The tire deck is the part of the car’s bodywork near the tires that helps control airflow. Better airflow can help the car stick to the track and stay stable.
Aerodynamics is how the car cuts through air. In F1, it matters because it affects how much the car is pushed onto the track and how much it slows down.
A safety car is used when the track isn’t safe, and everyone drives slower behind it. That can change when teams pit and which tires they use, which affects who wins.
The Fiat 600 is a small car made for everyday driving, especially in tight city spaces. In racing or event stories, it may come up because it’s a simple, lightweight car that can still compete depending on the situation. The mention of “600s away” sounds like a timing gap used to compare performance.
The wheel rim is part of the wheel that holds the tire. If the rules let teams develop it, they can redesign it to help the tire work better and grip more, while still staying within the rules.
Tire degradation is how quickly an F1 tire loses its grip and performance as the race goes on. Teams manage it through setup, driving style, and strategy, because once the tire degrades too much, lap times drop and the car becomes harder to control.
Term
trick new wheel
A “trick new wheel” means a special or newly designed wheel meant to help the tire work better. In F1, even small wheel changes can affect how the tire grips and wears during the race.
Wheel covers are special aerodynamic parts that sit over the wheel area. They help the car slice through air better and can also affect how heat moves around the brakes and tire.
A wheel supplier is the company that manufactures the wheels used by the F1 team. In this segment, the supplier is part of the development story because the team and supplier jointly design the wheel/rim structure to improve cooling and heat extraction.
“Heat back out” describes removing heat from the wheel/brake area so it doesn’t transfer to the tire. In racing terms, keeping tire temperatures in the right window helps maintain consistent grip and avoids a rapid drop-off in performance.
Technical directorship is basically the engineering leadership job. It’s the person who helps steer what the team focuses on and how it develops new technical ideas.
Loic Serra is mentioned as the engineering leader responsible for technical direction. The host is basically saying that the timing of wheel development may line up with who was leading the technical team.
They’re talking about what the wheel is made from, like aluminum and magnesium. Different materials can move heat differently and also affect weight, which matters in racing.
In this context, the “drum” is an internal wheel structure that surrounds the rim area. It’s described as having cooling inlets and outlets, turning the wheel into a controlled airflow path to extract hot air away from the tire.
This describes a ducting-style airflow system inside the wheel: cooling “inlets” bring in air, and “outlets” let hot air escape. The goal is better thermal control—more cold air in, more hot air out—so tire performance doesn’t fall off as temperatures rise.
Tyre management is about keeping the tires working in the best temperature range. If they get too hot or too cold, grip drops and the tires wear out faster.
It means a part of the car messes up the smooth flow of air. That “messing up” can hurt how well the car sticks to the track or how efficiently it moves through the air.
Blown axles were a trick airflow setup that helped the car’s aerodynamics around the wheels. The rules later banned it, which limited how much teams could use wheel airflow tricks.
Term
power drag
Drag is the air resistance that makes the car work harder to go fast. Less drag usually means you can carry more speed, but you can’t just remove it because you still need downforce to grip.
Heat management is controlling tire and brake temperatures so the car stays in the best operating window. In F1, regulations and aerodynamic changes can shift the performance challenge from pure aero efficiency toward keeping tires working effectively as they heat up and cool down over a stint.
“Wheel wars” is a way of saying teams will start competing with new, unusual wheel designs. The goal is to improve how the tires work—especially by helping manage temperatures.
Here, “open source component” means teams have to share detailed design plans rather than keeping everything secret. That can make development faster because others can learn from what’s published.
“Fuel weight” just means how heavy the car is because of how much fuel is still in the tank. More fuel usually makes the car slower, so analysts account for it when comparing laps.
In F1, a “stint” is how long you run on the same set of tires. The “second stint” is the next run after the first pit stop, so it’s a key window for comparing how the tires and fuel are affecting lap times.
A “tire compound” is the type of rubber the tires are made from. Softer compounds usually grip more but wear faster, and analysts compare laps more fairly when everyone uses the same compound.
“Theoretical time” is a calculated estimate of what a lap would be like if you removed certain effects. Here, it’s basically adjusting lap times to account for fuel and tire wear so you can compare drivers more fairly.
They’re pointing you to a specific section of the magazine (“MPH column”) where the analysis is published. It’s basically where you can read the same breakdown they’re talking about.
A regulation set is the rulebook for how F1 cars are allowed to be built during a certain era. Teams use those rules to design their cars in different ways.
A differential is a drivetrain part that helps the two driven wheels work together. In F1, where it sits in the car can also affect airflow and the shape of aerodynamic parts.
A flap in F1 aerodynamics is a small movable or shaped surface used to manage airflow direction and pressure. Even minor changes to a flap’s shape or placement can alter how air reaches the rear wing and other aerodynamic elements.
Lewis Hamilton is one of the most successful F1 drivers ever. The host is saying that, with the right kind of car, Hamilton has been working better with the team and getting more out of it.
Person
Bono
Bono is a key person on the F1 team who works closely with the driver. The host is suggesting that Hamilton and Bono working well together helps the car perform better.
Person
Carlos Santi
Carlos Santi is a person mentioned in the discussion. The host is tying him into the background of how Hamilton and the team are working together.
Antonelli is mentioned as a driver who could be paired with another top driver. The idea is that the team needs both cars to score regularly to win the team championship.
Verstappen is mentioned as the kind of driver who can fight for the drivers’ title. The host is also talking about needing another driver who can score consistently too.
Gasly is praised as a driver who reliably earns points and works well with the team. The key point is that he doesn’t just have flashes—he tends to score race after race.
“Max” refers to Verstappen. The discussion is about how the top driver can have a big advantage when the car is perfect, while the second driver may struggle more.
Sergio Pérez is an F1 race driver. Mark is using him as an example of how a car can feel great for one driver one season, then feel worse later if the car’s behavior doesn’t match how that driver likes to drive.
In F1, the brakes are often made with carbon fiber. Mark is saying Charles has had negative feelings about how those brakes feel or behave, even though they’re a common high-performance setup.
Brembo is a company that makes racing brakes. Different brake systems can feel different to the driver, so changing suppliers can affect how confident a driver feels when braking.
“Brake supply” just means which company provides the brakes for the car. Mark is saying teams are allowed to pick their brake supplier, so drivers might get different brake feel depending on the choice.
Barcelona is where the driver first tried something new, and the hosts think it wasn’t fully dialed in yet. They connect that lack of familiarity to problems later in the session.
Term
Q3
Q3 is the last part of F1 qualifying. It’s where the top drivers go for their best lap, so mistakes there are especially costly.
Monaco is a famous F1 race track. The hosts are saying that, in their view, it doesn’t always generate enough heat for brakes to work perfectly, so temperature becomes a factor.
Brakes need heat to work at their best. If they’re still cold, they can feel less effective or less predictable, which can make driving harder—especially when you’re braking hard into corners.
A “low energy” track is one where the car doesn’t build up as much heat. If there isn’t much hard braking, the brakes may not get hot enough to work consistently.
If you change brake setups, the braking feel can change. The driver and team may need to adjust how they brake and how the car is set up, so swapping back and forth can be harder than sticking with one.
In F1, some brake discs are made from carbon materials. They can work differently than other brake setups, so the team chooses what fits the track and weather best.
“Homologated” means the FIA has officially approved a car part or rule so it’s allowed in races. If you want to change it, you usually need FIA permission first.
A turbo is a device that uses the engine’s exhaust to push more air into the engine. More air usually means more power, which is why it matters a lot in racing.
“Engine performance” means how strong and responsive the engine feels in real racing. When teams talk about upgrades, they’re usually talking about getting more power or better behavior from the engine.
An aerodynamic upgrade is a change to the car’s shape or wings to improve how it cuts through air. Better aerodynamics can mean more grip and less drag, which helps the car go faster.
“Allocation” here means teams get a limited number of uses for some engine parts under the rules. When they have that allowance, they can push harder without getting penalized right away.
“Pinch points” are tight parts of the track where cars get funneled into less space. That makes it easier for drivers to bump into each other, particularly early on.
In F1, the “power unit” is the whole high-tech engine system. It’s more than just the engine you hear—it also includes parts that store and reuse energy.
A “high altitude circuit” is a track at higher elevation. Because the air is thinner, engines can feel different and cars may run differently than at sea-level tracks.
The Ferrari 575 M Superamerica is a high-performance Ferrari designed for long-distance driving and it can be driven with the top down. It’s the kind of car people talk about because it’s a distinctive model from a particular period of Ferrari road cars. The podcast mention sounds like it’s included in a Ferrari-focused topic or feature.
LIVE
Hamilton's win with Ferrari and Barcelona coincided with its new wheel rims of the rear,
which have been designed to improve heat dissipation, get the heat away from the tires,
and help with the tire deck. There's a narrative build up since then that Ferrari beat Mercedes
because they had better tire deck because of the new rims. It's going to be a fascinating topic for
development Ferrari, the first to really go to town on this, and it has helped improve the car
without any doubt. Well, here we go, Mark. I should say, by the way, that if you hear any
weird rumblings or noises in the background, as you know, Mark, I'm in Spa in Belgium and there's
testing going on for the Spa 24 behind me. So there's a lot of noise happening. There's also
a lot of noise going on in Formula One, isn't there, Mark, particularly about what happened in
Barcelona? And you've got a bit angry, I think, in your latest column talking about, you know,
writing some wrongs and putting people straight. Tell us a little bit about that.
I wouldn't call it angry, Brent. It's not important enough to be angry.
But I think quite often people that follow in the sport like a straight explanation for why
something's happened, and it's sometimes very easy to jump on something that's unconnected or
not really the full explanation. So one of the narratives that had formed since
Hamilton's wound with Ferrari in Barcelona is that it coincided with not only an upgrade with
the aerodynamics of the car, but also with its new wheel rims at the rear, which have been designed,
clearly designed to improve heat dissipation, get the heat away from the tires and help with the
tire deck. And so this has improved an aspect of the car's performance.
But there's a narrative build up since then, in the days since then, that Ferrari beat Mercedes
because they had better tire deck because of the new rims. They didn't have better tire deck,
they had worse tire deck. It was just not as much worse as it used to be. And the reason why Ferrari
beat Mercedes was to do with a car which was suddenly much closer to the pace. Even in qualifying
was only 600s away. A better strategy and the help of the safety car, of course. So yes, while
the improved heat deck of the rear tires definitely helped Ferrari, it wasn't the
factor which was superior to Mercedes that won them the race. There are other things that
it did better than Mercedes which won them the race. So it's really just a piece explaining about
what it is that Ferrari had done with these rear wheels, which it's going to be a fascinating
topic for development. Now that it's open again, the teams are allowed to use wheel rim development
as it's no longer a fixed part. So they are free to develop it within certain constraints.
And Ferrari are the first to really go to town on this and it has helped improve the car without
any doubt. But they didn't win the race because I'd better tire deck than the Merc.
Yeah, what I liked about your article, it felt feisty to a degree because it was writing,
it was correcting things and saying to me, actually, you know what, it wasn't quite as
simplistic as that. And the rumour mill in Formula One, it's so strange. I'm going to digress for
a second and we'll come back. But do you think that with things like Drive to Survive and the
way fans are now, there's more tribalism between fans and certain drivers? Do they kind of follow
a driver like a fan with a football team? And therefore, if Lewis Hamilton does well,
the Max fans don't like it and vice versa because it does seem to be a little bit
a bit in that vein at the moment. It's become much more pantomime, it's become much more football,
like football following type whereby it's part of the pantomime to hate the rival of your guy
or the rival team of your team and to see everything that the rival does in a negative light
and to push down the throat, everything that's when your guy does well or your team does well.
And that's just, it feels completely alien to me because that's just not what grabs me about
the sport and never has been. But there's always been an element there. You go and think back to
the Nigel Mansel or James Hunt years in Britain and it was that element, it attracted that type
of following. You know, who used to say how you should follow sport, I'm just saying there isn't
a should about it, it's just I'm just saying that it's not something that appeals to me about it.
I get a bit sort of mystified when I see that type of following, but yeah, each of their own.
Come back to your article then, talking about this tire degradation and this trick new wheel,
the wheel covers, like you said, they're different now, they're allowed to manipulate and do what
they want essentially within regs to their wheels. Have Ferrari found a loophole? Or are they just the
first team to have looked at this particular aspect of the car? I think they all will have given a lot
of thought to the first iteration of wheels that they have on there, their cars. Ferrari is the
first one to do an evolution and come up with a completely different wheel rim to the one that
they started with. They've done it in combination with their wheel supplier, BBS, Japanese company,
and it's all about just how you get the heat back out of the rim that the brakes are put in.
So you want that away from the tire, you want that nowhere near the tire because as soon as you get
the tire too hot, then its performance starts to grade and you're on a downward slippery slope
really. So yeah, this is a bit of lateral think and a thing from Ferrari and I've shown a lot of
that recently. I mean certain design elements of their car and it's quite interesting and it's also
some people have pointed out that it's come under the technical directorship of Loic Serra
and free 2022 when you were last allowed to develop your wheel covers. It was Mercedes that
was the most dominant in this, or the most active in this area and that was under the technical
directorship of Loic Serra so that might be not coincidental.
Can you give us an idea of what Ferrari have actually done that is different?
Well if you look at the previous one and had fairly conventional sort of spokes within the
aluminium, the magnesium construction, it's just conventional spokes to sort of increase the surface
area to keep that heat away from the outer rim. This one has a sort of concave construction
within a carbon fibre circular rim around the outside and although you can't see it when you
look when the car is on the track, if you were to take the wheel off you would see that that is
encased in a drum which has got inlets for cooling and outlets to extract the air and it's basically
just doing that. They've obviously found that this is a more efficient way, a more effective way
of getting more cold air in and more hot air out.
Does lead on to the question though that if you're funneling air out of an area like that the air
has got to go somewhere. Is that going to create turbulence? Is that going to be doing something
in the wake? Yeah exactly there is always a balance to be to be sought and the the balance
has always the aerodynamic disruption and the tyre management and it's the they work against
each other to a certain extent and it's almost an inconvenience just like an engine's an inconvenience
to the aerodynamics but you've got to have it and you've got to have adequate tyre cooling
because otherwise your great aerodynamics will mean anything if you can't translate the downforce
because the the tyres are too hot. So yeah it's always about that ideal balancing trade-off so
yes there is a disruption of the air as you're pumping more of it out or you're just trying to
put it in a less disruptive place than before or you know you're trying to bring it in in a way
that helps the airflow in some other way by you know manipulating the air pressures so you might
the happy place for any designer would be that you you improve both at the same time
but there does invariably an element of compromise here. How significant are the gains
that can be made then with with this particular aspect and just looking at the the wheel and
you know what the wheel looks like and how the air's flowing around it? Yeah I think it's been
limited compared to how it was pre 2019 when they banned blown axles it's it's been limited still
there is a big sort of circular drum that has to be fitted around the outside that that stops
too much of the airflow but from being sent around the car and manipulated in that way
so it all has to be done internally but it's still an area of advantage and what you're
trying to do with the rear tires is slightly different than what you're trying to do with
the front so with the fronts here you want them to come up to temperature quickly and the rear
is always going to temperature pretty quickly because of the driven wheels and you're basically
trying to keep the heat away from those but the fronts are also more influential aerodynamically
and then it sets up the airflow for the whole structure of the car going back
whereas the the air's sort of towards the end of the airflow is towards the end of its job by
the time it reaches the rear so yeah you are doing slightly different things but it is a
controlling the rear tire temperatures is a very very powerful thing because they are
you know right on the edge there the the cars have got so much torque and are still pretty heavy
and got an awful lot of downforce on them even though it's less than last year
the tires are narrower so there's less surface area on the road so they're still very very
stressed tires even though they're smaller than even though the cars are lighter and smaller than
than last year and yeah that could be a big differentiate the the tires if you look at all
the performance factors if you're looking at downforce power drag tires tires is always the most
powerful so it's like a it if you if you took a 10% improvement in each of those things which
would give you the most lap time 10% more downforce 10% less drag 10% more power or 10% more tire
it's tire grip by a factor about six so it's enormously important but you still have to
have the downforce to be able to you know really really work the tires so yeah it's it this is
where it's this is where the main area of effort has been made right now and the now that that's
being freed up by the regulation um but it's slightly it's a slightly different
um line of line of thought to what it was when when it was last free because then it was more
about the aerodynamics but now that a lot of it's sealed up by regulation with with these big drums
it's now more about heat management so do you think this is the beginning of of wheel wars
should we call it we have to label it wheel wars is there is there going to be this new
frontier where all the teams are starting to do wacky weird and wonderful things
yeah i think you'll see more and more variation there you just but just like you will that i
don't think it's going to be the dominant thing if you're going to see you know changes to all
the aero surfaces and this this is definitely going to be one of the things that you're going to
you're going to see i think yeah um but the other point to make is that it's now um whereas
previously it was a listed part whereby it was just a spec part and you know everybody had the
same name it's now being opened again it is now open source so it's an open source component which
means that you have to put the the very detailed plans on how you've designed it onto the to the
fia and has to be accessible to everybody else so anybody else can just copy it so um people might
be doing their own versions but uh if they if they don't want to spend that resource um theoretically
they could just look at the Ferrari one and say oh we will do like that
can we have a copy of theirs please and off they go when you came down to when you came to writing
this article i should say give us an idea of how you how you work out the deck because you know to
some people it might be a bit hard to understand you know how you're working out what the deck is
how how you work out per lap etc etc yeah so the functions that go into the lap time
the fuel weight and the tire deck um and you apply that to the the actual lap time that's
been set so if you look at the race history chart or we'll detail every lap that every car's done so
you'll say you take a the second stint in this case when all three drivers that we looked at
Hamilton and the two Mercedes were on the same compound of tires so you could then have a proper
comparison you look at the individual laps each of them does and then you know because you've
opened engineers for years what each of the uh circuits weight penalty is for the fuel
you work you know what the fuel usage is so you work out how much fuel is in the tank on that lap
how much fuel is in the tank on that lap therefore how much lap time that is costing therefore if
you subtract that from the lap time they actually did it should give you this theoretical time if you
had nearly no no fuel in but if the car was super light that would be the theoretical time
that car could do given that that's how much fuel's in it and then any if it's any more than that of
the lap times any more than that that's your tire deck essentially so you can just put on a spreadsheet
and work it out and then take the average and you can see from there so that's yeah it's it's
pretty basic um pretty simple arithmetic really is nothing very trick about it but that does give
a general idea it's a really really fascinating article to read it goes into the detail of the
deck it explains you know kind of what Mark was looking at and how he's come to his conclusions
and it's worth checking out go to motorsportmagazine.com and have a look at the MPH column
it's about DEG it's about wheels it compares the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton to the two Mercedes as
well so it's really on point on topic and worth checking out but just staying with this Mark
quite a lot of times in Formula One there's a real innovative team one that leads the way one that's
doing all the things everyone has to follow it's been the past there's a lot of noise going on here
hopefully it's not bleeding through by the way in the past it's been maybe Red Bull then you move on
to or Mercedes prior to that a Ferrari the ones that have been the most innovative at this moment
in time I think so in this regulation set so far I mean the whole concept of the car was very
interesting in that they the way that they read the regulations and moved the how they placed the
differential in order to have a bigger area that they could put bodywork on and that has allowed
them to have a bigger area where they put this the flap on that directs the airflow up to the
rear wing so that's just one and in the Macarena wing and now we've had this this quite interesting
way of developing the the wheel rim so yeah they definitely seem to be pressing on they're no longer
just following they do seem to be there just seem to be some sort of push there to come on
with original ideas so yeah it's it's it's quite heartening to see because the last time we really
saw this from Ferraris quite a while ago 2017 2018 they were coming out with new concepts then but
yeah that since then it the you wouldn't you wouldn't have called the Ferraris that have
been since then really innovative they didn't just sort of lead the way they
did they weren't very influential in the way that Red Bulls had had been but yeah I think I think
all the teams will be looking very very carefully at this year's Ferrari when they're configuring
their cars for next year we haven't even gotten to Aduo which we will do in a bit but I find it
fascinating that we are now looking at a championship that is really come alive we've got Ferrari in
particular Lewis Hamilton with a very interesting relationship building between him and his new
Bono as he's been sort of describing Carlos Santi that's that's an interesting thing and
that must also be a part of the the story I think with Lewis Hamilton
well yeah everything's working better it just Hamilton's working better with that type of car
it's a better type of car it's not just a type of car as we talked about last week but it's the
changes that he's he was pushing for all of last year he's got a better rapport with this engineer
which he you know he pushed for a change of his engineering team and there's a few others as well
on the on the periphery that that I knew that he's he feels that he's just communicating and him
and the team are communicating better yeah I think the whole thing is just singing a little
bit better now that they're in their second year together but regardless of the the Hamilton changes
I think the the team has just
I think their response to this regulation set has been very good I think the the back to basics
sort of way of how they've approached this regulation set is has been very interesting
and I think that's really why we have a much more competitive 26 Ferrari than we had 25
but it's not just with Ferraris I mean we're seeing challenging battles throughout the
grid really we're seeing you know top end middle end as well and sort of the back it's a race to
the back in certain in certain parts of the of the story but what's happened that's made these
interteam rivalries seem to be heightened the the you know the team to team rivalries that it seems
to have turned a corner and maybe there's less of us looking directly at this battery
I see you know separation it seems to be more about what's happening on track and the rivalries
that seems to be leaving the story at the moment yeah I mean initially when it was the in the Mercedes
dominance phase of the the championship it was all about Kimi Andinelli and his you know how he
was getting on against George Russell and that created quite a sensational story so that that
immediately creates an interest for for everyone and looking in we've now on top of that got Ferrari
coming back and apparently putting itself close at or close to parody to Mercedes and at the same
time you've got Lewis Hamilton coming finding refining his form and you've got Kimi Andinelli
Mercedes you know coming into his second year much at a much improved level to what he was in
his rookie year so you've got two drivers and two of the top cars suddenly performing much better
than they were last year unable to you know have a proper competition with a teammate so we now got
22 top teams going at it against each other with four fully competitive drivers
so that's you know that that's obviously going to be better. It'd be nice to have
McLaren and Red Bull joining in as well but we'll see if that develops how that storyline
developed and the midfield is just super tight just as it was last year it's incredibly tight
and I just it's like a fruit machine now it turns you know I'm getting a tenth of a second difference
can a tenth of a second there can make an enormous difference so yeah I think it's just
just landed in a happier place this year really competitively.
There seemed to be a lot of love actually for Lewis Hamilton getting his victory his first
victory for Ferrari I mean even Toto Wolff said okay I don't really want Lewis to be winning
over us but if anyone's going to win these are paraphrasing then he was kind of happy it was
it was Lewis Hamilton Landau Norris has come forward and said you know what is it's
shut a lot of people up and that's that's a good thing for Lewis Hamilton. Does Formula One
need to have a successful Lewis Hamilton?
It doesn't need to it would survive and flourish without him but he's a great addition
to the sport as somebody that stature and profile and you know it's just it's like a fairy story
that is you know that someone when a sportsman seems to be losing his form and it goes on a while
and then you just suddenly comes back with a bang we've seen it in other sports we've seen it in
not racing before as well it's just a great story you know it's the old magic returning sort of
so yeah that's a lovely story but it doesn't Formula One doesn't need it but it definitely
benefits from it you know the more great stories there are obviously the better.
Yeah it's time to move on to audience questions Mark and I think you may have opened a can of
worms last time I'm afraid because I've picked three questions as always the first one's from AJ
and it starts with hi Mark you mentioned in the last episode that you like what if questions so
this might be the door the door can't be shut now so here we go so AJ says here is one you
have a competitive F1 car going round for the championship next season you get your pick of
any current drivers which two drivers do you pick and why keep up the good work thank you that's AJ
okay okay AJ it depends what the objective is is it trying to win the drivers world championship
or the constructors world championship or or both together if it's if it's copy both it's
gotta be both Mark come on it's gotta be both surely well yeah it's a different
answer I think in each case if the aim is just to win the drivers world championship and you've
because that's guaranteed so but if your aim is to win the constructors world championship
then yeah you need a more balanced lineup so you need it depends which way the car development goes
but you need two heavy hitters and some two people that are are going to be evenly enough matched
that they're going to get you a lot of points but there is not going to cause ructions in the team
but two heavy hitters maybe one experience of one new guy so
um Antonelli and Hamilton maybe for the constructors um or
yeah I think um you know Alonso and Antonelli will be an interesting one uh yeah something like
that uh I think would would be try and win if the car is dominant it doesn't really matter but if
the car is only the competitive yeah then you're probably going to have to you're going to have to
have a a super talent in one and and just yeah try and match it as best you can but yeah I think
they would um I'd go constructors Antonelli and Hamilton and drivers Verstappen and another driver
could I could be say that hey either those Antonelli Hamilton could win the title as well just
I know this isn't my section I know this is another this is my section but the the the
the question is the audience questions but curveball name for you Mark if you want somebody
that's a consistent point scorer going to be a real team player yeah Gasly okay Gasly is very
quick driver um he's struggled up against Max at Red Bull and his career never really fully
got into stride after that but he's yeah he wouldn't you wouldn't be making a mistake putting
Pierre Gasly in your car he's one of only three drivers who scored in every single race so far
this season or something as well I think I read that uh next question then Roger Gamber-Jones
very cool name says have you also outlined Red Bull's issues here Max always had the
perfect car whereas the number two driver always struggled and was soon sacked Hajar seems to be
backing that trend so far I think it's varied over the years and depending on the traits of the car
and this this is the age old story of when the car traits work to allow a great driver to really
exploit everything that he's got rather than just limiting bringing them down to the level of the car
and I think when the car is being responsive enough uh that he can that Max can really
get a very very fast rotation um then the that's when the second drivers tend to struggle to keep up
when the car has been a little bit uh more inert it's a little bit lazy uh in the slow corners
in particular medium and slow corners then yeah the the lesser driver can usually um get quite
close so I think it's not it's not a consistent thing over the years if you look at my Sergio Perez
was there for a long time and if you look at the gaps that he had from one season to the next they
were all over the place though sometimes he's very close other times he was a long way off
and that was just that wasn't about him being inconsistent it was about the car coming in
and out of phase with how he needed to drive it and when it was in phase then you could get quite
close to Max's lap time when he was out of phase he could get nowhere near and so I think we need
a little bit more time to see where Hajar fits into that spectrum released he's doing a good job
and I do rate him very highly um but at the moment the Red Bull's not a great car and I think as they
improve it and I'm sure they will and as it gets more responsive I think it's going to be interesting
to see how Hajar responds to that because obviously Max will respond to that and you'll just instantly
see the the jump in competitiveness um and if Hajar can go with him even if it's a little bit
behind but he can go on that same trajectory then that's it that's a great sign here
Fantastic great question uh Taxi Dodger is the last question Mark now we've had a question from
Taxi Dodger before I'm sure of it so Taxi Dodger I think getting his second appearance
on this fantastic F1 show says glad Lewis has his mojo back I was wondering how this was going
to affect Charles given his negative feeling about the carbon industry brakes why not give
Charles Brembo's and Lewis the CIs against the rules question mark no it's not against the rules
you can use whatever brake supply you wish um I don't think Charles being negative about the CIs
he put the CIs on for the first time in Barcelona and he wasn't attuned to them and that probably
contributed to his crash in Q3 but I don't think he's complained about he was complaining about
the Brembo's prior to that in Monaco and Canada specifically and it was to do with them not
find a very difficult to get them up to temperature and Canada was very cold Monaco was very low
energy circuit so I think it was um a particular trait of the Brembo's that he was complaining
about at those two races uh there's nothing saying he won't go back to Brembo uh he just
I think he was exasperated with uh with how they were in those two those two events Canada and Monaco
um he may he may stay with the carbon industry but essentially he's going to need to pick something
and stick with it because it it does impact upon how you how you drive the car and how you
set up the car so yeah switching from one to the other and back again probably not the best idea
although it can be that it's some circuits one's better than the other just more suitable just in
the way that they the temperature range works the the Brembo tends to work from um in a different
temperature range to the carbon industry disc and it obviously is an overlap but according to the
circuit characteristics and how much breakings involved how much energy is involved um it could
be that one's better than the other but as a general rule it drivers tend to stick you know pick one
and stick to it um so switching from one or the other and back again is probably not not a great
idea. We covered this in quite a lot of detail a couple of episodes ago maybe even the last episode
we've done so many about the the breaks and Lewis Hamilton's choice and Charlotte Clair's choice as well
so it's well worth Taxi Dodger and everybody else who's interested in that particular story going
back going back having a listen and also going to motorsportmagazine.com where you'll find some
very cool articles about it and on that note by the way go to motorsportmagazine.com and subscribe
to the F1 newsletter by doing that you'll get the newsletter sent to your inbox and you'll
stay across all the stories that are happening in Formula One. Adjo, they're Mark, we haven't
spoken really about Adjo, when will we know when the teams have used their upgrade? Well,
Ferrari's expected to introduce its upgrade its first upgrade in Austria this weekend um there
isn't um there isn't a formal way that um that the public has informed obviously the FIA is informed
because these are all homologated and everything has to be signed off and sealed and etc by the FIA
and from there we usually find out and then we write about it and you'll get you'll get to know
so yeah it's not um there isn't any other way than that it's between the teams and the FIA strictly
Mercedes would not hearing that there's anything imminent from Mercedes although they are a
tile to an upgrade but probably they didn't plan around having one you know so whereas Ferrari
seemed to be planning around getting one right from the start the second Ferrari one is as we
mentioned weeks and weeks ago is is either going to be a Zandvo or more likely Monza and we believe
it will have a bigger turbo so that will be the big upgrade. I think the the other thing to note
about the austria upgrade that's coming is that we may not see a significant um boost in its
engine performance because i think the the big boost we saw already in Barcelona was from how
how much freer they were using it now that adio had been announced and now they could relax about
whether they would get it so they were able to be more free in it and the way they exploited it and
i think a big part of their performance improvement came from that as well as the aerodynamic upgrade
so i think we've probably already seen a biggest step in the engine performance not even even though
it was the same engine as they've been using previously than we will see from that one to
the austria one which is a relatively minor upgrade um i'm led to understand but the Monza
one will be a very significant upgrade so are we right or am i right to even consider that
there may have been a bit of i would say sandbagging but not quite sandbagging with what
certain teams have done until they got the adio allocation and then they're able to
unleash full fury it looks like that yeah um i mean we speculated on it at the time
both Mercedes and Ferrari seem to be keeping an eye on each other and we speculated
could they both be um hiding the full performance um what we've seen in Barcelona
suggests that no Mercedes was was already at you know at its full potential and Ferrari may not
have been so i think if you were looking to see if anybody had been disguising the true potential
of the internal combustion engine you'd probably nominate Ferrari but uh that that's it i don't
see any patterns anywhere else very enough what about the other teams the other customers for
those those engine manufacturers they get the upgrades at the same time as they're as they're
the the team that have provided the the construction that are making those power units
yeah and uh by regulation and they must have everything available to them that the the works
team has um it can occasionally be that you know they haven't got the parts ready in time and
you you might even see that the instances where the works team only has one engine for for one car
but as as soon as is practically possible yes so by the next race certainly that uh any upgrade
should be available to the customer teams yeah enough well we shall keep across that as i say
F1 newsletter you stay tuned to that i'm sure you'll find out when Mark knows more now let's
quickly turn our attention to australia there's a Grand Prix coming on this weekend and i've got
spa 24 prep going on over my shoulder but uh red bull ring is what's happening it's been a track
over the years there have been several championship crashes or moments that have really
had an effect on the championship we likely to see the same again this year i'm thinking last year
was Kimmy Antonelli into Max Verstappen might not have been hugely massive when it came down to
the championship but it was a big a big coming together yeah it might have turned out to have
been significant um but uh yeah it's a it's a track that invites with a layer that invites
incident you know that that um sort of funneling in in the slow corners especially in the early laps
um there's sort of two pinch points turn three at the top of the hill and then
the following 12 and four there they're sort of natural pinch points and there's two
there's two approaches to them the two you can go wide or you can go deep and on the inside and
yeah it it it doesn't it does invite that um so yeah i think it might might who knows it might
have championship um implications later on but uh yeah it's going to be interesting
because it's a high altitude circuit um it's going to be interesting to see how the power units
perform there uh it's going to be interesting to see if the Ferrari's form in Barcelona can be
replicated or even improved upon um and we're Red Bull McLaren might figure in that uh so yeah
I think there's uh there's a lot hanging up in the air on this as we go into the Austria we end
this quite good so what about Toto Wolff is this a good time for him to to recalibrate
their approach between their two drives you know maybe putting some kind of rules on there about
the way they fight and would that be counterproductive would that maybe create more friction between the
two drivers and on top of that as an extra sort of bonus question here mark what about their own
power unit issues because Toto has said you can't possibly go for the championship of every two races
you lose a car yeah it's something that they've got to be very much on top of although there's
battery problem that they seem to be um coming across so yeah that's potentially very very
significant and um yeah if if if a solution to that can't be found they could be in in trouble in
terms of the balance between the drivers it's really I guess there's certain ground rules
that you can tighten up on but in terms of giving one preference over the other no you can't do that
at this stage it's far too early and there's the season for that um and it can end up being
counterproductive anyway if you you get situations where you've if you commit too early to one driver
he then has a bad run of reliability and it ends up the other driver that's been better
contention you you've given points away for that driver that might lose you the championship so
you can't do right for doing wrong if you try and do it too early I think um that's that's the
risk anyway whereas I think um yeah that I don't think it would be fair on either either driver to
the moment even even though the temptation might be there if you see Ferrari is coming up and has
to come better of cars and and the championship might be a lot tighter than you thought it was
going to be between you and them there's been a suggestion hasn't there that the George Russell
really has to to perform to start challenging for the championship otherwise his seat is in danger
of being taken over from Max Verstappen if he himself decides to stay in Formula 1 and leave
Red Bull is this a likely scenario do you think I don't think you can discount it for sure Russell's
under an awful lot of pressure and it's in it's incredibly how it's incredible how quickly things
shift because he can't come in into there he's coming into his eighth season finally he's finally
got himself into a title contending car and you can't say that any of these previous seven
seasons he was in a car that could feasibly have fought for the championship he's finally got it
and all of a sudden he's um he's from out of nowhere he's under enormous pressure
enormous pressure from his younger teammate who is you know winning all these races and
is with his drive under pressure with the potential availability on the market of Max Verstappen
which he's faced before but this it seems I'd say more realistic this time than I did
last year or the year before so yeah I'd say George is um very very uh very much under pressure
and really does need to get his championship campaign back on course that's easier said than
done but yeah that's that's uh that's task ahead of him. What about Flanders Alonso then while we're
talking about driver changes he's he was saying earlier on in the season that he wants to carry
on a Formula 1 for for many years to come his his tone is changing isn't it he's sort of hinting
at maybe retirement I know he's a dad now and things that isn't re-evaluating things somewhat.
Yeah I would just wonder if the grind of the struggle that us and Martin has finally
gotten to I mean he's uh he's faced all these hopes in having this late career flourished
through getting the Adrian Newey car and with all the backing and support that you know Lauren
Stroll's providing uh that's just it's looking like a long-term project and maybe maybe the
grind has just finally taken its toll that's that's how it looks I mean earlier in the season he
said he was up for another contract but something seems to have changed so I don't know maybe there's
been a realignment of how on a project it is and it's it's maybe affected how he's
viewing things I don't know. Yeah it'd be a real shame if we wave goodbye but what a career
what a career he's had probably arguably should have won more more titles but you know what a
great legacy he'll leave behind. Mark you have to do the very very tricky thing now of selecting
your favorite question I'm just going to remind you what they were so AJ had the question about
the the what if if you could pick your driver lineup and team lineup for winning the championship
then you had Roger with the question about Max Max's car versus the number two while the number
two's always struggled you had a question from Brynn Lucas about Pierre Gasly which I thought was
absolutely brilliant yeah yeah I might have to really have to rewind that for you and then there
was a question from Taxi Dodger talking about Charlotte Claire and his brakes. Yeah I think
Roger's question about the comparison of Red Bull drivers it was
creating an interest on top of a conversation. So you're saying you're saying it was um it was
Roger's very good question about Max versus the number two. I'd say so yeah do you agree?
I do I also like you know I like to all the questions oh Brynz was particularly good but
I know I liked AJ's one the what ifs I like it when people can sort of bamboozle you a little bit
so um quite like that one too well done to all of you who sent the questions in and don't forget
you can get your questions into mark for the next episode by leaving them in the comments section
below the youtube video or by going to multiple magazine dot com and while you're there on the
youtube video give it a like subscribe get those notifications sorted so you never miss an episode
now the latest issue I have it here I've been enjoying it while I've been traveling the latest
issue I had to buy this with my own hard cash as well the latest issue is still available in the
shops but it's your last chance to get hold of it in the issue it covers Ferrari 75 years of Ferrari
wins Mario Andretti Jackie Ix Nigel Mansel Rubens Barrichello and a whole load more offer 75 reasons
why we all love the prancing horse also an exclusive interview with Jean Lacey who won his first and
to date you know there's always hope Grand Prix they're back in the 11th of June 1995 there's life
in the old dog yet as they say that and plenty more to sink your teeth into it really is a worthwhile
read you can get it in the shops still but only just and at multiple magazine.com as always thanks
so much for watching we'll see you next time Brinn's question was it Brinn yeah yeah I mean
it wasn't really a question was it it was just a sort of observation that Pierre Gazes
yeah I think it went up at the end
About this episode
Ferrari’s Barcelona turnaround sparks a debate: are “trick wheels” behind their improved F1 pace, or is it broader performance—strategy, safety car timing, and getting closer to the pace? The hosts explain how wheel-rim development can manage heat, with internal airflow aimed at extracting brake heat and helping the tire deck. They also note trade-offs between aero disruption and tyre temperature, plus post-2019 limits on wheel tricks. Regulation shifts could even trigger “wheel wars.”
F1 wheel wars: are new rims behind Ferrari success?
Mark Hughes and Bryn Lucas explain how the new design works and why it could be the opening shot in a new round of wheel wars, with Formula 1 regulations giving teams more freedom in their design.
They also consider whether this another example of Ferrari becoming F1's most innovative team, after its rotating 'Macarena' rear wing and clever spotting of a loophole around the crucial rear-end aerodynamics.
Ferrari will remain in the spotlight this weekend as it brings an engine upgrade: can it help Hamilton win for the second grand prix in succession; and does F1 need him to succeed?
Over at Mercedes, the questions of whether it should impose team orders to tackle the newfound threat have already begun. Mark gives his verdict.
He also answers your questions on the ideal driver line-up for next season; Ferrari's brake confusion; and why Isack Hadjar hasn't been blown away by Max Verstappen.
More on the stories that really matter, in the latest episode of the Motor Sport F1 Show.
Subscribe now for every weekly episode and tell us what you want to know from Mark. Send us a message on social media or find this podcast at https://go.motorsportmagazine.com/4w93qTp and drop your questions in the comments. He'll answer a selection of the best every week.
Read Mark's column every Wednesday at https://go.motorsportmagazine.com/4w93qTp
