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Hey guys, Spanners here. Welcome to our Barcelona Grand Prix race review. We've got We'll be right back. big upgrades and if someone comes in with a stonking upgrade then the points right now as they stand become irrelevant now even if you look back to where Leclerc is sitting you think oh well He's 82 points back, but if this regulation suits him and the upgrades work.
then if they have a dominant car, the cars behind are all scrapping. So you've got Piastri, Verstappen and Norris. There's not going to be a clear number two, number three every race. That 82 points... isn't the historically massive gap. It looks like I think you could chew up 80 points in that scenario. Mercedes are hinting that they might abandon 2025 for 2026. But again, if they nail this upgrade, then that's 60 points.
that Russell has behind Verstappen, that looks very gettable as well. So this is the leg two of a season where we were always predicting a massive change. when it came to Barcelona. So we'll ask which teams will benefit from Flexigate. We'll review the potential tyre strategies on what is a bit more of a high-wearing track. We'll take a little bit of a look back at the fallout of Hamilton's radio stuff and Monaco as a whole, but we won't dwell on it because
To be honest, I've been totally vindicated for years of correct opinions about Monaco. My initially niche views have now become mainstream. So to a certain extent I think My watch has ended and we've got two Aussie panelists. So we're going to do a mini season review so far for Oscar Piastri. We've got a bunch of things, you guys stuff. We've got a bunch of stuff. you guys reckon plus also Barcelona is just a track that I love
And I get it. It's fighting a losing battle from an entertainment point of view. I think it's in a similar place to Hungara Ring, but Hungara Ring has that fantastic turn one, turn two complex. probably saving it from aging out in the same way that Barcelona is. However, it is still a circuit that I have a lot of fondness for.
I'm your host, Richard Reddy. We are an independent podcast produced in the podcasting shed with the kind support of our patrons and partners. We aim to bring you a race review before your Monday morning commute. We might be wrong, but we're first. I'm joined by someone who lends us credibility because they're on telly and everything. I mean, in Australia, but it still counts. It's Jonathan Simone. Hello, Jonathan.
Hey Spanners, good to be on as always, good to be on early hours of the morning because you said there was a Piastri debate. and that Steve would be on, and you needed two Aussies on different spectrums, I would say, on the Piastri supporter base. Steve loves him. I'm not saying I don't like him. I do love Oscar. I think he's a good driver, but I'm on the unbiased.
and of Aussie land, I would say. You were poorly worded, but there you go. No, I prefer a bit of bias, so looking forward to getting Steve on. I will just say it is 10.30 where I am, and I'm probably stretching the patience of my family. So if I get quieter and quieter, don't worry, there's literally two Australians on. They will make up the amplitude for me. So we are, of course, joined by our video producer here, Uncle Steve, Steve Amy. How's it going, Steve?
It's good, Spanners, and I'd like to apologize in advance to our listeners and viewers for the preponderance of flattened vowel sounds. and rising inflections that everyone's going to have to put up with. And for any occurrence of the word data slash data that might happen during this program. You guys definitely say stuff wrong. And everything sounds like a question.
In fact, why don't we kick off with that then? Let's start with Piastri. So, Jono boringly doesn't have any national bias towards Oscar Piastri. I get the feeling, Steve, you do gun for Piastri just as a default in the same way I might for Hamilton. Absolutely, I don't follow teams per se, but I follow drivers, and particularly if they're Australian drivers, we haven't had many of them.
So whenever we get one that's half decent and is up there at the pointy end, then you can bet I'm going to follow them. And I think he's a good driver anyway, so that makes it easy. Yeah, there was an initial flurry and excitement with Oscar Piastri because we had that whole thing with Alpine of Alpine announcing him as the driver and then you get this really assured statement.
which I'm sure came with the confidence of Mark Webber as well and his team, which is, without my permission, Alpine have announced me, I will not be driving for Alpine, and you go, whoa!
Who is this kid? You know? And he came in with like a wave of optimism, Steve. And I think that the early... qualifying performances he put in and i think he won a sprint race early on like you can back me up because everyone thinks i'm anti-piastri steve i was on that piastri hype train at the beginning yeah i think you were i mean you've got to remember that he came in as being one of only three drivers in the history of f1 to have won
F3, F2, and at their first attempt before they got into F1. And I think Le Quirk and Hamilton were the only other two, if I remember rightly. So, you know, he had a lot of expectation on his back when he started in F1. And I've got to say that I think that he's lived up to it pretty well. He's a fast learner. He's not perfect yet, but gee, he's getting good.
Although I'd hate it if I ever came across as saying he's not good, but I'm more interested in the kind of bog-eyed nationalistic fan base sort of side of things. So how much is Australia behind? Oscar Piastri would you say, Jono? Your boots on the ground in the Jono world. Is Australia fully backing Piastri? Big time. And as big as I've seen since.
Well, I was going to say since Daniel Ricciardo, but the last Aussie driver was Daniel Ricciardo. I think any Australian driver that gets into the sport, the Aussies really back them. Jack Doohan was a struggle and I do feel bad for Jack because it's not often two Aussies get into the sport at the same time.
and then you're having to support them. So that's the struggle I felt for Jack, unfortunately. Jack doing, we knew, well, we think we knew at the beginning of the season that it was a doomed adventure. Also, F1 does have a history of kind of going, yes, Australia, but one at a time, please. Well, that's true. And it is a small country, like our population less than 30 million. You know, that's like, what, three times less than the UK, four times less. That's like 11, 12 times less than the US.
So, but Australians love their sport. And that's why when it comes to the Olympics, whether it comes to, you know, basketball is a big one that Aussies are good at, you know, the cricket, the footy might, all that kind of stuff. The Aussies are all into it. So it's a country that loves sport, the culture here. We back our talent.
most of them. There are some people who fly the Aussie flag that I can tell you people don't support. And Oscar Piastri, thankfully, is not in that category. He's a good lad, and I think the Aussies back him. And the best part is, is he's good. Could you imagine if you were Canadian Spanners and you had to support Lance Stroll? Could you imagine that? What kind of life is that? Generally, I just find that they don't...
The Canadians don't just have this rule support any Canadian driver. As a Brit, I think that default is there way more than, say, Canada. I don't hate it. Nobody hates the Dutch. Piling in, all in for Verstappen, everyone thinks that's perfectly acceptable. The Spanish go absolutely nuts for Sainz and Alonso. So I'm not putting that down at all.
I think that's fine. In fact, I think that's a colourful thing. If it was soccer, no one would care that you were supporting your home team or anything like that. But Steve, I think last season, I think it's fair to say... Piastri, you know, he's down 20-4 or whatever it was in qualifying. Did seem to go missing a lot of weekends, but a lot of weekends he was good enough to.
seemingly get in the way of his teammate who was fighting for championships, but you've got to be good to be an annoyance. You've got to be good to be a pain in the arse to someone who's fighting for the championship. How different does it feel this season now is leading the title? Well, I think he actually
I think he actually began to improve after the summer break last year. If you look at the points distribution at the end of last year, he earned more points than Lando did in the second half of the season. And you could see that he was beginning to get on top of it this year. It's obvious that he has At his understanding and application of racecraft across the board.
And it's obvious that he has begun to get on top of the tyre degradation, the tyre handling thing that I'll admit he was weak with last year. That's kind of understandable. You know, you get in here the first year, the first couple of years in... Formula One, you've got to get used to the Pirelli tyres and they're not the easiest tyres to get used to. I think he's got a fairly good handle on it this year. So, there's a lot more hope this year, I think. I mean...
I can see him being champion this year. He may not be, that's fine, but if he's not champion this year, I reckon he'll be champion next year. I was a lot of people, Steve, saying it's his to lose. I think that's a little bit premature to lose. So I'll adjust the tyre wear thing. So look, I thought I pointed out the tyre wear stuff that was happening last season.
and his first season, and I think that I was just pointing out things that happened. I don't think I was doing much in the way of predicting. I was just looking at the things that happened. If he has got that sorted, then that's fine. I just won't say that anymore. However... However, I do think we've seen a couple of hints
this year of struggles with tyre wear in a season so far that has featured very low wear tracks. So that would be my only remaining question on that. There's been a lot of street circuits, and I think the thing to look at... is you go look at Pirelli's tyre choice. If they're going for C3, C4, C5, That will generally mean, oh, there's nowhere here. Let's give it the softest possible we can. And they've even introduced the C6 that they used at Imola and Monaco. When we go to Barcelona...
This is going to be a track where Pirelli have gone uh-oh and they're using their hardest three. So they're using C1, C2, C3. Yes, I mean, they are the hardest ones they've got, but you've got to remember that Compared to last year, they're a stage softer. All of the tyres are a stage softer this year than they were last year. Oh, okay. Well, that's interesting then. So that means that the C1 is equivalent to the...
C2? Yeah, C0. No, I think so. Yeah, so the C1 now you think would be softer than the C1 from last year. When we get into the tie strategy, that's going to be fascinating because last year we were looking at a two-stopper. I think only Perez did a three-stopper. I don't think there was any successful one.
stop strategies as well. But let's keep it on Piastri for now. Am I just a naysayer, Jono? Am I just a doom monger when I say that maybe the rest of the season won't be as kind for him on tyre press?
We'll have to wait and see because I think it's a small sample size. I think somebody doesn't just become... not good at tire saving to very good it's going to be a smooth transition so you're going to have a couple of bad eggs here and there for Oscar Piastri where he might not he might have a race where he's not taking care of the rubber as well but
The trajectory is tracking in the right direction for him. He's developing a lot quicker than I thought. You know, preseason, I kind of made this speculation that you don't really see many drivers make a massive leap going into their third or fourth years.
Had one of the best leaps, I think, for talent at this stage of his career. So he's done a really good job at that. Do you know the leap that I really love for Piastri is the gap in qualifying times? So, yeah, when they both set a qualifying time, it's very, very close. I feel like it's closer than last year. So yeah, as they're going through the sessions, through practice, they're like a nip and tuck.
That's true. But here's the other thing as well is I think Norris so far has been getting the little wins in the last couple of races because Oscar Piastri, and like we said a few episodes ago, Spanish.
He, I think at the moment, has been the better driver, but Norris has been the quicker driver. Some people argue otherwise, and they'll say that's not true. Anyway, it's a great debate because these two drivers are as even as possible. It's the first intra-team battle, if I'm not mistaken, since...
mercedes 2016 for a championship have we had an intra-team battle since then i don't think so so in nine years and that's why the debate is is really on here now piastri has to shut off these little wins from lando norris quickly Because since Miami, you know, Oscar Piazza was driving well, had an unlucky sprint. There was Norris' first little win to gain his confidence back.
Piastri won the Grand Prix. It was all good. Imola didn't fall his way with strategy. Norris ended up finishing ahead of him. And then we all saw what happened at Monaco. Norris is now slowly gaining confidence. It's like the person who... You know when you don't see someone for three months and then you're like, oh, look, you lost 20 kilos. You're with Norris every day. You don't realize that, you know.
He's been losing weight. The analogy is he's been gaining confidence slowly and slowly. And you're like, oh, Lando Norris is confident now. What happened? Because a month ago, he wasn't. Well, all of that kind of may be true, Jono, but I don't think that Lando is actually Oscar's biggest worry about the World Championship.
That's a big show. I think it's Max. You just cannot underrate him. And here's why I think it's Max. I think that Red Bull already know that their power unit for next year is a load of garbage.
And I think that they know that they'll be nowhere next year. So I predict that For the rest of the year, Christian Rohner is going to, in order to keep Max, because they've got to do something to keep him on board for next year, They're going to throw everything, and I mean everything, at making certain he wins his fifth world championship this year, because next year, forget it.
Steve, have you got any idea how much money Ford are throwing at content creators right now? It doesn't matter how much money they're throwing at it. Are they actually doing anything? No, no, no. Not at F1. At content creators. I've got no idea. Should I be worried about that? I was going to say Ford are brilliant and I'm super optimistic. I didn't understand that. That's fine. I think you're right. They probably see 2025 as their best.
for going forward. I think a lot of people are looking at 2026 and thinking that you need a Mercedes power unit. And so, yeah, and that's why Mercedes are the only top team that are even talking about throwing in the towel for 2025. I think Ferrari are still looking at this regulation change and going, yeah, we need to get, you know, we need to throw everything at this. And I think Red Bull are the same.
I am surprised though, Steve, because you seem to be writing Norris off. And so we've got a different camp here, right? We've got three different camps. I can be discounted because as a new Norris fan. I've thrown all in. I've declared. New Norris. Yeah, I've declared for Norris now. Oh, wow. That's a revelation. Miss Apex revelation here on the previous show. I did say it on the race review, but it is Piastri fans' fault. Steve, you and your crew have come at me so hard this year.
in a lovely way in a very kind of like ashes cricket way but I just I have gotten to the point where I've gone oh yeah okay then
bring it on Australia. And then I get accused of being a Norris fan so much that I'm just like, okay, fine. For this season, if I look at Piastri and their fans having a go at me, Verstappen, whose fans have been at me for like the last seven years, let's not i'm not a single norris fan have a go at me so uh so that's it i'm all in like come on come on number whatever number norris is
The one thing I think is, like, Steve, do you really think Red Bull's going to have the car for next year? No, for this year. No, for this year, excuse me, my bad. I gotta say, that's the... flip-up point of my whole argument. When I say that they'll throw everything, I think that they'll forget spending any money on next year. They will put every ounce of development they've got into getting this car better.
And they will spend a whole bunch of time complaining to the FAA about how everybody else is cheating. And they're good at that. So I think that they will just go for it if there's any chance of them... giving Max his fifth championship. This year, they will pursue it doggedly. Yeah, so I'm not dismissing Norris. In fact, I think I'm the opposite. I've still seen Norris as my championship favourite, and I've been looking at his performance and going, oh my God.
Like, why have you done that? Oh my God, you've thrown that away, Saudi. And then I really feel like he's just left Piastri up at the front and he's going to look back at this point in the season and go, God, I had a dominant car. I was better than my teammate. And I didn't even challenge him.
I just put myself at the back and just let him go unchallenged. Now, that's not to say Piastri wouldn't have beaten Norris anyway. He might have done, but Norris never even pushed that question because he made... so many errors on Saturdays and so if he's sorting that out if he starts sorting that out then I think we'll see a challenge going forward I definitely definitely would push back on Steve saying that Verstappen is the biggest contender for Piazza.
I think driver-wise, talent-wise, Max is, but I don't think the car's there because Red Bull seemed to have to get it perfect. I feel like to win with that car and with McLaren, they can have bad weekends and they somehow still win the race. Sometimes, you know, Max has managed to sneak up there to the top step of the podium.
That's where I feel Max will lack this year is the car just won't be up to his talent. The thing with McLaren now is we're one third of the way through the season and pre-Miami spanners I spoke to about, there's going to be a swing and Piastri needs to knock Norris' confidence.
Now Lando is slowly getting confident. He's slowly feeling better in the car. He's qualifying without crashing. I was really nervous at Monaco going, oh, this is going to be another Norris crashing Q3. Jono, I write him off. I write him off for a Monaco pole. And then he did it and he did what he needed to do. So Oscar's going to find some way to, whether it's through on track, through talent, whether it's on track through.
I'm going to take him out this corner and assert my dominance like we've seen many other teammates do. Norris doesn't have that in him. Norris doesn't have that in him. Piastri has that in him. Well, that's what I'm saying. The Astrid needs to do that to knock Norris' confidence, you know? And one more thing is the Imola, the breaking into turn one at Imola from Oscar for someone who's really good at racecraft, not good for his confidence either. Go on, Steve.
Talking quickly about what happened at Monaco, can anybody explain to me what was going on with the back end of Oscar's car? I mean, he's someone who normally, in the past, had a stable back end on his car. And at Monaco, it was... sliding all over the place was it is it possible that he was trying some different setup in the rear suspension of that car
It was out of character, and even in the green room, and he was doing the whole driver thing of going, oh, I was like, whoa, I was like, way, and like moving his hands, like getting oversteer. I honestly, I wonder whether it's just a very different prospect driving as
this up-and-comer with low expectations and then suddenly being the championship leader. I think in the clutch, little clutch moment of, okay, Imola, I'm defending against Russell, I break too early, I let Verstappen go around the outside. And then I don't quite nail it in qualifying. And because I think through Monaco qualifying,
They kept saying, you know, I don't think he had a super clean lap at any point. So to what you're saying, Steve, I think every lap he had some kind of moment because I kept feeling like he had a little bit more pace and didn't deliver. I didn't hear anything specific. about setup
I just wonder whether when you put that prize of the championship in front of you, things do change. Like sports psychology would say that mentally you will approach things differently dependent on what the score is. So did he suffer a bit of scoreboard-itis? Well, I'll agree with you. I think that that's what led to the mistake at Imola, was that instead of just racing for the race,
When he went into that first corner, he was racing for the championship and he let Max get the better of it and go around the outside. So I kind of agree with you that I think there is added pressure there for that very reason. So I'm getting a bit of pushback in our Patreon Discord. Hello, patrons, and hello, David. Hello, Stuart. Hello, Claire. Walt.
Stuart. Different Stuart. Hi guys. You can join the Patreon Discord. They can chat with us live and it's a great little community. But that is for our patrons who support us on Patreon. So patreon.com forward slash
missed Apex. The link will be in the show notes below. Thank you to all our existing patrons of course but we've had a lot of new patrons this season and i'm incredibly grateful for for this continuing and growing support i'm getting pushback and it is david that's saying it's not true
Norris has been messing up qualifying so whenever people direct something like that at me and challenge my claims I'm always happy to go and look at them but the perspective I'm looking at is I think Norris should be beating Piastri 20 qualifiers out of 24 based on last season. And I think if you look at his times in practice sessions and you go, oh, a lot of the practice sessions where he didn't get pole.
He was the faster car throughout that and then into Q1 and maybe Q2 and then didn't deliver in Q3. He obviously had that crash in Saudi Arabia, but generally I've gone, oh, this should be a Norris poll, and then he hasn't delivered in Q3. So when I say he's made a lot of mistakes in Q3, that's what I'm saying. So even if he's P2 behind Piastri...
That could still count as a mistake in my mind because I'm like, oh, I really thought he was going to get the pole there. Picture this. You're in the garage, hands covered in grease. Just finished tuning up your engine with a part you found on eBay. And you realise, you know what, I can also use new bricks. So where do you go next? Back to eBay. You can find anything there. It's unreal. Wipers, headlights, even cold air intakes. It's all there. And you've got eBay guaranteed fit.
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Is that an enterprise sales solution? Great sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Get started today at linkedin.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. BetterHelp Online Therapy bought this 30-second ad to remind you right now, wherever you are, to unclench your jaw. Relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath in. And out. Feels better, right?
That's 15 seconds of self-care. Imagine what you could do with more. Visit betterhelp.com for 10% off your first month of therapy. No pressure. Just help, but for now, just relax. And maybe mistakes, not the best word, but just underperforming, you know, whether it's a crash, whether it's a bad lap. Exactly. Like it's, it's, it's going to be. For his expectations, he needs to be qualifying.
over oscar and i don't think the q3's helped he admitted that lot norris came into press conferences saying my qualifying like my saturdays weren't good and so now he's stringing him together at least at monaco he did because at emola the race before he didn't So let's take this with a grain of salt because things could easily switch. That's a one. That's a one race. Yeah, it's one day to be out of spring. It's hard to look at that. 100%.
and say that's what's going to happen. Okay, I liked it. I liked that little Piastri mini review as well, which then pivoted to my, I guess, my new favourite driver, number four, number four, Lando Norris. Let's look at the Spanish Grand Prix though. So this is very different. to, I think, a bunch of the races we've had at the beginning of the season. So traditionally now, and I say traditionally, like the last several years,
They seem to have more and more street circuits. There was one year where there was like seven temporary circuits out of the first nine races. And I kept just going. Well, this isn't representative. Well, that's not representative. Well, that doesn't mean anything. That track's not representative. There's no running away from the fact that I've always claimed that Spain is representative. I think the F1 community thinks that the Barcelona Grand Prix is representative and the reason we say that
is because it has a mix of corners. So, for example, if you have a street circuit, it doesn't necessarily have the long, lingering corners that a lot of bespoke circuits have. Here at Spain, you have... Turn 3. So turn one is the right-hander into the chicane, then you go turn two, left, up the hill, and you've got a really long right-hander that puts a lot of strain on the left tyres.
So, you know, this is why this is generally a highway track. This is why Pirelli have come with their highest C1, C2 and C3 of tyres. But the reason people say it's representative is then you've also got a lot of big stops at the end of the straights as well. So, yeah, turn one, you've got a big stop down into turn 10. You've got a lot of very sharp, high-speed corners. Turn 9, I think, over the crest of the hill before you get into the big stop in Turn 10.
And you've got a lot of corners that flow into each other, slow technical corners. When you used to have Barcelona before Monaco and it had the chicane section at the end, that was always being seen as representative of Monaco. So when people talk about Barcelona being representative... It's more saying you have to have quite a complete race car to do well at the different aspects of Barcelona.
I'd like to just put this up, that these days, given the propensity of street circuits we have, actually the most representative circuits are both Albert Park and Gilles Villeneuve. They are halfway between street circuits and full-time race circuits. Particularly Albert Park has some very fast sweeping corners and some very hard on the brakes. sections at the end of strike.
And Canada has some of those too. So everyone's saying that Barcelona is representative. It may have been representative 10 years ago, but I don't think it is anymore. I'd say it's going to give you a good indication of how they might do art. Silverstone. Spa, Angara Ring. Obviously, yeah, it's not going to... But Silverstone's not... It's not represented itself of the rest of the circuits. Do you...
Yeah, exactly. I guess you're getting more of an idea of how does your package deal with high-speed switching through maggots and beckets? How's it going to deal with a lingering, kinky left-hander like turn two? But not many circuits have those things anymore. I agree with Steve on this. That's a theme for a whole other show. So let's do a what is a representative track show. I'm up for that.
I was going to say, I completely agree with Steve on that now that the times have changed because there's so many street circuits and different tracks, but podcasts for another day, you know, you've got your Silverstones, like Monaco. Like Monaco, what we saw with Ferrari, that can't be representative of...
Spain this weekend, although with the new regulations and the wings, which we'll talk about in a little bit, it could be because Ferrari might increase their pace. It's a circuit as well where I know Fernando Alonso was signed up to be like circuit ambassador to save.
the circuit to catalonia on the calendar there's still one more race next next year and it's not even being branded the spanish grand prix it's going to have to be branded something else which i don't think has even been named as far as i checked a few weeks ago So I don't know what's going to happen. I don't find this circuit sentimental. Like, would you feel sad if Barcelona...
was off the calendar. Because every time I see Barcelona and I go, oh, it's a Spanish Grand Prix, I go, oh, I'm going to have to watch this race like it's a job. Like I'm working for 90 minutes. It's going to be painful. Okay, so sadly, you're not... You're not wrong. There's definitely been phases where Barcelona has delivered bad race after bad race, and then all of a sudden, there's been a couple of decent ones.
It definitely falls into that bracket of low expectations would help. It's not Monaco. You can go racing. There's high enough tyre deg for it to be... You can have an undercut here. You can have different tactics here. So, for example, I think here strapping on the soft, is is going to be a viable target so the soft here is the c3 which is a good tire it's still a good general hard wearing race tire it's not one that's going to fall apart and if you look at last year's strategy chart
There was a big variation in what different teams tried. But I do have sympathy for what you're saying. It is a track that I would hate. to lose i think we're gonna lose it because they're really pushing this madrid Grand Train? I'm a dream. The Madring, is that what I call it? Is that the best and worst name for a track? The Madring? The Madring? Is that how you're supposed to say it? It's awful. It's an awful name.
Yeah, so I can accept F1. You're going to go for decades. It's been difficult around Monaco unless there's been a crash. Even rain hasn't really saved it. But even if you look at that famous Grand Prix in 1996, no, the 96 one. Where Panis won. Panis made one great overtake on Irvine, but he still had to shunt Irvine off. I think I'm remembering that right. I did watch some highlights recently, but all the other overtaking attempts ended in crashes. There was a three-car crash into Portier.
And you go, well, none of those cars overtook. They all just shunted and ended up. There was a lot of mechanical failure. And so I think some of the unpredictability now comes from the fact that the cars are so reliable. So that track, Monaco, to me has been gone for ages. But Barcelona has just been clinging on when expectations were low. So before 2017, 2018.
Most people accepted a race where not a lot happened. There was a bit of racing, but generally if it didn't happen in the first corner, it wouldn't happen. And then every now and then you'd get a race that just was fire and that was okay. And then a new generation of content providers came in. And I think there was a 2018 or 2019 race at Paul Ricard.
where there wasn't a lot of action and it was really hard as well. It was a dull race, but if you've been watching since 1984, when did you watch your first Grand Prix, Steve? 1978. Alright, so you and me. That's like that Paul Ricard race would have been a fairly normal race in the 90s, for example. But yeah, there was these young content creators were like, this is unacceptable. Everyone is broken. We have to fix this. And then...
The expectation of the general viewing public kind of changed to the point where now, yeah, Barcelona probably can't live up to the expectations that now even I have as well. I'm not gatekeeping. I have those expectations too. The circuit's been on the calendar for three decades, over three decades now, and I saw a stat that nine out of ten races are won from the front row. That's not a good sign if your circuit is not a straight circuit, yet there's statistically to win.
it's essentially you've got to treat it like a street circuit. It's a bit weird that that's the case, given that this is the circuit that teams... have more data more data oh thanks for saying data oh no that's really I want to say that thank you for fitting in with the culture of my culture and saying data instead of data
But anyway, my point is that the teams have more information about this circuit than any other circuit and they've had it for years. So you reckon they would have figured out how to make overtaking manoeuvres on this circuit by now? but it nullifies when they all have the exact same amount of research because they spend so much time around here. Ironically, they don't now, Steve, because as you know, we don't really test here as much anymore, whereas...
When we were watching the sport the last 20 years, Barcelona was the circuit where teams tested at the most and that's why they've got so much knowledge on it now. mostly at bahrain that's like the circuit that we we get three days of testing now back in 2007 there was mid-season tests and oh we've got a three-week break let's go to barcelona for four days and just chuck in all these test drivers in for for long miles
And the teams had dedicated test teams that they would send while the races were happening. Yeah, the Pedro De La Rosas of the world. Whatever happened to Pedro De La Rosa? Shout out to that guy. I don't know what he's doing these days. I'm going to take this opportunity because I want to give a shout out to a charity and I want to make more of a habit of this. If we've got causes within our community that people are supporting, I want to highlight it.
Because about this time last year, Myst Apex happily supported a charitable fundraising event that Uncle Steve and his partner Jane are involved in. The event is called Darkness to Daylight, and it's on again next weekend. The support by the Miss Apex patrons and audience last year was amazing and made a significant contribution to the success of the event. The charity organizing this is called Challenge DV.
and it aims to increase awareness of domestic and family violence and provides support to people caught up in it. The event has three levels of participation. There's an 110km overnight multi-marathon, which takes about 13 hours. It's open to teams and individuals. Jane, Steve's partner, is doing the 10km Dawn Run.
And there's also a three kilometre run walk. So there's a maximum level of participation for this event. If you'd like to help support this worthy cause, you can find the link in the show notes to Jane's contribution page.
where you can make a small donation if you'd like to. I know there's people out there who like to look for this kind of thing where they can make a personal connection and contribute towards a charity that way. So check out that page and see if this is something that you would like to contribute to. For Barcelona, then, what can we expect? So Pirelli have gone very conservative. So who is going to be the mat here for tyres?
They've gone conservative and they've increased the tyre pressure. So, Jono, what does that mean? Okay, I was pointing at Steve. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. I'll go to Steve first and then I will rebut. Steve, we have the hardest tyres and an increase in tyre pressure. What the hell does that mean? Well, it means that I'm slightly out of my depth here, but I'll press on. That seemed to be forcing the tyre pressures up higher year on year on year. I mean, I remember when maximum tyre pressures were...
18 or 19 when it got to 20 everyone scratching their head saying what's going on now we're talking about 25 or 26 I can only surmise that the change to the bigger tyres, the bigger wheels, 18-inch wheels, has meant that there is less flexibility and more need to keep that casing stiff.
And they're doing that through increasing the tyre pressures. And I think it also helps with making certain that the contact patch on the road is kept at some kind of normalized amount level and doesn't wear the tire out as fast as might happen otherwise. In terms of the tyres that they've chosen, yes, they've bought the hardest tyres and that's, you know, Barcelona has
a higher deg coefficient than the other tracks that we've raced on so far this year. But it's not the highest by any means in the whole circuit. They've come here with the hardest tire selection, which as I said is one step softer than last year. So what they're trying to do, I think, is force people into having a minimum of two stops and maybe three. And I think that's all what it's about.
And also, if it wasn't for the long turn three, like that right-hander, I think, yeah, potentially we could have gone a step softer. I don't know, the abrasion's still high, like Steve said, so maybe we would have still stuck with the C1, C2, C3, but that corner alone. The left side tie has taken absolute whacking and we saw what happened to Lewis Hamilton in 2010. a lap to go or two laps to go and and cost himself was at second or third place at the time a podium because his tire just burped
He felt it wobbling and through that corner and just gave up and he went straight into the wall. So terrifying incident that Perali are trying to avoid. It's not good for their brand and they've had incidents like that that aren't good. with the pressures that steve said so we're talking psi here the 26 psi on the front which i agree that's ridiculous now the higher the pressure generally means less wear but it also means less grip
That means you're less quicker. The lower the pressure, it means generally you're going to be quicker, but the tires are going to wear out more. The reason is, is because like Steve says, When it's lower pressure, it means it's not inflated as much. So think of it like a deflated balloon. And if you roll that deflated balloon over a table, more of the balloon is going to make contact with the table because there's less pressure in it. If you put too much pressure in it...
the balloon's going to roll over the table nicely, but less of the balloon is going to touch the table. And so that's like a tire touching the tarmac, which means if less tire touches the tarmac, you have less grip. So with the 26 PSI, the only thing I'm glad about Spanners is it's the same for everyone. So I'm not complaining. That's a good explanation, Jono. That's not bad. That's a very Star Trek explanation.
So, you know, they go, oh, Captain, the tachyon emitters are going to have a substrate into the field matrix. And then they go, what does that mean? And they go, well, it's like a balloon rolling over a table. There's many things you can use. Chewing gum's another one. Higher pressure. Higher pressure means that these tyres will probably last longer but not be as fun to drive on. So I have an outlying concern that perhaps this may be... One stop, sorry.
A lot of the teams have been caught out in races in the last two years where they've assumed it was going to be a multi-stop race and actually they've been able to comfortably one-stop. So famously, George Russell did it, but then they had got the weights wrong. By not going to a newer tyre, he then finished the race on a lighter tyre, couldn't do enough pickup, and therefore was underweight and got disqualified. Which other team fell foul of that?
I can't remember. He was the second driver to full file of that. Come on, live chat. Someone help me. Who else got done for having an underweight car? But they have had loads of races where they get on there on race day and they go, oh, actually, tire wear is not as bad as we thought. So last year, they had the fastest, the longest anyone went on the soft tire was 24 laps.
The longest anyone went on the medium tyre was 27 and hard tyre was 30. Now, I know you're saying there are steps softer, Steve, but I also think they're a step better at making these tyres last. Plus, we're going with higher pressures. from the tyres falling apart. So Pirelli here, I think, are being very, very conservative. I think a team can go and do medium hard.
and do a one-stop. That would be my suspicion at the moment, Johnny. But it all depends a bit on the weather, too. It's supposed to be hot and cloudless, you know, clear skies, which means that the track temperature is going to be... pretty horrendous and that's going to affect the twilight
Everything you said, Spanners, went through my mind exactly the same. And then I looked at the weather and I thought, well, it is 30 degrees Celsius. It's going to be 40 plus track temp. We could see higher deg here. Again, you know, this is Miss Apex, so I like to say we're about content and knowledge. We're also about outlandish predictions as well. So we'll have to wait until Friday practice to really get our best judge.
I think at the moment it's, if I have to predict, Two stop, it sounds about right. Okay. Expectation management, kids. You know, I wake up every morning, especially in a half term, and I look across at my... loving wife and i look at my kids and i go okay what do you think what do i think i can get out of my day do i think i can get to the gym do i think i can have a swim do you think i could get a tennis match and i go stop low expectations
And today, I had to take everyone to the zoo. Zoos are pretty cool, though. I had a great time. It was really cool. I can't complain about that. So, let's talk about Ferrari a little bit. They are the team that people have been spoken about the most as benefiting from this new regulation change. So there's been a few quotes, Sky quoted Toto Wolff. I think what we have seen is that Ferrari was probably the most conservative on the flexi wings.
I think Barcelona is on the calendar of everybody in the panic of the panic with the new regulation for the front wing. Versailles says, at least we're working on it for ages. So we've been working for ages and this can be a game changer. So that was the big quote from. fred vasore but i think the toto wolf one is most illuminating when we look at china where the clerks seem to run a lot better without the end plate that was keeping that wing stiff and that
That left side of his front wing was just dragging along the floor, and it just seemed to suddenly unlock a bunch of performance. So, A, I think the question will be... We're purely speculating, can Ferrari turn this season around? Can they get back on level pegging? And I'm worried from the quotes that I've heard. that they're too reliant on their new front wing and everybody else having to have their front wing nerfed. What do you reckon, Steve? Well, I think...
It depends on whether you believe what McLaren are saying. They're saying that this new regulation set won't affect them in the slightest and they're just going to keep on racing that, you know, they've designed their front wings. so that from the very beginning so that it has been sitting within these parameters. and if that's the case then
Ferrari unless I can come along with a new front-wing design that is Substantially different and substantially more efficient. I think they're still going to be stuck behind McLaren now those I got to think about
It's been said that this new TD is probably going to affect Mercedes and Aston Martin to some degree and maybe even Red Bull. So it will depend on how much it affects each of those other teams but you know to say that you know Ferrari is going to come out on top and through all of this I think is a little bit of you know doing something into the wind because we just don't know until we see what happens on I suppose it's going to be second practice on Friday.
That will have some indication of whose wing is working whose wing is not But, you know, If McLaren, if Stella is right and McLaren don't have to worry and they've been using, you know, Wings within the rule set since the beginning, then I think they're going to be hard to beat So I can't say that Ferrari gonna step ahead with the static load tests as well so it's a reduction from for the tech people out there 15 mils to 10 mils is is what it is so that's what's going to happen there
Steve, you think it's most likely going to impact Mercedes, McLaren-Williams, the Aston Martins and the Arby's. I've heard it might also affect the Red Bulls as well. They believe it might impact them. That's what RB in my notes meant, red bulls, not racing bulls, yeah. I hate that. I hate that so much. The consensus.
The consensus is, though, for most teams and most comments, even at Monaco too, is that Ferrari is going to benefit greatly because, like you said, when you look at their front wing, they don't rely on the flexi as much. And so this is what people predict is going to be a regulation change to play in Ferrari's favour. But again... How many times in the past Maybe I'm wrong here but we...
isn't this clutching at straws to see if Ferrari are going to be better? Like, I've heard this story before. I can't remember when, but it's happened like two or three times in the past. I think the first time was 18 Diggity 7. And, but no, definitely like all through the hybrid era, there was definitely like, oh, and in fact, no, even like the Alonso period, you know, so, so they flattered to deceive.
And I think there's just an innate belief in the core of F1 that Ferrari will come good. Of course Ferrari will come good at some point, but it's been a long time. I think also the Paddock is looking for a storyline heading into Barcelona because no offence to Barcelona, but what other storylines do we have going into this weekend apart from the championship battle, which we covered? So I wouldn't expect this to have a dramatic change in the pecking order.
The good news is for Ferrari is they're coming off a good Monaco. Yes, it's a completely different circuit of Barcelona, different characteristics, so we might not see Ferrari. as good but this isn't necessarily making Ferrari better this is more nerfing the other teams Steve you were talking about this bringing the other teams down which means now Ferrari don't have a big disadvantage. Ferrari make no sense to me this year. Okay, go ahead.
That only works if McLaren have got to change their front wing. If, as they say, we don't have to change our front wing, then Ferrari, you know... Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve. Last year they said, oh, we don't have to change our wings.
Our rear wing. And then they said, out of the kindness of our hearts, we're going to change our rear wing, but only one. And then it turned out they did in the end change all their rear wing. I guess we'll know sometime over the weekend. But that also doesn't mean that they can't bring a compliant...
wing and i mean compliant by the new things and that is also good they could bring they could go okay fine we'll get around there and then they still bring a wing that is also good and works with their car that could be it Yeah, and teams have been working on it now for two months. They've had two months to prepare for this and looking at McLaren's budget and the money they get from the Bahrain Sovereign Fund.
Sovereign fund, that might be the word of the year for me. That is my favorite word at the moment. Sovereign fund. Just say Bahrain. The money they get from Bahrain. Yes. So I think they've... I don't think it's going to impact them as much. Potentially. We don't know. We're all speculating here. We have to wait for the Friday as well. For Ferrari, I was going to say earlier, the... that it doesn't make sense.
that how they're slow in low-speed corners all year, and then somehow a very quick at Monaco, arguably borderline, could have had Bolan won the race. It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me. I think... And this is just from reading clever people's articles, I think. Well, hang on. Not all of it is just from reading stuff because my take was that they got the ride height wrong. They must have simply calculated the ride height incorrectly. So they would have...
lost that sprint race in China. If it had to go any further, they got disqualified out of China. Their whole plan revolved around a ride height that they couldn't practically achieve, so they've had to race. And the fact they've had to raise it then means their whole aero platform is a lie.
You get to Monaco and that's somewhere where everyone has to raise their ride height. So kind of everyone had to go to the Ferrari's level. So maybe that explains the Monaco kind of hope just a little bit. But then maybe... Everyone gets nerfed by this. That's the hope, isn't it? Everyone gets nerfed
to the point that Ferrari were at. So Toto Wolff says, well, Ferrari were very conservative with the flexing. And who knows? The teams that were conservative with the flexing, were they the teams that really pushed? for the FIA to look at it, and then maybe everyone gets brought back to them. So that's politics and stuff.
The patron live chat has given us some reckons. So Sharky or Ahmed says, I reckon the new technical directive will make not one iota of difference to the competitive order. Well, wouldn't that be typical? So the thing that we've been building up. and hyping up since the beginning of the season makes zero difference. Yeah, probably. It's possible. I said they've been preparing for this for two months, and I don't think it's going to make one iota's worth a difference either.
EJ says, I reckon that Pirelli is bringing the hardest selection of tyres and that will make the race rather meh. Well, here, look. In Imola, we said, this race is going to be garbage. And it was great. In Monaco, we hyped up. their two-stop strategy and maybe it could do something and the race was trapped. So I will go on the record now saying Barcelona 2025 will be the dullest Grand Prix in race history. And you can quote me on that. Otherwise my name isn't
Spanish J-ready. In Spanish Grand Prix histories. No, in the universe. It'll be the worst motor race in the universe's history. Let's see. Ironically, coming off Monaco, which people didn't like, kind of an interesting race because we had a lot to talk about. They created discussion points. It just wasn't a good product to watch. So, Nate Sanders from ESPN.
Another Colchester local. Big shout out to Nate. He's great. He's got a great book, a Ferrari book out, which he was kind enough to send me a copy of. But he did a poll saying, you know, should we keep Monaco or get rid of it? And it was like 50-50. Honestly, the people now saying keep the Monaco Grand Prix. They're just the kind of difficult hipsters that claim to not own a television show.
They're the kind of people you say, oh, did you watch Traitors? And they go, oh, I don't even own a television. But they're still watching Netflix on their computer and stuff. Oh, I don't even own jeans. All I've got is court. Well, I reckon the Monaco experiment was a massive failure. Yeah. And I'm someone who likes Monaco, and I love to see the cars racing around, but as a racing venue, Monaco's done its bit.
As a party place and somewhere to do business and do networking and all that stuff, yeah, it still lives. So let's change everything up and make Monaco totally different than what it is at the moment. And I reckon what we do is this. Saturday morning is now a... Sprint qualifying and a sprint race on Saturday. Then Sunday, we start at 10 o'clock in the morning and we have what is a long time trial event. Every car gets to go on track by itself.
and set times, and here's the rules. We set a baseline time that you can't go under, otherwise you're eliminated. and every lap that you go out you've either got to do a faster lap than you did last time Otherwise, you get eliminated. Or if you crash, you get eliminated. And the last car that's standing at the end of the day wins. And they get some sort of prize, you know, more time in the air, in the wind tunnel next year or something. I mean, do a fight with a long...
The long, boring Grand Prix writers that don't work out there anymore. I have got a slightly simpler idea. And I don't want to sound like I'm dismissing you. I don't want you to feel unheard or unseen. But my idea is to not race at Monaco anymore. Oh, Monaco has a historical significance that I think is important, and we've got to allow people to go there and party and do deals and be seen and all that sort of stuff, so we just make the motor racing part of it.
different, not so important, make it so different from any other race weekend that it has its own personality without being a race. No, I don't want to. Back to the reckons. Tom says, I reckon Piastri and Verstappen will take each other out in Barcelona, living in Norwich.
to take the title no no because Verstappen only has eyes for taking out Norris at the moment Matt says I reckon Lando is starting to believe and will continue chipping away Oscar's lead and that's something that Jono has brought up as well but this one is the one I want to put to you Jono Ahmed says I reckon Ricardo Adami will not be Lewis Hamilton's race engineer by Sylvia.
I think that's a little extreme. I don't think Ferrari, with the status and nature and the publicity of the team that they are and the amount of exposure that Lewis Hamilton gets... that they're going to drop an experienced race engineer who's been race engineering many drivers from Sebastian Vettel to Sainz to Ricciardo at one stage. Tony Oliuzzi, I don't know, I might be getting that wrong, but he's been in F1 for... 15 20 years right now as a race engineer and has experience
Personally, I feel bad saying this. Sorry, Riccardo, if you're listening. I know we've got an influx of Ferrari engineers probably listening to this podcast after we brought one on the other week on Miss Apex. Yeah, Francesco Comparo. Exactly. I find Ricciardo just dull and boring to listen to. He would put me to sleep if I was in a Grand Prix race. He's an engineer. He's not a pop star, is he? He's not an improv. He's not Conan O'Brien on there.
He's just got to give that information and have a good relationship. But like Andrea Stella, you know, another Italian I felt was interesting to listen to when he was on the radio with Fernando Alonso back in the day. Bono, Lewis's old engineer, felt interesting to listen to. Oh, yeah, Rob Smedley. Rob Smedley.
Rob Smedley was great. Listen, Felipe, I know it seems hard, but these are the times when a man is made, forged in the fires of Grand Prix, Felipe. And for that reason, and that reason alone, I think we should bolt on some stuff. Felipe, baby, stay cool. Yeah, he used to come out with one-liners like that and phrases to motivate him. He was very motivational.
I think Fred Vassour is trying to downplay this. Good luck, Fred Vassour, because it's like the third time this year he's had to downplay a rift between Lewis and his race engineer. I also think... One thing to preface this whole discussion I'm going to have is Lewis Hamilton is notoriously, I believe, the most misunderstood driver in Formula One in my lifetime. People don't understand him and get him. On the radio, he'll be like... My tires aren't the best.
and Raikkonen will yell at his engineer and the next day the article is Raikkonen funny radio messages Hamilton fumes at race engineer and I'm like he said it so politely how is that fuming there is a little bit of that and also like Hamilton's is very emotional like I say you can hear all his emotions and by the way I've got this wrong before but Rob Smedley is a Geordie he's not just some like I did my
My Ned Stark there, didn't I? No, so Rob Smedley is a Geordie. So just for historical accuracy, I have to go, I'll write pe- Okay, Philippe, eh, like? We're going to get a couple of jars after this, so make sure you get your softs on so you can finish the race as best as you can. All right, are we all happy now? Is everything historically accurate? But at Hamilton...
after the race saying like are you upset at me or something and then in the way in the press conferences follows up going I don't know what they meant they said this is your race now but I didn't even know what they were talking about and then Vassar has come out and said
No, no, that was all part of the plan. We can only talk to him two times per lap. He talks to us on the pit straight and then we can only answer after the tunnel. And so there's a disconnect between what Ferrari is saying and how Hamilton has been. I found that radio message too early in the race. I went through Lewis's entire race because I'm a sick pup and went through the radio. And I do see where Lewis misunderstood that. And so he began to push. when Adami meant something else.
and I don't actually know what he meant to be honest with you so that's the miscommunication there from Ricardo Adami so I don't know if it's a language barrier or something where that's having an effect on Lewis but What didn't help was Lewis would ask questions on the main straight to Monaco and Ferrari said, we're not going to talk to the driver until the next straight, which is the tunnel.
So it became 30, 40 seconds before Adami was giving him answers. So that radio message where Lewis said, you're not answering me, that was like 50 seconds apart. But yet the TV would condense it for us, you know, as a TV audience into about 10 seconds. And that's why I think Adami's completely just not listened or forgot Lewis's question and given him an irrelevant impact. Maybe Ferrari need to try an AI interpreter, artificial intelligence interpreter.
Siri, what's the gap, Siri? The optics, though, are not good. So if you're Ferrari, I don't know, how important is it to you that Hamilton fans are all going crazy? Because Hamilton fans are... And I used to be a Hamilton fan before I was a Norris fan. But Hamilton fans are all going crazy and going, that's not good. It doesn't feel right. So I do wonder how much of an effect a driver can have on who is his race engineer. Do you think so?
Oh, yeah. Do you think Hamilton can storm into Fred's office, kick over a bucket and go, Oi, Fred! I think he can. Get someone on the radio who I have some empathy with and can communicate with. At the moment it's not working. I'll agree with you. Hamilton is having a hard time. And he's not feeling comfortable in the car. And a lot of that has to do with the information and the to and fro that goes on.
So I think Fred has a job to do. I mean, Ricardo, I understand, and I feel sorry for him, but he's not the man to be sitting in that seat at the moment with us. Okay. And the radio message post-race banners where he said, are you upset at me? Yeah, I know. Again, that was one where Lewis had said a message.
And didn't receive a response for 45 seconds. Normally post-race Bono would come out with something. Hey, you know, let's get an extra. Great job. Oh, no. And Adami didn't do that. No, no. Sorry, not the race we wanted, Pat, but, you know, there's another race around corner.
Oh, no. Is that Rob Smedley? No, that's my generic race engineer now. So... it doesn't look good I would say that so I'm interested to see how Ferrari deal with that and adapt with that and whether they just kind of go well that's just what it is because at the moment he's not their biggest concern he's
the number two driver at Ferrari on performance at the moment. And so we get accused correctly of not focusing on Leclerc enough, which I don't know why. I don't know why I have this mental block about... focusing and talking about Leclerc there's something in my mind where I don't quite believe in the Leclerc-ness of it all yet I am happy when he gets a good result and I am sad when he gets a bad result So I'm not saying I'm a Leclerc fan, but my mood of the F1 race is affected.
by how he does so he's definitely on my radar and Amber reckons I reckon we will actually see Leclerc cry out of frustration this weekend And I see how that might have been a thing in years past. But I have to say I'm incredibly impressed with how Leclerc cuts about. I think he has shaken off some of the I am stupid. You know, things that Hadjar, Hadjar is going through that at the moment now after his second crash.
in practice in Monaco and he was like, do you know what it is? It's because I'm the worst human being ever. That's why I crashed again. Everyone should simply spit at me as I come through the garage like I'm the least worthy driver ever. The fan almost did. Leclerc. Did you say that? Oh, no. Yeah, Leclerc got angry. Sorry, Hadja got angry at the fan. Sorry to cut you up.
I just thought, yeah, he is getting ruthless after, ironically. No, someone just made, some fan made just a gobby comment of it and Hadjah just went, do you know what? I'm standing up for myself. I'm going to stand up for myself, which is, you know.
That's fine. That's a professional issue. And that balance, I think there's a balance. I think to some extent, you can't just be a machine and sponge it. And as a content creator, I have that same balance to strike. Recently, I've been... screenshotting but deleting the names out of comments that I've been getting and just going hey look just to highlight this is the kind of thing I get daily this is my normal whereas you would think with F1 drivers
They have to be protected quite a lot because there is a flood of negative comments and maybe Hajar just hasn't quite caught up to that yet. But it's a normal human reaction if someone yells at you in the street and is critical in the street. or send you abusive messages, it is normal to reply to that. So I think Leclerc has gone through.
That I am stupid phase. And if you watch him. Cut about on social media. He. He is him. I think that's like a. Gen Z phrase. If you say he is him. I think Leclerc is him. I think Leclerc is the finish. Leclerc Article is very comfortable in his own skin. He's part of a power couple. They're owning their Instagrams and their media. He cuts around the paddock with an air of confidence. He's doing great against his seven-time world champion.
teammate. He seems to be performing. And so I don't think that Leclerc is going to cry out of frustration. I think he's battle-hardened. He's Ferrari-hardened. Seven seasons at Ferrari? Is it seven? Seven seasons at Ferrari, and he's still there, and he's still the number one driver. He went in with Vettel.
and ended up being the number one driver there. He was the number one driver over Sainz. He's currently the number one driver over Lewis Hamilton. I don't think there's a harder driver in the paddock than Charles Leclerc. He's never been the second best driver on a team in F1. Not really. Maybe one half a season with Vattelman.
Yeah, well, five races until Canada, and then Vettel's career went downhill because he gave up on the sport. Anyway, conversation with another day after that Canada penalty. But yeah, Charles Leclerc, I never really thought about that. He's gone through Vettel. Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, and still so far, with a few races into Hamilton, he's better than Hamilton so far. All the heartache that Ferrari can throw at him as well. He might arguably be.
Tell me if I'm wrong, but he's performing as good as, for the car here, I've got to be careful here. I was about to say he's performing as good as Fernando Alonso was back in the 2010s. But Alonso, I felt, had a better car and an attempt to win a world championship. I don't think Charles has really had that, maybe apart from that one year where the car was qualifying really well and then he decided to push because they didn't have the race pace and he would crash. out of a lot of the races.
France or whatever the race he crashed out at. Anyway, I'm going off into an argument that could take 40 minutes. So nobody comment on that because I can guarantee you there's a lot of information I've missed. Oh no, no, Jono. You're right. If you say nobody comment or email about that. All the Monogast people that are going to email into the show. What a shame. Season on season, I'm more and more impressed and more endeared to Leclerc. I just think...
I think, you know, there's a balance between the amount of emotion he has, the amount of himself that he shares, and the amount of professionalism he has, and then combined with just raw talent, speed. And the reason we... don't have a lot to talk about with him during races and race reviews is because he doesn't make a big show of himself. I don't know. I think he's just...
Probably quietly growing. And it's a watching brief. All right. We're getting close to the end of our race review. There's a couple of stories we had here in the show notes. Who put in the... The FIA president complaining about the amount of money that you Steve got. So what's the comment we had from Mohammed bin Salim? He came out and made comments along the lines of, I can't quote him verbatim, that the decision that was made back in the early 2000s or was it before that in the 90s where...
The commercial management of F1 was split away from the... regulatory part of it, which meant that the FAA had to sell the commercial rights. Oh, right. And they did that to Max and to get Max to Burning. And they did it for X number of dollars, it was agreed at the time, and Bernie got the rights for 100 years to Formula One, the commercial rights. which he then subsequently sold on to people, and now Liberty had the ownership of that. So...
So I am a saying that that was unfair, that that needs to be revisited and that the FIA should get more money. than what they're getting now. The issue of course is that this is something that the European legal system came up with and to you know, relegislate that through the legal system in Europe is going to take years and years and years and is going to take bucket loads of money, money that the FIA doesn't have. And Liberty has all the money and all the lawyers in the world.
I'm scratching my head saying, what is this man going on about? I'm beginning to think that this is just something to obfuscate something else that he's about to come out with. You know, they just kind of slip under the door. Alright, didn't you compare it to...
Team principals and said, why should one team principal... Yeah, why should the team principals be getting, you know, so much money and we're getting nothing? I mean... Yeah, he's getting nothing. I mean, he's a man that owns a $75 million stable of cars. He's fighting a losing war there as well, isn't he? Formula One's threatened before to separate and make their own championships that are non-FIA regulated. And if he starts to dabble into this territory...
I don't think he's taking a knife to a gunfight. I totally agree. That's why I'm saying there must be something else behind this. because it makes no sense whatsoever to go down this path. Well, he's got a campaign to run, hasn't he? So I guess if he's going to be elected by people within those little mini... you know, the country groups, so the subsidiaries of the FIA, and he says, I think all the FIA and all the people who vote for me should get more money.
That's quite a vote winner, isn't it? That's quite a popular thing. Oh, yeah, no, I want more money as well. Let's vote for NBA. All right, right, guys, let's put our professional reputations on the line here because it is going to be the Barcelona Grand Prix. And Jono, you hate predictions. Like, you literally won't. make any predictions so i want predictions from you guys of a which team is going to make a jump forward and i want your top five
Well, I've completely unprepared you. So while you're thinking about it, I'm going to read out what the Patreon Discord have said. So Herb, Harb, sorry, it says, a Piastri win. I feel like it's going to be a A bold call if there's a lot of tyre management needed, but then if he does that, then that's a big shut-up to Spanners, which I'm sure he really cares about. Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Russell. Oh, I think that's an even bigger call.
Yeah, but look, this is it. You know, now when someone makes a really bold Hamilton call, you know... Okay, let's see. David says, last stroll to win. Perez, okay, David, you're being very difficult and you're ruining the game. Chris says that Mohamed Ben Saliham will win the race. with Verstappen second. I feel like sometimes, chat, you then take this massively seriously. Maria is going for Norris, Verstappen, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc. There you go.
That sounds realistic. Definitely, that sounds realistic. So that's a good upgrade for Mercedes. I think that's Norris. getting his groove back, which is what Jono seems to be saying, Verstappen being somewhat inevitable there in the top two, and Russell continuing his good form, which has dropped off only a tiny bit. But you'd have to think it's still there. So go on then, Steve. Who's benefiting from this regulation set, this new regulation change, and what is your top five? Who's benefiting?
I don't think Williams might benefit well from this regular. change ideas you know there's a bit of hope so maria did also give us a reckon and said i reckon carlos signs podium and i actually got mocked a little bit in the chat but that's not ridiculous Albon's got two P4s so far this season. I think they're developing well. I think that they might.
they might find a way to make this work for them. And your top five, Steve, you're not getting away with that. Come on. Come on. Okay. Well, I've got to say Piastri Norris. Leclerc and Sainz. I kind of agree with that. Then I think it's Russell. And Verstappen and then Lewis after that. Oh, interesting. So writing off Red Bull a little bit there. Jono. Yeah, I wouldn't run off Red Bull as much. I think the jump will be Ferrari by...
A thousandth of a second just to save myself there because there's a chance that people will be like, Ferrari didn't jump at all, John. And I'm like, no, there's a couple of, you know, half a tenth in that, you know. So I would go, it'd have to be one of the McLarens, right, to win. I mean, that's his safest long-term prediction. Norris or Piastri. What do I go with? I don't know. I'm going to say back off.
On a confident Norris, I'm going to go with Norris from Piastri. Let's go a 1-2 at this racetrack. Potentially Verstappen third, although I could get that wrong. Verstappen could win. I don't know. I'm confused. I know you don't like predictions, so I'm going to save you. It's okay. So I'm going for the hype that this regulation change suit.
Ferrari. So I'm going to go for Leclerc and then Norris, then Verstappen. I'm going to stick with my Piastri guns that, yeah, good effort, but I meant, you know, the time management. puts him down into fourth place. I'll have Hamilton slotting in in P5 as well and then Russell P6.
So we're all over the board here. The one rule I have about this is if you come back at us and quote our predictions to us, probably going to block you. I think that's a reasonable way to run a project. Steve is well beyond.
and things like that but at least like wave at Steve and say hi if you comment in the YouTube and say hi Steve we liked having you around he will see that that's his domain and obviously go and hang out and tag him he's tell you what if you're on our Patreon Discord he's Steve Amy in the Patreon Discord if you want to chat to him there Any chance for a quick playoff of a... Oh, of course!
I did do it on the race review and Steve I even edited in a better version of the plug and put it into the audio version but tell us what your wife is up to last year Miss Apex supported this handsome Yeah, and it's all again this weekend. It's a charity called Challenge TV. It's about... bringing awareness to the problem of domestic and family violence and for giving support to people that find themselves in that.
basically a three-tier event thing that's happening this weekend. There's a 110-kilometre overnight run for people who are mad enough to try that, open for teams and individuals, and there are some individuals doing it. That's a 13-hour run. There's a 10-kilometre run that starts sort of at 4 o'clock in the morning. Okay, that's a bit more good. And then there's a 3-kilometre run slash walk, which is also on James doing the 10-kilometre one.
And last year, the Missed Apex patrons and listeners were fantastic in the support that they gave. and made a big contribution and anything that you could possibly afford to give would be gratefully accepted for this great charity. It's really quite important. And I'll ask Spanish to put a link in the show notes. We'll definitely put a link in the show notes. And also, we'll plug that again on the Barcelona Grand Prix race review. Remind me to do it earlier.
in the show yeah but it's too late at that stage it's on this weekend in that case I will insert the mention that I did during the Imola Grand Prix review. So this is going to sound weird now because you'll already have heard my insert. by the time you've heard Steve.
That's fine. We'll do that for the audience, not the YouTube. The donation pages stay open for a few days after the event so, you know, people can still jump on and... check a few bucks if they'd like to now Jono you're not supporting a charity for you it's all about you so like where can we follow you and just improve your career it's all about Jonathan
That's going to help me get followers, spanners. Jono, Jono, Jono, Jono, Jono, believe me, I've sat here for years and gone, follow me, I'm the best one, support my Patreon, and also, I'm open to bribe. which is true I am open to if you give me money I will change my opinion on your product or team Yeah, that's how I got into this podcast, were the bribes. At Johnny S8, J-O-N-N-Y-E-S-S-8, I can officially say I've made a TikTok.
I haven't posted anything though, but I'll get to it. I made one a few days ago. So chuck me a follow on TikTok if you're around. I'll have some content out hopefully soon. And obviously Instagram, not Twitter. The whole shebang on there. You can't tell, but, you know, he's got a face for TV, has Jono. That's why he's on TV. So go and give his Instagram a thing. Jono, make sure you give me the links because Matt is...
swanning it up, drinking wine in Italy so the show notes are down to me. So if the show notes look pathetic, it's because I'm the one that... that's written them. I would just like to say, guys, thank you if you're... one hour and 16 into a race preview midweek then you know you're someone who hangs out with Miss Apex and ultimately our community is the thing I enjoy most about this.
I know I had a little bit of a focus on the negative comments I get. Believe me, there is a wave of positivity when we're out and about in the real world. People come up and say hello. coming to our live events and people send messages all the time with basically like an emotional thumbs up and a hug. I know there's a massive community out there that like what we do and like being involved in what we do as well.
So do follow me because after all, I am the best one. Instagram, I'm getting better at it. So follow SpannersReady on Instagram, SpannersReady on X and Blue Sky. And until we see you next, work hard, be kind and have fun. This was Missed Apex Podcast. I forgot to get quieter didn't I as it got later. Expecting a strongly worded WhatsApp from my wife. Hashtag number... Is it four? Four, right? Yeah, four.
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