Tires wear out as cars race, making them less sticky and slower. Drivers and teams have to watch how much the tires wear to decide when to change them during a race.
In Formula 1 racing, drivers earn points every race. The Drivers Championship is the title given to the driver with the most points at the end of the season.
The Singapore night race is a big car race that happens at night in Singapore, with bright lights and tricky roads for the drivers.
LIVE
Well, the Formula One 2026 season is up on us. A new team, a new drive, a new regulations,
but one thing is constant. You need to get the voice for mine of motorsport on. It is
this man, he's a star, his name is Greg Russ. Last time I saw him was in his commentary box
at the Singapore Grand Prix where he called the socks off that one. Greg Russ, Rusty,
as I know you, good to see you, great man. Hello mate, great to see you too and I'm far from a
guru like you. You worked around it for a little while. I genuinely love it. I try and soak up as
much from the people that are immersed in it. I've been coming to Albert Park now since the
early 2000s which is crazy. Singapore you talk about, I think they're up to maybe 16 iterations
of that and I've done about 12 of them. They're some cool stuff along the way. It's a long time
ago we used to work on it at Channel 10 with you and Diffie and Crompton and your lunatic mate
Daryl Beaty, but the sport is changing very quickly, isn't it? We got done one year at Albert Park.
Beaty hot-rodded a golf cart there. We've got a bit of trouble. Something's never changed.
Something's never changed, but the sport is changing as you say. This is the biggest technical
reset in a generation, over 10 years. The sport's really good in these moments back in around 2014
when they embarked on some pretty significant change around embracing greener technologies,
boosting engine output with battery power and so on. They literally from a blank sheet of paper,
some of these engineers and designers came up with groundbreaking things. This year cars are
shorter, narrower, 30 kilos lighter, lot cleaner looking to Howie. They wanted to create something
that wouldn't disturb the air so much around the cars that follow, hopefully generate a bit more
passing. DRS system that we know lots of acronyms in motor racing, which drives you mad. That's gone,
but the front and rear wings are now active, so they can be opened to create less drag,
cut the air faster and closed to generate the downforce and support them in the corners.
There is almost a 50-50 split in your traditional combustion engine like you and I might have in
our road cars, cars per se, turbo charge 1.6 litre and then you have battery support, but the pair of
them almost generate the same level of power and the drivers can use measures in the car during
the race to deploy that, to recharge that and so on. So there's a lot required of the driver
this year and I think people like Oscar Piastri have talked about the added bandwidth that you need
to do that. Lewis Hamilton's talked about them being immensely complex and so on. So those that
can think strategically about their race that have that cool car mobility to do that, but also to
understand how to harness, to regenerate, when to deploy, when to best deploy and so on. I think
they're the ones that are probably going to stand out this year. One thing we haven't mentioned,
probably should too, is that fuel is a part of this now. It's got to be made to a certain set of
parameters that are greener, more sustainable, but the teams can venture off with their fuel
partners and create something that works for them. Now I'm hanging in there. As long as you
didn't go on a tire because you know you and I, we have vast disagreements about the interest
levels in tires. I don't care. I'm not letting you talk about tire degradation or people will be
switching off YouTube and never coming back, but it's a great explanation. Since, as you mentioned,
I had the privilege of working on F1 97, 98, 99, working on the broadcast and in my whole time,
working on it, watching it, then working on it with 10 with you. Any change is about
spicing up the on-track action. So a lot of these changes, as fancy as they are and the battery
power and the wings, are to try and produce closer racing and more overtaking. What do you think?
I'm defaulting to some early comments by the drive. We've obviously had some pre-season
testing where we've seen a bit of this in action, whether you're compromised because you need to
lift and coast to regenerate what impact that has and so on. I think Max Verstappen sounds
like he's been a bit outspoken about them. The drivers at the end of the day want that pure
driving pleasure. Well, they want to drive flat knacker the whole time. Yeah, that's right, but
that's not what these cars are going to do. No, but at the end of the day, you cover lots of
different sports. They are competitive animals and they're given a set of parameters. They will
play to those set of parameters and may the best team and driver win. The parameters are so important
and I think the exciting thing about it, Rusty, is it's a technological revolution which we see
in Formula One. So you have a look at testing and there's so many different variables,
but I reckon it was for one lap. Ferrari rolled, this is beyond my technical expertise,
which is not saying much, basically a 180 degree reversible wing. This is like
getting out the roast chicken rotisserie at the Howie household for a barbecue, right? So
it was spotted in the second test at Bahrain and there are more elements to it than that,
but that's the most visual one, right? So you're right, it goes 180 degrees,
lots of people talking about it in the paddock. Basically, it can turn itself upside down
to assist the way that it cuts the air, make the car quicker. I love the way that they have
exploited a loophole here and there are people that spend their entire year sifting through
the sports rules, their new regulations, what can we do differently here and so on. So their car is
slightly more elongated, which makes this possible what they're using, right? And there are other
elements that make this on paper effective, right? So A, it seems to comply. Some rivals are saying,
you know, is this thing too heavy? Is it too complex? Will it be troublesome? Why have others
not done it so far and so on? Is it a bit of a, like a kind of smoke screen while you're looking
over here and fascinated by this thing that they're doing that maybe is just a toy for the testing.
Do you reckon they're going to run it? Do you reckon we could see it in Melbourne or not?
They only ran it for literally one or two laps. They've experimented with it. I'd kind of be
surprised if they don't. Yeah, yeah, but you've got, they're a business about finding new ways
of doing things. You don't just look at it and go, oh, well, that's the way we've always done it in
the past or that's what history shows. It's like, how can we totally upend this and try something
different? This is going back to the old TIRL 6 wheeler. Like this is how revolutionary we're
doing. David Couthard had some thoughts on this reversible wing. This is what he had to say
on his Up to Speed podcast. It could be a complete distraction technique. They've had this in the,
you know, as a little side project. Now all the teams go and spend time looking at whether it
works in CFD, which is the computational fluid dynamics, putting design team onto looking at it,
which means they're then not utilizing that resource to develop. That's another thing banned
on this podcast. We're not talking CFD. We're not talking wind tunnels or fluid dynamics. Okay.
We're going to put you in a wind tunnel one day. Well, that's you. I got reduced drag, I reckon.
I'll be okay. Hey, Audi's coming in with a Revolut F1 team, which is fantastic.
Again, new teams enter. Yep. It's difficult. We're going to see the same with Cadillac. Yep.
But Audi are a massive mark. They're not coming on with a cut price operation here.
How do we think they're going to roll? History shows every time they have entered
world championship level motorsport or pinnacle motorsport, they have been unbelievably good.
You've got to hark back to the 80s and the World Rally Championship, where they came with this
radical four-wheel drive awesome car that's still for many motorsport fans.
Evokes this special memory even now. During the week of F1 here in Melbourne,
I'm doing a function with Alan McNish. He was kind of one of the gods of sports car racing.
When Audi committed to that program, they did some unbelievable things, very memorable
races at Le Mans in the United States and so on. It will take time. Formula One is the absolute
pinnacle. They have great history that dates back a long way in motor racing. We just talked
only about two things there. They will win at some point, not straight away. It'll take a lot
of learning. They've pioneered with their, a lot of others that have come into the sport have paired
with other engine suppliers or whatever to help them get off the ground. They've done their own
thing, admittedly with some framework from Sauber and some existing drivers and so on.
I think that stability will help them in the background there, but as a company,
the commitment that they're showing is big. I'd love to see Holkenberg, 240-odd starts,
and he got that first podium. It'd be fantastic to see him given a vehicle, a car, a team to fully
display his talents. He's one of the nice guys, but he probably hasn't ever had the opportunity
to be in a truly elite car to really show what he can do. You know what timing is like in elite
sport, right? And sometimes you, for whatever reason, aren't placed. So when he's had those brief
moments to savor a little something, we cheer because it's a huge thing. And I'm a fan of
Gaby Bortoletto. He has a real deep appreciation of the history of the sport for a young man
coming in. You know, he's a different generation. I love that. I reckon that's
knowing that he's a proper committed athlete, but in the same breath also appreciates the
history. He's a great thing. The other change, new team. And that's always exciting. And it's
Cadillac. So this is a massive mark. They've got an enormous history and background behind them.
And they've got Bottas and Perez. So my man, Valtteri, always brings a bit of sizzle. It'll
be interesting to see how Perez goes back. Obviously didn't work out with him at Red Bull,
but they get the Mexican support on board. But it's a massive thing to start a new Formula
1 team. I was listening to Mercedes talking about it yesterday, and they said this new
iteration of the engine they started working on in 2022. So that's four years ago. So Cadillac
have to roll in from the start and compete with that. Yep. So they are bringing other elements
together to kickstart this to begin with. You can't start from scratch, can you? Correct. But I mean,
smart Valtteri and Sergio Perez guys with lots of experience, work with some big teams in the sport,
know what's required from a people and, you know, an infrastructure, if you will,
standpoint. So they'll bring that wealth of experience to that operation.
End of the year. Who has more points? Perez or Bottas?
Oh, that's tough. I hadn't expected you to ask me that. I think Valtteri will chip away here.
Just just quietly keep chipping away. Sergio, I feel, maybe has a little point to prove here
that may work for or against him. You haven't answered the question. I'll say Valtteri.
Okay. I'm with you on that. Yeah. Qualifying head to head.
I'll go the other way. I reckon Perez might have just that slight
little edge in those moments. Okay. Formula 1, drive to survive. It's taken it to a whole new
audience, hasn't it? When we used to work on it, it was quite a niche sport. Now there's so many
people interested. So we put out, if people wanted to ask questions, MJ here, the server blew up.
That many questions rolled in. So we could only get through a few. Rob from Guy Mere Bay.
Rusty, what's Rob got for us? Hey, guys, it's Rob here from Guy Mere Bay. Big fan of the Howey
Games and Rusty's Garage. I know you've both been to plenty of Grand Prix. What's your favorite
on-track F1 memory? Domestically, Mark Webber, when he was with Paul Stottart.
In the Minardi, you know, against all odds, almost getting to a podium scenario. And that was unheard
of that day here at Albert Park. Mark, when you talked to him about it privately, was actually
quite nervous about it because they said, we're going to kind of stage a separate podium to
celebrate what you've done here. And he said, no, no, no, I didn't finish on the podium. This is
not right. I shouldn't be doing this. Ron Walker, who was around back then and many others, were
like, no, no, we need to champion an Aussie having a great day out here. So for them to do that back
then, I mean, from memory, Darryl Eastlake was late. Darryl Eastlake was calling it going off.
I mean, really, really, really, really cool thing. I think for me, my first season working on
Formula One, I really had a real affinity with Jacques Villeneuve because Formula One at that
stage, like I can remember Kultard and Hackenon at that stage with McLaren, West McLaren,
that they had even corporate jackets to put on with cardboard down their side arms. So when
they sat in the press conference, you could see he's the sponsor better. And the ante of all that
was Villeneuve because he'd come in and he'd have his baggy ass suit on at the Williams. He had,
you know, he had the dyed hair. I think he was going out with Danny Minogue at the time. So I was
like, this dude, he's a little bit different. He's not your corporate character. And obviously,
he came down to the last race in Hereth and I was there watching that race working and it got
to the top of the straight and it was Schumacher versus Villeneuve for the world title. Awesome.
Awesome. And Shui, let's be honest, he punted Jacques off and Jacques was able to continue on
and he won the world title. And that night, Rusty, we were in a bar in, I don't know,
my Spanish geography is a bit dodgy. It could have been, I don't know. Anyway, it was down near
Hereth and serving drinks behind the bar was Villeneuve and Schumacher. I love that. And they
had the race on. And when it got to the point when Shui punted him off, everyone sort of started
booing and Shui looked a bit sheepish behind the bar, but he took it on his chin. So, so Villeneuve
for me in that moment to win the world title, that's my favourite Formula One memory. Now,
Jess from Abbotsford. Come in, Jess. Hi guys, Jess from Abbotsford here. This might be a hard one
for you, Rusty, but who is your favourite F1 driver of all time? Oh, hands down the Lake
Great Ayrton Centre for me. I can vividly remember watching Imola the night that he died.
I went and woke up my dad who's gone now. And I said, this looks bad. And he only won three
world titles. That's what that's what the stats will show. But what he brought to the table back
then revolutionised the sport from a training standpoint, a commitment standpoint. I would
love to have known what he might have gone on to add to in terms of that tally. But I will always
have a very special memory of it and centre. And I never got to in a broadcast sense, you know,
see him in the flesh. I was too young at that stage, still too early in the broadcast journey.
But I've spoken with people, you know, there's an Aussie journalist who was one of the last to
interview him for a story and things like that. Yeah, got centre for me. Do you remember when
the doco came out and you were hosting it at Crown in Melbourne and you did an amazing job?
I think we were doing a story. I might have been there doing a story for RPM and you were hosting
it. And then it was a phenomenal documentary. But I can clearly remember they rolled it out.
And it was obviously majority was in Portuguese and there was no subtitles. And I remember the
majority sitting there going, it looks good, but we're not exactly sure what's going on here.
They did an amazing job with that doco that when they eventually got the approval from the centre
family and I think from Bernie Eccleston back then, they let him into the archives. And what they
found was a treasure trove of stuff on him. They managed Bandy, I think was the producer of it.
And James Allen told me a lot about it in the lead up and you just knew it was done beautifully.
For me, you know, I like sizzle, you know, all about entertainment. Lewis for me. Seven time.
Potentially, controversially, let's be honest, probably should be eight time. But anyway,
we won't go into the whole situation that happened there with Max and etc. But I just love,
I love getting the opportunity to speak to him rusty and he doesn't talk about tired degradation.
I'm with him on Saturday. And yeah, I'm talking with him on Saturday. And he said to me last year
when we were doing a similar thing. For some reason, our crazy wildlife came up and he said like,
man, you know, sharks, snakes, spiders, you guys, you can have all that.
Yeah. No, he's cool. He's cool. Final question. Daniel from Hallam.
Hey, guys, it's Daniel from Hallam. What's the best Grand Prix that you've been to apart from
Australia elsewhere in the world? Thanks, guys. That's a good question.
I went to with the 10 network back in the day, the British Grand Prix to be at Silverstone, a real
heartland for the sport. I have very vivid memories of that.
I've done plenty at Singapore. You and I have covered that. I've been to Spain on occasion
and testing down at Hereth as well. It's probably more the ones that I haven't done that I would
like to do. And I'm getting to an age and stage now where I start to think about some of that stuff.
So where would you go? I'd love to go to places like Spa, for example.
Yeah. Late in Mark Webber's career, Neil Crompton went there and spent the weekend with him and
just to see the cars through Eruge and stuff. I believe the sport should have that balance
still. Like we go to these flash venues from, you know, Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi, all this. I say,
yeah, okay, we need that. We need that stuff. But in the same breath, you've still got to have
that sprinkle of the real traditional venues that are the backbone of the game. Well, I guess
when I was working on it, I was lucky that they were the majority of those venues. So I haven't
been to any of the new venues and going with Erika and seeing you in Singapore, that blew my
socks off that Grand Prix. First time I'd seen a Formula One car at night. And there was Elton
John on the Sunday night. There were Foo Fighters on the Saturday night. There was Crowded House.
And the city was outstanding. So I love that. But the ones that I had the privilege of going
to when I was working, like Monaco is phenomenal. Monza in the park with the Tafosi. But the one
you picked, I can remember clearly the first time on the Friday. So we'd rig the track during the week
was Spa. And it always seemed to be raining when I was there. And I was with a cameraman who was
at the top of O'Rooche. And the cars came up for the first time in the first lap. And I was like,
oh, this is impressive. And second lap, they're going. And I just couldn't. It's the first time
I thought these blokes deserve every cent they get paid because the speed that they would have
can't see the top line. So Spa for me. Yeah, if you get the opportunity.
Monza too. Monza too. Yeah, in the park. And you can go walk around and see the old banking where
they used to race and the sort of 45 degree angle of it. Rusty, we could talk about this for ages.
And I know you want to get on the tyre degradation. I'm not going to let you. I'm not going to let you.
Okay, we'll go three, two, one. You go three, then I'll go three, two and one.
For our predictions for top three in the Drivers Championship in 2026. Coming in third, according
to you, Thruster. Max Verstappen. I've gone Max Verstappen as well. Cool. I think just to explain
a little bit there, the whole partnership, them working with Ford, but basically building their
own engine. I think they're in better shape than many gave them credit for in the lead up. He's an
unbelievable driver. And even if the chips are a little bit down, he doesn't sound like he's
a huge fan of the new regs. He will make something of that. He's just an unbelievable competitor.
Yeah. Yeah. Now, I've got number three of Verstappen as well. So two in the Drivers
Championship in 2026 in second place. Oscar Piestri. Okay. He'll take a step this year.
I don't know as we sit here and record this now, whether they've got the car just yet.
He'll have learned a lot out of last year as a person. And I think he will come back very
strong this year because of it. Okay. In second place for me, all the pre-season
talk is about the Mercedes. And if you had to back Russell Antonelli purely from experience,
you'd back George Russell. He looks like he's got Formula One World Champion written over him at
some stage. But who would know the changes that are going to occur? And I think it will be a
development race. What we see in Melbourne could be very different from what we see in China,
let alone what we see in the second half of the year. You're in for an unpredictable six or so
races. I think there'll be stuff here that they learn, they tidy up, whatever. That actually
kind of makes Albert Park a really cool thing. There'll be something here that happens. Hopefully
it's an Aussie on the podium, right? But yeah, there'll be a few things here that are a bit
left to field, I reckon. So I've got Russell in second. So you're 2026 Formula One World Champion.
George. I feel like they'll have the package. A lot of people saying that they haven't completely
showed their hand yet. He's definitely out to prove a point, I think. Lots have said about
where they're going to try and lure Max Verstappen there at one point last year and so on. And
what sort of deal would they give George? He'll be a good leader, and he's a good leader. And
he'll make the most of what they've got. And we haven't seen the best of what they've got yet.
You know, the whole of YouTube is hanging on who I'm going with.
But just before I do, so you haven't got the current World Champion in your top three, Lana
Norris. That's actually a very valid point. Maybe I've gone sort of half... No, no, backtracking.
No, no, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. Maybe there's a bit of heart in some of the answer that I've given
you there. At the moment, no. I haven't either, because I've delivered the Formula One World
title. Maybe 70% heart to Oscar Piastri. Love it. But as well as 70% heart, I think you pointed
it out beautifully. I think the driver's intellect is going to need to be so high this year with
all the different things. It's not just driving the car flat out. It's those that have got the
bandwidth, mate. Yeah. And I feel, I just feel his calmness. Like he's, you know, he's a dead-eyed,
you know, he's an assassin. Like he's just so calm in the car. So with all that going on,
I think if they give him the car, which is obviously, you know, a massive precursor of that
happening, I think he can win the world title. He's got very good people around him. Some of
that has shifted a little over summer. As I say, he'll have learned a lot out of last year and
make no mistake for all the cool and calm. There's a deep hunger underneath it. Well,
mate, it's been a pleasure to sit down and chat with you again. We could have gone on.
Sure, you don't want to talk to us with him? No, we're not talking any degradation. I'm telling
you right now. The good news though, Rusty, our special preview this one ahead of the 2026 season,
all things to BP who do a magnificent job. They're the technology partner of the Audi
Revolut F1 team. Now, you know what else we can think BP for, Guru? Have a listen at this.
We've been there. Correct. The chance for you and a friend to win one of three trips to be
trackside at the Singapore night race. We're friends, aren't we? We are. Well, you'll be there
taking invoices from left, right and centre anyway. But the chance for you to go to the Singapore
race, it includes five nights of accommodation, a meet and greet with Nico Holkenberg.
So good. And dinner with Greg Rust. So this is unbelievable. No one's told me that.
This is unbelievable. Barry Sheen would say, Ian, what second prize? Correct, correct. So entering
is easy. Spend $20 or more at BP. Scan your BP rewards and you'll be in the draw to head to
Singapore to hang out with Nico, watch the race, beautiful accommodation and dinner with Rusty.
Perfect. Get amongst it. Great stuff. I'd love to chat with you, mate. Nice to catch up. Thank you.
About this episode
The discussion dives into the major changes coming to Formula One in 2026, including new technical regulations, active front and rear wings replacing DRS, and the integration of greener fuels and hybrid powertrains. Greg Russ and Rusty explore how these innovations aim to create closer racing and more overtaking opportunities. They also highlight new teams Audi and Cadillac entering the sport, with insights on their potential impact and driver lineups. The episode touches on the complexity drivers face with strategic energy deployment and shares nostalgic moments from F1 history, blending technical analysis with personal stories.
The 2026 Formula 1 season is here, and Mark Howard and Greg Rust are back to break down everything you need to know ahead of the new season.
Rusty and Howie dive into the biggest storylines heading into the new season — from new regulations and engine changes to Ferrari’s much-talked-about “upside-down wing”. They also unpack the arrival of Audi into Formula 1 with the Revolut F1 team, the introduction of a new 11th team with Cadillac, and what it all means for the future of the grid.
There’s also plenty of focus on the Aussie hope Oscar Piastri - and whether McLaren’s “Papaya Rules” will hold firm in 2026 - before the boys answer listener questions and reveal their predictions for the top three drivers of the season.
This special F1 season preview is brought to you by BP, technology partner of the Audi Revolut F1 team, with your chance to win a trip to the Singapore Grand Prix.
