August 28, 2025 • 40 mins
Cadillac confirms Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will form its inaugural driver line-up in 2026, but is this the best combination the nascent team could have signed? And with just 10 rounds to go and only nine points in it, what's the title outlook for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
On today's episode, Cadillac confirms Valtrie Botas and Sergio Perez
will form it's inaugural driver lineup in twenty twenty six,
and we look ahead to this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix
and the final ten rounds of the championship battle between
Osco Piastri and Lando Norris. My name is Michael Lomonato.
(00:21):
It's great to have your company and the company of
my co host KitKat. Cadillac give Pez a home. It's
Matt Playton.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
That is one of your better intros, I must say,
and yeah, always talk about Kitkats. I didn't go out
and buy one today, actually not in tribute of Sergio
Perro's being back, but they were just cheap, so I
decided on cheap out and buy some good chocolate.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
But there you go. He's back.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And I guess if you'd said at the start of
this season the likelihood of Sergio Perez being in Formula
one in twenty twenty six and Christian Horder not being
in Formula one in twenty twenty six, you would have
got some pretty good odds. You probably would have got
no odds because no one would have seen that one.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, remarkable twist of face, isn't it. Yeah, scholar should
be out, but Sergia Peis is back in. You can
chart it to in fact, that those lines to intersect.
Though the more struggles that second red bull seed has had,
the harder it was for horned toling On, But the
better of the odds were of Sergio Peis convincing he
was worth a crack to come back.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Indeed, it was like two fingers of a kinkat just
break it up. Sergia can stay the other way, he
can give to somebody else. That's how this works.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's the perfect chocolate, really, isn't it. If you want
to sponsor us, kidcat, we are very available to chocolate sponsorship,
even if it's in kind. I'm perfectly happy with that.
That was the news of the mid season break. Thankfully,
formed On enjoyed an actual mid season break before this
frenetic final ten races of the season came in the
week leading up to the Dutch Grand Prix just a
day or so ago, depending on when you're listening to this,
(01:45):
It is that Vultry Potas and Sergio peir Is the
true most heavily rumored drivers to be connected to Cadillac
are connected to Cadillac on contracts that'll see them race
for the new team next season. I think it makes
this team, immediately, despite being brand new, the most experienced
lineup on the grid and the oldest, which is also
(02:06):
pretty remarkable, but probably tell us a little bit about
how long Potacid pairs have been around. It's five hundred
and twenty seven Grand Prix starts between them, sixteen Grand
Prix victories, twenty three poles, one hundred and six podium trophies.
I mean that sounds pretty good for a team that
barely exists, has no car, and is understaffed.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I'd like to congratulate and Creunrichlake Cadillac for organizing a
fantastic driver line up for twenty nineteen. I think it's
a really, really solid pairing for the twenty nineteen season.
All we've moved on from there, but I must admit,
look A, this shows you the power of you in
this podcast, because you were able to almost get through
the entire mid season break before you had to come
back and do an emergency pod. So I'm glad you
(02:45):
had the line into Cadillac for this week. But I
don't know about you, but when I saw the lineup,
it was of no great surprise, and I was a
little bit uninspired. And then I thought about it and thought,
but what else were they going to do? Because you
look at where Cadillac's starting from next year. It's hard
enough to bring a new team into Formula One as
(03:06):
it is, and then it's equal it's doubly hard, but
you've got a new rule set where you're not even
playing with an existing set of regulations that you can
try and bring this new team in with. So this
is going to be a season for them of variables
under every stone. And one way you remove one of
those variables is you take the driver variable out of
the equation. You've got two wise experience heads. You read
(03:29):
the CV, it's all very impressive. If things aren't going
great for Cadillac next year, and newsflash, they probably won't
for a long part of the season. It's not going
to be one of those things where you're going to wonder, well,
what if we had some more experienced drivers in there? So, yeah,
a little bit uninspiring, but part of me was like, well,
of course they're going to take one of the variables
(03:50):
off the table, and there wasn't really anyone else that
you could think was making a hugely compelling case to
be considered, at least in this short term. I'm a
little bit surprised, not so much to see Botasspack on
the grid because it felt like he wasn't quite done.
It felt like Sergio Perez was absolutely capital d done
at the end of last year, with the way that
(04:12):
that spiraled so badly, So you do wonder how much
of it is experience, how much of it is for
marketing reasons. It gives this team instant credibility before they've
turned a wheel, the fact that they've got the signatures
of these two guys with the CVS that you mentioned.
But I don't know how you felt about the driver lineup.
Part of me was like, well, if it wasn't these two,
then who was going to be?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, And I think, in fact, if you were to
scroll back to our interview with Mario Andretti, who's a
non executive director on the board or one of those
American style titles, yes, who sort of said it as
much as like, well, there aren't very many drivers available.
When we tried to question about who his team was
going to hire, and he's right, there were a lot
of relatively inexperienced drivers, you know, drivers like Joe BrandNew
(04:53):
who was connected to the team, Mick Schumacher. After that,
you're then looking at straight up rookie drivers who would
need time to be broken into Formula One by a
team that at the moment, as I said, has no car,
including obviously an older car. They're going to buy or
rent perhaps a Ferrari later on in the year to
get some mileage and essentially do some practice Formula One
team activities, but that's still not really the same thing,
(05:16):
so that would just be giving yourself automatically a start
on the back foot and a massive backfoot. It was
a rookie, so actually quite fortunate I think that they've
turned up in a year when two massively experienced drivers
relatively recent drivers. It's not as if these guys have
been out of the sport for several years in the
way that you know, a couple of older heads rocked
up in the last big new intake of teams prior
(05:36):
to half obviously with the cater and Maurusia and HRT
et cetera teams where some drives have been out of
the sport for a while turned up in seats. They
are relatively recent editions. Like you said, at least in
Valtribotas's cases kept himself in the paddock because he's been
committed to returning to the sport and that experience, I
think for them is actually quite complementary. To talk more
(05:57):
about the fortune of having these two particular drivers. You've
got Potas, who's an excellent qualifier, so you know he's
going to probably get the most in terms of single
lap speed out of this car when he was up
against Lewis Hamilton. Is essentially two to one that Hamilton
beat him in qualifying, which sounds like a lot, but
Hamilton's the most poles of any driver in Formula one history,
so the record for pols is actually pretty good. And
(06:17):
then Sergio peir Is. Okay, there is this question mark
about Red Bull racing. May we talk about this in
a second, but if you look at his career overall,
a pretty effective midfield driver. Maybe Cadillac won't be in
the midfield even by the end of next year, that
it hopes to be there at some point during the
course of his contract. A guy who tends who has
tended any way to get the most out of his sundays.
(06:38):
There is that question mark over his last couple of
years at Red Bull Racing, which the team says it's
satisfied it has answered itself. But on paper, these two
drivers are the guys you would want to test and
thoroughly put the car through its paces, as well as,
as you said, being a sufficient known quantity that you
don't have to worry about. Oh, this young guy, is
he's not cutting it? Is he losing his confidence?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Whatever?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You know what you're getting.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, two veterans with complimentary skill sets, I think is
the key point there. You mentioned that Botas has had
the one lap pace. To my mind, you know, you
take away just how grim the last part of Perez's
Red Bull time was. His whole career has been one
of overachieving. You know, we know how good he has
been on tire management through some of his days at
Souboro and for Cindia, and he was always the guy
(07:21):
who did that little bit more than you expected him
to do. When he was in the midfield team. He
was I wouldn't say an overqualified midfield team driver, but
he was always a guy that you look at the
way he had his seasons. There were so many seasons
where you're like, wow, he's fourth the driver's standings like
you always were taken by surprise because he was so consistent.
And yes, the Red Bull stuff was a disaster by
(07:42):
the end. By the way, we should actually congratulate him
because he was signed by Red Bull last year, immediately
paid out, and then gets paid again by signing another
contract within the remaining twelve months. That's that's even better
than some of Dadiel Ricardo's boots before the end of
his career. That's absolutely Outstaddy worked by his management there.
But what's interesting to me is, yeah, it's a perfectly
(08:03):
solid lineup for year one. I'm more curious and I'll
put this one to you as well, Like this strikes
me as a sort of team. Given the name and
the resource and the way that they should trend upwards,
you almost want to be there in about year three,
year four? Is that sort of young more experienced, young
young veteran an inverted commerce driver. So which of these
(08:24):
two drivers that they've signed you think has the longer
shelf life given the way that this project's going to
move along in the next three to four years, who's
the more valuable asset of the two? And we have
to take into account there it's not just about driving,
it's about presence and marketability and everything else. That's who
has the longest staying power of these two?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Do you think? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I think that's a really interesting question because they've also
both already been through the ringer during their careers, right
veltrii Botas talked really openly about the confidence hit of
being thrashed by Lewis Hamilton Jo pare Is. Obviously it's
very recent that he was belted by Max Withstappen and
in one of the greatest cars ever designed in Formula One.
They've both had that mental toughness developed in them to
(09:05):
go into a battle that I think, like you say,
probably not this year, it's not going to really matter,
but maybe next year, or rather next year, maybe the
year after the year after that, it will become a
question of, Okay, which of these guys are you going
to keep? That's a really good question. I think for
me at the moment, Valtrie Bodas is the guy who stays,
just because I think there are fewer question marks about
(09:28):
his consistency. I think at Mercedes, okay, you always dip
and dive a little bit relative to Lewis Hamilton, but
that was relative to Lewis Hamilton, right, and he was
He was never embarrassingly off the pace. He never had
those Perez spells where you're like, oh god, he's out
of a Q one again. Yep, and he might score
a point or he might not, and that's never happened
during his career. The last three years at Sober, they
look bad and packet his worst ever career in terms
(09:50):
of points last season, but that was obviously about the car,
whereas pairs does just have that little question mark or
big question marked when your perspective from red Bull. So
if we're talking about two years down the line or
three years down the line, three years that might be
really quite difficult. We don't know how they're going to go.
I think that it's botass who might just have the
resilience to stick around in that case, and then you
(10:12):
put him up against because the other question is and
you touched them it. It's not just about driving. There's
the marketing element.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I think.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I don't want to say that Sergio Peters is just
their marketing because he isn't. He's extremely experienced, like we've
talked about, very valuable to this team, but he does
tick the well we couldn't get an American, but he's
from North America.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Bots. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
If the idea is you get an American rookie is
your next guy, hopefully by then they found someone, then
you also don't need that pairs angle to the marketing anymore.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, So whoever comes in as the Cadillac's next driver
in three years time might determine which one of these
two actually stays the longer term. But the thing for
me is I think that with Botas, I don't think
there'll be any questions about ultimate performance. So if you
want to find out how far advanced this car is
and what the ceiling of this car is, I think
you're going to get more of a definitive answer from
(10:58):
him that you're going to get from Pereer.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
The weird part.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
About that is if they go together for two years,
I would almost put my house on the fact that
I think the bothouse will be faster and Perezo score
more points. Yeah, and you know you're going to have
this really strange conundrum with it too, But can I
go a little bit fourteen and a half degrees off
topic here because I reckon that this driver lineup doesn't
just speak to Cadillac. I think there's another team, and
(11:25):
I think there's another team that we need to ask
questions about here, because quite frankly, either of these two
guys could have been driving for Alpine and decided that
a Formula One team that hasn't done a race yet
was a better bet than perhaps stepping into the whirlpool
of chaos that is Alpine. Interesting decision, isn't it when
you look at it in the cold light a day
like that.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, one hundred percent a team. The last thing that
Cadillac had done when they signed was practice being on
the summer break. I think those are the words that
came as well.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Whereas you've got Alphine that's well pretending perhaps to be
a real Formula one team, if you want to put
it harshly, it says a lot about Alphine because both
of them drivers we know were approached. We don't know
how seriously they were approached, considering everything that happens at
Alpine is a little bit chaotic, but we know the
Tota Wolf said, yes, we have talked about releasing veldri
Botas or sending him to Alpine or whatever releasing him
(12:13):
from his contract earlier in the year. So we do
know at least that there were more than just some
inquisitive phone calls about that. This was after it he
started to become clear that Franco Colapinto wasn't the immediate
massive trade up on Jack Do and that he was
sort of sold to be and continues not to be. Yeah,
the fact that that team has been overlooked for a
team that barely exists, I think says a lot. But
(12:36):
you can sort of write it down pretty straightforward me
on paper, isn't it one team's going in white. Well,
Cadillac's obviously going in one direction, which is going from
not existing to existing, which is very positive. And Alpine
is going from a direction where it was the works team. Well,
it's given up on that. It's shuttered one of the
most historic engine divisions in Formula one history, one of
the most successful as well. It's going to take my
stages power. Okay, that might be an immediate little tick
(12:57):
for next year, but I don't know, friendnods can continue
continue to own the team. Well, Flavio Brety is the
de facto team principal, but he was appointed by the
former CEO who resigned unexpectedly this year. Is he going
to continue to run the team? What direction will that take?
What is Alpine anyway? And there's a lot of uncertainty there.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I'm just wondering if neither Valterie Bodas nor Serge Opera
is what did a five race contract to prove themselves?
So that seems to be what happens in that second seat,
even though Franco Colopinto seems to get a reset on
the fifth race every second weekend at the moment.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
But there ego. But isn't that interesting?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
How you know, you wouldn't have even countenanced that as
a discussion two or three years ago, saying these two
guys are choosing this team that hasn't turned a will
over Alpine? What are we actually doing here? But in
Formula one twenty twenty five it makes perfect sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, And there's also, you know, talk briefly about Alpine.
I just want to touch on before we move on,
the few seats that are available now at Cadillacs signed
both of It's up at once, which is a little
bit unexpected. I thought they'd say one till later in
the year in case someone like NK. Sinoda were to
come into the market.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, and also by before you go into your next point,
you had your or marketing presence by doing them both
on the same day, which.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I thought was really strange.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You could have gotten two bites at the news cycle
by doing these three weeks apart, and get a whole
bunch of press for a team that doesn't exist yet
and steal some of the oxygen of your rival. So
there's a rookie team mistake of ever obviously one.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yes, Well, they're still practicing their communications, I guess, so
you know, it's a.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Half fark for them.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
But there was the report that Alpine couldn't wasn't ready
to decide even though they're in this unusual position where
Franco Colopindo is not performing the way they expected. I
think it's become clear to them they kind of need
the Cadillac solution, which is there are a point where
they need some more experience in that team. Pierre Gas
is great, but you could certainly use someone and the
other car is also doing that job, rowing in the
same direction, so that just sort of speaks to the
(14:44):
ongoing uncertain and what's going on at Alpine. There are
only a few seats left now in Formula one. Let's
race through very briefly. Alpine is one of them, and
they're now in the situation Cadillac hoped not to be in,
which is well, who do you go for talks? Maybe
Franco Colopindo will be retained a minimum. It seems like
Colopindo is going to have the rest of the year now,
just because there's not really so many other obvious alternatives
(15:06):
to him to prove that he can get there. Maybe
some signs of improvement just before the mid season break,
but certainly it's been no massive step up on jack
Do and which makes that whole situation feel a little
bit silly. But the big one, of course, is the
red Bull situation. Will Yuki snow to be retained? Who
will replace him? Will it be Isaac Kadja? What does
that mean for Liam Lawson? Will Aarvid Lindblad, who's completing
his Formula two campaign on the other side of the break,
(15:28):
I think the next round is in Monza, not this weekend.
Can he make a case for promotion at expense of
one of these drivers. That now becomes the most interesting
driver market question.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It becomes the most interesting driver market question with absolutely
no answers that I like. And that's and they're all
perfectly fine answers to a point, but that point is
very high or very load, depending on who you like
in there, because they're all imperfect solutions to a long
running problem. And I mean, look, you would have to
(15:58):
say on performance like hat ja to me? And we
discussed this with Alex Jakes and we had him on
just recently. He's been the biggest surprise of the rookies
this year, not because I thought he was going to
be bad, because we know he's fast. He's fast and
a bit of ratic of what we've seen in the past.
He's been genuinely excellent and probably based on well the
CV of the other guys who've had a crack at
(16:19):
that seat, he probably actually deserves.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
To get a chance.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But then what are we actually doing here? And then
we're talking about Arvid Lynn Bladden, Alex Pelow's name comes up,
I mean, where else, I mean you and I must
be getting closer to sort of almost on the waitlist
of this thing, because they seem to have cast the
net very, very far and wide here. But none of
these answers. You can't even squint and go, yeah, okay,
I can see that might be a good thing to
(16:43):
do in twelve to eighteen months. The biggest question still
with that team is that, yes, we know we've got
the maxim staff and commitment for the time being, but
the keywords in that sentence so for the time being,
what if this rule set Red Bull really stumble out
of the gate and get things very wrong? Are Las
twenty fourteen when they stumbled out of the gate and
got things very very wrong. You do wonder whether they
(17:04):
might not just be looking for a second driver, They
might also be looking for a first one, and then
the first driver decision changes who the second driver might be.
So there's so much to play out here. They would
be better served for probably just holding the line and
staying with what they've got for the time being. But then,
is the Sonoda performance sustainable given that I think we've
(17:24):
talked about it before. I think the Stappen's called ninety
seven percent of that teams boids to the first half
of the year, and we've seen what happens when it's
not a race winning car anymore. So Yeah, it's the
most intriguing seat, but I just see a whole bunch
of imperfect solutions to a long running problem. And twas ever,
thus when it comes to red Bull.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, I think I'm inclined to agree with you. I
think if Sonoda can just show obviously the team wants
him to show something what he has shown, and I
think we're starting to get some glimpse of it just
before the break, now that he's closer to car parody
with the stafford. But if you can just show some improvement,
the team will be able to say, all right, look
next to you, a new car, clean slate. Let's just
sit where we are because, like you say, Vistappen could
(18:02):
become a live issue again after that. At least you
haven't played cards that you might need in twelve months time.
But it'll be interesting to see. He will need to
make that point for himself. And there's no reason lind
Blood can't stay in Formula two for another year if
that's the case. And of course not to discount the
Mercedes two seats, but it's pretty clear they're going to
be resigned. George Russell and Andre Kimi Antonelli. It's just a
(18:22):
matter of when. Probably he the Italian Grand Prix, one imagines.
Let's move on, though, Matt to Move of the Week,
brought to you by Shannon's Now. Whilst Formula One was
on a break for three weekends, Motor GP was not.
It was resuming with a double header and at the
weekend it was the Hungarian Grand Prix, but not the
Hungaro Ring at a new and unusual circuit.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yes, Balloton Park, first time MotoGP's been in Hungary since
nineteen ninety two, which is a race won by a
certain guy called Mickdo and I wonder whatever happened to him.
But look, miya, I'm going to go moves plural of
the week because this was a very odd track where
apparently you couldn't overtake and a check by the name
of Juge Martin started sixteenth on the grid on Sunday
(19:07):
and finished fourth and made an absolute mockery of the
fact that you can't overtake. He made up seven places
on the first lap, so that was pretty handy. He
is looking quite ominous for a guy who's done four
Grand Prix this year on a bike that he doesn't
even know. He actually said after the race that he
was still playing around with the positioning of the handlebars
and settings and things as the race was about to begin,
(19:28):
and then propably just blasted everybody on the first lap there.
So we know that the aprilia is coming on really strong.
We know how good he is. We also know that
he's getting back to full fitness and now he's in
love with the team and it's all fantastic.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Everything's unky dory. It wasn't a.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Few weeks ago watch this space, but moves of the
week to finish twelve places higher than you started on
a track where you apparently can't pass the stat for
me his teammate Marco Betzek. He started second on the
grid and Jey Martin finished three seconds behind him after
twenty six laps and started fourteen places below. Yeah, he
might be on the way back, But I'm going Moves
(20:03):
of the week because quite frankly, there were so many
of them. I'm wondering, given the relative dearth of motorspoort
options for this week, where you are going with this,
Because I know you were watching Moto GP, but there
was no four wheel action for you, So what have
you got?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, I was very tempted to find something a little
bit left of center, but I enjoyed obviously. I enjoyed
watching Mojo of V this weekend because there was certainly
nothing else on the motorsport field to watch. And I'm
going to go with Marco Beitzeki though, Yeah, for his
I guess this count as a move of the week,
doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Where he retook the lead.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
The first and second turns early in the race, when
Mark Marquez was inevitably attempting to pass for Leed he
did eventually take. But it's become so inevitable, hasn't it.
We've often seen Mark Markez lose the lead, start of
the race whatever, and you just know it's a matter
of time until he gets there. And then he gets there,
and then you think, all right, well the race is
done now before there's twenty laps to go. But then
when Buttzeki fought this one back, it was so unusual
(20:54):
that it made me physically sit up straight and go,
oh is this going? Are we going to have a
race here? And I think we did for one will
lap and then Marquez was inevitable. But just for that
little bit of injection of hope, that all this race
might actually not go the way I expected. And because
it was a great move, well, judge, you know not
everyone can pull that off. Obviously, it's Mark Maker's way
(21:15):
win so much I'm giving it to bit.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It's two races in a row that Berzeki's lost the
lead immediately fought back and put a pass on Marquees
and made Marquez go deeper into the book of well
where can I pass you? Because he's never he never
tries to make the same overtake twice in the same
part of the race track. He made him have a
reset and think again. He did it at the Red
Bull Ring, did it on the weekend. But yeah, was
saying before that probally is really coming along and forcing
(21:38):
Mark Marquees to actually have to sweat to win races.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
At the moment.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
If you've done that, then you're doing a pretty damn
good job because no one seems to be able to
beat him. So yeah, I do like that suggestion for you.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
He nicely done sweat, but not too much the good
scheme of things. Let's move on now to this weekend's
Formula one Dutch Grand Prix. The resumption of the season.
Ten rounds to go, I said earlier. It annoys me
the mid season break is not exactly the middle of
the year, but I do like coming back and saying
ten rounds to go. It's a very nice round. Number
(22:09):
Four of those rounds will be complete in the next
five weekends, which is alarming, but it does mean we
will be that much closer to finding out who will
win the championship. It's Oscar Piastri, only just ahead of
Lando Norris, nine points after the Hungarian Grand Prix, which
Landon Norris won ahead of Oscar Piastre. Many one two's
now going McLaren's way, which does make you think, actually,
(22:30):
for most of the remaining races, and we might get
into this in a little moment, we're probably looking at
a lot of straight fights between these two drivers, though
I think in my mental calendar anyway, there are a
couple of asterisks there about some other players. But let's
look ahead to this Dutch Grand Prix first, because last
year this was all about Lando Norris. Scott Pole not
for the first time, couldn't hold Pole off the line,
(22:52):
but made very easy work of Maxis stab And, who
had never been defeated at his Home Grand Prix Stampy's
authority on this race back when he thought maybe he
could win the Driver's champions if he did not. But
Oscar Piastric can barably have had a more difficult weekend,
and I wonder whether or not we can read anything
into that as a form guide twelve months on.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
I know, when you said we were going to talk
about the Dutch Grand Prix, I'd actually done a real
deep dive and in depth analysis on the lyrics to
the super Mac song.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
For you, but clearly we're not going to go down
that part. So I've done all that research.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Or nothing, but you like, well, it'll be shut. But
it's interesting in that you know, you mentioned this is
going to be an ongoing storyline for the remainder of
the season, talking about, well, how has Oscar Piastre done
at these particular races previously, And I'm almost saying that
what he's done at these particular races previously is irrelevant
because he's not the same Oscar Piastre in twenty twenty five.
(23:43):
He's come along a very very long way in a
very very short time. Again referencing something that Alex Jakes
was saying on our last podcast, we know that the
name is the same and the still unruffled and all
of the character traits, but we've not seen a hell
of a lot of legacy play the year With Piastre,
he continues to raise the bar on what we think
(24:03):
he can achieve, So I'm not sure historical precedent's going
to make a massive play for the rest of the season.
As far as he goes, we'll read far more into it.
With Norris, you mentioned obviously he won here last year.
I think we're much more likely to say, well, this
is a Norris track. This one's not a Norris track
right now. They all could be Pastre tracks, because I
don't know if there's necessarily what we've seen on the
(24:26):
previous fourteen rounds. There's no places where we go, well,
he's not a great year, or he's a bit susceptible.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
There.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
He's changed the perception of what we think he can
achieve this year. I think in the short short term,
if we're talking about the Dutch Grand Prix, the thing
we have to remember here is that this will be
the fifth one since it's been back on the calendar
in twenty twenty one. This is a Saturday qualifying race.
All of these have been won on one from pole
position and the only two years that they weren't absolute
routes for the winner where when we had late safety
(24:55):
cars in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. All
four of these races have been won by the polesitter
and twenty one and twenty four by massive margins. It's
a fun driver's track which when you hear the drivers
say that is code for it.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
You can't pass. It's very very narrow, it's very very
high speed.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
It looks wonderful on TV, but you've got the combination
of corners, how wide these cars are, and it's a
very very attractive high speed procession, but a procession nonetheless.
So to my mind, I bringing this really ramps the
pressure up for qualifying. I think there's going to be
huge stakes in qualifying, by the way. I do like
the fact that qualifying is an hour earlier, by the
(25:33):
way for this race. I'm not sure why wonderful news
so Saturday night. I don't care why, just say thanks,
But I think you know you have these races like
Suzuka is a bit like that to watch now in
that you know that qualifying carries outside importance, and in
a championship fight where the margins are so fine between teammates,
Q two Q three becomes massive on Saturdays. I'm super
(25:57):
looking forward to that the race, unless you get a
bit of weather or a bit of chaos, that's a
little bit artificially injected. Maybe not so much, but I
do think that this strikes me as a race where
Norris has proved it. Here he's been particularly good, so
it's not so much a free swing for Piastre. But
I think if he's able to be ahead of or
(26:18):
on part with Norris for the majority of the weekend,
I think that's a super positive because I don't know
about you, but going into this this feels more like
a Norris weekend than a Piastre weekend, and obviously if
the reverse is true, that's psychologically a pretty big feather
for Piastre this time of year.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, I think so. I like the way you put it.
It's more about which tracks and Norris tracks, and not
Norris tracks. You kin't of expect Piastri to be there
all the time. I mean, he's worst qualifying result this
year is fourth, and likewise his worst finishing result I
includ Australia obviously, which is an outlier in terms of
how he got there, but in terms of pure pace
he was Canada a fourth place, just off the podium,
(26:54):
so you know he's always going to be a threat,
whereas Norris has been much more up and down. And
this to me looks a lot like the Austrian Grand Prix.
Obviously the history is a little bit less solid in
Norris's favor, but he was just very good last year
to qualify Max fistappen the margin Oscar Piastre was half
a second in qualifying Piastre. Yes, he had to fight back,
and this is such a difficult overtaking track that it
(27:15):
meant he was never going to get back in touch
with the leader. Similar to Hungary, should have gone for
Norris except for the strategy twist that ended up happening.
Maybe the same will happen in reverse year. But if
Piastre can really solidly challenge Norris this weekend, then suddenly
I do feel like we might start to talk about
not necessarily momentum, but that being a bit of a
sign that this next part of the year, which was
(27:37):
mostly difficult for Piastre last season. Once we left Europe anyway,
might actually be a little bit more in his favor
and you might start to feel more confident with that
kind of margin. To my mind, there maybe only two
or three other, not let's say Norris circuits that I'd
be looking at in terms of his performance. I think
the following one from the Dutch Grand Prix. It is
(27:58):
in Italy despite him having got poll there last year.
He was very solid in Singapore. Yes, Singapore is a
little bit of an unusual circuit last year, but he
was really solid from start to finish in a weekend
that maybe could have got him back into title contention
again that obviously never quite happened. It was a similar
result for Piastre, who qualified poorly and that set up
his rais. But the one after that, for me, I
(28:20):
think it's going to be and I think its position
in the run could be really important. Is the United
States Grand Prix is the track Piastre he has never
really clicked with, Yes in the sport for two years
prior this, but in those two years never really clicked
with it. Norris comparatively has, so the measure of Piastre
in the last two years there. I think if that
(28:40):
could be one if the points remained as close as
they are up to the United States Grand Prix, which
is fifth in this block of ten races to close
the championship, that could tell us which direction the wind
is blowing well.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
And the other factor to take into account here is
that we've talked about this all year and it's going
to be something we talk about more as we get
to the end of the season. The other teams are
not massively incentivized now to be pushing for major performance
because you've got this twenty twenty six rule set coming
in and effectively you're just spending money on things that
are going in the bin at the end of these
ten races. So I do wonder that even on whichever
(29:16):
one of the McLaren drivers is having an inverted Commas
bad day, I still wonder if a bad day is
still second place, and this might become one of those
championships where I'm not ruling out one or two maxivstap
and wins before the end of this season, because I
think of places like Mexico and I think of Brazil,
particularly when it rains. Let's be honest, not if it
(29:36):
rains it will at some point over the course of
the season he will be one of those guys who
will stick his nose in and have one of those
weird interloping results where he might finish, he might split
the McLaren somewhere. You could see that happening. But I
think as this boils down to an intra team championship fight,
there's two things to watch. For me, what are the
other nine teams doing? And if they're going for race
(29:57):
wins and putting a lot of resource in twenty twenty five,
then I'd ask what on earth are they do in
because this season's gone as far as they're concerned. And
then how McLaren plays this strategically. Because we know that
the constructors Championship is done, they're going to win the
Driver's Championship. We just don't know which drivers going to
win it. So you do wonder they've been so you know,
they haven't split strategies necessarily. Norris has thrown a couple
(30:19):
of hail Mary's with tire strategies, one of which has
worked and one of which hasn't. In recent races, you
do wonder if they allow strategic intra team fighting to
happen when the result at the end of the races
that McLaren's going to win, and that will be really
interesting to see if that because they held the line
on that they haven't done that, but allowing the drivers
(30:41):
to perhaps try to use different means to achieve the
same end given that you're going to win both championships anyway.
I think that's a storyline to watch as we head
deeper into this last ten races.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
It's difficult to hypothesize a great example of it, but
I think it would be very difficult for McLaren to
walk away from a where they haven't allowed one of
its drivers to attack the other driver because they wanted
to secure let's say a one two for the team
or whatever maximize the team result when there's really nothing
on the line in the Constructors Championship anymore. I think
(31:14):
that'd be a very difficult position for McLaren to take
in a year they've worked really hard to be fair
between its drivers. I think the definition of fair has
changed now that they're so far ahead. Earlier in the year.
We can compare it to the very first round in
Australia where they called off the fighting somewhat controversially before
managed to make a move, but it was for the
team greater good. They wanted to make sure they didn't
lose a victory in the very first race of the
(31:34):
year to maxim stuff and like they had so many
times the previous year, rain on the radar, backpackers, all
that kind of stuff. I kind of get that. Then,
when there are no points and everyone doesn't know where
the field lies, there's no reason to make a call
like that again now because there is nothing on the
line for the team but everything on the line for
the drivers.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Yeah, well, let's fast forward here.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Let's just say we're in Abu Dhabi and one of
them's on pole and one of them second. So the
one that's on pole is going to Shoo's strategy the
preferable strategy. Are they going to allow the second driver
to perhaps take a different strategic approach to the race
in an attempt to win the World championship. If we
have a live championship fight where the only outcome is
that McLaren's going to win the World Championship, are they
(32:16):
going to allow that to happen, because that would be
different to what they have done throughout the season. Now,
obviously for the spectacle. We would love to see that
because you don't just want the championship to be decided.
If we have a live championship in the final round,
you don't want it to come down to who qualifies
fastest out of the two of them, and then they
both just mimic each other's strategy and on a track
where you can't overtake, it'll come down to the first
(32:37):
quarter and that'll be that. We actually hope that you'll
get some sort of strategic fight between the two of
them where they're coming at it from different approaches. I
hope that is permitted. It won't that be a storyline?
A Is it going to be permitted? And B will
that depend on who's leading the championship coming into these
last the final rounds of the season, which whether it's
(32:57):
the British driver or Thestructing driver that's leading the world
champion and how that's going to play out because we
know how it's going to be done in the commentary
that we hear here in Australia. We also know a
lot of the English language content that all Formula One
fans consume in Australia. We know where that comes from,
so they'll be super interesting to see how that plays out.
(33:18):
Given the backdrop of how we're going to consume that
championship fight.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I'm for what. I'm all for it.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
I'm hoping it does come down to this last couple
of races where we do have to see McLaren perhaps
take the hands off the will a little bit and
just let them sort it out. Because at the end
of the day we'll look back at twenty twenty five
and say a McLaren driver won the World Championship and
the McLaren won the Constructors Championship. Horay, what a fantastic year.
How we get there's the important bit.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Yeah, particularly for us in the last ten rounds. Just briefly,
I want to talk about some of those possibilities for
other drivers to and you mentioned Maxwistap and sow Paolo.
That just sounds about right. Mexico City as well, was
pretty quick there last year, except had a bit of
a brain explosion racing Lando Norris. Don't know who he
might have finished in a regular situation. I'm keeping an
eye though on the Italian Grand Prix for two reasons.
(34:05):
One is Ferrari just almost always seems to do well there.
Chickuly in a year where they don't have much going on,
they tend to them think, oh, how can we do
well at the home race. But not only that, but
the layout on paper should also suit Mercedes at least
if it's not too hot, long, straight, slow Chicanes very
similar on paper at least to Canada. And by that
same token, of course, Las Vegas almost the biggest outlier
(34:28):
on this part of the calendar. It is Las Vegas
taking place a little bit earlier in the evening this year,
so it won't be quite as chilly as it has
been in previously. I think it's five pm local maybe
or seven pm local, whatever it is. It's good here,
that's all you need to know. But it is still
cold there. It is still a night race that the
layout is very fast, straight, slow corners. Mercedes dominated this
(34:50):
race last year with a one too and lowse Hamilton's
hated a tenth from memory and still finished a competitive second.
I think there are opportunities for and Las Vegas is
an interesting one considering it's so lo late in the year.
What is that third last round I think of the
season where suddenly you have a really close title fight,
the seven points between them, whatever, and one McLaren driver
finishes second the other one fifth because McLaren's been pushed
(35:11):
around a bit as they were last year, that could
really space things up.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Well, wouldn't it be funny if you know, we've talked
about wins and podiums and all these one twos and
everything else, and it might be decided by Norris finishing
sixth and Pastri finishing eighth because the car doesn't work
and it's freezing cold, and there's all these other guys
that would have no business being in front of them
being in front of them. If that becomes the decisive
factor in a season where they're going to win eighty
(35:35):
percent of the races between them, wouldn't that be just
very Las Vegas Forbula one.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I think if it's not going to go to Abu Dhabi,
and I suspect it will, then it'll surely just be
decided in the sprint and Katar the pronouncement round.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
We've done that before, let's not do that again.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Deeply underwhelming, but it we'll be fascinating to see how
this one unfolds because there is so little in it.
The only thing I think we've really learned in that
last month before the mid season break. Is that if
Lando Norris really has got over his qualifying problems and
he hasn't had a qualifying mistake since Canada so quite
a while ago, then there really is almost nothing to
pick between these two drivers as a fight we thought
we were going to get at the start of the year.
(36:11):
It seems like it's back on and now it's ten
races to settle who will win McLaren's first drivers' championship
since Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Wow loud, Yeah, incredible. Interesting.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Let's wrap this one up with a visit to the
crystal Ball by complete home filtration, deliberately just forgetting the
things I've predicted in previous races in previous weekends, because
they're almost always wrong. Please don't let that turn you off.
But I'll start with you, Matt, what are you predicting?
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Look, I feel bad saying this. I'm going to preface
this by saying, don't take my passport away.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
I need it. It's very, very important.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
My crystal ball is telling me that Oscar Piastri is
going to relinquish the leader of the World Championship for
the first time since Saudi Arabia in round five this
weekend when he finishes third behind Pulses, Orlando Norris and
Max for Stafford. Now I say that my passport I
think will be fine because when I make predictions on
the Crystal Ball, ninety nine percent of them are complete rubbish.
(37:06):
So what I just said in the last fifteen seconds
will not happen. But that's kind of where I'm going
because I feel this is a strong Norris track, perhaps
not a great Piastre track, and I can see Max
just doing one of the super Max things and perhaps
doing this Suzuka special of just parking himself in front
of a faster car and not making a mistake for
seventy two laps. But I'd like to be wrong. But yeah,
(37:27):
I'm going to hold onto my passport just in case.
What have you got for me?
Speaker 1 (37:31):
I like that? Well I don't like that, but I
like where you're going with it. Anyway, It's still be
nine or I we'd be back next week saying still
nine rounds to go.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Don't worry, that's right.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I'm going with in this. You know, in this era
of blockbuster concert tours sellouts, everyone's talking about the tours.
I'm predicting the biggest tour yet the Sergio pair. As
I told you, so, tour commences now he's going to
be at first this. I don't know if he's going
to be the Dutch ground free this weekend. I know
he's pretty much commenced work with Cadillac immediately, but he's
(38:00):
already started at the press conference announcing his signature for
Cadillac next year. And I quote, I feel like there's
nothing to prove, not just because of the current Red
Bull Racing drivers or the next drivers that are in
my seat, but even the drivers before that. Everyone forgets it.
But it's a very tricky place to be. They've scored
like five points for the entire season. Don't forget how
(38:21):
many points he scored one hundred order fantastic. Yeah, I
think this is going to be NonStop. He says he's
got nothing to prove, he's certainly acting like a man
who's got something to prove. Yes, we've only got six
more months of this.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
In media speak, I think we call that Sergio will
be available for interview, I believe is the term that
we might hear over the course of the weekend. But no,
I do like that very much because I love a
good rewriting of history from a position of advantage. It's
going to be wonderful. The fact that Christian Horde is
not in the paddict to run up to sky and
refute every single thing that he says is going to
(38:53):
be fantastic. Can I extingd you with a bonus miniature
crystal ball question, like a very small golf ball size,
not the Las Vegas to be a size crystal ball?
How many times is the Championship League going to change
between now and the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Oh, that's a great question. It's annoying because it's just
over seven. But if we assume there's going to be
a first and a third in there could change regularly.
I reckon, I reckon, we're going to get I better
say it's a number. Obviously, go get three three lead.
I do know it needs to be even number, doesn't it.
We have four lead changes. I beg your pardon. Okay,
(39:26):
well that's a lot. That's almost every second round.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Okay, this is why this is why I've just set
you up, because as you were going through that, I reckon,
it's going to be two.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, I think it'll be two. I think could be
this weekend. Why not let's go with your crystal ball.
It's it gonna be right, And then why don't we
say it interesting sprints just for a bit of excitement.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Oscar Pastric sweet Spot, the Caitask Briunt. But isn't it interesting?
With ten rounds to go and you're looking at it? Oh,
it's so finally pause you think how many times is
this championship lead actually going to change hands? And when
you start thinking about force, like, oh, that is quite
a lot, isn't it, considering it hasn't changed hands since
round five? Yeah, super super interesting, but just a miniature
crystal ball just to completely hijack your running order for
(40:04):
the end of the podcast.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
No, that's good. I like that's a great question. Can
be pondering that one and the lead up to the
Dutch Grand Prix, particularly if it happens this weekend. But
that's all the time we have for pit Talk today.
You can subscribe to Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts,
and you can leave us a rating and review as well.
This weekend it is the Formula one Dutch Grand Prix
with lights out at eleven pm on Sunday. The first
to four races in five weekends. You can keep up
(40:26):
to date with all the LATESTEP one, supercars and MOTORGPN
news at foxsports dot com. Today you from Matt Clayton
and me Michael Lomonado. Thanks very much for your company
and we'll catch you next week.
Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
On today's episode, Cadillac confirms Valtrie Botas and Sergio Perez
will form it's inaugural driver lineup in twenty twenty six,
and we look ahead to this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix
and the final ten rounds of the championship battle between
Osco Piastri and Lando Norris. My name is Michael Lomonato.
(00:21):
It's great to have your company and the company of
my co host KitKat. Cadillac give Pez a home. It's
Matt Playton.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
That is one of your better intros, I must say,
and yeah, always talk about Kitkats. I didn't go out
and buy one today, actually not in tribute of Sergio
Perro's being back, but they were just cheap, so I
decided on cheap out and buy some good chocolate.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
But there you go. He's back.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And I guess if you'd said at the start of
this season the likelihood of Sergio Perez being in Formula
one in twenty twenty six and Christian Horder not being
in Formula one in twenty twenty six, you would have
got some pretty good odds. You probably would have got
no odds because no one would have seen that one.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, remarkable twist of face, isn't it. Yeah, scholar should
be out, but Sergia Peis is back in. You can
chart it to in fact, that those lines to intersect.
Though the more struggles that second red bull seed has had,
the harder it was for horned toling On, But the
better of the odds were of Sergio Peis convincing he
was worth a crack to come back.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Indeed, it was like two fingers of a kinkat just
break it up. Sergia can stay the other way, he
can give to somebody else. That's how this works.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's the perfect chocolate, really, isn't it. If you want
to sponsor us, kidcat, we are very available to chocolate sponsorship,
even if it's in kind. I'm perfectly happy with that.
That was the news of the mid season break. Thankfully,
formed On enjoyed an actual mid season break before this
frenetic final ten races of the season came in the
week leading up to the Dutch Grand Prix just a
day or so ago, depending on when you're listening to this,
(01:45):
It is that Vultry Potas and Sergio peir Is the
true most heavily rumored drivers to be connected to Cadillac
are connected to Cadillac on contracts that'll see them race
for the new team next season. I think it makes
this team, immediately, despite being brand new, the most experienced
lineup on the grid and the oldest, which is also
(02:06):
pretty remarkable, but probably tell us a little bit about
how long Potacid pairs have been around. It's five hundred
and twenty seven Grand Prix starts between them, sixteen Grand
Prix victories, twenty three poles, one hundred and six podium trophies.
I mean that sounds pretty good for a team that
barely exists, has no car, and is understaffed.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I'd like to congratulate and Creunrichlake Cadillac for organizing a
fantastic driver line up for twenty nineteen. I think it's
a really, really solid pairing for the twenty nineteen season.
All we've moved on from there, but I must admit,
look A, this shows you the power of you in
this podcast, because you were able to almost get through
the entire mid season break before you had to come
back and do an emergency pod. So I'm glad you
(02:45):
had the line into Cadillac for this week. But I
don't know about you, but when I saw the lineup,
it was of no great surprise, and I was a
little bit uninspired. And then I thought about it and thought,
but what else were they going to do? Because you
look at where Cadillac's starting from next year. It's hard
enough to bring a new team into Formula One as
(03:06):
it is, and then it's equal it's doubly hard, but
you've got a new rule set where you're not even
playing with an existing set of regulations that you can
try and bring this new team in with. So this
is going to be a season for them of variables
under every stone. And one way you remove one of
those variables is you take the driver variable out of
the equation. You've got two wise experience heads. You read
(03:29):
the CV, it's all very impressive. If things aren't going
great for Cadillac next year, and newsflash, they probably won't
for a long part of the season. It's not going
to be one of those things where you're going to wonder, well,
what if we had some more experienced drivers in there? So, yeah,
a little bit uninspiring, but part of me was like, well,
of course they're going to take one of the variables
(03:50):
off the table, and there wasn't really anyone else that
you could think was making a hugely compelling case to
be considered, at least in this short term. I'm a
little bit surprised, not so much to see Botasspack on
the grid because it felt like he wasn't quite done.
It felt like Sergio Perez was absolutely capital d done
at the end of last year, with the way that
(04:12):
that spiraled so badly, So you do wonder how much
of it is experience, how much of it is for
marketing reasons. It gives this team instant credibility before they've
turned a wheel, the fact that they've got the signatures
of these two guys with the CVS that you mentioned.
But I don't know how you felt about the driver lineup.
Part of me was like, well, if it wasn't these two,
then who was going to be?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, And I think, in fact, if you were to
scroll back to our interview with Mario Andretti, who's a
non executive director on the board or one of those
American style titles, yes, who sort of said it as
much as like, well, there aren't very many drivers available.
When we tried to question about who his team was
going to hire, and he's right, there were a lot
of relatively inexperienced drivers, you know, drivers like Joe BrandNew
(04:53):
who was connected to the team, Mick Schumacher. After that,
you're then looking at straight up rookie drivers who would
need time to be broken into Formula One by a
team that at the moment, as I said, has no car,
including obviously an older car. They're going to buy or
rent perhaps a Ferrari later on in the year to
get some mileage and essentially do some practice Formula One
team activities, but that's still not really the same thing,
(05:16):
so that would just be giving yourself automatically a start
on the back foot and a massive backfoot. It was
a rookie, so actually quite fortunate I think that they've
turned up in a year when two massively experienced drivers
relatively recent drivers. It's not as if these guys have
been out of the sport for several years in the
way that you know, a couple of older heads rocked
up in the last big new intake of teams prior
(05:36):
to half obviously with the cater and Maurusia and HRT
et cetera teams where some drives have been out of
the sport for a while turned up in seats. They
are relatively recent editions. Like you said, at least in
Valtribotas's cases kept himself in the paddock because he's been
committed to returning to the sport and that experience, I
think for them is actually quite complementary. To talk more
(05:57):
about the fortune of having these two particular drivers. You've
got Potas, who's an excellent qualifier, so you know he's
going to probably get the most in terms of single
lap speed out of this car when he was up
against Lewis Hamilton. Is essentially two to one that Hamilton
beat him in qualifying, which sounds like a lot, but
Hamilton's the most poles of any driver in Formula one history,
so the record for pols is actually pretty good. And
(06:17):
then Sergio peir Is. Okay, there is this question mark
about Red Bull racing. May we talk about this in
a second, but if you look at his career overall,
a pretty effective midfield driver. Maybe Cadillac won't be in
the midfield even by the end of next year, that
it hopes to be there at some point during the
course of his contract. A guy who tends who has
tended any way to get the most out of his sundays.
(06:38):
There is that question mark over his last couple of
years at Red Bull Racing, which the team says it's
satisfied it has answered itself. But on paper, these two
drivers are the guys you would want to test and
thoroughly put the car through its paces, as well as,
as you said, being a sufficient known quantity that you
don't have to worry about. Oh, this young guy, is
he's not cutting it? Is he losing his confidence?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Whatever?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You know what you're getting.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, two veterans with complimentary skill sets, I think is
the key point there. You mentioned that Botas has had
the one lap pace. To my mind, you know, you
take away just how grim the last part of Perez's
Red Bull time was. His whole career has been one
of overachieving. You know, we know how good he has
been on tire management through some of his days at
Souboro and for Cindia, and he was always the guy
(07:21):
who did that little bit more than you expected him
to do. When he was in the midfield team. He
was I wouldn't say an overqualified midfield team driver, but
he was always a guy that you look at the
way he had his seasons. There were so many seasons
where you're like, wow, he's fourth the driver's standings like
you always were taken by surprise because he was so consistent.
And yes, the Red Bull stuff was a disaster by
(07:42):
the end. By the way, we should actually congratulate him
because he was signed by Red Bull last year, immediately
paid out, and then gets paid again by signing another
contract within the remaining twelve months. That's that's even better
than some of Dadiel Ricardo's boots before the end of
his career. That's absolutely Outstaddy worked by his management there.
But what's interesting to me is, yeah, it's a perfectly
(08:03):
solid lineup for year one. I'm more curious and I'll
put this one to you as well, Like this strikes
me as a sort of team. Given the name and
the resource and the way that they should trend upwards,
you almost want to be there in about year three,
year four? Is that sort of young more experienced, young
young veteran an inverted commerce driver. So which of these
(08:24):
two drivers that they've signed you think has the longer
shelf life given the way that this project's going to
move along in the next three to four years, who's
the more valuable asset of the two? And we have
to take into account there it's not just about driving,
it's about presence and marketability and everything else. That's who
has the longest staying power of these two?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Do you think? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I think that's a really interesting question because they've also
both already been through the ringer during their careers, right
veltrii Botas talked really openly about the confidence hit of
being thrashed by Lewis Hamilton Jo pare Is. Obviously it's
very recent that he was belted by Max Withstappen and
in one of the greatest cars ever designed in Formula One.
They've both had that mental toughness developed in them to
(09:05):
go into a battle that I think, like you say,
probably not this year, it's not going to really matter,
but maybe next year, or rather next year, maybe the
year after the year after that, it will become a
question of, Okay, which of these guys are you going
to keep? That's a really good question. I think for
me at the moment, Valtrie Bodas is the guy who stays,
just because I think there are fewer question marks about
(09:28):
his consistency. I think at Mercedes, okay, you always dip
and dive a little bit relative to Lewis Hamilton, but
that was relative to Lewis Hamilton, right, and he was
He was never embarrassingly off the pace. He never had
those Perez spells where you're like, oh god, he's out
of a Q one again. Yep, and he might score
a point or he might not, and that's never happened
during his career. The last three years at Sober, they
look bad and packet his worst ever career in terms
(09:50):
of points last season, but that was obviously about the car,
whereas pairs does just have that little question mark or
big question marked when your perspective from red Bull. So
if we're talking about two years down the line or
three years down the line, three years that might be
really quite difficult. We don't know how they're going to go.
I think that it's botass who might just have the
resilience to stick around in that case, and then you
(10:12):
put him up against because the other question is and
you touched them it. It's not just about driving. There's
the marketing element.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I think.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I don't want to say that Sergio Peters is just
their marketing because he isn't. He's extremely experienced, like we've
talked about, very valuable to this team, but he does
tick the well we couldn't get an American, but he's
from North America.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Bots. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
If the idea is you get an American rookie is
your next guy, hopefully by then they found someone, then
you also don't need that pairs angle to the marketing anymore.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, So whoever comes in as the Cadillac's next driver
in three years time might determine which one of these
two actually stays the longer term. But the thing for
me is I think that with Botas, I don't think
there'll be any questions about ultimate performance. So if you
want to find out how far advanced this car is
and what the ceiling of this car is, I think
you're going to get more of a definitive answer from
(10:58):
him that you're going to get from Pereer.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
The weird part.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
About that is if they go together for two years,
I would almost put my house on the fact that
I think the bothouse will be faster and Perezo score
more points. Yeah, and you know you're going to have
this really strange conundrum with it too, But can I
go a little bit fourteen and a half degrees off
topic here because I reckon that this driver lineup doesn't
just speak to Cadillac. I think there's another team, and
(11:25):
I think there's another team that we need to ask
questions about here, because quite frankly, either of these two
guys could have been driving for Alpine and decided that
a Formula One team that hasn't done a race yet
was a better bet than perhaps stepping into the whirlpool
of chaos that is Alpine. Interesting decision, isn't it when
you look at it in the cold light a day
like that.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, one hundred percent a team. The last thing that
Cadillac had done when they signed was practice being on
the summer break. I think those are the words that
came as well.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Whereas you've got Alphine that's well pretending perhaps to be
a real Formula one team, if you want to put
it harshly, it says a lot about Alphine because both
of them drivers we know were approached. We don't know
how seriously they were approached, considering everything that happens at
Alpine is a little bit chaotic, but we know the
Tota Wolf said, yes, we have talked about releasing veldri
Botas or sending him to Alpine or whatever releasing him
(12:13):
from his contract earlier in the year. So we do
know at least that there were more than just some
inquisitive phone calls about that. This was after it he
started to become clear that Franco Colapinto wasn't the immediate
massive trade up on Jack Do and that he was
sort of sold to be and continues not to be. Yeah,
the fact that that team has been overlooked for a
team that barely exists, I think says a lot. But
(12:36):
you can sort of write it down pretty straightforward me
on paper, isn't it one team's going in white. Well,
Cadillac's obviously going in one direction, which is going from
not existing to existing, which is very positive. And Alpine
is going from a direction where it was the works team. Well,
it's given up on that. It's shuttered one of the
most historic engine divisions in Formula one history, one of
the most successful as well. It's going to take my
stages power. Okay, that might be an immediate little tick
(12:57):
for next year, but I don't know, friendnods can continue
continue to own the team. Well, Flavio Brety is the
de facto team principal, but he was appointed by the
former CEO who resigned unexpectedly this year. Is he going
to continue to run the team? What direction will that take?
What is Alpine anyway? And there's a lot of uncertainty there.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
I'm just wondering if neither Valterie Bodas nor Serge Opera
is what did a five race contract to prove themselves?
So that seems to be what happens in that second seat,
even though Franco Colopinto seems to get a reset on
the fifth race every second weekend at the moment.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
But there ego. But isn't that interesting?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
How you know, you wouldn't have even countenanced that as
a discussion two or three years ago, saying these two
guys are choosing this team that hasn't turned a will
over Alpine? What are we actually doing here? But in
Formula one twenty twenty five it makes perfect sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, And there's also, you know, talk briefly about Alpine.
I just want to touch on before we move on,
the few seats that are available now at Cadillacs signed
both of It's up at once, which is a little
bit unexpected. I thought they'd say one till later in
the year in case someone like NK. Sinoda were to
come into the market.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, and also by before you go into your next point,
you had your or marketing presence by doing them both
on the same day, which.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I thought was really strange.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You could have gotten two bites at the news cycle
by doing these three weeks apart, and get a whole
bunch of press for a team that doesn't exist yet
and steal some of the oxygen of your rival. So
there's a rookie team mistake of ever obviously one.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yes, Well, they're still practicing their communications, I guess, so
you know, it's a.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Half fark for them.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
But there was the report that Alpine couldn't wasn't ready
to decide even though they're in this unusual position where
Franco Colopindo is not performing the way they expected. I
think it's become clear to them they kind of need
the Cadillac solution, which is there are a point where
they need some more experience in that team. Pierre Gas
is great, but you could certainly use someone and the
other car is also doing that job, rowing in the
same direction, so that just sort of speaks to the
(14:44):
ongoing uncertain and what's going on at Alpine. There are
only a few seats left now in Formula one. Let's
race through very briefly. Alpine is one of them, and
they're now in the situation Cadillac hoped not to be in,
which is well, who do you go for talks? Maybe
Franco Colopindo will be retained a minimum. It seems like
Colopindo is going to have the rest of the year now,
just because there's not really so many other obvious alternatives
(15:06):
to him to prove that he can get there. Maybe
some signs of improvement just before the mid season break,
but certainly it's been no massive step up on jack
Do and which makes that whole situation feel a little
bit silly. But the big one, of course, is the
red Bull situation. Will Yuki snow to be retained? Who
will replace him? Will it be Isaac Kadja? What does
that mean for Liam Lawson? Will Aarvid Lindblad, who's completing
his Formula two campaign on the other side of the break,
(15:28):
I think the next round is in Monza, not this weekend.
Can he make a case for promotion at expense of
one of these drivers. That now becomes the most interesting
driver market question.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It becomes the most interesting driver market question with absolutely
no answers that I like. And that's and they're all
perfectly fine answers to a point, but that point is
very high or very load, depending on who you like
in there, because they're all imperfect solutions to a long
running problem. And I mean, look, you would have to
(15:58):
say on performance like hat ja to me? And we
discussed this with Alex Jakes and we had him on
just recently. He's been the biggest surprise of the rookies
this year, not because I thought he was going to
be bad, because we know he's fast. He's fast and
a bit of ratic of what we've seen in the past.
He's been genuinely excellent and probably based on well the
CV of the other guys who've had a crack at
(16:19):
that seat, he probably actually deserves.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
To get a chance.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
But then what are we actually doing here? And then
we're talking about Arvid Lynn Bladden, Alex Pelow's name comes up,
I mean, where else, I mean you and I must
be getting closer to sort of almost on the waitlist
of this thing, because they seem to have cast the
net very, very far and wide here. But none of
these answers. You can't even squint and go, yeah, okay,
I can see that might be a good thing to
(16:43):
do in twelve to eighteen months. The biggest question still
with that team is that, yes, we know we've got
the maxim staff and commitment for the time being, but
the keywords in that sentence so for the time being,
what if this rule set Red Bull really stumble out
of the gate and get things very wrong? Are Las
twenty fourteen when they stumbled out of the gate and
got things very very wrong. You do wonder whether they
(17:04):
might not just be looking for a second driver, They
might also be looking for a first one, and then
the first driver decision changes who the second driver might be.
So there's so much to play out here. They would
be better served for probably just holding the line and
staying with what they've got for the time being. But then,
is the Sonoda performance sustainable given that I think we've
(17:24):
talked about it before. I think the Stappen's called ninety
seven percent of that teams boids to the first half
of the year, and we've seen what happens when it's
not a race winning car anymore. So Yeah, it's the
most intriguing seat, but I just see a whole bunch
of imperfect solutions to a long running problem. And twas ever,
thus when it comes to red Bull.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, I think I'm inclined to agree with you. I
think if Sonoda can just show obviously the team wants
him to show something what he has shown, and I
think we're starting to get some glimpse of it just
before the break, now that he's closer to car parody
with the stafford. But if you can just show some improvement,
the team will be able to say, all right, look
next to you, a new car, clean slate. Let's just
sit where we are because, like you say, Vistappen could
(18:02):
become a live issue again after that. At least you
haven't played cards that you might need in twelve months time.
But it'll be interesting to see. He will need to
make that point for himself. And there's no reason lind
Blood can't stay in Formula two for another year if
that's the case. And of course not to discount the
Mercedes two seats, but it's pretty clear they're going to
be resigned. George Russell and Andre Kimi Antonelli. It's just a
(18:22):
matter of when. Probably he the Italian Grand Prix, one imagines.
Let's move on, though, Matt to Move of the Week,
brought to you by Shannon's Now. Whilst Formula One was
on a break for three weekends, Motor GP was not.
It was resuming with a double header and at the
weekend it was the Hungarian Grand Prix, but not the
Hungaro Ring at a new and unusual circuit.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yes, Balloton Park, first time MotoGP's been in Hungary since
nineteen ninety two, which is a race won by a
certain guy called Mickdo and I wonder whatever happened to him.
But look, miya, I'm going to go moves plural of
the week because this was a very odd track where
apparently you couldn't overtake and a check by the name
of Juge Martin started sixteenth on the grid on Sunday
(19:07):
and finished fourth and made an absolute mockery of the
fact that you can't overtake. He made up seven places
on the first lap, so that was pretty handy. He
is looking quite ominous for a guy who's done four
Grand Prix this year on a bike that he doesn't
even know. He actually said after the race that he
was still playing around with the positioning of the handlebars
and settings and things as the race was about to begin,
(19:28):
and then propably just blasted everybody on the first lap there.
So we know that the aprilia is coming on really strong.
We know how good he is. We also know that
he's getting back to full fitness and now he's in
love with the team and it's all fantastic.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Everything's unky dory. It wasn't a.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Few weeks ago watch this space, but moves of the
week to finish twelve places higher than you started on
a track where you apparently can't pass the stat for
me his teammate Marco Betzek. He started second on the
grid and Jey Martin finished three seconds behind him after
twenty six laps and started fourteen places below. Yeah, he
might be on the way back, But I'm going Moves
(20:03):
of the week because quite frankly, there were so many
of them. I'm wondering, given the relative dearth of motorspoort
options for this week, where you are going with this,
Because I know you were watching Moto GP, but there
was no four wheel action for you, So what have
you got?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, I was very tempted to find something a little
bit left of center, but I enjoyed obviously. I enjoyed
watching Mojo of V this weekend because there was certainly
nothing else on the motorsport field to watch. And I'm
going to go with Marco Beitzeki though, Yeah, for his
I guess this count as a move of the week,
doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Where he retook the lead.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
The first and second turns early in the race, when
Mark Marquez was inevitably attempting to pass for Leed he
did eventually take. But it's become so inevitable, hasn't it.
We've often seen Mark Markez lose the lead, start of
the race whatever, and you just know it's a matter
of time until he gets there. And then he gets there,
and then you think, all right, well the race is
done now before there's twenty laps to go. But then
when Buttzeki fought this one back, it was so unusual
(20:54):
that it made me physically sit up straight and go,
oh is this going? Are we going to have a
race here? And I think we did for one will
lap and then Marquez was inevitable. But just for that
little bit of injection of hope, that all this race
might actually not go the way I expected. And because
it was a great move, well, judge, you know not
everyone can pull that off. Obviously, it's Mark Maker's way
(21:15):
win so much I'm giving it to bit.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It's two races in a row that Berzeki's lost the
lead immediately fought back and put a pass on Marquees
and made Marquez go deeper into the book of well
where can I pass you? Because he's never he never
tries to make the same overtake twice in the same
part of the race track. He made him have a
reset and think again. He did it at the Red
Bull Ring, did it on the weekend. But yeah, was
saying before that probally is really coming along and forcing
(21:38):
Mark Marquees to actually have to sweat to win races.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
At the moment.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
If you've done that, then you're doing a pretty damn
good job because no one seems to be able to
beat him. So yeah, I do like that suggestion for you.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
He nicely done sweat, but not too much the good
scheme of things. Let's move on now to this weekend's
Formula one Dutch Grand Prix. The resumption of the season.
Ten rounds to go, I said earlier. It annoys me
the mid season break is not exactly the middle of
the year, but I do like coming back and saying
ten rounds to go. It's a very nice round. Number
(22:09):
Four of those rounds will be complete in the next
five weekends, which is alarming, but it does mean we
will be that much closer to finding out who will
win the championship. It's Oscar Piastri, only just ahead of
Lando Norris, nine points after the Hungarian Grand Prix, which
Landon Norris won ahead of Oscar Piastre. Many one two's
now going McLaren's way, which does make you think, actually,
(22:30):
for most of the remaining races, and we might get
into this in a little moment, we're probably looking at
a lot of straight fights between these two drivers, though
I think in my mental calendar anyway, there are a
couple of asterisks there about some other players. But let's
look ahead to this Dutch Grand Prix first, because last
year this was all about Lando Norris. Scott Pole not
for the first time, couldn't hold Pole off the line,
(22:52):
but made very easy work of Maxis stab And, who
had never been defeated at his Home Grand Prix Stampy's
authority on this race back when he thought maybe he
could win the Driver's champions if he did not. But
Oscar Piastric can barably have had a more difficult weekend,
and I wonder whether or not we can read anything
into that as a form guide twelve months on.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
I know, when you said we were going to talk
about the Dutch Grand Prix, I'd actually done a real
deep dive and in depth analysis on the lyrics to
the super Mac song.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
For you, but clearly we're not going to go down
that part. So I've done all that research.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Or nothing, but you like, well, it'll be shut. But
it's interesting in that you know, you mentioned this is
going to be an ongoing storyline for the remainder of
the season, talking about, well, how has Oscar Piastre done
at these particular races previously, And I'm almost saying that
what he's done at these particular races previously is irrelevant
because he's not the same Oscar Piastre in twenty twenty five.
(23:43):
He's come along a very very long way in a
very very short time. Again referencing something that Alex Jakes
was saying on our last podcast, we know that the
name is the same and the still unruffled and all
of the character traits, but we've not seen a hell
of a lot of legacy play the year With Piastre,
he continues to raise the bar on what we think
(24:03):
he can achieve, So I'm not sure historical precedent's going
to make a massive play for the rest of the season.
As far as he goes, we'll read far more into it.
With Norris, you mentioned obviously he won here last year.
I think we're much more likely to say, well, this
is a Norris track. This one's not a Norris track
right now. They all could be Pastre tracks, because I
don't know if there's necessarily what we've seen on the
(24:26):
previous fourteen rounds. There's no places where we go, well,
he's not a great year, or he's a bit susceptible.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
There.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
He's changed the perception of what we think he can
achieve this year. I think in the short short term,
if we're talking about the Dutch Grand Prix, the thing
we have to remember here is that this will be
the fifth one since it's been back on the calendar
in twenty twenty one. This is a Saturday qualifying race.
All of these have been won on one from pole
position and the only two years that they weren't absolute
routes for the winner where when we had late safety
(24:55):
cars in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. All
four of these races have been won by the polesitter
and twenty one and twenty four by massive margins. It's
a fun driver's track which when you hear the drivers
say that is code for it.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
You can't pass. It's very very narrow, it's very very
high speed.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
It looks wonderful on TV, but you've got the combination
of corners, how wide these cars are, and it's a
very very attractive high speed procession, but a procession nonetheless.
So to my mind, I bringing this really ramps the
pressure up for qualifying. I think there's going to be
huge stakes in qualifying, by the way. I do like
the fact that qualifying is an hour earlier, by the
(25:33):
way for this race. I'm not sure why wonderful news
so Saturday night. I don't care why, just say thanks,
But I think you know you have these races like
Suzuka is a bit like that to watch now in
that you know that qualifying carries outside importance, and in
a championship fight where the margins are so fine between teammates,
Q two Q three becomes massive on Saturdays. I'm super
(25:57):
looking forward to that the race, unless you get a
bit of weather or a bit of chaos, that's a
little bit artificially injected. Maybe not so much, but I
do think that this strikes me as a race where
Norris has proved it. Here he's been particularly good, so
it's not so much a free swing for Piastre. But
I think if he's able to be ahead of or
(26:18):
on part with Norris for the majority of the weekend,
I think that's a super positive because I don't know
about you, but going into this this feels more like
a Norris weekend than a Piastre weekend, and obviously if
the reverse is true, that's psychologically a pretty big feather
for Piastre this time of year.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, I think so. I like the way you put it.
It's more about which tracks and Norris tracks, and not
Norris tracks. You kin't of expect Piastri to be there
all the time. I mean, he's worst qualifying result this
year is fourth, and likewise his worst finishing result I
includ Australia obviously, which is an outlier in terms of
how he got there, but in terms of pure pace
he was Canada a fourth place, just off the podium,
(26:54):
so you know he's always going to be a threat,
whereas Norris has been much more up and down. And
this to me looks a lot like the Austrian Grand Prix.
Obviously the history is a little bit less solid in
Norris's favor, but he was just very good last year
to qualify Max fistappen the margin Oscar Piastre was half
a second in qualifying Piastre. Yes, he had to fight back,
and this is such a difficult overtaking track that it
(27:15):
meant he was never going to get back in touch
with the leader. Similar to Hungary, should have gone for
Norris except for the strategy twist that ended up happening.
Maybe the same will happen in reverse year. But if
Piastre can really solidly challenge Norris this weekend, then suddenly
I do feel like we might start to talk about
not necessarily momentum, but that being a bit of a
sign that this next part of the year, which was
(27:37):
mostly difficult for Piastre last season. Once we left Europe anyway,
might actually be a little bit more in his favor
and you might start to feel more confident with that
kind of margin. To my mind, there maybe only two
or three other, not let's say Norris circuits that I'd
be looking at in terms of his performance. I think
the following one from the Dutch Grand Prix. It is
(27:58):
in Italy despite him having got poll there last year.
He was very solid in Singapore. Yes, Singapore is a
little bit of an unusual circuit last year, but he
was really solid from start to finish in a weekend
that maybe could have got him back into title contention
again that obviously never quite happened. It was a similar
result for Piastre, who qualified poorly and that set up
his rais. But the one after that, for me, I
(28:20):
think it's going to be and I think its position
in the run could be really important. Is the United
States Grand Prix is the track Piastre he has never
really clicked with, Yes in the sport for two years
prior this, but in those two years never really clicked
with it. Norris comparatively has, so the measure of Piastre
in the last two years there. I think if that
(28:40):
could be one if the points remained as close as
they are up to the United States Grand Prix, which
is fifth in this block of ten races to close
the championship, that could tell us which direction the wind
is blowing well.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
And the other factor to take into account here is
that we've talked about this all year and it's going
to be something we talk about more as we get
to the end of the season. The other teams are
not massively incentivized now to be pushing for major performance
because you've got this twenty twenty six rule set coming
in and effectively you're just spending money on things that
are going in the bin at the end of these
ten races. So I do wonder that even on whichever
(29:16):
one of the McLaren drivers is having an inverted Commas
bad day, I still wonder if a bad day is
still second place, and this might become one of those
championships where I'm not ruling out one or two maxivstap
and wins before the end of this season, because I
think of places like Mexico and I think of Brazil,
particularly when it rains. Let's be honest, not if it
(29:36):
rains it will at some point over the course of
the season he will be one of those guys who
will stick his nose in and have one of those
weird interloping results where he might finish, he might split
the McLaren somewhere. You could see that happening. But I
think as this boils down to an intra team championship fight,
there's two things to watch. For me, what are the
other nine teams doing? And if they're going for race
(29:57):
wins and putting a lot of resource in twenty twenty five,
then I'd ask what on earth are they do in
because this season's gone as far as they're concerned. And
then how McLaren plays this strategically. Because we know that
the constructors Championship is done, they're going to win the
Driver's Championship. We just don't know which drivers going to
win it. So you do wonder they've been so you know,
they haven't split strategies necessarily. Norris has thrown a couple
(30:19):
of hail Mary's with tire strategies, one of which has
worked and one of which hasn't. In recent races, you
do wonder if they allow strategic intra team fighting to
happen when the result at the end of the races
that McLaren's going to win, and that will be really
interesting to see if that because they held the line
on that they haven't done that, but allowing the drivers
(30:41):
to perhaps try to use different means to achieve the
same end given that you're going to win both championships anyway.
I think that's a storyline to watch as we head
deeper into this last ten races.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
It's difficult to hypothesize a great example of it, but
I think it would be very difficult for McLaren to
walk away from a where they haven't allowed one of
its drivers to attack the other driver because they wanted
to secure let's say a one two for the team
or whatever maximize the team result when there's really nothing
on the line in the Constructors Championship anymore. I think
(31:14):
that'd be a very difficult position for McLaren to take
in a year they've worked really hard to be fair
between its drivers. I think the definition of fair has
changed now that they're so far ahead. Earlier in the year.
We can compare it to the very first round in
Australia where they called off the fighting somewhat controversially before
managed to make a move, but it was for the
team greater good. They wanted to make sure they didn't
lose a victory in the very first race of the
(31:34):
year to maxim stuff and like they had so many
times the previous year, rain on the radar, backpackers, all
that kind of stuff. I kind of get that. Then,
when there are no points and everyone doesn't know where
the field lies, there's no reason to make a call
like that again now because there is nothing on the
line for the team but everything on the line for
the drivers.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Yeah, well, let's fast forward here.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Let's just say we're in Abu Dhabi and one of
them's on pole and one of them second. So the
one that's on pole is going to Shoo's strategy the
preferable strategy. Are they going to allow the second driver
to perhaps take a different strategic approach to the race
in an attempt to win the World championship. If we
have a live championship fight where the only outcome is
that McLaren's going to win the World Championship, are they
(32:16):
going to allow that to happen, because that would be
different to what they have done throughout the season. Now,
obviously for the spectacle. We would love to see that
because you don't just want the championship to be decided.
If we have a live championship in the final round,
you don't want it to come down to who qualifies
fastest out of the two of them, and then they
both just mimic each other's strategy and on a track
where you can't overtake, it'll come down to the first
(32:37):
quarter and that'll be that. We actually hope that you'll
get some sort of strategic fight between the two of
them where they're coming at it from different approaches. I
hope that is permitted. It won't that be a storyline?
A Is it going to be permitted? And B will
that depend on who's leading the championship coming into these
last the final rounds of the season, which whether it's
(32:57):
the British driver or Thestructing driver that's leading the world
champion and how that's going to play out because we
know how it's going to be done in the commentary
that we hear here in Australia. We also know a
lot of the English language content that all Formula One
fans consume in Australia. We know where that comes from,
so they'll be super interesting to see how that plays out.
(33:18):
Given the backdrop of how we're going to consume that
championship fight.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I'm for what. I'm all for it.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
I'm hoping it does come down to this last couple
of races where we do have to see McLaren perhaps
take the hands off the will a little bit and
just let them sort it out. Because at the end
of the day we'll look back at twenty twenty five
and say a McLaren driver won the World Championship and
the McLaren won the Constructors Championship. Horay, what a fantastic year.
How we get there's the important bit.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Yeah, particularly for us in the last ten rounds. Just briefly,
I want to talk about some of those possibilities for
other drivers to and you mentioned Maxwistap and sow Paolo.
That just sounds about right. Mexico City as well, was
pretty quick there last year, except had a bit of
a brain explosion racing Lando Norris. Don't know who he
might have finished in a regular situation. I'm keeping an
eye though on the Italian Grand Prix for two reasons.
(34:05):
One is Ferrari just almost always seems to do well there.
Chickuly in a year where they don't have much going on,
they tend to them think, oh, how can we do
well at the home race. But not only that, but
the layout on paper should also suit Mercedes at least
if it's not too hot, long, straight, slow Chicanes very
similar on paper at least to Canada. And by that
same token, of course, Las Vegas almost the biggest outlier
(34:28):
on this part of the calendar. It is Las Vegas
taking place a little bit earlier in the evening this year,
so it won't be quite as chilly as it has
been in previously. I think it's five pm local maybe
or seven pm local, whatever it is. It's good here,
that's all you need to know. But it is still
cold there. It is still a night race that the
layout is very fast, straight, slow corners. Mercedes dominated this
(34:50):
race last year with a one too and lowse Hamilton's
hated a tenth from memory and still finished a competitive second.
I think there are opportunities for and Las Vegas is
an interesting one considering it's so lo late in the year.
What is that third last round I think of the
season where suddenly you have a really close title fight,
the seven points between them, whatever, and one McLaren driver
finishes second the other one fifth because McLaren's been pushed
(35:11):
around a bit as they were last year, that could
really space things up.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Well, wouldn't it be funny if you know, we've talked
about wins and podiums and all these one twos and
everything else, and it might be decided by Norris finishing
sixth and Pastri finishing eighth because the car doesn't work
and it's freezing cold, and there's all these other guys
that would have no business being in front of them
being in front of them. If that becomes the decisive
factor in a season where they're going to win eighty
(35:35):
percent of the races between them, wouldn't that be just
very Las Vegas Forbula one.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I think if it's not going to go to Abu Dhabi,
and I suspect it will, then it'll surely just be
decided in the sprint and Katar the pronouncement round.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
We've done that before, let's not do that again.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Deeply underwhelming, but it we'll be fascinating to see how
this one unfolds because there is so little in it.
The only thing I think we've really learned in that
last month before the mid season break. Is that if
Lando Norris really has got over his qualifying problems and
he hasn't had a qualifying mistake since Canada so quite
a while ago, then there really is almost nothing to
pick between these two drivers as a fight we thought
we were going to get at the start of the year.
(36:11):
It seems like it's back on and now it's ten
races to settle who will win McLaren's first drivers' championship
since Lewis Hamilton.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Wow loud, Yeah, incredible. Interesting.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Let's wrap this one up with a visit to the
crystal Ball by complete home filtration, deliberately just forgetting the
things I've predicted in previous races in previous weekends, because
they're almost always wrong. Please don't let that turn you off.
But I'll start with you, Matt, what are you predicting?
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Look, I feel bad saying this. I'm going to preface
this by saying, don't take my passport away.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
I need it. It's very, very important.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
My crystal ball is telling me that Oscar Piastri is
going to relinquish the leader of the World Championship for
the first time since Saudi Arabia in round five this
weekend when he finishes third behind Pulses, Orlando Norris and
Max for Stafford. Now I say that my passport I
think will be fine because when I make predictions on
the Crystal Ball, ninety nine percent of them are complete rubbish.
(37:06):
So what I just said in the last fifteen seconds
will not happen. But that's kind of where I'm going
because I feel this is a strong Norris track, perhaps
not a great Piastre track, and I can see Max
just doing one of the super Max things and perhaps
doing this Suzuka special of just parking himself in front
of a faster car and not making a mistake for
seventy two laps. But I'd like to be wrong. But yeah,
(37:27):
I'm going to hold onto my passport just in case.
What have you got for me?
Speaker 1 (37:31):
I like that? Well I don't like that, but I
like where you're going with it. Anyway, It's still be
nine or I we'd be back next week saying still
nine rounds to go.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Don't worry, that's right.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I'm going with in this. You know, in this era
of blockbuster concert tours sellouts, everyone's talking about the tours.
I'm predicting the biggest tour yet the Sergio pair. As
I told you, so, tour commences now he's going to
be at first this. I don't know if he's going
to be the Dutch ground free this weekend. I know
he's pretty much commenced work with Cadillac immediately, but he's
(38:00):
already started at the press conference announcing his signature for
Cadillac next year. And I quote, I feel like there's
nothing to prove, not just because of the current Red
Bull Racing drivers or the next drivers that are in
my seat, but even the drivers before that. Everyone forgets it.
But it's a very tricky place to be. They've scored
like five points for the entire season. Don't forget how
(38:21):
many points he scored one hundred order fantastic. Yeah, I
think this is going to be NonStop. He says he's
got nothing to prove, he's certainly acting like a man
who's got something to prove. Yes, we've only got six
more months of this.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
In media speak, I think we call that Sergio will
be available for interview, I believe is the term that
we might hear over the course of the weekend. But no,
I do like that very much because I love a
good rewriting of history from a position of advantage. It's
going to be wonderful. The fact that Christian Horde is
not in the paddict to run up to sky and
refute every single thing that he says is going to
(38:53):
be fantastic. Can I extingd you with a bonus miniature
crystal ball question, like a very small golf ball size,
not the Las Vegas to be a size crystal ball?
How many times is the Championship League going to change
between now and the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Oh, that's a great question. It's annoying because it's just
over seven. But if we assume there's going to be
a first and a third in there could change regularly.
I reckon, I reckon, we're going to get I better
say it's a number. Obviously, go get three three lead.
I do know it needs to be even number, doesn't it.
We have four lead changes. I beg your pardon. Okay,
(39:26):
well that's a lot. That's almost every second round.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Okay, this is why this is why I've just set
you up, because as you were going through that, I reckon,
it's going to be two.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, I think it'll be two. I think could be
this weekend. Why not let's go with your crystal ball.
It's it gonna be right, And then why don't we
say it interesting sprints just for a bit of excitement.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Oscar Pastric sweet Spot, the Caitask Briunt. But isn't it interesting?
With ten rounds to go and you're looking at it? Oh,
it's so finally pause you think how many times is
this championship lead actually going to change hands? And when
you start thinking about force, like, oh, that is quite
a lot, isn't it, considering it hasn't changed hands since
round five? Yeah, super super interesting, but just a miniature
crystal ball just to completely hijack your running order for
(40:04):
the end of the podcast.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
No, that's good. I like that's a great question. Can
be pondering that one and the lead up to the
Dutch Grand Prix, particularly if it happens this weekend. But
that's all the time we have for pit Talk today.
You can subscribe to Pittalk wherever you get your favorite podcasts,
and you can leave us a rating and review as well.
This weekend it is the Formula one Dutch Grand Prix
with lights out at eleven pm on Sunday. The first
to four races in five weekends. You can keep up
(40:26):
to date with all the LATESTEP one, supercars and MOTORGPN
news at foxsports dot com. Today you from Matt Clayton
and me Michael Lomonado. Thanks very much for your company
and we'll catch you next week.
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