Kimi Antonelli’s Japan win sparks real title talk, with the hosts arguing his speed is legit even if the safety car shaped the race. They debate whether George Russell is rattled and how the teammate dynamic could flip from “one-two” to a true title fight. Oscar Piastri’s return to action ends in a strong second, and McLaren’s engine learning is credited for the turnaround. The Oli Bearman crash fuels discussion on 2026 closing-speed concerns and possible rule tweaks before Miami. Max Verstappen hints he may question whether F1 is worth it, while Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon get praise in “under the radar.”
Betty and Christian unpack another weekend of Formula 1 action at Suzuka. For the second race in a row, Kimi Antonelli took the win and is now the youngest ever World Championship leader. But could he win the whole thing? Oscar Piastri took second place and finished his first Grand Prix of the year, are McLaren bouncing back? And could Max REALLY be on his way out?
Plenty of discussion to be had as the sport heads into the break, including how potential rule changes could alter the pecking order, and who went under the radar in Japan…
We will be back next week with our Spring break report cards for all 11 teams.
Make sure you follow us on all the socials and hit subscribe right here because we are covering the 2026 season from lights out to chequered flag!
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Progressive Insurance is an auto insurer that offers tools like “Name Your Price” to help customers compare coverage options. In this segment, it’s mentioned as the sponsor and as the source of the budgeting feature.
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It’s a feature from Progressive where you tell them what you want to spend on insurance. They’ll look for insurance options that match that price.
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"...I'm ready to talk about the world of Formula One with you, Vettie, other than being a bit tired..."
Formula One, or F1, is the highest level of race car competition. Drivers and teams race around the world and score points to win championships.
Formula One (F1) is the top tier of open-wheel racing, run by the FIA. Teams compete in a season of races, earning points toward the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.
"...could Max really leave Formula One? We're going to discuss it all, but Christian..."
Max Verstappen is one of the biggest stars in Formula One. If he were to leave, it would shake up the whole sport.
Max Verstappen is a top Formula One driver and a central figure in modern F1 storylines. The question of whether he could leave F1 is a major topic because driver decisions strongly affect team competitiveness and championship dynamics.
"Kimi Antonelli, he won in Japan, helped by the Safety Car, but do you think he's impressed? ... But take both of those door hold opens aside. The door can be pushed to Jaffe in Formula One, but you have to walk through it."
The Safety Car is a pace car that comes out when the track isn’t safe. It slows everyone down together, which can change the race and make it easier for some drivers to gain positions.
In Formula 1, the Safety Car is deployed when there’s danger on track (like debris or an incident). It neutralizes the race pace, bunches up the field, and can dramatically change strategy and who has a chance to win.
"And you could equally argue, well, the door was held open for him in this race by the safety car. But take both of those door hold opens aside... But I don't think it's a simple case with this Japanese Grand Prix to go Kimi only won because of the safety car."
The Japanese Grand Prix is a specific Formula 1 race in Japan. They’re talking about that weekend and whether Kimi’s win was “real pace” or mostly influenced by race circumstances.
The Japanese Grand Prix is one of Formula 1’s long-running races, typically held at Suzuka. In this discussion, it’s the specific event where Kimi Antonelli’s performance is being evaluated, including how the Safety Car affected the outcome.
"If anything, there's a slight shame with the safety car that it didn't give us more of a race to see what would have happened with Kimi passing George, with Kimi potentially passing Oscar..."
Passing means getting ahead of another car during the race. They’re saying the Safety Car reduced the chance to see those overtakes happen, which would have been more exciting and informative.
Passing in F1 is overtaking another car on track, and it’s often the most telling measure of race pace and tire management. The hosts regret that the Safety Car limited the chance to see a direct battle—specifically whether Kimi could pass George or Oscar.
"he pulled away 14 seconds from Oscar on the restart. I mean, that sort of says it all."
A restart is when the race speeds back up after the safety car. Who gets going best can suddenly create a big advantage.
A restart happens when the race resumes after a safety car period. Drivers and teams use the restart to attack or defend, and small differences in launch and tire readiness can create big gaps quickly.
"he'll have some time to practice these sorts of things in the sim over the course of the next four weeks..."
The “sim” is the driver simulator used to practice race scenarios, car behavior, and specific techniques like starts and overtakes. In F1, simulators are a major tool for learning under new rules and refining performance without using track time.
"I think he knows he's got a battle against his teammate on his hands now. It must be quite strange... We have seen time and time again in Formula One in circumstances where teammates are battling in the same car that has an advantage."
Teammates are the two drivers on the same team. Since they have similar resources, teammate battles can show who’s really faster.
In F1, teammates are the two drivers from the same team, and they share the same car platform and engineering support. When teammates are fighting, it can reveal whether one driver has a performance edge or whether the car is helping both equally.
Concept
B driver getting the advantage and the A driver sweeping past
"One of those drivers having an advantage, the sort of B driver getting the advantage and the A driver sweeping past."
This describes a common F1 dynamic where a driver perceived as the “B” (often the less-favored teammate) gains the upper hand, while the “A” driver (the more favored or established one) gets overtaken. It’s essentially about team hierarchy, car advantage, and execution under pressure.
"Everybody in the paddock was talking in 2022 Bahrain of, wow, we could see..."
The paddock is the busy area at an F1 race where teams, staff, and media hang out. It’s where people talk about what’s happening with the cars.
The “paddock” is the F1 team and media area at a race weekend, where information and opinions spread quickly. When the speaker says “in the paddock,” they mean the teams and insiders discussing performance trends.
"So it's given us a real interesting dynamic. You know, Kimmy Antonelli is the championship leader."
The championship leader is the driver with the most points at that moment. It can affect how they race—sometimes more carefully to protect the lead.
A “championship leader” is the driver currently topping the points standings. In F1, leading the championship can change risk tolerance—drivers may push for points rather than maximum aggression depending on gaps to rivals.
Concept
consistency vs speed
"[928.9s] The question mark is the consistency, but the speed is there."
Speed is how fast you can be. Consistency means you can keep that fast pace repeatedly without the car falling off or making errors.
In racing, “speed” is how fast a car can go, while “consistency” is how reliably it can perform lap after lap. A car that’s quick for one stint may still struggle if it can’t repeat that pace without mistakes or degradation.
"I believe McLaren will probably win races in the second half of this season, and I think that showed that this weekend."
McLaren is one of the major Formula 1 teams. Here they’re being talked about as a team that could start winning more races soon.
McLaren is a top Formula 1 team known for strong engineering and frequent front-running performance. In this segment, it’s discussed as the team likely to win races in the second half and as the benchmark for Oscar and Lando’s results.
"Yeah, car started, he didn't make a mistake on the formation lap. I did actually say go back to people listening to the pod before Australia."
Before the race starts, the cars do a “practice” lap to get ready. It helps drivers and tires warm up and makes sure the car is behaving normally.
A formation lap is the warm-up lap where cars line up behind the pace car (or follow the race start procedure) before the race begins. Drivers use it to get tires up to temperature and confirm everything is working before the grid goes live.
"Do you think McLaren, do you think McLaren could battle for the title this year? Is it too early to say?"
“Battle for the title” means who’s most likely to win the championship. In F1, it’s hard to predict early because teams can change and improve as the season goes on.
A “battle for the title” refers to the fight for the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship and/or Constructors’ Championship. The speaker frames it as difficult to judge early because performance can shift after rule changes and upcoming race weekends.
"Yes, Mercedes have a big advantage, but I'm not one of these people that's like, oh, they've already won it."
Mercedes is a top F1 team. They’re currently looking very strong, but the speaker thinks it’s still too early to say they’ve already won the championship.
Mercedes is another leading Formula 1 constructor, historically dominant and often a pace-setter. The speaker says Mercedes has a big advantage, but argues it’s too early to declare the title already decided.
"is loving seeing the overtaking at the front. It's texting me being like, this is amazing and I"
Overtaking is when one driver passes another on track. If overtaking is easier, the racing feels more exciting and competitive.
Overtaking is the act of passing another car during a race, and it’s a key measure of how “raceable” the cars are. Rule changes in Formula 1 often target overtaking by adjusting aerodynamics and car performance balance.
"the criticism has always been too much drag, too much downforce and too much dirty air"
Drag is air resistance that makes the car slower. If the cars have too much drag, it can be harder to catch up and pass.
Drag is aerodynamic resistance that slows the car down. The transcript frames criticism as “too much drag,” implying the rules may reduce top speed and/or make it harder to close gaps for overtaking.
"...When scary crashes like that happen, it's a credit to the FIA. It's a credit to Formula One in terms of the safety work that happens."
The FIA is the organization that runs and regulates motorsport rules. They also push safety improvements, which is why drivers can walk away from crashes more often than in the past.
The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) is the governing body that sets and enforces rules for Formula 1 and oversees safety standards. When the hosts say it’s a “credit to the FIA,” they’re pointing to safety improvements that help drivers survive major crashes.
"Could he actually leave? Yes. I believe of all of those drivers on the grid who talk about, oh, I've got outside interests in this sport."
The grid is where the cars line up to start a race. Saying “drivers on the grid” usually means the whole group of drivers racing that season.
The “grid” is the starting lineup for an F1 race, but in conversation it often means the full set of drivers competing in the season. When someone says “drivers on the grid,” they’re referring to the current roster of F1 drivers.
"...but it's the things like we were in the paddock together, Betty. Can't remember what year it was, 2023, Silverstone,"
Silverstone is a well-known race track in the UK that hosts Formula 1. When people mention it, they’re usually talking about a specific F1 event at that circuit.
Silverstone is a famous F1 circuit in the UK and one of the sport’s most iconic venues. It’s often used as a reference point in F1 conversations because many major races and storylines happen there.
"something like 22 points all of last season. It's not, I'm not just praising Alpine here."
“Points” refers to the championship scoring system in F1, where drivers earn points based on finishing positions. The hosts use points to evaluate whether a driver is meeting expectations and how close the competition is.
"His battling with Max, fantastic. He's four-nil up on Max Verstappen in qualifying now. Including the sprint race, yeah."
Qualifying is the part of an F1 weekend where drivers try to set the fastest lap. Your qualifying result helps decide where you start the race.
Qualifying is the session in Formula 1 where drivers set the fastest lap times to determine the starting grid for the race. Better qualifying usually means a more favorable position to avoid traffic and improve race strategy.
"Number one, probably got to be Fernando Alonso has had a child. So... Daddy Fernando."
Fernando Alonso is a long-time top-tier Formula 1 driver, strongly associated with multiple teams over his career. The discussion uses him as a focal point for team performance and his future in the sport.
"A spokesperson for Nestle confirmed to the athletic and other reputable media outlets on Saturday."
Nestlé is the company behind Kit Kat. They’re quoted here confirming what was being shipped and where it was supposed to go.
Nestlé is a major global food and beverage company that owns brands like Kit Kat. In the segment, Nestlé is cited as confirming details about the stolen shipment, which ties the story to the real-world supply chain behind branded products.
"we've been really impressed with as a new engine supplier. I mean, look at the troubles Honda are having, you know, they're doing really well, you know, they've scored points, they've been in and around the points."
Honda is an engine supplier with a long history in Formula One. The speaker is comparing Honda’s current struggles to another new engine supplier’s early performance, highlighting how engine development and reliability can take time.
"That deal is not done. He will have a period of gardening leave to serve that could be as long as a year."
Gardening leave is when someone is told to stay home for a while while their contract is still in effect. They’re not working for the new place yet, even if everyone knows they’re moving.
Gardening leave is a contractual period where an employee is paid but not allowed to work for another employer, often used during notice periods or when a move is being negotiated. In F1, it can delay when a high-profile team figure can officially join a new team, even if the deal is widely expected.
"So any questions you might have for us at Fast Curious Pod?... bit of an F1 Q&A. Yeah, we want rogue questions as well, just anything that comes to your mind."
F1 is short for Formula 1, the highest level of car racing in the world. Teams race cars on circuits and earn points across the season to compete for the championship.
F1 refers to Formula 1, the top tier of open-wheel racing sanctioned by the FIA. It’s a team-based championship where cars are developed under strict technical rules and points are awarded per race weekend.
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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Fast and the Curious,
now with new episodes on Tuesdays. How about that?
This is, of course, the Formula One podcast that speaks to the biggest names in the sport
and reacts to all of the breaking news, and everybody, we have had a race.
Make the most of it, gang, because we are not going to be saying that sentence
for a very long time. I'm Vettie Glover, our resident Formula One geek,
Christian Hugill, is also with me to chat the world of Formula One. Hello, Christian.
I need you to uplift me today, if that's okay. I know people who like this podcast,
people say they like my enthusiasm. I slept terribly, so I'm really flagging,
and I think I've trapped a nerve in my shoulder. I feel about 110,
so I might need you to sort of pull me along today. Like, last week, when you just got back
from China, and I felt like I was pulling you along because you were jet lagged,
I feel like you're going to have to return the favor today, if that's okay, because I've not
been on a long haul flight. I'm just old. Yeah, I was going to say, this is what happens when you
get old, Christian. You start hurting your back. You go on one stag doing, you come back,
and you feel like you can't walk anymore. I was on a stag do at the weekend,
so for the first time in a long time, as long as I can remember, I didn't watch the race live,
but I did watch it in full yesterday, and I'm ready to talk about the world of Formula One
with you, Vettie, other than being a bit tired and a bit herty. I'll just be avoiding sudden
movements over the next 45 minutes or so, if that's okay with everybody watching and listening.
I do think you just need to get over it as well. Do you know what I mean?
Thanks, mate. It's always nice to have you to rely on as a friend for your warm words of encouragement.
Reminds me of the time I got ill at the Las Vegas Grand Prix a couple of years ago,
and my now fiance at the time over the phone said, you're not the first person to have a cold.
Yes, Vettie took a sip of coffee at that point, and I got home and was immediately diagnosed
with a viral infection and tonsillitis, both together, and David was like,
I feel quite bad for saying that you're not the first to have a cold now.
He had lost about three and a half stone in body weight. It was really bad,
and you're not the first person to have a cold, so it's good I've got people like you guys around
me in my life to pull me through. Excellent. We've got to keep you grounded, Christian.
Anyway, everybody, coming up, we're going to talk about Bearman's Big Shunt, the return of
Oscar Piastri. Thank God he finally got out there. He had a race, everybody. Oscar Piastri
had a race. And could Max really leave Formula One? We're going to discuss it all, but Christian,
we've got to start with the youngest ever championship leader, don't we? Of course,
Kimi Antonelli, he won in Japan, helped by the Safety Car, but do you think he's impressed?
Are you waving that Kimi Antonelli is going to be world champion flag?
I'm not going to sit here and go, Kimi's going to be world champion, but there's a chance.
I am. I would say that. Yeah. But your tone of voice doesn't exactly suggest you've gone,
I've made a prediction, I think Kimi's going to win. That suggests you've sort of Greg James style
gone, sod it, why not? I do think people were writing him off a little bit pre-season. Everyone
was just saying that it's George's. And I was always a bit like, well, I don't know,
don't write Kimi off. I think he's proven himself over the last two races that he's got the speed,
and he's only going to get better. But I don't know, what do you think?
I agree with you entirely. The speed has levelled up from last season. There is no doubt about that.
And I said when he won in China that I didn't think he'd have won that race last year because
the door was held open for him in that race by George's qualifying issue.
And you could equally argue, well, the door was held open for him in this race by
the safety car. But take both of those door hold opens aside. The door can be pushed to
Jaffe in Formula One, but you have to walk through it. And Kimi has waltzed through it,
sassed his way through it quite convincingly with a confident strut in these first two races
of the season. He does have that speed. And the reason why he impressed me, regardless of that
safety car, was I think he was the quicker Mercedes across the course of the weekend,
as do most people. And he was certainly statistically looking at the lap times,
he was the quicker Mercedes. If anything, there's a slight shame with the safety car that it didn't
give us more of a race to see what would have happened with Kimi passing George,
with Kimi potentially passing Oscar, that would have been a really interesting race.
But I don't think it's a simple case with this Japanese Grand Prix to go Kimi only won because
of the safety car. There was way more to it than that. He had an excellent weekend and I think
deserved, fully deserved that race win. So do you think George could have won it if he was able
to get that pit stop behind the safety car? I honestly don't think we know. And that's the
sad part of it because Oscar said on the radio, do you know what, we might be able to hold on to
this, you know, he could have done, you know, with track position, even in this new era where
the cars are considerably easier to overtake, as Oscar said on the radio, he's exactly right,
look, if we keep track positioning, we might just be able to cling on. So I do genuinely think,
I think it's unlikely Oscar would have won, but I actually think it's realistic that any of the
three of them could have won. Unfortunately, such is Formula One, the safety car took that battle
away from us, but what it didn't take away was Kimi's impressiveness. You know, he,
producer Will has put in our notes that he pulled away 14 seconds from Oscar on the restart.
I mean, that sort of says it all. He was genuinely fantastic this weekend.
Where do you think Kimi's sort of negatives are? What do you think he needs to work on?
Because clearly his starts at the moment aren't good enough. The starts, as you say, aren't there.
I think he's sort of being advantaged in one way by the new regulations because,
and we've said this a lot throughout the season with the likes of Leclerc and Hamilton and
Albonne signs at Williams that we were seeing the advantage with the drivers that have been in the
car for a long time. With these new rules where everybody's getting used to not just new cars,
but a new style of Formula One together, he's advantaged there. But maybe because the starts
are quite complex, maybe you're seeing his experience or lack thereof being a slight
disadvantage with the starts in comparison to George. I don't have any worries there.
I do think that's when rather than if that clicks, he'll have some time to practice these
sorts of things in the sim over the course of the next four weeks, which is a major advantage to
this break. The sim is obviously only by its very nature a simulation, but it does give you some
practice time more than you would have had. And this is not a weakness to answer your question,
Betty, but it's, listen, when you're as young as Kimi, and we saw this to an extent with Oscar last
year, who didn't have the years on Lando, Oscar was remarkably consistent until he wasn't. And
that's what you miss with those years. It's that slight lack of consistency. We have seen some
erratic moments from Kimi so far this year. So Kimi is yet to prove to us, we are all guilty
of underestimating how long, even with two fewer races and potentially more fewer races,
how long these Formula One seasons are. You will have races where, for example,
as was the case this weekend, Kimi was the quicker driver. The next question mark he will need to
answer to prove to all of us that he's capable of fighting for a Formula One World Championship
is how consistently can he do it? And that's not a weakness, but it's a question mark we've still
got to wait for the answer of when it comes to Kimi Antonelli. Yeah, definitely. The thing that
I think is really fascinating is where is Georgia now? Because at the beginning of the season,
it was very much like big brother, little brother vibes. Well, that's, I feel like we've got that.
Then when after China, particularly when obviously Kimi Antonelli won, but also particularly when
he got pole in qualifying, it very much felt like Georgia was like, well done, brilliant. And then
this time, post-Japan, Georgia was a bit, you could tell Georgia was absolutely fuming. I just wonder,
I wonder where his head's at now and where he's starting to feel the pressure.
What do you think? I think he probably is starting to feel the pressure. I think
he knows he's got a battle against his teammate on his hands now. It must be quite strange.
I agree. I think he wouldn't admit it. I think Georgia will be rattled by this weekend. It's
one thing to have the race in China where you can put that whole thing down to qualifying.
I don't think it's as easy to do that. We have seen time and time again in Formula One
in circumstances where teammates are battling in the same car that has an advantage. One of those
drivers having an advantage, the sort of B driver getting the advantage and the A driver sweeping past.
Well, this is two weekends now where, as I've said at the start of the party,
yes, you could argue that Kimmy's had helping hands in those, but he has still gone on to do it.
And this weekend was another advantage of that. And I think Georgia's leaving Japan going,
I don't want that again. I do not want that again. I have been beaten here. And of course,
he finished lower to, you know, he finished fourth. He wouldn't have been off the podium
without the safety car. So you can sort of discount how low he finished down the packing order.
I wouldn't be worried too much about that if I was George, but the fact he was beaten by Kimmy,
I would be like, that can't happen again. The question is now, how does he respond?
No, no, no, no. I was just saying the question is, that's the fascinating area for me.
Does it rattle him? And does Kimmy really get into this now as a championship contender?
Or does George level up and go, I'm not letting that happen again?
Do you think it's that thing of drivers competing for that number one spot? So at the start of
the season, you would have said Georgia's number one, Kimmy's number two, because of, you know,
the experience, et cetera, et cetera. But then as soon as Kimmy starts winning, quite a few
Grand Prix, that's going to have to flip or not necessarily flip, but they're going to have to
be on sort of level ground. And therefore you don't have one and two anymore. It's like McLaren
last season. It's one up from that because this is a title battle. So everything you said is true,
add into the fact that it's not just the number one driver status. Like we were talking about
the episode in the last episode, where we're like, this is really interesting with that number one
driver status between Leclerc and Hamilton. It was very much advantage Hamilton and China,
more advantage Leclerc in Japan. This is level up from that. Like we saw, as you rightly say,
Betty with McLaren last year, because this is a title fight. And there was also the element of,
I think there's a bit of what we had with McLaren last year of, this could be your only chance.
We look at, I've used this comparison on the podcast before Jensen Button. He had one chance
in his Formula One career to win the championship. That was in 2009. He took it. He won it. He didn't
let his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, take it. He didn't get caught by Sebastian Vettel in a
Red Bull car that got stronger throughout the season. Jensen took it. We've got another decade
or more of being well of Lando racing in Formula One. We don't know if Lando had one chance last
year and took it. Now George joined Mercedes at a time and he was so unlucky with this. He stepped
into the car at the start of a ruleset change. His debut was 2022 Bahrain and the car was nowhere
near championship level. Everybody in the paddock was talking in 2022 Bahrain of, wow, we could see
not just a Max Lewis championship fight, a Lewis George interteam dynamic at Mercedes, George joining
that championship fight. We never got to see that and that's such a shame. Now George has waited all
this time. Here he is. You've got the quickest car. This is my time. And actually now he's got a
situation where it's like, this might not be as easy as I thought because Lewis has gone. Mercedes
have put this as we all hear the term, you know, get your bingo cards ready, generational talent
in Kimmy Antonelli. It's a lot for your head as a motorsport, as a sports person, not just a
motorsport driver, as a sports person to go, oh my lord, this is my chance and I can't let it get
away from me. That's a lot on your shoulders, on George's particularly lean tall shoulders. So
he won't be thinking like that, will he though? You can't. You wouldn't be able to think like
that. I don't think. Well, I don't know. Do these thoughts creep into your head and you have to
quickly brush them aside? Or is he just focusing one race at a time? It's really early doors,
but regular listeners to this podcast will hear me bang on all the time about the need for young
drivers, whether we've talked about Oscar Piazza, Oliver Bearman, the need you need to go away in
the winter, no matter how short that winter is if you're a young driver and come back the following
year and show that you've levelled up. You can't afford to stand still in Formula One. Your seat
will come under pressure so quickly if you just stand still. Kimmy has come into the season and
really levelled up. That's obvious, which is impressive given his young age and the sheer
amount of work he's got on his shoulders with these new rule changes, with these regulation changes.
So it's given us a real interesting dynamic. You know, Kimmy Antonelli is the championship
leader. The two look so quick. There's going to be weekends where George is quicker,
but I genuinely do think there was people saying in the paddock that we would get to,
oh, I don't know, spa later in the imbue, like, oh, well, no, by then that George is the champion.
Kimmy is going, hang on a minute, mate. Do not rule me out. He is right in with a shot of this.
The question mark is the consistency, but the speed is there.
We need this, though, didn't we? We really, really needed this because I think it would have been a
very boring season if George had just walked away with it and there was no fight whatsoever.
So I, for one, am very pleased that this is happening. We're going to take a quick break,
when we're back, we'll discuss the shock news that Oscar Piastri actually took part in a Grand Prix.
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Welcome back, everybody. Now, not only did Oscar Piastri actually manage to take part
in this race, but an even bigger bonus is that he came second. Christian, do you think
that he could have won it? A bit before I answer your question, I think this is the point to do
Radio Radar because his thing of, we're actually quite good at this when we start them. What's
excellent? The most Oscar-dry, relaxed, Aussie-toned you've ever heard. We were right at this when
we actually get going. Could he have won the race? I doubt it, but said in part one, he just
never know a track position. He just never know. He might have been able to utilize the battery
intelligently and just hold off. The way in which Antonelli pulled away suggests no, but then look,
it wasn't exactly simple for George to waltz back through the field after he was disadvantaged by
that safety car. It's one of those unfortunate situations where we'll never know, but what we
do know is there are massive positives from McLaren. I think it was Tom Stallard on the radio,
might have been Oscar who said it was one of the two talking to each other, said,
well, we didn't think we'd be disappointed by not having a race win this weekend. That's the
doom and gloom at McLaren and actually gone from a double DNS, did not start to nearly winning the
race. Thank you very much. We will take that, get back on the plane from Japan and say that was
much improved for Oscar Piazzari. What changed? What do you think McLaren have done in order to
have a weekend like this after it's been dire for them? Again, listeners to the last podcast will
remember me explaining why that we're in an era now where the sort of more old school approach of
having your own engine, making your own engine, being what we call a customer team, is an advantage
because they are such complex beasts. You have the full knowledge of how they work, not just
the user manual. You've obviously got the user manual when you buy something, but if something
goes wrong, you still have to call the number and ask somebody for help. Well, calling that number
and asking somebody for help has been the situation McLaren have been in, not literally.
There'll be people in the comments. They've not really been doing that. Look, it's a metaphor,
but you see what I mean. They've not made the engine and with these being such complicated beasts,
what I've been saying this season is I don't think McLaren have gone from a team that have won the
championship to being miles away. I think, and other people in the Paddock agree with me,
that they've still probably got a good car there, a good package, a good aerodynamic package, a good
chassis. What they're probably struggling with is dialing that engine in because it's not theirs,
because they're a customer team. What I think you saw this weekend was that being less of a
disadvantage. So you've got McLaren learning more as they go about this engine, how best to
utilize it, when to utilize it. The driver's getting used to that and we're probably seeing that
actually it's a pretty decent package, which if they continue to learn more about the engines,
and also bear in mind, we'll talk about this a bit later, we might have a bit of a reset come Miami.
I believe McLaren will probably win races in the second half of this season, and I think that
showed that this weekend. In terms of what changed for Oscar, not a lot, he just sees that rotten
look. Yeah, car started, he didn't make a mistake on the formation lap. I did actually say go back
to people listening to the pod before Australia. I said he was coming into the season in a really
relaxed good place. He doesn't let stuff get on top of him, he's not let it get on top of him,
he looks to be doing well and has clearly recovered from the setback. So for Oscar, personally an
excellent weekend where he was the better McLaren driver, which is a massive boost for him at this
stage, considering the struggles he's had, considering the mistakes he's made, because he's
been the better McLaren driver in qualifying, he was better over the course of the whole weekend,
this weekend. So yes, a better weekend for Oscar, he got the better of Lando this weekend,
but such a better weekend for McLaren, and really nice for them that they'll be able to go into
this break with a bit more positivity. Big time. Do you think McLaren, do you think McLaren could
battle for the title this year? Is it too early to say? Well, it's really difficult to know,
and I said we're going to it later, let's go into it now. We know there's going to be a meeting
coming up where the big bosses of the sport look at tweaking some of the rules, and we'll get into
what needs to be tweaked later. But in order to be able to answer the question, I think we need to
see where we are in Miami after that rule tweak. I think given the fact I've just said to you,
don't actually think that far off, maybe, but I think it's too early to tell. I've said consistently
this season, I'm going to keep saying this. Yes, Mercedes have a big advantage, but I'm not one
of these people that's like, oh, they've already won it. Again, the season's bloody ages long.
Goes on till nearly Christmas. Nearly Christmas. Santel will be on his way when this form of
one season finishes. Can you believe it? What accent is that? I've got a very high pitch,
I don't really understand why. It's not an accent, just got a very high pitch. Far the Christmas
clearly gets you going. The length of this season means you don't fully know, things can change
massively, so I've docked the question spectacularly, but I just think stranger things have happened,
to be honest. I also think this five-week gap is going to be pretty interesting. I think McLaren
could benefit from this more than Mercedes.
It's a chance for the team to have been a step behind, to, as I said, with the likes of Kimmy
looking at his starts earlier, getting the sim and have a bit of a practice at stuff and go behind
closed doors and really lock yourselves away and work on stuff. Who takes advantage of mid-season
development is such a massive factor of Formula One nowadays, and when you've got a forced gap
like this, it becomes even more important. So, yeah, it's going to be really, really interesting.
We can't talk about Japan without talking about the massive part of the race that was Oli
Berman's huge crash as he was closing in on Franco Collapinto. Now, Christian, this has led to a lot
of people expressing their concerns over the 2026 rules. For those that have missed this,
can you explain what everybody's concerns are? The concerns with regards to this particular crash
obviously, Oli was approaching Franco at the Esses. Franco was going considerably slower.
Oli's had to take avoided action, bounced over the gravel, hit the wall at extremely high speeds,
hurt himself, looks like it's just a bruise, so he hoped all being well, he'll be okay. We've not
heard anything to the contrary of that. The worry is the closing speeds. So, the worries that have
been put forward over these regulations is closing speed in two parts. Number one,
that because there is such a difference in performance with some of the engines, that will
lead to big closing speeds, catching up the person in front of you very quickly because your engine
is so much quicker or vice versa. That then gets dramatized, magnified, when the drivers are trying
to top up the battery. The big criticism of these rules is that the drivers have to ease off to charge
because that charges the battery through kinetic energy. So, if you've got a driver easing to
charge or harvest and a driver going flat out, you've got big closing speeds. That's why people
have predicted something like this might happen and why the rules have got a kicking in some quarters
over the closing speeds and it's the belief that the closing speeds have led to this incident.
There's been so much chat around it, hasn't there? It's so difficult because it's sort of like
you just see so much negativity on social media. What I do when I look at social media,
there is a lot of negativity around changes and people don't like changes. But I guess there's
positives and there is negatives. There's not just negatives going on here. What do you think?
Something we all have to remember and this was something that me and you were taught at
Journalism School, Betty. Social media doesn't necessarily reflect reality. You might think
everyone's on social media but it's the vocal few who are making their thoughts known.
So it's interesting that as I say, you look on social media around the rules and you think
it's wall-to-wall negativity but I've had friends, my friend Tom, casual Formula One fan,
has only been watching for two years, got into it largely because of this podcast,
is loving seeing the overtaking at the front. It's texting me being like, this is amazing and I
know people are criticizing the rules but I'm loving the overtaking and people like Lewis have
praised the race-able cars. Another thing I want to say to Charlie Clare as well. Another thing I
want to defend on the rules. These were bought in for really good reasons. It wasn't too long ago
that Honda were pulling out the sport. Renault were making really questionable noises about
whether they were going to stay in the sport. They didn't in the end and Formula One was facing
having two engine manufacturers which is not sustainable in Mercedes and Ferrari. Obviously,
Red Bull ended up making their own engine, Honda changed their mind, Audi have come in.
These rules were made to reflect what at the time was where the real world was going which
was turbo-hybrid power. It could certainly be argued the world's moved on to more sustainable
fuels in some areas now and maybe the need to tweak but then, and I say on the aerodynamic side,
the criticism has always been too much drag, too much downforce and too much dirty air
leading to the cars being difficult to race to overtake. The rules were bought in for very good
reasons. Have they been executed perfectly? A lot think they haven't but I don't think we should
get too drawn into social media. I've been at a race this season. You've been at two. We've
spoke to fans who are loving watching these cars on track, who have loved the weekends. They still
look like Formula One cars. There are positives to these rules. What I think we need to do is
acknowledge they're not perfect. There needs to be a chat. There needs to be some talk amongst
the very intelligent people in this sport to go, where can we tweak? Where do we need to tweak?
And we're told that's going to happen before Miami.
I also think when big changes happen, it does take a while to bed in and for
for people to iron out the issues. So I sort of look at it and think that is going to happen
over time anyway. I agree. And listen, when DRS was first bought in, people said it's not fair,
it's a gimmick. When the degrading tyres were bought in, they said the same. Things are going to
change. Things do change. And whenever things change in Formula One, as you said, Betty,
there is an element of grumpiness. I'm also old enough to remember there's a lot of looking back
with rose tinted glasses at the 2000s, where I was a fan of Formula One and the sport was
on the back pages of the at the time, considerably more influential newspapers
being criticized for never overtaking. The sport was kicked left, right and centre.
So let's also not use rose tinted glasses too much as well. Anyway, there is going to be a chat.
There will be some changes. I'm not a technical expert, but a lot of talk seems to be, well,
if we maybe tone down the battery power a bit, it gives us less closing speeds. It means we can
go flat out in qualifying, which is my biggest personal gripe. I want the drivers to be able to
go flat out over a qualifying lap and not have to harvest. So that's where the rule
tweaks seem to be leaning towards. Let's see what happens. But what's really interesting
and where this gets complicated is what they're going to have to do is say, well, we're going to
change the rules. But the rules were there for everyone. And people like Mercedes have done a
fantastic job and shouldn't be punished for that. So you also need to tweak the rules and make it
fair for the likes of Mercedes to make sure they aren't unfairly disadvantaged. We will react to
whatever changes happen on this podcast and maybe get someone on to explain it a bit more as well.
But I would expect there will be some tweaks before Miami. And then it will be fascinating
once Free Practice 1 comes round in Miami. It'll be really interesting to see what happens there,
because we could have a different pecking order once these changes come in.
I really love seeing the battles, like the Ferrari battle that we saw in China.
That was excellent. That was so, so, so good. Don't love seeing the sort of motorway passing.
That I just can't quite get my head around yet.
But do you mean where it looks a bit too easy to pass?
Yeah. That's what I don't like watching as much.
No. You can certainly get yourself into a situation where it's too easy to make an
overtaking form. It's just different, I think.
But I think we need to sort of go, look, there might need to be some tweaks.
This is a big change. And as I say, I also really defend the idea of the rules in the first place.
There might need to be some tweaks, and that's fine.
It was horrible seeing Ollie Berman crash though, wasn't it? And limping out of that car was not
nice to see. So hopefully he's OK. And we should also just remember it's just a reminder of the
bravery of these guys and how lucky we are to watch them and the talent they have and the
extremities of the sport. When scary crashes like that happen, it's a credit to the FIA.
It's a credit to Formula One in terms of the safety work that happens. It's a credit to the
teams and the engineers that drivers can walk away from something like that because that's not
always been the case. And it's a sign of how far we've come as a sport and just how brave these
guys are. We should never forget that because I strongly believe it's something we take for granted
in this sport. I agree. I agree very much so. So we've spoken about the rules, but somebody that
has been very vocal about the rules as well and says that he really isn't enjoying the rules,
is Max Verstappen now? Max doesn't like the rules. Max doesn't like the rules. Well this is news to
me. Why didn't somebody mention it? Why didn't Max mention that? Is he? Tell me more Betty.
Max Verstappen is not a happy boy, is he? He does not. He was largely well.
Anyway, he did an interview with BBC Five Lives pit loam reporter Jenny Gal and he basically said
that he's thinking about everything inside this paddock. Privately he said he's very happy,
but then he said is it all worth it for him? Or do I enjoy being at home with my family,
seeing my friends more when you're not enjoying the sport? Basically he was sort of hinting that
he could possibly leave Formula One. What do you think? Is he going to leave? Could he leave?
Is this all chat? Is he going to leave? I don't know. Only Max knows. I'm not even going to sit
here and speculate. Could he actually leave? Yes. I believe of all of those drivers on the grid
who talk about, oh, I've got outside interests in this sport. We've seen people like Fernando Alonso
say, you know, there's more to life and come back. We've seen people who like Nicol Hülkenberg who
left and then put everything into coming back and successfully come back. Valtteri Bottas. Again,
all these people could do so much more with their lives if they wanted to. They've got
unlimited money and limited commercial opportunities. They could go and race in other categories.
They want to be in Formula One, but Max is genuinely the one that I think could just go
actually, no, it's not for me. I really do believe that. Having spoken to him, having seen the way
he operates, I do believe that if he's not enjoying himself, he could just go. So yes, I believe it
is a possibility. Yeah, I do. You just watch him though, don't you? And you think, oh God,
he really is not very happy. Yeah. Just every, all the little decisions that he's making, the way
that he's speaking in interviews, you can just tell that he's really, really not enjoying himself
anymore. But you look at it, don't you? You go, well, if you had a really good car, would you
still think like this? If you were driving that Mercedes, would you still be in this mindset?
He's an incredibly principled man. And this is a really silly comparison, but it's the things like
we were in the paddock together, Betty. Can't remember what year it was, 2023, Silverstone,
I think it might have been when everybody was going, yes, everybody was going mad about the film.
And we were laughing that Max, like everyone was talking about the film, Max was just like,
I don't care. I couldn't care. And we were just so funny. But Max will just go against the grain.
He will say what he thinks. And I genuinely believe that he would be sort of taking a stance
if he was in that Mercedes going, look, I'm enjoying winning or if Red Bull were Mercedes.
But that's still not what I'm enjoying. It's still not the right formula for me.
And listen, the sport needs to listen to its drivers. Of course it does.
It does. It's not all about the drivers loving every second of it. Ultimately,
it's entertainment. It's supposed to be a test for them, of course. But it does need to listen to
them. And there's such a united front from people like so many have been outspoken, Lando,
Carlos, you know, senior members of the grid, Max, they need to consider these
statements, these interviews, these opinions when they are having this pre-Miami chat.
Because the thing is right, all throughout, I speak a lot about my love for Formula One.
I vividly remember watching the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, my first ever F1 memory. I've
loved it all throughout my childhood. It's a shock to people who listen to this podcast.
But as much as I've loved it when it's not been as fashionable as it is now,
it's always within motorsports been the place to be.
So to lose your star, I think to lose any driver who could have a seat,
I'm plucking an aim at random here. If Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, a mid-table driver,
could have a seat. I will not have that slander against Pierre Gasly.
You know what I mean? A mid-table driver goes, actually, I could race in F1 and I don't want to.
That would be bad. But for it to be Max, one of the greatest who have ever done it,
the talent of the sport in recent years, of course it would be a blow.
It would be a massive blow. That would be... Sorry, if Max decided to leave halfway through
this season because he couldn't deal with it anymore, that would be rubbish.
I don't think he'll leave halfway. I think he's got too much respect for his team,
for the people he works with. I think he'd honour the contract and go at the end of the season.
But everything you say is true, Betty. I sincerely hope we don't have that. Listen,
the sport would survive. The sport's got numerous stars. Charles, Lando, Louis,
you know, the sport has got big stars and would survive. But it would be a blow when I sincerely
hope it doesn't happen. Formula One is so much better for Max being in it.
OK, well, we're going to take another very quick break and when we're back,
we're going to talk about who flew under the radar this weekend in just a minute.
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Welcome back, everybody. It is time for Under the Radar. So, Christian, in your mind,
who flew under the radar for you? I just don't think enough can be said about Pierre Gasly.
It's been a consistent bit of this podcast for me where I've said this season, fair play, Alpine,
you have made a big step forward. But I want to now praise not just Alpine, but Gasly himself.
I just think sometimes, I had, we'd forgotten the Pierre that was sort of knocking around the
podiums and getting podiums for the Red Bull Junior team that was comfortably beating Yuki
Sonoda. And this is, by the way, after his demotion when he got put back into the Red Bull
B team seats. When Pierre Gasly is good, he's so good. He's one of those drivers that can go under
the radar an awful lot, especially when his car was rubbish last season. And when the car's rubbish
and it leaves you questioning, when has that driver still got it? But Alpine have given him a car
this season that's clearly better. And it's like sparked something in him. Because, you know,
10th, 6th, 7th, three point scores finishes already this season. I think they only scored
something like 22 points all of last season. It's not, I'm not just praising Alpine here.
When Gasly's good, he's really bloody good. And he's had an excellent start to the season.
His battling with Max, fantastic. He's four-nil up on Max Verstappen in qualifying now.
Including the sprint race, yeah. Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. And we should also praise
Isaac Hadja for his qualifying effort in beating Max Verstappen. Granted, Max was, of course,
very, very unhappy with the setup. But Hadja looks every bit closer. Granted, Red Bull have got a
world of problems. But still, Max beat Isaac in the race and Isaac finished outside of the points.
But still, there isn't that massive gap between the two. So credit there. But I'm really impressed
with Pierre Gasly. I'm really impressed with Pierre Gasly. Now, Colla Pinto had a better China.
Yeah, I was going to ask you about this. Well, he had a much, much better China. And he really
needed to take that and roll with it. It looked to me like the opposite happened this weekend,
where he sort of reverted back into the last season, Franco being well off it. So again,
let's look at Australia. Pierre was 10th, Franco was 14th. Remember what you said? I think,
didn't you interview Gasly after the race in China? Yeah, yeah. You said to me, and I didn't see this,
I was really impressed by this, that he was almost frustrated with finishing sixth. Yeah,
he was very annoyed. He was very annoyed. Yeah. So again, he was frustrated with sixth Franco 10th.
So imagine what Pierre would have felt there. But this is what's really impressive when these guys
are like, yeah, okay, fine. But it's not just good enough to be in the points, we should have
had more. And again, this weekend, Franco seventh, Colla Pinto down in 16th. Remember, for those who
have seen Drive to Survive saw the pressure Franco came under last year, saw the fact that Flavio
Brio Torre like him or know them is a very old school operator. Franco will start to feel pressure
very quickly if his results don't improve, because Alpine are proving that they have given
their drivers a car that is capable of points and potentially more. And Pierre Gasly is grabbing
that with both hands. I've been super, super impressed with them. And I'm really pleased for him.
And what about Esteban Ocon, then? Because after China, we were talking about he
really needed to step it up, didn't he? He had a much better weekend. He'll be proud of himself.
No, he will. And he was another one that I thought, actually, the pressure will start to build on you
given Ollie was so good in Australia and China with seventh and fifth, whereas Esteban was again
11th in Australia, 14th in China. But Esteban had the weekend he needed to have, because
obviously Ollie crashed. But actually, Ollie was struggling all weekend. He didn't have a good
qualifying. Esteban looked more comfortable in the car all weekend. Perhaps on a track like
Japan, your experience shines through a little bit. And he did really well to bring the car home in
10th. So we're Hass fans on this part, aren't we? They're great to us. So we're really pleased to
see it. And Esteban, I've said before, I really like him as a human being. So I'm really pleased
to see that. So that's an advantage. If you sort of look at two inter-team-mate battles in the
midfield, Franco had a weekend that he really didn't need. Esteban had exactly the sort of weekend he
did need. Okay, on to the George Russell community notice board, then. What are we sticking on there?
Number one, probably got to be Fernando Alonso has had a child. So...
Daddy Fernando. What are the odds that he's still going to be in the sport when this child is a rookie?
I think fairly high. He's still going to be clinging on, isn't he? Still going on. He'll still be going.
Yeah. Better weekend for Aston in the sense that they finished with Fernando. Best weekend yet for
them. They're on the up. It's a low bar when you're having to say that. I really hope for everybody
in that team's sake that they're able to find some pace and go back to the drawing board in the break.
But congratulations to Fernando and he'll, you know, in what's going to be a really tricky time
for him professionally. Lovely to have something personally that's, you know, that's good.
I can cheer him up. I, this next bit, a lot of people sent me on social at the weekend.
The Kit Kat. Kit Kat Heist. Can you just explain this to me? Because I was seeing bits about Kit
Kat. And I just didn't really, I just didn't understand what was going on. So what they've
been stolen or something. Yeah. So for those of a sensitive nature, you might want to dip the
podcast for the next couple of minutes ago, because this is extremely sad news. Approximately,
this is reporting from the athletics of, you know, reliable world source here,
approximately 12 tons of the formula on Kit Kat chocolate bars were stolen
whilst transiting through Europe. A spokesperson for Nestle confirmed to the athletic and other
reputable media outlets on Saturday. The truck, which is also unaccounted for at the time,
was carrying more than 400,000 units of Kit Kat's new chocolate range, according to a
statement by the company. The journey started in central Italy and was supposed to end in Poland
with the anticipated route covering around 776 to 838 miles. Kit Kat, of course, we'll
know this, became F1's official chocolate bar last year. A spokesperson confirmed that no one was
hurting the chocolate heists. So that's good, actually. That is good. So yeah, all the little
F1 Kit Kat bars that I've seen in the shops, tons of them stolen. And they're yet to be found.
It's lovely that people are such big fans of Formula One nowadays. I feel like someone might have
taken it too far. Yeah, I mean, have a break, guys. Do you know what I mean? Lovely. And can I just say
the stick you and Greg James would have given me had I had done the inevitable.
You teed me up. You teed me up. I couldn't not go over that, could I?
I teed you up. I teed you up, but it was a wafer thin premise.
Oh, God. I do love a Kit Kat, though. Can I just say solid chocolate bar? I think it's...
Well, it's not solid chocolate bar. It's quite literally wafer in the middle. If you want a solid
chocolate bar, you want a dairy milk. No, it's fine. It's a good chocolate bar, though. I'd put
it up there in my top 10. I think a grossly underrated chocolate bar would genuinely mean this.
I wouldn't necessarily leap to it when I'm in the shop craving a chocolate bar. It goes
excellently with a tea. Oh, no, I was going to say you can lip it really well. Oh, it's a lovely dipper.
It's a lovely dipper. It's a lovely dipping finger. To dip the finger, oh, it's just lovely.
It really is. So, listen, I hope the bars are found. Yeah, glad everybody's okay, but yeah,
F1's popularity soaring to new heights. What a nightmare, though. What a nightmare.
Okay, we're late to this news, and we were thinking about doing an emergency episode
when this broke last week, but we decided not to, but Audi and Al without Jonathan Wheatley.
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