April 22, 2024 • 39 mins
In this weekend's episode of F1 Isn't Real, the last before a lengthy hiatus, prompted by the looming threat of exams, Amesh and I break down the big points of contention from this weekend, nay, the sport of F1, nay, The World (?) We also break down this weekend's long-anticipated Chinese GP, and the stoic success of Lando Norris - why I called, BY THE WAY.
From sprint race squabbling to appalling predictions, we've got you covered on this Eidelweiss episode of F1 Isn't Real.
Instagram - f1
From sprint race squabbling to appalling predictions, we've got you covered on this Eidelweiss episode of F1 Isn't Real.
Instagram - f1
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Transcript
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
break checks specialist Ben Wevell, andtoday Amish and I are going to break
down the twenty twenty four Chinese GrandPrix, the first sprint weekend of the
season, and it was a prettyriveting selection and weekend action. Hi doing
(00:38):
bro, Yeah, I'm good,Thank you, Yeah, I liked.
I'm happy to say that this weekendwas a great success in terms of entertainment
for fans. It was action impact, great sprint as well, and a
great result for my own team.McLaren. Yeah, McLaren, I mean
(00:59):
that's where I was going to start, really, that's where I was going
to start off. I was gonnastart off with our predictions and that we
made last time out in the GrandPrix. M McLaren being at the center
certainly of my predictions. And solet's start with sort of looking at your
your suggestion, am As you saidRebel one two. Uh, it was
(01:22):
a double Rebel podium, as yoususpected, but it was my call for
a Lando podium that came true.He got the sprint pole, of course,
going wide on the first lap,scovering his race, which I'm sure
disappointed yourself, but he managed tohold off Checko for p two, keeping
him at about a five second gapfor the whole of the latter half of
(01:46):
the race. And tell me wheredid Lando's pace come from? He was
just on the ball all weekend.Yeah, I mean, it's brilliant seeing
Lando this high up this early onin the season. I'm glad that we
don't have to wait halfway through theyear to see his successes come through.
(02:07):
I'm not sure where they've come from. In particular, I think I feel
that McLaren have sold just nailed,nailed the car, the car set up
this weekend and their car in generalis quite strong. Unfortunately, the setup
success couldn't reciprocate with Oscar Piastre.I feel like despite damage, he still
(02:28):
did have a few problems with thecar. But for Landon Norris, they
definitely got it right and the teamhave definitely done a good job over over
the winter break to deliver and producea good car for the early parts of
the season. Was it perhaps someearly upgrades that maybe played to McLaren's benefit
(02:50):
this weekend, Because you know you'resaying that sort of one of the one
of the first two week breaks ofthe season may have given McLaren some time
to make some changes and justing acar that can at least hold a Red
Bull with its pace, I meanthat's pretty impressive. Do you think upgrades
have probably happened then, maybe onthe inside of the car. I'm not
(03:13):
sure whether anything has been announced.I remember on the last episode of the
part we were looking at some upgradesand I think we looked at haf and
Afton Martin, who were the twoteams bringing upgrades. But as the Chinese
Grand Prix, I don't think McLarendid bring any upgrades through, which,
if anything, is sort of agood thing because they managed to get a
podium by having the same car aslast weekend, just a different setup on
(03:37):
a different track. And what Ido know is that for the Miami Grand
Prix McClaren will be bringing upgrades toLandon Norris's car. What do you think
that'll do? Do you think that'sgoing to put him in the fight again?
I think what that would do isit would just sort of lock in
(03:57):
a sort of a good result.It will be more secure. If anything,
we don't I don't think it's readyto bring London up to the win.
Yet just because Red bulls in acompletely different league still and at the
rate things are going, you can'tassume you can. You have to be
reasonable when you assume what the upgradescan do. You can't necessarily say that
(04:23):
these upgrades will be magical and willget him the win unless, like something
crazy happens in the front. ButI think that any upgrades are good.
Upgrades is a good thing for theteam. Is it just Lando taking the
upgrades in Miami or as Oscar aswell? I think I think it's both
(04:44):
both Lando and Oscar. McLaren havepublished the first major, first major package
in Miami for both cars. Ithink do you think it's as a response
to the Red Bull? Do youthink the car needs do you think every
car sort of needs to develop inline with this Red Bull? Or do
(05:06):
you think have they gone in asort of different direction and trying to take
a different spin at these regulations andhopefully land in a similar spot to the
cars who are currently dominating the fieldweek in week out. Well, I
mean, I think what the mostsuccessful strategy is is consistent progress. Zach
(05:28):
Brown said on Drive to Survive,the car that wins the first race of
the season. If that doesn't change, it will come last in the last
race of the season, which justgoes to show how important that bids are.
And I think going forward into theMiami Grand Prix, with McLaren bringing
in these upgrades, it's definitely agood thing and I think it's definitely a
(05:50):
strong, strong point to look forwardto for the team. You were talking
earlier about Aston Martin having brought upgradesinto China. I don't know if you
remember back to last weekend, butI think it was for the United States
Grand Prix, I want to say, where they brought in upgrades to their
car and it just ruined all ofthe progress that they had managed to build
(06:13):
up over the first half of theseason, and really from that point in
the season it started to go downhill. This weekend started out seeming to be
more of the same in that inthat situation we saw Lance stroll completely off
it, off the pace the wholeweekend. I don't think he had he
(06:33):
spent a single second in the topten, perhaps apart from during pitstop time
and Fernando Alonso I believe it wasa mechanical DNF in the sprint. I
think I'm not sure what the sprintsprint. I think it was a mechanical
(06:55):
DNF and so essentially what we sawwas a Martin not particularly on the right
track this weekend. But then youknow Fernando Alonso obviously he can't hold onto
his P three from qualifying, buthe manages to hold onto P five,
But it was it was really thestrategy that meant that he was unable to
(07:16):
sort of maintain that position. Doyou think that there's a warrior a concern
in Aston Martin where even though they'resort of bringing these upgrades that might put
them ahead of some of the othermidfield teams, they could really shoot themselves
in the foot in certain circumstances andjust leave Fernando Alonso with sort of a
(07:40):
lack of faith, even though he'sjust been locked in for a new contract.
I think that's what they're starting todo already. I mean, there's
a lot of pressure on the teamalready, and I think they've sort of
found a bit of confidence by resigningAlonso. I think from a team perspective,
there were they might have been abit worried to lose their number one
(08:03):
driver in terms of what in termsof their future, what their future holds.
I didn't necessarily know what that willbe. I think Aston Martin definitely
needs to get their priorities right interms of having consistency with their car and
(08:24):
upgrades. It feels like that they'redoing better this season than last in terms
of the beginning, which is sortof improvement, which is what we like
to see, But there's still thatsort of lack of performance in other areas
of the team, where you cansort of tell by watching races and looking
(08:46):
through the paddock that there is alack of organization in certain departments. But
me, I think pressure games onfor Aston Martin in the future. Do
you think they might have taken theirfoot off the gas a bit knowing that
Fernando Alonzo is sort of locked infor such a long time, there's less
of an impetus for them to makeI guess, big decisions because they know
(09:09):
that he's the long term plan andmaybe they can dive maybe. Do you
think they're going to divert some investmentaway from this year, perhaps into later
years, in order to maximize theirchances of success because they know that they're
going to have a successful driver intheir midst for such a long time.
Well, I'm sure there's always incentivesto do well, and I wouldn't say
(09:33):
that there's a sort of slack AndI think if there was to be like
what you said for investments, Iwouldn't say it would be at this stage
age of the year unless it's goingto be for the whole year completely.
So we saw that with I sawthat with Hassen twenty twenty one with make
(09:54):
Sumaka and Nikitham as a pin,and that was sort of a throwaway year,
if you'd like to call like that. And I don't think Aston Martin
is necessarily in the position to dothat. They're not a back market team.
They're still sort of fighting in themidfield field. They were running in
the podium at the beginning of therace weekend, so I mean, they
(10:16):
don't really have much to win ormuch to lose at this point. But
I don't think it's that the teamis at the point where they need to
sort of take their foot off thepedals, like like what you like to
call it. If you were tomake a decision right now, or to
(10:37):
have to make a decision about LanceStroll, what would that decision be,
Because as I mentioned earlier, Ibelieve it was fifteenth in quality. I
think it was seventeenth in sprint quality. I think it was thirteenth in the
sprint race, and I think itwas fifteenth in the race proper. Is
(11:00):
a concern around Lance Stroll within theteam at the moment. Do they need
to make a change and if so, where would that be? I mean,
hypothetically speaking, I feel for thegreatest good of Aston Martin, a
change is necessary for their second seat. I think Lancetroll isn't performing as much
(11:24):
as the team would want him tobe. But regardless of politics, I
think that's that's how, that's how, That's what my view is. But
in terms of what can actually happen, including in spite of everything that's going
on, in spite of who whotheir head, who their principle is,
and who the owner of the ofthe team is, I don't think anything
(11:46):
is going to happen for a longtime unless Aston Martin completely goes under new
management and new ownership because of whatwe all know with Lanceroll Lawrence Stroll.
But I think for the greater goodto Aston Martin, a change is required,
not just in the car but inthe driver lineup as well. What
(12:09):
do you think it would take themto get Felipe Edrogovic in that second Aston
Martency, I feel I think,like I said, a change in the
management or a lot of money,and so you don't think that it's something
that Lance Stroll himself could do.Do you think he is exempt from being
(12:31):
displaced from my seat? Well?I mean I think because of his poor
performances in recent years, people havebeen expecting him to be replaced, yet
he hasn't and everyone is saying thatbecause of his relationship with the team.
So I feel that he's sort ofhe sort of is exempt of not losing
(12:54):
a seat. I think he issort of locked in because of his status
in the team, which which issort of limiting for other drivers who definitely
couldn't be showing potential, like Drugovic. Like you said, so I think
it's going to take a lot.I don't know whether it's money or politics,
(13:15):
but it will take a lot,a lot more than it would be
for other drivers in other teams.Let's shift the conversation now onto back onto
the race and onto Ferrari and backonto our race predictions. We both thought
that Ferrari were on for a podiumwith Carlos Science, the resurgent Carlos Science
coming back from his appendix surgery,but that wasn't really how it ended out.
(13:39):
How it ended up being for theScudareer. I thought that Leclair's strategy
could fail on him, but Ferrariwere pretty decent tactically this weekend. Where
do you think they're going to lookto improve now to possibly bridge the gap
that Lando Norris seems to have createdor is this just a fluke occurrence of
(14:03):
McLaren being superior to Ferrari and willit probably go back to normal in the
race weekends to come. I mean, in terms of Ferrari's performance this weekend,
I feel that the car is whatthey like the most. I don't
know whether it's set up or thegeneral performance of the Frari car, but
(14:24):
what I did notice while watching therace was that Charlotte Clair was definitely was
in in good, good form duringthe race. He was pumping in fast
lap times and he was cutting thegap between cars ahead, which is what
the team wanted him to wanted tosee from him. I think he definitely
(14:46):
outperformed the car for this weekend,and I think that their biggest floor for
the Chinese run Prix would definitely betheir performance, not their strategy, but
their set up. As for Carlos, I feel he was quite quiet this
weekend. There's a lot of expectationson him because every race he's driven in
(15:09):
this year he's finished top four,I think, which is very good for
him, very consistent, and Ithink maybe the combination of the car and
the track Carlos has just been letdown. I don't think Carlos has I
don't think it's been a bad weekendfor him. They're still five in the
(15:31):
Yeah, yeah, still great,Still be four and P five not bad,
but there's still work to be done. Yeah, for sure. I
think I think the Ferrari car maybedoes have some limits. Clearly, I
think we assumed going into this raceweekend that Ferrari will be far ahead.
(15:54):
They will probably being just about NoMan's Land, with Aston, Martin and
McLaren in that midfield pack, Ferrariin No Man's Land and red Bull right
up at the front. But whatwe saw this weekend was a little bit
of blood and I think that wasespecially characterized by the tantalizing battle in the
(16:15):
sprint race, where we saw Alonzo, we saw science we saw Leclaire,
we saw Perez going at it inthis short form, this short form sort
of conflict that the drivers undertake onthe Saturday. Do you think that this
weekend sprint race has given credence toclaim that sprint race weekends are the preferable
(16:41):
method of a race weekend in themodern age of Formula One. I think
it's an interesting question, this one, because I feel a lot of people,
especially newer fans, like the ideaof a sprint race because it gives
you more racing opportunity, more moreaction, and just more more F one
(17:07):
in general. You know, Ithink it's a it's a I can see
the opportunity, the potential, andit is a good idea. At the
same time, when we're talking aboutF one being a traditional sport, traditional
multi sport, that it's got itsit's got it, it's got its culture.
You know, I think it feelsnot unnatural, but it feels a
(17:30):
bit off to have two races inone weekend. And I think in terms
of it takes it takes the wholeidea away of a Grand Prix. You
know, I think the race shouldbe on a Sunday, that should be
the final thing and the only sortof way to earn points in in the
weekend. And also people do saythat I that sprint races give a preview
(17:56):
of what of the race to comethe next day, which I think is
not necessarily a good thing because itsort of not spoils it, but it's
sort of sort of gives you anidea, which which cannot necessarily be good
all the time, because you dowant to be going into the Sunday watching
(18:18):
the race and not knowing who's goingto be where. I think I agree
with you. As a traditional Formulaone fan, I would much rather see
the build up that we have inplace, and that we've had in place
for a very long time. Butwe've seen it with other sports in recent
years. For example, MLB MajorLeague Baseball, we've seen them ban the
(18:42):
shift, which means that hits aremore likely, which means that you have
a higher on base percentage In thesame vein you have NCAA college football where
they've expanded the playoffs after years ofcriticism for them being to elitists. And
(19:02):
again, these traditional methods of sportsare just falling away. They're falling by
the wayside from as a result ofthe demands of the public who want to
see more drama and want to seemore excitement. So maybe even though as
traditional F one fans we would preferthat it's stayed the same, maybe sometimes
development is necessary to I guess whatthe appetite of newer fans. Do you
(19:25):
think that do you want new fans? Do you want new fans to become
invested in the sport. We've talkedabout this conversation before, but especially in
twenty twenty four with the sport inthe situation that it is where we have
a race winner who is exactly thesame week in, week out, do
you think that it's important to havethese moments of excitement. Yeah, I
(19:48):
think, first answering your first question, it's definitely important to bring in new
fans, regardless of the state ofthe sport. I think whenever I meet
new people, I always tell themabout how I'm an F one fan,
and if they if they aren't toofamiliar with it, I'm always trying to
sort of advertise the sport to them. I think it's definitely it's definitely great
(20:15):
for new people to come in tothe sport, and I think the only
issue with that is that if toomany people come too quickly. The idea
of F one sort of changes fornew fans because of fame or money,
(20:37):
like we see with the sort ofadvertising and a lot of people having controversial
views on drive to survive. I'mnot too bothered about that myself. I
think the more the merrier in Fone. And then for your second question
about having match stack and winning allthe time, I think that sort of
does drive people away. I've metpeople who have unfortunately stopped watching F one
(21:03):
after the twenty twenty two season becausethey couldn't be able to watch Max win
week in week out. But Ithink the true fans, or the fans
who show the most commitment, arealways going to be devoted to the sport
regardless of who is winning, becausethe true fans can always see, can
(21:26):
always find excitement in other areas ofthe sport, not just at the front.
That's what it's all about. There'sa reason why there's twenty cars on
the grid, and there's a reasonwhy you can score points from the top
ten because it makes that It givesthe incentive to work harder and to be
more competitive lower down the field.And that brings me onto a question for
(21:49):
you Ben Actually I overheard or notoverhead. I heard on the commentary Nico
Rosberg and David Croft talking about ameeting, a potential meeting for the teams
discussing whether points should be going downto p. Twelve. What are your
opinions on that, Ben Well?I tend to take the view that Nico
(22:14):
Rosberg shared in his way that hedoes that by increasing the number of drivers
who are allowed or who are whoattain points each race, it devalues the
points themselves, and it means thatteams now no longer have to work as
hard because in an average race weekendwe could have say what to retirements and
(22:40):
so that that means that almost theentire field is given points. And I
think there's certainly an argument to bemade that some teams don't know what they're
fighting for, but then so manyteams will be achieving points that there's no
more excitement in them. Example,Nico Holkenberg with Hass this weekend one point
(23:04):
p. Ten. But the mechanicswere going were well, the mechanics were
far more excited than I'm sure theRed Bull with the Red Bull mechanics were
for that P. Ten. Ifeel like you need that rarity in order
to increase the in order to keepthe teams committed, in order to keep
(23:27):
the viewers hooked, because they don'twant to see every single team get a
point, because if they see everysingle team get a point, then points
don't matter anymore. They're just it'sjust a free for all. If I
was to do anything, frankly,I would probably take it back to when
it was points for the top six, because it's just you so rarely see
(23:48):
it, and then that makes itmore exciting, and then the battles are
so much more interesting because you knowthat these teams are going to be fighting
for something that they may not see, they may not see too many times.
But obviously in modern F one everything'sa little bit a bit more bunched
up. So you're going to haveyou're going to have Mercedes, McLaren,
(24:12):
Ferrari, and Red Bull. They'regoing to make out the top eight.
So those nine and ten are goingto be difficult to decide again, to
decide whether or to debate with.And so I think it does increase the
rarity of it. I think itdoes make the sport more interesting. I
think it does keep the teams moreinterested in their sport and more invested and
(24:33):
more passionate. But yeah, atthe end of the day, I mean,
I guess it does get the youknow, it gets the fans more
behind their teams, because then there'smore of a likelihood that their team will
score points in each one Prix,and then that may make them more invested
in their team. I think there'scertainly arguments to be made either way,
(24:56):
but I would keep it as itis for now. What do you think,
Amish, Yeah, I mean,I definitely agree with you on that
point. I think it does makeit more competitive if points start from top
ten, it gives teams an incentiveto work a harder and it gives points
more value. I think, rightthe current state of the point system is
(25:22):
a good balance because I think itwas pre twenty ten when the points system
was different. Points were more rare, they were rare to get, and
they were harder to get, andI think that the difficulty was sort of
too high back then, and Ithink now is sort of a perfect level.
(25:45):
I don't think it needs any change. I think I would rather as
a as a fan, I wouldrather see the addition of a new team
rather than rather than a different pointssystem them because I think having more drivers
and more cars just makes it moreinteresting compared to points. I think there's
(26:08):
more opportunity in adding two more carsand a new team two championships than there
is changing the points system. Isit important to you as an F one
fan that F one grows as abusiness, because I think the entire reason,
in the entire incentive for the switchthe initial switch from six to ten
(26:30):
drivers receiving points was as the argumentis being made now, then it makes
it more exciting, It gives teamsmore to be invested in, and it
makes the fans feel like they're supportinga team that has the potential to score
points each weekend. So, asa fan, does it actually matter to
(26:53):
you that this is a purely businessdecision? Well, I think as a
fan it's important that if one makesenough money to sustain ability reasons. I
think if if one doesn't make enoughmoney, then there's a problem. But
(27:15):
that's never going to happen. That'snot that's not a possibility. In my
eyes. I think F one willalways get a steady amount of income.
Something jurassic has to happen for Fone to have to stop because of financial
issues. Maybe teams themselves might experiencefinancial issues, which we have seen in
(27:38):
the past, for example McLaren.But I think as a corporation, F
one will never sort of go downthat sort of that go down that path.
I think the other problem, whichis probably more common, is if
F one gets too big. Ithink we're sort of starting to see it
(27:59):
at the moment with the introduction ofmultiple races in the United States. I
think it's great to have more racingand expanding F one in America and North
America, but I think there areother opportunities F one can be taking,
and I think what the opportunist isthat they are taking a sort of centered
(28:22):
around fame and money. So forlike the Las Vegas Run Free. As
much as it's great to be seeingthat, I feel that we could be
going to other countries and other continentssuch as South Africa, like we've spoken
about previous in previous episodes. ButI think the way things are going,
I think it's okay. I'm nottoo bothered about it, but I would
(28:47):
like to see some yeah, sustainablechange, that's what we would like to
see. There's actually a question thatI was going to ask you on earlier
about real fans. That was aconcept that you had floated earlier in the
episode. And I think that it'sdifficult because in order to be a real
(29:08):
fan, you need to be somewhatconditioned into the truth of what Formula one
is, which is not the twentytwenty one season. That is not what
Formula one is. That is aremarkable and abnormal miracle of easy that will
not happen again for a while untilthese new regulations kick in and we get
(29:33):
more drama than ever before because there'sgoing to be so many teams bunched up
close together, and then teams willeventually work out and it will go back
to how it was. People needto have lived through or to at least
understand the Schumacher, the Vettel,the Hamilton Eras, and that's I think
what the issue is with the modernFormula one fan is that there's a lack
(29:56):
of understanding of those periods of timein which you have so many drivers,
so sorry, so many race winstaken by a single driver, so much
dominance, and that's what the sportof Formula one is. And so I
think that frankly, in terms ofthe development or the trajectory of Formula one
(30:18):
as a sport. Max the Stappen'sdominance might actually be doing more more good
than bad for Formula One fans ingeneral, because, as you say,
it's sifting out those who don't reallycare about the sport. I only really
care about the drama from the fanswho truly understand the beauty of it and
(30:41):
can take appreciation of the more minusculeaspects and the more the minutia of Formula
One. Amus, Do you thinkthat in order to be a true fan
you need to withstand these experiences?Yeah, definitely. I think for me,
(31:03):
part of being a true fan isis finding enjoyment in moments where others
wouldn't. So that's one thing Imean for me, you can always You're
not always going to get an extremelyexciting race weekend in and weekend out.
And I think that if you canwake up in the morning a am to
(31:30):
watch the Chinese grown free, andif it was a bad race, but
you still finish finished the race watchingthe podium with the smile on your face
because maybe your team did well,maybe they didn't. Maybe maybe that's that's
what that's part of it, andI think that's important because it shows you
I really appreciate that. Yeah,the idea of a race happening. And
(31:52):
then the second part is I think, oh sorry, Ben, what was
that? No? No, policecontinue? Oh sorry. A second very
important part is understanding what's happened inthe past, because, like you said,
F one is defined by the twentytwenty one season. I think it's
(32:15):
defined by all of its past andits current state. There are so many
different eras, and that's what makeseveryone so beautiful because of how it's changing
for the better, which doesn't takeaway how good it was in the past.
It's Formula one a bad sport forconsumers. No, I don't think
(32:40):
so. I think for one forone's great for everyone, definitely, it's
it's it's not for everyone in theway that some people just are impatient,
and I think it's difficult to getthem into a position where they'll be willing
(33:02):
to sit down and watch a wholerace. I think some people were just
born with a passion for watching Fone, but you can sort of develop
it over time. And I thinkthat's what I love about F one is
that for me, I didn't expectto to love it so quickly. I've
(33:22):
always been interested in speed and cars, but when as soon as I started
watching F one, I sort ofI sort of found such a strong passion
for it so quickly, and Ithink for everyone there is there is something
in F one out there, maybemore more for some than others, but
there's definitely something. Yeah, definitely. I think the way I came into
(33:47):
it was just through being a yearfor student with you know, my mum's
tablet and like looking up charl Leclair, like junior Formula highlights on YouTube.
You know, it's it comes toyou or it doesn't. I think it's
(34:09):
it's just a concept that is.It's difficult in order. It's difficult to
stay loyal as a Formula One fanssometimes because you know, you sometimes can
predict the outcome before the race evenhappens, or you just go into it
thinking, oh, you know this, you know this, this is how
it's going to be all over again. But then you get those moments like
(34:29):
the twenty twenty one season, whichis just that's the payoff for waiting,
and we will get a moment likethat again, not soon, but we
will, And that's the beauty ofit. We know that one one day
as you say, we're gonna wakeup, We're going to watch the race,
and it's going to be the bestrace we've ever seen in our lives.
And we're going to be telling ourkids about that because it will be
like, you know, a culturalfilm on right that those are the things
(34:52):
that we live for as Formula onefans, and through that, as you
say, we you know, siftthrough the bad times when we find the
good from the bad in order tokeep up that the adoration of the sport
which we still love. Am Ispeaking of the sport as a whole.
(35:14):
I'm off on my exam soon enough, so I won't be doing this podcast
again for quite some time until June. But I thought, just before we
leave, let's look forward to Miami. What is your podium looking like for
Miami a couple of weeks time.I'm not going to be around to review
it. We'll come back in June. What are you thinking? I'm going
(35:38):
to say a red Bull one too, and charlottelair podium Okay, Charlotte clat
oversims, Yeah, yeah, fairenough. I think hmm, I'm thinking
(35:59):
that I would want to bet ona I'm just trying my best not to
bet on a red Bull one too. It's worked, It's worked one time.
Can I make it a double?Can I make it to it in
a row where it works? I'mgoing to say Sojio Perez, I'm going
(36:22):
to say, how about Checko winsit? Max Fustappen bad quality and it's
third, Carlos signs second and SogioPerez wins the pseudo street race type thing
that is Miami. Yeah. Boldprediction, Yeah, indeed, Yeah,
(36:49):
have you got a bold prediction forme? I'm going to go somewhere down
the midfield, actually the end ofthe grid for the points I'm gonna I'm
gonna go with Williams double points.Wow, that's big. That If not
(37:17):
that, it's Williams points with AlexAlboin with his album at least okay,
well that's Alex album. Yes,and that's it, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for listening to them.Yeah, it feels bad to be walking
away from this, which I soenjoy am sitting here with you and talking
(37:39):
about F one for forty minutes aweek. But unfortunately that's the nature of
things. And as I alluded toearlier, it's the last episode in a
while. But we will be backin the summer. We will be back
bigger than ever and better than ever. For sure, we're going to refine
(37:59):
our c we're gonna go back tothe drawing board. We're gonna make changes,
and we're going to make a masterpiece. So stick around and wait,
wait in hiding, ladies and gentlemen, for the return, the glorious,
the grand return of F one isn'treal in the summer. I'm excited for
(38:20):
it. I'm already missing this andmuch. To be honest with you,
thank you for talking as always,and yes, thank you for being a
part of this. I mean,it feels like it's the end, but
it's not the end. It's asmall break. And thank you very much.
How much, thank you, Ben. Thanks
Hello, and welcome back to Fone Isn't Real? I am your host
break checks specialist Ben Wevell, andtoday Amish and I are going to break
down the twenty twenty four Chinese GrandPrix, the first sprint weekend of the
season, and it was a prettyriveting selection and weekend action. Hi doing
(00:38):
bro, Yeah, I'm good,Thank you, Yeah, I liked.
I'm happy to say that this weekendwas a great success in terms of entertainment
for fans. It was action impact, great sprint as well, and a
great result for my own team.McLaren. Yeah, McLaren, I mean
(00:59):
that's where I was going to start, really, that's where I was going
to start off. I was gonnastart off with our predictions and that we
made last time out in the GrandPrix. M McLaren being at the center
certainly of my predictions. And solet's start with sort of looking at your
your suggestion, am As you saidRebel one two. Uh, it was
(01:22):
a double Rebel podium, as yoususpected, but it was my call for
a Lando podium that came true.He got the sprint pole, of course,
going wide on the first lap,scovering his race, which I'm sure
disappointed yourself, but he managed tohold off Checko for p two, keeping
him at about a five second gapfor the whole of the latter half of
(01:46):
the race. And tell me wheredid Lando's pace come from? He was
just on the ball all weekend.Yeah, I mean, it's brilliant seeing
Lando this high up this early onin the season. I'm glad that we
don't have to wait halfway through theyear to see his successes come through.
(02:07):
I'm not sure where they've come from. In particular, I think I feel
that McLaren have sold just nailed,nailed the car, the car set up
this weekend and their car in generalis quite strong. Unfortunately, the setup
success couldn't reciprocate with Oscar Piastre.I feel like despite damage, he still
(02:28):
did have a few problems with thecar. But for Landon Norris, they
definitely got it right and the teamhave definitely done a good job over over
the winter break to deliver and producea good car for the early parts of
the season. Was it perhaps someearly upgrades that maybe played to McLaren's benefit
(02:50):
this weekend, Because you know you'resaying that sort of one of the one
of the first two week breaks ofthe season may have given McLaren some time
to make some changes and justing acar that can at least hold a Red
Bull with its pace, I meanthat's pretty impressive. Do you think upgrades
have probably happened then, maybe onthe inside of the car. I'm not
(03:13):
sure whether anything has been announced.I remember on the last episode of the
part we were looking at some upgradesand I think we looked at haf and
Afton Martin, who were the twoteams bringing upgrades. But as the Chinese
Grand Prix, I don't think McLarendid bring any upgrades through, which,
if anything, is sort of agood thing because they managed to get a
podium by having the same car aslast weekend, just a different setup on
(03:37):
a different track. And what Ido know is that for the Miami Grand
Prix McClaren will be bringing upgrades toLandon Norris's car. What do you think
that'll do? Do you think that'sgoing to put him in the fight again?
I think what that would do isit would just sort of lock in
(03:57):
a sort of a good result.It will be more secure. If anything,
we don't I don't think it's readyto bring London up to the win.
Yet just because Red bulls in acompletely different league still and at the
rate things are going, you can'tassume you can. You have to be
reasonable when you assume what the upgradescan do. You can't necessarily say that
(04:23):
these upgrades will be magical and willget him the win unless, like something
crazy happens in the front. ButI think that any upgrades are good.
Upgrades is a good thing for theteam. Is it just Lando taking the
upgrades in Miami or as Oscar aswell? I think I think it's both
(04:44):
both Lando and Oscar. McLaren havepublished the first major, first major package
in Miami for both cars. Ithink do you think it's as a response
to the Red Bull? Do youthink the car needs do you think every
car sort of needs to develop inline with this Red Bull? Or do
(05:06):
you think have they gone in asort of different direction and trying to take
a different spin at these regulations andhopefully land in a similar spot to the
cars who are currently dominating the fieldweek in week out. Well, I
mean, I think what the mostsuccessful strategy is is consistent progress. Zach
(05:28):
Brown said on Drive to Survive,the car that wins the first race of
the season. If that doesn't change, it will come last in the last
race of the season, which justgoes to show how important that bids are.
And I think going forward into theMiami Grand Prix, with McLaren bringing
in these upgrades, it's definitely agood thing and I think it's definitely a
(05:50):
strong, strong point to look forwardto for the team. You were talking
earlier about Aston Martin having brought upgradesinto China. I don't know if you
remember back to last weekend, butI think it was for the United States
Grand Prix, I want to say, where they brought in upgrades to their
car and it just ruined all ofthe progress that they had managed to build
(06:13):
up over the first half of theseason, and really from that point in
the season it started to go downhill. This weekend started out seeming to be
more of the same in that inthat situation we saw Lance stroll completely off
it, off the pace the wholeweekend. I don't think he had he
(06:33):
spent a single second in the topten, perhaps apart from during pitstop time
and Fernando Alonso I believe it wasa mechanical DNF in the sprint. I
think I'm not sure what the sprintsprint. I think it was a mechanical
(06:55):
DNF and so essentially what we sawwas a Martin not particularly on the right
track this weekend. But then youknow Fernando Alonso obviously he can't hold onto
his P three from qualifying, buthe manages to hold onto P five,
But it was it was really thestrategy that meant that he was unable to
(07:16):
sort of maintain that position. Doyou think that there's a warrior a concern
in Aston Martin where even though they'resort of bringing these upgrades that might put
them ahead of some of the othermidfield teams, they could really shoot themselves
in the foot in certain circumstances andjust leave Fernando Alonso with sort of a
(07:40):
lack of faith, even though he'sjust been locked in for a new contract.
I think that's what they're starting todo already. I mean, there's
a lot of pressure on the teamalready, and I think they've sort of
found a bit of confidence by resigningAlonso. I think from a team perspective,
there were they might have been abit worried to lose their number one
(08:03):
driver in terms of what in termsof their future, what their future holds.
I didn't necessarily know what that willbe. I think Aston Martin definitely
needs to get their priorities right interms of having consistency with their car and
(08:24):
upgrades. It feels like that they'redoing better this season than last in terms
of the beginning, which is sortof improvement, which is what we like
to see, But there's still thatsort of lack of performance in other areas
of the team, where you cansort of tell by watching races and looking
(08:46):
through the paddock that there is alack of organization in certain departments. But
me, I think pressure games onfor Aston Martin in the future. Do
you think they might have taken theirfoot off the gas a bit knowing that
Fernando Alonzo is sort of locked infor such a long time, there's less
of an impetus for them to makeI guess, big decisions because they know
(09:09):
that he's the long term plan andmaybe they can dive maybe. Do you
think they're going to divert some investmentaway from this year, perhaps into later
years, in order to maximize theirchances of success because they know that they're
going to have a successful driver intheir midst for such a long time.
Well, I'm sure there's always incentivesto do well, and I wouldn't say
(09:33):
that there's a sort of slack AndI think if there was to be like
what you said for investments, Iwouldn't say it would be at this stage
age of the year unless it's goingto be for the whole year completely.
So we saw that with I sawthat with Hassen twenty twenty one with make
(09:54):
Sumaka and Nikitham as a pin,and that was sort of a throwaway year,
if you'd like to call like that. And I don't think Aston Martin
is necessarily in the position to dothat. They're not a back market team.
They're still sort of fighting in themidfield field. They were running in
the podium at the beginning of therace weekend, so I mean, they
(10:16):
don't really have much to win ormuch to lose at this point. But
I don't think it's that the teamis at the point where they need to
sort of take their foot off thepedals, like like what you like to
call it. If you were tomake a decision right now, or to
(10:37):
have to make a decision about LanceStroll, what would that decision be,
Because as I mentioned earlier, Ibelieve it was fifteenth in quality. I
think it was seventeenth in sprint quality. I think it was thirteenth in the
sprint race, and I think itwas fifteenth in the race proper. Is
(11:00):
a concern around Lance Stroll within theteam at the moment. Do they need
to make a change and if so, where would that be? I mean,
hypothetically speaking, I feel for thegreatest good of Aston Martin, a
change is necessary for their second seat. I think Lancetroll isn't performing as much
(11:24):
as the team would want him tobe. But regardless of politics, I
think that's that's how, that's how, That's what my view is. But
in terms of what can actually happen, including in spite of everything that's going
on, in spite of who whotheir head, who their principle is,
and who the owner of the ofthe team is, I don't think anything
(11:46):
is going to happen for a longtime unless Aston Martin completely goes under new
management and new ownership because of whatwe all know with Lanceroll Lawrence Stroll.
But I think for the greater goodto Aston Martin, a change is required,
not just in the car but inthe driver lineup as well. What
(12:09):
do you think it would take themto get Felipe Edrogovic in that second Aston
Martency, I feel I think,like I said, a change in the
management or a lot of money,and so you don't think that it's something
that Lance Stroll himself could do.Do you think he is exempt from being
(12:31):
displaced from my seat? Well?I mean I think because of his poor
performances in recent years, people havebeen expecting him to be replaced, yet
he hasn't and everyone is saying thatbecause of his relationship with the team.
So I feel that he's sort ofhe sort of is exempt of not losing
(12:54):
a seat. I think he issort of locked in because of his status
in the team, which which issort of limiting for other drivers who definitely
couldn't be showing potential, like Drugovic. Like you said, so I think
it's going to take a lot.I don't know whether it's money or politics,
(13:15):
but it will take a lot,a lot more than it would be
for other drivers in other teams.Let's shift the conversation now onto back onto
the race and onto Ferrari and backonto our race predictions. We both thought
that Ferrari were on for a podiumwith Carlos Science, the resurgent Carlos Science
coming back from his appendix surgery,but that wasn't really how it ended out.
(13:39):
How it ended up being for theScudareer. I thought that Leclair's strategy
could fail on him, but Ferrariwere pretty decent tactically this weekend. Where
do you think they're going to lookto improve now to possibly bridge the gap
that Lando Norris seems to have createdor is this just a fluke occurrence of
(14:03):
McLaren being superior to Ferrari and willit probably go back to normal in the
race weekends to come. I mean, in terms of Ferrari's performance this weekend,
I feel that the car is whatthey like the most. I don't
know whether it's set up or thegeneral performance of the Frari car, but
(14:24):
what I did notice while watching therace was that Charlotte Clair was definitely was
in in good, good form duringthe race. He was pumping in fast
lap times and he was cutting thegap between cars ahead, which is what
the team wanted him to wanted tosee from him. I think he definitely
(14:46):
outperformed the car for this weekend,and I think that their biggest floor for
the Chinese run Prix would definitely betheir performance, not their strategy, but
their set up. As for Carlos, I feel he was quite quiet this
weekend. There's a lot of expectationson him because every race he's driven in
(15:09):
this year he's finished top four,I think, which is very good for
him, very consistent, and Ithink maybe the combination of the car and
the track Carlos has just been letdown. I don't think Carlos has I
don't think it's been a bad weekendfor him. They're still five in the
(15:31):
Yeah, yeah, still great,Still be four and P five not bad,
but there's still work to be done. Yeah, for sure. I
think I think the Ferrari car maybedoes have some limits. Clearly, I
think we assumed going into this raceweekend that Ferrari will be far ahead.
(15:54):
They will probably being just about NoMan's Land, with Aston, Martin and
McLaren in that midfield pack, Ferrariin No Man's Land and red Bull right
up at the front. But whatwe saw this weekend was a little bit
of blood and I think that wasespecially characterized by the tantalizing battle in the
(16:15):
sprint race, where we saw Alonzo, we saw science we saw Leclaire,
we saw Perez going at it inthis short form, this short form sort
of conflict that the drivers undertake onthe Saturday. Do you think that this
weekend sprint race has given credence toclaim that sprint race weekends are the preferable
(16:41):
method of a race weekend in themodern age of Formula One. I think
it's an interesting question, this one, because I feel a lot of people,
especially newer fans, like the ideaof a sprint race because it gives
you more racing opportunity, more moreaction, and just more more F one
(17:07):
in general. You know, Ithink it's a it's a I can see
the opportunity, the potential, andit is a good idea. At the
same time, when we're talking aboutF one being a traditional sport, traditional
multi sport, that it's got itsit's got it, it's got its culture.
You know, I think it feelsnot unnatural, but it feels a
(17:30):
bit off to have two races inone weekend. And I think in terms
of it takes it takes the wholeidea away of a Grand Prix. You
know, I think the race shouldbe on a Sunday, that should be
the final thing and the only sortof way to earn points in in the
weekend. And also people do saythat I that sprint races give a preview
(17:56):
of what of the race to comethe next day, which I think is
not necessarily a good thing because itsort of not spoils it, but it's
sort of sort of gives you anidea, which which cannot necessarily be good
all the time, because you dowant to be going into the Sunday watching
(18:18):
the race and not knowing who's goingto be where. I think I agree
with you. As a traditional Formulaone fan, I would much rather see
the build up that we have inplace, and that we've had in place
for a very long time. Butwe've seen it with other sports in recent
years. For example, MLB MajorLeague Baseball, we've seen them ban the
(18:42):
shift, which means that hits aremore likely, which means that you have
a higher on base percentage In thesame vein you have NCAA college football where
they've expanded the playoffs after years ofcriticism for them being to elitists. And
(19:02):
again, these traditional methods of sportsare just falling away. They're falling by
the wayside from as a result ofthe demands of the public who want to
see more drama and want to seemore excitement. So maybe even though as
traditional F one fans we would preferthat it's stayed the same, maybe sometimes
development is necessary to I guess whatthe appetite of newer fans. Do you
(19:25):
think that do you want new fans? Do you want new fans to become
invested in the sport. We've talkedabout this conversation before, but especially in
twenty twenty four with the sport inthe situation that it is where we have
a race winner who is exactly thesame week in, week out, do
you think that it's important to havethese moments of excitement. Yeah, I
(19:48):
think, first answering your first question, it's definitely important to bring in new
fans, regardless of the state ofthe sport. I think whenever I meet
new people, I always tell themabout how I'm an F one fan,
and if they if they aren't toofamiliar with it, I'm always trying to
sort of advertise the sport to them. I think it's definitely it's definitely great
(20:15):
for new people to come in tothe sport, and I think the only
issue with that is that if toomany people come too quickly. The idea
of F one sort of changes fornew fans because of fame or money,
(20:37):
like we see with the sort ofadvertising and a lot of people having controversial
views on drive to survive. I'mnot too bothered about that myself. I
think the more the merrier in Fone. And then for your second question
about having match stack and winning allthe time, I think that sort of
does drive people away. I've metpeople who have unfortunately stopped watching F one
(21:03):
after the twenty twenty two season becausethey couldn't be able to watch Max win
week in week out. But Ithink the true fans, or the fans
who show the most commitment, arealways going to be devoted to the sport
regardless of who is winning, becausethe true fans can always see, can
(21:26):
always find excitement in other areas ofthe sport, not just at the front.
That's what it's all about. There'sa reason why there's twenty cars on
the grid, and there's a reasonwhy you can score points from the top
ten because it makes that It givesthe incentive to work harder and to be
more competitive lower down the field.And that brings me onto a question for
(21:49):
you Ben Actually I overheard or notoverhead. I heard on the commentary Nico
Rosberg and David Croft talking about ameeting, a potential meeting for the teams
discussing whether points should be going downto p. Twelve. What are your
opinions on that, Ben Well?I tend to take the view that Nico
(22:14):
Rosberg shared in his way that hedoes that by increasing the number of drivers
who are allowed or who are whoattain points each race, it devalues the
points themselves, and it means thatteams now no longer have to work as
hard because in an average race weekendwe could have say what to retirements and
(22:40):
so that that means that almost theentire field is given points. And I
think there's certainly an argument to bemade that some teams don't know what they're
fighting for, but then so manyteams will be achieving points that there's no
more excitement in them. Example,Nico Holkenberg with Hass this weekend one point
(23:04):
p. Ten. But the mechanicswere going were well, the mechanics were
far more excited than I'm sure theRed Bull with the Red Bull mechanics were
for that P. Ten. Ifeel like you need that rarity in order
to increase the in order to keepthe teams committed, in order to keep
(23:27):
the viewers hooked, because they don'twant to see every single team get a
point, because if they see everysingle team get a point, then points
don't matter anymore. They're just it'sjust a free for all. If I
was to do anything, frankly,I would probably take it back to when
it was points for the top six, because it's just you so rarely see
(23:48):
it, and then that makes itmore exciting, and then the battles are
so much more interesting because you knowthat these teams are going to be fighting
for something that they may not see, they may not see too many times.
But obviously in modern F one everything'sa little bit a bit more bunched
up. So you're going to haveyou're going to have Mercedes, McLaren,
(24:12):
Ferrari, and Red Bull. They'regoing to make out the top eight.
So those nine and ten are goingto be difficult to decide again, to
decide whether or to debate with.And so I think it does increase the
rarity of it. I think itdoes make the sport more interesting. I
think it does keep the teams moreinterested in their sport and more invested and
(24:33):
more passionate. But yeah, atthe end of the day, I mean,
I guess it does get the youknow, it gets the fans more
behind their teams, because then there'smore of a likelihood that their team will
score points in each one Prix,and then that may make them more invested
in their team. I think there'scertainly arguments to be made either way,
(24:56):
but I would keep it as itis for now. What do you think,
Amish, Yeah, I mean,I definitely agree with you on that
point. I think it does makeit more competitive if points start from top
ten, it gives teams an incentiveto work a harder and it gives points
more value. I think, rightthe current state of the point system is
(25:22):
a good balance because I think itwas pre twenty ten when the points system
was different. Points were more rare, they were rare to get, and
they were harder to get, andI think that the difficulty was sort of
too high back then, and Ithink now is sort of a perfect level.
(25:45):
I don't think it needs any change. I think I would rather as
a as a fan, I wouldrather see the addition of a new team
rather than rather than a different pointssystem them because I think having more drivers
and more cars just makes it moreinteresting compared to points. I think there's
(26:08):
more opportunity in adding two more carsand a new team two championships than there
is changing the points system. Isit important to you as an F one
fan that F one grows as abusiness, because I think the entire reason,
in the entire incentive for the switchthe initial switch from six to ten
(26:30):
drivers receiving points was as the argumentis being made now, then it makes
it more exciting, It gives teamsmore to be invested in, and it
makes the fans feel like they're supportinga team that has the potential to score
points each weekend. So, asa fan, does it actually matter to
(26:53):
you that this is a purely businessdecision? Well, I think as a
fan it's important that if one makesenough money to sustain ability reasons. I
think if if one doesn't make enoughmoney, then there's a problem. But
(27:15):
that's never going to happen. That'snot that's not a possibility. In my
eyes. I think F one willalways get a steady amount of income.
Something jurassic has to happen for Fone to have to stop because of financial
issues. Maybe teams themselves might experiencefinancial issues, which we have seen in
(27:38):
the past, for example McLaren.But I think as a corporation, F
one will never sort of go downthat sort of that go down that path.
I think the other problem, whichis probably more common, is if
F one gets too big. Ithink we're sort of starting to see it
(27:59):
at the moment with the introduction ofmultiple races in the United States. I
think it's great to have more racingand expanding F one in America and North
America, but I think there areother opportunities F one can be taking,
and I think what the opportunist isthat they are taking a sort of centered
(28:22):
around fame and money. So forlike the Las Vegas Run Free. As
much as it's great to be seeingthat, I feel that we could be
going to other countries and other continentssuch as South Africa, like we've spoken
about previous in previous episodes. ButI think the way things are going,
I think it's okay. I'm nottoo bothered about it, but I would
(28:47):
like to see some yeah, sustainablechange, that's what we would like to
see. There's actually a question thatI was going to ask you on earlier
about real fans. That was aconcept that you had floated earlier in the
episode. And I think that it'sdifficult because in order to be a real
(29:08):
fan, you need to be somewhatconditioned into the truth of what Formula one
is, which is not the twentytwenty one season. That is not what
Formula one is. That is aremarkable and abnormal miracle of easy that will
not happen again for a while untilthese new regulations kick in and we get
(29:33):
more drama than ever before because there'sgoing to be so many teams bunched up
close together, and then teams willeventually work out and it will go back
to how it was. People needto have lived through or to at least
understand the Schumacher, the Vettel,the Hamilton Eras, and that's I think
what the issue is with the modernFormula one fan is that there's a lack
(29:56):
of understanding of those periods of timein which you have so many drivers,
so sorry, so many race winstaken by a single driver, so much
dominance, and that's what the sportof Formula one is. And so I
think that frankly, in terms ofthe development or the trajectory of Formula one
(30:18):
as a sport. Max the Stappen'sdominance might actually be doing more more good
than bad for Formula One fans ingeneral, because, as you say,
it's sifting out those who don't reallycare about the sport. I only really
care about the drama from the fanswho truly understand the beauty of it and
(30:41):
can take appreciation of the more minusculeaspects and the more the minutia of Formula
One. Amus, Do you thinkthat in order to be a true fan
you need to withstand these experiences?Yeah, definitely. I think for me,
(31:03):
part of being a true fan isis finding enjoyment in moments where others
wouldn't. So that's one thing Imean for me, you can always You're
not always going to get an extremelyexciting race weekend in and weekend out.
And I think that if you canwake up in the morning a am to
(31:30):
watch the Chinese grown free, andif it was a bad race, but
you still finish finished the race watchingthe podium with the smile on your face
because maybe your team did well,maybe they didn't. Maybe maybe that's that's
what that's part of it, andI think that's important because it shows you
I really appreciate that. Yeah,the idea of a race happening. And
(31:52):
then the second part is I think, oh sorry, Ben, what was
that? No? No, policecontinue? Oh sorry. A second very
important part is understanding what's happened inthe past, because, like you said,
F one is defined by the twentytwenty one season. I think it's
(32:15):
defined by all of its past andits current state. There are so many
different eras, and that's what makeseveryone so beautiful because of how it's changing
for the better, which doesn't takeaway how good it was in the past.
It's Formula one a bad sport forconsumers. No, I don't think
(32:40):
so. I think for one forone's great for everyone, definitely, it's
it's it's not for everyone in theway that some people just are impatient,
and I think it's difficult to getthem into a position where they'll be willing
(33:02):
to sit down and watch a wholerace. I think some people were just
born with a passion for watching Fone, but you can sort of develop
it over time. And I thinkthat's what I love about F one is
that for me, I didn't expectto to love it so quickly. I've
(33:22):
always been interested in speed and cars, but when as soon as I started
watching F one, I sort ofI sort of found such a strong passion
for it so quickly, and Ithink for everyone there is there is something
in F one out there, maybemore more for some than others, but
there's definitely something. Yeah, definitely. I think the way I came into
(33:47):
it was just through being a yearfor student with you know, my mum's
tablet and like looking up charl Leclair, like junior Formula highlights on YouTube.
You know, it's it comes toyou or it doesn't. I think it's
(34:09):
it's just a concept that is.It's difficult in order. It's difficult to
stay loyal as a Formula One fanssometimes because you know, you sometimes can
predict the outcome before the race evenhappens, or you just go into it
thinking, oh, you know this, you know this, this is how
it's going to be all over again. But then you get those moments like
(34:29):
the twenty twenty one season, whichis just that's the payoff for waiting,
and we will get a moment likethat again, not soon, but we
will, And that's the beauty ofit. We know that one one day
as you say, we're gonna wakeup, We're going to watch the race,
and it's going to be the bestrace we've ever seen in our lives.
And we're going to be telling ourkids about that because it will be
like, you know, a culturalfilm on right that those are the things
(34:52):
that we live for as Formula onefans, and through that, as you
say, we you know, siftthrough the bad times when we find the
good from the bad in order tokeep up that the adoration of the sport
which we still love. Am Ispeaking of the sport as a whole.
(35:14):
I'm off on my exam soon enough, so I won't be doing this podcast
again for quite some time until June. But I thought, just before we
leave, let's look forward to Miami. What is your podium looking like for
Miami a couple of weeks time.I'm not going to be around to review
it. We'll come back in June. What are you thinking? I'm going
(35:38):
to say a red Bull one too, and charlottelair podium Okay, Charlotte clat
oversims, Yeah, yeah, fairenough. I think hmm, I'm thinking
(35:59):
that I would want to bet ona I'm just trying my best not to
bet on a red Bull one too. It's worked, It's worked one time.
Can I make it a double?Can I make it to it in
a row where it works? I'mgoing to say Sojio Perez, I'm going
(36:22):
to say, how about Checko winsit? Max Fustappen bad quality and it's
third, Carlos signs second and SogioPerez wins the pseudo street race type thing
that is Miami. Yeah. Boldprediction, Yeah, indeed, Yeah,
(36:49):
have you got a bold prediction forme? I'm going to go somewhere down
the midfield, actually the end ofthe grid for the points I'm gonna I'm
gonna go with Williams double points.Wow, that's big. That If not
(37:17):
that, it's Williams points with AlexAlboin with his album at least okay,
well that's Alex album. Yes,and that's it, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for listening to them.Yeah, it feels bad to be walking
away from this, which I soenjoy am sitting here with you and talking
(37:39):
about F one for forty minutes aweek. But unfortunately that's the nature of
things. And as I alluded toearlier, it's the last episode in a
while. But we will be backin the summer. We will be back
bigger than ever and better than ever. For sure, we're going to refine
(37:59):
our c we're gonna go back tothe drawing board. We're gonna make changes,
and we're going to make a masterpiece. So stick around and wait,
wait in hiding, ladies and gentlemen, for the return, the glorious,
the grand return of F one isn'treal in the summer. I'm excited for
(38:20):
it. I'm already missing this andmuch. To be honest with you,
thank you for talking as always,and yes, thank you for being a
part of this. I mean,it feels like it's the end, but
it's not the end. It's asmall break. And thank you very much.
How much, thank you, Ben. Thanks
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