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Italian GP Debrief 2025 | Fastest race in F1 history
Italian GP Debrief 2025 | Fastest race in F1 history
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About this episode
The discussion centers on the 2025 Italian Grand Prix, the fastest race in F1 history, with Max Verstappen's dominant win highlighted alongside a strong McLaren battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The hosts analyze team strategies, penalties, and driver performances, including Ferrari's mixed results and Lewis Hamilton's progress. Special attention is given to Verstappen's skill and personality, McLaren's team orders, and the promising rise of drivers like Gabriele Bortoletto. The episode also touches on fan reactions, race day experiences, and upcoming F1 events, featuring insights from guest Nicola Hume, host of the official Red Bull Racing podcast.
Topics:
italian grand prix 2025
max verstappen performance
mclaren team strategy
lando norris vs oscar piastri
ferrari race weekend
lewis hamilton progress
f1 penalties and incidents
gabriele bortoletto rise
audi and sauber partnership
f1 fan experience
Christian is joined by Nicola Hume from Midweek F1 & Talking Bulls to debrief the Italian Grand Prix.
**SPOILERS FOLLOW**
Max Verstappen put on a masterclass to take victory in F1's fastest ever Grand Prix. The Temple of Speed lived up to its name as the Dutchman retook first place from Lando Norris in the early stages of the race and slowly disappeared down the road.
McLaren couldn't keep up with the Red Bull, and gave us one of the big race talking points: were they right to swap Oscar and Lando's positions after Lando was undercut with a slow pit stop?
Check out Nicola's podcast Midweek F1:
@midweekf1 on Instagram
@midweekf1pod on Twitter
@midweekf1pod on TikTok
Later on in the week, we will be joined by F1 Academy and Williams Development Driver Lia Block.
Let Gullivers Travel take care of all the boring bits and book your dream F1 trip with them. Packages are now available for several races in the second half of the season, including the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Follow this link to get started:
Make sure you follow us on all the socials and hit subscribe right here as there are more Formula 1 drivers joining us very soon…
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Hello and welcome to a feel.
In Italy and welcome to the Fast and the Curious. This is the Formula One podcast that speaks to
the biggest names in the sport. And on that, this season, we've already spoken to so many,
I've had to write a list because every time I've tried to do this before, I've made me
I've forgotten. Oscar, Lando, George, Kimmy, Lance, Esteban, Ollie, Alex and Carlos all
been on the pod this year. And joining us, I can exclusively reveal for our Baku preview
show is Isaac Hadja, a new one. So please make sure you hit subscribe, follow or like so you
don't miss out on that because not only do we speak to the biggest names in the sport,
we also preview and debrief Grand Prix. That is what we're going to do right here right now.
And we speak to wonderful people from in and around the world of Formula One. Again,
that is what we're doing today. I'm Christian Hugill, my co-host, Betty Glover, is a multi-talented
sporting queen and is therefore busy today presenting women's Super League on the BBC.
So alongside me, one of the few other fact, I think the only other person I know who presents
two Formula One podcast like my good self will probably agree with me that it's too many.
Host of Talking Bull, the official Red Bull Racing podcast appropriate given today,
sports fans and Midweek F1 Nicola Hume. Nicola, welcome to the Fast and the Curious. It is a joy
to have you here. It's lovely to be on. Do you know what's really nice? The fact that I'm chatting
to you while you've literally been there, you've been trackside and this whole thing is quite
exciting to speak to you trackside. Yes, it's lovely. Regular listeners to the Fast and the
Curious will know I do go to some of the Grand Prix. As I just said for my other job,
doing the F1 Explains podcast. So I've left the circuit. I'm literally in the car parks.
Those on YouTube watching will see I'm in a field by the car park having left Monza.
It's a really lovely hedge behind you. Yeah. It's a stunning hedge.
Fine Italian hedge. This is my setup, as I say, talking to you in a field on the outskirts
of Monza. Nicola, your race day setup. I loved which you mentioned to me on text before
the start of the race. Explain to me, you've got a specific race day setup, right?
It's very specific, always has been, always will be. So for me, I normally have a good two beers
for race day, which I have had. Wonderful. I was like, look, if I'm going to come on the Fast and
Curious, I need to give you the full Nicola Hume watching the race at home experience, right?
So it's normally two beers and I normally have fruit pastels and I try to treat it as I'm
going to have a fruit pastel per lap, but they're normally gone by lap four. And that's fair, they've
all gone. And I'm normally, normally in full set of pajamas with absolutely no makeup and hair
in a messy bun sort of situation. But today, I've had to put makeup on because obviously I'm on
camera and I had to look okay for being on camera. And I'm wearing a normal day to day
top. So unfortunately, I'm not in my full pajamas, but that's been my normal setup.
And I've just kicked out my husband and my dogs so they didn't make any noise. I've sent them to
the pub. Well, listen, right? You didn't have to not go with the pajamas for the sake of us and
you didn't have to boot out your husband and dogs, but we're grateful that you have Nicola.
And we know you have, we know you're an appropriate person for Fast and Curious when
you say, yeah, normally watch the race with a couple of beers. Absolutely love it.
Excellent work for me. Excellent work. Well, I mean, hold on, hold the line,
please caller. Because yeah, I watched the race with a couple of beers. However, we had a race
winner today that deserved Prosecco. So now I've actually got some Prosecco on the go while
we're recording this. So we're fine. Absolutely stunning. Love again, a proper
appropriate fit into the world of the Fast and the Curious here. Let's get into it then.
Let's debrief the Italian Grand Prix. Let's debrief the fastest race in Formula One history.
Fact fans, Max Verstappen won the Grand Prix. The first driver, yes, from the host of the
official Red Bull Racing podcast, the first driver to win from pole at Monza since 2019.
And also Red Bull's first win under Laurent Mekit as well. Lando Norris was second,
Oscar Piastri was third, Charles Leclerc was fourth, George Russell fifth,
Lewis Hamilton recovering from that five-place grid penalty to take sixth. A sterling effort
from Alex Albon to get seventh. Gabriel Bortoletto continues to impress with eighth. It could have
been better if it wasn't for a slow pit stop. Kimi Antoni only got a five-second penalty
for erratic driving and therefore drops to ninth. And from the pit lane to a point,
our man who's on the next episode of the podcast or at least a future episode of the
podcast, Isaac Hagea, another one. Nicola will be delighted about giving part of the Red Bull
fold. And Nicola, regardless of who I had on with me today, I would want to start with Max because
we should just mention before we go into the race, for me, an incredible pole lap
that put him in contention in the first place. And just a reminder for me, Nicola,
I don't know if you agree that if you put Max Verstappen in a car that's anywhere near
the best, not just the best, anywhere near the best, he'll win the Grand Prix.
He was sublime this weekend. He absolutely smashed it. And I think what's happening here,
what's happening within this last season is I think people are starting to notice how
good Max actually is. The hard part within the last sort of four years where he's won his four
championships is yes, he has been in a rocket ship for the last four years. But this season,
for me, I think this is the season where he's proving how good and wonderful Max Verstappen
actually is as a driver. He is unreal. We know that that's not the fastest car on the grid.
We know that. We've known that the entire season. But yet here he is, winning a race,
winning the fastest race in F1 by 19 seconds in a season that you didn't think that he would win,
which actually, the midweek F1 podcast that I host, we always do a prediction championship
of the world. And this is actually really annoying, because this is the first time
that I didn't predict Max as P1. I was like, oh, well, it's probably going to be Oscar,
because we know that that's what's going to happen now. So I went Oscar P1, Max probably P2,
and then maybe Lando P3, blah, blah, blah. And then Max won it. So now I've lost some points
in our championship in our midweek F1 podcast. But what can you do?
What can you do? And we should say, Nicola, you're a sports presenter, a motor sports presenter,
as well as doing Formula One. You're a Formula One fan as well. I don't know about you,
but given all that background, it's sort of quite handy for me to be able to say to people,
when people go, yeah, but it's just who's the best car, isn't it? Well, last year,
Max winning the championship proved that that's not the case, because really,
you only had the best car from Miami onwards. And again, weekends like this are the best.
Nicola, you and I know each other. Of course, you host the Red Bull pod. I also know that you
turn round and say, you know, Oscar did the best job today. Lando did the best job today.
Yeah, 100%. And Max was just sensational today. And I think you just said it there,
not just to win the Grand Prix, but to win the Grand Prix by 19 seconds.
Insane. So for me, like, so I've been an F1 fan for such a long time. And I think,
I, I, I understood Max, this was before I started working, working with Red Bull and hosting their
podcast. I understood Max. And I was like, this guy is an amazing talent. We've got to keep an
eye on him kind of thing. And then I started the Red Bull Racing podcast back in 2023.
And it was one of those where I was like, Oh, he's at the top of his game. That's incredible.
What a great guy got to know him. And then went, Oh Jesus, he's actually,
this guy is insanely talented. And then the more you get to know him as a person as well as a driver,
I can't, anyone that still hates on him. I don't get it. I'm not having any bad words said about
Max. I'm not having it. I'm just not having it. I'm going to come up to that in a moment. I
should just say as well, a couple of questions I've seen around about why Red Bull being so
quick today. I personally, Nicola, I don't think you'll massively disagree with me on this.
I don't think we're going to go into the rest of the season now and see Red Bull in a position to
win every race. But Monza, let's not forget this is a circuit where there are fewer corners,
where there are so many straights, hence it's so quick. And we get the fastest Grand Prix
in Formula One history as a helicopter flies above me. It does mean you can get outliers in
terms. That's good news. It does mean you can get outliers in terms of pace, doesn't it? Because
there's simply fewer corners. There's fewer corners for cars to exert their dominance
like the McLaren can do this season. And therefore, the best example we did is we
saw it when Daniel Ricciardo won for McLaren in a McLaren 1-2 with Lando Norris. That was
the season where McLaren were nowhere near. They were able to pick up wins. You do sometimes see
outliers in terms of pace at Monza. When you've got the driver, that can take advantage of
that, which Max undoubtedly can. And Nicola, I was going to ask you on this. I'm lucky
enough to have interviewed Max a number of times, been interviewing him for a long time since
before he was winning and the dominant force he is. I've always liked him. I've said it on
this podcast a lot. I find him funny. I find him refreshingly honest. I find him himself.
He doesn't pretend to be anyone else, which I really enjoy. What is he like? You talk to him
a lot. You work alongside him doing the parts. You interview him a lot for that part. How do
you find him? I find him exactly wonderful. I think he's just an absolute dream. But I
very quickly to pick up on what you were saying when Daniel Ricciardo won a few years ago. It was
2021. I think he won. I have that as a poster up on my dressing room wall because that for me,
I was like, oh my God, it was such an amazing win for Daniel Ricciardo because for me, he was
always my favorite driver. Monza, you never know what's going to happen. Max has proven
himself and whenever we get him on the podcast, he is the dream you want him to be. He comes in.
He speaks to every member of the crew. He signs things. He does photos with people. He stops.
He says hi to everyone and he will always, I kid you not, always sit there, crack open a can of
Red Bull. Always. He does. He always. I think every time I've interviewed him. Yeah, genuinely.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. He walks into the pen with them when you're sitting down with them. Yeah,
and he's been on this podcast a couple of times and he's, yeah, I completely agree with you there.
So now I ask you the difficult question. I don't think he is. I'm 99% sure he isn't.
He's still not in the title battle though, right? I mean, a lot of things have to go wrong for McLaren
for that to work out in his favor. Yeah. I mean, basically, both McLarens will have to DNF for
the next races. All the races for the rest of the season would be the only way that he would
be able to win. But hey, it's still possible. I mean, we're looking at, you know, slightly
under 100 points now, I think, in the championship title between Max and Oscar.
So I think, I mean, it is entirely possible, but it's probably not going to happen. But this is,
again, what I respect about Max is that he's very much in his era like,
you can't win them all. I'm just going to do what I've got to do. If I can win some races,
that's nice. You know, if I don't, I don't, it's, you know, it's one of those things.
Yeah. He said to me when I interviewed him for the BBC years ago that he wasn't
that bothered about winning seven, eight, nine, you know, he likes to win when he can win.
So yeah, again, I see that entirely. Well, the Max this weekend, well, the Red Bull
outstanding and again, proving that if you give Max even a sniff of a race win,
he is unbelievably difficult to beat. For me, still, if you are pitting drivers,
you know, if you're rating them out of 100, like you do on the F1 game, for example,
Max Verstappen is still the best driver on the grid in Formula One at the moment.
But McLaren are making the best car and they have two drivers very, very capable of winning
the world championship. I just want to start when we talk about McLaren with the big question of the
race. Nicola, for you, were McLaren right to tell Oscar to give the place back? If those,
those who might have missed the Grand Prix, quite simply, Lando was, has been ahead of Oscar all
weekend and Oscar didn't really look like overtaking Lando in this race. Lando had a slow
stop that allowed Oscar to get past and McLaren said, listen, Oscar, give the place back to
Lando, then you're free to race. They did that. Again, Oscar didn't look like giving him the place,
ever looked like challenging for the place. Oscar made the point on the team radio. Well,
listen, slow stops are a part of racing, but we know the way McLaren have gone racing.
Nicola, for you, was that the right move? I don't know. This is a really tricky one,
because if the tables were turned and Oscar, I think clearly has this championship
under his belt, right? I think if the tables were turned and this was an Oscar slow pit,
would they have made Lando give that place back? I don't think they would have done.
Do you not? No, I don't. Oh, I think they would personally. Yeah, I think if it was
the weekend like this weekend's gone and the race like this race has gone,
where Oscar was ahead of Lando all weekend and all race, I should say, really crucially,
they're all race. Yes, I do think they would have made them give the place back to me. Why
I think it was the right decision is McLaren have said since day one of this championship
battle, we're racing as a team. There's been numerous examples, which I won't bore people
and list, but I'm sure we'll get mentioned in the comments and comments on this podcast where
they have swapped them around in the past. To me, it's an example of McLaren being
consistent with their approach. So to me, it was the right decision and it was the
right decision because that's the way McLaren have gone racing and they've been consistent
with that. That is, for me, why it was the right decision. That sounds fair,
but I do. There is a part of me that thinks that if the tables were turned, they wouldn't
have made that same choice. Interesting. What I'm seeing a lot of in Formula One,
Nicola at the moment, I'm getting comments and the podcast gets comments is,
I disagree. Therefore, I unsubscribe or I disagree. Therefore, I stop watching.
It's a nice example, isn't it where two human beings can
disagree on something and go, Oh, that's interesting. I think that's interesting.
I think that we don't all have to share the same opinion, which I think for some
Formula One fans, that's quite something to remember. Me and Nicola disagree and we still
don't hate each other. That's amazing, isn't it? The best way to have Formula One fans are with
fans that are fans of other people that you don't necessarily are a fan of. I think that you end
up becoming more of a unified unit. For example, so we've got our Formula One fantasy team.
I don't know if I'm allowed to say the name of it on here, am I? No, I unfortunately don't
think you are. The name is very funny, but you're going to have to just trust us on that one.
It rhymes with checkered flags, but it's a rude version of it, of the second word.
And that's given a few possibilities of what it could be as well. But I think we leave that there,
but it's very funny. Everyone within that group, we all tend to disagree with each other.
We're all like fans of different people. We all disagree with each other, but it works really
nice. We're all still a group friendships like team. The whole thing works. It works.
It's funny that, isn't it? Funny that. I think if you look across this season,
there have been more weekends where Oscar Piatri has been the quicker McLaren driver.
That is why Oscar Piatri is leading the World Championship. And again,
something because I'm British, I've had leveled at me recently as I'm being biased in favor
of Lando. So let me just say this very clearly. I think Oscar Piatri is special. I think he
will win multiple World Championships. I think he's been outstanding this season.
And to be, you know, leading Lando Norris in a title fight, despite years less experience in
Formula One, I believe Oscar Piatri is truly special and will be around as a major force
for many, many years to come. Right? This is. That said. Oh, oh, oh. No, no, no. That said.
Hang on. I've not got to the bottom. Please hang on. That said, I believe Lando Norris
has had the better of him this weekend. This was one of those comparatively speaking rare weekends
where it seemed to me, Nicola, if you agree, the only word Alex Dunn was in the car in FP1,
but across FP3, FP2 qualifying. Lando had the edge. Oscar didn't really ever look like
coming past Lando in the race. So it was a weekend where Lando to me had the best of
Oscar, as I say, the majority of times this year. That's been the other way around.
Firstly, Nicola, do you agree with that? And secondly on that, interesting again,
Harry, do you think, do you think Oscar will be sorry, Lando will be a bit gutted. So on a weekend
where he has finished ahead, not taken a bigger chunk out of Oscar Championship lead?
Yes. Yeah. So I think I think Lando will still be in his head a little bit about the fact
that he's still so far behind. I mean, if we look back, we look back at the Netherlands
last weekend, for example, and if he would have managed to overtake Oscar, it would have been
within what, two or three points in that championship, but then it ended up being 34 points because his
car broke down, etc. And I think this was the race where it was all or nothing. He had nothing to
lose. So he might as well just flip and go for it. And he did, he went for it. But I don't think
that Lando was quite full Lando style in qualifying yesterday.
But are you saying, well, you're right, I think, in the sense that he didn't beat
Mac. So I think you're bang on. No, as in, as in, as in Q1, Q2, he wasn't, he just wasn't
quite finding his feet. There were some mistakes made along the way there.
You spot on. He wasn't comfortable in the session all the time, but he beat Oscar where it
matters. So it doesn't matter surely what happens in Q1, Q2, because he did beat Oscar
where it counts in that particular qualifying session. But, but you're right. I said
also on an Instagram thing, Lando didn't always look comfortable during the session.
But it was one of those where in Q, the practice sessions, he was quick.
Not that that always makes a difference. Obviously, the practice doesn't, you know,
practice his practice, but then he was better in the race. And that's why I just think,
Nicola, I think if you're Lando, you're probably a bit gutted coming away from this
weekend. You're thinking, I outqualified him, I beat him, and yeah, I still didn't win the
race. And obviously, the points gap between first and second is not as big as it is
between second and third. I think Lando will come away from this one feeling,
oh, damn it. I'm a bit gutted there. However, however, I think probably about five,
six races ago, we were having a chat about this on, oh, God, I can't remember what podcast it was.
Midweek, everyone. We were talking about, and we were talking about when is this season going
to feel like it's been wrapped up. And we were all convinced that it would,
the whole thing would be wrapped up with Oscar being the winner by Baku.
And now, no, it's not going to be wrapped up by Baku. It's still going to be a few more races to come
until it's all been wrapped up. So. Well, you've answered my next question there. Yeah,
because I was going to say, do you think it's over? That's, yes, you don't think it's over,
because I don't think it's over either. I think there's too many variables in 4-1,
so I really don't think it's over. No, I think it's fair game. Well, I mean,
Max is still in contention, right? We're fine. It's fine. Max is still potentially,
there's a chance. I have to admit, I was more talking about the battle between the
recliner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, lovely. Now, I therefore asked this next question with
some slight nervous reputation. I think it was the right call for Red Bull to tell Max to give
the place back to Lando or the star. I don't think Max gave Lando quite enough room and
therefore I think a penalty was incoming. Do you think maybe Max didn't quite give Lando
enough room there and therefore that was the right call by Red Bull? Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Absolutely. I mean, that sort of that opening stretch, the opening from the start, it was a tricky
situation because at first Lando had clearly got his back up because where it goes from
three lanes down to two. So you've got to try and learn how to merge in turn,
which many British people don't know how to do correctly. It works like a zip.
If you're ahead, you get behind. It's as simple as that. It works. It's like,
how is it in America? It's a zip merge. However, they word it in America. But in the UK,
it's merge in turn. That's how it should have been. So Lando's back was already up. But the problem
was is, yes, Max ended up running off and then he took P1 at that point and it didn't look right
at all. And I think that was absolutely the right call to hand the place back. And then he
ended up probably nearly about a second behind Lando at that point. And then all of a sudden
went, yeah, I'll have some of that, got himself some DRS, overtook him. And then within about,
what was it, about six laps, he was a good three seconds ahead. I was like, what is this?
Where's this come from? Really impressive. Go on, Max.
Yeah, I completely agree with you. But yes, just on the McLaren front, I guess,
as you say, Nicola, we could have ended this weekend with an Oscar win in Lando second.
And I'm talking here for the perspective of those who was like me. I really like
both McLaren drivers. We're lucky enough to have them both on this podcast regularly.
I really like them both. I have no bias towards one or the other. I do not care which one of them
wins. I just want it to be a close battle. I just want it to be a close battle. So for those of
us who are quite neutral in that, we could have been in a situation this weekend where
Oscar won again and you're thinking, wow, it's really unlikely now. But we're not. And,
you know, that gap hasn't got any bigger. It's got marginally smaller when we go
into the next Grand Prix, still with a title battle, which many people will be pleased with.
You won't be pleased with the results if you're an Oscar-Piastri fan. You will be if you're a
Lando Norris fan, such as the joy of supporting one particular driver in Formula One. Anyway,
speaking of supporters, lots of Ferrari supporters around at this Grand Prix have
noticed. Funny that, isn't it? And we will talk about Ferrari in just a minute.
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Yeah, if you're keen to soak up some F1 in the flesh before the end of the year,
our friends, the adorable, wonderful, lovely people at Gulliver's Travel have got you
covered. If you missed us talking about them before, they are brilliant.
They just sort out everything you need them to sort out for going to a Grand Prix from
buying the tickets, getting to the circuit. They sort out all the boring faff to make sure
you can focus on the racing. And as someone who hates admin and is not very good at it
and frequently gets lost, has been most of my time away getting lost,
I honestly could not recommend Gulliver's more because without people telling me where to
go, I'd end up in the wrong country, let alone at the wrong circuit.
It's been really nice to see people actually taking this as an idea and
at least exploring it. And loads of people have actually gone and done these trips as well.
So I'm sure there'll be other fast and curious listeners and viewers that you
couldn't talk to and go, was it good for you? Was it worth doing? So I'm sure you can do
your own research with that. The final race of the season might feel like it's ages away,
but it's not it's not out far away. Abu Dhabi will creep up upon us.
And loads of people will be trying to get there. So it's a perfect time for you to
get organized and sort out your faff free F1 weekend.
Gulliver's have plenty of different, Greg, funny word here coming up,
which you usually struggle with. Gulliver's have plenty of different packages on offer.
Anything you'd like to say there, Greg, about the word package?
No, I just think that sounds completely normal and fine. Well, that's funny at all.
Interesting. You've got your four nights days in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
or yes, Ireland. No, that is funny. Including breakfast, which I think is arguably more
important than the racing. I need to know I've got a good breakfast waiting for me when I get up.
Plus your race tickets, flights, airport transfers, and there'll be Gulliver's tour guides
with you every step of the way. He quite often wears Gulliver's branded bags I've seen,
so you can see where they are. I think that's helpful in itself.
And if you're already thinking about next season, maybe you're planning on heading to
your first Grand Prix or you want to go back to your favourite circuit.
Guess who have already got plans for sale for 2026? Of course, it's Gulliver's.
So head to gulliverstravel.co.uk and they will help you every step of the way.
And if you can't be bothered to type that out, then it's all right, guys,
because we've got a link in the description of this episode or over on our old Instagram page.
Welcome back to the Fast and the Curious Italian Grand Prix 2025 debrief. I'm Christian
Hegiel Nicola, humour's with me this week. Nicola, we should talk about Ferrari in Monza,
shouldn't we? It's my summary of Ferrari, you know, Leclerc Fourth.
Tell you what, much better for Lewis Hamilton this weekend. We'll talk about Lewis in a moment.
We'll talk about Charlotte in a moment. Broadly speaking for Ferrari, how pleased will they be
with their Italian Grand Prix weekends, their home race. We talked about the pressure they're
under in our preview podcast with Greg and Betty. Nicola, how pleased will Ferrari or
not pleased will Ferrari be with their Italian Grand Prix 2025? Broadly speaking,
I think they should be very happy. I think for the last few races of the entire season
that Ferrari have had has not been impressive enough. And I think the fact that both of them
were potentially up there. I mean, Charlotte Clair was up there for a while, like he was
doing okay. The fact that Lewis was given that penalty, who knows what could have happened
with Lewis at P5 with where he ended up at the end. It's like he could have potentially ended
up on a podium if he wouldn't have had that penalty to begin with. So who knows. So I think
it was a positive considering what Ferrari have been like for the rest of the season.
Fair? Couldn't agree with you anymore. I think the sad situation is for Ferrari this
year is where it's not a disaster. And therefore you have to be happy with it. It is not where Ferrari
want to be. They don't want to be coming away from the Italian Grand Prix, which obviously
Charlotte won last year going, well, it wasn't a disaster. So we're pleased with that. They will,
like Red Bull will, like McLaren will, like Mercedes will, they will go into 2026 wanting
to fight for a world championship. So this time next year will be one, I think again,
I think they will be broadly pleased. They'll be hoping this time next year for far, far more.
I think Charlotte Clare was as solid as ever. There's not a lot to say other than yes,
brilliant as ever. I just think a lot better weekend for Lewis Hamilton. Actually,
other than making the mistake that he put in, putting himself in the wall in the Netherlands,
Lewis has come back after the summer break and been far, far closer to the pace of
Charlotte Clare. I just think it's been broadly speaking much better from Lewis and recovered
up to P6 today, some lovely overtaking. Nicola, would you agree better from Lewis?
Oh, God, yeah. I mean, you've got to bear in mind that Charlotte Clare has been driving for that
team for much longer than Lewis has. He knows where he is. He knows his feet. He knows the team,
all that sort of stuff. I know that Lewis is still reasonably new to the team. We are,
nine months in, 10 months in of this season. But then you think, you know, when
they made the announcement last season, he would still have been sort of in and out of
the team and getting to know them, that kind of thing. But it's taken a really long time,
I think, for Lewis to find his feet in that new car. And I think he's had a few moments
where you've kind of gone, oh, exciting. Maybe not. Oh, maybe not. Oh.
The sprint pollen win.
Exactly that. Yeah. So I think it's been a solid weekend for Lewis. I don't think it's going
to be, I don't think there's going to be any more exciting weekends for Lewis for the rest
of the season. I just can't see it happening. But maybe next season it might get a little bit more
behind him. I don't know.
Well, this is the thing. The thing I keep banging on about is next season, that advantage that
Charles got goes away. I also make the point with Williams. We've seen how much Carlos has
at times struggled. Alex has been driving that generation of car for lots longer. Next year,
your likes of Hamilton, your likes of signs, the advantage that their teammates have got,
having been there for so long and been part of the furniture completely disappears because
they're completely new cars. So I agree with you. I think Lewis has to have weekends like this
between now and the end of the season. Just be solid, even if it isn't spectacular. And then
next season is when we're really going to see, I think, whether Lewis Hamilton is still
a force to be reckoned with in Formula One. And I wouldn't write him off. I think you'd
be foolish to ever write Lewis Hamilton off. I think the most important thing for me to
discuss with Ferrari this weekend, I want to give them real praise for an area I've
criticised them for in the past, right? A, they did a special livery. They didn't mess that up.
Some of their special liveries have been bloody awful. The special livery. Oh,
it wasn't massively special, but the pretty extra white was lovely credit. So I give them credit
there. I also give them credit for the blue, the blue hats and the blue t-shirts that the
drivers have been wearing. Really pretty. So Ferrari have made some ugly special livery
stuff this season. I thought they excelled this weekend. And listen, Formula One's all
about listening to feedback and evolving. I think they've done that on the prettiness of
special livery and special merch front. I think that's important to recognise.
Yes, it's a hard agree. I mean, it was a really lovely nod to Nicky Lauda and his win back in,
well, no, it wasn't his win. It was, well, it was when he won the championship back in 1975,
I believe it was. But he came third in the actual race, but it was a nod to his
championship win back then. But I think maybe for Lewis, because he's so close to Nicky Lauda,
or he was so close to Nicky Lauda that it just kind of made that little bit more,
it made it a little bit more special for him. I don't know. But yeah, this weekend felt like,
oh, Ferrari special livery. Oh God, it's going to be rubbish. Oh no, actually.
Yes. Quite nice. All right, fair.
Credit to them for that. Well done, Ferrari. And while we're talking about Italy stuff,
a much better weekend from Kimmy Antonelli. Someone else we spoke about in the preview show
that's been struggling a bit, wondering whether it's too much too soon. Also a friend of the
Fast and the Curious, Molly Hudson, The Times, F1 correspondent who we have on the pot a lot.
She wrote a big feature I saw the weekend on, is it too much too soon for Kimmy Antonelli?
Much better performance from him this weekend. He got a five second penalty for driving
erratically towards the end of the race. We're only recording this, well, 45 minutes
or so after the race. Neither me, Nicola or producer Will have been able to work out
quite how or why he was driving erratically. But I'm sure you listening or watching this
might have had more information after we've recorded. So he was ninth and it could have
been eighth. But yes, also better, a solid one from Antonelli this weekend.
Just one more thing I want to talk to you about before we move on to
Christians Currie Hall and Betty's Radio Radar, Nicola. Obviously there was lots of debate
around Carlos Sainte's penalty last weekend. Again, poor old Carlos. He seems to have
the pace in this Williams on a qualifying run now, but just isn't able to execute it on a race
day. And the last couple of races has been involved in collisions. I was obviously we all saw
on the telly that crash between Ollie and Carlos. It was like to me it was in slow motion. I just
it was one of those was soon as it happened. I was like, ah, that they're going to end
up in tears here. They're going to make contacts. Now on my first look at it, Nicola,
I thought Ollie had left his nose in too much and it was inevitable therefore that Carlos was
going to trip over it. And on that basis, I'd have agreed with Ollie Bearman's 10 second
penalty. But on second look at it, I sort of thought maybe Carlos could have given a bit
more room and moved his car around the outside a bit more. So I actually think that's
I am the first on this pod to say, I don't know why the FIA made that decision or
I guess a really difficult one. I mean, that's a real, I think I could have gone either way.
It was a 10 second penalty for Bearman. I wouldn't have complained if it was a racing incident.
I think that was unfortunate. What do you think, Nicola? To me, that's a really tough
one to call. Yeah, I agree with you on that. It was it was a complete mishmash. It was,
yeah, when I watched it a second time, it was exactly the same reaction. I was like,
Oh, actually, I don't know. I feel like, yeah, he could have left him some space there. I don't
know. I feel like we have to give a shout out to the Carlos Sines fans. This is a really tough
time to be a Carlos fan right now. I feel like it seems like the last last few races have just
been really, really tough. I mean, the entire season has been tricky as a Carlos fan. But
knowing what he's capable of versus knowing what he's been dealing with for the last
few races must be so tricky as a Carlos fan. So I just want to say from us to the Sines fans,
we feel you. We get you. We understand. It's a tough time.
Hold his ball that equally. I'm not worried about him. I think he will click. No, he'll be
fine. As I say, there's also, as I just mentioned earlier in the podcast, next year,
there's the reset anyway. I think I'd be more worried about him if he wasn't putting in
the qualifying performances he's putting in. I just think it's just not quite clicked.
And there's a lot of bad luck. And the thing is, when you are further back, you run the risk of
midfield shenanigans. So I'm not worried about him. I'm fortunate for Ollie after his good
result last weekend. I think it was, I don't think it was dirty from Ollie. I don't think it,
I think it was unfortunate. So yeah, right. I do want to shout out to Carlos's girlfriend
for the confidence of wearing a white dress to a Grand Prix now. Now. Hang on a minute.
Because I have never ever, of all the Grand Prixs I've ever been to, I've never worn white.
It's the pure panic of getting too close to anything and getting anything dirty. You're
dealing with cars, mechanics, you're dealing with oil chain, you're dealing with just
like rough mechanical things. She's rocking up in a white dress like an absolute queen.
I respect it. She's clearly kept her distance and she just does her own thing
in her wonderful white dress that she's kept perfectly clean, fair play.
Something me and Betty Glover have in common is we're both deeply clumsy people.
I wore cream machinos yesterday. A rookie era. And a really rookie era, because you know what
I've spotted, I do is when I'm leaning up against something, I put my heel against my
shin, calf, calf. Do you know what I mean? So I'll take my right heel and I'll rest it
against my left calf area on my tiptoes, right? So I got home to the hotel last night and I
looked like I'd been playing football because I just got sort of mucky bottom bits of the.
So I agree with you. Like, yeah, it's a really brave move and she deserves
enormous credit for that. Yeah, what a woman. What a woman. What a woman. Now,
a couple of other things to mention. Christian's Coby Hole is a little feature we do.
That sounds quite sweet, but carry on. It's all to family show. It's where I basically just,
I don't know where the name came from, but basically, someone who's gone under the radar
a little bit during the race, I just want to give another shout out to Gabriele Bortoletto,
who was eighth and might well have been seventh if it wasn't for a slow start.
Poor old Hulk retired on the formation lap with a mechanical fault. Gabriele Bortoletto has not
only, he's been brilliant this season. His rise in confidence and sheer pace across the season
has been outstanding. He's another one I think is going to be in Formula One for a long time,
but also, yeah, I, Salbert, you know, their regular points finishes now.
It's getting into the stage where we're not surprised by Salbert getting points finishes,
and, you know, they were a bit of a shambles not too long ago. What a job Salbert have done this
year. Jonathan Wheatley, absolute king. What a king. He is such a wonderful man, and he has
pulled that team together, and it genuinely makes me think that Audi will be amazing as of next
season. And I do genuinely think Bortoletto, as much as we've all been saying, I think
religiously across all Formula One podcasts, name them all. Oh, God, it will take you ages.
But name them all. And I think Isaac Haja is rookie of the season.
Yeah, and also, the fact that Jonathan Wheatley and Matteo Bernotto seem to be working so well
together, there was a lot of people who sort of thought that would be sort of like two team
principles, and that was a recipe for disaster. But I spoke to Jonathan a couple of weeks
ago, and he said, look, it's just too much of a big project to guide the team from Salbert
to Audi and to get into the new regulations. And they're working really well together and
splitting the responsibilities really well. It just seems to be, as you say, Nicola, going
really well and a sign that Audi could be a real force in Formula One, which is really exciting.
Pirelli's 500th race is something I also want to mention. Although I believe it wasn't actually
their 500th race. I think their 500th race was last weekend in Zambor, but the celebration
is this weekend. Again, true Formula One thing, goodness knows why. Love it.
Therefore, I'd like to invite you, Nicola, to say your favorite Pirelli tire.
I just thought it'd be a nice homage to them. You know what I mean?
Really exciting question. I'm going to go for a solid C-Fall medium.
Lovely. I like a C-Five hard. Thanks, mate. I just do. Of course you do.
Love a C-Five hard. I really do. Two old producer Will likes. He loves a 2018
Pink Trim Hyper Soft. Beautiful. Beautiful. That's really, really nice. A Hyper Soft. He
doesn't even have to be taken for dinner beforehand. Just a nice Hyper Soft.
Just a nice Hyper Soft. Back in the day, when we go, as producer Will says, 2018,
we had Pink Stripes and there's lots of those on display in the Red Bull Museum
thing where all the cars are of different colors. I always go in there and think,
I forgot we had Pink Tires at one time. So, yeah. Lovely. Well done, Pirelli.
Also, Nicola, a couple of funnies from the weekends. Now, American listeners or listeners from all
over the world, this will mean nothing to you. The UK government this weekend, guys,
did a thing where they're testing their emergency response and it was going to happen this weekend.
I was sad I missed this because my phone didn't go off because I'm in Italy. Nicola,
you're in the UK. This did happen. Please explain why it was slightly stressful for you.
Allow me to explain this. So, we've known for a good couple of weeks that this was going to be
3pm Sunday. There's going to be a government emergency alarm test on your smartphones,
which basically means if a war or something breaks out, then your alarms will siren. It's
a bit like an old school war siren, but except it's going to come up on your smartphones,
they needed to test it out. Lovely, lovely. And I knew it was happening and I got a text
from my mate two minutes before going, don't forget that thing's going to go off in a couple
of minutes. And I was like, yeah, great. What did I do? I forgot about it because, of course,
I did because that's what happens with my brain because I was watching Formula One at the time.
And what happened was at that exact time, Alex's album was coming in for his pit stop and I
watched it and that flipping alarm went off and it was so loud. It was, I can't,
Chris, it was so loud. Did you think something horribly had gone wrong with Alex's pit stop?
Yes. I had a full blown panic bearing in mind. I had a two minute warning of what was going to
happen and I had a full blown, my heart rate went through the roof and I had a full blown
panic of what was going on. It was a full, like 20 second alarm, something like that.
It was extremely loud. And then I was a bit annoyed, if I'm honest, because I was a bit
like, why did they plan to do this during the Grand Prix? It's like the government just
don't even know. It's like they're just not even thinking about us, Formula One fans.
Do you know what I mean? It's just not fair.
If you are British and you did have this happen to win the race, please drop us a message in the
comments and let us know if you also thought, yeah, something was going wrong with Alex's pit stop.
One more thing I just want to mention is something I can say, I will never be a Formula
One driver, but I can say something this weekend from being on the ground, as I say,
working on my grown up job. Nicola, I'm like a driver. I've been to the medical centre.
Oh God, what happened?
No, right. So it's all to the best. Well, I'm packing up right on Thursday or Friday evening.
My office where I've been working is next door to the medical centre.
Right.
I'm packing up my stuff in my bag. I noticed blood on the table. All I've done is with
the zip of my bag, nicked my knuckle on the corner of the knuckle. Well, no, it didn't
hurt at all. Didn't hurt. No, it didn't. The only way I noticed it was it was bleeding.
I was also about to leave to drive me and producer Jamie Houghton, who I worked with on the other
podcast. I was wearing white. Now, I made this mistake not long ago when sort of nicking myself
on a knife at home.
It's basically a Palestine's girlfriend. Yeah, fine. Carry on.
Well, I thought, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought recently I'll be fine. And then it just
carried on bleeding and couldn't stop. And I ended up getting blood all over a machine
in the gym. Horrible thought. So, right, I'm not going to do this again. Oh,
we have to walk past the medical center to get out the circuit. Right, I'll just pop in.
Yeah, I love a plaster. I pop in, speak to a lovely human being on the reception desk,
and she said to me, oh, yeah, fine, no problem. I'll just go and get you one.
Thanks. Think of that. Just give me a plaster. Then a very stern doctor man comes, right?
Says, oh, follow me. Come this way. Yeah.
Takes me right through into the medical center. I definitely shouldn't be here.
This is where the drivers are like, you know, if they've crashed or something,
get fixed. And then shuts the door tells me to take a seat. I'm like, I've literally just nicked
my finger here. It doesn't even hurt. It's just I'm just basically don't want to get blood on my
white t-shirt. And the man fills out the biggest form in front of me you've ever seen. And
literally a three piece of paper fills it out makes me sign it and gives me the lamest
looking tiny plaster ever. It's the only way I can't get rid of this. I've now got at
home a massive form for me having a plaster in the medical center. So next time guys,
you're watching amazing. And there's some sort of crash. They've gone on. They've been sent to
the medical center in the lamest possible way. I too have now been sent to the medical center.
I think the most important question is, are you okay? Oh, I'm fine. I literally just wore it.
The sounds really took it off when I got back. No, it's fine. It's like literally not saying
it's fine. Before we go, Betty's radio radar, which is a job that will be shared between
me and Nicola with Betty not being here. I enjoyed on lap 27, Oskapia Astrid being told
lap A plus 15. Guys, you're effectively making this up at this stage, aren't you? Lap A plus
15. But like just 15. I don't remember 15 things while they're driving 200 miles an hour. I'm not
having it. And Nicola, you liked Charlotte Claire, right? Yes. So this was lap 35.
So I've gone for Charlotte Claire, who went, if we're not under threat, why did we stop now?
Just to know. And they went, we can discuss later. And that's that's all we know.
That's it. You can't get through a race, can you? Without Ferrari having some sort of bicker on
the team radio, whether it's Lewis, whether it's Charles and Brian, like you can't get
through the race without Ferrari having some sort of bicker. I also enjoyed
Max being told on lap 48, right? Just Max, like, we've got this. Basically,
we've got this in the bag. No risk. Just we've got this in the bag. To which Max,
he's even got time when winning the fastest Grand Prix in history to basically take the
Mickey out of his team by just going, yeah, no risk. Full push. I love GP. I love Max's
engineer so much. He is such an absolute ledge. Their bromance is absolutely brilliant.
It's very funny. Yeah, no risk. Full push. Yeah, thank you, Max. Yeah, right.
Nicola, you're fitted into the fast and curious vibe like a glove. Thank you for joining us. Please
remind you finish your seconds. We've got to go. Nicola, remind our lovely viewers and listeners
where they can find you and your work. Oh, God. Yeah. So I host the official Red Bull Racing
podcast, which is called the Talking Ball podcast, where you don't have to be a fan of
Red Bull to listen. Can I just say you don't have to be a massive Red Bull fan to listen because
we go behind the scenes when it comes to Formula One and how a Formula One team works.
So we speak to the livery designers. We speak to the engineers. We speak to the pit crew,
etc. We find out what it's like to make a Formula One team work. And fun fact for you,
last week I was with Yuki Sonoda. So there will be an episode coming out with Yuki,
which was absolutely wonderful. Oh, I love Yuki. Oh, my God. If you feel free to count how many times
he mentions food, because what a guy. We also spoke about farts many times. And then I also
host the Midweek F1 podcast, because we firmly believe that the middle of the week when it
comes to a Wednesday, everyone's digested everything from a Sunday, Monday, maybe slightly
on a Tuesday. We could all do with a little bit of cravings on a Wednesday. So we record on a
Monday, we release on a Wednesday to discuss the Grand Prix just gone and discuss the Grand Prix
coming up. So we give you that nice little bit of craving right in the middle of the week. So
Midweek F1, there's our mic muff for you that I haven't used on this podcast. It's very yellow.
Enjoy it. Lovely. It's a plush with files and curious, but what can you do? Oh, listen,
we've had Matt and Tommy on here. We're all friends with all podcasters. We've also had Matt
and Tommy on Talking Ball there. Wonderful. Oh, we love Matt and Tommy and you've had
me and Betty on as well. Yes. You were also wonderful. I was very hung over that day.
I'm on that bombshell. We're going to leave it. Nicola Hube. I'm not even going to give
any explanation. Nicola Hube, what a joy. I loved having you with us.
It was off the back of the Attitude Awards. That's what it was. And I was very, very hung
over because it was just a big game night the night before. That's what it was,
but it was a good attitude. Attitude is an LGBT magazine in the UK. Again, you really
are fitting this vibe of this pod very well. Nicola, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
We really appreciate you coming on. We'll speak to you again soon. Right. Coming up on the Fast
and the Curious, we spoke to Leah Block before the Netherlands. Leah then had her best F1 Academy
results ever and got on the podium. So we've got to speak to her about that. We'd be doing
a disservice if we didn't. So we'll catch up with Leah again to talk about that very,
very soon. Also, as I mentioned right at the top of the show, with our Azerbaijan preview,
me, Greg and Betty will be joined by Ezek Hacha. We are very much excited for that and looking
forward to it. This has been the Fast and the Curious. We're back very soon. Until next time,
please don't forget to subscribe or like or follow. It makes a huge difference to us.
And we'll see you soon. Bye for now.
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