¶ Intro / Opening
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¶ Canadian GP Season and Track
Five Live Formula One.
Four races down and four victories for Mercedes so far, but three of those have gone to Kimi Antonelli. Can the 19-year-old Italian continue his remarkable start? Or are McLaren and Lando Norris? forcing themselves back into the conversation. Lots to talk about over the next hour. I'm Eleanor Oldroid and I'm joined by Five Live F1 commentator Harry Benjamin and W series race winner Alice Powell. Hello both.
Hello, good evening.
Lovely to have you with us. I mean it's been a weird kind of Start to the season, hasn't it, Harry, in a way, because we're well into it. You know, we're halfway through May, over halfway through May, big gap before Miami, and then we've had another big gap to Canada.
feel like an age ago we we started this season we we got going at three in a you know three in a row first three races then obviously we had this April break with the cancellations of Bahrain Saudi. Then we finally got going again in Miami and it was sort of
straight back to it, sprint as well. But then we had another week off and now we're back in Canada. It feels quite stop starty. I d I feel like it am I gonna have another week off next week. And then we get to Monaco and then it's a bit relentless. And then I think from Monaco we're gonna start to feel like Oh right now Formula One i is back and going but
I
I know and I'm usually sick of seeing Harry by this point'cause we've been had several more races. But uh no, i i it's been a different season. That's that that's sure to say. But I love Calendar. It's a track that I've never actually raced on myself but I have had the privilege of of going and watching it and it's a driver favourite too, so
I'm glad finally F one is back and and yeah, to to be racing and seeing them race at Montreal. We had a great race last year and I'm sure we're gonna have another great one this year.
Why is it so much of a favourite among the driver?
It's fast. It's a street circuit as well. So pretty much most drivers enjoy a street circuit, the challenge. There's a whole weather system there. I think we're meant to have potentially some showers at the weekend or on Sunday.
It's fast, low down force, you've got some medium speed corners, you've got real heavy braking as well, so it does produce a lot of overtaking. And that's what drivers love. They love that kind of challenge of of being inches from from the wall and of course a track that you can certainly overtake.
Yeah. And another sprint weekend as well, Harry.
Yeah, the first time we're gonna have a sprint in Canada. Again, I sort of had to double take and got a sprint in Canada. Is that is that right? But yeah, I think it'll be a really good track actually for for a sprint race. It's normally quite fun, isn't it? as Alice alludes to there. So more points up for grabs uh and uh more flat out racing on the Saturday, we hope. Uh this is actually I don't want to get bogged down in energy management and engines and power units.
But this is uh to be technical one of the the the most energy starved circuit we'll come to so far and and that basically means they're gonna have to do a fair amount of of management of their battery, but kinda split. half and half on on the trap because the first part of the the lap around Montreal was
It's quite stop start. There's quite heavy braking zones that you can kind of top up your battery pack, right, Alice. But then once you get into the second half, it's pretty much straight with a hairpin. So not a lot of chances to really top up your old battery.
No, there isn't. And that of course that's gonna be a challenge as well for for for the drivers. The heavy braking is gonna help because that's gonna help recharge some of the battery. Of course this partial throttle that they might have to do through some of the the chicanes, but
Yeah, there's obviously been announced some changes that are gonna take place for for next year but uh I guess we're not c we don't wanna bore people at uh ten past eight on a Thursday evening'cause we could be talking about it for a long time.
You know what's even better than energy management? It's weather.'Cause as you said, there will be a bit of weather.'Cause we're on a kind of man made island, it's the Ile Notre Dame, it's where they did the expo back in like nineteen sixty.
sixty seven, something like that, and they they it's become a museum since and hosted the Summer Olympics years ago as well. So uh nine seventy six I think it was. Yeah seventy six. Uh they s the the back straight runs parallel to the the basin that they use the the rowing and the canoeing for.
But as a result, it's kind of got the its own microclimate. So it can be sunny and blue skies elsewhere in Montreal, but actually on the island where the track is, especially it's parts of it are quite covered in a lot of foliage and trees. that can really be quite conducive to to holding in moisture and wet weather. Also, this race is a lot earlier than it has ever been before. So temperatures it's gonna be a lot colder than we're used to. So tire warm-up and things like that.
A lot of new things that we're gonna have to get get to grips with or the drivers and the teams are gonna have to get to grips with with only one practice session because of because it's a sprint before we get going. So it's gonna be good.
Well hopefully that wets your appetite a bit for what's to come over the next few days in Montreal. Plenty to come before nine o'clock. We'll be hearing from some of the key protagonists. Ahead of this weekend. They are speaking with the media at this very moment. Plus the BBC's F one correspondent Andrew Benson will join us to react to all that has been said in Montreal. Uh plus uh we can't avoid it. We're gonna have a bit more engine talk.
Oh but we'll we'll leave we'll leave Benson for that.
¶ Antonelli vs. Russell Battle
Leave him to do that. But look, let's talk about the championship battle because everyone at the start of the s season was talking about a Mercedes walkover, but with George Russell in their minds with this. But now we're talking about
one of these intra team battles that that we love as well, that that rivalry um between um Antonelli and Russell. We'll talk about McLaren's resurgence as well. But I mean, Alice, what have you made of this This this young upstart challenge I mean, George Russell's pretty young as well, but Antonelli really challenging him.
He is and I have to admit I was one of those last year that was thinking when it was Kimi Antonelli's first year in F one, he'd had one season in Formula Two, skipped Formula three altogether, came up from Formula Regional. up straight into F two and that's not usually what you see if we're gonna talk about say Lando or George, they came through the traditional sort of
F three, F two, then up into to F one. No, not Antonelli. And I was thinking, Is this the right thing? You know, he had it for his first practice session that he had at the Italian Grand Prix, um, put it in the wall. He's still got his chance to go into F one and Toto is saying, This this kid is good. Just give him chance. And I was probably yeah, thinking, mm, not too sure. It's probably too soon. A lot more driving that he could have and things he could have learnt in the junior categories.
But wow, I was was certainly wrong and so w were many others and hence why why Toto said to him on the radio, mainly to us, people like me This is what what we knew. We knew that you had it in you, Kimmy. And he has done a fantastic job. Three poles. He's had three three wins on on the bounce as well and been so impressive.
And of course, as you said earlier, we were all expecting it to be George Russell to be to be sat at the top o of the championship at this early stage, and it certainly isn't the case. It's Kimi Antonelli.
I mean, I agree with all that. I'm nowhere near as skilled or talented as George Russell, but if I am him, I'm worried about what Kimmy Antonelli is achieving right now because we we use this word far too often in Formula One, but momentum is so crucial, I think, to Not only are driver's performance off track but their mentality off of it as well. Both feed the other. And right now that momentum is well and truly with Kimmy Antonelli.
He's breaking all the records as well, not to mention youngest ever pole sitter, uh one of the youngest ever uh race winners. Uh if he gets a race win and a poll this weekend, he'll be the first ever Nobody else has ever done that. And I know stats are stats and and think you know, do they really mean much? But I think it does mean much because of everything that's happened to Kimmy Antonelli in his rookie year last year, all the struggles that he went through.
Now he seems to be getting on well with the car. He's got Toto Wolf in his corner. George does as well, but w Wolf and Antonelli very much seems like a a a closer bond, I think.
Pete Bonnington, his race engineer, the man who was behind Lewis Hamilton's uh well the m the majority of Lewis Hamilton's uh championships at Mercedes is his engineer. That is a massive relationship that will be helping bot uh that will be helping Kimmy Antonelli out as well. So It puts even more pressure on this weekend to go well for George Russell and the pressure ramps up even more so because this is a track where George Russell goes well at.
Two races, he's been on pole, victory last year. He grew he runs well here and he'll be looking to get that pendulum swinging back in his favour.
interesting after Miami on the Checker podcast, Damon Hill was saying to you, Harry, that he thinks that That George Russell has gone missing a bit. And and I don't know what what he what you think he meant and do you and I'll ask you, Alice, whether you think that's that's a fair assessment.
Uh th was there was Australia where it was the first race of the year and I think all expectation was this this is Russell's championship to lose. He he went out and and won it and Antonelli had a slow start, ha fell all the way back through the pack and it was okay, here we go, Antonelli's still young, second year, he's he's having to get his elbows out, he's not gonna be as clean and clinical as George.
Who's got many years of experience now, even though he's only twenty-eight years old, as you say, still quite young, he's got a huge amount of experience. But then I think China was probably a big turning point where there was uh uh electrical issues and mechanical issues on both cars but hurt it George R hurt George Russell more. And Russell managed to come through the the pack but didn't
didn't exactly cruise up to the back of Kimmy Antonelli, who won by a fair distance in the end and didn't put a foot wrong. But you could argue, well, bit of luck played out there in the favour of Kimmy Antonelli. But then last time out in Miami Mercedes as a whole, I felt, didn't quite get on top of their energy management almost schedules and deployment where they were gonna deploy, etcetera. They were a bit late to the game, which allowed McLaren to take victory in the sprint.
But then in the race, Russell just I think by gone missing what David was referring to, he just He didn't feel alive, didn't look alive on the track. All the focus was up front. Antonelli, yeah, got another bad start, but then made his way back through straight away. Russell was fast, but Antonelli had the edge all weekend.
I think George was came out sort of saying, Well, Miami's not a track that I go well at. You know, I didn't go well last year, I haven't really done very well here. And I think if you're challenging for a a Formula One driver's title. You can't have circuits that ah, you know, I don't quite go or perform as a as well there. So maybe that could have possibly been a little bit of an excuse from from George Russell.
And I totally understand what what Damon was saying, sort of he's he's gone missing. It's you know, the the gap at the front is is is twenty points. Yeah, we can see how quickly that can change from watching how the the drivers' championship turned out last year. So it can change. But this has got to be the weekend when George Russell, if he's gonna talk about tracks that he goes well at, this is one that he really goes well at. He got pole position in twenty twenty four and twenty five.
This is the circuit he needs to try and pull it back, get back on track and ultimately, yeah, win, but of course beat his teammate.
¶ George Russell's Perspective
Well let's hear from George Russell now. A short while ago he spoke with Tom Clarkson and he was asked if this weekend was a must win.
It's just another race for me. It's uh it's just another race and it's not even, you know, in my mind the championship. I know what I'm capable of, I know the speed I've got. Obviously Miami was a bad weekend. It was a tough weekend for me there last year and I went to Montreal and had a great weekend. Doesn't mean this year is gonna be the same, but I just need to to focus on myself.
go through my processes as I did in in Melbourne, as I did in China and control what I can control. So you know there's really no need to panic at all. And as we said, we're four races down, eighteen at least to go. Um And I actually I actually look back on my F two season, which was obviously the last time I f fought for a championship. And I was P six after four races and F two and about thirty five points down, so you know, i at this point it means nothing.
Your last year's winner here in Montreal. You've always gone well at this track. Um how much do are you looking forward to getting out on track?
Like Pierre said, I mean we're end of May we've done four races and it's felt very disjointed so far this year. So just looking forward to getting into just going racing and and more races back to back. getting into a bit of a groove. Miami was obviously a very tough weekend for me. Um but a huge amount learnt from that and I feel great coming into to this weekend.
What was the biggest learning from Miami?
Well I think for for a lot of us we're also focused on the energy management that all of the issues from from the past, you know, dealing with the tires, uh dealing with the setup, just fundamentals of of racing has kind of been put on the back burner because we're also focused on energy management. So
You know, we missed some some key things because we were focused elsewhere and that was a a good little reminder. So as I said, as as painful as it was, it was a very much needed weekend because I think it's gonna prove very beneficial for the rest of you.
Now everyone's interested to see Mercedes first big upgrade of this season. What are you expecting from it?
Well I'm hoping it's going to be, you know, as competitive as what we saw the upgrades of McLaren and and Ferrari brought in in Miami. They obviously took a a decent step forward. our numbers look pretty promising, but we know it's doesn't often um it may may not correlate that way in reality. So there's no science telling us it it won't be competitive, but as I said, until we drive it on track, there's always gonna be a few unknowns.
So we're talking about the situation at the moment. where you've got two teammates racing um independently at the moment, but it's it's kind of ten years. I mean, there are always memories, aren't there, of intra intra team rivalries. And we mentioned um Hamilton and Rosberg. Going head to head, coming together in Spain ten years ago this month. Could we be in a in a situation, Harry, do you think where we're gonna get something similar?
Well, this is Formula One, so that can happen. I think that that incident was was for the ages really, wasn't it? I f it feels like yesterday. I can't believe that's ten years ago, where Max Verstappen went on to take his first ever Grand Prix victory as a result. I and actually Canada is is quite uh prominent for teammates uh hitting each other. Twenty eleven, the two McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button.
Last year the two McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. So yes, it absolutely could happen. But I don't know, Alice, is there something about Russell and Antonelli? It's not it's not giving me
Bye.
It's given me nothing in terms of fiery, uh on track or off it. They're quite polite. George is is very kind of prim and proper and Kimmy is young and and not he's not exactly the I wouldn't say he's the erratic type. So I'm not getting...
Much. When that visor goes down I tell you what and you're in that cockpit and you're fighting both for their first World Drivers Championship, it's gonna happen at some point this year.
I mean, I kind of want to...
I definitely think it will happen at some point this year, you know, they know they've they've got the best car. Russell probably thought that he would be a lot closer to Antonelli in terms of points wise as be as as I've touched on already.
It'll happen. Whether it'll be this weekend and and plus it's tight that turn one. If that let's say if they both qualify on on the front row, you know, there's changeable weather conditions. You're gonna be maybe if it's wet, you're gonna be one of the driver that's leading the way so you're not stuck in the spray.
¶ Driver Rivalries and Character
Who knows? We've we've seen stranger things uh before and yeah, we could potentially See it this weekend, but we'll see.
Yeah, I I mean I know I know what Harry means about this this idea that, you know, you kind of almost it's like it's like an East Enders, isn't it really? You know, you want to kind of the personalities that that clash the history that that
I mean Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, you know, they'd been friends. They were too maybe there there was kind of too much similar background. They fell out. And and maybe George Russell and and Kimmy Antonelli are just a bit too different to do that. But do you almost want George Russell to have a little bit of that? That fire in his belly.
I think he does from from the way he talks on on the radio and we've seen him clash plenty of times with with Max Verstappen, haven't we, in in the past? He's got the fire for sure and and a lot of these drivers will probably have got told on their early years of go-karting w yeah, where it's all friends, you're all playing football or running around in
in the mud in between your go-kart sessions, you always and I certainly was told you've got no friends on the racetrack. And that sticks with a lot of drivers and in i in a way it's it's very true obviously when you're in Formula One you're racing for the team but you know of course the driver wants to win that driver's title. So they'll get to a stage where they're certainly uh not friends on the track at some
I would just like to point out at this stage that Alice Power's not the only racing driver in this commentary box anymore because I got my racing licence last week. And so if we raced on track
Yeah.
No.
What is that?
We'd be friends. Wow. Shocking.
But we we should probably throw in actually just briefly that um that we were talking about um speed awareness courses. Uh now now you admitted, Harry, that you've now got your d your racing driver's licence. 'Cause I did a speed awareness course this morning and I knew I was gonna be coming in here to talk about racing very, very fast.
Tips off Harry, I think.
And and and you you're y so you've and I thought I was you know, I felt a bit embarrassed to be doing it, but you've done
I've done one a few years ago, yeah.
Yeah.
And Damon Hill, you were saying that.
So I think I must have been discussing the fact I did one uh with Damon must have been last year maybe then he suddenly pipes up that he had one to do or he'd just done one in the week prior. But I think it's a little different um to Everybody else doing a a a driver awareness course because you you obviously you log in and then everyone pops up on their face, then suddenly if you're there and you know anything about racing.
Damon Hill, the nineteen ninety-six F1 World Champion, pops up. And I think Damon was recalling about the fact that basically even the person running the the lesson uh was ask wanted to ask Damon questions about his career. And I think I think he had to catch.
She would have uh brightened up the speed awareness course.
Yes, would have made it possible and uh I'll name and shame Karun Shandok as well.
But yeah, no he's been on one yet.
¶ Mercedes and McLaren Upgrades
Brilliant. I love this. Anyway, look, we've completely gone off off piece. Let's get back on track and talk about upgrades. Because'cause we heard in that interview with George Russell that this is this is kind of big upgrades for Mercedes this weekend. I mean W is that gonna w widen the gap between them and the rest of the field again?
Well this is the interesting thing. Uh we we we know as as we heard from George there's a big upgrade. We don't quite know the specifics of it yet. They normally send out a little sheet which we'll get I think later on this evening or tomorrow morning. But um what I we saw
in Miami was everybody bringing quite a big upgrade, Bar Mercedes. But it i the upgrade kind of transitions a are a bit lopsided because we lost two races in April. I know some of the teams were bringing were g were planning on bringing big upgrades for Bahrain.
And then we're gonna have a couple of a few weeks off and then bring another one in Miami. So instead we're seeing big upgrades almost back to back. So we could get quite a big step forward from multiple teams but just the way the calendar's fallen all of a sudden. But this is gonna be interesting with the two Mercedes battling is okay, is this gonna further edge them out away from the McLaren and the Red Bulls who made really big steps last time out?
Or is everyone gonna make a big step and it's gonna be a a a battle two, four, six cars wide now at the front, which would be great for us. But then that has an effect on this teammate battle between Russell and Antonelli because they they're not just looking at each other all of a sudden. And one thing that has been picked off picked up on is Mercedes have been on pole every single race so far this year. They are yet to lead an opening lap.
because their starts, they're getting poor starts, particularly Antonelli. He loses on average I think he's lost on average twenty positions on lap one so far from the first four races of the year. Even if they do the job in qualifying, they're suddenly at the back and we know the Ferraris, regardless of upgrade, had that smaller turbo, they get absolute rocket ship starts.
Trap position is always king in Formula One. So even if they got a big upgrade, it's gonna be tricky to see how this teammate battle plays out and it will vary and be dependent on that.
And what's interesting with Antonelli is he starts that he b prior to Miami he he'd been away practising some starts, diving into what had gone wrong and he said, Yeah, I think I I've nailed Well, he didn't get great starts at Miami, but I I I agree with you, Harry. I I still think that it's gonna be the Mercedes the team to beat. I think McLaren will be up there as well. Of course they have a Mercedes power unit uh behind them. So I think
Mercedes will be the ones, but I think we will still see the likes of McLaren up there. Ferrari, they're one of the teams that I feel really need a good one because they bought a lot of upgrades to to Miami and actually had a not a great weekend. I think they were expecting it to go a lot better than it did.
The other thing though, we we're going back to back sprint. And normally in a traditional Grand Prix weekend you'd have three one hour practice sessions, loads of time to really gather the data on your new upgrade. So again, I think Ferrari, you're right, I agree with you, but I don't think any team was able to maximize what they brought enough because they only had that one practice.
before you're chucked into qualifying for the sprint. And that'll happen again here. So practice is going to be incredibly busy, but I still think it we've got there's more there's more maximizing to be done for the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes at the front.
So who's doing best with the with the upgrades behind the scenes, do you think? Um I mean McLaren uh looked spot on, you know, coming i i in Miami. What is it that they're doing right?
Well, th I think they made a great jump at at Miami. And if you look at the other teams that bought big upgrades as well, Red Bull bought a lot and I think personally they certainly closed the gap a little bit. Ferrari bought a lot of upgrades as well and then obviously some f slightly further down the order that didn't make as much of a difference.
Th they just seem to to be yeah, sorting it. They've obviously got the Mercedes power unit which makes a a a big difference because it yeah, we talk about power units a lot and obviously they may make a a good difference. And we heard Russell on o on our intro there saying h he likes the engine and it does work well. But yeah, th they're they're a team that of one constructors
titles or experience seem to get be a nice group of of people that know what they're doing down at McLaren are clearly making the difference. It's much more comfortable for the drivers i i in the corners and
I think for N Norris in particular he's started to get his head round a little bit with the the energy management of these these new Formula One cars. I think Piastri maybe started off getting used to it a little bit better compared to Lando, but he certainly now sort of seems to have made big gains uh has it as Lando and I think that they'll be they'll be fighting
At the sharp end, whether they will be mixing it in amongst the Mercedes, they will certainly be hoping that they will. And of course, they are bringing some upgrades again this.
I think McLaren's will be one ones to watch for their upgrade plan because what we've seen characteristically from them over the last few years, you know, it was only what, three or four years ago, they're at the back. They qualified
on the last row for the first Grand Prix of the Year, but they brought huge upgrade packages uh in the first quarter of the year and then another one followed that up in in consecutive years and it transformed them from where they were. They've gone from literally the back to the front. Yes, they've not
come out the block straight away this season. But let's f let's not forget they were fighting for a championship right up until the season finale last year. So they, unlike other teams around them, ploughed more energy into last year's performance.
before fully focusing on this year. But I think from what we saw in Miami with the huge step forward that McLaren took, I think given their history with big upgrade packages working straight away, they will be ones to watch when it comes to performance upgrades.
¶ Ferrari's Strategy and Hamilton
So could we see Lando Norris competing this weekend for victory? I mean he was second in Miami.
Uh I think so, absolutely.
I think so. I I still think it's gonna be it's gonna be one of Yeah, I I I think they they will. But as we heard from George Russell, you just never know in terms of how they're gonna work. You can run it on a simulator. and it'd be absolutely perfect and you think, Yeah, that's great. You get to the track and you go, Well, this is a disaster and actually Lewis Hamilton has touched on about how he's gonna have a different approach.
He's not even using the simulator apparently leading up to to this weekend'cause he feels like it's been hampering his his preparations. So um yeah, we'll we'll see, but I still think that they'll be certainly the ones ones to be.
And and w you mentioned Ferrari, you mentioned Lewis Hamilton. Not quite come together yet, has it? Um for for those two at Ferrari, even though even they're kind of w they were b starting fast, early promise. It's not just then they're not getting there at the moment.
No, and if
Is that gonna be the answer?
Well yeah, i i Lewis Hamilton feels like it he did touch on in in the press conference that he feels that you know, there's a great team of people there and the simulator is really useful, but to him in particular, he just feels like it's not setting him up correctly for for race weekend in these new cars. So we'll see. We'll see if it how he gets on wi with that this weekend. But I think
you could kind of tell, particularly with Charlotte Claude's sort of body language in Miami, that he was expecting a lot more. I was actually quite surprised of how sort of chippy and and happy Lewis Hamilton was a a after the race'cause he had a disappointing showing I think for f from him he would have been like to have been a lot closer to to Charles Claire.
But I feel like it's sort of getting into the stages where you said they started fast, yeah, off the line they were they were fantastic. They were still a little bit away from from Mercedes. But I feel like other teams are creeping up now. The gap is closing at the front with with as we touched on Mc McLaren.
Max Verstappen and and Red Bull are there as well. So I feel like Ferrari really start needs to have a good weekend because we were all talking about how they were going to be so competitive up there with with Mercedes. And they haven't really okay, Charles' sitting third in in in the drivers' championship, Lewis is in is in fifth, but I know that they all want to be higher, and particularly with the amount of upgrades they bought last time out.
You know, I'm I'm actually really loving for what Ferrari are doing right now because yeah, okay, they're not out and out winning, but they're they're trialling things and they're bringing quite quite
Okay.
uh in ingenious designs. They're almost uh you know, this whole Macarena wing thing that's going on where the the rear wing goes full it's not quite three hundred and sixty degrees, but it goes pretty pretty nearly all the way round. Uh they've got these little halo winglets, they've got these other you know new aero designs that they're bringing before anyone else. And I feel like that we've not seen that historically from Ferrari.
I think their culture has always been they're a bit afraid of of trying anything because they don't want to fail. So they'll wait and see what other people do and they'll go, Okay, that works, we'll do it.
Now they're actually kind of taking charge of their own destiny and leading the way. And sometimes it will work and sometimes it doesn't. Look, Red Bull have also got this spinny rear wing now too. So I actually think Ferrari are in a good place. I don't think they've maximized their upgrades fully. Lewis Hamilton is coming here. Uh like in China, he didn't use the simulator. He's not used the simulator this weekend. That should bode well for him.
Charles Clerc doesn't have a great history in uh Montreal. I think he's never finished higher than third, but I think they will be in the mix and I think the fact that they're not afraid to to fail anymore, there's a whole culture change going on that we're finally seeing the fruits of Team boss Fred Vassur uh and his actions there.
Do you know what, the thing that we were saying earlier on about that it's ten years since uh Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's battle uh in Spain, it's nineteen years since Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix. Right. And maybe this this is the race which, you know, because he loves it he loves this circuit, doesn't he?
Yeah, he's won seven Grand Prix here. He's yeah, the won the most as well as uh along with Michael Schumacher here. So he's got great history, six pole positions. But yeah, last time he won round this circuit was back in twenty nineteen. So that's It's a while ago, but particularly if we're gonna get these changing weather conditions we're meant to be getting on Sunday.
That is Lewis Hamilton territory all over. Whether he's kind of got the car underneath him, you know that that that he enjoys and thrives off those challenging conditions. So I would really love to see to to see Lewis, desperate to see Lewis and Ferrari fighting up at the front. I think, you know, it's a track when you do have that sort of sort of
as George has put it, i i i in the past, sort of have that connection with the circuit, that can you know, spur you on uh even more. And I think he's really appreciated by the frat fans there i i is Lewis. So Yeah, we'll see. I still think Ferrari do have a lot of work to do.
¶ Lewis Hamilton's Future and Outlook
You know, with these changing weather, you just never know.
Well let's hear from Lewis Hamilton. He's been speaking with Tom Clarkson in the official press conference ahead of this weekend, and he began by dismissing rumors that suggested his days in the sport are numbered.
I'm still in contract so um everything's a hundred percent clear to me. Yeah. I'm still focused, I'm still motivated, I still love what I do with all my heart. And um Yeah, I'm gonna be here for quite some time so get used to it. Um you know there's a lot of people that are trying to retire me and and uh that's not even on my thoughts. I'm thinking I'm already thinking of what will be next.
And
Planning for like the next five years. Um but yeah, I'm still plan to be here for some time, so yeah.
Well, let's bring it on to this weekend. I mean, seven wins here in Montreal, including the very first of your one hundred and five victories. Just how special is it to be back at a track where you've had so much success?
Yeah.
I s it's always one of my favorite places to to come in the season. The weather's fantastic today. I landed this landed this morning and um my mum's coming this weekend uh because it's just this the atmosphere in this city is is electric and um and then just to come to this little Tali Island and have such an iconic weekend where the fans are probably the closest that they get through the year and the track is just
It's one of it's one of the best tracks in the world. So um and yeah, obviously had some great races here in the past. So excited for this weekend.
What can we expect from you and Ferrari then this weekend?
Uh I think hopefully a better weekend. I think there's a lot of learnings taken from the the first races and particularly from the last race.
I think we've um there's been a huge amount of work which I'm really grateful for, uh all the team back at the factory are working incredibly hard to try and analyze uh w where we've been good, where we've been where we've not s been so good and um we've adjusted processes and um approach and um so I'm hoping that we're able to extract more from the car'cause I still think we're still trying to extract the most from from the package that we have and then also just being realistic of
where we stand currently um compared to to Mercedes for example. But um lots can happen. So uh it's just about trying to extract the most from the carless we can.
Where do you think you do stand in the pecking order with the upgrades that you brought to Miami last time out?
I mean it it probably adjusts each weekend. Obviously you know Mercedes are uh at the top. Um McLaren looked incredibly strong last week last race as well. They took a good step, and obviously Red Bull have made a huge step. Um so I think we're kind of in and around McLaren and Red Bull, I would say.
which order there it is, uh, we'll see. But um I don't know, obviously no Mercedes have a big upgrade this weekend, so um, even without an upgrade they were very quick in the last race or s still won the last race, so Um so our focus is just just gonna be on ourselves and just trying to optimize and and for me I'm I'm really excited to hopefully have a better weekend.
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¶ Hamilton's Ferrari Journey
So Lewis Hamilton, Harry Benjamin, I mean the fact we said nineteen years since his first race win, it seems absolutely extraordinary. Is it good news that he's still sounding like he wants to stick around for a bit longer? I mean he started off by saying I'm under contract, not I'm deeply in love with this sport as I always have been.
Well I th since he's joined Ferrari, the speculation has begun because obviously it hasn't been uh the the fairy tale yet. But I think that was probably the the biggest indication that he's ever given that he's he's here for a few more years yet,'cause there was some talk that this might be his final year, maybe there's a plus one into into twenty twenty seven.
It all comes down to his enjoyment of it, whether he's under contracts or not, because we all know contracts aren't really worth the paper they're printed on in Formula One or indeed any kind of sport.
I he as long as he's enjoying it and he sees forward momentum with Ferrari, he will stay there. And I think maybe there's something about What you obviously dominating and winning I'm sure is great, but is there something, Alice, about you know, working to rebuild and chase, particularly when you're within a team like Ferrari, which every kid dreams of racing?
Yeah, of course there is. And I think those those times I would love to see of course Lewis Hamilton winning in a Ferrari. That would be incredible.
Could be it could be this weekend.
this weekend, who knows? But I think crucially as well. if he's enjoying it, as you've touched on, that's a huge part of of of motorsport and racing. You've got to be enjoying it. And particularly if you're feeling competitive Which he clearly still is, he still is competitive. And particularly when you've got well, we haven't had twenty four races this year because we've had obviously Bahrain and a and and Saudi not uh take place but
It's it's hard, there's a lot of work for for the teams, a lot of back and forth for the teams and the drivers. It's a brutal, brutal calendar, and I think I honestly think if Lewis Hamilton is not wasn't enjoying it, felt that he didn't have an opportunity to to win and challenge and fight at the front, I I do believe that he'd be like, Do you know what? you know I'll
I'm I'm getting on a bit now. I've been there, done that, got the T shirt, I don't need to continue. I think he genuinely would, but he clearly feels like he's still got it. He still feels that he can challenge at the front and you know, he's he's enjoying his time.
with Ferrari and I think that was a real nice thing to see for and hear from Lewis Hamilton. He was very smiley and happy in in the press conference and we know when Lewis is smiley and he and happy and that he usually goes on to have a very good week race weekend.
Second year with the team, that'll always be better. He's more embedded because Ferrari is unlike any other team. It's a it's not just a team change, it's a whole culture change. He hasn't really been able to bring anyone with him on sort of the engineering side. He's got a new race engineer this year, but I'm led to believe that was that was only temperamental but they haven't yet
it's uh confirmed who will be his permanent race engineer. So the bit of question marks over that. What will be helping him is a bit closer on pace to Char Leclerc this year, based on my averages and my maths, which you should never base anything on. Uh he's a little over a a tenth off in terms of raw pace, but that will ebb and flow depending on the circumstances. So I but I think the fact he feels closer to Leclerc will be
Really spurring him on. But just I mean, imagine, could it be on Sunday? There's a 60% chance of rain right now, mixed conditions, Hamilton carving his way through the field, he pits at exactly the right time to go onto the intermediate tire. The Mercedes get it wrong. Hamilton's out ahead, ten laps to go, and he takes victory for Ferrari. Can you imagine the scenes in Canada?
¶ Max Verstappen's Diverse Racing
Now if you if if that happens, Harry, I'm coming with you for a lot of it, other information going forward.
Lots of eight numbers as well.
That that would be great, but um no. I it it's good t to hear Lewis and I think the sport would be I'm all for because I often say on the coverage, I'm all for young drivers coming into the sport, taking the next generation of talent up. But of course when,'cause it's gonna happen at some point, Lewis Hamilton does step aside from from racing in Formula One. You know, he's one of the greatest drivers of all time. He will be hugely missed.
And of course there was plenty of talk and speculation of Max Verstappen possibly stepping away at the end of of the year as well. Can you imagine Formula One without Max and without I can't really at the moment.
Well Max I mean Max isn't showing any signs of getting bored with driving, is he? Because you know, you have a gap between Miami and Canada and what do you do? You go and you do a twenty four hour race.
Easy peasy. If you're Max Verstappen, he just lives and breathes this stuff. You know what? It's so brilliant to watch. And he's really the only driver on the grid that can a get away with doing it, because so many have it in their contract that they're not allowed because of y you you could ha you could have a crash, you could get injured, the wrists involved, etcetera.
But Verstappen clearly has this passion. He has his own team. Uh you know, he has his own esports team and now he has his own it's grown into this endurance team. He's he was racing uh uh basically uh the zooped up sports cars that you see on the road, a Mercedes AMG car.
But at the Nurberger.
Ring, uh to the twenty-four hours of the Nurberg ring, iconic track, so many wanna race there in a field of over a hundred and sixty cars and um leading the race with uh he had a thirty second gap and was leading the race with about three hours to go.
Uh and what and this th in these kind of races he shares the car with two other drivers, so they do stints. Uh but unfortunately, uh with about three hours to go, he had a a drive shaft failure. They bring the car back to the garage and that unfortunately
uh uh paid paid uh that uh for Max Verstappen. But he was on course to win it. And I think uh talking to some of the endurance commentators who were there, one of the most impressive things they saw was'cause you race at night, twenty four hours, Verstappen Not really raced at night before where there's not big floodlights that you get in Singapore or Bahrain. Racing at night he's overtaking three or four cars on the Nordschleifer bit of the Nurberg ring, which is not easy for anybody. And
No, you would not. Uh he would get an immediate fail, I think. But it was an immediate pass in this instance in this instance and it just reinforces Him doing this reinforces what a generational talent he is. You could not stick any other F one driver in a GT car like that and they would not they wouldn't be able to do the same thing as Max Verstappen, in my opinion.
¶ F1 Engine Regulation Debates
And joining us now from the Media Centre in Montreal is the BBC's F one correspondent Andrew Benson. How are you, Andrew?
I'm good, thanks LES. A lovely day here in Montreal. A little bit brisk but um but sunny and uh no rain on in sight just yet.
Uh and we were just talking about Max Verstappen um just now. And and you've just come out of of a media session featuring him, also Charles Leclerc. Anything any new lines to come out of that?
Well there's a lot of talk this weekend about the the rule changes that have been agreed for next year on the engines. Uh people may remember that a few races ago Max Verstappen was threatening to leave Formula One at the end of the year because he was so unhappy with the rules. They're changing the engines in a certain way or at least they're planning to. It's not completely locked down yet.
And he said, uh it was definitely in the right direction. It will definitely improve the product. He stopped short of definitely committing to staying in F one uh next year, but it does it was very much sounding in that direction.
I mean this this is I suppose the the the big question isn't I mean yeah we've got to talk about engines. We've sort of slightly skirted around talking about engines so far. Um so and I I read your piece on the website, Andrew, when you talked about the different options
ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r Changes to designs for next season, and that's in response to the the the criticism of the the power units introduced this year.
Yeah, basically there's a nominal fifty fifty split between uh internal combustion and electrical power this year and pretty much everyone in Formula One agrees, although not ev not everyone's saying it out loud, that they've kind of messed the rules up a bit. The engines are energy salved, so the drivers are having to do this sort of sort of energy saving techniques too often, basically.
So they're going to adjust that split between internal combustion and electrical power next year, make it more in favour of internal combustion. That should reduce the amount of energy management.
and make driving more normal for racing drivers, uh so they don't so they can be flat out more of the time basically. That's what Verstappen's been complaining about. Not just him but pretty much all the drivers, but he and alo along with Fernando Alonso has been probably the most outspoken of all of them.
Um and they're moving it back towards what would would be considered a more normal direction. So that's what he's talking about when I'm referencing that for next year. He's it'd be more driving satisfaction and that's what he wants.
Andrew uh Harry here, BBC F on commentator. Please tell us about the BBC Sport website poll.
Yes, it was really interesting. So that article Ellie is referring to was um about what they might do in Formula One in the f with the engines in twenty thirty or twenty thirty one and The FIA president Mohammed Ben Salaim is suggesting basically a reversion to V8 nor naturally aspirated engines, maybe with a token amount of hybrid power, which is basically where the sport was in twenty thirteen last. Rydyn ni'n ymwneud â'r pwyntio'r pwyntio'r pwyntio'r pwyntio'r pwyntio'r pwyntio'r pwyntio'r
uh'cause there are various things that you can make arguments for or against in terms of all the different kinds of engines you could use. And the thing that stood out for me was we gave the audience five options. and um twenty five thousand people responded to the poll and there was a th out of the five options, if you club two of them together, which was
a V eight or V six engine with a turbo and a significant amount of hybrid power, so not just token, that was a clear majority. There was no and and all and the singest single largest vote interestingly, was for a V six engine uh or V eight engine with thirty percent hybrid power. And I thought both those numbers were really interesting because if you just listen to the noise that's out there on social media, you would think that everybody wanted a return to naturally aspirated engines.
ond mae'n bwc yn ymwneud â'r bwc yn ymwneud â'r bwc yn ymwneud â nhw'n ymwneud â nhw'n ymwneud â nhw'n ymwneud â nhw'n ymwneud â nhw'n ymwneud â nhw quite influential people in Formula One and they both also thought they were interesting. So who knows, we may even have an influence on the future range and direction in Formula One.
¶ Sound and Future of F1
I love this idea that um Andrew Benson and the BBC Sport website direct policy for Formula One i in years to come. Andrew, and I don't want to get too too stuck on this because we've got a race to talk about. But I mean a Alice for you, I mean I you know I remember going to my first Formula One races kind of back in the late 90s, early 2000s, and it was the noise, it was those the sound of those those engines, those VA engines, which Kind of gripped your inside.
I remember attending my first British Grand Prix, probably when I was about six years old, and I had my little headphones and my dad said, do not take them off your ears. I don't listen to him, do I? And I remember just sort of I was sat on the pit straight, Michael Schumacher who was my hero, took took them off as he went past and I was like, Yeah, I better keep them on actually. They just blew m felt like they were gonna blow my eardrums to to pieces and
I got goosebunced every time the the cars went past, particularly when the uh a race starts. So yeah, th they the sound of particularly uh uh uh back then was absolutely incredible.
That's the thing, I'm I'm on the opposite end. Th I the noise does nothing for me. Uh yeah, it's great to hear it every now and then, but actually when you're there listening to it go round and round you can't hold a conversation and that doesn't make the racing any better.
I mean I'd yeah, I'd rather see fan whatever produces fantastic racing, close racing, on track action, that's what you want to see.
at the end of the day. And and you know, and and we are all about trying to help the planet as well. You know, clearly that's that's also uh part of it. I mean And Andrew, just just to kind of a getting away from from the engines um and talking about what's gonna happen on the track. this weekend. What kind of a sense are you getting um from the battle at at the fr at the front of the grid? And the weather forecast.
Yeah, so the Mercedes have won all four races so far. McLaren made a big step forward in Miami the last race three weeks ago with an with a big upgrade to their car. Uh but Mercedes have brought their own upgrade this weekend. So there's a bit of fear amongst their rivals, uh, such as they are, that they're gonna move even further clear. Having said that, McLaren also have another major upgrade of their own. for this race, just the way things have worked out at McLaren.
So that battle between those two teams, I would say they're probably the favourites going into the weekend. But at the same time, you know, Rebel made a big step forward in Miami, um uh and Ferrari have had time to optimise the upgrade package that they produced there.
So I Mercedes go into the weekend as favourites, no question. But um I think McLaren will be there or there or thereabouts. As for the weather, Ellie Uh it is supposed to rain on um Sunday and they've moved the race start time back to four o'clock and there's quite a few people in the paddock, uh including me.
Who are a bit worried about getting out of here on Sunday night because we're all on a ten o'clock flight and I don't quite know how we're gonna get to the airport in time. If there's a red flag or something.
I do remember security at Canada Airport. There's a fairly lengthy queue from when I was there last year. So uh good luck, Benny.
Thank you.
We wish you well.
¶ Canadian GP Race Predictions
Uh Andrew, thank you so much. Andrew Benson, um our F one correspondent who is in Montreal, um and Alice and uh Harry are with me in the studio just for a couple of minutes just to kinda look ahead and and ha come up with your predictions. For the weekend, I mean, can I I'd I hate I hate the word three Pete. I would I'm not even gonna suggest the word four Pete when it comes to Kimmy Antonelli, but any any chance? Do you think Harry that he could do it again?
I I mean absolutely absolutely he could. Um I mean right now I I this great'cause I actually don't I don't know. It's not a slam dunk because everyone's got big upgrades but I'm gonna go for for an a because I think it will be it will be remarkable, I think Antonelli, for for Sunday Grand Prix victory.
I'm gonna go for Kimmy. I say uh sorry, for for George. I'm gonna go for for Russell coming back, out strong, needing to fight. Having great success here i in the past in particular last year, so I'm gonna say that that that Russell's gonna come back, but it will be I think a Mercedes one two.
It's it's such a fascinat I think this is such a fascinating season that we've got in prospect, isn't it really? Because you can make cases so much for all of these teams that we've talked about on the show tonight.
I and that's and you know, thank thank goodness we can because what we often see with a big regulation overhaul like this is one team gets out and away and runs down the road and they're gone until
you know, two two thirds of the season is is approaching us and we kind of thought that with Mercedes right at the start, but hasn't been the case. I think helped by the fact we've had this kind of distilted uh start to a to a season. But I think this this race off the track that we're seeing with the upgrades is gonna be so important, more so than I think maybe b it has done before.
No, i exactly. It's a huge development race. off the track and let's see if these upgrades for for Mercedes work even though if they don't, they have got obviously got the option to go back. But um I still think that they will have strong pace here. But we can't rule out Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as well. And actually quite interesting to see how Max Verstappen gets on as as well because it's a track that he certainly enjoys driving, has done well at in the past as well.
you backing Ellie? Who's winning?
Well, I mean I I don't know. I mean I kinda think Max Verstappen is well warmed up now, isn't he? He's been driving in the dark. He's been racing around the Neurburg Ring for hours at a time. Or maybe Lewis Hamilton, just to prove that you don't necessarily need to kind of sit in a in a you know, it's it's all about track experience. It's not necessarily about sitting in a in a car simulator.
If anyone can do it it it's those two, right? From wherever they start with with the conditions They can just do it. You can never rule them out. I'll throw another name in there, Oscar Piastri from the from the two races he started so far this year, who's been on the podium. So um he hasn't got a win yet. He's got second and third, so maybe he's due the victory now.
Fantastic to spend an hour with you guys and Harry and Alice. Are you both on commentary duty?
Uh yes, I I am. Oh you're you're off doing F1 Academy, aren't you?
Doing Fron Academy, yeah. They're they're back for for their second round this weekend, so I'll I'll be covering that.
Jolly good. Well look we'll look forward to hearing Harry and we'll hear you, Alice, I'm sure. at some stage o over the the next week or so and five lives coverage of the Canadian Grand Prix begins from five twenty five on Friday afternoon. The race is on Sunday evening, lights out at nine PM. This has been an IMG production for BBC Radio 5 Live.
Welcome to the Wave Re Show where
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We are joined by the actor James Nelson Johnson.
We've gotta get you in season three. We've gotta do it.
This is the first interview I've ever done.
very nice to be here with you i played against you i got the shirt off you but you don't know to get it for me.
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