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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, Andrea Kimi Antonali becomes Formula one's one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixteenth winner after claiming his maiden Grand Prix

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Speaker 1: victory in China at the weekend. But it's disaster for

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Speaker 1: McLaren and for Oscar Piastre, who's now yet to start

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Speaker 1: a Grand Prix in twenty twenty six after a technical

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Speaker 1: problem on the grid. My name is Michael Lomonato. It's

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Speaker 1: great to have your company and the company of my

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Speaker 1: co hosts. When he plays Mario Kart, he always chooses

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Speaker 1: the character with the most efficient energy recovery system to

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Speaker 1: reduce the need for super clipping. It's Matt Clayton.

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Speaker 2: Isn't that the way everyone plays Mario Cut. I thought

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Speaker 2: you were going to go down some path about mushrooms

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Speaker 2: and then talking about some sort of spurious habits that

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Speaker 2: I might have had as a go man. And I

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Speaker 2: was a little concerned about this, but I will take that.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, who would have thought that in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: six we'd be referencing Mario cut multiple times in Grand

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Speaker 2: Prix race report. But this is the new look Formula

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Speaker 2: one and whether you like it or not Max for

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Speaker 2: Stapffen does not is entirely up to you. But yes,

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Speaker 2: plenty of that and more to discuss in this episode.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure, yes, I will say word to Max with

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Speaker 1: Staffen Well, Mario Kart Joe, which wasn't his, Charlotte Clais.

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Speaker 1: It's funny one saying it multiple weeks, you know where

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Speaker 1: it wears out. I think he's got to come up

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Speaker 1: with some new rhetorical arguments.

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Speaker 2: A little bit, yes, a little bit, but it's.

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Speaker 1: Up to him. He's the world champion, not me. Let's

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Speaker 1: look at the race though, in which he barely figured,

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Speaker 1: and we will talk about Max with Stafforen and Red

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Speaker 1: Bull Racings woes a little bit later on, as we

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Speaker 1: will McLaren's problems. Of course, we've got to talk about

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Speaker 1: Formula one's new winner, Andrea Kimmi Antonelli, in his twenty

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Speaker 1: sixth Grand Prix with Mercedes and of his career is

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Speaker 1: a race winner. He did it from pole position. He

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Speaker 1: did get pole position after George Russell had some engine

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Speaker 1: problems in Q three, though they both did complete their

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Speaker 1: final laps and he led the Mercedes front row lockout

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Speaker 1: briefly lost the lead to Ferrari as I think is

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Speaker 1: just going to be every race for whoever starts on

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Speaker 1: the whole position but got it back and then really

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Speaker 1: controlled this race. I think it's fair to say barely

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Speaker 1: a problem one lock up about the three with three

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Speaker 1: laps to go, which was its own little heart attack

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Speaker 1: moment for Mercedes, but secured the victory nonetheless, and this

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Speaker 1: was I think, really I'm thinking of the most appropriate

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Speaker 1: word you have, validation or vindication for Mercedes and Toto

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Speaker 1: wolf In particularly gambled big on what was an eighteen

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Speaker 1: year old when they gave him his debut last year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, vindication is probably the word. I'm also a little

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Speaker 2: bit surprised with the narrative of this because there was

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Speaker 2: nothing that we saw last year with Antonelli that made

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Speaker 2: me think that he might not have it. I think

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Speaker 2: there were your standard peaks and troughs of a rookie

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Speaker 2: season and some strange run of results where he did

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Speaker 2: nothing on tracks that he knew, and then went tracks

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Speaker 2: that he didn't know and did particularly well. I don't

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Speaker 2: think the speed's ever been in question or the talent's

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Speaker 2: ever been questioned, and a lot of that just came

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Speaker 2: down to what the date is on his birth certificate.

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Speaker 2: I think if he'd been a little bit older, we

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Speaker 2: might have been framing it a little bit more differently

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Speaker 2: last year, but there's never been a lack of quality

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Speaker 2: or potential there. I think it's interesting now how quickly

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Speaker 2: he has adapted to life at the front now that

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Speaker 2: he has a genuine front running car. But maybe that's

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Speaker 2: just a trait of all the really good young guys,

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Speaker 2: and we've seen it in the past with Max Verstappan

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Speaker 2: and Sabati invattal guys who come in and when they

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Speaker 2: get their hands on proper race winning machinery, the age

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Speaker 2: is not super relevant anymore. So I guess look vindication

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Speaker 2: because Total Wolf cops some heat about it. But there

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Speaker 2: was nothing last year that made me think this wasn't

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Speaker 2: going to be in his future. Now, whether I saw

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Speaker 2: the future being this soon, the chance of a rule

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Speaker 2: reset for twenty six always opened the door to that,

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Speaker 2: and we knew over the off season it looked like

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Speaker 2: Mercedes had a bit of a march on everybody else

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Speaker 2: and these first two rounds have just confirmed that. But

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Speaker 2: it's good for the World Championship that we have different

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Speaker 2: Mercedes drivers wining Grand Prix, because that might be the

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Speaker 2: narrative for the season because at the moment they are

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Speaker 2: apps alertely miles ahead of everybody else. And as you know,

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Speaker 2: we lived through twenty twenty three where there was a

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Speaker 2: particular car miles ahead of everybody else and the same

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Speaker 2: guy wanted us all the time, So that wasn't super interesting.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, it's a fight at the front between two drivers,

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Speaker 2: but it's better than a fight at the front with one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you got to take what you can get.

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Speaker 1: I think in these circumstances only I think it was

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Speaker 1: an important result, though Frantonelli and I do eche your point.

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Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think anything we saw last

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Speaker 1: year was dire, but certainly there were a lot of

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Speaker 1: things that you would put down to inexperience, his age

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Speaker 1: and being thrown into a car with front running aspirations.

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Speaker 1: Let's say it was last year's Mercedes car, but alongside

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Speaker 1: a driver who I think was peaking last year or

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Speaker 1: not Adia's peak. I guess because he could still get better.

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Speaker 1: For George Russell, but I think it clearly attained a

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Speaker 1: higher version of himself. But I think the reason that's

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Speaker 1: important is because we saw last year when the Mercedes

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Speaker 1: car was struggling and Russell was struggling relatively less, that

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Speaker 1: those bad weekends really compounded on Antonelli. I think psychologically.

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Speaker 1: You know, there were rounds of which it seemed like

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Speaker 1: it's being broken, and you know, it talks about having

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Speaker 1: serious chats about his execution and that kind of thing,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's important this year because let's say

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Speaker 1: we got five six rounds in whatever George Russell's won

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Speaker 1: them all or you know, he's beaten Antonelli in all

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Speaker 1: of them. Anyway, whatever the outcomes are, the question in

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Speaker 1: a car like this would eventually become or when are

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Speaker 1: you going to win your first race? And that pressure

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Speaker 1: then builds. Even if he's executing relatively well, constantly finishing second,

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Speaker 1: that would have become a thing, I think for him

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Speaker 1: because he's young, and I think that that's still the case.

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Speaker 1: So ticking this off now, regardless what happens for the

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Speaker 1: rest of the year, you know, probably not if he

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Speaker 1: doesn't win another race for the rest of the year,

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Speaker 1: but even if he goes now a long stretch without

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Speaker 1: getting that next win, as long as he's competitive, I

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Speaker 1: think this win now is important to prevent that question

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Speaker 1: from being asked because from this point on and I

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Speaker 1: thought it was interesting Toto Wolf, even Antonelli's dad in

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Speaker 1: some post race interviews when asked about you know, what

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Speaker 1: is this the championship right now? We're both they didn't

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Speaker 1: say no, but they said, in many more words essentially

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Speaker 1: the same thing. We're thinking. Wow, you know, he's very

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Speaker 1: young and innix experienced. I think now the work to

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Speaker 1: take the pressure off him in that perspective can be

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Speaker 1: done much more easily because he's proved he can belong

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Speaker 1: there and we can recognize now how young and inexperienced.

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Speaker 2: You. Yeah, and then some of that I think even

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Speaker 2: goes back. You know, you've rewind all of what eight

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Speaker 2: days before his first Grand Prix. We forget that if

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Speaker 2: I was in Australia so recently when he binnd it

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Speaker 2: at turn one two in practice at Albert Park on

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Speaker 2: the Saturday and there was the race against time to

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Speaker 2: get the car ready for qualifying. To think that eight

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Speaker 2: days later he's ticked off his first pole position in

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Speaker 2: his first win, I think that's a really good sign

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Speaker 2: because you know, the FB three shunt at albert Park

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Speaker 2: was a classic sort of driver overreaching a little bit,

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Speaker 2: and it played into the narrative like, oh here we

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Speaker 2: go again, big moment. It's all a bit you know,

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Speaker 2: the lights are a bit bright. That sort of thing

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Speaker 2: magnified more by the fact that you've got the class

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Speaker 2: leading car right now. So for him to be able

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Speaker 2: to turn that around in the space of eight days

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Speaker 2: and take his first pole position, Okay, George Russell's qualified

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Speaker 2: was slightly compromised, but he still had to do the

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Speaker 2: lap and then convert from To do that eight days

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Speaker 2: after you've thrown it in the fence right before the

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Speaker 2: first qualifying of the season is testament to perhaps the

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Speaker 2: resilience that last year bought for him a little bit,

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Speaker 2: because he had to deal with some difficult times last year.

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Speaker 2: I think what we saw over the weekend, I mean,

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Speaker 2: you've been around long enough, you see this when guys

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Speaker 2: win that first Grand Prix and you're like, well, okay,

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Speaker 2: that's fine, and then the wait for the next one,

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Speaker 2: like it's an unsustainable peak. Now, clearly he's got a

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Speaker 2: great car, but I think that belief factor, the fact

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Speaker 2: that he now knows that he can do it. As

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Speaker 2: you've said, two rounds into a twenty two round season

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Speaker 2: bodes really really well for the future for him and

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Speaker 2: within that team as well, because I think we can

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Speaker 2: now remove the is he the right guy for the

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Speaker 2: job in the number two seat, which is what it

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Speaker 2: is at the moment. The answer to that is yes,

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Speaker 2: and anything else that happens now. Yeah, vindication I think

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Speaker 2: was a good word that you used earlier.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I think also really fitting from the broader Mercedes

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Speaker 1: perspective in the context of having promoted him so quickly

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Speaker 1: was to have Lewis Hamilton on the podium and him

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Speaker 1: to sort of say, oh, the guy took my seat

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Speaker 1: as my engineer who was also on the podium, Peter

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Speaker 1: Bondington and receiving the Constructor's trophy, and then also George

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Speaker 1: Russell there. I guess he had a role to play

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Speaker 1: as Hamilton's teammate, current teammate, now championship favorite, all that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff. It felt to me. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to say changing of the guard because that sort of

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Speaker 1: makes it feel like Slm's going to retire after this,

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Speaker 1: now that he's got the podium for Ferrari that he's

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Speaker 1: wanted for twenty six rounds. But there was this moment

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Speaker 1: because we shouldn't forget that Mercedes really believes it has

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Speaker 1: potentially the next Hamilton or whichever champion you want to

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Speaker 1: put in the box. I think, well, probably more specifically

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Speaker 1: from total Wool's perspective, the next was Stappen, but nonetheless

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Speaker 1: on its hands with Antonelli. So there was this moment.

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Speaker 1: Hamilton said it multiple times of the weekend. I don't

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Speaker 1: think he said it in any way maliciously. I think

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Speaker 1: it was warmth to it. But I just thought it

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Speaker 1: was interesting. He kept saying, this is the guy who

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Speaker 1: took my seat, and I just can't help but coming

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Speaker 1: back to that, because that is what Mercedes wants. He

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Speaker 1: doesn't want. They didn't want just someone to simply fill

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Speaker 1: the seat by Hamilton. They wanted someone to take his position,

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Speaker 1: if you like, not in seniority terms, ability terms. That

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Speaker 1: comes back to all the contract chat I guess in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the last year about George Russell too. So

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Speaker 1: I just think that's sort of an interesting I wonder

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Speaker 1: how important this race will come back to be reflected upon.

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Speaker 1: You know, we don't always remember the first wins by

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Speaker 1: all of the greats, but you know, this was perhaps

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Speaker 1: not a classic race from Antonelli's perspective, because once he

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Speaker 1: took the lead from Hamilton, we didn't think about him

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Speaker 1: again after that. But you know, the first win for

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Speaker 1: someone who's probably going to accumulate quite a few interesting

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Speaker 1: way to achieve, an interesting podium configuration to achieve it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the podium. It felt like it was

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Speaker 2: that sort of you know, satisfying completion of the puzzle,

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Speaker 2: like everything was that it's right, or to the fact

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Speaker 2: that Bonington was up there and it all felt sort

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Speaker 2: of very nice close to circle and all of that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it is Kimmie Antonelli, the next Maxis step

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Speaker 2: In or Lewis Hamilton. I mean, what two of the

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Speaker 2: best three or four drivers in the history of Formula One.

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Speaker 2: I mean, let's just pump the brakes a little bit

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Speaker 2: on that one. But as a first building block in

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Speaker 2: what that narrative might be, it was pretty convincing, you know.

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Speaker 2: Other than the lock up three laps from the end,

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Speaker 2: which gave everyone a jump scare on the messodes pitfall,

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Speaker 2: I think it was it was not really in doubt

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Speaker 2: once he got back to the lead. They're the sorts

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Speaker 2: of wins that as a young driver and as a

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Speaker 2: driver who's not done it before generally hold you in

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Speaker 2: pretty good stead. But yeah, it was the I know

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Speaker 2: you're a man of order. You don't like half points,

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Speaker 2: and you know all these other sorts of things. It was,

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Speaker 2: it was, it was. It was a neat completion of

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Speaker 2: the circle and the narrative. And I've got to say too,

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Speaker 2: I mean, we'll get on to Lewis in a second,

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Speaker 2: but I think happy deferential Lewis is a nice Lewis

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Speaker 2: to do. As in Formula one, there's a degree of

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Speaker 2: positivity because God is a negativity up there the grid

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Speaker 2: right now. But happy Lewis, when he sees the big

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Speaker 2: picture and he offers the good SoundBite, is a good

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Speaker 2: place for Formula one.

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Speaker 1: Yes, I'm amount of order, and you can imagine how

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Speaker 1: upset I was. Right I heard Antonelli had locked up

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Speaker 1: three laps to go with my race pretty much. Very pleased.

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Speaker 1: He retained it. Very good. Let's get let us get

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Speaker 1: on to Lewis. Hamilton now finally has that podium for Ferrari.

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Speaker 1: He's the driver who's taken the longest to get there

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Speaker 1: in Ferrari's history. But he got there, which is what's important.

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Speaker 1: And he got there, not in some unusual random way.

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Speaker 1: He got there in a race which he had to

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Speaker 1: fight for. You had to fight his teammate for it,

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Speaker 1: and had to at one point fight something Mercedes for it.

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Speaker 1: Looked on the pace all weekend. This was a pretty

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Speaker 1: good weekend for him, similar I guess to China last year,

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Speaker 1: although I think more comprehensive, notwithstanding that he won the

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Speaker 1: sprint from Pole last year and probably one of his

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Speaker 1: most convincing weekends as a Ferrari driver so far. I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, notwithstanding charl Leclair's ad this this is in

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Speaker 1: one of his tracks, I think that's probably true, but

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Speaker 1: I don't think that discounts it by any means, because

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Speaker 1: I think also what we saw in Australia was Hamilton

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Speaker 1: pretty much there. He's in the ballpark with Lacerta. I

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Speaker 1: think we can hope for too much more than that,

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Speaker 1: at least until the car gets a little bit more

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Speaker 1: competitive and can really put the spotlight on it. But

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Speaker 1: this for me also felt like I was speaking about

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Speaker 1: that completeness of the podium and the importance of that result,

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Speaker 1: that this was an important result from for Hamilton, beyond

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Speaker 1: just the monkey being on the back about the podium,

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Speaker 1: but perhaps signifying that we're back to seeing him at

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Speaker 1: I don't know his best, his best, maybe he's not it,

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Speaker 1: but in good form at least.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I don't I can't see a world

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Speaker 2: to me. The best Lewis Hamilton has ever driven Formula

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Speaker 2: One was at the end of twenty twenty one when

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Speaker 2: he was pursuing Max for staffing for that title, and

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Speaker 2: then Abu Dhabi and then let's not talk about that anymore.

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Speaker 2: But that was the best. That was the best we've

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Speaker 2: ever seen from him, I think. And as he gets

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Speaker 2: you know, oh, he's been around for so so long

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Speaker 2: now and he's had all the success that he has.

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Speaker 2: There was a definite he's much more on the roller

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Speaker 2: coaster now than you would expect of a driver who's

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Speaker 2: been around this long. But when he's motivated, he's got

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Speaker 2: something to fight for. The old magic is still there

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Speaker 2: and you have Pete. Bondington made reference that there's still

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Speaker 2: life of the old dog and that sort of stuff,

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Speaker 2: which was I know what he was saying. I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure if it's the most charitable, but it was a

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Speaker 2: confluence of a few things. Here. China's a really good

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Speaker 2: Hamilton track historically, and China is not a great Laclare

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Speaker 2: track historically, so we would need to see a little

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Speaker 2: bit more evidence from a few other tracks where perhaps

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Speaker 2: the clear is a bit stronger or it's more neutral

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Speaker 2: between the two of them. But I like the fact

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Speaker 2: that this drought was broken through no sense of fortune

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Speaker 2: or luck or some opportune safety car or everyone else

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Speaker 2: crashed out, whatever it might have been, It was done

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Speaker 2: completely on merit. I love the feistiness. I think the

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Speaker 2: great part about the battle between Hamilton and Leclair was

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Speaker 2: it was allowed to happen. You know, you can discuss

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Speaker 2: whether it was genuine or fake based on battery usage

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Speaker 2: and other such but it was very, very entertaining and

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Speaker 2: it was pretty ferocious. And my favorite part of the

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Speaker 2: entire race was Charla Clair on the radio go yeah,

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Speaker 2: that was kind of fun. I enjoyed that because we

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Speaker 2: all did as well, and it was great that there

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Speaker 2: wasn't any make sure you don't hit your teammatees so

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Speaker 2: on and so forth. It was properly on the edge

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Speaker 2: and it was really nice to see because you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously when Leclair and Hamilton came together as teammates last

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Speaker 2: year for the first time, we weren't quite sure we

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Speaker 2: were going to get with forty year old Lewis Hamilton,

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Speaker 2: you know, going through the as you memorably wrote once

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Speaker 2: the midlife crisis of man in his forties switches to

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Speaker 2: buy Ferrari. We were't quite sure we were going to get.

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Speaker 2: Was there going to be a hangover from Mercedes and

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Speaker 2: what if it doesn't go well? And we saw what

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Speaker 2: happened last year. It was the leanest statistical season of

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Speaker 2: his career. Whether he's still got the ability to dial

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Speaker 2: that in race by race, week by week, I don't know,

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Speaker 2: but I'm glad that we don't have to talk about

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Speaker 2: the podium draut anymore. It was achieved on complete merit

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Speaker 2: and it's exciting to see where this might get to

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Speaker 2: because I think an invigorated, feisty Lewis Hamilton at the

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Speaker 2: front of Formula One race is just adds an element

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Speaker 2: that this season's probably going to need, because I don't

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Speaker 2: think we're going to have red ball other than intermittently

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Speaker 2: at the front of races for a while. It just

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Speaker 2: adds a little bit of adding some red to the

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Speaker 2: color palette. Michael, that's what we want we've got nice

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Speaker 2: vivid paintings in Formula One. We don't want lots of

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Speaker 2: silver and black. It makes for good for Mercedes, but

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Speaker 2: very dull TV. So inject a little bit of red

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Speaker 2: and there's nothing like watching. I like to refer to

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Speaker 2: this as an old guy still got it in any

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Speaker 2: sort of sport. I love this when you've got these

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Speaker 2: guys that are clearly you know the clock's about to

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Speaker 2: strike twelve on their career. We're just about done here.

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Speaker 2: But it's nice to get that reminder of someone's ability.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, thoroughly enjoyable and Ferrari, Ferrari doing good things

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Speaker 2: for Formula One at the moment, which is not so

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Speaker 2: we've had to say for the last couple of years.

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Speaker 1: Yes, no strategy there is this week either, and I

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Speaker 1: do like I think at a minimum with Hamilton. Now

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Speaker 1: you know, we'll find out this year, presumably if the

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Speaker 1: Frier gets any better, even if it doesn't know where

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Speaker 1: he is in terms of his ability relative to his best,

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Speaker 1: only any expect him to beat his best. But you know,

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Speaker 1: even just off his best is still obviously very good.

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Speaker 1: But I like that this year, unlike last year, it

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Speaker 1: feels like and we are speaking only two rounds into

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Speaker 1: the season. Nonetheless, that we will get, you know, at

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Speaker 1: least one of those Hamilton Classic races. It feels like

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Speaker 1: he's at least in the mind frame where we're going

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Speaker 1: to see we're gonna say at least one weekend where

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Speaker 1: Hamilton probably is at his best, whereas last year it

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Speaker 1: was just totally inconceivable that he would ever achieve it.

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Speaker 1: So I think that's exciting. At least maybe that means

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Speaker 1: a race win. Who knows with that Mercedes car before

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Speaker 1: we move on though, because it is a good result Ferrari,

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Speaker 1: and I think Ferrari offered the biggest highlights of this race.

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Speaker 1: There were some great battles in the midfield, but that

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Speaker 1: race long duel with Hamilton Leclair was great. But you

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Speaker 1: touched on it there, you know, whether or not you

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Speaker 1: can see at Artificial Laquerza, has he enjoyed a lot

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Speaker 1: Hamilton's He's having a great time racing these cars. Max

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Speaker 1: Withstaffan very much of the opposite opinion. We'll get onto

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Speaker 1: his race in general a little bit later. But after

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Speaker 1: two rounds of these new rules, has your opinion changed?

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Speaker 1: After Australia, what are you thinking about these regulations, because

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Speaker 1: the reports are now that whereas the sport was poised

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Speaker 1: to make some changes before the Japanese Grand Prix, that

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Speaker 1: we're now going to use that much longer break after

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Speaker 1: Japan to reflect on what, if any changes will be required.

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Speaker 2: And it depends how you measure success with these things, right,

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Speaker 2: So if you're counting the number of overtakes, or if

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Speaker 2: you're counting then the amount of social media engagement, what

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Speaker 2: are you as a sport? I guess is the more

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Speaker 2: existential question with all of this, because if we are

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Speaker 2: saying that you are in the entertainment business, which you

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Speaker 2: could argue that we are, when it comes to professional

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Speaker 2: sport these days, there's so many there's so little time

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Speaker 2: for so many people's eyeballs these days, you've got to

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Speaker 2: do something more people will switch off. It's been thoroughly entertaining.

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Speaker 2: Now you look at the way these early race duels

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Speaker 2: have planned played out. I still don't think we know

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Speaker 2: or understand enough about why the fighting is going on

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Speaker 2: at the moment, and that's maybe the frustrating bit, or

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Speaker 2: maybe that's something we're not being told simply because it

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Speaker 2: might not pat the sport of fantastic Life if we

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Speaker 2: actually really know what's going on. But in terms of

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Speaker 2: an entertainment product, I mean, you have people in your

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Speaker 2: life that are nowhere near in the weeds as much

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Speaker 2: of it as you and I are, and they'll watch

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Speaker 2: it and go, oh, that was fun. So yeah, it

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Speaker 2: was fun. On its face, it was completely fine. So

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Speaker 2: is there a lack of purity to what's going on.

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Speaker 2: I'm enjoying the racing way more than I'm enjoying qualifying.

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Speaker 2: Qualifying right now is just so massively compromised because of

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Speaker 2: the way the cars are, and as someone that's an

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Speaker 2: F one purist, losing the magic of what qualifying should

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Speaker 2: be is something that is slightly frustrating right now. But

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Speaker 2: then at the end of the day, is the sport

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Speaker 2: trying to sell itself to you and I and plenty

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Speaker 2: of people listening to this. No, because we're invested in

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Speaker 2: a way that is going to transcend that entertaining on

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Speaker 2: its face, yeah, absolutely, but I'd still like to know

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Speaker 2: why it's entertaining. I think that's the frustrating part right now.

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Speaker 2: You look at it and go, yeah, that was actually

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Speaker 2: quite fun without really understanding what was going on. A

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Speaker 2: bit like the opening lapse in Australia. So I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure I've really changed my view on that, but is

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Speaker 2: that sort of does that hold with how you're still

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Speaker 2: thinking about it, like the lack of understanding is kind

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Speaker 2: of the impediment.

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Speaker 1: To all of this to a degree, Yes, certainly of

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Speaker 1: the same opinion with qualifying. I think qualifying just lacks

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Speaker 1: that edge, and I think that's a little bit concerning

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Speaker 1: because this circuit is one of the better ones, if

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Speaker 1: not the best one or best one that's not a

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Speaker 1: street track I think for these power units in terms

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Speaker 1: of the ease of regeneration. So the fact that you know,

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Speaker 1: the onboards looked a lot, certainly a lot better than

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Speaker 1: they did in Albert Park, we could definitely say that.

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Speaker 1: But there was still clear lifting and coasting or cruising.

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Speaker 1: There were fast corners of China. The just weren't being

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Speaker 1: taken that fast, and I think that that's painful to

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Speaker 1: watch and painful for the drivers clearly. But the racing

427
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Speaker 1: there is an understanding element. But I think if you

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Speaker 1: watch the entire an Average we were watching entire Grand Prix,

429
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Speaker 1: I think it was clear that there were overtaking zones

430
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Speaker 1: and to my mind that's still not that different to

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Speaker 1: DRS right like in the old days, and of course

432
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:05,679
Speaker 1: you'd see DRS and I think that does make a difference.

433
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:07,199
Speaker 1: Fact you'd see the rear wing open. It was very

434
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,800
Speaker 1: easy to understand, even if you're watching your first Grand

435
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,280
Speaker 1: Prix ever. But it was all about, you know, if

436
00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:13,639
Speaker 1: you're very close to the car behind, where you've got

437
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 1: to get to the DRS and see if you can

438
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,320
Speaker 1: get a good exit onto that straight and then you

439
00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:18,080
Speaker 1: might pass, and then the guy might pass you back

440
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,480
Speaker 1: if the cars are similar pace. The fact that a

441
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,520
Speaker 1: lot of the action was taking place at that hairpin,

442
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,359
Speaker 1: which was pretty much where DRS passes would have taken

443
00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:27,920
Speaker 1: place in the old days, but then also turn one

444
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,159
Speaker 1: like there was an obvious fight back moment, and then

445
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,240
Speaker 1: occasionally we'd get some unpredictable racing in the middle that

446
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,439
Speaker 1: I guess is a little bit more interesting. But I

447
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,199
Speaker 1: thought that at least this weekend, you know, we had that,

448
00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:41,840
Speaker 1: so you had a level of expectation about what was happening,

449
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:48,000
Speaker 1: and we got very few massive power past the other driver.

450
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:50,000
Speaker 1: You've clearly saved your battery or how did you save

451
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,080
Speaker 1: your battery? Compared to that, very few of those questions

452
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:53,960
Speaker 1: relative to Albert Parker thought, we've got a lot more

453
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,360
Speaker 1: of those in Melbourne. The only ones that are really

454
00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:57,800
Speaker 1: happened I think off the top of my head in

455
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,239
Speaker 1: China were buy the Mercedes cars, which I think is

456
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 1: probably indicative of an advantage that hasn't maybe been fully

457
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,000
Speaker 1: expressed yet. But you know, if we take that Ferrari

458
00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,639
Speaker 1: battle again as an example, or the midfield battle that

459
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:10,680
Speaker 1: I think was after the safety car between who was

460
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,159
Speaker 1: at Okhon and Colapinto and some others, it felt like

461
00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:17,480
Speaker 1: they were just constantly close. And you know, if you

462
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:19,879
Speaker 1: know enough about the rules, that obviously battery was playing

463
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,159
Speaker 1: a role there because these cars, any single seater car,

464
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,560
Speaker 1: can't usually race that close for that long otherwise. But

465
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,600
Speaker 1: the fact that no one ever had none of them

466
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,240
Speaker 1: at any point had some massive advantage. Then there's another

467
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:35,320
Speaker 1: massive advantage passing back. I think for me that's acceptable enough,

468
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,400
Speaker 1: Like even me knowing that it's not you know, in

469
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,960
Speaker 1: inverted commas pure racing, I think that's okay because I

470
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:43,520
Speaker 1: think the other element is if we want to accept

471
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:45,520
Speaker 1: four to one remains as fast as it is, and

472
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,280
Speaker 1: notable qualifying was less than a second slower than last year,

473
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,639
Speaker 1: which I thought was interesting. You have to kind of

474
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,000
Speaker 1: accept that overtaking is going to be really hard because

475
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,760
Speaker 1: it's aerodynamic downforce. That's just the nature of single seat

476
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: racing at this level, and anything that helps that. I'm

477
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:00,280
Speaker 1: not saying the balance is right, like I think the

478
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,119
Speaker 1: ideal balance is a more powerful combustion engine and a

479
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,920
Speaker 1: slightly detained electrical one that makes this less push buttony

480
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,440
Speaker 1: less Mario Karti and that should be the last time

481
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,399
Speaker 1: we used Mario Carton analogy. I think to go back

482
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,720
Speaker 1: to that comment, He's probably right. Yeah, it won't be though,

483
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,160
Speaker 1: but I think at a track like this, which again

484
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:18,439
Speaker 1: is one of the better ones for the engines, I

485
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,440
Speaker 1: don't think it was too bad. I think this race

486
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: was more enjoyable than Australia for that reason. I felt

487
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 1: like I was getting less nonsense.

488
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd agree with that. I also wonder if China

489
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 2: had been Round one like we in Australia. We didn't

490
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:35,720
Speaker 2: know how the racing was going to be portrayed, so

491
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 2: it was a step into the unknown. Everything we watched

492
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 2: this weekend in China was based on the fact that

493
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 2: we had a sample set of exactly what weekend in

494
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,920
Speaker 2: Australia to base that on how did you feel about

495
00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 2: the battery graphic? Because I found myself just getting a

496
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 2: bit sad. But it was all getting a bit depleted,

497
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,440
Speaker 2: like it was, Oh no, it's got that battery left.

498
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 2: It's all a bit sad. Oh he's got some battery

499
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:54,960
Speaker 2: left left. There was a part of it when the

500
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,560
Speaker 2: battery chamber was just ebbtying at a rapid rate that

501
00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:59,640
Speaker 2: I just sort of sunk in the chairman. I guess

502
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,719
Speaker 2: that's the to that then, But I don't know. It's

503
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,440
Speaker 2: another variable. Maybe we need like sound effects or emojis

504
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:05,800
Speaker 2: or stuff like For me, the one just needs to

505
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 2: wait into this properly, don't they. There is sarah energy.

506
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I'm all for the graphics, but

507
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,639
Speaker 1: there's certain where the fact we need so many I

508
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,160
Speaker 1: think probably speaks to the level of complexity. But there's

509
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 1: also a question of whether or not you do need

510
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,359
Speaker 1: them to enjoy it. I'm not sure. It's an interesting question.

511
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,080
Speaker 2: You know, what we don't need on the graphics just

512
00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 2: ten second minor diversion rant here. Can we just get

513
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,439
Speaker 2: miles an hour off the graphics? Like no, most of

514
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 2: the world is dealing in kilometers an hour. The kilometers

515
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 2: an hour and numbers are higher than the miles per hour.

516
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,760
Speaker 2: Sounds more impressive. Just get on board, everyone who's not

517
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,159
Speaker 2: doing kilometers an hour, and just get two lines of

518
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,680
Speaker 2: text off my graphic and let these things breathe. Thank

519
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,480
Speaker 2: you rantover, Absolutely right.

520
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,119
Speaker 1: This should be F one's mission is to civilize the

521
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,480
Speaker 1: numerical world. Bumbring in kilometers to the.

522
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,080
Speaker 2: Globe, stopping me from ranting.

523
00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: Maybe, yes, let's move now to Move of the week,

524
00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: brought to you by Shannon's Plenty of Racing, artifice or otherwise.

525
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 1: At the weekend in Shanghai, not least because we had

526
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 1: a sprint race as well, rather than just practice, which

527
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: was entertaining enough. I think maybe these are actually good

528
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,119
Speaker 1: rules for sprints. So I'm trying where we sit on

529
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 1: that one. But which move or moves? Of course? Your

530
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: eye this weekend?

531
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 2: Will you be shocked to know that I've reached into

532
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 2: the left field market? You know you won't at all.

533
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:26,399
Speaker 2: My move of the week is Estebanons spitting Franco colopinto.

534
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: That's the one I had, Matt, your kid, you're kidding.

535
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 2: I love this one, And no I'm going to pad

536
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:36,680
Speaker 2: furiously here to give you time to think of another one.

537
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 2: But this is why I like this, right, So I

538
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 2: don't like a first of band O. It's bad for him.

539
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 2: But esteban On spitting Franco colopinto lap thirty three and

540
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 2: puts his hand up a bit at fault. Yeah, that's

541
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 2: all my that's my bad. So the move of the

542
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,760
Speaker 2: week here is Jack doing going to a couple of

543
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 2: weeks ago, simply because after two rounds, olie Berman has

544
00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 2: all of harsest points and so maybe Duds in a

545
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 2: particularly good position here, because we talked about this last

546
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 2: year that if things went all of it south for Lewis,

547
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 2: Hamilton and Ferrari, then maybe is there a twenty twenty

548
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 2: seventies there who knows at this point, And if there

549
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 2: was no Hamilton at Ferrari, that's probably going to be

550
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,359
Speaker 2: Olibaman that gets the call up. And it's interesting that

551
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 2: there is a degree of frustration at Haars that you

552
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 2: hear creeping in now to some of the post race

553
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 2: comments about the Ochon contribution and the way it's raising

554
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 2: in the direction that's going there. So you could have

555
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 2: a situation where Beaman could potentially move up, or Ochon

556
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 2: could potentially move out if they get super frustrated with him,

557
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,879
Speaker 2: And either way, I will be surprised if they retained

558
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,520
Speaker 2: the same driver lineup for twenty twenty seven. And maybe

559
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 2: by some happenstance, Jack Dwind might have got himself into

560
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 2: a good situation at a good time, because God, those

561
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 2: things weren't like that at the end of twenty twenty

562
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,600
Speaker 2: five or twenty twenty four, obviously twenty twenty five, because

563
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 2: things didn't work out there. So move of the week

564
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 2: is Estebadock on spinning Franco colopinto around getting a penalty

565
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,160
Speaker 2: and everything on the wide level that that symbolizes. And

566
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,240
Speaker 2: I am very very sorry that i'd broken to your

567
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 2: house early, ho was it this morning and stole your

568
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 2: notes for this So I did put the key back

569
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,000
Speaker 2: where you left us. So now that I've given you

570
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,360
Speaker 2: at least ninety seconds to come up with it alternative

571
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,919
Speaker 2: and there were seventy white overtakes. Just read the formula

572
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 2: one graphics. What have you got for me?

573
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 1: Yes? No, I did like the on one. I also

574
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 1: just thought the indicative of what's happening inside hearts at

575
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 1: the moment my male was that ocon was considered for

576
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,360
Speaker 1: replacement late last RN after last season. Anyway, nothing got

577
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 1: over the line, and the dissatisfaction you hear race to

578
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: race actually started before testing. Why I come out and say, well,

579
00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,240
Speaker 1: it wasn't very good last year, was he? So I

580
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:41,880
Speaker 1: think that's that's a pretty good one.

581
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:42,399
Speaker 2: Thanks.

582
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 1: I'm going to go. Look, I'm going to go for

583
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 1: a very straightforward one. In particular, though one move Lewis

584
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: Hamilton into third place for his podium. We've talked a

585
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 1: lot about his podium already. On lap forty, the inside

586
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 1: line of turn one, oh, you're really good through the

587
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 1: turn one two sequence, the entire race, and as well

588
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,680
Speaker 1: possibly the detriment of retirees. But in the race, I

589
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 1: guess there was nothing to lose because I was locked

590
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,040
Speaker 1: into third and fourth no matter what happened. But I think,

591
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 1: just to go back to something we were saying, it

592
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 1: felt like Hamilton was a bit alive again this weekend,

593
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 1: and I think that's why this was important. This felt

594
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 1: like Hamilton was really out there going for it. Felt

595
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,639
Speaker 1: like he was at least on Leclaire's level, which again

596
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 1: very rarely possible to say. Over the last twelve months,

597
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: So I just feel like the importance of this weekend

598
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 1: to him and getting that third place, regardless of breaking

599
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: the drought, just getting ahead of his teammates essentially was

600
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:33,919
Speaker 1: really important. I thought it was also important that Ferrari

601
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: let them race. There's only one other element that I

602
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 1: think is sort of worth considering here, which is that

603
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,480
Speaker 1: we see how much time drivers are losing. Always drivers

604
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:46,640
Speaker 1: always lose time to the cars ahead when they're battling,

605
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: or the drives behind as well, obviously, but it feels

606
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 1: very exacerbated in this era, perhaps because there is so

607
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: much passing and repassing. It's never just one move anymore.

608
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,800
Speaker 1: But I do wonder where Ferrari might have finished, or

609
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,520
Speaker 1: they would have finished third and fourth, but how much

610
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: closer they would have finished the Mercedes had they agreed

611
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: next twenty laps once for Russell had got past them,

612
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,560
Speaker 1: or perhaps even before Ussell got past them, Let's just

613
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,679
Speaker 1: go forwards and see actually where they would have finished.

614
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: So that was interesting that the drivers suggested, well, I

615
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: look at the gap to Mercedes. Afterwards. Ferrari boss Fred

616
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 1: Vasse even suggested that they were in contingent for engine

617
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: concessions relative to Mercedes AFTERWHI jus. I thought it was

618
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: really interesting because it doesn't look like that to me,

619
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 1: But we also don't know the formula that using to

620
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,719
Speaker 1: calculate that. But what would it have looked like actually,

621
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 1: had they done what Antonelli was enjoying up front, had

622
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,160
Speaker 1: just had clear air, We're getting it's harder to identify

623
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,640
Speaker 1: those armswers in this era. So Hamilton has a contributing

624
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,640
Speaker 1: role to that by continuing the fight. But I think

625
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: it was good that he did.

626
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 2: Anyway, controversial opinion on this, I think it would have

627
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 2: made absolutely no change whatsoever, simply because I don't believe

628
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 2: that Mercedes were pushing at all in the last third

629
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,200
Speaker 2: of that Grand Prix. There was a very stable gap

630
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,080
Speaker 2: between first and second, and first and second were completely

631
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 2: cemented at that point. They were in cruise control for

632
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 2: the last third of that Grand Prix from what it

633
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 2: looked like, and so they had the ability to up

634
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 2: their pace if they had to. They just didn't have to.

635
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 2: And I think the way races have played out these

636
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,359
Speaker 2: first two race weekends that might be a bit of

637
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,440
Speaker 2: a narrative we see for the rest of the year,

638
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,159
Speaker 2: in that the first third of these Grand Prix is

639
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 2: going to be because the Ferrari starts so well, right, wow,

640
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 2: look at these look look at these early laps. It's

641
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 2: super intense. And then there'll be a pit stop and

642
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 2: the order will sort of shake out into its natural order,

643
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:27,680
Speaker 2: and then the last thirds of a lot of these

644
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,679
Speaker 2: races will be an opportunity time for people like you

645
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 2: to write race reports. And then people have flat spot

646
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,120
Speaker 2: their thighs at the end because I can't see short

647
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,159
Speaker 2: of a Mercedes on Mercedes battle at the front of

648
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 2: the pack, which we may see. I don't see a

649
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 2: lot of jeopardy in that last third of these races,

650
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 2: certainly not compared to the first third, because the first

651
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 2: third of the albert Park Grace and in China were super,

652
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 2: super entertaining, but it kind of fizzled out from there,

653
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 2: didn't it.

654
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to move swiftly on. But on that note,

655
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: why would Mercedes choose not to push too hard? Well,

656
00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 1: the Mercedes engines and the McLaren cars aren't doing too

657
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 1: well at all. They weren't even being pushed except off

658
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 1: the grid, which is where the day started and ended

659
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastre Norris in fact,

660
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 1: and even make it to the dummy grid, his car

661
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 1: developed a fault in the electrical side of the power

662
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: unit before even getting out of his reconnaissance laps. Oscar

663
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,760
Speaker 1: Piastri at least completed his reconnaissance stats cleanly, which is

664
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,719
Speaker 1: a little bit further than you got in Australia, but

665
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 1: no further than that. He did not take the start.

666
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 1: He was wheeled off the grid during the title sequence,

667
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 1: so you can imagine everyone's surprise as the title sequence

668
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: ended and no Oscar Piastri on the grid, and he

669
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: succumbed to exactly the same fate. This is only the

670
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 1: second time in McLaren's history of running two cars that

671
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 1: it's failed to get to the start. The last time, Matt,

672
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: you're like this if you didn't already know it two

673
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: thousand and five United States Grand Prix, which wasn't a

674
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 1: technical problem.

675
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm still I'm still slightly that's my second most

676
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 2: traumatizing crowd free how they got company in by career

677
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,760
Speaker 2: after abe W twenty twenty one. But I'm glad you've

678
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 2: brought this up because I've actually got the abacus out

679
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 2: the sporting I've done some counting for you. So the

680
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 2: acronym HPP Mercedes High Performance Powertrains was used eight times

681
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 2: in McLaren's post race press release, which is even more

682
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 2: times than the number of staff they have on the

683
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 2: ground in their communications teams Free Michael, and also eight

684
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,959
Speaker 2: more times and you'll actually get a driver quote one

685
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 2: of their useless pre race preview press releases they keep

686
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 2: putting out at the moment, But that was interesting. Eight

687
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 2: times HPP was mentioned in the McLaren post race press

688
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 2: release for a race in which neither car completed a

689
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 2: single lap. So if you're ever wondering what McLaren thinks

690
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 2: the problem is, there is eight times there is a

691
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 2: finger being pointed at an external supplier. I believe it

692
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 2: would be called if you were being a little bit

693
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 2: more diplomatic than that. But you mentioned that pstre being

694
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 2: wheeled off the Dummi grid. The visual the classic drone

695
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 2: shot where they fly over the grid. Now it looked

696
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 2: even worse because the two McLaren's were set to line

697
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 2: up next to each other, so there was just this

698
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 2: giant hole on the grid. It's like, oh, that's where

699
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 2: those cars should be. Oh, they're also the raining Constructors

700
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 2: champion and they run the raiding world champion with number

701
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 2: one on the nose cone of his car, so it's

702
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 2: hard to imagine it gets any worse than that. But

703
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 2: for Oscar Piastri to have started as many Grand Prix

704
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 2: this year as you and I, it is not a

705
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 2: great sign. When we're two rounds into a season. And

706
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 2: of course I will get to this later. We have

707
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 2: two fewer rounds in the season than originally planned, so

708
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,520
Speaker 2: you know that. SOAUNDI here is McLaren hitting rock bottom

709
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 2: and the only way is up from there. But it's

710
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,479
Speaker 2: certain it wasn't great for a race in a very

711
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 2: nice time zone for Australia.

712
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: Was it no very grim for all the Australian fans

713
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,239
Speaker 1: who thought we had three races in a row at

714
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: least to watch it with the sun still shining outside

715
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 1: just about anyway, very underwhelming for McLaren's title defense as well.

716
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: Leandar Norris might surely be thinking his title defense has

717
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: finished before it's even started, because it's notwithstanding though, and

718
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 1: this is this is something I want to go through before,

719
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 1: just after we move past the McLaren things specifically, which

720
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: is that unreliability is playing a much bigger role this

721
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 1: season than I expected after pre season testing seemed to

722
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 1: get away with very little problems for anyone. Yeah, and

723
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 1: obviously but McLaren's aspect in particular here. Yes, there is

724
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 1: the engine element. Let's talk about that in just a second.

725
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,480
Speaker 1: But they also know and I think Oscar Piastri said

726
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,719
Speaker 1: this in every interview he's done this weekend, including Arid

727
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 1: done nothing on Sunday unfortunately for him, which was yes,

728
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: we've got problems, reliability, whatever, but we also know the

729
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: car is not fast enough. So there are two elements here,

730
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 1: as much as the fingers being pointed repeatedly at Mercedes,

731
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 1: and then Andrea Steller did say afterwards, well, you know

732
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 1: we're all one team though, and that's why we're treating it,

733
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 1: which is fine. There is also this element that McLaren

734
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 1: was shown this weekend and we had two qualifying sessions

735
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,320
Speaker 1: approve it, plus the sprint race which both drivers did complete,

736
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: that they're just not really, in Andrea Steller's words, in

737
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 1: the same category as Mercedes, and Mercedes in the wrong

738
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 1: category for everybody else. And the fact that the engines

739
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 1: are the same when they're running, notwithstanding where we're we're

740
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:51,800
Speaker 1: talking about in Australia where there's a gap in knowledge

741
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: and they're not running them as effectively suggests that gap

742
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: is what do we want to say ninety percent of

743
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 1: the car?

744
00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean we keep talking at the moment

745
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 2: about Mercedes as in the works team has this massive

746
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 2: engine advantage. I mean we're probably underplaying the chassis, right.

747
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,959
Speaker 2: I thought that in Australia too, because yes, McLaren are

748
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 2: out of knowledge deficit if you like, to the factory

749
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 2: the works team, factory team, I'm talking about a GP

750
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 2: the works team. What was Norris fifty seconds off the

751
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,320
Speaker 2: win in Australia and you know, yes, there is going

752
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,280
Speaker 2: to be a knowledge deficit they need to pick up there.

753
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 2: But the Mercedes chassis is probably being a little bit

754
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,120
Speaker 2: underplayed right now because even when the McLaren runs, and

755
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 2: that is a key statement for this weekend, it just

756
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 2: at best, it's third best car, and not even a

757
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:37,200
Speaker 2: very convincing third at the moment, there's other teams that

758
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 2: are doing a far better job with it. So yeah,

759
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,080
Speaker 2: it's very underwhelming. And like you said, the weird thing

760
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 2: about this was I expected preseason testing to just be

761
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 2: an absolute disaster in terms of everyone breaking down and

762
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 2: so much unreliability. Maybe that raised a little bit of

763
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 2: our expectations even with Australia. I was asked in the

764
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 2: lead up to Albert Park. I said, oh, I think

765
00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,600
Speaker 2: if you finished today you'll score points. I felt like

766
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 2: it was going to be one of those races at

767
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 2: Albert Park where if you were still running at the

768
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 2: check and flag, you're probably going to get some points

769
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 2: to take home. Didn't end up working out like that,

770
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,040
Speaker 2: but you look at the way China worked out. We

771
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,879
Speaker 2: had four cars not start the race, and that's got

772
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 2: to be, you know, other than Indianapolis two thousand and five.

773
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 2: Don't say there's not too many times where you have

774
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 2: cars just not even taking up their positions on the

775
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,280
Speaker 2: grid before a race. I mean that's what twenty percent

776
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:24,280
Speaker 2: of the field more or less it's out before anyone's

777
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 2: done a lap. So everyone well, some teams clearly have problems,

778
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 2: but McLaren have more problems than everybody else. But to say,

779
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 2: HPP eight times and it will be fine.

780
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 1: Okay, six dns is so far this year. I think,

781
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,400
Speaker 1: as you said before, just yesterday, seven failures to finish

782
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 1: or not north start. I guess seven cars did not

783
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 1: see the checker. Flagle'd say that way in China, which

784
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,839
Speaker 1: is yeah, the nutrition rate is nutrition rate is much

785
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,680
Speaker 1: more reflective of I think concerns last year than expectations

786
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 1: after testing, which I think is very interesting, but particularly

787
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 1: for I mean, everyone's experienced it except perhaps Ferrari, which

788
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:02,040
Speaker 1: fields to me. I haven't crunched any numbers on this yet,

789
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:03,920
Speaker 1: something I'm going to look at during the week I think.

790
00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 1: But Ferrari actually seems like they're doing okay engine why

791
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,480
Speaker 1: I certainly this starts very good, But Mercedes has had

792
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:13,120
Speaker 1: problems several this weekend. I don't think Alex Albon's failure

793
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 1: to start was Mercedes related. I think it was hydraulics related,

794
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: but we don't know specifically what. But George Russell's problem

795
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 1: in qualifying but almost knocked him out of qualifying in

796
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 1: the double Mercedes failure to start quite a few little

797
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 1: issues this weekend, a couple in Australia as well. We

798
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 1: know in the first week of Bahrain testing, Mercedes completed

799
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: surprisingly few laps because they had all of these niggles

800
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:34,799
Speaker 1: rock up at once. But Claren also had the same thing.

801
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,480
Speaker 1: I think in Barcelona. Maybe in Bahrain as well, so

802
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,279
Speaker 1: clearly there are despite this engine's strengths, and there are

803
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:44,480
Speaker 1: many I think that there's some clear week spots there,

804
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 1: which makes you wonder, to bring this full circle, how

805
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: much is the Mercedes Works team pushing that engine knowing

806
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,319
Speaker 1: that there are some potential gremlins towards the top end

807
00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 1: if you're pushing it hard enough. Although not that Claren

808
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:57,279
Speaker 1: was obviously pushing too hard to get to the grid,

809
00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,280
Speaker 1: but nonetheless no.

810
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,120
Speaker 2: And that's also I think that's good for the narrative

811
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 2: in terms of you know, you're looking at the car

812
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 2: advantage that the Mercedes has right now and you'd be thinking, well,

813
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 2: you know, how do they not win every race this season?

814
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,480
Speaker 2: This is exactly why they weren't, because they're clearly pushing

815
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,320
Speaker 2: it very, very hard, and all of the Ferrari powered

816
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 2: cars seem to be pretty reliable so far. So maybe

817
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 2: that's what we need for a little bit of performance

818
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 2: variance at the front of some Grand Prix, because if

819
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 2: he's going to come back and bite someone at an

820
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 2: inopportune time right now, in a steady state running where

821
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 2: everyone's got reliability, Mercedes hands down the fastest team right now,

822
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:34,799
Speaker 2: but we know that's not how these seasons play out.

823
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,359
Speaker 2: We've got so many races still to do, even after

824
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 2: losing a couple that there there are going to be

825
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:42,960
Speaker 2: some weekends where it just doesn't work and the problems

826
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 2: that have hit McClaren might hit Mercedes or one of

827
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 2: the other customer teams and that's when there's time for

828
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,640
Speaker 2: someone like Ferrari to jump in and Lewis Hamilton perhaps

829
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 2: would he get race in Red there.

830
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, notable that we haven't mentioned Red Bull Racing at

831
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,080
Speaker 1: all this weekend. I don't think they deserve too much

832
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,040
Speaker 1: of a mention. But this team was a midfield team

833
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,120
Speaker 1: this weekend, which is pretty remarkable. Max, with stapp and

834
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,880
Speaker 1: retired Isaac Haadja generally have a shot because he was

835
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:06,160
Speaker 1: tipped into a spin on the first lap and ended

836
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:07,640
Speaker 1: up last the end of lap one and making a

837
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:09,920
Speaker 1: pit stop. So he's positioned in the middle of the

838
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 1: points paying place. Is probably not representative of speed, but

839
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 1: then again, there wasn't much speed to really speak of

840
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 1: for Red Bull Racing. Max was Stapfen very critical of

841
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,280
Speaker 1: the car, said pretty much everything about it is bad

842
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 1: the engine, perhaps as well because it was an engine

843
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,800
Speaker 1: related to retirement. He said anyway, an ers cooling problem.

844
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 1: I think he said in these post race interviews, not

845
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: so great for them. And I think it's interesting that

846
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 1: there's some suspicion, at least at this point, that it's

847
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 1: just that this engine is efficient in the way Mercedes

848
00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 1: suspected during preseason testing. So at tracks where there's not

849
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:45,600
Speaker 1: a lot of electricity to harvest, Remarkabel sentence, it does

850
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,360
Speaker 1: well like Melbourne, but at a conventional track like China,

851
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 1: it's nowhere near and there are despite the calendar being

852
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 1: pretty big these days, still many more conventional tracks than

853
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:55,880
Speaker 1: unconventional tracks.

854
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,759
Speaker 2: Yeah. Correct. And the weird part about this story for

855
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 2: me is I'm a little bit so prize that people

856
00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:04,040
Speaker 2: are surprised. I mean Red Bull. Yes, they've been around

857
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 2: for a really long time. They've been super successful. The

858
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:11,880
Speaker 2: sheer undertaking of becoming your own engine builder when you've

859
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 2: never done that before. As you can put all the

860
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,680
Speaker 2: money and the talent and the resource in this, this

861
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 2: is going to take a little bit of time, let

862
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,360
Speaker 2: alone with the complexities of a new formulaa like this,

863
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 2: So they know what they signed up for here. It's

864
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:27,360
Speaker 2: a massive undertaking. You know that when the improvement comes

865
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,759
Speaker 2: based on the track record of that team. It'll happen

866
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 2: pretty quickly. But I'm not sure why anyone's quite surprised

867
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 2: right now. I think the only constant right now is

868
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 2: an open microphone to Max of Stappena for a brew.

869
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,279
Speaker 2: Right now is great for people like you and I am.

870
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 2: I'm sure someone in fin HQ quietly cringes because he's

871
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 2: for better or worse. There's no edit button with Max

872
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 2: of staff and we love it because he'll always tell

873
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,920
Speaker 2: you what's on his mind. And right now there's a

874
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 2: lot on his mind that's not super positive.

875
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 1: Yes, a lot on his mind related to GT three

876
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:02,479
Speaker 1: racing as well. I think, yes, something good. And before

877
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 1: we wrap this up, Matt, of course, the news of

878
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 1: the weekend we can't avoid touching on is that the

879
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,879
Speaker 1: Formula one calendar has shrunk by two Grand Prix this year.

880
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 1: With the f fun did use the word cancelation or

881
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:17,520
Speaker 1: postponement the non races of the Bahrain Very Saudi Arabian

882
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,279
Speaker 1: Grand Prix. They will not take place in April was

883
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: the sentence. I think in brackets you could say they

884
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 1: will not take place at all this year because of

885
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 1: the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, no surprises there.

886
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 1: They had to make a decision this weekend because freight

887
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,520
Speaker 1: goes from China or some of it does, and from

888
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,440
Speaker 1: Europe this week to Bahrain, and some of it's already

889
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: there in fact from preseason testing left there and then

890
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,840
Speaker 1: would have been taken to Jeddo for the Saudi Arabian

891
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: Grand Prix. Obviously no way to fetch that, so neither

892
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 1: race can take place. Formula One now has quite a

893
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 1: long break four weekends. I think it is four or

894
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 1: five weekends between the Japanese Grand Prix at the end

895
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 1: of the month and the Miami Grand Prix at the

896
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,720
Speaker 1: start of May. So a little bit unusual for the sport.

897
00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,320
Speaker 1: Some teams will be very glad to have a bigger

898
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:03,359
Speaker 1: break to think to work through problems, but it does

899
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 1: change the shape of the count a little bit. Look, Matt,

900
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,360
Speaker 1: twenty two races, still a lot of racing to go,

901
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: twenty gone for to go. I think that's still the

902
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen season or something like that still to go.

903
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 1: So let's not be too dire about the effects on

904
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 1: the championship. But you know, if we're thinking about Mercedes

905
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 1: One team, I think about in particular, that's a couple

906
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:25,920
Speaker 1: of races less you have your supposed compression ratio advantage,

907
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 1: which still changes in June. That could be one well,

908
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 1: disadvantage with them or benefit for others, I suppose.

909
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 2: I think, if you are polling teams up and down

910
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,799
Speaker 2: the grid, who's slightly happy about this and who isn't.

911
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:39,600
Speaker 2: I mean, right now, Mercedes are probably like a race

912
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 2: every weekend for the next four weeks because they've probably

913
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:43,319
Speaker 2: go to w all of them. And if you're a

914
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:48,480
Speaker 2: team like McLaren, I think the yes, your championship aspirations

915
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 2: have just been reduced by two potential large point scoring weekends.

916
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,799
Speaker 2: Of course, but right now there are some teams that

917
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,280
Speaker 2: the biggest gift they can have is time and times,

918
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,439
Speaker 2: something that's really really hard to find in the middle

919
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:03,400
Speaker 2: of a Formula One season. We've not had a delay

920
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:04,920
Speaker 2: in a season like this. I mean, you can't even

921
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,440
Speaker 2: count twenty twenty with COVID because it never actually started.

922
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 2: There'll be some teams that will be like Ferrari probably

923
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,799
Speaker 2: won't be super happy there's a break Mercedes because I've

924
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 2: got the advantage right now. There'll be other teams that

925
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,560
Speaker 2: will be quite thankful for the break because yes, okay,

926
00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 2: there's no on track action, no Grand Prix weekends. There'll

927
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:22,239
Speaker 2: be a lot of work going on back at base

928
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,720
Speaker 2: with some of these teams, and so Japan because everyone's

929
00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 2: out at the moment, and you'll get to Suzuka and

930
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:29,960
Speaker 2: I can't imagine there'll be a massive change of the

931
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 2: pecking order there after that. It kind of resets the

932
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 2: season quite nicely, and then we get this sort of

933
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 2: it's like the intermission, isn't It's a little bit more

934
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 2: of the intermission. So and some teams will really welcome this.

935
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:42,879
Speaker 2: And what it could mean is that once we get

936
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,520
Speaker 2: through what is at Miami, Canada, then we head back

937
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 2: to Europe again, picture might slightly change. So for all

938
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,320
Speaker 2: of us that are invested in how the season narrative

939
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,719
Speaker 2: plays out, it gives us another variable, where is if

940
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:57,400
Speaker 2: these two races have happened and we're just in this

941
00:41:57,520 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 2: every two weeks or three and four weeks or whatever,

942
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:03,319
Speaker 2: it ends being not much variance there. I think this

943
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:05,480
Speaker 2: potentially gives some teams a chance to reset, and for

944
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,600
Speaker 2: a team like McLaren, I think they will be very

945
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:11,040
Speaker 2: very glad to have that time because stuck out in

946
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 2: a normal run of races right now, given they have

947
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:15,800
Speaker 2: no momentum and just a massive knowledge deficit, would be

948
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:16,759
Speaker 2: a bad thing for them.

949
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, no shutdown, unlike the middle of the season breaks. Yeah,

950
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,840
Speaker 1: correct weeks or four weeks of work or whatever it

951
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,279
Speaker 1: is for every team, So not quite the break, but

952
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:25,719
Speaker 1: at least no travel for a lot of them. I

953
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 1: think if you can ask any team who mostly who'd

954
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: be most excited for that break, I think Fernandor Lenzo

955
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:32,359
Speaker 1: would put his hand up, although he can't feel them,

956
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 1: so it's hard to say, oh my god, if you

957
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 1: get them all the way above his hand.

958
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,800
Speaker 2: The Aston Martin thing, Oh my god, what was the quote?

959
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,440
Speaker 2: I began to lose all feeling in my hands and

960
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:46,920
Speaker 2: feet and it's a I did have to give a

961
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:49,879
Speaker 2: hat tip to Valentin Hun from the race, who wrote

962
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 2: this great line that I knew you would enjoy. A

963
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 2: one car gave up after nine laps and the other

964
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:56,720
Speaker 2: forced it's striving to give up after thirty two laps.

965
00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 2: LA strolls Cardis went bad enough of this, and Fernando

966
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:03,600
Speaker 2: Altzo's like, I literally can't feel my hands in my feet,

967
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 2: and he wore, may I please stop? As he was

968
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:09,720
Speaker 2: running around at whatever position he was, but unexpected highlight

969
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:12,200
Speaker 2: of the race. Have you watched Alonso's first lap, by

970
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:14,480
Speaker 2: the way he did it in Australia too, He was

971
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 2: tenth after lap one. It was just absolute fantastic cutting

972
00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 2: Fernando at his best. Go back and watch it if

973
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 2: you have it already, because it was awesome TV. And

974
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:26,240
Speaker 2: then yeah, then Aston Martin progressed to Aston Martin territory.

975
00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:27,359
Speaker 2: But it was fun for my lap.

976
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:28,520
Speaker 1: It was I was going to say, I've seen the

977
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,759
Speaker 1: onboards of his car shaking down the streets and him

978
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:34,000
Speaker 1: taking his hands off the wheel. My god. But he's

979
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 1: a good stat for me, just speaking of a Lonto's starts,

980
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:40,040
Speaker 1: only driver to make up five places in both Grand Prix.

981
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:41,919
Speaker 1: The driver's made up the most places on the first

982
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,640
Speaker 1: lap of anyone so far. Of course, as man stunning

983
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 1: very far back. So there's a lot of places to

984
00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 1: miss up every race, but when everything's a bit equalized

985
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:53,560
Speaker 1: off the line, there's still one man you trust, I

986
00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:56,480
Speaker 1: think above any other to make up places and that's Phenol.

987
00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:59,800
Speaker 2: So yes, he's doing well in the Battery World Championship.

988
00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:00,719
Speaker 2: As he put it after the.

989
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 1: Grand Frix, well, on that note, that's all the time

990
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,680
Speaker 1: we have for Pittalk this week. You can subscribe to

991
00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:09,000
Speaker 1: Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts, and you can

992
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,840
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review as well. This weekend

993
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 1: is the Brazilian Motorcycle Grand Frix from five am Monday

994
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:17,880
Speaker 1: Eastern daylight time, and you can watch every minute of

995
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:20,000
Speaker 1: the race live and at break free on Fox Sports

996
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: and KO and you can keep up to date with

997
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,080
Speaker 1: all the latest F one, Moto GP and supercars news

998
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: at foxsports dot com dot Au. From Matt Clayton and me,

999
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,120
Speaker 1: Michael Lovanado. Thanks very much for your company. We'll catch

1000
00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: you next week.