1
00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,880
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.

2
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,520
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Formula one pre season testing is complete,

3
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:16,000
Speaker 1: and with little more than a week before the season

4
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,479
Speaker 1: opening Australian Grand Prix, we'll get you up to speed

5
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,360
Speaker 1: on the state of play ahead of twenty twenty six's

6
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 1: big rules shake up, and the supercar season is already underway,

7
00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,360
Speaker 1: with Brock Feenie and Matt Payne tied on points after

8
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,320
Speaker 1: the Sydney five hundred. My name's Michael Lamonato. It's great

9
00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,280
Speaker 1: to have your company, and the company of my co host.

10
00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,720
Speaker 1: He knows the difference between his ices and he's mpguk's

11
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,479
Speaker 1: and he sees and he's TC's Yes, it's EMC, Matt Playton.

12
00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,519
Speaker 2: Michael, it's great to be back. Of course, everyone knows

13
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,479
Speaker 2: all of these things, so it doesn't actually make me special.

14
00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,680
Speaker 2: But that's funny, Like we knew this was going to

15
00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:56,600
Speaker 2: be the earliest Australian Grand Prix. I think it's not

16
00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,800
Speaker 2: since two thousand and three or four or something along

17
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,400
Speaker 2: those lines, but we knew it was to be early.

18
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,200
Speaker 2: We needed to be ready. But it's really stuck up

19
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:03,840
Speaker 2: on us, isn't it.

20
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uncomfortable for me. I'm not ready. I don't

21
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,360
Speaker 1: feel prepared for the Australian Grand to be here, but

22
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,320
Speaker 1: I am definitely feeling you know, I'm always excited when

23
00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:15,120
Speaker 1: the formul nine season starts, used because we've had a

24
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,160
Speaker 1: bit of a longer break, to be fair, but this

25
00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,120
Speaker 1: feels like a particularly exciting one, like of all the

26
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,880
Speaker 1: years for us to be back in slot one on

27
00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:23,679
Speaker 1: the calendar, and we've enjoyed that a couple of times

28
00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: of the last few years now for big rule changes,

29
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,040
Speaker 1: some pretty significant changes to the way the sport's going

30
00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,480
Speaker 1: to work, and the first chapter of what we're expecting

31
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,240
Speaker 1: or what could be a pretty dramatic driver market silly

32
00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,280
Speaker 1: season as well. It's a good year to be round one.

33
00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:41,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, completely right. I mean, I don't know about you.

34
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,640
Speaker 2: I'm getting strong sort of twenty fourteen vibes here, simply

35
00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:46,680
Speaker 2: because we were the first race, as we always were

36
00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,680
Speaker 2: back in twenty fourteen, and it was such a big

37
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:52,760
Speaker 2: change in twenty fourteen just in terms of the visual

38
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,080
Speaker 2: and the audio spectacle of Formula one changed so massively

39
00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 2: from that weekend and you know, you go back to

40
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,120
Speaker 2: that preseason heading into Australia twenty fourteen. It was so

41
00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,000
Speaker 2: chaotic that we were wondering if there were going to

42
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,560
Speaker 2: be single figure cars finishing the race, and you know,

43
00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,720
Speaker 2: it was the famous Daniel Ricardo podium that wasn't and

44
00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,600
Speaker 2: all those sorts of things. But being ground zero of

45
00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,560
Speaker 2: a brand new regulation set that is so different and

46
00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,920
Speaker 2: the way the racing is going to shake out, and

47
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,440
Speaker 2: the chance to maybe reset the pecking order a little bit.

48
00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,960
Speaker 2: There's nothing better with zero next to every driver's day

49
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,959
Speaker 2: with the driver's standings and a brand new rule set.

50
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,720
Speaker 2: So yeah, bring it on for sure.

51
00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,200
Speaker 1: Should be very interesting. We'll look at the Australian Grand

52
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:30,240
Speaker 1: Prix of course, a little bit more detail next week

53
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,800
Speaker 1: in the build up to the race itself. But we've

54
00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,839
Speaker 1: just come off three weeks of pre season testing. One

55
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,239
Speaker 1: week in Barcelona, just don't talk about that one obviously,

56
00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,480
Speaker 1: we're not meant to know anything about that, and then

57
00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:46,000
Speaker 1: three weeks in pah Raim more conventional testing. Nine days

58
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,440
Speaker 1: all up. While most teams, two teams didn't manage their

59
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,880
Speaker 1: full nine days. Aston Martin and Williams will talk about

60
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:54,040
Speaker 1: them perhaps a little bit later on, but we did

61
00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,079
Speaker 1: get a bit of a sense of that pecking order,

62
00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,320
Speaker 1: but only a little bit of a sentence. So I

63
00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,679
Speaker 1: think the big question, obviously from the Australia in perspective,

64
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,359
Speaker 1: but also from the championship perspective, is McClaren they're going

65
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,519
Speaker 1: in is the double defending constructors champion, Lenda Irris is

66
00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,120
Speaker 1: going into the defending Driver's champion and OSCOPIASTI wants a

67
00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,160
Speaker 1: crack at that. But what sense did you get of

68
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,360
Speaker 1: McLaren over these three weeks? To me, they felt like

69
00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,120
Speaker 1: they really kept their heads down. At no point did

70
00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,760
Speaker 1: it feel like they were the outstanding car on track.

71
00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,720
Speaker 1: But I also can't really say that there were any

72
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:24,960
Speaker 1: obvious issues with what we saw either.

73
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,520
Speaker 2: No, it kind of feels like the approach you would

74
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,120
Speaker 2: take if you were a double rating Constructors World champion, right,

75
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,320
Speaker 2: So I think if you were trying to maybe prove

76
00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 2: something or set out your stall where you haven't been

77
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,400
Speaker 2: in that position in the past, maybe you approach preseason

78
00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,600
Speaker 2: a little bit differently. I thought it was just a

79
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,760
Speaker 2: very sensible, methodical build up from them. There was nothing

80
00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 2: to raise too many alarms. There was nothing that caught

81
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,240
Speaker 2: too many headlines either, So it feels like I'm not

82
00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 2: quite sure if they're sitting in that position of ascendency

83
00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:54,840
Speaker 2: that they were towards the end of last year and

84
00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 2: the year before that, but there's probably a lot of

85
00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,200
Speaker 2: headroom for them to grow. And then, you know, we

86
00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,560
Speaker 2: talk about the league these Formula one seasons now, I

87
00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,080
Speaker 2: mean twenty four races, and you can just see over

88
00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:05,960
Speaker 2: the course of those nine days that you mentioned in

89
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,120
Speaker 2: Bahrain and Barcelona how much the competitive picture changed, and

90
00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,640
Speaker 2: just how much all of these teams made gains from

91
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,480
Speaker 2: the Barcelona Test that everyone was so worried about that

92
00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:17,440
Speaker 2: we weren't supposed to know anything about it lest it

93
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,960
Speaker 2: be totally embarrassing that by the end of the Test

94
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:22,920
Speaker 2: in Barra we actually got a bit of a picture asta.

95
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,400
Speaker 2: Oh there's a bit of a pecking order here and

96
00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,880
Speaker 2: everyone seems to have made gains there. So it feels

97
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 2: to me like a nice platform for McLaren maybe unfortunately

98
00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,800
Speaker 2: for Australian fans. I wouldn't say they're going to be

99
00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:36,839
Speaker 2: at their weakest for the season at Albert Park, because

100
00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:38,320
Speaker 2: there's oviously a lot to play out, But I don't

101
00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,520
Speaker 2: think they come in with that expectation that we had

102
00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:42,760
Speaker 2: last year. Where you would have been shocked quite frankly

103
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 2: if it wasn't to McLaren that won in Albert Park

104
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,240
Speaker 2: in twenty five. I'm not sure we're going into next

105
00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,040
Speaker 2: weekend or so the weekend after next with that same feeling.

106
00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,080
Speaker 2: But they're going to be in the conversation, aren't they.

107
00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:53,919
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that's a good way to describe it

108
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,560
Speaker 1: as well, because that's what we understand of McLaren. Even

109
00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,280
Speaker 1: over the last few years now they've said there really

110
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,240
Speaker 1: too different approach to testing. It seems. One is that

111
00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:04,479
Speaker 1: teams have spent most of the time with testing with

112
00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,040
Speaker 1: a very basic car, and then we see upgrades either

113
00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,560
Speaker 1: late in testing or maybe even in Australia. I know

114
00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,680
Speaker 1: we saw Ferrari, for example, bring some exciting parts to

115
00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,200
Speaker 1: the car in the last few days that flip around

116
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:17,720
Speaker 1: rear wing and so on, and they had other more

117
00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,000
Speaker 1: significant upgrades to car Mercedes two. But then McLaren said

118
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,280
Speaker 1: on before precess testing even started that they were going

119
00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,240
Speaker 1: to start with this car in Australia, the one they

120
00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:28,960
Speaker 1: went testing with, more or less anyway, and then bring

121
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,160
Speaker 1: the upgrades once they've got that understanding. And that's really

122
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,080
Speaker 1: how it's worked for the last few years, and we

123
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:37,160
Speaker 1: saw not last year a little bit because of because

124
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,000
Speaker 1: the dominant part of Mercedes McLaren season last year was

125
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,800
Speaker 1: in the middle, not the start. Yes, and the year

126
00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:45,200
Speaker 1: before they started relatively weakly and then Ridy came on

127
00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,960
Speaker 1: tap after Miami where they put that big upgrade. I'm

128
00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,080
Speaker 1: probably expecting something similar this year where we see them

129
00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,040
Speaker 1: being all right, third fourth best team. Perhaps we don't

130
00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:55,520
Speaker 1: know how close it is. That could be enough to

131
00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,280
Speaker 1: challenge Ruins for all we know, But then using that

132
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,840
Speaker 1: development progress that we've seen over the last couple of

133
00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,000
Speaker 1: years to either come home strong or find their feet

134
00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:06,480
Speaker 1: in the middle of the season, it's going to be

135
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:08,440
Speaker 1: very interesting, but there's going to be a lot more.

136
00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,359
Speaker 1: I think where the game changes a little bit is

137
00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,520
Speaker 1: that it felt like McLaren was very effective at developing

138
00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,440
Speaker 1: its car over the last few years, obviously, but effective

139
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,200
Speaker 1: in a regular tree era in which most other teams

140
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,240
Speaker 1: seem to struggle. We don't know if that's going to

141
00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:22,719
Speaker 1: be the same this year, where other teams are going

142
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:24,920
Speaker 1: to struggle as much as Red Bull did for example,

143
00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,400
Speaker 1: Mercedes did for years Ferrari as well to bring updates

144
00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:29,839
Speaker 1: that actually work yeah.

145
00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:31,920
Speaker 2: I mean, what's happened in the past is they had

146
00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,480
Speaker 2: that sort of baked in advantage. I guess that they

147
00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,320
Speaker 2: knew they could probably get to in time. But yeah,

148
00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,400
Speaker 2: it's funny, isn't it. The thing? If you're playing F

149
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,280
Speaker 2: one bingo at home over the next couple of weeks,

150
00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:43,760
Speaker 2: two words, you'll be able to cross off your bingo

151
00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,440
Speaker 2: card very quickly. Sandbagging is one a word only ever

152
00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,000
Speaker 2: heard in Formula one testing. But how many people are

153
00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,320
Speaker 2: going to say in Australia next week and well, it's

154
00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:53,560
Speaker 2: a marathon, not a sprietot. How many times are we

155
00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,760
Speaker 2: going to hear that? Because these seasons are marathons. Now

156
00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,960
Speaker 2: they're twenty four rounds, as I said. And the competitive picture,

157
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,400
Speaker 2: because of you, you're one of twenty four, not one

158
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,760
Speaker 2: of eighteen or twenty. The competitive picture takes longer to

159
00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,080
Speaker 2: maybe crystallize any year, but particularly in a year where

160
00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:13,120
Speaker 2: everyone's starting from zero. So McLaren now in twenty four

161
00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,480
Speaker 2: they are a team, a modern day McLaren. In twenty

162
00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:17,440
Speaker 2: four they are a team learning how to win again.

163
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:19,560
Speaker 2: And in twenty five they were a team that you

164
00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,400
Speaker 2: had to win and they just had to get back there.

165
00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that doesn't carry over twenty five to

166
00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,320
Speaker 2: twenty six, but you put the variable in of a

167
00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,520
Speaker 2: brand new rule set and the fact that everybody's starting

168
00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,160
Speaker 2: from a position of lack of knowledge and disadvantage. Maybe

169
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:33,880
Speaker 2: the baked din advantage they've had for the last couple

170
00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,200
Speaker 2: of years doesn't present itself immediately, but I think it

171
00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,400
Speaker 2: will present itself over time. The question will be who

172
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:41,880
Speaker 2: stole the march in the early races, and then can

173
00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,440
Speaker 2: McLaren go with them? I'm pretty confident they will get there.

174
00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:46,680
Speaker 2: We know they've got strength of depth, good driver line up,

175
00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,960
Speaker 2: a lot of technical stability, but who gets that early

176
00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,320
Speaker 2: march on them? And is that arrestable as the season

177
00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:52,680
Speaker 2: goes on?

178
00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:54,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think what is interesting another question that

179
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,520
Speaker 1: I think is going to be a big one as

180
00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:58,920
Speaker 1: we build up to Australia and finally get some answers

181
00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,080
Speaker 1: when we have qualifying on this Of course it's wet,

182
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,960
Speaker 1: and then it will be annoyingly and frustratingly without hunters.

183
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,240
Speaker 1: But that sandbagging word. I love using the sandbagging word

184
00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:09,920
Speaker 1: during testing is the only time I only get to

185
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,480
Speaker 1: use it once a year, and that's it. Is Mercedes,

186
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: because this is the talk in the paddic among some

187
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,080
Speaker 1: teams anyways, and that we all expected Mercedes, mostly via rumor,

188
00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,760
Speaker 1: to start this year very strongly, to start testing very strongly,

189
00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,160
Speaker 1: and they did have quite a strong preseason test that

190
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,240
Speaker 1: the most laps of anyone over their nine allocated days

191
00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:33,160
Speaker 1: six two hundred and two kilometers only just more than half.

192
00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,840
Speaker 1: As it happens, also set quite a competitive time all

193
00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,199
Speaker 1: though times you know, all very mostly meaningless in preseason testing.

194
00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,560
Speaker 1: But they suggested right from the off that actually their

195
00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,720
Speaker 1: enginees not as competitive as you would think. It's a

196
00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,400
Speaker 1: Red Bull engine that looks very good. Was this deflecting

197
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,680
Speaker 1: against this compression ratios technical controversy You can read about

198
00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:56,080
Speaker 1: it the Fox Sports website. Quite possibly some most customer teams.

199
00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:57,480
Speaker 1: In fact, I think all the customer teams in the

200
00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,320
Speaker 1: last test were running old engines, whereas Mercedes was filing

201
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,280
Speaker 1: a new one that supposedly has quite a little performance kick.

202
00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 1: So it means we haven't even seen the best of

203
00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,240
Speaker 1: the likes of McLaren or Williams or Alpine and other

204
00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,240
Speaker 1: teams red Bull Racing, I think, most paciferously so suggested

205
00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:13,960
Speaker 1: that Mercedes hasn't even bothered turning their engine up yet.

206
00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:17,760
Speaker 1: Would you be surprised after all the years of Mercedes

207
00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,400
Speaker 1: struggle under the previous rule set to see them come

208
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,800
Speaker 1: out you know you mentioned just like twenty fourteen, Are

209
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,319
Speaker 1: they going to come out like twenty fourteen?

210
00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:27,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, or even if you look at twenty nineteen twenty

211
00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:29,120
Speaker 2: twenty one, when they were still the fastest car. I

212
00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,520
Speaker 2: remember vividly being in at the circuit to Catalunia for

213
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,679
Speaker 2: one of the test sessions of that year where they

214
00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:37,400
Speaker 2: were deliberately not putting three sectors together on the same

215
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:39,360
Speaker 2: lap because it didn't want to show how fast they were,

216
00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,719
Speaker 2: so they'd go absolutely flat out through sectors one and

217
00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,200
Speaker 2: three and then near pull the parachute on insector two,

218
00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:46,800
Speaker 2: so no one really knew how fast they were, and

219
00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:48,760
Speaker 2: there was that full boting like oh boy, like these

220
00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,240
Speaker 2: guys have got something in the locker. So there is

221
00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,120
Speaker 2: a there was a bit of nostalgia actually, but I

222
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:54,920
Speaker 2: was sort of reliving what you were saying there and

223
00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:56,600
Speaker 2: maybe sort of think of the time where they were

224
00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:01,080
Speaker 2: clearly the benchmark. It would surprise very, very if a

225
00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 2: Mercedes driver wins the Australian Grand Prix. Even if you're

226
00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,000
Speaker 2: looking at unreliability and start procedures and everything else, that's

227
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,079
Speaker 2: going to become a talking point in the next week.

228
00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:11,360
Speaker 2: But I think there were two teams that would have

229
00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,720
Speaker 2: been thrilled that Ferrari top the time sheets after testing

230
00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:15,880
Speaker 2: in Barra. One of them was Ferrari. The other one

231
00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,600
Speaker 2: was Mercedes, because they would have been absolutely stoked about this,

232
00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:23,199
Speaker 2: because it feels if enough people say something and Mercedes

233
00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:27,720
Speaker 2: don't say anything particularly strong to counter that, it does

234
00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,600
Speaker 2: feel that they are going to start the season perhaps

235
00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,160
Speaker 2: on more on the front foot than anybody else. I mean, look,

236
00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,120
Speaker 2: someone has to be the favorite here. We can't have

237
00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,640
Speaker 2: eleven underdog teams. This is not how Formula one works.

238
00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 2: Someone has to assume the position to favorite going into

239
00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:42,480
Speaker 2: the first Grand Prix the year, and it feels like

240
00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:47,160
Speaker 2: it will be Mercedes. The engine question is really interesting

241
00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,120
Speaker 2: because we can see through some of the Mercedes customers

242
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,040
Speaker 2: going through testing that there were probably a couple of

243
00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,880
Speaker 2: surprises in terms of which teams were good and maybe

244
00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:57,400
Speaker 2: not so. And you kind of answer that in You're

245
00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,880
Speaker 2: Introde with Williams missing a chunk of it. I mean,

246
00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:02,559
Speaker 2: we were discussing this at the end of last year,

247
00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,040
Speaker 2: he looked into the crystal ball and who's going to

248
00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,679
Speaker 2: be your world champion for twenty twenty six And we

249
00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:08,920
Speaker 2: were talking George Russell at that point, and there's nothing

250
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,240
Speaker 2: that happened across those nine days of testing that makes

251
00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:12,959
Speaker 2: me want to change my mind on that one. I

252
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,160
Speaker 2: think going into the season, he's the guy that I

253
00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,160
Speaker 2: think should have the highest percentage chance of winning the

254
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:18,920
Speaker 2: world championship.

255
00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,080
Speaker 1: Yeah. I did like after the first Barrain test that

256
00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,080
Speaker 1: all top four teams Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and

257
00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:29,680
Speaker 1: McLaren all said they were fourth best good, not even second,

258
00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,200
Speaker 1: not even not the fat Can we have three teams

259
00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:32,760
Speaker 1: ahead of them?

260
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,600
Speaker 2: Can we have a wider discussion? He like, what is

261
00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,320
Speaker 2: this sort of going for the Everyone wants to be

262
00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,480
Speaker 2: an underdog, and I don't under in twenty twenty six.

263
00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,000
Speaker 2: I just want someone to come out and say, yeah, look,

264
00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:43,960
Speaker 2: we're in fantastic shape and the rest of you guys

265
00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:45,880
Speaker 2: have got the rest of you guys have got no

266
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,360
Speaker 2: chance in your mays will not turn up because that

267
00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,280
Speaker 2: would be far more noteworthy than everyone's scurrying to the

268
00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,800
Speaker 2: bottom of this pecking order. That we're trying to come

269
00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,240
Speaker 2: up with, and it's just it's like something as old

270
00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,120
Speaker 2: as time, isn't it Like everyone tries to run away

271
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,080
Speaker 2: from the spotlight and then at three o'clock on or

272
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:04,920
Speaker 2: whenever Q three is in Melbourne in ten days time

273
00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:06,800
Speaker 2: or whatever it is, then we're actually going to find

274
00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,280
Speaker 2: out the pecking order and there'll be this complete change

275
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,440
Speaker 2: of narrative in about fifteen minutes that we've known to

276
00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,040
Speaker 2: be true for about three weeks. So it's always funny.

277
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,480
Speaker 2: It's a ritual of any Formula One season. But yeah,

278
00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,440
Speaker 2: the use of sandbagging a word never used outside of

279
00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:21,040
Speaker 2: what February could a year ever.

280
00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,040
Speaker 1: Yes, or on this year even a little bit of January.

281
00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,400
Speaker 1: Imagine that Red Bull Racing Ferrari. They are all in

282
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,520
Speaker 1: that mix. We'll talk about these teams over the course

283
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:30,880
Speaker 1: of the next week a little bit, but I want

284
00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,200
Speaker 1: to move a little bit further down the order to

285
00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,080
Speaker 1: a Mercedes Customer team and a former Mercedes Customer team

286
00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,320
Speaker 1: that might be wishing it was still a Mercedes Customer team.

287
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,160
Speaker 1: Aston Martin and Williams didn't complete their full nine days

288
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 1: of running. Williams said in advance it was skipping Barcelona

289
00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:47,719
Speaker 1: because the car wasn't ready, which is good reason to

290
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:49,319
Speaker 1: skip test. I suppose if you don't have anything to

291
00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,520
Speaker 1: put on the track. They were pretty productive during bar Raim,

292
00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:54,560
Speaker 1: but obviously that's a lot of milers to catch up on.

293
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:56,520
Speaker 1: They didn't catch up on all of it. Car doesn't

294
00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,960
Speaker 1: look particularly competitive, Rumors it could be significantly overweight, even

295
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,600
Speaker 1: in a year that most cars are expected to start overweight,

296
00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:05,760
Speaker 1: and it looks like it might be heading back down

297
00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:07,600
Speaker 1: towards the bottom of the midfield. But a lot of

298
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,640
Speaker 1: development to come this season. Let's be honest. The team

299
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:11,440
Speaker 1: we want to talk about he is Asta Martin more

300
00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,760
Speaker 1: than Williams. They did appear in Barcelona for a few

301
00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,760
Speaker 1: hours on the second, the penultimate day, and then was

302
00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,400
Speaker 1: sort of there for the last day, but we can

303
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:23,280
Speaker 1: say how present they were. I suppose it a car

304
00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,440
Speaker 1: sense that's up for debate. Really poor form, fewest kilometers

305
00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:31,800
Speaker 1: of any team, Only four hundred laps completed, which is

306
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:34,440
Speaker 1: what is that a quarter of the amount Mercedes completed

307
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,400
Speaker 1: over the course for their test. Slowest lap even though

308
00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:38,520
Speaker 1: we're saying that doesn't mean too much, but this last

309
00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:40,760
Speaker 1: lap was three point nine seconds slower than the quickest,

310
00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:42,880
Speaker 1: and Lancetrell said during the last couple of weeks that

311
00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:44,640
Speaker 1: the car would be four seconds slower than the quickest,

312
00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,559
Speaker 1: so he was. He is in the ballpark. This is

313
00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,440
Speaker 1: the first car with Adrian Nuie's signature on it as

314
00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:52,600
Speaker 1: chief designer. Even if he arrived quite late. He's now

315
00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,079
Speaker 1: said the car started development four months late because he

316
00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,600
Speaker 1: was starting four months later the team, which is interesting

317
00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,160
Speaker 1: in itself. He's also the team print all. The Honda

318
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:05,440
Speaker 1: Power Unit is back, and it seems both underpowered and unreliable.

319
00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,400
Speaker 1: Teams making its own gearbox and that seem to have problems.

320
00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:10,520
Speaker 1: Wherever you look, there seem to be issues.

321
00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of nostalgia, Honda Power Unit not necessarily delivering.

322
00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,439
Speaker 2: But imagine working for Aston Martin right now in your

323
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,000
Speaker 2: phone rings and the caller ID says Lawrence Stroll, Like,

324
00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,880
Speaker 2: what do you do? Like, there's no good outcome there.

325
00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:24,600
Speaker 2: You add to the call and it's bad. You deflect

326
00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:26,440
Speaker 2: the call that have to deal with later also bad.

327
00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,680
Speaker 2: There's no good outcomes here. This is about as bad

328
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,880
Speaker 2: all given the expectation, right, given the fact that it

329
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,080
Speaker 2: was at Uika and everything's been put in the basket

330
00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:38,400
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty six, and they, you know, last year

331
00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:40,440
Speaker 2: was oh, but wait till twenty six, weight till twenty six. Well,

332
00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,120
Speaker 2: we've got to twenty six and it looks other than

333
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,080
Speaker 2: if you're talking about Aston Martin being in the same

334
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,280
Speaker 2: sort of ballpark as Cadillac. And this is throwing no

335
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,960
Speaker 2: shade at Cadillac, who had a perfectly acceptable preseason for

336
00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,320
Speaker 2: a brand new team in a brand new regulation set.

337
00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,840
Speaker 2: They actually look like a thoroughly professional Formula One team

338
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,520
Speaker 2: and did not embarrass themselves in the slightest the fact

339
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,080
Speaker 2: that Aston in the same conversation here, it's great for Cadillac,

340
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:06,720
Speaker 2: it's horrendous for Aston Martin. Given the stakes they've got

341
00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,640
Speaker 2: on this season, the only way is up. And listening

342
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,520
Speaker 2: to Lant Stroll, Land Stroll doesn't really have a half

343
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,400
Speaker 2: full glass. It's more a paper cup that you probably

344
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,360
Speaker 2: couldn't recycling after you've done with it. He's never missed

345
00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:18,760
Speaker 2: a cheerful at the best of times, is you? But

346
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:23,080
Speaker 2: to see that after all the expectation coming into preseason

347
00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,600
Speaker 2: testing right now, if what odds would you put on

348
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:28,920
Speaker 2: either Aston Martin finishing at Albert Park, because it'd have

349
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,000
Speaker 2: to be if Fernando also wanted to get the early

350
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,040
Speaker 2: flight out on the Sunday night and maybe you have

351
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,360
Speaker 2: about thirty Nigel Mansell style A thirty laps into the race,

352
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:38,640
Speaker 2: I'm off to the airport in by Uber. Then you

353
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:39,840
Speaker 2: wouldn't blame him, would you.

354
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:42,480
Speaker 1: No, the test ended early for them because they ran

355
00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,680
Speaker 1: out of engine parts. Unreliability. Yeah, and that's scream in

356
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:47,640
Speaker 1: its own way. So maybe they won't have the parts

357
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,160
Speaker 1: to compete in Australia. I don't know how long it

358
00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,760
Speaker 1: takes to make a Formula one battery, something worth looking up.

359
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,880
Speaker 1: Perhaps in the next couple of weeks there was. It's such

360
00:15:54,920 --> 00:16:01,120
Speaker 1: a The trajectory of these tests was remarkable for Aston

361
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,840
Speaker 1: Marden because the car it was late. But then you know,

362
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,440
Speaker 1: we talked well. Adrian Nui loved bringing cars to the

363
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,040
Speaker 1: track late at Red Bull Racing, leaving the last bit

364
00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:11,560
Speaker 1: of development to be produced. And then the car gets

365
00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:13,200
Speaker 1: to the track and it ends up being really fast

366
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,920
Speaker 1: and the car looks very different to the others, and

367
00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:18,960
Speaker 1: that raised a lot of expectation that here we go.

368
00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:23,120
Speaker 1: A knew immediately his impacts being felled and then it

369
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,040
Speaker 1: only got worse. Second week showed that reliability was a

370
00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,400
Speaker 1: real problem. On no data. They complete one hundred laps,

371
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,360
Speaker 1: which became pretty standard for all the teams, and then

372
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,240
Speaker 1: the second test you thought okay. In the second bar

373
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,040
Speaker 1: rain test, you thought, okay, they're gonna come back, they'll

374
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,640
Speaker 1: figure out what's going on, and it was even worse.

375
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,360
Speaker 1: They even flut fewer laps, they ran out of parts,

376
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,600
Speaker 1: they were less performance. That I think is concerning for

377
00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:45,320
Speaker 1: the start of the season because this isn't just a

378
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,640
Speaker 1: case of a team starting on the back foot. It

379
00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,880
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like they've stretched the legs of the car

380
00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:51,720
Speaker 1: in any way. We don't know if that car is

381
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:53,920
Speaker 1: that that Adrian new car is actually really quick or not.

382
00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:56,280
Speaker 1: We don't know if that Hondra engine has any potential

383
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,520
Speaker 1: or not. It feels like Australia is just going to

384
00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,800
Speaker 1: be one really long test, assuming of course, that they

385
00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,920
Speaker 1: can complete enough laps to qualify as a long test. Yeah.

386
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,040
Speaker 2: It's funny, isn't it. Because we've got twenty two cars

387
00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:09,600
Speaker 2: this year. Obviously Q one, two and three are all

388
00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,520
Speaker 2: slightly different. You've got six cars being eliminated in Q one.

389
00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:15,760
Speaker 2: The chance I could make a case for any of

390
00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,160
Speaker 2: the other ten teams potentially getting a car into Q two,

391
00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,760
Speaker 2: even Cadillac. You know, if Valfrey Botas can pull a

392
00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,760
Speaker 2: lap out of somewhere, perhaps you would be shocked if

393
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,680
Speaker 2: either oldso Orstral gets out of Q one in Melbourne.

394
00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:28,800
Speaker 2: And like you said, assuming they can actually complete a

395
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:30,960
Speaker 2: grold predistance, that would literally be the biggest win for

396
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,280
Speaker 2: them in Melbourne is if they're still circulating at the end.

397
00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:34,919
Speaker 2: God knows how many laps are going to be down

398
00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,000
Speaker 2: at that point if it's a green flag race, But

399
00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:39,640
Speaker 2: to actually bank the data and find out if there

400
00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,080
Speaker 2: is any inherent pace in that car, because right now

401
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,080
Speaker 2: they do not know because it's not run for long

402
00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,359
Speaker 2: enough and that's probably the biggest indictment on their entire preseason.

403
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,400
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, the only positives here that development will

404
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:52,640
Speaker 1: be pretty fast, so and there's a lot of development

405
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:56,640
Speaker 1: to come this year. Quid things could improve. Honda presumably

406
00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,399
Speaker 1: will be the beneficiary as well of the rules that

407
00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,880
Speaker 1: will allow in developments for any strugglers over the course

408
00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:03,639
Speaker 1: of the year. That takes time. Though that's not going

409
00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:05,679
Speaker 1: to be a turnaround in a couple of rounds. It's

410
00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:07,720
Speaker 1: probably something that might be felt by the middle of

411
00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,960
Speaker 1: the year perhaps, but it's going to start in pretty

412
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,720
Speaker 1: grim fashion. You've got to feel for poor old Fernando Alonso.

413
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,720
Speaker 1: This is the second time suffering with a Honda. And

414
00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,159
Speaker 1: it's not just Honda, we should say, it's not just

415
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 1: the same way it turned out wasn't just Hondra at

416
00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,440
Speaker 1: McLaren either, even if that was a pretty significant part

417
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:25,760
Speaker 1: of it. It seems like even if the car theoretically

418
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,000
Speaker 1: is quick, it's not running the gearbox. They said, there's

419
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,960
Speaker 1: also an issue. There are issues there to sort out.

420
00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,399
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really interesting contrast. You've already

421
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,320
Speaker 1: mentioned Cadillac here that I think a lot of people.

422
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,879
Speaker 1: Had Cadillac had the results Astenman did over preseason, they

423
00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,480
Speaker 1: would have said, well, this is a bit embarrassing, but

424
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,040
Speaker 1: it's really hard starting a Formula One team from scratch.

425
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,119
Speaker 1: This is, in fact the kind of performance Formula One

426
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,320
Speaker 1: seemed to be invoking when they originally shut out the

427
00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:52,600
Speaker 1: Andrette bites. And if you go back and see that

428
00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 1: letter saying things like there's no hope this team will

429
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:59,080
Speaker 1: be able to perform competitively. They've underestimated what it takes

430
00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,879
Speaker 1: to be in Formula One, and yet Cadillac, which is

431
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,359
Speaker 1: the same team really. There's some ownership changes there, but

432
00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:05,760
Speaker 1: it's the team that was being set up as the

433
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,560
Speaker 1: andret bed there's not really any substantive difference. Had a

434
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:15,879
Speaker 1: very professional, workmanlike effective test looked very competent. Concerns that

435
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,200
Speaker 1: the team may not even qualify for races to seem

436
00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,680
Speaker 1: silly in retrospect, even though I understand where they're coming

437
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,360
Speaker 1: from at the time, didn't end with the slowest time

438
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,800
Speaker 1: that was Frassenbaden completed quite a few laps as well,

439
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 1: enough that they feel like they're on the front foot

440
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 1: for their first season. They're not going to be scoring

441
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,399
Speaker 1: points regularly, one assumes not. Podium certainly aren't, but this

442
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,639
Speaker 1: feels like quite a solid place to start. I was

443
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:39,920
Speaker 1: impressed by Cadillac.

444
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, the credibility question, that's what I kept coming back

445
00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:44,439
Speaker 2: to as well, because you know, as you said, that

446
00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:46,080
Speaker 2: was the reason they weren't going to be allowed in,

447
00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 2: because they were going to embarrass themselves and the sport. Well,

448
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:50,720
Speaker 2: they've certainly put that to bed. They look like a

449
00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:55,720
Speaker 2: perfectly competent yet tail end but perfectly competent Formula One

450
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,840
Speaker 2: team and the fact that it didn't lend it so

451
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,600
Speaker 2: to some outlier of a result or an amazing design

452
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,400
Speaker 2: they've come up with. They just look like a very

453
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,919
Speaker 2: very professional I'll be at a startup, but a very

454
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 2: very professional Formula One outfit. And as you said before,

455
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,239
Speaker 2: the contrast with if you'd had if Cadillac had had

456
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,960
Speaker 2: Aston Martin's preseason testing results and unreliability, then there'd be

457
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:18,359
Speaker 2: a lot of people going, well, I'll told you we

458
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:20,040
Speaker 2: shouldn't let them, and this is going to be terrible.

459
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 2: They may be the best, ninth best team in Melbourne

460
00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:27,840
Speaker 2: and they'll probably come out of Melbourne as winners because

461
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:29,880
Speaker 2: based on what they did in preseason testing, it's hard

462
00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:31,359
Speaker 2: to look at them as anything other than that.

463
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I mean the I want to say the

464
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:35,280
Speaker 1: bar is low for this year, because at the bar

465
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,600
Speaker 1: is extremely high just to get into Formula One, but

466
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,080
Speaker 1: finishing races regularly, pinching some points here and there, a

467
00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,639
Speaker 1: couple of Q two appearances. Maybe if there's a wacky

468
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:46,520
Speaker 1: wet qualifying, you might even find your way into the

469
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,480
Speaker 1: top ten that doesn't seem off the table, and that,

470
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,160
Speaker 1: as you say, I think is a pretty big win

471
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 1: for a new team. I think i'd be a huge result.

472
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:54,880
Speaker 2: And the thing I like about this too is that

473
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 2: for where they are, I mean the driver lineup they

474
00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,359
Speaker 2: have are a couple of guys who've been out of

475
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,919
Speaker 2: it for a while, and you know their best is

476
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,359
Speaker 2: clearly behind them in Valtori Potas and Sergio o Praz

477
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 2: just in terms of age and stages of their career.

478
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,399
Speaker 2: But it's the sort of lineup you want in a

479
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,199
Speaker 2: very credible startup. Now, at some point one of them

480
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,199
Speaker 2: is going to go, and that could be interesting as

481
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:15,640
Speaker 2: to how that goes in terms of the team dynamic.

482
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:17,880
Speaker 2: But for where they are now, on what they need

483
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,959
Speaker 2: and a couple of respective figureheads that people know that

484
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 2: are driving their cars, it's actually a really really good

485
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 2: driver choice for now.

486
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:25,600
Speaker 1: Now.

487
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:27,440
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a great driver choice for twenty

488
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 2: twenty eight. Perhaps there needs to be some change by then,

489
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 2: but whatever Cadillac becomes in the next couple of years,

490
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,080
Speaker 2: these two guys are going to have their fingerprints all over.

491
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,880
Speaker 2: I think it's a really really cleverly done driver lineup

492
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:40,920
Speaker 2: for the stage of that project right now. I just

493
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 2: think it brings them extra credibility and if they're saying

494
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,159
Speaker 2: positive things about it. They both got the runs on

495
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 2: the board that their words carry more weight, don't.

496
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,680
Speaker 1: They Yeah, exactly right. One question I want to finish

497
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 1: off with before we move on is there's been a

498
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: lot of talk about the regulations, and we might get

499
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,640
Speaker 1: into that a little bit later on or next week

500
00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,200
Speaker 1: rather and lead up to the Straightian Grand Prix. If

501
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,440
Speaker 1: one CEO Stefano Domenicali has come out and said everyone

502
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,159
Speaker 1: should stop panicking and complaining. The racing is going to

503
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 1: be great. He saw a car with his own eyes

504
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:10,119
Speaker 1: at the track and it looked awesome or fantastic or

505
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,280
Speaker 1: whatever have he described it as. This is despite all

506
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 1: four world champions on the grid having various criticisms of it.

507
00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,199
Speaker 1: I am sympathetic to Dominicalli's view in the sense that

508
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:20,880
Speaker 1: if you go back to twenty fourteen, not the first

509
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,480
Speaker 1: time we've in wrote twenty fourteen. This week there was

510
00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: similar catastrophic complaints. In fact, I went back and actually

511
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:27,639
Speaker 1: had a look. If you go back to the bar

512
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,120
Speaker 1: Rain Grand Prix on the Sunday, But then F one

513
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: CEO Bernie Ecleston and the Ferrari boss Luke Wadazemolo had

514
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 1: a crisis meeting in which the rules had to be

515
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,320
Speaker 1: changed actually because the racing was going to be so bad.

516
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 1: And then we've got that iconic duel between Hamilton and

517
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 1: Rosbourg proven you can race the cars and everything was

518
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 1: fine after that. So I see it from that perspective.

519
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 1: But the racing is going to be very different this year,

520
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: even if maybe trackside it's not as noticeable as it

521
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,280
Speaker 1: might be if you're riding on board and he's overblown,

522
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,800
Speaker 1: do you think, what's your gut instinct? Admittedly, before we

523
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 1: get an actually competitive weekend and you see it with

524
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 1: your own eyes.

525
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 2: I thought it was a little bit soon to be

526
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,480
Speaker 2: going down this path. It's the classic like everything's on fire,

527
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,720
Speaker 2: but Doppanic, it's fine. Everything's fine. As you know, we

528
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,880
Speaker 2: said this multiple times over the course of this podcast. Already,

529
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 2: it is such a long season that it would be

530
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,639
Speaker 2: frankly shocking and also a little bit boring for the

531
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 2: narrative if everything happened perfectly and race wide and it

532
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,160
Speaker 2: was all fine. This is going to be a developing story.

533
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 2: That's part of the process of going from you to

534
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 2: bedding in and we get comfortable with it. Yes, it

535
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:28,640
Speaker 2: might be a little bit chaotic early on, a little

536
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:30,919
Speaker 2: bit unpredictable, and sometimes you're like, this is this a

537
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 2: bit f y and I'm not loving a lot of this,

538
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 2: you know, cruising through quarters stuff and Fernando a lot,

539
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 2: So saying the aston Martin chef could drive the car

540
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,680
Speaker 2: through turn twelve in bar Raid and so on and

541
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,119
Speaker 2: so forth. We don't expect this to be complete, and

542
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,159
Speaker 2: it shouldn't be complete. I just thought it was just

543
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,879
Speaker 2: interesting that someone in Dominicali's position would feel moved to

544
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 2: come out and say something the way he did ahead

545
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:55,479
Speaker 2: of a season, and so this putting my cynical hat

546
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 2: on him. You're wondering, so what's that in response to?

547
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 2: Are we jumping at shadows with social media comments? Because

548
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 2: we know social media comments there are always the place

549
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:03,880
Speaker 2: to go if you want rational and clear thought about

550
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,680
Speaker 2: anything in twenty twenty six. Or is it in reaction

551
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 2: to stakeholders or sponsors or promote or what is it? Like?

552
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,240
Speaker 2: What is it that's prompted this? It was one of

553
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 2: those things for me that maybe it needed to be said,

554
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 2: but did it need to be said now? It just

555
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 2: felt a little bit early for me. I don't know

556
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:19,680
Speaker 2: what you thought about it.

557
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right. It's always a degree of why,

558
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,120
Speaker 1: Like what's the motivation for saying this? Yes, I guess

559
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: you have to say something to pump up the season

560
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: at some point, And if you didn't say anything about

561
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,359
Speaker 1: those complaints, maybe it would look just as strange. But

562
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:34,479
Speaker 1: I think there is I mean, I think it's a

563
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:36,479
Speaker 1: good approach to take, which is that these rules are

564
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: new and inevitably new rules. Weird stuff's going to happen

565
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 1: in the first year. And I think you sort of

566
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,160
Speaker 1: pointed out out He said whatever you sort of said

567
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 1: at the end of it all, he said, you know,

568
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: whatever happens in Melbourne, though after saying it is all

569
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,639
Speaker 1: going to be great, but whatever happens in Melbourne, Like,

570
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: don't judge us on Melbourne, and don't judgeus on the

571
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 1: first few races either. But I think that is as

572
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 1: funny as that is. I think that's a good point

573
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 1: because it's not just the rules but the team's learning.

574
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,520
Speaker 1: Then if you look back over the course of the test,

575
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: obviously you couldn't see exactly where the team started in Barcelona,

576
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 1: but what we understood happened in Barcelona and then in

577
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,159
Speaker 1: Bahrain and Bahrain again, improvements were huge, and if you

578
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 1: look at the onboard laps, obviously only over Bahrain, the

579
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: laps look less weird by the end of that last

580
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 1: Barrain test, and some tracks are going to look more weird.

581
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 1: I think Australia is actually probably going to be one

582
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: of them. It's much more sensitive to electrical power. But

583
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 1: others like Monaco are going to look perfectly normal, probably

584
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:26,920
Speaker 1: a lot faster actually that we've become used to over

585
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, and by the end of

586
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 1: the year that general trend is going to be different again.

587
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 1: So I'm sympathetic to that extent. But if we're still

588
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:35,879
Speaker 1: getting end of the year and we're doing a lot

589
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 1: of lifting and coasting and things, I think actually we

590
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 1: probably won't get to that point because the rules will

591
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: be tweaked over the course of the year, and it

592
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 1: seems EFI is prepared to by everything being fine. So

593
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:48,439
Speaker 1: we'll see. But I don't think these problems are so

594
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 1: significant that it dramatically alters what Formula one is. The

595
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 1: lap times are very in fact, I think the fastest

596
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 1: that was just outside two seconds slower than Poland Bahrain

597
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,040
Speaker 1: last year. Barrains are kind of middle ish of the

598
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 1: road track. Maybe we can say it like that. That's

599
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 1: pretty much bang on for a rule change. So despite

600
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,880
Speaker 1: all this talk of lifting and coasting whatever, the lap

601
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:09,880
Speaker 1: times are kind of already there. So I don't think

602
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: there's an overarching problem for Formula one here with these rules,

603
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 1: it'll just be a little bit different. But rule changes

604
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: always are.

605
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 2: Well, we just need time.

606
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: You know.

607
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,400
Speaker 2: It's at the moment that a lot of the criticism

608
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 2: and the commentary about it, it's because we're unfamiliar with it.

609
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 2: And you know, we were talking about twenty fourteen before

610
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 2: you remember what a shock it was to hear those

611
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 2: cars for the first time were twenty four so it's like,

612
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, Formula one, you know, rip that sort

613
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,440
Speaker 2: of thing. And we got used to it over time,

614
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 2: and then there were bigger rule changes in twenty seventeen.

615
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 2: I mean when years old, as we you go back

616
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 2: to standing in the pit lane somewhere and hearing a

617
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 2: V ten car on a very very high speed pit

618
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,159
Speaker 2: lane speed limit come out from a garage and all

619
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,639
Speaker 2: your ribs clattered together because it was so confronting and

620
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 2: so loud, And then that proceeded the vight heor and

621
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 2: so on and so forth. We got used to all

622
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,560
Speaker 2: of these things in time. At the moment, we just

623
00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 2: have very very limited sample size. And because we're talking

624
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,199
Speaker 2: about a twenty four round season, how soon until this

625
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 2: becomes normal and we stop talking about it? Is it

626
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 2: round five? Is it round eight? Is there a point

627
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 2: in the season where all of these things that we

628
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 2: know we're getting all worried about and wringing our hands together?

629
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,240
Speaker 2: In February, we'll get to May and we'll just go,

630
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,400
Speaker 2: it's just Formula one, It's fine, And then we start

631
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,880
Speaker 2: talking about the racing and the narratives and the personalities

632
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 2: and the development race and all of those normal Formula

633
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 2: one things. We just need cars on track racing to

634
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 2: be able to make a decision. And finally, in about

635
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:29,680
Speaker 2: ten days time, we're going to see that.

636
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 1: Let's move on, Matt to Move of the Week, brought

637
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,679
Speaker 1: to you by Shannons. What a funny time to have

638
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 1: Move of the Week when barely any racing has gone

639
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 1: the way, So.

640
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,640
Speaker 2: Ma, if you go first Move of the week, I'll

641
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:44,439
Speaker 2: pull back the curtain a little bit. Move of the

642
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 2: Week is me being on vacation in New York, where

643
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 2: the biggest Motor GP story in the Australian Grand Prix

644
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 2: history happens to be breaking when I'm about to get

645
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 2: on a plane for eight eight hours. And obviously the

646
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 2: move of the week is the move of the Australian

647
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 2: Motorcycle Rand Prix from Phillip Island to Adelaide from twenty

648
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:06,120
Speaker 2: twenty seven, a six year deal. And look, we could

649
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 2: do three separate podcast based on this. But this is

650
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 2: one of those things that I think everyone knew was

651
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 2: a possibility but never wanted to quite admit it. Because

652
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 2: Philip Pilond was on a ten year contract, there was

653
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,200
Speaker 2: a request from the series promoters to make some changes

654
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,200
Speaker 2: to the circuit every year. It was like, well, we've

655
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 2: still got more years, We've still got more years. We've

656
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 2: still got more years. And then there were no more years.

657
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 2: And you look at the way the sports ownership has

658
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 2: changed with Motor GP, with Libity getting involved and what

659
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 2: have you. It's not a great surprise that Philip Island

660
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 2: left the calendar because of reasons that have nothing to

661
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 2: do with the actual race track. It's one of the

662
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 2: great race tracks in any series anywhere. Everything else around

663
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:49,120
Speaker 2: it is pretty nineteen ninety seven ish must be perfectly hones.

664
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 2: I like nostalgia, but not that far back. But the

665
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:53,959
Speaker 2: curious thing for me, the move of the week is

666
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 2: a move to a strict circuit. And that's the staggering

667
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 2: part about all of this. There's still so much to

668
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 2: play out in terms of where Motor GP might be going.

669
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 2: I mean, Australia is kind of ground zero now for

670
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,040
Speaker 2: the brave new world of Motor GP. And if Moto

671
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 2: GP and Adelaide can pull this off, I think it's

672
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 2: more significant for what it means for the series going forward,

673
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 2: because the concept of bringing the races to the people.

674
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 2: I mean, it's what Liberty's done with Formula one, isn't it.

675
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 2: So it's a concept they know works now substituting two

676
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 2: wills for four, there's going to be some questions, clearly,

677
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 2: but in terms of what it means for the future,

678
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 2: it's really really interesting. It's not a discussion I ever

679
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 2: thought we were going to have, but I think, as

680
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,360
Speaker 2: I said, ground zero, it's a move to what Motor

681
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 2: GP may look like in the future. And I have

682
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 2: no idea whether it's going to work or it's not

683
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,840
Speaker 2: going to work, but it's going to be super interesting.

684
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 1: To find out, isn't it Yeah, only well about eighteen

685
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 1: months from now, I guess end of next year next

686
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 1: I remember paired with the supercars around there the Adelaide

687
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 1: Grand Finals. It's now known some question marks over whether

688
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 1: the supercars then also move what is a modified version

689
00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 1: of the original F one track. I mean that's what

690
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: the supercars already on. More modifications though, to make the

691
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 1: track longer, that permanent part of the circuits being flipped

692
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 1: around and reconfigured. It actually took my brain a little

693
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 1: bit to figure out what was going on on the

694
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 1: map that was revealed, But I get it, man, I

695
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,480
Speaker 1: think yeah. Supercars have suggested though that actually they'll be

696
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: allowed to use their current track, except for the changes

697
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: that obviously will be unavoidable in that permanent part of

698
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 1: the track remains to be seen. It's a pretty like

699
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 1: from both perspectives promoter giv obviously, and then combining it

700
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 1: with another race, a four wheel race as well, one

701
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 1: or two weekends prior is a pretty ambitious undertaking in

702
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: not that long, even though there's only so much of

703
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: the track that's permanent. They're talking about forty five trees.

704
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 1: Did he be removed? I think they'll also I mean,

705
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 1: I'm not a civil engineer, and we've only seen the

706
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 1: vague outline of the map. We don't know exactly what

707
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 1: other options. I know. Remarkable, isn't it. If I've worked

708
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 1: on your house recently, as I told you about earlier,

709
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: it looks like a lot more will have to be done,

710
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,120
Speaker 1: like there'll have to be a lot of work undertaken.

711
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: That's my instant looking at a map. But we'll wait

712
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: and see. Adelaide says they're going to pull it off.

713
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 1: Adelaide's become pretty effective. We've got to say making major

714
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 1: events work. But this is more than just I guess

715
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: a major event, considering the amount of way, as I say,

716
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 1: construction work that may have to be undertaken. But we'll

717
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: wait and see. A very interesting Move of the week,

718
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: Move of the year, perhaps even move. Take it back

719
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: to supercars though, where we did have some racing over

720
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: the course of again three races in fact, the Sydney

721
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 1: five hundred, the Night to Night Day, a round of

722
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 1: supercars to kick off the season. Good chance to put

723
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 1: some fireworks into the billing as well. Everyone loves those,

724
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:37,720
Speaker 1: and I'm going to go Move of the week. It

725
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: was a long move. In fact, it was almost a

726
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 1: race long move if you like Kai Allen versus brock

727
00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: Feenie at the start of Sunday's Race of the Line.

728
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: I just liked this because it was brock Feenie who

729
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: prevailed in the end, and also because Kaylon retired from

730
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 1: the race unfortunately. It was almost a race long jewel

731
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,040
Speaker 1: for victory. I think this for a couple of reasons.

732
00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: One brock Feenie bouncing back from that championship heartbreak last year.

733
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 1: I don't think there's ever really any question of it,

734
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 1: but it was just important to see it happen, and

735
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 1: he was on great form this weekend, had really great pace,

736
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 1: even on Saturday when he was in contention to win,

737
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 1: was penalized, but really got his elbows out to do it.

738
00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 1: I think we maybe it's early to say, but I

739
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 1: think we are seeing a slightly more elbows out version

740
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,440
Speaker 1: of brock feeni And I'm I think part of it

741
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: is because of last year, but I think part of

742
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: it as well is just his more Every year he's

743
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 1: getting more established in the sport. It's clear he's one

744
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 1: of the top performers. So I liked it from that,

745
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: But then I also like Kyelee, and you know, he

746
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: was the surprise wild card in the finals last year,

747
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:38,440
Speaker 1: in the Grand Finals, in the top four people, we

748
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: are a bit surprised by that. But actually, if you

749
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 1: look at his results in the second half of the

750
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 1: year in the finals campaign, very good obviously in the

751
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 1: finals campaign, and I think that we're seeing the signs

752
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: that he is going to kick on and he's going

753
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 1: to make a really big step this year. So I

754
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 1: liked it for both of those storyline elements more than

755
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 1: just the battle between them where they were really fighting

756
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 1: hard off the line to try and lead that race

757
00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 1: because the lead is so important.

758
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there's bigger things that play there, for sure. Absolutely,

759
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 2: And I think the Fieni thing's really interesting that you

760
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 2: bring that up, because that was going to be the

761
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 2: question that he was going to be asked at every

762
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 2: stop until he didn't have to answer that question anymore. So,

763
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 2: you know, the hangover from last year, the fact that

764
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 2: that one's been put to bed in the very very

765
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 2: first round of the season, then we just get on

766
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 2: with it from there. But yeah, the aggression things interesting,

767
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 2: isn't it. That's that's always the sign of a guy

768
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 2: who's very comfortable in his own skin and nose. He

769
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,160
Speaker 2: belongs at the sharp end, and it's I wouldn't say

770
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 2: it was a weakness that you could pick off with

771
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 2: him before, but again it's just that refinement of a

772
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,000
Speaker 2: guy who's been a top line guy for a few

773
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 2: years now and knows where he belongs.

774
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think the great drivers inevitably intimidate other drivers,

775
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 1: and I think he starts intimidating other drivers, and I

776
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:44,640
Speaker 1: mean at that point, I mean last year there were

777
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: very few weaknesses in his game. If he also becomes

778
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 1: intimidating for the rest of the grid, then yeah, hard

779
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: to know what else he'd have to do. Let's look

780
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: a little bit at the supercars, in fact, since it

781
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 1: was the only racing that's gone on the way so far.

782
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: This is a motorsport podcast. As I said, the City

783
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: five hundred at the weekend, and this was a pretty

784
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,760
Speaker 1: big opening round for a lot of significant reasons. For

785
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 1: the supercars, we had, of course Triple eight, the dominant

786
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: teams champion moving to Ford now the Ford to molligation team.

787
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,520
Speaker 1: Question marks over how smoothly that would go turned out

788
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: actually very smoothly. It was never a problem also the

789
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:20,719
Speaker 1: first race for Toyoda. We'll talk about that in the

790
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 1: second That was pretty significant for the sport and its

791
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 1: outlook really, and of course it was first round of

792
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,160
Speaker 1: what was a pretty interesting championship last year. Kicking on

793
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 1: from that, we already talked about brock Feeni two wins

794
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,440
Speaker 1: out of three on his debut with the Mustang. I

795
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,600
Speaker 1: think that immediately puts to bed whether or not that

796
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,120
Speaker 1: car is going to be quick, ause Sydney is, like

797
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 1: it or not, is a pretty well rounded test of

798
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 1: the car. Like it's a very conventional racetrack when we

799
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 1: even though we do rest a lot of weird and

800
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:48,840
Speaker 1: wonderful circuits around Australia, I feel like this is a

801
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,200
Speaker 1: pretty good all rounder. And well, it looks just as

802
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,960
Speaker 1: good as it did last year. But this was a

803
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 1: pretty big test for the drivers as well. Man, I'm

804
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 1: sure you saw. I don't know if you saw the

805
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 1: weather forecast specifically, but we started that the eighty five

806
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: degrees and I was shocked to see it. I don't know,

807
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,720
Speaker 1: like nine am or something, humidity was ninety five percent,

808
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,359
Speaker 1: and so that's immediately like I would just check out.

809
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,600
Speaker 1: I would go home at that point. But the drivers

810
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,759
Speaker 1: obviously abliged to continue racing, and they start like there

811
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,799
Speaker 1: was some serious struggle in general. But for Brock, Feenie

812
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,879
Speaker 1: and Will Brown, and also David Reynolds, it turns out

813
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 1: all had cool suit failures. Brock struggled on I mean

814
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: he was in the lead, which probably helped a little bit,

815
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: and he said if he turned it on and turned

816
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,359
Speaker 1: it off, it kind of worked again for another lap

817
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 1: and then failed. Will Brown couldn't really do that. He

818
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 1: ended up in the medical center, as did David Reynolds.

819
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:42,960
Speaker 1: And the way they described it, I think Will Brown said,

820
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: in particular, is it when the it's got an F

821
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 1: one style call or as is now F one style

822
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: I guess probably supercar style. Originally the pumped water vest

823
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: or you know on their body that when it fails,

824
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 1: the water pumping doesn't fail. The water just doesn't cool

825
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: down and the water is in the car with you

826
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 1: in the cars, you know, sixty degrees or whatever. So

827
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,360
Speaker 1: it was having I think he said, forty odd degree

828
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 1: water being pumped around his body as he was in

829
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 1: acute heat straits. So the poor guy had to be

830
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 1: hauled out of the car taking to the medical center.

831
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,440
Speaker 1: So very taxing. This is something we normally expect like

832
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 1: on the Gold Coast or something, not in Sydney, and

833
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,080
Speaker 1: not an afternoon in Sydney. But fair to say this

834
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 1: was a pretty physically taxing race to start the I mean,

835
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:23,880
Speaker 1: you know that's the thing, is the first race of

836
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 1: the year as well, when they're they're all fit, but

837
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 1: they're the least race fit, they're going to be.

838
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean brutal way to start the season.

839
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 2: I lived in that near that part of Sydney for

840
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 2: quite a while and yeah, you don't look at the

841
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,480
Speaker 2: Sydney forecast. You go considerably more west than that, and

842
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 2: it gets super hot, super early, and the humidity is

843
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,880
Speaker 2: the thing that kills you. You know, it's February, you know

844
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:44,880
Speaker 2: it's the first round of the season. We're still in summer.

845
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 2: And you mentioned the lack of match fitness. It was

846
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,839
Speaker 2: always going to be potentially an issue, and then you've

847
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:51,920
Speaker 2: got failing call suits in there. Can you think of

848
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,400
Speaker 2: anything worse than just having increasingly heating water scrapped to

849
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:57,120
Speaker 2: your body while you're in one of these things and

850
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,359
Speaker 2: you're just counting down those laps, you'd bit like, how

851
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 2: is there still eight laps to go? Wasn't it eight

852
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 2: laps to go? Eight laps ago? But it's a tough

853
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:05,839
Speaker 2: way to start the season. I mean, look longer term,

854
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,920
Speaker 2: maybe it's got some benefits because if you weren't, if

855
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:10,760
Speaker 2: you weren't ready to go before the weekend, you certainly

856
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,239
Speaker 2: aren't now. But I wanted to touch on because I

857
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:14,799
Speaker 2: wanted you to fill me in as much as anything else.

858
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,760
Speaker 2: You mentioned that first weekend for Toyota significant in terms

859
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 2: of the broader picture of the sport, and you'd have

860
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 2: to say the results were pretty credible, were they for

861
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 2: a first weekend?

862
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,440
Speaker 1: In Yeah, credible. It's a good way to describe it.

863
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 1: I think a mixed bag in the sense that qualifying

864
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 1: was pretty reliably not pretty good. Although Andre Homeguartner got

865
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,279
Speaker 1: a top ten on Friday, I think it was but

866
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: in general the qualifying pace seemed a bit lacking. But

867
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:40,560
Speaker 1: in the race they were constantly moving forward, which I

868
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:42,719
Speaker 1: think is a pretty good sign. Qualifying is, of course,

869
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 1: when you're really trying to put everything on the table,

870
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:45,879
Speaker 1: and I think it's not that surprising that a new

871
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 1: entrant essentially would be struggling there. But you know, Chas

872
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,320
Speaker 1: must had finished fourth on Sunday and Ryan would fifth,

873
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,919
Speaker 1: so that's a really quite good result for the polygation team.

874
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:56,960
Speaker 1: There all five of the Turder cars as the three

875
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 1: BJR cars as well. We're in the top ten on Sunday,

876
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,919
Speaker 1: so that's a pretty good results. I think the big

877
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: question mark is the engine though. I think that's where

878
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 1: there are some concerns. It's notable that on Monday there

879
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 1: was a ride day where sponsors get driven around essentially

880
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,839
Speaker 1: my co drivers. But I get the name right now

881
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 1: Walking Shore t WG Racing roles of which is the

882
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:24,040
Speaker 1: fmuligation team, doesn't It opted not to participate, which is

883
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:25,920
Speaker 1: a little bit unusual. They said they really wanted to

884
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,239
Speaker 1: go back to base and debrief and of course the

885
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,960
Speaker 1: next round is only next weekend at the Australian Grand Prix,

886
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 1: so not very long, so understand it on that element.

887
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 1: But track time is also pretty useful. But I mean

888
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,040
Speaker 1: we had Andre him Gardner, for example, after qualifying stop

889
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 1: on track with an engine drama. We don't know exactly

890
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,799
Speaker 1: what it was. There was also a report that Ryan

891
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 1: would had an engine change over the course of the weekend,

892
00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 1: with rumors suggesting that there was quite a lot of

893
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 1: metal found in some violent samples. That's just rumors. I

894
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: can't verify that, but it seems like there is an

895
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,719
Speaker 1: engine limitation. The engine seemed relatively powerful, you know, it

896
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:01,239
Speaker 1: seems everything's roughly on and supercars always because of the

897
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: parody format, but that also means that small differences make

898
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,839
Speaker 1: a big difference in the result, and I think that's

899
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,719
Speaker 1: probably what we were seeing. So I think a solid start.

900
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,840
Speaker 1: I mean, we always knew, we knew DOUBLET DOUBLEG very effective.

901
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,160
Speaker 1: Team obviously won the driver's championship last year, so that

902
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:21,000
Speaker 1: wasn't in doubt. It's really just getting this machinery up

903
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 1: and running in an effective way. The good thing with

904
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:24,879
Speaker 1: supercars is that because it is a parody formula, they

905
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: can make tweets during the year, and I'm sure if

906
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,960
Speaker 1: they feel like they need to that they will. But

907
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:32,000
Speaker 1: I think yes, credible is a good way to describe it.

908
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 1: I think it was a good start. Other tracks will

909
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: of course be more favorable. As I said, this is

910
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 1: a pretty all round challenging track, but not the singing

911
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 1: and dancing start. I guess that maybe they would have

912
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 1: liked but decent. Nonetheless, I think it's fair to say.

913
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 2: Going back to what we were saying before, it was

914
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 2: a more Cadillac than Aston Martin, which is a very

915
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 2: very good thing.

916
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 1: In February twenty twenty six, I think that is fair enough.

917
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 1: All right, before you wrap up, let's go to the

918
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 1: Crystal Ball by complete home filtration. This is contrary to

919
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,880
Speaker 1: move with the in fact the ideal time to have

920
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 1: the Crystal World segment. I think, when we know very

921
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 1: little but there's a lot on our plates coming up,

922
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 1: what are you predicting?

923
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:12,839
Speaker 2: Well, when I knew we were going to be talking

924
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 2: about the biggest questions going into the Formula One season,

925
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 2: I wrote five words down and you'll enjoy this. Do

926
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 2: we believe in Ferrari? They are my five words that

927
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:25,479
Speaker 2: I wrote down, And usually my answer to these things

928
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 2: is no, because of a historical president. But so my

929
00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 2: crystal Ball, I'm going to go with Ferrari is going

930
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,120
Speaker 2: to win the Australian grond Ah Great Crystal Ball, simply

931
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 2: because I'm going you know, we talked about nostalgia a

932
00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 2: little bit. Ferrari is very very good at winning the

933
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 2: Australian Grand Prix but not winning the World Drivers Championship

934
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,239
Speaker 2: in the same season. So the last four times in

935
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 2: Australian driver Ferrari drivers won the Australian Grand Prix twenty

936
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 2: twenty four, Color Sites twenty twenty two, char Le Clare

937
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,600
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen and eighteen Sebastian Battle. Those four race winners

938
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 2: did not translate to World Championships that year. You have

939
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:02,560
Speaker 2: to go back nineteen year Kimmy Reichen in twenty seven,

940
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 2: the last time a Ferrari driver won the Australian Grand

941
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:07,319
Speaker 2: Prix and the World title. So given that, I don't

942
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 2: think a Ferrari drivers go to win this years World Championship,

943
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,319
Speaker 2: I'm saying they go to win an albert Park. So

944
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 2: there's my prediction for you.

945
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 1: Very good. I've got to say I won't I won't

946
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 1: name names, but I remember I was walking out of

947
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 1: the track with a colleague on the Sunday of the

948
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:22,160
Speaker 1: twenty two Australian Grand Prix. Well, Charlot Cleger won that

949
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: one pretty comprehensive he did, and he goes to me, Wow,

950
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of how many points is it

951
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:28,799
Speaker 1: going to win by and how early isn't it And

952
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:34,640
Speaker 1: I thought, sure enough it was. So I think that

953
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: is a good I like the logic of that prediction.

954
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: I think that's a good one. I'm going to forecast

955
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,600
Speaker 1: slightly even nearer term than that. I think you will

956
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 1: have read about this on the Fox's website and it's

957
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: been a story for months. In fact, the Mercedes power unit.

958
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,600
Speaker 1: Is it illegal? Is it the compression race you I'm

959
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:51,799
Speaker 1: not going to explain the compression ratios here, no, but

960
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:53,719
Speaker 1: are they breaking the rules? It is a vote. The

961
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,440
Speaker 1: FIA's decided it doesn't want this controversy hanging over the

962
00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,839
Speaker 1: Australian Grand Prix. So by the end of this week,

963
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 1: I think it is all the engine manufacturers have to

964
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,720
Speaker 1: vote on whether or not to measure the compression ratio

965
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 1: when it's hot as well as when it is called

966
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 1: the engine. That is not just the weather. But what

967
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 1: I love about this is because on paper you think

968
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: all the other rival manufacturers getting what they want. The

969
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 1: Mercedes will be slowed down. They'll have to revise their

970
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,440
Speaker 1: engine by August anyway, when the rules will be changed.

971
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:19,839
Speaker 1: But there's a report i think from the race that

972
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: have suggested that the other teams actually, upon reflection, are

973
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,360
Speaker 1: going to vote down this proposal because it will prevent

974
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: them from bending the rules in a way that they

975
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,240
Speaker 1: the anticipated they would be doing this year. So after

976
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 1: all the singing and dancing, if I can use that

977
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,080
Speaker 1: phrase again about engines and Mercedes and the spirit of

978
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:38,319
Speaker 1: the rules, well, the spirit of the rules serve no

979
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:40,919
Speaker 1: purpose for the rival manufacturers either, and this might become

980
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,640
Speaker 1: a total non issue by the end of the week.

981
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 2: No, it's very to my mind, this is the most

982
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,440
Speaker 2: finn story of flod stories, right. You know, you complain

983
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 2: about something and then all of a sudden, when you

984
00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,240
Speaker 2: realize that you might be disadvantaged by your own complaining,

985
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:58,759
Speaker 2: they decide to retract. So yeah, a very obvious end too,

986
00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 2: a story that we saw coming and it'll be in

987
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:02,840
Speaker 2: then nothing to see here basket by the time we

988
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 2: get to Albert Park.

989
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,400
Speaker 1: Probably one of the great stories, I think, one of

990
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:08,640
Speaker 1: the great political stories of Formula one. But we will

991
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:09,959
Speaker 1: wait and see and you'll be able to read about

992
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:12,239
Speaker 1: that on the Fox Sports website over the week. But

993
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:14,040
Speaker 1: that's all the time we have for pit Talk this week.

994
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:16,279
Speaker 1: You can subscribe to pit Talk wherever you get your

995
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,759
Speaker 1: favorite podcasts, and you can leave us a rating and

996
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:21,359
Speaker 1: review as well, and you can hear the Moto GP

997
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,359
Speaker 1: edition of Pit Talk later this week in your feed

998
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:26,000
Speaker 1: or next week. In fact, I think it's already out.

999
00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 1: This weekend is the season opening Thailand Motorcycle Grand Prix,

1000
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:32,360
Speaker 1: with lights out at seven pm Eastern daylight time. You

1001
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:34,120
Speaker 1: can keep up to date before for latest F one,

1002
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:37,759
Speaker 1: supercars and MotoGP news at Fox sports dot com or

1003
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,359
Speaker 1: about you from Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonado. Thanks

1004
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:41,920
Speaker 1: very much for your company and we'll catch you next

1005
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 1: week