2025 Formula 1 Season Review Live Show! | Part 2 | 2026 Predictions w/ Karun Chandhok and Sam Ryder

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to part two of the Fast and the Curious Live!

That was so much better than the first one we had to edit out, lovely.

Now you'll often hear this when you go to a Grand Prix and there's the bit where the drivers are running onto the grid as they say,

anyone who is able to please stand for the country's national anthem, so we thought we'd do something similar.

So if you're able to please stand for the national anthem.

Please sing along.

Shit!

Thank you Jesus, you may be seated.

Ladies and gentlemen, I just feel like I need Crofty now.

Welcome along ladies and gentlemen, it's round 12.

Oh God.

Okay, for those only listening to the podcasts, Greg James has emerged after the break

and he appears to be dressed as a bloody vicar.

Right, and God, what's happening here?

Betty's off.

Why don't I know about this?

So, Betty's left, Greg.

Welcome to the Fast and Curious Live.

Still plenty to come.

But I'm...

Still order.

That's the speaker, not the vicar.

Order!

No.

Before we get to some listener questions, we've got some Fast and Curious admin to attend to.

As some of you may know, Christian Hugel has mentioned quite a few times.

He's getting married.

To a lovely gay gentleman called David.

I mean, I hope he's gay.

It would put a spanner in the works if not.

Have you seen... has David seen the coffee machine video?

I wonder where you were going without them for a while, could we?

Yes, he's seen the coffee machine video.

Yeah, he's here, he's up there.

He's not run away yet.

No, I... did you know about this? He's here.

I think that was a deal breaker, the coffee machine.

In August, David and Christian got engaged.

She got engaged? Why is she not having the disc?

Can I just say, Sam, it's lovely to have Jesus Christ here.

He has risen.

Not sure Jesus Christ approves of some of my lifestyle choices, but there we are.

We were all thinking that.

On this occasion, I think he's going to turn a blind eye.

He really likes the pod.

Jesus, you really do like Formula One, don't you?

Absolutely.

Right.

OK.

All of you to the first ever fast and curious wedding.

Say.

Order.

Before we get going, is there anyone here who knows of any reason why these two gay gentlemen before me

should not be married?

Jesus, anything?

No, we're all good, we're all good.

Such as the state of the modern church, Karun.

The Grand Prix of Bethlehem is on.

I've got the three wise men.

You would design that one, wouldn't you?

I'd design that one, yeah.

There's Bethlehem Galvestone.

Around the better here.

Through the stables.

Nativity scene in the middle.

Innkeeper waving the checkered flag.

Alpina's the donkey.

Hey!

Come on!

Right.

I shall be ordaining today's service.

Of course you will.

In a dry run for the real thing, which I'm also ordaining.

Yeah.

I've just decided.

This might be legally binding,

but we have taken the liberty of assigning Betty as best man.

Best man and dad.

Yeah, best dad and best man and best Betty.

And also lead confetti engineer.

Betty, can you please make sure everyone's got enough confetti?

Make sure that happens.

Some fast and curious, this might remember that when we last had Sam on the show,

we did imagine Christian's wedding.

And we imagined that it would be sound tracked by the form in a one theme.

Played by you, Sam Ryder.

So we'll make that a reality as well.

I've also written some vows for you.

What, James?

They're Greg James vows.

Oh, lovely!

Would you like to walk David down the aisle now, please?

Christian?

I know David didn't know about this because he hasn't got changed from work.

And if he knew this was happening, he'd have absolutely got changed.

Christian, please stand.

Oh, right.

Wait for your future husband as he walks down the aisle.

And Sam, take it away, please.

I died!

It's the candlelight remix. Nice, isn't it?

Yeah, it's lovely.

It's a similar DJ Samly version of heaven.

Here he comes down the aisle looking absolutely beautiful.

Not a dry eye in the house.

Betty's shaking David's hand there.

The very strange tradition.

Shaking Christian's hand now as well.

They've actually got confetti.

Yeah, there's confetti here.

The confetti's being passed around now.

Lovely.

OK.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

It's just fine, actually.

It was inspired.

Jesus on my bed.

On the actual day,

can you have the aisle as a DRS straight, please?

Silence, please, in the congregation.

Silence, please.

Thank you.

Getting married here.

Christian, please repeat after me.

Of course.

I dreads a thing.

David, I'm so sorry about this, but I love you.

David, just remember, I've got a career to maintain here.

David, I'm so...

I'm the one just as a vicar.

Yeah, true.

Your sure job to dick about.

Right.

What was the line?

David, I'm sorry about this, but I love you.

Almost as much as I love fast cars in Chalet Claire.

But no Grand Prix or Fit Ferrari driver

can make my heart beat like you do.

But no Grand Prix or Fit Ferrari driver

can make my heart beat like you do.

You are my one.

My formula one.

I wonder if Sam will do that Well I Am Formula One song.

I got the formula neck.

That's the first dance.

David, you are my one.

My formula one.

That's actually very sweet.

David, please repeat after me.

Christian, I tolerate you.

Even though in real life I can't edit you out like producer Jimmy does.

And that's that bit done actually.

Karun, I believe you have the rings.

I went to Poundland on the way, yes.

Thank you.

They're going to Poundland later, eh?

David and Christian.

All that's left me to, I love the bum note there.

Perfect time.

David shout, you've ruined our wedding dress.

What the fuck's going on?

You're all thinking what's going on?

Is that a dream?

David and Christian, all that's left me to say

is by the zero amount of power vested in me

by before the lights and our good friends at Gullip was travelled.

And our old friends at NordVPN.

Today we celebrate absent friends.

NordVPN.

I now pronounce you fiance one and fiance two.

F1 and F2, P1 and P2.

You may now, they do fit, yeah?

Lovely, those.

They're really nice, that's a really lovely bit of bling that Karun.

Yeah, well done me.

Very nice, someone's doing well.

Someone's designed some row circuits.

You may now kiss each other.

Sam, please play them out as they exit the chapel.

And as you pass through the congregation,

please go wild with the confetti.

Let's do the Mexican Grand Prix version for the...

Let's go.

Go, go.

That's quite high.

This podcast is fucking bad shit.

Was it everything you dreamed of?

Yeah.

Then you thought it would be.

It was.

There were people who think I will actually have the F1 theme

music going down the aisle.

No, no.

Guys, I'm setting some realistic expectations.

There's a line to be drawn in the sand somewhere.

Thank you for that, Jimmy.

And okay, great.

Thank you.

That was actually quite sweet though.

It was disturbing in many ways.

It was something, wasn't it?

It's worth celebrating.

Both of you have got engaged this year.

You cast it, haven't you?

Is that public?

It is now.

We've talked about it before.

Imagine Alex is here.

And now it's your turn.

I was thinking that Gulliver's travels were, at the beginning,

going to be absolutely livid when they heard this podcast.

But I thought you've made it up to it actually.

When everything quite happened.

I love that word here.

Sam, great, great playing.

Great playing.

Nice having a professional here, isn't it?

I sort of feel like after that,

we should probably talk about the F1 again.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

Maybe go back to it.

I want to talk about next season.

I know we touched on it a little bit, Karun.

But what the hell is it going to be like?

Because I can't get my head around it.

DRS is going, I just, what should we expect?

And don't be as negative as Dom.

Because we don't need that in our life.

I'm a bit of a pessimist.

You know what, I think we've got to have an open mind, right?

There's been a lot of negativity around

what the cars will be like, what the racing will be like,

and whether the drivers will or won't like them.

I think we've just got to have an open mind and see,

you know, not get too hung up on what the rules are

and what the cars are underneath the skin.

At the end of the day, it's still Formula One.

We're going to have the best teams, the best drivers,

the best tracks and hopefully it'll be entertaining racing.

I think what could happen is one engine manufacturer

could get it completely right and be miles ahead of everyone else.

Now, if that does happen,

I think we'll still have lots to talk about and a good show

because let's say Mercedes are the ones to get it right.

You'll have McLaren, you'll have Mercedes,

you'll have Williams, you'll have Alpine.

You know, and you'll...

No, I was being there with him.

At least three out of those four teams could be at the front.

If Honda are the ones to get it right,

I mean, we could have a 45-year-old Fernando Lonzo

fighting for the championship against Lance Stroll.

I see...

I see the big Lance Stroll fans at the house

are really excited about that.

So, you know, that's what I mean.

I think we've just got to be open-minded

and if Ferrari are the ones to get it right,

then the Lewis Stream could come through.

Please, because, wow,

this season was horrific to watch.

If you were a Lewis fan.

Yeah, let's say it was the biggest disappointment of the season,

wasn't it, Ferrari?

They didn't win a race, Lewis didn't even get a podium.

That picture of him outside Enzo Ferrari's house

at the start of the year feels like a very, very long time ago.

And it's a shame because, you know,

I think as a neutral,

everyone wanted to see this work.

You know, you've got Lewis going to Ferrari,

a bold move to make that switch

as a 40-year-old and, you know, chasing that dream

of winning in the red car.

We all wanted to see it happen.

And it's been a nightmare.

It's just not worked, I think, on various levels.

I hope they change something.

You know, I really hope they go

for some big, drastic changes in the way they are working.

You know, obviously the cars are changing, the rules are changing.

We know that bit. But I mean, like, when I say big changes,

I mean, in terms of their working relationship,

because whatever they did this year wasn't good enough.

And if you just carry on doing the same thing,

it won't be good enough.

You know, the car couldn't have been that bad, right?

Leclerc got seven podiums and had a pretty solid season.

I know he didn't win anything, but he had a decent season.

So I really think that, you know,

Lewis and Ferrari have got a lot of work to do over the winter.

Corrine, can I ask you a potentially awkward question?

Carry on. That's what this podcast is all about.

Apparently.

Do you think there's any discussion to be had

about the race engineers at Ferrari?

I think there's a lot...

Or is that maybe something that's... I don't know.

I'd widen that.

And I think we were talking about it

with a couple of guys when we were queuing for the toilets.

There we go.

We're asking a similar thing about Lewis.

And I think there's a wider point about the cultural difference.

You know, Lewis has only raced for British teams

and he's not raced in F1 for a non-British team.

And I think maybe that cultural change

has been harder than he perhaps expected.

The way they operate is different.

I saw Alain Prost on Tuesday

who went from winning world championships at McLaren,

you know, British team, to going to Ferrari.

And he was talking about it just...

I know it was a while ago, but culturally,

just how different it is.

And, you know, you look at the years Ferrari was successful,

is when they had Ross Braun and Rory Byrne

and John Todd running it.

And they ran it like they ran other race teams.

So it is a different team.

And maybe that's what I mean.

He's got to adjust the way he operates and works with them.

And something I've seen banded about a lot this week

is that there's a theory that the 2022 to 2025 era of cars.

You saw drivers like Daniel Ricardo and Lewis Hamilton struggle.

The theory goes because there are harder cars to drive

if you're a bit of a last-of-the-late-breaker style,

ring-the-neck-of-its-style driver,

which some people say Ricardo was on the late-breaking.

Hamilton was.

And therefore this new era of car

where the ground-effect rule is going

might play more into a hand-over Lewis Hamilton.

Do you buy into any of that theory, Kevin?

You know, I think as the internet has gone wild

and it's me and there's, you know,

everyone's got a website and a column and a podcast and a...

Tell me that.

That's a...

Everyone comes up with theories.

These theories become fact and it starts spreading.

And the reality is you've got to look at history

and the great drivers, including a Lewis Hamilton,

whenever the rules change, they still rose to the top.

And I think that the cream will

and should always rise to the top.

So I don't think you can blame the rules.

I think ultimately Formula One is Formula One.

Next, you know, we've got these rules coming now.

Who knows what will come in 2030?

And it's adaptability and flexibility is...

That's one of the strengths of the great drivers.

So I just think for whatever reason

it's not worked for Lewis at Ferrari.

Only he will know the truth.

And I think we can all come up with theories

and the internet can come up with theories,

but only he and the team can truly know what happened.

I was chatting to some lads during the interval.

I think one of them was called Dan.

Dan! Yeah, Dan.

The big Lewis Hamilton fan is Dan.

In fact, Dan, do you want to come over here?

I'd like just to talk to you quickly.

Dan, ladies and gentlemen!

Sorry to put you on the spot,

but we had a really nice chat about your way into Formula One

and the reason you love Lewis.

Yeah.

So when I was at school, my best mate,

his dad was chief telemetrist for McLaren

when Lewis was a driver there.

And I've got on my living room wall a dear Daniel,

happy 12th birthday, love Lewis.

And so I've been following him since I was about that tall.

And I was at Silverstone 2024

when he won his first race in two and a bit years.

And that's why Karim went out of God when I showed him this tattoo.

I've got to relax because it was my birthday

and my Mrs was there and everything.

So he's been a big part of motorsport representationally

for me as someone who's next race

and loving the passion, all that.

But yeah, it's been gut-wrenching to see him this year

and see how negatively he's been affected by it all

and just hope he's going to get better.

Well, let's talk about that in a second

but actually just back on your original point

that that's why we love sport

because it's there throughout your life.

And those moments you find the sports person

that you idolise and you go, that's my guy.

And the torturous thing about sport

is that you fall in love with it

and you have to follow it through the sad stuff.

But then when the good stuff happens,

I mean, for example, your tattoo,

do you want to describe your tattoo for the viewers

and the listeners?

I was just saying that, like I said,

I've followed Lewis since I was little

and it's that picture,

the portrait that we saw of Lewis

standing on top of his car waving the Union flag

above his head.

It just kind of immortalised that weekend for me.

It was my birthday weekend.

I'd seen Stormzy on a Friday night

and the Mrs was there with me

for the first time.

We'd been to a race together

and so just a little bit of ink.

How much beer had you had to that point?

I hadn't had much beer to be fair,

but I was a bloody emotional wreck

when Lewis crossed that line

and I was bawling like a baby.

So what do you think,

okay, we know what you want to happen next season,

but what do you think is realistic for Lewis next season?

I think, as Corinne said earlier,

we've got to go into it with an open mind.

There's the culture difference

that is very evident with Ferrari.

Is Lewis going to have that influence

that we'd like to see him have

and do that?

Who knows?

I think they're going to start listening.

I really hope so.

And it makes the most logical sense,

but then again, this is Ferrari.

So who knows?

Yeah, we didn't actually mention it on the debrief,

but we wanted to keep it, you know,

Landau-based because, you know,

he just won,

but the radio message,

heartbreaking,

they weren't listening to him.

And there was a laughing that I was,

I was just worried about that.

I was just boiling some tortellini.

It was that whole, you know,

engineer thing was epitomized.

Where was it?

I can't remember where it was now,

but, you know, have a tea break whilst you're at it.

You know, that really is it.

Two track limits.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We've got the first one, you know.

Yeah, it does tell,

as the last communication is such a big thing,

you know,

all of everything that everybody does

is all about communication,

but particularly in F1,

and when you're under so much immense pressure all the time,

yeah, you just, you need that,

and he doesn't have that right now.

So how can he be expected to do his job

to the best of his ability

when he doesn't have a crucial part of it?

Dan, thanks so much.

Dan, I've got it!

Karun, do you, obviously when I saw,

I didn't actually pick up on the whole

Lewis engineer chat

until it was on social media.

Do you think that it was misinterpreted

in some way,

or do you think it was as brutal as that?

I just think that's one of the points of this season.

You know, they,

if you rewind all the way back to Melbourne,

and there's so many bits of miscommunication.

Yeah, I think, don't forget,

Lewis has come off the back

of an incredibly successful time at Bono.

You know, they really understood each other,

and that relationship between driver,

race engineer, and performance engineer

is massively important.

It gets to the point,

you know, I think of my own time

in relationship with engineers.

The ones that really work are the ones,

they can almost read their mind, you know,

as you're coming down the pit lane,

you're offering a bit of feedback,

and as you've got to the pit garage,

you're both thinking of the same things

you want changed on the car.

You look at Ms. McLaren, for example, right?

You know,

rewind to 2021 when Lando lost the race

in Russia, that wasn't great communication.

They were asking a 21-year-old

chasing his first race win

with Lewis Hamilton right behind him

to make decisions on tyres based on the weather.

It's like, he's not going to be able to do that,

and they've gone on this journey

and really improved the way they communicate with Lando,

and I think Will Joseph has done a fantastic job

of, you know, working with Lando.

Right, what do you want me to tell you,

and what do you want me to ask you?

And they found a good balance.

You know, for those of you,

just to give you some context,

up in the commentary box,

we have a setup where I can listen to all the radio

of all the drivers all the time.

So, you know, with the swearing and all the rest of it,

we've got a live feed.

And Mercedes are the gold standard.

Honestly, I believe in the way they communicate with the drivers.

They're, you know, concise, they're precise.

They give the drivers the right bits of information.

And Lewis has gone from that to Ferrari

where there's language and cultural differences,

and he's not being able to make it work.

So, do you ask me the question early about the engineer?

I think there's a wider thing around how they all communicate.

But I do, yeah, but I do think,

and I don't know, maybe they aren't doing this, right?

But if I was in Lewis's position,

I would go after every race

and listen back to how George communicates

with Marcus Dudley, for example.

And I just go, look, these are the,

this is how I'd like you to be communicating with me.

Because there's no doing fiver, I feel like,

like there's kind of, and I know that they're racing, you know,

250 miles an hour, like,

but there still is time for some kind of bedside manner.

Yeah, because if you listen to Kimmy and Bono,

like, yeah, there's real, there's nurturing.

I think it's about knowing your personality.

You know, like GP and Max, for example,

you know, GP puts him his place pretty quickly, isn't it?

It's not, it's not sort of for like chat there.

But that's their relationship.

That's their relationship. They're like brothers, you know?

That's just, that's just what happens.

I think, and I think that Lewis has got to find his own equation.

But I think there's things you can do to try and fast track that

and just try and try to work behind that.

We'll get our predictions before we finish today's show.

Really fascinating hearing you all chat.

I enjoyed that.

Thank you to Dan. It was just, yeah, really, really nice to,

nice bit of light and shade from the vicar.

We needed that.

We needed to come down off the bedding, I think.

Halfway through when we were being quite serious about it,

I looked at the confetti on the floor and thought,

what are we doing here?

So big changes are coming for 2026.

We're also saying goodbye to quite a few big fixtures of F1

at the end of the season.

It's the first time we've started this,

since we've started this podcast,

that Max Verstappen won't be the reigning champion.

Yuki Sonoda won't be on the grid.

And of course, it saddens me to say, as a vicar,

it saddens me to say our dearly departed DRS

won't be in use anymore.

Now, on the Fast and Curious WhatsApp group the other day.

So can I just say that the screen's gone black behind us?

Yes, and there's a good reason for that.

Sure.

Because we are now in mourning.

Nothing.

I'd be doing this on the Thursday, but here we go.

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Thank you everybody for being here today

as we gather to say goodbye to a very, very

special part of the Formula One world,

DRS.

Since you first appeared in 2011

and once everyone actually understood

what the fuck you were,

you have been the finest speed-boosting flap

in all of sports.

Maybe even the world, actually.

You're way better than cat flaps

and cats in general for that matter.

You wrote best, didn't you?

No.

Actually, now I think about it.

Those flaps you can see opening on the wing

of a plane when you look out of the window

are also pretty good, but that's not the point.

DRS better than cat flaps.

To give you your full name, drag reduction system,

Jensen was the first to push your button.

And we didn't make that up, that is true.

And you've continued to be loved

by the people who came to the show

and opened down the paddock.

We're still not fully sure Lance Stroll

ever really got his head around you,

but it was exciting to see you being used

properly by Max, Oscar and Lando this year.

You became part of the Formula One furniture

and even went on to create your own subculture

in Formula One, the DRS train.

God, we love you.

A uniquely infuriating part of the sport

for both fans and drivers to sit through

to make it easier, but thanks for being there anyway.

We asked the drivers if they had any words to pass on

but they're all on holiday now and to be honest,

none of them really gave a shit.

We do, of course.

So we're going to read you some moving words

from George Russell in Mexico this year

to remember you by.

It's quite difficult to get through this bit

without getting a bit emotional.

Yeah, same, I'm with you, yeah.

Really emotional.

Ah yes, without you George Russell

would never have uttered those beautiful words.

I've got a fucking McLaren up my arse.

A phrase that will long live in all of our hearts

because you, our beloved DRS,

let Oscar Piastri get right up his arse.

I wish we could be near you

while within one second of you next season.

Lovely, that's the light of this, that was good.

The FIA have introduced the manual override engine mode

which operates within X and Y zones.

Jesus Christ.

He's here.

That's the first time I've read that bit out loud

and I'm already so bored of understanding what it means.

So DRS, you move into retirement

at approximately 6 to 12 miles per hour

faster than most.

Thank you for your role in this ridiculous sport.

Speaking of dearly departed,

there has been one common trend

in the DMs in the last week

which I wanted to ask a steam panel about.

Karin Chandak.

Oh no.

Helmut Marco is no longer with us in Formula One.

Oh yes, he's hanging up his helmet.

Huh?

It's good that.

Can't believe a mechanical flap got a funeral

and Helmut Marco got fuck all.

Mental.

That's mental, innit?

He hasn't died.

Yeah, but...

Has he?

Is he not?

No, he's not dead.

Can I just say for the...

Han Marco is leaving Red Bull.

He has not died.

That's important.

But I'd like to clarify that if he did die

we wouldn't do a funeral.

Really?

Anyway.

Just want to be clear on that.

Sure.

I think we'd do a funeral for most things.

Anyhow, I'm done.

Karin Chandak, back to the departure

of a key figure in Formula One.

Were you surprised at the timing of this growing?

To our listeners it seemed like a big deal

and certainly big news to have broken

in the week since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Surprised for you?

A bit surprised at the timing

because I thought Helmut would never leave.

He was instrumental in bringing them into the sport.

He seemed to win the power struggle

against Christian in the summer of the season

and it's kind of...

I wonder what Christian thinks of it

because five months after he gave Christian the boot

he's gone himself.

But you know what, I think Helmut...

Listen, he's got antiquated views of the world, isn't he?

Let's be honest.

He's got a lot of things that he says

which you just think that is just inappropriate

in this world.

But what you have to...

What I think people must give him credit for

is he's been an unbelievable talent spotter.

Arguably the best talent spotter

the sport has seen in the last two decades.

He was bold enough to take Max to Stappen

after one year of car racing

and stick him into Formula One.

I mean, no one else totaled past the opportunity

because he didn't think Max was ready.

And look at the success that Max has delivered for that team.

And he brought Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz.

He brought in Sebastian Vettel.

And Helmut did that.

Helmut made those calls himself.

And I think people...

There's a bigger picture.

If you look at who Helmut Marker was.

Incredible racing driver.

Lost an eye.

Had to stop driving because of that accident.

He's a qualified lawyer.

He's a patron of the arts.

He's a painter, which a lot of people don't know about.

Didn't he?

He advised Nicky Lauder

when he was doing his Ferrari contracts

with Enzo Ferrari.

He advised Nicky Lauder on how to get out of the Ferrari contracts

because they were best mates.

He's made an incredible contribution to the sport.

I'm not saying he's everyone's company.

I'm not saying I agree with a lot of things that come out of his mouth.

But I think ultimately you also have to,

for balance, acknowledge the incredible contribution

he has made to the sport.

I think a lot of listeners to our podcast

and viewers to our podcast

will see what's happened to the likes of...

I know we could name them, you know, the Gaslies, the Lawsons,

Nelsonodas, who have been in many people's views

quite brutally treated.

And now obviously Christian Horne has gone.

Helmut Marker has gone.

Do you think it's fair to say

that maybe the culture of the brutal driver changes

at Red Bull?

Do you think it was a culture that maybe

needed to move on?

No, I think that's what you sign up for.

Listen, I was a Red Bull junior driver.

I used to get the phone calls from Helmut

when I was in GP2.

Now I'll call Formula 2.

Helmut would call me on a Sunday night and go,

that was not good enough.

And as you're trying to explain what happened,

you just realize he's gone, he's just hung up on you.

I think a lot of our listeners feel

they can't do that sort of thing anymore.

I think you know what?

You knew what you were signing up for.

Without Helmut's backing,

none of those drivers would have got to F1 in the first place.

None of those drivers would have got to F2 in the first place.

So you knew what you were signing up for.

Nobody forced any of us to sign a contract with Red Bull.

I remember when, I think I must have been 24,

in Valencia, yeah, 2008, 24.

And Helmut, we sat down in the Red Bull motor home

and sort of talked about what I do next.

He was like, you're 24 years old.

You are now an old man.

You better get on with it.

I was like, fuck no, man.

I'm 24.

But it's like, I knew what I signed up for.

That's the person you were going to deal with.

And I don't, I think if you didn't expect that,

then you're just naive.

And then that's a whole different conversation.

So I don't think, you know, I think Gasly and Kefiad

and all of these drivers, yeah, they had a tough time.

But they wouldn't have got there without Helmut in the first place.

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Very interesting to hear you talk about that, Karu.

Yeah, it was really good.

I actually would like to talk a bit more about you being

a junior driver.

I think that's sort of what I'm quite interested by that.

So you were 24 and you were told that you were getting on.

Yeah, yeah.

So I did two seasons, 2007 and 2008, as a Red Bull junior.

And then at the end of 2008, I could see there was no way

forward into the F1 program.

At that stage, they had Vettel and Mark Webber

in the big team.

They had, and I could see a head of me in the queue.

They had Sebastian Bouemi and Jaime Algassari,

I think I had him in the queue at the time.

And we just parted on good terms, actually.

So we had a year apart in 2009.

I wasn't on the program.

2010, I got to F1 and sort of spoke to Helmut and just said,

look, just want to let you know, I've done this deal.

And we actually did a personal endorsement deal.

I still did events.

I was one of the few, I think, who parted on good terms

with Helmut.

He gave me my first F1 test and Christy was there.

So as I say, they were tough.

Helmut was a tough person who held you to account.

But I absolutely went into that environment with my eyes open.

I think it's a different context that a lot of,

especially our younger listeners, won't quite get.

And again, nowhere near to the extent of the Kareen house.

But like, karting's brutal.

And I experienced that.

You're experiencing such brutality at top level sport

from such a young age.

And I think it's a really interesting context

that you do go in with your eyes wide open.

You do have to grow up really quickly in the sport.

At least sport is hard.

I mean, you know, you think Ben Stokes and his team

aren't taking a load of crap when they're out there.

You know, they've got to be mentally hard.

At the moment, right?

Yes.

A lot of it for me.

But like, you've got to be mentally tough.

And that's, you sign up for that.

You sign up knowing the Australian press are going to come after you

when you go to a door down under.

It's just, that's what you sign up for.

Sam, do you empathize with top level drivers

because of your work and the industry you're in?

There's a sort of brutal parallel, surely,

with your job as well.

Well, I was just thinking, as you were saying,

the sort of helmet telling you you're an old man now at 24,

it's similar in the, I guess, the music world.

You, I remember being a school of all my powers

that are also into music.

And it was all our dream to kind of make it one day music.

I remember all of us would say, man,

can you imagine having a flat one day

that you paid the rent for from music?

Like all of us would, like that was this kind of like Holy Grail

at the top of the mountain that we were chasing.

And everyone was like, well, if you don't make it by 25,

it's not going to happen.

So kind of throwing the towel.

And all of my mates did throw in the towel.

And I didn't get a kind of, I guess, a shot until I was 31.

So it was like, and at the beginning I was really self,

I remember really being really self-conscious about my age

because I remember going to the first Brit Awards

after lockdown.

I remember meeting Clara, actually.

And Clara asked me how old I was.

And I remember-

Oh, I'm glad you're ready.

I wanted Greg's works with me.

Yeah, yeah, Clara Ampho.

And I remember being like feeling this awful feeling

of like being self-conscious to tell it.

And Clara's a sweetheart.

She's so lovely.

There's no reason to be like worried,

but it was a me thing, like being embarrassed almost

to say, oh, I'm 31 years old and I've only just,

I mean, I haven't done anything yet.

I've just been given an opportunity.

And I think that that's something that's really,

I've said it before in a few sort of like instances,

but we worship at this font of youth in the arts.

In sport, it's maybe different because there's this whole host

of different factors going on.

But in music, it certainly isn't.

Like we actually kind of give platforms to people

that mean that older people are totally cut out

and ostracized and made to feel almost that once they're

past that threshold of, to be honest, a young age

of like 25 or whatever, they're on the scrap heap.

So if you had any sort of dreams or ambitions,

sorry, like that's it now.

It's interesting because to link this back around,

my understanding, and I've not spoken as publicly,

but my understanding is Helmut has left

to further his music career.

Who you are never, you are,

you're never too old.

So I wish him well with that.

Yeah, he's doing Eurovision.

I would love to see Helmut say you're never too old

and see that come out of his hand.

I believe he's a star.

We wish him well.

Shall we take some listening questions?

Love would love to.

Love the listeners.

Does anyone in here have a question?

I think we'd probably need a microphone to your face.

So I'm going to try and stretch it.

You might have to meet me halfway,

as the background piece once said.

Yes, again.

Just based on the segment about saying goodbye to...

Can I just say you said again because we met earlier,

but we haven't actually featured on the podcast.

That would confuse the listeners.

What's your name?

Hi everyone, I'm Claire.

Hi again.

Say hi to Claire, everybody.

Hi.

I was playing again.

Hello.

From a legacy perspective in saying goodbye to things,

do you think not enough was made in terms of saying goodbye

to Salba and Peter Salba,

or just the excitement and adrenaline is there

for the Audi side of things?

You say you want another funeral.

Because I don't think we can do that.

You nearly done, no.

But just in terms of the things that were being said goodbye to,

it just felt like it hasn't got a lot of coverage elsewhere.

I think it's hard.

The one thing I do enjoy about Formula One,

one of the things I enjoy about Formula One

is they do celebrate the past

and they do a really good job of getting driver ambassadors

in who you see in the paddock.

And I did like that they invited Peter Salba.

I was looking up to be in Abu Dhabi.

He was in the paddock a lot.

So I liked that they invited Peter Salba along.

I liked that they invited him in.

I think maybe inevitably you might have seen

a bit more made of that

if we hadn't got the first three-way title battle

for more than a decade.

But I don't know how much it came across at home,

but Peter Salba was there.

There were some lovely pictures on F1 socials.

Tears in his eyes as the fireworks and so on.

So I do think credit to F1,

they made a good deal of that.

And if we're being a bit...

You just made a pitch for your deal for next year.

I was going to say...

Let's be honest, they were in F1 for 42 years

and won one race.

I was just...

There's that helmet brutality there.

Yeah.

It's not like Williams have left, is it?

What?

I was genuinely about to say

there's also, they are a massive name

for the sport and to Corrine's point,

they did only win one race.

What a race it was though, with Robert Kulcic.

You know what, I remember big

when I was at Channel 4.

I was in the commentary box with David Kultard

and Salba was celebrating

must have been the

20 something...

No, 40 that.

Would have been the 35th or 40 that.

Some anniversary at the British Grand Prix.

I can't remember what it was.

And F1, your friends at F1

put a graphic up on the formation

lab celebrating whatever it was

for Salba.

And DC just went...

Well, I suppose that's

40 years of mediocrity.

And I was like, wow DC,

that is brutal, you've been hanging on a helmet.

Bigger headlines like us.

They are just bigger headlines.

Just not as newsworthy.

Yeah, I think you know what,

there are lovely people who work at

there aren't lovely people who work at Salba

but they won't say the word of light

and I'm actually happy and excited

to see someone new come along.

Oh, it's definitely better for the sport

because let's be honest, Salba, we're never going to win a World Championship.

It's better for the sport for a big name manufacturer

like an Audi to come in and go,

a fist of this.

Whether they will, let's find out.

But Karun's exactly right.

Salba, we're never going to win.

Audi, I think it's really exciting.

Yeah, I think it's going to be cool.

It's good for Formula 1 to have big names

like Ford aren't a full engine supplier,

they're helping Red Bull.

For the likes of Ford, the likes of Audi,

Toyota eating back into the sport with

House, it's good for Formula 1 to have

these big name manufacturers.

And it's better for Formula 1 to have Audi

in full colour.

Silvery, blacky and red, sort of.

You need a yellow to be back, Christian.

I fully agree, more yellow.

More yellow.

Our opinion is nonsense, call it Renault.

Call it Renault, make it yellow again.

Call it yellow, make it Renault,

make it Renault.

Claire, thank you again.

Any more questions?

Please, please.

What is your name?

Jess.

Hi, Jess.

Welcome to the Fast and the Curious Live.

This is the Reverend Greg James.

What's your question?

Are there any tracks that are no longer

on the calendar that you would like

to see back on the calendar?

I know I'm kind of partial too.

And this is before my time, but Adelaide,

I'd love to see another Australian race.

Yeah, so...

I really liked Malaysia.

It was a fantastic track

to drive.

I always had good racing in different categories.

Brilliant track to drive.

Always had good racing.

The weather was a bit wild and wacky.

People were lovely.

Nice place to go.

Hot and really humid.

That's the one I always miss.

I think Turkey as well.

We've seen some good racing in Turkey.

But Malaysia is the one

that I've had to pick one.

There we go.

Adelaide, obviously.

We've lost our sleep.

We go a long way to get there,

so you might as well have two races.

Three, why not?

Thank you.

Well done on the ashes so far.

It feels pretty good.

It's been a week of highs and lows.

Mainly highs, I'd say.

Mainly highs.

Thank you, Jess.

Any other questions?

Which tracks would you like removed

from the calendar?

Oh, China.

Oh, yeah, 100%.

Only because...

Did you come to China this year?

No, the paddock is completely soulless.

It's built on swamp land.

There's bugs everywhere.

And you can't find anybody.

Everyone just disappears in these littered buildings.

They say the Grand Prix

in Shanghai.

It's like saying

we had a London Grand Prix

and had it up in Colby or something.

It is

nothing to do with Shanghai.

It's miles away.

London stands to their fourth.

It basically is.

So I would immediately...

I was going to say

that the drivers love

driving it.

But it's a dull watch.

I can't be doing a Qatar.

It's a MotoGP track.

It's not a Formula One track for me.

I'd give it a go.

It's not what you do with Monaco, isn't it?

Because the race is qualifying...

I know, I know, I get it.

I'm a big protector of it.

Qualifying is amazing.

Well, that's my tax haven.

I've got a roof to pay for

on this church.

Thank you

to our listeners and to their questions.

That is nearly it.

But before we wrap things up,

we did hint a little earlier

at our final driver

appearance of the season.

Now, the chance of getting a driver to join us

for a post-season podcast

are completely zero.

They've long checked out.

I thought you should show them this episode

as a sales bitch for next year.

Like, this is not a podcast, is it?

It depends to which driver it is, isn't it?

Some have come out worse.

Wait a minute.

Do you rule singing?

It can be arranged.

Oh, my God. Can you imagine?

We're not going to get any help being drivers

after tonight, are we?

But we have had a message

from one of our favourites.

Hello, everybody. It's Ollie here.

Just wanted to send you all a quick message.

Firstly, I hope you're enjoying the podcast.

Secondly,

I have got a bone to pick

with this specific podcast.

Rewind a few months.

I was in Silverstone on the fan stage.

You know, having a whale of a time,

first British Grand Prix, it was incredible.

Then at one point

I get arrested on the stage.

I'm sorry to say, we have to wrap up

the interview time with you anyway now.

You won't be racing this weekend.

And we do have to say goodbye to you now

because you are going to be taken away

and questioned.

So we've got some security here,

but this is for taking your personal train

as credit card and ordering things.

I've got the number if anyone wants to.

Now, Ollie Berman, thank you,

and you must now leave the stage.

Thank you. Ollie Berman, good luck this weekend.

Thank you very much. Ollie Berman, everybody.

Ollie Berman. Good luck this weekend.

Take him away, guys.

Take him away, everybody. That's it.

Take him away. Escort him away. There we are.

Really not what I had in the plan

for my first fan stage at Silverstone.

I'm told it was Greg James' fault.

So,

Greg, I think in revenge,

I've got a little something for you.

So, guys,

would you just come in and grab him?

And, we've arranged for security

to take Greg.

Greg James, everybody.

Take him away.

No, you've been...

I'm off the cloth. No.

Take him away.

Ollie Berman's request.

Well, thank God he's gone.

Right.

Well, this has been a lot of fun.

Firstly, to our wonderful audience here,

thank you so much for coming.

It's so appreciated. Guys, give yourselves a round of applause.

Thank you.

Sam Ryder, thank you.

Honestly, you are a total joy,

a total F1 gig. We love having you.

Thank you for singing at my wedding,

I think.

You're still wearing the ring.

Still wearing the ring. Still wearing the ring.

It's very shiny. It keeps catching my eye.

Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

Sam Ryder, everybody.

Thank you.

And to this fountain of F1 knowledge

who does proper sports broadcasting

and still finds the time to come

and hang out with us idiots.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

We're just holding this podcast together.

Just at any time,

we asked you a serious question.

The answer, the rest of us,

God knows what we were doing up here.

But thank you very much.

Guys, you're going to be hearing from us sooner

than you think because we've got plenty

of cool little behind the scenes archive

from different interviews we've done

with different drivers.

We're going to be back, guys, sooner than you think

because on our YouTube channel,

which I hope you all subscribe to,

we're going to be putting out loads of different

Fast and Furious Gold episodes.

And on the podcast feed.

We've seen stuff and just the best bits

of drivers interviews from the past three seasons.

So we've been doing this for three seasons.

I know, we're very old there, aren't we?

We are very old, so make sure you subscribe

and that will keep you going, I think, between now

and 2026 season.

Shall we allow him back to say goodbye?

Yeah.

Greg, come back.

Come and say goodbye.

He's got beer.

He's got a beer he thought he was fully.

Kick back into his own show.

A sweet, a sweet thing.

A quick prediction of who's going to be.

Oh, yeah.

Right, OK. Go on, Sam, you go first.

George Russell.

Oh, nice.

I'm going round out again.

I'm going to go Oscar Piastri.

He's going to be back with a vengeance.

George Russell.

I...

I'm going to say Oscar Piastri just to be different.

I said Oscar Piastri.

Oh, I mean like different

this year.

Different to me this year.

I heard you say Oscar Piastri, Betty.

I'm sitting right here.

Different to me.

To me is a great way to say this.

Different to me.

He's spoken like a true evil supervillain.

Thank you so much for being here today.

We love you and we love doing this podcast.

And here's to another

amazing season.

And Merry Christmas!

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2025 Formula 1 Season Review Live Show! | Part 2 | 2026 Predictions w/ Karun Chandhok and Sam Ryder

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