A sprint is a shorter race during the F1 weekend. The results help decide where cars line up for the main race on Sunday.
Topic
Miami international water drone
That’s the track used for the Miami Grand Prix. Because it’s a street-style circuit, where you can pass is limited to certain spots, so setup and timing matter a lot.
Disqualification in F1 means a driver or team is removed from the results due to a rules violation, such as technical non-compliance or procedural issues. It can erase points and drastically affect championship standings.
They’re talking about how much “wiggle room” Mercedes has. Even if an update doesn’t work as well as hoped, they might still be fast enough to stay in front.
An upgrade is a new part or change to the race car brought for a particular race. The team hopes it makes the car faster, but sometimes it doesn’t deliver the full expected benefit.
That’s the part of the track where drivers brake very hard and very late for a corner. Overtakes often happen here because the faster car can make a move under braking.
The hosts are referencing upcoming or recently introduced F1 rule changes and the corresponding new car designs. In F1, regulation changes can alter aerodynamic efficiency, tire behavior, and overall performance balance—often reshuffling which teams dominate.
Pole position means you start the race from the very front. It’s usually earned by being fastest in qualifying, and it gives you an easier path at the start.
“Put it in the wall” just means the driver crashed into the barrier. Commentators mention it because it can say something about how hard the track was or how the car was behaving.
Practice sessions are the practice runs during the race weekend. Teams use them to figure out how to set up the car before qualifying and the main race.
The leaderboard is the list showing who’s ahead. When someone says to forget it, they mean don’t get distracted—just focus on driving the best you can.
Oversteer means the back of the car starts to slide outward more than the front. That can make the car harder to control when you’re trying to exit a turn fast.
A lock-up is when the wheels stop turning while braking. A “double lock-up” means it happened twice, which usually makes braking less controlled and can cost time.
The “Macarena wing” is a nickname for a particular rear wing design on an F1 car. If Ferrari brings it back, it likely changes how the car sticks to the track and how it behaves in corners.
Andrea Stella is referenced as a key McLaren figure whose comments indicate the team’s upgrade expectations. In this context, his statements are used to set expectations for how different the car may feel.
Term
turn 11 and 17
Turn 11 and turn 17 are specific corners on the track. The hosts are saying that being fast on the straights matters a lot for how you approach those corners.
An overtake is when one driver passes another car. Whether it’s easy or hard depends on where you can brake late and how well the car can follow in the other car’s airflow.
Turn one is the first big corner drivers hit after the start/finish area. It’s important because cars may be able to pass there again after an earlier overtake.
This is a test session at Bahrain where teams try out their cars before (or early in) the season. It helps them figure out what’s working and what they need to improve.
A preseason test is when teams run their cars before the main races start. They use it to learn how the car behaves and to plan what to change (or not change) for the next events.
Energy management is how an F1 team decides when to use the car’s extra power. The goal is to stay quick for the whole race without wasting energy too early.
Superclipping is a shorthand for the car getting into an unstable grip situation—like the tires briefly not doing what they should. It can make the car feel twitchy or unpredictable.
Haas is referenced as one of the teams in the same competitive cluster as Red Bull at this point in the season. It’s a way to contextualize how far off the front Red Bull is described to be.
Balance is how the car feels when you’re pushing it—whether it stays predictable in turns and braking. If the balance is good, the driver can steer with confidence.
Tracks are split into sections called sectors so teams can see where time is gained or lost. Saying the first sector is key means it’s a particularly important part of the lap.
Term
fifth, sixth gear
When they mention fifth and sixth gear, they’re talking about how fast the car is going. Higher gears usually mean you’re moving faster and spending less time accelerating.
Energy delivery is how the car turns its power into motion—especially how smoothly it accelerates. If it’s not where the driver wants it, the car can feel laggy or unpredictable.
Term
four-power unit
This phrase is likely referring to the car’s engine-and-hybrid system. The speaker is saying it should still be strong enough on the straights to keep the team competitive.
Sector three is the last part of the lap that gets timed separately. If a car is slow there, it usually points to a specific kind of problem in the final stretch.
F1 cars don’t just use fuel—they also have a hybrid system. “Energy recovery” means the car grabs energy during braking and then uses it again to give you extra power when you need it.
A “rule change” means the sport changed the regulations. That can force teams to adjust how they build and run their cars, which can change who is fast.
“Structural problems” means there’s something wrong with the car’s main framework or key parts that hold it together. If the chassis isn’t behaving correctly, it can be tough to fix with just minor tweaks.
F1 cars have limits on how they use their energy. Teams have to decide when to save it and when to use it to go faster, especially during races and qualifying.
They mean getting into the top four positions rather than staying in the middle of the pack. It’s a way to describe how competitive the team needs to be.
They’re describing the middle-of-the-pack battle. “Midfield four” means a small group of cars that are competing for positions that aren’t quite the front.
It means the team is kind of stuck in the middle—too far behind the leaders to fight them, but not far enough back to be clearly in the midfield battle.
A performance review is basically a check to see how well a new engine update is working. Teams compare data to decide what’s improving and what still needs work.
They’re talking about the engine part of the F1 power unit. The key point is whether one team’s engine is stronger than another’s and how that shows up on track.
Term
second
They’re comparing how Red Bull stacks up against Mercedes in terms of engine strength. It’s about relative performance, not a specific clock measurement.
SQ2 is one of the timed qualifying stages during sprint weekend. If you’re fast enough in SQ2, you move on to the next stage; if not, your qualifying day is basically done.
Term
Q2
Q2 is the middle part of qualifying on race weekend. If you do well enough, you move on to the final qualifying session; if not, you’re done and your starting position is set.
SQ3 is the last sprint-qualifying session. Only the top performers from earlier rounds get there, and it’s where drivers try to secure the best starting spots.
Term
Q3
Q3 is the last and most important qualifying session. The fastest drivers get there and set the times that decide the front of the starting grid.
In F1, “updates” usually means the team brings new parts or tweaks to the car to make it faster. If the changes work, the car can feel different right away during the weekend.
Concept
sprinkling theory
“Sprinkling theory” is an F1 discussion idea that suggests race weekends can produce different performance outcomes between sessions. The premise is that conditions and setup choices (and sometimes track evolution) create separation, rather than everyone looking identical all weekend.
A wet weather setup is how teams adjust the car for rainy conditions. The idea is to help the tires grip better and keep the car stable when the track is slick.
“Previous regulations” means the older set of F1 rules that teams had to build their cars around. The hosts are saying Ferrari’s rain performance was worse under those older rules.
They’re talking about their “bold predictions” segment—basically, making confident guesses about what might happen in the race. It’s more about entertainment and debate than car tech.
Topic
Double Audi points
They’re joking about Audi scoring a lot of points—like “double points” as a prediction. It’s not really about car parts or engineering in this moment.
The last lap is the final round of the race. It’s often where the most dramatic moves happen because everyone is pushing hard to gain or defend position.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a car with four doors (a sedan) made for everyday driving. People talk about it a lot because it has been sold for many years, so different versions can have different strengths. It may be mentioned in the show when sorting out which car belongs to which group or category.
A simulator is a high-tech driving setup where a driver practices on a virtual track. It helps them learn the circuit and improve their driving without using a real car.
The Turkish Grand Prix is an F1 race that takes place in Turkey. They’re talking about when it’s coming back to the official F1 schedule and where it will be held.
The Formula One calendar is the list of races F1 will run in a season. If something “returns to the calendar,” it means it’s officially scheduled to happen again.
A permanent circuit is a dedicated race track that’s built for racing. It’s not a temporary street setup, so the track is more consistent for teams.
Topic
Port Amal
“Port Amal” sounds like a place name related to racing, but the speaker doesn’t explain it clearly here. They’re basically saying it’s similar to the Turkish Grand Prix—something that doesn’t always get remembered.
This refers to how Formula One adjusted its race schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hosts are saying the Turkish Grand Prix helped deliver a strong event during that disrupted period.
A lockup is when the brakes are so strong that the wheels stop spinning. That makes the car harder to steer and can cause sliding, especially on slippery track surfaces.
They’re calling out turn eight as the track’s signature corner. It’s part of a sequence of left turns, so the car has to stay composed through multiple changes of direction.
A “triple apex” means the driver sets up the turn and then reaches the inside line three separate times. That helps keep the car balanced and can carry more speed through a complicated corner.
They mention COVID-19 because it affected how many people could attend races. Some events had big crowds, while others had almost none due to restrictions.
Topic
Zanvo
They compare Miami’s crowd size to another event/track called “Zanvo.” The discussion doesn’t explain what it is, so it’s mainly a reference point in their attendance comparison.
Catalonia is the region in Spain where the Barcelona F1 circuit is located. They’re using it as another example of how the track might appear on the calendar for some years and not others.
LIVE
Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast.
Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday.
Hello and everyone, welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben
Hawking. We have made it. At long last, we have an F1 race to preview the Miami Grand Prix
coming up later this week. Sam, I didn't think we'd ever be in a position where we are so
excited about the Miami Grand Prix. Might be the best thing that's ever happened to Miami.
Honestly, I think that having this break, that and Pitbull, that and even Keel. Should we get
Pitbull on actually? He's a friend of the show, isn't he? It's been a while since we've had Pitbull
on. Yeah, it's because he's all over the place. So maybe it's time. There should be a nickname
associated with how all over the place he is. Consonant-wide. Consonant-wide Pitbull, yeah.
Sounds quite work. We'll think of something catchy, I'm sure. Mr. Earth, I'm going to go with.
Planet man.
Good. I think we're in the mood to preview a Grand Prix, aren't we, folks?
Thank you very much for joining us on today's preview of the Miami GP. A quick update before
we start or a reminder for those of you that listen to Sunday's show. We are going to be
very excitingly at the Dutch GP later this year, first time we've ever been to the Dutch GP. So
we're very excited about that. And because we're going to be there throughout the entire weekend,
we are very excited to see as many of your faces as possible both during the weekend, but also on
the Thursday beforehand. We're going to try and do a little bit of a meetup, but it'd be very,
very helpful for us to know how many of you might be attending that. So there is a form in the
description for this episode. Thank you to anyone who's already filled that out, by the way,
to just give us an idea on numbers. That's very helpful. If you are interested in seeing us,
Ian Amsterdam. Please bring Strutwafel. And that's our only request. What an only request.
Obviously, yeah. That pretty much is it. But yes, thank you to anyone who's already filled
that out. And please do if you're interested in seeing us on that Thursday. But that's enough
about Amsterdam at least for today. We are focusing instead on Miami because after a one-month
break F1 is back and making its first trip to North America this year, Miami will now host round four
of the 2026 season. And for the third straight year, it will be hosting a sprint. This will be
the fifth race at the Miami international water drone with Red Bull and McLaren locked at two
wins each. For Stappen having won there in 22 and 23, the McLaren duo splitting victories over
the last two years, Norris winning his first race, of course, in 2024 and Piastri, the defending
winner here from last year. Circuit is comprised of 19 corners with overtaking opportunities at
turns one. Turn 11 might be the best opportunity and then turns 17. But the layout does feature
a mixture of long straights and tight corners, making set up a bit of a challenge for the teams
here. The early part of the weekend looks dry and hot, but there's possible stormy weather
coming in towards the end of the weekend that could impact race day on Sunday. We'll get into
that as we go throughout this preview, no doubt. Sam, there aren't many circuits where Mercedes have
not won at. But right now, this is one of them. Is it likely that that changes this weekend?
I think you'll be a bit mad against them after the form that we've seen. But after seeing those
purple race suits, I fear that they must get ruined again. Disqualification. I think immediately,
yeah, the championship can go along with theirs game over because they do look like they are the
milka chocolate bar. Which no offense to the milka chocolate bar. The milka chocolate bar wears
it well. The point is, as racing drivers, you don't want to be a milka chocolate bar. You need
to be a racing driver, and it doesn't work. So, did they have a chance? Yeah, I do. Kim Yansengeli
has already shown great promise here, right? He picked up his first ever poll. Well, we've called
it poll position. Mini poll for a mini man. Last year, of course, where he was very successful
and showed real promise early on in his Formula 1 career, it feels only right now that he turns
up fully-fledged. A real driver, a proper F1 driver with a real chance at taking home a championship
after winning two Grand Prix so far. It feels like this is a great place for him to kick on and really
cement that championship lead, which he picked up in Japan last time out so very long ago. Equally,
George Russell will be looking to seek redemption and try and take back that championship lead over
his rather junior teammate and bring it back into his own hands because it's been a little bit
shaky for him in the last couple of Grand Prix. He's like a dodgy star. He's been caught in traffic.
He had the issuing Chinese qualifying with a card that worked properly. He's had a few hiccups. So,
I do think this is a racetrack where he will be looking to make amends, but don't get me wrong.
Out of everyone up on the grid, I think it's coming down to those two drivers.
Yeah, absolutely shocking. It is very likely Mercedes are going to win or at the very least
compete for the win this weekend. I don't think I'm surprising anyone by saying that.
Other teams will have updates, of course, and we're going to get into some of those as we go
throughout today's episode. So, we are likely to see some drastically changed cars up and down the
grid, but Mercedes will have updates themselves. So, there's every chance that they are still
very much at the top of that pecking order when we get to Sunday's race. Thing is as well, that
they have a margin of error, it feels like at this point, in that if they have an upgrade this weekend,
doesn't work quite as planned, or maybe it only gives 90% of the benefit they thought it would
give, maybe other teams get a bit closer, they can kind of deal with that, you feel at the moment,
just based on they're not only first right now, they're quite a comfortable first. Like, if you
look at the first three Grand Prix that we've had so far this year, Oscar Piastri was 13.7 seconds
behind Kimmy Antonelli at the Japanese GP, which appreciate there was maybe some fortune that
led to that situation. But that is the closest that another team has got to beating Mercedes this
year, 13.7 seconds, it hasn't been particularly close. And if we look at Miami's recent history,
because it's the only history Miami has, I'm afraid, it's proven to be a track where a dominant car
is allowed to dominate. If we go back to 23, Alonso was third, Thoraston Martin.
Sorry, that's only three years ago. Oh, that's horrible. But he was 26.3 seconds back from Verstappen
who won that race and Perez was second, so uttered Red Bull dominance that year. And if you go back
to last year, I know Verstappen held the lead early on in this race, but Piastri was 37.6 seconds
ahead of George Russell, who ended up third. Again, it's the McLaren in between them. So
where a team has a dominant car, maybe similar to what we've had with Mercedes this year,
Miami and the way that the track track is sort of laid out, it does allow domination at times.
And right now, Mercedes just haven't shown much in the way of weakness at all. Apart from
those race starts where maybe that is somewhat mitigated this weekend because it's not a long
run down to turn one, they might get away with it. And then I think the only thing they're slightly
unproven on this point, not say it's weakness, but we just don't know yet, wet weather. So maybe
that's the thing that these other teams need. The thing about the Miami GP with its layout is
before every opportunity for an overtake, as you mentioned, turn one, and then after that,
you make sure was it turn 11, you spoke about where you've got that. Oh, it's not a straight,
but it kind of is a straight. It's full fossil. Yeah. And then of course you've got turn 17.
Before each of those areas, there's essentially a wibbly bit of the track, which is very difficult
to follow through. You know, after turn one, you've got two all the way through to about turn eight,
which is high speed, very similar to the Suzuka S's, but almost in a slightly different
Canberra way of running it. Really hard to follow close with dirty air coming off. I know it's
reduced so far this season. It'll be interesting to see how that actually plays out around the
Miami GP because of that has been a real sticking point for poor racing in Miami because sticking
alongside or nearby going all the way down to the start, the long straight, sorry, has been
really tricky over the last few years because you just can't get close enough through this winding
section. And then after 11, you've got the heavy braking zone, of course, and the wig semi-circle
long right hander before you dive through this really slow Mickey Mouse style in, out, shake it
all about. And then again, you have a long straight, but it's really tough to follow, which means
you can't get close enough in the acceleration zone of these long straights to actually making
overtake in the braking zone. So I'm hoping that we might see a better race here. And this might
be one of the Grand Prix where the new regulations and new cars really do come into play and we see
a better race than what we have seen previously. I wanted to ask you on, and I know you've briefly
touched on this, Antonelli versus Russell this weekend, very different position it feels like
they're in at the moment. When it comes to Antonelli, are you more subscribing to the idea that
he's full of confidence at this point, two straight wins, has that pole position from here last year
as well, the sprint pole position, he's going to be full of confidence and kick on? Or is there
another way of thinking about this that he's had quite a long time to reflect on, I'm, I'm,
how was it, 18, 19 years old, I have just won two races in a row, I'm leading the championship,
oh my god, this is starting to set in panic time. I wouldn't be surprised if he's had a good few
messages from the likes of Toto, from Bongo as well, to kind of make sure his head is level,
make sure that he's not drastically going one way of panicking and thinking, ah, I've lost my
flow, we haven't driven the cars for a month, this is going to be a bit scary again, totally get that
if that is what he was thinking, but you could have the flip side of going, this is easy, Joe
Crussell, what a scrub. Is it on my mop in the closet, because I'm absolutely mopping the floor
with him? No, of course, but my point here is I do think that Kimi Antigali, after, after we saw
Kimi Antigali for the very first time, that practice session in Monza, where he put it in the wall,
we were introduced to a real character of Formula One, that, you know, flat out regardless of
situation, forget the risk, I'm going for it, I think that attitude remains here, I think it's a
lot more in the moment where it needs to be, but I think he's going to turn up to Miami,
he's going to forget about the leaderboard and he is going to do the best that he can at being
the fastest that he can. I do not think Joe Crussell being his teammate, I'm not, he's going to face
him, I think he just wants to win Grand Prix. I agree with that, and I remember, it's interesting
you cite the Italian practice session that he had at Monza, his first outing in F1, and I remember
distinctly sort of thinking and saying after that, and a lot of people at that point were very
negative and worried about his future, is it too early? I remember saying like,
I'm actually more confident weirdly after he's crashed than before it, because that shows his
attitude that he doesn't care, like he's going to make some errors, but he doesn't mind that,
he's just going to go in with full confidence in his abilities, and he's going to ride with
the results, and more often than not, they're going to be good results, and I think he will
have that confidence. I think Miami could be one of those racetracks, so where we do see a mistake,
where we do see overeagerness that ends up being a race-ending moment, because we complain about
this for a lot of Grand Prix, there are walls here. If you make a mistake in some of these
corners, you are going to collide with a wall very quickly, so if you do get it wrong, you're
kind of oversteer out of the corner, you get your acceleration zones wrong, you miss your braking
point, there's every chance that you end up DNFing, not just having a bigger damage or running wide
and losing some time, you could be at this race very quickly. And on the other side of the garage,
I do think Russell needs this win, and I'm talking about the main race win and not just the sprint,
because again, confidence and momentum seems to be such a thing for Antonelli at the moment,
he could really do with just putting a stop on that. And can he do what he did to Antonelli in
China, at least the first half of the weekend, where if you remember, Russell was fastest in
FP1, or the only practice session we had. He was then fastest in all three sprint-qualifying
sessions, and then went ahead and won the sprint. And of course, this is also a sprint weekend. If
he can hit the ground running at the same pace he did that weekend, then that might just see him
right for Saturday and Sunday as well, potentially. I think he needs something early in this weekend
just to settle the nerves, almost. I see what you're saying. I think your logic is very sound.
I think any rational person would go, yeah, makes sense. That's what I want. Unfortunately,
China, that didn't actually work for him in the long run. Doesn't go on to win the Grand Prix,
ends up being what was it, seven or eight seconds behind Antonelli, even with that
double lock-up at the heavy braking zone, despite the commentator. Oh, man, that was close.
They really tried to get that one excited, didn't they? But I actually think that Russell
will look at that weekend and go, it didn't benefit me being fastest in FP1, or sprint-qualifying,
or the sprint race. I ended up behind my teammate. I'm sure he would say, I'll come second in every
single session, apart from that feature race, where I will win. But you're right. No matter how
it happens, whether it's Antonelli, DNF, whether he's outright fastest, whether it's a will-to-will
battle the whole way through the Grand Prix, Russell needs to win here. Otherwise, the tide
starts to turn and quite dramatically. The question, of course, is outside of this Mercedes battle,
is it going to be another team contending as well? Ferrari and McLaren may be best positioned
based on what we've seen so far this year, and both teams expected to bring significant upgrades
to this weekend. McLaren and Andrea Stella have had comments recently saying this will almost be
a brand new car. Ferrari, the Macarena wing might well be back. We'll see. Hey, Macarena. Do you
think Ferrari is who I am most intrigued to see? They have been bigging this up for a little while
now, and it does smell a little bit like the seventh-tenth game that they bragged about a
couple of seasons ago. I'm hoping that this time it does come true, because we never saw that
gap change last time that, when they bragged about upgrades. Leclerc has basically stated the car
looked incredibly different. They spoke about the Macarena wing being here, which is very exciting,
simply for the means. They only bragged sprint weekends. I enjoy that.
Just running in FP1, aren't they? It's an FP1-specific upgrade.
That's a party trick. I think that the fact that their engine is slightly down will be
a big of a deficit here, though. I do think that having that outright top speed is very important,
going into turn 11 and 17, as we mentioned. But if they can keep the chassis moving forward,
progressing really nicely, I do think they can make up a lot of time in that two-to-nine set of
corners and that 12 through to 16. I think there's a lot of time to be gained there. McLaren will
also be fascinating, because we've only seen one full race-length distance from them where both cars
are competitive. We were interested to see if they're able to, again, replicate or improve from
what they did in Suzuki, because Suzuki was promising. If you're a pedestrian at that point,
you go second place. If they're one proper Grand Prix and I picked up second place, this is great.
If the car could take a step forward, if they can maximize that Mercedes engine,
I do think that they are going to shout off solid podiums. I'm not sure they're going to be beating
Mercedes here, but I do think that this is their chance to start stepping up against Ferrari.
I think both teams, particularly McLaren with Piastri, were able to use in Suzuki the difficulty
in getting overtakes done. I am very interested. This is, to your point earlier, actually, about
the Miami track. I'm really interested to see if we get a repeat of Suzuki or if it's something
a little bit different. With Suzuki, we saw, I know we've mentioned this a few times now, but we saw
a lot of overtakes into the Casio Triangle and then re-overtakes into turn one. That was the main
fighting we got. The thing is, any overtakes that happen into turn 17, so right towards the end of
the lap, that rundown to turn one just isn't the same as what we have at Suzuki. We might not have
this exchange of position. I'm not saying Miami's easy to get overtakes done, but maybe it'll be
more easy than what we had at Suzuki, in which case McLaren and Ferrari can't rely on that as much as
they did last time out. I'm intrigued by both teams here with McLaren. Very few developments from
the Bahrain test to Suzuki. They were one of the very few teams that the car they brought to
the Bahrain preseason test was exactly the same car they brought to Melbourne and Australia,
and they didn't do much to it in the two races after that as well. They're being cautious to say
everyone's bringing updates. We've got no idea whether ours are going to work as much as we'd
like them to, but there is at least the potential they could move forward here. Ferrari revised
floor, that rear wing might make an appearance. Who knows? I think the couple of reservations I have
with Ferrari are the same as yours in that Ferrari upgrades over the last couple of years have been
real hit or miss. Secondly, they need to make up at least half a second here to get up to Mercedes
pace. I think you're right that it's going to be a struggle to make up that in aero alone. That's
a lot without really touching the power unit, which they do appear to be slightly down on.
Whether it's enough for iRiddy's two teams to properly battle Mercedes, I'm doubtful,
but I'm also slightly hopeful. Obviously, I'm intrigued because we've got these regulation
changes as well going into this race. It's interesting to see how that affects it. I also
don't think this will be too poor a race for energy management. There's a lot of heavy braking zones
in comparison to what we saw at Suzuka. We have the slower section of the track, which will help
as well. It won't be perfect. We're still going to see some awful superclipping. We're still going
to see some lifting off at the end of straights, but I think it's going to be a better overall
situation than what we saw in Suzuka. I'm intrigued. We'll see how that goes. Of course,
if you're new to the podcast or even if you're not new, just to remind you, we'll be here
throughout the entire weekend. We'll be doing a review on Friday, which we'll cover Sprint
qualifying. We'll then do one review on Saturday, but that will cover both sessions that are on
that day. The Sprint and then qualifying for the main Grand Prix. Then, of course, we'll be
be back reviewing the main race on Sunday, which if it's a wet one, who knows what could happen?
Potential carnage. It's the podcast. Can I be a wet one or is the race going to be a wet one?
This podcast is always a wet one, my friend. Time for a break. Bye-bye, everyone. Red Bull on the other side.
Welcome back, everyone. We've chatted through Mercedes who, unsprisingly, we expect to be
fighting at the front. McLaren and Ferrari who could be fighting for podiums may be challenging
Mercedes. Who knows? We haven't yet got on to Red Bull, who at least at the moment, if you look at
the championship table, are not really in that fight. They are very distant back in the pack.
They're in and amongst Alpine, Haas, even their sister team of racing bulls right now.
It's not been a great start to the year for them. Do you think they can get back in the fight here?
A short answer, no. Unfortunately, this is a track that is very similar in the sense that
the Suzuki has similar corners to it. Now, we've got some more flat-out driving. We've got some more
heavy braking, but the corner types that we have here, it's all about balance. The car is almost
on a knife edge, especially in that first sector. It's fifth, sixth gear, full speed, pull to the
left, pull to the right, pull to the left, pull to the right, heavy braking at an angle. It's really,
really balanced. The car has to feel good. You've got to feel like you've got the car in control.
A lot of aero grip is provided. I just don't think Red Bull are able to do that right now. We've seen
Max Verstappen has been talking about the fact that the car is bringing both oversteer and
understeer at the same time. The brakes are uncomfortable. The energy delivery is not where
he wants it to be. I think unless they've got some revolutionary upgrade where they've changed the
whole pathway in the design of this car going into Miami, I just can't see them having a massive
leap forward. The good thing about this, if it's actually going to last, is that the engine is there.
So going down the straights, it looks like the four-power unit is going to keep them semi-competitive,
but I just can't see them matching the big boys, the leaders, going through sector one and then
the start of sector three. Wild to think that at the beginning of this year, if you'd told us,
this is the sort of context we'd be talking about Red Bull in. We're saying that the power unit will
be there and we're just not sure about everything else. We're not sure about the chassis. It's
a complete flip we've ever seen from Red Bull. Yeah, it's crazy. I am massively concerned if
Red Bull are not in the fight this weekend. I don't know whether they will be, but if they're not,
like you suggest they might not be, it wouldn't be a massive surprise either. Panic stations,
I think, because- This was a gift, this gap for them. Right. And Laura Mechizas had a few comments
in between the Miami GP in Japan to sort of talk about what they've been doing back at the factory
and he said that whilst they haven't exactly solved everything, they've cracked quite a lot of it.
They've said that they are confident that progress has been made. And I hope for their sake that
both of those things are true because if they're not, I don't know where they go from here. Like
we saw just a recap of what we've seen from Red Bull so far this year. They show up at Australia,
a circuit that is very tough on energy, probably one of the top three to top five most difficult
that we'll see all year. And they were pretty good there, at least relatively. They were pretty good.
Hajar out-qualified anyone who wasn't a Mercedes. Verstappen, whilst he had an issue in qualifying,
was able to get all the way back to fighting a McLaren at the end of the race.
They looked reasonable at a track that is difficult to recover energy at. We then go to
Shanghai, which is probably somewhere in the middle of the pack, probably in that regard.
And they are way back in that midfield fight. They are fighting with Gasly. They're fighting
with Bearman. They are not fighting with McLaren or McLaren weren't in the race,
but they're not fighting with Ferrari. They're definitely not fighting with Mercedes.
And then we go to Suzuka. And I thought, okay, Suzuka, whilst it's not quite as extreme as Melbourne,
we are going back to a track where it is again more difficult to recover energy.
The power unit that Red Bull have, they might be able to get back into
where they were at Australia. And they didn't. They were exactly where they were in Shanghai.
Again, carbon copy almost fighting with Gasly, fighting with the hash drivers.
And that really concerned me because for every one track like Melbourne,
there's like five more that aren't like Melbourne. And to your point earlier,
Miami far closer to Shanghai in terms of energy recovery. And I appreciate we do
have that rule change that might spice things up a little bit. If they're not,
they're not good here, it's safe to assume they're not going to be very good at like 80% of tracks
unless they bring a significant upgrade. So for their sake, I hope they found something.
Yeah, we heard this towards the end of last year where Mekies was talking about how they wanted
to understand some structural problems that meant they couldn't resolve issues in the car.
And he's come out and said we've cracked a few things. Well, Lauren, you can crack a few eggs.
It doesn't mean you can cook an omelet. And that's what's going on here. You might have in theory
solved some of the issues. But have we seen them in the final piece? Is the car actually ready to go?
You said that you were good last year. It's come out that you're not. You said that you're good now.
Is it going to come out that you're not again? I'm just, I'm worried that a month isn't enough
to turn around the whole structural problem with the car and that they're not actually going to
deliver any track. And their only positive quality is actually energy harvesting. Like you said,
that Melbourne, in fact, that they were able to stand out a little bit over their competitors in
one scope of racing right now. And that applies to maybe 10%, 15% of the entire calendar. So
it's not a great advantage to have over the rest of the grid. I'd rather you be rubbish at energy
conservation and have the best aero package on the grid. A bit of a positive negative as well
in terms of they had something of an upgrade at Suzuka, which not many teams did, only on
Verstappen's car. Didn't really work as far as I know Verstappen was in a slightly better position
than what Hajar was in. But equally, he was in a no better position to what he was at Shanghai.
So downside is didn't really work. Good news for them at least is that they had the opportunity
to review that fully in this break, whereas a lot of other teams are bringing their first
significant upgrade package to Miami. And they are going to be learning a lot more as we go
compared to maybe Red Bull have to do that as well to an extent, but Red Bull might have an
advantage in that department. But you've got to hope that they are at least even if they're not
getting podiums, they're going to want to see themselves back in that top four rather than
that sort of midfield four. I mean, even if they're in no man's land between, you know,
Ferrari and McLaren and then Haas and Alpine behind them, that'll be a step forward for them.
Yeah. And this is going to sound a bit crazy, but you look at the championship table is where
they are right now. You talk about the power unit and where they are. At some point soon,
we are going to have this performance review, this engine. Aduo is on the horizon. Yeah.
And Red Bull have denied, as some are suggesting, they actually have the best
power unit on the grid. But even if that's true, and let's say they are slightly behind Mercedes
in their second. They're not gaining, are they? No. Like Haas have more scope to gain than Red
Bull do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you're talking to aerodynamically, they're on par already. So
that's not great if they're down on power and they're still able to beat you consistently.
Which is why I think I don't want to spoil under pressure because I'm actually going to go in a
slightly different direction to this, but Red Bull would be a very fair shout for under pressure.
They need to show something this weekend. Agreed. Elsewhere, of course, this is the
second sprint weekend that we've got. What do you expect to see? Because at China,
the other sprint race we've had so far this year, we had this very rare, I was about to say,
it's an achievement. It's not really an achievement. This rare thing where we had
qualifying and sprint qualifying, the same drivers that got through to SQ2 got through to Q2.
But those same drivers who didn't get through to SQ3 also didn't get through to Q3. It was
a rare match. Are we going to see more of that here? No, I don't think so. I think the drivers
have come to understand things a lot more. We will see some changes in the way that the cars
are operating with the updates that are being brought. I think we might see a shock here in
Miami. I want to say a shock. I don't mean that, you know, Espanol Conteo with a race.
Sorry, Ben. He's already won a race. Yeah, that's true. But it would be the biggest
shock on the entire grid, realistically. Wow. No, I'm just roasting you. The disrespect.
Estabang is Latin for no win. Whoa. We've got a lot of Latin translations. We're a very multicultural
show. Historically accurate braking. I think we're going to see a bit of an upset. I think
we'll see a bit of a shock. I want to say that I mean, one of those typical Q2, back of Q2,
might see a real jump up. We might see a driver suddenly spring into P6, P7 that we weren't
expecting. I do think that sprint and race are going to be a little bit more distinct
than what we see in China. To an extent, it was a surprise to see what we had in China because
we do have just one practice session in these sprint weekends. And for, I don't know,
that there is the potential for things to change between the sprint sort of portion of the weekend
and the main part. That's a big element of it. It used to be that you couldn't change your car
without suffering a penalty between the two sessions. You can now change your car between
the sprint and qualifying if things haven't been working your way. And despite that,
we still got the exact same lineup as we got in sprint qualifying.
The odds of this happening again, to be honest, must be like a thousand to one.
Oh yeah, for sure. But even as a bit of a wider point of incredibly similar looking
grids and maybe similar looking results, I do think we'll get something a bit different this
weekend because largely I think it's related to the upgrades that nearly every team is going to
bring. And you might say, well, if every team is bringing an upgrade, then we can expect everything
to remain the same. We've seen the last couple of years in F1. Some teams have nailed upgrades
straight away. Some have not. Some have gone backwards as a result of what they've tried to
introduce. They're becoming way more common as well. They used to be, if you hang an upgrade
package, you'd see a team suddenly find two, three tenths. More often than not now, they go
backwards and they have to revert or they have one car with, one car without. It's very common.
And there's no guarantee to say they'll all figure this out in the same sort of time period.
Some teams, you might get three teams that bring their upgrades to Fp1 in Miami and it's all
working straight away and they're set for the weekend. You might have another team that doesn't
seem to be working that well. They actually revert back to what they had for the main portion of
the Grand Prix. Maybe they improve that way. Might work the other way. I just think we didn't have
many upgrades when we were at round two in China. We will this time around. So I am hoping at least
there's something a bit different between the two sections of the weekend.
Actually, that is the benefit of the sprinkling theory. In theory, I say that very clearly. In
theory, you should see two different sides to a weekend. It being exactly the same really does
take away any excitement. One thing that could aid in that as well is to just focus a bit on the
weather and whether we can see any rain on Sunday. Teams might be trying to get a bit clever with
the setup. If that weather forecast does hold, you aren't going to want to set your car up in
the same way for the Sunday as you will for the Saturday and how much risk you take there could
be something that the teams differ on. We've got an extended practice session, of course,
at the start of this weekend, 19 minutes instead of 16. I wouldn't shock me if we see some teams
half that practice session to maybe run with a car, a wet weather setup. A lot more downforce
applied to make sure that if it does rain on that Sunday, they're more effective and a team
you should look out for if it is raining is Ferrari because they were pretty good in Catalonia
before we even had the preseason testing where that car ran brilliantly well in the wet weather,
something that they struggled with immensely in the previous regulations. Of course, they focused
all their energy on being good in the wet. Then we just never have a wet race.
No wet race ever again. I admire that. Shall we, for the first time in what feels like decades,
do some bold predictions?
Do we think it's been long enough that people don't remember that we've got all of the ones
we've done so far wrong? Why did you say anything? I was going to say I'm four for four.
Oh, after this weekend, I was going to claim that I was four up.
You've ruined that. Look what you've done to us. You've ruined it.
I didn't think this was the thing that was going to bring down the late breaking podcast.
Here's my list of things that I thought would break.
That's what the real show's all about. Back in 2016, if you check, no.
My bold prediction, I'm going to keep predicting something like this until it happens because
I've invested too much at this point. You can ruin Formula One if you keep doing this.
Double Audi points. At some point, Audi are going to come good and I'm going to laugh at people.
Until then, I'm going to flounder. For every time you predict this now,
I'm going to knock off point one of a bold prediction.
Arguably, it gets more bold if it doesn't happen.
Yeah, it gets boring.
Ah, logic. Boring predictions.
Boo logic. Boring bangs, what they call you.
Brings back flashbacks that.
I'm also going to be specific about that being the main race as well.
Double points in the main race.
So, when they're 7th and 8th in the spring, that's going to be really funny.
Oh, yeah. I can't wait for that. But also 10th and 11th in the main race.
Oh, that's also probable.
Oh, yeah. Give me that. Give me that laughter on Sunday afternoon.
9th and 10th and they take each other out or something.
Oh, yes. But not DNF'd. Just before they get overtaken on the last
lap. Oh, I will just milk that dry, please.
F1 is like, oh, yeah, there's me, boy.
F1 is a massive conspiracy against me.
They say that they do hate you. I've heard that from Stefano.
What was your bold prediction?
I've got a...
Is that to account for one that should have been at Jetta,
one that should have been at R.A. and one for this weekend?
You've got to make up for it.
And it's all centred around my boy, Franco Collapinto.
You know, he's being a plucky upstart this season.
And he got belted out by the devil himself, Esther Mangocon.
Come on, man.
No wings, Ockong, as it translates.
He's won a race.
I'm also getting a set of a propaganda, but history forgets
that he won that Grand Prix.
Anyway, he's going to be in Q3.
He's going to be in Q3.
And then he will score points in the main race.
Okay. So a very good weekend for Collapinto.
Would you mind on a more serious note, explaining why?
I think our peeing is starting to settle.
And I think with that, Collapinto is starting to settle.
We've seen that Gatsley has been the star of the show about team.
He's really kind of been the star of the midfield,
realistically, seventh place, locked down in his.
But I think Collapinto now will hopefully have learned,
have taken some time away from the sport for the last month
to assess, to go and do some testing on the simulator.
I just think he might come back with this attitude,
especially as he's recently been in Buenos Aires,
in Argentina, where he's been home.
600,000 people reported that.
A section of the whole of Argentina turned up, I think.
Yeah.
And I just think that a bit of home love,
you know, a little bit of time away,
hopefully to come back with a bit of vigor.
And I do think that this, you know, if it's going to go well,
it'll be this weekend.
Yeah. We're going to start to get to a point with Collapinto as well,
where we're not going to new tracks for him.
As far as I'm aware, he hasn't competed at Miami in a junior series either.
Could be wrong on that.
But we are starting to get to,
even if we're just focusing on F1 tracks,
he's almost been to every track now.
So yeah, be interested to see how that plays out.
What about Sprint pole, Sprint win, pole one, two, three.
Okay. Sprint pole, I've got Russell.
Sprint wing, I've got Russell.
Pole, I've got Antonelli.
Wing, I've got Antonelli.
Second place, I've got Russell.
Third place, I have Leclerc.
Okay. We start off very similarly.
So I've got Sprint pole, George Russell.
Sprint win, George Russell.
Pole position, Antonelli.
The win, George Russell.
Second, Antonelli.
And third, Oscar Piastri.
Okay. Fascinating.
You envision it to be a wet race.
At the moment, it looks fairly likely.
If it's wet, I think Russell can have a significant advantage.
I think you could be right,
but Antonelli has surprised us already this year.
Who knows?
He has.
He has.
He shall continue to do so, I'm sure.
Indeed.
Let's take another quick break on this episode on the other side,
the return of the Turkish Grand Prix.
Turkey, yeah.
That's how they say it now.
Turkey, yeah.
Turkey, yeah.
Turkey, yeah.
Welcome back, everyone.
Didn't time this news very well, did you?
But we'll cover it anyway.
The Turkish Grand Prix.
Turkish Grand Prix is set to make a return
to the Formula One calendar next year.
Istanbul Park will feature on the 2027 schedule
as part of a new five-year agreement.
The championship last raced there in 2020 and 2021
when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted events outside of Europe.
Istanbul Park, a permanent circuit,
first hosted F1 in 2005
before dropping off the calendar for the first time in 2011.
I've seen quite a bit of positivity about this.
Sam, are you equally positive?
Hell, yeah, I am.
I love the Turkish Grand Prix.
I think it's an underrated Grand Prix.
It gets a lot of stick because I think it's forgotten.
Much like Port Amal and the like,
it came in and did a really good job throughout COVID.
We had Lewis Hamilton's win to take his 7th world title there,
of course, and that was a belt of a Grand Prix.
You ignore that Hamilton was out front
absolutely destroying everyone.
We had Valtteri Bottas spinning 843,000 times
in his final season, as I'm saying, his driver.
Not ideal.
And there was a lot going on in that Grand Prix.
And it delivers a lot.
Formula One did a social media post
about big moments throughout history,
and they included the Red Bull collision from 2011.
Oh, I can remember if it was 10 or 11.
Yes, but I know the one you talk about.
Red Bull comments, why you got to bring up 2011?
Bro, why?
It's had some history in Formula One,
has the Turkish Grand Prix.
And I think with the new cars, if we continue to change,
it's like you reshape.
I think it could be a really good home
for Formula One for the next five years.
Also, a nice sensible contract length for a racetrack.
Five years is enough.
It's all anything needs.
It's enough to make an impression
to see if it's working or not.
If it's not, you get rid of it.
If it is working, give it another four or five.
I'm all right with this.
Well, it's rare.
It's usually it's either a one-year contract
or a two-year contract or a 28-year contract.
Or a lifelong contract.
Right. I'm equally glad it's back.
Felipe Massa, also glad that it's back.
One man loves it there.
Man loves Istanbul.
He won there three times.
He still holds the record for most wins at Istanbul.
Does it really?
Yeah, he won it three times.
Oh, Felipe, baby.
Which is pretty impressive,
given that probably makes up like a quarter of his wins.
But yes, glad it's back.
Tilka tracks from around this era are a little bit hit or miss
in that you've got anything around 20, 25 years ago.
Some of them really great.
Some of them really not great.
I think this is a good one, though.
Some really great corners.
I very much enjoy the turn one,
sort of turn two that we have here,
which is kind of downhill.
And we saw in very tricky conditions back in 2020,
how difficult it is to slow the car down for that corner.
It's pretty difficult anyway.
Make a lot of mistakes, don't you?
You get a lot of lockups.
Yeah, turn eight is the thing that is best known for this track,
based on that sort of triple left hander.
So eight, nine, 10.
Yes, you've got that triple apex, which is,
I mean, these new F1 cars might butcher it,
but it's a great corner.
And then we've also got,
you'll remember the Hamilton and Perez fight
that we had through the final few corners.
So there's opportunity for battling there as well.
The bells have a battle, by the way.
Yeah, really good.
That was a really good battle.
Those two that year had some very good fights.
That's where he looked at his game, right?
The industry of things, and rightly so.
Yes. Attendance really tailed off the first time we were here.
So it was quite well attended in the first sort of couple of years.
But then by the time we got to 2011,
which is the last of that first run,
we were only on about 25,000 attending on race day.
But the capacity for this race track is very high.
And whilst 2021 is a difficult one to look at attendances,
because some races were almost fully attended,
others weren't at all just based on the timing with COVID-19.
But there were 190,000 people there across the weekend
back in 2021, which is comparable to Zanvo at the time.
And Zanvo, perfectly good track, perfectly good event.
That's why we're going later this year.
I can't wait to attend.
So yeah, if they can pick up where they left off in sort of 2021,
this could be a very solid event.
I like it in that I don't love this track.
It's not one of my absolute favourites.
And I would have been quite happy with this being a rotational piece.
I would have been happy to see this every two years rather than every year.
But a five-year contract, I don't mind that.
Don't mind.
What do you think it's replacing?
Because surely we can't be having 25 race tracks on the candidate now.
So do you think it's a straight spot for Zanvo?
Do you think long term this is something else?
What's the plan with it?
Well, I guess it somewhat replaces Zanvo.
It's a bit tricky to work out in the next few years,
just based on some of these rotational...
One-in, one-out situations.
But it's not even linear in a lot of instances.
Like with Spa and Catalonia, you'll have like...
I can't remember the exact details of both of their contracts,
but it's like Spa's here for two years,
they're not here for one year,
and they may be back for one year,
and it's a bit difficult to work out.
This feels messy as well.
Yes.
But I am a little bit surprised.
There's not a lot of room on the calendar right now.
I think this takes us to 24 exactly for next year.
So I think that's 2027 blocked out now.
But then after that, what happens?
Right. I mean, you've got Portugal that's here in 27 and 28.
So that's only a two-year deal.
But outside of that, you don't have a lot of...
Dutch Grand Prix up at the end of this year,
but we kind of know...
We already knew that a couple years ago.
Vegas is technically up in 2027, but it's not going anywhere.
It's not going anywhere.
And then really, you've got 2028
when you've got Portugal, Singapore and Mexico.
They're the next three to go or next three to be sorted again.
Mexico might be in question.
Who knows?
But either thing, you're going to have what?
25 Grand Prix when the fact that Portugal comes back after 27?
I think next year it's 24 wins.
24 next year, but 20...
Oh, the year after is going to be up to 25.
I don't know about 28, yeah,
because I'm not sure if Barcelona is on the calendar for 28 or not.
So it might be back down to 24 again.
It's getting packed in now.
Yeah, there isn't a lot of room.
And we know that there have been discussions
in the last couple of years about Thailand, about India.
That's been spoken about quite a bit recently.
South Korea.
I've seen that one mentioned in the last month.
South Africa has kind of been on and off for a couple of years.
Maybe from African tracks.
Rwanda, yeah, I know that was the thing as well.
So like all of these tracks or all of these bids,
they're going to have to focus on really 2028 or 2029 as a realistic.
That's the only point we might be able to get on the calendar.
I just don't think we're going to lose any of the existing ones.
Unless something shocking happens where someone like Singapore goes,
we don't want this thing.
I imagine the Singapore Grand Prix for Singapore is a huge pull.
I wouldn't be surprised if that's their biggest tourist attraction track
the entire year, that one event.
They're not going to want to lose that.
Mexico aren't going to want to lose the Mexican Grand Prix,
especially with Paris still present.
I just think that realistically, we're going to have to go rotational
or we're going to not have anything new for quite some time.
And that's the drawback of them organising so many of these long-term contracts
is they don't have a lot of flexibility to now introduce rotational races.
A lot of these contracts go until 2035.
They're not going to, I mean, the circuits aren't going to turn around and say,
all right, no, it's okay.
We'll only do once every two years now, but they've signed the contract.
Unless you buy them out of it, you're not getting rid of them.
Right, yeah.
Does this represent a bit more of a sort of purpose-built circuit versus street circuit?
Does it feed into a narrative at all that we are maybe heading away from street circuits?
I don't know if it builds a narrative, but it is reassuring that the track that they have
put into this singular gap is another true racetrack and not a street circuit.
It does show, I think, that F1, the FIA are willing to listen to fans of the sport
where we have heard too many street circuits.
I also weirdly wonder if the comparisons to Formula E recently with the battery power
has almost propelled Formula 1 to look slightly away from street circuits
because they don't want too many direct comparisons to Formula E.
And that has come as a criticism, rather than as a positive,
which is a shame there's some good racing in Formula E.
But it does come as a criticism.
So I do think they're looking at hard-core, proper racetracks,
and not a London purée, as we've heard so many times,
or a New York Grand Prix.
These things get thrown out every couple of years,
and we're always a little bit skeptical of how it might work.
I'm glad we're going to a real racetrack.
Yeah, and I don't think this is going to represent any massive move away from these
street tracks like Madrid is obviously coming in this year.
Madrid, you mean.
So Madrid in Madrid is coming in this year.
Vegas obviously is still relatively new as is Jeddah.
So I don't think this represents a big move away,
but it is at least good to see Portugal announced earlier this year, Turkey now.
And whilst Spa, maybe you'd like to see that on a every year basis,
at least it's sticking around, same as Catalonia as well.
Yeah, agreed.
From Miami to Istanbul, back to Miami again to our preview.
Sounds like we're the F1 calendar, doesn't it?
Whilst we've gone through some teams we're expecting to do quite well this weekend,
there are some teams that have really struggled through the first three Grand Prix.
Shall we start with Aston Martin?
Fair to say they haven't had a great start to the year.
It's not a big idea, is it?
No. How much do you think the break will have helped them?
You'd like to think that much like Red Bull, this has been a bit of a godsend.
They must have re-evaluated everything from the ground up.
How is the engine working?
What's the chassis build looking like?
Aerodynamically, what's going on?
What's the vibrations that are causing in the car?
Can we get those to be removed?
I'm sure they might have done some morale boosting for their drivers as well,
because Fernando Alonso has come up with a few statements,
strolls, saying, yeah, nice timing, GT racing as well.
I imagine morale is really struggling for Aston Martin,
because much like Williams, who we'll get onto, this is meant to be their era.
This is meant to be the whole, we've worked really hard for four or five years now
to build for something.
We built this super team, it's going to be great,
and they're the worst they've literally ever been enjoying Formula One right now.
I'm hoping that we will see a step forward,
and a step forward for them is two cars getting around the racetrack properly,
without complaints from the drivers,
and they might keep a car in eyes lying for a little while.
And that's as good as I think it's going to be.
Sad, but it's probably realistic at the moment.
By the way, those Alonso comments,
we're going to get into those as part of our Patreon episode
that will be recording directly after this,
and will be live before the end of the month.
Yeah, with Aston Martin, I'm uncertain exactly what they've been able to do,
just based on the lack of mileage that they have so far this year.
They have less to go on.
It's not like, we'll get onto Williams and Cadillac as well, maybe.
It's not like either of those two teams have had a great start to the year,
but they have more mileage to review than what Aston Martin do.
And I was having a look at some of the numbers here with Aston Martin,
and I am similarly pessimistic about what they can do in the short term,
because let's say an absolute miracle happens, and they improve by one second.
Don't think that's going to happen. That is a huge number in F1.
Let's say miracle happens, they improve by a second.
If we then replay Japanese qualifying, and we'll go with Alonso,
because he was the quicker of the two drivers,
and we take a second off his time, he is seven tenths away from getting out of Q1.
After removing a second, like they are not close.
God, 1.7 off from Q2?
That's, and again, that's the quicker of the two cars.
Stroll was another three tenths back.
That is horrific, isn't it?
Yeah.
If you want to make an F1 horror film, that's your punchline.
That's your scare moment.
But that's what we're talking about.
We're like, the midfield, maybe we're discussing,
can Haas get ahead of Alpine?
It's realistic, because they might only need to improve by a tenth in order to do that.
Here, we're looking at Aston Martin.
They need to improve by seconds, not tenths.
And that's to get past Williams.
Yeah, it's not to get in the midfield fight.
This is to get to the back of the midfield fight.
Yeah, who aren't really on the back of the midfield fight?
You know, it's all quite a ways away.
Yeah.
Cadillac, a bit of a season of firsts for them,
but this weekend in particular, first upgrade package that they've brought to an F1 Grand Prix,
and a first home race as well, which they have,
I don't know if you've seen the delivery that they're doing this weekend.
I wish I hadn't seen it.
No, I've had.
It's so crap.
America, what should deal, man?
You're big.
That's a big question.
We can't answer that.
Very specifically, when it comes to designing the image of Formula One cars,
because you are a big, bold, bright, beautiful nation,
saying I like something else.
And I do think that you have so many eclectic and wonderful parts
of your nation.
Why is everything grey and white on a Formula One car?
I don't care that you've got some stars on the front wing.
I don't care that there's some stripes down the side bit of the car.
It's so boring, but it does say what?
Cadillac in a very pastel, blue and red on the back of the wing, really small.
I'm really glad I asked this question.
I hate it so much, so much.
I mean, back to what might actually matter in terms of the performance,
in terms of that upgrade package,
this is a team that hasn't had to do that yet.
Is this going to be a learning experience for them?
I believe they'll introduce nuts and bolts into the cars build this time,
so it won't just fly off the moment that they actually do.
I know, it might add a few pounds,
but it doesn't mean they'll have a car at the end of a Grand Prix.
It's really tricky to measure if this will be a success or not for Cadillac, really.
I think knowing to get good feedback from the drivers,
knowing to finish both Grand Prix, which will be really fantastic.
And if they can, again, it's that awful,
be maybe beating an Aston Martin if it doesn't feel good for Aston Martin.
Now, that's solid.
That shows you that you've been awful for Aston,
but it shows that you've taken a good step forward again.
I'm not expecting a lot.
Just continuing to learn, understand the sport,
understand the new era formula one right now.
Good steps forward, okay?
I can feel me with good vibes so far.
I've enjoyed them being here.
I would say they've taken a nice step forward towards competitiveness.
Yeah, they're a long way off,
but it's also excusable based on where they are at in their journey.
It's usually a year.
You can do whatever you want this year.
They just need to...
It's going to be a learning experience,
just to be able to introduce an upgrade package
that'll only have, again, that 90-minute session to get accustomed with it,
figure out what it's doing as quickly as possible.
So it is very much a learning point this weekend for them.
And the question, I think, for them is,
can they just chip away at that gap to the cars in front?
They're similar to Aston Martin.
They're not going to make that up straight away,
but can they at least make some inroads?
And the question, I guess, relative to Aston Martin,
it's not really a case of, can they beat Aston Martin?
Can they stay ahead of them?
Because based on what happened at Suzuka,
both Cadillac cars outqualified both Aston Martin cars,
and then in the Grand Prix itself,
Sergio Perez beat the only Aston Martin that finished,
which was Fernando Alonso.
So in many respects, it's not just, can they contend with them?
It's actually, they beat them at Suzuka.
Can they stay ahead?
Outfall tracks as well, Suzuka.
Or like, you know, that's all about the car.
And then, I guess, Williams will probably complete the trio of teams
that have struggled to this point,
maybe not quite to the same extent of the other two.
They do at least have a couple of points on the board,
but they've got a lot of things to figure out as well.
I'm assuming they're just giving it a zen pick.
The first ozen pick car?
A smoke supply, I assume now.
You know, when a celebrity goes away for a while,
they're like, I'll not see a photo of that person for a while.
And they come back and they are skinny.
Like, they have dropped the weight.
That's what I want the Williams to say off in Miami.
Like, they need to lose the weight.
Have they found a way to lose the weight?
Yeah, Alex Alban has been talking about taking gradual steps
with this car and whilst...
On the treadmill, I hope.
Whilst the weight is certainly the biggest issue
by a long way here, it's not the only issue.
Like, they have had struggles with the way their car is set up.
We've spoken a bit before about the freewheeling effect that they have.
Yeah, it's a car and I understand why they've done it,
but they're also running with very high rake.
I think the highest rake of all teams,
which essentially means I can't really do this in an audio way,
but the rear of the car is up more,
whereas the front of the car is...
It's very tilted. It's not flat on the ground.
It's like if you've got a bit of cake, like a slice of cake.
The front of it is touching the plate.
The back of it is very high.
Yeah, which in theory can work very well,
but if it's not executed properly,
it brings a lot of issues in terms of downforce
and in terms of the contact patch of the tyres
in terms of getting that grip.
Red Bull famous for doing the high rake very well.
Yeah, exactly.
In the late teens, early 20s.
So yeah, I think with Williams, their objective,
can they avoid these double Q1 and SQ1 knockouts?
Can they match the pace of someone like a Racing Bulls or an Audi?
That's the next step.
If they can beat a Racing Bulls,
I think that's a really solid step forward.
Yeah, I'm sure.
I mean that on pace, not because one of them's in the wall.
Sure, yeah.
Without right beat it, no problems.
Yes, full disclaimer.
Let's take our final break on this episode,
on the other side, under pressure.
Welcome back, everyone.
Just time for us to give our under pressure submissions
for this weekend.
Feels like a lot of drivers and a lot of teams could be up for this.
Maybe you even say it's F1 itself
with all the changes that are happening.
What are you going for?
Well, he was my bold prediction
because I do think he needs a result.
But Colin Pinto, for me, is under pressure.
He's got a little raw talent,
but we are struggling to see that emerge this season in Formula One.
And the one time it felt like it was really going to emerge.
Unfortunately, he ends up being instant, not his fault,
but he ends up further back.
And then, of course, he has the problem with Ben
and he got a lot of stick for that, not his fault again.
But he's come under some fire recently.
And we've seen with Alpine,
the FLAV likes to just kick out his drivers
the moment things aren't going the way he wants them to go.
You know, doing barely got this many races last time.
I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to Franco.
So I'm hoping that he can at least be...
I don't think he'll beat Gastly.
And that's fine.
I just want him to be like the place behind Gastly on a regular basis.
Much like he was for a period last season
when he had six or seven races
where the car seemed to work in one of his favour
and he was competitive alongside Pierre.
I think a bit more of that.
My under pressure submission is Ferrari.
I'm going team based this time out.
And it's alluding to what you said earlier about wet weather conditions,
because again, we might get a rainy Grand Prix on Sunday.
And that 2025 car was atrocious in wet weather.
Like we saw it in Australia in particular,
but also later in the season,
Leclerc had a real hard job.
But Silverstone as well.
It was a car that didn't suit those conditions whatsoever.
And they're untested so far this year.
Apart from that very first day they had in Barcelona
where they were one of, I think, just two teams that went out
on the one and only rainy day of that week.
It was the Tuesday.
And they put in a lot of laps.
We didn't really have a lot of reference points though
as to whether that would result in pace or not.
So they'll be hoping, again, if it is raining,
that whatever was the issue with last year's car
in these conditions hasn't carried over to this new regulation cycle.
And I guess more generally,
regardless of what the weather's looking like,
can they get closer to Mercedes
whilst also keeping McLaren behind?
Because if McLaren do make a big leap forward
and can say they are now the second best team behind Mercedes,
it's not a great look for Ferrari, even if it's close,
because they stopped development on their 2025 car early last year
in order to focus on this season.
If the end result of that is to be a long way away from the best team
and to have moved forward maybe one position from fourth to third.
And that's because maybe another team's dropped out of the race.
Right.
Not a great look.
So it's important for them to,
even if they're not beating Mercedes again,
before we get potentially some upgrades coming via ADUO,
they need to keep churning out these consistent results of
thirds and fourths to keep the tally moving forward
until a point they hope they can actually compete for wins.
Yeah, so fair point.
I think Freddie Vass might be hoping it goes very well.
Oh, Freddie Vass.
Jungle is vassive.
Shall we do what I can only describe?
That's the greatest segment.
In all of podcasting, it is time for the
LB question of the week.
Week.
Oh, a low week.
Yeah, I know, right.
LB question of the week.
We decided to focus on Sebastian Vettel,
who not only managed to complete the London marathon on Sunday,
did so in a time of less than three hours.
Good going, Seb.
He's bloody annoying, isn't he?
He's never done a marathon before.
Look at me.
I'm a four-time world champ.
I'm really nice.
I'm a handsome man who's driving a Ferrari.
Oh, I'll do a marathon in three hours.
Can't have everything.
Just be rubbish at something, Seb.
Yeah, maybe he's back at podcasting.
No, he'd be good at that as well.
He puts out a business.
He immediately will put Ruggers out of the job.
Only kidding.
Congratulations to you, Seb.
Our question of the week was,
what's the next thing an F1 driver is going to do?
What's the next...
Can't find the right word.
What's the next task?
What's the next accomplishment that a driver's going to be looking for?
What big challenge for the driver to come on?
Big challenge.
There we go.
It's in the question, man.
I ain't got it in front of me.
You should have it in front of you.
My favourite one came from Gemnot Jeff,
who said,
one problem on Toyota will compete in a total wipeout reboot
with Richard Hammond returning to host.
I am so there for that because...
I love Toyota Wipeout, man.
I love Toyota Wipeout.
I love Richard Hammond.
I love one Pablo Montoya.
And I love Amanda Byron.
It's the big four.
The big four.
The big four.
Also, it's like the UK Takeshi's Castle.
It is.
A disappointing amount of Craig Charles, but yes.
Craig.
I will please bring back Takeshi's Castle F1 edition immediately.
Yes.
One from Shane here.
Martin Brundle will get his family together for a Shrek marathon,
but he famously hates Shrek too.
Are they just going to skip it?
That's the challenge.
Are they just going to watch Shrek the Halls in that gap
between the first and the third one?
I don't know.
Oh, Shrek the Halls.
Oh, gosh.
Do you start with that?
You know, where do you fit that in?
It's a sensational moment.
Woody said,
Max the Staff will try to complete a race weekend
without telling the press.
He's considering his options.
Spiting that one.
I'm not going to read one out in particular,
but a lot of references to Subolba, Pod Racing, and Bunter Eve.
So...
Leave Bunter Eve alone for one night.
I never thought we'd get Bunter Eve references on this podcast.
Absolutely love this one from Brank who said,
Skrull Gobblemore Wiggins the Joey Chesker.
Why, man?
Why?
You know what? In a weird way.
I fancy him to do it.
He can do it.
He's got a big gob at Skrull.
I reckon he's going in two at a time.
God, Skrull.
Go on, Lance.
Oh, sorry, Lance, but another one here for you.
DJ, Lance will try not to get stuck on the beach
between two lakes.
Oh, for crying out loud.
Anyway, we're quickly moving on.
This is from Nick.
Okong will do a two-stop.
Oh, come on.
Let...
Calm down.
We asked for a challenge.
What's the impossible?
From David,
Charles Leclerc will make history and defy the odds
by forming the first Monagasc bobsled team.
A lot to choose from there,
because a lot of people,
even if they're not from Monaco,
live in Monaco,
so I don't know what the rules are, but...
Well, I assume you have to be from there,
and there's only about three people from there.
His mum, the hairdresser?
Him, his mum, his brother, and the dog.
Olivier Beretta, if we're going at 90s references.
Right, Olivier Beretta.
Perfect.
Yeah.
They've got a whole team.
That Mikey's Mikey chap says,
completing on your bowl predictions.
That we've got them all right so far this year.
Yes.
I'd like to appreciate that dig, Mikey.
You know that we are always accurate
with our bowl predictions.
Final one from me is from Daniel.
Bottas will swim 57 laps in the fake Marina Bay at Miami.
That was my last one.
You've done it.
That was so good.
What stroke would he do, of interest?
He would do dolphin.
Oh, the dolphin.
Okay, yeah.
Unless he's spotted, yeah.
I think he's got a run of figures with all animals.
Just imagine him flopping around.
He'd wear the tightest little pants as well.
Absolutely would.
If he wore any at all, to be honest, but we're going to leave it there.
Yeah, I'm going to leave it there.
Yeah, good stuff.
Thank you to everyone who commented on both Instagram and on X.
We'll have another one for you next week.
We will be back on Sunday, Sam, but we'll be back sooner than that.
Just a couple of days time for Sprint qualifying review on Friday.
Yeah, little Friday review for you after we actually get some competitive
action on the racetrack.
A little question for those of you who have stayed all the way to the end.
Would you rather spend your whole life being sticky or itchy?
Just a big question.
I'll let you puzzle it.
Let me know in the comments what you think.
Lots to think about there.
Thank you for listening.
Follow us on social media, like breaking F1 in all places.
Subscribe on YouTube.
We are crawling ever so slowly all the way to that 10K before Silverstone on YouTube.
Get down to Patreon if you want to hear our power rankings, which will be out on Monday,
and us discussing those comments from Fernando Alonso about what he thinks about his F1 future.
Lots to talk about there.
Join the guest talk as well for a quick old F1 chat throughout the race weekend,
and we will see you for that Sprint qualifying review on Friday.
We're back, maybe, in the meantime.
I've been Simon Sauch.
And I've been Ben Hawking.
And remember, keep breaking late.
Sticky.
Don't clip that.
About this episode
Mercedes head into Miami as the clear benchmark, with the hosts arguing the circuit’s balance demands and overtaking layout could still create uncertainty. They also think upgrades may shuffle the order, especially for McLaren and Ferrari, while Red Bull are unlikely to close the gap quickly. Weather, sprint-weekend setup changes, and Miami’s walls add extra risk, and the conversation widens to pressure on Antonelli, Russell, Aston Martin, Cadillac, Williams, and Colapinto.
The long wait is over! Ben and Sam get stuck into all things Miami GP, discussing whether Mercedes will simply pick up where they left off at the front, or if the field is finally ready to close the gap. With upgrades in play, regulation tweaks, and possible rain, is the pecking order actually under threat?
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