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The elevator? We're in the middle of a city whose entire population vanished without a trace. We did what had to be done. Sometimes what goes down comes back up again. Maltopia Productions presents The Gentleman from Hell. ACAST is the home of podcasting, including such shows as The Logbooks, The High Performance Podcast, and the one you're listening to right now. Hi guys, Spanners here, and I am here to figure out what you reckon about Formula One. So, in our mailbag episodes, we used to say...
hey, ask us a question. But I realized that that was inadvertently elevating our opinion or my opinion above that of the audience. And really, we don't know a lot more than you guys when it comes to... any technical details or any inside knowledge about formula one obviously we keep across it so we keep across the news stories and by we i mean matt and chris and stuffy but
Apart from the drumbeat of regularly really keeping our eye on it, we don't have any specific knowledge that's different from you guys. So when I give my opinion on here, it is my genuine heartfelt opinion. I'm not trying to create a narrative. I will create an argument for what I think or what I believe, but it's not coming from the inside source of a team or even from things like Sky Sports. So as soon as the race ends, I actually tend to turn off.
the uh the broadcast that i'm watching there was always a risk that you end up just regurgitating the things that you've heard anthony davison say so if there's an incident and then you watch anthony davison or corin chandik on the sky stream There's a real risk that you end up just regurgitating that. And I'll tell you what, those guys are great, but they have a bit of a media group think. I'm not saying those guys individually, specifically those guys.
But when you listen to the guys on any kind of broadcast or journalists, there is a safe space that they have to operate in. So they're very, very reluctant to call people out for cheating, for example. They're very reluctant. I mean, I saw Jenson Button, who's incredibly knowledgeable, obviously, about Formula One, but he made the claim that no team would ever slow down their driver. And, you know, apart from the caveat of some upgrades.
You're going to the number one driver. But that's not true. We know that's not true. We know that some drivers have been slowed down in the past. You have things like Felipe Massa's gearbox being broken open. There's all sorts of reasons.
why a team would want a driver to be slow so the the 2007 example is uh is is a good one where Lewis Hamilton was a different strategy of higher fuel so in those days you chose how much fuel to start on but you know they were saying we want hamilton to be slower at the beginning of the race so he doesn't interfere with fernando alonso but so the media guys
They really don't want to go out on a limb and call it and say, oh, that was cheating. And I don't want to get into that group. So I turn off the broadcast and I'll just give you my genuine opinion. By doing that, by having that approach, it keeps me 100% instead of studying journalism, which is what I would effectively be doing there.
I'm just giving you my fan opinion. And that's great. And I love having your fan opinion. And I love arguing with you about your opinion when it's different from mine and it's wrong. So instead of asking for questions, we now just ask, what do you reckon? What do you reckon about stuff in Formula One? And I can respond by going, oh, yeah, well, I think this. So let's see. First off, we had questions from Blue Sky, from Twitter and our patron group and from here on TikTok as well. So.
Lucas is up first in our Patreon Discord. He said, I reckon that Drive to Survive will be cancelled in two more seasons due to declining interest now that people are catching on to the contrived storyline. So... I don't know how contrived the storylines are. And by the way, hello to everyone in the TikTok live. I am monitoring the comments. I can see them at the bottom there. So feel free to agree or disagree or just say just say hi or comment on the bags under my eyes. The lighting.
is specifically designed for a very specific angle, of which the up-the-nose camera on the phone is not being very flattering to. Who cares? I'm a middle-aged man. So, contrived storylines. I have found it difficult. to tune into too much Drive to Survive, especially when the episodes are labelled like, here's the Christian Horner episode, or here is the Alonzo episode, and I kind of go, ah.
Do I want to tune in to watch the Horners go camping? Probably not. And so I have figured out that the drive to survive is not aimed at me. If there was a similar drive to survive type thing about another sport. which there are, and you tune into those and they are inventing, stop inventing, they're inventing a narrative out of the footage they got, then I would find that interesting and a way into the sport.
So I think Drive to Survive isn't really ever aimed at veteran fans of Formula One. It's aimed at people who are new to it and want to kind of know a story and a vibe. And I think, like a documentary...
you can have a bit of leeway with that. So if you've got David Attenborough and there's penguins and they're saying, this poor penguin, nobody can save it from going into the... the uh the whale infested water well you can you're right there you could you could save the penguin but they don't do that because that's not the narrative that they're trying to create so
I'm not against a documentary trying to create a narrative. And that's what Drive to Survive is. It's a documentary. So they're giving people a window into the sport. The problem they might have is, have they used up the reach? Have they picked the low-hanging fruit? So I couldn't believe it when Drive to Survive first came out. What we noticed was when Drive to Survive came out, our podcast figures spiked a couple of days after.
the Drive to Survive thing came out. But that effect has faded. But when I was talking to friends who I've never spoken to about Formula One, you know, they'd say to me, hey, this Formula One thing, have you checked out Drive to Survive? Formula One's well good.
I go, oh, I am kind of into it. Yeah, myself, actually. And if you're looking for a podcast, I can recommend one. But, you know, whole families were sitting down and discovering Formula One and then getting into it. So you can get into it.
like that i don't think there's an issue with that and then you go and watch the sport and you either like it or don't like it and we've seen interest really really change depending on what's going on in the season thank you harry make sure you get that reckoning a little bit later there's definitely a mclaren section coming up um we see a huge interest spike around what's happening in the season so
normally in a normal season two-thirds of the way through you sort of normally know who's going to be world champion and an interest and viewing figures and our podcast downloads will drop off so generally
Silverstone, Hungarian Grand Prix, the European season, that is the peak. Also, the timings get a little bit funky once you get over to the other side of the States, over the other side of the world for the end of the season. But in 2021... there was that tight championship battle and really the viewing figures and our podcast figures just kept going up and up and up um there was some enthusiasm at the start of 2022 but 2022 2023 everyone i spoke to in the f1 content space
felt that Verstappen effect. So they really felt the effect to the point that lots of content creators really just packed it in. There wasn't the low hanging fruit. There wasn't the new people arriving and we managed to stay still.
really on viewing figures between between mid 22 23 24 and that felt like an achievement when so many others had been sort of falling away and so there's there's two factors there is one if it's competitive there will be an appetite people will hear about formula one and then they'll go and join you know they'll go and watch drive to survive was it really good was it oh i'll catch up drive to survive i think it's a great starting point for people going in
The fear is that spike I mentioned at the beginning of the season has faded. So... I don't think we've done anything particularly different or wrong. I think we've got broadly a consistent place in the F1 podcast space. But just most of the people who were going to find Drive to Survive and get sucked into it. and then go and look for an F1 podcast, that number is dwindling. And I think as you become more and more of an F1 fan, yes, the more you realise it's a documentary style.
And it's not specifically for you and those numbers will dwindle. But no, I think it's got legs. I think it's probably got the legs to keep going. And plus, Netflix is quite good at evolving. They seem to be very... you know, a sensible company, they've evolved their own general strategy to survive when others haven't been able to do what they're doing. And I think maybe you'll get drive to survive, just start to adapt to, well, let's go for some retention with our...
people who've watched this before, instead of that out and out new person documentary style. So we're streaming live here on TikTok. I say we, it's just me. It's a lower footprint to me midweek just to hit record and answer some mailbag questions. I'm asking you what you reckon about F1. So that was Lucas there saying, I reckon Drive to Survive will be cancelled.
And there's no mute button, so you can just hear me sipping my coffee out of my Grogu mug. And I'm not going to sit and edit it out of the YouTube, so it's in the YouTube as well. Right then. Let's go to EJ. But the downside is, normally an American waffles on about tyres for a little while, while I take a breather and go, and get my breath back. That's alright. I used to get told off on radio for not playing enough songs.
We're just waffling on. So I don't have a major problem. Do you think Netflix will want to have their broadcasters if they get the broadcast rights in the US? That's from Court. in the live TikTok chat. Yeah, it's interesting. So I think Netflix have applied to actually have the broadcast rights. So I guess in the same way that Sky have it in the UK, I think Netflix want to do it. I think it's an interesting one. So Netflix...
To me, I still don't trust that over-the-top streaming thing. So you've got an app within your smart TV. Are they able to stream that as consistently as... just like a satellite signal or a cable signal. I just feel like the tech isn't quite there for most people, for the majority of people to be able to enjoy a seamless experience. Loads of people complained about the boxing.
There was the Tyson one. I think they tried to stream that live. It didn't go so well. So at the moment, I would worry if the primary way to watch Formula One was on Netflix. I'm not sure they're quite set up for that yet. So here we go. I was going to do EJ's question. This will be a quick one, I think. I reckon FOM, Liberty Media, will get their own candidate for FIA president and then take control of both the rights and the sporting side, including all the lower classes.
So you'd have to get into FOM Liberty Media's mind here to try and say, well, how much of a problem is the FIA president at the moment? And I think it's borderline. He's saying a lot of things. He's getting a lot of negative press and attention. He's upsetting the drivers. But is it existential? I think he's probably a smart enough guy to know where the line is. He needs to show strength.
Because he's basically got, I think how it works is all the FIA, like local countries, they each have a person. So there'll be a Swedish FIA person.
And they all get a vote. So all those motorsport associations, those local ones, will get a vote for president. And I guess their funding and their futures are in the hands of the main body of... so if he's looking after this is not an allegation or anything this is just me reckoning stuff if he's looking after those various associations or they are benefiting
From the way he does things and they're happy and they keep voting for him. I don't think there's anything Liberty Media or FOM can do about it. Unless it gets to the ultimate point where they say, right, he's causing us too much problems. He's actually costing us money. That would be the thing if he's somehow costing them their money. Then they would have to go down that route of, well, we'll just be Formula Race cars for a bit until we can wrestle or buy the rights.
from from the fia and and i think they would be able to the fia would fail crumble and then and then it would just be down to money here's a check can we please have the rights back to call it formula one that would be possible I really think it would be possible, but it would be a hassle. It would definitely be a hassle, right? And people don't like a hassle. So at the moment, I think Mohammed bin Salim is going to have to do a lot more.
to motivate Liberty Media into action. Nicky says, I reckon the rookies will cause carnage in the sprint races this year and some cars won't make it to the start line of the Grand Prix. Okay, that's interesting.
I'm going to say no to you, Nicky, about the specific point that I think you're making about the sprint races, which is that some cars won't make it to the start line, and then immediately actually realise that you're correct. So if you look at Williams in the... a brazilian grand prix did albon's car smash up one of one of the cars didn't make it to the grid for the main grand prix right come on help me out live chat show me that you're better than youtube chat
By telling me which Williams, I think only one Williams started the Brazilian Grand Prix because they both had incidents. Albon, was it Albon, right? They both had incidents in the sprint race or in the practice races. So, yeah, so actually you're right. That could be a possibility. And that is Colopinto in rookie mode. So we know, we know that we like Colopinto. We know that he's fast. We can see he's fast.
And poor Jack doing. Did you see the press conference today? Just being asked, do you think there's an issue with an Argentinian sponsor paying, coming over and sponsoring Alpine? who is a known backer of the reserve driver who signed a multi-year deal. Do you think there's any kind of problem with that? And they're like, hmm. And poor Dewan had to sit there and go, no, no, no, of course not. I'm completely secure.
I think the writing's on the wall. The giveaway is when they announced the Alpine race suits and the name tags were actually in Velcro so they can just rip doing right off there. So I think, yeah, he's doomed there.
But yeah, so the rookies that you're going to have on the grid, and I count rookie as someone who hasn't done a full season. You're going to have Bortoleto, Hadja, Colapinto. I think these guys, they're obviously very talented. They're obviously very fast. But have you got young people? Have you got any young people in your life? I've got a 14-year-old, nearly 15, really great lad, really sensible, really nice lad. He came and did the Mist Apex karting with us, and I was worried about him.
And I was saying to the other drivers who were in his little practice session, right, there's a 14 year old. My son's there. He's 14. Just give him a bit of space. I've told he's going to be very sensible. I've had a big, long chat with him. Just keep just a heads up, you know, don't.
go firing him off into the wall or anything and he may he may behave a little bit differently and so you know come on you are going to be sensible yeah yeah definitely dad i'm definitely going to be sensible first lap Yeah, ahead of him is Brad Philpott, about four cart lengths in front. Yeah, Brad Philpott, quite good at driving, you know, class champion at the Nordschleife, sends it from four cart lengths back. Hits Brad, Brad's fine, Brad's able to handle it.
Spins off into the barrier right underneath the balcony that I'm stood on and looks up at me. I'm like, what did I just say? But it's young people. The younger you are, I think you can't. You can't moderate that rush of blood that you get, that sporting rush of blood. If you're a cricketer or a baseballer, you go, that's the one, that's the one, I'm going to knock this out of the park.
And then you get caught out or it goes and scuttles your wickets. I think, yeah, the chances of that thing happening to youth is much higher. So with the amount of rookies and young drivers we've got on the grid... Actually, Nicky, I reckon that you're right, that that will mean that we'll have some races where they won't make the start of the Grand Prix, but the carnage level in general will be higher.
Courts disagreeing. I don't see the rookies having any issues with the pointy end of the grid, but can cause chaos. I think it's going to be a lot of issues, especially if there's rain. If there's rain anywhere. I think more rookies on the grid is going to be much more problems as well. And also, we've had quite a mature grid for quite a long time. And it's actually been a relatively sensible grid. If you think about how much negative attention...
Magnussen was attracting he wasn't really that he wasn't being that wild compared to what we've seen from from from drivers in the past so I think we've been used to a sensible grid I think we're going to be quite surprised actually by by how correct nicky is all right let's go down the line we answered this last week a little bit stephen taylor i reckon liberty will make the last few rounds into championship playoffs to guarantee the title isn't
decided until the final round, especially if one team romps away under the new regs. So yeah, I'm only reading this again because it links into the point I was making earlier. We see with our viewing figures, with our download figures, if the championship fight is still on, more people tune in.
And I'm guessing the Liberty Media see that with their viewing figures as well. And so I think that's going to be incredibly hard for them to resist. And they will at least try to move more sprint races to the back end. Maybe weight the points to the back end as well. Anything to just slightly extend the competition because you only have to keep the championship open.
five or six more races, and that's going to be a significant monetary payoff with those figures. You could even do a technical regulation in the middle of the season, couldn't you? What effect would that have? A little non-championship affecting, but big policing of a certain braking system. And you go, oh.
turns out we found something we've dug around and we have found something or you go oh actually we need to clarify no hey hey no one's accusing anyone of uh cheating we know that you've done what you can around the regulations but let's just
Should we just have a little clarification? Let's just have a little clarification to make sure that we're all extending the championship. I mean, staying within the technical regulations. Our viewing figures, our download figures did a lot better for a lot longer. Because I believe that Red Bull were nerfed mid-season. I know some of you cheekily disagree with me. I've got yelled at a lot. Of all the things I've got yelled at for this season, my reckon, I reckon that...
Red Bull had asymmetric breaking taken away from them in the middle of the season. That's got me yelled at, like in person as well, by most sport professionals. But I'm sticking to my guns. I think something definitely happened to Red Bull. Everyone will have made more money out of that. And then, now this bit is just tinfoil hat. Then you realise that your decision might actually cost Red Bull the championship because...
McLaren are really getting strong as the season goes on but then what do we find out found out they've got flexible wings haven't we and then they get their wings clipped almost literally which redresses the balance and uh and Verstappen and Red Bull state champions. OK, that fine. That last bit's conspiratorial. However, there's business involved. And I think if you think that the business in a sport isn't looking at the competition to say, how can we make more money?
How can we extend eyeballs? And you think that they wouldn't manipulate the championship or you could do it in much more good faith ways. You could just have a regulation set that takes away one team's advantage, couldn't you? Yeah, 2020. If 2021 had been another 2019, 2020, that would have been really boring. But the regulation set specifically took away the toys from Mercedes and closed the gap.
Harry said, I think Red Bull fell off because of many big people quitting and lost motivation for the rest of the season. Yeah, that's possible as well. And you can reckon, you guys, you can reckon what you want to reckon. But I reckon that. I reckon because I saw that thing where they they I think it was Australia where he seized the one side rear or in exactly the way you would expect if that asymmetric device had basically been.
Too heavy for the spring to put it back into the middle and just stayed on one side. And then look, you've got an asymmetric brake problem. And then you've got all this suspicion of asymmetric divide. Coincidences happen, I guess. But that's what I reckon. Justin, I reckon that by next season we'll get more points playing positions, ideally for all classified finishes. I agree, Justin. I think this continues Liberty's trend of needing to make everything action-packed.
Now the battle for P16 will mean something. The battle for P16 should mean something. Now, if you're following my TikToks, I just did one on South Coast karting. Thank you, South Coast Karting, for hosting Brad. and his viewers and some influencers. I've got some content around that coming out, as will Callum McIntyre, Alex Vangina and Brad Philpott. And, you know, I made a TikTok saying, go, go karting, go racing.
And if I was to go racing and there was never any kind of, you know, heat system or weight classes or ideally now some age classes, if there was nothing for me to fight for, it's fun. But once your position is settled or your points are settled or there's nothing more to gain, it really, really does make a difference. It makes a huge difference. And so in those kind of karting events, because there's going to be a C final.
a b final and an a final there's always something to shoot for i was never ever going to win that that tournament there's absolutely no chance that i was going to beat the likes of brad in fact here's the gap to me and brad philpot in the qualifying round We looked at the times and on a 30, on a 40 second lap, I was half a second up on Brad, down on Brad. So I looked at it and went, Brad, I'm half a second behind you. He's like, that's really good. And I went, nah, it can't be. It can't be.
I must have a good cart. And yes, and it turned out that the cart I had in the qualifying was like one of the best carts on the grid. Then when it went to subsequent heats and the final, I really noticed the difference. But when you've got someone like Brad there, he's a clear second.
ahead of me on a 42nd i'm never going to win just like a has is never going to win the race and alpine is never going to win the race so yeah there should be motivation all the way down my motivation was can i sneak into the a final can i sneak into the back of the a final
And I did. And actually, I outperformed myself and I got to the A final and everyone was too good and they all disappeared. If I'd have been in the B final, I'd have been competing tooth and nail for a race win with people around. my level and that's what I love about iRacing as well it puts you into it puts you into the the categories and into the races with people you can fight for so we've got a championship where what Williams just shouldn't fight
They should just go home. It makes no difference whether they get that overtake, whether that brilliant strategy comes off or not. Like, none of that should matter. And there's still this residual feeling from people who were watching F1 from the olden, olden days. Well, like me.
who remember it being six points only the top six scoring points and it's not enough you know it wasn't enough and it did make from p7 to p8 it did make it meaningless from the viewer's point of view and and you get this very rare occasion where someone would score a point and it was magic it's this magical achievement to score this one point that's not outweighed
by the achievement and the excitement that there would be for regularly finishing 15th ahead of someone 17th and that being the difference in a championship position that would be a lot fairer as well you know Jules Bianchi Getting 10th place, or 9th place, I think it was, in the end, in Monaco, in the Caterham? No. Marussia? Oh, someone correct me. With that brilliant overtake on the inside of Kobayashi, bashing wheels, going into Rascas.
And you go, yes, that moment was special. I get it. Because we've elevated points to this special place. That was great. But he also could have been having a meaningful battle throughout the season. And you kind of go, well... I would rather those places and those battles actually mattered rather than just, wow, every now and then we get this celebration of a magic point. I think you can still go a top 10 is special.
Because we still say a top three is special, don't we? We have the podium. The podium hasn't lost its specialness because fourth, fifth and sixth scored a point. And so I don't think a top ten will lose its specialness. And in fact, even to me... I still think of a top six as a thing. And at the bookies, you can bet on top six. So these things, they're all arbitrary. There is nothing fundamentally special.
about a point and i think every position should count every battle should count i think part of the joy of motorsport and any sport is that you find your level so if you're a local sports club and you're the best player on the team or you're in a local tennis league and you're just beating everyone, you're just in the wrong league. You just need to go up to the next league. You need to find the level where you can compete. And there's a joy in sport for that.
Like, I support Colchester United, whether they're bad or really bad. And, yeah, I don't only support them if they're on a great cup run. You know, you watch the games where, you know, Division 4. and this idea that f1 or motorsport is somehow different to other sports other sports compete for points all the way up and down the tier this episode is brought to you by thriver the personalized blood testing service that helps you feel your best today
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And I think this one was off of, off of, I think this one was from Twitter. I reckon Kimi Antonelli will start beating Boy George regularly starting in Australia, in Austria. No, that was in our Discord. So when's the Austrian Grand Prix? It's like race six or seven, something like that. I wonder if rookies will take a little bit of time. I think me and Matt always tend to say six months.
for someone even changing teams to get up to speed for a rookie i think you want to give them a little bit of time to get to the top level so now it's saying right is is george russell at the top top level So my personal thinking is, over a lap, he's possibly as fast as anyone. The big caveat is what was going on with Lewis Hamilton last season.
Whether he has just aged out and isn't very good anymore or he was having some specific issue with the car, that doesn't matter. The point is that he was off qualifying pace. probably exacerbated by the fact that Russell was regularly on qualifying pace and doing really well in qualifying. So I think George Russell is probably there or thereabouts in qualifying. And it's probably an easier skill for the rookies to do that one lap and to qualify.
uh well it i think it would be really rare and strange now to see a rookie come in and say be a second off of of george russell so he's going to be there or thereabouts i'd reckon in in qualifying but race pace is the big skill and that's that's the one that drivers have have struggled with that we saw piastri come in and struggle with um that that we actually see russell struggling with to a maybe a lessening degree but you certainly saw that when you first started with
with Mercedes as well. So it is an unknown as to whether he'll hold up on race pace and be able to start regularly beating George Russell if there's a weakness with Russell. It is going to be that tyre preservation and race pace. We don't know quite how conservative have Pirelli been on the tyres, how much is this regulation set. I know there's going to be the odd little tweaks. Is it going to be...
a season where the race pace is determined by tire life. If so, I would say then that makes George Russell beatable. But whether Kimi Antonelli will start doing it that quickly, I don't know. I think what we know about George Russell is he can deliver a result. He can win a race. And so Kimi Antonelli will have to be at a very, very high level to start regularly beating George Russell. I think...
That is a tough ask. I think Russell is going to be on top of him for a while. It feels like a big... I'm almost second-guessing myself because Antonelli is being billed by Wolfe as like, no, he must be this amazing star. Yeah, I don't know. I still, when a young driver comes in, I want them to be a superstar like we saw Lewis Hamilton coming in and straight away taking it to Fernando Alonso. I want to see...
Like Colopinto coming in and instantly kind of going, yep, I'm there or thereabouts on the pace of Albon. And we'll get more of a hint on how accurate that Colopinto-Albon thing was. I love watching these things evolve in F1. with Carlos Sainz going to Williams, if Carlos Sainz goes to Williams and instantly is just showing a much bigger pace than Albon, does that take the shine off the Colopinto miracle appearance?
in formula one i think i think like maybe it does because colopinto wasn't just like dunking over albon's head colopinto just looked really good against albon if carlos signs goes in there and shows that albon's maybe not getting everything out that williams i mean that's maybe a an argentinian sponsor that's going to start wondering whether they signed the right check all right let's see i reckon says toby
Or rather, should I say that I hope that we'll see fireworks between George and Max this year? OK, I am slightly ashamed of my personal spanners, my personal approach to this, because...
It is such schoolyard drama and handbags. And the journalists were giddy about it. And Max, you won't believe what George says. And I was that as well. I was totally... uh down that path as well where i i was just i was desperate for more i wanted to i wanted to hear you know i wanted more incidents i want i wanted some kind of follow-up to that i'm going to put you up in the wall and russell i have to say russell looked
genuinely rattled by the I'm going to put you in the wall. And then him and Toto Wolff came out really, really strong in the press. But for me, I think Max, that doesn't bother Max at all. That's completely... He's M.O. He's very aggressive. He's very forthright. He's incredibly entitled. And I mean that in a descriptive way rather than, you know, he's a brat and he's entitled. He he's very there's no imposter syndrome.
He knows exactly who he is. He's Max Blumen Verstappen. You cross me at your peril. And so that's very much a thing he does week in, week out. With Russell, I don't... And quite get that same vibe that he's got that same ruthlessness. And so when the time was required, he stood up for himself. But it wasn't a...
an everyday thing for him. It wasn't like breathing in and out. And I think him and Total Wolf struggled out of that and probably were affected much more from that conflict. But yeah, I do want to see more because I think... Russell, although I'm saying that he was rattled, I think Russell will stand up for himself and will fight. And then you look at, was it Piastri just not jumping out of Max's way? There is, it was in the last race, wasn't it? In the second to last race. So...
I think there is potential now for the drivers to be standing up to say Verstappen's driving style more, but I don't think that will change what Verstappen does. So I also, as much as I'm ashamed to say it... I want to see those kind of personal fireworks and rivalries because it is better than what we've been seeing the previous years, which is just a really an over friendliness between the drivers, almost as if we're watching kids at a boarding school.
Just like we're watching. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. They're just kayaking at boarding school and we get to sit in it on air. And I don't know. I like a sporting rivalry. You can be friends afterwards. Be friends in a documentary. like years later be agassi and becca but don't be you know boring and and mates in it and it doesn't matter and we're all going to go and have a bath together at the end no
I do like those sporting rivalries. Hello to everybody in the TikTok channel. I'm streaming this live on TikTok. It's actually got more of a radio feel. So obviously this is going on YouTube and it's going to go out on the normal podcast app. But I wouldn't normally do radio-style reminders of what we're doing. But I guess I have to do that because people are joining this live, much as they would on FM radio. But we are getting opinions from people about what they reckon.
Because I don't take mailbag questions. I don't ask people to give me questions because I don't really feel like I'm, you know, I'm not particularly qualified to be, oh, let me be the oracle of F1 information. I can tell you things I can remember. But my memory's not reliable. So just tell me what you reckon and I'll tell you what I reckon back. And I'll tell you what, I'll make you a promise as a listener, as a viewer. I never do rage bait.
I've been accused so many times of doing rage bait. OK, it's I promise you, if my opinion is mostly genuine. There's some exceptions and I'll give you the exceptions. Obviously, as a host, sometimes. You set yourself up as devil's advocate or you give yourself the springboard for an opposing debate if the whole panel agrees on something. You at least want to challenge them enough. You want to challenge them enough to get good opinions out of them.
And not just everyone go, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. No, you're right. No, you're even more right. You should be able to tell the difference between when I'm doing that in presenter mode and because I'm serving up. you know, the opportunity for people to give their opinions rather than fighting tooth and nail. When I have a genuine, passionate opinion, like, for example, the asymmetric breaking, I buy into that, that asymmetric breaking theory, that Red Bull thing.
I'm not doing it to get people going, oh, yeah, I don't like Red Bulls, so I agree with your opinion because it suits my narrative. If that accidentally happens, then that can't be helped. But I promise you... The opinions I'm giving you, it's just my genuine take. And then the other part where it might deviate from that is if it upsets Matt and he's getting mad at me, then I'll double down. Like if I slightly thought of it.
then maybe for the debate, then it will become a fact and an exaggerated fact at that. So that's the only difference. But I never go out of my way to go, what will be controversial here? What will drive clicks or views? We really don't go down that path. It's a short-term approach and we don't take it. Ah, yes, thank you, Nigel. Nigel says, I agree. Suddenly it was banned and Max couldn't turn. There were so many circumstances piling up that to me...
It felt reasonably obvious. Okay, I'm 4% battery on the TikTok live phone thing. How long have I been going for? 40 minutes. Well, I wasn't planning to go that long anyway. Well, we'll see. I've got it plugged in. That's why it's precariously balanced.
Some Red Bull ones then. This is from TikTok. N, he said, what are the chances? What do you reckon the chances are that we get confirmation of Max leaving Red Bull by the end of the season? No, you're meant to say, I'm going to change it for you. N says, I reckon that we're going to get confirmation of Max leaving Red Bull by the end of the season. No, my personal opinion is that he wants to see what 2026 looks like and then hope.
that the weight of his reputation opens doors for whatever car is dominant. So I think his hope is stay with Red Bull. 2026, Red Bull have come out. They nail that regulation set. He stays there till 2028. leaves as what is he now four-time world champion so five this year six 2026 seven 2027 and 2028 gets his eighth beats schumacher leaves
That's the plan. And then what's he one in a row then? Would that be nine in a row? No, that'll be seven in a row. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 96, 27, 28. Yeah, retires. at the age of whatever he is now, 14, 15, still not very old, is he? Retire before he's 30, and then that's it, he's off, and he can go and do what he wants. I don't think he wants to be here when he's 40 years old, right? Here's the risk.
is I think if Mercedes are the best car in 2026 and they're running away with it and it is basically Antonelli versus Russell, why would you then, there's no incentive. to go and get Verstappen at that point. I think at that point you go, you had your chance. We came knocking in 2024. You could have committed to us. 2025 would have been a good year as well. You could have worked with us. You could have developed with us. No, we're sticking with our champion.
Kimi Antonelli, we don't need Max Verstappen. So I think it's high risk. You're not going to get Ferrari if they get the 2026 regulation set right. They're not going to swap Verstappen for Hamilton or Leclerc, I don't think. So it's obviously a gamble either way, but I think in his head he said, well, I think I've heard him say he's committed until the end of 2026 at least, or that's what they've been told. But yeah, I think it'll be too little.
too too late you've got to make your decision in 2025 now which team for the regulation set so i think everyone's with the teams now that they're gambling on for 2026 Greg, Snowman, I reckon Lawson doesn't hold up at Red Bull and is replaced mid-season. Statistically, that is a fairly good call because there's been loads and loads of incidences of...
Red Bull drivers going to the main team and not doing well. So, yeah, it's very, very possible that Lawson goes there and fails. I don't think it's a talent hire. I'm not saying... that Lawson isn't talented. I just think that second seat, you have to bring funds. And I think Lawson brought a better overall package than Sonoda. That's what I reckon. That's what I think.
And so, yeah, he's going in there that he somehow funded his shot at Red Bull. I don't personally reckon, I don't personally believe the second Red Bull seat gets the same shot at doing well as the... as the as Verstappen's seat whether that be because the cars are different or because whether it's so set up towards max that the second driver doesn't doesn't get a look in so I genuinely think that that's an issue
for the second driver going in all right well i think look i think this has been a decent experiment and i'm gonna warn you now that i'm down to two percent battery on the streaming cam i wasn't planning to do it on the mobile phone that's why i've been caught short there I've actually been planning to do it on my desktop app, but I couldn't get it to connect. So I'll do one more and apologies to the TikTok stream if it dies and I'll just carry on and I'll upload it to YouTube.
Let's see. So Adam says, I reckon Lawson will get the boot by May because he'll cause too much friction with Max. I think that is possible. He does seem like a very fiery character as well. I don't think he's going to be a wilting wallflower. I think Yuki. in his so that was adam s so amber says i reckon yuki in his alpha cash app visa regularly beats liam in the big boy ball so i actually the the thing that makes that possible
is that the collaboration between Visa Cash App and Red Bull has got stronger. So I think they've got some more parts from Red Bull this season. That should lift them, I think, towards the top of the bottom half. And I don't know. So if Lawson... struggles like Perez does and as a Perez fan I'm hoping I'm hoping a little bit for that because I think it's it would be vindication for Perez I think if Lawson who people think is quite good
comes in and is doing very Perez type things. I think that will take the heat off of Perez. And you will apologise to me personally. High Pass says, I don't think the second Red Bull gets the break tricks. It's at 1%. So actually, what I'm going to do is I'm going to end that here. I've got more questions and, sorry, reckons in the bag. So I think this was a good, fun experiment. I'd love to build the community on TikTok.
for these individual ones where i i don't have any friends to come and play with me i think i can even make these and set them up to have call-ins as well over tick tock live So I'm going to leave this here. We'll have a news show on Sunday that will be streamed live on YouTube. And until we see you next, work hard, be kind, and have fun. This was Missed Apex Podcast.
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