June 10, 2025 • 27 mins
The Australian Grand Prix has retained the right to open the Formula 1 season again in 2026, but who will line up on the grid in Melbourne? Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, both sidelined this season, are aiming for comebacks, but is there room for them among the sport's rising crop of young guns?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
(00:03):
On today's episode, Formula one announces it's twenty twenty six calendar,
with Australia as the first round and the twenty twenty
six Silly Season hots up ahead of this weekend's Canadian
Grand Prix. My name's Michael Amonado. It's great to have
your company and the company of my co host. You
knows exactly where he'll be on the eighth of March
twenty twenty six. It's Matt Clayton.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello, Michael, good to join you, Good to join everybody,
and happy Australia Day. Has I'm calling today because yes,
we are first place on the calendar for twenty twenty six,
our righteous place on the calendar, where we like to be,
and of all the years to have the first Grand
Prix the season, I don't think there's been a better
one to have the first Grand Prix this season for
quite some time. The next year where we've got effectively
(00:44):
a brand new formula that's going to debut at Albert
Park and a new team and all sorts of newness.
So it's a good year to be in pole position
and very much looking forward to it once we get
through the remaining three hundred and forty seven races of
this season.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It is weird how that Formula one announces these calendars
so early. We get this little bit of all twenty
twenty six, you get all the little sugar hits from it,
the first race in Madrid. If they finished building the
circuit in time, I hope they've only just started and
all that kind of thing, and then you're gonna go, oh,
hang on, there's still more than half of this year
to go. It's the championship to decide.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
As you would say, it's the entire two thousand and
six season still remaining in twenty twenty five. That's always
one of your favorites, and you actually say it because
it's correct, such as the expectionon of Formula one these days.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, it'll be the earliest Australian Grand Prix since almost
thousand six five, actually no longer than that was the
last time we held a race. This year, it'll be
interesting because we've got used to we're just talking about
this before we started recording. We've got used to later
certainly Australian Grand Prix considering it had that run where
it wasn't really the first race of the season, but
also seasons generally starting a little bit later in the year.
(01:51):
We're not talking about a lot couple of weeks here
or there, but as I am at you're based in Melbourne,
you know that a couple of weeks in March can
make a tremendous difference in climatic conditions at Albert Park.
We've got used to kind of well, obviously this year
was very mixed conditions for the Grand Prix, but it
can be very up and down. But you know, to
my mind, an eighth of March, first weekend of March
debut brings much greater risk of really quite a hot.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Race, oh massively. So when we're talking about this off air,
I couldn't remember the exact year, but it was when
Honda had its second team, super Aguri, one of the
great motorsport names in Formula One for a while there,
and they turned up for the first race in Melbourne
with an all black livery and all black overalls. And
I think it was about thirty seven degrees on race
day and I remember looking at Takubasato as coming back
(02:37):
from the driver's parade and just shook my head. I said, you,
poor bastard, because this is going to be a very,
very difficult Sunday. And he just looked and said who
decided this? We both laughed about it. I think both
their drivers melted by about half distance. But yeah, I
mean Melbourne. Melbourne summers tend to skew later, I reckon
as the decades have gone on. So yeah, packtic onscreen
for next March. It's going to be hot.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yes, I like the idea that maybe teams will need
a regular livery and a Melbourne livery if we're going
to move deeper and deeper towards summer where everyone just
runs white reflective cars and everyone just as cool as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
There's something in that. But at a timely moment, as
we are in this weekend break between the Canadian between
the triple Head we just had and this weekend's Canadian
Grand Prix, to reflect on well the significance of twenty
twenty six, because while it's still a long way to go,
the significant changes coming next year to the regulations. We're
talking obviously the chassis regulations, also the engine regulations are
(03:35):
things the teams are already well turning their attention to
some teams Williams most publicly aren't even thinking about this
year's car anymore. So you see there is reason to
start talking about twenty twenty six early. For the front runners,
the decision making is very much in our front of mind.
How much are we going to allow the tap to
continue running on twenty twenty five, how many weeks perhaps
even days for some of them, and how much are
(03:56):
we going to simply commit to getting ahead next year?
Because the changes are that big it means the Australian
Grand Prix will be the first round for these big changes.
A lot of uncertainty about the effect that's going to
have on the racing. There always is that kind of
trepidation or cautious cautiousness for some teams that had of
big rule changes. That's part of the politics of F one.
(04:16):
But Matt, these are really pretty significant changes to the
way we understand formula and today. The ground effects here certainly,
but even if we think about the regulations before that,
because we're having this new concept of movable body work,
depending where you are on the circuit, really different idea
about what these cars should.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Look like from next year well, and even how they race,
and I think that's the key thing for me is that,
you know, we always talk about Albert Parkers being a
bit of an outlier, and that's a semi permanent street
circuit in a public park. The only one that's kind
of equivalent is Canada. Funny that we're mentioning Canada before
because it's a similar setup in terms of being close
to the city, semi permanent street circuit and what have you.
(04:54):
It's definitely not representative of modern day Formula one. And
as much as we like in Australi season opener, you
look at the way this calendar has shaken out, it's
going to take some time for the early returns on
what these twenty twenty six rule changes have done, simply
because I think these first three rounds are pretty unusual
as far as Formula one goes. We know that China's
an unusual circuit for a modern track Suzuka. Part of
(05:17):
what we love about Suzuka is that it is so
odd school and Melbourne's a really unusual street track. So
I think we you know that there's going to be
some sort of overreaction positive or negative to how the
Australian Grand Prix plays out as far as these twenty
six rules go, and who's good and who's not, who's
got the concept right and who's got the concept wrong.
I think what we've now got is next year will
(05:37):
be this sort of slow burn. You'll come out of
the back end of testing. Everyone thinks they've got a
bit of an idea as to everyone sits. I don't
think that picture is going to emerge until probably four
or five rounds in. Now. Melbourne's such a strange track
to open the season as far as getting a red
on a your rule set goes. So, yeah, you were
talking before, how there's some teams that I was going
to say, turn the tap off a twenty twenty five
(05:58):
and not even sure it was turned one Aston Martin
or Williams after about round three when they went ooh,
our car's fast. But it's going to take us some
time to understand what Melbourne means next year. It's going
to take us some time later in the season to
look back at Melbourne and go, ah, that was a
portion of what was to come, or that was such
an outlier that it bears no relevance to the season
(06:20):
that follows. So super interesting to see how that shakes out.
But one of the other things you mentioned before is
that Melbourne's been this debut site for so many of
the great drivers over the history of the Australian Grand
Prix at Albert Park. But it's not often that we
get a new team and that's going to be super
interesting and I dare say there'll be a rather large
(06:41):
contingentive hotel rooms being booked by Cadillac Credit Cards in
the short term in Melbourne because now that we know
that it's going to be the it's going to be
the first race of twenty twenty five, I'm sure all
the good and great of Cadillact will be down there
for that very very big moment when they become this
Wealth team.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, exactly right, and means we'll have a cross at
least two categories, with Supercars being on the calendar as well.
The General Motors and Ford Rivalry continuing forward partnering with
red Bull Power Trains next year for red Bull's in
house power unit project. And it seems like over the
last year or so, for as long as Ford's been
involved there, they've been increasingly involved there. I think it's
(07:19):
fair to say, having started at what looked like really
just a bit of a branding exercise. It's increasingly become
a technical partnership. Don't know how much will be interesting
to see actually once they do start, how much where
that division sits for me at the moment, and the
way they still try and salad is it's more advisory
and using their tools and their knowledge there rather than
actually being hands on in the construction of these engines.
(07:42):
I'll be interested to see when we get to next
year how much real involvement Ford has and whether we
do start to consider this or of a fifty to
fifty project or where that division lies. That's its own
sort of fun element of next year, because the engines
will be a big part of this. You know, we
could cast our minds back quite a long time now
to when we last change the engine formula and it
was I mean that was much more significant naturally ASPIRATEDB
(08:03):
eights that had been the same for quite a long time,
to the power units we know today. And it was
all over the shot, which is why they're banking on
so much testing next year. And it'll be interesting to
see if the same thing happens.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, you remember twenty fourteen we got to the Australian
Grand Prix and very famously Red Bull hadn't completed a
race distance. Yes, that's a four preseason testing. The car
just kept blowing itself to pieces. And that was Daniel
Ricardo's first year with Red Bull, and I think one
of the most surprising aspects of him finishing second in
that twenty fourteen Australian Grand Prix and then losing that
podium was I think they were all astonished the car
(08:36):
even got to the end because during preseason testing, you
remember Sebastian Vattal I think retired about three laps into
that race, and everyone said, well, of course, because that's
what they've done the whole way through a very extensive
preseason testing program. We'd come off four seasons of Red
Bull domination. Sebastian Battle won the last nine races of
twenty thirteen for Red Bull. Then we get to Melbourne
(08:56):
to restart this new engine formula. Red Bull's absolutely nowhere
and Mercedes wipes the floor with everybody for a year,
which we certainly didn't see coming twelve months prior. So
I think that's really interesting when you look at it
in the context of what's going to happen for twenty six.
And we talk about this being a clean sheet of paper,
there's recent history that does show you that the whole
thing can be completely turned upside down season on season
(09:18):
for whichever manufacturer gets it right in the background now
and then deploys that on the track. For twenty six
Mercedes weren't winning, you know, they won a race. They
weren't winning races plural In twenty thirteen and then for
what the best part of the next three seasons, they
basically won every single Grand Prix that Daniel mccardino didn't
win over those couple of seasons. He was the outlier
(09:39):
and it was became a Hamilton Rosberg World Championship for
a couple of years, just overnight. So that's what makes
next year so interesting, the start of the story. But
it could be a really different story to what we've
become accustomed to in recent times.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And Melbourne will get the right to host all of
that at the start of the calendar. The calendar, just
to sum this one up, looks pretty similar this year's one.
It is missing Imola, as had been for s shadow.
No one wants to talk about that openly for whatever reason,
but its contract has not been renewed, at least at
this point. It will be the final Grand Prix in Barcelona,
though we expect that race in Madrid to get the
Spanish Grand Prix title if in fact it happens. I suppose,
(10:12):
and also the final Dutch Grand Prix, organizer of Zandward
electing not to have the contract extended beyond next year,
largely because of the cost of hosting a Grand Prix,
so that'll be a more significant party than it already is.
Looking at how that race is run, I suspect next year,
although we still of course get their second last race
later this year.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I'm still curious as to, you know, what that paddic
at Zandvortz, like, how they're going to fit a twelve
four Bula one team and then they can barely fit
eleven of the bed there at the moment, so they
might have to take turns or something. I'm not sure
what's going to happen there, but it would be the
smallest paddic on the f on calendar I would have thought,
and it's an effort to get everything in there at
the best of time, so Cadillac might be under a
tarpaull it out in the car park, but they can
(10:53):
deal with that next year.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Let's move on now to Move of the Week, brought
to you by Shannon's Man. Now, it's funny how a calendar,
speaking of calendars, have been moving in some kind of
alignments this year. F one off MotoGP and supercars on.
It's the opposite. This weekend, just F one and then
we're back to it the following weekend. I know you
kept a keen eye on MotoGP proceedings over the course
of the weekend, So what's your move of the week.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You can always tell whether we've come off a motor
GP weekend or an F one weekend when we're doing
one of these podcasts, because you're the guy that's looking
bright eyed and bushytail today and I look like a
man who didn't really sleep for three days, which is
pretty much correct after doing Moto GP at Aragon last weekend.
But Move of the Week, I could say that moving
Aragon three months forward in the calendar for where it
normally is probably deserves Move of the Week. But I'm
(11:38):
going to go with I'm getting a little bit lateral
with these moves. I'm going with a move from hopeless
I'm going with a move from hopeless to hopeful because
that was pretty much Piccabanyaya's Aragon Grand Prix. Now, you
would have seen this on the weekend. He qualified reasonably well,
started in fourth place, He finished twelfth in the sprint
on complete merit. Nothing strange happened run off, no one
(12:01):
punted him, nothing like that. He was just really really
slow and really really uneasy with the way that bike
was handling. And we've seen over the course of this
year he's really struggling for front end feel on that bike.
And Peco's one of those riders that I've said this before.
He needs to understand what's beneath him in order to
push it, and he's not prepared to push it when
he doesn't, and he's been completely lost with that Decati
(12:22):
for the best part of this season. What a difference
twenty four hours make. They put a bigger front brake
disc on his bike for the race day, which came
about four hundred grams heavier apparently, and the disc is
fifteen millimeters smaller. The weight distribution of that bike and
his ability to push it into the corners. All of
a sudden, he's fighting for podium places. He's up there
(12:42):
with Alex Marquez, he's fighting off Pedro Costa. He finishes
a very, very credible third in the Grand Prix. Now
I'm not saying a fifteen millimeter to break disc turns
him from being it also ran into a championship contender,
but he actually looked like Peco Baniel this weekend for
the first time all season, and he's two far behind
Mark Marquees to probably challenge for this year's championship without
(13:03):
Mark helping him. But now I seem to think there
might be a roadback for him to be more like
he was in twenty twenty four when he was absolutely fantastic.
And he won't win the championship, but I think he's
going to be challenging for race wins because he's got
his confidence back, and a confident Peko is a very
very fast Peko. And so that's my move of the week.
It's a move back to a guy who's a two
time world champion being a contender for race wins again,
(13:25):
because we've not really seen that all season. So I
know that's taking the move of the week a little
bit left field for this podcast, but that's why I'm here.
You probably won't have something as convoluted as that in mind,
but I'm curious to see where you're going.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, I was tempted to go with the Moto GP
move because I really enjoyed watching the sprint when Mark
Markez didn't have a great start but inevitably gotten to
the lead. The commentary line that's the end of the
competition with den Labs still to go on to go
to the lead. He's really appreciated that. But no, I
will stick with Sufikse and I've got a couple of contenders,
and I think I've said a lot of leader. I
think in a really close second place. I want to
go with Ryan Woods, pass on teammate Chas Mosta in
(14:00):
race one of the weekend on the polsit of chasms
that I should say, as well as his teammate for
his first win. I thought it was a really great
which was a great breakthrough weekend in fact, couple of
rounds because it was his first podium last time out
in Tasmania as well, but this weekend obviously the first
poll and the first victory on a weekend it was
otherwise pretty significantly compromised by technical problems, but I thought
(14:21):
that was a great moment for him. Obviously he's a
young gun rising through the ranks. Were really starting to
see his potential this year. An emotional win as well,
but I think beating him on purely the emotional stakes
and going with old hand at the sport. James Courtney's
podium finish at the end of the weekend iigus for
a couple of reasons. One not really expecting to see
him on the podium very much this year racing for BRT,
(14:43):
although they're slowly on the up, getting to grips with
the gentry regulations as well. But I really liked in
particularly his description of this moment after the race, which
was it was a safety card that brought him into contention,
so that that's part of it. Then obviously needed the
pace from there, but he passed Ryan Wood as it happens,
to get into third plays but then kind of played
with him a little bit to make sure cam Waterers
(15:05):
could come and then battle Ryan and allow James Courtney
to get away and hold onto that third place. He
said that racecraft that comes with experience was really crucial
to make sure that could happen, because cam Water is
obviously quick enough over the course of this weekend. And
he was also super emotional about it, not just because
of his contribution to getting the team out of the podium,
but also this is his last season. It's a very
long goodbye to with this year. He knows every time
(15:26):
he goes to a racetrack it's his last one. I
thought that was a really nice moment for him and
for the supercars, and I really liked again his description
of the way he executed it. So for me, that
is move of the week.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, it's a good one, and I like an old
guy still got it story. That's one of my favorite
things in motorsport where someone you know that the clock
is about to strike twelve, but they've still got that
one magic performance left in them, or you know, using
their brain to get a result that perhaps the younger
version of themselves might not have been able to achieve.
I love that sort of stuff. So very good, very
good suggestion by you. Enjoyed that.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yes, he was a good one. Let's move on now, Matt,
to a subject completely different. We have already talked a
little bit about twenty twenty six in the sense of
the calendar and what we're expecting, but we're now getting
into silly season territory, I think because we can just
a outspy the mid season break at the end of
July typically when we start talking about a lot of
driver contracts. Now there aren't a lot of seats open
in Formula One, but some really key ones and perhaps
(16:20):
more to the point, some key drivers who are on
the sidelines looking to get back onto the grid. Veltri
Botas and Sergio Perez at the very top of that list.
About five hundred odd Grand Prix starts between them. I
think it's sixteen wins between them if memory serves as well.
So a lot of experience there that has been sidelined
on a year that I think we've seen maybe a
little bit of an over correction in terms of how
(16:41):
much youth entered the sport this year after last year.
Absolutely note, nobody on the grid to start the year.
All good to see. Nonetheless, the advantage for them is
that there are two new seats on the grid next
year with Cadillac. As we've already mentioned, it seems like
they are in pretty tight competition for potentially just one seat,
depending on whether or not the team wants to go
(17:02):
with youth in the mix there. I want to start
with Cadillac because then we can look perhaps at LP
in a second where it seems like the second seat
might be very much in play, depending on how you
want to read it. But Cadillac clearly does need some
experience there, doesn't it. This is something that they've been
increasingly open about that they want an experienced hand to
help guide them. They've got a lot of experienced personnel
(17:23):
in the team. But is there any one of these
two drivers between bot Ass and Pairs that stands out
to you as a leader in contention for this seat.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, it's funny, it's an a orb question, and my
answers seat just to be awkward for you mostly, I
think so. So much of this will come down to
what is their philosophy on the second seat. Does it
need to be a young driver and an experienced driver,
does it need to be an American? What is the
makeup of the second seat? And then that, to me
(17:51):
determines which of the two veterans that are available that
are in contention for this that you take. Because I
think you know, there's a certain commercial appeal I guess
that comes with Sergio Perez that we've seen before where
the whole raft of Mexican related businesses that are ready
to jump on board that will give the project some
credibility and a good kicker log than the cars will
look terrific, and so on and so forth. Valterie botas
(18:12):
to me, is a guy who the speed depends on
whether you're whether you've got an arm round his shoulder
or not. I think if he's made to feel wanted
and loved in an integral part of the project, I
still think that his potential pace is probably greater. Now.
Whether that ticks the box of being a team leader
and a front man, which is almost more important for
(18:34):
a startup like this is remains to be seen. But
to my mind, I think they almost need to employ
the second driver first, if that makes sense. I know
it sounds a little bit convoluted, but depending on the
identity of your second driver, I think that will you
know that second driver is not going to have all
the boxes ticked, and I think what boxes are left
unchecked will then determine which of those two veterans is
probably best suited for the first the first driver role,
(18:57):
you do need an experience head that's pretty clear gives
you some instant credibility, but I think each of them
have divergent strengths, and the second driver identity for me,
probably answers the question of the first one. So I
know I haven't answered your question, So now'll throw it
back on you. If you're if you've got the check
book at Cadillac, where are you going here? Because they're
both in a similar age and range of their careers,
(19:18):
they've done a similar amount of winning. But they're not
the same driver, are they?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
No, they're not' The've got some pretty significant differences between them.
To my mind, Feltrie Bodas, if you're getting him, you're
getting him because he's got really great pure speed over
a one lap really was for me to We've got
twenty pole positions, I think, all of them against Lewis Hamilton.
Don't think you had any before you arrive in Mercedes
and Lewis Hamilton the most prolific qualifier of all time.
That's nothing to sneeze at. Where Sergio Perez, certainly in
(19:43):
his midfield days, I think they're sort of now we're
looking a little bit back on his Red Bull tenure
in a slightly different light now that it's clear that
almost no one is able to race in the second scene,
and that team doesn't totally discount everything that happened there.
But I think it means we can perhaps bring to
the four a little bit more those great midfield performances
we saw before he turned up to Red Bull Racing,
(20:03):
or maybe even some of those performances we saw in
twenty twenty one when he was kind of thereabouts for
most of the year, certainly didn't have those kind of
form slumps we saw more reasonably so those race performances.
Really squeezing a lot out of a midfield car and
limited opportunities is sort of his strength in that equation.
You know, there's a reason you would pick either of them,
because you do want to know. If you want to
(20:24):
exactly where a car is, you'd go with Botas, right, Like,
if you want someone to absolutely validate the developments putting
being placed on that car, or in this case of
the first car you've ever made, you'd go Botas. But
if you want to make the most of your opportunities
in the race, you'd kind of pick pairs. So why
I think this is such an interesting position. It seems
to me that Paris has been the front runner for
a little while. You know, we talked to Mario and
(20:44):
Dready about this on the podcast a couple of weeks
ago now, and he didn't say it, but he said,
you'd absolutely he absolutely has to be in the mix.
I think where his words said your pairs or words
to that effect, not least because if you're big selling
yourself as the American team, obviously by the America that
means the United States, it obviously tremendous Mexican population in
the US, Mexico as borders the US. Like there's an
(21:07):
affinity there that works, that makes sense when you're considering
Perez is not only support a base, but sponsorship dollars.
So for me, I can kind of see the argument
for pairs maybe being a little bit stronger. Pretty lineball call.
But what I think is kind of interesting here is
there's this second seat option now opening up potentially at
Alpine with Flavio Butore for the first time he said, well,
(21:28):
I go Colopindo hasn't been that great so far in
replacing Jack Dow And maybe that means Jack comes back.
Who knows, Maybe that means they put Paul Aaron the
car later on, who knows. So there's a long way
to go on that road, but it clearly means that
there's a bit more up in the air for next year,
doesn't it. And it kind of also means that if
one of these two drivers misses out next to year,
Perez or Botas, there's this additional option. I thought it
(21:50):
was interesting Botas talking to Beyond the Grid the F
one podcast saying it was an option, saying there had
been talks there last year and a little bit this
year as well, but then also mentioned, well, I don't
have heaps of personal spongor, but I have some for
the right opportunity. Is this sort of I think even
between Paris and Botas a little bit of uncertainty about
taking the plunge there.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's also super interesting with Alpine as a team is
of course they're going to be running Mercedes power units
next year. We talked before about twenty fourteen where it
became this engine formula overnight where all of a sudden,
rebel weren't winning anything because they had a I can't
even remember what the branding of an Infinity tag or
something or other. I mean, I know that it broke
a lot, and so that wasn't really helping them at
(22:31):
that point, and Mercedes became the engine to have, so
being an Mercedes customer next year with the potential upside
that that could bring for someone like Alpine. You remember
in the early days of the V six turbo hybrids
that Williams that have been pretty much know where the
old Martini liveried Williams with Massa and Botas. Funnily enough,
they suddenly were really competitive in the early stages of
that new engine formula. The chassis was fine, it was
(22:55):
no better than a midfield chassis. The engine was so
good relative to everything else. All of a sudden they're
sniper for podiums where they hadn't been for years. So
you're thinking, okay, yes, it'd be nice to get in
on the ground floor where a brand new start up
and you can put your imprint on that team. If
you end up at Alpen, you might have a car
that all of a sudden is sniping for potential podiums
and you could perhaps look a little bit better than
(23:16):
the team potentially is so for either of these two drivers,
I don't know if there's necessarily a wrong answer, but
one of them is going to be more right than
the other. And that's the hardest part to try. And
you know you've got to thread the needle with these two,
don't you. If I was framing the market, I would
say that Perez would be the favorite for all of
the reasons that you mentioned, plus perhaps the commercial appeal
and something you just said then I think is really
(23:38):
relevant in that when Sergio Prez was so poor next
to Max Fstappen last year and even in twenty twenty three,
to a degree, everyone just shrug their shoulders and said, look,
he's washed, it's done with him. But as time has
gone on by, his stocks have risen through obsensia in
a lot of ways because he's not been there. And
now you get to see how much all of the
(23:59):
other drivers that have the misfortune of b Max Vestappen's
teammate struggle in a car that's really, really difficult. So
Perez has almost looked better by not doing anything, and
perhaps that puts him in the box seat, But to
my mind, I'm actually more interested, I've got to say
in who gets the second seat and what that means
going forward, because whoever you choose out of Botas and Perez,
(24:19):
they're only a short term solution. They're not going to
be there for the long haul. They might help to
shape the future of that team, but they're not going
to be part of it necessarily.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see with this one.
Lands Pot has has suggested by August some of these
decisions will be made, so we'll have to wait too
long to find out. But maybe you'd like to predict it,
Matt in the Crystal Ball for to you buy complete
home filtration before we wrap this one up Formula one
in action this weekend, you can predictor in twenty six
you could have predicted the calendar last week. Neither of
us did. That's fine, what are you going with?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
We couldn't even predict when the calendar was coming out.
Thet's where we're going, But well, I'm gonna the crystal
ball is pointing me towards Montreal and it's the sphere
at the hairpend That looks a bit like a crystal ball,
doesn't it. But I'm going to I'm going with the
Redux of Suzuka and Imola here, and I'm saying Max
Ofstapan's going to win the Canadian Grand Prix. He's won
(25:10):
the last three, so that's not exactly going out on
a limb. But it feels that this is a weird
track and that look, McLaren hasn't won here since twenty twelve.
How's this for a stat? Ferrari has won in Canada
once in twenty eighteen, since the last of Michael Schumacher's
hat trick in two thousand and four. As that for
a stat for you? So you know that's a four
(25:30):
to three TV standard death. That's how far back that's going.
But so I have a feeling that this is a circuit.
It's a weird circuit Canada. It's all about how you
ride the curbs on so many points of this track.
Max has been tremendous around here in the past. It's
also really narrow. It's a really hard track on which
to pass big drs zone down the back straight there,
(25:51):
but we've known that car has been strong in that
regard in the past. Now it's an asterisk. I think
if Max kulath I was on pole, which he certainly can,
I think he wins the race in a sauzuo Uca
slash Imla style Grand Prix win. I don't think it
means he's in the fight for the Championship. I just
don't think he is at all. But he's going to
win occasional races for the rest of twenty twenty five,
and this strikes me as being one of them. But
(26:12):
what is the spherical ball telling you?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Well, last week I predicted that it was going to
be Filipe Drugovich in the Aston Martin car. That doesn't
seem like it's going to happen. Sounds like Blancetroll is
going to make it back for his home race, and
good for him if that's the case. My prediction, bold
as it is, is that he's going to come back
and be triumphed. It's gonna be a little bit of pain.
That's okay, less pain than he apparently was last time.
He's going to qualify sixteenth on the grid. I going
(26:36):
to forget that he was even involved Grand Prix. Pity
for him, but at least he gets to participate. But
that's where he's on average been qualifying this year, just
a head or just out of Q one, I should say,
so good things in store for him.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Always good to aim high for your home races.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well maybe you can get into Q two. Let's see
how he goes. Good luck to hear my hope. Of
course he is feeling better. The surgery has been a
success on that risk. But that's all the time we
have for pit Talk today. You can subscribe to pittok
wherever you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave
us a rating and review as well. This weekend is
the Formula one Canadian Grand Prix, with lights out at
four am Eastern Time on Monday. If it makes you
(27:17):
feel any better, qualifyings at six am on Sunday, so
if you really want to watch something live, that might
be best. But you can keep up to date with
all the lates stef One, Supercars and rodogp news at
Foxsports dot com dot Au from Matt Clayton and me,
Michael Amanato. Thanks very much for your company. We'll catch
you next week.
Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannon's.
(00:03):
On today's episode, Formula one announces it's twenty twenty six calendar,
with Australia as the first round and the twenty twenty
six Silly Season hots up ahead of this weekend's Canadian
Grand Prix. My name's Michael Amonado. It's great to have
your company and the company of my co host. You
knows exactly where he'll be on the eighth of March
twenty twenty six. It's Matt Clayton.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello, Michael, good to join you, Good to join everybody,
and happy Australia Day. Has I'm calling today because yes,
we are first place on the calendar for twenty twenty six,
our righteous place on the calendar, where we like to be,
and of all the years to have the first Grand
Prix the season, I don't think there's been a better
one to have the first Grand Prix this season for
quite some time. The next year where we've got effectively
(00:44):
a brand new formula that's going to debut at Albert
Park and a new team and all sorts of newness.
So it's a good year to be in pole position
and very much looking forward to it once we get
through the remaining three hundred and forty seven races of
this season.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It is weird how that Formula one announces these calendars
so early. We get this little bit of all twenty
twenty six, you get all the little sugar hits from it,
the first race in Madrid. If they finished building the
circuit in time, I hope they've only just started and
all that kind of thing, and then you're gonna go, oh,
hang on, there's still more than half of this year
to go. It's the championship to decide.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
As you would say, it's the entire two thousand and
six season still remaining in twenty twenty five. That's always
one of your favorites, and you actually say it because
it's correct, such as the expectionon of Formula one these days.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, it'll be the earliest Australian Grand Prix since almost
thousand six five, actually no longer than that was the
last time we held a race. This year, it'll be
interesting because we've got used to we're just talking about
this before we started recording. We've got used to later
certainly Australian Grand Prix considering it had that run where
it wasn't really the first race of the season, but
also seasons generally starting a little bit later in the year.
(01:51):
We're not talking about a lot couple of weeks here
or there, but as I am at you're based in Melbourne,
you know that a couple of weeks in March can
make a tremendous difference in climatic conditions at Albert Park.
We've got used to kind of well, obviously this year
was very mixed conditions for the Grand Prix, but it
can be very up and down. But you know, to
my mind, an eighth of March, first weekend of March
debut brings much greater risk of really quite a hot.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Race, oh massively. So when we're talking about this off air,
I couldn't remember the exact year, but it was when
Honda had its second team, super Aguri, one of the
great motorsport names in Formula One for a while there,
and they turned up for the first race in Melbourne
with an all black livery and all black overalls. And
I think it was about thirty seven degrees on race
day and I remember looking at Takubasato as coming back
(02:37):
from the driver's parade and just shook my head. I said, you,
poor bastard, because this is going to be a very,
very difficult Sunday. And he just looked and said who
decided this? We both laughed about it. I think both
their drivers melted by about half distance. But yeah, I
mean Melbourne. Melbourne summers tend to skew later, I reckon
as the decades have gone on. So yeah, packtic onscreen
for next March. It's going to be hot.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yes, I like the idea that maybe teams will need
a regular livery and a Melbourne livery if we're going
to move deeper and deeper towards summer where everyone just
runs white reflective cars and everyone just as cool as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Good luck with that.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
There's something in that. But at a timely moment, as
we are in this weekend break between the Canadian between
the triple Head we just had and this weekend's Canadian
Grand Prix, to reflect on well the significance of twenty
twenty six, because while it's still a long way to go,
the significant changes coming next year to the regulations. We're
talking obviously the chassis regulations, also the engine regulations are
(03:35):
things the teams are already well turning their attention to
some teams Williams most publicly aren't even thinking about this
year's car anymore. So you see there is reason to
start talking about twenty twenty six early. For the front runners,
the decision making is very much in our front of mind.
How much are we going to allow the tap to
continue running on twenty twenty five, how many weeks perhaps
even days for some of them, and how much are
(03:56):
we going to simply commit to getting ahead next year?
Because the changes are that big it means the Australian
Grand Prix will be the first round for these big changes.
A lot of uncertainty about the effect that's going to
have on the racing. There always is that kind of
trepidation or cautious cautiousness for some teams that had of
big rule changes. That's part of the politics of F one.
(04:16):
But Matt, these are really pretty significant changes to the
way we understand formula and today. The ground effects here certainly,
but even if we think about the regulations before that,
because we're having this new concept of movable body work,
depending where you are on the circuit, really different idea
about what these cars should.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Look like from next year well, and even how they race,
and I think that's the key thing for me is that,
you know, we always talk about Albert Parkers being a
bit of an outlier, and that's a semi permanent street
circuit in a public park. The only one that's kind
of equivalent is Canada. Funny that we're mentioning Canada before
because it's a similar setup in terms of being close
to the city, semi permanent street circuit and what have you.
(04:54):
It's definitely not representative of modern day Formula one. And
as much as we like in Australi season opener, you
look at the way this calendar has shaken out, it's
going to take some time for the early returns on
what these twenty twenty six rule changes have done, simply
because I think these first three rounds are pretty unusual
as far as Formula one goes. We know that China's
an unusual circuit for a modern track Suzuka. Part of
(05:17):
what we love about Suzuka is that it is so
odd school and Melbourne's a really unusual street track. So
I think we you know that there's going to be
some sort of overreaction positive or negative to how the
Australian Grand Prix plays out as far as these twenty
six rules go, and who's good and who's not, who's
got the concept right and who's got the concept wrong.
I think what we've now got is next year will
(05:37):
be this sort of slow burn. You'll come out of
the back end of testing. Everyone thinks they've got a
bit of an idea as to everyone sits. I don't
think that picture is going to emerge until probably four
or five rounds in. Now. Melbourne's such a strange track
to open the season as far as getting a red
on a your rule set goes. So, yeah, you were
talking before, how there's some teams that I was going
to say, turn the tap off a twenty twenty five
(05:58):
and not even sure it was turned one Aston Martin
or Williams after about round three when they went ooh,
our car's fast. But it's going to take us some
time to understand what Melbourne means next year. It's going
to take us some time later in the season to
look back at Melbourne and go, ah, that was a
portion of what was to come, or that was such
an outlier that it bears no relevance to the season
(06:20):
that follows. So super interesting to see how that shakes out.
But one of the other things you mentioned before is
that Melbourne's been this debut site for so many of
the great drivers over the history of the Australian Grand
Prix at Albert Park. But it's not often that we
get a new team and that's going to be super
interesting and I dare say there'll be a rather large
(06:41):
contingentive hotel rooms being booked by Cadillac Credit Cards in
the short term in Melbourne because now that we know
that it's going to be the it's going to be
the first race of twenty twenty five, I'm sure all
the good and great of Cadillact will be down there
for that very very big moment when they become this
Wealth team.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, exactly right, and means we'll have a cross at
least two categories, with Supercars being on the calendar as well.
The General Motors and Ford Rivalry continuing forward partnering with
red Bull Power Trains next year for red Bull's in
house power unit project. And it seems like over the
last year or so, for as long as Ford's been
involved there, they've been increasingly involved there. I think it's
(07:19):
fair to say, having started at what looked like really
just a bit of a branding exercise. It's increasingly become
a technical partnership. Don't know how much will be interesting
to see actually once they do start, how much where
that division sits for me at the moment, and the
way they still try and salad is it's more advisory
and using their tools and their knowledge there rather than
actually being hands on in the construction of these engines.
(07:42):
I'll be interested to see when we get to next
year how much real involvement Ford has and whether we
do start to consider this or of a fifty to
fifty project or where that division lies. That's its own
sort of fun element of next year, because the engines
will be a big part of this. You know, we
could cast our minds back quite a long time now
to when we last change the engine formula and it
was I mean that was much more significant naturally ASPIRATEDB
(08:03):
eights that had been the same for quite a long time,
to the power units we know today. And it was
all over the shot, which is why they're banking on
so much testing next year. And it'll be interesting to
see if the same thing happens.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, you remember twenty fourteen we got to the Australian
Grand Prix and very famously Red Bull hadn't completed a
race distance. Yes, that's a four preseason testing. The car
just kept blowing itself to pieces. And that was Daniel
Ricardo's first year with Red Bull, and I think one
of the most surprising aspects of him finishing second in
that twenty fourteen Australian Grand Prix and then losing that
podium was I think they were all astonished the car
(08:36):
even got to the end because during preseason testing, you
remember Sebastian Vattal I think retired about three laps into
that race, and everyone said, well, of course, because that's
what they've done the whole way through a very extensive
preseason testing program. We'd come off four seasons of Red
Bull domination. Sebastian Battle won the last nine races of
twenty thirteen for Red Bull. Then we get to Melbourne
(08:56):
to restart this new engine formula. Red Bull's absolutely nowhere
and Mercedes wipes the floor with everybody for a year,
which we certainly didn't see coming twelve months prior. So
I think that's really interesting when you look at it
in the context of what's going to happen for twenty six.
And we talk about this being a clean sheet of paper,
there's recent history that does show you that the whole
thing can be completely turned upside down season on season
(09:18):
for whichever manufacturer gets it right in the background now
and then deploys that on the track. For twenty six
Mercedes weren't winning, you know, they won a race. They
weren't winning races plural In twenty thirteen and then for
what the best part of the next three seasons, they
basically won every single Grand Prix that Daniel mccardino didn't
win over those couple of seasons. He was the outlier
(09:39):
and it was became a Hamilton Rosberg World Championship for
a couple of years, just overnight. So that's what makes
next year so interesting, the start of the story. But
it could be a really different story to what we've
become accustomed to in recent times.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And Melbourne will get the right to host all of
that at the start of the calendar. The calendar, just
to sum this one up, looks pretty similar this year's one.
It is missing Imola, as had been for s shadow.
No one wants to talk about that openly for whatever reason,
but its contract has not been renewed, at least at
this point. It will be the final Grand Prix in Barcelona,
though we expect that race in Madrid to get the
Spanish Grand Prix title if in fact it happens. I suppose,
(10:12):
and also the final Dutch Grand Prix, organizer of Zandward
electing not to have the contract extended beyond next year,
largely because of the cost of hosting a Grand Prix,
so that'll be a more significant party than it already is.
Looking at how that race is run, I suspect next year,
although we still of course get their second last race
later this year.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I'm still curious as to, you know, what that paddic
at Zandvortz, like, how they're going to fit a twelve
four Bula one team and then they can barely fit
eleven of the bed there at the moment, so they
might have to take turns or something. I'm not sure
what's going to happen there, but it would be the
smallest paddic on the f on calendar I would have thought,
and it's an effort to get everything in there at
the best of time, so Cadillac might be under a
tarpaull it out in the car park, but they can
(10:53):
deal with that next year.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Let's move on now to Move of the Week, brought
to you by Shannon's Man. Now, it's funny how a calendar,
speaking of calendars, have been moving in some kind of
alignments this year. F one off MotoGP and supercars on.
It's the opposite. This weekend, just F one and then
we're back to it the following weekend. I know you
kept a keen eye on MotoGP proceedings over the course
of the weekend, So what's your move of the week.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You can always tell whether we've come off a motor
GP weekend or an F one weekend when we're doing
one of these podcasts, because you're the guy that's looking
bright eyed and bushytail today and I look like a
man who didn't really sleep for three days, which is
pretty much correct after doing Moto GP at Aragon last weekend.
But Move of the Week, I could say that moving
Aragon three months forward in the calendar for where it
normally is probably deserves Move of the Week. But I'm
(11:38):
going to go with I'm getting a little bit lateral
with these moves. I'm going with a move from hopeless
I'm going with a move from hopeless to hopeful because
that was pretty much Piccabanyaya's Aragon Grand Prix. Now, you
would have seen this on the weekend. He qualified reasonably well,
started in fourth place, He finished twelfth in the sprint
on complete merit. Nothing strange happened run off, no one
(12:01):
punted him, nothing like that. He was just really really
slow and really really uneasy with the way that bike
was handling. And we've seen over the course of this
year he's really struggling for front end feel on that bike.
And Peco's one of those riders that I've said this before.
He needs to understand what's beneath him in order to
push it, and he's not prepared to push it when
he doesn't, and he's been completely lost with that Decati
(12:22):
for the best part of this season. What a difference
twenty four hours make. They put a bigger front brake
disc on his bike for the race day, which came
about four hundred grams heavier apparently, and the disc is
fifteen millimeters smaller. The weight distribution of that bike and
his ability to push it into the corners. All of
a sudden, he's fighting for podium places. He's up there
(12:42):
with Alex Marquez, he's fighting off Pedro Costa. He finishes
a very, very credible third in the Grand Prix. Now
I'm not saying a fifteen millimeter to break disc turns
him from being it also ran into a championship contender,
but he actually looked like Peco Baniel this weekend for
the first time all season, and he's two far behind
Mark Marquees to probably challenge for this year's championship without
(13:03):
Mark helping him. But now I seem to think there
might be a roadback for him to be more like
he was in twenty twenty four when he was absolutely fantastic.
And he won't win the championship, but I think he's
going to be challenging for race wins because he's got
his confidence back, and a confident Peko is a very
very fast Peko. And so that's my move of the week.
It's a move back to a guy who's a two
time world champion being a contender for race wins again,
(13:25):
because we've not really seen that all season. So I
know that's taking the move of the week a little
bit left field for this podcast, but that's why I'm here.
You probably won't have something as convoluted as that in mind,
but I'm curious to see where you're going.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, I was tempted to go with the Moto GP
move because I really enjoyed watching the sprint when Mark
Markez didn't have a great start but inevitably gotten to
the lead. The commentary line that's the end of the
competition with den Labs still to go on to go
to the lead. He's really appreciated that. But no, I
will stick with Sufikse and I've got a couple of contenders,
and I think I've said a lot of leader. I
think in a really close second place. I want to
go with Ryan Woods, pass on teammate Chas Mosta in
(14:00):
race one of the weekend on the polsit of chasms
that I should say, as well as his teammate for
his first win. I thought it was a really great
which was a great breakthrough weekend in fact, couple of
rounds because it was his first podium last time out
in Tasmania as well, but this weekend obviously the first
poll and the first victory on a weekend it was
otherwise pretty significantly compromised by technical problems, but I thought
(14:21):
that was a great moment for him. Obviously he's a
young gun rising through the ranks. Were really starting to
see his potential this year. An emotional win as well,
but I think beating him on purely the emotional stakes
and going with old hand at the sport. James Courtney's
podium finish at the end of the weekend iigus for
a couple of reasons. One not really expecting to see
him on the podium very much this year racing for BRT,
(14:43):
although they're slowly on the up, getting to grips with
the gentry regulations as well. But I really liked in
particularly his description of this moment after the race, which
was it was a safety card that brought him into contention,
so that that's part of it. Then obviously needed the
pace from there, but he passed Ryan Wood as it happens,
to get into third plays but then kind of played
with him a little bit to make sure cam Waterers
(15:05):
could come and then battle Ryan and allow James Courtney
to get away and hold onto that third place. He
said that racecraft that comes with experience was really crucial
to make sure that could happen, because cam Water is
obviously quick enough over the course of this weekend. And
he was also super emotional about it, not just because
of his contribution to getting the team out of the podium,
but also this is his last season. It's a very
long goodbye to with this year. He knows every time
(15:26):
he goes to a racetrack it's his last one. I
thought that was a really nice moment for him and
for the supercars, and I really liked again his description
of the way he executed it. So for me, that
is move of the week.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, it's a good one, and I like an old
guy still got it story. That's one of my favorite
things in motorsport where someone you know that the clock
is about to strike twelve, but they've still got that
one magic performance left in them, or you know, using
their brain to get a result that perhaps the younger
version of themselves might not have been able to achieve.
I love that sort of stuff. So very good, very
good suggestion by you. Enjoyed that.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yes, he was a good one. Let's move on now, Matt,
to a subject completely different. We have already talked a
little bit about twenty twenty six in the sense of
the calendar and what we're expecting, but we're now getting
into silly season territory, I think because we can just
a outspy the mid season break at the end of
July typically when we start talking about a lot of
driver contracts. Now there aren't a lot of seats open
in Formula One, but some really key ones and perhaps
(16:20):
more to the point, some key drivers who are on
the sidelines looking to get back onto the grid. Veltri
Botas and Sergio Perez at the very top of that list.
About five hundred odd Grand Prix starts between them. I
think it's sixteen wins between them if memory serves as well.
So a lot of experience there that has been sidelined
on a year that I think we've seen maybe a
little bit of an over correction in terms of how
(16:41):
much youth entered the sport this year after last year.
Absolutely note, nobody on the grid to start the year.
All good to see. Nonetheless, the advantage for them is
that there are two new seats on the grid next
year with Cadillac. As we've already mentioned, it seems like
they are in pretty tight competition for potentially just one seat,
depending on whether or not the team wants to go
(17:02):
with youth in the mix there. I want to start
with Cadillac because then we can look perhaps at LP
in a second where it seems like the second seat
might be very much in play, depending on how you
want to read it. But Cadillac clearly does need some
experience there, doesn't it. This is something that they've been
increasingly open about that they want an experienced hand to
help guide them. They've got a lot of experienced personnel
(17:23):
in the team. But is there any one of these
two drivers between bot Ass and Pairs that stands out
to you as a leader in contention for this seat.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, it's funny, it's an a orb question, and my
answers seat just to be awkward for you mostly, I
think so. So much of this will come down to
what is their philosophy on the second seat. Does it
need to be a young driver and an experienced driver,
does it need to be an American? What is the
makeup of the second seat? And then that, to me
(17:51):
determines which of the two veterans that are available that
are in contention for this that you take. Because I
think you know, there's a certain commercial appeal I guess
that comes with Sergio Perez that we've seen before where
the whole raft of Mexican related businesses that are ready
to jump on board that will give the project some
credibility and a good kicker log than the cars will
look terrific, and so on and so forth. Valterie botas
(18:12):
to me, is a guy who the speed depends on
whether you're whether you've got an arm round his shoulder
or not. I think if he's made to feel wanted
and loved in an integral part of the project, I
still think that his potential pace is probably greater. Now.
Whether that ticks the box of being a team leader
and a front man, which is almost more important for
(18:34):
a startup like this is remains to be seen. But
to my mind, I think they almost need to employ
the second driver first, if that makes sense. I know
it sounds a little bit convoluted, but depending on the
identity of your second driver, I think that will you
know that second driver is not going to have all
the boxes ticked, and I think what boxes are left
unchecked will then determine which of those two veterans is
probably best suited for the first the first driver role,
(18:57):
you do need an experience head that's pretty clear gives
you some instant credibility, but I think each of them
have divergent strengths, and the second driver identity for me,
probably answers the question of the first one. So I
know I haven't answered your question, So now'll throw it
back on you. If you're if you've got the check
book at Cadillac, where are you going here? Because they're
both in a similar age and range of their careers,
(19:18):
they've done a similar amount of winning. But they're not
the same driver, are they?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
No, they're not' The've got some pretty significant differences between them.
To my mind, Feltrie Bodas, if you're getting him, you're
getting him because he's got really great pure speed over
a one lap really was for me to We've got
twenty pole positions, I think, all of them against Lewis Hamilton.
Don't think you had any before you arrive in Mercedes
and Lewis Hamilton the most prolific qualifier of all time.
That's nothing to sneeze at. Where Sergio Perez, certainly in
(19:43):
his midfield days, I think they're sort of now we're
looking a little bit back on his Red Bull tenure
in a slightly different light now that it's clear that
almost no one is able to race in the second scene,
and that team doesn't totally discount everything that happened there.
But I think it means we can perhaps bring to
the four a little bit more those great midfield performances
we saw before he turned up to Red Bull Racing,
(20:03):
or maybe even some of those performances we saw in
twenty twenty one when he was kind of thereabouts for
most of the year, certainly didn't have those kind of
form slumps we saw more reasonably so those race performances.
Really squeezing a lot out of a midfield car and
limited opportunities is sort of his strength in that equation.
You know, there's a reason you would pick either of them,
because you do want to know. If you want to
(20:24):
exactly where a car is, you'd go with Botas, right, Like,
if you want someone to absolutely validate the developments putting
being placed on that car, or in this case of
the first car you've ever made, you'd go Botas. But
if you want to make the most of your opportunities
in the race, you'd kind of pick pairs. So why
I think this is such an interesting position. It seems
to me that Paris has been the front runner for
a little while. You know, we talked to Mario and
(20:44):
Dready about this on the podcast a couple of weeks
ago now, and he didn't say it, but he said,
you'd absolutely he absolutely has to be in the mix.
I think where his words said your pairs or words
to that effect, not least because if you're big selling
yourself as the American team, obviously by the America that
means the United States, it obviously tremendous Mexican population in
the US, Mexico as borders the US. Like there's an
(21:07):
affinity there that works, that makes sense when you're considering
Perez is not only support a base, but sponsorship dollars.
So for me, I can kind of see the argument
for pairs maybe being a little bit stronger. Pretty lineball call.
But what I think is kind of interesting here is
there's this second seat option now opening up potentially at
Alpine with Flavio Butore for the first time he said, well,
(21:28):
I go Colopindo hasn't been that great so far in
replacing Jack Dow And maybe that means Jack comes back.
Who knows, Maybe that means they put Paul Aaron the
car later on, who knows. So there's a long way
to go on that road, but it clearly means that
there's a bit more up in the air for next year,
doesn't it. And it kind of also means that if
one of these two drivers misses out next to year,
Perez or Botas, there's this additional option. I thought it
(21:50):
was interesting Botas talking to Beyond the Grid the F
one podcast saying it was an option, saying there had
been talks there last year and a little bit this
year as well, but then also mentioned, well, I don't
have heaps of personal spongor, but I have some for
the right opportunity. Is this sort of I think even
between Paris and Botas a little bit of uncertainty about
taking the plunge there.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's also super interesting with Alpine as a team is
of course they're going to be running Mercedes power units
next year. We talked before about twenty fourteen where it
became this engine formula overnight where all of a sudden,
rebel weren't winning anything because they had a I can't
even remember what the branding of an Infinity tag or
something or other. I mean, I know that it broke
a lot, and so that wasn't really helping them at
(22:31):
that point, and Mercedes became the engine to have, so
being an Mercedes customer next year with the potential upside
that that could bring for someone like Alpine. You remember
in the early days of the V six turbo hybrids
that Williams that have been pretty much know where the
old Martini liveried Williams with Massa and Botas. Funnily enough,
they suddenly were really competitive in the early stages of
that new engine formula. The chassis was fine, it was
(22:55):
no better than a midfield chassis. The engine was so
good relative to everything else. All of a sudden they're
sniper for podiums where they hadn't been for years. So
you're thinking, okay, yes, it'd be nice to get in
on the ground floor where a brand new start up
and you can put your imprint on that team. If
you end up at Alpen, you might have a car
that all of a sudden is sniping for potential podiums
and you could perhaps look a little bit better than
(23:16):
the team potentially is so for either of these two drivers,
I don't know if there's necessarily a wrong answer, but
one of them is going to be more right than
the other. And that's the hardest part to try. And
you know you've got to thread the needle with these two,
don't you. If I was framing the market, I would
say that Perez would be the favorite for all of
the reasons that you mentioned, plus perhaps the commercial appeal
and something you just said then I think is really
(23:38):
relevant in that when Sergio Prez was so poor next
to Max Fstappen last year and even in twenty twenty three,
to a degree, everyone just shrug their shoulders and said, look,
he's washed, it's done with him. But as time has
gone on by, his stocks have risen through obsensia in
a lot of ways because he's not been there. And
now you get to see how much all of the
(23:59):
other drivers that have the misfortune of b Max Vestappen's
teammate struggle in a car that's really, really difficult. So
Perez has almost looked better by not doing anything, and
perhaps that puts him in the box seat, But to
my mind, I'm actually more interested, I've got to say
in who gets the second seat and what that means
going forward, because whoever you choose out of Botas and Perez,
(24:19):
they're only a short term solution. They're not going to
be there for the long haul. They might help to
shape the future of that team, but they're not going
to be part of it necessarily.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see with this one.
Lands Pot has has suggested by August some of these
decisions will be made, so we'll have to wait too
long to find out. But maybe you'd like to predict it,
Matt in the Crystal Ball for to you buy complete
home filtration before we wrap this one up Formula one
in action this weekend, you can predictor in twenty six
you could have predicted the calendar last week. Neither of
us did. That's fine, what are you going with?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
We couldn't even predict when the calendar was coming out.
Thet's where we're going, But well, I'm gonna the crystal
ball is pointing me towards Montreal and it's the sphere
at the hairpend That looks a bit like a crystal ball,
doesn't it. But I'm going to I'm going with the
Redux of Suzuka and Imola here, and I'm saying Max
Ofstapan's going to win the Canadian Grand Prix. He's won
(25:10):
the last three, so that's not exactly going out on
a limb. But it feels that this is a weird
track and that look, McLaren hasn't won here since twenty twelve.
How's this for a stat? Ferrari has won in Canada
once in twenty eighteen, since the last of Michael Schumacher's
hat trick in two thousand and four. As that for
a stat for you? So you know that's a four
(25:30):
to three TV standard death. That's how far back that's going.
But so I have a feeling that this is a circuit.
It's a weird circuit Canada. It's all about how you
ride the curbs on so many points of this track.
Max has been tremendous around here in the past. It's
also really narrow. It's a really hard track on which
to pass big drs zone down the back straight there,
(25:51):
but we've known that car has been strong in that
regard in the past. Now it's an asterisk. I think
if Max kulath I was on pole, which he certainly can,
I think he wins the race in a sauzuo Uca
slash Imla style Grand Prix win. I don't think it
means he's in the fight for the Championship. I just
don't think he is at all. But he's going to
win occasional races for the rest of twenty twenty five,
and this strikes me as being one of them. But
(26:12):
what is the spherical ball telling you?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Well, last week I predicted that it was going to
be Filipe Drugovich in the Aston Martin car. That doesn't
seem like it's going to happen. Sounds like Blancetroll is
going to make it back for his home race, and
good for him if that's the case. My prediction, bold
as it is, is that he's going to come back
and be triumphed. It's gonna be a little bit of pain.
That's okay, less pain than he apparently was last time.
He's going to qualify sixteenth on the grid. I going
(26:36):
to forget that he was even involved Grand Prix. Pity
for him, but at least he gets to participate. But
that's where he's on average been qualifying this year, just
a head or just out of Q one, I should say,
so good things in store for him.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Always good to aim high for your home races.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well maybe you can get into Q two. Let's see
how he goes. Good luck to hear my hope. Of
course he is feeling better. The surgery has been a
success on that risk. But that's all the time we
have for pit Talk today. You can subscribe to pittok
wherever you get your favorite podcasts, and you can leave
us a rating and review as well. This weekend is
the Formula one Canadian Grand Prix, with lights out at
four am Eastern Time on Monday. If it makes you
(27:17):
feel any better, qualifyings at six am on Sunday, so
if you really want to watch something live, that might
be best. But you can keep up to date with
all the lates stef One, Supercars and rodogp news at
Foxsports dot com dot Au from Matt Clayton and me,
Michael Amanato. Thanks very much for your company. We'll catch
you next week.
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