Kimi Antonelli is a Formula 1 race driver. In this discussion, they’re saying the pressure of being the one everyone expects to win can weigh on him more than on someone who’s already “in control.”
“Mind games” means trying to get inside another driver’s head. It’s about making them doubt themselves or feel extra pressure, not about changing the car.
They’re discussing what happens when two drivers are on the same team but still competing for the championship. The question is whether teammates think the same way, or whether the team has to step in with instructions.
Team orders are messages from the team to the drivers about who should race who. For example, one driver might be told to let their teammate through to help the team’s overall championship chances.
Kimi Antonelli is an F1 driver. They’re talking about how he drives—how aggressive he is, how smoothly he carries speed, and how close he gets to the limits of the track.
Peak loads are the biggest “stresses” the car tires and suspension feel at the most intense moments. The point here is that one driver applies those forces more smoothly, while the other can spike them more suddenly.
George Russell is another F1 driver. They’re comparing how his driving style affects the car differently than Antonelli’s, depending on track conditions.
Tire temperature is how warm the tires are. If the tires are too cold, they don’t grip well, so drivers have to work the car harder to get them into the right operating range.
Grass is the area off the racing line. It usually grips way worse than the track, so going there is risky—especially if you’re trying to stay within the rules.
Track limits are the rules about how far you’re allowed to go onto the grass or beyond the painted edge. They’re saying Antonelli is driving right up to that line, which is risky but can be fast.
In racing, “margin” means how much room you leave before you’re right at the edge of grip or the track boundary. Less margin usually means you’re going faster, but it’s also easier to make a mistake.
Tires flex when they’re heavily loaded in a corner. The “sidewall bulge” is the visible shape change of the tire, and it can hint at how hard the driver is pushing near the track edge.
The “contact patch” is the part of the tire that’s touching the ground. If that area is on the right surface, the car grips well; if it’s on the wrong surface, grip drops.
“Monaco” is the Monaco Grand Prix, run on very narrow streets with walls close to the track. That makes it hard to be aggressive, so being precise about how close you run and how you use the track matters a lot.
An “overtake maneuver” is the move where one driver tries to pass another. It’s tricky because you have to time it perfectly and place the car precisely to avoid a mistake.
Team Radio is the two-way radio between the driver and the team during the race. The team uses it to give instructions and strategy while you’re driving.
A sprint in F1 is a shorter race on the weekend. It affects where drivers start for the main race, and drivers still race aggressively because points are on the line.
Tire choice means deciding which tires to run and when to change them. In F1, the tires strongly affect grip, so the decision can make you faster or slower.
Term
inders
“Inters” are special tires for when the track is wet but not pouring rain. They’re designed to work better than full-wet tires as the track starts to dry.
This is the Montreal F1 track (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve). It’s known for places where cars can pass, so track position and timing matter a lot.
Term
overtaken range
This is basically the “catch-up” zone. It’s when one driver is close enough to try to pass, or close enough that they’re being slowed by the other car.
In F1, “boost” is a temporary power boost the driver can use. The “boost range” is the specific window where that extra power is available, so it can help you pull away or set up an overtake.
Term
heat of battle
This just means the intense part of the race where two cars are fighting for position. When it’s that close, small mistakes or small differences in grip can decide who wins the duel.
Shanghai is one of the F1 race tracks. The hosts are saying some drivers are especially good there, so results at that track can be a useful clue—but not the whole story.
It means the tires finally start working the way they’re supposed to. If they never “wake up,” the car feels slow and slippery, so you can’t drive at your usual pace.
They’re talking about the Canadian Grand Prix. It’s one of the Formula 1 races, and they’re using it as the latest example of how well a driver is doing.
The Canadian Grand Prix is one of the Formula 1 races. They’re pointing to the first part of the race—about the first 30 laps—as a great example of close, exciting driving.
Locking up is when the tires stop turning while you’re braking. That can make the car slide and harder to steer, which is bad when you’re trying to brake late for a corner.
This describes how F1 cars manage stored electrical energy: harvesting it during braking (recharge) and then using it for acceleration (charge). Because energy is limited, drivers time when to deploy power to maximize speed for overtakes without running out at the wrong moment.
It means where the driver puts the car when braking and then how they aim to leave the corner. A good exit gives you more speed for the next straight, which helps you pass.
It’s an extra power button the driver can use to accelerate harder for passing. Using it at the right time helps you get close enough to overtake at the next corner.
The racing line is the best path through a corner to go faster. If you force another driver off that line, it can make the situation dangerous and unfair.
Term
stepping into the barrier
They’re describing a crash outcome—someone hits the barrier. In racing rules, if your move causes an avoidable crash, you can get penalized.
They’re using Baku as an example track where the rules about safe, fair passing are applied. The point is how stewards decide if a move was acceptable.
Stewards are the officials in F1 who look at crashes and close calls after the fact. They decide if someone did something wrong and whether that should lead to a penalty.
Runoff is the extra paved area next to the track. It’s there to help if a car leaves the racing line, and it can change how officials judge who caused a crash.
Codifying the regulations means turning racing rules into fixed, written wording that’s applied the same way every time. The host argues that this can make outcomes feel “black and white,” even though real racing incidents vary infinitely in detail.
Commercial management is the business planning side—how the sport is run to satisfy sponsors, teams, and other stakeholders. The host thinks that side made assumptions that engineering couldn’t realistically deliver on.
He’s talking about how much usable energy you can carry and use. Fuel in a tank is energy-dense, while electrical energy (stored for hybrid use) can be less dense, which affects how the power system works.
Concept
agile performance equalization
It’s a set of rules meant to keep teams from getting too far ahead. If one team is much faster, the system tries to bring performance closer so racing stays competitive.
It’s how the car decides when to use stored energy. Because the rules limit how and when you can deploy it, the driver has to manage it during the race.
It’s a specific rule change that changes how the car’s stored energy is used. The “60-40” means one part gets more of the energy than the other, which affects how the car feels to drive.
V8s are a type of engine with eight cylinders. The way the engine delivers power can feel different, so changes like this can affect how drivers drive the car.
Lewis Hamilton is a top Formula 1 driver who has won the World Championship multiple times. Here, the host says Hamilton’s main goal is to get back to his best and keep fighting for wins and titles.
In today’s F1 cars, the power isn’t just “full throttle all the time.” Energy management is how the team and driver decide when to use stored energy so the car stays within the limits of the rules.
In F1, the “power unit” is the engine plus hybrid energy system. “Power unit management” means controlling how you use that power during the race so the car stays quick and doesn’t run into limits.
A “podium” is when a driver finishes in the top three of a race. It matters because it usually means the car was fast and the driver did well.
Person
Nelly
They mention “Nelly” as another person who was congratulated after the race. The excerpt doesn’t say who exactly Nelly is, but it’s clearly part of the same post-race celebration.
Max Verstappen is a top Formula 1 driver from the Netherlands. In this part, they’re saying his relationship with Lewis Hamilton is less hostile than it was during their big 2021 championship battle.
The “2021 title contest” is the big championship battle in Formula 1 between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. They’re saying people still remember it as very intense, but the drivers are acting more respectful now.
Formula One is the highest level of car racing with the biggest teams and most advanced technology. They’re saying the best drivers tend to be in F1, even if not every seat has the very best person.
This is basically saying the driver can’t just show up to be the fastest by themselves. In endurance-style or multi-driver racing, they have to work with the team and other drivers so the whole group can do well.
In some racing formats, multiple drivers share the car, and the team’s result is based on the total time from all of their stints. So it’s not just about one person being fastest—everyone has to help the team get the lowest overall time.
They’re talking about new F1 rules coming in the late 2020s. When the rules change a lot, teams often have to redesign their cars, and that can change who’s fast.
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George is going to have to be at the top of his game everywhere.
His worst fears came true in the fact that even when he's bang on the pace,
Kimmy's right there as well.
It's slightly scary because he's really, really pushing the edge.
They're actually, we're rubbing aren't they, a couple of times.
It's audacious, it's spectacular to watch and he's good enough to make it work.
To say gets away with it is slightly misleading because he's getting away with it because he's so good.
Toto's began trying to ensure that Antonelli didn't get too distracted by the
attention of the championship battle.
That is now opening out into he's got to keep George from making the battle too destructive.
Well, Mark, we've just come off the back of the Canadian Grand Prix.
There are so many talking points and things for us to get our teeth into.
Certainly were and they all seem to centre around the Mercedes battle.
Let's say all is also the quite a sparkling performance on Lewis Hamilton to consider.
But yeah, the big headline is the battle between the Mercedes drivers in both the sprint and the
Grand Prix and really trading blows and just having a flat out brawl basically for the whole
weekend.
So yeah, fantastic entertainment to be had much and nothing.
George Russell, after Miami, heaped the pressure on himself and you picked up on this.
He heaped the pressure on himself by saying, oh, you know, kind of normal service will be resumed in Canada.
Of course, the result didn't go his way in the Grand Prix, but what do you make of his performance?
Well, it was bang on the pace.
So it was, you know, a much better personal performance than in Miami where he was really
struggling. But yeah, his worst fears came true in the fact that even when he's bang on the pace,
Kibbe's right there as well.
So it's not as if normal service meant he was back to having a, you know, a handy margin over.
I mean, it's not there.
It's it's that's what Montreal was saying.
He's saying, you know, that George is going to have to be at the top of his game everywhere
to continue this fight.
And if you look at his performance over the course of the season, performances haven't actually been too bad.
Results haven't been going his way.
Is he right to be despondent?
He's not throwing in the towel, but he's got his wordings very negative about his challenging chances.
Is he right to be at that stage already?
What can you tell us about his his mentality at this point?
I think, you know, those words about it's curious to lose now, the points are so big.
I think you have to bear in mind what was said in the heat of the moment and the
intense disappointment of retiring from the race.
Mathematically, it's such an early stage in the season.
It sounds a lot 43 points.
It's not really.
It's just, you know, a couple of incidents or, you know, a retirement.
And, you know, we've got so many races in which that picture can alternate
dramatically one way or the other.
You know, I think at one point last year, people were counting out Landon Norris for the championship,
weren't they?
And it was clearly going to be Oscar Piastris.
And it was Norris was still performing, just as Russell's still performing.
And there's only been Miami where he didn't perform.
So, everywhere else, he's been either the absolute pace or he's been on the pace.
So, I think he doesn't need to, I think when he when he sits back and thinks about it,
you know, after it's all calmed down, I think he won't be too despondent because
it's not gone his way in terms of reliability.
But these things tend to come in waves.
And if it can happen to George that way, it can happen to Kimmy that way later in the season.
So, yeah, let's just wait and see.
I don't think he needs to be despondent because a reason to be despondent would be
he's just come to his best circuit, done his best stuff and still been outperformed.
And that wasn't the case.
He was at a very similar level.
He couldn't, he couldn't split them on performance actually was too close.
But the the wording he's saying or the phrasing and the terminology he's using could also be
looked at in a slightly different way.
Okay, it could sound like he's being despondent.
It could be this, but it could also be a massive mind game.
We could be watching this very early on, couldn't we?
And saying actually by saying, oh, the champ is Kimmy's to lose.
I'm not in the fight anymore.
And blah, blah, blah.
It's putting the pressure more on Kimmy Antonelli than if he said,
yeah, I'm determined I'm going to keep on going.
Yeah, that's such a good point actually.
It's yeah, it could well be.
It's George's capable of playing mind games.
And yeah, that might be the most obvious explanation for that.
I guess he'll have a team of people that are around him working on things
and they'll have their own their own ways of approaching it.
Do drivers into team rivalry drivers?
Do they approach things in similar ways?
I know Rosberg and Hamilton used to go toe to toe a little bit.
But do they look across the garage and work out mindsets?
How are they going to get into the head of their teammate
who's also the championship rival?
Or do team orders come in the way a little bit
when it comes to that sort of situation?
I think it's only ever, it can only ever be like a surface thing.
How do I apply a bit of pressure?
How do I look as if I've got the upper hand here?
Or how does it, how do I project confidence?
I've got the beating of the other guy
to put questions in the other guy's head.
But you can't spend too much time
worrying about what the other guy might be thinking
because there's so much to focus on in your own performance,
especially now with the complication of these cars.
I think that as long as you don't get too preoccupied with the mind games,
it's just a little add-on that you can use.
I don't think it's not at the core of a better performance usually.
It's just something that you're using to project.
It can only work if you are performing,
if you're delivering the goods in the car.
If you try doing it when the other guy's quicker, you just look silly.
I think that George is perfectly capable of playing mind games
and he probably will employ that at some point
and may already be doing so.
But he will know that the number one priority is just raw performance
and that's what he's going to be focusing on.
One thing that struck me was his very polite anger.
Yes.
When he pulled over to the side and he was clearly frustrated with the car and things,
and he took his head rest off and he threw it off the racing line.
And so George Russell, even in those moments,
even when he's lost the plot gone completely crazy,
he's still controlled to a degree.
Well, he's head boy, isn't he?
He's head boy after all, so he's very much that disorder.
And he even apologised afterwards for throwing it away.
He did, yes.
Very well-mannered.
It's very well-mannered.
Now, I'm going to come to Toto Wolf from his dealings
because I feel a bit sorry for Toto Wolf this season.
He's been through this before,
but he seems to have a bit of a fight in his hands.
But before we get to how he's dealing with Kimmy Antonelli
and the rivalry with George Russell,
he's written off the chances.
Wait, no, he's played down Kimmy Antonelli's championship title.
Chances at this stage.
43 points, as you say.
Do you think that's a Toto Wolf just trying to calm the situation
down a little bit, keeping George Russell on side?
What's going on there with the way Toto's approached it?
I think Toto's began with looking, trying to ensure that Antonelli
didn't get too distracted by the attention of the championship battle,
which he's very clearly in.
I think he wanted to keep them grounded.
That's a very, very big thing to be facing in just your second season of Formula One.
But I think that is now, it's sort of opening out into,
he's got to keep George from making the battle too destructive.
So I don't think he needed to be thinking about that
when he was first saying those things about Kimmy.
I think they were purely directed at Kimmy.
But I think now they're probably being directed more to try with an eye on team harmony
and trying not to let this develop into anything where it's making the operation of the team difficult.
Yeah, it could become very destructive very quickly, couldn't it?
We've seen it before, even within that team, I'm sure Toto's learned a lot over the years.
The way Toto talks to Kimmy Antonelli,
actually, first of all, let's just get your thoughts on Kimmy Antonelli's performance.
I know that pretty much every single F1 podcast and show has done this
probably until the cows come home.
But what are your initial thoughts on Kimmy Antonelli's performance in Canada alone?
The way he's driving, his aggression, those sorts of things.
Well, he's got this beautiful driving style where it all flows.
If you watch his car, he's not putting such big,
sudden peak loads on the car as George.
George has got his own way of doing it, Kimmy's got his own way of doing it.
And that probably explains a lot of why George struggled a little bit on a hot surface in Miami.
But you come to Montreal where it's typically quite cold and you've got to push up to get the tire temperature.
Then George's style works perfectly okay.
Although Kimmy's style is more flowing, the level of attack he's bringing to the race itself
is, it's impressive.
It's slightly scary because he's clearly, really, really pushing the edge in terms of
where he's positioning the car, where he's putting the car relative to the track limits,
the grass, but also on corner entry in particular.
But also in how close he's prepared to get the other car.
Well, I mean, they're actually wheel rubbing aren't they?
A couple of times, but it's audacious and it's a spectacular to watch.
It's a fantastic to watch and he's good enough to make it work.
He, to say, gets away with it slightly misleading because he's getting away with it because he's
so good and he knows how good he is and he knows how far he can push.
But inevitably, even the graders do get bitten if they use that, if they push up to that limit.
And so, you know, consistently, I think at some point, that might bite him.
But so are you know, this is what we're here to see.
It's fantastic to see someone in just the second season operating at this level.
And yeah, you'd expect it to be a little more ragged than someone in their eighth season,
George's.
Yeah, I wrote down when I was watching it and in big capital letters and underlined it and
shaded it and things like this.
I wrote while to town a couple of times.
And it was it was that control, it's controlled wildness.
Yeah, controlled wildness.
But I did and I think you kind of hint to this, you know, that everyone will get bitten at some
point. I wonder whether it would be an advantage for Kimmy to be bitten relatively soon in a,
you know, in a safe way, obviously, but be bitten and have to learn quite quickly that,
you know, to win a championship, you don't have to win every race.
Yeah, I suppose so.
But I think he's been bitten before, on his very first outing in a practice
session and it had a bit of an impact on a while to recover from that.
I think he's a bit more seasoned now, obviously.
So he would probably recover more quickly.
Sometimes that's if it doesn't feel forced to him.
I think sometimes it just looks wild on the outside.
But you're talking to drivers of real great quality where that's the case.
But I think it might be the case with Kimmy.
I think it might just be he doesn't feel on the edge at all.
It just looks like it's on the edge from the outside.
But he's judgment is so fine.
You see how close you sort of Miami as well, where you had a comfortable margin,
how close he gets to the wall on corner entry or the white line or the grass or whatever
whatever defines and it's maximizing the track width, which obviously makes it the corner
potentially faster. But he's prepared to like go up to the last millimeter every time and you
can't be doing that by chance and getting away with it.
That's just natural feel and judgment.
And it was very apparent in Montreal too.
And he would be deriving a very small but some performance advantage over George from that
because if he was given it like you sometimes saw the tire bulge of the sidewall on Kimmy's car
on the rear tire, it's actually overhanging the grass.
So the contact patch wasn't on the grass, but you could see that the bulge is actually
overhanging. That's how close he was getting.
So, you know, and George maybe was half an inch.
So there will be a performance advantage there if you're able to commit to that level of accuracy
and if you're able to use all the extra of that small amount of extra track width that's given you.
In Monaco, it will be really interesting to see just how finally he runs those margins.
And I guess as you're saying as well, you know, when things are going, I'm going to say wrong,
a maneuver, an overtake maneuver that Kimmy tries goes wrong.
Invariably, he's worked the escape out quite quickly.
He's, you know, he's not, he's caught out for hardly any time at all.
And he's back on that racing line and he's back at full speed again.
So, I mean, that does certainly fall into what you're saying.
Toto Wolf then, we know that Toto Wolf has invested a lot of his time, a lot of his energy
into bringing Kimmy Antonelli through.
There does seem to be a bit of a paternal way that he's talking to Kimmy,
particularly over Team Radio that we heard time after time,
old time in Montreal.
It was an interesting, there was an interesting dynamic there, isn't there?
There is, yeah. And it's not, it's not always well done, is it?
It's sometimes, it's admonishment.
And, you know, we heard it very clearly in the sprint,
where after the contact and Kimmy was, you know, complaining about it,
you just told pretty sharply, stop whining, talk about this later.
And they did talk about it later, with the three of them.
And basically, Toto told Kimmy, you do a 50-50, move around the outside,
doesn't entail you do anything.
This is just racing, you know, get over it.
So that informed them both, how they were going to race on the Grand Prix.
And I think they were able to indulge in that because they had so much
performance and hand over the next fastest cars,
especially once the McLaren's disappeared through their tire choice.
I mean, putting the inders on at the start and it was dry.
And that meant that the next cars down were the Ferrari and Red Bulls.
And they weren't a threat to this updated Mercedes around Montreal.
So the fact that they could establish a nice comfortable gap
relatively early meant that they could then go all in
and they could really, you know, knock chunks out of each other really,
almost literally sometimes.
And it was, you know, all the circumstances came together
to provide that just fantastic 30-lap dice.
How do you think has Toto had to adapt?
You know, he's been through this before with two drivers that are just
knocking lumps out of each other, you know, on track and off track as well.
Not getting on, clearly not getting on.
There seems to be this different dynamic between George Russell and Kimmy Antonelli,
but George Russell clearly feels that he's the number one
and should be the number one, might not be working out that way.
What does Toto have to do?
What's Toto facing in the next few weeks, months?
I dare say years.
I'm not even sure we're going to get to years, but weeks or months anyway.
I don't think he needs to specifically treat the drivers any differently.
I think he's laid down what the ground rules are.
And there will be no doubt in their minds as to where that limit is.
And now there always comes a time, especially when they're fighting for the world championship,
usually in the later stages of the season where a driver will need to decouple
the team interests from those of his own, whether that means
you know, not doing as asked or racing in a harder way than would make things easy for the pit wall.
I don't think that's going to come yet, but I think he will know that it will
it will be coming somewhere down the line.
It's inevitable because the team's interest in the individual driver's interest
when they're both fighting the teammate, there will always come a time when they diverge.
And that's when you, you know, the driver has to fight his own corner.
And whether that ends up being Russell or Antonelli,
you know, there's a long way to go yet before that becomes apparent,
which of them it would need to be.
But that will be coming somewhere down the line, Toto will be prepared for it.
But as you say, they'd not, I don't think they're falling out over it, certainly not yet
in the way that Habermann and Rosberg did.
But, you know, it was more personal, I think for those two.
But yeah, it's a different dynamic.
And each of these contests is always a different dynamic, just the personalities involved.
Yeah, I mentioned that how George Ross was wording the things he's saying could be also
used to make you put pressure, more pressure on Kimmy Antonelli or the champions he is on
out of the game, that sort of thing.
But he also said after the Grand Prix, he loved it.
He loved the racing.
It was like carting.
Bring it on.
I wanted more of that.
I want more of that.
And that's also from from George Russell.
That's also kind of that's another mind game there maybe is right now.
Bring it on.
I'm good for this.
Bring it on.
You don't scare me.
I've got this.
I can win.
I'm confident in myself.
Yet George Russell's less risky in his approach towards things.
You've described Kimmy Antonelli, his battling with mad audacity.
I think the words are used in the past, which I think is fantastic.
Sounded out perfectly.
But so Kimmy Antonelli's got mad audacity and George Russell's more kind of less risk,
more calculating.
More control, yeah.
More controlled.
Yeah, that's a good way.
So when you look at this battle that's going to ensue and it is going to ensue,
whether George is putting more pressure on Kimmy Antonelli by saying bring it on.
I want more of this, et cetera, et cetera is kind of an irrelevance because it's going to happen
whether he says it or not.
But do you think that the less risky George approach is the better way when it comes to
constructing a championship battle or a charge for the title?
Or is Kimmy Antonelli's gung-ho, seemingly gung-ho,
I know you're saying he's driving within his limits,
but seemingly gung-ho approach the way that's going to secure it for him?
I think it's a better way for George to approach it.
I think because that's the way George naturally operates.
So I think going with your own, the way the way you are wired up,
I think is always the favorite route.
I think Kimmy's mad audacity might be the best way for him.
And it just depends really on how they matched and performance at each track.
And if there is nothing to split them, like at Montreal,
then that's going to put more pressure on Antonelli's approach than it will on George's.
But if Kimmy can be a 10th or two 10th quicker and get out of that overtaken range
of the boost, the one second boost range,
then you've got nothing to worry about and you can just go with the flow, go with his own flow.
And then do those amazing laps where he's using up all the track.
But in the heat of battle, if the performance between them is close enough that
he can't get George out of his hair or George can't get him out of his hair,
then yeah, then I think obviously the more controlled approach is probably a better bet
of the season. But that's just in terms of their respective abilities and experience,
I think the best way for each of them is not the same.
I see, I see. Now one person who does seem to be back to his controlled best is Lewis Hamilton.
He was fighting with Max Verstappen like it was 2021 all over again.
Is this a turning point for Lewis Hamilton and for Max Verstappen as well?
But let's just focus more on Lewis for this bit.
Is it a turning point for Lewis Hamilton, do you think?
It could be, I think we have to wait a little bit.
He's always very, very good at Montreal historically.
I think in 18, I did the numbers before, a couple of weeks before,
in 18 years, incredible achievement in itself, 18 years about track.
He's outqualified his teammates 16 times and one of those two times he didn't do it was because
there was a dead bird and he break ducked, so that doesn't even count.
It's one of his special tracks. He's always been exceptionally good there.
Shanghai is another one and we've just had two of the last four races of two of his special tracks,
so we need to just qualify that a little bit and Leclerc's, by coincidence,
the two tracks that Leclerc said in the past, even before this year,
I really can't get on with this track. It's Shanghai and Montreal.
Leclerc has what he described as the worst race of my career, the worst weekend of my career.
He just could not get the tyre switched on, no matter what he tried.
If you can't get the tyre switched on, you're just wasting your time. You may as well be in a
slower car. You know it. Lewis was faultless and he was driving with all his old flair
and really was getting on with this car and you could see how he was indulging himself in
just the sheer joy of driving it and racing it.
And you know it was once for a stop and when passed to me, I thought I'll ask that and then
it wasn't as soon as they switched tyres and the Ferrari was better on the soft tyres than the
Red Bull, the medium tyres than the Red Bull was, then it was game on. He was chasing them back down
and then put the move on them. So I think we have to, although it was great to see that,
we have to be careful on comparing, is using Leclerc to define his Lewis's level
because you're looking at a completely off-form Leclerc there.
And we're going to Monaco next, which is just the place where Leclerc is invariably fantastic,
just incredible around there. So if we see a Lewis Hampton one or two tenths behind Leclerc
at Monaco, we shouldn't take that as gospel either. It's more you're looking at a bigger
range of circuits before we can say, yeah, he's definitely back. This is the old Lewis. I don't
think we can say that yet. He drove Canada like the old Lewis, but can he maintain that level
of performance and is that level of performance at the level which will put him at least on
equal footing with Leclerc? It'd be fascinating to find out and that we weren't really asking this
at any point last year of how much it was just, it wasn't even on the radar that question. Is
he back? He wasn't. But Canada, I think we can say that's a fair question for the first time.
It's worth mentioning when we talk about achievements for people at Kimmy Antonelli,
what a great performance from him. The records, the records are falling all the time around
Kimmy Antonelli and he got his first four Formula One consecutive wins. That's the first time that's
ever happened. So we should mention that as well with the performances of all these drivers.
And if you want to stay up to date with all things going on in Formula One, then make sure
you go to motorsportmagazine.com and subscribe to the F1 newsletter and there you'll get
the newsletter into your inbox and you'll stay in tune with all the happenings around
all the Grand Prix and the build-up and post-race as well. So Mark, it's time to move on to the
viewer questions. We're going to come back to Lewis Hamilton in just a bit and to Max Verstappen
because I know they're saying very different things about whether they're going to stay in the
sport or not. We'll come to that after the viewer questions though and I've selected, as always,
three absolute beauties thanks to all the viewers that have got in touch and sent your
questions into us. So these are three that I've selected but there are quite a lot that I could
have chosen, Mark. First one I've gone for is Ben Harris. He says, I was still coming down from
watching the intense first 30 laps of the Canadian Grand Prix, two brilliant drivers on the edge and
not backing down. How does this 30 laps compare to past examples of intense racing between
championship contenders such as Hakenan and Schumacher in Suzuka 2000 and do you rate it
as highly for excitement and driver skill? In terms of excitement, I think it eclipses those
because it just went on for so long, wheel to wheel, didn't it? Sometimes a great battle is
one of building tension and nothing's actually happened but something is about to happen
all the time and that was the Suzuka race you mentioned Ben and that was fantastic
but I think this was just more this really thrilling. You've got two guys just banging wheels
and every single lap that the one's looking at putting a move on the other one or preparing
a move or preparing his battery for what you know is going to come on the next lap.
So yeah it was just never-ending and the way that the regenerator brake and was working down at
the head pin combined with a tailwind into there was making the leader throw the locking up whether
that leader was George Russell or Kimi Antonell. So that was another factor creating yet another
opportunity for possible moves on the following straight. In terms of driver skill, you know they
throw fantastically skilled and I wouldn't like to pick out a difference but I think in terms of
either there, it wasn't one of the sort of fake pass repassers that we saw say it
Australia, a little bit in Japan because it was working such that they'd both be arriving at the
chicane with flat batteries or usually or down at the turn one you'd occasionally see
one of them just about running out just as the other one came but it was in the main. It was a
proper driver skill contest. It was a car positioning out braking corner exit type
dice. It was a classic dice and all the battery charge and recharge things were doing was allowing
the car behind to be a little bit faster using the boosty the overtaking boost button to be a
little bit faster than the car in front and as soon as the car behind became the car in front then
it was the slower car so it just by enough to keep it on the edge and so it worked quite well
there I thought. A great question there from Ben. Let's move on to the next one, DARREN GALPAN's
question. Hopefully I pronounced your son incorrectly, DARREN. Why is running your
rival off the road by taking the racing line fair racing? If they did this at Baku or Monaco,
one car would end up in the barrier and there would be a penalty for causing an avoidable
accident. The move would be the same in both cases.
The stewards would have to judge in the imagine a case of Baku or Monaco
whether the rules had been met in terms of positioning.
The axle line ahead of the wing row and if the driver who had not yielded was deemed
not to have been titled to not yield then yes would have got a penalty.
However, if they judged that even though there had been an accident that driver was entitled to
claim his space even though resulted in an accident. No, there wouldn't necessarily
be a penalty for that even though there had been an accident. There doesn't have to be a
penalty when there's an accident, when there's a collision. There can be but it's up the stewards
to decide was that clearly his fault. Did he disregard the driver guide, the guidelines on
that incident? When you've got a little bit of runoff, obviously the driver who's defending
and take a little bit more liberty because he's not guaranteeing the other driver is going to crash,
he just put them on the grass and slow them down a bit. So it's not quite the same and that context
is something that the stewards do consider. It's not as black and white as the words. That's a
problem with codifying the regulations. It makes it seem like, right, this is absolutely how it is
black and white in every single situation and it can't be because the racing situations are
infinitely different and the difference between a wall and a bit of grass is one of those things.
Nick's come up with a question, final question. Nick Milton says, and it's a proddy one, this one
Mark, it's like poking the bear. Are you ready? Nick says, do you believe that Formula One racing
has a future under the present mismanagement system? What changes would you suggest as the
way out of the mess in which it finds itself? Yeah, well, that is a nice little one, Nick.
Yeah, that's a fair question. I think it's got itself into this situation through optimism.
I've talked about this before through the commercial management, assuming that the
engineering side of the sport would solve the problems with the amount of notice that they had
and it's an intractable problem. It's Europe against hard physics and just how much less
dense the electrical energy can be than a tank full of fuel. So there's a structural reason why
we ended up in this situation and it was just that we're trying to encompass too many
agendas, too many, trying to please the older manufacturers, trying to please the team,
trying to please the fans and they weren't compatible. So I don't think it's a recurring
thing necessarily. I don't think we can fairly say that it's been a problem that's going to just
keep repeating itself. They're very aware of how they've arrived at the situation,
they're very actively trying to get themselves out of it, but because it's become such an
entwined problem, you now have certain manufacturers saying, well, yeah, we're happy that you're
going to change it, but it can't be this year, it's coming next year, it's going to have to be the
year after and others are saying, no, it's fine, bring it on and others saying, well, but this
is going to cost an extra 10 million and we haven't budgeted that, we've got to go to the
board to get that. So this is all as a result of the initial problem, which was just the optimism
and, you know, the over optimism and trying to get to this 50-50 energy split. And I think
when they do find a solution out of it with different power split, I think it'll be generally
fine if there's no reason why it shouldn't be, but I wouldn't call it mismanagement,
I think that's too harsh, I would call it over optimism.
Great questions, as always, and thanks Mark for your honesty and your answers just there.
At the end, I'll tell you how you can get your questions in for next time.
The MPH column, this time out Mark, your MPH column talks a bit about regulation,
a bit about the changes, but not too much, a sprinkling of regulations dropped in there,
but the context of the regulation and what it might mean to a couple of drivers of
which we've already spoken today, and that's Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Before we talk about that part of your column, let's just have a quick look about this rules for
2027. It was all sorted, wasn't it? A month or so ago, it was all sorted. 2027 can have more
power from the combustion engine, less energy from the battery unit itself, but what's happened
in the last week or so, two weeks? Yeah, well, it was agreed in principle, and then the FIA statement
did make that, you know, it did say in principle. So it just means that everybody's agreed that,
yes, that's where we should go. We should go to this different power split, a 60-40 split.
But in principle, it's not the same as, right, let's all do it for next year,
because there's two, potentially three manufacturers are saying we can't do it next year,
or we don't want to do it next year, in the case of one. We want to do it in 28. And the others
are saying, no, let's do it next year. Why saddle ourselves with what are clearly not working for
an extra year? We don't need to do that. We just need you to agree to, you know, we can all just
carry on. So that is being played out, and that is threatening to derail this 27-in reduction
and put it off to 28. Now, the teams, you're saying that are kind of reluctant to do it
for 2027? It seems to be Honda, Audi and Ferrari. Why would they be? Why those three? Why would they
be more content with kicking it down another season beyond 2027? Honda and Audi, it's mainly
financial. They've got to go back to their board and say, yeah, we know we told you the budget
was going to be this, but there's been a change of regs, and we're going to have to reconfigure
the engine for a greater fuel flow. And that's to optimize that in a way that we're not going to
leave us uncompetitive. It's an extra 10 million on the budget. So that's what they're concerned about.
Ferrari, they're feeling, well, we're getting this agile performance equalization,
and we're not going to get the benefit of that because you're bringing a completely new set
of rules in. So that's got their beefies. So, yeah, that's where we're at. Mercedes and Red Bull
are saying, no, we're fine for 27. Bring it to whatever you want. Bring it on for 27.
And that's what the Red Bull team is saying, but one driver within Red Bull,
not saying the same thing at all. So Max Verstappen has been very, very clear,
that he doesn't like these regulations, doesn't really, I don't think he minds driving the cars,
but doesn't like the fact that he has to deal with the energy split all the time,
just doesn't get any real enjoyment out of it. And he said, I'm out. I'm out for 2027,
if the rules aren't changed. And then he said, okay, well, the rules are changed. So I'm happy
to stay, but he's not there again now. Is he out? Where is he at the moment?
Yeah, he's basically saying, great, I'm glad they've attended to the problem and what they're
talking about for 27 with his 60-40 split. I'm happy with that. That would allow me to stay in.
And he made that statement quite early in the Montreal weekend. And then he was asked, yeah,
but that might not go through these rules. It might be out, delayed until 27.
He said, in which case I would be out. I said, no way I'm doing another year driving these cars,
this type of car. And they said, well, would that mean you'd do a sabbatical and then come back
in 2027? He said, no, if I go, leave. That's it. So he's very, very clear and very
black and white in his position. And yeah, it's all, all playful, isn't it?
We have spoken about Max Verstappen before saying maybe he come back in 2030,
2031, V8s were suddenly appearing on the grid. One driver who said he is staying. And although
people seem to be talking about him retiring all the time is Lewis Hamilton. He said,
I'm here for some time. I'm not going anywhere. So he doesn't seem to be too phased by these
changes or non changes. No, I think the more important concern for Lewis is getting his form
back and continuing on this mission of proving that he can still, he can still deliver and
win races and fight for championships. And he feels that he's turned a corner
with this car and with his engineering team this year. And he's got the breaking
field that he needs to drive the way he wants. And he feels that the team is understanding
that the engineering team he's got around them are understanding better what he's asking for
and how that translates into how they work the car. So that's his overriding concern. And
yes, he doesn't like these cars, the energy management aspect of these cars any more than
any of the others do. But he's not letting that get in the way of what is his mission for his
particular situation at this time. Max, I don't think, feels himself to be on a mission to win
more titles or win more races. He's always said I won the first one and that was it. Everything
else is just indulging myself really. So if he's not enjoying it, if that's his basic
framework, if he's not enjoying it, then yeah, it makes perfect sense. He doesn't want to stay around.
But Lewis has definitely set himself up a target of his own. And so there, he wants to pursue it.
And I think if he was still struggling as badly as he was at certain points last season,
I think he might have a different view on that. And he might, you know, perhaps think it is an
opportune time to stop if he wasn't enjoying driving the cars anyway. But I don't think that's,
he enjoys this car, just the power unit management thing that he doesn't like,
but he's enjoying driving this car, it's doing all the things that he needs it to do.
I guess for Lewis Hamilton, he's still getting podiums, isn't he? Podiums are happening now,
so that's a good enticement for him. But actually, also interesting, it was interesting to see or
to hear how the two drivers were interacting, particularly at the end of the race, when they
both went over to Kimmy, they were very sort of congratulatory, if that's a word, to Kimmy
and to Nelly. But up in the cooldown room as well, they seem to be really enjoying talking
about the racing. And there seems to be, there's an edge that's gone between Lewis Hamilton and
Maxwell Stappen. They seem to be much more kind of chilled out with each other. And you get to
see these two phenomenal drivers talking about racing. Yeah, well, the race, the relationship,
I guess, is frozen in people's mind by their 2021 title contest. And they haven't really been at
each other's throats and sinkers. Lewis has had a competitive cars and Stappen's had this fantastic
run of titles. So this is the first, probably the first time since 2021, where they were actually
fighting, you know, for any extended period with each other, rather than just one passing the other,
where a different strategy or whatever. But yeah, this was just a little, the fact that it was those
two brought back memories of 2021. But I don't think their relationship is frozen in the animosity
of the late stages of that season. I think it's just two guys who respect each other now.
And yeah, you saw that as we're chatting afterwards. They're neither the poisonous
reput personalities. They're both quite reasonable people once they're outside of the car.
So I don't think it's a... I don't think that animosity would have ever been sort of frozen for them.
It does make me think a bit about Max Verstappen leaving though, because he has said that the
very best drivers are in Formula One. Not all seats have got the very best drivers, but the very best
drivers are in Formula One. So if he were to leave and go off and do other forms of motorsport, we
know he did the nerve over in 24 hours the other week. We know that he's got his GT3 team. We know
he's got eyes on other championships as well. Would he be content with racing those drivers that
aren't, in his own words, the best drivers in the world? Would that diminish his victories
if he were to win the races? I guess that's what he's got to find out for himself,
because the task is different. The task, you know, it becomes much more of a...
He becomes much more of a team partner than just a gun for hire. And he's having to...
We talked about this when we talked about the nerve over in 24 hours, how you've got to get
the best combined time of the three drivers or the four drivers or whatever you've got.
And he's very much part of minimising that total time. And if he can make himself better than them
at their expense, well, that doesn't really work. It's got to, you know, in terms of how
you'd set the car up and things like that. So, yeah, it's a different mindset. It's a different
challenge. And maybe he would be satisfied with that challenge, with establishing his team as the
best team and winning championships in that way. Whether that... You would still have a yearning
to do the flat out against the best drivers in the world and putting himself up against them.
Or whether he can forget about that and think, well, I've done it and I've proved I can
dominate even against those guys. So, I know where I'm at. So, I don't need to worry about that.
I'm going to move myself to a different challenge, whether he's capable of that mindset change
in his own head or he knows. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how it all plays out,
isn't it? I've got a feeling it's going to rumble for a bit of time to come. But I think
Max Verstappen, not in Formula One, that would be a sad thing for F1 in general. You can read
Mark's thoughts. You can read the column by going to MotorBotMagazine.com, the MPH column.
It's all about Max Verstappen leaving, Lewis Hamilton staying, and those pesky regulation
changes for 2027 and beyond. A really nice read. Go and check it out for yourself. Mark,
what I didn't do before was ask you your favorite question. Now, I know we're writing off all of
mine. So, who's your favorite audience question? He wasn't. Don't tell me. Don't even tempt that
it was going to be one of mine for once. Ben Harris, who had the question about
Hakenon, Schumacher and Suzuka. We had Darren Galpan about their racing, and then we had Nick
and his prodding of the bear. Yeah, they were all good, weren't they? They were all really good.
Yeah, I think we'll give this one to Darren. There you go. You don't win anything, Darren,
but you do get that, that little crown that you can wear for a little while there. Mark has chosen
you, Darren Galpan. Well done. Mark, as always, thanks very much indeed. It's been a real pleasure.
Yep, thank you, and thank you all for watching or listening, and a lot happening at the moment.
So, yeah, stay tuned. Thanks very much indeed. And don't forget, you can get your questions
into Mark for next time. Put your questions in the comments below in the YouTube video or go
to motorsportmagazine.com. And also like and subscribe this video to tell your friends, tell
everyone about this fantastic Formula One show with Mark Hughes. Now, you can still get your hands on,
and time is very much running out. You can still get your hands on the latest issue of motorsport
magazine. It's all about Le Mans. The issue features an in-depth preview of Le Mans with an
exclusive interview with Robert Kubitsa. Who's going to win it this time? It'll be Ferrari again.
There's also the inside story of the greatest race car of all time,
Reborn, the Lost Lotus 49. And motorsport's most famous crash helmets and the remarkable
stories that they tell. As I say, you can get that copy in the shops. You can also get it
on the websites or on the app too. As always, thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time.
And they weren't come bad. And they weren't come.
I'll do a cut here, shall I? Some time later, I used to do something, dot, dot, dot.
Ecosystem of Formula One. What am I bloody saying? Something's popped on my screen, Mark. It's maybe
just I've started reading it as I was fucking happy. Hang on a minute. I've got an Epson update.
Go away. Yeah, great. It goes more outtakes than actual content in this one. Right, okay, I'm going to do that again.
About this episode
Fresh off the Canadian Grand Prix, the Motor Sport F1 Show with Mark Hughes digs into a Mercedes weekend defined by a Russell-versus-Antonelli headline battle. Russell’s “worst fears” are tied to reliability and retirement disappointment, while the hosts weigh whether his comments are genuine or “a massive mind game.” They compare driving styles, track-limit aggression, and how Toto Wolff tries to keep Antonelli grounded. The discussion widens to stewards, fair racing, and the direction of 2027 power-split rules.
George Russell saw the Canadian Grand Prix as a chance to relaunch his F1 world championship campaign but instead his worst fear was realised. Not only did he retire with engine issues, his team-mate Kimi Antonelli was bang on his pace — at one of Russell's strongest circuits.
Mark Hughes and Bryn Lucas explore the gripping Montreal team-mate brawl we saw before Russell bowed out and what it means for a title race which the teenage Antonelli leads by 43 points.
They also take an in-depth look at how the Mercedes team-mates' driving styles differ, including how Antonelli creates extra margin over Russell, but only under specific circumstances in races.
Should Russell despair about his position? Will his greater experience give him the edge over the season? And can Mercedes keep the duo from destroying each other on the track?
All this and more — including Lewis Hamilton looking back to his best in Canada and why this season really could be Max Verstappen's last in Formula 1
Mark also answers your questions on the excitement of Montreal and the fairness of Russell's defence of Antonelli.
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/49uvWpY 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/49uvWpY
