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Person
Max Verstappen
A highly successful Formula 1 driver from the Netherlands who won multiple world championships with the Red Bull team. He is famous for his incredible speed and aggressive driving style.
Brand
McLaren
A famous British company that makes high-performance supercars and races in Formula 1. They are known for their bright orange ("papaya") cars and a long history of winning championships.
Person
Zak Brown
The boss of the McLaren Formula 1 team. He is an American businessman who is famous for bringing lots of big sponsors to the team and expanding McLaren into other types of racing.
Person
Ayrton Senna
A famous race car driver from Brazil who won the Formula 1 championship three times. He is remembered as one of the fastest and most passionate drivers in history.
Term
hybrid deployment
This is how a modern Formula 1 car uses its electric battery power to get an extra speed boost. Drivers and engineers have to plan exactly when to use this electric boost so they don't run out of battery on the long straightaways.
Car
Mercedes-AMG GT3
A race-only version of Mercedes' sports car built to compete in endurance races around the world. It uses a very loud and powerful V8 engine instead of the hybrid engines found in Formula 1.
Place
Nordschleife
A famous, extremely long, and dangerous race track in Germany that winds through a forest. It is known as one of the ultimate tests for both race cars and everyday sports cars.
Person
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
A young Italian racing driver who is considered one of the next big superstars in Formula 1. He was signed by the Mercedes team at a very young age because of his incredible talent.
Car
Ferrari Off
The Ferrari FF is a high-performance luxury car made by Ferrari. Unlike most of their low-slung sports cars, this model has a hatchback shape, four seats, and all-wheel drive, making it more practical for everyday driving and bad weather. It is powered by a very large, powerful engine and was built to be both fast and spacious.
Place
Mount Panorama Circuit
A famous race track in Australia built on public mountain roads. It has very steep hills and narrow sections with concrete walls right next to the track, making it incredibly challenging to drive fast.
Person
James Vowles
The team boss of Williams Racing. Before taking this job, he was the chief race strategist for the highly successful Mercedes team.
Person
Carlos Sainz
A Spanish Formula 1 driver who has won races for famous teams like Ferrari. He is known for being very smart, analytical, and great at helping teams develop their cars.
Company
Volkswagen Group
A massive German company that owns and makes many of the world's most famous car brands, including Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini.
Term
energy harvesting
This is how the race car recharges its hybrid battery while driving. It captures energy that would normally be wasted when the driver steps on the brakes or from the hot exhaust gases.
Term
thermal degradation
This is when a race car's tires get too hot and lose their grip. It makes the car slide around more and go slower, even if there is still plenty of rubber left on the tire.
Concept
ground effect
A design trick where the bottom of the car is shaped like an upside-down wing to suck the car down onto the road. This helps the car go around corners much faster, but it can make the ride very stiff and bumpy.
Car
Hyundai i20
The Hyundai i20 is a small, practical hatchback car built by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai. It is designed for daily city driving, offering good fuel economy and a compact size that is easy to park. It is a common, affordable vehicle that is popular in Europe and other parts of the world.
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The Athletic
The race is on.
And amid rumours about Max Verstappen and McLaren, what's really going on behind the
scenes when it comes to the four times world champion's Formula One future, and what does
it mean for the driver markets?
I'm Edge Drawer, and join me to tackle that and answer a little bit of questions.
Are Nelson Valkenberg and Josh Sutill?
Right, Josh Verstappen to McLaren rumours now.
The everlasting Max Verstappen's future saga continues.
That all flared up during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.
What do we know about the situation?
Yeah, so from what we understand, there has been talks between McLaren and Max Verstappen's
camp, according to the McLaren side, you know, it's on the approach from the Red Bull
camp or from the Verstappen camp, rather, which McLaren did their job of entertaining.
Zach Brown, you know, has to look after the interests of the team.
And that includes, I think, taking an approach from, you know, the best driver in Formula
One. It makes perfect sense.
So there were talks between Zach Brown and Verstappen camp about the future, not necessarily
about 2027, about next year, because it seems like the seats there are locked in.
Oscar Piastri and London Horace, you know, have a contract for next year.
I think there hasn't really been kind of proper proof that someone like Piastri is really
looking for a way out.
So there isn't really a space there for 27 and likewise elsewhere.
I mean, Mercedes seems to have finally given up on chasing Verstappen for now.
And Ferrari, obviously, Hamilton's had his big turnaround, so there's not a gap there either.
So really, this is not so much about next year.
It is about the future for 2028 and just the vague possibility there that maybe there could
be a move.
I mean, part of it, I'm sure, is Verstappen shoring up and renegotiating with Red Bull,
you know, just showing that there is a different option there.
We know that he doesn't want to be stuck with that or championship winning car, and there's
been times this year where it's looked like Red Bull doesn't have that.
Obviously, we've just come off a weekend where they've had their best weekend of the year
with an upgrade that's worked.
So Red Bull sort of strengthened its hand there.
But I think this is mainly just kind of the Verstappen camp kind of strengthening their
hand by just showing that there is a potential alternative to Red Bull that isn't Mercedes.
Yeah, this Verstappen move story, which looks like it could go on for another year or so,
it's kind of the equivalent of the center potentially leaving McLaren stuff in the early
90s, isn't it?
That just went on over years and years and then eventually did move.
But Nelson, how big a deal is this in the Netherlands?
I mean, it's Max Verstappen.
He's a big deal, whatever he's doing.
But I know kind of in the international media that McLaren stuff really picked up some
steam during the Austrian weekend.
I guess that means it must have been a big story in your part of the world.
Definitely so, simply because the Dutch fans are really, really looking for a way for Verstappen
to be in a car that at least can battle for the win with from weekend to weekend.
We just came from, as Josh had from the Red Bull ring where Verstappen was very competitive
on race pace, but that's a super small sample size.
And we need to see whether or not the real problems that are with this car are going to be addressed.
So I think what is also playing in the mind of a lot of people that are following Verstappen closely
is that everybody, it seems like from the original Red Bull team has left or is on the way out.
And is there the certainty, belief that the current group or the group
that's coming in is able to give him what he needs to fight with Mercedes and McLaren?
So there is some anxiety there with the fans, I think, and that's why it's gaining traction in the Netherlands.
The thing that's really almost unexpected about this situation is that I can remember
a saying which made sense at the time, well, wait until 2026 starts,
because then it's going to be clear what the direction of travel should be.
But here we are in June 26, July 26.
And actually the best move it now seems, well, wait a little bit longer.
Let's see how McLaren pick up.
Let's see how Red Bull get going.
And it's it's almost been deferred because what we've seen so far has been somewhat inconclusive.
And the competitive picture is a little bit muddied by obviously Ferraris have risen as well
and with their upgrade package and reckons have the best car, the Aduo stuff with the Red Bull power units.
Mercedes winning most of the races, McLaren not being able to match Mercedes,
even on what seems to be deployment.
So Josh, it's a slightly unexpected scenario, isn't it?
Because we thought it would actually be pretty clear by the middle of this year
where if you were Max Verstappen, you would want to be.
I'd say it's because of the lack of extremes.
So we haven't seen a surprise contender really emerge.
We haven't seen Aston Martin or even a Williams or a different team come to the fore
and suddenly put themselves in the shop window for Verstappen.
And even Mercedes hasn't completely dominated the season to the point where you need to be in a Mercedes
or there's no point turning up to a weekend.
You know, they've clearly got an advantage, but there are, you know, other cars that can compete with them.
So we haven't really seen that extreme.
So that hasn't, I think, really presented a really obvious opportunity for Stappen to move or need to move.
And Red Bull itself hasn't been really terrible if their entire season so far was just China and Japan
and kind of more of that being beaten by cars in the midfield.
I think we'd have been having a totally different conversation.
But Red Bull has kind of been good enough for, like you say, for it to be deferred
and no one else has been really good to kind of change that picture either.
I disagree little.
I think Mercedes is the one that right now you'd always go for.
Except there seems to be a lack of movement there around George and that seat for George.
It's now it's total wolf in a holding pattern, it seems.
And not maybe the Verstappen camp and he has the time to wait.
And that was always the danger with with going into the season and waiting
where the what the direction of travel would be for the field.
Because suddenly you could find yourself in a situation
where yes, you're still probably the fastest driver on the grid,
but you may not be needed for one of these teams to actually win.
And that changes your market value as well.
So I think in this scenario, this is also why McLaren is being contacted
that they've been just preliminary discussions.
But also let's not forget, there's probably hundreds of these discussions
through the field on a yearly basis that we're not aware of.
It's just a Verstappen thing that we're all very keen to figure out what's going to happen.
Because he's also a bit of a the linchpin in the whole driver market as well.
And it's a four time world champion.
But probably there are so many discussions that we're not privy to.
That if we would know that we would maybe give less value to this story
or the story last year, we all fell into the trap of their talking.
They're sitting on the same boat.
And probably it was all about the AMG GT3 for the Nordschleife and settling that deal.
And they must have had a big laugh about that at our expense.
So I think there are so many moving parts.
I'm not discounting the McLaren story at all because it makes perfect sense to me.
But I think they're a long way away from figuring it out.
The McLaren would make more sense to me in the long term,
maybe because partly as well for the Mercedes angle, you know,
they've got the Verstappen now.
This time last year, you know, we're unsure how well until he's performing.
Now there's no doubt.
Like when you've got some performing, like the level he is, you know,
why would a two or three look anywhere else?
So that that lineup compared to 12 months ago just looks incredibly strong.
So that's a kind of another.
I would do it.
I would love to see it and I would do it simply because he's 19.
And Verstappen's on a short term contract then anyway,
he's not going to go into the 2030s.
So imagine how good Antonelli could be
alongside Verstappen learning from him in a way
that perhaps he can't learn from other drivers.
So if you take the long view, it would be maybe to Antonelli's benefit
to have Verstappen next to him because he will be the finished article
in four years, not tomorrow.
And that could could maybe make him an even better driver.
Plus, there's so much respect there.
If I look at Verstappen, I think there are two drivers on this grid
that he really, really, really rates alongside himself.
And that's Lewis and that's Kimmy.
And and that could be very interesting.
Yeah, it's it's got an element of risk.
And I don't think Antonelli, I mean, basically we rehashing a conversation
we rehearsed when we had a coffee in the paddock on the on Sunday.
But I like the idea of trying to throw together Antonelli and Verstappen.
But it does come with risks and Antonelli is not going to accept
being the number two for a few years, doubly so, given there's every chance
he'd be well championed by the end of this year.
But that would make such a fascinating battle, isn't it?
Wouldn't it? Because you'd have the new Verstappen versus the actual Verstappen.
And what a storyline that would be for Formula One.
But and and I don't think it would hurt Mercedes, actually,
because of the way these two are both wired.
It's not someone like the Lewis Rosberg thing was someone who felt he was
the best as someone who thought he had to punch above his weight
and give everything one year to to try and make it try to get that one shot.
And these there's at opposite ends of career paths as well.
Verstappen and Antonelli.
I think also because they've had the similar upbringing and a similar route
into F1, I think they could be a massively good pairing.
But it could also be that he stays at Red Bull or goes to McLaren.
So who knows at this point, I just want to see it.
I definitely want to see that.
That would be absolute box office and everyone else might as well stay at home
if they wheel out of the staff and Antonelli line up.
That's going to be a very hard to beat.
Nelson, do you think if we'd been in conversation last year,
you'd still be advocating for that and Antonelli's part?
Or do you think because of the step he's taken, he'd be more able to deal
with that the staff and element?
Or do you think it had made no difference, even if we were talking about this for 26?
I think if we'd had this discussion last year and we did,
it would be more the apprentice and the master.
But there's so much more room for Antonelli to grow.
He cannot be done at 19 as the finished article.
Verstappen wasn't he got into his prime in 23, 24 years old.
And then he had to wait for a car to give him the opportunity.
There is room for improvement and there's no better way to improve
than to measure yourself alongside probably the best driver on the grid.
Or if not, one of the best drivers of all time.
And it would definitely make sure Kimi never gets complacent in the next three years.
So that would be very interesting.
And to me, and I said this to you on Sunday in that conversation, the coffee.
The emergence of Antonelli and the realization of this field
of what Total Wolf saw earlier might keep Verstappen in F1 longer
than he initially anticipated, because I think it tickles him completely.
He's dealt with Hamilton in a way, but there's huge respect.
But Hamilton is a little older and he knows, I think I can beat him.
If I look at it from the outside, I see Verstappen thinking.
I have to be at my best every day with this kid.
And that's a lot of fun.
And I think it has changed the equation a little bit for him.
It's a concerning scenario for Red Bull, a continuing concerning situation,
you could say, given that if it would be one thing, if Verstappen were to walk away
from Formula One and say, oh, I always said, I wouldn't go on that long.
I've had enough.
I've won everything multiple times.
I'm going to go and enjoy the other things in life.
But if he was to jump to another team, maybe even with a deal of
a deal that's done in 12 months time, that's not a great endorsement, is it?
Of what's going on at Red Bull and we are seeing a new Red Bull racing,
a new Red Bull F1 operation, the more corporate Red Bull.
I still have question marks in my mind about whether this is going to be a
continuation of what made the old Red Bull team so good.
Austria was encouraging because they put the upgrade on and it made that car
into a potential race winner.
So that was a positive.
But you look at all the stuff going on with the Aduo situation.
Would they have ended up in that situation under the old regime?
I'm not completely sure.
So that's something that Verstappen is going to be a great test of.
And that's why there's so much of this positioning going on behind the scenes.
And it's amazing, Josh, I mean, you went to Austria, but one of the things
I often try and do, keeping in touch with driver managers just through
the field is always really important because you can exchange information
and you kind of get your regular updates about the evolution of the driver market.
And the question that always comes up is, oh, what are you hearing about Verstappen?
Because Verstappen is the kind of the key mover because there's people
who are eight steps removed, who are kind of playing at the bottom end of the driver market.
Even if you're somebody who's desperately trying to get into F1 or
desperately trying to hang on in F1, well down the food chain, there's
the potential for Verstappen move to change the landscape, a bit like the
Hamilton thing in 25.
So it feels to me like one of those scenarios where, right, at this moment,
it looks like Verstappen's staying for next year, but that doesn't mean,
does it, Josh, that we just assume that will definitely not change
because it could change in a week or two's time.
These things are really, really volatile.
And who is their north star, right, beyond that?
Because Ferrari, you know, the Clare is locked in now, God knows 2049 is his contract.
And, you know, Mercedes, obviously have Anthony doing very well.
So they've got their kind of permanent north side hope.
McLaren, you know, are very happy with Norris and Piastri.
But again, what do Red Bull do?
It feels like they're in a scenario where I guess they just almost by default
have to take whoever Verstappen replaces.
So should Verstappen move to McLaren in 28, then Red Bull take one of their drivers,
which is fine, but again, it's not the biggest vote in confidence
that you're kind of having to take them by default.
So yeah, I worry about long term vision also because it feels like the changes
haven't fully cemented yet.
So you've still got GP working there.
You've still got, you know, Paul Mahon potentially leaving, obviously still working there.
So we haven't even seen the full new version of Red Bull.
There's still a bit of the overhang and a bit of the, I guess, the fruits
of the previous regime still coming through a little bit.
So I'd still want to see what a completely new Red Bull does because, yeah,
they've clearly got some good technical people still.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to deliver that upgrade.
But I still have question marks.
Does it have the steam to carry on and keep rolling in the wave at Red Bull?
So good at through the years and through a regulation cycle.
Can they keep up that pace rather than just starting, I think,
in a pretty decent shape as I have done.
And what is very interesting there is that Verstappen this year has been so vocal
about the fact that he feels the technical team haven't listened to him for years
now and that they're recurring problems with this car.
And there was something, and I'm going to dive deeper into it next
weekend in Silverstone, it was something, there was a line there after the race
on Sunday where he thought I could have won this, but there were issues with the
car again, he said, that helped me back.
And there was definitely stuff there that he wasn't happy with.
And I just, I fear a little bit for Red Bull, that connection with Verstappen.
And in this case, Pierre Wachet isn't what it should be.
And Verstappen doesn't always feel totally understood in what he requires, what he needs.
It's such a small sample size, right?
Red Bull ring, one race.
In another three races, we could be looking at a completely different picture
because behind Mercedes, everything is volatile.
Every time it's a different team that sort of nips at the heels or in the case
of Ferrari, one race, but then there is, there's nothing.
And yes, they had a shot at winning at the Red Bull ring.
But I think we need to very clearly look at Antonelli's pace in the final stint.
Because I think had Antonelli driven a slightly better first stint, he'd run away with it.
And that is something Verstappen is very aware of.
I think one thing that's also important to note with this story, because people have listened
to this and were saying, oh, it's all about, actually, it sounds a little bit inconclusive.
But this stuff with Verstappen and McLaren, it's not like there's been no conversations
with McLaren over the past few years.
Because, as I always say, all of these drivers, all their representatives, their management
and the team bosses or whoever's dealing with it with the driver recruitment,
they're constantly having conversations.
So these are lines of communication that are that are always there.
And the key point you want to get to is when it really gets to the point where somebody says,
right, let's do a deal, let's let's work, let's hammer out the detail of this,
because there have been lots and lots of kind of groundwork.
So that's what I think we're seeing still now is this just it's always
to turn all groundwork on the Verstappen side.
But that does mean that if you lay that groundwork, it comes a point where you might do what
say Lewis Hamilton did.
And then it suddenly like, bang, I signed for Ferrari off I go.
And that's the thing that we could we could be working towards.
But it's it's something worth bearing in mind that you see a driver market story doing the rounds.
It's yeah, there's been a conversation, but those conversations are always rumbling on.
And if they're not, then as a driver, you need to replace your manager.
Yeah. And you say, let's do a deal.
Who's the best deal maker in this paddock?
It will be Zach Brown to my in my mind.
And from his point of view, if we see it from his point of view, he's got two drivers
who are quite equal in in in speed.
They go about it a different way.
One of them is a world champion.
The other day, I've had some issues seemingly with management and I had to
force some things through there.
Last year was a bit bruising, but he's he's not running just an F1 team.
Can you imagine what his sponsor dollars will mean with Verstappen on board?
When he says, oh, and by the way, we're bringing an extra car to Daytona and Le Mans.
Oh, and by the way, I have a team racing at the Mount Panorama in Bathurst.
Max, you want to do different things?
I've got GT trees.
I've got a hypercar.
I've got it all for you.
Let's build something really big together.
And orange and papaya are not so far apart.
He's a marketing guy.
He will have made at this point, he's made the calculation and he'll be talking
to the Barangays and and say, OK, what will we need to get Verstappen on board?
If he wants to do it, he will never say it publicly because he can't kick out
Piazzari before the deed is done because I feel it would be Piazzari would be on
the chopping board, but it just makes from a marketing point of view so much sense.
And if you then have Rob Marshall and you've got Lambiasa Verstappen
there together, then you also bring what Zach Brown has tried to bring to this team.
All the time is like a technical direction.
People working in unison in one way or another to to make sure that they get
on top of Mercedes because that's what Zach is realizing right now.
I think they are quite clearly behind in terms of deployment, cooling,
in terms of a lot of things that are engine related behind Mercedes.
And and that's another fun position to be in for them.
Yeah, there's the whole question of under this engine formula, is it more
difficult for customer teams to thrive?
And that's something that McLaren have admitted.
They didn't expect the the disadvantages of being a customer to be so clear.
And the counter argument to that is that that disadvantage will never be bigger
than in the first year of a power unit regulation, just because of all of those
unknowns and the new things you have to take into account.
So that could return back to what we saw last year, when a customer team
could win both championships.
So yeah, we can't give you a yet Verstappen's going to go here or there.
But that's our understanding of the situation and our analysis of where it all sits.
But the Verstappen driver market rumblings, I think, are going to keep coming
round and round and round.
And there'll always be something driving it.
But it's rarely quite as simple as it's as it may appear.
So I'm sure we're going to be coming back to this subject again in the future.
We're going to move on to some listener questions.
Now, these, of course, are sent in by the Race Members Club.
Hit the link in the episode description or head to Patreon and search for the race
to find out more about everything that's going on there, thriving community,
bonus content, bonus podcasts in particular on Grand Prix weekends
and question asking privileges.
And that's exactly what ADPO has taken advantage of doing by sending in this
question that links very nicely to our first part, because it's all about the
other Red Bull driver.
And ADPO says, how concerned should Isaac Hajabi, Norris and Leclerc
both underperformed in Austria?
And he wasn't the only front running driver a step behind their teammate,
but he's the only one defeated by slower cars.
His gap, worryingly, follows the trend of recent years as the second Red Bull
driver is close to and occasionally even eclipses Verstappen while the car is
uncompetitive.
But as soon as the performance ceiling rises Verstappen advances, while the
second driver is left behind.
So Nelson, Isaac Hajabi, how worried should he be?
Well, I think he should be a little worried.
On the other hand, there is no helmet Marco there to kick him out early.
So he will get more time.
On the other hand, I'm a little worried because I know you do this as well.
But to listen to his onboard radio is traumatic.
Even if you're not his race engineer.
There is an issue there.
I have tremendous respect for him.
I thought he did immensely well last year.
It's done well this year.
But my God, is he highly strong and it might be a little problematic there.
And it's something to keep an eye on because what is Red Bull?
What is the Red Bull organization going to do anyway with Solov?
And his position may be the shakiest somehow because I think Lawson and
Limblat are doing an exceptional job at the moment with the material they have.
And what is going to happen in as the pressure mounts, if Verstappen gets
more and more competitive, dialed in himself, which could see him
get interested as soon as the car got got super competitive.
Does this mean that a weekend like this is now the new normal?
And how is he going to deal with that?
And what does that do for his position within the Red Bull family?
I think he's sometimes flying a little close to the sun with the way he's
dealing with the team.
So it's problematic.
It's curious because I guess there was hints of that last year
with racing balls, that kind of thing, but it didn't sort of put them off
promoting him to the senior team.
So I wonder how that affected into the calculation.
I guess for me, it's like I'm more comparing it to that second Red
Bull the last few years, and it is a huge step up on that still, even if he is
further away, I guess like in Austria, who's what, just under 30 seconds
behind Verstappen in the race, which is weird to say, because that's not great.
But compared to kind of previous years, it's not Pierre Gasly being lapped
in 2019 type situation behind Verstappen.
So it feels like he's still doing enough just because he is doing a better job
than what we've seen in the last few years.
The average quality gap I think is about three tenths.
And there has been some weekends where he's just, you know, qualified
right alongside Verstappen or have the same pace.
And that is such a rare thing.
I'd like to hope that buys him more time because at the end of the day,
you know, I think the last thing they need is to change that second driver again.
So, yeah, it is a curious one.
But I feel like only because how bad some of the other teammates have done there,
I think hopefully it would just take a bit of the pressure off.
Yeah, his qualifying deficit to Max is closer than Yuki Sonoda's was last year.
But Sonoda had times when he was really close, but that would make
the difference in Q3 and Q1, or in Max Verstappen teammate terms, really close,
which is for a lot of other teammates, a bit of a bigger gap.
But he's had a really strange season had job because he's done well without
that often coming out of it with numbers and results that say he's done well.
So it still feels like he's sort of standing in the middle of that sort of
seesaw and it's not clear which Andy's going to end up on it.
But I would I sort of lean towards the sort of gently positive about had job.
But yeah, that the stuff you talked about, Nelson, is a bit of a concern.
I've got quite a high tolerance for the radio comms provided it's not provided.
It's kind of a positive thing to do, provided it's a little bit of venting
and that calms him.
But I'm not convinced that that's matched with I don't think that's
a venting off and then mentally sort of super, super, super calm.
But we will see him improve that as well.
So really interesting catch that there's a lot of ability there in had job.
And I'm not 100% sure which way we'll go.
But the good thing is, is he hasn't sunk without trace instantly,
which is the first challenge.
One kind of benefit, though, is the gaps between the teams, right?
You look at a weekend in Austria and the top four teams are very clearly ahead
of the rest.
So like if you do have a deficit, a few 10s, like I said, the difference last year
was what Sonoda was out in Q1 or Perez was out in Q1.
Now you can be three or four 10s off and you're just sort of eight and it's fine.
And it's curious that does kind of change performance picture a bit
and gives him a bit more breathing room because when your weekend isn't ruined
because you're not starting 18th or 17th, you're starting eighth or ninth
and maybe you can can claw back a little bit.
So that also skews the picture and probably the, you know,
you keep Sonoda watching at home or even Perez over at Cadillac thinking,
oh, I wish I had this Red Bull because at least it's it's competitive
and there's a bit of a gap and margin to the midfield that they spent
so much of their time fighting against.
Question to you guys, though, then, if Solov takes the F2 title,
what should the Red Bull organization as a whole do then?
They've got to put them in, right?
Based on what we've seen so far, but who gets the job?
It has to be Lawson for me because I'm that old school Red Bull mentality of
you need to find the drivers who are going to be in the senior team.
You need to find that is the one objective above who is going to score
the most points for racing balls.
If it's who scores most points for racing balls, probably Lawson,
because he's a great team player.
He's a really good point scorer.
But in my mind, at least how I'd run the Red Bull teams is I want
the best driver in the senior team and Lawson's not wasn't that
and he won't be in the future.
So let's try the next kid, and especially because Lindblad's been decent.
So he can be the new benchmark.
Yeah, I think if it was any of the other teams, you'd say, yeah,
you definitely keep Lawson because you make the best short to medium term
decision for your team in terms of what results you will get.
But that's not the Red Bull ecosystem.
The only thing we don't really know is what kind of new Red Bull's view is.
There may be some slight difference in perspective or opinion.
But what's the point of having a driver scheme if you're not going to put
somebody who say wins F2 and OK, there's winning F2 and there's you can win
F2 really well or you can win F2 less well is possible to do the phrase.
How he's going right now.
He's doing it really well. Exactly.
Yeah, the phrase I always remember is when Roman Grosjean was being rehabilitated
and it was he was on the the Gravity Sports Management Programme,
which is the the genius capital owned one.
They also owned Renault.
So Eric Bouillet, who was running the well at the end of the Renault,
the endstone F1 team, so many names.
And I remember the phrase that Eric Bouillet, who was running the F1 team,
who held Grosjean speed in high regard, as I did, said, kept said,
he kept telling him, you don't just have to win F2, you have to be the boss.
And yeah, if Solov can do that and he's potentially trajectory to that,
then you sort of have to to put him in.
Otherwise, what's the point?
You know, driver scheme.
But then again, we have seen the occasional deferral, haven't we?
Gasly spent a year or well, it's just under a year in the end
because you did get get his chance.
But they they parked him in super formula for for a season.
So you could see something like that.
But it's going to be a really interesting signal for what that team wants to do.
And obviously, there's a ripple effect there for for Hadjar.
But I guess the positive for Hadjar is that neither of the racing bulls
incumbent drivers are putting a huge amount of pressure.
I'd be surprised if ever go back to Lawson, to be honest.
Yeah, which I think is unfair, to be honest, because I think he didn't get
a fair shake of it.
And I think if you look at this season, if you dive into the numbers,
I feel Lawson is outperforming himself compared to his other seasons.
He's having an exceptional season.
He's doing really well.
And it speaks volumes that Limblat is as close as he is.
But there's to me no doubt who at this point is the better performer this year.
And I think I think it would speak volumes to the new Red Bull leadership
to let go of the cutthroat mentality and give him another shot.
But that would be me.
Well, it's it's the way he was he was dropped off to two races was
that's ridiculous.
Absolute indefensible nonsense because you can't you can't do that.
You put him in there.
You've got to let it play out.
I think Lawson probably is a few to do as we always do at the end of the
year, rank the drives and do our top 10.
There's a very, very good chance that Lawson would be inside the top 10.
I think for me, probably I sort of thought it through, but he's probably
in that seventh to 10 bracket somewhere so far.
Limblat has been impressive.
There have been times when Limblat has kind of had an underlying pace
advantage like Spain.
I think Lawson was the stronger one in Austria.
But it's the strange thing about Red Bull.
It gives you opportunities, but then you end up in this weird position
where ultimately delivering and doing your job isn't necessarily enough.
And Lawson is delivering and doing his job in a way he hasn't been able to
before in Formula One.
And this is his first kind of normal season by which I mean, it's the
first time it's a full season where he's had a preseason test and a
winter to prepare and he's not been sacked after two races.
So this is this is the first sort of full fat Lawson season.
So it's only fair to see how that plays out.
So yeah, I'm not sure what direction they're going to go in.
But yeah, Hajar, Hajar is going either way at the moment.
And I hope he does just make a good step because I think there's been
plenty of promise.
I should hope the other teams are paying attention as well to what Lawson is doing
because look at someone like Gaz, they know there's not a shot in there.
The senior Red Bull team, you know, Alpine sort of noticed and now he's
leading that team.
So I think Lawson could do that that same job for a different team.
Yeah.
And I think people will will notice that Red Bull sort of cast off drivers don't
have the best pickup rate in Formula One, but it does happen.
Obviously Alpine is a good example at Williams.
So yeah, I mean, that's quite a long way off at the moment.
But yeah, if one of your juniors wins F2, you probably when you've got a junior
team need to put them in it, don't you?
So that has a knock on effect.
Right, Josh, your question from Oscar Robledo.
What's happening to Williams and are James Valls' days numbered?
They look like they were improving and in the midfield, but seem to be the
third slowest car.
I think there's a few things going on.
I think some of the circuits haven't played to their strengths.
So it makes it look like they've taken a step back.
But in reality, for Williams, it's all about that back up grade, which is going
to be fairly transformative for the car.
That's just a long way off in September.
So I think it's going to be a bit of a painful run before then.
They've got a little bit of an upgrade at Silverstone, but I'm not sure
that's going to be too transformative.
So I think we will just see that Williams swing between being able to sort
of snipe at the top 10 or otherwise being out in Q1.
I think on the point about, you know, as Valls' days numbered, I don't think so.
Clearly, a lot of things went wrong at the start of 26, end of last year as well.
And they're still paying the price for that.
And all these bad weekends are just a consequence of the mistakes made then.
So I feel like Valls and that team deserve a second chance to put things right.
We need to let that play out.
We need to let that back up grade play out.
And if it turns out that that grade doesn't do much and the team is still
in difficult position, then questions can be asked.
But for now, I think we need to give them a little bit of time.
But it's not nice for Albon and Sines, two drivers who I think are performing
at a very high level.
Sines in particular, I think, has had a really impressive year.
But unfortunately, just not at the car and just endless amounts of issues
really for both of them, just sessions to session.
There's so many wasted sessions with technical issues or problems
and just a horrible car to drive for two drivers who deserve a lot better.
Yeah, last I heard that car was still something like 17 kilos overweight.
That was in Spain, I think, or Catalonia, Barcelona, Catalonia.
That's what we have to call it now with the race names.
So we're going to see a step with that.
I think there's there's new monocoques coming around
about backhoe time that will take a chunk off that.
So I think with Vals, as I've said before, he spent he was in credit.
He spent a bit of that credit.
But I think what decides Vals is fate is the reaction from this.
You go through the troubleshooting process, you fix the things that have gone
wrong and then you see where you get to at the start of next season.
And that that kind of puts everything into context.
Formula one teams are so fast moving when it comes to actually doing
things and working through problems, et cetera.
But the actual trends and performance trends and the causal effects
and the how good's leadership, et cetera, cetera.
These have to play out over almost glacial time span.
So we can only really judge the full significance of the problems
they're having now by how they pull out of them over the next 18 months.
But I know there are reservations there as as well on which topic.
There's a question from William Beast, I'll take, who says, could Williams
be facing the prospect of losing Carlos Sainz and Alex Albin at the end of the season?
They could.
My understanding is both have contracts that they can get out of on performance
on team performance basis, should they want to.
However, although that's possible and obviously Williams will be,
as we said before, driver market, you position yourself, they'll
there'll be conversations going on about who they might get in,
whether it's for next year if they lose one or even years beyond that.
I suspect we might end up with the Williams drivers staying where they are
because you end up with that problem of, well, where do you jump to?
I guess science is probably the more likely to move because he might be the one
who if an unexpected bigger seat comes up, he'll be higher on the list than Albin would be.
I feel like Albin's main choice would be a sort of sideways or even sideways
and back a bit move.
I feel like you're better off in that scenario, just sort of riding it out
with William, seeing where you get to.
There's no point in jumping to Hass, is there?
With all with all respect to Hass.
Well, that's an interesting one.
That's an interesting one, because what do we consider a bigger seat from
where Williams is right now?
Do we believe Williams is the de facto best of the rest team?
Or is this just based on, on, let's say, previous, previous records?
Could Albin be the de facto best of the rest team now?
Or is Hass with their Toyota investment on a trajectory where they could be?
These are questions that these driver managers are asking themselves.
Does Williams have the potential with the limitations they have on the infrastructure,
with the clear limitations they've shown in organization this winter?
Do they have the ability to position themselves at, let's say, the automatic best
of the rest slot, if not, then a seat at Albin, even Hass, would become
way more interesting than it would normally be to these guys.
Because if you don't believe that Williams has the opportunity to beat Albin year and
year out, then why be at Williams compared to Albin?
And even us and Martin will surely be a team that people pick up here in
Arton because, yes, the miles away right now, but that upgrade in Hungary before
the summer break, if that delivers a substantial step forward, and if the
Honda engine also does, then that could even look in a different position.
If that's got a trajectory to at least get to the front, then, you know, they might
even think, well, maybe we'll better off there, even if it is a step back to begin
with, obviously the potential for that to leap forward, I'd say, is higher than
somewhere like, I guess Albin or Hass.
So I guess that's another question that they'll be asking themselves as well.
All of these teams will now understand that getting towards the front means fifth
in the constructors.
The gap is too big.
The, the, the resources that were put into these teams before the, the budget cap
came in also mean that they stay there in terms of infrastructure.
There is no catching up in the short term for any of the other teams.
You can snipe at them.
You can get the odd podium, but to be consistently there, it seems like a
bridge too far.
So that puts a different spin on it.
If you're a Carlos sciences manager.
Yeah.
And ultimately, I think if you look at, say the potential of a Williams versus
a Hass, they're both requiring long timelines to develop.
And probably the timeline would be longer for Hass, given it's in the nicest
possible way.
It's kind of half a team because it is reliant on for, for our reparts, uh, in
order to, to operate.
So they've got lots to do.
So that's why I'd be worried about Hass much as I do like things about the
Hass team.
I think they are very, uh, very nice, sharp, you run team.
I mean, I'd look at, I'd look at a team like Audi.
Um, they still need to grow a bit, but clearly a good chassis.
Uh, the engine for the first attempt, I think it's pretty, pretty encouraging.
So I'd sort of think, okay, Audi, but I think Audi seats won't come up to 28
at this stage.
So that's something for, uh, down the line, uh, Alpine, they're currently
give or take best the rest.
Let's just say they're the fifth best.
Well, this team has been there before it was there in 18.
It was there in 22 that doesn't stop a pretty significant chunk of the time
around that being abject nonsense.
And it's what I mean in terms of you have to look over the big trends like the
last six months for Alpine have been impressive, both on and off track.
And obviously the foundations for that recovery were being laid last year.
But if you, if you look at Williams and Alpine now, it tells you one story.
If you look at Williams and Alpine now with last year in, in the picture,
it tells another story.
So again, it's what the driver managers are doing.
So I think this is why we are seeing currently at this moment as a scenario
where the 27 driver market seems relatively flat.
And there's a few obvious seats.
Our cons has seen the question about what a Lonzo does.
So, yeah, to come to circle back to the question, both Sines and Albin are sort of,
well, they must be looking around.
It would be in their interest to, but neither is going to be stupid enough
to just jump out of Williams for the sake of it and then jump out of Williams.
Oh, where are we now?
Oh, we're driving for who knows what, you know, you, you want to make sure that the
move you make is good and strategic and for the right reasons.
And I think both of them would like to see signs that Williams is going to make a
fix the problems.
And yeah, they've learned from this.
They've, they've run into a limitation.
They didn't understand.
They've troubleshot it onward and upward.
I'm not 100% convinced that's what either of them are seeing right now,
but that's going to play out over the coming months.
But yeah, both of those two are in that same queue.
Everyone's in it.
Let's see what's happened.
Let's see what else happens elsewhere in the driver market,
just in case something happens.
Because scientists sitting there thinking something happens with one of those
big teams and they need a driver and it's not someone from within that system,
then science is the first one you go for.
Probably, isn't it?
I mean, yes, if you're Ferrari, it's Ollie Bam.
And so there's a few cases like that, but science is if you want a proven
Grand Prix winning driver who you know will be additive to your team,
who you know will do a super professional job, contribute heavily on and off track,
get you results, then science is the most proven available package outside the top
four teams.
And he knows that.
So he just has to hold and see if something happens.
Let's finish off with another quick fire batch of questions from listeners.
The first for you, Nelson, a short and simple one,
but with an interesting answer from Motorsport Mike.
Is racing bulls the best of the midfielders?
It's the most consistent.
That's for sure.
I may not have the highest ceiling, but they're always there or thereabouts.
And this team under Ellen Perman is starting to be really strong,
really consistent, very happy as well, the team.
So, yeah, they may not be always the fastest of the midfield runners,
but they may they might be the best.
And that counts for a lot.
Yeah, Alpine's got more points.
We have seen a trend over a few races prior to Austria of the Alpine being faster in the
race situation and the racing bulls being faster and qualifying.
But the racing bulls race pace was really good in Austria.
So let's see how that continues.
Yeah, the Alpine might still have higher peaks.
That's going to be a really interesting battle.
And actually racing bulls is showing signs.
Finally, that team of more consistently delivering on its result potential,
which has been its problem for quite a few years now.
So many times you look at it and you think
that car could have been fifth in the Constructors Championship.
They finished sixth.
That car could have been sixth.
They finished seventh.
This happens a lot of times, but maybe it'll be a bit different this year.
Right.
Question from Samantha C.
Do you think the new Volkswagen round of layoffs,
which are rumoured to be some of the largest in automotive history,
will impact Audi's commitment to F1?
Well, I can't claim to be an expert in the automotive industry,
but obviously I'm aware of the layoffs.
My understanding, which I haven't checked in on in the past couple of weeks or anything,
but basically the aim is for the Audi F1 seems to be pretty self-sustaining.
So obviously you've got the tremendous team value.
They've got all the money coming in.
They've got the Cattiles got a stake in it as well.
So my understanding is that shouldn't affect the F1 team
because the idea is to make it quite a sort of self-sustaining business unit.
Now, there is always that thing of if you're a big car company and you're laying loads of people off,
it's not always a good look to have something as so obvious and publicly
seemingly frivolous as racing in Formula One when people are losing their jobs
and potentially putting very, very serious financial trouble for it.
But I think with where Formula One is economically, they should be okay.
They've got the Audi complication.
They're doing the power unit side as well.
But that's all cost caps as well.
So you know, you know what you're going to be spending.
And even with the Ado-O brakes, you know how much extra you can get, etc.
So I don't see any sign of that.
The only thing that could happen down the line, which is floating around for a while,
there's always the possibility they may sell more of it
because they've got an asset that's worth quite a lot
and it's more than they've paid for it.
So they might do that if they want to spend more money or invest more or whatever.
But the directive from the ownership, from the Volkswagen Audi Group ownership
is that this is not something we are throwing money in.
This is something that we want to exist and tick over without us subsidizing it.
So it's very different to if this was a team in Formula One, say 15 years ago.
Right, Josh, your question from Matteo Morgan.
Do you think that F1 would consider putting points down to 12th?
Audi are a good 11th place team and Cadillac is spending big money.
Both brands are here for coverage and to win eventually,
but they don't get a lot in the broadcast.
Is extending the points a way to help or is this diluting F1 to even consider it?
This question comes up every year, right?
It's a great question.
I think you can argue both sides.
Ultimately, the question mentioned Audi, they could have a lot more than two points
and that's nothing to do with the point system.
You know, the potential has been there, the bit of good car.
They haven't been able to execute or they had things like the, you know,
the bit of gravel going into Holkenberg's car in Barcelona,
which couldn't be helped and that cost them points.
So I'm not sure that's really the solution.
Cadillac, of course, scored a point on the road in Monaco.
So I think it's fine from that perspective at the end of the day,
even if these teams were finishing 11th for 12th,
just because they get some more challenging points,
I'm not sure that increases their appeal.
I mean, they're all here for proper results, for proper coverage.
And you still wouldn't see them on the TV that much,
even if they're 11th and 12th.
I'm not sure that would increase the appeal for Audi and Cadillac.
I think they'd rather just have a car that was finishing the top 10
just because that's better than the 11th or 12th
and who really looks at the constructors' championship anyway,
in terms of the fans, I don't think very many.
I think it's important.
I'd be interested to get Nelson's perspective on this as a TV commentator,
of course, of iPlay.
Netherlands, I don't like having points all the way down
because then the act of scoring points ceases to be a thing.
And I think it's always been good in Formula 1
to have the difference seen while they're in the points
or you're not in the points.
So it creates a bit more interest down the grid,
whereas if you're fighting for a two-point difference
between 16th and 17th,
then everybody's getting some number of points.
It's less interesting.
But some years ago, I did a look at your chance
of scoring points in Formula 1, historically, simply by finishing.
And that was when points had gone down to 10th at that stage.
And actually, it was within where it has been in the past.
In fact, there have been times in the past
where simply finishing gave you a better chance of scoring than.
Now, so there is the justification to maybe,
if you threw some numbers on it,
I would be willing to consider looking at 11th and 12th
depending on those numbers.
But do you think Nelson,
it's important to have that cutoff between points finishes
and non-points finishes?
Does that give you a narrative that is easier to frame midfield battles
than if it was just a morass of people just battling over arbitrary numbers
of points seemingly to the outside?
Yeah, it would be arbitrary.
If we go through the NASCAR situation, for instance,
where it's a few points here and there,
then the level of achievement is going to look at the enthusiasm
that was around Perez's potential point in Monaco.
There's a level of our sense of achievement there.
And I think we shouldn't take that away so we all can be winners.
They are all in F1 to win.
First, you need to be able to get to the points.
And that is an achievement in itself.
In the end, this is a sport.
To me, as a narrator of the race,
you've got something to talk about.
It would take the whole battle for 10th away or for 9th.
And lately it's been quite interesting around those 8th, 9th, 10th,
those final positions that are point scoring.
So why would you take that away?
Why would you then refocus everything on the front
because the rest is inconsequential?
I think it would work maybe in the wrong way
and have adverse outcomes for the midfield
because it becomes only inconsequential.
So yeah, it would be a no for me.
10 is fine, the top 10.
All right, question now from Sean Turner.
I'll throw this at you, Nelson.
George Russell's pace falling off
during seemingly every race aside from Australia
seems to point to a systemic issue and not just driver input.
Is there something fundamentally different
between George and Kimmy's cars and setups
when they're on high fuel?
I can't see this being purely a result of driving style,
especially when George has been excellent in quality.
It has been noticeable.
And what we know is that Antonetti is quite the seat of the pants kind of driver
and he's been manhandling this car in the race.
He is at his absolute best when he goes into this relentless mode
and he finds race pace.
We saw it last Sunday again.
Suddenly, bam, bam, it's 89 10 to lap.
And I know George, I had everything in hand.
It's all okay.
In the end, it was 1.6 seconds at the finish line
because Verstappen was there.
I think for Kimmy's race pace compared to Russell
is problematic for Russell.
And it's the one takeaway he could have taken from Barcelona.
Yes, he took points from Antonetti
because Antonetti didn't finish.
But ultimately he wasn't quicker at a racetrack
where he was supposed to be quicker, at least to our mind.
So I am pretty sure behind the scenes
he's working extremely hard to figure out the race pace.
And race pace and qualifying pace fundamentally are different
as is the driving style because you're on full fuel load.
You're worried more about deployment and harvesting
and you're taking into account your tire wear.
And it is here it seems to me that Antonetti
has the biggest advantage over Russell
because it's nip and tuck and Russell might be quicker
over one lap at the moment than Antonetti.
But in race pace, Antonetti is just relentless
and he won't let go.
And that I find very interesting
and a little problematic for Russell.
I'm sure he's got other words for it than problematic.
But yeah, that's, you just can't shake off Antonetti
even on weekends where it looks like
you might be able to like Spain.
He just can't.
All right, question from Ahmed Kamala that I'll take.
I feel like it's so difficult this season
to build a big picture narrative around performance for each team
because it's clouded by so many different parameters,
batteries, engines, brakes.
How do you disentangle a specific race situation
versus a more consistent bigger picture
when so many things are changing race to race?
Could you tell me a ranking of the top teams in thermal deck,
for example?
Well, I mean, on that last point,
often it does change with the track.
It depends on downforce levels
where you are in setup windows, balance, et cetera.
Just look at the different scene Ferrari
in that regard in Austria versus Barcelona.
And you've got slightly different downforce levels.
You've got slightly different balance problems
manifesting themselves there.
I think we are in kind of that perfect storm
of it being the hardest time to get those signals
of the characteristics because one,
we're right at the start of a new rules package
both in terms of power units and the cars.
So things are changing quite rapidly
and you're getting these pretty hefty upgrade packages
that are making a big difference.
So that's one factor.
You've had the factor of drivers and teams
adapting to getting the best out of the power units,
et cetera, et cetera.
So there have been more problems
dogging people as well,
more times that they've tripped themselves up,
et cetera, et cetera.
And it's easier to get in the wrong place on setup
and that kind of thing
because you're slightly less familiar with these cars.
It's your first time around with this spec of car
at all of these tracks.
So you're more likely to have a weekend
where your pre-race setup work
is a little bit out of the window, et cetera.
And then you've also just got
what I call more a wider F1 calendar scenario,
which is the same now every year
because the calendars are broadly the same.
But we end up basically
with this really weird start of the season
in that we have a run of races.
You end up with Miami, Canada, Monaco,
some sort of slightly unusual tracks.
So there are more outlier tracks
than they would normally be
if you went back to the calendar,
say 12 years ago, just to pull a random number.
So you get a slightly more firm picture
and that's a multiplying effect
on top of all of those other things.
So I do agree that it's a little bit harder
to get that set narrative,
especially seeing as there's been
that reset of the rules
because a lot of the characteristics
that you see of the 2025 cars
quite a few of them,
there was a direct connection between them
and the things they had in 24
because it was so evolutionary.
So there's all of these things going on.
But it's the thing that I really love
about Formula One,
these tiny differences
that make profound differences.
And if you want to know how tiny differences
can just swing everything
and that it's not preordained
what's going to happen on a Grand Prix weekend,
look at that back to back Silverstone
pair of races in 2020,
the British Grand Prix
then the 70th anniversary Grand Prix.
And because of a relatively small condition change,
it wasn't that I know there was a compound shift,
but that wasn't the reason for it.
It turned the race from one that Mercedes won.
I'm going to say quite easily,
even though they did have the tire problems at the end,
but you had a completely different race
seven weeks later,
seven days later,
when it was warmer
and you're having tire blistering
and that made the Red Bull
the quickest car in the race and it won
and the cars hadn't changed.
Same circuit.
If you're just standing there,
you would say the conditions
hadn't changed a huge amount
and these tiny things make huge differences,
but it's really hard to convince people of that
because we don't have many,
that's almost unique to have
a back to back race weekend
with very, very similar conditions
where just a small shift has transformed
what you have in the race.
First one of those races,
you want a Mercedes,
the second one of those races,
you want a Red Bull
and very, very little to change.
So that tells you how volatile
and sensitive all of this is.
So yeah, to sort of go back to your question,
yeah, it is difficult to build
a big picture narrative,
but like I like to say,
you fill the knowledge bucket as you go along.
So you keep,
when we talk about our expectations
going into race weekends,
you have your model of what the car may do,
you think, well, it should do this,
should do that,
and then you go there
and it's different, oh, that's interesting.
I wonder why that is.
And then understanding how what happens
emerges from what you expected
and the difference,
you learn a bit more from that,
which is why you need this constant model.
And it's just the way I look at it.
Anyway, right.
A final question for you,
Josh from Stephen James Ward.
It seems like the switch to flat bottoms
has solved many of Lewis Hamilton's issues
under the ground effect here.
Have you guys noticed any other drivers
having a better time quietly under the new rules?
Or was this phenomenon particular
to Lewis Hamilton's driving style?
It's a really hard question to properly answer
because again, almost like the last question,
it's hard to fully separate out all the factors.
So you look at who's stock has risen
or who's doing better than last year.
You've got Hamilton, you've got Lawson,
and Nelson mentioned earlier
as having his better year.
You've got Sergio Perez at Cadillac.
He's looking really good
and good compared to previous form.
You've got Frank Colopinto at Alpine,
looking very good compared to previous form.
But how much of that is really this generation of cars?
Take Colopinto, for example.
Clearly, he made a step in confidence
since his first proper full season.
He's also got a better car.
You know, he's not got the worst car on the grid
like he had last year.
He's now got a competitive midfield car,
that naturally helps a driver to have a better car.
So he's got the lift up.
Perez came out of that Red Bull environment
into a brand new team.
Honestly, I think if he did that under the ground
of Victoria, he'd have flourished as well
in a midfield team in a different environment.
So it's really hard to unpick.
For me, Hamilton's the only one that stands out.
And even with him, there's other factors influencing that,
like the fact that he's been properly involved
in the development of this Ferrari.
So for me, he's the clearest answer
and the rest all have question marks.
Unless Nelson is about to give me the name of the driver
who has been transformed by these cars.
And no, absolutely not.
I was just going to say, all of these drivers
are incredibly happy to have a more predictable car.
And most of the struggles that Hamilton had,
but signs in his early year in 22 with this regulation set.
Similarly, it was the unpredictability
of the last generation's car, the switch on downforce,
up or down, that they struggled with.
And I think a lot of drivers love the dynamics
of these chassis and aero packages.
But Hamilton looks a lot more.
I agree with you, George, a lot more like himself
under these regulations.
You know, I would say generally,
there's a little bit more room for the driver
to express their art,
which is a not very technical way of putting it
with these cars.
But you can get away with a little bit more,
whereas with the ground effect cars,
they need to keep the mechanical platform state.
Well, they need to have a mechanical platform.
They kept the aero platform stable.
The limitations you have on front end downforce
into slower corners, et cetera,
put some hard limits that you kept running into
and that hurt certain drivers.
But there's a little bit more space for that now.
Right, great batch of questions there.
Thanks to everybody who sent those in.
And thanks to Nelson and Josh for spending some time
in this very, very short turnaround
before the British Grand Prix to answer them.
We're all going to be at Silverstone in,
well, basically we'll be there in about a day.
So we'll all catch up there and we'll,
as myself and Nelson were doing in the paddock
in Austria on Sunday,
we'll be rehearsing our next podcast over some coffee.
So you're giving me a lift there as well.
So I hope you turn up because you're giving me a lift.
So I will be very screwed if we don't see each other
in Silverstone.
I will not be getting there.
I have got to give you a lift.
Yeah, because if you want to see behind the curtain,
we get media parking passes for races,
but you're limited to one per publication,
which it's always a problem at the British Grand Prix
because normally people are coming from different places.
So yeah.
Television is slightly different.
Well, television, you pay the big bucks.
So and of course.
Or they just want us commentators in a car all by ourselves.
Talking about drawing the curtain, people will love this.
Mel and I last year raced a I-20 Hyundai
or two years ago against Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari
all the way on some B road, all the way to Oxford,
and he had to work hard to get rid of Mel Roy.
So that was quite fun.
I won't name it, but one current senior person
in F1 scene with a high profile
did probably the lairiest overtaking maneuver
on me on a country road some years ago,
which was very much just about space for two cars.
So yeah, that sort of thing doesn't happen.
So that was very much a back road with no one on it.
Don't endorse that kind of behavior.
But anyway, we'll reconvene in the Silverstone paddock.
We'll reconvene for another podcast after the race as well.
So stay with us for everything you need to know from the world.
A Formula One.
The Athletic
About this episode
Max Verstappen’s future is the ultimate F1 puzzle, and recent rumors linking him to McLaren have sent the driver market into overdrive. Edd Straw, Nelson Valkenberg, and Josh Sutill dissect the behind-the-scenes talks between Verstappen’s camp and Zak Brown, exploring why a 2028 move might be on the table. The team also debates the tantalizing prospect of a Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli pairing at Mercedes, analyzing how the young Italian's rapid rise could motivate the four-time world champion to stay in the sport longer.
Original notes
After news broke in Austria that Max Verstappen's management have met with McLaren, we explain what’s really going on behind the scenes when it comes to the four-times world champion’s Formula 1 future.
Joining Edd Straw, to discuss what it all means for the wider driver market, are Josh Suttill and special guest Nelson Valkenburg, F1 commentator for Viaplay Netherlands.
There's also another batch of listener questions to tackle, with the future of the Williams drivers, Isack Hadjar's form, Russell's in-race pace fall-off and more on the agenda.
Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
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