The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends Nov 26, 2025

Will Verstappen win the Championship? | The Car Podcast – Emergency Podcast

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Company

McLaren

McLaren is a car company from the UK that makes fast sports cars and races in Formula 1. They are famous for their advanced technology and sleek designs.

Part

front suspension

The front suspension is the part of a car that helps support the front wheels and keeps the ride smooth. It helps the car handle well when turning or going over bumps.

Term

downforce

Downforce is a force that pushes a car down onto the road, helping it stick better and drive faster, especially when turning. It's important for race cars to stay stable.

Term

wear

Wear means how much a part of the car gets damaged or used up over time. It's important to check for wear to keep the car running safely and well.

Term

skidding

Skidding is when a car's tires slide on the road instead of rolling. It can happen if the driver turns too quickly or brakes too hard, making it hard to control the car.

Term

porpoising

Porpoising is when a race car bounces up and down while driving fast. This can make it hard to control the car and can wear out the tires quickly.

Term

The Nürburgring is a well-known racetrack in Germany where many car companies test their vehicles. It's famous for being very difficult to drive on, making it a popular place for racing and testing cars.

Term

transmission glitch

A transmission glitch is a problem with the part of the car that helps it change gears. If there's a glitch, the car might not shift gears properly, which can cause it to drive poorly.

Term

hydropneumatic suspension

Hydropneumatic suspension is a fancy way of saying that a car uses special fluid and gas to make the ride smoother. It can also change how high or low the car sits, which helps it handle better on the road.

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It's an emergency pod car because McLaren

will be excluded from the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

And it's big news.

And it's a big shake up for the championship.

And frankly, Plankwit has never been a problem for me.

Plank length has at times.

But the old width isn't an issue.

And I'm going to pass over to Manich

who's going to tell us all about Plankwit.

I was going to talk about skid marks, skid plates,

skid plates.

Sorry, it was very plural.

It's taken you three years, but I'm part of the club now.

So I have been doing a little bit of reading around this.

And Mr. Harris, I think was watching

part of this race live.

And I watched it delayed in the morning

and I saw the appeal go up and I thought, what?

And Mr. Cooper said, keep up Manich

because he was on the FIA website

hitting refresh every two seconds

to see what the verdict would be.

And unfortunately, I think with Plankware,

if you're less than the nine millimeters, you are out.

And it turns out that McLaren Orlando

was out by 0.12 of a millimeter

as I'm reliably told, less than the width of a human hair.

And I think that the race has a very, very good article

on it and bottom line is this.

They think that the reason why the McLaren

has been such a bullet this year

is they've got a very, very clever front suspension.

And what it means is that the cars like to generate

downforce from the middle of the car

and the back of the car.

Most people therefore have problems with wear

at the back of the car

where all the downforce has been generated.

Apparently McLaren have got a very, very clever suspension

that allows them to run the front very, very low

without skidding but generate downforce

in the middle of the car and the back of the car.

There's a nice photograph today

of Oscar Piastri's driver's seat taken out of the car

and it's covered in gold foil

because it gets so hot, the skidding,

it gets so cleverly done.

Oscar gets a hot bum, Lando apparently doesn't.

So this car is super efficient,

brilliant with its heat, blah, blah, blah.

Now what they say is that in Las Vegas,

I mean, first of all, they say McLaren are pushing it

because Red Bull have not given up any development.

So they were pushing towards a limit.

Las Vegas, we know that it was raining.

Las Vegas, we know that there was a red flag twice

I think during free practice.

So basically McLaren didn't have quite enough data,

really pushed this limit

and apparently their car started

porpoising during the race.

And you guys were absolutely right,

they spotted something was wrong.

Suddenly told Lando to lift and coast

to try to avoid his plank wear

but the bottom line is trying to go and get max,

they exceeded their plank

with by point one, two in Lando's case,

I can't remember,

Oscar had three different measurements

but they're both out

and suddenly Oscar and Max have got 366 points,

Lando's got 390 points

and he basically needs to go to Abu Dhabi

with a 26 point lead.

Basically if Lando wins by two points in Qatar,

there's a sprint race,

so that's eight points and a main race,

which is 25 points, he will still be world champion.

I just don't think anyone could have made this up.

I mean, it's just,

do you remember what did Max say?

Brazil, when he was 108 points behind or whatever,

my championship is over.

The guy is 26 points behind the championship leader

and he does look good.

Although I will say Lando,

he's won two out of the last three races,

he's on four.

So I would still massively weigh this towards Lando,

but it could have been over so much more easily in Qatar.

I think this is quite possibly going to go to the wire.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm fascinated by this.

Just give what do you think?

I have to say, sitting there with my phone

and looking at the FIA website for the decision

and constantly pressing refresh

was the most exciting part of the whole Grand Prix

because it was a bit dull, otherwise.

I mean, you can't,

you almost couldn't make it up.

I mean, clearly it's not made up, it is true.

I mean, the conspiracy theorists who would say,

oh, we know, FIA interfering again and favoring Matt.

I mean, clearly there were far too many people involved

who were far too grown up,

who got proper measuring sticks.

So, I mean, this is the first time,

as a result of this,

I mean, if they'd finished,

if for some reason during the race,

both McLean's had fallen off or had a shunt,

I don't think the psychological impact

would have been remotely what it is now,

which is they thought they had a result.

They thought they had Lando in second

and actually everyone said, well, it's kind of done,

isn't it?

But now when the stuff popped up on the website,

the psychological influence is far bigger

than just having had a shit race.

And for the first time, all season,

one of the McLean's is level with another car

that's not a McLean, a Piastri and Max are level.

That just feels like a bit of a watershed moment.

And suddenly, he's not just behind them,

he's alongside one of them.

I mean, for the last two races of the year,

it's just mega.

I mean, I remember Chris years and years ago

after that really frustrating end in Brazil in 2007,

you and I were driving from Brussels Airport

to the Nürburgring, the weekend after,

Lewis had had that really, really weird transmission glitch.

And you said to me, well, it's Bernie

with his white cat, isn't it?

He's just made all that happen.

No, that was the German sponsors.

Was that the German sponsors?

Yeah, definitely, Hugo Boss.

This is another emergency.

Didn't they, no, that wasn't a German winner,

didn't they?

Was that the same time as, was that the German year?

That's the following year, yeah.

It was about 18 years too late.

It was an emergency.

What I've been working on so far is that

because I've not got my echo cancellation quite right,

Chris Cooper, for me, stands remarking,

would like to see the EPO when he gets an explosion.

So.

I did.

I thought actually it was quite good, the race.

Did you?

I'm shocked that the cars are still made of wood.

Also, all this fucking leading technology bollocks

and now the truth is out.

They're actually Morgan's.

Surely there's got to be,

even if it's not an inside job

and it's not designed to make sure

that it goes to the end and therefore,

there's another 100 million of TV money

and sponsorship and tickets to be sold.

Even if we don't believe that,

there's got to be an inside job tip off this.

Isn't it 0.1 of a millimeter?

You know, they do measure them, Neil.

They measure all the cards that get points,

get measured and a couple of others.

I think it's almost too good to be true

for the whole thing, isn't it?

Because.

I mean.

Yeah.

I mean, okay, is there a way of Lando

winning the world championship this next race?

Yes, he's pleased to win by two points.

He's still old, so.

Yeah.

Okay, well, if he does that, it's not a fix.

If he doesn't do that, it is a fix.

I'm completely satisfied by your logic.

I've got, I love this.

I've got two observations there.

The first is, I don't trust anyone.

You know, I don't trust anyone in the world.

I'm the least trusting person.

I live quite a small true life

when I don't trust anyone.

That is true.

I trust my dog.

That's that in.

And I can tell you that in 1993,

I was in the South of France,

engaged in what was weird,

quite an intense most sport experience.

I was at a fair somewhere near Avignon,

somewhere like that.

And it was one of those figure of age,

wooden go-kart tracks from this local gypsy prayer

that would travel around.

And they have little four straight go-karts

and they were sick for us racing.

And it got quite tested.

And I took out the local French star

and afterwards all the go-karts

lost it in one mile an hour.

And I went, what's going on here?

And the main man had a button in his press

that slowed all the go-karts down to one mile an hour.

He had virtual safety car.

1993 at a gypsy prayer near Avignon.

What have they got at their disposal now?

There's so much, there's so much that can be done.

Yeah.

No, I don't trust any of it.

I also, I do think this is remarkable.

I'm not quite as outrageous, Neil,

at the concept of these cars being made of wood.

But there's a certain irony.

The material that's been measured in this,

in this sphere of materials and technology is wood.

Now, in my experience, wood is a material

that's sort of able to change its properties,

size, shape, whatever,

according to an appropriate condition.

You can compress it however you want.

But the idea that you're measuring wood,

two decimal points of a millimeter,

I'm sure that they do.

It's not the wood.

They measure the skid blocks.

They don't measure the woods.

But they did describe it as look like

they're measuring a piece of wood.

I was quite lucky here.

I was there at the race.

F1 doesn't really work in Vegas, in my opinion.

That's what we'll talk about on the main podcast.

And I saw a lot of these cars.

I had a lovely chat with Landau's dad before the race.

I had a lovely man.

And we talked about all sorts of things

that I can't talk about here.

And then I had breakfast the next morning.

Imagine this has happened.

I'm having breakfast and I'm having a little bit of Gordon Curry.

He's quite a good person to talk to.

I asked him questions about this.

Yes.

And what was brilliant,

Gordon is very straightforward.

He's very unwilling to criticise.

And I thought, so what do you make of him?

That they just run to trust tolerance as you went.

Yeah, he just said,

he said that every team knows what the rules are.

And they, and it just shows you that they're pushing

because they are running.

They could easily have not gone anywhere

near this tolerance.

Yes.

It shows you that they're pushing.

That's come from as far as I'm concerned.

His lordship.

Yeah.

Don't, Chris, Gordon Murray is the man

who created cheating ride-hides.

If you remember, I mean,

when they had the four centimetre rule,

Gordon was the one who created

the brilliant hydroneumatic suspension.

And someone said, your cow is supposed to be six centimetres.

And he said, no, it's not.

No, he made it four centimetres.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

He's a genius.

Exactly.

I think it's very interesting.

And the implications for the championship are huge

because it might be that Landau seals it.

But what does it say about McCarran

and the way that McCarran has run this championship

for the second half of the season?

What does it say about having two top tier drivers

that are young and hungry in the same team?

What does it say from McCarran next year

when life can be more difficult?

It's fascinating.

And there's this sort of lurking spectre of this happen.

He's just a disaster of everyone as a driver.

He's just a hunter that just goes out

and aims to disrupt everyone else's championships.

And he's got nothing to lose.

Max is vain enough, but he's in front.

But for everyone, he just doesn't care.

No.

I'm just pleased it's Landau in front,

because I think if it was Piastri, he'd bottle it.

Yeah, well.

What do you think, Manish?

No.

He would not bottle it,

but he does seem to have somewhat lost his form since August.

And if you all believe in the Bernie button,

why don't you believe in that?

I mean, you know.

But who's in charge of the Bernie button now?

Who's responsible for the Bernie button?

Man, that's such a good question, isn't it?

I saw Stetano have a meeting with the head of the FBI

and the head of Homeland Security.

I've never seen so many trained killers in a room.

We were sitting in a tent in the ethical hospitality unit,

and I said, there's one F1,

I'll tell you a bit there, which is next to all the team ones.

So we were there with Gordon, who were quiet.

And suddenly a load of men came in

and Gordon said, look, that one's missing a neck.

Just like a head on these massive shoulders.

And he said, there was a meeting that came in just first

and then looked at this meeting.

And it made me realise,

Stetano is incredibly powerful in that sport, isn't he?

Yeah, he's the, yeah, he's the dom.

Yeah.

So he'd have the button.

I don't know.

I think Bernie's still got the button.

I think it's fingerprint coded to Bernie.

They've tried, there's no point in saying, all right,

they get to decide whether it's turned on,

but only he gets to decide whether it's pushed.

So bring him to press it.

I'm not sure Bernie's still got it.

I'll tell you why, because quite often on the Skype page,

they'll show Jensen's name is Jensen Button.

And if Bernie has the button, he'd pause it and go,

I'm sorry, it's Jason, it's not Jensen.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah, it is true.

You're just saying also just that Lando,

just tiny observations that first corner,

Lando tried to do a Schumacher on Verstappen

and just outbraid himself.

And the other thing, even he said after,

ooh, that was a bit embarrassing.

I mean, like when Verstappen does something like that,

it is so billionth of a millimetre perfect.

You know, he shoves you right up against the wall

and he makes the corner and off he goes,

even if he's got a tank slapper for Lando,

he won the first corner and lost the second one.

It's quite sad to see.

What's Julio Iglesias' son called?

Enrique.

Enrique Iglesias has got a son that was released

10 years ago called I, Lando.

He is now accompanying all the footage

of that particular corner and I love Lando

and I love the Norris Abbey.

The way he says I, Lando is quite amusing

in his context.

Well, we're going to have to see what happens this weekend,

really, aren't we?

Yeah.

And I think the one thing I also took from talking

to some people out here that know far more about this

than I or we do is don't underestimate the fact

that it might be 0.0 whatever millimetre.

Every micron you put that far closer to the ground,

particularly with these ground effect cars

and the complicated pores,

generates enormous performance advantages.

And the rules are there for a reason.

So one thing we've not discussed is any set of hard luck

from a clown, is it?

We have none of us to deal with that.

Well, it's either a fixed or it's their fault.

I don't think there's luck involved, is it?

It's...

Yeah, I think they explained it quite well,

which was we thought we got it right.

It turns out we hadn't.

We didn't.

The announcement was quite clear,

wasn't it really?

Yeah.

And they're all pushing it.

And you might have thought,

okay, well, we haven't got as much data.

Honestly, do we really, really need to push it?

Everybody else seemed to have got it in the top 10.

Because I think all the top 10 cars were checked?

Yes.

So just them.

So a bit of, yeah, that was...

It just goes to show sport, eh?

Bloody hell.

And say one last thing, I was wondering

whether McLaren, because they had

such an enormous performance advantage

going into the summer,

started to really focus on 2026.

I don't think this is a papaya rules thing.

I think this is, that car was just a bullet.

And Las Vegas, by the way, isn't a great track for them.

Last year, they did not have a great time.

If you remember, Landau actually got disqualified

because Max said, oh, he didn't back off under yellow.

He didn't back off, you know,

there were cars hitting wing mirrors last year.

And all I would say is I do wonder

whether their attention, their resources,

slightly flicked to 2026.

And then they saw this resurgent Red Bull.

There's not, you know, there's not much you can do.

You know, going into this part of the season,

what you've got to do then

is just push the car you've got

as far as you possibly can.

I don't think you want to turn

the development ball back on.

That's why I think they were so close.

And I think Gordon's absolutely right.

He's a man who knows more about Rhydyte

than anyone else in the history of Formula One.

He's a man who's manipulated it

much better than anyone else.

And he's quite right.

They've pushed it very hard

because Max has been so resurgent.

He's not a moron.

There's another potential discussion point,

which is that if they'd had more dry running,

would they have had more information

and not run the cars?

They'd have had the same routine on the same road.

Yeah, and I think that's the weird bit,

which was why did they feel...

I mean, who knows?

I mean, we're sort of second guessing

and there's millions of people looking at us

with big brains and big computers.

But it just...

Hence my point, sport, eh?

Sport does that.

It just...

You end up making these decisions.

Right.

Here and if the emergency program

are tuned into the next program.

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0:00

19:28

Will Verstappen win the Championship? | The Car Podcast – Emergency Podcast

McLaren

front suspension

downforce

wear

skidding

porpoising

Nürburgring

transmission glitch

hydropneumatic suspension

About this episode

Original notes