Silverstone to be HOME of SUPERCLIPPING | F1 Superstars to Superclip | 2026 British GP | F1 Podcast

[00:00:00] Think of the 31st of July! Why? Last call for your taxes! Oh no, I don't know where to start! Because why taxes? That's like a tax explanation, just without stress! Is that simple? Sure, almost everything automatically! It takes a long time? No, just per App! Then... Get back with why taxes! Until 31st of July!

[00:00:30] We are right here at Silverstone! And over the years, it's a race that's crowned many champions! You win Silverstone and your name is up there in the history books! It's not quite as glamorous as Monaco, but certainly as big, as iconic and as heavy in the memory! We've seen Lewis Hamilton win here multiple times, we've seen Lando Norris achieve success! Will there be another British home hero winning at the British GP? Welcome everyone to the Inside Line F1 Podcast! This is the British Grand Prix preview here!

[00:01:00] Straight up from Austria, it's only been a couple of days! And the big question, Kunal, home hero! Are we going to see Hamilton win again? Or is it time for George Russell finally to double down and win this? Well, talking of home heroes, even Alexander Alben is a home hero! What are the chances he could score a win? But great to find that George Russell is the only British driver in a top team to have not won at home in Silverstone! Of course, massive hype!

[00:01:27] He's coming off the back of a very, I would say, easy victory in Austria! He had to earn it! But I'm eager to see who actually shines in or at the home of Formula One! And I seem actually a little disturbed and distracted already, because Fernando Alonso has already said, Silverstone, especially Maggots, Beckett's Chapel, all the high-speed corners we've grown up to watching drivers do their deviltry at Sawmill.

[00:01:55] He said they're going to be mere charging stations. Is super clipping going to be the headline this weekend? Is it going to be all about energy management? Is it going to be, what, 51 laps of torture? And you've got to add the sprint race as well? It could be that way. Remember, since the changes have come in, Formula One cars have been better at managing energy, because the level at which you recharge your battery while your battery is fully deployed, it's called super clipping at the end of a straight.

[00:02:23] That has increased, but you're deploying so much at Silverstone, because it's an airfield. It's not a circuit in the middle of a city where you just constructed a piece of tarmac and call it a straight. This is properly an airfield. It used to be back in the day. The World War II fighter jets used to take out from this very place. So there's ample of space, ample of straights, ample of areas to deploy it. And it could be very sad, Kunal, if we end up seeing the cars excessively going slow on these iconic corners,

[00:02:53] like Maggots, like Kirsten Chapel, only to save up for the next race. Yes, we will see passing, but qualifying might be sad if that's the case. And let's elaborate this further. We're not overreacting before a single lap has been driven in anger. It's the sprint Grand Prix weekend. We're going to have a sprint qualifying tomorrow. We're going to have the qualifying and the sprint race on Saturday. And of course, the Grand Prix on Sunday. We will talk about the most exciting Lego race that's going to happen on the Sunday.

[00:03:19] Just wait for that, because that might just be the most exciting race around Silverstone. But why are Sawmill and I reacting to energy management? Max Verstappen said last week in Austria that when he was on the simulator driving Silverstone, he said, I started laughing. Fernando Alonso, like I said right now, already said that it's going to be a charging station. The other world champion multiple times, home hero Lewis Hamilton said it's going to be.

[00:03:45] I can't even remember what he said because ultimately he said it's like the deficit is twice over or something. So then I started to break down the number of corners. There are 18 corners. Okay. And as per the classification of each corner. Okay. And this is now classification done using data itself. I'm going to read it out. There are five corners, which are slow corners. Corners where you will be able to recharge the battery.

[00:04:13] There are only three corners, which are medium speed corners. But out of the 18, 10 corners are classified as fast, high speed corners. Okay. And which ones are these? Literally from turns one to turns nine, drivers are going to be managing energy. And how many total corners again? 18 corners. So 50% of the lap is when drivers are going to be managing energy. So the first half of the lap.

[00:04:40] So that they have sufficient energy for the second half of the lap. Did you imagine we come to one of the, you know, most exciting title battles of recent times, a 19 year old up ahead running a 44 year old chasing him. And you know, the preseason favorite trying to get there as well with such headlines with Max Verstappen throwing in his towel saying that the gap is larger, but the races are more this year.

[00:05:04] With such narratives, we will still talk about super clipping and energy management at the iconic Silverstone. And did you ever imagine that the motto of the UK is God save the king now, obviously. This Sunday, are we going to be singing God save Formula One? Oh God. It's not going to be. How, how bad could it be? How bad could it be? Honestly, is it good to be worse than what we've seen in China? That's a, that's a good point. Yeah. I mean, it could. Okay.

[00:05:32] Let's remember there is one fundamental change the FIA has made since China. They've reduced harvesting needs and capacity. So they've literally brought down the overall energy available. So cars are not energy starved. We've seen that it's not been as bad in some of the other circuits, but this is now down, not to the cars. It's down to the nature of the circuit and what's needed.

[00:05:54] I mean, when you think of Silverstone, like I said, it's always been about cars and drivers being dealt devilry through those high speed corners, high speed directional changes, keeping it planted. It's always been about who doesn't feather the throttle, who's got the biggest dash of steel to go there. And here, if you do that, not only will you run out of energy at the end of the straight, maybe the AI tool is going to sense that you are too much on power and cut off power anyway, like we've seen Charles Leclerc explained before.

[00:06:23] It is going to be sad if that's the case, but prepare for it. I think that iconic shot that we see of cars zooming past, turning right into cops, I don't think that's going to be as fast anymore. But then you just have to wonder what impact it will have on the race. Because if we are going to see even more battery harvesting taking place and drivers wanting to manage and save to be able to deploy on those long straights, you might see even more yo-yo racing.

[00:06:50] So if you thought Formula One had gotten dull suddenly in the last few races since the super clipping limits have been increased, here you go. Here's an opportunity to see yo-yo racing once again. And the straights are so long here Kunal, and you can follow along for such a long period of time. We might see drivers swap, swap back around, swap, swap back around, swap and swap back around in that run down to the final couple of corners where you go to the final chicane and out on the home stretch. Like we've seen time and again.

[00:07:17] And that is what Formula One will tell us to celebrate. We're going to have 300 on track passes. We're going to have just because of what Samuel said, we'll have three overtakes between two drivers just on the very same stretch of tarmac and we are going to celebrate that. We'll be told to celebrate that. We will see a return to the famous yo-yo racing. Oh my goodness. Anyway, what else have we got? We've got the Lego race because the Lego, or do you still have more complaints? No, I'm fine.

[00:07:47] I'm just trying not to think too much about it. You know, very interesting. You said try not to think too much about it because I've been, I was reading hence what are the changes for 27, 28. Max has been very clear. I want 60, 40 because that's at least like the least of the worst situation or whatever. To get to 60, 40, we're still going to go in 20, 28. Okay. So we're still going to have 27, which is slightly better, but still, still not the best.

[00:08:16] But why am I saying this is how many billions is each team valued at a minimum 1 billion euros? What could be the cost of fixing this? Million, 2 million, 10 million? Getting all those billion dollar teams to agree to one thing. That's going to be the cost. Who is going to make it happen? It's a human cost. Max Verstappen has tried. He's tried. But no, seriously, what is the cost? We've got four power unit manufacturers, right?

[00:08:42] Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Honda and Audi. Five. I mean, well, they've said it's a money problem. They've said we've already invested so much in these units. Let's not change them back. And I'm like, there are millions, there are billions being made. Why not just put something in better, the on-track product? Then we've got to ask a question. Is that going to be worth it?

[00:09:04] Is the idea of completely taking away the batteries and completely taking away this possibility of extremely high super clipping going to be worth sacrificing the amount of investment and the sunk costs that all these teams have invested into these technologies? Or will Formula One and the entire stakeholder group look at this and be like, ah, it's just one race. It'll be fine. It's one race a year. Surely they'll forget. Is it going to be worth it?

[00:09:29] Are the complaints loud enough and are the complaints damaging enough for Formula One to be able to change the regulations in a way that we fundamentally solve the super clipping problem and just get rid of the battery? I think so. It's going to be... I'm actually looking at Liberty Media stock price in 2026 because this is probably going to impact the stock price, if at all. But I'll put it this way. With such beautiful cars, agile, drivers loving to push and so on, why not just give them proper power units?

[00:09:56] But having said that, we should just move on because it's not the British Grand Prix and the Formula One cars we are really going to enjoy. We're going to have free to air coverage on socials of the Lego mini cars Formula One race. Every driver is going to get equal cars, equal engines. We're going to see them race without a helmet, Samuel. I love that. We're going to see their expressions. No damage budgets or anything. No pit stops.

[00:10:24] Just flat out racing at, I think, 20 kilometers per hour. Yeah, that'll be a lot of fun. Just watching all the drivers go at it again after Miami. And this time I want driver swaps. I want all the drivers who didn't get a chance to drive last time to be able to drive this time. And they should be going flat out. By the way, why not get rid of the limit and have employment and super clipping there as well? Let's see who manages their energy the best in the Lego race.

[00:10:48] But I have to tell you this time, as far as I understand, they have 22 Lego go karts. So it's no longer two seater Formula One cars. When I saw the images and stuff, I said, okay, wow, 22 Lego go karts. They've got, they've actually got go kart tires. I saw that the steering wheels are there. You've got steering arms as well. So pretty much 22 go karts on track looking beautiful in the team colors. Honestly, I'll see this next max takes it. It's going to be fun.

[00:11:17] But on the track this weekend, it's going to be all about trying to see who can catch up to Mercedes. Yes, Ferrari looked good in Barcelona. Yes, Lewis Hamilton had a bit of a purple patch there while his teammate's clerk has been slipping. But Austria proved that Ferrari are not invincible. Their car has falterings. This weekend, they are bringing in more updates to the car, trying to solve their floor issue as well.

[00:11:43] Not no issue per se, but trying to add more downposts to the car in as many ways as possible. Mercedes already have the updates from the last few races that they are going to be working on. And the interesting part over here is going to be if anyone can match Mercedes through the high-speed sections, which Silverstone has a ton of, and especially on the deployment where Mercedes still seems to be number one. I mean, you said Ferrari were clearly not invincible. I never thought, even after Barcelona, that they were not invincible.

[00:12:13] They just really had a great car for that particular race weekend with the strategy that they pulled off. Of course, it's going to be Mercedes who's going to be chased. And I'll tell you what I'm eager to see. Antonelli having a problem-free weekend. Of course, he had a DNF in Barcelona and then qualifying was messed up. And similarly, Max Verstappen having a problem-free weekend. And if Russell Antonelli, Verstappen go head-to-head. And I believe the Ferraris will be closer to the front because of the high-speed corners and medium-speed corners.

[00:12:43] The chassis that the Ferrari package has is the best of the unit. It's got probably the best aero efficiency, something you need at this circuit to go quick. But their Achilles heels will continue to be their deployment across the lap. But are we going to see five cars in the fight? I really think so. And hopefully McLaren makes its seven cars in the battle. Because two Mercedes, I believe, will be challenged by Verstappen.

[00:13:08] Will that package which we saw in Austria, which allowed Max Verstappen to climb positions onto the podium, will that package actually help him even at Silverstone? Remember, it's a driver stack. The driver makes a difference even if the cars are still going to be super-clipping and going to be not driven on the limit. Similarly, Lewis Hamilton, I did some of his stats. 20th race at Silverstone. And how many? He's won nine of them. Just mind boggles me. Then one more stat came up in 2008.

[00:13:38] He won for McLaren. Do you want to guess what his winning margin was? 68 seconds. His winning margin at that time. So, Lewis Hamilton at his home race in that Ferrari. In that Ferrari with the momentum over Charles Leclerc. Okay. I'm eager to see how Charles Leclerc even bounces back from this. Because Charles Leclerc has clearly been on the back foot now for several race weekends. It's going to be a challenge.

[00:14:05] But Ferrari's competitiveness, do you think that's something we can accept? That they will be up there with the Mercedes? Because Austria was a bit of a free circuit for them that way. They were fifth and ninth. Fifth and eighth. My apologies. Yeah, and I mean like we spoke in the Austrian review, their start positions were inflated. And that's what caused more heartburn in the race. I believe they'll be stronger at Silverstone.

[00:14:29] And it is still, you know, their power deficit will still, you know, not bring them up there with the front. But I think it's not going to be as bad as Austria where they were just nowhere when it came to the top teams. Or so we can hope because Hopium is what they sell always, Samuel, don't they? Oh, they do. Oh, they do. They will be Hopium in the air for McLaren, too. Home race for them. It's been a torrid, torrid time. They still are yet to win a Formula One race, by the way. They still are yet to put the car in pole position.

[00:14:58] They came close a couple of times at the start of the year. And recently, like since Canada onwards, I don't think McLaren is anywhere in consideration. At least for Suzuka, they were in and around the whole leading pack. It's only regressed since then. And now there's nobody to blame. Like all the reports and all the rumors about Mercedes having a bit of an advantage because they're the manufacturer team and McLaren being disadvantaged because they're customers. All of that talk is done. Now it's time to see what you can do with the car.

[00:15:26] And it's been a tough, tough patch for McLaren. It may be the whole decision to go for the shorter wheelbase. Generally, they're not having as much downforce, which Andreas Teller has admitted to the media as well. It's going to be tough and exaggerated at a circuit like that. It will. And, you know, even though it's their home race, we've got to remember it's one of those rare times that McLaren is throwing upgrades to the car and it's not delivering performance. Since 23, they've been the class of upgrades. Every time they put something on the car, it always worked.

[00:15:52] And my sense is that as Red Bull and Ferrari have taken a step forward with the upgrades, McLaren haven't. And there's also this narrative of how Lando Norris is just out driving Oscar Piastri. I think in general, McLaren not being there up front is making people just make such lousy comparisons. I believe they've had pretty fair, you know, seasons or fair season till date in those eight races. They've been equal in terms of number of times they've been out qualifying each other, number of times they've been on the podium and the like.

[00:16:22] So and the number of times I think they've had DNS as well. I think Oscars had two DNS. Lando had one DNS and then a DNF. So you talk of home races. Can we just make a list of everyone whose home race this is? Formula One. Let's start with that. That's the easy one out. Then Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull, Aston Martin, NAS, Cadillac, Williams, Audi. Audi as well. They've got that. They've established a satellite office.

[00:16:52] Yes, they have. Alpine. You said Alpine. Yes. Racing Bulls also because they have also established a remote base in or near the Milton Keynes. Yes. So the only and the only team that's clearly not there is Ferrari. Is it? Yes. And Ferrari used to have a base there when John Barnard was the director.

[00:17:16] Yes. But of the current teams, are we literally saying that 10 out of the 11 teams have this as a home race? Yeah. Wow. Okay. 10 out of the 11 teams and a vast majority of the drivers. Let's do the math. Who are the drivers? George Russell? Yes. Alex. Let's go one by one. You said Russell. I'm going Hamilton. You've gone Albon. I'm going Norris. Four. Wow. Do we have more? Oliver Bearman. How can you forget? Five. Good one. Good one. Okay.

[00:17:46] Who else have we got? I think that's about it, no? No, is it? Avid Lindblad. How could you forget for all the time you've spent with him? Yeah, I was getting there. Avid Lindblad. Yes. Is there anyone else? We mentioned Lewis. That's about it. Yeah, that's about it. That is about it. That is about it. Nico Halkenberg-Portoletto. No, that is about it. No, that is about it. Yeah. We got them all. Yes. Wow. It's kind of strange that there are 22. Only five of them are British. Whereas this number used to be bigger back in the day. But they're all...

[00:18:16] Let me... I came across another stat. 76 British Grand Prix still did. 31 of them have been won by British drivers. So at least the number... And that's a 40%. So there's a 40% chance either of all these British drivers will take it. And then of course, you narrow it down further. Russell is best place to grab it. And then maybe Hamilton. And then maybe Norris there. Yeah. But I'll tell you one more thing I'm looking forward to.

[00:18:42] Will this be the race weekend where Formula One breaks its own record of the largest fan attended Grand Prix weekend? Last year, it was half a million people over four days. The year before that, it was 480,000 people over four days. Silverstone, which is actually the worst track to travel to, have accommodation to, still has the best camping sites on those grasslands. More than half a million people saw mill. And I love it. And one more thing.

[00:19:11] I was again, you know, going back through a lot of my notes when we used to give tickets to fans. Silverstone is actually, you know, that one of those rare circuits, and I remember the note here now, where almost every corner of Silverstone can be seen through the general admission zone. So if you have a GA ticket, of course, you got to walk around and cover a lot of land and a lot of distance.

[00:19:35] And the track is also at a distance then, but you are able to see every corner with a general admission ticket. So it is truly a fan circuit. It's beautiful. They can put Barcelona on an alternative basis, but they cannot put Silverstone on that. Ever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

[00:19:54] If there's a tier list, you will have to admit that Silverstone is just at one step above pretty much every other circuit, especially given the spectacle, given the street, given the racing, given how every single race here always produces drama. And every corner has a name, every corner has history. There's been so much happening and it's not just, you know, the one thing I also love about Silverstone is there are so many other circuits on the Formula One calendar that do not have any other racing.

[00:20:19] I'm looking at all the street circuits, majority of them, where they just largely host a Formula One race, Formula Two, whenever that circus is happening around, if Porsche, Super Cup cars are there, great. But then that's kind of Miami, Baku, Madring will kind of be similar as well when it comes up. Las Vegas, to give another example.

[00:20:38] But this place hosts motorsport right down to the very roots of club racing. You could race touring cars here, you could race saloon cars, you could race sports cars, you could race bikes. They do race there, right? Yeah, yeah. So this circuit is probably a home of motorsport. And when the, it's like Formula One's not the only entertainment show around here. It's like, finally Formula One feels like the biggest fish in the motorsport world coming to the circuit, but then other stuff also happens.

[00:21:06] So if you're in and around the community, you're always waiting for this time where the fastest cars come to that circuit. It must be such an actual feeling. It is, especially with so many, I mean, you know, the Force India factory is 100 meters from one of the gates at Silverstone. And we used to walk over to Silverstone and we talk about a couple of memories and histories from the British Grand Prix.

[00:21:26] But here's another thing which is unique about the layout. I believe this is the only circuit where after the start, you have about a 660 meter dash, which is the second longest dash on the calendar for any circuit.

[00:21:40] But it's not a straight dash, because you are turning and you are turning before you enter the braking zone for turn one, which is why I'm actually excited for the sprint race happening, because you get the start twice, you get the opening lap twice, you get the opening attack and defenses twice. Is there any other circuit? Because every other circuit is fairly standard. You're starting, you go straight and you're braking and then you're turning, right?

[00:22:04] You think of Mexico, think of Austria, think of Canada, think of Monaco. Pretty much every circuit is standard. Silverstone is unique in this case, right? You're turning, turning twice before you actually end up hitting the brake markers for turn one. That's the beautiful part. And that's where George Russell had his crash in 2024. You can get flipped around at that turn number one and you're just going faster and faster and faster from that point on. Maybe we will see a little bit of harvesting before they enter the Sir Lewis Hamilton Strait.

[00:22:34] But this circuit overall will give us so many opportunities for the race. Camera angles here are fantastic. They've got that incredible, what's that camera they call that goes through the wiring up top? I guess, I forgot the name of it, but it comes in around the Lafayette woodcutt section and then you can just... And it just goes straight while the cars are turning around, no? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a rocket cam or what? Line cam? Whatever, zipline cam. Zipline cam, I'm assuming.

[00:23:00] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Zipline cam. But Pirelli are, of course, bringing the same hard compounds they brought into Japan. So if it's a dry and sunny race as it's expected, it's going to be a single stopper race this weekend. The rain doesn't seem like it's going to come this weekend. And we will, of course, see the front left tire wear out and then the rears, given how typical traction zones are and the turning sequences are especially.

[00:23:26] To remember Silverstone again, one of the other notes I remember, Samuel, is pretty much all fast corners are right-handed corners. Okay. And then the slower ones are a sequence of right and left corners. So if you're turning right, there's a very high chance it's a fast corner on Silverstone. And I don't know, I can't remember most other circuits in this race. I just remember Silverstone. But given you being the Wikipedia of Formula One, what are your memories from all these years of racing at Silverstone?

[00:23:55] Nico Hülkenberg's podium now definitely belongs there after last year. Hülkenberg, what, 268 was the number? Like, some ungodly number of races that he had to wait. Longest wait ever for a Formula One podium. So it's unbelievable how that race sticks out in my head. Beautiful moment, that. But going back to Ghost Hamilton, that was a killer moment. We obviously... Well, the thing with the British EP is where do you start, right? Like, there's just so many...

[00:24:24] I thought you're going to start 1968 British Grand Prix, lap 23. This is what happened. That's what you usually remember in your wiki brains. I know you've been doing football. I'm not going to quiz you. There's Mansell and Pique. There's Mansell and Pique over there as well, heading into Stowe. You cannot forget. That was an incredible moment. How can you possibly forget Hamilton's 2008? Where, as you mentioned, won by over 60 seconds. How can you possibly forget Fernando Alonso's win here? I think it was 2011.

[00:24:55] Where... One sec. Fernando Alonso's not won here since 2006, isn't it? No, no. He has. He has, my friend. Let me get to the exact year. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my defining memories is that. Was that in the vet with Ferrari, wasn't it? No, no. That was 2011. Yes, correct. 2011. The year when Red Bull were having all of their drama. Vettel and Weber going hammer and dongs at it. Vettel seemed to be amazing throughout the entire season. But then Alonso ended up winning in 2011. He beat Vettel.

[00:25:25] I was there that race weekend. And I actually have another memory which links back to the driver you just started with. Nico Hulkenberg on the podium. And he was the Force India Reserve driver that season. So Nico and I, we were sitting in the Force India factory. And we were going to walk over to... We were going to walk over to the paddock. And then he said, it's a long walk. And we just saw one of those electric scooters that had just debuted at that time.

[00:25:53] So he and I put on a helmet. And I'm sitting behind Nico. And we're zipping through. And you know, the minute security just recognizes drivers, they let them through. And I remember calling my mom. And I'm like, I was sitting behind the scooter with a Formula One driver. And first question, instead of asking who it was, she's like, did you have a helmet? So you can imagine. But no, it's an exciting race. And it's always been a beautiful memory over the years.

[00:26:22] This being a very special one. I mean, then you also think of Patton's win here. You think of Mark Webber saying, not bad for a number two driver. That happened over here as well. Hamilton, Verstappen 2021. Who can forget? First that back in the race. And then the first lap accident that they had afterwards. Well, so much. So much. But Somil, I know you're looking forward to your favorite part of Formula One, which I never get. But before I get that, I'm going to leave you hanging there.

[00:26:51] We're going to see Antonelli, Antonelli and Russell battling. Okay. Antonelli scored his first F to win in 2024 in the wet conditions. So he's got great memories of Silverstone. George Russell scored his first ever single-seater victory at Silverstone in 2013. And 2013, no, 2014. So Russell had great memories of winning in Silverstone. Antonelli has had great memories of winning in Silverstone.

[00:27:17] And I believe Russell's teammate at that time was Indian DTM driver Arjun Maik. So anyway, had to put it there. What a time. What a time. Arjun's also doing well in DTM nowadays. Make sure you're following his journey, guys. Even Kush will be racing in Formula Two this weekend, won't he? He does. He loves this circuit. As does anyone with all the... I think it's going to be more exciting to drive a Formula Two car this weekend than a Formula One car. Feanchu is here saying the same thing. I was excited for extra action with Sprint.

[00:27:46] But this energy shebang will be a party pooper. Well, we're trying their best. We try their best to enjoy ourselves. But Somil's biggest enjoyment are deliveries. He's not mentioned it. He's been dying to bring it up. We should talk liveries because I have no idea who's bringing what livery. What? Have you not seen the photos? No, I purposely have just ignored it. Saying the Lego race is going to be my highlight. Okay, this is going to be the moment. Time for a live reaction from Kunal on the special liveries for the British Eerie. I'm sending you a link, Kunal.

[00:28:16] You will have all the liveries in there. Let's find out live on stream what Kunal thinks of the new special liveries. Firstly, from McLaren. Then from Cadillac. And then from Williams. Here we go. McLaren, Cadillac, Williams. Okay. Because Kunal normally does not take a look at liveries. And this time I feel a good job has been done. A good job has been done by a couple of the teams. So let's figure. McLaren is all white? Yes. We've got Racing Bulls all white.

[00:28:43] So unless Racing Bulls is changing this, I'm glad you're doing commentary because you have to then identify whether it's Racing Bulls or McLaren. And given their pace, they're going to be same or similar next to each other at least. That's what we think. Okay. But not bad. Okay. I like the shade of blue. What are we putting in? A, O, B, C. B minus. McLaren livery. I think it's an A minus. Okay. Okay. But I just realized when I saw the McLaren livery.

[00:29:11] That Cadillac is also a white livery. So technically it's there. But Cadillac has added some blue to it. Special color scheme for Silverstone is not British themed. Okay. It's American themed. It's American themed. It's the independence day. 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. So can you imagine this is what Donald Trump needs to hype? The American Formula One team is coming to race in the UK to celebrate 250 years of freedom from...

[00:29:42] I think he's got his hands busy with millions of fans from around the world coming to the World Cup. And then a little bit of a peculiar problem which is causing Formula One not to race in the Middle East as well. So Donald Trump, please solve that because we want to go racing in Qatar and Bahrain as well. Wait a second. This gets better. It's going to be the 4th of July when two American teams, one of them donned in American stars and stripes in the USA color scheme,

[00:30:08] will be racing in the UK while celebrating 250 years since America's Declaration of Independence from the UK. Wow. It's like a giant middle finger. Cadillac are throwing a giant middle finger to the country where they have a base. And they will be ahead of at least one British team. So that's what they're going to go back and report. Racing in the traditional British green, that too. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true. It's going to be a big, big thing. I'm seeing Williams.

[00:30:37] I have no idea what's different apart from one hue of blue, but okay. They're calling it the Union Jack inspiration. I don't see what the Union Jack palette colors are. The Union Jack is on the inside of the nose. Okay. They're probably going to have less TV time and then makes it even difficult to find something like this. But fair enough. We've got new liveries and that's what we have. We've got predictions to make. I can't even rate these ones. The thing is, it's a fast circuit.

[00:31:05] It really rewards bravery. Kimi Antoineli is that brave driver. Mercedes are looking incredible. So I want to go for him. But it's a thing, right? British drivers always gain an extra couple of tens of dollars. It always happens. It always happens. So I've got to go for George Russell this time. Well, I'm going to go a little left field. I think it's going to be Lewis Hamilton. I'm saying it's Lewis Hamilton. British fans, British home. He's going to get his 10th win. That's going to be a record. New record in Formula 1. I think Hamilton with nine.

[00:31:35] Schumacher has also got nine wins in Germany. And it's going to be Hamilton. And then it's going to be Antoineli. And then it's going to be Wischstappen. That also means it's going to be the ninth different podium combination of the year at the ninth race. But do we care who's going to be on pole position then, Samuel? Yes, I think Antoineli. Fortune favours the brave here at Silverstone. I think Kimi Antoineli.

[00:31:59] Although I'd like to say that Max Verstappen outdrove his car by a lot to take pole in one of the closest qualifying of last season over here. So count that man out as well. They will struggle on Friday. They will struggle on Saturday too. But by Sunday, you know they will be coming. I get a feeling it's going to be Hamilton or Antoineli on pole or maybe even George Russell. But yeah, maybe my predictions don't make sense. But let's see. And you know, what else have we got for predictions? Is that it?

[00:32:27] Do you care about sprint wins, sprint pole, or it doesn't matter? It's fine. We'll see. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. They don't treat sprint so seriously. Why should we? They just treat it as extended practice sessions just that they get points and extra money to go racing for. Then on that note, there are a couple of comments which we'll take before we end it. Firstly, Persif is asking, where are you? I'm at home in Oslo. That's why it's still bright outside. It's going to be bright till almost 10 in the night. Fianchu is asking, guys, I want to know who your sprint winner is going to be. So we'll get to that.

[00:32:55] But another interesting comment from Fianchu is, do you remember the name of all the turns and corners on the top of your head? I always missed one or two. And I've always debated this and I've never found an answer. A lot of people say that hype is you call maggots, beckets, chapel, some of these corners by their names rather than their numbers. But a lot of the engineers I know, I just remember it at turn numbers. They don't bother to mix it up. I don't know. No, I don't like it.

[00:33:24] If you have a pet and you're calling them dog one, dog two, does that work? If your dog has a name, so does a corner. Call it as it is. It takes the soul out of it to call maggots, beckets and chapel. God knows whatever turn number it might be because I haven't bothered to check for the last 20 years of my life and I never will. Who cares what corner number it is? It's maggots, beckets, chapel. It's the Sir Lewis Hamilton Strait. It is Lovefield. It is Woodcourt. It is Copse.

[00:33:53] It is Stowe. There are memories attached to these names. So yeah, can't bother. Well, there you go. You get your answer. And then last couple of predictions, Fianchu is asking sprint winner. Pick one, Samuel. Give me Antonelli all the way. I also believe it's going to be Antonelli. I think Mercedes will find that sweet spot and Kimi will find it before George will. So sprint is going his way. And then Sovic, one of our oldest dear friends of the show. Will both Astons finish? It's their home race.

[00:34:20] Remember, Adrian Newey just did a very extensive interview saying we need to grow. We're learning as a team, blah, blah, blah. We'll get faster. Do you think they'll finish? Yeah, they'll finish. They'll finish something. Whether it's their... He didn't say they'll finish. I think they'll finish the sprint race. That's for sure. On the same lap. They better. They better. Or they'll finish any hopes and expectations that the British fans had. Either way. Something will get finished. Because now the Indian fans have definitely said, no, no, that's now a British team.

[00:34:50] The Indian owners and management sold it. The British have gone and destroyed it. So we've definitely stepped in. Aston Martin's DNFs. I think it's eight DNFs in nine races. So say 18 possible times they could have finished. They've had eight DNFs. Which is the same number of DNFs as the four top teams. So that's just how bad Aston Martin's finishing record has been.

[00:35:16] But on that note, our finishing record by the 40th minute is extremely strong. Somal usually likes between 25 to 35 minutes. And we end by the 40th minute. What do you say? We've had fun today. We always do on the Inside Line of Fun podcast. We should end it at that, folks. Thank you for watching. Subscribe. Better do so. Subscribe on all platforms. Instagram, YouTube, at Kunal Esha on X, at I'm Somal Arora on Instagram. This weekend, I'll be on the fan code HindiF1 broadcast. But it's going to be a great sporting day.

[00:35:46] Because on the same day, you've got FIFA World Cup going on. You've got Wimbledon tennis action happening at the same time as well. I believe the Indian team is also playing at the same time. But there's so much drama that weekend. Are you going to be at the Wireplay Studios now for our listeners? No, we have a summer break. So we don't have a studio this time. So I'm going to be watching you and hearing you and Chetan on the Hindi broadcast this race weekend on fan code. Incredible. So make sure you're following along, guys.

[00:36:15] We'll be back hopefully on Sunday night for a race review as well. Take care. Catch you guys in a bit. Bye-bye.