Latest / Pit Talk / Jack Doohan primed for early debut as F1 gets its teams title showdown: Qatar GP Review

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Jack Doohan primed for early debut as F1 gets its teams title showdown: Qatar GP Review · Pit Talk

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Pit Talk of Fox Sports and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Speed Cafe Formula one podcast. On today's episode, Australia is
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: set to have two Australians on the grid again from
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: this weekend, with Jack Doan set for an early F
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: one debut and Max Forstaffen wins for a ninth time
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: this year in Kata on another damaging weekend for teammates,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: ser Joe Perez. My name's Michael Lamanato, motorsport writer for
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Fox Sports Australia. It's great to have your company and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the company of my co host from Speed Cafe. He
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: was offered a postseason test with Haas, but he's chosen
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to remain loyal to the podcast. He knows well it's.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Matt Cosh and just quietly, I'm hanging out for that
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: second Red Bull seat. I figure I'm in with a
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: good shot of that at the moment.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: How many there must be a lot of phone calls
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: being made. I mean it, no one can predict one
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: hundred percent what Red Bull wants to do as we
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: learn this year.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: But still just on the sly as I was walking
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: out of the circuit on Sunday night, as you walk
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: out the media room, sort of you looked here right,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: and there's a RedBull hospitality site. There was a long,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: orderly queue of drivers with helmets me out of that,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: all looking nervously over the shoulder of the driver in front,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: looking for Christian. I think there's a few drivers keen
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: on a drive for next year.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I paint some picture in two ways. First
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: of all, yes, we are talking to Matt from Kata
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: this weekend. And second, yes, all drivers get around the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: paddock in full gear and helmets just so they're easily identifiable.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: If you buy your program, you can line up the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: helmet design. The helmet's design change constantly, d't They so
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: very frustrating from that perspective. But it has been an
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: interesting week in news. In fact, it's been an interesting
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: weekend in news, fast evolving, with news even breaking after
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Sunday's race, referencing, of course, Jack Dowan's early F one debut.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that a little bit later. Let's take
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you through some of the five stories that might have
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: actually went missing over the course of the last four
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: or five days. So listen to the last podcast and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: let's start with this. The Kuta Investment Authority will buy
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a significant minority share in audis f one Project, which
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: is currently the sober team head of the German brand's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: former debut in twenty twenty six. National Sovereign Wealth Fund
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: also owns a steak in parent company Volksfucker.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I already had a presence in Qatar over
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: the weekend and we're sort of giving a bit of
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: background on this, And basically the reason it's being explained
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: now is that they're about to take full learnership. When
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: already bought the team, it didn't take a one hundred
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: percent ownership steak. It's since acquired the bit that it
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: didn't buy originally from it's current of Fuinn rousing. That
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: completes in early early January. Beyond that, I've then got
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: full control. They can then sell a steak, which I've
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: done on to QA. That's a process bit ongoing for
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the better part of twelve months. I've sold about and
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: depending up on who you believe, either thirty or thirty
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: three percent, But however you choose to cut that up,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: it works out between sort of three hundred and fifty
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: million dollars, which puts evaluation on the team of about
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: a billion dollars, which when you accept that already paid
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I think six hundred and fifty million for it. I've
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: taken money for jam and that cash will be used
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: to higher equipment and the higher new staff at Hinville.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: So it's it's a logical move. It just puts in
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the terms of the business, puts Audi in a similar
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: boat to what Mercedes is with Toto wolf inios and
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Mercedes Benz ownership. Similar sort of deal with McLaren as well,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: so it's sort of it makes sense. It's a lot
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: of news about some admin really well, I.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Think because advertising gambling is banned, we have to call
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: it a thirty percent kick in the sober team. Let's
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: go to Mercedes now, which is announced that Mick Schumacher
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: has chosen to leave his or a hole as reserve driver.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: That was the way they phrased it, anyway, with the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: German subsequently confirmed confirming he's continuing to race without feed
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in the World in Durance Championship, but is now another
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: degree removed from any possible f one seas.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Well just moved on, hasn't it. And this is I
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: think we'll talk about this a little bit later, but
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: this is the battle that Franco colopinto will soon face
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: where unless you're in the limelight, you quickly form of
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the limelight because the world moves on. You've got all
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: these new drivers coming up through Formula two, and they're
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: the ones that gather the headlines and the attention because
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: they're the ones who are watching race. Mick Schumcha didn't
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: do enough to really own his place there anyway, it'd
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: be interesting to see vouchery Botas if he lands there.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: He's still very highly thought of within Mercedes, and then
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: whether that's a sort of stepping stone onto the team
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: formerly known as Andretti for twenty six will also be interesting.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: So I think he's got to be a first Cup
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: off the rank of his experience and pedigree.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, you've stolen my thunder for item number three,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: which is that valtry Botas has always confirmed he's going
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to Mercedes as a reserve driver. Next to your homecoming
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: for him, but it does put it's emphasized I suppose
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: how important these reserve driver roles are. Maybe less so
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: for the teams, although they're increasingly leaning on them as well,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: but certainly for the drivers, because it feels like in
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the last year or so we've seen a great many
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: opportunities for reserve drivers to have another crack and keep
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: themselves in that limelight.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: You mentioned a good point there. It is a path
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: into Formula one for the drivers or a path back
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: into the grid for drivers, but also it's about developing
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: engineers and mechanics and those sorts of people who don't
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: get a lot of opportunities these days. So it's a
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: pathway into the race team short of an opening appearing
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: on pit wall for them to jump into. So it's
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: not just about running miles and getting some seat time
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: for a driver. It's more multifaceted than that, and vouchery
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: can add a lot of value there at ten time
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Grand pre winner with some young engineers helping blood them
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in at Mercedes, that's only going to be good news.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: And he's also going to be a steady hand around
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: our and Kimmi Antonelli youd think, and.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: He's got a great social media presence, good merch so that.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Could brilliant, brilliant hair.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Let's look at the FIA now, let's start with the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: positive story, because new F one race director Rui Marquez
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: has got off to a pretty positive start with his
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: relationship with the drivers who have praised the pre race
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: driver briefing in Kata is one of the most productive ever,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: where FIA officials presented the proposed changes to the racing
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: rules that were first discussed about month and a half ago.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Now at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that seemed to go really well. If you listen
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: to pretty much everyone who came out of that meeting,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: they all say the same thing. That was productive and
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: they felt like they would listen to and even silly
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: things like you wind back to the Las Vegas Grand
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Prix where they raise concerns about the pit entry line.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: That was addressed overnight, So the feedback is being listened
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: to an address. So it seems as though they've got
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: more of a sounding board in Rue Marques than perhaps
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: what they used to have. But that was the first
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: half of your point, which is a positive news out
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: of the FAA, Michael, it suggests to me that you're
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: leaning towards something else.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, maybe much like our alternative championship. There's always
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: a negative looking around the corner or in full view.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: In the case of that alternative championship. Our final point
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: is on the negative side and the move that will
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: have done nothing to improve those relations with drivers or
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: if one itself. If I President Mohammad ben Sulam says
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: it's none of anyone's business how he runs the FIA.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: In an interview with Auto Sport, he also refused to
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: explain the departure of former F one race director Neil's
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Vidage or any of the departures from the organization, as
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: he insists he can do pretty much what he likes
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: since he was elected.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: It's a very combative interview that he gave, and then
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: there's more to come out of that. There's an hour
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: long interview, so I've sent a snippet to come out
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: of that. It was an interview with John Notwill at
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Motorsport and Alan Borben I think of ap Associated Press.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: So there's plenty more to come out of that yet.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: But it's an interesting statement. It's a belligerent statement, and
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure it's beneficial. It also seems to contradict
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: the way in which he Mauma ben Sulam was was
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: voted in in that he was going for transparency and
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: unity and harmony, and here he has been very diictorial.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: He's been transparently belligerent. I suppose it's not pretending he's.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Not, so you know he's got your word's not mine.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: I know he used the word president. I was question
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: addressed is.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I was quoting you? Thank you very much transparently. So anyway,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: it's fine. I doubt he listens to the podcast. If
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: he does, that's okay. It's good for the numbers. So
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: it's fine. Let's move on our math to from our perspective,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the big news story of the week. It is an
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: objectively big news story of the week, though that is
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: an Estevar knock On will not be competing for LP
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: In his place will be reserve driver and the man
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: appointed to replace him in twenty twenty five. Anyway, Jack Duin,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the Australian son of five times five hundred cc motorcycle
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: World champion Mickdoon. He was always on the periphery of
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Formula One for the last year or so. He's gambled
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: to be the reserve driver this year in the hope
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: of boosting that opportunity to take up a chance at Alpine.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Did pay off when he signed to replace estebarknock On
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: next season, but it's all happening suddenly, very quickly. Let's
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: start with the Stevano on side of this first, because
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: that really was the biggest surprise out of this, less
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: so that it would be Jack replacing him. He's chosen,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: He's effectively chosen. There was some negotiation negotiation involved to
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: not see out the season with Alpine in favor for
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: him making a little bit of a headstart with HEAs.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much input he had into that choice,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: shall we say, I think it might have been made
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: for him. Ochlan has been on thin ice with that
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: team for a long time, and I think back to
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Monaco where he clouted Pierre ghastly. He was benched for
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: FP one in Canada. There was talk back then that
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: he missed the Canadian Grand Prix's punishment for that. You know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: there is one rule in Formula one where you don't
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: make contact with your teammate, and he pretty comprehensively broke
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: that one in Monaco, and tensions have remained throughout. Okay,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: there was a double podium in South Paolo, but that
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: doesn't make up for all the other tension. I was
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: in the lpin hospitality at the end of the race
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: on Sunday night, and I was witnessed to an exchange
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: between the Oaks and a few engineers and it's not
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: so I can talk about verbatim, but it gave me
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: a very good insight into the esteem with which Esteban
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: is held within that organization and perhaps the motives to
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: the decision that they made. And it wasn't a simple
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: decision because Estun's management system is quite complicated. It's shared
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: between our pin and Mercedes, or will be until the
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: end of the year, so to make any decision on
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: what they do requires approval of both Toto Wolf and
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Flavio Briatorio. So the lots of those conversations happening that
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: was going on throughout the weekend, but it was only
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: after the Grand Prix that that decision was made. Speaking
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: after the Grand Prix, you know, Olioaks team principle at
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Alpine hadn't spoken to Jack Dowing, so the news hadn't
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: even gone to Jack at this point that the idea
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: was a possibility was out there, but confirmation hadn't been made.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: And this is about an hour after the race that
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: we spoke, So it all came together quite quickly thereafter
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: because it was Monday morning, a local time here in
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Qatar that it was all confirmed. Sort of announced it
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: himself post race in his comments to the media, sort
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: of saying that that was his last one and takes
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: to the mechanics and so on. But the deal that
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: was basically struck is yes, you can go off to
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: hass and test there at the postseason tests on the
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Tuesday following Abu Derby, but in exchange for that half
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: a week's holiday and nice, which I believe where he's
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: got and everyone else's headed to Abu Derby. He's gone
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: to the beach. But the good news is for us
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: we've got Jack doing there. And Jack is a great kid.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: He's yes, he's got the name, but he's done it himself.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: He's done it the hard way. He's had to work
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: for everything. He took a hell of a risk at
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the start of this year choosing not to race anything,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: choosing instead to support the team. And you know, he's lucky,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: and that the team has realized that it's got a
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: junior program there, and the idea with junior programs is
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: to eventually pick a driver out of it. So their
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: were concerns, and very serious concerns I might add that
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: Franco Colopinto would replace him before it even had a race.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll get onto Franco a little bit later
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: on that that threat has dwindled to the point of
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: it's been extinguished. But all of this opens the door
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: for Jack to be the sixteenth Australian to start a
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Formula one Grand Prix, be the second Australian on the
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: greed alongside alongside Oscar and the third Antipathy and with Land,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: which is fabulous, fabulous news for us. And I'm doing
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: is just a hell of a name globally and it
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: is it is Motorsport Royalty in Australia. So there's While
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I guess it's sad in many respects not to have
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Esteban on the on the grid, I'm going to put
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: my Australian on, taking my my French hat firmly off,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: and so I prefer it Jack.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I've got to stop carrying that French hat around everywhere.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: That doesn't suit you.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Well, it's that or a big white sheet.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: We shouldn't feel too bad for estimating he's racing next year.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: He's taking one race off and it sounds like you
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: say he's going to be spending at the beats. That's
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: someone sounds like a terrible deal. I mean, speaking a
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: very long season, I'm sure he could use some time
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to put his feet up, and considering it's been mostly
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: arduous at Alpine, just probably do move on to Jack Duan,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: or rather I guess in the context of Jack Dowan
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: getting this cease in the final race, when sixth in
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the championship is still up for grabs, Alpine took another
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: step forward in that role, took back sixth place in
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Kata with Pierre Gasly's great ten points of finishing fifth,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: so it's out five points ahead of half. So I
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: mean there are relatively few points available in any weekend
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: for the midfield. But then peer Gasly does show you actually,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: in some circumstances you can score big. So we can't
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: really say it's secure by any stretch of the imagination,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: but Alpine does can feel maybe a little bit like
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: they can get done at least, But then they've made
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: this driver change very suddenly. But what's interesting here is
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: that you've really got to break down lpin season into
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: two halves. If you look at the season overall, on average,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: actually it looks like Pier gaslinest Toba knock On a
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: pretty close. In fact, Espa not On. I think started
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the season maybe looking a little bit more comfortable with
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: this car, which was an awful car. It has got
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: better quite a bit over the course of the season,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: but since the mid season break it's been NonStop Pierre
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Gasly pretty much. The qualifying margins blown out to more
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: than a quarter of a second. Gasly is qualifying on
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: average around three places ahead of oc On, which often
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: in the midfield is the difference between the Q one
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and Q two or Q two and Q three, and
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Ocon scored points only once since the mid season break.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Yes it was second place in Brazil. That shouldn't be
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: discounted as being an extra only important and lucrative score.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: In fact, it's almost all of his points for the year.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: But it just demonstrates to you that actually in the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: second half of the year he hasn't really been delivering
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: for the team to the point where you might say, well,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Jack Dowan might come in. It's a track he knows
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: as well. It's not like Liam Lawson and Franco Colopinto
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: rocking up and doing most of the circuits I've ever
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: been at in fact, he's a winner here in Formula two,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: so he knows his way around the place. He knows
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: his way around the team. Actually, probably not as dramatic
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: a change from that perspective. It still is obviously you've
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: got a guy hasn't raced all year, but it's probably
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: not the massive blow to your points scoring hopes that
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: maybe it would present itself as when we're placing a
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: driver has experienced as Estebanochen. I thought it was interesting
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: actually the hec on speaking this weekend. He's sort of
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: been hinting at it ever since he's dropped off the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: pace really relative to Pierre Gasly that oh, maybe he's
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: not getting the same opportunities. He didn't have the upgraded
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: front wing this this weekend, so literally didn't quite have
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the same car. But I guess that also just speaks
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to that tension and maybe why the team would be
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: happy to be relief of that pressure, because he was
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: certainly unhappy with his lack of performance and seemed to
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: be trying to point the finger at the team.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: What I love about all of this is our Pene
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: is treating the Constructors Championship like the Alternative Championship. The
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: points don't matter. Seriously, this decision hasn't been the work
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: of a moment. It's been a consideration since June when
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: when Esteban announced that he would go to has. It's well,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: what do you then do with a driver in that position.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Let's keep in mind that should our Pene finish sixth
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: in the constructors Championship, it will beat Has. So who
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: is Esteban driving for in Abu Dhabi. That's you know,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: plant that one at the back of your head and
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: let the conspiracy nut back there go go crazy on it.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: But also, as you mentioned Jack Scott experience here, he's
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: done a couple of FP one sessions here, He's got
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: plenty of postseason testing here, he's done that the last
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: couple of years as well. There's other running that he's
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: done here in the past. Obviously race here in Formula two.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Of all the tracks all year, this is the one
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: that he knows the best. So realistically, yes, there's gonna
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: be a little bit of time coming up to grips
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: with the car and the team and everything else and
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: blowing a bit of race rustiness off. But the actual
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: risk that he poses versus having Esteban in the car
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: in terms of the constructors Championship is again comparatively low
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: because you've got to imagine that the first seven positions
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: are going to be taken up by the two McClaren's
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: and Tumusades are two Ferraris and Max seventh, so eighth,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: ninth and tenth are up for grabs. There's not a
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: lot of points there. Realistically, you expect on current form
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Pierre Gasley will be in one of those three positions.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: It doesn't leave much on offer for the likes of
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: hass or even Ab which they had a shoker in Qatar,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: but they might bounce back this weekend, such as the
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: closeness of the of the midfield. If our pen is
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: going to take a risk or a punt on a driver,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: this is the perfect weekend to do it. And when
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: you're looking bigger picture, if they finish fifth or if
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: they finish sixth, it will make a meaningful difference to
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the to the championship. Off the top of my head,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: it'll be worth about seven seven and a half million,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: I think at this point. Maybe a little bit more
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: than that depends on Formula's profit and loss at the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: end of the year and revenues and things, and we
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: won't know that until Q four comes through. But it's
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: not a huge loss. Yes, it is a gamble, but
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: then look at what other teams have done with rookies.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Look at McLaren with Oscar Piastre. They paid a driver
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: twenty plus million dollars not to race and then paid
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Oscar to race. You know that's a that's a thirty
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: odd million dollar gamble on a rookie at the start
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: of the year. This is perhaps a seven million dollar
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: gamble on a rookie in the final race of the year,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: when the odds of losing six are not insignificant but
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: comparatively controlled.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I just want to talk about Jack and his debut
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: here now because I think this is also clever from
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: his perspective. His debut was set to be the Australian
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Grand Prix, which would have been an extremely high pressure
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: situation because the new home Hero. Okay, there's a little
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: bit of Oscar Piastris to diffuse that, but there would
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: have been no escape and it was remarkable. I think
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: we've talked about this before how popular he was even
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: just as F two driver in Australia, so can only
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: imagine what it would have been like in his first
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: one with one Grand Prix, so it takes a little
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: bit of the pressure off that just by getting that
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: debut out of the way, allowing him to himself feel
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit of that pressure come off. What are
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: we expecting from him this weekend? Because I think it's important.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: As you've mentioned, he hasn't raced all year. All he's
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: done is some private testing and be the reserve driver.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: So it's been a long time since he sat on
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: a grid for a real start, long time since he's
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: had the pressure of qualifying. He hasn't driven this car
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: oh no yehy as an FP one sessions earlier in
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the year, but hasn't driven it in race conditions or
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: for an extended period of time. So there's a lot
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to adjust to this weekend. You'll have only a few
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: days to make that adjustment. As well, considering this was
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: all confirmed relatively late, he'll have already been doing a
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: lot of simulated stuff anyway, I suppose, so it's not
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: as if the leap to preparation is going to be massive.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: What can we realistically expect of him this weekend or
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: is it better to perhaps go in with no expectations
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: given this is a little bit of a free kick.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: From what I can gather, and I asked that question
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: exactly of are the oaks? There are no expectations. It's
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: expected that the first race in a scenario like this
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: is going to be huge ask of any driver that
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: the learning curve is, well, it's not a curve, it's
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: a wall. It's going to be vertical for him because
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: it's not just going out there and knowing the controls
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: in the car, which he should know those backwards given
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: the time he spent within the car in F one
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: sessions and the simulate and all that sort of stuff,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: so that should be more or less second nature to him.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: But it's dealing with that, dealing with traffic, dealing with
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: the pressure, and then the nuance of the regulations. So
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: to pick one example which I'm sure we will touch
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: on a little bit later as well, but in Qatar,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: the safety car lights there was a malfunction on those. Well,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: the regulations stay that you must stay within ten car
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: links of the safety car while its lights are on.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: So it's being aware of that level of detail in
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the regulations that he will drop the ball somewhere. There's
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: just so many regulations is almost guaranteed. But that's what
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: this event isn't all about. Get some of those cobwebs
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: out of the system, get back up to speed, learn
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: to work with your engineer, Learn to speak the same
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: language as your engineer, because every driver is a little
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: bit different, and just use it to bed things down.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Get everything on the front foot for when we do
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: get to Melbourne. Also, learn what happens outside of the
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: car in Formula one. He's had a little taste of
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: the media, he's had a little to the fandom that
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: goes alongside it. But yeah, he's going to get used
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: to the criticism. He's going to get used to the pressure.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: The media in Formula one is merciless. He would not
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: have experienced anything like it, and if he puts a
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: foot wrong, he's going to get crucified for it. He's
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: going to have to get used to that. It is
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: a completely different game where every time you scratch your nose,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: you're you're analyzed for it, and that nothing you can
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: do in your junior career, or in a simulator, or
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: on a test track or in an FP one session
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: can prepare you for that. So that's what this weekend
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: is about it's all the periphery stuff to what we
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: know we can already do behind the wheel.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Let's look at the cut out Grand Prix now more broadly,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: maximstaff and one. He's ninth Grand Prix of the season.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: He's first in the dry since June. It's the Spanish
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Grand Prix. It was a long time that Brazilian drought
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: breaker really made a little bit of a difference to
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that one. Despite him winning, though, Red Bull Racing cannot
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: win the Constructors Championship that is going down to the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: wire in Abu Dhabi between McLaren and Ferrari. Ferrari, despite expectations,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: actually managing to call back just three points but a
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: few important points potentially on its Constructors Championship deficit that
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: stands at twenty one points going into the final round.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I want to start with Red Bull Racing though, because
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: this has been one of the other moving stories against
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: to come out of this penultimate round. I mean realistic,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: this minute story that's been going for probably about six months,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: but it feels like it's finally coming to a head.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: And that is the status of Sergio Perez at that team.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: We've talked about this plenty of times before Matt that
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: his lack of points is directly responsible for Red Bull
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Racing now not being able to defend its Constructors' championship.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: He's more than two hundred points behind Max Verstappen in
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the standings. Had another really difficult weekend this weekend. Didn't
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: finish in the points in the Grand Prix or the sprint.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Qualified in the bottom five in the sprint. We run
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: through the greatest hits there that happened him this weekends.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Seemed to miss the start of the sprint. He says
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: it was intentional. Christian Hornet suggestions as the first he'd
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: ever heard of that plan to let Franco Colopinto overtake
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: him in pitt Lane. Spun himself out of this race.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I really expected someone to say it was a technical problem,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: but simply just fun himself out of the race behind
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the safety carent and Bertie's clut's trying to rejoin. So
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: no points and the language from Christian Horner has grown
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: increasingly clear. After months of sort of ob the skating
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and saying, oh, you know, he's got a contract and
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: so on, he's using language now that, essentially, to paraphrase,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Perry should see the riding on the walls up to him,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: which maybe suggests this won't be straightforward sacking, but rather
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: some kind of agreement. But it seems clearer than ever now,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: if not by virtual of his performances than actually by
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: decisions to be made, that this will be Serjo Perry's
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: last race for Red Bull Racing.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Christiana Hart is not defending him anymore, is he.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: There's been a very subtle but very deliberate change in
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: language coming from the top brass at Red Bull. The
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: patients has worn out. Someone mentions I haven't checked this,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: but someone mentioned to me that if Max wins this
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: weekend and gets the bonus point for fast Slap, his
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: score at the end of the season will be triple
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: that of Sergio's. Maybe you can take your socks off
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: and do the sums on that while I talk Bear Michael.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: But and that's an extraordinary thing, and it's exactly why
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Sergio will not race at rebul In twenty twenty five.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: The coming weekend is his final race for the team.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Whether he knows that yet or not, or he accepts
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: that yet or not, is a different matter. But ultimately,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: following the Abby Derby Grand Prix, an official decision will
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: be made or at least communicated on pretty confident decision
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: has already been made on a couple of things connected
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: to that from you know what I've read, and I
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: hate to give credit to someone else, but planning left
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: one is you know, saying that you know he's going
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: to be and be offered an ambassadorial role, a little
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: bit like what Daniel Ricardo had as a way to
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: sort of soften the blow. He can take that or
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: get a boot up the bum. Basically, you know, you
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: take what we offer you or will get rid of you.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Either way, he's not going to be there next year.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: The patience is gone, which then opens another can of
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: worms as to who do they put into that into
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: that seat. But you know, this isn't something that's built
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: up over the last two or three races. This is
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: a year long problem, and realistically it was what China
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Miami maybe there was his last decent race. Since then
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: he has been dismal. And Sergio Perez is an exceptional
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: racing driver. Every driver that is informedly one is an
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: exceptional racing driver. We're talking about a percentage point or
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: two difference to Max, who is a generational talent. It's
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: a tough job and unfortunately, I'm sorry to sound like
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Christian of horning here, unfortunately, so just wanting. And when
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: you're fighting teams that are now at the caliber and
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: strengths of McLaren and Ferrari and Mercedes, who have two
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: drivers regularly contributing solid points, you cannot carry a passenger. Yeah,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: I mean just jo is going to cost them more money.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just to paint that picture on the points situation.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Since Formula One left Europe, he's been outscored by both
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: hass drivers, both Alpine drivers obviously through that double podium,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: also Fernando Alonso, and hasn't finished higher than sixth since
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the Miami Grand Prix. As you pointed out, there three
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: in the last six races, three of them he has
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: walked away with no points. Three of them he's walked
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: away with one point. They're not front running car results.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: They are midfield car results in a car that has okay,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: it's not been the fastest car for a long time now,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: very rarely has been. Maybe it was the weekend, but
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: has not been a car that should be racing on
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the cusp of the top ten. It should by rights
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: be top eight, and I thought it was pretty taling
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and I think we've done this before. Of course, at
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the start of the he said, well, of course we
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: can assume the top seven positions this weekend will be
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: locked out in Abu Dhabi because you just can't predict
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: where Sergioperi is are going to finish. Half the time,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: it's actually been outside of the points.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's been poor and I know that's not
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: what the Mexican fans want to hear, but as Australians,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: I think we're in an educated position to make these
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: comments because we've been through it with Daniel. There's no
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: explanation as to why Daniel's career suddenly nosedived. On paper,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: he should have succeeded at McLaren. On paper, he should
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: have succeeded at Abe. For whatever reason, something happened there
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: was it was like a switch was flicked and he
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: was just he wasn't the same driver again, and you
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: get the feeling. We saw a little bit of that
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: last year from sort of the Miami Grand Prix, strangely
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: enough last year with Max going on that run of wins,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: and then we've seen it again this year. Something has
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: happened in the brains. It's interesting if you stop step
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: back and look at some of the drivers. I wonder
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: if that switches in the process of being flicked. For
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Lewis as well, they've got it and it's gone the
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: next and I think for Sergio sadly, it's gone just
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: like it went for Daniel. So it's it's the brutal
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: nature of Formula One and Red Bull isn't in the
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: business of being patient. I think Sergio has actually been
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: very lucky. If you look back at Red Ball throughout
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: its history, it's been very brutal with its drivers, decisions,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: very cutthroat. This year and I agree arguably even going
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: back to last year with Diverse, it's been a little
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: bit more soft, a little bit more emotive, and that
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: to me speaks of the influence of Christian Horner in
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: some of that decision making process. Because Daniel Ricardo was
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: an emotive appointment from Christian Horner. Is the decision to
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: retain Sergio Perez was a Horner's decision as well, And
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: again it felt a motive because after Singapore, I mean,
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: hell that the championship, the constructor championship was lost. Why
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: don't you make a change. Making a change that rbing
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: made no sense from a logical It makes sense from
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: a perhaps an a motive standpoint, but not from a
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: rusial or so you may as well. You know, if
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: you're going to make a big change, make a big change,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: don't drink half major. That's where you throw Daniel Ricardo
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: in see if there's any difference. There might be, there
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: might not, but you've got your answer. And yet here
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: we are at the end of the year in a
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: position where it can't carry on as it is, and
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Sergio is about to have his Formula One career end
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: in a whimper.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, you've got to wonder what could have
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: had been made of this season, and Daniel Riccardo got
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: the nod there. Maybe it wouldn't have been much better,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: But in retrospect it's been shown up to have been
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: a mistake not to at least try it, because Sergio
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: pair is, other than that one brief weekend in Baku
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: in which he still walked away with no points, has
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: not looked anything like the driver Red Bull was hoping
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: he would rebecome in the second half of the year.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: The other side of this equation, I think You're right
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: to point out that Red Bulls dealt with him differently
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: than it has drivers in the past. I think that
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: actually started when he arrived at the team, because they
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: recognize the way they dealt with piter Gasly and Alex
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Albon wasn't conducive to getting the best out of them.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Both drivers thrown in the deep end. Particularly in Alban's case.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: It's informed one half a year when he got them
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: not to move up to Red Bull Racing. But I
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: think that puts the focus now on what happens next,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: because it seems like the odds are back on Liam
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Lawson being the driver who replaces Sergio Perez. He will
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: arrive with eleven Grand Prix starts, so pretty much the
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: same situation Alex Albon was in, except those Grand Prix
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: starts aren't even contiguous. Half of them were last year,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and then he was sort of on the sidelines again
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: this year. Now he's back, it'll be interesting to see
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: how they deal with that, because, if anything, it's a
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: worse time than ever to join Red Bull Racing because
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: they've got a lot of expectation, this being a title
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: winning era. We're up against Max Withstappan who's never been
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: in better form. But you're racing a car. We don't
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: know what it's going to be like next year, of course,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: but a car in the second half of this year
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: that's been very unpredictable, hard even for the team and
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: at times for even Verstappen to get the best out of.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: This is a pretty high risk situation for whoever were
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: to get that nod L. Let's just say lead Lawson.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Realctically, there were potentially four drivers that were in
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: the frame. That's now a shortlist of two, but let's
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: go through all four. The absolute wild card outside was
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: color Science and he was a name connected even in
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: the last week to Red Bull. That's understood. There's a
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: clauseing is Williams contract that he could move to a
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: team that was higher up the grid, a race winning
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: team shot down. But that will be a fascinating concept,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: particularly if you start to look at red Bull beyond
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: the immediate max for staff in era, because that will
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: end at some point, and that's where Red Bull's trying
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: to set itself up for. It's not just looking at
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: solving the immediate twenty twenty five driver issue. This is
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: starting to look at twenty six and beyond. What is
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: a succession plan? Beyond beyond this happened, science would have
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: been a curious, curious case there that didn't happen for
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: a multitude of reasons, but so he came and went.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: The other one that was mentioned was Colo Pinto. Now
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Franco burst onto the scene with its first three or
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: four races. His value just absolutely skyrocketed and he looked
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: like a brilliant superstar of the future. Quite possibly will be.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: But he's entered this awkward phase of being a rookie
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: where he started to crash all every not every rookie.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: Oscar Piastri didn't do it, but most rookies go through this,
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: this crash phase. Maxis Stappan did. This is unfortunate that
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: in the short run of races that colo Pinto's got
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: that his crash phases happened. Now as a sort of
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: red Bull and even Alpine were looking at him as
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: a potential candidate for next year, his value after South
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Paolo and Las Vegas is absolutely nose dived. Red Bull
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: has no interest in him. He's off the radar, not
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: even at RB. The original plan was to put him
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: a red Bull. Then when the crashes started to happen,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: or maybe it's RB and now it's not even in
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: contention for either of those drives, which leaves us in
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: a situation where Red Bull has to pick from the
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: pool of drivers that's got and that pool at the
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: moment is realistically Liam Lawson and Yuki Sonoda. So now
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: he's in the fourth year of his Formula One career,
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: has still shown himself to be highly unstable in the car,
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: and that he gets very wound up, very emotional, very
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: angry at times. He's a little bit inconsistent as well.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: In his fourth year, you could also realistically suggest these approaching,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: if not at sort of where his maximum level will be.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Liam Lawson's nip and tuck with him after ten races,
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: which suggests that Liam, still far from the finished article,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: has potentially a higher ceiling. You then look at them
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: off track and Yuki, because if you can can't differentiate
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: them on track, you've got to look at what they're
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: doing off track. Yuki off track has always had some concerns.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: We don't know what they are, but for a long
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: time he wasn't in consideration for the Red Bull driver.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: There's something that Red Bull don't like what they've seen.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know what it is, but it's there. Conversely,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: you've got a driver who Helmut Marco really strongly supports,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: a driver who takes ownership of issues, seeks out Christian
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Horner and the senior leadership at Red Bull when he
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: makes a mistake and owns it. He's also got this
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: at a wrote it a diy or two back. He's
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: got this. It's a fabulous genesqua. It's in French for
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: the thing that you can't be explained, but he's just
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: got it. It's that X factor, that little that sprinkle
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: of gold dust that drivers have and I can't explain
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: it any better than that. But he's got a presence
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: about him. Franco's got the same thing. Frankie Colpindo's got
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: the same thing. He's just got this little sparkle about him.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: Yuki doesn't have that. The great Red Bull drivers have
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: had that. Maxi Staff and Sebastian Battle, even Danie Ricardo
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: for that matter. And it's something that Liam has and
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: can build on. Then taken marketing, look at things in
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: two or three or four years time, who is going
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: to lead the Red Bull team, Because at some point
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Max is going to retire. We know he's here for
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: a good time, not a long time. Is Yuki Sanoda
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: the driver to lead the Red Bull Formula One program?
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: It doesn't feel right. Is that person Liam Lawson? Maybe not,
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: but he feels a better fit. And that's purely from
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: a you know, watching their body language, the way they
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: interact with the engineer, the feeling within the team. Yuki
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: is not hugely popular within the team as well. He's
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: a hard man to work with. The understand there are
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: lots of little indicators all the way through that suggests
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: that when Sergio is kicked out, that Liam Lawson will
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: be the man for.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: The job again with that French hat. And we assume,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: speaking of that, Isaac Kadjar will then be the man
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: who slots into RBS contending for the Formula two Championship
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: this weekend. Having drawn, I think we did half a
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: point leader Gabrielle Borte letter. I hate the half points,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: but that's the way it is.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: This is the other piece that makes me think that
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: a decision has been made. So Hadja has a reputation
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: for being a dour Frenchman, I think is probably the
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: best way to put it. But in Qatar he was
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: bouncing around like a kid at Christmas. He was a
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: different person. And that's not just my own observations, that's
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: direct commentary from contacts within the Formula two Paddock who
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: are working directly with him over the course of the
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: weekend and had first hand experience with him, you know,
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: throughout the season and on that weekend, and noted you
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: know that they made specific note of the change in
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: demeanor to me and how they thought that meant that
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: a pretty significant decision had been made in his favor.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: So I think, I think all the pieces are already decided.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: We just have to get beyond Abydaby for that to
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: be communicated to us.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, we'll keep eyes peeled for as soon as the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: teket flag falls in Avid Dhabi a little bit after that,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: we're running out of time. But I do want touch
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: on a couple more things from this Grand Prix before
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: we get to the Alternative Championship, of course, and that
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: is the constructor's standing. This was meant to be a
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: big weekend for McLaren. They had the first opportunity to
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: seal the Constructors Championship. It was always unlikely. It was
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: always going to be a little bit difficult. They needed
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: probably the perfect result in quite a bad weekend for
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Ferrari indi end, Ferrari had a slightly better weekend in
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: terms of race pace, at least than they were braced for,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: even if the one lap pace was still a little
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: bit off. But McLaren didn't really have the advantage expected. Okay,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: it was a one two in the sprints, Oscar Piastri
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: head of Lando Norris. After it well, not quite a
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: team order Orlando Norris order, I suppose redressing the team
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: order from Brazil. But in the race Lando Norris, okay,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: he was challenging Max with staffand but didn't really seem
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: like he had the edge to do the deal. And then,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: of course the ten second stop go penalty, probably the
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: main talking point from the race itself for ignoring double
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: waved yellow flags when Oscar Piastri finished third on the podium,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: but Norris could only score two points for tenth with
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: the fastest lap, which means twenty one points heading into
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: Abu Dhabi. And I've been of the opinion that the
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: season decided. It's the final race of the season. Yes,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: McClaren is still favorite. It's got it to lose, essentially
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: having led the Constructors Championship now for a couple of months.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: But anything can happen in a one race essentially winner
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: takes all scenario. I think this track will suit Ferrari
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit, but certainly suited better than Kata. I
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: actually think Ferrari might be the team marginally ahead this
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: weekend as well looking at the track layout. Not enough
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: to make it the clear favorite, but should certainly feel
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: more confident. What was the vibe like between those two
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: teams over the course of the weekend, considering neither got
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: the result they thought they were in for and the
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: feeling ahead of Abu Dhabi.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: I think McLaren's pretty happy to be going in with
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: a championship lead. It's a little bit disappointed, obviously not
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: to have a bigger lead. It could and should have
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: had a bigger lead, and Land obviously made a mistake
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: and that proved costly in the Constructors Championship. Before I
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: go on that thought, though, I just want to comment
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: on Lando and the sprint because I think he deserves
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: massive respect and plawed its for his actions. Yes, it
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: was only a sprint winter he gave back to Oscar,
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: but it's more than that. It's not just that one
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: point and paying back South Paolo. What it does is
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: leads McLaren by example shows that it's a cohesive, strong
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: unit that has immense cultural values that run from the
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: top down. The message that sends to the rank and
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: file heading into twenty twenty five, regardless of what happens
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: this weekend, the message that sends is absolutely phenomenal. So
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: Lando deserves a lot of credit for that, and I
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: guess ultimately, you know, Zach Brown and Andrew Stella deserve
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of credit for instilling that in Inlando and
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: Oscar over the course of the year. But that, to
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: me showed a lot of what McLaren is about. And
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: then the reaction on Sunday night, Andrew Stella, I've that
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: has the most expressive eyebrows in Formula one and they
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: were very angry post race with the penalty. Seller felt
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: the ten second stop go was harsh. The faas argued that,
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: you know it's a double wave yellow flags. He didn't
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: slow down under double wave yellow flags, which is people
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: on track prepared to stop it. These days, there's never
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: anyone on track without a safety car out. But that's
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: what a double wave yellow means Lando didn't do that,
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: and he deserved. Quite frankly, I think he deserves to
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: have the book thrown at him for that. He deserves
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: the ten second stop go penalty because you cannot compromise
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: on safety. If you start allowing Formula one drivers to
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: do it's Formula two drivers will start to do it.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: That teachers Formula three drivers and Formula four and it
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: knocks on down the chain. You have to lead by example.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: These are the world's best drivers. They cannot be let
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: off the hook on that basic stuff. So when it
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: comes to safety, no inch given. I don't care that
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: Andre Stelle had angry eyebrows. It doesn't matter. It broke
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: a fundamental rule and he copped the penalty for it, and
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: that's that's fine. I don't have an issue with that. Ferrari,
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: obviously were the happy recipients of the benefit from that.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: The safety car also fell in in Charla Clair's favor,
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: giving him track position over Oscar Piastre. That was the
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: second safety car. From the top of my head, there
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: were three of them over the race that Ferrari was
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: a little bit down on pace, So it can be
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: pretty happy to have actually clawed back some ground, but
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: McLaren wasn't too upset, you know. Ultimately McLaren's of the
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: opinion from speaking to to Zack Brown a couple of
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: other Cats over the weekend. Remember where they were at
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: the start of the year. They were nowhere, and here
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: they are on the verge of the Constructors Championship, the
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: first one. All have won that championship in nearly nearly
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: three was it nineteen ninety eight six? Yeah, there you go.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: I was gonna say nearly thirty years. I'm close enough.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: So that's an extraordinary turn of events. That's an extraordinary
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: season that they've had. When you put it in that context,
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: they've already won they all they missing as are trophy.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: If they get that in Abu Dhaby, I think that's
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: the final cherry on top of the cake. Even if
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: they don't get it, I don't think it diminishes the
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: achievement of twenty twenty four for McLaren because it has
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: been an extraordinary season where they've made two drivers race
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: winners for the first time.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's some quick mats for you heading into Abu Dhabi.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: The result needed for Ferrari and there are obviously other permutations
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: possible after this, but the result needed for Ferrari is
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: a one to two with McLaren off the podium, and
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: that would be enough to if it's if it's four
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: or five for McLaren, FRAI would win on countback, which
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: have a number of wins, and then off the podium.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: It would be more straightforward, so fastest point lap could
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: swing it. We don't know it's close enough that it's
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: within the realm of stability, but we do expect McClaren
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: to be at least reasonably strong this weekend, so Ferrari
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: really will need everything to go in its favor. And
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: to wrap up mas MAT's chat, you're right. If Max
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: with Staffan does get the perfect results this weekend and
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: Sergio Perez does not score, he'll be as good as
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: triple Perez's points, I think within one point or half
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: a point or something like that. So remarkable statistics all
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: round on the grid ahead of Abu Dhabi. But Matt,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: we're running out of time. Let's get to the Alternative Championship.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Per ultimate round of the Alternative Championship. Goodn's come fast,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: hasn't it.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: We can always invent some more. I mean ultimately, let's
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: just make this up as we go along. Anyways, the
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: alternative championship where we make all the points up and
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: it doesn't really matter, and this is the one everyone
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: wants to win, even though they don't even know it exists.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: So my three votes. Sergio has not had a good year,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: has he?
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Understatement?
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: I feel like piling on. I'm gonna make it a
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: little bit worse for not being aware enough to realize
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: the writing that's on the wall, because he seems completely
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: oblivious to the fact that he doesn't have a future
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: at Red Bull that or completely unwilling to publicly accept it.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: I'm going to take twenty twenty.
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: Five points away from Joe per one point for every
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: year as of next year. So yeah, he gets my
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: he gets my first at one point for every year
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: next year.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Not just every year he's been with the team, but
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: for every year.
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, every year, every year since we've rolled over from
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: years zero. I mean, if we went every year, I
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: have to take what's an eight point something billion year?
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: How many? How many years old I need to go
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: to that song from The Big Bang Theory? Yeah, how
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: many I need to take off him?
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: I like it. I like it a lot.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: We'll go with twenty twenty five for now.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Keep it simple. I'm also going to start by taking
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: points off thirteen points off George Russell. That's a difference
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: between first and fourth. I'm pretty sure anyway, for angering
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Max for staffands so much that he never had any
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: chance of converting the pole he won in the steward's
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: room to victory, because when you get Max into a
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: certain corner, he's just not ever go. He's either going
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: to take you out or he's going to win the race.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: And I thought this was really interesting. That's something we
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: didn't have time to talk about. But Max's commentary after
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: winning the race, so not immediately after losing pole position,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: but having had twenty four hours of they're about to
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: digest everything. Spoke about the duplicitus of George Russell and
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: having absolutely always his words, I have no respect for
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: him at all. I thought that was very interesting considering
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Russell's position as the leader of the GPD, and as
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: much as Max has a bit of a fiery reputation,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: I can't think of a driver he's spoken about in
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: similar terms to George.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: And one thing that you know when Max speaks is
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: he tells the truth. You know, you might not like
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: what you hear, or he might not be willing to
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: give view exactly everything that you want. But when he speaks,
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: you can believe what he's saying is honest. So if
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: he's saying those things, that is his honest opinion. From
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: what I've heard the drivers meet or that the meeting
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: with the Stewards was to quote someone that gave me
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: a bit of an inside line, it was it was
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: spicy George really pushing for a penalty. Max obviously well
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: just displeased with I love that when you get Max
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: riled up, he lets out a bit of the mongrel
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: and he just I mean, I don't know what is
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: more rabid than a honey badger, but I imagine maybe
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: there's a new species out there. Maybe there isn't. Maybe
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: it is the stappin the wild. Forstapin once wild cannot
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: be satiated.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: It'll be the species that n humanity, presumably. So that's
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: where I'm taking off my first points.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: I'm actually going to go positive for the next one.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: I know something unusual for this I'm going to give Jack.
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: I'm going to give Jack doing seven points are very
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: good and The reason I'm giving him seven point is
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: because he's going to start his career with not the
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: number seven.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Oh I didn't even think about this actually, yeah, so
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: what number? Do you know? What number's starting with?
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we'll start with his reserve number, which is
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: sixty one or sixty three. Okay, sixty one sixty three
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: is George, isn't it. So I will start with sixty one,
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: and then next year he'll pick up the number that
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: he chose that Kimmy didn't and carry number seven from
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: that point on. So yeah, I'm giving you Jack seven
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: points for making his Formula one day, being the sixteenth
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: Australian to do it, the eighteenth through account of the
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: guys that didn't qualify. But yeah, I think it's just
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: it's just a good news story. More Aussie's in Formula
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: one is a good thing for everything other than my sleep.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: I guess you're sleep as well, because it just adds
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: to our workload. So please, Christian Mansel, James Wharton, kids
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: on the way up, just give us a couple of
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: years then by all minions come on in. But please
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: just bear with us. Were a little bit full at
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: the moment.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: What if we just had a critical mass whereby we
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: had to change the time zones for races. There could
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: be an alternative way.
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: To move forward.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: All of us here should No, that's just a given
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: at this point. I'm gonna can maintain negative. It will
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: end on a positive though, don't stress. Twenty million points
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: off Williams for overplaying a hand with Franco Colopinto. Now.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Franco Colopindo. I think he
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: does deserve a spot on the F one grid. But
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: of course, once it became clear other teams were interested him,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: he interested in him. The team set a reportedly a
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: sky high fee for him to be released from his
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: contract twenty million bucks. May as well profit while stocks
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: were high. Well, that twenty million dollars seems rather inflated
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: at this point, and it now seems, perhaps as a
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: result of that high asking price, that he won't be
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: on the grid after all next year. Who knows what
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: it might have been had it been more reasonable, perhaps
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: he would have already signed somewhere, maybe help mIRC I
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: would have already signed him to RB. But it isn't
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: to be. So it's twenty million points off Williams this
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: week for me a big yeah.
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: I mean to come back from there. That's that's a
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: big final race of the year.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I've had quite a few points off I think, haven't.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: They It's it's not gone well. But I mean, who knows.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, these points don't matter, so maybe next week
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: we'll give them all back.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: You don't know, you don't know.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: It couldn't remains to me saying that is the wonderful
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: thing of the Alternative Championship. If you are willing to
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: bribe us, we are willing to change our school. It's
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: very cheap, and that's that seems a bargain to me.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't even split it with you, Mike.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: We're going to take me in each That seems fair.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: Let's tell you what if someone's willing to bribe us
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: twenty million will make Williams win the championship. You keep nine,
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: I'll keep nine, will donate two to charity.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: There you go. Look that's the everyone's a winner.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: I think everybody wins if we do that, especially William.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: I think you, the listener, would be selfish not to donate.
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: It's all on you. I don't know how many twenty
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: million dollar how many listeners have a spare twenty meal
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: kicking around the back of the couch, but I did
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: and it was all monopoly money, right. My last points,
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: very self indulgent, extremely self indulgent. On Saturday, the sprint
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: grid was absolutely pumping and I had to stop myself
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: because I realized there were there were cameras around. Because
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: the DJ and the grid started cranking out a bit
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: of remixed smells like teen Spirit, and it just got
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: me going. From there on, everything was was just gravy.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: The rest of the day was good. It just got
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: me in the mood. So I'm giving nineteen one, nine
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: hundred ninety one points to the DJ because that was
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: a year it smells like teen Spirit was released, and
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: it just it just set the tone for the day.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: It was. It was a banger from start to finish.
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: I like very self ind and I don't care.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, another point for every year.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: I'm consistent.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's true. You should become a steward. You can
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: only bring the consistency. I'm going to end on a positive,
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: but it's a small positive maybe, but I'm going to
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: stick with it. One point to Yuki Sonoda. Now, the
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: reason I'm giving him one point is that we've talked
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: a little bit about already this podcast, the importance of
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: not ignoring double wave yellow flags because you don't know
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: what they're for. At the end of the day, drivers
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: can only in retrospect say, oh, well, it wasn't that
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: important or whatever. But he I think was the most
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: cautioned driver on the track because he didn't think there
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: was a mirror. He misheard and thought there was a
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: beaver on the circuit, which is one of the most
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: comical miss years in recent formula Warden. So he was
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: surely the most cautious driver heading into turn one looking
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: for this small anially, and he said afterwards he thought
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: it was unusual that there would be a beaver on
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: the circuit in the desert, but he was willing to
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: believe anything. I think he said, well, you know climate change,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: anything is possible, so he must have just been really
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: keeping an eye out going into turn one, and I
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: like that he was very responsible, even if it wasn't
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: correct at the end of the day. I'm not sure
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: how many laps he believed that either, if it was
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: for the full five or six laps before the safety car.
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: I hate to think of what he thought as the
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: reason for all of the punctures if he still thought
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: the beaver was out there. But one point to Yuki Sonoda.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's all manner of jokes involved in that. And
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: I still don't know the difference between a beaver and
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: a moment. That's the bigger question here. I don't know
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: the difference. And from the pitwall, do they know the difference?
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: Can they accurately tell Yuki if it's a beaver or
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: a morment?
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that's probably what he was.
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think it was very astute in
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: adopting a cautious approach to avoid any stray beavers that
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: were just you know, industriously building dams on the apex.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: Well, that would satisfy the criteria of the track being
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: partially or completely blocked for double wave yellows. So maybe
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: it does make sense weird way, So good old Yuki Sonoda.
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: Good on him slowing down appropriately. And on that note,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: that's all the time we have for Pittalk today. We'll
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: be back next week to wrap up all the action
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: from the season, ending Atpudabi Grand Prix. You can subscribe
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: to Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts, and you
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: can leave us a rating and review as well, and
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: stay up to date with all the latest stuff on
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: news throughout the round at both foxsports dot com dot
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: Au and Speedcafe dot Com. From Matt Cosh me Michael Lamonado,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: thanks very much for your company and we'll catch you
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: next week.