The timing belt is a belt inside the engine that keeps the moving parts in sync. If it breaks, the engine can get badly damaged, so replacing it on schedule is important.
The Subaru WRX STI is a sporty Subaru built for fast driving and rally-style traction. Here, it’s the car the speaker is working on while doing maintenance.
The Miami Grand Prix is a big Formula 1 race in Miami, Florida. When people talk about it on a motorsport show, they usually mean the weekend’s F1 action and headlines.
It’s a button/setting that gives the car extra power for a short time to help you pass. When the track is wet, race teams often turn it off because the tires can’t grip as well.
On an F1 weekend, “practice” is the time teams use to dial in the car and try things out before the important sessions. It helps them figure out what works on that track.
This refers to the typical F1 weekend progression: sprint (a shorter race that sets grid position), qualifying (which determines starting order), and then the main race. The order and format can affect strategy, especially when weather changes.
“Electrical output” points to changes in the car’s hybrid/electrical energy system, which can affect how much power is delivered and when. Teams use sessions to validate software and hardware behavior so the car performs consistently under different track and weather conditions.
“Air upgrades” are aerodynamic changes—like revised wings, floors, or bodywork—that alter airflow to improve downforce and efficiency. Teams test them to confirm the expected grip and balance, especially when conditions (like wet vs dry) change.
They’re talking about the race track in Miami when it’s raining. Rain makes the road slippery, so cars don’t grip as well and drivers have to brake earlier and be more careful with steering.
Honda F1 is Honda’s racing team in Formula 1. They’re the group making the cars and making technical decisions, and the quote is about how they’re managing expectations and progress.
“Road vibrations” are the shaking you feel when the track surface isn’t perfectly smooth. Racing teams look for the source because it can make the car feel bad and can sometimes point to a mechanical problem.
They’re talking about the engine in the race car. The team is trying to figure out whether the weird buzzing/vibration is coming from the engine or from something around it.
Term
steering car
“Steering car” is used here as slang for a driver’s test or demonstration run in a specific car. In motorsport context, it usually means the car a driver is actually behind the wheel of during a session.
A “show-car test” is a demonstration event where a car is showcased (often for publicity) and may be driven briefly to generate attention. The hosts suggest the event was marketed as an Alpine but involved a different car.
Car
Lotus E20
The Lotus E20 is a particular Formula 1 race car from around 2012. The hosts are saying the car shown as an Alpine was actually a Lotus E20.
Car
W196
The W196 is a famous Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 car from the 1950s, associated with legendary driver Juan Manuel Fangio. The hosts mention it as a hypothetical older Mercedes that would have been “far too difficult,” implying it’s a different era and much harder to drive.
A replica is a copy of a historic race car. It may look right, but the inside details—like how the pedals are arranged—can be different from the original.
Liberty is the company that runs Formula 1’s business side. The hosts are saying the race returning depends on whether Liberty will back it with the right money.
Concept
financing situation
A financing situation is how the money is arranged to pay for something. They’re saying the race might not come back if the funding plan can’t hold up.
Concept
Espantuero year
“Espantuero year” appears to reference a specific historical incident or nickname tied to the 1998 Argentinian Grand Prix. Without more context in the excerpt, it’s unclear what the term refers to, but it’s being used as a memorable marker for that season.
Ralf Schumacher is a real race car driver from Formula 1. He’s part of the famous Schumacher family, and people mention him when they’re talking about drivers who have raced at the top level.
Brand
Roman Grosjean
This sounds like it’s referring to Romain Grosjean, a famous former Formula 1 driver. If you hear his name in a debate about racing, it’s usually because he’s a recognizable driver from top-level open-wheel racing.
Marcus Ericsson is a pro race driver. He’s raced in IndyCar and has also been in Formula 1, so he’s a common name when people talk about drivers across open-wheel racing.
A “shunt” just means a crash, usually a pretty serious one. “Big shunt” means it was a hard hit and could have been much worse.
Topic
rally de Walloni
This is the name of a rally race they’re talking about. Rally events are off-road style stages, and crashes can be tough because the roads and grip change a lot.
Rallying is a type of racing where cars drive through timed sections on roads set up for the event. Here, they’re talking about whether F1 drivers are allowed to do rally events.
Company
Imsa Radio
This sounds like a radio show or media channel connected to IMSA racing. The host is saying they’re working on a segment for that outlet.
The Turkish Grand Prix is a Formula 1 race in Turkey. In this episode, they’re talking about the track and why it can be a bit of a hassle to get to, but also why it’s still a good circuit.
Concept
non-stop moaning
They’re joking about people complaining nonstop about how hard or slow it is to get there. It’s more about event logistics than car or track engineering.
To “resurface” a track means they redo the top driving surface. If the surface is causing problems like low grip, resurfacing can help it behave more normally for racing.
Pole position means the driver starts the race from the very front. It’s earned by being fastest in qualifying, and it usually helps because you get to lead at the start.
Grand Canaria is an island location that the hosts keep mentioning in the rally context. It’s basically where the rally coverage is happening.
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If it has wheels and an engine and they keep score, it's on Midweek Motorsport.
Hello everybody and welcome to Midweek Motorsport. It is just after 8 o'clock in the UK and we are already up to I reckon 16th episode of series
21. I'm John Hendoff, up in London. Is Tim great? Good evening Tim, have you had the relatively nice weather that we've had up here today?
It's been incredibly windy here in London today. Right. They've had to close roads because of all the trees. Really?
Were you affected by the London marathon at the weekend? I completely forgot because I was away in Monaco for the historic.
We'll be talking about the marathon later in the show. The fact that this is series 21 episode 16 means it's also episode 985.
985? Wow. So we will get to 1,000 episodes before the end of this particular season. How lovely. That is very exciting. On a pack programme tonight we have what?
We have all the usual features including rally report with Peter Mackay. Everybody will be happy for that.
We have a double sync with John De Geese. Nick Damon will be here to talk about some Formula 1 news. We'll be looking ahead to the Nürburgring 24 hours.
We've got a brand new game show.
We've got sports car racing this weekend that we'll have to have a look at as well.
Shall I do a bit of parish analysis? Of course.
As we always do. Monty Elysium. Hello Monty. Hope you and Billy are feeling very well.
Tuned in from the Pacific Northwest. The flights are booked for Petty LeMond. Excellent. Well done.
High noon on the West Coast from Jesse playing pickleball while listening. Claude don't know.
But trying to bring some cool garage monkey engine configs and the results are lit.
Just back from a long and productive day at work. Feet up with some midweek motorsports.
Diplomatic or reserve a room. Says James O'Donnell. Monty O'Historic was great and enjoyed that. Thank you for the kind words.
Good afternoon from sunny and warm Central Florida. No need for the archive this week. Jerry Z is tuned in.
Another Jesse, but this time on the other side of the world. Jesse Young is listening for a potential...
listening out for a bit of the press. Rest on demand. Thanks to the team for the Monty O'Historic's over the weekend.
Wasn't it great watching the classic F1 cars? It was. It was. Hello to Martin and Sarah Rigby.
Tuned in live. His post-off recovery is going well. Stitches removed next week. Well done. Be well, won't you?
Hello to Rafi. Tuned in tonight. Having a six hour nap ahead of this long weekend with Imza and GT World Challenge Europe in Asia.
JJ. Too lazy for cooking or eating or doing anything but sitting here listening in. So good evening.
And to you. And to you, Johannes. Sean Crockett, EFAs tonight. Refitting an immersion heated down-me-moms house.
I'll get the podcast tomorrow. Hello to Jamie Dwyer. No EFAs tonight. Looking forward to the trip of the year.
That's done it for the historic festival. Bruce is on duty for that again this weekend.
I think I might have a dodge-up as well during the day. Evening all. No EFAs tonight for Chris Suki.
Looking forward to the show. Lights up as the mid-week meal. Work was very filling.
Hello to Jamie and E-Racing. No EFAs. Listening in. Buzzing from a great Silverstone 500 with the British GTs at the week.
And the top support from the Jeanette. Jeanette agreed. Looked absolutely mega when I was there on Thursday.
Listening on the walk tomorrow as usual says Ed Sir. Still somewhat surprised you read out my terrible shadows.
Pun at the weekend. Matt Endine. Looking forward to the rally report music. He's got a scatter rally on Friday as well.
He's live at Luxembourg Airport at the moment. That's Friday night. Can't be with you on Friday.
Matt, I've got sound checks to do for the weekend. But thank you for the invitation.
Orange Grove serving the download for the trip to Donningham Park tomorrow. He's going to be driving the safety car.
Wow. I'm very, very envious. James Brown. Not that one. On a short break to Bergen, Norway and enjoying some evening trekking up the mountains.
And a great picture. He's very, very sweet. That one. That's a great place to be on a Thursday night.
Otter. EFE. Have a busy day watching some Storks. Very much looking forward to the podcast.
Hello. Touring car magazine. To Chris Smith. To Arnard Robb. To Dave Olcock. To Blurthund.
He's listening in live from the workshop. Slow day at work. So I'm replacing the timing belt on my own Subaru WRX STI.
Looking forward to Imza and the F1 race this weekend. And still there's more. Kevin Payne listening live again tonight.
Said it was my first time watching racing at the Principality. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Saturday was Casino Square.
Sunday between Pitt Inn and the start of the start finish. Not straight. Very good.
Broadies listening in while doing some work for something that's happening this weekend. And I won't see it just in case.
Alright. Hang on. What else have we got here? Matt Hunter. Listening in tonight. Great episode of Simcast last week.
And what a result for them. Nigel Dobby listening in tonight. Manx UQ 2009.
Oh. And ear 110. Steve met him on the plane coming back from Monaco at the weekend. That was good.
And Anthony Masters. Hello to you. And to Dave Olcock as well. And to... Oh, I think that's it. I think I've gone all the way back.
Oh, no. Hang on. Thomas Pitt says his work trip to Germany has been avoided. So given that the Foxes have passed the track inspection,
he will be at what's been renamed the Northampton Shaleway. And obviously in the early years of racing, tuning in from the office,
need a good distraction from my Wednesday afternoon slog. Has the RC racing planned any... Our classic future.
I'm sure it's Glossy's mind. We'll talk about that in a little while. And Neil, our artist in residence. I appear still to be in the pub.
Very good. Very good indeed. What's the top story, Tim? Shuffle those papers and play the jingle.
It's the Miami Grand Prix this weekend. So let's bring in our Formula One correspondent, Nick Damon.
Oh, no. He's far too loud. He's absolutely far too loud. Go on. Do a...
Everything's different. What?
Go on. Hooray. Hooray. Hooray! It's ruined now. I've done one. You weren't on the faders quick enough.
There was some super clipping going on.
Ah, 350 watts of me.
Mega clipping. Because you're on a Mac, you can't turn down your level to me and it distorts down the claim feed.
Which is why Macs aren't any good for doing audio on.
Well, I can. If I had my little separate box, I could have done that.
Ah, yes. But then you'd have to have a separate little box instead of just being able to do a software switch, which you can on a PC.
I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I don't know.
So, anyway, where would you like to go with this, Tim?
Well, Miami, obviously.
I don't really want to go to Miami. The weather looks awful.
Oh, is it?
Thunderstorms circling the region like predators. 80% risk of rain.
A abrupt turn in the wind, gusting in new directions, unsettling balance and breaking points.
The forecast for Sunday is volatile.
Volatile. Let's have some volatile on Sunday.
Volatilitility.
Oh, hello to Kuiper Hoffman. By the way, who's listing him from San Jose?
There's no overtaking boost mode in the wet anymore. That's gone.
Really?
Well, they tried against that this week.
It's like other bits and bobs fiddling my Rome burns.
There's more of it, though, this weekend, isn't there, Tim?
What's that weather?
No, F1. There's more than there was meant to be.
There's half an hour more. There's half an hour more practice.
There's half an hour...
There's more practice, yes.
It's 90 minutes of practice rather than an hour.
You've got the sprint, qualify, and then the race.
That's 90 minutes. Probably won't do them any good because it's going to be dry and sunny.
In fact, it's stiflingly hot, so the conditions will be very different.
Yeah, I think it's a chance to test the various new software things they've had to do for the new electrical output.
Or they can also test whether or not their air upgrades have worked.
Yeah, it's very exciting.
Jamie Dwyer says, I've just checked the forecast for Donning.
Nonsense, dear. It's wet there as well.
Yes, but it is an interesting circuit, Jamie.
We've never seen a very wet Miami, so rain might change it.
Hang on. If it gets really, really wet, does that mean the fake boats will start to float?
Well, I don't think they've got that anymore now.
Really?
Yeah, they took that out after...
Oh, you're right. They sold it for more hospitality, didn't they?
Yeah, it's the hard rock party zone now, isn't it?
Yes.
The hard rock party beach.
After Sandle get everywhere.
After all those weeks off where they've been able to work on their cars and their performance.
Which team is not going to have any measurable progress?
That's the wrong answer.
It is a correct answer.
Those are the words of Shintaro Aihara of Honda F1.
Yeah, Honda are really leaning into the under promise.
Potentially slightly deliver, aren't they?
But yeah, you don't know what they would have done chassis-wise.
They can obviously work on the chassis.
Apparently, what happened was they left one of the cars there off the Japanese Grand Prix.
So they can actually test it, the engine in a car on the dinos,
and see where these road vibrations were coming from.
And try and sort them out before they give either the drivers permanent RS,
whether they get the buzzing, RSI engine,
same as they do the thumpy-thumpy machines on the road.
But yes, it's a disaster.
Which team is riding high at the moment?
Mercedes.
That's not what's written on my card.
No one's riding as high as Mercedes, so...
Audi. Audi have got a new race director, so they must be riding high.
It's Alpine.
Alpine have got a hot... Why? Why are they riding high?
Have they had a steering car?
Apparently, they went to Buenos Aires for a show-car test,
which was not even an Alpine.
It was so long ago, it was actually a Lotus, believe it or not,
in 2012, painted up as an Alpine with Franco Collapinto.
And they say it was 600,000 Argentinians there.
Yeah, it was the 12th, Lotus E20 that he drove, so just 14 years old.
How old was Franco Collapinto when the Lotus E20 raced?
No, he wasn't.
He was younger than that, he was six.
Do you have any why he says it was wet at the sprint at Miami last year?
Yes, that was just a little bit of drizzle.
Which other car did Collapinto drive?
He drove one Manuel Fangio's Mercedes, was it?
Did he? W196?
He didn't, because obviously that would be far too difficult.
He drove a replica of Manuel Fangio's Mercedes W196.
Did it have the pedals?
Did it have the pedals in the real ones?
Well, do they?
There's a lot of chat about whether they actually ever let the real ones out,
and of course they're not in the original livery,
because they took the swastikas off them.
W196 is post-war?
Yes, that's true.
But did it have the pedals in the wrong order to what we're used to now?
I was going to say it wasn't the wrong order for them, they were quite used to it.
No, no, that's right.
Just the wrong order for people who know how to drive contemporaneously.
Yes, absolutely.
So do we think that 600,000 fans in Buenos Aires
might mean the return of the Argentinian Grand Prix?
Well, that depends on how much money they give to Liberty
and whether they can actually find a financing situation
that doesn't collapse after six months or on the next change in government,
because that's been the problem.
Obviously, I went to the last couple of Argentinian Grand Prix
in 1997, 1998, yes.
1998 was the last one.
Yes, that was the Espantuero year,
where they had their own personal camera crew.
Remember that name for later on, Nick?
I know he did, but I remember he did it this week, didn't he, as well?
It might come in useful later in the show.
What name was that?
Espantuero.
Oh, yeah, okay.
Who thinks which dappin' should be banned from GT racing?
Oh, I know this one.
Is it Lauren Meckies?
No.
No.
I'm joking.
Who is it? Go on.
John?
It is...
It was an ex-driver.
Yes.
Ralph Schumacher.
No, no, no, no.
More recently, associated with the Indy car,
I think...
Roman Grosjean?
Was it...
Marcus Ericsson?
I read that. You're gonna have to tell me.
Juan Pablo Montoya.
There you go, thank you.
He's getting quite rent-a-gobby, isn't he?
He is, yes.
He's in there now, he's sitting there, he's thinking,
right, how am I gonna pay for the bourbon after each week?
I wouldn't have allowed it if I'd been the boss of Red Bull,
he said, out of called Max and said,
don't get in the car anymore.
You need to reconsider this.
In a called Max, he said, stick to tennis.
Hang on, this is...
Now, last week, we didn't talk about the death of Juhar Mattinen.
And one of the reasons we didn't talk about was
that we were all still quite angry about the awful way
that it was covered by some outlets that should have known better.
And apparently, there was no editorial control
on quite a number of the stories that went out there,
and it was absolutely terrible.
And this only came in.
Juan Pablo only made this comment,
and I'm not necessarily going to blame JPM on this
because you don't know when he was asked the question
and what he was asked.
But this was only after Juhar's death.
It was fine for Max to be doing it until somebody got killed
and then, apparently, he shouldn't do it after that,
which is just another bit of nonsense from the whole situation
of the aftermath of that horrible seven-car incident
that cost Juhar Mattinen his life.
Well, I don't think that's affected Juan Torres' opinion
because he went on to say,
several times during my career, I was invited to drive rally cars and GT cars.
I'd have loved that, but I was never allowed to.
They're investing in me as a driver, a big investment,
so they had to protect me.
But still, the comment was only made after...
It wasn't when he was first in it.
He didn't make his gobb go then, or somebody didn't ask him,
and I'm prepared to believe it might have been the latter rather than the former,
but as you see, Nick, he has become a bit of a rent-a-quart recently.
But then again, you don't know who's asking him.
So that was on his own podcast.
Which Verstappen did crash at the weekend?
Yosted.
He had a big shunt, a very, very big shunt.
He's very, very fortunate to get out of that
without any injuries whatsoever.
It was in the rally de Walloni, wasn't it?
Yes.
We've got some job news.
Excellent.
Have I got a job?
No, we've got another way, mate.
I like, mate.
We're going to start with Audi Formula One.
Hello, Alan, mate, Nick.
Yes. Hello, Alan.
I was waiting for you to have dug up the Holocaust of...
Oh, collective.
That's very poor.
When asked about the new appointment,
he said, I'm very excited to get out there
and show how competitive we are with our DDA technology.
No, we're not allowed it.
There was some other job news as well.
I can't find it now.
Jesse Young, this is a good point.
The jam carry on place, he's left for McLaren.
That was the last week, wasn't it?
And he's likely to be going...
He's likely to be going early as well.
And there's not a chance they're going to keep him around
until the end of 27.
Not paying until then.
I think there might be some kind of agreement
between McLaren and them
if they were to let him go,
or that McLaren would pick him up and pay him his wages.
I'm sure they would.
Jesse Young says,
that's a bit of a nonsensical line of thinking by JPM.
Why didn't anyone currently or formerly
collected the F1 circus, including JPM,
get on the blow about F1 drivers being banned from rallying
because of Robert Kubits' rally crash?
Somewhat double standards there.
And Johannes has...
This is all on aspect determined.
Johannes has a little sympathy for JPM.
Ah, poor JPM.
They wouldn't let him drive a GT car, boo-hoo.
It did sound a bit like that, anyway.
Sorry.
Audi first, so that's Alan,
and he's now director of...
Yeah.
...of motorsport.
He's half a team principal.
Matthew Minot has the other half.
That's a bit unfair, just because he's a bit short.
Oh, sorry, I said you were wrong.
Yeah, he'll be doing all the team principal things
for the race weekend to be doing all the principal conferences
and chatting to everyone.
Well, but he has, let's not forget,
he's got experience of that because he did
that sort of job.
Did he not in Formula Ray? Yeah, absolutely.
He did, exactly.
It's not like he's not able to do it
not fully capable of handling that part of the role.
Yeah, he could.
He was at the historic, at the weekend as well.
Do you think he's important enough now
to have somebody else on his underpants for him?
Well, you have shared a hotel room with him many times.
I have, on a couple of occasions, yes,
and he was an underpants ironer.
That was a long time ago.
Were they briefs or boxes?
That's what the question is.
That was the year of his career.
He had to share with you.
Yeah, exactly.
Honestly, if ever you want to take a point
of where Alan's Nadir was,
he was sharing with me in a hotel room.
Because after that, five years later,
I was doing the same job and he interviewed,
and he had gone from being the guy
who was analysing the race
for the directors to actually being in the race.
Which is quite a big change.
That was very good.
Boxers are briefed. That's the question that needs to be answered.
I think they're boxers, I think.
Your replacement roommate
went the other way, didn't he,
from racing
in F1 to
doing that job and sharing a room with you?
Who was that, Nick?
Max Pappis?
Or did you not share with Max?
No, I never shared with Max.
Apparently, from the room that I had,
I would have remembered.
Moving on to more job news,
and who turned down
a job last year?
Last year?
Last year, lots of people.
I did.
I turned down several jobs last year.
Did you?
Yeah.
I don't think I turned down any jobs.
That's such a vague question.
The Red Bull Formula One team.
Oh, was it being in charge of the Red Bull Formula One?
Was that a Fribbler, sir?
No.
No.
You've caught us out here.
It was Jean-Tott.
Really?
Yeah.
Really?
Where'd you read that?
This was Jean-Tott,
who says
I just
I just
I just
What did you just drop, ladies?
Dietrich Mateschitz wanted me to join,
so he came to have lunch at home
in Paris with me, twice.
That's several years ago.
He's been dead two years, three years.
That's what he said.
No, he said last year.
I did say last year, yes, he did.
So it must have been
what did he have the Ouija board out?
That'd be quite good.
Had a charcuterie board and a Ouija board.
Very good.
I know which one I'd have preferred.
Yeah.
Me too.
Moving on. There's been some jobs using NASCAR as well.
Has there?
Oh, yes there has.
New Man at the Top.
Yes.
Of NASCAR? Yes.
Mr Jim Franz has stepped aside.
Is this person also a Franz?
No.
Tim will tell you.
It is an internal promotion.
It's very much an internal promotion, isn't it?
Yeah.
Are you going to tell me, John?
No, I was waiting for you.
You've got the story.
It's
Go on. Steve.
It is Steve.
It's Steve.
Go on, tell us the rest.
Hello, it's Steve.
I've met him as well. That's an annoying thing.
Come on.
He's lost the story.
He's lost it.
He doesn't know who he is or where he's going to be.
I know.
Alright.
Yeah.
It'll come to me.
Right.
Probably.
It was quite...
In fairness, it came as...
We're in the middle of the season.
Steve Felks. No, Steve O'Donnell.
Steve O'Donnell.
It wasn't expected
and it's come in the middle of the season.
But Mr Franz,
who is absolutely lovely.
I think this is the first time
there's not been
a Franz
at the head of it and
although
the actual
final handover of the baton,
if you will,
was
as I say, at an unusual time.
It's not...
I don't think it's something that was
unexpected.
I think the timing is unexpected,
but not the move.
Jim Franz...
He's the...
I think he's the last
child
of Bill Franz Sr.
And
he was interim CEO
when he first stepped in
all those years ago.
And he's 81 now, Mr Franz.
I'm 81.
And he's...
Yes.
Yes.
He's
a very quiet,
considered man.
He doesn't
meet with the
major. He doesn't give interviews.
We've had an interview with him. We have.
We have had an interview on that
called a Porsche.
And he literally, as I went up to him and said,
hello, Mr Franz, I'm going to be doing
this presentation.
And I'm putting together a thing for
Imsa Radio and
all of that. Would you mind if I have a word with you?
And he went, why would you want to have
a word with me? I went,
well...
Your name's off the door.
And I said to him,
well, didn't you
sort of, weren't you involved in the
original
Porsche?
He said, yes, I suppose, played a little
part in that.
it was incredible.
He's such a quiet,
lovely man.
He doesn't
seek
fame, as it were.
He wouldn't
jump up
to do
even the sort of sport things.
Steve or Donald's done that.
That's very good.
That is very good.
I can't
imagine there's another one.
I could be wrong.
Unless there's
I would think
somebody French might have
but I don't know.
Answers on a postcard.
There's some obscure
Mayor of Le Mans
who was also the son of a Mayor of Le Mans
who'd done it.
That's a good idea.
We'll shall investigate
if anyone knows that.
Steve O'Donnell
becomes Chief Executive Officer
and Ben Kennedy
becomes the new Chief Operating Officer.
Ben Kennedy and Steve O'Donnell
have been
involved for quite some time.
He's
effectively
one of the Francis.
He's part of the family.
Although he doesn't have
the France as a name.
Unlike all four of his predecessors.
Let's not forget
how
difficult the times were
under Brian France.
And how
that affected
where the whole thing is.
And this could
possibly be the stepping stone
for
Ben Kennedy to
step onto the
into the big job at some stage.
I don't think it's the seismic shift
that some people are saying
it was.
Because those two
or Donnell and Kennedy
had already been working hard behind the scenes
albeit with Mr. France as well.
Anyway
whatever Mr. France wants to do
in his
retirement or stepping back
I hope he enjoys it.
And he's earned it because
under his stewardship
in that
quote unquote interim
time that he's been involved
it has been
there's been an awful lot going on
and I think he steered the ship
pretty well
and to not to
push that analogy too far
the ship's still going in the same direction
there's just effectively a different name
on the captain's chair
if you will.
Let's do some politics news
or do you really?
Politics news excellent.
Do I have to get out my old spingometer?
No, because you just need to
put your trousers back on again.
That's probably just to spin off.
Which extreme
right-wing president
is trying to capture
the youth vote
this year
by bringing
a Grand Frise to his country?
Extreme right-wing president
So is this somebody in
South America?
Argentina?
Africa?
It's in Europe.
In Europe? Orban?
No, because
he's gone now isn't he?
He's gone.
He's a Polish guy.
He's not the Polish guy.
Poland?
No, bit for the south.
France?
Spain?
I mean that is South Poland
but to the east.
Austria?
Slovakia? Check Republic?
Further south east.
Seskia?
Albania?
Bosnia? Herzgavena?
Oh just tell us.
Turkey?
Oh they've got it.
They have got it.
I put that one to one side
because
they've got a seven-year contract
haven't they?
That's one year for every
million young Turks
who follow Formula One on social media
apparently.
Did they get an extra year?
Did they get an extra?
Young Turks was Rod Stewart
wasn't it?
So every time we talk
about this now you do have to
compare the middle eight
from that because it's actually
quite a good...
I think about the
Turkish Grand Prix it's actually got a really
really good track.
It's inaccessible to put it mildly
so you're going to hear non-stop moaning
by anybody who's there about how long it doesn't
get there but apart from that
it's a very good circuit.
Have they then cleared all the car hire
companies from it?
Oh they did that years ago.
They did that for two years.
Oh yes of course.
They did it for the Covid races, yeah.
Of course.
They cleaned the track
after the first one had no grip
because of all the detritus on it.
And then it rained.
And they didn't resurface it
at one stage.
Yes they didn't resurface it
they kind of
sealed it.
That's right and when it rained
it was like glass.
Lance Stroll was the only person
who could actually drive on it.
Yes, that's right.
It's only pole position.
It's only pole position.
He was absolutely outstanding
that weekend. Maybe he needs to do
Andrew's trophy.
Surprise me.
To keep saying, nowhere fun
drivers a bad driver.
No, you're absolutely right.
Some are just better than others.
Do we want to hear from
President Der do An?
I'd rather not. Is it English?
No. He said, I regard Turkey's return
to the Formula 1 calendar as a clear reflection
of the strong confidence placed in our country
in our robust organisational capacity
in our modern sports
and in the renowned hospitality of the Turkish nation.
But quickly,
just a quick point of order.
They're not called Turkey anymore, are they?
Turkey.
Turkey, yeah.
They've changed their name.
They've had a rebrand.
Good luck getting travelling insurance
to go to Turkey at the moment.
Are there problems?
Yes.
Can I just say, I went to Turkey for a holiday
a couple of years ago.
It was fantastic. We're in Istanbul,
which is reengineering.
Not Constantinople?
No. I recommend Cappadocia to anybody.
You have to fly and then hop somewhere else,
but it's well worth it.
They spend a lot of money
on advertising it
on sports channels.
And it's absolutely worth going to,
so I would like to say it'd be money well spent
to get a Cappadocia.
I had Turkey in a salad on Thursday.
I haven't had Turkey for years.
Seriously.
Turkey
already has some
motor sports, including
rally.
So let's head over to Peter Mackay.
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About this episode
The panel starts with Miami Grand Prix build-up, weighing thunderstorms, heat, and the extra practice time against teams’ preparation plans. From there it moves into a lively mix of motorsport news and gossip: Juan Pablo Montoya’s comments on driver bans, Audi’s Formula One staffing, Jean Todt’s Red Bull recollections, and NASCAR’s leadership reshuffle. The conversation then teases Turkey’s return to Formula 1, recalling the slippery COVID-era races and the circuit’s awkward access.
