Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Formula Fanatics #9 - Summer Break, Silly Season and the Second Half!

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Formula Fanatics #9 - Summer Break, Silly Season and the Second Half! · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:02
  Welcome to Formula Fanatics, the high octane sub-series of Break Fix
• 0:06
  Podcast's drive-through motorsports news.
• 0:08
  This is your pit stop for all things Formula 1, from breaking
• 0:12
  headlines and race recaps to insider analysis and paddock buzz.
• 0:16
  Whether you're a diehard Tifoso, a Red Bull loyalist, or just love the
• 0:20
  thrill of wheel-to-wheel racing, we've got you covered with up-to-date
• 0:23
  F1 news delivered at full throttle.
• 0:25
  Strap in, because the lights are out and we're underway.
• 0:28
  This is Formula Fanatics.
• 0:40
  All right.
• 0:41
  Formula, ugh.
• 0:47
  There's a lot to cover.
• 0:48
  I mean, the silly season, right?
• 0:50
  It's so silly, silly, silliness.
• 0:52
  Although, I was trying to keep track of all this stuff.
• 0:54
  We're gonna talk about the silly season stuff as we go along here.
• 0:56
  I didn't see too many crazy things.
• 0:58
  Maybe Tanya, you found some other information.
• 1:01
  But I wanna start out by talking about an article I read.
• 1:05
  Somebody said that Russell's problem, put air quotes around that, Russell's
• 1:10
  problem, one of many I, I would assume, is that Mercedes is using
• 1:16
  onboard AI to learn his driving habits.
• 1:21
  This goes back to our drive through episode.
• 1:22
  We were talking about the transmission learning how you drive, right?
• 1:24
  So we got this AI learning how Russell drives, and it was improperly learning
• 1:30
  his turbo mushroom deployment, and was using all of his energy at the
• 1:35
  beginning of the lap, leaving him with next to nothing at the end of a lap.
• 1:39
  Was it improperly learning his turbo mushroom technique, or was he
• 1:44
  improperly using- The turbo mushroom.
• 1:47
  A little of A, a little of B. Just saying.
• 1:52
  I'm gonna assume Mercedes Formula 1 AI is probably slightly better than ChatGPT,
• 1:59
  but- May- maybe they're using ChatGPT.
• 2:02
  Maybe that's the problem.
• 2:03
  I'm also gonna assume that Kimi doesn't have the same problem.
• 2:06
  Are they not using AI on his car?
• 2:09
  Is he using a different turbo mushroom?
• 2:11
  He's using his foot.
• 2:13
  He's a using a turbo foot.
• 2:17
  I feel like this whole month, not having a Formula 1 race was really weird.
• 2:21
  It's always like that.
• 2:23
  I need my fix, even though I hate- It's always like that … I kinda
• 2:26
  hate it, but I kinda want it, and it's just like I was having withdrawals.
• 2:29
  Like, I need an F1 race in August.
• 2:31
  It's this weekend.
• 2:33
  Well, we'll talk about that on the next episode.
• 2:35
  Uh, since we're talking about the schedule, you and I were discussing
• 2:39
  the difference between the Spain Grand Prix and the Madrid Grand Prix.
• 2:44
  Were we?
• 2:45
  And they are not the same thing.
• 2:47
  They are not at the same location.
• 2:49
  So we got two races in Spain.
• 2:51
  When?
• 2:52
  This year.
• 2:54
  But it sort of begs the question, why not a German Grand
• 2:57
  Prix or a French Grand Prix?
• 2:59
  Imola was also dropped from the race schedule this year.
• 3:03
  Why not go back to Portugal?
• 3:04
  I love that track.
• 3:05
  Right?
• 3:06
  That track with that banked turn, that track was awesome.
• 3:09
  But anyway, Tanya, go ahead.
• 3:10
  So the previous Spanish Grand Prix, which was in Barcelona, Catalunya- Yeah … was
• 3:17
  still on the schedule this year, but apparently is going into a rotation.
• 3:21
  So now the new track in Madrid, the Madring, will be
• 3:24
  the Spanish GP going forward.
• 3:27
  There will only be one.
• 3:28
  Oh, okay.
• 3:29
  Presumably.
• 3:30
  I'm not sure what the rotation is gonna be.
• 3:33
  Oh, so they're dropping Catalunya?
• 3:35
  Sounds like it.
• 3:36
  That's sad.
• 3:37
  That is sad, 'cause that's a great F1 track, so I don't
• 3:40
  know why they would do that.
• 3:41
  It's weird.
• 3:41
  But I mean, they dropped Imola this year, too, so makes no sense either.
• 3:44
  Big boo on that one.
• 3:46
  Yeah, why not drop Monza?
• 3:48
  Uh, yeah, Monza's kind of boring.
• 3:49
  Although, but Monza's one of those just, it is one of the original F1 tracks,
• 3:54
  so it's sort of hard to be like, "Well, we're not gonna run there anymore." I've
• 3:57
  heard that the German Grand Prix could be held at the Nürburgring circuit,
• 4:02
  but could also be held at Hockenheim.
• 4:04
  But I had heard that the Hockenheim circuit, which they used forever,
• 4:07
  has also fallen into disrepair.
• 4:09
  But there's word that they're gonna dump a bunch of money into, like, rehabbing
• 4:12
  it, and it may be coming back to the Formula 1 schedule in the future.
• 4:15
  So maybe we'll have a German Grand Prix.
• 4:18
  Wow.
• 4:18
  So hold on a sec. Let's back up the train for a second.
• 4:20
  Go ahead.
• 4:20
  'Cause I did not know this.
• 4:22
  So if I'm reading this correctly, we are losing Spa.
• 4:27
  What?
• 4:28
  Because they are gonna alternate with Barcelona.
• 4:32
  What?
• 4:33
  So there will be odd years, apparently, Spa will have a race, and then even
• 4:38
  years, Barcelona's gonna have a race.
• 4:40
  All so we can have the Madrid ring.
• 4:43
  Oh, God.
• 4:45
  At least until 2032, apparently.
• 4:46
  That is the- Until 2032 … that is the current agreement on rotation.
• 4:52
  Hmm.
• 4:52
  I wonder what the back history on Spa losing would be.
• 4:55
  That's another one like Monza, where it's like, why would you
• 4:58
  ever remove that from the schedule?
• 5:00
  Interesting.
• 5:01
  But Budapest, on the other hand
• 5:21
  What a, this, I, I labeled this the race of many pit stops.
• 5:26
  They were constantly pitting, constantly- Mm … constantly pitting.
• 5:29
  Every three minutes it was like every- somebody's in for a pit stop.
• 5:32
  Like, the tires just were not holding up.
• 5:35
  Yes, Hammy was fifth, Kimi started seventh, Norris, Leclerc, Piastri,
• 5:39
  Verstappen was the starting order.
• 5:41
  Alonso had his upgrades, start 16th.
• 5:44
  Stroll not so much.
• 5:45
  Speaking of Stroll, I want to quickly talk about your favorite Formula 1
• 5:49
  driver, Brad, before we continue, because this came up after the Budapest race.
• 5:54
  Lance Stroll 2026 recap.
• 5:59
  But none of it's his fault, remember?
• 6:00
  None of it's his fault.
• 6:01
  Okay.
• 6:02
  Most losery loser driver of all time.
• 6:06
  Like, why do they keep this guy on the payroll?
• 6:09
  Oh, I know why.
• 6:09
  I think we know why.
• 6:10
  'Cause his daddy signs the payroll.
• 6:12
  Nepo baby.
• 6:13
  Yeah, that's it.
• 6:14
  There it is.
• 6:15
  I mean, that's the harsh reality.
• 6:16
  Some people are out there trying to defend this man, and obviously he made it through
• 6:20
  F3 and F2 and blah, blah, blah, and fine, so obviously he has a capacity to drive.
• 6:26
  But the reality is, if he was on any other team or his father was not
• 6:30
  somehow there, this dude would've been gone years ago already.
• 6:34
  Yeah, he had the skill to get there.
• 6:36
  We, I think we can all agree on that, but he does not have the skill to stay there.
• 6:40
  And some people find that out.
• 6:41
  They're not quite cut out for whatever happens when they get to Formula 1,
• 6:46
  they're just not as cut out for it.
• 6:48
  Yeah.
• 6:49
  I mean, the, the most, the, the… I mean, we can talk about numerous drivers, but
• 6:52
  I would say I feel Mick Schumacher has more of a, a reason to be there than Lance
• 6:59
  Stroll- Well, he has a reason- … on the track … to be in IndyCar with
• 7:01
  Sonoda now, so it's all good, you know?
• 7:02
  Yeah.
• 7:03
  He's got it all figured out.
• 7:04
  So Audi starts 10th and 14th.
• 7:07
  Piastri takes the lead right away.
• 7:09
  Russell drops to 20th because of his anti-stall problem, so I
• 7:13
  was cheering massively for that.
• 7:16
  Well, it's because of his AI.
• 7:17
  Is that what… Yeah, it was his AI that told him that he needed to stay parked
• 7:22
  instead of taking off on the race track.
• 7:24
  Maybe he, he got Lance Stroll's AI, I think is the problem.
• 7:27
  Maybe he got Kimi's car.
• 7:28
  They switched.
• 7:29
  Toto switched them at the last minute.
• 7:31
  Kimi's had all those terrible starts.
• 7:33
  You know, maybe that's, that's what they did.
• 7:35
  Lap seven, Verstappen starts complaining about the car.
• 7:38
  We had a debate about whether or not the wings are programmed to open and
• 7:43
  close at specific intervals and parts of the track, or are the drivers actually
• 7:48
  controlling when the wings open and close?
• 7:51
  We know this whole mechanism was designed to replace DRS and KERS and
• 7:55
  all that stuff we've had over the years.
• 7:57
  I have a feeling that it would be too much for the drivers to control the
• 8:01
  wings opening and closing and rotating and all the stuff that they do.
• 8:05
  I think they are controlled by the computers.
• 8:07
  Could they be passive and be controlled by something the driver does indirectly?
• 8:12
  The other thought I had was the driver can open them, but there's probably sensors on
• 8:17
  the track that say, "This is the one, when the wings have to close," because aren't
• 8:21
  there those zones, like the DRS zones?
• 8:23
  So according to our AI overlords, they can manually trigger both
• 8:29
  the opening of the front and rear wings in the designated areas.
• 8:33
  So they manually activate them- In a straight line, but the wings will
• 8:37
  automatically shut when they, they either lift or they hit the brakes.
• 8:41
  Okay.
• 8:42
  There, there it is.
• 8:43
  Okay, so this was, again, the race of pit stops.
• 8:46
  I wrote down stuff like Hammy pits on lap 14, he goes from softs to hards, and
• 8:51
  Max goes from mediums to hards, and then there's all a bunch of Hammy and Max.
• 8:55
  While, meanwhile, Bottas, there's lots of smoke from the brakes.
• 8:58
  He retired the car on lap 15, so I yelled, "Dura last, built to go last," you know,
• 9:02
  all that kind of stuff, as per usual.
• 9:04
  You could literally see the brakes were on fire again in the Cadillac.
• 9:07
  I don't know what they're doing with that thing.
• 9:09
  It is not working out for them.
• 9:11
  I don't know why I wrote, "Hajar," and then, "Boo." And then Kimi
• 9:14
  was on a one stop, question mark.
• 9:16
  And then, and suddenly he pits on lap 23 for hards.
• 9:19
  He goes down six positions, and he's ahead of Russell in the pits, who's at ninth.
• 9:25
  Bunch of pit stops.
• 9:26
  Like, you can read all my notes if you want to, but basically the
• 9:30
  funniest things that happened were Piastri made contact with Sainz at
• 9:33
  one point, and the announcers were like, "Carlos, get out of the way."
• 9:37
  What a backmarker.
• 9:38
  That Williams is terrible.
• 9:39
  Which it started the season better, I thought.
• 9:42
  Yes.
• 9:43
  Again, more pit stops, more pit stops, more pit stops, more pit stops.
• 9:47
  Leclerc is trying to find the rhythm, so I started thinking about, like-
• 9:51
  It is the rhythm of the night.
• 9:53
  I was thinking Gloria Estefan, right?
• 9:55
  Oh.
• 9:56
  Then there's a issue with Perez in the Cadillac.
• 9:59
  Something starts flapping on the suspension, so
• 10:01
  there's a white flag moment.
• 10:02
  And then more pit stops, more pit stops, more pit stops.
• 10:06
  Piastri loses the gearbox.
• 10:07
  Did he find it?
• 10:08
  Hammy avoids some penalties and some other shit, and then in the end,
• 10:12
  after all this- Audi scores points.
• 10:15
  Yeah, whatever.
• 10:16
  Audi scores points, blah.
• 10:19
  After all this stuff, Russell's in the back, Kimi's got a start penalty and
• 10:23
  he's fighting his way, and Hammy, and Verstappen with the tires, and all this,
• 10:26
  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 10:27
  And it was, it wasn't a very good race.
• 10:29
  And maybe that's because our reigning champion was finally at the front.
• 10:35
  They, like, uncorked the McLaren.
• 10:37
  Lando was out to prove something.
• 10:39
  They were even telling him he needed to just relax and calm down.
• 10:42
  He was pushing too hard at one point.
• 10:44
  Up until this point, even that last race, we were like, "Man, Lando
• 10:48
  hasn't amounted to nothing. He isn't gonna do anything, score any points."
• 10:51
  And boom, Budapest, Lando wins the race.
• 10:54
  First race he's won this year, and I'm just like, "Oh, man." So end
• 10:59
  of the race was Lando, Verstappen, Kimi, and Leclerc, and then Hammy.
• 11:04
  That's the top five.
• 11:05
  Russell clawed his way back up to seventh place.
• 11:09
  Because of all this pit stop nonsense and this and that, he just kind
• 11:12
  of stayed out as long as he could.
• 11:14
  And to Tanya's point, Audi in ninth and 11th, scoring points.
• 11:17
  And Aston, Aston with their mods, 13th and 14th.
• 11:21
  Can you believe it?
• 11:22
  What a messed up- No Did you watch it, Brad?
• 11:25
  Did you even, did you even bother to watch it?
• 11:27
  Yes, I watched it.
• 11:28
  But I just don't remember anything about it.
• 11:30
  It was like a month ago.
• 11:31
  Lord.
• 11:31
  As, as, yeah, as we're looking through your notes, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, yeah,
• 11:34
  that did happen. Oh, yeah, yeah, that did happen. Oh, yeah, yeah, that did
• 11:36
  happen." I like a dramatic headline as much as everybody else, so just
• 11:40
  to celebrate Audi just a little bit.
• 11:42
  This isn't really dramatic.
• 11:44
  It's factual.
• 11:44
  No, but if you read it in a Jeremy Clarkson-like dramatic
• 11:47
  voice, it becomes dramatic.
• 11:49
  Audi F1 scores points for the third straight race, as Hulkenberg-
• 11:53
  That's not Jeremy Clarkson.
• 11:55
  That is William Shatner.
• 11:56
  That's Jeremy, Jeremy Shatner.
• 11:58
  Jeremy Shatner.
• 12:01
  Yeah, I did, I did channel my inner Captain Kirk there.
• 12:03
  But Okay, great.
• 12:06
  You scored points for the third time out of how many races?
• 12:09
  Does it matter?
• 12:10
  How many points does Cadillac?
• 12:12
  Zero points.
• 12:13
  How many points does Aston have?
• 12:15
  Yeah.
• 12:16
  Okay.
• 12:16
  How many points has Williams gotten?
• 12:17
  Fine.
• 12:18
  Fine.
• 12:19
  Fine.
• 12:19
  But I wanna point something out, because this other article, propaganda, from
• 12:24
  Audi came out talking about Binotto.
• 12:26
  Like, you know, there's a great picture of Egon here.
• 12:28
  "Audi's debut is on track, but the job is far from finished," blah, blah, blah.
• 12:32
  Yeah.
• 12:32
  You read all this BS, and basically he says the goal is to
• 12:39
  fight for championships by 2030.
• 12:43
  Okay.
• 12:43
  They won't even be a team by 2030.
• 12:45
  That's what I'm saying.
• 12:47
  This is the biggest bunch of malarkey I've ever read, and they
• 12:52
  keep putting stuff out like this.
• 12:53
  "We're gonna be at the front." Yeah, because nobody else is gonna
• 12:56
  be driving in Formula 1 in 2030.
• 12:57
  You know, like, come on.
• 12:59
  Garbage.
• 13:00
  They're gonna find another sponsor to buy the Sauber team.
• 13:03
  Correct.
• 13:04
  They're manifesting their destiny, okay?
• 13:07
  It's called manifesting.
• 13:09
  That's not part of my, how I, car culture.
• 13:11
  Sorry.
• 13:12
  No, that doesn't work.
• 13:13
  You, uh, you don't manifest in Formula- What do you want them to say?
• 13:16
  "We're gonna be fighting for last position, trying to out-best
• 13:20
  Cadillac for 19th and 20th.
• 13:23
  That's what we're gonna do." "We're just here to spend Volkswagen's money."
• 13:27
  That's what they should be saying, right?
• 13:29
  And what was all that stuff about Alan McNish?
• 13:31
  We haven't heard hide or hair of him.
• 13:33
  Like, wasn't he supposed to be the new team principal?
• 13:35
  What is going on?
• 13:36
  Whatever.
• 13:36
  Who cares?
• 13:37
  It's Audi.
• 13:38
  They're never gonna be better than where they are.
• 13:40
  That's pretty much it.
• 13:41
  Because unless they start spending Red Bull money or they start spending Ferrari
• 13:44
  money, it's not gonna happen, right?
• 13:46
  Agreed.
• 13:46
  So they're always just gonna be Sauber at the end of the day, and it's a middling
• 13:50
  team and, and that's the end of that.
• 13:51
  Now, what would suck is that this new Aston, if they get their
• 13:55
  stuff together, but they still have two strikes against them.
• 13:57
  They got, like, geriatric Alonso, and they got Lance Stroll behind the wheel.
• 14:02
  If they had decent drivers, maybe the Astons will get better, especially
• 14:06
  if they keep making improvements.
• 14:08
  So if the Astons get better and Audi starts getting beaten by them, let's
• 14:11
  just assume it's Lance and Alonso, why would Audi even bother staying?
• 14:16
  They're a one-hit wonder, and they never got a hit.
• 14:19
  That's what's gonna happen to them.
• 14:21
  I g- just my crystal ball.
• 14:23
  Woo, woo.
• 14:25
  One year.
• 14:26
  Two max.
• 14:27
  One year, two max.
• 14:29
  They won't make it past their second year if they do stay next year.
• 14:32
  That's all I'm saying about that.
• 14:33
  Outtie.
• 14:34
  And where's Cadillac going?
• 14:35
  Cadillac's going down the drain.
• 14:37
  We gonna go back to 10 teams?
• 14:40
  That's the funny part, too, because we questioned that from the beginning.
• 14:43
  Why is Cadillac going to Formula 1?
• 14:45
  It doesn't make any sense.
• 14:45
  Like, Cadillac, old, stodgy Luxo boats.
• 14:49
  Like, what are we doing here, guys?
• 14:50
  Like, yeah, you did Le Mans, all this stuff.
• 14:52
  So apparently, Cadillac is one of the GM brands, I heard this from
• 14:57
  somebody else with some authority, that said that basically they're
• 15:00
  not interested in their past.
• 15:02
  They're trying to rewrite their future.
• 15:04
  They wanna be Pontiac.
• 15:05
  They wanna be what Pontiac was supposed to be, like the hot brand that's cutting
• 15:09
  edge, that's a little outside the normal, you know, Chevy Cavalier and Equinox kind
• 15:14
  of stuff, and they wanna be cool, and so racing is cool, and that's Cadillac now.
• 15:20
  So we're not worried about the DeVilles and the STS's and the
• 15:23
  Eldorado's of… That's not Cadillac.
• 15:25
  We don't know what that is.
• 15:27
  I don't even go there with this.
• 15:29
  So I see them in here, and I go, "You're so competitive in Hypercar whatever-
• 15:37
  And so you have all this knowledge And you suck wind in Formula 1.
• 15:41
  And more relevant knowledge at this point arguably than Audi, because
• 15:45
  Audi also raced with the R8s and all those, and the TDI thing and all
• 15:52
  that, and they were very competitive.
• 15:53
  But that was many, many years ago, and they really haven't been in the
• 15:56
  scene at this level for a long time.
• 15:58
  So it's like, I don't even care about the Cadillac Eldorado bullshit.
• 16:03
  Who gives a shit?
• 16:04
  It's like you have current racing technology, and advancements,
• 16:09
  and, and engineers, and then you're sucking ass over here.
• 16:13
  Like, you're… Are you bringing none of that knowledge?
• 16:15
  Or, "Hey, wow, Formula 1 is very different." It is, and what I think
• 16:20
  it is is in WEC, that Hypercar, LMP1 class, GTP, whatever you wanna call it,
• 16:27
  they have more liberty to do whatever they want until they get caught.
• 16:32
  Because that was… Even Audi back in the day, like, when they did the
• 16:35
  whole, "We can change the engine and the rear end in three minutes and then
• 16:39
  put the car back on track," and it's still considered that we didn't…
• 16:41
  You know, we weren't out, and we never lost.
• 16:43
  You remember all that stuff with the R8 back in the day, and all
• 16:46
  the revolution, bringing diesel to Le Mans, all this kind of stuff.
• 16:49
  They were pushing the boundary like Lotus did.
• 16:51
  It was one of those sort of like, "We're gonna do it until
• 16:53
  somebody tells us not to."
• 16:55
  And Cadillac the same.
• 16:56
  In GTP, they just unveiled the new GTP car for Cadillac.
• 17:00
  I forget what it's called.
• 17:01
  The something V1 or something like that.
• 17:04
  It's super cool, and it's very futuristic, and it might win
• 17:06
  Le Mans next year, whatever.
• 17:08
  But that technology can't come to Formula 1, because Formula 1 is a prescribed
• 17:14
  formula that they have to follow.
• 17:17
  So they can't- Okay, but- And I don't wanna say that they're, they're
• 17:19
  cheating, but they can't push the boundary and come up with something
• 17:22
  so unique and different, because the FIA is just gonna say, "Rip that shit
• 17:26
  out." They're not pushing anything.
• 17:27
  Might as well take a goddamn Cadillac Eldorado and put it on a track.
• 17:30
  It'd have more reliability than these… I'm sorry.
• 17:32
  Audi designed their own engine, and they're running in the middle of the pack.
• 17:36
  Cadillac, you don't know how to design an engine?
• 17:38
  What the fuck engine are you using?
• 17:39
  'Cause those things are slow AF.
• 17:41
  Even when their brakes aren't catching on fire and the suspension
• 17:43
  is exploding, okay, they're slow.
• 17:47
  They're slower than the Astons.
• 17:49
  Ferrari power plant.
• 17:54
  But like, i- isn't it, like, last year's Ferrari power plant?
• 17:56
  Did Ferrari give them a power plant from 25 years ago?
• 18:00
  They never give the current technology.
• 18:03
  I mean, of course they're not gonna give the same- So I think they
• 18:06
  gave, like, last year's power plant.
• 18:07
  Yeah, but that should still be better than- Yeah
• 18:10
  what they're doing.
• 18:11
  Yeah.
• 18:11
  Like, something fundamentally is, like, wrong with Cadillac.
• 18:19
  Perez and Bottas aren't doing them any favors either, so it's like, oh my God.
• 18:24
  It's probably collusion, 'cause nobody wanted them in
• 18:26
  a, in Formula 1 to begin with.
• 18:28
  I said it, and everybody's like, "No, no, no, no." It's a
• 18:31
  team made up of hand-me-downs.
• 18:33
  Lord knows where they got the chassis from.
• 18:35
  We know the engine came from Ferrari, which was probably a
• 18:37
  junkyard motor, like you said.
• 18:39
  Like, all this kind of stuff.
• 18:40
  And who knows?
• 18:41
  If Andretti's behind the scenes and they still got this whole
• 18:44
  anti-Andretti thing going on, the cards are stacked against them.
• 18:47
  So they're another one that I'm like, are you gonna do a Haas and, like, suck
• 18:52
  for 10 years and then be marginally middle of the pack after 10 years?
• 18:57
  Or… My, my slight against Audi is with all of Audi's brainpower and all
• 19:03
  of their winning-ness and motorsports heritage and all, going back to the
• 19:07
  beginning of car dom in general, when you go back to the Silver Arrows, they suck.
• 19:12
  They should be doing better than they are.
• 19:14
  They are not doing any better than when it was just Sauber by itself.
• 19:18
  That's, I think, to Brad's point about teams that are just sort of
• 19:21
  there to be there, like Sauber and Williams are those two token teams
• 19:25
  that are just middle of the road.
• 19:27
  They're there because of their legacy.
• 19:30
  They're just gonna be what they're gonna be.
• 19:31
  They're never gonna be any better than, than what they already are
• 19:34
  And unfortunately, with Bortleien and Hülkenberg, they're not gonna
• 19:39
  get any higher up than they are.
• 19:41
  Unless everybody in front of them wrecks, there is no chance Audi's gonna podium.
• 19:46
  I think that's also part of the problem is their drivers.
• 19:48
  But isn't that the whole point of silly season?
• 19:50
  Shouldn't we be hearing something about Hülkenberg?
• 19:53
  If I was Audi, I would not be renewing his contract, and I don't know that I'd
• 19:56
  be re- renewing Bortoleto's contract.
• 19:58
  I don't know.
• 19:59
  They should be getting better drivers.
• 20:01
  I heard teases about Carlos talking to Red Bull, which is all BS, probably
• 20:06
  left over from a couple years ago.
• 20:08
  I would almost take Carlos to Audi.
• 20:11
  I heard that, actually, at one point, those two words put together.
• 20:16
  But Max has resigned his contract with Red Bull.
• 20:19
  He's staying there, and there's no way, Isaac, they're
• 20:21
  kicking him to the curb yet.
• 20:23
  Red Bull's full.
• 20:24
  What's going on with this upcoming race that they're sitting him out and putting
• 20:27
  Tsunoda in the car for the first time?
• 20:28
  He's sick.
• 20:29
  Broke his wrist.
• 20:30
  Yeah, he- he- he's injured.
• 20:31
  Doing what?
• 20:32
  This is what you get- He's injured
• 20:34
  going on vacation.
• 20:35
  He has an, he has an injury, so that's why he's getting subbed out.
• 20:38
  It's not for his performance.
• 20:39
  Yeah.
• 20:39
  He can't drive.
• 20:41
  He's been doing better.
• 20:42
  I mean, I got to give Hajar credit.
• 20:43
  I mean, he is doing a lot better.
• 20:45
  Audi, whatever.
• 20:47
  We'll, we'll see what happens there.
• 20:48
  But I wanted to take a break before we talk about some of the more silly
• 20:53
  season stuff that I came across.
• 20:56
  I actually watched a Formula E race.
• 21:03
  Because there was no Formula 1 to watch, I watched a Formula E race.
• 21:07
  Have you guys watched a Formula 1 E race?
• 21:09
  I didn't know it was still a thing.
• 21:11
  Yes, it's still a, very much a thing.
• 21:14
  First one I stumbled across, I watched the Tokyo race, which happened to
• 21:18
  be at the end of July, and then there's obviously races after that.
• 21:21
  The Formula E is a FIA sanction.
• 21:24
  Same production value as Formula 1, so y- when you watch it, it feels very
• 21:30
  comfortable, it feels very normal.
• 21:32
  Like, the announcers are different, you know, the way they shoot
• 21:35
  things and the way they do things, it's all very just Formula 1.
• 21:39
  So that was fine.
• 21:41
  A lot of the drivers aren't as well known, like, you know, a Max
• 21:44
  Verstappen or a Lewis Hamilton.
• 21:46
  Like, those guys don't run in Formula E. But there are some of the WEC guys
• 21:49
  that run there, like Buemi runs in Formula E. Like, he does production cars.
• 21:54
  You know, you've seen his name, Ferrari, Porsches, whatever,
• 21:57
  whatever, whatever, right?
• 21:58
  So I thought that was interesting.
• 21:59
  I was like, "Oh, there's an interesting cross-section of drivers in Formula E."
• 22:03
  The races are short.
• 22:04
  It's like a Formula 1 sprint race, which is actually kind of nice, 'cause I
• 22:07
  don't know that I can stand to listen to those things for more than th- 33 laps.
• 22:12
  The cars themselves do not look like Formula 1 cars.
• 22:16
  They look like something out of Forza or Gran Turismo, you know, like the
• 22:20
  wacky Formula 1 Hot Wheels-looking things that are in Gran Turismo?
• 22:24
  That's what the Formula E cars look like.
• 22:26
  And the brands do not overlap with Formula 1.
• 22:30
  You've got Nissan, Porsche, Volkswagen Money in Formula E, Renault,
• 22:36
  Jaguar, Skoda, more Volkswagen Money in Formula E, and it goes on
• 22:41
  and on and on from there, right?
• 22:43
  They do have something similar to Formula 1, where they push the
• 22:48
  button and the turbo mushroom.
• 22:49
  They call it attack mode, which I thought was hilarious.
• 22:52
  I am not sure if the car is regen, but they are definitely much slower.
• 22:56
  Like, top speed, buck 20, buck 30 at best.
• 23:01
  But the sound, it's like…
• 23:05
  I mean, if you've ever ridden in an electric go-kart,
• 23:07
  they sound exactly the same.
• 23:10
  The racing is a lot tighter and a lot closer, but it's also, like, super boring.
• 23:16
  It's, it's this weird dichotomy.
• 23:18
  That's the word I wanna use for it.
• 23:20
  It, it's everything and nothing at the same time, and if that's the future of
• 23:23
  racing, uh, I'ma cancel my subscription.
• 23:27
  So I highly recommend you watch a Formula E race.
• 23:29
  Mm. Okay?
• 23:30
  Clearly.
• 23:31
  Maybe I'll watch Formula E again next August when there's no racing going on.
• 23:36
  That'll be, I'll, my once a year thing is to watch Formula E. All right,
• 23:40
  so some silly season stuff that I read, if we wanna dive into that.
• 23:45
  Alonso reportedly agreed to stay with Aston.
• 23:49
  He wants $40 million per year through 2028.
• 23:54
  That would increase his base pay by $10 million, but it's contingent
• 23:58
  upon an engine upgrade for the car going into next season.
• 24:02
  So he obviously wants the Aston to be able to score more points.
• 24:06
  I mentioned earlier the German GP might return to Hockenheim because
• 24:11
  the facility is dumping $250 million into it to bring it back up to spec.
• 24:15
  Formula 1 has said it is on the radar, so that's interesting.
• 24:19
  We'll have to see how that plays out schedule-wise.
• 24:21
  I also wanted to bring up this, 'cause Tanya sent me this picture.
• 24:25
  We know that Barilla is a sponsor of Formula 1, and has been in the past.
• 24:30
  There was even part of the family that raced in Formula 1 back in the day.
• 24:35
  But this Formula 1 wheel pasta, would you eat this?
• 24:39
  I have.
• 24:39
  I did.
• 24:40
  Wait, what?
• 24:41
  You did, you bought it?
• 24:42
  Yes, I did.
• 24:43
  That's gotta be terrible.
• 24:45
  No, actually, they cooked very well.
• 24:47
  Really?
• 24:47
  Because normally those weird-shaped pastas do not cook well.
• 24:51
  No, I made a pasta salad with it.
• 24:53
  Not gonna say that that was the best shape maybe for a pasta salad,
• 24:56
  but that's what I did with it.
• 24:58
  Wait, wait, wait.
• 24:58
  So you had Formula 1 pasta salad?
• 25:00
  Yes.
• 25:01
  What did you put in there?
• 25:03
  Pasta.
• 25:03
  Vegetables.
• 25:05
  Oh, I thought… Okay.
• 25:06
  What'd you think I put in?
• 25:07
  What's more exciting, Tanya's pasta salad or Formula E?
• 25:10
  I'm trying to figure it out now.
• 25:12
  Tanya's pasta salad.
• 25:13
  I could do a whole segment on- … ooh.
• 25:16
  No, there, there's already somebody that does that.
• 25:18
  Never mind.
• 25:19
  Yep.
• 25:20
  All right.
• 25:20
  So rounding out other fun facts and silly season rumors, Russell got engaged.
• 25:29
  Oh, God.
• 25:30
  I'm gonna say that again.
• 25:32
  George Russell got engaged.
• 25:34
  To himself?
• 25:35
  Shoe from your foot.
• 25:38
  Did he get engaged to the mirror?
• 25:39
  No, there were pictures of them.
• 25:41
  I don't remember her name.
• 25:42
  Armin.
• 25:42
  She's, like, blonde or whatever, but I, I saw the- Armin
• 25:45
  pictures online, and yeah.
• 25:46
  Was he wearing a blonde wig in the mirror?
• 25:48
  The eyelashes.
• 25:50
  Oh, it's Big Bird and Snuffy.
• 25:55
  Snuffleupagus She's not blonde No, I thought she was She's a brunette
• 26:01
  Then it is Russell in a wig.
• 26:05
  So Russell got engaged, so did Albon, and apparently while Hadjar was breaking
• 26:10
  his wrist doing Lord knows what, Leclerc got married during August, so there
• 26:14
  we go Leclerc was already married I, I don't know, what I read was he got
• 26:17
  married this month I'm pretty sure he had already gotten married Oh, okay.
• 26:21
  Well, congratulations to all the nuptials Or maybe they
• 26:23
  were just engaged and he did.
• 26:25
  I don't know Yeah, there you go No, they were, they got married, and,
• 26:27
  uh, he had his dog at the ceremony or something, and- I thought this
• 26:31
  was a while ago, though It was.
• 26:32
  It was, it was earlier in the summer I think, or maybe- Okay
• 26:35
  in the spring.
• 26:36
  He got married in February There you go.
• 26:39
  Thought it was a while ago Maybe they JOP'd it and then
• 26:42
  had the real thing later.
• 26:43
  Wasn't the racing season.
• 26:44
  I don't know, that's what I read.
• 26:46
  The internet is full of lies, that's what it is And truths.
• 26:50
  Did you guys come up with any other silly season things?
• 26:54
  It seemed pretty benign.
• 26:56
  There's been no shuffles, 'cause basically everybody renewed their contracts.
• 26:59
  So also Bortoleto and Hülkenberg renewed contracts with Audi.
• 27:05
  Oh And Grosjean renewed contract with Williams, so basically nobody's
• 27:09
  going anywhere It, so it's gonna be another blah year next year then
• 27:12
  Yep And McLaren's on the back foot.
• 27:15
  If they found their turbo mushroom, is there a chance McLaren can win this
• 27:20
  season, or is Mercedes too far ahead?
• 27:22
  I'm still hanging my hat on Ferrari winning There's no way, dude.
• 27:26
  There's no way I'm manifesting it.
• 27:28
  I'm manifesting it.
• 27:30
  If you look at the Rompe Room that was Hungary and all those pit stops,
• 27:34
  that's Ferrari's Achilles heel is all these pit stops, and they did some dumb
• 27:38
  stuff if you go through all the notes.
• 27:39
  And there's no way.
• 27:40
  There's no w- and then, and, and that, in that instance, it wasn't any better
• 27:44
  for Leclerc than it was for Hamilton.
• 27:46
  So Ferrari's gonna Ferrari when it comes to pit stops There's still 12 races
• 27:51
  That's like a whole nother season Yeah Yeah, basically they've only done half
• 27:55
  the races, so yes, tables could turn.
• 27:59
  I think it could still be anybody's comeback, and Hamilton is the
• 28:03
  closest in points Well, I am gonna declare Kimi mid-year champion.
• 28:10
  Mid-season winner, Kimi Antonelli Can he take that and put that into a contract?
• 28:15
  Toto's not letting him yet.
• 28:16
  Can you, what can he do with, what can, what can he do with your mid-year
• 28:18
  championship, championship status?
• 28:20
  Did you get him a trophy?
• 28:22
  Yes, I would.
• 28:22
  Can I make him one?
• 28:23
  Do you think he'll take it?
• 28:24
  A little- Are you, are you, are you playing the Italian
• 28:26
  national anthem for him?
• 28:27
  Every time.
• 28:28
  I can't wear those glasses like I did last time, though.
• 28:30
  My God, my eyes were like it was so terrible.
• 28:34
  Excellent.
• 28:35
  Excellent.
• 28:36
  All right.
• 28:36
  So as we go back into the normal, uh, into the second half of the Formula
• 28:41
  1 season, we restart with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, right?
• 28:47
  Yep.
• 28:48
  FP1 is in seven hours.
• 28:50
  Oh, my God.
• 28:50
  It's- Or seven hours and 59 minutes.
• 28:52
  Such a go-kart track, though.
• 28:53
  It's too small for those cars.
• 28:56
  It's fun.
• 28:57
  But we're gonna get rid of Spa and we're gonna keep the Dutch Grand Prix?
• 29:00
  Like, really?
• 29:01
  It's gotta be merged.
• 29:01
  I think Spa might be because of, like, safety concerns, too.
• 29:04
  Or Spa's getting more popular now, too, with other 24 Hours of Spa,
• 29:08
  and all these other races that they're doing all the time there, so.
• 29:11
  I wanna drive Spa.
• 29:12
  Me too.
• 29:13
  When we win the lottery.
• 29:15
  So I also wanted to ask, as we look forward to the second half of the season,
• 29:19
  because of the conflict, excursion, whatever we're calling it, I don't know
• 29:24
  what it's called, I don't even know if it's still happening anymore, we lost two
• 29:27
  races on the schedule in the Middle East due to whatever's happening over there.
• 29:31
  What about the end of the season?
• 29:33
  Are we going to have a Qatar and a Yas Marina race?
• 29:37
  Is there gonna be an end of the year?
• 29:39
  Like… Yeah, because I've heard rumors about them doing two races
• 29:42
  at Vegas, and, like, doubling up for extra points or something like that.
• 29:46
  Who can tell?
• 29:47
  I mean, will there be a next week?
• 29:49
  Will there be a tomorrow?
• 29:51
  Will there be an end of the year?
• 29:52
  I mean, it's too early to tell on any of these things, so.
• 29:55
  They're still on the schedule.
• 29:57
  But the question is, is it written into the FIA's laws for this season or other
• 30:03
  seasons, uh, you know how they kind of group those laws together, that they
• 30:06
  have to have a certain number of races or be able to have a minimum number of
• 30:10
  points in order to crown a champion?
• 30:12
  I, I have no idea.
• 30:13
  I've never, uh, questioned that or looked into it.
• 30:16
  I think some people would argue there's too many races in a season.
• 30:20
  I agree.
• 30:20
  So is it really harming anything?
• 30:22
  Before we move on, I asked Gemini our question, and it says, "The FIA Formula 1
• 30:29
  sporting regulations state that a minimum of eight races is required to constitute
• 30:34
  a valid world championship season.
• 30:36
  Despite the cancellation of the rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the 2026
• 30:40
  calendar comfortably remains above this threshold, with 22 scheduled race
• 30:44
  events, meaning no special minimum race count waivers are triggered." Okay.
• 30:49
  Perfect.
• 30:49
  That works.
• 30:50
  If, if the season ended now, we've, I think we've already
• 30:54
  met that threshold, so.
• 30:56
  Yes, if the season ended now, Kimi would be the champion.
• 30:58
  Boom.
• 30:59
  There you go.
• 31:00
  Boom.
• 31:00
  So if the apocalypse happened tomorrow, Kimi wins.
• 31:03
  Damn right.
• 31:04
  Not that it matters.
• 31:06
  But Kimi wins.
• 31:25
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