March 25, 2024 • 39 mins
Just when you thought that our sport was lost forever - just when you started making plans for hibernation to avoid the Verstappen vortex - F1 IS BACK! ... ? In a weekend of deceit, dangerous driving and deranged team decisions, one may rose from the flaming tumbleweed. The recently de-organed Carlos Sainz took a lifeline F1 victory in the sport's fight to survive the cutthroat conflict for relevancy in the modern sporting landscape. Though the status quo is likely to resume in Suzuka, F1 fans everywhere can gleefully absorb this slice of mayhem, while it lasts. Welcome back to F1 Isn't Real.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Hello, and welcome back to Fone. Isn't real? I am your
host, relieved Ferrari enthusiast Ben Wevell, and today Amesh and I will once
again break down this weekend's Australian rompre which for about ten minutes had me
literally praying to the F one pointsin thanks as it's been a couple of
(00:36):
early mornings for US F one fans. But I think it's paid off,
right, Yeah, it definitely hasbeen. Thank you for having me again.
I think this weekend was very eventfuland a relief for many F one
fans out there. Yeah, absolutelyagreed. I mean the main storyline here,
the main headline, of course iscarlor Sciences astounding, well not standing.
(01:00):
But I think in terms of thisMax the staphen centric sport in which
we live, I think quite phenomenalvictory. And that's also especially considering his
comeback after that appendix surgery but twoweeks ago. What a savior. Even
Martin Brundle admitted during the race thatthe sport needed a shot in the arm
(01:21):
such as Carlos Science has provided forus. How important is it do you
think that Max didn't win the AustralianGrand Prix purely in terms of the health
of the sport. Oh, Ithink it's a pretty significant event that's happened.
I did say in the past anda few episodes ago that there's still
(01:41):
a lot to this season to come, you know. I think after Bahrain
probably that I said that Max Stapfenmight not win every race this season,
even though it really felt like itwas going to be the case. I'm
really happy that we have in youwin this season, and this early on
in the season, because it definitelygives all the current one fans a lot
more hope for the rest of theof the races. But not only does
(02:07):
it give you know, F onefans a real I think I think this
is you know, a lifeline forus we may have seen. I mean,
I know Maxistappen obviously is going tomake his mistakes down, you know,
down the line, but I thinkwe needed this to remind us that
(02:28):
F one can be a sport ofcompetition. I think just in the past,
you know, a few years,we've seen Max for Stappen really take
control of every aspect of victory inthe sport. And I think just the
fact that the red Bull package failedon Sunday is sort of a testament to
(02:50):
the fact that you could have thebest car in the world and the most
dominant car in the world, butthe reality of F one is that you
never quite know what's going to happen, come racing, come lights out.
And I think it's an important reminderfor people like us that we shouldn't take
these wins for granted, and thatfor somebody like you know, Carlos Science,
who's only taking up I believe Ithink this is only a second Formula
(03:15):
one victory. This is something thatis integral to the life of the Formula
One driver. They don't want tocome second. They want to win.
And Carlos signs one today, andnot only did he win, but he
won with an appendix removed. AsI already said, how impressed are you
by his recovery, by his race, and by his mental fortitude going through
(03:37):
presumably what it would have been quitea few aches and pains to secure a
phenomenal race victory. Yeah, I'mreally impressive. Carlos signs Actually, you
know, coming straight from an appendixsurgery and having losing his seat for next
year, I think there's definitely beena lot of pressure on the driver and
I think Diamonds made it under pressureand it's definitely shown with Carlo Science to
(04:01):
drive yesterday, I think he definitelyperformed the best of visibility, especially given
his medical conditions. I think whatwas it after the race? There was
a post on Instagram about with himand Landonoris after the podium and he still
had a patch on his stomach coveringup the scar, which just shows how
(04:23):
soon after he was back in thecar after his surgery, which is nothing
but impressive and it's astonishing how he'smanaged to win a race in this condition.
Do you think Carlos Science will notonly take solace in this race victory
and the fact that he recovered soquickly, but also that I think,
you know, as a point thatLawrence Barreto made after the Grand Prix two,
(04:46):
Carlo sites himself this now puts himat the forefront of the market in
Formula One. So not only didhe obviously secure that podium in the first
race, but now he secures therace victory in season that seemed as if
it was going to be dominated byone driver, obviously for reasons which were
out of that one driver's control.But in contrast, to Carlos sciences,
(05:14):
you know, mature and controlled performance. We saw Checko Perez, Max of
Stappin's teammate, who was seemingly destinedfor the podium in that Red Bull package,
which George Russell described as a rocketship. Halfway through the race,
we saw him ending up in amere fifth place in what, frankly is,
(05:36):
I would say, from the RedBall perspective, an unacceptable position for
the second driver. I think,you know, an interesting point made on
the day was that Maxwstappan is thereto win, and Checko Perez is there
to pick up the scraps when thingsgo wrong, and yet it was too
Ferrari's and to McLaren's that bested him. How do you think a win like
(06:00):
this for Carlos is going to influencehis ability to vye for a top drive
such as that Red Bull next season, especially when compared to some of the
shortcomings that Perez certainly put on displaythis weekend. I definitely think this win
has made an impact on Carlos Seins'sprospects next year. I don't think he's
(06:23):
underrated. I think all the teamsdefinitely know of his talents. In a
post race interview. I heard itfrom Lada Norris that every constructor has their
eyes on on Carlos Science. Hedidn't say that, he was saying that
he's not overrated, underrated, sorry, and I agree with that, and
(06:45):
I think that many teams will belooking up for Carlos signs for next year
if they have if they have aseat open. In terms of Checker Perez,
I think, you know, it'sbeen a difficult last season and a
half for him. He's picked upa couple of wins, but at the
same time, his consistency just hasn'tbeen there, and I think that's quite
(07:05):
important, especially for a Red Bulland especially for a team that should be
winning championships and taking victory racing raceout. So I think there's been a
lot more pressure recently on Sergio Perez, and I think Carlo Science has done
nothing but prove himself just once againto every other team. Do you think
(07:27):
it's partially sort of you know,we saw Red Bulls struggle on Sunday.
Obviously Max to Stappen with his breakissue. Do you think the only explanation
for Perez is placement. Obviously there'sa pressure element of it, but we've
seen the pace of the Red Bullin the hands of Max Verstappen, and
it is blistering and even on abad day, I think that that Red
(07:50):
Bulls should be able to best mostof the field. Do you think that
obviously there's an element of pressure init, but do you think that just
Red Bull package was not or theRed Bull team in general was just not
prepared for Melbourne as they usually asthey usually were, as they usually will
be. I think the team itselfwas ready for this weekend. I think
(08:16):
they've shown they've been ready for everyweekend for the last two years. And
I think in terms of check ofPerez, I think his performance is definitely
reflected on the idea that this RedBull car is built around Maxi Stappan and
it's not built around him as much. And I think that idea is called
(08:39):
is the reason for his his performance. You know, I think I said
this before that Alex Album was doinga podcast talking about what it's like to
be Maxis's teammate, and he saidthat the car is definitely built around him
and there's a lot of pressure beinghis teammate, especially because of the car.
And I think if Carlos Sins wasto join Red Bull, there would
(09:01):
definitely be that that same pressure,and that was on Sergio Perez. I
think that would be on Carlo Scienceif he ever joins the Red Bull.
But I think what's different between thetwo drivers is that Carlo Science has that
natural ability to adapt, just likeKimmie ripen And did back in the day.
So I definitely think there is thathope. But I think in terms
(09:24):
of the team itself, I thinkit's everyone makes mistakes, and I think
it's time that Red Bull did aswell. In this three kend. Do
you have any sort of sense ofa kind of waning commitment maybe to Red
Bull in general, because I thinkthis is sort of something that we saw
with, you know, someone likeValtori brought us as his Mercedes career was
(09:46):
coming to an end. He wassort of it felt as if he wasn't
particularly willing to give as much upto two Mercedes. And we've seen Peris,
you know, notably in Spain intwenty twenty two, then obviously in
Brazil we've seen Perrs sort of comeunder some you know, come under some
(10:13):
conditions from Red Bull that in theterms of sort of good sportsmanship would probably
not be considered as very morally justifiable. Do you think that Sergio Perras is
becoming frustrated by this Red Bull teamand even when he's given this opportunity to
make a name for himself within theRed Bull team, when Max isn't there,
(10:37):
he's just less driven to take itbecause he knows that at the end
of the day he's still going tobe a number two driver. I think
that Sergia Peis doesn't have the isn'tin the position to be frustrated. I
can see as a as a driverand a team where you're being commanded to
(10:58):
without the way for the first driver, that can be quite frustrating. But
at the same time, when momentslike these aren't happening, there's still a
lack of performance. Like you saidtoday, this weekend, Max seconds out
and it was all down to SergiaPerez. There were no team orders because
(11:20):
Max was out, yet he stillfailed to perform to the highest highest position
that Red Ball expected him. SoI think if he were to be performing,
you know, placing P two inand out every weekend behind maxes happened,
then it's more plausible for Peers tobe not complaining but have have that
(11:43):
that viewpoint. I think right nowhis priority is making sure he's doing the
best he can instead of focusing onwhat the team team should be telling him
to do, or what the whathe wants the team to tell him to
do. Is it beyond Red Bullto give up on before the end of
the year. That's a difficult question. I think I'd like to say every
(12:07):
driver needs time. But at thesame moment, Perez has had this opportunity
for a while join the team intwenty twenty one. His first season was
pretty good. He definitely helped Maxwin the championship, but from there on
out it sort of went downhill.And I think that's just him as a
driver aging, you know, Ithink it definitely has a toll on you
(12:31):
when you're when you get past acertain age. I think with every athlete
in general, you you move pasta certain point and it just makes it
more difficult for them to perform.And I think I wouldn't be completely surprised
if Red Bull decided to drop SergiaPerez. We've seen them be extremely harsh
in the past, and I thinkI'll be honest, I think they're being
(12:54):
quite generous keeping prayers this year becauseif you look at the likes of Danielkibiat,
Daniel Ricardo, not Daniel Ricardo,Pierre Ghastly, Alex the album,
they've been a lot harsher on thosedrivers compared to Sergio Karrez. Who do
you think they would If there wasone driver that you think would be a
good short term replacement for Checker,who do you think that would be,
(13:16):
Because you know, Carlos Science isnot gonna you know, I don't think
that he's going to be able towalk out of his contract with Ferrari before
the end of the season. Soif there was a short term option,
where do you think they would go. It's hard to say because I don't
really think there is justifiable or reasonableshort term short term option for Red Bull
(13:39):
here because all of the options thatthey could be taking seem like long term
commitments, because, like you said, Carlo Sciens, he'd be in it
for the long run. The samewith Landon Norris. There were talks about
him and Second being teammates, andif those driving moves were have happen,
there would be a long term definitelymulti year contracts. But in terms of
the to be a short term possibility, I hypothetically would go with Fernando Alonso
(14:07):
because I think Fernando Alonso, he'scoming to an end of his career.
You know, he's what forty fortysomething now, and I think he still
got that in him outperforming in theAston Martin definitely leading the team and I
think Red Bull can definitely see that. And I think if he were to
go to Red Bull for a yearor so, it would definitely be able
(14:28):
to lift the spirits up on fromthe second driver position and just help the
team out a bit. More onthe subject of Fernando Alonso, one of
the more I mean, there weremany points of contention this weekend, but
one of the more controversial moments ofthe weekend was the final lap of the
Grand Prix. You had George Russellchasing down Fernando Alonso for a sixth place
(14:52):
finish, and it's been alleged,it seems from on boards quite clearly presented
that Fernando Alonso may have break testedGeorge Russell, which caused him to go
into a spin and go off well, to lose control of the car,
go off the road, hit theinside of the wall and flip over onto
(15:15):
its side. Is this do youthink that the twenty second penalty that he's
been given is commensurate this for thisalleged break testing. Well, I think
there's a mixture of things that weregoing on in this situation, you know.
I think I looked at the onboard from Fernando Alonso after the race,
and you can hear the engine sound. It gets quieter as if he's
(15:41):
breaking into a corner, like there'sno throttle before. That's before the turn
or the breaking point. So thereis there is a sign of a break
test there, you know. Butat the same time, in Fernando a
Lonzo's post race interview, he didmention he was bearing a problem with the
and you know, towards the endof the race you might have to be
(16:02):
doing some lifting coast. Who knowswhat was going on there, only only
Fernando would know. But at thesame time, yeah, I think,
oh sorry, I think George Russell, well, there was an element of
him making a mistake as well.I think it wasn't I'd like to say
it's not close enough for him tobe break tested, because it feels like
(16:26):
he lost he lost the rear endof the car and then went off.
But I'm not entirely sure what thesituation is. I think at the end
of the day, Fernandal Lonzo hasgot the penalty and there's nothing we can
do about it. But I dokind of question the argument that Fernando's making
their lead, you know, engineproblem maybe, but I don't know about
(16:47):
lifting coast because he was out onhis own for quite a lot of the
Grand Prix, so he had goingto charge up his battery. And I
think if you were fighting for positionin the final lap of the race,
you want to give it full guns. So, oh yeah, I know
you're right, right, I agreewith that one. It's difficult and introduced
because you know, we don't knowthe you know, technical side of it
(17:10):
from Aston Martin's standpoint. You know, we know that both drivers think they're
in the right as as as isoften the case, and I think,
as you say, there are combinationof factors here. I think it was
partially that, you know, GeorgeRussell made a slight mistake. He was
obviously in same way with Fernandel.He was pushing and we we've you know,
(17:32):
we've already seen Fernando Alonso himself infact go off at that exact point.
So that's a difficult term. SoI think it's partially George's mistake and
maybe partially some slight unsportsman you know, lack of sportsmanship from Fernando trying to
keep hold onto that position, maybetrying to distract George Russell. Do you
(17:52):
think that this I mean, ifthat is true, that there was some
aspect of this that you know,Fernando was trying to hold position and therefore,
you know, maybe sneakily break testto George ross a touch, does
that give you more confidence about apossible move up the field for Fernando that
he still has that real drive andtenacity to fight for every position he is
(18:18):
in, whether he's sixteenth to sixor first. Well, I mean,
when regarding this situation, I thinksportsmanship definitely comes first. Obviously, every
driver wants to win, and everydriver to be an F one, you
must have that hunger and strive forvictory. But what's more important is you
(18:41):
have to do that in the rightway. I'm not sure what happened in
this situation, but if the caseis that Fernando Alonzo did purposefully break tests
George Russell, I don't think.I don't think that's right you know,
I think that's it's not an I'mnot going to say not a nice thing,
but I'm gonna say it's it's justunsportsmanlike of him. And I think
(19:06):
it's it did result in a dangerousconsequence. You know, we saw the
state of George Russell's car, andI think that shouldn't be that shouldn't be
tolerated, and therefore he was giventhe twenty second penalty. You know,
but we won't know what what thereal reason is. You can all you
can do as much data analysis asyou want, but it's finandal a Lonzo's
(19:30):
two hands behind the wheel at theend of the day. But I think
that attitude doesn't necessarily correlate to whetherhe's deserving of a seat or not in
in the higher ranks of the higherteams. I think it's two separate measurements
of of this of a characteristic.You know, I don't think it's they're
(19:52):
very linked, if you get mymean, I assume, yeah. I
think I think Fernando Alonso is,as we've said in this podcast many times,
you know, he's a driver whoyou don't want to get on the
wrong side of. I think nowmore certainly more on the track than of
it. And I think that,you know, knowing his driving style,
(20:15):
which can sometimes err, you know, err on a bit of risks sometimes,
I wouldn't be surprised if Fernando wentfor the break test just to sort
of put George Russell at a disadvantage. But again, I just the thing
that is really making me excited aboutFernando Alonso as as a prospect is is
(20:40):
just the fact that it's so it'sabout the driving that's the importancens of it.
He has no animosity towards George Russellwhatsoever. That could be absolutely anybody
behind him and he would be doingthe same thing. And that is what
I think really shows, you know, Fernando Alonso's grit, he would be
fighting equally as hard for any anysingle person on the grid, and I
(21:03):
think that shows a true commitment tothe sport as opposed to a commitment to
a sort of level of ego thatFernando Willonso I think has shed like some
time ago. But on the subjectof inflated egos, we saw Lando Norris
your You're Dearly Beloved overtake Oscar Piastreeteam orders in order to try and fight
(21:30):
for Ferrari for Ferrari positions for sorrythe first possibly the second place unlikely,
but maybe the first place with Ferrarithat didn't come to pass. The other
argument was to hold off Sergio Perez, and the argument was, you know,
Norris was getting held up behind OscarPiastre, but again that did not
(21:51):
come to pass. Alonzo was sorryin eleven seconds off the pair. Do
you think that Oscar will have somelingering resentment maybe for the fact that he
wasn't allowed to sort of I guesstake it home in a sense. Obviously
they were very close on the track, But will Oscar maybe feel a bit
(22:11):
hard done by that he wasn't allowedto at least put up a fight in
his home grown free for a podium. Yeah, I mean I agree with
or if you're saying that, Iagree with that because I feel every driver
should be given the opportunity to fightfor their own position. If there is
a case where one driver is aheadof the other, they're there for a
(22:34):
reason, and in this case ofPiastre was in front of Landon Norris,
and I can see why McLaren wouldwant this driver swapping to be done.
You know, I think they havemore trust in Landon Norris being able to
fight for P two or the win. At the same time, though it
(22:56):
was noticeable that he wasn't able todo that, and if they were closer,
I think there would have been probablya chance that McLaren would have asked
Orlando to give the place back.I think that's the right thing to do.
Not because it's Oscar's home race,but I think in any race,
in any weekend situation, if thedriver given preference isn't able to perform to
(23:22):
the standard that or with the objectivethat the team want, they should give
it back before the end of therace. We've seen that with the with
the likes of Lewis Hamilton and AntiBotas in Hungary twenty seventeen. I think
Mercedes let Lewis go through in orderfor him to get the win, and
before before the end of the raceLewis realized that he couldn't he couldn't do
(23:42):
so from the last lap, Yeah, he did. He did give the
place back to Bartibotas, which Ithink is good sportsmanship. I'm not going
to sound disappointed in Landon Norris becausehe did he did do well, but
at the same time I think thatI don't want to see a sense of
favoritism in this great driver pairing,you know. I think they're very level
(24:07):
on points at the moment, onlyseparated by one, and I think,
I know it's the beginning of theseason. At the same time, I
wouldn't be my favorite team, theteam I sport. I wouldn't want to
see such driver preferences, you know. Yeah, so yeah, the two
of them, what could be?Do you think they should be treated on
a similar level of treated with asimilar level of respect considering their performances compared
(24:32):
to one another last season in thisseason or is it still sort of Lando
Norris's team. It's difficult to say, because Landon Norris definitely has more experience
in racing and in Formula One,you know. But at the same time,
this season is a new season,and what three week three races in
the two drivers are very like Isaid, level on points Oscars, I
(24:55):
think, leading by one at themoment, which just goes to show that
he's able to keep up with especiallyespecially last year when Lando overtook him quite
early on in the season and therewas that bit of a struggle in the
early start of his career. SoI think he's definitely stepped up, which
definitely means he earns a lot morerespect than he would be given last year.
(25:17):
I think it's different. It's dependenton the situation in even I think
if Oscarestre is definitely performing to thestand he should be, then he should
be given equal respect and egal opportunityto land and Norris. Yeah, I
agree. I think these are twodrivers that you know for sure. Landon
Norris is far more experienced than thesport, but I think it's clear from
(25:38):
usca's first few years that he has, as I've said before, a level
of racing maturity and also race craftthat is I think on par with Landon
Norris. Do you think that thisMcLaren package will be able to challenge for
the third podium place regularly with Ferrari? Well, do you think that there's
(25:59):
still quite a large sort of gapthat needs to be bridged in order to
make it there and to make itto a position where you know they're combating
Ferrari on a weekly basis. It'sdifficult to say, because I think with
this question it's early on in theseason to answer because of the level of
research and development that's going on.But I think McLaren this has probably been
(26:23):
McLaren's strongest start to a season sincelike in a while. You know,
I think only time will tell theirconsistency. I think at the rate things
are going, I'm going to sayyes, I think they're definitely on an
incline. I don't know what therate it's going at, but they're definitely
(26:44):
improving, maybe closing the gap toFerrari. It's difficult to say because Ferrari
is quite an inconsistent team. Youknow, they won are they won this
weekend, But at the same time, they haven't been in recent years,
haven't been as consistent as we wouldall like them to be. But I
think there's definitely a chance for McLarento be fighting for P three in this
(27:06):
Constructor Championship this year. There's thething we did see from McLaren almost year
in year out nowadays, just thefact that you know, they start slow
ish this year, they've started quitefast, and then they use the development
period mid season to really bolster uptheir car and really improve and to just
(27:27):
get ahead of get ahead of therest of the midfield. And you know,
we saw that last year, theyear before that, we kind of
saw it front ended, but thenyou know, Landon and US coming back
and making making some big podiums outof the latter half of the season as
well. So I think McLaren couldcertainly be challengers for p for Pete maybe
(27:52):
two in the championship when things comedown to it, because you know,
going off track record, just theheap of points that they managed to bring
in around the end of the seasonreally helps them with their championship position.
Do you think that this sort oflike inconsistency of McLaren is going to be
is slowly being ironed out by thefact that they have such a sort of
(28:15):
sustainable and such a brilliant driver pairingin US Coolpiastrian London Norris. Yeah.
I think it's a multiple factors atthe moment. You know, I think
their driver lineup is definitely going strongand their research and development is quite consistent
at the moment. But at thesame time, there's external factors which are
outside of the team which contributes totheir success at the moment. I like
(28:40):
to say Mercedes Performance and the othermidfield teams of Performance will be affecting the
position McLaren is in at the moment. You know, if we look at
the current Constructor Championship, McLaren ison fifty five points and Mercedes is on
twenty six points, and I thinkan inconsistent scene or a lack of performance
(29:03):
in neighboring teams allows McLaren's consistency toshine at the moment. You know,
a double DNF for Mercedes yesterday isnot what they would be wanting, and
I think it only highlights the successof McLaren yesterday, you know. So
I think it's just a mixture ofthings which will hopefully help McLaren secure a
(29:26):
P three in this season. Yeah, it was a really really bad day
for Mercedes yesterday, certainly contrasting McLaren'sday which P three and four in the
McLaren certainly benefited off of the Maxstep in DNF, but still even not
considering that would have been a greatday for them. But obviously same can't
(29:48):
be said four Mercedes. We've reallytalked about the George Russell incident which led
to his last lap DNF, andwe also saw Lewis Hamilton succumbing to a
a technical issue. I'm not quitesure what that was, but it was
not It was certainly sort of inkeeping with how their weekend was going up
(30:10):
to that point. Lewis Hamilton outbefore Q three for the first time since
two thousand and nine in Austria,and just generally this weekend was really dysfunctional
from Mercedes. This team is certainlysort of in this part in the past
few years, obviously since the twentytwenty one Debracle, they've lost their grip
(30:30):
on the World Championship. But nowwe're seeing total wolf almost weekly coming out
with these quite combative defensive claims.We've seen Lewis Hamilton and George Russell making
these mistakes. Do you think they'reslowly sort of losing a grip on their
collective synergy as a team as wellas the championship? Of course, yeah,
(30:56):
I definitely think after twenty twenty onethe team has definitely been under a
lot of pressure. We expected themto be fighting back stronger than ever after
losing the championship in with Lewis Hamiltontwenty twenty one, but it's difficult to
say that that, you know,it's not difficult to say. I'm saying
that it has been difficult for themafterwards. You know, their consistency it
(31:22):
has been decent, you know,with the consistency regards to their finishing position.
But at the same time, it'snot the results that they've been wanting.
They've been wanting wins and championships,and that's not what's been happening,
you know. Then it's clear tosay that they're a struggling team at the
moment and it's very painful to watch, especially after Yes, there's double DNF.
(31:48):
There's definitely pressure on Total Walf atthe moment with losing Lewis Hamilton,
their star driver, the driver whodelivered them all these championships, apart from
the one with Nico Ross. Butbut yeah, there's definitely this sort of
pressure from multiple sides, you know, there's the performance side, the driver
(32:09):
line upside. Yeah, and Ithink it could be a potential crumbling point
for the team, and I thinkit's essential that they get the grips together
before it's too late and before TotalWolf is under threat from losing his position.
I think on your point there aboutsort of you know, crumbling point,
(32:34):
a flash point. I think thatmaybe a rebuild could be the best
thing for Mercedes. They've been inthe same they've been in the same sort
of groove of winning for so longand now they're not and this is a
it's a you know, it's ashock, of course. And you know,
(32:55):
quite a few of their key piecesof left, for example, just
thinking of James Vowels was a hugelyinfluential part. We have Valtari Botas leaving,
who was consistent, he was strong, he was you know, you
knew that he was going to bringin that pee to every single race,
unlike Sergio Perez. Do you thinkthat maybe a bit of a reset is
(33:19):
important. You've got Lewis Hamilton leaving, but Lewis Hamilton is the one who's
been causing many of the issues forMercedes recently because he's been placing. It's
not been really an external pressure.I think it's been an internal pressure.
George Russell's just happy to be there. Lewis Hamilton has been putting the pressure
on Toto Wolf and on the Mercedesdevelopment team and on the Mercedes car constantly,
(33:42):
you know, describing it as,oh, it feels the worse than
it's ever felt. He's been doingthis since he lost the championship. You
know. I there's there's definitely apattern here of just complaint of which obviously
heightened stress because you want to Youwant your car to perform, You want
your drivers to feel like they're comfortablein the car. I think maybe losing
(34:04):
Lewis Hamilton could be one of themost important things that happens to Mercedes,
but possibly in a good way,because I think they need a reset,
they need maybe a restructuring. Theyneed to bring in a driver who doesn't
who isn't used to the winning waysand is hungry to sort of get that
back, and is because the thingis right, Lewis Hamilton expects it to
(34:27):
be back. He's not hungry toget it back. He wants it now.
But somebody, a driver like AlexAlwan for example, why it suggested
could be coming into the Mercedes seatnext season, they'll be hungry to build
it back up. Do you thinkthat Lewis losing Lewis Hamilton could be a
blessing in disguise? It's difficult tosay, Ben, because with a team
(34:49):
like Mercedes, where they've been soused to winning from pretty much the start,
you know, only a few yearsinto their F one F one career,
they've been they've been winning in andout, you know, championship after
championship. So I think a changecan definitely go one of two ways,
(35:12):
but it would be definitely an extreme. You know. It could either benefit
the team quite a lot with withthe change in internal or it could it
could damage the team. The teamstay at the moment, It's difficult to
say. I'm not quite sure whatwhat would happen, but I think maybe
(35:38):
maybe it would be nice to havea different driver pairing with Georgie Russell and
I'd like to see how that wouldthat would affect the dynamic of the team.
But yeah, I'm not I haven'thaven't given given Mercedes future a big,
big thing, you know, mI'll be honest, Well, I
think whether they're going to do nextis certainly going to be a massive transition.
(36:01):
The last thing I'm want to touchon today is Williams, which who
had a pretty fastical weekend that onecrushing Sergeant taking his place sorry album taking
place. Yeah, despite having madethat mistake amish yes or no, it
was just the right decision, I'mgoing to say no, I think as
(36:28):
much as I like Alex's album,as much as I want him to do
see him to do well, Ihave to be honest and to say it
was his mistake in by crashing andh unless there was some mechanical failure,
it was it was it was onhim, And I think if a driver
(36:52):
is put their car in a positionwhere it can't be fixed, it's very
difficult for them to be able toexpect their teammates move out the way and
driving their car. You know,it seems not selfish, but it just
doesn't seem like Williams reasonable. Yeah, I mean Williams as well. You
(37:12):
think that they be the team whichwould not let that happen. I can
expect that from red Bull or Ferrari, but definitely not Williams, the back
market team who is known for beinglike a sort of a friendlier, more
reasonable team. You know, Iwas pretty shocked with James Vough's decision.
(37:34):
I touched upon his interview when hemade the decision, and it just didn't
it just didn't feel like a like, it didn't feel real, I'll be
honest. I mean, neither AlexAlbum and Logan Sargent have scored points this
season. I mean, I knowit's the beginning and there's still opportunities to
do so, but I think thatmakes it even more reasonable for log Consargent
(38:00):
to race instead of alex Aban,you know, I think you need to
be giving both drivers equal opportunity inthis point in the season. If it
was the end or if it wasa championship decider, definitely put another driver
in, but not definitely, butI think it's more reasonable in that case.
But I think in this case,I'm pretty shocked by the team decision
(38:22):
of Williams that you know, Idon't know. It's a bad note for
us to go out on, butthat is how we go out. Thank
you for listening to F one Isn'tReal? Join us next week where we
query query, excuse me, whatis more likely and also have a brief
preview of the Japanese twenty twenty fourGrand Prix. Thank you so much for
(38:42):
joining me. As always,
Hello, and welcome back to Fone. Isn't real? I am your
host, relieved Ferrari enthusiast Ben Wevell, and today Amesh and I will once
again break down this weekend's Australian rompre which for about ten minutes had me
literally praying to the F one pointsin thanks as it's been a couple of
(00:36):
early mornings for US F one fans. But I think it's paid off,
right, Yeah, it definitely hasbeen. Thank you for having me again.
I think this weekend was very eventfuland a relief for many F one
fans out there. Yeah, absolutelyagreed. I mean the main storyline here,
the main headline, of course iscarlor Sciences astounding, well not standing.
(01:00):
But I think in terms of thisMax the staphen centric sport in which
we live, I think quite phenomenalvictory. And that's also especially considering his
comeback after that appendix surgery but twoweeks ago. What a savior. Even
Martin Brundle admitted during the race thatthe sport needed a shot in the arm
(01:21):
such as Carlos Science has provided forus. How important is it do you
think that Max didn't win the AustralianGrand Prix purely in terms of the health
of the sport. Oh, Ithink it's a pretty significant event that's happened.
I did say in the past anda few episodes ago that there's still
(01:41):
a lot to this season to come, you know. I think after Bahrain
probably that I said that Max Stapfenmight not win every race this season,
even though it really felt like itwas going to be the case. I'm
really happy that we have in youwin this season, and this early on
in the season, because it definitelygives all the current one fans a lot
more hope for the rest of theof the races. But not only does
(02:07):
it give you know, F onefans a real I think I think this
is you know, a lifeline forus we may have seen. I mean,
I know Maxistappen obviously is going tomake his mistakes down, you know,
down the line, but I thinkwe needed this to remind us that
(02:28):
F one can be a sport ofcompetition. I think just in the past,
you know, a few years,we've seen Max for Stappen really take
control of every aspect of victory inthe sport. And I think just the
fact that the red Bull package failedon Sunday is sort of a testament to
(02:50):
the fact that you could have thebest car in the world and the most
dominant car in the world, butthe reality of F one is that you
never quite know what's going to happen, come racing, come lights out.
And I think it's an important reminderfor people like us that we shouldn't take
these wins for granted, and thatfor somebody like you know, Carlos Science,
who's only taking up I believe Ithink this is only a second Formula
(03:15):
one victory. This is something thatis integral to the life of the Formula
One driver. They don't want tocome second. They want to win.
And Carlos signs one today, andnot only did he win, but he
won with an appendix removed. AsI already said, how impressed are you
by his recovery, by his race, and by his mental fortitude going through
(03:37):
presumably what it would have been quitea few aches and pains to secure a
phenomenal race victory. Yeah, I'mreally impressive. Carlos signs Actually, you
know, coming straight from an appendixsurgery and having losing his seat for next
year, I think there's definitely beena lot of pressure on the driver and
I think Diamonds made it under pressureand it's definitely shown with Carlo Science to
(04:01):
drive yesterday, I think he definitelyperformed the best of visibility, especially given
his medical conditions. I think whatwas it after the race? There was
a post on Instagram about with himand Landonoris after the podium and he still
had a patch on his stomach coveringup the scar, which just shows how
(04:23):
soon after he was back in thecar after his surgery, which is nothing
but impressive and it's astonishing how he'smanaged to win a race in this condition.
Do you think Carlos Science will notonly take solace in this race victory
and the fact that he recovered soquickly, but also that I think,
you know, as a point thatLawrence Barreto made after the Grand Prix two,
(04:46):
Carlo sites himself this now puts himat the forefront of the market in
Formula One. So not only didhe obviously secure that podium in the first
race, but now he secures therace victory in season that seemed as if
it was going to be dominated byone driver, obviously for reasons which were
out of that one driver's control.But in contrast, to Carlos sciences,
(05:14):
you know, mature and controlled performance. We saw Checko Perez, Max of
Stappin's teammate, who was seemingly destinedfor the podium in that Red Bull package,
which George Russell described as a rocketship. Halfway through the race,
we saw him ending up in amere fifth place in what, frankly is,
(05:36):
I would say, from the RedBall perspective, an unacceptable position for
the second driver. I think,you know, an interesting point made on
the day was that Maxwstappan is thereto win, and Checko Perez is there
to pick up the scraps when thingsgo wrong, and yet it was too
Ferrari's and to McLaren's that bested him. How do you think a win like
(06:00):
this for Carlos is going to influencehis ability to vye for a top drive
such as that Red Bull next season, especially when compared to some of the
shortcomings that Perez certainly put on displaythis weekend. I definitely think this win
has made an impact on Carlos Seins'sprospects next year. I don't think he's
(06:23):
underrated. I think all the teamsdefinitely know of his talents. In a
post race interview. I heard itfrom Lada Norris that every constructor has their
eyes on on Carlos Science. Hedidn't say that, he was saying that
he's not overrated, underrated, sorry, and I agree with that, and
(06:45):
I think that many teams will belooking up for Carlos signs for next year
if they have if they have aseat open. In terms of Checker Perez,
I think, you know, it'sbeen a difficult last season and a
half for him. He's picked upa couple of wins, but at the
same time, his consistency just hasn'tbeen there, and I think that's quite
(07:05):
important, especially for a Red Bulland especially for a team that should be
winning championships and taking victory racing raceout. So I think there's been a
lot more pressure recently on Sergio Perez, and I think Carlo Science has done
nothing but prove himself just once againto every other team. Do you think
(07:27):
it's partially sort of you know,we saw Red Bulls struggle on Sunday.
Obviously Max to Stappen with his breakissue. Do you think the only explanation
for Perez is placement. Obviously there'sa pressure element of it, but we've
seen the pace of the Red Bullin the hands of Max Verstappen, and
it is blistering and even on abad day, I think that that Red
(07:50):
Bulls should be able to best mostof the field. Do you think that
obviously there's an element of pressure init, but do you think that just
Red Bull package was not or theRed Bull team in general was just not
prepared for Melbourne as they usually asthey usually were, as they usually will
be. I think the team itselfwas ready for this weekend. I think
(08:16):
they've shown they've been ready for everyweekend for the last two years. And
I think in terms of check ofPerez, I think his performance is definitely
reflected on the idea that this RedBull car is built around Maxi Stappan and
it's not built around him as much. And I think that idea is called
(08:39):
is the reason for his his performance. You know, I think I said
this before that Alex Album was doinga podcast talking about what it's like to
be Maxis's teammate, and he saidthat the car is definitely built around him
and there's a lot of pressure beinghis teammate, especially because of the car.
And I think if Carlos Sins wasto join Red Bull, there would
(09:01):
definitely be that that same pressure,and that was on Sergio Perez. I
think that would be on Carlo Scienceif he ever joins the Red Bull.
But I think what's different between thetwo drivers is that Carlo Science has that
natural ability to adapt, just likeKimmie ripen And did back in the day.
So I definitely think there is thathope. But I think in terms
(09:24):
of the team itself, I thinkit's everyone makes mistakes, and I think
it's time that Red Bull did aswell. In this three kend. Do
you have any sort of sense ofa kind of waning commitment maybe to Red
Bull in general, because I thinkthis is sort of something that we saw
with, you know, someone likeValtori brought us as his Mercedes career was
(09:46):
coming to an end. He wassort of it felt as if he wasn't
particularly willing to give as much upto two Mercedes. And we've seen Peris,
you know, notably in Spain intwenty twenty two, then obviously in
Brazil we've seen Perrs sort of comeunder some you know, come under some
(10:13):
conditions from Red Bull that in theterms of sort of good sportsmanship would probably
not be considered as very morally justifiable. Do you think that Sergio Perras is
becoming frustrated by this Red Bull teamand even when he's given this opportunity to
make a name for himself within theRed Bull team, when Max isn't there,
(10:37):
he's just less driven to take itbecause he knows that at the end
of the day he's still going tobe a number two driver. I think
that Sergia Peis doesn't have the isn'tin the position to be frustrated. I
can see as a as a driverand a team where you're being commanded to
(10:58):
without the way for the first driver, that can be quite frustrating. But
at the same time, when momentslike these aren't happening, there's still a
lack of performance. Like you saidtoday, this weekend, Max seconds out
and it was all down to SergiaPerez. There were no team orders because
(11:20):
Max was out, yet he stillfailed to perform to the highest highest position
that Red Ball expected him. SoI think if he were to be performing,
you know, placing P two inand out every weekend behind maxes happened,
then it's more plausible for Peers tobe not complaining but have have that
(11:43):
that viewpoint. I think right nowhis priority is making sure he's doing the
best he can instead of focusing onwhat the team team should be telling him
to do, or what the whathe wants the team to tell him to
do. Is it beyond Red Bullto give up on before the end of
the year. That's a difficult question. I think I'd like to say every
(12:07):
driver needs time. But at thesame moment, Perez has had this opportunity
for a while join the team intwenty twenty one. His first season was
pretty good. He definitely helped Maxwin the championship, but from there on
out it sort of went downhill.And I think that's just him as a
driver aging, you know, Ithink it definitely has a toll on you
(12:31):
when you're when you get past acertain age. I think with every athlete
in general, you you move pasta certain point and it just makes it
more difficult for them to perform.And I think I wouldn't be completely surprised
if Red Bull decided to drop SergiaPerez. We've seen them be extremely harsh
in the past, and I thinkI'll be honest, I think they're being
(12:54):
quite generous keeping prayers this year becauseif you look at the likes of Danielkibiat,
Daniel Ricardo, not Daniel Ricardo,Pierre Ghastly, Alex the album,
they've been a lot harsher on thosedrivers compared to Sergio Karrez. Who do
you think they would If there wasone driver that you think would be a
good short term replacement for Checker,who do you think that would be,
(13:16):
Because you know, Carlos Science isnot gonna you know, I don't think
that he's going to be able towalk out of his contract with Ferrari before
the end of the season. Soif there was a short term option,
where do you think they would go. It's hard to say because I don't
really think there is justifiable or reasonableshort term short term option for Red Bull
(13:39):
here because all of the options thatthey could be taking seem like long term
commitments, because, like you said, Carlo Sciens, he'd be in it
for the long run. The samewith Landon Norris. There were talks about
him and Second being teammates, andif those driving moves were have happen,
there would be a long term definitelymulti year contracts. But in terms of
the to be a short term possibility, I hypothetically would go with Fernando Alonso
(14:07):
because I think Fernando Alonso, he'scoming to an end of his career.
You know, he's what forty fortysomething now, and I think he still
got that in him outperforming in theAston Martin definitely leading the team and I
think Red Bull can definitely see that. And I think if he were to
go to Red Bull for a yearor so, it would definitely be able
(14:28):
to lift the spirits up on fromthe second driver position and just help the
team out a bit. More onthe subject of Fernando Alonso, one of
the more I mean, there weremany points of contention this weekend, but
one of the more controversial moments ofthe weekend was the final lap of the
Grand Prix. You had George Russellchasing down Fernando Alonso for a sixth place
(14:52):
finish, and it's been alleged,it seems from on boards quite clearly presented
that Fernando Alonso may have break testedGeorge Russell, which caused him to go
into a spin and go off well, to lose control of the car,
go off the road, hit theinside of the wall and flip over onto
(15:15):
its side. Is this do youthink that the twenty second penalty that he's
been given is commensurate this for thisalleged break testing. Well, I think
there's a mixture of things that weregoing on in this situation, you know.
I think I looked at the onboard from Fernando Alonso after the race,
and you can hear the engine sound. It gets quieter as if he's
(15:41):
breaking into a corner, like there'sno throttle before. That's before the turn
or the breaking point. So thereis there is a sign of a break
test there, you know. Butat the same time, in Fernando a
Lonzo's post race interview, he didmention he was bearing a problem with the
and you know, towards the endof the race you might have to be
(16:02):
doing some lifting coast. Who knowswhat was going on there, only only
Fernando would know. But at thesame time, yeah, I think,
oh sorry, I think George Russell, well, there was an element of
him making a mistake as well.I think it wasn't I'd like to say
it's not close enough for him tobe break tested, because it feels like
(16:26):
he lost he lost the rear endof the car and then went off.
But I'm not entirely sure what thesituation is. I think at the end
of the day, Fernandal Lonzo hasgot the penalty and there's nothing we can
do about it. But I dokind of question the argument that Fernando's making
their lead, you know, engineproblem maybe, but I don't know about
(16:47):
lifting coast because he was out onhis own for quite a lot of the
Grand Prix, so he had goingto charge up his battery. And I
think if you were fighting for positionin the final lap of the race,
you want to give it full guns. So, oh yeah, I know
you're right, right, I agreewith that one. It's difficult and introduced
because you know, we don't knowthe you know, technical side of it
(17:10):
from Aston Martin's standpoint. You know, we know that both drivers think they're
in the right as as as isoften the case, and I think,
as you say, there are combinationof factors here. I think it was
partially that, you know, GeorgeRussell made a slight mistake. He was
obviously in same way with Fernandel.He was pushing and we we've you know,
(17:32):
we've already seen Fernando Alonso himself infact go off at that exact point.
So that's a difficult term. SoI think it's partially George's mistake and
maybe partially some slight unsportsman you know, lack of sportsmanship from Fernando trying to
keep hold onto that position, maybetrying to distract George Russell. Do you
(17:52):
think that this I mean, ifthat is true, that there was some
aspect of this that you know,Fernando was trying to hold position and therefore,
you know, maybe sneakily break testto George ross a touch, does
that give you more confidence about apossible move up the field for Fernando that
he still has that real drive andtenacity to fight for every position he is
(18:18):
in, whether he's sixteenth to sixor first. Well, I mean,
when regarding this situation, I thinksportsmanship definitely comes first. Obviously, every
driver wants to win, and everydriver to be an F one, you
must have that hunger and strive forvictory. But what's more important is you
(18:41):
have to do that in the rightway. I'm not sure what happened in
this situation, but if the caseis that Fernando Alonzo did purposefully break tests
George Russell, I don't think.I don't think that's right you know,
I think that's it's not an I'mnot going to say not a nice thing,
but I'm gonna say it's it's justunsportsmanlike of him. And I think
(19:06):
it's it did result in a dangerousconsequence. You know, we saw the
state of George Russell's car, andI think that shouldn't be that shouldn't be
tolerated, and therefore he was giventhe twenty second penalty. You know,
but we won't know what what thereal reason is. You can all you
can do as much data analysis asyou want, but it's finandal a Lonzo's
(19:30):
two hands behind the wheel at theend of the day. But I think
that attitude doesn't necessarily correlate to whetherhe's deserving of a seat or not in
in the higher ranks of the higherteams. I think it's two separate measurements
of of this of a characteristic.You know, I don't think it's they're
(19:52):
very linked, if you get mymean, I assume, yeah. I
think I think Fernando Alonso is,as we've said in this podcast many times,
you know, he's a driver whoyou don't want to get on the
wrong side of. I think nowmore certainly more on the track than of
it. And I think that,you know, knowing his driving style,
(20:15):
which can sometimes err, you know, err on a bit of risks sometimes,
I wouldn't be surprised if Fernando wentfor the break test just to sort
of put George Russell at a disadvantage. But again, I just the thing
that is really making me excited aboutFernando Alonso as as a prospect is is
(20:40):
just the fact that it's so it'sabout the driving that's the importancens of it.
He has no animosity towards George Russellwhatsoever. That could be absolutely anybody
behind him and he would be doingthe same thing. And that is what
I think really shows, you know, Fernando Alonso's grit, he would be
fighting equally as hard for any anysingle person on the grid, and I
(21:03):
think that shows a true commitment tothe sport as opposed to a commitment to
a sort of level of ego thatFernando Willonso I think has shed like some
time ago. But on the subjectof inflated egos, we saw Lando Norris
your You're Dearly Beloved overtake Oscar Piastreeteam orders in order to try and fight
(21:30):
for Ferrari for Ferrari positions for sorrythe first possibly the second place unlikely,
but maybe the first place with Ferrarithat didn't come to pass. The other
argument was to hold off Sergio Perez, and the argument was, you know,
Norris was getting held up behind OscarPiastre, but again that did not
(21:51):
come to pass. Alonzo was sorryin eleven seconds off the pair. Do
you think that Oscar will have somelingering resentment maybe for the fact that he
wasn't allowed to sort of I guesstake it home in a sense. Obviously
they were very close on the track, But will Oscar maybe feel a bit
(22:11):
hard done by that he wasn't allowedto at least put up a fight in
his home grown free for a podium. Yeah, I mean I agree with
or if you're saying that, Iagree with that because I feel every driver
should be given the opportunity to fightfor their own position. If there is
a case where one driver is aheadof the other, they're there for a
(22:34):
reason, and in this case ofPiastre was in front of Landon Norris,
and I can see why McLaren wouldwant this driver swapping to be done.
You know, I think they havemore trust in Landon Norris being able to
fight for P two or the win. At the same time, though it
(22:56):
was noticeable that he wasn't able todo that, and if they were closer,
I think there would have been probablya chance that McLaren would have asked
Orlando to give the place back.I think that's the right thing to do.
Not because it's Oscar's home race,but I think in any race,
in any weekend situation, if thedriver given preference isn't able to perform to
(23:22):
the standard that or with the objectivethat the team want, they should give
it back before the end of therace. We've seen that with the with
the likes of Lewis Hamilton and AntiBotas in Hungary twenty seventeen. I think
Mercedes let Lewis go through in orderfor him to get the win, and
before before the end of the raceLewis realized that he couldn't he couldn't do
(23:42):
so from the last lap, Yeah, he did. He did give the
place back to Bartibotas, which Ithink is good sportsmanship. I'm not going
to sound disappointed in Landon Norris becausehe did he did do well, but
at the same time I think thatI don't want to see a sense of
favoritism in this great driver pairing,you know. I think they're very level
(24:07):
on points at the moment, onlyseparated by one, and I think,
I know it's the beginning of theseason. At the same time, I
wouldn't be my favorite team, theteam I sport. I wouldn't want to
see such driver preferences, you know. Yeah, so yeah, the two
of them, what could be?Do you think they should be treated on
a similar level of treated with asimilar level of respect considering their performances compared
(24:32):
to one another last season in thisseason or is it still sort of Lando
Norris's team. It's difficult to say, because Landon Norris definitely has more experience
in racing and in Formula One,you know. But at the same time,
this season is a new season,and what three week three races in
the two drivers are very like Isaid, level on points Oscars, I
(24:55):
think, leading by one at themoment, which just goes to show that
he's able to keep up with especiallyespecially last year when Lando overtook him quite
early on in the season and therewas that bit of a struggle in the
early start of his career. SoI think he's definitely stepped up, which
definitely means he earns a lot morerespect than he would be given last year.
(25:17):
I think it's different. It's dependenton the situation in even I think
if Oscarestre is definitely performing to thestand he should be, then he should
be given equal respect and egal opportunityto land and Norris. Yeah, I
agree. I think these are twodrivers that you know for sure. Landon
Norris is far more experienced than thesport, but I think it's clear from
(25:38):
usca's first few years that he has, as I've said before, a level
of racing maturity and also race craftthat is I think on par with Landon
Norris. Do you think that thisMcLaren package will be able to challenge for
the third podium place regularly with Ferrari? Well, do you think that there's
(25:59):
still quite a large sort of gapthat needs to be bridged in order to
make it there and to make itto a position where you know they're combating
Ferrari on a weekly basis. It'sdifficult to say, because I think with
this question it's early on in theseason to answer because of the level of
research and development that's going on.But I think McLaren this has probably been
(26:23):
McLaren's strongest start to a season sincelike in a while. You know,
I think only time will tell theirconsistency. I think at the rate things
are going, I'm going to sayyes, I think they're definitely on an
incline. I don't know what therate it's going at, but they're definitely
(26:44):
improving, maybe closing the gap toFerrari. It's difficult to say because Ferrari
is quite an inconsistent team. Youknow, they won are they won this
weekend, But at the same time, they haven't been in recent years,
haven't been as consistent as we wouldall like them to be. But I
think there's definitely a chance for McLarento be fighting for P three in this
(27:06):
Constructor Championship this year. There's thething we did see from McLaren almost year
in year out nowadays, just thefact that you know, they start slow
ish this year, they've started quitefast, and then they use the development
period mid season to really bolster uptheir car and really improve and to just
(27:27):
get ahead of get ahead of therest of the midfield. And you know,
we saw that last year, theyear before that, we kind of
saw it front ended, but thenyou know, Landon and US coming back
and making making some big podiums outof the latter half of the season as
well. So I think McLaren couldcertainly be challengers for p for Pete maybe
(27:52):
two in the championship when things comedown to it, because you know,
going off track record, just theheap of points that they managed to bring
in around the end of the seasonreally helps them with their championship position.
Do you think that this sort oflike inconsistency of McLaren is going to be
is slowly being ironed out by thefact that they have such a sort of
(28:15):
sustainable and such a brilliant driver pairingin US Coolpiastrian London Norris. Yeah.
I think it's a multiple factors atthe moment. You know, I think
their driver lineup is definitely going strongand their research and development is quite consistent
at the moment. But at thesame time, there's external factors which are
outside of the team which contributes totheir success at the moment. I like
(28:40):
to say Mercedes Performance and the othermidfield teams of Performance will be affecting the
position McLaren is in at the moment. You know, if we look at
the current Constructor Championship, McLaren ison fifty five points and Mercedes is on
twenty six points, and I thinkan inconsistent scene or a lack of performance
(29:03):
in neighboring teams allows McLaren's consistency toshine at the moment. You know,
a double DNF for Mercedes yesterday isnot what they would be wanting, and
I think it only highlights the successof McLaren yesterday, you know. So
I think it's just a mixture ofthings which will hopefully help McLaren secure a
(29:26):
P three in this season. Yeah, it was a really really bad day
for Mercedes yesterday, certainly contrasting McLaren'sday which P three and four in the
McLaren certainly benefited off of the Maxstep in DNF, but still even not
considering that would have been a greatday for them. But obviously same can't
(29:48):
be said four Mercedes. We've reallytalked about the George Russell incident which led
to his last lap DNF, andwe also saw Lewis Hamilton succumbing to a
a technical issue. I'm not quitesure what that was, but it was
not It was certainly sort of inkeeping with how their weekend was going up
(30:10):
to that point. Lewis Hamilton outbefore Q three for the first time since
two thousand and nine in Austria,and just generally this weekend was really dysfunctional
from Mercedes. This team is certainlysort of in this part in the past
few years, obviously since the twentytwenty one Debracle, they've lost their grip
(30:30):
on the World Championship. But nowwe're seeing total wolf almost weekly coming out
with these quite combative defensive claims.We've seen Lewis Hamilton and George Russell making
these mistakes. Do you think they'reslowly sort of losing a grip on their
collective synergy as a team as wellas the championship? Of course, yeah,
(30:56):
I definitely think after twenty twenty onethe team has definitely been under a
lot of pressure. We expected themto be fighting back stronger than ever after
losing the championship in with Lewis Hamiltontwenty twenty one, but it's difficult to
say that that, you know,it's not difficult to say. I'm saying
that it has been difficult for themafterwards. You know, their consistency it
(31:22):
has been decent, you know,with the consistency regards to their finishing position.
But at the same time, it'snot the results that they've been wanting.
They've been wanting wins and championships,and that's not what's been happening,
you know. Then it's clear tosay that they're a struggling team at the
moment and it's very painful to watch, especially after Yes, there's double DNF.
(31:48):
There's definitely pressure on Total Walf atthe moment with losing Lewis Hamilton,
their star driver, the driver whodelivered them all these championships, apart from
the one with Nico Ross. Butbut yeah, there's definitely this sort of
pressure from multiple sides, you know, there's the performance side, the driver
(32:09):
line upside. Yeah, and Ithink it could be a potential crumbling point
for the team, and I thinkit's essential that they get the grips together
before it's too late and before TotalWolf is under threat from losing his position.
I think on your point there aboutsort of you know, crumbling point,
(32:34):
a flash point. I think thatmaybe a rebuild could be the best
thing for Mercedes. They've been inthe same they've been in the same sort
of groove of winning for so longand now they're not and this is a
it's a you know, it's ashock, of course. And you know,
(32:55):
quite a few of their key piecesof left, for example, just
thinking of James Vowels was a hugelyinfluential part. We have Valtari Botas leaving,
who was consistent, he was strong, he was you know, you
knew that he was going to bringin that pee to every single race,
unlike Sergio Perez. Do you thinkthat maybe a bit of a reset is
(33:19):
important. You've got Lewis Hamilton leaving, but Lewis Hamilton is the one who's
been causing many of the issues forMercedes recently because he's been placing. It's
not been really an external pressure.I think it's been an internal pressure.
George Russell's just happy to be there. Lewis Hamilton has been putting the pressure
on Toto Wolf and on the Mercedesdevelopment team and on the Mercedes car constantly,
(33:42):
you know, describing it as,oh, it feels the worse than
it's ever felt. He's been doingthis since he lost the championship. You
know. I there's there's definitely apattern here of just complaint of which obviously
heightened stress because you want to Youwant your car to perform, You want
your drivers to feel like they're comfortablein the car. I think maybe losing
(34:04):
Lewis Hamilton could be one of themost important things that happens to Mercedes,
but possibly in a good way,because I think they need a reset,
they need maybe a restructuring. Theyneed to bring in a driver who doesn't
who isn't used to the winning waysand is hungry to sort of get that
back, and is because the thingis right, Lewis Hamilton expects it to
(34:27):
be back. He's not hungry toget it back. He wants it now.
But somebody, a driver like AlexAlwan for example, why it suggested
could be coming into the Mercedes seatnext season, they'll be hungry to build
it back up. Do you thinkthat Lewis losing Lewis Hamilton could be a
blessing in disguise? It's difficult tosay, Ben, because with a team
(34:49):
like Mercedes, where they've been soused to winning from pretty much the start,
you know, only a few yearsinto their F one F one career,
they've been they've been winning in andout, you know, championship after
championship. So I think a changecan definitely go one of two ways,
(35:12):
but it would be definitely an extreme. You know. It could either benefit
the team quite a lot with withthe change in internal or it could it
could damage the team. The teamstay at the moment, It's difficult to
say. I'm not quite sure whatwhat would happen, but I think maybe
(35:38):
maybe it would be nice to havea different driver pairing with Georgie Russell and
I'd like to see how that wouldthat would affect the dynamic of the team.
But yeah, I'm not I haven'thaven't given given Mercedes future a big,
big thing, you know, mI'll be honest, Well, I
think whether they're going to do nextis certainly going to be a massive transition.
(36:01):
The last thing I'm want to touchon today is Williams, which who
had a pretty fastical weekend that onecrushing Sergeant taking his place sorry album taking
place. Yeah, despite having madethat mistake amish yes or no, it
was just the right decision, I'mgoing to say no, I think as
(36:28):
much as I like Alex's album,as much as I want him to do
see him to do well, Ihave to be honest and to say it
was his mistake in by crashing andh unless there was some mechanical failure,
it was it was it was onhim, And I think if a driver
(36:52):
is put their car in a positionwhere it can't be fixed, it's very
difficult for them to be able toexpect their teammates move out the way and
driving their car. You know,it seems not selfish, but it just
doesn't seem like Williams reasonable. Yeah, I mean Williams as well. You
(37:12):
think that they be the team whichwould not let that happen. I can
expect that from red Bull or Ferrari, but definitely not Williams, the back
market team who is known for beinglike a sort of a friendlier, more
reasonable team. You know, Iwas pretty shocked with James Vough's decision.
(37:34):
I touched upon his interview when hemade the decision, and it just didn't
it just didn't feel like a like, it didn't feel real, I'll be
honest. I mean, neither AlexAlbum and Logan Sargent have scored points this
season. I mean, I knowit's the beginning and there's still opportunities to
do so, but I think thatmakes it even more reasonable for log Consargent
(38:00):
to race instead of alex Aban,you know, I think you need to
be giving both drivers equal opportunity inthis point in the season. If it
was the end or if it wasa championship decider, definitely put another driver
in, but not definitely, butI think it's more reasonable in that case.
But I think in this case,I'm pretty shocked by the team decision
(38:22):
of Williams that you know, Idon't know. It's a bad note for
us to go out on, butthat is how we go out. Thank
you for listening to F one Isn'tReal? Join us next week where we
query query, excuse me, whatis more likely and also have a brief
preview of the Japanese twenty twenty fourGrand Prix. Thank you so much for
(38:42):
joining me. As always,
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