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US GP 2025 debrief | The Texas Title Battle
US GP 2025 debrief | The Texas Title Battle
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About this episode
The podcast dives into the intense 2025 US Grand Prix at COTA, highlighting Max Verstappen's dominant win and resurgence in the title fight. The hosts analyze the intra-team battle at McLaren between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, debating whether McLaren should back one driver or continue supporting both long-term. They discuss McLaren's ongoing pit stop issues and the controversial repercussions following on-track incidents between their drivers. The episode also praises Charles Leclerc's defensive driving, Ferrari's weekend improvements, and rising talents like Franco Colapinto and Ollie Bearman. Listeners get insights into team dynamics, strategy, and the evolving championship landscape with five races remaining.
Topics:
us grand prix 2025
max verstappen performance
mclaren driver rivalry
oscar piastri form
lando norris comeback
mclaren pit stop problems
team repercussions controversy
ferrari strategy and leclerc
rising drivers franco colapinto ollie bearman
formula 1 championship battle
Cars:
Porsche Cayman
Christian’s in Austin and Betty is up late to debrief the US Grand Prix. And spoilers follow from here….
***
Red Bull are well and truly back. Max eases to a win in the Texas sunshine to turn up the heat in in the title fight. But he’s not alone. Lando Norris is also edging closer. So are McLaren worried? Why is Max resurgent? And why are Alpine not letting their drivers fight over last place? We tackle all the hot topics plus Radio Radar and some big guest news!
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Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Fast and the Curious, and the title race is well and truly on.
I'm Betty Glover, live from Manchester, and Christian Hugel is with me as well, live and
direct from Texas, where you've got Sunshine and Blue Skies, Christian.
Got Sunshine, we've got Blue Skies. We've had a dramatic weekend, haven't we?
Certainly in terms of strength qualifying, the sprint race, qualifying threw up plenty
of talking points and storylines. There's been lots to talk about off track here.
Until we got to the race, which wasn't a classic but has, as you say, Betty,
left us with a wide open championship fight. The championship fight is well and truly on.
What did you make of the race itself? I must admit, I was sat there and I was just dozing
in an hour. I was thinking about all sorts. At one point, Pirates of the Caribbean was
mentioned, so then I went down that rabbit hole. If you were listening on the sky commentary
feed with Mr. David Croft, you made an excellent Pirates of the Caribbean reference, and that
did set Betty off in the group chat. Yeah, I didn't think it was a classic Grand Prix.
I thought it was a bit dull through the most part, actually. I don't envy you if you're
watching in the UK, having to stay awake late at night through that one. But listen,
let's summarise what happened. It won't take long, but Stappen led into turn one.
Charlotte Clair had a great start and got past Lando right at the start. That really,
as you said to me earlier, Betty, that messed up our chances really of Lando
giving Max a fight for this, because Lando spent his entire race getting past Charlotte Clair.
He did so early on, but then they were running opposite strategies, so he had to pass Charlotte
Clair. Lando Norris did on track for a second time, which he eventually did for a second time
on lap 51 in a rare moment of excitement. But yeah, it was basically a story of Lando
getting past Charlotte. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen scampered away off into the distance,
and it was one of those races. How many times have we been in this position before
where Max, you're not 100% sure whether he's actually in the Grand Prix? Because we don't
see him because he's off out into the lead in his own postcode.
Yeah, he is. I really thought we were going to have a Lando Max Verstappen battle at the
start of that race, and it just did not happen. This is how the top 10 finished then. Max Verstappen,
obviously, won his fifth win of the season. What a weekend it was for him. Lando Norris took
P2. Charlotte Clair took P3. He held out for as long as he could in P2, by the way,
but Lando eventually overtook him. Hamilton took 4th. Piastri in 5th. No podium in 3 Grand Prixs
for him. Russell 6th. Snoda took 7th. He started in P13 as well. It's worth mentioning too.
Hülkenberg took P8. Berman finished in 9th, and Fernando Alonso in 10th. But this is what it means
for the top three in the standings then. Piastri is number one, but just 14 points behind
him. We've got Lando Norris, and Max Verstappen is just 26 points behind him, and 40 points behind
Oscar. Christian, five races left. This title fight is well and truly on, isn't it?
The title fight is well and truly on, and all weekend the talk of the paddock in Austin
was, is Max in this title fight? The answer to that is yes. He needs perfection. He can't
have what happened to Oscar in the sprint race, for example. He can't get tapped by somebody.
He can't have a failure. He needs perfection. But yes, Max Verstappen firmly in this title fight.
I actually think that we've missed a bit of a topic of conversation. Well, certainly here in
Austin they did this weekend, because to me, what you just said there, Betty, is key. Lando Norris
is just 14 points behind Oscar Piastri. Now Oscar Piastri really post-China right through until
a handful of races ago looked the dominant McLaren. He hadn't actually, so he didn't get on the podium
in Baku or Singapore. That was the first time he hadn't been on the podium for two races running
all season. He's now gone three races running. So Oscar Piastri is in a difficult moment for the
first time this season really, other than say Australia, where it was tricky because of the
conditions. For the first time all season, it looks like Lando Norris really is not just
the quicker McLaren, but almost the dominant McLaren. Lando Norris has really come back
into this championship very well. And while Max Verstappen's been grabbing the headlines
because he's been winning races, Lando Norris has just been chipping away almost under the radar
at Oscar's lead. So the title fight really is on. It really is. You mentioned Oscar there. It just
feels like he needs a really good weekend in Mexico, doesn't it? He needs it to go his way,
because it hasn't been. And that could happen. I'm not overly worried about Oscar. It's a
handful of grand prix. It's really post Netherlands, Italy, where we've really started to see the
tide turn in favour of Lando in that inter-team title fight. Oscar looked shaky very much so in
terms of making mistakes and crashing in Baku, but then also sheer pace wise, Lando Norris just
looks the quicker of the two. But we forget how much of a long season it is. This Formula
1 season has been running this very season since 1972, it seems like. It's an incredibly long season.
And inevitably during the course of a season, there will be ups and downs for drivers. And I
think Oscar Piastri is having a very minor down. Listen, the way he's levelled up from last year
to this year is phenomenal. He had an enormous run of consistency, as I say really, from China
maybe through to the Netherlands, almost uninterrupted. But he's having a little few
races, which is inevitable in a long season, inevitable in a long career, where it's just
not quite clicking. I'm not worried about him long term. I've said since the start of the
season, the Kittlewind World Championships, I still think that. But right now, the momentum
is with Lando Norris in terms of the inter-team dynamic. But the momentum is with Max Verstappen
in terms of who is the quickest driver and car combination in Formula 1. Welcome,
back, Max. Yeah, welcome back, Max. The reason why everyone is talking about Max and probably not
as much about Lando closing that gap over Oscar is because in August, Christian, Max was 104 points
behind Oscar Piastri. It's now October and that gap is 40. That is absolutely insane. He's taken
119 points out of a possible 133 in the last five races. Yeah, it's astonishing. We'll talk
a little bit more about Max later. But he's been absolutely fantastic and credit to Red Bull
for bringing the car back. I just think they've done a remarkable job. And this weekend at the
US Grand Prix, Max looked in a class of his own. He's so impressive. The reason why I bring those
stats up though and talk about that in the context of the title race is because a lot
of people are asking the question and Sky were asking this question and talking about this at
the end of the race. Do McLaren at some point need to pick a driver to fully back for the remaining
races? Otherwise, they could be in a position where they miss out totally on the drivers.
I've had some conversations about this this weekend, as you can imagine. Some people,
you know, fairly close to McLaren. McLaren are looking at this as a long-term position.
They aren't just thinking about this season's world championship. They believe we've got
two brilliant world championship fighting drivers. And McLaren's project is make sure we keep that
for season after season. They want to build a sort of generation of success with these drivers,
these two drivers, not just this season. That is McLaren's theory. By the way,
that is not me saying I agree or disagree with that theory. But that is why McLaren
are doing what they are doing. The risk to that is maybe if they had picked Oscar,
because Oscar had that mid-season lead and they turned Lando into a number two driver,
they might have had Oscar Piastri winning the title by now. We wouldn't have had this
exciting title fight between the two. Maybe it would be all done and dusted.
But would McLaren have lost Lando Norris long-term for that? There's no right or wrong
answer here. There's probably a best of both worlds where I think McLaren have got themselves
into a bit of a pickle with the way they've managed it. I don't think that's an unpopular
opinion. But I certainly didn't see Max Verstappen coming back into it mid-season.
I was always reluctant to totally rule him out, but it seemed so unlikely. And now it's
still an outside chance, but it's a chance. So, Betty, I feel I've ducked your question a
little bit there, because the answer is, the answer to your question ultimately is quite possibly.
But when we look back in, McLaren would argue, when we look back in five, six years time,
and they've still got Oscar and Lando in their opinion, maybe there's more championships. I
don't know. It's easy to say, well, they should have backed one driver. Would that have worked
in hindsight? Would one of the two of them have just gone, yeah, okay, I'll do as I'm told?
Would they? That's easy to say, because also then we could have got into Rosberg Hamilton style
crashes. So, if spots are maybes, I think it's a really difficult one to answer that.
It is. It's so difficult as well, because you talk about keeping them both for the future,
but you could look at this and I don't know, some people might be saying, well, the way
you're treating it, you're not going to be keeping both for the future
with how you're making these decisions. And they might miss out on the future anyway,
because one of them has to lose, maybe both of them will lose, but one of them has to lose.
And if one of them has to lose, this is a situation like there was when Sebastian
Vettel was beaten by Daniel Ricciardo, where he went, I just need to go and reset.
The same thing as Hinch said on the last episode of the podcast, the same thing
happens then later down the line, when Ricciardo had to get out, because for Stappen came along,
F1's full of this, where drivers, high-profile teams get beaten by a high-profile teammate
and feel they need to move to a different team just for a reset.
So actually, therefore, another better thing you could argue is
McLaren are doing all of this to try and keep them, but actually that might be
impossible anyway, once one of them does ultimately get beaten. Maybe you can't have these two people,
and therefore, maybe McLaren's wish to keep them long-term is completely redundant anyway,
any time will tell. But yeah, I don't know is the answer to your question. I don't think we
can deal with hypothetical ifs, but some maybes. I do definitely think McLaren
have taken it too far. Maybe we'll dig into that in a second.
Yeah, let's talk about the actual race though. One thing that I want to talk about is
Lando Norris finally getting that overtake on Charles Leclerc to get P2. That for me,
I know he had to overtake him twice in the end, but that for me felt crucial that he got P2.
I remember not too long ago getting a bit of stick from Lando Norris fans for saying,
I want more from him. I can't remember which Grand Prix it was, forgive me. I'm
absolutely knackered. I've not had a lot of sleep this weekend. But there was a Grand Prix
not too long ago. You'll all be screaming at your TVs, I'm sure, but where Lando was
stuck a little bit down in the positions and I was saying, I just want a bit more fight from you.
Well, I'm seeing this fight from him now. I just think Lando deserves great... Obviously,
I'm biased because I'm British and therefore can't praise a British driver. But I think Lando
deserves great praise for the way he's come back into this world championship. His speed has
leveled up. We don't have the mentality issues we did last season, start of this season,
just doesn't seem to be there anymore. He seems super chill even when he was taken out
in the sprint race. He seemed super chill about it. He just seems to just let it wash over him,
which is exactly what he needed to do. I'm really impressed with Lando. You're right,
Betty, that move was crucial. Maybe it's a move that six, seven Grand Prix ago,
in the middle of the season, so we wouldn't necessarily have seen Lando do, but he really
did stick at it. It was also very intelligent racing. He really kept his head. Knowing how
crucial it was, and Austin's a wonderful track where you can... And the Sky commentary
fee, Crofty was saying, you know, the cutback. You can't cut yourself back
using the racing line for the next corner to give yourself a chance at the next corner.
It flows. Lando was just really picking his moment. There wasn't any lunges like we've seen
from Carlos Sainz from Lance Stroll this weekend. There wasn't any messiness like we saw at the
first corner. He picked his moments. His racecraft was spot on. His execution was spot on.
I was really... It's just so impressive. Yeah, yeah. And he had to be careful as well,
didn't he? Because he was so close to getting penalized, wasn't he? Yeah, absolutely. And by the
way, I'm heaping all this praise on Lando. Oscar's not exactly far off. He's just a bit down on pace.
It's not like Oscar's having a Baku style shocker. Oscar's not out of this, but by any stretch
of the imagination, we've still got another five Grand Prix left. That's enough time for
another form swing. It's enough time for Oscar to come back into this. None of my
views on Oscar earlier in the season have changed on how special he is. I think inevitably,
you get dips of form in any top level sport. But at the moment, everybody in Austin this
weekend has been saying it, the momentum is with Lando Norris at the moment in terms
of the two McLaren drivers. I do have to ask, what is going on with McLaren and their slow
pit stops? Why is this happening? Zach was asked about it on air. He said he was going
to take a look into what happened, but this must just be so incredibly frustrating
for the team. And McLaren fans. Yeah, so wider context. Again, Lando wasn't quite helped,
but I think it was a sticky, I think it was right front. It was certainly a sticky
front when they were changing the tyres. And we're seeing this fairly consistently at the
moment. Zach's saying he'll have a look at it. I'd be staggered if they're not already
having a look at it. If they're not already having a look at it, you should be, guys,
because I mean, it will be. They're not stupid. They know far more about Formula
1 than I do. So the simple answer is we don't know. Complexity of the pit stops has increased
in Formula 1 over the years as the technology's increased. But some of these parts, the team
do develop themselves and we've seen it in the past. Remember last year, Salba had a real
problem with their pit stops. It's not like it's just you buy one wheel gun,
it works for everybody in the pit lane. It's a simple thing. These guys
work on the tech. They work on the parts. They work on the synergy. It's a thing. It's impossible for
me to sit here and say, this is the problem. Well, if McLaren do know they haven't told us,
and clearly they haven't gone on top of it because it keeps happening, it is a thing.
It is a big thing. Right, some questions on Instagram then on McLaren.
Jordan says, is Oscar going to bottle it? Jordan, we don't know. We don't have a crystal
ball. I've sort of answered this already. I'm not long-term worried about Oscar.
I think form dips up and down are inevitable. It's not disastrous. It's just swung in favour of
Lando. Also, I've seen him a lot this weekend. He doesn't come across as someone who's
overly feeling the heat. Like I said in Singapore, where I felt over the team radio, he was a bit
grumpy. I've not seen that Oscar this weekend. I've seen a more chilled Oscar. So no,
I don't think it's as simple as Oscar bottling it. I'm not worried about Oscar long-term.
I don't think he is either. He's a professional driver. I can't see him bottling it. He's just had
some bad weeks. Somebody else said, what do you think Oscar needs to do between now and Mexico
to limit the downward spiral? I'm not a racing driver, but cash your mind back to the racing
driver we had on the previous episode of the podcast, James Hinchcliffe. Listen to what he
said. Absolutely nothing. Do absolutely nothing different. So little time. Bear in mind, everybody
sat here in Austin. We were recording this Sunday afternoon in Austin Sunday night UK time.
Obviously Sunday afternoon US time. They'll be in Mexico by Wednesday at the very latest.
There's almost no turnaround. So grab a bit of sleep where you can. Do your normal
preparations. And when you're an athlete as talented as Oscar Piastri, just trust in your
process. Just trust in yourself. Keep calm that these moments in sport in terms of your form
come and go. Do absolutely nothing different. Enjoy yourself. Life's good. You're Oscar
Piastri. You're leading the Formula One World Championship. His girlfriend was caught with
the book, a diary of a CEO in her hand while she was walking through the paddock.
Was she? Well, it's a bold choice, Lily, who I don't know if she listens
everywhere. It does listen to this podcast. We adore her. We think she's absolutely
amazing. She's a lovely human being. But yeah, it's a choice, isn't it? There's
another presenter on this podcast who'd have a stronger view, I think, on it.
Yeah. She's trying to get Zach Brown's job. That's what she's trying to do.
Oh my God, she could be being team principal. Yeah. Oh, that wouldn't do them a
Clarence bias. Accusation's any favours, would it? We are replacing Zach with Lily,
but she's going to look at it both ways. It's going to be fine.
She's going to be impartial, guys. Don't worry about it. Adele says,
where was Oscar's pace? Do you have an answer for that?
No, again. I think sometimes it just doesn't quite click. You can analyse Formula
1 to the nth degree. Sometimes car and driver aren't in synergy. Who was I talking to about this?
I was talking to Jolyne Palmer about this, the ex-Reno driver and F1 TV pundit. Jolyne's amazing.
I remember he was talking to me about data when drivers read the data and you see your
teammate might be carrying a bit more speed in this corner than you can. And sometimes
it just feels like, I can't do that. That just isn't in me. Another week, it might be.
It's not something that you can explain black and white. Oscar, he had the pace advantage
over Lando and Aris for a massive chunk of the season at the moment. It's with Lando.
So I'm really sorry, Adele. I can't give you a really short, snappy answer on that one.
Well, we've got plenty more to talk about McLaren related after the break.
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Welcome back, everybody. Now, we can't move on from McLaren without mentioning the
repercussion business and also what happened in the sprint race because
that's where all the drama was. Firstly, Christian, those repercussions,
McLaren said they'd blame Lando for the contact in Singapore and that he was going to face some
consequences. We don't know what these consequences are, but there must have been
a massive reaction when this came out in the paddock.
There was a huge reaction and it was a real shock because
most of us had moved on. We spoke on the podcast with Hinch Betty. There was
massive reaction to this and about this podcast in some areas.
We'd all sort of moved on. The fact McLaren arrived in Austin and Lando and Oscar went into
the media pen with this choreographed sort of, yes, Oscar saying Lando's been naughty and there'll be
some, what was the word, repercussions. Lando saying, yes, the team has put it on me,
fair enough. There'll be repercussions. Nobody was talking about McLaren winning
the Constructors' Championship again. Everybody's talking about this, so I don't
understand why they needed to do this publicly. And B, I don't agree with what they said
with Lando having to face repercussions from that. And I'd like to think I'm being consistent in my
views here because I have a fairly sympathetic view towards racing drivers. We can sit and
look at incidents, slow down over and over again. This stuff happens in the heat of battle.
And I explained on the debrief of the last podcast of Singapore in the debrief there,
I thought, you've got to go for that move with Lando. It's a greasy track. There's
a slow moving car in front of you. The contact was unfortunate. I think it's a racing incident.
Now, fast forward a couple of weeks later, the sprint race turn one, again, you could definitely say,
probably a bigger argument to say, Oscar would be the one if you were going to blame someone,
because doing the cutback that you did is certainly optimistic. It's brave. It might be
a little naive. But again, I go back to what I said about the incident in Singapore. I'm
sympathetic to drivers. It's not stupid. It's not clear cut, like say Lance Strolls
dive down the inside. Unfortunately, Carlos has dived down the inside. It's, to me, a racing
incident early on in the race. I have sympathy. But now you're saying, well, okay, McLaren, if
you're saying to me that Lando deserves repercussions for that in Singapore, and apparently the
rumour was those repercussions were going to last until the end of the season. The rumour being
that it was the repercussions are, and we don't know this for a fact, the rumours being
that Oscar gets preference as to when to leave the garage and qualify for the rest of the season.
Well, does the sprint race now overlap those repercussions? Because you could maybe put the
blame at Oscar for that one. I personally think both were racing incidents. I think McLaren
have got themselves into a bit of a pickle with this. I think they're trying to overpolice it.
And to go back again, what I said to Hinch and what Hinch said to us, Betty, you can't
judge racing. And this incident requires this repercussion. This incident requires this
repercussion. It's just too, it's not how racing works. It's not that black and white. It's not
that A, B and C. I just think it, McLaren have got themselves into an unnecessary mess with it.
I get trying to keep them separate. As we said, sorry, I get trying to keep the harmony. As
we said in part one, I get it. I just think they've taken it too far.
The issue is, is that when you start giving out repercussions to one driver,
when they do something a little bit wrong in a racing sort of incident, and then someone else
does something, you've then got to give out more repercussions. And then by the end of the season,
there's going to be a bloody long list. How do they stop this cycle that they've got themselves
into? And because not every racing move is different, that's why I sometimes end up saying
it's difficult for the FIA to judge these things, you're never going to be able to judge
it fairly in the eyes of the fans who will inevitably say you're favoring one driver,
you're favoring another based on their personal preference of driver. It's a tricky one. I have
sympathy for the way McLaren of handling it and to an extent it's working because neither driver
has had a spectacular coming together. And both arson in the title fight, I just think they've
taken it too far. Yeah, it's interesting. A lot of fans have some really strong opinions.
I've been reading. Oh yeah, I know. Don't you worry, I know. It's wild out there, everybody.
We've spoken about Max in terms of the title race, in terms of that and the context of that,
but let's just talk about his unbelievable driving this weekend. So he got a sprint
pole position. He won the sprint. He got pole position in the Grand Prix, led every single
lap and got the win. He was outstanding, wasn't he, this weekend? I believe Max
Perstappen is the best driver in Formula One. I believe he's at the top of his game.
I don't believe Lando or Oscar are operating at Max's level. I don't believe anyone is operating
at Max's level. Lewis Hamilton, Charlotte Clare, I think Max is at the top of the sport at this
moment in time. And this weekend was one of many examples. And when I say that, people come back
to me and say, yeah, well, he's got the best car. Yeah, fine. We'll talk about that in a
minute. Red Bull have improved their car fine, but I still think there's a reason why nobody else
can do what Max does in this car. It's because Max is the best. And he was also winning when he
didn't have the best car. He's amazing. He's generational. He's absolutely generational.
But we'll be talking about Max Perstappen in another 75 years of Formula One. He's
one of the best to ever do it. And this weekend, he just doesn't put a foot
wrong. He's amazing. I mean, what more can I say? He's really quick. He's a really good
Formula One driver. He's excellent at this. He is excellent at it. He knows what he's doing
at Max, lad, doesn't he? I think he knows what he's doing. He's quite good.
He's had a lot of practice at this as well. I never thought this season that we would be
talking about Max in the underdog sort of setting. I just never thought we'd be
talking about Max Perstappen as an underdog. But here he is, underdog to take the title.
Yeah, but this gets us onto, well, how has he got into the position to take the title?
I've popped this question in Betty from Ben, which I know you'll read in a second. But Ben asked me
this on Instagram or asked us this on Instagram yesterday. And it feels just as relevant after
the race. Betty, what does Ben say? Ben says, Hi guys, I've listened to the podcast since day
one. Is it me or is it strange how since all of the Christian Horner stuff has happened,
Red Bull have now become the quickest team again. Would love to know your thoughts,
keep up the amazing work. It's funny that Ben, because we've all had a similar thought, I think.
It's perfectly similar. We've all had a similar thought. There are other similar DMs in our
accounts. And there's other people saying we'll have McLaren put too much emphasis into 2026.
I think a few things have happened here. From what the paddock rumors suggest,
McLaren certainly have moved development into 2026. Have they done that too soon? Well,
we'll find out, won't we? That will depend on the results of the title at the end of the season.
The second thing with all of this is what's happened with Red Bull themselves.
To me, it is not coincidence that since Christian Horner was replaced with
Laureate Mackies, the cars become more drivable. It's always been a quick car.
Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix towards the start of the season.
It's always been a quick car, but it's been so difficult to handle.
I've seen practice sessions this season where Max has spent the whole practice session
visibly fighting with it. And they've worked so hard to tame it, to make it more drivable.
And that's happened. And I suspect that when you replace a team principle with a new team
principle, someone comes in and gives fresh ideas, particularly when that team principle is
from an engineering background like Laureate Mackies is. And it seems to be that they've
found some low-hanging fruits. So both things are true. I think McLaren probably
have shifted emphasis to 2026. Have they done it too soon? Well, we'll find out.
But there is no question Red Bull have improved that car. So those saying on social media,
well, the Red Bull has always been the quicker car. It's now by far the quicker car.
That's not the case. It's close. It really, really is close. But we need to, Ben's right,
we need to give Red Bull credit for the work they've done in making this car more drivable.
And we know that if you give Max a car that's even close to being the best car, he'll win races.
And it's just a coincidence that this has happened when Christian Horner has happened to leave.
No, it's not. No, it's not a coincidence at all. No, it's too much of a thing to be a
coincidence. No, I agree. I was being sarcastic. Oh, I know you were, my love.
Don't you worry about that. But I was just, like a firm opinion on this one.
I wonder why? I thought Charles Leclerc was basically working as Max Verstappen's
teammate today. He did an unbelievable job of defending. Lando couldn't get past him.
But Charles Leclerc was brilliant, great driving, but also Christian, we've got to say,
Ferrari really did get the strategy right today, didn't they?
Yeah, they got the strategy right and fair play to them for that. I think what's more
impressive is the way that Ferrari came into this weekend with an absolute dog of a car and
seemed to be really struggling. Both drivers were all over the shop and over the course of
the weekend have managed to improve it. And we've been looking at positives for Ferrari
in the recent episodes of this podcast and basically saying they haven't been any.
So now I think the fact that they've come into a weekend, seen where the car's tricky,
and made such good strides over the weekend to get third and fourth.
Was third and fourth, wasn't it? I've not made that up. Yeah, third and fourth.
Shows you that they've improved. Of course, we know Ferrari always comes with the sort of
asterisks. We know Ferrari want more than this, but it's a step in the right direction.
And it's a needed step in the right direction considering
rumors about Fred Vassar's position, all of this, which for the record,
I do not believe what you read. I do not believe there is any truth in rumors linking
Christian Horner to Ferrari. I don't believe that's to be the case from everybody I speak
to who knows anything about this sport, who is worth speaking to. They don't believe that's
the case. So a deserved bit of recognition for Ferrari who ended the weekend better than they
started it. But I also think recognition for Charles Leclerc's driving because he was so good.
Yeah, he was very good. Of course he was, but fine. We know Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
are very good Formula One drivers. We know that's given them. Lewis has been much closer
to Charlotte in his last few races. Again, that happened. But yeah, fine. Charles drove well,
but of course Charles drove well. Charles always drives well. Charles can't drive well without
Ferrari giving him the car. And Ferrari are starting to, this weekend, improve the car.
So yeah, well done, Charles. You're quite right, Betty. He deserves that praise,
but he's always, rarely is he not good, Charles Leclerc.
I don't know. I just thought he was excellent. I loved it. I loved it.
I thought it was like proper, good defending. Go on, Charles Leclerc.
Listen, me too, but it just doesn't surprise me. That is just Charles, isn't it? He could fight for
a world championship. He's right up there. We know that. It's just, yeah, he's great.
We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we're going to discuss a few more
repercussions, if you know what we're talking about. And of course, we've got Radio Radar as
well. And Colopinto has a gold star for what he did out there today.
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Christian, it's fair to say we don't know what these repercussions are, right?
It's all very sort of under the radar. No one's really saying.
It's all a bit weird.
Not officially. Not officially, but we sort of do.
Not officially. So yeah, okay.
But we asked some of our Fast and Curious listeners on Instagram
to send in their wrong answers only and they absolutely delivered, okay?
So somebody said, Lando must wear a racing suit with photos of Oscar Pastry pinned on.
Quite like that. Strudders says he has to drive the second red bull car for a week.
Very harsh.
Chicken says he can't stay up to watch Match of the Day.
You've been a bad boy.
You cannot watch Match of the Day.
You must go to bed.
Lino says Lando has to do Oscar's laundry for a month.
Gabby says he has to clean the toilets at Mercedes.
And Perry says Lando has to read Greg James' book.
As a fellow author, can I just say I think that's very, very harsh on Paul.
Greg James, I think who's that?
Perry should be ashamed of himself.
Oh, it is a bit funny though, isn't it?
Very funny.
My favourite one was from somebody, I didn't actually get their name,
but they said he has to speak in an Australian accent for the rest of the season.
And not tell us. Just not tell us.
He's just got to do it.
And someone else says he's got to have a papaya in his race suit.
Oscar decides where it goes.
Isn't a papaya quite spiky?
I thought they were soft.
Really?
I don't know.
Honestly, don't know.
I mean, it's a very middle-class way to raise fruit, isn't it?
But I don't know.
Because I'm thinking of a mango.
Hold on.
Yeah, I think you're thinking of a mango.
Is a papaya spiky?
Because if it is, Blair's suggestion of the papaya in the race suit,
well, it makes it even worse, doesn't it?
No, no, no.
Yeah, I'm not thinking of a mango.
You're not thinking of a mango.
Papayas look very similar.
They do, don't they?
If you're looking on YouTube, Betty's holding up there.
Oh, well, lovely.
Well, tell us what you prefer, mango or papaya.
And tell us what your favourite fruit is.
We are at Fast Curious.
Pardon why we're on social stuff.
We need to shout out Graham from Canada,
who sent us a picture of his son, Kyle,
watching the race with their kitten, Maximus Perstappen.
Lovely, lovely, lovely name that.
It is brilliant.
They might be very happy on the end of the season.
Right, let's go on to Radio Radar,
because it was one of my favourites of this weekend.
Honestly, it was brilliant.
So first, Will Tolando on lap 22.
This is, loads of people are talking about this.
Will said Tolando.
I know you're busy.
It's so good.
So it's like, Will, obviously, he's busy.
It's like when you, I don't know,
you go into, your partner's working from home
and you pop in and go, sorry, I know you're busy.
But what do you want for your team?
When are you going to be done?
Or you ring your parents at work.
Dad, I know you're busy, sorry.
But it was so good.
It was so British as well.
I just feel that's quite a British thing.
I know you're busy, but...
Sorry to interrupt you, Lando.
I know you're driving a car at ridiculous speed.
I know you're very busy.
But if you just wouldn't mind,
just listening to me for one sec.
Producer Will said it had Microsoft Teams energy.
Oh, it did, didn't it?
Yeah, it did.
No, lovely from Will.
Could I do the next one?
Because nothing funnier will ever happen in Formula One
than Franco Colopinto right at the end of the race,
being told to hold positions.
You think fair enough, hold positions.
You don't want to, you know,
when you're fighting your teammate, hold positions.
They're running 17th and 18th.
Oh, no, guys, we don't want to lose this, do we?
This is what could be absolutely crucial.
This, yeah, please hold position, Franco,
whatever you need to do.
But actually, sorry, just to talk about racing a minute.
Franco Colopinto has improved last few grand prix.
He really, really has.
And I think he deserves the consistency.
I think if I'm Alpine,
I'm sticking with Franco Colopinto next season.
Well, I am, definitely.
So, yeah, a sign that he's done better.
But I also quite like that he just did it anyway
and just passed Gazzley anyway,
being like, sorry, we're all mad.
17th and 18th, are you all okay?
Yeah, yeah, but his reply was,
wait, what, hold positions?
But he's so slow.
So, we do know with Alpine,
don't you want hold positions?
We're not McLaren.
Sorry.
I love how they were like hold positions
and he's like, hold my bloody beer.
I'm off. Fair play.
Not for me.
I like him.
Hannah on Insta got in touch, by the way.
She said, should Franco have disobeyed the team orders?
Probably not.
But it was very funny because it was Alpine
and they're quite rubbish this season.
It doesn't matter.
Yeah, and on this, Millie said,
surely they can't get rid of Franco for next season.
Considering the prep that he's had,
he's actually not that far away from Gazzley.
So, she agrees with you.
I think Franco and Jack do
and are probably quite similar levels.
I think I still think Jack do
and was really harshly treated
to be binned off as quick as he was.
But that's in the past now.
You've got to move on from that.
I think, therefore, Franco's had a season.
He came in, don't forget,
last season, mid-season with Williams.
He still hasn't had a winter testing.
He hasn't had a proper winter
to get dialed into a car.
So, I think it would be really harsh
on Franco who has shown improvement
to now get rid of him.
So, yeah, who was that, Millie?
Yeah, I completely agree with you, Millie.
I would, without question,
be sticking for Franco Cullipan.
So, he's shown enough across his two stints,
probably more so in the early Williams stint
than this one,
that he deserves a proper winter,
having a proper seat,
a proper bit of stability.
I agree with you, Millie.
And also, on commentary radar,
if you were listening to Sky's commentary,
we mentioned this at the beginning,
but they said,
more black and white flag action
than in the Pirates of the Caribbean,
which is a very old reference.
That's old school.
We haven't heard about Pirates of the Caribbean
for a very long time.
It's a lovely niche reference
from friend of the podcast
and wonderful man, Crofty.
But, Betty, it made me think of the question.
Do you know why pirates are pirates?
No, why?
Well, because they just are.
Oh, that's awful.
That is awful.
That is actually terrible.
I'm not even going to dignify that with a laugh.
But there were so many bloody black and white flags.
Yeah, it's one of those.
I love Cota.
It's a great circuit.
It's probably one weaknesses.
It's got lots of wide runoff,
not before you get to gravel traps or grass.
So you do get the whole track limits thing
that used to get in Austria
before they put gravel traps in.
So you do get a lot of track limits simply
because the track is governed by the white lines.
It's fast. It's sweeping.
It's easy to go over the white lines.
It's a bit annoying,
but I don't think it's as annoying
as it was in a place like Austria
where it's like, you need to do something about this.
Although they've got plenty of time to do this,
to do something about it if they want to,
because we also got the news
that Cota is staying on the grid until what?
2036.
I've probably got that wrong.
2030-something ages.
And that's good news because Cota's brilliant
and you should all go watch when you say Cota.
Because you love it.
I love Cota.
I love Austin as a city,
but Cota is a great track.
You know, usually today wasn't great,
but usually provides a good grand prix,
provides us with action.
The fans here are great.
Yeah, I love Cota.
While we're on the subject of radars,
do you think anybody or anything went under the radar?
Any anyone you want to shout out, Christian?
Ollie Bearman, really good weekend for him.
He's really showing the pace.
He's cutting out the mistakes.
He's just finished in the points
a couple of times recently.
So lovely from Ollie.
I thought he was very unlucky
in that collision with Yuki,
because I think Yuki probably didn't mean to,
but there was a bit of movement there
underbreaking from Yuki.
I don't think it was horrific from Yuki.
Reprocussions for him.
Reprocussions.
I just think it was unfortunate,
but really strong weekend from Ollie Bearman,
who is ending his debut season very well.
We know he'll be back at Hass next season,
and he fully deserves to be.
And I spoke to Ollie Bearman today,
recording a podcast,
Betty, a different podcast,
and Ollie started the episode by eating pasta.
There is just something that follows me round
about that boy eating food
when he starts podcast appearances.
And also, Nicko Hülkenberg,
very good weekend for him.
He got unlucky in the sprints
when he got wiped out in the chaos.
Maybe he went in a bit too hot.
Maybe he didn't.
Still unlucky.
Really good couple of qualifiers.
Got his first points from Silverstone.
Best weekend for the Hulk in a while.
Just while we're on the subject of Austin,
Betty, I've been messaging you about this all week.
If you've got to this point in the podcast,
we know you love us,
but we've had so many people,
here in the United States of America,
send us, me, you, and Greg love.
I've been stopped in the street.
I've been stopped in restaurants.
I've been stopped walking around the circuits.
There's been so much love and warmth for this podcast.
If you are one of the people,
and there have been many who stopped me
to say hello and say how much they love this podcast,
thank you.
Me, Greg, and Betty really, really appreciate it.
We feel the love from Cota.
I love this place.
So thank you, honestly.
It means the world.
It's so nice.
And Betty, the person I met in the restaurant last night,
you know this story.
Our listeners won't saw me and went,
oh, my God, you're Christian, aren't you?
I said, I am.
And she went, oh, my God, I just wish Betty was here.
I wish I was there, too.
Trust me.
It looks amazing.
I want to get some cowboy boots.
They're expensive, I tell you, Betty.
That's why I went for the hats,
which, by the way, I'm not wearing
before I get comments
because I can't get it over my headphones.
But that's why the cowboy hat isn't on for the recording.
I thought you could say I can't get it over my head.
My head's too big now.
Because of my massive fat head.
Because of your massive, big, old head.
Christian, this has been a privilege.
Five races left.
It's been a privilege.
Five races left.
Yeah, we're nearly there.
We're limping to the finish line.
I'm buzzing, though.
Five races so much can happen.
So much.
Two sprints in there as well, isn't it?
Two sprints, I think?
Yeah, I always forget about the sprints.
Yeah.
I always forget about the sprints.
Oh, my God.
All right, game on.
This is going to be good.
We have got some exciting podcasts
coming out next week, though.
Haven't we?
Do you want to tell everybody?
We've got a good guest on.
Three podcasts over the course of next week.
There will, of course, be a Mexico Grand Prix debrief,
which is exciting.
Before that, there will be a Mexico Grand Prix preview
on Thursday, where Greg James is back.
Alex Jakes from F1 TV, the F1 TV commentator.
We've mentioned Crofty enough,
so we should mention Jakesy as well.
Alex Jakes is coming on, as is Esteban Ocon.
Lovely Este.
People loved him when he was on at the start of the year.
His second Fast and Curious appearance of the season.
So loving talking to Esteban Ocon.
Before that, a bonus episode on Wednesday,
a special edition, a special edition,
like a collector's watch,
a special edition podcast with Susie Wolfe
joining us for a chat.
Her first appearance.
We're very excited about this.
Yeah, I am absolutely buzzing.
If you've got any questions for any of those guests
that Christian's just messaged,
the message, if you've got any questions
for any of those guys, it is nearly 11 p.m.
I've just messaged them all, yeah.
Hi Susie, just mentioned you're on the podcast.
Looking forward to having you on, babes.
Bye.
Oh, God.
I need to go to bed.
But if you guys that are listening or watching
have any questions for any of those guests,
then message us.
Don't message them.
Message us.
Message us. Fast, Curious, Pod.
We'll put it to them.
Like, subscribe, follow.
Leave us a comment.
We're going to bed.
Bye.
Bye, guys.
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