Lando's Perfect Weekend

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome once again this is the Grand Prix Project podcast with
me, your host Andre and the big bro Thanos.
What's happening bro? I'm here, I'm here.
It's reviewed. This is the Austrian Grand Prix
F1 review. Yeah, I don't even know what
we're going to review because itwas, it was a pretty, it's a
pretty uneventful race after a certain point just, you know,

(00:21):
kind of like petered out. And yeah, I don't think it was
really that great, but you know,we're here today.
So we have to put something out and just give our views on it
and see how we get on, you know what I mean?
But we have we do have some somelittle talking points that we've
kind of like put down that we probably can, you know, we can

(00:42):
definitely look at. Yeah, yeah.
So do you want to run through qualifying?
Yeah, I mean Andon Norris again,you know, you like always call
him. I think the nickname for Lando
is Q3Q3 Lando, miss our our mistake.
Q3 Lando, whichever 1 you only got because you always know, you

(01:04):
know, he'll look good the whole entire time.
And then when he gets to qualifying, especially the last
one in Q3, a man just disappear and just gets in his own head.
Yeah, just gets in his own head or mess things up.
But this weekend, it seemed likehe was just in a zone, you know,
and I saw someone said maybe he should meet the secret for him

(01:26):
now, Maybe he should miss FPFP one practice sessions, at least
that that we give him some, you know, that fight to push through
because he has to make up for that missed session.
But you have to give your hat tohim.
Tip, tip your hat to him this weekend, man.
He did well. He did what he needed to do.
That qualifying was just like different level, absolutely

(01:46):
different level. The McLaren's were just, they
were in a different planet compared to everybody else.
And the margin, well, we know what the margin is kind of
exaggerated. Well, I don't think it's
exaggerated to the Ferraris. It's exaggerated to Oscar
because there's nowhere, Oscar is half a second slower than
Lando, you know, And it's a bit unfortunate that he didn't get

(02:07):
to do that second run because hewas the first on the scene for
there as a ghazly. Yeah, he has a spinning note to
the last corner and you know that pretty much killed his lap
and at the same time also killedMax's lap.
But Max was never on before his lap when interrupted by the
Dobby yellow. He was never really on course or
Paul. Anyway.
I think the best he was going todo is probably third.

(02:28):
He was going to qualify and unfortunately, you know, he
caught that WL as well, qualified 7th the Ferrari at one
point it looked like Charles wasgonna like might actually be in
the running because after his first sector, I believe he set
the fastest for a sector and at the end of the sector he was
like within. I believe it was half a 10th of

(02:49):
Landers first benchmark time, but then finished up when he
finished the lap. He didn't improve on his first
bank collapse. That's how much his lap fell
off. I don't know if he made a
mistake or not, but wasn't to know that.
And I think it's a good thing that the team didn't really tell
him that Oscar's lap. Oscar didn't get to do his lap.
They just like kind of like justlet him go and just let him

(03:10):
carry on as normal. And he put in because when he
finished that Sector 2 and he was like 2 1/2 tenths up on his
personal, his first run, I was like, yo, him and the McLaren
were just singing. They were just in tune just at
1. And it was just, you know, he
did. He did he did what he needed to
do and you know, had soft him create qualifying.

(03:32):
Unfortunate for Oscar that that happened to him, but you know,
still made it top three with that first run.
But the Ferrari in second again,you know, I think that car, I
think both the Ferraris were outof position because I think if
Max had actually gotten his lap in, he probably would have all

(03:53):
qualified both of them. So I think that both Ferrars are
probably starting 4th and 5th, if we're being honest.
Yeah, would have been 4th and 5th.
But, you know, it's just one of them things Max got found
himself done in what was AP seven.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because was it George's fifth? Larson was 6, Max was 7th,

(04:14):
bought a letter, I believe, bought a letter was 8.
That was his best qualifying of the season.
PE And again, to come through the rounds with that Sauber and
also you have to give a nod to Sauber, especially considering
where they were coming from lastyear, making it out of Q1 would
have been the occasions that made out of Q1.
It was a miracle. But now to make it all the way

(04:36):
up into Q3, I mean, knocking on some big boys along the way
because let's be honest, you know, I think Biermann qualified
in the top 10 didn't get both. God, I probably should have
looked up this before and but did they get both on hold on,
let me just check just to make sure, because I mean, even all
qualified Kimi Ghazly Anzo burn jar, you know, I mean, in what

(05:00):
we'd probably say are much better cars than the the kicksaw
bus, you know, qualifying. I think just it went to plan for
one person and that was Lando and Lando needed that.
He needed that because if you remember in his first run, he
came in and I believe his race engineer's name is Will Joseph
must have said to him, look, Lando, that might have seemed

(05:21):
like a seem like a bad lap, but that was a great lap.
That was a great lapse. I think now they've developed a
thing where they actually kind of like their book.
They're they're constantly kind of like, yeah, reassuring him in
this, these moment, because I think in these moments he'll do
something and he thinks, OK, it's terrible and then puts

(05:43):
pressure on himself to go out there and try and bet it.
And then that's where the mistakes came.
But it's. What we call getting in your own
head. Yeah, he got in his.
That's what he's been doing all along.
And you know, you know where I stand with this.
I've always said Lando has all the talent in the world, but the
problem is he needs to clear up the errors he's having.
And I think the moment he gets on a run, if he gets himself in

(06:05):
a three race stretch where he performs Florida State, Oscar's
in trouble. Oscar's in serious trouble
because I don't see him relenting.
And I said it in the space on Sunday, if he can carry this
run, perform because we have three more races to the summer
break. We have Silverstone this
weekend, then we have Spa, and then we have Hungry to end the

(06:27):
first half of the season, which that would be what, 14 races?
The 1st 14, because Silverstone will be 12/13/14, so basically
the first 50. So we'd be 50 halfway marker the
season. And if he can finish the season
on a high, finish the first halfof the season on a high, he'd be
going into the summer being feeling really confident.

(06:48):
And it's Oscar now who's going to be feeling.
He's going to be on the back foot thinking, yeah, how do I
stop this run? Because I have to stop this and
I can't let this moment momentumcarry on.
So as I said, qualified went to plan for one person was a bit
unfortunate what happened to thelikes of Max and Oscar, but we
didn't really get to see what their true pace was.

(07:08):
But you know, these things happen.
These things happen. Just one thing I would say on
that when you say Oscar to be introuble, I just don't see it.
I don't think Lando's got that. I don't think Lando is that much
more talented than Oscar for, for him to, for me to say Oscar
would be in trouble. I think I just don't see it.
I, I think I just think Oscar overall is a better driver.

(07:32):
That's just my just everything from from I personally just
think Oscar is the better driver.
So I even if Landa go on a run, I think I still think Oscar has
it in him to to to match that fight and and go for it.
I don't think he'll be in trouble.
Like, you know, I just don't seeit.
Landa doesn't show me enough forme to believe that.
Well, like it when again, Maybe he'll show you.

(07:55):
That's why I said if he can carry this run to the end of the
to the summer break, maybe that run will actually might convince
you otherwise. But when I say Oscar's going to
be in trouble, is that Oscar's going off?
I mean, in the sense that Oscar's going to have to find a
way to stop that momentum. He's going to not have to react.
How does he react to that situation?

(08:16):
Because so far this season, he'snot been in a precarious
position. Like Lando's found himself in
that times, you know, and then he has to recover from that.
So if Lando goes on a four race win streak, because if Lando
wins next three races, he's going into the summer break
leading the championship by and if say, Oscar finishes second,

(08:38):
so that's what he's currently 15points behind.
So if he wins the next three, next three, that's what, 25
points. The Oscars, what, 3?
It's 2454 points, and they wouldbe leading the championship
probably by about 7:00 or eight points.
I believe rough mats just say seven or eight points.
Oscar is going to have going thesummer break thinking.

(08:58):
No, yeah, I had that 20.22 pointlead with four races to go, and
now I find myself seven or eightpoints behind.
How do I recover this? It's not a massive gap, but
Lando has the momentum. So how are you going to wrestle
back that momentum from him? And this is where we're going to
see the the true test of Oscar'smentality now.

(09:19):
Yeah, you know, you say you. Tuesday, July 1st I see.
I see Oscar finishing ahead of him in Silverstone, OK.
OK, let's wait and see. Let's wait and see.
He hasn't finished ahead of him.Even though the McLaren is super
fast, say for instance it doesn't go through to form and
someone else says I don't see Oscar finishing at Orlando in
Silverstone. But let's remember he hasn't

(09:40):
finished ahead of him in the last two races at Silverstone,
so let's wait and see. Coming up, Oscar, Let's see.
Let's wait and see. Hold on, is this is Oscar's
second year in the McLaren or third?
He was done a rookie last year, so he's probably his third.
Yes, it would be his third it was based on.
Because he wasn't a rookie last year.
No, it wasn't. Yeah, 2023, yeah.
So this would be his third year.And those both years 23 and 24

(10:04):
finished behind Lando so. Yeah, but but yeah, one of them
was his rookie year. Come on now.
OK, then we'll ignore the roof. But again, because it's your
rookie, I don't mean you can't beat him.
No, but yeah, you got to give rookie a certain a certain
certain pass. It's their rookie year.
He's a rookie. Well, he didn't beat him last
year. But I see it happening this year
because last year Oscar is not this year's Oscar.

(10:26):
As the same argument can be madefor Lando.
But let's wait and see. Let's wait and see.
Let's wait and see. OK, so we did cover that.
You want to talk about it, turn to Chaos with with Kimmy and
Max. Yeah, this is the race now,
isn't it? Tell me what you think because
I've got I've got a different opinion of what really happened.

(10:46):
And I see a lot of people makingmore effort than than than needs
to be. It's just a, it's just one of
them situations that could happen.
He arrived with too much speed, right?
Try to scrub it off, locked up and just wiped him out.
Like it happens. It could happen to anyone,
right? It's it's typical race start
type of situation. You know he's he's he's a young
rookie as well, right. So I don't think I see a lot of

(11:08):
fuss about it, but it's just a racing incident for me in terms
of like he's probably going to get a penalty for.
It well, he did get we did get apenalty, got yeah, got three
penalty points and a three placegreat job.
Great job. Here we go.
Yeah. So which is warranted?
It's just a mistake that he made.
It's not what I'm seeing in social media to make a big fuss
about. It's just one of them things

(11:30):
that happened in racing at times, right?
And Max handled it gracefully, right?
I guess people are saying it's because Max is not noise, is not
in the championship. Could be that.
But I just like the way he handled it because we know Max
can jump out the window a bit attimes.
And, you know, he probably just saw it as, yeah, he's a rookie,
just made a mistake, you know, move on to the next one.

(11:51):
That's just how I viewed it. Cool fair enough because we had
a conversation in the space and Kings lays off the opinion that
Kimi was just carried too much speed and you know yeah you
could say he made a mistake he made a mistake but I think we.
See that? Yeah, but what happened?
But if you watch what happened, he took, he was trying to take
avoiding action because I don't remember who it was who was in
front of him. I think they braked earlier than

(12:13):
he anticipated. And the closing speed was so
great. It was a case of if I don't take
avoiding action, I'm going to run straight into back of these
guys. So he took the avoiding action
and again, he was still carryingspeed.
And by the time he braked, his front rear tires locked up and
he was pretty much a passenger. Now, unfortunately, it took Max
out and whiles, you know, peopleare saying Max handed it

(12:35):
graciously. I saw a comment that says did he
really handle it graciously or did he just accept it because he
knew he wasn't in the championship fight?
Because if it was a case where where, hold on.
If it was a case where he was ina championship fight and that
were to happen to him, how wouldhe have dealt with it?
Remember what happened Hungary 21?
Didn't he get skizzled out at the start in in Hungary 2021?

(12:57):
And how did he react to that? I don't think he looked at it
and and felt like, yeah, Bottas just made a mistake, etcetera.
What? What not?
Yeah, but when you got to look at it like this, any human being
right is going to handle that differently, if differently if
they're in a championship comprehensive, they're not.
That's just human nature. Because if I'm, if I'm in a

(13:18):
championship fight where it's close and it's tough, I got to
be grinding for every point to win this championship.
Yeah, you're going to. There's going to be more fire in
your stomach. You're going to be more enraged
when it happens. Yeah, so the so the comment I
saw was right then as he felt like, because the comment I saw
then was right. But he let's let's be honest, he
might be this close to he was what I can't remember how many

(13:39):
points he was off first in the championship.
Realistically, I think he knows he's not in the championship
fight with the Mclarens. For him to win the championship
is going to take McLaren actually, you know, like we
discussed, just mentioned, don'trace themselves out of a
championship by the drivers taking each other out and give
him Max points. Case in point, what happened in

(14:02):
Canada. I think he realistically feels
like he's not in the championship.
So if he got taken out of a race, doesn't really bother him
that much. But like you said, at the same
time he was a bit forgiven of what happened because again, it
was Kimmy. Would he have been that forgiven
if it was somebody else? And that's the thing, and that's
the point. At that point, it doesn't even
matter, right? This is why when when people put
these things on social media, right?

(14:23):
It's like, yeah, we get that. But ultimately, in this moment,
in this situation, he handled itgracefully.
Right. Yeah.
It's like it does, it's, it's pointless in saying, well, if it
was, if he if buts and maybes right in this part, in this
moment, in that moment when thathappened, he did say something
over the radio because he was frustrated initially.
Right, Yeah, which he, which is pretty normal.

(14:44):
Which which is pretty normal. So now when he came out the car,
Kimmy had a conversation and he took it on the chin and he kept
it pushing. So sometimes we know sometime
Max can get. So if in the moments when he's
fiery, we give him stick no matter the situation, in a
situation where he's he kept it,dealt with it in a different
way, which is what we've been asked, people has been asked

(15:05):
for, why can't he do this? Why can't he do that?
You know, when he does it, Why are you still trying to find
something to criticize him to saying it's because of this
earth, because of that. You get what I'm saying?
Yeah. I don't like that.
You know, you just got to just deal with the moment.
He dealt with it gracefully. He he wasn't belligerent, he
didn't jump out the window and and you just got to be like, OK,
come in the guy for this. He could get taken out of the

(15:26):
race next week again and it might be a different drive and
he reacts in a totally differentway.
Exactly. You know, so, so we just got to
deal with it incident by incident.
Yeah. And he dealt with this one good.
It was a bit unfortunate, though, for for Kimmy, you know,
because yeah, he was having a somewhat of an OK weekend.
But again, he's a rookie. He's going to learn.
These things will happen and I'msure he'll just put it in his

(15:48):
memory barring to no snow next time.
Yeah, let's just be a bit. Let's not.
I can't win the race. I well, you can win some races
at the first corner, but you candefinitely lose it at the first
corner by taking yourself all tothe race.
So next time it's a case of let's just make it through the
the first lap in one piece and then we go from there.
That's always the aim of our race.
Just make sure you complete the first lap.

(16:09):
Yes, that means you're in the race.
Then you can race from there. You can't race when you fit,
when you take yourself out at turn one or turn 2.
And as we're yeah. And as we're good for because
it's not on the list, but let's let's talk about Kimmy for a
little bit, right? So in the spaces we're talking
about it, I don't even know why there's even a conversation
where some folks think that Kimmy is going to be under some

(16:30):
threat. In one the.
Most of his team. Threat in what sense?
In terms of like. His seat?
What? We're seeing like it's probably
his seat. I'm like, I don't see that.
No, no, I don't think Kimmy has to worry about his.
Granted, he doesn't have a contract as yet.
He's going to get a. Contract, but he doesn't really
have to worry about his seat because, you know, I mean he's
what he's behind Lewis in the championship.

(16:51):
So that's what P7, Oscar Lando, Max George, that's four or five.
So it's P7 in the championship behind Lewis.
I mean that's he's doing a damn good job for a rookie.
He just only had his first podium of his career week prior
in a podium. I said a week prior, yeah.
And he had the pool, the Sprint pool in Miami.

(17:14):
So we've seen glimpses of, you know, he has the speed, he has
the talent. It's just no, for him, it's a
massive learning curve because he has to now learn how to
manage these ties and then he'llbe good and.
Win the championship run right now at that issue.
Oscar. Exactly so.
Yeah. I don't think that it's, it's

(17:35):
those people who are asking thatquestion are basically empty
barrels. And you know what they say empty
barrels made the most nice, but I don't really, I haven't really
seen much of it, but I know it'sout there.
But Kimi's, Kimi's Kimi definitely not going nowhere in
Mercedes. He's the, I mean, he's what just
turned 18 couple weeks ago. He's the long term future for

(17:56):
them. Just just just use an American
sporting phrase. He's Mercedes franchise player,
bro, all right? He's their franchise player.
He ain't going anywhere. So they're going to build around
him. He didn't with that franchise
tag, right? Exactly so Kimi's.
He ain't got nobody. He's insecure.
He's a rookie and I think he's doing a decent job as a rookie,

(18:17):
right? Considering that he didn't, he
didn't get a like a lot of pre category, pre F1 racing
experience, right? Yeah, he did one season F2.
Yeah, he did the kind of like the, I think they call it
Frecka, I can't remember what. What's the name?
F3 season? I think he won that
championship, remember serving it correctly and then he went to

(18:40):
F2, right? We know, we already know he was
fast tracked into formula because if all things had gone
well, he would have still been there in F2 this year.
Lewis would be driving a Mercedes this year, but we know
how that all played out. He's in the seat now and I don't
think they've made a wrong decision in promoting him to the
seekers. He's delivering results for
them. Yeah, and that's my thing as

(19:00):
well, right? Which is why the, the, the, the
argument of his, his seat and what he's doing, right.
Even though he came in with this, with this, with this
fanfare. And, you know, Mercedes as an
organization know total, all of them know he was fast tracked.
So they had to make provisions for these for, for the errors
that he's making now because they knew they were like, you
know what, even if we were not ready for him, we were put in a

(19:21):
position where we have to put him in the car.
We got to expect certain things to happen.
Yeah, and The thing is the. Good thing is that over time, as
I said, it's going to come like it's going to cook.
The team is going to cocoon around like and he's just going
to come up one with that and then he's going to, he's just
going to do what he's supposed to do.
No, that's all I'm looking at the Kim, the old Kimi situation.
Kim is alright, man. I like him as a I like him as a

(19:42):
new driver. I think I might keep it.
I'm I'm keeping one eye at him over at Mercedes because I think
I think they've unearthed a realgem.
Is he of the same level as Lewisand Max?
We'll not we'll never know. Maybe he could turn out to be of
a Charles Leclerc sort level or even George Russell 2.0 level
driver. Fast, solid and even though.

(20:02):
We may go into a Ridge and it just work for him bro.
Yeah, that's what. I'm saying and he gives you 5
trips, you'll be like what? You know, never know.
I think George wouldn't have to.I think that person and I think
that would only happen if Georgeis not in the team.
But if George is there, I don't see that happening.
Not really, because you just gotto remember, man, it's like The
thing is with Reg changes, you never know what's going to

(20:25):
happen. And sometimes it just happens
where it's like it just suits a particular driver and it just
works. And all of a sudden that driver
is at 3 championships. It's it's and you know, because
it could be a situation where they're going to the new regs
and George struggles and Kimmy just find him like, whoa, this
is easy, you know, so you never know.
So with new regs, we just got tobe careful that because you

(20:46):
never know. You never know who's going to be
the person that runs away. That's true.
That's definitely. That's the thing we got to watch
for. Kimmy's Kimmy is good.
Kimi is good. Kimi is good.
He ain't going anywhere. Yeah, crowds now a podium for
Ferrari. We haven't talked about the
races yet. We've skipped the race.
We talked about qualified, but probably, probably a good idea

(21:07):
skip. The risk is to be honest, it
wasn't really all that entertaining.
But the first let's opening salvo between Lando and Piastre,
and it's kind of interesting with that as well.
It's the first time we've seen the Mclarens push to the limit.
Were they really to the limit? But they were pushing each other
lap after lap after lap. I think Lando did everything he
could in his power to hold on tothat lead because he knew how

(21:30):
important it was to get the to the the first round of pit stops
ahead. Because I think if he had gotten
to them behind Oscar, that was race over because I think Oscar
was marginally quicker than him in the race on Sunday.
But that opening Salvador, they were just like trading laps
after laps up. And The thing is house close,

(21:52):
Oscar could follow him the wholeentire time and his ties weren't
being burnt up. He didn't have any issues.
There was nothing about engine overheating, break overheating,
nothing like that. He was just stuck within his
wheel tracks for the whole entire time.
And I'm like, yo, that's crazy. I can't tell the last time I've
ever seen something like that where you just for for that many

(22:15):
laps and you don't suffer any form of, like I said,
overheating, brake issues, tire degradation starting to fall
apart, Nothing. If anything, it was Lander's
tires that looked like they weregoing off.
You know what I mean? And, you know, he did actually
get past Lando, funny enough, going into Turn 2, that at the

(22:36):
end of the first, the IRS zone, he did get ahead of him.
But Lando was smart. Yeah, but Lando was smart
because what Lando did was when he passed and Lando switched
back to the to the outside, not the inside.
So he switched back to the outside because he knew Oscar
was going to break and he was going to break deep.
So he was probably. So his exit from that corner

(22:57):
wouldn't be optimal. It wouldn't be the normal racing
line. Yeah.
So he had a compromise coming out of that corner.
So what Lander did by just switching back to his outside
and turning and, you know, taking the normal racing line
and turning into that corner, hethen got himself the run as well
as the DRS because once he was on the inside and he had the

(23:18):
DRS, it was pretty much the turn, the turn, Turn 4, he said,
yeah, it was the run up to. So turn 123, was it turn 4 or
turn 3? I can't remember which corner it
was, but you know the corner where the downhill let right
hand, right, I think. Yeah, that's turn 4.
So I think the run was up to turn three.

(23:40):
Yeah, it was turn 3 where Landa Dewayne needed to live because
once you have the inside of thatcorner going into turn 4, and if
you and you only need to have your front wheel level with the
car next to you, which means they have to give you space,
basically means the corner is used.
Because Lando could then just drift out wide, brake later and
just drift a little bit later and just drift his car out wide

(24:02):
and just ask him well, then haveto back off because if he
doesn't piss, basically it's going to run out of track.
So Lando showed a bit of cleverness in that move, you
know what I mean, and held this position about the time.
Well, I know you guys think Lando car, Lando doesn't have
any wheels, wheel skills, I don't agree with that, but.
It's about time. What what I didn't understand

(24:22):
was why why, as I was saying, why they didn't pit Oscar the
lap the lap after because he came out in a six second hole.
And even though he they actuallymany opted to go from what I'm
understanding, opted to go long.But I'm like same way I give
Lando stick is the same way. I, I, I, I, I give Oscar Stick
when I think he, you know. Yeah, because I think what he

(24:45):
looked at is. Even when he did pass, I'm like
why? You've seen this many a time.
Any time there's a track with two DRS on you, try your best
not to make a pass in the first one.
Yeah. The thing is I think, I think, I
think what he I think the probably the reasoning behind it
was if he had pitted on the nextlap, he wasn't going to pass
Lando because they were pretty much on the same tire strategy

(25:07):
with etcetera. So for him to win, he'd have to
pass him on a track. And from what we saw in the
first the opening laps, it was Lando wasn't going to let him
pass. So he'd need to have significant
amount more performance than Lando for him to to have passed
when. When?
When Lando pit How? How far behind was Oscar on the
first thing? I believe it was about just

(25:28):
under a second. Believe it was it was just under
a second. And Lando pit stop was 3.1
seconds right? So if he had pitted after, even
if he came back out two seconds behind that better.
That's better than six, bro. Yeah, that's what I was looking
2 seconds is still more than that why he what he originally
went in and the fact. That Lando at a batch speed stop

(25:50):
a little bit slow piece up even though when Oscar came it was
the same thing. I'm just saying I just didn't
understand why they they on a flat spotted spotted tire
because I've always seen the driver go fast on a flat spotted
tire. Well, it depends on how bad the
flat spot is. Sometimes you can get a flat
spot and doesn't really affect your performance.
It's all dependent and all, but it is.
But at the same time, he was given the opportunity, they

(26:12):
discovered and he chose to stay out.
So obviously he felt the flat spot wasn't really an issue for
him, wasn't going to be an issue.
So he could carry on. But what didn't help him was
those laps that Lander did behind him.
For those, I think he, I think he stayed out for what, 4 laps?
So those 4 laps that Lander pullput behind him was pretty much

(26:33):
like blistering pace. And I don't even think he
actually went flat out. He just did enough to give
himself a comfortable margin. So he knows when Oscar comes out
and he has has that tire advantage, he's going to have to
use up that tire to catch to catch him up.
And that's pretty much what we saw happen in that, that second
stint on the hard tires, becausehe cut that lead down from over

(26:55):
6 seconds to just under 3 seconds before Lander pitted the
second for a second and final stop.
Which is why I didn't like the going long in the first stint.
They should have at least pittedin the next lap.
Well, again, that's. I feel I just felt like they
wanted to say did because at onepoint that that that came a
little bit too close for comfort.
Yeah, I turned 4. And I just felt like they wanted

(27:16):
to separate him and if they're going to race, probably bring
it. But yeah, I, I, I'm looking at
him like, why don't you let him go long when he's less than a
second behind him? Why don't you pitch in the next
lap? And then if he could jump him in
the pits, or unless they didn't want him to jump him in the
pits. Well, I don't well to jump him
in. I don't think he was ever going
to jump him in the pits is even if even if he had done even if

(27:38):
he had done a 2 1/2 second pit stop that would have given him a
6/10 advantage in comparison to Lando's 3.1.
I don't think it would have beenenough because Lando's outlap
was just a massive outline. But would have got would have
got Part 2 of what we had in thefirst int.
Yeah, true. But you see when people said

(27:59):
that, we also have to understandthem.
McLaren are racing for the fans,McLaren is racing for the team.
So if they did something to kindof like soften the race in a
bit. That's exactly what happened
bro. That's exactly what the when I
saw it, I'm like, that's exactlywhat they did right after what
happened in Australia. They cannot afford to have that
happen in Austria. Canada.
Canada. Canada.

(28:19):
Yeah, my bad. But it but it nearly happened.
And that's what I'm saying. So and, and and that's when they
probably realized, you know what?
Let's just call it alphabet, yeah?
We're not going to do this. Hey, we're going to pick you.
Are you going to go longer? Yeah.
And then separate y'all at some point.
And The thing is, when you look at it, Oscar did make a lot of
mistakes in that race because again, that in that lock up

(28:41):
could have taken them both out. Probably not both, probably just
Lando. It would have taken Lando out.
There was a couple of times he was, you know, running, running
off track as well because you could see, I think he was
desperate get passed because at that point in time he had the
pace to build a gap to Lando andhe wanted to use that
opportunity. And again, if he had gotten a

(29:01):
pass and he was able to pull 123seconds, that was raised over
for Lando because no, you, you know, you're what, 3 seconds
behind? And Oscar has first dibs on pit
he pits from with a three secondlead by the time you come back
out, at least probably gone to four or five seconds.
So, yeah, you know, Oscar was a bit desperate at that time, but,

(29:22):
you know, it didn't work. So we have to give her a hat to
because, you know, he's sort of soaked up his pressure, soaked
up his pressure on the first thing and even in the last
thing, you know, because there was a point where Oscar was
catching him and he came over the reader, Nico Rosberg style,
like, yo, I'm slow. Can you help me?
I think some like paraphrase, like, yo, I'm slow.

(29:42):
Can you tell me how to go fast or something like that?
Yeah. Can you help me, guys?
Can you help me? Yeah.
But I know you don't like that. I know you don't like that.
You pretty much said as much by the same driver.
Coaching bro, I hate it. I hate it.
I don't like it. I don't like it to some extent.
Yeah, I hate it. The engineer is necessary

(30:04):
because, again, the driver can'tsee what's going on, right?
And teams don't really use pit boards so much anymore.
If you can't really see what's going on, you're going to rely
on them to tell you what's goingon and all to help you improve
your performance. Because they're seeing the live
data, seeing where you're slowest, where you're fastest,
what you can do to improve your speed at this corner or that

(30:25):
corner, whatever, whatever, which all of it when when added
up equals better performance. So yeah.
I'd say to you in the space is that it's on your steering wheel
and I'd said to you that it's in, it's in, it's even in SIM
racing, you say it's different, but the spaces could be a bit
chaotic because now we're in a more calm space.
Let me tell you, it works. So under steering wheel on the
screen, the same sector that you're seeing the breakdown of

(30:48):
the sectors, it's under steeringwheel, it's on the screen,
right? So for instance, if I'm racing
on the same down and I'm racing whatever position I'm in, right?
Each set I could set where whatever sector I go through, I
could see the delta between the guy that's I would behind me or
in front of. So once I go through that, I
could see, OK, I'm a tenth up orI'm a tenth down, right to the
guy that's behind me. So that's the gauge that I'm

(31:10):
using to be like, OK, I'm losingtime to this guy in this third
sector. The next sector I'm a 10th of.
OK, I'm fast in this sector. So that's the gauge that you'd
be using. But that's against, but that's,
but that's against the rules. That's against the rules because
what you're doing, you're transmitting another car's did
performance data to another car.You can't, you can't.
You can't send live, you can't send live information to cars.

(31:34):
You can only receive it from thecars.
So it's against the rules when you say you're.
Telling me that in F1 you can't see the delta between you and
the car behind No. That's crazy because again,
that's live information and you cannot transmit live data to the
cars. The cars can only, it's one way
transmission. You can only send data from the
car to the pit wall. You can't send data from the pit

(31:54):
wall to the car, which is why when they need to make changes
to the brake system, the engine or whatever it is, they have to
tell the driver. So they have to manually do that
themselves. So the only thing they can put
on the cars. OK.
You know what your delta is, Youknow what your lap time is,
right? And the system basically will
calculate until you are, you're up or down, whatever be on your

(32:18):
previous lap time, etcetera, etcetera.
But you can't. They can't give you that
information. They might as well.
They might as well do it if the if the engineer is going to come
over and give you the same information, they might as well
put it on the car. No, no.
But the problem with that is if you do that right, it still
don't help because again, you might you might say, OK, one lap
he's faster than me in Sector 1,but the next lap I'm faster than

(32:40):
them in sector in that same sector, which which actually
happens. But the problem we when you
listen to what Will was telling Lando is like here in he's
losing the lap time. So if he's like OK, over the
whole entire lap, you 2 are pretty much match for lap time.
But at turn 3, you're losing half a tenth to him or a tenth

(33:02):
to him at turn three. OK, If you don't want to lose
that time, we suggest you probably do it's and they're
going to tell you, OK, that thattime loss is probably like apex
speed or entry speed or or your exit speed or whatever it is.
And they could say, OK, then youknow what, Rick 5 meters earlier
for that corner, right? Which then means you can take

(33:23):
more speed into the corner than you normally would and that
wouldn't gain the the time. But I mean, but it's a game.
It's a game of it's a game of chess, isn't it?
I don't like it. I just, I just, I just strongly
believe that one, once visors are down, you get reliability
information. You use your, you use your pit
board or whatever information I want to give you.
I just don't like the whole telling.

(33:44):
Driver but but The thing is theyhad they did that before I
believe it was 2010 where the ban and I think it was even
02016 because if you remember back in 2016, Lewis was having
the trouble with his car and they couldn't tell him what
issue what the issue was and they couldn't tell him how to
fix the issue and he he was pretty much.

(34:05):
That that. But what I'm saying, but what
I'm saying is it was kind of like that they didn't tell him
that because again, that's kind of like the view that as driver
coaching. And the reason why they came up
with that was because of Nico Rosberg, because there was a
race where Nico Rosberg was pretty much on the radio begging
is engineered to like help me, you know, similar to what Lander
did. And people started to the same

(34:26):
argument you're having people started like, yo, what's going
on here? And that's, that's when they
came in, came in with it and it,you know, I think they even did
it in 2010 as well, if I remember.
But yeah. If you haven't, if a if a driver
is having anything that anythingthat's seen as some form of
reliability or something that's causing him performance.
But it wasn't but Louis's case, it wasn't a reliability issue.

(34:48):
So what was it? What it was when he pitted.
They had programmed something inthe ACPU, right?
And when he went to a change to a certain setting, it affected
us from the power unit. And I believe it was a power
unit and power delivery. So it was so he didn't really
like have a full performance, but he didn't know what was
causing it, right? And Nico Rosberg had the same

(35:10):
thing when he pitted. It's something to do when they
were pitting, they put the car in a certain setting when
they're going to pit, right? And that triggered Lewis's
problem, The reason? And so when Nico had the same
problem, I'm trying to remember fully exactly ago, so it might
be a bit sounds a bit weird, butwhen encountered the same
problem that basically said Nicksaid to Nico, it's something to
do with the switch change you made.

(35:31):
So Nico remembered he only made one switch change and that was
when he was going into the pit. So he basically reverted to what
back to what he was standard wasbefore he pitted and that fixed
his problem. The problem Lewis had was he
couldn't fix his because it was already it was pretty much
programmed to use Will Boxing's phrase.
It was after Will Boxing spoke about it.
It was trying to find a needle in a needle stack.

(35:53):
So you're trying to find a specific needle in a stack of
needles. That's what Lewis problem.
So it was already programmed. So it doesn't matter what switch
change he made, he was never going to fix his problem.
But it wasn't a reliability. Issue OK, so stuff like that,
which is an error technique thatI could live with what I do.
I do not like listening to an engineer telling a driver you
need you need to do this in thatcorner, you need to do.

(36:13):
I just don't like it. I just it just messed with the
essence of of of racing. I just don't like it.
Yeah. But I mean if you look at any
other four with the exception ofprobably rally car where you
don't have pit wall to car radiotransmission, this is pretty
standard. Even in what they do the same
thing, it's pretty standard every.
Other you'd have to like it. I'm just a number of.

(36:35):
Formula One. Yeah, but.
I'm just saying, but I I just don't like it man.
It goes both ways. That's me.
Because we're saying, because we're saying, you're saying you
didn't like what? They were doing it for Lando,
but they also did it for Oscar to help Oscar to improve his
performance. I wasn't, you know.
Lando specific. I said driver coaching.
I do not like it no matter wherewhere it's being where it's
going on right fairly. I just I just feel like in

(36:57):
racing, once the visors are downand you you start the race, it's
man, it's machine and it's competitors.
That's that's just so I see. Fair enough.
That's. And I think that's just my view
on it, you know? Fair enough, That's fine.
That's fair enough. Yeah.
So how about Lando and Oscar? Yeah.

(37:17):
But again, like I said, just to finish off that, it was a good
weekend. That was a good weekend for
Lando, apart from that little hiccup in the race.
You know, he held, he, he had a clean weekend and this is what
we've always been always asked him for, just give us a clean
weekend. I think if he has clean weekends
where he stitches everything together from practice to

(37:40):
qualify to the race, he'll be fine.
And he's done that. He's now take cut the lead from
22 points, 15 finishes wins the next race.
Oscar doesn't score. He's championship leader.
You know, I mean, he loses the next race.
Oscar doesn't score, but he's hefinishes third.
They level on points. But Oscar obviously would be
leading because he has more winsthan him.

(38:01):
He's going to win on comeback because Oscar has about 5:00.
There's a five wins Oscars. You mean we mean Oscar?
You mean Oscar doesn't win? You just said Oscar doesn't
score. Oscar doesn't score any points.
So if Lando finishes 3rd and Oscar doesn't score any points
at Silverstone, they're tied on points.
They're going to be tied on points because I believe Oscars
won, what, 5? How many races we've had so far?

(38:22):
1111, Yeah, 11. So Lando's won three.
Lando has won. Lando won Australia.
Did he win Miami? No, he won Monaco And he won
Austria. So Oscar won China, Bahrain.
So Oscars won 245. Max has won two.
Lando 3 and George won. Yeah.

(38:43):
So, you know, good weekend for Lando and I want to see, I want
to see that carry on for him. I want to see if he can do that
again this weekend. And if he does it again this
weekend, then like I said, OK, cool.
No, the championship fight is really on.
It's really, really on. Yeah, I want to see it.
Bring it on. Yeah, because, I mean, it's a
lot of you're going to have umber pie to eat if Oscar, if

(39:04):
Lando ever get get this championship over the line.
The thing is, right, if he wins it, I'm not mad.
It's not like if he wins the championship, I'm mad, right?
I just, I just, he, just, as I said, I don't, I don't, I'm not
saying the guy isn't talented, right?
I'm just saying for, for the period of time that he's in
Formula One, he's been building to this moment.

(39:25):
He makes too many mistakes. That's just my problem.
That's just my issue, Orlando. Again, you know champ, when it
comes to time to perform for a championship, this is the way
the lights are brightest and exactly.
So no, so, so let's see. Let's see if he's going to let
his teammate come in his yard and and and box him up.
Like Lewis did Nico but Nico gotone over him and then still.
But anyway. Yeah, Charles.

(39:47):
So to finish out the podium we had with Charles.
Yeah, another podium. So that's what is this is what,
his fourth of the year, because he had one in Jeddah, he had one
in Monaco, he had one in Spain and this one.
So this is what, Ferrari's 4th podium of the year.
And again, it was a pretty uneventful race from from him.
He pretty much lost P2 before heeven got to Turn 1, which, yeah,

(40:10):
you know, he was the only one he.
Just lived in no man's land. For the whole entire race, he
was the only one in the top for that lost the position.
And he was just pretty much, that was pretty much it.
But him, like Lewis, were dealing with problems that
entire race. You know, there was a lot of
lifting costing that needed to be done because they were having
brake issues. And apparently some of that

(40:31):
lifting costing, especially on Charles's side, was because they
were trying to prevent plank wear.
Because again, remember, they got disqualified in China.
China. Yeah, both, both got
disqualified in China for excessive wear of the plank.
So Ferrari, again, it's another weekend where the drivers
dealing with issues that just seem like you know what's what's

(40:53):
going on. It's like every every week
there's an issue going on with with this.
And if you know you're looking at Louis, you listen to Louis's
on board. It's like every week something's
going on. Every week I was listening to
his on board and after probably about 5 or 6 laps he was being
told that he had to manage brakecooling and engine cooling.

(41:15):
I'm like after 5 laps really, what's going on here?
What's wrong with this car? Like I was saying, you know that
Ferrari is dealing with too manyissues man.
It's it's frustrating to see because like we've said, they
finished fourteen points off thechampionship last year and it
shouldn't, this shouldn't be happening.
I expected more from them, I expected more from them.

(41:39):
This just constantly issues withthat SF 25 and one of the
biggest issue they seem to be having both drivers are having
it has to do with brakes. Apparently this brake issue,
braking issues been going been going since last year and now
Lewis has come and he's complaining about the same
thing. But remember we were talking
about it in the space that the problem Lewis has is Ferrari

(42:02):
only runs Brembo. And Lewis is used to running
Carbon Industries because when he started at McLaren, I believe
they were using Brembo. But he then switched him to
Carbon Industries because he likes the feel of the pads and
the disk. And it was the same thing that
happened when he went to Mercedes in 2013.
They were running Brembo, but then they switched over to
Carbon Industries the following year because he liked the feel.

(42:25):
I believe Nico was still runningBrembo, but Lewis was using
Carbon Industries and I think itNico eventually switched over as
well, well, because he likes thefeel of that.
But the problem he has now is Ferrari.
Ferrari's not leaving Brembo, you know what I mean?
That partnership, like Siamese twins, joined at the head.
You can't separate them. So he's just going to have to

(42:46):
get used to that. But then at the same time, you
have to ask yourself the question, is it actually the
brake pads itself and disk, or is it just a Ferrari braking
system that's just not up to par, You know, because you
listen to his on board. He was being told to use
different engine braking settings because of the brakes,
which means they're using, they're trying to use the engine

(43:08):
to slow down the car more than actually using the brakes.
And he was also having issues with sock, which is SoC, which
is basically a state of charge, which is battery issue as well.
That was, you know, the whole entire race weekend was just,
well, the race itself was just acase of managing issues,
managing, managing, manage, managing.

(43:28):
And you're like, come on, man. When even when the race is
finished, Lewis was saying to Ricky Adame that, you know, it
wasn't the race that they expected and he just didn't have
any pace. And he just said no, no, no, no
with you had the pace, but he was just like, we had a lot of
things to manage. We'll discuss it when we have
our debrief. So just say just one thing after

(43:50):
the other after the other with this.
It's like the snowball effect. I just need one small and it
just, you know what I mean? Rolling down ailing just become
this massive thing. So no, that's something they're
going to have to work on. And Lewis has said it himself,
You know, hopefully it's something that they can get on
top of, especially for next year's car.
It's crazy. So I know you, you, you know,

(44:11):
you said that the Ferrari job istoo big for Fred, but it seems
his drivers are. Well, they're not going to throw
him under the bus, are they? They're not going to come out
public here and say, yo, we don't think Fred is the man for
the job. You have to remember, you know,
both Lewis and Charles Joe for Fred in lower categories because
Fred was Lewis's team manager when he was at Art Grand Prix in

(44:31):
2008. And I believe is, was it art?
I think, yeah, I think Charles Joe, Charles Joe for art, Art
Prem. I can't remember which F2 team
he drove for, but Fred was his team boss when he came into F1
at Sauber. So Fred has that relationship
with both of them. So for so I don't think they're
going to firm under the bus. He even got an endorsement from

(44:53):
total Wolf as well, saying, you know that he thinks Fred is the
best man for the job. But we'll know.
We'll know if next year comes around and they turn up with
another dot, then you know Fred,you're going to have to go mate.
You're going to have to go they're.
Saying his drivers are loyal to a fault.
But I mean, drivers are going tobe loyal.
Drivers will not come out and publicly say say blame the team
principal or well, probably listening Fernando Lanza, you

(45:16):
might do that sort of thing. But the likes of Louis and
Charles won't do that and they won't come out and publicly say,
yo, the team principal isn't up to none and no professional
would do should do anything likethat.
If you feel like you know, your boss is not up to the job or
whatever, say that behind closeddoors.
Don't ever go to the public and say it in public because that's,

(45:36):
you're undermining him massively.
You know, I mean, that's not a good look.
So Charles and Lewis won't say anything.
But at the same time, if they turn up next year with a Dodd,
Fred has to go. He has to go because you're
talking about a team, like I said, 14 points of the
championship last last year. They're currently P2 in the
championship. I believe they're 207 points

(45:57):
behind McLaren, 7 points. So if you're looking at the
point swing from last year to this year, it's 200 and McLaren
has, I've outscored them so far by 221 points.
Yeah, that's not good. 207 points behind after finishing
fourteen points, that's not good.

(46:17):
That's unacceptable. Well, that's, that's, that's a
Ferrari drama. Let's see how that unfolds going
forward and then see how they'regoing to next year too.
So we mentioned briefly at the top, but now let's get into
George Russell. So there's this contract
contract talk going on about George Russell, right?
What do you make of that? I know people are saying based

(46:37):
on what's going on with Total War Fund overtures that's being
made towards Max George's seat is what's the word I'm trying to
use. I'm trying to remember, though,
it's in a precarious situation. He's in a precarious situation
because if Max decides, OK, he wants to leave Red Bull, who are

(46:58):
you going to replace? A Mercedes?
You're going to replace him or you're going to replace Kimmy?
No, it doesn't make any sense that you'd want to replace Kimmy
because again, Kimmy is your long term future.
And if you decide, OK, you're going to replace Kimmy, we're
going to put Kimmy because you can't replace him and keep him
on the sideline. Because what you're then doing
is you're going to have him on the sideline.
And then you're going to be in asituation you're going to have
to wait until both the drivers contract expires and then you

(47:22):
have to make a decision, okay, which one of the two drivers are
we gonna keep or we're gonna letgo?
Sideline, we know once you go sideline, that's usually that's
it for your. Career.
Exactly. And it's not like before where
the deal they had a partnership with Williams where like they
could wear the Saint George for what, three years?
I don't think that's the case with Williams anymore, James
Vowell said. He's going to run Williams as

(47:44):
its own entity are separate fromhaving any control any control
from. Mercedes have never seen any
control over their drivers. You know, I would say who the
drivers are because obviously they're giving the supplier them
a poor unit. But when Mercedes did that at
the time, Williams wasn't financially stable as they are
now because they're finishing high in the championship.

(48:04):
So they're making money, they'regetting money.
Plus added to the fact that thatthe cost gap, but they're
actually now in a much better position that at any point in
time in the last maybe 10-15 years.
So that So to them it's a case of where they probably don't
need to really rely on that Mercedes connection in terms of,
OK, you put a drive and you giveus a discount on the power

(48:24):
units, etcetera. Maybe they do, maybe they don't,
but I can't see a situation where they're going to sideline
Kimi. That just wouldn't make any
sense. And again, if you sideline him,
what does that do for his confidence?
Because he'll be looking at it like, yo, what have I done?
I've come in and I'm performing beyond what's expected of me.
I'm 7th in the currently. Is it seventh?

(48:45):
Yeah, it's the seventh. Yeah.
He's 7th in the championship. Is it Oscar?
Landau asked. George Lewis.
It's 7th in the championship. So he's delivering you.
And if you look at the points share between him and George,
George is probably scoring, what, 60% to 40%?
That's a good ratio for a kid inhis first year in the sport.

(49:07):
So if you decide to sideline himfor Max, that's going to hurt
his confidence and then know youhave a situation I cannot.
See that happening? Nor I, but then you also ask the
question, OK, so if they let if they replace George, how does
that affect Kimi now because Maxis going to come in and it's
going to be that a situation where by certain decision like

(49:27):
car development etcetera would more probably be steered in his
direction. So I mean, and then we could end
up with a situation like what wesaw we're currently seeing at
Red Bull. Granted, I don't think Mercedes
would do that, but if that were to happen, how does that affect
Kimi as well? So in the in either situation,
Kimi, the effect of these decisions will also have a

(49:48):
bearing on Kimi. And way out versities set up the
old Kimi thing. And that's their prodigy, right?
That's their. But George is also their prodigy
as well. Right.
Yeah, but they've gotten something out of George, right?
They've had George for a couple.Years.
Yeah, but why? Why have they gotten out of
George? I'm saying they've, they've had
George for a couple years now, right?

(50:09):
Yeah, George has only been theresince 22.
So this is George, third year within the team.
Yeah. But my point that I'm saying if
they're replacing a driver, it'snot going to be Kimmy.
That's just, that's just I cost them replacing Kimmy.
No, I need no I, but that's whatI'm saying.
But if you anybody you replace George, you still have a problem
because again, how is that dynamic going to work with

(50:29):
Kimmy? Will Kimmy, will George look at
as Kimmy, as someone he could bring under his wing, he could
help to improve? Because is he?
Because you ask yourself the question, is Max trying to help
Yuki right now? Red Bull.
But it comes back to what I saidearlier on.
We're we're going off things that we got to understand,
right? If we in, in Formula One with

(50:50):
regulation changes and all that type of things that goes on,
there's no guarantee that the driver who was good in the past
through regs is going to be as good in the next regs.
So that's what I said again. Once again, you could find a
situation where even if they signed Max and the new regs kick
in off a sudden Kimmy is faster,right?
I I don't see that happening. I just don't.

(51:11):
I just don't see. I just don't see a scenario
where someone like a George or Max, because of a new regulation
change, will find himself being slower than Kimmy.
No, because I think that level of experience gives them that
advantage over him. I think Kimmy would still find
him. Say yeah, remember.
What happened? What happened to said when the
exchange in 2014? Yeah.

(51:32):
But yeah, yeah. But again I regarded.
Beating Sebastian. Yeah, but again, but we're
talking about, you're talking about a second year driver
compared to Ricciardo who was in.
About I'm just talking about outright speed could be a
situation where the regs just suit a certain driver.
Whereas that even with the most experience in the world, the
things that are experienced, bro, it's not going to give you
half a 10th if you find yourselfbeing half a tenth, half a

(51:55):
second or three 10th. But it does.
You'll probably teach you with experience.
You probably figure out, OK, if I'm in a wheel to wheel and if I
understand, yeah, maybe my experience of racing this track
10 times over could give me an advantage.
But if the wrecks come in and he's just super quick, like
where is it just works for him or another couple few more
drivers, bro. They they yeah, that's a

(52:16):
possibility too. That's a possibility.
That's a very strong possibility.
I'm, I don't know, I'm not, I don't see it like that because
again, you'd think an experienced driver, drivers,
they would be more what? Just happened.
Look at Lewis, it went with the with the old ground effect
stuff. He struggled.
Yeah, but again, George. George was, we could say George
was the better driver in in those regs, right?

(52:36):
To a certain extent. So it could be the same, the new
regs would come and Kimmy out ofa sudden, even in the second
year is actually doing the business in real life.
Yeah, it's possible, But it's possible.
But I give. If I'm giving a score of between
1:00 and 10:00, I'm probably giving it A2 because you're
talking about we have to look atthe driver in question that he's

(52:59):
going up against to make that assessment.
So I'll probably give it. Yeah, a driver who could go into
a new regs and the regs does notwork.
He doesn't understand the car. It doesn't what he what he likes
in a car. The new regs doesn't afford him
that. And now we all of a sudden he's
struggling and he hates the car.That's what, yeah, but yet.
Very strong possibility. But you also talk, you're also

(53:19):
forgetting that you're talking about one of the most adaptable
drivers on the grid as well. So it's not.
It's not so much so as a linear sort of thing.
It's not looking about what I'm saying to you.
No one thought that Lewis would have struggled in these regs as
he did because Lewis is super talented, right?
Yes. But he struggled a lot.
Struggled. He's still struggling to this
day, right? So what is to say that the new

(53:42):
regs couldn't suit someone like a young Kimi Antonelli?
That's just my whole point. I'm not saying that he's gonna,
but I'm saying that's a very strong possibility where it
could suit Kimi and off a suddenhe's got Max or even George has
his teammate and he's whooping them.
Yeah, but like I said, I'm giving you a tour.
I'm not saying. If if I'm probably it's a tour,
I said I'm giving it. Minus his experience.

(54:02):
We've seen it before. It's not like we've never seen
it. Yeah, but I'm yeah, I get, I get
where you're coming from. I feel like it the the
probability of that happening is, yeah, it's very, very low,
you know? Even I'm just going off history,
that's all I'm doing. I've seen regulation changes and
drivers struggle. Yeah.
But anyway, but to go back to the the George contract point, I

(54:24):
think I don't think they're going to replace him.
And there was an interview Toto did with Craig Slater as well
and he asked him about what George said and one of the
questions he asked him at Anders.
So the likelihood of this current driver lineup still
being the same next year. And I think he said something on
the lines of Craig asked him theprobability that it's more

(54:44):
likely that about the driver line.
And I think Toto will have said something on the lines of this
driver lineup will is more than likely will be the driver line
up next year. I think in some ways he pretty
much kind of like pour cold water on the Max, the Mercedes
thing, but then he might pour cold water on it for now, for
next year, right? Yeah.
So if he go. More than likely, that's telling

(55:06):
me that you're not sure. I think the I think they're
probably, they're probably sure.But again, certain situations,
you know, you're going to do duedue diligence because if there's
if there's noise coming from Max's camp that gives the
impression that he wants to leave Red Bull, it's only fear
that you speak to him. You mean it doesn't make any
sense that you don't speak to him because at the end of the
day, he's a four time world champion.

(55:27):
You can't just close yourself off and go, no, I'm not going to
talk to Max because I have thesetwo, these two guys here.
You're still going to talk. You're going to you're going to
feel put feelers out there to see where he is.
And I think that's what he said.Now they're trying, they're
putting feelers out to see whereMax is, what his future plans
are, where he's you know what I mean?
So the likelihood is it's Kimmy and George next year.

(55:49):
I don't think they're going to go into a regulation change with
a different driver LAN So and again, Mercedes has never
provided George with a car good enough to win a championship,
right? And I think to replace him with
Max in some ways would be unfair.
But we know what the sport is like.
It's a, it's a, it's a Mercedes as a team.

(56:11):
It's a principal team. I don't think they're going to
do that. I don't see them actually saying
no. We're going to get rid of sorry,
George, we're letting you go forMax.
And you have to remember, Georgecame through the Mercedes
program and he's doing a damn good job.
In all fairness, this conversation shouldn't even be
be had. George should have actually
gotten his contract already. Principled until there's a four
time world champion available. Yeah.

(56:31):
But again, yeah, OK, I'll. Put nothing past them.
Yeah, but here's my argument with this right?
And I commented on a pause some X account this morning or
Twitter, right, where someone said Max is a four time
champion. George is a has the potential to
win your championship. But my thing with that is Max
can only win your championship if the car is good, right?

(56:53):
If the car is not there to win your championship, he's not
going to win your championship. So even though it's a four time
champion, you're by you're bringing him in with a potential
to win your championship. It's the same potential George
has, but we've never seen Georgegiven the tools to win the
championship. For me, it's if the Mercedes

(57:14):
next year is the card to be and George fails to deliver right
and ends up losing the championship be to Kimi, even
though that's very unlikely, or to another team, Max or Louis
Charles, Oscar, Orlando, then you're going to be like, yeah,
George, we don't think you're the guy then, because we've
given you the we gave you the best car and you fumble it in

(57:36):
the lunar championship. So now we can you can say, OK,
you can go and bring Max in because you've know you know for
certain that George can't win your championship.
So whilst Max is a four time world champion, Max still won't
win your championship unless yougive him a car.
And it's the same argument you can use for George.
George can't win your championship if he doesn't have
the car to win you the championship.
So saying Max is a four time, OK, cool, you're a four time

(57:59):
world champion. Lewis is A7 time eight time
world champion and he's in Ferrari.
He can't win your championship because Ferrari hasn't given him
a car to win the championship. So you see what I mean?
So it's the same argument for Max.
I see where you're coming from with it right.
However, this is not really a contest.
This is like my the way I look at it right is you're correct
what you said, I cannot say anything better.

(58:20):
But what I will say is just knowthat any team in any sport, when
you've got whoever you've given your current crop a the team or
a car to win a championship, when there's a four time world
champion available, a possibility and there's a strong
possibility he's going to be available.
Amen. That's when principals go out
the window. Well, again, but it's but it
also depends on the the team that you're talking about.

(58:43):
You know, I mean, if it's a teamthat historically has has shown
that they're not, they're they're not scared of making
driver line of changes, then I can understand that's where the
principal will be thrown out thethe window.
But we're talking about Mercedeshere.
They've always been a team that operates within a certain
dynamic, you know, I mean, and Idon't see them doing a situation

(59:06):
where they do George that dirty.You see what I mean?
I do. I know.
The thing is, with sports and business, what you're looking at
is no. That's what we see on TV.
All of them will screw someone over to get what they want bro.
I don't think so, because, and here's and here's why I'm going
to use an example. George was ready to drive from
Mercedes from 2021. Yeah, but they didn't replace

(59:28):
Bottas because they felt Max. No, it doesn't matter.
But Bottas, Bottas is not George.
So it's not a case of what I'm saying here is it's not a case
of because it's Max or whatever.I'm talking about principal
team, right, how they operate. They could have replaced Bottas
in 2021 because remember, Bottaswas only on one year contracts.
They could have replaced him because George was ready.

(59:49):
George was ready to go in the team.
But the team felt a certain kindof like loyalty to Bottas and
they felt like, you know what, he deserves this one last
opportunity. So they didn't replace him.
And if you notice what they did,they didn't.
They worked behind the scenes toget Bottas a seat in Formula One
before they made any announcement.
So what they waited so once theygot bought us that seat at

(01:00:12):
Sauba, whatever they call themselves like that last year,
I can't even remember right. He then announced that he was
leaving Mercedes, that it was announced.
And then once that was done, that's when they announced
George. They could have been like
Christian Horner did do what Christian Horner did to Seb in
2014 when he went to the Japanese Grand Prix when he
pretty much came out and told everybody that Seb would be

(01:00:33):
joining Ferrari in 2015. See, see, so I mean, so this, so
I get what you're saying, but the same time you have to look
at the the people and the team that involved and how they've
always operated. Mercedes as a team has always
operated in a principled, principled manner where I don't
think they're going to do Georgelike that.
Because again, the question, Thething is, did you give George a

(01:00:57):
fair shot? Because George has never been in
a position where he could challenge for a championship.
So yeah, why would you? Why would you want to repeat?
So it's a case of, OK, let's seewhat you let's build George the
car. We give George the car.
All right, George, we've done our part.
No, it's up to you. And if he doesn't deliver, then
Mercedes can say, well, you know, we stuck with you for X
amount of years. We know we didn't have the right

(01:01:19):
car. We built you the car, gave it to
you, but you didn't utilize it. We're going to have to.
And I think that's why I said, if Max moves to Mercedes, it
would be for 2027 because then he'll see what Mercedes has
built, right? And Mercedes will know what
George can do. But then again, there's another
flip side to that. And this is the flip side

(01:01:41):
because if they build the car next, if you know the rumors are
true and they're the team that comes out with the best car next
year, right, and George goes ahead and wins the championship,
what reason would you have to sign Max?
Yeah, that's different. But he said my point because
what it proved now is Mercedes has not delivered because
they've said we've never given George a car that can compete

(01:02:02):
for a championship. And if you finally gave him one
in 26, So if you resigning for 26 and you gave him one and he
delivers your championship, thenyou look at it like, well, we
don't really need Max then because George is proving to us
that he can win US A championship and that's what we
need. Again, and we've seen that
happen recently where it doesn'talways work out like that.
No, I know I'm not saying it's going to work about what I'm

(01:02:22):
showing putting a scenario across, but the.
Same thing that we saw happened.It could be a situation where
total of this thing like Max is the best and I want to see him
in a Mercedes, right? That's a thing which is what
we're seeing playing out now in Moto GP, was the same kind of
the same scenario with Martin, right?
No, that's a different. I think that's the difference
difference and. What I'm saying, ultimately it's
Ducati. If he wasn't a primate, it

(01:02:43):
they're all in a Ducati situation, right?
Yeah, but it's the same way out.Gigi was looking at Mark like,
yo, I want to see that guy in mymotorcycle.
It's the same thing Mercedes could be.
Yeah, I want to see Max in our car.
But remember what I said to you,and we'll probably discuss this
another time. So we're just crossing.
We are crossing pods here. I remember I said to you, Mark
pretty much forced the cat is signed into signing him because

(01:03:07):
remember what Mark said? Mark said he's not going to ride
for the Gracini satellite team even if they give him a 2025
bike. He wants to be in the factory
team. So, so because I because there
was even a report even before that whole thing kicked off that
Grisini had Grisini, Grisini hadresigned with Honda, with Ducati
and they were going to get AGP 2025 but and it was going to go

(01:03:29):
to Mark, but Mark pretty much said no, I don't want that.
I don't want that because I think the.
Inaccurate. That's inaccurate.
That's inaccurate. It was supposed to go to Premik,
not Grisini. Yeah, sorry, we're going to.
Get to 2025, he was on the premise of if he went there,
allegedly they would have stayedwith the primer.
Could have been under catches this year.
But he would have he would have been on AGP 25.

(01:03:52):
Yeah, but that's just a matter. I'm just saying that ultimately
what it came down to, Gigi wanted Marcus on the latest
spec. Greatest thing that he's got
going on, right? Yeah.
But what I'm saying is at that point in time, the argument was
you just said it. It was that Mark would be on
that same factory bike but in a satellite team.
But Mark said, yo, I don't want to be in a satellite team on a

(01:04:14):
25. I want to be in the factory team
on a factory bike. Ultimately, Gigi wanted Mark on
the. Yes.
And it's the same thing I'm saying Mercedes could be like,
that's that's the kid that we think we want to see what he
would do in our car, right? That that's just what I'm
saying. Like so I could see because I've
seen it happen. I'm like, yo, there's a
possibility too. Like these are all motorsport,
They're all barbaric. Like there's no principle

(01:04:36):
amongst these guys. Like ultimately, if they want
what they want, they're going todo it and they're just going to
actually forgive this later. That's all I'm saying.
They're going to sin now and actually forgiveness later.
So even if they decided that, hey, I want to move George out
of here, people are going to have and if Max comes in and win
the matchup, all of a sudden they're forgiven.
Well, like I said, I, I don't know, I don't think they'll be
forgiving person. People will still be looking at

(01:04:57):
like, yo, you did George do it? And again, like I said, I think
it would, it depends on the teamwe're talking about.
We can see that scenario played out in Red Bull because that's
what that's what Red Bull are doing.
That's Red Bull. Yeah, I'm going to rap.
It's not only Red Bull. Red Bull is just the only one
that's bold enough to find himself and be like, that's what
we want. That's what we're.
Going to do exactly. Moment Mercy find himself in

(01:05:19):
that type of situation where they think that yo, this is what
we want. You're gonna wonder, oh, where
did your principal go? It's just sports.
But but, but, but then apart. That's why I said to you when I
use the Bottas situation part asan example.
The guys you're talking about, none of them is one of the
greatest drivers to ever drive of F1 car.
None of them are. Yeah, but what we're talking
about here is they, they want, you want to see what George

(01:05:40):
could do in your car. They could have moved them all
in 2020 because you saw what youdid in the Sakira Grand Prix in
2020. Ever.
Yeah, but ultimately, right? We all know George is not a Max.
George doesn't even get spoken. We're not.
Let's stop. Let's stop trying to compare him
to Max. We're talking about here, a
team. Oh, I get.
That but just yeah, but I'm saying to you now, if a four

(01:06:03):
time world champion, one of the greatest drivers to ever Dr. AF1
car, all of us becomes available, you'd find that if
they really want him, principalsgo through the door.
That's all I'm saying to you, right, Because this is one of
the greatest drivers ever, whether you like him or not,
right? Whether people like Max or not,
he's one of the greatest to everdrive an F1 car.
So if he becomes available, thatscenario kind of change it.

(01:06:25):
The principles of Mercedes because we could have a sin now
and get the four time world champion or we could play be
principled and he goes to a rival team and then whip her ass
for another four years. Pick your poison.
That's all I'm saying. We just didn't see Mercedes in
that situation where they have to make that cutthroat decision
yet, right? And if it comes down to that, I
can't see the principles winning.
That's all I'm saying, you know.Fair enough, fair enough.

(01:06:47):
But I can say let's but let's see what happened.
But I think I think next year George will definitely the
lineup is definitely going to beGeorge and Kimmy next year.
The whole Max thing then comes back around after we see where
everyone is in 2026 and then once we everyone knows what
where they are in terms of performance wise, you know.
Then you're going to see what driver really wants to go where

(01:07:08):
too. Yes, and the thing and The thing
is it creates a problem for Max.This creates a problem for Max.
And here's the problem, because if he shum, if he jumps too
soon, it could be a problem. It could be he made the wrong
choice because it's very possible Red Bull could be the
car to beat next year, right? And if he jumps to Mercedes this
year and Red Bull is the car andRed Bull goes OK, then cool,

(01:07:30):
we're going to go for George, assign George right?
And the Red Bull is the car to beat.
And George goes on to win the championship.
Max is going to look at like them.
I jumped too early. I should have waited.
But then if he doesn't jump, stays at Red Bull, Mercedes is
the car to beat, George goes ahead and wins the championship.
He's going to be like, damn, I should have.
Yeah, it's, it's so, which is, which is why I'm not super.

(01:07:53):
This is why I'm not overcomplicating the argument.
I'm just saying that if he becomes available and Mercedes
thinks that this guy's availableand they really want to see him
in their car, you're going to take him.
Yeah, I think principles. That we think Mercedes have will
go and I and I totally understand.
And it's it's sports. I don't take it personal.
I don't get super emotional about it because I've seen in

(01:08:14):
all different types of sport where it's a cutthroat business.
Teams will drop you, they'll pick you up, they'll spit you
out, chew you up, shit you out. Like it's just sport, bro.
Like, so I wouldn't be surprisedif that's the case.
Like, you know, I'm never surprised by a certain decision.
But yeah, but that's it on that.Yeah, we need to wrap this now.
Yeah, so, but before we go, justsome honorable mentions.

(01:08:35):
You know, Liam Larson is best. I think believe this was his
best weekend of the year so far because, well, if he finished in
6th, that's his that's his best point scoring of the season
because he scored four points inMonaco and he finished 6th,
which is 88 points. You know, I think he also
qualified well as well. I believe he qualified in the he

(01:08:58):
qualified, really qualified. He qualified 6th when he
finished 6th. So damn, looking at it, the only
person in the top ten, top six cars that finished that actually
last positions was Charles. Charles was the only person that
lost a position from his original start position.
You know, you know, I've been, I've given Liam Larson a bit of
stick at the start of the year because I just feel like, yeah,

(01:09:20):
you're not that guy. You're not that guy.
You know to for him to qualify 6finish 6th I believe if I'm not
mistaken, I think it also matches his teammates yeah, it
matches Hajar's best finish as well, which was in Monaco.
He also finished on 6th. So right now Liam last, he's on
what 12 points and Hajar is on what's that 10/16/2021 points.

(01:09:47):
So he's only 9 points off his teammate and he and he came in
in what? Japan is UK on.
Yeah, the UK. The UK stock has fallen man.
Yuki's on 3/5, 910 points. I feel bad for you because he
picked up the poison chalice. Yeah, I'm going to wrap this.
I'm not even going to go into that because I don't want to

(01:10:08):
push this. And also, and we've got one more
as well, they kicks up, kicks steaks up or whatever that
whatever they call themselves again, it's a double points
finish for for them as well. I think that's the first time
they've scored double points in God, he knows how long.
I can't even. I can't even because Botuletto
scored four points. Hulkenberg scored two points, so

(01:10:30):
Botuletto finished ahead of him.I mean, that's the first time
they've scored that many points.Basically, both drivers have
finishing the points in Kodi knows how many years.
So you know, they get a honored dimension as well.
All right, sorry, UK, UK stock. The UK stock has plummeted in
the stock market. What the UK thing showed,
though, is that it's been the car all along.

(01:10:51):
Yeah, because they said it, Chris and Horner said it.
The problem is not the drivers, it's the car.
We need to fix the car but. Car so if they're saying that it
means that they should just allow Luki Yuki bro like and
just let him go into next year because you if you're admitting
that it's your car, what do you expect him to do right?
You you you had Perez who was a known race winner.

(01:11:12):
The car's got him a little part of there, you know, put in, put
in. Lost car gone.
He's gone after was gone after one race, yeah.
So 2 races he did Australia and Japan and China and he was gone.
Yeah. So, well, yeah, let's see what
what happens with that. But yeah, I'm just to wrap it
up. You want to rate the race.
Yeah, 4 1/2 out of 10. What I thought I'd say, yeah,

(01:11:34):
what I thought it there. Wasn't really much to talk about
apart from the McLaren boys trying to take lumps out to each
other. That was pretty much it, you
know, board to let you know, just kind of like swing back and
board to let a bit. He could have finished higher.
He could have finished what? Where did he finished?
He finished. Could have finished out of
Alonzo. He could have finished ahead of
Alonzo. Yeah, but I think I don't think

(01:11:56):
it's just the leader. I think if he had made the move,
he tried to go for the move but backed out of it going into the
second after the second DRSO. So he wanted to into Turn 3, so
he wanted to get it going into Turn 4, but he didn't get it.
And that pretty much kind of like he probably should have
taken it once going into Turn 3,but Alonzo probably would have
gotten past it. But then at the same time,

(01:12:16):
Alonzo ties with something like 16 laps older than his, so he
probably should have gotten it. But I guess you know Alonso is
his manager. After that happened, I think the
lap cars will save a lot. Yeah, the leaders coming
through. And apparently, did you hear
what Jonathan Weekley said? Did you hear what he said?
Said he texts Zac Brown saying to tell his drivers do not lap
them. Zac Brown wasn't even at the

(01:12:38):
track. So he was trying to put it so
it's kind of like he thought ZacBrown was Michael Massey.
Let's let's let's. Yeah.
But on that, on that note, yeah,I give it, I give it a 4 1/2 or
a ten. It wasn't really that.
You're under a five piece. All right then cool.
You can give it five piece. I'm not that.
Generous. Yeah, that's, that's a wrap.
You know, that's a wrap. Went longer than we wanted to at

(01:12:59):
an hour and a half. Yeah, that's a wrap.
On the Austrian Grand Prix in 25, Austrian Grand Prix review
undertook the win. Yes, your second, Charles.
Third. Yeah.
So next race is this weekend. Yep, Silverstone.
Silverstone British Grand Prix. Return to the home of Oglivia,
one of the greatest wins and most emotional wins in Formula

(01:13:20):
One history. Lewis Hamilton win last year
will never be forgotten. I'm put, I'm putting that here.
I'm not sure who's going to win,but I see Oscar finishing end of
Lando. Lewis is going to do defend this
type. Lewis Is Lewis going
back-to-back? Let's see if lightning strike
twice the same place. No, he's driving for Ferrari do

(01:13:41):
dying if anything, If anything lightning is going to strike is.
Ferrari Yeah, yeah. Once again, this has been the
Grand Prix Project podcast. Thank you all for listening.
Appreciate everyone that listens.
Please leave your comments. Please follow us on X at the
Grand Prix Project Pod, Grand Prix Project podcast and
Instagram, and the Grand Prix Project on YouTube.

(01:14:01):
Like and share our thing as well, please.
Yep, you know, get us out there.Episodes in, so we're working.
So yeah, thank y'all. We helped all.
Right peace.

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