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Hello, and welcome to another episode of Unlapped. We're talking to you after the Singapore Grand Prix,
lots to get stuck into this weekend, a championship that has been won, and a championship now that
we're all turning our attention to. I'm Nate Saunders, Lauren Sebberson joining me. As I always
say, you'll have noticed that I'm neither Katie George nor Nicole Briscoe. It's two of us again
this weekend. Before we get started, Unlapped is presented by Oracle, and right now Oracle is
offering to cut your current Cloud Bill in half if you move over to OCI. Please see if your company
qualifies at Oracle.com slash Unlapped. Remember, if you're watching on YouTube for this video,
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all things F1 all season long. If you're listening, and of course, if you like us
enough to do so, please hit us with a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts. Lawrence,
hello, it feels like just a minute ago that we were together in Singapore. How are you getting on?
Yeah, I mean, the flight didn't feel like a minute. That's a long old flight when you
got from Singapore. It's one of the toughest ones of the year, isn't it? It's rough.
It's got to be up there. It's got to be up there. But yeah, I think it was an interesting
weekend. I mean, Singapore, I think, always has some extra stuff going on around it, a lot of VIPs
and big wigs from the team's turn up. And so there's always a little bit of extra stuff
going on. And of course, the title fight, which I guess is what we're going to focus on today.
Absolutely. Well, we'll start right there, because as I mentioned in the intro, one championship was
done. Maybe the championship that the teams care a lot about. But I think it's fair to say that
for most fans, it's not the one that we get stuck into the most, but it's constructed
this championship. McLaren wrapping that up in incredible time. Six races still to go.
It's obviously been a formality for a while. But obviously, in doing so, they did it at
the Singapore Grand Prix under a bit of a cloud, I would say. I think that's a fair way to put
it. You know, so much this season has been focused on that Lando-Norris-Oscar-Piastri fight.
A few questions here to just jump straight in with, but Lawrence, the obvious question for you
is, now that McLaren have wrapped up this constructed championship, we've seen them
kind of walk this Lionel season between fairness and what is fair, what isn't fair.
How do you even judge those two things in the driver's championship between their two
drivers? There's 22 points now between Piastri and Norris. It was a controversial beginning
to that race with Norris barging Piastri as Piastri felt towards the wall.
The question, as is written here, I think is the best way to get into this topic is,
will Oscar and Lando now be able to race more aggressively, now the constructors
is wrapped up? Are the gloves now off at McLaren or do you think we'll see this
policy of theirs continue further into the season?
Yeah, I don't think anything changes because, as you alluded to, we've known for some time
that McLaren is going to win the constructors championship, so the fact that it's mathematically
impossible now for anyone to catch them, I don't think makes any difference. McLaren
still have this policy, whether you believe in it or not, that the two drivers are free to race,
they get equal opportunities to race, but there are some lines in the sand and one of those
is you don't make contact and that's why what happened in Singapore was so controversial because
for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix when Lando and Norris went into the rear
of Oscar Piacere but took full responsibility for that, for the first time since then the two cars
collided and this one wasn't as clean cut at all and this was always going to happen.
McLaren have said this from the start of the season and I think we've all known this from
the start of the season that if these two drivers are fighting for a championship throughout a
season in the same car, sharing the same racetrack, at some point they're going to make contact
and so it happened. Now this kind of goes to show why you can't really have
rules to cover every scenario in Formula One, we've seen that with stewarding for many years and
the issues that creates but within teams as well it creates issues. I mean the contact itself,
no one would ban iLid if it was between two drivers from different teams, just wouldn't
be an issue. The FIA noted it, didn't even bother investigating it because that's the kind of thing
that happens on the opening lap of a Grand Prix. If you look further back down the grid there was
contact as well between drivers so that's not really the issue here. The issue here is that
McLaren have said since the start of the year you guys race but the one thing you do is you
don't make contact. Now the way they viewed it at the end of it to kind of cut to the point of
why McLaren didn't take any action as a result of Norris going into piastry is that Norris
clipped the staff in first then his car got sideways and then he went into piastry and
they kind of viewed it as well. It was a consequence of another racing incident that then led to that.
It's not like he was trying to take out piastry on the way through and therefore they've let it go.
They have said they will review it and I think it's going to be fascinating again
when we all reconvene in Austin, Texas and we can talk to drives about it because as they
review it maybe they'll look at it a slightly different way. I think even after the race
piastry he said he hadn't seen it on video therefore he needed to see it. I'll be fascinated to see what
he thinks after he watches that because I don't know about you but if Norris is going to make that
move and I'm glad he did because I think we need to see Norris being aggressive in if he's going to
win this championship but if you make that move you are kind of responsible for what happens
after even if it's a result of hitting another car but of course it was Norris that went into
the back of the staff and so it's so nuanced there's so many things going on and McLaren's rules as
developed and as talked about as they have been within the team going into each race
can't cover everything and this was a perfect example and so they let them continue to race
but here's a question back to you Nate you're on the pit wall McLaren what do you do when
Oscar Piastry says hey Norris just drove into me are we going to allow that?
Yeah it's a great question and I've been thinking about that a little bit and you hit the nail
on the head there of how they've tried to manage this and I actually think that you probably do
what McLaren did in the long run I'm not sure if you agree with that but one of the problems
McLaren has here is how do you judge what is fair and what isn't fair we all know what we
think is fair but the perspective of fairness is largely dictated by you know your viewpoint
coming into that and Piastry and Norris will both have a very different view of that the pit wall
as well concealer that stuff to your point Piastry had only seen it from inside the car once in real
time Norris had only seen it in the car once in real time they've been reacting to stuff
as it happened and McLaren pit wall had this opportunity to kind of step back and say well
here's what happened here's the replay here's why Norris went in there I think they made the
right call you know you can't you made the right point there I think that if this was
between two non teammates who were fighting for the championship we probably talk about how
good a move it was and how close it was and how risky the fight was and I think that because of the
framework McLaren has set you have to kind of let them race but this is the problem they now have
isn't it from the pit wall and that question entirely is they have created this framework
between the two drivers where we expect that now every kind of little slight or moment between
the teams has to kind of it's almost like they're getting validation or feedback they're
like well this just happened what do we do now and if you're Piastri now I this whole idea of
what does the pit wall do can they fight with the gloves off I agree with you I think that
everything continues because if you're Piastri you'd say well hang on I gave up three points
in Monza to Lando by playing the team game by being the good soldier you know we were there
in Thursday when Lewis said he was asked wasn't he in the press conference what would you
what advice would you give to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and all he said was
don't give up a position that was all that was his advice it was clear you know what that was
what that was aimed at and then if you're Piastri you look at this now and you're like well I probably
lost another couple of points it was three again wasn't it to Norris barging past like this and me
asking the team well is that okay because you know you guys told me in Austria and you told me again
in Hungary when I nearly went into the back of Lando you know rain it in that's right on the
line there so if you're Oscar right now I actually think that you don't want the team to turn
around so you guys can race freely because you'd say well hang on I'm six points down
in the win-loss column on that so McLaren have created this kind of this bizarre spectacle and this
kind of a bit of an albatross if I'm honest with you in terms of I actually do agree with another
thing Piastri said on Sunday evening was he does think it comes from a fair place you know a genuine
sincere place and I think we've had enough conversations between us haven't we with
McLaren they are trying to make this as fair as possible but with every single one
that they do I think it becomes less fair because fairness is just a subjective thing
between two drivers so in terms of that first question that you threw back to me I would have
done the same thing but I don't know how McLaren carries on with it now because the the benefit
for one of their drivers now ignoring the team or disagreeing with the team in these moments
is far higher right because there's no constructive championship to win or lose to your point I
don't think it's really had a big impact either but if you're Lando Norris now you're Oscar Piastri
and you're told in the next race you've got to let the other guy through you're like well
hang on a second we're now in the run-in to the title fight so that's the more interesting
one to me is that McLaren I think are still going to make these calls are the drivers actually
going to be adhering to those calls now they've got next years to stay with the team they're
both under contract through 27 as well so that is in the back of both of their minds as well
of you don't want to burn this bridge now and it affects your time with the team so
so many fascinating dynamics and I'm actually kind of glad that now the focus is all just on
the two drivers how does McLaren keep racing and we know after Monza don't we they had those very
robust conversations about how all of that went down Piastri does seem to come out of those with a
very good nuanced understanding of kind of how to explain his viewpoint going forward so I think
he'll largely be the same Piastri we've seen but yeah I don't know I I wouldn't like to be
on the pit wall going forward because I think they're gonna have at least one more of those
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a lot of people suggesting Lawrence that after the race Piastri was
apoplectic for the team I think we have to address some of this because you know it
obviously was a very controversial race there was a moment and we I wrote about this on ESPN
Sunday on dot-com about Piastri not being on the the kind of the very weirdly impromptu podium
ceremony that F1 and McLaren did together we are the champions blaring out you know kind of a
cool moment I mean I'd not seen that before it's the first time they've done that Piastri was the
only person the only person of note that wasn't there yet Zach Brown yet Andreas Sturley had
Lando Norris who had obviously still been on the podium from celebrating as one of the
top three finishes of the race a lot of people reading into that a lot of people reading
into the fact that there's a moment where Piastri disconnected his radio as Zach Brown is in the
middle of saying congratulations Oscar great and then it goes it goes dead and I don't I don't know
the full story behind that but do you think that there's anything to this or do you think this was
kind of bad timing you know poor optics because Oscar did celebrate with the team as normal later
in the pit lane about an hour later when all the media obligations were done it did seem like
a lot of that was overblown on social media right yeah Piastri would have been much happier
to be on the podium than talking to us in the media pen I think I mean there's no doubt about that
I mean that's makes me a terrible organization by whoever was responsible for putting that podium
celebration together because and I think it kind of largely came from F1 didn't they wanted to do it
for McLaren but if you're doing that let the drivers know before the race it was pretty much
a foregone conclusion that they were going to be up there let the drivers know before the race
and make sure that there's somebody there to direct Oscar towards the podium whether that's
from the team or from F1 but probably from F1 if it's something that they've stuck together so
I think that was the fading there and you know I but as far as I know and from I think Oscar's
surprise at all of a sudden turning around the TV pen and seeing that on the screen
he didn't intentionally not go to it you know I don't think that's the case at all and it
seemed like it was quite unfortunate timing you know with the with the regs as they are but
yeah I think that must have been must have been quite a surprising moment for him in the
moment of like oh they're they're celebrate you were down there right and you saw him kind of see
that yeah I mean those regulations are they they get sent out like pretty much the post-race
procedure to all the teams on the Sunday ahead of each race and sometimes they're slightly different
because each track layout aside different so just the general process of how you kind of
you know leave the cars make sure the drivers get weighed then go to the media stuff that's
all set out actually in a document and surely you have some kind of you know just put an
extra line in there or just make McLaren at the very least aware that there's a slight variation
of that and make sure there's somebody there to to to something happen because otherwise you do get
this kind of you know this story building up it's not great from Claren you know I bet
that they were pretty upset to find out that Piazzari had been directed to the TV pen
and not to not not to the podium but I think it purely comes from misunderstanding
and yeah if there's any doubts about that there are plenty of photos afterwards
I think it was about two or three hours afterwards once all the media commitments
are out the way and Piazzari was right in the celebrations outside the McLaren garage and
you know there's photographs and it actually happened directly under the media centre so I can
say for certain that both drivers attended that and so yeah I think it's a bit of a non-story
it's just a shame that they couldn't come together with because I think it's a nice idea
allowing them on the podium to celebrate something as significant as a constructors
championship um but yeah it's just a bit of a shame that they couldn't all do it together but
you know and it makes it it makes it mean more as well doesn't it when you see that moment because
I think one of the one the criticisms we we always have a joke here on ESPN.com that whenever a
driver wins a championship I will roll out the same article that I've written about 10 years
running which is um where is the driver's championship why why don't we see the driver
who wins the championship loft the trophy you know hold the trophy aloft and it's because
the FIA gala at the end of the year is where the driver's champion and then the constructors
champion officially get their championship so McLaren still didn't get the constructors championship
in Singapore unless they missed it but they did get the moment to celebrate and I think if you
make that a big moment I think the constructors championship can kind of grow a little bit
in stature because I think it is especially among newer fans as well and this isn't a dig at
newer fans at all but it's never seemed as important as the driver you know the drivers
is the be all and end all and you talk to those team members a lot of them will tell you that
you know as long as the team wins the constructors a lot of their bonuses are based on that as well
that's huge for them you know so I think making it a bigger spectacle and making it mean more
you know beyond just all that that team just won the constructors I think is a nice thing but
you're absolutely right I think um not not having the flexibility either from F1 side or
McLaren side to let PSG up there was was strange and McLaren were pretty upset with
how it looked from a PR perspective I think they realized immediately what it looked like
and yeah you know nobody it's a classic thing isn't it is that as much as they did have that
celebration of the paddock afterwards no one saw that everyone on TV saw the the podium
celebration so pretty bad one just a quick one um because we're just going to look at the
start of the week in a second which is obviously based on McLaren the quick one for you and
I can I can also answer this we have kind of looked at Oscars being this kind of
stone cold killer all season we've had Baku where he had the you know he had an
instance in both qualifying and the race and then maybe a Singapore where I'm not saying
the pressure got to him a bit but he sounded quite fraught on the radio are we seeing the
first evidence of Piastri being under a bit of pressure as the guy in front because when
you've got that target on your back and the the finish line's getting closer I think that's when
that kind of that furnace goes up doesn't it in terms of the pressure you're feeling out in
front yeah I think uh there's definitely significantly more pressure on Piastri now I
still think he's dealing with it relatively well I mean you know if you you look at both
McLaren drivers and point out mistakes through Singapore and then you go back a weekend and
you point out even more in in Baku especially on Piastri side but if you look at qualifying
for example um it was Lando Norris who made the mistake touched the wall at turn 17 lost
10th of a second that was enough to put him behind the grid two places well you know in
5th to Oscar Piastri's third on the grid which was you know the reason why he had to be so aggressive
in turn one so I think you can look at both of those drivers and see that the pressure
in different ways is starting to pile up and I think more than anything else um they've
gone to a bunch of circuits where their rivals have been very competitive so we've
gone from a series of circuits you know in the lead-up to the summer break um and
Sambor afterwards where the McLaren was the class of the field car was really suited to the track so
it was a battle just between the two of them now it's getting messy because all of a sudden
Max Verstappen's Red Bull is performing on certain types of circuits happy with the
balance of it and all of a sudden he's a potential long shot I still think it's very
much a long shot even though he beat both McLaren's in Singapore for the title
and then George Russell out of nowhere you know puts the car on pole position wins the
race quite comfortably so I think it's it's a combination of the pressure going up but also
McLaren's advantage on certain circuits starting to leak away a little bit and that will be
a really interesting to see how those drivers can manage that because it's so different
when all of a sudden in q3 you're not really sure if the car's going to make the front row
it's not a guarantee or you know you could be one mistake and you could be sixth or seventh
on the grid and um you know we've seen that over the last two races so I think that's what's coming
together um but you know I I think both of them have the ability to kind of close out this championship
in the right way get the you know get good results whether Norris can overhaul Piastria
I'm still doubtful if I still think Piastria is a favorite but with Oscar you know I genuinely
think if if you listen as well to even his most fraught radio message during that race in Singapore
there was still a logic working behind the scenes there it wasn't like he just completely lost it
he was probably the angriest we've heard him on the on the radio but there was still you know kind
of that cold calculating kind of mind working behind the scenes there so I I don't think we're
yet a stage where like we can say Piastria's going to throw this away and it's all falling
because you know apart from Baku it's not yeah no and the reason I ask I mean I'll give my answer
as well but I'll do it after the start of the week just to give myself a bit more support on what
I'm saying um the start of the week is brought to you by Oracle right now Oracle is offering to
cut your current cloud bill in half if you move to OCI see if your company qualifies at oracle.com
slash unlapped um and the start of the week this week is actually quite a big one it's
quite an interesting one it's um looking back at the teammate battles for the championship where
the driver at the halfway point in the season which in this case this year was obviously Oscar
Piastria he's led for most of the year these are instances where a teammate has lost the
championship to their teammate at the end of that season and there'll be a lot of familiar
names in here and there's two that are exactly the same 2016 Lewis Hamilton was leading midway
through the season he lost it to Nico Rosberg the opposite happened in 2014 Nico Rosberg was
leading lost it to Lewis Hamilton 88 Prost was leading at the midway stage lost to Senna 84 Prost again
obviously unlucky at the halfway point he lost it to Nicky Lauda 1960 Bruce McLaren you know a name
that is obviously relevant for this podcast he was leading at halfway lost it to Jack Brabham
and 1956 Peter Collins was leading halfway and he lost it to one Manuel Fangio by the end
of that season so it has happened before um you know with teammates in that way I happen to
agree with you I think Piastria is still by far the favourite I mean when we've been talking about
this 60 something point gap that Verstappen has 22 points still an enormous lead at this point
especially if as we've seen and you've just alluded to there the points on offer now from McLaren
aren't seven for finishing first versus second I think it's going to be a lot smaller in terms
of what they're able to do so I think that's quite an interesting one um my money would still
be on Piastria but I think the problem for him now with 22 points is you're now in that
kind of that Goldilocks zone almost of one retirement and suddenly the other guy is ahead of you
or is so much closer to you so he's he's lost that buffer that he's had since Xanvore which I
think is interesting um let's look at Singapore quickly now we do podium predictions every weekend
I can I think slightly brag this week it's a pretty loose it's a pretty loose brag I've
got to be honest I'm still far behind you guys Lawrence I've got to shame you from the
beginning your podium was uh Lewis in third place Lando in second and Oscar in first you thought we'd
have a Oscar Piastria win none of those came off I'm afraid my friends so zero points there
I got Lando Norris in third place correct but I had Oscar Piastria in front of him and Max
Verstappen winning I was all in on the Max Verstappen Red Bull hype train so I only get
one point there Nicole who obviously is not with us today uh she said Charles the clerk
in third interesting that you and Nicole both went for a Ferrari on the podium I think a
lot of people thought that that wasn't correct Max Verstappen in second that was right she also
like me said Oscar Piastria in first so she got a point sadly still no trifectas this season I'm
saving mine till the end of the season um you know I'm still so you know to the yeah the the the
the roll call of shame Nate I'll start with me because we do those in reverse order Nate
nine points in third pretty pathetic Lawrence 14 points that's not bad at all you had a
scoreless weekend but you're still solidly there and Nicole blazing a trail out in front in 17 so
we really have some uh some work to do um and yeah I think that those predictions have to get a lot
better all round just because there's been a few weeks now where where they haven't come off very
well uh one name that we all failed to say Lawrence and I'm quite surprised actually
in hindsight hindsight obviously is 2020 is one Mr George Russell who was absolutely dominant
from you know the beginning of qualifying through to the race he was almost untouchable
remarkably still a man without a contract next season um he said after the race he thinks he's
ready to win a world championship that he's the most complete he's felt in terms of driving talent
you know Russell very well you've covered a lot of his career to this point was this one of his
most impressive wins he's obviously got a handful of them now this really stood out to me in terms
of just how he did it and the fact that the narrative coming into the into the race was
this is all about Max Verstappen blowing McLaren out of the water becoming the de facto championship
contender and actually George Russell kind of watered that down a little bit I think didn't he
because he was so good and from turn one as soon as he got in there ahead of Max he just kind of
disappeared and controlled the race I think it was proof that Formula One is far more complex than
you know going a lot of us kind of give it credit for because we looked to Singapore and we said
ah it's hot there and the one thing we know about the Mercedes is that it struggles in the
heat when the rear tyres are kind of being overworked and you know that does happen in Singapore
traditionally it's happened in Singapore and George actually himself like trying to explain it
because I mean I asked this to Toto like well after the race what changed but why were you so quick
and he didn't really have a particularly convincing answer I think he knew a lot more than what he
was leaning on but um but George says something interesting which was basically they've resurfaced
some of some of the corners of Singapore since last year the tyre overheating wasn't such a
big issue of course all the teams have made steps forward in trying to look after those
rear tyres it was the same compounds as as the previous season so there wasn't really as much
kind of tyre sliding and overheating as you expect and then because a lot of the corners are
quite short in duration you're not putting a lot of energy throughout the tyre throughout the
so in the tyre throughout the corner um actually the Mercedes wasn't overheating its tyres in
the end and it was just quite well suited to that track layout so yeah a reminder um the
just like looking at single uh single data points or single things about a race track
is not enough you have to have an overall encompassing view but I don't think you know if
you'd ask Mercedes at the start of the weekend like do you think you're going to be in for a you
know what looked like an easy victory end of it I don't think anyone would have said yes so
it it was a surprise in that sense and I think a lot of that um is is credit to George he
actually crashed in in Friday practice I think one of the first mistakes the first
somebody's been in the barriers this season which is impressive but then he completely recovered from
that put in a fantastic lap in qualifying there was some suggestion that maybe Max would have been
closer to him or faster than him had he not hit the dirtier of Lando Norris in the final few
corners but look you got to get it done on the track at the time and George did that and then
in the race I think what became clear throughout it is the the Mercedes had enough pace
just to keep a gap to Max but there were times when Max was eating into it but actually probably
the fastest car in the race and this is why I stunned by my prediction that you shamed before
earlier is I think the fastest car in the race was the McLaren it just couldn't put together
that lap in qualifying and so if you were to like let all the cars run the 63 laps or whatever
it is in isolation I think the McLarens would have the fastest time but once you get stuck
behind another car as Norris did with Max Verstappen then you're then you're just struggling to ever
get past because it's so difficult to overtake in Singapore or actually something that asked out
of the week was was wrong on last week because it's just there's lots of overtaking
in reality it's still very tough to overtake there so yeah I think there was a lot of yeah
interesting things going on there probably we should have known that it wasn't going to be
as simple as it looks on paper because Singapore rarely is it often throws up surprise results
or the lead car doesn't do as well as it does at other circuits so maybe we should have guessed
that it would be a surprise result but even then I don't think many people would have pointed
confidently at the Mercedes as the winning car no definitely not I think for all those reasons
that you've outlined yeah and you joked about me shaming your predictions we've just absolutely
shamed the start of the week there so hopefully this week's one is slightly better but I think
you're right you know I think the conventional wisdom coming into the weekend and we were all
quite excited about it weren't we was this was supposed to be kind of validation of the Max Verstappen
outsider status in the championship remarkably there's an incredible stat about Singapore
of all the places where Max has won you know he's got so many this is the only place he hasn't won
and Antonio Giovannazzi has led more laps of a Singapore Grand Prix than Max Verstappen I think
it's four to Giovannazzi and three to Max Verstappen which is quite remarkable you know
really when you just think about how long Max Verstappen has been the dominant force
in Formula One really remarkable that's been such an Achilles heel for him obviously the only
Red Bull win in recent memory was when Perez beat Verstappen there in 2022 which was one of the random
races that Perez just kind of became the streets king for you know a year year and a half maybe if
I'm being kind I don't think I saw enough from Russell and Red Bull that sorry from Verstappen
and Red Bull there to think that he can be a title contender but the great thing with Max is
at three races now he's finished ahead of the McLarens and we're seeing as we mentioned earlier
we're seeing that fight get you know a bit more spicy out in front I think that I don't
know if you agree with me on this but it feels like there's at least one more clash between the
McLaren drivers in the offing this season you know in terms of whether it's a big one
whether it's another bang of wheels like we saw in Singapore but they're racing all year
they've been so close together all season long and if Max can just keep finishing ahead
of the McLaren drivers he doesn't have to be finishing three places two places ahead of them
just keep chipping away at that overall points gap they're going to keep taking points out of
each other I think he still could maybe be a factor at the end of the season I think a lot
still needs to happen I think there needs to be a big moment between the McLaren drivers but
again the fact that Max is even in that conversation says a lot about what we think
about him and just about how well Red Bull have turned that around and a quick shout out
I have to say to Laura Meckies the Red Bull boss who replaced Horner who has taken the
most humble view on it as he can he's very been very very precise in saying I can take zero credit
for this zero percent credit Max Verstappen and Helmut Marco have both said that's not true that
you should take some but clearly a lot of things going right there as well so Max Verstappen in my
opinion is still very much in the title fight but is very much the outsider and I'd love to
see him keep finishing ahead of the McLaren because I think Lauren's right but every time
he finishes ahead of both cars we're going to get more excited about it even if it's just a
slight bit like if that comes down to 50 something points in Austin then suddenly 40 something points
in Mexico maybe it just it feels like it's just coming down and down and down and McLaren are
definitely worried about it so I'm excited about that one I don't know if you had anything to add
on Max but we can we can move straight on yeah no I think it was the validation that we wanted
on the Red Bull to you know to speak to that point because it is true the last time they
loaded that car with high downforce was Zanvo and it was a long way off the McLaren's
wasn't quite as problematic as they have been done in season but then the time before that was
hungry and it was it was absolutely nowhere so clearly the the development that they've
pushed through which actually included a minor upgrade to the front wing just still chasing
little gains and Lauren Mechies has talked about this how you know it they looked at
this year's car and they didn't want to just leave it the way it was they did want to
just learn every last little bit they could from it because you never know what's going to be
useful going forward as well even if you can't directly take the parts and put them on next year's
car because it's going to be so different but there's still lessons and learnings to be had
there so that I think is is very very positive um but the one thing that Verstappen said
after Baku is that if he is going to fight for this title he needs to get everything
absolutely 100% and he needs McLaren to make mistakes and I think that speaks to your point
we probably still do need to see the McLarens really drop some significant points
whether it be colliding with each other or whatever for Max to get truly in this championship
but also you know this is a thing if if Max had been able to pull out an absolutely amazing
qualifying lap and perhaps it was Landon Norris's dirty air that meant that he didn't
but if he'd been able to put that lap together put it on pole I think he would have won that
race because I think you know again because the overtake was so difficult on Sunday and I think he
would have been able to keep Russell's car behind who would have kept the McLarens at bay and that
would have been then we were talking about you know really big points differential between him
and Oscar Piastri from winning a race to fourth place is 13 points so that would have been
big so that's kind of what he needed he needed to be absolutely perfect absolutely
on it as he said he needed to be in Baku and he wasn't quite there but look I'm not taken
away from Max's snap on the Singapore weekend because I think it was still very impressive
and very confidence inspiring going forward the other thing I'd like to say about Red Bull at
moment is is how great it is to see them being so aggressive with every call because they have zero
to lose at the moment like they may as well be aggressive with every little bit of last
performance they can get out of the car they may as well be aggressive with trying different
setup directions because what else have they got to lose if it works Max maybe does stand a
chance to this title if it doesn't he's going to finish third anyway and the two things
which I really liked in Singapore was that he was the absolute last driver on the track for qualifying
you know they put him out right at the end complete contrast to Norris who was only in Max's way or
creating 30 FMAX because he had gone so much earlier in the session for fear of a red flag
meaning that he wouldn't get a lap in and so there was like a real contrast in the way
those two teams are approaching things like qualifying and then the other one was when
he just put soft tyres on the car for the start he was on the dirty side of the grid it was
always going to be really difficult to pass Russell into the first corner but the one chance he had
and again that one chance to make that perfect weekend was to wax off tyres on it you know deal
with the strategy implications later and just get ahead of Russell's first corner didn't pay off
but I just love that they're making those kind of calls like super aggressive decisions to try
and make this championship happen one way or another but because they have nothing to lose
it's it's kind of easy to to take that call whereas as we talked about earlier is the
pressure building around McLaren and their drivers well they certainly can't be as aggressive with
various decisions like that because the consequences of it going wrong of course are far greater
yeah no I totally agree with you and I think Max also gave a great quote a great sound bite on
the Saturday as Max is is prone to do when he said about that Landon Norris moment he said it
will be remembered you know I don't know how ominous the Landon Norris should feel that was
it reminded me of the character on Family Guy that says Pepperidge Farm remembers you know
that guy who pops up every so often and I do wonder later in the year if he is in a position
where he's fighting Landon for position obviously both McLaren drivers can't to that exact point
can't throw caution into the wind they have to by its very nature especially pedestrian has to
be a bit more cautious is there are going to be a situation you know we're coming to
Austin last year and then we're going to Mexico two places where Max and Landon had
incredible fights last year that were both very controversial is that you know a moment
where Max gets his elbows out and says well I remember what happened in Singapore Max has
never really needed an excuse to race like that anyway but I think that is a really fascinating
part of this of this kind of dynamic as well as that of all the people you want I think
like chasing an almost impossible championship Max is almost the perfect guy for that because
he's so damn entertaining to watch and he does race like that all the time so hopefully we do
get him closer and closer but I agree with what you said you know Max and the other great
thing about Max as well is that obviously being that aggressive you can't do that with
every driver on the grid right if you're if you're the rebel pit wall you can't just say
to Yuki Sonoda for example we're just going to be super aggressive with you because
he's struggling fundamentally to understand the car you can't do that so whenever you
see teams doing that it just shows such comprehensive and fundamental confidence
and belief in that driver to basically to deliver with it yeah I imagine Max took
a great pleasure in keeping Lando Norris behind him did you see his his Instagram thing where he
put it was it was one of the it was I forget the framing of that but it's the Instagram
frame and it was him right at the bottom and it was Lando right at the top and you know
there was far apart as they could be in that frame and you can imagine when he when he put
that out that there was a bit of you know a rice smile on his face because like you said you
know McLaren probably did have the quicker car in pure pace you know points in that
race and Lando just couldn't get close enough to him and also you know I think dropping little
quotes like that it's it's so Max saying that you know this will room remembered and all that
kind of stuff because even if he just never acts on it that might and maybe it won't be but that
might just be in the back of Norris's mind when he's trying to pull off like you know a
mover as he tried in Singapore he got alongside Max on one occasion I wonder if the back of
his mind was just like well I mean Max very rarely gives any space anyway but
is he going to be even more aggressive this time because of what happened yesterday so I just love
that kind of every little detail where Max is covered whether it be psychological whether it be
engineering whether it be just taking every centimetre of the track every detail is covered
by him and yeah I think that's why he's such a ruthless and brilliant competitor.
Absolutely quick one on Ruthless and unbelievably quick competitors who are also great for a sound
bike Fernando Alonso with two of the best radio messengers of the season first of all I think
he was told he had 34 laps left and he said if you keep talking to me to his race engineer
I'm going to turn off the radio which got a big chuckle in the Singapore media centre
and even bigger one came later and I'm going to quickly put you on the spot about what
this meant later because we were discussing it in the in the press room afterwards he had a great
fight I thought with Isaac Hage are after fantastic racing from both of them very aggressive you know
both of them kind of not giving the other sorry giving the other just enough to kind of race
fairly but really on that line and then afterwards we heard him say trophy for the hero of the race
there which I don't know about you Lawrence we were sat together to us in that media centre
I thought Fernando Alonso was crowning himself the hero of the race I thought he was giving
himself the trophy of the race lo and behold when we when we listen to the transcripts back from
some of the media sessions that we'd missed just because of how busy it gets in the evening
Isaac Hage I had it put to him Fernando Alonso called you the psychastic called you the hero
of the race and said you know you had the trophy for the hero of the race which I hadn't
clocked that now it was quite disappointing for me because I was writing a piece
that I just basically led on that as I showed you at the time which was a self-proclaimed
hero of the race Fernando Alonso has gained another place because Louis Hamilton has a penalty
had to delete that great lead and just write it in a very very boring way do you think having
kind of looked to that since is he talking about Isaac Hage or is he talking about himself because
Fernando Alonso is prone to kind of proclaiming himself to have had the best race of all time
or to have there was a spell I don't remember with McLaren where he would say like I drove
like an elephant today I drove like a lion I drove like a tiger and it said it so much that
at one point in the season he said I drove like all the animals in the zoo today and that
basically you know he was in on the on his own joke about kind of how he talks about himself
do you still think he was talking about Hage or do you think that that was actually a
self-proclaiming of him as the hero of the race because I love it if it was that
yeah I think there was a quote afterwards from Alonso as well that kind of indicate
I remember exactly what he said but kind of indicated that it was aimed at Hage I don't
honestly know but I mean it's a very I mean it's a very minute point I don't want to put
you on the spot about it no just such a good sound but we didn't have the opportunity to
ask him that question already but um but yeah it sounded like he was he was then it's like acically
towards Hage I mean either way that race needed some entertainment and I think Hage's defense and
Alonso's attack was fascinating to watch I mean that was I wish we could get more racing like that
throughout for Singapore Grand Prix I mean I think it was partly due to the fact that Hage
was nursing an engine issue and therefore probably didn't quite have the straight line
speed that he needed to keep Alonso at bay and maybe Alonso was aware of that and that was why
he felt you know that Hage I was maybe kind of over driving a bit he's going to lose a position
anyway and therefore it was kind of ironic hero of the race I don't know but um but either way
provided entertainment and that's what um Fernando Alonso seems to do week in week out
yeah and I love seeing the the old and the new generation it's harshest call Alonso but
present and the and the new um fighting like that as well because you know I know that Alonso
Alonso seemed quite upset didn't he with with with Hage about kind of how aggressive he was but
fantastic to see that and I think it's Hage has been so impressive this season to see him fighting
like that with Fernando fantastic to see um and yeah I agree with you and especially in a race
like Singapore where let's face it if the if the Piastri Norris thing hadn't happened at
the start me hadn't had all those radio messages there was not a lot in that race to
talk about and one of the reasons why there wasn't a lot to talk about focused around
another Spaniard now I have to admit I completely missed really in the end of that race the fact
that Carlos Sainz was on an absolute tear through the field and I think that a lot of people watching
that race would have missed it as well because it was completely missed off of the broadcast
and Carlos Sainz we were talking about Fernando Alonso giving great quotes Carlos Sainz was
speaking to Spanish radio this week um I'm not going to read his whole quote out but we've
run this today on ESPN.com um it seems to have picked up quite a bit of traction
since he said it but he was asked about the fact that so he I believe rose at the end of the race
for about 16th to 10th he put some soft tyres on the end of the race carved through the field
Sainz it looks like a new man doesn't he since you know the Baku weekend and then Singapore you
know absolutely fantastic given what the narrative of his season was before that
he was asked about not being shown at all I mean you barely saw it happening at the time
now here's what he said Lawrence and I won't read the whole thing it's very long quote but
the bits that stood out to me were and he's referring specifically to overtakes not being
shown and and and you know uh crowd shots and garage shots being shown instead and he said yes
it's becoming a bit of a trend which must have worked for them at one time when people found it
interesting to see our girlfriends to see famous people on television and their reactions
and he said I understand that if there's an overtake or a very tense moment in the race
is understandable that the production team might want to show a reaction shot um but only
and this is where he's saying he thinks it should be done only if the competition is respected and
you're always showing the important moments of the race um he said last weekend they didn't show any of
my four or five overtakes I did nor did they show Fernando's pursuit of Lewis obviously that went
right to the finish line and was actually settled in the stewards room afterwards um he added
this at the end he said they missed a lot of things he said that's fine all of that's fine
but just don't lose the main site of the main thing which um for me they even exaggerate a
little bit by showing the celebrities and the girlfriends now Lawrence I said I wasn't
going to read that whole quote and then I basically just did read the whole quote bar a few words
but as I read it I realized it's it's a very strong statement against the broadcast now for
people listening to this wondering well you know which which broadcasting team is he having a go
out there he's kind of having a go at the whole thing because what happens is if you're
watching in the UK you're watching on sky you know ESPN in the US takes the sky coverage
but there are there are lots of different broadcasters around the world that take Formula One
all of them have the say in what they do around the coverage so the punditry stuff you see
the interviews that they can do when they broadcast them how they broadcast them but the
sessions that you see whether it's practice whether it's qualifying or whether it's the race
all of that is done by a singular world feed that is controlled by Formula One
and that has been lampooned hasn't it in the past I remember there were times when
they would show replays of you know of a driver kind of going over the chicane there was a
launch stroll meme that I kept seeing when they're pan away and it would just go straight to
the launch stroll from a few years ago but it does seem like there has become this
over reliance and this over obsession I would say with exactly those two things he said celebrities
there's so many at Formula One races now but also the girlfriends of these drivers and you know I
I don't think in football games or in NFL games that is the norm obviously it's become a big thing
in the NFL that Taylor Swift has shown so much I think that's quite a rare example of a global
superstar dating a you know an active superstar as well in in Travis Kelsey at the Chiefs
do you think there's something to this Lawrence is that has the broadcast become a little bit too
obsessed with the reactions and the people over the the the racing itself this is probably
an extreme example where we miss so much of it but I think the fact that we're even talking
about it suggests that there is at least some problem with it right yeah but I think there's
two different things going on here the reason that we didn't see sciences moved towards the
end and the reason we didn't see Alonso closing down Lewis was because they were focusing on
Norris and Max and so you that's not really surprising those two are fighting for the
championship that was also a second place like I I wish there was a way where you could like
show more or you know they sometimes do a separate box in the in the in the standings
column where where you see that driver and what they're doing at that moment on board
I think that stuff is really helpful we only had that quite recently in F1
but if you're telling a narrative of a race and you you spend the whole race kind of like building
up this Norris Viva Stappen battle for second place and it's got implications in the championship
and then you cut to Alonso you know closing a 20 second gap to a 0.4 second gap on the final
lap and you miss the Norris overtake on the Stappen then there's going to be
understandable complaints as well so I think that's one issue whereby you just simply cannot
show everything at the same time it's not like an NFL game though you know it's not a single bull
and then all the players around it's like multiple was like 22 or 20 different bulls
all being played at once around a five kilometer circuit you know so it's just it's just simply
not possible to to show everything all at once I think it's a shame when stuff doesn't
get replayed as well as it should but the problem with the end of the race is that if all
the action happens then you then go to the podium you want to see the emotions of the drivers as they
get out you want to hear the team radio from them there's often not enough time to clip
the moves from elsewhere into it and then as you say the broadcasters or the different
broadcasters then go off on their own different ways and so things do get lost and look that's
a shame but it's kind of one of those things it's like there's very little you can do about it
and in fact with the advance of technology if you're a massive color science fan or a massive
Fernando Alonso fan or Lewis fan you can actually watch on board with your driver you know you have
to pay a certain subscription I should imagine but you can watch on board with your driver as
as they go around and do their things so that's one thing then there's this girlfriend celebrity
issue that you know I did get but also there were times during that race when it was
tediously boring there was nothing happening you know like yes if you were focusing on one
single driver you might like start to see oh science is going really long I wonder if he's
going to put the soft tyres on I wonder if that's gonna but unless you are purely focusing on
science's race for the whole thing and you're ignoring all the battles that are happening
elsewhere possibly the ones which are more important for the championship it's quite hard
to then just feed into that narrative and you know watch science kind of all of a sudden
putting in quick laps and kind of then explain that he's closing on these other drivers because
you are telling a story with usually what's going on from and then you have the thing of well you
know I think I mean but for my personal taste and you know this really doesn't have any because
everyone will have a different opinion yeah I think it's a little bit overplayed like I don't
think we need to see it so much I think there's other stuff that's more important but that's
my personal taste as a as a former one fan there'll be people who love it there'll be
people who have watched drives to survive and have kind of or follow drivers on Instagram and
they've really bought into the relationships between these drivers and their girlfriends a lot of which
is out on social media and then they'll probably get a kick out of seeing them in the garage and
the tension that goes with it and occasionally I think it really can add to it you know if a
move happens and then they cut to a replay of what was going in the garage the faces of the
mechanics of you know of the team of the people that we kind of get little glimpses of along
the human side of it because of course when the driver's in the car they're wearing a helmet you
can't see their human emotions then that does add something to it I think that is important in
sport so thing is two side different issues going on the science was kind of conflating into one
and yeah and it all comes down to personal taste and what you want but more than ever in formal
one you can satisfy your personal taste by following a single driver on a lot of subscription
services I know not everyone has them but you can yeah the people at f1 tv will be very happy
with you saying that Lawrence because I was a good pitch for whiter but I think you're right you
know that that is true now and I think the point you made about there being one ball in a lot of
sports versus this is so right I mean even if you watch we you know we were talking about the
rider cup you know even that you know sometimes struggles keeping up with the action because
there's so much going on especially towards the end they they obviously get an easier go of it
because it's it's a very easy your point about narratives is exactly perfect because at the
rider cup there's a lot going on but everything has a narrative is like if this guy sinks this ball
they go one up or they level the time it's all very easy to explain a formal one race you know
if you haven't seen signs or race and something like well hang on when did he pit what tires
do you have on etc is a tough job I think the one thing I'd say on that though and
and I'd love to know if you what you think on this with with broadcasting in Formula One
in the Singapore race you're right they were following Landau and Max quite a lot there's a
lot of places on a circuit like Singapore where you know there's not going to be an overtake
and I wonder if those moments are where the coverage can kind of be like okay look there's
x y z we have to follow from this point through to the end here because this is the best point
you know if you're doing Baku for example you if you've got a driver following the other it's
like we have to make sure we see these guys following all the way down the main straight
up to term one because you know that's probably where they're gonna gonna get them obviously
you then run the risk of missing out oh Max has just clipped the wall randomly in the in the lap
or Landau has whatever so there is an argument against that as well but it is a tough thing
it's a really really tough thing I actually spoke to Formula One about this and they said
exactly that they also had the fact of let's not forget that by finishing where they finished
McLaren wrapped up the constructors championship as well they had George Russell winning the race
they had you know Piastri right at the end you know it like where is he in relation to
everything a lot of different narratives do you tell the narrative of the race winner
do you tell the narrative of the of the title race and the drivers do you tell the narrative of
the constructors do you tell the narrative of Lewis Hamilton having brake issues and Fernando
catching up at the end all those points are kind of a kind of probably you could probably
argue each of them individually maybe with difficult different levels of success but
yeah I think that part of it to me isn't an issue I think what he has touched on is
there has seemed to become an obsession with immediate reactions and stuff I think the
point you made is very good about you want to see the human faces of stuff but
what I wish they would stop doing in Formula One is an overtake happens and they immediately
pan to the garage I think it's that immediate pan to the garage that is the problem you know if you
score a goal in a soccer match or you score a touchdown that's the moment you watch the celebration
the celebration's part of the touchdown if you've watched Formula One for a while you know that
if a driver overtakes another into turn one that's half the move done you've got a you
know you might have compromised your exit coming out of there you might be you know you
might have used all your tyres on the lap before the other guy might have actually kind
of played a bit a cat and mouse with you and said well actually I'm going to let you get
past here and I'm going to pass you in the next corner going straight then to a girlfriend or to
a celebrity or to even to a team boss or whatever it is or the crowd those crowd shots they do
all the time I think sometimes those could be rolled back a little bit maybe show them
you know afterwards after the fact a little bit but there are times when that has
led to stuff being missed I don't think it was the case in Singapore but yeah it does seem
like a very difficult job to do and yeah I think you've convinced me that I need to get an F1
TV subscription because that does seem to be that does seem to be the best way to follow it
and also now as well I think that we're so lucky if you think about when we were watching Formula
One as kids you literally were only able to watch what they showed you on TV you didn't have
Twitter to go to afterwards you didn't really have YouTube to go to and see you know a cut
of the best highlights of the race or whatever you literally were showing what you saw and I
think that was probably when it was a bigger issue now so much goes on and I think actually a
lot of fans now discover great moments like signs coming through the field after the race
because you just can't focus on that the whole time so I'd agree with you I think there's
something to what he said I think it's harsh to fully come down on Formula One for that very
very difficult thing to do and it is one of the most unique sports in the world to do that
I mean I saw somebody saying in the Indy 500 they always managed to show stuff
the Indy 500 is on one giant oval and everyone's just chasing the lead car you know so
in terms of to that point about the narratives actually much easier to follow it you know it's
like this guy's one lap up but he's pitted one time less than everyone else very easy story to tell
you can tell that with you know with the banner with the footage so it is a tough sport to do
and yeah I wonder if it will get any better I'm not I wonder Lawrence I'm going to predict
something here to you I think either Carlos Sainz or definitely Fernando Alonso will
say it's not about celebrities it's not about girlfriends it's not about any of that stuff
it's because Fernando is being chased by Lewis Hamilton and he will claim that the F the F1
broadcast didn't want to show that and it involved Lando I think Fernando will go down the British
bias route of that I don't really agree with that so much but I'm making that prediction now
and I'll very and and and if I get it right then it won't matter in our predictions table
but I can at least be smug about it afterwards because I did it wasn't lost on me that the
two guys that kind of missed out on that that footage were two Spanish guys who are fantastic
drivers and gave absolutely everything they could to make that race entertaining
but I thought that their nationality was quite unfortunate in terms of that that whole narrative
around that because I don't think that is the reason why maybe I'm wrong maybe there's people
listening to this being like you've just missed the point that you know that they're thinking
I don't know uh yeah I mean that would be on brand for Fernando to uh to make that that
yeah would I mean you know he is very close to the sport I think usually he makes that
accusation towards the FIA I think I'm right saying that's it he does and I just want to
clarify I'm not having a go at Fernando Alonso there but yeah I you know we will massively
love and respect Fernando as what he's done for the sport but it does seem to be his default for
a lot of these things so I do wonder if that will be where he goes but you're right it is
usually at the FIA maybe it's not so much at F1 yeah I don't want to you know put words
in either of them else but um I think it is it's just that thing of you know what are you
really going to show Fernando Alonso closing in on on Lois when uh George has just crossed the line
and has won the championship and McLaren have just won the construction championship like
you know he just can't it just can't all be shown at once but I also go back to your earlier
point where you said about um them immediately cutting away after an overtake that I completely
agree with because that is frustrating quite often especially when you know even if the
overtake is done like but you're not 100% sure like you could the other driver can still outbreak
the let's watch the whole thing play out and then um and then you know if they have some great footage
of the uh of the team celebrating just play it delayed like you know give it a yeah in second
delay and it doesn't really matter it still tells the story right and I think one thing
sorry we didn't actually plan to talk about this but I think it's quite interesting one
thing that's quite interesting with F1 broadcast as well is um there seems to be this
moment of in the F1 broadcaster's mind and I'm not having a go at the particular person because
it's a you know it's a whole policy but laps kind of three to six don't really exist in a Formula
One race if you watch it live because that's when they show back to back the start the overtakes
here's an on board with a guy who started tenth here's an on board with a guy that
finished that started 13th here's the lead they'll do that giant cluster of stuff at the
beginning and maybe it speaks to how uneventful Formula One races are at the very beginning
of stints but I always feel like at that point that's when you're really invested in what's
happened at the beginning this guy's lost a position here this person's done this and then
you just have like a big solid chunk of replays maybe there's no better way to do that but that
to me as well always feels like a moment where it's like maybe these could be spread out a bit
more maybe we don't need to see the guy who started in 18th battling someone through maybe
we do I mean maybe maybe that is the only time to see it so as frustrating as that is I
think it does speak to the point you made about there's no real perfect way to shine a light
on everything unless you just take a giant chunk out of the race and say well we're going to show it
now but that's always been something I always laugh to myself it's literally like it's always like
the beginning of lap three or lap four it's like here we go here's the two lap the two lap
montage where we have that and there probably is no better place to do that than there but
just a shame that it sometimes I feel like it takes some of the tension and drama out of
the race you're watching yeah I think everyone do actually refer to it as a lap four replay or
these people kind of not maybe not officially but like I've heard that said before that the
lap four replay is you know it's coming up right that's interesting because by lap four you get the
replay of the start but I think that is also I mean I've actually done a tour of the broadcasting
set up of f1 this big inhale in outside London and it's hugely impressive and the job they do
actually is quite remarkable and the balls they're juggling is is something else but I think
statistically that is the best time to show it because like you say you you need to follow
people they'll be like wait what exactly what happened to Norris in that corner like how did
get on the inside of Oscar I need to see that again because I really want to figure out how that
happened so you have that urgency to see how something played out but equally by lap four
usually the racing is statistically I think you know settle down a bit so you're less
likely to get an overtake or a move on on that lap and then you know they sometimes do cut out
a bit if they need to but like you like it no perfect way of doing it I actually think they
do a pretty good job there's some things that annoy me slightly and but you know everyone's
different and like I said earlier there'll be some people that love the human reaction to all I imagine
yeah well keep keep the girlfriend shots coming for Lawrence Edmonton that's what I'm here
no no that's me putting words in your mouth there mate sorry I'm being
intentionally intentionally yeah putting words in place this is the power of being the host I
quite enjoy I don't know how Nicole doesn't look into her head quick one finally as as as
something that did come up in the weekend we won't dwell on this for too long because
it is quite a weird story Christian Horner's name came up again Andy Cowell head of sorry CEO
at Aston Martin said Horner's been calling around every team it does seem like he's been calling a
few teams we know there's a meeting with a representative of Gene Haas that very quickly
was kind of made clear to Horner that there isn't a way back in a formula one with that team
for people that are listening wondering wait is he coming back as team boss sounds like behind
the scenes he's putting together an investment team a team of different businessmen and
different sponsors and different different you know people with lots and lots of money
to try and come back with a significant stake in a team to try and buy not just a position back
on the grid but let's be honest buy some power and some influence back on the grid and be in
a situation where he can't get sapped by shareholders as he was at Red Bull how quick
you put on the spot Lawrence about this we did a piece on this at the weekend about where
we think he's going to go what is the best option or the most likely option for a guy
like Christian Horner and why is it that team I think of the existing teams Alpine is
probably the best option based on what we've heard it seems like the three clear ones that
have potential were Haas, Aston Martin and Alpine and Alpine is the one that's given the least
convincing no they've all said no he's not getting immediately involved but that was the
least convincing one and you know just that team while Renae officially seemed to want to hold
on to it that's what they've said in the media they're suddenly not shy of letting stakes in it go
in return for investment so that could be one way in I mean the other way is whether enough
money and investors and things can be put in place to set up his own project going into
from one you know a new team going in a 12th team there is space on the grid for a 12th
team but that would be a much longer term project and would go through all the battles
that Cadillac went through to to get on to the grid next year and probably unless they get some
really convincing investors or a really big brand name behind them you wonder whether it would
it would pass the tests that that you need to get on the grid based on what we saw with
Cadillac and so I would say Alpine still seems like the most likely one but you know this sport
can surprise you in some some pretty big ways I mean I find it interesting that Andy Cowell
a guy who's not usually that prone to kind of like saying a huge amount in the media actually
you know he's he's very straight and he gets very you know detailed answers on you know on
questions but he doesn't tend to put out sound bites and all of a sudden he's like yeah
Christian's rung around all the teams and I didn't wonder whether that was a case that maybe
you know even it's two things is either one he's so confident that his position isn't
under threat that he's happy to put that out there and kind of you know for a bit of shade
Christians way or perhaps you know in the back of his mind he's thinking well what if Lawrence
does you know change his mind about Christian he's just trying to get a step up there so
um that's based on the little bits that we know but I don't have you have you any more information
no I think I think you hit it now on the head yeah it did it just strike me as um you know
me think that the the team boss doth protest too much didn't it it did feel a bit like he was
kind of outwardly being like no no there's nothing to this not this tool like there's
no need for you guys to talk about it I think Aston would be fascinating you made a great
point in the piece that we we co-wrote together at the weekend the one obvious thing with Aston
Martin is if they have a competitive car number one on Lawrence Strolls this is going to go
after Max Verstappen surely you know you you want to pair the best driver of this current
generation with the best car of this new generation there's no way Jos Verstappen
after finally getting rid of Christian Horner is going to say yeah no no we're actually happy
to come back and join in some way unless Horner's maybe sidelined in some way but
in business a lot of people make these concessions don't they you know when there's a lot of
money at play when when it is beneficial so I'm with you Aston Martin does it doesn't
seem like a complete impossibility I the one I think is fascinating is Haas I'm stunned that
Jean Haas just kind of dismissed Horner out of hand that's a team that really hasn't done a huge
amount in Formula One when you really look at it they've been the smallest team in the
in the sport for a long time they've got a factory that's falling down they just built
a new motorhome that's two stories apparently now they're going to build another story on top
of that just because they've realized it's not big enough so it's it's a it's a team isn't it
that has become kind of synonymous with those quite difficult title partnerships rich energy
then you know the Euro Carly Mully that had to go after the Russian invasion money Graham is ending
at the end of this year it just feels like a team that maybe needs some outside investment
from outside and yeah the fact that Jean Haas has kind of dismissed that maybe he's doing that to
up the price maybe he's doing that to say well look if you really want it come and table
me something quite amazing but all the conversations that we've had Lawrence of as far as I'm aware
from your side as well has been that Jean Haas very well out very stubbornly it's just like I don't
want to do anything with this team so that's an interesting one I think Alpine is the clearly
like front runner out you know out there just in terms of the leaders the other thing as well
is fascinating with Haas saying no is the leadership and the pedigree that Horner can bring with him
you know Haas need that you know Haas need like a guy that can come in and say well
look you have I've built from the ground up I helped build a championship winning team
so I think that's very interesting but one that we'll keep our eyes on for people that aren't
aware and wondering why we're talking specifically about Horner now and why he's only just started
calling team bosses he a week before Singapore reached an agreement with Red Bull about a hundred
million uh British pounds or no sorry it was a hundred million dollars that we reported
that's about 80 million pounds there's varying reports out there but all you need to know is
that he made a significant amount of money on that on that payoff and the other part of that
taking the payoff has freed him up to come back as early as I think about May or June next year so
very much something that he wants to do as soon as he's able to do that and get his feet back in
so we'll be keeping tabs on Christian Horner and all things with him and his potential comeback
to form the one Lawrence thanks very much mate for joining it's been great and as I've said
before in these episodes before don't worry you'll be back in Nicole's very capable hands
next week every time I do this I get a newfound respect for Nicole and the job she's able
to do hosting because it is very difficult you know I suddenly start forgetting how to read the
rundown that I have uh on one half of my screen so Lauren it's great to see you mate and uh we'll
be back in Austin which I know for both of us is a race very close to both of our hearts
fantastic race fantastic weekend big one for ESPN and a great one in terms of the championship
because I think it's going to be another fascinating weekend um so thanks for listening
or for watching if you're doing that remember please do leave us a comment and hit that
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