From "Temple of Speed" to "Temple of Super Clipping" | 2026 Italian GP

[00:00:00] Okay then, Monza time, the race that we have feared the most in the 2026 Formula 1 season. For the Temple of Speed could become the Temple of Super Clipping. God, what are we going to be in for this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix? We shall find out once the race cars hit the track. There's going to be lots of learning and this is probably as bad as it can get in the 2026 Formula 1 season.

[00:00:25] But what could go wrong? What stories are we excited to talk about? And what do we want to see progress over the weekend? Is the point of this live episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast. Welcome along everyone. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast on YouTube and whatever podcasting platform you're watching slash listening to us. Somal Arora here. I commentate on the Hindi Formula 1 broadcast and host the MotoGP pre-show warm-up lab in India.

[00:00:49] I'm Kunal Shah, the man who founded this podcast. Also commentates with me on the Hindi F1 broadcast and is always in the studio for Viaplay in Norway. What are we looking forward to, Kunal? Or what do we not want to see from this weekend? No, no. First, I'm going to say what are we looking forward to. So Somal Arora has worked very hard in the summer break to build himself this upgrade. Okay, so I'm going to pretend like I'm his race engineer. Somal, can you get me some more headroom for yourself?

[00:01:17] Yeah, for sure. For sure. What do you want? I can go as high as you want. I have a moving table. I finally have a moving table. That's all we want to see this race weekend because everything else doesn't seem like it's going to be well much worth it. Is that what we're saying? This is the only bit of electronics that we actually like from the entire weekend. All the other electrical interferences, let's just put it that way, they're probably going to be detrimental to the entire spectacle.

[00:01:45] Well, well, well. Okay. Where do we begin? And I know we've done this episode on how did we get here. So let's not dig through that again. But Monza, the oldest purpose-built racing facility in the world. Yes. The one race which has been forever on the Formula One calendar, the one circuit that's been there 75 out of the 76 years of racing.

[00:02:14] So basically, Monza is that historic place. Somal Aurora, you called it the Temple of Speed. It's going to become the... Yeah, well, okay. Yes, it's been called as... But you love calling it the Temple of Speed. Yeah. We are already thinking of Temple of Super Clipping, right? And why is that going to happen? We know that. Formula One cars, 2026, the most tech-advanced cars in history are going to race at the most historic racing circuit in the history of Formula One.

[00:02:43] But guess what? History is going to get the better of technology this race weekend. These race cars are not going to race there. They're going to struggle. They're going to crawl on the historic tarmac of Monza. This is what we hoped would never happen. Do you guys remember 2024 when Verstappen was fighting against all odds to save his championship? And the 2026 cars were being tested in the simulator by the Formula One drivers.

[00:03:10] And Max came out and said that this is the worst he's ever seen. And there might be a situation where the cars actually start to slow down on the streets. We saw that come alive in Melbourne. Obviously, since then, we've worked on the cars and we've, let's say, improved the amount of super clipping that happens in these Formula One cars. But this is going to be the worst of the lot because you cannot get bigger streets. You cannot get more consistent streets.

[00:03:35] And you can't get places where you have very limited opportunities to deploy. And the situation just simply cannot get worse than Monza. I'm just thinking, Kunal, what's the worst that can happen? Like, seriously, what's the worst that can happen from this weekend? What are you going to be seeing or expecting from these cars that makes you go, it's unbearable. I can't watch it anymore. I think I'll put it this way. The worst that can happen is what the drivers will get out and say because they will speak.

[00:04:04] And instead of countering them by saying that a super clip is somebody that thinks it's a super version of a hair clip, it would be great to just accept that, well, this piece of tech doesn't work on that historic piece of tarmac. Just accepting it rather than dividing us into old fans versus new gatekeepers versus strive to survive boomers or whatever. Nobody benefits from it. And let's put it this way.

[00:04:31] 900 million fans, that's going to be the number of fans Formula One has had this season or more. At every stage, fans are getting closer to the sport. And it's okay to say we messed up. We're going to change it in 27 and 28 rather than dividing the factions between those 900 fans. I don't think anyone stands to benefit in the long term. And even if by accepting if the share price of Liberty Media drops a little bit, it's a short term drop. And maybe you and I can go and buy some shares.

[00:05:00] But I think that's the worst that's going to happen. Although, what happens, Somville, now, since you mentioned the changes since Melbourne and what's happened is the FIA has, you know, deployment is going to be limited. So the harvesting limits will also be lower. In fact, Monza will have the lowest harvesting limits of the season. And why is this? So that you minimize super clipping. So if you don't use more energy around the lap, you don't need to generate more energy to use around the lap.

[00:05:30] And hence, the cars will be neutered, if I may put it as that. Okay, so the lap times, 2026 lap times versus 25 and the 21 versions of cars, they are projected to be 3 to 5 seconds slower at Monza. Which means qualifying is going to hurt. Watching the onboards is going to hurt us. You are assuming you're going to get to watch onboards Somville Aurora. Why not? Why not?

[00:05:55] You get to see the onboards, but the FIA has been, you know, nicely looking away, showing you less data. And, you know, times when they have to pull away the heads-up display on the halo, they take that away. So they, not the FIA, the FOM. So they are sort of managing the situation. But go on, you're right. You will feel it in qualifying. You will see it on the onboard laps. Where else could we see it? I think during the races as well, like, I'm just intrigued.

[00:06:22] Do we see a situation where we see passes and repasses on the same straight? Because someone has used their battery in a different way. Monza is the best place to find out, right? Like, because ideally, you have straight... I mean, you want a situation where you have straight after corner after straight after corner. So one person can choose a particular straight to deploy their energy. The other person can choose not to deploy there and attack at the other straight. So I'm also looking at the bright side of this.

[00:06:51] That maybe all the tactical games that can be played with battery and energy look the best over here. Maybe. Just curious. But yeah, Jotima has come up in the comments and said, Temple of Super Clipping, which is precisely what you said as well, Kunal. Love this comment. And Jotima says, Nothing we haven't seen before, in my opinion. I think it's true. But just think we're going to see it at a greater level, aren't we? I believe so. I mean, we forget about these things at energy-rich circuits. Monza is an energy-poor circuit.

[00:07:21] And that's what's going to come out. And will we see poor racing? Maybe not, like you're saying. But will we see poor example of what a Formula One car shouldn't be? And yeah, I probably think we will. We're getting very philosophical. But Samuel, there's a couple of things about the Super Clipping part. So there are four straight-line modes. So four times we will do the flip-flaps that they do. Those straight-line modes will be active even if the race is wet.

[00:07:49] Even though at the moment it's predicted to be fully dry. Only that the activation will be delayed. But here's the question. As you'd remember, up until now, when we didn't have movable aero parts, you would use very skinny rear and front wings in Monza. They'd be called tabletop, tray wings, skinny wings. So the cars would actually dart through the straights and would be on the edge, you know, sliding around in the corners. Especially the chicanes and the fast Lesmos and the Ascari's of the world.

[00:08:19] But this year, the benefit of the SLM mode could mean that you will drop all the drag on the straights. But you will bring up all the wings in the corners. So maybe the cars will be faster in those corners, more stable in those corners than we've ever seen before. So, of course, we are giving a lot. But we are also going to get something in return with a higher downforce possible. Because we've never seen this before at Monza. So we're going to see it for the first time. You, you know, bring the wings up and then you take the turns. To a degree, right?

[00:08:49] Because we've also shed a lot of downforce with these cars. So I think we could also see it probably be leveled off or squared off to a degree. It's going to be interesting, right? But genuinely, watching the onboard is going to be very, very interesting just to see how the cars perform over here. I get a feeling teams might actually let go of even more during the corners. Like, hey, let's go as lean as possible because why not? Like, if, let's say, if you're a Mercedes-powered car and you already have a lot of power on the straights,

[00:09:18] do you double down on it by bringing an even lighter version of the wing and be like, hey, I want to be 10 KPH faster than everyone else? So very, very curious to see how things play out. But that also reminds me, Kunal, we're slightly off topic. But Ferrari have a new upgrade and it's a power unit upgrade. And they say they're trying to take advantage of the development opportunities enabled to them by the ADUO or the Additional Development Upgrade Opportunities. And a report I read today, courtesy of Crash.net,

[00:09:45] says that they believe it's going to add 15 brake horsepower to the car. So 15 extra brake horsepower for Ferrari. Could that turn the entire tide around? So that's a great point. Ferrari at their home race using the second of the ADUO opportunities to finally bring, you know, another engine upgrade. Remember, they are known to have the best chassis on the grid anyway. The best through the corners. Can they finally deliver on the power unit? And if they do, I think it's going to be great

[00:10:14] because it's been a couple of races since we've not seen Ferrari on the podium. McLaren has taken that spot. We've often joked that it doesn't matter who's leading at the front. The team that is always second and chasing is Ferrari. So will the ADUO engine help change that in some ways? Fianchu is also pointing out there will be ADUO plus software upgrades. Yes. Although the software upgrades are not dictated by the ADUO cycles, you know, your softwares.

[00:10:41] You saw that even in Sunfood when we had the sprint qualifying and the sprint race. And then suddenly they all had better softwares for converging on power unit deployment on the Sunday. So pretty much all the teams were deploying power at same or similar-ish places as well. But my question hence is, so on one end, we've got Ferrari taking the ADUO and hopefully driving there, making no strategy errors like we've seen them do.

[00:11:06] But on the other hand, Kimi Antonelli is going to mostly take a power unit penalty. Now, the beauty of this is Toto Wolff said, I'm going to ask Marco Antonelli if we can take a power unit penalty. I love that. I mean, you're Toto Wolff, probably the most powerful team principal in the paddock, at least in 2026. And with Christian Horner not there, maybe. But you will still ask a 20-year-old's father on whether you can take a power unit penalty. I love that. And you know, this is literally how team... He's 20.

[00:11:35] Antonelli turned 20 last Monday. He's 20. He's no longer a team. Yeah. Oh, goodness. And this is literally how teams work. So even though we see very corporate sides to it, this is literally how lots of teams work. Lots of people getting together like a family does, sitting around a corner and making decisions on what they want to do, especially such sporting decisions that one might need to make. So Antonelli, if he takes a penalty, who will the Tivosi cheer for?

[00:12:00] Because Ferrari could just struggle in several directions, especially if, you know, it's strategy. And then Antonelli could well be down to P10 or even lower. Yeah, which then brings a question, which my dad has actually asked. It was a very fun one. Will the Tivosi support the Italian in the other color or the one in the red car? Because right now, the Italian fans have a bit of a conundrum and a good one. They have a top Italian team and they also have a top Italian driver.

[00:12:29] The only problem is they are in two different colors altogether. It's a very interesting situation. And I wonder if now is the best time for Antonelli to take the engine penalty. Because Monza, because Mercedes has the advantage power-wise. And Ferrari, yeah, Ferrari, it's a bit of a curious case. And we wonder if the engine upgrade will make a difference. And that sort of addresses Feanchu's question, right? Will Antonelli take the new engine with the Aduo or without? I don't think Mercedes are using their Aduo yet.

[00:12:58] And I think they still have one big update coming later on this season. I'm not sure where, but Toto has mentioned that they have one last big upgrade package coming. So they've held off that big one. They have. And it's mostly going to be Baku or after. It could now well be Malaysia with Petronas' home race. Sorry, what do you mean Malaysia? Did you mean Malaysia and Bahrain? The Bahrain GP in Bahrain. Yeah, the Malaysia and Bahrain. Yeah. But, you know, again, interesting.

[00:13:26] Even Chief is asking, will the Tifosi support the Italian in the other color or the red car? Is it the Italian driver who will get support or the Italian team? And to me, this race could very well decide Antonelli's legacy or early legacy in Formula One. How does he fight back? You know, if he takes pole and takes a 10-place grid drop and he's 3-11 and he still manages to get onto the podium, does he pull off overtakes? Does he remain calm?

[00:13:56] Does he remain collected while he's racing in the midfield and just goes on to pick up points while on his way to the podium? Of course, he will need a bit of chaos to benefit from, but this is a crucial race for Antonelli. How calm can he be in battle? Because he's the one with the points advantage, even if he doesn't have the fastest car for the last five or six races. But he's still doing enough to, you know, to fend off his closest detractors, which is Hamilton and Russell.

[00:14:22] So I am very hopeful to see the Antonelli that, you know, everyone's been crowning as the future legend of Formula One. Actually, that brings up Feiyan Chu's point and I really like that. I think it's good that he takes the penalty here, lifts some home pressure off too, says Feiyan Chu. I like that. I really do. Because remember from a couple of years ago when Kimi Antonelli was announced at this very place, he did an FP1 session, crashed over there, it became a furor.

[00:14:50] And since then, there is a certain expectation on this guy. So yeah, I like the fact that it's happened here. The lifting off the home pressure bit is good. And he also has the points advantage. If anything, it's a good place to be able to overtake other people and make up for it. Kenjuma has a very fun fight, fun point too. He says, he or she, not sure, but Kenjuma, good to have you, my friend. I wonder if it makes a difference to the Italians that Antonelli drives for a German team. Do they care, Kunal?

[00:15:17] Because I think the Ferrari mechanics themselves got a photo with Antonelli at Goodwood. Yeah, I think at the end of the day, they're just happy to finally have an Italian driver who's up front and winning. The last Italian driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, winning, wasn't it? Winning? No. He won Le Mans. Yes. Yes, but he was Physichella. Who's the last Italian driver? Oh, good one. I mean, he's former Force India. Because Physichella won the 2005 Sao Paulo Ground Prix, didn't he?

[00:15:47] Or was it 2002? 2002. Well, because Yarno truly won Monaco in 2004, the season when Michael was dominating. And he held everyone off. So if you guys remember, let us know. My memory is sort of failing me. Who was the last Italian to win a Formula One race before Antonelli? Was it Physichella or? Tell me which driver and when. That'll help because DJ Tama is saying Physichella. So he's sort of adding to it. But give me a fact when you guys know. And this is what we do on the broadcast.

[00:16:15] When we're talking, we're like, suddenly somebody's talking to us and saying, yeah, actually, this is the stat. So when Somil and I are reading out a stat or saying, you know, five years ago, this happened on the fifth lap or the fifth race of the Grand Prix with car number five, there's somebody who's fed that stat into a year. So be Physichella with Benetton and Truly, but they weren't in a winning position. That's what is coming out. But anyway, Total Wolf summarized Antonelli's power unit penalty as saying, in our sport, there is no reward for sentiment. I'm actually reading out his quote and I love that. It's such a powerful quote.

[00:16:45] It just so happens that it's his home Grand Prix. It just so happens that Monza's characteristics are such that it is better to take a power unit penalty here because it's easier to overtake and climb back to the points. So it's less to do with home pressure. In my view, it's just where is the easiest place to take a penalty? We've got lots of comments. We'll sort of go down that road. But we spoke about Ferrari. There are two. We spoke about Antonelli.

[00:17:10] George Russell, can he finally, I mean, at some stage, we've got to say, you know what? There are only X number of races remaining and hence X number of points. Whether it's Russell or Hamilton or the outside chance for Lando Norris that everyone's hyping up. The battle to the title starts now in Monza. Yes, you take it race by race.

[00:17:33] But every race in the passing has a higher impact on whether you will take the championship away from Antonelli or not. Yeah, it's kind of now or never. It's kind of now or never for George Russell. And the winning habit has to begin here. Antonelli has been eliminated from the race winning equation, we believe. So it's going to be a case of delivering. And I'm curious.

[00:17:58] I'm curious if Russell is actually able to out-qualify Lando Norris because that's not happened for the last two races. We're walking into this race with the last two victories and pole position being taken by the McLaren of Lando Norris. He's finally arrived this year. Then there's the big mystery of how good the Ferrari upgrade can be. And I'm genuinely curious in a situation of doubt if Ferrari have to pick one over the other.

[00:18:23] Because remember at Monza, tyre strategy becomes crucial because more often than not, you're kind of doing one stop here. There's not a lot of tyre wear. And that timing of that one stop becomes super important. And given the fact that you can follow each other very well here, Ferrari might have a situation where they have to decide who to pull the trigger for. So I'm very excited by that. And obviously, Michael Schumacher's legacy is also going to be hanging somewhere in the clouds because they're also donning a special Schumacher livery this time.

[00:18:52] Yeah, and for once, I was like, I actually saw the livery in greater detail because it's a Michael Schumacher tribute livery. And I loved it. I love the seven stars on the nose. And for Ferrari to bounce back into winning contention, to be in the championship contention, they need that Schumacher factor.

[00:19:12] And I hope that that Schumacher livery turns out to be an inspiration and more than just a content piece and a marketing, you know, marketing move to, you know, pull in more fans to the sport or just pay a tribute. I mean, they need the Schumacher factor. They need somebody to be as ruthless as, you know, Michael Schumacher was with in Ferrari and then on track as well. I swear, I swear. What do you make of it though? Do you love the new Ferrari livery? Because I do. I mean, just, I love it.

[00:19:41] I love the seven stars and I just love it because there's finally a tribute from someone in Formula One, especially Ferrari towards Michael Schumacher. Otherwise, I believe, you know, Michael Schumacher, people remember Senna and Prost and the likes, but Michael Schumacher has just been a bit forgotten of late, if you ask me, or at least that's what I feel. So I like that he's been remembered and there's a tribute that Ferrari is making out for him.

[00:20:05] And like I said, that should serve to be an inspiration of not just delivery, but what that man stood for, which is precision and ruthless precision. Yeah. Yeah. And also being a big family man, remembering every mechanic's name, being a proper inspiration to everyone, taking a gym session after testing for over 100, 200 laps in a day. Yeah. Guy was absolutely insane. I, you know, agree with Joe Tomas' comment and I love that.

[00:20:35] He says, just in terms of color scheme, this should be the standard Ferrari livery, but that brand money. Yes. I agree, my friend. This is what the normal Ferrari should look like. It just, just, just the way, the font of the numbers, the color scheme that they've used, the seven stars is just bravissimo. Bravissimo is what they say. Jotimo, also to answer your question, where did Truly win? Was that the Monaco win? Yes. Because Kenjuma has actually given us a bit of a history lesson, which we greatly, greatly appreciate.

[00:21:05] Before Fisichella in the Renault, in Sepang 2006, it was Jano Trulli for Renault in 2004. Remember that Monaco race where he held everyone up, the Trulli train. And Ludovico Scarfiotti was the last Italian to win in Italy in 1966. That was also at Monza. Oh man, that is a fun story to bring up, my friend. That is, I, I forgot Scarfiotti's name. I'll be honest. That's a great, that's a great pick. I love this.

[00:21:33] There's lots of fun comments coming in and appreciate everyone being patient with us while we run through this. But my concern about McLaren is, how can they come up to the pace in Monza? Sunfoot and Hungaroring played to their strengths. Will they be exposed even more at Monza? And is this one of their joker tracks where they say, let's just take as many points as we get?

[00:21:57] Because all the other tracks, our shorter wheelbase and our shorter gearing ratio selection will actually help us. So can McLaren be in the fight or will it by natural be that Mercedes will be chased by Ferrari because McLaren are not there? And then whatever that there is left of Red Bull Racing as well. And while we speak of Mercedes, this is great chance for George Russell to showcase that he still has it in him to deliver a title challenge.

[00:22:25] Because after giving up position in Sunfoot, where he's also given up more points, you know, will George Russell be able to step up in case Antonelli actually takes the penalty and he's out? Or will he still have to move over for Antonelli and so on? So that's the top four teams that we've spoken about. And my guess is that Tifosi will still cheer on Antonelli since that was the guess that we both were supposed to make. Yes, they will. Of course they will.

[00:22:51] And I think it was Fehanshu who dropped in that comment saying that, yeah, there's the home hero always chasing from the back. It's a great story. It's a great, great story. So Antonelli is going to be one to watch for. You mentioned the concerns with the McLarens. Max Verstappen, they have the best power unit, Kunal, according to the Adua rules, Red Bull Racing. For the third Adua reading in a row, right? Because, oh, is it the second? Yeah, it's the second reading, but for the third period. So they have the best power unit, which cannot be upgraded.

[00:23:21] So what will Max Verstappen do? I'll tell you one thing they definitely will do because, listen, we don't know what the racing is going to look like. We don't know what the clipping, super clipping is going to look like. But I'll tell you one thing we do know what's going to entertain us. Yeah. But I'll tell you one thing we will be entertained by is that everybody is going to join the Macarena party. So Ferrari brought it first. Red Bull brought it, took it away. We'll bring it back. And now McLaren is joining the party.

[00:23:51] And they're like, we're not going to call it the Macarena. We're going to call it the H-Wing. Okay. And which is so British, right? You're going to, you go have chai somewhere. And you say, we actually call it T, but it's the same thing. It's the same logic. So when we see all those wings flipping, I think at some point, I hope the, you know, F1 TV director actually just plays the Macarena song in case of one stopper dry race at Monza where everyone is super clipping gets boring. Yeah. Get the license formula one. Get the license. You need to.

[00:24:20] You need to. Yeah. Jotima has a fun comment on that, by the way, because we were speaking about Red Bull a second ago. And by the way, love the fact that you're engaging with us so often. Thank you guys. Thank you for showing up. Jotima says, well, their internal combustion unit is. So does that mean that Red Bull are the fastest on the streets after the battery is gone? Well, theoretically, theoretically, but that's also a complicated equation, right?

[00:24:45] Because super clipping is also something that's controllable by software, the degree to which you want to super clip. So it's, it's hard to really tell, but in terms of pure horsepower and not battery power. Yeah. I think that would be the case, which I'm very intrigued to see. By the way, Kunal, because all the other circuits we've been to since the Aduo reading has been announced. Let's just say they've had a very big corner influence. Monza has the least of the lot. So I'm curious to see the deficiencies of the Red Bull compared to all the other circuits here at Monza. So we're not going to see it.

[00:25:15] I love that you even answered this question because I believe even the FIA doesn't know this, which is why Red Bull is going and challenging all the Aduo readings. It is on the ice, which is the internal combustion engine, Red Bull's internal combustion engine with four powertrains, whatever is the fastest and the most powerful. But they're literally basing 100% of your power unit based on just a 52% of its actual output and reading.

[00:25:41] So at the end of the day, whether it's the fastest or not, there are so many deployment factors there as to when you use your ice, how much you use it for super clipping, what gears you use as well. So many times we've seen slower corners drivers go all the way down to first gear, which I can't even remember seeing in Formula One before this. But it's just something that Monza will expose us all to. Hence, what else do we have to talk about? A home race for Racing Bulls as well, not just Ferrari.

[00:26:10] They're based in Fianza. That's true. And then, of course, Racing Bulls has Yuki Sunoda in with Arved Alinblad. So Sunoda stands in for Liam Lawson, while Liam Lawson for the second race in the running will stand in for the injured Isaac Hadjar. So Lawson, Verstappen, again, I'd love to see where they stand. Will they be within the 110th, 310th limit that Max always keeps talking about? And will Lawson continue to score points and be in the top 10 in the Drivers' Championship? He's like, it doesn't matter what car you give me.

[00:26:39] I'm in good form to anywhere score points and keep my top 10 in that championship. So there's also a home race for Stefano Dominicali, who is Italian, the CEO of Formula One. It's also a home race for Haas, who has a design office in Maranello, since they have a closer collaboration with Formula One. Yeah, because Dallara, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Dallara, yeah. Also, it's a home race for Pierre Gasly.

[00:27:09] He is French, but he actually lives in Milan. Yes. He still does a word? I'm actually very curious about that. Does he really? Yes, he lives in Milan. Yes, we're just 19 kilometers off the circuit. And it's... If you're watching this, why do you live in Milan, my friend? Like, I love it. Why not? Why? Like, just curious. Just curious. And it's a home race for Pirelli as well. So, there we go. So there's still a fair number of people who have home races. So, you know, that's the power and the beauty of Monza.

[00:27:39] So, we've spoken about the history, the beauty. What's your favorite corner around Monza, Salman? Why don't we talk about the circuit? Actually, Ascari Shikin, personally. Because I love that you have a gravel trap on the exit and you're always trying to maximize the exit. On a simulator, I've only driven it, honestly. But yeah, I love the Ascari Shikin. I love the fact that people can still make mistakes over there just by going wide. I think a couple of years ago, we saw a crash there. But the... Was it the Alboreto corner? The final corner now? Parabolic.

[00:28:09] Just please call it Parabolica. I think Parabolica has been changed, hasn't it? It has. But we should just call it Parabolica. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which you're right. I haven't bothered in checking the names because it's still Parabolica. But no, Alboreto. It's happening in 2021. Yeah, yeah. There we go. Okay. So... What's your favorite corner? My... You know, the thing is, I'm yet to... I'm yet to pick one favorite corner because each corner has its own legacy, history and so on. And I love that, you know, Monza is what now?

[00:28:39] This is the 96th race in Monza. If you were to see all of history, even outside of Formula One. But Curva Grande and the Lesmos have been around since 1922. Forever. Can you imagine? Yeah, like since forever. So for me, those bits stand out. I love the banking. We'll never get to sort of race on that banking out there. And I think I'll pick those two. I mean, since we have to pick...

[00:29:07] I also love turn one. And I'll tell you what I love about turn one. So watch out. We don't have DRSs, but we'll have Makarena. So a lot of people will be stuck in the Makarena thing. Everyone is going to get onto the dance floor and just copy each other and not sort of step out. But what I love, another thing about Monza is the turns one and two. The first chicane is where you will see an attack. But the following chicane, turns three and four, is where you will see an overtake.

[00:29:34] So I love that when you start attacking at the exit of Parabolica, it's literally at the other half end of the circuit that you might finally see an overtake. Because you sort of put the driver under pressure at the turns one and two. You compromise them on the exit of turn two. And then you take them through, you know, the corner and start attacking at the braking of the next chicane. So I sort of love that. It's unlike most of the racing circuits where you just attack that corner for what it is unless, you know, it's the last corner of the race. So I like that.

[00:30:03] And then, you know, curb riding. We're going to see lots of curb riding. I love that about I sort of miss that because the ground effect era cars were not curb riding as aggressively. Because if you damage the floor while riding curbs, you're literally taking away points of downforce. But now these cars don't really have so much downforce from the floor. So curb riding is definitely something to look out for. And what else have we got about Monza? Qualifying.

[00:30:31] The fact that it's always a cue in qualifying. All the drivers line up and try to go as slowly as possible because everybody wants the tow. No, we're not talking about any foot fetish here. They mean the T-O-W, not the T-O-E. It's when you follow another car and essentially get an advantage because the other car is cutting through the air for you. So less air resistance for you. You can go faster. So teammates will work together. And that's going to be a big point of contention.

[00:31:00] Does your teammate repay the favor as much as you do for them? And sometimes you might have a situation where teams are going to inadvertently tell you who their number one is by giving one driver the preference in terms of qualifying. So let's say the final run of qualifying will Haas tell Esteban Ocon to give Oliver Behrman a tow. Or will it be the other way around? Will it be like, hey, you have to fend for yourself, every driver for their own sake.

[00:31:25] So you're going to get to see a lot of these dynamics between the teams in qualifying. And that gives you an idea of how they view their drivers as well. So I'm always intrigued to see that, Kunal. Who supports who in the tow ward? Which means traffic in Q1 is something we need to watch out for. Because outlap management usually is about the front tires and getting them into temperature because the circuit is so smooth. And there are very few longitudinal energy corners.

[00:31:53] Okay, so it's only lateral energy that you put through the tires. So the fronts really take time to get into temperature. So what do the drivers do? They will weave very aggressively. Okay. But they've been doing that forever since history of, you know, the Italian Grand Prix Monza. But the critical thing here is also to prep your battery on the outlap somewhere, given the limited harvesting opportunities that you get so that you're able to deploy on your fast lap as well.

[00:32:21] So as always, very interesting engineering challenges that will be thrown even on the power unit side of things. And what else have we got? Should we just do predictions and end? But before we do predictions, how did you miss out on Tom Cruise announcing that there's days of thunder in 2028? Yes. And Anne Hathaway is also going to be a part of it. I'm very excited. Very excited because I love my NASCAR. So very, very excited to see how that comes about.

[00:32:50] Although I haven't watched the original days of thunder, mind you. Well, you know what? I just wonder what has Tom Cruise taken upon him? Because it's going to be Cruise versus Brad Pitt. Okay, when it comes to the box office, Brad Pitt and the whole F1 movie production team up the production levels, graphic levels, realistic racing levels to such an extent. And now I'm excited to see how Tom Cruise responds. Listen, the plot line is going to be the same.

[00:33:19] An aging star coming back to a machine, trying to win glory, help others win glory, train the new. I don't care. Give me a 19-year-old trying to win the world championship. That's what I want to watch. Insane. But imagine what every racing movie here on is going up to. It's going up to the production standards of the F1 movie. And I'd love to see how... There's a MotoGP movie as well coming now, Kunal. That reminds me. Really? But yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:33:48] They're going to basically show a MotoGP rider who becomes a robber or some sort of gangster and rides bikes to steal stuff. Which I'm like, is this the perception of motorcycle racers you have, guys? Which is... It's... That's also... So everyone's looking to motorsport to create movies. Which means it's only about time that WRC gets its movie too. Because it's long overdue. Well, well, well. Yes, it's long overdue. Predictions, Samuel Arora. What do you think? Last thing before predictions. Go for it. Last thing before predictions. Two comments that I really want to take. Fianshu, firstly.

[00:34:17] Piastri's move on Leclerc at Lesmo was so good last year. I agree. Took Leclerc by surprise. That was opening lap, I believe. So really, really fun. Secondly, Ken Juma's comment. In Italy, they can get special benefits for living there. So even though it's not like Switzerland and Monaco, unlike in FE England, there's a law that it plays that allows you to get tax benefits as an athlete. You're actually right about that. That's why a lot of footballers who are actually 26 or above end up going to Italy because they get big tax breaks.

[00:34:45] So even though their gross salary is lower compared to other countries, their net salary is higher. So it's a fun point that he mentioned. Maybe that's why Gasly lives in Milan. Could be. And I know Yuki Sunoda used to live next to Fianza as well when he was racing for Racing Bulls. And I don't know if he moved to the Milton Keynes and so on. We should take one comment and one banter. So the comment is from Rishab Thakur saying, what is the case for Hamilton? Can he win the World Drivers Championship? And what are the scenarios?

[00:35:13] Well, well, the only scenario is he needs to start winning races soon. Now. Now. And he needs to please the Tifosi by doing that because the banter question for you, Samuel, is why did Mercedes decide to take the power unit penalty for Kimi Antonelli at his home race in Monza in front of the Tifosi? Because the Italians like a fairy tale story? Well, my friend, my answer is the complete opposite. The Italians are used to not seeing their Italian heroes win.

[00:35:42] They're used to seeing the Italian team not perform. They are used to having a lot of hype and then not getting results. So Toto said, you know what? I'd rather just do it for the Italians than do it for, I don't know, the Azerbaijani audience that will be there. The Italians just know how to deal with sporting outcomes that are not in their favor or sporting failures. But failures is a big word. This is just a self-inflicted engine penalty. But yeah. That's rude, man. That's rude.

[00:36:11] Well, time for predictions. Who wins the Italian Grand Prix? We can't say Kimi Antonelli or you could be a hero and say Kimi Antonelli. But I'm going to go for the most famous win that would ever happen in Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton winning the Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari with a tribute livery to Michael Schumacher. That's my prediction. And you are saying he will beat Charles Leclerc in that Michael Schumacher livery in Ferrari at his home ground in Monza.

[00:36:41] Yes, because the seven stars, you could probably say they are for Michael, but you could also say that the seven stars of the Ferrari are for Lewis. Could well be so. Yes, Kimi Leclerc versus Hamilton battling at the front just to entertain us, just to entertain the Tifosi and just to give us some glimmer of hope in the Drivers' Championship. But I am inclined to go with what Ken Juma is saying, that George Russell is going to win the Italian Championship. Oh, wow. That George Russell is going to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

[00:37:09] And that, my friend, is yes, the boring answer that one can give. But are we ruling out the McLarens, Verstappens, Liam Lawsons, and even a comeback drive from Antonelli? Are we really ruling all of that out? Yes. Yes, we are. Who's on pole, Samuel Arora? Lewis. Lewis. Lewis. Although, you know what? Like, this is one of the places where I expect more out of the Williams. Like, there are teams that we know have a genuine deficiency in the corners, right?

[00:37:38] Like, we heard that Red Bull and Williams were genuinely overweight and had problems when the car was turning. So the car's not going to turn as much now. It has to spend a vast majority of its time on the streets. Show us what you've got. Let's see how bad it is. Like, I'm genuinely expecting Williams and Alpine to be incredible here. But that doesn't mean I put them in my predictions or my F1 fantasy team. I'm just hoping that they're actually able to come good. Franco Colapinto made his Formula 1 debut two years ago for Williams at the circuit in Monza at the Italian Grand Prix.

[00:38:08] So Colapinto... Yeah, no. Went well here. At that time, it was easier to make their debut because Williams had similarly a great performance at Monza. Wasn't it Nick DeVries as well? Who had the... Yeah, DeVries as well. Yeah. Yeah. And then Alpine will finally have the same upgrade package for Colapinto as well as they had for Gasly. Just FYI. Let's see who brings what upgrades. But my pole position is actually Charles Leclerc.

[00:38:33] Leclerc will out-qualify Lewis Hamilton and they will celebrate on Saturday. But is George Russell going for the win on Sunday? Sorry, one question, Kunal. Will the Ferrari drivers help each other out during qualifying? That's the only thing I want to know. Given everything that's happened in the last few weeks, will they support each other with the toe? I actually... Now that you ask me, I'm going to get a little technical. There is a chance both drivers can help each other in alternating laps with the toe.

[00:39:01] So you could down to Parabolica be getting a toe on your fast lap and then your teammate who gives you the toe starts behind you and then you give him the toe down to turn one as well. So you can orchestrate that if you really want the toe to be given to both drivers, equal footing and so on and so on. So that you get both cars up there. Will they actually do that? That I think is a double-towing tactic rather like just the way we see a double-stacking tactic. I'm curious. Let's see. Let's see about that. But predictions are here.

[00:39:31] Make sure, folks, you are watching the fan code Hindi Formula 1 broadcast if you can. Because Kunal is going to be there this weekend commentating on the race. Where am I going to be? I'm going to be commentating on a boat tug-of-war event this weekend. So that's why I'm not on the broadcast. You have fun with Chetan over there, Kunal. I'll be missing you guys. But the Inside Line F1 podcast will be back hopefully this same night. Worst case on Monday. And we will be bringing you all the discussions from the race live.

[00:39:59] So make sure you subscribe to the Inside Line F1 podcast on Instagram and YouTube. For now, that's all from us. Take care, folks. Enjoy the race weekend.