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United States GP 2025 Preview | with James Hinchcliffe
United States GP 2025 Preview | with James Hinchcliffe
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About this episode
James Hinchcliffe joins The Fast and the Curious to preview the 2025 United States Grand Prix, diving deep into the intense McLaren title battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. They discuss team dynamics, race strategies, and the challenges of managing two championship contenders. Hinch also shares his experience driving a Formula 1 car, offering insights into its performance compared to IndyCars. The hosts debate Ferrari's struggles, George Russell's contract saga, and make bold predictions for the race weekend. Christian also announces his upcoming F1 book, adding a personal touch to this comprehensive F1 discussion.
Topics:
2025 united states grand prix preview
mclaren title battle
lando norris vs oscar piastri
james hinchcliffe f1 driving experience
ferrari performance struggles
george russell contract situation
formula 1 race predictions
f1 driver media commitments
formula 1 technology and performance
christian f1 book announcement
Fomer IndyCar race winner, now motorsport presenter James Hinchcliffe joins Betty and Christian to look ahead at the United States Grand Prix in Texas.
With six races remaining, all eyes are on the McLaren drivers for who can score more points each race weekend, Hinch describes what it is like to drive an F1 car, and Christian has a HUGE world exclusive announcement.
EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.comtfatc Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
Make sure you follow us on all the socials and hit subscribe right here as there are still plenty more famous faces from the world of Formula 1 joining us before the season finishes…
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Hola a todos y bienvenidos a The Fast.
Y los curiosos con mi, Betty Glover,
y Christian, Hugo y Christian.
¡Es RACE WEEK! ¿Estás emocionada?
Es una gran. ¿Verdad? Si piensas sobre eso.
Estoy emocionada. Es una de mis favoritos.
Me gusta la traca.
La traca es increíble.
Y me gusta la ciudad de Austin.
Y estamos recordando esto en la noche de Mondays.
Y por el tiempo que va, estaré en un plane, Betty.
Así que estoy emocionado de llegar a ese plane,
que por el tiempo que la gente está viendo esto, estaré en.
No sé, es emocionante.
Bueno, yo digo que es una gran, ¿verdad?
Tenemos 6 racistas leftes.
Así que es el tiempo de cruz, todo.
Esto es todo.
Entonces, estamos, por supuesto,
vamos a previewar el 225 US Grand Prix.
Vamos a hablar de la batalla del título.
Christian también tiene,
y él ha escrito esto,
esto no es mi palabra,
un anuncio exclusivo del mundo.
Sí, pero he dicho en braquete
que es el único mundo exclusivo,
porque nadie más quiere anunciarlo.
Sí, ok, bien.
Yo estoy muy consciente, no es una gran cosa.
Sí.
Y lo más expectativas es el mundo exclusivo,
que nadie más cuidará de eso.
No hace que te cae a ver,
no sé lo que hace.
Pero antes de que lleguemos a eso,
tenemos que decir hola a nuestros especiales.
Ahora, él es un 6x IndyCar ganador.
Él es un commentador de Fox IndyCar.
Él es un presenter de F1 TV.
Él es el mayor de Hinchetown.
No sé qué es eso,
tengo que preguntar sobre eso.
Él baila con los estados,
y ahora,
él es un carácter de Formula 1,
pero vamos a darlo a usted.
James Hinchcliffe,
bienvenido al Fast & the Curious.
Gracias mucho, chicos.
Gracias por haberme ayudado
por el muy detalle intro.
Me aprecio.
Bienvenido.
Bienvenido a ustedes.
Nos encantan a los guest big up, Hinch.
Me aprecio que he conocido
Hinch a veces, Betty.
Paths Cross en el mundo de Formula 1.
Uno de mis favoritos humanos
en el planeta, Betty.
No solo eso, porque él es aquí.
No me gusta salvo detrás de la escena.
Pero estoy disfrutando
de poder llevar dos de mis favoritos
a todos los que nunca se han conocido.
Esto es una buena cosa para mí.
Dime sobre Hinchetown.
¿Qué es Hinchetown?
Sí, es divertido.
En el intro, cuando te dijeron,
no estoy muy seguro de lo que es.
En mi cabeza pensé,
nadie lo hace, realmente.
Incluso yo.
Hinchetown era
algo que hicimos.
Aquí es la verdadera historia
de Hinchetown.
At the dawn of the internet.
Estoy muy viejo.
At the dawn of the internet.
At the dawn of the internet.
At the dawn of the internet.
Estoy muy viejo.
Cuando estabas
una persona que estaba
estupendo en el rato,
hay un punto en el que
todos tenían que tener un website.
Tienes que tener un website,
porque eso es lo que la internet
dice que tienes que hacer ahora.
Sí.
Y así,
estaba trabajando con este chico
y nos sentimos a venir
con nuestro website.
Y hicimos
una investigación,
todos los websites de los colegios
que podíamos encontrar.
Esos websites.
Básicamente,
hicimos dos conclusiones.
Estuvimos exactamente lo mismo
y estuvimos alli malos.
Y así,
pensamos que hay que hacer algo diferente.
Hemos que hacer algo
que no se fita
en este
board de shmorgas,
de las cosas randomes
que la gente está haciendo
en sus websites.
Entonces,
hicimos este concepto
de hacer mi website
Hinchetown.
Era una ciudad virtual
que yo era el mayor de la self-proclaimed.
Y así, mi website
fue jameshinchcliff.com
Hinchetown.com
Y la sección de la noticia
de la web
fue el Daily Mail de Hinchetown.
Y la sección de los videos
fue el Cinema de Hinchetown.
Y todo fue
muy...
No sé qué era.
Y nadie lo hizo
primero,
pero eventualmente,
fue cortado.
Y ahora,
las personas me introducen
como el mayor de Hinchetown
es lo que es James Hinchcliff.
Así que,
creo que se estuvo.
Muchísimas respuestas,
me disculpo.
No, me gusta.
Me gusta.
Si tienes Instagram,
y te pones la web,
¿tienes la web?
La web es básicamente un link
a todo el stuff social media.
Y no me he dicho mucho más.
Gracias a Dios.
Maintaining a web
es una p...
Maintar los channels social media
es una paga en la cinta.
Pero los web son difíciles.
Me siento que tienes que volver
a la web.
Creo que tienes que
volver a la escuela de la edad.
¡Veamos a la edad!
¿Qué?
¿Qué?
¿Qué es lo nuevo?
Todo es cyclical,
todo se vuelve en la fiesta.
Puedes ver algo, ¿verdad?
Bueno, vamos a...
Quiero saber un poco más
sobre tu carrera,
porque es muy fascinante.
Vamos a viajar a eso.
Pero, primero,
vamos a hablar de la ración.
Me siento que,
antes de esta semana,
antes de la U.S. Grand Prix,
todo va a ser,
por supuesto,
firmado en McLaren.
El título de construcción
que ha sido arrastrado,
barro un Max Miracle,
un absoluto Max Miracle,
que no sé,
no lo estoy escribiendo,
en realidad.
Es una fiesta
para el título de coche
entre Lando y Oscar,
¿no?
Lando 22 puntos detrás de Lida,
Oscar.
Ahora,
mayor de Hinchtown,
porque es que
todavía se ha hablado,
con el beneficio
de la hindsight,
looking back
at the Singapore Grand Prix,
¿tú crees que McLaren
ha hecho lo correcto
en no arrastrando
Lando y Oscar
después de su
pequeño reunión?
Absolutamente.
Es,
es,
al final del día,
y,
you know,
everybody that wants to have,
you know,
that opposite opinion about Monza,
in my,
in my view,
there are very different
situations,
very different circumstances.
I think I'm with the majority
that thinks that McLaren
have made this a lot more
difficult on themselves
than they've had to.
But,
yeah,
I mean,
a little bit of wheel-to-wheel
contact.
It didn't damage the car,
you know,
either car.
It didn't,
you know,
make Oscar lose more than just
the position that Lando
was going for.
So I don't see it as an
egregious move at all.
For me,
that was good hard racing
and they absolutely did
the right thing by letting
them stay that way.
Christian,
I've got to check in
with you, actually, mate,
because after our last episode,
where you said pretty much
the same thing,
you got hounded
by Piastri fans.
Over that, yeah?
Or...
Hinch,
I was a bit public enemy
number one,
and for many listening
won't know this,
but a section of the Internet
did not like my views
on that,
even though I largely said
exactly the same as you.
It was a bit weird,
that was, Betty.
I would be lying.
Hinch is a big friend of Will Buxton,
who is a huge friend of this podcast,
and Will has spoken on this podcast
about it can sometimes be tricky
when you get a load of abuse,
and I did find it a bit weird.
I'll have to say,
I'm not going to sit here
and be like, oh, it was fine.
Yeah,
scrolling through your own feeds
and even stuff you've
not been tagged in,
just seeing hate
and screenshots of you
and people calling you
mentally ill
and things like that.
It was a bit like, oh, okay,
this is,
this is a lot,
fine, okay.
No,
no,
but my views haven't changed.
I was accused of
sort of not taking into account
as Hinch just said,
the previous examples,
like Monzo and people saying,
well, it's a sign that
McLaren are favouring
Lando in this way
they've chosen to manage it.
I'm sorry guys,
I'm not ignoring anything.
I just don't agree with that,
I don't agree with it.
I agree with Hinch,
McLaren have problem
made this slightly more complicated
than they need to,
fine,
but actually,
the flip side to that,
es, they've got two cars fighting for the world championship, and neither of them have had a massive great big Hamilton Rosberg style incident yet.
So there's a logical argument says they've handled it fairly well.
And also another thing that was pointed to me a lot was, yeah, but the rule was no contact racing isn't that simple.
Papaya rules are not going to simply just be don't make contact.
And sorry, can I jump in here and just say, has anybody from McLaren confirmed that no contact is part of these mythical papaya rules?
No, it was it was taken from a the clip I saw being used, Hinch, was an Aussie TV interview with Oscar.
And Oscar said it with a bit of tongue in cheek, rise, smile, and I think it's been taken very literally.
For me, it was a fair move.
And for me, when you look back at the examples that have gone back previous season to season, look, if McLaren are choosing to handle it this way,
which they are, which to be honest, I don't have strong opinions on either way.
On the one hand, I think they're making it slightly complicated.
On the other hand, their drivers haven't crashed into each other majorly.
So I sort of see both sides.
I don't think McLaren are favoring one driver over another.
I don't think McLaren have a favor.
And I stand by what I said on the last episode of the podcast that I thought Oscar was a bit hesitant into the opening turns.
I think Landau saw a gap that went for it.
I think when you've got a slow moving car in front of you, combined with a greasy track, a little bit of contact is unfortunate,
but not necessarily a massive crime because dad is racing.
And just finally on this, we have Oscar on this podcast a lot.
He's a friend of the podcast, we're so loved being able to talk to him.
But I'm not doing my job right if I don't sometimes say, you know, just because the driver comes on this part,
it doesn't mean that I won't say when I think they could have handled the situation better.
And I thought Oscar could have handled it better.
I'm sorry. That's that's the way it is, guys.
I don't sit here.
I I'm I try and be unbiased.
My favorite comment out of it, although Christian, was when someone went
where you didn't deserve to eat his grandma's lambing turns.
Yes, that was level.
My favorite was the people messaging you and Greg as if you should have a word with me to try and pull me off the ledge.
Like, yeah.
Anyway, you know, it is what it is.
It's unfortunately part of modern F1 there when we move on.
Hinch, I wonder how do you think McLaren should be
dealing with this sort of title battle between their two drivers?
Honestly, I really don't think anybody outside of the management
of McLaren has the right to chime in on it.
You know, they're free to do whatever they want to do.
And it's hard to argue with what they're doing when you look at how successful it's been.
I think that the desire to keep the tensions down
and the relationship strong between Oscar and Lando is a is a smart move.
I mean, they've got two very good drivers
that both have said they would like to drive for McLaren for a long, long time.
McLaren has said we would like them to drive for us for a long, long time.
And the quickest way to erode that, you know,
future together is to allow the drivers to really start to hate each other.
So, you know, for the again, like,
nothing, nothing I was saying before was was anti Oscar in any way.
The question was, do I think the team handled it right?
And I think in that situation they did.
Anybody that thinks they favor Lando over Oscar,
I'm just going to say go watch Hungry 2024 again and tell me the same thing.
Good point.
I think it's it's a unique approach.
It's it's a very un formula one approach, but times change.
You know, and we've seen it go so poorly the other way.
You know, you've we've seen the the the Nico Lewis.
We've seen the, you know, Ayrton Alan battles.
We've seen how it can go south.
They're trying to keep the peace.
It's not an easy thing to do in a competitive environment.
So I say, let them let them do what they want to do.
And right now they're winning everything.
So it's hard to argue.
I couldn't agree more, Hinch.
And that's the tone I've been taking all season that look, it's working.
So who am I to argue against it?
It's working.
The only thing I'll just say is that like racing
and Hinch knows this better than anyone.
It's not perfect.
It's not example A meets example B.
It's impossible to police this in a way that's going to
appease 100% of the people, 100% of the time,
because racing, sports, top level, sport, competitive action.
It's imperfect.
You know, this situation happening at this track at this weekend
doesn't necessarily mean that on the next weekend
another situation can be reversed and vice versa.
That is not motor racing at all.
It's not top level sport.
It gets to go back to the example of no contacts.
I don't it doesn't necessarily mean no contact
because sometimes contact can happen very unfortunately, you know,
it's people are looking to sort of box this off over
in an oversimplified way and that is not how the sport works.
Do we see the US Grand Prix favoring either driver?
Do you think it's going to suit one of them more than the other?
Is the US Grand Prix bias towards Oscar?
Sorry, carry on.
You know, that's that's a great question.
And and what's so fun about this year's
I think it's really hard to know the answer.
You know, you can look at tracks in the past
in the last few weeks where you would have thought
one would have favored the other
and it hasn't always played out that way.
You know, Hungary was always supposed to be a land-out track
and he led every session over Oscar until Q3.
Now, obviously, it worked out for him in the race,
but it shouldn't have in a lot of ways.
It could it could have very well just been an Oscar win
and and and that conversation ended.
So the two are so close that I don't know if there are
any kind of easy wins over the other coming up
because, you know, you can say Lando traditionally
is better at some of the 90 degrees stop and start slower
speed stuff and and Austin has a bit of both, right?
That first sector has a ton of that fast flowing stuff.
The middle sector has a lot of this slow stop and go stuff.
So no, I think it's anyone's race.
What's interesting to me is last year,
Lando Oscar finished sixth and seventh in that order
with Lando sixth.
We've seen in the last few weeks better.
This this advantage just doesn't seem to be there anymore
with this McLaren.
It seems that Red Bull have made
to try to make in the car more drivable.
Singapore isn't necessarily a happy hunting ground for them.
We'll see if Austin's the same.
I'm not necessarily going into this expecting McLaren
to have an advantage.
It wasn't a great weekend for them last year.
It seems other people have caught up this year.
I don't think we should be going into this expecting
McLaren to be one, two.
And I think that's interesting in the title fight itself.
It certainly doesn't favor Lando that
because it could be that they're making up,
you know, Lando shouldn't necessarily be expecting
to make up score 25 or 18 points.
Do you know what I mean?
It could be that they're battling for fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh.
George Russell will be there or thereabouts
if the car is there or thereabouts.
Ferrari, it was a good track for them last year.
I'm not quite convinced
it will be as good as it was last year this year.
But to to Hench's point,
I love the fact we're going in not really knowing.
We could sit here and talk and speculate,
but we don't really know and that's lovely.
Actually, it's interesting, isn't it?
Because not since Zanvo has a McLaren driver
finished ahead of Verstappen.
So I mean, it's it's something's changed
with Red Bull, hasn't it?
And Max Verstappen, do you think he's a title threat, Hench?
Or am I getting carried away?
Well, it's funny because I think after.
I don't know if it was after Monsa or after Baku.
I think it was after.
No, maybe it was.
Maybe it was Baku, right?
It was after Baku.
And, you know, he's one, he's one, two in a row
and he's closed the gap down at that time
to whatever it was, 60 something points.
And and this question started coming up, right?
And I've got to be honest,
I was a little bit of the skeptic.
I was a little bit of the glass half empty.
I'm like, hey, look, guys,
this is like a year ago when we were sit
when Lando wins Zanvore
and the McLaren's clearly turned a corner
and all of a sudden it's, oh my God,
can he make a big comeback
and challenge Max for that?
And like, look, we in the media sometimes play up stories
for the sake of the job.
But I was like, no, there's no,
like no one ever believed
that he was going to do that last year and catch Max.
I kind of had that same opinion after Baku.
It's like, guys, yes, Max is great.
These are two kind of unique tracks.
We'll go to Singapore.
McLaren will probably dominate.
It's not really a thing.
As you say, a McLaren has not finished ahead
of Max since Sanborn.
Christian, as you say,
this wasn't necessarily a happy hunting ground
for McLaren last year coming to Kota.
Some of that advantage seems to have been washed away.
If Max keeps doing Max things,
we could go to Brazil and have a wash out
and have Max dominate the race again
and have both McLaren's DNF.
You just don't know.
So I've changed my tune a little bit.
Do I think it's an outside chance?
Absolutely.
Do I think it's a long shot, 100%
what I bet money on it, not on my life.
But there is a chance.
There is a chance you could do it.
And do you know what, if anyone can do it?
Exactly, 100%.
And that's the other key point here, right?
As we're not talking about,
I'm not going to even name a driver.
Anybody but Max,
it would be an even longer odd situation.
But with him, you just don't know.
Hinch, just to take it back
to the two McLaren drivers a little bit.
To me it seemed looking from the outside in
that in the, I've mentioned this
on the podcast a fair bit,
it felt the first two thirds of the season
more often than not,
we had a bit of an Oscar pace advantage.
And sort of that's partly why
Oscar's leading the championship.
But then I've looked at the last three Grand Prix
and I think maybe over the course of the whole weekend
Lando's had the edge
and we've seen him chip away at that title challenge.
Obviously at that title gap I should say.
Obviously within that for Oscar was the Baku weekend
which was obviously,
by his own exceptionally high standards
a really poor weekend.
If you were Oscar coming into this weekend
where you've had, you know,
you lost out to your teammate
in World to World Combat last week,
you've had your teammate come back into it a little bit,
that he's not quite had the pace advantage
that he's enjoyed before.
Is there anything you're changing
in your approach if you're Oscar Piazza
coming into this weekend
thinking I wanna sort of restake
my superiority on this title fight?
Is there anything you're changing if you're Oscar?
I think the biggest thing
is to not change actually.
You kinda have to forget last week.
You kinda have to forget the last few races.
You have to, it sounds so cliche
and drivers say it all the time
but there's a huge truth to it
which is just take it one race at a time.
He's leading the championship for a reason
because he was doing everything right.
He was doing a lot of things
exactly how he had to do them.
Everyone's gonna have off weekends
in a 24 race calendar.
It's just, it's not possible to bat 1,000.
Red Bull proved that in 23.
Even with that advantage
they couldn't win them all.
And so I think for Oscar
the important thing is to not get caught up
in what's happened the last few weeks
and just sort of reset
and just do what he's been doing
because he's been doing it so, so well.
You know, we've seen such a jump
in his overall package.
Him in totality as a driver
has made such a big jump from 24 to 25.
He just needs to keep doing what he's doing
and you know, he's got a nice buffer
and hopefully it's enough for him.
22 points, right?
26 races to go.
It is a nice buffer,
but it's not,
you wouldn't feel necessarily comfortable
and safe in that position, would you?
But he has done so well.
With that in mind,
if you were in Lando's position
what would be going through your head
and how would you be approaching it?
It's the same story.
Yeah.
You know, I think Lando has had
certainly a few more small mistakes
in mainly in qualifying it seems like.
I think we can point to a few race weekends
where Lando seemed to have the edge over practice
and even the early parts of qualifying
and then something in Q3,
you know, either a combination of him
just not hitting the perfect lap
or Oscar just being on this
unbelievably steady upward trajectory
every lap of the weekend
just getting slightly better
and it peaks right when it needs to in Q3.
Some combination therein,
but you know, I think, you know,
he's had some very good races.
It was great to see him get his elbows out a little bit
in Singapore, to be honest.
But again, I think
I think Lando's done a lot of work
trying to figure out exactly what works for him
and what makes him the best version of himself
and the best driver that he can be.
And I think focusing on that
and it's one of those things where,
you know, when when I was racing,
I worked with a mental coach for a long time
and one of the big things you learn is,
you know, you can't you can't change
what you can't change
and you can't control what you can't control.
So wasting any time or energy
or mental capacity on anything outside of your direct control
is a complete waste for you.
Just focus on your program.
Do what you need to do to be the best version of yourself
and see how it falls out.
I also just think,
I've said a few times that
I think Max is operating at a level above Lando and Oscar
in terms of being the overall package, right?
And I think he's a generational talent.
So just move Max aside for one minute.
I think we should praise both Lando and Oscar.
I love the way Lando has...
Here he goes.
He just wants those positive comments on his social media now.
But basically guys, after last week...
God's giving me praise.
My approach now is going to be sit on the fence
with everything and I just think everybody's marvellous
and everybody's doing really well.
No, the point I was going to make was
Lando has recovered from those mistakes that Hinch said.
I think he's making those far...
We're seeing those less frequently now.
I think we've seen him up his overall pace.
I mentioned those last three grand prix.
I think Lando really has dug deep, improved his mentality.
People were very quick to use that as a stick to beat
in with at the start of the season.
You're not seeing that anywhere near as much now.
I think Lando has really dialed in
and got better as the season's gone on.
And I actually don't think enough people
in this title battle are talking about,
to Hinch's point, the level upness of Oscar.
This is a guy in his third season of F1
that last year on the vast majority of occasions
didn't look capable of challenging his teammate.
It was only a handful of weekends
where Oscar looked the quicker McLaren.
And now, all of a sudden, he's leading a title fight
and you've got people like me saying,
for the majority of the season, it seems Oscar's had the edge.
And Lando's got these years on him.
I think it's a really brilliant title battle
for us to sit and watch.
And I think both guys deserve such great credit.
I've so enjoyed watching them this season.
And I think we all need to remember that
as we, you know, there are people with so hard opinions
on which one you want to see win.
They've both done a great job this season.
They really have in it.
And we should just enjoy watching the race
and watching the racing.
And I hope, I do hope a little bit,
that with the Constructors' Championship out the way,
maybe McLaren might feel they can elucin those reins
just a little bit and let them go
because the Constructors title is deservedly wrapped up now.
And I don't know, Hinch, I guess there's not,
other than keeping that relationship for going forward,
because of course it's not just about this season,
I would guess there can be a slight loosening, maybe.
There could be.
But again, you know, I'm not sure
that's what McLaren's mentality is at this point.
It's tough to know how they're gonna play it,
but then how the drivers kind of behave
in certain scenarios could change as well.
You know, the team might not change their approach,
but internally the drivers might start to get a little more,
you know, nails out, elbows up, and go for it.
Even if there are consequences that come with that,
because to your point, Christian,
I mean, they have both been so phenomenal.
They've both leveled up in a big way from last year.
And at the end of the day,
you can only have one world champion,
and there's gonna be a very deserving driver
that doesn't have a title, you know,
come the end of Abu Dhabi,
because there's a great argument for both drivers
being worthy and deserving.
And the hope, at the end of it all,
the hope is that they both find themselves
in a position to do this again,
and that this isn't the one,
because we know how fickle the sport can be,
and this has been talked about a lot this year.
Part of what makes this so intense is this could be
the last time McLaren in these drivers' careers,
certainly with McLaren,
could be fighting for the title.
And so I just, I really, really hope
that they both get another crack at doing it
for both their sakes,
but especially for whoever doesn't end up taking the title.
Well, that's the added pressure, isn't it?
No one really knows what the future's gonna be like.
McLaren have been outstanding,
however, might not be like that.
That's a sad thought, though, Hinch.
I don't like that thought, really,
because I feel for both Lando and Oscar in that sense,
because imagine, you come so close,
you've got a brilliant car, you've dominated this season,
and then, yeah, never get the chance to do it again.
You know, you think back to like,
I think back to a guy like Barrichello, right,
who, at Ferrari, was in a dominant team
for a long time,
but it was always very clear that he was the number two guy.
Like, that was an established thing back in those days.
But then he gets this lifeline with Braun,
and they build this incredible car,
and like, that actually was the best chance
that he ever had to win a world championship,
and you know, it just goes through his fingers,
and you just, oh man, you're hard to believe
for the guy.
And we mentioned Ferrari drivers, 1999, Eddie Irvine.
So Michael Schumacher breaks his leg.
Eddie Irvine becomes Ferrari's main man
alongside the guy feeling infamichael,
a guy called Mika Salo.
Eddie misses out on the title to Mika Hakkinen.
Eddie never finds himself in a position
to fight for a title again.
2008, Felipe Massa, also at Ferrari,
also finds himself in Ferrari's title contender.
Misses out on the last corner of the last lap
to Lewis Hamilton.
Oh, God.
Felipe never finds himself in a position again.
That is, you know, and next year,
the rule box thrown up in the air.
You know, it could be
a Mercedes-Benz Alpine title battle.
You know, for all we know, it could be.
Look at you, Mercedes-Benz Alpine.
I love it.
That would be great.
Why not?
Could be Mercedes-Benz Williams
and McLaren could be mid-table.
You just, you don't know.
You're naming all the teams
that run Mercedes-Benz Power Units.
You realize that, right?
So you're, you seem to have your eggs
in one basket on that.
I would like to.
I'd like, I really hope that won't be the case hitch.
I really hope that Ferrari Ford,
like, I would love it if we've,
but all the jungle drums say Mercedes
have got that edge
and certainly for the first half
of next season might be ahead.
I hope I'm wrong.
Can I just point that out?
I hope it's properly open.
I'd love everybody to be with a chance
and wide open, but it feels like
having a Mercedes bolted into you next year
will be an advantage.
This is the other thing that I'm so fascinated by
because where's that information coming from?
Good point, I always think this.
Who's out there saying,
no, you're right.
Who at Ferrari's like,
no, I've seen the Mercedes numbers
way better than ours.
Nobody's saying that.
Everyone's going off the last time
there was a big engine will change,
which Mercedes dominated.
So are you sitting here telling me today
that Honda's gonna be garbage?
Because they didn't do too hot the last time.
I don't think that's the case, certainly.
But everyone just sort of defaults
to Mercedes being the one that have the edge.
Maybe they do, maybe they will.
But I haven't seen any actually good evidence
or good reasoning short of,
well, past results are a guarantee of future results.
I've heard a few whispers that
from the early testing,
from the stage of development you'd hope to be.
I've heard a few people saying,
who may be heard from people within the camp
that they're further ahead of the process.
They're ahead of the curve.
Some of their rivals.
Yeah.
But to counter out that entirely,
that doesn't mean that people
who are later on in the process
will actually not overtake them.
You know, that doesn't mean absolutely nothing.
That's the joy of Formula One.
Basically, we do not know anything.
On that note, that'll do for part one.
Coming up, Hinch has driven a Formula One car.
Christian hasn't,
but does have something exciting to say.
And we'll look at some of the other
big Formula One talking points.
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Lo que sabemos, lo que tenemos información de,
es James Hinchliffe's vida.
Tu has tenido una carrera muy rida, de hecho.
No en una rica manera, Hinchliffe.
No hemos estado como las personas enviadas.
¿Puede decirle eso?
Eso se ha parecido un poco malo.
He estado en Wikipedia.
Oh, no.
Así que, tengo un poco de inteligencia.
Tu has raced más de 160 veces en un carro indie, ¿verdad?
En los 11 años.
Tu has now had such an amazing career
as a broadcaster as well.
¿Cómo tu dos careers stack up?
¿Cómo es eso de estar detrás de la mic
en vez de estar en el carro?
Oh, wow.
Bueno, muy diferente.
Porque mi carrera de televisión
tenía una adecuación incómoda.
Una adecuación incómoda, ¿verdad?
Tuve que ir hacia el nivel más alto de la industria.
En la rica, empezaste en el very bottom
y trabajaste muy bien para subir a ese nivel.
Tu sabes, yo estaba capaz de ir
en el network de broadcaster en un carro indie
y a la forma de una televisión.
Estos eran algunos de mis primeros trabajos en televisión.
Es realmente no es falso.
Las personas me gustan y me dicen
que estoy muy interesado en el broadcast.
Me gusta verlo. ¿Qué consejo tienes?
Y yo digo, chicos, soy la persona falsa.
Mi consejo es ir a un carro indie
en los 11 años y luego te daré un trabajo.
No sé, no soy el...
Habla con Will Buxton.
Habla con Lee Diffie.
¿Vamos a ir a un carro indie?
Sí.
Tengo notas.
Pero no, ha sido increíble.
Ha sido una transición muy divertida.
Es un sport que me encanta.
Ha sido mi vida entera.
Estoy muy feliz de tener esa oportunidad.
Para poder hacer esto en ambos lados,
en el carro indie y en la forma de la otra,
ha sido increíble.
He aprendido mucho.
He encontrado mucha gente,
incluyendo Christian.
He trabajado con un montón de racistas.
Yo tengo un plazo.
Estoy viajando más de lo que yo.
Es increíble.
Estoy diciendo que sí, pero tengo un plazo.
Es una colección.
Creo que otros sportes, jugadores, jerseys,
o algo así.
Pero para los colegios...
El teléfono es la única cosa que te vienes.
Es la única cosa que te vas a diseñar,
que tienes el color,
y los patterns...
Sí, tienes que escribir los logos.
Pero es tu identidad.
Cuando estás en el cariño de racismo,
todo lo que alguien puede identificar
es tu teléfono.
Es una cosa muy personal para los colegios.
Tengo una colección muy buena.
¿Qué es el helmento más bonito?
Bueno, el helmento más bonito,
puedes...
Eso ahí.
¡Claro!
Eso es el helmento de Greg Moore.
Greg Moore era un cariño de cariño canadiano.
Él era mi heroe.
Y él fue tragicalmente matado
en un accidente en 1999.
Pero él era
mi inspiración.
Él era el hombre que lo miraba más.
Están siguen generaciones de cariños canadianos
que no son nacidos
cuando Greg era racista.
Él ha tenido ese impacto
en el motor canadiano.
Eso es genial.
Cristian, ¿tienes miedo
de esta caja detrás?
Sí.
Tengo una colección de merche.
Tengo algo...
A mi lado
hay una caja de modelos.
En la respuesta a tu pregunta, Betty,
yo soy ludicristo.
Pero son actualmente
un helmento de calidad.
No, yo estaba about to say.
Más que las cosas...
Sí, más que las cosas que he just picked up on eBay.
Sí, así que no.
Betty, puedo ver dónde estás,
y me gustaría decir
que te lo dieres en First Dick.
Es absolutamente el caso.
Y, obviamente, Betty just mentioned
your IndyCar career, but had you always loved F1
before you got the chance to dive into it
I was a fan from day one.
I mean, my story in racing
really just goes back to my dad.
He was English, moved to Canada in the 70s,
and he was a racing fan.
And so I just kind of caught the bug from him.
And for me growing up,
Sunday mornings we're watching
Formula One races with dad, then you'd go do
tours at homework, and then you'd settle in the afternoon
and watch the IndyCar races, and
we were just gear heads, right?
We just loved it all.
And so we had the IndyCar race in Toronto
every year. I think I went to
the Montreal Grand Prix in like
94, 95
maybe.
My dad got us tickets, we went as a family,
so that was my first Grand Prix I went to,
and yeah, we just, we followed
the sport religiously.
So come on, tell us, you've driven
a Formula One car, right?
What did it feel like?
How did you feel in it?
And this is recent, right, Hench?
This has just happened.
I've driven one of these before.
This is a brand new thing.
Right, this has always been a bucket list thing.
I mean, if I'm being totally candid
and totally honest, and people might try
to call me out and say I'm full of it,
but the honest truth is
I never really had a huge desire
to race in Formula One.
My dream was always IndyCar.
It's just kind of what I grew up around
and it's what my focus always was.
But I've always wanted to just test one.
I just wanted a good honest day in one
and not deny how incredible these machines are.
And you know, it's even from the outside
looking in, having an understanding
of what an IndyCar feels like, and then
seeing one of these things on the racetrack.
You think, man, unbelievable.
And good friend of mine,
Stuart Morrison, who works at Haas.
He's had a comms at Haas.
He and I go way back.
We worked together for 20 years
and we've been kicking this idea around
and F1TV had an idea about me
maybe driving a car for a feature
de Mayo and the group at Haas.
We made all the pieces fit somehow.
I still don't entirely understand how we pulled this off.
It's one of the greatest scams
in motorsports, which is saying something.
I think this podcast
is one of the greatest scams
as well actually.
So we all have our scam stories
in this sport. But yeah, no, incredible
opportunity. Obviously the day
was really created around
Roman Grozian getting to get back
into a Formula One car after
a accident in Bahrain.
They kind of tacked me on to the end of the day.
Betty, it was unbelievable.
It was everything you'd expect
and then some.
It was interesting because it rained
actually for most of the day,
which was kind of a bummer.
But then right at the end of the day
it tried out enough that we were able
to throw on a set of slicks
and really feel what the car could do
at Magello, which is a track that
every driver that I told I was testing
was really going for it.
You picked one of the fastest places.
I said I didn't pick anything.
I would have taken a parking lot
if that's what they had offered.
No, incredible, incredible
opportunity. It really does give me
such a better understanding
of what the drivers are going through
behind the wheel.
Racing is racing. I can talk on
racing, no problem.
But specifically driving an F1 car
was something I just had no experience in.
Just beforehand, but now getting to understand
a bit more of the processes and the procedures
and everything.
I think it puts me in a better position
to talk about it, but selfishly
it's more just I got to check
a bucket list.
Can you explain actually what it feels
like and how is it different
to an Indy car I guess as well.
I'm intrigued by it.
Honestly, a lot of similarities to an Indy car.
It's just the performance capabilities
are just at a much higher level
how efficient the brakes are
how much downforce, so how much cornering speed
you can carry.
Obviously, Formula 1 cars have things like
electronic diffs that you can adjust on the fly.
Diff changing in Indy cars is a 40
minute back in the garage, pull the car apart
put it back together where I could make
five a lap in an F1 car if I wanted.
So there's the level of technology I think
and as a result
the performance window that the cars have
is just much higher.
What does it feel like?
It's like being on a roller coaster
200 miles an hour.
The car just feels so bolted
to the ground.
It's hard to
really put into words
these drivers
have to take this machine
and push it to a limit
that the human brain doesn't think
it should be able to do.
I think that's one of the big things
when you first get in that car
is recalibrating your brain as to
what is possible,
from the physics aspect
what is possible, the cornering
capabilities, the braking capabilities
it's so impressive.
It's a fighter jet on the ground.
Imagine a top gun dog fight
but you're on pavement.
I don't have a go.
Did anything surprise you, Hinch?
I think the
the biggest look,
you go into it knowing a lot of these things
you go into it with a certain expectation
everyone says the braking is incredible
and I'll see the high speed cornering is incredible
all those things, and they were
but you were almost prepared for it.
The element that really caught me off guard
was, and this is getting a little bit nerdy
and inside baseball but
the combined traction capabilities
of the car really surprised me
and by that what I mean is
in a sort of long duration corner
in most race cars
of any kind
you go into a long duration corner
you have to be kind of very
very
precise, specific and careful getting on
to the throttle in a long corner
because you get on it too much
you can either get the rear end to step out
or sometimes depending on the car
if you get on it too soon
the rear end squats down, the front picks up
and you just get tons of understeer on exit
so getting out of a long corner
would be a bit tricky
In the F1 car
I was blown away at every lap
I just started hitting the throttle sooner
and more aggressively and while I was still
cornering quite a bit
you could hit the gas like you were on a straight
and you were pulling gears
still coming out of the corner
when most other race cars would have been fighting
to stay on the track, the thing was just
unbelievably capable
Did you feel a little bit sick
when you were in it?
Sick how?
Just like, yeah
When you're explaining it to me
I'm like
I don't understand how you can
keep everything up
I don't know
I don't know, the G-force
the force or whatever it is called
does that make you feel a bit ill?
No, I think the G-force
you're kind of used to
any car can produce some good Gs as well
and when you're in control
of it, I think it's a lot different
than if you're a passenger or on a roller coaster
That's true
I think when most people
go and test an F1 car for the first time
the sick feeling comes from the nerves
but for me
it was great because it was the least
nervous I ever was driving a car
because I wasn't there looking for a job
I wasn't there trying to prove anything
I could just quite literally go out there
and enjoy the thought
and the experience of driving it
looking back on it afterwards
I've never really been able to do that
Every other time I've jumped in a race car
it's been for a purpose
and lap time mattered to me
This one was just, hey, go have some fun
and experience one of the coolest machines on the planet
And Hinch, I'm right in thinking
we're going to be able to watch this right
on F1 TV's coverage
we have people listening all over the world
so if you are able to watch F1 TV's live coverage
this weekend it'll be on that right
and I'm guessing for those who aren't
F1 TV feed after the weekend
where you can watch it if you haven't got the live rights
but you're going to be able to see this all across F1 TV, right?
Yes, exactly right
so they had a full crew out there
filming a feature and we teased it a bit last week
in Singapore
and yeah, the full feature is playing
in the pre-race show ahead of Austin
and then, yeah, I'm sure, like you said
it'll end up on social or something afterwards
but I haven't seen it yet, I'm excited to see it
Hey James, stick it on your website
that's what you should do
Oh, such a good callback
Lovely
We're going to take another break
but when we're back, we're going to talk about George Russell
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Welcome back everybody
Hinch, last time we recorded a Fast and the Curious
we were full of praise for George Russell
in our last episode
I mean, he was phenomenal
I thought in Singapore
he's brilliant, brilliant driver
he still hasn't signed a new deal though
does this shock you?
Yeah it does, honestly it does
but I'm not sure exactly
what part's more shocking
you know that
Mercedes haven't acquiesced on whatever it is
George is now holding out on
or if George hasn't sort of said
yeah alright, we're probably not getting any better
than whatever we've got
let's just get this done
honestly I'm kind of impressed
it's hard for a driver
to hold out too long
when a Formula 1 contract
is being floated in front of you
especially when at this point
he's got no leverage really
there are no other options
now the same is true from the other standpoint
Mercedes doesn't really have any other options either
so they're in this weird sort of stalemate
which
look I give George a lot of credit
I would not have loved the way
this was handled at the start of the year
basically being told hey we think
Max Verstappen's better than you
just hang tight until we make sure
we can't get him
that's not a good feeling
for a guy that's growing up in the Mercedes family
you know he was managed by Mercedes
has delivered incredibly well
for them this year
I would understand the feeling
and the frustration there
what he had to do
which was his talking on the racetrack
and now he is in a little bit of a position
I think to work out whatever it is
you know you read that it's over media days
and sponsor commitments and stuff like that
not even over money or anything
and if that's true fine I hope that George gets
the contract that he wants because he deserves it
you're so right actually
sorry cushion you're so right though
because that must have been such a hard time
for George
and credit to him for coming through that
and being able to still put on these brilliant performances
full of confidence
a lot of people would have lost their confidence
I think in that situation with all that gossip
going around all the headlines
the so called pictures of Toto
Wilfen Verstappen on a bow all of that
you'd be like oh my god
what is happening
for sure
he did a great job to keep his head about him
because I think a lot of other drivers would have let that affect them
and it would have hurt their performance
I'm firmly on team Toto
side in the negotiation
so I'm going to take a different view to Hinch
and I shall tell you for why
I think George has only been on once this season
on the podcast and we're very grateful for that
but you know these guys are busy
what we don't want is less media commitment time
because if we've only got him once this season Betty
and it's on this contract
if he can't stand that media time and next year
you know it's going to be tricky
so for that reason
you're looking at it the wrong way
support him in this fight
I still want this to be one of the few media commitments
he does have to fulfill
oh he's got no choice
he's got no choice
it's just wherever Bradley Lord tells him to go
Hinch so don't, yeah it's
I'm back in the management here
because George's got no say it
he won't be on if he didn't have to be
they just stick him in front of us
so yeah I'm all for more media days for George
sorry about that George
that's where I am
what do you think George actually really wants
media days and sponsorship opportunities
I'm quite convinced of it, yeah genuinely
he's got all the money in the world
he's not short of cash is he
I mean how much money is too money
although I often think that
when you see them advertising I don't know
tiktaks on social media and you think
how much money is too money
why do you need that
but I do think to have a more serious point
the thing that these F1 drivers talk a lot about
and the things that I have every sympathy
with them for of course they've paid all the money in the world
they're back from a Grand Prix weekend
especially when I've done a couple on the bounce
and Hinch will back me up here
you're absolutely knackered
and then sometimes I see them going off to
Bahrain in the McLaren drivers case
to do something with the team only
you think my goodness mate that is intense
so genuinely a lot of this comes down
people think it's like
money or it's certain to do with the driving
it so often comes down to
there are no other athletes in the world
I don't think, certainly not Betty
Zocker, Hinch
the media commitments
and the interviewing commitments
and the sponsorship commitments
I don't think there's any other athletes in the world
that have quite the level they do
so I'm convinced Betty will be down to that
and by the way I'm basing that purely on speculation
got absolutely nothing to back that up
and that's what I offer this podcast
but it's a great theory
and it's one that has a lot of
a lot of credence to it
because you're right
you have a player on it
of any other sport really
and a company sponsors
that team
you have 20, 30, 40, 50
depending on what sport we're talking about
so that sponsor will have X number
of player appearances in their contract
and you can spread that out
amongst dozens of people
in racing every one of those stickers
on a car comes with driver appearances
and there's only two of them
so it is a tremendous amount
of responsibility
a tremendous workload that goes
onto these people
who yeah by the way
on weekends have to go and drive
four of the one cars on the absolute limit
and risk their lives to do it
so I can understand
all George Russell wants
is to win a world championship
it's not about
you're right it's not about money
I think he even said he would drive for free
if it was in a team that was
giving himself as much time off
to prepare and make sure
that when he shows up to the racetrack on a Thursday
and gets in on a Friday he is as
prepared and as ready to go as possible
and that is going to mean more time
for himself and more time with his trainers
and more time to prepare because right now the schedules
are brutal man
and you talk to the young guys
you talk to the bearmen and the bordelettos
and they're all bright eyed and bushy tailed
and they don't know any different
they don't know any better
the tenure ladder that you go
when you talk to some of these drivers
who were around when the seasons were 18 races long
if Fernando Alonso looks
knackered he's walking around like
what is going on here
there used to be 17-18 races a year
and nowhere near as many sponsors
so there's a lot of pros
that have come with this explosion in the sport
but some of the cons
are the demands on the drivers
and I was speaking to one guy
I won't call him out but I was speaking to one guy in Singapore
and he's just
no sorry it was in Baku
and he was saying I've got to go to Singapore on Monday
before the race and I've got to do this
and I've got to do that
and in between Baku and Singapore
I'm back in England at the factory
doing sim days
he's like we don't have these days off
and you talk about Christian
you talk about us being knackered at the end of a ground
pre-weekend
we sat in an air conditioned room watching the race
absolutely
but as much as it is a charmed life
and all those things
it is not an easy one
it is very difficult
and they have to deal with an awful lot
let's talk a little bit more about Austin though
it seems like literally years ago
but last year was a Ferrari 1-2
Carlos winning from Charles
James do you see any repeat of this
could Ferrari do it
could they pull it off
I mean they could
anything's possible
I'm not super optimistic though
just because
they have really been struggling
of late
and if you look at the performance
of some of these other teams
especially the way Mercedes has stepped up
although Mercedes even admitted
they have no idea why they were fast in Singapore
which is still hilarious to me
of all the money, all the resource
everything that a Formula 1 team has
they can still be like
oh my boy
it's neat, let's try and do that again
but no Ferrari struggling
even with the improvements
I know that Lewis has been a lot happier
with the car of the last few races
but still just having issues
mechanical issues, procedural issues
it still just seems like as a team
on a lot of different levels
in every level they're not quite ready to win
in 2025 yet
and they're running out of opportunities
it's going to be interesting to see if they can get one in before the end of the year
Christian do you think they could
it doesn't look like they can
it looks like the teams that can win
racers really
are McLaren
and Ferrari and the Maxide
the Red Bull Garage
and it looks like if McLaren lose their advantage
it's Mercedes who are going to be the ones that are there and they're about
and it's for that reason
that so many fans find it
Ferrari fans find it hard to accept
that they were the team last year
that often look like they pick up wins on McLaren off days
like we saw in Austin last year
they were the team that were fighting
for the constructors championship
and so many people
in the last year of a rule set
when all the performance is being squeezed out of a car
people expect a team like Ferrari
to at any time
but especially in the last year of a rule set
be right up there and close
and the fact that they've sort of taken a step backwards
the fact that we went into Austin a year ago
and Ferrari were the team that were on top with a 1-2
and a year later
despite it being the last year of the rule set
we're going
they're nowhere near
people find that really tricky to accept
and I've said over and over again
and I really will stick by this
I really do think Ferrari need a period of stability
we mentioned
Hinch going back to 2008
with Felipe Massa, they've not won a driver's title
since then, Kimmy in 2007
was the last time they won a driver's championship
but in that time
Ferrari have chopped and changed constantly
so I think both things can be true simultaneously
I don't think it's good enough
that Ferrari are in this position
I understand their fans frustration
but I think the best thing that can happen for Ferrari
is sort of right this season often
over the winter with Charles, with Fred, with Lewis
and those team around them
really come together and work out
how they can ace these new rule changes
it's a big year for Ferrari next year
so no, Betty to answer the question
I don't think we'll see it this year
and I think
that says a lot
no idea why they were fast in Singapore
we could have one ground free
where Ferrari for completely inexplicably
just has enough pace to pull it off
it's still possible
they're not so far outside the window
that something like that couldn't happen
but yeah, I agree
it's looking less and less likely
I saw a funny stat though
just talking about their last championships
since 2009
Ferrari have led the constructors championship
for 17 races
since 2009, Braun GP
has led the constructors championship
for 17 races
it was all 17 races of 2009
and they ceased to exist after that
so in their one season of existence
they had led the championship
for as long as Ferrari subsequently have
I was at the 2022
I was at the 2022
Bahrain Grand Prix where again
it was a 1-2 for Charles
from Carlos and it was like
this is the new era
and it tailed off
spectacularly
McLaren were nowhere near at that point in time
and then look at the way it's gone
it's just extraordinary to me
I've said this before on this podcast
but when I go and get a coffee in the morning
the girl that serves the coffee is this nice girl
called Harriet but she's a massive Ferrari fan
and she started the season being like
hi, here's your coffee
I'm so excited for the F1 season
to start and now she's just like
here's your coffee
you have told this on the podcast before
and when I used to live in central London
I used to see a lovely coffee man
on my way to the gym
and he was an Italian gentleman
and he used to say the same to me Betty
well what's up with Ferrari
I've since moved and haven't seen him this season
oh he must be devastated
man in elephant and castle
forget his name
I hope you're ok
I don't think many Ferrari fans are ok Christian
I want predictions from both of you
before we wrap this up
but Christian, you've got something to tell us
you've got some exciting news
world groundbreaking
as I say, no way of expectations
no one else would want this announcement
but Betty, a news that staggers me
let alone anyone else
I've written a book
bloody hell
who's let you do that
the bar's that low
a nice publishing company
have let me do that
this is new to me
so what I'm about to say makes no sense to me either
hey, Buxton did it, jakesy's done it
this is you're doing the right thing
oh yeah, I'll let anyone write a book
but the book's not out until June next year
right
but it's called F1101
it's sort of my love letter to the sport Betty
it's
the things I think if you're going to love this sport
you should just know
so if you're a new fan I'll tell you everything you need to know
if you've been around for a while
because you didn't know
and a nice refresh on some other things
like my sort of love letter
if this is why I love it so much
here's what I think you need to know
to unlock those levels of love
I've learned a lot in the process Betty
books have a lot of words
a lot of words, you got it right
they do
it takes a lot of time
so the book isn't out until next year
so I'll talk a bit more about it next year
but you can get 25%
off the book if you live in the UK
and you'd like to order it from the good people of Waterstones
who have chosen it as one of their titles
to watch for next year
ooh
it's been picked by Waterstones
it's been picked and then they're off of books
they sell literally hundreds of them
and they know more about books than I do
they've got more faith in this project than I do
but if you want to pre-order it from Waterstones
the link's in my bio and my social medias
and you need to enter the code October 25
and you get 25% off
and then the book is out June next year
love it, well done Christian
congratulations
thank you, thank you Betty
that's in the UK, if you live outside of the UK
the book will be available everywhere
we'll talk more about that, how you can get it next year
don't panic
I'm just because I'm sure people would be absolutely panicking
more book chat next year
but book coming next year guys
bloody hell, what time to be alive
well done Christian
a books happened
love it
predictions, Hinch
what are you saying for this weekend, top 3
look I want the plot to thicken
I want it to be a max win
over a
well I guess we got to close it up
so over a Lando second
no you know, I want a max win
I want a Lewis second
and I want a Lando third
oh ok
interesting, Christian
well Betty as I say in my new book
F1101
which is available to preorder now
you've got 6 months of this by the way
I'm going to do this every time
I always say you can never write Lewis Hamilton off
I'm going to predict a Lewis podium
until it happens
because I've decided that we need to
manifest positivity in the world
and it would make me happy
I'm not having accusations of bias
it would make me happy
and I deserve that in life
therefore I'm going Lewis third
because I think Friarie would be better
I'm going Charles second
because I think Friarie would be better
and I'm going George Russell win
I was going to do a George Russell win
I was going to do a George Russell win
I was going to do a George Russell win
I've just got rid of McLaren
I think Max will be fourth
and then I think it will be like fifth and sixth
with the McLaren
if you're listening to this
and Lando is your favourite McLaren driver
I think Lando will finish your head
if you're listening to this and you think Oscar is your favourite
I think Oscar will finish your head
because I've just had enough social media abuse
so yeah that's my prediction
I think it will, Mercedes will carry on being good
for I will be better like they were last year
but not quite winning
I'm going to go first
George Russell second
and I am going to go for an Oscar
Piastri third
ok alright
and equally given the nonsense of my predictions
I think it's quite possible Max could win the Grand Prix
enough going forth that shows you
I mean none of us know what's going to happen
I mean these are more just
I think wish lists
than predictions at this point
yeah we're just stabbing in the dark
who knows
which is nice that we're doing that this year
nice that we don't know, it's lovely
exactly, you've got to enjoy this
you've got to enjoy it whilst it's happening
Hinch, thank you so much for joining us
you've been brilliant
of course guys, thanks so much for having me on
appreciate it and Christian we'll see you in Austin
you will see me in Austin
I actually think we're recording a podcast together Hinch
which is a dark time in your life to be doing this twice within a week
so I'd like to apologise but Hinch
I'm going to cancel my flight I'm not coming
no it's a bit entirely fair and reasonable
Hinch, thanks for coming on, we so appreciate it
we know how busy you are, you're a legend
yeah you guys can buy cowboy boots
and everything, you can go full out
oh I get to wear my hat
I think I might have forgotten this
hang on
oh no, he's going to get his hat
have you got a hat?
you need to get a cowboy hat
evidently I need to get a cowboy hat
oh Jesus
a year, this has been in that cupboard
I think I had forgotten this
it looks a bit weird
it looks like a boat hat
there you go
did you get both of our reactions
like
now it makes sense
now it works
it was from an actual cowboy hat place
in Austin
it's not great for me
I literally wore it all the time last year
it was my entire personality
that the whole weekend
and it will be again
Hinch, thank you so much
Christian put that in your suitcase
we'll see you later
thank you so much for listening
and watching the Fast and the Curious podcast
remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
and also subscribe on YouTube too
and leave us any comments, any questions
whack it on our socials and we'll try and answer them
we'll see you soon, goodbye
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