MBS & Red Bull to overshadow F1 action...again? 2024 Saudi Arabian GP Preview

[00:00:00] Before we begin, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the folks at Amazon Music for partnering

[00:00:07] with us on this episode of the InsideLine F1 Podcast.

[00:00:10] But more on this later, right then, let's get right into today's episode. Now that we have seen that the first race of the season didn't provide as much entertainment

[00:00:39] as we wanted, two people have actually stepped up and said, right, we'll take this into our control.

[00:00:46] The FIA and Red Bull, the main perpetrators of all the dullness that we see on track,

[00:00:50] have elected one person each to stand up and make this sport more entertaining.

[00:00:55] Lo and behold, Muhammad Ben-Salive and Christian Horner are creating more controversy than a

[00:01:01] drive-to-survive episode can ever do. Folks, this is the InsideLine F1 podcast.

[00:01:06] And today we're going to be talking about everything but what happens on track and formula

[00:01:11] one because this is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix preview and believe it or not, Kunal,

[00:01:16] even though we're coming to one of the fastest, actually the fastest street circuit in the

[00:01:20] world, a circuit that's filled with crazy turns, with incredibly narrow areas

[00:01:25] where you go through speeds of 250 to 70 kph, a circuit that's so technically challenging

[00:01:30] and a nitrace by the harbor in Saudi Arabia. This is meant to be the perfect formula one

[00:01:36] venue. But the only thing that's on our mind is a gate. What do we call the MBS gate?

[00:01:42] Now the private jet gate or like, what gate or what's your terminology for it now?

[00:01:47] MBS gate. I'm probably just gonna call it that

[00:01:51] But there are so many lanes within that gate if you we think sort of just quickly summarize it

[00:01:56] So the first is he tried to interfere with a race result 2023 south south the Arabian ground for itself and yeah

[00:02:07] race result 2023 South Saudi Arabian country itself and yeah one year and also was one year anniversary there we go the second was he used his private jet or used a private jet of the F.I.

[00:02:13] a little too much so expenses are all of back which is what happens with a lot of sports

[00:02:18] administrators around the world sorry to say i'm just putting him in a bucket there. And the third which actually will hurt Formula 1

[00:02:26] the most by Formula 1 I mean Liberty Media, Stefano Tominekali is when MBS tried to interfere in not

[00:02:35] letting the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit be homologated or approved by the FIFO last year's

[00:02:42] Las Vegas Grand Prix, the inaugural Grand Prix. And

[00:02:46] one of the reasons why they will take it a little two personalities, because that's the

[00:02:50] race the FIF turned promoter for that's the race, you know, FIF is just not the FIF, sorry,

[00:02:56] F1, yeah, F1, Liberty Media, they just released full, your earning results for 2023. And the last way is Grand Prix,

[00:03:07] is one big factor for their massive jump in earnings in 2023.

[00:03:13] Now imagine MBS directly tried to stop Formula One

[00:03:21] from having those earnings.

[00:03:22] So he is a threat.

[00:03:24] And I think all of this is gonna be be with the 20, 25 elections for the FIA presidency

[00:03:29] coming up.

[00:03:30] But hey, could we get rid of him earlier?

[00:03:32] That's probably brought a lot of people in formula on our thinking right now.

[00:03:35] I mean, it's a lot like Daniel Ricardo at McLaren, except that you know that the person

[00:03:41] is trying in the case of Daniel.

[00:03:43] You know, he's giving it his best.

[00:03:44] You know that when the moment arise, he can do something special.

[00:03:48] Blunder after Blunder after Blunder, but the blunders are fine. See, blunders are human, but personal blunders.

[00:03:55] Things like trying to influence the, what's the exact word for it? Trying to influence the cancellation of the last maker's crown print.

[00:04:05] That is beyond beyond me because that race in itself can

[00:04:08] on a current for what a 25% growth in Formula 1's incomes

[00:04:12] are revenue.

[00:04:12] So not sure about the exact number,

[00:04:14] but in a quarterly basis, their revenues grew by some 60

[00:04:18] odd percent from 2022 to 2023 in that quarter four

[00:04:22] for Formula 1.

[00:04:23] It's mind blowing the kind of financial

[00:04:26] superpower that it had. And then on top of that, isn't it funny that the president of an organization,

[00:04:32] one of whose main roles is to make sure that the finances are used well, among many other things,

[00:04:37] has totally forgotten that if you end up spending a bit too much as a nonprofit organization,

[00:04:42] you can actually be taxed kind of like a private

[00:04:45] organization in France, which would mean that the whole purpose of the FIA gets defeated.

[00:04:50] It's how do you do that?

[00:04:52] It's just upon that there are the sexist remarks as well, upon that the stewarding bit as well,

[00:04:58] because we had a chat before this episode.

[00:05:01] And I thought doing this was normal, that they're trying to influence the stewards in terms of the decision making. Because back in the day, when we had Sean

[00:05:08] Murray-Bolestra, again, another very ego-centered, personal driven, vendetta driven sort of president

[00:05:14] of the FIA, who did things that are probably very inexplicable in a sporting sense. Back

[00:05:18] in the day, he used to be somewhat similar as well. But now, in the meanwhile, we've

[00:05:22] had so many good FIA presidents. And then this, it's just like, where. But now, in the meanwhile, we've had so many good FIA presidents.

[00:05:31] And then this is just like, where are we now? I think it's a bit hard to label the Benselheim controversies as gate, because in my mind, the entire presidency has been a gate in itself.

[00:05:38] It has. It absolutely has. When you ask to where are we? I'm just going to read out the official results from F1's release on what date, 28th of February.

[00:05:50] So a week ago or something,

[00:05:52] the Las Vegas Grand Prix had 16 billion social media impressions,

[00:05:57] even though Max wish tap and said he felt like clown in there, right?

[00:06:03] The revenue was up 25%.

[00:06:05] The Las Vegas Grand Prix was significantly attributed, right,

[00:06:12] for this jump.

[00:06:13] And the main point here is this jeopardy

[00:06:18] that he's trying to put.

[00:06:20] What else is he trying to inflict on Formula One?

[00:06:22] Have you been inflicted with a lot of things? But what else is he trying to inflict on formula one? Have you been inflicted with a lot of things? But what else is he trying to inflict which can know which can directly impact the business?

[00:06:31] Right he runs the governing body 40 million dollars is what he's paid not he but the F. I. Spader your

[00:06:37] To adjudicate to govern formula one there have been

[00:06:41] Discrepancies in our DFI have also done also dumb things. Not only is he getting his

[00:06:46] house, not getting his house in order, he's also not doing enough, or probably he is doing enough

[00:06:53] to throw stones at Formula One's house and business. That's a bit of a concern, I could say.

[00:07:01] If I can just switch to the other gate, which I know we are going to talk of, is the Christian

[00:07:04] Honor Gate, with all of that that happens. It doesn't impact the business

[00:07:08] of Formula One. If anything, it gets a lot more publicity. But what MBS is doing is probably

[00:07:15] impacting the business, the credibility, and the earnings of Formula One.

[00:07:20] I mean, think about it. If you're Christian Horner and you're getting so much of revenue from running Red Bull Racing as a championship winning team, someone tries

[00:07:29] to jeopardize the biggest revenue owner of the entire season. Someone tries to jeopardize

[00:07:34] your share in the sport by allowing another team to come in. Again, that discussion, it

[00:07:39] was objective. We'll talk about that. But someone tries to jeopardize the biggest earning

[00:07:43] potential of the entire season. Someone tries to cut your share apart by adding a new shareholder into the sport.

[00:07:50] Then you just look at them and go, are you stupid or what? Because of all these things.

[00:07:54] It's surely that the frustration might be real and there is a genuine reason to be

[00:07:59] pissed. Also, I think there is another genuine reason to be pissed and another controversy because

[00:08:04] now, eight minutes into this episode, we have hardly spoken about the Grand Prix

[00:08:08] at hand because there is another gate.

[00:08:10] The Christian Horner Gate or the WhatsApp Gate?

[00:08:13] I don't see any...

[00:08:16] I mean, we've seen the developments in the last week, Kunal.

[00:08:19] We've seen the so-called fake, the so-called fake or real screenshots, which I know you and

[00:08:25] me wouldn't have wanted to see at all, like someone else's business, someone else's life.

[00:08:30] None of it pertains to us.

[00:08:31] But for what we can tell, clearly it's a personal attack.

[00:08:37] There is no other reason for yours to step into come out in the media and say, I don't

[00:08:40] want Max to drive in a team where Christian Horner is.

[00:08:43] And there is no other reason for someone to send these so-called true photographs, just 30 minutes after Red Bull

[00:08:49] announced a result of its investigation, which was independent. And also sending it to journalists

[00:08:54] whose contact details are normally pretty hidden. How does that happen? There's clearly someone

[00:08:59] inside the paddock stirring the pot. Where do you see this whole story going? Like, what's

[00:09:03] happening in this?

[00:09:04] Nine minutes in, and we are still talking of all the off track stories to track because

[00:09:08] the might be actually... What two races? Not even two races in, the Sunday will be 4% of the season

[00:09:16] done, whatever. But no, the truth is there might not be as many on track stories to track,

[00:09:23] which is why these off track stories

[00:09:25] are anyway taking a lot of precedence. And my reading in Red Bull racing, based on the

[00:09:31] sources I've spoken to, some direct, some indirect, is that it's a classic power struggle. It's

[00:09:40] a power struggle between Christian Hauner and the Red Bull owners in Austria. It's a power struggle between Christian Horner and the Red Bull

[00:09:46] Owners in Austria

[00:09:47] It's about who stands where in the power struggle the Yewita family seems to be backing Christian Horner

[00:09:54] Whereas the wish happens helmet Marco and the Austrians are on the same page, right? So

[00:10:01] the question that not a lot of people are asking is

[00:10:08] So, the question that not a lot of people are asking is why is Christian Hana trying to act on his own?

[00:10:10] Why is he trying to get an external buyer?

[00:10:14] Who is trying to get Red Bull Technologies, the owner, the investing company of Red Bull

[00:10:19] Racing has a separate entity with the Uawita family and so on.

[00:10:25] And my assumption, and it's a very strong assumption,

[00:10:28] is that there were already changes

[00:10:31] that Red Bull Austria was gonna make to Red Bull Racing,

[00:10:35] which wouldn't have made Christian Hana happy.

[00:10:38] To which he said, screw this,

[00:10:40] I will just go and buy the team myself.

[00:10:43] And the other thing, I think the other thing is even the

[00:10:46] Christian honor has more dominant eras to his name. The one thing in comparison to Toto Wolf,

[00:10:51] the one thing he doesn't have that Toto Wolf has is shareholding. It's the fact Christian is still

[00:10:58] an employee of Red Bull Racing, whereas Toto Wolf owns a large part of the team.

[00:11:05] Could it have been that in all of this,

[00:11:07] everybody now wants ownership of the team,

[00:11:10] given that Liberty Media has certainly turned these teams into unicorn

[00:11:15] valuations, we saw a team like Alpene is close to a billion dollars in valuation.

[00:11:20] A lot of this is down to PowerStrucker,

[00:11:23] but one thing is so certain

[00:11:33] and that the Red Bull raising dominance is now going to end with this level of implosion, right? Because there is so much doubt that people are going to bring into their organizational

[00:11:40] workings, right? And what do I mean by doubt? Right now, we're stepping trust that Red Bull is acting

[00:11:45] in his best interests and Red Bull trust

[00:11:48] that which happens and whatever,

[00:11:50] Horner and everyone else is acting in the best interests

[00:11:52] of the team and the company.

[00:11:55] But that itself is now got a crack, right?

[00:11:58] Can this crack be mended, right?

[00:12:01] And it's, it just reminds me two things.

[00:12:03] You know, Ferrari went through this with Michael Schumacher,

[00:12:06] Sean Todd and Ross Braun. They wanted to break this trial because they were operating on their

[00:12:11] own outside of the typical Ferrari corporate culture. And then the second is my hats off to

[00:12:18] Mercedes that they could do this for seven seasons on the trot. Somebody like Red Bull Racing, less than two years after Dietrich has passed away,

[00:12:31] is probably going through this power struggle.

[00:12:33] And I've had a really long chat, but this was crucial to set the context off.

[00:12:37] Yeah, I agree.

[00:12:38] I agree.

[00:12:38] We needed to bring this up because all the pictures, all the headlines,

[00:12:43] all the statements, all the investigation results,

[00:12:46] they mean nothing unless you understand the bigger picture. And back in the day, the sentiment that

[00:12:53] the journalists have been reporting is that the Red Bull family, which was again owned by

[00:12:58] Dietrich Matashis at one point, they were completely backing Christian Horner. Now that

[00:13:04] another, that backing

[00:13:05] comes from two sources, the Red Bull family

[00:13:07] and the Red Bull Austria,

[00:13:08] instead of just one strong powerful man and Dietrich,

[00:13:11] suddenly it has opened up the door to so much.

[00:13:14] And ultimately, that you can't blame Christian Horner

[00:13:17] for anything because the end goal of any leader

[00:13:19] or any human or any organization

[00:13:21] or even any organism for that matter is survival.

[00:13:24] This is all part of his survival instinct, everything that he's doing,

[00:13:27] which is kind of crazy how this whole story is going.

[00:13:30] So we should track it a bit more depth, but I think now...

[00:13:33] It's survival instincts, yeah.

[00:13:35] But also, it's about ego, it's about power, it's about control.

[00:13:41] And that is the typical human tendencies that come into play when you are running such a

[00:13:48] dominant force. And I really hope that people are not throwing Christian Horner under the bus

[00:13:57] so that Max Wishtappen can go race from the saidys because of this whole conversation that his

[00:14:03] clause is about who works at Red

[00:14:05] Bowl, whether it's Marco, whether it's Vishvira, Hornard himself, whether it's Newy,

[00:14:10] you know, that's a part of his exit clause. It would be a shame if this is being done,

[00:14:14] just so that which happens can get out of the contract they have with Red Bowl Racing.

[00:14:18] But frankly speaking, I think they are all the pawns in all of this. I think the power play is at a much higher level.

[00:14:28] Also, like I said, what changes were Red Bull trying to bring to Red Bull racing?

[00:14:35] By Red Bull, I mean the energy drinks bringing a change to Red Bull racing.

[00:14:39] That prompted Christian honour in the first place to try and buy the team on his own because he's been

[00:14:45] happy with Red Bull. He's got Marco, he's got Nui, he's got Max, the only thing he didn't have

[00:14:52] was shareholding, which could have been one of the reasons as well that he did it. But the second

[00:14:58] was Red Bull trying to bring about a change that would have taken power away from Christian honour

[00:15:05] change that would have taken power away from Christian Hana and so on. So, I hope this has got nothing to do with Red Bull Energy drinks at a large level, right?

[00:15:12] Red Bull Racing is one of their most visible entities and could just be a crack in the

[00:15:19] overall business of Red Bull, my goodness.

[00:15:22] And think about it, if you're Christian Hauner, an energy drinks company came to you back

[00:15:26] in 2004, if I'm not mistaken, earlier because the whole Jaguar takeover happened at that

[00:15:32] time.

[00:15:33] But 20 odd years ago, an energy drinks company came to you and said, we want you to run a

[00:15:37] Formula One team.

[00:15:38] But you expanded that to becoming a multiple-time world champion, one of the most dominant teams in history, and also setting up an engine manufacturing company and a supercar division.

[00:15:49] All of this on your own.

[00:15:51] It's something that's completely been set up by you.

[00:15:53] It's your baby.

[00:15:55] You want share holding in this so that you can survive all of the chaos that's happening

[00:15:59] in the background.

[00:16:00] This is your team.

[00:16:01] And that's the only thing that he has to do, survival instincts.

[00:16:04] But we also need to kick in our survival instincts as a Formula One podcast because

[00:16:09] we need to talk about the hard track stuff as well, whatever little there is.

[00:16:12] But no, importantly, there is a lot because amidst all this chaos canal, we've actually

[00:16:18] very conveniently forgotten that the sound that even Grand Prix is the home of one of

[00:16:24] the best circuits in Formula 1.

[00:16:26] 27 corners, average speeds that will blow your mind.

[00:16:29] The barrier is being extremely close to the track.

[00:16:32] I mean, that's definitely going to be one point that the drivers will bring up very,

[00:16:35] very quickly.

[00:16:36] But the way the corners are put down, I think this weekend, what we all should do as a mark

[00:16:41] of respect for Formula 1, as a mark of why we watch the sport in the first place.

[00:16:45] Turn down the comms this comes from a commotative himself turn on the comms on Saturday and just watch the cars on their quality laps watch how fast they turn watch how quickly the change direction I think.

[00:16:57] We really really are going to get a good weekend full of car racing maybe just not at the top, but the whole midfield battle,

[00:17:05] the whole battle between McLaren Ferrari and Mercedes, and just a sight of cars in the night

[00:17:09] tackling a street circuit of this technical challenge. I think it's going to be a good weekend,

[00:17:14] regardless of all that's happened in the background. I think so. I mean, especially from the racing

[00:17:19] spectacle, I think it's down to how the cars will look in the lights, these super fast circuit corners

[00:17:28] that you spoke of and drivers keeping it clean, no track limits because clearly you'll just

[00:17:33] be in the barriers, although some corners still have the white line and so on.

[00:17:38] But you said it's one of the most beautiful, spectacle street circuits.

[00:17:42] I absolutely agree.

[00:17:43] In fact, they've released the new renders of a new circuit they want to build in in Kitya, if that's the pronunciation.

[00:17:50] But truth be told, I mean, it's the world's fastest street circuit, 27 high speed corners.

[00:17:55] Like I said, I was speaking to Kushmani, the Indian Formula 2 driver in the morning,

[00:17:59] and I asked him, what's the secret to a key quick lap? And he said, Conal from turns 5 to 10, if you are offline, you actually

[00:18:07] mess up that whole sector. So just being on the line, which is a very high speed line, is what could

[00:18:13] happen also. It's a race that could end within one or 20 minutes because that's how quick the race

[00:18:19] goes, you know, and if there are no stoppages, specifically, now imagine having a sprint, which

[00:18:25] pretty much defeats the purpose. If you're going to take 20 minutes longer to run a whole

[00:18:28] country in South Korea, right?

[00:18:31] But lots of stoppages as well.

[00:18:34] Some will as we could expect this weekend, which will disrupt qualifying strategy as

[00:18:39] well as race strategy.

[00:18:40] I think we've seen four safety cars in the last three years, two full red flag

[00:18:45] sessions as well, lots of DRS battles, something I know that really charged you up when you saw

[00:18:50] Leclair and Wishtappen. So that's something we could end up seeing as well because even though

[00:18:55] it's a high speed circuit and you're following each other and so on, there are two or three very

[00:18:59] distinct areas of overtaking. I think turns one and two is one, turn 13 is one width, which is a banked corner allows for different lines through it. And then of course the last happen, the turn 27,

[00:19:10] where we could witness a fair bit of overtaking, right? But I have a fact about motorsport,

[00:19:18] about Mecca. You know, usually when you say the Mecca of motorsport, you think it's a Sylvester because, you know,

[00:19:27] motorsport and all the history it's had over the years, right?

[00:19:32] And Mecca is just 90 or 100 odd kilometers from Jeddah.

[00:19:40] So literally the Mecca of motorsport

[00:19:43] could technically very be the Saudi Arabian

[00:19:46] Grand Prix just for physical distance and location reasons.

[00:19:52] And I think as a circuit as well, it deserves to be given a certain title, maybe not the

[00:19:58] Mecca, but a word on why this weekend is going to be so much fun. On the whole right, this circuit is very fast,

[00:20:08] but also not very abrasive, which is pretty much the opposite of what we saw in Bahrain.

[00:20:13] The weather conditions might be similar, they might be similar amounts of heat, similar amounts of

[00:20:19] wear and load that they'll have to figure out in terms of the heat. But in terms of the track,

[00:20:22] in terms of the way it all goes, this is much, much harder on tire wear

[00:20:27] than tire degradation this time out.

[00:20:29] And the teams will really have to focus

[00:20:31] on their corner speeds, especially in the faster mid speed

[00:20:34] corners, which is where last year towards the end

[00:20:37] McLaren were quite good.

[00:20:39] That's where they were.

[00:20:40] That's why they won a sprint race in Qatar.

[00:20:42] That's why they were so damn good in Brazil.

[00:20:44] And also in Silverstone, here it's going to be a bit race in Qatar. That's why they were so damn good in Brazil and also in Silverstone.

[00:20:46] Here it's going to be a bit of a challenge for teams like Mercedes who with this car

[00:20:50] have actually announced that that's one thing that they intend to get better.

[00:20:54] They're mid to high speed corners.

[00:20:56] Can there be more on the edge on places like that?

[00:20:59] So that story is going to be fun to track.

[00:21:01] And also how good a Ferrari would tie wear because their entire problem last season was

[00:21:06] tie a degradation?

[00:21:07] Can they make the circuit work?

[00:21:09] Can they be closer to red bull racing?

[00:21:11] And remember, one more key fact, believe it or not, even though Max was tapping might

[00:21:15] have won everything there is to win in this entire planet in terms of Formula One, he

[00:21:20] still has not taken pole position at the Saudi Revan Grand Prix.

[00:21:25] That's what's that? That could potentially change.

[00:21:27] But who knows? Maybe the street continues.

[00:21:29] Which reminds me, he actually was on one of the greatest pole laps.

[00:21:33] Never to be completed in 2022. He just tagged the barrier.

[00:21:38] 2022 wasn't that.

[00:21:40] The decider. 2021. Oh, what a beautiful lap. And then he's also never been at the front row. 2021, 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 always bring up, which is let's never forget the missile strike that happened a couple of years ago. F1-1, let's forget it, but we should never forget it. There was a missile strike that happened.

[00:22:10] We still continued racing because hey, we were assured that everything's hunky-dory missile strikes

[00:22:17] just happen in different parts of the world then. You should just move on. But we've had

[00:22:21] three different race winners in the last three years, Hamilton, Rich, Tapen, Perez. So that's the order. It's a 40 second race in the Middle East, literally.

[00:22:32] You also said something about low, medium to high speed, which means teams will come with

[00:22:37] low downforce setups. I know that they're all bringing different rear wings to cope with

[00:22:42] low downforce setup. And that's very interesting at the start of the season

[00:22:45] because I think whenever you go from,

[00:22:48] when you change circuit configurations

[00:22:50] and hence the subsequent downforce setups on the car,

[00:22:56] you end up seeing the order of the midfield also change

[00:23:00] in the races, right?

[00:23:01] For example, could Williams, you know,

[00:23:04] suddenly find themselves up ahead,

[00:23:06] given that it's high speed and you already mentioned McLaren as well, right? Albin has,

[00:23:10] for example, never scored a point here. They had steering issues in Bahrain, would they be solved by

[00:23:15] now? And that's something key I'm looking forward to, will the pecking order change a little bit after the opening round in Bahrain and high speed.

[00:23:28] Also, it's under the lights. I remember in 22, there was where Stappen and Leclerc,

[00:23:34] they actually complained of being dizzy around here because of the speed and the lights and so

[00:23:39] on. So it's also testing the drivers in a different sensory way this weekend big time big time

[00:23:46] That's going to be one to watch and lastly

[00:23:49] DRS battles you mentioned them earlier, but they are going to be a proper proper nightmare because at this circuit

[00:23:56] Which is again technically going to be a bigger challenge to follow because dirty air through corners is something that it's really

[00:24:02] Impactful in terms of your ability to follow another car.

[00:24:05] But here of all the places, two main straits and the DRS is now activated on lap number

[00:24:11] two.

[00:24:12] So the chaos just becomes even more.

[00:24:14] And again, same hypothetical scenario.

[00:24:17] If you're battling for the lead, if suppose we have a, we're snap and fighting against

[00:24:22] Carlos signs because of course who else was that part of Carlos science of fighting for the leader on lap number two they'll

[00:24:27] have to play it more tactically because the straights are long and the DRS is

[00:24:30] properly powerful around here and suddenly you might have drivers break

[00:24:34] testing each other just to make sure that they don't end up giving the DRS to

[00:24:38] other drivers or something that it's it's sad but again that could be a

[00:24:42] possibility just to put it out there that that's That's something that could be on the cards.

[00:24:46] And the back straight could be see a double flip-stream overtake

[00:24:50] that could happen in the first couple of laps, because we've seen Jehanda Aruala put it off in,

[00:24:55] put it off in formula two a couple of years ago.

[00:24:57] But I'm going to quickly just wrap who needs to do well in qualifying

[00:25:02] and then who needs to do well in the race.

[00:25:04] Iffarari scored the 250th as a constructor.

[00:25:06] Luckily, I clearly dropped it in Para.

[00:25:09] Even though he was quicker in qualifying in Q2, as we remember,

[00:25:13] Landstroll was the only top five team driver not to be in Q3,

[00:25:17] made it up for in the race.

[00:25:19] Perez was not qualifying second, but he was fifth in Para.

[00:25:22] And so he, while he finished second second needs to show where a qualifying performance. Daniel Ricciardo was outqualified by

[00:25:29] Yuki Sonoda. Alpeins were less than a second or just about a second of Red Bull racing

[00:25:36] but bottom of the grid and Ocon hasn't been in Q3 for the last five races.

[00:25:43] Joe Guan Yu who finished 11th and impressive in Bahrain

[00:25:47] actually has been outqualified by Portas.

[00:25:49] Five races in a row.

[00:25:51] And if you remember, release season predictions,

[00:25:54] we spoke of how there will be one or two driver changes

[00:25:56] in Audi, Salberg, Stake, whatever you call it.

[00:26:00] And I've left the last one for qualifying for the last summer,

[00:26:03] which is Color Science has been outqualified by Sharv LeClaire. Eight races in a row. So even though he had a

[00:26:12] really stonking performance on track in Bahrain in the race, he needs to bring it back in qualifying.

[00:26:18] And if I can just switch to the race, because if you were to summarize the Bahrain Grand Prix,

[00:26:24] If I can just switch to the race because what you know if you were to summarize the bar in Grand Prix

[00:26:31] The chasing pack actually just didn't chase red bull well enough. That's the underlying belief

[00:26:37] You know Ferrari had break tough break tough issues and Mercedes had engine cooling issues and

[00:26:39] Williams at steering dash issues

[00:26:49] You know helmet Marco said that alpha tauri v card whatever we call them just had a bad strategy that didn't help Yuki Sonoda. And I'd love to see what Haas is able to do.

[00:26:52] Kevin Mugnusen has scored points at Jeddah for the last two rounds and that's last two years and that's been the only circuit is sort of scored points at and Alpien, they were beaten in Bahrain by 14 seconds by a three-stopping

[00:27:10] half. Okay, so a lot of things to literally look forward to including if you're a Max West

[00:27:17] happen fan and we know that there are lots of Dutch fans here. He could score his 100th F1 podium.

[00:27:24] He could score his 100th F1 podium. He's led the World Championship of 40 consecutive races.

[00:27:28] Could he win his ninth consecutive race this weekend?

[00:27:33] And...

[00:27:35] Are you asking, could he?

[00:27:37] Yeah, could he? You never know?

[00:27:40] You never know.

[00:27:41] What do you say?

[00:27:43] Yeah, and I think he had a hat trick in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year.

[00:27:48] He had a hat trick the opening round this year. Could he have a hat trick of grand slams? Oh, I meant grand slams. Okay. Yeah.

[00:27:55] Paul Fassa, Slab, Rayshwin, whatever, right? Could he do that in in uh, Saudi Arabia as well, right? So

[00:28:03] and for all the Hamilton fans, isn't this where he scored his last

[00:28:07] and final 103rd win in Formula One in 2021? Lots of exciting. Yeah. And since you are a

[00:28:16] Leclerc, not a Leclerc, you're a Carlos science fan. Sean Leclerc, while has out qualified him in

[00:28:22] the last eight races, Leclerc has also got six consecutive front row starts in the last eight races. Leclerc is also about six consecutive

[00:28:25] front row starts in the last six races, three of which were pole positions. I'm going to

[00:28:30] just say the last ham stat. Hamilton has been outqualified by George Russell for the last

[00:28:35] three races in a row and Russell has never been outqualified in Cheddar. So on two predictions. Carlos signs for the wind always, always.

[00:28:48] F1.5, then you. Yeah, the news in the paddock is that that Carlos signs is not feeling too

[00:28:54] well right now and he's gone back to the hotel. But I'm pretty sure medicine will bring him back

[00:29:00] and bring him in good form when it's time to start driving this race weekend.

[00:29:05] What are your predictions very quickly?

[00:29:08] I think it's going to be a closer race.

[00:29:11] It will be a step in winning, but Ferrari will just probably take second.

[00:29:15] Mercedes and I think McLaren will beat Mercedes this time.

[00:29:18] And I love these tight midfield battles or whatever field battles,

[00:29:22] because the driver makes such a difference for everyone who's saying, you just need a quick car and you don't need the driver to

[00:29:27] make a difference, McLaren and Mercedes and Bahrain was just about track position that

[00:29:32] the drivers originally had.

[00:29:34] Okay.

[00:29:35] So if you get track position because of the driver brilliance, you're going to finish

[00:29:38] in that position.

[00:29:39] But I think McLaren is going to be the team to watch this weekend.

[00:29:42] It should be fun.

[00:29:44] Let's see. Let's see who all of our money is on. McLaren is going to be the team to watch this weekend. all about as well. Until then folks, we'll see you on Monday for the post-rescue. Take

[00:30:05] care. Bye bye.

[00:30:07] Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the InsideLine F1 Podcast.

[00:30:31] Before we end it, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Amazon Music once again for partnering

[00:30:36] with us on this episode of the podcast.