bonkers. What is it one hundred and
38:47
Speaker 2: seventy six quarters or whatever it is, it's clearly silly.
38:51
Speaker 2: He looked like he was having a fantastic time. So
38:53
Speaker 2: you do wonder if it's one of those things. He
38:55
Speaker 2: comes back with a bit of a peppery step and
38:57
Speaker 2: he's happy to be back because he's had a five
38:58
Speaker 2: weekend last weekend. Or is it going to be the
39:01
Speaker 2: opposite where he gets back in a twenty twenty six
39:03
Speaker 2: peck Formula One car and goes, ooh, I don't really
39:06
Speaker 2: like these and I think I like them even less
39:08
Speaker 2: because I had so much fun last weekend. But yeah,
39:10
Speaker 2: as I said, we're we're not going to be left
39:12
Speaker 2: wanting for answers because as soon as the helmet comes
39:14
Speaker 2: off on Friday, there'll be a mic under his nose
39:16
Speaker 2: and Max being Max, there is no filter there, so
39:19
Speaker 2: we'll find out soon enough.
39:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, that will be one of the things to watch.
39:22
Speaker 1: And of course Red Bull Racing having taking a good
39:24
Speaker 1: step forward in Miami, whether or not that can be
39:26
Speaker 1: continued in Canada could have an influence on that if
39:29
Speaker 1: he's contending for the podium or the win or not.
39:31
Speaker 1: And finally to complete the front runners, is Ferraria front runner?
39:35
Speaker 1: That's a question for this weekend. I suppose really underwhelming
39:37
Speaker 1: in Miami, sort of started competitively to be fair, look
39:40
Speaker 1: like they're taking a little step forward in terms of
39:42
Speaker 1: pure pace, they were closer to the front, but we're
39:45
Speaker 1: also the fourth quickest team by the end of the weekend,
39:47
Speaker 1: which in ranking terms is a step backwards. You would
39:51
Speaker 1: have to think there's more to come from what was,
39:54
Speaker 1: at least in a listing sense, in terms of what
39:56
Speaker 1: they declared to the FAA, the biggest upgrade package of
39:59
Speaker 1: the previous round, perhaps for the on the downside, the
40:02
Speaker 1: negative side, for Ferrari, it's another sprint weekend if it's
40:05
Speaker 1: about extracting more from the package, but you'd have to
40:08
Speaker 1: say Ferrari has to show a little bit of something
40:10
Speaker 1: this weekend. Less they go into another weekend off, just
40:13
Speaker 1: one weekend off after this. Though, reflecting on what will
40:15
Speaker 1: have been a pretty underwhelming two months in Ferrari.
40:19
Speaker 2: Lent, it sort of feels like the format and the
40:22
Speaker 2: momentum of the other teams is playing a bit against
40:24
Speaker 2: them this weekend, and that if any team could do
40:26
Speaker 2: without it being a sprint race weekend, it's probably Ferrari.
40:30
Speaker 2: And we meant we've talked about McLaren and we've talked
40:32
Speaker 2: about the stap and Slash. Red Bull feels it feels
40:35
Speaker 2: that they've come along further in the last couple of
40:38
Speaker 2: rounds than Ferrari has, and so a more normal race
40:42
Speaker 2: weekend were two practice sessions on a Friday and a
40:44
Speaker 2: heap of data. The bank would have been probably better
40:46
Speaker 2: for them, but you know, you could also look at
40:49
Speaker 2: it with the glass half full side. There is clearly
40:51
Speaker 2: headroom for them to get better relative to what the
40:54
Speaker 2: other teams in that sort of best of the rest
40:55
Speaker 2: category have come up with, So you'd have to be optimistic,
41:00
Speaker 2: but I don't know. Miami felt it was two things
41:03
Speaker 2: can be true, right, They did feel that there was
41:05
Speaker 2: some extra pacer and Charlie Clair is just very good,
41:07
Speaker 2: and we know that's not exactly breaking news, but you're
41:09
Speaker 2: left feeling a bit underwhelmed by Miami, and you do
41:13
Speaker 2: wonder Miami's an odd place just generally, let alone the racetrack.
41:17
Speaker 2: It's another story. It's a strange Grand Prix, it's a
41:20
Speaker 2: strange racetrack necessarily, But I just wonder if the format
41:24
Speaker 2: of this weekend, the fact that you've got that first session,
41:27
Speaker 2: I haven't looked at the forecast. You probably have because
41:28
Speaker 2: you're more organized than me, but Canada can be pretty
41:30
Speaker 2: sketchy at times at this time of year, So you
41:33
Speaker 2: do have to wonder if the weekend format might play
41:36
Speaker 2: against Ferrari. And you know we'll only have to wait
41:38
Speaker 2: a week after that to find out, because we've actually
41:40
Speaker 2: got something, you know, this novel concept of Grand Prix,
41:42
Speaker 2: like you know, more than one every six weeks coming up.
41:45
Speaker 2: It's going to be great.
41:46
Speaker 1: Yes, I have checked the weather forecast. Last time I checked,
41:49
Speaker 1: it looked fine. I've just checked literally just now and
41:52
Speaker 1: Sunday he's a little bit cooler. Eighteen degrees chance of
41:55
Speaker 1: rain in the afternoon. Not a massive chance, but enough
41:58
Speaker 1: that it could make things a little bit interesting. Is
42:00
Speaker 1: a track that's likes historically a little bit of rain,
42:04
Speaker 1: hasn't it? Sure? Wait to see. You have to wait
42:07
Speaker 1: and see. Let's not count anything on the weather. As
42:08
Speaker 1: Miami taught us, you will have to wait and see
42:10
Speaker 1: them this weekend because that's all the time we have
42:12
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42:14
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42:19
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42:22
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42:25
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42:27
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42:30
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42:34
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42:38
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42:40
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42:45
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42:47
Speaker 1: we'll catch you next week. Wo