Who will be 2026 F1 champion? Damon and Johnny give their verdict
Stay On Track with Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert
Who will be 2026 F1 champion? Damon and Johnny give their verdict
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Term
turbo
A turbo is like a fan that pushes more air into the engine to make the car go faster and have more power.
Term
battery
The battery is like a big rechargeable box that gives power to start the car and run electrical parts.
Concept
championships
Championships are like winning the whole season in racing. The driver or team who does the best over many races gets the championship trophy.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is a famous car company from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars.
Brand
McLaren
McLaren is a company that makes very fast and fancy cars, and they also race in big car competitions called Formula 1. They are famous for making cars that go really fast and have cool technology.
Concept
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing with very fast and special cars that race on tracks all over the world.
Company
Williams
Williams is a famous team that builds and races very fast cars in Formula One races.
Concept
F1
F1 is a type of very fast car racing where the best drivers and teams compete with special cars on circuits around the world. It's a tough and competitive sport.
Concept
karting
Karting is racing with small, simple cars called karts. Many professional race car drivers start by racing karts when they are young.
Term
works team
A works team is a race team that is backed by a car company. They get the best cars and help to win races.
Brand
Red Bull
Red Bull is a company that makes energy drinks and also has famous race teams. They look for new drivers to help them win races.
Concept
world champion
In racing, the world champion is the driver who does the best over the whole season and wins the biggest prize. It means they were the fastest and most consistent racer that year.
Concept
Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey is a very smart person who designs the fastest and best race cars in Formula One. He is known for making cars that win a lot.
Term
technical regulations
Technical regulations are the rules that say how race cars have to be built and what they can and cannot have. These rules make sure all cars are safe and the races are fair.
Concept
loophole
A loophole is like a small trick or gap in the rules that lets race teams do something special that others might not expect, helping them go faster or be better.
Brand
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is a company that makes fancy and fast cars. They also build special racing cars that compete in the top level of car racing called Formula One.
Concept
FIA
The FIA is like the referee in big car races. They make the rules and check that everyone follows them so the race is fair and safe.
Concept
dyno testing
Dyno testing is when they use a machine to see how strong and fast a car's engine is working. It helps teams know how good their engine is.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is a car company that makes fancy cars and also races in important car races.
Concept
combustion
Combustion means burning fuel inside the car's engine to make it go. Most cars use this process to turn gas into power that moves the car.
Concept
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics means how air moves around a car when it drives. If the car is shaped well, it can go faster and use less fuel because the air doesn't slow it down as much.
Car
Daewoo Statesman
The Daewoo Statesman is a big, comfortable car made by a Korean company a long time ago. It was meant to be fancy and nice to ride in, kind of like a car for important people. People might talk about it because it’s not very common and was a special kind of car for its time.
Term
sprint race
A sprint race is a short race that happens before the main race in Formula 1. It helps decide where drivers start in the big race and can give them extra points.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower tells you how strong a car's engine is, or how much power it has to make the car go fast.
Concept
Nürburgring
Nürburgring is a famous race track in Germany that is very hard to drive on because it has many twists and turns.
Concept
Le Mans
Le Mans is a very long car race that lasts a whole day, where drivers and cars try to go as far and as fast as possible without breaking down.
Car
Ford Dark Horse
The Ford Mustang is a famous fast car from America that lots of people love because it looks cool and goes really fast. It’s been around for many years and is known for being fun to drive. People talk about it a lot because it’s one of the most popular sports cars.
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The Athletic
World Championship
Coming up on this episode of Stay On Track.
So there will be a strong pairing, but there will be more determination
within the team from Oscar to stop Lando beating him again.
Well the apple cart is an interesting one.
When I was with Michael at Benetton, I remember I did an article somewhere
and I said, I want to be world champion this year.
And I think within about two hours there was another article that came out in Germany
that Michael responded to sort of say,
if he thinks he's going to win the world championship this year,
he's got another thing coming.
You know, we always hear about the kind of Zen master,
Kung Fu master, you know, who's 75 years old.
Yes.
You know, he can still lay everyone out.
Yeah.
Is that possible or is that just a load of rubbish?
Yeah, yeah, that I don't know.
Hello.
We're here.
We are.
Happy New Year.
Happy New Year.
Another one comes very, very quickly.
Last year, my law that went quick.
What did?
Hey, the year.
Oh, yeah.
The whole year.
It's scary.
Exactly.
Yes.
So anyway, yes, it's all going to be kicking off.
It's new regulation year.
It is.
What is it called the new regulation?
It's basically the 26 regulations.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
More updates, more changes.
But we're going to help you.
I'll try and understand it.
And we'll go through it.
We'll have a little look back before we move forward.
Yeah.
And think about what came out of 25 that's going to have an effect through into 26,
because well, certainly the cars are going to be totally different.
Totally different.
And that's going to take a lot of head scratching and learning new terminology.
Yeah.
Which we'll hope you will help you with or you could help us with.
Because actually, to be honest, quite a lot of learning there.
But so it is exciting.
And Landon Orris's world champion will have the number one on his car.
Yes.
Which is going to be good to see, actually.
And Max with a new number as well, changing his number.
So it's going to be interesting to see how the engineers deal with all the new
regulations from the combustion unit part of it to the 50-50 split of the batteries as well.
Losing the MGUH as well from the turbo side of it.
So that's going to be a big shift.
That was using the turbo to charge the battery.
That's not there, but the turbo is still there.
Yeah.
And yeah, but the battery's got massive.
So it's producing 50% of the horsepower.
Yes.
But I know a lot of the problems that they've been having is the depletion of the battery
during the running.
That seems to be the biggest thing.
Because the battery's not just there for a little bit of a boost.
It's actually there to help the power band of the engine as well.
So it will feel little gaps that maybe the combustion side of it needs.
But that's taken energy into the system.
But out of the battery system.
Then you've got to try and then balance how much of that power you're going to be using
from the electrification side of it.
So it's a big test for the engineers for sure.
And the drivers.
Yeah.
Because they're going to have to learn all this stuff.
It's new techniques for driving.
It's going to be a lot of fiddling about with the settings and parts of the circuit
they'll be able to use the maximum downforce.
So the front wings and the rear wings will be going up together.
And then when they get to the straight, they drop them.
So instead of DRS, the front wing goes down as well.
So they can actually use some corners.
They can go through those with the low downforce setting if they can.
As I understand it.
So it potentially means that drivers will be using different techniques around the circuit.
Whether they might mandate certain corners have to use downforce.
Yes, I hope so.
I hope that's going to be the way they have to use the high downforce setup as well.
Yes.
Which is good actually.
Well, that's good actually because I know at the moment they always use their race setup.
So if it rains, you can't adjust the wings.
So it's good that this actually you can adjust the wings to those
more downforce in a wet conditions.
That will actually make the racing better.
So lots of complications.
Yeah, lots of complications.
To confuses.
But we're going to try and get, well everyone's going to be absolutely mad
trying to get their cars to work first of all.
They've got to go testing.
So that'll be January and February.
They've got quite a lot of testing to do.
Yeah, big time.
And we'll be keeping a keen eye on that, won't we?
Yes.
It'll be very, very interesting seeing how the cars, how the teams cope.
We've got a new team coming in.
Yeah.
Cadillac as well.
As well.
Twenty-two.
Twenty-two cars.
Yeah, 11th team.
Going to get crowded in the pit lane.
Yeah, very much so.
It is, yes.
But actually watch, we kick it off with something.
Predictions.
Predictions?
Yeah, so we do some predictions.
Yeah.
Okay, I can't, I predict you're going to predict
the next thing that's going to happen.
Will Norris kick on to another level?
What is your prediction on that, Tamer?
Right, so he's done it, you know.
And there's a lot of comfort that comes from that.
He will be able to, to some degree, relax.
I mean, I think, you know, there's, there's,
it's a question of your amount of avarice you have to win.
Yeah.
I mean, I always thought when Michael won one,
one, two, three, four, five championships,
he'd have enough, but then he went to one, two more.
No, he's still going.
Yeah, sure.
So, and so some people, it propels them to,
to go on to win multiple championships.
I definitely think Lando's got more than one in him.
I think he's probably got three or four.
And the question is, will Oscar,
because he's in the same team with Oscar,
and Oscar did not exactly underperform.
There were moments that he dropped out last year.
He will go through the winter and think,
okay, what do I have to do to patch up those,
those little holes in my performance?
And he will find, he will find out how to stop that
happening again.
Of course, they've both been through a title fight
between themselves and then Max, of course, at the end,
putting pressure on them.
And they will have learned massively from that.
So there'll be a strong pairing,
but there will be more determination within the team
from Oscar to, to stop Lando beating him again.
Yeah.
And I think for me, Lando, he grew massively last season.
Really did learn what he needed to stop himself
from doing all the racetracks and crazy decision-making.
Let's go to Canada.
When he, when he crashed into the pit wall,
trying to pass his teammate, those sort of incidents
are something that you should never, ever really get yourself into.
So we're here to learn from that.
He'd be stronger from that.
Have we seen the best of Lando Norris?
No, definitely not.
I think there is still more to come.
That world championship will be very powerful personally
with, with him and the energy he takes into the car.
But he's still got to be very wary of his teammate,
like, like you said, but you've also got to work out
how to make the team work best
because it didn't work as its best last year.
Which raises the question as to whether or not Lando can,
they want to keep everything even in that team quite famously.
They wanted to have their papaya rolls and they want,
and I expect they will want to kick off the 26th season
saying, you've both got equal chance.
Good luck.
We might have learned a lesson from what happened at the end,
if we're getting some heat from someone else.
But, you know, we can't make these assumptions.
We don't know what car they've got.
We don't know, nobody knows what the format.
You could basically take the form book from last year
and tear it up and say, there may be a team.
There will be a team.
Now, don't test this wrong with them.
I don't think it will be Cadillac, but I might be wrong.
They may be that they know something we don't,
but it could be Ferrari, let's say.
It could have.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Or there's something working long enough.
There's a chance for someone.
So anyway, we make this assumption
that McLaren are going to continue their form into 26th
and we really can't do that.
No.
But they did, you know, let's say they're fighting
for a championship again.
They've got the experience of being in that situation.
They will have learned a lot.
But whether they've got the right strategy
that Red Bull adopts with Max of throwing everything
behind one driver is still a question.
I don't know.
I think when you're in a contention to win a title
and you know you've got a driver like Max,
it makes more sense to have a number one.
Right, I'm going to ask you a question.
And that question is, after winning the World Championship
with Williams and then when you moved over to Arrows,
what did you take with you?
What did you learn to make yourself better?
And of course, then a little bit later, obviously,
with Jordan as well.
Well, the teams I went to after Williams
were teams that were used to trying to copy
the people who were winning.
And the thing is, if you copy the people who are winning,
you're always going to come second to them
because they're already one step ahead.
So you have to kind of introduce the idea that
you have to find your own way
and you have to obviously keep an eye
on what the competition are doing.
But it's a bit like, Johnny, do you remember
getting in the lead for the first time
when you were in a race?
Yeah.
There's no one to follow, is there?
No.
It's a big theory.
It's not.
It is.
And suddenly you're out there and they're going to go,
where are they all gone?
Yes.
Because it is something.
Yeah, it's quite an almost scary moment
because it's something you've never really been
in that position.
All right, you've done it in carton and Formula Ford
or whatever it may be.
But Formula One is a very, very different thing.
So it's the same for the teams.
So the guys at Williams, they were innovating
and that meant that they had no book to copy.
They had no instructions.
They were making up the future
that was that everyone else was going to follow.
And that's a very different place to be.
It's, as you said, it's scary
because you don't have a manual.
You're just having to trust that your knowledge
is the way forward.
Yeah.
I'm exaggerating slightly
because actually I led for a lap in Brazil.
So it only lasted a lap.
Wait, I'm in carton.
And then, oh wait, yes, I know that.
But F1 is a very, very different pressurized pot to be in.
So that's a different thing.
So with Jordan, when I went there,
I had to kind of knock it out of them saying,
let's see, it's no good copying what everyone else is doing.
You need to be able to find your own way forward anyway.
So, but a driver needs to do that
and needs to be able to teach them in many respects
just to think differently and out of the box.
Because I do remember that on strategy
when we didn't have all the computers
and everybody telling us what we should
and shouldn't be doing.
The driver sort of felt what was going on.
And I do remember one race at Salba in Hereth,
in there, sorry, in Barcelona.
And I was the only driver to start on the soft tyres,
which actually worked out being a risk worth taking.
And sometimes you're right,
a driver's input, and I think Lando's input,
we have more power than we think when we're in a team.
You mean political power?
Yeah, political power, but yes, just power generally as a driver.
Well, you know, so we were starting,
we were talking about Lando.
So will that, I think the team have got faith,
they got faith in both their jobs,
but definitely what happens when you're a world champion is
you have a little bit more cachet.
So if I went from Williams to another team,
they were going, oh my God, I've got world champion in the team.
Exactly.
He must know something that's of value.
So that gravitas you have, I think, is sometimes,
sometimes it's misplaced.
You know, I don't know, I didn't know everything.
I only knew what, I didn't know how to design the car.
I think they knew, but the mindset, definitely, you know.
So you've worked with people who, like Patrick Head,
and you knew and so forth, who knew where they were going
and how to go about doing it.
So leadership is a big part of that.
It's very, very good.
You know, if you can instill, as a driver,
you can instill that into a team as well.
You can say, listen, you can do it.
You just have to change slightly the method you've got.
But his strength is going to be very, very important as well
against Oscar because he's, you know,
probably better than I do,
but I know he always tried very hard to try
and take control of the team.
You want it to be better and more in control
over your teammate.
And that's something I think Lando's definitely got to do
more of this season.
So will he grow?
Yes.
He will grow and he will be very, very pleased with himself,
proud of himself, as we saw when he won the championship.
He was, you know, their emotion was obvious.
And I was a little bit put out by some of the comments
that I heard after he won
because he has had a lot of help from his dad
and his dad's financial success,
you know, in the world of business has been a help.
Yes.
But, you know, he didn't do it because his dad was wealthy.
And of course, this is a thing with our sport
is that it's seen quite often as a rich person sport.
And you can understand why.
Yeah.
When you have someone like Lance Stroll,
his dad buys an entire Formula One team.
Exactly.
And he's still, you know,
driving in Formula One because of that.
That clearly is a very helpful asset.
But no one can give you the determination to succeed
and to drive yourself through what you have to go through now
to be successful and deliver.
I was talking to Trevor Carlin about the rise
through the ranks of Landon Norris.
And he was saying that the guy had no life.
You know, he was his whole life was angled towards
delivering himself in Formula One
as the finished article.
So all the training and all the preparation
and everything that goes into being a driver.
And he's worked very hard for that.
Yeah.
And it's a sacrifice as well.
It's not the normal day-to-day life that a lot of people lead.
It's something that you are just entirely focused on that journey
to get to Formula One.
And it doesn't matter to me if you've got all the money in the world
because if you're in karting, just for example,
you can't buy a better team than the works team.
You just are able to get into that works team
that little bit easier.
But when you're in that works team, you still have to deliver.
And Landon was able to deliver in all the formulas
that he was involved with.
And I think he should get a lot more respect for those doubters
because he has sacrificed a lot.
He's achieved a lot.
He's up against a teammate who everybody says
is going to be a world champion in the future.
Well, he's beaten that world champion in the future.
And I think it's something that with the strength
that he's got from winning last year,
he's only going to get stronger.
And I think hopefully people will then give him that credit
that he does deserve.
Other people say, of course, he's in the best car.
That's why he won the championship.
And you sort of go, as far as I can remember,
I think every car that's won the championship
in the last 10 years has always been the best car.
You started from a position of passion you wanted to race.
You weren't karting, but your dad paid.
But at those time it was just about affordable.
Well, we used to take chains and tires out of the bins
that had been discarded.
Well, so go and throw everyone in the car.
And then go and use those for testing.
Sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying there.
Yes.
No, we got all the stuff out of the bins,
and that's how we were able to afford it.
You were scavenging.
Scavenging.
Imagine if I did that nowadays,
that would be frowned upon nowadays.
What doesn't matter which frowned upon.
That's what you have to do.
So the point is, yes, I'm trying to get round to this.
It isn't impossible.
It's not insurmountable at a certain level.
I mean, I think karting is way too expensive.
There are ways of making karting.
And the entry level to this sport much, much cheaper.
Yeah.
And I used to do Club 100 with Josh when he started racing.
That's right.
And the reason I did that is
because I didn't know anything about karting.
I didn't do karting.
I started on motorbikes,
but I could afford to pay for the bike myself.
And I was a dispatch rider at the time.
So there has to be a level at which someone who can achieve some level of income
that means they have expendable
and they choose not to go on holiday
and they choose not to go.
They'll spend it on their go-kart.
There has to be a level there that enables people to get up the rung.
And then somebody will spot you.
Because they have people out there now looking.
Oh, now?
And Red Bull are a very good example.
Yes, very much so.
They're out there scouting for talent.
And we're both proof that actually I didn't have the money.
My family had enough money to go racing karts.
You had enough money to go into bikes,
but you didn't have a bank full of gold bullion
that you could just pick and choose when you wanted it.
You had to work for getting yourself on the racetrack as well.
So it proves it can be done.
Ernesto Manacón is the prime example for me now who's in F1.
He never came from money in the background.
Lewis, Lewis didn't have money.
His dad worked very, very hard to pay for it.
So anyway, listen, that's my little soapbox moment there with Lander.
I think Lander deserves it because I think he's worked really hard.
And I think what they've shown is with his dad Adams
that he's actually gone about it in an incredibly professional way.
But it does mean that you have to start when you're about eight years old.
I mean, so, you know, he didn't have this idea of getting sports people
and breeding them and coaching them from such an early age.
There's a cost of that in terms of their social development and all the rest of it.
But anyway, that's the same.
If you're going to win now, you're going to have to start very young.
And in any sport, football, of course, golf, tennis, whatever you want to do.
Tiddlywinks, whatever.
Tiddlywinks.
Yeah, exactly.
I don't know.
I reckon I could start twiddlywinks now.
And I reckon I could probably become world champion before I'm too old to play twiddlywinks.
Well, good luck with that one.
Right, let's move on.
Let's move on to another one.
I think you've got one for me.
Yeah, Isaac Hadjar.
So what an amazing season he had.
I mean, from the beginning, in tears being sold,
being abused by Helmut Marco for being a baby, a cry baby.
And then hugged by Anthony Hamilton,
who obviously something rubbed off from Anthony
because he just came back in a brilliant way.
And what a personality as well.
Yes, yes.
And it's good to see.
It was great.
So there he's owned his position.
Bye bye, Yuki, sorry to say.
But you did have another one.
But what will happen, Isaac Hadjar,
will he be the next, what's the word for them,
sacrificial lamb?
I don't know.
What are they?
That seat is, Max has said you need to be a number one.
You have a number one say,
forget challenging him within that team.
So what do you have to do?
He, Max has said also that he needs a number two
that can score points.
In other words, keep the other guys off the podium.
Absolutely.
Or the number one slot somewhere
and take points off the other teams.
Can he do that?
Can he do it?
Can he do that?
Now, if I do what he achieved last year,
he showed probably one of the strongest strengths, consistency.
And that consistency was there in qualifying.
He was always sort of sixth, seventh, eighth,
there are there are their routes
for the majority of the season.
But he was also able to get points consistently as well.
He was consistently ahead of Lawson as well
with that little bit more experience.
He probably wasn't someone that was on the tip of people's tongues
when he was doing F2, strange enough.
He had a good time in F2, never won the championship.
But I think he surprised so many, so many people,
probably including myself,
because I did like his work ethic within the team,
which was just to keep on pushing.
It's a little bit like we alluded to earlier on.
He seemed to be, you've got it, alluded to.
I don't think I listened to him.
I'm surprised you were listening.
I'm quite impressed you were listening.
But anyway, I got over that one.
And yes, it was like we were talking about.
He seemed to be able to be the one that was,
given them the information that they needed,
to be able to produce what he was producing on the race track.
Now, that's a strength that he can take to Red Bull, for sure.
But that's exactly what Max is thinking in a much bigger way.
Now, has Max matured over the last year?
I would say absolutely yes.
I was so pleased.
There was all the talk about the last race in Abu Dhabi,
about backing everybody up
and trying to get the championship won that way.
He didn't go anywhere near that.
He just went out and blew everybody out of the water,
effectively.
It was wonderful to see, just to say.
I mean, I have to say, when he said,
I would have had this championship won way before anyone else.
If I had the McLaren, I can't have agreed with that.
Yeah, the Papaya.
It would have been interesting how that Papaya
would have come into effect with Max being there.
So anyway, no, you're right.
I mean, I think he can.
What you're talking about is his personality as a factor.
You're saying Isaac Hajar's personality is engaging.
It's got to be, yes.
I think the teams like to work with someone like that.
That's important.
Yeah.
So he's not a quiet little mouse.
He's someone who is expressive without being abusive.
You know, I thought he was, some of his radio messages were a little bit fruity,
but he probably didn't expect everyone to listen to them.
No, no, no.
Yeah, but you need that, don't you?
You need that sometimes for someone to question what's going on and to make them think.
Again, he goes back to what you said.
He's making them think, well, maybe we're not doing the right call on strategy
or whatever it may be.
So a driver needs to do that.
Does Max do that?
Yes.
Did Lewis do it in his heyday?
Yes.
All the greats.
And is that enthusiasm?
When things go well, he's showing the team how delighted he is and how excited.
And then that that infects them as well.
They get a kick out of it too.
So he did a great season.
But it's it's big next.
Is it one level more?
It's almost like it's three levels more.
Yeah, yeah.
It's and that's where the pressure becomes from a family environment.
And it's well done.
Well done.
That was a great weekend getting sixth place or fourth place or whatever it may be.
And that was a really good result.
But you're not expecting that to happen every time.
So the expectations are very, very different.
And also he's sort of going to be the whipping boy for the team, isn't he?
You know, the results he is going to be the best he can do is a is a pat on the head
from Max, isn't it?
And the team sort of getting what you did or you could think he's going to have to
accept that in that team, Max rules and he's there to supporting act.
And it's whether you can get your head around that as a competitor.
Yeah.
Because would Max do that?
No, no, absolutely.
So in other words, are you are you will championship material if you can accept
coming number two?
I mean, it has to be seen as if he's going to go and do this job, Red Bull,
he's going to have to say, OK, I'm here to strengthen myself to learn
in order to be number one at some point somewhere.
But how do you how do you communicate that without upsetting the apple cart?
Yes.
Well, the apple cart is that interesting one.
When I was with Michael at Benetton, I remember I did an article somewhere and I said,
I want to be world champion this year.
And I think within about two hours, it was another article that came out in Germany
that Michael responded to sort of say if he thinks he's going to win the world
championship this year, he's got another thing coming.
And what happens?
And he was absolutely right on that front.
Then with Michael Schumacher again with Eddie Irvine, what did Eddie Irvine do?
He went into it thinking I am number two.
Yes, and that was probably the smartest thing he ever did,
because he got very close to winning that world championship in 1990.
Well, he had to have.
Michael had to break his leg.
No, I know.
I know he had to break his leg.
Yes, but his performances were very, you know, pretty good.
I have this image of Eddie going in the garage late one night, undoing the break,
whatever it was that failed on Michael's car.
He was in contention for the world championship.
Yeah, he was.
But he was always, he had some very, very good races in that period.
But I think within the environment of Ferrari,
because he had accepted Michael was number one, that sort of made his whole
feeling within the team much easier to deal with.
Yeah, and probably Michael was probably more open or open.
Yes, exactly.
Because he's accepted that this is the guy's going to help me, not try and challenge me.
So I think you have to play a little bit of that game.
And that's what happens.
But this will never stop.
This conversation will never stop with Formula One because you have two championships
and the two, near the Twain Shell, mix, you know, well.
They're like oil and water.
If you drive a championship, that's the thing that everyone turns on to watch.
That's the thing that everyone globally wants to know who is the Formula One world champion
that no one ever asked who the constructive championships champions are.
And it's a meaningful thing to the teams.
And it's a meaningful thing to industry and so forth.
Yeah.
So can he do it?
Yes.
Has he got to play the right game to be able to do it?
Probably not next year.
In the next couple of years, I would say probably.
Well, we're watching with interest, won't we?
It's going to be very interesting to see how he copes.
Hopefully it's not another one that gets chewed by Max because it's still a good chance.
What might happen?
I think what you're saying is it's how he deals with it psychologically.
Yeah, it is.
Because if you had expected to beat Max and then you found out you couldn't,
then that can be crushing.
But if he understands the terms in which he's going in,
and of course, Dr. Helmut Marker no longer being there.
Yeah, that's a big shift.
I think that along with Mech is actually a more understanding talk to him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's going to be very helpful.
Supportive, yeah.
Exactly.
Hey, it's Raj.
And Noah.
And we're back with a new season of Am I Doing It Wrong,
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Because we're still doing a lot of stuff wrong.
But who isn't?
That's why each week we're talking about the topics
that we could all use a little helping hand with,
whether it's making new friends as an adult, managing our emotions, or even dreaming.
We'll be talking to experts in their fields who are definitely doing things right,
so the rest of us can be a bit wiser and a lot better equipped to handle whatever life
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Right, who will nail the regulations, or who will get them considerably wrong?
Well, the immediate person, I mean, we all expect Adrian Newey to have
seen through the regulations, as he's famous for doing,
and come up with an absolute rocket ship, but,
I mean, it's a whole bag of regulations, isn't it?
150 pages worth of technical regulations.
Describing a modern Formula One car, there's got to be a loophole in there somewhere.
Oh, for sure. They will find it.
The expectation, as I said, then, is Aston Martin will find somewhere.
Adrian will have found something.
Yeah.
It's the question is, is there anything of a platform with the previous regulations that
these cars can build on? The difference between the cars is, okay, a few numbers,
you know, it's a bit shorter, 200 mil shorter, 100 mil narrower, slightly different tyres with
slightly lighter weight, the technical bit with the power unit and so forth,
and being much more reliant on the battery pack, those are technical things that we'll find out
whether there's a magic loophole in those. Well, we had one at the end of last year,
didn't we, with the compression on the engine? Yeah, so that was the first one we heard.
So, yeah, lots of people are moving from team to team. So you've got cross-fertilization
of ideas and people have come out of their contracts where they weren't allowed to
divulge. They would have been under confidentiality clauses saying they couldn't have spoken to the
teams and given information. How are they police that? I don't know. But anyway, they, like, you
know, I've always been fascinated. So there's lots of tea shops in Oxfordshire where their people
have gone in with, with kind of, you know, those, you know, those, you know, those, you know,
well, I'm, I'm casting especially, I'm sure they'll all keep their eyes shut until they're
able to talk. And of course, once they start to talk, and they come from, say, let's say, Honda,
and let's say they go to a different team, Red Bull powertrains or something like that,
or then Mercedes, they go, they swap over, they go from one one operation to the next round. Yeah.
And they get debriefed a bit like the spies in, in, you know, in the Cold War, they put them
in a room and probably grill them for, I don't know how long, but then the information leaks
out. And one of the things was this compression ratio are teams, some teams, power unit manufacturers,
generating a compression ratio that is higher when it gets warm, when it gets warm. So it's the,
the way they measure it, of course, it's very difficult to measure. And it's something like
that when it's hot. So when they measure the compression ratio cold, it's whatever it is,
1816 to one or whatever, that what the rig say has to be, and then when the engine gets warm,
things expand, things like the Conrad measure. Exactly. We were discussing, yeah. What would you,
what would you do to try and make it expand? The Conrad would make the most sense. Well,
the Conrad would just, all you need to do is be lengthen it by a kind of few
microns or something under heat, which of course is, everything expands with heat. Yeah.
The trouble is this, the combustion chamber also expands, so it should actually reduce,
so some things will reduce and expand at different rates. Yes. So, so anyway,
science of it. So clever stuff, isn't it? Anyway, so the question is, when it's running,
which is obviously when it's useful, it's no good when it's cold,
is it got high compression ratio, therefore delivering more power? Have they found a loophole?
If it's been raised as a question, it means the other manufacturers, which have got wind of it,
it seems to be, yeah, seems to have been what happened. So it would be fascinating to see
where that goes. So it might be nothing, it might fizzle out, but we are going to see
this sort of stuff going on when cars are revealed. The FIA, just so people know,
the FIA will have an idea of what each car is doing, because they have an overarching,
quite often what happens is the teams have to submit what they're planning to do,
if there's any doubt, and then the FIA will say, that's not what we intended,
you're not allowed to do that, and that's a blanket rule that will go across all the teams.
Sometimes they will submit some suggestion and they'll go,
we're not, you could look at it like that. And then they will not tell the other teams
what they're doing. So the FIA are very interesting, kind of God's eye view position
of knowing who might have an advantage at this day, or might have seen something.
They won't know exactly what they're up to, but they will know that they're asking questions
about the regulations. Because the interesting thing with that, for people who don't know,
is when they do the dyno testing for the engine, all that data effectively goes to the FIA,
so they can sort of understand what they've been doing, how long they've been doing it for,
and the wind tunnel was exactly the same. So they know everything that's going on,
and they have so much information actually of every single team down the pit lane.
And the fuels as well, they're 100% sustainable this year. So there's going to be,
there's a very difficult, I mean, they've got a massive job because they've got to understand
that the chemical makeup of all these... But it was a delay, wasn't it? If you remember,
they were talking about it happening a couple of years ago, and it got delayed,
I think when Audi first sort of spoke about coming in and they delayed it for this year.
Of course we haven't mentioned Audi, have we? No. So there you go, another power unit
about to make its appearance, its debut appearance historically. They've always done
very, very well. And formulas. So I don't know the answer. No, Johnny, I mean,
we know on previous form, as I said, age and lots of expected, you can't rule out Red Bull,
but they've lost a lot of people, have gone to different teams.
Sauber, definitely, I mean, Big Bon. Audi are on the rebuild, maybe they've got some insights.
But Ferrari are the big one. Ferrari are self-contained team in so much as we don't think
there's so much crossover of information, they're very much a kind of in a silo type place.
So we don't know what they've got up their sleeve, but they have been working for a long
time on this. Famously, Fred Vassur said, they gave up on the 25 car. It looked like it.
And Mercedes as well, because of Mercedes you always expect. Rumors have always been going from
good few months that they've got the best sort of power unit ice package.
So who's the people that most like to drop the ball? I mean, I think it's unfair to
say Cadillac will drop the ball because I think they're going to be playing catch up
a big time for a long time. Big time, yes. It's a whole new learning experience.
Yes, there's going to be experienced people there, but it's a whole different scenario when
you're bringing a whole new team and it's expectations, I'm sure, from Cadillac themselves.
And you're up against the greats of the sport from the Ferraris of the World Mercedes and Red
Bulls and McLarens, for example. So it's going to take time. Have they got enough time for that to
all come together down the line? I suppose we're all going to be talking about four, five years,
probably. But I think it's going to be tough for them. I think it's going to be very tough.
Got two great drivers who are going to be very, very useful, I suppose, for their
impot of the experiences they've had at Ferraris teams, Mercedes and Red Bull with Sergio.
But I think they are going to be the one that's going to be fighting,
probably for those last few rows, I would think, which is going to be a bit tough,
a bit tough for them. Right. So who else, though, do you think could be
not being able to cope with these new regulation changes? I mean, the Hasses and people like
that, they are on their knees. But they've got Toyota coming in as well. There's a lot of
ingredients that are going to improve the situation they found themselves in last year.
And actually, last year, they were doing some good stuff. BMW was really, really sort of hot.
I think a lot of people are getting to the end of the regulation. It was harder and harder for
anybody to squeeze any more. Not motivation, but sort of just having the right sort of things
happen in at the right time, to have the right mindset, to be able to move things
forward in the right way. So they've found a way of making that car work.
Yeah, have an understanding, at least, of where they probably need to be working towards.
And hasn't it? Well, let's call them an independent, let's say a kind of team that has
not got the resources to say, you know, the other teams, they don't have their own power unit
and so forth. But I use done an amazing job of, Kamatsu has just done an amazing job.
Yeah. I think of piecing together a team, taking over
when Gunter left. And actually, yeah. And the team is good, the drivers are good,
and the team's got a good spirit. And now they're going to have a bit of a leg up with Toyota,
so they could be quite strong. I think they'll be okay. I think the one that's really going to be
finding things tough is Alpine. I think Alpine are in a real big rut at the moment.
Well, they're going to go with Mercedes-Benz, sir.
Yeah, but it's the whole package. It's everything, isn't it?
The Mercedes-Benz. Yeah, but it's the evident. It's the whole package of it.
And you've got to be able to have the right ingredients for the battery to work with the
electrification to work with the combustion, but then you need the right aerodynamics.
We've got all the technology with the active wings as well. They're going to come into play.
So there's a hell of a lot of new things that are coming in and they're not coming off of
particularly, what I would say, strong last couple of years.
No, they haven't. They've had, it's been chaos.
It's been chaos. There you go. Now chaos.
How do you twist chaos into positivity?
You get a Mercedes-Pau unit. It helps for a start.
Yeah, but it doesn't fix everything. It may be very, very useful, but I think there's
more fundamental issues.
Who are they? Where are they going? It's a bit of a question.
Well, that's what I mean. It's all those little ingredients that are going to make it,
I think, very, very tough for them.
So yeah, let's wait and see. And then RB, I suppose, is the last one that they've
had a good year. They've got Arvid Limbalad, who's 18, coming into play.
Can they move themselves or probably keep themselves in the position they find themselves
at the moment? That's going to be very, very tough as well.
But they're a kind of minnow team, aren't they? They're a kind of, they're plucky little,
you know, doing really well, but they've got the mass, the momentum to be a front-running team.
And because they're sponsored by the same fizzy drink, you know that, don't you?
No, I know that. But you know, from when we started in Formula One, there were some minnows,
but they were very, very poor minnows. And they were really way off at the pace.
But considering how small they are, it's how competitive they have been for the last,
I don't know, three, four, five years maybe.
So they do have the gap front to rear of the grid at the end of this year.
Last year was unbelievably small. Yes, like ridiculously, with a miniscule gap.
They've got 107% rules. In other words, that would take it to, if it's a 90-second lap,
that would be 97 seconds. There would be seven seconds of the pace in order to not qualify.
I wasn't jumping in on this, so I was going to let you work that one out.
It was a simple match. It was 100 seconds, it would be seven seconds behind.
But I mean, we haven't seen anything like that in the sport.
But the gaps front to back of the grid, what second difference will there be in this era,
in 26, from the start of the first race? I reckon there's got to be
two to three seconds. I was going to say three. Yeah, three to four.
I'll go three to four. Yes, I think there's going to be quite a...
As you know, there's always, when there are new regulations that come in,
it normally goes from being very compressed, and then it all gets sort of stretched out.
So I think that will happen again. So three to four, I think, will be my guess.
So there's people at the back going to be got a lot of work to do?
A lot of work to do. Yeah, absolutely.
So yeah, we're trying to put shape on this, and we haven't actually seen a wheel turn yet.
No, no, not yet. No, no, no, no. But will either be right or we'll be wrong.
And on that note, cup of tea. Cup of tea, I think. And a biscuit, mate.
Hey, it's Raj. And Noah. And we're back with a new season of Am I Doing It Wrong,
the show that explores all two human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right.
Because we're still doing a lot of stuff wrong.
But who isn't? That's why each week, we're talking about the topics that we could all use
a little helping hand with, whether it's making new friends as an adult, managing our emotions,
or even dreaming. We'll be talking to experts in their fields who are definitely doing things
right. So the rest of us can be a bit wiser and a lot better equipped to handle whatever life
throws at us. Subscribe now and listen to new episodes of Am I Doing It Wrong,
dropping every Thursday starting January 1st, wherever you get your podcasts.
And for the first time ever, we're going to have full video episodes on YouTube.
Because as long as there are things to get wrong, we're going to be right here to help you do them
better. There I was scrolling my phone, then someone cracked open a Mountain Dew Baja Cabo
Citrus. I grabbed my own and took a sip. Next thing I know, I heard a rip. My friend
tried the splits and skinny jeans. The crew couldn't stop laughing. But hey,
not a drop of Baja Cabo Citrus was spilled. Have a blast with Mountain Dew Baja Cabo
Citrus, a punch of tropical citrus flavor. Now you alluded to Ferrari, how dare you say such a thing?
You always have done. You always sort of never really tell what's going on. Anyway,
you alluded to Ferrari and Aston Martin, we're about the drivers. Hamilton,
one of the elder statesmen and the elder statesman himself, Fernando Alonso. What do we expect
from those two dynamics? How are they going to work? Is this kind of like they're going for
the late breaking that Fernando is not going to retire unless Louis retires first? Because
Louis wants to be the elder statesman, but he's not going to. Fernando is going to stay around
for as long as possible just to deny him. Yeah, he does. It's quite funny. I'm not going anywhere.
I'm not going. No, it never used to be that way. Now it seems to be the case.
So they're going on. I mean, this is, I don't know. I mean, to keep mentioning Fangio,
Fangio must have stopped when he was 45, I think. I don't know. So he's getting up there,
Fernando. But Louis's ride has been bumpy, hasn't it? So we're getting on for
this year will be five years since Abu Dhabi, the fateful event from which he appears never
to have recovered. Moments of, you know, he won the sprint race in China. Yeah.
Little moments when things looked like they were getting better, but he has had
but more awful weekends, more awful weekends. And if it's, if it's gone well for him,
it's gone badly with penalties and shop as well. Yeah. So he's taken a beating like
you cannot imagine this season. Speed hasn't been there, is it?
And then he's got Charles, who has been fantastically quick and, and what, which
one was I thinking of his race in cat, in cattle or was it Abu Dhabi? I don't know.
He was relentless. He was Abu Dhabi. Okay. Yeah. He was, he was, I mean, he really
raced hard. He raced that lap he did in qualifying in Abu Dhabi. The car couldn't
do it, but he did it anyway. And then trying to push lander as well. So yeah,
I mean, the question is, does Lewis need an uplift? You know, can the car provide an uplift
if the car's good and they're running at the front will suddenly all the lights come on?
Yeah. And for Lewis. Because it's interesting. You're right. Is it the car? Is it just the
specification, the way it works at the moment that he just can't get his head around where
it's at? And in the past, I always thought anyway, he was always able to drive around the problem.
And that now doesn't seem to be the case. But is it just a case of, I remember,
Sebastian Vettel, when we had the blown floors, he was fantastic with the blown
floors. And when the blown floors got taken away from him, it was never the same Sebastian
Vettel before. So is it, is it, is just the car doesn't suit him? What do you think?
Well, we, the regulation changes seem to have an effect on various drivers in various ways.
I've always thought that there is such a thing as a style of driving. So if you have
it's in tennis, I always give the example, if something would be great on clay, something
would be great on grass, you know, that the conditions change and suddenly the player
becomes different. Obviously, the greats can cope with all of them. Yeah. And if they don't have
an attitude for a particular thing, they learn it and they work it out. I think you'd have to
say, we saw last year with Lando and I think it was also Liam Lawson. He got
some changes made to the front end of the car that brought it back to them. So in other words,
Lando remember, yes. Yeah. And, but if you've got big regulation changes, as you said,
Sebastian Vettel mastered, they kept on talking about, you know, how he'd mastered this blown
diffuser, how to approach the corner. And then of course, they took it away and next year,
he was beaten by Daniel Ricciardo, wasn't he? Yes, exactly. And, and then you go,
Daniel goes to Alpine and it's a whole different set of cars, you know, sensations and he can't
quite get on top of that one. And then Lewis gets to a different regulation in, in 22 with the
ground effect, the Venturi, big one Venturi effect cars and he struggled with them. I mean,
and it wasn't a competitive car. They had problems as well. Can he turn it around?
With the changes? We don't know exactly what the cars would be like, but do you expect him to
change? Be better than last year? It can click, can't it? I mean, I mean, I, you know, I said to
you, when I went from Formula Ford, it was and Formula three, I just, there wasn't enough
power and I was used to motorbikes with a lot of horsepower and the wheel,
small contact patch. And when I went to 3000, suddenly I had throttle I could use to balance
the car and I was happier. So you don't need, you need something to change in the feel, the
feedback you're getting. But I know what you're alluding to is whether or not the magic has gone
over time, over 40, does that ability to overcome just fade away. Fernando still
throws some great performances like last year he did. He really does, but then you get the
sense with, with Fernando, there was, there's a, as a part of his career that went missing,
you know, and I think he feels he's still got the fight, he wants to recover
something. Whereas I wonder whether Lewis has had a belly fall, you know, the, the post race
into, he doesn't want to be there. Oh no, no, no, no. It was, yeah, it was uncomfortable
to watch actually. And it was almost like Lewis, don't, don't do that. You never did that
before. Don't do it now. You've done, you've done so much in your, in your career. Yeah,
don't do that one. But I get it. But I get it. We get it. We understand that it's a frustrating
place to be when you're trying everything you possibly can with all the experiences that you
have, but you can't do it. It's not easy anymore where it used to be just, you just put the
helmet on, the visor went down, you just did it. And now he's having to work at it.
And then it's that normal thing. You look across the other side of the garage,
or you look on your screen and you sort of go, Oh my Lord, I'm still half a second,
four tenths off. And it's not happening. And then I go out in the first, you know,
in, in Q1 qualifying, and it happens far, far, far too often. So the desire is there. Where does
it go? Well, what is it? What is it? I mean, is it reflex? I mean, we probably need some
neuroscientists to call in and say, because I mean, it's obviously will happen. We'll
all lose our faculties as we get older. But what, when you're younger, you think less and just
do more. And I wonder whether it's a kind of, you actually getting in your own way, psychologically,
you're getting in your own way and trying to be more consciously operating things. And if you
could get to the state of, you know, we always hear about the kind of Zen master Kung Fu master,
you know, who's 75 years old and he can still lay everyone out. Is that possible? Or is that just
a load of rubbish? Yeah, yeah, that, that I don't know. But I, what I do know from my experience
was qualifying was the first thing that I lost. It wasn't, I never had the, I was never the
best at qualifying, but I felt that that was the first thing that went. Racecraft,
that never left. That was always there. And probably the most powerful thing that probably
came into play with me was that pushing it to the edge. I didn't feel comfortable being able to push
it to that edge again, as much as I would before, which was literally with a crash and I go off,
I'm waiting to take that risk. And then that shift didn't change. And then your performances go
down because I think you're not pushing like a Max does or a younger generation. There has to be
in your mind the, the thought it achieved a lot. And you're Lewis Hamilton, you've achieved a lot,
you've got so much to enjoy that you've not been able to enjoy because you've been working as a
racing driver your whole life. And you're probably thinking, party is thinking, when this is stopped,
I'm going to go so many other, that's what I thought. I thought there's so many other things
I want to do. Yeah. So there you go. So your, your mind has moved away from what you're
supposed to be giving your all to. And when you can't give your all. Yeah.
It's not, you're never going to beat Max. Because you know, Oscar or Charles or any of them,
because they were in a different mindset. So it's probably a mindset, I guess. I know he's got
the desire, but he's got a lot of other stuff that goes on outside, which he probably didn't
do when he first came in the Formula One. Is that the shift that's maybe interfering?
I mean, it even affects Max. I mean, these guys, he's always only 28. Yeah. He's been doing it a
long time. A very long time. So his whole life has been dedicated. Maybe he's been a little bit
pushed by and managed by dad a little bit as well. And but Helmut Marcos says something quite
interesting. He said he needs a, he needs a competitive car in Formula One. Otherwise,
he starts thinking about, I want to do Le Mans. I want to do Nürburgring. I want to do
something else. I might do this. He gets distracted. He wants to go, he's got an ambition to do other
things. Well, he's only 28. He hasn't even started yet. Well, it's even the family thing, actually,
with Max as well, coming into effect. It's a much, to me, I don't know about you, it comes
across as a much softer Max than it was before. But then I go, then I go to Spain
and his little sort of wheelbanging with George. So there's still elements of that
side that's still there. But I think as a whole, he's matured massively. But the maturing of Lewis
has already happened. It's already done. Now, where is that level now? So we're comparing
Lewis with Fernando because clearly they're at the tail end of their career. The question is,
will they make it all the way through this? I mean, I actually think Fernando is
massively excited to see what Adrian comes up with. He's finally found himself. It could happen.
It could be. This is what he's been waiting for. The oldest ever Formula One world champion.
Not next to Fangio. Anyway, whatever. Modern times, modern times. He also had a 20,
out of 20, 24 out of 20, 100% qualifying, out qualifying his teammate record last year as
well. He likes these little victories. He does. He's a brutally harsh competitor.
But so it could be good. But Ferrari gives Lewis and Charles a great car,
come out with something really surprising next year. And suddenly he's fighting for poles
and he's fighting for a championship. Yeah, maybe. What a story that would be.
If I look at those two, I go, right, which one would I expect if he was given the car?
Which one would be the one I put my money on? And I'd probably, unfortunately,
sadly say, I'd probably go Fernando, because Fernando is still in a bad car. I know in a
bad car. I'm just saying he's in a bad car in that Aston Martin. It's not the best. It's sort
of there. They're about sometimes, but he's able to sort of squeeze that extra something out of
it. And I never saw that happen last year with Lewis, which I'm sort of shocked that we
never would never ever saw that. And I'm sure he's very frustrated and shocked that he
was was unable to do it. And then I look at his face and those interviews after the race
and you go, he's lost. He cannot understand what he needs to do to get around the problem
he's got. And it's not Charlie getting around it. And also it's been going on for five years.
Yes. So that's what I mean. He's really hard, psychologically, to drag yourself out of bed
again, you know, to get a beating. Yeah. But I still rest, I still believe that if you gave
him a whiff of victory, then I think that fire would reignite. I hope so. You'll see a lot of
people hope so. Yeah. The best of Lewis in his last season. I hope so. But again, if he wins it,
he'd give up. But I will also throw into there as well. It's almost, it's almost been a team
that Charlie's created again around him. There's that side of it that is going to come.
It seems comfortable there. And he, and of course he's got youth on his side. So, you
when you're looking to the future, people are not going to, they won't be going to Lewis and saying,
gee, fancy doing another five more years with us. No. Yes. So, right. So that's what we think about
those two. Two of the most interesting people in our sport, along with Max and, but they are,
they've been real fascinating people to follow. Yeah. And watching nature avails.
Yes. Indeed he is. Yeah. So I suppose a big question then is Max, can he win our Red Bull up for it?
Can they, have they been decimated by the loss of the so many key personnel over the, over the
last 18 months or so? Adrian? Christian Warner? Yeah, no. I mean, he wins. You got Jonathan
Wheatley's gone off to Saudi. Marco? Helmut Marco's out there. He's gone as well. Yes. And they've
lost one or two other key people. Courtney. And he's on his way, is it? Chief mechanic as well,
I believe. Yeah. So, yeah, the team has been stripped of some fairly major personalities,
but the ball kept rolling. I mean, they kept, they kept the fight up till the end.
So something is still there that is making Red Bull a very effective fighting force.
Um, so I think my guts are telling me they've, that team is still got what it takes. And I think
Max would be making more noises. He would be unhappy. And he doesn't seem to me to be unhappy.
I didn't finish 25 unhappy. And what he said was at the end, I think we should be proud of
ourselves. I know he came second, but we fought brilliantly. He was lifting the team up.
Yeah, he was. And rightly so. They won the most races. Yeah. They won eight
races or Max went eight races and everybody else was seven, seven and six. I think it was.
So it's, uh, it's a good place to be. Laura Meeks, I do like. Oh, yes. He has really fitted in.
And at the moment he fitted in, they actually were in a very good place.
No, but it actually got stronger and stronger. And Max seemed to be more,
from what I understand, more involved with decision making of direction where they
needed to go. And that seemed to be the powerful thing. It's what we,
we spoke about earlier on. A driver's input can be so, so powerful. And I think that definitely
came in, but I think Lauren got that into. He seemed to be a perfect fit, doesn't he?
For what he's there to do. Yeah. Yeah. So I agree. So yes, things, things changed massively.
And you would sort of normally thought, well, this is just going to implode on itself,
as in Yoss was saying, it's going to implode on itself, but it hasn't. And they've been
able to sort of turn it around. They've been through an absolutely dreadful last year or so,
haven't they? With all the goings on. Goings off track.
And don't forget also, they've finally come under the control of the Red Bull parent company is kind
of, and that battle that went on with the tie part of the family and so forth, that's been resolved,
I think. So they're now able to have people who can make decisions and make proper changes
in the way they want it to. So I think there is a determination there and a financial backing.
Of course, if people keep buying fizzy drinks, then they're going to be not be short of a few
quid and their success and all the rest of it. So I don't think they're out of this at all. I
think in any, in any way that, in any sense, I think they are, they are one of the most
taught, cohesive, fighting teams in Formula One. If they can survive the loss of all those
team personnel and still be there. Big question, Mark. They've done very, very well with the
awful situation that Honda found themselves in when they were at McLaren.
But that all got turned around with Red Bull and the success that they've had
over the last couple of years, and especially even last year, the end of last year,
and how strong Max was. But it's a very different scenario with a,
with a relationship they've got with Ford. It's an in-house built power unit as well.
It's a damn complicated, it was complicated enough last year and this is going to be another
complication on top of that. Have they been ahead of the ball? I'm not sure the relationship
was sort of there when it first was being touted that it was going to happen before.
So we should just let everyone know they're not with Honda anymore.
They are now doing their own Red Bull power trains, power unit with Ford providing the
electrical complicated side of things and also I presume the battery and so forth,
perfect technology is. So that is going to, it's a big name and it's got wonderful history
because of Earth and everything else and motorsport, general in all forms of motorsport.
But this is a very, very different competition that you've got with the likes of the success
that Mercedes-Benz have had. For example, we know they've always been ahead of the game
in many respects with the power unit itself. Now that's what they're fighting against
in-house. They're not, they're not, they're a manufacturer of fizzy drinks.
Yeah, no, I mean, that's where it's different to say as a team being able to take on
things that they need to have in their armory and make it work. Their record is incredible.
Absolutely. I mean, as you said, fizzy drinks company, they built up a race team.
They've, they've gone into a highly technical manufacturing world and if their power unit
is any good, that would be an amazing achievement. Yeah, yeah, it will be, but it's going to be one
hell of a test, big, big question mark. But there that's where I think Max has been very smart
because he's been able to now look at what everybody else is going to be doing, including
his, his own team. And then potentially he'll be able to pick and choose where he
might want to go. So that's the other thing in being in his position. He can ask them.
He can say, well, where are you? Yeah. You know, if you want me to think about going somewhere else,
yeah, you show me some figures. Yeah. So he'll be able to compare. I'm sure there was a little bit
of that with Toto. I'm absolutely convinced there was a little bit of. Oh, you mean showing a
bit of ankle? Yes. Indeed. I think there was a little element of that. And that is something
that you would expect someone in Max's position to and his team to try and work out where
he's going to be a better player. That's a whole nother show. No, I know how they go about,
but yeah, but it's interesting because that's going to be the mindset that we're going to
see for next year. So we've put our incredible brains to a heart. We've been working hard,
haven't we? Very hard. I know. Does it show?
But so we're going to predict the winner. Yeah. The winner of the championship.
Yes. Okay. Okay. What about team? Team who's going to construct this? Come on.
I'm probably going to go Mercedes because I think as a parent at the moment,
I think it's working very well. I think Antonelli's probably got to improve on his consistency.
That's probably his weakness at the moment. George has done a brilliant job for them.
I'm sure they're going to be at the sharp end fighting for race wins and potentially the
championship. I'm going to go George. Do you know me? I think you nick my answer.
Yes. Boom. Because we've been spending so long talking about the usual suspects and I think
there are question marks over Reborn. I think I would say the dark horse here is George Russell
who performed brilliantly, consistently all year in a car that was not a regular winner,
but yeah. I think they're in a good place secretly. I think they are. And Antonelli
proved a lot last year. I think he will be stronger as well. And if the car is a car that's
let's say going to be the dominant force, they have the right pairing from a constructors
point of view as well when they're constructors. So I think it could be a double, a double win
for them. Maybe what about surprise team who could leap into the mix with the big boys?
Well, the only one I suppose and I don't know if you call them small or not is Aston. Aston is
the only one that with the brand that it's got, but actually its performance is underperformed
in many respects from the name that it's got. But now it's that time of Adrian and his team
to produce the goods. They can't complain they've got the resources.
And they've had time. I think the wind tunnel is all sort of up and running. So that's another
little tour that's going to come into play as well. So they've made all the right decisions.
Now it's implementing the whole package. Williams did a great job to cement their place,
but I don't think they're ready yet. There's still a bit of work to do in building
their technology base really. I think they still got a bit of a climbing to do that.
So there you go, Johnny. You don't even have to watch the rest of the season.
We basically explained it all to you and we know exactly what's going to happen.
So it's on to next year. It is, yes. Unless we have to revise everything we've said.
Oh, they will be revising going on the whole way through the year.
Well, that's the end of that episode. Dame on. Now we've got a lot of interesting things
coming our way soon. Real cars going round real. Yes, launches and all that stuff.
Yeah. We won't have to rely on our Mystic Meg crystal ball predictions.
We'll be put to the test. Yeah. Things are actually going to happen very,
very quickly. Well, there's going to be a lot of rumors going about as well as always.
And we'll have another show talking about all that. So you got it.
Lovely chatting again, Johnny. You got it. See you in about a month's time.
Yeah, indeed. Cheers.
The athletic.
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About this episode
Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert dive into the upcoming 2026 Formula 1 season, discussing the impact of new technical regulations, including major changes to hybrid power units and aerodynamics. They analyze the evolving dynamics within McLaren, particularly the rivalry and growth of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The hosts also explore team strategies, driver development, and the challenges engineers face adapting to the new rules. Predictions about potential championship contenders and the influence of new teams like Cadillac add depth to their insightful conversation.
Original notes
Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert are back for the first 2026 episode of their F1 podcast, Stay On Track! They discuss the impact winning the F1 world title will have on Lando Norris (and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri), and share their view on the mindset Isack Hadjar needs to have going into Red Bull Racing alongside Max Verstappen.
They also weigh up which team will get the new regulations right, and who might get them wrong, and what impact multiple exits will have on Red Bull. There's also talk of Lewis Hamilton's pivotal second Ferrari season, plus Hill and Herbert make their champion predictions for 2026...
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Stay On Track with Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert
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