4 team battle for the win, really? 2024 Spanish GP Preview

[00:00:02] Before we begin, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the folks at Amazon Music for partnering with us on this episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast. But more on this later right then. Let's get right into today's episode.

[00:00:36] Well, there is going to be laughter all around this weekend where Zinformerla1 comes to Barcelona. But only if you are a fan of McLaren or Red Bull Racing because for all the other teams,

[00:00:49] including them as well, it's going to be a lot like staring into a mirror because that's where you find out the real answers. Can we say that Barcelona is a lot like an Oracle, because all the real answers get revealed here.

[00:01:01] We find out everything about the season at this race. Oh wait, can we say Oracle? They didn't pay us any money, did they? I actually didn't think of the Oracle that sponsors the World Champion team.

[00:01:12] I thought of the Oracle from the Matrix. Actually, beautiful coat from the Matrix. Beautiful coat from the Matrix that will actually come true in Barcelona. Don't think you are. No, you are. Okay. It's such a wonderful life changing port for me.

[00:01:30] Can you imagine the teams, everyone who's thinking they're quick, they're not quick, etc. We'll eventually know in Barcelona if they have a package that is quick enough because

[00:01:40] Barcelona of all the places is that one massive indicator of whether you have a good Formula One racing car or not Somal. Exactly, exactly that. And on this particular episode, we are going to be asking the questions that we want an answer to this weekend in Barcelona.

[00:02:00] The questions that we're also excited about, about Red Bull, about McLaren, about Ferrari, about Mercedes and Alpine as well. But before we go there, we have to tell you who we are and what this is.

[00:02:12] Apart from of course being the Carlos Sainz fandom podcast which it always will be and there is a bad weekend ahead for Carlos Sainz with an omen coming up which I'll tell you later on.

[00:02:21] This is the Inside Line F1 podcast. We have just been awarded India's best sports podcast but we're not just big in India. We are one of Spotify's top 1.5% podcasts in the entire world. That just does not include sports and includes all the podcasts out there.

[00:02:36] My guest, not guest, can I call you? I am making a stupid mistake. You're not a guest. You are the man who started this podcast. Kunal Shah, the former marketing head of Force India. Now a Formula One consultant at the Viya Planet which broadcasts all over in Europe.

[00:02:53] And my name is Somal Arora. I'm the voice of the Moro GP Indian Grand Prix among many other things as well. That was good. I think we've introduced ourselves for the first time in what months?

[00:03:04] Yeah, and you called me a forgot all this while. And you called me a guest. My goodness. So force of habit. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. I've been doing lots of football work nowadays and we're often paired with guests there.

[00:03:17] So it's kind of become football. Sport, you know where you kick some balls and die? The sport which you need one ball to play. That's the sport I remember. Good catch. Good catch.

[00:03:30] Good catch. But no, the Euros are on and the Euros have been revealing so many interesting things about the way international teams play about how we've seen so many things in the friendlies and now how they're translating onto the tournament phase when the pressure is high,

[00:03:43] which is similar to what Barcelona is going to be. Isn't it Kunal? And everyone knows this but nobody knows why. Why is Barcelona that circuit where we just always come and find the answers for the entire season? Wow. Okay.

[00:03:59] Euros are on. You mean the European... That came quick, didn't it? Yeah, that came quick but European leg of Formula One, European part of the calendar. That's what you meant by Euros are on. Nicely done. Nicely done.

[00:04:14] But why don't we actually answer why is Barcelona such a good indicator of a good Formula One race car? And I know I've asked... I've repeated the question because I'm thinking for the answer in my head but okay, in all seriousness it's one of those traditional racing circuits.

[00:04:33] Very smooth, very flowing. It's got medium to high speed corners. You need a lot of aerodynamic efficiency in your package to extract performance. You need your car which is able to look after the tyres especially on a single lap.

[00:04:52] You need a car which you are able to go lower and extract more performance. This is where Oracle Red Bull Racing is really good at.

[00:05:00] This is also why, this is also why even though Red Bull hasn't had the quickest car in two out of the last three races, they've been challenged, suddenly there's this thought that Red Bull is still going to be dominant in Barcelona

[00:05:14] because of the aero efficiency and so on. So it's a beautiful circuit. Teams and drivers have done millions of miles in testing, in junior series of driving etc. So there's almost nobody who's probably not...

[00:05:27] They know every gravel rock on track out there if you may call it that. And what I really love about the circuit apart from the history is just the way it's actually built.

[00:05:38] And we've been racing here I think 33 years, so it's a 34th race in Circuit de Barcelona, Catalonia. And interesting insights is most of the low speed corners which are just about 10% of the corners are left handers.

[00:05:56] And most of the high speed corners are right handers which is why your front left is usually where... That's a tyre that's usually screaming through a lap. And qualifying insight, this is courtesy Yuki Sonoda. Sectors one and three you're usually making a compromise between one and three

[00:06:18] because both of them are animal sectors as Yuki said. And if you don't... If you use up all... So if your favorite driver gets a purple in sector one, there's a very good chance the tyres are just screaming,

[00:06:31] overheating in sector three and they won't get a purple in that sector. Of course I'm being very subjective here, I'm not the one driving. But there's just so much... The flow of Barcelona is so good, Samuel.

[00:06:46] Yeah and I hate it when people say it's the worst circuit on the calendar only because it does not create passes and cars that are literally the size of a giant. No, drive it once. Get on your simulator. Try it once.

[00:07:02] If you're rich enough, get a GT3 car driver on Barcelona. You will not regret it and controversial opinion here. It's actually better with the chicane because that is where you really see a commitment of the driver

[00:07:15] where in the first sector there's lots of long corners like turn three where the tyre is just completing. Then you've got the flowy section in the middle where you actually have got to carry some bravery. Then the technical stuff and that's what a complete driver should have

[00:07:30] an ability to master all these three sections which is where one big question that I really want to find the answer to this weekend is the importance of the drivers especially in qualifying. Now we all know that McLaren are getting close

[00:07:44] and McLaren genuinely are competing with Red Bull Racing for wins. They even got one in Miami this time. But the only thing is the drivers are more important now than they've ever been before which we also saw in Canada, didn't we Kunal?

[00:07:56] Because had Max Verstappen not nailed those two laps when he was outside and Landon Norris was in he probably would have lost the race then and there. So in Barcelona when the pressure is high and McLaren are going to be closed

[00:08:09] that is where the difference between Norris and Verstappen is going to be so fine but so important which is what we watch Formula 1 for. Oh yeah, qualifying even more so. You mentioned the perfect circuit.

[00:08:21] You also need the perfect car and the perfect driver working in harmony with the package because we've seen qualifying. I'd say let's enter. Since you said there are lots of questions Barcelona is going to ask, let's actually ask ourselves will we actually have a...

[00:08:37] Do we actually have a four team battle at the front? Okay, and you know some of the beauty is even if we don't have a four team battle let's assume Red Bull is at the front and let's assume McLaren Ferrari and Mercedes have been chasing

[00:08:51] even if different teams are chasing Red Bull that is adding to Formula 1's narrative for 2024. We saw Ferrari drop off the challenge in Canada. Okay, we might just see Mercedes dropping off the challenge this weekend

[00:09:06] or could it be McLaren has always been there the last three four races. So I'm just fascinated by the challenge even more so of Barcelona and one of the questions that actually came up on Twitter is but why not Canada and why Barcelona is one of those indicators

[00:09:26] and Canada has corners within a lower band of speeds which is where Mercedes could just find the sweet spot and get there and that's what they themselves have admitted that Barcelona has a much larger band of cornering speeds something that they've struggled with.

[00:09:44] So what does it translate in numbers? Average cornering speeds in Barcelona are between 120 and 150 km per hour and that's fairly high. Turns nine and turns 14 are actually cornering about 240 km per hour. So the challenge that teams and drivers will be dialing in

[00:10:08] is how do you get your car to operate efficiently between these high cornering speeds that are there? Like I said, the surface is very, what do you call it? Smooths. There are no bumps. You can ride the curb something Red Bull is waiting for.

[00:10:24] So this is one of those circuits where Red Bull, you know, it's like a fish taking to water kind of situation for the RB20 itself. And interestingly, yes, on that because it's so smooth

[00:10:36] there's almost too much grip and that is why there's a lot of heat mixed in lots of tire degradation and really have bought the three hardest tire compounds of the entire season here. And we are expecting a two stopper and that's always a good thing.

[00:10:51] There are eight cars fighting two stoppers, lots of permutations, combinations, you know, drivers out of place and going back to car packages again, you know, the slow corners which is turns five and 10, you need a mechanical grip from the car.

[00:11:09] But the high speed corners, especially I think turn three and turn nine, you need a lot of aero grip from the car itself, right? So I'm just fascinated by the challenge in itself of Barcelona. I know the races can be boring,

[00:11:24] but I know that the drivers absolutely love this. The engineers absolutely love it because of a lot of compromises they need to make with regards to their setup. It is insane. I love this place and sure, on Sunday it probably won't be the most entertaining race,

[00:11:42] but we'll find the answers to a lot of interesting questions. One question that I really want to see the answer to is what not make Shimakas about it. Say, Raaf Shimakas actually asked, which is that Sergio Perez are only keeping Perez. Wow, it's late in the night.

[00:12:00] I'm messing up my words, but Red Bull are only keeping Sergio Perez because of the sponsorship money. That question will in part be answered depending on his performance this weekend because you can't hide at Barcelona. You've driven a million laps here. You should know the car inside out.

[00:12:15] You should know the track inside out. You should know the pit garages, the washrooms, everything inside out because Red Bull must have been in the same pit garage for the last three years now. You know everything, deliver. And now that whole...

[00:12:30] On this whole front-run, it's going to be so interesting because on one side you have Sergio Perez who is known to be the tyre master. On the other hand, you have Oscar Piatri for McLaren, which we are assuming are going to be the two main challengers,

[00:12:41] Red Bull and McLaren. And Piatri is not known to be good with the tyres. I just want to see where do both of them stack up at the end of the weekend? Where we know that the cars are closed, the lead drivers are closed.

[00:12:54] Where is the delta between the two of them? And that will reveal how important qualifying is actually in Formula One as well. And we've seen how important qualifying actually is now even more so with so many teams and drivers in the battle.

[00:13:06] But do you still think Piatri is struggling with tyres or... Yeah, you think so? I think he's... I mean, had it not been the case, I think he would have been there instead of Norris in Montreal because he just was... I mean, he's not lacking in raw pace

[00:13:25] from what I can tell. He's always right up there in qualifying and the qualifying head to head allow me a second to pull it up. It is... Oh, he's not out qualified. He's pretty close. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Piatri and Norris, yeah. But the margins, yeah, the margins

[00:13:39] have always, always been very, very close between the two of them. But the point here being when you watch his races and when you watch the qualifying times, when you watch the lap times in the middle of the race, he's always losing a 10th, 2 tenths,

[00:13:52] 10th, 2 tenths in the middle of the stints and what could that indicate? Driving a car at 90% similar in Montreal, he was struggling to keep up with the other cars just because again, what would the case be? I mean, if you're not able to be as fast

[00:14:07] and a longer stint, it's most likely going to be tyre management. Interesting. I'll reserve my comments because yeah, of course, he is learning how to pick up his pace, tyre management crucially, but I think he's pretty much been there. You know, he's had a lot of incidents,

[00:14:22] one with Carlos Sainz in Miami, etc., which is where he's dropped off, but he almost won in Monaco. He actually did really well in Monaco and I remember Piazzari actually does well in these high-speed sections. Could he really take the battle to Lando Norris this weekend?

[00:14:37] Interesting stat about Oscar Piazzari. He has the same number of points as his driver number, which is number 81. Okay, if that excites anyone. But you also started this thing about Checo Perez, right? If I can just go back to Perez

[00:14:54] because we keep seeing eight drivers fighting at the front. But Perez has not... He's been the only driver to not finish the last two races, mind you. Also, only driver to have first-lap incidents in the last two races. So in Monaco it was Marc Nussain in Canada.

[00:15:10] I think it was Pierre Gasly or whatever. And then there's this whole question, you know, you love this. Or you love both these questions. Does Checo Perez tend to not perform once he signed his contract? Which he has for two years.

[00:15:25] And the second is, does Perez find it tougher when Red Bull brings an upgrade and the car just takes more time to get dialed into? He just struggles more. Of course, by now we know these answers that are there. And F1 stats guru who we are dearly missing

[00:15:39] because he's been a bit unwell has said that if Red Bull contracts through with Perez and wish to happen till the end of 2026 that will be the longest standing driver partnership in the history of Formula 1. But you know what we've gotten? That's a lot.

[00:15:55] But you know what we've gotten ourselves into, and what Red Bull has gotten themselves into and Checo Perez. And I know we've got loads of listeners in Mexico. Guys, we'd love for Perez to come up and perform. But when he doesn't and when it seems that he's...

[00:16:09] I wouldn't say he's running out of talent but he's just unable to dial the whole weekend in. We have to call it as it comes, right? And this is when I think it's fair to ask should it have been a two-year extension? Or are we going to have

[00:16:27] this pain? Are we all going to suffer this pain for the next two years? I mean the best way that I'd like to put it is it clearly does not look like an environment that's working from the outside. But if they know better, which they should know better

[00:16:43] and if they feel that the performances have been as good as it possibly can be sure because sometimes there are things that we just can't see. And it just tells me that Red Bull are not as ambitious about that second seat. But you know, it's probably

[00:16:59] one of those things that to keep Max which probably now I guess he's staying to keep Max they need to keep Perez. That's a big controversy that you just answered in one sentence. Firstly, I don't think Red Bull needs the money.

[00:17:15] If Perez is bringing all the Mexican sponsors great, he's always brought Mexican sponsors. We knew it at Force India as well. So it's an addition. So I don't think they're bringing, Red Bull of all the teams doesn't need to hire a driver because of the money and definitely

[00:17:29] not this whole, you know, Havala money chain that Ralf Shumakar has pointed out that Red Bull is paying for Max's whatever I mean, fair enough that you can do accounting however you want to as long as you're not the chartered accountant of the team.

[00:17:43] But, but, but, but, but, let's do this. No, instead of being subjective about Perez, you know, I'm going to just read out some of his performances in the last couple of races why he needs to bring it up. So, so Sergio Perez, firstly, he's got a three

[00:17:57] place great penalty in Canada. So if he's not in the top three in qualifying, which is anyway tough to get so many drivers there, he's going to be out of position in the race. Okay. He's not made it to Q3 in the last three consecutive races.

[00:18:11] He's not had a top three start in 13 races in Spain. So he's literally going to go against his own performance stats, right? In till the for the fifth or the sixth race of the season, Samuel, when we all thought Red Bull is walking away with

[00:18:27] everything that they normally walk away with in this era. Okay. Check over second in the construct in the drivers championship with every passing race, he's lost a position. Sixth race he lost second place seventh race he lost third place eighth race he lost fourth place. Okay.

[00:18:45] So the trend in itself is a worrying is a worrying trend and I hope he's able to reverse this trend. Yeah, for his sake like nobody likes to see a driver struggling that bad at any given point absolutely. But it's also a race of

[00:19:01] home races this time. Fernando also has a home race and Carlos Sainz also has a home race but do you know the kind of interesting scenario we find ourselves in Canala? Carlos Sainz is walking into a home race with uncertainty over his seat. This

[00:19:17] has indeed happened before. Can you remember any particular instance that comes to your mind? I'm going to give you a bad omen in that case about Carlos Sainz's performance which breaks my heart but it's claringly obvious. Goodness me. Okay, I'll help you out don't worry. In 2019, German

[00:19:33] Grand Prix, Nico Hulkenberg home race definitely uncertain about his seat for next year in the podium places he goes on and crashes rewind six years, Felipe Massa, Brazilian GP 2013 he had a golden helmet celebrating his time at Ferrari. It was a beautiful moment uncertainty

[00:19:53] about his seat where will he go next year he have a seat next year goes on and only performs to finish piece 7. Now, the best of all Logan Sargent every single American GP since well midway through 2023 he's always been under jeopardy about his seat and the performance

[00:20:11] is well nothing to shine home about and nothing to talk home about so we all know the result it's always going to be a terrible tough race for the driver in their home race when they're looking forward to a year without

[00:20:23] any certainty about their seat for next year that's a bad open for Carlos Sainz I hate it but there we are shouldn't we actually then talk about the other home hero, the actual home hero two times world champion for all your love

[00:20:39] for all your love for Carlos Sainz you don't he's got a 100% point scoring record in Spain okay be happy if he scores points when he scores can he be on the podium that would be epic for all the Spanish fans and that's what formula

[00:20:57] one needs they need another hero in Spain because what Fernando Alonso did is he exposed formula one or he exposed Spain to formula one he sort of brought the whole sport the way it is he's like the father figure of formula one in Spain

[00:21:13] now are you okay if we talk about Fernando Alonso El Padre but you know this whole thing about Fernando one thing that stays with him apart from him being Spanish and a two times world champion is his all ability to punch about the weight of

[00:21:31] the package or the car to put the car in places it doesn't deserve to be to out qualify the car to out race the car all of that right it all stems if you go if you check the moto and and one of the themes of

[00:21:45] Spain itself it's further beyond so the country itself is like Fernando Alonso embraced the Spaniard in him fully to be like every time I'm on track in that car I will go further and beyond the package can give so it's something so nationalistic in him that

[00:22:05] he's just able to do that I guess yeah that's so true and you can see a similar thing in Carlos signs as well in his position and his willingness to get more out of himself at any given point in time it's actually fun

[00:22:19] how it plays out no it is and what I'm really hoping to see is you know the first four or five races Fernando Alonso was taking more risk in Q3 putting that Aston Martin in places it didn't deserve to be and then he

[00:22:31] tried doing that and the risk of course you know you don't always get lucky when you take so much risk and he sort of went backwards he's not had the best of qualifying sessions so in Spain for his last win in Formula 1 with Ferrari 2013 I believe

[00:22:51] so 2013 Spanish Grand Prix his last 30 second win beautiful yeah also is it Mission 33 because it is 33 years since we've been hosting races in circuit the Barcelona Catalonia so and we mentioned qualifying driver friends very interesting Fernando Alonso's last race win is the first

[00:23:15] is the most recent race win from row 3 on the grid I think he started 5th or something okay otherwise the stats are so bad Somel 31 out of the 33 races have been won from the front row and 24 have been won from pole position yeah give me

[00:23:33] a good qualifying now give me a good qualifying seriously that's all that we're looking for but hey you said something about going further beyond have you been reading the news nowadays I'm sure you have you're always the first one one of the first ones to break it

[00:23:47] and also tell more about it on Twitter which I love because all the Formula 1 handles him aside because when you see a tweet from you including the updates for Kushmeni's test we always get so excited on Twitter which is amazing I mean that we should talk

[00:24:01] about that in a bit as well but you must have seen the reactions to Alpine saying that they could potentially ditch being an engine supplier in Formula 1 and be a customer team later on which to me makes no sense because why would a cow say

[00:24:19] I'm going to stop giving milk and I'm going to hire someone else to give milk so what's the point of you anymore apart from eating grass which is what they're doing these days not scoring anything but just eating the grass around and eating themselves my goodness

[00:24:31] that's why Stormy Luroy has hosted 300 plus episodes of the Inside Line F1 podcast because his analogies are probably the best I don't know when and how you'd have probably thought of it but that's what who you are I just get a cow outsourcing

[00:24:49] by Alpine giving us so much comedy a cow outsourcing making milk that's something I never thought of but Alpine I don't know it seems very strange could it be a full circle of life though if Alpine so their dumb fall started when Red Bull said

[00:25:05] thank you very much but we don't need your power units and then you know this whole renautant and bot lotus and you know what the whole shebang now imagine if Alpine goes and tells Red Bull could we be powered by Red Bull powertrains okay nice or Alpine powered

[00:25:25] by Honda or Alpine powered by Mercedes or whoever and you know Sean Kelly the original you know F1 statsman who very very popular statsman on Formula One he actually said why are we all complaining if Aston Martin can be powered by a Mercedes engine

[00:25:47] if Alpine Romeo can be powered by a Ferrari engine and my point is my point is okay I'll finish the point okay Alpine Romeo never made an F1 engine and then said it's a failure and went to a Ferrari engine

[00:26:01] same with Aston Martin they said you know what we won't build a Formula One engine we just need Mercedes Alpine has actually tried it's a former world championship winning team not just as Benetton but also with Renault sorry with Red Bull they won in the Viedera

[00:26:17] with Sebastian Fettel right so they've hit the peak as a manufacturer a power unit manufacturer only to then now turn back and say guess what we don't trust our engines we're just gonna go buy something off the shelf that's that's a very Alpine thing to do

[00:26:35] is it not but even when they were Lotus Renault when they became a customer team they still had Renault engines they still had the soul of being Renault this is the new low all I'm hoping for that they do whatever they can to get in the right place

[00:26:57] so that our Qushmeney can come up and be the second driver at Alpine with a good car and not a terrible one wait, can we digress for a second here? sure you were at Qushmeney's test I'm so excited to speak to you about that

[00:27:09] we literally haven't spoken about that in person at all since that happened tell me more like is he genuinely the prospect that Alpine are looking for and most of the tests really positive the test was immensely positive he drove a very very clean test

[00:27:25] he was on the pace we did a lot of benchmarking of lap times he was positive on the lap times despite having a differential despite having a differential or an offset in tires in engine modes, in track temperatures and everything else

[00:27:41] Alpine was very very pleased I did a lot of content with fan code the Indian Broadcaster for Formula 1 and Formula 2 he's gonna have a few more tests or three more tests later on in the season as well and it was the first of his several junior driver

[00:27:57] tests, it's about giving a mileage it's about training him and of course he is a member of the Alpine F1 Academy right so he will be evaluated with the hope that he at some point is ready to jump into a Formula 1 car when the opportunity arises

[00:28:13] can't wait for that I mean, did the content that we've been seeing on fan code with you over there has also been so much fun but again with Esteban O'Conn it's just turning out to be even more chaotic

[00:28:27] and that is another question that we can find the answer this weekend will it get worse, not just for O'Conn but also for Hamilton and Total Wolf now the big question I have rather than one question that you pointed out it's a very good one

[00:28:41] is about how much that relationship can deteriorate further it's a very interesting question but what was it exactly we've been tracking this for a long time yeah so you know it's like this Alpine who we of course know is struggling they've sort of made recoveries

[00:28:57] but not the kind of recovery you would expect from a work steam now they've had you know Monaco's issue with O'Conn and then in Canada they use team orders towards the end of the race even though Gasly couldn't really overtake Ricardo they didn't swap the drivers back

[00:29:15] so the team scored the same amount of points but O'Conn actually scored a point lesser than he would have otherwise done that so drivers were leaving teams Hamilton he's been so cryptic right he's been St. Louis Hamilton because he's been saying I'll never over

[00:29:33] I'll never be able to beat George in qualifying this year boom that was out of the way then he said I was quick and I don't know where half the second went away from my car between speed 3 and qualifying and then he said maybe

[00:29:45] I need to get my head in the right place if I want to bring out some good results in qualifying and then the race so he's gone from giving all these cryptic messages to then taking a bit of blame on himself so

[00:29:57] we don't know where it's all going to be will the O'Conn and the Hamilton saga continue O'Conn with Alpine and Alpine just seems like the car is not working no problem let's just keep let's just show S the barn in bad light if that's the way they're going

[00:30:13] and with Louis what happens is every time he doesn't perform the whole Louis Hamilton fandom wants to show Mercedes in bad light and I now just want to see where it just goes for Mercedes because it's clearly unraveling a little bit with Hamilton

[00:30:31] it's all becoming a little weird and Mercedes are still finding answers to imaginary questions that we just don't know about and we're going down to the bottom of it because every weekend they're just coming out and saying we're getting closer, we're finding more there is progress, we're understanding

[00:30:47] better about the package that we have but we just don't understand anything about what their understanding is so are they getting closer to an answer only to realize that the entire answer is the question in itself are Mercedes philosophers Mercedes are philosophers and they're being led by

[00:31:05] of course they've been dishing out philosophy since several seasons but in all seriousness James Allison is on the Beyond the Grid podcast I haven't heard it, I've read it I usually consume podcasts from Beyond the Grid couple of weeks after they released but

[00:31:25] he's given a very interesting statement it wasn't a eureka moment it was just one of those oh my goodness we didn't think of this kind of moment in Monaco they introduced the front wing which if you remember they had one front wing

[00:31:39] Louis said he didn't want to risk with it because if you use it and you crash with it you sort of have to start from the pit lane if you use the other spec of the front wing George Russell went with it that front wing apparently brings

[00:31:51] them a lot more downforce at the front which is being able to give their car more balance and like Mercedes has been saying we are either fast in the slow corners or the fast corners not both we are unable to find a balance that works in both

[00:32:07] configurations which is why Canada when Mercedes suddenly did well there were corners within a particular medium speed low to medium speed band when Mercedes was able to make things work hit the sweet spot which is why George Russell could get a pole was in contention

[00:32:23] could have probably won the race so Mercedes and Spain this is where it's going to be very key litmus test has that front wing actually got more performance for Mercedes or was it just track and weather conditions in Canada that worked for them

[00:32:41] so that's going to be the thing and Mercedes had these false dawns if that's the word that I can use two years ago suddenly that zero-pot concept worked in Spain and they said we are going to go down this road and then boom it didn't

[00:32:53] last year as well they had a double podium they said maybe it's working and then it didn't and they sort of had a change in concept so I hope this is not a false dawn yet again for Mercedes they believe it's not

[00:33:07] they believe it will make them more competitive but we have to see how they go in Barcelona very very crucial because they've had a lot of success here Lewis Hamilton actually holds the record for most consecutive wins at a Grand Prix circuit he had five consecutive

[00:33:25] wins in Barcelona from 2017 to 2021 right and if you or any fan wants to go back to the last non-Hamilton and non-Wishtap and win it was eight years ago and I think it was 2015 with Nico Rosberg yeah wow wait before that yeah wow

[00:33:53] that's a good one and speaking of history wasn't it this time last year that Russell and Hamilton also touched each other for the first oh my god why am I saying like this sounds like the two of them are in a relationship

[00:34:07] oh my god this is the first time we touched but they did yes this time one year ago Hamilton and Russell touched each other oh god yeah they came together on the track they came it doesn't even make sense

[00:34:23] even now come on we need to find a better way to put this they had contact they barged wheels barged wheels yes this is the right word we're looking for they barged wheels with each other and that was on the main street of all the places

[00:34:39] crazy how it's been a year to that and it's all unraveling over there but now I really want to talk about Ferrari do we want to talk about Ferrari? we should absolutely we're not going to say much actually he speaks little but he speaks a lot of sense

[00:34:55] don't you think so tell me more no I mean in general you know he's pragmatic he is ambitious but not in his press statements and I think he's brought Ferrari in order of course the Canada you know the Canada non-performances is like wow you know and the challenge

[00:35:17] is you'd back Mercedes to come back you'll back McLaren to get it right but there is lesser confidence in Ferrari getting it right all the time in all the races correct me if I'm wrong and I don't know why despite all the wins

[00:35:35] or I mean maximum wins here whatever we keep adding all the stats very perplexed with that or should we stop being perplexed with this just Ferrari things but Fred Viser actually has come out with a very interesting statement after that can we call it a debacle

[00:35:53] yeah let's go out to debacle he eventually ended up saying we are not world champions after a good weekend and we are not nowhere after a tough weekend compare this to what one Mateo Bernotto said which was after France 2022 where the clerk had that crash

[00:36:11] and had that legendary radio moment that dreamed the life out of himself Bernotto said that I see no reason why we cannot win the next 10 races did he proceed to win the next 10 races with Ferrari Granada? they've not won 10 races in total since that statement from Mateo Bernotto

[00:36:29] if I don't even need to do the math I know that's the truth but this is an interesting change in philosophy is it not between Viser and Bernotto more level heritage part of the team principle role at Ferrari is managing media, is managing expectations

[00:36:45] is making sure people aren't going out of whack with that because whenever it comes to Ferrari there's just so much emotion involved I'm glad I think Fred Rippo-Sour is doing a fairly decent job out here if he says one bad race doesn't make us

[00:37:05] any worse just the way one win doesn't make us any better I would probably go for that but that's what Ferrari need to prove at a high degradation circuit which is warm, which is usually Achilles heels can they make the car work?

[00:37:21] because you remember Ferrari would go quick on Saturday last year and then struggle on Sundays have they reversed that trend successfully Barcelona has that test can they go lower on their setup and by lower I said at the start of the episode

[00:37:35] Barcelona allows you to lower your car and that's where a lot of the ground performance comes from the ground effect performance comes is Ferrari able to be there as much as I'm happy saying somebody is going to challenge Red Bull whether it's a Ferrari or a McLaren

[00:37:55] or a Mercedes I really want all of them to challenge everybody I want that kind of race where suddenly you're like why did this driver pit really deduce race strategy because there are so many variables so many drivers involved I want Formula 1 to also be that way

[00:38:13] imagine 8 drivers up there maybe the Aston Martins as well and you're suddenly like this one triggered and this one didn't over cut and that one tried something and stayed out and that one benefited from a safety car team just spreading strategy this one doesn't have soft

[00:38:29] this one doesn't have medium I'd love for that's true but you have to decode it only post race that's the joy because when Max is just leading by 10 seconds you know how that's going to pan out from a strategic point of view right so I'm hoping

[00:38:45] that's not what happens and that Barcelona is where we are like 4 teams in it and I for some reason I have a lot more faith in McLaren and Sommel because they've been consistently there they started the season saying we will have a package at some of the races

[00:39:03] we'll see then they changed it to saying actually we'll be contending at every race okay they got lucky in Miami fine but he almost could have won in Imola Oscar Piazzi almost won in Monaco they are having I think they had they've been finishing

[00:39:21] on the podium or in the top 4 positions in the last 5 races they've scored more points than Ferrari as well and McLaren be that team that sort of is able to get there and will Oscar Piazzi finally make it to a podium I believe he's the only

[00:39:39] non red ball, non whatever Ferrari non McLaren driver not McLaren he's a McLaren driver to have not scored a podium right yeah so much to see predictions though do you really put your money on Oscar Piazzi you feel he's improved on the time management part

[00:39:59] are you confident enough to put him on the podium for this time in your predictions I would put Oscar Piazzi on the podium yes let me back that out let me say it right up there he's gonna put that McLaren on the podium they will deliver a clean

[00:40:13] race with no mistakes and Piazzi will out qualify Landau Norris even though Norris has the momentum would you put Carlos Sainz on the podium that's the key question for you I mean the heart always goes for that right you've always got to back your heart

[00:40:29] even though the Omens don't kind of look very good about that but you know what I'll say the Omens will change signs on the podium but I get a feeling it's going to be Norris first with Stappen second only because McLaren are somewhat sharper in qualifying

[00:40:49] and I'm gonna back that up I feel Norris is gonna get pulled this time which would be crazy it could be absolutely baseless or it could be absolutely true which is the best part about it right coming into this part of the season we genuinely do not

[00:41:01] know who is at a better stage even though we expect Red Bull to be better but we shall find that out rather soon in a couple of days we will I'll tell you who's gonna win it is gonna be Max Verstappen Red Bull will show their dominant

[00:41:17] hand in Spain and I'll tell you why in 2022 and in 2023 Max Verstappen took a grand slam both the times they took the medium tyre at the start where everyone else took the soft so they could even go one step harder this has typically been the race where

[00:41:37] they're like guys we know what a beast of a car we've built in Formula 1 right and Max Verstappen they've actually been leading or Max has been leading the drivers championship since 2022 Spanish Grand Prix I don't even know 365 plus 365 is that the math we were to do 750 plus days

[00:41:59] right something and then Max even though he's been challenged is still 1-6 out of the 9 races this year so I am gonna definitely back Max Verstappen I don't care if he gets pole or no I know it's gonna be a great battle for pole position

[00:42:17] but I get a feeling it is gonna be a Max Verstappen win where do you think Mercedes shows up in all of this what's your prediction ah I really think they're gonna have a better race than what they've previously had here with the upgrades

[00:42:37] but then again so good Ferrari because they get to run the car lower so yeah I'm not going for Mercedes anywhere near the top 6 this time actually one car in the top 6 let's put it that way that'll be interesting okay great because Mercedes record your is 9 consecutive

[00:42:52] pole positions from 2013 to 2021 they're not gonna get pole in Barcelona I mean if they get pole in Barcelona my goodness they've turned that car around literally and that's my memory of Mercedes and you mentioned Ferrari Michael Schumacher's first win with Ferrari 1996 you know like I always remember

[00:43:14] China for Michael's last win Spain for Alonzo's last win and then I also remember I think Spain 1992 was it the only race where we had an Alan Prost, Ariton Senna and Michael Schumacher podium the three legendary greats of Formula 1 lots of history though

[00:43:37] but it's gonna be interesting to see what happens this weekend finally well there we are with our predictions what are yours let us know on social media by tagging Kunal, myself, F1 Stads Guru and the inside line F1 podcast page as well that's all for us

[00:43:52] for now we'll see you shortly on Monday for the post-discord take care folks, bye bye and thanks for partnering with us on this episode of the podcast