Speaker 1: Hey folks, welcome to this special episode of the Inside
Speaker 1: Line of Phone podcast. It's special because it's in person.
Speaker 1: I think it's the first time since february this year
Speaker 1: that we bought the crew of the Inside line of
Speaker 1: Phone podcast here in person recording. And it's not just me,
Speaker 1: Samuel and Kunal over here. We've also got F one
Speaker 1: stats crew
Speaker 1: for the first time in the studio. So syndrome firstly
Speaker 1: welcome along. But apart from him, we've got canals to
Speaker 1: the former marketing of the force India F one team
Speaker 1: who also works as an F. I. Accredited journalist for
Speaker 1: the V A. Play network along with us and of
Speaker 1: course you all know about me, I'm someone, I host
Speaker 1: a driving force on Disney plus hot star, but that's
Speaker 1: all about us done and we're all feeling very happy
Speaker 1: that we get to see each other in person. But
Speaker 1: there's one question I've got for you folks with the
Speaker 1: summer break coming in,
Speaker 1: who do you think is the happiest person in the
Speaker 1: Formula One paddock right now? I think I'll start, I'll
Speaker 1: say christian 90 points of a gap between himself and Ferrari,
Speaker 1: what more could you ask for? He just ended up
Speaker 1: building a car that's working very well and he's ended
Speaker 1: up fighting a team that's not working very well. So
Speaker 1: it's happy days, isn't it? What do you think
Speaker 1: it is. Happy Days? I think I'm probably the happiest
Speaker 1: guy in the Formula One paddock, even though I'm not
Speaker 1: in the paddock right now because we get to do
Speaker 1: this in person, You know, it's a summer break, but
Speaker 1: it's not a summer break for us, it's the best
Speaker 1: time for us to actually bring out our special content
Speaker 1: and that makes me very happy. But I think the
Speaker 1: happiest person literally in a serious note, if I could
Speaker 1: say is probably Sebastian Vettel, you know, he's retired, he's
Speaker 1: going to do is climate change thing and
Speaker 1: sustainability or whatever else he does. You know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: have to drive that Aston martin next season. Maybe I
Speaker 1: have to eat my words next season, but at least
Speaker 1: at this moment he's the happiest, he's like, I'm already
Speaker 1: on a break and now there's anyway, the summer break,
Speaker 1: what do you reckon syndrome? I suppose there are other
Speaker 1: happy people as well. No
Speaker 2: Thanks. Almost first of all, I'm very glad to be
Speaker 2: doing this with the both of you here, but one
Speaker 2: person I think would be very, very happy in recent
Speaker 2: weeks is Oscar pastry last year. He didn't have a drive.
Speaker 2: I mean in 2022 he didn't have a drive and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden there seems to be more than
Speaker 2: one team
Speaker 2: wanting his services for the next year and it's a
Speaker 2: little little tug of war between team principals and teams.
Speaker 2: So I think he's going to be pretty happy with
Speaker 2: how things have been going on. Have
Speaker 1: we ever had a Formula One driver coming into Formula One,
Speaker 1: not even doing a single race and having multiple teams
Speaker 1: behind them. I think Michael,
Speaker 1: I had to do one but has kind of gone
Speaker 1: away from that, he's gone one better. This is this
Speaker 1: is ridiculous stuff. But I've got a question for, you
Speaker 1: can all, do we call it the fiasco or the
Speaker 1: PS three gate, what's the better one I am for
Speaker 1: P Asko and I really hope that his career doesn't
Speaker 1: end in a fiasco, right? To put it that way, literally.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's a very happy place to be, I would say,
Speaker 1: but he's really piste off a lot of people in
Speaker 1: the paddock and I don't know if that's a happy
Speaker 1: way to start a Formula One career and you know,
Speaker 1: I used to run the
Speaker 1: force India driver academy, as you guys know, since I
Speaker 1: talked about it every time I mentioned my name, right?
Speaker 1: But the millions that have gone into investing behind PS Tree,
Speaker 1: if Alpine doesn't get a return on them, the question
Speaker 1: will be asked, should they continue investing in junior drivers
Speaker 1: and for the whole ecosystem to work for a junior
Speaker 1: driver to come from cutting
Speaker 1: through to all the junior series, Formula three, Formula two
Speaker 1: and then Formula One, somebody's got to foot all the
Speaker 1: bills and these are expensive series we're talking of, right.
Speaker 1: If drivers like PS three get funded but do not
Speaker 1: eventually drive for the team that gave them the funding,
Speaker 1: it's a scary proposition for the future of, you know,
Speaker 1: Formula One driver academies, I would say just like salary
Speaker 1: caps as charlotte Claire mentioned as well because there's lots
Speaker 1: of rich investors backing them up. But I think that's
Speaker 1: a conversation for some other day and we should get
Speaker 1: on it. But um, I want to ask you how
Speaker 1: did help in end up losing Fernando Alonso and Oscar
Speaker 1: p ashtray in the matter of a day.
Speaker 1: That can't just possibly happen right.
Speaker 2: That got me, I was very, very surprised to see Fernando.
Speaker 2: Alonso actually moved to Aston Martin when it seemed like
Speaker 2: his deal for 2023 was almost certain he said that
Speaker 2: this is going to take a couple of seconds to
Speaker 2: finalize the deal for 2023. But then shocker move. He
Speaker 2: moves to Aston Martin and then the way things went
Speaker 2: down with PS three as well.
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing that I have that I
Speaker 2: look over here is, well, I look towards the organization.
Speaker 2: Why is there no stability within Alpine? Why are the
Speaker 2: big names like Petkovski a beatable crossed moving away from
Speaker 2: the team and why is Alonzo moving away from the
Speaker 2: team when he's had so much of a romance
Speaker 2: with his two championships and the way he's actually behaved
Speaker 2: in recent weeks with his online posts, things don't seem
Speaker 2: very well between him and the team. And PST also
Speaker 2: very categorically categorically stating that he is not going to
Speaker 2: drive for Alpine next year. I'm really wondering what's happening
Speaker 2: within Alpine overall.
Speaker 1: I like your phone screen couple. It said lock screen.
Speaker 1: It's Fernando Alonso from 2005 or six. I don't know, maybe,
Speaker 1: you know, the race, you know the lap as well
Speaker 1: when that picture was taken. But I know why Alonso's
Speaker 1: going to Aston martin because he's going to drive a
Speaker 1: green red bull. He always wanted to drive for red bull.
Speaker 1: He kept saying how many times christian horner, you know,
Speaker 1: approached him or whatever. So he's going to drive a
Speaker 1: green red bull
Speaker 1: powered by a Mercedes, which we at this moment might
Speaker 1: believe that is the best combination one could ever be in.
Speaker 1: And then he's got, you know, he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: fight the cons of the world again and complain. He's
Speaker 1: going to have, you know, a stroll with him. The
Speaker 1: two strolls and I don't know which one is the
Speaker 1: slowest roll. But either way,
Speaker 1: hey, don't, don't you say so much about stole because
Speaker 1: he's actually ended up retiring Ferrari's best championship hopes since
Speaker 1: 2007 Massa and now Vettel as well. So maybe you
Speaker 1: could have Fernando Alonso to that list at the end
Speaker 1: of next year as well. Not next year, maybe two
Speaker 1: years at least he's on the street to end up
Speaker 1: all the Ferraris championship hopes and someday poll prediction. I
Speaker 1: think he's going to look like as well because that's
Speaker 1: just how the way the world goes. But folks on
Speaker 1: this episode, there's a lot of other stuff to talk
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 1: Well, the PS three gate or the P Asko has,
Speaker 1: we're now calling it is one of the major off
Speaker 1: track incidents that we have to discuss in this particular
Speaker 1: season that's happened so far and there's a lot of them,
Speaker 1: we've got off track incidents that we've missed. We've also
Speaker 1: got the surprise performances and the most shocking world driver
Speaker 1: championship gaps that are also going to come up and
Speaker 1: also the wait what moment of the season? So lots
Speaker 1: of other fun stuff to come along, but that's going
Speaker 1: to be after a short break. So we'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Hey folks, welcome back into the inside line. F one
Speaker 1: podcast we were on the subject of talking about the
Speaker 1: P Asko and Oscar P Astra is shocking. Move to McLaren,
Speaker 1: is he going to McLaren? But I think that aside,
Speaker 1: it just brings us onto the major question about the championship,
Speaker 1: that this has to be one of the craziest seasons
Speaker 1: that we've had so far that even though we've had
Speaker 1: an amazing year on track, a story off track is
Speaker 1: also dominating it so well. It's just an amazing season
Speaker 1: and there's this one particular stat that I want to
Speaker 1: bring in mind that it's the first time since 2008
Speaker 1: that we've had three debut pole sitters in a season
Speaker 1: that courtesy of you syndrome of course, but ridiculous, right.
Speaker 1: Amazing on track action. Amazing. Off track action. What else
Speaker 1: could we ask for? This is just like a great here. Just,
Speaker 1: just partying. One little aspect,
Speaker 1: the one scary stat for me again, courtesy R. F.
Speaker 1: N stats guru, is that max Verstappen could actually seal
Speaker 1: this year's title in the next five races. Come on.
Speaker 1: And to me, that's just like what I mean, it's
Speaker 1: a very exciting season, you know, with all the narratives,
Speaker 1: you know, go back and listen to 20 episodes of ours,
Speaker 1: the narratives all day. But that, to me is the
Speaker 1: scariest stats.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I particularly love patterns, I I like seeing records
Speaker 2: being broken and if Verstappen does win the championship this year,
Speaker 2: he's going to take the record for the biggest deficit
Speaker 2: overcome to win the title. He was 46 points behind
Speaker 2: Leclerc after the Australian grand prix. So that's a huge
Speaker 2: margin that he's actually overcome and taken another 80 points
Speaker 2: of Leclerc's tally over there. So that's a that's a
Speaker 2: very big thing
Speaker 1: and he's doing that while spinning in the middle of
Speaker 1: a race, ending up winning it. I mean, what is
Speaker 1: this guy seriously, but that's the on track stuff, I
Speaker 1: really want to talk about the off track stuff because
Speaker 1: we started off with the ashtray, we spoke about how
Speaker 1: things have gone and how they might end up going
Speaker 1: eventually with Daniel Ricardo, potentially being paid 21 million for
Speaker 1: him to let go of his seat. Now I want
Speaker 1: to firstly ask that question to you, is it worth it?
Speaker 1: 21 million to pay ricardo, then the fee to get
Speaker 1: Oscar pedestrian,
Speaker 1: we know that he's good, but I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's good enough for that much, is
Speaker 2: he? So the things that we need to consider is
Speaker 2: the long term return of investment in that case, because
Speaker 2: even if they do give away with 21 million, even
Speaker 2: if they do give recorded 21 million this year, um,
Speaker 2: they will get someone a very talented driver in PS three,
Speaker 2: he'll take a little bit of time in to get
Speaker 2: into Formula One and start driving well,
Speaker 2: but I'm sure they'll want to seal him for the
Speaker 2: next 2 to 3 years and that will eventually start
Speaker 2: coming in in terms of more points and better positions
Speaker 2: in the, in the constructors standings. So it does seem
Speaker 2: like a long term plan that they have, if, if
Speaker 2: if they do give him the money
Speaker 1: but crazy how the story has unfolded and Alpine have
Speaker 1: just been quiet since then, but would that be your
Speaker 1: best off track moment of the season so far because
Speaker 1: it might not seem like it, but we've got so
Speaker 1: many from this year and what is it, it only
Speaker 1: four or five months, isn't it? Yeah, actually, I mean it's,
Speaker 1: you know, Formula One has very well become a sport
Speaker 1: which has on track stories, which we always talk about,
Speaker 1: but a lot of off track ones as well and
Speaker 1: you know, just before the Bernie, just before the Liberty
Speaker 1: media days, the Bernie Ecclestone days that we had, you
Speaker 1: were pretty much just talking about teams going off the
Speaker 1: grid and drivers unable to make it and then
Speaker 1: not always the most positive stories, but what we've actually
Speaker 1: seen a lot of positive stories, you know, the whole
Speaker 1: americanization of the sport, I think that's a that's a
Speaker 1: positive because if you were to look at it from
Speaker 1: a business point of view here, there is a european
Speaker 1: product which was not appealing to the american masses and
Speaker 1: somebody said broke it down and said, what can we
Speaker 1: do to sell this product in America and they actually
Speaker 1: did a, they've done a fantastic job and you know,
Speaker 1: it's of course now
Speaker 1: Africa is being spoken about as well, there is an
Speaker 1: american team, Andretti, you know, that's that that caught my
Speaker 1: attention the most because andretti is like the best american
Speaker 1: team name and motorsport and this is where I know
Speaker 1: a lot of american listeners of ours will write back
Speaker 1: saying no, it's actually not that it's this, but anyway,
Speaker 1: you know, they have operations across various series etcetera and
Speaker 1: for them to get into Formula One, given the andretti
Speaker 1: backing and the name itself would be pretty fantastic and
Speaker 1: what actually has caught my attention the most is how
Speaker 1: everybody in Formula One currently is holding their cards right?
Speaker 1: Fredrick Vasser said that, you know, dutch is the biggest
Speaker 1: Formula One market for us because there's a dutch driver,
Speaker 1: but what he did not say is that Ferrari is
Speaker 1: the biggest team in Formula One, because it's so called
Speaker 1: the national team of Ferrari, So interesting
Speaker 1: dynamics at play, people are wanting to protect their positions
Speaker 1: in the sport, they're saying how differently will Andretti do
Speaker 1: than what everybody else is doing houses not even standing
Speaker 1: up and taking ownership of the american market yet I
Speaker 1: would say
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to see how all of this unfolds
Speaker 1: and talking of America and Formula one, I cannot stop
Speaker 1: thinking about that fake marina that we have in Miami,
Speaker 1: that takes the cake for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that, that was ridiculous. But you spoke about Bernie Ecclestone,
Speaker 1: I really want to come to him for a second
Speaker 1: as well because I think this is one story that
Speaker 1: should have gotten more attention, but it faded away, which
Speaker 1: actually actually happens to be the next thing we will
Speaker 1: talk about in a minute, but he showed his support
Speaker 1: of the german Putin, very characteristic of Bernie of course,
Speaker 1: and said
Speaker 1: he was willing to take a bullet for him, so
Speaker 1: I'll leave it at that you make of it, what
Speaker 1: you will but syndrome before I share another one of
Speaker 1: those stories that I think really caught my attention, what
Speaker 1: would it be for you? Apart from of course along
Speaker 1: the leaving for Aston martin, which doesn't add up right
Speaker 2: now. So the biggest off track moment that caught a
Speaker 2: lot of what the attention has
Speaker 2: has to be the fiasco incident because his tweet had
Speaker 2: around 400,000 likes, 100,000 retweets and I think I read
Speaker 2: somewhere that it's probably one of the most viral tweets
Speaker 2: in motorsport history, but later on it was corrected that
Speaker 2: Lewis Hamilton's tweets received more engagement. But I think that
Speaker 2: is the biggest talking point and all of a sudden
Speaker 2: that in recent weeks. So
Speaker 2: the biggest off track moment for me would be what
Speaker 2: transpired in recent weeks between Alpine and Oscar past
Speaker 1: Trick Question Guys, how how strict are we on the
Speaker 1: definition of off track because apart from that I've got
Speaker 1: one
Speaker 1: slightly absurd one. Does Austria count as an off track moment,
Speaker 1: the whole off track gate that we had over there
Speaker 1: with so many
Speaker 2: penalties. It
Speaker 1: does. I think it has to be one that really
Speaker 1: catches my eye because I think, okay, it might not
Speaker 1: end up being the most the race with the most
Speaker 1: penalties awarded. I think you might end up finding that
Speaker 1: that sometime soon, but it was the one in modern
Speaker 1: history where it was Broadcasted
Speaker 1: X. X. Driver has got a warning, why driver has
Speaker 1: got a warning, black flag for you. Black flag for
Speaker 1: your penalty for your penalty for you. It was just crazy.
Speaker 1: It added a layer of excitement in a way because
Speaker 1: you were tense just like in a yellow card situation
Speaker 1: in football. Oh this place is on a yellow card.
Speaker 1: I hope he does not end up making a fall,
Speaker 1: which was of course quite a fun thing to do.
Speaker 1: But race controlled stance. That is something that's been really
Speaker 1: catching my attention anyway because for years we've had a
Speaker 1: black and white. I mean our graced answer it. Finally,
Speaker 1: we're clear. Finally were black and white and people don't
Speaker 1: seem to enjoy canal. That's kind of paradoxical, isn't it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a little too much of what's happening.
Speaker 1: The Austrian grand prix was more about track limits. Austrian
Speaker 1: grand prix than whatever sponsored Austrian grand prix.
Speaker 1: Soon before we know it, the race control will actually
Speaker 1: have a sponsor that will write upon how many track
Speaker 1: limit notifications show up on the race control dashboard. But
Speaker 1: you know, there's a there's a there's a larger team
Speaker 1: or a broader theme out here, which is and I
Speaker 1: hope my accreditation doesn't get reworked for this, which is
Speaker 1: the F I I would say okay,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, we've had the jewelry band, a
Speaker 1: lot of noise Lewis Hamilton's sitting with what? Three watches, piercings,
Speaker 1: whatever you know, necklaces, so many things in that press conference.
Speaker 1: I just love that, you know like hey guys, what
Speaker 1: are you doing? Y'all messed up my eighth title and
Speaker 1: now you're taking my jewelry away. No, but on a
Speaker 1: more serious note,
Speaker 1: okay, still not serious when he said, I just am
Speaker 1: effing with them. I want them to think I have
Speaker 1: piercings in places I shouldn't reveal. I love that whole
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton's wife, but no, on a, on a very
Speaker 1: serious nor and I mean, the F. I. A. Is
Speaker 1: doing a lot of things off track to get attention,
Speaker 1: which technically they shouldn't because
Speaker 1: they are the governing governors of the sport, the governing body,
Speaker 1: they should be working in the background, getting things right,
Speaker 1: which we know they're doing, it's like, you know, the
Speaker 1: I would put it this way, they are so impeccable
Speaker 1: when it comes to the safety of the sport that
Speaker 1: they are polar opposites when it comes to several other
Speaker 1: aspects like track limits and we're racing and battle, they're
Speaker 1: getting better at it. Yes, they are. But
Speaker 1: it just sometimes make me question, I mean, let's, let's
Speaker 1: look at it this way. One of the other biggest
Speaker 1: off track moments, which got my attention was sebastian Vettel
Speaker 1: actually walked out of a driver's briefing, right? And then
Speaker 1: the F I, you know, gave him sanctioned them or whatever,
Speaker 1: it was suspended sentence, that was right
Speaker 1: and they say they use words like he's not a
Speaker 1: role model, which is a funny thing, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that will stand up comedy by the FBI. It
Speaker 1: was unworthy of a four times world champion. I mean
Speaker 1: it's Sebastian Vettel of all people, you know, he him
Speaker 1: just getting up and taking a breath is like it
Speaker 1: is sustainable way of breathing. For example,
Speaker 1: sometimes I really don't get the F I. But of
Speaker 1: course that everyone's favorite bashing boy, you could put it
Speaker 1: that way, but of course what they've done for safety
Speaker 1: is incredible. As we saw of course. And Tillerson was
Speaker 1: jo gwan you but on the subject of the of
Speaker 1: the F. I. And on the subject of sebastian Vettel,
Speaker 1: I think it was kind of amazing that
Speaker 1: His whole Canada helmet gate kind of went under the
Speaker 1: radar because he, in a way was called hypocrite for
Speaker 1: racing in Formula one. And he had a message on
Speaker 1: his helmet saying that he should stop the mining of
Speaker 1: a certain component, which I can't quite remember for the
Speaker 1: life of me at this moment. So that's that's silly
Speaker 1: of me. But but he eventually was called hypocrite by
Speaker 1: the Canadian lawmakers and said that, Okay, you focus on
Speaker 1: your job.
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that Vettel said, okay fine,
Speaker 1: I'm a hypocrite only for two more weeks and he's
Speaker 1: retired after that. And then nobody's talking about that. It's
Speaker 1: amazing how committed he is to this whole process of saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sustainable, I'm driving an environmental way. And also what
Speaker 1: he's done with the Nigel Mansell FW 14 B in
Speaker 1: a way, This should go out to more people and,
Speaker 1: and as a direct message to the FAA saying guys,
Speaker 1: we can do this, we have sustainable fuel now, why
Speaker 1: bother with the hybrids? I think it was Lucas di
Speaker 1: Grassi who came on twitter and said,
Speaker 1: why even bother with the expensive basic V six hybrid
Speaker 1: engines when you can just have wheat wells with sustainable
Speaker 1: fuel that works for everyone, isn't it? No, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't work for Audi and Porsche. That's the question
Speaker 1: that everybody is like we will, we will make Formula
Speaker 1: One to whatever Audi and Porsche wanted to be and
Speaker 1: this is where I think what Toto Wolff said made
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. He said we need Audi and
Speaker 1: Porsche to commit
Speaker 1: to Formula One and be regulation agnostic because we are
Speaker 1: in a dynamic regulations driven environment. That's correct, yeah. And
Speaker 1: that's also one story we should talk about if we
Speaker 1: do have the time later. But I also want to
Speaker 1: ask you guys about other off track moments that should
Speaker 1: have been noticed but really went under the radar but
Speaker 1: what about, you know what really comes to your mind
Speaker 2: 1st? I think nothing is going to top this because
Speaker 2: Um driving in Formula one is a big thing and
Speaker 2: especially if you have your contract extended, obviously want to
Speaker 2: celebrate that.
Speaker 2: And one thing that really went under the radar is
Speaker 2: Lance strolls announcement that he's going to drive in 2023
Speaker 2: that actually coupled with Alonzo's announcement and the team principal
Speaker 2: my crack, he put it very subtly and perfectly within
Speaker 2: the announcement that line up for 2023 is going to
Speaker 2: be Alonso and Lance stroll. There was no social media post,
Speaker 2: no human cry, no big talk about it. And yeah,
Speaker 2: Lance stroll has a seat for 2023.
Speaker 1: Really, I had no clue
Speaker 1: show your face. I
Speaker 2: made sure to check that. Yes, he does have a
Speaker 2: right
Speaker 1: now in that driver graphic drivers with a contract for
Speaker 1: 23 there's no longer a question mark with Aston stroll
Speaker 1: and Alonso wow stroll the world champion retiring machine as
Speaker 1: someone just painted him. But I'll tell you the one
Speaker 1: thing which Formula One has done very well to put
Speaker 1: a blanket on
Speaker 1: was the missile attack we saw in Saudi Arabia
Speaker 2: totally forgotten about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. And and you know, it's a, it's I
Speaker 1: to me I would have wanted Formula One again, I
Speaker 1: hope my accreditation is not revoked, but I would have
Speaker 1: wanted Formula One to take a far more non capitalistic,
Speaker 1: more humanitarian stance or stance to turn around and say,
Speaker 1: you know what, that's it. We've had a missile strike
Speaker 1: 10 kill
Speaker 1: meters away from the circuit and we're going home right.
Speaker 1: Of course it would have cost a lot of money
Speaker 1: and money is what drives the business and with the
Speaker 1: whole positive momentum that Formula One is in, this would
Speaker 1: have been a comma in that momentum that they've built.
Speaker 1: So very disappointing that the drivers were put in the,
Speaker 1: you know, the space that they were in
Speaker 1: and unconfirmed, but you know, there was these talks that
Speaker 1: maybe you won't be allowed to take off. And then
Speaker 1: somebody from the World Wrestling Federation of World Wrestling Entertainment,
Speaker 1: they actually wrote saying how they were stuck on the
Speaker 1: airstrip for four hours before they could take off, whatever, whatever. Right?
Speaker 1: So to me that just took the cake away in
Speaker 1: every way possible. And there was one more thing since
Speaker 1: we spoke of the fake marina, the french GP
Speaker 1: actually had a real swimming pool with real water and
Speaker 1: this was not covered by anybody but one lady who
Speaker 1: heads the social media division of McLaren applied what? Why
Speaker 1: didn't they? That's like the coolest thing ever. There were
Speaker 1: no boats, right? Nobody sold seats for those sections, at least.
Speaker 1: I assume so. And it wasn't in Miami and it
Speaker 1: wasn't fake. So hey, it's real water. Everybody sees real
Speaker 1: water all the time. I guess
Speaker 1: it's in the south of France as well. So
Speaker 2: just at the time and there was this major heat
Speaker 2: wave in europe. So
Speaker 1: why would we even bother selling tickets? Who will even
Speaker 1: do that? Who even cares? But it's actually quite like
Speaker 1: what they have in the Australian cricket stadiums where you
Speaker 1: can actually sit by the ground and sit in the
Speaker 1: pool and watch that, That's awesome and it's crazy. That
Speaker 1: wasn't covered. But I'm actually very agitated about the whole
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia thing because Formula One essentially, is
Speaker 1: it kind of makes you feel like they are essentially
Speaker 1: performers in the king's court where if you don't like
Speaker 1: what you, I mean, if they don't like what you
Speaker 1: perform about, they'll essentially chop your head off or maybe
Speaker 1: put it in jail, put you in exile or something
Speaker 1: like that. Okay. That might be a couple of steps
Speaker 1: too far, but they can at least keep you in
Speaker 1: the country for a long, long time. And it's, it's distasteful,
Speaker 1: isn't it? Because here's Formula One trying to be really
Speaker 1: open and really
Speaker 1: modern in a way by saying, oh, we race as one,
Speaker 1: we respect everybody. But they're going into countries that really
Speaker 1: don't do that and they're also going into countries that
Speaker 1: might actually end up keeping them if they don't abide
Speaker 1: by just basic safety norms of the country and that, that's,
Speaker 1: that's not how the world works. That's yeah, that's not silly.
Speaker 1: That's silly. And
Speaker 1: they keep having these slogans and let's hope that they
Speaker 1: live by the slogans, isn't that a new one, drive
Speaker 1: them out or something for online trolls. Something, something of
Speaker 1: that sort. But anyway to, to more more stuff, right.
Speaker 1: Another thing that really, since we're on this whole fiasco thing,
Speaker 1: It's got triggered by Alonzo PS PS three is going
Speaker 1: to take ricardo seed. We don't know what ricardo is
Speaker 1: doing
Speaker 1: and you know, we're always, I'm yet to meet somebody
Speaker 1: who's harsh against ricardo's struggles, right? But let's remember, he
Speaker 1: actually missed the second half of pre season testing, so
Speaker 1: he missed three out of the six days that we
Speaker 1: had and that's due to Covid and even the three
Speaker 1: days he had were half shared with Lando Norris. So,
Speaker 1: you know, he started sort of started off on
Speaker 1: a bit of this back foot thing. So Covid 19
Speaker 1: is still very much around, right, because Sebastian Vettel missed
Speaker 1: the first two races and Lewis Hamilton's still wears a
Speaker 1: mask in the paddock. So, again, one of those things
Speaker 1: that we should keep in mind that not the happiest
Speaker 1: of stories to put attention on, but that Covid 19
Speaker 1: is still around. One of the things that is happy
Speaker 1: about that china is yet to resume. Probably the only
Speaker 1: country maybe F one stats guru can,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of re confirmed this. But the only
Speaker 1: country yet to resume hosting a race after pandemic or
Speaker 1: during pandemic is china of course a country with an
Speaker 1: existing race contract, but hasn't come back to whatever. Right. Anyway,
Speaker 1: so that that's that about china and
Speaker 1: I still have one more thing about the F I
Speaker 1: a you know Fernando Alonso going on and on about
Speaker 1: weaving after Canada and how he brought it up in
Speaker 1: every possible media interview and driver's briefing and so on
Speaker 1: and then the final one from me, Nicholas Latifi topping
Speaker 1: and FB one or an FTP session and he actually
Speaker 1: stopped has stopped the session,
Speaker 1: venice lewis Hamilton's hasn't, that's just how brilliant Latifi or
Speaker 1: go TIF is 2022 season is probably, it's going and
Speaker 1: I really hope that this is his last season.
Speaker 1: Am I being too direct, too harsh? I'm just being honest.
Speaker 1: How is it that helmet marco being honest is okay,
Speaker 1: but me being not, me being honest is not right.
Speaker 1: He's Canadian, you don't think you don't say bad things
Speaker 1: to Canadians as just nice who's Canadian Latifi, how does
Speaker 1: it matter? Is he quick? That's a fair point. He's,
Speaker 1: he's not even quicker coming into and leaving Formula One
Speaker 1: like Circus Rockin was at least he was, I mean
Speaker 1: he realized, okay, I'm not quick, I better get out
Speaker 1: of here but he hasn't even done that and it's
Speaker 1: for the same team as well
Speaker 2: as he is, he's up against someone who's been out
Speaker 2: of the sport for a year and yet he's being
Speaker 2: beaten by Albin.
Speaker 1: Exactly,
Speaker 2: so yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I would be happy to see him out
Speaker 2: of F1 next year,
Speaker 1: this is where all the Canadians are tuning out there,
Speaker 1: like you have butcher Lance stroll and now you're butchering
Speaker 1: Nicholas Latifi but hey, I love sharks, we love, I
Speaker 1: have to say that he's some character just trying to
Speaker 1: save some Canadians pressing stop and skip and unsubscribe and
Speaker 1: leaving a bad rating. I'll tell you what though, Jacques
Speaker 1: will knows opinions. Sometimes it's just about as over the
Speaker 1: top as the podium ceremony in Miami. We've forgotten about it.
Speaker 1: I mean do you guys remember we had this big,
Speaker 1: wasn't it limo? What was it? I forget to remember
Speaker 1: it was a cavalcade wasn't exactly exactly that. And those
Speaker 1: big fat bikes and you had, was that the horses
Speaker 1: when I am, I just imagining things now.
Speaker 1: I know it's only, that would probably be imagining it,
Speaker 1: but there's a very high chance there was, there was,
Speaker 1: wasn't there were those police, the motorcade, the motorcade and
Speaker 1: I remember just one thing that, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if this came up on the world feed or was
Speaker 1: it something I saw on another feed but helmut Marko
Speaker 1: was actually walking there with christian horner, exactly. One of
Speaker 1: the spices, I don't know, jerry, Hollywood, whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And he was actually told a make way and you know,
Speaker 1: the motorcade has to go by. But that's as things
Speaker 1: americans go and I love how they are embracing formula one,
Speaker 1: allow Formula One is getting all Americanized in, in, in
Speaker 1: the limited ways that it can and it's still retaining
Speaker 1: a lot of its legacy and history about it being,
Speaker 1: you know, a european sport and I mean talking on
Speaker 1: the grid. Talking of Miami, the start grid in Miami,
Speaker 1: you know,
Speaker 1: I was almost certain that the race would not start
Speaker 1: on time because there's a 10 minute warning signal by
Speaker 1: which everybody has to leave the circuit and the number
Speaker 1: of people I saw on the start grid in Miami
Speaker 1: through all the camera angles that I had access to,
Speaker 1: I was just like, goodness me, I have never seen
Speaker 1: so many people during Covid because hey, it's officially still
Speaker 1: on right on the start grid and
Speaker 1: there was, I didn't know how they would evacuate them
Speaker 1: or rather, you know, let them out, but hey, Formula
Speaker 1: One being Formula One, they did manage to do that
Speaker 1: on time, which is a tough task because a lot
Speaker 1: of them were celebrities with big egos as we of
Speaker 1: course saw and martin Brundle interviews on the grid, which
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen, I think they are the best
Speaker 1: pieces of content ever produced by any broadcaster before the race,
Speaker 1: so you should check them out. But before we go
Speaker 1: on to other categories as well. I also want to
Speaker 1: tell you guys if another fun on track
Speaker 1: off track story, I'm sorry that's going to happen in
Speaker 1: the second part of the season. On the inside line
Speaker 1: F One podcast, we're going to have the legendary steve
Speaker 1: slater coming in. He was of course the voice of
Speaker 1: Formula One and actually still is the voice of Formula
Speaker 1: One in a way in all of Asia with his
Speaker 1: lovely work for Star Sports and Fox Sports as well
Speaker 1: over the years and he is going to be watching
Speaker 1: I think four or five races, I'm not sure of
Speaker 1: the exact number, but we're going to have quite a
Speaker 1: few of them over the course of the second part
Speaker 1: of the season
Speaker 1: and to find out how you can join us for
Speaker 1: the watch along and listen to steve's opinions and maybe
Speaker 1: some commentary on the race as well. Don't forget to
Speaker 1: check the link in the description and you can sign in,
Speaker 1: you can register and you can join us for that.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a really fun event and
Speaker 1: that is definitely going to spice up the off track
Speaker 1: element of the season for me at least. And I
Speaker 1: hope that you also join us on that party.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know what's, to me the most exciting
Speaker 1: part is, you know, you watch Formula One with Friends,
Speaker 1: but here you get to watch it with an expert
Speaker 1: decode the race with how steve sees it. You know,
Speaker 1: all the data points he picks up, ask questions about
Speaker 1: strategy about, you know, will double battles debated discussed
Speaker 1: it and I think it's it's gonna be pretty, pretty exciting.
Speaker 1: It's something that at least I have never experienced before.
Speaker 1: So I'm really looking forward to it because I know
Speaker 1: I'm going to have some Will and some that I'm
Speaker 1: joined the livestream as well. It's going to be on
Speaker 1: the insider platform. It's open to everybody on the internet
Speaker 1: and I'm so kicked to see how it all unfolds.
Speaker 1: And just for that, you know, event that we're going
Speaker 1: to have life, I really hope max doesn't seal his
Speaker 1: title in the next five races. I mean, it will
Speaker 1: change the narratives, we will sort of look on at other,
Speaker 1: you know, stories to, to speak about, but to keep
Speaker 1: the title battle on and to, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: experience that with steve along with us will be a
Speaker 1: lot of fun, I guess.
Speaker 2: Let's, let's delay the championship battle a little bit, a
Speaker 2: little bit more fun. We have quite a few more
Speaker 2: races to go in the season, so yeah, just ended quickly.
Speaker 1: Exactly. It just feels like 2011 all over again. But hey,
Speaker 1: talking of 2011, there were big, big gaps in 2011,
Speaker 1: that was a really crazy year and there are quite
Speaker 1: a few gaps that actually are surprising me as well
Speaker 1: so far this year. I'm going to start off with
Speaker 1: Carlos Sainz has a win and one more podium than
Speaker 1: George Russell, but he's two points behind him in the
Speaker 1: championship standings.
Speaker 1: So any sort of gaps like this, That are really
Speaker 1: surprising you understanding so far guys, what about you syndrome
Speaker 1: for
Speaker 2: me, the gap in the drivers and the constructors standings,
Speaker 2: surprises me a lot because I really should have been
Speaker 2: Ferrari leading both championships
Speaker 1: and by
Speaker 2: Quite a margin, I would say, look, look should have
Speaker 2: been leading with 30 points at least in the bank.
Speaker 2: And even even Ferrari should have been leaving the constructors
Speaker 2: leading the constructors with over 50 points over at boland, sadly,
Speaker 2: that's not the case and they've just been losing way
Speaker 2: too many points this year. And I I don't think
Speaker 2: that the upper management of Ferrari is going to be
Speaker 2: happy
Speaker 2: if they finished third in the standings despite having the
Speaker 2: fastest car and Mattia Bonato still goes about saying that
Speaker 2: everything seems fine, there's nothing wrong and you don't need
Speaker 2: to make any changes. But I think that's the biggest
Speaker 2: surprise for me that they're not leading both championships,
Speaker 1: there's this funny meme that goes around the Internet, there's
Speaker 1: a pop standing in the fire and saying, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is fine, that's just, isn't it? I, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm in that space where I'm like, maybe they don't
Speaker 1: need changes in terms of people, but maybe they need
Speaker 1: changes in terms of processes and the way decisions are made.
Speaker 1: I think that's where it stands. And if Mercedes end
Speaker 1: up catching Ferrari, I think that's going to be the
Speaker 1: key story in the second half of the season and
Speaker 1: um, you know, since we're talking to the constructors championship,
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got Red Bull running away. Mercedes catching
Speaker 1: Mercedes catching Ferrari for second or at least making a
Speaker 1: battle out of it.
Speaker 1: Alpine is one third of the points of Mercedes in
Speaker 1: fourth place and that's that's an incredible gap. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we've had this had these jokes about Formula One,
Speaker 1: Formula 1.5 this year, Formula 1.5 is, you know, Ferrari
Speaker 1: McLaren versus Alpine and there's actually Formula two as well
Speaker 1: because Alfa romeos fifth is half the points of McLaren
Speaker 1: McLaren are 95 or something and Alfa romeos at 51 right,
Speaker 1: so massive gaps in the, in the constructor's championship, even
Speaker 1: though the racing on track has been, I would say
Speaker 1: much closer than what we've ever seen. I mean, those situations, sorry,
Speaker 1: in Austria five cars going into one corner, we saw Silverstone,
Speaker 1: three cars battling at one corner and several, sorry, several
Speaker 1: other such situations that, that we've had this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's, I think the first season of the new
Speaker 1: regulation syndrome, I think that always happens, but I'm so
Speaker 1: excited to see how things pan out over the course
Speaker 1: of the next couple of years and how those gaps
Speaker 1: actually shutting down. But apart from that, I want to
Speaker 1: talk about some really surprising results. Now, would it be
Speaker 1: too harsh guys, if I say that Leclerc winning three
Speaker 1: races this year has been a surprising result because we
Speaker 1: tend to look at it in an opposite way. We
Speaker 1: tend to say, oh Ferrari has lost too many races,
Speaker 1: even though they've had a great car,
Speaker 1: is Ferrari doing create the new normal or is Ferrari
Speaker 1: messing things up the new normal because if they're messing
Speaker 1: up is the new normal person or the new ideal
Speaker 1: standard that we get to expect, I think him winning
Speaker 1: three races this year is a surprising part because they
Speaker 1: found new ways to kind of dropped the ball every
Speaker 1: single time. So, would that be a surprising result in
Speaker 1: a way for you?
Speaker 1: Well, if you consider Ferrari's history over all the years
Speaker 1: that they have been Ferrari, it's not a bit of
Speaker 1: a surprise and I'm sorry, I'm making a joke out
Speaker 1: of it, right, What they're trying to break out of
Speaker 1: is also this historic, more historic image that oh my God,
Speaker 1: Ferrari can bottle it up and will bottle it up
Speaker 1: if they have to and for those who think, I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm talking about, please go and read
Speaker 1: uh, Enzo Ferrari, a book written by the great american
Speaker 1: author brookie, it's highly recommended as a read and you know, Charles.
Speaker 1: Leclaire has had one podium in the last eight races
Speaker 1: and Hamilton's has now more podiums than LeClair and LeClair
Speaker 1: who's not the de facto number one Ferrari is not
Speaker 1: backing him as the number one driver yet, there's the,
Speaker 1: you know, the gap between signs and LeClair
Speaker 1: is a small one now I would say, and ironically
Speaker 1: you mentioned Carlos Carlos Sainz as well and you know,
Speaker 1: George russell is ahead of signs in the, in the
Speaker 1: drivers championship, so lots of funny things that are sort
Speaker 1: of happening happening out there
Speaker 1: and to me, Carlos Sainz pole position and win in
Speaker 1: Silverstone is definitely the surprise of the season. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like you go back in history books and you
Speaker 1: read signs on poles signs and who took the win
Speaker 1: and you'll be like, yeah, I'm not even bothering to
Speaker 1: rewatch this race, right? But that's the one race you
Speaker 1: should rewatch for exactly everything that happened between the start
Speaker 1: and the finish because it was something that nobody could
Speaker 1: have scripted. So I've actually chosen
Speaker 1: sciences win in Silverstone as my surprise result, but I
Speaker 1: also added a qualifying one and I know this is
Speaker 1: what will make stats good one was Fernando Alonso P
Speaker 1: two in a wet qualifying in Canada and
Speaker 1: you know, Otmar turning around after that and saying our
Speaker 1: computers don't know how Fernando did that, that's Fernando Alonso's,
Speaker 1: they don't write and then I still have this visual,
Speaker 1: you know, which, which I think
Speaker 1: I'm going to show my daughter whenever she starts racing right,
Speaker 1: Fernando Alonso exiting the last chicane, the wall of Champions
Speaker 1: on the right vet track and he's got this full
Speaker 1: wheel drift, right, I'm sure he's horned that
Speaker 1: during his rallying days and Dakar and whatever else, but
Speaker 1: he had this full wheel drift which stops just when
Speaker 1: he wants it to just close to the track limits,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's a wet track, right if
Speaker 1: he puts a wheel on the curb is going to
Speaker 1: be in the wall of the champions and then he
Speaker 1: just takes P two to me. That was epic. I
Speaker 1: mean helmet marco who very rarely praises anyone but max
Speaker 1: Verstappen turned around and has said
Speaker 1: that Fernando Alonso has been a surprise of this season.
Speaker 1: So surprise. Has he not been watching Formula One for
Speaker 1: all these years? He's just the best driver driver, isn't he?
Speaker 1: He's just ridiculous. I don't remember him making a mistake
Speaker 1: but
Speaker 1: has there been any other bigger surprise for you know,
Speaker 2: I think number one definitely goes to Alonzo's P two
Speaker 2: performance B two in qualifying in Canada sciences when in
Speaker 2: Britain comes a very close second, but there's one other
Speaker 2: one that I would like to mention which is kevin
Speaker 2: Magnuson making a comeback to Formula one away from the
Speaker 2: sport for a year, having very little practice time testing
Speaker 2: time
Speaker 2: and taking P five in the season opening race and
Speaker 2: going wheel to wheel with Lewis Hamilton's and Sergio Perez
Speaker 2: in the first few laps of the race, he was
Speaker 2: just on it straight away. I think that that's a
Speaker 2: very commendable effort from from Magnuson, especially the first few races,
Speaker 2: he was he was really doing exceptionally well. So I
Speaker 2: would say I was very surprised to see Magnuson still
Speaker 2: having what it takes to drive in Formula One despite
Speaker 2: being a year away,
Speaker 1: he was incredible
Speaker 1: and it just kind of brings me onto his teammate
Speaker 1: as well because it set a big benchmark for him
Speaker 1: and I think mixed performance so far this year has
Speaker 1: to be, I wouldn't call it the best performance of
Speaker 1: the season so far. There's definitely, of course, max who
Speaker 1: has been flawless, right, barring that one little spin,
Speaker 1: but I would say it has to rank up there
Speaker 1: in terms of the better performances that we've had this year,
Speaker 1: that Mick has reminded us that he's good enough and
Speaker 1: I think that's that's amazing because there was no representative
Speaker 1: benchmark in the first year. We never knew five races
Speaker 1: in after monarch, we were like, oh, come on man,
Speaker 1: could this be the end of the dream? But he's,
Speaker 1: he's kind of fought it back really well and I
Speaker 1: think that has to be commended Canal, isn't it? That
Speaker 1: has to be one of my better performances of the year.
Speaker 1: What's yours steiner? I know you're listening,
Speaker 1: you know what to do. You're making all the right
Speaker 1: noises for 23 but don't make the wrong decision for
Speaker 1: 23 by dropping. Make all seriousness. Yes, I think this
Speaker 1: is a very good example. You know, if you start
Speaker 1: in Formula One with a teammate who is not a
Speaker 1: competitive benchmark, this is probably what could happen, which is
Speaker 1: what happened in the case of Mick schumacher, I would
Speaker 1: say right
Speaker 1: Nikita Mazza been, I know we shouldn't give him more airtime,
Speaker 1: but hey, that's something that happened off track as well,
Speaker 1: which you know. Yes,
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Actually I've got a doubt about that. I know we're
Speaker 1: slightly deviating, but what if of course going into the
Speaker 1: world of geopolitics, which we shouldn't do for too much,
Speaker 1: but it seems like the air is a bit
Speaker 1: write it on the Taiwan strait with china apparently invading
Speaker 1: or just crossing into their own land depending on what
Speaker 1: side of the fence you're on. If that happens, will
Speaker 1: the F. I. A kind of ban chinese drivers as well.
Speaker 1: And what happens with joe? Of course he can compete
Speaker 1: under what license? Exactly, But
Speaker 1: they will have to make a political decision. And so
Speaker 1: that means that the F I will have to choose
Speaker 1: a side because you're either on china's side in this
Speaker 1: case or you're not. So have they put themselves in
Speaker 1: muddy waters by kind of banning Russian athletes.
Speaker 1: I would say let's let's cross the bridge when, when
Speaker 1: we get there because it's a team decision and and
Speaker 1: then it's it's something that I think has stayed with
Speaker 1: uh they just wanted a reason to get them out.
Speaker 1: I would say then Vladimir Putin did everybody a favor, sorry,
Speaker 1: we shouldn't,
Speaker 1: we shouldn't digress into like you said, geopolitics, but yeah,
Speaker 1: Mazza pin was part of the season in pre season testing,
Speaker 1: probably the most expensive preseason tests he's ever done, given
Speaker 1: that he's not getting his money back or whatever. But
Speaker 1: Mick schumacher, you know, it's, it's, it's heartening to see
Speaker 1: him come come and perform. Everybody's been saying he's a
Speaker 1: slow starter or whatever, but a great
Speaker 1: benchmark and kevin Mark Newsome, it still doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: he's on top of that, but he's getting there, I
Speaker 1: would say so. I would love to see the schumacher
Speaker 1: name flourish in Formula One. I know I'm not the
Speaker 1: only one saying that, but I don't know when next
Speaker 1: or if he ever will drive for Ferrari because that's
Speaker 1: the eventual dream, right. That Mick does well enough to
Speaker 1: afford a Ferrari seat or to be,
Speaker 1: you know, granted a Ferrari seat then winning a race
Speaker 1: and then having the german and the italian anthem played
Speaker 1: on the podium together. The anthems that we all grew
Speaker 1: up to. At least I did right. And then
Speaker 2: could,
Speaker 1: could the schumacher be the next driver to win a
Speaker 1: title at Ferrari. I mean, we've asked that for every
Speaker 1: other driver that's come after, right. Cannon.
Speaker 1: But well anyway, we can always dream about that, right.
Speaker 2: I would really love to see the schumacher trademark schumacher
Speaker 2: leap on the podium once. It's been a very long
Speaker 2: time close to 15, 15 years. I would love to
Speaker 2: see that again. But quite honestly, I think Mick schumacher,
Speaker 2: he's done enough probably to exhibit that he deserves to
Speaker 2: be in Formula One, but he still has to do
Speaker 2: a little bit more if he if he wants to
Speaker 2: get that Ferrari seat
Speaker 2: a few more performances. He really has to outperform the
Speaker 2: car as well as his teammate. So, yeah, he still
Speaker 2: has a long way to go before he gets that
Speaker 2: Ferrari seat.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you another driver who has a long way
Speaker 1: to go Lance stroll, He's finished 10 4 times this season, right?
Speaker 1: And without checking, he's probably had the most Cuban exits
Speaker 1: after Latifi. If I'm not,
Speaker 1: it's easy to probably just feel right about. I mean,
Speaker 1: the stats feels right. I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if your excel sheet matches up to that, right, and
Speaker 1: and then we have to talk about, I would say
Speaker 1: the biggest surprise on a more serious note would be
Speaker 1: McLaren's pit stops again, something that, you know, if stats
Speaker 1: could have pulled out, they have jumped seven positions in
Speaker 1: the fastest average pit stop times compared to last year,
Speaker 1: which means that they were really bad last year, but
Speaker 1: they've at least got some great pit stops going this year,
Speaker 1: and how they've turned things around.
Speaker 2: One thing to mention would be is that so generally
Speaker 2: pit stops have become slower this year because the tires
Speaker 2: are heavier by I think 11 kg. So, all the teams,
Speaker 2: except McLaren have been doing slow pit stops than last year,
Speaker 2: so McLaren has been doing pit stops faster than they
Speaker 2: did in 2020 2021 that's
Speaker 1: crazy.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of stats that you always end up
Speaker 1: pulling out and I'm still fascinated how you do it
Speaker 1: and you mentioned tires are heavier, but the tires also are,
Speaker 1: to me not as applauded as they should be. We had,
Speaker 1: we've had very hard races and
Speaker 1: uh, to keep saying there's a heat wave in europe,
Speaker 1: I don't think I've experienced much heat in Oslo while
Speaker 1: I was there a few weeks ago, but the tires
Speaker 1: need to be applauded just the way we applaud the
Speaker 1: cars for all the following that they can do and
Speaker 1: so on because the tires have not been overheating. I mean,
Speaker 1: yes, we've seen management, but it's not been to an
Speaker 1: extreme where people are just sitting two seconds behind somebody
Speaker 1: else waiting for them to make a mistake. They've allowed
Speaker 1: drivers to go on the attack at will middle of
Speaker 1: the races. I mean, I, I used to find a
Speaker 1: lot of fans would say, I, I watched watched the
Speaker 1: 1st 10 in the last 10 races, sorry, 1st 10
Speaker 1: laps of the race and then
Speaker 1: the last 10 laps of the race and now I
Speaker 1: know people who actually sit and watch even the middle
Speaker 1: because hey LeClair could spin max could make an overtake
Speaker 2: could
Speaker 1: crash. That's always a possibility.
Speaker 1: No, but I, I love the new rules. I mean,
Speaker 1: even you know something that, that has made a big impact,
Speaker 1: at least on me as a fan,
Speaker 1: the show and tell rules that we had, where the
Speaker 1: teams have to declare, what is it that they brought
Speaker 1: to their cars and that's made such a, such a,
Speaker 1: such a positive impact because you know, you see Hungary
Speaker 1: pretty much every team brought upgrades for two things. First
Speaker 1: was cooling brakes and engines and whatever and the second
Speaker 1: was down force because hey, it's Monaco without the walls
Speaker 1: and
Speaker 1: previously we used to all assume that this is what
Speaker 1: they're doing and then wait on experts to say. But
Speaker 1: now to get an official document from the file laying
Speaker 1: it out there saying this is what they're doing, gives
Speaker 1: such a good perspective that if you open the document
Speaker 1: for sale
Speaker 1: a race like Canada and then compare it to a
Speaker 1: race like Hungary, you actually get to see the two
Speaker 1: differences or say boku versus Hungary and the like so
Speaker 1: lots of positive surprising changes that you know, I would
Speaker 1: say have to me the best things about 2022
Speaker 1: yeah, that one of the better performances and with that
Speaker 1: as well, I want to really talk about something more fun.
Speaker 1: We also forgot that McLaren got a podium in what
Speaker 1: was it? One of the reasons. So that's also
Speaker 2: Sharla Clark's been crash
Speaker 1: crash but that's kind of incredible. We somewhat forgot about that.
Speaker 1: That's also one moment
Speaker 1: that was really fun, which was one of the, wait,
Speaker 1: what kind of moments of the season when you look
Speaker 1: at it in the stats will be like McLaren and
Speaker 1: 2022 got a podium courtesy of Lando Norris. How on
Speaker 1: earth did that happen? But there are other such moments
Speaker 1: in the year as well. Hear me out. I suppose
Speaker 1: Carlos Sainz this entire season has been a wait, what
Speaker 1: kind of season? Because not only has he had a
Speaker 1: mid midseason fight with him, mid mid race fight
Speaker 1: with this race engineers correcting them about the penalty that
Speaker 1: he's got. He's also got his race control race engineers,
Speaker 1: of course, telling him to stop in the midst of
Speaker 1: a battle. He's also crashed in qualifying simultaneously with Sergio Perez,
Speaker 1: he's also had his car set on fire and rolling
Speaker 1: down a slope and he's also ended up taking pole
Speaker 1: position and winning the race. This is all just wait.
Speaker 1: What kind of moments I I would have never imagined
Speaker 1: anyone of those happening until the start of this year.
Speaker 1: I'll add to that Carlos, we need you to keep
Speaker 1: a 10 to declare. I mean, it's 2022 cars are
Speaker 1: being built for following for overtaking. If it was the
Speaker 1: previous era of cars, I would have said probably, yes,
Speaker 1: you could have tried that strategy, right,
Speaker 1: But Carlos is racing the Ferrari, he's engineering his own race.
Speaker 1: He's also playing Sporting Director by correcting, you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's next? Is he designing the overalls?
Speaker 1: Is he designing how to do quicker pit stops or
Speaker 1: or what I mean, maybe he's going to get Carlos
Speaker 1: Sainz senior to sit on his pit wall, you know,
Speaker 1: and just helping, I mean, yes, we're making a joke
Speaker 1: of it and we're making a joke out of Ferrari,
Speaker 1: but it's so tough to,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of push these things away when you're
Speaker 1: doing a midseason review like this, I would say. And
Speaker 1: I was actually sitting and when I was making my notes,
Speaker 1: I said to wait, what should also be for Red
Speaker 1: Bull because, and I keep saying this right, Red bull
Speaker 1: is an energy drinks company. Should I say more? Should
Speaker 1: I explain more? Okay, anyway, they are beating two of
Speaker 1: the world's most iconic
Speaker 1: Automobile brands and operations in all parts of Formula one.
Speaker 1: I mean, red will also have the quickest of pit stops.
Speaker 1: Do yes, yeah. The
Speaker 2: only team to do it less than three seconds on
Speaker 2: average this year,
Speaker 1: That's fantastic. There you go. And they have the fastest
Speaker 1: pit stops in history as well, don't they?
Speaker 2: That 1.8, 2 seconds.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So now I'll tell you why this stat actually
Speaker 1: why this, this is a weight ward thing for me
Speaker 1: right now, let's turn the equation around.
Speaker 1: Imagine if Ferrari and Mercedes were to launch an energy
Speaker 1: drink and then actually be better at selling it than
Speaker 1: Red bull. That's such a good point. So if you
Speaker 1: just turn the proposition around, that's when you realize that
Speaker 1: Red Bull, oh my God,
Speaker 1: like they are epic. So to me they are, you
Speaker 1: know the epitome of success. You know, the minute Hanna
Speaker 1: Schmitz and her team make max bit, everybody must be
Speaker 1: wondering if you're not fit now, definitely, you missed the
Speaker 1: sweet spot. And
Speaker 1: one more thing to add, they were engaged in the
Speaker 1: thick of a battle title battle last year with Mercedes.
Speaker 1: Look at what happened to Mercedes, right? Mercedes and I
Speaker 1: think okay, Mercedes, there's zero part concept should receive more attention.
Speaker 1: They are now the only team that is continuing with
Speaker 1: that sort of a side part concept, which means that
Speaker 1: it's either really going to just keep them second or
Speaker 1: third or if it works, they're gonna fly ahead
Speaker 1: even even further than Red Bull racing. But let's see,
Speaker 1: let's see how, how that goes. And since we talk
Speaker 1: of Mercedes, the weight watchers also about purposing, I mean
Speaker 1: Lewis Hamilton's getting out of the car in baku with
Speaker 1: his back and then this whole talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: the drivers being aggressive against purposing and stuff like that
Speaker 1: and to me that was also like how did driver,
Speaker 1: how did the team's not see that it would happen?
Speaker 2: That was actually very painful to watch.
Speaker 1: And then a lot of people said he was just
Speaker 1: making it up because he wanted the FBI to make
Speaker 1: changes and and I remember when purposing came in pre
Speaker 1: season testing and we were all saying slow, most drivers
Speaker 1: and cars bouncing up and down. There was, there was
Speaker 1: a large part of the Formula One fan base that
Speaker 1: was saying, is it purposing, is it surprising? I mean,
Speaker 1: it was so new that we were, we were we
Speaker 1: were still finding how to pronounce it, right,
Speaker 1: That's crazy. I remember those headbangers videos, but I think
Speaker 1: we've managed to somewhat have an achievement in place 40,
Speaker 1: minutes into an episode and we haven't quite spoken about proposing.
Speaker 1: So that is amazing. But
Speaker 1: any other moments that come into your mind for a wait,
Speaker 1: what moment of the season so far? There is
Speaker 2: no, for me, it definitely has to be Ferrari, I
Speaker 2: can't think beyond because when they were, when they were
Speaker 2: on the pace during pre season testing, I went, wait,
Speaker 2: what Ferrari are back finally back in the Championship and
Speaker 2: that too,
Speaker 2: in an area of new regulations, they've actually aced the regulations.
Speaker 2: Oh God, and the first 2 to 3 races, they
Speaker 2: were taking wins and everything and I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: Ferrari is actually back and then what transpired after spain?
Speaker 2: Every race is literally a wait, what moment? Because every race,
Speaker 2: there's a different way where they've been dropping the ball
Speaker 2: and but I think the one thing that takes the
Speaker 2: cake for me is
Speaker 2: Carlos Sainz battling SErgio Perez in France and at the
Speaker 2: right time friday calling him in into the pits, like
Speaker 2: it's come into the pits and Carlos Sainz is like, no,
Speaker 2: not now, I'm battling with Perez, but I think I
Speaker 2: just hope that the radio communication was broadcasted a bit late.
Speaker 2: I hope
Speaker 1: that's always the case.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, but, but that is what really took the
Speaker 2: cake for me.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that works actually make a bold prediction,
Speaker 1: Ferrari will find, I think three or four more ways
Speaker 1: to end up screaming up theories. I really don't want
Speaker 1: that to happen because of course we need to fight
Speaker 1: and whatnot, but it's kind of becoming an episodic series. Hey,
Speaker 1: come and see how Ferrari can get things wrong. We
Speaker 1: were doubling down on that a bit too much. I
Speaker 1: think
Speaker 1: some might say, okay, we're being too unfair to Ferrari,
Speaker 1: but just look at the points cap with the car
Speaker 1: as good as that, You can't have such a big
Speaker 1: points cap. So that's, that's 11 of my bold predictions
Speaker 1: along with the fact that I think Russell will end
Speaker 1: up finishing ahead of science this year. I really do.
Speaker 1: I don't think,
Speaker 1: I don't think he might end up sorting their act
Speaker 1: out as much. So that's the bold predictions on my signal.
Speaker 1: I will actually take a cue from that. I think
Speaker 1: Russell will finish ahead of Sainz but Lewis will finish
Speaker 1: ahead of both these drivers, that's my bold prediction and
Speaker 1: Max Verstappen will win it on Q5 races from now
Speaker 1: if your prediction about Ferrari bottling up even more could
Speaker 1: come true. Could that happen earlier than five races? I mean,
Speaker 1: the summer break is over and soon we're going to
Speaker 1: have a triple header.
Speaker 1: So before we know it could it just all be over,
Speaker 2: Stefan would have to win all those five races if
Speaker 2: he has to win the championship, but
Speaker 1: Lewis, sorry, Charles has to make sure he doesn't lose
Speaker 1: more than exactly eight points or whatever and whatever, it's
Speaker 1: just scary. But it's it's an interesting way to
Speaker 1: see how the title battle will go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my, my bold prediction, I'm going really bold on this.
Speaker 2: I am saying there's there's going to be a new
Speaker 2: technical director that that comes out in Belgium and maybe
Speaker 2: that could bring Mercedes back into the mix as well.
Speaker 2: But if that does happen, I am saying I'm really
Speaker 2: going out there and saying that Russell is going to
Speaker 2: get his first win
Speaker 2: before Hamilton's gets a win this year or even next year. So,
Speaker 2: I'm saying Russell gets away from a series first before
Speaker 2: Hamilton's does it? That's my bold prediction for this year,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna just ask you one trick question, does
Speaker 1: that mean we end up seeing a first ever Hamilton's
Speaker 1: winless season, or do you think that's gonna happen. I
Speaker 2: don't think that's that's going to I think he's going
Speaker 2: to bring something very exciting in in in Brazil at
Speaker 2: least Hamilton's so maybe we'll see a repeat of what
Speaker 2: happened last year. I think Hamilton's will win this year,
Speaker 2: but Russell is going to do it before him.
Speaker 1: Let's hope, I think sorry. Let's hope. But I think
Speaker 1: Hamilton's going to win it in abu Dhabi, he's gotta find,
Speaker 1: can you imagine the redemption redemption that he didn't want,
Speaker 1: you know, with human error, Champion and F on fixed
Speaker 1: and Massey out and whatever else. A few thousands of
Speaker 1: people are, you know, trending on social media, but I
Speaker 1: believe Hambleton will win and he, like I said, we'll
Speaker 1: finish ahead of Russell and signs in
Speaker 1: the driver's championship. Bit cheesy, but will he still rise?
Speaker 1: Still he rises. I kind of have butchered that. But folks,
Speaker 1: I hope you join us to watch how these stories
Speaker 1: on follow the course of the season because as as
Speaker 1: you all know, we do have a live watch alongs
Speaker 1: with the legendary steve's later on
Speaker 1: Insider and to join us on that you can of course,
Speaker 1: check out the link in the description. We begin at
Speaker 1: the Belgian grand prix. So don't forget to join us
Speaker 1: in for that. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: It's going to be myself and of course, once that
Speaker 1: screw Sundaram also along with steve over there and that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen live with the races. So check that out
Speaker 1: And don't just don't just leave the podcast for now
Speaker 1: because there are so many other episodes that are coming
Speaker 1: as well. So it might be the summer break for
Speaker 1: the folks in F1. Not so much for here because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of fun stuff coming along. So, folks, firstly,
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode. And if
Speaker 1: you
Speaker 1: don't forget to follow and subscribe the podcast and share
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Speaker 1: I think turn on the bell notification. If some of
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Speaker 1: episodes are going to come out right there. But once again,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening, folks. Have a good time. Bye bye.