Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign for a little F1 with sources from the sofa if you missed it with. We did a preview on this Brazilian Grand Prix on YouTube or whatever and on the podcast. But nonetheless, though, pretty fun weekend with Norris winning Sprint. Norris winning earlier today. That was really today. Today's been a long day. There's been sports on since 6:30. I just realized that.
And yeah, putting in some leg work. My eyes are tired. But Jason, I'll just let you take over because I unfortunately don't have ESPN right now. And I was telling you guys off camera that I was stuck trying to watch clips and like bootleg live recaps. People actually commenting on the race as it's happening when. With little snippets. But not too long though, so they didn't get copyrighted infringement. I found a whole bunch of fat British people with their British F1 podcast.
There was a lot of them. They're just like, you know, breaking down the film in their bag of potato chips and whatnot.
That was really unique.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Seems like you run a lot of podcasts. Rome, that's always like a bunch of fat guys either talking F1 or wrestling. I mean, it just seems to be quite familiar.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: You know what, it is weird, now that you mentioned that it's a very. That's very common.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: It is very off the top rope, turn five.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: You know, I don't know.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: He's. I don't know if he's mocking my two main interests, racing and, and wrestling here at a certain point, but, you know, okay, just want to make sure.
But yeah, Rome, I. I bit the bullet. I didn't try to do one of these questionable streaming services or feeds or whatever you were doing. I, I just upgraded the Disney bundle that I had to include ESPN Unlimited. That way I could watch ESPN2. You YouTube TV is apparently giving me my 20 bucks back apparently tomorrow, so we can submit for that.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: I saw that.
[00:02:04] Speaker C: So all. All's good. I got. I could get my. My same. Basically same price on that net. Net, Net there for the time being. So.
But yeah, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, it really was a McLaren weekend. And specifically for Lando Norris, you mentioned him winning the Sprint on Saturday and then coming home with a fairly dominant win here again.
And since the Dutch Grand Prix where he had the engine failure and we pretty much at that time pronounced Oscar, had the fast track to win the championship. It was going to be just an uphill battle for Orlando.
Lando's really just kind of gone out of a run here to eliminate the deficit of the points. Take Control of the championship lead and really just beginning to end this weekend like he was in front and no one was really going to compete with him. His biggest competition honestly was the 19 year old rookie Kimi Antonelli. And Mercedes having his best broken rookie record this year in a race. Yeah, broke the rookie record for most points. He passed Lewis Hamilton and he was second qualifying in the sprint. Second qualifying in the race, finished second. Even held off Max Verstappen towards the end of the main race to keep that second place on the podium Even though Verstappen was right behind him and just kind of waiting at any moment. So as usual, the Brazilian Grand Prix or the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, excuse me, is an exciting race. You got weather conditions, you got, you know, some, some better overtake spots specifically into turn one and you get a lot of drama. And this one race had it the biggest drama. Probably Rome Ferrari. Man, they. Oh they, they just. Bad day, bad day. I mean it wasn't all they're making too. I think starting with Charlotte, Claire. He goes out early because Aaron's guy, Oscar Piastri dive, dive bombs into turn one.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Yeah, you want to talk about that actually because X was going living on that. Some people were saying how he didn't deserve a 10 second penalty for causing that crash.
People say it was just a racing incident but can you break that down for us?
[00:04:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean it's a. Maybe you could say it's a racing incident and it kind of was. But given the letter of the law where it's at, you're just jamming the front nose there into a turn, making it into three wide and you just run out of space. And I, I think it's based on how they officiate this. He caused the accident because he basically pinched himself. Knocked into, knocked into Kimi which unfortunately for LeClaire basically gives him, you know, a flat tire to puncture and his race is over after that. So I mean it was probably more the result if someone wasn't knocked out there. Yeah, he probably doesn't get the penalty but because of how aggressive was going into the turn. And the biggest thing was the lockup. I think that if he didn't lock up maybe you could have said he had better control of the car. But since he locked up that means he wasn't in control basically that means he'd not be. He knocked into the side of Kimi and that's. I think that was probably the biggest difference the lockup going to that turn.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I mean if he doesn't lock up. They probably, like you said, just a regular race move, but he does lock up. The 10 second penalty was warranted. You know, Charles Leclair, that's a tough 10, tough break for him. Hamilton had his own issues that Jason can touch on, but it was rough. Like you mentioned home, a rough, rough Sao Paulo for team Ferrari. I mean, they just.
Not a good weekend for them.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: No. It comes to the constructors. They're pretty much.
I don't know if they're gonna be locked into fourth, but it's gonna be tough for them to crawl their way back. Mercedes really kind of took second in control here. I mean, we got three races left, so anything could happen.
But having two cars not finished for Ferrari, you know, just a big hit to the constructor standing for the points. You know, Charles, like one of the best qualifiers in F1. Even when this Ferrari car hasn't gotten there, he's been in the top three in qualifying, and that's where he was positioned himself in this race as well. Lewis went out first in qualifying. That was bad. It wasn't even great qualifying in the sprint. He was able to make some big points at the start.
He had a pretty bad start, got kind of pushed off line. Then he's trying to make a move on. I think it was ghastly. And he knocked out his own front wing, which then went underneath the car, messed up the whole floor of his Ferrari, and basically just ruined his day. He couldn't get any downforce in the car or any kind of rear end, you know, traction because the car kept sliding all over the place. So it's bad for Ferrari. I think it kind of sums up Ferrari's most Ferrari season, but really Lewis Hamilton season because, yeah, they're in it with the points, but they've never really been super competitive. You know, they haven't won, haven't won the race, haven't been, you know, much of a threat to McLaren. I think they've only led like 70 laps this year or something like that, which is kind of crazy considering how competitive they are. But, you know, Mercedes and Red Bull and McLaren have had their days of, like, dominating races, and Ferrari just hasn't have it. They just been, hey, we'll finish in the top seven.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: I saw lots of criticism online where people are saying it's pretty crazy how Ferrari would go out of their way to sign Lewis Hamilton just to sabotage his racing year, just to brag about how LeClaire is a better driver than him.
I don't know how much credence you put on that. But there's like, there was a lot of people supporting that statement, whereas the other half were saying like, all you Lewis Hamilton fans are all the same. It's never your fault, is it, mate?
[00:07:39] Speaker C: So, yeah, I mean it's. It's always easy to like, you know, this, this is you being, you know, Lewis Hamilton is like the Yankees. He's like, you know, the Patriots, whatever. Most successful thing. The guy wins seven world championships and dominates a decade for the most part, has a championship stolen from him in 2021, you know, by officiating and stuff like that. That gives it to Verstappen in the last showdown.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: I did read about that today because who do they have in the 10th in the Ferrari who has been really critical of Lewis and I don't know, it almost sounded like a racial thing that he didn't like Lewis winning so much. He was happy that he didn't win that championship to not pass Schumacher. You know who I'm talking about?
[00:08:20] Speaker C: I didn't hear that. No, no. Not sure.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: He was in the Ferrari's tents. A lot of people were upset that, that he jinxed it.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: Didn't see that. I mean it's, it's long. You could, you could watch some of F1 lore with that. It's probably the biggest showdown in the last decade.
Formula one kind of going into this season, because that's what everyone was looking for was where the competitive in the end of that 2021 season, you know, Lewis got robbed. You know, we could probably do a whole episode of that, of where things were at, but he, he just hasn't been as dominant since. And the Mercedes car was never good when he had it for 2022 to. To in the 23 and 24 season. And then this Ferrari car has been bad. I think it's stupid to say anything about Ferrari trying to do. It's money. The reason Ferrari signed him, he. Lewis is a market mover. Ferrari stock went up like I forgot how much percent when they announced that they were signing Lewis Hamilton. You know, Lewis Hamilton is a brand amongst himself. He. He's bigger than the sport to a degree because he is the one driver that people outside of racing know who he is, like fashion all that type of stuff. He's there. And so I think, I think that is why Ferrari signed him because they get the biggest drivers and the best drivers. How long his stint's going to be, is it going to be successful?
Don't know. Because there's a lot of guys that have Gone to Ferrari because hey, it's Ferrari and they never won.
Sebastian Vettel, he was in attendance in there. He won four world championship with Red Bull. He went to Ferrari and never got a title with them. You know, never saw that success.
Fernando Alonso went to Ferrari, never got the championship with them. So it's, you know, there's a long list of drivers. I know Louis was trying to change that, but we knew this year would kind of be like we know what was going to be a different car for him. Didn't know whether they're going to be competitive. I thought they'd be more competitive than they were considering they finished second the constructors last year and we're competing with McLaren Red Bull. Right to the last race of the season for the Constructors Championship. But next year is going to prove a lot, man. That could be Lewis's last year in Formula one potentially if, you know, if he, if he doesn't come out of the gates right. And the car isn't where it needs to be and you know, who knows because I, one conversation I wanted to want to. Did want to talk about is really these young drivers and why that matters for Ferrari is Ali Behrman finished sixth in this race.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Really good.
[00:10:35] Speaker C: Finished fourth in last week's race.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: This is a guy, he's a Ferrari driver. He's in the Ferrari program. He's racing for Haas at the Ferrari engine. This is a guy that Ferrari is going to need to give a seat to at some point. It'll probably be Lewis's seat. Unlikely to be Charles even unless Charles leaves for somebody when his contract's expired. And so if Lewis doesn't perform next year, you know, you might be talking for what's, what's his replacement going to be.
So there's going to be a lot on the line next year. This is a bad way to go out, but I think there'll be a lot of, a lot of pressure at the start of next season on what this Ferrari car is going to look like and if the Mercedes rumored Mercedes dominance car is going to happen, it looks like even a worse decision for, for Lewis. I'm going over to Ferrari.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Do you think Jason, just watching Hamilton this year talking about next year might be his last year. Do you think he's having fun racing? Because that doesn't seem to me like he has that joy or fun. Like it's more like a chore now. Like you said, he's got other stuff going on and he's got fashion and you know, big industry stuff. Elsewhere.
To me, it doesn't seem like a guy that has that joy and fun of racing on Sundays.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: Doesn't seem like it. Yeah, I, I think we talked about in the mid season preview when, when we had Andrew on just. He does not. He's in interviews and doubting himself and that's not the guy that was basically like a relentless, you know, warrior or whatever adjective you want to put behind a guy that was just. He was a killer out on the racetrack. Like when he's winning seven world championships, like he had, you know, competitive teammates like with, with Nico Rosberg and even Valtteri Botas who was a good companion piece. But he put up wins. But, you know, Lewis was the guy and that one got in his way. And it wasn't until Verstappen, you know, finally, you know, matured a little bit and you know, came after the throne and then finally got it did. Was there a guy that was going to be equal to where Lewis was at? Because when Lewis was young man, he was going toe to toe with Fernando Alonso and basically pushed off alonzo out of McLaren, you know, once upon a time in the, in the late 2000s. So yeah, I don't, I don't think he's having fun. It doesn't look like it. And that's what kind of scares me where he doubts his own skills and everything when it comes to. I'm like, hey, the guys these. He's 39, about turn 40. I think he's the same age as, as us and you know, does, does he feel like he has the skills? Because a lot of this is going to be your confidence and you know, these cars go to a limit and you got to be willing to go to a limit. Christian Horner, former Red Bull team principal, did an interview a while back and I was listening to it and Christian Horner used to be a driver and he said he realized when he needed to retire from racing because he watched another driver basically take a car to the edge, that he just is unwilling to do it. Just his body rejects taking a car to that certain edge. And these guys are going by tenths of a second in Formula one right now. So it's not that. But when you look at Max Verstappen in this race, starting from the pit lane and going where he's at, like Max is the best driver in the world. He's going to make a claim to be the best driver of all time. And, and you can see the difference in the way Max drives a car versus Lewis versus Lando versus Oscar. Like he's far and away above everybody else. He just doesn't have the car because if he had the car like he did two, three years ago, he's just 20 to 30 seconds above everyone. And that's why I don't know if Lewis has it anymore. And that'll be the question going into next season.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: What do you think about Verstappen pitting? I guess there's a lot of people talking about how he could have extended the time on. On his tires, gave up the.
Him being. Being in lead and then, you know, still coming in third. Like he came back all the way back and saw a chance.
[00:14:18] Speaker C: They talked about that. But I'll be honest, it was. It was tough to get a read on where these tires were at because I. If I think like was it. Was it. Hulkenberg and Lawson were the only ones that did like the one stop strategy, if I remember correctly. And then when you looked at Verstappen on the last couple laps going after Antonelli, he didn't have the tires left. Like Antonelli was able to hold them off because he did not have the grip. So if he was able. The one stop strategy, I don't know if he would have made the push if he was still. Would he have? You know, they have been passing him at that point. Now he's a little bit better with the elbows out versus some of the other drivers. But yeah, if you would have kept it, I think Lando would have blown by him pretty easily. And I think Kimi probably had the car too. So I don't know the difference it would have made. I think it secured him the podium by making sure he did pit because I'm not sure if those other cars, whether it's Russell or Piastri would be able to get up to him too.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Fair enough.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he had to because like you said, I think he had to. I don't think he had the pace a lot of the tires.
So I.
It would have been interesting, but I think he would have got past by Lando and them and maybe not have made the podium like Jason said. It would have. Close. It would have been close. Cool.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Any other comments from south pal Grand Prix?
[00:15:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I just. I think just going back to the top with Lando. When you're looking at just the championship hunt right now from the driver standings perspective and you know, Lando's got. What are we looking at, Aaron? The 20, 24 point lead, I think right now. So you're talking basically the difference between first Place and a DNF and you're going to go to Vegas. I think this is going to be a, you know, Aaron, and I've been saying it for months now, this could be a Mercedes track. It's going to be cold, cooler. And so the Mercedes be a good run for Mercedes. Lando, Oscar, Max, what are they going to kind of react to? I think Piastri is probably running out of time here.
He was the move in that he ends up hitting Kimi.
It's a very small microcosm. But we're starting to speak of desperation here a little bit right now for Oscar. He is not out qualified. Lando. Landos look better in qualifying. And you know, I don't know, coming down to these, the two days, the, these basically three races in the desert, but two in the Middle east where McLaren probably has the advantage in Cutter and Abu Dhabi.
There's going to be too many points to make up unless there's some sort of failure for Lando. So I think he's on his way to clinching this thing right now, you know, in the next, you know, the next race or two, you know, potentially giving us no drama for Abu Dhabi.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Agree. I mean, Oscar has not been himself really over the, what, the last, what, four or five races. Lando's looking strong. He keeps winning.
I, I think he'll probably do well in Vegas. I mean, like he said, like Jason said, I think it's going to be Mercedes. Good weekend for them. Two weeks out. Russell Antonelli maybe both on the podium. One winning, one two. We'll see. But yeah, I, I, I, I'm, I like Lando to win now. I don't think Oscar is going to, he may, he may even drop the third when it's all said, it's done. Verstappen may even end up passing them.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Three races left. Pretty crazy.
[00:17:31] Speaker C: Yeah. It's crazy when you think of like coming out of. And I, and I think back to when we were talking about the Dutch Grand Prix and Oscar winning that race, Lando blowing the engine and then just the, the, the, the, the photos of him with his head in his hands on that hill, sitting on the side. You had Charles LeClaire sitting in the.
Yeah, yeah, but, but Lando with his head in his hands. He didn't sit there as long, but like, man, like this really, like cost him the championship. Because at the time, McLaren was think of that far and away.
Well, they're far and away better than everyone. So then it got to the point where it was like, hey, These guys gonna run away with it. And then once they got out of the Netherlands and then, you know, went to Italy and, you know, Max.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: That's where Oscar crashed, right?
[00:18:19] Speaker C: No, Italy, they. They finished podium. Max won that race. And then Lando finished second and Oscar third. But I think the Azerbaijan was where Oscar.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: Lap one, right?
[00:18:32] Speaker C: Yeah, lap one. And Len and Lando only finished seventh in that race. It was really dominated by Verstappen and the Mercedes and even the Williams were up there during that one too. But I mean, the Netherlands is the last time you can point to where Oscar had the advantage. He has not finished ahead of Lando since. And so when it comes to, you know, Singapore, there was the question mark when, you know, Lando got his elbows out a little bit in that early race incident were kind of pushed, push Oscar to the side. That was probably the only time Oscar's maybe kind of unquestionably there. Yeah, the first lap.
But Lando, every other race has been far and away better than Oscar. And so, you know, I don't think there's any question right now if the championship ended today. Like, this wasn't a gift to Lando by any means. He has won this thing because he's performed in qualifying and he's down the stretch. He's won the races that mattered when, you know, wins in Mexico, wins this week in. In Brazil, you know, and now takes it to the desert. And so he, he put, he, he. He took it away. Like, that's the most thing you say to it. I don't want to hear any other, like, conspiracy theories about the favoritism of Lando from Zach Brown and all this stuff that goes on the Internet. Like, he has had the performance and he has won on qualifying and on the track.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: How many points did Piastri pick up today? Because I have a question, because since he won today, that's what, 23 or 24 points?
[00:20:00] Speaker C: You talking about Lando?
[00:20:02] Speaker B: 25.
Is.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Is it 25?
[00:20:05] Speaker C: Yeah, 25 for the win and then he got eight points for the winning sprint.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Yeah, so, yeah, how, like, because he was up by one point. And then you add the 33 points. How many points did Oscar get? Because he's only up by 24. I got him.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: He got 10 points in.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Because I would. Yeah, they'll make it 23, then one would make it 24. So, yeah, he must got 10 points.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: Yeah. So it'll be, It'll be interesting, I think Vegas, very interesting track.
You know, when you look at last year's race, In Vegas. Max one.
Actually I'm trying to see like last year for races in 2024.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Sunny Hayes got into an accident last year in Vegas.
[00:20:50] Speaker C: Sonny Hayes to get an accident last year. But George won the race last year. You had George.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: George ran.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: Can't drive upset, guys. You can't drive upset. And that's the way Oscar's driving right now.
[00:21:01] Speaker C: You think so? All right, let's see a Lesson learned from F1 the movie. But yeah, George went last year. Lewis finished second. Carlos signs and the Ferrari finished third. And so McLaren was way down the order. Sixth and seventh last year. So like Aaron, I've been saying wasn't Wasn't their best track. It's not a high speed corner track. Big straightaways down the strip.
And then I think the year before Matt and the year before Max won at the Red bull. So I don't know. A lot, A lot to. A lot to go. But yeah, we could take more lessons From Sonny Hayes here, I guess. Drum. If that's what you're going to preach down the stretch, you know, we'll see. You know, winning in Abu Dhabi, I.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Know there was like a little bit of.
It wasn't all positive out of McLaren today because versa appen did come back from pit lane and still got podium.
So I know Lando express like, dude, if he. If he didn't start way back there, then who knows if I'm actually standing here first right now. Like they had a really fast car. So despite everything, he was pretty grateful for the victory.
[00:21:58] Speaker C: But I don't know if they had a fast car. But I think they put all their eggs in this basket because they basically tore out everything and put. Yeah, I think all new components from an engine and everything. So this was. This was basically a complete re. But this is probably the final engine of the year for Red Bull at that point. So they made sure this thing had everything it needed from a speed perspective to make an impact in this race. So yeah, he, I. I don't know if.
If he was behind Lando. I don't think he was going to pass him. I don't think the car was that good. But again, this just speaks to how good Max verstappen is like this guy.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:31] Speaker C: You know, great driver. The best, I think best in the world. He's a pure driver.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: I think everything I read the first because I know. Go ahead.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: I was gonna say is he the first Because I know they said no one has ever won a race from pit lane, but is this like the first Time ever, anyone's ever finished on podium from pit lane or has it happened before?
[00:22:50] Speaker C: I think there was two instances they talked about people have finished on the podium from Pinlane during the broadcast. I can't remember offhand who it was, but I think it has happened before.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Well, there's a guy on Access saying, like, if. If Verstappen actually gets podium, I'll. I'll blow the top commenter on my. On my Twitter feed. So someone retweeted, like, this guy deactivated his Twitter account.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Wasn't all these guys, like, saying stuff like that? I remember, hey, like, I'm gonna go eat dog if my team loses. And then, boom, they just disappear.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Yeah, they disappear. I didn't realize how much hate Lando actually has. And F1, a lot of fans do not like him for whatever reason. Reason they say that he doesn't deserve the championship, but they're saying this guy sucks.
And even if he wins the driver's championship, he'll never be Verstappen. Like, that was like. I was like, more or less overarching comments. I. I just keep on reading about.
[00:23:46] Speaker C: He won't be Verstappen, but, like, to say he sucks is not there. And I think we had this conversation before. I think Lando, Charles, Oscar, George, a little bit like, these guys are in, like, the elite class that are a step down from Verstappen. Like, Verstappen's far and away there. And then you have this second tier of guys that are in their, you know, mid to late 20s right now that grew up together. And, you know, Lando and. And. And George being probably the more successful of it. Oscar's a little bit newer to the scene, but, you know, I. To say that is just, you know, it's just hate online, what you're going through. But I think Lando, if it would have came down to Abu Dhabi, and we were talking about, like, you know, preferential pit strategies and a bunch of BS that we've been talking through throughout the season. I think that would have been the conversation more about Lando winning this. But what. What he has done since the Dutch Grand Prix, where he's handily beaten Oscar in all these races and outperformed him, I think he's proven he deserves this championship.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Do you think, like, him barely missing out last year, like, now he could taste again. He's like, fuck it, he's finally spreading his wings a little bit. You think that's, like, the. The. The difference down here on the stretch?
[00:25:02] Speaker C: I. I think so. I think he got a lot of heat last year because it was always like, oh, he has bad starts, he had a great qualifying, but he'd have a bad start and get past five, Verstappen, whoever in the beginning. And then right on, right on the, on the first, first turn of the first lap. And then it was over for him last year and then it was like, ah, you know, when he needs to get around Max. Last year he couldn't do it. You know, they got into the incident and you know, things like that, that, that was plaguing him down the stretch. So I, I think, you know, it's easier when you qualify on pull and you're just out front running the whole time and just running your laps and everything. It just becomes a hell of a lot easier. And doing that both in Mexico and here, you know, that, that has given him kind of the, paved the way. So I think there's a little bit. But I mean it takes a lot to win this championship.
Nico Rosberg, who beat Lewis Hamilton when they were at Mercedes, immediately retired the next year because he basically put everything he had and knew what he had to do to beat Hamilton and Hamilton had some bad luck in that season. And there's some different things that went on, but like, Rosberg like, basically like zeroed in and focused and everything he could to beat Hamilton the one time and then said, okay, cool, I retire now. Like, I'm just done, you know.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: You mentioned something about Lewis Hamilton. He's getting older a lot. People saying like, maybe he's just getting older. Right? You have like a lot of good drivers of the young ones, right?
Antonelli breaking his record, you know, can't skip that. Hajar has had a pretty good rookie year. Bearman has had a good rookie year. Maybe it's just, you know, maybe Hamilton does only have like a year or two left because you have all these young drivers and maybe he just doesn't have that mental edge anymore.
[00:26:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm curious about it. Like, I don't want to see Lewis retire. Like, I just, I feel that he, I feel he deserves the eighth championship and as a fan of him and, and what he's done for the sport, I think he's a big reason why the sport's popular.
And I think, I think him winning the eighth championship and sets himself apart from, you know, the other legends that have won seven, I think it's, I think it's deserved and you know, but he's got to go out and do it, even if he got one taken away. From him. But, you know, winning with Ferrari I think would be. Would be a special thing. And that's why he went there.
Wasn't getting everything he needed from Mercedes. They didn't want to give him, you know, the financial compensation. They really were keeping him as a placeholder for Antonelli. I think Ferrari's really given him like, hey, what can you do? I think the key thing with Lewis, what he does bring to the table is really his expertise. And he was very vocal in his, you know, last year and a half in Mercedes about them not listening to him about car setup and different decisions they were making and that, you know, and the. And the car wasn't great and it was too reactive where they're at. So I'll be very curious as they've been working on this 2026 car and all the new stuff. Like what input has he had and how much has Ferrari listened to him on it. Because if they're doing their own thing and this car comes out like crap coming into 2026, man, it's going to be tough sledding for him. But again, I. I don't think. I don't. Is Lewis is in his prime? No. But is he. Is he still good enough to win a world championship? I think so. He's won some races. He won two races last year. You know, he was competitive on certain ends of it if he's got the car behind him. And so I think that's just what he needs, a little more confidence. Charles, the difference between him and Charles right now, Charles knows how to, you know, manhandle this car. And qualifying is one of the great qualifiers with the Ferrari. It has. You give Lewis a year in this car and then the new car next year. If the results different. I think that's what he's banking on.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Well, dude, like he's having a season of hell and he's still six in the drivers.
So that's pretty impressive.
That's just how good Hamilton is.
[00:28:35] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I think, I think, I think though, as we will talk about 2026 next year. But I think it'll be be interesting on the mclarens. It'll be interesting on the Ferraris. And then all the praise right now is on what the Mercedes is going to look like. George, Russell, Aaron and I talked about it. Like to me the skills wise, you know, he's probably number two to me behind Verstappen. When he's got. When he's gotten a good car. He's been dominant in races. The Mercedes is just very fickle on weather and everything like that that's going on. And so that. That'll be the kind of driver to watch. And then you mentioned Antonelli and Hajar, and I. I brought up Ali Bearman, this young group of drivers that are going to be really good, too. Like, it's going to be exciting over the next, like, you know, couple years to watch where these guys are going. You know, Antonelli's the only one in the big top four teams, but, hey, when Bearman's going to be, you know, knocking down the doors for a Ferrari seat, Hajar, potentially as early as next year, he's getting. He could get a Red Bull seat. Yeah.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: Yuki's gonna be out, right?
[00:29:31] Speaker A: He can't be that Red Bull, I guess.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: He can't be holding that seat down.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: Chatter was not quiet.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: It's not official. I don't know if they've actually made that official yet, because I. I think there's a thing. If they do kick out Yuki, like, do they want Lindblad, who's kind of their next prodigy down there, do they want him actually racing in F1 next year with racing bulls, or does they. They feel he needs more time in F2 next year? I think that's probably the biggest decision based on, you know, driver readiness and what their path is for Lindblad, because that's probably the biggest, like, factor for 2026.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Real quick, before we wrap this up, I'm really curious because there was a lot of talk with, like, other F1 insiders that Snooki's out. He's not going to be back in F1. What happens when you don't have a scene in F1? Like, do you just go back down to F2? Like, how's. How's the whole thing work out?
[00:30:19] Speaker C: No, I mean, for the most part, these guys are just kind of done.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: They're just done.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: They're just done. You mean what, there's no minor leagues?
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Huh?
[00:30:27] Speaker C: There's no minor leagues.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Crazy.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: You just.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: You finally make it to the top league, and then, okay, you're out of here. Like, that's it. Make your money and off, mate.
[00:30:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I think. I think. Be interesting. Like, I mean, Yuki's got a lot of support in Japan, obviously, where Honda's at. I mean, you consider. Do these guys go to IndyCar? Like, not a lot of them do.
You know, we had, you know, there was only one driver, I think, on the grid this year in IndyCar that was a former F1 driver that raced for HOS a little bit, but Yeah, I mean some of these other guys do other types like endurance racing, things like that. You know, Jensen Button, former F1 world champion, did his final race this weekend in endurance, endurance race in, in Bahrain. And so, yeah, I think they just go on to do kind of some other things. But yeah, you don't, you don't go down to the minors anymore. Like you get your shot at the big leagues and then, you know, if you're not going to be signed to a seat, you know, some of them also, yeah, some of them also take a year off or you go be a reserve driver somewhere too. So you look at the Valtteri Bottas, you know, he didn't have a seat. He was the Mercedes reserve driver all year.
Joe Blanu, he was in Kick Saber last year. He's been the Ferrari reserve driver.
And then he. And then who else? Oh, Sergio Perez just didn't have a ride and he was just kicking it for the year. He took the year off and then he got the Cadillac seat. So, you know, does Yuki take the year off and he's looking for a ride. I mean then he's looking for, you know, an agent or somebody to have the interest.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: It's so crazy.
[00:31:48] Speaker C: I'd say this, I'd say the team to look on for Yuki would be Aston Martin because they are going to have the Honda engines. He has somewhat of the Honda backing. Where does Fernando Alonso go after 2026? How long does Lance stroll? His dad owns a team, so he's got the seat basically as long as his dad owns the team. But I, I'd be very curious with Aston Martin, with, with the Honda connection with them, is that a landing spot? They may, that may be his only landing spot.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: If, if so you basically, you got to have connections, money and a backing behind you like a Sergio Perez. Like we' before. If you have that, then there's a road back for you. If not, you're done.
[00:32:28] Speaker C: You do, you got to have. Unless you have the thing. Because I think you look at, because international wise, where these guys are at, because Sergio Perez basically has a ton of backing from Mexico and, and even when it came to Franco Calapinto, he, you know, they kicked Jack, poor Jack D out of the seat, out of Alpine very quickly because Calapinto has a bunch of backers from Argentina.
And then, you know, and you looked at Gabriel Bordoletto like the Brazilian driver in the field, like, you know, Brazil's.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Huge category for very tough pedigree little citizens. Hamilton is 1 2, so they did not even finish.
[00:33:03] Speaker C: Yeah, he is his. His. I don't say Rome. Did you see his crash in the Sprint?
[00:33:09] Speaker A: I did, yeah. A lot of people were praising, like, all the safety precautions that one has done because the fact that he walked away with nothing, like, not even a scratch.
Pretty amazing. Like, that car was trash. And they were just comparing it to other bad crashes in the past, how. Like, that would have been a hospital visit minimum, you know, out for a couple weeks. So, yeah, it looked crazy.
[00:33:30] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. But, yeah, I think. I think every F1 driver is different. Rome. But I think certain ones have backing, whether it's by interest in a home country or. Yeah, maybe. Maybe, you know, a maker. But even like Red Bull, I mean, Rebel, they don't have as much backing, but they have just their junior program. So they invest a ton of money into the Rebel Racing junior program. So they got their own kind of minor leagues or developing drivers. And. And most of the teams have them, but Red Bulls. But the most notable.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: I was just really curious. Well, you know, if he does get kicked off, I'm pretty sure the daughters might look into him as well, since they like Japanese talent.
[00:34:02] Speaker C: So I don't know.
The Dodgers got. Well, who. Who is the big home run hitter for the Dodgers or for the. In Japanese ball is probably gonna go to the Dodgers. I don't know that there was a name.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: He's a third baseman. There's not like a really good. A good fit.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Don't worry. Monty's. Muncie's on his way out.
Just hide his glass. Just hide his glasses.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: It's only 10 mil.
[00:34:24] Speaker C: I don't know. They'll put like, you know, probably put Muncie out, like at second base or something like that, or do something.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: You see how round he is not playing second base.
[00:34:37] Speaker C: All right, well, enough of the. Enough of the. Enough of the Dodger talk.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: But I'll just do a joke at my own expense.
[00:34:42] Speaker C: Yeah, it's fine. It's fine.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: It was good.
[00:34:44] Speaker C: It was good. It wasn't bad, but, yeah, great. Sao Paulo Grand Prix, man. I really. I really love this race. Every year, I think the weather and the different strategies and there was still some good overtaking, which we don't get every week. Vegas in two weeks. I will be there. So looking forward to that race a ton.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:35:02] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: That'll do it. F1 was source from the sofa, Sam Powell. Am I saying that right?
[00:35:07] Speaker B: I don't know. Yes.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: I don't like that.
Sao Paulo.
Oh, no. Brazilian Grand Prix in the books.
We'll be back with the with the preview for Las Vegas in a couple weeks. As we get closer, check us out on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, and wherever you listen to your top favorite podcasts, we are out.
