Chequered Flag Extra: Q&A Special

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Five. Live Formula One. There may be a few weeks of no on track action, but never fear, we at the checkered flag never rest. Uh another to you, because you've sent in your questions in droves about anything and everything Formula One. And we're going to spend uh the next half an hour or so answering them. So Welcome along. My name's Harry Benjamin, and I've gathered the troops for this one. Our resident F1 correspondent.

Andrew Benson and W series race winner, Alice Powell. And for today, we're at F1 Arcade in London, who are hosting us. Andrew, have you had a go on some of the simulators yet? I know. And I don't think I will say Harry. Maybe. You're gonna give him some coaching, aren't you? think you two are uncoachable to be honest. Yeah, I would agree with that. Wow rude. I think we're gonna have a race after and see who wins. Uh I'm gonna bet on me. Yeah. Thank you, Benny.

Anyway, uh I witnessed your driving in America last year and Very good.

Yeah. Okay, fine. Well look, uh there's lots of questions to get through. So uh let's crack on, shall we? Question number one comes through on the email, and if you want to send in any more questions, it's f1 at bbc.co.uk. Andrew Bourne.

has asked, do you think Kimi Antonelli is a genuine contender for the championship this season and will Lewis Hamilton win a race? Shall we tackle the the Kimi Antonelli part of that question first? Alice, well I I would have to say he probably is a championship contender, considering he's leading the championship right now. Hundred percent. I mean there's a long way left to go, a lot of races left to to run.

But yeah, that Mercedes in itself looks fantastic and and he's full of confidence. We all we all thought after his qualifying in China thought, Oh, maybe he got a little bit lucky because obviously George Russell wasn't able to do the first run, and that can make a difference. But then next last time out in in Japan, he absolutely smashed it, you know, and he seems to be full of confidence. Okay, did get lucky with the safety car.

But still once he he got to the front he was commanding and the and the pace was incredible. So you'd be silly not to to say that he's a title contender. Yeah, I think uh sort of that luck it's in Japan can be debated with the safety car, can't it, Andrew, with with Kimmy Antonelli, but he's still was it fourteen seconds at the flag? He was quick in clear air and Confidence breeds confidence, right? Yeah, there hasn't been a

straight fight really, has it, between Russell and Antonelli, the way the three the three races have panned out. Um everybody assumed that the safety car gifted him the win. It gifted in the the lead in that way, but Mercedes believed that he probably would have won anyway. They were gonna leave him out on those tires.

um and they thought he had pl plenty of pace at that point. We only had one lap to see, so you can't be definitive about it. Um but they felt that if, you know, as long as the ties hadn't dropped off immediately, he would have gained the li the time that he needed to come out in the lead anyway. Um and he wa as you say, once he got into the lead he was very impressive. He's really stepped it up this year. Um

Obviously last year was his rookie season. There were a there was a phase of the season sort of two thirds of the way through where he was beginning to look really good and then he had a uh some less good races again towards the end of the season. Obviously he's developed a lot over the winter. Um I how it's going to pan out over the rest of the year, obviously we don't know. And I think it's that straight fight thing. You know, um Russell, as Alice said.

had some problems in qualifying in China. Actually he had some problems in qualifying in Japan too, in the sense that a setup choice that he and his engineer made. went a bit wrong. So I'm really looking forward to seeing them battling together and I'm sure they will. And I think The question is, can anyone join in? And McLaren showed uh some real indications that they're moving forward in Japan they've got some big upgrades coming for the next two races.

So that could make it much more interesting. There's still a long way to go, isn't there? Do you think uh I was reading somewhere when when Kimi Antonelli was, I think, around eleven years old, Ferrari had the chance to to sign in to their Young Driver Academy. And they said no. And that's when Toto Wolf stepped in and backed him all the way up through carts. Such was the talent, rushed through, you know, missed Formula Three, straight to F two, and then before you knew it

Maybe the hand was forced slightly by Lewis Hamilton's slightly earlier uh departure from Mercedes and he's in F one. But I think Ferrari are gonna rue that because imagine having the chance to have this young Italian a part of you know the home nation's team. Well yeah, that I mean they've missed out on an opportunity, but it's so hard when eleven years old there's there's a lot more racing for for those kids to do.

things that they need to pr prove and improve in karting. So it is a risk, but yeah, Ferrari they've they've certainly missed out.'Cause as you said, that would have been an amazing story, wouldn't it? A f uh an Italian. racing for an Italian team, it would have been a dream. But yeah, Mercedes uh have lucked in.

Wulda shulda coulda. Um Lewis Hamilton though, will he win a race? That's the second part of Andrew Bourne's question. Andrew Benson. Will Lewis Hamilton win a race this year? Uh look I don't know. Um uh The answer. I don't have a crystal ball. Um and you you know you

looking at it positively, Ferrari have had a pretty strong start to the season. Um they're down on overall power on their engine, uh, but they've got good starts as we've seen, and they're getting into the lead of Grand Prix early on. Um They're not able to hold it at the moment. Their car appears to be a better chassis than the Mercedes. Um the big question for Ferrari, leaving aside Hamilton just for a second, is can they maintain a development curve that is comparable

With the leading British teams, particularly Mercedes and McLaren. And that's where they've fallen short in the past. So there's a lot to prove for them there. And I think from Hamilton's point of view, Yes, he's looked more convincing than he did last year, for much of last year. Um, but he's still behind Charles Leclerc generally, his teammate. So obviously to win a race he's got to beat both Mercedes and LeClaire, and that's without even wondering about Norris and Piastri and the McLaren.

So it won't be easy, is what I would say as as a sort of conclusion. It's not gonna be easy, but I think he will. I think, as Andrew touched on, their chassis is is very good. They're just lacking in power. Hopefully they'll figure out ways and maybe with the FI having this chat with all the teams something might change that may allow them. But a little bit of luck could come into play. We know Hamilton is has got a huge amount of talent and

He has shown that he seems to be much more happier with the Ferrari that he's he's driving this year. So I certainly think he he is. Capable of winning a race, of course, but I think we'll see him on the top step of of of the podium this year. It'd be nice to see. It'd be an emotional one, won't it? Canada Yeah, you call it. He's all screaming. Canada.

That's my prediction. But look, I mean either way though, obviously reliability is more of a factor in this in this new era of Formula One, so that can always play a part. Do you think that Lewis Hamilton, he seems obviously more comfortable with this this new car and and formula?

take out all the caveats with everyone complaining about the engine, etcetera. He does seem more comfortable. He is in the fight for podiums. He's having great wheel to wheel racing with with Charles Leclerc. Even if he doesn't get a win this year. Do you think the fact it could be an overall more positive win uh more positive year for Hamilton will elongate his career a little bit longer?

I think so because you look at last year and it was just a disaster for him, wasn't it? And he just really wasn't happy at all. And I think He if he gets that little taste of actually Ferrari might be be okay with going in the d the right direction here. So I I I think that if he gets a a sniff that actually you know, could be in a a real chance here. Had some podiums, potentially a win. I think yeah, we'll probably see him push for another year for sure.

It depends what you mean by elongate his career, Harry. I'm pretty sure he's got a three year contract at Ferrari solid, which means he's in for this year and next year, regardless, assuming that's correct. Um then the question comes what happens after that?

Um, you know, he's what is he, forty one? Forty one, yeah. Yeah, so he'll be forty two next year, coming up for forty three at the end of the year. Um is he going to want to continue beyond that point? Are Ferrari going to want him to continue beyond that point? Um Oli Behrmann's obviously doing very well in the HASS at the moment. Um he's on the Ferrari de driver development program. You could see a situation where at the end of next year

Hamilton doesn't continue. Um I s but I think he will definitely be around for this year. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Andrew, for sending in your question. Let's move on to something else now. A little bit of uh a sidestep. Maxfield Electrical has asked: Do the drivers get cold or wet?

In poor weather conditions, are their suits waterproof? Alice, you've I'm sure we've got a few race suits at home. Uh no, you don't necessarily get cold unless you've you've you sat waiting and it pouring down with rain because it's if it's it's a physical sport. So you're driving and that'll keep you warm. Uh I've had it where you get cold toes when I've been driving round Brown's hatch and it's been two degrees, but not that Formula One drivers get to experience that.

Uh but you can get you can get wet, obviously. You you rely a little bit on sort of the cockpit, your legs are tucked in a way in into the chassis. But yeah, if it's absolutely chucking it down with rain, your balaclava gets all soaked, your helmet underneath get gets soaked. Uh not as much as if you were go karting, you get absolutely drenched, your whole body gets drenched. But certainly

for for a driver that's racing in torrential rain like we've seen at in Japan at recent times, yeah. You can you can get you can get wet. And the overalls are not waterproof, no, they're fireproof but not waterproof.

Yeah, well'cause also they you they they obviously sweat a lot. You know, look at Singapore, Qatar, they've it's got to allow the the the material they're made up of, they've got to allow to breathe and let the sweat out, right, as well. So They are very hot, the four layers of Nomak. They yeah, they're they're they're quite thin. But you do yeah, you you you are wearing the fireproof top, bottoms, socks, balaclava, race suit.

They are much thinner than your go karting suit. Um obviously go karting suit doesn't need to be fireproof but you don't want it to tear if you come out of the go kart. But certainly, yeah, it's they're they're thin but temperatures reach fifty, sixty plus. In in the cockpit and with a helmet on and not much air getting to you. No air con. No, sadly not.

Also bear in mind that when Alice says no air, the air is being the aerodynamics of the car are uh sh are shaped so that the air avoids the driver'cause that creates drag. So they want it away from him. um as much as possible. Uh obviously there is a little bit of residual uh air but um fundamentally it's it's not a not a especially breezy environment, the Form One cockpit. As you can probably imagine, they're very low down and the air's directed above them, Jack.

Okay, thank you very much for that. Audley is next up. Here we go. If you could have replaced Bahrain or Saudi Arabia with any tracks from the past. Oh. Good question. I'm gonna send this to Andrew. Andrew, you go needs to think about it. I I'll tell you what, I'll go first. I've had to think about this already. So I I would go I would like to see two tracks that would are probably very unlikely. If you save Paul Ricard, we are massively falling out.

Absolutely not. Sorry, Paul Rickard. I'm gonna say I would love to see the Buddha International Circuit fr uh in India back on the track back on the track. Good shout. And I personally I'd be up for seeing the career trap come back. Only'cause I think it's more nostalgia for me because I sort of when I was sort of sixth form at the end of school, that was like twenty twelve, thirteen, twenty eleven, like they were on the calendar, so I sort of

Significa that's significant for me watching. I'd quite like to see them back. Lack of imagination, Harry. Actually, I think that's a good idea You've got the choice of Chuck, it was good! It was okay. I raced around it. Oh, yeah. I can't wait. Well, you know, you've got so many things you could choose from. You go right back to the fifties, you know, all these tracks the Nurberg ring, the Modwick Park in Barcelona, Mosport in Canada.

What can you do? Sebring in Florida, which held the US Grand Prix once. There's so many great tracks. How about this? Grazie A race at the Norschleifer in G T three cars. I mean that it just completely bypasses the question. No. If Byron or Saudi Raven were replaced with tracks from the past. I see it's got to be Formula One card. Modern Formula One card. If April The F one check and flag podcast.

If they said, Okay, no look, April's April's off, we can't have Barra and Saudi, we've got replac two direct replacements. So the other problem is that there aren't many tracks that are outside the F one calendar that have Formula One licenses, which makes it difficult to There we go. Even Le Mans, for example, I think it would be great to have a Grand Prix at l at the Le Mans. I'll let you have Nordschleifer. You can have it.

Well you I can't have the Norchlifer because you couldn't have a Grand Prix car on the Norch Lifen these days. We need more parameters orderly. You want the noise life. Go for it. Oh well is that okay, all right. So you're saying And that's not gonna be in my answer. Andrew. I've done at least six. I only want two. Uh um uh I mean then then you've got things like Esteril, you know, in Portugal.

You'd be terrible working for the FIN to get get the calendar sorted, wouldn't you? Good lord. Right, are you talking about Alice? Do you I didn't think of the Indian circuit? But I raced there, so I raced uh in one of the support series on the first Indian Grand Prix weekend and I loved it. Apart from travelling to get to the circuit, because It takes such a long time with the traffic. I really enjoyed the track. So I never thought of that one, so I'm gonna go Yeah, thanks Harry.

Favourite corner, the long right hander at the top of the head. Yeah, long right hander at the top of the hill. Turn nine, I think. Isn't there like a... Really long stroke. Quite similar to Turkish. What do you mean? Sorry. Okay. I can't remember the corner numbers, but you go down the hill, you got the left left and then into that little chicane. That was quite good. Turkey. Um what else? Malaysia. That's a great. Now I feel like I'm being Andrew Benson and No, Malaysia's a good shout.

Um just because I'm going there. Tomorrow, brand hatch. Nice. Grand Prix Circuit, yeah, yeah good call. Don't think F one cars would work ro well round there right now, but

Go for it. Eventually. Look, thank you, Audley. Uh we've given you an amalgamation there of tracks. Uh I'm sure everyone has their favourites. Right. Uh from Owen next, and this is uh in your wheelhouse, Andrew. If Jonathan Wheatley takes the Aston Martin job. How soon could he be on the pit wall? Yeah. So my understanding is Jonathan Wheatley's still under contract at Audi. Um he's been relieved of his duties as team principal, but he's he hasn't resolved

um his employment situation there. So they've got to resolve that first of all. Um I don't I was told um in Australia when I first heard about this story that they were not gonna be difficult to him. Um But the other question is has is he going to end up Aston Martin? I don't actually know whether that's definitely going to happen yet. Um Lawrence Stroll, the team owner there, can be a bit capricious. You know, he has different one people say that, you know, he

listens to the last person he spoke to and that's where that's where his head is. So um it could be within six months, could be within a year. Um I I honestly don't know. I don't know what's gonna happen in that scenario. I would love to know what has gone on down there. because you probably know Andrew, so that's kind of why I've asked the c asked the question. But he seemed so happy and proud of the team and uh in China when they had a you know with He was he was so pleased.

One over a lot of I think fans as well. Jonathan Wheatley's been around the sport for a long time. Suddenly for that to come out, I was almost like, this has got to be a fake post. This can't be real. Oh no, it is real. Well, so I m my understanding is there are personal issues involved about want Jonathan Wheatley wanting to come back to or needing to come back to the UK. Um That's one aspect of it. I'm sure a large check dangled in front of him was probably another factor.

Um Lawrence Stroll's obviously not um shy of spreading his money around um and he has plenty of money to spread around. Um so you add those two things together. Um I think it's difficult it's traditionally quite difficult for people to settle people from the UK to settle in Switzerland. You know, you're um you're away from your the fun the rest of your family. Um

hi Jonathan Wheatley's got two grown up children but you know they're still uh early twenties sort of age so he'd be away from them. It took his wife went with him and they intended to settle in Switzerland and they did settle in Switzerland but um it's you know it It's it's a lot to go and work in another country. Um it's a different culture of course. Um so he went with the best intentions, he went with the intention of making it making a go of the Audi job for a considerable amount of time.

And then th these this these the situations I described turned up and uh things changed. That's fundamentally what happened. If it's not Aston Martin for Jonathan Wheatley, Will we see him again uh in that similar role as team principal at another team? Well there's not any obvious other openings at the moment. Um so of course and there's been a there's been a gap, uh, hasn't there since uh all this broke. It was um

It's been a couple of weeks since that broke and people have not been r in touch with each other'cause they used to holidays and getting back from Japan and what have you. So um There's no obvious openings in any other team at the moment. So uh it will be if he doesn't get the Aston Martin job, if that doesn't end up transpiring then Create our own team. Yeah, it'll take some time. Yeah, yeah.

Be to find another role, I think. Yeah. And also the other thing is team principal roles, they don't grow on trees, do they? They come up every now and again. Um, and uh it's not always that easy to to get into one and then once And also, you know, once you've been out of the business for a while then your currency decreases and people might not find you as attractive.

Well there's always space on the BBC team for for Jonathan Wheatley, should he wish to join us in the commentary box. Um thank you very much for that question, Owen. Uh David is next up. How has an F1 car engine started?

I'm sure I read somewhere that unlike a road car, there's no such thing as a cold start. Do they still put the old starter and d and the device in the back of the car and that's how it all ramps up? I don't. I mean I've not been down into a garage'cause I've not been to a race yet this year. So Yeah, I honestly don't know. We're not we're not actually that welcome in the garages journalists actually as a matter of

But it can be started on the MG UK now. Has ever since there was an MG UK, which is quite some time now in film one well over a decade. You'll see if a driver well they have anti-stall systems anyway, but if for any reason the engine does stop out on track, y they can restart it on the MGUK, which is the motor generator unit that is used to as part of the hybrid system. So which to to both recover and deploy energy.

No, and actually that's just brought to my mind something we've been seeing in terms of well, in practice sessions, qualifying races and sometimes you see Andrew cars going incredibly slowly, all of a sudden almost out of nowhere. C can we sort of reiterate what that's about? Well.

Well, there's all sorts of complexities to do with the rules that people are only just beginning to get their heads around, you know, power limited periods and spikes of acceleration in a un an unexpected place, leaving you short of deployment in another place. Th feel like they're in I'm not this is not just my opinion, this is the opinion of m most people in Formula One, that these current engine rules are hugely overcomplicated.

Um and they didn't need to be this complicated. I I I spent a lot of time in Japan asking people why didn't they just say, Here's your engine, there's a racetrack, go and get on with it? Um but what happened was uh th there was the quickest way around a a lap with these new engines would have been to boost maximum amount of corners at the start of long straights, use all your electrical energy at once to get up to the maximum possible velocity and then start losing speed and and regenerate.

Um the problem was that the FIA thought that that would be a sort of that would be an image problem for Formula One if cars were losing speed to that degree in the sort of second half of straight. So they introduced this kind of ramp down rate that defined how slowly the engines could lose performance effectively. Um but that then that sort of opened the door to a whole load of other complexities that followed on from that.

And it's a lot of those complexities that have led to this issue, for example, at the moment where in qualifying the drivers to complain that we're not flat out most of the time anymore and that that's the sort of apart from safety, that's the sort of Single biggest factor that the uh team bosses and uh bosses of Formula One are going to address in this meeting that's coming up this week. Um so

I spoke to a couple of people who said that they probably needed to unpick some of those complexities to fix those problems. Um and so let's hope they do. Nu har min dotter också börjat handla här till sina barn. Hon har upptäckt biltemaspriser på barnprylar, tvättlappar, pussel, leksaker. Bra, bra. Var ju lite min grej innan. Som morfar. Liceas. Hej, Alexandra Rappaport här. och spelar Veronika Gren i serien Veronica. Som är tillbaka med säsong 3.

Den här utredningen som jag håller på med. Det börjar bli. Problematisk for us Dryma Veronika säsong tre nu. Bara på Sky Showtime. Hör min legitimation. När det kommer till ålderskontroll. Begränsad tillgång till alkohol mår folkhälsan bättre. Anorlunda av en anledning.

Indeed, let's hope they do. Okay, we'll move on. Grace has asked a great question, Alice. Who do you think could be brought in to replace Max Verstappen if he retires at the end of the season? Andrew, why are you messed up? I saw him on an accident when the checkered flag. You can't take That wasn't his fault. Uh exactly. Thank you Alice. I was not I'm not gonna take the blame for that. Um Can we get a slope of reach?

Well actually Harry spilling the water has acted as a kind of glue the kid to keep the flag stuck to the table. Yeah, it was all part of the Right, now that uh Andrew's made a mess we'll mess, we'll uh we'll go on with the match just happen question. Uh if he retires at the end of this season, who um who could be brought in to replace him? Uh c can they be in Formula One or are we talking that they have to be outside of Formula One?

I mean I I I looked at this question and thought, Well, if he goes, surely surely you look to to your your junior existing junior F one team. And you put Limblad'cause you're not going to put Liam Lawson in again, are you? So you put Harvid Limblad. But then It it sort of got me thinking about the wider pool of of Red Bull talent and and'cause you would then think, well, someone has to take Limblad's place and is there a a budding Max Verstappen in the works? I mean Red Bull's got a huge talent.

programme uh at the junior academy. Their highest at the moment is probably Nicholas Soloff, who used to be at Alpine. So I worked with him when he was at Alpine and was competitive and he's jumped into Formula Two and is instantly very competitive. He won the first race uh at Melbourne. F two have only had one race um so far. So for a rookie, he's come in and he's he's won his first race in Formula Two. For any driver, that's hard. Um

So he's he's one, he's got a big following in Bulgaria, he's still quite young as well. So so he'd be one. Then of course they've th they've got drivers further down the order as well. I think they've got some Very small well young youngsters in karting, but you your main one to look at is of course Formula Two and Nikolas Solov is one that that sticks out to me. So I'll tell you what, I've I've been doing a bit of digging on this.

And I had a chat with uh the F2 commentator, Chris McCarthy, who's also F three. And I also had a chat with uh our Dutch colleague friend Nelson Valkenberg from Viaplay, who's often on our podcast. And there's a few runners in in Formula Three to watch out for in terms of who could be that next Max Verstappen. There's a guy called Mattia uh Mattia Kolnagi, who's seventeen years old, he's a Spanish Formula Four champion, and this is his first year in in Formula Three.

Theon McLaughlin, who's eighteen year old from Ireland. British F4 champ in 2025. That was his first season of doing it as well. But there's one name that is getting a lot of excitement, particularly from our Dutch colleagues. Rocco Coronel. Now you might know the surname. He's only fourteen years of age. This is a bit niche, but he's the son of a driver called Tom Coronel, who is a Dutch driver. He he's raced in touring cars, multiple wins, a kind of similar era to to Jos Verstappen.

Um his son, only fourteen years of age. Did the uh championship called Geneta Juniors last year, which is the same thing that Lando Norris started out with. And Freddie Slater, who is now part of the audio. I did it many years. And Alice Powell, who's now part of the BBC. But he apparently blitzed it. He's very young. He's incredibly fast. And he's only 14 years of age. And that's a good age for somebody to sort of have this hyper race.

Unfortunately it's about four or five years too young to be in a Formula One Red Bull next year. So it doesn't really answer the question. I think so a couple of things to unpick here. First of all, this is Max Verstappen we're talking about, probably arguably the greatest driver in Formula One history. You're not gonna pick someone out of Formula Two to take his seat, you would think. So you're looking at the existing talent pool in Formula One.

The thing about that though is that Red Bull is not as appealing a seat as it was this time twelve months ago or eighteen months ago. They've not had a great start to the season. The car doesn't look that quick as a chassis. The engine doesn't seem to be that competitive.

Um so th you know, the the usual suspects, the Charles Leclerc's, the George Russell's, even if they're contractually available, which I don't think either of them are as it happens, um, it's not gonna be as appealing for them to leave where they are at the moment. So they're in a bit of a spot, frankly, if Verstappen does retire at the end of the year. In the end, I look I don't know, and neither does he at the moment, as I understand it.

In the end I think I'd be surprised if he did retire. He's got seventy five million reasons to stay in Formula One. Um even if driving around the Nurbergring every other weekend in a G C three Mercedes is appealing for him. Um Which Lance Stroll's also going to do. I saw someone send me a message about that the other day. I don't I don't blame him at all. He's not doing much at the Less exciting than Maxwell Stuppen doing.

Exciting. I agree. That's a very good obviously this is Max Verstappen and this is but this is a great what if question. And I uh as you were talking there, obviously I think you know, if Max does go unexpectedly at the end of this year, whatever if button may be. Do you look at do Red Bull go, Hey Carlos Sainz, uh you were a part of our programme years ago. You're actually pretty good.

The kind of driver they'd be looking at. Yeah. Yeah. And the science obviously went to Williams. It looked like a great decision last year, doesn't look like such a great decision this year. He might be looking for a change. If you're Carlos Science, do you regret going to Williams and not Audi, let's say? I don't think so. Think I'd I I wouldn't say that he's gonna regret it. Who knows, still a long way left to go.

There is a long way left to go. Uh one of the drivers you just mentioned, Andrew, uh is George Russell and Andy asks, What is going to be Russell's mindset going to this extended break we're currently enjoying in April? Holiday. Go on a yacht somewhere. Nice. Chill out. I mean look, we've only

a few races in. So to be now having a panic and worrying, Oh, I might be out of the championship fight he's not gonna be doing that at all. It's still hugely close, still a lot so much racing. I know we've said it, but there is a lot left to go. th n no one's gonna be hitting the the panic button now, particularly George Russell. It they'll just be, yeah, having some time off, which I think what most of the drivers are are doing.

Um you're probably saying why, they've only had a few races, but you gotta prepare yourself for the the busy months that will be coming up. And then of course spending time back at base w with Mercedes learning, still learning more, how to extract the best out of their machine. So he'll be calm, he'll be chill.

Look, he's he's in Dreamland, isn't he, at the moment. This is what George Russell joined Mercedes for. It's what he was expecting to get from Mercedes when he joined in twenty twenty two. They've had a few difficult years since then. A competitive car

a winning car and the chance of a championship. Now he says he's not thinking of the championship. That's the mindset everybody has to have. Take it one race at a time, one day at a time, maximize the day in front of you, sort of thing. But he'll be thinking I've got absolutely nothing to worry about. I'm competitive. I'm quick. I'm confident I can beat my teammate. This is my season and that'll be the mindset. Just go forward, do the best I can every day, maximise everything.

Just focus on what I can do, what I can control. He'll be fully focused. He'll be absolutely laser focused on the the nineteen races there are still to come. Only that.

Thank you very much, Andy, for the question. We'll move on to Dave. Here we go. Favorite ever F1 car and delivery? Ooh. Yeah, this is right in your 1990 Ferrari is it's the only car that is actually a work of art. It was in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, still is, I think. Um it was absolutely gorgeous. Um there's nothing else to say. Oh I'm going for a favourite car. Oh sorry.

Uh and I guess the livery is quite a classic anyway. And I'm gonna go for a Ferrari, but I'm going through for the F two thousand. Schumacher's first Ferrari champion, I think Ferrari's first championship in like twenty something twenty-one years. And That was a yeah, he was my idol. And that up but that particularly at that time, that's where my love really grew for Michael Schumacher and the screaming V10 as well. I remember going to the British Grand Prix when I was

God, how old was I then in in that probably seven? And he had to lit my little ear defenders and my dad was like, Do not take them off your ears and of course Ferraris uh Shumeka's Ferrari goes past you just take them off and yeah I think It blew my eardrums and hair stood on the uh stood on end and great memory and an awesome car as well.

Uh just to clarify something on the championship and Ferrari, it was twenty one years since they'd won a drivers championship in two thousand. Uh their previous constructors win was in nineteen eighty three, so seventeen years. Do you think um thank you for the clarification? Do you think people look back there is a bit of rose tintedness, right, that sometimes goes on, but do you think cars and liveries

have carry the same weight as you know the ones you've just mentioned. You know no one's going I don't know, looking is anyone in twenty, thirty, forty years' time saying, Do you remember that green and black sour from twenty twenty four? No one's saying that for sure. What I would say I'd be like that way. The the some of the liveries that Red Bull but on both teams throw out when they go to Japan.

to say, yeah, s some of them the I'm like, I like that. They should keep that for the for the entire year. They are a bit of a dog's dinner for one liv liveries these days, aren't they? But I mean Ferrari have an advantage. Uh I I don't think this year's ad livery is particularly attractive in my own opinion and it's only a personal opinion when it comes to any of these Red technically, is it?

And it's got the w the white on it sort of harking back to the sort of mid seventies, Nicki Lauda era. For whatever reason they've chosen to do that. Um but fundamentally if you're gonna stick with just a red car with a few stickers on it, that's about as good as you're gonna get. The minute you start blending different colours and sponsorship names and everything. I think it's quite hard to do uh a sort of A a fundamentally aesthetically attractive livery in Formula.

Fair enough. Okay, we've got time for I think two more questions we can squeeze in. Uh first up, when? Asks, why aren't Cadillac able to do what Haas did a decade ago and be immediately competitive? Well, first of all, Haas weren't immediately competitive. They were immediately in the midfield. Um but the re main reason is that Cadillac and Haas have gone about Be there though.

Yeah, they would, but they've gone about it in a very different way. So what Hass did back in uh two thousand and sixteen when they started. was they exploited the rule the way the rules were at the moment and they're still doing this now, um, by buying literally everything they possibly could from Ferrari.

And they only did themselves the bits that they were required to do themselves of the rules. And that basically at the time was the monocoque and the aerodynamic surfaces. That's it. Everything else they bought from Ferrara. Cadillac have set themselves up as a brand new team and they've built everything themselves. So it's much harder to get to a competitive level. Um from that sort of starting point. Um

They've had a bit of you know, they've been given a bit of leeway because everybody understands how difficult it it is to do that. What I would say is that um you know, and I think they understand this themselves, that leeway is is only gonna last so long. They're really quite uncompetitive at the moment and they're only being made to look

look a bit better than they really are because Aston Martin are in such trouble at the moment. Um but even then, on average in qualifying pace, the Cadillac's nearly a second slower than the Aston Martin, which is three and a half seconds off the pace itself. So they're gonna have to start showing genuine progress quite soon and that's their target, to be fair to them. They wanted to be respectable to start off with and then they wanted to show they could make consistent progress over the year.

That's what they've got to do from now on.

Well uh we shall watch Cadillac's progress uh intently. Um and let's end, Alice, with uh on on a more positive side, shall we? Because Jack has asked In amongst all of the negativity, LSB, there's been a lot of negativity around the new era of Formula One, the regulations, the drivers aren't happy, fans aren't happy, it's not that great. What are the positives we can take from the regulation chain? Alice is. Negative stuff. She was looking I'm not Andrew.

So look, I think there's no question that the racing, uh on whatever level, s superficial in some ways, but not superficial in others, has been better than it was has been for quite some time. You know, these battles that go on for A number of laps. They are interesting to watch.

Now there are some of the overtakes in those battles that w uh come about because one driver has got electrical deployment and the other one hasn't and but they call those drive by passes. They're not that exciting. But the Leclerc Hamilton fight in China wasn't like that. That was genuine racing. They were racing in corners. Um and uh it was properly exciting and it went on for quite a long time and battles haven't gone on like that in Formula One for quite some time.

Um and both Leclerc and Hamilton have talked about that and how it r um um rewarding it was for them and Leclerc has talked about actually h how positive he feels generally about many aspects of the race. Then the other thing about it is that the cars are very, very fast in a straight line and some surprising things have come out of that. So one thirty R in Japan, for example.

hasn't been a corner for a very long time. But the cars were arriving there at three hundred and forty kilometers an hour this in the last race. That makes what one thirty R become a corner. They're lifting off. That's when things get murky. They're having to slow down for it in a way that they wouldn't have had to do because of the big terminal velocity that they were reaching. So all of that is interesting and it's a new dimension to Formula One. No.

The other aspect of it is obviously there there are t aspects to do with energy management where fast corners are being used as uh sort of harvesting episodes. Um uh I can't remember Fernando Alonso's snappy phrase for it now, which is really annoying me. Um, but um that is not great. And everybody in Full More agrees with that. Hopefully with a bit of tinkering around the edges, that can be sorted out. I will find something positive to say. Come on, pal, there's something.

Uh no. Uh okay, I agree with Andrew that some of the racing aspect has been closer, but what I like to see is obviously that they produce less downfall. And I think once touch wood hopefully they they sort out, you know, the the harvesting and all this kind of stuff.

we want to see drivers fighting the car. I'm look really looking forward to like f when they go to Maggot's Beckets at Silverstone. Really fighting the car, not just relying purely on the downforce because there's less of it, so that's less grip now. So for them to be fighting and on the edge. I'm looking forward to that. A cha more of a t a challenge for for the drivers.

Yeah, I think it's worth picking up on that point. The chassis regulations themselves are much better than they were last year. Um not just because some of the downfalls just come off, I agree that's a good thing. Drivers uh racing drivers like to go through corners as fast as possible. So

Fullmond drivers would ideally want the the downforce levels of the cars from last year. But I think from a spectator's point of view, Alice is absolutely right. It's better that they've cut back on the downforce a bit. Um I'm not so sure that Maggot's Beckett's is gonna be what you were hoping it to be'cause that's gonna be one of these sort of harvesting event corners the way things are at the moment, which is one of the things that's ruining Formula One at the moment, that that aspect of it.

But the but the drivers would agree and you hear them saying it in amongst all the complaints about the various aspects of the regulations, they do every now and again pick up and say You know, we're talking about this the thing that's behind us that's pushing the car along. I'm paraphrasing Lando Norris here. The car itself is

more enjoyable for them to drive generally in terms of the way it behaves. It's more comfortable. They're not got these rock hard suspensions anymore. Um and the lap times are not that much slower than they were. Well look, some positives to take then. We are out of time for this uh special QA checkered flag episode. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you, Alice, for your company. If you've got any more questions and uh fancy another episode like this, do send them in on the email. It's F1.

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