Greg James is back! Christian has an announcement | Plus look ahead to Canadian Grand Prix

In the words of Liz Truss, that is a disk race.

19 year old Kimi Antonelli is going to have a weight of the Italian nation on his shoulders.

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Fast and the Curious, the Formula One podcast that

doesn't take this ridiculous sport too seriously and speaks to some of the biggest names on

the grid.

I am Betty Glover, our resident Formula One geek Christian Hugel is here as always.

Hello Betty, it's lovely to be here, hi.

Hi, you okay?

Yeah, I'm remarkably well mate, are you?

Yeah, excellent and also with us this week, the man who drops by the pod when he's not

raising millions of pounds for charity, touring the UK with a best selling book, presenting

podcasts including a shiny new one and Waking Up the Nation.

Greg James, he's back!

Hey!

It's very, very nice to be back, daddy's home.

Oh god.

You're not allowed to say that Greg, that is banned from this podcast.

Sorry.

It gives me the ick.

I like it.

The negligent team principle is back but obviously I am across everything, Fast and Curious

and very, very, very happy to be back on the podcast today.

I'm joining you from sunny Sunderland where Radio One's big weekend is happening this

week so I'm just hanging out in my hotel room and I was desperate to come and chat to you

and catch up on all the goings on in, as you said, this ridiculous sport that we don't

take too seriously but seriously enough.

Yes.

Seriously enough of course because these things are important because they bring us a lot

of joy and therefore not paying sometimes.

Well no but sport is tricky isn't it with sport because we all are in love with various

sports but the downside of being in love with a sport is that it sometimes brings you great

misery when your team doesn't do well or your driver doesn't do very well or whatever

it might be but there's so much to catch up on and I'm just sort of brimming with questions

and things and by the way, the podcast, you're flying, you're killing it.

It's a very high quality product isn't it?

Very high quality product, yes.

Very, very high quality.

Hang on, sorry we got nominated for an award and we haven't mentioned this on the podcast.

I was listening to the radio this morning, I was flicking around, I had a bit of Greg

James from Sunderland, I also heard a little bit on the other side of Vernon Kay on Radio

2 and Greg won't mind me saying that, he knows I'm a flicker, I'm out and proud.

You're a traitor, that's what you are.

I'm a traitor, I love a little flick round and he was saying that it's the big radio

industry and audio industry in the UK awards this week and he was talking about going with

his team.

Greg's Radio 1 show is nominated and the Fast and the Curious is nominated for an actual

award.

Woohoo!

Really, really very proud of you and everyone that helped put this show together.

It's been a big team effort for the last three, maybe four years now and I still love

it and I love listening to it and it's nice to pop up every now and then but you don't

need me anymore.

But look, I do have this, but there's so much to talk about because all the breaks and the

reshuffling of the deck, that was talked about a lot wasn't it at the end of last season,

it's going to reshuffle the deck of cards and that has actually happened.

So what do you want to, look I'm at your mercy, where do you want to go first?

Well, yeah, Greg we know that you all have missed stuff in the first few races of the

season because we're not just saying it for the sake of podcast storylines, you've been

ludicrously busy, like up and down the country doing amazing things for charity like your

book tour.

So we know that you all have missed stuff because life happens.

So we thought this was a good opportunity, especially given there's been another break,

this one's scheduled, the previous one not scheduled, to basically go, Greg what do

you want to talk about?

So I thought we'd name this, Greg's get up to speed.

Nice, very nice.

Greg's get up to speed.

And Greg gives you the chance to basically ask us, who've been involved with it quite

a lot, all that stuff you want to know that sort of has been missed in the last few months.

Yeah, well I've been jotting things down over the last few weeks and months because I just

jot stuff down.

What have you jotted down?

I'm intrigued.

I mean, my overarching question, which doesn't need to be answered now is, is everyone still

enjoying F1?

And that's a general question to fans and drivers alike.

And that alludes to whether the rule changes have settled a little bit.

I guess we can get into that in a second.

All these things are linked.

My other one is, what's going on with George?

Is he okay?

Was the other one?

Oscar to Red Bull question mark was another one of mine, which had many question marks

on it.

Oscar to Red Bull question mark, mark on here.

That started spinning me out a little bit because I couldn't imagine him in any other

colour apart from papaya.

So that was something that I was thinking about, but that's because we haven't seen

him anything other than papaya.

And of course drivers will quite rightly, you know, jump around and follow and progress

their own careers and whatever else.

But I, yeah, so those are my main things at the minute.

Those are little things that I've seen.

I wanted to talk about Charlotte Claire's wedding with the dog.

Not that he married a dog.

He didn't marry a lovely, wonderful woman.

But the dog was there at the ceremony and that actually got my wife's interest in F1

for the first time ever.

Really?

Bella was intrigued.

Well, she saw a dog at a wedding and thought, well, he's clearly fun.

And then she said, oh, he's like the really handsome one.

I went, yeah, he is.

It is accepted that he is the most handsome one.

Yeah, no, sure, sure.

So there's a bit of that on the side.

But can I ask that main question to both of you?

And I guess, like, is everyone okay with how F1 is going this season?

Or does everyone just, does it take a while to settle this stuff?

I'm happy to start with this.

I'll let Betty mull this over because it's a great question.

The answer is, I think, let me answer on behalf of the fans.

There's definitely been a lot of fans who struggle to get used to the new rules.

The biggest thing has been there's a lot more flip-flop overtaking.

And you sort of used to in Formula One overtaking be really bloody difficult.

Now there's more overtaking, lots of swapping.

That's taken a bit of getting used to.

I've had newer fans of the sport tell me that this is amazing.

And people absolutely love it.

And there's been maybe some fans of the sport

who have been around a bit longer struggling to get used to that a little bit.

I like it, right?

We've been saying for years in Formula One, we need more overtaking.

And for people like me who have been around since the 2000s,

where there was no sodding overtaking at any point ever,

I find it really hard when people go, oh, it's too easy.

So yeah, I sort of see what you mean, but actually it's a hard,

it's literally a science to get it bang on.

And F1 have said for years, we want to make these cars easier to overtake

and they've done that.

So I like that.

I think there is a universal acceptance on the other side of the rules

that the engines need a bit of tweaking

and there's been a bit of tweaking into Miami

and that we need the drivers to be able to go flat out in qualifying.

That will continue to be tweaked, I think.

And I think ultimately the battery power will probably go down a bit in future.

But to answer your question overall,

I got bored of talking about the rules

and it definitely started to affect my enjoyment of it.

I'll be entirely honest.

First time I've said this on the podcast, what I love talking about

is all the stuff we're going to talk about.

Kimmy versus George, the McLaren's resurgence.

I love the stories of the sport, the drivers, the teams.

And it felt to me, in Miami,

Betty I know felt the same,

that we really were able to get back to talking about that,

which I was immensely grateful for.

The break didn't help.

I think that would have come much sooner, but we lost the two races.

That's true. There was nothing to talk about

so in that void everyone started talking about the rules

and the perspective of it.

I think weirdly though, the break did actually help

because it allowed the teams to make tweaks

and come to sort of, I don't know,

get used to it a little bit more, make some changes,

bring some upgrades, which they might have made

Miami a little bit better in a way as well.

It gave people time to take some stock as well,

do you know what I mean?

But I think Miami was good.

I don't think you could have...

I don't think many people walked away from Miami

being like, I didn't really enjoy it.

It was great, yeah. It was really good.

It was the best race that we've had of this season.

So, it's getting there.

The overtaking I spoke about

felt the balance was right.

It didn't feel too difficult, easy.

So I agree with Betty.

It felt like we arrived at quite a nice...

We've settled. And you said this, Greg.

The last pod you were on, you said

things take a little bit of time

to settle when stuff happens

and you were spot on.

I think we've seen that. It's all settled a bit.

Yeah, I really enjoyed Miami. I agree with Betty.

I'm glad about that because I've watched

the Miami Grand Prix

as I always do, as a fan.

And I sat there and went, right,

we've had a long time away now.

Everyone was very, very hungry for a good race.

And I felt like it just was

a really, really enjoyable race

with the early scrap

with

Charles and Max

and Kimmy

and then the lockups

in the first corner. All that sort of stuff

is the good stuff.

So it felt like maybe the drivers were

getting used to things. And look, all these sports people

and actually all human beings on Earth

love moaning about stuff.

Particularly those millionaire drivers.

They kind of like moaning about this sort of thing

because just when they think they've cracked the sport

something, the sport goes,

try again and they have to sort of

relearn stuff. So I guess there's frustration

but that fuels them to keep going

and I think it has

made for a really interesting

start of the season, which feels like it's been going on

for months because it kind of has, but actually

we haven't had that many races.

No. And the crux of

you also asked Greg, are the drivers still enjoying it?

Let's not get away from it. The drivers haven't

enjoyed it as much. There's no getting away

from that. That's obvious for all to see.

A big reason behind that is

Greg, you and I drive

electric cars. We've both had this conversation

that when you get used to

electrical power deployment, it is a lot

more sudden.

So drivers of all of a sudden got these big

powerful beasts,

958,000 times more powerful

than our electric cars.

They've got loads more power at their disposal

which comes in so much more

suddenly and they've got

an area of cars where there's less

downforce, there's less grip.

These two combined together have meant some of the

drivers have really sort of got, I'm not

enjoying this as much.

Most of them agreed that Miami was a big

step forwards and also

most of them haven't

been as unhappy as Max has

been. A big part of the reason Max

has been so unhappy is because Red Bull

started absolutely

dreadfully but also improved a bit

in Miami. So Max

still not broadly happy but I think also

a lot of the drivers are now coming around as well.

It's not good, is it, when the

drivers themselves are saying that

the cars are really hard to drive and it's not

right, is it? But

also, as

a viewer, you can't take away from the fact

that we've actually got quite an exciting

season on the cars and the fact

that there's a battle between two

Mercedes drivers, we genuinely

have no idea which one is going to win the World

Championship. Everyone thought George Russell

was just going to run away with it but then Kimmy

Antonelli's there like, excuse me

excuse me, I'm bloody good and then

you've got McLaren that are getting better

you've got Max Verstappen that's starting

to get used to the car, like this is exciting!

Yes, but we've had

four races

and it's May.

I know.

So there's only been four,

data nerds would go

that's not a very big sample size actually.

No, that's very true.

Let's have a look at those standings for those

that aren't quite up to date with everything.

Mercedes well in the lead

on 180 points, Ferrari

second with 110, McLaren with 94

and then so

not a huge difference really,

Red Bull currently fourth but

the driver standings

at the minute

you've got obviously Kimmy out in front

you've got

100 points to George Russell second

you've got Charles third

Lando fourth

and then Hamilton fifth

then the rest but that can change

really quickly

that sort of thing.

And actually everyone's going on about Kimmy Antonelli

rightly so

but he's only got 20 points over George

Russell and there's like 482

points up for Grapp so

really guys it's very early days

I was just wondering

sorry Christian but remember how in front

Oscar was at the start of last season

and how that suddenly

changed and as we know

how that all ended up so

Kimmy's taken the last three races

but let's not forget that George took Australia

took Melbourne and could very well

take Canada and who

knows but that's why it's still

it's still very exciting and actually

this is a nice bit of the season

to join in

if you have just sort of

locked into the sport again right now

I think this is a really good time to go

oh actually there's not that much to get your head around

it's like Mercedes doing really well

and it's all to play for

I just want to pick up on one quick thing

Greg you mentioned that the driver's enjoying it

of course it's important the driver's

enjoy the sport we want the drivers to enjoy the sport

they're amazing they're why we love the sport

but also there is a bit of a balance

it's important they're challenged

they're paid an awful lot of money

it's more important broadly

speaking for the fans to be happy

and the fans to love the product

the drivers are doing their job and are paid to do so

now there's a balance there and the one hand we want them to enjoy

we don't want people like Max wanting to go

and race in other categories

but Formula One drivers and racing drivers

as a whole and elite level sports people

love a bloody moan

so we mustn't forget that

key context there

they love a bloody moan

things are quite as bad as they seem

they're still driving these amazing cars

and people like Lewis have pointed this out

actually they're quite balanced way

they're still amazing, they're still rocket ships

but we shouldn't necessarily

be pandering to everything they say

because actually it's really important

to challenge them

I don't think that sometimes gets picked up on enough

there's also a balance

where

either

the fans

having a nice time or the drivers having a nice time

or in the case of Arsenal Football Club

the fans nor the players are having a nice time

no sure

it's very very difficult

they're very tense playing that

and as an Arsenal fan you're very tense watching it

so there is always another balance there

but actually Greg, Arsenal have VAR on their side

so

it's Arsenal and VAR

yeah they really do

I think that probably was also a red card last night as well

but let's not do that now

well we've spoken about people's achievements

on this podcast this season a lot

and Betty cracking the F1 world

she also spoke to Pep Guardiola

the biggest name in world football the other day

who quite confidently told her

that he was staying at Manchester City

and then as we're recording today Betty what's happening please

well he's leaving Manchester

I knew he wasn't

sorry just to give this a bit of a stress

I know this is an F1 podcast

but I go into this interview

I get told you've got seven minutes with Pep Guardiola

it's an FA Cup interview

all you can talk to him about is the FA Cup

so I'm like right fine it's really tense

really like he literally gets in

I have to sit down go straight away

and I know I've got to ask him about his future at the end

so I do all this FA Cup fluff chat

at the end I'm just like

so he's staying at Manchester City

then like sort of

in a better word away than that

and he's just like

yes

it's like the biggest lie ever

anyway

he tells me that he's staying at Manchester City

and then literally next thing I know

five days later

he's coming out that he's leaving

so he enjoyed that

crazy time so this is top level sport

it's crazy you can't trust any of these people

you know what they're thinking

it's all just so mad

but look let me get back to one of my other questions

which was what's going on with George

is George okay

what's the future of George

I think George is fine

I genuinely do

I think it's this weird psychological

battle at the moment

and I really think Canada is so important

for George and everyone is saying

George is really good in Canada

so I think that's almost adding more pressure

to him but George needs a good result

in Canada because Miami did not go

very well for him at all

and if he can get a good result in Canada

then this psychological

battle that he's having against Kimmy Antonelli

will ease slightly and it will be fine

like we said it's a very very long season

and George is very good

but it is interesting

and if you were George Russell you'd be thinking

Jesus Christ Kimmy Antonelli

he's doing so well

it's hard

it feels like he might be able

to channel that energy

into sort of a

hyper focus almost and go right

there is someone nipping at my heels here

in a similar way I guess to when Oscar

started really challenging Lando for the first time

and then Lando had to go

okay well I don't want

to be the older

but more experienced second driver here

I need to really

knuckle down do you think that's part of his thinking Christian?

Yeah I do

I do think that's part of his thinking

I think Betty did a really good summary

I think George had some

bad luck on two races

he then in Miami

had a big

off weekend it wasn't just slightly off the

pace well off the pace

so a very bad weekend

like we saw Oscar have a couple of very bad weekends last year

like we saw Lando also

have a couple of very bad weekends last year

we've got used to informal on over the years

from the likes of Max and Lewis perfection

all of the time and actually

we sometimes need to remember

that that is not always the case so I think

George had a bad weekend in Miami

he had a bit of bad luck and with all

of this simultaneously

people underestimated Kimmy

and Kimmy did to use my catchphrase

he levelled up over the winter

and everybody sort of thought

oh he's so young so he'll be that arms

length driver that he was in season one

in season two and actually

he's levelled up in such a way

that we are starting to see

why Mercedes went for him

put him in that car why Toto

didn't get a car lost signs

or more off the shelf driver who'll come

and do it straight away because he believes that this

guy can lead Mercedes

for a decade to come and win multiple championships

we're starting to see why he believes that

now so I think it's all whirling around

bad weekend bit of bad luck Kimmy being

closer here we are we've got

a really interesting situation where I agree with Betty

this is a

massive pressure weekend

for George Russell he can't

go four in a row having been beaten

that would be even at this early

stage of the season full on crisis

mode alarms blaring oh my

god this is not good and

as Betty rightly says

the world in his wife keeps him

oh well well George is the greatest driver

to ever drive the Canadian Grand Prix circuit

he's remarkable I mean they're not quite saying that

but it's not far off it's like oh

him and over again and George has been very good in Canada

the last couple of years last year he

was fastest lap pole position won the race

year before that he had a very good weekend

that could have won the race were it not for safety car

stuff big weekend for George

last year though Kimmy came third

it's not like he's bad in Canada

he was he was off of George's pace but

he came third

you might have heard me just furiously tapping on my keyboard

then I saw I'm sorry for that but it was because

I just suddenly thought what is the

age gap between George and Kimmy

and it's it's nine

isn't he yeah but it's

it's um it's nine years

that George

is nine years older than him

so how old is Kimmy?

Kimmy's 19

I thought Kimmy was nine years of age

well

but it's

the reason I started furiously tapping

on the keyboard is because I hadn't really considered

the gulf in age

because in my head George Russell is still

24

but he's not 24 anymore

he is a truly experienced

sort of F1 driver now

and there will be those added bits of pressure

where you're like you're you're even though it's not

necessarily true he'll be thinking

have I lost a little bit of my

reaction have I lost some

fitness have I lost a what or something

I think you those those things naturally

will just pop into his head not to say that he is

at all because he's still one of the

one of the great drivers um of

well of our time but of all time

but um I really hope that

he he he kicks on and just goes

you know what Kimmy not not not

not yet I've got I've got it I'm gonna get

some championships before you're ready

but also George will

be George will have been coming into this

season they would have done

testing in Bahrain

sort of worked out that Mercedes

would had the best car and

would have gone this is my best shot

at finally being

world champion and that

was the rhetoric everybody was going

with reporters journalists

everyone was like George Russell is the favourite

George Russell is the favourite so I wonder if

it's starting to sort of

I don't know seep into

his mind that he's like

if I if I don't do this I'm never gonna get

the chance to do this again and then that adds

an extra layer of pressure whereas Kimmy's 19

he's got nothing to lose does he

Kimmy Antonelli he can attack every single

Grand Prix and go for it

and and we have seen drivers

fall off quite spectacularly

it happened to Sebastian Vettel

definitely he went from winning back to back

championships Daniel Ricciardo came into

the team and Seb even when he

moved to Ferrari never quite looked the same

driver again we then

saw it to Daniel Ricciardo

who moved away from Red Bull

he was actually very very good in his first couple years

at Renault I think sometimes that's underreported

but then it did fall off spectacularly when he

went to McLaren and now we're getting

way ahead of ourselves but Betty the

broader point is

spot on from you that these

drivers get a very narrow

window to win world championships the point

I was come back to is Jensen Button

he had one chance realistically

to win a world title where that

Braun GP car in 2009 was the best car

he had a very good number two driver

in Rubens Barrichello he took that chance

he didn't let Rubens in he didn't let

Seb in the Resurgent Red Bull catch him up

he had one chance and he took it who knows

maybe that was Lando last year who knows

maybe we'll look back on Oscar and think

he had that one chance that people get

unlucky that will be

in these drivers minds you

you know look at Fernando Alonso

the fact he has been in the sport for so

long and only has two championship is frankly

in the words of Liz Truss

that is a disgrace

because he could have so many

times he could have one of the world

championships but it's just not quite worked out

so you've got to grab this opportunity

when it when it comes around

what do you remember

off the top of your head what age

Vettel was when

he sort of didn't what wasn't

looking like he was going to be a world champion again

I have to be honest I can't remember

off the top of head but I don't

Seb retired young enough

like it

I don't actually think

it's funny I did a podcast

about this the other week of

these guys do have scientific

data on what falls

off when you get older

and they target their training to that

there's a brilliant company called Hintzer

Performance who a lot of the drivers use

who really target the areas that you need

I actually don't think that

I don't think age was it with Seb

and I think Fernando is still

sort of operating at an extremely high level

Lewis too I think sort of proving

that I think it's

other I think it was another

I think it's other forms of mentality

it's your style

working with a particular

car you're given and

the synergy between the two

so I don't think with George it's

anything like an age thing

I think it's and as Betty

says it could all be fine because

form and I said this on the last episode

such a long season form

goes up and down Kimmy's going to have some really bad weekends

George is going to have some amazing weekends

I don't think broadly

speaking there's reason to panic for George

this is pullbackable

but if it starts getting into four weekends

five weekends where Kimmy's beating him

you know

both things can be true on the one hand

so in the few races it's easily

pullbackable on the other hand

the creeping thoughts of

I might have one shot and one shot only

as Betty originally said

is a very good point

I think Kimmy has got

problems this summer

shall I tell you about them after

this very quick break

I'm coming back after the break

I'm coming back after the

after the foreign adverse

oh yeah great

welcome back

everybody to the Fast and the Curious

thank you I've been on tenterhooks

I've not been able to concentrate on those ever

baited breath

so I think

Kimmy is going to

struggle this summer and

this is why because

Italy didn't make it through

to the World Cup

therefore, no genuinely

therefore there are so many

Italian fans

that are there going

what are we going to watch, who are we going to support

and they are all going to flock

to 9 year old Kimmy Antonelli

is he going to be able to handle

that increased breath because he's already growing

in Italy and of course you've got Yannick

Sinner who

amazing tennis player who will be

trying to defend his Wimbledon title this summer as well

so he'll take a little bit of the heat

but Kimmy Antonelli he's rising

his stock is rising in Italy

these fans are going to be obsessed with him

and let's not forget

that Italian motorsport

fans have obviously always been

all about Ferrari right

but they haven't been that good recently

have they in recent years

it's going to be all about Kimmy Antonelli

they're going to be looking at him thinking

he's going to be our ticket to celebrations

but I would flip that

right on his head and say

he thrives in the big

match moments, he's been given a seat

on one of the most famous

you know successful car

constructors ever

so he rises to the occasion

yes he might been it in the wall

on the first time he ever drives one just as a little practice

but he's come so far from there

this kid

do you know what I actually think this kid needs

the weight of a nation on his shoulders

this could be the making of him

the fact that Italy aren't in the World Cup

is so sad by the way

because watching Italy

in a men's football World Cup is an iconic thing

but I think

he will be able to save

this nation, the Italian nation

do you think?

we're putting too much pressure on him

19 year old

19 year old Kimmy Antonelli

is going to have a weight

of the Italian nation on his shoulders

is he going to be able to lead them to glory?

your prefrontal cortex

is not developed until your 26

so this kid is not

thinking

he's not thinking

because he doesn't think in that way

because he's still a teenager

so he's just been like

I'm just going to drive the car really fast

that's it

drive the car really fast win the race

I'm going to win the race

I'm going to save the nation

my prefrontal cortex she is not yet developed

correct

interesting though

because you tend to underthink

when you're that age

your fearlessness is there

and your instincts are there

but you're not really considering the bigger picture

like George's

because George's fully developed

lobes

so I would say that that's one of the things

there you go

I bet you've missed me haven't you?

I really missed you

it's interesting though isn't it

I think all of those Italian

fans his popularity is absolutely

sword

in a way though

that's what these drivers really want

isn't it

they might say

that they don't

but yes they want to be successful drivers

but they want to go down

in the history books as legends

and they want lots of fans and they want to be loved

and they want to be celebrated

and they want to make their country proud

and all the rest of it

do you think they do?

I don't know

do you think they do it because they like racing?

yeah they're just so

obsessed and in love with racing

I don't even know if they

think about all the external stuff

obviously like Christian said so many times

in his podcast that

Formula 1 like you need the sponsorship

you need the money, popularity

but ultimately at the end of the day

these guys just love the sport

I think you're both right

but I think you're also both wrong in the context

of individual drivers

I think some of them

absolutely

do like the idea of representing a nation

on the world stage

and love it

I think some of them are literal

children who've grown up liking things

that go fast and that's it

friend of the podcast

who we had on the lot and we really liked

Logan Sargent, I saw an interview with him recently

how's he doing?

well we saw him in January didn't we

and he recognised us and said hello

which was lovely, lovely Logan Sargent

but I remember him saying

how wasn't that into F1?

and also when he was a kid in America

it wasn't as big as it is now

so I saw an interview with him where he was like

how wasn't that into F1? I just like fast stuff

so I think he just wanted to drive fast

and enjoy racing fast stuff

I think others will love representing a nation

so I actually think you're both right and that's why

we're all winners really

there are no opinions here

on this very bland podcast

we all

win all the time

I'd like to

I would like to now talk about a very

special thing from a very special man

something very exciting is happening

to Christian Hugh Gill

and the big big news

is that well you announced this week

I don't want to do

I don't want to announce your announcement but what did you announce this week Christian?

feel free to announce the announcement

but I can announce the announcement equally

in fact let me get the announcement

it's behind you mate

well that's what I've got

I've got our boxes and these unsolved things over the years

it's going to be firewood

I have written a book

and I'm holding the book

yes I've written a book and it is called

Grand Prix 101 and friend of ours

and friend of the podcast

James Vowles has written the four word

for the book which is lovely

and two also friends of the

well one very big friend of the podcast

have written on the back of the book

Greg James and Bernie Collins

have also put words on the back of the book

to say

that people should read the book

which I'm grateful for them saying they think

people should read the book

and I'm holding the book

so when's it out Christian?

I always forget when it's out

June the 25th

June the 25th is when the book is out

but it is available to pre-order

now

it'll be available all over the world with global shipping

for everywhere you'd expect to buy books

as well as the good old local bookshop

yeah Grand Prix 101

it's very exciting

it's such

an achievement to

be holding something that you've written

in its final stages

it's very very cool I hope you feel very proud

of yourself and look

that little boy who has loved Formula One

since as we've said many times the early

noughties look what you've done

someone's asked you to

write a book about it because they think that

your knowledge

will be able to benefit other people

yeah it's called Grand Prix 101

everything you ever wanted to know about Formula One

comma explained

and do you know what that quote on the back

that I gave you

they've sat, we were talking about the bland podcast

we're not bland at all but they've sanitised

my quote

I think I called you a madman

or something

but I believe the full version of the quote

is on the things like Amazon

and the internet

so I believe the full version of the quote

is out there somewhere

read me Greg's quote

it says on the back if you're falling in love with

or have already been seduced by this brilliantly mad sport

you must read this book immediately

Greg James National Treasure

it doesn't say National Treasure

there was another version of that which was like

if you're deeply unwell like Christine Hughill

and my Formula One

and have ruined your life

because of your love of it then this book

is going to become your best friend

excellent

that is the crux of it

it's 50 questions

and the idea behind it

is once you've read these 50 questions

you know enough about the sport to love it

as much as I do I've always thought

that you can get some enjoyment

from just seeing the cars go around

but actually the more you know about it

the more you love it

so what I've really tried hard to do

is make something

that anyone who's like just getting into this

and we know there's a lot of people like this

who listen to this podcast

can just pick it up and go

here's an easily digestible 50 questions

just tell me what I need to know and off I go

but also if you have been watching for years

I've tried to put stuff in there

that you won't know

and that will teach you stuff

and you'll be like you know I didn't know that

so I've tried to make it suitable for both camps

so it's basically 50 questions

and also

a lot of those are like the most frequently asked questions

I get because naturally

being a sort of professional F1 geek

people come up to me and go

I've always wanted to know this so basically I've whacked all of those

into a book

and also it's a beautiful

coffee table book

it's not necessarily bed time reading

it's one of those ones that's just

really beautifully made

they've done such a good job

yeah it looks so pretty

the lovely people at

Wellbeck Illustrated who have done that bit

I've chosen the pictures

but they've made such

a lovely job of like making it pretty

it smells amazing is that weird to say that

my book smells amazing

I like that I love the new book smell

got the new book smell so

I'll tell you what

I'll try and get some copies to give away on the podcast

shall I

and we'll try and get it in some

great ideas

thanks for letting me talk about it guys

Grand Prix 101

it's useful for our listeners

if they love listening to the podcast

and they like your brain orally

then they can have it literally

on a piece of paper

and the podcast guest mentioned

did several points to the book pod fans

does it?

of course it does

go and pre-order that and support

in this endeavour because he's a

lovely man and a very talented man

and that comes out on June 25th

it is Grand Prix 101

I have another question

go on

what's all this about Oscar going to Red Bull

it's a good question

it's a very good question

I was quite shocked about this

I was really shocked

well let's just rewind a little bit

this came out was it

very shortly after Miami Betty

it was about this in Miami were we

there was some I would say

it wasn't just mindless

speculation I would say there were some

more reputable sources

reporting

that Oscar to Red Bull

is a conversation that's been at least

talked about and I would say

that that is probably

true but I would also say that

it's not unusual when drivers

retire I'm going to use Jensen

Buttern as another example

he talks about the fact that his team

went and spoke to Ferrari

and there was mutual interest there

it never happened he never drove for Ferrari

but agents of drivers

and representatives of drivers saying

do we think this could work in future

this does happen all the time

it's not unusual so it's not to say that

this isn't true

but it's also not necessarily to mean

that it's definitely going to happen

but Greg

it wouldn't surprise me

it shocked me a little bit

and I think

I put it on my Instagram I was like

what and loads of people were like well of course

why has it shocked you

of course this was going to happen

so why did it shock you

it shocked me because

I just can't comprehend Oscar

not driving for McLaren like

Greg said at the beginning of the podcast

I'm just not sure red is his colour

to be quite honest with you and I just

can't see it however

he does have that like ruthless

mentality and we've talked about this

for years haven't we and that

sort of fits into the whole red bull

brand

a little bit so

yeah

where would he slot in

do you think

does that feel like a good fit

okay so

there's two worlds for me that this becomes true

or three worlds

I said three worlds

world number three worlds welcome

to three worlds formula one

world number one

thanks Greg

that the

relationship between

Oscar and Lando I think

eventually one of them

will feel like they need to move on

and I said this last season

that and what's

died or dampened this down

a little bit is that at the moment

the car isn't like it was last year

the lead car

but eventually I think one of those

might go do you know what

I've been beaten by my teammates

and this happened again I mentioned it

earlier Vettel and Ricardo

Ricardo and Verstappen both of them have gone

you know what I've been beaten by my teammate

I need a change of scene

to refresh my career

this happens in formula one it doesn't mean

they'll have a blazing route or blazing fall out

it just might mean actually

I need a refresh

and with Lando winning the championship last year

probably that makes Oscar the

favourite to at some point think

do you know what

I need a new

surroundings here

some new surroundings here so that's world one

that is world one

world number two

Greg thank you world two

that

basically a seat becomes available

at Red Bull

and that either becomes

let's say for world two

Max gets bored

even if the regulations

are more suited to Max

I still don't think Max Verstappen will be

in this sport in ten years time

I really do believe him

I don't think he'll do an Alonzo or Hamilton

I don't think he'll be around till his late thirties

I think he'll probably win a couple more

best case scenario and go actually I want to go race another series

I want to go and be with my family I want to go and do other things

and therefore they need another number one driver

and is Oscar

Piastri capable of leading Red Bull

in the absence of Max Verstappen

I've said on this podcast so many times

I think he's world champion material

even though there were blips along the road last year

and he was ultimately beaten by Lando

do I think that he is still world champion material

yes I do

he'd be a good new number one

for Red Bull

but there is also

World No. 3

thank you

there is also World No. 3

where maybe

and it's not happened so far

where Isaac struggles

and Red Bull goes

you know what

we've tried promoting 912 drivers

we don't think Arvid Limblads in

we're never going to go

and get Liam Lawson back in

let's go back into the market

Oscar has proven his ability

to work alongside

a vastly talented teammate in Lando Norris

so if we're going to do a pares

and buy into the market like we've done before

is he someone that could work alongside Max

maybe

now that's the most unlikely of the world

because I think he's probably a bit too quick

to be alongside Max and it might cause friction

but who knows

they might decide we need the two best drivers

we can to take on Mercedes

in the constructed championship

they are for me the three worlds

where I feel like it is realistic and possible

Betty Glover, hi, welcome

question, why do you think

it's more likely that Oscar will leave

McLaren rather than Lando

obviously I know Lando won the world championship

with McLaren but

he's not like their favourite

no, I don't think he is their favourite

now other people think there's a conspiracy

and that he is McLaren's golden boy

I don't think McLaren go to all the effort

to buy him out of the Alpine contracts

and all the controversy there

and being off Daniel Ricciardo a year early

only to say to him a couple of years later

by the way you're our second favourite

I think McLaren's favourite is who is winning

I really do

but Lando won last year

and Lando has marginally started

the better this year

and for that reason and that reason

now there's plenty of time for that to turn round

but for that reason and that reason only

I think that's more likely

can I ask one big final question

yes you can, in fact I actively encourage you to do so

give me five

world scenarios

where Kimmy Antonelli could actually

win the championship

no just give me one, can Kimmy actually

win this thing?

yeah I think he can

and that doesn't need a long answer

I think he's talented enough

the question will be how does he recover from the dip

inevitably there'll be a dip

we saw it with Oscar last year

inevitably there will be a point where it goes wrong

how does he recover from that

when that happens it's a long season

there's still another how many ever races there are to go

when something goes wrong

how does he recover because he's that young

but is he talented enough

yes is he quick enough, yes does he have the car, yes

he is absolutely

well in this title fight

is he, in fact

I think he's a favourite

you say about him recovering from the dips

I think he has sort of

proven that he does that quite well

because when he makes a mistake

he sort of just gets straight back on it

and he does well

I think he'll recover well from the

from the dips

I just wonder

whether

George

is

whether George can just turn it on

and it's all about momentum in sport isn't it

it doesn't matter what sport you follow

what sport you're watching it's all about momentum

and at the moment Kimmy has that momentum

as soon as that swings

George wins Canada

George wins Spain

I don't know how

how that will then work

it's interesting though isn't it

it is, it is

it's wide open

and that's why I think lots of people are

drawn

to this season

because they've noticed

different names appearing

and that creates intrigue

and you see people being

annoyed at stuff you see drivers

not quite

famous drivers who have just

I wouldn't say had an easy run at it

but drivers that

regularly do really well suddenly

dropping down the pecking order and you go

oh well actually just on a base level

it's just interesting to see last year's champion

not

in the lead

that's just interesting you're like okay

something's going on here what is that something

so I think it makes

people lean in

well and for years we've had Hamilton and Verstappen

last year a new winner in Norwich this year

another new person at the top in Antonelli and Russell

yeah again it adds to that

and this is what we need to remember to go right back to the stars

of the podcast when we're saying about are we still enjoying it

my friend Tom for example

hi Tom

he's been watching F1 for 18 months

and he's like

loving this season the overtaking

the new people involved and we need to welcome

people like this who have

you know there's been people with this podcast from the start

there's people listening to this podcast who have been watching it for longer than me

but actually

sports are

pretty good place you know so

I'm really excited

I'm excited that it's coming back I'm excited that we can talk about this championship battle

and the dynamic between

the two Mercedes Drivers is just fascinating

so yeah lovely what a time to be alive

there'll be new listeners listening today for the first time

to Fast and Curious

and you're very very welcome

you are please buy my book

Betty then final word on

Canada to you then

George Russell is ever so strong in Canada

it's his race

have we mentioned George is good in Canada

it's honestly all anyone

is bloody saying isn't it

I think that

it's gonna be

I think a McLaren's gonna win

of course

it's due to rain on Sunday

in Montreal

so I'm sort of thinking

yeah I think it's gonna be

I think it's gonna be a McLaren

I don't know which one

but that's all I'm giving you

alright

a wet to dry Canadian Grand Prix

is just the stuff of

dreams for Formula 1 family

brilliant races in Canada

it's a circuit where you could overtake

it's a circuit where

mistakes are punished because

the walls are quite close

the fans are great there

I've done the last two Canadian Grand Prixs

I'm not there this year which will feel weird

but it's a great track

and we always get weather

so I tell you what

I will go

because he's proven how good he is

in the damp conditions in Canada

I'm gonna go with George Russell

alright

you sound really disappointed with that Greg

you sounded really disappointed

not at all

I was looking at

the standings and I'll go for

I'll actually mention

a McLaren driver I'm gonna go for

I don't know what order but I think it's gonna be

I think it's gonna be an Oscar

it's gonna be an Oscar Antonelli Russell

top three

it's not that groundbreaking

but that's pretty much on form

for George

but I think that's how it's gonna

shake out

it is interesting because I do think George is one of those people

I think he's gonna come into this

and he's just gonna be licking his lips

I think he's gonna be excited

I think he's gonna be ready to go

I don't think he's gonna feel pressure

shall we all lick our lips and say goodbye

look, this is how much we're excited about

mmm

that's disgusting

yummy, yummy Grand Prix

mmm

this is weird to look at for me

so I've just got both of you staring into your cameras

licking your lips

the Canadian Grand Prix, taste it

right guys, thank you so much

for listening to us once again

we'll be back next week post Canadian Grand Prix

in the meantime send us

questions, send us whatever

follow us on your social media

send us flowers

send us flowers which

social media produced with the Fast and the Curious

Nicola sent me some flowers

to congratulate me on the book

how nice is that, thanks Nicola

and makes us

makes us feel terrible better

I was sick Nicola

that's why I said it

I was just

what shall we send him

shall we send something bigger than that

send you a horse

brilliant, what?

I'll send you a horse

please don't send me a horse

although my dog Derek did me to horse at the weekend

anyway

on that bombshell let's go

send him a Ferrari

bye

Greg James is back! Christian has an announcement | Plus look ahead to Canadian Grand Prix

testing in Bahrain

world championships

Oldsmobile Intrigue

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