This is an F1 race in Spain at a track called Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The track has lots of fast turns, so having good downforce helps the cars grip the road and go faster through those corners.
Downforce is the aerodynamic “suction” effect that presses the car onto the track. More downforce usually means better grip, so the car can take corners faster.
“New reg set” is shorthand for a new set of Formula 1 regulations. When the rules change, teams redesign cars to meet the new aerodynamic and technical requirements, so performance differences can show up quickly.
Monaco is one of the most famous F1 races, run on very tight streets. It’s hard to drive and easy to get wrong, so strong performance there stands out.
Qualifying is the session where drivers set their starting positions for the race. If you qualify well, you usually start closer to the front, which can make the race easier.
A red flag means the race is stopped right away because something unsafe is happening. After that, the race can restart, and the drivers have to adjust their plan for the restart.
The gearbox helps the car use the engine’s power efficiently by choosing the right gear for the speed and driving situation. In racing, it’s a key part of how the car accelerates and stays fast.
This is about how the mental side of racing changes when people expect you to win. The hosts are saying that dealing with that stress can be as important as driving fast.
“Not suiting a car” means the car doesn’t match how that driver naturally likes to drive. If the car responds differently than what the driver is used to, they can feel slower until they adjust—or until the team changes the setup to fit them.
Term
F4
F4 is a lower-level “training league” for young race drivers. Drivers learn racecraft there, but not every car will feel perfect for every driving style.
Term
F2
F2 is a major junior series where drivers are preparing for the top. Even if cars are similar, each design can feel different, so drivers have to learn how to get the most out of it.
Term
F3
F3 is a step in the junior racing pathway where drivers keep developing. The idea here is that different cars can feel different, so not everyone will instantly gel with every design.
A “regulation set” is the rulebook for how the cars are designed and run. When the rules change, the cars can behave differently, and that can make it easier for some drivers and harder for others.
“Car characteristics” is just how the car feels and behaves—like whether it turns easily, grips well, and how it reacts when you press the gas or brake. If the car changes, the driver may need to change how they drive to stay fast.
A simulator is basically a very advanced driving practice setup. Instead of testing on a real track, drivers can practice and learn how the car behaves using computer models.
“Sim work” means practicing and improving using the simulator instead of driving on a real track. It’s what teams do when they can’t test as much in the real car.
Tire prep means getting the tires ready so they work at their best. It’s not just driving one lap—drivers have to warm and condition the tires first, and that’s tough to reproduce in a computer simulation.
Tire models are the computer’s way of predicting how tires will act. They help the simulator “guess” how the tires will heat up and wear based on how you drive.
Track models are the simulator’s digital version of the race track. They help the computer reproduce how the circuit feels so the tires and car behave realistically.
A midlife tire is a tire that isn’t new anymore—it’s been used for a while. Tires change as they wear, so the car feels different mid-stint than it does at the start.
The Spanish Grand Prix is one of Formula 1’s main races. It’s run at a famous track in Spain, and teams use it to see how their cars and strategies stack up.
An “inquiry” means the race officials look closely at what happened during an incident. They decide if someone broke the rules and whether there should be a penalty.
“Intra-team rivalry” means teammates fighting for position against each other. It can get messy because they’re on the same team and share the same car and support.
“Accident damage costs” means the money spent to fix or replace car parts after a crash. If drivers keep having incidents, it can create extra pressure inside the team.
Car balance is how the car feels in a corner—whether it tends to push wide or rotate more easily. If the balance isn’t right for the driver, they’ll struggle even if the car is fast on paper.
Understeer is when the car won’t turn in enough and tends to go wide in a corner. It usually means the front tires aren’t gripping as well as the rear.
Single-lap performance is about how fast you can go for one quick lap, like qualifying. Some drivers are especially good at getting the car to feel perfect for that short moment.
Front end means how the front of the car behaves in corners. If the front end feels right, the driver can turn in confidently instead of pushing wide.
Term
Saturday
Saturday is usually qualifying day in F1. The host is saying the car felt right after changes, and the driver looked good in qualifying, but then things changed again.
Here “brakes” means more than just stopping. It’s about whether the car can brake hard and repeatedly without fading, and whether the driver feels confident doing it lap after lap.
A lap is split into timed sections called sectors. “Sector three” is just the third part of the track, and it helps teams see where the car is gaining or losing time.
Chicanes are a sequence of tight corners that force the driver to slow down. Changing them changes how fast you can go through that part of the track and how the car behaves.
They changed part of the track layout—removing chicanes and adding two faster corners. That can change where you brake and how the car feels through the middle of the lap.
A “braking point” is where the driver decides to start slowing down for a corner. Hit it earlier or later and you’ll change how fast you go through the turn—and how much work the brakes have to do.
“High speed balance” means how stable and controllable the car feels in the fast parts of a track. If the setup isn’t right, the car can feel twitchy or unstable when you’re going quickly.
“Corner balance” is how the car’s grip is balanced when you’re turning. If it’s off, the car can feel like it understeers (pushes wide) or oversteers (wants to rotate too much).
“Turn three” is the third corner on the track. The point is that it’s long enough that the car can feel different in different parts of the corner, so setup matters there.
Ferrari is the team brand the host references when discussing what the team believes is (or isn’t) a strength. In this context, it’s about whether Ferrari’s car characteristics suit Barcelona’s fast-corner demands.
Some parts of the track are rough or uneven, and some corners have curbs you can ride over. Those bumps and kerbs can make the car lose traction or feel unstable, so teams have to set the suspension and tires up to handle it.
The gearbox has different gear ratios. A “shorter” setup means the car gets into the power band faster for quicker acceleration, which can help on tracks with lots of slower turns.
A “pure pace podium” means you made it to the podium because you were simply faster than everyone else. The speaker is saying some podiums might have been influenced by events around the race, not just speed.
A “mechanical problem” means the car has a mechanical failure or malfunction. In racing, that can slow the car down or force the team to change plans, which can easily cost a podium.
Montreal is where the Canadian Grand Prix is held, on a track with fast sections and big braking zones. It can reward a well-balanced car, but if something goes wrong mechanically, results can change quickly.
Term
numbers guy
He’s saying he looks at the results using data and trends, not just vibes. In racing, that usually means comparing how big the performance gaps are and whether things are improving over time.
Place
benchmark racetrack
A “benchmark racetrack” is a track that teams use like a measuring stick. They expect it to show clearly how good the car is and where it needs work.
The front wing is the aerodynamic “spoiler” at the front of the F1 car. It helps push the car down onto the track so the tires can grip better in corners.
Reliability just means the car can keep running and finish the race. If a team needs reliability, it’s because they’ve been having too many breakdowns or problems.
An upgrade package is a set of new parts the team brings to make the car faster or easier to drive. The goal is for those new parts to keep working well all weekend.
Race starts means how many times a driver actually began a Grand Prix from the starting grid. It’s basically a count of how many races they’ve started, which shows experience.
Damon Hill is a former Formula 1 champion. The hosts bring him up because he’s another driver people remember as being strongly tied to Williams.
LIVE
Now, I really do think the pressure is on Kimmy in a different way, the expectations
on Kimmy in a different way.
He can play with that margin.
You talk about pressure, but to me, it looks the opposite.
Can he bounce back from the demons of last year at these races?
That's going to be the defining thing of these next few rounds.
Is the pressure completely off George?
It's easier to do the hunting, isn't it, than be the hunting?
George isn't out of the fight, but to not be out of the fight, he has to start performing.
There's a pressure to maintain that grasp of the championship.
Lewis, I feel he's got his mojo back.
And if not going on the sim is what gets the best out of Lewis, forget the sim.
Lando said in Monaco that he was looking forward to this weekend.
They need some reliability, though, don't they?
Yeah, that's probably been one of the biggest shocks of the year.
Welcome, everybody, to F1 Nation with me, Tom Clarkson.
I'm at the circuit of Barcelona, Catalonia, and alongside me is James Hinchcliffe.
And we're going to look ahead to this weekend's newly named Barcelona, Catalonia Grand Prix.
Hinch, it is great to see you at a race again.
How are you?
I'm well.
I'm well.
It's great to be back on the ground.
And again, not just doing this through the Brady Bunch screen of a Zoom call, it's always
nice to be back at track.
We're sat on top of one of the motos as well.
That's a different vibe to the flyaways, isn't it?
It really is.
You're just chatting about this.
I don't do a lot of the European rounds.
And every time I come to a paddock in one of the European races, I am blown away by these
structures that each team builds and brings to the track.
So, so impressive.
And I got to say, not terrible.
I don't hate it.
Tom, I got a bounce.
I don't hate it.
Hinch, three days ago, they were in Monaco as well.
I know.
This is extraordinary.
But let's talk all things Spain now.
This is a circuit that the teams know incredibly well, all 4.6 kilometers of it.
What kind of a challenge is it for the car and the driver?
Well, I think, you know, it's interesting from the driver's standpoint.
I think there's a lot of comfort coming from the fact that most of these drivers have more
laps around this track than maybe any other one on the calendar.
Just even coming up through the junior categories, there's lots of used to be lots of testing
done here.
From a driver's standpoint, long, fast corners, you know, it's physical and that sense tough
on the neck.
And it's got a really nice flow to it.
I think, especially since they've kind of cleaned up the last sector, it's something
that the drivers really enjoy coming to.
From the car standpoint, again, this is kind of the track that was always the baseline
for ultimate downforce performance, right?
This is the one, especially with the tracks that we've seen so far in the year.
And extra, especially because we lost the two Middle Eastern rounds in Bahrain and Saudi,
proper circuit, long, fast corners.
This is where downforce is king.
And this is where I think a lot of teams are getting a sense of the pecking order in terms
of who has been able to bring the most downforce to their car over the course of this new reg
set.
And because it's actually the first place that these cars ever hit the racetrack, even
though those times weren't published, we know roughly what the order was.
The teams, at least, will truly know how much performance they've added to the car since
January, which is, I think, going to be pretty fascinating for all of them.
Sure will.
Well, let's talk Mercedes and Kimi and Tonelli.
Actually, can we get your thoughts on his performance at the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend?
I feel like we've said this three weeks in a row now.
Best performance I think we've seen out of him.
I know we said that after Miami.
I know we said it after Japan.
We keep saying this because he keeps outdoing himself.
What impressed you so much about Monaco?
It wasn't supposed to be a Mercedes dominant track.
Throughout practice, it wasn't come qualifying when everything is on the line.
I think if there was going to be a track where this youthful exuberance we see in his driving
style and his racing style was maybe going to bite him, it was going to be Monaco.
And he was faultless all weekend when it came to qualifying, which is the most important
qualifying session of the year.
Not only did he find the performance in the car, he found it himself, didn't make any mistakes.
And then in the Grand Prix, he absolutely walked away from the field.
And that's before you put the pressure on of a second start after a red flag and a, you know,
12 laps, shoot at whatever it was to the finish with a seven-time champion
on your gearbox.
He drove away from Lewis then as well.
It was exceptional, setting fastest laps when the team's telling him to calm down
and, you know, breaks the age record of a grand slam holder by years.
I mean, it was truly an unbelievable performance at a time where maybe we weren't expecting it.
What has impressed you the most, the way he's driving on track or the way he's dealing with
the level of expectation and the pressure off track?
I'm going to go with the former because there was still less pressure and expectation
coming into this first part of the season than there was on George, right?
So how he's been able to match and exceed George in a lot of ways at a lot of tracks,
that's been what's super impressive.
Now we're to a point with a, I mean, he's got more than a two Grand Prix lead in the points.
Now the expectation is there.
Five Grand Prix wins in a row.
Now that pressure and that expectation changes.
George said it.
It's now his chip of chip to lose.
Kimmy, you know, bites back.
No, I'm still the underdog.
He's not.
He is, but he's not anymore.
We were, Jolene and I, we've had this, right?
We were still batting the house on George until two weeks ago.
Now I really do think the pressure is on Kimmy in a different way.
The expectation I should say is on Kimmy in a different way because every new situation
that he's been put in, he is delivered and delivered exceptionally.
I mean, he's 66 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in P2,
68 points ahead of George Russell.
I mean, he can play with that margin.
I mean, you talk about pressure, but to me, it looks the opposite.
He can afford to take the occasional P2 to George or Lewis play the percentage game now.
Yes, that's why I, that's why I change it from pressure to expectation
because they are slightly different and you are right.
The pressure in some ways is off because there's a pretty nice buffer there.
But the expectation now is that he's going to show up to every racetrack and win.
Whether or not he's able to execute when that is the overwhelming expectation,
that's going to be kind of the defining thing of these next few rounds.
Everyone's going to go back to his European season last year when his season really fell apart.
So can he bounce back from the demons of last year at these races,
based on everything we've seen?
Yes, he can, but he still has to do it.
So again, the expectation is higher, but the pressure is put himself in a really good position.
Okay, so conversely, let's talk about pressure and George Russell now.
Two races in a row where he scored zero points.
What do we got? Just 16 races to go now.
Is the pressure completely off George?
It's easier to do, to do the hunting, isn't it, than be the hunted?
It is, but the expectation is still also there.
And he has the pressure of if it gets any bigger, being the gap, then, you know,
because everybody's still pointing to last year, right?
It's, well, you know, Lino had a 34 point gap to overcome miles further into the season
than we are currently.
Max 108 points and he got all but two of them back, whatever it was,
turn four, whatever it was.
So they're going to keep defaulting to last year's gaps as, no, no, George isn't out of the fight,
but to not be out of the fight, he has to start performing.
So there's a pressure to maintain that, you know, grasp of the championship.
And if he doesn't perform, then, yeah, I mean, the expectations there,
the pressure is still there, I think, until he's kind of mathematically out of it.
I do still think there's a fair amount of pressure on him.
No, we've spoken quite a lot about how some tracks suit drivers better than others,
particularly George Russell, when he, you know, he went into the Miami Grand Prix saying,
this isn't my racetrack and it so it proved over the weekend.
Montreal was his racetrack.
And okay, he was, he was going well until the retirement though.
I mean, so it proved.
But what about race cars?
Because he's now saying this car doesn't suit me.
And that's, that's more of a fundamental problem because he's got to turn up every
weekend in this race car.
Just as a driver, how do you negotiate that problem?
The problem of not suiting a car.
So it's, it's very doable, but it is very challenging because drivers get to this level
by doing a certain thing in a race car, driving a car a certain way.
And then the junior categories, everyone's in the same equipment.
And so you have to learn how to make that car go fast, right?
Not every F4, F3, F2 design is going to naturally suit every driver's style.
So to be consistent across all those championships, which George was,
you had to learn what made that particular car tick.
It's kind of, it's kind of what we've seen kind of going the other way with Lewis Hamilton.
And the last regulation set, it was not conducive to his style, to being quick.
For George, it was a little more not his natural style suited that car better.
Now we've changed.
Lewis is doing better.
George is struggling more relatively speaking.
Lewis never quite cracked it with the last one because I think the older you are,
the further you get into your career, the harder it is to make those changes,
especially because Lewis was with one organization for so long
and the car characteristics were the same for so long.
He didn't have to adapt.
George is kind of getting to that tenure where it's going to be harder to change,
but it's still very doable.
The information's all there.
You can see exactly what Kimmy's doing.
A lot of this is coming down to the tire prep.
That's one of the talking points that George has had, right?
It's harder with his style to get the heat into these tires the right way
and to prep them properly.
Kimmy's natural style is a bit more aggressive.
He can get there and qualifying a bit easier.
Okay, fine.
If we've identified that as the issue, you've got to now just go out and fix it.
It's hard to do because it's obviously going against his natural style,
is the way he's naturally inclined to find speed out of a race car,
but if that's what has to be done, you have to figure it out.
You have to learn it.
Aren't your fastest laps in a race car the ones when you're not having to think?
100%.
The work is making it second nature.
Right?
The work is not just looking at the data and then going out and doing it once.
It's getting to the point where that is now your default position.
So that way the tires are where they need to be without you even thinking about it.
And then you can just carry on with the job of driving the lap.
Right.
And it's hours in the simulator because there's no testing now.
God, wouldn't George have loved Formula One 20 years ago
when after every Grand Prix you could go testing on track?
Could you imagine?
Yeah.
Imagine having your own test facility outside the back of the factory,
like they do at Ferrari.
I mean, that would have been incredible.
That's part of what made Schumacher so good, right?
It was just like the relentless amount of laps he did in a race car during that period.
Whereas now it's all sim work.
It's all sim work.
And tire prep is much harder to mimic in the sim than just a lap.
Right?
I mean, the way these tire models are built and the way the track models are built,
you can get it all very close.
But the intricacies of tire prep and, you know, normally in a sim,
your lap just sort of starts, right?
I mean, you just go and your first time into the first corner,
everything is whatever they set it as, whether it's new tires or midlife tire or whatever.
But you just go.
It's just there.
The hard part, what he's struggling with is getting it to that point.
And I don't know if you can even accurately replicate that and practice that in the sim.
Hinch, I don't know where you were 10 years ago.
The Spanish Grand Prix.
I think you were probably in the...
I was sitting in a hospital bed.
Oh, no, 2016.
No, no.
I was, uh, yeah.
We were, we were doing fresh off Detroit race or something.
Oh, prepping because it was back in May, the Spanish Grand Prix back then.
But I think you might know where I'm going with this.
Hamilton's onto the grass and Hamilton's at a massive crash and he's crashed into his teammate.
The two Mercedes come together as Hamilton tried to pass on the inside
and he can cover his hands over his eyes and he won't want to see that again.
And there will be a big, big inquiry behind closed doors into that.
Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, collide on that one.
And of course that sort of ends up giving Max Verstappen his first win for Red Bull.
But what I actually wanted to ask you about is just how your man,
how Mercedes managed the Kimmy George intra-team rivalry this year because it got out of hand,
didn't it, between Hamilton and Rosberg?
And eventually, uh, Toto Wolf was having to find the drivers and, you know,
share the accident damage costs and all those sorts of things.
Do you see the same problems arising for Toto Wolf with these two?
I would say the potential is much higher than I thought it was when we first had this chat
at the start of the season.
I think the way that Kimmy has approached the year, the way he's approached Racing George,
personally, I'm a little surprised, not at all disappointed.
In fact, pretty impressed.
But it's, he's, he's going for it.
He understands at a very young age that this opportunity could be a once in a lifetime opportunity
for as impressive as he's been and then however, and how many years he has ahead of him if he wants.
This could still be the only time that he's in a championship winning car against a teammate
that he is level or better than.
So I kind of respect the fact that he's not like, oh yeah, at 19, I'm already winning this much.
I'll get my championship if this one doesn't work out.
He's approaching this one the same way that Lando and Oscar did last year.
Like this might be the only shots you've got.
And, and I, I, it's pretty admirable that at 19, he's understood that.
And all Merck favorites this weekend?
Yes, I do believe so.
I do believe so.
I mean, we know the car is good.
We know the power units good.
They haven't lost a race yet.
So you'd have to think of the favorites.
And this is a very abrasive circuit with fast corners.
Do you think that will help George in his tire prep?
If the argument it places like Miami were that it's low grip and it's hard to get the heat in,
then 100%.
This should be, again, another one that George is very strong at.
Not to say Kimmy won't be, but hopefully George is a little more in the fight.
Let's look at the chasing pack now.
Ferrari, should we start talking about Lewis?
I mean, it's back to back P2s for him.
Six wins at this track.
He's now P2 in the world championship for the first time since 2021.
I feel he's got his mojo back.
It certainly looks that way.
You know, it's funny.
We had the, the two best results before Monaco, right?
We're China and Canada and the two races that he hadn't used the sim.
I'm, I'm a numbers guy.
You know, two data points is not a, two is a coincidence.
Three is a trend, right?
So after Canada, I'm like, I could argue that countries that have races,
that the country starts with a letter C is the reason that he's running well, right?
The sim thing I didn't entirely buy after, after Canada, if I'm completely honest,
Monaco, all right, now that's three is a trend.
So it's, it's trending that he's, he's figured something out.
And whether it's in the car, whether it's just in the prep,
sim, no sim, whatever, he seems to be in a good mindset.
And that's always when Lewis strives his best.
So it's, it's going to be interesting to see.
I think a lot of people have mistaken him not doing the sim
for him not doing any prep.
I think just cause he's not in the sim, he's still looking at it.
It's very different.
It's very different.
He's still looking at the data going through everything apart from the sim bit.
In, in the same way that I remember last year, we had the conversation about Lano Norris
and his sometimes kind of self deprecating comments in, in the pen post session, post race,
whatever.
And some people thought it was, you know, not, not the thing a champion does, right?
And I always took the position of, I think that, I think that Lando had figured out
what worked best for Lando and lying to yourself and thus the media and in public putting out
something that wasn't true.
And you knew that when you went to bed didn't sit well with him and he didn't get the best
out of himself in those situations.
He did the best when he was the one that confronted the problem before anyone in the
media could, right?
I think it's a similar kind of trend.
Lewis has found what works for him.
And if not going on the sim is what gets the best out of Lewis, forget the sim.
He's doing a ton of prep with data analysis, how he's always done it.
He said he's never been a big sim person.
He was going above and beyond with Ferrari to try to get up to speed faster, but clearly
it's just not working for him.
Yeah. And I think Carlo Santi used to work with Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari.
Kimi Raikkonen was not a big sim guy as well.
So I think he's obviously got experience of how to extract the best from his driver without
using the sim.
Lewis has even described Carlo as his Italian bono, right?
So let's look at the other side of the garage.
So if everything seems to be well set for Lewis, I feel Charlotte Clair is,
he's reaching a difficult moment.
And the irony of him having just committed long term to Ferrari while he's going through
this little bit of a dip.
I mean, let's look at the last three races.
He lost the podium in Miami with that late spin.
He had the worst weekend of his Formula One career, his quote, not mine, in Canada.
And then of course he lost the podium in Monaco when he crashed at Anthony Nogue's late in the race.
I mean, I suppose I'm saying him and George could both do with a decent result this weekend,
couldn't they?
For sure.
I think it's a pretty big one for both of those guys.
Maybe a little less so for Charlotte just because he's a driver that's always been
a little more sensitive to set up and car balance.
I remember there were times when science was his teammate and the car had a little bit more
of a natural understeer balance.
And Carlos was out qualifying him, out racing him.
And this is a guy who we kind of hail was one of the best over a single lap especially.
And then they got the front end to feel the way he wanted it to feel and all of a sudden Saturday
as he was gone again, right?
He's a little bit particular.
I think Jensen Button was kind of the same way.
He really needed a certain car balance.
He couldn't drive around things the way that some other guys could.
Not a criticism, just sort of an observation.
So I think if if Charlotte can keep working on getting the car back to the feeling he needs,
I think he can be very strong and him and Lewis can have a great little battle.
So we'll see if this track and the setup they bring here is going to give him that feeling.
The brakes are obviously a question again after after Monaco.
It'll be interesting to see if they have made a swap for Leclerc or not.
But it'd be important for him to have a good weekend.
Just interesting.
A couple of years ago, they changed the layout of this track from having the Chicanes
in sector three to just having those two fast corners.
So there's a couple of big braking points here, but the rest of it less so.
So maybe the brakes, even if he keeps what he what he's had at the last two races,
may not be as big a factor for him.
Yeah, it's a good point.
It's not a high braking energy track in comparison to many others.
So yeah, this one's just much more about kind of high speed balance, right?
And corner balance throughout the consistency.
I mean, you look at turn three here, you can have three different balances in that corner
because it's so long.
But yeah, I mean, it's high speed corners or what Ferrari is saying,
isn't necessarily a strength of theirs right now.
So it will be interesting to see kind of where really where everybody stacks up here
because it's just kind of different from what we've been racing on the last few weeks.
Red Bull and McLaren.
Who do you fancy out of those two to finish ahead this weekend?
I would have said McLaren, but I would have said McLaren last week as well.
And that certainly wasn't the case.
You know, Red Bull claimed to be bad at bumpy tracks and curbs.
And they weren't, you know, McLaren with a shorter gear stack and a Mercedes power unit.
You would have thought would have been quite strong at Monaco and they weren't.
I think that's what's kind of fun about 2026 is we're still learning as the cars develop every week
who is strong and what areas is going to change as well.
So yeah, my gut still says McLaren will be the quicker car, but I could very well be wrong.
What's your take on Red Bull?
Because they've actually finished on the podium at the last two races, different drivers, but
are they starting to find a way for me?
The power unit is clearly strong.
Are they starting to find a path with that car?
Tough to tell. Max's qualifying lap at Monaco was just unbelievable, but it was very max, right?
That was that was the max effect, I think, to a certain extent.
Hadja's podium impressive and amazing and great for him took a lot of help.
That was not a pure pace podium.
Even Max in Montreal, you know, if George doesn't have a mechanical problem,
they're not on the podium there either.
Again, there's a lot of caveats of both those podiums.
Two is a coincidence, three is a trend.
There's there's there's still for me as the numbers guy,
there's still a bit of gap there.
I think directionally they're getting better.
Certainly whatever they did in Miami helped Max get the feeling back in the front of the car
and they're going to keep making it better.
But I'm not sure they've actually made as big a step as the last two races have made it look.
And back to McLaren, Lando said in Monaco that he was looking forward to this weekend
because you've mentioned it already, but this is a benchmark racetrack.
And I think, you know, they've been putting new parts on the car, taking them off.
First time we've seen that at McLaren for a few years.
And I think to come to this racetrack, see what the front wing is doing.
They've tried it at both of the last two races and taking it off.
I think, you know, they've got so much data, historical data at this track that
I think it's come at a really good time for McLaren.
And they were really quick here last year.
They need some reliability, though, don't they?
Yeah, that's probably been one of the biggest shocks of the year is just, you know,
how many issues and different issues.
It's not like it's one consistent thing that they're struggling to get on top of.
It is a bunch of different things that have taken them out.
But no, I agree that this is going to be an interesting one for them.
The track layout and theory should suit the car if, because we finally have, you know,
it's a good high downforce track, but not like in the way Monaco is.
And you've actually, we're not a sprint weekend, right?
They can actually do a little bit of assessment and analysis over the weekend.
So hopefully that front wing and all the all the effects it has down the car and maybe some
other pieces they brought this weekend can make that part of the upgrade package,
you know, stick and stay on the car.
All right. Well, inch final thing, I just I'm looking over your shoulder
and looking at Alex Albon's Nigel Mansel inspired helmet design for this weekend.
Because Alex is surpassing the 1992 world champion as the driver with the most race
starts for Williams.
This will be number 96.
Let's assuming he starts.
That is a very impressive milestone, particularly for a guy who let's not forget,
you know, in 2020 was dropped by Red Bull.
And he's managed to not only, you know, get back into Formula One,
but commitment works both ways, doesn't it?
It works from the driver to the team, but also the team to the driver.
So he's clearly doing something right.
Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I think it is it is fascinating, though, when I first read that,
I was kind of blown away because you think about these names like, you know, whether it is Mansel
or whether it was Damon Hill or whether it was, you know, these these drivers that felt like
they were at Williams forever.
Yeah.
And all of a sudden he's the most tenured guy.
I know we have a lot more Grand Prix in a year now than we did back then.
So that helps the cause.
But, you know, it speaks volumes, I think, to what he brings as a driver, what he brings as a leader,
the fact that, you know, his career was sort of thrown a bit of a lifeline after getting
dropped by Red Bull.
But he so quickly established himself as an invaluable part of that team in this very crucial
phase of, you know, trying to slowly build itself back up to to what it was like when
Nigel was driving there and when Damon was driving there.
So for sure, a lot of trust from Albonne, who because of the kind of resurgence he had there,
I'm sure had interest from other teams post Red Bull, but also that the that the team has been
loyal to him.
Well, Alex is my latest guest on F1 Beyond the Grades.
And I asked him about the future and why Williams are on the back foot this year.
We're in this position more because we were taking a lot of risks.
We want to be thinking outside the box and thinking as far ahead as we can.
And I think realistically, we bit off more than we can chew.
It's not for the same reasons of we're just slow.
It was actually more the opposite of we were maybe too ambitious.
James Valza said he wants you and Carlos for the future.
Are you on the same page?
I would love to stay.
I think that for me, it's I want to see it through.
I want to see where we get to.
I feel like there's unfinished business this year was it was actually tough in many ways,
even just mentally, because you just seeing this forwards momentum going through.
And now we're there's areas that we realize, OK, well, this is going to take a couple more years
than than we would like, let's say, you know, you as much as you want to immediately get
pen to paper, you do want to see where and how the team evolve.
And I think for for me, it's 100%.
I love the board. I love I love JV.
I think the team is in a great place.
So I want to see this see this work.
James has said 2030 is when he wants to see Williams challenging for world championships.
Do you think that date is doable?
Yeah, I would have said, you know, we're previous to the end of last year.
My eyes were kind of 28, 29, 28, really.
I think from from this year, it's kind of gone.
OK, you know, it's been slightly more 2030.
I believe it's a good number.
And is 2030 realistic for those guys?
Yeah, I think I think any sooner might be a challenge.
So yeah, let's let's go with that.
I mean, so much of it.
And you know, James Valles has spoken about this at length on numerous occasions.
It's it's the it's the process.
It's the facilities.
It's the resource they have back.
All that stuff takes so long to build up and then to build all the procedures
around all the new equipment, facilities again,
takes such a long time while you're simultaneously designing and racing a car and off you go.
So yeah, it's it's not the work of a day for sure.
But yeah, I think all the parts are in place.
The pieces are in place that by 2030 they could be there.
Driver's careers are short.
How difficult is it for a driver to be that patient?
Nearly impossible.
I mean, to tell your driver, just give me four more years and we'll be with it within a shout,
maybe of a championship.
It's it's tough to hear, but you have to have faith in the in the projects.
You have to have an option to leave.
If you know, there might not be a do you want to be in a formula one?
This might be the best and only option.
So it's it's a it's not what a driver wants to hear, certainly.
But but again, we were just talking about the loyalty that that each each party has for one
another. So it would be cool.
It is cool.
There is something to say for a driver about being the one or one of the key members in
building a team into a championship caliber thing.
Well, I think that's why Charles Leclerc has committed to Ferrari long time.
And Charles will be the driver who starts the most races for Ferrari next year
when he surpasses Michael Schumacher.
Lando has Lando Norris has started more races for McLaren than any other driver.
You're right. There's a trend.
There's a trend.
It's it's what it's what Fernando wanted to do with Aston.
Probably probably not going to happen.
But you know, it paid off for Lando.
It's what Czechos saying he wants to do with Cadillac.
Again, maybe not to a championship position with the years he has left,
but move it up, you know, be part of building something great.
There is a lot of pride in that for a driver.
Well, that chat with Alex is out now on the beyond the grid feed,
and you can also watch on the F1 YouTube channel.
Hinch, it is so good to see you in person again and have a chat.
Let's end this with some podium predictions.
I know you love that.
I was really hoping we were going to forget that this time.
Well, you know, we've been talking about, you know, I said it was still Mercedes
favorites, so I'm going to say it's George's weekend to bounce back.
We'll say it's George.
It'll be a Mercedes one, too.
So then it's Kimmy.
And I do think it could be, you know, a nice comeback weekend for McLaren as well.
So let's throw, let's throw Piastri in P3.
Man, damn you.
I was going to say exactly the same order because Piastri has always gone really well.
And he's been on the bit on the back foot in recent races.
I could see this as the place where Oscar delivers something special,
but just don't think they've got the performance of Mercedes.
Well, Hinch, great to chat.
You are leading the coverage on F1 TV this weekend, aren't you?
Yes.
Yes, foolishly, they've given me the big mic, as we like to say.
So yeah, make sure you tune in and watch the madness.
Well, in in selected countries, you can tune into Hinch and the team on F1 TV
and on Apple TV in the US as well.
And you can keep across all the action in Barcelona at f1.com, the F1 app,
or at F1 on social media.
We will, of course, be back on Monday to review the race,
but thank you very much for listening.
F1 Nation is produced by Formula One and AudioBoom Studio.
About this episode
Pressure and expectation are shifting fast for Kimi and George as the Barcelona-Catalunya GP approaches. The hosts weigh how reliability shocks have shaped the season, then zoom in on why this track is “where downforce is king” and how its abrasive, fast-corner layout can make tire prep and physical strain decisive. Monaco’s composure becomes a benchmark, while George’s recent points drought raises the stakes. With a points buffer changing the meaning of pressure for Kimi, the weekend feels like expectation management as much as speed.
Tom Clarkson is joined in the paddock by IndyCar race winner James Hinchcliffe to preview this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
With Kimi Antonelli on a run of five wins in a row, and leading his teammate George Russell by 68 points in the World Championship, how is the pressure and expectation now changing for both Mercedes drivers?
The guys also discuss why they think Lewis Hamilton ‘has his mojo back’ at Ferrari and what Charles Leclerc needs to get out of his recent difficult patch.
Plus, as Alex Albon prepares to become the driver with the most race starts in Williams history on Sunday, what does that milestone tell us about Alex?
