Russell for champion? Are Ferrari back? Your questions answered! | 2026 F1 season preview
The Fast and the Curious
Russell for champion? Are Ferrari back? Your questions answered! | 2026 F1 season preview
The Fast and the Curious · Feb 23, 2026
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Concept
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing where the fastest and most advanced cars race on tracks around the world to see who is the best driver and team.
Concept
F1 TV
F1 TV is a special service where you can watch Formula One races live on your computer or phone, with extra videos and features that make watching more fun.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is a type of car racing with very fast cars that race on tracks all over the world. It's the top level of car racing and lots of people watch it.
Brand
Honda
Honda is a Japanese car and engine maker that helps race teams by providing engines; they are now working with Aston Martin.
Brand
Pirelli
Pirelli is a company that makes tires, including special tires used in very fast car races like Formula One.
Company
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is a famous British car company that makes fast and fancy cars. They also race cars in Formula One.
Concept
Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey is a famous car designer in Formula One racing. He makes the cars faster and better and has worked with some of the best teams.
Company
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a top team in Formula One car racing. They have won many championships and made some of the best racing cars.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is a famous car company from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are well known for racing and winning many competitions.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a car company from Germany that makes fast and sporty cars. They are famous for their racing history and cool designs.
Brand
Cadillac
Cadillac is a car brand from America that makes fancy and comfortable cars. They also race their cars in long races.
Brand
Williams
Williams is a famous racing team that builds and races very fast cars in Formula 1. They have to make their cars light and fast to win races.
Brand
Audi
Audi is a car company from Germany that makes fancy cars and races in big car competitions.
Concept
team principal
A team principal is like the boss of a racing team who makes big decisions and helps the team do well in races.
Car
Buick Grand National
The Buick Grand National is a special car from the 1980s that was really fast and looked cool because it was all black. People liked it because it was powerful but didn’t look like a typical sports car. It’s often talked about because it’s a unique and interesting car from that time.
Brand
Haas
Haas is a racing team in Formula 1 that is smaller and spends less money than the biggest teams but still races well.
Brand
McLaren
McLaren makes very fast sports cars and has a team that races in Formula 1, the top car racing series.
Term
podium
The podium is the place where the top three racers stand after a race to get their awards.
Term
paddock
The paddock is the place at a race track where the race teams park their cars and work on them.
Concept
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton is a very famous race car driver who has won many championships in the fastest car races in the world.
Concept
driver adaptability
Driver adaptability means how well a race car driver can get used to new cars or rules quickly to race better.
Term
testing
Testing is when race teams try out their cars and new ideas on the track before the real races to see what works best.
Term
sandbagging
Sandbagging means pretending your car is slower than it really is so other teams don't know how fast you can go.
Term
drivers
Drivers are the people who drive the cars in Formula One races. They try to win races and be the best driver of the year.
Term
constructors
Constructors are the teams that make and race the cars in Formula One. They compete to see which team is the best over the whole season.
LIVE
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Hello and welcome to the Fast and the Curious. This is Greg James alongside Betty Glover
and Christian Hugill. This is the Formula One podcast that speaks to the biggest names in the
sport. They are fast and we are curious. And while not taking this mad sport too seriously,
we love it dearly. We've already spoken to Max Verstappen, Isaac Hager,
Arvid Lindblad and the world champion Lando Norris. Also Oscar Piazza in Oli Bearman
in the preseason. But now we must all unite together because we are back. The season is
nearly back. They're doing testing and things. Guys, it's so nice to see you both.
We are, we are fully back for the season now. This is it. I don't know why but I'm
curious. Got me. What about you? I don't know. I find it so funny.
No, funny. I'm funny at funny. It's just the way you delivered it. It's just what I wasn't
expecting it. Seriously, I'm a serious broadcaster. Oh god. Hello guys. Lovely to see you both.
Look, we're going to have a great season. I can feel it. The fast and the curious is firing on
all its engines, all three of them. All three engines. We're fully charged. We've had engine
upgrades over the winter. More on that in the coming weeks. So coming up, we're going to do
a debrief on the testing. We're going to give you our season predictions. We're looking at who's
looking good and who isn't. And Christian has a new way of ordering the teams that he promises
is absolute genius. I'm excited. No, we'll be the judges better than that. It's very good. I would
like to firstly speak to Betty Glover. So Sophie and Sarah and Laura and Mara and so many Betty
Glover Ultras, as we call them, and we included have been very, very excited that you've been
diving into the Formula One world in a whole new way, in a very deep way. Can you tell us
what you've been up to, Betty? Yeah, how wild. So I have joined the Formula One TV, well, the F1,
I don't know why I called it Formula One, the F1 TV team. I get that right for start. I nail that
sooner rather than later. No, carry on. Oh god. By the way, I am really tired. So if I say anything
stupid, then that is why. That is my excuse out there. But yes, so I joined the F1 TV team. I was
in Bahrain presenting their testing because Laura Winter, who usually is their lead presenter, has
had a baby. So congratulations to her. So yeah, I've sort of been doing that, which has been pretty
wild because I've never been to testing before. But also, I've only done Silverstone with you guys,
which is a very different experience to sort of being like in it and amongst it. But yeah,
it was a bit nerve-wracking, but very exciting. I bet. And all the reports were glowing. I saw you
pop up on F1 Twitter and on threads, because I look at threads every now and then, and there are
people who are like, fans of the Fast and the Queer is going, go on, Betty, go on, do the testing
on F1 TV. So give us some insight into the paddock and the pit lane and all the rest of it. What
did you take from it? What did you learn from the mad world of testing? Well, you say I had a
lot of good comments, and I did. And thank you to everybody for sending me some really nice comments.
But I did also get some not very nice ones, which made me laugh a lot. One of which said,
this presenter has no charisma and is as overweight as the Aston Martin.
I was just like, oh, I'm sorry. We're on in there, aren't we?
I'm glad you got that. That was from one of my burner accounts.
Greg James, one, two, three. And I felt like we're applying.
James Gregson. They'll never know. Hey, Betty, look, as your as your friend and team principal,
I'm just going to say this, that guy. No, it's funny, though. I thought 10 out of 10 for creativity,
but also I felt like replying being like, mate, Williams is the one that's overweight,
nice to Martin. Do you know what I mean? Like, get it right. You're big into, we've told this
said this before, you are, you're, you're big into your high rocks. Your lean is anything like a
I like chocolate as well. Don't I guys? But no, it was really cool. It was,
it was really good to see it. Everyone's very chilled with testing Christian knows this because
he's done it. He's been there and it's just so different to a Grand Prix. So you've just got
everyone walking around just like talking to each other. Like you walk past the driver and they'll
they'll say hello. Whereas like on a Grand Prix weekend, it's sort of, you know, the pressure's
on, isn't it? It's very different environment. So that was really cool to see. And there's barely
anyone there. So it's basically the paddock's pretty much empty. So it's a bit strange. But it's
also, I would just, somebody described it like this to me and I thought that is bang on. It is
basically like being in an episode of the traitors because you don't know who to trust.
Everyone's just sort of like, you know, like, oh yeah, we're not as fast as Mercedes. Do you
know what I mean? Like everyone's sort of like lying. You're not quite sure what the truth is.
So it's a bit like that, I'd say. Well, it's nice to have you back. And the Fast and the Curious
is now the home of Betty Glover, which we're going to put into a big advertising campaign
just to get all those F1 fans that don't know about us in. I want one of those things that,
you know, like used car sales places in America that blow up like on Better Call Saul and they
go like, I want one of those of Betty Glover, I think. I don't know, that's unreasonable, personally.
Shall we get on to 2026? Because we've been talking about 2026,
since we found out about the rule change, which was coming in 2026 and everyone,
all the chat last year was, oh, it's going to be interesting to have interesting to what
happens in 2026. Can you let this year finish first, please? I'm sorry about that.
Honestly, no, but no, I don't mean you. People were lining up in Melbourne,
the first race of the season, and it was like, you can't wait for 2026. Can you not wish your
lives away, please? So what do you think about 2026, finally? I would like to direct this to
Christian Hugel, please. Or as I heard someone say the other day, Hugel.
Yeah, various people can't pronounce my name. That was a thing when I used to read the news.
It's two o'clock. Let's get the news from Christian Hugel, pardon me. But for me,
Hugel in the same way that you say Bugle is funny, but it's not that. It's Hugel.
So 45 seconds. What's new for 2026? Go. Cadillac are a brand new team. Audi have taken over Sal,
but the engines have changed. So the motor generator unit that recovered power through the heat,
that's gone. It was called the MGUH. That's gone. The MGUK, the bit of the engine that recovers power
from things like breaking, we call it kinetic energy. That's bigger, so there is a bigger
reliance on battery power. On the engine side of things, Honda have gone to Aston Martin, Ford
have come in to help Red Bull. Alpina are buying Mercedes engines, not bothering to make their
own. Audi are making their own. Cadillac are using a Ferrari one for now until they make their own.
The fuels, the team have to run fully sustainable fuel. They have to make them themselves. There's
a bit of confusion over that, whether they'll all have them ready for Australia. Let's find out.
The car's a little bit smaller. DRS is dead replaced by a boost mode where the wings flap
about even more than possibly if your Ferrari do a full loop and the driver's red bull have dropped.
Yuuki Isaacs replaced him at Red Bull. Arvid Imblad is in at racing bulls and the old boys
are back at Cadillac, Paris and Bottas. Oh, that was amazing. Thank you. Wow. That's basically
everything that's changed. What I'd like to say after that in response to that is MGUK, hun.
Did I get that right? The MGUH has gone. The MGUK is bigger. If I got that wrong,
I was speaking quickly, but yeah, MGUK, hun is great. Let's have that. MGUK, hun.
My favorite bit was Greg's face when you were going through the engine bit and he was just like,
he looked like he was melting. Yeah, more battery-ish. That's what you need to know. It's fine.
It is interesting. Let's just dig back on that quickly. So, Honda engines have gone to Aston
Martin. Yeah, exclusively. Ford doing the Red Bulls, helping for now. They'll maybe do it all in
the future, but it's Red Bull powertrains assisted by Ford. Alpina buying the Mercedes engines.
Yeah, the Renault don't make engines anymore. Yeah. I don't know because they make great engines.
Cadillac using a Ferrari one. Yeah. All right. There you go. Okay, we'll be back after the Australian
Grand Prix. I appreciate your preview. Okay, so you've been in amongst it all, Betty.
Yeah. Some of the drivers after testing were saying that they
love the new cars. Some saying that they hate the new cars. Some people panicking, saying that
they've broken the sport. The truth is often somewhere in the middle of the madness. Yeah.
But what do we think? What do you think? Well, I thought it was really interesting because going
into the second week of testing in Bahrain, there were quite a few sort of journalists and people
in the paddock that were feeling a bit like, oh, don't know how to feel about this season.
Like, is this a bit worrying? Because obviously Max Verstappen was quite scathing about the cars.
Among others, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton said a few negative things as well. So I think people
were thinking, oh, no, like, what is this going to be like? But by the end of that second week,
everyone was a lot more chill because I think basically I think it's going to be fine, everybody.
I think it's going to be okay. And Anthony Davidson said, who was one of the pundits on Sky,
said, I thought it was really good what he said because he was getting a few messages in and
people were like, can you explain these rules? It's so complex. I don't understand. And he was like,
look, if you can't get your head around it like straight away because there's a lot going on,
just sit back and enjoy the racing because ultimately it's still going to be racing.
And so I think everyone was more positive towards the end of the second week. And that is my honest
sort of reflection and feedback on it. Everybody was positive. Bar Aston Martin.
It's a great point from Anthony Davidson because I mean, really, this is proper in the weeds stuff,
isn't it? And that's great if you love the weeds. And look, we love the weeds, but more than anything,
we like fast cars. And at the end of the day, it's cars. And there's still cars,
and they're still being driven by some very talented people and being made by some very
talented people. So that's a really good point from him because actually, who could any, could
the majority of F1 fans tell you the exact rules of the last rule change?
You just, you just, I know, no, I know, they could, I know they could, I know they could,
but I'm just saying, when it all plays out, you just go, Oh, I'm enjoying this. And maybe
it's a bit like when people say, Oh, I started reading that book, sort of 10 pages in, I just
didn't understand it. Okay, maybe keep reading the book. And then all those questions will be
answered. And it's the same with people watching a film again. Who's that now? What are they doing
here? Maybe watch the film because someone's probably thought of the plot. And they've gone,
I'm just, they're just going to seed some things. So maybe just keep watching. And then we'll all
learn together. That's like watching a film with my mom, like it is actually unbearable.
Like that is exactly what she does, like five minutes in, she's like, what are they doing?
Who's that? What's his name? My, my mom and dad always, and it was always the same now,
but even when we were living in the same house, it would always be watching something, a film,
and they go, what's he been in? Oh, I'm sure he was in, he was in the bill.
I find myself doing that as I get older as well. Slowly turning into my dad's. Yeah,
mom, yeah. I swear he was in Game of Thrones. Yeah, they're actors. That's my job. That's it.
That's me. I see me, I think. Sorry. I like that. I like Nana Hugo.
Nana Hugo is doing that already. 34. It's not good. It's not, that's not good. Christian,
you need to get, you need to get a handle on that, mate. Yeah, look, Christian, here's a question
for you. With the, with the rule change, do we think we're all getting our collective knickers
in a twist or is it all going to be fine? It's, it's going to be fine. Historically speaking,
I mean, I was on the ground for the first race of the last rule change, 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
And there was a lot of where we've all, we've ruined it. It wasn't as big as this because
this is the biggest load of changes to come in in modern Formula One history. So it's a lot to
get your head round. There is always an element of this, but to, but Anthony Davidson's point
is undoubtedly true. I think actually it could create some really interesting entertainment
in Australia as it shakes out, but also F1 is ran by bright people. The teams are bright.
Greg, forgive me. I'm just going to jump ahead. For example, I know Richard has asked us on
Instagram, will the season be decided on who can harvest energy best in the battery rather
than outright pace? Nobody wants a series where it is who can charge the battery the best they
want to go racing. So even if it did look a bit like that early days, things would change very
quickly. I don't think that will be the case. I think it will be fine. But that's the thing.
Even people, people are bright. People are going, no, this clearly isn't right. We can adjust. We
can tweak as we go along. So no, it will all be fine. There is always an element of this because
these rules are so big. There's been more of it this time around, but my answer would be relax.
And if there is a bit of chaos, enjoy that because a bit of chaos and a bit of drama and a bit of
infighting is part of the reason I say this all the time. We love Formula 1. So just enjoy it.
It'd be very funny, wouldn't it, if that was the actual rule change. Guys, for 2026, it's who can
harvest energy the best. That's it. And at the end of 10 races, Alpine have harvested the best.
The Gerva Cell Championships. But it is going to be fine anyway because
it just will be. The story is the story. But can I just ask one other thing so I bet I know you
want to ask a question. But just on Christian's point, why have they changed so many rules?
Why have they taken this assumed risk? Yes, it's a great question, worth explaining. The first
thing is Formula 1 periodically changes its rules every four or five years. There's a number of
reasons for that. The first is to keep it relevant. So Formula 1 and technology in Formula 1 always
has to be some way relevant to the real world. You want F1 to be this mad superstar sport,
but these car manufacturers want the technology to filter down into the cars that they sell and
you make adjustments to keep it relevant to the real world. An example of that is the way the world
has gone is there is a bigger reliance on battery power in engines. That has what is what has kept
Honda in the sport and ties the likes of Audi and that's why F1 has gone this direction to attract
these big name manufacturers. But also, away from the real world relevance and back purely to the
sporting side of things, it also just keeps things fresh. You don't want the sport to get stale. So
rule changes have always happened and a lot of this is in response to criticism. The active
aero, for example, and the cars getting a bit smaller, the cars did get too big. The overtaking
was still in the old generation of cars seen as too difficult. Now, whether or not this will
work, we don't know, but the cars have got a bit smaller. The aerodynamics have changed to have
the new boost mode in the hope that overtaking will be better, you know, boost in the battery in
the hope that overtaking will be better. It's a summary of to keep the sport real world relevant
and to keep improving the show. The one thing as well that I really notice when I saw these cars
in person is just how different they look, like they really look so different. Christian, when
you go to Melbourne, you'll be like, oh, wow, like that's even, they just look so much more
different than you sort of think just by looking at photos. In what way? Just like a lot smaller.
The wheels are smaller, the tyres are smaller. Yeah, they just look more sort of, I guess,
like, you know, old, it's nicer. I think they look nicer and a lot of them. They look a bit
racier and a little bit more compact. A lot of the, like, former racing drivers and whatever
were like, oh, yeah, they look good. That's nice. I mean, I just suddenly worried about all those
old Pirelli's that have been wasted that are too big now. Would you like to know a little facts?
A lot of Formula One tyres are melted down and genuinely a lot end up as, for things like kids
play areas where the you have like a bouncy material to stop kids falling over and grazing
their knees and things. So pretty every single Formula One tyre is recycled in some way, shape,
or form. At the end of each race weekend, Pirelli gather them all up. They all get recycled. Not a
single F1 tyre goes to waste. That's good. Thanks to our friends at Pirelli for that. It feels like
you're on a little backhander from my friends at Pirelli. If Mario is solo, the boss of Pirelli
would like to pay me for that. Then I'm happy to take payment for it. But no, I just picked that up.
I'd like you to pay Christian in old tyres, please. Yeah. I've got a big collection over there.
It's his new kitchen table, actually. Well, we'll take a quick break in a second. One,
one, actually, you know, we'll save it. But my main question is, and we can roll this into the
next bit, which I think, Christian, you're going to tackle, which is where does this leave the
teams? But I wondered whether, just as you were talking about these rules changing all the time,
the newer drivers, the rookies, or the rookies of last season, at least, and the new ones for
this season, will they be in a better position because they don't know much different? I wonder
if that's to be taken into consideration. Let me take that question and roll Roxy's into it.
Roxy on Instagram asks, how much is driving these cars changed for the drivers? It is a different
driving style. One of the things that's being talked about is they're a bit less grippy,
for example. So they feel a bit faster in some areas because of the electrical boost,
but maybe mid-corner, they're a bit less grippy. So there's two ways of looking at that. Will people
like Arvid Lindblad, who was new this year, and as you say, Greg, the rookies of last year, have
they got less to unlearn and therefore it is better for them? Well, maybe. Or do drivers who
didn't particularly get on with the last generation of car, for example, people, it's often said people
like Lewis Hamilton prefer a car that you can slam on the brakes a little bit later, will they enjoy
this generation of car? To be honest, Greg, to answer your question, Formula One drivers have
changed category so much as they've gone through their racing career. Part of the reason why they're
so damn good is they tend to be able to adapt to new things very quickly. So I wouldn't suggest
it would be a bigger advantage just for the new kids as opposed to the ones who've been older.
But to Roxy's point, Roxy's question from Instagram, it is a change and we will see
who thrives to this new change and who struggles a little bit and maybe it'll suit some driving
styles better than others. Maybe some drivers will be better at adapting. It is a different
challenge to drive these cars because they handle differently, the engines behave differently,
they're smaller, they will feel different to drive just like when you and I get into a different
road car and go, oh, this feels a bit different to my car. The brakes don't feel quite the same.
The acceleration is all this stuff to get used to. It is a fundamentally more dramatised version
of that when you're racing cars. We'll be back in a second. Quick break and we need to look ahead
and see what the teams are feeling like for 2026. That is next.
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Welcome back to the Fast and the Curious and our 2026 pre-season preview. Guys,
I've had a brilliant idea, right? No, no, no, it's really good. Often,
often on pre-season previews, you can get bogged down and like, let's go through each individual
team one by one and it can be a bit dull and you can spend ages on each team and the pre-season
preview ends up in three hours long. We've all got lives to lead. I don't want to do that.
So I've had an idea and it's a good one. I was watching and this is the only Formula
One podcast, I think that will say this on the pre-season preview. I've been watching
RuPaul's Drag Race recently and there's like Formula One teams, there's a lot of drag queens,
right? And RuPaul, wonderful person, has to at the end of each episode organize the queens
depending on how well they've done in that week. I'm going to take this for pre-season testing.
So I would like to arrange the teams in RuPaul style into who's safe and who are the tops
and who are the bottoms, okay? Oh, okay, yeah. Good idea, yeah. Yeah, great idea.
Betty, you were on the ground. Can you help me with the bottoms to start with? Yes.
Okay, great, great, serious Formula One podcast. Please stop giggling. It's a serious podcast.
Right, right. Betty, if we're going to sort of get the bottoms, let's say the three, right?
Okay, the three at the bottom. I think I have an answer for this. In terms of who's the slowest,
it seems to be between obviously Cadillac of the new team. We thought Cadillac would be slowest.
Can Aston Martin, Betty Glover, be the slowest team? Even slower than Cadillac have literally
just started because that would be bloody major, wouldn't it? I think that's the sense, yes. And
I think they probably would be, I think they're rock bottom. I think they're rock bottom guys.
I think Aston Martin are in a world of pain. The one thing that I think everyone is also
trying to stress though is that Adrian Newey will get this team into a better place,
but it will take time. But at the moment, it is not going very well at all. And they just
didn't get the mileage in. For those new to Formula One, Adrian Newey is this super designer
who has had success wherever he's gone. He left Red Bull. He signed to Aston Martin to all this
spectacular fanfare. But crucially, he was only able to start working on the 2026 car in March of
2025. That is actually quite late in the grand scheme of things. But I think watching from afar,
they seemed quite shocked as to just how bad it was. I think they thought they would take a while
to get going because they were having to go at things later than they thought they would,
as I say, because Adrian's only sort of only arrived fairly late on in the process. But poor
of Fernando Alonso, who is now, you know, 68 now, I believe, and he is still waiting for this ever,
this promise of a better car, it would be unbelievable if they came out of the blocks
and were slower than a brand new team. Because I was saying that if Cadillac come in and even
three seconds adrift of the team in front of them, a second adrift of the team in front of them,
they'll have done well. So if they're actually quicker than someone, that's bloody major.
Yeah, Cadillac's sort of aim was always sort of like 2029, wasn't it? So they were never going to be
sort of coming into this season and being like, you know, look at us, we're going to be great.
Aston Martin, they've just, they have got massive issues, reliability is not very good.
They had one battery left on the last day, so they could only go out on short stints. So they just,
they haven't been able to get the mileage in. It's a nightmare. It is a nightmare.
It's a real shame, isn't it? Because you want these big, powerful legacy teams to be competing.
And also, I mean, I don't, it's not that I even have care about their business,
but it's bad for their business. Their thing is prestige, successful, brilliant elite cars.
That's why people compete in F1, yeah. Yeah, but it's James Bond, Aston Martin.
You know, it's got such a, it's like Ferrari. It's as well thought of almost as, you know,
it's Ferrari Aston Porsche. It's that those sorts of things. It's, it's, it's kind of,
it's kind of bleak. I don't like, I don't enjoy that. No, why has it, why has it all gone up?
I think partly they may have, I got the impression from listening to Adrian Newey on a couple of
non televised things I saw him on last year as well. I got the impression he'd slightly
underestimated the size of the task going in to turn around this oil tanker of a team that has
been underperforming for a long time. This team has been in Formula One for a long time. Aston
Martin has not been in the sport in the grand scheme of things that long, but this team has,
and it's had a, you know, turbulent history. I think Adrian has realized he's got a big,
big job to turn it around. As Betty says, I think he will, but it's going to take longer.
And I also think maybe there's a bit of an underestimation of starting in March. Actually,
you're on the back foot. People have been looking at this for, you know, way longer than March of
last year. So, and Betty mentioned, they only had one battery at the end to, you know, to do
short runs with at the end. The thing is with Cadillac is they got miles in and at this stage,
that's just important. Ignore lap times. You're looking for the teams in testing have gone out
and bashed miles in. They've bashed and bashed and bashed miles in. So, Aston could be 11th,
Cadillac could be 10th. Unfortunately, tragically, sadly, worryingly, depressingly, awfully,
all of the Lee Williams could be ninth. We love Williams on this podcast, but, you know, they
didn't make testing in Barcelona. Betty, how do you think they got on in, in Bahrain when they
were there? Look, they got out. They did get good mileage in, particularly on that first week of
testing. Can we, give me, give me glimmer, give me glimmer of hope for your albons of this world,
for your signs of this world, for this James Valls of this world. Don't let me down. Give me glimmers
of help. Help. Well, I spoke to James Valls on like the Thursday of the second week, and he was
quite positive. He was not a negative man. He wasn't talking to me like he, you know, is sort of
crying himself to sleep every night at all. He was fairly positive about things. I think they've
had an awful start in terms of, you know, they missed Barcelona and stuff. But I think, I just
got an impression it's okay. But then, you know, like I said, it's like the traitors out there.
You're talking to somebody and you just don't really know how much of the truth you're getting or
how much they're hiding certain things. The issue, I think, with Williams is that they're just very
overweight, so they've got to sort the weight out, basically. Listen, and it was me after Christmas,
right? I had a busy December. A lot of travel went to Vegas, went to Abu Dhabi, back to back, ate a
lot over Christmas, then went on holiday, and I came into the new season overweight, and I've cut
my calories down, and I am having to work on that. The thing is, though, I'm making progress, and it's
for that reason that I believe Williams will also make progress. Lizzie asks, how can Williams catch
it with the rest of the pack? I think they will. I don't necessarily think it's going to be a season
to hit the highs of last year where they were best of the rest, but don't forget they're looking at
this long term. Yes, they put a lot of emphasis into 2026, but that means 2026 and beyond. It means
the capability within this rule set of being able to push for podiums. That's not necessarily going
to happen in 2026. Actually, if it is just an issue of weight, I think you will see, and Greg,
I mean this across the season for everyone, I think rate of development mid-season is going to be
huge. I think your running order of the teams in Australia could look vastly different by Abu Dhabi,
so I think mid-season development Williams could potentially grab some of, to use one of Greg's
favourite catchphrases, grab some of the low-hanging fruit. I think they could do that in the early
part of the season and catch up. Yes, and one thing that James Viles also said is that in this season,
depending on which race you're at, different teams are going to be able to thrive. It might not be
like you've got a consistent team that is just constantly smashing it on every track. It might
be devastated. It's pullbackable. Is that a word? Greg, you're an author. What do I mean?
Yes, I understand what you mean. Thank you. That's good. I like making up words. Pullbackable
is great. And sorry, I was distracted because I was just eating some low-hanging fruit. It is delicious.
Low-hanging fruit is delicious and easy to pick. Just fill your boots or your basket or whatever.
So, we're saying Williams at nine. Audi? Is that what you're saying next?
I've been impressed by Audi's pre-season. Again, go back to the end of 2025. A lot of talk in the
paddock of, it's going to be a big old shift for us. Audi taking over Sauber. We're looking at this
long-term. Audi want to win the championship, right? Greg, you talk about these big car brands.
Audi are saying, we're coming in to win, right? We're not coming in to be a mid-table team. They
are massively ambitious with this. They've basically got two great team principals in Jonathan
Wheatley and Matteo Venotto. That role is split across the two. Greg, you had a bit of a chat with
Jonathan Wheatley at the Autospore Awards, didn't you? I'm here to tell you that I am now best friends
with Jonathan Wheatley. Yeah. He looks cool. Out of all the team principals, you've watched him
walk down that paddock and you're like, yeah, you're cool. Yeah, he is. He is quite cool. He is also a
very, very nice, interesting, funny man who is completely obsessed with cars. He only has Audi's
wink-wink. He's got an amazing old Porsche, but he's very, very much under the bus thing.
No, which we talked about. We were nerding out about beautiful cars and stuff, but he,
and sort of like, my heart was bleeding because he was like, I just don't have enough room
to park all these cars in Switzerland. It's nice. Lovely bloke. And I really, he was so busy.
This was in January at the Autospore Awards and he was just, every single day, he was in a different
country flying around doing the livery thing, doing the meeting, the sponsors chatting to
whoever, meeting up with the drivers, whatever it was. That job is demanding and he's also a bit
like you were saying with Adrian Newey, just going, oh, this is, yeah, it's fun, but my God,
there's so much to do. But I think they are further up than perhaps they expected to be. Again,
got good mileage in testing. Again, it looked pretty reliable. Do you think for a brand new
engine, I was sort of expecting it to be breaking down all the time. I think they're further ahead
than they possibly expected to be at this stage of testing. Can I, can I just make an annoying
point? You know, like people on Grand National Day where they pick a colour. I think it might be
the best looking Formula One car. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so Greg, this is what I was going to say to you.
You are going to love Audi. Like this is going to be your team, mainly because it looks great,
looks slick, but also it is the loudest by a long shot. Like you hear that Audi and you're like,
oh my God. It's the loudiest. It's the loudiest. I think you're going to absolutely love it.
Apparently, sorry, Christian, apparently Jonathan Wheatley sort of heard the Audi and was like,
oh my God, these cars are going to sound great. Then heard all of the others and were like,
oh, well, our car sounds great. Yeah, well, he's a proper, he's a proper petrol head,
is Jonathan Wheatley. So that's cool. So Audi that. Does that mean floating around the middle
then? We've got, we've got your racing bulls, you've got your Alpenes, you've got your Hasses.
Okay. And with any of you want to mention there, what's going on there? Let's put these as safe.
We've done the bottoms. Let's put these as safe. Haas got the second most mileage in of anyone
in preseason testing. Brilliant. I was really impressed with Haas. Some people saying that
they might be the sort of Williams role of best of the rest. It was also quite a boring test
for Haas. I was looking at them day after day and there's not much to report. That's brilliant.
That's what you want. They've a small team, small budget. I think Haas might be some underdog status
here and actually credit to Alpine, who nobody seems to be putting in the bottoms. And last year,
they were absolutely s***. Last year, they had an awful season. And that team, legacy team,
the F1, the instant team should not be coming last in the constructors championship. It really
appears that they've got the s*** together a little bit. Buying Mercedes engines was controversial
because, you know, Wayne should make your own engines. Well, McLean approved you don't really
need to. That seems a logical move. It seems like Alpine are not as crap as they were last year
and well done to them for getting everything together because they needed to, frankly. They
shouldn't be finishing last in the constructors championship. It seems like Alpine are going
to have a better season. Let's take a quick break and come back for part three as we make our
predictions for the 2026 season and also Christian's going to go through his favourite tops.
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It is the faster than the curious, but you know that anyway and you just fast forwarded through
the adverts. Hello, this is Greg James with Christian Hugo and Betty, you practically moved
to Bahrain for a little bit of time recently. Can you tell us why people are excited about the top
four please and who are they? Everyone's losing their heads over the top four. Mercedes, Ferrari,
Red Bull and McLaren. So basically nothing's changed then. Nothing's changed. I'm very excited
for 2026. They're going to shuffle the deck. Oh my God, the deck is being shuffled. We're
never going to understand this sport anymore. It's the same. I heard somebody say they think Alpine
are going to get on the podium in Melbourne, which I don't agree with, but can you imagine?
No, but I'd say the one thing that has changed is that I think Ferrari are up there as the
favourites. Ferrari look very good. Ferrari fans are getting very, very excited and so they should
because they look fast. They look good. They look great off the start. Brilliant. Mercedes as well.
I know Greg, you're obviously a fan of Toto Wolf. Toto Wolf and George Russell have been strutting
around that paddock with the confidence of people that know that they're okay. Mercedes, all I got
from Mercedes is that they are very confident. They feel fine. They look unflappable.
I mean, that's good. There's always a bit of an air of that, particularly with George,
where he just always feels like he's just sitting on a yacht, as we've said this before.
He is unflappable. George Russell is sort of like... We've said James Bond before,
but he's like an understated one. He's like Timothy Dalton. An obvious choice for James.
You're a bit like that though, but I think it's the legs actually.
You got the legs of James Bond. You've just said that Greg James reminds you of George Russell
and James Bond because of his legs. No, right. George Russell and Greg James and Toto Wolf
all have really long legs. So when you're walking around... Do you think tall men
appear more unflappable? Because I'm walking at a different pace, maybe, because I'm sort of...
I have to do slower paces to keep up with the short. You look like you'd be really bad at paddle
or tennis because you can't quite control your long limbs, but you look very unflappable when you
walk. That's not true. I'm fantastic at tennis. Anyway, the Ferrari thing is interesting to me
because can someone please tell Lewis Hamilton that everything's going to be okay? Because he
seems more positive than he was. That's not hard though, is it? That sounds low bar.
It was a low bar. Listen, we've had so many questions about this. David asks,
as a Lewis fan, can I get excited again? There were loads of similar questions.
Ferrari are the story of pre-season testing. Everybody expected Mercedes to do well out of
these rule changes because whenever there's an engine-dependent rule change, Mercedes,
as a company, have the facilities to do well in these sort of rule changes. Ferrari, frankly,
last year had a worrying season where they didn't seem to know why their car wasn't improving,
and yes, they have put more resource into this season, but they weren't looking like a team
that was giving you confidence they were going to move forward, and yet they have come into this
pre-season testing and seem like they have made a big step forward. Now, what's exciting is very
few people seem to be able to predict which is quickest out of Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, or Red
Bull. Most seem to think Mercedes are quickest at the moment, but there's people saying, look,
they're all quite close. There could be a bit of moving round. There could be some track dependency,
as Betty said. Red Bull aren't as behind as people thought they would be with the new engine. They
were, me and Betty were in America in January. They were playing down expectations. Also,
just a point on that as well, is that I think the sort of vibe people are getting is that Max
Verstappen is going to be the driver that is going to be able to get his head around these
regulations quicker than any of the others, because he's so good. And what I said earlier,
different drivers can adapt to different things, and Max is just the king of adaptability. He's
just insane. But for Ferrari, yes, it looks really positive. Ferrari do look good. I agree with Betty.
I think Mercedes will be right up there. I would like to air a word of caution. I'm going to separate
this. Welcome to Christian's word of caution. Greg, can I have a jingle or something?
What's that? He's airing a word of caution. It's lovely. Very, very nice.
That's really weird. I mentioned this earlier that I was on the ground for the last
first race of a new rule set, 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. Everybody was talking there that it was
going to be between Mercedes and Red Bull. That was how 2021 finished. Ferrari surprised everybody,
absolutely smashed that weekend, and everybody got so excited thinking Ferrari are back.
That race was won by Charles Leclerc. Signs finished P2. It was a Ferrari one-two. Everybody was
going, oh, my God, Ferrari are going to be able to compete in these rule changes. We've got a title
fight in our hands here between Leclerc and Verstappen. And for half a season, it looked like we
did. But Red Bull proved themselves to be considerably better at what I keep banging on about, mid-season
adaptability, mid-season upgrades. Ferrari may well be starting well, and I don't doubt they are.
I am still skeptical. I want to see more from them because I need, they've had such
a long period of negativity. Their last Drivers' World Championship, 2007, with Kimi Raikkonen.
That's wild. I am still not convinced they have got it in them to compete over a season and improve
over a season. That you need to do in Formula One nowadays, particularly this season. Yes,
Ferrari are starting off well. Guys, you need to prove to me that you can keep this up over the
course of a season. I'm skeptical. I would love to be wrong because Ferrari doing well would be
great for this sport. Leclerc and Hamilton doing well would be great for the sport. I want to be
wrong. I'm still a bit skeptical. But, everybody, they've got a rotating wing. So, rotating
wing. It is camp, isn't it? It is camp. It is, crucially, the campest development in Formula
One for a long time, that it minces round itself. That is brilliant. Have you seen the video where
somebody has obviously used AI or something, and they've put a, like, a Donica bab on it,
and the bab just rotates around? It's just great. It's great. It's great. What do you think about it?
Emma says, is the Ferrari rotating the wing actually any good or are they just showing off?
Basically, we don't know as of yet. DRS is dead. There is the new boost setting, which means the
wings move more in order to give you a boost. It's like a giant DRS, and Ferrari have gone,
well, actually, if we spin the whole thing round rather than just open a flap, maybe we can get
a bit of a better boost. Betty, I don't know about you. Looking from the outside in, it seems like
people are going, it might be a thing. It equally might be a gimmick, and Ferrari is saying, well,
we were testing it, because that's what you do in testing. It does what it says on the tin.
Whether it actually makes it to Australia or not, I don't know. So I'm basically sitting on the fence
on this. It might be a thing. If it is a thing, everybody will immediately copy it. That's what
happens in Formula One. It might also be both. It might be good, and it might just be showing off,
and that's fine, because they're all showing off. That's actually a good point from Ferrari,
which is, can you just shut up? You're lucky that you get to see this testing, because actually
it is testing. So can you just try and some stuff out, please? We're just workshopping.
Question here from Charlie, who says, how much, I love this question, how much can team sandbag
during testing, i.e. could Lance Stroll win in Melbourne? Can you imagine? It's a great thing,
just absolute s**t house from all of them, just being like, oh no, our car barely even moves off
the start line. Oh no, what are we going to do? This is awful. The wheels keep falling off. Whoops.
And then suddenly bang, podium. Fastest car. A lot of them were sandbagging. They were all
saying each other were sandbagging. It was like that meme where the Spider-Man's pointing at each
other. They were all like, no, you're fastest. No, you're fastest. You're sandbagging. Like I said,
you have no idea, to be honest, guys. You're asking these people questions. But we do know that
some of them are terrible, right? Or they all pretending. What do we think? No, listen, I think
that's just sort of the point of my RuPaul exercise. I think we know who's in the bottom.
I think we know who's going to be roughly around the middle. I think we know who's going to be
roughly in the top. It is very difficult to put people in an exact order. And the thing is,
this is the biggest thing to take away from testing, we do not know until we get to qualifying
in Melbourne. And I say this every single season. This is a different season because we've had 63
tests in Spain and in Bahrain. And there's been loads of it. And it's the biggest rule change
since 1863 BC, when this was all filled, all of that. But some things still remain true with
Formula One. You never know until you get to qualifying in the first race of the season.
So it's very difficult to put everybody in a proper order. Mercedes could have been running with
their engine turned down. They might not have been. We simply don't know. But there might be an
element of sandbagging. They might not be. That's the insight you're going to get from this podcast.
Well, with that in mind, before we go, let's do a chart show, a rundown of your 321 constructors
and drivers. Okay. So who's winning the constructors and who's winning the drivers? That's that.
Let's just do this now. This is our preseason predictions. Okay, who's going to start? Christian,
do you want to go? Yeah, I can go. I can go. I've been thinking about this. These are always
every night since December. I've been, I've been able to sleep thinking about this.
Not been able to sleep because I've got stupid dog barking. No, we should also,
we should also welcome Derek to the world, by the way. Welcome, Derek. Well, he's been a bit
barking the last couple of days, and that's somewhat limiting my sleep. He's allowed to be
Christian. Okay. He's expressing himself. By the way, you've ruined your life. I ruined my life
when I got Barney. He ruined your life, but you will not regret a single moment of it. It was
the best thing you'll ever do. Go on to Christian. Anyway, anyway, anyway. Get on his Instagram and
go and look at Derek because he's amazing. Oh, thank you, Greg. I think the third in the
driver's championship will be Oscar P'Astrie. I think second will be Charlotte Claire.
I think first will be George Russell. I think third in the constructors championship will be
Ferrari. I think second in the constructors championship will be McLaren. I think Mercedes
will win the constructors championship. There you go. Oh my God. P'Astrie, Claire Russell,
and Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes. Sensational. As in, that's reverse order, so yeah. Brilliant.
Betty. I agree with you, but I'm just going to go a little bit different just, you know,
for the excitement, really. So I think, let's go, Charlotte Claire, third,
Oscar P'Astrie. Oh no, George Russell, second, and Oscar P'Astrie first.
She's going to Oscar P'Astrie, McLaren, win all. Because we've not spoke about McLaren too much,
but this is the thing. No one knows anything about McLaren. I just think McLaren have got,
they've been so impressive in recent seasons on building mid-season. Think about it. How awful
they were at the start of 2023. How much they've been able to improve mid-season. That's what I
think. That's why I think you can't run out, McLaren, and I think Oscar's going to be so hard
to beat this season. I think he'll have improved. I think he'll have levelled up. Yeah. It's fascinating.
Go on, Greg. I think Oscar's hungry too, isn't he? Did you do your constructors?
Do you construct constructors? Oh, I think my, okay, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, but so Mercedes
number one, McLaren two, Ferrari three. Right. That's not how a chart show works, but that's fine.
You may start the show. Welcome to the chart show, and at number one, it's Benson Boone.
I mean, maybe. Maybe. And in an hour and a half, find out who's number 40.
Okay. Well, look, this is... Greg's going to go lowest. I'm just going to go with who I want.
Okay. This is what I want. This is what I want to happen.
I want Lando to win again. Okay, nice. Why?
Just because I think back to back shows real metal. Back to back with a rule change. Great.
Getting to be the champion is incredibly difficult, as all the champions would always say.
Staying there is even more difficult. So that's what I want. I want him to just keep proving that he
has the test, isn't it? You know you can, but can you? I would also love Oscar to be up there as well.
So I think my one, two is Lando Oscar again. And my three, I'm going for Lewis Hamilton.
I thought you were going to say Lewis Hamilton number one.
This is what I want to see. It's what I want to see next year.
And then, I don't know, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, I don't care. Whatever.
I'm a people guy more than an engine guy or a car guy. Well, no, I mean, I don't mind so much.
I mean, whatever, whatever happens. But you know, also I'd love to see George do well,
because I think he's a fantastic driver. Oh, would be cool. He deserves it.
Charlotte Claire as well.
And Kimmy will be up there. This is what's brilliant. Everyone is in search of a good place.
I haven't even put Max in my top three, which now seems like a ridiculous thing.
I've sort of forgotten about Max, which is just insane. Like if I was listening to this podcast,
I'd be thinking, what an idiot that guy is. So yeah, I don't know. So that's the thing. It's
impossible to predict. Oh, it's exciting. It's exciting. It's it's it's it's it's it's it's
brilliant season. The sport, you know, it's in a good place. We've got such talent.
And while there's driving talent, the rest will just sort itself out. So I'm really excited.
That's all from us this week on the Fast and the Curious. We will be on throughout the whole
season. Betty and Christian will be here every single week. I will be here as much as I possibly
can. But unfortunately, I have taken on too much work. But I love all the things I do. So I'll be
here whenever I can be here because I love the Fast and the Curious. And even if I'm not here,
I just like listening to YouTube anyway. We'll be full. We'll be full of drivers throughout
the whole season. We won't miss a single thing. So subscribe on YouTube if you're watching this
or on any of your podcast providers. Make sure you throw some reviews and whatever else our way
and tell your friends about the Fast and the Curious as well. Christian, enjoy Australia.
We will be back very, very soon. Betty, lovely to see you. And it's going to be a good season.
So let's strap in, buckle up. And let's, all right, bye. Bye.
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About this episode
The podcast dives into the upcoming 2026 Formula 1 season with insights on major rule changes, new team entries like Cadillac and Audi, and engine supplier shifts including Honda to Aston Martin and Ford aiding Red Bull. Betty Glover shares her fresh experiences from F1 testing, highlighting the unique paddock atmosphere and mixed driver reactions to the new cars. The hosts discuss the complexity of the new regulations but emphasize that the essence of racing remains, encouraging fans to focus on the excitement of the sport rather than technical details. Predictions and team evaluations also feature prominently.
Original notes
Greg, Betty and Christian give their predictions about who they think has the best chances in 2026. Coming up, Betty gives us a debrief of what life was like in the paddock at the Bahrain tests, Greg has made friends with a team principal, and Christian has a WORLD EXCLUSIVE format for ranking the teams.
Make sure you follow us on all the socials and hit subscribe right here because the 2026 season is just around the corner!
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