¶ George Russell's Austrian Grand Prix Victory
Five Live Formula One. On a weekend where he needed a response, George Russell delivered exactly that. From pole to the race victory. at the Austrian Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen and the other Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who were on the verge of making it a three way fight for victory.
But ultimately came undone. A fascinating race unfolding at Spielberg. So to dissect it all here on the Check and Flag Podcast with myself Harry Benjamin. I brought in the BBC's F one correspondent Andrew Benson, and multiple Formula E race winner. Sam Byrd. Um and Sam, what a race uh and a crucial day for George.
¶ Russell's Masterful Race Management
Crucial day for George indeed. to beat Kimi Antonelli today, to to to bring back some points, to get it to forty points, which is what it is now, was a big thing for him. And now he heads into Stilverstone, hopefully with a little bit more confidence.
He certainly does. Was it it was a bit of a surprise, Andrew, do you think, this weekend? Poll was a bit of a surprise for all of us and for George, but he did seem to to have the pace in hand uh during the race. Was he managing? Because Max and Kimmy were were chasing him down hard.
It was just a really close race that was decided by track position and strategy. basically equal in pace, the top three. And I think it was decided in terms of the battle between Russell and Verstappen by the second stop. They were one point three seconds apart with Russell leading Verstappen. If Verstappen pits first at that point, he probably gets the lead.
And then Russell will have to offset and come back at Verstappen. In fact what happened was Russell and Mercedes jumped first, that retained track position, that meant Verstappen had to offset. He just didn't have enough time quite to catch up with Russell. It was one just over about one and a half seconds.
Meanwhile, Antonelli probably ruined his chances of winning in the first couple of laps. He got a bit overexcited, kept missing all the corners, dropped back to fifth place at one point, and uh then he had to recover from there, of course.
and uh that he went and went on another further offset strategy. He was closing on both of them at the end, but I think the pace difference that you were seeing wasn't him actually being faster than Russell and Verstappen, it was just he had better ties at that point. So a really finely j uh poised race, really tense, a kind of connoisseurs Grand Prix if you like. But um for Russell it was a really much needed win. Remarkably his first since the first Grand Prix of the season in Australia.
I mean George won the race, but actually Kimmy could have won this afternoon's race with that virtual safety car of the Williams of Carlos Sainz if he'd waited to pit by one lap. He would have come out in front and probably gone on to win the Grand Prix. Did it? No, I know. No, but it's just quite interesting, isn't it? Yeah. That that that decision to pit on that lap effectively cost him the Grand Prix.
I mean, Russell would have been absolutely gutted by that because that would have been the second race that he'd lost out to Antonelli because of a safety car after Japan, of course, which was part of that run of luck through the early part of the season that that Russell was really bemoaning until he started to struggle for pace around the time of sort of Monaco and Miami. Um
But so he di it was it would have been good luck. It's not like Antonelli deserved to win and they messed up. It that would have just been luck that he got that no one else got.
¶ Qualifying Pole and Mental Resilience
Rydyn ni'n gwybod, y rydyn ni'n gwybod, y rydyn ni'n gwybod, y rydyn ni'n gwybod, y rydyn ni'n gwybod, y rydyn ni'n gwybod, y rydyn ni'n gwybod. basically because of the poll app on Saturday. He had his he had his head together when that yellow flag incident happened at turn nine when Verstappen crashed. Actually probably decided the race. Verstappen the three you know, there's the three
Contenders for victory were all involved in our incident. Verstappen crashed. Verstappen uh Russell correctly noticed it was a single yellow flag. Antonelli didn't. So Russell ends up on pole and then his two contenders for victory start fourth and fifth. It's always hard to come back from that far back in a Grand Prix.
Yeah, it is. But I think from the driver's perspective, Sam. Mentally for George, how much will this do for him, especially next week going to Silverston for his home race?
Yeah, it's big. It's very, very big for him. He's had, you know, well since Melbourne he's been Pretty much comprehensively beaten by Kimmy Antonelli week in, week out. And Kimmy's looked in such great form over the last kind of two months, I would say. George needed a big weekend and this was a big weekend for him. Um going into Q three, we thought that uh Kimmy had pole position wrapped up and we had no real signs of any massive pace.
From George Russell. Anyway, all of a sudden, at the end of Q three, he's he's pulled out the lap of all laps. got it on pole position and then just really managed the race very, very well. Nothing special, just making sure that he got the twenty five points. It doesn't matter whether you finish one second in front at the checkered flag or thirty seconds in front.
Russell himself didn't even know where that poll lap came from, did he? He admitted it himself. He he started it thinking, Well, I'm not I'm doing a actually his first running Q three was was the first really competitive lap he'd done against Antonelli all weekend. And he sent it into turn one and it all clicked and the lap was brilliant and just I mean, he had to back off at turn nine. He still put it on par by two and a half tenths or whatever it was.
So very impressive all round. Just a really from that point on it was just a really well managed weekend overall. It was a weekend that smacked of maturity and experience. Someone with his head in the right place, which Russell's head hasn't been really in the right place. a p for a couple of races this year. Um and I think
put all that together it's gonna have done him a lot of good going into Silverstone, which is a track that he really loves. He doesn't like point and squirt tracks. That's why he struggles at Miami. Silverston is the absolute polar opposite of point and squirt. It's all flowing fast corners. So I think Russell really fancies his chances there. Of course Antonelli will as well, uh so it's gonna be really interesting to see the fight between them.
I think what's good as well for George Russell, he'll now go back to to Brackley and be able to go through things with his engineer. and pinpoint exactly why that lap was so good. What did he do tie warm up wise that was different to any other time? What did he do driving wise that was different to any other time? And then he can take that forwards for the remainder of the season.
Well, let's hear from your race winner, George Russell.
¶ Race Winner George Russell's Thoughts
Congratulations George, just how good is it to be back on Top Spot after that really difficult run you've had of late.
Feels great. Feels great. It's been a while since I
All right.
sip the champagne and have that that sweetness. Um you know, I'm I'm proud of the the resilience I've sort of had and the the people around me have who have helped helped me through those low moments because it it was tough. You know, when you feel like everything's going against you, performance isn't as good as you'd want. Coming back in Barcelona having a great performance there. A bit unfortunate to race and then again here I just feel
sort of feel myself again. Uh but doesn't mean that I completely understand of this car and these tires but I know I've got it got it in me.
Your teammate was quick as well and you couldn't really put a foot wrong today.
No, it was it was challenging. You know Verstappen was was really really impressive. He forced me to box early. But the team called it perfectly. You know when I saw 28 laps to go on the last in, I was pretty worried. But then I came out and I had really strong pace and I gotta be o I gotta be honest, for the last five laps I um just sort of brought it home and he caught me quite a lot. Uh but I had to stay on it.
So Russell then bagging twenty five much needed points. That sees him move up to second in the drivers' championship, still forty points adrift of Kimmy Antonelli. Um do should we do Kimmy now or should we come to Max? What do you wanna do?
Do we do your host?
I'm just suddenly thinking, let's do Max then, we've spoken a bit like Kimmy because with for Max, if you'd have said Andrew, second place mate, at the start of the weekend, given their struggles on a Friday, they would have bit your hand off for that.
¶ Red Bull's Major Upgrade Impact
Yeah, for me, in many ways, the Verstappen second place and the fact that he's contending for victory is the story of the weekend. because Red Bull have not been in that position or anything like it all year. They brought some big upgrades to this race, their home race of course, and uh aerodynamic upgrades and it seems to have made a big difference to the car. He was competitive through qualifying.
there was some kind of aerodynamic issue at the rear of the car that caused the crash at turn nine. Otherwise he probably would have started third. If he'd started third and he would have been battling with Russell from the very beginning instead of having to catch him, having lost out in the first few laps, potentially anyway. So it's a really encouraging weekend for Red Bull and Verstappen. Now, we have to keep things under control a little bit. It's only one race.
It's only a particular kind of circuit and it's a circuit where Red Bull and Verstappen particularly have been strong. for a number of years. He's the most winning driver around the Red Bull ring, uh, fittingly of course. Um so it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna translate into the next few races.
But it's for them it's a really encouraging sign on a bunch of different levels. Uh if they can keep it going, obviously it just means competitiveness from now on, which is what Red Bull and Verstappen expect of themselves. More than that, it's about the future of the team. If the team can show that they're competitive or are making progress towards competitiveness, then the chances of Verstappen leaving at the end of the year
recede into the distance. If they're where they were up until this race, then those chances are very real.
So it's
We couldn't overstate how important this is for Red Bull and Verstappen.
Well and a and a good sort of recognition, Sam, as well, of the upgrades that Red Bull brought this weekend, seemingly working for for Sunday's race. I'm sure they'll want a few more before they get a full read on them. But You know, if there's something to be had from a car, it's gonna be Max Verstappen that that gets the most out of it.
I know Andrew's kind of said let's let's not get ahead of ourselves here, but this is a good point of the year to suddenly see Verstappen and Red Bull turn things around and start to maybe not challenge for the championship, but certainly interfere with with those who are.
Yeah. And I'll echo what Andrew says. Let's not get ourselves. It is too early. This is a very particular kind of circuit. Now we're going into Silverstone super high speed, fast flowing corners. We don't know whether those upgrades will work. just as well at Silverstone at Spa and moving into the second half of the year.
I thought you wanted to say something, Andrew.
Well I was just thinking that actually obviously the second part of the lap in Austria from turn six onwards is kind of silverstone like, fast flowing corners, so it it's encouraging but
But they weren't that quick in the final sector. Right, exactly. Mercedes were brilliant there. Red Bull, that's where they actually hemorrhage lap time in comparison to Mercedes in qualifying.
Well there you go. That was Max Verstappen's race though, a second in the end. Only just, what was it, three tenths of a second at the flag in front of Kimi Antonelli, who was really hustling him right at the end. We've spoken a bit already about Messi Start and the virtual safety cars.
Yeah.
Pi a point that Andrew said about what this weekend has done for George Russell, it was a an exercise in somebody who's experienced and mature. So will we see, even though Antonelli has got this fairly sizable buffer at the top of the championship, forty points, will it be that bit of an experience that just scuppers him and keeps this championship fight alive?
I don't think Kimmy Antonelli did anything particularly wrong this weekend, except potentially didn't maximize it in Q three and didn't
¶ Ferrari's Disastrous Austrian GP
necessarily know the rules on double yellow flag versus single yellow flag in qualifying. That's the only thing that I think he'd he didn't do well. Maybe he didn't drive the first lap particularly brilliantly, but I don't think he would have made up any places on lap one anyway. The pace is there. He's gonna win more races this year. What he's gotta do now is
ultimately match or not not hemorrhage too many more points against the likes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. But right now it's his to to keep control of.
What it does show both this weekend and the last race in Spain is that we've been talking about these big gaps that Antonelli has built up and they are big gaps, you know, in terms of the many more points than a single race victory, for example. It's still the case. Forty points he leads Russell by.
But that was ten that he lost today. And w if you've got Verstappen in the fight as well, potentially, and maybe uh if well Ferrari had a really bad day, which we'll come on to in a minute, I'm sure, but you know, if they can potentially threaten from time to time as well. then those ten point margins can happen on a sort of semi regular basis. And if Antonelli's on the back end of them, then it it just goes to show that Russell's hopes are a long way from over.
Um, but the season's only just beginning to to sort of develop a momentum. We've got just about the ed so what we're about a third of the way into the season, aren't we? We have a narrative developing, but we have no idea how the n narrative's gonna develop from here. And um that's why Russell wants to stamp his authority on the next one in Silverstone so badly.
That's exciting though, isn't it? We don't know where this is gonna go. And we don't actually know how many more races we've got left this year currently as it stands. So uh we've still got a way to go and we're now, as you say, in the sort of build up of that you're in the in the swing of things in that European uh season. You beat me to it with Ferrari. I think we should come to them next. Started second and third. And eighth, Hamilton and Leclerc. It's a tough day at the office, Sam.
Oh my gosh. It was rough. It was a hard watch. Particularly for Charles Leclerc. Charles Leclerc just I never saw him do an overtake. He just went backwards each time. It's a really, really difficult uh race for for both of them to be honest. Both three stopping. Everybody else inside the top ten two stop. They had to three stop. I think they really suffered with overheating the tyres. Um it's clear that the upgrades
Need some work, I think. We we all kind of hyped it up after Barcelona is can they Well yeah, pointing this way.
I'd rather hype it up than do it down.
But you know, the hype was there. Can Lewis Hamilton fight for this world title? We're still a long way off. Um seeing if he can, but on the evidence of today, there's a lot of work to do at Marinello.
So this is why Harry, when you were trying to get me for the most of the weekend to big up Hamilton's title champs, is why I was saying just hold your horses. Not because I knew this was gonna happen, I'm not trying to claim that, just because it was just one race on one particular kind of circuit. Now so is this.
But, you know, I think yes, they qualified second and third, but they were flattered by circumstance. Actually, Verstappen and Antonelli at least should have been ahead of them. That would have made instead of second and third, that would have put them fourth and fifth.
¶ Unpacking Ferrari's Tire and Setup Woes
And we wouldn't have been thinking about them as potential winners at that point, right? So that's the first thing. And then clearly it the race went a bit wrong. Listening to Hamilton's interview, he didn't say this, but I've extrapolated from it. He was talking about a lack of straight line speed in qualifying. And then he kind of stopped himself and then started talking about, you know, the balance being open, a too much oversteer and just lacking grip.
I've inferred from that, maybe incorrectly, that they maybe took some wing out uh in the ha you know, in trying to counterbalance their deficit on the straits, which they still had in Austria despite that small engine upgrade that they brought to this race. And if they've done that then that's what's ha that's what's cost'em the balance and the grip uh in the corners and the overheat of the tires and you get into a spiral.
And that's why, you know, we were all confused during the race, during the commentary, weren't we? What on earth are Ferrari doing? Why have they stopped under the VSC to put on soft tires? It's only going to make them go backwards. But they already knew what we didn't know at that point, which was that they were really struggling with the tyres. They had no pace on the hard tire. They were obviously thinking at that point, Okay, well we're not gonna make it on two stops so
Let's take w so we've got to take a third stop anyway, let's make it so we're costing ourselves as little time as possible. The minute that happened, we knew their race at the front was over because it converted a third place that Hamilton had at the time into a sixth place.
And they don't sound like a very h a very happy camp at the moment'cause Fred Vasseur, the team principal, I've just heard him say that they overcooked their tires in the opening laps of the stints and then they ended up having to change the strategy. So yeah, a bad day at the office for Ferrari generally, but it just goes to show why it was wrong to think of them as title contenders because there's still quite a lot lacking in that car to be able to take on Mercedes.
They also struggled with engine overheating issues, particularly on Lewis Hamilton's car and had to change engine modes. Probably a third of the way through the race, which Lewis was really unhappy about. And you know, looking forward to Silverstone, it might not be quite as hot as it was in Spielberg, but let's say if this heat wave continues, will we see something similar? to effectively turn down their power that's already not not the most powerful engine.
Yeah and l as for Leclerc, he's n not in a happy place. He was uh say he tried something on setup this weekend which worked for him last year but wasn't working this year and it didn't work again this year. So he's going back more head scratching for Charles Leclerc who's really not having a great season at the moment.
No, and for for a driver, a bit like what we were talking about with George, you know, how important it is to to to bounce back and get your your brain right in that mental place, for Charles Claire off the back of Two consecutive retirements, one, you know, crashing in Monaco, uh, and then he had the crash in Barcelona during qualifying as well, trying to maybe overreach what was capable within the car, but what his teammate could do. How how does Leclerc feel in all of this?
But he's had three or four difficult weekends in a row now. There's no questioning his talent. He's one of the fastest guys over a lap in Formula One and he's a brilliant world class Formula One racing driver. He just needs to remember who he is and and why he's why he's a great Formula One driver. He'll be fine. Just uh hopefully this hasn't knocked his confidence too much.
Well, yeah, a disappointing day uh for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, fifth and eighth at the end for Ferrari. But let's get the perspective on all of this from a seven time Grand Prix winner.
¶ Montoya's Insight on Race Strategy
Juan Pablo Montoya, thank you so much for joining us live in Austria just after the Grand Prix. And well I mean the consensus our end is that was a pretty decent Grand Prix and a much needed victory for George Russell.
It was an amazing Grand Prix. It needed to be about three laps longer. And it would have been one of the most amazing Grand Prix ever. Because... Yeah, I mean the different strategies I gotta say a few things are interesting. Mercedes got the strategy right that they normally are the conservative team. You know what I mean? They always are we got a car fast enough, we don't need to risk it. And they play the cards right, that it was good.
Red Bull, I think, went a little too aggressive and they wanted to have that offset so they could challenge. For that winner, I think they lost too much time. going too long, but it's easy I mean it's much easier to to call it after the race and seeing the fact. How like honestly, I was doing the T V for Spanish during the race and I said the same thing. I think they need to stop him because he's losing too much time.
And where Antonelli as soon as the Antonelli slowed down, Mercedes, you know, pitted Antonelli and and it was good. I think sur surprises as well. where the the Ferrari were not there. That it was a bit shocking. I don't know. I I we all we all thought the Ferrari was gonna bring that big fight. to to Mercedes and they were not there.
No, a really disappointing day for them. I I want to ask you about them. First, I just want to pick up on on Max Verstappen, who at at certain points well in the last third of that race really looked like he was Gunning for victory, Kimmy Antonelli was so quick as well. And as you say, just a few laps short of seeing how that could have played out.
I mean, if if you'd said to Max Verstappen and Red Bald you're gonna finish second on Sunday, if you'd told them that on the Friday, I don't think they would have believed you. It was a brilliant turnaround.
It is surprising and you know, we interview Mekis before the race and after the race and before the race said, Oh, you know, we're we're not there yet, we're working on it and then after the race we're like, really? I mean you guys had so much pace. And something we gotta you know, there's when you're a driver, you go to certain places where you're very good and you make up time even if the car like for me it was Brazil.
For some bloody reason, every time I went to Brazil I was good. And Monsa. Those two places. He did him out of the car. I knew I was gonna be competitive. And if you look at Max, you know, Max is amazing and he's great everywhere, but He he's stellar in Austria and in Silverset. So we're going we just came out of Austria and he showed what he could do. And we're going into Silverstone next week with an amazing shot of seeing what Red Bull can bring.
So do you think it's just a case then of of track specifics rather than us getting ahead of ourselves and going, Well, Red Bull brought upgrades this weekend, it clicked on Sunday, Verstappen's back in the hunt?
Red Bull's brought two upgrades already. Ferrari's brought two upgrades already. And Mercedes only brought one. And Mercedes we sp I spoke to Toto and he said, No, no, we have more coming. We just with our budget cap and things, we look at what the other teams are doing and we're going How are they doing all this? The c you know, f he he even said it's kind of interesting what's gonna happen at the end of the year when people run out of budget.
Yeah.
It certainly will be. Um well that's uh good news then. We go to Silverstone to Max Verstappen should be on form again next week. We haven't got long till we see what happens there. Kimmy Antonelli in the other Mercedes already mentioned a bit about him, but I just wonder, obviously, uh with all the yellow flag scenarios in qualifying, uh
possibly prevented him from Paul, but that shouldn't do a disservice to what George Russell managed to to get out of the bag in the end. But in the race, Kimmy look quick. Those virtual safety car timings though, do you think if if the Kimmy had pitted maybe just a lap later, it might well have been Grand Prix victory.
so that's the question is that jimmy missed it or the team missed it or who you know man that i don't know
Uh
When I saw the car slow down and I saw Kimi coming in, I'm going, Why are they anticipating this? I don't know, it's l like your mind goes, Ooh, did Mercedes you know, what why? You know what I mean? It's like why do they just do this? Uh the same question at hard w when uh when they went with three stops with with Lewis, it made sense, but then
Why do they go to the soft? And then, you know, we're talking in the post race, and they said, Oh, because he ran out of tires. They didn't have enough tires. Because if you're gonna do a three stop in a hot track, yes, let's start with a soft tire, then but then you should go mediums or hard.
And being realistic, what Lewis should have gone instead of that soft in the middle, he should have gone with the hard, extend that towards the end of the race and then push like crazy on the soft tire with the lower fuel load. But the the issue here is when it's heat related, I think the fuel load Plays a part, but it's a smaller part.
Yeah, what could have been? I mean w we you mentioned earlier, uh disappointing for for Ferrari overall, Charles Leclerc had a really bad day at the office and considering they started second and third. on the grid and we were saying what just a couple of weeks ago after Barcelona, you know, Hamilton and Ferrari, they've got the strategy right, big upgrades, they're back. Was this a bit of a wake up call?
The problem is Because we haven't seen a lot of three stops in F one in that recent years. People don't underestimated the power of of the less degradation. And I think that's something nobody's used to seeing. And they said, oh, it's pure paste. I think if if if the Mercedes would have done a three stops, they would have won the race.
You know what I mean? And the other thing that played into Hamilton's win last you know, last week in Barcelona, that it I mean they Freud played it beautifully because they stopped to do a three stop. And Mercedes reacted to it and they compromised a two-stop race. They they put themselves in an uncomfortable long run, you know, long
long steams where you really need to manage the tires and you're sacrificing la let's say they they stopped on lap twelve an ideal to stop was like lap eighteen or twenty. So you're really compromising your rate.
Yeah. And ultimately they couldn't quite follow up the uh heroics of of Barcelona. But we'll see what they've got next time out at the British Grand Prix. Point Palaban Montoya, thank you so much for your time and joining us on the pod. Safe travels home.
Thank you very much, guys.
¶ Midfield Highlights and Cadillac Woes
Well it we Rapidly getting to the end of the podcast. We always run out of time, but we haven't spoken, guys, about McLaren. Oscar Piastri fourth, Lando Norris seventh. Actually a bit of an under the radar drive for for Piastri. Good place for fourth.
Really solid drive from Oscar Piastri, yeah. And they're just a little bit in no man's land at McLaren at the at McLaren at the moment. The car's not quite quick enough. They're admitting that quite happily. Well not happily, but openly. Um they've got upgrades coming um quite soon, I believe, um and they need them. But I think Piastri delivered everything that was possible from the car.
Lando Norris was just a bit unlucky, lost a place to Piastri on the first lap, then that meant that Piastri got priority on the stops, that meant that Norris got un undercut by Hajar in the other Red Bull, which he then got stuck behind for the rest of the race, so he ended up where he did. He said he was quite reasonably happy with his pace in clear air, he just didn't have enough of it. So that's why he ended up where he was.
Yeah, and uh yeah, so only a few points scored for the reigning world champion. Uh we should probably then just touch on the last two scorers, uh Liam Lawson and Harvard Limblad, Sam, racing bulls, once again in the points, best of the midfield.
Arvid Limblad. For anybody that saw a little bit earlier, I called him I called him Victor Limblad.
So out of the blue.
I've been getting it in the neck all the last couple of hours, but um
Too much football, Sam, obviously. Yeah, Sam.
Yeah, Man United fan. Um, yeah, another solid result for them. They're really stamping their authority in that mid uh midfield race. Uh best of the rest at the moment. I thought um Alpine had a a bit of a shocker, but Racing Bulls definitely had a a a decent enough afternoon.
there's certainly a lot of work to do in that mid pack and uh retirements for Cadillac, uh Aston Martin and Williams as well. So Cadillac had brought a big upgrade this weekend, turning into a bit of a nightmare.
Well th I mean they didn't what did they have? Three racing laps between two cars, so we didn't get to see any of those upgrades working.
got recurring brake problems. It's not the first race that they've retired with brakes on fire basically and they're they need to get on top of that pretty quickly.
Um before I close things out, is it worth just just reflecting on the race as a whole that we saw? And we've a common theme this year has been overtakes and the artificiality of it, yo-yo racing. I thought today we had some pretty epic racing. Look, Hamilton and Verstappen going wheel to wheel, that was pretty spectacular to see.
¶ Exciting Racing and Silverstone Preview
It was great racing between the two of them. There's a bit of like he deserves a penalty for that from Max Verstappen, wasn't there?
twenty twenty one all over.
Yeah, falls wide at turn six when he tries to go around the outside and look and also Hamilton and Leclerc put in some great racing. Um it's not completely clear at the moment what happened. So was was it D rating at the end of the straight? That's where for example that's where one car runs out of battery power and the other one doesn't? Was it the use of the overtake mode?
We're not quite sure but whatever it was, it did look great and the complaints about Um, you know, this on on the limit qualifying, it's still there in the background but the drivers have sort of quietened down about it now that they know that the that the FIA and Fumborne and the teams are uh have set in motion some rule changes over the next couple of years to try and address that. So yeah, you wouldn't I don't you wouldn't have expected to see that kind of level of racing at this racetrack.
in previous years. And this is the point about these engines. They are they come with some downsides that some people don't like. But um if they can find the right balance, then it does open the door to some of this, you know, really intense and interesting racing.
But Sam, if we can get more of what we saw Hamilton and Verstappen doing today, we're in for a a brilliant rest of the season.
I'm loving the racing this season, to be honest. I know there's limitations in qualifying and and some people are a little bit unhappy about that, but some of the racing that we've had, the side by side, wheel to wheel action has been absolutely spectacular.
Well, let's hope that continues. In a week's time, British Grand Prix next week, a big week of build up to that.
Uh oh. Well I was just gonna say Silvenson's the best race track in terms of racing on the calendar, I think, probably, just the way the new la the latest layout that came in whenever it did, you know, fifteen years ago or something. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Uh I thought it was twenty I was thinking twenty ten but I wasn't quite sure. It it's always been good for racing, so it's gonna be really interesting to see how these new cars work at Silver.
No, it will be. And we will be there as well. The nineteen ninety six F on World champion Damon Hill will be part of our five live coverage. Uh and I believe we're going to be doing a podcast today from the Thursday onwards. Is that am I have I overpromised? I've overpromised. No we are. No we uh oh we are doing one. Yeah. So BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport YouTube channels where you need to be for all of that.
Andrew, Sam, thank you very much for your time. George Russell, the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix.
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I'm Steve Bracknell, host of Games Gone, the Steve Bracknell podcast. What's my favourite World Cup moment as a fan? I have to say, Michael Owen skinning the whole of the Argentina defence and cracking it in top corner for a very short space of time, I believe.
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