Latest / Pit Talk / Who will Cadillac pick as its first F1 drivers? Mario Andretti in conversation + Alpine turmoil

Transcript

Who will Cadillac pick as its first F1 drivers? Mario Andretti in conversation + Alpine turmoil · Pit Talk

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
0:03
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Jack Tuin is turfed by Alpine for
0:06
Speaker 1: reserve driver Franco Cola Pinto ahead of this weekend's Emelia
0:09
Speaker 1: Romania Grand Prix, and we catch up with nineteen seventy
0:13
Speaker 1: eight world champion Mario Andretti to get the latest on
0:16
Speaker 1: his Cadillac Teams driver search. My name's Michael Lomonado. It's
0:20
Speaker 1: great to have your company and the company of my
0:22
Speaker 1: co host. Believe me, he's written in a Cadillac hundreds
0:25
Speaker 1: of times thousands.
0:26
Speaker 2: It's Matt Clayton Heavens in the back seat, Michael, as
0:30
Speaker 2: the song title will tell you. But yeah, look, it's
0:33
Speaker 2: good to be talking a little bit of f one
0:35
Speaker 2: because anyone who followed the MOTORGP weekend in France A
0:39
Speaker 2: needs a good line down and I need something to
0:44
Speaker 2: write about that's not rain and chaos and long lap
0:47
Speaker 2: penalties and other things. And as I was saying to
0:49
Speaker 2: our colleague Greed of Vimulan on this week's Motor GP
0:51
Speaker 2: pod yesterday, you know, when you're covering one of these
0:54
Speaker 2: races and you get the notification from race direction that
0:56
Speaker 2: something's happened on track regular motor GP race you get
1:00
Speaker 2: ten twelve of those. There were one hundred and sixteen
1:02
Speaker 2: of them from Lamont on Sunday, and so my screen
1:06
Speaker 2: looked like a Rulette weel, just spinning, spinning, spitting, spitting
1:09
Speaker 2: the entire time while I trying to make sense of
1:10
Speaker 2: the silliest Grand Prix of all time. So hopefully a
1:13
Speaker 2: little more sanity this weekend at Emma lib it's looking
1:15
Speaker 2: forward to get stuck into it.
1:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, luckily it was at least a weekend off
1:18
Speaker 1: Formula One. You didn't have too much ridiculousness to keep
1:21
Speaker 1: up with, at least on the track. Plenty of ridiculousness
1:24
Speaker 1: off the track, especially if you are at Endstone where
1:27
Speaker 1: Alpin is based, and they've decided that Jack Dowan will
1:30
Speaker 1: be out of the car for at least the next
1:32
Speaker 1: five Grand Prix in favor of reserve driver Franco colb Pinto.
1:35
Speaker 1: It's the story we've seen coming for a little while,
1:38
Speaker 1: rumors of which were circulating just after the previous Grand
1:41
Speaker 1: Prix in Miami. We mentioned them at the very end
1:43
Speaker 1: of the last podcast. But things move very quickly and
1:45
Speaker 1: not aided I think by the US time zone very
1:47
Speaker 1: inconvenient for us, but it means that Jack Dowin is
1:50
Speaker 1: out of a driver now. Interestingly, though, Matt, what I
1:53
Speaker 1: didn't see coming, considering this had been rumored for so
1:56
Speaker 1: long was this five race trial concept that they've given
2:00
Speaker 1: color Pinto. They say they'll reassess things between the Austrian
2:05
Speaker 1: and British Grand Prix, which is a double header, so
2:07
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit dubious about how much they would
2:09
Speaker 1: change at that point, but nonetheless they say it's five
2:12
Speaker 1: Grand Prix and in the meantime, to quote the press release,
2:15
Speaker 1: Jack Dolan will be the first choice reserve driver. What
2:18
Speaker 1: do you make if it's.
2:20
Speaker 3: Not great podcast content?
2:21
Speaker 2: But I'm shaking my head through every single thing that
2:24
Speaker 2: you just said. Then, But the five race thing, I mean, uncharitably,
2:27
Speaker 2: I could say, are they just waiting for the sponsor's
2:30
Speaker 2: checks to clear in the Instone Bank account to see
2:33
Speaker 2: whether they extended for longer than five races? But this
2:36
Speaker 2: to me, We'll talk about doing Olli Oaks and a
2:39
Speaker 2: million other things in the next five minutes. But it's
2:42
Speaker 2: been pretty obvious from day one that Cola Pinto was
2:44
Speaker 2: going to end up in that seat at some point,
2:45
Speaker 2: So why are we bothering with this five race pretense?
2:49
Speaker 2: Is it just to perhaps let Jack Dowan's tires down
2:52
Speaker 2: a little more softly, But then after publicly not backing
2:55
Speaker 2: him before the season started and then him feeling like
2:58
Speaker 2: he was walking the green or for the best part
3:01
Speaker 2: of the season when he was actually in the car,
3:03
Speaker 2: I don't understand while we're doing this sitting on the
3:06
Speaker 2: fence thing with Colopinto, because it's pretty clear that he
3:08
Speaker 2: was going to be in the car at some point.
3:10
Speaker 2: What possible reason is there for there only to be
3:12
Speaker 2: some sort of five race thing unless there's some fine
3:14
Speaker 2: printings and contracts. But I wanted to ask you this
3:17
Speaker 2: because your output on Fox sports dot com dot au
3:21
Speaker 2: after we had recorded last week's podcast. I can imagine
3:24
Speaker 2: you looking at your phone first thing on Tuesday or
3:26
Speaker 2: here cock com. No take us inside those next few days,
3:29
Speaker 2: because the doing story was one that we saw coming
3:32
Speaker 2: from a mile off, and it was what it was.
3:35
Speaker 2: But then things just got progressively nuttier as the days
3:38
Speaker 2: went on for the back end of last week, and
3:40
Speaker 2: you were probably at a point where, I mean you
3:42
Speaker 2: can detail the timeline of last week, you probably thought
3:44
Speaker 2: anything is possible. At this point, I'm prepared to believe
3:47
Speaker 2: just about anything, because none of these stories made any sense,
3:51
Speaker 2: and after the doing one, most of them were ones
3:53
Speaker 2: we just could not see coming.
3:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've got to the point now with LPNE where
3:57
Speaker 1: you would believe anything if you could tell me anything
3:59
Speaker 1: that they've got planned, and I'd have to take it
4:01
Speaker 1: at least half seriously because of things like this week
4:04
Speaker 1: and even the history of the last year. But the
4:06
Speaker 1: week actually started on in quite unpredictable fashion, which was
4:09
Speaker 1: on Tuesday morning out time or Tuesday whatever time zone
4:12
Speaker 1: they were operating in at the time, there was confirmation
4:14
Speaker 1: the team Vincible Olive Oaks had stepped down resigned rather unexpectedly.
4:18
Speaker 1: The team said it would be making no comment on
4:20
Speaker 1: it at the end of the press release, and no
4:23
Speaker 1: comment subsequently has been given, at least by the team.
4:26
Speaker 1: Heavily rumored to center around a disagreement with Flavio Briatore,
4:31
Speaker 1: who's the executive advisor to the Reno CEO regarding alpine matters,
4:36
Speaker 1: a disagreement over these driver choices about the jack doan
4:38
Speaker 1: move we all thought or saw coming, which ultimately came
4:41
Speaker 1: the subsequent day, and while I do believe there was
4:44
Speaker 1: a level of disagreement with the way the driver decision
4:46
Speaker 1: was being made, and you can then reflect back on
4:49
Speaker 1: a lot of the political language Oliver Oaks has been
4:51
Speaker 1: using all year about sort of half heartedly backing Jack
4:54
Speaker 1: Doan while also leaving the door open to a decision
4:56
Speaker 1: being made later. What we subsequently discovered was that the
5:01
Speaker 1: personal reasons that they quoted in the press release, which
5:04
Speaker 1: is always quite easy get out clause, well there might
5:07
Speaker 1: be something in it because Friday our time, so I
5:09
Speaker 1: guess Thursday in Europe was revealed by the UK Telegraph
5:13
Speaker 1: that his brother and business part of William Oakes, had
5:16
Speaker 1: been arrested for transferring criminal property and he'd be found
5:19
Speaker 1: with quite a lot of cash on his person. I
5:21
Speaker 1: think that was on the Thursday before the Miami Grand Prix.
5:24
Speaker 1: On the Friday he was charged and on the Saturday
5:26
Speaker 1: he was before the magistrate and is now in custody
5:30
Speaker 1: as far as I know, hasn't been granted bail or
5:31
Speaker 1: anything like that. So relatively serious their business partners, because
5:35
Speaker 1: they're both directors of high Tech Grand Prix, which is
5:37
Speaker 1: the junior team that fields cars in Formula two and
5:40
Speaker 1: Formula three, among other junior categories, also co directors of
5:44
Speaker 1: the holding company by the same name, and the last
5:48
Speaker 1: we know, and of course, now that he's no longer
5:50
Speaker 1: Lpnteam principally has I guess, no responsibilities to be anywhere
5:53
Speaker 1: in particular. But the last we know is that he
5:55
Speaker 1: flew to Dubai and is yet to reserves at least
5:57
Speaker 1: in the UK or anywhere publicly with the Everything subsequent
6:03
Speaker 1: now is interpretation, but one would assume that given they're
6:05
Speaker 1: both directors of a company, he'd at least be wanted
6:07
Speaker 1: for questioning. Considering, you know, his brother was also found
6:12
Speaker 1: at the same area as the factory at Silverston Park,
6:14
Speaker 1: we assume he must have been near or at work
6:16
Speaker 1: at the time. But it certainly does cast everything back
6:20
Speaker 1: into doubt in a way that to me Matt feels
6:23
Speaker 1: very reminiscent of f one of a different era, the
6:26
Speaker 1: era of bailiff's impounding equipment and all this sort of stuff.
6:29
Speaker 1: The good news, I guess from Alpine's perspective is that
6:31
Speaker 1: with all of Oaks having already resigned, it's sort of
6:33
Speaker 1: now any connection to this which seems to mostly a
6:36
Speaker 1: revolver at a minimum around the high Tech ron pri
6:38
Speaker 1: or the people involved at high Tech rome pro. We
6:40
Speaker 1: don't know if the business itself is actually involved beyond
6:42
Speaker 1: the people running it. That Alpine can keep a certain
6:45
Speaker 1: amount of distance from it. But nonetheless it does involve
6:48
Speaker 1: F two and F three and I haven't I haven't seen.
6:50
Speaker 1: I'm not animilar at the moment, obviously, But there's speculation,
6:53
Speaker 1: of course about how high Tech might or might not
6:55
Speaker 1: be able to continue beyond now, whether or not there'll
6:57
Speaker 1: be delays to getting too Mula or competing in the
6:59
Speaker 1: rest of the season at et cetera, which would be
7:01
Speaker 1: a blow to obviously all the young drivers who are
7:03
Speaker 1: reliant on high Tech being of the stepping stone up
7:05
Speaker 1: to the dream of Formula one. But it's been a
7:08
Speaker 1: pretty dramatic twist to what we thought was a pretty
7:10
Speaker 1: straightforward cashed up driver usurping Australia not cashed up driver situation.
7:16
Speaker 2: Anytime the word bailiffs comes up in a Formula one conversation,
7:21
Speaker 2: let alone links to Russian olive arts and sacks of
7:24
Speaker 2: cash and everything, it's very very nineteen eighties. Pre Qualifying
7:28
Speaker 2: Formula one.
7:29
Speaker 4: Not critty qualifying one.
7:30
Speaker 2: I like that pre qualifying f one that's a separate podcast.
7:34
Speaker 2: We need to do your favorite pre qualifying memories. But
7:37
Speaker 2: it's just they're two separate stories that just happened to
7:41
Speaker 2: share personnel.
7:41
Speaker 3: That's the first thing.
7:43
Speaker 2: But getting back to your point that anything feels believable
7:46
Speaker 2: at this point, it just does with this particular team,
7:50
Speaker 2: because they've given us no reason to believe that if
7:52
Speaker 2: you inserted the same story with other teams, we would
7:56
Speaker 2: dismiss them out of hand initially as we well, that's
7:58
Speaker 2: clearly not happening, or that's not happened. But because of
8:00
Speaker 2: the way this Alpine team has been run and continues
8:04
Speaker 2: to be run over the past few years, it feels
8:07
Speaker 2: like this is the team that this sort of thing
8:08
Speaker 2: is most applicable to, despite their being separate stories. But
8:12
Speaker 2: I'm curious, So what's the way forward from here? I mean,
8:15
Speaker 2: like you said before, Alping can distance itself from the
8:18
Speaker 2: Oaks high tech stuff because it is a separate story.
8:20
Speaker 3: Oaks is no longer under their employer. That's fine.
8:23
Speaker 2: What are Alpin doing from here, given that they're electing
8:26
Speaker 2: to shut at their own engine program at the end
8:28
Speaker 2: of this year to go with a customer somewhere else
8:30
Speaker 2: You've now got Franco Colopinto and all of the associated
8:33
Speaker 2: sponsorship dollars that come into the team to go alongside
8:36
Speaker 2: Pierre Ghastly, Flavier Briatore is going to be taking a
8:39
Speaker 2: more central role if he wasn't already in the way
8:42
Speaker 2: that the team is being run on a day to
8:43
Speaker 2: day basis. Should Flavio Briatore be running a Formula one
8:46
Speaker 2: team in twenty twenty five based on the past. I'll
8:48
Speaker 2: leave that for history to decide, but I have certain
8:51
Speaker 2: thoughts on that. The whole thing seems very f one
8:54
Speaker 2: of a bygone era, but not f on twenty twenty five,
8:57
Speaker 2: and I'll be super keen to see how the two things.
9:01
Speaker 2: How is the message managed this weekend at Imola and
9:04
Speaker 2: then actually what's going on behind the scenes, because the
9:06
Speaker 2: whole thing right now it doesn't feel very Formula one
9:09
Speaker 2: to me. It feels like we've moved on from this
9:10
Speaker 2: sort of thing and it's entertaining and it generates headlines
9:13
Speaker 2: and it keeps you up until I'm told hours trying
9:15
Speaker 2: to make sense of it from the other side of
9:17
Speaker 2: the world. But is this Formula one in twenty twenty five,
9:19
Speaker 2: because doesn't feel like it to me.
9:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really an interesting point as well, because F one.
9:24
Speaker 1: You know, the reason we fremen this nostalgically or otherwise
9:28
Speaker 1: about pre qualifying F one and so on is that
9:31
Speaker 1: it was F one of a very different time when
9:33
Speaker 1: sort of weird and odd behavior and necessarily criminal behavior
9:36
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Just like you know, chances in
9:38
Speaker 1: F one just having to go was possible because F
9:41
Speaker 1: one was far less professional, far less exclusive in environment,
9:46
Speaker 1: and far less profitable because it was easy to get involved,
9:49
Speaker 1: lose all your money and then get out LP. Now, weirdly,
9:53
Speaker 1: despite being backed by one of the world's biggest car
9:56
Speaker 1: manufacturers in Reno, it is the Reno Works Team. We
9:58
Speaker 1: shouldn't forget that just because it runs under the Alpine brand,
10:00
Speaker 1: which is a boutique calm manufacturer wholly owned by Reno.
10:04
Speaker 1: Shouldn't be behaving like this in this era, you know,
10:07
Speaker 1: because in this era is all about informed on stability
10:10
Speaker 1: and being profitable and slowly building up. I think Williams
10:13
Speaker 1: is a great example, despite not being a works team,
10:16
Speaker 1: but you know, was at rock bottom not that long ago,
10:18
Speaker 1: but because it just has some solid investment because they
10:21
Speaker 1: can only spend so much in F one. These times
10:22
Speaker 1: you can find sponsors because that F one's quite popular.
10:25
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be that hard to just make gradual steps forward,
10:30
Speaker 1: and yet what we've seen from Alpine for the last
10:32
Speaker 1: few years is just constant one step forward, two steps backwards.
10:35
Speaker 1: You know, the team can argue that maybe Franco Kolopindo
10:38
Speaker 1: will be a step forward on Jack doing it remains
10:39
Speaker 1: to be seen. I guess that's what They've given him
10:41
Speaker 1: many five races, but it's another step backwards in terms
10:45
Speaker 1: of the acclimatization of a new driver. He's at least
10:48
Speaker 1: five races behind Jack because he also doesn't have the
10:50
Speaker 1: benefit of preseason testing. Plus he's got the pressure of
10:52
Speaker 1: another five races. That's a step backwards. They've lost another
10:54
Speaker 1: team Bridges well, okay, maybe out of their control, but
10:57
Speaker 1: the fact they needed a new team principle in the
10:58
Speaker 1: first place was because of the the administrative set up
11:01
Speaker 1: with Flavierbritory at the top. Need to reshape the team,
11:03
Speaker 1: a team that had been reshaped roughly every year for
11:06
Speaker 1: the last three years.
11:07
Speaker 2: Oh hang on, I've got sorry, mid sentence, We've got
11:10
Speaker 2: to pull the curtain back a little bit.
11:11
Speaker 5: Here.
11:11
Speaker 2: You sent me possibly the funniest message you've sent me
11:14
Speaker 2: for a while last week, where you said, here is
11:16
Speaker 2: a list of Alpedes team principles, probably as I don't
11:21
Speaker 2: even know if this goes back as far as you've
11:23
Speaker 2: been doing f one for Fox and alone for anybody else,
11:25
Speaker 2: but it's a list like you could add all of
11:27
Speaker 2: the other team principal changes for all of the other
11:29
Speaker 2: teams in that same window, and I'm not sure that
11:31
Speaker 2: they would add up to as many of this if
11:34
Speaker 2: you've got that list handy, just lest anyone forget, Yes, actually,
11:38
Speaker 2: who's been an Alpine team principal? You and I haven't
11:41
Speaker 2: been asked yet, but it's probably on the cards given
11:44
Speaker 2: the way things are going. Walk us through that list
11:47
Speaker 2: of team principles, because you know, I feel like sort
11:49
Speaker 2: of pouring a drink out for some of these guys
11:50
Speaker 2: because they didn't get much of a didn't get much
11:52
Speaker 2: of a go, did they.
11:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, this dates back to twenty twenty, so the last
11:55
Speaker 1: year of Reno just before it turns this into the
11:58
Speaker 1: Alpine brand in twenty twenty one. That last year was
12:00
Speaker 1: headed by Cyril Avitable remember him a long time ago
12:04
Speaker 1: in the world Rally Championship. Now I was twenty twenty.
12:06
Speaker 1: Then in twenty one they didn't have strictly a team principal,
12:08
Speaker 1: but they had davidev Brivio you might remember and continue
12:11
Speaker 1: to remember in fact, from Moto GP and Marsin Boukowski,
12:14
Speaker 1: who was also in charge various split roles in twenty
12:17
Speaker 1: twenty one. Then from twenty twenty two they ditched them
12:21
Speaker 1: for odd Marsavnau. He lasted only till the middle of
12:23
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, when Bruno Faman, who was previously in
12:25
Speaker 1: charge of the end of Division, took over. He lasted
12:27
Speaker 1: for only one year, until the middle of twenty twenty four,
12:29
Speaker 1: at which point Oliver Oaks took over. He lasted only
12:32
Speaker 1: until the middle of twenty twenty five, or not even
12:34
Speaker 1: in fact, because it's only May twenty twenty five and
12:37
Speaker 1: now it's Flavio Briatore for all intents and purposes. The
12:39
Speaker 1: press release was unclear whether or not they'd be seeking
12:41
Speaker 1: a new team principle or whether he would just step
12:44
Speaker 1: into the role he already seems to be undertaking. So
12:46
Speaker 1: what's that that is only three, four, five, six, seventeen
12:49
Speaker 1: principles in five years, so like one every nine months
12:54
Speaker 1: or so.
12:54
Speaker 2: Cyril Avitible was six team principles ago, which is absolutely
13:00
Speaker 2: crazy because the reason I remember that so well is
13:02
Speaker 2: he was so important in Daniel Ricardo's time there, of
13:05
Speaker 2: course at redou and then when Daniel moved across a
13:07
Speaker 2: Red Bull for nineteen that feels like five lifetimes ago.
13:12
Speaker 2: And we can laugh at the length of the list
13:14
Speaker 2: and various bit like Bruno Famine to me never looked
13:16
Speaker 2: like he actually wanted to do it, but it was like,
13:18
Speaker 2: come on, mate, you need to take one for the team.
13:21
Speaker 3: So it kind of felt like his tenure there.
13:23
Speaker 2: But as much as we can laugh about it, it
13:25
Speaker 2: just speaks to the complete chaos that a team that
13:29
Speaker 2: could and should be better than this because it has
13:31
Speaker 2: the resource and the name in the backing of the
13:33
Speaker 2: car company, They've almost done the worst possible job with
13:36
Speaker 2: the most possible tools to do it with. When you
13:39
Speaker 2: look at how some of these other companies, Williams is
13:41
Speaker 2: a great example here because rock bottom results wise, but
13:45
Speaker 2: you can see the way they have methodically built their
13:47
Speaker 2: way up into being a credible Formula one team and business.
13:51
Speaker 2: And that word credible is not a word that you
13:53
Speaker 2: could use it any sentence that has the word alp
13:56
Speaker 2: did it following all beforehand at the time being given
13:58
Speaker 2: the way things are going there, Look, we know that
14:01
Speaker 2: immiler this weekend. Colopino's in the car. We know he
14:04
Speaker 2: was quick last year. We knew he hit a lot
14:06
Speaker 2: of things towards the end of last year. So of
14:08
Speaker 2: all the circuits to come back to, when you've not
14:11
Speaker 2: done a preseason and you've not driven the car and
14:13
Speaker 2: it's probably going to be cold because it's immilar in May,
14:16
Speaker 2: and it's probably going to rain at some point, well, boy,
14:18
Speaker 2: I hope they've I hope the dust pan and brush
14:21
Speaker 2: is ready because they may be needing it a little
14:23
Speaker 2: bit this weekend because that's a really tough one to
14:25
Speaker 2: come back to.
14:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, just one or two points to wrap up. I
14:27
Speaker 1: think it's worth reflecting on the fact that, as we've said,
14:30
Speaker 1: this is Reno's works team. It's a manufacturer has the
14:33
Speaker 1: money to put into Formula One if it wants. It
14:35
Speaker 1: doesn't have to. Obviously, it's already started its engine program,
14:37
Speaker 1: which was the only thread that connected it throughout its
14:40
Speaker 1: history in Formula One, even when it was opening and
14:42
Speaker 1: closing It's works team. At this point, after all those
14:45
Speaker 1: team principles, all these changes, someone has to ask a
14:48
Speaker 1: whether or not the team's adequately funded. And it doesn't
14:50
Speaker 1: have to be because the team is welcome to be
14:52
Speaker 1: sold plenty of buyers. But if it really genuinely doesn't
14:56
Speaker 1: want to sell the team, as the CEO has said,
14:59
Speaker 1: then surely some the responsibility for this mess has to
15:01
Speaker 1: be sheeted home to the CEO is ultimately allowing these
15:03
Speaker 1: decisions to be made because the team is a mess,
15:05
Speaker 1: and it reflects badly on the brand and reflects badly
15:08
Speaker 1: unfortunately all the good people who work there, because Alpine's
15:11
Speaker 1: historic team at Enstone, a lot of people have worked
15:12
Speaker 1: there for a long time. A lot of people have
15:15
Speaker 1: worked there in a newer capacity as well, obviously, and
15:18
Speaker 1: they deserve a better go at it than they're getting unfortunately.
15:22
Speaker 1: I think that's interesting. And then on the Franco Colopinto note,
15:24
Speaker 1: you know, it's unfortunate that this oh, I'm sort of
15:27
Speaker 1: into minds, you know, is it better or worse that
15:28
Speaker 1: he knows it's five races or just everyone knows it's
15:31
Speaker 1: five races and they won't say it publicly, as is
15:33
Speaker 1: the case with Jack doin, but I can't help but
15:35
Speaker 1: reflect on the fact that you know, last year he
15:38
Speaker 1: started to struggle. Wh there are a lot of rumors
15:39
Speaker 1: about his situation. He was much better when it was
15:41
Speaker 1: sort of a win win situation, when there was no
15:44
Speaker 1: chance in getting a cease on the grit and he
15:46
Speaker 1: just had to go out and have a good time.
15:48
Speaker 1: But I certainly hope he does well. And this is
15:49
Speaker 1: not because I mean, I'd love to see Jack doing
15:51
Speaker 1: the car obviously, but he's worth a shot in F one.
15:54
Speaker 1: He deserved a better shot than this, but he's where
15:57
Speaker 1: the shot in F one. I certainly hope as well.
15:59
Speaker 1: The Australian fans give and I know they will because
16:01
Speaker 1: Straining fans are relatively even minded, a fair minded people,
16:04
Speaker 1: I think. And I just draw the contrast between some
16:06
Speaker 1: of the negative stuff we've seen unfortunately chasing Jack in
16:10
Speaker 1: the last few rounds and some fans, a minority of
16:12
Speaker 1: fans from Argentina who have been behaving pretty poorly, and
16:15
Speaker 1: I think we certainly don't need to stoop to that.
16:17
Speaker 2: Level before you morve us on because we can talk
16:20
Speaker 2: about LP for possibly the next three and a half hours.
16:23
Speaker 2: Here's here's a scenario for you. So we've got this
16:26
Speaker 2: five races with Colo Pinto. Let's just say, and we
16:28
Speaker 2: don't wish this pot anybody here. Let's say it doesn't
16:31
Speaker 2: go very well. Let's say it goes really quite badly.
16:33
Speaker 2: Now we know Alpline have about seventeen reserve drivers on
16:36
Speaker 2: the book. Books like cush Mine will give you getting
16:38
Speaker 2: a call up mid season if this goes wrong? What
16:41
Speaker 2: happens here? If this doesn't work with Colopinto, Let's just
16:43
Speaker 2: say that the results are the same as what Jack
16:46
Speaker 2: doing was doing or worse. You're in this five race situation.
16:49
Speaker 2: Can you go back to a driver that you've already
16:52
Speaker 2: elbowed out of the way and said, look, we don't
16:53
Speaker 2: think you're up to it, and actually we never really
16:55
Speaker 2: properly publicly backed you anyway in Jack? Do it as
16:58
Speaker 2: you get someone that's gone through their driver account me,
17:00
Speaker 2: do you stick with Colopinso if things aren't going too well?
17:03
Speaker 3: Or what is box C?
17:04
Speaker 2: Assuming there is another box to pick at this point,
17:06
Speaker 2: because all I've done here is leave themselves open to
17:10
Speaker 2: if this doesn't work, then what And I don't really
17:14
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any good outcomes for anybody in
17:16
Speaker 2: that situation. Should this not work, It's almost like they've
17:19
Speaker 2: given him the five races. What if this doesn't work?
17:22
Speaker 2: And then what do they do? Because the thing's chaotic? Now,
17:25
Speaker 2: what happens if they need to go to Plan C
17:27
Speaker 2: by the time we get halfway through this season, because
17:30
Speaker 2: that's roughly when these five races will be over.
17:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question. I mean there's Paul Arron
17:35
Speaker 1: as well on their roster. Who is the most credible
17:40
Speaker 1: among the many on there that hasn't already had a
17:43
Speaker 1: shot at F one Among Jack Doing and Franco Colopindo
17:47
Speaker 1: F two results last year, did only one season of
17:49
Speaker 1: F two. He's sitting at this year to be the
17:51
Speaker 1: reserve driver. He had one feature ace victory, a couple
17:55
Speaker 1: of a good few potems. It did finish third in
17:57
Speaker 1: the championship standing, so nothing to sniff out. I mean,
18:00
Speaker 1: that's about as well as any of the other driver. So
18:02
Speaker 1: it's better than Franko Colapinto, I think managed, even though
18:04
Speaker 1: that's because he was pulled out of the season halfway
18:06
Speaker 1: through last year. So he's as worthwhile as shot as
18:10
Speaker 1: any I guess he was dropped by the Mercedes program
18:13
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, though he was a former
18:14
Speaker 1: Mercedes junior, so sort of take from that what you will.
18:17
Speaker 1: Alpines clear decided that it's those skin of bit's nosen
18:20
Speaker 1: to be fair. Mercedes sort of its pathway is full,
18:23
Speaker 1: you know, it's got Antonelli in there. It thinks to
18:24
Speaker 1: Addrussels the long term bat it doesn't really need a
18:26
Speaker 1: driver who's on the cusp of F one, so it
18:28
Speaker 1: doesn't it's not necessarily a reflection on him. But then you know,
18:31
Speaker 1: you're facing the prospect of having a third driver in there.
18:34
Speaker 1: Let's just say, by the end of the European season,
18:36
Speaker 1: so by the end of Italian Grand Prix, and what
18:38
Speaker 1: if all of them are just about as good as
18:40
Speaker 1: one another, you know, and what a waste of time
18:42
Speaker 1: that is. You know, the team says, okay, it's all
18:43
Speaker 1: targeted at twenty twenty six, when it hopes to take
18:45
Speaker 1: a big step for it wants the right driver lineup.
18:47
Speaker 1: But maybe the right driver is the driver who would
18:49
Speaker 1: have got the full season to prepare for twenty twenty six,
18:52
Speaker 1: and that driver's not going to exist by the end
18:53
Speaker 1: of the year at this point. So yeah, it's all
18:56
Speaker 1: like you say, I'd be really interested to see how
18:58
Speaker 1: they control or to control the message this weekend and
19:02
Speaker 1: then obviously how it plays out over the next five
19:04
Speaker 1: races and possibly beyond that depending on the decision making.
19:06
Speaker 1: But they're certainly starting from a suboptimal position, I think
19:11
Speaker 1: for whatever their target.
19:12
Speaker 3: Is, for good luck to them.
19:15
Speaker 1: Before we move on, Matt to our chat with Mario Andretti,
19:19
Speaker 1: we're going to get, of course, to move of the week,
19:20
Speaker 1: brought to you by Shannon's Supercars and Motor GP in
19:23
Speaker 1: action over the course of the weekend MODOGYP in France,
19:26
Speaker 1: Supercars down in Tasmania and what caught your eye this weekend.
19:31
Speaker 2: There was a bit going on in the Lamar MotoGP
19:33
Speaker 2: race that I mentioned earlier off the top, but I'm
19:36
Speaker 2: going to go for something that was more significant than chaotic,
19:40
Speaker 2: in that we had young Spaniard Firmin Aldeger six races
19:44
Speaker 2: into his Motor GP career, twenty year old rookie in
19:47
Speaker 2: one of the most chaotic Grand Prix we've seen for many,
19:50
Speaker 2: many years, with a last few laps overtake on Pedro Costa,
19:54
Speaker 2: the old inverted Cobbas Spanish rising star on a KTM. Yeah,
20:00
Speaker 2: taking his first Grand Prix podium on a day where
20:04
Speaker 2: plenty of experience heads made absolutely ridiculous mistakes and people
20:08
Speaker 2: called the strategy wrong. To have the clarity of thought
20:11
Speaker 2: and the composure to be able to steer through all
20:14
Speaker 2: that craziness led the race at one point to take
20:16
Speaker 2: his first Grand Prix podium on a day where a
20:18
Speaker 2: lot of guys who probably should have could have done
20:21
Speaker 2: better didn't. I think a it was significant in the
20:23
Speaker 2: moment to pass a cost to take that podium place,
20:26
Speaker 2: but also what that means for the future. Yeah, he's
20:28
Speaker 2: not a fantastic bike. We know how good that took
20:30
Speaker 2: AUTI GP twenty four is, but history will show this
20:34
Speaker 2: was his first Grand Prix on a Grand Prix podium,
20:37
Speaker 2: on a day where it was very very easy to
20:38
Speaker 2: drop the ball. The pass was significant. What it means
20:41
Speaker 2: going forward was possibly more significant because his arrow after
20:43
Speaker 2: a first couple of wobbly races, has just been vertical
20:47
Speaker 2: since then. Really really impressive, really impressive overtake and a
20:50
Speaker 2: good execution on a day where lots of things could
20:53
Speaker 2: have gone wrong. But slightly less mad when I say
20:56
Speaker 2: slightly than Lemon was obviously the Zupercars in tas I'm
21:00
Speaker 2: assuming that's where you're going for yours.
21:02
Speaker 1: No, actually I was going to because there was three
21:04
Speaker 1: races to pick from and there was plenty of action
21:06
Speaker 1: in Tasmania. The hairpin is a guaranteed action generator down there.
21:11
Speaker 1: But actually I have a remarkably similar pick. It's firm
21:13
Speaker 1: and aldegaer. But it was from the sprint, the battle
21:15
Speaker 1: for his first inverted Commas podium. I still don't know
21:19
Speaker 1: how to refer to sprint statistics in either of our sports,
21:22
Speaker 1: but his battle with Quaatearo, I liked it. It was relatively brief,
21:25
Speaker 1: well last only round about one lap, but I loved
21:28
Speaker 1: the little bit of intimidation Quadao put on him, and
21:31
Speaker 1: that he served directly back to him for his first
21:35
Speaker 1: podium of description first middle as we call it, like this,
21:38
Speaker 1: and then you'd get the real one the next day,
21:39
Speaker 1: which is very good. But I just loved the because
21:42
Speaker 1: it was also Quaduro's home race and he was on pole,
21:44
Speaker 1: and you know, that was his big weekend, and he
21:46
Speaker 1: was totally was totally unawed by that situation. He knew
21:49
Speaker 1: what he wanted, he knew how the pace to get there,
21:51
Speaker 1: he knew he had to put up a tough fight,
21:52
Speaker 1: and Quaarao made that very clear, and he did it,
21:56
Speaker 1: and he nailed it, and it was clean. It was
21:58
Speaker 1: you know, as to the line is, I guess you
22:01
Speaker 1: can get with a little bit of contact in Moto GP,
22:03
Speaker 1: but it was ultimately clean. I just thought that was
22:05
Speaker 1: such a gutsy move, well executed and such a well
22:07
Speaker 1: deserved podium.
22:08
Speaker 5: Man.
22:08
Speaker 1: As always, when a rookie driver gets their first podium
22:11
Speaker 1: on a sprint in either sport, I'm very pleased when
22:12
Speaker 1: they get the real deal the next day, so he
22:14
Speaker 1: can stop putting an asterisk against the distant.
22:16
Speaker 2: Yes, Oscar piastri Quitar sprint race rookie year. Yes, we
22:20
Speaker 2: don't go through that he's been on the podium. No,
22:22
Speaker 2: he hasn't been on the podium. We don't have that conversation.
22:24
Speaker 2: The thing that made that it's a really good pick
22:26
Speaker 2: because the other factor here is that Quatao's at home
22:29
Speaker 2: and he's fighting like crazy to keep this podium. And
22:32
Speaker 2: you could hear the annoyance of the ground over the
22:35
Speaker 2: top of the bikes once Aldea got himself into third place,
22:38
Speaker 2: and that's one of those ones. If that's gone wrong
22:40
Speaker 2: and he ends up put panting Fabio off the track,
22:43
Speaker 2: your public enemy number one at Lamov for probably the
22:45
Speaker 2: rest of your career. So given the stakes, if that
22:48
Speaker 2: had gone wrong, that's a very astute pig value.
22:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that just pip some of the supercars action.
22:53
Speaker 1: But I love a good rookie who's strutting this stuff
22:55
Speaker 1: on the world stage, so it had to be that
22:57
Speaker 1: for me. Let's move on now, Matt to our chat
23:00
Speaker 1: with Mario Andretti, the nineteen seventy eight world champion. It
23:03
Speaker 1: was great to catch up with him in the aftermath
23:05
Speaker 1: of the Miami Grand Prix. Of course, as in the background,
23:08
Speaker 1: his Cadillac team, on which he is a member of
23:10
Speaker 1: the board, is building up to its first season next
23:13
Speaker 1: year with the new rules in twenty twenty six. It
23:16
Speaker 1: has a factory split across three different at least three
23:19
Speaker 1: different locations, might actually be a fourth last checked between Europe,
23:22
Speaker 1: the UK and the United States. But of course, the
23:25
Speaker 1: big question as we head into the silly season in
23:28
Speaker 1: Formula One among the current teams is how Cadillac will
23:31
Speaker 1: play its hand filling those two seats. Plenty of rumors
23:34
Speaker 1: about who could be filling them, so we go straight
23:36
Speaker 1: to the source in our chat with nineteen seventy eight
23:38
Speaker 1: Formula one world champion Mario Andretti.
23:41
Speaker 4: Mario, it's good to see you.
23:42
Speaker 6: Thank you, my pleasure, thanks for having me.
23:45
Speaker 1: The focus of this interview is, of course, the Cadillac project,
23:48
Speaker 1: which the countdown is well and truly on for. We
23:50
Speaker 1: saw the team launch or the brand launch at the
23:53
Speaker 1: Miami Grand Prix just a week or so ago, and
23:55
Speaker 1: it's probably less than seven months now. I suppose still
23:57
Speaker 1: preseason testing next year whoever's hunting, which means barely half
24:02
Speaker 1: a year until Cadillacs first Kyle hit the track. How
24:05
Speaker 1: are you feeling about the team's readiness working against the
24:07
Speaker 1: clock but also from the sidelines yet to obviously started
24:11
Speaker 1: racing inform one?
24:12
Speaker 5: Well, uh, I think, well, the project is ongoing, has
24:17
Speaker 5: been ongoing, so I think, uh, you know, from our
24:22
Speaker 5: standpoint from what I see, and I think we're pretty
24:27
Speaker 5: much say on schedule.
24:30
Speaker 6: I don't think there's any panic at the moment.
24:35
Speaker 5: So yeah, you know, everyone realize, everyone knows what we're
24:42
Speaker 5: facing the headline, you know, the deadlines and on and
24:44
Speaker 5: so forth. So no matter where you stand on any
24:50
Speaker 5: project in a sport, that you always could use more time,
24:54
Speaker 5: But the bottom line, I think we're on We're everything
25:01
Speaker 5: is progressing.
25:02
Speaker 2: I'm sure that the to do list gets only slightly
25:06
Speaker 2: shorter in the month. Stick via very very quickly, Mario.
25:08
Speaker 2: But I guess a key question for a lot of
25:10
Speaker 2: fans is that everyone wants to know about the team's
25:13
Speaker 2: driver lineup, because you know, we're in a situation there's
25:16
Speaker 2: relatively few contracts up for renewal at the moment, and
25:19
Speaker 2: Cadillac has two seats that are up for grabs, And
25:23
Speaker 2: part of the willingness to know what's going on for
25:25
Speaker 2: all the fans is there's these rumors at Sergio Perez
25:28
Speaker 2: is fairly far down the road of agreeing a deal,
25:30
Speaker 2: and so talk to us a little bit about Sergio.
25:33
Speaker 2: Where does it stand with him? And I'm also wondering,
25:35
Speaker 2: because he's got such a strong Latin American backing, is
25:39
Speaker 2: he a good fit for this team as it starts
25:41
Speaker 2: to form its identity, because you are starting with a
25:44
Speaker 2: blank sheet of paper at the moment, aren't you.
25:46
Speaker 5: Well, Matt, all I can tell you is that he's
25:50
Speaker 5: certainly one of the drivers that's been considered. He has
25:54
Speaker 5: to be. I cannot divulge us to where we are
26:00
Speaker 5: with any commitment whatsoever. I think we want to keep
26:05
Speaker 5: that luxury to ourselves until we feel that we have
26:09
Speaker 5: scanned the entire spectrum of availability, if you will. I
26:16
Speaker 5: think that's a prudent thing to do. So, Yeah, what's
26:23
Speaker 5: encouraging is that there there is really, uh some good
26:32
Speaker 5: reaction to.
26:34
Speaker 6: Individuals that want to join. That's a. That's a I
26:38
Speaker 6: think that's a good thing for us.
26:40
Speaker 5: And then then at the same time, uh, the choice
26:45
Speaker 5: is somewhat limited. You know, let's face it, a lot
26:48
Speaker 5: of the great talents already under contract. Uh so, but
26:53
Speaker 5: fortunately still there are a few out there, three or four,
27:00
Speaker 5: maybe three that certainly deserve consideration. And all of this
27:09
Speaker 5: has been locked upon very seriously. There's some conversation going
27:15
Speaker 5: on somewhere and some other where some other places. No,
27:20
Speaker 5: So that's as far as I can tell you, quite honest,
27:24
Speaker 5: just to be fair, to be fair to everyone.
27:27
Speaker 1: So since this project has started, or since it started,
27:29
Speaker 1: even in its endretty phase of the bid, there's been
27:32
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about it offering a chance to
27:34
Speaker 1: a or an if one chance rather to an American driver.
27:38
Speaker 1: And I think we will get it though, you've got
27:39
Speaker 1: to find the right one, don't. You can't just pick
27:41
Speaker 1: any American who knows how to drive a car and
27:43
Speaker 1: put him into Formula one.
27:43
Speaker 4: The preparation needs to be correct.
27:46
Speaker 1: But why has that been such an important part of
27:49
Speaker 1: the mission and why does it continue to be part
27:50
Speaker 1: of something that may form the future of Catallacs.
27:53
Speaker 4: Driver Liner Well, I.
27:54
Speaker 5: Think, you know, in a truly international series, our series
28:00
Speaker 5: very internationally, if you look at uh, the roster there
28:04
Speaker 5: is they are more foreigners than than than you know,
28:09
Speaker 5: than the homebred uh talent. So h But Formula one again,
28:17
Speaker 5: every event except you know, US is obviously enjoying three events,
28:22
Speaker 5: but every other event is happening somewhere else some other continents,
28:26
Speaker 5: in other country and there's a lot of national pride
28:30
Speaker 5: goals with that and uh and since we haven't had
28:34
Speaker 5: a lot of participation as of latent Formula one.
28:40
Speaker 6: I think to have a vehicle, to have a team
28:43
Speaker 6: really truly.
28:46
Speaker 5: Consider you know, American, I think that the yeah, that
28:53
Speaker 5: the idea of trying to uh uh to look at
28:59
Speaker 5: probably bring in some talent from here is for real.
29:04
Speaker 5: But at the same time, you know, especially when you're
29:07
Speaker 5: starting out, you have to try to consider the team itself,
29:12
Speaker 5: you know, go on merit if you will. If we
29:15
Speaker 5: feel that right at the moment, we might wait a
29:19
Speaker 5: season or so before we bring in an American, So
29:23
Speaker 5: be it so. As I said, the idea, or the
29:29
Speaker 5: optimum idea would be if we could definitely say, yes,
29:32
Speaker 5: we have the American already and at one point maybe
29:36
Speaker 5: we might have thought so, but we want to keep
29:39
Speaker 5: that option open, if you will, I think it's really
29:42
Speaker 5: important to try to arm the team the best way possible,
29:47
Speaker 5: especially going.
29:48
Speaker 2: In well and you know we're talking about American drivers
29:51
Speaker 2: just there. I think a lot of our listeners would
29:52
Speaker 2: be pretty astonished to know that you're still the most
29:55
Speaker 2: recent American Formula On Grand Prix winner if I'm I'm
29:58
Speaker 2: remembering correctly what Zan vote in seventy eight, if I've
30:01
Speaker 2: got my history books right. But I mean, look, I
30:04
Speaker 2: mean the US. We know how big A contributed to
30:07
Speaker 2: the US is to the global motorsport fabric, but not
30:09
Speaker 2: so much to F One for decades. So from your perspective,
30:13
Speaker 2: where are all the American drivers? Like we know they exist,
30:16
Speaker 2: But what's this disconnect with Formula one being about? And
30:20
Speaker 2: I guess the other question with Cadillac coming in, how
30:23
Speaker 2: does Cadillac potentially act as a bridge between that possible
30:26
Speaker 2: disconnect with these good American drivers and Formula one, because
30:29
Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense that you're the most recent Grand
30:32
Speaker 2: Prix winner in Formula one what forty seven years ago?
30:35
Speaker 5: Well, yes, but yes, to answer your your the initial
30:39
Speaker 5: part of the question is the fact that in America
30:43
Speaker 5: you have series at the highest, at the top level
30:47
Speaker 5: where you could have a full career and be totally satisfying.
30:52
Speaker 6: Let's base it.
30:53
Speaker 5: You know, you have the Endycar Series, you have NASCAR,
30:58
Speaker 5: the stock cars, and you have IMSA, you know with
31:01
Speaker 5: the sports borough type. So it's probably the only country
31:05
Speaker 5: that can offer someone really at top level career, if
31:09
Speaker 5: you will in motorsport. So you have that and that's why,
31:14
Speaker 5: you know, Formula One has not been front and center.
31:18
Speaker 5: But at the same time, many of the European teams
31:24
Speaker 5: have not looked at our talents very you know, with
31:29
Speaker 5: a lot.
31:29
Speaker 6: Of very favorably.
31:31
Speaker 5: So I think that I like to think that there
31:35
Speaker 5: are some young talents that actually are looking, would would
31:39
Speaker 5: like to look at opportunities if they exist, and I
31:42
Speaker 5: think I like I like to say that we will
31:46
Speaker 5: open that door, you know, with time, as time comes.
31:50
Speaker 5: I mean we're talking about you know, having Formula three,
31:54
Speaker 5: Formula two in our portfolio and and and maybe you know,
32:02
Speaker 5: even create some of our own like we've done an IndyCar,
32:06
Speaker 5: We created champions in a in the lay Series and
32:12
Speaker 5: all of that and brought them on at that level.
32:15
Speaker 5: So you know, it's a process. But at the same time,
32:20
Speaker 5: I think we will create a way of maybe embracing,
32:28
Speaker 5: you know, some of the talents and not being embraced
32:30
Speaker 5: at the moment.
32:31
Speaker 1: So one drilled down that, I guess because it sort
32:34
Speaker 1: of suggests that without have like maybe that gap between
32:36
Speaker 1: the US and its homegrown scene and European motorsport has
32:40
Speaker 1: got too large. And I remember some comments from of
32:43
Speaker 1: course your son Michael, who when he was in F
32:45
Speaker 1: one in the nineties, and he made the comment more
32:47
Speaker 1: recently as well that he felt there was a certain
32:49
Speaker 1: kind of snobbery about drivers from the US. Do you
32:52
Speaker 1: think that very much still exists, It sounds like you do.
32:54
Speaker 1: And what's it going to take to break that down?
32:57
Speaker 1: Is it just getting them in there or does it
32:59
Speaker 1: need to be a broad the cultural shift you can
33:01
Speaker 1: influence of course, you stepping across two worlds.
33:04
Speaker 4: I guess personally, well, I.
33:06
Speaker 5: Can tell you you know firsthand. I mean I've experienced
33:09
Speaker 5: that I've never felt snopped, you know, in Formula one.
33:13
Speaker 5: I you know, I beg to differ with Michael quite honestly.
33:17
Speaker 5: I mean, you earn your way. I mean it's a
33:19
Speaker 5: way of earning the respect and and you know, I again,
33:26
Speaker 5: I enjoyed it.
33:27
Speaker 6: I felt at home immediately.
33:29
Speaker 5: I was fortunate to be with a top team, you know,
33:33
Speaker 5: started out my first experience with Lotus and Ferrari and uh,
33:38
Speaker 5: you know and on. But at the same time, I
33:42
Speaker 5: again I always felt and I do to today. You know,
33:46
Speaker 5: I feel very much at home. I mean I'm just talking.
33:50
Speaker 5: I mean I have a lifetime friendships with mechanics and
33:56
Speaker 5: just felt the Beakie just this morning, you know, from England,
33:59
Speaker 5: you know, and we're talking, you know, with about dance
34:04
Speaker 5: and all the you know, the mechanics that been with
34:08
Speaker 5: me throughout you know, the championship years and otherwise have
34:14
Speaker 5: Italian mechanics that work with us and have experience that
34:18
Speaker 5: we want together. So you know, more sports is you know,
34:23
Speaker 5: it's worldwide obviously, but still a family. There's a family
34:30
Speaker 5: feeling to it. I know, I could walk up and
34:34
Speaker 5: down the Paddock and Lamont and probably out of twenty teams,
34:40
Speaker 5: maybe fifteen of them, there's someone.
34:43
Speaker 6: That I worked with, you know. So that's what it is.
34:47
Speaker 5: You know, I always again feel at home very much.
34:52
Speaker 5: And again it's all about, you know, respect and earning
34:56
Speaker 5: the respect.
34:58
Speaker 2: I know it takes you a low wall the walk
35:00
Speaker 2: from one end of the padic to the other at
35:02
Speaker 2: any circuit aria. But we were talking about US drivers
35:05
Speaker 2: and how important they are to fun's popularity in the US.
35:08
Speaker 2: But at the same time, I mean, the US has
35:10
Speaker 2: now got three races that are basically all sold out
35:13
Speaker 2: Austin and Vegas and our Miami coming on. The sport
35:16
Speaker 2: really seems to be in a good place at the
35:19
Speaker 2: in the US at the moment. So from your perspective,
35:22
Speaker 2: how is F one viewed there in the sporting landscape,
35:25
Speaker 2: Because we know how big the US and how the
35:27
Speaker 2: big sports in the US soak up a lot of
35:29
Speaker 2: the oxygen. How is F one perceived now within the US?
35:33
Speaker 2: And do you think an American driver is the thing
35:35
Speaker 2: that takes it over the top or is it already
35:37
Speaker 2: riding this wave of popularity anyway.
35:40
Speaker 6: Well, I think it's definitely writing a wave of popularity.
35:43
Speaker 5: Not quite unprecedented, but you still have to feed that.
35:48
Speaker 5: And as I said, I think there's a lot of
35:51
Speaker 5: national pride the fact that we have three races here.
35:55
Speaker 5: Why not have the opportunity, you know, to cultivate and
36:01
Speaker 5: have some of the US fans root for American.
36:05
Speaker 6: Drivers at one point.
36:07
Speaker 5: So I think, like I said, all of this is
36:11
Speaker 5: looking forward to the future, if you will, But these
36:16
Speaker 5: are the things to work towards, I think, because it's
36:21
Speaker 5: all positive. And if you have a bubble like we
36:25
Speaker 5: do here, you have to keep feeding that bubble.
36:29
Speaker 6: You don't want to let a birth.
36:30
Speaker 4: I like that a lot.
36:32
Speaker 1: I want to come back to the Cadillac team now,
36:34
Speaker 1: I suppose because we've seen over the last six months
36:37
Speaker 1: in particular, or since the confirmation was made at the
36:40
Speaker 1: end of last year, there are a lot of experienced
36:42
Speaker 1: heads joining the team now. It's certainly building up, and
36:44
Speaker 1: like I said, that countdown is on. Next year is
36:48
Speaker 1: totally up in the air with a big regulation change.
36:50
Speaker 1: That's the case for every team. So what are those
36:52
Speaker 1: experienced guys in the team telling you is realistick to
36:56
Speaker 1: achieve or is that just an impossible question when there
36:58
Speaker 1: are so many uncertain He's well.
37:02
Speaker 5: You know, as you said, you know, everyone who started
37:05
Speaker 5: with a clean sheet of paper, which I think for
37:09
Speaker 5: a startup team, it's probably the best time.
37:11
Speaker 6: To get involved, if you will.
37:15
Speaker 5: So yeah, yeah, but you know, anyway you look at it,
37:21
Speaker 5: you know, there's no guarantee. Everyone is doing the level
37:24
Speaker 5: best to try to conform. And and you know, reading
37:29
Speaker 5: regulations is like a lawyer reading the law about proper
37:35
Speaker 5: interpretation and don't leave anything on the table, you know.
37:40
Speaker 6: So that's all.
37:41
Speaker 5: I mean, that's what it is across the board. And
37:44
Speaker 5: you know, I think we're very fortunate to have a
37:49
Speaker 5: lot of experience already the team individual that I've started
37:54
Speaker 5: teams before, so that's very valuable, as you can imagine.
38:00
Speaker 5: And then the other thing that's really interesting, guys is
38:03
Speaker 5: the fact that I get almost daily letters from young
38:08
Speaker 5: lads just out of university. I you know, I want
38:14
Speaker 5: to pursue the career of aerodynamosis, so this and that,
38:17
Speaker 5: could I please, you know, would consider us joining the
38:22
Speaker 5: Cadillac team, and uh and all that, and I mean
38:26
Speaker 5: I love that, I love that you know, to have
38:29
Speaker 5: that sort of interest out there that exists within young
38:33
Speaker 5: lads that are looking forward to a career and and
38:37
Speaker 5: they would love to even get started with us. I mean,
38:40
Speaker 5: there's something good about that. And I mean there are apprenticeships,
38:46
Speaker 5: you know, and then we're looking at all of that.
38:49
Speaker 5: We're looking at the very seriously at you know, some
38:54
Speaker 5: of these requests and so on and so forth. So
38:58
Speaker 5: on the inside here what we're experiencing, there's a lot
39:03
Speaker 5: of positive energy all around, so that I think is
39:08
Speaker 5: very important.
39:10
Speaker 2: Murray, before we let you go, there's one that I'd
39:12
Speaker 2: like to finish on because it's probable that the first
39:15
Speaker 2: race for the team will be Melbourne next year. Obviously
39:18
Speaker 2: no calendar confirmed, but where a fingers crossed that's going
39:20
Speaker 2: to be the case. But look, the team's not going
39:23
Speaker 2: to carry the Androdi name in the end. But for you,
39:25
Speaker 2: how proud of a moment will it be when that
39:28
Speaker 2: first Cadillac car rolls out of pit lane and lines
39:30
Speaker 2: up on the grid for its first Grand Prix. Given
39:33
Speaker 2: it's been such a journey to get there, that moment,
39:36
Speaker 2: that first race must be something that's been in front
39:38
Speaker 2: of mind for you for quite some time.
39:40
Speaker 6: Now, Well, I'll tell you why.
39:42
Speaker 5: I will feel very very please, very proud because I
39:47
Speaker 5: go back the late sixties when I was I remember
39:53
Speaker 5: at Riverside, California, canam Race, and I just bonded with
39:58
Speaker 5: the Zora Dante, who was the Belgian who created I
40:03
Speaker 5: think that would consider the father of the Corvette, and uh,
40:07
Speaker 5: he and I being immigrants, you know, myself of Italy
40:13
Speaker 5: and from Belgium, we sort of came together and uh,
40:19
Speaker 5: and we were already, you know, somewhat pretty well set
40:23
Speaker 5: up in the sport. And I kept saying to Zora,
40:26
Speaker 5: Zora must get General Motors into Formula one and this
40:32
Speaker 5: is historic, it's coming and uh and the excitement that
40:37
Speaker 5: I see within the company on the technical.
40:42
Speaker 6: Side is pure, pure joy, I'm telling you.
40:46
Speaker 5: And that's what I that's the part that I really
40:49
Speaker 5: like the most, that uh, everyone is looking forward to
40:53
Speaker 5: and uh, when General Motors is ready to put forth
40:59
Speaker 5: all of they can contribute, you know, technically to the sport,
41:04
Speaker 5: it's not a bad thing for or not only for America,
41:08
Speaker 5: but for the sport itself.
41:10
Speaker 1: It is going to be a big moment, like you say,
41:11
Speaker 1: for the sport, for everyone watching probably hopefully in Melbourne
41:15
Speaker 1: as well, so no bad thing. Mario, the nineteen seventy
41:18
Speaker 1: eight form one world champion, thank you so much for joining.
41:20
Speaker 6: Us, so we'll have a beer together.
41:23
Speaker 4: I hold you to it.
41:24
Speaker 3: You're in.
41:25
Speaker 1: That was out chat with nineteen seventy eight world champion
41:28
Speaker 1: Mario Andredie was great to see him. He's in great form.
41:32
Speaker 1: For a man who's sort of overseeing the setting up
41:34
Speaker 1: of a Formula one team, it's no small feet, but
41:37
Speaker 1: he was well up for it.
41:38
Speaker 2: Man eighty five years old and so sharp and so
41:43
Speaker 2: locked in and knows exactly what's going on. I love
41:46
Speaker 2: the energy and I love just how on top of
41:49
Speaker 2: everything he was. He's one of those guys to me
41:51
Speaker 2: like you and I have been doing this for too far,
41:54
Speaker 2: too long in my case and long long but not
41:56
Speaker 2: as long in your case. But you get so cynical
41:59
Speaker 2: when you talk to people because it's just as part
42:01
Speaker 2: of the job. He's a proper legend in this space,
42:05
Speaker 2: and it's not often that you get, you know, full Wow,
42:08
Speaker 2: I'm sitting here having a chat with a guy with
42:09
Speaker 2: the CV that he's got. Because we're talking about this
42:11
Speaker 2: off air, it's easier to list the things he hasn't
42:15
Speaker 2: won than the things that he has, because this guy
42:17
Speaker 2: has rated one absolutely everything, and to see him so
42:20
Speaker 2: involved in a new startup at the age and stage
42:23
Speaker 2: of his life that he is, it's it's super cool
42:25
Speaker 2: that we've got this link back to Formula ones past.
42:27
Speaker 4: I think.
42:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, his attention will be turning inevitably to the
42:30
Speaker 1: Indy five hundred, which is in a couple of weeks,
42:32
Speaker 1: I think, and that's one of the many events he's
42:36
Speaker 1: known for, and the IndyCar Series, et cetera, a tampcar
42:38
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Out of the time, our attention will
42:40
Speaker 1: be turning to Himilo, whether you Emilia Romania Grand Prix
42:42
Speaker 1: were taking place this weekend or to give it its
42:44
Speaker 1: full and formal name, the Formula one A w S
42:46
Speaker 1: grum Premi or Dalla made in Italy da Milia Romania
42:49
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five rolls off the tongue?
42:51
Speaker 4: Does that? That's podcast finished? In fact taken back story,
42:55
Speaker 4: we are done.
42:56
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the first hint of the race. You've just
42:57
Speaker 2: got out there.
42:58
Speaker 1: But yes there's a little bit of a preview before,
43:00
Speaker 1: of course, we get to the action.
43:01
Speaker 4: This weekend.
43:02
Speaker 1: This is an important first race in an important set
43:05
Speaker 1: of triple Header Grand Prix because we go from here
43:08
Speaker 1: to Monaco then in particular, and is there something we'll
43:10
Speaker 1: be talking about in a couple of weeks the Spanish
43:12
Speaker 1: Grand Prix, where there'll be some rule tweaks to the
43:13
Speaker 1: flexibility of front wings some teams, in particular Red Bull
43:17
Speaker 1: Racing is hoping we'll clip McLaren's wings a little bit.
43:19
Speaker 1: But it's also I think where we're probably going to
43:21
Speaker 1: see the last big upgrades for the season, given so
43:24
Speaker 1: much attentions on twenty twenty six. So Matt, in a
43:26
Speaker 1: brief way before we look to our crystal ball, of
43:28
Speaker 1: course and wrap this up, who are you looking at
43:30
Speaker 1: most this weekend to get at the beginning of an
43:33
Speaker 1: indication of where this season is going, if it is
43:35
Speaker 1: to go anywhere other than McLaren domination.
43:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you mentioned the key point there is
43:40
Speaker 2: that the time for bringing significant upgrades in terms of
43:43
Speaker 2: money and spend and man hours and what have you,
43:45
Speaker 2: that's starting to come to a close. So you've got
43:48
Speaker 2: this triple header. Hear you mentioned the Spanish you know,
43:51
Speaker 2: the front wing flexibility, you know, could sack that we've
43:55
Speaker 2: got ourselves into. I guess and Redbell hoping that it
43:57
Speaker 2: might clip McLaren's wings. But to my mind, who's bringing
44:01
Speaker 2: things for the first part of this European season. Is
44:03
Speaker 2: this the last shot of anybody perhaps getting in the
44:07
Speaker 2: way of these two McLaren drivers fighting for what seems
44:09
Speaker 2: to be an inevitable enter team fight for the world championship.
44:12
Speaker 2: Curious to see what Ferrari does home territory. We know
44:16
Speaker 2: that it's been a little bit underwhelming so far. No
44:19
Speaker 2: sprint this weekend, so no Lewis Hamilton Cano is at
44:21
Speaker 2: the front end of sprints. But to my mind this
44:24
Speaker 2: is they will not want to have a race here
44:27
Speaker 2: just for face saving purposes. That's been as chaotic and
44:31
Speaker 2: a bit anonymous as some of these races have been.
44:33
Speaker 2: And I'm looking at Charlclair here because these guys done
44:36
Speaker 2: well here in the past. Is this a race where Ferrari,
44:40
Speaker 2: to my mind, like there's a gap here for the
44:42
Speaker 2: second best team in the sport. We know who the
44:43
Speaker 2: best team is, there's a gap yere to be filled
44:45
Speaker 2: for the second best team. If Ferrari's going to inhabit
44:48
Speaker 2: that for the rest of the season, this kind of
44:49
Speaker 2: feels like a key weekend to stake your claim for that,
44:52
Speaker 2: and then maybe you're in the mix to take a
44:54
Speaker 2: few wins here and there before this season finishes. But
44:57
Speaker 2: from your point of view, other than let's just past
45:00
Speaker 2: McLaren as a side topic here, is there anything else
45:02
Speaker 2: that's really catching your eye, because you know, look, we're
45:04
Speaker 2: at round seven and this season is very, very long,
45:07
Speaker 2: but it gets late early, if you know what I mean,
45:09
Speaker 2: in terms of getting towards twenty twenty six and the
45:11
Speaker 2: rule changes coming in.
45:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great way to sum it up, really,
45:14
Speaker 1: because it does feel like we're already at that final
45:16
Speaker 1: cycle of developments because of the attention of twenty twenty six.
45:19
Speaker 1: I think Ferrari, as you said, is a big one.
45:20
Speaker 1: They never like to confirm, and they're bringing updates and
45:22
Speaker 1: then when they do they're trying and play them down.
45:24
Speaker 1: But I believe there'll be some this weekend. They do
45:26
Speaker 1: tend to bring them for their home races anyway, and
45:28
Speaker 1: boy do they need them. It'll be interesting to see.
45:31
Speaker 1: It seems like fundamentally the problem is how low they
45:33
Speaker 1: can run the car they're disqualified from China. When they
45:35
Speaker 1: were looking okay and they look pretty awful ever since then.
45:38
Speaker 1: But I think the other one really is Red Bull
45:39
Speaker 1: Racing because it's been interesting to look back on their
45:41
Speaker 1: opening few races are opening six races. There's clearly speed
45:45
Speaker 1: in that car as there was last year. I suppose
45:47
Speaker 1: it's not that different, but evidently very specific conditions in
45:52
Speaker 1: which it can be unlocked in qualifying pretty well. You know,
45:54
Speaker 1: Maxistappens got half the polls this season, but it's about
45:58
Speaker 1: managing it in race pace. I know they've got some
46:00
Speaker 1: upgrades coming. They've also took them down a bit, saying
46:02
Speaker 1: they're more progressive rather than revolutionary. That's not surprising again
46:06
Speaker 1: in the final years of these rules, but it'll be
46:07
Speaker 1: important not just for the team's sense of competitiveness, obviously
46:11
Speaker 1: that's a big part of it. They don't on this
46:12
Speaker 1: season just to be a waste behind McLaren, but also
46:16
Speaker 1: because of that second driver situation. You know, Yuki Sinoda
46:18
Speaker 1: has been there for four races now. He has scored
46:20
Speaker 1: some points so reasonably quick in qualifying until you get
46:24
Speaker 1: to Q three pretty much. Then he sort of hits
46:25
Speaker 1: a bit of a brick wall when Max can find
46:27
Speaker 1: you know, the typical extra three tents or whatever.
46:29
Speaker 4: It is in Q three and.
46:30
Speaker 1: Then subsequently in the race is sort of just buried
46:32
Speaker 1: lower each of the top ten. Can't do too much
46:34
Speaker 1: from there. They need him to start scoring sooner rather
46:37
Speaker 1: than later. We've talked before about how you know, Max
46:40
Speaker 1: Forstaffand's ongoing commitment to that team could hinge on its
46:43
Speaker 1: constructors Championship position. It's third, but it's only I think
46:46
Speaker 1: about eleven points ahead of Ferrari, which isn't much considering
46:48
Speaker 1: Ferrari has two drivers. We know it capable of fighting
46:50
Speaker 1: at the front if the car is worthwhile. And then
46:54
Speaker 1: there's also a rumor it will be Max finishing in
46:56
Speaker 1: the top two of the driver's championship, which I think
46:57
Speaker 1: is pretty much already gone. They've got to make peace
46:59
Speaker 1: with that. So they've got to hope that contractual clause
47:02
Speaker 1: is in the constructor's title standing. So I think there's
47:04
Speaker 1: a lot on the line for Red Bull. They've really
47:06
Speaker 1: hinged a lot on that rule change in Spain. I
47:09
Speaker 1: think there's a little bit more optimism than a reality
47:12
Speaker 1: in it, but we'll wait and see. Stranger things have happened,
47:14
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think they need to show something now
47:16
Speaker 1: and not just hope for the rule changes because we
47:18
Speaker 1: can't also get you know, it'll be round nine the
47:20
Speaker 1: Spanish Grand Prix. They haven't come by surprise. McLaren's been
47:23
Speaker 1: preparing for those rule changes as much as any team,
47:25
Speaker 1: so even if it hamstrings them a little bit, it's
47:27
Speaker 1: not going to be as if the car they were
47:29
Speaker 1: racing the weekend before suddenly banned. It'll only be I
47:32
Speaker 1: think a smaller shake up, if anything. So an interesting
47:36
Speaker 1: scene set I think in quite a picturesque location.
47:38
Speaker 2: To fantastic track. It's one of those ones. I think
47:41
Speaker 2: this is where you realize that four bulla ones moved on,
47:42
Speaker 2: because I still think of Imiler in its sort of
47:45
Speaker 2: nineties heyday and early two thousands, when you know the
47:48
Speaker 2: famous Fernando Alonso Michael Schumacher race there where we first
47:51
Speaker 2: looked at ALONSI went, oh boy, like this guy's got
47:53
Speaker 2: championship qualities about him. But the track almost looks a
47:56
Speaker 2: little bit small for the cars these days, they're incredibly fast,
48:00
Speaker 2: their incredibly impressive performance wise, but that's when you know
48:03
Speaker 2: you're in Formula one and twenty twenty five because these
48:05
Speaker 2: cards are so big and wide. Now that the track
48:07
Speaker 2: looks a little bit narrow in old school. But we
48:10
Speaker 2: were talking about this yesterday on the Bikes podcast. Given
48:12
Speaker 2: you're a man who likes to corner numbers rather than
48:15
Speaker 2: corner names, I'm going to revel I'm going to revel
48:18
Speaker 2: in some of the names of these fantastic corners and
48:21
Speaker 2: Immalla this weekend with Rivatsa and Aquaminerali and all these
48:24
Speaker 2: other great corners, you'll just be calling the turd four.
48:26
Speaker 3: But that's another discussion.
48:28
Speaker 1: Ah, I'm an ordered man. You might have to soak
48:31
Speaker 1: them up. Because this is the last year of Imola's
48:33
Speaker 1: contract and we'll wait for news on whether it's going
48:35
Speaker 1: to get a new deal, whether it's rotating or not,
48:37
Speaker 1: whether it's just off the calendar potentially this week, but
48:40
Speaker 1: we'll wait and see. However, Fine wants to play that.
48:42
Speaker 1: And on that note map, before we wrap up, we've
48:44
Speaker 1: got to go to the crystal ball, brought to you
48:46
Speaker 1: via complete home filtration. Just one race this weekend. It
48:50
Speaker 1: is the Immediat Romagna Grand Prix. What are you predicting for?
48:54
Speaker 1: This doesn't have to be this weekend, as we say
48:55
Speaker 1: every week, but what are you predicting?
48:57
Speaker 3: My crystal ball?
48:58
Speaker 2: And I'm only going to mention this because it's been
48:59
Speaker 2: so good lately, has been absolutely on fire at the
49:01
Speaker 2: start of the season, complete rubbish. Let's never discuss that again.
49:04
Speaker 2: But given that I'm on a bit of a run
49:06
Speaker 2: with this, I've just worked out that it's about forty
49:09
Speaker 2: one kilometers down the Alto Strada from Bologna to Imola.
49:13
Speaker 2: So I'm predicting Kimmi Antonelli's first Formula One podium this
49:18
Speaker 2: weekend at the most home of home Grand Prix. We
49:21
Speaker 2: know Mercedes has had George Russell on the podium four
49:23
Speaker 2: times in six Grand Prix, which is testament to the
49:26
Speaker 2: great season that he's having, but I don't think it
49:28
Speaker 2: shows the performance gap between Russell and Antonelli, because Antonelli
49:31
Speaker 2: has been particularly good. I think this weekend is the
49:34
Speaker 2: weekend he stands on the rostrum in a Grand Prix
49:37
Speaker 2: for the first time. But clearly my crystal ball is
49:40
Speaker 2: better than yours. But I'll give you a chance to
49:42
Speaker 2: redeem yourself. What are you seeing in your crystal ball
49:44
Speaker 2: for this weekend?
49:45
Speaker 1: I think this one must be certain assume well, I
49:48
Speaker 1: certain assume he's going to be at the track, But
49:49
Speaker 1: I think this weekend Jack Dewan is going to get
49:52
Speaker 1: more screen time than he ever has this season by
49:54
Speaker 1: some tactical snitching from the TV director crossing to him.
49:57
Speaker 1: Every time Franco Colopindo's on track in the garage, you
50:00
Speaker 1: can be looking determined and serious with their headphones on.
50:03
Speaker 1: I assume we'll be considering he's the preferred reserve driver.
50:06
Speaker 1: He must be at the track, So I think we're
50:08
Speaker 1: going to see a lot more of Jackdomin than we're
50:10
Speaker 1: used to on the televisions unfortunately, but hey, maybe in
50:14
Speaker 1: five races we'll see him back in the cockpit.
50:16
Speaker 4: Who's to say.
50:17
Speaker 1: And on that note, that's all the time we have
50:18
Speaker 1: for pit Talk today. You can subscribe to Pittalk wherever
50:21
Speaker 1: you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave us
50:22
Speaker 1: a rating and review as well.
50:24
Speaker 4: This weekend it's just Formula one.
50:26
Speaker 1: It's the Emlia Romagna Grand Prix with lights out at
50:28
Speaker 1: eleven pm on Sunday, and you can keep up to
50:30
Speaker 1: date with all the later steff one news as well
50:32
Speaker 1: as news from the worlds of supercars and MotoGP at
50:34
Speaker 1: Foxsports dot com dot Au from Matt Payton and me,
50:37
Speaker 1: Michael Lomonado, thanks very much for your company, and we'll
50:40
Speaker 1: catch you next week.