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Showler Clare headed us a prize for our 1-2 finish at the United States Grand Prix on a weekend when controversy raged on an off track. But with Max Verstappen extending his championship lead to 57 points, where does that leave London orison McLaren? And what happens to Mercedes is startling Friday speed. I'm Ed Straw, and joining us to tell all our markews and bend and discern.
Well Mark, Coat is always a great weekend. It's been a good one this year, hasn't it? I haven't even driven up any one of my streets. Yes, it's fabulous. As always, and it's even better when you have the weather cooperating. It's served up a great race as it always does. Being blotted around this incredible circuit with all its high speed sweeps and its dives and climbs. It's just a lovely place in a lovely environment and a great great vibe.
I would recommend anyone who's thinking about coming to this race, because it's every bit as good as you'd imagine. If not, better Austin's a fantastic city. So I'd thoroughly recommend it. Ben, you've been following from afar, but you know Austin and Coat are very well from your days here in the past. So it's great to watch even when you're not there, isn't it?
This one was right up there, I think. Even the sprint was good. Even the sprint. Yeah, probably one of the best sprints, I think. Everyone was aggressive. The races were definitely more exciting than the qualifying sessions and the qualifying sessions weren't bad either. So yeah, I would say this is up there as probably one of if not the best sprint form of one weekend we've had. And yeah, as Mark outlined a brilliant track. And yeah, just a really eventful brilliant race to watch from afar.
Yeah, that means we've got loads to get into on the podcast as always. So we'll pile straight into it and mark will start off with a traditional question about how it played out because the race for victory was relatively straightforward for right turn that second row lockout into a one two for the clerk in sight. So how did the race run? How did Ferrari do it relatively easily and how did Maxwell Stappen and Landon or is fit into that picture?
Yeah, the Ferrari was right from the start of practice. The Ferrari was always the quickest car on the medium tire. It wasn't quite the quickest on the soft tire. You had a little bit understeering the softened. Of course, that meant that it wasn't at its best in Q3. But even in Q3 on the last run, the one that got aborted by everyone because of Russell's accident.
Science was putting in a lap that would have been within a sniff of poll. Not sure if he would have grabbed poll or maybe got a second or maybe even stayed the state that but it would have been a very, very close run thing. The car just come alive on that second run. So even on a least favored tire it was quick but on the medium tire which was the favored tire for the race, there was no question of what the quickest car was.
So you saw that in Q1 and Q2 where they were comfortably the fastest. And you saw it also in the sprint where the LaClaire and Science had spent several laps racing each other like it was the Formula 4 festival.
And then then took the battle to George Russell and despite that they still had more rubber left than Landon Norris and Science was able to pass him going into the last lap as well. So I think with a little bit, a little bit more, a few more laps, there would probably have been able to deal with the Stappens Red Bull too.
So that still left the question of how they were going to get track position in the Grand Prix itself because they started on the second row. But that was all solved by Max Verstappen pushing Landon Norris wide at turn one. And I just, the C parted really for LaClaire. You just had a clear run down the inside and Science had to just back off a little bit to avoid hitting Verstappen so that give LaClaire the momentum on Science 2.
And then the Ferrari were able to undercut Science past Verstappen with a very early first stop for a one stop race. But even despite carrying much older tyres and the second stint, Science still had the pace to easily pull away from Verstappen. Science was the earliest person to stop without it, dooming his race because everyone who stopped earlier than him, that result was compromised.
The advantage of Claire was pulling out over Verstappen in the early stages of the race was just amazing. He was sort of 7-8 tenths a lap and you think, you know, he's pushing a bit hard, surely on heavy fuel, but actually didn't make any difference. The longer the race went on, the bigger his gap got. And so, yeah, it was just, they trounced the opposition. It was pure performance. It was a pure performance 1, 2. It wasn't anything circumstantial about it.
And, yeah, the Red Bull of Verstappen and the McLaren and Norris were actually quite closely matched, but they did their race in quite different ways once Lando was down and forth after that first corner skirmish. They decided to run long. And so he was conserving his tyres in the early part of the stint. And then that was to, you know, enabled him to go longer and get a tyre advantage in a second stint.
And using that tyre advantage, he was able to catch up all that he'd lost Verstappen in the first stint. And then they had their incident. It turned 12 as Lando put the overtake on them, but Verstappen forced him to go off the track. And then he got the overtake on the track, and then he got the overtake on the track, and then he got the overtake on the track.
Yeah, so it was surprisingly easy this win for Ferrari. It always looked like they had the pace. So it was just that question of how to get to the front. And I did actually say that to ask Fred for so about that at the end of the race. So I said, actually, was that a little bit more straightforward even than you expected? And so there's always that question of how do you get to the front, as you say, the Red Sea parted and was it Dead Sea? Dead Sea Red Sea? Dead Sea.
Which sea are we parting? We should call it the Red Sea, shouldn't we? Cause it's the Red Team. Ah, very good, very good. Yes, I like that now. Yes, it's too late the day for me to be getting my references right here unfortunately. But yeah, it was a really, really good win from Charlotte Claire. Just one of those performance. It's funny, Ferrari were doing so well in that race, you just barely saw him like the club, just didn't see.
This was the 80s, you just have an hour and a half of a red car driving round on the TV coverage. It's one of those ones where you're so good. And the car's so quick and everything's together. So yeah, lovely win for for Charlotte Claire. But inevitably Ben, the talk is all about Norris and Verstappen isn't there. And in championship terms, great weekend for Max Verstappen, each town of the five pass, three finishing ahead today.
We're going to be for winning the sprint with Norris third. But that first corner move on the opening lap and it turns 12 pass in the closing stages with the two key ones for them. So let's talk about those instance specifically. So first up lap one. Yeah, lap one turn one. I think the first thing to say is Norris was too passive.
You know, he had the start, he moved across, but it was a kind of half-hearted move to cover the inside. He left over Stappen's size gap on the inside and Verstappen field that Verstappen's nice gap on the inside. Now he did force Norris wide in making the pass. Obviously that turn one at Cota going up the hill and then the turn tightening as you get to the top of the hill for the track plunges down hill. I'd say unique on the calendar in terms of its profile.
So that plays a role in terms of how you judge the incident because of you know, they're being a runoff often you see cars go wide there and then plunge down to the right hand at the bottom of the hill coming back onto the track. There's a certain amount of first lap lee lee way obviously in terms of racing incidents and people running wide. You see that most places.
I do feel that Verstappen according to the racing guidelines that Stuart's used, he broke a couple of them. He didn't leave Norris room and he didn't and he also went off the track himself which are not allowed to do. He only assumed that they just said you know it's that one let them race McLaren weren't happy about it and you can see why but it wasn't even noted wasn't reported to the stewards so we race on the turn 12 incident later in the race is a little bit more contentious.
But Rolls are reverse for staff and the defending car is on the inside Norris is the attacking car on the outside. There's a certain amount of and this is a phrase you're fond of using it live by the sword die by the sword when you're trying to go around the outside of somebody.
And I think that is taken into account as a general principle so you're the the guidelines and the perception the rules whatever are not really in your favor automatically if you're the guy trying to come around the outside of another guy.
I think the snappens of where of this and he's probably the best defensive driver on the grid as well. It has a maximizing what's possible and what the riggle room is he definitely forced Norris off the track but I would say probably at that moment he's according to the letter of the the guidelines far enough alongside the McLaren still to have legitimate claim to the corner and then he runs him off at the exit but because he's.
Defending car and not the attacking car it seems that you know this idea that he should give room doesn't quite apply in the same way and so he's managed to get away with it and a Norris cop to penalty because he went right off the track kept his foot in and stayed ahead of the red ball really he he should have probably just considered the place and tried to attack him again because that stage of the race he was quick enough to beat the red ball I think.
Yeah that was the interesting question wasn't in my heart would McLaren have been wise just to say I'll drop back and we'll do it again or do you think the fact that the staff had been driving brilliantly defensively for a few laps you know even before we get into those things where he's greater going to the limit of what's what's allowed just good solid old fashioned defensive driving before that you think McLaren and Norris just thought I don't want to go through that again we we we don't record when necessarily get that past exactly that I think it's exactly that because Norris caught for stabbing in a big old hurry and you thought I was going to get
the RS he should comfortably be through and just the lap stick by and another lap and another lap and another another another lap and he wasn't quite doing it and he was just placing his car perfectly and you know using the battery and all the right places so yeah with far from a given that he would ever get that place back if he surrendered it so I know I quite get whether we're what they were thinking and but in terms of you know positions being decided
by arrest you would be obliged to make a call I think this is where it goes wrong you know the we we got a rethink defining track limits by white lines he it's it's got to be something physical there so that it you know it's gravel trap or a bit of grass so that it becomes a non issue
and I think that's that's where it's gone wrong in terms of you know the rights and wrongs of it the staff and made no attempt to continue turning the corner once land was alongside them and you know you you would question if that's you know legitimate but because it's all down to interpretation in these instances that comes from defining the track by by a line by some arbitrary line not not a
physical constraint this is exactly what we were talking about a few weeks ago on the podcast wasn't it better than we're talking about the usual proposal for coming up in natural track limits we won't go in detail down that line again but it is a little bit unsatisfactory isn't it because you have the guidelines in place and the staff and quite rightly drives drives them he goes to the limit and even if you think it whether you think it's right or wrong you know
that those are the rules are you play to them but it just a bit unsatisfactory because it means we're talking about all this stuff whereas actually we should be spending a little bit more time on wasn't that battle just fantastic because it was really gripping it's it's right you get those sorts of battles that go on sort of lap after lap those the series of laps before the turn 12 move were wonderful.
Yeah it was a it was a really exciting battle which could have been for the lead obviously if they'd not tripped over each other at the first turn given the track position to Ferrari I mean it's possible the Ferrari was so quick with its kind of medium tire strength and what seemed like a bit of a strategic bias going into the weekend to think more about the race less about qualifying think more about the the last section the slow turns not worry too much about the high speed and that overall compromise being so.
So difficult and you had this fantastic fight between the two main protagonist only for third place but it was it was really fun to watch but you could just sort of see. How difficult it is for Norris to pull a move on max he's so aggressive in defense obviously he's also the one who can benefit more if there's an instant because he's got this massive championship lead Norris can't afford to have contact with him and and ruin a race and max will know that too so that's just a
deep that's a strategic advantage for him but this for this battle to kind of reach a crescendo that's then dominated by talk about penalties and track limits and arbitrary racing rules and codification of the art form of racing I mean yeah I don't want to get into that whole debate we had before but it to me it's just stupid as it's we've ended up in this kind of complete mess where everything is trying to be done to the kind of letter of the law rather than done in a kind of more natural way no marks.
So you know natural track limits that's what you need and I imagine if this incident happened somewhere like Austria turn four where there's gravel on the outside if a staff and run Norris wide into the gravel and and also if they touched then I think it's a slam dunk he gets a penalty but he's very very good at forcing the the other car to the very edge of the circuit without actually making contact with them and they've got to be able to get the right answer.
And therefore managing to just skirt with the absolute limit of getting a penalty without getting on he's almost like the Adrian new year of driving he knows exactly how to operate in the gray area of what the regulations are and it's been happening kind of really since he started you know he was probably slightly the wrong side of it early in his F1 career.
Where you had this kind of moving in the breaking zone thing he was a kind of main one certainly my area of covering F1 who kind of pushed the boundary there and they had to try and kind of find a way to codify how to stop. Max from doing that to two extreme level because you could see that it was a bit dangerous but there was nothing strictly in the rules said it couldn't be done that way and then they kind of started working on that but the more we've gone down this.
And then we can grab it whole of well it's actually completely define how you race what's acceptable where a car should be at any given moment the easiest in some ways it's been for him to find a way to get around that to find a loophole and most of the time he does it absolutely expertly and yeah it causes a stink and you can you can look at the turn 12 instant as my clown did and Andrea still did and say
you know what are guys been forced off the track still use the argument that both cars went off the track and therefore a beautiful piece of a beautiful piece of motor racing which it was was kind of unnecessarily spoiled and interrupted by this this stewarding but it's very difficult to legitimately claim a car that's ahead going into a corner but behind coming out of it has gained an advantage because by definition you've lost a position.
So you know even though you kind of have some sympathy for still is arguing you can see where he's coming from actually to the letter of the law for staff and done nothing wrong.
Yeah it's the letter of the law of course the counts just should also note there was also in that battle that moment when Norris moved quite late on the breaking zone for turn one as well no action on that it's just worth reminding everyone of that happening very quick question I just want to throw it at you Mark from Dan Neil related to this from the race members club just saying why did landowner not properly defend turn one.
It was obvious Max would have got the inside given the opportunity. Yeah I think that's a fair fair criticism. I think he needed to be more ruthless in going across but you can't see very much from inside you know it looks it looks pretty obvious from the outside.
Where where the staff and is you know and that there was actually room there for Max to for for landowner to completely shut the door but you don't know from inside exactly where he is you might be partly alongside your real wheel if you go slamming it the door should really hard you might be driving your car straight into the you know the other car.
The only buy I would I would give him on that but generally I think yeah he was he got he got a better start he was quicker off the line as soon as he did that he needed to get straight across as early as possible and he was he wasn't quite decisive enough in doing that and by the time he did it he was having to think and where is he is he is he partly alongside me and I think that's where we're at all when wrong maybe he didn't fully trust the quality of his star because
it's been a weak spot he was definitely better this weekend I think in the sprint to you but obviously the staff and Red Bull starts at exceptional almost every time. So even if you made a good one you're probably in terms of a strategic approach and accepting what Mark says about not having full vision.
He's probably thinking what he's going to be there because Max is always there so maybe you could give nice a little bit of generous defense and say he was to then anticipating a part of the red book at least still being there and it maybe if you had more confidence in the start he made he would have just been more more like the staff and would have done or or Vettel or she macro and just chopped straight across and blocked it.
Mark what conclusions do you think we can draw from what we saw at the front this weekend as for our return to corner to size of the is McLaren on the slide has read both steady the ship and you choose any one of those to tackle first. I think that they're close enough that just a little bit of change of circumstance a little bit of change of track layout a little bit of change of.
Temperature track surface can just shuffle up the order I think it's what seems to be clear what what sort of was vindicated this weekend fully was that the upgrade for our input on the car at monster which has resulted in it being quick everywhere since.
Monster back who Singapore their unusual circuits this is the first time there was a real litmus test of this upgrade because it's a proper conventional so aerodynamically demanding circuit would it still be good there and the answers are pretty resounding yes it's it so that. That upgrade that was introduced at monster really has. Transform the Ferrari so big taking the box for Ferrari totally red bull of definitely made a lot of progress it's you started becoming a part in Singapore.
A back you sorry and it was continued in Singapore but in the four week break we've had since then they've clearly. I'm done a lot of good work because that car is now. Certainly in the fast sections is by far the fastest thing in the place and it it was able to combine that with still a reasonable balance and the slow speed section and that's where previously when the car was struggling it that that's what I couldn't do it couldn't combine.
Distance balance low speed or high speed and high speed and this weekend it has and it's falling down to the Ferrari on just on it didn't look after its tires quite as well I think that was that was the real difference in the Ferrari in the red bull this weekend rather than raw pace it was just. That's a seasonal strength for the Ferrari that's always been that yeah completely.
So I think red bull has made very definite progress McLaren I think is this is not track which is very well suited to that car's traits but it was still quick enough for lander to put it on pole even though he might have been rescued by George Russell's accident not not not certainly that he was I mean for staff and was still actually trailing by 100 or two at the end of sector two but he was.
Going very quickly in the subsequent corners and he might have been able to have shaded him but and it lost time in turn 19 had me on the first run so that he was thinking and yeah without that I would have been on pole so therefore I'll just copy and paste but he wasn't actually quite as quick on the second run up to the end of sector two as he had been in the first run but you know it was all nippin took so I think that the McLaren can come to a circuit which does not.
It doesn't suit it and fight for pole I think you know it says that it's still still a very very potent tool and Mercedes is just you know they came here with a big big upgrade it remains just the most capricious thing it was stunningly fast at times on Friday and then for no reason that anyone on the team could fathom it was hopeless on Saturday and it was just you know.
Slightly slightly higher track temperature that's about the only thing you could say was different and it really didn't that had a rubbish weekend really from there the George Russell drove a great race from the pit lead the sixth place but they are just slim pickings for a team of the standard. Yeah certainly not a great weekend for them rather hard work.
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Right Ben, we'll kick off part two by talking a little bit more about Mercedes as Mark said earlier is all over the place really but this was an extraordinary weekend even by their standards service stunningly fast on Friday should have been on poll for the sprints.
Then that all seemed to evaporate and it was terrible and then your druss actually came through pretty effectively in the race from the pit lane to six plates so how do you unravel that can you can you take anything positive or negative or anything from it or is it just a weekend of madness.
I mean weekend of madness I think is a good description I don't even Mercedes understand what's happened and I mean that's that's been the kind of eternal battleground for them under this rules that hasn't it just when you feel like they kind of got a handle on things it seems to get away from them again. They've slipped back to I think to being quite clearly the fourth best team in that group before it's it's kind of feeling like a group of three with them on the periphery now.
They're under dogs again yeah and there you go see so it's in their heads as well I mean the pattern to me seems seems to be that if the track is cooler less grippy if everybody's just a little pushing a little bit less into the high grip get the car as low as you possibly can go flat out situation they're more competitive. They're better races tended tend to be high speed tracks but also when it's you know a bit wet slippy called soon as it gets hot they seem to they seem to struggle.
And this weekend was kind of some in some ways typical of that you know that you mentioned they were prodigiously fast in sprint qualifying and they they really were. Pretty good on the medium tire and then on the soft you know there's a chance that no Hamilton was kind of in the mix for the poll there before he lost it a bit turned to when there's the yellow flag thing with colapinto.
Yeah Russell was near as dammit in that same fight and then you know as the track kind of gripped up and everybody got their heads around you know the fact it was a sprint weekend and lots of upgrades and trying to get you know the setup refined but without having the benefit of normal practice. Sessions it just kind of it got away from it felt like they were trying to go with the pack and and run the car harder.
Find more pace that wolf was insistent the upgrade was worth time over one lap for qualified but it looked like the car was so edgy and peaky with that package on. And you saw Russell have that massive accident at the end of qualifying Hamilton have a similar accident at the start the race on that curb turning into turn 19 Hamilton wasn't as aggressively on that curve because he wasn't pushing as.
As hard as Russell obviously was at the end of a qualifying that but it was basically identical moment just at a lower speed for Lewis and of course Russell's race happened on I think wolf could it the July floor because they didn't have the spare parts he totalled the car qualifying had to revert to an old package and then the car look decent in the race so I just wonder if it's one of those classic twenty twenty four ground effect rules situations where.
The as a long zone said sometimes when you try to get the car on the absolute knife edge on the limit everything just falls apart was if you can run in a window I think Ferrari really understands this quite well now where you're at kind of 90 or 95% of the potential but have a consistent balance and a consistent car in the race especially you can get so much more out of it.
I think Russell enjoyed relatively straightforward race to was it fifth or seventh or seventh or seventh or seventh or seventh or seventh or relatively straightforward race to sixth from the from a pit lane start just because he had a nice stable consistent platform.
Yeah it's it's amazing how often this has been the story for Mercedes there's definitely something that they need to get to the bottom but get to the bottom of very very sensitive and the drivers frustrated as always right we've got a good 25 odd minutes into the podcast we haven't talked about this yet Mark so we're going to have to tackle it now.
Before we get on to the midfield and that's the red bull controversy can you explain what we know about what they were or why not doing with their floor bib adjust set up. The second mechanism to adjust the height of the the big which the leading edge of the floor one that's accessed from inside the conventional one underneath which is the one where you would just do a quick change for floor height in a practice session say.
And the other one they claim is more for like accurately aligning the floor with a chassis so there's absolutely perfectly aligned when you when you put on a new floor and it's so that's not something you do mid sessions it's something that happens in between sessions and that's what that's what they say the extra mechanism for now there's nothing illegal about having an extra mechanism but all it's.
Happened on the realization that it has this feature which is has had for the previous three years and is on the open source part list at the FIA so anybody could have seen it in any of the previous three years all the teams have access to those designs yeah. It was realized suddenly that hang on this could allow you to change the floor height in between in part firmly you know so.
Yes in theory it could it could allow you to do that but there's no suggestion there's any evidence that this has happened but the fact that it's possible to do in theory is created controversy but that seems a weird sort of logic to me because it's possible to cheat on any of the other areas of the good cheat on.
That doesn't follow logically that therefore all the other teams must cheat because there are all these other opportunities to have cheated so why why is this one mean that Redwell must have cheated I just don't get it I don't see it at all.
Yeah, currently the argument the suspicion among the other teams is why would you design it that way unless you're going to do that which is fine it's it aroused suspicion but suspicion doesn't doesn't actually tell you anything the FIA has put a seal on it so it can't be used under. Part of the most that's a good pragmatic fix going forward there's obviously the suspicion about what's been going on for the past few years and as it stands there's no.
There's no evidence that it has been used and that's what that's what we need and that's not saying you know absence of evidence is not evidence of absence doesn't mean it didn't happen what it means is we don't have the evidence the CCTV that monitors the garages that obviously doesn't get kept so what forever so the the early weekend stories that the Redwell has been caught cheating.
Just so fundamentally and completely wrong it absolutely has not there's no evidence of it being called cheating it what's happened is that someone's discovered a mechanism by which it could cheat but there are lots of mechanism by which all the teams could cheat so you know that's that's it.
Yeah there's no close time basis the single seat still has the FIA said I can't say for sure they didn't use it but what I can say is we we have no evidence to say they did so that's the thing it's so it's one of those situations it's going to continue to go on I think there's hope there may be somebody who will talk and say yes we've adjusted that whatever within the team or something but that that's what it would take because I say yeah the CCTV doesn't exist it's a really easy change so probably wouldn't even notice if it had happened and and that's why most of the time
the position is until there's some evidence then it can't go it can't go any further and I must admit. Yeah it does look weird the design but unless there's some weird argument for it it would be such an egregious case of cheating.
It's not a gray area it's not a flexi-wink it is it out right it would be a very very crude cheat because usual ways of getting an advantage through the regulations is to exploit gray areas so that you can argue the wording of a regulation and it's usually very clever and sophisticated and red bull of the masses of that in the past.
But this this wouldn't be that there wouldn't be anything particularly clever about that it would just be black and white you cannot adjust things in park for me so that would just you wouldn't be able to defend it and given that it's so easy so easy to see it speed on the you know it's on the part list and has been for years given that so easy to see and would be such a black and white clear offense.
It just seems highly unlikely that that's what they're doing yeah certainly been high risk move there are definitely rival teams here absolutely certain it's been used but they can't actually provide the evidence they just say well why would you do it if not so that this is the circle that's stuck in till you've got evidence you know well also given that they've had this.
Different way of doing things for years at least as far back as 2022 I remember I think your report from the Belgian Grand Prix that you are made mention of the fact that both red bull drivers to avoid grounding out their cars plank had to take extra care not to go too hard through a rouge in the compression or or attack the curves and the only benefit of having this or using this adjust in park for me to my mind is that you could.
The first thing that you could do is that you could raise the floor height between qualifying and the race so you wouldn't have to run low low in qualifying to be super quick and then not worry about the kind of grounding the problem that caught out Mercedes and Ferrari at Austin last year but red bull had that mechanism in theory they didn't use that as far they got the drivers to drive the circuit in a particular way to make sure the car was within the limits so legal at the other
yeah exactly so if it was so easy to do this serif titious floor adjustment in part for me they would have just done that surely is why so why didn't you do the spot yeah why didn't you do it spot it just seems to me like title fight psychology it's a it's a way of kind of trying to
stabilize arrival you know a cloud bang in the drum really hard because they want to put a bit of pressure on red bull having been under pressure themselves over flexi wings previously it's just a good old bit of back and forth I think yeah until until such time as there is some evidence the country that's the position you have to take on it so yeah I'm sure they'll be continue to be talk about this people will be
looking for this evidence but the good thing is it's sealed now so at least that that shut down so as Nicholas Thomas is said that so the insinuations will stop let's go back to the racing now Ben because in the sprint race House was a clear cast in the midfield Kevin Magnus and seven the Nick Alcomberg eight Holcomb back then one class B in the Grand Prix itself in eighth but I'll be returning Liam loss and finish 9th back two points and his
comeback how impressed were you with him yeah I think he had a really really impressive first weekend back I mean the highlights for him the third place in q1 Grand Prix qualifying that was really good obviously he didn't he didn't take a meaningful part in the rest of the session because he had a grid penalty so he was his job after that was to help Yuki Seneda and tried to
turn around to a better time I think in some ways he was set up to have a really good first weekend because he had the benefit of that completely brand new power unit that would certainly have helped him out and but not the pressure of all of his performance is counting straight away you know it's the qualifying was kind of a free hit for him I know he said he was
appointed not to be able to kind of continue the form through but you would say that if he'd been third in q1 and had it not been so impressive in q1 maybe it felt differently but it was a good statement for him to just be bang so much on the pace straight away and the race I think it was a good race I think it was slightly flattered from strategic point of view because it there were five five cars that started on the
hard tire okay you kind of discount the two Mercedes because they're not in the same race as the midfield cars not quite yet anyway even though they're doing the best to obviously you know reverse down the grid at the moment but he was in a race with kind of strolls Aston and Colo Pinto Williams and he beat he beat Colo Pinto Williams didn't he on identical strategy starting behind it so that has to go down as a good performance I think because
Colo Pinto has been very impressive in the Williams so far and Lawson managed to outdo him the the overall position was slightly flattered by others kind of getting themselves into trouble you know that I think it was Magnuson that triggered the the earliest round pit stops for people on the on the medium tire in that class be fight and that that got a few cars stuck in traffic as they were trying to come through later and that meant kind of running long on the
road and he was able to get out in ahead of a lot of those cars including his own teammate so you know pretty much the kind of perfect first weekend back I think for him and useful for him that his teammate had a difficult race and obviously
Sergio Perez in the non upgraded Red Bull also had quite a laborious race to sit as well not particularly impressive yeah yeah difficult weekend for us but yeah the floor changes significant enough that I think we can quite give him an entirely free pass but I think that's quite a big
asterisk against this weekend but I was impressed with Lawson I think he was producing good pace immediately didn't quite get it all together in sprint qualifying and the sprint race was sort of stuck down the order battling with a Lonzo and then yeah I think the race was going to mean you keep Sonoda obviously finished behind him now that was a bit circumstantial because the Sonoda was one of those cars
he stopped early as I mentioned if you stopped early then science you were in trouble and that that kind of room in his race but then more room it more was getting irritated and having a spin so that didn't help but so this way I wouldn't say that Lawson has destroyed Sonoda and it's a disaster for Sonoda brilliant for Lawson but well I think Lawson's done is made a really really good
restart to his Formula One career this a nice foundation to come out with two points in a race where you start at the back because of 60 places of grid penalties is a really good really good for hold for him to to start to build from and yeah let's see how we get some over the next five races but two points is a very very good return
the mark that was mentioned in Frank a colapin so there's probably as toughest weekend overall and obviously it's his first sprint so that took a little bit of adapting so came through to score that point for 10th what do you make of his and Williams is performance yeah Williams is a little bit desponding both cars going out in Q1 but yeah colapin oh sort of pulled it together from the pull these weekend together from there really
you know you did a good solid job there wasn't really a direct comparison with his team at Alex Albin because Alex had the contact with Ocon at the first corner and then had a early stop lap three to get repairs so yeah it wasn't you didn't have the gauge there the direct gauge of his team mate but yeah I mean to come through to the points after going out in Q1
is a good effort by anyone standards yeah very very good for him I think too after having had that month of come to a conventional circuit and have a decent weekend Williams probably under achieved overall because I think there was some decent pace in that car that probably should have been a little bit stronger but at least they come away with a
point or though windy track though wasn't it Ed I feel like that's still a limitation for them the way Alex Albin was talking actually I think post-colourifying that I got the sense that he was talking about some inconsistencies and sort of vague terms I
feel like maybe maybe that that old wind sensitivity weakness was kind of rearing it's ugly head for them again yeah and actually the upgraded Williams after their recent major package does seem a little bit capricious still as well a little bit like not quite as
extreme as the Mercedes but yeah they're still trying to get on top of that there was a little subplot involving fastest lap which of course is being dropped the point for fastest lap next year which everyone is delighted for the entire universe or so that's a very good thing to do surveys conducted by me state that 100% are in favor well done please with that but but actually color pinto had fastest lap quite late on and then they pitted
a score to make the fastest lap points off him because they're battling for was eight in the constructors championships that was a little fun subplots there but yeah it was it was funny the midfield battle because actually it was pair gasoline and the L P new led it early on he sat in six
place but he was one of those who stopped early stopped on lap 18 so gasoline six Magnuson seventh to no to eight in the early running they stopped on lap 17 and 18 variously and it just it just knackered their race but gasoline who had the who's the only one who had the Alpine upgrade was was properly quick in the sort of main event part of it grand pre qualifying and and the race and that's that's really positive for Alpings as I said to him after the race as you said you've execute
the race poorly you've not optimized it you finished 12th yeah a few weeks ago you could drive brilliantly execute everything perfectly new been 15th so at least says Alpings making some progress so well done to well done to them but
it could have been a very different story in the midfield and yet the fact this was such a one stop race was a little bit of a surprise to many people this episode is supported by Merrill with a dedicated Merrill advisor you get a personalized plan for your financial goals and when plans change
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For more information on how to join the race members club, hit the link in the episode description or head to Patreon and search for the race to find out them many, many benefits, which includes bonus members only podcasts, as well as the chance to ask us questions. Low to questions as always will do. Your questions answered podcast midweek as well, but here's a quick blast through some. Ben, Damon Needham says, for staff in Red Bull, a seemingly back on the pace.
Does this in your eyes mean it's championship done for 2024? Well, hello, Damon, great name by the way. They certainly have improved. A championship wise, I mean drivers, I've kind of always felt like it was done. I've never really felt like Norris has been properly in it and we can like this where, you know, there's a chance to take points out of a staff and then he's ended up losing ground.
Just feels like it's never to be getting further away and obviously the races are running out for him to really turn it around. He needs, he needs for staff and to have a shocker, you know, some kind of DNF or just a massive point swing in one go, I think to really light it. If it keeps up like this, whether staff has just in the mix all the time and even if Norris is able to win a few more races, he's not going to be able to overcome that bigger deficit.
The constructors though, I mean now Ferrari are managing to finish one, two and be so quick that the TV cameras don't even want to look at them. That feels like it's really alive. You know, I don't think Red Bull can win that, especially with Perez's level of performance. And this kind of suggestion also from him that he might not get the same for us as staff and particularly soon. He's getting asked about Mexico and he was like, well, I'm not sure maybe hope so it looks good.
I look forward to it, but they need to really lift his performance quickly if they want to come back in that constructors fight. So I feel like that is, that's probably McLaren versus Ferrari now, isn't it? If Ferrari's really back and what Mark was saying about the Monza upgrade is true and they're going to be right there and from now to the end of the season.
It's time for kind of Piaestry to not have a rough weekend like he's had because otherwise McLaren are going to be under pressure and we might be looking at the staff and winning the drivers championship and unbelievably Ferrari winning the constructors championship. You know, they're 48 points off, which is interesting. I rather foolishly wrote them off from the constructors championship after Singapore.
So yeah, it's still constructors wise, that's doable, isn't it? It's not the same as the staff who nourished 50 odd point gap. It's on the normal weekend, it's 44 points for a one-two and fastest lap, isn't it? And there's still two sprints left. But I'd still say McLaren are favourites, but yeah, it's very, very, very, very interesting. This season just keeps twisting and turning, doesn't it?
Mark, a question from Andrew Hire who says, is Lewis Hamilton just pushing too hard or is the car just really hard to drive? I think there's two components to that. Andrew, I think the car is very, very difficult to drive. It's very inconsistent, so you don't know what you're going to get necessarily. And I think that's part of it. Another part of it is that this generation of car doesn't lend itself naturally to the way Hamilton naturally drives, which is a very aggressive corner entry,
late on the brakes and a lot of steering input to get the rotation. So, you know, he's a great enough driver that he can of course adapt to what's necessary, but I think it doesn't automatically mean that he's his favoured way of driving is the best way for these cars. There's a couple of elements in there. His natural style is probably a little bit too aggressive for the car, but he's adaptable enough that he will be able to tell around that.
And I think his specific problems are more to do with this car this year. Next question I'll take from Jan Alexander. Sending this before the race, so maybe the question looks done later tonight. Well, fortunately, it didn't as has went well in the race too. Do the sprint results and qualifying hints of even more genuine progress for has. And do they now look strong favourites to beat RB-6 in the Constructors Championship?
Or did they benefit from any track characteristics or circumstances that could lead to a different picture in a week's time? No, I think absolutely. They were the fifth strongest team this weekend. Seven to eight in the sprint. They should have had both cars in the points really in the race, but yeah, Magnuson suffered from that early stop and then had that lake call to make a second stop, which didn't quite work for him.
So yeah, has a really good what impresses me about has is that they've got a nice consistent car. They've probably got the most consistent car in the midfield. Because even on weekends, well, they don't score points. They have a habit of finishing 11. Does any car can be got five or seven out of the plate? Low to 11 places for Hulkenberg anyway. So their peaks are very good. Their troughs are still pretty good. So that shows a good balanced car.
Hasn't got any of this capriciousness we've talked about with Mercedes and with with Williams. Every car's got a tiny bit of that, but it's not a problem for them. And the other thing is the fact that they're throwing upgrades onto the car and they are working. They had a Silverstone decent upgrade package. This one was following on from that not quite as comprehensive as the Silverstone one, but still pretty comprehensive.
And the great thing for them is they decided to split the car. So they put Hulkenberg on the new one, Magnuson on the old one. And that was how they ran through the sprint. Then they got to the end of the sprint race thought this is working. We'll put the upgrade on Kevin's car as well. Stuck on Magnuson's car. He went straight out and qualified really well in it.
So this is a nice to drive car, a car that's consistent. And yeah, it's not track characteristics because pretty much all tracks this car is pretty good. So yeah, has a really impressive. They're not going to be the fifth strongest car every single weekend. But of that midfield group, they're going to be the strongest one. I'll be surprised if they don't finish six in a constructors championship.
And of course, they took some for the standards of this part of the championship battle. Big points out of Arby and moved ahead of them this weekend. Right, coming back round to you, Bern, a question from David Trippler. What's your take on the Alonzo versus Lawson drama? The sprint, of course, this was a sprint. Yeah. Well, I think part of it is a Lonzo being a bit grumpy.
Now, you mentioned Ed how strong Hass is looking in the midfield fight. I mean, they're able to do what Aston can't do, which is bringing up break package that definitively works and moves them forward. Aston just seemed to be, apparently, stuck in this situation where they change bits on the car and they don't even know if it's better or worse. He seems to be a Lonzo's consistent feedback. So I think he's getting pretty fed up of the downfall he's had from competing for.
I know they would struggle badly last year at this phase of the season, but you know, by Brazil, he was back on the podium. He had so many great results. You know, in the sprint, he was fighting for what? 17th or 16th place. You know, just just dross positions for him. And then you've got Lawson, this kind of young, hungry kid coming back in desperate to prove himself, fighting for these rubbish positions that, you know, have so far away from the tiny sprint points.
Like his whole career depends on it. And I think a Lonzo was particularly irritated by the way Lawson did it almost for Stappen type jink in the breaking zone approaching turn 12. And the Lonzo, I think, felt like he had to take avasive action. I obviously had a massive shunt further back on that straight with Lance Stroll when Lonzo was still racing for Alpine. And he was very well, he held the car into the barrier high speed. And somehow finished the race. Yes.
And yeah, it was very delicate in his description of that incident in not blaming the son of his future in boy or as well. But anyway, yeah. Yeah, so I think it brought back bad memories. And yeah, he was just he was particularly perturbed by Lawson's aggressive defense of, you know, what was basically a nothing position in a nothing race in the grand scheme of that weekend.
And I suppose a sort of minor feud. I don't know if it will, if it will last, I think a Lonzo is just trying to make, you know, make a point to kind of young guy. I mean, young drivers are aggressive. That's for sure. I think I think a Lonzo just felt that Lawson was a little bit over the line. But in this case, the stewards didn't agree. Lawson thought that an onzo is deliberately annoying him at the start of qualifying as well after that. He said, oh, yeah, with the London to turn one. Yeah.
That was quite funny. I'm sure so say actually Lawson did a great move on a Lonzo on the first lap of the sprint race at the hairpin, a late move completely legitimate nice pass. So maybe that just started the annoyance for a Lonzo. But yeah, I don't think anybody had money on a Lonzo versus Lawson aggro this weekend.
That's definitely not subplotlet. See if that ever plays up again. Mark question from Charlie Pasco about strategic trends. Is there any reason as to why McLaren more than any other team, it seems usually goes for a tie Delta. Is it something that favors their car more than the others? So what did McLaren often end up running longer than others? It happens when they're not when they don't have track position.
So yeah, we saw it, I think most notably before today at Spain. Spain, Spain is there. Yeah. Is there really obvious one? Yeah. Yeah, it's partly the fact that it's good on its tires. So you can still keep up a reasonable pace on very old tires. But it's also the fact that it's usually if you have that trade in your car, it's usually a more surefire way of making up positions and trying to do it on track, especially if you're racing for stubborn.
Next question I'll take from Dan Neal. How do we get past this terrible rule of ahead of the apex? Max just makes sure he's on the inside break so deep that he makes sure he's ahead at the apex. Then doesn't care if he stays on track or not, as long as the other driver is off track on the outside, they can't overtake. It's a really poor rule of a step and uses it all the time when defending. Yeah, well, as we said, the step and knows what the guidelines are and uses them very, very well.
I am not a big fan of the way the guidelines are set because there are a lot of factors they don't take into account and they might encourage you to take advanced to relative speed that will compromise you later in the corner and that kind of thing. So yeah, I'm not very keen on the exact stretch of the racing guidelines. They're well intentioned trying to get consistency, but I think they sometimes box people into a corner. So how do we get past it? Well, it seems to be here to stay.
Well, we talked about it earlier, rather to symptom of having track limits defined by lines. Well, it's funny you say that because the next question I'm going to throw you Ben from down really is there anything to be done about the prevalence of five second overtaking penalties other than let them race my personal vote. I guess track limits is part of that.
A lot of five second penalties for overtaking and forcing people off track and busting track limits, etc. Yeah, well, you know track limits and think we would all agree with this and Anthony Davidson said it's well on the Sky Sports F1 show just have you need a physical limit on the outside of the track. You know, that gravel that's on the outside of turn 19 that did for Lewis Hamilton. You need that around the outside of turn 12 so that when in the case of a snap and a Norris.
The snap and runs Norris off the track. He goes into the gravel that that will look different to someone watching the instant because it will it will change the dynamic of the defending driver keeping his position by basically making the other guy go into the gravel. Whereas if he's got a heart tarmac run off to go on to there's just this feeling that he can.
The guy on the outside who's off the track can can have more control in all of us is able to complete the move wasn't he by just not being on the track and it just changes the perception of the incident.
I agree with this you know, let them race thing it feels to me like the best way would just be to kind of strip it all back and then try to come at it a fresh you know at the moment you've got this ridiculous situation whereas if you know if you're the car being overtaken on your outside you're protected much more by the the guidelines you can almost do whatever you want.
The staff is really adept at just making sure he doesn't career into the other car or do something really obvious like lock up.
You know, there are factors they take into consideration like apparently you know like the condition of the cars as they're arriving into the corner whether somebody's out of control you know whether they've done something to contribute to the incident you know you could definitely say the way the staff and drove in turn to have contributed to the incident but it's not absolutely definitive because he was completely in control of his car
and he was still within the track for most of the corner is only at the very exit obviously where he was he was running outside of track limits and then of course there was strikes. So the staffman goes off the track while Norris is coming around his outside but is that you know is that against the overtaking rules no is against the track limits but as long as he's within his three or four strikes or whatever he's not going to get a penalty.
They they they seem to then give Norris a five second penalty for going off the track but that was that was a mitigated penalty they said it would have been more but they took account of for staffman's part enforcing Norris off the track.
So they sort of simultaneously did take account of it and didn't it's just it's just bananas to me so confusing so yeah I'm all in favor of bidding the track limits rules bidding the overtaking guidelines before they just become more entrenched and more ridiculous and just going back to a more old school approach please.
Next question few mark from Esther band Rivera land oh stresses me out he did not cover the first corner and then screwed up the overtake on max for staff and in layman's terms he doesn't seem to have it is it a mental thing or a floor in how he drives. I don't think it's a floor I think it's he's in a part of the contest that he's never been in before it is not yet entirely comfortable there at certain moments of high stress.
But I don't think that's necessarily a permanent trade I think that's something that we've seen in drivers before and they fixed it with a bit more experience they get a bit more seasoned at running at the front all the time against the same guys and I think you know you.
I did a column on a recently for the race and I compared it to Nikki ladders 1974 season where he made you know few key pressure errors that just were someone had not run consistently at the front before among the big boys and this was his first time and he's very very impressive and he's super fast and he set a lot of pole positions and win races but there were two or three things that lost them that championship and it was a completely winnable championship and he blew it.
Yeah, you know nobody would say louder didn't have it you know louder. It became one of the legends of the sport. Yeah, noris is just not a street wise as max is he basically and not at the moment no no once once he figures that I mean you could tell from if you watch back the Austria incident where they're battling for the lead.
There's just the way they talk on the radio as that whole thing progressed you can you can hear the stress in land those voice as he's kind of sighing and thinking oh God, what have I got to do to get past this guy was for max it's just like I've been here a million times and that's the key difference isn't it. This is very much why I've talked about this season as the chance for Norris to kind of get that experience be cured in battle.
So I think I'm very interested to see how that happens because when I talk about mental strength in the car it's not about any of that stuff. Elna and Marco was talking about things he does probably it's purely and simply about whether you can just kind of make sound judgments in the heat of battle and execute your skills as if it doesn't matter when you just do what you do.
But do that when it matters more than anything because of the situation so that that's the thing that I want to see land I develop a little bit but yeah I think that's something we'll see over the next. 18 months how he learns from this it's it's a great way to learn how to do that at the front. All right the next question comes from Matthew Maan I'll take if I can get a bit consistency with the car can they challenge with a constructors title.
Yeah as we've mentioned they could 48 points behind McLaren 8 behind Red Bull and yeah the consistency will be very very important. I still wouldn't put my money necessarily on Ferrari but they they could do but then again we're going to go to Mexico next.
The turbo configuration of the Ferrari engine maybe not ideal for the well it's not ideal for those conditions where the engines are strangled by the lower density so yeah could be tricky but I'm I'm much more interested in just seeing the confirmation of the progress. They made a few changes to the way that went on all these sorts of things this is all really good stuff for 2025 progress for them in the hopes that we'll have multiple teams fighting out again next year.
They need science to be on Austin form all the way through to the end of the season as well don't they. Yes. Yes. Like he was on he was really on one this weekend right there with the clerk and that's not always the case so I think they could potentially have the platform to do it but they need kind of both drivers at kind of Austin level all the way through to the end of the season.
Yeah very true question for you Mark from John Ares did Liam Lawson just pass his audition for 2025 Red Bull season at the same time Sergio Perez fail his yet again.
You certainly looks that way at this moment in time yeah you mean we've got a few races to go yet lots of different things can happen in what we've got five races left but yeah that's certainly a very very strong for opening your addition and yeah fairly unconvincing performance from checker Ben from Ryan Norrie thoughts on so to all comments to George over the radio George Russell did for stab and get a penalty for that turn one so to no he didn't get a penalty and at the end
Landau got a penalty for being fast off and overtake on the outside I guess it's a bit biased decision making but not surprising. Yeah well not this again. I think the problem is here that there's comparison of apples and oranges isn't there so I mean I've made my position on the whole guideline situation quite clear but accepting that it's a reality we have to deal with.
I think there are people within F1 who don't really understand difference between what they've set out as criteria for the stewards to judge moves when a guy is coming around the outside versus a guy on the inside no rustle on botas is on the inside and you're there for considered the aggressor and if you run if you run the guy you're overtaking out of room on the outside of the track it's a penalty according to the guidelines now that's not to say that that can't be
game in the way that the staff is kind of gaming the system as a defensive driver botas who is able to just basically hang on around the outside even though the move is done and effectively I think as Martin Rundle put it on the sky commentary you you can just guarantee your your opponent gets a penalty I think that was kind of a play.
I mean Piaestry try to compare land owned maxes instant with his own incident with the thing that was ghazly certainly one of the outings in the sprint but again it's not the same Piaestry was going down the inside and then ran the guy was passing out of room on the exit which this weekend was a penalty whereas
not just trying to come around the outside of max at the different situation and of course comparing to turn one well that's a complete crapshoot isn't it because in this case they went we're not even going to look at it it's turn one Austin there's always chaos but of course last year last Vegas Grand Prix and some people use this comparison for staff and got penalized for going down the inside of Charlotte Claire can forcing him off the track but of course the corner pro
different you know Austin has this uphill approach and tight apex was the first corner the Vegas strip circuit is this big long arcing super wide left and you know it's almost like a carousel hair pin just without the the gradient so again a different situation you know there was so much track to the left of the snappin when he went inside the clerk at Vegas you almost had to penalize him it was ridiculous but Austin it's a bit more marginal just
because of the way the track goes so yeah I mean I always people are going to be unhappy in these kind of situations and and someone's not and I think you know for Toto is just a really bad bad end to what I'd look like being a really strong weekend so I think he was probably just feeling a bit a bit emotional
and the final question I'll take from Jack Akin who as we know is not the X Williams F1 driver and is from Australia Oscar P.A. Street just seemed off land on or is his pace or weekend where was Oscar losing time yeah he was just a little bit office is race pace was all right actually he was very fifth overall just very very fifth just like a little bit in confidence slightly different
approaching qualifying in the in the slow corners obviously those combination breaking and turning things is still a little bit challenging for McLaren so yeah he he was just fine this weekend P.A. Street and you will see this is a second season and that's why Norris currently is the better driver of those two because he's got more
experiences more consistently at that level and P.A. Street will still allow a few undulations and then over time as he's been doing those simulations smooth out any operator it's normal high level so yeah this is just one of those weekends have been a few this year Spain Zanvort was another one a few ways just been a little bit subdued compared to the sky high standards we've seen but yeah just just one of those weekends we didn't quite have
what Norris had in a car that was a little bit tricky well thanks very much to Ben and Mark and thanks to everyone who sent in some questions this of course is the first race of a triple header so we're going to be heading towards Mexico soon so stay with us for everything need to know from the world of Formula One the athletic