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Will McLaren enforce "Papaya Rules" in Austin?! 👀 | ESPN F1
Will McLaren enforce "Papaya Rules" in Austin?! 👀 | ESPN F1
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About this episode
The podcast dives into the intense dynamics within McLaren following the Singapore incident between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, highlighting unclear team 'papaya principles' and potential repercussions. The hosts discuss the challenges McLaren faces managing fairness between drivers amid Max Verstappen's dominance. They also explore Christian Horner's future post-Red Bull, Mercedes' 2026 driver lineup announcement, and insights from Red Bull's new team principal Laurent Mekies. The lively Austin Grand Prix setting adds fun with driver ride-alongs, cowboy-themed activities, and predictions for the sprint race weekend.
Topics:
mclaren driver dynamics
papaya principles
lando norris
oscar piastri
max verstappen
christian horner future
mercedes 2026 lineup
laurent mekies red bull
austin grand prix
f1 sprint race
Cars:
Aston Martin Valhalla
Welcome to Unlapped! Nicole Briscoe, Nate Saunders, Liz Loza and Laurence Edmondson are in the paddock breaking down all the latest news and storylines heading into the United States Grand Prix. How will McLaren punish Lando Norris? Is Christian Horner making a return to F1 at Ferrari? And how long will George Russell stay at Mercedes after 2026? All this and more on this episode of Unlapped.
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Aston Martin Valhalla
"Yes. I took the Valhalla, which is Aston Martin's, like, closest to an F1 ..."
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For this day.
Normally, this is how we start the show.
We say, welcome to Unlapped.
That is not going to be allowed today, because we have a man on a bull.
Mr. Saunders, take it away.
Welcome to Unlapped.
Really?
This is not my first rodeo.
That's what I was going to go with.
It is Liz Lowe's first rodeo.
It's not Nicole's first rodeo.
But we're in Austin for the US Grand Prix.
How was that?
There you go.
I was expecting more.
I am a little bit, it is a bit unsteady on this, so I was going to really go
for it, and then I realized I didn't want to do that.
This is actually a real bull that has been taxidermied.
It is here for marketing purposes.
We brought this in as an ESPN.
We had a real-life cowboy here earlier today.
He was lassoing things.
He was lassoing this, which is not a real bull.
You can tell it's my first rodeo, because I am completely befuddled as to how to perch
upon it.
You have to sidesaddle it, because you're in a-
I'm wearing a dress, but also now I've chosen the wrong side.
These are things I just don't have to worry about as a man in jeans.
It's going to be awkward for everyone.
I have to be honest.
Would you get on this?
Yeah.
I'm a little freaked out by the-
Eyeballs?
And deadness of it.
Yes.
Ah, I mean, if it's dead, it can't bite you, right?
Yeah.
I think the deadness is the only reason I got on.
Yeah, yeah.
I would prefer to get on a dead, probably, a live bull.
A live bull, I would not be sitting on right now.
I guarantee that.
Have we had a fun day here today?
It has been very, very fun.
And as you can tell from us being on this, there's been a lot of ESPN-related things to do.
Yes.
We've all kind of had crazy days doing different things.
We've all been on the track.
We've all been on the track.
We've all-
Yeah, yeah.
You went with Lance.
Excuse me while I get situated.
Adjust.
You were in the car with Lance Stroll, right?
Yes.
I took the Valhalla, which is Aston Martin's, like, closest to an F1 car that
is commercially available.
Only 999 units made under 1,000, in fact.
But yes.
What's the dollar mark on that?
Out of my budget.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's all I know.
I do not know where I could ever drive that fast, nor be able to afford it, but still,
an excellent experience.
We went around three times, and we hit over 170 miles per hour.
Yes.
And this was very diligently learning these facts earlier.
999 units.
Got it.
Not 1,000.
Got it.
So, and we've got a little group of the photographers here.
Hey, guys.
Who were you with?
You and I both went in Ferraris.
I went with...
We went 438s.
Yeah.
We were both sat there, like, little school children.
Yeah.
Because I had Ollie Bearman.
Which is great.
And Ollie's so sweet, isn't he?
Such a nice guy.
He's such a sweet kid.
And I say kid because he's only, what, 20.
Yeah.
But I had said to him, like, look, I am married to somebody who is a professional race
car driver.
I have done ride-alongs before.
So he was like, oh, that means I can't scare you.
And I was like, oh, no, you can try.
Give him credit.
He went...
He tried?
He effortlessly.
Did he?
Did he manage to?
He did not scare me.
We were fully sideways at least three times.
Yeah.
We came in, the tires were absolutely smoking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He gave it his all.
And it was good.
It was good.
That's good.
I had similar, because we both went as the first in that car.
Yes.
I had Jack Crawford, so the American driver for Aston Martin, part of their reserve
program.
Yes.
Missed out on a Cadillac seat, which obviously, you know, was kind of down in the room
a little bit.
But he was, he was absolutely going for it.
And he's a Texas lad.
When he saw the big Texas flag, I felt him really, really going for it.
Go.
And that was when I got scared.
So those guys, just the way they drive through those things is unreal.
The amazing thing that I thought, too, was you could tell the difference, even from being
in the passenger seat, when the tires came in, when they actually were fully heated,
you can definitely tell the difference in the grip level.
You can, as drivers, that you feel it in the seat of your pants, even though you
weren't the one controlling it, you could feel those things.
Yeah.
It also got so hot.
Yeah.
I got out.
Sweating a little bit more because of nerves.
Like he didn't make me scream and he didn't scare me.
Oh, he was.
Yeah, I do think that there was some, maybe, sweat nerves happening.
I said during the lap, I can't imagine what that circuit is like in a single seat
of car.
No.
It's so, it's such a, it's actually.
So much space.
Yeah.
Hammer's home, how good a circuit this is.
It's so quick.
And it's a real race track.
It's a real race track.
And I think that's one of the things, too, that goes, you often can't see the
elevation changes on TV.
Everything looks flat.
Here is a little different.
You do see the elevation going into turn one.
Obviously, you see it in Spa as well.
But I think whatever you see on TV, it is elevated in person.
Whatever you think you see, just, it's more.
And I'm always taken by how that turn one, it almost, it almost dips away from
you.
Blinds.
And then it goes down and up again.
Yeah.
And you see that on TV, but the, the extremity of that in the car, you
really feel it.
It's really bumpy, too.
Really bumpy.
Yes.
And you can see why that, those S's, if you enter that wrong, you've
messed up a lot.
We fished out a little bit.
Oh yeah.
But the braking, too, is the thing that I can't imagine.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because those cars, they're high performance sports cars, like they're, they're
doing their things.
But a Formula One cars ability to brake, it is always, I think, honestly, that's
probably one of the most amazing things about an F1 car anyway.
But to think of the braking capabilities when you're experiencing it in real
time and something else, I think, is sort of crazy.
And while I did, I did feel bad for Jack Crawford not getting the Cadillac
drive when he was driving me around Circuit of the Americas in an Aston Martin
Vantage.
I'm going to feel a little less like.
But hopefully we get to see him race.
He's actually doing FB1 in Mexico for Aston Martin.
So, you know, maybe a little step forward for him.
Let's be honest, the door for him is not closed.
No, it's just it's been slammed towards his face, maybe not closed.
But yeah, it's definitely still open.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There have been a few news things that have come out today.
Do we want to start with Ferrari or do we want to start with McLaren?
Oh, I think we start with McLaren.
I think so, too.
Just given that they're the dominant team right now.
In typical McLaren fashion, they have taken papaya rules and they've taken a
situation that was already muddy and they have somehow made it muddier.
And this goes back to Singapore and the contact, the aggressive maneuvers on
lap one between Lando and Oscar Piestri.
Like we all heard the radio.
We all saw it.
Well, now you were in the press conference.
What did McLaren say?
Well, it was almost what they didn't say that really stood out.
So McLaren, from what we've heard from the two drivers today, have attributed
responsibility for what happened in Singapore to Lando Norris.
And as he put it, both in the TV pen over here and to the written press,
he said there'll be repercussions that he's facing for the rest of the season.
Problem was he and Piestri didn't clarify what those repercussions are.
Did they clarify if it was like sporting or if it was money?
So that was what was interesting.
We asked the team and privately they said this is sporting, not financial.
Because, you know, it sounded to begin with like, oh, he's just been
given a fine slap on the wrist, move on.
Right.
But then a sporting punishment, as you well know, Nicole, in this sport,
for covering it so long, that could be literally anything.
I mean, that is such a vague open term.
Is it that Lando has to give Piestri a position back if they're in certain
positions?
Is it that there's an upgrade part that one of them will get over the other?
I don't think it would be that.
But the fact they haven't clarified it leaves all of those interpretations
open.
And we were just saying it before we started recording.
If something happens this weekend, and Lawrence Edmondson, our colleague,
said this to me in the media center, if something happens random this
weekend to Norris, or to Piestri even, people might be like, well,
hang on, is that what you're talking about?
Yeah.
And so they've created another thing.
It's very unbranded, right?
In that way that I was thinking, it's now, it's papaya principles
instead of papaya rules, right?
We have to continue to keep this.
But even that, like what are the principles?
That's the point.
That's the point we don't know.
It's sacred.
And McLaren seem to not know either.
So McLaren, you know, McLaren all year have tried to have this line
of fairness between their drivers.
And I think every time they've stepped that more,
they've actually made it less fair.
Because if I was to give a situation to yourself and to Liz
and say, what's fair here, you'd both have a different take on it.
Just because you see it through your own eyes.
And McLaren are trying to attribute fairness to things
that just aren't fair.
And, you know, they're trying to attribute, like, they've
got two balls in the stable, not one.
You know, and both drivers think they're the ball.
Is that good?
Is that a good metaphor?
Yeah, I like your metaphor.
Is there any way that you could look at it and think, OK,
they have chosen sides?
Well, this was something Piyashu was asked as well
about this idea of favoritism.
And have they been favoring Lando over him?
Now, if you go back and look at the instance this year,
I think Lando's probably come out of them better
in terms of the 50-50s.
But there's been a good reason for each one.
I don't know if that's.
It's my plane.
It's coming in.
It's mine.
This is the papaya.
Is that your PJ?
It's just the small one.
It's the whole PJ.
I just wanted to do a flyover just
so that I could make sure that the paint looked fine.
But before the papaya plane interrupted me,
I think Lando Norris has come off better
in all of those situations.
But I don't think that's been malicious.
I think that when they've looked at them in the moment.
But if you're Piyashu.
But not in terms of audience perception.
No, exactly.
And I think that it is important
that McLaren take note of that,
that most people have seen the way the season's gone
and have thought, well, you're
kind of favoring Norris here.
Norris has been at the team longer.
He was plucked by Zach Brown from obscurity
when he was young.
So it's a story that, if you add it up in the right way,
does add up completely.
Piyashu denied that.
He said absolute favorability towards Lando.
But also that's exactly what he's going to say.
That's a sound thing to say.
That is politically sound thing to say.
Yeah, exactly.
So Piyashu, I think, has always
been very clever about the way he deals with that.
But I think that what was clear after Singapore,
the biggest thing I could deduce
from the way when I spoke to people close to Piyashu was,
they were upset that A, Lando didn't get a slap on the wrist
on the radio like Piyashu did in Austria and in Hungary
when he nearly drove into Lando.
And also, I think Piyashu very much thinks,
whether it's intentional favorability or not,
I think he thinks Lando's come out better
from those situations.
And he has to put his foot down and say,
I can't allow myself, yeah.
If you think between Monza in Singapore
through two very different situations,
he lost six points to Norris.
If he loses the championship by less than that,
he'll look at those two races.
And this race, in particular, has always been tight.
Between the two last year, they placed fourth and fifth,
respectively, Lando and fourth and Oscar and fifth here
last year.
Also, it has been three races since McLaren has been
on the top spot of the podium.
So not.
And Oscar hasn't been on the podium either.
And let's not forget who's finished ahead of both cars
at all three races is Mr. Max Verstappen,
which I think is what is almost
complicating the situation even more.
Because if Max wasn't there, I think McLaren could have
sat their drivers down and been like, right.
We're going to just have you guys finish Line of Stern
for the next couple of races.
Line of Stone?
Line of Stern?
Line of Stern.
Line of Stern.
Yeah, sorry, I think I said great English phrase.
But well, probably most of our American audience don't.
I think it means one in front of the other.
Yeah, Line of Stern.
I've learned something.
English producer Dave is kind of giving a little nod.
It does, yeah.
OK, job.
Although I did think he said Line of Stone at first.
Maybe.
That's what I thought I heard as well.
No, fine.
That's an accent thing.
I disagree.
But if Max wasn't there, I think this would be a slightly
easier thing to manage.
I agree with you.
And I think that, like, I likened it in Bakuta,
like the Jaws music playing every time they see Max.
Like, he's getting closer and closer.
We know what Max is like if he's circling in the water
and there's blood, which there is.
He can smell it.
He can get closer.
And the last two races, he's finished ahead of not just
one of the drivers, but both of them.
And he's still far enough away that it seems unlikely.
But let's say, term one, Lando and Piastric collide.
Max goes and wins the race.
It doesn't take much for the door to be open.
The door is wide open.
And Max is too good to not take this.
Interestingly, I interviewed Lando today.
And he said, one of the reasons this circuit is unique
is that you don't necessarily have to qualify as well.
You can make up time in the race.
But I did think it was interesting, given the tension,
that he was already thinking of ways out of it.
You know, it was a weird thing to sort of, like,
say, given the positioning.
Oscar seemed 100% locked in.
And also, wait.
But don't you also think that that
is their personalities, too?
I do.
We talked about this.
We associate, you know, how transparent, I think Lando is,
perhaps to a political fault.
Although you're right, it doesn't seem
to be affecting him negatively at the moment.
Yeah, I think that's a really interesting insight,
because I think that that has really, to Nicole's point,
has really kind of dictated their year.
And that's why this current situation is so interesting
as well, because I can't imagine what
that room would have been like when McLaren told Lando,
you were at fault for that.
And this punishment that we don't know about now
has to be meted out.
I feel like that would have been
difficult for Norris to have heard.
And it'll be interesting now to see if we get a moment in a race
where that is communicate to them how it goes.
Do you think at all that they do have it cleared up
behind the scenes, and they just
don't want to say it in the public?
Potentially.
I think they might have it cleared up in their own minds,
but not in actuality.
I think that I think that I think maybe that there's
because normally what you would do
is you'd have the discussion in private,
and you would say to your drivers and your team,
all we say is we discussed it, case closed.
And you look at all of us in the media,
we ask you over and over again, and you say,
we discussed it, case closed.
Boom, end of story.
No one mentions it again.
Now, they've made it a bigger story.
They've made it a story.
So it has been a strange couple of months for them
in terms of how they've managed it.
And ultimately, I think that's
going to come back and bite them.
Just because, as we were saying, one tiny thing,
and suddenly it's like, well, what was this?
What was behind the scenes here?
So as we move on to the other sort of topic
conversation that was heard,
sorry, I'm being told to eat my microphone.
As I was wandering around,
I ran into some people that I know,
and one of them, and I won't identify in any way.
This person said to me about Christian Horner,
we need to keep him out of the sport.
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And all of this is coming again to the forefront
because obviously he was dismissed from Red Bull in June,
or sorry, July.
He has now officially left the company,
which means he is eligible to join another company
in March.
Yeah, it's anywhere between, yeah.
It's like spring of 2026.
We've heard the rumors of other places,
Aston Martin, but now there are Ferrari rumors coming out.
And I thought it was really interesting today
that Lewis Hamilton was like,
this is a distraction to all of us.
And let's be honest, that is a team right now
that doesn't need anything else to go in a way
that's distracting them or taking them off course.
How much validity is there to the conversation
that there is a chance Horner goes to Ferrari?
I think the chance of him actually going to Ferrari
is slim, but I think the idea
that there's been contact is high.
He gets on very well with John Elkin,
who's the Ferrari chairman,
and Elkin actually tried to sign him in 2022
when they were replacing Matteo Bonotto.
And Horner at the time,
I remember he told us at a media dinner at the end
of that year, he was very close to accepting it.
He looked at it and just the corporate nonsense
at Ferrari was worse, he said at the time,
worse than what I have at Red Bull.
And ironically that corporate nonsense caught up
with him in a big way at Red Bull.
So I think that, I don't know whether Christian's view
would have changed on that,
because the Ferrari team boss doesn't really have
as much power as he would have had at Red Bull.
You know, you're still kind of subject
to what's happening above you.
And we've talked about it.
We would be surprised if he came back
just as team principal,
that we would be more likely to think he comes back
as team principal and something else.
Exactly that.
Like a stake in the team or something.
And Ferrari's probably the one place
you're not going to get that.
Right.
You're not going to suddenly buy into the dynasty
of Ferrari anytime soon.
So that's Liz's opinion.
Yeah, that's Horner now trying to come over.
The undercarriage was fantastic.
They did a great job with the PIA.
It looks great.
I used your guy.
So clean.
I used your guy.
But also, I think the big point of that as well
that I think is important is I can't see a world
where Lewis Hamilton would want to work Christian Horner
either.
I think that's the million dollar question.
Because he's radioactive at the moment.
Christian Horner.
The aura surrounding his brand seems radioactive,
though you might say that for Flavio Portori as well.
You know, a certain point, enough time passes.
I think that's the question,
have we gotten to that point?
I don't think it's too soon.
I think it's too soon.
But then again, Formula One, you know,
a guy like Horner, I would bet he comes back at some point.
Like I don't think he's bound for life.
To a team like Ferrari, though,
I feel like you're dealing with a big brand there.
A losing team is more,
it is more toxic to have a losing team
than it is to have a Christian Horner.
But is Christian Horner willing to go to a team
that is not, you know, so prestigious?
But let me look,
but if you look at it this way,
if you look at every team Boss Ferraris had,
since they won championships,
Stefano Domenicali never won a championship,
Mattiacci never won a championship,
before Ferrari, I mean, as well as that Ferrari.
Arriva Benet never did,
Benotto never won a championship,
Fred Versa, as well as he's rated,
he's never won a Formula One World Championship.
Christian Horner has presided over
eight drivers' championships, six constructors.
So in terms of the pedigree coming in,
that would probably be the way Ferrari spun it.
Could we read more about this Ferrari history?
And if they say so,
is there a spot that we could delve into?
You know what I should have done is had the book here.
You want a book on it?
Yeah, yeah.
If only we knew how F1's greatest team could win again.
That would be great, right?
What a title.
Yeah, I know, right?
I mean, I can't say any credit for that.
The publisher did all that good stuff.
That's my book, by the way,
just to clarify.
Forza Ferrari, how F1's greatest team could win again.
You were picking up all of the circuits.
But just to-
He has a book, but not a PJ.
That's for that, Stefano.
That's next.
But just to put a bow on that point,
I mean, I think that's where in this sport,
you know, for better or for worse,
stopwatch is ultimately what drives all those decisions.
And as much as Christian Horner is quite radioactive,
and I think a lot of teams here would happily
have seen the back from forever.
If you're Ferrari and you can bring in Horner,
you know, it's one of those things where you're like,
well, look, we've got Lewis Hamilton, best driver ever.
We've got Horner, one of the great,
from a performance standpoint,
one of the great team bosses of all time.
I can see why Ferrari might want him.
I just don't, to Nicole's point about buying in,
I just can't see that working.
And I think that he'll come into an Alpine,
maybe even an Aston in some way,
but I think Alpine seems to be the sensible one.
But who knows? I mean, again, Formula One,
none of us would have predicted Lewis being a Ferrari, you know?
But the Lewis 2021 scars are still there,
and I just don't see him wanting to work with Horner.
I think there was a lot of bad blood
between those two teams.
And even though we now have Perez and Bottas
working together at Cadillac next year,
it's very different.
Yeah, those two guys weren't in the brunt of it
in the same way.
And I think that there is a real,
I think there's a real animosity
or a real feeling of mistrust between Horner and,
or certainly from Hamilton to Horner.
And I just think that would stop him
wanting that, you know?
So let's see.
Those were the two sort of like big talking points.
But when we woke up this morning,
was it this morning or was it yesterday?
I don't know.
Time is a flat circle and it's all running together.
Some of the bigger news in the weekend
is that Mercedes has finally announced their 2026 lineup.
Shocking of all shockers,
it is George Russell and Kimi Antinelli.
What the hell took them so long?
I know.
I mean, poor Russell was put through the ring
with it, wasn't he? Yes.
And I do feel like he was made to look
a little bit of a fool at some point.
I agree.
Because, you know, Toto Wolf was going around
being like, I'd bend over backwards,
I'd do some assaults,
I think he said to get Max Verstappen.
Why do that to him?
Yeah, and what was interesting about it, though,
was that there was the suggestion of a multi-year deal.
And the conventional wisdom in the paddock
has been for a while that George would get a one-year deal
to kind of free them up to get Max maybe down the line.
But I think that's now where the pressure
has gone towards Antinelli.
Yes.
He's got a one-year deal.
And if he doesn't perform next year,
I think Wolf looks to move him on.
Not just Verstappen,
but we've heard these rumors a little bit about
Charles the Clerk maybe wanting to go elsewhere
for a Ferrari out there.
So, yeah, interesting stuff.
And I think, yeah, that to me was how that dynamic
shifted a bit.
But yeah, if you're George Russell,
you'd be pretty pissed, wouldn't you?
How that's all gone down.
I'm out.
The man, the myth, the legend, that's all right.
I leave you alone for one podcast episode
and you put Nate on top of a ball.
I mean, it is impressive.
Well, I mean, you did big time this
and showed up late, so.
I've got to say, it has made it a weird dynamic.
I've been kind of looking down on Liz and Nate.
I'm sure very weird to the side.
I don't want to block you out the shot.
So, you were late because you were just speaking
to Laurent Meckies.
Correct.
What news can you break to us?
What information can...
I'm not saying news, but like, what can you tell us?
Yeah, so, I mean, Lauren is an interested interviewer.
I mean, he's so different to Christian,
the person that he replaced,
and that he's very considered about everything.
He's, you know, he doesn't want to commit
necessarily to any big statements,
but he's quietly getting the job done.
And it was just quite interesting hearing
how much fun he's having there as well.
Joining Red Bull, he says like he goes around
and he's finding out what's in all the little boxes
and stuff like that, because for years,
he's been on rival teams.
Okay, racing Bulls, maybe not the biggest rival
because it's owned by Red Bull as well,
but he was at Ferrari.
So, you know, during that time,
Red Bull were going on winning championships.
And I think he really wanted to know
what was going on underneath the hood.
And now he's finding out.
So, yeah, very interesting chat like that.
He wouldn't give me anything on the driver situation
for next year, which I think is obviously one
of the more interesting things for Red Bull going into 2026.
Other than the decision hasn't yet been made
and they're giving themselves the time
and all of the drivers that they are considering
were very fast, which is true.
But clearly some are looking a bit faster than others.
And he's definitely a fan of Isaac Hadjar.
There's no doubt about that.
So, that seems to be the way things are moving.
He didn't say that, but that does seem
to be the way things are moving.
But he was very complimentary of Isaac
and the performance he's put in this year
in his rookie year.
Yeah.
And did, Mekki's, the thing that's been amazing
about him has been he's refused to take any credit
for Red Bull's kind of turnaround since he took over it.
Was it three wins, two wins?
Two wins and a split wins?
Two wins and, you know,
and obviously they came pretty close in, simple.
Yeah, yeah.
And then, and Max been back in the tight fight.
But every time he's asked, he said,
no credit whatsoever.
Did he give any indication
that he's maybe changed his mind on that?
No, no, no, he's still as modest as ever.
And I think that is very much his style as well.
He wants to talk up the people who are there.
And, you know, and there is some truth as well.
He said basically he looked at the car,
you know, and they looked at the ways they could improve it.
And they did fine stuff.
And I think there has been a change in methodology there,
but it's not all, well, he says it's not all come from him.
I think it's certainly been facilitated by his arrival.
But no, I mean, you know what he's like.
No, I mean, you've been in the same things.
You know, he hasn't changed his mind in two weeks
and saying all of a sudden, yeah, it's all me.
Yeah.
You know, he's still saying that.
That would be really great if he did,
if he just walked in one day and he was like.
But that is so not Laurent's style.
No, I know.
And that's why, you know,
really has been a breath of fresh air there
because he is so different.
And he really has this engineering approach
within that so many teams over the last few years.
They brought in engineers as team principals.
And most of them have gone really well.
I'm looking at Williams with James Valls,
you know, and they're obviously racing balls as well,
bringing Lauren Meckies in and now Alan Perman.
The steps they've made, you know,
I think we shouldn't forget that,
that you know, racing balls is now
regularly a pretty fast car.
And I guess who was team boss there, you know,
until three months ago, it was Lauren Meckies.
Since you're here, coming a little closer this way,
we, Liz doesn't bite.
The bull is fake, by the way.
It doesn't bite either.
I don't want to cut Liz out of the shop.
Since you are here, give us a quick track preview
of what to expect when we actually get
on the track this weekend.
And a quick reminder, this is a sprint race weekend.
Yeah. I mean, this, I think,
is one of the driver's favorite tracks,
certainly of the tracks that have been added
in the last couple of decades.
It was 2012 when this one first came in.
And because it's got that fast flowing essays
to open the lap, it's got undulation.
Depending on whether they've resurfaced it recently,
I don't think they have, it sometimes has a lot of bumps
because the ground underneath our feet
has like moved around since 2012
and created a lot of bumps around the track.
So it's a track with a huge amount of character
and a track where you can overtake.
Interestingly, McLaren don't actually think
they're going to be that quick here
because they look at the corner types
and they say, you know,
we've actually started to struggle at races
compared to some of our rivals with corners like this.
However, as Laura and Mekki's just pointed out to me,
when I asked him about his chances of going
and taking victory and beating the McLaren's,
he said it's hot.
And the McLaren's do go well in the hot
because they're able to look after their tires.
Sorry, I have someone shadowing here today.
And she's like, it's so cute.
So, Lewis Hamilton was just walking by,
so we needed to point that out.
So we just had, we just had Lewis Hamilton walking by there.
And he smiled.
Lewis Hamilton walking by
and he saw you sitting on a ball.
Yeah, so I think every time...
He might never look at you the same way.
Yeah, anytime I'm asking him a question going forward,
he's gonna be like, wasn't that the idiot
I saw on the bullet lesson?
Yeah.
I think that's basically my career.
This is what's happened.
Just on Lewis, we had him down at this setup earlier today
and they got him doing some lassoing
and he played some, is it Cornhole,
is that what it's called?
Cornhole.
He played some Cornhole, but he's lassoing.
Nate and I had to go at this yesterday,
at the Williams event.
Lassoing is hard.
Oh, right.
It took us about 30 minutes to do.
I just love how you say it.
I would say lassoing.
Lassoing is difficult as well.
We would say lasso.
They say lassoing.
No, no, no, no, don't stop it.
Lassoing is hard.
Be more of an American.
Be more of an American.
Do you guys like the series Ted Lassoe?
Have you seen that?
Anyway, Lewis turns up and he lassoed,
or lassoed, that cow with one go.
Just like, got it swung above his head,
new ways to do it.
It looked a little bit like he'd done it before,
but genuinely, he was taking instruction
from the guy who I guess doesn't do it all the time.
I mean, you don't think this activation
has happened for the past couple of years?
No, it hasn't.
Not here, but elsewhere.
No, no.
I don't think we lose.
But the other thing that was interesting
is that he took instruction so well,
and that's something that all these drivers do
when they talk to their engineers.
He's like, basically, they had shown once,
he understood it, he was able to repeat it,
do it, done, lassoed this little jump.
Charles also did it in his first go as well.
Well, on that point, the Williams event we went to,
this poor woman was telling me over and over again
how to do it.
And I kept being like, can you just explain to me
again that?
And I couldn't get the rope up.
And she kept being like, ah, bless you.
Bless y'all.
Bless y'all.
Bless y'all's heart or whatever.
Bless y'all's heart.
And I just couldn't get it.
And that is a really good point.
And I think that a lot of these drivers remind me
of the kids at school, that you gave them a ball,
a tennis ball, a bat, whatever.
And they'd be like, oh, I'm really good at this.
Out of nowhere.
And you're like, great.
They're just, you know, super whatever they do.
Professional athletes are athletically inclined.
Yeah, and there must be something in the way
those guys are built, because yeah, it's just, yeah.
They just get it.
Special stuff, yeah.
All right, what do we miss?
I mean, we've hit on Ferrari,
we've hit on McLaren, we've hit on Mercedes,
finally announcing, we got your stuff in here now.
What is the biggest storyline we think we're gonna see
going into the weekends?
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Well.
Other than the ones we've already tackled.
Potential elephant in the room,
given that we're ESBM,
but there is one that we think might come,
which is Apple and a TV deal in the US.
Well, I think we should mention that,
because it is coming up,
which has quite big ramifications for the weekend.
Probably hear that on Friday.
But I think on track,
I think we go back to the McLaren situation,
just because it not only has ramifications
with Piastri and Norris,
but also, like we said, with Max there,
it feels like if anything happens there,
I mean, we've been talking about this a little while now.
If Verstappen can get himself back in this title fight,
I'm all in on Verstappen all the way.
You know, that would just be such a good story.
Because there's blood in the water
and that's just, he's ruthless that way.
So I would say that,
but then, yeah, maybe, who knows?
I mean, I can't see Ferrari winning again here last year.
That was the big shock last year, wasn't it?
So.
I don't know.
I mean, you guys, I'm sure talked about it a lot.
The consequences that Lando Norris is facing.
Whatever they are,
I think there's going to be a lot of guessing around that.
I don't know if you guys mentioned that,
but like, if something happens,
people are going to say,
oh wait, is that McLaren's consequences or not?
Sorry if you've mentioned that already.
No, no, we did, but I shouted out
that was your point in the media center.
So I kind of, I'd already said it,
I took the credit for it, but I said,
I think I've mentioned it.
No, but it's a good point.
Liz has now named them papaya principles.
Instead of papaya rules.
Oh, is that what they call it?
Liz, it's papaya principles.
It's me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But again, it's so very on brand with McLaren
to take something that could be very easily,
we've discussed it, we have moved on.
End of story, we stopped talking about it
and they've taken something
and they've added zero clarity to it.
They've almost made it more of a talking point
and that seems so very on brand for them.
And it does not help their drivers throughout the title fight.
It does not help them stay focused.
It becomes a distraction.
A little like Lewis was talking about
this Christian Werner nonsense
is a distraction for the team.
Every time one of those has to,
one of those guys has to answer the same question
about papaya rules or papaya principles
or is that retaliation?
Is that your, is that the consequences?
It is something else they have to think about
that takes away from what they should be focused on.
100%.
Yeah, I couldn't put it any better.
And that's why, again, to that point
it's so weird they didn't just shut it down.
Just shut it down.
Just don't see the beast.
And it's not a hard thing to shut down.
Just shut it down.
I think Lawrence has made the point before that
in 2016, we had the most boring run in ever
with Nico Rosberg because every single weekend,
it'd sit in the media and he'd say,
I'm just focused on this race,
just focused on this race.
And we hated it.
We were like, there's no story to this.
But for him, it just meant there was no controversy
around it.
He'd get the car over the line in those last races.
And he's said since, didn't he,
that that was a tactic he implied to shut the media
to shut the wind down.
And then it put all the pressure on Lewis
because everyone was asking Lewis those questions
and Lewis was chasing as well.
So I think there's a lot to that in the PR game.
Do you know who else just said that to me a minute ago
when I asked him about chasing down a championship
and taking the fight to McLaren?
Laura Mechey said, no, we only, look at it race by race,
you know, and so, but actually I think it is,
it is probably the sensible way to certainly address it
in the media.
But also internally, there's no point in getting massively
over excited about something that is still a very long way away.
You've got to chip away.
You've got to get the results of the results.
One DNF for Max, forget it.
You know, it's all over.
Yeah.
And that is it, isn't it?
If he gets close and then there's a DNF in three races,
then that's pretty bad.
Well, this weekend, including this weekend,
six races to the end of the season, correct?
Yes.
Yes.
Well, 6.5, because we have the sprint here.
Well, we have three left, don't we?
7.5 races.
Yes.
Okay.
All right, let's get our predictions in.
I didn't look at yours.
Okay.
It's still proof.
Oh, you should put it in an envelope.
It's an unread, look.
I'll show you, so you believe me.
Liz, you can go first.
Okay, I have them.
All right.
See, it's still there, unread.
Do we go three, two, one, or one, two, three?
Whatever you want.
All right, one, two, three, Max Verstappen.
Baby Max Verstappen, AKA Oscar Piastri.
George Russell.
Wow.
Oh, I like that.
Well, I was going to go Max number one,
Piastri two, Lando three,
with some papaya principles thrown in.
I reckon they swapped the positions or something.
Nicole, this is the moment where you have to open my message
because it is the same as Nate's.
Oh, no way.
But just to prove it, and this was sent prior to recording.
It was.
And mine is the same as yours.
Okay.
I was going Max, Oscar, and then George.
So we're all on the Verstappen hype train,
which we are.
We're all on Verstappen and Oscar,
the only place that we can be different is in third.
It's either Lando or Bust.
And that is interesting that we've all gone that way
because at the last couple of races, I would say,
Norris has probably been the stronger of the two.
I think papaya rules are going to come into play.
So it shows you that we do think
there's some nonsense coming.
Because that is something that should be said about Norris
is that for all the controversy around that move
to Piastri, it was nice seeing that fight from him
even if it did skirt the team rules or whatever.
So the first time we'd really seen him kind of
grab the ball by the horns, if you want to say that.
And I was thinking about grabbing the ball by the horns.
And I thought I'd probably die.
Yeah, I'd probably kill myself.
Also, to anyone listening to this podcast,
if you haven't guessed already, I'm sat on a ball.
He sat on a ball that you said that to me.
A dead ball.
If you have something like, what on earth,
why is Nate made like three different ball raps?
That's why.
He's not wearing a cowboy hat though,
so that's a disappointment.
Yeah, so Lando has a good chance
to prove us all wrong and comprehensively
beat Piastri tomorrow.
And if he does that, I think maybe it changes
the kind of the dynamic around how we see the fight.
Because if he beats Piastri on merit tomorrow,
then I think you've got to look at the run-in
a little differently.
All right, that does it for us for now.
We're here all weekend though, so you can get more content.
Because remember, if you are watching us
on the ESPN F1 YouTube channel, awesome, great.
Thank you.
Remember, subscribe, like us, because you'll
find us there all season, all year long.
And wherever you're else, just set us up
with a five-star review.
We will see you in a few days from Austin.
Yeehaw.
Yeehaw.
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