June 17, 2025 • 38 mins
Lando Norris has blown out to a 22-point title deficit after crashing into the back of Oscar Piastri in Montreal. What does it say about the state of the title, and will McLaren change the way it deals with its drivers? Meanwhile, at the front, George Russell wins the grand prix, but only after a 5.5-hour post-race investigation launched by Red Bull Racing.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannons.
On today's episode, Lando Norris crashes out of the Canadian
Grand Prix after rear ending teammate and title leader Oscar
Piastri and George Russell wins in Montreal, but it takes
nearly six hours through his victory to be confirmed. In
the latest Mercedes Red Bull Racing spat, my name is
Michael Lomonato. It's great to have your company and the
(00:21):
company of my co host. He knows to always keep
a safe distance to the car ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's Matt Clayton.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Now, Michael, thank you for the intro. I do like
to drive safely, but I need to let you know
just ahead of time here if I don't like the
way you finish this podcast, I think you might be
trying to coax me into some sort of mistake. They're
back into this podcast. I am going to protest, and
I am going to delay the release of this podcast
for at least the next six hours with about zero
point six of an actual percent of an actual valid
(00:47):
reason to protest it, because that's how we roll in
Formula one these days, and to take our listeners behind
the curtain. I was so thankful that this was an
early morning Monday Grand Prix here in Australia, because if
that's a European Grand Prix, you're probably getting to bed
at about six am on a Monday morning, and I'm
probably in the same timeframe. So good times for us,
not good times for anybody else.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yes, well, no one's crying over Europeans complaining about the
time zones for Formula one, so I.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Think that's fine, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Indeed, Yes, as ever, I think point six is probably
a bit generous as a percentage of success of that protest.
I talk about that a little bit later on, I think,
and how George Russell was eventually confirmed as the winner
of this Grand Prix on a Mercedes double podium not
featuring a McLaren carr. Well, let's start with a big
talking point of this weekend, which is, of course the
inevitable run in between the title leaders Oscar Piastre and
(01:37):
Lando Norris. McLaren has been telling us all year, going
out of their way in some circumstances to tell us
that they would crash at some stage, and that stage
was the Canadian Grand Prix. Round four laps to go,
Lando Norris rear ended Oscar Piastre, but in what I
suspect McLaren wouldn't have foreseen. It wasn't even really a
racing incident, wasn't a little bit too much aggression from
(01:59):
either driver. It was really quite a clumsy and costly
mistake from Lando. Norris admitted immediately afterwards that it was
all his fault in fact, and I mean immediately it
was a team rate didn't.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Even need to get out of the car.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
It's so hard to say that this was a controversial moment,
but tell me about your immediate reaction to this crash,
because it just came across as I mean, I didn't
see it coming. They were racing very hard, but very
cleanly up to that point, and seemed very unnecessary a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I think if you're McLaren and you've been talking all
season about this being inevitable, this is almost a perfect
way to get that box ticked and move on with it.
Because they weren't fighting over a race win. You know,
neither McLaren was in contention for a race win. Here
Norris immediately put his hand up. Piastre was still able
to finish the race and get some points, so it
wasn't like he completely skewed his teammates race as well,
(02:48):
So there's a bit of nothing to see here, but
everything to see here. At the same time, as for
McClaren management, it's almost like, well, we kind of got
away with that one. The first thing I thought when
it happened is I tried to imagine the roles being
reversed in this situation. So let's say that Norris hays
the championship lead, Piastre's behind him. I'm not necessarily sure
that's a move that Piastre makes. It was a really
(03:09):
low percentage move and it seemed a little bit unnecessary.
It wasn't the last lap. Norris was clearly quicker at
that point because he'd made that sort of ambitious dive
at the hairpin at the end of the lap previously,
which I do think caught Oscar by surprise a bit,
and it was very clean. It was very well done.
Just overshot a little bit enabled Oscar to get back
into the ascendency. But the whole thing seemed a little
(03:31):
bit unnecessary in terms of its timing. I thought Norris
had probably the time left in that race to gain
the position of the two points that came with, but
it also spoke so much to the mindset of both drivers.
And this is the way I looked at this, and
I tried to imagine Piastre in a similar situation and
what he would have done. Now, we don't know what
Oscar would have done in that situation, but I don't
(03:52):
know if you would have done that. And to my mind,
that is where you look at the difference between these
two drivers and where they are mentally. We know Norris
is very he's not backward in giving himself a clip
around the years, but he doesn't think he's done something right,
and he's the self flagellation that we've talked about before.
I don't know about you, but I just kept thinking, Wow,
in a similar situation here, if Piastre is the trailing
(04:13):
car eight, does he go for a low percentage move
and be how does he actually actually handle that situation?
I think it spoke a lot about both drivers. Yeah,
it didn't cost McLaren a race win or even a podium,
so that, I guess is the good news for them,
But it revealed a lot about each driver. I think
in a high pressure situation and if this championship plays out,
the way we think it's going to If it's going
(04:34):
to be a race between these two, there's inevitably going
to be more high pressure situations between the two, and
this was a little bit of an insight as to
how each of them may handle it. But I'm not
sure what your thoughts were, but there was a lot
going on in those last few laps. But man McClaren
got away with it because it was a controversy with
small sea rather than a capital one.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I mean my first instinct was I was sure both
cars were out because there's Piastre powered out of the
frame of the TV sit I was like, oh, it's
clearly he's going to a punkcho spents could be damage,
is going to be disaster. But no, it was just
Lando Norris self damaging his own race. I mean kindly
agree with that, and I think absolutely it's difficult to
imagine Oscar Piastri having tried on a similar move. But
what I think is interesting is that the precious situation
(05:16):
should have been reversed here because it was Oscar, who,
as you said, looked a little bit slower at that
point in the race. They were both roughly at the
maximum that their car wasn't really a podium getting car,
or certain it was not a race winning car, at
least starting off the podium or being off the podium
at the end of the first lap, as was the
case with Piastri didn't have the kind of pace to
simply walk to the front, as it has at so
many races. So there's that element of it. But in
(05:38):
this situation, surely was Oscar, who started further ahead, had
already lost a place on the first lap, A should
have had from the grid a four place advantage over Niratt,
seeing him in his mirrors, having recovered with a different strategy,
looking quicker, he should have been the one feeling more
pressure and committing mistakes in defense. That's the way you'd
normally think about this situation going. Instead, it was Norris,
who'd had a great recovery. It was going to minimize
(06:00):
the damage. Two points lost to Pistre would have left
him twelve points off the championship lead, which is still nothing.
Twenty two points are still not that much, considering there
are so many races to go, But nonetheless, it's just
strange that it was the guy who'd already had such
a good race who'd done exactly what was expected. You know,
we know he's qualifying mistakes or it's costing him this year,
but his race performances always help him selvage, and that's
(06:21):
why he's still so close in the title fight. It's
just strange that he should have been the one feeling
enough pressure or being not perfectly in the right mindset
to make an error like this, because you say low
percentage is almost being a bit generous. There was no
gap there when he made the move, There was no
gap there when he arrived there, and there obviously still
was no gap there when he made the contact. So that,
(06:42):
for me is what's interesting. I think that also does
speak to their mindsets at this stage of the season.
I can't help but wonder. You know, we joke every
week matter really how many races there are still to go.
I think there were one hundred and fifty at last count,
which means is still a long time, way too long
to really be thinking about the championship. And you always
get the sense that Oscar is of that mind said,
you know, there's so many races still to go, he's
(07:02):
just going to get the max amount of car.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You may not win every race. That's fine, which it feels.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Like already Norris is feeling a little bitout pressure, and
I think the inevitable conclusion from that must be that
he's feeling that looking at the season over all, ten
races is not a small sample size anymore. It's almost
halfway almost not quite that the power dynamic in McLaren
is no longer in his favorites Oscar who's leading the
way here, and he needs to make a statement, and
he attempted to make one and he didn't pull it off.
But I'm sort of interested in the team aspect of
(07:28):
this as well, Matt, because, like we said, Andrea Stella
Zack Brown, I've been saying all season it was inevitable,
and Andrea Stella said afterwards, well, it's probably going to
happen again because there are so many races this year.
But they've been preaching this strategy that their approach is
going to enable them to have these two number one
drivers there's going to be total equality between them, and
we've seen that play out in a team order sense
(07:50):
so far this year. They've been allowed to race, even
in some situations where it's arguably detrimental to the team's interest.
Then again, teams leading the championship by so much doesn't
really seem to matter. Do you think this it was
too unusual an incident to judge the success of that strategy.
Was actually this proving the way that Norris took full accountability.
They cleared the air immediately that actually, maybe this McLaren
(08:10):
approach doesn't have to end in two years by the
end of the year.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
The thing I thought when it happened was McLaren going
to be content with absolutely nailing the constructors Championship, which
they did last year after the first time in a
very long time. They got that sorted. That's all completely fine.
They are going to win the Constructors Championship this year,
you would imagine. So my bigger question is does this
actually accelerate the need to prioritize one of the two drivers?
(08:37):
The driver and the ascendency in this case is pastre
because you look at the points standings and despite the
gulf in performance between these two teams and two cars,
Max the Stappans still hovering at an uncomfortably close distance
here for the driver's championship, transcending what he's doing, you know,
second place on the weekend bank the points that he
could with what he had. Will get to subsequent silliness
(08:57):
and protests and things later on, but to my mind,
Verstappan's still uncomfortably close. And I don't know if you
want to be in a live head to head championship
fight with a guy who's won four straight world titles
and we know there's a different level of performance and
aggression with him, if he's able to sustain this now,
Formula One being what it is, there's still fourteen rounds
to go. But if we're having this conversation and there
(09:20):
are six rounds to go and for Stapans at a
similar distance, and all that's going to take is a
McLaren dnf an incident here or there, and for Stappan
just keeps banking these outsized results relative the equipment is in.
Does this actually accelerate McLaren's decision on Well, maybe we
do need to prioritize one of our drivers over the
other in order to secure this driver's championship that's eluded
(09:42):
us for so long. We tick the constructor's championship box
last year, so if they get that again, great, but
it's not going to mean as much as it did
last year. The driver's title is the big one they
want this year. They're in a position of advantage to
get it. You don't want to hand an opponent like
Max verstappin. You don't want to crack that door open
even an for someone like that as a potential weakness.
(10:02):
And yeah, Canada has been a bit of rope circuit
for McLaren in the past. Not a great track for
them this weekend, But to my mind it almost means
if you have another one or two of these incidents,
depending on when you have them, that might actually mean
that McLaren have to do the thing they don't want
to do and not have drivers on the same plane
competing for the world championship. Because we've seen what happens
when McLaren does things like this in the past. When
(10:24):
you try and prioritize you know too, you try and
have two drivers with equal priority, you can throw a
championship away. We've seen it in modern day Formula One
as recently as two thousand and seven, because they did
that with Gibby Reichen, because they had a lot so
in Hamilton, you know, knocking chunks out of each other
week after week, and they left the door open and
Ferrari walked straight through it. So you do wonder if
(10:44):
past history is going to be any guide, but whether
it does change the management decision on how they run
these two drivers based on where the opposition is, not
what they're necessarily doing themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, it's interesting because I think earlier this year Zach
Brown suggests that he'd be he'd prefer to lose the
drivers then have to pick a winner. And I think
that that's an interesting position to take, first of all,
because it seems pretty countertuitive. But second of all, I
think that's relatively easy to take that position when your
drivers are very close in the standings. I think he
said this when there was still five points between them
(11:15):
or something, maybe before Monaco. From the top of my head.
If we do get to those, like you say, the
final six rounds, when the sport leaves Europe, that's usually
as was the case last year, and we started to
talk about this even though Norris's title hopes were a
real long shot against Verstappan. And if there's a twenty
five point gap between them, so a race win and
Vastapan is also twenty five points off, let's say it
like that. Does that change the calculus where one driver
(11:37):
is much less likely. But then form comes into that,
isn't it doesn't it? Because then this time last or
rather late last year, the difficulty trying to prioritize Norris
was that actually Piastre was in better form than him,
really until we had a couple of races outside of Europe,
and then Norris regained that ascendency and it became slightly
easier to try and make those calls. So I think
that will be interesting to see. Like you say, it's
(11:58):
really it's too early. I get this question a lot
so far in the last couple of weeks. Surely they've
got a sub Prioritizing Piastre would have avoided the crash.
For example, they just made a call this weekend, but
there's just so long still to go that it's too
early to make that call. And they still have that buffer,
like they still got that points buffer. They do. But
Staffan and if you were being extremely ambitious also George Russell,
that it doesn't have to be made now, it's not
(12:20):
at risk, and maybe by not making the decision earlier
it will bite them later. But I mean to intervene
in the title fight now would be very difficult.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Well, yeah, and what's interesting now is we've talked about
a lot of the Piastre Norris results this year through
the context of the fact that Piastre only scored two
points in Australia, so he had this tough race in Australia.
Points wise, Lando won that race. There was the big gap,
and then we're like, well, look at what Oscar has done.
He's not only arrested that gap, he's actually taken an
advantage over Norris in the races since. So now Norris
(12:49):
has had his no score or low scoring race, so
it's kind of even at this point, like they both
had their mulligan. If you're like, you look at the
points table, Piastre's twenty two points ahead. That feels to
me like the natural gap in performance between these two drivers,
not where Norris was after Australia and not where Piastre
has been incloring all of these results back since this
now feels like an equal fight between the two of them,
(13:12):
because each of them have had their virtually non scoring
race and we see Pastre twenty two points ahead. So look,
we're not even at the halfway point. We say this
all the time, but it certainly throws an interesting question
there because Vastapan's just not going to go away of
his own free will. It all depend on how much
red Bull keep the development tap going on that particular
car for a set of regulations that's going in the bin.
(13:34):
And because Red Bull's entire existence is to please Max,
to Stappan to stop him from leaving, they will keep
the development tap on. So I don't think they're going
to fall off in terms of their commitment and their pace.
And we know that Max is like a dog with
a bone in these sorts of situations. Adds another little
curveball to the championship narrative, though, doesn't it, because there's
no one else pushing up from behind that should get
in the way here. So it comes down to how
(13:55):
McLaren managed these two drivers and when this inevitably happens again,
and going to what their stances after that. It's yeah,
it's become a subplot that's become more interesting, isn't it
in the last three days?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
And worth remembering you've only just made me think about
this now. Last time we had a major rule change,
which was twenty twenty two, red Bull pressed hard on
development in twenty twenty one to make sure Max got
to the title, and then messages I think turned development
on a little bit again late, but it was red
Bull to push hardest because they really wanted that driver's
ten year. Circumstances are different, theydn't want the driver's titled
than a while. Maybe things are a little bit more
(14:28):
circumspect now that Max has gone on a four title run.
But they have formed there and Anna Major knew me
to do it. But it's still to be seen how
they're going to manage that one. So plenty is still
to run obviously on this driver's championship. But an interesting
talking point. Nonetheless, let's look back at the race now
from an action perspective. Matt with Move of the Week
brought to you by Shannon Now. Despite the plethora of
(14:51):
talking points, it was not a similarly luxurious amount of
overtaking in the Canadian Grand Prix. I think it's fair
to say there's a lot of management and then everyone said, oh.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
The race has finished.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
The strange so what's your pick from this week's Race
of the week?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Management and DRS train are two things I don't like
to hear early in TV broadcast. It's fair to say,
but you've been very generous allowing me to do this.
I was going to be a little bit cheeky and
say that Lando Norris's move on Oscar Piastri that wasn't
on that was the move of the week.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
But it doesn't have to be a good move of
the week. I guess doesn't It could be bad.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Well, yes, yeah, there's no context of this. I'm going
to leave the low hanging for it for you this
week because I'm a kind co host. I am actually
going to go with a move lower in the pack
on the first lap that completely transformed the race. This
is Nico Holkenberg passing Franco Colapinto and Alex alban on
lap one that got Holkeenberg inside the top ten and
(15:42):
then he basically didn't leave the top ten for the
rest of the race. And yet again Hulkeenberg and Sauerber
scoring really significant points towards the tail end of the
top ten, and they've actually kicked clear in the Constructor's
Championship over Alpine. As a result, it's back to back
weekends where everything you signed Holgenberg for, the experience, the opportunism,
(16:04):
the ability to convert on an opportunity, that presents itself unexpectedly.
This is why you have Nico Holkenberg in Formula one
in twenty twenty five. So I think he got our
move of the week last time for what he did
to Lewis Hamilton in Spain. So it's back to back
of Nico Holkenberg, which is not something I'm expected to
say on this particular podcast. I've left an obvious one
(16:25):
for you, but to my mind that was a transformative
move at the beginning of the race that set up
everything that followed. So curedos to him, Curedoster Soubert, They're
actually not cast a drift in this sort of pathetic
category of one at the back. Now they actually look
pretty legit after the last couple of races. But I
suggest the one I've left for you, you're going to
slot the open goal here.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, but look just before that, let me say soalbur
nine points off the bottom oh Helpeen last in the championship,
and Souber only eight points off sixth from which is
being held by Hearts, which to my mind feels like
it's going backwards a little bit where Sauerber's moving forwards.
That I did not see this coming even only a
couple of rounds Ago, really impressive work with him, and
like you say, great to have signed Hogberg not only
(17:04):
for sour. But suddenly it feels like that lineup for
when it becomes ourdy doesn't feel as well.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
These are the drivers that were available and we slapped
him together.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Is suddenly a lineup that has a little bit of
something in it for that foundation driver pairing next to you,
and it becomes audy. But yes, low hanging fruit. There
are only a couple of other pieces of fruit from
this race. I was tempted to actually pick Norris's move
at the hairpin because I thought that was a great
moose and well played by both of them, in fact,
because then Piastric saw it coming at some point cross
back under him, got that great wheel to wheel moment
(17:35):
down the back straight, So I was as well executed
as it got for Norris until he threw it all
the way later. But I am of course going to
go Andre Kimi Antonelli a great move on the first
lap to take third of Oscar. Piastre just well managed,
I think, because this is we've seen lots of and
we will talk about this, we'll expand about this, maybe
a little bit later as well, considering to use first ponent.
But we've seen lots of great flashes of everything we've
(17:56):
known about his potential, great qualifying speed. He got that
spin pole in Miami, good race pace even in Melbourne,
obviously survived really tricky conditions there to come home from
a pretty ordinary qualifying result. This was a really good,
comprehensive weekend from him, and a really just a solid
first lap lining up against the leading championship leader. Clung
on the outside at turn one because he knew that
meant the inside for the next two corners, needed Piastre
(18:18):
not to fight him super hard. I think Piastre obviously
was aware of the fact that it's probably low percentage
to hold that place and obviously had the title lead
to defend. But that made his race because much like
Kulckenberg never left the top ten, Antonine never left the
top three and in fact gave him some opportunities to
even race with Max Vistappen later on. So a great
move from him, a great start that capped off a
(18:39):
great weekend.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, agreed. I like the mention of who he was
fighting against. The number one rule in these situations, know
your opponent, and you know, when you're in a fifty
to fifty situation and you're not a championship contender against
a guy who's leading the world championship, who has way
more to lose than you. I think Piastre made a
reluctant but a business is you're nonetheless. It's like, I
(19:01):
could fight this and potentially risk my car, I'm already
several spots ahead of my teammate and my closest championship
challenger on the grid. It's not worth it, and I
think Antonelli really played into that. But it was very
coolly and cleanly executed for a guy that was in
his tenth foot with the one Grand Prix start, and
you'd have to say that we haven't seen the absolute,
like wow, look at that qualifying la pace from him
(19:21):
that we might have thought we'd seen this year. But
he's been super impressive and it feels like he's taken
advantage of most of the opportunities that he's got. He's
you know, he's clearly going to be here for a
very very long time, but wy be the last time
he gets moved of the week on this podcast, or
however long this podcast lasts but yeah, very impressive. Nonetheless,
and you were right. There were only two other pieces
of fruit, but I thought i'd leave them for you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Well, let's look at that Mercedes weekend and the weekend
a little bit more broadly overall, because while the talking
point was over the battle for fourth, George Russell was
pretty serenely leading this one from pole position made up
for the win he should have had here last year
from pole, but too many mistakes cost him to Max
Staffen in a pretty tricky race in the end. No
such mistakes this weekend led from pol. The sizzle about
(20:06):
the combat with Max Mustaffan off the line didn't even worthy.
I wasn't even worthy of a mentioned, considering his start
was just so good and controlled the race from there.
There were moments where it looked like Mustafan was getting closer,
but it was all management from Russell, who scored one
of his more comprehensive victories. There have been other good
ones as well in there. I think back to that
victory that doesn't count in Belgium last year. I think
it's probably his most impressive, ironically, but I think this
(20:28):
is a really big tick a for Mercedes because it's
their first win of the season in a year that
they started sort of optimistic about but then felt like
they lost their way in the last month or so.
So it gets them back on track, particularly considering they
use an upgrade that they temporarily had in the bin
only a week or two ago. But also, I feel
like I am in your position on this, Russell. This
been quite a good and comprehensive weekend for him, which
(20:52):
is great, But then particularly in contrast to Canada last
year one year ago, where he fumbled his chances in
a way that I think had become quite characteristic of
him at that point. Really good in qualifying, often would
qualify high up or even on pole position, but then would.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Almost get too excited, over excited to be.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
On pole in a position he's not meant to be
in because the Mercedes never been a race winner, and
then do something sillier and not win the race. There
was no sign of that this weekend, and I don't
think it's something that had happened ahead of this weekend,
but it certainly happened in the last twelve months, and
I think it just emphasized that position he has now
as the team leader at Mercedes arriving at just the
right time.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, and this is the evolution of a driver that
you know, he statistically was the stronger Mercedes driver last year,
but it always felt like he was driving in Lewis
Hamilton's team, which is understandable because of the success Hamilton
had had there and how long he'd been there, and
he was part of the furniture. It was always like, oh, yeah,
and our other drivers George Russell, which is a little
bit unfair because the guy's very, very good and very accomplished.
(21:47):
So there was there were two things for me. It
shows you the evolution of him as a leader and
a driver and a senior person within the sport. But
there's also that taking and like acing the big moments
and I think you know Q three was like that
absolutely fantastic qualifying that you mentioned. There's all this tension
off the start and Verstappans got penalty points to worry about,
(22:07):
and he's got the car angled at Russell. It was
a complete non story because Russell totally nailed the start
Forstappan didn't get a look at him in the first corner,
and then for the rest of that race he just
he controlled that race in a manner that we've not
seen George Russell control the race probably before, didn't overreach.
There weren't any lurid moments or things that we're going
to trip him up. He was totally in control. And
(22:30):
Canada's a funny one because it's one of those races
that sometimes when not a lot happens, you always watch
the race at Canada through the lens of there's a
lot of tripwise and things that can spoil your day
there because of the nature of the track and how
close the walls are and even the configuration of the track.
It's a pretty unusual circuit and the way that you
run it. And he took a stressful situation and just
(22:52):
took all the stress out of it. I thought he
was incredibly composed and in control. But the other thing
I loved about this, and we'll probably get onto this
in a second, was that he saw he knew that
he could stir Red Bull and Max for stapping up
this weekend, and he took the opportunity to bait them
and annoy them and just sort of be ever present
with that niggle the entire weekend. I actually love that
(23:14):
because it would have been very easy, just oh no, Look,
we're just focusing on ourselves and we're just doing our
own thing, and we're trying to maximize our opportunity. He
saw an opportunity there to twist the knife a little bit,
knowing how much his opponents were going to hate it,
and actually baiting them into a response, which is probably
why we waited six hours for a Steward's verdict. But
that's another story. But I did enjoy the fact that
(23:34):
he saw an opportunity to be a little bit mischievous
and decided to wrap up the volume on that so
great drive, very very well managed, very accomplished Grand Prix win,
and for a bit of bustardy as well. We'll give
him a tick for that as well.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, I think I think that is a great call
because I think, as we've learned in the last i
don't know, let's just say twelve months, he's certainly not
above the politics. Now. Mercedes isn't. Even if they preck
that they are the cleaner team in some senses that
you could say they were the cleaner team, they're not
totally clean team when it comes to politics. But Russell
certainly isn't. He's a clever guy. He's one of the
(24:08):
smarter guys on the grid, and he knows how to
stir people up and he's got in that sense, at
least I think he has Max with Stapfen's number, he
can get under his skin. We've learned this like probably
no other driver on the grid, which is pretty remarkable
considering Max has had several run ins with lots of
drivers over his time and played that to perfection after qualifying.
And I think there's a legitimacy to it now as well,
(24:31):
because as Red Will sort of slides backwards into the
pack Mercedes, it's probably too early to say they're in
the ascendency. They've said this is not a breakthrough, and
I think that's absolutely right. There's a track that suited
the car, condition that suited the car. We don't expect
them to suddenly be winning races regularly, but they're pretty
closely aligned now, those two teams in terms of their capacity,
so it's not, you know, the little guy just having
a crack at the big guy for the headline. I
(24:51):
think there's there some legitimacy in there, and I think
that they are generally the team and driver under Red
Bull and the staff and skin because we saw the
st and snap in the post qualifying press conference when
he's asked about the penalty points situation. And I think
that is a site you know, as much as some
people will say, well, you know, MAXI just doesn't have
time for whatever. I think he does snap like there
is that is a sign of him getting a little
(25:13):
bit irritated by it. And then let's talk about that
post race investigation that went for twice as long, no
more than three times as long, more than three times
as long as I think the race. Yes, red Bull
lodging a couple of protests against the result, for Russell's
alleged behavior behind the safety car and sporting erratic dangerous
against the rules. It always seemed like a long shot.
(25:35):
I think we were talking after the race when we
was just such a low percentage at best play. They
were clearly entitled to make it accord of the rules.
But what I really liked, Matt, and maybe you can
tell us about this total wolf's comments the day after
actually at the F one movie premiere. Even there's no
break for politics, even when you go to the movies.
I just thought he nailed it so perfectly.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Get the popcorn out when you have an open mic
in front of a total wolf after they've just won
to one o Grand Prix. This quote is funnier if
you read it in his accent, which I know sounds
like a ridiculous thing to say, but talking about the
way that you know obviously read Red Bull was questioning
the gamesmanship and Toto Wolf's comment was about the protest.
(26:16):
It's so petty and so small and the words small.
Actually maybe giggle when I read it when it came
out after the movie premiere, because A it's such a
Toto Wolf thing to say, and it's so dismissive. It's like,
this is pathetic, like what a small effort to try
and spoil and a like what is wrong with you people?
But it does sort of also speak to the there's
(26:38):
something with Red Bull with the way they handle situations
like this. There's this cross between a little bit of
desperation to try and make it look like they're doing
everything possible to keep verstapan on side. It sounds like
from what you read after the event, that Verstappen was
less bothered about this than Red Bull actually were, and
that he was probably halfway home on the private jet
(26:58):
by the time you realized that he had. She retained
second place at this point. So there's this desperation from
Red Bull management to make it like we're in your cornerbacks.
We're in your cornerbacks. Everyone knew what was going on.
Verstappan knew that Russell was trying to stir him r
Russell knew exactly what he was doing. Christian Horner came
out and said that they'd spoken to the stewards and
made them aware that they know there might be a
bit of gamesmanship and things going on here. But I
(27:20):
don't understand how that would be different to any other
team against any other driver in a similar situation. Let's
just say Orlando Norris had one point from being suspended
for a race because of a bunch of penalty points.
Do you think Red buller would have done the same
and stirred the pot for the entire week and they
would have taken a bigger spooed out the Mercedes did
and stirred the pot, knowing the way Red Bull usually
roll with these things. So I thought it was completely
(27:40):
legitimate from Mercedes to tweak Red Bull about it, and
the whole protest thing. You might want to sort of
take our listeners inside this a little bit. But the
problem with protests is that there they can be launched.
The financial outlay for a team to launch a protest
for something as tenuous as this is not enough to
just weigh them from doing its two thousand euro or
(28:02):
something ridiculous. So it's a drop in the ocean. For
some of these teams, there's no disincentive for them to
not launch a protest and waste everyone's time for six hours.
But I wonder if the procedure needs to change, both
in terms of how much a team needs to cough
up to initiate one of these things, and also can
we have a decision within like two hours? Is it
really that hard?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I think they're both great calls, because I think the
deposit on the protest was only introduced not that long ago.
If memory serves to ward off these really spurious protests,
or a team would lodge a protest not really believing
a rule had been broken, but just to make a
point in the wording of their protests, like well we
don't think this is right. Whatever is the case, I
think it was only a couple of years ago it
(28:42):
was brought in, But two thousand euros is hardly anything.
You know, it might make the most ridiculous of protests,
give it a second thought, but clearly not enough in
this situation. So I think there is that element of it,
and then I do think that it's probably time, it
has been time for a while for the FIA to
look at the way that these strace investigations going now.
To be fair, there were quite a few, probably an
(29:03):
unusual number of post race investigations to undertake, featuring quite
a lot of drivers. There was a safety car based
investigation that I think involved six drivers off the top
of my head, five or six drivers after the race.
So there was that element. But I think the requirement
to look at things chronologically probably needs to be rethought,
because no one really cared about with due respect to
what happened to Oliver Berman, considering you finished outside the points,
(29:26):
if you've got a post race penalty or whatever, it
didn't matter, whereas obviously with George Russell that could have
affected the outcome of the Grand Prix, the winner of
the Grand Prix. So I think there's an element of that,
But then we've heard a lot. We're going to understand.
The system is important that you have this group of
stewards and they're the ones that make the decision because
they're from a pool of stewards. That's the only way
(29:46):
you can ensure any kind of consistency, not only within
a race, but from race to race. But we've heard
a lot about the Remote Operations Center in Geneva of
the FIA. We've heard about it likened to var and
that it assists during the race. And I'm sure it
does assist during the race when it comes to things
like track limits whatever, because it's.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Just more eyes.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
But there's got to be a way to use more
of the resources that are apparently on offer to speed
up these situations, whether it comes to just riding out
these documents fastucause I'm sure that's part of it getting
them out there. I think there's also part of the
reason there's a delay is that teams have to acknowledge
the receipt of every time a document is sent out
before the next stage can happen, and there's probably some
slowness there when that might be five hours later and
(30:25):
they're all going home or on their debts already. But
there's just has to be a way to expedite this process,
particularly when we're talking about a protest against the winner
of a race.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
It's just not a no.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Because imagine how to change Imagine the people who would
have gone to bed and assuming that George Russell was
the winner, or if you were an Australia you've already
gone to work.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
You're not going to find out till you get home.
It's just not practical.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Well, and the one I always think of with this
was the Daniel Ricardo podium that wasn't at the two
fourteen Australian Grand Prix. And I remember this because you
were probably sitting in the same press room as me.
I think that final Steward's verdict came through about five
minutes to midnight for a race that had finished at
half past four, and so we all knew Ricardo was
going to get disqualified. There was nothing official, and then
it was announced Daniel Ricardo has been stripped of his
(31:06):
second place. It changed the podium, it changed all the points.
McLaren had two drivers on the podium. I remember I
had the story basically ready to go, hit send and
walked out of the press room at midnight for a
race that finished at help us four. And that was
eleven years ago, so the more things changed, the more
they stayed the same.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, exactly, So hopefully some change there. And just quickly,
I know we already talked about Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but
I just want to mention again first podium for him
ten races into his career, third youngest podium getter in
Formula one. I feel like you already know this, but
I'm going to ask you the question anyway, do you
know who's ahead of him on that table?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Now?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I did read this yesterday and then I got stuck
in six hours of Stuart's Stewart's notes, so you can
you can enlighten the listeners while I try and pick
my brain here.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah, so undeniably and obviously Maxwastaffan is in there. Obviously
his first victory at eight I was also the youngest.
Window'm pretty sure hasn't he had eighteen?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And whatever? Day's two hundred days?
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Oh, I know where you're going here. I've just worked
this out.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yes, Yeah, so I would say fifty percent of them.
It's a good sign to being company of the other
one though, is Lance Stroll who got that podium in
was as I think, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Dum finished the.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Daniel Riccardo won that race. Speaking of Daniel Riccardo, it
was seventeen was.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
The Riccardo race. It wasn't both, but there was Botas
who passed him off the line. But there you go, Oh,
there you go. I figured it out in the end.
It was my own got tripped up with my own
question this week remarkable.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
This is the most enthusiastic either Orus have been about
Lance Stroll the entire season so far, and probably more
enthusiastic than Lance Stroll has been about Lance Stroll for
most of the part of this season. For anyone out
there that hasn't listened to or read the Thursday FIA
press conference with Tom Clarkson and Lance Stroll was there.
I wouldn't say that he participated, but he was in attendance,
(32:38):
and it was kind of the beginning of a home
grownd Prix weekend where you forgot that he was there.
But if you're into one word answers to press conference questions,
then that's right.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Daniel Alley, Yeah, I think so participation probably sums up
his whole weekend. I think finished lay out of the
points for Fernando a. Lonzo's scored points again forgettable performance,
copped a penalty as well for crashing into Pierre And
I mean, if you liked his press conference performance, if
you can find his post race interview from F one TV,
it's even better and perhaps more infuriating to spending on
(33:09):
your defety and your perspective. So clearly worthwhile for him
to come back this so quickly after his wrisk surgery,
because I'm sure the home fans are very pleased with
his result, but a great performance by Andrea Kimi antonelli'vill
undoubtedly be more to come from him, because I thought
it was interesting about as well. Listening to Total Wolf
after the race, he said, a lot of this year
has been about, but will increasingly be about now expectation management,
(33:31):
because here's a young guy who's done nothing except when
on his way to FORMUD one had great expectations coming
and even if we knew it was such a big step.
But again in ten races, I know it's felt like
a long time because I guess ten races is quite
a while, but it's not really that long. It's only
a couple of months. Has already got onto the podium
for the first time, and not in a lucky way.
Not in a fluke deserved to be. Their performance was great.
(33:54):
This might be one of the few weekends Mercedes has
this level of performance in it, and he took that
opportunity to Stier. Wasn't that far behind Georg Russel any
point this weekend as well. So expectation management now becomes
part of the game because we can't expect that necessarily
every week, but clearly it's becoming increasingly frequent.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Well, And the key thing is he's eighteen years old.
You know, there's so much headroom and so much time
for growth here. I don't think it's going to take
very long, and I don't think this will be the
last time we're having that podium conversation. He's he's been
just about as good as advertised. And the crazy part
about it is he might be what eight years from
his peak in Formula one of him, it's completely wild
to think that he might have a decade ahead of him,
(34:31):
but he still might be still improving.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
So yeah, lots to like. Yeah, alarming, isn't that.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Jackie Steward's used to say a driver peaked at thirty
It's a long time.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Not man, So what you're saying is lant Stroll's nearly there.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
He's nearly there. He's just hag on to keep the faith. Canadians,
keep the faith. We know you can still be there
at thirty always.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Certainly before we wrap this one up, about the crystal
ball brought to you by Complete home Filtration. What are
you foreseeing in the next week or more of motorsport?
Speaker 3 (35:00):
The key thing for me this weekend we have the
Italian motor GP at Magello, one of the great race
tracks for any sport, but particularly motor GP. Incredibly high speed,
incredibly undulating, fantastic quarter names. No thanks to you all
the things that I love about motor GP. But my
crystal ball this weekend is I don't think that the
(35:22):
twenty twenty five motor GP World Championship is necessarily up
for grabs here, but I think if it's going to
be a run to the finish that we all want,
this is almost must win for Peco Banyaya at his
home Grand Prix on Decati's home Grand Prix against Mark Marquez.
He's got to stand his ground here and the good
news for Peco in the next ten days we go
to Magello, where he's won the last three years in
(35:43):
a row, and then we go to Asen, where he's
won the last three years in a row, and we
know that it's been a struggle for him this year
relative to his teammate. Unlocked something at the last race
at Aragon that should that transform his season. He's coming
to probably his strongest two tracks in the space of
a fortnite. This shapes to me as a super important weekend.
I think he's going to win his fourth Italian Grand
(36:04):
Prina Row. I don't think he's necessarily going to challenge
for the title, but I think this is the weekend
where he plants his flag and says, all right, I'm
still here. I'm still really really good on this bike.
And you also know psychologically that Marquez, being the Spaniards
in the Italians backyard, he would love to create a
little George Russell mischief and win this race this weekend.
But I think we might get the Intra team to
(36:25):
caddy fight that we've wanted all season. But I think
it's Spanya who wins it.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Oh look, we'd all love to see it as well.
Very popular victory and Italian winning on Italian soil, Fingers crossed, what.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Have you go?
Speaker 1 (36:33):
I'm going to go over to Supercars Land. We've got
the Darwin triple Crown. I'm usually close to the previous race,
only a fortnight between them, and the rules have change
this year. For anyone who's been keeping track of the
triple Crown, I don't think of you if you're not,
because it's proved almost impossible to win. I think it's
just because winners ever, and so the criteria has changed.
Supercars organizers have said, or Darwen organizers said, look, no
(36:53):
one can do it. No one can win all three races.
It's unlikes and not like supercars for one driver to
sweep an entire weekend of victories. So now if you
get the most points, so a conventional perpetual trophy rule,
and I think that's almost certainly means it's going to
be brock Phene's. He has been so good at Darwin
the last couple of years, so he've been the sport
for a couple of years, but he's been so good there.
It's really it's not his home territory, but on the
(37:15):
quality home territory for the purposes of his level of performance.
So he's actually going to finally win this. We're actually
going to finally find out. I know you, do you
think if you have got twenty twenty and there was
a previous winner of the triple crown, perhaps I'm actually
going to find out what that trophy looks like. And
I personally hope it is a real crown. If anyone's
been thinking about this, if the winner does not get
an actual three pointed crown, then they've missed a trick.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Well, they've had five years to get it right, so
you would hope so that that's a good call. Because
how he's how he's not worn the aforementioned crowd previously
based on his results, there is a little bit of
a mystery, but yeah, you might be right. This could
be the weekend that he rights that particular wrong.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
It's got to be a crown, guys, it's right in
the name. Come on, that's all the time we've got
for Fittalk today. You can subscribe to bittog reev. You
get your favorite podcast and you can leave us rating
and a review as well. This weekend is the Motorcycle
Italian Grand Prix Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix even with lights
out at ten pm on Sunday, and the Supercars Dar
and Triple Crown from Friday until Sunday. You can keep
up to date with all the latest F one, supercars
(38:13):
and MOTODP news at Foxsports dot com dot Au. From
Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonato. Thanks very much for
your company. We'll catch you next week.
Hello, and welcome to Pit Talk, brought to you by Shannons.
On today's episode, Lando Norris crashes out of the Canadian
Grand Prix after rear ending teammate and title leader Oscar
Piastri and George Russell wins in Montreal, but it takes
nearly six hours through his victory to be confirmed. In
the latest Mercedes Red Bull Racing spat, my name is
Michael Lomonato. It's great to have your company and the
(00:21):
company of my co host. He knows to always keep
a safe distance to the car ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's Matt Clayton.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Now, Michael, thank you for the intro. I do like
to drive safely, but I need to let you know
just ahead of time here if I don't like the
way you finish this podcast, I think you might be
trying to coax me into some sort of mistake. They're
back into this podcast. I am going to protest, and
I am going to delay the release of this podcast
for at least the next six hours with about zero
point six of an actual percent of an actual valid
(00:47):
reason to protest it, because that's how we roll in
Formula one these days, and to take our listeners behind
the curtain. I was so thankful that this was an
early morning Monday Grand Prix here in Australia, because if
that's a European Grand Prix, you're probably getting to bed
at about six am on a Monday morning, and I'm
probably in the same timeframe. So good times for us,
not good times for anybody else.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yes, well, no one's crying over Europeans complaining about the
time zones for Formula one, so I.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Think that's fine, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Indeed, Yes, as ever, I think point six is probably
a bit generous as a percentage of success of that protest.
I talk about that a little bit later on, I think,
and how George Russell was eventually confirmed as the winner
of this Grand Prix on a Mercedes double podium not
featuring a McLaren carr. Well, let's start with a big
talking point of this weekend, which is, of course the
inevitable run in between the title leaders Oscar Piastre and
(01:37):
Lando Norris. McLaren has been telling us all year, going
out of their way in some circumstances to tell us
that they would crash at some stage, and that stage
was the Canadian Grand Prix. Round four laps to go,
Lando Norris rear ended Oscar Piastre, but in what I
suspect McLaren wouldn't have foreseen. It wasn't even really a
racing incident, wasn't a little bit too much aggression from
(01:59):
either driver. It was really quite a clumsy and costly
mistake from Lando. Norris admitted immediately afterwards that it was
all his fault in fact, and I mean immediately it
was a team rate didn't.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Even need to get out of the car.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
It's so hard to say that this was a controversial moment,
but tell me about your immediate reaction to this crash,
because it just came across as I mean, I didn't
see it coming. They were racing very hard, but very
cleanly up to that point, and seemed very unnecessary a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I think if you're McLaren and you've been talking all
season about this being inevitable, this is almost a perfect
way to get that box ticked and move on with it.
Because they weren't fighting over a race win. You know,
neither McLaren was in contention for a race win. Here
Norris immediately put his hand up. Piastre was still able
to finish the race and get some points, so it
wasn't like he completely skewed his teammates race as well,
(02:48):
So there's a bit of nothing to see here, but
everything to see here. At the same time, as for
McClaren management, it's almost like, well, we kind of got
away with that one. The first thing I thought when
it happened is I tried to imagine the roles being
reversed in this situation. So let's say that Norris hays
the championship lead, Piastre's behind him. I'm not necessarily sure
that's a move that Piastre makes. It was a really
(03:09):
low percentage move and it seemed a little bit unnecessary.
It wasn't the last lap. Norris was clearly quicker at
that point because he'd made that sort of ambitious dive
at the hairpin at the end of the lap previously,
which I do think caught Oscar by surprise a bit,
and it was very clean. It was very well done.
Just overshot a little bit enabled Oscar to get back
into the ascendency. But the whole thing seemed a little
(03:31):
bit unnecessary in terms of its timing. I thought Norris
had probably the time left in that race to gain
the position of the two points that came with, but
it also spoke so much to the mindset of both drivers.
And this is the way I looked at this, and
I tried to imagine Piastre in a similar situation and
what he would have done. Now, we don't know what
Oscar would have done in that situation, but I don't
(03:52):
know if you would have done that. And to my mind,
that is where you look at the difference between these
two drivers and where they are mentally. We know Norris
is very he's not backward in giving himself a clip
around the years, but he doesn't think he's done something right,
and he's the self flagellation that we've talked about before.
I don't know about you, but I just kept thinking, Wow,
in a similar situation here, if Piastre is the trailing
(04:13):
car eight, does he go for a low percentage move
and be how does he actually actually handle that situation?
I think it spoke a lot about both drivers. Yeah,
it didn't cost McLaren a race win or even a podium,
so that, I guess is the good news for them,
But it revealed a lot about each driver. I think
in a high pressure situation and if this championship plays out,
the way we think it's going to If it's going
(04:34):
to be a race between these two, there's inevitably going
to be more high pressure situations between the two, and
this was a little bit of an insight as to
how each of them may handle it. But I'm not
sure what your thoughts were, but there was a lot
going on in those last few laps. But man McClaren
got away with it because it was a controversy with
small sea rather than a capital one.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I mean my first instinct was I was sure both
cars were out because there's Piastre powered out of the
frame of the TV sit I was like, oh, it's
clearly he's going to a punkcho spents could be damage,
is going to be disaster. But no, it was just
Lando Norris self damaging his own race. I mean kindly
agree with that, and I think absolutely it's difficult to
imagine Oscar Piastri having tried on a similar move. But
what I think is interesting is that the precious situation
(05:16):
should have been reversed here because it was Oscar, who,
as you said, looked a little bit slower at that
point in the race. They were both roughly at the
maximum that their car wasn't really a podium getting car,
or certain it was not a race winning car, at
least starting off the podium or being off the podium
at the end of the first lap, as was the
case with Piastri didn't have the kind of pace to
simply walk to the front, as it has at so
many races. So there's that element of it. But in
(05:38):
this situation, surely was Oscar, who started further ahead, had
already lost a place on the first lap, A should
have had from the grid a four place advantage over Niratt,
seeing him in his mirrors, having recovered with a different strategy,
looking quicker, he should have been the one feeling more
pressure and committing mistakes in defense. That's the way you'd
normally think about this situation going. Instead, it was Norris,
who'd had a great recovery. It was going to minimize
(06:00):
the damage. Two points lost to Pistre would have left
him twelve points off the championship lead, which is still nothing.
Twenty two points are still not that much, considering there
are so many races to go, But nonetheless, it's just
strange that it was the guy who'd already had such
a good race who'd done exactly what was expected. You know,
we know he's qualifying mistakes or it's costing him this year,
but his race performances always help him selvage, and that's
(06:21):
why he's still so close in the title fight. It's
just strange that he should have been the one feeling
enough pressure or being not perfectly in the right mindset
to make an error like this, because you say low
percentage is almost being a bit generous. There was no
gap there when he made the move, There was no
gap there when he arrived there, and there obviously still
was no gap there when he made the contact. So that,
(06:42):
for me is what's interesting. I think that also does
speak to their mindsets at this stage of the season.
I can't help but wonder. You know, we joke every
week matter really how many races there are still to go.
I think there were one hundred and fifty at last count,
which means is still a long time, way too long
to really be thinking about the championship. And you always
get the sense that Oscar is of that mind said,
you know, there's so many races still to go, he's
(07:02):
just going to get the max amount of car.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You may not win every race. That's fine, which it feels.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Like already Norris is feeling a little bitout pressure, and
I think the inevitable conclusion from that must be that
he's feeling that looking at the season over all, ten
races is not a small sample size anymore. It's almost
halfway almost not quite that the power dynamic in McLaren
is no longer in his favorites Oscar who's leading the
way here, and he needs to make a statement, and
he attempted to make one and he didn't pull it off.
But I'm sort of interested in the team aspect of
(07:28):
this as well, Matt, because, like we said, Andrea Stella
Zack Brown, I've been saying all season it was inevitable,
and Andrea Stella said afterwards, well, it's probably going to
happen again because there are so many races this year.
But they've been preaching this strategy that their approach is
going to enable them to have these two number one
drivers there's going to be total equality between them, and
we've seen that play out in a team order sense
(07:50):
so far this year. They've been allowed to race, even
in some situations where it's arguably detrimental to the team's interest.
Then again, teams leading the championship by so much doesn't
really seem to matter. Do you think this it was
too unusual an incident to judge the success of that strategy.
Was actually this proving the way that Norris took full accountability.
They cleared the air immediately that actually, maybe this McLaren
(08:10):
approach doesn't have to end in two years by the
end of the year.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
The thing I thought when it happened was McLaren going
to be content with absolutely nailing the constructors Championship, which
they did last year after the first time in a
very long time. They got that sorted. That's all completely fine.
They are going to win the Constructors Championship this year,
you would imagine. So my bigger question is does this
actually accelerate the need to prioritize one of the two drivers?
(08:37):
The driver and the ascendency in this case is pastre
because you look at the points standings and despite the
gulf in performance between these two teams and two cars,
Max the Stappans still hovering at an uncomfortably close distance
here for the driver's championship, transcending what he's doing, you know,
second place on the weekend bank the points that he
could with what he had. Will get to subsequent silliness
(08:57):
and protests and things later on, but to my mind,
Verstappan's still uncomfortably close. And I don't know if you
want to be in a live head to head championship
fight with a guy who's won four straight world titles
and we know there's a different level of performance and
aggression with him, if he's able to sustain this now,
Formula One being what it is, there's still fourteen rounds
to go. But if we're having this conversation and there
(09:20):
are six rounds to go and for Stapans at a
similar distance, and all that's going to take is a
McLaren dnf an incident here or there, and for Stappan
just keeps banking these outsized results relative the equipment is in.
Does this actually accelerate McLaren's decision on Well, maybe we
do need to prioritize one of our drivers over the
other in order to secure this driver's championship that's eluded
(09:42):
us for so long. We tick the constructor's championship box
last year, so if they get that again, great, but
it's not going to mean as much as it did
last year. The driver's title is the big one they
want this year. They're in a position of advantage to
get it. You don't want to hand an opponent like
Max verstappin. You don't want to crack that door open
even an for someone like that as a potential weakness.
(10:02):
And yeah, Canada has been a bit of rope circuit
for McLaren in the past. Not a great track for
them this weekend, But to my mind it almost means
if you have another one or two of these incidents,
depending on when you have them, that might actually mean
that McLaren have to do the thing they don't want
to do and not have drivers on the same plane
competing for the world championship. Because we've seen what happens
when McLaren does things like this in the past. When
(10:24):
you try and prioritize you know too, you try and
have two drivers with equal priority, you can throw a
championship away. We've seen it in modern day Formula One
as recently as two thousand and seven, because they did
that with Gibby Reichen, because they had a lot so
in Hamilton, you know, knocking chunks out of each other
week after week, and they left the door open and
Ferrari walked straight through it. So you do wonder if
(10:44):
past history is going to be any guide, but whether
it does change the management decision on how they run
these two drivers based on where the opposition is, not
what they're necessarily doing themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, it's interesting because I think earlier this year Zach
Brown suggests that he'd be he'd prefer to lose the
drivers then have to pick a winner. And I think
that that's an interesting position to take, first of all,
because it seems pretty countertuitive. But second of all, I
think that's relatively easy to take that position when your
drivers are very close in the standings. I think he
said this when there was still five points between them
(11:15):
or something, maybe before Monaco. From the top of my head.
If we do get to those, like you say, the
final six rounds, when the sport leaves Europe, that's usually
as was the case last year, and we started to
talk about this even though Norris's title hopes were a
real long shot against Verstappan. And if there's a twenty
five point gap between them, so a race win and
Vastapan is also twenty five points off, let's say it
like that. Does that change the calculus where one driver
(11:37):
is much less likely. But then form comes into that,
isn't it doesn't it? Because then this time last or
rather late last year, the difficulty trying to prioritize Norris
was that actually Piastre was in better form than him,
really until we had a couple of races outside of Europe,
and then Norris regained that ascendency and it became slightly
easier to try and make those calls. So I think
that will be interesting to see. Like you say, it's
(11:58):
really it's too early. I get this question a lot
so far in the last couple of weeks. Surely they've
got a sub Prioritizing Piastre would have avoided the crash.
For example, they just made a call this weekend, but
there's just so long still to go that it's too
early to make that call. And they still have that buffer,
like they still got that points buffer. They do. But
Staffan and if you were being extremely ambitious also George Russell,
that it doesn't have to be made now, it's not
(12:20):
at risk, and maybe by not making the decision earlier
it will bite them later. But I mean to intervene
in the title fight now would be very difficult.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Well, yeah, and what's interesting now is we've talked about
a lot of the Piastre Norris results this year through
the context of the fact that Piastre only scored two
points in Australia, so he had this tough race in Australia.
Points wise, Lando won that race. There was the big gap,
and then we're like, well, look at what Oscar has done.
He's not only arrested that gap, he's actually taken an
advantage over Norris in the races since. So now Norris
(12:49):
has had his no score or low scoring race, so
it's kind of even at this point, like they both
had their mulligan. If you're like, you look at the
points table, Piastre's twenty two points ahead. That feels to
me like the natural gap in performance between these two drivers,
not where Norris was after Australia and not where Piastre
has been incloring all of these results back since this
now feels like an equal fight between the two of them,
(13:12):
because each of them have had their virtually non scoring
race and we see Pastre twenty two points ahead. So look,
we're not even at the halfway point. We say this
all the time, but it certainly throws an interesting question
there because Vastapan's just not going to go away of
his own free will. It all depend on how much
red Bull keep the development tap going on that particular
car for a set of regulations that's going in the bin.
(13:34):
And because Red Bull's entire existence is to please Max,
to Stappan to stop him from leaving, they will keep
the development tap on. So I don't think they're going
to fall off in terms of their commitment and their pace.
And we know that Max is like a dog with
a bone in these sorts of situations. Adds another little
curveball to the championship narrative, though, doesn't it, because there's
no one else pushing up from behind that should get
in the way here. So it comes down to how
(13:55):
McLaren managed these two drivers and when this inevitably happens again,
and going to what their stances after that. It's yeah,
it's become a subplot that's become more interesting, isn't it
in the last three days?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
And worth remembering you've only just made me think about
this now. Last time we had a major rule change,
which was twenty twenty two, red Bull pressed hard on
development in twenty twenty one to make sure Max got
to the title, and then messages I think turned development
on a little bit again late, but it was red
Bull to push hardest because they really wanted that driver's
ten year. Circumstances are different, theydn't want the driver's titled
than a while. Maybe things are a little bit more
(14:28):
circumspect now that Max has gone on a four title run.
But they have formed there and Anna Major knew me
to do it. But it's still to be seen how
they're going to manage that one. So plenty is still
to run obviously on this driver's championship. But an interesting
talking point. Nonetheless, let's look back at the race now
from an action perspective. Matt with Move of the Week
brought to you by Shannon Now. Despite the plethora of
(14:51):
talking points, it was not a similarly luxurious amount of
overtaking in the Canadian Grand Prix. I think it's fair
to say there's a lot of management and then everyone said, oh.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
The race has finished.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
The strange so what's your pick from this week's Race
of the week?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Management and DRS train are two things I don't like
to hear early in TV broadcast. It's fair to say,
but you've been very generous allowing me to do this.
I was going to be a little bit cheeky and
say that Lando Norris's move on Oscar Piastri that wasn't
on that was the move of the week.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
But it doesn't have to be a good move of
the week. I guess doesn't It could be bad.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Well, yes, yeah, there's no context of this. I'm going
to leave the low hanging for it for you this
week because I'm a kind co host. I am actually
going to go with a move lower in the pack
on the first lap that completely transformed the race. This
is Nico Holkenberg passing Franco Colapinto and Alex alban on
lap one that got Holkeenberg inside the top ten and
(15:42):
then he basically didn't leave the top ten for the
rest of the race. And yet again Hulkeenberg and Sauerber
scoring really significant points towards the tail end of the
top ten, and they've actually kicked clear in the Constructor's
Championship over Alpine. As a result, it's back to back
weekends where everything you signed Holgenberg for, the experience, the opportunism,
(16:04):
the ability to convert on an opportunity, that presents itself unexpectedly.
This is why you have Nico Holkenberg in Formula one
in twenty twenty five. So I think he got our
move of the week last time for what he did
to Lewis Hamilton in Spain. So it's back to back
of Nico Holkenberg, which is not something I'm expected to
say on this particular podcast. I've left an obvious one
(16:25):
for you, but to my mind that was a transformative
move at the beginning of the race that set up
everything that followed. So curedos to him, Curedoster Soubert, They're
actually not cast a drift in this sort of pathetic
category of one at the back. Now they actually look
pretty legit after the last couple of races. But I
suggest the one I've left for you, you're going to
slot the open goal here.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, but look just before that, let me say soalbur
nine points off the bottom oh Helpeen last in the championship,
and Souber only eight points off sixth from which is
being held by Hearts, which to my mind feels like
it's going backwards a little bit where Sauerber's moving forwards.
That I did not see this coming even only a
couple of rounds Ago, really impressive work with him, and
like you say, great to have signed Hogberg not only
(17:04):
for sour. But suddenly it feels like that lineup for
when it becomes ourdy doesn't feel as well.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
These are the drivers that were available and we slapped
him together.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Is suddenly a lineup that has a little bit of
something in it for that foundation driver pairing next to you,
and it becomes audy. But yes, low hanging fruit. There
are only a couple of other pieces of fruit from
this race. I was tempted to actually pick Norris's move
at the hairpin because I thought that was a great
moose and well played by both of them, in fact,
because then Piastric saw it coming at some point cross
back under him, got that great wheel to wheel moment
(17:35):
down the back straight, So I was as well executed
as it got for Norris until he threw it all
the way later. But I am of course going to
go Andre Kimi Antonelli a great move on the first
lap to take third of Oscar. Piastre just well managed,
I think, because this is we've seen lots of and
we will talk about this, we'll expand about this, maybe
a little bit later as well, considering to use first ponent.
But we've seen lots of great flashes of everything we've
(17:56):
known about his potential, great qualifying speed. He got that
spin pole in Miami, good race pace even in Melbourne,
obviously survived really tricky conditions there to come home from
a pretty ordinary qualifying result. This was a really good,
comprehensive weekend from him, and a really just a solid
first lap lining up against the leading championship leader. Clung
on the outside at turn one because he knew that
meant the inside for the next two corners, needed Piastre
(18:18):
not to fight him super hard. I think Piastre obviously
was aware of the fact that it's probably low percentage
to hold that place and obviously had the title lead
to defend. But that made his race because much like
Kulckenberg never left the top ten, Antonine never left the
top three and in fact gave him some opportunities to
even race with Max Vistappen later on. So a great
move from him, a great start that capped off a
(18:39):
great weekend.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, agreed. I like the mention of who he was
fighting against. The number one rule in these situations, know
your opponent, and you know, when you're in a fifty
to fifty situation and you're not a championship contender against
a guy who's leading the world championship, who has way
more to lose than you. I think Piastre made a
reluctant but a business is you're nonetheless. It's like, I
(19:01):
could fight this and potentially risk my car, I'm already
several spots ahead of my teammate and my closest championship
challenger on the grid. It's not worth it, and I
think Antonelli really played into that. But it was very
coolly and cleanly executed for a guy that was in
his tenth foot with the one Grand Prix start, and
you'd have to say that we haven't seen the absolute,
like wow, look at that qualifying la pace from him
(19:21):
that we might have thought we'd seen this year. But
he's been super impressive and it feels like he's taken
advantage of most of the opportunities that he's got. He's
you know, he's clearly going to be here for a
very very long time, but wy be the last time
he gets moved of the week on this podcast, or
however long this podcast lasts but yeah, very impressive. Nonetheless,
and you were right. There were only two other pieces
of fruit, but I thought i'd leave them for you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Well, let's look at that Mercedes weekend and the weekend
a little bit more broadly overall, because while the talking
point was over the battle for fourth, George Russell was
pretty serenely leading this one from pole position made up
for the win he should have had here last year
from pole, but too many mistakes cost him to Max
Staffen in a pretty tricky race in the end. No
such mistakes this weekend led from pol. The sizzle about
(20:06):
the combat with Max Mustaffan off the line didn't even worthy.
I wasn't even worthy of a mentioned, considering his start
was just so good and controlled the race from there.
There were moments where it looked like Mustafan was getting closer,
but it was all management from Russell, who scored one
of his more comprehensive victories. There have been other good
ones as well in there. I think back to that
victory that doesn't count in Belgium last year. I think
it's probably his most impressive, ironically, but I think this
(20:28):
is a really big tick a for Mercedes because it's
their first win of the season in a year that
they started sort of optimistic about but then felt like
they lost their way in the last month or so.
So it gets them back on track, particularly considering they
use an upgrade that they temporarily had in the bin
only a week or two ago. But also, I feel
like I am in your position on this, Russell. This
been quite a good and comprehensive weekend for him, which
(20:52):
is great, But then particularly in contrast to Canada last
year one year ago, where he fumbled his chances in
a way that I think had become quite characteristic of
him at that point. Really good in qualifying, often would
qualify high up or even on pole position, but then would.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Almost get too excited, over excited to be.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
On pole in a position he's not meant to be
in because the Mercedes never been a race winner, and
then do something sillier and not win the race. There
was no sign of that this weekend, and I don't
think it's something that had happened ahead of this weekend,
but it certainly happened in the last twelve months, and
I think it just emphasized that position he has now
as the team leader at Mercedes arriving at just the
right time.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, and this is the evolution of a driver that
you know, he statistically was the stronger Mercedes driver last year,
but it always felt like he was driving in Lewis
Hamilton's team, which is understandable because of the success Hamilton
had had there and how long he'd been there, and
he was part of the furniture. It was always like, oh, yeah,
and our other drivers George Russell, which is a little
bit unfair because the guy's very, very good and very accomplished.
(21:47):
So there was there were two things for me. It
shows you the evolution of him as a leader and
a driver and a senior person within the sport. But
there's also that taking and like acing the big moments
and I think you know Q three was like that
absolutely fantastic qualifying that you mentioned. There's all this tension
off the start and Verstappans got penalty points to worry about,
(22:07):
and he's got the car angled at Russell. It was
a complete non story because Russell totally nailed the start
Forstappan didn't get a look at him in the first corner,
and then for the rest of that race he just
he controlled that race in a manner that we've not
seen George Russell control the race probably before, didn't overreach.
There weren't any lurid moments or things that we're going
to trip him up. He was totally in control. And
(22:30):
Canada's a funny one because it's one of those races
that sometimes when not a lot happens, you always watch
the race at Canada through the lens of there's a
lot of tripwise and things that can spoil your day
there because of the nature of the track and how
close the walls are and even the configuration of the track.
It's a pretty unusual circuit and the way that you
run it. And he took a stressful situation and just
(22:52):
took all the stress out of it. I thought he
was incredibly composed and in control. But the other thing
I loved about this, and we'll probably get onto this
in a second, was that he saw he knew that
he could stir Red Bull and Max for stapping up
this weekend, and he took the opportunity to bait them
and annoy them and just sort of be ever present
with that niggle the entire weekend. I actually love that
(23:14):
because it would have been very easy, just oh no, Look,
we're just focusing on ourselves and we're just doing our
own thing, and we're trying to maximize our opportunity. He
saw an opportunity there to twist the knife a little bit,
knowing how much his opponents were going to hate it,
and actually baiting them into a response, which is probably
why we waited six hours for a Steward's verdict. But
that's another story. But I did enjoy the fact that
(23:34):
he saw an opportunity to be a little bit mischievous
and decided to wrap up the volume on that so
great drive, very very well managed, very accomplished Grand Prix win,
and for a bit of bustardy as well. We'll give
him a tick for that as well.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, I think I think that is a great call
because I think, as we've learned in the last i
don't know, let's just say twelve months, he's certainly not
above the politics. Now. Mercedes isn't. Even if they preck
that they are the cleaner team in some senses that
you could say they were the cleaner team, they're not
totally clean team when it comes to politics. But Russell
certainly isn't. He's a clever guy. He's one of the
(24:08):
smarter guys on the grid, and he knows how to
stir people up and he's got in that sense, at
least I think he has Max with Stapfen's number, he
can get under his skin. We've learned this like probably
no other driver on the grid, which is pretty remarkable
considering Max has had several run ins with lots of
drivers over his time and played that to perfection after qualifying.
And I think there's a legitimacy to it now as well,
(24:31):
because as Red Will sort of slides backwards into the
pack Mercedes, it's probably too early to say they're in
the ascendency. They've said this is not a breakthrough, and
I think that's absolutely right. There's a track that suited
the car, condition that suited the car. We don't expect
them to suddenly be winning races regularly, but they're pretty
closely aligned now, those two teams in terms of their capacity,
so it's not, you know, the little guy just having
a crack at the big guy for the headline. I
(24:51):
think there's there some legitimacy in there, and I think
that they are generally the team and driver under Red
Bull and the staff and skin because we saw the
st and snap in the post qualifying press conference when
he's asked about the penalty points situation. And I think
that is a site you know, as much as some
people will say, well, you know, MAXI just doesn't have
time for whatever. I think he does snap like there
is that is a sign of him getting a little
(25:13):
bit irritated by it. And then let's talk about that
post race investigation that went for twice as long, no
more than three times as long, more than three times
as long as I think the race. Yes, red Bull
lodging a couple of protests against the result, for Russell's
alleged behavior behind the safety car and sporting erratic dangerous
against the rules. It always seemed like a long shot.
(25:35):
I think we were talking after the race when we
was just such a low percentage at best play. They
were clearly entitled to make it accord of the rules.
But what I really liked, Matt, and maybe you can
tell us about this total wolf's comments the day after
actually at the F one movie premiere. Even there's no
break for politics, even when you go to the movies.
I just thought he nailed it so perfectly.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Get the popcorn out when you have an open mic
in front of a total wolf after they've just won
to one o Grand Prix. This quote is funnier if
you read it in his accent, which I know sounds
like a ridiculous thing to say, but talking about the
way that you know obviously read Red Bull was questioning
the gamesmanship and Toto Wolf's comment was about the protest.
(26:16):
It's so petty and so small and the words small.
Actually maybe giggle when I read it when it came
out after the movie premiere, because A it's such a
Toto Wolf thing to say, and it's so dismissive. It's like,
this is pathetic, like what a small effort to try
and spoil and a like what is wrong with you people?
But it does sort of also speak to the there's
(26:38):
something with Red Bull with the way they handle situations
like this. There's this cross between a little bit of
desperation to try and make it look like they're doing
everything possible to keep verstapan on side. It sounds like
from what you read after the event, that Verstappen was
less bothered about this than Red Bull actually were, and
that he was probably halfway home on the private jet
(26:58):
by the time you realized that he had. She retained
second place at this point. So there's this desperation from
Red Bull management to make it like we're in your cornerbacks.
We're in your cornerbacks. Everyone knew what was going on.
Verstappan knew that Russell was trying to stir him r
Russell knew exactly what he was doing. Christian Horner came
out and said that they'd spoken to the stewards and
made them aware that they know there might be a
bit of gamesmanship and things going on here. But I
(27:20):
don't understand how that would be different to any other
team against any other driver in a similar situation. Let's
just say Orlando Norris had one point from being suspended
for a race because of a bunch of penalty points.
Do you think Red buller would have done the same
and stirred the pot for the entire week and they
would have taken a bigger spooed out the Mercedes did
and stirred the pot, knowing the way Red Bull usually
roll with these things. So I thought it was completely
(27:40):
legitimate from Mercedes to tweak Red Bull about it, and
the whole protest thing. You might want to sort of
take our listeners inside this a little bit. But the
problem with protests is that there they can be launched.
The financial outlay for a team to launch a protest
for something as tenuous as this is not enough to
just weigh them from doing its two thousand euro or
(28:02):
something ridiculous. So it's a drop in the ocean. For
some of these teams, there's no disincentive for them to
not launch a protest and waste everyone's time for six hours.
But I wonder if the procedure needs to change, both
in terms of how much a team needs to cough
up to initiate one of these things, and also can
we have a decision within like two hours? Is it
really that hard?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I think they're both great calls, because I think the
deposit on the protest was only introduced not that long ago.
If memory serves to ward off these really spurious protests,
or a team would lodge a protest not really believing
a rule had been broken, but just to make a
point in the wording of their protests, like well we
don't think this is right. Whatever is the case, I
think it was only a couple of years ago it
(28:42):
was brought in, But two thousand euros is hardly anything.
You know, it might make the most ridiculous of protests,
give it a second thought, but clearly not enough in
this situation. So I think there is that element of it,
and then I do think that it's probably time, it
has been time for a while for the FIA to
look at the way that these strace investigations going now.
To be fair, there were quite a few, probably an
(29:03):
unusual number of post race investigations to undertake, featuring quite
a lot of drivers. There was a safety car based
investigation that I think involved six drivers off the top
of my head, five or six drivers after the race.
So there was that element. But I think the requirement
to look at things chronologically probably needs to be rethought,
because no one really cared about with due respect to
what happened to Oliver Berman, considering you finished outside the points,
(29:26):
if you've got a post race penalty or whatever, it
didn't matter, whereas obviously with George Russell that could have
affected the outcome of the Grand Prix, the winner of
the Grand Prix. So I think there's an element of that,
But then we've heard a lot. We're going to understand.
The system is important that you have this group of
stewards and they're the ones that make the decision because
they're from a pool of stewards. That's the only way
(29:46):
you can ensure any kind of consistency, not only within
a race, but from race to race. But we've heard
a lot about the Remote Operations Center in Geneva of
the FIA. We've heard about it likened to var and
that it assists during the race. And I'm sure it
does assist during the race when it comes to things
like track limits whatever, because it's.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Just more eyes.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
But there's got to be a way to use more
of the resources that are apparently on offer to speed
up these situations, whether it comes to just riding out
these documents fastucause I'm sure that's part of it getting
them out there. I think there's also part of the
reason there's a delay is that teams have to acknowledge
the receipt of every time a document is sent out
before the next stage can happen, and there's probably some
slowness there when that might be five hours later and
(30:25):
they're all going home or on their debts already. But
there's just has to be a way to expedite this process,
particularly when we're talking about a protest against the winner
of a race.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
It's just not a no.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Because imagine how to change Imagine the people who would
have gone to bed and assuming that George Russell was
the winner, or if you were an Australia you've already
gone to work.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
You're not going to find out till you get home.
It's just not practical.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Well, and the one I always think of with this
was the Daniel Ricardo podium that wasn't at the two
fourteen Australian Grand Prix. And I remember this because you
were probably sitting in the same press room as me.
I think that final Steward's verdict came through about five
minutes to midnight for a race that had finished at
half past four, and so we all knew Ricardo was
going to get disqualified. There was nothing official, and then
it was announced Daniel Ricardo has been stripped of his
(31:06):
second place. It changed the podium, it changed all the points.
McLaren had two drivers on the podium. I remember I
had the story basically ready to go, hit send and
walked out of the press room at midnight for a
race that finished at help us four. And that was
eleven years ago, so the more things changed, the more
they stayed the same.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, exactly, So hopefully some change there. And just quickly,
I know we already talked about Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but
I just want to mention again first podium for him
ten races into his career, third youngest podium getter in
Formula one. I feel like you already know this, but
I'm going to ask you the question anyway, do you
know who's ahead of him on that table?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Now?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I did read this yesterday and then I got stuck
in six hours of Stuart's Stewart's notes, so you can
you can enlighten the listeners while I try and pick
my brain here.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah, so undeniably and obviously Maxwastaffan is in there. Obviously
his first victory at eight I was also the youngest.
Window'm pretty sure hasn't he had eighteen?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And whatever? Day's two hundred days?
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Oh, I know where you're going here. I've just worked
this out.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yes, Yeah, so I would say fifty percent of them.
It's a good sign to being company of the other
one though, is Lance Stroll who got that podium in
was as I think, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Dum finished the.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Daniel Riccardo won that race. Speaking of Daniel Riccardo, it
was seventeen was.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
The Riccardo race. It wasn't both, but there was Botas
who passed him off the line. But there you go, Oh,
there you go. I figured it out in the end.
It was my own got tripped up with my own
question this week remarkable.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
This is the most enthusiastic either Orus have been about
Lance Stroll the entire season so far, and probably more
enthusiastic than Lance Stroll has been about Lance Stroll for
most of the part of this season. For anyone out
there that hasn't listened to or read the Thursday FIA
press conference with Tom Clarkson and Lance Stroll was there.
I wouldn't say that he participated, but he was in attendance,
(32:38):
and it was kind of the beginning of a home
grownd Prix weekend where you forgot that he was there.
But if you're into one word answers to press conference questions,
then that's right.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Daniel Alley, Yeah, I think so participation probably sums up
his whole weekend. I think finished lay out of the
points for Fernando a. Lonzo's scored points again forgettable performance,
copped a penalty as well for crashing into Pierre And
I mean, if you liked his press conference performance, if
you can find his post race interview from F one TV,
it's even better and perhaps more infuriating to spending on
(33:09):
your defety and your perspective. So clearly worthwhile for him
to come back this so quickly after his wrisk surgery,
because I'm sure the home fans are very pleased with
his result, but a great performance by Andrea Kimi antonelli'vill
undoubtedly be more to come from him, because I thought
it was interesting about as well. Listening to Total Wolf
after the race, he said, a lot of this year
has been about, but will increasingly be about now expectation management,
(33:31):
because here's a young guy who's done nothing except when
on his way to FORMUD one had great expectations coming
and even if we knew it was such a big step.
But again in ten races, I know it's felt like
a long time because I guess ten races is quite
a while, but it's not really that long. It's only
a couple of months. Has already got onto the podium
for the first time, and not in a lucky way.
Not in a fluke deserved to be. Their performance was great.
(33:54):
This might be one of the few weekends Mercedes has
this level of performance in it, and he took that
opportunity to Stier. Wasn't that far behind Georg Russel any
point this weekend as well. So expectation management now becomes
part of the game because we can't expect that necessarily
every week, but clearly it's becoming increasingly frequent.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Well, And the key thing is he's eighteen years old.
You know, there's so much headroom and so much time
for growth here. I don't think it's going to take
very long, and I don't think this will be the
last time we're having that podium conversation. He's he's been
just about as good as advertised. And the crazy part
about it is he might be what eight years from
his peak in Formula one of him, it's completely wild
to think that he might have a decade ahead of him,
(34:31):
but he still might be still improving.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
So yeah, lots to like. Yeah, alarming, isn't that.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Jackie Steward's used to say a driver peaked at thirty
It's a long time.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Not man, So what you're saying is lant Stroll's nearly there.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
He's nearly there. He's just hag on to keep the faith. Canadians,
keep the faith. We know you can still be there
at thirty always.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Certainly before we wrap this one up, about the crystal
ball brought to you by Complete home Filtration. What are
you foreseeing in the next week or more of motorsport?
Speaker 3 (35:00):
The key thing for me this weekend we have the
Italian motor GP at Magello, one of the great race
tracks for any sport, but particularly motor GP. Incredibly high speed,
incredibly undulating, fantastic quarter names. No thanks to you all
the things that I love about motor GP. But my
crystal ball this weekend is I don't think that the
(35:22):
twenty twenty five motor GP World Championship is necessarily up
for grabs here, but I think if it's going to
be a run to the finish that we all want,
this is almost must win for Peco Banyaya at his
home Grand Prix on Decati's home Grand Prix against Mark Marquez.
He's got to stand his ground here and the good
news for Peco in the next ten days we go
to Magello, where he's won the last three years in
(35:43):
a row, and then we go to Asen, where he's
won the last three years in a row, and we
know that it's been a struggle for him this year
relative to his teammate. Unlocked something at the last race
at Aragon that should that transform his season. He's coming
to probably his strongest two tracks in the space of
a fortnite. This shapes to me as a super important weekend.
I think he's going to win his fourth Italian Grand
(36:04):
Prina Row. I don't think he's necessarily going to challenge
for the title, but I think this is the weekend
where he plants his flag and says, all right, I'm
still here. I'm still really really good on this bike.
And you also know psychologically that Marquez, being the Spaniards
in the Italians backyard, he would love to create a
little George Russell mischief and win this race this weekend.
But I think we might get the Intra team to
(36:25):
caddy fight that we've wanted all season. But I think
it's Spanya who wins it.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Oh look, we'd all love to see it as well.
Very popular victory and Italian winning on Italian soil, Fingers crossed, what.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Have you go?
Speaker 1 (36:33):
I'm going to go over to Supercars Land. We've got
the Darwin triple Crown. I'm usually close to the previous race,
only a fortnight between them, and the rules have change
this year. For anyone who's been keeping track of the
triple Crown, I don't think of you if you're not,
because it's proved almost impossible to win. I think it's
just because winners ever, and so the criteria has changed.
Supercars organizers have said, or Darwen organizers said, look, no
(36:53):
one can do it. No one can win all three races.
It's unlikes and not like supercars for one driver to
sweep an entire weekend of victories. So now if you
get the most points, so a conventional perpetual trophy rule,
and I think that's almost certainly means it's going to
be brock Phene's. He has been so good at Darwin
the last couple of years, so he've been the sport
for a couple of years, but he's been so good there.
It's really it's not his home territory, but on the
(37:15):
quality home territory for the purposes of his level of performance.
So he's actually going to finally win this. We're actually
going to finally find out. I know you, do you
think if you have got twenty twenty and there was
a previous winner of the triple crown, perhaps I'm actually
going to find out what that trophy looks like. And
I personally hope it is a real crown. If anyone's
been thinking about this, if the winner does not get
an actual three pointed crown, then they've missed a trick.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Well, they've had five years to get it right, so
you would hope so that that's a good call. Because
how he's how he's not worn the aforementioned crowd previously
based on his results, there is a little bit of
a mystery, but yeah, you might be right. This could
be the weekend that he rights that particular wrong.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
It's got to be a crown, guys, it's right in
the name. Come on, that's all the time we've got
for Fittalk today. You can subscribe to bittog reev. You
get your favorite podcast and you can leave us rating
and a review as well. This weekend is the Motorcycle
Italian Grand Prix Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix even with lights
out at ten pm on Sunday, and the Supercars Dar
and Triple Crown from Friday until Sunday. You can keep
up to date with all the latest F one, supercars
(38:13):
and MOTODP news at Foxsports dot com dot Au. From
Matt Clayton and me Michael Lomonato. Thanks very much for
your company. We'll catch you next week.
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