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The Motorsport Brief | F1 Austrian wrap & the Max McLaren rumours · Rusty's Garage

• 0:00
  Let's get to something of a Rusty's Garage regular now.
• 0:03
  Walking his mate Murph in what little spare time he has.
• 0:06
  Playing guitar and channeling his inner Chris Stapleton.
• 0:09
  Lead caller for NBL One.
• 0:11
  Covering all sorts for Code Sports, including motor racing.
• 0:15
  That sounds like a reality TV intro, doesn't it?
• 0:18
  Hello, Matt Hickey.
• 0:19
  I don't think I've ever had an intro quite like that.
• 0:22
  I've got Murph.
• 0:22
  He's lying behind me, waiting for me to take him for another walk.
• 0:26
  It's a bit wet here in Melbourne, but, geez, Rusty, that's about as good as it gets for me.
• 0:29
  I might just log off now.
• 0:31
  Happy days.
• 0:32
  Top three covered by two seconds in the end there at Austria.
• 0:36
  Hot, hard work, but I reckon that was a great race.
• 0:38
  Did you enjoy it?
• 0:40
  Yeah, really enjoyed it.
• 0:41
  Great race.
• 0:41
  I mean, this is what, when you bring in the new regulations that you hope you start getting racing like this.
• 0:47
  And I think now that teams are starting to figure out their cars a little bit better, starting to match each other with upgrades and things like that, this is what you wanted.
• 0:56
  And, you know, that second and third place went right down to the last few corners.
• 1:00
  So, no, great fun and exactly what you're after, I think.
• 1:03
  Typically, we get the Max Army there, the Orange Army, out in support.
• 1:07
  You could hear them in full voice, which is great.
• 1:09
  And it's a game that keeps innovating, not just in terms of the cars and what we bring in a sporting sense.
• 1:18
  I think you were quite captivated by some of the cool drone shots in the coverage.
• 1:23
  They were mega, mate, weren't they?
• 1:24
  Yeah, this is when you start to realise you're a bit of a media and broadcast nerd, Rusty, is when the camera angles get you really excited when you're watching an F1 race.
• 1:32
  But no, I thought they were fantastic.
• 1:35
  I think it just brings a different element.
• 1:36
  And it's, you know, there's so much money.
• 1:38
  You know, there's always been so much money in F1, but we know over the last five or six years that that has just ballooned.
• 1:43
  And it's, you know, I was waiting for some more innovations when it came to broadcast.
• 1:49
  And I think this is a really good start.
• 1:51
  And I was fascinated.
• 1:52
  I really enjoyed...
• 1:53
  Those drone shots took you right into the action.
• 1:56
  Great coverage, great moments.
• 1:58
  I think that they picked to use them as well.
• 1:59
  So hopefully we continue to see that over the year.
• 2:03
  First win for George Russell, I think, statistically since Australia.
• 2:07
  He is talking like he's 100% on board and staying with Mercedes for next season, despite the kind of recent Verstappen rumours.
• 2:19
  Again, I guess the result in Austria certainly helps that, doesn't it?
• 2:24
  Yeah, I mean, I think Mercedes are pretty happy with where their two drivers are at currently.
• 2:28
  I'd be shocked.
• 2:29
  Of course, we've heard those Verstappen rumors and McLaren, which is probably a discussion that we can get to a little bit later on.
• 2:37
  It's very intriguing when it comes to what they're going to do moving forward.
• 2:40
  But George is in a great spot.
• 2:42
  I found his comments really interesting where he said, instead of focusing on where the data and where his gaps were to Kimi Antonelli, he just focused on driving the car, just focused on the feel of driving the car.
• 2:53
  And it really worked for him, whereas Kimi, on the other hand, had some issues despite showing some pretty good pace.
• 2:59
  I think Toto reinforced that too in some of the post-race discussion.
• 3:03
  They were keen, I think, just to eliminate him thinking about that.
• 3:08
  What's that line out of the song from the F1 movie, just get in and drive, basically, hey?
• 3:14
  Very, very good.
• 3:15
  Yeah, 100%.
• 3:16
  I think he...
• 3:19
  That's the experience coming into play.
• 3:20
  George has been in this game for a while now.
• 3:22
  I think some people still view him as a bit of a younger driver and that's because we still have the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso on the grid.
• 3:28
  So they're all younger drivers in that sense.
• 3:30
  But that's his experience coming to the fore.
• 3:33
  One for you though, Rusty, I'd like to throw back at you.
• 3:37
  We saw this play out a little similarly with McLaren last year.
• 3:42
  Is this going to come to a head with these two Mercedes drivers as the year progresses?
• 3:46
  The one thing that I think works in Toto, Bono, and all of the teams' favour in the background there is that they dealt with the incredibly intense, the very prickly situation that was Lewis Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg in the middle of the last
• 4:04
  decade.
• 4:05
  They know how tough that is to manage.
• 4:07
  I'm sure there's a lot of learnings in that.
• 4:10
  What Antonelli did toward the end of this race he may not have had the weekend in Austria that his teammate George did but the tenacious way he raced toward the end there I think just what was the quote from Toto?
• 4:24
  I mean just to your point there, I think Toto said you can't accelerate a donkey but you can calm down a racehorse and I
• 4:32
  I thought that was awesome.
• 4:34
  Incredible use of the English language right there.
• 4:37
  You've got to appreciate that.
• 4:39
  And I tell you what else I was impressed with Kimi Antonelli was that he didn't put in a gigantic crazy lunge in those last few corners.
• 4:47
  I think sometimes young drivers in the heat of the moment
• 4:51
  when they know that they're trying to save championship points, can sometimes be prone to making big rush decisions, especially when fatigue is coming into play, which, again, I don't think is necessarily something we probably talk about enough when it comes to end of race, especially in races where the heat is on and these guys are losing basically kilograms in sweat.
• 5:09
  The fatigue that they are putting their bodies through and to still be making sound decisions going at the pace they're going at is truly remarkable.
• 5:18
  But I was impressed that he knew to stay measured and only go for that gap when it arrived.
• 5:23
  It didn't arrive, so he just took third place and only goes to the next race.
• 5:27
  the net result is that George does eat a little into Kimi's championship advantage, but it's not a massive enough dint at the moment.
• 5:34
  And you're right, he drove with a kind of eyes on the end of year prize in some respect.
• 5:39
  I thought that was really good.
• 5:41
  We'll come back to the McLaren Oscar thing in a moment.
• 5:44
  Were you surprised that George kept...
• 5:46
  The pole lap, I thought Sky's analysis of that was excellent and it kind of indicated things.
• 5:54
  George was A-OK.
• 5:55
  He did the right things under the rules.
• 5:57
  I know rival teams have talked about that since then.
• 6:02
  It does make you think that even with that little lift, because Verstappen had gone off, there were yellows in that final sector there.
• 6:10
  You know, if that hadn't been the case, the lap would have been even more impressive, wouldn't it?
• 6:15
  Yeah, 100%.
• 6:17
  And what I found really fascinating was watching his onboard footage as he was going past where Verstappen had had the incident.
• 6:25
  And I was scanning you looking for where Verstappen had gone off.
• 6:28
  And it was very, very difficult to see where that had happened when you were scanning, looking at that onboard footage.
• 6:35
  Look, I think, you know, the right decision was come to eventually.
• 6:39
  But, yeah, I mean, with that little lift, you'd think, you know, what a lap he was going to put in.
• 6:43
  So I think George deserved to take pole and indeed did.
• 6:48
  But, you know, everyone had their opportunities throughout the race, I think, to potentially make up ground and get a result.
• 6:55
  Quick thought on Ferrari.
• 6:57
  They rolled into this round of the championship on the high of what Lewis had done in Spain.
• 7:01
  I thought that was just an awesome story in the entirety of his Formula One career.
• 7:10
  They're talking, I think Fred Vasseur said it was more a pace scenario than strategic decisions necessarily in the race.
• 7:16
  What did you make of Ferrari's weekend in Austria?
• 7:19
  Yeah, I agree with you regarding Lewis's win a few weeks ago.
• 7:23
  That was just great for the sport, great for him, and I really enjoyed that looking on.
• 7:28
  Yeah, I think we all know that it's that straight-line speed that they lack a little bit compared to Mercedes.
• 7:35
  and I think that got found out a little bit here in Austria, and the concerns are obviously moving forward into other tracks where that's going to become a factor, and so last week the championship talks, a little premature perhaps, of the fact that they would be able to challenge.
• 7:53
  I think they will be there or thereabouts, but I can't see them taking advantage,
• 7:57
  the title of Mercedes as it currently stands, unless they bring in some serious upgrades in the back half of the year.
• 8:03
  I reckon you are not alone in that line of thinking.
• 8:06
  We still want to talk Oscar Piastri, McLaren, rumours, great performances by Liam Lawson and a whole lot more.
• 8:13
  But Matt, can we get you to hang on there for us for a little bit?
• 8:16
  Of course, Matt.
• 8:17
  Cool.
• 8:17
  More in a moment here on Rusty's Garage.
• 8:20
  Perhaps you are watching this via the Rusty's Garage YouTube channel or listening via any of the good podcast platforms.
• 8:25
  However you're tuning in, thank you.
• 8:26
  The motorsport brief will sometimes be topic or issues based where we explore that with an expert.
• 8:32
  It might be a short interview with an up-and-coming racer who still has plenty in the way of their own chapters to write in their racing careers or motorsport careers.
• 8:40
  And we'll also do them around key events along the way too, like we're doing with Formula One today.
• 8:45
  We did a
• 8:46
  Darwin supercars debrief recently that you might enjoy for example with Mark Winterbottom called in at the last minute as something of a super sub.
• 8:54
  Adrian Burgess, Stephen Grove, Bruce Stewart from Walkinshaw TWG and more.
• 8:59
  Let's get back to the F1 Convo now with Matt Hickey.
• 9:03
  You mentioned prior to the break around the Verstappen rumours kind of accelerating with McLaren again.
• 9:09
  It's not the first time that we've heard this, but I think the detail in this story now that you might want to expand on here is that it sounds as though the Verstappen camp were on the forward foot approaching McLaren about possibilities if they do exercise that clause in a few races' time.
• 9:27
  Yeah, they were the reports heading into this Austria weekend, and that clause that you mentioned, to my understanding, is if they aren't coming within the top two by mid-season break, there is an out clause for him heading into 2027.
• 9:42
  It's going to be fascinating.
• 9:44
  Obviously, McLaren, there's links there, multiple links there when it comes to Max Verstappen.
• 9:51
  And from an Australian point of view...
• 9:55
  I think that if that were to happen, Oscar Piastri is the one who will end up on the outer.
• 10:01
  I can't see McLaren and Zac Brown parting ways in any way, shape or form.
• 10:07
  with Lando Norris.
• 10:08
  There were some suggestions and rumors that also that Mark Webber's links to Red Bull, potentially there's some form of a straight swap there.
• 10:17
  I'm not sure how that goes about when it comes to contracts and things like that.
• 10:21
  It's not quite a trade period like we see in other sports, but that would most likely be the scenario if Max and McLaren came to some form of an agreement.
• 10:30
  It does.
• 10:31
  I mean, in the approaches that people have made to canvas this subject with Zac Brown, for example, he's been quick to point out that both the drivers are happy.
• 10:39
  I thought what Oscar did in the race again was another very impressive performance.
• 10:46
  I know you can join some dots around the idea of a straight swap and Mark's long kind of deep links with Red Bull and so on.
• 10:54
  And then on the flip side, as you detailed, the
• 10:56
  some of the engineering might that has come across from Red Bull to McLaren that would be tempting for the Verstappen camp.
• 11:03
  You do have to say that Max makes the difference there at Red Bull, doesn't he, at the moment?
• 11:09
  I know the pressure is on them to provide a better car and to do everything they possibly can to keep him in relation to that clause, but...
• 11:21
  So would McLaren part with its current pairing and bring Max in?
• 11:27
  I guess that's the bigger question, isn't it?
• 11:30
  Yeah, and look, we spoke a little earlier this year, I think, about the fact that I think it's time for people to stop...
• 11:38
  thinking that it is underperforming from Max's teammates instead of Max just completely overperforming and outperforming what the car is actually giving him.
• 11:47
  I think he is the difference as opposed to his teammate going back the other way.
• 11:53
  It would be very, very difficult.
• 11:55
  I mean, you put yourself in the shoes of any team principal on the grid
• 12:00
  And if Max Verstappen is available and knocking on your door, it is very, very difficult to knock back arguably someone who many regard will finish his career as a top three, top two, top one driver of all time, depending on how long that career goes for, which is a whole other conversation that we've touched on as well.
• 12:19
  It would be very, very hard to say no to him regardless of the driver pairing that you have.
• 12:23
  Yep.
• 12:23
  And what would Lando Norris want on the other side of the garage beside him?
• 12:28
  Would it be an Oscar Piastri preference or would he be prepared and keen to go with someone who's had a pretty good relationship with over the time, head to head with Max Verstappen?
• 12:38
  Yeah, I mean, look, to be honest, if you're thinking selfishly, I'm not sure if I really want Max Verstappen coming into the garage and being the big dog alpha that he is.
• 12:47
  But, you know, these guys are a competitive beast, so you've got to assume that Lando would just be up for anybody being on the other side of the grid and would be...
• 12:55
  backing himself in to beat him.
• 12:57
  Couple to wrap this up.
• 12:58
  Liam Lawson, I think, just keeps vindicating his position in the sport.
• 13:05
  I know there was a rumour in the days leading up to Austria around a potential replacement with a Formula 2 driver and so on, but he keeps delivering in a point sense and in the final part of qualifying as well in Austria.
• 13:22
  Good job.
• 13:23
  Yeah, 100%.
• 13:24
  I mean, fourth consecutive, I think, points finish for him.
• 13:27
  And you compare where he is now to what he was going through last year at about this same time.
• 13:33
  And, you know, that brutal start to 2025 that he had and being ditched out of the Red Bull seat.
• 13:39
  To be at the point now that he is, and there were some people at the start of the year saying that, you know, potentially he didn't deserve to be on the grid, which I thought was...
• 13:46
  a brutal assessment of a guy who's clearly shown that he's got the talent and the skill and now he's reaping the rewards and benefits of that hard work.
• 13:55
  And being pushed by a young teammate in Arvid Lindblad who competed in our part of the world in the last 12 months and we realized he was pretty special when we saw him do that in New Zealand.
• 14:05
  Just a few general subjects, Cadillac, both cars retiring, what do we make of the newest player on the grid and how things are going there?
• 14:15
  Yeah, it's really tough, isn't it?
• 14:17
  It's tough to watch, and I don't think anybody wants to see this.
• 14:19
  I think it's the third consecutive DNF for Valtteri Bottas as a driver as well.
• 14:25
  I saw some comments from Sergio Perez that said, you know, he was in a fight with the Williams.
• 14:29
  They were actually able to basically pass cars, which, you know, has been rare for them at this point of the season.
• 14:35
  and it's a shame as well because you don't get to see the full effect of the upgrade.
• 14:38
  So I think they brought some upgrades to the Red Bull ring, and because you have these reliability issues, you don't actually get to see the fruits of your labor come to fruition on the track.
• 14:49
  So got some things to work out.
• 14:51
  I think they'll be hoping, you know, the mid-season break, they'll be itching for that and just to get some things right heading into the back half of the season.
• 14:58
  But I think they've done a lot of things right, Cadillac.
• 15:01
  It's just at the moment they've found themselves in a bit of a tough patch.
• 15:04
  Can we finish with the top man in the FIA and the talk around extending term limits and all that sort of stuff?
• 15:12
  I think a lot of people would probably have preferred that democracy and rules stay as they are and that we have a bit of variety in that position.
• 15:23
  What do you make of all that?
• 15:25
  Oh, it's a bit of a theme around the world at the moment, Russell, isn't it?
• 15:28
  We won't dive too much into what's happening away from the racetrack in terms of politics.
• 15:33
  But look, it's so much at play when it comes to this type of thing.
• 15:40
  It'll be intriguing to see how it plays out.
• 15:42
  It's so hard to know what's going on behind those closed doors and where it'll end up.
• 15:46
  At the moment, in terms of where the sport's at, I don't think people will have too many complaints in terms of the position it's at in the global landscape.
• 15:55
  And so, you know, let's see how it plays out and what happens.
• 15:58
  Written, spoken and authorised by Matt Hickey.
• 16:00
  I love that.
• 16:01
  British Grand Prix this weekend, mate.
• 16:03
  And, I mean, I know there was that little sprinkle of a rumour about would Lewis Hamilton pull up stumps at his home race and call time and so on, given the win recently.
• 16:16
  don't know that i think that will um be likely to happen and then you know what chance of a of a home race win for the british contingent do you reckon yeah i think after that win especially there would be very little chance that lewis hamilton will uh will do that but you know they've got some great options in terms of coming through and taking victory of course george russell will probably be the leading favorite of the of the home group when it comes to potentially winning the race but
• 16:42
  It's just one of the great, great weekends on the F1 calendar.
• 16:45
  The fans turn out in their droves.
• 16:48
  In terms of the fan attendance, it reminds me a little bit of what we get here in Australia for the Melbourne Grand Prix and just the history as well of that racetrack.
• 16:57
  I can't wait.
• 16:57
  It's always great racing too.
• 16:59
  Lastly, what have you been working on at Code Sports?
• 17:02
  Anything in the pipeline we should be keeping an eye out for a read-off?
• 17:05
  Oh, there's always plenty going on in the pipeline, of course.
• 17:08
  The FIFA World Cup is taking a lot of attention at the moment, so we're getting behind the Socceroos, but continuing with all the great coverage of F1 supercars and everything motorsport as well, and then the Comm Games just around the corner too.
• 17:22
  Who would have thought Mark Beretta would be the peacemaker between Mark Scaife and Charlie Schwerkold?
• 17:27
  Hey, nice work by Beretts at his birthday party, bringing all of that lot together.
• 17:30
  You can find out more and follow all the great stories at Code Sports.
• 17:34
  Give Murph a pat for us, mate.
• 17:35
  Thank you for coming on today.
• 17:37
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 17:38
  Will do, mate.
• 17:39
  There you go.
• 17:39
  That is it for today.
• 17:40
  If you have a short cast idea, let me know on social media.
• 17:43
  Hit us up there.
• 17:44
  We had one recently from a listener wanting to know more about the business side of supercars.
• 17:49
  So leave that one with me.
• 17:50
  And I've had an interesting one come up in recent time about a motorsport admin platform that works for all kinds of disciplines, not just circuit racing.
• 17:58
  And Aussie innovation making waves internationally too.
• 18:01
  Enjoy the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend, everybody.
• 18:04
  We'll catch you next week.
• 18:05
  Bye for now.