Is Max Verstappen Still in the Title Fight? 👀🏆 | Unlapped

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Hello, hello. Welcome to another Unlapped, because it is another week.

Lawrence Edmondson is here. I'm Nicole Briscoe.

Last, my voice has been...

What's the word that I can say?

Not amazing all week, but like it's sort of better today.

I still feel like, but I feel like it's come around just in time for our weekly visit.

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Let's get the business out of the way to begin with.

Remember, if you're watching with your apples on the ESPN YouTube channel,

the ESPN F1 channel is where you can get our F1 content all season long,

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Also, if you're watching or listening to us someplace else, great.

Awesome. Just like, subscribe, give us a five star review.

Just make sure that you're back every single week. How are you?

I'm pretty good. I wasn't in Baku. I wasn't in Monza.

So I'm actually slightly missing race tracks,

but I'm heading off to Singapore in a week's time, so I'll get my fill then.

But hey, it was still entertaining, even watching from the couch,

and you know, well behind the laptop screen for me still,

but still an entertaining weekend, I thought.

Was it hugely entertaining weekend?

Also, I'm noticing that with my right, so your left,

the little tiny bit of chipmunk cheek left over from the wisdom tooth

has been fully, it's been fully removed now.

Now you're like, Norma, how do you feel?

Yeah, I feel much better as well in that regard.

So yeah, I mean, I was struggling to speak last week,

because yeah, the wisdom tooth removal,

and then I'll have to take the lion's share this week,

if your voice gives out, but it's not sounding good.

I'll just go see myself out.

What was your biggest takeaway from the weekend that was Bako?

Because I feel like there are so many wild elements

to what we could be here for a while.

Well, I think the big one that a lot of people are focusing on on Sunday is,

okay, Red Bull actually might have a competitive car going forward.

There's still some big questions in my mind about that,

but two consecutive wins in a row,

and two very convincing consecutive wins in a row, is impressive.

Meanwhile, we saw how quickly things can unravel,

even for someone as cool, calm, and collected as Oscar Piastri.

I mean, I think we've spoken so many times in this podcast

about how that guy just gets results, no matter what.

Well, this weekend, in Bako, it all went wrong.

And so yeah, that was two things that actually

do slightly change a picture going into the final seven races,

maybe a little bit too little, too late for Red Bull,

but I'm sure we'll talk about that.

It feels like a little bit of like cracks in the armor from McLaren,

but also let's just go with Max,

because there were a couple of things that I thought,

you know, I say he could drive a shoebox.

So with his recent form, there was a large part of me that thought,

oh, this is just Max being Max.

But then if you throw Yuki's performance in from this weekend,

that was the thing that made me realize, wait a minute,

maybe this isn't just all Max,

maybe Red Bull is also heading sort of in the right direction.

Like, so what is it?

Is it Max? Is it the team? Is it a combination of both?

I think it's a combination of a few things.

I think some of it is definitely coming from Max,

because for the first time this season,

he's talking about how the car actually feels reasonably balanced.

And remember, if we go back to even Suzuka,

where he took that amazing pole position and the victory,

for other weekend, he was saying how the car just felt,

well, like a shoebox, as he so nicely put it.

But now it seems like they've unlocked something,

they found something.

It's not entirely clear whether this is purely set up driven,

although they definitely have settled on a set up the Max likes.

And it's not clear how much is coming from the floor upgrade

that was introduced in Monza.

But that's the kind of thing that could make a big difference

with the balance of the car and how it feels.

But the big question going forward is,

okay, you can do it on Monza and Baku,

where the wings are trimmed back.

We've seen throughout this season,

as we've built trends of where cars are quick

and where they aren't,

we've seen that the Red Bull has been slightly better behaved

when the wings are trimmed back.

But when the full downforce goes on,

they've really struggled to get that balance

working in the same way.

And also through longer duration corners.

So I think Budapest, where you've got this long sweeping corners,

that's where the car just starts to lose performance

because it can't be balanced in throughout the length of that corner.

And therefore, time is just ticking away,

even in Max Verstappen's hands when he's going through that corner.

So that's a big question going forward

because Singapore next race is high downforce.

But I think even if you,

even if they lose some of that performance,

it's still a step they've made

and Max still feels more comfortable.

And that has got McLaren worried even on Saturday night

when Andrea Stella was asked about

whether Max has become a threat for the title.

And this was before he cut the gap on Sunday.

He said, yes.

And he said, put it in capitals in your copy.

Yes, YES.

So McLaren are convinced.

But I think it is probably all a little bit too late

because there's still 69 points.

And I mean, we've been watching this for a while.

That's a lot.

But at this point last year,

that was essentially the gap between Lando and Max.

And we were looking at Max like, oh, wait, here's what he needs to do.

Here's what Lando could do.

So we've taken the situation that we were in last year

and essentially just reversed it.

The difference is, I think, the mindset.

Also, the difference is Max has won four championships.

McLaren has, the McLaren drivers put it that way, have not.

And I think there is a mental toughness.

It's difficult sometimes when you're trying to learn to win

as opposed to the situation where the McLaren drivers

have been in the last handful of years.

So I almost look at Max's title fight now

as being more legitimate than what maybe Lando's was a season ago.

Yeah, from a driver perspective, I agree.

If there's a driver who's going to get the maximum out of a car

for seven consecutive races.

Like the water, don't look past it.

Yeah, exactly.

With the pressure on, I think Max is the only driver probably on the grid

who can get the maximum out of the car for seven consecutive races.

However, the car is my concern there

because what we had last year was McLaren clearly with a much faster car,

clearly with the momentum behind them,

and Red Bull really, really struggling to get things together,

even in Max's hands.

Whereas the issues that McLaren faced in Baku,

okay, they probably weren't as fast as Max,

but they weren't that far off.

The issues were coming from elsewhere.

And while they may well still drop points

because issues come from the drivers,

I think when we get to Singapore, USA, Mexico, in those three races,

those are three races

why I would expect the McLaren to be the faster car again.

If it is, then if that gap gets bigger,

if it goes beyond 69 points over those three races,

forget it.

Not even Max Verstappen can turn that round.

Biba, hold on.

All I'm going to say is just for argument's sake,

he's 69 points back.

Verstappen's taken 35 points out of Piastre's lead in two races.

So 69 is, if you look at the last two races, 69 is nothing.

That's true.

But it does rely on this guy that we were talking about earlier,

making more sases, you know, this metronomic Oscar Piastre.

Like there's a little bit where you see Baku and you think,

okay, that we could extrapolate that down the line.

But I actually think Oscar will bounce back from that.

I think he's got the mental strength to do so.

And then if you look at it another way,

to pitch the other side of the argument,

well, 69 points over seven races,

that's 10 points per race weekend.

Now if Max goes and wins every race, sure,

like, but Oscar would still have to finish third or worse

every race.

There's some sprints involved,

so it's not quite as clean as that.

But I just can't see Oscar thrown away that opportunity.

But hey, look, you know, this is F1 and the great thing is,

weird things do happen.

And when the pressure gets cranked up,

even stranger things happen.

And I guess that's the big unknown going into this final stage of the season

is the Oscar Piastre and Lando Norris.

Neither of them have really been in a title fight

where they've been chased down since they're in junior formulas,

at least they've not done it in F1.

So with the extra pressure on,

will we see more mistakes from Piastre and Norris?

But yeah, I just think the mountain is a little bit too high for this happen.

But hey, I'd love to be proved wrong if I am,

play this back at the end of the season

and I'll take it on the chin.

Let's just like enjoy it, honestly.

I mean, when the championship is close,

it's better for all of us because it's more enjoyable to watch.

Also, I'm here for the chaos because,

I mean, I always root for the chaos.

I'm always like, give me a race where there's rain.

Give me a race where there's like a tire situation.

Give me a race where there's strategy.

And that's what we had all weekend in Baku.

The crazy thing, admittedly, with my sports center hours,

this particular race weekend was really hard for me to watch live.

Like qualifying was at 4 a.m.

And I think I got done with work at 2 a.m.

I didn't work Saturday night,

but I feel like just a recycled trash from the raccoon panda

or like I just feel awful.

So like I didn't get up to watch the race

at seven o'clock in the morning on Sunday

when I was going to have to work until 2 2.30 in the morning on Sunday.

So you ought to give them for that.

You know, I think, yeah, like so I watched it all like afterwards

or, you know, via what you guys wrote.

I think you can go back and you can look at some of the results

and say, well, would that person have finished where they did,

had, you know, Piastri not made the mistake that he did.

Would that person have finished where they did if,

you know, Lando, I didn't have the slow pit stop.

And you can, if then, till the cows come home,

but what we ended up with was probably

one of the most entertaining race weekends on the whole.

Qualifying took what, 30 minutes longer than last year's race?

Yeah, probably did actually.

As I say, it's two hours of qualifying.

So doubled its usual window.

That's bananas.

There were six run flags just in qualifying.

A record of qualifying.

What was that?

That was a record as well for qualifying.

Right.

You had a very interesting lineup.

And then in the race, you had alternate strategy,

you know, the overcut from George Williams,

I'm sorry, from George, George Russell to get the Williams.

You had Williams on the pole, which how many times wait,

because my, what was your bold prediction?

I forget what it was.

We were like, what is the board?

I had Kimmy Antonelli winning a race,

which even in back, I didn't look that likely.

No, and I was like, Williams is going to win a race,

but when there's second and hanged out at the podium,

I'm like, wait, hold on, hold on, maybe it's not so wild.

Maybe it's not so crazy.

But I just, in terms of race weekends,

my biggest takeaway from that is like, yes,

that was hugely entertaining.

Even if Max gaps the field by an awful lot in the end,

there were just so many unknowns

and so many interesting things happening in the field

that I was like, just give me more of that.

I'll take more of that for the rest of the season.

Yeah, it was one of those races where at any point you thought

this could all just blow up with a safety car as well.

I mean, weird in the end that the only safety car

came from Oscar's mistake at the start.

But then throughout, yeah, you thought, well,

what if this happens?

What if that happens?

And that has to be involved in strategy.

And so there were a lot of guessing.

The one strange thing about it, actually,

was that overtaking was not easy.

We've seen in Baku before that as long as you get that X

out of turn 16, that final corner onto the 2km flat out,

not quite straight, but flat out section

across the finish line, then you have a chance

to overtake into turn 1.

That didn't really come about as much,

but that did create some tense situations.

And that is what allowed Carlos to do so well,

hold onto a position.

It's what allowed Liam Lawson to be so effective

throughout that race as there wasn't that easy to overtake.

But despite that, I still think it was a gripping race.

But I agree.

I mean, qualifying, you just had no idea.

And you know what, we're talking about what ifs

and all of that kind of stuff.

I think the biggest one from the weekend was Lando Norris,

who after Piastri had crashed in Q3,

was the first car back out on track.

And the track was still a little bit damp

and no cars had run over it.

So he had the worst track conditions

of all the drivers going out in Q3.

And it was almost like McLaren were being cautious there.

But in order for him to overcome that caution

and get a decent lap, then he had to push extra hard.

And that's where he made mistakes.

And so it was just this crazy situation,

crazy track conditions where anything could happen

throughout it.

And so yeah, but then the one thing that maybe

we shouldn't be surprised by.

So the guy who comes out on top

is the guy who always seems to get it right

no matter what Max Verstappen.

But I mean, great to see Max genuinely competitive again

because I really do.

It's a shame when he's held back by the car.

You know, he's not anymore a Balax with it.

When you look at McLaren and obviously one of the things

that we haven't yet sort of addressed was last weekend

in Vaku was the first weekend that they had the chance

to actually clinch the Constructors' Championship

for a multitude of reasons that did not happen.

And then their disastrous weekend for both the drivers.

How much of that is sometimes you just have a bad weekend?

And how much of that is then, because you mentioned them,

playing it safe and qualifying.

When you try to play Prevent, sometimes you make mistakes.

Sometimes you give up points.

So how much of that is McLaren trying to play it safe,

playing Prevent?

And then just getting championship jitters.

Yeah, I think there was a bit of that.

Certainly with Lando once, Oscar had crashed

and they had one car out.

They were very conservative with the way they ranked Q3 for Lando.

And that meant that he started further back.

But you can't really dress it up any other way.

The Piastris weekend was on him.

It was three errors throughout the weekend.

There was a crashing qualifying.

There was a jump start, which led to him

going to the back of the field into turn one.

And then there was the obvious mistake at turn five

that took him out of the race.

I don't think McLaren did anything wrong there.

That was all on Oscar.

Surprising.

And also, weird that he managed to get all of his errors

up to this point of the season out in one go.

The only other major one I can think of was Australia.

Maybe the mistake with the restart Silverstone

where he got the penalty.

But apart from that, he's just been so consistent.

And so it seemed like once one thing went wrong,

it all just unraveled.

And then, yeah, I do agree with you on Norris' weekend.

And even that pit stop, that not going right,

costing a potential opportunity to get two more places.

OK, that's only fifth place on a weekend.

When your title rivals in the wall,

you should be at least be on the podium

to drive in a McLaren.

But still fifth place would have been

an extra four points, I believe.

And therefore, that would have been

that little bit closer in the championship.

So yeah, I do think there was a bit of that,

especially with Lando, just like when the pressure's on,

when he needed to get it done,

it's just little errors crept in.

And then perhaps they went just too conservative

with running a Q3.

Who do you think was more disappointing at the end of the day?

And I'm going to tell you this.

I actually think it was Lando.

But I'm curious what you think.

I think Lando had the more disappointing weekend

because second week in a row, there was the big issue

for him was almost team related.

Putting him out there when they did in qualifying

wasn't putting him in the best situation.

The slow pit stop, again, didn't do anything to help him.

And this was an opportunity for him to make up ground

on the teammate who made a mistake.

Lando has made mistakes.

I'm not going to look at him and be like,

yeah, he's been perfect.

That's not true.

But the mistakes or the issues that he had this weekend

felt a little more like they were team related

and less him.

So this was the weekend where he could have made up

significant ground.

Yes, he still caught into the lead.

But he finished seventh.

He should have finished at least fifth, if not better.

So for me, I just think when this title fight is over,

and let's say Lando doesn't win it, and Oscar does,

there are a couple of key weekends

that he's going to look back on and be like, man,

that's the weekend that got away.

It feels like this last weekend in Baku was one of them.

Yeah, I think just because it did present that opportunity

to him, I agree.

And I mean, I tried to defend him a little bit there

with the timing of Q3.

And I do think that McLaren played that too conservatively.

But that's easy to say with the benefit of hindsight.

If he'd gone and got a clean lap,

then he probably would have been a little bit further up.

That would have reduced some issues in the race.

So I think he will look back at this.

And I wonder, however, I mean,

if Norris does go and win this championship,

then Piassari's going to look back at the back of weekend

and be like, well, that was the only big fat zero

on my first 17 races.

What happened there?

And then also, what we don't know at this stage is whether

Piassari does just bounce back straight away in Singapore.

I suspect he will.

But who knows, you know, like I said,

we haven't yet seen him in this position.

What if this leads to more errors?

What if it gets in his head?

But yeah, I think because of the way

the championship is set up at the moment,

this felt like such a big opportunity for Norris.

And that's why when they left on Sunday night,

I think Piassari probably looked at it and said,

okay, I messed up.

You know, that was all on me.

But hey, I kind of got lucky

that I only lost six points.

Whereas Norris is going to look at it and be like,

wow, that was a golden opportunity.

Even if he couldn't compete with Max,

you know, just to get 18 points out of Piassari

would have been huge for the championship.

So I gotta agree with you.

In terms of just pure disappointment, leaving Baku,

Norris is undoubtedly feeling more.

I mean, this was put to him as well.

And he said that actually you could look at that

across all of my races.

You know, every race I don't win, I didn't compete.

You know, I didn't go at my very best

and I didn't get the maximum out of it.

That's what he's going to say.

But yeah, it felt like he was telling himself that,

even as he said it, like trying to convince himself that,

even as he said it, I don't think that's

how anyone would have felt leaving Baku

after what happened to him that weekend.

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Okay, here's the staff.

Only two drivers in Formula One history

have stood on the podium from McLaren, Ferrari, and Williams.

Do you know the answer without it being in front of you?

I wouldn't have known this.

I may have figured it out.

I would have figured out the one that we're talking about.

Give me enough time.

I don't think I would have.

I wouldn't have gotten the older driver.

Sure.

Okay, so it's Elaine Perost and Science, Carlos Sons.

So we got his first podium for Williams.

James Vowles got his first quota as team principal for Williams.

And then here's the petty part

because everyone knows I'm here for the petty.

Not only did Science finish on the podium,

his replacement, the guy who replaced him,

finished P8 at Ferrari.

And he also finished ahead of the guy who replaced

the guy who replaced him at Ferrari.

Anyway, you got to feel good for Science.

Also worth noting, Science is only one of four drivers

ever to drive for all three teams,

which is kind of like,

if you're going to go through the list of teams

that you've driven for in terms of the history of the sport,

not bad, not bad.

It was definitely,

we've had a number of feel-good stories this year.

You know, like the Hulkenberg on podium, obviously,

even seeing Isaac Hajar on the podium

after the way his season started

and just how he has progressed as a rookie.

There have been a few moments with Kimi Antinelli

when Antinelli was on the podium.

Also when Antinelli got the sprint poll in Miami.

This was another one too

because it was not that long ago

that Science was saying,

look, fans, you're not going to see me fighting

for podiums this year.

You're not going to see me doing that.

But my goal is to take Williams in the right direction.

There have been times this season

where we have wondered, like,

what is wrong with Carlos Sainz?

Like his form has not been,

I think, what we expected to.

Alex Alban has out-pointed him,

what, by double.

But this was sort of,

it felt like a breakthrough moment

for a lot of reasons,

not just for Science,

but for the team as well.

What do you think?

Yeah, I think it kind of set

the record straight slightly on

Science's season at Williams

because prior to Baku,

he was on 16 points

and Albon was on 70.

And Williams are still,

and probably will be now

thanks to this podium,

their fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

But you look to their points

and you're like,

you know, Science contributing

as much as he should be.

Honestly, the answer has been no.

There have been where

he's made mistakes or had issues

where you're like,

well, that should have been the podium.

That should have been,

it shouldn't have been as hard as it was.

And the easy...

At double points, at double podium.

Yeah, exactly.

And then the easy answer

to that would have been,

well, you know,

he's settling into Williams

and it's taking time.

And there is some truth to that.

But actually, if you look at his performance,

his just qualifying performance

versus Albon,

the margin is tiny.

I think it's the third smallest margin

in between teammates up to Baku.

And so it just didn't really fit.

And so I'm glad that

he finally had this weekend.

And you know,

these weekends don't come around very often

if you're driving in a midfield car.

And that's what science alluded to

when he left Ferrari and saying,

well, might not see the podium again

for a little while.

But when they do come around,

you need someone who's in the zone

able to get a performance out of the car

and is calm and collected.

And science had all of that this weekend.

And I think, you know,

there's been times

when one of those things has left him

outside the points of various races this year.

But all three were there when it mattered.

And he got that podium.

And I think, you know,

it is really important

for him going forward.

Because in Albon,

I think he's come up against a teammate

that, you know, a few people were wondering

whether Albon would be found out

going up against science.

And, you know,

if you just looked at the points

and not at the actual lap times,

then you might have thought it was the other way.

But for science to prove that, you know,

he's still got it

and he can still get a podium

when it matters,

that was very important.

So, yeah, I think it's a really important result for him.

And just the way he was talking about it afterwards,

there was that real sense of, you know,

I'm just glad I could show you guys

that actually things are going pretty well.

And he talked to Karen Chandock

afterwards on Sky Sports

and said how he sees it

as almost like his life goal now

is to help Williams move forward

and really talking about the long term

with Williams, which he has before.

But it's never really sounded quite as convincing.

And obviously, as this season went on,

the results weren't coming together.

You were like, well,

maybe they're not quite the match

that they should be.

But I think science has felt that throughout

and you know, he's just wanted to prove it.

And well, now he has.

But I think that's also the sort of this

the story arc for Williams.

There were some terribly,

there have been some terribly lean years

because that their last podium was technically 2021.

But we know the weirdness around that one

with George Wastel.

So like their last legit podium

would have been what, 2017?

17 in Baku with Lance Stroll.

Oh, yeah, I read that.

Right, exactly.

About this now, yeah.

Well, like some legitimate weirdness there,

some very, very lean years.

And if you look at the story arc

that Williams has sort of put themselves on

with the changes at team principle,

the changes within the team

and the idea that next year

is the year they're fighting for wins

and legitimately fighting to be

in the top four of the constructors.

It's starting to go in the right direction.

They have 101 points this season,

which you're like, oh, look at the top four

in the championship.

Yeah, that's not as much.

However, that's their most since 138 in 2016.

There are still seven races to go.

They could easily surpass that.

But if you take a look at the points

that they've scored in the last couple of years,

where they are now is like

outpointing the last three years combined.

So the idea that we know that the rules

are changing next year.

The regulations are changing in 2026.

Mercedes, the engine supplier,

looks like they could be the ones.

And it gives us, I think, reason to believe.

Carlos said, I'm signing with Williams

to take this team in the right direction.

If you look at it, even without the regulation changes,

it's all making sense.

It's all showing that it's maybe not that crazy.

He's not going to spend his life

in the back of the field.

Yeah, I feel like the gains they've made already

is just getting things organized,

the low hanging fruit,

the kind of stuff that probably should have been done.

James Valls has talked about it.

Some of it should have been done several decades ago.

And it's just getting everything organized

to bring it up to the modern standards

of a top tier racing team,

which of course, James Valls knows so well

from his time winning titles with Mercedes.

And so that just getting everything in the right place,

making sure that the car is built with the right methods,

because it started last season way over way.

They actually felt they missed out

on quite a few points early last season

because the car was just too heavy.

And that's lap time right there

if you can get that weight out of the car.

So they started this season just with

what was a well-developed, well-built car,

but nothing special.

Because right from Valls's first moment,

stepping into the Williams Factory in Grove in 2023,

he said the target is 2026.

And he did something very important,

which is get everyone involved,

so all the investors in the team,

all of the board on the team,

on board with his plan of making 2026 the target.

And that's what it's all been working towards.

So this year, there's been very few,

if any, proper upgrades to that car.

Because right from the moment it went out at the launch

at Silverstone, I was there and then went testing,

that was it.

That's the car that's car we're going to race with.

We hope it's competitive,

but it may well go backwards throughout the season

as other teams outdevelop us,

because all of their focus was going into 2026 and has been.

And so that's what makes it exciting.

Now, of course, a new set of regulations,

even with all the best will in the world

and all the wind tunnel time and cost cap

going into a set of regulations,

you can still get it wrong.

But I think what gives everyone hope of Williams right now

is that everything that Valls has said

would happen along the way has happened,

and then a little bit more.

So 2026 remains still the biggest challenge I'm going to face,

but you're right.

There's just, from what's happened so far,

there's this belief actually that,

well, maybe this could happen.

And maybe when science had that choice between realistically,

Sauber, which is becoming Audi,

Alpine and Williams,

because both Red Bull and Mercedes kind of gave him the cold shoulder,

it's starting to look more and more like he made the right choice.

But it's easy to say that after a podium, isn't it?

Things change in a very quick amount of time in Form 1,

but it is starting to look like that was the right decision.

Things change quickly, unless you're Ferrari.

Yes.

I mean, I feel like we've beaten this topic into the ground.

It's like beating the dead horse at this point.

It was just another uninspired weekend,

another race where you just expect more.

And I realize I'm expecting more because it's Ferrari.

And yes, I'm expecting more because it's Lewis Hamilton,

but I don't even know what to say anymore.

Other than they're there, the cars are on the track.

Do we just not pay attention to him anymore?

And this is about 2026, I'm sort of over it.

Yeah, it was very disappointing.

It had lots of parallels to the McLaren weekend in terms of underperformance.

Leclerc put it in the wall in Q3.

Lewis didn't even make Q3 because the timing of the way Q2 played out,

he basically stayed on the same tyres for too long

and then didn't have what he needed

when it came to setting the lap at the end of the session.

These are operational errors.

The car probably wasn't or isn't as quick

as it should be, no doubt about that.

But these are all operational errors.

And yeah, it is slightly worrying that even with the car being where it is

and the problems they've had from the start of the year

about not being able to run out at the right height

that it was really designed for

and these baked-in issues that they were probably never going to get out

of considering the regulation change next year,

cost cap, limited wind tunnel time,

they were probably stuck in this throughout.

It's just they're not maximizing what they've got either.

And I think what hurts most of all if you're a Ferrari fan

is that you go into each weekend and in practice,

they actually look pretty good.

In Monza, they look quite quick in practice.

In Baku, they look quite quick in practice

and then it all just falls apart when it matters.

I think that's not entirely operational errors.

That's also because they seem to run the car either slightly lighter

or with a higher engine mode in practice than their rivals.

But even so, it just feels like it's just not coming together.

And weirdly, Lewis, who these are not the results

that Lewis is ever going to remember

when he's sitting down the line,

retired and talking to his grandchildren

about his time racing in Formula One.

He's not going to remember these eighth places with Ferrari.

But actually, I'd say the last few races,

he's the only person at Ferrari who seems to be

kind of making a little bit of progress

because he's just got a little bit closer to the clerk.

So if you are looking for any kind of green shoots of recovery

and optimism for 2026, if you're a Lewis Hamilton fan,

you might be able to take a bit out of that.

But undoubtedly, the wider issues here

is that the car isn't quick enough

and even when it looks reasonably fast,

they're making little errors in the way as well.

The best part of the weekend, too, was watching the road trip.

The road trip that Leclerc signs had to do.

Like, that was funny.

If you've missed it, Leclerc posted it on his Instagram

and he's like just to add to a terrible weekend.

And he's like in the car and he pans the camera.

They're like in some van in the middle of Italy

because they were diverted.

They couldn't land in Nice.

So they were just driving home from the middle of Italy to Monaco.

And we all do it.

When the GPS says it's going to take you an hour and a half,

you're like, really?

Is it going to take me an hour and a half?

No.

It's going to take me an hour 25.

They were trying to shape a half hour off of it.

But one relatable, two funny, liked it.

What are other takeaways from the weekend?

I mean, Liam Lawson had his best weekend.

Yuki Sonoda also put together a decent weekend.

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What am I missing?

No, I think we should dwell on those a little bit

because that all feeds into what Red Bull are doing

with their drivers next year.

And one of the big questions is would Yuki be allowed to stay?

Would he be part of the plans going forward?

And it sounds very much like he has until Austin, Mexico,

time to impress the team.

Now that's the race that's just happened in Baku, Singapore

and then we're in Austin, Mexico.

So he has a very limited amount of time

but did appear to make a minor breakthrough as well.

Like you said at the top of the show, Max was very quick

but Yuki actually looks a little bit quicker as well.

So I'm hopeful maybe for Yuki's sake

that Singapore can go well

and then he is in a position where he's impressing the team

down the line to be able to stay within the fold

because I still don't think...

I think it'd be such a shame for his career to end at the end of this year

but then another driver with pressure on him

especially if Yuki starts doing well was Liam.

And Liam had a fantastic race, fantastic qualifying as well.

Qualifying P3 behind Science

and then really I think given where that car is

had a fantastic race trying to battle with the Mercedes

but then ultimately keep Ferraris and McLaren behind him

is impressive.

So I think those are very noteworthy performances

and then the guy that we keep talking about Isaac Hajjar

still kept it in the points.

He was very upset with his qualifying lap

because he had caught caught by a gust of wind

coming out of turn 16 I think

and it all kind of just got away from him

at the last proper corner of the track

but that guy keeps getting results, getting the points.

It still can submit.

Yeah, I mean the only thing that...

The one thing that people said about Hajjar

when he first came in was watch our guys temper.

He can be a little bit kind of wild and erratic

sometimes over team radio

and I think he's actually done a fairly good job

of controlling that

but if you go back and watch his...

This is how much it meant to him though.

If you go back and watch his qualifying lap

as he came out of turn 16

he was slamming the steering wheel with his fist

because he knew he'd missed his opportunity

just for a mistake there

of really probably qualifying up where Lawson was

and then maybe get another amazing result.

So I think that's something that

he still needs to work on slightly

is just that calmness and being collected

at the right times

but I think it also shows you how much it means to him

and because he's able to be in that position

to be that close to those results

that shows you how quick he is.

But let's be honest you're slamming your wrist

or your fist on the wheel at the end of qualifying lap

you've already thrown it away

you're not throwing it into the wall

because you're doing that

you're just expressing your emotions.

I kind of don't have a problem with that

because he knew it

that's him sort of living in the moment

and expressing how much it means to him

but also he's not throwing anything away

it's not like he made a mistake

and the race slams his fist on the steering wheel

and then loses six positions

and he's not also he's not abusing

or berating his team on the radio

I don't really have a problem with that at all

and I also think it's interesting

to look at Liam Lawson

and yeah he didn't he had a shot at the podium

and it didn't turn out that way

but there is something to be said

about when a driver starts to unlock

that new level of confidence

and I'm not saying that the bar is set

incredibly high for Liam Lawson

but considering where he was

after two weeks of the season

to then just have the rug

absolutely pulled out from under him

to be sent back down to the

quote-unquote junior team

and to for the most the majority of the season

he's been on the struggle bus

to have a weekend like this

even if you look at it and say the yeah but

somebody else in front of him made a mistake

yeah but Lawson didn't

yeah but Lawson still put it together

I think these weekends are sometimes telling

and they're an opportunity to grow on confidence

and to sort of maybe set sail in the right direction

how will he be able to build on this

even if he goes into Singapore

and doesn't have the best situation

but if he can still put it together

and have a decent weekend

this is what you need to see from him

starting to head in the right direction

and being able to handle

sort of the ebbs and the flows of the sport

but not letting it derail you

okay so you had your good weekend

what can you do with it now

yeah I think it's a combination of the progress

that he has made over the last few races

and a bit like science

just being able to have that result

you can point to at the end of it

is important

especially when it comes to decisions about drivers

down the line

but I think he's absolutely on the right path

and he's been a little bit overshadowed

by just how brilliant had you all been

you know this season

and I guess how much of a surprise that's been as well

but you're right

you know if you're going to look at Lawson

and say what can this guy give us

and what's his potential long term

to come back from the horror show

that was being dropped by Red Bull after two races

and find the performance in the car again

is crucial

and so he's done that very well

do you have a takeaway

which I'll put out there from Baku

was Mercedes getting a second place and fourth place

so George Russell

I think again just really performing on a high level

I think behind Matt right now

not for nothing

yeah yeah yeah I mean

I had what sounded like a pretty awful

road cold

yeah not too dissimilar to yours Nicole

I think I think no I think it was probably different

but he sounded

yeah he was rough

he was rough in a bad way

so you know to turn around and be able to

get a second place was impressive

and to Nelly of course

after all the comments made by him

by Toto Wolf coming out of Monza

to be able to put a decent weekend together

was very important as well

but they also moved ahead of Ferrari

in the Constructors Championship for second place

not that anyone really cares about second place

right in the Constructors Championship

but there is money attached to it

and I think there's an element of pride

between those you know teams behind McLaren

we all know McLaren's won the Constructors

will do very very soon

but yeah it's a

it's kind of interesting to see that battle play out

and whether Mercedes can keep that going

it was kind of Mercedes conditions a bit cooler

and Baku kind of slightly weird track layout

low downforce like it was in Canada

when they were quick as well

but yeah interesting that

there they managed to capitalise

and get a decent result out of it

and while Ferrari really did struggle

so yeah they might have their eyes on second place

by the end of this year

I think the only other news that has come out of this week

which is interesting because

well I mean we don't have a race this weekend

Christian Horner

I'm trying to wrap my head around the monopoly money here

100 million pound payout from Red Bull

to officially leave the company

obviously he's not been team principal for the latter half of the season

but he was still within the company fold

that is no longer the case

because he's a bajillionaire

and now he is even more of a bajillionaire

but the interesting part about all of that is

he has been paid they've agreed to the settlement

to remove him from the company

that now means that he

Horner can return to the sport as early as the spring of 2026

so let's read between the lines

let's read the tea leaves

what do we know now

well yes I mean he had a contract with Red Bull through to 2030

so once Red Bull had decided that

they didn't want them as team principal anymore

which was obviously earlier this year

they then had to negotiate this payout

and there's differing figures

I mean they're all monopoly money

but some people are suggesting it's more like 60 million dollars

the figure we got was a hundred million dollars

I mean

is that dollars or pounds?

that's still a huge amount

so

is it dollars or pounds?

dollars

so those figures are in dollars

so

yeah the figure we had was a hundred million dollars

so you know that's what sources told us

so that's significant

you know that that is huge

but then he did have all these years of his contract

that he's obviously not going to get paid for

so that's what you know

the negotiations were around

but then you're right

the other key factor was

you know having cut that contract

when can you go working again in Formula One

and it does sound

from various reports

and people close to him

that he does want to get back into Formula One

and it looks like

spring next year

he's going to be completely able to

to join any project he wants

but I think with Horner

he'll want to go in on the next step up

so I don't think he's

happy just going back in

as a team principal

maybe if it was someone like Ferrari

he'd do it

but of course Ferrari had just signed a new contract

with Fred Visser

so I think he'd have to go in as a

as a shareholder

and as part of a wider project

that's what Toto Wolfe is at Mercedes for example

Toto owns 33.3% of the Mercedes Formula One team

and I think that's always irked Horner slightly

when they were the two great rivals in Formula One

they had the same role kind of

but Toto had financial skin in the game as well

so I think that's the next step for Horner

and then if you look at

the opportunities then

the only one that could really come about

is probably Alpine

if the Renault group decide to sell Alpine

and consortium of bidders from somewhere come in

and they put Horner in that role

potentially as an investor

or potentially with shares

you know as part of his payment for coming in

but you know these things aren't unheard of

Adrian Newey once he left Red Bull

when he went to Aston Martin

that was with a minority shareholding

in the Formula One team

so I think that's probably what Horner has on his mind

What about Cadillac?

It's a Cadillac of basic command said

that's not happening

so I would be very surprised

also for Christian that would be a big project

because you know you're coming in

right at the back of the grid

Graham Loudon has been there building that team up

I just don't really see how Christian would fit into that

fold for a number of reasons

so yeah I honestly think like the Alpine rumours

are the strongest

but a few things still need to come together

if that's happened

the question then is if that doesn't come again

come together

does Christian want to find another way in

is there another way into a form for him

you know how else could he be a part of it

so it will be interesting what happens

over the next year or so

but from what people are saying

it does sound like

he's keen to get back involved in some form

I did enjoy what Toda Wolf said

about how he misses his rival

and it made me think a little bit

you know obviously Drive to Survive

has been such a massive part

in the growth and sort of fan development

of this sport

and part of that has been the

you know the

the back and forth between the team

principals

and learning your personalities a little bit

and the drama the show

even if it is at times

mildly manufactured

the idea kind of popped into my mind of

you know we don't have Gunther Steiner anymore

in that world

and it's the team principal group is

it's kind of

you know not it's kind of

I don't want to say it's boring

but it's it's not as entertaining

as it once was

if there's really need for him

is there like a legit need

like it's formerly the one better

if Christian Horner is in the mix

well you know I

I think it I think it is better

when you have those big characters

running the teams

but there's been a real trend

towards engineers stepping up

into these team principal roles

and you know not to say all engineers

are boring

but they do look at problems in a

different way

and they're they're not as adversarial

in in the way they go about

doing their business

so you know just guys like Laura

Mekki's you know he's not

he's not going to go out and kind of like

put quotes in the media

just to try and upset Toto

just to try and get a

you know something back around from Toto

and so now we're kind of

yeah we have a situation

where it's a lot of engineers

heading up teams

you still got Zach Brown

McLaren who's not afraid to speak

his mind

and then you've got Toto Mercedes

but those are CEO roles as well

so I wonder whether if

Christian does come back

it's with a team in a CEO role

and it'll be interesting

which way the sport goes

because for years it was really

important to have somebody

who could hold their own in arguments

and put forward their team's position

because that was the way the sport was run

when Bernie Eccleston was run it

he used to pitch everybody

against everybody else

the way Liberty run the sport

now you know with Stefano Domenicali

as the boss

it's a much more

friendly approach

it's like how can we build this

together how can we grow together

and actually for the health of the sport

it's been far better

you know

for one is a much healthier space

than it ever was

when everyone was

going behind each other's backs

but it does take away some of the

entertainment value

but I think it also does take away

the need to have someone like Christian

if you're looking at it

from a team perspective

to have someone like Christian

fighting your corner

if so much of it is agreed upon

and everyone's in it together

and but from a journalist point of view

and from a storytelling point of view

and from a private point of view

I could not agree with you more

like guys like Christian are essential

and I think you know I think that is important for the

for the health of the sport going forward as well

you know you want to turn on your TV

and you want to hear opinions

when when people speak out

you know you want to hear

team bosses

get angry when things happen on track

2021 would not have been anywhere near as entertaining

it would still have been entertaining

but it wouldn't have been as entertaining

without Total Wolf and Christian Horner

as the two team bosses there

and then Paul Michael Massey

I don't know if I should say that

but Paul Michael Massey

in the middle of the FIA

trying to you know mediate between the two at times

he did create his own drama

he did create his own drama in the end

and but again

someone who wanted to be

out the center of it all

wanted to have a kind of media presence

Michael did want that

and kind of went out of his way

and then probably went

well definitely stepped over the line in Abu Dhabi

you know but that

those kind of storylines do

do create intrigue

they do create interest

they do

make this sport fantastic

so hopefully we won't lose too much of it

and from that perspective

I really do hope that we see Christian

back in Formula One

at some point next year

I'll talk to you next week

before you travel

look forward to it

wait where's

Nate's at a wedding this weekend right

is it a two

Nate's at a wedding right now

yeah

let's go

and he may come back

to the next podcast

so we may never see him again

it's hard to tell a name

it's hard to find him

like throw a dart

my kids are texting me

from the other room

because they're off of school today

so we're just going to call this now

we can't leave them running around the house

completely alone at this point

thank you for watching

or listening

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