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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.

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Speaker 1: On today's episode, Formula one is back for the Belgian

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Speaker 1: Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastre leading Landon Norris by just

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Speaker 1: eight points in the driver's Championship, and can the season's

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Speaker 1: third sprint weekend help inject some optimism back into Ferrari

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Speaker 1: and Lewis Hamilton. My name is Michael Lomonado. It's great

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Speaker 1: to have your company and the company of my co host.

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Speaker 1: If you think you have strong views about sprint racing,

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Speaker 1: just ask him about half points. It's Matt Clayton.

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Speaker 2: Oh, now, come on half points, Michael Lamonado as a

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Speaker 2: man who likes an orderly spreadsheet. It's funny you bring

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Speaker 2: this up ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, because it

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Speaker 2: was the Belgian Grand Prix that wasn't in twenty one.

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Speaker 2: I believe that was where you and I were waiting

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Speaker 2: for a two lap race to finish at four o'clock

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Speaker 2: in the morning, where we were adorning us there We're

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Speaker 2: going to be half points and your beautifully symmetrical spreadsheet

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Speaker 2: was going to be a mess for the rest of

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Speaker 2: the season because of it. But if you have strong

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Speaker 2: views on half points. I have several strong views on

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Speaker 2: sprint races. Perhaps that's something we should get to a

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Speaker 2: little bit later, I think so.

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Speaker 1: But the twenty twenty one Belgian Grand Prix should never

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Speaker 1: be mentioned again, I think, And it won't be my me, No,

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Speaker 1: certainly not. But I thought it'd be good to reset

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Speaker 1: the scene a little bit because we're coming off her

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Speaker 1: mini mid season break just two weeks before the actual

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Speaker 1: mid season break. Not sure who made the decision on

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Speaker 1: the sessions with this one, but that's the way it was,

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Speaker 1: and I don't think anyone in Formula One was too

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Speaker 1: upset though to have an extra weekend off in this

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Speaker 1: early summer time. But we resume with Formula One in

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Speaker 1: a pretty delicate championship position. After victory the British Grand Prix,

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Speaker 1: Landon Norris has slashed his title deficit to Oscar Piastri

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Speaker 1: to just eight points. It was his second win in

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Speaker 1: a row as well, Matt off the back of that

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Speaker 1: pretty straightforward Austrian Grand Prix, at least after that first

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Speaker 1: stint battle with Oscar Piastre. So what's your appraisal of

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Speaker 1: I guess the status of the momentum between these two

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Speaker 1: title contenders heading into this next two races before the break,

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Speaker 1: do you feel like Norris has a real bit of

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Speaker 1: a run here.

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Speaker 2: It's interesting in that because we've had the two weeks between,

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Speaker 2: there's more time for more opinions and more podcasts and

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Speaker 2: more written content. And I've read a lot of views

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Speaker 2: that seemed to think this was some sort of, you know,

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Speaker 2: seismic shift in the piastre versus Norris battle. I wasn't

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Speaker 2: prepared to go that far, and that might be a

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Speaker 2: product of my passport relative to the passports of the

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Speaker 2: people that I was reading or listening to, because you

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Speaker 2: have to remember that the British Grand Prix was won

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Speaker 2: by Oscar Piastri until he committed a safety car infrigement

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Speaker 2: and then basically lost a race with his ten second penalty.

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Speaker 2: He had that race one, Let's be honest. The one

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Speaker 2: thing I will say about Norris is I've been really

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Speaker 2: impressed with the bounce back after Canada because Canada and

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Speaker 2: the mistake he made there, and it wasn't just a mistake,

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Speaker 2: it was a mistake in battle with his teammate where

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Speaker 2: he scored zero points. That felt like a very sort

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Speaker 2: of Lando Norris thing to do quite frankly, and you

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Speaker 2: did wonder, given what's happened with him in the past

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Speaker 2: and similar situations, how long that was going to linger for.

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Speaker 2: And the answer is that it hasn't linked at all,

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Speaker 2: because he was the best McLaren driver at the Red

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Speaker 2: Bull Ring, and he had the winning the British Grand

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Speaker 2: Prix even though he was probably the second fastest of

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Speaker 2: the two McLaren drivers. And as this championship effectively becomes

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Speaker 2: a two car fight for the title, with everybody either

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Speaker 2: having their own struggles or looking ahead to twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 2: I'm impressed by the fact that he's managed to arrest

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Speaker 2: the momentum because to my mind, Canada felt like one

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Speaker 2: of those real tenth pole. Okay, this is a self

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Speaker 2: inflicted wound here, how is he going to recover from that?

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Speaker 2: We know that he beats himself up publicly quite a bit.

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Speaker 2: He wears his heart in his sleep with these sorts

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Speaker 2: of things. What was interesting to me with Sylveston. I

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Speaker 2: don't know that you thought about this as well, but

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Speaker 2: Piastre is very much a product of his manager, Mark Webber,

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Speaker 2: and one of Mark Weber's famous comments used to say

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Speaker 2: all the time was I will give nothing, and it

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Speaker 2: says better in Mark's accent with a very good Adam

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Speaker 2: Zapple as well, but Piastre is very similarly cut in

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Speaker 2: that respect. He's giving you absolutely nothing. And yes there

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Speaker 2: was the points lost from what happened at Sylveston, but

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Speaker 2: the fact that it was something that he whether he

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Speaker 2: agreed penalty or not, it was something that he gave Norris,

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Speaker 2: and I think that really stuck in his craw. The

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Speaker 2: disappointing part about it for us is that we didn't

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Speaker 2: get that immediate chance to see the response because there

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Speaker 2: hasn't been a race for a couple of weeks since.

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Speaker 2: So in terms of the momentum within the championship, this

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Speaker 2: margin now feels about right to me, and it feels

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Speaker 2: like it's been rebalanced a little bit by what's happened

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Speaker 2: in these past two races. Sets us up for a

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Speaker 2: fantastic second half of the season. But I'm not prepared

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Speaker 2: to buy the narrative that, look, Norris has won two

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Speaker 2: races in a row, this is this huge momentum shift

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Speaker 2: here he comes, get your royal family details out. I'm

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Speaker 2: not quite prepared to do that, but I do think

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Speaker 2: it sets up the remainder of the season really nicely

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Speaker 2: and coming to a run of circuits now where I mean,

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Speaker 2: you can't imagine another car necessarily being able to lay

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Speaker 2: a glove on McLaren at this particular layout ASPA this weekend.

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Speaker 2: So if it comes down to an intense head to

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Speaker 2: head with these two again, then bring it up, because

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Speaker 2: we've seen some good examples of it already. But it

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Speaker 2: feels like the reset. This does feel like the second

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Speaker 2: half of the championship starts now. I know we've got

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Speaker 2: the break coming up very shortly, but it feels like

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Speaker 2: this is like ground zero for the rest of the

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Speaker 2: championship and it's a championship that only evolves to McLaren cars.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's sort of funny. I don't think anyone INFORMUTA

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Speaker 1: one wishes any more triple headers, but it felt like,

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Speaker 1: if you were ever going to have one, it would

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Speaker 1: have been good to have another race after Silverstone to

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Speaker 1: see that play out a little bit, because it's the

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Speaker 1: first time we've really seen Piastre feel aggrieved by anything

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Speaker 1: or feel not wronged I suppose, or he felt wrong

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Speaker 1: by the penalty, but like you say, he'd given something away.

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Speaker 1: It's very rare that that happens, and was as strong

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Speaker 1: as this word sounds, probably not really exactly a good

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Speaker 1: match for Piastri, but emotional about it. Not a lot

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Speaker 1: of emotions in there, but as emotionals I've ever seen him.

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Speaker 1: Would have been good to see how that would have

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Speaker 1: affected him with an immediate race afterwards, you feel a

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Speaker 1: little bit like with two weekends off, I don't know

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Speaker 1: how motivating that incident will be now. It just feels

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Speaker 1: like we're starting from scratch after a long break, so

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Speaker 1: that doesn't necessarily play a point. Think something that perhaps

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Speaker 1: we mentioned at the time is that momentum. We use

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Speaker 1: this word a lot, probably overstated it a little bit,

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Speaker 1: but it doesn't have to be zero sum. You know,

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Speaker 1: Norris getting a bit of a roll and he does

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Speaker 1: feel like he's got a bit of a run out

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to come at Piastre's expense. And that's actually

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Speaker 1: how I feel like after these two races, because while

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Speaker 1: he won in Austria dominated that weekend, in the race,

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Speaker 1: Piastre was probably at least as quick as him, unexpectedly so,

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Speaker 1: considering how far behind relatively he was all the way

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Speaker 1: up until the start of the Grand Prix and then,

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Speaker 1: as you say, the British Grand Prix should have won

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Speaker 1: that race, had that race one, until he made a

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Speaker 1: mistake of his own and then finished behind his team.

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Speaker 1: And it does feel like they start as far apart

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Speaker 1: in momentum terms as they are in the championship table,

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Speaker 1: which is eight points practically nothing effectively with twelve rounds

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Speaker 1: still to go. I think that is really exciting because

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Speaker 1: we've seen so many ups and downs this season, particularly

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Speaker 1: for Norris. You know, boscar has been pretty consistently good.

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Speaker 1: Norris has been up and down, had some really great

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Speaker 1: weekends and some really ordinary ones, but in ways that

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Speaker 1: I don't want to say they're separate to Norris's ability,

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Speaker 1: because his ability to get the most out of the

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Speaker 1: car is integral to winning a championship. But there's always

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Speaker 1: been this idea that he's not quite jelling with the car,

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Speaker 1: and maybe now actually he's solved that, and now maybe

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Speaker 1: for the last twelve rounds of this season, we see

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Speaker 1: as close as you can get to a pure head

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Speaker 1: to head of two drivers pretty comfortable with the where

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Speaker 1: they are in the car, understanding how to get the

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Speaker 1: most out of it, and just racing head to head.

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Speaker 1: Maybe we circuit will suit someone the next will suit

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Speaker 1: someone else. Should be really fascinating.

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Speaker 2: Well, and this is one of the great parts about

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Speaker 2: this in that you've got a car that's clearly the

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Speaker 2: best in the field. You've got a team that's prepared

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Speaker 2: to let us drivers race, which we can appreciate that.

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Speaker 2: And you mentioned the thing about momentum. It's not one

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Speaker 2: driver has it and the other one doesn't. You can

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Speaker 2: have degrees of momentum, and I think both of them

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Speaker 2: do have that. The thing that's so fascinating about how

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Speaker 2: this should run into the rest of the season given

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Speaker 2: the car advantage they have in the fact that team's

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Speaker 2: going to let them race, They're both trying to achieve

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Speaker 2: the same end from very very different means, and you know,

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Speaker 2: both in terms of their emotional makeup and even their

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Speaker 2: respective strengths and weaknesses as drivers. I think the contrast

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Speaker 2: of styles, given that all of the other parameters in

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Speaker 2: all of this are going to be pretty actualized. You know,

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Speaker 2: we know what the car is going to do.

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Speaker 3: We know that.

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Speaker 2: You know there's a you look back at the British

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Speaker 2: Grand Prix, there was a chance for perhaps PSTRE to

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Speaker 2: be put on a different strategy that would have mitigated

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Speaker 2: that penalty, but McLaren is like, no, no, we're not

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Speaker 2: going to start changing strategies here. They're going out of

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Speaker 2: their way to try and be fair and even handed

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Speaker 2: and you know, may the best drive a win sort

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Speaker 2: of maxim which I actually really appreciate, Like it's really

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Speaker 2: simple to say that, but it's harder to do when

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Speaker 2: you know your odds on to win your first Driver's

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Speaker 2: Championship since two thousand and seven.

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Speaker 3: It's been a very very long time.

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Speaker 2: I like the way they've set this up, and so

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Speaker 2: this points gap between the two of them right now

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Speaker 2: feels accurate. There were times during the season where it

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Speaker 2: felt a little bit skewed one way or the other

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Speaker 2: because Pastre had put himself on the back foot because

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Speaker 2: of what had happened in Australia, and then he took

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Speaker 2: that you know, advantage to that big run of races

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Speaker 2: he won those three in a row there. I think

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Speaker 2: this feels like an appropriate reset. If you were to

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Speaker 2: ask me which has been the better McLaren driver over

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Speaker 2: the bounce of the season so far, I would say

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Speaker 2: Piastre just and that's what the points table represents.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a good call. It'll be interesting

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Speaker 1: to see how it all unfolds from here, particularly given

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Speaker 1: that there is this little frenetic doppleheader and then we've

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Speaker 1: got a break, how that might affect the narrative whether

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Speaker 1: there'll be any change at all by the time week

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Speaker 1: to the end of the Hungarian Grand Pray in a

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Speaker 1: week or so. I want to move on to Red

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Speaker 1: Bull Racing now, obviously quite a big talking point over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. With Christian Horner sacked shortly

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Speaker 1: after the British Grand Prix, Laura Mechiez has taken his

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Speaker 1: place as CEO and team principal at Red Bull Racing.

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Speaker 1: This will be his first weekend in charge, the team's

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Speaker 1: first weekend without Christian Horner running the show. I don't

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Speaker 1: expect to see any real changes this weekend, obviously in

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Speaker 1: the way this team performs, because there's not really It's

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Speaker 1: something I've been asked a couple of times. It's not really

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Speaker 1: such a thing as a new manager bounce in Formula One,

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Speaker 1: because our sport is too complex for one man to

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Speaker 1: come in and make a big change on one weekend,

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Speaker 1: short of changing drivers. I guess maybe that one would

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Speaker 1: have effect, but that's not happening.

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Speaker 3: But what do you.

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Speaker 1: See as the early days of this new era of

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Speaker 1: Red Bull Racing, Because it really is a new era

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Speaker 1: with not only a new team principle, but departing from

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Speaker 1: the guy who's are on the show the entire time,

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Speaker 1: what feels like it must be a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a strategic change in the way that Red Bull sees

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Speaker 1: its Formula One asset. Obviously the background being Max Forstappen

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Speaker 1: could leave the team if he's not satisfied. What are

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Speaker 1: you going to be looking for? Not just obviously this

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Speaker 1: weekend because then he's going to be so much there,

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Speaker 1: but in the next few months. In this Mechias era.

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Speaker 2: I'm not even necessarily looking at what Mechiez is doing,

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Speaker 2: or necessarily even what the car is doing. The car

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Speaker 2: has proven to be hugely problematic. As we know, they're

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Speaker 2: not going to win either championship this year, so they'll

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Speaker 2: go championship list for the first time in a long time.

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Speaker 2: I think the thing that quietens the noise around this team,

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Speaker 2: and then they can just get on with seeing out

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Speaker 2: this season and therefore the rules set and get that

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Speaker 2: chance to reboot for twenty twenty six. Once there is

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Speaker 2: some sort of clarity or even leaning either way on

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Speaker 2: the verstap and decisions staying or he's not, it's a

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Speaker 2: yes no question. Once we get the answer to that,

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Speaker 2: it's like, well, he's leaving it is a complete hard

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Speaker 2: reset for this set of regulations, or he's staying, which

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Speaker 2: I think is the more likely outcome at this point,

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Speaker 2: and that just turns the volume down on their season

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Speaker 2: because there's not really a whole lot to talk about

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Speaker 2: now because a head at the top of the story

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Speaker 2: has rolled with Christian Horner. The timing of it's interesting

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Speaker 2: because as you said, there's not that new manager bounce.

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Speaker 2: I think you'll more see the impact of Horna not

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Speaker 2: being there for twenty twenty six and beyond. I think

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Speaker 2: this season the narrative is kind of told to a point.

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Speaker 2: The only intrigue for me is there going to be

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Speaker 2: any sort of inkling one way or the other in

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Speaker 2: does the Hornet departure confirm that Verastapan is staying and

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Speaker 2: or going. Once that decision happens, I think they just

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Speaker 2: go along with being frankly the fourth best team in

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Speaker 2: Formula One and with someone like Vastapan that will turn

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Speaker 2: in a ridiculous performance and win a race or two

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Speaker 2: before the end of the season when it rains it

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Speaker 2: into Lagos, or if he's at Zanvor and he's got

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Speaker 2: that sorted, or there'll be a track somewhere where the

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Speaker 2: circumstances will conspire that he will be able to transcend

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Speaker 2: the machinery and win races. And I say that pretty

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Speaker 2: confidently because we've seen it this year. You look at

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Speaker 2: things like Suzuka, that race looks even better now in retrospect.

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Speaker 2: He probably had absolutely no business winning that but one

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Speaker 2: with a brilliant lap on the Saturday and then didn't

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Speaker 2: make a mistake on the Sunday. So there's a chance

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Speaker 2: that's going to happen in these final twelve races. But

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Speaker 2: the is he staying? Is he going question with Verstapan

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Speaker 2: to me is the final sort of domino in quite

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Speaker 2: frankly level of interest in this team because it is

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Speaker 2: not a front running team right now. It's a team

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Speaker 2: that can occasionally snipe for wins, but that's about it.

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Speaker 2: They're not in the championship picture. Once we get an

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Speaker 2: answer on for Stappan, then I think they start to

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Speaker 2: not fade from a view, because they're a big presence

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Speaker 2: in Formula One, but they're certainly not going to be

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Speaker 2: the headliner, particularly as this McLaren Championship battle intensifies, as

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Speaker 2: the racist stick down.

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Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I think that's a good call. I

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Speaker 1: think as well, what will be interesting to observe as

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Speaker 1: this season goes on is how Mechi and the team

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Speaker 1: interacts with Yuki Sonoda, because that's really the sort of

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Speaker 1: side story of their campaign. Because we say they have

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Speaker 1: the fourth fastest or the fourth best team, and that's accurate.

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Speaker 1: That fourth in the Constructors Championship, that's what their points

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Speaker 1: score says. That is because the second car just is

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Speaker 1: not scoring most weekends. That's literal down, it is not

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Speaker 1: scoring points. If it was scoring even I think at

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Speaker 1: three quarters of verstapans rate, they'd be intersecond in the

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Speaker 1: Constructor's Championship, still way off McLaren, but they'd be thereabouts

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Speaker 1: even with a problematic car. The relationship Mechiez has with Sonoda,

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Speaker 1: it was a big backer of him at Racing Bulls

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Speaker 1: last year and early this year, was really on the

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Speaker 1: front foot in congratulating him publicly and presumably privately. When

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Speaker 1: that promotion came so it he's very proud to see

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Speaker 1: his hard work rewarded, all that sort of thing, but

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Speaker 1: also seems to have really quite a let's just say,

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Speaker 1: Unhorner like relationship with the drives. And I don't mean

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Speaker 1: that to be critical, but really it does feel very

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Speaker 1: different to the way Horner dealt with his drivers. If

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Speaker 1: we go back and remember the way he welcomed Leam

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Speaker 1: Lawson back into the team at Japanese Grandfrit like has

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Speaker 1: been going out of his way in that first month,

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Speaker 1: let's say, but that first race, in particular to make

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Speaker 1: laws and feel welcomed back to try and brush over

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Speaker 1: those bad memories of the first two rounds. I wonder

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Speaker 1: what effect he can have a on maybe Sonoda's confidence

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Speaker 1: if that is starting to become a factor at this team,

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Speaker 1: particularly if now that he's in that seat and has

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Speaker 1: presumably a significant say on the drivers next year without

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Speaker 1: it probably being a total say on the driver's next year,

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Speaker 1: whether that also buys him time and then time equals confidence.

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Speaker 1: Knowing that Mechi has knows how good Sonoda can be,

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Speaker 1: knows that this is not his potential theory's ceiling because

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Speaker 1: before this, this this management change, so before the recent weeks,

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Speaker 1: the assumption had been that Sonoda would probably be out

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Speaker 1: of the team by the end of the year, simply

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Speaker 1: because we now assume that he's probably not going to

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Speaker 1: get the terms with his car. That I think is

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Speaker 1: an interesting side story to all of this driver market

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Speaker 1: that's focused on Max with Stafford.

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Speaker 2: So how much of this then, and this is a

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Speaker 2: coming I've openly ponded, so Imo as we'll share it

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Speaker 2: with you, how much of this is going to be

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Speaker 2: the difference between having a data driven team head in

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Speaker 2: Laura Meckey's, who is an engineer by trade, that's what

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Speaker 2: he is, as opposed to someone who is a personality

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Speaker 2: driven and often a personality that's as big or bigger

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Speaker 2: than his drivers, in Christian Horner. Because I look at

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Speaker 2: the way McLaren are running at the moment, the Andrea

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Speaker 2: Stellar element to McLaren in terms of him being a

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Speaker 2: public facing spokesperson and someone that we always hear from

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Speaker 2: with the team. That's a management style that's created out

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Speaker 2: of data and being an engineer first and then being

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Speaker 2: a media performer second. And that's certainly not Christian And

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Speaker 2: that's just the truth. I mean, that's certainly not Christian Horner,

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Speaker 2: and it's certainly not lots of team principles. So getting

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Speaker 2: back to your point about Sonoda, perhaps there'll be a

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Speaker 2: more data driven appraisal of what it is that Sonoda

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Speaker 2: is doing. And it may not even be data that's

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Speaker 2: public accessible or something that we see. It might be

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Speaker 2: something that they're noticing internally. To my mind, I think

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Speaker 2: it strengthens his case because the last element you need

356
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Speaker 2: for Red Bull right now is even more turnover and

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Speaker 2: more turmoil. There's enough of that going on as it is,

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Speaker 2: with key people leaving the team, and they've got a

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Speaker 2: new engine coming in for next year, you've got a

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Speaker 2: new rule set, and for the first time ever, you've

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Speaker 2: got another team principal in charge of this team. Sonoda

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Speaker 2: right now is a fixed element, and yes the performances

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Speaker 2: have not been good, but you do wonder if the

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Speaker 2: performances of anybody in that second car would be good,

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Speaker 2: and the aswer is probably no. Is that another element

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Speaker 2: they could change but perhaps shouldn't change, given that there's

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Speaker 2: so much change going on elsewhere, And to my mind

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Speaker 2: that goes back to the Verstappen question. If the Stappin

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Speaker 2: is staying, why would you not just roll that driver

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Speaker 2: lineup out roll out their driver line it rather for

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Speaker 2: the first season of a new set of regulations in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, because that takes other variables out of

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Speaker 2: the equation. Now, what happens after twenty six if the

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Speaker 2: car's no good and vstap and leaves or so on

375
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Speaker 2: and so forth, that's up for debate. But right now,

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Speaker 2: perhaps the drivers should be the fixed focus and the continuity,

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Speaker 2: and you try and fix all of the other stuff,

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Speaker 2: because goodness knows, there's a long list of other stuff that.

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Speaker 1: The Yeah, I think so, because I think unless you

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Speaker 1: can get your hands on a genuine, race winning, proven driver,

381
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Speaker 1: the answer to this question actually sailed last year.

382
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Speaker 3: Carlo Science was bad to say.

383
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Speaker 1: But they're not going to get him for next year

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Speaker 1: because there's no real driver that meets that criteria on

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Speaker 1: the market next year. I don't see the point in

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Speaker 1: changing Sonoda, knowing as Mechiaz does, and really as anyone does,

387
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Speaker 1: that he's much better than this, because we have evidence

388
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Speaker 1: not just from previous seasons but from earlier this season

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Speaker 1: that that is the case. I don't see any value

390
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Speaker 1: in changing him, or preemptively deciding to change him as

391
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Speaker 1: felt like the team was moving towards So I think

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Speaker 1: that's a good news, not just obviously for the driver,

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Speaker 1: but for the team as well that, like you say,

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Speaker 1: that stability element can lead into next year if they

395
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Speaker 1: are going to have a slow start to the regulation,

396
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Speaker 1: which is a rumor that obviously cannot be substantiated until

397
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Speaker 1: next year, but it will help to have stability, to

398
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Speaker 1: have someone who already knows how to work with key

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Speaker 1: elements of the team. And as before we even consider

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Speaker 1: whether or not Mechiez by the end of the year

401
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Speaker 1: might make changes to the team that don't involve the drivers.

402
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Speaker 1: Whether that staff, personnel, bringing people, letting people go, we

403
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Speaker 1: don't know. So I think there's value in that. It

404
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,880
Speaker 1: will be interesting to watch just seeing a different face

405
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Speaker 1: on the pitwall for the first time ever at red

406
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Speaker 1: Bull Racing. Yeah, this weekend, let's change tack now and

407
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Speaker 1: move to Move of the Week, brought to you by

408
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Speaker 1: Shannon's There's been no Formula One last couple of weeks,

409
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,000
Speaker 1: no Supercars this weekend either, but there was Moto GP

410
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,600
Speaker 1: with their final race before their real mid season break,

411
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,879
Speaker 1: and while you could predict what happened, Markes won, but

412
00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,200
Speaker 1: move of the week isn't about who won't necessarily, it's

413
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Speaker 1: about best move and Matt, why did you kick us off?

414
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Speaker 2: Move of the week for me? He came in the

415
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,200
Speaker 2: sprint at the Czech Republic GP. Also amazing to see

416
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:39,320
Speaker 2: Motor GP back at Bruno, just one of the great

417
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:43,240
Speaker 2: Moto GP tracks, big and wide and open and undulating

418
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,159
Speaker 2: and just fantastic to see those bikes around there for

419
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,960
Speaker 2: the first time in five years. But Mark Marquez in

420
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,280
Speaker 2: the sprint gave up the lead because he thought he

421
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,960
Speaker 2: was about to breach Burder GP's tire pressure regulations, which

422
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,399
Speaker 2: is a separate podcast in itself, and sat behind Pedro

423
00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:59,560
Speaker 2: Acosta to get his front tire temperature up and then

424
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Speaker 2: decide with a lap and a half to go or

425
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Speaker 2: I've had enough of this. I'm not going to be penalized. Now,

426
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,200
Speaker 2: here's nine tenths of a second on you in one

427
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Speaker 2: lap because I can, And that to me was the

428
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Speaker 2: This is the evolution of Mark.

429
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:11,200
Speaker 3: Now.

430
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Speaker 2: In the past, you know, the old Mark would have

431
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Speaker 2: just tried to beat you by a sheer speed. He's

432
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Speaker 2: got this amazing combination now of speed and smart and

433
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,119
Speaker 2: when to deploy the pace, not just deploying it for

434
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,280
Speaker 2: the sake of deploying it, And to my mind, that

435
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,720
Speaker 2: was just it summed up the way he's approaching twenty

436
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,919
Speaker 2: twenty five in a nutshell. He's writing smarter than he's

437
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:31,720
Speaker 2: ever ridden, and he's writing just as fast as he

438
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,000
Speaker 2: ever has. And that was movie of the Week for

439
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,840
Speaker 2: me because of the inevitability of it, but also the

440
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:41,080
Speaker 2: sheer cunning and execution of something that we saw coming

441
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,159
Speaker 2: a mile off. But it still takes a pretty special

442
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:44,000
Speaker 2: writer to execute it.

443
00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:46,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, not the first time he's had to do something similar.

444
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, Alex was it early in this season

445
00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,560
Speaker 1: all Thailand? Yes now, but yeah, Thailand. So it's remarkable

446
00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,600
Speaker 1: considering that that hasn't really had to be part of

447
00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,840
Speaker 1: what it's relatively new part of any writer's repertoire. I

448
00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,960
Speaker 1: guess this tire management. It's very specific tire pressure management.

449
00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,760
Speaker 1: But he's clearly nailed it, and he's got the confidence

450
00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,320
Speaker 1: that he can do pretty much whatever he likes to

451
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,119
Speaker 1: make sure those tires are under control. I was going

452
00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 1: to pick a Marcus move as well, taking the lead

453
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,400
Speaker 1: from Bedzechi in the race, just because it was muscular

454
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:14,000
Speaker 1: in a way that it didn't have to be Like

455
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: you've said, the pace was clear there all weekend, but

456
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:18,360
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. But I actually going to pick Bedzechi

457
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:20,240
Speaker 1: for the move of the week, and this was him

458
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,800
Speaker 1: into the lead, threading the needle between Marquees and Banyaya,

459
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 1: and then getting really enjoyed it because watching it really

460
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,880
Speaker 1: looked like if you're playing a video game, any racing

461
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,480
Speaker 1: video game, and you've set the difficulty just a little

462
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,480
Speaker 1: bit easier than the AI is, and every move just.

463
00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:38,160
Speaker 3: Looks kind of easy.

464
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 1: Just the way he slots between them makes it look

465
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,320
Speaker 1: very straightforward, very under control. A little bit like on

466
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,640
Speaker 1: the brakes that came a little wabble, but just really

467
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 1: great judgment, and I think particularly given them more recently

468
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,680
Speaker 1: now we're talking about this resurgence of Bears and a

469
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,720
Speaker 1: pretty good looking now like the second best bike out there,

470
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,760
Speaker 1: long way behind the Ka Even nonetheless, I just thought

471
00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,000
Speaker 1: that was a great little moment where some people might

472
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,200
Speaker 1: have been like, oh, maybe he maybe he'll win it,

473
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,439
Speaker 1: and then he didn't fat and still I thought it

474
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:04,040
Speaker 1: was great well.

475
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 2: And also to see the Ducati riders have their nose

476
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:08,800
Speaker 2: bloodied for the first time in a while, because it

477
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,280
Speaker 2: doesn't often happen to see one of them. To see

478
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,040
Speaker 2: a non Ducati muscle through to take the lead and

479
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:15,680
Speaker 2: then scamper off for a bit of that race was

480
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 2: really good to see. And as you said, like, yes,

481
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,040
Speaker 2: it's a distant race for second place in Motor GP,

482
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:23,159
Speaker 2: but it's a race right now that a Prillier is winning.

483
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 2: And now that Jorgey Martinez back because perhaps he's realized

484
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 2: that the Aprellier actually is quite decent after all, or

485
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,760
Speaker 2: all is forgiven, it would not surprise me at all

486
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 2: to see a Prellier riders win one or two races

487
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 2: before the end of this season. I don't think this

488
00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:36,840
Speaker 2: is going to be a Ducatti sweep for the rest

489
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,680
Speaker 2: of the year. And I can see Jorge Martine once

490
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,439
Speaker 2: he gets back up to full fitness. We're seeing what

491
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 2: Bozeki's doing on that bike, and ninety nine people out

492
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 2: of one hundred would say that Jogey Martine is a

493
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 2: superior rider. So I think once he gets back up

494
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,719
Speaker 2: to speed, I think that's that bike's going to fight

495
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 2: at the front with Ducatties more often. But I do

496
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 2: like your move.

497
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:56,800
Speaker 1: I want to move on to Ferrari briefly, We'll come

498
00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:58,640
Speaker 1: back to Ferrari a little bit later on as well

499
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 1: when we talk a bit about the Sprint week prospects.

500
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 1: But this could be a big weekend the Italian team,

501
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,359
Speaker 1: considering that they're bringing what I think will be the

502
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 1: last major upgrade for this car. It's getting late in

503
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,840
Speaker 1: the day for big upgrades anyway. I don't think we'll

504
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 1: see too many after this next double header. But this

505
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,960
Speaker 1: is rear suspension which has been pretty significant and the

506
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 1: team struggles, particularly since the Chinese Grand Prix. The last

507
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: weekend they looked good for both cars were just qualified,

508
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,399
Speaker 1: and that is related here. A lot of hope is

509
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,199
Speaker 1: being pinned on this, particularly after that floor upgrade in

510
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,680
Speaker 1: Austria seemed to deliver a little bit more than they

511
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,639
Speaker 1: were expecting at the time. How important I think it

512
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 1: is or is it important at all what Ferrari does

513
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 1: for the rest of this year, considering he hasn't been

514
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 1: a championship winning year. To see some kind of some

515
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,000
Speaker 1: kind of success this weekend, well.

516
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:42,800
Speaker 2: This is all part of the late season charge to

517
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,159
Speaker 2: an honorable second in the Constructors Championship, isn't it.

518
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 3: This is how Ferrari rolls.

519
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 2: It's like, hey, look how good we are at the

520
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,840
Speaker 2: end of the season, how the season's over, Whereas this

521
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:52,479
Speaker 2: season it'll be, oh, look how good we are at

522
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:54,359
Speaker 2: the end of the season and the rule set is

523
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 2: over and we start again. So it would be a

524
00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 2: very Ferrari thing to do to suddenly become the best,

525
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 2: second best team before one for the remaining twelve rounds

526
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,440
Speaker 2: of the season and then who they hell knows once

527
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 2: we get to Melbourne next year. But it is significant,

528
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 2: I think in isolation for what Ferrari are doing, and

529
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,560
Speaker 2: like you said, China was the last weekend they looked

530
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,360
Speaker 2: legitimately quick and legitimately in the fight for something meaningful

531
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,480
Speaker 2: before the let's mutter a disqualification of both cars for

532
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 2: the first time ever. I think that's significant in isolation

533
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:25,959
Speaker 2: for Ferrari, but I think it's also significant in the

534
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,879
Speaker 2: wider context of what everyone else is now doing, because

535
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,120
Speaker 2: there's an established order now that McLaren's clearly the best

536
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 2: car in Formula One, and if you're anyone other than McLaren,

537
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 2: not to say that McLaren aren't looking at twenty twenty six,

538
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,879
Speaker 2: but everyone else now there's something about this season slipping

539
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 2: into its second half where it's like, all right, this

540
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 2: rule set is just about over, and we've seen very

541
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 2: publicly teams like Williams turned the tap off quite a

542
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,600
Speaker 2: while ago. There'll be other teams higher up in the

543
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,000
Speaker 2: Constructor's table that it was like, why are we throwing

544
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 2: good money and resource and effort behind a rule set

545
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 2: that's going to be expiring very soon And there'll be

546
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 2: this sort of status quo that's settles at some point

547
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,200
Speaker 2: in these last twelve races. So by virtue of Ferrari

548
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,919
Speaker 2: bringing performance upgrades and everyone else either choosing not to

549
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 2: or really turning the tap off, it wouldn't surprise me

550
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 2: at all to see them rise up and finish the

551
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 2: I was taking the piss before, but the honorable second

552
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 2: in the Constructor's Championship. It is a bit what they do,

553
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:19,879
Speaker 2: but it's very much in play this year. If they

554
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,000
Speaker 2: are going to go down this road, it would be

555
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 2: nice to see them in the fight, simply because I

556
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 2: think we haven't really seen what that driver lineup can deliver.

557
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,919
Speaker 2: When there's something really, really meaningful. That's one of the

558
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,120
Speaker 2: great intrigue points at the start of this season. We've

559
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 2: not quite seen it for many reasons. So yeah, significant

560
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 2: in and of itself, but perhaps significant in what everybody

561
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,119
Speaker 2: else is choosing to not do as we get closer

562
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 2: towards the end of this season and the clean sheet

563
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:48,880
Speaker 2: of paper that is twenty twenty six.

564
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think as well. I mean, not that

565
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 1: it really matters so much at the end of the day,

566
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,680
Speaker 1: considering there's so much change next year, and considering that

567
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 1: there's nothing substantive on the line this year, now that

568
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: the championships pretty much rather than dud, at least from

569
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,440
Speaker 1: the Ferrari perspective, I do want to see something finally

570
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:06,800
Speaker 1: click there for a change. I want to see this

571
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,919
Speaker 1: Hamilton Vassa Leclair relationship work a little bit, if not

572
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 1: just because I think it is important to particularly considering

573
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:16,879
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton is there now. I think this is an

574
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 1: important storyline for Ferrari to achieve something, because I think

575
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:22,960
Speaker 1: the risk is that if the team does, as has

576
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 1: been rumored quite heavily in the Italian press, decide to

577
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,439
Speaker 1: make a move on the team principle if results are

578
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: not forthcoming. I don't think anyone informud one really sees

579
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 1: that as a path to anything other than another few

580
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,160
Speaker 1: years backward step success. Later down the line rather than

581
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,120
Speaker 1: next year as it could potentially be, or at least

582
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 1: in the first few years of this regulatory set. And

583
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: I don't you know, I don't think Hamilton has that

584
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 1: kind of time. And while I'm not, I don't feel

585
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: I'm particularly attached Hamilton either way. I just think that

586
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 1: for him to go to Ferrari and to just fizzle

587
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 1: out into nothing because the team's a bit no good

588
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: just doesn't really satisfy in any way. I mean much

589
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,199
Speaker 1: such more satisfied either obviously he's seeing him win an

590
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,920
Speaker 1: eighth title would be pretty spectacular, or just seeing him

591
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,880
Speaker 1: definitively beaten in a car that is good, beaten through

592
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: the championship by Charlot Clair would at least tell us

593
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: something out of this experiment. Seeing him retire after Ferrari

594
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: finished third a few times the constructors chamis he gets

595
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: a winnie or there just doesn't do anything for me.

596
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 1: You know, it's not a great story. You know, I'm

597
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:22,920
Speaker 1: interested in the story, so I'd like to see something.

598
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 2: He's saying that he didn't win an eighth World Championship

599
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,600
Speaker 2: depends on which flag you're flying outside your house. What

600
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,679
Speaker 2: you're basically setting up there is it's going to be

601
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 2: a Ferrari one too at Monza, and then I'll probably

602
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 2: do nothing for the rest of the season.

603
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:36,359
Speaker 3: That's pretty much what you're asking for, Rothie.

604
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: Let's talk about me Sadi's briefly before we move on.

605
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 1: Won this race last year with both drivers I think

606
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,879
Speaker 1: I'm allowed to see. Of course, took the check a

607
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,040
Speaker 1: flag and was disqualified. Lewis Hamilton inherited the win. He

608
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 1: was probably the fastest driver on the weekend, but we

609
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,159
Speaker 1: said he's accident. They gave George Russell the fastest strategy

610
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 1: they didn't think would work. It did work. He executed

611
00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,800
Speaker 1: it very well. We should say too well, it turns

612
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 1: out because the car ended up being underweight for not

613
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: having enough diet changes and he was disqualified. Oscar Piastri

614
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,199
Speaker 1: a close second in the end. But this was in

615
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,080
Speaker 1: that period last year when Mercedes was unexpectedly and it

616
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,440
Speaker 1: turned out inexplicably competitive, because they stopped being competitive shortly

617
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,879
Speaker 1: after this, except for Las Vegas.

618
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,120
Speaker 3: What do we feel like It's hard to get a.

619
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 1: Grip on Mercedes in the first half of the season.

620
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,160
Speaker 1: They've had some good weekends where you felt like they're

621
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,359
Speaker 1: going somewhere then more of those anonymous weekends we've become

622
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 1: used to really in this rule set where they don't

623
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: really know why they're not performing, and dre Kimi Antonio,

624
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,840
Speaker 1: I guess as a rookie wood I said some really

625
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: big ups and downs. Hard to know exactly where he's

626
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 1: on that progress trail. I think he's doing okay, though.

627
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 1: Do you expect anything much this weekend or you're just

628
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 1: going to be keeping an eye on the weather forecast

629
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 1: To answer that question.

630
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 2: Well, probably the weather forecast and the actual temperature, because

631
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 2: we know it's still a good car in the cool weather.

632
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 2: But I've looked at Mercedes the whole year through a

633
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 2: really different lens and it's amazing what's swapping out one

634
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,400
Speaker 2: driver for another. The most successful driver in the history

635
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,439
Speaker 2: of Formula One with a teenage rookie does for the

636
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,560
Speaker 2: way US sess a team and how it's going. And

637
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,520
Speaker 2: you look at the seasons of their two drivers. George

638
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 2: Russell has become one of the most consistent, professional, dependable

639
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 2: drivers in Formula One and Kimmie Antonelli has been really

640
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 2: good some weekends and really anonymous other weekends and a

641
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 2: bit crashy and a bit rookie and a bit eighteen

642
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 2: year old because that's what he is. So I've looked

643
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,200
Speaker 2: at their entire season through a really different lens last year,

644
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 2: because I think you looked at the track record of

645
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,399
Speaker 2: that particular outfit and the drivers they had last year,

646
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 2: you were always left a little bit disappointed or wanting

647
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,439
Speaker 2: more because you look at it and this should be better.

648
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 2: Whereas to my mind, this year, we've looked at it

649
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 2: a bit more like, well, okay, like it makes a

650
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 2: little bit more sense with what they're doing. They've been

651
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 2: good in some places, a bit in some other places.

652
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 2: Russell has been really really good. I think he's I

653
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 2: think he has been really the team leader in all

654
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 2: but name there for the last couple of years, and

655
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 2: he's really proven that this season. But the way I've

656
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 2: looked at Mercedes this year, and I know this doesn't

657
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,240
Speaker 2: answer the question of what we expect for the rest

658
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 2: of this year, I just keep thinking back to rule

659
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 2: changes and when they've got it right in the past.

660
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 2: And I've looked at a lot of what they're doing

661
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 2: in twenty five as okay, but what are they going

662
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 2: to do in twenty six? And that's the team whether

663
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 2: it's blind faith or whether it's just history telling me this.

664
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 2: If I was to have to, you know, set the

665
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 2: market for who I expect to get a rule set

666
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 2: more right out of the ten teams in Formula one

667
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 2: by twenty twenty six, if Mercedes is not the top

668
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 2: of my list, it's very, very close. And so that's

669
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 2: maybe clouded a lot of by judgments and views on

670
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 2: how they've gone in twenty twenty five, because I feel

671
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 2: like it's a bit of a waiting room for twenty

672
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 2: twenty six where perhaps they might not become the absolute

673
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 2: top dog again, but I can see them moving forwards.

674
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,960
Speaker 2: So that's kind of how I've seen their season. But

675
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 2: going back to where we started this question, you know,

676
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 2: it was you're right about Russell. Last year they literally

677
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,920
Speaker 2: lucked into the winning strategy by him playing an absolute

678
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 2: blinder and doing what everybody else didn't do, and it

679
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 2: was one of those weekends like, oh, that's actually worked,

680
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 2: and it went completely against it, It went completely against

681
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 2: convention before he lost the win for the car being underweight.

682
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 2: This has been a good circuit for them in the past,

683
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 2: so it wouldn't be surprising if we saw one of

684
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 2: them on the podium this weekend, but I don't think

685
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 2: it's a great portent of things to follow. I think

686
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 2: they'll have occasional flashes and it could be weather dependent.

687
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 2: Maybe a few tracks further on in the season that

688
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 2: will suit them, But I think as the season progresses

689
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,000
Speaker 2: they seem to me to be a pretty nailed on

690
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 2: third best team behind Ferrari.

691
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,479
Speaker 1: Let's have a more specific look at this weekend's Formula

692
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 1: one Belgian Grand Prix now, because matter surprised me and

693
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: maybe it surprised you a little bit, and maybe that

694
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 1: says something about the format, but it's a sprint weekend,

695
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 1: the third sprint weekend of the year. Formula one still

696
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 1: does save up most of them or half of them

697
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: right at the end of the season, so they are

698
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 1: long stretches without a sprint, maybe fitting that. We were

699
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: talking about Voter Gpe just a few moments ago in

700
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:42,880
Speaker 1: mo of the week as well, because it is a

701
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: sport that at the time was perceived to have copied

702
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 1: the Formula one sprint move. But to my mind does

703
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 1: it much better because we get these random weekends in

704
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: Formula one and we were like, oh, yes, that's right,

705
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 1: it's a sprint race. It's fun. They'll get me wrong

706
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: a little bit more racing. No one's going to say

707
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 1: no to that. No one's going to say no toe

708
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 1: some competitive sessions replacing otherwise largely publicly meaningless practice sessions.

709
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: But I'm still not convinced that in the grand scheme

710
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: of the storyline of a season that they make any difference.

711
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: But maybe that doesn't matter.

712
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 2: Well, let's peel back the curtain here. In the pre

713
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,840
Speaker 2: podcast production meeting, which is basically our WhatsApp chat, I

714
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 2: said to you, it's a sprint weekend, and you went, oh, yeah,

715
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 2: it's a sprint weekend. And that's kind of how I

716
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 2: feel Formula one feels about sprints. It's a it's like

717
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 2: a noise where you sort of just shrug your shoulders

718
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,120
Speaker 2: and go, it's a sprint weekend. That's kind of how

719
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 2: I feel about sprint weekends in Formula One. The funny

720
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 2: part about it is when Motor GP decided to bring

721
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 2: sprints in in twenty twenty two, they had no sprints.

722
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,000
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three they had sprints all the time,

723
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 2: so they went from zero to one hundred. Whereas Formula

724
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,920
Speaker 2: One's done this like we'll have a few sprints because

725
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,000
Speaker 2: some promoters will pay a bit more money for them,

726
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 2: and there's a bit of TV product on the Saturday,

727
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 2: but there's only going to be six of them in

728
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 2: a twenty four race schedule, which is why they do

729
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 2: become forgettable. And so we have to go all the

730
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 2: way back to Miami since the last sprint, And if

731
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 2: you're remembering the Miami Sprint, then congratulations to you, because

732
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 2: it was about two o'clock in the morning Australian time,

733
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 2: the only one. The other one other than that was China.

734
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 2: And you're right, we have four of the six sprint

735
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 2: shoehorn into this back half of the season. There's certain

736
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 2: sprints that I've grown to really enjoy, like I can't

737
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 2: imagine the Brazilian Grand Prix now without one. That seems

738
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 2: to me like a classic place to have a sprint,

739
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 2: And the races there have been really good on the Saturday,

740
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 2: but there's a lot of them where there's just a

741
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 2: bit of a collective shrug. And part of it for

742
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 2: me is that the points, the points for the risk

743
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 2: that you need to get them for the top eight

744
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,960
Speaker 2: in the sprint are so negligible that I think it

745
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 2: discourages proper racing. It becomes a little bit precessional, maybe

746
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:45,680
Speaker 2: after the first lap and you might have gained yourself

747
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 2: a position or two. There's too much jeopardy for the

748
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,760
Speaker 2: points that are on offer. But to my mind, if

749
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,959
Speaker 2: there was a slightly different format to the sprints, and

750
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 2: I have a solution for this, if Formula one's listening

751
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 2: would just add another element to set the sprinter part as,

752
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 2: oh yeah, this is a bit different, and this is

753
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 2: a bit special, and it's no format is perfect. But

754
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 2: what if we just had one shot qualifying for the sprints,

755
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 2: just to differentiate it from regular qualifying, Because all you

756
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 2: end up having is a qualifying session on Friday and

757
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 2: then another quali qualifying session on Saturday, where the times

758
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 2: are slightly different in terms of how long you've got

759
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 2: in each segment, but it's effectively the same session. Right,

760
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 2: we get to see it twice over the course of

761
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 2: a weekend. If the sprints are going to be this

762
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,000
Speaker 2: outlier and set aside as something special, and given that

763
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 2: there's only six of them, so it doesn't completely change

764
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 2: the championship picture, maybe we should experiment with a different

765
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,440
Speaker 2: qualifying format. I don't want to start going down through

766
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 2: reverse grids and changing reversing the top ten on the

767
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:45,920
Speaker 2: grid like you do in GP two or something like that,

768
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 2: orry F two, something like that, but just a different

769
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 2: qualifying session to give the weekend a bit of a

770
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 2: different cadence. Is to separate it as being something inverted

771
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 2: Cobb as special wouldn't be the worst idea, I reckon.

772
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm sympathetic to some extent to organizers, although

773
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: having sprints at all was that their behets and maybe not,

774
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,319
Speaker 1: But because I do think we've now arrived at the

775
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,920
Speaker 1: least offensive format. You know, We've gone through a variety

776
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,319
Speaker 1: of them, and they're all they're all problematic in different ways,

777
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 1: but I think the format they've arrived a now is,

778
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,880
Speaker 1: you know, is the least interrupting to the weekend overall.

779
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 1: You still get what feels like a pure Grand Prix

780
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,319
Speaker 1: result in terms of qualifying, and the race doesn't feel

781
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: like that affects that and the flow of the weekend too.

782
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 1: I think it's fine, but it does alternatively mean you

783
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 1: just have something that feels like it needs to be

784
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: got out of the way so we can get to

785
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: the real Grand Prix later on.

786
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, completely and I think you know.

787
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 1: I wonder whether or not you know, notwithstanding that, and

788
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,400
Speaker 1: notwithstanding like you say it does, a little bit of

789
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: differentiation might be good because obviously the sprint differentiates itself enough.

790
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 1: It's a very short race, but qualifying does feel pretty

791
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:55,520
Speaker 1: much exactly the same. It's just a bit shorter the fine.

792
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 1: But we could do with it. But I wonder whether

793
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 1: or not just implementing maybe you won't like to said,

794
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 1: do you so much, but just more sprints. I don't

795
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 1: think we're ever going to get to a place where

796
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 1: we have one at every weekend, because you just simply

797
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: wouldn't want one at some way like Monaco, even for

798
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 1: the same even though I like you in my brain,

799
00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: the consistency of having one at every weekend is appealing. Realistically,

800
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 1: that wouldn't contribute anything to any spectacle. I'm not a

801
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 1: qualifying session, but I guess. But just more of them

802
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 1: so that it doesn't feel like every few months we

803
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: have to re establish the rules and purposes of a

804
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 1: sprint weekend. If we talked about them every two or

805
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,240
Speaker 1: three or even four weekends, at least, we'd say, okay,

806
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 1: every month, you've got a sprint, and then that at

807
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 1: least contributes to the narrative in a way that at

808
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: the moment they just don't really I guess the way

809
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: they've done it where they've got I think, is it

810
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 1: three sprints in the last I'm going to sort of

811
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 1: make up this number last five or six.

812
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:46,879
Speaker 3: Races mainly, that's correct.

813
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, the championship does go down to the why, then

814
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: those sprints do become meaningful, But even then that feels

815
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 1: a bit like you're injecting jeopardy a little bit too

816
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 1: artificially because you've put them all there for a reason.

817
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:58,919
Speaker 3: At a it doesn't even matter.

818
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:02,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I agree with you. You'll be

819
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:04,799
Speaker 2: surprised with my take on sprints here because you kind

820
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:06,800
Speaker 2: of preempted what I was going to say. The biggest

821
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 2: problem with them in a lot of respects is that

822
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 2: there aren't enough of them. So we either need to

823
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 2: have twelve of them or none of them, not sort

824
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 2: of halfway house of being six, where you have to

825
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 2: re equate yourself with the points and the rules and

826
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:21,759
Speaker 2: why is this important and why should I care? And oh,

827
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,080
Speaker 2: certain promoters have got deeper pockets than others, so they're

828
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,319
Speaker 2: prepared to pay for them I don't know if it

829
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 2: necessarily changes with the way Formula one races are the

830
00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 2: patronage of races these days, I don't know if having

831
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,160
Speaker 2: a sprint race on a Saturday necessarily moves the needle

832
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,360
Speaker 2: in terms of spectator numbers either. I remember reading something

833
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 2: about Kota deciding why they weren't going to have a

834
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:43,959
Speaker 2: sprint after they'd had a few before because it didn't

835
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,520
Speaker 2: really make much difference on the gate for them. And

836
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 2: so given that, the spectator numbers are probably going to

837
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 2: be what they are regardless of whether you have a

838
00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:52,839
Speaker 2: sprint or not. Because this is Formula one in twenty

839
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 2: twenty five, six feels too few and twenty four is

840
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 2: clearly too many.

841
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 3: Could we just set a lot? Is it forty? Is

842
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 3: it fifty percent? What is it?

843
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 2: So that's perhaps more of them would help us to

844
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 2: embrace the format a little bit more. But I'm with

845
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 2: you here that stacking the deck of them later in

846
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,840
Speaker 2: the season, where okay, you may not have a championship

847
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 2: up for grabs, this year we're clearly going to have

848
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,840
Speaker 2: a championship up for grabs between the two McLaren drivers.

849
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 2: It's a little bit, you know, put sprinklers on the

850
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 2: side of the track to whet the tracks, so fake

851
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,839
Speaker 2: jeopardy here, like it's a little bit contrived for mine.

852
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,359
Speaker 2: And so it's where they're placed as much as how

853
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 2: many of them there are. I'd be all for there

854
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,320
Speaker 2: being six to me is too few. Twelve is about

855
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 2: the absolute limit that you'd want to go. I reckon

856
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 2: somewhere between six and twelve. But you also have to

857
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:40,680
Speaker 2: remember that so many of the decisions and where these

858
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:43,279
Speaker 2: are aren't necessarily based on where they are in the

859
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,160
Speaker 2: calendar or what the race tracks are like. And if

860
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,399
Speaker 2: they're good for sprint racing, it's who's prepared to pay

861
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 2: for them, And that's part of the reason that perhaps

862
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,279
Speaker 2: we have this unbalanced view of where they are and

863
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 2: when they're held at the moment. So I can't believe

864
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,400
Speaker 2: I'm actually saying this. I'm an advocate for more Formula

865
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:00,960
Speaker 2: one springs, but not too many more. So maybe the

866
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 2: sweet spot is I don't own nine or something. Maybe

867
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:03,920
Speaker 2: we can have nine.

868
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: Sprints, yes, enjoy in moderation, I think the point of view,

869
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: but you can afford to have a few more than

870
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 1: that we do at the moment. Yeah, I think that

871
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see how this evolves, if in

872
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: fact it does evolve over the next few seasons, because

873
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:16,879
Speaker 1: I mean, this will be off the top of my head,

874
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,080
Speaker 1: second or third year in a row with this format,

875
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,279
Speaker 1: since we moved from the all Saturday waste of time

876
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,120
Speaker 1: nonsense a sprint sweet day that you could just forget about,

877
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,399
Speaker 1: to being sort of, you know, part of the part

878
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 1: of the weekend build up. So it'll be interesting to

879
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: see if there any changes in the next couple of years,

880
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:35,320
Speaker 1: particularly with maybe with new regulations of cars, maybe the

881
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,239
Speaker 1: racing will be so much more improved that we will

882
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 1: be able to feel more comfortable about sprint racing at

883
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: more circuits that typically maybe at the moment we feel

884
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 1: like wouldn't be appropriate for a short race. But just

885
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,120
Speaker 1: briefly related to the sprints, I said we'd mentioned this again.

886
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 1: Ferrari's position on sprints must be certainly pro sprint. Yes,

887
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,239
Speaker 1: the team and Lewis Hamilton particularly has been doing quite

888
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:56,240
Speaker 1: well in these short races.

889
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 3: This year.

890
00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:58,760
Speaker 1: We have only had two, but of course Lewis Hamilton

891
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 1: one the sprint in Chi only the second week end

892
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: of the season, and then Miami was on the podium

893
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: finished third behind the McLaren drivers. I think I haven't

894
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 1: done the calculation on this, but off the top of

895
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:09,880
Speaker 1: my head, that would make him the current leader of

896
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: the sprint championship.

897
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,360
Speaker 3: I think they used the phrase speed king, didn't they.

898
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:14,879
Speaker 3: I certainly did.

899
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: He would be the speed king of Formula One at

900
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:21,360
Speaker 1: the moment. Remarkable phrase, and I wonder whether or not

901
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: will see that again because while it seems a little

902
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,520
Speaker 1: bit well, why would he be, there is something about

903
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,839
Speaker 1: that Ferrari car that performs reasonably out of the box,

904
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,400
Speaker 1: perhaps when other cars are just not really up to speed.

905
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 1: But then again, considering those sprints were so early in

906
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 1: the year, where so much further down the road. Now,

907
00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: maybe that first mover advantage, if you want to call it,

908
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: that doesn't really exist by now.

909
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,359
Speaker 2: Well, look at how much the competitive picture has changed

910
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,479
Speaker 2: since Miami, and not just at the front of the field,

911
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 2: up and down the field. I mean, were we talking

912
00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 2: about sober in Miami. It wo certainly worked, and so

913
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 2: there's a lot that's changed right the way through the

914
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:53,840
Speaker 2: order since we last had a sprint. So I'd be

915
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 2: curious to see whether that translates and makes the product

916
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,160
Speaker 2: a little bit better perhaps, but I just think the

917
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 2: format there's too much similarity to the rest of a

918
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 2: Formula one normal Formula one weekend that we're trying to

919
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:08,879
Speaker 2: position sprints as being something special and different, and it's

920
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,440
Speaker 2: just a shorter version of the same thing. And I

921
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:13,560
Speaker 2: think while we continue to go down that path, then

922
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're really going to differentiate themselves

923
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 2: as something that we're really going to be that keen

924
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,879
Speaker 2: to tune into other than just occasionally.

925
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's it, but it'll be the performance.

926
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 1: I mean, it's only middlingly interesting, I suppose, but the

927
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,959
Speaker 1: performance difference between sprint and the race is at least

928
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:30,440
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on this weekend, particularly if

929
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:34,560
Speaker 1: we do get an unusual result in the Saturday short race.

930
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 1: But let's wrap this up now, Matt, with the crystal

931
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,920
Speaker 1: ball brought to you by Complete Home Filtration, let's forecast

932
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,920
Speaker 1: the weekend or next subsequent weekends, whatever you like really

933
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,279
Speaker 1: in motorsports thanks to Complete Home Filtration, Matt, why don't

934
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:46,919
Speaker 1: you kick us off.

935
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 2: I am going to give the crystal ball a rub,

936
00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 2: and it's going to show me that George Russell is

937
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:55,320
Speaker 2: going to finish second in Sunday's Grand Prix splitting the

938
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:57,399
Speaker 2: McLaren drivers. Now, I'm not going to the crystal ball

939
00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:58,759
Speaker 2: seems to have a glitch in it won't tell me

940
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 2: which McLaren driver is winning, So I can't run down

941
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,759
Speaker 2: the cav after this. But I have this feel I

942
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 2: think you know George Russell was he made a very

943
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,320
Speaker 2: a topical strategy work very very well last year. I

944
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,480
Speaker 2: think that car has been he and that car have

945
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:13,760
Speaker 2: been proven to be quite good at SPA over time.

946
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,799
Speaker 2: I can see him having a very strong qualifying and

947
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 2: being able to perhaps strategically Shoehorn's way in between the

948
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 2: two McLaren's in the race. And to me that's doubly

949
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 2: interesting because as and Mercedes on the podium. But the

950
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 2: gap between first and third in the point standing is

951
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,720
Speaker 2: pretty significant, particularly we're on a race weekend here where

952
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,040
Speaker 2: if the McLarens don't finish first and second, you could

953
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,440
Speaker 2: potentially have a championship league change this weekend because of

954
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 2: how narrow it is between Piastri and Norris. So whichever

955
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,440
Speaker 2: order those McLaren's finished the race with Russelling between them,

956
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 2: of course, could determine the championship picture. And that's where

957
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:50,480
Speaker 2: I'm going out to the crystal walls telling me. But

958
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:52,560
Speaker 2: I suspect, judging by the look on your face, which

959
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 2: is great audio content for everyone listening, that you have

960
00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 2: something different in the crystal world.

961
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 1: Better audio condt Generally you don't see the face, though,

962
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,920
Speaker 1: I think it's just the rule of this podcast. Mine's

963
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,960
Speaker 1: two part prediction. Mine says that Lewis Hamilton's going to

964
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,120
Speaker 1: clock up his second sprint victory of the year that

965
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: new suspension package brought to the Ferrari car. He is

966
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 1: the equal second most successful driver I think in Belgium,

967
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,200
Speaker 1: one win off the all time record, which is Michael Schumacher.

968
00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 1: I think he's got correct six and he's in Hamilton's

969
00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:27,399
Speaker 1: five off the top of my head, obviously having one

970
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,759
Speaker 1: last year sometime after the flag fell, but still the

971
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:32,160
Speaker 1: wind counts. So I think he's going to do well

972
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,239
Speaker 1: on the sprint, but as is Ferrari's way, not to

973
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:36,600
Speaker 1: as well in the Grand Prix. But I think, and

974
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:38,319
Speaker 1: I've looked at the forecast, Matt, as of you, there's

975
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:40,920
Speaker 1: a little bit of rain on the radar on Sunday,

976
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 1: although this being spar Franko Schamp that almost doesn't mean

977
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:45,359
Speaker 1: anything could rain any day, could rain every day, could

978
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,520
Speaker 1: rain none of the days. But I think that that

979
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 1: new manager bounds I said didn't exist is going to

980
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 1: happen this weekend and Max with staffan is going to

981
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:56,680
Speaker 1: get another great wet weather victory. He does do very

982
00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,239
Speaker 1: well at He's got four victories here. I think, off

983
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,239
Speaker 1: the top of my head, he does well here. It's

984
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 1: a track where okay, it is a compromise circuit in

985
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:06,399
Speaker 1: terms of set up, but that might be a little

986
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 1: bit more amenable to the changes or the compromises Red

987
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:10,640
Speaker 1: Bull Racing has to make to get any kind of

988
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:12,600
Speaker 1: performance out of its car, as we saw in Silverston.

989
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,279
Speaker 1: Unlike in Silverston, there will be parts of this track

990
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:17,760
Speaker 1: where I low down force back it's does work for example.

991
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:20,839
Speaker 1: So I think in the rain this will be a

992
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 1: Max with staff and ultimately meaningless. But for Red Bull Racing,

993
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 1: heartening victory.

994
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:27,960
Speaker 2: Well and a home win ge giving a kick and cool.

995
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:29,600
Speaker 2: This is one of his two home Grand Prix. Of

996
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:31,640
Speaker 2: course he's always done particularly well there. But yeah, I

997
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:34,000
Speaker 2: think you're right when you've got a this is a

998
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:36,880
Speaker 2: track by its nature that you're going to be compromised

999
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 2: in one sector or another based on how you set

1000
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,359
Speaker 2: your car up. So it's all about being able to

1001
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:43,480
Speaker 2: mitigate the damage of the parts of the track that

1002
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 2: you're supposedly not strong in. And I think he and

1003
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 2: Red Bull have done that in previous years because he

1004
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:51,319
Speaker 2: is just a master it sometimes making the most of

1005
00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:54,600
Speaker 2: having the least. And yeah, he had a few sprinkles

1006
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 2: of rain, which is go to have it at some point,

1007
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:58,600
Speaker 2: let's be honest at SPA. I do like that as

1008
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 2: a call, but it's probably better than I call. But

1009
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:02,319
Speaker 2: we'll soon see who's right on Sunday night.

1010
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:04,920
Speaker 1: Huh No, two very different race predictions though, so I

1011
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:07,200
Speaker 1: like that one of us will have to be well, well,

1012
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 1: maybe not. Neither of us could be close.

1013
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:10,359
Speaker 2: One of us will have a smug look on their

1014
00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:12,000
Speaker 2: face for next week's podcast.

1015
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:13,279
Speaker 1: Yes, which you also be able to see. But that's

1016
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:15,320
Speaker 1: all the time we have for bit talk today. You

1017
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 1: can subscribe to Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts,

1018
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,360
Speaker 1: and you can leave us a rating and review as well.

1019
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,480
Speaker 1: This weekend is the Formula one Belgian Grand Prix, and

1020
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 1: I will give you the sprint time because it's eight

1021
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:28,640
Speaker 1: pm on Saturday. That's very pleasant before lights are out

1022
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:31,719
Speaker 1: on the Grand Prix at eleven pm on Sunday. You

1023
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:33,919
Speaker 1: can keep up to date with all the latest Formula One, Murder,

1024
00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:36,760
Speaker 1: GP and supercars news at Foxsports dot com dot Au.

1025
00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,839
Speaker 1: From Matt Clayton and be Michael Lomonado. Thanks very much

1026
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 1: for your company. We'll catch you next week.