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Should F1 have sprints at every weekend? Azerbaijan GP Preview · Pit Talk

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:09
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Formula One confirms a 24 race, 10
0:13
Speaker 1: sprints calendar for 2027. But what does it mean for
0:16
Speaker 1: the future of F1' s schedules? And we look ahead to
0:19
Speaker 1: this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the first of nine races
0:23
Speaker 1: in 11 weekends to end the season. My name's Michael Laminato.
0:27
Speaker 1: It's great to have your company and the company of
0:29
Speaker 1: my co-host. He thought about sprinting to the podcast but
0:32
Speaker 1: felt it would have been distinctly underwhelming. It's Matt Clayton.
0:36
Speaker 2: Sprint and underwhelming in the same sentence. So you must
0:38
Speaker 2: have listened to this podcast before, Michael. But whenever I
0:41
Speaker 2: think of Azerbaijan, I think of two things. I think
0:44
Speaker 2: of the European Grand Prix, which the very first time
0:47
Speaker 2: we were there, which just offends me geographically. And I
0:50
Speaker 2: also think of the very first slogan for this event,
0:53
Speaker 2: which was the speeds are higher in the land of fire.
0:57
Speaker 1: Very good.
0:57
Speaker 2: Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue or make a great hashtag,
0:59
Speaker 2: but I do remember it. And well done, Baku, indeed.
1:03
Speaker 1: Quite a long opening phrase to sell the race, isn't it?
1:07
Speaker 1: Is it still known as the home of the street
1:10
Speaker 1: fighters or whatever it's called now? Encouraging violence on the roads?
1:14
Speaker 2: Encouraging... It's that and it's the city of... It's got
1:17
Speaker 2: like 17 names, not to do with the city of
1:18
Speaker 2: winds or something else. There's all sorts going on. But yeah,
1:22
Speaker 2: it's actually a really fun addition to the calendar. I
1:25
Speaker 2: was kind of shocked when they were saying it's been
1:26
Speaker 2: 10 years since we've been there. Like, what have we
1:28
Speaker 2: been doing with our lives? Because it still feels like
1:30
Speaker 2: a relatively new round, but it is one of the
1:32
Speaker 2: better ones, I will say.
1:33
Speaker 1: It is. So it feels like only yesterday that the...
1:36
Speaker 1: The long truck accidentally hit one of the advertising hoardings
1:40
Speaker 1: while carrying, was it, whose Williams was it?
1:42
Speaker 2: Filippo Massa?
1:43
Speaker 1: Hard to remember. It's been a long time. We'll be
1:45
Speaker 1: the 10th running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend.
1:47
Speaker 1: We'll get to that a little bit later on in
1:49
Speaker 1: the podcast. But first, let's cover off the big story
1:51
Speaker 1: of the last week since we last spoke. And that
1:53
Speaker 1: was the announcement of the calendar. You've almost certainly seen
1:56
Speaker 1: most of the details in the week or thereabouts since
1:59
Speaker 1: it was announced. But let's just go over them again
2:01
Speaker 1: quickly and then have a look at what it might
2:02
Speaker 1: mean for Formula 1's future. Of course, the Australian Grand Prix,
2:05
Speaker 1: that's round three on the 4th of April, as I
2:08
Speaker 1: think we'd foreshadowed earlier. That's where it's locked into. The
2:11
Speaker 1: pit building is still under construction. I assume it'll be
2:14
Speaker 1: finished by the time we get there. Surely it will be.
2:16
Speaker 1: part of a two-year regeneration project for Albert Park. The
2:20
Speaker 1: season will start in Bahrain and then in Saudi Arabia, probably.
2:24
Speaker 1: We'll have to wait until we get there, but that's
2:26
Speaker 1: the current plan. We've also got Portugal and Turkey are
2:29
Speaker 1: back on the calendar, both undertaking also some works to
2:33
Speaker 1: prepare themselves for... Well, in Turkey's case, a five-year deal.
2:36
Speaker 1: Portugal's case, only a two-year deal. Blink and you'll miss it.
2:39
Speaker 1: That's in exchange for Barcelona dropping off the calendar in
2:41
Speaker 1: the first year of its rotation with Spa-Francorchamps. Moderately sad
2:46
Speaker 1: next year, much sadder the following season. But the big one,
2:49
Speaker 1: the unexpected element of this, was the 10 sprint races. Well,
2:52
Speaker 1: that wasn't so unexpected. We knew we were going to
2:54
Speaker 1: get more of them. But some of the tracks selected
2:56
Speaker 1: is what's unexpected. Bahrain, these are the new ones. Suzuka, Melbourne,
3:01
Speaker 1: Abu Dhabi, and then, of course, Monaco, the most unexpected
3:04
Speaker 1: of the lot. Let's start with Australia first, Matt, and
3:06
Speaker 1: then we'll go to Monaco. Certainly, that's been the talking point. Obviously,
3:10
Speaker 1: good news for punters going to Melbourne, particularly considering the
3:13
Speaker 1: ticket prices, means you're going to get two races and
3:15
Speaker 1: two qualifying sessions over, well, Three days, obviously, of action.
3:18
Speaker 1: Four days if you include the supports on Thursday, as
3:20
Speaker 1: Melbourne always puts on. How do you think this will
3:24
Speaker 1: change the event? What would you expect to see at
3:26
Speaker 1: Albert Park next year?
3:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. From an attendance and engagement
3:32
Speaker 2: point of view, it's hard to see really how you
3:35
Speaker 2: could make Albert Park much bigger than it has been
3:37
Speaker 2: for the past couple of years, because you're just simply
3:39
Speaker 2: limited by geography. as much as anything else. I mean,
3:42
Speaker 2: there's only so many people you can fit into that place.
3:45
Speaker 2: I think there'll be much more. I mean, a sprint weekend,
3:48
Speaker 2: it just feels that everything builds to a peak so
3:50
Speaker 2: much faster. And I think that's going to be a
3:52
Speaker 2: fun experience in our backyard because we've seen it in
3:54
Speaker 2: other rounds that we've been to over the past few years.
3:57
Speaker 2: Not having seen it here, I was a little surprised
4:00
Speaker 2: that Australia has a sprint. Not as surprised as some
4:02
Speaker 2: of the other videos on the calendar, but we'll get
4:05
Speaker 2: to that. But I do like it. The biggest takeaway
4:09
Speaker 2: with the calendar for me was just wondering if Australia
4:12
Speaker 2: was going to be round one if the Middle East
4:14
Speaker 2: stuff fell over, which is entirely probable. It doesn't sound
4:18
Speaker 2: as though the date could be brought forward simply because,
4:20
Speaker 2: as you mentioned before, they are in this race against
4:22
Speaker 2: time now to get the infrastructure done in time. And so... Look,
4:27
Speaker 2: I think it's good that we're at the front of
4:28
Speaker 2: the season. I don't know whether I like the idea
4:32
Speaker 2: of a sprint race in round one of the season,
4:35
Speaker 2: no matter where it is, which seems to be something
4:37
Speaker 2: that we're going to deal with because there's so much
4:40
Speaker 2: going on at the start of the season anyway. But
4:42
Speaker 2: I do think the anticipation for racing... in Melbourne will
4:48
Speaker 2: just feel different next year because, you know, you get
4:50
Speaker 2: into this cadence of you go and see the cars
4:52
Speaker 2: and everything on the Friday and you get used to
4:53
Speaker 2: a lot of people in new addresses, as we've seen before,
4:56
Speaker 2: build up through this steady state through Saturday and then
4:59
Speaker 2: the big peak on Sunday. I'll be curious to see
5:01
Speaker 2: how that feels. on the Saturday and then what that
5:04
Speaker 2: does to the Sunday because the great part about Sunday
5:07
Speaker 2: at Albert Park is because it's not a circuit that
5:08
Speaker 2: we see in use any other time of the year,
5:11
Speaker 2: there's always that sense of the unknown coming into Sunday
5:13
Speaker 2: at Albert Park that is one of the great things
5:15
Speaker 2: about having this race at any time, particularly when it's first.
5:18
Speaker 2: I'll be curious to see if it dilutes that at all. But, yeah, look,
5:21
Speaker 2: Australia having a sprint, a bit of a surprise, interesting, but, yeah,
5:25
Speaker 2: there were other venues on the sprint schedule that made
5:27
Speaker 2: me scratch my head possibly a little bit more than that.
5:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. just to echo your comments on round one I
5:34
Speaker 1: don't in an era in which we're not at sprint
5:36
Speaker 1: races every weekend but that's an era I think we're
5:38
Speaker 1: heading to before too long we can talk about that
5:40
Speaker 1: in a moment having it as round one I don't
5:42
Speaker 1: love because I do think as much as three practice
5:44
Speaker 1: sessions does wear pretty thin over 24 weekends I think
5:48
Speaker 1: there is value in that in the first weekend because
5:50
Speaker 1: it does build a bit more anticipation when no one
5:53
Speaker 1: knows exactly what everyone's got yet particularly after a rule
5:56
Speaker 1: change we don't have that next year but nonetheless I
5:58
Speaker 1: think there is a bit of value in the uncertainty
6:01
Speaker 1: before you get to the first qualifying session, but there
6:02
Speaker 1: won't really be that next year, assuming that it starts
6:05
Speaker 1: in Bahrain. If it starts in China, then there won't
6:07
Speaker 1: be a sprint race, as far as we know. I
6:08
Speaker 1: don't think they're going to hand that one out to them.
6:11
Speaker 1: And then the other thing I don't love about, again,
6:14
Speaker 1: when we've only got 10 sprint weekends, is closing the
6:17
Speaker 1: season with two sprints in a row in Qatar and
6:19
Speaker 1: then new sprint venue Abu Dhabi. That feels... contrived to me.
6:24
Speaker 1: I like this year that the calendar has avoided putting
6:27
Speaker 1: sprints after Singapore in a couple of weeks. The run
6:29
Speaker 1: to the end of the season will be completely void
6:31
Speaker 1: of sprints, which means it's not that it's going to
6:33
Speaker 1: matter too much because I think the title is going
6:35
Speaker 1: to be wrapped up long before we get to the
6:36
Speaker 1: end of the year, but gives you, theoretically, if it
6:38
Speaker 1: was a close title fight, a really good clean run
6:41
Speaker 1: to the finish. It is different if every weekend was
6:44
Speaker 1: a sprint or something like that, then it is what
6:46
Speaker 1: it is. But this feels a lot like stacking points
6:49
Speaker 1: late in the year and you get this, you know, maybe...
6:53
Speaker 1: it enlivens things late alternatively it means you award the
6:57
Speaker 1: sprint the championship on a Saturday which I think is
7:00
Speaker 1: a little bit flat if that's not sort of the
7:01
Speaker 1: standard weekend but the big question is Monaco isn't it
7:04
Speaker 1: like that's what you're alluding to that's what everyone wants
7:05
Speaker 1: to talk about Monaco getting a sprint I don't know
7:08
Speaker 1: about you Matt I'm surely thought much the same but
7:11
Speaker 1: when Stefano Domenicali the F1 CEO over the last couple
7:15
Speaker 1: of years has been saying well we're not going to
7:17
Speaker 1: Not going to do what MotoGP does and have sprints
7:18
Speaker 1: every weekend. In brackets, I always interpreted because you could
7:22
Speaker 1: never have one at Monaco. What a waste of time
7:23
Speaker 1: that would be. But here we are.
7:27
Speaker 2: You do wonder if this is a bit of a
7:29
Speaker 2: test case because if you can, I mean, as you
7:31
Speaker 2: were saying, if you have a sprint at Monaco, you
7:33
Speaker 2: can kind of have one anywhere. Maybe that's the aim
7:35
Speaker 2: with all of this. And we'll probably talk about this
7:38
Speaker 2: a little bit later down the track. Yeah. I had
7:40
Speaker 2: to kind of laugh when I realised that all of
7:42
Speaker 2: the Grand Prix distances next year are coming down by
7:44
Speaker 2: about 15 kilometres from 305 to 290 for reasons that
7:47
Speaker 2: we'll get into later on. Are we just moving to
7:50
Speaker 2: having like 48 sprints? Is that what we're doing here?
7:53
Speaker 2: Are we just going to have this calendar full of
7:54
Speaker 2: like doubleheader sprint weekends in about eight years' time? I
7:57
Speaker 2: don't want to give them any ideas, but the Monaco
8:00
Speaker 2: one for me, and I think just the general point
8:01
Speaker 2: about sprints, you know, on the whole, the problem at
8:05
Speaker 2: the moment is that having a sprint weekend at half
8:09
Speaker 2: the rounds or whatever is fine in principle if the
8:11
Speaker 2: sprints were just a bit better of a product. And
8:15
Speaker 2: you can say, well, there's another race on, that's fine.
8:17
Speaker 2: There needs to be something that differentiates them from what
8:22
Speaker 2: they are right now, whether it's a different qualifying format
8:24
Speaker 2: or more points or a slightly different format. Because at
8:28
Speaker 2: the moment and where they're held in the course of
8:31
Speaker 2: a race weekend, people will qualify normally, you know, in
8:35
Speaker 2: a test case, I guess, for the main Grand Prix.
8:37
Speaker 2: the races don't often go much beyond the first lap
8:39
Speaker 2: because everyone's preserving their cars for qualifying for the race
8:42
Speaker 2: to actually pay sensible points. And you end up with this, well,
8:46
Speaker 2: you know, your highlights, you get the start of a sprint,
8:48
Speaker 2: it's all great, a bit of jostling into turn one,
8:50
Speaker 2: and then the most memorable thing that happens after that
8:52
Speaker 2: is someone crossing the finish line to receive their eight points.
8:55
Speaker 2: And it's all just a bit on the underwhelming side.
8:57
Speaker 2: But the Monaco thing, I do wonder, and we haven't
9:00
Speaker 2: heard this yet, It would not surprise me if you
9:04
Speaker 2: were ever going to trial a different qualifying format for
9:07
Speaker 2: the sprint format. Surely you do it at Monaco. Now,
9:10
Speaker 2: Monaco qualifying is often the best part of the entire
9:12
Speaker 2: weekend there. We've seen that in the past. But I
9:14
Speaker 2: wouldn't mind– I don't think I'd go for the full
9:18
Speaker 2: 22-car one-lap shootout qualifying or something at Monaco. But what
9:22
Speaker 2: if you took the top 10 after opening practice or
9:25
Speaker 2: something and had that? turn into one-shot qualifying just for
9:29
Speaker 2: the front of the grid at Monaco, only for the sprint,
9:31
Speaker 2: just to try something a little bit different. I'm sure
9:33
Speaker 2: the sponsors of the teams would like it because they
9:35
Speaker 2: get two and a half minutes of uninterrupted camera time
9:37
Speaker 2: for all the stickers on the car. But it can't
9:40
Speaker 2: just be a slightly watered-down version of what we already
9:42
Speaker 2: see because we know that that doesn't necessarily work. So
9:46
Speaker 2: the Monaco one was curious. Even Suzuka, like, I love Suzuka. Obviously,
9:50
Speaker 2: it's my favourite track on the calendar. It's not a
9:52
Speaker 2: great racing circuit these days in this iteration of Formula
9:55
Speaker 2: 1 cars. Amazing driving track. Having a sprint there, I mean,
9:58
Speaker 2: often the Japanese Grand Prix over the past few years
10:00
Speaker 2: has been one stop, a bit follow the leader, amazing performance.
10:04
Speaker 2: The cars look super lively, but you can't pass there anymore.
10:07
Speaker 2: And so... We've discussed this, I think, in the past
10:10
Speaker 2: that it's not the number of sprints necessarily, it's where
10:12
Speaker 2: you hold them. And there's certain tracks that lend themselves
10:15
Speaker 2: to having really good sprints, like Interlagos is a place
10:17
Speaker 2: that's had some of the sprints that you actually remember
10:20
Speaker 2: in Formula 1 since Formula 1's had sprints for weather
10:24
Speaker 2: reasons and jumbled grids and just the nature of that
10:26
Speaker 2: particular circuit. I realise I'm asking for something too much here,
10:31
Speaker 2: but having sprints on tracks that are actually better for
10:33
Speaker 2: racing rather than just for the hosts that have got
10:35
Speaker 2: the fattest wallets would actually be a really good move.
10:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I think that these are the
10:39
Speaker 1: questions that need to be considered if, as I think
10:42
Speaker 1: we both suspect, and not just us, that having the
10:45
Speaker 1: sprint in Monaco sort of breaks the damn wall on
10:48
Speaker 1: let's just have sprints everywhere or let's shake up the
10:50
Speaker 1: weekend format everywhere. Because if we can do it in Monaco,
10:53
Speaker 1: then it's going to work wherever you want. And I
10:55
Speaker 1: think maybe that this is... As much as I love
10:58
Speaker 1: some good uniformity... Every weekend needs to work... Particularly if
11:01
Speaker 1: we've only got one practice session... Everyone needs to get
11:03
Speaker 1: into a bit of a rhythm... I think there's room
11:05
Speaker 1: for two different formats in the sport... One being more
11:08
Speaker 1: or less the sprint weekend we know now... I do
11:10
Speaker 1: think another qualifying format would be good... Because I think
11:12
Speaker 1: the three-part qualifying is really good... When you've got about
11:14
Speaker 1: an hour... But in 30 minutes, it just feels like
11:17
Speaker 1: a bit of a formality. Like, well, we've got to
11:19
Speaker 1: set the grid somehow, so let's just get them out
11:21
Speaker 1: and get them done as fast as possible. And it
11:24
Speaker 1: doesn't often deliver, particularly when you're getting one lap in
11:26
Speaker 1: Q3 or SQ3 anyway. We may as well make that
11:29
Speaker 1: one-shot qualifying. I do like that idea. But for Monaco,
11:32
Speaker 1: for other street circuits, maybe not just for street circuits.
11:35
Speaker 1: In my head, it was really for those city tracks,
11:37
Speaker 1: but Suzuka might be a good alternative or example of
11:41
Speaker 1: a track that's not a street circuit, but that could
11:42
Speaker 1: use this format. Where you have your opening practice session,
11:45
Speaker 1: Then you have something like a three-part qualifying, in reality
11:49
Speaker 1: a two-part qualifying, that decides the top 10 that do
11:52
Speaker 1: the shootout for the Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon. You
11:56
Speaker 1: can have either a sprint or maybe just a practice
11:58
Speaker 1: session on Saturday morning. But the idea being, and this
12:01
Speaker 1: is particularly with Monaco in mind, you still get that
12:03
Speaker 1: build-up to that ultimate lap on Saturday night when everyone's
12:07
Speaker 1: trying to get the best lap. the fastest lap, not
12:09
Speaker 1: like a practice qualifying on Friday, but you get that still,
12:14
Speaker 1: that part of Monaco that I think is still really valuable,
12:16
Speaker 1: which is that gradual building up to everyone revealing what
12:19
Speaker 1: they've got and daring more than they had all weekend.
12:22
Speaker 1: Whereas I do think while having two qualifying sessions as
12:25
Speaker 1: we will have in Monaco next year is good because
12:27
Speaker 1: it's the best part of Monaco. It'll be interesting to
12:30
Speaker 1: see when we get there, but I worry or I
12:32
Speaker 1: wonder that some of that buildup will get lost because
12:36
Speaker 1: you've already kind of done it once. And even though
12:38
Speaker 1: everyone will improve a little bit by the time we
12:39
Speaker 1: get to Saturday, not having practice, but having a sprint
12:42
Speaker 1: means they might not improve that much because no one
12:44
Speaker 1: will have a chance to go out and experiment and
12:46
Speaker 1: get a little bit closer to the wall. So I
12:48
Speaker 1: actually think returning that build up without just going back
12:51
Speaker 1: to multiple practice sessions should be found for some of
12:54
Speaker 1: these tracks where that's actually a valuable part of the spectacle,
12:57
Speaker 1: as opposed to, you know, Silverstone where three practice sessions,
13:00
Speaker 1: it doesn't really add anything.
13:01
Speaker 2: So I've got a sprint idea. I agree with everything
13:03
Speaker 2: you just said, by the way. I've got a sprint
13:07
Speaker 2: season idea for, and this is kind of where I
13:10
Speaker 2: just landed on this 10 sprints for next year. So
13:12
Speaker 2: 10 sprints, maximum of 80 points, right? Eight points for
13:15
Speaker 2: the winner at 10 sprints. We know this.
13:17
Speaker 1: I like when you put it like that.
13:19
Speaker 2: It is. What if the sprint calendar was seen as
13:22
Speaker 2: this sort of middle of the season standalone, like playing
13:25
Speaker 2: like a league cup or something in football or the
13:27
Speaker 2: NBA cup if you follow basketball or whatever? Yeah. What
13:30
Speaker 2: if once you were mathematically unable to win, to be
13:35
Speaker 2: in contention for the total number of sprint points, you
13:37
Speaker 2: just got eliminated? So you get to the last couple
13:40
Speaker 2: of sprints of the season, and there might only be
13:43
Speaker 2: a three-car sprint because they're the only three cars that
13:45
Speaker 2: can actually win this sort of standalone. You celebrate it
13:48
Speaker 2: with a trophy or what have you, and it still
13:49
Speaker 2: counts towards the championships. But I'm sorry, you know, old
13:52
Speaker 2: mate who's driving for Alpine or whatever, you're 60 points
13:55
Speaker 2: off the lead of the sprint car. Yeah. Therefore, you
13:57
Speaker 2: can't win it. So you just don't get to participate.
14:00
Speaker 1: I sense a little bit of the Verstappen versus 100.
14:03
Speaker 2: A little bit, yes.
14:05
Speaker 1: Any driver who's been taken, they don't compete anymore. I
14:08
Speaker 1: like the idea of it. Because I don't mind the
14:11
Speaker 1: idea of, you know, maybe only five cars on track
14:14
Speaker 1: might generate a good race because they can all just
14:16
Speaker 1: target each other at the first turn rather than worrying
14:18
Speaker 1: about other drivers behind them or whatever. Could be fun.
14:22
Speaker 1: I think we should be open to all ideas. I
14:24
Speaker 1: think that should be the message from this new calendar here.
14:28
Speaker 1: We'll wait and see how it works. 10 sprints, I think.
14:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I already heard the Formidon wanted 12, but
14:32
Speaker 1: there was a bit of a compromise down to 10.
14:34
Speaker 1: But I think within, I don't know, two or three seasons,
14:37
Speaker 1: we'll be up to the maximum 24. Because I think
14:39
Speaker 1: that's just the way it's heading. Once you do it
14:41
Speaker 1: at all these sorts of circuits, I think that'll be
14:43
Speaker 1: sort of used as the evidence that you can do
14:45
Speaker 1: it anywhere. We can't move off the calendar chat, though,
14:48
Speaker 1: without talking about some of these races in the Middle East.
14:51
Speaker 1: I was surprised we got the calendar before a decision
14:54
Speaker 1: on Qatar and Abu Dhabi. I thought that was going
14:56
Speaker 1: to be the order of business, is that we make
14:58
Speaker 1: a decision. Maybe that means there's no decision coming, but
15:00
Speaker 1: I'm not convinced that's the case. On the last two
15:03
Speaker 1: races of this season... And then you follow with the
15:05
Speaker 1: good news of, well, we've got next year's calendar, even
15:07
Speaker 1: though the opening two rounds remain under a little bit
15:10
Speaker 1: of a question mark. We've talked about this over the
15:13
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks, Matt. The movement still seems to
15:16
Speaker 1: be towards the last two rounds getting called off and
15:19
Speaker 1: then being replaced with one race in Imola on what
15:22
Speaker 1: is the season closing weekend, 6th of December, which is
15:24
Speaker 1: currently scheduled for Abu Dhabi. Both circuit organisers are going
15:29
Speaker 1: ahead as though the race is going to happen. I
15:30
Speaker 1: think Abu Dhabi's recently announced its entertainment lineups. Tickets are
15:34
Speaker 1: still on sale, all the usual kind of stuff. Formula
15:36
Speaker 1: One says, well, you know, that's the calendar and that's
15:39
Speaker 1: the way it is. MotoGP, interestingly enough, is going through
15:42
Speaker 1: a similar situation. They've got their Qatar Grand Prix a
15:45
Speaker 1: little bit earlier in about five weeks time, I think
15:47
Speaker 1: it is, early November. No decision there yet either, despite
15:52
Speaker 1: that having sort of been teased around about this time
15:55
Speaker 1: as well. Where do you think we are with this?
15:57
Speaker 1: Is this just a matter of waiting to see who
15:59
Speaker 1: wants to pull the trigger first on saying that they're cancelled?
16:02
Speaker 1: Or do you think they're really going to try and
16:04
Speaker 1: go ahead and hold these Grand Prix despite the situation
16:06
Speaker 1: in the Middle East?
16:07
Speaker 2: Look, I think they're going to try. I think Formula
16:11
Speaker 2: One not having Bahrain in Bahrain cancelling Saudi this year.
16:15
Speaker 2: There were some figures that came out that their profits
16:17
Speaker 2: for the previous quarter were well down year on year.
16:20
Speaker 2: And at the end of the day, this is a
16:21
Speaker 2: financial decision as much as anything else. So I definitely
16:24
Speaker 2: think they are going to try. The MotoGP part of
16:27
Speaker 2: all of this, which I am in a decent position
16:30
Speaker 2: to speak about, is interesting to me because, well, we
16:35
Speaker 2: had heard that the Qatar Grand Prix, which is scheduled
16:37
Speaker 2: for the first weekend in November, I believe it is,
16:40
Speaker 2: was going to be cancelled last week. It wasn't cancelled
16:43
Speaker 2: last week because we had the Austrian MotoGP last weekend,
16:47
Speaker 2: or should I give it its full title, the Qatar
16:50
Speaker 2: Airways Austrian Grand Prix. So if you're going to cancel
16:53
Speaker 2: a race in Qatar, probably not a great idea to
16:55
Speaker 2: do it on a weekend where a race elsewhere in
16:57
Speaker 2: the world is being sponsored by the country's national airline.
17:01
Speaker 2: And it was interesting that Dorna CEO Carmelo Espeleta came
17:06
Speaker 2: out and said that the idea is to race in Qatar. Well,
17:10
Speaker 2: that's nice. I'm sure the idea is to race in Qatar.
17:12
Speaker 2: But I still wonder if there is a cascade effect
17:16
Speaker 2: here in that the MotoGP race at LaSalle is about
17:20
Speaker 2: three weeks before Formula One and someone needs to blink
17:22
Speaker 2: first at this point. And often these things come down
17:26
Speaker 2: to if the organiser turns around and says, we can't
17:28
Speaker 2: host the race, then the sport, their final MotoGP isn't
17:33
Speaker 2: on the hook for the finances and so on and
17:35
Speaker 2: so forth. I'm sure they would love to go there.
17:37
Speaker 2: I'm sure in all things being equal that people would
17:40
Speaker 2: be happy to go there and race there and do
17:42
Speaker 2: things as normal, but things aren't as normal. And so
17:45
Speaker 2: what's interesting to me is that the MotoGP calendar for
17:48
Speaker 2: 2027 is going to be announced at the end of
17:50
Speaker 2: this week. We believe Friday, Australian time. And evident, you
17:54
Speaker 2: would imagine that Qatar is usually one of the first
17:56
Speaker 2: four rounds of the season for the bikes. This year,
17:58
Speaker 2: it was pushed back from April to November because of
18:00
Speaker 2: what was going on in that region of the world,
18:02
Speaker 2: which probably is no better and arguably worse now than
18:05
Speaker 2: it was then. So you would imagine they're going to
18:08
Speaker 2: announce Qatar on the 2027 calendar on in the first
18:11
Speaker 2: four or five races. And I do wonder, the cynic
18:14
Speaker 2: in me wonders with something coming out on a Friday
18:16
Speaker 2: in the let's bury the bad news type of week,
18:20
Speaker 2: whether there is going to be a line that Qatar
18:22
Speaker 2: will be round four of 2027 for MotoGP. Oh, and
18:24
Speaker 2: by the way, we're not going there in four weeks
18:26
Speaker 2: time because it is coming up really, really soon. MotoGP
18:29
Speaker 2: is about to go off on its Asian swing. where
18:32
Speaker 2: it goes to Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and Malaysia, and then
18:35
Speaker 2: Qatar on the back end of that. So it is
18:38
Speaker 2: coming up really, really soon. The interesting part on two wheels,
18:41
Speaker 2: of course, is that while in F1, whether you have
18:43
Speaker 2: a race in Qatar and Abu Dhabi is not probably
18:46
Speaker 2: going to affect the championship, it's just going to be
18:48
Speaker 2: settled somewhere else, but we know who's going to win it.
18:50
Speaker 2: You've got a really tight MotoGP title fight. Removing one
18:54
Speaker 2: round and 37 points from the equation in a series
18:57
Speaker 2: where there's only seven rounds left is pretty significant. at
19:00
Speaker 2: this point. So there does need to be a decision made.
19:02
Speaker 2: And I do wonder, buried on line eight of the
19:05
Speaker 2: press release announcing the 2027 MotoGP calendar on Friday will
19:09
Speaker 2: be a line that says, oh, and we're very sorry,
19:11
Speaker 2: but we're not going to Qatar in November. And then
19:13
Speaker 2: we just all get on with it. But I mean,
19:15
Speaker 2: I think F1' s lucky to a degree that it isn't
19:17
Speaker 2: going to fundamentally, more than likely, dictate where the championship
19:21
Speaker 2: is going. But you mentioned before, what is it, nine
19:23
Speaker 2: races and 11 weekends. We think... And that's not a
19:26
Speaker 2: sentence we should be saying in professional sport in 2026.
19:29
Speaker 2: It's the end of September, and we still don't know
19:33
Speaker 2: where and when this is all finishing. It's all a
19:35
Speaker 2: bit silly, isn't it?
19:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's about two months, I think. Two months and
19:38
Speaker 1: a little bit until the Qatar Grand Prix is scheduled
19:40
Speaker 1: and then Abu Dhabi is the week after that.
19:42
Speaker 2: Yep.
19:43
Speaker 1: You say that, obviously, it's a big deal for MotoGP
19:46
Speaker 1: if the sport loses a round because of the championship picture. Mm-hmm.
19:50
Speaker 1: but at least the championship, I think it's two points,
19:52
Speaker 1: isn't it, between the top two. So in a way,
19:54
Speaker 1: it doesn't really change anything because no one's going to
19:57
Speaker 1: get an advantage of that. I think it's actually more
19:59
Speaker 1: pressing in Formula 1 because depending on how late they
20:02
Speaker 1: want to make the call, and I think we mentioned
20:05
Speaker 1: this last week, there is a very real risk that
20:08
Speaker 1: that the announcement will decide the title. All it's going
20:11
Speaker 1: to take is for George Russell, who we'll talk about
20:14
Speaker 1: in a moment, could be taking an engine penalty this weekend,
20:17
Speaker 1: to not score very many points in one of the
20:19
Speaker 1: next couple of races, for Antonelli to win one or
20:21
Speaker 1: two of the next couple of races, both very likely,
20:23
Speaker 1: or probable. And then suddenly the championship comes into range
20:28
Speaker 1: for Antonelli, a little bit of a long shot, but
20:29
Speaker 1: not mathematically impossible, in Singapore. If we're going to cancel...
20:33
Speaker 1: Effectively one of the last two races... Because we're going
20:35
Speaker 1: to replace one of them.
20:36
Speaker 2: Yes.
20:37
Speaker 1: So if you delay the announcement until... After this weekend...
20:40
Speaker 1: Or after the following weekend... The risk is really real...
20:44
Speaker 1: You know, the best case scenario for F1 might be
20:46
Speaker 1: actually you announce it and you say, and this weekend
20:48
Speaker 1: the title could be decided because you get a bit
20:50
Speaker 1: of hype out of it, I guess. But you don't
20:52
Speaker 1: want to wait too long, be too clever by half
20:54
Speaker 1: and suddenly realize Antonelli, the first Italian champion in half
20:57
Speaker 1: a century, is awarded via a press release. So I
21:00
Speaker 1: think that's interesting. But just to go back on something
21:02
Speaker 1: you said before we move on. This weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix,
21:06
Speaker 1: and by this time I'd expected the announcement to be made.
21:08
Speaker 1: Sponsored by Qatar Airways.
21:10
Speaker 2: Yes.
21:10
Speaker 1: Maybe it will be the week after. It's not coming
21:13
Speaker 1: this weekend. And then is it going to be based
21:15
Speaker 1: on whether or not the airlines are in the Middle East? Because,
21:17
Speaker 1: of course, the Bahrain Grand Prix follows that in Malaysia.
21:20
Speaker 1: Sponsored by Gulf Air, which is another Middle Eastern airline.
21:23
Speaker 1: Maybe not till Singapore. Sponsored by good old Singapore Airlines.
21:26
Speaker 1: Not a sponsor of the show. That the announcement will
21:29
Speaker 1: be made. We'll have to wait and see. But that's
21:31
Speaker 1: the funny situation both F1 and MotoGP have found themselves in.
21:35
Speaker 1: Neither apparently willing to make the call. Let's move on now, though,
21:38
Speaker 1: to Move of the Week, brought to you by Shannon's.
21:42
Speaker 1: What caught your eye over the weekend? Plenty of action,
21:45
Speaker 1: none in press release form in Austria over the course
21:47
Speaker 1: of the weekend.
21:48
Speaker 2: Yes, the Qatar Airways Austrian Motorcycle Grand Prix, as we
21:51
Speaker 2: mentioned previously. Now, I don't know whether you've seen this
21:54
Speaker 2: or not. We haven't discussed whether you sat and watched
21:56
Speaker 2: MotoGP over the course of the weekend. But the Move
21:58
Speaker 2: of the Week for me, and it can only really
22:00
Speaker 2: be one, Pedro Acosta's finally won a MotoGP race in
22:04
Speaker 2: his 56th start. KTM's first win, by the way, in
22:07
Speaker 2: nearly four years. That's how grim it's been for KTM.
22:11
Speaker 2: They haven't done anything for a really long while. And
22:14
Speaker 2: Acosta is clearly an A-grade talent. He just hasn't had
22:18
Speaker 2: the opportunity previously. He had the record of the most
22:22
Speaker 2: podiums in a MotoGP career without winning a race, which
22:25
Speaker 2: is a record that nobody wants. It's the old Nick
22:27
Speaker 2: Heidfeld rule, which I think Lando Norris took over for
22:30
Speaker 2: a while there. So he was up to 15 podiums
22:32
Speaker 2: without a Grand Prix win. He won comfortably on Sunday.
22:35
Speaker 2: The best part about it was on the Saturday, three
22:38
Speaker 2: laps from the end of the sprint, which he was leading,
22:41
Speaker 2: he did what we've all done when we see the
22:43
Speaker 2: fuel light come on in the car, when we sort
22:45
Speaker 2: of look down and go, oh, I'm that low on petrol.
22:48
Speaker 2: And riding into the chicane at turn two, he looked
22:50
Speaker 2: out at his dash, realised that he needed to change
22:52
Speaker 2: fuel maps and looked up and he was in the
22:54
Speaker 2: corner before he realised it and then just binned it,
22:57
Speaker 2: threw himself down the road, crashed from a comfortable win.
23:00
Speaker 2: Wins the Grand Prix 24 hours later. pulls up at
23:03
Speaker 2: the same spot of the same chicane where he'd thrown
23:05
Speaker 2: a sprint race away and lay his bike down in
23:08
Speaker 2: the same spot and pretended to crash and lay there
23:13
Speaker 2: with his fists in the air celebrating his first Grand
23:15
Speaker 2: Prix win. And I loved it for the fact that
23:17
Speaker 2: he's made amends for an absolute howler 24 hours before
23:21
Speaker 2: and he was able to laugh at himself doing it.
23:23
Speaker 2: And yeah, so when the graphic came up, Ryder crashed.
23:26
Speaker 2: He's just laying there in the turn two runoff after
23:29
Speaker 2: winning his first Grand Prix and doing so deliberately. I
23:32
Speaker 2: love the fact that he could laugh at himself and
23:34
Speaker 2: it was a very fitting way to cap a really
23:37
Speaker 2: significant day for a Ryder that I think we're going
23:39
Speaker 2: to be talking about a lot in the next couple
23:40
Speaker 2: of years as he partners. Mark Marquez at the factory
23:43
Speaker 2: Ducati team. Is that going to be explosive? But yeah,
23:46
Speaker 2: move of the week to not beat yourself up too
23:48
Speaker 2: much and take the piss out of yourself after a very,
23:50
Speaker 2: very low moment in your highest moment of all. That
23:52
Speaker 2: was my move.
23:53
Speaker 1: I like that. I also like just not only the
23:56
Speaker 1: fact that he's finally got that first win for a
23:58
Speaker 1: rider who's clearly had it coming. We've talked about some
24:00
Speaker 1: of the great stats in this podcast before. I think
24:02
Speaker 1: it's still active, isn't it? Yet to be qualified by
24:04
Speaker 1: a teammate in those 50-odd starts.
24:07
Speaker 2: It is 56-0 in qualifying for his career.
24:09
Speaker 1: Tremendous. But I also like this element. And we've already
24:12
Speaker 1: had a bit of foreshadowing because he's had some duels
24:14
Speaker 1: with Marc Marquez earlier this year after he was announced
24:17
Speaker 1: as moving there for next season. But at a time
24:19
Speaker 1: when obviously the last fortnight's been dominated by Marquez getting
24:22
Speaker 1: back into the lead, no longer, but in the title fight,
24:25
Speaker 1: that then we're actually talking about the guy who's a
24:27
Speaker 1: real risk of shaking things up next year at the
24:29
Speaker 1: same time. I just like that all the storylines are
24:31
Speaker 1: sort of coming together in these final months. And just
24:35
Speaker 1: a little reminder that it's maybe next year, Marquez could
24:39
Speaker 1: still be in the fight. We don't know what the
24:40
Speaker 1: competitive order is going to look like, but It's not
24:42
Speaker 1: going to be as straightforward as it's been for him
24:44
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years because there's someone else
24:46
Speaker 1: on the bike who's probably going to give him a
24:47
Speaker 1: real hard run for his money. So I enjoyed that
24:49
Speaker 1: that was part of that as well. I'm going to
24:52
Speaker 1: bring us back to F1 land, just so we can
24:55
Speaker 1: talk about this for a few moments before we look
24:57
Speaker 1: at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. My move of the week
24:59
Speaker 1: was FIA President Mohammed bin Salim declaring that he'll do
25:03
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to keep Fernando Alonso in Formula 1
25:06
Speaker 1: next year. You want some rule changes? You got them.
25:08
Speaker 1: You tell me what you want and I'll make them.
25:11
Speaker 1: That's what he said at the Spanish Grand Prix. It
25:13
Speaker 1: was last week now to some assembled media at a
25:16
Speaker 1: business forum, I think it was. It was unusual to
25:19
Speaker 1: hear it off the bat, straight away. Unusual to hear
25:23
Speaker 1: the boss of the governing body say, yeah, I'll make
25:25
Speaker 1: some rule changes to keep this driver who's clearly at
25:28
Speaker 1: the end of his career racing for another season, probably
25:31
Speaker 1: at the back, because that's where he's been all year.
25:33
Speaker 1: He says he doesn't want Alonso to retire after such
25:35
Speaker 1: an uncompetitive season, and that's nice, but probably not his position.
25:40
Speaker 1: But actually what he was hinting at, as we've since
25:41
Speaker 1: discovered through some reports, is that there are already moves
25:45
Speaker 1: to change the rules underway. It's just convenient that they
25:48
Speaker 1: so happen to coincide with this talk about whether or
25:51
Speaker 1: not Alonso is going to stay or go. In part
25:53
Speaker 1: to help Honda to catch up, because there's clearly... some
25:56
Speaker 1: work that needs to be done there, but also to
25:59
Speaker 1: generally revise the way that engine concessions are being handed out.
26:03
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone thinks it's a good situation that
26:05
Speaker 1: the best engine manufacturer, Mercedes, gets an upgrade concession while
26:08
Speaker 1: Red Bull gets none, while Ferrari gets two, which is
26:11
Speaker 1: exactly the same number that Honda, which is in a
26:13
Speaker 1: completely different league, is also getting. But I think the
26:16
Speaker 1: move of the week for me isn't simply that, Ben,
26:18
Speaker 1: so I said this in public, but I think it's
26:20
Speaker 1: that it is impossible to deny that that Alonso has
26:26
Speaker 1: only one little bit of leverage in any of his
26:29
Speaker 1: career at this point, really. Because right at the end
26:30
Speaker 1: of his career, there are no other seats available to him.
26:33
Speaker 1: He's already committed to Aston Martin for the long term,
26:34
Speaker 1: regardless of whether or not he drives. But he's found,
26:37
Speaker 1: of course he has, the wily political operator. The one
26:40
Speaker 1: card he has to try and improve his political situation,
26:42
Speaker 1: which is threaten to someone who clearly cares whether or
26:45
Speaker 1: not he's racing next year, that he could quit, even
26:47
Speaker 1: though no one really believes that he will. We all
26:49
Speaker 1: expect him to race next year. and use that to
26:51
Speaker 1: extract some concessions that might benefit his competitive position next
26:55
Speaker 1: year i think that's my move of the week it's
26:57
Speaker 1: probably move of the last month i think he's been
26:59
Speaker 1: building up for a little while but it's a very
27:01
Speaker 1: alonso play when that's the only the only the only
27:04
Speaker 1: move he's got.
27:05
Speaker 2: I love it for just how barefaced and brazen it
27:07
Speaker 2: is on fernando's part and if it was any other
27:10
Speaker 2: driver we'd probably react very differently but we all just
27:13
Speaker 2: sort of we just grin and go well of Of course,
27:15
Speaker 2: because this is what Fernando does. I kind of admire
27:17
Speaker 2: it just for its sheer audacity. The Ben Salaim thing,
27:21
Speaker 2: I mean, look, he's speaking to a group of business
27:23
Speaker 2: people in Madrid. Fernando Alonso is Spanish. Let me just
27:26
Speaker 2: play to the crowd. He wasn't saying that we should
27:28
Speaker 2: change the rules for Honda to ensure that Lance Stroll
27:30
Speaker 2: doesn't walk away from Formula One, funnily enough. So that was...
27:33
Speaker 2: That probably wouldn't have gone down quite as well in
27:35
Speaker 2: a Madrid business function. But, look, both things can be
27:37
Speaker 2: true here. I mean, Honda need all the help they
27:40
Speaker 2: can get because they are so far off the back,
27:43
Speaker 2: whether it's Fernando Alonso or you and me driving the
27:45
Speaker 2: car alongside Lance Stroll. I'd be curious to see how
27:47
Speaker 2: that would go, by the way. But, look, I think
27:50
Speaker 2: Honda clearly needs the assistance. But the wider issue here
27:54
Speaker 2: where you were talking about the– The dreaded ADUO acronym
27:58
Speaker 2: in Formula One and the fact that Red Bull has
28:00
Speaker 2: been deemed to have the best engine in the sport,
28:02
Speaker 2: which for those listening at home, that adjudication is based
28:06
Speaker 2: only on the internal combustion engine, not all of the
28:08
Speaker 2: hybrid parts of which Red Bull was deemed to have
28:10
Speaker 2: the best ICE and probably the worst. It could be
28:14
Speaker 2: the worst hybrid part. Who knows? But they're clearly not
28:16
Speaker 2: the best engine in the sport. So that needs a
28:18
Speaker 2: rethink generally. But yeah, the move of the week, I'm
28:22
Speaker 2: not sure whether it's right that the FIA president should
28:24
Speaker 2: be coming out and saying this sort of thing in public.
28:26
Speaker 2: But I do like the fact that Alonso has just
28:29
Speaker 2: seen a little bit of leverage and he'd like to
28:33
Speaker 2: go in. He'd like to use it for what it's worth.
28:35
Speaker 2: But as the, what is he, 45 now? He's committed
28:39
Speaker 2: there long term. And as you said, he's kind of
28:40
Speaker 2: snookered and there's nowhere really to go at this point.
28:43
Speaker 2: But yeah, brazen would be a word that I would use.
28:45
Speaker 2: But I kind of admire it at the same time.
28:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I think, look, you're right. Ben
28:49
Speaker 1: Salone was talking to Spanish media and I don't think
28:52
Speaker 1: there's any problem with him foreshadowing rule changes that are
28:54
Speaker 1: already being discussed.
28:56
Speaker 2: No.
28:56
Speaker 1: The line that caught me was, I won't tell you
28:58
Speaker 1: what rules you want changed. You tell me, Fernando. I
29:01
Speaker 1: think that was where it crossed into slightly farcical territory.
29:04
Speaker 1: But I don't think that's what's happening. I think he's just,
29:07
Speaker 1: I think he loves to add a bit of mayonnaise
29:08
Speaker 1: to a lot of his statements, doesn't he? A bit, yes.
29:10
Speaker 1: Probably a little bit too far there. But yeah, I
29:12
Speaker 1: think we've just sort of got used to what his
29:15
Speaker 1: presidency looks like and that's the way it is in
29:17
Speaker 1: this That's fine. As long as the rule changes get
29:19
Speaker 1: changed in the right way, then it is what it is.
29:21
Speaker 1: Let's look ahead to this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Let
29:23
Speaker 1: me remind you off the top, the race is on Saturday.
29:26
Speaker 1: So don't tune in on Sunday afternoon. You'll miss it.
29:28
Speaker 1: It'll have been finished. Do tune in for when you
29:31
Speaker 1: think qualifying would have been on because then you might
29:32
Speaker 1: see the race. It's at 9pm on Saturday evening, which
29:35
Speaker 1: means practice starts on Thursday evening and so on. Qualifying
29:38
Speaker 1: on Friday, you can understand that. rest, other than that
29:40
Speaker 1: totally normal weekend. But it's the start of that final
29:44
Speaker 1: phase of the season. We're out of Europe, despite this
29:46
Speaker 1: being the European Grand Prix, as you mentioned earlier, in
29:48
Speaker 1: its tenure, in its first season. And it is a
29:52
Speaker 1: I don't know, modern classic might be a little bit
29:54
Speaker 1: too strong of a word, but it's certainly a track
29:55
Speaker 1: that's carved out a space for itself. It's a distinctive circuit.
29:58
Speaker 1: It's definitely unique with a long straight combination of traditional
30:02
Speaker 1: slow 90 degree street corners and then extremely tight section
30:05
Speaker 1: at the top and a high speed slalom down the bottom.
30:08
Speaker 1: Generates mistakes, does generate overtaking, usually anyway. We haven't seen
30:12
Speaker 1: it with these cars. Could be. Good or bad, depending
30:15
Speaker 1: on which way you want to look at it with
30:16
Speaker 1: these power units. But certainly some interesting storylines to set
30:20
Speaker 1: up as the context against this circuit. Let's start with
30:22
Speaker 1: Oscar Piastri and McLaren. Obviously McLaren in a pretty good
30:25
Speaker 1: runner form, three of the last four pole positions, probably
30:28
Speaker 1: should have been three of the last four wins had
30:30
Speaker 1: it not been for the VSC in Madrid. But of course,
30:32
Speaker 1: all of those results have gone the way of Lando
30:34
Speaker 1: Norris and not Oscar Piastri. I wrote a piece for
30:37
Speaker 1: Fox Sports this week, on Wednesday, I think it was,
30:41
Speaker 1: looking at Australia's history in Azerbaijan. Pleasure and pain, really.
30:44
Speaker 1: We've either had great wins there through Daniel Ricciardo and
30:46
Speaker 1: Oscar Piastri, or some really low moments, whether it's Ricciardo
30:49
Speaker 1: and Verstappen crashing and then that, in a way, redirecting
30:52
Speaker 1: the course of Ricciardo's career to it ending, or Oscar
30:55
Speaker 1: Piastri's dismal weekend last year, he described as the messiest
30:59
Speaker 1: of his entire career that kind of gave way to
31:01
Speaker 1: him losing the championship lead and dropping to third in
31:03
Speaker 1: the final points count. Look, that obviously is good and
31:07
Speaker 1: bad for Piastri coming to this weekend because he's obviously
31:09
Speaker 1: got good history here, but the most recent history was
31:12
Speaker 1: a pretty terrible weekend, a pretty painful one in retrospect
31:16
Speaker 1: as well. How important do you think it is that
31:18
Speaker 1: he's got to show something before the end of the year,
31:21
Speaker 1: but this weekend perhaps being a good opportunity to do so?
31:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just needs to be solid this weekend. It
31:26
Speaker 2: just needs to be better than what it has been
31:28
Speaker 2: over the past few rounds. I don't think he's in
31:30
Speaker 2: a position where, you know, last year McLaren were in
31:33
Speaker 2: a position to win this Grand Prix and they did not.
31:35
Speaker 2: But I don't know about you, but I kind of
31:36
Speaker 2: feel that everything that has happened since Baku last year
31:40
Speaker 2: seems to have been clouded a little bit by what
31:42
Speaker 2: happened in Azerbaijan with Piastri last year because it was
31:45
Speaker 2: the beginning of a run of pretty ropey races. We
31:47
Speaker 2: know there's some low group characteristics that he struggles with.
31:50
Speaker 2: leading the championship, ends up not even finishing runner-up in
31:53
Speaker 2: the championship, gets beaten by Verstappen at the end. And
31:56
Speaker 2: this year, you know, after what, Miami or Japan, it
31:59
Speaker 2: hasn't really gone particularly well. And that was kind of
32:03
Speaker 2: okay while neither McLaren was doing a whole lot, but
32:06
Speaker 2: Norris has clearly been incredibly good for the past three
32:08
Speaker 2: or four rounds. So, I mean, look, we're not talking
32:11
Speaker 2: about Oscar Piastri in championships this year, as we were
32:13
Speaker 2: this time last year, but it just needs to be solid.
32:15
Speaker 2: But there's something that... whether it's real or whether it's
32:20
Speaker 2: just perceived, a decent result at a track where the
32:23
Speaker 2: negative spiral began for him last year I think would
32:26
Speaker 2: be a positive. Now, whether that's a podium or getting
32:30
Speaker 2: close to that or qualifying for the first couple of rows,
32:32
Speaker 2: it just needs to be better than what it has
32:34
Speaker 2: been and then perhaps everyone can sort of exhale and
32:37
Speaker 2: this whole sort of Baku hangover from last year can
32:39
Speaker 2: finally be put to bed, but It was definitely interesting
32:41
Speaker 2: you mentioned there just those examples of maybe it's because
32:44
Speaker 2: we have a race in a good time zone. The
32:46
Speaker 2: Australians are just playing to the audience and the fact
32:48
Speaker 2: that most people are watching, but it's never dull at
32:50
Speaker 2: this race anyway. But yeah, Australians do have a reasonably
32:54
Speaker 2: checkered history. I mean, that Ricciardo win in, what was that,
32:58
Speaker 2: 17 was one of the, it felt like a win
33:00
Speaker 2: only he could get, quite frankly. It was one of
33:02
Speaker 2: those classic sort of Ricciardo, what on earth is going
33:04
Speaker 2: on wins and then obviously 18 and what happened after that.
33:07
Speaker 2: But yeah, on the Piastri point, I just think, Norris
33:10
Speaker 2: has really, really moved the goalposts for McLaren in these
33:13
Speaker 2: past few rounds. And it'd just be interesting how much
33:15
Speaker 2: of this is car, how much of this is driver,
33:17
Speaker 2: because there hasn't been too much sense so far that
33:20
Speaker 2: Piastri can go with him in these past few rounds.
33:22
Speaker 2: And that's something we need to, hopefully in his case,
33:26
Speaker 2: seems it needs to improve.
33:27
Speaker 1: I think so. I think, I mean, there's no question Norris,
33:31
Speaker 1: for mine anyway, has taken a big step forward this year.
33:34
Speaker 1: I was sort of talking, compared to last season, I
33:37
Speaker 1: reckon you could count on one hand the really good,
33:40
Speaker 1: like the dominant weekends he had. They're mostly in this
33:43
Speaker 1: last part of the season. There were a couple earlier,
33:45
Speaker 1: but otherwise he was at best equal to Piastri at
33:48
Speaker 1: a lot of races, but he timed his good run
33:50
Speaker 1: well when Piastri was struggling to maximize the damage. Whereas
33:53
Speaker 1: Piastri was very good for a lot of last year.
33:55
Speaker 1: This season is probably the same, but in reverse. You
33:59
Speaker 1: could count on one hand the number of races where
34:02
Speaker 1: Norris has been a little bit quiet. I think he's
34:03
Speaker 1: been such a good executor this year. He's been really
34:05
Speaker 1: consistently good. And he's proving that now that the car
34:08
Speaker 1: is in a winning position that he'll go out and
34:10
Speaker 1: he'll just win with it when the car is capable
34:12
Speaker 1: of doing that. And it's up to Piastri to find
34:14
Speaker 1: that extra level. I think it's important as well, not
34:16
Speaker 1: just Baku, but the rounds coming up. As you said,
34:18
Speaker 1: these are the ones that he started to struggle with
34:20
Speaker 1: last year for reasons of a little latent weakness in
34:23
Speaker 1: his game that he finds gains there. Maybe we shouldn't
34:27
Speaker 1: expect him to suddenly be on Norris' level at these
34:29
Speaker 1: tracks given we know how he's been in recent years.
34:32
Speaker 1: But if he can look respectable and feel like he's
34:35
Speaker 1: making progress at those tracks, that can at least be heartening.
34:38
Speaker 1: We're probably not going to get Qatar this year, so
34:40
Speaker 1: that's not going to be the one where he can
34:42
Speaker 1: come out of the blocks and dominate like he has
34:44
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, but build up to
34:46
Speaker 1: something next year. Because next year, I think McLaren really
34:48
Speaker 1: does expect to be in championship contention. I mean, Zac
34:51
Speaker 1: Brown thinks they still are, but I don't. But next year, probably.
34:55
Speaker 1: And I think it's going to be very painful if
34:57
Speaker 1: suddenly we're talking about the same thing where Norris is
34:59
Speaker 1: going out winning races, contending for the title, and Piastri
35:01
Speaker 1: is off the podium every week. So we'll have to
35:03
Speaker 1: wait and see how that one goes. The battle at
35:06
Speaker 1: the front, McLaren may well be part of it. I
35:07
Speaker 1: think they surprised themselves a little bit in Madrid that
35:10
Speaker 1: they were better than they expected. Perhaps that'll be the
35:11
Speaker 1: case here. On paper, it shouldn't be. On paper, it
35:14
Speaker 1: should be a Mercedes circuit. That's most circuits, admittedly. But
35:17
Speaker 1: an interesting side story in that George Russell might be
35:19
Speaker 1: taking an engine penalty this weekend. This is after Antonelli
35:22
Speaker 1: took his in Italy. Didn't hurt Antonelli's victory chances. He
35:26
Speaker 1: won from the back. I'm not sure we should expect
35:28
Speaker 1: the same for Russell without knowing how this weekend's shaping
35:30
Speaker 1: out in general. But this feels like it could be
35:33
Speaker 1: a big free kick for a driver who doesn't need
35:35
Speaker 1: it in Antonelli to make some big points in the
35:37
Speaker 1: title and perhaps further demoralise the likes of Ferrari and
35:40
Speaker 1: even Red Bull Racing.
35:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does feel that way. And it'll be really
35:43
Speaker 2: interesting to see if Russell does take this engine penalty
35:46
Speaker 2: and start at the back. It's whatever he does is
35:48
Speaker 2: going to be compared to what Antonelli did and Monza
35:51
Speaker 2: because it was so dramatic. And it was so brilliant.
35:55
Speaker 2: And he won the race. And also, in hindsight, wasn't
35:58
Speaker 2: a massive surprise in a lot of ways. Like, he
36:01
Speaker 2: had to execute, particularly the early laps. But, you know,
36:04
Speaker 2: we were talking about it before that race started and said,
36:06
Speaker 2: he'll finish on the podium, surely. And he did certainly
36:09
Speaker 2: even better than that. He finished on the top step where...
36:11
Speaker 2: Whether it would be at Monza or any other track,
36:13
Speaker 2: you do wonder if that is in George Russell's arsenal necessarily,
36:17
Speaker 2: and particularly from a position of disadvantage. So whatever he
36:20
Speaker 2: does this weekend, even though it's not a fair comparison
36:23
Speaker 2: because it's a different track, is going to be, well,
36:25
Speaker 2: you only did X when Antonelli did Y. That's going
36:28
Speaker 2: to be an interesting storyline. For Antonelli, this is a–
36:32
Speaker 2: it's not an open goal. There's no such thing as
36:34
Speaker 2: an open goal in Formula 1. But when your chief
36:37
Speaker 2: title rival– and I'm using air quotes around that because
36:40
Speaker 2: I don't believe he is– is so severely handicapped at
36:43
Speaker 2: a track that can be problematic. You can definitely get
36:46
Speaker 2: stuck behind cars in that, you know, the top of
36:49
Speaker 2: the city section of Azerbaijan that can sort of stymie
36:53
Speaker 2: your progress. This has got to be... If Antonelli wins
36:57
Speaker 2: here and then we start getting into your, oh my God,
37:00
Speaker 2: is this going to be decided by press release territory,
37:05
Speaker 2: that's a more believable outcome for me than Russell coming
37:07
Speaker 2: from the back and getting up into the top four. So,
37:10
Speaker 2: it just feels that Antonelli, this is not being gift
37:12
Speaker 2: wrapped for him, but it's certainly presenting in that sort
37:16
Speaker 2: of sphere, isn't it?
37:16
Speaker 1: I think so. I think it is worth saying, of course,
37:18
Speaker 1: this circuit is different when we start comparing Russell to Antonelli. Maybe,
37:21
Speaker 1: you never know, he'll surprise us. But the risk is higher,
37:23
Speaker 1: isn't it, here?
37:24
Speaker 2: Yes.
37:24
Speaker 1: Whereas at Monza, you can, there are some room, there's
37:26
Speaker 1: a little bit of room for mistakes. Not a lot,
37:28
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of gravel and not a lot
37:29
Speaker 1: of tarmac runoff. But as Antonelli proved in trying to
37:32
Speaker 1: pass Russell the first time, you can recover from that.
37:34
Speaker 1: But you can't recover from a mistake in Baku. It's
37:36
Speaker 1: all over at that point.
37:37
Speaker 2: No.
37:38
Speaker 1: I want to touch really briefly on Ferrari here because
37:41
Speaker 1: it's obviously all been downhill since the last time they won,
37:43
Speaker 1: which was way back before the mid-season break a couple
37:45
Speaker 1: of months ago now, I think it was. Reports in
37:48
Speaker 1: the Italian media of a little bit of tension starting
37:50
Speaker 1: to form there, a little bit between Lewis Hamilton and
37:52
Speaker 1: team principal Fred Vassa, a little bit between Vassa and
37:55
Speaker 1: the leadership of Ferrari as well. None of these things
37:57
Speaker 1: are surprising for long-time Ferrari watchers. Hamilton's denied this on
38:00
Speaker 1: social media, though. He's denied trying to change staff there.
38:03
Speaker 1: I think he's generally been a little bit unhappy with
38:05
Speaker 1: the way things have gone, but he says that's not
38:06
Speaker 1: the way it's going. But this feels like the way
38:09
Speaker 1: Ferrari was always going to go, doesn't it, when things
38:12
Speaker 1: weren't going to go its way, when it was clear
38:13
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to be able to contend for the
38:14
Speaker 1: title this year. I think a big objective there is
38:17
Speaker 1: to keep things together. On paper, this won't be a
38:19
Speaker 1: good Ferrari circuit given the engine sensitivity, drag sensitivity, but
38:23
Speaker 1: this is very much a Leclerc circuit. But there's some
38:25
Speaker 1: speculation that they might consider giving him a penalty this
38:28
Speaker 1: weekend to get a fresh engine into the mix, regardless
38:30
Speaker 1: of whether or not that Monza crashed one is out
38:33
Speaker 1: of commission. But I wonder whether or not the team
38:35
Speaker 1: could use... Leclerc in the fight at the front to
38:38
Speaker 1: give it a little bit of a boost considering how
38:40
Speaker 1: damaging the last month or so has been to morale
38:43
Speaker 1: and in the media.
38:45
Speaker 2: Yeah as you were setting that up and the first
38:47
Speaker 2: word that came into my mind was morale and look
38:50
Speaker 2: Ferrari isn't in Formula One for moral victories let's be
38:52
Speaker 2: perfectly honest but you know when you're not going to
38:55
Speaker 2: win a championship and there's the friction behind the scenes
38:57
Speaker 2: and it's just rinse and repeat from Ferrari for well
39:01
Speaker 2: the last 20 years and you know other than the
39:03
Speaker 2: Schumacher era it's kind of a story as old as
39:05
Speaker 2: time isn't it so You do wonder there does a
39:08
Speaker 2: feel-good result would kind of– it would paper over the cracks,
39:12
Speaker 2: but at least it's papering over them. It's not just
39:14
Speaker 2: leaving them completely exposed. Leclerc is fantastic around here. We
39:18
Speaker 2: know that. He's also beaten himself up here a couple
39:21
Speaker 2: of times when he's made some mistakes. But Leclerc in
39:25
Speaker 2: Q3 final lap, if you're going to sort of really
39:28
Speaker 2: nerd out on Formula one in 2026 it is usually
39:30
Speaker 2: one of the absolute highlights of the year because talk
39:32
Speaker 2: about leaving no margin at all he is the master
39:35
Speaker 2: of that around this place so you do wonder if
39:38
Speaker 2: there is a feel-good podium there that helps keep the
39:41
Speaker 2: uh wolves at bay only for a week or so
39:44
Speaker 2: before we head to the next round but uh Yeah,
39:46
Speaker 2: they're in dire need of some good news right now.
39:48
Speaker 2: And it's just the Ferrari and the Italian sort of
39:51
Speaker 2: media way, isn't it? It's just the inevitability of these
39:54
Speaker 2: stories coming out over the past couple of weeks is
39:57
Speaker 2: probably the sad but completely predictable part about all of this.
40:00
Speaker 2: And yeah, maybe a feel-good podium for either of them,
40:02
Speaker 2: but probably Leclerc around this place would help soothe some
40:06
Speaker 2: of those problems, if only temporarily.
40:07
Speaker 1: There are only two repeat winners at this circuit. Sergio Perez,
40:10
Speaker 1: who's not going to do it again this year. He
40:12
Speaker 1: is not. He does be very impressive. And Max Verstappen,
40:15
Speaker 1: of course, is the other one. So both Red Bull
40:17
Speaker 1: Racing drivers. Red Bull Racing's yet to score a win
40:21
Speaker 1: this year. If Verstappen doesn't win this weekend, it'll be
40:23
Speaker 1: the longest he's ever waited for a win in a
40:25
Speaker 1: season since, of course, his first victory in 2016. Or
40:27
Speaker 1: it could be his first win this season since that
40:29
Speaker 1: first win in 2016. He's definitely been in improved... Him
40:34
Speaker 1: in the car, I guess, despite his complaints about it,
40:36
Speaker 1: in improved form in the last month or so, generally,
40:39
Speaker 1: excluding that crash at his first lap at his home race.
40:42
Speaker 1: But he's on the up. He's now got the third
40:45
Speaker 1: most podiums of any driver this season, which is something
40:47
Speaker 1: that is surprising to say, considering how wayward and unpredictable
40:50
Speaker 1: that car's been. He'll have the return of his teammate,
40:53
Speaker 1: Isaac Hadja, in the second seat. He's recovered from injury,
40:55
Speaker 1: or he's recovered well enough to race, even though he's
40:57
Speaker 1: got three races in a row. I think there's going
40:59
Speaker 1: to be an interesting comparison there, partly because Verstappen, I think,
41:02
Speaker 1: is on the up, and he'll be a podium threat
41:04
Speaker 1: this weekend, surely. Maybe more. Who's to say? But Hadja
41:07
Speaker 1: comes into a team that has improved since he left it.
41:09
Speaker 1: He's been doing perfectly well all this season. He's been
41:11
Speaker 1: reinstated to the podium in Monaco as well. So he's
41:13
Speaker 1: a podium getter for this season as well. But it
41:16
Speaker 1: does feel like he comes back to a team with
41:18
Speaker 1: a little bit of momentum and he obviously has none
41:20
Speaker 1: having missed the last three rounds. And I'm going to
41:22
Speaker 1: be interested to see how he gets back into the seat.
41:24
Speaker 2: Well, tough one to come back to as well when
41:26
Speaker 2: you've had a wrist injury. Like it's a really, really
41:28
Speaker 2: tricky track. A lot of changes of direction and it's
41:30
Speaker 2: a difficult one. You would have thought that coming back
41:33
Speaker 2: to Bahrain the following weekend might have been a touch
41:36
Speaker 2: easier for him. But I mean, maybe part of the
41:39
Speaker 2: decision to come back is because there does seem to
41:41
Speaker 2: have been a bit of an uptick in performance. And
41:44
Speaker 2: you mentioned the Verstappen victory drought. It feels... sort of
41:48
Speaker 2: unbecoming of someone of his status to say this, but
41:50
Speaker 2: it feels like we need an exceptional circumstance if Verstappen
41:54
Speaker 2: is going to win a Grand Prix for the rest
41:55
Speaker 2: of the year. And if you look at the tracks
41:58
Speaker 2: we've got for the rest of the year, tracks where
42:00
Speaker 2: exceptional circumstances happen more than others tend to be tracks
42:03
Speaker 2: like Baku. So he is doing a really great job
42:07
Speaker 2: at the moment, Verstappen, of kind of doing the most
42:09
Speaker 2: with the least in that, you know, it's clearly the
42:11
Speaker 2: fourth best car of the top four and here it
42:13
Speaker 2: is punching out podiums and doing what it is that
42:14
Speaker 2: he needs to do. I find it hard to believe
42:18
Speaker 2: that he's not going to win a race this year
42:19
Speaker 2: because he is who he is. But the number of
42:22
Speaker 2: circuits that that seems believable on, there's not many of them.
42:25
Speaker 2: Maybe this is one of them. This could be the
42:28
Speaker 2: opportunistic weekend. You know he'll be there. I think that's
42:31
Speaker 2: not within question. It's just more a matter of what
42:33
Speaker 2: other people do. But the Hajar one's interesting because... I
42:37
Speaker 2: don't see how you– he's going to be slightly undercooked,
42:40
Speaker 2: isn't he, just in terms of momentum and in terms
42:42
Speaker 2: of the circuit. It is a really tricky place to
42:44
Speaker 2: come back. And given that we have a triple header
42:47
Speaker 2: ahead of us, it's an interesting decision. I mean, you've
42:50
Speaker 2: got to get back on the horse at some point.
42:51
Speaker 2: But here, yeah, interesting.
42:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's really– it's only triple headers between here
42:55
Speaker 1: and the end of the season. So at some point,
42:56
Speaker 1: I guess that's a bite the bullet and just say
42:59
Speaker 1: it's time to get back and do your job. But
43:01
Speaker 1: that's all the time we have for Pit Talk this week.
43:03
Speaker 1: You can subscribe to Pit Talk wherever you get your
43:05
Speaker 1: favourite podcasts and you can leave us a rating and
43:07
Speaker 1: a review as well. And yes, this weekend is the
43:10
Speaker 1: Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with lights out at 9pm
43:13
Speaker 1: on Saturday, Eastern Standard Time. You can keep up to
43:16
Speaker 1: date with all the latest F1, supercars and MotoGP news
43:18
Speaker 1: at foxsports.com.au. From Matt Clayton and me, Michael Laminato, thanks
43:22
Speaker 1: very much for your company and we'll catch you next week.