New pecking order, Fun facts-stats & more - 2024 Emilia Romagna 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.

[00:00:10] But more on this later. Right then, let's get right into today's episode.

[00:00:27] So since Formula One is doing something different this time, I think we should do something different with the intro as well.

[00:00:41] Sundaram, you had a stat. What's the kicker?

[00:00:44] Yes, yes indeed. So usually when we turn up at a Mola, people often wonder if the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, I mean, sorry,

[00:00:53] if the Formula One MSC Cruises Grand Premier Del Mer in Italy, Del Emilia-Romagna is the longest ever race title in Formula One history.

[00:01:03] It's not. It's not, in fact. So I'm going to have to take you back 74 years, back to 1950 on this very day, actually, actually the 13th of May.

[00:01:13] You might be hearing this on the 14th of May, but Formula One just celebrated its 74th birthday yesterday.

[00:01:19] And the inaugural Formula One race had two names. It was called the British Grand Prix. Some even called it the Grand Prix of Europe.

[00:01:29] But the official name was the Royal Automobile Club Grand Prix of Europe, incorporating the British Grand Prix.

[00:01:38] First race ever, the longest name ever. No one's matched it.

[00:01:42] What sort of weird-ass stat is that? Like a Grand Prix eating another Grand Prix, like the European Grand Prix eating up the British Grand Prix.

[00:01:53] Wait, so what would this technically be? Is this the made in Italy Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix eating up the San Marino Grand Prix or what is it now?

[00:02:02] This has never had a proper name though, Asir Kunal. I've never seen this with a proper name.

[00:02:08] They couldn't call it the Imola Grand Prix like it's meant to be. It's always San Marino or made in Italy or whatever it might be.

[00:02:15] Like Sundaram said, made in Italy sounds like it's cheese that they need to claim it's made in Italy.

[00:02:21] I was wondering which one of his punchlines is he going to use? Of course, he had a better stat.

[00:02:25] So I said, okay, I can just reuse the other punchline and give him the credit for thinking of it.

[00:02:30] But I think we've had Italian Grand Prix, San Marino Grand Prix, Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, various names to it.

[00:02:38] I actually can't just read beyond MSC Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix because this was where Michael Schumacher had his first pole position with Ferrari.

[00:02:47] So MSC and just call it the MSC Grand Prix like I care for all I care.

[00:02:53] But since Sundaram has started off with a stat, I'm going to throw a stat out as well.

[00:02:59] Again, it goes back in time, of course not as back as 1950.

[00:03:04] But Nico Hulkenberg, who is a very, very experienced driver, is over 200 Grand Prix's to his name, is moving to Audi, blah, blah, blah.

[00:03:13] Has raced in several categories, raced across seasons since 2010, all of that.

[00:03:19] But he has never raced in Emilia ever in any category. Can you imagine?

[00:03:27] You're right.

[00:03:28] And this is an old school circuit, it's an old circuit. It's not Jeddah if you know what I mean.

[00:03:35] I was stunned when I read this. I was like, wow, Nico Hulkenberg has never raced in Emilia.

[00:03:43] I remember David Coulthard when he was testing the new Formula E Gen 3 car, said that I'm not a virgin at many things and I love new experiences in that regard.

[00:03:51] We have a competitor to David Coulthard now driving the Formula E Gen 3 car.

[00:03:55] It's Hulkenberg at Emilia, believe it or not.

[00:04:00] Can you imagine being at whatever age he is and getting to drive at Emilia for the first time in your life?

[00:04:06] That is an experience you save up in your life.

[00:04:09] That's something.

[00:04:11] And we've also, four minutes in, saved up the best, we've delivered our best punchline Z yet in the first four minutes.

[00:04:17] Why don't you just give us an introduction?

[00:04:19] Hold on, hold on, hold on.

[00:04:20] Let me throw in two more Hulkenbergs.

[00:04:22] Introduction better wait.

[00:04:25] Yes, so Nico Hulkenberg did not win the Miami Grand Prix.

[00:04:29] That meant he started 209 races, the most by any driver in Formula One without taking a race win.

[00:04:37] This is probably a little bit more popular.

[00:04:39] But Nico Hulkenberg is actually the only driver to move to another Formula One team after driving for us.

[00:04:46] Are you kidding me?

[00:04:49] Yes.

[00:04:50] You're right.

[00:04:52] Estavan Gutierrez, he did move to Mercedes but then obviously didn't drive for them.

[00:04:56] Romain Grosjean is still waiting to drive that Mercedes car.

[00:04:59] Kevin Magnussen is here for the time being.

[00:05:01] And Nikita Mazepin, Mick Schumacher.

[00:05:06] Mick might make it to Alpine next year, those are the rumors.

[00:05:09] But yes, for now it's Nico Hulkenberg who has a future after driving for us.

[00:05:13] And Kevin Magnussen is going to be joining the FIA community service team as well for his one race band that's going to be coming up.

[00:05:20] Surely that's going to happen as well.

[00:05:22] So Oliver Baerman, let's put a bet on this.

[00:05:25] Oliver Baerman could race for two different teams in Formula One this year.

[00:05:30] He's of course done Ferrari and then he might just get to do Haas.

[00:05:35] And of course, let's add context.

[00:05:37] Kevin Magnussen has picked up more penalty points than championship points in literally the last two races.

[00:05:43] He's at what? 10 out of a possible maximum of 12.

[00:05:48] And he's of course going to fight not just for his seat at Haas, but he's going to fight for Haas and fight not to get penalty points.

[00:05:58] And clearly the easiest way to do it would be just to qualify ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and then Mick Schumacher is never ahead.

[00:06:04] So Kevin doesn't have to have those defensive games.

[00:06:07] But I think Kevin's also had three Q1 exits on the trot in the last three races.

[00:06:13] So lots up and against him and so on.

[00:06:17] You're not getting the point.

[00:06:19] The whole point of racing in Formula One if you're Kevin Magnussen is to push people off the track.

[00:06:24] What's the point of driving a clean and boring race?

[00:06:27] Come on, understand. There's no fun in that stuff.

[00:06:30] And why don't we just introduce ourselves?

[00:06:33] Somil, go for it.

[00:06:35] We should.

[00:06:36] By the way folks, this is the Inside Line F1 podcast which is basically the Carlos Sainz fan club unofficially.

[00:06:45] Again, I've just declared it for all of us.

[00:06:47] But no, generally we have been talking about Formula One for ages but we still come up with the same excitement for EMULA.

[00:06:55] Because that's the kind of circuit it is.

[00:06:57] My name is Somalar Oro.

[00:06:59] I'm the voice of the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix which seems like it won't be lasting for too long unfortunately.

[00:07:05] That's one thing.

[00:07:06] I don't know, we might go to God knows what Kazakhstan or whatever it might be.

[00:07:10] That's my phone ringing.

[00:07:12] Why don't you do the introduction otherwise, Sundar.

[00:07:14] That's my phone ringing as well.

[00:07:16] Incredible. Maybe I should say that's my phone that's supposed to be ringing but hasn't.

[00:07:20] And so we've also got F1 stats guru who is one of our esteemed co-hosts.

[00:07:27] One of the most engaged stats page on the internet, on Instagram.

[00:07:31] I don't know why I said internet and Instagram.

[00:07:35] They're clearly two different things.

[00:07:37] I think a lot of Gen Z probably think Instagram is the internet, right?

[00:07:41] And my name is Kunal Shah, former marketing head of the Force India Formula One team.

[00:07:46] One of the better things I did was run the One From A Billion Hunt program which was the Junior Driver program.

[00:07:52] And this is the Inside Line F1 podcast.

[00:07:56] Way nicely done, nicely done.

[00:07:58] But wait, before we get to the racing, I have a question for you guys.

[00:08:01] I told you before the episode I would test you.

[00:08:03] But here goes, here's a special San Marino stat now that we're in, are we in San Marino?

[00:08:09] At least what we used to claim as San Marino.

[00:08:11] Do you know what the craziest, or rather according to you guys, what's the craziest title the head of a government can get?

[00:08:17] Chancellor, Supreme Leader or what do you guys think?

[00:08:20] Supreme Leader.

[00:08:21] I see what you did there.

[00:08:23] What about you Kunal, what would you have as your title if you were a dictator or something?

[00:08:27] Wow.

[00:08:28] I'd just...

[00:08:30] Dictator.

[00:08:31] Dictator, yeah.

[00:08:32] You could be the captain's regent in San Marino which is what I think they should just call the race winner as well, right?

[00:08:39] The captain's regent, the one who's won the Grand Prix.

[00:08:42] That's a cool name to have.

[00:08:44] Just like Sundaram pointed out, the San Marino Grand Prix was never held in San Marino.

[00:08:49] It was always held in the neighbouring state of Ebola.

[00:08:52] Right?

[00:08:53] Is it a neighbouring state or neighbouring country?

[00:08:54] What was it?

[00:08:55] My geography is bad.

[00:08:56] San Marino is a country within Italy and the race has never been held in San Marino.

[00:09:02] So it's supposedly the fifth smallest country in the world and Ebola is in a different city altogether.

[00:09:08] But yeah, the race was called San Marino Grand Prix for several years but never held there.

[00:09:14] It's almost as if the Italians went, you know, what do we name our track?

[00:09:19] Now we're checking and they forgot about it.

[00:09:21] They turned up on race day and they said, yeah, let's call it San Marino.

[00:09:23] Let's call it Emilia Romagna.

[00:09:26] Let's call it whatever the hell you want to call it.

[00:09:28] MSC Grand Prix, remember?

[00:09:30] MSC Grand Prix.

[00:09:32] I see.

[00:09:33] Because they were more busy actually designing a good race circuit.

[00:09:36] And that's what again we all have been talking about so much in the preparation.

[00:09:41] Even though there are so many big stories to talk about like two major members of the series of staff

[00:09:46] jumping ship to Ferrari including a former F1 driver who you might have forgotten by the way.

[00:09:51] The picture here is Jonathan Wheatley potentially leaving Red Bull.

[00:09:54] We're not talking about that.

[00:09:56] A low degradation circuit.

[00:09:58] We'll get to that in a bit.

[00:09:59] But the beauty of Emilia and the beauty of the circuit is what always comes up to the top of it all.

[00:10:05] And Sundaram, you put it so well in the preview when we were discussing it.

[00:10:09] Adrian, I mean not Adrian Newey, what am I saying?

[00:10:11] What is the name of that guy?

[00:10:13] Herman Tilkey would have never designed this circuit in his wildest dreams

[00:10:16] because the way it flows, the way the corners come into each other

[00:10:20] then that middle sector when you go from that left handed hairpin straight down

[00:10:25] that section is...

[00:10:27] Schiff's kiss. That's what the Italians do, right?

[00:10:29] Spettacolo.

[00:10:31] Indeed. I mean although the names may not be the greatest

[00:10:34] but I think Italy knows how to build a great race track.

[00:10:38] Be it Monza, be it Mugello.

[00:10:40] I think I totally loved Mugello when we had that in 2020.

[00:10:42] Why don't we go back to that track more often?

[00:10:46] We're going to Chicago supposedly

[00:10:48] but I would love to have Mugello on the track.

[00:10:50] More classic circuits. It does not scream Herman Tilkey at all.

[00:10:54] But it's a classic track. It's fast flowing, very narrow.

[00:10:58] Overtaking is going to be very difficult which makes qualifying even more important.

[00:11:03] No one's won from outside the top 5 positions at Imola

[00:11:07] and 19 of the 30 races at Imola have been won from the front row.

[00:11:11] So qualifying is going to be super super important.

[00:11:14] Is Lando Norris going to qualify on the front row?

[00:11:17] He definitely had the pace in Miami.

[00:11:19] I mean if I'm not wrong, he set the fastest lap in Miami on a set of mediums

[00:11:25] and he went slower on a set of softs.

[00:11:27] So they're actually going a step softer for Imola this time compared to Miami

[00:11:35] but I think they set up really really well this weekend.

[00:11:38] But talking of Lando Norris, we're going to have 12 race winners on the grid.

[00:11:42] Can you name all of them?

[00:11:44] Ok, here goes.

[00:11:46] Ocon, Norris, Gasly, that's 3.

[00:11:50] Hamilton, Vistappen, Perez, that's 6.

[00:11:52] Valtteri Bottas would be 7.

[00:11:54] We would have Charleclique 8, Carlos Sainz 9.

[00:11:58] Three other people in other small cars.

[00:12:02] Russell, Ricardo, Stats Guru, come on, what are you doing?

[00:12:08] Ricardo!

[00:12:10] Yeah, 11 and then who are the two others?

[00:12:13] No, one more. Oh goodness.

[00:12:16] Is it?

[00:12:18] You actually counted from the back. I start from the very front.

[00:12:21] Who did we miss?

[00:12:23] Who did?

[00:12:24] It's not Piastri.

[00:12:26] Alonso.

[00:12:27] Did he say Fernando?

[00:12:28] No.

[00:12:29] Did he say Fernando?

[00:12:30] You missed Fernando? Seriously?

[00:12:32] Sorry, a recency bias. He got out-qualified by his teammates

[00:12:36] so I tended to focus more on him.

[00:12:40] I tend to appreciate modern performance.

[00:12:42] Like all the drivers say, every race in this championship

[00:12:44] is like your last and the one that you just did matters the most.

[00:12:47] That's what it's all about. Lance Stoll, better legacy than Fernando Alonso.

[00:12:50] But I think that's a brilliant start.

[00:12:52] 12 race winners on the grid

[00:12:54] but coming back to Lando Norris, and if I'm not wrong

[00:12:57] I might have to go back and check this once again

[00:12:59] but Lando Norris took 110 races to win his first Grand Prix.

[00:13:03] That's the most any driver has raced for with one team

[00:13:07] before winning their maiden race.

[00:13:09] So, a lot of loyalty being shown both sides, both ways

[00:13:13] but surely when he turned up at McLaren

[00:13:15] they were not in the best shape

[00:13:17] just coming off the McLaren-Renault days

[00:13:19] but 110 races

[00:13:21] and he's finally gone from Lando no wins to one win.

[00:13:27] Yeah, and Lando no win, actually

[00:13:29] there's a very interesting post-race insight.

[00:13:31] Samuel was on mute, I just took to step on the insight

[00:13:34] and I said I'm going to take it.

[00:13:37] Lando Norris was actually thinking of what to say

[00:13:39] post-race on the radio

[00:13:41] there goes Samuel, right?

[00:13:43] Okay, there we go.

[00:13:45] Samuel Arora's recording setup is like sour

[00:13:50] the most consistent one.

[00:13:52] I never even touched a thing.

[00:13:55] All he needs is to breathe heavily

[00:13:58] something will go and then...

[00:14:00] Again, I...

[00:14:01] Anyway, Lando Norris

[00:14:04] there was no wins.

[00:14:05] He was thinking of what to say

[00:14:06] and can you imagine he thought of Valtteri Bottas's

[00:14:09] To Whom Soever It May Concern

[00:14:11] whatever he was going to say, right?

[00:14:13] And he actually thought

[00:14:15] that's the imprint in Lando Norris' memory

[00:14:18] Valtteri Bottas's

[00:14:20] post-race win

[00:14:22] which you probably haven't heard since what?

[00:14:24] 2019 or whatever he last time didn't win

[00:14:26] like that's in Lando Norris' head

[00:14:30] I need to say something

[00:14:32] and he suddenly realized

[00:14:33] Lando's is copyrighted

[00:14:35] so he said Lando No wins

[00:14:37] I'm glad thanks to Valtteri Bottas

[00:14:39] we had Lando No wins.

[00:14:41] But no, genuinely it's such a story

[00:14:43] because now that he's finally claimed

[00:14:45] that one big win with McLaren

[00:14:47] the monkey's off the back

[00:14:49] but there is a genuine question to ask

[00:14:51] McLaren and their pace in Miami

[00:14:53] how genuine was it?

[00:14:55] And I know it gives a lot of

[00:14:57] British GP 2023 vibes

[00:14:59] where we saw McLaren come up with a big upgrade

[00:15:01] and suddenly the entire hype train

[00:15:03] ended up taking them and the train ended up reaching the stop

[00:15:05] and then beyond. But the point is

[00:15:07] there is genuine hope

[00:15:09] because as you mentioned Kunal

[00:15:11] before the build up to the episode

[00:15:13] but Stappen apparently didn't even try

[00:15:15] matching the lap times, right?

[00:15:17] What was exactly that code all about?

[00:15:19] He said oh when I heard the times he was doing

[00:15:21] I just didn't bother

[00:15:23] I just settled in and wanted to claim second place

[00:15:25] This is Max Verstappen

[00:15:27] not me saying it for all our Dutch listeners

[00:15:29] all the zillions of Max Verstappen fans who listen in

[00:15:31] Lando Norris' win was on merit

[00:15:33] of course the safety car helped him

[00:15:35] and we've sort of gone deeper into that

[00:15:37] The big question

[00:15:39] this weekend for me is going to be

[00:15:41] not who's the second fastest

[00:15:43] because last couple of races

[00:15:45] has it been McLaren or has it been Ferrari

[00:15:47] who are battling in P2

[00:15:49] alongside Red Bull

[00:15:51] but this is the first European Grand Prix

[00:15:53] off the season which typically

[00:15:55] has always been Barcelona for me

[00:15:57] but everything is changing under Liberty Media

[00:15:59] So this is the first European Grand Prix

[00:16:01] off the season, I think every team is going to

[00:16:03] bring a plethora of upgrades

[00:16:05] on Thursday when they declare all their

[00:16:07] upgrades documents which we will share on

[00:16:09] our social media

[00:16:11] it's going to be like multiple pages per team

[00:16:13] Any team that says no upgrades I probably

[00:16:15] think they're going to lie although they can't

[00:16:17] But back to my point

[00:16:19] every team is going to bring upgrades

[00:16:21] Red Bull is expecting upgrades

[00:16:23] McLaren already brought their upgrades

[00:16:25] they're going to bring the other balance

[00:16:27] I think that's a good point to send for Oscar

[00:16:29] Ferrari and Charles Leclerc were

[00:16:31] mystical in saying when their upgrades

[00:16:33] are coming but it's a home race for them

[00:16:35] So I'm presuming they will also want to bring

[00:16:37] upgrades here

[00:16:39] Will the pecking order change

[00:16:41] throughout the grid? That's the question

[00:16:43] We're going back to the traditional

[00:16:45] FP123 format

[00:16:47] which means more time for teams

[00:16:49] to dial in the setup and so on

[00:16:51] If the pecking order changes

[00:16:53] At the moment we don't know who the fastest is

[00:16:55] We're going to go with Max and Red Bull because that's our recency bias

[00:16:57] as well and of course that's the strongest

[00:16:59] package right? But the last two sprint

[00:17:01] weekends they weren't really comfortable

[00:17:03] They got challenged and you saw what happened

[00:17:05] eventually in Miami

[00:17:07] So if McLaren's

[00:17:09] package, if they have more time to extract

[00:17:11] more performance with three sessions

[00:17:13] Is McLaren now the quickest

[00:17:15] car or is it Red Bull there

[00:17:17] or will Ferrari's new 4 tenths

[00:17:19] every time Ferrari just talks of

[00:17:21] the word package suddenly a 3 or 4 tenths

[00:17:23] number that drops from nowhere

[00:17:25] So we don't know who's the fastest

[00:17:27] and whoever's not the fastest will then

[00:17:29] be the second fastest clearly right?

[00:17:33] Hey wait, is that a tribute to Xavi?

[00:17:35] Xavi Padoz, Leclerc's race engineer

[00:17:37] who's now moved into a different role

[00:17:39] Leclerc, well Charles

[00:17:41] No no, actually what was that exact radio

[00:17:43] I think Leclerc said, Xavi

[00:17:45] where would we eventually rank

[00:17:47] up if we stay out or something like that

[00:17:49] First if you stay ahead of Bautas

[00:17:51] Precisely, that's because

[00:17:53] that's exactly where you were

[00:17:55] Good tribute right there

[00:17:59] Was it replaced?

[00:18:01] Was it internal restructuring?

[00:18:05] It's an internal restructuring

[00:18:07] He's taking on some other projects but they haven't

[00:18:09] told him what which is that same question mark

[00:18:11] that Ferrari has on everything they do

[00:18:13] Precisely, but the point on this

[00:18:15] whole thing being

[00:18:17] lower degradation compared to

[00:18:19] any of the circuits we've recently been to

[00:18:21] and that's been a genuine

[00:18:23] problem for so many teams, understanding

[00:18:25] that as well because largely

[00:18:27] if you look at all the issues that Verstappen

[00:18:29] has had or anyone for that matter

[00:18:31] it's all been down to lack of grip

[00:18:33] to the point where in Miami I don't think

[00:18:35] anyone was able to actually figure out what the grip

[00:18:37] was like. You listen to every

[00:18:39] one of their post race interviews

[00:18:41] Oh there was no grip here, no grip there, I couldn't

[00:18:43] understand the tyres, couldn't understand the heat

[00:18:45] So now we're at the stage where it's going

[00:18:47] to be more certain, certainly colder

[00:18:49] as well which could play into the hands of

[00:18:51] few teams, notably Mercedes

[00:18:53] who self admittedly

[00:18:55] claim that in cooler temperatures they do

[00:18:57] perform better. So where do they stack

[00:18:59] up? How close or how far are they

[00:19:01] is also going to be a genuine question, Sandharam

[00:19:03] Oh absolutely because

[00:19:05] Mercedes also came with one half

[00:19:07] of their upgrades last time out in Miami

[00:19:09] and although

[00:19:11] I think Lewis Hamilton, he qualified, I think

[00:19:13] he got knocked out in Q2 right, in sprint

[00:19:15] qualifying. Yeah, but they're coming

[00:19:17] up with more upgrades this week

[00:19:19] but for some reason they sound

[00:19:21] very positive and also probably because the next couple

[00:19:23] of races we have a few races which

[00:19:25] are not as fast, Monaco

[00:19:27] and a few other

[00:19:29] tracks as well. So they seem that

[00:19:31] the car is expected to perform

[00:19:33] more as per expectation, it's not going to be a lot

[00:19:35] more variable and

[00:19:37] like I said cooler temperatures, they did pretty

[00:19:39] well in Bahrain as well, at least in

[00:19:41] qualifying or in the free practice sessions

[00:19:43] so you might see a lot of teams

[00:19:45] converging being a lot closer

[00:19:47] especially when they come with upgrades

[00:19:49] but in the same way I'm also thinking of drivers

[00:19:51] are going to go the other way because when you start

[00:19:53] doing upgrades, one driver tends to like it more

[00:19:55] than the other, especially

[00:19:57] with Sergio Pérez or Valtteri

[00:19:59] Botta, especially when they were in these

[00:20:01] leading cars, they would do well for the

[00:20:03] first five races. You hit Barcelona

[00:20:05] they come with new upgrades and it

[00:20:07] goes in a completely different direction

[00:20:09] so that's also something that I'm going to be looking

[00:20:11] keeping a close eye on

[00:20:13] Sergio Pérez because he's finished

[00:20:15] within the top five in every single race

[00:20:17] this season so far. That's going to be

[00:20:19] a very interesting thing to look at. That's a great

[00:20:21] point, adaptability

[00:20:23] is going to be key with these upgrades coming in

[00:20:25] and you know some drivers just drive around

[00:20:27] problems like Fernando Alonso spoke of

[00:20:29] some drivers just take longer

[00:20:31] to settle in as well, they need to work harder

[00:20:33] so that's going to be fun

[00:20:35] to see who goes where

[00:20:37] but if I can throw another

[00:20:39] 20 minutes in, here's another

[00:20:41] really strange

[00:20:43] stat. Imola, obviously if you guys

[00:20:45] remember last year we didn't have the race

[00:20:47] because of the floods that had happened

[00:20:49] we reached there on Wednesday and then

[00:20:51] the race got cancelled. It's actually

[00:20:53] the birthplace of Stefano Dominicali

[00:20:55] the current CEO of Formula One

[00:20:57] so that's one stat. The

[00:20:59] second stat I wanted to throw which

[00:21:01] is actually a depressing stat

[00:21:03] sorry it's a heavy word but I'm going to just throw

[00:21:05] it there. In the hybrid turbo era

[00:21:07] this is only the third time

[00:21:09] a customer team has

[00:21:11] won a race in Formula One

[00:21:13] you guys want to guess

[00:21:15] the other two? Must have been

[00:21:17] Gasly in Monza

[00:21:19] and the other

[00:21:21] one

[00:21:23] must be

[00:21:25] not Oker. Since he

[00:21:27] mentioned, since Sundaram was talking

[00:21:29] of Sergio Perez it came to my mind

[00:21:31] it was Perez in the racing point

[00:21:33] in Bahrain

[00:21:35] but at the Sakir country

[00:21:37] as we used to call it then.

[00:21:39] But we also had Danny

[00:21:41] we also had Danny in 21

[00:21:43] so then it's the fourth time.

[00:21:45] So McLaren are the only team

[00:21:47] apart from the big three

[00:21:49] I mean not just customer team

[00:21:51] I would say the only team apart from the big three

[00:21:53] to win two races in the hybrid era

[00:21:55] so racing point has won one

[00:21:57] Alpine has won

[00:21:59] AlphaTauri has won. McLaren is the only

[00:22:01] team to win twice. And

[00:22:03] Oscar Piasri who is going to get 50%

[00:22:05] of the faster car this race

[00:22:07] is the only Red Bull

[00:22:09] McLaren Ferrari

[00:22:11] driver to have not stepped onto the podium

[00:22:13] yet. So that's

[00:22:15] additional pressure

[00:22:17] that's additional whatever he's taken

[00:22:19] upon himself to

[00:22:21] race here. But back to the

[00:22:23] circuit, you know COVID-19 of course

[00:22:25] was this big thing right? That happened

[00:22:27] in the world luckily it's gone away

[00:22:29] but I think the biggest gift that COVID-19

[00:22:31] could give Formula One was this circuit

[00:22:33] coming back on the calendar

[00:22:35] because this circuit was out of favor

[00:22:37] for all the other Middle Eastern

[00:22:39] oil paying whatever

[00:22:41] circuits that were there

[00:22:43] but because COVID-19 happened and it

[00:22:45] was in Europe and they could race within the bubble

[00:22:47] that actually worked for them

[00:22:49] and luckily

[00:22:51] at the moment nobody's complaining why we have two

[00:22:53] races in Italy even though a fourth race

[00:22:55] in America in Chicago

[00:22:57] was actually rumored and then taken back

[00:22:59] and all of that as well.

[00:23:01] But I also believe

[00:23:03] this weekend one of the new stories

[00:23:05] that I will want to watch out look out

[00:23:07] for is what Formula

[00:23:09] One says against the US

[00:23:11] Congress's letter against

[00:23:13] Andretti Cadillac

[00:23:15] not getting entry

[00:23:17] into the sport. Very

[00:23:19] very interesting situation. I'm sure

[00:23:21] Formula One would have probably seen something like this

[00:23:23] coming but look at Andretti

[00:23:25] they realize we need to get political

[00:23:27] if we have to. If F1

[00:23:29] is getting political, we will

[00:23:31] use politics as a tool to get ourselves

[00:23:33] a spot in the sport.

[00:23:35] The Fed is involved. The Fed!

[00:23:37] The old

[00:23:39] 60 year olds with pot bellies

[00:23:41] who wear big black suits

[00:23:43] and have proper black sunglasses and

[00:23:45] will have four bodyguards with them who spy

[00:23:47] into every detail of your phone are

[00:23:49] now involved in the running of

[00:23:51] Formula One indirectly in some way.

[00:23:53] How?

[00:23:55] And

[00:23:57] very interesting choice of words

[00:23:59] in the letter of the Feds

[00:24:01] or not the Feds, the US Congress. I don't know if there's a difference there

[00:24:03] sorry. Yeah, okay

[00:24:05] anyway. They say

[00:24:07] we request information

[00:24:09] about Formula One's decision to block

[00:24:11] the partnership between Andretti Global and General Motors

[00:24:13] in Formula One, blah blah blah.

[00:24:15] And if they're not given entry maybe the

[00:24:17] entire Formula One model

[00:24:19] may be broken.

[00:24:21] And delaying this entry

[00:24:23] for even one year will harm

[00:24:25] the American consumers to benefit

[00:24:27] failing the Formula One.

[00:24:29] What? Did they just mention

[00:24:31] the benefit to the American consumer

[00:24:33] in the country that has the most

[00:24:35] unhealthy fast food

[00:24:37] and grocery options in

[00:24:39] the world? Are you

[00:24:41] talking about protecting the American consumer

[00:24:43] are you my friend?

[00:24:45] They do not need protection from you.

[00:24:47] They need protection from you.

[00:24:53] I don't know man.

[00:24:57] Somil is unleashing his wrath.

[00:24:59] Somil is on his plant based

[00:25:01] rap right now.

[00:25:03] Rap literally you could be eating

[00:25:05] since this is an audio you don't know if he's actually eating.

[00:25:07] You can switch to the video format on YouTube.

[00:25:09] Okay, but on that note

[00:25:11] of course 30 years since

[00:25:13] Roland Ratzenberger and Archid Senna

[00:25:15] lost their lives on track

[00:25:17] at Imola again.

[00:25:19] And of course I grew up to Tamburello

[00:25:21] in my head.

[00:25:23] It's always

[00:25:25] one of those corners that

[00:25:27] you think of. But

[00:25:29] we will see a tribute. Lots of drivers

[00:25:31] I think Pierre Gasly has a tribute helmet

[00:25:33] I'm pretty sure organizers Formula One

[00:25:35] themselves and some drivers

[00:25:37] teams in their own capacities will

[00:25:39] have their own tributes in their own way. But Sebastian

[00:25:41] Fettel is actually making his come

[00:25:43] back to Formula One to drive one of the historic

[00:25:45] Ayrton Senna. I think it's the MP4A

[00:25:47] that he's driving. He's going to

[00:25:49] do a few laps around the circuit

[00:25:51] and I'm pretty sure when he does those laps

[00:25:53] the first thing that everyone will feel along

[00:25:55] with the emotion is the grunt of

[00:25:57] the engine and be like ah those are those

[00:25:59] engines we should be racing on. Those

[00:26:01] were the days. That's the sound. That's

[00:26:03] the grunt. That's the ferociousness

[00:26:05] that we should have been racing

[00:26:07] in Formula One.

[00:26:09] An interesting choice of car of course

[00:26:11] was Ayrton won his last

[00:26:13] Formula One race with that car.

[00:26:15] But they retired

[00:26:17] both McLarens retired from the San Marino Grand Prix

[00:26:19] that season.

[00:26:23] But it's a little ironic

[00:26:25] because of course whenever you talk about

[00:26:27] Imola you obviously think of

[00:26:29] Ratzenberger, Senna.

[00:26:31] People mostly remember Senna from

[00:26:33] Monaco but Senna had

[00:26:35] eight pole positions at

[00:26:37] Imola. One also in his final race weekend.

[00:26:39] And seven of those were consecutive

[00:26:41] which is the world record.

[00:26:43] He had seven consecutive poles

[00:26:45] at this very track. He was

[00:26:47] dominant here. He had if I'm not wrong

[00:26:49] three race wins and Michael

[00:26:51] Schumacher was the most successful in terms of race wins

[00:26:53] at least but yeah a track

[00:26:55] that he completely dominated was

[00:26:57] where he eventually

[00:26:59] ended his life.

[00:27:01] And that just shows you how

[00:27:03] much of a driver's circuit this is.

[00:27:05] Which is why qualifying in my head is going

[00:27:07] to be the best session to watch in the

[00:27:09] entire weekend. For a good reason.

[00:27:11] If it doesn't rain in the main race

[00:27:13] we've seen it before that Imola

[00:27:15] can be without a doubt

[00:27:17] without mincing my words the hardest

[00:27:19] place in the world to pass.

[00:27:21] Where will you go? George Russell had an idea

[00:27:23] It is

[00:27:25] statistically it is I believe so.

[00:27:27] Yeah exactly and the numbers do back it up.

[00:27:29] In fact we even have one concrete piece of evidence

[00:27:31] from 2021 where George Russell thought

[00:27:33] okay if there's no space on the tarmac

[00:27:35] I'll go to the outside. And that

[00:27:37] clearly did not work out as well.

[00:27:39] According to their plans and the Collider

[00:27:41] with Valtteri bought us eventually. But the point

[00:27:43] being if it's not wet

[00:27:45] it could genuinely be a very strategy

[00:27:47] based race which is again

[00:27:49] entertaining for some not so much for the

[00:27:51] others which is where it puts the pressure

[00:27:53] back on qualifying. And remember

[00:27:55] the last time we didn't have a sprint weekend

[00:27:57] Sergio Perez was only six

[00:27:59] hundreds of a second behind

[00:28:01] Max Verstappen in qualifying. That

[00:28:03] was a close gap and the field was as

[00:28:05] bunched up as it could ever be to the point

[00:28:07] where we had the Alpines also move

[00:28:09] up to Q2 if I'm not mistaken. There was some sort

[00:28:11] of volatility there so generally

[00:28:13] qualifying with the upgrades

[00:28:15] is going to be a banger

[00:28:17] session don't miss Saturday seriously.

[00:28:19] And it's going to be traffic paradise

[00:28:21] as well remember this is where this

[00:28:23] actual term got birthed in the first place.

[00:28:25] And the toe, classic toe

[00:28:27] that's going to be another

[00:28:29] thing to look out for because it's going to be

[00:28:31] pretty you know it's a very high speed circuit

[00:28:33] 345 plus kilometers per

[00:28:35] hour is what they're going to reach.

[00:28:37] But since we're talking of qualifying you guys have already

[00:28:39] mentioned track position is vital

[00:28:41] one key overtaking bold

[00:28:43] overtaking place will be the first

[00:28:45] chicane in itself. Again

[00:28:47] very narrow, very tight, very fun

[00:28:49] the opening lap is of course exciting

[00:28:51] but I'm going to just throw out some

[00:28:53] qualifying stats. Very interesting trends

[00:28:55] coming up so of course the easy ones

[00:28:57] Joe Guan Yu and Logan Sargent

[00:28:59] have not gotten out of Q1

[00:29:01] yet. Okay

[00:29:03] Max Richtapen is unbeaten in qualifying as we

[00:29:05] know I think if he gets it he's going to have

[00:29:07] he's going to tie a record with me Alan

[00:29:09] Prost for eight consecutive race

[00:29:11] eight consecutive pole positions I believe

[00:29:13] so. But the driver

[00:29:15] to watch out for is actually Yuki

[00:29:17] Sunoda. Every time

[00:29:19] a driver from the top five has actually

[00:29:21] not made it to Q3

[00:29:23] Yuki Sunoda has the one

[00:29:25] who's benefited from it. And

[00:29:27] after finishing seventh

[00:29:29] in Miami

[00:29:31] Yuki Sunoda is now

[00:29:33] ahead of Lance Troll

[00:29:35] in the drivers championship.

[00:29:37] Right

[00:29:39] clap clap. Aston Martin

[00:29:41] has figured their number two driver for 26.

[00:29:43] Oh no, genuinely guys is there any

[00:29:45] is there any validity in that quote

[00:29:47] about Yuki Sunoda saying Honda might

[00:29:49] support me in? Like

[00:29:51] do you guys sense? It's obvious isn't

[00:29:53] it? It's obvious because I think

[00:29:55] Honda does pay a huge amount

[00:29:57] to Red Bull

[00:29:59] for having Yuki in Formula One

[00:30:01] they also put a lot

[00:30:03] of money in him having that seat as well at

[00:30:05] Alpha Tauri or Alpha Tauri

[00:30:07] so there's a lot of interest in having him

[00:30:09] in the sport and of course they would be looking to

[00:30:11] have him in the second seat alongside Alonzo

[00:30:13] or even beyond that

[00:30:15] 27 and so on. So

[00:30:17] it all depends on what Lance Troll wants

[00:30:19] this like the whole driver market

[00:30:21] depends on what Adrian Nui wants to do

[00:30:23] what happens at Aston Martin depends on what

[00:30:25] Lance Troll, what's his mood like?

[00:30:27] It could be a good weekend for him to announce something

[00:30:29] right because it's his 150th race

[00:30:31] in Formula One this weekend. Can you imagine

[00:30:33] that drivers done 150

[00:30:35] races already? That would be

[00:30:37] and sorry that would be more

[00:30:39] than how which other

[00:30:41] drivers? He's made it to

[00:30:43] Q3 just two times a season

[00:30:45] two times in six races and more

[00:30:47] than I don't know Nikita Mazepin

[00:30:49] more than Mick Schumacher

[00:30:51] I will find that number out

[00:30:53] because it fascinates me because in context

[00:30:55] let's just put it out there right?

[00:30:57] Lance Troll has basically now done

[00:30:59] almost

[00:31:01] half actually what

[00:31:03] only a hundred and eleven

[00:31:05] or a hundred something odd starts less

[00:31:07] than Sergio Perez who has 263

[00:31:11] that that

[00:31:13] closed my mind so that's what

[00:31:15] 113 more starts

[00:31:17] only Sergio Perez has

[00:31:19] it's

[00:31:21] I don't yeah

[00:31:23] incredible that's a lot of

[00:31:25] that's a lot of disrespect for the second

[00:31:27] youngest podium finisher in Formula

[00:31:29] One isn't it? Come on

[00:31:31] but you were saying something good on there. Moving on to the oldest

[00:31:33] one yeah yeah yeah moving on

[00:31:35] Nico Hulkenberg has been

[00:31:37] ninth in two races

[00:31:39] right out of six

[00:31:41] but it gets interesting Alexander

[00:31:43] Albin has been 14th for three

[00:31:45] races. Troll has been

[00:31:47] 11th for two races. The reason I'm saying

[00:31:49] all this and you know I said this even the last

[00:31:51] preview was how close

[00:31:53] it is in qualifying and how

[00:31:55] teams are no longer saying tenths

[00:31:57] just literally in the press releasing

[00:31:59] thousandths is what's you know

[00:32:01] the difference between being ninth or being

[00:32:03] fourteenth right?

[00:32:05] Oscar Piasri has been sixth

[00:32:07] in three races out of six

[00:32:09] so you can imagine in the whole battle between

[00:32:11] Aston, Mercedes, Ferrari whatever

[00:32:13] Oscar is hitting that middle block where

[00:32:15] he's sixth so he's not higher than that

[00:32:17] of course he can be higher but that's pretty much

[00:32:19] where he's falling. Fernando Alonso was

[00:32:21] out of place in Miami he was

[00:32:23] 15th so you know he probably took that Lance

[00:32:25] is my hero very seriously

[00:32:27] by being out of place on the negative

[00:32:29] side of things. Valtteri Botas

[00:32:31] he's been 16th

[00:32:33] three races right and he's been 13th

[00:32:35] two races so you can see the difference when he

[00:32:37] really gets it going he's in Q3

[00:32:39] when he's sort of there he's 13th

[00:32:41] when he doesn't get it then he's out Q1

[00:32:43] 16th right so that's how close

[00:32:45] it is across the

[00:32:47] grid which actually leads us

[00:32:49] into something else we wanted to discuss guys

[00:32:51] should we give points

[00:32:53] to all the 20 drivers

[00:32:57] in a race?

[00:32:59] Who's gonna disagree first?

[00:33:01] Go Sam. My point

[00:33:03] is you don't

[00:33:05] give an award to everyone who's nominated

[00:33:07] you don't give the championship

[00:33:09] belt to everyone who fights

[00:33:11] you don't give free food

[00:33:13] to no you do give free food

[00:33:15] to everyone that's just a nice thing to do

[00:33:17] but there's no

[00:33:19] free lunch but okay

[00:33:21] it's not a buffet it's not meant

[00:33:23] to be one you have to fight

[00:33:25] it is drive to survive

[00:33:27] for a reason and I know I hate what

[00:33:29] I just said sometimes you have to

[00:33:31] but the whole point being

[00:33:33] if you were given points for free

[00:33:35] in Formula 1 I know that would alter

[00:33:37] the financial structure and the super license

[00:33:39] points and the revenue and awards and

[00:33:41] everything else so that it becomes more equitable

[00:33:43] accordingly so each point weighs

[00:33:45] less in a way but the point

[00:33:47] of it all being why

[00:33:49] why don't you want there to be

[00:33:51] an element of missing out that

[00:33:53] FOMO that you haven't quite made it to

[00:33:55] the points and that FOMO is basically

[00:33:57] what competition is all about the fear

[00:33:59] of missing out which is what drives

[00:34:01] athletes, engineers

[00:34:03] and the brightest minds in the sport to

[00:34:05] be at their very best so that they can be

[00:34:07] one of the ten instead of just being given

[00:34:09] points every single time I know

[00:34:11] it's only a psychological thing because ultimately

[00:34:13] if everyone is given

[00:34:15] points one point means less

[00:34:17] so those who score more obviously value

[00:34:19] it a lot more but the sentiment still remains

[00:34:21] that everyone is a winner and if everyone

[00:34:23] was a winner and if I wanted to see everyone

[00:34:25] being a winner I would go to

[00:34:27] a children's race where they were

[00:34:29] doing 100 meter sprints for grade 4

[00:34:31] I wouldn't go to watch Formula 1

[00:34:33] that's not what the sport is all for

[00:34:35] I think you perfectly summed it up

[00:34:37] there's no better explanation to that but

[00:34:39] but that's the thing and probably

[00:34:41] say first come first serve you have to be good

[00:34:43] enough to score points not everyone

[00:34:45] gets points otherwise you're going to see

[00:34:47] a lot of Sergio Perez's turning up

[00:34:49] back into the Japanese Grand Prix 15

[00:34:51] laps down after retiring fixing

[00:34:53] the front wing or fixing the rear wing

[00:34:55] and turning up and doing laps 15

[00:34:57] laps down just because you get a solitary point

[00:34:59] for coming last

[00:35:01] if not 12 maybe 15 but I definitely

[00:35:03] don't think that everyone who finishes

[00:35:05] has to be awarded points

[00:35:07] I was about to ask you

[00:35:09] Kiran what do you think of it and does even

[00:35:11] having 12 finishers make any sense to you

[00:35:13] for points

[00:35:15] I was actually six

[00:35:17] three years ago I was actually saying go back to eight

[00:35:19] go back to six

[00:35:21] make it as concise as you can

[00:35:23] like 25 points

[00:35:25] just blows my brain you know anyway but

[00:35:27] it was easier to remember the 10, 8, 6

[00:35:29] 4 whatever you know that we had then

[00:35:31] and suddenly say oh you finished sixth

[00:35:33] how many points do you need I quickly need to google it

[00:35:35] even now but either way

[00:35:37] the point so

[00:35:39] Atle Gulbransen who's been on

[00:35:41] our show a couple of times as

[00:35:43] a guest he's the voice of

[00:35:45] Formula One in Norway

[00:35:47] very dear friend he and I

[00:35:49] had this great discussion three years ago

[00:35:51] when he said you know what give points to everybody

[00:35:53] and I'm like same thing are you guys

[00:35:55] crazy why would you do it you need to

[00:35:57] fight for it but

[00:35:59] exactly he spun that around to say

[00:36:01] if you want them to fight

[00:36:03] let them fight for 16th place

[00:36:05] right now if you're 16th and you're just driving around

[00:36:07] aimlessly you're probably just going to be like what the

[00:36:09] hell am I even not going to get the points

[00:36:11] right we saw Mugnusen and

[00:36:13] Stroll fight a couple of races ago for 16th

[00:36:15] dead last we loved it right

[00:36:17] so I'm in this space where if it is

[00:36:19] if

[00:36:21] positions out of place

[00:36:23] are also something that we want

[00:36:25] to see and we want them to fight for rather

[00:36:27] than settle saying I'm anyway not in the points

[00:36:29] let me be out of it it's like

[00:36:31] 50% of the drivers

[00:36:33] will entertain the other 50 will just give up

[00:36:35] saying hey nobody's anywhere looking I don't get anything

[00:36:37] out of it so you know

[00:36:39] but

[00:36:41] I would add a caveat

[00:36:43] you have to be

[00:36:45] ideally I would love this but

[00:36:47] it suddenly just blows Formula One out of proportion

[00:36:49] you have to be on the same racing lap

[00:36:51] as a leader now the problem with that

[00:36:53] is sometimes even the top

[00:36:55] 6 are not on the same racing lap as a leader

[00:36:57] so then is there a compensation

[00:36:59] you know dispensation out there you need to be within

[00:37:01] you know 3 laps or

[00:37:03] whatever of the leader 1 lap

[00:37:05] maximum down something

[00:37:07] so you're also giving the bottom grid

[00:37:09] teams the reason to be quicker

[00:37:11] if they want to get points

[00:37:13] right now the challenge is I'm out of the points I'm 15th

[00:37:15] I'll just save on engine mileage

[00:37:17] I'll save on whatever else park the car

[00:37:19] so many reasons to not finish a race

[00:37:21] not entertain but

[00:37:23] could that be the equation that flips it around

[00:37:25] my question on that is

[00:37:27] how do you then split up the points

[00:37:29] because in MotoGP

[00:37:31] there is a point beyond which everyone just

[00:37:33] gets a couple of points it's like 1 1

[00:37:35] 1 2 2 2 so

[00:37:37] it doesn't incrementally add

[00:37:39] up to your points value so

[00:37:41] essentially if you're P15

[00:37:43] I don't know how do you split

[00:37:45] it up if there's 25 points do you

[00:37:47] it becomes

[00:37:49] give it to a mathematician I don't care

[00:37:51] give whatever you know but you're right

[00:37:53] it can't be that Max only gets 100 points for

[00:37:55] winning because you got to give 1 point to the guy

[00:37:57] finishing 20 yet

[00:37:59] so they'll have to figure out an equitable way

[00:38:01] which is where the incentives become marginal

[00:38:03] which is where the

[00:38:05] fun is you know people who pass the law

[00:38:07] are not the ones writing the law so I'm happy

[00:38:09] to give everybody the points but let

[00:38:11] somebody else figure out how many points to give

[00:38:13] no but like it doesn't

[00:38:15] equitably make sense right because

[00:38:17] there's points for everyone P20 gets 1

[00:38:19] P19 gets 1, P18 this is

[00:38:21] like 1 1 1 1 1 and suddenly

[00:38:23] the points delta is so

[00:38:25] stupid like to the point where if you're

[00:38:27] 8 you're getting I don't know 8 points

[00:38:29] but if you're 14th you're getting

[00:38:31] 5 or 4 or something in that regard which

[00:38:33] is just disproportionate comparatively

[00:38:35] so to me that's

[00:38:37] the second challenge first is can we

[00:38:39] all just agree because formula 1 met a couple

[00:38:41] of weeks ago and they didn't agree or they waited

[00:38:43] to say why don't we just wait and see how the scenario

[00:38:45] span out but overall they've agreed

[00:38:47] that more points should be awarded than

[00:38:49] just the top 10 and then let the second

[00:38:51] stage be where there is a proposal put out

[00:38:53] now whether it's 100 for winning or 50

[00:38:55] or whatever let them figure

[00:38:57] it out. I see

[00:38:59] it's never going there. Wait do you not

[00:39:01] want it to go there because I can imagine

[00:39:03] your job becomes exponentially harder

[00:39:05] if there is another point system

[00:39:07] change. My job has already become

[00:39:09] a lot difficult when George Russell

[00:39:11] won from P1 but not from pole position

[00:39:13] in Sao Paulo a couple of years

[00:39:15] ago so F1 can't make it more

[00:39:17] difficult but

[00:39:19] it's not going to be 50 and 100 for sure

[00:39:21] but just my whole point is if you

[00:39:23] finish 11th in a race you know you've

[00:39:25] missed out on points just by the very small

[00:39:27] margin and it probably

[00:39:29] gives you that motivation that you have to be

[00:39:31] good enough to score points and

[00:39:33] if everyone gets points then everyone

[00:39:35] probably settles and right now that's how

[00:39:37] the divide is. I get the question

[00:39:39] why it's being popped up in this

[00:39:41] year because the top 5 there's a clear

[00:39:43] divide between the top 5 and the bottom 5

[00:39:45] it's fair for 12, the top 12

[00:39:47] or the top 15 but it really doesn't

[00:39:49] make sense if everyone gets

[00:39:51] a point for this. Since

[00:39:53] luckily we are not the ones

[00:39:55] who are going to make this decision nor are we

[00:39:57] getting paid for it here. Thankfully.

[00:39:59] Two stats before we go

[00:40:01] Charles Leclerc only driver to

[00:40:03] be in top 4 in all formats of the

[00:40:05] races this year right

[00:40:07] but

[00:40:09] his teammate okay on Leclerc

[00:40:11] still go for it. Charles Leclerc

[00:40:13] is also the driver who's

[00:40:15] qualified in the even

[00:40:17] starting positions this year he's always

[00:40:19] had the dirtier side of the grid.

[00:40:21] Interesting

[00:40:23] the lowest being 8th in Japan I remember

[00:40:25] yeah

[00:40:27] his teammate in 2025

[00:40:29] Lewis Hamilton is

[00:40:31] I think for the first time

[00:40:33] in history never been in the top

[00:40:35] 5 or top 6

[00:40:37] in any of top 5 in the first 6

[00:40:39] races of the season like he's having a

[00:40:41] disastrous season. I mean

[00:40:43] if this was Lewis's

[00:40:45] debut season

[00:40:47] can you imagine

[00:40:49] what would be our impression of him?

[00:40:55] It will be Mercedes 300th

[00:40:57] race in Formula

[00:40:59] 1 this weekend so

[00:41:01] that's to

[00:41:03] look out for and since we are talking

[00:41:05] Alexander Albin's 50th

[00:41:07] race with Williams

[00:41:09] Ferrari's 250th

[00:41:11] podium I've had this tag for I think

[00:41:13] I don't know when since

[00:41:15] 250th pole position since

[00:41:17] it's been there for a long time

[00:41:19] since Las Vegas

[00:41:21] Las Vegas it's been coming

[00:41:23] all along and

[00:41:25] yeah

[00:41:27] driver market we'll see what those

[00:41:29] rumors I saw I heard a rumor of

[00:41:31] Joe Guan Yu being of

[00:41:33] interest to Haas

[00:41:35] because Nico's clearly going to leave at least

[00:41:37] Nico right and

[00:41:39] the Chinese market

[00:41:41] the Chinese sponsors the Chinese money

[00:41:43] we'll see if they can give Joe

[00:41:45] some more time in Formula 1

[00:41:47] This is the weirdest crossover

[00:41:49] Haas with a Chinese

[00:41:51] driver. Yes. Like in an age where

[00:41:53] America banned Huawei

[00:41:55] and again some might claim

[00:41:57] for good reason I believe so too but

[00:41:59] come on that's gonna be weird

[00:42:01] imagine trying to market that

[00:42:03] when all of your propaganda has been

[00:42:05] no China and your former president

[00:42:07] hated them

[00:42:09] and then this

[00:42:11] okay interesting but

[00:42:13] Your former president who was there at the race last

[00:42:15] weekend and was Lando Norris's

[00:42:17] lucky charm

[00:42:19] Weeeeeee nicely done

[00:42:21] but no speaking of driver market I think

[00:42:23] it's good to talk about this last point as well

[00:42:25] about lots of people

[00:42:27] moving ship now all of you

[00:42:29] might have seen the reports of Loic Serra and

[00:42:31] Jerome D'Ambrosio moving over from

[00:42:33] Mercedes to Ferrari and it is

[00:42:35] a big story in itself because Jerome D'Ambrosio

[00:42:37] was touted to be the next

[00:42:39] Otto Wolf of sorts, deputy team principal

[00:42:41] at Mercedes and that's also the title

[00:42:43] he's going to be picking up now at Ferrari

[00:42:45] and Loic Serra was sporting

[00:42:47] director if I'm not mistaken which

[00:42:49] is again a huge

[00:42:51] role that encompasses a lot of the teams

[00:42:53] responsibilities on track so

[00:42:55] for them to be moving over to Ferrari

[00:42:57] yes it does boost the claim

[00:42:59] of Ferrari building up a dream team

[00:43:01] but honestly Kunal losing a sporting

[00:43:03] director, losing someone as wise

[00:43:05] as Jerome D'Ambrosio

[00:43:07] how big of a move do you actually

[00:43:09] let's just firstly touch upon the question

[00:43:11] how wise is Jerome

[00:43:13] D'Ambrosio I have a bit of a story here

[00:43:15] but most people think that

[00:43:17] because he was a bang

[00:43:19] average Formula One driver doesn't mean that he's a

[00:43:21] smart racing brain which I think is

[00:43:23] rubbish honestly

[00:43:25] Look at Oliver Panis, look at so many of the other

[00:43:27] former racing car drivers who actually were really

[00:43:29] good as team bosses, team

[00:43:31] administrators whatever you

[00:43:33] Alan McNeish sorry that was the name I was looking

[00:43:35] for not Oliver Panis but okay

[00:43:37] Alan McNeish was

[00:43:39] the name I was looking for I think

[00:43:41] losing

[00:43:43] D'Am as we've called him you know all

[00:43:45] his life Jerome also Mahindra

[00:43:47] Formula E racer that's how we were

[00:43:49] interacted with him several times

[00:43:51] Somal

[00:43:53] that will hurt Otto Wolf more than

[00:43:55] anything else because he was you

[00:43:57] know sort of looking to see if he could

[00:43:59] give up the team principal role and

[00:44:01] they were trying to see if they were nurturing

[00:44:03] Jerome into that role and

[00:44:05] guess what while he was being nurtured his

[00:44:07] best friend Frederick Vassour

[00:44:09] came in and swooped in and then hired

[00:44:11] Jerome as a deputy team principal

[00:44:13] of Ferrari imagine the Leone of Ferrari

[00:44:15] he just said you know what I'm going to take that

[00:44:17] because who knows you know given

[00:44:19] the speed with which

[00:44:21] team principals get rotated

[00:44:23] could it be the deputy who gets the

[00:44:25] key team principals role

[00:44:27] at some point but you know the irony

[00:44:29] here is you know Jack Brown said

[00:44:31] with the CVs floating around after

[00:44:33] Adrian's departure and then

[00:44:35] had to say yeah lots of Red Bull CVs

[00:44:37] that are on the market and then of course Jonathan

[00:44:39] Wheatley is a name that's

[00:44:41] been discussed for a long long time

[00:44:43] even before the Adrian Nui

[00:44:45] exit I would say but

[00:44:47] clearly didn't know of the CVs

[00:44:49] from the from the Mercedes team that were

[00:44:51] floating around and two big

[00:44:53] heavy signings that Frederick

[00:44:55] Vassour has made and

[00:44:57] you know all of this I would say is also

[00:44:59] with the pull

[00:45:01] of Lewis Hamilton

[00:45:03] people want to work with him

[00:45:05] they want to see if they can create something new and

[00:45:07] they're like why don't we try it

[00:45:09] and of course it's Ferrari

[00:45:11] Like you said these are two big

[00:45:13] signings so Luik Serra has been actually

[00:45:15] the performance director at Mercedes

[00:45:17] ever since they came back to the sport he's been a part

[00:45:19] of the team for all the world championships

[00:45:21] and

[00:45:23] taking away a person as

[00:45:25] huge as him is

[00:45:27] going to be massive for Mercedes and also

[00:45:29] Jerome D'Ambrosio who's

[00:45:31] I think leading the driver development program

[00:45:33] in Mercedes he's now leading the Ferrari

[00:45:35] driver academy so

[00:45:37] really really bad

[00:45:39] huge punch for Mercedes this

[00:45:41] and that I think this is what happens

[00:45:43] in a battle you either strengthen yourselves or you

[00:45:45] try to weaken your opponent and that's what Ferrari

[00:45:47] has been doing Red Bull did that a couple

[00:45:49] of years ago and Ferrari is

[00:45:51] employing the same tactic

[00:45:53] And on that right

[00:45:55] when I got the chance to speak

[00:45:57] to Dilbagh Gill team principal of Mahindra

[00:45:59] racing team back in the day former

[00:46:01] yeah there you go okay back in the day

[00:46:03] back in the day

[00:46:05] he mentioned so much about Jerome's

[00:46:07] racing wisdom and that

[00:46:09] was I wouldn't say one of the major

[00:46:11] reasons of him being a part of the team but that was

[00:46:13] greatly valued about the experience

[00:46:15] he brings in not just from Formula

[00:46:17] One but from seeing so much

[00:46:19] of racing to the point where he got

[00:46:21] promoted at Venturi as

[00:46:23] a team principal there immediately after leaving

[00:46:25] as a driver he was one of those smart

[00:46:27] academic type drivers who looks

[00:46:29] at the environment and really can figure

[00:46:31] things out great people skills really

[00:46:33] smart in terms of understanding human

[00:46:35] dynamics as well from what I got to see back in

[00:46:37] the day and it's great that

[00:46:39] he's getting that chance to be in

[00:46:41] that sort of role to carry that program forward

[00:46:43] and I'm glad that racing brains

[00:46:45] are being appreciated because normally

[00:46:47] Formula One records are what people

[00:46:49] look like and be like ah terrible driver

[00:46:51] no look at what they've done outside

[00:46:53] of it and look at the wisdom they've gained

[00:46:55] outside of Formula One then

[00:46:57] see what they can bring into the human and the

[00:46:59] racing side of things. So I think you answered

[00:47:01] your own question so just replace

[00:47:03] Jerome D'Ambrosio with Lance

[00:47:05] Troll and his experience

[00:47:07] his people skills is exactly why he's

[00:47:09] going to be in Formula One for several

[00:47:11] years. Deputy team principal under my

[00:47:13] crack

[00:47:15] but why don't we get into predictions

[00:47:17] why don't we get into predictions

[00:47:19] and one of the things I'm going to just shoot

[00:47:21] mine first one of the things I predict we will

[00:47:23] never see in Formula One is the

[00:47:25] epic Alonso versus Schumacher

[00:47:27] battle which we remember each time we

[00:47:29] come to Imola

[00:47:31] because that was the San Marino

[00:47:33] Grand Prix when these two

[00:47:35] giants of the sport battled

[00:47:37] lap after lap overtaking

[00:47:39] trying to well they defended really

[00:47:41] well but can you imagine in today's day

[00:47:43] and age of Formula One

[00:47:45] we would have never seen this why because

[00:47:47] we have the wretched DRS

[00:47:49] the drag reduction system where

[00:47:51] Michael would have just been like ha ha I'm

[00:47:53] within one second flick you know flick

[00:47:55] that wing open drive past

[00:47:57] and then you're through

[00:47:59] unfortunate or they would have played

[00:48:01] DRS games I can't imagine one more tool

[00:48:03] for Michael to play games with he would have

[00:48:05] been ruthless exactly

[00:48:07] but on a serious note

[00:48:09] I think despite all of

[00:48:11] that and hyping up the battle for P1

[00:48:13] and all I think is going to be Max

[00:48:15] Rischtappen winning

[00:48:17] by 25 second margin

[00:48:19] he's going to go out there

[00:48:21] he's going to show people

[00:48:23] I got beaten

[00:48:25] last race but this is me stamping

[00:48:27] my every time he's lost

[00:48:29] he's come back with a vengeance

[00:48:31] you're going to hear this on every podcast

[00:48:33] you're going to hear this every session during

[00:48:35] the broadcast that's what's going to happen

[00:48:37] and Max is going to be

[00:48:39] P1

[00:48:41] there's a stat to prove that

[00:48:43] I've done my homework

[00:48:45] so the last three drivers

[00:48:47] to win a race

[00:48:49] from a Max Rischtappen pole position have never

[00:48:51] won a race ever again

[00:48:53] say what?

[00:48:55] Daniel Ricciardo in Italy 2021

[00:48:57] Charles Leclerc back

[00:48:59] in Austria 2022

[00:49:01] and Carlos Sainz more recently

[00:49:03] in Australia 2024 they've never won a race

[00:49:05] again Lando Norris just

[00:49:07] won from a Max Rischtappen pole position

[00:49:09] and he's not going to take it lightly

[00:49:11] so I expect Max Rischtappen to win

[00:49:13] once again in Emu La

[00:49:15] maybe with 25 seconds maybe with 30 seconds

[00:49:17] but yeah he's going to be back at the top

[00:49:19] yeah expect it

[00:49:21] no one second

[00:49:23] please you were going to say Carlos

[00:49:25] Sainz is going to win now that

[00:49:27] you have that stat you're like shit I can't say that

[00:49:29] just admit it

[00:49:31] you actually read my mind

[00:49:33] which is why I was going to say literally

[00:49:35] word for word which is why I'm going to say

[00:49:37] Carlos Sainz the second that is precisely

[00:49:39] you know me too well

[00:49:41] you know me too well

[00:49:43] 300 plus episodes

[00:49:45] with you guys clearly

[00:49:47] all those you know

[00:49:49] inside line pit stops we've hosted

[00:49:51] and done but I'm going to add

[00:49:53] something more Carlos Sainz

[00:49:55] Carlos Sainz Senior assigned with Ford

[00:49:57] and suddenly from being linked with Audi

[00:49:59] Carlos Sainz Junior is linked with

[00:50:01] Red Bull Ford

[00:50:03] Red Bull powertrains whatever you call it

[00:50:05] from 2026

[00:50:07] isn't it already Red Bull powertrains now or I don't know

[00:50:09] from whatever yeah

[00:50:11] but that's going to be interesting on the driver market

[00:50:13] suddenly from asking him about Audi

[00:50:15] couple of races ago they're going to say oh by the way now

[00:50:17] why don't we just speak about Red Bull Ford and

[00:50:19] see where that goes so

[00:50:21] Carlos Sainz is going to be

[00:50:23] the big hot shot of the

[00:50:25] driver market chat this weekend

[00:50:27] let's see

[00:50:29] I would love to ask the prediction

[00:50:31] for not pole position because obviously Max

[00:50:33] O'Stappen's goal last year was to win

[00:50:35] as many races this year his goal

[00:50:37] is to take as many pole positions

[00:50:39] and next year probably podiums and faster slaps

[00:50:41] and so on year after year but

[00:50:43] let's

[00:50:45] have predictions around who finishes

[00:50:47] on the front row apart from maybe Max O'Stappen

[00:50:49] I like that one

[00:50:51] I think

[00:50:53] I'm going to go Charles Leclerc

[00:50:55] he's got a track record

[00:50:57] here he's quite good and at least in qualifying

[00:50:59] he's a better driver

[00:51:01] than Carlos from what we've seen

[00:51:03] in the last few years so I would go

[00:51:05] with I would go with Lando Norris

[00:51:07] that whole excitement

[00:51:09] momentum confidence

[00:51:11] the McLaren actually did well

[00:51:13] in Miami high speed circuit again

[00:51:15] different sort of high speed more

[00:51:17] more straights and whatever but yeah either

[00:51:19] way I think I'm going to go with McLaren

[00:51:21] but

[00:51:23] yeah I think McLaren is where I'm going to go

[00:51:25] yeah

[00:51:27] Mercedes will find some new excuse for not

[00:51:29] being there I would say but

[00:51:31] let's see

[00:51:33] one more prediction

[00:51:35] sorry what about your prediction yours

[00:51:37] is Daniel Ricciardo

[00:51:39] I said Leclerc

[00:51:41] one more prediction I know Danny

[00:51:43] has been having a couple of exciting races

[00:51:45] very good races is he

[00:51:47] going to score points or is he going

[00:51:49] to make it to Q3

[00:51:51] I think it's going to be Sonoda in Q3

[00:51:53] I think we all forgot

[00:51:55] that it's also

[00:51:57] RB's home race

[00:51:59] yeah

[00:52:01] so will they score points

[00:52:03] or will they have a Q3 appearance

[00:52:05] you say Sonoda

[00:52:07] yeah

[00:52:09] yeah it's same

[00:52:11] I think I'll go with Sonoda

[00:52:13] two great and not so great minds think alike

[00:52:15] incredible

[00:52:17] I'm going to leave you guys with a question

[00:52:19] what is the biggest obsession with overtaking that Formula One has

[00:52:21] I wonder why Formula One

[00:52:23] keeps coming back to a circuit

[00:52:25] where it is statistically so difficult

[00:52:27] to overtake and

[00:52:29] don't you dare make them

[00:52:31] question their choices

[00:52:33] they have made a good decision

[00:52:35] for once don't put that thought in

[00:52:37] their head at least until 2030

[00:52:39] or whatever it might be

[00:52:41] let's keep this

[00:52:43] as is but that's going to be

[00:52:45] the theme of the weekend

[00:52:47] if that Imola really gets from all of us

[00:52:49] then that is going to be such a fun thing to watch

[00:52:51] as we mentioned earlier on

[00:52:53] watch the sessions and just watch the

[00:52:55] cars flying past here this is going

[00:52:57] to be so much fun and surely it's going to

[00:52:59] be a fun weekend when Carlos Saenz gets

[00:53:01] the win at the end for Ferrari

[00:53:03] at Imola haha see you guys

[00:53:05] we'll see you

[00:53:07] for the Imola GP review rather soon

[00:53:09] take care bye bye

[00:53:36] I just wanted to say a huge

[00:53:38] thank you to Amazon Music once again

[00:53:40] for partnering with us on this episode

[00:53:42] of the podcast