Latest / Pit Talk / After Austin domination, can Max go all the way? US GP Review

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After Austin domination, can Max go all the way? US GP Review · Pit Talk

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shadnons.
0:03
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Maximustapan dominates the United States Grand Prix
0:07
Speaker 1: to slash his deficit to Oscar Piastre to forty points
0:11
Speaker 1: with five rounds remaining, and Bono GP gets another first
0:14
Speaker 1: time winner, with Raoul Fernandez victorious at the Australian Motorcycle
0:19
Speaker 1: Grand Prix on Sunday. My name is Michael Lomonato. It's
0:22
Speaker 1: great to have your company and the company of my
0:25
Speaker 1: co host. He watched the United States Grand Prix so
0:27
Speaker 1: that you don't have to. It's Matt Playton.
0:30
Speaker 2: Oh, Michael, that was tedious in the extreme. You know,
0:34
Speaker 2: it's one of those races ten laps into your thinking.
0:37
Speaker 2: There's ten times more things to talk about off track
0:40
Speaker 2: than there are on because it was not a great race,
0:42
Speaker 2: and it is often not great racing at this track.
0:45
Speaker 3: It's a great track.
0:46
Speaker 2: We don't often get great races here, but in terms
0:48
Speaker 2: of great consequences from a race, then we absolutely have that,
0:52
Speaker 2: don't we.
0:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's often a bit of a slow burn this race,
0:56
Speaker 1: and we did get We've got a tiny bit of burn.
0:58
Speaker 1: I guess with Norris and Lacle right at the end
1:00
Speaker 1: of the race, but way too much higher management for
1:04
Speaker 1: this to be a tracking Grand Prix. But we do
1:07
Speaker 1: think I think this is part of a championship battle,
1:09
Speaker 1: isn't it. Even thinking back to twenty twenty one, obviously
1:12
Speaker 1: there were some pretty explosive races at the end of
1:15
Speaker 1: that year in particular, but there were also some races
1:18
Speaker 1: that you almost just have to get through just to
1:19
Speaker 1: get the points where you need them for the great finale,
1:22
Speaker 1: and I think that this might be one of them
1:23
Speaker 1: where we just needed the points to move in the
1:26
Speaker 1: way they did. Because Max for Stafford only a few
1:29
Speaker 1: races after being one hundred and four points off Oscar
1:34
Speaker 1: Piastre's lead has that deficit down to forty points with
1:39
Speaker 1: five rounds remaining. That's less than ten points a round
1:42
Speaker 1: obviously for them. For those mathematically towns like me, I've
1:45
Speaker 1: putten No. One down sixty four points in four rounds
1:48
Speaker 1: is the game And this is a statue and I
1:51
Speaker 1: Matt were talking about after the race, one hundred and
1:53
Speaker 1: nineteen of a possible maximum one hundred and thirty three points.
1:57
Speaker 1: Since the mid season break, these feels to me like
2:01
Speaker 1: Max for Staffen twenty twenty two number three numbers.
2:04
Speaker 2: Even Yeah, it's like we've gone back in the time
2:07
Speaker 2: machine here, and this is simultaneously a story that we
2:10
Speaker 2: never believed that was going to happen, but yet we
2:12
Speaker 2: all saw coming at the same time, because the only
2:15
Speaker 2: person you would have considered a credible championship threat given
2:19
Speaker 2: the points deficit that he had at that particular time.
2:22
Speaker 3: Was for Staffan.
2:23
Speaker 2: If it was anyone else in that third place of
2:25
Speaker 2: the championship with that amount of deficit, you'd say, no,
2:27
Speaker 2: this is done.
2:29
Speaker 3: And the only.
2:30
Speaker 2: Reason we considered it was possible because not even the
2:33
Speaker 2: car that he was driving, the driver himself, the fact
2:35
Speaker 2: that he's won four championships in a row and he's
2:38
Speaker 2: fast rising up the list of best to ever do
2:40
Speaker 2: it in a particular sport. The shocking part about this
2:44
Speaker 2: for me is not that for Stappan's clamity's way back
2:46
Speaker 2: into championship contention, just how fast this has happened. And
2:51
Speaker 2: that one hundred and nineteen points stat you mentioned before,
2:53
Speaker 2: the other stat over those five rounds, it's interesting if
2:56
Speaker 2: you add Norris in Piastre's points together over those five rounds,
3:00
Speaker 2: it is one hundred and nineteen points. And we know
3:03
Speaker 2: that Red Bull Racing has been a one car team
3:05
Speaker 2: for quite some time now, but it is literally a
3:07
Speaker 2: one car team taking on the team and the two
3:10
Speaker 2: drivers who look to have both these championships absolutely locked up.
3:15
Speaker 2: And we thought it's going to be Piastre or Norris
3:17
Speaker 2: one way or the other. How's all the papyr ruals
3:19
Speaker 2: going to go so on and so forth, and Max
3:21
Speaker 2: Fastappan's like, well, while you're all fatting around trying to
3:23
Speaker 2: work out how to do this, I'm just going to
3:26
Speaker 2: insert myself into the championship picture. And yet, look, a
3:29
Speaker 2: forty point deficit is not insignificant as a number, but
3:32
Speaker 2: when you look at the points that he's taken in
3:35
Speaker 2: the past five weekends, this is beyond being a possibility.
3:38
Speaker 3: Now, this is almost a probability, isn't it.
3:42
Speaker 1: Well, the trajectory is sixty four points in four rounds.
3:44
Speaker 1: He's got five rounds and he's got less than that
3:46
Speaker 1: to make up. So two are mathematics alone tells you
3:49
Speaker 1: that it is possible. And forty points. You know, we've
3:52
Speaker 1: been talking a lot over the last four or five
3:54
Speaker 1: rounds about how one or two DNFs would get him there.
3:58
Speaker 1: One DNF World be willing to say if Oscopiastri failed
4:01
Speaker 1: to finish a race, Max for Staffan will win the
4:04
Speaker 1: title one hundred percent, because I think if we're talking
4:07
Speaker 1: about a gap of Lord lapit fifteen points, there's no question,
4:10
Speaker 1: but he's going to be able to make that up.
4:11
Speaker 1: I think forty points is still enough that McLaren can
4:14
Speaker 1: feel like, well, they can control their own destiny. That's
4:17
Speaker 1: still the case. If Oscopiastri goes out and win one
4:19
Speaker 1: or two more races, that's not job done, but it'll
4:22
Speaker 1: go a long way to getting the job done. But
4:25
Speaker 1: Max for Staffan's like a freight train at this point.
4:27
Speaker 1: His record is now significant. It's not just the points alone.
4:30
Speaker 1: This is something we've talked about in the last two podcasts.
4:32
Speaker 1: I think the previous two races would be a significant
4:35
Speaker 1: test of whether or not this title challenge is genuine.
4:38
Speaker 1: And that's because the first one Singapore Grand Prix, a
4:41
Speaker 1: real bogie track for Max with staff and still yet
4:43
Speaker 1: to win at that circuit. Traditionally, at least in this
4:46
Speaker 1: regulatory era, a red bull racing has been pretty poor.
4:48
Speaker 1: There had the pace to win at that Brack's got
4:51
Speaker 1: very close to getting polled was one slow moving Landon
4:53
Speaker 1: Norris wait perhaps from getting pole, and that would have
4:55
Speaker 1: been the race. With this race, though earlier in the
4:58
Speaker 1: year would one hundred percent of been into the McLaren
5:00
Speaker 1: Colin McLaren warded that down in the last few weeks,
5:03
Speaker 1: having seen the progress Red Bull Racing has made boy
5:06
Speaker 1: Bet Andrea Stella's sick of being right all the time
5:08
Speaker 1: that Red Bull Racing, in fact that mustappen controlled this weekend.
5:13
Speaker 1: Sprint Pole sprint victory, Pole victory tells you everything you
5:17
Speaker 1: need to know about. It's not just max momentum, and
5:20
Speaker 1: that's clearly a big part of it. No other drivers,
5:22
Speaker 1: you say, I think would be capable of doing this,
5:24
Speaker 1: but Red Bull Racing is back now. I think we
5:26
Speaker 1: can say all.
5:28
Speaker 2: They needed to do is to not have Christian Horner
5:30
Speaker 2: running them. That's the obvious. That's the obvious takeaway here,
5:34
Speaker 2: isn't it? But it is interesting, You're right, I mean, look, Verstappen,
5:37
Speaker 2: he's the most known quantity in all of this. You
5:41
Speaker 2: just trust that he's not going to beat himself over
5:44
Speaker 2: the remainder of this season. And I guess the question
5:47
Speaker 2: for me is was is Red Bull going to rise
5:50
Speaker 2: with him and give him the equipment that he needs
5:52
Speaker 2: to be able to turn the screws like he has.
5:55
Speaker 2: And so look, they're not a multi time Constructors Championship
5:59
Speaker 2: winning team for nothing. We knew this was had the
6:01
Speaker 2: potential to happen. They have engineered themselves out of some
6:03
Speaker 2: dark places in the past. But the thing I keep
6:06
Speaker 2: coming back to is if we were having this conversation
6:08
Speaker 2: with maybe two races to go and you're like, right,
6:10
Speaker 2: this is absolutely on here, I wouldn't be surprised there's
6:13
Speaker 2: still so many points to play for because we've got
6:16
Speaker 2: two of these last five rounds with sprints and going
6:19
Speaker 2: back to Austin, if you had to look after Singapore
6:21
Speaker 2: at the tracks that were still left on the calendar,
6:24
Speaker 2: you wouldn't have necessarily picked Austin as one of the
6:26
Speaker 2: tracks where Vastapen and or Red Bull would be able
6:29
Speaker 2: to really shine. I thought that was more going to
6:31
Speaker 2: be the likes of Mexico and Brazil, where Max is
6:33
Speaker 2: just brilliant at both those places. For a long time
6:36
Speaker 2: now they were the ones where I thought, yeah, this
6:38
Speaker 2: is going to be a bit twenty twenty three pole
6:40
Speaker 2: weird and see you later. Score a lot of points.
6:43
Speaker 2: But this has happened so so quickly, and now you
6:47
Speaker 2: have complete faith in the fact that Verstappan's going to
6:50
Speaker 2: do what he needs to do.
6:51
Speaker 3: McLaren now has to respond to this.
6:54
Speaker 2: They have time to respond, that's the good thing for them.
6:57
Speaker 2: But when you're on the road like this, with the
6:59
Speaker 2: back end of the season and these races taking place
7:02
Speaker 2: in very very close proximity, can you turn the tide
7:05
Speaker 2: because they've completely lost control of this. Yes, their drivers
7:08
Speaker 2: are still one too in the championship. No one's got
7:11
Speaker 2: a massive amount of faith in them right now that
7:13
Speaker 2: either of their drivers is going to be able to
7:15
Speaker 2: hold for stapping off. They need a finishing kick and
7:18
Speaker 2: it's hard to see where it's coming from right now.
7:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is the other element. You know. Obviously
7:23
Speaker 1: Max pistapp and recovering the ground big part of the story.
7:25
Speaker 1: But McLaren feeling like some of the ears come out
7:28
Speaker 1: of the balloon, some of the momentum has gone missing,
7:30
Speaker 1: is an essential second part because we can't forget how
7:33
Speaker 1: at one point in the middle of the season it
7:34
Speaker 1: was hard to imagine a world in which they didn't
7:36
Speaker 1: finish one two for the rest of the campaign. Absolutely,
7:39
Speaker 1: even sometimes one car on the quote it one two
7:42
Speaker 1: is really remarkable and I thought was really interesting just
7:46
Speaker 1: as an aside on that car analysis this weekend that okay,
7:49
Speaker 1: single lab pace hasn't been a McLaren's strength this year.
7:52
Speaker 1: There's plenty of poles they haven't got, but in race
7:54
Speaker 1: dream and particularly when it's hot, it's always been a
7:56
Speaker 1: McLaren strength. And even that didn't seem to count very
7:59
Speaker 1: much on quite a hot track surface this weekend. Austin
8:01
Speaker 1: always is and that was always going to be the
8:03
Speaker 1: thing that maybe got them over the line, did not
8:05
Speaker 1: this weekend. I think that's sort of interesting thing. But
8:07
Speaker 1: let's break it down by driver here, and let's start
8:09
Speaker 1: with Oscar Piastri, the title leader. This is it's his
8:12
Speaker 1: leaf that's been eaten into by especially Max for Staffan,
8:15
Speaker 1: but also by Lando Norris, who was thirty four points
8:18
Speaker 1: behind after his power unit problem at the Dutch Grand Prix.
8:21
Speaker 1: That's now down to fourteen points, so okay, twenty points. Obviously,
8:24
Speaker 1: he's yet to finish ahead of Norris since then, has Piastree.
8:29
Speaker 1: And it's interesting now to and let me ask you
8:32
Speaker 1: this question, does this feel like piastre running out of
8:35
Speaker 1: momentum or is there more circumstance here because it has
8:39
Speaker 1: it's been a slow down in points, that's clear. He's
8:41
Speaker 1: now three races without a podium. That's the longest streak
8:43
Speaker 1: he's had a whole year. Or is willing to say
8:46
Speaker 1: his decline here is circumstantial.
8:52
Speaker 3: I don't think.
8:52
Speaker 2: I don't think you could be definitive one way or
8:54
Speaker 2: the other. I know that sounds like I'm sitting astride
8:56
Speaker 2: of fence here, but there's a bit of columni and
8:58
Speaker 2: a bit of columb here is clearly lost momentum and
9:02
Speaker 2: I ever since Baku. It's for the first time this year,
9:06
Speaker 2: which is remarkable to say because Backa was what round seventeen.
9:09
Speaker 2: For the first time this year, he's looked like a
9:11
Speaker 2: young guy in a title fight for the first time,
9:13
Speaker 2: which of course he is, but this is the first
9:15
Speaker 2: time all season that it's actually felt like that, because
9:18
Speaker 2: all we kept saying about him was he's ahead of schedule,
9:21
Speaker 2: he's mature beyond his years. Look at the way he's
9:23
Speaker 2: handling this, it's all fantastic. He's just doing the maximum
9:26
Speaker 2: that the cars allowing him to do. They seem to
9:28
Speaker 2: lost and performance. That's pretty clear. Operationally McLaren's not operating
9:32
Speaker 2: like a world championship winning team right now. I mean
9:34
Speaker 2: we're still having pitstops that aren't going right and so
9:37
Speaker 2: on and so forth. But there just seems to be bear.
9:42
Speaker 3: With me here.
9:43
Speaker 2: Cars to me have body language. Okay, cars to me
9:46
Speaker 2: have body language that takes on the persona of the
9:49
Speaker 2: person driving it. Now, maybe reading too much into this.
9:51
Speaker 2: It's a car, it's got four wheels around, it goes.
9:53
Speaker 2: But I do think there's a stiffness to the way
9:55
Speaker 2: that Piastre's approaching what he's doing at the moment. That
9:59
Speaker 2: confidence and belief and that I am at the top
10:02
Speaker 2: and I belong here and I'm going to show you
10:04
Speaker 2: why I belong here. That doesn't feel quite as impregnable
10:07
Speaker 2: as it was before. There's just a stiffness. Now he's
10:10
Speaker 2: not jitterly driving into people every five seconds of making
10:13
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of howlers. But that sharpness that was
10:16
Speaker 2: just the absolute bedrock of everything he was doing through
10:19
Speaker 2: the first part of the season, it just doesn't seem
10:22
Speaker 2: to be there. And this is perhaps where the human
10:24
Speaker 2: element of this sport is coming in, because like I said,
10:26
Speaker 2: we just expected him to go and do this because
10:29
Speaker 2: of the form me shown in the first half of
10:31
Speaker 2: the year, perhaps not giving enough credit to the fact that, yeah,
10:34
Speaker 2: this is very, very anomalous for a guy this early
10:37
Speaker 2: in his career to get a car that's capable of
10:40
Speaker 2: winning a world championship and just sail serenely on and
10:42
Speaker 2: do it.
10:43
Speaker 3: We know that Piastre is very, very.
10:44
Speaker 2: Good, but I think we're also starting to see that
10:47
Speaker 2: he's very very young and relatively inexperience in this sort
10:50
Speaker 2: of a title fight, and that inexperience for me, and
10:53
Speaker 2: this also pertains Tonoris as well.
10:55
Speaker 3: This is why the.
10:56
Speaker 2: Verstappen thing is so interesting, because McClaren hasn't won a
10:59
Speaker 2: driver's a hip since Lewis Hamilton. Neither Norris nor Piastri
11:03
Speaker 2: has been really in a title fight before this year.
11:05
Speaker 2: I'm not calling last year's Norris or He's only sixty
11:08
Speaker 2: points behind in sky Sports cheerleading. I'm not calling that
11:10
Speaker 2: a championship bid. Not referring to those championship bid. This
11:14
Speaker 2: is the first time for a lot of people here
11:17
Speaker 2: when you're coming up against someone who is as matter
11:19
Speaker 2: of fact and ruthless as MAXs and has the championship
11:22
Speaker 2: winning pedigree that Red Bull does. I guess this is
11:24
Speaker 2: what you see with two teams coming at it from
11:27
Speaker 2: very very opposite approaches. But going back to your Piastre question,
11:30
Speaker 2: they just the Baku thing in and of itself. We
11:33
Speaker 2: sort of shrugged and went, that's such a one off.
11:35
Speaker 2: It's the first time in a million years he's not
11:36
Speaker 2: finished a race. We'll see how he responds, and the
11:39
Speaker 2: response has just not been that great.
11:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I take your point. I think there's a I
11:45
Speaker 1: think the fact that it's two in three rounds is
11:49
Speaker 1: sign of concern, perhaps depending on how serious you want
11:53
Speaker 1: to take this round in particular, I think putting it
11:56
Speaker 1: on a little bit of context though for this weekend,
11:59
Speaker 1: this has always been I know we've talked about this before.
12:01
Speaker 1: He has never been a strong piastree track and that
12:04
Speaker 1: doesn't excuse him for it, because I think what is
12:07
Speaker 1: the concerning part of that is that all he's not
12:09
Speaker 1: strong piastre tracks. This year he's won at or come
12:12
Speaker 1: very close to with him. Yeah, if we think back
12:14
Speaker 1: to China, he won, even Bahrain, he won Spain, he
12:17
Speaker 1: won Japan. He had the pace to win that they
12:19
Speaker 1: were all caught behind Max for Staff and even Singapore.
12:22
Speaker 1: To be fair, I know this is the sandwich between
12:24
Speaker 1: these two. This has been sandwiched between these two bad races.
12:27
Speaker 1: He had the pace when he qualified ahead of Lando Norris,
12:30
Speaker 1: and then after the first lap no positions changed and
12:34
Speaker 1: that's where he finished behind Lando Norris. So I don't
12:36
Speaker 1: even think that Singapore was a bad race or necessarily
12:38
Speaker 1: part of the trend. It's the fact that actually this
12:41
Speaker 1: bucks the trend that I think is a question. On
12:44
Speaker 1: top of that, this is the part of the campaign
12:46
Speaker 1: last year where all that momentum he generated in Europe
12:49
Speaker 1: fell away. He explained that afterwards as just being a
12:53
Speaker 1: matter of experience in Europe did the tracks he has
12:55
Speaker 1: the most experience of all the tracks outside of Europe,
12:57
Speaker 1: much less experience than the junior categories, and that youth
13:01
Speaker 1: was shown up. I wonder whether that's now playing a
13:03
Speaker 1: little bit of a role. Notwithstanding, but I think in
13:05
Speaker 1: Singapore he was again he looked okay, but then the
13:09
Speaker 1: context of that being quite a weak race. It's worth
13:11
Speaker 1: saying I did these stats for the talking Points piece
13:13
Speaker 1: after the race, his average qualifying deficit to Norris in
13:16
Speaker 1: Austin is almost half a second four eight six seconds.
13:19
Speaker 1: He was underneath that this week. I know it didn't
13:21
Speaker 1: come for enough considering how many cars were between them,
13:24
Speaker 1: but I guess does progress. And even if you look
13:26
Speaker 1: at points to understand how poor a track this is
13:28
Speaker 1: for Piastre, he's been outscored fifty nine points to twenty
13:30
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, which is huge considering
13:34
Speaker 1: we know that again last year in the middle of
13:36
Speaker 1: the campaign he was the highest scoring driver and this
13:38
Speaker 1: year he is the championship leader. So I guess it
13:41
Speaker 1: depends how you want to look at that. On the
13:42
Speaker 1: one hand, he should have done better here than he did,
13:46
Speaker 1: considering how much he's improved everywhere else this year. But
13:49
Speaker 1: on the other hand, this was always going to be
13:50
Speaker 1: the track where he had to absorb some damage. I think,
13:54
Speaker 1: perhaps a little bit alarmingly for the championship position for
13:58
Speaker 1: Oscar Piastres that Mexico's another track when Norris has had
14:01
Speaker 1: a pretty firm handle on.
14:02
Speaker 2: The other factor too, for this as a one off
14:05
Speaker 2: weekend is I think there's these sprint weekends because they're
14:07
Speaker 2: so infrequent, we forget how they actually operate half the time.
14:10
Speaker 2: But I think you can get off on the wrong
14:12
Speaker 2: foot on a sprint and it's really really hard to
14:15
Speaker 2: turn that around, even from the context of you do
14:18
Speaker 2: the sprint and at least you've then got some data
14:21
Speaker 2: and some information coming back. Yes, you've had a compromise preparation, obviously,
14:24
Speaker 2: could you just get the wide practice session, but you
14:27
Speaker 2: do the sprint and you can gather a lot of
14:29
Speaker 2: information in that that will help you through the rest
14:31
Speaker 2: of the weekend. And of course Piastri didn't do the
14:33
Speaker 2: sprint because he was out the first corner, and so
14:36
Speaker 2: I think that's another factor too, when you're probably a
14:39
Speaker 2: bit behind the eight ball anyway because of the track
14:41
Speaker 2: and the circumstances and your teammate, and it's not one
14:43
Speaker 2: of your better places not being able to do that
14:46
Speaker 2: eighteen laps or whatever the distance was in the sprint
14:49
Speaker 2: because you're out at turn one. That's another thing that, Yeah,
14:52
Speaker 2: you have the accident and all the controversy and lose
14:54
Speaker 2: a chance at a few points, but it's more than that.
14:57
Speaker 2: It's more just having that data bank to draw upon
15:00
Speaker 2: when you're probably scrambling a bit anyway. The fact he
15:02
Speaker 2: didn't get to do the sprint was probably a factor too.
15:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I think that's a good point,
15:07
Speaker 1: and this is I think shows I was thinking about
15:09
Speaker 1: this over the course of the weekend, as much as
15:11
Speaker 1: we talk about sprints feeling like their narrative value is
15:14
Speaker 1: limited in the championship. And I know we haven't even
15:16
Speaker 1: brought up that first lap crash in the spring. It
15:18
Speaker 1: feels like one hundred years ago now, But this was
15:21
Speaker 1: a great demonstration of the points power of this weekend
15:23
Speaker 1: and there are still two more to go. So very
15:25
Speaker 1: much to Max for staff inside, because he is the
15:27
Speaker 1: undisputed sprint master in format one. He's always good in
15:31
Speaker 1: sprint races and on the format of these weekends in particular,
15:34
Speaker 1: I think because he is so good out of the
15:36
Speaker 1: box part that is Red Bull Racing as well, and
15:39
Speaker 1: they're on form at the moment. But Max clearly can
15:41
Speaker 1: just handle these weekends like few other drivers can. So
15:44
Speaker 1: another boost to his title campaign. And we've got to
15:47
Speaker 1: touch on Lando Norris here as well, because he's the
15:49
Speaker 1: third element of this three way title fighters. I think
15:52
Speaker 1: we can probably start to call it now. He's also
15:55
Speaker 1: been making inroads on Oscar piastri As I said he's
15:57
Speaker 1: finished ahead of him every race in the second part
15:59
Speaker 1: of this season, other than the Netherlands, where of course
16:01
Speaker 1: he had the power unit failure. He's now back inside
16:04
Speaker 1: the eighteen points that he would have lost from the
16:06
Speaker 1: Dutch Grand Prix where his power unit expired. And I think,
16:09
Speaker 1: madd and I'm interested in your opinion on this, it's
16:11
Speaker 1: felt a bit like we're seeing a little bit of
16:15
Speaker 1: the aggression that we wanted from him in the first
16:18
Speaker 1: half of the year as a title contender. I think
16:20
Speaker 1: back to the move in Singapore as an example. Even
16:22
Speaker 1: this race I thought was pretty well managed, or maybe
16:25
Speaker 1: you could argue should have got past chal Leclair quicker,
16:27
Speaker 1: but the way this race played out overtaking was pretty difficult.
16:31
Speaker 1: It does feel like he has, since falling so far
16:34
Speaker 1: behind in the Netherlands, kind of risen to that occasion
16:36
Speaker 1: as well.
16:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, a little bit.
16:38
Speaker 2: You mentioned the fact that he's now gained those points
16:40
Speaker 2: back that he lost in Zamfort. Does that mean we
16:42
Speaker 2: can stop hearing about it or the coverage that does
16:45
Speaker 2: that stop?
16:45
Speaker 1: Here?
16:45
Speaker 3: Oh?
16:46
Speaker 2: Okay, he retires actually, oh for the retires for good
16:50
Speaker 2: landa was robbed, et cetera. I think something you just
16:53
Speaker 2: touched on there is absolutely the point and that maybe
16:56
Speaker 2: that points deficit a little bit like McLaren like for
16:59
Speaker 2: Stappin at the moment in that he's playing with house
17:02
Speaker 2: money to a degree, maybe the desperation or hopelessness, but
17:06
Speaker 2: when you have less to lose, if you know what
17:09
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe that unlocks a new level of aggresion
17:12
Speaker 2: in nurics. I agree with you, he has showed a
17:14
Speaker 2: lot more aggression and what we've been calling for for
17:17
Speaker 2: quite some time. Could you argue that it took him
17:19
Speaker 2: too long to get past Charlot Clair at Austin. Yeah,
17:22
Speaker 2: he could to a degree, but in the end he
17:24
Speaker 2: got the result that his pace and his car should
17:27
Speaker 2: have gone. Like the way you get there. The context
17:29
Speaker 2: is not important when you look at the point standings.
17:31
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think he.
17:33
Speaker 2: Has definitely, you know, he's risen his level and probably
17:37
Speaker 2: needed to in terms of the aggression and what have you.
17:39
Speaker 2: But it's interesting now we're talking about these three guys
17:41
Speaker 2: in the title fight. It feels like Norris has some
17:45
Speaker 2: positive momentum after what happened at zandvort Vstapann obviously has
17:48
Speaker 2: this absolute tsunami of momentum behind him at the moment
17:51
Speaker 2: and Piastre at best is kind of just hanging on
17:55
Speaker 2: right now. And you know, you set this up. The
17:59
Speaker 2: guy with the most moment intim is the furthest guy
18:01
Speaker 2: away in the title fight. The person with the least
18:02
Speaker 2: momentum right now is the one that's in front. This
18:04
Speaker 2: is just so perfectly set up for these final five rounds.
18:07
Speaker 2: But going back to what I said before, I think,
18:10
Speaker 2: you know, you could absolutely see a world in that.
18:13
Speaker 2: You know, we might get to the last two rounds
18:15
Speaker 2: for Stephan might have been the lead at the championship by then,
18:17
Speaker 2: and then it's a totally different story by them because
18:19
Speaker 2: you would have the guy who's done it before with
18:22
Speaker 2: two cars from one team potentially trying to trip him up,
18:26
Speaker 2: and this narrative that we've been building to for all
18:28
Speaker 2: these weeks. Yeah, you could get a title to side that,
18:30
Speaker 2: but just not the one we thought we were going
18:32
Speaker 2: to get.
18:33
Speaker 1: Yes, well to put that, to put the numbers on
18:35
Speaker 1: that if the scores continue with this trajectory as we
18:39
Speaker 1: were saying that, then gaining sixty four points and Norris
18:41
Speaker 1: twenty for Stephen. The nicest thing aside actually isn't really
18:46
Speaker 1: effected the final outcome, but Staffen will take second place
18:49
Speaker 1: from Norris in Las Vegas and will take the lead
18:52
Speaker 1: and cut up I guess to take the title. That's
18:57
Speaker 1: what the trajectory is at the moment. It's up to
18:59
Speaker 1: you whether you think it's possible to continue that trajectory.
19:01
Speaker 1: Obviously there have been a couple of DNFs and McLaren
19:03
Speaker 1: in that time, this kind of dud race of Piastri
19:06
Speaker 1: this weekend, so it's unlikely. But then you know, after
19:09
Speaker 1: Norris retired from the Netherlands and Piastre in Azerbazahn, there's
19:12
Speaker 1: no way we would have been thinking this would have
19:13
Speaker 1: been happening. I think, in Vestafan's word words, you would
19:16
Speaker 1: have said you were an idiot if you were to
19:17
Speaker 1: predict this way back then, and I'm be inclined to
19:20
Speaker 1: agree with him. Yet here we are. I want to
19:23
Speaker 1: go back to where we started this to put the
19:25
Speaker 1: final point on this before we move on in the podcast,
19:27
Speaker 1: one hundred and nineteen points of the maximum possible one
19:30
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty three to the Staffan, which, as you said,
19:33
Speaker 1: as you well added up, is exactly the same number
19:36
Speaker 1: that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have scored combined in
19:40
Speaker 1: that period of time. I mean to me that is powerful.
19:43
Speaker 1: Two thousand and seven McLaren versus Ferrari Vibes with Kimmi
19:47
Speaker 1: Richen and charging late to overcome the tide Lewis Hamilton
19:51
Speaker 1: and Fernando Alonso at McLaren to beat them to the
19:54
Speaker 1: world title. This is the scenario that I think McLaren
19:57
Speaker 1: didn't deep down think was going to happen at the
20:01
Speaker 1: start of the year, when they were saying things like, well,
20:03
Speaker 1: we've never obviously prioritize one driver or the other, and
20:05
Speaker 1: we prefer these are Zach Frown's words, to lose the title,
20:08
Speaker 1: then to pick a winner. They're now facing the very
20:11
Speaker 1: real possibility that the only way to win the driver's
20:14
Speaker 1: title might be to pick a winner or to face defeat.
20:17
Speaker 1: In a year we all assume they'd be winning a
20:19
Speaker 1: Constructor's Championship double. Andrea Stella has said that decision wouldn't
20:23
Speaker 1: be made until one driver was mathematically out of contention,
20:26
Speaker 1: which I think is pretty unlikely at this point that
20:28
Speaker 1: one of the fall out of contention before at least
20:30
Speaker 1: that's say the last round. Maybe who knows, and you
20:34
Speaker 1: know that is that the ethos of the team continues.
20:37
Speaker 1: It would be hard as well. I think, after a
20:40
Speaker 1: whole year of tying yourself in knots to keep the
20:42
Speaker 1: playing field even to actually turn around and go, actually,
20:45
Speaker 1: now we're going to pick one driver. But do they
20:48
Speaker 1: need to pick one driver at this stage if they're
20:50
Speaker 1: going to win the driver's title? Is that the question
20:52
Speaker 1: that they need to face, much as they did at
20:55
Speaker 1: pretty much this time last year, that the only way
20:57
Speaker 1: to get there is to pick a number one.
20:59
Speaker 2: There needs to be and addendum to the PAPYA rules
21:02
Speaker 2: Appendix J or something I don't know, But do they
21:06
Speaker 2: need to prioritize one driver to win the driver's title?
21:09
Speaker 3: Yes?
21:10
Speaker 2: Should they have done that several rounds earlier. Yes, And
21:13
Speaker 2: I think we've got to the point now where the
21:15
Speaker 2: margins are too tight and the number of points still
21:17
Speaker 2: available are too many to actually realistically do something about it.
21:21
Speaker 3: Now.
21:21
Speaker 2: They might get it, They might have no choice but
21:24
Speaker 2: to do that once we get to maybe the second
21:26
Speaker 2: last round or the last round. But there was something
21:28
Speaker 2: about I go back to Monza, there was something I
21:31
Speaker 2: know it's a specific setup and what have you. There
21:33
Speaker 2: was something about that then where you just thought, maybe
21:36
Speaker 2: we need to be a little bit cautious here, and
21:38
Speaker 2: you can always loosen the reins on this sort of
21:41
Speaker 2: thing if you're seeing a stap and fade in the
21:43
Speaker 2: review a little bit. But there was something about Monza
21:45
Speaker 2: and obviously the ridiculous McLaren pitstop, Shenanigans and everything else
21:49
Speaker 2: that went on that day that that sort of felt
21:50
Speaker 2: like a bit of a momentum turning point and maybe
21:55
Speaker 2: that was the time where you needed to prioritize one.
21:58
Speaker 3: Driver over the other.
21:59
Speaker 2: But then they've just gone to such extremes this year
22:01
Speaker 2: to not do that.
22:03
Speaker 3: Whatever they do from.
22:04
Speaker 2: Here, whether they do prioritize one driver or they don't
22:08
Speaker 2: and they lose the championship because of it, it's not
22:11
Speaker 2: going to be received well because of everything that's happened beforehand.
22:15
Speaker 2: And I don't think they ever underestimated for Stappan's ability
22:19
Speaker 2: to come back and win a World championship because he's
22:20
Speaker 2: maxed for Staffen. But there's been so much dithering and
22:24
Speaker 2: these rules are so opake, we don't really know what
22:26
Speaker 2: they stand for. They've almost you know, they've created a
22:28
Speaker 2: problem now and I don't know how you engineer your
22:31
Speaker 2: way out of that. You almost have to stick to
22:33
Speaker 2: what is that you've done that's got you here, and
22:35
Speaker 2: you hope to God that that actually works.
22:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is the worst possible scenario, absolutely, championship, I think,
22:43
Speaker 1: assuming the Stapen keeps winning and with Mexico this weekend
22:46
Speaker 1: track is one apt more than any other driver in
22:49
Speaker 1: history of any version of the Mexico Grand Prix. Well begins,
22:54
Speaker 1: let's move on to move of the week Matt, brought
22:56
Speaker 1: to you by Shannon's plenty of racing over the course
22:59
Speaker 1: of the weekend. Of course, the springs of the Grand
23:01
Speaker 1: Prix at Murder GP and at Austin in the United States.
23:05
Speaker 1: Where are you taking us?
23:08
Speaker 2: You'll be surprised that I'm going to stick with Austin
23:10
Speaker 2: here because as we discussed off the as we discussed
23:12
Speaker 2: off the top, great time zone for Australian audiences to
23:15
Speaker 2: watch Formula one race, rubbish Formula one race in Australian
23:19
Speaker 2: good times. It was no good. Let's be perfectly honest. However,
23:22
Speaker 2: there was a move in this race that did catch
23:24
Speaker 2: my eye. And you know how I like to go
23:26
Speaker 2: slightly left of center with these sorts of things. I
23:28
Speaker 2: did thoroughly enjoy Franco Colopinto ignoring a team instruction to
23:33
Speaker 2: pass Alpine teammate Pierre Gasli in the.
23:35
Speaker 3: Dying stages for seventeenth place.
23:38
Speaker 2: It was about the most exciting thing that happened in
23:40
Speaker 2: the second half of that race. To remember, this is
23:42
Speaker 2: the same Franco Colopindo who scored as many points in
23:44
Speaker 2: thirteen rounds as Jack Douan if you remember Jack doing
23:47
Speaker 2: Australian Listeners did in the first six rounds of the season.
23:50
Speaker 3: So a completely needless team.
23:53
Speaker 2: Order controversy over seventeenth place in a Grand Prix for
23:57
Speaker 2: the worst team in Formula One. Congratulations, LP, you have one.
24:02
Speaker 1: Yes, it was you know what, I almost want to
24:04
Speaker 1: give my pick because I'm so satisfied with that one.
24:08
Speaker 2: And the best part about it, I thoroughly enjoyed it
24:10
Speaker 2: because you absolutely knew it was going to happen at
24:12
Speaker 2: the same time.
24:14
Speaker 1: Yes, and it was great. You know what, I'm all
24:16
Speaker 1: here for the LP. Just another challenge for that team
24:19
Speaker 1: this year, because that's what you need is more challenges.
24:22
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
24:23
Speaker 1: It even got a mention in the press, in the
24:25
Speaker 1: press release from the team afterwards that they brought it
24:27
Speaker 1: up and it will be reviewed and I look forward
24:29
Speaker 1: to hearing about that review. I'm also sticking with Austin.
24:32
Speaker 1: I'm going to the sprint. Mine is I look, it's
24:35
Speaker 1: an unironic pick and it's Yuki Sonoda. Would you believe it?
24:39
Speaker 3: Yeah?
24:40
Speaker 1: Twelve places on the first lap of the sprint. Yes,
24:44
Speaker 1: it required several drivers to hit each other to do it.
24:47
Speaker 1: But there's something I really like, Matt about any on
24:50
Speaker 1: board of an accident and a driver that manages to
24:54
Speaker 1: start way back and successfully pick his way all the
24:57
Speaker 1: way through. Admittedly, did I think a front winger one point?
25:00
Speaker 1: I need to shake that actly lost to place as
25:02
Speaker 1: a result of that. So I think he fished eleven
25:03
Speaker 1: places up godrivid on his starting planes. But then the
25:07
Speaker 1: onboard video of him, I think of also Charlott Clair
25:10
Speaker 1: and Lewis Hamlin, is just so satisfying to watch him
25:13
Speaker 1: dart around all these cars flying everywhere and a great result.
25:16
Speaker 1: He scored points in the sprint and the race remarkable
25:19
Speaker 1: for Yuki Sonoda. He's now scored more in the last
25:22
Speaker 1: I think three rounds that he had in the previous
25:24
Speaker 1: sixteen or whatever it was. But so those twelve moves
25:28
Speaker 1: constitute my move of twelve.
25:30
Speaker 2: Moves of the week. I did thoroughly enjoy it. I
25:32
Speaker 2: also enjoyed him being a little bit robust with Oli
25:34
Speaker 2: Bairman in the Grand Prix, and then Oli Bairman said
25:37
Speaker 2: saying that it sets a bad example for the kiddies.
25:39
Speaker 2: Oli Bairman all of like eighteen years old at the
25:42
Speaker 2: same time. So I thoroughly enjoyed that. But look, Sonoda
25:45
Speaker 2: has been pretty decent the past couple of rounds, was
25:47
Speaker 2: pretty decent at Austin the entire weekend, and that almost
25:50
Speaker 2: absolutely guarantees that he will not be in the second
25:52
Speaker 2: red Ball for twenty twenty six.
25:55
Speaker 1: That's discussion point. I think with Mexico City coming up
25:59
Speaker 1: this week, before we wrap up the podcast, we should
26:02
Speaker 1: do one round of interested versus expert, half a round
26:05
Speaker 1: of interested versus expert. No supercars onf the weekend, it was,
26:08
Speaker 1: of course the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, and Man a
26:12
Speaker 1: first time winner again and a first time team winner.
26:15
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what you might not this last time
26:17
Speaker 1: that was. That's what's my interesting question to you. The
26:19
Speaker 1: last time we got a first time team winner in
26:21
Speaker 1: track house, first time podium getter at that as well,
26:24
Speaker 1: that it was Roul Fernandez in the most open Australian
26:27
Speaker 1: Grand Prix we've seen in a long time, and yes,
26:30
Speaker 1: still managed to surprise us despite that.
26:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was one that absolutely nobody anywhere ever had
26:36
Speaker 2: on their bingo car to the course of the weekend,
26:38
Speaker 2: despite the fact that we've been looking all week for
26:40
Speaker 2: the answer to well, who the hell is going to
26:42
Speaker 2: win this thing? Because you look at Philip Island, it's
26:46
Speaker 2: a track where certain people are very very good or
26:49
Speaker 2: not so good, and then some of the very very
26:51
Speaker 2: good guys are on bikes that aren't necessarily going to
26:53
Speaker 2: win an Australian Grand Prix in twenty twenty five, like
26:55
Speaker 2: Alex Rinz. You know people like that. For example, Joan
26:58
Speaker 2: Zarko is obviously good there. But you looked at the weekend.
27:01
Speaker 2: Mark Marquez wasn't there, World champion, four time Philip Island winner,
27:04
Speaker 2: Joje Martin, fastest man at Philip Island for the past
27:07
Speaker 2: three years, not there. Maverick Vignalez now at Katim was
27:10
Speaker 2: also not there. That's the entire front row of the
27:13
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four Australian Grand Prix for those plague at
27:15
Speaker 2: home and you just went you kept going through the
27:18
Speaker 2: list of people that were possibly going to win it.
27:20
Speaker 2: This entire weekend was defined by actually what happened in
27:23
Speaker 2: Indonesia a two weeks beforehand, where Marco Betzeki got a
27:29
Speaker 2: double long lap penalty for Philip Island for taking Mark
27:31
Speaker 2: Marquees out of the race of the first lap in Indonesia.
27:34
Speaker 2: That accident left Marques with needing right shoulder surgery. We
27:37
Speaker 2: may not see Mark again for the rest of the season.
27:40
Speaker 2: That takes one Philip Island winner out of the field.
27:42
Speaker 2: It also handcuffed Bedzeki because he was again the fastest
27:45
Speaker 2: man at Philip Island as he hand bit in Indonesia
27:48
Speaker 2: one sprint race, but he had to serve these two
27:51
Speaker 2: long laps in the Grand Prix, and his pace was
27:54
Speaker 2: so good for the entire weekend that you know he
27:57
Speaker 2: should have taken pole but for an absolutely ridiculous quae
28:00
Speaker 2: a ro lap on the Saturday. But Bazeki was in
28:02
Speaker 2: a class of his own in terms of speed for
28:04
Speaker 2: the weekend. The question was could he still win with
28:07
Speaker 2: two long lap penalties? And the funny thing with Motor
28:09
Speaker 2: GP is that not all long lap penalties are created equal.
28:13
Speaker 2: It depends on the circuit, there's some long laps that
28:15
Speaker 2: are long la penalties, and the philip Ilor one not
28:17
Speaker 2: so much. You don't really lose a massive amount of
28:20
Speaker 2: time there. It's on the outside of turn four, and
28:22
Speaker 2: so he was probably going to ship six seconds over
28:26
Speaker 2: a couple of long lap penalties that he served with
28:28
Speaker 2: in the first seven laps. He had incredible pace after that,
28:32
Speaker 2: but he got bottled up behind a couple of Ducatties
28:35
Speaker 2: that are so quick on the strait that Bazeki all
28:38
Speaker 2: the time he was gaining in the corners, he couldn't
28:39
Speaker 2: really do much about them. By the time he was
28:42
Speaker 2: able to get back through those couple of Ducatties, the
28:45
Speaker 2: bird had flown at that point. And this was a
28:47
Speaker 2: weekend where the Aprillia was the best bike on the grid,
28:51
Speaker 2: and you look at Aprilia's rider lineup. Joje Martin wasn't there. Ayaguru,
28:56
Speaker 2: who's been really good as a rookie this year, has
28:57
Speaker 2: just come back from injury. He wasn't completely right and
29:00
Speaker 2: Bizeki was being penalized.
29:01
Speaker 3: The only other Apilia in the field was.
29:03
Speaker 2: Ralp Fernandez and to give Ralp Fernandes his due, he's
29:07
Speaker 2: never even raced one single lap in the top three
29:09
Speaker 2: of a motor GP race before he got his opportunity,
29:12
Speaker 2: he took it. He made absolutely no mistakes. And so
29:16
Speaker 2: we had a first time Moto GP winner in their
29:18
Speaker 2: seventy six start. And that's two rounds in a row
29:20
Speaker 2: we've had first time Motor GP race winners. And here's
29:23
Speaker 2: a stat for you. The only Spanish writer on the
29:25
Speaker 2: Motor GP GrITT now who has not won a Grand
29:28
Speaker 2: Prix is Pedro Acosta. How sick do you think that
29:32
Speaker 2: makes him feel?
29:36
Speaker 1: Even though I know he's yet to win a Grand Prix,
29:38
Speaker 1: doesn't feel right to say that unbelievable.
29:41
Speaker 2: You never would have predicted that You've had fermin Al
29:43
Speaker 2: Degeran ral Fernandez win a Motor GP Grand Prix before
29:47
Speaker 2: Pedro Acosta. Absolutely nobody saw that.
29:49
Speaker 1: Kelly, he must he must be fuminged.
29:57
Speaker 2: But before we exercise, but also before we get off
30:00
Speaker 2: MotoGP though, because I know we need to wrap this show,
30:03
Speaker 2: I did want to mention a couple of things about
30:05
Speaker 2: Philip Island. This year biggest crowd Philip islandsin is twenty twelve.
30:09
Speaker 2: Super impressed with that, because, as always with Philippil that
30:13
Speaker 2: I have a journalist made of mine. That laughs every
30:16
Speaker 2: year where I write the words capricious microclimate in Philip,
30:19
Speaker 2: any preview of Philip Island, because it's just a copy
30:21
Speaker 2: and paste every year, because it's completely true. Fantastic crowd
30:25
Speaker 2: over the course of the weekend. But we had two
30:27
Speaker 2: Australians on World Championship podiums, which was hugely impressive. Joel
30:30
Speaker 2: Kelso was second in III from pole position. He missed
30:33
Speaker 2: out by six tenths of a second from the win.
30:36
Speaker 2: And the name that we're going to start to hit
30:37
Speaker 2: a lot lot more about is center Ageous. In Moto two,
30:41
Speaker 2: he absolutely dominated won the race on Friday. I think
30:46
Speaker 2: he did ten laps in a practice did that were
30:49
Speaker 2: better than anybody else did for the entire week and
30:51
Speaker 2: he had incredible speed.
30:53
Speaker 3: And he never qualified.
30:55
Speaker 2: He had one front row qualifying position before and just
30:58
Speaker 2: completely cleared off. He was in a completely different category.
31:01
Speaker 2: And that's two years in row. He's been on the
31:04
Speaker 2: podium and he's home grownd Prix, but he's starting to
31:06
Speaker 2: show more at other places and he looks like a
31:09
Speaker 2: Motor GP writer in waiting. He's only twenty years old.
31:12
Speaker 2: He's got a lot of pretty heavy hitters in his
31:15
Speaker 2: management stable behind him. He shapes as the natural successor
31:19
Speaker 2: to Jack Miller. But he's got that sort of murder
31:21
Speaker 2: GP writer aura about him for a young kid, and
31:24
Speaker 2: I would be absolutely gobsmacked if we don't see him
31:26
Speaker 2: in the top flight before too long, because he has
31:28
Speaker 2: got what it takes.
31:29
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, a momentus occasion for a record breaking
31:34
Speaker 1: or close to a record breaking crowd to witness a
31:37
Speaker 1: couple on the podium, Jack military well and qualifying in
31:40
Speaker 1: the sprint, and then they got to watch Francesco for
31:46
Speaker 1: everybody the audience. But that's a story for another that
31:50
Speaker 1: I feel like. Last time we talked about Francisca said
31:55
Speaker 1: this is a.
31:57
Speaker 2: Well while we're in stats quarter before we leave Moto GP,
32:00
Speaker 2: his past four rounds of points for you, he has
32:02
Speaker 2: scored no points, no points, thirty seven points at no points,
32:09
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen. Francesco Bady in twenty twenty five just
32:12
Speaker 2: one of the most baffling seasons by a very accomplished
32:14
Speaker 2: writer I think I've ever come across.
32:16
Speaker 1: Yes, if you're more of Matth's thoughts as well, you
32:18
Speaker 1: can catch the Motor GP edition of Pit Talk in
32:21
Speaker 1: this same podcast feed later on in the week to
32:25
Speaker 1: dp wethink that happened down the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
32:30
Speaker 1: Before we wrap up, though, Matt, You've got to visit
32:32
Speaker 1: the Crystal Ball my complete home filtration to visit this
32:36
Speaker 1: because I'm on a bit of a streak. Do you
32:38
Speaker 1: like a two predictions streak? I can't remember what I
32:42
Speaker 1: pretty did last time out, but I got that one right.
32:44
Speaker 3: It was correct.
32:44
Speaker 2: What did I predict last time I'll have to go
32:47
Speaker 2: back and listen to the episode again. But we're just
32:48
Speaker 2: going to the Michael Lemonado Honorable Memorial. You're not dead,
32:53
Speaker 2: but you know what I mean, the crystal Ball. We'll
32:54
Speaker 2: name it after you. We'll we'll build a statue for
32:57
Speaker 2: you outside crystal Ball headquarters or something.
32:59
Speaker 3: You are.
32:59
Speaker 2: You're a roll at the moment, and I would say, look,
33:02
Speaker 2: it's it's not quite a trend for me yet. Still
33:04
Speaker 2: walre coincidence. It's only been two weeks in a row,
33:06
Speaker 2: but yeah, you're doing a damn sight better than me.
33:10
Speaker 2: Although I was close ish last weekend, so maybe it's
33:12
Speaker 2: taken us until October. But the crystal Ball is finally
33:15
Speaker 2: starting to actually show the right thing.
33:18
Speaker 1: Yes, you picked Bezeki to Victor. He did win the sprint,
33:23
Speaker 1: So maybe we have to go back and rewind the
33:25
Speaker 1: tape to see if you specified whether you meant to
33:27
Speaker 1: feature race or the sprint. Was previous pick was for
33:31
Speaker 1: Matt Payin and garf Town to doin the batist One
33:33
Speaker 1: course it was, And then of course maybe this will
33:36
Speaker 1: be also a matter for the tape, is for the
33:37
Speaker 1: McClaren drivers to crash out on the first lap. Did
33:40
Speaker 1: not say specifically the Sunday race. I think the sprint
33:43
Speaker 1: still counts. It's two in a row and one in
33:45
Speaker 1: a row.
33:45
Speaker 2: Remarkable times, remarkable times, remarkable times. Were you indeed anyone
33:51
Speaker 2: that wants the winning lottery numbers for this week?
33:53
Speaker 3: Just direct message Michael Hilly? You know, but Crystal.
33:57
Speaker 1: Ball, you've got a streak to per picture. You get
34:00
Speaker 1: to two, what are you going?
34:02
Speaker 2: I feel bad talking about this. I thought of something.
34:05
Speaker 2: I tried to be a little kinder and then I
34:06
Speaker 2: just couldn't do it. So my Crystal ball's telling me,
34:10
Speaker 2: deep breath of everybody, McLaren have won their last race
34:13
Speaker 2: this year. Oh I don't think. I don't think McLaren
34:18
Speaker 2: wins the race to the rest of the year. And
34:19
Speaker 2: now I don't think that Max Forstafen wins all of
34:21
Speaker 2: them either. I think he'll win. He's not winning Las Vegas.
34:24
Speaker 2: I think we've decided already that a Mercedes is going
34:26
Speaker 2: to win Las Vegas, and there may be another one
34:28
Speaker 2: in that mix. But if McLaren's going to win this work. Look,
34:33
Speaker 2: it would be very ferrari to go and have a
34:35
Speaker 2: dobbin at one two in one of the last races
34:36
Speaker 2: of the year where there's absolutely nothing to fight for
34:38
Speaker 2: against the run of play. But this doesn't feel great
34:42
Speaker 2: for McLaren right now. It feels like they don't have
34:44
Speaker 2: the momentum. It feels like, yeah, their drivers are one
34:47
Speaker 2: and two, win the championship. I could absolutely see a
34:50
Speaker 2: world in that they're trying to back their way into
34:52
Speaker 2: this World Championship. I'm not winning another race and that's
34:55
Speaker 2: what I'm going to go with. And if I ever
34:56
Speaker 2: wanted a crystal ball prediction to be wrong, because it
34:58
Speaker 2: means it's probably not going to go down the last round,
35:00
Speaker 2: I would like that to be the case. But right
35:02
Speaker 2: now I can't make I can't make an argument for it.
35:05
Speaker 1: Wow, No, you know what it can we did the match,
35:07
Speaker 1: it will still go to the last round just for
35:09
Speaker 1: staff and will win it. That's to the last round.
35:14
Speaker 3: Where you go.
35:14
Speaker 2: You're probably gonna be a bit more charitable than charitable
35:16
Speaker 2: than me, I'd say.
35:18
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it's charitable or not, but it
35:20
Speaker 1: will be. Knowing now for a little while that Red
35:22
Speaker 1: Bull Racing's driver decision is coming, what they say anyway,
35:26
Speaker 1: it's gonna be around and made around the time of
35:27
Speaker 1: the Mexico City Grand Prix, probably announced perhaps afterwards, which
35:31
Speaker 1: don't know, someone will find out. I suppose I think
35:34
Speaker 1: that because of course Mexico City Grand Prix was the
35:37
Speaker 1: Sergio Perez location, the great number two driver that he was.
35:41
Speaker 1: He'd turn up and perform there. Usually sometimes you crash
35:44
Speaker 1: out in the first lap. Yuki Sonoda is going to
35:47
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm going to say this. Uki stud
35:49
Speaker 1: is going to get a podium this weekend. Oh my god,
35:52
Speaker 1: I'm going to be sacked by Red Bull Racing the
35:55
Speaker 1: following week because the decision and just have not told anyone.
35:59
Speaker 1: So it's an ambitious prediction for me to go to
36:02
Speaker 1: three in a row. But that's what I'm sensing from red.
36:05
Speaker 2: Bull and my reaction here utterly useless on an audio podcast,
36:09
Speaker 2: So I've just put my head in my hands because
36:10
Speaker 2: i could see exactly where you were going here. They
36:13
Speaker 2: make the decision on Wednesday on the way to Mexico City,
36:16
Speaker 2: and then he has a season best perhaps career best
36:18
Speaker 2: resulting Quava was in the front row or something absolutely ridiculous.
36:21
Speaker 2: He's in a position to actually help Max fistap it
36:24
Speaker 2: on track, which has not happened very often. And then
36:27
Speaker 2: on Monday there'll be the three line press release. We
36:29
Speaker 2: would like to relieve Uki Sonata of his duties. So look,
36:32
Speaker 2: if you get this one right for the Crystal Ball,
36:34
Speaker 2: we might have to retire the Crystal Ball because it
36:36
Speaker 2: may never get better than that. It might be its
36:38
Speaker 2: finest moment. But we've definitely gone audacious here. I think
36:42
Speaker 2: I'm still delirious from lack of sleep and writing tivity
36:44
Speaker 2: words after Philip Island, But my goodness, we've pushed the
36:47
Speaker 2: boat out this week.
36:49
Speaker 1: Yes, looking forward to the results this weekend. In the
36:52
Speaker 1: racing world, there's a lot of time. We have a
36:53
Speaker 1: pit Talk today. You can subscribe to pit Talk wherever
36:56
Speaker 1: you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave us
36:58
Speaker 1: a rating and review as well. This weekend, it's a
37:01
Speaker 1: big one. It's the Gold Coast five hundred, with races
37:04
Speaker 1: getting underway at four fifteen on Saturday and three ten
37:08
Speaker 1: on Sunday that's Eastern daylight time, followed by the Malaysian
37:12
Speaker 1: Motorcycle Grand Prix at six pm on Sunday and then
37:15
Speaker 1: the Mexico City Grand Prix at seven am on Monday.
37:19
Speaker 1: Then you call in sick, and then you go to
37:21
Speaker 1: bed for the rest of the day. You can keep
37:24
Speaker 1: up to date with all the latest F one, motor
37:25
Speaker 1: DP and supercars news at Fox sports dot Com. Today
37:28
Speaker 1: you from Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonato. Thanks very
37:31
Speaker 1: much for your company. We'll catch you next week.