‘Closing the gap to Kimi is achievable’ | Plus DRONE CAM thoughts! | Austrian GP 2026 Reaction

‘Closing the gap to Kimi is achievable’ | Plus DRONE CAM thoughts! | Austrian GP 2026 Reaction The Fast and the Curious · Jun 29, 2026

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Brand

Mercedes

The racing team of the famous German luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz, which has been one of the most dominant teams in modern F1 history.

Brand

Ferrari

The most famous and historic team in Formula 1, known for their bright red cars and Italian heritage.

Place

Silverstone

A famous, very fast race track in England that hosted the very first Formula 1 race back in 1950.

Brand

Williams

A legendary British Formula 1 team that was incredibly successful in the 80s and 90s.

Brand

McLaren

A highly successful British racing team known for its iconic orange cars and long history of winning championships.

Place

Red Bull Ring

A scenic race track nestled in the mountains of Austria, owned by the Red Bull energy drink company.

Place

Interlagos

A famous, undulating race track in Brazil known for exciting races and passionate local fans.

Person

George Russell

A fast British racing driver who drives for the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

Person

Kimi Antonelli

A young Italian racing prodigy who was signed by Mercedes to drive in Formula 1 at a very young age.

Person

Toto Wolff

The boss and part-owner of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, famous for his intense passion and leadership.

Term

double waved yellow

A safety flag system in racing that tells drivers there is a major hazard ahead, requiring them to slow down a lot and be ready to stop if necessary.

Term

drag

The air resistance that slows a car down as it drives forward. Lower drag means the car can slice through the air faster.

Term

downforce

An aerodynamic effect that pushes a race car down onto the track, helping it stick to the ground so it can go around corners much faster.

Person

Adrian Newey

A legendary engineer who is famous for designing the fastest, championship-winning Formula 1 cars in history.

Concept

wind tunnel

A giant tube with massive fans used to blow air over a car model to see how aerodynamic it is and how it handles wind resistance.

Car

Fabia Skoda Fabia

A small, budget-friendly hatchback car made by a Czech company owned by Volkswagen. It's a very common everyday car in Europe.

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Hello and welcome to the Fast and the Curious, the Formula One podcast that speaks to some of the biggest names in the sport

and doesn't take it all too seriously. Hello, welcome.

My name is Christian Hugill. Coming up, we will speak about a Mercedes masterclass in the mountains.

We'll also talk frustration for Ferrari.

And we'll look ahead to what could be a scorcher at Silverstone.

And I am Christian Hugill. As mentioned, the podcast Resident F1 Geek.

Now, my close personal friend and presenter of the podcast, Betty Glover, is covering the World Cup in America.

Now, last time we spoke to her, she was in LA.

But she's now somewhere different. So we get to once again, cross live now to the United States of America,

where we find Betty Glover and ask her, Betty, where in America are you?

Hello, everybody. So I'm now in Atlanta, which everybody calls hot lanter because it is so hot.

It is so muggy and hot. No, no, no, no. It's very different hotness to the UK.

Now, I know you've had a heat wave because that's what everyone is talking about.

No, no, I'm not doubting that. That's not my issue. Well done for spotting. I've got an issue because I do.

Hot lanter. Is that the best thing that's come up with? That's awful. Hot lanter.

That's what it's called, Christian. Hot lanter. And it is very muggy.

But I have a big request for anybody listening to this podcast that lives in America or has been to Atlanta or lives in Atlanta.

Please, somebody give me a recommendation for a good coffee shop because I am a coffee snob.

I am. I love a good coffee and I cannot find one in Atlanta for no love, no money.

So please, somebody hit me up because I'm tired and I need it.

Have you tried using the Google or the chat's GPT?

I've used Google and it took me to this one coffee shop, right? Which was fine, but it just didn't say.

Do formal one in a minute, by the way. Don't worry, we'll get onto it.

And I did just pour before we came on the coffee all over my crotch. So it's not going well for me.

Is that out of protest for it being a bit rubbish?

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, but I've never been to Atlanta and I love exploring new parts of America.

Are you enjoying Atlanta?

Yeah, Atlanta's great. I only arrived yesterday. But Atlanta was really good.

I was in LA before, but I was staying in downtown LA, which is quite near.

I was quite near to Skid Row, if you're aware of that.

So it wasn't the best area. The locals kept being like, where are you staying?

And I was like, oh, downtown LA. And they'd be like, get out! Get out of downtown LA!

So anyway, I'm out. I'm in Atlanta now.

Okay, lovely. And what Formula One has been noticed during the World Cup?

Was the Austrian Grand Prix the talk of Atlanta or did it go slightly under the radar?

No, oh my God. Yesterday, I was walking around outside my hotel

and I just saw a lad in a Williams top. And I was like, that just feels like the most random thing

ever. Like, why is there a lad in Atlanta outside the World Cup fan zone,

wearing a Williams shirt? But I loved it.

On Saturday. So I was not in Birmingham, Alabama. I was in Birmingham, United Kingdom,

at the weekend. Birmingham. Birmingham.

My dear mutual friend Pete's wedding. Happy wedding, Pete and Daniel.

Happy wedding, Pete! Anyway, I won't be listening to this, but we're wishing well.

Anyway, I'd forgotten my belt for the wedding, not ideal. So in the morning,

went to the ball ring to pick up a belt and out the ball ring is a shopping centre in Birmingham,

big one. And out got a lovely brown belt. You'll be glad to know. Anyway, outside the shopping centre,

huge gaggle of lads. I would say no older than, I don't know what the collective term for group of

lads is, so I'm going with a gaggle of lads. Men. Yeah, but they were young. I would say maximum

22, right? Every single one of them, maybe about 10 of them, all wearing different F1 merch.

Oh, I love it. David, my fiance suggested I go and try and sell a book to them,

which I thought was taking it a step too far. So I resisted the temptation of doing that.

But I'll just alert them to the podcasts I present. But yeah, F1 fans in the wild.

It is strange. I was just so shocked seeing this random Williams fan in Atlanta, because in the

airport in LA, there were loads of McLaren fans. There were people in so much McLaren merch,

which I sort of was like, OK, I understand, because they're obviously the world champions.

And I just know it just feels like McLaren sort of breakthrough in America. But I just found

the Williams fan in Atlanta quite funny. But yeah, there's a lot of F1 fans in the world,

around the world. That's why we do podcasts on them, isn't it? So what did you see of the

Austrian Grand Prix, which rhymes, because it can't have been a good time for you?

No, it was very, very bad time for me. And I also had to fly that morning having done a night shift.

So I didn't go to bed until like 2.33 in the morning, my time, then had to fly. And so I was

very discombobulated. But during my sleep, Austria happened. So I managed to watch all of the highlights.

And I watched the end of the race. But I haven't actually watched it in full yet,

because I just literally haven't had the time. But I've watched the highlights,

and it looked like an absolute cracker. One Pablo Montoya, I heard, said it should have been three

laps longer, because then it would have been the best race ever. And I agree with him. It was,

yeah, it was, I wish I was there. Yes. It was a good one. It was a good one. What did you think?

I thought it was excellent. I really enjoyed the race. Yeah, we'd have had some battles at the

end if it was three laps longer. One Pablo, I'd really like to disagree with. And he's right

on that occasion. Some fantastic battling and the battling between Lewis and Max that we saw.

I've said on this pod before, I love Austria. Betty, I want us to try and go to Austria next year.

And it's one I never end up at, because it's always next to Silverstone. But it looks so much fun.

And I saw on Sky's social Ted Kravitz doing their paddock pasting that Sky do.

Same. It was great. Yeah. Exactly. And it looked brilliant. Ted very successfully

sold Austria to me. And he's, and you know, Ted's been around. He said it's the best one for fans.

So we'll park that idea. But I love the look of it. Anyway, I also love the circuit and the fact that

it sort of veered the circuit, I should say flows, not veers, from one section to the next

means you get this brilliant racing. It's not dissimilar to Interlagos in Brazil,

this was a flowing nature of the circuit. And watching the Max Lewis battling was just like,

this is it. This is what we live for. This is what we live for. So it was a great race. I really

enjoyed it. In order to refresh yourself, given you've only seen the highlights, why don't you

read the top 10 and we can all refresh like you can refresh and we can just, you know, jog our memories.

Okay. So this was the top 10 in Austria. George Russell got his first win since the opener in

Australia converting from pole Max Verstappen put down a great drive to go from fifth on the grid

to second Kimmy Antonelli took P3. He's finished on the podium every time he's finished a race

this season, which is unbelievable to be fair. Isn't it? When you think about it, Oscar Piazzari,

fourth Louis Hamilton took fifth the first time he's not been on the podium in three races.

Isaac Hagar took sixth, four top six finishes in a row for Hagar. Landon or a seventh,

Charlotte Claire, who definitely had a weekend to forget. No podium in his last five. He took

P8. Liam Lawson in P9 and Arvid Lindblad picking up double racing bull's points finished it off

in P10. So the championship standing is looking good, isn't it? Kimmy Antonelli on 171 points,

40 points behind him is George Russell on 131 points and then Louis Hamilton moved down to third

on 125 points. It is finally poised Christian for Silverstone, isn't it? Yeah, 40 points doesn't

feel a massive gap when you consider that. I don't think it's going to be one of those title

battles where every, I think there was lots of people saying at the start of the season they

were worried that it was just Mercedes going to run away with it. Well, their gap wasn't big in Austria

to win the race. They obviously didn't win the race in Spain. So I don't think it's going to be one

of those where if Kimmy doesn't win, he will be guaranteed second as that's just proven. We had

in Barcelona a Ferrari capable of winning, Max capable of popping up in P2. We had an excellent

weekend. So that 40 point gap does seem achievable. We'll go on to who's in the title battle in a

minute. But Betty, we both said on the pods recently, George needs a weekend. I'm imagining

when you saw the race result, you sort of thought like I did. Well, George needed that.

Yeah, 100%. He's been waiting for this. I think it must have been a huge relief to him. And

something he said afterwards that really made me laugh. This is a classic George Russell quote.

Okay, he said, it's been a while since I sipped the champagne and had that sweetness.

I'm proud of my resilience and the people around that have helped me because it was tough

everything going against you, which is a very good quote. And I appreciate the resilience

that he's had to have to get himself into this position. But I'm not sure about the,

it's been a while since I sipped that champagne and had that sweetness.

I would, I like champagne. I would question whether it tastes sweet. I mean, I love that

that's the first thing in the race we're discussing. But here we are. It's not a sweet

taste necessarily. In fact, if anything, it sits on the back of the throat in a somewhat acidic way.

I sometimes feel. Yeah, I wouldn't describe it as sweet, but that felt like a very George Russell

quote, didn't it? So George, it's been a while since I've sipped on the champagne and had that

sweetness and felt if you, you wouldn't need to see George Russell next to that quote to know

it was George Russell. It couldn't be anybody else. Could it? But yeah, it's massive for him.

And I imagine like the, the psychology that he's had to, what am I trying to say? I imagine

that the psychological work that him and Mercedes have had to do in order to get him to this point

has really, really helped him. Also, the fact that he lost his drink system in extreme heat,

Christian, he didn't need a hydration break. So all I've been seeing over here is hydration breaks.

Lovely. I enjoyed the football reference. What did you think though?

It's interesting because I remember talking to you after Barcelona,

where I was on the ground and that whole weekend in the paddock, it felt like this is the weekend

George needs until we got to the end of the race where he was passed on track by Antonelli,

who of course then had his engine failure or whatever failure it was and he didn't finish the

race. Fine. But I still thought coming away from Barcelona, it's a blow to George Russell and that

psychological battle that you mentioned because he was passed on track by Antonelli. Now I mentioned

I was at a wedding on Saturday. I was listening to some coverage via our colleagues at the BBC.

I was watching some text updates and I saw Toto Wolff coming on the radio to have a sort of

rare intervention. Yeah. And say almost like, come on, George, get your s*** together.

But he did the whole George just drive. Yeah. He was clearly in his head. And it is funny,

isn't it? Sports can turn on the tiniest thing. There was all the confusion around the end of

qualifying where Max went off, Kimmy aborted his lap. Really, George should have been showed a double

wave yellow, which means back right off. But George wasn't, showed George correctly, only eased off

slightly, didn't need to abort the whole lap, got on pole. Kimmy didn't get that final lap because

it's not like it was looking that George was out and out favourite for pole. In fact, quite the

opposite. And George got on pole. And that for me, that little slice of luck, which let's be honest,

George deserves. He's not had the look this season. We've discussed that he's not been as quick as

Kimmy throughout the most of it, but the same thing can be true. And two things can be true,

I should say. He's also not had the look. That little bit of luck turned. And then at the start

of the Grand Prix, George was able to scamper away, which in Austria, bear in mind that track I've

mentioned, it flows. You can get caught up in the battle to be able to scamper away and get the

advantage in Austria is massive. While his teammate Kimmy, by his own admission, maybe went 120%

at the start when he should have went 100 and ran what he was going, I'll run wide there. I'll run

wide there. He was all over. He was cutting the lawn. He was going through the gravel. He was

collecting paint. He was doing he was trying to catch up with the drone. He was doing all sorts.

And that to me, you know, that is why pole is such an advantage, especially at a track like

Australia, where you can be passed and repast that sort of turn the weekend. And George did have that

weekend that he so desperately needed where we'll be going into his home British Grand Prix going,

all right, he even said at one point in a quote, reminding myself, I can do this.

Yeah, I think that's key, isn't it? I think he needed this win. Obviously, points wise, he needed

this win. But for himself, just to prove that he could do it. You know, you were talking about the

Toto Wolf saying, George, just drive. I thought it was really interesting because afterwards,

Toto said that it was basically a reference to all of the work that they've been doing behind the

scenes aimed at sort of getting George to recenter himself and remember what he can do. Because this

has been such a difficult season for him. I wonder if this is the sort of launching pad that George

needs to really push on because he's he's good at Silverstone. He is good at Silverstone. It's

Silverstone is going to be fascinating for so many reasons how these cars with their batteries will

cope around Silverstone is going to be the thing I'm most interested in in free practice one,

and how the drivers react to that. So that's really interesting. He is good around Silverstone. Will

he be as good as Kimmy? Because let's be honest, I still think overall pace wise across the season,

I think it's advantage Kimmy. Now, the mentality side of Formula One, I know we have this in

common, Betty, fascinates both of us. But for those newer to the sports, people don't understand

overthinking often. And by overthinking, we mean the best sports people and let's use a soccer

football analogy while we're while better your sack covering the World Cup. It's not like someone

like Messi at their peak would get the ball control the ball skip past two players create the

space for themselves, shoot in the top right hand corner and think about every one of those things.

And now I will do this and now I will do this. Oh, messy. Yeah, messy does not think he just

does his body feels it. And it's in the right world that he's breaking. Yeah. Now a Formula One

driver needs to be the same. The minute you start overthinking the minute that flow isn't there,

which is that's when you're in trouble. And it's why you get total just remember just drive the car.

And we've we've said, you know, George had a good season last season. The amount of us that said

he's ready to fight for a title. He's done really well. He's not he's a fast driver. He's someone

that forced his way into the Mercedes setup at the expense of a very dependable driver in

Valtteri Bottas. He's someone that's had phenomenal drives to win races. And these things do get a

little bit forgotten about sometimes when a driver's not informed. So it's just unlocking that and the

key to it is not thinking too much. And little confidence is massive. Look at what look at the

difference in the two Ferrari drivers from last year to this that couldn't typify the confidence

anymore. Confidence is massive. So that little bit of confidence that I've got from this weekend,

he's coming away from this weekend, because because the thing is Betty in Barcelona,

you can do all you like. And then if you get passed by your teammate at the end of the race,

all the fact that qualifying was good, the practice sessions were good, it disappears

because you've got to do it when it matters. And the fact he did it when it matters in the race

today, the rest of it doesn't matter. That is what is going to be in his head as he drives into

Silverstone. It's the race. Nothing else matters really. And he did it when it counted. I think

that'll be really important from going into Silverstone. Yeah, I agree. I'm really pleased to

see George finally have a good weekend. Kimmy Antonelli, let's talk a little bit more about him.

How do you think, how do you think he's going to be feeling after this weekend? Because, I mean,

like we said at the top of the program, episode, podcast, whatever we're doing,

doing, say what you like. We were a few laps short of seeing how it could have actually played

out because it could have been really spicy, couldn't it? When he was hunting down, yeah,

absolutely. He looked like he was hunting max down and who knows how far he'd have gone.

I think Kimmy's fine, you know, and actually that's the danger for George. Kimmy,

by his own exceptionally high standards, didn't have a brilliant Sunday. Now, we'd have looked at

this race for Kimmy last year. What an example this is of how much he's leveled up. We'd have

looked at this weekend last year for Kimmy and gone absolutely fine. But the fact he was too

ragged at the start, he lost time by, you know, it's quicker to stay between the white lines.

And he didn't. He was too scrappy. He got out of position. That cost him. And in this title

battle, if you give your teammate an inch, they're both drivers of such caliber that they'll take

that inch. So Kimmy didn't have a bad weekend at all. He just had a bit of bad looking quality.

May well have got pole, had he had, I've just been distracted by my dog walking.

I could hear that. I thought that was something in my room. And I was like,

Derek walking in with a chew. Hello, pal. Yeah, okay. It's gonna see him on the camera.

You're gonna sit there. Okay. Yeah, Kimmy might well have got pole. So

and another weekend, it goes very differently. And that's why I think he's going to be

going into Silverstone. You know what? Yeah, I was a bit scrappy at the start. That happens.

I wasn't far away. So actually, we're fine. We're absolutely fine. A scrappy start and not being

far away in a podium. And also Betty, you mentioned that 40 point gap. He's a producer wills, but in

our running order, where's producer wills stats? If George won every race with Kimmy second, Kimmy

would still be championship leader until Madrid in the middle of September. That's the thing he

can therefore he can have these weekends where he comes third. You know, he can't he's got himself

into that position now where he needs to be there or thereabouts because George ain't gonna win every

race. We know that. So yes, I don't think Kimmy's in a too bad position at all. I think Kimmy will

be absolutely fine. Dillara on Instagram, God in touch. She said Kimmy is a good driver, but it's

going to be George's experience that changes this driver's world championship battle, which is an

interesting perspective because that's what everyone was saying at the start of the season before

any racing had even happened. They were saying this is George's sort of title to win because of

his experience. Kimmy still fairly new his second season in Formula One, but it hasn't played out like

that. Well, listen, you make your own look in this sport and people were saying George was lucky and

qualifying. I see that as really and I read Andrew Benson's write up on it after Quali and because

I'd watching it thinking this was thinking the same thing. Andrew Benson on the BBC that that's George

identifying, reading the track really well. It's not that's not look that's skill going there's

only one yellow flag is any single yellow flags. It's not double. Alan, he's off a bit. That is

experience. That's quick thinking. That's the stuff that champions do. So Dillara has perfectly

summarised the beauty of this title challenge, youth, flair and exuberance versus more experience.

And yeah, I think it's really interesting. I think it's really interesting. You poise going into

Silverstone and yes, 40 points is a big gap. But for reasons we've discussed before, the Mercedes

reliability, the fact that other teams are in the mix like Ferrari and Red Bull now.

It's interestingly poised. It's not done. It is. Christian, it's time for a hydration break.

Let's hydrate and I might stop Derek chewing this chew in the background because I feel it might be a bit

distraught.

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Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Fast and the Curious. We have hydrated. I hope you have too.

It's very important. Stay hydrated. Right, let's talk about Ferrari because we all thought Ferrari

were going to bring that fight to Mercedes, didn't we? Especially after the last race,

they absolutely didn't. Hamilton called this weekend a reality check after the highs of Barcelona.

Do you think he's right in saying that? Christian, is this a reality check for everybody?

It's a reminder of how highly you need to operate and how high Ferrari are going to operate to stay

in the title fight. There was two concerning, three concerning things if you Ferrari. Number one is

the continued struggle of Charles Leclerc. Number two is the strategy. And number three is the

wear of the tires and two and three are linked together. Many people were confused as to why

Ferrari did a three-stop strategy. I thought during the race that maybe they'd looked at it and

went, this worked so well for us in Barcelona that we'll do it again and do a cotton paste on a,

you can see the similarities. Another hot day, another small ish circuit, both Austria and

Barcelona are quite condensed tracks. You think maybe they're thinking we'll do a cotton paste job.

Whereas in reality, it was more to do with the fact that that Ferrari was way harder on its tires

than the rivals around them. Even McLaren really, and especially Red Bull and Mercedes,

or Red Bull in Max's hands. So that's worrying for Ferrari because something I said on the last pod

was the upgrades worked. The upgrades they bought to Barcelona. They bought more upgrades. And we

don't really know how they worked because the tires struggling didn't give us that true

reed of how quick Ferrari really were because there's nothing wrong with Hamilton's form.

If that car was even within half a chance of winning the race, Hamilton would have won the race.

Do you know what I mean? He's in the form of his life and nothing across Barcelona, sorry,

across, where were we? Austria. Nothing across Austria. Thank you, dear. Nothing across Austria

convinced me otherwise there's any problem with Lewis. It was that car eating up its tires too

quickly. So Silverstone's really interesting to see actually where are Ferrari shaking out.

Yeah, it's a worry, isn't it, for Ferrari? Because I must admit, I was drinking that Ferrari

Kool-Aid like I was well into the on the bad wagon. I was thinking, right, okay, Hamilton's in this

Ferrari have sorted their issues out. They're ready to go. compete with Mercedes

for this world championship title. But this weekend was a worry. So many people were confused,

weren't they, about Ferrari's three stop. Obviously Ferrari knew how much they were struggling,

but it wasn't, we couldn't see that at the time. They just don't sound like they're a happy camp,

do they? And they don't sound like, it doesn't sound like the car is particularly where they

want it to be or elements of the car. No, spot on. And you saw that with Lewis. It looked difficult

to control. Now it's been difficult to control in Charles hands this year. She's a bit of a diva

by the looks of it. But it actually, she looked a bit of a diva in Lewis's hands as well. I think

they need to make it more drivable consistently because we've seen with max in recent years,

drivers fighting cars equals bad. It's all very well having a quick beast once she's tamed. The

taming of the beast does not make for a consistently quick package. You need something that behaves

more instinctively and is karma. You need a two or three year old golden retriever. You don't need

a puppy that needs taming to put it in my current world. And the thing is about the title point,

if Ferrari have weekends like Barcelona consistently, they will be in the title fight.

If they have those Barcelona weekends, one race in 31 race in four, they're not in the

title fight because Kimmy's got such a head start on them all because he won those races in a row.

Ferrari and let's be honest, it's going to be Lewis Hamilton because it's not going to happen

for Charles this year, is it? Even if Charles improves, he's nowhere near title fighting

territory. So if Ferrari are going to take the title to Mercedes, which would be Lewis,

they need to be on it every weekend, every single weekend because I also refer about

two points I've made on the previous part. I don't know how many races we've got this season.

So, you know, we could lose more grand prix. They could have less time than they would have done

last year to make up the positions. So they can't have weekends like this. And if they're going to

bring upgrades, they need to bloody well work. And I think Silverstone will give us more of an

advantage to that. The only thing I would say is Austria historically is not a good track for

Ferrari. I think off the top of my head, I'll have to check this, correct me if I'm wrong.

I think that if anyone wants since the track returned to Austria, since Formula One returned

to Austria, I believe Leclerc won it and I think 2022. But other than that, it is usually a Mercedes

or a Red Bull that wins in Austria. So it's not a happy hunting ground for Ferrari.

So they'll look to put it behind them. Yeah, you've brought us nicely onto Red Bull there

because we know that they do like Austria. Max Verstappen is always quite good in Austria,

isn't it? Or very good in Austria. We know that. They were very impressive though, weren't they?

Would you say that Max Verstappen is back in the hunt, Christian?

He, Max said interestingly that, I'm right by the way, I'm just double checking, sorry,

yeah, Red Bull, Ferrari have only won once with Leclerc in 2022 since it came back,

other than that, Rosberg, Hamilton bought us a one for Mercedes and Max has won for Red Bull.

So yeah, we are, we're right there. And Norris has won for McLaren. So yeah, it's usually

a Red Bull or a Mercedes that wins in Austria and therefore better. Yes, Max is, was in with a

chance. He said afterwards, it's probably the first weekend in a long time we felt broadly

competitive. There was a glitch which caused him to crash in Qualley. I don't think we're

putting that down to drive for error. I think we're putting that down to a glitch at the wing,

the rear wing. So I don't believe that Red Bull is going to be like that consistently week in,

week out. And I don't think Max believes it either. I think Max was sort of salking a lot. He

didn't say this, but reading between the lines of what he was saying, it felt to me like he was

saying, we were competitive this weekend and that was lovely, whether they're going to be across the

course of the rest of the season. I don't know. The positive thing for them is, because of the

rule changes, and this is completely normal in the first year of a rule set, the big teams tend

to have the advantage. The gap after Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari is massive. So

that's why it's helping Isaac Hadja. You know, you're not having situations where Red Bull cars are

struggling to get into the points. Isaac's doing a good job, taking nothing away from him. But it does,

I don't think they're going to be fighting for wins week in, week out. I also don't think they're

going to be tumbling down the order because the gap's so high. So I think it will probably revert

to the status quo that we've seen from Red Bull for the rest of the season. I hope I'm wrong,

because Max and Lewis fighting was great fun, and Formula One needs these big teams to do well to

fight. I've said it before. We hoped we'd get the likes of Aston Martin up there this season, so

it'd be good for Red Bull to be up there. So I hope I'm wrong. Yeah, they've all upgrades. They seem

to work. Let's see where we are on Silverstone, but I just feel it's a step too far for me to think

that they'll be up there week in, week out. As always, you guys can get in touch with us on

Instagram or wherever else you want to. Just ask us any questions. Let us know your thoughts. I

don't know your feelings, whatever it is. Lucas says, I'm really happy about Oscar's P4. I think

it was the bad setup that caused his problems in the last few races. Interesting. I think,

actually, Oscar did really well this weekend. Christian, what do you think? Yeah, no, I've

said a few times that I've been really disappointed for Oscar to see Oscar lagging behind Lando.

It had started to look like Oscar was the McLaren number two driver. That was not the case this

weekend. He was much closer, got a very, very solid P4, much better for Oscar. Maybe he is,

you know, this is where experience is interesting. He does have less experience than Lando.

Maybe it's a set of things we don't know. Without being Tom Stallone, Oscar Piazza,

we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. There's only so much we get to know,

but he'll go into Silverstone, a track where he's performed well in the past,

was unlucky not to win last year, I think, I remember. So Oscar's not far away. Maybe with

that experience, he's going to, maybe he's taking, maybe, sorry, I'm not, I'm losing,

struggling words here. Come on, Christian, get through it. Maybe the fact he's been in Formula

1 for fewer years than Lando means he's taking a little bit longer to get used to these new cars.

Maybe it's a theory, but much better weekend for Oscar Piazza. And Lando wasn't far off,

you know, a bit of a scrappy race, but McLaren are where they are. They are not where they want to be.

They've won the last two Constructors' Championships, but little things like that,

I would step forward and nobody had to take positives from. Just while we're on some questions,

Sharon and Insta ask, when teams talk about upgrades, is it technology,

arts, software? What are we talking about here? It's a really good question there,

and it's something that we should, you know, we should never forget that

we've got people new joining Formula 1 all the time. Usually when teams talk about we've bought

upgrades to a weekend, it's usually aerodynamics. Usually it's reducing drag. If your car can cut

through the air more effectively, you're going to go faster. If your car creates more downforce,

equals sticking to the track, track equals being able to take more speed through

corners, being able to slow down more effectively, being able to accelerate sooner. This is where

net speed comes in. So usually upgrades we talk about are aerodynamic. Now sometimes you'll get

mechanical engineering-y ones as well. So this can be suspension systems, braking systems,

cooling systems. Sometimes parts, those aerodynamic parts might be lighter than the ones before,

so they're doing the same job, but they found a way to make it way less. And we've seen teams like

Williams this season need to look at that. It can be data and simulation. I've talked on this podcast

before about Aston Martin's struggles. When Adrian Newie came into the team, he said, you know, the

upgrades we're doing in the wind tunnel and in the sim don't seem to match with what then the

drivers feel on track. It can be software and controls. It usually isn't. Usually mid-season,

it is parts, mechanical parts or aero. That is what we're usually talking about mid-season.

Jesse on Insta says, did anyone else feel unwell watching the drone cams, which made me laugh?

That is a thing! I'm glad we're talking about this, the drone cam. Now I hadn't noticed this was

coming. Obviously, Betty, we have a bit of a sneak behind the curtain, the Formula One, don't we? But

we were both watching just like everyone else this weekend on the telly. I loved the drone. I thought

the drone was fantastic. The way it got close to the cars and the suite, I thought it was sensational.

My one worry, it made me terrified for the person operating the drone. Now, everyone will have done

their health and safety, that's of no doubt. But I just thought the pressure, I'd drive it into a tree.

I just thought the poor person at the controls don't drive it into a tree or drive it onto the

track or something. That was where it made me go a bit anxious of like, oh my god, there's a lot of

pressure for the person at the controls. 100%. And that's not easy. Oh, no, can't be. But I mean,

we struggle with cars. We've talked about the amount of time that we've been in, especially you,

with the old, what was it? The old Skoda Fabia. Rest in peace, Sammy the Skoda. Rest in peace,

the Skoda. That's some Fast and Curious Season 1 references there. But it made a lot of people feel

quite seasick, not seasick, carsick. Thank you, cars, isn't it? Formula 1s on tracks, not boats.

Oh, we should do Formula 1 on boats for the weekends. That's monochrome, mate. No, don't

forget, the point's not. Put all the drivers on boats and give them boats, Trace, for a one-off.

You can have that, Stefano. Lovely. Anyway, no, it made people feel a bit carsick. Did you feel

carsick? Yeah, it does give you that sort of like motion sickness type vibe, doesn't it?

But what I think is really interesting is I am pretty sure the drones can't fly directly over the

cars so that they're not allowed to do that because if they break, if something happens to the drone

and it falls, obviously it could cause... Just fall in a field rather than fall.

It could cause a big crash, couldn't it? So also whilst these people are operating the

drones, they're also having to make sure that it's staying in the right position, following the cars,

going at the speed, right angles. It's very, very good and I think this is only

going to get better. The fact that they're doing this now and you know it's sort of like, sort of

wonky angle, I think it's just going to improve and actually we're going to get an incredible sort

of viewer experience of Grand Prix racing now because of it. It was so cool. But yeah, it did

make you feel a bit motion sick. I liked it. For those who are new to Formula One, everybody takes

the same feed which is made by Formula One. So whether you're watching on Sky in the UK,

on Canal Ploucse in France, you're all watching the same pictures that F1 make and the technology,

they're constantly working to try and make it bigger and better and a lot of work's been done

on the driver perspective cams that sit on the visor because when they first made those,

keeping them stable enough was the problem and you could only really fix it in post,

not live in the race to make because otherwise it was just too much. So that's come on in

leaps and bounds. So you're right, I'm sure this will come on in leaps and bounds. I liked it,

but maybe people just need to start taking their car sick medication before races if they're not

okay with it. I really like Also, the driver perspective cams are really good,

but when you're watching an overtake, obviously you're seeing it from the driver perspective,

which is quite cool. You're not getting that sort of overall view of it, whereas the drone,

like imagine when you're getting those like really close overtakes and sort of amazing moves,

you've seen that from above. That is insanely cool. One thing that we've spotted for Radio

Radar from this weekend is Max Verstappen. When the yellow flags came out for a broken down car

lost signs, he went, that means flat out, right? Pass the car. I love Sassy Max. It's brilliant.

The fact that that can go through your head while driving a Formula 1 car, of course he's talking

about what we said earlier with George, but that was a race control era, wasn't it?

Wasn't a driver era, but keep being Sassy on the radio Max. It's phenomenal entertainment. We love

that. Let's go on to Silverstone. Betty, I'm keen to ask you a question. In your view,

who does it feel like a big weekend for at Silverstone? Who you'll be watching from afar,

obviously, because America? Who are you thinking like, are they need a good one?

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? I think Lewis Hamilton is going to be coming into this weekend

thinking if he doesn't have a good weekend, then they're out of the fight, really. So I think for

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, they need to bounce back from Austria and try and produce the goods.

We know Lewis Hamilton loves Silverstone. So it'll be really interesting to see what he can do.

I think I'll be interested to see what Red Bull can do after this weekend, Max for Sappen.

And then George, pressures on George again, isn't it? To back up his performance in Austria.

Like he's got his second win of the season. That's brilliant. But can he back it up? Because we all

know Kimmy Antonelli is just looking like he's on fire at the moment. So I think those three,

what about you? Well, this is the first one where I've started to think for summer breaks coming.

The summer break is now not far away. We've got Silverstone and Belgium and Hungary.

Three races in July. And then we've got the summer break. To me, we've talked about the

mentality, right, a lot. I just think if you're Russell, if you're Hamilton, you need to go into

the summer break on form. I want to be on the beach thinking, I can't wait to get back because

Kimmy, I'm hunting you down. I think if you go into the summer break feeling like the momentum

has shifted away from you, that's hard to sit on for a month. So I think it's big for Hamilton and

it's big for Russell, like you said. I think we've got three grand primes now. Well, those two need

to go into almost the mindset of a little mini season of like, maximize what we can get from

these three weekends. And then let's see where we are. I also, on the opposite front, there's no

real explanation as to why Leclerc is struggling. And we said on the part a couple of races ago,

I can't remember when it was, maybe Canada, that he was thinking of going more down the Lewis setup

and he was going to try things closer to how Lewis has got considering Lewis is making the car feel

better. Well, it hasn't worked. And I was doing some reading about his post race quotes before we

started recording. And it was just, you know, again, remember, we were talking about whoever

they did the interview with in Modico and the inter I think it was Natalie, we were like,

but shall there was some positives and you know, the track was crumbling and child was going, no,

it was me. It sort of the same again. I saw an interviewer sort of say to him,

when you might you look closer to Lewis and like qualifying and things. He was like, no,

I'm not. I'm just to control the car. Silverstone, like the Maggots and Beckett's complex, where you're

going right hand and left hand 160 plus miles an hour. We've seen drivers who are struggling

with the car have stinkers at Silverstone. It is a high downforce, high speed test. And there's

going to be a lot to think about for them, given the long straights with these new cars.

Just, shall we've seen drivers have stinkers at Silverstone who are struggling.

Shall needs to avoid that because otherwise that could be he could spiral. So I think

shall needs to just steady the ship at Silverstone and again, get to the summer break and go project

reset here. I'm really keeping an eye out for shall, but there's loads of stories up and down the

grid. I mean, Alpine struggled in Austria. They looked to bounce back because they've been in the

points. We've got Audi for straightingly trying to break the points race after race. We've got Haas

who started so well and then have fallen off racing bull seem impressive. Williams have picked

up points, but not consistently. They'll be desperate for a good home race Cadillac will

want to improve their reliability, which started well and has dipped. Aston are saying we're not

going to do lots of little upgrades. We want to do one big upgrade, which will probably come after

the summer break. There's a lot to look up and down the grid. It's I'm looking forward to Silverstone.

Yeah, I'm so excited to see which way it goes. You're going to be there Christian. Unfortunately,

I can't be there because I'm in America, but you love it. Don't you? I'm excited.

It's great. So sadly, no fast and curious at Silverstone this year because Betty's in America

doing the World Cup and Gregory Sheffield at the Crossed Wires podcast festival, which is massive

for him. So because the team are brilliantly successful and doing it, you know, it's a nice

reason not to be there. Everybody's doing wonderful things and I'll be representing

Solow on the ground, but we hope we're going to really try to come back next year. Oh yeah,

come back stronger. Exactly. So it's not a forever thing. Just forgive us for this year.

And we've got some big things to talk about after the summer break. Haven't we Betty?

Big things to talk about after the summer break. So stick with some big announcements.

Big announcements. Yeah. So stick with us fast and curious fans, but yeah, it'll just be me on

the ground. If you do see me, please do say hello. I'd love to say hello. I'll be doing a show on

the Saturday morning at the main stage. So I'll see plenty of people after that, I'm sure. And

we'll be back as a team next year. We hope scheduled permitting, but it'll be good fun.

And the weather looks dry. It doesn't look like we're getting. It's looking good. I was looking

at it for you actually earlier. Well, yeah, I was checking it out. Do you know what? It's looking

brilliant. 20 28 degrees, 29 degrees full on sunshine, not even a cloud in the sky.

You're going to have a great time. It's going to be a nice week. And well, we'll be back after

Silverstone for a little bit of a look back at what happened. Betty will be in a different part

of America still. So we'll look forward to checking in as to where you are. But I'll be back here at

this desk having had a weekend in the Silverstone field. I'm hoping my hay fever sorts itself out

because that's been a problem in the last weekend. That we could do without some British hay fever.

So that will be interesting. And we look forward to returning. But of course, during the weekend,

any questions, anything you're unsure about, or just also don't feel they need to have to ask a

question. If you've just got something you want to get off your mind that's very good formula one

related with last curious pod on all the socials, then we'll be back after the Grand Prix. Betty,

stay safe in America. Won't you enjoy the football? Thank you. I've got to go because it's Brazil

against Japan and that is going to be an absolute crack. Good one. Good one. David's out tonight.

So I'll sit and watch that lovely. All right, we're back after the Grand Prix. Enjoy it. We're

back after Silverstone. I'll see you on the ground there. Betty, go well. Speak to you next week.

Thank you. Thanks for listening, guys. Speak to you next week. Bye.

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About this episode

Christian Hugill and Betty Glover dissect a thrilling Austrian Grand Prix, celebrating a masterclass performance from George Russell who secured a much-needed victory. The hosts debate the championship standings as Russell closes the gap on leader Kimi Antonelli, who continued his impressive podium streak. They also dive into the psychological resilience required for Russell's win, laugh over his post-race champagne quotes, and share amusing travel stories from Betty’s time in Atlanta. It is a fun, geeky look at the evolving 2026 title fight ahead of a highly anticipated weekend at Silverstone.

Adrian Newey double-waved yellow downforce drag Ferrari George Russell Interlagos Kimi Antonelli McLaren Mercedes

Skoda Fabia